I did a bit of research today (after preparing some more baby food for t - carrots and pears, anyone?) ... on breastfeeding and work, following yesterday's post. After contacting my La Leche League (LLL) Leader / BF Support Group Leader / Lactation Consultant, I've decided to do some reading and research regarding breastfeeding at work ... she even offered to put me in touch with some Moms who attend the monthly LLL meeting to talk about their experiences, which I am eager to sort of figure out what I want to know as well as what information would be valuable to an audience ...
A simple google search turned up a heap of information from random .com-ers to more obvious resources such as Dr. Sears, LLL and websites like Babycenter.com and Whattoexpect.com. Here are some favorites that I'm eager to dig into:
La Leche League - Working it Out - tips on how to convince your boss that it is best to continue breastfeeding your baby ... as well as references and links to helpful legislation to back up your requests.
U.S. Breastfeeding Committee - Workplace Support - many links to legislation and resources to support the importance of breastfeeding, as well as information on the Breastfeeding Support Act and the Business Case for Breastfeeding
National Conference of State Legislatures - This website offers resources on a state-by-state level with respect to breastfeeding ... it was last updated in May 2011.
Work and Pump - a website run by a working mom who offers resources gathered throughout the e-world, as well as a message board for support.
... so many of these websites have a very serious connotation to them, with resources being linked to legislation and minimum requirements to support breastfeeding mothers. It would be great to find a resource that approaches the needs of a breastfeeding mom and a conversation to be had, or resources to be provided to an employer that is very humanistic in nature. I haven't yet come across information online that is related to a woman approaching her employer to say, "I am a breastfeeding mom and I need to pump at work x-number of times to support my child and I would like this type of space to do so ..." Most of these resources pertain to a woman bringing in resources that say, "It is my right to pump at work, and you are required to provide me with the space to do so," which is a little aggressive ... but I'm sure with some organizations that is what it takes ... or these resources wouldn't be out there.
... onward and upward with my learning and advocacy for women who need better conditions, resources, and opportunities to support their breastfeeding relationship at work!
In other news. I've had two dreams about repairing Ryan's beloved T-Shirt quilt ... so I think this might become my next sewing project ... T and I just have to go pick up binding at JoAnn and get to work! I also have a few bundles of fabric to work with, although I'm not sure they will be large enough for our bed. I told Ryan we may have to retire his quilt from being our "Main Quilt" on our bed - man alive it is perfectly cozy - to which he responded, "Great. Make us a new one!" Oi. Queen sized would be the biggest quilt I've made yet.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
my curiosity, my (newest) passion, my life!
Breastfeeding. Really. What do you know about it? If you haven't been closely knit to someone who has breastfed a baby, you may have been like me before I had baby T. In fact, breastfeeding is the one aspect of child birth and child rearing that I walked into without instruction, guidance, coaching or experience. Ok, I'll admit, I did check out 2 books from the library, and was shocked to find them under nursing in the non-fiction section after finding nothing on my search of breast feeding. I remember reading one of those books at the pool while catching some sun with my sister the morning before Thomas was born! I'm not sure that it prepared me for what I was birthing into ... but it was reassuring to know that it was waiting for me at home once baby arrived.Nursing my little baby T has been quite the journey that has evoked amazing feelings from within me ... spanning all extremes, both positive and negative. As time has gone on, I have begun to understand that breastfeeding is one of those things that you learn about as you go, because every baby, every mom, even every boob ... is different! If it weren't for my amazing support groups - La Leche League of South Bend, and the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center's Breast Feeding Support Group - and my desire for knowledge, I don't know if I would have made it five .. almost six months .. nursing my baby, unsure of where the end of our nursing relationship will be. We are just five days away from reaching our second goal - six months of breast feeding! Our next goal is twelve months. With the introduction of solids, it will for sure be an adventure worth blogging about. ;-)
The fuel for my fire this evening comes from two e-mails I received today. Both were from the USBC ... heard of them? United States Breastfeeding Committee. The first was titled "Thanks to You, Breastfeeding is Getting Easier," and it outlined the progress of the USBC throughout 2011. I had clicked a button to send a letter to my congress person to promote opportunities for women who return to work to have the time and space to pump during the work day. This e-mail was even more meaningful after Thomas and I attended our monthly La Leche League meeting and heard about some of the struggles women experience when trying to pump at work. Are you ready for this?
Some women have to pump in the bathroom stall at work. Would you want to eat a meal prepared in a bathroom stall? Would you want to feed it to your baby?
Some women have a hard time pumping because of distractions that occur outside of the room they are aloud to pump in ... yes, stress and distraction impact let down and the overall ability to effectively express milk.
