we eat: 9 months | nuby giveaway

feeding your infant table food can be one of those really fun things and really stressful things simultaneously happening at the same time.  I mentioned a little about out mealtime routine in Baker's 9 month update.  

she is such a hot mess. as much that gets to her mouth goes into her hair, too.  

which means that bathtime is required every night!

at nine months Baker's most favorite meal is probably nut butter toast + sliced banana.  her mama eats this breakfast every single morning and she will all but tackle me for a bite!  last summer the american academy of pediatrics endorsed that it was acceptable and even recommended that the introduction of peanuts be done sooner rather than later in infants (ages 4-11 months).  SO- that being said, Baker has indeed had peanut butter as well almond butter.  

definitely talk to your pediatrician and use your own parental judgement! 

the only food we really steer clear from is honey.

I'm not a huge meat eater and neither are my big girls.  they will eat grilled chicken and of course chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs, but other than that they stick to the veggie and legume proteins. this habit has spilled over into Baker's mealtime, too!  lots of vegetable and grain proteins- chickpeas, lentils, beans, quinoa, brown rice.

she's got a texture thing with avocado, but I continue to offer it several times every week in hopes she will eventually accept it- we are making progress!  babies and even big kids (ahem, adults, too!) can show aversion to a food for up to 10 times before they finally decide that yes I like it!

she LOVES chicken meatballs (I buy them at Target) and I've made black bean cakes and homemade turkey meatballs a time or two.  the best part about that is the big girls eat, too!  so I am not always prepping three different dinners for everyone in this house.  

Baker loves most veggies and fruit!

broccoli + brussels sprouts + asparagus + green beans + butternut squash + sweet potato

strawberries + watermelon + grapes + bananas + blueberries + mandarin oranges + apples + honeydew melon + cantaloupe 

whole milk yogurt mixed with a couple tablespoons of almond butter is on the menu at least once a day.  I usually buy the large 32oz containers of whole milk greek yogurt - again I get this at Target.  I do usually keep the individual baby yogurts on hand just for ease of taking it on the go or when her BB or a sitter is feeding her.

feeding essentials 

the chair.  we love our boon highchair!  we bought a couple of graco highchairs for the twins- we liked them okay but my one complaint was that they got SO messy.  smooshed food in all crevices.. and we basically disassembled the chair to clean it.. and I'm embarrassed to say that the effort to clean it was far outweighed by 'just cleaning it up after breakfast tomorrow' 

which turned into lunch.  then dinner.

you get the point.  it was a nasty mess of a cycle and I'm so glad we don't have to deal with it this time around. 

the bibs.  we wear a bib about half the time.  sometimes its just easier to let her just make a huge mess.  maybe its third child problems but I think I bought like two or three new bibs for Baker and I can count on one hand how many times she's worn them.  

table wear.  following a loosely termed baby-led-weaning routine we don't use utensils except when I am feeding Baker yogurt.  everything else she uses her hands or sucks down purees from a food 

pouch. I love these spoons and I have had a set of these bowls since the twins were tiny.

we were so excited to try out nuby's most recent addition to their tremendous line of baby and toddler feeding tools.  I mentioned this mat in our 9 month favorites post, and it is true. the nuby sure grip miracle mat has quickly become our favorite at meal times.    

 chicken meatballs + avocado + watermelon

 quinoa + roasted butternut squash with cumin 

 the mat suctions to the tray so that is doesnt move around or is easy for Baker to just pick up and toss her entire plate of food to the ground.  

oh, but that doesnt stop her from trying.

I've teamed up with one of my favorite baby brands to offer not just one but TWO lucky winners a chance to win their every own nuby sure grip miracle mat before its even available in stores and online!  these mats will be available at babies r us in June and on Amazon in July. I'm always on the lookout to making the lives of fellow mama friends a little easier:)

Enter for your chance to win in the rafflecopter giveaway below.
giveaway runs from Wednesday April 20th through Saturday April 23rd.  Winner will be selected Monday morning!

GOOD LUCK:)
contest open to US residents only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

good eats | adventures with BLW

baby.led.weaning. 

I had briefly learned of this term around the time the twins were Baker's age.  I was taking time to make purees for Parker and Jolie and absolutely I loved doing it and found some foodie creativity in creating my first babe's their first foods.  while I did enjoy it.. it would take me hours on a saturday to prep about a month's worth of food (x two) to stash away.  

while I was pregnant with Baker, I found myself curious in what BLW was all about.. and then she made her surprise arrival and I didnt think about food again until we were sitting at the 4 moth check-up and Dr. B mentioned starting her on rice cereal. 

I was not ready.  

we made the executive decision to wait until she was 6 months old before starting solids, and with that brought up the curiosity of baby led weaning again.

I found HUGE encouragement after reading blwideas.com and thought- this could be so much fun!  and if I am being honest - I also really struggled with the idea of making baby food again.  not because I didnt enjoy it, because I did, but ultimately I wanted to just try something different.

