Thomas was up with horrible gas last night ... 3 times ... it was rough, considering he'd been sleeping through the night for 2 weeks. Needless to say, we all slept in after tag teaming our little gas bomb. As mom put it - you should have tied a string to the kid so he didn't up and float out the window! I just don't understand where the gas is coming from ... carrots? rice cereal? breast milk? banana bits? He's also has been plagued with pretty hideous gas bubbles in his tummy after nursing ...
Our bird feeder as promised cute, huh?
We've been working on "weening" from nursing to sleep, because with the hideous gas bubbles come burp-time and a reluctance to nurse, leaving me high-and-dry with tricks to get him asleep since he probably thinks, "MOM why aren't you NURSING me!" while crying and wailing in my arms ... Poor dear. Last night was the first time in a very long time where I was able to sit down and rock him to sleep. It was so peaceful and delightful that I was practically giddy coming down the stairs!
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Yesterday morning I made my weekly call home. It's become a ritual .. wake up on Saturday morning .. make coffee .. call dad. He's usually at the pc playing games, listening to music, staying up-to-date on the latest current events or planning his day. This time I caught him bragging about a recipe he found for Bo Ssam. It sounded curious, and picking up the ingredients for the recipe quickly became a part of my daily plan. He told me not to tell anyone about the recipe, though, because it is so simple, yet simply delicious ... that you can surely impress your friends with it ;-)
I followed the instructions listed throughout the article, delighting in telling Ryan about the story that preceded the recipe as it was found in the NY Times (sorry, dad). Mmm ... I would devour this beastly delight after a 10-course meal, too!
We bought a much smaller roast ... with no bone ... In hindsight I would go bone-in so it would be easier to identify that "fall-off-the-bone" stage that is so obviously a visual cue that your roast is perfectly complete.
Our roast was super salty .. using about half the 'dry brine' recipe .. Perhaps ditch the tablespoon of salt in the brown-sugar-basting that takes place at the end.
We could not locate the chili-fermented-bean paste or the chili paste ... so we created the second Ssam sauce using Sriracha (rooster sauce, baby - it's really good for everything ;-) hahah). We both agreed that while it was deliciously perfect, the fermented bean probably added that last note of flavour we both craved.
Make a trip to your local Asian market for the ssamjang and kochujang ... as well as the Kimchi.
Read the story before you commit to the recipe. You'll enjoy telling your diners a story while sharing a meal together.
Chop Sticks - a MUST! (enough to convince me to buy some for us ;-))
Today it snowed. A lot. And I think it's still snowing. It is so beautiful. I meant to take a snapshot of our little bird feeder, because it looks so quaint and beautiful in the snow, but alas, I forgot.
It really is this beautiful.
courtesy of Tastykitchen blog
discovered thru pioneerwoman!
I also made almond milk - behold - the recipe! I could include a photo-documentary-entry regarding the process, but it was so simple and this blog post really does the best job.
My chemist of a husband was going to research which nutrients in the almond are water soluble to determine it's "nutritional value" ... he is amazing. =)
The hardest part? Remembering to soak your almonds for approximately 6-8 hours before pureeing them ... but as the blogger states - soaking for just one hour will do the trick, too.
courtesy of smitten kitchen
Another make-ahead-advance-preparation-recipe we tackled today? Pita bread! I made a bucket load of hummus from some chana dal we had hiding in the cupboard (technically, Ryan made it. and it is awesome) ... and after having it with tortilla chips, cucumber, raw zuchini, tomato, salads, etc ... it was time to make some pita bread. Again - the hardest part(s) were remembering to make your dough in advance (mine rose in the oven for an hour before I Realized the recipe says to rise in the fridge - and only for about 7 hours in the fridge).
I don't know what it was about the pre-breastfeeding-me ... I was oblivious to the benefits, the bonding, the process, everything about breastfeeding ... and now that I've immersed myself in the world of breastfeeding through my various support groups, La Leche League and the South Bend Breastfeeding Coalition, I feel like I see it everywhere in the media ...
