Settled

We have been living in Holland for two months now. Our house is still exactly what we wanted, and our family is enjoying life to the fullest. Work is going well for both Douglas and me, and Cedric and Ezra are having a great time in school. The weather is starting to turn and we are realizing that not experiencing cold weather for six years has lowered our tolerance for the cold. We turned on the heat last night.

We have been riding bikes to work every day, and taking long rides on the weekends. On last Sunday we rode 27.5km! I have to say that last 5km face to face with the wind was a miserable challenge. Europe has really opened our eyes to how accessible things can be. We can hop on a bus, bike, or train to so many places. Travel and transportation are simple and exciting. We made a quick day trip to Brussels a couple weeks back for some waffles, fries and chocolates; additionally we have been out to the beach a few times since we arrived. The beaches here blew my mind as I was not expecting the Netherlands to have great beaches. The water is far too cold now, but this summer we are going to be beach bums!

We have a few trips coming up for work and pleasure. Next week Douglas will be in London for work. Then in late October we all will be visiting Ireland for the first time.  We expect to spend two days in Dublin and then explore around a bit; Sadly I don't think we will have time to make it to the other side to see the cliffs. Maybe that just means Ireland will require more than one trip. In November I will be in Rome for work. We were in Rome six years ago and the only thing I can remember is how much we ate. On multiple occasions we have said we want to repeat that exact trip just for the food and wine.

Then finally we are heading back to the States for winter break. Our kids have not been to their grandparents for the holidays since we surprised our families when they were just five weeks old. We usually gift ourselves a trip to a nice warm beach, but since we are not going to America this summer we thought this would be a fair trade off for the families.

We are getting used to the darker mornings... which will continue to get darker. A local put a positive spin on it: "You have to look at it as if you are heading to a point (the darkest point), and and once you reach the finish line it stops and it starts to get light again." The long and short is that the days are getting much shorter. The darkness will soon last through our first hour of work and then darkness will greet us as we are going home from work. We will get used to it... that is life... here in Holland.

Chad

Prague: Day 2

Warning: this blog post contains more detail than you probably want to know about our vacation. I apologize to our dear blog readers. I am really just chronicling our trip for us.  You are, of course, invited to read along. Maybe you might see something valuable for planning your next trip with your kids (either what to do, or what not to do!) 

And now that I've lowered your expectations. . . 

The boys gave us an early Christmas present and slept until 6:00AM--which is actually 9:30 AM Delhi time. I guess they knew how tired their dads were. So, we got up and I made the boys some oatmeal for breakfast. Instant oatmeal is our favorite travel breakfast. Then, I went out in search of pastries for Chad and me. We are staying in an apartment less than one block off of Old Town Square, and there were some revelers from the Saturday night festivitesstill wandering about the square probably looking for carbohydrates as well to help soften the blow of morning time after a long night of partying. In spite of the tipsy partiers, Prague was beautiful in the morning. I visited this city about 15 years ago, and I remember the city being lovely, but something--probably being able to share this experience with my own family--makes it even more lovely now.

I forgot that it was Sunday morning and so none of the pastry shops were open yet. So I wandered back to the apartment and we played with the boys for a while. Then, we got them all bundled up for a little walk around the neighborhood. After we wandered on our own, we met the owner of the apartment where we're staying and he took us on a mini-tour of the neighborhood and showed us where all of the good restaurants are, where to get groceries and gave us some ideas of things to do with kids. He's a super nice guy, and after we leave, I will post his website so anyone who is thinking of coming to Prague can contact him to rent this great apartment. 

So far, the only thing I know I forgot when packing was a belt for myself. I've recently lost a bit of weight, so having a belt is not an option. So, we went to the nearby mall and got a belt, saw where the grocery store was, and made plans to return later when the boys took a nap. After the mall, we walked back to the square and got our first taste of the food from the Christmas market. Sausages and fresh bread with mulled wine for me and beer for Chad. 

The boys had started nodding off in their strollers, so it was time for an official nap. We headed back to the apartment and put them down. They slept for almost three hours. I had time to take a little nap myself and head back to the grocery store to pick up stuff so the boys and us could have some meals at the apartment. When the boys woke up, we wandered around the square --now teeming with families-- then drank some more mulled wine (Chad and me, not the boys). We met up with our friend, Nyssa for dinner and then went to a concert after in St. Nicholas's church which is right on the Old Town Square. 

