Thankful. Emphasis on the "ful"

Well I suppose it wouldn't be a T-day without eating way way way too much (check!) and posting what I'm grateful for.

A lot.

My baby. My hubby. My family. My family-in-law.

Paychecks. A home.

Friends, far and near.

Health. Life. A knowledge of God.

My blog.

Opportunities. Second chances. Forgiveness.

So much abundance, there is not room enough to receive it.
Happy Thanksgiving. A little late.

Heard during the 10 hour journey from BOS to PHX

"I HATE this!"

"You DO realize that I've done this ALONE several times, right?"

"Why isn't he sleeping??"

"WHY DO WE LIVE SO FAR AWAY??!!"

and the all-too-familiar refrain:

"I am NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN!!"

Seriously people. I mean it this time.

But for now, we are happily settled here in AZ for the next several days. Are you around? Let's hang out.

10 tips on living in 900 sq ft with 6 people for 8 days

A Survival Guide

1. Don't attempt this unless you are close with these people. Like we-used-to-share-the-box-of-tampons close. And even then, accept that there will be some craziness.

2. Do a lot of grocery shopping beforehand. A lot. And still expect to go twice more before the week is out.

3. Pre-make at least 3 meals.

4. Don't get sick the first day.

5. If you do get sick the first day, hope you are lucky enough to have the variety that consists of 1.5 days of misery, followed by a week of manageable.

6. GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. You may use the following schedule, if you please:
Day 1: The park (a huge feat, considering this is also Day 1 of miserable illness)
Day 2: Mall Tots (thanks for the tip, Ashlee!)
Day 3: Museum of Science (it helps to "know" someone who "works" there).
Day 4: Beantown (you may see a trapeze artist wearing shiny stretch leopard print pants. A male trapeze artist.) And later, ice cream.
Day 5: Church (3 hour church can come in handy when it keeps you all out of the house for 3 hours.)
Day 6: Children's Museum (try to convince your lovely husband to take the day off to join in on the fun. He may take a very unflattering, hilarious picture of his be-wigged self and let you post it on your blog.)
Day 7: Monkey Joe's
Day 8: Playgroup

7. Get a few naps in where you can.

8. Remember to squeeze in time to girl chat with your bestie. (Try not to dwell on the old days when you got to do that all day, every day during these visits.)

9. Throw your ideals out the window, and keep plenty of kids shows on the DVR for emergencies.

10. It's tempting, but don't stay up late every night. I'm telling you.

Overall, I'd say the visit was a smashing success. It took some careful planning, but we all survived (dare I say thrived?) despite the close quarters.

It was a lot of fun.
And as always, a little sad when it was over. 'Til next time!

How's the visit been going?

Can't really write much just now, but I'll give you a few hints:


I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.

Renege

That's such an ugly word, isn't it? I'm always a little nervous to say it. And yes, that is how it's spelled.

Anyway. I'm gonna. On the every day blogging this month (pauses for your sobbing to subside).

Not because I'm too evolved to spend that much time blogging. Not because I have a better, more fulfilled life than you, but as it turns out, I just don't wanna.

So I'm not gonna. It seemed like a good idea at one point, but not anymore.

And for those of you who care (and have asked, and loaned us things, and helped in various ways) our guests arrived safely this morning, just about the time our other guests arrived--a pair of nasty viral colds for Mike and me. So that sucks. But yea for friends!

And we've survived our first day! Tomorrow, we've got to get out of here. This poor 3-year-old is climbing the walls...

See you soon, but probably not tomorrow,
turleybenson

Because I think we're funny, and you should too

Received in my inbox yesterday:

Dear M,
Currently I do not have swine flu, or anything contagious or scary or potentially threatening to parents and children. Given that rarity for the season, I would like to request the company of you and baby J, somewhere, sometime, before one of us gets our way and actually moves out of this crap-hole of a city. Given that I am not your usual sort of company, on this occasion I promise to talk to you like an adult about adult things, but also talk to you about baby things - of which I grow more curious each day. I also promise to make funny faces at J and think it is adorable if he throws a fit or poops or does anything else that childless friends often roll there eyes at. I promise to maintain the balance of helping you chase after your little whale-baby, while still carrying on a conversation that makes it seem like there is no whale-baby running amok around us. Also, I will tell you that you're pretty. :)

If you feel this is something you'd like to partake in, please respond with your thoughts. If not, feel free to simply send a filthy diaper in the mail... like the mommy equivalent of a dead fish wrapped in newspaper.

Love always,
X-work best friend

(And my response:)

Dear C,
You've given me a lot to think about. I appreciate your well thought out proposal, and upon careful consideration, I've decided to accept. The funny faces proved an especially compelling argument. I would like to discuss your growing curiosity of all things baby at length and in detail. Will you be sure to put that on the agenda? Also, I am interested to know how the dog parenting is going for you and yours.

I would like to counter propose a possible meeting at my place of residence, as this is the most baby-friendly and simultaneous conversation-friendly location I can think of. Though I'm willing to concede that I'm not that imaginative. I must warn you that my November is quite full, however I seem to have an opening during the morning/afternoon on Saturday the 21st. Do you too have an opening on that day?

I look forward to your swift response.

Anxiously,
Best baby-momma friend

Baby food, and the making thereof

Today I held a baby food making class at my house for a few women who have babies from 4-6 months old. It was a success, I think, though I didn't have them fill out evaluation forms.

Next time, maybe.

Anyway, I don't claim to be an expert or anything, but some of you (including Flurg's babysitter) may remember that making purees for m'baby became something of an obsession for me at one point. I loved making baby food. No. Seriously. I loved it. I found it incredibly gratifying.

Interested? I hope so, because I don't think I should be expected to think about more than one major topic per day. Here are some tips I went over today:

Once you've introduced several foods to your baby, you can puree several different ingredients together. Here were some examples of purees I would make:

Frozen papaya (steamed)
White potatoes
Nutmeg
Olive oil

Frozen Mango
Pear
Fresh or frozen berries

Carrots
Peas
Garlic
Olive Oil

Yep. You can add spices and garlic and olive oil to their food at a pretty early age. It helps them develop a palate for a variety of things.

These were some early proteins I gave him:

Hummus (which you can make with garbanzo beans, olive oil, garlic, tahini if you have it)
Mashed black or kidney beans
Peanut or other nut butters (assuming there is no known allergy)
Egg yolks (more likely to have allergic reactions to the whites)

Other things:

• I steamed all his foods in our rice cookers, but you can do it with a saucepan and a colander easy shmeasy.
• Freezing didn't work great for all foods (sometimes they would thaw all gross & separated), so I generally made a batch of purees twice a week, and just stored in the fridge. Once you get the hang of it, it's totally quick & doable--just set food in the steamer, do some chores, throw it in the blender, voila.
• Oh, and don't worry about having a special baby food processor. Blenders work just fine.
  
• Be sure to add enough water. Straight veggies or fruits at 6 months is too much.
  
• Remember the "10 times" rule. Try giving a food to your baby 10 times before deciding s/he doesn't like it.
• Some people say not to feed your baby "root" vegetables until a bit later. My doc didn't think anything of it, but that's something to look into.
• Don't think that because it's something you wouldn't eat, your baby wouldn't eat it. They've been known to eat banana/avocado mixes and LOVE THEM.
• Speaking of which , avocado is a good first food.
• Once your baby starts on dairy, make sure it is always FULL FAT dairy. Which means a special baby yogurt, since NO ONE sells fat yogurt anymore. It's a little ridiculous.
  

And there you go. Some simple baby food making guidelines.

Disclaimers: I am not a doctor. Also, I'm very tired.