Hot Times in the Kitchen

Recently, I have been attempting to expand my prowess in the kitchen. The reasons for this are many.

1. I like good food.
2. It stimulates the domestic goddess within me. 
3. Broke.
4. Hungry.
5. Trying to lose weight.

Am I the only one who sort of dies a little bit every time I need to spend money at the grocery store? I mean, I do love to eat delicious food (see #1, above), but damn if it doesn't seem just a little bit sad to watch money going away that I won't even have anything to show for in a couple of days. At least when I part with money in exchange for a new purse or boxed set of fantasy novels, I've got something tangible that I can enjoy forever after. Once food is in my belly, well, that's the end of it. 

On top of which, I've been doing my darnedest lately to turn over a new leaf where my finances are concerned. There are just too many things I want and want to do to allow multiple weekly $30 trips to Safeway, when at the end of the week, my cupboards, somehow, are still bare. So to that end, I've lately been trying to get creative with the things I do have on hand, and to be smarter about stocking up on staples that will go a long way.

Plus, after busting my hump at the gym during the day, I'm really a bit loath to stuff my face with frozen pizza or other pre-made entrees, however economical they might be. 

Witness tonight's culinary genius.

As I've learned, the first step in all this is to start pondering dinner just after lunch.What do I have in my cupboard? What can I do with it? Do I need any small items to make a full meal out of it? This afternoon, I remembered I had frozen chicken breasts, two zucchini, a head of broccoli, leftover chopped onions from the turkey chili we'd had a night or two before, plus some butter and olive oil and parmesan, which are staples I always keep on hand. 

Let me take a moment here and sing the praises of a bag of frozen chicken breasts. A package of regular chicken breasts will run you something like $8 or $9, and you get 4 good sized breasts in there, enough for one meal for two, and leftovers for lunch. The Safeway brand 3lbs bag of frozen chicken breasts cost about $10, and while each individual breast is a bit smaller than what comes in the fresh pack, this bag is enough to last me for a least a week's worth of dinners, they defrost in the microwave in less than 10 minutes, and they make eating healthy a breeze.

Infomercial over.

After the baby was fed, I defrosted my chicken, cut up my veggies, and dumped the lot into a casserole dish. I drizzled on the olive oil, and added my personal favorite spice, garlic powder, in a relatively generous portion (because I love it), and a tiny dash of cayenne for heat. I drizzled a bit more oil on top, and three thin pats of butter to help crisp up the veggies as they baked. Plus a little pinch of salt.

I baked for 40 minutes altogether at 375 degrees.

Let me tell you, it smelled delicious.

The veggies were perfectly done, the dish as a whole had the perfect amount of flavor, and I topped mine off with some Parmesan cheese, which has like, 25 calories in a tbsp and is amazing on just about everything.

It was glorious. 

And I'm telling you, the more I just play around with ingredients, or cook from a recipe, I start doing more things like tonight, just sort of throwing a bunch of stuff in a dish and putting it in the oven and hope for the best. Which is good, because after I've done it once, it seems easy, and I begin to have fewer and fewer excuses for picking up drive-thru or falling back on the cheap and fattening option, because I know how little time and effort something better takes, and how much better I feel afterwards. Winner!

The Harvest Festival

Much as I dislike crowds and waiting in lines, I really wanted to take Violet to the Harvest Festival at Ardenwood Farm this year. This second round of the holiday season with her is going to be so much more fun, because she's so much more aware of everything than she was at this time last year, so I was excited for the pumpkin patch and the petting zoo, etc.

And I think she did have fun. What I realized, though, is that I should have brought my stroller, first of all, and second of all, that we probably could have gone to a park for free and she would have had just as much fun. But, mommy and daddy wanted photo ops. Hehe. 

Piggy!

Piggy!

We started out at the animals. Bunnies and cows are animals she's seen in her books, but never up close. She kept calling all of them piggy, though. Ironic that we didn't see any actual pigs.

Piggy!

