hungry?

Logan's new phase of eating is she wants to feed herself everything - this makes meal time a little challenging! We offer her a spoon to attempt to feed herself with a spoon - she has no interest, she just grabs the food off the spoon! Not everything is a finger food - but we are sure trying! It is important to me that she eats a well balanced diet, as well as a healthy diet. I am going to list Logan's finger food diet - It will help me keep some fresh ideas, and maybe if you have a little one, you can get some ideas too!

*Logan does eat other foods, this is a just a list of finger foods. She loves yogurt, and will willingly eat it from a spoon. We use YoBaby, and she loves it!
*Logan only has two teeth, so everything has to be pretty soft
* I will give a link to the brand of food we use if available - these are not paid advertisements, just links to the foods we use!

Vegetables: mostly canned, some fresh - let's face it...fresh is not always available or affordable. I do buy organic and no salt added if it is canned.
green beans - cut into small pieces
lima beans 
pinto beans
black eyed peas
butternut squash chunks
edamame (she loves them!)
potatoes (sweet/white: cooked, cubed - not mashed)
carrots (steamed, chunked)
puffet
green peas (not her favorite but she will eat them)
cucumber

Fruit (all fresh, served cold and chunked)
peaches 
pears
strawberries
bananas
kiwi
avocado
cantaloupe
watermelon
blueberries

Other (meats/pasta)
pieces of chicken
ham chunks
cut up hot dog (all beef, and peeled)
turkey chunks
pasta (whole wheat - and usually the larger shape - easy to pick up)
hummus (spread on bread - or a great dip for an older toddler)
whole wheat bread
rice
waffles
cheese
veggie fries - *favorite* We cut them into pieces and use them as a snack, or with lunch or dinner.
black olives


Snacks:
Jammy Sammy
graham crackers
chocolate cookies
fruit/veggies in a pack! - love these, they are great for on the go!
cheerios

Yes, occasionally when we go out she gets Mac n Cheese, or if we are having a dessert, she may get a taste, but generally, Logan does not eat sweets, or junk food. It is a personal preference for our family, and we will do our best to continue Logan on a healthy diet as she gets older. She does eat all of the above, and enjoys it!

I am constantly looking for new ideas, so please share some of your/your child's favorite foods!!!

All things Logan :-)

Logan is almost 14 months old, and growing like a weed.

She is still drinking formula from bottles. :-( We are keeping her on formula until at least 15 months. We will check her weight then, and see if maybe we can begin weaning. She doesn’t drink it from a sippy, because we are designating the sippy only for whole milk. There doesn’t need to be any confusion.

Logan does drink really well from a straw – and the straw sippy is where she gets most of her juice/water. However, we do use a regular sippy for whole milk because eventually she will have to learn to tip it up – just like a regular cup. She doesn’t seem to mind whole milk, so I am hoping the transition will be easy.

Logan eats mostly table food now. Occasionally, I still give her a puree, but that’s just to make sure she gets enough calories and a balanced diet. Her current favorite is a grilled cheese. She also really loves these – she is able to suck like it’s a straw, so she is a pro at it, and it’s great for her! I have ordered them from amazon – seems to be a bit cheaper than the store. We use them a lot if we are going out. They are also great for toddlers/older school age kids for lunch. They are healthy and taste great. I miss making her purees, but it is much easier with her eating table food. Most everything (except restaurants where we order for her off the menu, or at someone’s house) that Logan eats is whole wheat and organic. I am not sure what all I believe to be true about organic/non organic food, but I do know that I do not want Logan exposed to any additional hormones/pesticides. Therefore, when I have the chance, I buy organic.

She still takes two naps a day, and so far is showing no signs of needing to change that. She sleeps for 1-1.5 hours each nap.

She is doing great in therapy. We have been released from speech (for feeding issues) but will be re-evaluated for speech (for language development) at 18 months. Physical Therapy we are still going frequently. She cruises on furniture and stands at toys/furniture, but has yet to let go. They will monitor her until she begins to walk. She has left side weakness, and it will be important to make sure she walks properly. We were told previously that she may need a brace, so we will just have to wait and see. Otherwise, she is doing great!

By the way, if you are new to the blog/Logan’s story – click on her button in the right sidebar – it will tell you all you need to know!

O's

She loves her O's - stuffs them in her mouth handfulls at a time.

Do you think she wants more?

baking day

Sort of. Actually I did this the other day (I'll pretend it was today!). I LOVE making Logan's baby food. When she started eating solids - I decided instead of rice cereal, I would try her first food as avocado. Surprisingly, she loved it - and still does. It is probably her favorite. Avocado is packed full of healthy nutrients - and is a great first food. This website has a lot of great information about making your own baby food.

