WEEK 01: A Fresh Start to the New Year

Well, I'm beginning to think about my boys getting older and have recently started making their pureed food a little thicker and chunkier. At 10.5 months old, neither of my boys has refused a food. Yes, they have made some faces and yes, they've been slow going on a few things. But, after a few bites, it's always a go. This has been one of my main goals with feeding and making their food. So, with that in mind, I'm ready to add some new items to the menu. Before we do that, though, I'd like to give a summary of what I've made and introduced so far.

Listed generally in order of introduction. Keep in mind that I am not a doctor, nutritionist, or a food expert and you should always consult your pediatrician when choosing food for your baby.
brown rice
oatmeal
avocado
sweet potatoes
green beans
winter squash
pears
apples
bananas
tahini
peas
carrots
white potatoes
summer squash
zucchini
asparagus
blueberries
kiwi
plums
peach
apricottofu
egg yolks
cottage cheese
yogurt

With so many foods in just over 4 months, I can truly say that we have been busy. It has also been hard to make sure they are getting a good variety and keep tasting all of these foods. It is very easy to get through an introduction and forget about it for a few weeks or a month. As I'm typing this, I can't remember the last time I bought a kiwi or plum.

Now, with each weekly post, I plan to describe the food made as well as the process briefly. Then, I will mention anything I learned as well as the reaction from the boys. I will summarize with any notes and how much they're eating.

FOOD DESCRIPTION
We continued with existing foods this week including rice cereal, oatmeal, tahini, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, apples, yogurt, carrots, avocado, and kiwi.

PROCESS
I have been using the Earth's Best Rice Cereal Rice since the boys were 5 months old. I tried making my own by grinding organic brown rice, but it always came out super pasty. Like I mentioned at the opening of this blog, I'm not a super cook. For me, the instant organic from the box works just great! I also use the Earth's Best Oatmeal Cereal and it is great as well.

WHAT I LEARNED
I didn't learn anything new about making foods this week as we did not introduce anything new. I have realized that it is time to go to my resources and find some new foods to add to the list.

REACTION
Both boys still love the baby cereals. I know many babies refuse it at this point, but they love it plain, sticky, mushy, mixed with fruits, or any way it's given to them. One thing to note is that I mixed the avocado and kiwi this week. It sounds like a strange combination, but kiwi is one of the few things that both boys have kind of wrinkled their noses at when fed alone. So, I used what I had and just mixed it with avocado. They ate it all. All of the other foods this week were still a hit and nothing new was introduced.

SUMMARY
I still had plenty of pre-made frozen food this week from my bulk preparation before Christmas. We were having family in town and I wanted to make sure that I didn't have to worry about preparing any baby foods. I was able to simply defrost anything I wanted overnight in the refrigerator and was good to go the next day. For days that we were out of the house, I took jarred organic foods like Earth's Best Organic Jars or Gerber Organics. This is what I have typically done, unless I've been going somewhere where I knew I could travel with my bowls of food in an insulated bag with ice packs. I just find it easier to travel with the jars. That being said, we typically eat meals at home.

Please share your thoughts or ideas.
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