From the Dec. 28 "Nurse In" held in Targets nation wide to random stories of women being chastised for being inappropriate in other public places ... it's shocking to me that some of the obvious points people are making (Hello, boobs on the news, on magazine stands, on your television .. how is that so 'normal' when breastfeeding has to be fought for?) are being so heavily resisted.
Buffy Nurses Baby Cody - 1977
I recently read this article - Sesame Street Breastfeeding: Moms Push to Bring Breastfeeding Back to TV Show - and was shocked at how it was "noticeably absent from "Sesame Street" [since the 1990's] ... replac[ing] nursing with bottle feeding. Exemplifying this push for more puritanical imagery (a change from the "hippie parents" of yesteryear) ..." What?? Breastfeeding is for hippies?? Well .. I do cloth diaper, hesitate to reach for paper products, and enjoy growing my own produce in the back yard .. but many women who are professional, or "square" as my husband described an antonym for hippie-dom, breastfeed .. so why even describe it was being something for hippies? <Sigh>
Tangent. Sorry.
Another highlight to the article that I found moving, supportive, loving and uniting - Lani Michelle, mom blogger, posted an open call urging "Sesame Street" to bring the breast back. Another mom piggybacked off of Michelle's call-to-action and launched a formal petition. In an email to Care2, Michelle explained her motivation for speaking out:
Women breastfeeding are the images we want to show our sons and daughters, so that they will view a woman's body as more then a sexual object. That's the only way we will see a change in future generations. My hope for this is that all moms, however they chose to feed their babies, come together and support one another.
Such a powerful thought. It isn't about whether or not you breastfeed, whether or not you formula feed, what your reasons are for making either choice ... but coming together and supporting each other. Seriously. I receive such great support from my sisters and parents, family-in-law, everyone ... in my journey to breastfeed. Periodically I am urged to "ween T - give him a bottle, end this struggle" ... but there is so much more to breastfeeding that just feeding the baby ... it's a relationship, a bond, in my mind it's through thick and thin! Those urges to ween come at times when I am wearing my thin-times on my sleeve and need help, feeling frustrated or going through a rough patch with a plugged duct, a sore nipple, what have you ... and it's made in a loving gesture ... not a judgmental motion. I always fight back a smile when my 4-year-old nephew dances around me while I nurse Thomas, covered or uncovered, asking all of those curious-4-year-old questions ... "What's he doing? What does it look like? Can I see it? Does he always eat from you?" ... catching a glimpse of my nip as Thomas pops off, milk drunk, yet curious about the action and happenings around him ... satisfied, his older cousin says, "Oh." and walks away. Let's be truthful with children, honest, factual. Some babies get milk from a bottle, some babies get milk from Mom, some babies get both. It's a part of life. There's no mysticism or secret society ... o.k. some of the biology behind breastfeeding is pretty mystifying ... but that's a whole different story ;-)
Just as my family supports my choice to breastfeed, I support my sister's choice to feed formula - acquiring and sending as many coupons as humanly possible her way, taking tips from her on how to bottle feed and which bottles to chose ... we come together and support one another. So enough. Why fight a good thing? We can all work together to bring the facts to children ... to educate families / expecting moms on their choices ... if it weren't for my husband of all people I never would have chosen to breastfeed, so yes, educate FAMILIES - boys, girls, grown-ups, everyone!
(Sesame Street - You're my Baby - I think it's from the 80s?)
(So stinkin' cute.)
Reading the comments below the article was so alarming ... one man commented on how taking a crap is natural but he didn't want to see it or learn about it on Sesame Street ... O.k. nursing and taking a crap? Seriously. Another commented on the article with a very sound note -
"I can only say I support breastfeeding unconditionally. I am saddened our culture has become one where only the fringes fight oversexualization, but the masses push back on breastfeeding as inappropriate in public or on tv."
