Oh, Boyardee how I love thee....

Oh, canned pasta, how I love thee... let me count the ways...

I, personally, can't stand Spaghetti Oh's. I don't like the smell or the taste, but Oh how my children love them. I need to start with a little background. When my first son was around 1 he started eating "big people food", but I would obsess about what he ate. Every bite of anything he ate would be documented in my head. I must explain, though.... He weighed 5lbs 11 oz when he was born and has always been so small and scrawny. He is the pickiest of picky eaters. He gagged at the taste of lettuce when he was 1. Honestly... he would shiver at just the smell of food at that age. He would keep a bite of pancakes in his mouth until it was liquefied and then it would dribble out the sides of his mouth until I would finally let him spit it out. He had the strangest eating habits. The only thing he liked to eat was steak... and soda (THANKS GRANDPA!!!!). He orders his own steak at restaurants... a 3 year old ordering a steak "medium"!!!!! It's weird!

Anyways, I would NEVER make him Mac and Cheese, sometimes hot dogs, anything frozen or canned would rarely be on his plate. I would obsess (and I mean OBSESS about what he ate... my mom is probably nodding her head violently in agreement right now) about every meal. We would count the bites he took and most meals would end with me in tears and him with a bite of whatever was prepared liquefying in his mouth as he got down to play.

Well... times have changed. Baby number 2 came along. A lot less time for me to prepare foods. My parents and husband constantly telling me to "Chill Out" about the eating. So... ok... I chilled out. I bought a can of Spaghetti Oh's and put it in the pantry. One day came along and it was lunch time and I was stressed and on edge and I decided that was what we were having for lunch (assuming they were going to hate it, I thought... "Well, at least it only took 30 seconds to prepare"). I was wrong... they loved it. They asked for more. They ate the whole can. Everyday at lunch time Dylan asked for spaghetti and meat balls... No, not the healthy kind... the canned, processed, trans fat kind. So, I gave in. Little by little. Now I buy 4 cans a week at the store. I serve it with peas or apples or carrot sticks so that I feel better about them getting a tiny bit of nutrition... but lets be honest... they don't eat more than one or two bites of the good stuff.

So, now mac and cheese occasionally comes around our table... hot dogs, corn dogs, Dino chicken nuggets.... What has happened to me? This is what I was working so hard to prevent!!! I bought cookbooks and food processors that pureed our veggies into little sandwich bags that I put into turkey burgers... turkey meatballs... spaghetti sauce. I would go through cookbooks to pick out our recipes for the week and shop accordingly.... Now I rush to the store, breeze through the aisles getting the same stuff I bought last week because i know they will eat it. (and not throw it at each other).

What happens when baby #3 comes along? What will they be eating then? I am scared!