French Toast Sticks

Do you want some this? NO
Do you want to have a sandwich? NO
Do you want to try some banana? NO
....This was almost every meal time once Inga was around 18+ months. 
Once your child starts to eat real meals and doesn't live off of random shit thrown in front of them it can be a bit jarring. I know, for me, it was a bit of a transition between that time when I just let her "play" with her food and gave her lots of choices, to switching to giving her real food that really she needed to start eating. 
I don't think that Inga is all that picky in comparison to other kids, but I do think she has her quirks. She still is not a big meat eater, other than some chicken tenders and the classic summer sausage. She has recently started to venture in the realm of fish. Whoa now...settle down there miss foodie. 
Since we still make her meals for daycare, I needed to try and come with meal ideas for her so that the daycare still thought I was a good mom that didn't just give my child the same thing every time she went. I am sure they already find me to be an inconvenience since she is the only child in the toddler room that doesn't eat what the daycare serves. 
I saw a recipe for French Toasts sticks in Pinterest a while back and I thought I would try it. The hard part with Pinterest is that there are no reviews for these recipes and I wasn't really in the mood for a "nailed it" moment. I looked up recipes for french toast with good reviews and used that recipe instead. 
It isn't all that complicated and if you make french toast regularly then you pretty much got it covered. This post is moreso just to give an idea of a food item that you can make that you know what the hell is in it that you can feed your little nugget. 

I use about 7 slices of white bread - sue me - You could use the wheat bread, but the wheat bread we buy has seeds all over it and she was not having those. 
Milk 2/3 cup
Vanilla 1 teaspoon
2 Eggs
Cinnamon to taste
Powdered Sugar to taste

When I make the mixture, I just use the vanilla, eggs, and milk. Cinnamon does not mix with just liquids and what you will find is that the first slice you make would be like the Youtube Cinnamon challenge if you tried to mix the cinnamon. 
I dip the slices in the mixture and put them in the pan and then I sprinkle the powdered sugar and cinnamon on the slice. Works pretty slick that way. I use the powdered sugar as just a little bit more sweetness to entice the monster to feed. 


My monster isn't too keen on the crust and so after I make them and they are cooled, I get to enjoy a bit of the fruits of my labor by cutting and eating the crusts. Then I cut them into 3-4 strips and put them in a ziplock bag and freeze. Done and done. 

Wanting healthy baby food doesn't make you a nut

Hear me out here..there is doing your best to give your baby healthy food and there is ONLY GIVING YOUR BABY ORGANIC LOCALLY GROWN SUSTAINABLE NON-GMO NO MSG (did I miss some) FOODS. 
I am not judging parents in either direction because everybody's lives are different. Some parents have multiple kids and a successful day consists of getting food in their belly and they are still alive by bedtime. There are also those parents who feel that giving their child anything that is packaged or processed is a sin and anybody that doesn't follow suit are terrible parents. 

I think many parents project or feel defensive when other parents do things differently from them and they believe that those other parents are judging them because they are not doing the same thing. We can call that a form of mom-shaming. It's a prevalent disease in the breastfeeding/formula world as well, but that can be a whole other post from me. 

I know I am weird and I know that I may do things a bit outside the box, but that is me and everybody is different and unique in their own way. We are all in this together and it takes a village to raise children breastfed, formula, lunchables, broccoli, and all. 
Phew, enough of being self-reflective and shit. *falls off soap-box*

My husband and I (mostly me, let's be honest) have decided that we want to try our best to make sure Inga gets the most natural and whole foods that we can possibly give her. Does that mean that she can't try cake with frosting on her birthday coming up or have some fruit juice with her lunch? No, but the difference is that the cake will be a carrot cake my mom will make with some homemade whipped frosting and the fruit juice is just orange juice with no extra sugar. 
That is key and that is the main thing we follow when choosing store bought food for our little nugget. What are the ingredients, can we actually pronounce them, and are they ingredients that we can buy in a store. My last blog post focuses on this a little bit when her daycare provider tried to get me to give her the food they feed the other kids. 

There are so many choices nowadays to give your baby a healthy meal made with whole foods and many household names are even jumping on the bandwagon.
Here are some of Inga's favorite food items that don't make us cringe when reading the ingredients. They are easy to get and not expensive at all!

