Winter garden, food stuff, kid stuff

A rare photo of me with the kids.
The chard that won't die. I thought we pulled up all the veggies in August, but this chard just never dies. It is gigantic! I think it is pretty, so I'm just going to keep watching it and see what it does.
We also still have pumpkins growing. They are barely surviving, but Athena still enjoys checking on them and I like looking at them.
Chris made Energy cookies from Vive Le Vegan. He tweaked the recipe quite a bit, but they turned out well. I like to think of them as energy bars, and then you won't be disappointed. If you are expecting a cookie, then it most likely will be a let down.
I'm still on a waffle kick and made some killer blueberry ones on Saturday. I like to use a combo of soy and hemp milk because otherwise I can't palate the hemp milk at all! Mmm.
Rowan can actually ride this little bike now, he looks like such a big boy.
Athena made a "feast" for her "kids" last night. She really goes all out.
Athena made herself a comfy bed out of her dress up clothes bench/box. Her baby had it's own little spot too, complete with pillow. A good little cosleeper.
Athena has been loving to play with this barn that was actually for Rowan. She plays with it everyday and insists that the fence pieces go vertically. It works but is driving me crazy because I can't think outside of my little box.

Winter Nights

Tonight was a "Winter Nights" celebration at my sister's house. All my cousins on my mom's side of the family attended (3) so there were 5 of us in all. It was so much fun. Winter nights started as "summer nights" many years ago. It was just a time to hang with the cousins, drink, eat, and laugh a lot. Tonight was no different. My sister made us all pasta and garlic bread, plus there was plenty of junk to snack on like Newman-O's, redvines, and tofutti cuties. I always have so much fun with them, wish we hung out more often. We usually crank call family members and dare each other to do it to our grandma, I don't think anyone actually has called grandma, but our moms get plenty of calls. No kids or significant others are welcome.
I had a glass of wine and on the way home there was a sobriety check point, but on the other side of the street. I'm sure I would have been fine as I didn't drive for a few hours after the drink, but it still freaked me out for a second. Then I just laughed and called my sister to tell her about it.
When I got home, Rowan was screaming. He was tired and Chris had run out of milk for him. I felt bad, but I guess he was only really upset for 10 minutes. Chris was walking him around in the ergo and Athena was reading books on the couch. He went right to sleep once he had mom. Anyway, now I know I'll need to leave more milk for him next time I leave him for that long! Hope everyone else had a fun Saturday night!
We also tried to play this American Idol Karaoke game, but my sister's CD player wasn't working and the game was kind of boring so we cheated and skipped ahead to the singing part without the CD.

Oops

Rowan served up his own breakfast while I was busy making waffles this morning. I actually thought the bowl was out of his reach and that Athena was just feeding him some O's. He loved it.

Holiday Update

Athena threw up 3 more times Christmas eve (throughout the night), but we didn't let it ruin our day. It meant we had to miss our family party which I was very sad about, but Athena was too sick and so we tried to cheer her up at home. Here she is above dressed in her new kitty slippers, with her new "ergo", diaper bag, and doll stuff all in her color, PINK! She was loving it.
She also got a new pink bike because her purple one was getting too small. We are going to save it for Ro.
Rowan felt left out of all the bike giving, and so we got out the radio flyer push bike and Athena's old helmet for him to try. He thought he was pretty cool.
And just because Athena was puking, didn't mean that Chris and I couldn't enjoy a nice breakfast on Christmas. I made pumpkin chocolate chip waffles (from VwAV) and they were fantastic. It was my first time making waffles, other than a failed attempt in college, and I was so pleased with the results. And yes, they are farm animal shapes, a barn, pig, rooster, and cow, all rescues and living in a farm sanctuary.

And keeping with that theme, here is a picture of Rowan's own little farm sanctuary that Santa brought. He loves to play with the fence pieces the most.
I really hope Athena is well tomorrow, she has only eaten a bit of rice in the past 2 days and has almost no energy. She is hanging in there and has hardly complained at all. My heart aches to see her so sick, but I know she will get through it. It just sucks when you can't do much to make your kids feel better. So please send healthy healing vibes our way. We need it after the week we have had. On the plus side, it forced us to catch up on our laundry so yay for that. Now if I can just get the rest of my house in order. The bedrooms are neat and tidy, but the rest is disastrous. Who thought we could cram as much crap into this little 800 square foot house as we have. We used to be so good, but I really think we are outgrowing this place.