Some women experience a drastic decrease in milk supply once returning to work, resulting in an inability over time to meet baby's needs ...
I'm sure it goes on ... but having never balanced this working-and-breastfeeding experience, I can only empathize with moms who do return to work. I can't imagine struggling through the experience, let alone giving up on what I hold so dear to my heart and my relationship with my baby. The USBC is pushing to improve upon the conditions in which breastfeeding moms return to following their maternity leave ... and given what little I know about pumping at work - pumping in someone else's office outside of the main entrance to the school I worked at? holy distracting - I know it can be great or pretty bad ... but it shouldn't be a stumbling block along a woman's pathway to nurturing her baby.
So yes, breastfeeding has, at times, been a struggle for me ... but no, I can't imagine weaning my child from the breast. It is such a huge part of our relationship that is working well for both of us (See, something I learned from my support groups - breastfeeding is a two-part relationship) despite it's ups and downs, but what relationship doesn't experience ups and downs?
I'll have to post about the 2nd e-mail I received from the USBC this evening ... it may develop into a professional opportunity, or it may not ... so I leave you with that suspense!
Monday, December 12, 2011
First Foods
I started reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley, this afternoon, after struggling with our bedtime/naptime routine ... it is curious and interesting ... reading about sleep patterns biological rhythms of sleep/wake cycles and such ... about half way through the first 50 pages I began to think critically of the next 20 days for my little baby ... they'll include so many wild experiences ... 6 month shots, first foods, two 10-hour car trips, meeting countless NEW people and becoming reacquainted with friends and family he last saw in October and November ... we might have to "struggle through" the rest of December before establishing Thomas' biological sleep rhythms ... and make our sleep-routine-adjustment a new years resolution! ;-)Among all of those "wild experiences," Ryan and I are excited to begin introducing new foods to our little T..! Lingering in my upstairs linen closet is a fabulous gift I received from a good teacher friend of mine including a JCPenny Cooks blender (think magic bullet!) and the Cooking Light First Foods Cookbook!! I've been insanely curious about using both items since I received them over six months ago, so it was a relief to finally pull them out and start reading about introducing first foods to baby! Thomas and I picked out a great butternut squash to experiment with at the market on Saturday, so we dug into the process of making baby food.
I reviewed the cookbook, that is excellent, by the way. It introduces you to the hows and whys of making your own baby food, the ins and outs of organics, and TONS Of recipes organized into age groups (4-8 months, 8-12, etc. I think all the way up to 3 years?). Amazon really says it best in the summary:
"Chapters follow the natural development of baby - from weaning to exploring new textures, to trying new foods and creating healthy food habits."
As tempting as it was to begin to puree every fruit and vegetable in the house ... I decided to stick with my butternut squash, and thankfully, it was on the page "first foods," so I could do so with out feeling like it'd take up space in my freezer for the next month or more! I baked up my squash and began to clean my blender parts. Feeling adventurous, I glanced at the "first foods" list and considered what else I had in my house that was on "The List" ... bananas (eew overripe) ... and frozen peas! Yes! ... I set up a makeshift steamer and steamed my peas while my squash finished baking. I don't have a legitimate steamer basket, so I used my fine mesh strainer over a pot of boiling water. It worked very well!
Once the peas were done, I set about pureeing them in the blender. The recipe said I could add a few tablespoons (one at a time) of the steaming liquid (more rich with vitamins than plain water from the tap) to thin it out and make it easier to blend the peas ... so I added about 3 T. After dumping the bright green, sweet smelling muck into a bowl, I realized they needed some straining ... so, as described in my cook book, I used a spatula to press them through my mesh strainer into a bowl ... PERFECT ..! Any remaining husks and skins remained on the strainer, and smooth green baby food fell through to my bowl! Just as Mom described - glad I called her so she could help me work through how to remove the "ruffage" as she put it =) She told me about a food mill she and dad used at the table after a meal to turn left over foods into baby food for Margaret and me. It feels good to be carrying on a bit of my infant-hood and parents' parenting to my daily practices with T!
