one, two, three, four, five

I’m all about convenience and making daily tasks easy, simple, and fun. Since Evan and I go out and about a lot, many of these items have helped tremendously while we are at restaurants. All five items are things we use at home or on-the-go on a daily basis. Around 6 months of age we started the bibs, spoon, and place mat. Once Evan turned 1, we introduced the plates. The Nutri Bullet is something I’ve had for about two years and use for a variety of items.

I found the bibs on Amazon through a random search. There are many other brands that offer this same style which I’m sure are just as nice. I chose this particular brand because of the amazing reviews. We love this bib because it catches so much food while Evan eats, and it is super easy to wash. It is dishwasher safe, but most of the time I just hand wash it quickly.

The plates were found at our local Target store and cost just $4.98 for 3 of them! I love that they are made right here in the U.S. and are made from recycled milk jugs. Since we are working on using utensils, the deep walls of the three sections should help.

These spoons have been so wonderful ever since beginning solids. I think we will start looking for a deeper or larger spoon to hold more food pretty soon, but in the meantime these spoons have been great. They are perfect for starting solids and using with purees.

The place mats are disposable and are sold at Target in packages of eighteen for approximately $8. All four sides of the mat have peel away stickies to adhere to any surface. What I love about these is going to friends houses or restaurants and not worrying about leaving any residue behind on the table. Evan has a clean area to eat from and eventually can interact with the information drawn on each mat, such as shapes and colors.

Last but not least, our amazing blender! I’ve had many different types of blenders over the years and nothing has worked as well as this NutriBullet. It’s the pro 900 series, which means it has power… and lots of it! I wanted something that would chop up whole raw carrots along with anything that would be going in a smoothie. It has now turned into such a multi-purpose blender for us, with items such as smoothies, homemade yogurt melts, baby food, and so much more.

And… I’m back! Although this is a new blog that I’m still incredibly excited about doing, I’ve been on a brief hiatus. Graduated college, celebrated my 1st Mother’s Day & 1st wedding anniversary, 30th birthday, and Evan’s 1 Birthday!! It’s been a wild month of amazing celebrations and I’m so excited to just take it easy this summer with my little 1-year-old. Thought I’d kick things off with a brief post about Evan’s first experiences with baby food, what worked and what didn’t.

Since I was pregnant, I have planned to make most of Evan’s food in my own kitchen. Surprisingly, it’s been incredibly easy and takes about one hour each week (give or take) to plan 4-6 days of food for him (note: this changes around 12 months which I’ll write about in a future post). When Evan was 6 months old, I started giving him simple purees of single vegetables. The picture above is the very first day he tried carrot puree, which was a big hit. Pretty much everything we’ve given him up until now (12 months old currently), he’s enjoyed with the exception of avocado. Food allergies are something that I worry about, however we have fortunately had good luck so far.

I found a product on Amazon that I really wanted to try and since it was under $20, I thought “why not?”. So the Infantino Squeeze Station was quickly purchased. And we LOVE it!

This product is so simple and easy to use. I was able to cook up a vegetable, blend it up, and then press it into these pouches. Hopefully we are able to use this device for the next few years because of its convenience, especially when it comes to on-the-go meals. The one drawback that I wasn’t too thrilled about is having to throw the pouches away after one use. There are reusable pouches that are online from other companies that I do plan on trying down the road, but for now we are using the Infantino branded ones. What’s great is being able to spend just an hour or less in the kitchen and prepping a week’s worth of food for Evan. We go out and about a lot, making these pouches great for the diaper bag. They freeze well and can be stored for up to two months. We are raising Evan as a pescatarian, which means he does not eat meat but will eat fish. A great meal I discovered on Pinterest for the pouches included chickpeas, apples, sweet potato, and cinnamon. It was a big hit! Looking forward to the new 1-year-old ‘status’, as we move into more and more variety. Thanks for reading!

