DIY: Chevron Ikea Kura Bed Hack

When it came time to upgrade my daughter to a “big girl” bed, I became obsessed with all the ideas stemming from Pinterest to hack the Ikea Kura Bed. It just seemed perfect! Loft, but not too high. Twin sized and would allow for me to maximize the space underneath. Ahhh… It was the bed I wish I would have had when I was a little girl. I figure, with some inspiration and dedication – I CAN DO THIS! It would save me money, and it would be a wonderful gift to my daughter for her 4th birthday – a gift made with love (and sweat, and a lot of curse words).

First off, I needed the bed. Ikea sells the bed for $200. I found it practically 4 months old on Craigslist for $130 (tax free). Score. Next up, needed to get it painted. My handy dandy man friend was so kind as to primer and spray down the frame to a nice semi-gloss black.

For the panels, I looked at different ways other people were doing it on Pinterest and saw that there were many options: mod podge scrapbook paper, wallpaper, Panyl, fabric, etc. I opted for wallpaper, just because I thought it would be easier to handle (versus paper). I found the perfect sized chevron pattern from Spoonflower. I purchased one roll (24″ x 144″) for $67 shipped and seriously, if I had messed up on measuring and cutting any of the panel pieces, I would have been screwed. It was EXACTLY enough. And I am damn impressed with myself at how well I cut and lined everything up. My first time wallpapering!

As I just mentioned, this was my first time wallpapering. I borrowed the tools and adhesive from my handy-man-friend. What I did notice though, was that even after it dried – it easily could be peeled off. UGH. so I had to keep reapplying adhesive to the corners and stuff because when I brought the panels up to the room, some of the corners would brush against stuff and turn up. I swear it was dedicated wallpaper adhesive… but I guess the panels themselves were too glossed to make it stick? Anyhow, I wasn’t about to go figure that out, so I ran with it because once the panels were slipped back into the frame, then all of the edges were secured and covered, so there wouldn’t be anything aggravating the panels any further. Nuff said.

Time to re-assemble the bed. Got the panels in…. and TA-DA!! My finished Chevron Kura Loft Bed.

For the mattress, Ikea recommends specific height restrictions for safety reasons. So I combed the internet for a mattress, which of course, were slim pickings due to the height. I read not so great reviews on the Ikea mattresses and ultimately went with the Spa Sensations 5″ Twin Memory Foam Youth Mattress from Walmart for $109. Had decent enough reviews. When it arrived to the house, it was just as I had expected. Simple and actually pretty comfy. I have slept on it with my daughter several times just fine. I also got a waterproof/allergy mattress cover set from Costco just in case she has an “accident”.  – You can see my daughter likes Hello Kitty. 🙂

Lastly, I strung some Xmas lights underneath the bed for her “reading nook”. Used another idea from Pinterest for the book racks (will post that DIY on another day).

Looks like I have one satisfied customer! YAY! I’m actually still working on her wall art display, but it’s taking me longer than expected to find all the right pieces to come together. I’ll post more pictures of the complete room makeover later on. For now, just wanted to focus on the biggest part of the project – which was the bed hack.

Potty Training: The Gear

After potty training 2 kids, one girl and one boy…. you can imagine the various “potty gear” we have gone through. Here’s the round up:

Baby Bjorn Potty Chair – This was the first seat we got and with my daughter we started training with this. We still have it 2 yrs later and my son is now using it. Its lightweight, simple and easy to clean. No complaints about this chair with my daughter. With my son, however, there were several times where he peed over the front notch. So at first I had to take my finger and hold his Jr. down – but now, he knows to angle himself down for the most part. I’m still having to clean up piss outside of the seat sometimes though. *sigh*