I repeated this process for the butternut squash ... the squash recipe recommended only adding 1T of water to the squash to thin ... which made it a very, very thick paste. I'm sure I will be adding breast milk to it to thin it out come eating time. You can see in the photo that it was a bit of a mess getting it into the ice cube tray compared to the peas, that I could easily spoon into each section. Once they are frozen I'll crack them into freezer bags and we can take them out one at a time, as needed, like Mom would do for Marge and me when we were babes! I had some leftover peas in the bowl ... so we gave T a little taste ... he was super smiley, and wiggly ... go figures he's stone-facing us in this shot, but man alive his eyes are SUPER blue! hahah - they go well with the green glob on his lips ... Ryan reminded me, "Aren't you going to model how to eat 'em for him to see??" Now I know ... ;-)All in all it was a great experience! I have three pears on the table that are about the perfect ripeness ... and I am eager to make some more of those "first foods" .. what were they? butternut squash, peas, bananas, avocado ...
Sunday, December 11, 2011
A Day of Rest
Phew .. after some very busy days, today was a much needed day of rest. All three of us took it easy around the house .. even I took a nap ..!! There were no expectations, everything was easy .. with the exception of naptimes for Thomas .. hahah .. but even he slept in until 10 a.m. this morning! I'm sure our new neighbors think we're torturing little T because of all of the random crying that's been happening around naptimes .. every time he really starts wailing I think of their 2 children on the other side of the bedroom wall and hope it doesn't upset the kids. It might be time to start rethinking and re-working our bedtime routine, especially given my new sciatic nerve pain that's been popping up while doing the Mommy Sway.
The sunshine was so beautiful today ... and knowing that it'd be one of the last warm-ish days of winter, Thomas and I took a stroll out through the woodsy-brushy-undeveloped property behind our little townhome. Bundled warmly, "we" hiked down the street to the dirt/gravel road-bed where all sorts of construction has been happening over the 4 1/2 years we've lived here. I like to hike back there because it's almost as if are walking up Mom and Dad's driveway ... but very different in the same moment. To the east is 5-acres of undeveloped property, woods, low brush, hawks, deer ... to the west, office buildings of some sort ... to the north, overpriced tiny townhomes with brick and fancy shutters, all lined up on streets named after Notre Dame ... think Corby Street ... On our hikes down the gravel roadbed, Otto loves to sniff sniff sniff while T and I search for prints in the mud ... deer, geese, ducks, turkeys ... there are of course plenty of other dog and people prints, showing evidence of other nature-seekers venturing off the concrete paths throughout our little apartment community. Mud puddles covered in ice brought back memories of walking to the bus on crisp mornings, deciding whether or not to smash the ice or if the puddle were too deep, with the water underneath flooding our shoes ... (sometimes when I'm explaining a childhood memory it's impossible to speak of the memory being solely my own, since I had a best friend by my side for almost all of childhood! (= ).
Ryan and I put together an old favorite for dinner - being back on dairy and beef has been so exciting, so we celebrated by cooking our first cream-of-mushroom-soup-casserole: hamburger & potato casserole. It's super easy and simple, and equally as comforting:
Hamburger and Potato Casserole -
Peel and slice approximately 6 potatoes into thin discs, as thin as you can unless you've got a mandolin to make it easy. I sliced our potatoes into a bowl of cold water, drying them on paper towels once we were ready to build our casserole. Chop up as much celery and onion as you'd like - I used 1 small onion and 2 ribs of celery ... saute onion and hamburger until hamburger reaches it's desired doneness ... add celery and cook a few minutes more. Drain off any extra fat ... salt and pepper ... mix in 1 can of cream of mushroom soup.
In the bottom of a large-ish casserole, layer half of your potatoes. Salt and pepper the tops. Throw in that creamy-gooey hamburger mixture and top with the other half of your potatoes. Salt and pepper the top of your casserole. Drizzle 2 T. of milk on top. Cover and bake at 350* F. for about 1 hour.
We found that some of our potatoes were still a bit crisp, so if that bothers you, perhaps add an extra 15 minutes to your cook-time.
I love that Ryan knows that this casserole is his Dad's favorite .. there's something about knowing your parents' favorites - colors, meals, drinks ... hahah Knowing my nephews growing up, it was important for them to know, even as 3 and 4 year-old children, everyone's favorites!
The photos I've posted today are of some visitors we had this evening ... The debate is on as to if there were six deer .. that I saw from my photo-taking perspective .. or eight .. that Ryan said he saw from our upstairs bedroom winter. You can see the woods to the east, the houses to the north .. Aren't they beautiful? I secretly thought of one of the few huntsmen I know .. Ryan J..! Have you gotten a deer yet?
