Author Archives: Jenny @ Practically Perfect...

2nd Date Night

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Chris and I went on a date this Friday – our 2nd date since Joe was born!

I know what some of you are thinking: “Wow – only 2 dates in 8 months?  How sad.”

And then the mothers out there are thinking, “Wow – 2 dates in 8 months?  How awesome!”

We think more like that second group – it’s pretty awesome that we’ve been able to go on 2 dates, especially considering that none of our family live nearby and most of our friends either (a) have children themselves and aren’t able to come stay with Joe in the evening or (b) work really busy jobs or are going through major life changes.

This time around we left Joe in the capable hands of our friend, Priscilla.  Priscilla does work a busy job and even lives a good bit away from us, but she was willing to babysit anyway – bless her!  We put Joe down for bed at 7pm {his usual bedtime} and headed out shortly thereafter.

Sad to say, but this is the best photo of the two of us that I could find:

I’m not looking at the camera.  Chris is making a weird face.  In other words, a typical picture of the two of us!  It could be worse.  This was my other option:

Now we’re both making weird faces!  I did get one of just me, sans sunglasses.

We had a good time.  We ate dinner at a little downtown place called “Agents & Merchants”, or just “A&M” for central city dwellers.  If you’re thinking about going there, I’d recommend getting a reservation.  We did that, and as it turns out it was a good thing.  All of the tables were full, and the server actually had to ask a couple at one of the tables to get up so that we could sit down.  Awkward!  By the time we finished, there were 3 couples loitering nearby and as soon as I stood up, one of the women moved in and took my chair.  I guess that’s a good sign, though – people really want to eat there!

I ordered an Amstel Light {first time I’ve had one of those in over 2 years – they’re just not that common in NZ} and Chris decided to get some caffeine with a kick: espresso + Bailey’s.  We split 3 of the tapas plates: chips {fries} + aioli, bread + dipping sauces, and grilled Eggplant Parmesan.  All three were delicious, though Chris enjoyed the eggplant more than me.  Something about the sauce didn’t sit quite right with my palate, so he finished it while I drank the rest of my Amstel Light.  All in all, it was a good dining out experience.  We had good food, nice drinks, and fast service.  The only drawback was the noise – very loud music – and the smoke.  We were seated outdoors, though, so you kind of have to expect that.

Afterwards, we decided to walk back up Queen Street towards the movie theater rather than catching the free CityLINK bus.  Chris was keen to check out the newly opened New World supermarket on Queen.

That’s right – our 2nd date, and we spent part of it visiting a new supermarket.  We were curious!  And besides, we wanted to buy a few snacks for the movie, so why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone?

We finally headed out for the last half of our date, arriving at the movies with about 5 minutes to spare.  We took our assigned seats {yes, our movie theater has assigned seating – some people prefer this because you can book online and choose your seats, but I have to go in person to buy my tickets, anyway, in order to get my employee discount and avoid paying $16 per ticket} and watched “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt.  Chris liked it.  I wasn’t over-the-moon about it, but I won’t spoil it for any of you who might be considering going to see it.

 We got back home just before 11:30pm.  Joe slept the whole time and Priscilla had enjoyed a relaxing, albeit slightly boring, Friday night in our apartment :-)

I’m hoping to make these date nights into a regular thing.  It’s important for us to spend time together without Joe and focus on keeping our relationship healthy.  I don’t see date night turning into a bi-weekly or even monthly sort of thing, but bi-monthly would be great!

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How about you parents out there?  Are you able to do regular date nights?  Is it something that you’d like to do but haven’t found the time for yet?  Are you, like us, living far from family and don’t have a lot of people that you can rely on to watch your little ones?  What sorts of things do you do instead to keep your relationship strong and stay in touch with each other’s lives?  Have you thought about teaming up with some other new parents, perhaps creating a babysitting schedule where you rotate and take turns so that you’re all able to have the occassional night out?  Do tell!

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“Be Natural” Cereal Review

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I was recently asked to review the latest cereal offering by “Be Natural”:

Manuka Honey & Spice Clusters with Flakes

I’ve seen the “Be Natural” range of cereals in our local grocery but since Chris is the primary cereal eater, I usually go off what he suggests rather than picking other options.  I was keen to try this box and to see what his take was on it as well.

I was impressed with the ingredients list – lots of fibre, lots of whole grains, and no processed sugars that I could see.  Here’s an up-close view of my bowl, shortly before digging in:

If you look closely, you can actually see the cardamon pods.

And here’s what my bowl looked like about, oh, 3 minutes later:

Delicious.  It reminded me somewhat of gingerbread and chai tea, only in a cereal bowl.  I’d even consider giving it to Joe once his digestive system is able to handle honey.

Naturally, I had to get Chris’ opinion as well.  Here is he mulling over the flavours:

It didn’t take long for him to decide that the Manuka Honey & Spice Clusters combined to make one yummy bowl of cereal!

His exact words were that it “seems healthy” and had a “good blend of textures”.  He also praised the fact that it “doesn’t disintegrate in milk”.  His only bit of constructive criticism was that it “could be a little sweeter”.  Of course, this is coming from a man who will occasionally eat chocolate for breakfast, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in that last comment ;-)

Overall, I’d recommend this cereal.  It’s healthy, tastes great, and as Chris says, “doesn’t disintegrate in milk”.  What more could you want from breakfast food?

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Please note that I was provided with a box of “Manuka Honey & Spice Clusters with Flakes” + three $1.00 off coupons for the same by the “Be Natural” cereals & snacks company.  However, I would never write something that I didn’t agree with.  If this cereal tasted bad, then I’d tell you.  All opinions in this post are honest and our own.

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I Finally Did It

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This weekend, I did something that I’ve been wanting to do for awhile.  I signed up for a photography class!

