Brilliant Baby Food, a review of Cutielunch Reusable Squeeze Pouch

Reusable Pouches might just be my new favorite thing!



Just starting with the legal bit: I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

Now for the fun part!  Ever thought to yourself it's so expensive to buy those baby food pouches at the store? And then, your baby turns into a toddler and wants the "fun" ones with the pudding which cost an extra dollar... well, solution found!   Cutielunch Reusable Squeeze Pouch to the rescue!

I always wanted to make my own baby food, but since we always qualified for WIC we got tons of baby food jars from them. I am very blessed to have received all this free baby food, trust me.  I always cry when the kids move up to "real" food!  It is great at home, but when we have to go anywhere it is such a mess taking the little container and trying to use a spoon with a wiggly kid.  Besides, I ALWAYS manage to spill on myself opening the foil top.. seriously, how hard does that have to be.

So, reusable pouches have been on my mind for quite a while.  They always scared me a little bit.  When I had the opportunity to review these and receive a set for free I jumped at the chance.  I wasn't going to spend hard earned money on something I just wasn't sure would work.  Boy, was I wrong.

First, cost.  This particular set of 4 pouches is normally $14.99 but right now is marked down to 10.99.  If you have amazon prime (which seriously is a lifesaver in our house) you get free shipping. That comes out to $3.75 a piece at full price or $2.75 a piece if you snatch them up on sale. You might be thinking "but the grocery store ones are only $1" .... and that brings me to the second point...

Second, YOU DON'T THROW THEM AWAY WHEN YOU ARE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is a huge issue, the pre-filled pouches at the grocery store get tossed when you are done.  Hello, landfill.  These are sturdy, and meant to be used over and over again.  I love that they are reusable, I will be saving so much more money than buying pouches at the grocery store every week.  Even if I still bought baby food at the store the savings just keep going up. The little glass jars are always cheaper than the new plastic ones, and can be used for neat projects afterwards.  Or, instead of buying 15 little plastic boxes of apples I can buy the big applesauce in the fruit section and save cost and trash.  Huge win. Want to have Apple/Squash mix? They don't sell that... you can just grab two single flavors, throw them in a pouch (I added cinnamon to mine) mix and eat!  So awesome..

Lets talk about the practicality, the logistics if you will.  Because we all know it's no good if the food just pops out of the seal and we're no better off than before... guess what?! DOUBLE SEAL! BAM. The bottom has two zip-lock like seals, they are deeply ridged so they catch the other side really well.  After I made my first batch I opened it to check and could see that the cinnamon had gotten between the innermost seal but the outer seal was there to make sure nothing spilled.  It was my fault for using the shaker instead of a spoon to put the cinnamon into the pouch. Learn from my mistakes! Use a spoon if adding spices! But still, there was no leak.

Only for babies? NO WAY! Lucy thought the picture was so cute. She is very picky about which pouches she will get from the store (they have to be purple or pink lately) but with the fun fruits on these she is happily asking for them!  I can up the flavor level when making pouches for Lucy or keep it bland for the baby.  I am tempted to make some for myself!  I'm thinking a little peach and cinnamon with a splash of vanilla might taste just like cobbler!  Cutielunch Reusable Squeeze Pouch has changed the way I look at snacks on the go.  Want your own set? Click here!  (this is not an affiliate link, I'm not cool enough for one of those yet): Reusable Baby Food Pouch (4-pack) for Homemade Baby Food. Squeeze Pouch Is Great As a Food Container and for Food Storage.

I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

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Friday Quick Takes #3

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It has been a while since I blogged in general, even longer since posting a quick take! Sorry about that. The last month or two of pregnancy really drained me and I basically spent my evenings horizontal on the couch!

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Baby Lucy arrived one day after her due date.  I spent the whole day in labor (starting at 4am) and at 10:30 pm the doctor said a c-section was in order. at 11:08pm on 2/28/12 Lucy Amelia Faber entered the world.  Yes, 52 minutes shy of Leap Day! Yes, we finally picked a middle name!

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The one thing I have learned in my short 3 weeks of being a new mother is: Don't beat yourself up if you change your mind. I went into parenthood with all kinds of ideas about what I would and wouldn't do with my baby... Then the baby came, and cried, and got jaundice, and wouldn't eat right, and has congestion.  Basically there is no choice but to reevaluate priorities-  Changing your mind about how you are going to do things doesn't make you any less of a parent. 

