Motherhood Mondays: Baby food...an epiphany!

When our first child, Toby, was little, we didn't know what to feed him. We didn't love baby-food jars, but we felt exhausted and overwhelmed by the idea of pureeing everything...so we basically just fed him 1,000 spoonfuls of store-bought hummus. Poor guy!

But with our second child, Anton, we're taking a different approach, and I feel so liberated! In her book Real Food for Mother and Baby, which I recently reread, Nina Planck talks about feeding her baby tons of foods—meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, fruits and vegetables—right from the start. She gave him grated Parmesan mixed with olive oil. She stirred salsa into eggs. She added cinnamon to mashed banana. She gave him dark chocolate. She let him gnaw on lamb chops and chicken bones. She even gave him raw ground beef with olive oil and salt, and her favorite baby food was salmon roe! ("It's fun, like a bright orange pea," she wrote. "Your baby can pick it up, piece by sticky piece. When she bites down, it goes pop!")

We aren't nearly as ambitious—raw beef kind of freaks me out, and salmon roe is not cheap!—but I found her book very freeing. After seeing the laundry list of foods she was serving her son, I felt emboldened to give Anton at least some basic foods to try.

So, here's what eight-month-old Anton loves these days: dried mango slices (he ADORES these), apple slices, bananas, strawberries, pear, orange wedges, avocado, peas, green pepper slices, broccoli with garlic and lemon (he sucked on spears at a restaurant and was in heaven), soft chunks of cheddar cheese, yogurt, brown rice, hummus, pieces of grilled salmon, crusty bread to chew on, and long pieces of steak to suck on. He even liked sucking on half a lemon the other day! (Confession: I originally gave it to him just to see his pucker face:)

Also, when Toby was little, I really worried about choking. I remember hanging out at my friend Leigh's house, when she handed Toby a crust of bread. I watched him put one end into his mouth to chew on and almost had a heart attack. I tried to be cool—but lasted only two seconds before yanking it out of his mouth. "He might choke!" I told Leigh. But she reassured me by pointing out that babies have incredibly strong gag reflexes. And since then I've read more: "They may occasionally gag a bit or cough and splutter," the infant-feeding expert Gill Rapley, who co-authored The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook, told the Guardian, "but that’s actually a baby’s way of triggering the anti-choking reflex, and it happens with purées too. The real risk comes if parents try to hurry...and put chunks of food in a baby’s mouth for him." Does this ring true to you guys? Sometimes I still get a little nervous, but I've been trying to trust in Anton's little system!
I'd love to hear: Which foods do or did you serve your baby? Anything they especially loved? I'd love to learn a few more delicious combinations—like adding butter, cheese or spices. What was your overall approach to starting solids? Did you ever try a baby-food maker? Thank you so much!! xoxo

P.S. French kids eat everything, and toddlers in the kitchen.

(Photo of Anton in his highchair, and illustration by Julia Rothman for Cup of Jo. Thanks, Julia!)

Anton crawls!!!

This morning was very exciting in the Goddard-Williams household. Seven-and-a-half-month-old Anton figured out how to CRAWL! We kept putting his toys farther and farther from him, and he rallied and worked his way over to them. He is still perfecting his technique, but I secretly love his haphazard arms and overzealous feet. Go, Antoni!

P.S. Flashback: Toby's first time giggling, standing and walking.

Freezing toys for the bath

When your kiddos are going stir-crazy this winter, here's a tip for entertaining them: Freeze toys for the bath! It's ridiculously easy, and they LOVE it.

1. One evening, freeze an inch of water in a bowl/cup/take-out container in the freezer.
2. The next morning, add a few toys, plus another inch or two of water over them, and let that freeze.
3. That evening, just melt the edges a bit (run under warm water from the sink) and they will slide right out of the bowl. Give them to your child in the bath one at a time (draawwwiiiinnnnggg it out!).

What are your go-to indoor activities for kids? I'd love to hear!

P.S. Why Danish babies sleep outdoors.

(Photo by Alpha Smoot for Cup of Jo; styling by Kendra Smoot)

Have the most unbearably sweet weekend you can't even stand it.

The other day, Toby woke up from his nap crying (bad dream, maybe?) so Anton went in and held his hand and they both fell asleep for an hour. I love how the teeny little brother is taking care of the strong big brother. It feels like the true beginning of a beautiful friendship. My heart was bursting times a million. Anyway, hope you have a wonderful weekend, and here are a few fun posts from around the web...

Love this bear tattoo.

Dress like you're in a movie.

A cheese trick.

Peek inside food.

I snuck out for a pedicure this week and discovered the sexiest color: Lacy Not Racy.

Painted business cards.

Dinner parties nowadays.

Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy TV Show.

George Clooney played a prank on Matt Damon.

Shoes for warmer weather. (Can't wait.)

For the love of money. Makes you think.

A smart take on the Lena Dunham Vogue photo shoot.