A little side note about all of these trips outside. It is significantly colder in Prague than the moderate "winter" Delhi weather we're used to. So each trip requires about 10 minutes worth of adding on layers so our boys don't freeze. when we're finally finished with the thermal onesie, outer clothes, hat, coat and gloves, the boys look like little Michelin men. 

Back to the concert... Being a classically trained musician, one of the things I miss most about the US, Europe, or pretty much any other major city outside of Delhi is really high-quality classical music. In India, there is a really vibrant classical and folk arts scene, and since we've arrived in India, there's been an emergence of new bands that fuse Indian and Western pop music. But, there really isn't any significant Western Classical music scene, and I miss operas and symphonies more than is really reasonable. So, I was thrilled that there was a chamber orchestra concert with soprano and trumpet soloists right on the square last night. 

The boys sat really well through the whole concert. Both of our boys love listening to live and recorded music. But, as it was already well past their bedtime in India, Ezra fell asleep after about 15 minutes. Cedric was a trooper and really tried to stay awake. At one point, he had his eyes most of the way closed and the audience started to applaud at the end of a piece and Cedric, very half-heartedly, woke up and clapped along, then laid his head back down on Chad's shoulder. 

When we returned to the apartment, the long day of walking, bundling and eating had caught up with everyone, so we put the boys to bed, had a glass of wine with Nyssa and chatted for a bit. Then, we went to bed ourselves. 

Here's a preview for tomorrow's post: the boys did not sleep until 6:30 AM.  Ugh. 

Love and Safe Travels, 

Douglas 

Overdue Update

The boys are keeping us really busy these days. Their day runs from 8a-8p with a one or two hour nap after lunch. Most days with the boys are a lot of fun, but it isn't always gum drops and lollipops, as you can imagine.

Every day Cedric and Ezra are learning something new. Sometimes good things... sometimes bad things. We have made momentous progress on manners recently. Their skills of reason have also started to develop. They now understand what we want, however it is still a toss up if they decide to comply or not.

They are learning new words daily and will repeat anything you say. Anything. It has been a lot of fun watching them grow. They have such different personalities it is hard to believe they are twins.

Ezra is a runner. I can already anticipate phone calls from his teachers saying he ran away. He gets this look on his face and you can see he is testing how you will respond.

We have had a few problems with our ayah. I came home the other day and she was letting the kids dance on the coffee table. We have been working hard on keeping them from climbing on it... now we know why they were not listening. It is also culturally difficult for our ayah tell the twins "no". It is a different way of looking at it but it's as if the she works for the kids. So we are working on boundary issues where she has to tell the boys no and enforce the rules while we are gone.

We have also had our fair share of illness. Everyone has had coughs, running noses, and fevers. Cedric has had a few terrible reactions to bug bites. Some that have led to skin infections with very disgusting looking boils on his legs. I could never be a doctor. I had to stop trying to diagnose the issue using Dr. Google after seeing the search results for skin rashes. People are nasty!

We are still trying to get Ezra to pack on the pounds. Cedric is gaining weight like normal, but Ezra just can't seem to gain a pound. He is a good eater, but must burn calories at a much higher rate. He never stops moving so maybe he will always be a skinny mini.

Eating out with twins is going quite well. Once in awhile we have to end dinner a bit quickly, but most of the time they are perfect gentleman. We have noticed they seem to eat better when we all eat together as opposed to having a kids meal time and then an adult meal time.

The weather is still quite hot in Delhi. We have been swimming most weekends and sometimes swim during the week. Ezra is a little fish and will jump from the side of the pool and blow bubbles and all sorts of fun stuff in the water. Cedric also loves the water, but he has always been a little more reserved and leaves the show boating the his brother.

We have also joined a very diverse play group. There are kids from Norway, Germany, Brazil, Spain, India, and Czech Republic. Our ayah has been coordinating with several other ayahs to have regular play groups at a different house three times a week. Once a week we host at our house and there are nine children and nine ayahs all in our house. I stuck my head in the door once. It was toddler overload.

Cedric and Ezra are really good at sharing with other children. However sharing between themselves is another story. I find it very interesting how they interact with each other. Ezra will take things from Cedric just for fun and then run through the house as if it is a game. Cedric subsequently is chasing him through the house screaming for his toy back. We have a lot of work to do in this area. Maybe a life long task.

