Someone's Teething.....

Yes. Thing Two is teething.
The poor thing; he's drooling all over the place, pulling at his ears, and chewing everything he can.

He's also very fussy.
There's always ibuprofen and baby orajel, but I like to try and do things naturally.
And that's where this comes in!

Cantaloupe And Mint Granita For A Teething Baby

• 1 ripe cantaloupe (if it smells like a cantaloupe and isn’t rock hard than it’s ready)
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

Directions:

Slice cantaloupe in half. With a spoon, scoop out seeds and discard.

Scoop out the meat with a spoon (or chop with a knife) from both halves and place the “meat” in a food processor or blender. Squeeze any juice remaining in the shell into the food processor.
Coarsely chop mint and place in the food processor with the cantaloupe.

Puree until very smooth.
Pour into an 8″x8″ dish and place flat in the freezer.

Every 30 minutes take the puree out of the freezer and scrape with a fork. Drag the fork in rows in one direction of the entire dish. Return to the freezer. Repeat process until the puree has reached a icy flakey consistency (about 3 or so hours depending on your freezer).

Enjoy!

    I just feed this to Thing Two like I do his baby food. He pushes it all around in his mouth. It also makes the spoon very cold, and I place that on his bottom gums where the teeth are coming in.

Baby Food: Bananas

One of the easiest baby foods that you can make is bananas. No cooking required!

Wait until your bananas start getting soft with brown spots. Then, simply peel and place in your blender or food processor.
Puree until smooth.
Done!

         Thing One's favorite baby food was peaches. Thing Two's favorite is definitely bananas!
         Unfortunately he can't have them too often, because they can cause constipation.

Baby Food: Peas!

Thing Two must be going through a growth spurt. Instead of eating just one cube of baby food like he normally does, he's eating 4-6 cubes!
He's gone through all his food, and so I have to make him more.

Sweet peas are a great first vegetable for young babies. They aren't as bitter as some other veggies can be, and turn out nice and smooth. Here's how I make them.

What you need:

3 cups frozen peas

water as needed

Directions:

Steam the peas. 
I put them in a microwave safe bowl and cover them with water. I then microwave them for 3 minutes.

Use a slotted spoon to scoop the peas out of the bowl and into a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Add water as needed to make the peas to a desired consistency. I add the water that the peas were cooked in.

Pour the pea puree into an ice cube tray and then freeze.

Baby Food: Peaches

One food that I could always count on Thing One to eat when he was a baby was peaches. They were definitely his favorite, so I was excited for Thing Two to try them.
I never made baby food for Thing One, he just ate the pre-packaged glass jars.
It definitely feels nice to be able to know exactly what is in the food that Thing Two is eating.

Ingredients:

Peaches
water as needed

Directions:

Place peaches in slow-cooker. I used frozen peaches, with no sugar added.

Cook on low 6 hours or on low 3 hours until soft.

Pour peaches, liquid included into a blender or food processor. Puree, adding water to get desired consistency. I add none.
Pour into ice cube trays to freeze, or in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Thing Two likes his peaches just as much as his brother did!

He's also eating teething buscuits now. We think he might be teething, the way he wants to bite everything. Thing One got his teeth at 6 months, and Thing Two is 5 months now, so it'll probably happen soon!

Butternut Squash Baby Food

Thing Two did so well with the apples, I decided to add in another food. Squash has a lot of the nutrients that are in vegetables, but tastes more sweet, like fruit. It's also very easy to cook!

Ingredients:1 butternut squash

Directions:
Cut the top off of the squash. Then cut it in half.

Scoop the insides out with a spoon.

Place the squash in a roasting pan and add about 1 inch of water.
(Notice the bite marks in the upper right-hand corner of the right squash? Thing One was trying to eat the "peanut".)

Cook in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes, or until the skin starts to pucker and the squash is soft.

Remove from oven and let the squash rest until it is cool enough to handle. Then, use a spoon to scoop the flesh off of the skin.

Place squash in a blender or food processor and puree. If you'd like you can add water to make it thinner.

Once the squash is pureed, spoon into an ice cube tray to be frozen, or into an air-tight container.
This one squash made 3 trays, or, 42 servings.

Homemade Baby Food!!

Thing Two is getting older, and bigger! Which means his appetite is getting bigger as well. After nursing he sucks on anything he can, asking for more, more! He will eat his cereal but doesn't really care for it. Since he is almost 5 months now I decided to try some baby food.
First, I took some canned peas that had no added salt or preservatives. Just peas and water. Since they were so soft all I had to do was heat them up in the microwave, and then mash them with a spoon. Thing Two loved them! He would move a spoonful around in his mouth for awhile, and would then swallow. A second later, a little bare pea casing would pop out of his mouth! Since he has no teeth he can't really chew those, but it's amazing that he can suck all the pea off of them, and then spit the little shell out!
Next time I make him peas I will strain them, to get all the shells out.

After a couple of days I decided to make apples for him. I originally wanted to make Butternut Apple Sauce, but it's best to introduce a new food on it's own, and then wait a couple days to make sure there is no reaction. So I started with the apples, and will try the squash later, eventually working my way up to mixing the two.

Here is the recipe for Baby Food: Apples.

Ingredients:
Apples
Water
(Once your baby is 8 months old you can introduce them to spices such as allspice or vanilla. A lot of children have a sensitivity to cinnamon, and can break out in hives or get a bad rash, so make sure to watch carefully when introducing that.)

Directions:
Peel and chop apples. Place in slow cooker. Add about 1/4 cup water if you'd like, I added no water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

Once cooled you can either store it in an airtight container and use within 3-5 days OR you can freeze it! The best way to freeze baby food is to place it in an ice cube tray, and then put it in the freezer. Once the cubes are frozen, pop them out and put them into a labeled freezer bag.
Each cube is 1 ounce, or 1 serving. Easy!

I used two gala apples, which gave me 8 servings. 7 I froze, and one I used right away.

To thaw, place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 15 seconds. You can also thaw a cube over night.
After thawing a cube I added some fresh breast milk and some rice cereal.

Frozen Cube

Thawed Cube

        To prove how big Thing Two is getting, this is him wearing a pair of his brother's pajamas!! He is 4 months old, and this size 2T outfit fits him perfectly!