Feeding the independent baby; silicone feeders

I posted not too long ago about teething and first foods.  Baby is a bit older now and is turning out to be quite the independent eater.  She doesn't want to be fed from a spoon.  Nor does she want to pick up little pieces with her fingers.  Oh no.  She wants it all in a mesh feeder.  She's a silly eater.  Those are handy for some things, but are quite a chore to clean up with most foods.  I started looking into options.  Here are my reviews on the several that I ordered....

This one arrived first; it is the Fresh Food Baby Feeder.  This one is size "Large"  I ordered it knowing my baby is older and would want more food.  She can also handle slightly larger chunks (just incase the holes ended up being larger as well).  On our first try I filled it with (homemade) butternut puree.  When that ran out we switched to jarred baby food peas (all would be a stage 1 consistency).  She LOVED it!  The purees were a bit thin for this and it ended up being messy, BUT it worked and more food ended up in her than if I'd tried to spoon feed those to her.  I've since used this with thicker homemade baby foods and it's worked wonderfully.  This also came with a cover which will be handy we are on the go.








The next set to arrive was a set designed for pureed foods, but will also hold liquids.  It has a slit on the bottom (in the picture it looks like it also has holes, but those are just bumps for texture).  They really only let food/liquids out when baby sucks on it.  I put beef broth in it for her to try.  I refilled it 3 times.  I think this would have been great a couple of months ago and I'll use it a bit now too.  It came in a set of 2.  My plan is to fill one with expressed milk and freeze it.  This will be helpful for teething or if she's sick.  I'd recommend it more for 4-6 month babies are just starting on foods, but we'll find it useful now too as she's not interested in a bottle or sippy cups.


 

I was super excited about this Kidsme feeder.  It comes in a size large and you can purchase replacement sacs for it.  The "sac" is a bit larger than the others and the holes are larger too.  It'll be great for pieces of fresh fruit etc.  I put homemade baby food in it for her first try.  It was veggies and beef, and a fairly thick mix.  None of it came out of the holes while I was filling it, but it seemed to come out nicely for her when she chewed on it.  The mess was no bigger than it would have been had I tried to spoon feed her, but she was much happier eating this way.  I do have one concern with this design.  The hinged latch for securing it closed.  It may hold up just fine, but if any part is going to give out on this I'm guessing that's the part.  Just something to consider.

The Boon is the last one we tried.  I ordered it with intention of using it with fresh fruits.  We were out of the softer ones like bananas and blueberries when it arrived though so we gave it a try with fresh homemade apple sauce.  She loved this one too!  I did notice a couple of small things that makes this one not-my-favorite, but it's still good.  1)the silicone portion is bigger and the holes go farther up...she can't get it all in her mouth so it makes a bigger mess.  2)I like the straight handle to help teach motor skills, but there is no place to attach it to a chain to keep it from falling on the floor 3)the base and sac are not attached making refilling more difficult/messy 4) when she dropped it on our tile floors it opened every time. 5) it has no cap/cover making it a bit harder to use on the go.  Baby loves this one and I'm glad we have it, it also costs less than any of the others.  I just noticed more issues with it.  It was certainly worth the $4 I spent on it.

 

Bottom line?  All of these were much easier to clean than the mesh ones we had been using.  All of them are more versatile in the types of foods they hold.  Baby LOVES them all.  All but the Boon are also great for on the go.  None of them hold more than a tablespoon, some less.  Each one is slightly different and I do like having several as they need to be refilled throughout our meals.

Do you have a silly eater?  This book is one of our family's favorites...The Seven Silly Eaters....it's about a large family of silly eaters and how they figured out a meal they all like and could work together on it (instead of mom wearing herself out trying to make her silly eaters happy).  I'd recommend the hardcover as you'll have to replace the paperback one a couple of time if you get that. ;) 

*I'm and Amazon affiliate.  If you shop through the above links and pictures (of products) I'll make a tiny bit of $$$ off of your purchase.  It's a nice way to say "thank you for taking the time to type this up."

Teaching about the Reformation

A friend recently asked me what we use to teach about the Reformation.  I thought while I was going about answering her question that I may as well make it a blog post.  We certainly do not go too far in depth, but it accomplishes our goals.  I suppose I should start with our goals...

1. We want to teach church history.

2. We want the kids to know about those that have given so much in obedience to God so that we may be able to read God's word and freely live out our faith.