Kalencom Potette Plus – When I potty trained my daughter, we alternated between the Bjorn chair and this one in the house. Primarily because I also wanted her to get used to this seat (which we would be using when we are outside of the home). She didn’t like using it actually flipped out on the adult toilet at first, so we just practiced using it with the bag liner as if we were needing to do an emergency pee stop somewhere. I also started to get lazy about lugging the Bjorn up and down the stairs, so it was nice just to have the Kalencom set up downstairs. I actually really love this seat. Its not as light-weight and small for keeping in your diaperbag, but we still took it everywhere with us for a while. I liked that it raised a child up more when over the adult seat – especially in yucky public bathrooms. But I especially loved the bag liners! We have definitely had to bust the potty in the SUV trunk move a couple of times! Once my daughter got the potty thing fully down, we didn’t lug the Kalencom in the “Kids Backpack (aka Toddler version of diaperbag)” and just left the seat in the car for those emergency trunk potty times.

Soft Potty with Handles – You see these ones everywhere, and with every character imagineable. Once we got over the smaller chairs on the ground, my daughter started to be more comfotable sitting on the larger toilet using the Soft Potty Seat. She was able to put this on the toilet herself and using a stool, get up and go pee. What I didn’t like about this – was the pee that would sometimes end up underneath the seat or betwen the soft pad and seat. Gross. Needless to say, we moved on to the built-in potty seat next.

Bemis Toilet Seat with Built-in Potty Seat – Pure genius. It may not be as comfy as the padded ones you put on top, but its space-saving and easy for child to flip down on their own. I seriously have no major complaints about this seat. BUT, I will tell you that my son (who was just potty trained about 6 weeks ago) does not yet like this seat. He actually prefers to spread wide open across the adult seat. In actually, this has worked better for us anyways, because it allows him to angle his Jr. down and not spray outside the toilet onto the floor. Go figure.

Little Looster Booster step stool – When I found this stool, it was thoroughly impressed with the reviews that I read on Amazon. Once we got it in home, I can see why. One of the major benefits I find with this stool is that it wraps around the shape of the toilet. So not only can it be space saving in that sense, but it also gives the child more stepping space to get on the toilet or push off of (if you know what I mean).

Folding Potty Seat – This is another one that is everywhere and comes in nearly every character. We got this when my daughter no longer relied on the Kalencom when we were out and about. It is extremely light-weight and portable, so we were able to easily tuck it in with us anywhere. We still use this one to this day (she’s now 4) when we are out and she needs to use the public restroom. I put it over a toilet seat cover though – of course. Public restrooms = germies. My son has yet to like using this seat. I’m still using the Kalencom with him in public restrooms. However, I predict that when he wants to start using this folding one, I’m definitely going to have to keep putting my finger on Jr. to keep the pee downward. Maybe he’ll be ready to pee standing up by then!?!?

Hello WordPress!

So a little over a month ago, I decided to start a blog. Fortunately, before I got too hot and heavy into it, a good friend of mine suggested that I use WordPress instead (I originally started this on Blogger). Whew. Lucky I was only about 20 posts deep, as I just spent the last couple hours re-posting and adjusting settings, etc for my new home.

In any case, I’m liking it. I tried WordPress a couple years ago to blog for our photography business, but I got really far behind and preferred to upkeep our Facebook business page instead. So that blog is somewhere amongst the cobwebs. Now that I’m back on WordPress, I see that there’s been some great user-friendly changes. Thank goodness for me, because as much as I am hip with the tech stuff, there is still a lot to learn!

Excuse me as I make myself comfortable on here. I hope that by making WordPress my homebase, my neuroticism will someday reach the masses. 😉

Toddler Eating: How kids should REALLY eat Mac N Cheese

If a kid has always eaten Mac N’ Cheese this way, then how would they ever know the difference? That means, when we go out and about and they have the regular ol’ plain Mac, then THAT is what’s out of the norm – not how we eat it at home.

