Deceptive but not Delicious

I got Jessica Seinfeld’s book, Deceptively Delicious, out from the library this past week in a feeble attempt to get my child to eat more than yogurt, oatmeal, the occasional apple or banana, and crackers.

The first recipe, Mac N Cheese with pureed butternut squash, was a monumental failure. I roasted, I pureed, I boiled, I drained, I mixed, all during Sweet Pea’s nap.

Here you see the picky eater eyeing it.

It doesn’t look like the stuff from the box, mom.

Doesn’t stick on the spoon the same way.

Nope, not even going to try more than a miniscule sampling. No thank you no thank you no thank you.

I should have just taken a nap too.

The Butter Lamb

This……

Is the butter lamb.

I live in an area with a large Italian population, as well as Polish, Irish, and German. My great-grandparents came here from Italy in the early 1900’s. There’s always good food around here.

The butter lamb is apparently an addition to the Easter meal for Polish Catholics, according to wikipedia I guess I always knew it was a polish tradition, because of the name on the box.

Anyways, we had a family get-together at my aunt’s house, where Sweet Pea saw her first butter lamb.

“Doggie!” she said, pointing to the lamb molded out of butter, with peppercorns for eyes.

Minutes later she had a confused and slightly horrified look on her face as the lamb was passed around the table and cut up to butter bread.

Whoops. I never saw that one coming.

Keeping Warm

I took a short break this past weekend from my sweater to knit Sweet Pea a new hat. All of her old ones didn’t fit and I was feeling mildly guilty stuffing her cranium into size 6-12 month hats or throwing a blanket over her head when we went out in the tundra winter-wonderland. So I scrounged up some Lamb’s Pride and went to my trusty Last Minute Knitted Gifts to create yet another one of Kim’s Hats.

It’s taken me several days to capture my child wearing her new hat. Most of the pictures I took look like this:

I ran out of pink yarn, so I found some unidentified purple chunky yarn in my stash to complete the earflaps, ties, etc. I thought the flower was a fun and whimsical addition to tie in the purple. Lamb’s Pride is amazing yarn to work with and it is extremely functional in cold-weather wear. The thickness of the wool keeps moisture from snowflakes away and my baby’s head is always toasty warm.

One of the things I love about Kim’s Hat pattern is that there are several different types of patterns and you are encouraged to experiment with colors and styles to create something all your own. I hope Sweet Pea grows to love this hat as much as I do!

My baby’s one!!!

Yay for surviving and thriving year number ONE!!!

Adventures

Motherhood has most certainly been an adventure for me. Since Sweet Pea’s birth, I’ve had ups and downs, and been round and round, like most new moms!

I have been exhausted, sleep deprived, and unable to find the time to do my hair.

I have felt panic -oh my gosh she didn’t wake up at 3 am to eat… is she still alive?- then pure joy upon the realization that she had slept 5 hours IN.A.ROW.

I have melted at the sight of her first non-gastrointestinally-induced smile and emerging personality.

I have had struggles with introducing solid foods (ahem, still struggling).

I’ve felt exasperated by the unsolicited advice from well meaning folks (hi mom, love you).

I’ve been much, much too sensitive to criticism. What? I’m not perfect???

I’ve felt the strain on my soul and my marriage when I put ME first, instead of GOD first.

I’ve been overwhelmed by the never-ending job of babyproofing the house, the endless basket of laundry, the diapers that never seem to hold it all in. yuck.

I’ve been elated at my child’s accomplishements.

I’ve been overwhelmed with love for my baby.

I’ve grown closer to my husband as we ventured into these unchartered waters of parenthood together.

I’ve had a captive audience as I practice guitar, one who claps and sings even when I don’t remotely hit the chords right!

And I love that we are our own little family.

Through it all, motherhood has truly given me a glimpse of God, and just how wide, how long, how high and how deep the love of Christ really is. And no matter where you are at, at the top of the roller coaster or stuck on the tilt-a-whirl, He is there with His perfect unconditional love.

This year our theme for MOPS is “Adventures in Mothering” and I have been so blessed to have such an awesome group of mothers to come along for the ride.

scattered

My mind/blog/life has been a bit scattered lately, as evidenced by my nightstand:

Keith joked that he didn’t know our house was the new town library. There are more books on the floor.

From the top, and why:

1- The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman- our anniversary was the week I took this photo and we thought we’d read up on one another’s love language again

2- What to Expect the First Year- what first time mom doesn’t have this one in reach?

3- The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren- Keith and I led a small group study on this book many moons ago and my brother, who works for Obama *, needed a synopsis of the book before the big Saddleback event that took place in August. Why yes, little bro, I will write some cliffnotes for you to write a memo for a presidential candidate.

4- Busy Woman’s Guide to Prayer, by Cheri Fuller- somebody lent this to me but I think I’m giving it back. I haven’t even looked at it other than the bright pink cover.

5- The Nursing Mother’s Companion, by Kathleen Huggins- great book if you are new to the whole nursing deal and don’t have a close friend or relative to ask those “stupid” questions. I loved it but then again, there were some sections and opinions that you just have to take with a grain of salt (like every parenting/ child book). I think I pulled this out again after I got, um, bit. Teething is not fun!

6- Building Your Mate’s Self Esteem, by Barbara & Dennis Rainey- another anniversary type mindset thing on growing and building up your spouse…

7- Your Baby and Child- a hand-me-down gift that I have barely skimmed.