So awhile back ... I knit a sweater for Thomas. It was an awesome experience, as I discovered that I could, in fact, read and follow a knitting pattern!! And once I finished said sweater ...it of course barely fit ... and my sister refused to accept such a gift / hand-me-over (not down, the babies are too close in age for hand-me-downs =) hehe) even when I insisted! So the tiny hooded sweater remains nearly finished, in need of the perfect button and some thread trimming, in T's little bin of too-tiny-clothes.
Finishing such a project felt like a milestone ... and I remember thinking, "Holy crap, it took that long to finish a sweater sized 3 months ... I will never attempt anything larger!!" And here I am, working on a sweater for little T sized 6-12 months. Baby steps. on Baby Sweaters.
I recently became addicted to a website called Ravelry. It is such an awesome resource handed down to me from my dear friend-in-yarning (and many other experiences), Annette! It allows you to search patterns, add them to your queue, or "cast on" a current pattern ... logging the type of yarn, quantity, difficulty of the pattern, etc. etc. Many patterns are free, such as the patterns I found for T and S's baby pumpkin caps completed in October ... and my most recent finished object - this beautiful pink hat!
Finding the pattern for my pink hat lead me to this very cool blog - http://www.pickles.no/ ... It has so many awesome patterns ... obviously Scandinavian in style, given the language in the side bar ... Norwegian? I have no idea. It was this website that lead me to the project I've got on my needles at this point in time - using yarn handed down to me by my friend .. Annette! The pattern for the 6-12 month size was free on their blog with larger sizes for sale on Ravelry ... and so I used free yarn as a tester to determine size relative to my little baby. I'm not sure how I feel about the colors at this point in time ... part of me loves them, because the lime green, turquoise and bright yellow really lend themselves to the quirkiness of the pattern. Won't it be pretty in springtime?? I would also like to see more of the dark green / yellow / turquoise in the multi colored yarn than lime green to add to the drama of the middle section. I'm thrilled to continue working on it, regardless, as I've added some skills to my repertoire already, making the back of the sweater longer than the front, for example. I'm also looking forward to making some more button holes and that adorable elfin pointed cap ;-)
These knitting projects always happen along when I'm in a sewing lull ... or when I am expecting a car trip in my near future ... what better thing to do when driving 8-10 hours in one day than knit? I am eager to get my sewing machine back, though ... I've been inspired by so many sewing projects, I can hardly handle it!
This morning T and I went to a breakfast get-to-gether / play group. It was great to get out this morning, and by 9 a.m. it was already in the 40's ..! So balmy and sunny, seems like springtime. =)
Last night I debated what to bring to Mom's group ... and decided against banana bread since my thawed bananas were so creepy looking ... Ryan said it's because the cell wall holding the water bursts when the banana freezes ... so they look mucky and watery. Creepy. So I decided to bring a big bowl of oatmeal - my wintertime favorite!
I pealed and chopped 1 apple and 2 pears last night ... so it would be easy to get up, cook up the vat of oatmeal, and hit the road. Some mornings 9 a.m. is a bit too early to be anywhere =) so it was nice to have the labour of chopping and pealing complete. I then made my oatmeal on the stove top in the "usual" way - combine oats (2 1/2 c. for me) and liquid - I used 3 c. water and 1 1/2 c. milk - and simmer with the fruit until it reaches the desired consistency. You can add in any cinnamon, brown sugar, etc. that you'd like. I added about 1/2 t. + a pinch of cinnamon and a few quick gratings of nutmeg before dropping my nut into the pot of simmer oats ... lol ... had to give it a bath and set it in the window to dry ... poor little nut. The best part about cooking with fruit is that you don't have to add any additional sugar! It gets so sweet and delicious ... and the cinnamon and nutmeg just opened up the flavour of the fruit. Yumm .. I had a few bites when I got home and it was absolutely delicious!
should have left the peals on to help it look a little more ... a-peal-ing ;-) hahah
I allowed my oatmeal to stay a bit runny since we had a 20 minute drive to play group ... and it still looked like wallpaper paste when we arrived ... hahah ...
