Get Your Grocery Bill Under Control!

Bad news: grocery prices are going up. Good news: I've tracked down some awesome expert tips on how to keep your bill manageable this summer.

Your can read the article over at LearnVest:

Grocery Shopping on a Budget: 10 Ways to Keep Rising Food Costs in Check

Have more ideas? Feel free to share!

More Words of Wisdom

We had a great weekend.  We really, really did (don't look so surprised!).  It was so nice to just enjoy being a family and have things go well.  I'm not sure exactly how we accomplished the smooth sailing we all experienced, but I'd like to copy it, if I can figure out what the secret to our success actually was (having a full agenda, perhaps?).

On Sunday night we piled into the car and drove out to the Outback Steakhouse for a rare family restaurant meal.  You may recall that this is about the only restaurant we go to with the kids because they handle the babe's food allergies so well.  It's loud, family oriented and fast which makes it a perfect fit for us.  Sunday was another reassuring reminder that we can actually dine in public like other "normal" families.

While all the little guy consumed was fries and orange juice, the babe was awesome and pretty much ate everything on her plate.  She tried every vegetable and decided she wasn't going to eat the squash, which we said was fine.  My husband and I complemented her on what a great job she did eating and she apologized that she didn't want to eat the squash.  We told her that it's fine to not eat something if you've tried it. 

Then she made her super wise comment: "You can't taste with your eyes!"

How true is that?  The girl knows you cannot judge food without putting it in your mouth first!  I feel like we took a huge step forward with that one comment and I left the restaurant feeling positive and empowered (and really, really full).  Kids really can have the most insightful thoughts.

Eat Your Peas, Please

I would just like to brag about the fact that I got both my kids to eat peas.

On Sunday morning I whipped up some muffins and smoothies before I ran off to brunch with a friend.

I was out of bananas so was trying to compensate for that in the smoothie planning process.

Guess what I did?  That's right.  I decided to throw in some frozen peas to thicken the smoothie up a bit.  The crazy thing is...they both liked it!  HA HA HA!

In the end, the concoction included:

• blueberries
• strawberries
• mango
• peas
• soy milk
• orange juice

Even my husband liked it.  Now that's saying something.  In fact, he said it was better than my "normal" smoothies.

I really want to explore more of this whole "sneaking" veggies in thing.  It is a common struggle for most Mamas, and I think there's something to be said for secretly getting them the nutrients they need.  What they don't know won't hurt them.  That said, I will keep putting real veggies in front of them so they slowly understand that I'm not giving up.

Feel free to share any sneaky tricks you have!

Talking About Desserts...

The babe polished off her dinner (which included a lot of olives) tonight with gusto and then wanted dessert.  As she'd been fairly good throughout the day (except when I was trying to have a conversation with the chimney inspector at the new house), I told her she could have some chocolate soy pudding.

While we were chatting, she pulled off her bib.  I know some kids this age don't wear bibs, but my kid does.  She is sloppy and I don't feel like doing any more laundry than I already do.  Anyway, I asked her why she took off her bib before her dessert.  She told me not to worry and that she'd "be careful."

I then asked her what I could do if she did spill any chocolate pudding on her dress.  She looked at me and replied, "you can clean me up!"

I sometimes wonder if she really is just 3 years old or if I somehow bumped my head and missed a few years.  The girl has a mouth on her, but I was impressed by her comment so I let her eat her chocolate pudding without a bib.  And ya know what?  She didn't spill any pudding, just the soy milk I asked her to finish up after the pudding was done.

The New Tradition

Over the years, when I have wanted a special treat, I have always made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (based on the recipe for Quaker Oats Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies).  They are shared with my husband on Friday and Saturday nights as we chill out and watch TV.  It has become a special tradition.

Today I decided I wanted some of those cookies.  I figured with all the vegetables we've been eating from our awesome garden, we were due for a sweet treat.  But I wanted the babe and her brother to be able to enjoy this special tradition with us.  I can't believe it took me so long to try this, but this afternoon the babe and I put on our aprons and altered my recipe into a non-dairy, non-egg version, and it worked out really well (although it was hard to shape the cookies as the batter wasn't really sticky).

