Civics Lesson #1...

Before I begin, let me just preface this by saying...no, make that shouting....that this is not intended to be a political post. Believe me, I was SOOOO over that about 42 weeks before the election actually took place. Instead, it is a little tidbit of humor as promised for Family Funny Friday.... Please put your political affiliations aside, and laugh with me...across the aisle.

We are a house divided. I will decline to say which person of legal voting age falls on which side of the ballot, but just know that we pretty much always cancel out each others votes in this house. Regardless, we agree on the fact that we want out children to learn the issues and be educated enough to form their own, well informed opinions. And apparently, our 3 year old already has....

Let's go back in time about 2 months or so to the first presidential debate. Much like we were getting ready to sit down and watch a major sporting event, we made our dinner, grabbed the kiddos, and clicked on the boob tube. For the majority of the 20 minutes we were able to hold our pre-schooler's attention, her eyes kinda glazed over with boredom as we made our somewhat lame attempts to explain (in a bi-partisan manner) what these two well-dressed men were babbling about. Alright, maybe we got ahead of ourselves with this civics lesson....maybe she needs to break the 30 pound milestone before she begins thinking deeply about foreign affairs and fiscal cliffs. But then, like a miracle, a chord was struck in our little girls heart that she has not stopped talking about.....

Sesame Street. Governor Romney made the now infamous reference that Big Bird would be no more....(again, save the political discourse here....just try and hear it through the ears of a 3 year old...) 

She stopped, walked closer to the TV and listened intently with her head cocked to one side like a puppy.

After a few minutes, she turned to us and said...."Hey, why is that man going to get rid of Big Bird?" There was a legitimate anger in her voice...well, as angry as an undersized 3 year old girl can sound anyway.

Enter the well-intentioned, bumbling, parents here....we did our best to explain the reference, but her  mind was made up. She was voting for Obama (much to one of her parents happiness....though I decline to say which one....) based solely on her television viewing preferences. But, she had thought it through and "voted" on the issues and policy that affected her.

Goal accomplished....democratic process taught....kinda. Chapter one anyway!

Ever since that night, she refers to the President as "The Guy Who Won't Get Rid of Big Bird."  And I do mean EVERY time she sees him on the news....

In the eyes of my dear little R, that is how President Obama will go down in the history books. I can almost see her AP American History essays now.....so proud!

Happy Friday Ya'll!!

Recipe: Squeezable Pie?? Please and Thank You!!!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we have entered that time of year where the sugar loaded sweets occupy the counter tops continuously....much like the mismatched baby socks, pre-school crafts, and never-ending pile of mail-order catalogs that keep showing up in my mailbox. Which, by the way, is there some sort of do-not-mail list out there??? If so, please tell me about it....I will hug whoever tells me first (incentives....).

While it is probably not in the best interest of your little loves to make their meals this season entirely of the sugar laden treats in your house, who is to say that they don't deserve a little sweet treat every now and then? So this Thoroughly Yummy Thursday, I share with you you a recipe you are sure to sneak a taste of:

Apple (or Pumpkin) Pie A La Mode  (From www.LittleGreenPouch.com)

Mama Chef Extraordinaire: Liz Grimm, Copperas Cove, TX

When to Introduce: 12 months due to cow's milk based ingredients (always check with your pediatrician if you have questions)

Why we Love it:  Apples are a good source of both soluble and insoluble fiber - and it is super Yummy!

Ingredients:
1 cup Applesauce or cooked down apples (or try some Pumpkin)
1 tsp cinnamon
A few tbsp ground up graham crackers, arrowroot cookies, etc.
Cream or milk as needed for texture

Directions: Mix all ingredients - easy as that!

Servings: About 2-3 4 oz portions

Little Green Pouch

When I first learned about this product, I was a little bitter. Bitter that I had not thought of something so brilliant myself. Bitter about the money I had tossed down the drain before this product entered my life. Bitter that these beauties had not been around when I was a little one....seriously, they are THAT awesome!

