Pictures from the past few weeks

Aha! Technology.

After giving up on this blog due to technical difficulties (couldn't post photos via Blogger's online presence on the iPad), Chris found an app for it. Ideally, I should be able to post pictures easily. 

Otherwise...Levi is ten months old, walking well and doing his best to run, and eating solids pretty reliably. He takes two naps a day but doesn't sleep through the night yet (except last night...!!!). And he's tall (30"...80th percentile) and skinny (17.5lbs...8th percentile). And awesome. He's exhausting o keep up with, but too much fun to be bothered by that. 

That's an old one. We haven't been taking many pics on the iPad lately because we're out and about so much. 

A Mother's (and Father's) Work : Laundry

My little man is sleeping next to me (on his blanket on the living room floor, exhausted from an hour of trying so hard to crawl), and it occurred to me that a) I forgot to change his diaper when he started looking sleepy, so he'll likely soak through it, and b) that I'd better get the rest of his dirty clothes into the wash, so I'll have something other than the lineup of 'un-favorite' onesies and pants to put on him when he wakes up. And then I paused to reflect on just how many loads of laundry I do a week.

My mom had a poem one of my siblings printed out for her taped to the dryer for most of my childhood. It was called 'Hats off to mother' and began with the line "A mother's work is never done..." I gave it little thought, casually reflecting on the fact that yes, she did do a fair bit of work.

Fast forward more than a decade.

I had no idea just how much work she did.

Nor did I know that the addition of a < 20 lb person could triple the number of loads of laundry I do a week. Granted, more than half of those are cloth diapers.

The breakdown:

• 5-6 loads/week of cloth diapers 
• 1 load/week of Chris's work shirts
• 1 load/week of Chris's work pants
• 2 loads/week of Levi's clothing
• 1-2 loads/week of Levi's floor blankets
• 1-2 loads/week of towels and sheets
• 2-3 loads/week of Chris and my clothing

At the very least, I do 13 loads of laundry a week. At most, 17 (if not more...spring cleaning has me washing the linens and coats in storage, and Levi's recent growth spurt took more than half his onesies out of rotation AND gave him the ability to soak through his previously invincible BumGenius night diapers). 

And while no one is judging me for my son's occasionally overflowing dirty clothes basket (and subsequent mis-matched outfits)  I'm inevitably left with the sense that my work is, in fact, never done. And I *will not* let it turn into mommy guilt. *will not* 

Because in the grand scheme of things, it's small potatoes. I have much bigger and better things to worry about!

Baby-led weaning

It's messy.

It's exciting.

And it has begun at our house.

Levi discovered last week that his hands can be used to get food to his mouth (an adorable video - I'll post it when I figure out how). Since then, he's been sampling a bit of everything...black bean burgers  and tomatoes at the Emory, eggs and toast with me every morning, mango slices, bread and jam...

We make food for him sometimes, but usually only if what we're eating isn't at all baby-friendly (chips and salsa, fried food, anything with dairy or gluten...we're excluding both til he's at least a year old).  He wants to feed himself, so purees aren't terribly useful.  BLW (baby led weaning) advocates assure parents that no teeth = no problem, and they're quite right. Levi has yet to cut a single tooth, but doesn't have any trouble taking bites of or chewing even firm foods (mango, [gluten free] bread crust, etc).

In other news, we're days from six months (Saturday) and also probably days from crawling. He's been sitting unassisted for about a month now, and gets from point A to point B by rolling, flopping, and scooting backwards on all fours. Time has flown...

February, already?

I can't believe it's February.

 Seriously. Where is the time going? I keep posting, resolving to post regularly, and then coming back a month later.

 Levi is four and a half months old, sitting up for short stretches, and sampling tidbits of food. He loves playing on the iPad, and strawberries make him bounce up and down excitedly. He's just beginning to catch on to all the games we've been playing with him since he could hold his head up reliably. He plays peek a boo, hiding his face in the arm of the couch or the chest of whoever is holding him, giggling the entire time. And while his thirteen and a half pound body doesn't reflect his voracious appetite for, well, everything (boobie, fruit, his fingers, etc), oh boy can he eat. I love Levi so much though. Life as a working, pumping at work mama is ok, but I miss him every minute I'm away. It's entirely possible my customers are getting sick of hearing about him. And I could care less.

I have plenty of adorable pictures, but the iPad won't let me upload them. Soon, friends, soon.

Butternut yam soup

I'm still on a soup kick...this one's my recipe.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash
1 yam
1/2 medium onion
2 redskin potatoes
1 Tb butter or earth balance
salt
pepper
cumin
enough veggie broth to cover veggies

Peel and cube squash and yam, and add to pan with butter.  Chop onion and potato, and add to the pan.  When veggies are mostly cooked, add enough broth to cover them and season to taste.  Simmer on low heat til all chopped veggies are soft, and puree (I use a Bamix, but a blender or food processor will work as well).

It's easy...I promise!  Also cheap.

2013

I wish I could say something like "new year, new life" or even "new year, new haircut" or something equally pivotal.  I can't though.  2012 turned into 2013 quite uneventfully, amongst friends and family (with Levi asleep in the other room).  I doubt he's going to hold letting him sleep through his first New Year against us though.

Levi, though...he's getting so big!  Sunday marked 14 weeks, which he celebrated by sleeping in and eating/napping the rest of the day.  I think we're in the midst of yet another growth spurt.  He's outgrown almost all of his 0-3 month clothing (though I admit, I still have a few articles in rotation because I like them!).  He's been holding up his head reliably since November, and is terribly frustrated that he can't sit up yet. And he babbles, coos, and as of late, shrieks and giggles.  We have a great video of him laughing, but I'm technologically challenged and don't know how to post it to the blog.

I'm still running a few times a week, though it's (surprisingly) been tougher to make it to the gym with Chris between jobs.  It has yet to get me back in my smaller pairs of prepregnancy jeans, but I'm seeing small and gradual improvements.  I'm running three miles about four times a week, and doing planks about five, and am hoping to start doing yoga and crunches more regularly once both Chris and I are back to work and life settles into a schedule.  Overall I'm pretty happy with my postpartum body, though there's definitely room for improvement as I have more time and more outdoor activity-friendly weather.

I'll be starting back to work on the 18th after a quick trip to Kansas City to introduce Levi to his great grandparents and visit my family, and we have friends from Chicago in town this weekend.  It's going to be February before we know it!