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3/29/2016

About Baby Food - do you know what your little one is really eating?

I recently wrote a story for the Atlanta Journal Constitution about baby food. When I started the story, I was going to write about how the Happy Family company recently became the first company to sell baby food in clear pouches so that you can see what you're buying. After doing some research, my story changed. Baby food: Is what you see really what you get?

I was shocked to learn that companies like Plum Organics and Gerber use fillers like apple puree and apple sauce in their food. For example, the first ingredient in the Plum Organics Raspberry Spinach and Greek Yogurt pouch is apple puree! I (naively!) assumed that since it was Raspberry Spinach and Greek Yogurt that those were the ingredients.

I usually make Jacob's baby food, but sometimes I switch to store-bought pouches, either to give him new flavors and spices that I don't know how to mess with, or to give him purees that have a better, smoother texture than what I can make at home. (I worried about stuff like small seeds in fruits and husks on corn.) But the thing is, if I make his food, I'll write on the container "squash, peas, and carrots" because that's what I put in there.  If I buy squash, peas, and carrots from a baby food company at the store, I expect it to just be squash, peas, and carrots.

That's not the case with some companies. Now, I know if I had just taken a second to flip the pouch over and read the ingredients, I would know that. And trust me, I'll be doing that any time I buy baby food pouches in the future.

What really stinks about this is that, since starting solid foods, Jacob's had a couple bouts of constipation. After doing some reading online, I learned that the biggest culprits for baby constipation are the ABCs - apples, bananas, and cereal (or carrots) so I decided to try avoiding those, or at least limiting them, and offering Jacob new stuff.

The problem is, most of the new stuff that I gave him from a pouch contained apples anyway, even though it wasn't the name of the food on the pouch. (Like the Raspberry Spinach and Greek Yogurt.) So I was trying to avoid giving him apples, by giving him new flavors in store-bought pouches, and because I didn't read the labels, gave him apples anyway.

I will definitely be more careful about what I buy in the future. And I'm definitely going to keep making my own baby food!


3/17/2016

About Being Fearless

Fearless.

That's #BabyGoodwin in a nutshell.

Fearless, or maybe crazy.

He's been crawling since before Christmas, and now he's everywhere. Up the stairs. Cruising from the couch to the coffee table to the end table. Lunging from one table to the next.


We got him a walker. The first few days he wasn't a big fan. He would roll himself backwards, which freaked him out. And then, like everything else, once he got going - he's been moving. It's crazy. I think the walker has inspired him to be even more adventurous than he already was.


He crawled from my husband's lap onto the coffee table. He grabbed the top drawer handle in the kitchen and planted his foot on the bottom drawer handle to start climbing. Crazy kid.

We've baby proofed as much as we can. Our baby gates just arrived from Amazon so we can put them at the top and bottom of the stairs.

I have a feeling he'll be walking pretty soon...

and I'M FREAKING OUT.



3/02/2016

Shop Shout-Outs

I wanted to take a minute and spread the word on some of the mama artists, entrepreneurs, and business ladies that I've been lucky enough to become acquainted with!

A friend of ours does personalization and embroidery. She's made a onesie, bib, stroller blanket, and Easter basket for Jacob. Check out Babbalucci!



I purchased a teething necklace from Little Teether and Jacob loves it. They are now selling their products on Amazon! (But if you order from the Etsy shop, the packaging is so cute and thoughtful!)


I also got Jacob a "Lenny" doll from Jessica Dolls. They are so freaking cute!


I recently won two giveaways on Instagram and received a bunch of cool stuff from the following shops:

Stellamamma (teething necklace)

 
Dream Owl Druzy (earrings)

Heather's Homemade Essentials (teething and calm baby oils)

Parker & Co. Baby  (Puff Addict t-shirt)


My Little Earthlings (body butter)

Earth Meets Water (soy candle)



Owl You Need is Scrub (body scrub, body butter, bath salts)

Iris Rose & Co (bib and paci clip)