It’s a one-day course {6 1/2 hours} next month at a local school.  I’m really looking forward to it.  I think that at this stage, as a beginner, I need to do an in-person class rather than an online one.  I don’t do well asking questions via chat!

Why did it take me so long to sign up for a class?  I had all sorts of reasons – not a nice enough camera, not enough time, blah-blah-blah.  At the end of the day, I realized that I was being ridiculous.  I got a new, nicer camera for Christmas, so that took away one of my roadblocks.  I now have a baby, which added a roadblock and made me have even less time.  Life isn’t going to get simpler or easier or less busy anytime soon.  I’m really glad that I signed up.  A little nervous, but definitely excited :-)

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8 Months

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Dear Joe,

You turned 8 months old this week.  As I mentioned on Facebook, how on earth did that happen?!  It seems like just a short while ago we were remarking on the cute, hours-old newborn noises that you were making in the car on the trip from the hospital to Birthcare.

 

Less than 24 hours old

Nowadays, you are all over the place and such a joy to be around.  As I told your daddy, “He’s the kind of baby that makes me want to have another baby”.  I’m glad you’re such a happy little guy!

Movement

You have been working on your crawling every day.  You do the “army man crawl”, where you hoist yourself up on your arms and scoot your tummy across the floor.  This works quite well for you, actually.  The other day, I put you in the lounge and went to the other end to make myself a cup of tea.  By the time I’d poured myself the tea and turned around, you’d moved across the carpet and were reaching for the DVDs.  I have a feeling that it’s time to start baby-proofing things!

Of course, crawling isn’t the only thing that you’re keen to try.  You also love to stand and “walk” with our assistance.  In fact, you’d rather be standing than sitting.  The last time we were at Wriggle & Rhyme, I had to hold you up on your feet for most of the session.  Whenever I tried to put you in my lap, you’d cry, but as soon as you were standing you’d begin to coo, babble, and smile at the baby next to you.  You’ve gotten to be so good at standing that I’ll even leave you unassisted for a few minutes while I’m doing something else in the room.  You don’t mind.

Eating

We started you on 3 mini-meals just yesterday.  Right now, it’s probably 55/45 breastfeeding/solids.  You eat many of the same things that we eat, just without any added salt and making sure that it’s not too spicy.  I’ll usually pulse it once or twice with the hand-blender if it’s too much for you to chew {still no teeth yet!}.  Here’s an idea of what you might eat:

  • Breakfast – Half of a cooked egg + a few chopped slices of mandarin, or perhaps a homemade spinach/spirulina/potato pancake + a bit of homemade applesauce
  • Lunch – Usually whatever we had for dinner the night before! Yesterday, you ate a mixture of cooked beef mince {ground beef}, soft pasta, silver-beet {Swiss chard}, onion, fresh ground pepper, and some cumin with a “dessert” of homemade applesauce
  • Dinner – Again, it’s usually whatever we are eating.  Last night you had a mixture of beef mince, fresh diced tomato, corn, lettuce, a tiny bit of cottage cheese, and “dessert” of homemade peach puree

One of the cutest things about this new phase of solid food?  You, sitting in the high chair, with your foot propped up on the tray.  You do this all the time and it’s so adorable!

You’ve gotten to be pretty good about that fine finger grasp and picking up food.  You make a mess sometimes, but it’s all part of the learning process :-)

Talking

No words yet, but you definitely have your own language and know how to use it.  You love to say “ba-ba-ba”, “da-da-da”, “brrrrr”, “tsh-tsh-tsh”, and sometimes just shriek for joy {or in irritation!}.  You’ve also recently started this thing where you get so excited that you sound as though you’re hyperventilating.  We can copy your noises, then you copy them back to us, and we copy them back to you… it’s pretty fun to interact with you in this way!

Sleep

You take a nap in the morning and a nap in the afternoon.  The morning nap is about an hour, hour and a half.  The afternoon nap is around 2 – 2 1/2 hours.  Come 7pm, you are ready for bed and then generally sleep straight through till 6/6:30am!  I kind of love that you’re an early bird.  It makes me get up and get going in the morning rather than sleeping in.

Other Bits and Pieces

This last month had a period of about 5 days where it was just you and me, little guy!  I was a bit nervous how it would play out, me being the sole care provider 24/7, but it went really well.  I had been praying that I would have an extra measure of patience for that time, and I did, thank the Lord.  We only had one “major” rough patch – it was a particularly hot day and you hadn’t slept well the night before or during your nap times – but overall, it made me more confident in my ability to care for you.

You’ve also had some more time with your daddy, as I’ve been working a bit longer at the hospital.  I’m still just doing odd shifts here and there.  You love hanging out with him.  As a matter of fact, today while I was at work the two of you caught the bus to the beach at Mission Bay.  This was your first time to sit in the sand at the beach {rather than just being walked on the beach in your pram} and you couldn’t get enough of it.  Your daddy had quite the time trying to keep an eye on you, the picnic rug, the video camera, and make sure that you weren’t eating too much sand.  I’m glad that he and you are able to hang out like that :-)

And because you can only see so much in pictures, here’s a little video of you {about 2 minutes} showing how well you do at standing, pulling yourself up, and talking.

I love you, sweet baby boy!

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Greek Quesadillas

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I made these for dinner tonight:

So delicious!  If you’d like to give them a try, just follow the recipe below:

  • 4 whole wheat tortillas
  • 2 C spinach leaves, chopped
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • 1 red capsicum {bell pepper}, roasted and chopped
  • 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, roasted with olive oil + salt
  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • Shredded Mozzarella cheese {about 1 1/2 C}
  • Crumbled feta cheese {about 2/3 C}
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Olive oil

Brush 1 side of each tortilla with olive oil.  Place oiled side down on a work-space, and layer half of each tortilla with Mozzarella, spinach, onion, black beans, tomatoes, capsicum, feta, and a bit more Mozzarella.  Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.  Fold tortilla over, forming a semi-circle, and cook in a skillet coated with non-stick spray.  Flip after a few minutes, till both sides are golden-brown and cheeses are melted.  Cut each semi-circle into wedges.

