What have I been making?

Good question! I'm having a lot of fun with the winter produce available right now. I really enjoy exposing Julian to new foods and flavors. Most of the vegetables he is enjoying aren't available in commercial baby food. So far Julian has experienced sweet potatoes, peas, apples, zucchini, butternut and acorn squash, pumpkin, pears, avocado, bananas, mango, cranberries, blueberries, cherries, and carrots. The best part, though, is since each food is frozen into individual one ounce cubes, I can mix different, complimentary flavors together at meal times. Some of his favorite combos so far are pumpkin banana, apple blueberry, & squash and pears. Me and Paul get to eat whatever he doesn't finish!

I'm having difficulty finding a cereal that he'll eat. We started with the rice, and he refuses it. He'll eat some of the mixed whole grain cereal by Happy Bellies, so I try to sneak that into at least one meal. I just bought some oatmeal, so we'll see how that goes tomorrow.

My plan for the business is to offer a few of the flavors first and see how we do with sales. Any input on what I should offer first? I was thinking 5-7 flavors that are always available, and maybe a weekly special with something that is in season/local.

Cranberries! Yum

Cooking fresh, organic cranberries in honor of Thanksgiving. They're tart, but he liked them! I'll pair it with apples tomorrow. After heating on the stove until the cranberries burst, I puréed them until smooth. What I'm not using tomorrow I froze in an ice cube tray for later.

Down to Business

Ashleigh Brilliant said, "Good ideas are common- what's uncommon is people who'll work hard enough to bring them about." I'm starting to realize the hard work it is going to take to get this business up and running. The idea part is easy. It came to me a few weeks ago as I was making Julian's food for the week. I love doing it. It gives me tremendous satisfaction to know exactly what he is eating. I figured, why can't I share this with everyone? Wouldn't all babies benefit from starting off with good, organic nutrition. Isn't it important to start their love of fresh fruits and vegetables from the start? I think so! I heard last night on the Biggest Loser (love that show) that 1 in 3 children are obese. Wow. So my passion remains, and I do have the drive to get this business off the ground.

I'm taking a food safety class required by the agricultural department the first week in December. I have to pass a test, which should be a piece of cake. I haven't met a test that could bring me down yet:) So once that is done, we have to navigate both the state and the city permits. I hear that it is not easy. Of course, each agency will charge us the appropriate fees to file our paper work, and they each have their own forms that need to be filled out. I am calling insurance companies to get quotes, contacting my accountant to get advice on incorporating, and thinking that I need to find a lawyer to help file all the forms. Again, wow. We now have our EIN number with the IRS, and started to file our name with the state. Am I missing something? I'm sure I am, but we press on because we believe in this product and how it could impact the lives of our children.

What's in a name?

When you're pregnant, the first question you're asked by all once you are showing is, "Are you having a boy or a girl?" Paul and I figured that there are so few surprises left in life, we would not find out the sex of our baby during the ultrasound. The decision was easy, sticking with it was hard. It's so tempting as they're rolling the probe over your belly just to peak, or ask the technician to tell. We managed to resist temptation, and Julian's sex was unknown to us until the day he was born.

The problem, though, is agreeing on a name. We also had to come up with a boy and a girl name. Moreover, we decided that we wanted to honor Paul's spanish heritage and choose a name that could translate into both Spanish and English. It's funny, we came up with our girl's name immediately and we both loved it (I'm not sharing, sorry, until the next one arrives:) but we struggled, and even argued, over the name we liked if we had a baby boy. It wasn't until we saw our little, baby boy that we could agree on his name- Julian. It just fit.

Now as we "give birth" to our business, we again struggled with our name. The Spanish word for pure is puro. We also considered the Spanish word for baby, bebé. We brainstormed our vision of the company- pure, organic, baby, fresh.... How do you decide something so important? Just like with Julian, when we saw PūrO Baby on paper, we knew we had the name. We managed to incorporate the Spanish and English. By capitalizing the O we are highlighting the organic component of our foods. So now we begin the process of incorporation. We are registering our name with the state, got a web address (no page yet, but maybe soon), and signed up for email. PūrO Baby was born!

Starting our own business, oh my!

Six months ago, our lives changed forever. On April 25th, Julian (aka Jujube) came into our world and it hasn't been the same since. We were happy to have a healthy baby boy, but never realized how much it would affect our day to day life. The first couple of weeks were rough! Paul and I walked around looking like zombies from the lack of sleep; however, we weathered the tough times and after a few weeks we managed to get into some sort of schedule. We started to get more sleep, and actually enjoyed our new role as parents. Over the past few months, we grew into parenthood and embraced the joys it brings to our lives.

From this experience grew a need. I wanted to provide my son the very best nutrition. My goal was to make sure his food was fresh and always organic. Each week I prepare Julian's meals from fresh organic produce and freeze it to be heated up as needed. I feel that his food is vibrant (it retains the natural colors), flavorful (the food is never heated to high temperatures, and doesn't lose its texture), and nutritious. I see that Julian enjoys the foods I make, and I love that I know exactly what he is eating. So... I began to think- what are other busy parents doing?

When it comes to baby food you have few choices- make it yourself (takes time and effort) or buy from the supermarket (where most foods are cooked to high temperatures to extend the shelf life and lose a lot of the taste, texture, and nutrients.) I am lucky enough to have the time and energy to make Julian's food, but what about everyone else? PūrO Baby was born- almost exactly 6 months after Julian arrived.

We are in the very early stages of developing our company, so follow along with me and my husband, Paul, as we navigate through parenthood and starting our very own company. If you are in the Philadelphia area, maybe you'll get to see our baby food real soon. Now, I better get some sleep. Julian is sleeping through the night, but likes to wake up bright and early!!