Let's dig in!

Double peas face!

August and Jude are almost 8 months old.  We started Rice Cereal at 4 1/2 months.  They took to the spoon very well.  Within a few days, they would catch a glimpse of the spoon and were all smiles- these boys knew it was chow time!  We started solids at 5 months.  I decided to introduce all the first veggies first before moving on to fruit.  We did carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash, peas, avocado, zucchini, green beans and pumpkin.  We then moved on to banana, pears, apples, peaches, nectarines and plums.  I decided to get a little exotic and tried mango and papaya and they loved it.  I know Earth's Best makes a 1st prunes.  I gave that to Juliet when she was about 6 months old- she gobbled up the entire jar and was up ALL NIGHT the same night with horrible gas.  Poor baby, I was not repeating the same mistake with the boys.  I keep a jar on standby for constipation emergencies which we happen to have none of.

The only food they both did not enjoy was avocado.  At the advice of a friend, I tossed an avocado and a banana in the blender, mixed with about an ounce of formula and put it in the fridge.  The result is a cool, creamy snack that Jude and August love.  We call it "ice cream" for baby foodies!

Once they had all the "first foods," I started making simple combinations:
Veggie/veggie combos like zucchini/carrot or peas/carrots, and sweet potato/peas.

I mix alot of fruits together and give it to them for breakfast with single grain or multi grain oatmeal:  apple/peach/pear or any combination of three fruits.  They also enjoyed peachy/plum.  I found that if I add half a banana it gives the puree the consistency of a smoothie and is a great "dessert" after lunch or dinner.

Fruit/veggie combo like sweet potato/apple (pear or peach).  Zucchini/apple was a big hit.  These combinations also included some new foods like spinach (mixed with butternut squash) or white potato/corn or green beans/brown rice.  A kind of random but major hit was sweet potato/apple/mango.  I had a small amount of each left over so I steamed them together and the boys really enjoyed the puree!

At our 6 month check up, our pediatrician told us to start giving one protein each day.  I was EXCITED!  Now I could really start getting creative.  We started with organic chicken breast, ground turkey and ground sirloin.  Split peas are a great protein too.  I buy them from Whole Foods in dry bulk and cook them on the stove in boiling water for 30 minutes.  I then puree them with a variety of veggies and there you have it: baby split pea soup!  I usually give them their protein meal for lunch.

Happy lil eaters: August on the left, Jude on the right.