I love making my daughter’s baby food homemade. I like that I can control what goes into her body. It’s not that store bought baby food is bad for babies but, if given the choice, I would rather fill LC’s tummy with fresh fruits, veggies, and breast milk, rather than preservatives. The shelf life of store bought food can be multiple years, which means that by the time it reaches your child it can be older than they are. Now I am going to be honest, the store bought food is sometimes yummier than the homemade food. I puree my food with breast milk. Store bought food is often pureed with apple juice. Breast milk is by far healthier than apple juice but I am going to guess it is not as tasty. For my family, the benefits of homemade baby food are worth the extra effort, but we do keep a value pack of store bought food in the pantry for convenience’s sake.

LC eats about 12oz of baby food per day. We know it is also important for Leighton to feed herself so we give her finger food to play with and eat in her high chair while we eat dinner together as a family. This is usually cut up versions of whatever we are eating or, if we are not having something that she can easily eat herself, we either heat up a can of veggies for her to nom on (corn is her favorite!) or I quickly whip up some small shell pasta. We feel this is a good variation of pureed baby food and baby led eating.

Prep
The freezer storage containers I use are the Skip Hop Easy-Fill Freezer Trays. I have 3 of them and I like to fill them all at once and have them freeze overnight. I blend my baby food using a Ninja Bullet blender. The freezer storage containers hold 12oz of food and the Ninja Bullet blending cup is clearly labelled and hold up to 16oz. Since I am making multiple types of food in one sitting I like to make recipes that have similar ingredients.

Process
I start with the breast milk. My milk storage containers are 5oz so that is what I use for each batch.

I put the frozen milk in first and add the baby food ingredients on top. I sometimes add more breast milk to the mix to get the consistency just right. There are some baby foods that I do not add breast milk to, at least not as much; oatmeal for example. This is because of the consistency. I don’t want it to be too watery or too thick.

Once everything is blended together, I simply pour the baby food into the storage containers and insert the dividers – this separates the 12oz container into six 2oz pods.

The container on my Ninja Bullet makes 16oz so usually I have some baby food left over after I fill the freezer trays.

I pour the remaining baby food straight into my Baby Brezza Food Storage Pouch and stick them in the refrigerator for LC’s next meal. These pouches are perfect for at home or on the go. When she was first starting out I would hold the pouch and measure out each bite on a spoon to feed her. Eventually she wanted to slurp it straight from the straw and now she is able to hold the pouch herself!

Storage
I put the containers in the freezer overnight and take them out in the morning. I run it under some hot water and pop out the frozen pods. I put this pods in a zip-lock bag that I label with the type of food and the date it was made. The baby food is good in the freezer for 3 months.

Every night I take out 2 pods from the freezer and put them into 3 storage pouches – 2 pods for breakfast, 2 for lunch, and 2 for dinner. The pod will defrost in the fridge and I find the food pouches the most convenient for home and to grab on the go. In the morning I take out the remaining pods that I will need for the rest of the day.

I try to make sure I am making baby food with a wide variety of ingredients so that she is exposed to as many different foods as possible. I usually do an oatmeal for breakfast in the morning – her favorite is blueberry oatmeal! – and a fruit / veggie combo for lunch. I try to make sure dinner is something green and healthy! Texture is a big thing for LC so she tends to prefer food without rice or quinoa mixed in but we are still working up her exposure.

This might sound like a lot of work but it really isn’t! One container is enough food for one day of feeding my child. I have three containers. If I make food every day for one week I can make enough baby food for 3 weeks before I start again. This is totally worth it to me knowing that I am in control of what goes into Leighton’s body and that she is getting the best possible food for her growth and development!

If you want any ideas on puree recipes for your little one you can hop over to my Baby Food Page for some of Leighton’s favorites!

