Now this is a challenge...

So, we're off to phase II.....

I'm referring to the baby feeding world. Of course, like everything else with Lola, it seems that Clay and I are making things a little more difficult on ourselves. You may ask how....feeding a baby is not difficult...all fun times right? Well, I hate to make a general statement but once again (like with cloth diapers) we're trying to stick with what we really believe in and no matter how hard and inconvenient it may be we're hell-bent on not taking the easy way out.

What does this mean? Well, as we all know, organic foods are the best for obvious health reasons. They cut out all the pesticides and other chemicals that our dumped on our foods and they are supposedly more nutritious. So if we try to do this for ourselves the obvious choice would be to do the same for Lola too. Great news!!! There are organic baby foods out there. There aren't a ton of choices but they're out there.

Since coming back to work, I've had to supplement some formula (I'll talk about this more in another blog...challenges of breastfeeding are never-ending) so we use Similic organic. Actually, I know this is bad but Parent's Choice organic (generic) is the exact same and half the price. For cereal we've been using Earth's Best (http://www.earthsbest.com/) which is also organic. Last week we decided to start Lo on "real" baby food. Yea!!! I've been using Earth's Best jarred baby foods which seems great so far. No additives which is key and Lo loves all of them....carrots, peas, pears, sweet potatoes....eats them all no problem. It appears she is not going to be a picky eater...thank goodness!!! But, in order to give Lola the "best" and the most nutritious meal possible, we've decided to take it even one step further.

What does a step further consist of??? Well, we're going to make her baby food. Due to the lack of time in our lives, this will be a definite challenge but we're going to make it work. So I just invested in my first book which is "Top 100 Baby Purees". It's great and provides so much variation. I'm telling you...some of the recipes in there are totally gourmet. If restaurants like Craft or Local served baby food purees, this is what would be on the menu. So, this is new for us and we're going to try it out.

Now, before you think "these people are crazy", I should say "I know". But, here's what I think....we as mothers put so much time and effort into breastfeeding for 12 months b/c it's the "best" for our babies so why wouldn't we continue doing the "best" most nutritious thing for our babies when they start eating the "real" foods. It can't be more inconvenient than breastfeeding can it?

Of course, Clay and I know this is a steep challenge so we're being realistic about it which means we'll most likely have to supplement some already prepared foods here and there. So I'm doing my research on this too. "They" say frozen organic foods are the most nutritious. Problem here is that they are very pricey. The Tasty Baby foods (http://www.tastybaby.com/) are suppose to be great but they run around $39.99 for a box of food. WOW...that is a big jump from .69 cents a jar. I'm currently on a search to find the right frozen organic food that won't break the bank. I hear Tom Thumb and Target both have a good brands but haven't had a chance to check into that yet. If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.

I forget about the Lil Sugar blog. I need to make a point to read it more often...has some good stuff at times. My sister-in-law, Molly, sent this link to me the other day entitled "Do you make your own Baby food?".

http://www.lilsugar.com/1810268?utm_source=lilsugar&utm_medium=email&utm_term=1810268&utm_campaign=email_friend&utm_content=link_2

Here's another good website I reference when I have organic questions:

http://www.organic-center.org/

Finally, as most of you know, we lived in NYC for 4 years and loved it. Miss it oh so much!!! Anyway, I try to keep up to date with things going on there. One thing I love about NYC is that they are very progressive. They now require all restaurants to put the calorie and fat count on their menus. How awesome is that. Can you imagine? We seriously don't realize what we're eating when we go out. Well, this changes all that. I recently found this article about it and found it pretty interesting.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25464987/

I have so many other good articles and research but I'll go ahead and stop here. Sometimes I get a little crazy with this stuff!!! But, I'll make sure and keep everyone in the loop on our progress with making our own food. Oh my...why do we take on the challenges????