Favorite Baby Items: 6 Months Old

And just like that, we have a 7 month old! [I'm a little late with this blog post - we finally moved into our new house this past weekend - so things have been so busy with the move!] Time is absolutely flying by and we're trying to soak up every single second of it with our sweet boy. This past month he starting eating oatmeal and fruit and veggie purees! With this new stage, here are a few things that we loved having for this past month's new adventure while he was 6 months old:


Chicco Polly High Chair - We love this high chair for a few reasons - we first wanted something that was sturdy enough but also something that could fold up easily for storage, that wasn't too bulky. Bennett loves to sit in it - either eating, or if we're eating, he'll sit in it with a few toys on the tray and he's completely occupied. We registered for the gray color (Papyrus) because we wanted something gender neutral to use in the future.

OXO Tot Roll Up Bib - Easy to wipe and clean bibs are key! My first choice are the Pottery Barn Cambria Bibs; but - I just looked on their website and they are no longer selling them (thank goodness we received a few as gifts during our showers - they're awesome!) Our second favorite would be the OXO brand - they're silicone and easy to clean. Also - the neck has wide velcro, which  makes it easy to adjust/size for your baby's neck (small and large all the way up to when your child is a toddler)! It also has a little lip at the bottom so that it catches anything you or your baby drops in the process.



Bumbo Multi-Seat - This chair is great because it comes with the insert for when your baby is small (Bennett started being able to sit in it on his own at 6 months), and you're able to take the insert out to use as a booster seat, when your child is a toddler. It's been great for when we need to feed him at someone else's house, when we have traveled for vacation, or if we're eating dinner at a restaurant. My parents were recently in town to help us with our move, and we took this seat to the restaurant - it was great for feeding him while we were waiting on our food :) It's also small enough so that it's easy to haul and doesn't take up a lot of space.



OXO Tot Feeding Spoons - I love these because they're softer. When feeding and wiping the excess food off of his face, it's gentle enough so that it doesn't scrape up his face or turn his face red. Recently, he started reaching for the spoon himself and now sticks it in his own mouth.




Munchkin Love-A-Bowls Set - I love these bowls - they are the perfect size, they come with lids and they are inexpensive! They are an add-on item through Amazon (because they're cheaper) - so I added these on to a regular order and was extremely pleased when they arrived. We ordered our second set a few weeks ago are very happy with them!



Gerber Organic Whole Grain Oatmeal - Our little guy started eating this oatmeal once a day, and is now having it twice a day - once in the morning with fruit purees and once in the evening with vegetable purees. When speaking with his doctor, I wanted to make sure that we were feeding him something that was more than just a filler and had actual nutritional value - so we opted for this Whole Grain Oatmeal instead of rice cereal, and it's been great. They are sold at your usual stores - Wegmans, Target, Giant - but Babies R Us often runs online sales, and last time I placed this order, I was able to get 5 containers for just $8 - so I'd recommend keeping an eye out for pricing :)

 We're looking forward to what this next month brings us! :)

Summertime Grilled Chicken & Veggie Bowls

This is one of my favorite summer go-to dinner dishes! It's so easy (and so delicious) - and it's full of healthy ingredients! We always make about 4 chicken breasts when we make this meal - it leaves us with plenty of leftovers for lunches for the remainder of the week :) If you know me, I'm not a huge leftover fan; however - I took these leftovers for lunch twice the week we had these, and they were just as great as they were on the day we grilled them! I will definitely be using this recipe for future lunch ideas when doing our meal preps for the work week.

Ingredients
- Chicken Breasts (4)
- McCormick Marinade Packet (optional)
- Bell Peppers
- Onion
- Italian Salad Dressing
- Brown Rice

Tools
- Grill basket (if you don't have one, use tin foil!)

Before grilling, I love to marinate our chicken. I enjoy using the McCormick Marinade Packets (so good!) and they are always on sale (you can usually get them for B1GO or when they are individually on sale, you can grab them for 99 cents each - sometimes less). Our new favorite flavor for their marinade packets is Smoky Applewood. I typically marinate our chicken overnight for the best flavor.

Next, simply slice your peppers and onion. I usually use 4 bell peppers. Fun fact - I recently read an article that reported that red, yellow and orange bell peppers have substantially more vitamins than green peppers do.

Once your ingredients are prepped, you're ready to grill! For the veggies, we usually mix them all together in a grill basket and add a few drizzles of Italian Salad Dressing on top. Since I already packed the majority of our kitchen for our move (and accidentally packed both of our grill baskets) - I simply made two pockets from tinfoil, and placed the peppers/onion/Italian salad dressing mixture in them to grill. It worked just as well!

Once your chicken and veggies are on the grill - I typically start the rice and it's usually done at the same time the chicken and veggies finish on the grill. This time, I added steamed broccoli to our veggie mix and it was delicious! I usually drizzle a little more Italian Salad Dressing on my bowl when it's all done.

That's it! It truly is so easy, and so delicious! Can't wait to share more of my favorite summer recipes once things with our move slow down - we're almost there!! :)