Enjoy!

Modified from this recipe.

PS – If you’re thinking that oven-roasted tomatoes and capsicum are too hard, think again!  All you do is take a pint of cherry tomatoes, slice them in half, toss them in 2 – 3 T of olive oil with some sea salt sprinkled on top.  Spread them on a baking sheet and broil for 15 minutes.  For the capsicum, just cut it in half, scoop out the insides, place the halves with cut-sides down and press them flat with your hands.  Brush with olive oil and broil for 15 minutes.  Once finished, peel skins off the capsicum.  If you want, put tomatoes and capsicum on the same baking pan and broil together to save on time!

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Chris is Back!

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Joe and I have been home alone for the past several days while Chris traveled to… Virginia!

Yes, we were just in the States but Chris headed back over there for work-related travels.

We really missed him!  Having him gone made me realize a few things, probably the least-important of which was this:

Chris is – gasp – not the one who does this to the tube of toothpaste!

It’s true – we’ve been married for over 7 years and I’ve always assumed that Chris was the one who left the big gob of blue goop on the tube.  No, my friends – it’s me.  The tube was cleaned off on the morning of the day that he left, and this is what it looked like when he returned.

Oh well.  Learned something new about myself :-)

Seriously, though – it’s great to have him back.  Our family isn’t complete without him here!

 

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Summertime and Controversy

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It’s February, which means summer, which means hot.  Like many places over here, we don’t have any air-conditioning in our apartment.  That means Joe spends a lot of the day like this:

If only it were permissible for adults to go around dressed in the same fashion!  It might help cool some of the tempers that have been simmering in NZ these days surrounding the whole “breast vs. formula-feeding” issue.

It’s not a new issue, really.  The “breast vs. formula” debate has been going on ever since formula became a popular alternative.  This latest flare-up surrounds a brief, seconds-long clip of Piri Weepu {famous NZ rugby player} feeding his baby girl with a bottle while appearing in an anti-smoking PSA.  The local La Leche League expressed concern that this was undermining the “breast milk is best” position of the NZ government {who was running the anti-smoking PSA}, and the clip was pulled.

Naturally, this was cause for a revolt.  It’s ridiculous, really.  In one camp, you have LLL who’s aim is to promote breastfeeding while providing support and education.  In another camp, you have parents who feel targeted for using formula.  There’s likely a 3rd camp out there as well, but for the purposes of this post, I’m only going to focus on those two.

I think that most people in Western culture have heard at some point that “breast is best” and know that breast milk is the ideal, the same way that most people realize that drinking during pregnancy is a bad idea and that smoking around children should be avoided.  However, as someone who almost exclusively breast-feeds {I do occasionally give Joe expressed milk in a bottle and we’ve started to introduce solids}, I get irked when people are staunchly for or against one side or the other.

I believe that God created a perfect world, and that we as women were designed to be able to breastfeed.  Unfortunately, that perfect world and that perfect design were mucked up.  The end result is that things don’t always work as they were originally intended.  We have problems like complicated births, c-sections, failure to thrive, prematurity, food allergies, and a whole host of other issues that can affect both a woman’s ability to produce milk and a baby’s ability to ingest it.  That doesn’t even begin to factor in things like needing to return to work in order to help support your family, a situation which can be so stressful that your milk supply dries up entirely.

Do I think that women and society should strive to support breastfeeding?  Yes – absolutely.  It’s the perfect food for our babies in an ideal world.  But like I said, that ideal, perfect world no longer exists.  That’s not an excuse to throw up our hands and say, “Oh well!”  You should ask questions.  Go to a local LLL meeting.  Call up a lactation consultant.  Educate yourself. Talk to your doctor or midwife.  Most women that I know who have used or are using formula aren’t doing it solely for convenience’s sake – they’re doing it because they attempted to breastfeed and for a variety of reasons found that they were unable to do so.  And unfortunately, at some point or another, these women feel shame or guilt as a result.

You are not a bad parent because of feeding your child formula.  It would be far, far worse to choose not to feed your child.  I’d even say that it would be far, far worse to work yourself into exhaustion while trying everything in the book to breastfeed, leaving you stressed, miserable, and unable to cope with and enjoy your new baby.  Anyone who says, “Tsk, well if you’d only tried X, Y, and Z, then you’d be able to breastfeed successfully” is presenting an incredibly simplistic answer to a very complicated problem.  It’s not always that easy.

So, feed your baby.  Love them.  Listen to what experts tell you.  Try your best.  Then move on.  If someone criticizes your choice {which to me, the idea of a stranger coming up to you and shaking their finger at how you feed your child is just bizarre} then give them the attention they deserve: none.

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1 Day

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I thought that I would share what a day in our life looks like.  Please join me for a photo tour!

1:50am – Bad start to morning – woke up with a terrible headache, ended up getting out of bed, being sick, taking Panadol (Tylenol) and drinking some water

2:30am – Back to sleep

6:30am – Awake with Joe. Decide to nurse him in bed because of being so tired.  Chris has already left for work, so it’s just him and me.

6:50am – Get dressed, make bed, and check email

7am – Start laundry, fold cloth nappies, drink a big glass of water

7:30am – Empty dishwasher, re-load dishwasher, and clean up the kitchen

In case you were wondering what was going on with Joe all this time, he was playing in the lounge, “reading” books, and listening to his records :-)

7:40am – Start the kettle, pump a bottle for Joe, read to Joe, and pour myself a cup of tea

8am – Joe starts to have a meltdown – time for his “second breakfast”!