8- Getting Stronger, by Bill Pearl- weight training manual because I. AM. A. MACHINE. AT. THE. GYM. yeah! Actually, Keith bought this a loooooong time ago and I busted it out this year when I got serious at the gym

9- The Purpose Driven Life Journal- see #3. I never wrote in it, so if you want it, let me know. Its just collecting dust.

10- Streams in the Desert Journal- love love love love love this devotional.

11- My calendar/agenda- I used this calendar to keep track of when Sweet Pea nursed, slept, etc in those early months.I got it out again to show a friend that she was not alone in the chaos of taking care of a newborn. One line in particular I shared was “Oh my word, she has nursed for the better part of an hour and is hungry AGAIN? I JUST WANT A SHOWER!!!!”

12- Some random photo box

13- Morning and Evening, by Spurgeon- love love love love this devo too. This is the kind of writing that you have to chew on for a while

14- Mount Vernon Love Story, by Mary Higgins Clark- a fictionalized account of George & Martha Washington’s love story. Keith and I take turns reading aloud before bed. I know. We’re cheesy.

15-My old journal & random MOPS stuff

So yeah. Not a knitting book in sight. I’m hopeful that I’ll be back in the groove soon. It’s all good.

* Yes, my bro works for the guy but I’m not endorsing either way. I just wanted to help my brother do his job well!

Laserbeams

A friend of mine, who’s daughter is almost a year old, went back to work part-time this week. She’s in the medical field and the part-time gig really works for her- you only see patients on the days you work- as opposed to the part-time office situation where one “works” p/t with full time project expectations from the boss.

Anyway, she was sharing about her daycare search and told me about a certain center that was over $10 more per day than all the other places she visited. Apparently this place has laserbeams that clean all the toys after the children go home at night as well as this air-filtrating ultra-violet light thing that kills all germs in the air.*

Laserbeams?

Really?

I felt like Seth & Amy on SNL.

Laserbeams?

Really? You need laserbeams to clean my kid’s toys?

What’s that, soap isn’t good enough for you?

You need Laserbeams?

From your lasercats? Really?

We both had a good laugh.

She decided to take her daughter to the on-site day-care at her work, which is not equipped with lasers.

*I can fully understand one’s concern over their child sharing toys with potentially sick children. I wash stuff at home too, but probably not as much or as often as my mom wished I did… and I bet that if aforementioned laserbeam was on the market, my mom would buy it for us.

ESCAPE!

A Dogs on Thursday one day late post…….

Mercy escaped last night.

Keith had just gotten home from work and was changing into comfy clothes.

I had just returned home with Sweet Pea after an incredibly busy day and sat down in her rocker to nurse her.

We both suddenly realized that Mercy had not been let out. Keith sprinted downstairs to do so, as we are zealously protective of our freshly refinished floors with respect to doggy business.

He opened the back door and bent down to grab Mercy’s line when RABBITZILLA appeared in the middle of the yard.

I heard some loud barking, followed by silence, and then an “Uh oh, she’s gone.”

SP and I came downstairs to three-stooges-esque activity. I was running one way, Keith was running another, neither of us had shoes on, he was in his “drawers”, I had a baby in my arms.

Our neighbor showed up, breathless and barefoot with a spatula in hand. “Your dog!” Much panting.

“I was grilling steaks,” more panting, “and she ran past me chasing that rabbit! She went through the fence into the thick brush in the park!”

Sweet Pea went into the playpen while I grabbed a bag a treats. I ran into the yard and started calling for Mercy, interspersing her favorite words like “treats” and “chicken” and “go for a walk.” Keith had since gotten dressed and was running to the park.

It seemed like forever before I heard my neighbor yell, “He got her!”

Mercy had eventually given up her pursuit of rabbitzilla and was walking back on the path towards our street (was she coming home?). When she saw Keith, she turned around and started walking the OTHER way, with her tail between her legs and ears back! He commanded her to sit, which she did, and he scooped her up and brought her back home.

Phew!

I was thinking that her turning around and walking away was an illustration of us and God. He wants us to live a life of obedience to him not just for us to follow the rules, but to protect us. We want Mercy to stay in the yard to protect her! When we stray from Him, there are consequences to our actions. Sometimes even when we are confronted with truth we continue to do our own thing or even turn away, but He will scoop us up and bring us back.

What an amazing God.

“If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.” – Matthew 18:12-14

They sometimes cry for no reason, right?

We have some friends who are pregnant. Some are blissfully unaware of what it will be like to take care of said child.

One such blissful couple was telling us of their post-baby work plans.

He: We’ve got it all figured out for after the baby is born. My boss already approved me to work from home one day a week. So I’ll have the baby that day.

She: And I am going to P/T, working 3 days, maybe 4. My mom will watch the baby 3 days and I am going to work from home the other day.

He: Yeah, daycare isn’t for us.

She: No. Definitely not.

Me: You know, you might want to look into having a babysitter or some kind of help on the days you are working from home…

Keith: Yeah, you can’t exactly take a conference call when you have a screaming baby on your hands.

He: Oh, nah, I think it’ll be ok. Sometimes they just cry for no reason right? I can just put ‘em in another room and shut the door while I’m on a call or something.

She: (Nodding her head in agreement). Yeah, they cry for no reason a lot right?

We resisted the urge to laugh hysterically.

Sparks make fire

We had an almost fire experience in the microwave this morning.

We were SO outta food & today is grocery day… and Sweet Pea decided to finally START eating food this week. So I made her some ground up oatmeal, but it was kinda bland.

No bananas in sight, no frozen pureed food cubes, no fruit to puree… I found an apple and diced it up, threw in in the microwave to just get it smushy and before I knew it…

Sparks & smoke.

Maybe I should just buy jarred baby food.