A day in the life of the crazy pirates.

First things first, Jill needs coffee. All the other mommy/infant essentials are kept bedside.





While Jill takes a shower, Jane does some work in her "office." She does peekaboo all by herself. She was also practicing her "grasshopper" stance this morning. We kiss daddy goodbye as he heads to work.







We sort the laundry that is left to be done from a week on vacation and a weekend of camping. How did having a baby multiply the dirty clothes so much?





Once the first wash is started, we get the weentsy girl dressed. Rocking out the latest fashions, of course. Then it's downstairs for breakfast.





Mini wheat bagel with non-dairy butter and tofu cream cheese for me, since dairy makes the demons possess my precious. I'm going to make her live a year of her life dairy and egg free in retribution. (kidding) Handfuls of multigrain O's for Jane.






Today we have homegrown tomatoes from my parents' garden, since our tomatoes were a fail again. I can't wait to have a real back yard. Yet another reason I do not like townhouse living. In any case, while on our vacation to Wildwood, NJ, Jane decided she loves pasta and sauce, so we thought to try our hand at making tomato sauce for the first time. My cherished Betty Crocker cookbook from 1963 that was my Nana Jane's failed me in that tomato sauce was an ingredient in their recipe for tomato sauce. Sure, tell me how to skin and cook a squirrel, but neglect homemade sauce. We turned to Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food for direction. I say direction because I don't follow recipes at all.


Here's how to make our sauce:


Saute one large onion and a few (4? 5?) cloves of garlic in olive oil (1/4 cup-ish.)

Cut 3 strips of uncooked bacon into half inch pieces and add to onions and garlic.

Add tomatoes that have already had their skin removed and cut into chunks. I think we used, oh, ten-ish tomatoes of varying size.

Chiffonade ten-ish fresh basil leaves. Add to sauce along with salt and pepper.

Simmer for a while with top off to reduce liquid a bit. Then I used our wand blender/milk shake maker to smooth the sauce out. This made enough sauce for 2 pounds of pasta.





While the sauce was simmering we played on the floor. Jill chats with Dad and Nunni, checks emails and packages up sold eBay items to get mailed later today. The postman wouldn't let us take his picture. What a dud.





In the afternoon we have a Skype date with Gramma Joanie in California. She's having some Jane withdrawal after spending 2 weeks with her.





We try some big people oatmeal today for the first time. After thoroughly inspecting it, Jane determines that oatmeal is finger food. No worries as she likes to clean herself up with a washcloth and of course play another round of peekaboo.







Danny is home from work! We have our dinner of tomato sauce on Trader Joe's organic pasta made with veggies (so they're fun rainbow colored noodles.) Then it's bath and jammies time for the littlest bug.







I think they like each other.





Once Jane is asleep, we we're free to watch some Jon Stewart online (if he isn't on vacation again) or whatever Netflix has delivered to us.

My blog is broken!

All of the pictures are gone. I am practicing my html for when Danny makes me my own blog. Apologies to all the Buzzers who keep getting updates here. If you're even using Buzz anymore.

Sigh

I miss cheese. Thinking of Jane screaming her head off all day makes me not eat it though.

It's officially spring! It is so nice now that the weather is warming. The snow this winter was magical, but we're all psyched to get outside. Will wants to go fishing. Danny's wearing his shorts. (in the house so far) I can't wait to start tearing up the patio area in anticipation of our garden. Will and I found these tulips last, last weekend while we were doing our hard work at cleaning out the front flower beds.



We'e been making our own bread, too. My first attempt at a sourdough starter didn't go so well. I just don't think the house was warm enough in February to keep things fermenting naturally. We made a whole wheat batch with Will one weekend. I've never been a big whole wheat fan..until now. yum! Yesterday I made some cheaters sourdough. I used a packet of yeast to get the starter going. While it's not a sour as I love sourdough to be, it's just damn good. I really thought making bread at home would be more of a pain. It is an all day activity to wait for rising periodically. But I just consider it a lesson in multitasking/patience. Both of which I can always use more of.





Babies grow too fast. It makes me sad to already be retiring baby clothes for Jane. She's learning to grab a hold of things this week; intentionally. She can finally reach out and touch Bug, her BFF and spends long periods of time tugging at a fist full of the front of her shirt. It's a wonder to watch her grow.



Nine days until California!

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Food Rules

It's been 2 months since Baby Jane has been born. Christmas decorations and presents have finally been cleaned up. We're settling into a normal routine; a new way of life. We're still fat though. Not Theresa fat, but carrying more pounds than we care to admit. Personally, I hate diets. Food tastes too good to not eat it.

During my pregnancy we both watched and enjoyed Michael Pollan's films, The Botany of Desire and Food, Inc. They are thought provoking, but challenging to make changes into your life. I mean, where do you find fruits and veggies not grown with Monsanto's seeds in the middle of the winter in Maryland? I don't have room to install a hydroponic garden in the townhouse. Then, about two weeks ago, I heard about Pollan's new book, Food Rules on NPR and ordered it.

It's a short book made up of easy to remember rules that re-mold they way you eat. At it's simplest it is this: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. They are common sense rules but also not easy to apply to life. For instance, according to Pollan, you shouldn't eat foods with more than 5 ingredients (not recipes, but packaged foods), or foods with ingredients that a third grader can't pronounce. That rules out a lot of things at the supermarket.

After we've both read the book we've both decided to put the Food Rules in to practice. It's more cooking at home. It's eating more fruits and veggies and less crap. It's a healthier life style, and one that moves our dollar support from corporate conglomerates to farmers and the environment. It's worth checking out.

Michael Pollan's New 'Food Rules': 64 Easy Steps to Better Health | Personal Health | AlterNet

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