   

We did some wandering about and eventually met up with two of my mommy friends and their little ones, both of whom seemed better equipped to handle a full day at the farm -- a 9 year old and a baby in a stroller. I felt very unprepared. I finally put Violet on my shoulders, which seemed to keep her happy for the longest amount of time. She really just wanted to run loose and get in everyone's way. In theory, I didn't mind, but it was just crazy busy and there was all kinds of farm equipment and stuff laying around. And she's too full of energy to want to be constrained for very long.

So we soon parted ways with out friends again and headed over to the pumpkin patch, again, largely for the photo op, since we didn't want to take a pumpkin home just yet. Charmingly, her first instinct was to try to pick up the biggest pumpkin she could find. 

This one looks good!

I'll just sit here for a minute.

We did have to convince her to sit on one, and because I was following behind her and daddy, I kept only getting pictures of her back. Oh well, it's still cute.

The haystack was a big hit. She loves climbing things. Going up was relatively easy, though Daddy did have to help her get her footing on the less-than-stable hay. Going down was a bit more dangerous, and definitely required help.

Going up...

Trying to take the down step at a run, note the look of panic on Daddy's face.

She had such a fun time picking up rocks and sticks and falling in the dirt that Shawn and I were both commenting on what a little tom-boy she was. But she kept holding out her hand for me to brush off the dirt, so, clearly still a princess after all.

Dirty. Clean me, please.

On Milestones and so forth

After a long absence, a milestone has urged me to post once again. And you'll no doubt be gratified to know that I've roundly scolded myself for not posting in an age. Cardinal sin of blogging, really.

Milestone -- 18 months. 

I don't know quite why that's a milestone in my brain, other than that it's the next size up in baby clothes? From 12 months to 18 months. The next will be the big 24 -- or 2 years old. But also, I've started referring to her as being "a year and a half," rather than how many months old, and that's different. Soon she'll be two. Gulp.

*sob*

We're already seeing signs of the feisty little 2-year-old she is going to grow into. "No" is a common word in our house already. She gets little attitudes when she doesn't get her way, when Calliou isn't on for long enough, etc. (Sidebar -- much as I try to interest her in Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sherlock Holmes, et al., she stubbornly refuses anything but cartoons.)

But she's also more and more her own person, and that's a fun thing to watch and be a part of. She's learning new words by the day, picking up new skills like climbing onto laundry baskets and unlocking my iphone. Which has got me thinking about getting her enrolled in classes of some kind, baby tumbling or even just taking her to a play place to interact with other kids. She's so much more outgoing than I ever was as a child, eager to make friends with everyone and check out all the new stuff. I was the shy kid who wanted to stay in my room and read books. So I want to foster that spirit in her, get her out into all kinds of different activities, sports, music, girly stuff and tom-boy stuff, and wait to see what sticks. So whether I'll be a (hot) soccer mom or a (hot) gymnastics mom or a (hot) piano recital mom, or all three, remains to be seen.

But seriously, I'm in no rush to find out. All this growing and getting bigger business really needs to stop.

With Grandma

Watching Calliou, one of her favorite pastimes

Already sneaking into Mama's wallet

Such a big girl, eating at the table

Scandalous Overtones

You know, I've been working on a lot of stuff lately. It's keeping me very busy, which has sadly meant that the blog has been suffering from a lack of attention. I haven't forgotten you, I swear! I still have some Hot Mama profiles that I intend to shortly publish, so stay tuned for that.

It's just that trying to get a freelance writing and editing career started takes a lot of time and energy, my pets, and I've so little of that as it is. You'll be pleased to know, however, that I'm doing this for you. Half of my efforts lately have been directed at producing a series of erotic shorts for an adult product website I've been known to do a bit of business with, and you should starting seeing said stories online and available for repeated reading sometime in the next several weeks. So seriously, put down that copy of 50 Shades you're pretending not to read. Seriously. It's a bit vanilla, don't you think?

Is it scandalous to allude to naughty writing and other X-rated preferences in a blog with Mama in the title?

Not if you also put the word Hot in there, which, conveniently, I have done. So. There's that.

;)

Profile of a Hot Mom -- Lila Jane

Hello, ladies and jellys.


