May 5, 2015 by Stephanie

Conquering Mealtime

Feeding a baby can be very overwhelming.

What do you start with?

How much do you feed them?

How often do you feed them real food vs formula?

How exactly do you teach them to eat on their own?

Can I avoid them choking?

I am going to be covered in applesauce at some point in this process aren’t I?

It’s enough to make you cross-eyed.

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It can be seriously crippling to get lost in all the articles, books, and posts out there about feeding your baby from what and when to how and with what. You can spend days trying to read everything and come up with a game plan of how to attack this new part of parenthood.

I am here to help!

Well only sort of.

I have found that you can plan all you want to but ultimately your baby will be the driver of how meal time will go. So get ready to be messy.

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I had full intentions of doing BLW all the way, but George said differently. He hasn’t taken to all things solid. I have said it before that some days he will only do purees, and then other days he can’t get that toast in his mouth fast enough. Most days he could go either way as long as food is entering his body.

Exhibit A:

It is an exercise in patience and flexibility.

But beyond the food, you do need some good products like a bib and utensils. Otherwise every meal time means bath time.

I am here to share my favorites to help you in your search. Because we all have opinions.

First a bib.

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We love love love Snap Bibs.

I hate cleaning, so in my search I needed something that was going to make this messy process easy. These are a snap (put intended) to clean. The food sticks on the vinyl like material while they are eating but doesn’t stain it. (Caveat, it does stain the back a little. So if you have a munchkin who likes to fold up the bib and try to eat the bib with his messy hands, you will get stains on the back. But no one sees this part anyway.) Once he is done, I either take a baby wipe and wipe them off, let the dogs lick it (truth), or just run it under the faucet. We have used the same one for almost every meal for 4 months and the front looks as good as when we first bought it. It’s nice too when you are traveling because then you aren’t putting a messy bib into the diaper bag.

I will also note that I have even not wiped it immediately after he ate which caused the food to dry on there. You may think that the bib is doneso, but nope. Still just as easy to get the food off by just wiping it with a wet cloth or again just put it under the faucet.

Snap Bibs for the win.

These bibs are super sturdy. Unlike Velcro bibs, they stay put even with all the flailing and moving about little man does.

They come in all kinds of colors, so you have a lot of options. I have tried to limit myself and not buy all the colors. We have three. But seriously we need all the colors.

These are one of my favorite baby purchases, which I have a feeling we will be using well into the toddler years.

All they need to do is find a way to make a baby feeding suit out of these things….somehow there is always food in his hair.

Now the utensils.

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I actually tried around with a few different products.

We have really tried to make George independent throughout this process. Soon after we started, I made him take the spoon. There were several spoons that we tried but he just was having a hard time holding and maneuvering in his mouth.

Then it came down to what was actually making it to his mouth. Babies are not all that coordinated if you didn’t know…I can confirm that they are like tiny drunks…So you need to have a spoon that is going to keep things on the spoon on the way in, even with lots of tosses and turns.

Some spoons were too slick. Some had too deep of wells that he couldn’t get everything out. Some were too short.

Then we fell upon Oogaa products.

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Everything about these spoons have been perfect.

They are long enough for him to hold. The spoon isn’t too deep that he can’t get it all out. It’s silicone nature keeps things from sliding off too much. My praises are endless…

Silicone makes them easy to clean. Seeing a theme here? (Easy to clean is my number one priority.)

These bad boys can go in the dishwasher, but they are super easy to hand-wash because under water the stickiness comes right off.

I also love that these can double up as a teether. They are not hard on his gums like a lot of plastic or metal baby spoons. This is a must when I am not moving fast enough to get new food in front of him. The spoon gives me a little distraction time while he munches on them.

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We love the regular spoons and use them ALL the time. However, we also love the more fun spoons. There is a train, truck, plane, and tugboat. These help with making meal time fun and engaging. This can also help your older kids become involved in the process. George isn’t quite at the stage where he knows what these things are but it is still fun to play with him. Plus these make good handles for him.

I was worried at first with these particular spoons because they have a deep space/hole in the back where I just envisioned all the food to collect. But even caked on food comes off easily under the faucet or the dishwasher. No more fuss!

