Just write. See what happens.
Did you wake up tired? Was it a bit too warm so your eyes were puffy and didn’t want to open? Did lack of sleep (or some other factor) make you feel like you couldn’t pour cereal, let alone care for a baby, clean house, look presentable, write a blog post, face work on Monday, or generally function?
NO PROBLEM!
Here’s what to do: Continued…
Categories: Foughts and Theelings, Humanitrivia, Photoposts.
Here’s what I was writing on Sunday, May 24th, just over a year ago.
It’s late. We’ve just come home from my parents’ house where we had a nice evening, beautiful weather, good supper. It was so weird to think that most likely, the next time I visit there, it will be as a mom, along with my child. Now that my due date is this week, it seems even more bizarre and unreal that I will be a parent that soon. [Wrongo.] That when planning activities over the next few days, I have to take into account, will I be a mom? Continued…
Categories: Foughts and Theelings, Nostalgiapalooza.
It was pretty good. I enjoyed seeing the kids and my colleagues, and it was track-and-field day, so it was a nice laid-back chance to reintegrate. It’s the first time I’ve left a school and then come back to the same one, and I have to admit it was really nice being welcomed back to the community.
Of course, it was hard leaving my little guy this morning. He was still asleep, and so beautiful and peaceful and yummy-looking. I just wanted to scoop him up and bring him along.
Chatting with a co-worker today, we agreed that the connection you feel to your baby when you’ve had that year to bond… it’s visceral, and it stretches painfully when you have to remove yourself. Especially removing yourself for a job, because it’s a mental removal as well as a physical one. Now I have to harmonize my mom-self with my teacher-self (along with my dancer-self, my Camp-self, my wife-self…). But overall, I cannot complain. The day went well, and then I got to come home and kiss E’s silky little arms (he was asleep for his nap, looking just like I left him!) and it was all worth it.
{Doesn’t mean I didn’t speak sternly to him when he smacked my glasses off my face for the twelve millionth time.}
I CANNOT imagine having done this when he was only eight or twelve weeks old, as most women do in the States. Had that been the case, I would have cried all day. Talk about visceral – mamas should not be required to leave their babies at that point. It’s monstrous. I’m just saying.
Thank you so much for your loving comments and messages. It helped a lot.
Categories: Foughts and Theelings.
Technically, this would have been my first day of work, but since my principal was kind enough to condense my schedule, I will only be going in three days a week for now.
Continued…Categories: Foughts and Theelings, Humanitrivia, Photoposts, Uncategorized.
Okay, folks. Don’t take this as an accusation if you’ve ever asked this question of a parent – I may have asked it myself before becoming one… but please, don’t ask me if my baby is sleeping through the night.
I know why people ask: they want to inquire about how things are going, out of politeness and concern for your well-being… they know it’s a big hurdle in the scheme of parenting, and they’re probably hoping you’ll say, “Oh yes! Little Jimmy sleeps like an angel every night! We get LOTS of sleep in our house.”
However, the vast majority of moms I know who currently have babies or small children (and I know quite an impressive number) have encountered difficulties with respect to their baby’s sleep habits at some time or other. And if these difficulties include nighttime sleep, chances are… they hate that question too. Continued…
Categories: Bébépourri, Foughts and Theelings, Ideosophy, Rants - Why I Don't Love, Uncategorized.
I was clerking spring Committee Meeting at Camp NeeKauNis this weekend, and other than lack of sleep on Friday night (I never sleep well my first night in a strange bed), it was full of those moments I relish:
Categories: Bébépourri, Foughts and Theelings, Photoposts, Raves - Why I Love, Uncategorized.
E has been doing a lot of verbalizing recently. It’s sophisticated language, full of complicated syllables that seem quite significant, especially when accompanied by his earnest nodding. I can’t help but wonder what he’s saying – or if it’s like when you’re a kid and you write lines of scribbles because it looks like grown-up cursive writing to you, even though it can’t be read. Are these his verbal scribbles, and he feels like a big person when he talks like this? And out of all this, how do you know when your baby has said his first word, if lots of things sound like words? People talk about baby’s first word like it’s cut-and-dried, like you know exactly what it is, but I don’t feel that confident.