I wanted to share my new version of an old favorite with you:

1 cup (2 sticks) of softened non-dairy Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 mushed up banana
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Dash of salt
3 cups of old fashioned uncooked oats
1 cup of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Beat together melted buttery sticks and sugars until creamy
3. Add mashed up banana and vanilla; beat well
4. Add COMBINED flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well
5. Stir in oats and chocolate chips; mix well
6. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookies sheet
7. Bake for 11 minutes
8. Cool 1 minute and move to plate or wire rack

The great thing about this recipe is you can load up 12 cookies for immediate use, and divide the rest of the batter into 2 separate bags for the freezer for future indulgence.  It's reassuring knowing you've got another 24 cookies just waiting for you.  When the last bag is done, time to start all over again.

After years of buying allergy friendly Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate chip cookies (which are great), I think I'll be making more of an effort to make the kids cookies from scratch.  It just feels (and tastes) right.

Family Meals?

I may have already mentioned this to you, but I generally don't like to eat dinner with my kids.  I feed them before my husband gets home from work on week nights, and we generally feed them before we eat on the weekends as well. 

We do this for a number of reasons:

• So we can eat
• So we can talk
• So we don't hear yellls, whines and screams while we try and eat
• So we don't have food or utensils thrown at us (that would be the little guy)
• So we don't get indigestion

That said, I do encourage a weekly Sunday brunch.  We always have the same thing: super healthy pancakes (with banana and soy milk as our substitutes), organic maple turkey sausage and fruit.  The kids always eat a ton and I am convinced it is their biggest and favorite meal of the week.  I usually make it to the table to eat about half way through and am left eating after everyone has long gone, but it's nice to do it one time a week.

This weekend was a bit different.  We actually had THREE family meals together.  They all had varrying degrees of sucess, but ultimately, the brunch was my favorite.  It reaffirmed that we don't need to have dinner with the kids.  It's just too much work, and it's too hard to eat.

I do look forward to the days when they will be able to sit with us at the table and take care of themselves.  But I'm in no rush.

Food, Food, Food

When I was an undergrad student at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, my roommate (the lovely Katy over at A Mama Being) and I used to spend $60 a week on our groceries.  We'd each chip in $30 and head to the store together with a calculator.  We didn't splurge on things like Tropicana Orange juice...it was always frozen, from concentrate.  Times were tight on our student budgets, but we always managed to have yummy, although quite processed, foods.   

Now that I shop for a family of 4, things have changed.  Every day I am tackled with the following questions:

• What's for breakfast?
• What's for lunch?
• What's for dinner?

Providing this many meals daily gets overwhelming at times, especially when the kids don't eat what we do most of the time.  Even if I prepare a dinner they can have (allergy friendly that is), they rarely eat/enjoy it.  I made Shepard's Pie last night and they didn't even want to look at it.  The little guy just pushed it around on his tray and kept pointing at the hot dog I had microwaved as back up (my mistake for having the back up option displayed on the table!). And the babe had to be fed, bite by bite (in the form of an airplane, train, car, etc.), by her father.

I try and use fresh produce as much as possible, and stick to whole wheat add ons.  I rely heavily on veggie dogs, soy nut butter/jam, and organic chicken nuggets (which cost a boat load) for the kids.  All the choices I make at the grocery store always seem to end up costing an arm and a leg.  Organic is great, but pricey.  Getting meats and fish that are not tainted with a gazillion poisonous chemicals costs money.  And, as you probably well know, it can really get overwhelming when you go to the grocery store as much as parents do.