1. Sprout Organic Foods pouches

I discovered these pouches when I was trying to find something for Inga that had whole grains in it since she was not having regular oatmeal. I found some pouches that were fruit and oatmeal, quinoa etc. They are so delicious and she LOVES them. The ingredients are all organic (meh don't really care) but the best part is that they are just regular foods with no presservatives or anything I can't pronounce. 
She really loves the Peach Berry Oatmeal & Quinoa, and the Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal ones but she eats pretty much all of them. They are available at Diapers.com in packs of 5 for around $10.99 or you can buy some flavors at Walmart. I would definitely give these a try. 


2. Beech Nut Just Naturals jars - I was purchasing some diapers online and they sent a sample jar of Pear and Black Cherry to give a try. I was skeptical but when I had a look at the ingredients it was just that: pears and black cherries. There may be one or two that have a bit of lemon juice at the end of the ingredient list but they are just as their name says - Just Naturals.  Boy are they yummy. There are certainly some odd combinations (Pineapple, Pear and Avocado huh?) but they are really good. We tend to share it as she is eating it. They sell these on Diapers.com as well and Walmart for about a $1 a jar. 

The next few are not baby specific foods, but they are foods that Inga really likes. 
1. Simply Balanced White Cheddar Cheese Puffs - These are the Target brand that is replacing the Archer Farms brand I think. For some reason I cannot find these online anywhere but the ingredients are basically just a corn puff with real cheese on them. Here is a nice document from Target describing this brand and what they include and won't include in their foods. Oh and they are gluten free so my mom can touch them too haha. 

2. Mcvitie's Digestive Biscuits - If you have never had these, you need to go get some and try them. I grew up eating these anytime I went to Denmark to visit family and they are absolutely delish. Oh and I suppose Inga loves them too. They are really soft so they mush up really nicely when she eats them. The ingredients are not organic and they do have some sugar in them but there is no hydrogenated fats and no corn syrup. To be honest though, even if they did I would still buy them for her as she loves them. You can also try Hobnobs from the same brand and they have oats added as well. They are yummy too. 

3. Greek Yogurt - Inga cannot get enough greek yogurt. If she sees us take the container out of the fridge those little legs start pumping and she starts pointing. She even loves just plain greek yogurt and my mom cooked up some blueberries to make a sauce and mix in. You could also mix in some of the Beech Nut Just Natural jars into the yogurt to give some flavor. We occasionally give her some of the flavored greek yogurt but since it does have lots of sugar we don't that often, which does not seem to bother her as long as it is yogurt. Greek Yogurt is something great to add to their diet because babies around a year old need about 15 grams of protein a day. Breastmilk, if they are getting about 20 ounces a day, is only about 8 grams of protein. A cheese stick can make this up, but a cheese stick every day can probably be a bit constipating so it's nice to mix it up. 

Here are a couple tips on picking out baby food. 
1. When reading ingredient labels for baby food, or any food for that matter, remember that the ingredients are listed in order from most used to least. So if you have a baby food pouch where the last ingredient is lemon juice, they probably added it to give a bit of tartness or acidity to offset something else. I tend to just glance at the first 3-5 ingredients in the list and if that isn't proceeded by a bunch of chemical names I am sure the food is pretty good. 
2. Another thing about reading the ingredient labels for baby food is to read what the flavor is for the food itself. I have found a lot of pouches (Plums and Ellas) where the flavors are something like pear, blueberry and spinach but the first ingredient is apple. Some companies use apple as just a filler item and that is ok to a fault. You don't want to give your child pouches, thinking they are getting a variety of fruits and vitamins from those fruits when the main first ingredient is apples in all of them. 

Just remember if you don't give them those bad foods then they won't know what they are missing. 
What are some foods that you feed your kids that are limited ingredients or healthy?

Starting Solids: Holy S*** Time Flies

Just as the title says...holy s*** time flies. Yeah I suppose when you are having fun or just busy. 
So this weekend we are starting solids...dun dun DUN!! I, for one, am beyond excited. It is something new to do with Inga and it changes up the routine. It also is another step in knowing that she is growing and we haven't ruined her yet. 
We made the decision to wait until she was 6 months old to start with solids. After doing some research I read that delaying solids can help curb allergies, among other things. Allergies run in my family. My dad had them and I have them. However, they are not food related but rather environmental. 
The longer you wait to introduce solids to your baby, the better their digestive system has to properly develop to handle those solid foods. 
A couple signs that your wee-one is ready for solids:
- Develops an interest in what you are eating or reaches for your food. We call that pulling a Big Roger, which is an inside joke, but cute either way. Inga tries to Big Rog us all the time. 
- They can sit up pretty much on their own in a high chair. You don't want them falling forward or wibbly wobbling all over the place. 