At home, I add organic: tofu, spinach and broccoli.  This is how my kids eat Mac N Cheese and chow it down. Honestly, I don’t care how you like to prep your Mac (whether it be from scratch or from the box), but I think by just simply adding a few extra ingredients, you can make what really isn’t the best toddler meal, turn into a much healthier entree. For the veggies, I heat up from frozen chopped spinach and cut up broccoli florets.

Sometimes, when I have time, I’ll add organic shredded cheese and bread crumbs on top and pop it in the oven to get it nice and crispy. hmmmmm yummy breaded bake!

 

When I reach for the box, I’m usually reaching for Annie’s Homegrown. Original, shells, shapes – my kids eat it all.

I love the Organic Sprouted Tofu from Trader Joes, especially because it comes in a smaller packaging. I usually just dice them into meals for the kids, so the typical larger packaging of Tofu seems like a waste. I just slice them and then put them into a tupperware container with fresh water. Then just dice slices as I need them throughout the week. Just be sure to change the water every 1-2 days!

 

Preparing the Baby Chef hat

So the baby is 5 months old… time to switch over to babyfood mode! On the first round of each fruit or vegetable, I did use store-bought food (Earth’s Best brand mostly). Once they got an initial taste of all the basics, then I started to incorporate some homemade babyfood by yours truly.

I headed to Costco and got myself a Magic Bullet. Don’t be fooled by all those other fancy contraptions with names that include the word “baby”. It’s basically a magic bullet with a higher price tag. In my opinon, any food processor would do. I also already had a small rice cooker that had a steamer basket part to it, so that’s what I used to steam prior to pureeing.

I had picked up a cookbook on babyfood once, but with all the resources online, I never really did anything out of it. My favorite web source came from Momtastic’s Wholesome Babyfood.  I loved clicking on the individual fruits and veggies to read up on how to best cook them and at the bottom of each page was a list of other food items that would blend well together. This was key to creating new blends of multiple foods and giving the baby some variety.

They say its cheaper to make your own babyfood. I never really kept track of the money spent/saved, but I did like the thought of knowing exactly what was going into my baby’s belly. Not only that, homemade babyfood tastes like real food. Haven’t you ever tasted that stuff that comes from the jar? I mean, how many pink bananas do you know of?

On another note, prior to the babyfood “pouches” such as the ones from Plum Organics, there was no way you were going to find zucchini or beets in a babyfood jar! Nor are you still going to be able to find avocado on the shelf. The only way to expose your kiddo on that one is to give it to them fresh! Yum!

 

I did weekly trips to buy organic food items, steam, puree, and store (some in fridge to eat and some in freezer for back-up meals). I reused the little jars from the store-bought food (which I still used when I had to feed the baby outside of the house when we are out). To make it all orderly, you can make chalkboard lids and easily keep the jars labeled! I totally didn’t know of this idea until after Pinterest was born, but this would have been perfect back in my babyfood making days:

On a final note, I must be honest about one thing: I don’t cook. It is not my thing. You know how you can just watch some people cook, and you can see the enjoyment and passion in in what they are doing? Yeah… that’s not me. Cooking actually makes me angry almost. Like a chore. Baking I like. But general cooking, not so much. Although Pinterest has certainly sparked more enjoyment in it these days, don’t go signing me up for Top Chef.

The Play Area – Containing the Kiddie Tornado

Anyone who is a parent knows that once you have children… the little people slowly take over the household. So in preparation of my daughter getting mobile, we needed to set up a play area. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of a separate entire playroom, so a designated play area would have to do.

So many to pick from! After hours of research, I went for the one from http://www.onestepahead.com

This one had the most reviews at the time (211 reviews at 4 1/2 stars). It was also the thickest on the market: 5/8″ thick. The tiles are 12×12…. so I got the 26 letters, 10 numbers and the borders. (Note, I ended up never even using the borders and corners so in my opinion, you can totally do without.) When the mats arrived, I was definitely impressed with the quality of them. They were definitely thick and not cheap feeling. They didn’t feel like plastic either. It was quality foam.