I know, I've been vacant. I apologize. What with the move that happened recently and then the baby pooped in the bathtub...yeah, it's been a busy month.


But, rather than blathering on about myself all day, I'd rather share with you a little bit about some of the other hot moms I know, and that, frankly, you should know too. As I mentioned in a previous post re inspiring women, I have so many fabulous ladies in my life, and the name of the game is lifting each other up, man. So, to that end, let's meet our first hot mama.


This lovely lady has been a friend of mine since the early days, and we were oh so very pleased to have the chance to be pregnant together and have our firsties so close in age. We've been swapping mommy stories from the beginning, so it makes sense that she begins this series. Her name is Lila, and part of Miss Violet's long name (Violet Elizabeth Jane) was inspired by Lila's own middle name, Jane. Such a great name. Anywho. Let me introduce you...

Name: Lila
Age-ish: 29
Residing in: Walnut Creek, CA
Occupation: Technical Writer
Kid(s): Ava Elise, 17mo


Describe your style in 3-5 words ~ Classic, sophisticated, almost European.


How would you say motherhood has affected your style? The most obvious is the change in my body's shape after giving birth, which had the biggest influence on my wardrobe choices. But even now, though my weight is back down, I feel like it's distributed a little differently and I have to cater to that. I feel like I can't get away with wearing the youthful-looking clothes I've hung onto from, literally, my youth -- like I have to dress like a mother now that I am one. Also, I have so much less time to spend getting ready now, so I've had to shorten my routine quite a bit. I wash my hair less often since it takes so long to blow-dry. While I was working from home, I was determined to shower and pull myself together at least minimally every day; no wearing pjs all day! (I succeeded about half the time.) My goal was to wear clothes that were comfortable enough to wear while taking Ava for walks, but that if I ran into someone I knew while I was out running an errand I wouldn't try to hide! In the summer, that was usually shorts and a tank top and sandals or espadrilles. When it was a little cooler out, it was leggings and a tunic. If I was going to try to fit a workout class into the day at any point, I'd wear yoga pants and a sports bra so I could be out the door in a flash. (Time sneaks up on me when I'm chasing after Ava all day.) Now that I'm back in the office and leave the house before Ava even wakes up in the morning, it's pretty much business as usual pre-baby.


How do you maintain your style while juggling kids and work and home, etc? I feel like you really have to make more of a concerted effort when you add a baby to the already long list of responsibilities. At times since giving birth, a shower has been a luxury I couldn't afford. I'd be lucky to brush my teeth on a daily basis. And between loads of Ava's laundry, it may not have always been possible to throw in one of my own. I used to think leaving the house without makeup was the worst offense but now if I'm wearing makeup it's only because I applied it in the car on the way to wherever I'm going. (Or maybe I've always done that.) You just do what you can do and don't worry about it.

Who's style do you most admire? I admire any woman who has a sense of her own style, dresses to the occasion, and knows what's flattering to her shape regardless of the trends.

What's your favorite fabulous mommy accessory? Glamourmom has the most amazing nursing tops that I literally lived in for the first six to eight months while I was breastfeeding and even after. The long sleeved options are the best in the winter and they even have longer styles that are much more flattering to a protruding midsection and inflated hips while you recover from childbirth (and beyond).

Somewhat related, what is your hot-mom must have? When you want a little extra bling, I've discovered that bracelets (like bangles) are a much safer option than dangly earrings and babies love playing with them so they double as entertainment when you're out and about.

How do you stay confident? Honestly, I just try to push through and get as much done as I can, and if at the end of the day, I feel like I did my best, I guess that makes me feel like I accomplished something, and that gives me a sense of confidence.

What do you love most about being a mom? Ava is my greatest joy. I never thought my heart could hold so much love and happiness. I am enamored with everything she does and says. She's developing into this incredibly focused, intelligent, determined, and affectionate little girl who is going to change the world. And I feel like she makes me try harder to be a better person, because I want to inspire her to change the world. (Did I really just write that?)

