Sweet Potatoes

The weekend after Thanksgiving I took some time to visit a local farmers market to get fresh (and inexpensive!) produce to make baby food for Jackson rather than spending so much more for the pre-made stuff. Yes, it is yet another time sacrifice, in addition to me continuing to nurse/pump in the hopes of making it a whole year and keeping Jackson formula free, and I know that I'll probably buy some pre-made food, but again, it's a money saver and there are some things we would much rather spend that money on around the house, etc and I don't mind staying up a little later to make the food - I actually quite enjoy it. For now, yes, Joey and I still get by on Hamburger Helper type things and similar other processed things, but for Jackson I am trying to be healthier and hopefully that health will also trickle down to Joey and I. That said, from a single sweet potato that cost less than $1, I was able to make 10 servings for Jackson to last for the whole week! Honestly, it probably could have made more servings, but I'm going to have to buy more covered ice cube trays because 2 wasn't enough for all the sweet potatoes plus the green beans and squash I made so a few were bigger servings than they probably should have been (but on the other hand, I never thought he'd eat it all, and he did! Even the ladies at daycare were surprised - I told them some would probably have to be tossed, but he kept opening his mouth and wanting more.

Anyway, so since I had the abundance of sweet potatoes and it's one of the first 6 our pediatrician has on the list to start with, we started with it. I only hope that Jackson loves all of the food as much. He made a face one night but only because the food was a little colder than the other nights. I'm trying to get him used to that though, but have noticed he still has a harder time with cold milk too, but we're working on that.

Anyway, Monday night, for our first attempt, I obviously didn't think to keep Jackson's hands occupied and this is what we ended up with:




We're definitely getting better at less food on the hands/forehead/tray but are going through bibs faster than usual as I try to figure out which kind works best and doesn't bleed! I'll take it though because thankfully, he is loving it and lets me know when he was ready for another bite!



We've moved on to green beans and he seems to dig those as well so next up is squash. Now I just need to find some time to get back to the farmers market and make some of the next veggies (carrots, peas, and beets) as well make up some fruits (apples, pears, peaches). I'm certainly needing to get bananas since those are one of the few foods (avocados is another) that doesn't have to be cooked before being processed and made ready for Jackson.

As much as I love doing all of this for Jackson, I do certainly struggle to find the hours to do so. The Christmas tree probably won't see ornaments until next weekend, Christmas cards will likely be New Years cards this year, Christmas gift shopping will have to wait, and the house certainly isn't as clean as I'd like, but at least for that last one, I keep trying to remind myself of something my Grandma Lou has hanging in her house, "Dull People live in Immaculate Houses". :)

For your amusement, I had asked Joey to snap a picture, but he was making fun of me for that and opted to video instead.


...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!