It was interesting because I had a cousin to went and got a similar type of mat at Walmart and she said it wasn’t even a year before it started falling apart and she had wished she went for the one I suggested from the get-go. Sometimes, when I’m at other houses with playmats, I scope them out and I still haven’t found anything that compares to the quality of the One Step Ahead ones.

Update: I’m still in love with these mats. 4 years later, and they have held up really well. I did end up buying another set last year (after 3 years of use – but only because the Red mats started to peel a little. Probably because it was cleaned regularly? And oddly, it was only the red ones.) In any case, since it had already been 3 years, It wasn’t a big deal for me to buy another set of letters and kind of freshen up the play area anyways. I ended up tossing the old red ones and using the remaining of the old set at my mom’s house for when my kids were playing over there.

 

For the surrounding gate, we went for the NorthStates Metal Superyard. Best price we found was on Amazon.

We had to get two sets in order to make the play area size that we wanted. But it does give access via two doors. There is a plastic version as well from same company, but I wanted something more sturdy. When the kids were younger, I just tied two crib bumpers around the bottom of the play area. Yes, the kids have bumped into the gate before, but never a crazy injury with the fact that it was metal.

TA-DA! Here it is. Our 6x6ft play area. Don’t mind the iMac box along the back. We have a bookshelf there, and wanted to keep the kids from messing with things back there. I do miss seeing my things on the bookshelf, but I’d rather have my kids and all their toys contained.

For the most part, the kid toys have always been housed in the play area and we started them playing in there starting around 6-8 months when they are starting to crawl around. I believe that because they have always had that area and spent time playing in there (both with people and independently), there has no been problem as they got older with them still playing in there. To this day, on the mornings when I am home with them, they are able to play together in there for a good hour while I get some work done on the computer. I expect that since K just turned 2, that this play area will still be around for another 1-2 years before we transition to school-aged study area (which I can’t wait to design the look of – I better start Pinning!)

My nanny and my mom typically tidy up the play area, but of course the tornado hits and its a mess all over the place. However – the good news is that its contained IN THE PLAY AREA. Whew. The mess sometimes overspills outside when they throw things, but we always have clean up time (having the kids toss the toys back into the play area) when they are ready to play outside that area.

 

 BEFORE (all nice and tidy)                                      AFTER (the kiddie tornado)

The kid “stuff” has definitely expanded into the living room over the past couple years, but the majority of the toys and the designated play area is still as pictured above. I feel that it still keeps the house as manageable as possible considering the circumstances, while most importantly maintaining my sanity.

 

For those restless teething nights….

I can only imagine what it must feel like to have beautiful empty gums… and then BAM! – Teeth start sprouting up. Yikes. The thought of something sharp emerging through the gums, breaking through and then the even wider part pushing up…. how painful is that?!

So I guess we shouldn’t blame our little ones for keeping us up at night during those teething pains… However, we can try to best arm ourselves to maintain our own sanity and rest right?

I was fortunate with V, she went through teething like a champ up until her bigger molars came in at 2yrs old. Back then, I used Orajel teething gel with her… which honestly, I don’t think did much compared to the products I used during round 2 with baby K.

Fast forward a couple years, and add a baby that had a harder time with teething. I was definitely on the hunt for something that worked! This time I used Hyland’s Teething Tablets. Worked great and I loved that it was natural. Fortunately, by time I needed them, new ones were out on the shelf (they had a short recall). I also went browsing online and came across something that I liked even better!! Natrabio Teething Drops! Godsend! Everytime K woke up at all in the middle of the night, it was so easy to reach for the bottle and put a drop in his mouth. I swear that most of the time, he just laid back down and went to sleep. There were times that he might not have even been teething, when I gave him a drop and he just laid right back down again! I don’t know… but it had this amazing instant soothing effect.

My first choice was to reach for the drops, but there were some nights tougher than others, and I would alternate between the tablets and the drops.

