HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Don't forget to give your sweety a big smooch!



ME-MA UPDATE

Me-Ma has had a series of good days lately and has made progress, though quite gradually. The doctors are now talking of her being able to leave the hospital fairly soon as her systems are stabilizing to their satisfaction.

On the fun side, she's had her sodium-restricted diet ended so that she can raise her sodium levels. She now gets to salt all her food, so the enhanced flavor has definitely helped increase her appetite.

All in all, she's progressing and gaining strength, so that's great news.

GRAMMA REID UPDATE

I spoke to Gramma and she's feeling better and, in her words, "behaving herself." She's taking it easy, putting her feet up and feeling alright. Betty went to Farmington for a week to help out - I got to speak with her for a while. It was good to catch up.

Steve and Jim are expected to visit soon, as are Kathleen and my father. That should be a shindig if they all visit at the same time.

SOLID FOOD

Well, after a 6-month Well Baby checkup at his pediatrician's office, Gabriel was given the green light to try solid foods. Here are a couple of the photos of his first non-milk meal: rice cereal.

He started off a little awkwardly thinking the spoon was something to just chew on for relief of his gums; he has two little bumps from growing front teeth on his bottom jaw.

But once he tasted the rice cereal, he quickly got the idea and ended up eating quite a lot of his food. Some dribbled onto his bib, but surprisingly little actually. As you can see in the second picture, he got a bit impatient with his mom, grabbed the spoon and sucked the food off all by himself.

He's now eating two to three tablespoons of cereal at a time. He's tried little bits of banana mashed up, so we'll do that soon in larger quantities with the spoon. He's sure to love it.

So begins the gradual snowball effect on our grocery bill. It's a good thing Costco is building their largest store ever about three minutes from our house!