Some people have noticed that Chris and I do not show our daughter’s face on any social media. This is a conscious decision and one that we discuss and re-evaluate regularly. This is a choice that is right for us right now. We may change our minds in the future. We may not. And we definitely do not have any ill feelings towards parents who chose to have their children present online. We have always been hesitant about giving reasons for this decision because we don’t want to look like hypocrites if there is a time that we change our minds and choose to show her face online. But that is the great thing about being parents. We are in charge. We are learning and figuring it out as we go along. So, in that spirit, here are some of the reasons why we are not currently showing LC’s face on social media:

Safety: I am a mom. I worry about my kid. I worry about the permanence of the internet. About information that cannot be taken back. It scares me the idea of having some guy that I haven’t talked to since middle school knowing information about my child. I have Instagram friends that I know in a very limited capacity who share information about their child that I feel strange about knowing. These are children that I do not know and I have never met before and yet I could pick them out of a lineup of 100 other children and know their favorite snacks and what they like to watch on TV. Now these parents probably do a better job than I do of filtering out who follows them on social sites. I hope to wait until I know that LC is responsible enough to be smart about the internet before I subject her to it and all the dangers that come with it. Also, I watch way too much Criminal Minds.

Privacy: This is the one that Chris feels very passionately about. Leighton is a baby. But she won’t always be. She will grow up and have feelings and opinions on how she is represented on the internet. She has the right to control what is shared and what is kept private. Right now, she doesn’t have a voice and it is our responsibility as her parents to be that voice for her. She probably won’t want strangers watching a livestream of the first time she uses the big girl potty. She might not want photos documenting her cute little baby butt in the bathtub. She can’t tell us these things. So we have to err on the side of caution.

Mental Heath: I want to show her on social media. I want to so bad. But when I stop to think about my motivation behind why I want to do so, none of them are healthy. I want to show off my cute baby girl. Because, let me tell you, my girl is CUTE. I want other people to wish they had a baby girl that is as cute as my baby girl. I want to brag about her development and show off the ways that she is more advanced than other babies her age. I choose to not show her face in order to keep me from myself. From my natural tendencies for competition. From my secret, dark pleasure in making other’s covet the perfect online life I have created for myself. I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole. When I stop to think of why I want to show Leighton on my personal account, I cannot think of a single reason that would benefit her, only me. That may change in the future, when I am less of a psycho crazy person. But, then again, maybe not. At least I am aware of the crazy I have inside me and am working every day to grow and be better. I have always worked hard to make sure that I am showing my authentic self on social media and if I showed Leighton at the forefront of my social media presence I don’t think that would continue.

All of this being said, we do have a private Instagram account for family and close friends to see pictures and updates on her development. We do this so that those who are close in spirit but physically far can watch her grow up. Even on this private account, however, we choose to be mindful of the fact that we are posting on behalf of someone else. We don’t speak using her voice in the captions and we try to think “would she be embarrassed for her friends to see this picture when she is 13?” so all naked bath time photos are kept off the internet and instead put into family photo albums at home! For now, we can document LC’s life in pictures for her <100 followers knowing she is safe and we are doing what we feel is best for now.

I’ve always had a hard time loving my body. Loving my post baby body isn’t just hard. It’s impossible. I feel trapped in a body that isn’t my own. I weigh less than I did when I found out I was pregnant but my body has somehow inflated. I’m squishy and stretched out. None of my clothes fit properly. I’m insecure. I’m embarrassed. I’m uncomfortable being seen.

There is such a pressure to “bounce back” after baby. The topic of weight goes hand in hand with the pregnancy itself. If a woman doesn’t gain weight in her pregnancy she is depriving her baby. If she does than she is letting herself go. There is no way to win.

I gained weight in my pregnancy. I gained 40 pounds in 9 months. I lost all 40 pounds in the 3 months after delivery. I have lost another 10 pounds since then. Even with this, I do not look the same. I do not feel the same. I most certainly did not “bounce back”.

I have a mom-pooch where my daughter lived and was kept safe for 9 months. I have stretch marks where my organs rearranged themselves to grow a human inside of me and then put itself back together again. I have deflated boobs from breastfeeding and nourishing my child. I have a mom-bod.

I gave birth to my daughter less than 8 months ago but I still feel embarrassed and defensive about my weight. I should look the way I used to by this point. Leighton deserves a mom who is better than this.

I could definitely eat better. I could most-certainly work out more (or at all…). But I’m giving myself a pass on those things. At least for now. Because my motivation shouldn’t be to fit societal expectations of what a woman should look like after she has a baby. My motivation shouldn’t be to try to look comparable to my friends who have kids and seem to find all of this much easier than I do. My motivation shouldn’t be a fabricated belief that my 7 month old daughter cares at all about how many rolls I have on my stomach.

I may never look the way I used to. But that doesn’t mean I’m not beautiful. My body did an amazing thing. Hopefully it will again one day. I am proud to be a woman. Our bodies are truly so incredible. So individual. So I am learning to love my beautiful, unique, squishy body. The best I can.

