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Hayden and Brenna started to eat real food when they turned 6 months old (Jan 31st). We had dabbled with food in the past (avocado and rice cereal) and once the novelty wore off decided that it was too much work and too messy. But now its time to take it seriously - this is our story.
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Although I plan on making my own food, our first food came out of a jar.
This jar: 
Okay, MAYBE that jar. Honestly, I dont remember the brand. Had I known at the time that I would be documenting our experience, I would have noted the brand. I would have taken pictures of the babies eating the peas. But alas, I mindlessly just picked up some jars when I was perusing the baby section at Wal-Mart.
Why peas?
Because they sounded gross. I want my babies to like ALL vegetables...if I started them with something really yummy, like an apple or sweet potato, then would they ever like peas?
Our eating adventure began with a rocky start...each baby had their own issue.
Hayden didnt understand the swallowing aspect.
Brenna didnt understand the putting the spoon in her mouth aspect.
It took us too long to finish our first jar of peas. I had to throw it out. We managed to finish our next jar in just 3 days. We finished the third jar in only 2 days. The fourth jar in a single day. It may sound like improvement but each day there was more and more pea on their bibs (and everywhere else). I was so desperate to get rid of the peas that I was practically flinging globs of it off the spoon. From what I could tell, the babies enjoyed the peas. They seemed excited when they saw the spoon, and there was no gagging or puking.
I called it success.
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Published
Feb 23, 2010 08:40 PM
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It was bananas.
I WANTED pumpkin to be our next food choice. I had a few reasons for this:
1) It already came pureed, straight out of the can. How easy is that? 2) I love pumpkin. My logic was that since I loved it, they would love it.
I was really excited for this new food and I practically skipped to the grocery store. You can imagine my disappointment when there was not a single can at the grocery store.
I wanted to do pumpkin next soooo badly that I went to another grocery store. And another.
Go figure, there is no pumpkin in the entire state of Arizona.
So, determined to never buy a jar of baby food again (because I must be super cool and make my own), I chose bananas.
This time we decided to not even bother with the spoon and used mesh feeders. The babies LOVED it.
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Published
Feb 23, 2010 08:50 PM
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I managed to score a can of pumpkin from Kathleen, since she stocked up.
The babies didnt seem to love pumpkin on the first try, but nor did they seem to dislike it.
We tried 4 variations of pumpkin: 1) Plain 2) with cinnamon (they preferred this over plain) 3) with rice cereal and cinnamon (they liked this as well) 4) with banana, rice cereal and cinnamon (this was their favorite)
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Feb 28, 2010 02:20 PM
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Although we already did avocado weeks earlier, we did it again with more seriousness. Plus, I had some super ripe avocados that I needed to use.
Babies enjoyed the avocados as much as anything else.
We did 2 variations:
1) plain (either mashed with a fork, or diced into small chunks) 2) with banana
I think the babies prefer anything with mixed with bananas.
They did better with the mashed than they did with the chunks. They dont understand to swallow chunks of food yet so they just spit it out.
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Feb 28, 2010 02:25 PM
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DING DING DING - we have a winner!!
The babies LOVED sweet potatoes! I simply baked the potato in the oven, peeled it, and then mashed it with a fork. Although it was thick, and there were some small chunks, babies were able to eat. And eat they did! They gobbled the sweet potatoes up with passion.
We did no variations - just plain potato.
Our high chairs arrived during our sweet potato era so not only our the babies now eating real food, they are sitting in real chairs. Go babies!
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Feb 28, 2010 02:28 PM
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I think the babies liked carrots. We tried them in a few different ways:
Day 1) Pureed, ate cold Day 2) Pureed, ate warm (Hayden did NOT like warmed up carrots. He kept his mouth closed and refused)  Day 3) Pureed with potatoes and peas Day 4) Pureed with potatoes and peas, seasoned with Garlic powder - this was a favorite. Babies love garlic!!
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Mar 7, 2010 10:48 AM
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These are rice crackers.
Hayden loved it.
Brenna couldnt figure out how to eat it.
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Mar 7, 2010 10:48 AM
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And we have another winner!!!
The babies really surprised me by liking green beans. I guess because they are not sweet? Maybe in part because I am not a huge green bean fan?
We tried them on a whim when we saw them on sale at the grocery store. Yes, I cheated and bought the canned variety (Gerber, to be exact). It was 4 cans for $2. Also, the texture of fresh green beans isnt one that seems like it would puree well? However, now that I know they love them we will try them fresh next time.
It also put it in perspective that the babies didnt care much for carrots. They tolerated the carrots, but they didnt show the same excitement that they presented for the green beans.
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Mar 7, 2010 10:51 AM
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I say "!!!!!!!!!!!!" because broccoli is one of my all-time favorite foods. That's right - not just favorite vegetable but favorite FOOD. It's right up there with creamed-filled donuts and cookies. I have always loved broccoli, even as a small child. My parents used to take me to a cafeteria-style restaurant where you select your protein and then choose 2 sides. I would choose 2 sides of broccoli.
I know broccoli is a hard to digest vegetable, and often not even recommended for babies under 10 months. But since I love it so much, and since its one of the healthiest foods on the planet, I really wanted to introduce it as soon as possible. But we coupled it with easy to digest veggies instead of eating it straight. We'll re-visit this vegetable on its own in a month or two.
The babies didn't disappoint me - they loved, loved, loved, LOVED broccoli!! They ate it up like they would never eat again. For the first time I had to re-fill the bowl because they demanded seconds.
We made two batches of purees:
1) broccoli w/ potatoes and peas 2) broccoli w/ potatoes, peas and sauteed onions (of course the babies love onions...who doesnt?!)
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Published
Mar 7, 2010 10:58 AM
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Brenna was asleep and I was hanging out with Hayden. I was eating huge, absolutely succulent strawberries and it just seemed wrong not to share. It was the sweetest thing he has ever put into his mouth so of course he loved it. He gave me a look that said, "Mom, I dont know what this is in my mouth, but I sure do like it."
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Mar 12, 2010 02:24 AM
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 This was actually something David and I ate for dinner (along with goat-cheese bacon wrapped chicken but we decided the babies were not ready for that).
I sauteed zucchini and yellow squash in a tiny bit of olive oil with some garlic. Then, I seasoned it with freeze-dried basil and just a touch of freshly ground pepper.
The babies loved it.
I am really glad that I didn't go shy with the garlic - I used 2 cloves. The babies seem to be huge garlic fans.
My dad and Kathleen helped feed the babies their first meal and we had a picnic outside.
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Mar 12, 2010 02:38 AM
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When Brenna woke up before Hayden during a morning nap, it seemed only fair that she get to experience a strawberry as well.
She loved it. In fact, she loved it so much she cried when I took it away.
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Published
Mar 13, 2010 07:23 PM
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