--- 4 ---

Breastfeeding is HARD in the beginning.  It really does get easier, but it sucks in the beginning (three weeks in and it still kinda sucks.)  I never though I would discuss my sore nipples with so many people in such a short amount of time.  Some tips for you ladies who want to be mothers one day: Nipple Shields are glorious, without it I don't think we would still be breastfeeding.  There is a difference between sucking and chewing.  A pacifier is NOT the devil. A solid two hours of sleep in a row at night is not enough, but you will make due (cue pacifier).  WAKE up your husband for anything that makes you get out of bed, especially if you had a c-section.

--- 5 ---

 
My husband sleeps like a rock.  A snoring rock, but a rock none the less.  He said he'd change every diaper and at first I figured why wake him- I am already up feeding her, what sense did it make for both of us to be up. Turns out, it makes a difference, if I had him change her when she is done eating he can rock her back to sleep and I can already be in dreamland. Sure it takes a minute to wake him up, but taking care of a newborn while recovering from delivery takes a toll on your body. That extra 3 minutes of sleep is totally worth it.

--- 6 ---

My baby is adorable.

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Sorry about all the Mommy stuff. I hope my future posts are a bit more balanced. I'm just getting used to this new "job" and had lots of stuff to get off my chest this week.  I'm very pleased I could get out a Quick Take this week, and super happy I could spend some time on the internet the last few days-it made me feel like a human again (and now Human Again from Beauty and the Beast is playing in my head)

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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Give a Little Gift

I was born 8 weeks early. I have spent my entire pregnancy praying my baby would not be premature. I have a friend, Janet, and her husband, Mike, who weren't as lucky as I have been.  They don't know I'm writing this post, and I really hope they don't mind. I'll show it to them when we're done here...

Janet and Mike are a sweet couple, smart, and funny. I enjoy their company.  I met them through a friend a few years ago.  

Janet and Mike got pregnant with twins after being married over a decade.  They delivered their babies early, 16 weeks early.  Which means their twins Jaina and Cade were born at 24 weeks. Sweet baby Jaina fought hard for a few days, but is now waiting in heaven for her family.  Cade spent about 4 months in the NICU surrounded by nurses and doctors who cared for him expertly.

I cannot imagine travelling back and forth every day like Janet and Mike.
I cannot imagine the pain of bringing Cade home without his sister.

Cade 4mo old and home!

Why am I telling you this story and showing you an adorable baby photo?  Janet is participating in the March Of Dimes walk and is raising money in honor of her beautiful son Cade, and in memory of her precious daughter Jaina. I'm hoping that by being a friend of TheCatholicLovebirds and all that we love, you might consider donating to this fight.  There are so many babies born early, March of Dimes is doing everything they can to prevent this. When it can't be prevented March of Dimes does what they can to support these babies and their families.  Think of all your friends, how many have been affected by miscarriage, early births, premature or preterm births, birth defects?  Then click the link below and donate.  Donate in honor of the babies that fight to become adults.   Could you give a dollar? One dollar isn't much of a sacrifice really when you think of it... You've probably got that much between the couch cushions.

I've committed to donate a dollar amount equivalent to the weeks at which Lucy is born. What will you commit to?  Pickel Family MOD page

MOD mission statement

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Dog easing me into parenting responsibilities

Over the past few years, my opinion of dogs hit the lowest of lows.

As with all things in life, bad experiences shaped that opinion. I once stayed with a friend who had the lunacy to keep a Jack Russell terrier inside of a tiny one-bedroom apartment (who was not housebroken, mind you). Then a neighbor's dog killed a baby chicken that my mom and I were raising together.

Add that to all the times when I'd visit someone who would cheerfully say, "Oh don't worry he doesn't bite," as their dog, giving it's best Teddy Bruschi impression, would nearly take me down. Now you can see why dogs were not high up on my list. But recently, a friend of ours had to get rid of her dog, and my wife decided that we should take the animal in.

I wasn't too crazy about it (we had dogsitted for these dogs before), but hey, marriage is about sacrifice right? Bring on the dog.

Ironically, this oversized rat has grown on me. Pixie is becoming my buddy.

What is wrong with me?