EDIT: Thank you all so much for the positive feedback. I know the best message I can share and what I hope to teach my daughter by example is to cherish the body God gave you. That means treating it with respect. Yes, that includes good nutrition and exercise but, above that, it is loving your body no matter what stage you’re in. Your words have power in them and the way you talk about your body not only impacts the way you feel about yourself but also the way others might view their own bodies.

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday and I made a post on social media about how thankful I am for the people in his life who made him feel loved on his birthday. Some people described the post as me sticking up for my husband who always gets taken advantage of. My intention with this post was actually quite different:

“Today is Chris’s birthday. One of the best and hardest things I have learned in our almost 7 years together is to love the other person how they need to be loved, not necessarily how you need to love. It’s a hard balance. Chris is very go-with-the-flow. Most of his friends have never seen him angry, never heard him say a bad word, never seen him put his foot down. This isnt to say none of his friends have ever made him angry. But that is just not how he loves. He gives. He is the best host you’ll ever find. He will offer our furniture to people if they comment that they like it. He will lower himself down into the mud if it means lifting up a friend or neighbor. He loves BIG. And he asks for nothing in return. It’s easy to see that as him not needing anything in return. I see so many people make that mistake. “It’s just Chris. He wont mind”. Loving Chris the way he needs to be loved is the hardest thing I have ever done because he fights you on it with every turn. Buy him a shirt and he gives it to someone who needs it more. Take him to dinner and he’ll order something he knows you’ll like just so you can have a bite. This quarantine birthday has been really special. Not being able to see his friends is killing my sweet extroverted husband but it is also forcing him to be selfish. A whole weekend where he isnt trying to please anyone else. He can play the video games he never plays. He can nap on the outdoor couch with the dogs. He can just relax and drink whiskey and eat ribs. And most of all, he has been able to see the way his friends and family are coming through to celebrate him even in quarantine. He sees that he is loved BIG. And not because of the things he gives but because of who he is. For just being him. So thank you to everyone who has made my best friend feel so loved today. It meant more than you know.”

My point is to say that the squeaky wheel shouldn’t be the only one to get the grease. Especially in this time, we need to be putting effort into our low maintenance friends too. Some people are very vocal about how they are feeling and what they need. Others are not quite as good at that. For others still, my husband for example, there is nothing that they hate more.

Now I am not saying that the people who are vocal about their needs should be ignored. On the contrary, I applaud anyone who can be that vulnerable and open with their friends on a regular basis. But we can never really know what is going on in someone’s life because, while some can openly share their thoughts and struggles with the people they love, others find it near impossible to so.

During this time of social distancing, I am reminded how quickly life can drastically change. So whether you think someone is struggling or doing okay, tell the people you love that you love them. Put effort into your friendships. And celebrate every person in your life for being uniquely them.

That being said, Chris and I are doing just fine! My introverted personality and stay at home mom status has prepared me for life in quarantine and I am THRIVING. Chris is operating on a post-birthday high and is feeling very loved and appreciated by his friends and family. He misses the outside world but has a job and a to-do list to keep him busy, a baby to keep his spirits up, and zoom meetings and game nights to keep him entertained.

We are both doing our best to love on our friends from a distance and we can’t wait to be out on the world again so we can shower our loved ones with the adoration they all deserve. Love you all!

I’m going to say something that might not be very popular: I do not believe in soulmates.

I do not think that Chris is my one true love or that we were in any way destined to be together. If Chris and I never got together I would not have missed out on my one chance at happiness. With God at the forefront of my life, with Him in control, I have all the joy that I need.

If I had let my own sinfulness get in the way and let this wonderful man slip through my fingers, God could have led me to someone else – or to no one else – and I still could have beauty and joy and happiness in my life.

I am unbelievably happy that Chris is the man that I married. But God would have done big things with me either way. I am thankful for the partner that I have in my husband and I believe that God is doing His work through our marriage, but that has so little to do with us and everything to do with Him.

So if you are wondering what God’s will for you is, maybe questioning what job you should take or what schools to apply for, understand that God will meet you where you are and He can and will do great things. Through all of the uncertainty that is life, that is definite.