While visiting with our friends I was talking about T's gas lately ... and how he's been resisting naps during the afternoon (and now morning ...) and a friend of ours recommended we try probiotics. I put a call in to the pediatrician to see what they think and to hopefully learn more. Looking back, even being dairy-free for 3-4 months didn't seem to impact T's gas much ... and it's only gotten worse with the introduction of foods like peas, bananas, and avocado. I'll be sure to update if we give probiotics a go, and if we notice a difference.
All-in-all we had a great morning with moms ... played a bit of "pass the baby" until Thomas got sleepy, and then came home.
bed head play time - notice how "carefully" dad snapped my jammies? ;-)
Well, it's been a relaxing few days at home, with hectic moments here and there .. as I begin to transition back to "life in Indiana" .. a stage my dear, sweet, loving husband has taken to quite well, giving me space when he knows I need it, and supporting me or loving up on me when appropriate as well ... how he knows the difference is magical to me, since I still have a hard time knowing if I want space or affection ... hahah =) We've worked like a team to tidy up our little abode, which always seems cluttered and grungy compared to our parents' homes when we visit. I can't wait to move out of our apartment to do more binging & purging of our home - I've got a laundry basket heaping with donations for the goodwill / salvation army / st vincent depaul thrift stores at the moment. I'm about ready to go through T's closet to make up our package for the Women's Care Center, as well. After tidying the freezer (yes, we went so far as to reorganize the freezer), I am finally ready to contact the milk bank again, as well! Hahah
Get it out of my house and into someone's who needs it.
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Marge - 50's Repo's
Gisela likes "French Roosters" ;-)
Mom's always loved blue and yellow
Now that Christmas has passed, I can share about all of my holiday sewing / crafting! I spent a large part of late Nov. thru early Dec. making gifts for the women in my lives - Marge, Gisela, Mom, Amanda and Kathy! The idea came to me shortly after reassembling my sewing space. I was looking for quick and easy projects to make during T's nap times .. and for some reason the idea of pot holders came to mind .. and to create a gift, I decided to make some embellished hand towels, as well. It was a ton of fun picking out 5 sets of fabric (4 different fabrics to each set) ... being as fabric selection seems to be my favorite part next to completing a project ... but when it came to embellishing hand towels ... I was at a loss. I was quickly rescued by a blog post that had the best idea for a quick hang-tie-addition to a kitchen or bathroom towel (ps. i adore this blog for many reasons). Not only was it feminine, but it was easy, attractive, and quick. Once we settle into our next home (perhaps permanent? although not likely) I'll have to choose some fabrics for us! I hope you enjoy these photos of the gifts I made for Margaret, Gisela and Mom ... I somehow completely forgot to snap pictures of the kitchen sets I made for Kathy and Amanda ...
Another gift I made was for our nephew Clark. I had posted about it awhile back with a few hints. Of course, I managed to wrap it up with out taking a picture ... awe man! I was able to pull together my resources to make him a very trendy little t-shirt with a Spider Man tie ..! I hope he likes it ... I thought it would be darling under a hoodie or sweater this winter, although I hear from my sister's boyfriend it was 45 degrees F. in MN today ... =) Practically T-shirt weather in itself.
Thomas acquired a new gift over Christmas! He actually received some hefty Target gift cards from Kathy and Amanda that helped us make a giant purchase we were wary of a few months back ... after scouring Once Upon a Child like a nutt, I decided a decent exersaucer / jumparoo was out of the question for us ... but we indulged our desires (much like we did with the ritzy baby swing, now in the loving hands of our youngest nephew, Silas and his Mum Gisela) and bought a jumparoo. Here's a video from T's first few moments enjoying his new "toys" ... he's really enjoyed it for exercise, calisthenics as Ry calls it .. hahah .. as well as for a little upright aid in pushing out a new solid-food-induced deuce .. poor little guy .. He's enjoyed new foods like pureed sweet potato, butternut squash, peas, etc. and soft solids of banana and avocado .. much more than he's enjoyed the poos that come along with them ...