I am heading to Las Vegas for a work conference in two weeks. I am looking forward to learning something new and excited for the networking possibilities. It has been a few years since I have been in Las Vegas. I can't wait to see if I can still win at black jack. My mom and dad are also going to meet me there for a couple of days.

Sorry this post turned into a novel. I guess that's what happens when you are terrible bloggers and forget to post anything for two months!

Chad

Summer Is Over

It is the saddest happiest time of the year. It is sad that we have to go back to work, but we are happy to settle back into our own home. This summer has been more relaxing than usual. We have taken it a lot easier this time around and done much less running from one place to the other.

We have spent the majority of our time in Indiana and Ohio visiting family. It has been wonderful for the boys to have huge yards and pools to play in. The weather has been perfect for outside time during our entire visit.

We took a couple side trips also. Our first trip was to visit our long lost friends in Atlanta. We learned that in the south just about anything will fit into a bikini, and that too much fast food can put me in the hospital.

Douglas and I headed out to San Francisco for a few days. Cedric and Ezra got to hang out with my parents while we were gone. The twins love their Mimi and Papaw! SF was so much fun. We did some touristy things and then some relaxing things. It sure was nice to have a few adult meals where we could enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner instead of asking for the check after appetizers.

We had a little visa scare that anyone heading to India should be aware of. We needed to get "fresh" visas this year since we have been in India for more than five years. This can only be done in your home country so this summer we had to send our passports out for new visas. I don't know the background behind the switch, but the Indian Consulate has changed the company that processes Indian visas. My advice is to apply early since it took us four weeks to receive our passports back. Also I recommend using Travisa to walk your passport through the process. It costs a bit more but if there is a problem they handle it.

We head back to Delhi on Tuesday night. If anyone is passing through Newark keep an eye out for the circus!

Chad

No Thanks, Dad

Can you tell which food item Cedric didn't appreciate, and politely separated (and didn't throw on the floor... YAY!) from the rest of the edible food? I guess string cheese isn't his thing!

In other news, yesterday's post really wasn't me seeking affirmation about my parenting skills (although I feel embraced and affirmed by the people who responded to it). I was more or less trying to express feelings that I think many parents have. I hope I wasn't being a needy blogger!  

Cheers to all!

Douglas

Baby Proofing

Our house is 99% baby proof... leave it to Ezra to find the 1%.

While I was getting dinner ready the boys were free range throughout the house. They were having a good time laughing and playing with their toys. I ran into the bedroom for a minute and when I came out Ezra was in his crib. Doug asked me if I put him there and still in shock I said no.

I took him out and put him on the floor to see if he would demonstrate his new found ability and off he went. A few minutes later he was back in the nursery again so I watched him from the hallway. He knocked the pillows off the couch, used them as a step, climbed on the couch, climbed up on the arm rest, and did a swan dive into the crib. I gasped because I was sure it was my turn to go to an Indian emergency room, but up he jumped with a smile on his face.

Ezra is going to make my hair grey.

The couch has been moved.

Chad

Spring Break

The temperature is rising in India, but it is still in the manageable nineties. That can only mean one thing. It is time for our last trip out of Delhi for the school year. Doug's mother is enroute to Delhi. She was due in last night, but as usual Newark was a cluster $%#@ and she had to reschedule for one day later. Thankfully United also let her change her return date by one day so she didn't cut any time off her trip.

Climbing is the newest event in our house. The higher the boys get the happier they are... chuckle chuckle. I am considering removing the couch from the nursery as I am afraid one of them will either jump or get pushed off which will lead to another trip to the hospital.

Dinner time continues to stress us out. It seems we can't make the boys happy. They refuse to eat things they loved five minutes before, they throw all the food off their trays in protest, and scream for more. We have tried so many things, but it seems nothing will suffice. This phase needs to pass.

Cedric is very clingy, and he wants to be held most of the time. I think this problem was created by having two ayahs at his beck and call. We are working on strategies to calm him down, but he gets so worked up we have to let him cry it out. This phase needs to pass.

Ezra is basically running around now. He is a busy boy and usually has on a big smile. Cedric has started taking a few steps here and there, but only when he wants to. He is a very effective crawler so he is content with his mobility. Plus every time he stands Ezra makes it his mission to push him over.

We are all looking forward to Goa. Our family does beach vacations well.

Chad

Research: 12-18 Month Behavior

I often joke with others that we're running our own little twin experiment, and usually leave it to them to figure out which twin is serving as the control group. What would happen if we only let one listen music performed exclusively by Dolly Parton?