My days of $30 a week for food are long gone, but I am trying to think of ways I can trim our grocery bills down.  We are blessed we can spend more on our food than I was able to as a student, but sometimes I wonder about whipping out the 'oll calculator and trying to stick to a shopping list a little more than I do.  At the same time, I have accepted that healthy food costs, and the cost is worth it when you consider the alternative.  Our diets are so intrinsically linked to our health.  I am convinced that it's best to get in front of potential health problems while also setting the kids up for a lifetime of healthy eating.  In the end, our health is really the most important thing we have.   

So I suppose I will continue to keep our garden growing, look for the sales, try and buy bulk, and use everything that I purchase.  If you have any tricks of the trade, feel free to share!

A Love Story

The little guy will soon be 6 months old (June 24th), and as every parent has said at one point or another, I don't know where the time has gone. He is truly delicious and I am in awe.

A few exciting developments:

He has successfully begun eating carrots (7 days with no signs of any allergies). Yesterday he successfully ate green beans for the first time (6 more days to go until he is "clear"). Maybe next week he'll have some squash. The little guy is really liking his "real" food and gets all riled up at the prospect of eating. In fact he is pretty inpatient at times. All I can say is that his new style of poop is proof that we are making dietary progress!

This morning I went to give him a bath and realized he's pretty darn big and doesn't need the infant insert anymore. So he went in his tub in an upright position and even had a duckie to play with. He seemed quite pleased with the whole experience. I was too.

His little co-sleeper is still attached to my side of the bed. For some reason I can not take it down, despite the fact it has been over 5 weeks since he slept there (although I still see him twice a night to feed him!). I guess I can't face the fact that when I take it down, it will be for good. There is no turning back, and I truly am pleased that he is in his own room. It's just that I know it's the end of an era. We will not be setting up the co-sleeper again, and that's what gets me.

On another note, the little guy continues to become increasingly interactive and is quite in love with his big sister. She has an amazing ability to make him smile/laugh. And this, in turn, makes me smile/laugh.

I could go on and on but will spare you. I fall more in love with him every day and just wanted you all to know.

Yesterday

Last night I put on a suit (the date on the dry cleaner tag was 7/11/2005--yikes), some eyeliner and mascara, and some sandals which were not flip flops. I drove to the Canadian Embassy (all alone) and proceeded to mingle with adults. It was really great. I am still able to speak with strangers in a professional like environment and I can still answer the question "what do you do" with a smile. I was home by 9pm and in bed by 11pm. I went to sleep with a comforting feeling that I will be OK (we broke down and turned on the AC which may have helped).

Before I took off for the evening, I gave the rice cereal a try again with my son (the allergist said rice cereal is the least allergenic food you can give a baby). This time he ate a whole half a tablespoon and did not spit it up. I was pretty thrilled and plan on doing it again today. He went a 4 hour stretch last night, which I attribute to the food (granted he woke up a lot after that stretch). I am still exhausted.

I am also still waiting for a call from the allergist regarding the babe and her allergy "action plan" for school. They didn't have her chart last week when all 4 of us showed up for the appointment (not cool), so we need to go over her official testing results before we can finalize anything. I am hopeful she will not need to be in a "nut free" room. Will keep you posted.

Food Issues

When my Mother-in-Law was here helping with the kids last January, she cooked up a storm. Bags of scrumptious Indian food were left in our freezer. What a treat!

Sadly, every time we have a dinner from the lovely selection in the freezer, we end up paying for it. Can you guess what we had for dinner last night? My son was up A LOT. Therefore my husband and I were up A LOT. There was serious farting and general crankiness going on. The little guy also kept wanting to eat...which most likely continued the cycle. It has happened enough times that I know it's not a coincidence and I'm sorry to say that I will no longer be enjoying the smashing meals from the freezer. It is just not worth it. My son is half Indian so I expect he will get over these issues and when I'm done with breastfeeding, I will be able to return to my beloved Indian food.

In other food news, we are off to the allergist tomorrow morning to create a game plan for my daughter's upcoming enrollment in preschool. I am very nervous about sending her into the care of others. If I find playgroup stressful because of the lurking snacking dangers everywhere, how is a teacher who is responsible for a lot of kids going to keep an eye on her? I'm more than ready for her to move on and attend preschool, but I'm not ready to give up control of her environment and the snacks that cross her path. I hope we can come to a better understanding of how she will function in the real world before she actually joins it in the Fall.

