Here is Emma and Faith eating their Mac and Cheese with spoons.  Well…I think Faith got a couple of spoonfuls in, but Emma figured that her hands are the best way to go! LOL

When we went to the dr on Sat. She weighed the babies. In one month Frankie gained 8oz & Angelina gained 4oz. They still are reluctant to try new foods. Angelina will try some but Frankie gets tight-lipped and won’t try anything. I’ve been adding pastina, shredded/finely cut meat, and cheese to their diet. Oh, and pudding. For lunch I gave them some canned apricots that I pureed, but I left some big pieces in there & they seemed to like it.  I’ve been using fresh fruit & either fresh, frozen or canned veggies instead of the jar food. I have been buying the stage 3 foods though (turkey & garden veg, chicken veg & veg beef) & mixing my pasta & meat into it. I don’t know how to make that kind of a gravy. I tried a regular jar of chicken gravy but Angelina didn’t like it.  I’ve given a side dish of the pastina with regular red sauce & seemed to like it.  I haven’t tried mac & cheese yet…not sure how to make the cheese sauce.  Someone said I could just shred cheddar cheese over the pasta while it’s still hot.  Anyone have any food advice or recipes?  I know you all are way ahead of me on this, so any help would be appreciated.  How did you get your loved ones to start eating the regular foods?  Did they refuse & then one day just try it???  I’m thinking of trying hotdogs soon. But I don’t want them eating that all the time. I’d rather give them more nutritous foods.

I’m just wondering about some ideas for snacks.  I know we covered food in Keri’s post the other day, but didn’t see many things listed for snack ideas.  Just thought I would open up a post and see what you guys are giving your babies at snack time and how often they get a snack.

Here’s some of the things I give the girls:

• Cheetos (I know, I know…not that healthy of choice, but I explained myself in the last post concerning these )
• Cubed cheddar cheese
• Cereal (Cheerios, Crunchy Corn Bran (they love these), Low-sugar Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
• Chopped Fruit (Bananas, Grapes, etc)
• Goldfish
• Ritz Crackers

Since I read an article in the newspaper about how babies should give up the bottle by 18 months I decided to make more of an effort on using the sippy cups. I started on Monday. I’ve been giving it at the time I would a bottle, but Frankie would only drink an ounce so I would switch to the bottle & he’d drink 5 oz from the bottle. Angelina did well at lunch today. She drank about 5 oz from the sippy cup before pushing it away. So no bottle as follow up for her.  Just wondering if I’m doing the weaning the right way. 

After months of limited food choices for Jacob & Cole b/c of food intollerances, I constantly find myself struggling to add some variety into their diet. They’re able to eat more foods now so I’m curious about what your babies’ favorite foods are. Hopefully we can all get some ideas from each other. Here are some faves at our house right now:

Breakfast foods:

• scrambled eggs w/ sauteed bell pepper, onion, & cherry tomatoes
• cheese toast
• waffles w/ apple butter
• blueberry pancakes

Meats:

• meatballs
• rotisserie chicken
• chicken breasts (breaded & baked)
• tilapia (baked or broiled w/ lemon garlic butter)

Veggies & fruits:

• avocado
• fresh blueberries
• strawberries
• apples
• steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots
• green beans
• peas
• black olives

Other stuff they eat:

• whole wheat pita w/ hummus
• Kix cereal
• rice cakes
• Goldfish crackers
• Flat Earth fruit & veggie chips
• spinach ravioli (w/ a little marinara suace)
• spaghetti w/ meat sauce