Ever feel like things are getting away from you?

In all seriousness, here are some things I've been reading about development and behavior from 12-18 months.

Here is a brief summary of what play looks like at various ages, including 12-18 months.

Here are some behavior management strategies for pre-toddlers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has a quick two-pager about eating habits, behavior management, growth development and vocabulary development for this age.

And, a bit about non-violent communication just for good measure.

ER: Indian Style

Chad and I have been living in India for close to five years now. It can be expected that over that amount of time we've had our fair share of trips to the hospital for this and that. Personally, I think I've had more than my fair share of doctor visits in India, but that's a different story for a different day.

In this version of our continued saga living in Mother India, Ezra made his first trip to the hospital for anything other than a routine check-up. Let me just say, it was as positive an experience as we could have hoped for, and I'd like to thank the doctors who took care of us yesterday evening.

Here is the play-by-play:

After our family walk, Ezra and Cedric were playing in the nursery while Chad and I started to get dinner ready. After about a minute or two of play, we heard Ezra crying. When we went in and checked on him, we found him with a bloody lower lip. He was sitting right next to the door, which both he and Cedric love to play with. I can only assume that he got a little to close to the corner of the door. The cut doesn't look too bad in the picture, but it was pretty deep.

We called our resident PA who lives a few doors down from us, and she recommended taking him to the hospital. Our employer has a contract with Max Super Specialty Hospital, and our school doctor arranged for a physician to meet us there. We also called our dear friend Mary, who was in the middle of a massage, but stopped everything when she heard her phone ring twice and hurried over to the apartment. Mary agreed to come along with Ez and me while Chad stayed home with brother Cedric.

Driving to the hospital, which is about 8 miles away, takes forever in Delhi traffic. On the way there, the doctor from Max called to check on us and see how Ez was doing. We told him we'd be there in 30 minutes. In reality, it took more like an hour. At the hospital, the emergency room was crowded, but impressively organized and clean. The doctor looked at Ezra (who was in his usually cheery mood), and determined that the plastic surgeon needed to be called.

We waited for about 45 minutes for the plastics doctor, and when he arrived he gave us two options: general anesthetic or local anesthetic. We opted for local. In the end, though, it was determined that due to the location of the cut and the size of Ezra, that no aesthetic would be used at all. Oh my!  This daddy's blood pressure went up a few notches. We held Ez down while the doctor quickly worked at putting in four stitches. Ez screamed louder than I ever cared to hear any child--let alone my own--scream. But, the pain was quickly over, and Ezra recovered his usual mood after a few minutes. By this time, it was about two hours past Ezra's bedtime. We got the bill taken care of, stopped off in the chemist to get some medicine, and headed for home and Ezra nodded off for dreamland.

A few takeaways from our experience for any traveler to New Delhi, or any IPs coming for surrogacy.
1. Max hospital is definitely a number you need to have on hand. They're a good western-style facility.
2. Indian hospitals, including Max, are quite crowded and the idea of personal space is not the same as it is in the West.  (Our only experience in a non-crowded Indian hospital was at BLK hospital, where the boys were born, which seemed to have plenty of room for everyone... does the exception prove the rule?)
3. You have to pay at the time of the procedure. Have your credit card or cash on hand. FYI: four stitches cost about $175.
4. (apologies ahead of time for the generalization) Indian doctors typically have really poor bedside manner.

That's all for now.

Peace,
Douglas

What Goes In

Most certainly will come out.

Today our Ayah decided it was time for the boys to try out a true Indian dish. She cooked up a batch of dal today and they loved it. Needless to say she was gone before the boys had a chance to show them just how much their diapers loved it.

Neither Douglas or I eat much Indian food. One of the benefits of having a cook that has worked for expats for several years we can hand over just about any recipe and get what we want. This has kept us from having to test the limits of our digestive systems.

Here is my motto: if it doesn't start out solid it won't come out solid.

Great news though... Our G-Daipers kept everything under control.

Chad

Spoons!

Cedric and Ezra fed themselves with spoons for the first time today. Daddy, of course, helped load up the spoons. But, you can tell from the video that they are quite content (and even a bit proud) of their accomplishment.