My son's first allergist appointment is scheduled with the same doc for next month. But I'm going to break down and fire away some questions tomorrow as I really think he's ready to move beyond exclusive breast milk. As the rice cereal didn't sit well on Sunday, I am hesitant to try it again before we discuss it further with the doc. I am praying he will not have the same problems as his big sis...although statistically I think we may be out of luck. My fingers are crossed.

The Bob

I have not been much of a breast pumper since my son was born. But on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, I pumped what I could (total: 4.5 oz). I had a much anticipated hair appointment on Saturday and had to leave enough milk that my husband would be covered for feedings. I've been to this stylist once before and had been really pleased. Yesterday I had over 3 inches cut off and ended up with a bob. I don't like it. I feel like I look even more like a stay-at-home Mom now. There is no edge to this haircut and I am sad. I only go 2 or 3 times a year. ANYWAY.

We tried rice cereal with the babe #2 today. He swallowed it down like a champ and then topped it off with a feeding from me. He then proceeded to spit it all up. I think he's a greedy eater and overwhelmed his stomach. Unfortunately he's been spitting up a lot more all afternoon and evening. Not sure if I gave him way too much or it doesn't agree with him (hopefully not because of a food allergy). We'll see how it goes tomorrow. I will keep it to a super small feeding.

It was gorgeous yesterday and I got the babe out with the side walk chalk. That stuff rocks and has already proven a wise investment.

Gotta run....bath time is calling.

Taking Action

Next week the babe #2 (I need to think of new blogging names for these kids) will be 4 months old. Definitely not a newborn anymore. But aren't 4 month olds supposed to sleep well at night? All I can say is that I'm ready for some 6 hour sessions of shut eye. So after a particularly bad and blurry night, I broke down and bought some key items this morning:

• Alimentum formula (the ridiculously expensive and hypoallergenic variety, just in case he's got the same food allergies as his big sis)
• Rice Cereal
• Oatmeal

He's a big boy and I don't think he's getting enough sustenance from my breast milk anymore. He wakes up every 3 hours to eat at night, and it's just not cool. After pumping only 3 ounces this morning, I have also decided that backing up with a little formula here and there won't be the end of the world. As I have a hair appointment on Saturday, I'd like to know that I can be gone for a few hours and the world will not end if there is not enough pumped milk in the fridge. I'm ready to move forward and I think he is too.

My son is also experiencing the same crazy dry itchy head his sister had. He's in the "no scratch" mittens a lot these days and I'm not happy about that (it makes for smelly hands). So I broke down and slathered on the same cream I had bought for the babe 2 years ago. This cream was about $125 when I bought it (I was desperate) and it worked relatively quickly. As there's a lot left in the tube, I decided to give it a go. Did I mention it expired a year ago and that it's a prescription item? If this makes me a bad mommy, then so be it. It's worth a try.

Taking action feels good.

Bye Bye Bottles

They say you should have your child weaned off bottles by the time they're 18 months. The babe hit the one and a half year mark on June 7th and she was still loving her bottles. Every time I tried to introduce milk in a sippy cup, she'd take a sip, look at me like I had rocks in my head, and make the sign for milk while saying "miil" with a questioning look on her face. I wasn't too worried about it as I didn't think it was the end of the world to still be using bottles.

This past Wednesday, a full moon, I decided it was time to give it another shot. I poured her morning milk into a purple sippy cup and handed it to her. She actually drank it. For the late morning milk, I tried again, and she drank it! I have not given her a bottle since Tuesday night, and it feels pretty darn good.

This afternoon, while she had a nice long nap, I packed away her Born Free bottles and put them in the closet. We're really growing up now!