3.  We want them to know and understand that following Christ is not easy.  Following Him involves suffering and sacrifice.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.  John 16:33

But even if you suffer for what is right, you are blessed.  "Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened." 1 Peter 3:14

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.  Pilippians 1:29

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you Matthew 5:12

We love the children's books by Voice of the Martyrs.  God's Pilgrim: The real story of John Bunyan and The Pilgrim's Progress and God's Outlaw: The real story of William Tyndale and the English Bible are two of our favorites.

While many went before him and many after as well, Martin Luther is considered by many to have started the Reformation.  We've enjoyed these two simple books about Martin Luther.

                                                         


                                                         

We've really enjoyed reading the book Courage and Conviction: Chronicles of the Reformation Church.  They are short chapters focusing on one person in one point of time during the Reformation.  The book can be read as a whole to give a bigger picture, or pick and chose the chapters to learn of individuals.  I've used this as both a read-aloud or assigned it to individual children.


                                                            
There are a few DVD's that we enjoy this time of year as well.

                                                           


                                                           


                                                            

We do have other books, many historical fiction that help bring the time to life.  Maybe I'll do another post another year?  For now this is a great jumping off point.  Many of these books and DVDs were found simply by searching for one book that lead to another, and then another, and another....

*I'm an Amazon Affiliate.  If you shop through the links (and images that are links) above I'll make a tiny bit of $$ off of your purchase.  It's a nice way of saying "thank you" to me if you appreciate the time and effort it took for me to post this. :) 

Graze snacks

So, I've been hearing about Graze for a few months now.  I decided to give it a try and received my first box (which was FREE!!!) today.  After batting away the masses that were trying to get at it, I was able to give one a try.  It was their "Pumpkin Spice Flapjack" which is basically a granola bar.  I liked it, and so did everyone else that managed to get a couple of bites.

This first box was free!  It has 4 snacks in it.  After this my boxes will have 8 snacks and will cost $12 including shipping.  If you follow my links you can get a free 4 pack too AND your 5th box is supposed to be FREE!  What a deal!

The box itself was cool and easy to open.  Unfortunately my teens were the ones that pulled it out of the mail box.  The box caught their eyes right away.  Now they are hovering waiting for me to try another one.  I guess they like the looks of the Grilled Cheese, Raspberry & Coconut Muffin as well as the Cranberry & Hazelnut Toasts (with a rich cocoa dip).  I'll have to tuck these away and munch on them while I'm out running errands, or while the kids are in their co-op classes.  That was sort of the point of getting these anyways.  I wanted some healthy, easy to grab snacks that were outside of my usual go-to-snacks for my busy days out of the house.

Graze is a subscription service.  They have a list of snacks that you go through and mark with your level of interest (from "trash" to "love it") and they send you a box of snacks based on your input.  It's a bit like a Stitch Fix only cheeper and it is food instead of clothes.  I loved the surprise of a box full of snacks to try that all looked interesting to me.  I've got mine set to come once a month, but you can have the boxes come once a week or every other week too.

***If you follow my links and sign up for a Graze box I'll earn $1 towards my next Graze box!

Teething and first foods

Our littlest one is six months old.  It seems like she's been teething for months and she's starting to show quite a bit of interest in what we're eating too.  I thought I'd share some of our current and past favorites on both the subject of teething and first foods since some of it overlaps.

Most baby toys are good for teething of some sort since they are all made to go in mouths, but here are some of our favorites...

This Raz-berry has been a favorite for the last 2-3 babies.  It is easy to grab and has a few textures depending on what part makes it in their mouths.



These teethers that look like various foods put a big smile on my face and the rest of the family's as well.  Baby likes the texture and that it sometimes looks like the foods we are eating. ;)


These silicone spoons were a gift from my mom.  Our baby likes chewing on them, both because they feel good and because I think she knows they are similar to what everyone else is using at the table.  She's enjoying getting to practice feeding herself and is quite proud of her accomplishment when she gets the bowl of the spoon in her mouth.


We keep all of these fun teething/food related toys right by the dining room table where we can easily grab them during the meal for baby.

Because we've had some food intolerances with the last few babies I wanted to re-examine the way we did first foods.  This article on Mommypotamus was very interesting and helpful.  I'm going to be extra cautious this time as we introduce foods.  For right now the baby just seems interested in what we are eating, and not actually eating it herself.  I think it'll still be a while before she really gets into foods.