Both the Hylands and Natrabio I purchased mostly from http://www.drugstore.com When they had a “green & natural” sale – it was 30% off, so I stocked up… plus accessed the site through www.ebates.com first to get an additional 5-12% cashback. whoooohoooo.

During the daytime, it was much more tolerable and I’d keep my kids busy chomping on teething toys. Both my kids loved the ones that were ice cold (particularly the Munchkin one shaped like a hand – probably because the fingers were small to chomp on).

My lil’ man turns TWO!

*sniff* Where has the time gone? Oh, wait. I know. It was spent the last two years pumping, logging, training, diaper changing… the list goes on.

But… today – yes! Today! My lil’ man turns TWO! And I can’t help but feel a huge sigh of relief. Like I have reached the light at the end of a looooong infant-stage tunnel. It feels spectacular. *pats self on back* At 2 years old, my son is already potty trained and stringing some pretty impressive sentences together. Yeeehawww. Since this is my last “baby”…. I’m ready to conquer the next chapter of parenthood and no looking back this time!

I couldn’t help but wonder why I was in such a rush and felt such a huge relief to get to this milestone? Perhaps its because I went through it with my daughter first… so having to do a complete repeat again wasn’t the most appealing thing in the world. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy any of it! I’m just saying that I knew it was something I had to go through again, and in all honesty, I probably tried to get through it as quickly as possible. If you are not the first time mom, then you can probably relate to some of these feelings. I wonder how much these feelings range depending on the age gap between kids? Nonetheless, the feelings are valid and most likely normal for any mom of 2+ kids.

At every age of the child, there are certainly challenges for the parent. But I gotta say, the first year is the hardest. Followed by the second year.

I’m very much looking forward now to this next year with my lil’ man. My daughter will be in preschool in the mornings all week, so I’ll have tons of one-on-one time with him. Now that he is talking and asking so many questions about things (and we got the potty training down), its going to be fun taking him out more to hang out and run errands or do whatever. I have the opportunity to work more, but decided to keep the hours low so that I have this full year of extra time with him before he starts a little bit of preschool himself next year. I feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders as we reached this milestone, so time is going to start to fly by a little bit faster now.

Note: The cute chevron suspender and bowtie set came from Etsy.

Hullaba-who?

Am I the only person who didn’t know what Hullabaloo was? Oops. Yes. I am THAT parent. And yes. I only play EDM from SiriusXM in the car. Whoops.

Turns out Hullabaloo is a nice twist on all the timeless children’s songs we remember. Steve Denyes was performing today at a local library that we were at this morning. Talented musician and yes, I would have to say that the songs were entertaining for the parent as well. The last song of the performance was “You are my sunshine”, which was great because it is my lil’ man’s favorite. I only had the lil guy with me and he was kind of half into it – more so observing everything that was going on rather than clapping his hands and singing or dancing along. I think had my 4-yr-old been there, she would have thoroughly enjoyed it because she knows more of the songs and loves to sing. Fortunately, we were there early and got some front row seats because man it was PACKED by the time it started!

 

Hullabaloo performs all around town all the time, so perhaps I’ll take my daughter to catch a showing sometime.

http://www.hullabalooband.com/calendar/

Sample Feeding Schedules

I remember when I was a new mom, I was combing the Internet just for sample daily schedules and to see what other moms were doing. What’s the norm? IS there a norm? Ok, then what times does the average kid nap and eat? I had stumbled across a forum once where a bunch of moms had shared what their child’s daily feeding and napping looked like. It was a huge help for me to gauge how I wanted my kids’ days to be. So for anyone in search of just an idea for your own planning… here it is:  (this might be helpful to view along with the sample daily spreadsheets that I will post at a later time). *Note: This was originally the feeding schedule my daughter was on – whom I had frozen less BM for so you will see an introduction of formula at 6 months. For my son, it was generally the same schedule, but formula was introduced much later. For both kids, I did use the formula to mix with the cereal every morning.