The sunshine was so beautiful today ... and knowing that it'd be one of the last warm-ish days of winter, Thomas and I took a stroll out through the woodsy-brushy-undeveloped property behind our little townhome. Bundled warmly, "we" hiked down the street to the dirt/gravel road-bed where all sorts of construction has been happening over the 4 1/2 years we've lived here. I like to hike back there because it's almost as if are walking up Mom and Dad's driveway ... but very different in the same moment. To the east is 5-acres of undeveloped property, woods, low brush, hawks, deer ... to the west, office buildings of some sort ... to the north, overpriced tiny townhomes with brick and fancy shutters, all lined up on streets named after Notre Dame ... think Corby Street ... On our hikes down the gravel roadbed, Otto loves to sniff sniff sniff while T and I search for prints in the mud ... deer, geese, ducks, turkeys ... there are of course plenty of other dog and people prints, showing evidence of other nature-seekers venturing off the concrete paths throughout our little apartment community. Mud puddles covered in ice brought back memories of walking to the bus on crisp mornings, deciding whether or not to smash the ice or if the puddle were too deep, with the water underneath flooding our shoes ... (sometimes when I'm explaining a childhood memory it's impossible to speak of the memory being solely my own, since I had a best friend by my side for almost all of childhood! (= ).
Ryan and I put together an old favorite for dinner - being back on dairy and beef has been so exciting, so we celebrated by cooking our first cream-of-mushroom-soup-casserole: hamburger & potato casserole. It's super easy and simple, and equally as comforting:
Hamburger and Potato Casserole -
Peel and slice approximately 6 potatoes into thin discs, as thin as you can unless you've got a mandolin to make it easy. I sliced our potatoes into a bowl of cold water, drying them on paper towels once we were ready to build our casserole. Chop up as much celery and onion as you'd like - I used 1 small onion and 2 ribs of celery ... saute onion and hamburger until hamburger reaches it's desired doneness ... add celery and cook a few minutes more. Drain off any extra fat ... salt and pepper ... mix in 1 can of cream of mushroom soup.
In the bottom of a large-ish casserole, layer half of your potatoes. Salt and pepper the tops. Throw in that creamy-gooey hamburger mixture and top with the other half of your potatoes. Salt and pepper the top of your casserole. Drizzle 2 T. of milk on top. Cover and bake at 350* F. for about 1 hour.We found that some of our potatoes were still a bit crisp, so if that bothers you, perhaps add an extra 15 minutes to your cook-time.
I love that Ryan knows that this casserole is his Dad's favorite .. there's something about knowing your parents' favorites - colors, meals, drinks ... hahah Knowing my nephews growing up, it was important for them to know, even as 3 and 4 year-old children, everyone's favorites!
The photos I've posted today are of some visitors we had this evening ... The debate is on as to if there were six deer .. that I saw from my photo-taking perspective .. or eight .. that Ryan said he saw from our upstairs bedroom winter. You can see the woods to the east, the houses to the north .. Aren't they beautiful? I secretly thought of one of the few huntsmen I know .. Ryan J..! Have you gotten a deer yet?
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Free Formin'
Thomas and I braved the cold today ... it was a mere 18* Fahrenheit when we took off to the Farmers' Market! I dressed Thomas in his coziest (and cutest) sweatsuit before stuffing him into his Polar Bear fleecey bunting-esque zip up, and off we went! I've been trying to get used to that "Jellybean" baby carrier that we received as a gift from friends as a quick, easy alternative to the Mei Tai that I looooove ... and so far, so good. It can be a lot to deal with trying to get him into it with all of our wintery layers, but it did it's job today. We cruised the market, buying a butternut squash for baby T, a birthday gift for Aunty Margaret and a hot coffee for me when all of a sudden we were face-to-face with SANTA! He was walking the market, ringing a bell, and hauling a satchel full of toys for the children, and yes ... he even had a toy for Thomas! Hahah - Thomas received his first gift from Santa .. a small stuffed orca .. =) It was very festive, and very sweet. Thomas wasn't so sure what to think of the big guy ...
After our market run we zipped up to Target to pick up wrapping paper, ribbons, labels ... all the works to start wrapping Christmas presents for family ... and hoop dang, low and behold, Target was carrying the game I was searching for at Barnes & Noble last night as a gift for Gisela's children ... Qwirkle! I swear it's going to be the perfect "all ages" game for them to play as a family on the floor of their new living room, cozy in front of the fire ;-) the highlight of our purchase being the $5 off! While shopping I was so distracted by zipping in and out as quickly as possible I forgot to pick up a few ingredients for the artichoke dip I was going to make for my "Mom's Night In (MNI): Ornament Exchange" ... which left me hangin' and put me in the perfect position to free form an oldie but a goodie ... it's so simple to make, yet there are so many variations ... why not make up my own?
