Feed me! Feed me!

Come here so I can eat you

I wrote about how much Harrison is enjoying solids, so I thought I would let you know what some of his favorites are. He will slurp down as many bananas as we will give him, but he’s also loving some of the combinations Mommy has made for him. Most of what Harrison eats is just steamed and pureed and features one fruit or vegetable. When I do combine things, I have been using recipes from a cookbook I picked up in the bargain section at Barnes and Noble when I was pregnant entitled, Organic Baby and Toddler Cookbook. I think the edition I have is an older one (hence, bargain section), but I would highly recommend it.
The two recipes I have used are for Baby’s First Vegetables and Bananas and Berries. The first recipe calls for carrot, potato, peas and corn cooked in olive oil and then pureed. Harrison loves this! The second recipe has you boil water and then add bananas and any seasonal fruit with some rice cereal (for thickness). I have been adding blueberries. Since it has bananas, Harrison cannot get enough of this.
I have been doing all organic with Harrison, so most of the fruits and veggies I buy frozen unless I see a good deal on fresh, in season produce (like a bag of carrots for .89 at Trader Joe’s).
Oh, and I must say, I know you can just as easily use a food processor or blender but I splurged and bought a Beaba Baby Cook baby food maker. I was hoping to get it for a shower gift, but that didn’t happen. It has been well worth the investment in just the 2 short weeks I have had it. I love that it can steam and then blend and there is little cleanup. David was all about the purchase after watching me cook the veggies and then blend them and then take the entire blender apart to clean it. The Beaba baby cook is awesome because it’s an “all-in-one” and all I have to do is run it under some water and occasionally do a descale with vinegar.
Anywho, those are just a few of Harrison’s favorites right now. We just introduced avocado yesterday and he loved it! That doesn’t surprise me at all, though. I love how my little man loves to eat :).

*I was not asked or paid to gush about the Beaba Baby Cook. I was just talking about my own personal infatuation with it.

Roly-Poly

Our little man is rolling over! Can you believe it! I can hardly believe all the growing up he is doing as of late. In the past week, Harrison has started to hold himself up for longer periods of time when on his tummy, “talk” constantly, roll over (as of yesterday), and eat solid foods. Man oh man, this is all happening way too fast for Mommy! (Can’t you tell. That’s my 3rd exclamation so far :).) My co-worker, Jamie, says Harrison is going to be like her 2 little men and eat us out of house and home. I don’t doubt it. I couldn’t give him his cereal fast enough last night. He was trying to grab the spoon, had both hands stuffed in his face sucking cereal off of them, and even leaning over trying to get cereal off his bib :). Good thing he’s not picky. And, of course, he needed a bath after all of that. I just love it, though.

Keeping it solid

We fed Harrison his first bit of cereal today. He’s been showing some signs of being ready: sitting up with minimal assistance, increased head/neck control, hungry even following big feedings… At the suggestion of one of the OTs I work with, I decided we should take the plunge into solid foods. I picked up some organic, whole grain rice cereal and organic baby applesauce (for flavor) and whipped up some lunch for little man this afternoon. Most of it ended up on his bib, but he handled it quite nicely for the first go around, and he tolerated the cereal nicely. I know that the AAP is now suggesting 6 months for starting solids, but I’ve done my research, and I also know from my work environment, that some babies are ready earlier than others. I think Harrison is one of those babies. He’s already on his way to 14 lbs and he is so strong. Plus, he’s always acted like an older baby (he thinks he can do so much). We’ll keep trying a little bit the next few days after his regular feedings and see if he takes to it. If not, we’ll just wait a little bit longer.

Eating In

We are almost one week in to our venture of eating in for the month of February. So far, so good. Yesterday could’ve been a deal breaker, but we managed to hold it together. We were in Chapel Hill, a 45 minute trek, to meet with the photographer who did our maternity photos and Harrison’s 2-month photos. We were at her studio until 11:30 and could’ve easily decided to get lunch while we were there and convince ourselves that eating out once was better than several times. We didn’t do it, though. We made the drive home before eating lunch, and for that I am proud of us. We’ll continue to post updates. I’m hopeful, but am curious about how many of you think we will make it, so I’ve posted a little survey.