We threw my daughter's half birthday party (her real birthday is Christmas) this past weekend, but I saw this and think I have inspiration for her next birthday celebration.
You can see more here.
I'm not sure whether it's because I'm a new mother and these articles are catching my eye when before I would have ignored them or whether there has been a surge in articles about breastfeeding, but I'm seeing articles about breastfeeding everywhere. A friend sent a link to the following article to my husband, The Case Against Breastfeeding, and I thought that this one is worth reading. To be honest, I found the article more angry than empowering but it talks about the pressure exerted on new mothers to breastfeed, something that I never thought about or dealt with until I had my own baby. I'm not sure that I trust the writer when she tries to debunk the science since she comes off as very biased and not an expert, but I did think that the discussion of how women's bodies are politicized in the case of breastfeeding worth discussion.
My little bird is now a little over 2 months and it feels like my life before her was so very long ago. It's been a tough 2 months but has been getting easier - or at the very least, I have recovered from surgery and I've adjusted to a constant state of sleep deprivation - a state I am told which will last for a very long time. I am getting to know her much better - she is a baby who is very definite in letting me know whether she is happy or sad - and we are settling into a rhythm with one another.
My house, sadly, is a mess, since I haven't quite figured out how to incorporate household work, including dinner, into our rhythm. I need to re-do my dinners so that they can be cooked very, very quickly or at least in very quick stages throughout the day. I'm told that I should be in survival mode for the first 3 months and just focus on keeping myself and the baby fed, but it's hard to feel accomplished with barely managing to feed the both of us when the house is in such disarray. I keep imagining other mothers being able to handle newborns much better.
I am working on being much better about getting her out of the house. Whenever she cries, a quick solution to quieting her down is to step outdoors and let her look at the sky and the trees and the bushes and the various buildings and to feel the wind and fresh air and smell the grass and flowers. We avoided bringing her to public venues for the first 2 months of her life until she had her vaccinations since very young babies are subjected to a battery of tests if they get sick within the first 6 weeks, but we're beginning to venture out with her more now. I try to take her out for a quick stroll to the park each day, and we've decided that we'll try to take her to the farmer's market each weekend since we're fortunate enough to have one near us that is held year round.
Yesterday was her first farmer's market experience. M hitched her up in the
baby bjorn and we strolled out into the market. She napped the entire time but was extremely happy
afterward. We bought mandarins, smoked fish, several types of bread including cinnamon bread, as well as bolanis (a stuffed Afghan flatbread) - pumpkin and spinach - and lentil curry spread. It was a warm, sunny day and so very good to get out. Next time we go, I think I will buy some salad greens (I saw some very nice looking kale) from one of the vendors I like as well as fresh strawberries.
For those who don't know, I had my baby over the holidays. Yay, baby!
She's adorable. She's cute. She's my little bird, tiny and fragile and full of strange noises and desires that I have not been able to decipher.
For those who have had babies, you can probably guess that I'm completely exhausted although I'm told that the exhaustion won't peak until around 6 weeks. I feel like I chose the blue red pill and my life will never be the same - as if I've moved to some other existence. I understood what happened intellectually once one had a baby before I got pregnant but it's quite a different thing to live it. It's a bit surreal but still good.
No posting for awhile - at least not until I get more sleep and figure out a way to manage my schedule better.
I'm still trying to figure out what quick and easy things I can make for our holiday party - with my belly getting bigger with baby by the hour, I'm looking for simple, no stress dishes - but I have found a recipe that I'm going to try for Christmas dinner.
I was planning on making risotto for Christmas but I think I'm also going to make Stuffed Duck Breasts Siennese-style from Mark Bittman whose recipe was printed in the NY Times today. I've been thinking about my mom's duck, which is my favorite and Asian-style but am not feeling up to the task of preparing a whole roast duck and eating it between the two of us, but this dish looks like it will be good, has the added benefit of going with the risotto that I planned to cook already, and looks pretty manageable.
Tonight, we were invited for Christmas Eve dinner with friends. I'm going to make Wild Rice with Butternut Squash, Leeks, and Corn. I don't know what the hostess decided to make for the entree but I do know dessert is set - she has a ton of homemade marshmallows (vanilla, cinnamon, apricot, pear, and black currant), chocolate caramels, and chocolate truffles. M is going to bring Stovetop Stuffing since he missed having that for Thanksgiving.
Later this week, I plan to make chocolate gingerbread, ginger spice cookies, and latkes. I might even try rugelach.
mmmm. I love holiday food. Now, if only baby will let me eat as much as I want.....
We decorated the Christmas tree.
We lit the menorahs.
Matzoh ball soup is cooking on the stove.
Happy Holidays!
M and I are very happy to be able to cook again even if we're not cooking anything elaborate. More than 2 months of eating out, microwaving meals, heating up cans on a little electrical skillet in the garage, or grilling sandwiches on the Foreman grill definitely took their toll. We're doing our best to pretty much not eat out again and we're loving it.
Here are some of the things we've been cooking:
- Bistek (Filipino dish)
- Beef and Ginger ramen soup (Food network recipe was only so-so but it's made me ambitious to try making my own broth)
- Sorrowful rice (an old favorite and in joke from the God of Cookery)
- Fried rice with roast pork, peas, carrots, mushrooms, and egg (best batch of fried rice I ever made)
- Steak Fajitas with peppers, onions, and mushrooms spiced with cumin, cayenne, and lime
- Split pea soup with rosemary
- Chicken curry with naan (M did this one)
Tomorrow is a night to consume leftovers so we can have a lazy Friday night, but slated for this weekend and next week are 7 vegetable couscous with harissa, veggie pot pies, mushroom or butternut squash risotto, and maybe latkes for the start of Chanukah. I'm also thinking about baking chocolate gingerbread or ginger spice cookies for my co-workers as a little holiday gift and maybe even neopolitan cookies if I'm feeling really energetic.
It's so nice to have ingredients and so many options for meals. The kitchen is not done yet but it feels so much more civilized to cook at a real stove rather than heating something up quickly in the freezing garage and to be able to sit down in a chair at a table when we eat rather than on the floor.
We love our gas stove. So much quicker and more responsive than the ancient electric stove from the 60s.
I have some news to share on the piano front but am too tired to record it now. Anyway, I've been playing a bit, working on Fur Elise since I know M's dad will request it when he visits, and also on some Chopin pieces that I used to be able to play but now my fingers stumble across the keyboard. Years of playing on a digital has made me heavy handed, and boy, Chopin waltzes are long. Working on Grand Valse Brillante.
It's frustrating to have lost so much. It will take awhile to work back to what I used to be able to do. Must remember that this applies to any lost skill.
M pointed me to an interesting article about the Wall Street fiasco, how it happened, but also who saw the signs and bet against Wall Street. The article is written by the author of Liar's Poker, a book about Wall Street in the 1980's, and this article talks about how the author sees the current crash as the end of that order.