So I started with a batch of fresh french bread ... hoping to make toasties, but clearly an hour late as it was barely out of the oven when it was time to go ... here's my recipe:
French Bread -
Combine 2 packets of yeast (4 1/2 t.), 2 c. flour and 1 1/2 - 2 t. salt ... mix til combined ... at 2 c. warm water and mix on medium/high speed for about 3 minutes ... stir in as much of the remaining 5 - 6 c. flour as you can, kneading remaining flour in until a smooth yet elastic dough forms ... knead for approximately 8 minutes ... flip into an oil bowl and let rise in a warm place til doubled - about 1 hour. Punch down and form 2 loaves by rolling dough into a rectangle and rolling up like a Swiss cake roll .. let rise 45 minuets, slash the top of your dough 1/4" deep-ish, then bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden .. egg / oil / butter wash as you choose!
The trick with this recipe is not adding too much flour while kneading ... you want your dough to be somewhat moist, and if you can, use as little (if any) flour when rolling it out, or when you make your Swiss cake roll the roll won't seal into a full loaf of bread and it'll be tough as opposed to light and airy.
Here's how my free formed Artichoke dip came out ... It was sort of a trick, because I didn't have parmesian cheese ... and I wanted a little more going on than artichoke, mayo, salt, pepper and mozzarella (what we DID have in the house for cheese ...) so I added some smokey delicious bacon (from the Farmers' Market - natural apple wood smoked, a close second to Nueske's bacon) ... and sauteed some onion in a bit of the bacon fat til tender ... As my husband says, "Bacon makes everything better!"
I was a little nervous that it'd be too salty, not salty enough, too mayo-esque, not artichokey enough ... and to top it off I didn't have any bread crumbs to put on top ... so I just added some cubed bread from our Thanksgiving stuffing package ... <sigh>
Here's my recipe:
Artichoke Dip -
Using a cooking shears, cut 3 slices of bacon (you could easily do 2 slices for a less-bacony dish) into 1/2" pieces and fry til golden brown ... toss out onto a paper towel to drain. Drain all but 1 T-ish of bacon fat and fry about 1/4 c. onion until tender. Set aside to cool slightly.
Coarsely chop up 2 cans of artichoke hearts. Combine all of these ingredients in a bowl: bacon, onion, artichoke hearts, approximately 1c. mozzarella (or parmesian) cheese, dash of salt and pepper, and enough mayonnaise to coat your ingredients as you choose. I think the recipe said something crazy like 1-2 cups ..!! I went with my theory on tuna salad ... too much mayonnaise is gross ... so start with significantly less than you think and gradually add more!
Turn your dip out into a casserole dish. Top with bread crumbs or cubes, your choice ... before baking at 375 for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and gooey looking. Remove lid if you're using one ... and bake 10 minutes more or until your cubes look delish.
In hind sight, I maybe would have tossed my bread cubes in some olive oil so they were a little softer ... but I didn't do this at first because I didn't want to ADD FAT to this mayo/cheese heavy dish. It got rave reviews at the MNI! and I think DH liked it, too. "It was O.K. Not traditional. It had a lot of mayo-tangy to it, ya know?" His exact words. I think that's where some lemon juice would've done the trick ... or parmesian cheese v. mozzarella.
I came home to a quiet house long after Thomas' bed time. I love when DH puts T to bed ... but I miss our little nightly ritual. =)
I got a lot done today .. and it felt great. You can see our tiny little tree with a few gifts wrapped up beside it ... among them are the books I bought for Thomas at Barnes & Noble yesterday, a little package that arrived today for Ryan and Thomas, and the game I picked up for Gisela's kiddos. Tomorrow I'll be wrapping up some of the gifts I've been sewing! The other day I posted a picture of a red tie beside a spider man project I was working on ... and I should have included a picture of Otto, because the red tie belongs to him ;-) A project my mom worked through a few years ago at Christmas (l2009). Doesn't he look handsome? His mustache is a little whiter these days. I almost snapped a picture of my sewing space so you could see where I work ... but man alive our house is such a treacherous mess. Ryan and I tackled the laundry today, thank goodness ... and reorganized some of the loot out of the car. It's wild to think that Christmas is just 2 weeks away ... man I can't wait to get home to see family. <3
So I started with a batch of fresh french bread ... hoping to make toasties, but clearly an hour late as it was barely out of the oven when it was time to go ... here's my recipe:
French Bread -
Combine 2 packets of yeast (4 1/2 t.), 2 c. flour and 1 1/2 - 2 t. salt ... mix til combined ... at 2 c. warm water and mix on medium/high speed for about 3 minutes ... stir in as much of the remaining 5 - 6 c. flour as you can, kneading remaining flour in until a smooth yet elastic dough forms ... knead for approximately 8 minutes ... flip into an oil bowl and let rise in a warm place til doubled - about 1 hour. Punch down and form 2 loaves by rolling dough into a rectangle and rolling up like a Swiss cake roll .. let rise 45 minuets, slash the top of your dough 1/4" deep-ish, then bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden .. egg / oil / butter wash as you choose!