At the moment, I’m a stay-at-home mom to my 8 month old Evan. I am extremely grateful being able to spend so much time with him these first few years of his life. In May, I’ll have my bachelor’s degree in management and eventually will look for a full-time career.

I plan to write a few posts about his new feeding schedule and what foods we have introduced. I’ve been making all of his food homemade, with the exception of yogurt melts and “puffs” from Gerber’s. Life has been extremely busy lately and trying to maintain a balance between remodeling a house, raising a baby, learning and experiencing a new marriage, going to school full-time, volunteering, and more has definitely had its ups and downs. I chose to go forward with my blog at this time though, because I’ve had so many things I’ve been “itching” to share with others, as well as having this outlet for myself. It’s great at night to work on posts because I enjoy writing and it’s a treat for me after a long day.

Spending most days with Evan, we’ve developed a great schedule that seems to work very well at the time being. Here’s a typical day for us:

7-7:30 AM, Evan wakes up by talking to himself and rolling around. Breakfast consists of an 8 oz bottle of Earth’s Best formula which has been working very well since he was a month old (breastfeeding struggles may be a future post). We are working on starting solids, and Evan has tried quite a few things so far. Very soon I’d like to have him on the schedule our doctor recommends of three meals a day of “people food”. We do not stay in every morning for breakfast though, as some days we go out and Evan enjoys his new love of scrambled eggs.

8-9:30 AM, Evan is done having breakfast and time to play. We have a nice area in our living room that’s dedicated “Evan space” that has a foam mat we love, in addition to many blankets. We purchased these foam mats from Amazon. Unfortunately since purchasing them just two months ago, they are no longer available. Here is a link for others that look incredibly similar and I’m sure are just as great. Since the photo below, we have added even more blocks to create a much larger space.

9:30-10:30 AM, Evan takes his morning nap. Some days it lasts for 30 minutes, while others can go upwards of one hour. I know this nap will eventually stop when he gets older, based on what I hear from other moms, as well as the helpful Internet blogs and Pinterest I love reading. It took a while for us to stop the “swing addiction”, as Evan refused to sleep in his crib for naps. At night, he would always sleep in a still, non-moving crib, yet would not sleep like this for naps. I started him on the swing right away from birth, and therefore it developed into a habit for him as he got older. To finally break him of this habit, I plan to write a brief post on what worked (a great idea from lots of “googling”).

10:30-1:30 PM, Hangout time! I definitely like to get out a lot unless there is something major preventing me, like extreme cold temperatures, or just too much to do around the house. After having Evan I experienced a few weeks of the “baby blues” and being able to leave the house and take him even to a short breakfast was a lifesaver. Everyday is different, but our favorite activities at the time being are shopping, going out to eat, and walking. Once our beautiful Minnesota summer arrives, I’m excited to go out and bike/walk more with my little guy.

1:30-4PM, Bottle and nap time. Evan loves his sleep, so it’s great to have this time for his afternoon nap. Everyday is different of course, but we always have an idea when he’ll go down for the nap. I have always heard the phrase “babies thrive on consistency and routine”, so we try our best to stick to a schedule but still have fun and not get too uptight about timing.

4/4:30-7PM, Afternoon / dinner activities. Now that Evan is eating with us in the highchair, it’s great to have family mealtime with all of us at the table. Glenn loves to cook so a lot of the time he’s making the meals, but I do enjoy it occasionally.

Around 7/7:30 is when Evan will go to sleep after his nightly routine of bottle, books, and cuddle time.

It’s so surreal how everything can change so much and so quickly when it comes to toys, activities, feeding, and more with a new baby. I knew the time would go fast, but at just 8 months, so much has changed. I would love to write a post about newborn products that did and didn’t work for us during those first few months. It was so great reading and learning from other moms online what they enjoyed, along with acknowledging that every baby truly is different. Certain items I was told that I “had to have” just didn’t work out.

Hope everyone enjoys my blog. It’s a bit new at the time, but I’m just so excited to journal our life.