I usually buy avocado that is dark green and bumpy. You know they are ripe if they have a little give to them when you press on the skin. Too much give - and they are too ripe. I prefer the darker ones, for no particular reason :-)

Slice them in half - long ways. These happened to be beautiful avocado - this is what the inside should look like. Remove the seeds - obviously.

Scoop out all the inside - make sure to scrape the skin - Yum!

I used a fork and simply mashed until most of the lumps were gone. When Logan was younger, I pureed the avocado (with my Magic Bullet! Love that thing.) to make it much smoother. I also added liquid. I used formula, but you can use water. Puree to the consistency your baby enjoys! After it is done, it will keep in the refrigerator for a day or so. I personally do not like to keep it refrigerated, so I fill ice cube trays and freeze it. After it is frozen, I empty the portions (1oz per cube) into a ziploc bag - it keeps for months! When I want to feed it to Logan, I simply take a couple of cubes out, defrost, heat, and serve!

Logan's other favorite food is butternut squash. It is so easy to make and very tasty; not to mention very healthy.

I try to buy squash that is pretty skinny on the top and large at the bottom - it should feel heavy.

Slice in half lengthwise - scoop out the seeds.

Place face down on a baking sheet and add about an inch or a little less water to the pan. Bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes. You will know when it is done. The inside will be soft and the tops will be brown. After they are done, scoop out the inside - no skin. It makes a lot of squash! Like the avocado, I now just mash with a fork, but it can easily be pureed. Squash has a lot of liquid in it, but you may need to adjust the consistency - use the water you cooked it in if you need too!

I do the same thing with squash - it freezes great. This lasts Logan for several weeks. I added cinnamon on her squash - she loves it.

I hope this helped some of you that make be interested in making your own baby food. It really is fun, and by doing this, I know exactly what my daughter is eating - and I like that! And the other great thing, Logan loves all of her homemade food.

The morning after...

The morning after a long night of staying up - talking about all things girl, we had a fun morning. Logan's new friend (my old friend!) wanted to play with Logan all morning - she is really a great helper. She even wanted to feed her - she did great!

A fun time was had by all :-)

big girl

Remember this post? Notice how she is pulling down on the bumper pad? Notice that she is still laying down?

Not anymore...

This is how we found Logan the other day after her nap! Her crib looks huge compared to her. Needless to say, Cody lowered her crib, again. Poor baby, can't get ahead.

 She has been eating really well lately. Friday night, she had stuffed shells. Have you ever had them? They are large pasta shells stuff with ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheese (and some other stuff). Let me tell you, they are delicious. If you haven't tried them, do. Venture out - you will appreciate it. Logan loved it. She also liked spinach. She is turning into a good eater - I hope it last. Speaking of food, Logan is still learning to feed herself finger foods. She is doing well, it's cute to watch her.

Please pay no attention to her Christmas pajamas - I know it's January, and Christmas is over. Sorry.

I hope everyone had a great weekend

schedule

In the beginning, Logan was on the NICU schedule - up every three hours, no matter what! After we came home, Logan was held a lot, and got used to "cat napping." When she napped, she slept on us. When she ate, we held her. For the first few months, she was colicky, so during the day when she was awake (and not screaming) we held her ALL the time! And no, I do NOT regret this. I LOVED this. However, when Logan got old enough to "fight sleep," and she would only sleep 15 minutes if you were holding her; she was misererable due to lack of sleep, we knew we had to do something.

I decided it was best if Logan was on a schedule, and not feeding/sleeping on demand. I decided no matter what, she would get up at 7:30 in the mornings, even if she was sleeping. Never wake a sleeping baby! Not me, I woke the little booger up every morning. Soon, she began waking herself between 7-7:30, and currently still does. She takes a bottle and plays. About two hours later, she goes down for a nap. We essentially follow a 2-3-4 schedule. Two hours after the child awakes, they take a nap. Three hours after the child awakes, they take another nap. Four hours later, they go down for the night. This schedule works extremely well for us.

It even worked for us at the beach. See what happens when your out at nap time!?!?!? She was so relaxed, she fell asleep in her float!

We are making an attempt at transitioning Logan (not 100%, more of an introduction) from 100% baby food purees, to doing some table food as well. She really enjoys table food. However, if she solely eats table food, this will significantly cut down on her number of calories, so we are still doing purees, which she is enjoying too! When we started the schedule, she cut out one of her bottles (on her own) and eats only solids for dinner. She has now cut out another bottle, and is eating lunch. What a big girl.

blue eyes

Would you look at those eyes?!?! We wondered at first if her eyes would stay blue. At 10 months old today, I would say they are. Notice the orange on her neck? That's squash, butternut squash. Her favorite. Not sure how it ended up on her neck, but it did. I think it adds character.