The trick with this recipe is not adding too much flour while kneading ... you want your dough to be somewhat moist, and if you can, use as little (if any) flour when rolling it out, or when you make your Swiss cake roll the roll won't seal into a full loaf of bread and it'll be tough as opposed to light and airy.
Here's how my free formed Artichoke dip came out ... It was sort of a trick, because I didn't have parmesian cheese ... and I wanted a little more going on than artichoke, mayo, salt, pepper and mozzarella (what we DID have in the house for cheese ...) so I added some smokey delicious bacon (from the Farmers' Market - natural apple wood smoked, a close second to Nueske's bacon) ... and sauteed some onion in a bit of the bacon fat til tender ... As my husband says, "Bacon makes everything better!"
I was a little nervous that it'd be too salty, not salty enough, too mayo-esque, not artichokey enough ... and to top it off I didn't have any bread crumbs to put on top ... so I just added some cubed bread from our Thanksgiving stuffing package ... <sigh>
Here's my recipe:
Artichoke Dip -
Using a cooking shears, cut 3 slices of bacon (you could easily do 2 slices for a less-bacony dish) into 1/2" pieces and fry til golden brown ... toss out onto a paper towel to drain. Drain all but 1 T-ish of bacon fat and fry about 1/4 c. onion until tender. Set aside to cool slightly.
Coarsely chop up 2 cans of artichoke hearts. Combine all of these ingredients in a bowl: bacon, onion, artichoke hearts, approximately 1c. mozzarella (or parmesian) cheese, dash of salt and pepper, and enough mayonnaise to coat your ingredients as you choose. I think the recipe said something crazy like 1-2 cups ..!! I went with my theory on tuna salad ... too much mayonnaise is gross ... so start with significantly less than you think and gradually add more!
Turn your dip out into a casserole dish. Top with bread crumbs or cubes, your choice ... before baking at 375 for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and gooey looking. Remove lid if you're using one ... and bake 10 minutes more or until your cubes look delish.In hind sight, I maybe would have tossed my bread cubes in some olive oil so they were a little softer ... but I didn't do this at first because I didn't want to ADD FAT to this mayo/cheese heavy dish. It got rave reviews at the MNI! and I think DH liked it, too. "It was O.K. Not traditional. It had a lot of mayo-tangy to it, ya know?" His exact words. I think that's where some lemon juice would've done the trick ... or parmesian cheese v. mozzarella.
I came home to a quiet house long after Thomas' bed time. I love when DH puts T to bed ... but I miss our little nightly ritual. =)
Friday, December 9, 2011
Story Time at B&N
It was a fabulously snow morning in Indiana this morning ..! Just the day I've been dreaming of ... snow on the ground and more floating down from the heavens, and me, peacefully sipping hot coffee, no hurry to go brush the car off, warm it up, chip ice off the windshield, digging out boots, hat gloves ... just peacefully enjoying the snowy morning ... made better only by the dark chocolate crinkle cookie I swiped from the "Cookies for St. Monica's Cookie Walk Do Not Touch!!" bag ... hahah ... appropriately labeled to keep the Cookie Monster away (secretly I pretend that is Ryan, knowing in fact I am the beast that cannot stop eating cookies in this house ... MMmmMmM!!).
... so it was pajama day at our house, until Thomas & I got ready for our first "Christmas Tradition" as a little family! We invited some of our Mom's group friends to join us for story time at Barnes & Noble! I heard about it via e-mail on Monday ... cookies, cocoa and The Polar Express. When we arrived there were local middle school students reading various Christmas/winter themed stories in the children's section. At 7 p.m. they began to read The Polar Express, followed by a drawing/writing engagement - letters to Santa, of course ;-) It sounded like a fine Christmas Tradition to start with my tiny infant on a snowy day like today, so we met with 2 of our mom friends and enjoyed visiting more than listening to the story this time around, before picking out some books as gifts and our very own copy of The Polar Express. This book will be the corner stone of this "Christmas Tradition" of ours, even if we share the story at home as a family or with friends, sipping hot cocoa and munching cookies together =)
A facebook group I am a member of - WTE: Real Women Have Bumps June 2011 - has been a great resource to me throughout my pregnancy and Mommy-hood. It's wild to think we've all been in touch via the internet for over a year, sharing in our pregnancy trials and tribulations, and celebrating the births and now milestones of our babies. We met courtesy of the What to Expect website, all coordinated together by their message boards divided by month baby is due. I only bring up this group because I feel like I talk about it a lot in my daily conversation, and we had an interesting post a few weeks back about when we stopped believing in Santa and how it happened ... which correlates well with the story of the Polar Express. I think I captured my feelings about believing in Santa best when I responded:
"I still believe ;-) It's about spirit, excitement, sharing and tradition for me ... if you can wrap it up in a jolly fat man wearing a red suit with a great beard, terrific! hahah I love Christmas. Call me a nut if you want!"
