Category: food

First Foods

Baby Annette is starting baby food already!  It is so much fun to have all the kids gathered around, enjoying her reactions, and cheering her on.  I am excited about letting her explore new foods over the next few months and feel like we are on a good path to setting her up to be a good eater.

Here are some of the feeding items we are using right now:

Food Before One course by Rachel Coley from CanDoKiddo – I’m a huge fan and have learned so much from this OT mama’s blog and books.  Two of my kids are picky eaters and while this may or may not be a fault of my parenting, I’m always open to learning more and starting things off as best I can.  I took this course just before Annette started solid foods and really liked the baby-led spoon feeding approach she offers.  Definitely worth checking out, even if this is your sixth baby to start solid foods.  😉

across the top row:

Beaba baby spoons – great for feeding baby and for hand over hand learning

Olababy spoons – perfect for baby to hold herself

NumNum spoons – great size for baby hands, fun for dipping

Kidsme mesh feeder – easy to clean, great for teething on frozen fruit

middle row:

Replay divided plate – nice deep sides that help baby scoop up foods

EZPZ mini mat – mini fits on the Ikea Antilop high chair we have

OXO glass storage – nice storage for homemade baby food

Beechnut Organic baby food – this is our fav!  no added ingredients

bottom row:

Avent sippy cup – nice sippy cup without too many parts, I’m hoping to only use this for a few months and move on to open and straw cups

Bjorn cups – we’re using these even now!  The sturdy bottoms are great.

Squeasy Gear resuable pouch – easy to clean, great for a smoothie on the go

ChooMee pouch toppers – a must if you are planning to use pouches

other:

We really like the Ikea Antilop high chair for being easy to clean and inexpensive.  I am going to work on making a footrest for it as Annette gets bigger.  I have a command hook on the back for hanging bibs.

Our bibs are all homemade with snaps.  I hate velcro in the wash.  I traced around a bib I liked and made a dozen or so.  We also like the bibs made from kitchen towels.

yourkidstable.com – great resource for picky eaters

superhealthykids.com – food blog with kid friendly healthy ideas

My No Nonsense Yet Very Thorough Baby Registry


I enjoy looking at Baby Registries, shopping for all things baby, reading reviews of baby products, and making my own lists of baby things I love.  As a mom of seven, I’ve used lots of baby gear over the years.  For most of that time, we lived in a very small two bedroom house.  While I love baby gear, I have had to be selective about what I choose.  In addition, I have no tolerance for low quality, redundant, or potentially toxic things.  My choices reflect hours of research into current recommendations, reading real parent reviews, and much care in finding the most non-toxic products available.  I am not working with a large budget, so if something is pricey its because it has proven its value.  I tend to choose high quality, functional items that will serve our family for many years.

Of course you may make different choices than I have, but that’s the beauty of reading things like this.  Every situation is different.  Hopefully I can help you be informed and make the best choices possible for your family and precious little ones.  Let’s get started!

Breastfeeding:

  • Bravado Bodysilk Seamless nursing bra, 4-5 in various colors – my all time favorite nursing bra
  • 2 sleep bras – mine are from Motherhood Maternity
  • 4+ Undercover Mama nursing tanks in several colors – I wear these all the time, instantly turns anything into a nursing top.
  • lots of washable nursing pads with PUL backing – much more comfy than disposable
  • nursing clothes – I have a few tops and dresses from Latched Mama and Momzelle.
  • The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book
  • Gia nursing pillow – worked much better than Boppy for me
  • Earth Mama Angel Baby nipple butter – softer than lanolin, works amazingly well
  • nursing cover with boning across the top – need to be able to see baby in the beginning days
  • Covered Goods nursing cover – better all around coverage, I use this all the time. 
  • a couple of nursing necklaces – keeps baby from getting distracted or pinching mom! Try MommyNecklaces.com or PaxOrganicsforBaby.com
  • SmartyPants prenatal vitamins – tastes great, contains methylfolate, keep taking these even after baby is born
  • Tip: Get some OsoCozy prefolds and sew a strip of cute flannel down the middle.  You will have super absorbent, super cute burp cloths!

Starting Solid Foods: 

  • Ikea Antilop highchair – love the price point, also love that it doesn’t have potentially toxic padding with nooks and crannies that catch all kinds of crumbs
  • mesh feeder – great for teething babies or beginners to solid foods
  • ChooMee pouch toppers – protect baby’s gums from hard plastic pouches, also allows baby to hold the pouch himself because it won’t spill out, love these!
  • BEABA first stage silicone spoons – others were too small, too big, too bumpy, these are just right
  • Olababy silicone spoons – great first spoon for baby to hold
  • Ikea Fabler kid size silverware – great price, we have an entire drawer full
  • RePlay divided plates – just deep enough that you can serve applesauce, yogurt, etc in the sections.  Also, the deep sides help babies who are learning to feed themselves.  Made of recycled non-toxic plastic.

