This is the pretty face that stares at me while I stare at her…and my cup of coffee.
Tag: aveline alenka
LIFE IN PHOTOS :: Eat, rinse, repeat.
Lunch is a rather messy — but joyous — occasion around these parts.
(Today she was eating oven-roasted butternut squash, carrots cooked in homemade vegetable broth, kidney beans, black beans, and organic tofu sautéed in olive oil and garlic.)
LIFE IN PHOTOS :: ♥
My favorite people. My favorite time of year. (My heart is nearly ‘sploding from the wonderfulness.)
The Many Poses of Aveline
Apparently, the wooden chair + sheepskin is my favorite backdrop for Aveline snapshots. Although, I may have created a monster. She makes all kinds of faces as soon as I pull out the camera.
This week, she started walking (watch out world!), and is also suddenly affectionate! Although she never was much of a snuggler, lately she’s been giving out dozens of hugs each day, and even pats me on the back when I pick her up. Her little cheek next to mine, and her little tiny breaths on my neck…heaven.
And she is seriously one LOUD child. She never.stops.making.noise. Proper words are few and far between — mum-mum, papa, and peesh (please) — but why bother talking when you can just shriek?
Oh, how I love this little ham!
A “more different” start to Thanksgiving week
This is Thanksgiving week, the very first time in which the entire meal preparation falls to me…the very first time it’s just our little family for the holiday.
I was planning to take Monday — this week — by storm. I was planning to finish painting the letters on a handmade Happy Thanksgiving banner, package up another order and head to the post office, then drop off the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Then I was planning to break down the Thanksgiving preparation list into today’s, tomorrow’s, and Wednesday’s tasks, figure out what other ingredients I still need to pick up from the grocery store, and start cooking. Visions of pumpkin pie, orange-cranberry sauce and roasted garlic mashed potatoes were dancing in my head.
Instead, I’m sitting here wrapped in a blanket, coughing and sniffling. The Thanksgiving banner just says “Happy”. Aveline is yelling in an ear-splitting manner while she gleefully beats a wooden spoon on a cooking pot. Maybe I can just toss some ingredients in her pot and hope for the best?
Winter in Florida :: Aveline’s First Playground Experience
I had so much fun taking Aveline to the playground for the very first time. And doesn’t our Florida winter look rough? Believe it or not, we are so.completely.over the hot, sticky weather and are pining away for cold air. (The long sleeves were just a formality because it’s November. We were actually sweating.)
My camera would have captured stillness, quiet wind
I didn’t carry my camera with me everywhere, this weekend. But if I did, the photos would have captured Aveline giggling as she reached out her hands to her papa, and then to me, and then to her papa again, delighted that she figured out how to be passed quickly between us.
They would have captured the wrinkled up expression on her face as she tasted a French fry.
They would have captured the deep boom of drums during a Japanese cultural performance we just happened to stumble upon during an afternoon walk.
And then, they would have captured stillness.
Quiet wind.
Early sunset and the ensuing wintry darkness which wrapped around the house like an old, familiar friend.
Thoughts on Baby Food :: 3 Reasons Why I Don’t Buy Prepared Baby Food
Recently, I’ve had many people ask me what Aveline eats (I suppose the questions are fueled by Facebook status updates like “Aveline is eating copious amounts of ratatouille for lunch!”) I have a lot of thoughts on this subject, so I’ll break it up into a series of blog posts. I’ll start out by talking about what she doesn’t eat: store-bought baby food. There are several reasons I don’t buy prepared baby food. (UPDATE: Sylvia of Artsy Ants brings up a good point; these reasons are specific to the US).
1. PRICE: This should be obvious, right? There is a very, very high markup on prepared, packaged baby food. I can’t bring myself to spend that much on just a couple of ounces of food, especially when most of it is going to end up rubbed into Aveline’s hair or stuck to her eyelashes anyway. ;-)
2. IT’S BRILLIANTLY OVER-MARKETED: The baby food industry uses clever marketing, people. Remember this. Last time I checked, farms aren’t growing any separate specialty crops called baby oats, baby rice, or baby sweet potatoes.
3. ADDITIVES / EXTRA INGREDIENTS: This is a huge issue. I’m not comfortable with my daughter consuming additives at such a young age. I want her to eat foods made from real, whole ingredients.
You wouldn’t think baby food contains extra things, but it does. Let’s look at a few examples. (I didn’t go out to try and find the most shocking examples of added ingredients, I just clicked around at random on the Gerber site.)
For instance, one would assume Gerber Oatmeal and Banana contains oats and banana, right? Well, it does. Sort of. But the oats are in the form of oat flour, to which Gerber has added wheat, and there’s soy lecithin and soybean oil in the ingredients list, too. Oh, and tocopherals (a preservative) and added vitamins.
I’m a big proponent of eating organic (we personally follow the Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen when buying produce), but use common sense when it comes to prepared food that’s labeled organic. It might be called Gerber 2nd Foods Organic Green Beans, but that doesn’t mean it contains only green beans. This particular product also contains tuna oil and gelatin.
Most pediatricians recommend that when feeding your baby new foods, you should introduce them one at a time, and wait three days for any adverse reaction before introducing another new food. If the food you’re introducing is on the Top 8 Allergens list, you need to be even more careful. Ok, you’re probably thinking…how does this relate to packaged baby food? Well, oatmeal and bananas aren’t on the Top 8 list, but the packaged oatmeal-banana cereal contains wheat and soy, which are both on the list. And green beans aren’t a common allergen, but fish, one of the ingredients in the prepared green bean baby food, is on the Top 8 list.
So, read labels. Don’t fall prey to clever marketing. And mostly — you don’t have to spend a ton of money to feed your baby!
In future blog posts, I’ll share how to easily make your own baby food (it’s so much easier — and cheaper — than you think!). I’ll also list suggestions for easy baby meals and talk specifically about what Aveline eats.
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