It's not about who can buy the BEST gift ... or how much money you can spend ... it's really about tradition, spirit, excitement ... and all of those things come from within ... intentionality (i think i just made up a word?) to set up a tradition, to build the excitement, to carry the spirit along inside of you ... doing nice things for one another, for people who need their spirit lifted ... and I can't wait to build holiday traditions with my son and husband, and to introduce him to some of the traditions that we grew up with as children ... because let's face it, nothing beats seeing the excitement on a child's face when they truly believe in Santa ... ;-)
Cheesey line incoming: Do you hear the silver bell ringing at Christmas?
... so it was pajama day at our house, until Thomas & I got ready for our first "Christmas Tradition" as a little family! We invited some of our Mom's group friends to join us for story time at Barnes & Noble! I heard about it via e-mail on Monday ... cookies, cocoa and The Polar Express. When we arrived there were local middle school students reading various Christmas/winter themed stories in the children's section. At 7 p.m. they began to read The Polar Express, followed by a drawing/writing engagement - letters to Santa, of course ;-) It sounded like a fine Christmas Tradition to start with my tiny infant on a snowy day like today, so we met with 2 of our mom friends and enjoyed visiting more than listening to the story this time around, before picking out some books as gifts and our very own copy of The Polar Express. This book will be the corner stone of this "Christmas Tradition" of ours, even if we share the story at home as a family or with friends, sipping hot cocoa and munching cookies together =)
A facebook group I am a member of - WTE: Real Women Have Bumps June 2011 - has been a great resource to me throughout my pregnancy and Mommy-hood. It's wild to think we've all been in touch via the internet for over a year, sharing in our pregnancy trials and tribulations, and celebrating the births and now milestones of our babies. We met courtesy of the What to Expect website, all coordinated together by their message boards divided by month baby is due. I only bring up this group because I feel like I talk about it a lot in my daily conversation, and we had an interesting post a few weeks back about when we stopped believing in Santa and how it happened ... which correlates well with the story of the Polar Express. I think I captured my feelings about believing in Santa best when I responded:
"I still believe ;-) It's about spirit, excitement, sharing and tradition for me ... if you can wrap it up in a jolly fat man wearing a red suit with a great beard, terrific! hahah I love Christmas. Call me a nut if you want!"
It's not about who can buy the BEST gift ... or how much money you can spend ... it's really about tradition, spirit, excitement ... and all of those things come from within ... intentionality (i think i just made up a word?) to set up a tradition, to build the excitement, to carry the spirit along inside of you ... doing nice things for one another, for people who need their spirit lifted ... and I can't wait to build holiday traditions with my son and husband, and to introduce him to some of the traditions that we grew up with as children ... because let's face it, nothing beats seeing the excitement on a child's face when they truly believe in Santa ... ;-)
Cheesey line incoming: Do you hear the silver bell ringing at Christmas?
Thursday, December 8, 2011
So I started this project today ...
Today is the day of started-but-not-finished projects!
During Thomas' a.m. nap I started to mix the dough for those chocolate crinkle cookies that are tossed in powdered sugar before baking? Yeah .. yumm .. but the only chocolate I had in the house was "hershey's special dark" .. oh darn .. you mean they are going to have to be EXTRA chocolatey? Drat ... I got the dough all mixed together and put in the fridge to set up before moving on to project number 2 ..! A very special Christmas gift for a little Elf of a nephew who happens to looooove Spider Man ;-)
All you get regarding that project are pictures! hahah Some time after Christmas I'll be sure to post about the gifts I've been working on ...