Here are some links to some jarred baked goods I gave to Kathy and Amanda. I'm eager to try them out, myself and I've heard reports that the bread is tasty!
I renamed them with festive holiday names, and made labels using Word's Christmas themed pictures. I think the names were Mrs. Claus' Favorite Quickbread and Rudolph's Christmas Cookies ... The labels were cute! Had I been thinking, I'd have saved them in my e-mail ... but I did not!
The recipes sounded delicious ... I especially liked the idea of adding oatmeal to a quick bread!
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Ryan saw progress toward a goal of his today with an electronic publication containing information on "December Computer Resource Usage Stats" as he put it ... There is a cluster of computers in the form of CPU cores within a server that is used by over 100 Notre Dame researchers from every field - math, engineering, biology, physics, chemistry, computer science - and this fall it became his goal to "dominate the server" with his research once he began a new project ... and well, his time came! As you can see below, he was the top user of December. Ironic, considering we were in Minnesota for half of the month. ;-) Atta boy. Now on to that New Years Resolution of yours ;-)
It's officially the second day of the new year, and Ryan and I are starting to settle into our home again after 2 long weeks away with family. Last night I started laundry and began to unpack our Christmas loot. I'm going to have to reorganize our kitchen (eventually) to make room for some of the exciting gadgets we've acquired! I am eager to try out our air popper and seasoning salts, Beaba baby food system, and popcicle maker (ok that one might wait til springtime) ..! But our little galley-way (arr walk the plank!) is definitely becoming cluttered and crowded.
Thomas was so happy to be home last night - rolling, playing and chatting more than he had the entire 2 weeks we were away! Finally, by 9:20 p.m. I decided it was time to jump into our bedtime routine of a warm bath, cozy jammies and a little 'bedtime snack' ... settling him into bed before 10 p.m. This morning we awoke to over 5 inches of snow ..! Yippee!! It definitely looks wintry and pretty outside. Poor Ryan is out and about on an adventure to restock our refrigerator and pantry and pick up Otto ... He's checked in with me at every stop, driving slow and steady as requested. I hope he gets home, soon!
While in the car yesterday Ry and I briefly talked about New Years Resolutions. Ryan's personal resolution was simple - to write his thesis! My personal resolution is to stay positive and to kick my pregger sweet tooth. Our family resolution is to make healthy choices with food and fitness and to go a bit greener, wasting less. I joined Weight Watchers again, hoping to revamp my diet and maybe shed a few pounds... With WW influencing my diet, I know Ryan will benefit from it, as well. My main concern with revamping my diet was impacting my milk supply ... but with the "nursing" option in WW, it should not become an issue. I hope. =)
My WTE June mommy friends and I have started a biggest loser challenge, so it should be a social, well supported endeavor to keep me motivated! It's perfect for our group because the main focus isn't to shed as many pounds and inches as possible, it is to work as a team to earn points for healthy living - wonderful! As far as wasting less, I'm hoping get back into using cloth wipes exclusively, and to explore cloth diapering at night ... which may be a (wet/messy/unpleasant) project. I would also like to dig into eliminating paper towels and plates from our home. Once we settle into some of our new routines I'll be sure to post about some of my methods to the madness.
I am excited to focus on these resolutions of ours, and to see what the new year brings. It's going to be an exciting time, with Thomas growing and learning, reaching his first birthday midyear, Ryan graduating from Notre Dame with his Phd (a goal 5 years in the making!), and our little family transitioning to the next stage of our lives together. Where will we end up next? Only the nose knows! ;-)
We bought a much smaller roast ... with no bone ... In hindsight I would go bone-in so it would be easier to identify that "fall-off-the-bone" stage that is so obviously a visual cue that your roast is perfectly complete.