Who else secretly wants to take ballet as a grown-up?

Those crazy pants from the movie Her are actually for sale.

Finally, would anyone like to have bangs? We're doing a tutorial on February 8th and are looking for readers who don't currently have bangs but would like them. If you're interested, please email cupofjobeauty@gmail.com with a snapshot of your haircut. We'd love to hear from you! Thank you so much, and have a great weekend!

Mama/kid sleepover!

This weekend, to help cheer up the cold winter, my friends Sharon, Kendra and I decided to have a mama/kid sleepover! We figured it would be like taking a trip together but without having to leave town.
So, one afternoon, we all piled into Kendra's house uptown (her husband was on a work trip). As we arrived armed with travel cribs, backpacks and rowdy kiddos, she joked, "This is either going to be the best idea we've ever had or a total disaster."
After playing and exploring the neighborhood, that evening we made pizzas. Kendra's awesome tip: Buy fresh dough from your local pizza place! Smart, right? It was easy, cheap and tasted great.
The kids each made mini pizzas with sauce and cheese...
And we made some for the mamas, including one with cheese and grilled red onions. Delicious.
(Eeks! Those cheeks!)
But the highlight was the Nintendo Wii dancing game that Sharon brought. Have you played it? You try to do the same moves as the dancers on screen, and the game somehow tracks you to see how well you do.
Nailed it.
Here are the kiddos rocking out. They did it for HOURS while the mamas talked and ate cookies in the kitchen (and sometimes peeked in).
The next morning we had bagels and bacon. It was so much fun; I can't believe we had never thought of it before! We could really relax and hang out without having to rush home for naps and bedtimes. The only catch is that we got approximately zero hours of sleep that night:) But it was worth it.

Would you do this? Do you already have grown-up sleepovers? Or travel with friends? I'm so into it!

Motherhood Mondays: Life with two kids

Anton and Toby are interacting so much now! It's totally adorable. Toby has a trick where he says, "Shoulder ride!" really loudly and Anton will crack up with his husky throaty laugh. And they took their first bath together yesterday. Their growing relationship is so, so sweet to watch and makes my heart burst. So that is going well.

But although we're getting into a rhythm now that Anton is 4+ months, it's still pretty nuts. It ebbs and flows, right? Sometimes when we're hanging out with friends and Anton is happily wriggling around and Toby is cracking jokes, I'm like, we are total parenting geniuses! But then a few hours later, the little dudes are freaking out at home and I feel like a total mess.

Also, one of the less glamorous parts of having a baby: My hair is falling out, which, according to google, is because of dropping estrogen. Did you lose your hair four months after having a baby? In the picture above, my hair was still thick and glossy, but now I look like this:
Anyway, I'm curious to ask parents of two: When does it get easier with two kiddos? When did you generally get back on your feet? When I've casually asked friends with two kids, the most common answer has been "when the youngest child turns three." (WHAT!) Also, I'm curious: When did you think it got easier with one child? I remember feeling like myself again (thank goodness) once Toby turned one.

P.S. Always helpful to remember: Babies be babies.

Home makeover: The nursery

Thanks for your comments about the living room makeover yesterday! We were also really grateful to work with Emily on the boys' bedroom. Here are the before-and-after photos, if you'd like to see...
Read More >

Gift idea: Photo books for kids

This past Father's Day, we made Toby a board book about his adventures with Daddy. He LOVED the book and still reads it all the time.
So, for Christmas this year, we're planning to surprise him with a stack of five new photo books...Read More >

Who do you look like?

When Anton was born, we were perplexed—he didn't look like anyone in our families. "Who does he look like?" asked all our friends. "No one," we said. "It's a mystery!"

But the other day, Alex and I were watching a Tigers vs. Red Sox baseball game, and I kept staring at the Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer. "He reminds me of someone," I told Alex. "But I can't figure out who." Alex was barely listening to me, since he was trying to focus on the game, but all of a sudden, he turned to me and said, "Oh my God, he looks just like Anton."

It was hilarious. And true.

Who do your kids look like? (You? Another relative? A celebrity?) Do you have a look-a-like?

P.S. Accidental twins, and complete strangers who look exactly like twins.

House makeover begins—Emily is here!

As I mentioned before, we recently moved to a new apartment, and designer Emily Henderson is helping us give it a makeover. We are so excited to have this amazing opportunity. Emily and her team arrived in New York this morning, and everything will be installed, arranged, hung and designed by Thursday. Whew!

As the first step, a few weeks ago, Emily asked us to show her photos of rooms we liked. Here's what we showed her...Read More >

Toby has a cold.