I was watching a documentary on NASA while nursing him.  The photo below makes it look like it was some cheesy B-movie about space invaders, but I promise it was scientific!

8:15am – Hang some of the laundry, play & sing with Joe, change him, and dance around to “Hokey Pokey.  What?  Don’t you dance to the “Hokey Pokey” in the morning?  You should.

Put Joe in his Jolly Jumper for a few minutes while finishing the laundry…

9am – Read “Where is the Green Sheep?” to Joe, nurse him one more time, and put him down for his morning nap

9:10am – Run on treadmill

9:55am – Shower, start 2nd load of laundry, called and texted with friend who was in labor, put together a quick grocery list, checked email, collected library books/CDs to return, and took out a chicken to thaw.

10:30am – Joe is awake!

Take him into the lounge and quickly finish hanging the laundry and put away any dry items while he’s still smiling and happy :-)   Play with him once everything is up on the rack.

10:50am – Sunblock application in preparation for our walk outside later.  Got to put it on at least 15 minutes before going into the sun.

11am – Nurse Joe.

11:15am – Head out on errands to library, cleaners, and grocery.  First, have to get all of this…

Down these…

Just imagine what it’s like on the way back up, when I’m bearing groceries and a shirt from the cleaners!  Thankfully, it’s only this 1 flight of stairs before reaching the lift, and then down to ground level.

Ready to go!

Joe had fun at the library, though you wouldn’t know it from this photo:

12:30pm – Get home; burning up from carrying Joe + pram + nappy bag + groceries + library books + everything else but the kitchen sink up those stairs.  Rue decision to wear jeans in summer.

12:40pm – Nurse Joe, then feed him some solid foods.

This is what he was eating.  Looks gross, but it tasted so good that I wanted to eat a bowl of it myself!

Joe’s food was a meal that we’d had for dinner last night.  I just pulsed it once or twice with the hand blender so that it was a thick, lumpy mash, added some cottage cheese, and about 1/8 – 1/4 of a tsp of spirulina powder.

This is what Joe looked like when he realized that he had eaten all of his food and none was left in the bowl:

What a face!

1:00pm – Joe has some play-time while I try to eat lunch.  I get about 2 bites in before Joe sees what I’m doing, lunges for my fork, then bursts into tears because he can’t have any of my spicy homemade chicken.  Sorry, Joe.  I end up putting away the food and playing with Joe on the nursery floor.  Let’s just say that I’m glad that I have a cheap cell phone, because Joe loves to bang it on the floor!

Working on crawling…

1:50pm – Put Joe down for nap and work on Bible study

2:30 – 2:45pm – Eat a not-so-healthy lunch of corn tortilla chips; have a spoonful of Nutella for dessert

Side Note: In the 8+ years that I’ve known Chris, he’s been telling me about how great Nutella is and that I should try some.  I finally tried some this week after being given homemade chocolate hazelnut spread.  Wow – so good!  And so bad!

2:45pm – Napped {normally don’t do this, but pretty tired from waking up in the wee hours of the morning and being sick}

4pm – Joe is awake, and so am I!  I change him, nurse him, put away the remainder of the laundry, put a chicken in a pot of water to boil, and play with Joe.

4:30pm – Chris home – we chat about our days while he plays with Joe as a I check on the chicken.

5pm – Fed Joe more solid foods; ended up rearranging freezer while pulling out some things for him so that I could fit my 16 C of homemade chicken broth in there.  We don’t have a big freezer, so I’m constantly rearranging things:

Bottom drawer w/ homemade chicken broth and applesauce, fruits + veggies, and bottles

This is the top drawer, pre-organization…

And here it is after…

Chris ate his dinner during this time, too.

6:00pm – Bath time for Joe!

This was also when I ate my dinner.  Chris finished Joe’s bath time responsibilities by drying him off and changing him.  I scurried into the kitchen to try out a new recipe – hummus melts.  Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry that I made two mistakes.  Can you guess what they are?

Mistake #1 – this was supposed to have hummus, then spinach, and then cheese.  Mistake #2 – was supposed to use mozzarella cheese, not cheddar/tasty cheese.  Whoops.  It was good, but too cheesy and not quite as healthy as it should have been.

6:30pm – Story time and nursing Joe once more before he goes to bed.

7pm – Joe is asleep!  Hurriedly pick up the lounge, then finish the chicken, de-bone it, chop it, and measure it into 2 C servings in Ziploc baggies for the freezer.  Decide that I want something sweet, so I make no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies.

Throughout the chicken de-boning/chopping process, Chris was like this:

However, within a few minutes of starting to mix up the peanut butter and chocolate, he says, “Whatcha doin’?” and ambled on over.  Hmm.

About the cookies – these are always hit-or-miss for me.  Last time I made them, they were great.  The time before, they were soupy.  This time, I got to the last cup of oatmeal and thought, “Wait… did I already add all of the oatmeal?”  Decided that I did, then second-guessed myself and added a 1/2 C just to be safe.  Turns out that I hadn’t added all of the oatmeal, so they were a bit runny, hence storing them in the fridge!

8:15pm – Write a post, play around with HTML on blog, upload pictures and videos while watching “NCIS” on DVD with Chris

10:00pm – Start dishwasher, head to bed!

Thanks for joining us!  I’d love to see what a day in your life looks like, too :-)

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ExpatFocus.com – Avoiding Isolation

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My February post for ExpatFocus.com is up!  Click on over to read my suggestions for avoiding isolation and making friends when moving to a new country.

If you’d like to read my other articles, then click on my columnist page.  I was shocked to see that my last article had over 800 reads – whoa!

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The Weirdest Pancakes I’ve Ever Made

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Joe usually eats whatever we eat.  I might omit some spices and pulse it once or twice with the hand blender, but that’s about it.

