Hello 6 month old – meet your new friend Mr. Solid

Our goal was to go 6 months of exclusively feeding Isaac breast milk – and woohoo...we made it! It was quite amazing to see him develop into this healthy and strong little boy, solely on breast milk, but we were ready to introduce him to “big boy” food. We started with the typical rice cereal, and then moved on to some of the green veggies – like green beans. So you’re asking yourself, how’d he do? Well, warm green beans puréed with a smidge of water – not too bad. Sure we got the occasional face – you know the look, “ hmmm, I’m not too sure about this, but hey, I’m hungry, so I’ll eat it.” Day 2 of green beans, not so much. Maybe the fact I tried to serve them cold had something to do with it...oops, on my part – rookie mistake, but I’ve since learned a few tricks!

Veggie introduction number 2 was squash – another one of those I’ll eat it cause I’m hungry looks, but we managed to get those down for a couple of days. Then I thought, let’s try sweet potatoes. He’s bound to like them, their sweet for God’s sake. Boy was I wrong – he wanted nothing to do with them, at least at first.

Here we were a few weeks into solids...poo taking a WHOLE new form – literally, and we figured OK, let’s try some fruit. Bananas were a huge hit, and homemade apple sauce was another fan favorite, so I decided it was time to Google a few recipes and see what suggestions were out there. And then I found it – a baby mousse to die for, well, not really, but Isaac sure loved it! Three simple ingredients: bananas, avocado and a little breast milk – wahla, gourmet baby food! I was so proud of the concoction; I was having everyone try it (full ingredients disclosed). It wasn’t until later in the day that it dawned on me the slight weirdness of people other than Isaac sampling a creation that included my own bodily fluids, but hey – they were supporting my efforts by serving as the tasting committee. Talk about a committed family! We have since reintroduced sweet potatoes, and he is in fact a fan. Carrots are another one of his favorites, and now that we’ve passed the hump of trying foods one at a time to check for allergies, I’m mixing together all sorts of combinations.

The best part has been being able to make his baby food on the weekends, and storing it in the freezer in these nifty freezer trays – a.k.a overpriced ice cube trays with a cover, but hey – they work, and I get to make his food, not to mention the simplicity of quantity control...three cubes, a little warm water, 3-4 tablespoons of oatmeal and bon appetit!

With the 8 month mark right around the corner, we’ve begun to experiment with a new food group – meat protein. Last week’s milestone was creating a baby version of our dinner – Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. I cooked our meal as usual, but before seasoning the meat, I cut off a couple pieces of the chicken breast, cooked those through, then boiled a few pieces of pasta, threw in a couple pieces of broccoli, removed everything from the heat and tossed it all in my nifty bullet blender with a splash of breast milk; blended everything for 20 seconds and tahdah – dinner as a family.

I’m not opposed to store bought baby food, but shoot, with the bullet blender as a new staple in the Devlin household, it’s pretty darn easy to make Isaac’s food at home. And honestly, maybe some of my motivation comes from fulfilling the piece of guilt that floats around inside of me from time to time because I’m not a stay at home mom. Either way – it works, and I love knowing EXACTLY what my son is eating.