(Sunshine Squash in the glass container, Butternut waiting to be baked, and Sweet Potatoes up top)

If you have a little one who is getting ready for baby food anywhere in the near future and you are thinking of making your own, now is the time!  If you act quickly you can still get the tail end of some of summers bounty, and all the yummy things of fall to preserve for your babe.

My kids practically lived off of squash during their early months.  Our newest baby is still a couple months from her first bites, but I realized that if we want to feed her the same types of things we need to get moving.  We love making our own baby food because it is fresher, cheaper, and closer in taste to the real fruits and veggies than the jarred foods.  I think this is important because they won’t have any rude surprises when you discontinue the Gerber and move on to the real stuff at the dinner table.  I also tend to believe that home made baby food cooked just enough and then frozen is likely to hold more of its nutrients than the stuff that sits on the shelf.

When the twins were little we delayed offering things like rice cereal (some people even say to skip this altogether) and fruits and veggies for a bit.  By the time we introduced them they could have almost had soft cubes.  Even though they were soon ready for soft cubes and nibbles, I loved having the convenience of having the purees on hand.  They were so great to add to many other things to pump up the nutritional quality.  We frequently added purees to plain yogurt (whole yogurt when they were little for the fat) and oatmeal.   Don’t feel like you have to make a huge variety of purees… just a few will do.  You can soon supplement with whatever fruits and veggies you are feeding your family.  You can even buy a few jars at the store if you feel like you are lacking in variety.  We tired to start with things that were not too sweet so that they would not turn their nose up at vegetables later.

The Salem farmers markets only run through the end of the month, but after that you should still be able to find some organic produce in season at the grocery stores.

Bake or steam, mash or food process, and freeze!

Alertness, Attentiveness, Availability, Benevolence, Boldness, Cautiousness,Compassion, Contentment, Creativity, Decisiveness, Deference, Dependability, Determination, Diligence, Discernment, Discretion, Endurance, Enthusiasm, Faith, Flexibility, Forgiveness, Generosity, Gentleness, Gratefulness, Honor, Hospitality, Humility, Initiative, Joyfulness, Justice, Loyalty, Meekness, Obedience, Orderliness, Patience, Persuasiveness, Punctuality, Resourcefulness, Responsibility, Security, Self-Control, Sensitivity, Sincerity, Thoroughness, Thriftiness, Tolerance, Truthfulness, Virtue, Wisdom

Another great resource for teaching character qualities is this PDF from the Duggar Family titled Operational Definitions of Character Qualities.  Good stuff.

(This post was written way back on Tuesday Sept 21st)

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to get back to my blog. Well, Okay…I really can.  You would too if you knew what it has been like around here.  A very wonderful sort of crazy!  A lot of updating needs to happen.  Baby girl needs a proper introductory post, but I did not want that to keep me from just hopping back on here.  Currently typing during baby girls first forced nap.  I fed her a snack, walked her up the stairs and put her in the swing, and walked away.  This only has the possibility of working because she was already tired.  This is the first part of operation ” Put Baby on a Schedule.” Because dude, (reference for my fb friends) it’s time!  Nothing scary here, just hoping for at least two naps a day from her (which would be a HUGE improvement), less “snacks” and better “meals,” and some contented play time here and there.

Update- SHE HAS BEEN SLEEPING FOR 2 HOURS! I may have happened to try to put her on a schedule on one of her occasional sleepy days, but I will take it!

Here is an approximate schedule/order of operations I will head towards when possible.  I will adapt it as I see what is working best for her and us.

Dry cereal and cup of milk while watching a show for twinners (if up earlier than I want to start official breakfast.)

Breakfast for mama

Play a little

8:00-Make and start real breakfast and put twins in chairs.

Feed baby while kids eat

Get kids more food, continue with feeding

8:45 Get twinners diapers changed and dressed and put in play area to play.

Change and dress baby

Go into play area with all 3 to read and play

9:15- Give baby “snack”

9:30-Put baby down for morning nap upstairs

Put a load of laundry in and lay one out

Play with the twinners, work near them, or do a craft or project with them, give out vitamins, go outside, etc.

Feed baby when she gets up

Change twins diapers

Prepare lunch

11:50 or 12-Feed them lunch

Check diapers

12:50 or 1 Nap

Feed and try to get baby to take another nap based on when she got up from morning nap

Try and rest (rare)

3:00 (at least 1 kid almost always up by this time)

Diapers 3 X

Snack for tots

4:00 Activity or play area time

Prepare for daddy to come home

Dinner (feed baby)

Play, go for family walk, run errand, etc.

Check on laundry status

Have kids help pick up

745 ish-Feed baby after getting her ready for bed while daddy helps get twinners  ready for bed

devotions and then kids down

9:00 Usually down time for us

10:00 Babies last feeding

10:30 (or a bit later) BED