We are still in the stage that every thing just goes on the tray so he can explore it. So we really haven’t had too much in the plate department for George to use. But I do love using Oogaa bowls to cook oatmeal in! Again easy to clean and goes in the microwave. Can’t get better than that. I talked more about their bowls here.

What can I say, we love our Oogaas!

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We still haven’t found the sippy cup for us. George hasn’t figured out how to tip and doesn’t get the straw idea yet. And if I am going to have to hold him to tip him back it defeats the purpose of him drinking independently. We are kind of putting the search on hold really because I don’t want to shell out any money. We are going to try again in a month with those that we have.

Those are just two of the items that have made our feeding adventure a little less stressful for me. George just wants the food in his mouth, so the easiest way to do that for Mom is the best way for him.

These are both small businesses started by moms wanting better products for their own kids. I found both of these through Instagram.

I did not receive the Snap Bibs for a review, but I did receive Oogaa spoons complimentary for testing purposes as an Oogaa Brand Partner. All thoughts and opinions are mine, and George’s of course!

What products would you recommend? Do you just feed your kids in the bathtub to fix the mess?

March 16, 2015 by Stephanie

Oogaa Bowltastic

It has been a while since I have baked something, so I wanted to try a new recipe this month.

The Oogaa challenge this month was to try our baking on these bowls.

Y’all seriously.

I cannot speak enough about the high quality and amazingness of these products from Oogaa.

A kid friendly bowl, that you can BAKE in.

No baking in a metal tin and then transferring to a kid plate.

Instead of having to use several dishes, you can just use this one fun one!

I am all about easy clean up!

And speaking of clean up, instead of having to scrape or worry about cupcake liners, it is so simple to get the baked item out of the bowl. You just push it out since they are silicone. Fantastically easy, which I am sure is great for kids who are just known for their patience.

I also want to point out that in my lack of awareness I attempted to peel the brownie out of the bowl (right after pulling it out of the oven) with my bare hands. While I do not recommend this type of stupidity, I will say that it did not burn my hands as a metal baking sheet would have. So these are much safer, which is a bonus when you have kids helping you in the kitchen.

Tom and I had a severe sweet tooth brewing. After perusing Pinterest, these Pumpkin Brownies just called our names. And it seriously can’t get better than a two ingredient recipe. Sold.

This may sound like a fall recipe, but we are adults and we wanted pumpkin brownies.

We used this recipe here.

To critique the recipe, they weren’t exactly our favorite. They came out more fudgy than brownie. Don’t worry, I still ate them. Also I will note that it had nothing to do with the Oogaa bowl. I didn’t cut the recipe in half, so I had a lot of extra batter. I made some cupcakes with the extra, and they came out the same consistency. So if you want some pumpkin fudge, this is the way to go.

But regardless of if you use this recipe, you all need to get these bowls. I can’t wait to use it more and more once we get past this first stage of food. We started oatmeal this weekend, and these work great to heat that up in the microwave.

If you want to find more out about these bowls, visit their site here. We love this company, and we know you would too!

We did receive receive this bowl complimentary for testing purposes as an Oogaa Brand Partner. All thoughts and opinions are mine, and George’s of course!

Have you tried Oogaa products? What would you like to use from their line?

March 2, 2015 by Stephanie

Spreading That Oogaa Love

George has two teeth that are trying to make their appearance. One on top and one on bottom. We have felt that he has been teething for a couple months now, but now at 6 months there still are no pearly whites. As we enter further into the throws of teething, let me tell you this is not a fun baby stage. My overall happy baby now throws fits. Who is this child?

It has got to be pretty miserable to basically have bones trying to break free. I imagine it is the same affect that Harry felt when Madame Pomfrey had to mend his rubber bones from a silly spell from Professor Lockhart. Agony.

So over the past couple months we have amassed a variety of teething soothers. We have a basket of teething toys that don’t seem to keep George’s crankiness subsided for more than a few minutes. We have to rotate the toys every couple minutes because he gets frustrated and loses interest in that particular toy. He also isn’t the greatest at keeping a hold of things so many of the toys are dropped for us to play fetch with.