Sleeping: 

  • 4-8 aden + anais muslin swaddling blankets – multi-purpose must have! The Aden ones from Target are cheaper but smaller and rougher. Splurge for the nicer ones if you can.
  • aden + anais dream blanket – thicker than the swaddles, I love the cotton as opposed to most synthetic polyester blankets that aren’t breathable.  Works in a toddler bed also.  
  • aden + anais sleep sack – comes in a thin and a thicker, warmer style too.  
  • flat place for baby to sleep – We are using a DockATot with Annette.  So far she seems to sleep well in it and it keeps her close to me, but away from blankets and pillows in our bed.  An Arm’s Reach Cosleeper or a crib pushed up next to the bed are other options we’ve used in the past.
  • Pack N Play – for naps downstairs (bedrooms are upstairs), traveling, a safe place to play, etc
  • Dream On Me pack n play mattress – so much more comfy than the standard pack n play bottom. One of my kiddos slept in a pack n play for several years on this mattress
  • 2-3 American Baby Company organic sheet, pack n play size – soft, great quality
  • American Baby Company waterproof mattress pad, pack n play size – soft, great quality
  • video baby monitor – We didn’t need this in our tiny house but I use one now.
  • white noise machine
  • Twilight Turtle – My kids love these; we own at least four of them.
  • nightlight or clip on reading light – for night time nursing and diaper changes

Diapering:

  • Seventh Generation wipes
  • a few packages of Huggies or Seventh Generation Newborn and size 1 – for the first weeks, overnight, and when out and about
  • Cloth diapers – Some of our favorites are Blueberry Newborn Simplex, Green Mountain Diapers prefolds and workhorse fitteds, and then BumGenius one size pockets with snaps once baby is bigger.  
  • kitchen trash can with flip top lid and 2 pail liners – for cloth diapers
  • diaper bag – my current one is Vera Bradley
  • diaper rash cream – look for a cloth diaper safe one if you’re using cloth, Grandma El’s is working well for us.
  • wet bag – for soiled diapers or wet clothes, etc

Bathing:

  • Earth Mama Angel Baby shampoo and body wash
  • Skip Hop Dunks bath toy – Skip the toxic rubber ducky and go with these BPA free, Phthalate free, PVC free dunks. They are great for pouring water over baby when washing hair and rinsing.
  • baby bathtub – we have The First Years brand
  • one pack of baby washcloths – nice for getting tiny baby wrinkles clean.  I skip the baby towel and use a regular one.

Health and Safety:

  • Baby ComfyNose nasal aspirator – yep, gross, but it works amazingly well
  • Exergen temporal artery thermometer – so easy to use
  • Cleanwell natural hand sanitizer spray – keep in the diaper bag and use often
  • baby scale – We usually have a rough start with nursing so I like being able to see that baby is gaining weight well.
  • baby hairbrush and comb
  • tiny nail clippers
  • outlet covers
  • amber or hazelwood necklace – these are adorable and we’ve seen some good results with these, especially the hazelwood for Annette.

Gear:

  • Babyhawk Mei Tai
  • Solly Baby Wrap – lightweight wrap, so nice for the newborn days
  • Ergo
  • Floppy Seat shopping cart cover- possibly my most used piece of baby gear.  This one is padded and covers the whole seat, also works on restaurant highchairs.  Keep it in the car!
  • bouncy seat – limit use of this in favor of floor time though
  • infant car seat
  • stroller – loved my Graco single stroller, we use a Graco sit n stand type double now
  • dresser/ changing table, changing pad and 2-3 covers – our current set-up is a dresser/ changing table combo.  We’ve also done without a changing table in the past and just stored baby’s clothes and diapers in a few available drawers in my dresser.
  • rocking chair or glider
  • exercise ball – some of my kids hated rocking but my bouncing on the ball while holding them was soothing
  • Note: I don’t recommend a Rock N Play, swing, jumperoo, doorway jumper, or exersaucer based on OT recommendations for infant development.  Also, they’re expensive and huge.

Clothing:

  • Zutano fleece booties – these actually stay on!  Check your sizing, baby won’t need them in the summer, but for colder weather these are fabulous.
  • Robeez leather shoes – soft soled is best for baby’s foot development, we use these once baby is mobile
  • Baby Bling headbands for a girl – super soft stretchy bands that don’t annoy baby
  • Note: We use lots of footed long sleeve jammies, soft cotton dresses or one piece outfits, a sunhat or bonnet in the summer, a package of onesies…  I don’t recommend registering for clothing as people will buy it for you anyway and you will quickly have too much.

Toys:

