My mission this school year is simple: Pack a healthy lunch for three kids – every day. A lunch that’s healthy enough to keep their concentration levels high for the rest of the day, and tasty enough not to get traded. Mostly a lunch that they’ll eat!

My motivation is high at the beginning of the school year and I’m filled with creative ideas on food, presentation and love notes to include in my children’s lunch boxes. Even with the best intentions, there’ll always be a morning where I’m running late, one of the kids is sick and now I’m rationalizing the nutritional benefits of beef jerky. For those days, I’ve created a check list to guide my choices so that I’ll be giving my children a healthy lunch experience even on my sleepiest mornings.

For each lunch box I make sure they include the following: Main dish, 2 side dishes, beverage and a snack

Those categories must include one serving each of:
• lean protein (main dish)
• fruits and vegetables (side dish - try for one of each)
• calcium (can be additional side dish or beverage)
• whole grains (usually part of the main dish but can also be a side dish).
• Beverage (usually water or low fat milk. Occasionally 100% juice)

Lean protein options – Antibiotic and hormone-free, no nitrates Turkey; chicken; and ham; fresh salmon and low-mercury canned tuna for healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Non animal source proteins include legumes, organic tofu and tempeh.

Fruits and Vegetables – one half cup is considered one serving, so lunch time is a great place to continue to reach the daily allowance. Fresh organic fruits and vegetables are best. Offering a variety of choices (the colors of the rainbow) will provide maximum amounts of vitamins and nutrients. Buying in season is a great way to get the most flavorful and economic choices. Try your local farmer’s market. It makes a great weekly family outing as well as providing many teachable moments.

Calcium – Organic lowfat milk, cheese, no sugar added yogurt, calcium fortified soy or orange juice and dark, leafy greens.

Whole Grains – Whole grains contain fiber and vitamins that processed refined grains do not. Try whole grain breads, tortillas, pastas or cereals. Also try brown rice, quinoa, whole barley, bulger or buckwheat.

Whichever combinations you choose, some of these foods pull double-duty in nutrition. For instance, string cheese provides both calcium and protein.

To help get you started on lunch box planning here are a few ideas:

Main Dish
Organic turkey on multigrain bread
Mac n’ Cheese with vegetables mixed in
Soup (when using canned soup, up the nutrition by adding a handful of beans)
Beans & Rice
Vegetarian or turkey chili
Tuna & shredded carrot wrap
Miniature Ham & Cheese sandwich on baby bagels
Healthy Burrito with sweet potato spread topped with beans and veggies
Peanut Butter & bananas on multigrain bread or crackers (check to see if peanuts are allowed)
Add left over chicken to potato salad, over greens or in a wrap
Tofu dogs (keep warm in hot water in a thermos)

Side Dish (any 2)
Apple slices w/fruit yogurt dip or peanut butter (check for allergies)
Dried fruit mix
Hummus and veggies
Homemade Pita or tortilla chips w/fresh salsa
Cherry tomatoes with light ranch dip
Organic fresh fruit
Applesauce
Hard boiled egg
Brown rice pudding
Salad
Edamame
Baked sweet potato fries (cold)
Bean deep w/homemade chips

Snack
Whole grain snack bar (check sugar grams)
Homemade baked goods
Soy or rice chips
Homemade muffins
Graham crackers
Low fat popcorn
Whole wheat fig cookies
Organic string cheese (calcium)
Dry cereal or granola (low sugar)
Whole grain waffle with nut butter or fruit preserves
Raisins
Low fat no sugar added yogurt cup or squeezable (calcium)
Soy or lowfat pudding (calcium)
Cheese and whole grain crackers (calcium)

Beverage
Drinkable yogurt or kefir (calcium)
Orange juice (calcium)
Water
Organic milk (calcium)
100% fruit juice
100% vegetable juice or fruit and veggie blend
I remember being shocked to learn that the actual time allotted for eating lunch only lasts 15 to 20 minutes and is filled with distractions and the urge to get in line to play tether ball. From then on I made sure the lunch foods I packed were easy to eat and in easily opened containers.

You can keep soup and chili warm by pre-heating thermoses with hot water a few minutes, empty the water and add the food.

Now that you’ve decided on the food, think about ditching the brown bag and plastic baggies for reusable lead free lunch boxes or totes. There are a lot of adorable eco-friendly choices that your child will love.

Theresa Kiene
Chief Executive Mommy

One of the coolest things about working in our baby food tasting room is that I get to feed and play with Babies everyday.