We needed something that would help sooth his gums but also keep his attention for more than 2 minutes.

Enter the Oogaa teether.

AKA: the best toy ever.

We have plastic orb balls, twisty-clicky rattles, several different types of teething rings, teething keys, and teething pacifiers (which with his love of pacies you would think these would be his favorite, but no.) Basically if it has teething in the title, it’s in this box of teething wonders. (Yes we fell down that first time parent trap…) We even have Sophie the Giraffe which most moms will swear by as the answer to teething problems. Don’t get me wrong he loves these toys, but after two minutes you have to try to impress him with something else. Even Sophie doesn’t cut it for more than a couple minutes before he throws her off the ledge.

The Oogaa octopus teether was different. I went in with no expectations seeing as he had pretty much said “That’s all you got Mom?” to every other option I have thrown at him.

So when he held on to this little guy for more than 5 minutes, then an astonishing 10 minutes. I was basically in shock.

He adores this octopus.

So let me tell you more about this teether that we are now obsessed with.

First, it is a silicone teether so it is not like most teethers you get at the store. The whole thing is bendy so George can grip it many different ways. The texture is also unique because it is not completely smooth as you can see that there are ridges outlining the octopus shape. He really likes to feel the raised outline with his figure and his mouth. He is at that stage where texture is so intriguing to him.

What I like about it being silicone is that I can easily put it in the dishwasher. Easy washing makes a huge difference with baby slobber and the dogs running a muck. So anytime I think it needs a wipe down, it can easily be run under the faucet for a quick clean and then dried off in a snap. Easy peasy! I am not a fan of the cloth teethers because it just seems like they would harbor germs. So I like that I can easily wash this in the sink or put it in the dishwasher.

I also like that the company strives to be environmentally friendly with their products and are very conscious of what is being put in your baby’s mouth. One less thing this mama has to worry about!

The shape is also important here. Some of the other toys are somewhat awkward for George to hold. Either they are too big or they have too much going on that he doesn’t really know what to do with it. This teether is pretty simple. I think the flexibility helps as well as the unique shape. When George gets bored with one way of holding it, he will just rotate it for a new option. And he does that himself! (I like things that make him more independent.) And very rarely do we have to go chasing after it because he dropped it. This is the first toy that if he does drop he attempts (mostly successfully) to pick it back up. He likes trying to bend it, which is great for a kid who is just figuring out what is fingers and hands do. Several areas can serve as a handle for him and are easy for him to grip. I also like the hole on the side which he loves to hold with his hands and his mouth.

Or his feet.

As for the chewing part. This teether is like the perfect mixture of being hard enough yet soft enough to be soothing to his gums. It’s not like he is chewing on hard plastic or yucky cloth. It is a nice pliable middle ground! And the size isn’t so awkward that he will a) get it stuck in his mouth or b) not be able to put it in his mouth.

The colors are also really great for these toys. They are bright and vibrant. And I like that it is just one color which you don’t always see in baby toys. They are just a fun to look at toy! Also another plus on the shape/size is that they do not take up too much space in the diaper bag. Win! Because seriously this thing now goes with us everywhere.

Oogaa has two options for teethers: an octupus and an elephant. Aren’t they just adorable? We may have to look into getting the elephant to match his elephant room. Plus those handles look great!

I think we need to come up with a name for this new pal because George just loves this thing.

If you have not heard of Oogaa and you have children, or you need a good gift for someone else’s children, I suggest you head on over to see their products. Here is their website. This will be one of my go to gifts from now on.

To purchase this teether does not cost you any more than the average teether out there. But seriously who is with me on the fact that with teething you would pretty much shell out any amount of money to sooth those gums (and your sanity). The $8 is well worth it folks!

We love this company, and love supporting this mom’s vision come to life with her products. We are also using their utensils as we dive further into this feeding adventure, but I will save that excitement for another post!

We did receive receive this teether complimentary for testing purposes as an Oogaa Brand Partner. All thoughts and opinions are mine, and George’s of course!