  • Ikea Leka baby gym – fabulous price compared to other baby gyms.  I LOVE that this one isn’t overwhelming with lights and music and too many patterns.  Skip Hop also makes an adorable wooded theme play gym that is nice and calm.
  • Jellycat stuffed animal – these are the softest most adorable stuffed animals.  I choose just one for each of my babies.  🙂
  • Pottery Barn cotton crib quilt – I love having one of these to lay on the floor for baby.  I go ahead and buy the matching crib sheet and pillowcase too so that once baby is in a toddler bed they will have a nice set. 
  • Begin With a Blanket by Rachel Coley – written by a mama OT, best collection anywhere of unique ways to play with your baby and ensure their healthy development – I’m a huge fan of this book and her blog candokiddo.com
  • Soothies pacifier – the only pacifier we use. The shape of the nipple (wider at the base) helps baby to suck with lips flanged out, in a way that mimics breastfeeding. Other pacifiers allow baby to suck with lips closed down, not helpful when you are both trying to learn to breastfeed.
  • Wubbanub – trust me on this one!  When baby spits out her paci, this little stuffed animal keeps it from flying across the room or bouncing on the floor.  
  • books – lots of board books, Indestructibles books, Usborne books, cloth books, any and all books!
  • Oball – so great for babies to grasp, lightweight, stuff it with scraps of fabric for baby to pull out
  • a few wooden toys – Haba Kringelring, Haba Rattling Max, Haba triangles
  • RePlay links – safe plastic, use for play or to connect toys to the car seat or stroller
  • Wee Gallery black and white cards
  • Lamaze Freddie the Firefly – a favorite!
  • Winkel by Manhattan Toys – this is a favorite easy to grasp toy
  • Comotomo teether – perfect lightweight size for baby to grasp

Questions about anything you see (or don’t see) listed?  Feel free to comment!  If I think of anything else we love I will come back and add it.  What are some of your favorite baby registry items?

Shopping List by Orchard Toys

Colin just got this fun little game for his third birthday.  Shopping List by Orchard Toys, found on Amazon.  Players take turns choosing a face down card, if it matches their shopping list they get to put it in their cart.  If not, it gets returned face down for another player to find (similar to Memory).  Colin is so excited when he finds a food on his list, its hilarious!  “Yay!  Carrots!!!”

We did go ahead and buy the fruits and veggies booster pack.  It comes with two carts and shopping lists and the needed groceries.  The backs of the cards match the others, so the pieces fit right in as far as playing the game.  I have a couple of very picky eaters – getting them shopping for fruits and veggies is a good thing, even if it is pretend!   This allows six people to play (four people can play the original game without this booster pack).

veg

Game pieces are all super sturdy; I can see this being a hit for quite some time here!  We’re having fun with this and just wanted to share it with you all!  Do you have a favorite game?  Do tell!  🙂

Costco Trip- gluten, dairy, and egg free

Here is a photo of our Costco haul today.  All of this is gluten, dairy, and egg free except for the Udi’s bread and the Kind bars.  Sorry about the sunny spot- I was trying to snap the photo and get this all quickly put away because it was dinner time, baby needed to nurse, and three out of my six kids were screaming.


tortilla chips, popcorn, veggie straws, cheerios, multigrain chips, bread, frozen: chicken breasts, chicken nuggets, blueberries, strawberries, pineapples, and mixed fruit, peanut butter, juices, raisins, garlic stuffed olives, applesauce pouches, fruit pouches, protein powder, black beans, gummy kids vitamins, batteries, jam, toilet paper, body wash, cooked chicken, turkey, avocados, strawberries, pluots, and a folding wagon not pictured! 🙂

What are some of your favorite Costco items to get?

Summer Menu – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

When I finally buckle down and do it, meal planning saves me so much time!  For a while I was creating a new menu each week but with the baby coming I decided to make a simple one week menu that we could just repeat for a while.  This one has fairly simple meals that are family favorites and I don’t have to think too hard about making them.

I’ve planned breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an afternoon snack.  Now to be quite honest, some weeks we stick to this better than others.  Most mornings I just have the kids get up and make peanut butter toast for breakfast.  If we have leftovers I often opt to use those up and skip cooking another meal.  Of course I do things like forget to thaw the meat or avoid making dinner till the last minute, so we switch meals around if we need to.  Overall though, this is what I have on hand each week.

I also created a master grocery list to go along with my menu.  On the left hand side are things that we usually need (milk, butter, etc) as well as specific items needed for the meals I have planned.  On the right hand side are things we usually have on hand but that I may want to double check and be sure we have.  As for the Costco items, we make a big trip every three weeks or so.  I shop once a week at our local grocery store for everything else.


Both of these documents are laminated.  I hang the weekly menu on my refrigerator.  The shopping list stays in my cookbook binder.  When I am making my grocery list for the week I will refer to the laminated list and check the pantry and fridge to see what we already have and what we need.  I usually don’t need to buy this whole list at once.  Sometimes I’ve grabbed extra spaghetti sauce, etc on sale so we don’t need any.  Other times I’ve skipped a certain meal the past week so we still have items needed for that.

Last week my husband offered to do the grocery shopping for me.  I knew that we needed quite a few things so I just made a copy of the list and crossed off what we already had and added on a few random items like lightbulbs that we needed.  Yay for a mostly ready made grocery list!

Now as far as the allergens, we are free of gluten, dairy, egg, sesame, cranberries, pecans, and walnuts.  I do have eggs on my list becuase I make scrambled or hard boiled eggs for some of the kids.  Others of us eat a lunchmeat sandwich or something else at that time.  The kids eat Udi’s bread which contains egg; I eat Sami’s Millet and Flax bread (no egg, it does have a cc warning for gluten though).  We use corn tortillas, Tinkyada pasta, smart balance butter, cashew milk…. Questions about anything?  Feel free to ask!