Words to live by? As a habitual perfectionist and overachiever, it's taken me some effort to accept that you can't do everything all the time. You can't always have a spotless house and cook amazing meals and throw incredible parties when you have a baby. Something's always gotta give. But you can do any of those things sometimes if you plan ahead and prioritize your day. Also, I allow three times the amount of time it should take me to get ready if I go anywhere. Even with an abridged routine to get myself ready, I still have to get Ava dressed (and that has to be done just before we're out the door or she'll require multiple wardrobe changes), pack the bag with fresh bottles and snacks, and actually get ourselves out the door. Leaving the house is a process and it's much easier when you accept that and plan accordingly.

What's your guilty pleasure? Since depriving myself my entire pregnancy, I've really come to appreciate my daily latte and occasional glass of vino. Also, I love watching Mad Men season five whenever I can squeeze in an episode. (Since it would be impossible to plan my schedule around a show during this phase in my life, it's a huge treat to watch a show at all so I can overlook the fact that the season is over before I finally start watching it.) Oh, and my blog of course, and now this interview. It's taken me weeks to finish (sorry Katie!), not because I don't love talking about myself, but because I can only put in a few minutes at the computer at a time outside of the office. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to indulge!

Some uplifting video goodness

Hello, readers!
Apologies for the lull in my oh-so-witty writing, we spent the last week packing up our old apartment and moving into our sparkling new apartment, which really feels more like a house, or at least a condo, and I couldn't be happier with it. Pics and post re that whole adventure to follow.

For now, I wanted to share a post and video by the wonderful and hilarious Marie Forleo. I found it incredibly relevant to my life at the moment, and so many of my fabulous friends are running their own businesses and just generally being badass at what they do that I thought some of you would appreciate it too.

This is a video from Marie's website on How To Create Your Brand & Find Your Voice.

I very much recommend RSSing this gal's site. She rocks my socks right off!!

Parade of Good Times

Well, this week has been short and weird. Thursday felt like Monday. 

BUT...we had a fun 4th, and I have the pictures to prove it. 

The hometown parade was better this year than I've seen it in several years. And Miss Violet was intrigued by the shenanigans, versus last year when she mostly slept in her bassinet. My mom bought her a fancy Minnie Mouse t-shirt with stars and stripes and cute pair of jean shorts, so she was quite stylish. 

Some of the highlights of the parade:

The Alameda Theatre made a float with a gorgeous scale model of the iconic, historic marquee. 

The Alameda Chamber of Commerce made a Cinderella Pumpkin coach. I don't know why. But it was awesome.

The Swell Bar had a jaunty little nautical themed float, complete with mermaids, vintage sailor girls, and Neptune, God of the Sea

Violet, in her Minnie Mouse stars and stripes, and Grandma

Violet watching the parade with Auntie Shannon

Sleepy baby fell asleep halfway through the parade. Guess it wasn't all that exciting.

Rhythmix Cultural Works, an arts center in town, had a cool float with cogs and gears

This gal had more American spirit than anyone!

And my personal favorite, the period costumes, courtesy of the Dickens Fair float

Independence-eve

I like any excuse to bring out my inner hostess. For the family BBQ tomorrow, I decided to make a cupcake flag.

I used a boxed mixed this time around. Partial as I am to baking from scratch, I was more focused on the decorating tonight. I used a French vanilla Betty Crocker mix and whipped cream frosting from Duncan Hines.

I had intended to make the flag 6x6 but I ran out of cupcakes and space in my tray. So, rather than decorating each cupcake with a different color, I frosted them all, arranged them in the tray, and used the red and blue sprinkles to make my design.

Side note, I'd never had french vanilla cake until now, and it tastes like freakin pancakes. Win.

Home Again

Baby Violet has been spending the last several days with my mom at my grandfather's house. Since Mom won't be here during our moving weekend, she's pitching in now by giving us baby-free time to pack up the house, as well as hogging some nana time for herself with the Little Missy.

As much as I love to get some free time to accomplish a few tasks, the second night of having her away from home found me just a little bit sad. I missed my little monkey while she was away. So tonight, even though Mom was going to keep her again, I every so subtly suggested taking her home for the night, so that she could get back on her sleep schedule in her comfortable environment and give my mom a chance to rest up as well. Of course, baby was cranky and and tired, and so she went to bed an hour early and I haven't had much time with her tonight, but just knowing that she's curled up with her blankie in the other room makes me feel better.