Alas, I have worked through my bitterness and here on the other side, I am proud to make Little Green Pouch the very first feature on "Things We Love" Tuesday.  I want to share this super nifty product with the world! And this is my very best platform to do that....so here goes!

For those of you out there who love to make your own baby and toddler foods (or purchase from At First Bite of course....) but who miss the convenience of those handy little squeeze pouches, Little Green Pouch may just be the thing you have been dreaming about. This fillable, reuseable, dishwasherable, freezerable, sqeezable pouch is the creation of California mamas Maggie and Melissa.

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The pouches are zipper sealed at the top so the pouch can be opened (but not by little fingers....adults only) and then filled with all the yumminess you can dream of. Purees and semi-solids both work great making this practical for kiddos 4 months to 304 months (haven't done the math on that....but I would still use one of these for myself...just saying). The size and sqeezability of the pouch is ideal for even the tiniest of hands, and of course, they are BPA and phthalate free.

The designers had kiddos in mind when they dreamed up Little Green Pouch and made them to withstand those beatings that only young children can give and made them to be used over and over again. The pouches are dishwasher safe and come out good as new after a rinse and a cycle through the dishwasher (on the top shelf.....with all the other kiddo stuff).  And, perhaps my very favorite part, they are freezable!!! That is important stuff living here in the desert people.... Fill a bunch of pouches with your favorite puree and pop em in the freezer. When you run out the door in the morning, toss  them in your diaper bag and they    will  be                                                thawed by play-date intermission. LOVE it!

Wanna give Little Green Pouch a try??

Visit their website at www.littlegreenpouch.com to learn more and even place an order!

This is definitely one of the things we LOVE!!!

 ***While quantities last, receive a FREE Little Green Pouch with all At First Bite orders! Get yours today and see what we are talking about!!***

The Sigh....

Mamas with little ones at home, you know exactly what I am referring to in the title of this post without even reading the text. Around this time of day, many of us do it. I just did it about 13 minutes ago. And I will do it again sometime around 8:32pm this evening....give or take a few.

It's "the sigh."

Perhaps the only sound you have uttered all day that has been audible above the chatter of the tiny voices in your house....which register surprisingly high on the decibel scale for coming out of such teeny tiny little packages. As the bedroom door clicks closed behind you and your stare off down the hallway at the world of possibilities ahead of you, you let out a sigh of relief/happiness/exhaustion....you fill in the blank. But consciously or not, we all do it. Think you don't? Check it out next time you put the last little love in bed for the next hour or two. I think it is like blinking when you sneeze....it is physically impossible not to do it.

It's not that we are so sick of hanging out with our kids that we don't want to see them any more. It's not that we don't love playing Candy Land multiple times in a row...okay, maybe I don't really love that one....seriously, who does? What it is, is mentally exhausting. These little ones have about 53 times more energy than I do and their brains spin about 78 times faster than mine does. I get tired just watching them. I really do....maybe I need to go to the gym more often.

I realize the someday my children will know how to read. And that they are already more technologically savvy than me. So chances are, they will find and read this exact post...like next week. And when they do, they will probably think that I am a terrible person who couldn't wait to put them away in their rooms every afternoon. So very far from the truth. My sigh is a release of all the love and care that I pour into those hours before nap time. The blood, sweat, and tears that I wipe away countless times. Passion is exhausting....and sometimes you just need a break. And it just so happens, that that break comes in the form of nap time each and every afternoon. I love nap time....and I am not afraid to say it.

But someday, they too will "sigh" as their hands release that doorknob on their own childrens' doors.  And never will such a simple sound carry with it such a strong message. A message not of "getting the kids out of my hair for a few hours" but of needing a few hours to recharge your passion so that you can do it all over again when that first sweet "Mama?" comes across the baby monitor.

Say it with me now....."Ahhhhh....."

Now you will have to excuse me. I have about 43 more minute of recharging ahead of me....

