Baby food

I decided to make my own baby food and I'm so glad I did! It's quick and easy to make. I have a pressure cooker so it's even faster than steaming or baking! Everything cooks in 2-5 minutes. I use the pressure cooker, a stainless steel bowl, my immersion blender (love that thing!), ice cube trays, and quart-size baggies to freeze it. So far I've made sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, green beans, peaches, and zucchini. I've also mashed up bananas and avocado. It's so fun to see the girls' reactions to different foods. We've added in whole milk yogurt too. I'll mix a fruit with that and they really seem to like it, but their favorite is definitely sweet potatoes! I'll add a little olive oil to the veggies for extra calories and I added a little cinnamon to the sweet potatoes. Yum!

We have a little routine down for meal times. After they drink milk, I put them in their high chairs, put their bibs on, and wash their hands with a warm rag. Then I feed them until they aren't interested any more. I wash their faces and hands and then get a small cup of water. Both girls love grabbing the cup (with my help) with both hands and drinking from it. It took a few days of water running down their front, but now they actually drink from a regular cup! It's the cutest thing!

Lily wants to do it herself! She grabs the spoon from me and puts it right in her mouth. I give her a spoon to play with so when she sees the spoon coming, she opens wide and in it goes! She's so eager. I love it! Violet just started grabbing for the spoon, but before she wasn't as sure of solids as Lily was. She'd open her mouth and I'd put a little food in. She'd look at me like, "What in the hell did you just put in my mouth?" I'd say, "It's sweet potatoes, Violet! Yummy!" Then she'd smile with all the food on the tip of her tongue. Half of it ends up on her bib, but that's alright! They're just learning new flavors right now, although I know they need to grow faster so the extra calories are good for them.

We also let them suck/gnaw on big chunks of food. We went to our favorite Thai restaurant last weekend and I gave the girls each a piece of my bell peppers to suck on. They loved it! They also love cantaloupe and broccoli. It's fun to just give them manageable pieces of what we're eating.

They are doing so well, and still drinking a ton of milk so hopefully their weight continues to grow at a steady rate. I just have to remind myself that they were premature and they're twins so it's ok that they're little! They're happy and healthy! What more could I ask for?!

Yummy broccoli!

I love bananas!