Hate Mail

Dear Stomach Flu,

I hate you. Why are you trying to ruin my poor little girl's Christmas? I don't appreciate it! Please go away, and don't come back.

Sincerely,
The Sick girl's momma on Christmas Eve

Crazy Stuff

It has been a super crazy week with lots of illness around here. Chris got the stomach flu Monday night and was home sick all day Tuesday. I tried to keep the kids out of his hair and spend 2 1/2 hours at the Dr.'s office that night, only to be told what I already knew. I was just so tired of being a human snot rag for Rowan. He has been sick for so long but the doc said it all sounded viral and that his ears were a little red but not raging with infection. Athena had one of the biggest public tantrums ever, it was insane and I should have left the office then, before I knew we had another hour and a half to see the doc. Anyway, it was just horrible (and it was started because I was getting all germphobic about being in the dr.'s office and I didn't want her playing with the toys and then eating so I kept making her wash her hands but I got tired of her eating then playing so I said no more playing, just reading books and that is when I pushed her over the edge) and probably why the next thing followed which was that I thought Tues. night I was getting the flu. All day Wednesday it continued, but I didn't throw up. Then Wednesday night, I realized I was feeling awful, and had a sore spot on my nursing anatomy. That is when I put 2 and 2 together and a realized I had mastitis. It is a horrible breast infection that feels like you have the flu, chills, fever and all, plus it hurts to nurse your baby, but you have to nurse your baby to get over it! Anyway, it was a pretty bad infection but I rested all day Thursday (Chris took off work) and my fever broke throughout the night in lovely bursts of sweat that soaked my t-shirts. I've never welcomed sweat as much as the times I've had mastitis because I always know I am getting over it when it comes to that. So, that is why I haven't posted in a week. Here is what we were doing when we weren't sick.

Athena helped make vegan sugar cookies. I wasn't feeling very good so I used a mix where you just add the earth balance and some soy milk. I decided not to use artificial colors this year so while they aren't beautiful, we definitely enjoyed the process and the final product didn't taste bad, plus it made me not feel as guilty for letting her eat crap loads of candy at the ginger bread house decorating party.

We went to a holiday/birthday party which gave me another excuse to get Rowan dressed up. I LOVE this picture of him!
I made some really easy and good pancakes from How it All Vegan. They were the "Classic Pancakes" with added blueberries and carob chips.
We mailed out holiday cards to as many people as we could and then emailed the rest because we ran out of time and stamps and cards. If you didn't get one it is probably in the mail, or I didn't have your address, or I ran out of cards before I looked up your address because you weren't on our 2006 card list. Please don't take it personally! And if you are really sad about it you could always send me your address, just to be sure your on the list for next year!

Rowan is 9 months

Look how much he has grown! This was on his birthday.

Ro turned 9 months yesterday so I will tell you 9 things about him.
1. He just got his 6th tooth.
2. He is a FAST crawler.
3. He loves to stand up and can do so without holding on for a few seconds now.
4. He is very easy to get to smile and laugh. Just make a face or say boo a few times.
5. He is starting to like food but has a very strong gag reflex. He wants to eat real food but can't really chew it enough not to gag. We keep trying though since he is very demanding. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.
6. He says "Hi Da" when Chris gets home from work, well it is more like "Hah, Dah, dah, dah". We are pretty sure he says hi and dad though I'll admit I can't say for certain.
7. He waves bye bye to Athena when we drop her off at school.
8. He loves to dance and sing.
9. He is the most adorable, curious, loving little boy I know.

He has also not slept very well for about, um, 9 days or so. Now that the tooth is through and the cough is hopefully subsiding, we should return to our regular nights, I sure hope so because veganmomma is tired.