Funny Family Friday

I hope that this finds you all slowly waking from your turkey induced slumber having had pleasant tryptophan influenced dreams and ready for FRIDAY!!! For those of you who opted out of the Black Friday Madness today/last night, and are not so bleary eyed  and/or bruised that you cannot read a quick blog post, I bring you "Funny Family Friday"....because kids are funny. They just are.

So, last Friday, I was rolling with my kiddos to the park after lunch....typical Friday routine around these parts. About halfway there, my 3 year old daughter R, pauses from her incessant chatter and questioning about why the world is the way it is and declares....

"Mama, I really need to work on learning to scratch my ear with my foot." Dead serious....more serious, in fact, than she has been about any other topic in her storied career as a 3 year old. Priceless. (And an instant post of FB....one of my most "liked" to date actually....thank you little one for making me feel popular)

In case you were wondering or concerned, I spoke with my dear husband T later that night about this revelation from our daughter and we decided that yes, despite this comment from our precious first born,  we will continue to save for her college education. Although that retirement home in Laguna Beach is looking like more and more of a reality....sweet.

Short and Sweet! Happy Friday All!!!

***Have a family funny you want to share?? Send it to me and you may be our next guest poster! You can drop me a line at jessie@atfirstbitebaby.com anytime!***

Thouroughly Yummy Thursday

Because this is just ADORABLE!

Gobble, gobble friends!! Yes, it is finally here....the day of supreme gluttony. They day when the daily caloric intake of many Americans surpasses the collective weekly intake of the entire cast of Twilight....I think. I have actually never seen a Twilight movie nor read one of the books (let the eye rolling begin....). They seem like sad, waif-like, hungry little teenagers. But I digress....

To this point, in the storied not-quite-one-week-long history of this blog, I have written about retail madness, collecting "stuff" to talk about, and working girls. But there has been nary a mention of food. Baby food, toddler food, awesome burritos...nothin. Kinda weird coming from a blog founded out of a natural baby food business no? Especially the burrito part. We do love in AZ after all....and I do love me a good burrito.

Today that all changes......welcome to Thoroughly Yummy Thursday! And if I do say so myself, I picked a rad day for this series to make its debut! Pure coincidence ya'll.

I run a baby food business. That is a fact. I want people to buy my baby food. That is also a fact. People can make their own food for their babies at home and I will be proud of them even though they didn't buy my food because in my humble opinion, it is the best thing for their little tummies. That is indeed another fact, as well as a run-on sentence.

So what I am getting at is that I want to share with you all some recipes, tips, tricks, and stories along that way that will make mealtime with your munchkins a bit more enjoyable and maybe even kinda fun.

Today, in the spirit of the holiday and all, let's introduce baby to Thanksgiving Gluttony.....in moderation of course. We don't need anyone to have to unsnap their onesie to make room for seconds.

So here is my big secret for today.....are you ready??

Baby can eat what YOU eat this turkey day, (with a few exceptions that is)!!! As a general rule, you should avoid feeding baby nuts, shellfish, cows milk, and honey before they smash that mini-cake on their first birthday. But aside from that, pretty much everything else is fair game, just be sure to introduce foods slowly so as to watch out for potential allergic reactions and make sure that you process the food into a consistency that baby can handle. That includes making sure that finger foods are cut into small non-hazardous pieces.

So go ahead, put Grandma's Green Bean Casserole into the food processor. Chop up some jellied cranberry sauce....get some video of your toddler trying to pick that up. Priceless. Make a sweet potato and turkey puree in the same blender you made the margaritas in during the football game (just be sure to rinse it out first....please). Get creative!!! With baby food, exact measurements are not so critical. It is all about what nutrients you are putting in your little love's tummy and the "yumminess" that the grow to love!!

Or, plan B, you can always order up some yumminess from At First Bite....to be delivered next week. That is OK too! You can do that at www.atfirstbitebaby.com if you are so inclined.

