Water play

This kid loves to be engaged at all times! So while I'm getting ready (in the bathroom,  right next to him.  Duh. ) he gets to learn "on" and "off", "little" and "a lot", and make a wonderful mess while exploring and playing!  Have towels on hand to clean up afterwards!

It's the simplest things that make the biggest impact.

Easy Oven Baked, Gluten Free Mac and Cheese

So there we were.  I was still recovering from the week.  Baby had just had one of those weeks, ya know?  Husband had let me sleep in a little bit and I woke up starving.  But I was too tired and lazy to go to the store.  Ordering in sounded terrible.  I don't eat fast food, and it sounded blech anyway.  What did I want?

Think, think, think, think.

I wanted chocolate.  AND some comfort food.

source

Think, think, think, think.

Hey, we have pasta.  Hey, we have mexican blend cheese.  I've got some almond milk left.  We have butter. Uh yup.  Homemade mac and cheese.  I've never made homemade mac and cheese in my life, but no reason why I shouldn't start now.

Baby's First Flight: How to Get Through Air Travel With Your Sanity

The night before our flight to visit relatives in Michigan, I didn't sleep.  Granted, the baby was up like normal, more so because of teething and a growth spurt.  But this insomnia was caused by preventative trouble shooting and a mental checklist of what to do if Baby B had a full blown melt down in the middle of our flight.  Thankfully, my aunt had had the wherewithal to book us a nonstop which cut down on the amount of time B would have to get overly tired and turn into Oscar the Grouch. And since I would be traveling by myself with him, the shorter flight was MUCH appreciated.

The mental conversation at 3am went a little like this:

The ONLY resource for homemade baby food you really need!

As you know by now,  we are a fairly natural ingredient household.  Clean food as much as we can,  simple and natural cleaning products,  growing veggies, etc.  So of course we would extend the same to our garbage disposal of a baby :)

The good news is,  most baby food companies have gotten with the program and responded to consumer demands for simple,  pure baby food that is without extra sugar,  salt,  or chemical preservatives.  So most store bought baby food is safe and quite tasty (hey, I gotta know what my kids is eating).  But the store bought can really start putting a dent in the wallet,  especially if your kid goes through food the way ours does.  He's about the size of a 7 month old (at 9 months), and eats about what a kid over a year does.  Hence,  human garbage disposal.

That's where this great book, The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet, comes in.