Headline: Lazy Whore Needs Meal Planning Tips

I love cooking. But while I was pregnant I was completely appalled by most foods with the exception of plain (I'm talking straight out of the colander - still draining in the sink) pasta and half gallon tubs of organic lemon yogurt. I lost my passion for food. By the time I got my appetite back I was too pregnant to cook anything exotic or time consuming. Then I had a newborn and used my spare time to shower and not smell/dress like a hobo. 

So now that things are becoming a little more routine with Leah, I want to start a menu plan. Cooking a few things on Sunday that can be rewarmed or thrown together on a different night during the week. Particularly for the days that I have to work. I've looked at a few 30 minute meal plans, but I'm just feeling uninspired. 

The other problem aside from being a lazy whore, is that I'm fat. And need to get my shit back into shape. I bought running shoes on an insomnia driven whim like 10 days ago (#ImmaAmazonJunkie) and have yet to so much as try them on. I bought new sports bras too. No more excuses! Actually I can think of several. 

I know that I need to lose weight. I have done it before and know the in's and outs of it well. I know that a better menu and more exercise will make all the difference, give me more energy to plan menu's and not groan every time I have to get up from picking up Leah off the floor, blah blah blah. If only it didn't require so much effort.

Any chance you'd be willing to share your tips with someone who is too lazy to construct of plan of her own? Recipes are welcome!

You're da Best! 

Feeding Fiasco's

So far Leah is a little less than keen on solid foods. I've tried several times to offer her carrots or bananas or sweet potato, and she is not amused. She picks it up and squishes it in her hands and then drops it. Either on the floor, or in her lap, or in a crevice that I cannot possibly get to without disassembling her highchair. I also bought those Fresh Food Feeders, and the only time she was interested was on a really hot day while she was teething. But I totally love the concept of them, and just want her to comply dammit!


I forgot to follow up here on it, but she is doing really well with the sippy cup while my MIL is with her. Some days she still isn't eating as much as she should, but she does so well with feeding herself and it's still more milk than she was drinking while refusing the bottles, so I call it a win. 


Nursing however is getting a little more difficult. She is SO alert now that she gets distracted very easily and turns her head away from me with my nipple still in her mouth. Which sucks even MORE when I have a blister on said nipple. I literally have to bite my lip in order to not cry out in pain. It's hard to get mad though when she smashes my nipple in between her gums because she's smiling at me. That is almost unbearably cute. She is also doing this new thing where she puts one hand against my boob, while arching her back and pulling her face away from me all while (Let's say it together, class) ALL WHILE MY NIPPLE IS STILL IN HER MOUTH. I'm afraid one of these days I'll open my nursing bra to find that my nipples have absconded to the nearest American Consulate or La Leche League meeting place for salvation. Poor little things are taking a beating...


I keep telling myself to be patient, and that she will come around to eating food more regularly and easily. Maybe it's just because I am such an overachiever with eating that I wanted a child after my own heart. When really I should just keep trying and not worry, and also probably start Weig.ht Watc.hers again very, very soon. 


Any tips out there, Moms?

Seven Months

Dearest Leah,

This past month has brought mammoth change and acceleration to your abilities, and obviously a lot of firsts. You’re sort of eating food and drinking like a champ from a sippy cup, which is remarkably exciting to see but it makes me sad and feeling like you’re two shakes from telling me about the great apartment you found and the tattoo you’ve been hiding for the last few weeks. It’s hard not to feel like time is running away with you already.

Let’s start with your hands. You have suddenly discovered your hands and will spend several minutes flipping them palm up, palm down, palm up, palm down, while staring intently. Your thumb has become an integral role in self-soothing and an aide in your falling asleep. But the cutest part is that you HAVE TO have some piece of fabric in your little hand to hold up close to your face while you suck your thumb. So when I swaddle you I pull a portion of the blanket up to your face before I wrap the rest around your body. Man, I love that.

You, my love, are also a ROCK STAR when it comes to sleep. It’s easy to tell when you are getting tired, you start to whine just a smidge and I immediately scoop you up, wrap you in your swaddle – both arms out now that you are rolling over in your sleep – and then set you in the bed with your sound machine. You cry for half a second then grab your blankey and your thumb and roll right over. I feel like a jerk telling people about this, because I know plenty of moms who are pleading with the universe to get their babies to just sleep for a six hour stretch. And you sleep about an average of 12 hours STRAIGHT each night. I think it helps also that I got you some darker curtains, and a blackout shade for the side that faces East. And also, they’re purple; which serves as the first gender specific item I have bought for your room.  (Everything was neutral since we didn’t know if you were a boy or a girl before you were born)

Swimming. You went swimming for the first time this month and you did so great. You seemed a little suspicious of the water at first, but then again you seem suspicious of a lot of things. New people, your reflection, sweet potatoes... As we waded along together in the pool, you just seem mostly content. And I couldn't help but smile ear to ear about it. Your dad and I decided to splurge a bit and enroll in weekly Parent & Me swim classes. They start next month and I am SO excited!

Food stuff is not going as well as I'd hoped and warrants a post of it's own in the coming future. But I know you'll get better about it. Eventually. 

I think you're starting to figure out that crying gets you stuff. And whining will at the very least get my attention. That feels like a one way street to attachment parenting, whether I like it or not. Good thing I do. When you're tired or teething or not just feeling well you turn into my very own little barnacle and go with me EVERYWHERE in the house. And you hate it when I sit down. I have to be walking around  holding you. It's like you already know how lazy I am, and your dad has bribed you into keeping me busy all the time. I wish my back wasn't so lame, because I would do it much more willingly. But the stabby pains unfortunately overrule even you. 

So my love, things are pretty much fantastic with you. And I am loving every single second of parenthood. Every day with you is more amazing than I ever could have imagined. Thank you for that. 

Can't wait to see what the next month brings.

Love,

Momma