Birthdays

We went to my nephews' 2nd and 7th birthday party this weekend in the OC. The kids had a great time. Athena loved the camera her big cousin got and waited patiently for a turn with it. (She kept saying, "Mommy, I really like that camera.") She loves visiting her cousins. I always call them her "boy cousins" but she has a boy cousin in town too so I don't know why I keep saying that. Maybe because there are so many of them (3 boys). It is funny whenever we visit them that Athena practically blends into the background whereas in my circle of friends here she can sometimes be a little, um, attention grabbing. I don't know what it is but compared to her cousins there she is pretty mellow. They are always commenting on how mellow she is. It is weird, because I don't usually see her that way. It is funny too because her cousin Ethan is the closest in age to her at 4.5 and they always end up playing together by the end of the day. At first, they are both a bit shy. I bet if we saw them more often it wouldn't be that way. I wish they lived closer, it is fun having cousins around, we are so lucky to be able to see some of her cousins practically every week. I'd like it if we could hang out with all of her cousins more often.

We all went to native foods for dinner and it was so good. Athena loved her kids meal which consisted of kids cup of native tea, veggie chicken nuggets, brown rice, cucumbers and carrots with vegan ranch, and a slice of mango. Plus an order of native fries to share.

Charile Brown Xmas

We weren't going to get a tree because we figured this would happen (Rowan pulling it over). Athena seemed really disappointed though, especially since her cousin's house had a tree over the weekend that she couldn't get enough of. I decided we'd get a small one and let her pick it out. It is the funniest tree ever! Short and round. The guy at the lot said he didn't think anyone would buy it and that it had been there for awhile. Athena was set on it. There were 4 to choose from in our size range but she only had eyes for one. It is perfect.

The Baby Wearer/Bye-Bye

Athena saw an old picture of herself carrying a doll in a little mock snugli carrier today. We no longer have the carrier and she really was upset by that.
Tonight in the bath she said, "Yeah, I think I need another one of those baby carriers. The one like the ergo." I said, "Well, we gave that one away because you already have enough carriers." Then she responded, "I don't really have enough, just one Maya Wrap and one sling. I don't have ANY like the ergo."

It cracked me up because she is just as much of a collector as me. Anyway, I just thought it was cute.

Oh, and Rowan can wave bye bye now, I am a very proud mama. Athena didn't wave goodbye until she was 11 months old. She was too cool for it. I remember being at the park playgroup and saying to the other moms, "yeah, she doesn't wave yet," and she looked right at me with an annoyed look on her face and waved. She was like, "Duh mom, FINE, OK, I'LL WAVE".

Owie

Rowan face planted on the wood floors this afternoon. His sister was involved but not to blame for the incident. Poor baby. Oh, he is totally fine though, I promise and the lip is hardly swollen anymore. And as you can tell from the pictures, he recovered very quickly!

Pictures

I took the kids to JC Penney's for portraits today. A family friend works there now so she gave us an extra long session. Let me just start by saying if you think this sounds fun, you'd be very wrong. Ok, well the cute pictures of my kids made it worthwhile, but it was downright exhausting. Ro was being so very curious and Mr. "smiles all the time", wasn't really feeling it. Surprisingly the photographer captured some pretty awesome shots. My sister in law told me it only gets worse since she has a walking toddler now (more like running from what I heard). Anyway, it was fun and exhausting, but so much more fun when I just had one child. We did it though, and I am glad. I'll share photos when I have them but I did snap a few of my kids myself today.

Smart Baby

For the past 2 nights, Rowan hasn't been sleeping well. He's been up every 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes more or less. It was starting to take its toll on me and tonight when he got fussy around 7 I told Chris to start putting him to bed for a change. We hadn't talked about this at all or made a plan, but I think Chris knew from my tone that I wasn't kidding around! I just said, go play some music, turn out the light and get him to sleep. He was pretty quiet for a few minutes and then fussed for awhile. After about 10 minutes, I went in and nursed him to sleep. Now he's been sleeping 2 and 1/2 hours which is more like him! I can't really complain, he has been so much kinder to me in the sleep department than his sis, but still I was used to him actually sleeping a few hours at a time. Anyway, I say he is a smart baby because it seems he must have known something was up, like maybe his all night nursing pass was going to be revoked or something. Now he is sleeping a nice stretch, so I guess I won't revoke his privileges. Smart baby, I tell you. And now I'm thinking this could be our new bed time routine, Chris gets him all tired and cozy in the bed and I just go in and snuggle/nurse for a few minutes. Sounds good to me. Let's hope he has a better night ALL night.