First 2 weeks: pure boob every 3 hours.

1 month old: 1 boob feeding + 7 bottles BM (3 oz each)

6 weeks old: 7 bottles BM (4 oz each = 28 daily) about every 3 hours after full nights sleep

8 weeks old: 6 bottles BM (4.5×2 and 4oz x4) = 25oz

3 months old: 5 bottles BM (5 oz each) = 25oz at 7am, 1p, 4p, 7p, 10p

4 months old: 4 bottles BM (6oz each = 24 oz daily) at 8am, 1pm, 430p, 830p

5 months old: 4 bottles BM – introduce solids … start with one feeding of cereal at feeding #3… then after 3 weeks, start 2 feedings a day (Feeding #1 and #3) 

8am 2tbs cereal mixed with Formula + 4oz bottle BM 

12pm 6 oz bottle BM 

4pm 2.5 oz jar of Stage 1 (new food every 3-4 days) + 6oz bottle of BM

8pm 6 oz bottle BM.   

Note: order of introducing food {rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, squash, sweet potato, peas, green beans}

6 months old: 4 bottles (Introduce more Formula) Start eating solids 3 times a day.  Introduce Sippy cup and water. 

8am 2tbs cereal (alternated between rice and oatmeal) mixed with Formula + 4oz bottle BM

12pm 3oz New food item + 4 oz bottle BM

4pm 4oz bottle of BM+ 2oz of Formula separately

6:30pm 3oz Veggie + some Water in cup

8pm 4 oz bottle BM+ 2oz of Formula separately.

{continued with apples, pears, bananas, zucchini, avocado, different kinds of squash, peaches}

7 month old: 4 bottles (total daily 16 BM + 6 formula to supplement – we used Enfamil) Started Baby Mum-mums rice rusks and shortly after that the little puffs (preferably Plum Organics). Try to drink at least 2oz water a day. 

8am 2tbs cereal mixed with Formula – mixed further with 1oz fruit + 4oz bottle BM

12pm 4oz mixed fruit/sometimes with veggie + 4 oz bottle BM

4pm 4oz bottle of BM+ 2oz of Formula separately

6:30pm 3.5oz Veggie + some Water in cup

8pm 4 oz bottle BM+ 2oz of Formula separately.

{New foods included Strawberry (mixed in store-bought), more kinds of squash, spaghetti squash, broccoli, edamame, granola (in store-bought)}

8 month old: 4 bottles (total daily 16 BM + 6 formula to supplement) Starting finger foods at the table (Butternut Squash, banana, ). 

8am 2tbs cereal mixed with Formula – mixed further with 1oz fruit + 4oz bottle BM

12pm 4oz mixed fruit/sometimes with veggie + 4 oz bottle BM

4pm 4oz bottle of BM+ 2oz of Formula separately 

6:30pm 3.5oz Veggie + some Water in cup

8pm 4 oz bottle BM+ 2oz of Formula separately.   

{New foods included: Cherry, Blueberry, Apricot (mixed in store-bought), eggplant, orca,   

**My daughter finished Frozen boob juice reserves right at 9 months. *sniff* My son took it to 11months.

9 months: 4 Bottles (Total Daily 22oz Formula Enfamil). Continue with Finger foods. Start Meats, Yogurt, Cheese. Increase food intake. 

8am 2tbs cereal mixed with Formula – mixed further with 2oz fruit + 4oz bottle Formula

12pm 4oz Food + 4 oz bottle Formula

4pm 6oz bottle of Formula 

6:00pm 4.5oz – 6oz Food + some Water in cup

8pm 6 oz bottle Formula.   