There are a few things that I make up especially for him, though, such as homemade snacks.  I like to have food that’s easily portable, doesn’t require utensils, and won’t make a mess.  One food that fits the bill in those regards are pikelets, or silver-dollar pancakes for you non-Kiwi, non-Aussie readers.

They’re incredibly easy to make.  Just a cup of self-raising flour, an egg, and a cup of milk.  Pour onto the griddle, let them cool, and then store in the freezer.

However, there isn’t a whole lot of nutritionally redeeming stuff in them.  I decided to experiment and came up with my own version.  It’s a little… unorthodox.  I switched out 1/2 C of the self-raising flour for wholewheat flour, and instead of milk, I use breast milk.

Yes, you read that last ingredient correctly.  I wasn’t planning to make them that way.  I was mixing up a batch and had just put the egg carton back in the fridge.  I was reaching for the milk when I saw it – the bottle that I’d put in there earlier that morning.  My hand rested on the milk container.  Cold air swirled around me.  I hesitated, then thought, “Eh – why not?” and pulled out the bottle.  Instead of cow’s milk, why not use the stuff that was specifically designed just for Joe?

They smelled normal.  They looked normal.

Joe thought they tasted pretty good!

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one.  Chris came home and lifted the cloth off the plate of cooling pikelets.  Before I could stop him, he took a bite.

I gasped, and said, “What are you doing?!”  Chris stopped mid-chew and stared at me.  I burst out laughing and said, “Those are for Joe!”  Chris didn’t understand what the big deal was – he was only planning to eat one, after all.  Once he understood that they’d been made with breast milk, he grimaced and set it back on the plate.  “I thought it tasted a bit funny, but figured it was because of the whole wheat flour.”

Nope.

So, word to the wise – if you’re going to make these, make sure that anyone within eating distance realizes their ingredients!

  • 1/2 C self-raising flour
  • 1/2 C wholewheat flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 C milk {of whatever variety}

Mix the above, then pour by tablespoonfuls onto medium-hot griddle.  Makes about 15 servings.

Notes: Be sure to keep an eye on these, as they cook quickly.  Also, you can sub the wholewheat flour for some other variety of flour, or just use only self-raising flour.  However, you need to be sure that if you sub the self-raising flour, you add some baking powder or these will be as flat as… well… a pancake!  Another thought is to take out a teaspoon of the wholewheat flour and add a teaspoon of spirulina powder for an extra “oomph” of nutritional value :-)

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Messy Mom Monday

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Took this photo of myself as the 3 of us were heading out for a walk in the early hours of Saturday morning {just past 8am}.

Hooded jersey, black UA workout leggings, and jandals

FYI – ja{panese sa}ndals = jandals = flip-flops!

I’m not even sure that I’d brushed my hair by that point.  Oh well.  Though I am happy to say that I’ve lost a further 2 pounds, and am now only 14 away from my 20 pound goal.

Family Portrait

Here’s a photo of my little project for this week:

That filing cabinet has been sitting in our bedroom corner for the last year.  Various things have been put on top of it – an odd candle, part of Chris’ clippers/razor, papers, and a heating fan.  Inside the cabinet are papers dating back probably 10 years, in some cases.  We moved it in here when we turned the office into Joe’s nursery, and I haven’t done anything with it since then.

This week, I’d like to go through all of the drawers and clean it out.  I have a feeling that it can be greatly downsized.  My hope is to clear out enough things that we can get rid of it.  The question is, who in New Zealand is going to want a file cabinet designed for 8×10 paper when the standard size here is A4?  Guess I’ll just have to post it on TradeMe.co.nz and find out!  Couldn’t be worse than this ad:

Love how they say that these 2 boxes are in “surplus to our own requirements”.  Does anyone really require Twinkies?  Thanks D for bringing this to my attention!

***I would normally link back to another blog that hosts MMM, but since Monday comes early in NZ, I didn’t realize till after this had gone up that they are no longer doing MMM and are instead doing something new, starting next week… so no linking back today :-) ***

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Girl Friday, Work, and Lantern Festival

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We had a good, busy weekend.

Friday night was Girl Friday, hosted by the lovely Erin and Danae.  These two sisters have more creativity in their little fingers than I have in my entire body.

A welcome sight upon entry to “An Evening in Paris”

Beautiful table-scape with custom-made “Cafe Vendredi” {Cafe Friday} place mats

Folded serviettes {napkins}

It’s the little things that make it so special :-)

“Springtime in Paris” cocktail

Savoury crepes in the oven

This was actually a relatively small group.  Many people are away on holiday, making the most of the New Zealand summer.  I didn’t mind.  Regardless of the size, it’s always a fun time with women from a variety of backgrounds, all talking and enjoying a meal.  I’ve never left a GF evening without feeling special, ministered to, and refreshed.

I am still figuring out my camera settings and decided that the following photos looked best in sepia or black and white.  Bear with me!

To wrap it all up, we were each given a party favour – homemade chocolate hazelnut spread…

This was after Chris had started to sample it with breakfast on Saturday morning…

By midday, he’d emptied the jar!

Later Saturday morning, Joe, Chris and I headed out for a bit of a walk.  We normally head to the Farmer’s Market downtown, but I was tired and decided to sleep in.  We went for a walk around town instead, and headed to a local park in the afternoon before I went into work for the evening.

Joe had a wonderful time on the play set.  Chris was teaching him how to drive…

I worked that evening, which meant that I didn’t get to bed till nearly 1am the following morning.  I was up by 7am with Joe, and then it was off to church at 8:30 for Chris to do set-up and for me to be in the creche {nursery}.

Sunday evening, we headed over to the Auckland Lantern Festival.

The festival is an annual event held in Albert Park, and is in honor of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and China.  We went a bit early, so as to avoid the crowds and to see things before Joe’s bedtime.  The lanterns were beautiful.  These are just a small sampling:

Like I said – we got there early, and it was already quite crowded.