Funny stuff

I've seen this a couple places, decided to play too!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & first car) – Puff Honda
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream/favorite cookie) - Cookie dough Chocolate Chip
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) – Scun
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Green Dog
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Cunsa
6. SUPERHERO NAME: (The + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) - The Black Chai
7. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) – Lawrence Clifford
8. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) – Dempsey Denver
9. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, favorite flower) – Summer Orchid
10. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) –Watermelon Jeanie
11. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) – Toast Pine
12. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) - The Knitting Thunderstorm Tour
13. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) – Faye La Mesa
14. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) – Elizabeth Allen

Vegan Latkes

I've always wanted to make these. Let me know if you try them since you may get to it before me...

Vegan Latkes from (veg kitchen)

Makes about 3 dozen

You can find recipes for traditional latkes, in which the grated potato is held together with eggs, almost anywhere, but a vegan version is harder to come by. Here, the latkes are held together with something just as sticky as eggs — oatmeal! It works splendidly. I’ve also added a carrot for extra color.

• 2/3 cup quick-cooking oats (oatmeal)
• 6 large potatoes, peeled and finely grated
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 medium onion, finely grated
• 1/2 cup matzo meal
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Light vegetable oil for frying
• Applesauce

In a heatproof bowl, combine the oats with 1 1/3 cup boiling water. Stir and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.

Combine the grated potato, carrot, and onion, and matzo meal in a mixing bowl. Stir in the oatmeal, then season with salt and pepper.

Heat just enough oil to coat the bottom of a large, nonstick skillet or griddle. Drop enough potato batter to form 2 1/2– to 3–inch pancakes. Fry on both sides over medium-high heat until golden brown and crisp.

Drain briefly on paper towels and place in a covered container to keep warm until serving. Serve warm with applesauce.

Contest entry

I'm entering what I believe is my first contest. My friend Lorien has been knitting away and has opened an etsy store. Go check out her hand crafted goods, you won't be disappointed!

The Grinch

Last night, I took Athena to see the Grinch at the Old Globe Theater. It was her first theater experience and I think she liked it. It was a special night for us, and she even convinced me to dress up with her. She said, "Mommy, that is a good one, that is a good dress. You look beautiful." With her stamp of approval we were off. We enjoyed wandering around the park to look at the lights. We even ran into one of her friends from preschool who was also going to the grinch with his mom.
She sat well throughout the show. When it first started, she was asking a million questions. Why is it dark? What animal is that? What is the white? Where did the people go? But by the end she was more focused on figuring it our for herself and was clapping after every number with the rest of us. Now, she wants to go again with her cousin Oli. I think we will definitely go again, probably next year though.

Big Mistake!

I was looking over my grocery receipt last night when I came across a $37 bulk purchase. WTF? I thought to myself. I couldn't for the life of me think of anything that would have added up to 37 dollars. Then the kicker was that it was for dry milk powder!!! I've never in my life purchased dry milk powder! I was all pissed off and went to work trying to figure out where my cashier went wrong. It turned out it HAD to be the bananas because they were the only thing missing from the receipt and the weight looked possible (4 lbs.).
I went back to the store today and it turns out the code for bananas is 74 and the cashier had typed 774 which is the code for dry milk powder. They credited that charge back to me so I ended up getting the bananas for free. Hopefully that will cover my gas costs since it is a 20 minute drive to People's for me. Moral of the story, always check your receipt before you leave the store.

The cutest thing ever

My kids have started doing the most adorable thing when we drive now. I have got to get a picture. I keep looking back and they are holding hands! It is just so cute. And it is so great that Rowan hardly cries in the car because Athena always does silly stuff to cheer him up. I'm feeling very lucky and grateful for my family today.

More teeth, glasses, etc.