Baker hit the sixth month mark and it was time to introduce her to her first foods!  I was so overwhelmed to think about what was okay?

what was appropriate?

what she should eat?

what should I avoid?

 finally I just started to offer things to Baker that we were eating.  I wasn't trying to make it into a big to-do or find myself in mega stress over it.  

she's only been eating solids/table food for about a month and for the most part its going pretty good!  there are some things she absolutely will not try/eat/entertain at all (ahem..bananas), but for the most part she will fiddle around with it and half the time some of it makes it into her mouth. 

the amount she eats wildly depends on how she is feeling.  

did she get a good afternoon nap?  

is she sleepy?  

does her mouth hurt? 

cranky?

she could be totally uninterested in those same sweet potatoes that she had a few nights ago or the veggie burger she gobbled up the first time around but definitely not this time.. truth be told- at this age table food is all about exploration.  learning textures, fine tuning those motor skills, and simply introducing flavors to your little one.  sure we can get that added benefit of a full belly, but the most important form of nutrition from birth to twelve months is breastmilk or formula.  so, as quickly as I feel myself getting frustrated when she is tossing her food all over the floor because she would rather play in it than eat it (truth!!), I have to realize that its totally okay.  

so- what are we actually eating over here?? 

as far as Baker is concerned- she is definitely not eating three full meals every day.  she is eating a mid-morning 'meal' of yogurt and sometimes fruit and then her main course of the day is at dinner time.  occasionally I will share some of whatever I am eating for lunch or breakfast- she and I have gotten to the point of not being about to eat around her while I am nursing.  I was eating a bowl of cereal the other day while nursing (the hunger is real.) and she popped off and grabbed it with all she had and the cereal (lucky charms cereal with the glorious b l u e milk remaining) went all over the chair and the carpet below.  not to mention the other morning I was eating the usual PB + banana toast and she got herself a handful of banana.  she's such a busy bee!  

she usually eats or plays with what we are eating, but often when we are on the go she will eat a fruit pouch pretty quickly and then eat whatever at the restaurant.  we finally figured out how to suck those pouches (therefore no spoon required!) and its been an easy way to get prunes in her, too.. if you know what I mean:)  we are being pretty modest in what we give her right now mostly because her skills for feeding herself are still in the beginning stages, but some of our the BLW beginner meals include:  

scrambled eggs // olive oil, smoked paprika, black pepper // + shredded mozzarella cheese

wheat/corn tortilla 

whole milk yogurt mixed with fruit puree // we really like ella's kitchen fruit pouches

whole milk yogurt mixed with almond butter (she LOVES this)

toasted whole grain waffles (we like the VAN's brand) + sliced strawberries

homemade baby pancakes // store bought mix + breastmilk or water

grilled cheese sandwich cut into stripes 

chicken nuggets (all white breast meat)

sprouted whole grain toast + all natural almond butter

roasted root veggies // olive oil, rosemary, pepper + baked at 400 for 30 minutes // + shredded chicken // cooked in the crock pot for 6 hours on LOW with water and a little salt and pepper

steamer bag cheese + broccoli rice + all natural deli meat

homemade bbq chicken pizza  //skip the pineapple- citrus at this age can be hard one your little one's tummy.

crock pot italian chicken // chicken breast + zesty italian dressing on LOW for 6 hours.

baked pasta // we love ziti!! 

store bought cheese + spinach tortellini

black bean cakes with avocado cubes (still working on her accepting the texture of avocado) 

sweet potato hummus // combine 4 cups (baked) and mashed sweet potatoes, 1/4 cup tahini, 1/4 cup lime juice, 2 garlic cloves, minced, 2 teaspoons ground cumin // add 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper for older kiddos and adults // + wheat toast

broccoli bacon mac + cheese // we skipped the bacon for 7 month old

store bought veggie burgers

spaghetti squash burrito bowls + italian chicken sausage 

wheat, soy, eggs, almond butter, and strawberries are all potential allergens. avoid serving all together until you know your babe doesn’t have a reaction with any of them individually.  dairy milk is not okay until 12 months of age- but cheese and full fat yogurt are okay.

salt + sodium should be limited.

I'm always looking for fun food ideas for my kids!  recommendations + corrections + fun new things to try are definitely welcome! 

Baker's First | By the Spoonful

..and its ON.  We've hit the 6 months milestone and its time to start introducing solid food to this little miss of ours. While we introduced cereal to Parker and Jolie at 4 months old, I really wasn't ready to rush Baker into solid foods just yet.  She was gaining weight, staying healthy, and although she was reaching and grabbing for everything in site- I didn't want to mistake these regular development stages for readiness cues- at least until 6 months, anyway.

Thats just me.

After talking with Dr. Butler at Baker's 6 month well visit about baby-led weaning and getting her stamp of approval- I mentioned that I kind of wanted to start with cereal to even see if she had interest, and Dr. B mentioned to make it a little more chunky and less watery- as if she were practicing BLW and eating a steamed veggie.

Well, that works for me!

I warmed a few ounces of breastmilk and mixed it with a couple tablespoons of oatmeal and the rest was history..

the kind of history that ends up all over your face.

the good kind.

We let her big sisters in on the fun and they got a kick out of feeding her and watching her take the oats and then push half of it out with her tongue.  By the end I was scraping my bowl and she was doing everything she could to get her hands on the spoon.

Even if I wasn't planning on doing BLW, this sweet girl wouldn't last long with the spoon feeding anyway.  She was so confused when I was trying to put the spoon in her mouth- but when she took the spoon for herself she stuck it right in her mouth,  like she knew exactly what she was doing.   Smart little cookie.

Our first go with solids was a success and ended with a big fat mess!  

"Kaker Bee is such a mess!!"

She was covered in oatmeal- which led to me cleaning out the kitchen sink and plopping her down to soak for a bit.  I couldnt help myself but to smile from ear to ear to watch how much fun she was having- why had we never done this before!!  

She's done great the last couple days with her new solid 'meal' added to her evening routine- so this weekend I'm eager to start some other fruits and veggies.

Up on deck- with three days in between, of course- banana, pears, carrots, avocado, peaches, melon, beats, sweet potato.. 

so.much.fun.

Happy Weekend!!