Family Pictures!

ATTENTION!

After ten months of being a family, we finally had family pictures done. MackenzieKiley did an awesome job and just posted our 'sneak-peak'. Go check it out!

www.mackenziekileyphotography.blogspot.com

More to come once our discs are done!

My Take on Baby Food

I don't think of myself as one of those mothers who "knows" everything. I'm NOT one of those mothers who studies and reads up on all the latest baby nutrition tips etc. However, baby food has always bugged me.

(Plus, Holynd pediatrician is really pro-table food. He thinks baby food is a scam.)

*

Here are my problems with baby food:

*

1. Expensive. Baby food is expensive, especially when your baby is eating four to five jars of the stuff a day. Plus, you have to store it and live in fear that one day the stack of baby food jars in your pantry will come crashing down leaving you with a big mess.

2. Not enough variety. I wanted Holynd to taste everything and really love food. Baby food has maybe five or six different ingredients used 56 different ways. Apples, Apples and Blueberries, Apples and Bananas, Apples and Oatmeal, Oatmeal and Bananas, Bananas and Blueberries, Bananas.... And the list goes on...

3. You have to sit there and feed them bite by bite. Yes, this was fun for about the first two weeks and after that... it got boring for both Holynd and I. Either I couldn't feed her fast enough or she was too distracted to be fed. It was not fun! Plus, at mealtime I want to eat my own dang meal!

*

I read up on other solid food options and there really was only one other way. To make your own baby food. Yeah, to sit and steam as much as you can, freeze it and store it.

*

My problems with making your own baby food:

*

1. I have to make it. Who wants to spend an entire day steaming carrots and green beans every month or so. Not me!

2. You still have to feed them the mush.

3. You still have to store it!

4. From what I read, there are only so many veggies you can do this with... NO VARIETY!

*

Com'on! Is there an easier way?!

*

ENTER THE CHEESE-GRATER!

*

Yes, the cheese-grater. With the cheese-grater, Holynd gets a ton of different fruits and veggies (i.e. Carrots, Cucumbers, Celery, Tomatoes, Peaches, Pears, Necarines, Pineapple, ALL KINDS OF APPLES, Raddishes, Turnips, ALL SORTS OF SQUASH, Corn, Blackberries, Grapes, Cabbage, Califlower, and the list could go on). She can eat them raw or cooked and the conveniently-small-cut-up pieces let's her feed herself (Which she loves). I feed her the same store-bought produce Matt and I eat. No jars, no storing, no cooking, just nice fresh raw fruit and veggies for my Hol-e-bean.

*

Now, I haven't thrown cooking for her completely out the window. She also eats some of whatever Matt and I eat. Usually I chop it by hand or throw it in the food processor for a quick spin. Small enough for her to eat, but big enough pieces so she can feed herself. I also keep a few containers of homemade chicken-goolash and homemade chicken noodle soup in my fridge for her. I just reheat it on the stove, it takes a total of six minutes. She also LOVES brown rice, plain, nothing added. Just steam and serve.

*

You may be thinking that this just leaves me with a huge mess. NOPE! Her face stays relatively clean because of the lack-of-mush baby food and the pieces she leaves leftover get sucked up by my vaccum hose. Takes five seconds to clean up. Seriously.

*

Confession: Every once in awhile I let Holynd have a can of Campbells' Chicken Noodle Soup. She loves it, it's her splurge. I think she likes the whole egg-noodles. I make my homemade chicken noodle with egg white-only noodles, so the whole egg-noodles are a nice change. Plus, their stringy and easy for her to slurp. I also love Baby Mum-Mums Rice Snacks for church. They keep her really entertained and they don't make a mess. She also loves Cheerios & Raisins/Craisins for a snack.

*

Baby food was fun for a starter, but I have officially moved on.

*

That's my take on baby food.

Teach Them While Their Young!

This is Holynd R Peterson, PhD. Ask her anything about outcomes research, death panels, neoclassical policy in regards to healthcare, the pros & cons of deregulation of healthcare markets and she'll be able to brief you. She was the reason I did so well on my Health Economics mid-term.

PS! I found the CUTEST Halloween costume.... I'm keeping it a secret until Halloween (Hopefully, secrets and I don't get along).

PPS! I bought Holynd a 94 cent pumpkin head to carry around on Halloween. She won't let it go. It went to the doctors office with us today. Everyone kept staring at me and the baby with the big pumpkin head in her lap.

Check Out!

Check out my mom's blog for posts about Tevyn's Homecoming!

She looked amazing!

www.tannerfamily2009.blogspot.com

:)