Rowan has 4 teeth now, it happened over night Sunday. He had bonked the top ones so many times that they just had to break through. It is funny though because it isn't the 2 center top ones, but 1 center and 1 to the right. This was because of him falling that way so many times. So now he is super close to having 5 teeth, whenever the other top center on decides to grace us with its presence. This has happened so fast, his first tooth was on Oct. 20, so just barely over a month ago. A tooth a week is sure a lot of teething. He has been so good about it though. I tried the gumomile teething remedy yesterday and he start screaming. I think it hurt him, probably burned is my guess. I'll probably just stick to his herbs "Tender Teeth", especially since he doesn't complain too much.
Rowan is also standing up very well now, and can let go for a few seconds and stand unassisted. That really scares me because I think he will walk soon, too soon.

Athena in 10 years, if she follows my footsteps...
*food*
Last night I made the baked mac n cheez from the uncheese cookbook and it was really good. I don't have a picture because my camera was missing for a few days.:( I'll make it again though.

Commas, Have you ever noticed?

Have you ever noticed my problem with commas? I have always loved them, but I tend to use them inappropriately. And I seriously have to think hard sometimes about where/when they are needed. So, I just thought I'd share just in case you ever wondered what was up with me. I've never pretended I was a good writer, either creatively or technically speaking, but I do enjoy this blogging bit so I'm glad my small group of readers accepts me for who I am. Be ready for commas because I rarely post without at least a few. And don't worry about correcting me either, I like things the way they are.

Last night

Athena spent the night with her aunt and cousin, sounds like they had a fabulous time and she didn't want to come home this morning. Wow!
I went to a friend's birthday party last night without the baby! I stayed away 5 hours and he was asleep when I got home. He stayed with Daddy and took a bottle and ate some banana and rice puffs. I woke him up a little bit just to nurse though so that I could get to sleep since pumping at midnight didn't sound very appealing to me. Anyway, that was pretty much my first night out since he was born, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did a lot of karaoke so my throat is a little scratchy today, and I'm a little tired from staying up so late, but it was worth it. There *may* be a photo or 2 coming of me doing karaoke since I know I was photographed. We'll see how they turn out...Did you know I LOVE karaoke? Really, I do.

Vegan Brunch

The brunch went well. Chris took the kids outside from about 8:30-11 so I could get everything ready. It felt good to be in the kitchen without distractions, and I even took a shower while the potatoes were in the oven. Very good times. It was hard to talk too much, with the kids running around all crazy style, but they were entertaining and so it was OK. And actually, the kids were pretty awesome without any "difficulties". I wish we could have hung out more, it was really nice to be with old friends.
I'm also thinking of starting a monthly vegan brunch bunch. It was a lot of fun, and if I make it potluck, it won't even be very hard. Wanna come?

I'm excited that...

Tomorrow some friends are coming over for brunch. I am excited because 2 of the couples I rarely see since they live in different states (Nevada, Texas). My friend Meghan I've known since 1st grade although we didn't become best friends until 2nd. I didn't think she was very cool in 1st because she had a Dukes of Hazard lunch box and I had Pac Man, just like my 2 best friends Troy and Jeremy. Somehow in 2nd grade I was willing to overlook the lunch box and we have been friends ever since, well, there was actually about a year where we weren't but we were 13 so I don't count it because we all know that 13 year old logic makes a lot of sense. So, the story was something like, I got in a fight with another mutual friend and Meghan took her side, not mine, and I guess I was kind of needy and a pain in the ass at the time so we just stopped hanging out for awhile. We slowly worked each other back into each others lives, it was hard not to because we played on the same soccer team, and were in most of our nerd classes together. By the time we were 21, we were backpacking through Europe together for the summer. She is awesome.
My friend Marlene, I can't pinpoint when we first became friends. Probably in Berkeley, but it was after I graduated I think. She was full of coolness and I knew I wanted to be her friend. We stayed with her for a week in Venice, Italy while she studied abroad. She took such good care of us, I could almost cry, because traveling vegan can be hard, and she could speak Italian and hooked us up with the soy gelato. Anyone who hooks me up with soy gelato is a friend for LIFE. She also doesn't mind if I call her "Aunt Marlene" or "Marlene Ciao Prego", even when neither make any sense.
I'm excited about the other couple coming too because they are awesome and we don't hang out nearly enough. Plus they are friends with Marlene so it's like a lil reunion. Anyway, I'll try to take a picture or two, I seem to always forget. Like tonight, we went out to Sipz with the inlaws and I ordered the "caterpillar" roll and had no idea it was going to look so much like a caterpillar. It kind of felt wrong to eat it, as it was so cute and lovely, but it was delicious too. Damn, I wish I had taken a picture.
Tomorrow I'm going to make roasted potatoes again, tofu scramble, pumpkin carob chip muffins, and probably chocolate walnut scones. I also bought some assorted organic fruit including a pineapple. I hope I have time to prep everything, it can be a real pain when I get these visions and the kids don't cooperate. So, this weekend continues to be all about food, and so far I can still button my jeans.