Chris wanted to sample some of the food on offer.  He made his way through the lines and purchased a box of chicken, sweet and sour pork, rice, and veggies.

I was willing to sample some toffee strawberries.  The name sounded interesting, and when I saw the “limit two per customer” sign, I figured it must be something worth trying…

They were… interesting.  I ate one, and Chris finished the rest.  They had a hard, crispy outer shell that had a strange aftertaste.  The inside was incredibly juicy and sweet, but not sweet enough to get rid of the candy shell taste.

We headed back to our apartment to put Joe to bed.  Later that night, I was able to watch the fireworks dispaly from our windows.  Absolutely gorgeous.

All in all, a great weekend :-)

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Postpartum Fitness and Girl Scout Cookies

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I saw an article today that ranked the “best and worst” Girl Scout cookies in terms of how healthy they were.  Naturally, the ones that I love {Samoas/Caramel Delites, Tagalongs, and Thin Mints} were not the healthiest options.  Good thing I don’t have to worry about being tempted by them over here!

I have set a goal for myself to lose 20 pounds this year.  I’m not going to post my actual weight on this blog, though.  Not for vain reasons {well, not entirely for vain reasons!} but really, because I know what it feels like to hear or read someone’s “start” weight and wish that it was your end, goal weight!  I don’t want someone to read my start weight and get discouraged – every person and body is different, and every goal weight should be different.

So – 20 pounds.  I’m feeling pretty good with that number.  When Joe was born, I lost all but 4 pounds of the baby weight.  I lost the remainder of that + another 2 pounds by the time he was just shy of 3 months.  Yes, it took me awhile to lose but I should note that during that time, I actually gained weight.  Whoever said that breastfeeding was the magic weight-loss bullet must have been a liar.

By the time we left for the States {mid-November} I had lost a further 10 pounds.  I’m not exactly sure about that number, but I know it was around there.  I gained 4 pounds during the nearly 7 weeks we were traveling, but I lost them again within the 1st week of being back in New Zealand.

I’ve since gone down another 4 pounds.  Reading back through this, it sounds like I’ve lost a lot of weight.  But really, aside from the pregnancy weight, I’ve only lost 16 pounds.  That’s really not a whole lot over a 7 month time frame {Joe is 7 months old}.

I’ve already lost 4 of the 20 pounds, but that still leaves me with a further 16 pounds to go in order to meet my goal.  I’ve been doing a number of things to help me meet that 20 pound mark.  For starters, I’m being more careful about what I eat.  I still eat chocolate and butter and bread {probably too much!}, but I’m pickier about when I indulge.  I’ve also been eating more veggies, grains, fruit, drinking more water, etc.  I don’t drink any soda, but I do like to have a cup {or two!} of tea in the mornings.  Before any caffeine, though, I make myself drink one big glass of water.  There are some mornings where I drink that water really fast because I really want caffeine, and other mornings where the glass of water stretches out for an hour or two.

I’m also exercising more.  I was a wuss in the exercise department for the first few months of Joe’s life.  I would use the treadmill several days a week, but spent about half of the time walking and only running for the last half.  Now, I run between 5 – 6km 4 times a week.  I’ve also been running 1 evening a week with my friend D as we train for our beach 5km, and have done a few times of baby boot-camp.  Baby BC isn’t anything fancy, and the babies aren’t part of the workout.  It’s run by a fellow new mum who was an aerobics instructor, and we only meet 1 day a week.  The babies all hang out on picnic rugs while we mums huff, puff, lunge, step, jump, and run around.

I still have a ways to go.  There are some days where I don’t do a very good job.  Last week was a prime example.  I only ran twice, and the 2 days that I ran were for less than 5km.  I saw the results of that when I stepped on the scale and saw that it hadn’t budged.  Hopefully, this coming Monday will show a difference!

What are some of your fitness goals for the year?  Do you have any advice for a relatively new mother who’s looking to lose a bit more weight?

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Start of a New School Year

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I had 2 fun little things happen to me on the bus ride to the dentist yesterday.

The first was that I got to read a letter from one of my sisters, Valerie.  She sends the best letters and sometimes I put them aside so that I can read them in peace and quiet.  And yes, I consider riding a public bus {without Joe!} to be peaceful and quiet :-)

I snagged a seat and pulled her letter out of my bag, eager to see what she had to say and soak up any bits of “home” that she shared.  I got a big laugh when I read that she’d been to the dentist earlier that day, and there I was, reading her letter about going to the dentist while on the way to my dentist in New Zealand.

The 2nd fun little thing happened while the bus headed up Khyber Pass toward Newmarket.  While stopped at a light near one of the boys’ schools in Auckland, I remembered that the new term had started in the last 2 days or so.  I watched in delight as little boys came tromping down the footpath in blue shorts, button-up shirts, knee socks, ties, and sweaters {as far as I know, all schools in AKL and perhaps NZ require uniforms}.  I couldn’t help but smile as they whipped off their ties as fast as they could, laughing and playfully chumming around with their friends.  One of the school teachers was obviously trying to keep an eye on things, shaking his finger and frowning at a boy who’d apparently decided that his discarded tie would make a great pretend helicopter blade.

The bus pulled up to the stop across from the school, and all of a sudden the entire atmosphere inside changed.  What had once been a bus full of university students and professionals became a bus full of 7 – 8 year old boys, eager to get home and as far from school as possible.  They were laughing, shoving each other, asking, “Where’s your stop?” so that they could sit on the inside if they got off later and on the outside if they got off sooner.  Backpacks and school things were in tow.  They looked so young but at the same time so grown up as I watched them swipe their passes or ask for a 2 stage ride, carefully counting out the required fare.

