Jones- 6 Months

So, the babe is half a year old.  

Jones at his Christening a week ago.  In a dress my mother made and shadow-stitched.  Both cousins have worn it too.

He is such a joy--and such a chunk.  At his check-up this week he was in the 90th percentile for both height and weight!  He is wearing 9 and 12 month clothes already.

At the beach.

Love this one of Jones and my grandmother, MamaCat, smiling at each other.

The boy is finally sleeping through the night (most nights), and he cut his first tooth in the past week.  He is loving trying new foods--he has had brown rice cereal, squash, zuchinni, green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches, banana, honey dew, cantaloupe, prunes, apples with cinnamon, avocado, beets...his favorites are sweet potatoes, peas and beets!  Not digging banana yet, but we'll keep trying.  I am making almost all of his food and still enjoying it--just steaming/pureeing it all on Sunday for the week.  Organic, and sometimes local, produce as much as possible.

He can now sit unsupported and rolls over.  Most mornings we find him happily babbling and playing in his crib, waiting for us to come get him.  He is so mellow and laid back these days, it is so nice!

His newest "trick" is clapping along as we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" to him.  He started this a few days ago, and now he knows that it elicits such a response from all around him, that he will clap randomly for attention.  The funniest is when we get him up to change his diaper at about 11 PM each night, (the boy leaks out of every diaper we've tried if we don't change it once in the middle of the night), and he is lying on the changing table smiling and clapping for us.  A half-asleep, happy baby might be one of the most amazing things in the world.

We feel so blessed to have a happy, healthy 6 month old baby boy and can't wait to see what the second half of his first year will bring.

XO,
B

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Thursday's Thinking of Food (for babies)

Jones is eating baby food--and loving it!  He hasn't tried anything yet that he doesn't like; his favorite is peas.  I've posted before about making his food, which I am still doing and loving, but there are times when it's not the most convenient option.  Here is my short list of convenient, store-bought organic baby foods.  Here's what we've tried so far:

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The Plum Organics food pouches are organic and eco-friendly.  They have food for babies and toddlers, and you can find the line at Target and Whole Foods, as well as on-line.

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Boon makes a special reusable spoon that screws onto the end of Plum Organics' pouches for easy dispensing and serving on-the-go--genius!

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Ella's Kitchen organic baby food pouches are also easy to dispense and serve, and available at Target. 

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Jones has tried the sweet potatoes, pumpkin & apple and the carrots, apples & parsnips so far--loved both.

Got other recommendations on good store-bought organic baby food?

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Weekend Round-Up

Here's the plan for our weekend:

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All-Local Farmer's Market--it's been too long since I've been and now that Jones is trying new foods, I can't wait to find some cool local produce to make into baby food for him!

Abby and Peach

Dog wash fundraiser at Earth Fare.  It's only $7 per dog and all proceeds will go to helping find retired racing Greyhounds new homes.  Abby and Peach will be in attendance; (they just don't know it yet).  The shampoos used to bathe the dogs will be organic (naturally), and all dogs get a goodie bag to take home.  11 am- 3 pm.

Possibly a trip to Buy Buy Baby...I have a coupon burning a hole in my pocket, plus Jones really does need a few things:

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We need a couple new sleep sacks--love the Aden + Anais ones.  Jones is almost too long for the ones we have now.

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I need some additional freezer food storage for the baby food I'm making.

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Now that the babe likes his baths, (hallelujah!), we need some fun bath toys for him to play with...Boon toys are the cutest and they're BpA, PVC and Phthalate-free.

Father's Day lunch on Sunday with my Dad by the pool--homemade hamburgers.  Father's Day dinner with my husband's family.  Jones has a couple cute first Father's Day gifts up his sleeve for James :)

Another cool thing going on this weekend--the SC State Farmer's Market is giving away FREE BLT's to the first 1,000 through the gates on Saturday morning!  You can sign up to get a weekly text from the market letting you know what will be going on each Saturday by texting HARVEST to 313131.

Happy weekend, loves!  What are you up to?

B

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Jones- 5 Months Old

So many new things have occured in the life of this child in the past month!  He took his first trip to the beach over Memorial Day weekend:

He started eating solid foods; so far he's tried brown rice cereal and homemade squash and peas--next week it's carrots.

He started school--he is loving his Child Development Center at Shandon Presbyterian Church.  They have him on a great schedule--he now naps twice a day for over 2 hours each nap!

He also loves his bath now--(up until about a month ago he screamed for the entirety of every bath we gave him).

Playing with his cousin Taylor.

Jones is the light of my life and his little personality is really starting to show itself these days.  He is very "assessive", (as my mom calls it), and it still takes a lot to make him smile...you have to work for it!  He loves to be read to already; Brown Bear is a favorite, and Goodnight Moon is climbing the charts.  And he is just starting to reach for people when he wants them-the highlight of my day this morning.

Happy Wednesday!
XO, B

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Thursday's Thinking of Food

I have dipped my toe into the waters of making baby food...another venture that some said wouldn't last (like the cloth diapering--which we're still doing when he's not at daycare, btw)...and I love it!  There is nothing more satisfying than knowing exactly what is going into my child's body, and knowing that I prepared it.  

So far I have "made"-- and when I say made, all it entails is pureeing and sometimes steaming the veggies--peas and squash.  The peas were frozen organic peas and the squash is fresh squash just in from my CSA, Gruber Farms.  Gruber farms is out of St. George, SC and we have been really pleased with them.  My mom, sister and I are splitting a family share and we always have more than enough stuff to go around--we've gotten strawberries, yellow squash, zucchini, patty pan squash, kale, cabbage, green beans, peas, red potatoes, broccoli, amazing corn, turnips, beets, and more!

Here's what I did to make the baby food: 

Chop the squash into small pieces.

Bring water to a boil in a large sautee pan, add squash, cover and simmer until tender.

(It would probably be easier to simply steam the squash, but alas, I have no steamer basket-yet.)

Then, puree with a little of the pot water in a food processor.

My sister and I went in halfsies on a baby food making set last year--

the KidCo Baby Steps Natural Feeding System

Click here to see a video as seen on Martha Stewart's show about the KidCo system.

Food processor that came with the KidCo set--it also comes with a food mill, freezer trays, and serving dish--all for $60!

Spoon the squash out of the processor and into the freezer tray for storage, or into the serving dish if you want to feed baby immediately.

And here's a picture of the peas.  I didn't even cook the peas, I just defrosted them and pureed them.

So far, I really like the KidCo system.  There are a lot of other baby-food-making systems out there, and I have heard that the Baby Bullet is a good one, but I have no complaints about the KidCo thus far.

As a side note, while researching the KidCo website, I realized they also make the Go-Pod that we just purchased to take to the beach a few weeks ago--another affordable and really user-friendly baby item!

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Jones in his Go-Pod at Litchfield

I'll let you know how Jones likes his very first taste of squash and peas!

I want to get some more freezer trays/small containers to freeze and serve the baby food from--anyone have any suggestions on brands?

Happy almost-Friday!

XO

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