I will do another post with an update on how it is all going but here are some of the items that I got to prepare for Inga's venture in the great wide world of real food. 
We plan to do all the food ourselves so she won't have to endure Beef Barley Pea Dinner baby food from a jar...just...ugh. It doesn't seem all that hard and we only plan to do purees for a little while before she can start just eating regular food. 
But remember - FOOD IS FUN UNTIL THE AGE OF ONE :)

1. Mumi Bubi Starter Set - This came with 2 trays with curved bottoms so the cubes slide right out. Haven't used these yet, but plan to when she is eating stuff to freeze. 

2. IKEA baby bowls - For how flipping cheap they are, why the hell not. They are like $2 for 6 bowls. 

3. First Years Flatware - These are great and super cheap. She has been chewing on these for the past couple weeks so she doesn't choke. 

4. Stokke Tripp Trapp set - This was my crazy splurge. The high chair is ungodly expensive along with all the attachments for it. But of course I ended up getting a great deal on it and got the infant set and the tray for free. She has been sitting in this for a while now and just loves it. 

5. The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet - This is a great book, but its a little pointless in some aspects. I mean, do you really have to have an entire recipe for mashing up avocados? I am not kidding...the recipe is 1/2 of a ripe avocado. 

6. Tommee Tippee Easy Roll Bibs - These seem like they are going to be awesome. They are really soft and can roll up easily. Nice silicone for easy clean up to and the tray catches some of the yum yums, much to my puppies sadness I am sure. 

One item that isn't there but I think will be fun and helpful is a printable calendar. I am going to write on the calendar what food she is having each day. We plan to introduce a new food every 3 days just to see if she has a reaction to anything. 

So these are the items that we got for starting solids. Since I am a FTM I am sure some of these are pointless but I got it all cheap so shutup. :)

What are some items that you used or are using for feeding your spawn? Leave a comment. 

 UPDATE: Check out my newest blog post for how our first day went and a video!

Are you Crunchy or Just Plain Crazy?

Being "crunchy" can be a good thing. You have made the decision to live a more natural lifestyle for yourself and your child. You try to keep as many chemicals away from your child that are not necessary and try to keep things more simple. It can also be completely and absolutely ridiculous. Have you ever heard of "Elimination Communication?" Oh you haven't?? Look it up. 

This post is just about Crunchy Products. I might do separate posts regarding a crunchy lifestyle with your child, but she is still a bit young. 

As I have stated in previous posts, we are fairly crunchy. I suppose you could say we are Crunch Lite. Diet Crunch. Crunch Zero. We made the decision to be crunchy because I have lots of skin sensitivities and allergies and she could possibly be the same. There was no, "Well I think this will make us better parents than you."

The main difference between a Crunchy parent and a Crazy Crunchy parent is whether or not you are willing to be realistic. A Crunchy Parent knows when convenience beats out being able to tell people that you are completely crunchy. 

There is an episode of South Park called Smug Alert where Kyle's dad buys a Prius and therefor thinks he is better than everybody else He had such a smugness about himself that he would bend over and smell his own farts. This is what Crazy Crunchy parents remind me of. They feel so pious and righteous that they chose this route and you didn't so that makes them better than you. They are what my dad and I like to call "Virtue Sluts." 

Being crunchy doesn't have to take a lot of time or money. It can be simple changes that can really make a difference. Instead of using the cheapest of something, read the ingredients and go with the better quality. Even though Johnson & Johnson is the go to brand for babies, there are many other options out there with more quality ingredients that don't break the bank. 