Happy Thanksgiving all!!!  Peas. Love. Yumminess today and always!!

Working Girl Wednesday

That's right my dear friends....on Wednesdays, we are going to be featuring working girls!!! No, not THAT kind of working girl you crazy mamas....although that could be fun too.....and technically not out of the realm of what I am talking about. I mean, they do run their own business. They do set their own hours. They are responsible for marketing themselves..... Hmmm......

OK, while I suppose we could have a few of the proverbial "working girls" in these features, what I am actually talking about are women who have taken the same flying leap that I have off the edge of  job security and jumped right onto the crazy-train otherwise known as being an entrepreneur. Regardless of what letters ended up in your chromosomal gender code, taking the steps to becoming a business owner is like learning to walk all over again.

Most of us think about taking those first steps for a VERY long time. We watch the people around us and think how cool it would be to do the same thing. To be able to play with the "big kids." Then, we cruise along the comfortable edge of blog-stalking potential competitors while watching some quality reality TV, doodle business plans on baby wipes, and maybe even create some social media contacts during nap time to test the waters a bit (imagine your adorable little rug rats holding onto the side of the couch while gingerly letting go with one hand to grab a toy....yeah, it's kinda like that.)

So this is where I kinda lose my learning to walk analogy.....damn, I was doing so well with that......oh well, bear with me here.....

While the vast majority of babies get up the courage to let go and "launch" at some point, there are not so many dreamers who make the choice to let go and "launch" their daydream into reality. It is a scary, scary thing.....trust me!

But some do it....and they do it beautifully!!!

I was a late walker (like almost 16 months...I still trip a whole lot....) and as it turns out, it took me just about as long to "launch" At First Bite....and I am still tripping a little every day. All that aside, I certainly never would have done it without being inspired by the "big kids." And in this little corner of my blog, I want to impart their wisdom and inspiration on you all. And maybe just drum up a little well-deserved business for their endeavors as well....

So, let the tales of some amazingly successful women entrepreneurs begin....next Wednesday.

Until then, I have some gluttonous food to create....gobble, gobble friends!

***Know a chica who runs her own small business?? Yes, it can be YOU!!! Want to be featured here on the At First Bite blog???  Let's talk!! Send me an email at: jessie@atfirstbitebaby.com***

The "Stuff" We Love Tuesday

If you are a parent, I must warn you....this post may bring on some PTSD (I know, I sound all fancy with my acronyms). By reading this post, you may be forced to relive a moment (or MANY moments) that bring on cold sweats, feelings of nausea, dizziness....you know the drill. What is this dreaded and most-feared memory?

Is it childbirth? Is it the first time your little one asked you how that baby got in your neighbors' tummy? Even worse, your child asking your neighbor that when you know full-well, there is no baby in your neighbor's tummy....

No, it is not these moments that I am referring to. It is something much more feared and often unexpected in its terror.....

It is the first time you set foot into the baby supply store to select which tools you will need in order to keep your little one alive for the next 18 years....and hopefully ensure that they still want to take care of you in your old age.  (Cue the ill side-effects now.....)

Aisles upon aisles of "stuff." Beyond the diapers and "butt-cream", there lies an infinite world of marketing genius. From bottles that consist of no less than 14 individual tiny parts a piece to strollers that have a DVD player built in (I so wish I was kidding on that one....), there is something about the hormones that come with incubating a tiny human that make mamas and papas everywhere feel compelled to pull out the credit card and swipe away.

After about week 8, there is some level of clarity that emerges from the fogginess of pure sleep deprivation and we realize that besides the basic necessities, there are only a few of these "must-haves" that actually make it into the everyday rotation of kiddo wrangling.

This are The "Stuff" We Love. And this is the "stuff" that I want to feature in our Tuesday posts!

So, the floor is open to you all.....tell me, what baby/toddler/kid/tween/teen product do you want to cuddle with at night because it has made your world as a parent so much better?

