Andrew is outgrowing everything: his infant car seat/carrier and his bouncy seat in particular. We bought 2 convertible car seats last week (one for Dad's car and one for mine), which we'll install this weekend. It's a must-do, since at his 6 month (and 3 week) visit, Roo weighed 20 lbs, 11.2 ounces and was 28 inches long. The limit for the Graco SnugRide infant car seat is 22 lbs and 29 inches! What happened to my tiny little newborn???
So, what the HECK am I going to do when he can't hang out in the bouncy seat while I'm getting ready in the morning anymore? He's already frustrated with it, and I've taken to sitting him with toys in his bassinet, which is still set up in my bedroom (even though he sleeps in his own room in the crib these days). But once he starts pulling himself up, all bets are off -- no more using the bassinet as a playpen. I need ideas! Do I just plop him back in his crib with some toys while I brush my teeth, get dressed, etc? I've already given up morning showers in favor of bathing after he goes to bed, so as to minimize the length of our mornings...but I don't think he'll tolerate being sequestered in his crib, in another room. He wants to be near me all the time, and I know he'll scream if I leave him alone.
I could put him in the exersaucer, but that's downstairs in the living room, so same problem. There's not enough room anywhere upstairs for any sort of play yard, and it certainly couldn't be anywhere near where I'm doing my morning ablutions or getting dressed. Help!
Roo had a terrible weekend - he had his shots at his well-child visit on Thursday afternoon, and spiked a fever the next day, requiring me to pick him up from daycare basically as soon as I arrived at my first-thing-in-the-morning meeting. Sigh -- poor kid. He was whiny, didn't sleep well, and didn't eat well basically through Sunday afternoon. He's been OK since then, but now he has a raised, sandpapery rash on his legs and arms. It doesn't seem to bother him, but I'm wondering if it's a) a reaction to one or more of the vaccines, or b) the result of a virus he picked up, which could have explained the fever on Friday. Who knows? He seems happy enough, though, and he's eating and sleeping normally.
The garden is doing well! I'll post some pictures of it soon. This weekend I hope to trellis the cucumbers, squashes, and tomatoes. I had to thin the bush bean seedlings last night :-( It was sad; sort of like selective reduction. But I had 15 plants growing in a container only designed for 9. At least the culled seedlings went to a good cause: the composter! Oh, and the marigold seeds I planted in the spaces in my veggie planters have sprouted :-) Let's hope they keep the bug population down.
Oh, and the oregano finally sprouted. I wasn't sure if those little teeny-weeny things in the planter were oregano babies, but Mom suggested I taste one (duh!) -- Yup, oregano!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Adventures in Baby Food
So, my attempts to make Homemade Baby Barley Cereal were thwarted last night. I'd gone to the supermarket, purchased some barley, and brought it home intending to whirl it up in the Cuisinart, cook it in some water, and feed it to Andrew. No muss, no fuss.
Well, it turns out that my Cuisinart is not the right tool in which to grind grains. It's too big, and so the grains, which are ideally supposed to be pulverized into a powder, end up just taking a fun (and mighty loud) ride around the Cuisinart for 2 minutes. I was discouraged, but I vowed to try again.
Tonight, Mom brought over some organic pearled barley that she'd picked up at the health food store, along with some organic brown rice. We tried the new barley in the Cuisinart, still with no luck. After 5 minutes, there were still big hard kernels in the basket. I thought maybe I could cook it up and put it through the Cuisinart afterwards, but even after 10 minutes of cooking/stirring, the grains were still too hard for my baby (as a side note, they made a lovely porridge, which I did eat with maple syrup and milk).
Enter the Mr. Coffee grinder. This little beastie had been lurking in the back of my coffee cupboard for a few years (I buy coffee pre-ground), so I thought, "What the heck?" It worked beautifully. Presto! Powdered baby grains!
Unfortunately, Mom and I had so much fun pulverizing barley and brown rice that the thing shut down. I don't know if it just got too warm and turned itself off, or if the motor burned out completely -- I'll re-check it tomorrow. Too bad, though: It was exciting while it lasted.
Meanwhile, I baked 4 peaches, let them cool, and then we peeled and pitted them. We then let the Cuisinart do what it was designed to do: puree. It did a fine job. I ended up with 30 tablespoons of peach puree, 26 of which I froze in an ice cube tray (13 2-tablespoon cubes), and 4 T of which I put into a sealed dish for Andrew to try tomorrow night. I almost decided to send some to daycare with him tomorrow, but god forbid he hates it and ends up with nothing to eat at lunchtime. So it's jarred baby food at daycare tomorrow.
