Life has a way of getting busy! I haven't been blogging because I've simply had a lot to do recently. Lucas is teething and is, more or less, literally physically attached to me 50% of the day. When I do have some time online I try to catch up on my favorite blogs, keep in touch with email and search out good couponing deals. As Lucas gets older, his demands on my time increase. So my house may be light years away from my standard of clean and I may never have clean socks again, but at least I am content knowing that my time is being invested in something precious and worthy.

I spent the last two days preparing homemade baby food for the next couple of weeks. I've introduced Lucas to all the commercial organic baby foods that Gerber offers (except meats), which was my plan to determine what foods to prepare for him at home. I have to admit that it was quite the ordeal. Firstly, in an attempt to support the local farmers, I visited the Farmer's Market down the road. The salesladies were grim-faced, but the sweet potatoes and apples that I brought home completely made up for their moods. But I'll get to that shortly.. 6 potatoes and a dozen apples cost me a little over $6. $6 equals roughly 5.5 double packs of Gerber foods.

In numbers, that equals about 28 ounces of food. I didn't measure exactly, but my output was much more than 28 oz. Though the financial savings is a huge plus because of how much Lucas is eating now, it takes second place to the fact that I want to offer Lucas the best, freshest food I can find him. This is just another aspect of hands-on mothering in my opinion. I'm not a Hamburger Helper kind of cook, so I feel like I can offer Lucas homemade just as readily as I offer my husband homemade meals from scratch.

After the Farmer's Market trip I drove back home and stole my husband from his woodworking in the garage. We drove to The Fresh Market in Newport News and it's been a long time since I've been that thrilled about a grocery store. If a grocery store can be beautiful, this place was. How nice is it to shop to the sound of subtle classical music and pleasant lighting? Very, if you ask me. The selection of organic food was lovely. From the organics I picked 4 each of two kinds of pears, a 5-Lb bag of carrots, and a colorful mango. From the non-organics I picked up two ripe avocados for Lucas, two containers of strawberries and two pluots (a hybrid apricot/plum fruit that I've never seen) for the hubby and me. I think we spent a little over $30. It was an interesting experience and I thought the selection of products was unique. I've been shopping on base for too long.

The mango and the avocados were no brainers. Cut, pit, scoop out meat. Each fruit fit perfectly into my small food shopper and within 30 seconds I had baby puree. I mixed the mango in with Lucas' morning oatmeal today and he loved it. I had just the right amounts to fit into small freezer bags. I'd hoped to put the food in ice cube trays for easier portioning, but for the life of me I couldn't find them! After the foods froze I put them on a cutting board and cut them into squares with a very sharp knife. Too easy. Eat that, Gerber!

Tomorrow, time willing, I'll post more about my baby food making adventures (read: messes). I took some photos of the process.