It's actually been nice. I'll be at the computer, and she'll sit quietly in my lap. We go on walks twice a day. She's really well-behaved. It's just a nice feeling, and I can see why people love their dogs so much.

Ironically, I think God put this dog in my life to get me ready for our daughter, who has a street-release date of March 2. After all, raising a child is pretty much like owning a dog that eventually learns how to talk. The reason why I think that Pixie is good dad training is because my biggest fear when it comes to parenting is being too selfish.

I like to do things on my time. If I want to sit around and watch TV all day, I can do that right now (as long as my wife doesn't need me to do anything). When the child gets here, I won't have that opportunity anymore. I'll have to schedule time for feeding, cleaning, activities, etc. No more lazy Dustin!

Now that Pixie is here, I'm having to schedule that stuff now. I can't just be lazy all morning: I have to make sure that Pixie gets walked, fed and crated (kicking around idea of leaving her in kitchen) before going to work. I now have to care for another being besides myself and my wife.

While it's nowhere near the amount of work that a child will require, it seems like a nice way to ease into those responsibilities later on.

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Child abuse reaches past stained glass windows

In 34 weeks or so, my wife Allicia and I will give birth to a son (it's not official, but I am 99 percent sure that our first born will undergo circumcision, while Allicia 99 percent disagrees with me). One of the things we are most excited about, other than the lady bug sleeper, is the idea of raising our children in the Catholic faith.

Allicia and I are both converts. She converted to Catholicism when she was 13, I did it when I was 26. This isn't to say that I was some kind of anti-religious kid whose upbringing consisted of vandalizing houses of worship. My mother and father did a great job at instilling a solid Christian faith in me. Dad taught Sunday School and practically began the bus ministry at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Augusta, while Mom made sure that church on Sundays was always the highest priority.

I can't thank my parents enough for giving me this backbone of faith that made Catholicism possible for me later in life.

So it is with that faith background that Allicia and I count down the days until we get to see our children baptized. First communion, first confession, and if we are lucky, hopefully we'll be able to see at least one of our children take a vow of religious life.

We understand that not everyone gets that excited over religious events in their lives. It's not our place to judge and decide that someone is full of skubala (ancient greek for shit) because they don't want to be a part of Catholicism.

That is, until someone posts a blog post that has "I'm full of skubala" written all over it. Far be it from me, a lowly blogger who still loves playing Mario Paint, to pick fights. But I just can't help but bring to attention this blog I saw while doing a search for Catholic Parenting. In it, the author talks about she and her husband leaving Catholicism after finding out that priests from her childhood did the worst crime possible: abuse children (not specifically her, however).

She goes on to say, "I knew that the Church’s walls were not my home anymore. Those walls certainly couldn’t be trusted to protect my children. I had no faith left in the Catholic Church."


Most importantly, I’m angry that God’s children were the last priority and that Canon Law took precedent over criminal law. But unlike Rice, I haven’t completely given up on organized religion. 


 Raising my children with religion is important to me. After many careful searches, my children have a church home where I feel we can provide a safe and nurturing religious environment.


Seriously? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no organized religion is perfect. Anything run by humans is bound to have imperfections. Was the sex abuse scandal a horrible chapter in Church history? Absolutely.

But to act like Catholicism is the only place where sex abuse takes place is ignorant. Six to 10 percent of children in public schools have been sexually abused or harassed by school employees. Yet I never see teachers vilified the way The Catholic Church has been through the past few years.

My God, you'd think that Catholicism was the only church with problems, but protestant churches have the same problem. Sexual abuse knows no boundaries. This isn't me pointing fingers at others while trying to excuse my Church for it's crimes. But I'm sick of The Catholic Church being constantly smeared while other walks of life with the exact same problem walk free.

And for this person to write that they now have a church home that appears safe is a bit naive. I'm glad she feels at peace, but what happens when the next denomination she joins has a member who abuses children. Does she leave that church? Where does it stop?

For someone to leave Catholicism solely because of a problem that exists beyond the boundaries of The Church wreaks of ignorance. Whether you are protestant or catholic, a teacher or a police officer, a parent or single person, we all have work to do when it comes to eradicating sexual abuse of children.

Leaving Catholicism because you think some other place is safer is not the answer. Making the faith you belong to safer, now that's a great place to start.

That author might have left Catholicism because of misguided fears. As for me and my wife? There isn't any other place we'd rather be.

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