Note: Homemade peach baby food cost me 12 cents per tablespoon, and that's with no water added. Commercial baby food has water added, so I have to remember to factor that in when calculating the cost of homemade versus commercial. I guess I could thin out the peach puree before freezing it, but then I'd have to use two ice cube trays, and there's not that much room in my freezer. Much easier just to thin out the puree after thawing, as needed.
Tomorrow is his 6-month (and 3 week) checkup!
The vegetable container garden is really growing fast -- my cucumbers are about 2 inches tall, as are the bush beans, and yesterday I noticed a flower on one of the tomato plants -- one day, that will be a tomato. In fact, everything that I planted last week (was that really only 7 days ago???) is UP! I was so inspired that today I planted some gourds for fall decorations, plus some peppers. I also planted marigold seeds in and around all of the veggie pots, for color and to keep the bug population down. Theoretically. Anyway, soon I'll need to thin my seedlings and arrange for trellises for the cucumbers, squash, and other vine-y plants.
The last couple of nights, Andrew's been waking in the middle of the night -- in fact, he's making noise as I'm typing this. I think he may have teeth coming, but I don't feel any bumps anywhere. Still, if they're deep but trying to push their way down (or up), they're probably bothering him. Poor thing. I wish he could tell me what's bothering him. He's also got a cough, and he's been pulling on his ears -- again. Sigh; I guess I'll have them check his ears AGAIN tomorrow; let's hope it's "just" teething.
Well, it turns out that my Cuisinart is not the right tool in which to grind grains. It's too big, and so the grains, which are ideally supposed to be pulverized into a powder, end up just taking a fun (and mighty loud) ride around the Cuisinart for 2 minutes. I was discouraged, but I vowed to try again.
Tonight, Mom brought over some organic pearled barley that she'd picked up at the health food store, along with some organic brown rice. We tried the new barley in the Cuisinart, still with no luck. After 5 minutes, there were still big hard kernels in the basket. I thought maybe I could cook it up and put it through the Cuisinart afterwards, but even after 10 minutes of cooking/stirring, the grains were still too hard for my baby (as a side note, they made a lovely porridge, which I did eat with maple syrup and milk).
Enter the Mr. Coffee grinder. This little beastie had been lurking in the back of my coffee cupboard for a few years (I buy coffee pre-ground), so I thought, "What the heck?" It worked beautifully. Presto! Powdered baby grains!
Unfortunately, Mom and I had so much fun pulverizing barley and brown rice that the thing shut down. I don't know if it just got too warm and turned itself off, or if the motor burned out completely -- I'll re-check it tomorrow. Too bad, though: It was exciting while it lasted.
Meanwhile, I baked 4 peaches, let them cool, and then we peeled and pitted them. We then let the Cuisinart do what it was designed to do: puree. It did a fine job. I ended up with 30 tablespoons of peach puree, 26 of which I froze in an ice cube tray (13 2-tablespoon cubes), and 4 T of which I put into a sealed dish for Andrew to try tomorrow night. I almost decided to send some to daycare with him tomorrow, but god forbid he hates it and ends up with nothing to eat at lunchtime. So it's jarred baby food at daycare tomorrow.
Note: Homemade peach baby food cost me 12 cents per tablespoon, and that's with no water added. Commercial baby food has water added, so I have to remember to factor that in when calculating the cost of homemade versus commercial. I guess I could thin out the peach puree before freezing it, but then I'd have to use two ice cube trays, and there's not that much room in my freezer. Much easier just to thin out the puree after thawing, as needed.
Tomorrow is his 6-month (and 3 week) checkup!
The vegetable container garden is really growing fast -- my cucumbers are about 2 inches tall, as are the bush beans, and yesterday I noticed a flower on one of the tomato plants -- one day, that will be a tomato. In fact, everything that I planted last week (was that really only 7 days ago???) is UP! I was so inspired that today I planted some gourds for fall decorations, plus some peppers. I also planted marigold seeds in and around all of the veggie pots, for color and to keep the bug population down. Theoretically. Anyway, soon I'll need to thin my seedlings and arrange for trellises for the cucumbers, squash, and other vine-y plants.