Television and Plastics

I'm not sure whether I should be impressed or scared. As I was quickly brushing my teeth/getting ready for sign and sing class this morning, the babe managed to turn on the TV in our bedroom (pre-baby we used to watch the BBC at night before reading and going to sleep--ahhhh, weren't those just the calm and quiet days). She then managed to turn the channel to Sesame Street and, realizing she was happy with what she saw, stopped flipping (Elmo's World had her hooked). The babe was so impressed with herself when I came into the room. It's her 15 month birthday today, so I suppose it's appropriate she can channel surf (despite the fact she doesn't get to watch TV other than NHL hockey with her father and her sign and sing DVD with me).

After class we drove over to Babies R Us (a place I generally like to try and avoid) to pick up a few things. Most of what I bought turned out to be plastic. I am being cautious with plastics as they're not saying good things about them these days, especially in relation to children. For some interesting reading, check out A Mom's Blog which has some quality plastics information. Another good blog to check out for safe plastic product recommendations is Z Recommends.

Everything we bought today was within the acceptable realm. There are 7 kinds of plastics and they say you should avoid numbers 3, 6, and 7. Your best bets with plastics (for food and beverage) are 1, 2, 4, and 5. For the grown ups, keep in mind that plastic water bottles are generally made out of the harmful plastics. I've switched to drinking out of a refillable SIGG container. It's safer and cheaper.

Television and plastics...evil parts of our modern world. Although I'll admit that I bought the Sesame Street "Beginning Together" DVD with Spanish track today as a little treat...after all, the babe and I both need to learn Spanish, and why not start with Elmo and Big Bird?

A Whole New World of Fluids

It's been one whole week today! The babe took soy formula for the first time a week ago and she's been guzzling it back ever since! I am starting to slowly wean her and the fact that she's drinking bottles of formula during the day is making the whole process a lot easier. In fact, I don't know what I would have done if she was still refusing it.

After 11 months of breastfeeding on demand, I am really feeling the freedom formula provides. They say you should only use formula for the first 12 months of life. That will mean she has only a month of formula use. I must say I'm pleased as punch with the whole situation.

When she hits her 1 year birthday in 3 weeks time, I am supposed to be able to switch to whole milk. She was diagnosed with a milk allergy back in May and I am hoping she has outgrown it. We are headed back to the allergist on November 30th. Results from the blood test should come in on her birthday. A large percentage of kids outgrow their dairy allergies in the first year, and I an hoping she's in that group.

In the meantime, I've had to look into how much liquid she needs. I was shocked to learn that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the following in Caring for Your Young Baby and Child:

Breakfast: 4-6 oz of formula or breast milk
Snack: 4-6 oz of juice
Lunch: 4-6 oz of formula or breast milk
Dinner: 4-6 oz of formula or breast milk
Bed time: 6-8 oz of formula of breast milk

I don't know, but that seems like an awful lot of liquid. I'm doing my best to push the water and formula intake, but I'm not going down the juice path right now.

Today we're going to try the powdered soy formula instead of the more expensive liquid version which I have been giving her this past week. Hope she likes it just as much!

I'll Pass on the Chick Peas, Thanks

The list of things I should stay away from never seems to end. Or maybe it's that I keep making the same mistakes and just never learn my lesson.

I was at a friend's place for lunch yesterday. She has a son who is a few months younger than the babe, but she still managed to pull together a beautiful home made lunch for us. After wolfing down the awesome salad, I started on the soup, which featured chick peas. About a third of the way through the soup, I remembered that the babe isn't such a fan of chick peas. Whoops. I haven't had them in a long time and I started to feel gassy myself. I explained that I couldn't continue with the tasty soup because of the risk of stomach issues (it's nice to hang out with other breastfeeding Moms as they completely understand). I didn't breastfeed the babe for 8 hours after and actually got her to take soy formula for the first time ever! I figured that would cover me and she'd be OK.

Not quite. At 2:45 am we woke to a crying, fussy baby. She was miserable and we couldn't figure out why. After a few farts escaped, I realized that the 8 hour break from breastfeeding hadn't been enough. I kept patting her back and we gave her some Mylicon. By 4:00 am she fell back asleep, but not after a lot more crying and farting. Poor kid.