Ode to Hot Papas

Without giving you the details, let's start out by saying that I spent most of Sunday night being sick. Spontaneously. I called Mr. Shawn at band practice to tell him to come home early, as I suddenly couldn't manage on my own.

He was wonderful. He rushed home, got the baby out of her playpen and made sure I was doing okay before leaving me in peace.

Once I managed to get some sleep, and woke a few hours later with a powerful thirst, he brought me tissues and water and my phone and my blankie, hehe. All while holding a sleeping baby on his chest.

All of which served to remind me just how lucky I am to have the man that I have. A lot of men would have turned tail and run when their girlfriend of less than one year - and live-in for only one week - had woken them up one Wednesday morning with a positive pregnancy test. A lot of guys would have grumbled about the sudden dramatic drop off of sex during said pregnancy or pressured to get some even though their lady friend was feeling anything but. A lot of guys, including some husbands I know, would have gone home to sleep in a nice comfy bed while I coped alone with a newborn and ice diapers in a hospital room for two nights.

Not Mr. Shawn. I know I would have lost it during the early months without his support and shoulder to lean on. He has always been, as I knew he would be, an amazing father. Amid the sordid details of the night Violet was conceived, I very clearly remember telling him that I was only okay with us taking the risk of not using a condom because I knew he would be a good daddy.

And he is.

Bonjour, Bebe!, or, a review of Bringing Up Bebe

I've always pictured myself as a Briton at heart -- I love all things British; in fact, a recent discovery that the Safeway near my house has started stocking imported English goods like cookies and juice that I used to buy in London made me happy for days. However, after reading Bringing up Bebe, by Pamela Druckerman, I have a sudden affinity for all things French.

I was trolling around on Amazon for some books on dealing with and raising babies. I've read all kinds of books about the nuts and bolts of physically caring for infants and small creatures of that sort, but as Miss Violet has now moved into the next phase of her life, I wanted something that would give me some insight on ways to help mold and shape my young flower into the delicate, graceful, and articulate blossom I wish her to become.

During said trek up the Amazon, I came across Bringing Up Bebe. I was immediately intrigued by the memoir-esque style vs. technical manual that some baby-rearing books can feel like, so I added it to my cart.

I was not disappointed.

Druckerman is an American who married a Brit and moved with him to Paris, where they then had a daughter and twin boys. She also used to be a journalist, so her approach to the differences she sees in how French parents raise their kids compared to what she's used to seeing from American and even British families is to delve into the issue and figure out the W's -- what, why, how, etc.

First, the book starts by giving us Druckerman's background, which threw me a bit at first, but I soon appreciated. Again, one of the selling points for me with this book was that it felt like a more personal tome, and learning about the author's background and how she came into being married and having kids in the first place helped me relate to her reactions to things like French babies "doing their nights," (that's STTN for us American moms), and the norm of French mothers getting their figures back three months after giving birth. And the personal anecdotes are what shape the book, Druckerman taking us through her daughter's first years and the issues she encountered as a mom, as well as her subsequent pregnancy with twins and the struggles those little bundles brought with them. Through all, and blended quite seamlessly with the personal stories, is the journalistic research -- interviews with French school teachers, nannies, parents, and pediatricians, as well as the articles and studies she quotes to back up her observations and theories.

I was especially drawn to the chapters on baby sleep and baby weight (on mom). Miss Violet still only "does her nights" about half the time, waking up once in the middle of the night for a bottle is still her norm at 14 months old. And when she was younger, I very much sturggled with getting her to sleep, and feeling like a failure each time she woke up. I just couldn't figure out why she wouldn't sleep longer, when I felt as though I was doing everything all the books said to do.

Passed. Out. With blankie.

In her book, Druckerman talks about the French technique of The Pause. As opposed to crying it out, which  is ignoring the baby's cries, The Pause suggests waiting a moment when baby starts to cry, listening, observing your child and then responding appropriately to what he or she needs. Is he really awake, or just stirring in his sleep? Babies need help learning to work through their natural sleep cycles, and by not immediately rushing into the baby when she cries, the French mother is giving her baby time to learn this skill.