The last couple of nights, Andrew's been waking in the middle of the night -- in fact, he's making noise as I'm typing this. I think he may have teeth coming, but I don't feel any bumps anywhere. Still, if they're deep but trying to push their way down (or up), they're probably bothering him. Poor thing. I wish he could tell me what's bothering him. He's also got a cough, and he's been pulling on his ears -- again. Sigh; I guess I'll have them check his ears AGAIN tomorrow; let's hope it's "just" teething.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Semi-productive day
This morning, Andrew was up before 6. I fed him, brought him downstairs, and entertained him for the next couple of hours, until Daddy came downstairs (one of his Father's Day presents was being allowed to sleep in this morning). After Dad mowed the lawn, we headed out to BJ's for cheap diapers (for use at daycare; we personally prefer Pampers at home), detergent/OxiClean, and other miscellaneous goods. We also stopped by Agway so I could buy garden fertilizer and some other necessities. Just before heading home, we picked up some asparagus at the supermarket.
Tonight, as a sort of pre-Father's Day dinner, I prepared a mushroom risotto with seared bay scallops and asparagus. Yummy! We even had some wine, and Andrew managed to wait long enough to eat dinner that we could actually all "dine" together (Daddy got to do the Spooning of Mush into Roo between bites of risotto).
I fertilized the veggies and my flowerpots this afternoon, with "fish and seaweed emulsion." The smell of it totally reminds me of growing up in coastal Maine ;-) I'm hoping that the thunderstorm currently overhead doesn't whip the wind into a frenzy or send hail down on my poor little baby plants.
And why the heck are garden hoses so darned expensive these days? Fifty feet for $25.00??? I'll water my plants with the $7 watering can, then.
Oh, and I've been trying out hypermiling. Today wasn't so great, because we had to run the AC, but over 80-90 miles of mixed (both city and highway) driving on Thursday/Friday, I got 29.5 mpg in my Honda CR-V!
Tonight, as a sort of pre-Father's Day dinner, I prepared a mushroom risotto with seared bay scallops and asparagus. Yummy! We even had some wine, and Andrew managed to wait long enough to eat dinner that we could actually all "dine" together (Daddy got to do the Spooning of Mush into Roo between bites of risotto).
I fertilized the veggies and my flowerpots this afternoon, with "fish and seaweed emulsion." The smell of it totally reminds me of growing up in coastal Maine ;-) I'm hoping that the thunderstorm currently overhead doesn't whip the wind into a frenzy or send hail down on my poor little baby plants.
And why the heck are garden hoses so darned expensive these days? Fifty feet for $25.00??? I'll water my plants with the $7 watering can, then.
Oh, and I've been trying out hypermiling. Today wasn't so great, because we had to run the AC, but over 80-90 miles of mixed (both city and highway) driving on Thursday/Friday, I got 29.5 mpg in my Honda CR-V!
General Update
Can I just say, I'm glad Andrew's not yet eating tomatoes...one less thing to worry about for now. And, of course, I'm growing the container vegetable garden on the back patio, which includes tomatoes. Clockwise from upper left: cucumbers, beets, tomato, tomato, beans, summer squash, buttercup squash (hmm, I may need to transplant that one later on).
The baby Patio Tomato plants:
The herbs (not-yet-sprouted oregano; the basil; the rosemary):
The basil, which is bolting (eek!):
Mmmm...rosemary:
College friend K, her husband M, and their baby boy H (not quite 6 weeks younger than Roo) visited Thursday night and stayed over until Friday morning. They were most gracious in forgiving my pet-hair-encrusted home. M even made a delicious dinner, which we enjoyed after the baby boys went to sleep. We even cracked open a bottle of wine, which we drank while recounting our birth stories. Funny how, when you're a new mom, "adult" conversation still consists of talking about contractions, episiotomies, and poo... Still, it was nice that they visited, and even nicer feeling like a grownup again.
Sigh; Andrew is in the Pack and Play downstairs here, next to the couch, attempting (unsuccessfully) to nap...this may end with howling...
The baby Patio Tomato plants:
The herbs (not-yet-sprouted oregano; the basil; the rosemary):
The basil, which is bolting (eek!):
Mmmm...rosemary:
College friend K, her husband M, and their baby boy H (not quite 6 weeks younger than Roo) visited Thursday night and stayed over until Friday morning. They were most gracious in forgiving my pet-hair-encrusted home. M even made a delicious dinner, which we enjoyed after the baby boys went to sleep. We even cracked open a bottle of wine, which we drank while recounting our birth stories. Funny how, when you're a new mom, "adult" conversation still consists of talking about contractions, episiotomies, and poo... Still, it was nice that they visited, and even nicer feeling like a grownup again.