Once again, I'm reminded why stopping breastfeeding next month will be good for her and for me. I'll finally be able to eat and drink what I want and not worry about how it affects her. She'll be able to live happily without my mistakes.

Meeting my one year goal will be a cause for celebration. Not to brag, but 2003 statistics state that only 17.2 percent of women are still breastfeeding at the 12 month mark in the United States. I never thought I'd make it this far last December! As sad as weaning the babe seems at times, I know it will be the best thing for both of us. All good things must come to an end.

On Strike

The babe has been on a bit of a food strike this week. I was pretty taken aback by it all as she had become a consistent eater of 3 meals a day plus numerous Cheerio snacks. After a day of striking, I began to wonder what was up. After 3 days of striking, I called the doctor.

I explained that the babe was taking a few bites at the beginning of each meal before she'd start waving her hands around and hitting the spoon. You know what happens when spoons with liquid food are hit. I must admit I wasn't that good at keeping my cool. She could tell I was annoyed. She also seemed to take pleasure in turning her head from me when the spoon got too near. Why would she be making this all so difficult? Does she not get that eating is in her best interest?

Another result of this whole not eating thing is that the babe has been getting up every 3 hours at night to eat. After getting used to some pretty good sleeping patterns, I was unhappy to go back to the every 3 hour schedule. I am about to start weaning her, and ramping up the night feedings isn't exactly the direction I want to be heading.

The doctor, bless her soul, made me feel better. Apparently the babe is "exerting her independence." She is playing games and manipulating me in an effort to secure my constant attention (whether it's positive or negative doesn't matter). It's apparently time for me to start playing games as well.

The doctor recommended:

• The babe eat with the family (which already usually happens).
• Make things "fun" (whatever that means).
• I should give her a spoon and bowl and help her feed herself (yikes). I tried this morning and the spoon and bowl ended up on the floor and the banana ended up smashed on the behind of her pants (I don't know how that happened).
• I should buy her a real plastic cup and teach her to drink from it (apparently no bottles after one year. I was just getting used to the sippy cup!).
• I should not get upset when she refuses to take a bite (remember to breathe).
• I should generally act like I don't care whether she eats or not. If I don't react, she doesn't get the attention she's seeking.
• I should accept that things are going to get messy (I'm buying better bibs and one of those plastic floor mats, pronto).
• I should enjoy my food while I eat and hope she sees how much fun I'm having.

We had a breakthrough last night. I'm not sure if the babe was just super hungry after 4 days of striking, or if she really liked the (small) grown up metal spoon I fed her with (you get more food on real spoons which is critical if the kid is only having a few bites), because she downed a bottle of carrots and a bottle of applesauce plus some Cheerios and proceeded to get up only once in her 10 hour slumber last night. It was delicious! Today she ate a bit more, and did really well at dinner. I have my fingers crossed for another good night. Maybe the strike will end before I even have a chance to implement the above-mentioned changes?

Regardless, it all makes me realize we will no longer have a "baby" in the house after December 7th. Welcome to the new world of the independent toddler. Yikes.

Mange, Mange

My local Safeway grocery store has a sad, sad, sad collection of baby food. I dropped by today to pick up some more apple sauce, as I can not seem to keep this particular food item stocked. The organic apple sauce was 10 for $6.00. There were 9 containers left and I took them all. I have come to realize that shopping for baby food at what we refer to as the "Soviet Safeway" is not a viable option on most days. It just takes one mommy (me) to wipe out their entire collection of apple sauce. I guess that says something about our neighborhood.

On another note, we have come to LOVE Cheerios. After our standard 7 days of introduction (food allergies), the babe is in love with them and so am I. I dump a bunch on her high chair's tray and she keeps herself easily amused by stuffing them in her mouth, pushing them around and dropping the ones that don't make it into her mouth onto the floor. Good times.