Of course, when baby is crying, a moment feels like an hour. But after reading this chapter of the book, I waited the next time Violet woke up crying at 11:30pm. I gave her exactly 5 minutes -- almost exactly 5 minutes on the nose, she resettled herself and fell back asleep. When she woke up again the following night, and did not go back to sleep, it occurred to me after listening to her that she had been cranky from teething earlier in the day, and I gave her some baby tylenol before putting her down again. Different outcomes on each night, but it was the difference of pausing, observing (from the other side of the door, with my ears) her behavior and taking that moment to figure what it was she really needed from me, not just automatically sticking a bottle in her mouth.

The other chapter I found particularly interesting was the one that dealt with French women and their figures after childbirth. As Druckerman points out, the pregnancy culture in America seems to give gals a pass for eating whatever they want while their pregnant, making it seem like everything is fair game, because, well, you're pregnant, you're supposed to gain some weight, so eat pancakes now while you still can! And after you've had the baby, well, you're a new mother for heaven's sake, you're allowed to hang onto that weight for a while, you're tired and busy and stressed!

14-months post childbirth, starting to look saucy again!

Not so in France. French women don't see pregnancy as an excuse to let themselves go -- whatever for? Just because they're pregnant they should stop caring about how they look? Really, what hit home for me was the French feeling Druckerman points to that being a mother does not negate being sexy, or having a life as a woman outside of one's children, nor should one feel guilty for paying attention to ones own needs. I also love the term "paying attention" rather than "being on a diet" for eating well. It makes so much more sense, doesn't it? Being on a diet implies restriction, being bad vs. being good. Whereas paying attention simply means that you're paying attention, and if you forget to pay attention for a while and have a chocolate croissant for breakfast, you simply start paying attention again at lunch. No guilt. No shame. Just common sense.

Finally, Druckerman discusses the respect that French parents instill in their children -- saying bonjour and au revoir to both other children and adults alike is mandatory for all children old enough to speak, teaching them from an early age that other people have feelings that matter just as much as their own, and that they must be considerate of the people around them. I love that. I've been teaching Violet please and thank you, of course, and usually trying to get her to say bye-bye even though it's mostly because she looks so cute when she waves. But I love this idea of teaching respect so early on, so I'm going to starting trying to remember to coach her into hellos and goodbyes every time.

Bye-bye!

Girl Time

Last night, I had the pleasure of some solid girl time with a couple of my lady friends. All the key ingredients were present -- wine, snacks that we ate too much of, and informal counseling. We dished on relationships, friendships, personal growth, and the merits of spending a night in the Castro drinking at gay bars vs. an afternoon wine tasting in Napa. We never did pick a winner.

Mr. Shawn even joined us for a while, which was nice. We're modern chicks, we can have cool dudes at girls' night if they behave. He had a glass of red with us and then departed to play online, which I'm sure was more interesting for him anyway.

Tasty red

We gabbed until almost midnight. It was so nice to have some solid, no frills girl time with a couple of my favorite chicks. Sort of reset the batteries a little bit.

Petit Ecolier chocolate biscuits. Yum!

Bread with olive oil and balsamic. Anything better? Not really.

Losers.

Summer Wardrobe

Since Mr. Shawn's birthday is on Monday, we've been going out this weekend to try to buy him some new jeans and things, since he's always complaining about all his clothes being old and worn, that his shirts have holes in them, and that he feels like a schmuck next to me. After reminding him that I like the way he dresses, I suggested getting some new clothes for his birthday this year.

It turns out, he's rather picky when it comes to clothes shopping. We left Macys, Nodstroms, Gap, JCPenny, Target, and Kohls empty-handed. Well, he left empty handed. I, on the other hand, left Target with a sackful of delicious new outfits for Miss Violet to wear this summer.