Johnson and Johnson Bedtime calming lotion:

Water, Mineral Oil, Glycerin, Carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, Ceteareth-6, Fragrance, Methylparaben, Sodium Citrate, Stearyl Alcohol, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Citric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Lotion:

Aloe barbadensis (organic aloe) leaf juice extract, Olea europaea (organic olive) oil, Aspalathus linearis (organic rooibos) extract, Calendula officinalis (organic calendula)flower extract, Olivoyl hydrolyzed oat protein, Cetearyl alcohol, Glyceryl oleate, Glyceryl stearate, Kosher vegetable glycerin, Vanilla planifolia (organic vanilla) fruit extract, Butyrospermum parkii (organic shea) butter, Citrus sinensis (organic sweet orange), Xanthan gum

Wouldn't you rather put the item on your baby where you can pronounce all of the ingredients? 

We use diapers that are made with fewer chemicals, perfumes, and dyes. We use Earth's Best and Bambo diapers. Bambo was named the greenest disposable and is completely hypoallergenic. These diapers are a little bit more money than regular Huggies or Pampers, but if there is one crunchy item you could spend money on, it would be diapers. 

We wanted to use cloth diapers, but only if I was going to be a stay at home mom. We barely remember to do our own laundry so I don't see washing diapers every 2 days realistic for us. I also couldn't find a daycare around here that allowed cloth diapers

either. Think about it, those diapers are on your babies bottom 24/7 so don't you want to keep as many chemicals away from soaking into your babies skin. Disposable diapers were invented only back in 1948, so what the heck did our grandparents use? Cloth diapers. Disposable diapers are for convenience and are not required to be able to raise a baby. At least that is the way I think about it. Cloth diapers weren't for us, but that didn't mean we weren't going to try and get the next best thing. 

Another item that we wanted to be as crunchy as possible on was our wipes. You are wiping these all over their bodies so we wanted to get something fairly chemical free. We use DermaH20 Water Wipes. They are made in Ireland and they are 99.9% water. Now a very crunchy parent might use cloth wipes with either bottled water or a solution of essential oils. We had planned to use cloth wipes for when she switches to solids and her poo is more firm, but the water wipes are just so great we don't really feel the need. We use the cloth wipes we bought for when we give her a bath. Etsy is a great place to find cloth wipes, if this is a route you want to take. 

A big ticket crunchy item would be diaper cream. Desitin is like a crazy crunchy parent's nightmare. They might run away screaming if you come towards them with it. The reason they respond like this is the Zinc Oxide. The Zinc Oxide is what repels the moisture from your babies bottom therefore keeping diaper rash either at bay or resolving it. Apparently there have been studies stating that some chemicals can soak into the babies skin. It also is very hard to wash off so Crunchy parents that use cloth diapers can't use Zinc Oxide as it makes the diapers non-absorbent. 

We didn't really care about the Zinc oxide so much as just the chemicals in general. We use the Grovia Magic Stick. I mention this in my Newborn Essentials Post and I have to say that everybody that has used it mentions how ingenious it is as a product. Use it every diaper change and she is 4 months old and never had diaper rash. 

Laundry detergent is another area where you can crunchify your life. If you are concerned about allergies or if your baby has sensitive skin this would be an area to focus on. We use a biodegradable and hypoallergenic laundry soap and it actually works really well. We use Charlies Soap for all of her laundry loads. Rockin' Green is also another great laundry detergent specifically made for cloth diapers, but can be used for baby clothes in general. It is a bit more expensive and this is the detergent that a Crazy crunchy parent would say in a smug tone," Oh...you don't use Rockin' Green? That's unfortunate." 

There are also some items that you really can't go partially crunchy on. They are pretty much all or nothing. 

Breastmilk - I might do an entirely separate post on breastmilk, but this is definitely an item that is crunchtastic. I am proud pumper and I will pump until I can pump no more! Formula is not the same and those that say it is are naive. This is probably one of the few items that we are Crazy Crunchy about and don't mind saying it. 

Bottles - All bottles are legally supposed to be BPA free now so unless you want to be crazy crunchy and use like glass or steel bottles, you should be good to go. 

Clothes - Ooooh this is Organic cotton..that means it's better right? Psch I don't know but I do know an organic cotton onesie on Amazon is like $30. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Vaccines - It is entirely your prerogative on whether or not to give your child vaccines and this is quite a controversial crunchy topic. I don't have a dog in this horse race so I don't have much to say about it. All I know is that Jenny McCarthy waged a whole vaccine war using her "autistic" son who she just came out and said was never autistic...

Leave a comment on some of the items that you use that make you crunchy!