We do not, however, love chicken. The babe turned 10 months old yesterday so I thought it was time to try a little meat. Bad idea. She ate the liquid chicken and sweet potato concoction happily. A few hours later she had a serious vomiting session (in the playzone) that took us by surprise. We'll put meat on hold for a while longer and stick with the yummy tofu mixed in with veggies option (and apple sauce, of course).

I'll Pass on the Edamame, Thanks

No more edamame for me. After almost 10 months of breastfeeding, you'd think I'd have worked that out. Not quite.

The week started off strong with some spectacular sleeping. The babe pulled one six hour stint in her crib, and then upped it to 8 hours straight the next night. But all good things must come to an end. After 2 great nights, we had a bad one with the babe up crying for a solid hour. What was it, we wondered? Teething?

The next night she was up for 2 hours farting and crying (a sad combination). After about an hour of this wacky behavior, the babe and I moved to the spare room to try and calm down and get some rest. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I'd done differently. After much blurry thought (it was, after all, 1:00am), I realized I had consumed edamame on both days. Here I was trying to be healthy, but really just causing the babe serious gastrointestinal grief.

Sometimes I wonder if it really is healthier for me to be breastfeeding her with all the pain I cause her when I choose the wrong food or beverage. My goal is to reach the one year recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and I know we'll get there. It just can be difficult to isolate that one thing that was the wrong thing. It's trial and error I suppose, and these things take time (like at least 10 months, apparently).

Last night she slept for 7 hours straight in her crib (I even splurged on a delicious Kennebunkport pumpkin ale after putting her to sleep). Good to know we are back on the upswing. If you'll recall, we've only recently begun to master this sleep thing, and I'd really hate to mess it up.

I Never Knew

A few things I never knew about motherhood:

• I am seriously considering wearing some sort of helmet around my daughter. I have been head butted, jabbed, poked, kicked, pinched and had my hair pulled more times than I can count. My nose actually feels bruised from the number of times the babe's head has crashed into me in one jerky movement or another. She also appears to have a thing for injuring my neck area. It's OK, I only need that body part to breathe. While I'm tracking down a helmet (possibly hockey helmet with a face guard), I might as well consider full body armour. I never knew how much abuse I'd have to take as a mother.
• I question, at times, whether I am patient enough to be anyone's mother. I never knew how tough constant sleep deprivation and being selfless would be.
• Last night at 9:00pm, I sold our futon. It was blocking the window and eating way too much space in our small light deprived living room. As I spend so much time at home now, I have been on a minor mission to get rid of things and clean the place up a bit. It's slow going. I never knew how much baby stuff would take over our home or how long it would take to sell a futon on craig's list!
• My husband has been working A LOT this past week (and weekend). It has been hard being on constant child care duty with no break at the end of the day (even half an hour is nice after having a monkey crawl all over you for 12 hours). I can't say it's the same, but I am beginning to get a picture of how overwhelming it would be to be a single mother. I never knew how good it is to have my husband home for dinner, support and company.
• The babe has food allergies (cow's milk, nuts, peanuts and a rice intolerance). The tests the allergist did at 6 months could be inaccurate and they will be testing again, but after a trip to the ER in May, we've been taking it pretty slow with the solid food introduction. We've got the go ahead on apples, bananas, sweet potato, carrots, and oatmeal. She doesn't necessarily like all these options though. As we slowly increase her repertoire of non-allergenic foods, I am constantly worrying if she's eating enough. As she doesn't like soy formula (after 8 months of breastfeeding, who can blame her), I can't measure her milk intake. She can also be very difficult to feed at times. She'll shake her head, make gagging sounds, and spit food at me. I never knew how hard it would be to feed a baby!
• As I sit here on an early Sunday morning, I never knew how hard it would be to constantly have to get out of my warm yummy bed at 6:30 am.
• I also never knew how hard it would be to make time to write in my blog. Or how hard it would be to write with an 8 month old child crawling on me and demanding attention!