Our little princess is just that, little. She is being passed up by all her friends in size. But she has hit all of her developmental markers for her age, so she is just on the petite side. At 5 months old she is 23 1/2 inches tall and a whooping 11 lbs 8 oz!!!
She is a great eater and really who wouldn't be if you were eating when and where ever you want, but her pediatrician recommended that we start her on some baby food. We had just started it anyway so it was good to hear we were headed in the right direction.
Now when Marty started eating he only had to try it once and then it was off to the races. No gagging or spitting it back out. He basically sat there with his mouth open whining if you didn't shovel it in fast enough.
As a means of saving money and making sure he started out with healthy foods, I started making our own baby food with him and have continued it with Michaela.
It is super easy and give you an excuse to go and get a new kitchen gadget, a Food Processor!! If you don't have one you can use a blender or food mill. I had a little one and loved it but the big one also shreds and slices!! I love me some kitchen tools.
There are also some great resources out there, I love Wholesome Homemade Baby Food, their website is full of great recipes, meal plans and tips. They have organized their site by food type and/or age groups for quick and easy reference to see where your little one is at.
The nice thing about baby food is once you learn the basics you can make pretty much anything. So far Michaela has 4 food plus rice cereal.
Applesauce
Butternut Squash
Avocado
Yams
For all the above food minus the Avocado (they can eat it raw through a mesh bag) the cooking process is simple. Peel, chop, steam/boil/bake, puree! That is it!
Each one may require a bit of water or cooking liquid to make a smooth puree but that is basically it.
So what do you do now with our homemade baby food?
The easiest way I have found is to use ice cube trays and freeze it.
Once they have frozen overnight just store them in a Ziplock labeled with the date and what it is.
They last frozen for about a month or a week in the fridge.
Because Michaela has to set herself aside from her brother she is not taking to food as quickly as Marty. This leads to a lot of food on her, the chair and her bib.
For her baby shower we got a hand full of cute little bibs. As adorable as they are they are just too small. So in order to keep her clothes clean and not have to undress her, I used a few bibs that my mom made Marty as a template to make some for her.
Not only are these bibs big enough to cover her they are made from reclaimed jeans. The same jeans in fact that I used to make the skirt for her as a newborn. These super durable bibs are great for little ones all the way up though toddlers Marty still rocks his from time to time.
The Hot Pink and Green Bib is fashionable and function with its daisy applique. Keeping your princess prefect for meal time and later.
Your Rock Star will chow down and rock out with black flames and gray skulls.