Now, I've been working on my bargain hunting habits. Just recently, I was able to get a brand new jogging stroller online (as it happens, through Target as well), that, to my good fortune, started out on sale, and after doing an internet search for "Target promo codes" was able to find a coupon code that took off an additional $5, PLUS free shipping. Shipping on the stroller was a whopping $23, so that's a nice big win. In the end, I got a stroller that is roughly $110 retail for just over $80. Sweet! (p.s., I highly recommend doing a search for coupons or promo codes + the name of whichever online retailer you're shopping before placing an order there. I found a great website, RetailMeNot, that seems to have lots of great coupons and codes for a whole slew of big name stores, and you never know what kind of little known or secret promotions a store is running. You may not find anything, but it never hurts to check!)

Which is why, when I walked past the kids clothes section at Target and saw that all these delightful little pieces were all less than $10 each, I was in hipster heaven.

First of all, you don't get much cuter than kids in rompers. And these ones are just so off the charts adorable with their sunny summer colors and little girlie decals, it was too much to resist. The flowered dress is also a charmer. As much as a part of me hates to be matchy-matchy, I also can't stop buying purple clothes for Violet. Soon she'll be dressing herself and probably taking after her father and wearing black and whatnot, so I'm taking advantage of all the girlie stuff I can until then.

I've been waiting for her to be old enough to wear a tutu since before she was born. And this one was $5. That's Five. Dollars. There was also a smashing lime green option, but, again, with the purple thing. It looks more pink in the picture, sadly. The matching top was also a steal at $5. The rompers were $8 a piece. I mean really, I only wish they made them in my size for that price. 

We're still working on what to get Shawn, it's entirely possible that he will end up with a video game instead, and the same old jeans he's been wearing for 12 years. Do boys have it easier or harder than us? Sometimes I can't tell.  

Milestones

All of a sudden, we've reached two pretty big milestones in the last week.

The first is that we've come to the end of our breastfeeding relationship. I had been thinking for a while that it was going to be time soon to taper off. We were already down to only 1-2 feedings a day, usually in the middle of the night and possibly right before bed. But that last few times, I found myself getting annoyed with it, and her, during the nursing, and basically not being into it any more. It had started to feel weird. And yet, it wasn't a conscious decision to stop nursing her; it occurred to me one day last week that I had not breastfed her for almost three days. And that was it. I was sad about it, for a while. I had a moment when I really wanted to nurse her one last time, to relieve the milk that had built up over the last few days. But then I realized that there was 3 days worth of coffee, a beer or two, and some wine, all mixed up in there, and I'd have to pump it out. So that idea was out. So even though I was ready to be done, and she seems to have been as well, I was still sort of sad about it for a while, more sad than I really wanted to talk about at the time. I've been denying the fact that she's not a "baby" any more, so phasing out this aspect of babyhood so suddenly and irreversibly was kind of a shock.

Secondly, last night, Little Miss went to bed at about 8:30pm, as usual, and slept without a single peep and narry a rustle until 6:45am. That, in case you were not aware, is in fact from bedtime to morning-time. The whole way. In fact, mommy's alarm woke her up before the baby did. That hasn't happened since March 2011 (yes, that would be before going on maternity leave). Of course, we'll see if she can manage a repeat performance tonight. But the fact is, she's been consistently giving me almost a full night for 2-3 weeks now, with just one wake up around 4am for a bottle and then immediately back to sleep again. And she no longer needs me to rock her until she's almost asleep, or stand there rubbing her back until she passes out. Now she has her bottle and can pretty much be laid down with her blankie to settle herself in and go to sleep. Of course, I still do rock her and rub her back and stuff, because it's our routine and I like doing it. But now it's more for the routine and less because it's the only way she will go to sleep.

Now, if I could just take my butt to bed at a decent hour, I might be able to take advantage of this sleep.

And you know what's funny? As happy as I am that she's reached these milestones, and as glad as I am to have my bed back, I just want her to stay a little baby forever. And if that meant being woken up every night  for nursing I would totally take it.

Speaking of sleep, please enjoy some photos in my ongoing "Sleeping Baby" series.

Superhero baby

with blankie

Now, if you followed me on Instagram, you'd have seen pics like this already.

I mean, seriously. Right?