There were, of course, some stragglers.  One very young-looking boy stood outside of the bus, HOP card in hand, staring at the bus number and route on the side with a look of confusion.  I felt like lowering the window and asking him if he knew where he was going, but he must have decided that it was the right bus and marched up the steps.  The driver must have seen the look of hesitancy on his face because he cheerily asked, “Where you headed?” and then nodded when the boy gave his address.  I could imagine the boy’s parents making him memorize it – they would have been proud at how carefully he recited it to the driver.  He swiped his pass, then sank into the first seat he could find, staring out the window with wide eyes.  It was as though he were already on the lookout, determined not to miss his stop.  So cute!

The funniest part was near the end of the student influx.  The seats were nearly full, save for the one next to me and the two in front of me.  Three little boys made their way up the aisle.  You could see that they all spotted the row of 2 empty seats at almost the same time, because suddenly there was a mad dash and in the end, 1 boy was left standing in the aisle while his two friends laughed and said, “Aw, you’ve gotta sit by a girl, mate!”

I was thankful for the book in my hands, because I needed it to cover the big grin on my face.

Watching all of those boys made me think of Joe, naturally.  I could imagine him with a small backpack, uniform, and playful messing around with his friends.  I’m in no hurry to have him out of nappies, but it’s still fun to think about the wonderful things we get to experience that have yet to come!

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Going to the Dentist & Why You Should Say if You’re Breastfeeding

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I went to the dentist today.  It was the first time in, oh, 4 years.  I was not looking forward to it.  A certain right molar which shall remain nameless had been giving me odd little twinges for the last month.  I knew something was wrong but hated the thought of… the drill!  Bum bum bum!!!

Eventually, I decided to get it over with.  I saw one of those group buying coupon emails that had a deal for a dental clean-up, x-rays, etc.  I purchased one, made an appointment, and today was the day.

It actually wasn’t that bad.

For starters, going to the dentist in NZ is different than going to the dentist in the US.  I really, really liked my childhood dentist, but after that have not been impressed with dentists over there.  And I don’t have bad teeth.  Still, whenever I got there they were rushed, grumpy, the dental hygienists attacked my mouth with floss as though they were trying to vent all their frustrations on my poor gums… you get the idea.

My dentist today walked in, shook my hand, and introduced himself by his first name only.

Side Bar: That’s pretty common over here.  Most people don’t go by “Dr. So-and-So”.  They say, “Hi – I’m Evan” or whatever their name may be.  Someone introduced Chris as Dr. Chris _______ the other day, and I couldn’t help but snicker.  I leaned over to Chris and said, “I forgot you were a doctor!” and he chuckled, leaned over to me, and said, “Me too!”  It’s pretty laid back here.

Anyway, back to my story.

My dentist introduced himself, but I was so nervous about the cavity that I simply blurted out, “Tell me now – is it bad?  Do I have a cavity?  Do I need a filling?!”

Of course, it’s hard for the dentist to answer those questions if they haven’t even done the x-rays yet.  Or looked in your mouth.  Yes, I was nervous.

Turns out that I did have a cavity.  And just because I’m extra special, my teeth decided to throw a party and give me 2 cavities.  Ugh.

Here’s where the other little hiccup enters the picture.  You see, earlier that day, the hospital called and asked if I’d be willing to come in that night for a short shift.  I said yes, on the condition that my dental appointment went OK.  I definitely didn’t want to linger at the dentist, because I needed to get home, feed Joe, change into scrubs, and still have time to eat and walk to the hospital.  My appointment was at 3:30p, and work started at 7p.  I figured I’d be sweet and wouldn’t have a thing to worry about.

Yeah, not so much.

Turns out that my dentist had an elderly patient show up on the wrong day, thinking it was his appointment.  Unfortunately, he had come in not long before me, and they decided to work him in rather than making him come back in the following day.  This meant that my appointment was late.

I’ll give you the good news first.  The good news is that since it was late, the dentist decided to give me a discount.  I have never had a doctor of any kind give me a discount because they were running late.  It certainly put me in a better mood!

The bad news is that I was running late.  I got out of there close to 5:30p, still had to catch a bus, nurse Joe, change, eat, and walk to work all in an hour and a half.  The bus was late, naturally.  I rushed home, threw on some scrubs, started to nurse Joe, and then tried to slurp down some Greek yogurt with a touch of honey swirled in.

Yes, I said “slurp” down yogurt.  Since I had 2 cavities, 1 on each side, the dentist decided to numb me up.  My face felt frozen, stiff, and bizarre.  My speech was garbled and I was drooling as I walked to the bus stop and working my tongue around, causing the man that I passed on the way to give me a very odd look.  I don’t blame him.  I kept waiting for it wear off, but it wasn’t… and I had to leave for work!  I finished the yogurt and was trying to eat some soft bread {gave that up pretty quickly}.  Chris began to laugh at me as I readied my work bag.  Apparently, I had a yogurt goatee on my chin.  That’s how numb it was, and it was nearly 2 hours since he’d first injected the gums.

I swiped the yogurt off my face, gave Chris and Joe a kiss, and walked as fast as I could to work.  I figured that by walking fast, getting my heart rate going, drinking some water, I would flush the numbing agent out of my system.  It sort of worked.  By the time I got to the ER, I was at least speaking in intelligible sentences, though all of my colleagues were wondering what was up with my face.

Sigh.

It wore off eventually, and I stopped having to explain to horrified looking patients that it was just dental work, nothing more.  I thought about having some fun with it and pretending that I didn’t know what they were talking about when they asked, “Are you OK”, but that would be mean :-)

This brings me to my last little bit.  When I was filling out the dentist form, it asked about the routine, standard stuff: health problems, concerns with my teeth, medications, pregnant or not, etc.  Nowhere did it ask about breastfeeding, but I decided to jot that down, anyway.  I was glad that I did.  As it turns out, there has been research showing that certain types of filling agents should not be used with nursing mothers because of trace amounts of mercury.  First of all, I don’t want extra mercury in my system whether I’m nursing or not, but I certainly don’t want it to be in there while I’m nursing Joe.  I was glad that the dentist was up on his research, and we decided to use a different filling which, unfortunately will mean I have to floss a bit more.