I am thankful for...

More than just pie and my kids, but those are pretty darn important (my kids are total hams). It was a lovely day with family, and the food was fantastic. We had our own vegan table (with my 1 cousin who ate standard stuff) so the kids didn't even notice the rest of the people eating up a carved bird, yuck! The pie/cheezcake turned out well. The cheezcake was a bit of a nightmare because it made 2 x's what it was supposed to, as in I filled 2 pie shells instead of 1. No biggie, but I'm wondering where I went wrong. And last night I was convinced it hadn't cooked all the way through, but it set more in the fridge overnight I guess.

Thanksgiving Feastables

Tomorrow is the big day, we always go to my Aunt's house for Thanksgiving. It will be fun to see everyone but my sister and 2 of my cousins won't be there which is a little disappointing. Anyway, on to the fun stuff.
I'll be making the chocolate pumpkin pie for EDBV, and have also decided to make a pumpkin cheesecake from the "Uncheese Cookbook". It may sound like overkill on the pumpkin, but I love all pumpkin baked goods and look forward to this every year. I bought some Rice Divine to go with the pies. I'm going to try and get both desserts made tonight after the kiddos are in bed, and tomorrow I'll be making rosemary oven roasted potatoes in the style of VWAV. I can't wait to try all the delicious foods. My mom is making the stuffing from Veg. Times (Nov.), minus the chestnuts because she couldn't find them anywhere, and a carrot yam soup, plus the traditional veganized sweet potato casserole. She used to make 2 separate casseroles, one vegan, one not, but now she just makes it vegan and no one notices. Thanks Mom. I think I already said this but my bro/SIL are making a seitan roll for our main course and a delightful green been/yam kind of casserole. I'm seriously getting hungry over here, we are going out for dinner tonight!

Athena's Dad and the shoes I'm wanting

Tonight before dinner Athena said:
"My Dad is more of a man than Dora's Dad." It was hilarious, mostly because it was totally out of the blue, but not really as funny as it sounds.
When I asked for clarification she said "it's just that MY Daddy looks like more of a man and Dora's Dad is more of a Papa". We have a Dora book and her Dad is referred to as "Papa" which to Athena means Grandpa so I think that is what she meant. It was still super funny, she said so many funny things today like "this playdough is getting all over town" and she called me "Mom-ski".

I just bought Rowan a new pair of Isabooties. I then found out they make vegan soft stars though, and now I am so anxious for him to grow and need new shoes. When Athena was a baby I couldn't find any vegan soft soled shoes and now there are so many to choose from.

Pleasant Surprise

Tonight was my night off, as in SNB night. I love Mondays but I know I've mentioned that before. My only complaint is that all of the other mamas talk about going home, their kids asleep, quiet house awaits...I usually come home to both my kids waiting for me. It isn't so bad, they usually just need some quick snuggles and/or some milk and they are off to slumberland. Tonight was great though because Athena was sound asleep. Yay! Rowan only needed an immediate 10 minute nurse to sleep session and he was out. I was so happy because Athena really should be in bed by 8 when she doesn't nap and I don't get home until the ungodly hour of, um, 9:30.

Another awesome thing I've discovered is that Rowan can be transferred. That's right, now that he is in a regular car seat I can transfer him asleep from car to bed. This just amazes me as Athena could NEVER be moved, not ever. He also unlatches himself from nursing when he falls asleep which is also amazing to me because Athena used to stay on for hours until I finally would force her off. Anyway, that was a totally random bit to share, but I'm just amazed at my 2 little people. We had a great day today, I tried so hard to be patient with Athena and I didn't turn my computer on in the morning which is really hard for me to do. I also tried to DO stuff with her while Ro was asleep like build a train track and paint her toe nails. I know she enjoyed it.

