With my first baby, I wanted to do everything right. I was hyper-aware of milestones and developmental leaps that were, or should be, occurring during pregnancy and infancy. I ran a half marathon when 5 months pregnant. I ate all the foods I was supposed to be eating during each stage of pregnancy. I was going to exclusively breast feed (Breast is Best! Right? Right??!!!) and only ever feed my baby homemade organic food. I was going to give this precious angel every possible chance at a head start in life, damn it!
Well, once baby arrived reality struck pretty frackin hard. She was a big, hungry baby and didn’t have the patience to wait for milk from the boob. Or maybe she just liked formula better. Who knows. Whatever the reasons, her daddy and I had to accept that from day one our dreams of exclusively breast feeding were gone. “Fed is Best” became our new favorite motto. Months later after way, way too many visits to lactation specialists and spreadsheeting every ounce of food she was getting we finally gave up on the breast feeding all together. For my gloriously long (by American standards) six month maternity leave, nearly every minute of my time had been devoted to attempting to get her to eat from the boob, then pumping, then feeding her some formula, giving her a nap and then starting the whole process over again. Oh, I should add to that rotation that I pumped and ate while she napped. Needless to say, the reality of motherhood was not what I was expecting. And feeding was just one aspect of it!
By six months she was finally eating some purees and I had filled a freezer full of breast milk so I packed my pump away and kissed my perky milk boobies goodbye. Though I had planned on making all of her food, that dream didn’t come to fruition either. We settled for just buying organic and felt pretty good about it if it meant we got even 10 more minutes of sleep. The sheer exhaustion of being a new parent meant that we had to find as many short cuts as we could for everything.
Fastforward to baby number two and it’s incredible how different everything is. Our stress levels are much lower, as are our expectations of what we will be able to accomplish. I had a lot of guilt during my pregnancy and after the birth of our second child because I couldn’t erase the feeling that I wasn’t doing as much for her as I had done for our first. I never knew what size fruit she was during pregnancy, I hardly ran at all, and I ate so poorly that I got gestational diabetes. I constantly felt like I was failing my child. But ironically enough, I have been able to make her homemade, organic purees. Parenting win!
When I make the purees, I typically choose three different veggies and/or fruits to puree so we will have a nice stash. Pictured above/below I did carrots, purple potato and green peas. The steps are very simple:
Boil veggie of choice in a little water until it’s soft, then puree in blender. Easy peasy!! We use either a NutriBullet or our Ninja. Remember – DO NOT throw out the water that you boiled the veggies in! Use this to help thin the puree. A lot of the nutrients are still in that water. When I move on to the next veggie/fruit, I will keep any water from the previous veggie/fruit in the pot and use it to boil the next batch. Waste not!
When finished, store some in the fridge and some in the freezer – it will keep for a few months if frozen. All told, this process only takes about 30 minutes. I like to do this with my kiddos because they think it’s fun to watch and see all the vibrant colors. Any activity that is both productive and keeps my kids entertained is a major win in my book!
It’s funny because I remember being so, so excited when I made my first batch of puree. It was like a major weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I was so thrilled to be doing something good, healthy and thoughtful for my second little baby. It was a simple way for me to express my love and let her know that I really do care, even though I can’t give her all of my attention all of the time the way I did with my first. It’s nice to have this be something special that she gets that I wasn’t able to do last time.
If there’s one thing about parenting that we all could all do a little better at it’s focusing on the positives and reminding ourselves that we are doing our best. Little acts of love accumulate over time and can make a very big difference. Hold on to little victories, recognize the acts of love you give and cherish the moments filled with love that you receive.
Suburban Farmer Mom 