So basically, the dentist was asking me if wanted to floss a bit more, or potentially expose my 7 month old to a heavy metal that’s been linked with various neuro and developmental problems.  Hmm… let me think…

If you’re interested, here’s a bit more information on dental fillings and mercury.  It sounds as though the amount of amalgam fillings {filings with mercury} isn’t so much important if you already have them while pregnant/breastfeeding, but getting one or having one removed during either of those periods of your life might not be such a good idea.

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One-Bowl French Bread

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I made French Bread yesterday.

That’s right – I made French Bread.  The kind of bread that you want to eat warm and fresh from the oven.  With lots of butter.  Or by itself, if butter isn’t your thing.  Butter is definitely my thing.  That’s why my mom bought me my own little butter crock.  I’m not kidding.

Anyway…

The bread’s easy to make.  You don’t need a stand mixer or a bread machine.  Just a bowl, 6 ingredients, a wooden spoon, baking sheet, and an oven.

One Bowl French Bread

  • 1 T active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 C warm water, divided
  • 1 T sugar
  • 4 C all-purpose flour, divided
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 T cooking oil

Pour yeast and 1/2 C of warm water into bowl {water should be warm enough that it just borders on being uncomfortable when you put your hand in it}.  Whisk it around a time or two, then let it sit for 4 – 5 minutes, or till all of the yeast is dissolved.

Add 2 C of flour, remaining water, and sugar.  Mix together.  Add another 1/2 C of the flour.  If you’re using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook.  If you’re like me and are using a wooden spoon, then stir harder.  Continue to add the flour, one 1/2 C at a time, till all of it is incorporated.  You may have to use your hands, push a little hollow into the dough, scrape some of the floury bits into the center, and mash it all together in order to mix everything well.  I actually like using my hands – there’s something quite nice about the feel of bread dough, don’t you think?

Plop the dough onto a counter-top.  Spray the bowl and any bits of flour stuck to the sides of the bowl with non-stick cooking spray or brush it with oil or grease it with lard… whatever you choose.  Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with a damp towel, and set the bowl in a warm place for 60 minutes, or till dough has doubled in size.  If you don’t have a warm place, you may have to wait a bit longer than 60 minutes, but don’t worry – it’ll get there!

Once the dough has doubled in size, put it back on a lightly floured counter-top.  Smush and stretch it into a rectangular shape 16 inches long {~40cm}.  You want it to be a bit mounded – not too thin.  Place the dough onto a baking sheet that’s been sprayed with non-stick spray and lightly dusted with flour.  Cover the dough again with a damp towel, put it back in that warm spot, and allow to rise for another 45 minutes or so, till dough is doubled in size.

Once dough is doubled in size, cut 6 – 8 diagonal slashes on top, then spray again with cooking spray {or brush with oil, melted butter, what have you}.  Pop it into the oven at 400F {200C} for 30 minutes, or till golden brown.  Remove from pan and let it cool on a wire rack or a cutting board, and try not to eat it all at once!

Original recipe can be found here

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Messy Mom Monday

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I wasn’t sure if I’d be doing MMM this week.  Then I caught a look at myself in the mirror this evening and thought, “Yeah – definitely posting this on Messy Mom Monday!”

Yes, I realize that it’s a blurry image of me.  That’s because the lens focused on the dust particles on my mirror.  Sigh.  Let’s try this again, shall we?

Yes, I’m hiding my face behind the camera.  Whenever I exercise, my face turns beet red.  Doesn’t matter if it’s hot weather, freezing cold, if I’m huffing and puffing like a bellows or barely breaking a sweat.  All part of that fair-haired, fair-skinned Dutch background, right?  It’s haunted me since grade school.

I had just gotten back from running around Auckland Domain with my friend, D.  And it had been raining.  And we did some hills after that.  My running this past week has been pretty pathetic.  I needed to step it up a notch, and having someone to run with once a week definitely keeps me accountable.  I’ve also been doing baby boot-camp, but I’ll write about that some other time.

Here’s a photo of Chris, aka, my own personal superhero:

He’s not wearing his superhero costume in the above photo, but trust me when I say that he’s a wonderful husband :-)   He’s happy to watch Joe while I go running and even start the cloth nappies in the wash.

Well, technically I put the nappies in the machine, added the detergent, the whitening powder, picked the settings, and then set the timer so that all Chris had to do was add the last nappy of the evening and close the lid.  But still, he started the hot wash all on his own once the first, cold wash was over :-)

Here’s Joe, sound asleep:

It was after 7:30pm in this shot.  Sure stays light around here till late, doesn’t it?  The door was open because Joe’s room had gotten quite warm during the day, despite keeping it nice and breezy with the windows open.  I crept in and turned on a fan, then captured the above photo on my way out.

Our messy kitchen table.  This table tends to be the “catch all” area, along with Chris’ computer station.  The man has a huge office at the university, but still needs a little corner of work space here at home.  Guess I can’t begrudge a guy who’s willing to wash dirty nappies, can I?

Thanks for stopping by MMM, and be sure to visit Brittney’s main MMM page to link up and share your Messy Mom moments :-)

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Joe in the Toy Bin

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Joe loves sitting his toy bin…

Something about being surrounded by toys just thrills him!

Don’t worry – the bin has a safety latch so it won’t slam down on him or pinch his little fingers.  And he’s never in there without me right beside him.

It’s so cute to watch him “talk” to his toys :-)

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