As my oldest turned 10 over the weekend (yes, I was a little weepy) working with other parents’ babies is a constant reminder of the joy and fulfillment I get as a mom every time I serve my family a healthy meal. Although every baby that I meet is different, the way they express the joys of eating is always the same. It’s now going on 10 years that I’ve been cooking and feeding fresh, organic baby food – and since I’m in the baby food business – that’s literally thousands of babies. I’ve noticed that when I meet moms most of them have already had the “First Foods” feeding conversation with their pediatricians – but they still have so many unanswered questions. There are so many topics to cover at the doctor’s office and there’s only so much time doctors have to give…

The question that moms always ask me the most often is: which first foods do they begin with, fruits or vegetables?

Some moms worry that if they begin with fruits, their baby won’t love veggies, since fruits are sweet and would spoil their taste buds. And really, what mother doesn’t want their kid to love vegetables?

My personal opinion is that after your baby has been introduced to iron-fortified cereals and you’re ready to introduce other solid foods, it really doesn’t matter what you begin with, either fruits or veggies. If you’ve breast fed your baby then they’ve already experienced the sweetest taste on the planet and no fruit can compete with that! Formula fed babies also experience sweet tastes even if not quite the same as breast milk.

So don’t worry when your child pushes away the broccoli because their first fruit was a banana. A variety of healthy, developmentally appropriate taste experiences are the way to go. If you want more info on appropriate first foods go to the “Nutrition” section of www.homemadebaby.com. Or better yet – bring your baby by our baby food tasting room – I’d love to meet them!

Your first Mother’s Day as a mom is a significant milestone. Even if you refer to most holidays as cheesy Hallmark creations, your first mother’s day is a very big deal. However, expectations of lavish gifts and loving pampering that are unmet can turn your special day into a huge disappointment. With mother’s day quickly approaching, the pressure is on. Will your expectations be realistic? Will your husband deliver? Here are a few ideas to honor your new role as mom.

1. Take The Day Off. No…really! Both professionally and at home. It’s an important ritual to establish for your special day. On your subsequent mother’s days you’ll be grateful that you did.

2. Celebrate being a family. Do something together as a family that you really want to do. Take a hike. Picnic in the park. Ask your spouse to make the arrangements and prepare and pack all the things you’ll need for a hassle free day out.

3. Take time for yourself and don’t feel guilty about it. Whatever “time to yourself” means to you – like get a massage or sleeping late — everyone else will be fine while you refresh and recharge. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have… so take care of yourself.

4. Buy a present for you. Whether it’s something you treasure as a mother like “mother’s jewelry” using your child’s name or birthstone or a pair of warm weather sandals, you deserve a present!

5. Call your own mom for Mother’s Day. You probably have a whole new appreciation of her now that you’ve become a mom. Connecting with your own mother will give you strength.

6. Celebrate your body. So what if your tummy isn’t flat and skinny jeans are out of the question? You nurtured and grew a child in your beautiful body. Regardless of whether you became a mother biologically or not, you’ve made sacrifices to become a mother. Isn’t a spa day in order?

7. To The Husbands – make her feel sexy without any strings attached. You may be surprised at the response.

8. Celebrate the “firsts.” Your child’s birth story, the first time you held your baby, the first smile. Reliving these “firsts” with your mate reminds you of how much you love your baby and your spouse.

9. A Grown Up Night Out. For some women, just having an adult conversation about something besides the latest diaper count can restore sanity.

Finally, no matter how you choose to celebrate your first Mother’s Day, take the pressure off of what you do (or what your husband does or doesn’t do!) and just focus on creating memories you can share with your friends and relatives for years to come. After all, you’ll only get one chance to experience this Mother’s Day!

We shared wedding vows to stay together for life. We shared a mortgage – which in California is almost more binding than the vows. But our lives only really changed the day we brought home our first baby.

My husband still claims that his most nervous car trip was the day he drove our new daughter Olivia and me home from the hospital. Although we’d spent months preparing our nursery, nothing prepared us for jaundice. Suddenly, we had sleepless nights supervising her sleep under the powerful night light; obsessively reading baby how-to books and learning to nurse. Over night, our comfortable routines had been interrupted and our marriage had taken a back seat to the ever-present needs of our newborn. After the birth of a child, couples only have about one-third as much time together alone as they did before the child. Priorities change. This became painfully clear to me the first day my husband returned home from work and kissed our daughter before remembering to kiss me hello.

