Yesterday we made carrots for Linnea- and boy, was it ever a mess! Our pediatrician warned us about this... but of course, the messier the feeding process, the CUTER the baby! It was simply amazing. Here's a video:
We used a nifty little baby food steamer and processor that my father-in-law and stepmother dearest gave to us- it's fantastic! It's called the Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker and although we steamed the carrots seperately (I jumped the gun- we'll try it with the next round of food!) it worked wonders as a processor. I got the recipe from Top 100 Baby Purees: 100 Quick and Easy Meals for a Healthy and Happy Baby and it was so simple. Next on the menu: sweet potatoes!
We watched Food, Inc. last night, and it was fascinating. I read The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals a couple of years ago, and this movie sums up a lot of the ideas in the book. It definitely made me re-think the way our family eats and especially what we eat and where our food comes from.
One of the things we plan to do in our backyard is start a garden, but
we need to learn what we are doing first. There is a community garden
at Agritopia that I may look into to get a handle on what I'm doing-
and what a great way to learn! My dear friend Vanessa gave us some
zucchini, a red onion and parsley from her garden plot there and they were simply
delicious. I must say- any time we make anything from scratch with
home-grown or organic, locally-grown produce,it tastes amazing in comparison to the regular produce at the store! For now, we're starting small- we have some potted basil, yellow bell pepper and cherry tomatoes sitting on our front porch:
We've already managed to kill a strawberry plant. The pot didn't have a hole for drainage... oops. It's a learning process!
I would love to hear from you about your family's eating habits. It seems as if healthy, whole food is not interchangable with a tight budget. Saving money is top on our list of priorities, but not at the cost of our family's long-term health. It's sad that a healthy lifestyle seems to come at a steep price in our society. So if you are feeding your family organic fruits and veggies, whole grains, and grass-fed meats, how do you make it work? Do you have any tips on how to save money while doing so? Do you grow your own fruits and veggies?
So Cody and I sat Linnea down in her Bumbo chair this morning and attempted to feed her some rice cereal from a spoon for the first time. As you can see, she was off to an eager start- but that quickly changed to disgust after a bite or two. Of course, we let her have a little taste of a Skinny Cow ice cream bar the other day- I don't really know how you can follow that up with a successful feeding of tasteless, outrageously boring rice cereal. Looks like Mom and Dad are gonna have to get a little creative.
Time to bust out the baby food maker and cookbook that Grandpa and Nona got us!
The other day, Cody and I bought the cutest little stuffed monkey for our little monkey. I just couldn't resist. My Amma yells at me every time I call Linnea a little monkey- "She's not a little monkey!"- but I can't help it, it just comes out of my mouth like verbal vomit all the time now. Little monkey this, little monkey that. For instance, you know that song by the Cardigans that goes, "Love me, love me, SAY that you looove me... fool me, fool me, go on and fool me"? I don't even know what it's called but I sing, "Monkey, monkey, say you're a monkey, monkey, monkey, go on my monkey, monkey monkey, pretend you're my monkey, monkey, monkey, you are my monkey, I don't care 'bout anything but yooooooouu!" and EVERY TIME without fail, if Linnea is having a fit, she breaks out in a huge smile and I love it so much I don't care how ridiculous it is that I'm singing the word "monkey" over and over to her in the tune of some random Swedish one-hit-wonder's song from 1996. And you're welcome for getting it stuck in your head for the rest of the day. It's a gem, that one.
ANYWAY. Yesterday my mom started monkeying around with Linnea and we got her laughing up a storm on camera. I guarantee you will smile bigger than you have in a while. And since it's a little bit more cuteness than I can handle, I'm gonna step outside for a minute and take a few deep breaths in a paper bag, splash my face with the garden hose on full blast and then come back and resume normal life. Enjoy.
And here's a picture of some AWESOME hair for good measure:
Be forewarned, I highly doubt anyone would truly appreciate this more than Cody and I, and maybe our moms too. But this child has A LOT to say, and I'm beginning to think we're gonna have an opinionated little motor-mouth on our hands in another year or so. She wants everyone to know that she has a VOICE and deserves to be HEARD! Haha. I love it.
Not to mention, today is Linnea's 5-month birthday! Seriously, how is that possible? Oh, baby girl, you are growing too fast for your mama's tastes... but it's very exciting, nonetheless. Time really flies when you become a mama.
I've been back from my four-day girls weekend since Sunday night and have barely had a chance to breathe, I've been so busy with TomKat orders! Monday was my unpacking/parents oogling over Linnea day, so I dedicated yesterday to catching up on the plethora of customizing and e-mailing I had to take care of so I could get caught up. I was in front of the computer from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and only got about halfway through- it was nuts! Then today I did the same thing. Don't get me wrong- I am NOT complaining. Not in the least- I am so blessed to be doing what I'm doing, and to be working with Kim and our sweet customers is a better gig than I could have imagined. And it's seriously like a comedy show around here tonight, with all the e-mails Kim and I have going back and forth. I'm falling off my chair laughing right now. I love that this is my job. I actually get PAID to do this.
My challenge lies in the balancing act that is required to be a WAHM, or a Work-At-Home Mom, or a Whacked-out ADHD Hell-raising Mamacita, if I may Dooce-ify my title a bit- only that's the clean version. I have this child who is, yes, a little angel, but does require that my work flow be inturrupted continuously throughout the day in order to meet her needs, or rather, to simply not ignore her in order to do the things I need to get done. It breaks my heart to not interact with her as much as possible, but sometimes, it's just HARD. Cody makes fun of me because he says I throw productivity fits, usually at the most ridiculous hours, but once I get going, man, everyone had better clear the way because I am getting things DONE! And yeah... it's true. For goodness' sake, it's 12:30 and I'm sitting here blogging. But sometimes I feel like if I don't do things late at night, they don't get done. Then I wake up to my happy, clearly-a-morning-person baby girl cooing excitedly through the monitor, never any later than 7:00 a.m. Hmmm... Something's gotta give. But what?
My husband wrote a great post the other day about being fully present. Even though finding balance may be a struggle, it is so important not to gloss over the precious moments we may miss in our pursuit of being the perfect mom and professional. We can't live in the "someday" at the expense of enjoying our children growing up. Because I gotta tell ya, not only do I love my work, but I am having a blast watching my little girl discover her feet for the first time; listening to her incoherent and sweet opinions on EVERYTHING; holding her close while she figures out just who that little baby in the mirror is; making her almost giggle when I blow raspberries on her belly. I don't want to miss a thing.
All that to say, I thought this would be a lot less challenging than it is. It's not that my life is so hard... it's just that at this point, as a new mom, I'm struggling to find a balance. And I know that there are plenty of mamas out there who can relate, and I hope we can all connect to support and encourage each other while we navigate the road toward raising amazing kids and realizing our dreams of becoming smart and savvy business owners!
I want to know the secrets, or maybe the realities, of the WAHMs who
seem to have this uncanny ability to juggle the demands of motherhood
with work... when they're blended into one throughout your day. Does it
get easier or harder as your kids get older? What are the challenges
you face as your family grows? What tricks or advice can you share with other WAHMs who may just be starting out? Or, if you're a new mom and new business owner, like I am, what specifically has been the biggest challenge you've faced? And, most importantly, how do we balance it all?
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