Dec 27, 2017

I think I had a very unrealistic, romanticized view of love growing up. And who could blame me? With movies and TV shows full of drama and outside forces trying to tear the two soulmates apart! I thought that I would have that kind of love someday. “You and me against the world”. Now I look at those movies and TV shows and I can see the unhealthy relationships glorified in media (What man thought of the whole “if he’s mean to you he must really love you” thing and how did we all fall for it?) and they look exhausting.

And yet I still find myself buying into the “him and me against the world” mantra.

I know I have fallen victim to saying those exact words to Chris when someone is unkind, when we are facing difficulties, or when I just want to remind him that I have his back. “You and me against the world”.

I think that, whether intentional or not, this implies that, as a couple, we are better than those around us. And it’s easy to fall into the mindset that you have to do what is best for your family even to the detriment of others. That is the normal way of thinking. People will applaud you for prioritizing your family above everything else and for loving your spouse well.

But that is not, however, the Christian way of thinking. Protecting ourselves and each other is not our sole purpose. It is a responsibility that we have as husband and wife, yes, to love and cherish and protect one another, but it is not our purpose. Our purpose is to allow God to use us IN the world. We were given gifts to use, not to guard ourselves against others, but to help and be a light to those around us.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am all for prioritizing your family and your children. But the best thing for your kids is for them to watch you put others first. To watch you sacrifice comforts in order to extend a helping hand to someone in need. To teach them to be kind and humble. It is important for them to know that there is nobody out there better than they are but equally important for them to know that they are not better than anyone else either. To know that every single person on this Earth is someone deserving of love and, more importantly, that they ARE loved by and are being actively pursued by the Creator of all things.

What is best for your spouse is to have a marriage that is centered around Christ, not centered around the other. If I was Chris’s whole world how scary would that be? If I was Chris’s sole priority how much pressure and strain would that put on our marriage? We are made for much bigger things than to just love one another and live happily ever after. We intend on making an impact in our community and in the lives of those we love.

Chris and I are attempting to learn to be better friends, better neighbors, better sons and daughters and brothers and sisters. “Him and me (with God leading the way) FOR the world”. So take this as a formal invitation to call us. About anything. Anytime. Ever. We will be happy to pray for you and to sacrifice for you. Because we love you.

May 7, 2018

Hello. My name is Jes Wolfe and I am a 24 year old living in North Carolina. Voicing my feelings and my opinions in a public setting is not something that I do lightly because I in no way believe that I have any special insights on the world around me nor am I especially qualified to make judgements on how things are or how they should be. I am average and I make mistakes on a daily basis. Why should anyone care about what I have to say?

Honestly, I don’t have an answer to that question. In my short, nearly quarter of a century of life I have done many things that I am proud of. I am proud of the lifelong friends I have kept, the man that I married, and the woman I have become. I am proud of the fact that I am a college graduate, of the four years I spent as a younglife leader, and of the relationship I have with my family. I am proud of these things and so much more but I am also aware of my failures. I am selfish. I am impatient. I am materialistic. I have come so far in these 24 years but when I take a hard look at myself I know that I am not yet the woman I want to be.

And you know what? That’s okay! I don’t expect to ever have things totally figured out. In fact I think it’s better that I don’t. God is doing His work in me. I am not in control. Through Him, through His teachings and through prayer I am learning (slowly) how to be the best version of myself that I can be. A Godly woman, a Proverbs 31 wife, a devoted daughter, and a loving (dog and one-day future baby) mama.

In today’s world we wear so many hats. When we go to work we are either a boss or an employee (sometimes we are both). When we go to the doctor we are a patient, at the supermarket we are a customer, at school we are a student. When we go home we are daughters or sons, brothers or sisters, wives or husbands, mothers or fathers. We are friends, we are neighbors,  and if we are lucky, we get to have a second alone just to be ourselves. Sometimes, under the weight of all of these hats, it’s easy to lose sight of the most important hat you’ll ever wear. Being a son or daughter of the Lord is the most important role you will ever have. Its a hat that, if worn properly, will be the only one you’ll ever need.

As a follower of Jesus I can know how a wife should love her husband by seeing how Christ loves His church. I know how to lift up my friends by reading about how God created us to live in a community. I know how to respect my father and mother because it was spoken to me through the Gospel. I have an example in Jesus who is perfect in all ways.

The problem with this is that I am not Jesus. Nowhere close. But each and every day I am getting a little bit closer by studying the Bible, learning in a community group, living life, and making a whole bunch of mistakes.

2017