I had to do something quickly – besides finding the time to take a shower and losing my pregnancy fat. After reading The Birth of a Mother How the Motherhood Experience Changes you Forever by Daniel Stern M.D., a moving psychological look at the new role of mother I was about to play, we turned to a loving network of family members, our pediatrician and friends. Their advice and support addressed our sense of isolation, helped establish eating and sleeping routines for the baby and most importantly gave us a couple hours alone together.

At first it was hard for me to accept advice from friends and family because I felt that I was being judged. I realized that just as our baby was the most important part of our lives, our baby was also important to them and because they cared about us they wanted to help. Of course, being extremely hormonal didn’t help either! Some of their information was extremely valuable like “watch your baby not the clock” when breastfeeding – while other well meaning advice just felt wrong. When I didn’t want to accept the advice that was given, I learned to use our pediatrician as our scapegoat by quoting “Our doctor says…..” or by using a non-committal response like “interesting!” Regardless of their advice, we were the only ones who could decide what was best for our baby and our family.

Our former pediatrician, Dr. Harvey Karp, taught us his technique for calming our infant – key to establishing a sleep routine, and restoring sanity to our sleep-deprived household. His best selling book, The Happiest Baby on The Block is a detailed account of his revolutionary technique that helps calm crying. It definitely helped our baby to sleep longer. Whether you’re a first time mom or just need to brush up, I highly recommend it!

Establishing a routine can be a bit more complicated when parents are also contending with older siblings.

Start Making Friends Before Birth
We started by involving our oldest, Olivia who was now 2 years old at the time, in my prenatal checkups. She could hear her little sister’s heartbeat and look at the ultra-sound pictures. She’d feel the baby’s kicks and “talk” to her little sister through my belly. We also found many wonderful books to read to her like What to Expect When the New Baby Comes Home by Heidi Murkoff and Laura Rader and Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats. At the hospital she spent a lot of time introducing the baby to our visiting relatives which was a great source of pride for her.

Bringing Baby Home
When her little sister, Isabella came home from the hospital, Olivia rode in the car with us. This became my husband’s second most nervous car trip. Generally, friends also gave gifts to Olivia when visiting Isabella. But if they forgot, we wrapped a few, just in case. It also scored points when her new little baby sister “gave” a gift to her big sister.

Olivia loved playing the role of “teacher” to her baby sister and found pride in helping mommy pick out Isabella’s clothes and handing me diapers. In the evening and weekends daddy made her feel special by giving her extra attention – which was a great help to me too.

While I nursed the new baby, I kept a basket of special toys for Olivia to play with that only came out during nursing times. She even called them her “nursing toys.” They were mostly quiet play toys. I also found that wearing our baby in a sling was a great way to keep both hands free and that helped me remain available to both children. Wearing my baby became critical when the third baby came along.

How do I prepare my Twins for the New Baby?
Parents of twins already have a head start on splitting their attention and multitasking. “Having a singleton after multiples is wonderful!” says Dr. Rebecca Moskwinski, Executive Vice President of the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Club as well as a mother of twins and four singletons. “It’s so much easier. When you have fed the baby – you’re done! When you’ve changed him – you’re done! (Unlike twins when it seems you are never finished!) Plus twins were used to sharing Mom and Dad with someone else, so it wasn’t as much as a shock to them.” Since your twins already have a built in best friend, use it to your advantage when you need more time with the new baby. Consider buying each child a baby doll of their own to take care of, as a way to help foster the individuality of the twins.

How Can I Prepare My Pet?
Similar principles apply for bringing home your new baby to a waiting beloved pet that also needs help adjusting to the new family member. When you arrive from the hospital, have a neutral person, like a grandparent or aunt carry the baby into the house. That way, you’re free to greet your pet and give them attention before teaching them about the new member of the family. You can also accustom your pet to baby related noises months before the baby arrives by playing crying sounds, mechanical infant swing, etc. Give positive reinforcement during these noises by offering a treat or playtime. If you’re concerned about how your pet may interact with your baby, discuss it with your veterinarian and pediatrician. You may want to enroll in a training course so that you can safely and humanely control your pet’s behavior around the baby. Being up to date on routine health exams and vaccines will also give you peace of mind when the new baby comes home.

A second, and then third child also helped us evolve our family dynamics. The three sisters still have their moments of frustration and rivalry. I suppose that’s the nature of family. Fortunately, your children will also realize that more siblings just means more love – and that’s what really strengthens the family (and marital) bonds.