Happy Spring mamas!  This is a beautiful time of year, when we start noticing warmer weather, flowers blooming, and new fruits and veggies popping up.

When our babies are ready for solid foods, we all want to feed them the very best possible choices that we can.  I know making your own baby food can feel like a daunting task, but remember that your baby’s first tastes should be the freshest most delicious tastes you can offer.  Why?  This is your babies first experience with food, and if you make it yourself and choose something in season, while its at its peak of freshness, you will get the sweetest fruits and ripest veggies possible, and your baby will ultimately enjoy these new flavors and be excited about the next experience to come.  Keep in mind that baby’s first foods are only a supplement to mama’s milk or formula up until age one, so don’t panic if they are not interested in solid food at first.  Some babies will love it right out of the gate, and others will be slow to warm up to it.  Either way, be patient with yourself and your baby, as this dance is new for both of you.

Summer is a time for playing outside, running through sprinklers, going to the beach, and picking fresh strawberries! Summer also means enjoying refreshing treats that bring those memorable smiles to our kid’s faces. 

Surprisingly, these don’t have to include sugar or processed junk; there is a way to create some easy tasty goodies for your kids, without the sugar overload!

One thing I have learned from being a parent to four beautiful kids is that they all love treats, but the healthy ones satisfy their desires just as much as the unhealthy ones, so why not keep it good for them. I have also noticed that context matters!

There are times when I give my kids something to eat at home at the table and they wont eat it, but given the same thing outside playing with their friends, they gobble it up.

This summer have fun playing with some no sugar treat recipes from my Organically Raised book and see how your kids respond.  You will feel good about it and they will love them just as much.

People always ask me for the quickest recipes and the fastest solutions to cooking for the their families because our lives are busy.  I get that, but plain and simple, it does take time to cook for your baby.

I know its hard to make the time, but I also know that the investment you make now is critical to the overall nutritional development of your child and although it does take some time to prepare fresh food, simple tasty recipes can be turned out pretty quick.

Just like you and I babies care about taste and want what we want, the good stuff!  This desire is more than just a want, its also critical to the development of your child.  When you start them out with seasonal foods that you hand prepare with your love, you not only give them what their bodies need at the right time of year, but you feed their souls as well.

Instead of buying a jar of baby food pears for example, peel one; cut it and throw in the steamer for about 5 minutes, hit puree on your blender and boom you have fresh baby food!  Sure, this may not be as easy as just opening a jar, but the effects are lasting.

This country has the highest obesity rates in the world and it’s because we start off our children with processed foods and the snowball continues from there.  Nutrition is the key to healthy children and we need to start from the very beginning.  So although it does take some time to prepare, making the effort is well worth the end results!

In honor of the fact that I just gave birth to my 4th baby River Love, three weeks ago, and we are in the middle celebrating birth, I thought I would write this month’s article on enjoying birthdays the natural way. As parents, we get very excited to celebrate the passing of a year with lovely celebrations for our children.  I have had many moms ask me time and time again how to do this more organically for their little ones.  My philosophy is keep it simple and make it beautiful.  For babies, it’s best to invite a few people rather than tons of folks, because the energy can get a little overwhelming for them.  As your child grows and wants to invite friends over, it’s best to keep it to the most special folks to your child, in order to maintain the focus of the celebration.  Kids don’t need huge celebrations, but rather lovely acknowledgements of their past year.  Keep the décor natural with fresh flowers and handmade goodies.  For our children, we always decorate their spot at the table with fresh flowers and rose petals, have a felted birthday crown waiting for them and a nice candle burning in honor of their special day. We also really enjoy hand made cards and photos of each child over the past year.

When it comes to food, birthday parties can be a challenge for parents who are trying to keep the sugar treats to a minimum and I have parents ask me all the time what they should do.  You have an option of bringing your own handmade treats to parties or decide to allow your children to partake of whatever is at the event, and just keep your own household sugar offerings limited.  Whatever you decide just know that you have options and that you do not have to partake of all the goodies offered at parties.  What I might do with my own kids is allow them to eat the cake, but not candy or sugar drinks.  They are usually happy with that and actually they never eat the whole piece of cake they are given.  Usually after a couple of bites, they move on to something else, and then they feel like they were a part of the birthday celebration, and I actually believe that there is something sacred about everyone at least taking one bite from the birthday cake as an honoring of the celebration of the child.

In my home, when it comes to the star of the party, the cake, we always make the same one for our little ones.  We may change up the toppings or add fresh whipped cream, but it’s a healthy tradition that all the kids enjoy.  I have included our cake recipe for you to enjoy with your little ones as it has no sugar and you can actually feel good about them eating it. For dinner, we always ask what special meal the birthday child wants and the family spends the day cooking that meal together.

These simple gestures make each of our children feel special and honored and I hope these ideas inspire you to create some fun natural family birthday traditions of your own.

When feeding your babies and toddlers, keep color in mind.  In my book, Organically Raised, I call this rainbow eating.  As a new parent, it’s often difficult to manage all of the day-to-day details of raising little ones, and so finding easy ways to make sure our kids are getting the nutrition they need, without the stress of monitoring nutritional content of each fruit or veggie, just look at the color!  Simply put, you want to make sure your babies and little ones are eating a wide variety of colors as each group organically represents various unique health benefits and will naturally keep your baby in balance. By feeding your baby foods in a rainbow of colors, you ensure that he will have a diet with diverse tastes, textures, and nutrients. It is also a wonderful way to teach her about colors!

This color adventure is also fun for toddlers and can help teach them their colors!  You can make a game out of it and all the while you are ensuring a balanced diet filled with the seasonal nutrition they need!

Here is an easy chart, from my book, to help guide you on this fun culinary adventure!