Bon apetit,

Douglas 

Playing Catch Up: First Birthday Party

Our last day in Istanbul was Cedric & Ezra's first birthday. We enjoyed carpet shopping, apple tea drinking, purchasing a great painting, and of course hopping on a plane. I sat down today and calculated how many flights the boys have been on in their first year and here is what I came up with.

Delhi-Newark-Indianapolis
Indianapolis-Houston-Frankfurt-Delhi
Delhi-Goa
Goa-Delhi
Delhi-Istanbul-Paris
Paris-Chicago-Indianapolis
Indianapolis-Newark-Delhi
Delhi-Hong Kong
Hong Kong-Delhi
Delhi-Istanbul
Istanbul-Delhi

So there you have it 17 take offs and landings and 46,530 miles in their first year of life. Not many babies can say they have been in six different countries (seven if you count Texas) before the age of one.

My mother came back to Delhi with us and we had a great two weeks hanging out around the house and exploring Delhi-lite. While she was here we had a proper celebration with our overseas family. Thankfully the boys are not all that into sugar and messes... yet.

We are off to Koh Chang Thailand next week for winter break. We get to spend almost three weeks with our asses in the sand and beers in our hands!

Here are a few pictures from the party.

 Chad

Playing Catch Up: Turkey Trip

Hello blog readers! I'm not sorry for the long pause in blogging. Life is as busy as hell and the blog gets put on the back burner.

Turkey was a great trip despite me declaring a moratorium on all future travel on the flight to Istanbul. It all started around 2a. We packed the boys up and headed to the airport where they slept through check-in, immigration, security, and boarding. We took our seats and life as we knew it changed. The boys kicked it into high gear, and since it was morning time it was play time. Under normal circumstances this would be fine, but Douglas and I had been up since 2a and were approaching exhaustion. Just an FYI holding two almost one year olds still for six hours on three hours of sleep isn't pretty. So we learned that timing is everything, and in the future we will be taking overnight flights when we travel.

Although it started out a bit rough our trip to Istanbul was great. My mother flew in from Indianapolis the day after we arrived, and we had a great time eating street food and touring the city. The streets are clean, the people were nice, and the buildings are beautiful. Istanbul is now on my list of top cities.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Chad

Up and Out: Turkey

We did not forget about the blog. The twins are definitely keeping us busy around the house. We have both been working hard and traveling hard so our house has been in constant motion.

The boys are on a fairly decent schedule now. We were spoiled way to early with sleeping through the night. We have been dealing with middle of the night feedings since the last post. We think in that beginning the boys were going through a growth spurt and were in fact hungry, but now we have determined they have developed a dependence to the middle of the night bottle. Last night the boys self soothed and everyone woke up happy.

They both love to sing and dance. Anytime we put on the music (except Mary's music) they start to boogie. Bath time at our house is so much fun. They both love to splash. They eat mostly cut up things now, and we only still puree a few things. Ezra only likes spicy chicken. If it doesn't have enough flavor he will spit it out. Cedric still eats everything. Jyoti loves the boys and sits waiting for them to drop food from their high-chairs.

We leave for Istanbul tonight, and have not even taken the suitcases out of the closet. Douglas has decided that we are last minute packers and that stresses me out. If I were in charge of the bags I probably would have done it last week. That being said he always does a great job, and we have never left anything or anyone behind.

Cedric and Ezra will be one year old next week. My mother is meeting us in Istanbul and we are bringing her back to India for two weeks. We are shocked that a whole year has gone by already. The days are busy and a little bit crazy, but I can't imagine it any different.

Chad

It's Back...

Last night we heard screams from the nursery. After several months of sleeping through the night the boys wanted to eat at 2am.

Lets hope this was a one and done thing. Crossing our fingers for tonight!

Chad

Our Life

I am not complaining... BUT!

We never sit down. We have two full time in house nannies/cleaners/cooks and a part time guy that walks our beautiful labrador for an hour each day. We still never sit down. Until I wrote it all down... I never realized what made the world go around.