Here’s why I ask. It was a rough night. Continued…
Categories: Bébépourri, Requestions, Uncategorized.
Just for fun…
Here’s a clip someone sent me. It’s GREAT. Maybe you’ve seen this little dude before, if you’re a YouTube troller, but he’s worth a watch. The cutest parts happen near the end, so keep watching. You can’t not smile! I do worry about his tiny ears, though – he can’t be doing them much good.
And since we’re on the topic, here’s another preposterously cute li’l guy (some of you know and love him already): Continued…
Categories: Humanitrivia, Videoposts.
I’m a distributor for the Pampered Chef, as many of you already know. I’m not really supposed to talk about it online, because of publicity regulations, but I recently stumbled upon the blog of a Consultant who links from her blog to her personal Pampered Chef website (BIG no-no!). So until they clamp down on Kristy Chowning, I feel it’s not a big deal to mention products on my blog.
To get to the point, though, I have tried several recipes in the past few months that I’d never tried before, because of PC. We make food for our shows and our cluster meetings and so on, and some of the recipes are really good. The other day I glanced at a certain recipe in a PC cook book belonging to a fellow Consultant, and it sounded scrumptious – but I didn’t note it down.
Instead, when I got home, I tried to approximate it. It turned out quite yummy! (As I was making them, I was all like, “I hope these turn out okay,” and Sean was all like, “Um, it’s fried cheese. What’s not to like??”) And I came up with the name Ricotta Tots all by myself. Try this:
Put one container (500 ml)’s worth of ricotta cheese in a bowl. Add a generous amount, like maybe a quarter cup, of (preferably fresh grated) parmesan cheese and one egg. (I actually did two eggs but if I did it again I’d just use one.) Press two or three cloves of garlic into the mix, along with a couple tablespoons of flour, a sprinkle of salt, and a whole bunch of fresh ground pepper. Mix it all up. Heat some vegetable oil to medium-high in a pan, and drop the mixture into the pan by the tablespoonful. The tots will need to cook for several minutes on each side – depends on your stove, though. Just play it by ear. Makes about 30 tots.
Since we’re talking about it openly, I will just also mention that this process was made easier by my garlic press, my pepper and salt grinders, my stainless scoop that empties itself out when you squeeze the handle, and my Microplane grater for the parmesan (it makes gorgeous, fluffy grated cheese or zest or whatever – every time I use it I want to sing a little song about how I love it). I’m not trying to sell you, I’m just saying. I relish my tools.
Anyway… this household enjoyed Ricotta Tots. We served them warm with marinara sauce – a salad would go nicely as well. If you try them, please let me know how they go!
On the next episode, we’ll talk about Moroccan Crostini, okay?
Categories: Raves - Why I Love, Zesty Kitchen.
Written on this day, 25 years ago. (How about that. I’ve been journalling for a quarter-century!)
May 11 ’85
I loved my birthday! I got a “my little pony Bow tie”! I also got this diary! I got paper and art Kit! The favors were lovely! Necklaces were from Ben. And 35c! I also got a new pink dress from Mama and Papa! That evning we ate pie for desert! Then I got more presents! Some white gloves, three Debbie books, and some clothes for Jill!
Here we are in 2010, and I’m 32, which is older than I could possibly have imagined being in 1985. “My Little Ponies” are popular once again.
This is totally her, Bow Tie. But mine had better hair.
That first diary (mostly white with a photo of a pretty girl at a window with flowers in her hair, gold writing on the front reading “one year diary”) is fragile and falling apart. Thirty-five cents might buy you a few gummi worms. I still remember that pink dress: dotted swiss with a wide white collar, the most beautiful dress in the universe. Also, the desire I had for those white gloves was potent: when I got them, it was a dream come true, and when I put them on, I felt like the most grown-up and sophisticated brand-new seven-year-old possible. And Jill (Gilbertina Jill, actually) was my Cabbage Patch Kid. Her birthday was October 1st.
This morning, I woke up to E gently (maybe he’s finally learning from when I say “Gentle!” all the time) touching my eyelid to get it to open. For my birthday, he gave me a zerbert. I haven’t changed a diaper at all today… we had brunch at With the Grain… we played Settlers… Sean’s boss, who is one of those extra-nice people, made a gorgeous butterfly-shaped cake for me… my hubby is at this moment cleaning the kitchen… it’s a day in the company of people I love… What more could I possibly ask for?