After making very little progress there, I ran upstairs to grab little T for some play time ... he always manages to wake up at the perfect point in time ;-) Of course the mail carrier had come already to deliver the mail .. and we LOVE getting the mail - including our first Christmas Cards of the season courtesy of our friends the Eggers & the Hundts ..! Thomas loves to get the mail, too ... mostly those adds that come every week that drive Mum & Dad bonkers! hahah
We had a delightful 40 minutes together before he started to turn into a pumpkin ... so we nursed, did some walking, singing and talking around the house ... and went upstairs for nap time. This whole "prepare for nap time" routine lasted about 2 hours. I've started to nurse him to sleep .. and if he wakes after I put him down, I let him fuss for 5-10 minutes before I go back up stairs ... and I don't nurse him again .. I try to get him to settle back into sleep with the help of the nuk, walking, bouncing, swaying .. but the hard part is the fact that I can't just sit down and rock him in the glider with out him having a fit .. so eventually my arms get tired, the nerve in my back is all agitated and sore .. either way .. Somewhere in that window Project #3, which happened to be DINNER was started ... and never finished ... hahah ... and 2 hours later, I decided I had had enough, and obviously so did Thomas .. so we came down stairs and played for a bit before he started to turn back into a pumpkin ... to which we began to walk and talk, feel the cold glass door and windows, sing songs ... it just wasn't right, and he wasn't himself =( so I e-mailed Ryan and asked him to bring home a baby thermometer (we had lost ours) on his way home.
Little T didn't have a fever ... just the fussies ... and some odd stuff going on in his diaper area that isn't blog-worthy ... and he had been spitting up A LOT but hours after eating (here you can see him in the cutest Notre Dame onesie EVER ... that also happens to be cursed ... he either spits up all over it, like today, or happens to have a leaky diaper while wearing it ...) ... also uncommon for him ... and so I called the pediatrician who wanted to see him tonight. Thinking it was something serious like a UTI or bladder infection we went in ... and low and behold ... he's FINE. Hahah - not even signs of a TOOTH coming in to his loud, fussy little mouth! The pediatrician corrected some things in his diaper area and sent us on our way home, and my little pumpkin passed out, fast asleep after a record breaking bath time, by about 8:45 p.m.
So all of the little projects I started today wound up on hold - cookies, Christmas presents and dinner - and as I said to little t in the car ... tomorrow is a new day!
All you get regarding that project are pictures! hahah Some time after Christmas I'll be sure to post about the gifts I've been working on ...After making very little progress there, I ran upstairs to grab little T for some play time ... he always manages to wake up at the perfect point in time ;-) Of course the mail carrier had come already to deliver the mail .. and we LOVE getting the mail - including our first Christmas Cards of the season courtesy of our friends the Eggers & the Hundts ..! Thomas loves to get the mail, too ... mostly those adds that come every week that drive Mum & Dad bonkers! hahah
We had a delightful 40 minutes together before he started to turn into a pumpkin ... so we nursed, did some walking, singing and talking around the house ... and went upstairs for nap time. This whole "prepare for nap time" routine lasted about 2 hours. I've started to nurse him to sleep .. and if he wakes after I put him down, I let him fuss for 5-10 minutes before I go back up stairs ... and I don't nurse him again .. I try to get him to settle back into sleep with the help of the nuk, walking, bouncing, swaying .. but the hard part is the fact that I can't just sit down and rock him in the glider with out him having a fit .. so eventually my arms get tired, the nerve in my back is all agitated and sore .. either way .. Somewhere in that window Project #3, which happened to be DINNER was started ... and never finished ... hahah ... and 2 hours later, I decided I had had enough, and obviously so did Thomas .. so we came down stairs and played for a bit before he started to turn back into a pumpkin ... to which we began to walk and talk, feel the cold glass door and windows, sing songs ... it just wasn't right, and he wasn't himself =( so I e-mailed Ryan and asked him to bring home a baby thermometer (we had lost ours) on his way home.
Little T didn't have a fever ... just the fussies ... and some odd stuff going on in his diaper area that isn't blog-worthy ... and he had been spitting up A LOT but hours after eating (here you can see him in the cutest Notre Dame onesie EVER ... that also happens to be cursed ... he either spits up all over it, like today, or happens to have a leaky diaper while wearing it ...) ... also uncommon for him ... and so I called the pediatrician who wanted to see him tonight. Thinking it was something serious like a UTI or bladder infection we went in ... and low and behold ... he's FINE. Hahah - not even signs of a TOOTH coming in to his loud, fussy little mouth! The pediatrician corrected some things in his diaper area and sent us on our way home, and my little pumpkin passed out, fast asleep after a record breaking bath time, by about 8:45 p.m.So all of the little projects I started today wound up on hold - cookies, Christmas presents and dinner - and as I said to little t in the car ... tomorrow is a new day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)