Sigh; Andrew is in the Pack and Play downstairs here, next to the couch, attempting (unsuccessfully) to nap...this may end with howling...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
SuperWoman Day
I honestly don't know how I did it all today. I write this, not to brag, but to remind myself of my potential at some later date when I'm berating myself for "only" getting the bare minimum of work, chores, etc. done:
I got up just before 6 a.m. Actually, I woke naturally at around 4:30, because it was light out. Silly summertime. Since we'd lost electricity due to a thunderstorm just before 11 last night, I'd woken up then to check on Andrew, and immediately went back to bed. This means I got 5.5 hours of consecutive sleep! Anyway, after the 4:30 waking (and baby check), I went back to bed until the Roo woke up at 5:45ish, and we were up for the day.
Somehow I managed to get out of the house by 7 a.m., so I got to work early. Whoa. I even brought the dog with me -- he was thrilled!
Left work at 12:30 (remember, Wednesday is my short day), fully intending to come home and spend many hours cleaning, organizing, and tidying my house in preparation for tomorrow night's overnight visit from my college friend K, her husband M, and their baby H. However, when I left work I realized that it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and that the humidity of the previous two days was gone, and that I positively HAD to plant flowers, or vegetables, or something. My coworker D had told me that it's not too late to put some things in the ground, and I'd picked up a few books on gardening (including one on container gardening of vegetables and herbs).
So, here's how the afternoon and evening went, from 12:30 on:
12:30-1: Drove home
1-2: Dropped off dog at home, put breast milk in the fridge, changed into scrubby clothes, cleaned nursery, sorted laundry, put a load of laundry in the washer, collected mail, cleaned out the fridge, cleaned the litterbox, gathered garbage/recycling, tidied breezeway a bit, rearranged the spare bedroom so that K and her family will actually be able to fit in it tomorrow night.
2-2:30: Went to Agway and bought seeds, plants, and planters.
2:30-4:30: Had a grand old time planting tomato plants, a rosemary plant (which will probably not do so well, but hey), and seeds as follows: red beets, orange beets, zucchini, yellow squash, buttercup squash (I'm also not holding out much hope for that), bush beans, and cucumbers. These are all currently in containers on my patio, but can obviously be moved or transplanted. And hey, if nothing comes of them, who cares? I got lots of sunshine and got to feel like a grownup this afternoon.
4:30-5: Cleaned up myself and the patio, switched out the laundry for a new load, went to pick up Roo at daycare.
5-5:30: Got Roo home, unpacked his bottles, etc. and put them to soak in the sink, nursed him.
5:30: Grocery delivery girl came. Put away all the groceries.
6:00: Video chat with MDad while feeding Roo his supper (peas and cereal).
6:30: Grammy stopped by and helped give Roo his bath, fed the dog, etc. I remembered to give Roo his final dose of ear antibiotics.
7:00: Nursed Roo again and put him to bed.
7:30: Cooked a salmon fillet; ate half of it with Soy Vay teriyaki sauce (I love that stuff).
8-9: Dusted and vacuumed living room, vacuumed the downstairs and the stairwell, washed the kitchen floor, did all the baby/breastpump dishes by hand, ran the dishwasher, tidied the kitchen, took out the second load of laundry, got coffeepot ready for tomorrow morning.
9:00: Took a shower. Hallelujah!
The only things I didn't get to do were pay some bills (these are some that are not able to be paid online); pack my breakfast/lunch for tomorrow; and pack Roo's jar of baby food and 1/4 cup of dry cereal for tomorrow. But I can do all of those things in the morning. Sleep now!
I got up just before 6 a.m. Actually, I woke naturally at around 4:30, because it was light out. Silly summertime. Since we'd lost electricity due to a thunderstorm just before 11 last night, I'd woken up then to check on Andrew, and immediately went back to bed. This means I got 5.5 hours of consecutive sleep! Anyway, after the 4:30 waking (and baby check), I went back to bed until the Roo woke up at 5:45ish, and we were up for the day.
Somehow I managed to get out of the house by 7 a.m., so I got to work early. Whoa. I even brought the dog with me -- he was thrilled!
Left work at 12:30 (remember, Wednesday is my short day), fully intending to come home and spend many hours cleaning, organizing, and tidying my house in preparation for tomorrow night's overnight visit from my college friend K, her husband M, and their baby H. However, when I left work I realized that it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and that the humidity of the previous two days was gone, and that I positively HAD to plant flowers, or vegetables, or something. My coworker D had told me that it's not too late to put some things in the ground, and I'd picked up a few books on gardening (including one on container gardening of vegetables and herbs).