{New foods included: Chicken, Ground Turkey, Yogurt, Pineapple (store-bought), broccoli, cauliflower , firm tofu, white potato, corn (store-bought), kiwi, cheddar cheese – Good Finger foods: boiled carrots/potatoes,  Firm tofu,

**tried to give her a spoon a couple of times but it got very messy and we are a little lazy as well. hehe

10 months: 4 Bottles (Total Daily 22oz Formula Enfamil). Continue with Finger foods. Trying to give her larger finger food pieces so that she can learn to take appropriate sized bites.  Increase to chunkier solids. 8am 2tbs cereal mixed with Formula – mixed further with 2oz fruit + 4oz bottle Formula 

12pm 4oz Food + 4 oz bottle Formula

**frequently given a 2pm snack: 4oz YoBaby or some fruit and cheese

4pm 6oz bottle of Formula 

6:00pm 4.5oz – 6oz Food + some Water in cup

8pm 6 oz bottle Formula.   

{New foods included: Fish,  egg yolk, quinoa, wheat pasta, pastini, papaya, mozzarella cheese, Tomato  – Good finger foods: scrambled egg yolk, small pieces of cheese, shredded cheese, small pieces of tofu veggie burger pattie, Very thin slices of fresh apple.

**allowed her to take her own bites fresh from a banana… still stuffing her mouth but chewing real well.

 

11 and 12 months: 4 Bottles (Total Daily 22oz Formula Enfamil). Continue with Finger foods.  Increase to semi-chunkier solids. Start to introduce in Whole milk 

8am 2tbs cereal mixed with milk – mixed further with 2oz fruit + 4oz bottle Formula 

12pm 4oz Food + 4 oz bottle Formula

2pm snack: 4oz YoBaby or some fruit and cheese+Water

4pm 6oz bottle of Formula 

6:00pm 4.5oz – 6oz Food + some Milk in cup

8pm 6 oz bottle Formula.  

12.5 & 13 months: 4 Bottles (Total Daily 20 oz Formula Enfamil and Organic Whole Milk). Continue with Finger foods.  Chunky solids. Try to use more table foods.  Start to wean in Whole milk (bottles mixed with ¼ whole milk…then the next week increase to ½ whole milk… ) 

8am 3tbs cereal mixed with Milk – mixed further with 2.5oz fruit + 4oz bottle 

12pm 6oz Food + 4 oz bottle 

2pm snack: 4oz YoBaby or some fruit and cheese, etc + Water

4pm 4oz bottle 

6:00pm 6oz Food + some Milk or Water in cup

8pm 6 oz bottle. 

{New Foods: Fresh grapes cut into quarters, fresh apricot, Corn, more seasoning in her food, 

At this time… the routine was pretty set and stayed the same for most of the next year…. until:

For my daughter – 21 months – transition to ONLY table foods and reduced milk to two cups a day of 8oz each (9am and 3pm- after nap).She took a long time to take to all table foods. She continued to eat the super chunky baby food (almost like what would be a Stage 4 or 5 baby food) and I didn’t mind making it for her because I was buying all organic and I knew what was going into her food. Plus it assured she was getting her veggies in! 

For my son – 15 months – he was an eating machine, so he was on to table foods much sooner. He still ate the baby food I made him here and there when I was too lazy to think of a toddler meal, but for the most part, this guy ate everything. I didn’t transition him to the two 8oz cups of milk  until he was 22 months – which at that point, I was getting ready to potty train him anyways, so needed to keep that milk away from  nap and bed time. 

Now… here we are… my son 2 yrs old this week, and my daughter 4… we’ve come a looooong ways!

8am – Breakfast – usually oatmeal type breakfast mixed w/ fruit (puree or diced) and sometimes organic granola mix. This is followed by 8oz cup of milk (Organic Horizon DHA 2%)

11am – Lunch – 

4pm – 8oz cup of milk

5pm – Yogurt (sometimes cheese or other snack) My son eats YoBaby and my daughter eats Activia

6:30pm – Dinner

8pm – My kids think those Babyfood puree pouches are a “snack/treat” – so if they are still hungry… they eat one of these. I like them because I buy the organic ones that always have some sort of veggie mixed in.