Kombucha

The kombucha craze hit my playgroup quite a while ago, but for some reason I was hesitant to try it out. Today I decided to give it a whirl so that I could stop wondering about it and to overcome my fear of it (those mushrooms really freak me out). Anyway, I think it tasted pretty darn good. I'm not sure if I'm ready to start brewing my own, but I won't turn it down again, it really was quite tasty. Thanks Lorien and Natalie for giving me just enough peer pressure to get me over my weirdness. And I know that are plenty of people thinking "hey, yeah, I've tried it" but they've only had the store bought stuff. My friends are hardcore, and only drink the real deal which they make themselves. We are totally not kidding around. Word.

Feeling grumpy

I'm always sad on Sunday nights because it means the weekend is over. We had a lot of fun this weekend between our usual battles:) This morning I took the kids to the cafe where I meet the Stitch N Bitch group because Athena had always wanted to see it. We had a nice breakfast and afterwards we headed over to a local lake to let Athena ride her bike and feed the ducks and coots. We then went to our neighborhood park and I let Rowan down the slide for the first time (Athena caught him at the bottom). We had to leave early though because Athena got crazy feet and started kicking me. Anyway, I hope tomorrow is a good day, it will be busy and I am already feeling so tired:( Athena has been soooooo challenging this week. Just super disobedient, whiny, and unpredictable, I keep reminding myself SHE'S 3(.5)! Today is her official half way to her birth day. Yay for 3 1/2!

Rowan's new toy

Rowan got an early Christmas present since he'll probably be walking independently by then. He loves to push Athena's doll stroller but it is always falling on top of him and trapping him beneath. This radio flyer walker wagon saved the day, it totally rocks and he is so stoked to be walking.

APRL Vegan Thanksgiving

We went to a vegan thanksgiving event today and had a lot of fun. I made pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips (adapted from my friend Luci's recipe of Mindless Mom Ramblings), and scalloped potatoes from Vive Le Vegan. The cookies weren't as good as when Luci made them, a little whole wheat tasting, but not bad. The potatoes were delicious and both items were gobbled up by the crowd pretty quickly.

Here's my potluck plate (kind of a mess but it was hard to fill her up with 2 kids hanging on me). There were some outstanding dishes, one with sweet potato, and a really good mac n cheez, salads of all kinds, plus a slew of desserts. I sampled the chocolate silk pie, triple ginger cookies and pecan tarts a la Lindsey of Day to Day vegan, and a peanut butter cookie, oh and some kind of chocolate cake with whip cream on top. Yum Yum Yum! I didn't even eat any of the tofurkey but Athena liked it. I've had it a few too many times the past few holidays and am fine without it now.

Nablopomo day 16

Well, I've made it halfway and I really don't have much to say today. Tomorrow is Athena's last soccer game and in the afternoon we are going to a vegan Thanksgiving event. We went last year and it is a nice tradition to start since our family Thanksgiving isn't a vegan event (we bring vegan stuff but everyone else eats pretty traditional except my bro/SIL). I like Athena to meet other vegans and to be at parties where she can eat whatever she chooses. I like that too!

For crying out loud!

I just went and purchased our 4th baby monitor today! You may be wondering why I need a monitor at all in our 800 sq ft. home, but it is because we are evil cosleepers and our bed is up high (DH won't put it on the floor) and although we have a bed rail, Rowan nearly commits suicide about 3 times per day by dangerously poking his head over the edge in a matter of seconds upon waking each and every day. Anyway, our first baby monitor was bought at a resale shop and worked fine and was still packed away when I was pg with baby #2. As we were getting baby stuff out of the garage, I was having trouble locating the monitor, and regrettably mentioned this to my mom who bought us a brand new one. I found the old one about a week later but since a friend was needing one right at that time I decided to pass it along and use our brand new one (should have kept the original one and returned the new one!). The new one was a real lemon and would turn off all the time and was tricky to get the monitors on the same channel. It crapped out one too many times and we tried to return it but without the packaging and receipt we were SOL. So back to the resale shop we went an bought baby monitor #3. This one seemed great but after a few months the cord to the receiver started getting testy and the monitor would sometimes cut out if the power cord wasn't pushed firmly inside, and eventually it just stopped working altogether. We could still power it with batteries, but as of today that feature wasn't functioning either so I went and bought baby monitor #4 which I just think is absolutely ridiculous but at least now I won't be wondering if my baby is going to launch off the bed anytime soon. And he just woke up from his nap for a 2nd round of nursing and it worked like a charm! Yay!