I've used these mesh teethers for several of my babies.  They are great for first foods and for teething.  Win! Win!  I've be putting bone broth ice cubes in one of these for my little one.  Bananas, blueberries, and many other fruits or veggies have been very popular in these with past babies.

What about your little ones?  What are their favorite teething toys or first foods?

****I'm an Amazon Associate.  That means that if you shop through my links above I'll get an itty-bit of $$$ from Amazon which I will end up spending at Amazon on my kids. ;) ***

Fall Fix

Last month I got another box from Stitch Fix.  I'm finally getting around to posting about it 'cause you know, life....

Something I noticed with this Fix and REALLY appreciated was that my stylist tried hard to stick to my requests.  I made color requests but also asked that accommodations be made for my post baby figure; in that I'm nursing and (slowly) losing weight.  Every item sent fit within those parameters.  Given their limited (but fairly good) inventory I really appreciated that such an effort was made.  She also sent items that worked together; something else I really appreciated.

We were a bit busy the day my Fix came and didn't manage to take pictures of everything.  I can't quite remember what 2 of the items were.  1 item gave us all a good laugh.  The polka dot pants with the black ribbon down the sides just didn't do it for me.  They reminded me (and my mom, who was here) of my brothers' marching band pants.  I'm sure they'll look great on someone else, but I just couldn't get past the stripe down the side.  The fit was perfect (elastic waist) and I loved the color.

Looks like someone else in this picture was having some pants problems too! ;)

I LOVED the skirt that was sent.  The style, colors and fit were perfect.  I so appreciated that a top was sent that went with it.  While the studs on the top were not something I would normally choose I like the accent and since I don't usually wear jewelry it adds that nice touch.  I like that this outfit will transition nicely into fall.  Worn as is it is perfect for our warmer fall days, but I can easily add boots and a jacket to carry it into our cooler (and sometimes COLD) days.

These are the two items I ended up keeping.

Stitch Fix has been such a fun treat for me to add just a bit of extra fun to my wardrobe.  It can be hard for me to get out and shop for myself at this point in life, let alone thinking outside my "box."  If you're interested in trying this service I'd LOVE it if you followed my links and signed up that way.  When your first Fix ships I get a credit, that's what helps me pay for this fun! :) 

What we're reading- September

I thought I'd share some of the books that are being read around here this month...

I've got several books I'm in the process of reading, here's a couple-

For Bible study I'm reading this one-



In my free time (Ha!) I'm reading the last for the Lord of the Rings series.  I started it the month before baby was born....she's now 6 months old.



My oldest child is reading this one which was assigned by Daddy.  I'm hoping to get to it some time too.



My oldest boys have been reading through the Wingfeather saga, this is the first one.



My little ones have been enjoying good 'ole The Little Red Hen  though Mothergoose Nursery Rymes is brought to me regularly as well.





I'm going through this one for reading lessons with my beginning readers.



What are your favorite books right now?  I'm always looking for GREAT reads for any age.

***I'm an Amazon associate.  If you shop through my links above I'll make and itty-bit of $$$ which will promptly be spent on more books, toys etc on Amazon. ;)***

Preparing for school planning

As I pull up my August calendar on my phone I see that nearly every day has plans.  Normally this would make me very nervous.  Our family does not do well being that busy.  We need "home" days.  Instead this sight makes me smile.  I smile because (for the most part) those days are set apart.  They are set apart for talking with the kids and planning out our school year.  They are set apart for easing back into school.

In the mean time I'm reading this great book a friend of mine suggested.  Teaching from Rest; A Homeschoolers Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie.  Just reading the Forward and Preface gave me peace and encouragement.  I'm replenishing my soul through His word, praying over our coming year, and working on casting my cares upon Him.  Homeschooling our children can be a heavy burden if we don't cast those cares on the Lord.  I'd encourage you, mama, to take this time to look to Him and find rest so that you may joyfully care for and teach your  His children that He has placed in your care.


"Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." Psalm 55:22

"...casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."  1 Peter 5:7



***I'm an Amazon Associate.  I'd be posting about this book anyways though.  If you click on my link and shop through it I'll make a itty-bitty-bit of $$ which I'll end up spending on my kids.***