So, here's how the afternoon and evening went, from 12:30 on:
12:30-1: Drove home
1-2: Dropped off dog at home, put breast milk in the fridge, changed into scrubby clothes, cleaned nursery, sorted laundry, put a load of laundry in the washer, collected mail, cleaned out the fridge, cleaned the litterbox, gathered garbage/recycling, tidied breezeway a bit, rearranged the spare bedroom so that K and her family will actually be able to fit in it tomorrow night.
2-2:30: Went to Agway and bought seeds, plants, and planters.
2:30-4:30: Had a grand old time planting tomato plants, a rosemary plant (which will probably not do so well, but hey), and seeds as follows: red beets, orange beets, zucchini, yellow squash, buttercup squash (I'm also not holding out much hope for that), bush beans, and cucumbers. These are all currently in containers on my patio, but can obviously be moved or transplanted. And hey, if nothing comes of them, who cares? I got lots of sunshine and got to feel like a grownup this afternoon.
4:30-5: Cleaned up myself and the patio, switched out the laundry for a new load, went to pick up Roo at daycare.
5-5:30: Got Roo home, unpacked his bottles, etc. and put them to soak in the sink, nursed him.
5:30: Grocery delivery girl came. Put away all the groceries.
6:00: Video chat with MDad while feeding Roo his supper (peas and cereal).
6:30: Grammy stopped by and helped give Roo his bath, fed the dog, etc. I remembered to give Roo his final dose of ear antibiotics.
7:00: Nursed Roo again and put him to bed.
7:30: Cooked a salmon fillet; ate half of it with Soy Vay teriyaki sauce (I love that stuff).
8-9: Dusted and vacuumed living room, vacuumed the downstairs and the stairwell, washed the kitchen floor, did all the baby/breastpump dishes by hand, ran the dishwasher, tidied the kitchen, took out the second load of laundry, got coffeepot ready for tomorrow morning.
9:00: Took a shower. Hallelujah!
The only things I didn't get to do were pay some bills (these are some that are not able to be paid online); pack my breakfast/lunch for tomorrow; and pack Roo's jar of baby food and 1/4 cup of dry cereal for tomorrow. But I can do all of those things in the morning. Sleep now!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Math is Hard
Wait, I realized I wasn't comparing apples to apples in that last post. I was using fluid ounces (at 2 T per ounce) for calculating the cost of my homemade food, but I was estimating the cost per ounce of Earth's Best based on weight. So, let's do this on a per-tablespoon basis:
My homemade sweet potato baby food cost about 10 cents per tablespoon ($2.00 divided by 20 tablespoons).
Earth's Best costs about 18 cents per tablespoon, assuming there are about 5 tablespoons in each 4-oz (by weight) jar. Therefore, my homemade baby food is significantly less expensive than Earth's Best. If Andrew consumes 10 tablespoons (the equivalent of 2 jars) of baby food a day, that's 80 cents a day, or $292 per year. At least for the sweet potatoes ;-)
However, Earth's Best is organic and (gasp!) I didn't use organic sweet potatoes to make the baby food this time. Plus there's the cost of energy to cook the food and run the dishwasher afterwards, neither of which expense I would incur with jarred food.
So, this will be a continuing saga. I noticed the local supermarket has frozen peas on sale for 8 cents an ounce (by weight, of course). I love playing the cheap Yankee. Seriously, though -- saving money by making my own baby food could almost offset the skyrocketing cost of gas! Not.
Why the hell am I still awake? I love getting a second wind at night...I just hate it in the morning.
My homemade sweet potato baby food cost about 10 cents per tablespoon ($2.00 divided by 20 tablespoons).
Earth's Best costs about 18 cents per tablespoon, assuming there are about 5 tablespoons in each 4-oz (by weight) jar. Therefore, my homemade baby food is significantly less expensive than Earth's Best. If Andrew consumes 10 tablespoons (the equivalent of 2 jars) of baby food a day, that's 80 cents a day, or $292 per year. At least for the sweet potatoes ;-)
However, Earth's Best is organic and (gasp!) I didn't use organic sweet potatoes to make the baby food this time. Plus there's the cost of energy to cook the food and run the dishwasher afterwards, neither of which expense I would incur with jarred food.
So, this will be a continuing saga. I noticed the local supermarket has frozen peas on sale for 8 cents an ounce (by weight, of course). I love playing the cheap Yankee. Seriously, though -- saving money by making my own baby food could almost offset the skyrocketing cost of gas! Not.
Why the hell am I still awake? I love getting a second wind at night...I just hate it in the morning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)