Baby Food Co-op

Drew started eating baby food about a month and a half ago and I decided that we were going to homemade baby food.  I wish I could say that I made that decision because I want only the best, organic, no-weird-stuff-added food going into my baby's belly.  I mean, I guess all that's true, but the real reason I decided to go the homemade route is because I'm cheap,  I can get one jar of baby food for a buck, or a pound of sweet potatoes which makes the equivalent of about 4 jars of baby food.  Sold. 

After making sweet potatoes and then carrots for Drew, I realized making baby food is kind of time consuming.  And if I wanted my child to have some variety in his diet, I needed a new plan.  And so the Baby Food Co-op was born.  It's basically the same as the cookie exchanges you do around Christmas, but with homemade baby food.  Five other moms and I each made a ton of one type of baby food, froze it ice cube trays, and then had a little party where we swapped.  Okay, we did more than swap at the party.  We drank some wine, had some yummy appetizers and desserts and chatted.  Without kids.  It was glorious.

Confession:  I was all about having this be a "moms only" night and thought I had made plans for my mom to watch Drew.  Come to find out, what she thought the plans were and what I thought the plans were didn't quite match up.  :)  And Drew was only awake for about 15 minutes of the party.  Hooray for early bedtimes!

My contribution to the baby food extravaganza?  Peas and parsnips.  I know, I made two things.  I'm kind of an over-achiever.  Not.  (Who says "not" anymore?)  Apparently parsnips are not the most popular vegetable and I cleaned out our local grocery store and didn't have enough.  (We were supposed to make enough for each person to go home with the equivalent of one ice cube tray of each food.)  So I made peas as well.

My peas and parsnips in all of their baby food glory.

The lovely ladies at the party

(Sarah, Samarah, Erin, me and Laurali.  Emily is taking the pic.)

We each ended up going home with peas, parsnips, applesauce, carrots, plums, peaches and pears!

And here's the babe enjoying some of his tasty food.

And if you're wondering what the babe was doing while I was making bibs, here he is! Just chillin' with some toys in his high chair like the big almost-four-month-old that he is.

Recycled T-Shirt Bibs

Before we moved, I went through all of my clothes and got rid of the stuff that I don't wear anymore. I had a ton of old t-shirts that had holes, or those nasty yellow stains in the pits, or a few spots of paint. The realist in me knew I should get rid of them, but the thrifty crafter in me wanted to save them for some unknown (and, let's be honest, probably to never come to fruition) project. I am happy to announce, I just used three of said t-shirts!

I've recently become addicted to Pinterest. (If you haven't checked it out, you definitely should. Just be warned, you'll likely become addicted.) Anyway, as I was snoopin' around on there the other day, I found this fantastic post for making baby bibs out of old t-shirts and thought I'd give it a whirl. Verdict? Super easy and pretty cute!

Here's how I made them:

1. Take a bib and trace it onto a piece of paper. Then cut it out, leaving about a half-inch margin.

2. Cut the arms and bottoms off of a t-shirt and then position the pattern so it's over the part of the shirt you want on the bib and cut it out. Repeat with flannel, terry cloth, that super soft fleecey stuff, whatever you have on hand. (Note: If I were a smarty pants, I would have put the flannel under the t-shirt, pinned the pattern to both and cut them out at the same time.)

3. Put the right sides together and sew around the edges, leaving an opening to flip the bib right-side-out.

4. Flip the bib right-side-out and iron. (Another note: DO NOT iron on the images on the t-shirt! Learned that one the hard way...)

5. Sew around the edges and sew the hole that you used to flip it right-side-out closed.

6. Sew velcro or snaps onto the ends.

7. Voila! A homemade and eco-friendly drool catcher!