Home Made Baby Food -- Bananas

A week or so ago, I made my first every home made baby food -- sweet potatoes.  I haven't made another batch yet to "chronicle" the step-by-step process though ... so that will be a future post!

Last night, however, I finally made my second baby food -- bananas!!  This one was way simpler than the sweet potatoes.  I stopped by my new favorite website Wholesome Baby Food to find out what I needed to do to turn my bananas into baby food.

It's this simple:

1.  Get a bunch of bananas.

2.  Peel bananas and put them in a bowl or pot.

3.  Get a potato masher and mash up the bananas.

4.  Put the mashed up bananas in your ice cube tray(s).

5.  Freeze.

Tada!  You now have banana baby food!  =D  After they were frozen, I popped them out with a fork and put them in a Ziploc freezer bag.

Just like home made mashed potatoes mashed up with the masher, there will be some lumps.  But I made sure they were small and easy for JD to swallow.  And I've let him suck and gnaw on the end of an unmashed banana, so I knew he could handle some itty bitty chunks.  If you want your bananas to be completely smooth, you can toss them into your food processor.

I did find a tip from a fellow Facebook user that adding a little lemon in with the banana will keep it from turning brown.  But I didn't seem to have that problem when I was making them.  Even so, JD didn't seem to mind if it did!

Also, the half-tray I made I put toothpicks in to make some banana pops.  JT loves them!  It's his new favorite "cake".

Amount of baby food made using 6 medium sized bananas: 24 cubes (1 cube is approx. 1 oz) 
Approximate cost ('cause I don't know where the receipt is to find out how much I paid for those bananas! lol):  $2.00

Happy Banana-ing!  =D

Potty Time

It's finally here ... potty training time. 

As excited as I am for Jaiden to learn how to use the "big boy" potty, I can't help but feel a mix of emotions.

1. My baby is growing up.  No more diapers = big boy.  *sniffle*

2. Yay!  No more diapers!  lol  That means more money for other stuff, right?!

3. Oh Lord ... how am I going to get thru potty training?!  Sure, I did it at a day care with about 20 2 year olds ... but that wasn't a 24/7 thing, ya know?

I've mostly been postponing the start of potty training for two reasons:  

1. Jaiden didn't show much interest in the toilet (aside from trying to play in it) or using it to go potty.

2. I didn't really have a good 'system' to make it easier for Jaiden to learn ... no small potty chair, no stool for him to be able to get up to the big adult potty, and an unreliable potty seat cover that goes on the big toilet.

But, just recently, I have been introduced to the Boon Potty Bench!  To me, it's a very innovative potty chair to help moms and toddlers alike.  When it's not being used as a potty, it folds up into a small step-stool and it has storage compartments to hold things like toys and toilet paper (or, heck, if my son's like his dad .. .reading materials!  lol).  

Right now there's a giveaway going on over at A Nation of Moms to win a Boon Potty Bench.  You know I'm all over it ... daily tweets and all.  But even if  Lady Luck isn't shining on me on March 20th, I plan on buying one of these awesome potty chairs!  =D

Blog Revival

So I don't blog nearly as much as I once did.  Between two boys, my husband, crocheting, Facebooking, and heavens knows what else ... I just let it fall to the wayside.  But, I would like to try to bring back my blogging days and what better way with some Mommy and Baby stuff?!

Recently I've discovered the fun of making home made baby food for Jack.  So I'm going to start there and see how it goes!  Let's hear it for the Blog Revival!!!!