Categories: From the Pages of Mini-Di, Nostalgiapalooza.
We had a nice Mother’s Day – my first as a full-fledged mother! It included going to Meeting in Hamilton, which I wish I did more often. E joined us for some of that and made cute noises that people enjoyed in the silence.
Later on, we gathered with my parents and sisters and friend at our house, and E played with his first balloon ever, courtesy of the Rainbow Chorus concert the night before. HE LIKED IT.
Categories: Bébépourri, Videoposts.
Dear E,
This is your last monthiversary before I go back to work – I’ll have a full day of work on your birthday. 
But today, you are eleven months old and you are a wonderful little person!
You are growing and learning so fast it’s mind-boggling. Just in the last couple weeks, you are climbing up on us when we sit on the floor; you are showing signs of wanting to move from army crawling to hands-and-knees crawling (taken a few steps that way on a few different occasions); you love crawling around and getting into everything; you are starting to make sounds associated with specific words – for example, the other day you pointed at the kitty and said “Kee”, and when you see someone’s bellybutton you say “Ba ba”; you have learned to “fake laugh” and have learned to use it to join in on the joke when other people are laughing (of course, often they’re just laughing at your fake laugh)…
Things you love right now:
You have eight teeth and you still seem like you’re teething since you drool like a fountain. You are not thrilled with going to bed (naps or otherwise) but you usually sleep pretty well once you’re down. You eat all kinds of different foods, and in the past couple weeks have enjoyed raisins, arrowroots biscuits, and letter cookies for the first time.
We are teaching you to be gentle, because you like touching things and sometimes you hit people in your eagerness without realizing it’s rough.
You are ridiculously adorable and charming. When you decide to flirt with people, they don’t stand a chance. Sometimes when you look up at us with your wide eyes, or smile and nod for your own reasons, you are so beautiful and precious that it’s almost unbearable.
It’s hard to believe that at this time last year, you were still in my tummy and we’d never met you in person. We sure were eager and excited to meet you.
We are so, so happy that you’re in our lives.
Categories: Bébépourri, Foughts and Theelings, Photoposts.
Here’s the other key part: the first two dunks! They say that if you blow in your baby’s face, he’ll hold his breath for dunking.
It worked for us. It was darn cute! I was so proud of how E took to this whole pool thing like a PRO. I think it’s because Daddy pours water on his head in the bath, so he’s unfazed by water on his face. And to think, he hated his first few baths!
Categories: Bébépourri, Photoposts, Videoposts.
Yesterday, E and I, along with Auntie Em and three mom friends of mine and their little ones, went to the pool!
It was E’s first time playing in water other than his bath – I know, we’re a bit slow off the mark with this one. Lots of babies E’s age have been to all kinds of classes by now. Music, Mother Goose, Swimming, Yoga… and we have not. Perhaps I will someday regret this lapse, when it becomes clear that I held my son back at a crucial time in his life, and he pays for it with mediocrity… but I doubt it. I’m pretty sure E will be brilliant at stuff, and we have lots of fun.
Anyway. We took footage, since Daddy was at work and we were all curious to see how he would react to the water. I think you will agree that his reaction as a “thumbs-up” regarding splash time! The video is a bit on the long side, you know, for the grandparents. We did do some dunking later, and he was such a good sport about it all.
What on earth did we do for entertainment before there was a baby in the household??
Categories: Bébépourri, Videoposts.
Check out what we saw today while we were out. (We didn’t actually take this picture – the “accessory” we saw was silver.)
As my hubby says, "Sometimes a truck is just a penis."
Categories: Humanitrivia, Photoposts.
Take a look at the new project!
I’m very excited about this, even though there aren’t any stories on it yet. There will be, très bientôt, I promise. I already have five in hand (if you count my own) and many more on the way. The moms who responded were so enthusiastic, it was all the more inspiring for me.
So you folks are the first to be invited to see the new “baby”! It’s still bare-bones, but if you have any feedback or suggestions, I would love to hear them. And if you want to read birth stories… please check back soon!
Categories: Bloggenesis, Dreambition.