This weekend, Toby sniffled his way around the apartment, doing wildly uncharacteristic things like requesting naps (!) and refusing banana bread. At times, he'd feel better, but on Sunday evening, he started crying and babbling and randomly nodding off while we were talking to him, which really freaked us out. We took his temperature, which had climbed to 105.5! Alex and I exchanged panicky glances and whispered debates over what to do, but in the end, on our pediatrician's recommendation, we gave him a lukewarm bath, a cold washcloth on his forehead and lots of juice, and thankfully his fever broke and he ended up playing rousing rounds of "You Are My Sunshine" on his mini guitar in the living room stark naked. Back to his nutty old self! Thank goodness. These little scares can really knock the wind out of you.
(Here, he's trying to make the best of it, what a sweetheart!!)

Hope everyone you love is feeling well! Maybe we should all go wash our hands:)

New York sunsets save the day.

Our new neighborhood faces the Hudson River. This means that it's extra cold and windy in the winter (we've been warned by all our neighbors!), and we're a bit farther from restaurants and stores, but the flip side is that the evenings are so, so beautiful.

Yesterday we had a pretty stressful day—Anton wasn't eating, I was exhausted from never sleeping (not to be such a broken record about it!)—and, while Alex took Toby to Shake Shack, my plan was to take Anton for a walk, call my mom and burst into tears. But when we got outside, we saw this sunset and everything felt better. The fresh air, the pink sky, the sound of water lapping. Thank you, New York, sometimes you really come through in the clutch.
(My little walking buddy)

P.S. Hope I don't sound like such a psycho all the time! These early baby months are no joke:)

Halloween costumes

I asked Toby what he wanted to be for Halloween, and, without looking up, he very nonchalantly and matter-of-factly said, "A giwaffe." So there you go. Although we'll be ordering a cheaper costume on amazon, this Pottery Barn costume killed me. :)

What will your kiddos be for Halloween? How about you?

P.S. Toby as a baseball player, and a hilarious adult costume.

In which Anton discovers his reflection.

Love that boy.

Baby alpaca nursery

Last spring, I was lucky enough to visit animal photographer Sharon Montrose at her studio to watch her photograph a baby alpaca. (Here's that post.) Since then, I've been waiting on pins and needles to see the results of the photo shoot, and this morning, Sharon finally released her two alpaca prints! How sweet is this one, above?!
To celebrate the new prints, Sharon and her team put together an Animal Print Shop Nursery Project: Desert Modern to show how lovely the photos look in a room...
Here's the first baby alpaca print...
And the nursery also features a gallery wall of Little Darlings, including the baby alpaca's little face.
How warm and beautiful is that nursery? I'd love to sleep there myself:)

Here's where everything is from, in case you're curious...
Crib: Ouef
Eames Rocker: Vintage find. Similar from Modernica
Walnut Credenza/Changer: OneFortyThree
Animal Art: The Animal Print Shop
Rug: Vintage find. Similar from Red Thread Souk
Beaded Pendant Light: CAMP
Elephant Chair: DWR
Mobile: Vintage find. Similar on Etsy
Kilim Pillow: Sukan
Lion Stuffed Animal: Jellycat
Ottoman: Vintage Franco Albini
Toy Basket: Baskets of Africa
Production: The Animal Print Shop
Designer: Morgan Satterfield
Room photographed by: Laure Joliet
What sweet prints, here and here. Thanks, Sharon!

P.S. What it's really like to be an animal photographer.

Anton at eight weeks

Oh, that little face. Since I have to juggle Toby and other responsibilities, I haven't had as much quality one-on-one time with Anton as I had with Toby (aww, the fate of a second child). But yesterday, Anton and I walked over to the water by ourselves and just lay around on blankets together. It was such a sweet hour and just what we needed. I can't tell you how much I love this little man.
(He's really starting to develop a look!)

P.S. We're also trying to figure out how to encourage him to sleep for longer stretches at night. His longest stretch is about three hours. Any tips would be so appreciated! :)

The Royal Baby

Last night, I was breastfeeding Anton and reading articles on my iPhone, when I came across this fascinating post about the dress Kate wore when the couple presented their baby to the world. "Kate’s unabashed baby belly busts the last taboo of pregnancy," wrote the Daily Beast.
When I saw the photo of her beautiful high-waisted dress, which unapologetically highlighted her postpartum belly, I was actually surprised to find myself flooded with relief. As a new mom, I found it enormously refreshing that she wasn't trying to hide her shape. You definitely still look pregnant for the first couple weeks after having a baby, and that's normal and healthy. Obviously, this shouldn't really be a big deal, but these days so many celebrities try to show how quickly they bounce back, and, here, Kate was more honest. The dress was definitely a thoughtful choice she made (versus wearing baggy clothes or holding the baby in front of her), since she's so careful about what she wears, and she knows how much scrutiny she's under, and I love her for that. What do you think?
P.S. On a lighter note, George Costanza's response to the baby's name... :)

(Photos by Scott Heavey and Peter Macdiarmid for Getty)

Toby meets Anton for the first time

Thank you again for all the sweet notes about the new baby! I'd love to share a few photos of Toby meeting his brother for the first time...Read More >