girlymama

yobaby meals or how i got colin to eat an actual vegetable

My first two kids were terrific eaters. They ate pretty much anything we put in front of them. We even took them to another country, where they happily ate ethnic food for several weeks with little complaining. They'll still try almost anything!

Then we had Colin.

This kid would happily eat nothing but fruit, yogurt, hot dogs and chicken nuggets for the rest of his life. He hates meat. He hates most vegetables, although he used to eat peas. (But not anymore.) He'll occasionally eat a carrot. He won't eat rice or potatoes. He does eat pasta, but only if its spaghetti that is not cut up so he can slurp it and make a huge mess. (Oh, he does like pizza. But who doesn't like pizza?)

SIGH.

So when I was contacted by Stonyfield Farms about trying their new YoMeals, I enthusiastically said, "YES!! PLEASE help me get some vegetables into my son!!" With all three of our kids, YoBaby Yogurt  has been a staple in our house. It was usually the one thing I could guarantee they would eat, even on their pickiest days!!

YoBaby Meals offer a unique 3-in-1 combination of protein-packed yogurt + fruit + veggie purée in one cup. It comes in three flavors -- Pear & Green Bean, Peach & Squash, Apple & Sweet Potato – and, thankfully, is in a 6-ounce cup. (My son always wants more after a 4-ounce YoBaby!) And of course, YoBaby Meals are still all natural and certified organic, made with milk from cows fed organic feed and not treated with antibiotics or artificial growth hormones.

My thoughts?
Thank you, Stonyfield. My son ate vegetables. Real vegetables. Happily! With no screaming or throwing vegetables on the floor! (Not that my child ever does that. Ahem.) He liked the Peach and Squash flavor best, followed by the Apple and Sweet Potato. Pear and Green Bean was not such a hit, but he never liked green vegetables in baby food, either.

Stonyfield Farms is offering a lucky Girlymama reader a YoBaby gift pack that includes a Yobaby travel bowl with lid, a Yobaby organic cotton bib , an Eric Carle growth chart AND 3 free Yobaby Meals coupons!! Here's how to enter: 

1. Contest ends Friday, December 18.
2. Entry #1: Leave a comment just saying you want to win.
3. Entry #2: Leave a SEPARATE comment telling me your trick getting your kids to eat healthy.
4. Entry #3:  Leave another comment telling me in what way you promoted this contest (i.e., posting about it on your blog or Facebook, Tweeting about it, emailing  friends, and/or subscribe to my feed by email or in a reader).
5. Winners will be selected by Random.org, announced back here on this post, and notified via email with further instructions.

Good luck!!

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I'm also giving away TWO sets of K'NEX this week on Girlymama reviews! Go enter!

inspiration - 12.13

"O holy night!
The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of Our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world
In sin and error pining,
Til He appear'd
And the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope
The weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks
A new and glorious morn."

"You were bought at a price."  1 Corinthians 7:23a

This Christmas, remember what your soul was worth to God: His son.

lesson learned

Do not leave peanut butter blossoms unsupervised.

powering down

After a crazy week, I'm taking a personal day.

I was going to call it a 'vacation day.' But a 'vacation day' implies doing something fun and recreational, possibly involving a spa or a beach and drinks made with tequila.

My day will not be like that. (Dang it.)

Instead, I have a list to tackle:

1. My house is a disaster. (No exaggeration: it looks like a bomb went off in here. I'm sitting at my desk surrounded with dirty dishes, three half-finished mugs of coffee and approximately 300 pieces of paper and there are ground up pretzels under my feet, courtesy of Colin dumping his bag of pretzels upside down in my lap yesterday.)
2. My kids are grumpy. (I guess that's what happens when I practically ignore them for a week!) 
3. I'm exhausted. (I got home last night at midnight and Colin's Mama Radar went off and he woke up... until 3am. If I was going to stay up until 3am, I would have preferred to do it by staying out at the bar with a big group of friends of mine. )
4. Christmas cards, Christmas shopping, wrapping, and other holiday-related items need to be attended to.
5. Laundry. (Yesterday, Colin wore his pajama top all day. Actually, I'm wearing my pajama top right now, under my sweater. I  like to keep it real here on Girlymama.) 

I'm out.

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I have a cool toy giveaway for you next week!! I'm so excited! Stay tuned!

craziness

This week I've had a taste of what life as a working mom will be like.  These past two weeks have been completely packed with design work, blogging and just general holiday stuff. And I made an amazing discovery...

There are only 24 hours in a day.

Shocking, I  know.

Yet, somehow it was a surprise to me that I can't work 30 hours a week and still do everything else I was doing before.

Lots of other things have slid. I haven't been playing with my kids as much as usual. We're almost out of toilet paper and toothpaste. My house is a disaster and my family has been eating more dinners of scrambled eggs or cereal than I care to admit.

Recently, someone asked me, "How do you do it all?" And I just about laughed in her face. 

Haven't we figured out by now that NO ONE does it all?

Some of us work full time, some of us stay home with our kids. Some of us have husbands who travel, leaving us alone with the kids. Some of us volunteer at school or in the community and really do look like we have it all together and some of us don't.  We all have to take care of our kids, our homes, our families and ourselves.   And we all only have 24 hours in a day - we just use it differently.

For more What I Learned This Week, click here.