I want to know, and I want to share it with the world!!! Welcome to The "Stuff" We Love Tuesday!

Random Mama Thoughts Monday

As we get started on this blog, I am hoping to have some sort of order to our daily posts....not as easy as it sounds when one is as random and easily distracted as I am (shiny object.....). But, regardless, for the sake of the Super Mamas (and papas....) reading this, I am going to try and stick to a plan. Mondays are Mondays however, and I cannot be held responsible for turning out top-notch work on such a day. So, alas, I have created a loop-hole (ahhh, the beauty of working for oneself....) and I now pronounce that Mondays here on the At First Bite blog will be deemed, "Random Mama Thoughts Monday".

There, we have a title, which suggests order, but we have wiggle room for some randomness. That's right friends, I am a people pleaser! I do what I can.

Some weeks, my Random Mama Thoughts will be my own, sometimes we will have a guest post from a VIP. Sometimes it will have something to do with At First Bite....sometimes it won't. Don't you worry, I will keep you on those pretty toes of yours...or in my case, not so much,  I let my 3-year old try her hand as a nail tech last night....not pretty. But I digress....

Random Mama Thought of the Week: Seriously retail giants?? Seriously??

Over the past month or so, I have had to explain to my 3 year old no less than 183 times that "No, Santa is not coming next week....he is still (fill-in-the-blank) night-sleeps away." Not only is this seriously challenging my higher-math skills, but it is confusing the heck out of that sweet little brain of hers. She is forever going to be confused as to why the Easter Bunny, Tom Turkey, and the Jolly Red Man himself adorn the shelves just beyond the toilet paper and kitty litter for what seems like ETERNITY to a little one (and many adults) before they actually make their ninja-like entrance into our homes to leave treats, tryptophan, and toys for the whole family.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the economics behind it all. And it certainly won't keep me from visiting my own personal holy-land of Target.....seriously, we went every Sunday as a child.( I thought Holy Water came in the form of White Cherry Icees.....) But, for the sake of us mamas just trying to explain to our kiddos why dogs scratch their ears with their feet and that no, it is not particularly flattering for humans to do so, please help a sister out. Maybe wait until the calendar is in the same lunar cycle of the holiday to roll out the neon Easter Bunnies and animatronic Rudolphs (seriously, they are creepy...)? Please and Thank You!!!

And this my friends, was Random Mama Thought Monday!!

***Have a Random Mama Thought you want to share?? Please do!!! Just comment below, or send an email to: jessie@atfirstbitebaby.com. You may be featured next!***

Rise of the Super Mamas!

So ever since I took a flying leap off the edge of sanity and started to officially chase this little daydream of mine, I have heard the question over and over again....do you have a blog?

"Well yeah....of course I do....sure.....yeah.....ok, no. No I do not...what is a blog again?"

Not the answer that mamas eager to jump on the Yummy bus are looking for apparently. More often than not, my response was met with a less than impressed, "Oh...well, thanks." This response is then typically followed with a half-smile and a graceful slink away from my vendor booth, onto the next mama-focused  business.  (That undoubtedly has a blog...grumble, grumble)

No Blog = Me "Not Winning"

Blogs huh? Turns out people like em....especially these mystical creatures that I have come to affectionately call Super Mamas. You know who you are. You are the mamas that manage to know about each and every "Mommy and Me" class within a 50 mile radius, be the fund-raising chair for your child's PTA, and even complete a few of those "Pins" you pinned while listening in on the conference call with your corporate office (AND you managed to sell them on Etsy). And you are asking for some more extracurricular reading in the form of  a blog?  In the words of  90's workout phenom Susan Powter.... "Stop the insanity!"

You exhaust me....you amaze me...I long to be you.

So, in homage to you super mamas of the world, I rise up to meet (or attempt to meet....) your requests! Today launches "At First Bite" : The Blog! Some Peas. Some Love. A Whole Lotta Yumminess!!

Stay tuned.....you know you are excited!!