Road Trip

I want to share this wonderful picture I took on the three hour drive up to Acadia National Park. My husband, daughter, and boxer, Tesla, and I went up for 3 days for our wedding anniversary. As usual, we had some of our best times on the drive. How my idea of a 'road trip' has changed from when I was younger.

Sitting down to dinner

One unexpected benifit of Josephine starting solids has been that I get to sit down to eat dinner, too. A formality generally reserved for the weekends when my husband is home, it's been nice to take the time to enjoy food with my little one. Here she is 'eating' (ok, playing with) peas. And my favorite dinner: farmers market veggies sautaed with very, very spicy salsa. Yummmm.

Easy Home-made Granola Bars

I always keep granola bars in my car for emergency hunger. (Which happens a lot when you are breastfeeding!) It can be tough to stop and get out when you have a little one (finally) asleep in the carseat and the other option, drive-through, isn't good for anyone.
Unfortunately, granola bars themselves have lately become just health-nut candy bars and expensive ones at that. (I am also not convinced that there really should be over 20 ingredients in a granola bar. What is 'natural flavor' anyway?)
So, like with so much else in my life, the thing to do seams to be a switch to homemade. I was surprised at how easy these were to make and REALLY tasty! Much better than store-bought! Enjoy!

I got the inspiration for these from MotherEarth news here. But here's my own spin on it:


Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats (I guess instant could work)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey (the MotherEarth version also uses sugar, but I found it to be almost too sweet with just honey. I might put even less next time.)
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (the only ingredient should be 'peanuts'!)
1 cup raisins
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread the oats on a baking sheet and, once preheated, bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes.
While that's cooking, heat the butter, honey and peanut butter in a saucepan on low heat and let it simmer while the oats toast. Like so:

Pull the oats out of the oven and stir in raisins.

Take the honey mixture off the heat and add the vanilla. Then pour the hot liquid over the oats and stir until it's well covered. Push this down into a greased pan and then back in the oven for another 20 minutes. That's it! Wait until they are cool to cut them up.

Advetures in Babyproofing

See those shoes, dvds and books back there? Oh, yeah, they're not safe.

The fact that I haven't been spending much time online the last two weeks can be explained partially by the unseasonably warm Maine weather but, more importantly, by Josephine's new found crawly ability! She had been moving herself around quite well for a while but just hadn't been able to move arm and leg together in a forward motion. Well, those days are over. Not only can she now crawl, (and fast!), she can also pull herself up on furniture, people or walls and walk around as long as she is holding on to something. The speed with which she learns and changes has always amazed me. But this has changed my life.

Nothing is safe anymore. If it is within her reach- she will pull on it, put it in her mouth or try to climb up it. We have gated off everything that we can, but in the end the easiest, safest, sanest thing to do is just get rid of stuff. So I have been packing up things we don't use, giving away things we don't need and generally continuing our 'downsizing' journey. And then sometimes, it's just better to get out of the house and play outside!

Expert-Mom

As a guilty pleasure I read Redbook when Josephine is sleeping. One of their recurring features is "Mommy Strategies" where mom 'experts' give advice for common mom problems. After the advice, which is generally very good, there is a description of the mom like: "Jane, 32 Portland Maine". More and more as I read them I notice that their ages are closer to mine. In fact, some experts are even younger than me. With just one young child, like me. It's odd but Could I somehow be considered a 'mom expert'? I had a feeling it was possible when I started to find myself giving advice to pregnant women in the grocery store when they stop to coo at Josephine.

I spend a good deal of my time still feeling so lost. Feeling like I need some guidance at this mothering business from someone who knows what she is doing. But really, at least to those pregnant women, I am an expert. With the problems that come with children under 9-months at least, so far.

Leave Josephine's binky alone.

Here on Papa Bear's shoulders.

Don't mess with my daughter's pacifier. Please, I know that her 'plug' obscures her smile. Yes, I know that she'll probably still be sucking it when she's 4 years old, walking and talking with it sticking out of her mouth. Thanks, but I'm not worried about her overbite. No, I don't think that she needs to learn to comfort herself without assistance. And no, it doesn't interfere with our nursing relationship. (We didn't give her one until she was 4 weeks.)

Is it bad for her to be comforted? Is it wrong that she sleeps longer? That I am not the only one who can get her to sleep? Mothering isn't about making it as hard as possible for mothers. You can't tell how well you are doing, as a mother, by how much you are 'sacrificing'. I think it's ok to use things that make my life easier. Particularly when those things also make my daughter cry less in her carseat.

Here she is again, in a wrap, with her binky.

Time's-a-wasting

It's 12:30pm and Josephine is finally down for her 'morning' nap. I told myself that as soon as she fell asleep i would get up, switch laundry, put away the dishes that my husband washed last night, make yogurt and pudding for the week. I didn't. Instead I picked up my knitting and let another episode of ER roll.