Oink!

After all of my breastfeeding heartache, G&I have been on a roll, for months producing.... well, rolls, baby rolls, if you will. I've know the time was fast approaching to start purees, but that was just terrifying.

While we had been out to eat and even at home G was taking extra interest in our meals. Specifically towards the end of last week there was a lot of grabbing.

Now, don't lecture me on my food choices. I am under pre-pregnancy weight and am taking advantage of all those extra calories I get to consume thanks to breastfeeding. Are there extra pounds to be shed, YES! But for now, I am going to eat like a boy and have ice cream or cookies every night until this well dries up! Judge if you must, I don't care.

Back to the topic at hand: I had severe denial... until about 2 weeks ago. I finally started researching on good old Pinterest, zoning in on posts in my Moms Group on Facebook, and of course, picking the Bestest's brain.

To be honest, even after research it was terrifying. But thanks to boredom of being off work and lazy around the house, I set out to Kroger with a basic grocery list in hand. I found this post, this one and this one to be most helpful for me.

So here I was... I had the cutest sous chef and we got busy

Go Big or Go Home?!

In my first go I made: Pears, Butternut Squash, Carrots, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Avocado, Sweet Potato, Apple, Blueberry, Peas and Mango purees. I mean, might as well bang it all out, right?

It was so easy. I tag teamed everything with my Beaba and with traditional steaming/blending with my Ninja. I had bought square ice cube trays, but did not get enough for this haul, so I had to wait overnight for them to freeze, put in ziplocks and finish the rest. Noted for next time: don't be so ambitious.

"What did you say?!"

"You're going to give me real food?!"

"Shut your mouth!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I would love to say I had a strategic way of deciding the first veggie I was going to give him, but the real answer is, I showed J the first puree I made (peas) and he dipped a finger in and gave G a taste, and he liked it. From all of my research I knew that we should only give him one new fruit or veggie every 3-ish days, so when the time came peas it was!

I also had originally wanted to wait until G was officially 6 months (Friday) but J had a good point. We have a doctor's appointment that day and maybe it would be good to have a few days under our belt so we knew what to ask her.

G could hardly stand the anticipation

We gave him 2 ounces in a bottle first, then we set out with the peas and 1 tbsp. of oatmeal

He was a natural. It was clear that he was ready (I may have been late to start the solid train in his eyes) He took the spoon away from J and was pretty much feeding himself at one point. J quickly learned to not leave the bowl on his highchair - oops! #parentfail

If we thought Layla loved him before.... enter the best days in her book.

Overall, super successful. I am excited to see how he likes other foods, to talk to the doctor about how much is too much or too little, and to start to be able to give him nibbles of what we are eating. This new stage will be fun & much less overwhelming than it seemed in the beginning!