The Miracles of Breastmilk

Let me just start out by saying that today was a hard day. It didn't start out that way. I even captured this super cute picture of Athena reading with Rowan in the AM, totally heart warming in person. But don't be fooled, this was about the only thing positive throughout the day. I went to do the dishes and while I was working the sink stopped draining. The bathtub had been draining slower and slower the past few weeks so I sent an IM to Chris and let him know what was up with the sink. "Don't let Athena use the bathroom sink either", was the reply I got. Ok, and I won't take a shower I responded (good excuse for me to stay filthy today right). So I finished the dishes and poured baking soda and vinegar down the drain to do my part. It made the yucky water go down but when I filled it up again it was still clogged so I avoided it the rest of the day. Oh, I remembered another positive thing, I made Athena a lunch in the laptop lunchbox for the first time. She was really excited and ate everything but the sandwich while we were at the park today.

After the drain clogging, and nap refusal by the baby, we headed of to the playground to meet some friends. Athena was only slightly more clingy than usual, the park was hot and it was not a good combo. She only played on the playground for about 30 seconds and spent the rest of the time clinging to my side, only to take short breaks to dangerously wave sticks at my side. These breaks ended with me angrily throwing the sticks in the trash can because I just cannot negotiate with someone waving a stick at me. (she ignored my requests to move to a safer area)
Awhile later while Athena was snacking on some nori, she started complaining of an owie. "It hurts, ow, ow!" she cried and pulled at around her shirt collar. I peeked around and saw nothing but she kept complaining. I took her shirt off and still saw nothing, but a few seconds later a bug landed on her and I swatted it away. It was larger than a gnat but smaller than a fly. I then noticed 2 or 3 little bites on her upper back. She was whining but not completely losing it so I got her a calm drop and some rescue remedy and washed the area with a wet washcloth. "It's still owie!" she complained. "You could try some breastmilk," a friend suggested, after all it was the La Leche League Playgroup. Rowan helped me get an easy let down and then I popped him off and gave Athena's back a spray of milk while Rowan grasped for the nipple that was rightfully his. "It's warm", Athena laughed, "it's feeling better," and then a few seconds later, "it doesn't hurt anymore!" Wow, the miracle of breastmilk.
Anyway, after we left the park the kids battled against naps and I lost my cool a few too many times but now everyone is asleep and tomorrow will most likely be a better day. Oh, and Chris got home and had the drains flowing again in about 30 minutes while the neighbors, who also seem to be having some plumbing issues, are on their 3rd plumber of the day! Bummer for them! Oh, and about our drains, chris said their was a huge white clog and this is the 2nd time our drain has clogged in the past few months and never in the previous 3 years and the only thing different is that we often use coconut oil now. Does anyone else think this might be relevant? Because I know coconut oil hardens unless it is about like 75-80 degrees. I think we might be on to something even though it is not like we pour oil down the drain but maybe the residue could build up that fast, I have know idea.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Rowan turned 8 months yesterday, he has 2 teeth and loves to stand and cruise now. He has been crawling really well (not his old army style) for a few weeks now too. He also started clapping which of course I think is really advanced. He makes good noises and screams with delight when Athena screams. He says Mama a lot but I still can't be sure he "means" it. I am trying to sign with him more and love to see how he manipulates his little hands. I think he will be an early communicator, he seems to really get it already.

And before I forget, with a day like today I couldn't be bothered to cook so I let Athena try a new frozen meal. It is vegan, mostly organic and she ate everything but 1/2 of the foccacia bread. It also had ziti pasta, broccoli, and and apple crisp. Long live TV dinners.