Here was yesterday play by play:

5:00a: Ezra wakes Cedric up to help convince Dadda and Papa it is time to eat
5:15a: Twins toss bottles to the side, roll over, and pass out
5:20a: Douglas rejoins my lazy ass in bed
6:30a: Douglas makes his paleo breakfast
7:00a: I make my paleo-ish breakfast, twins on full court press, Douglas in shower
7:30a: Sheela arrives, I get in the shower
7:45a: Pouring coffee: Douglas black, mine with 1/4 cup creme, 3 heaping spoons of sugar
7:55a: Out the door, umbrella up
8:00a: Work
5:00p: I get home and finish up some work emails, twins sleeping
5:05p: Douglas out the door for disc
5:35p: I grab a snack, grab the remote, plant left ass cheek on the couch
5:36p: Cedric wakes up
5:40p: Ezra wakes up
5:41p: Twins full court press
5:50p: Strap the boys into stroller, bug spray, mosquito nets, dog on leash
6:00p: Pick Douglas up from disc, head off campus for 50 min walk
7:00p: Twins in high-chairs for dinner
7:30p: Twins in bath tub, Douglas making adult dinner
7:50p: Wheels fall off, screaming, wet, tired
8:00p: Twins dry, dressed, tiny bottle, sleep
8:05p: Adult dinner, vodka on the rocks
8:20p: Dishes
8:30p: Make baby food
9:45p: Pushups/Sit-ups for Thailand beach body, Big Bang Theory on in background
10:15p: Wake twins up for another small bottle (this put the stop on the 3a nursery rave)
10:30p: Adult bed time

Chad

When You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say

I've heard some crazy things while out with our twins. Some people, even when their intent is not to be rude or prying, really have no filter at all.

But, this story takes the cake. Take a second and read it!

Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, Chad and I had brunch on Sunday at one of the more popular breakfast places in the gayborhood. The food was great! The service--well--not so much. I am perfectly aware that, while being the 12th largest city in the US, Indianapolis is not a bastion of progressively-minded families. Nor are people really accustomed to seeing two-dad families strolling around.

But, I was completely unprepared for the cold-shouldered reception that we received from this particular LGBT-friendly restaurant. Now, let me provide some context: our stroller was stationed out of the way, not taking up any usable table space, our kids were quietly playing with their toys, we went at an off-peak time and our order was uncomplicated.

 Despite all of those mitigating factors (and when compared to our last venture out for breakfast which occurred at a Bob Evans with a waitress named Jenny who almost hugged our faces off because she thought our kids were so cute), we were totally not taken care of. I'll spare you the details on all of the things the waiter did that I found rude or dismissive; suffice it to say that in spite of leaving with full and happy bellies, I was scratching my head a bit.

And then I read this. And I wondered even more about what had happened to us on Sunday morning. Did we get the cold shoulder because we were a family at a restaurant other than Bob Evans? Or is there something else going on in the LGBT community.

Chad and Ezra doing some people watching from our 2nd-story loft in downtown Indy

We have about two more weeks to explore the area around our loft, so I'll let you know what we discover. 

Really, Gerber?

So, the boys have been transitioning to solid food. Their first experience with really runny rice cereal happened in Delhi. We started with rice cereal because it's readily available in Delhi, and easy on the digestive system, plus, it allows the kids to practice taking food from a spoon and swallowing, which took some work.

Then, when we went to France, our dear host Françoise had already purchased several "petits pots" (read baby food in a jar, but it sounds so much better and more sophisticated in French), and so we started the boys with artichokes. Cedric loved the artichokes, but Ezra was not impressed. So, we tried him on carrots and sweet potatoes, which he liked, but then the next day his skin broke out in a rash (more about that in a later post), so we got him off of carrots. Then, when we went to the US we tried more sweet potatoes, peas, green beans and squash before trying fruits (bananas, peaches and pears). Both boys are great eaters, with the exception of Ezra's aforementioned dislike of artichokes and Cedric's dislike of peas. Everything has been going well. They are taking bigger spoonfuls, and not pushing the food out of their mouths.

But, here's my problem. I had the best of intentions to use only homemade puree with organic vegetables raised by Norwegian bachelor farmers (so their pure, mostly, right?); but with our busy travel schedule, and being away from my own kitchen, I've resorted to buying the baby food in the jars. We purchased about 10 packs of Gerber organic food. The following is a list of the ingredients in the organic pears:
Ingredients
ORGANIC PEARS, WATER, TUNA OIL (SOURCE OF DHA), ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), GELATIN, CHOLINE BITARTRATE, ALPHA TOCOPHERYL ACETATE (VITAMIN E)
Here is a list of the ingredients in the non-organic pears:
Ingredients
PEARS, PEAR PUREE (WATER, PEAR PUREE CONCENTRATE), ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), CITRIC ACID
You see the problem? Why does the organic type contain more additives than the non-organic type? Anybody have any insight on this one?