Food, Glorious Food

When Ellis Rose began eating food, I began to panic a bit.  Which is hard to believe because there was a time (in the throes of breastfeeding every 2 hours) when I looked forward to the day she would eat solid food.  When that time was upon me, I felt an immense weight of responsibility settle on my shoulders.  I wanted to provide her with healthy and satisfying food.  But I also didn't want eating to become this chore, this onemorethingtoaddtothelist.  Food, and eating, should be fun.  This was only one of the seeming contradictions I faced.

Although I am a vegetarian, I do not intend to make that decision for my daughter.  However, I do not plan on cooking meat for her either.  So, my basic plan became:

1.  I'll make the food
2.  She will eat it
3.  If she wants other food, she can make it herself or eat it elsewhere

Does that sound too cold?  Or too ridiculous considering we were only just beginning this foray into solid food and we were a long way off from sleepovers and McDonalds? 

Begin as you intend to go on.  As they say.

I have made all of Ellis Rose's food to date.  She has almost always had fresh, organic and local produce.  She has not had meat but has had a variety of protein in beans, eggs, yogurt, cheese and, most recently, quinoa.  She has had spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, basil, curry, rosemary and vanilla.  So far, she has loved everything except avacados.  (This should be rectified soon, say her Mexican food-loving parents.)

If you are a vegetarian parent feeding your child a vegetarian diet, quinoa is a really easy way to provide protein.  Quiona is easy to cook and you can add whatever you like to it.

Autumn Quinoa

2 cups cooking liquid (we used veggie broth and water)
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup chopped butternut squash
1/4 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup green peas
1/4 cup diced apple, skin removed
2 Tbs curry powder or to taste

Cook the quinoa according to package instructions.  Meanwhile, steam saute the butternut squash and cranberries until they are soft.  Add the diced apples and continue cooking until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Add curry powder.  Add in green peas and cook until heated through.  Mix with the quinoa.  Enjoy!

Let's get caught up here

Well, we're in North Carolina now and here are some of the things we've been up to:

1.  Adam started his new job and LOVES it
2.  Ellis Rose has 4 new teeth and has been crawling and standing!
3.  I started a new part-time job.  So far, so good but I hate that....
4.  ...Ellis Rose started daycare. 

I think my biggest problem with daycare is just getting her there in the morning.  Our mornings up until now have been very relaxed and we get to s-l-o-w-l-y nurse, cuddle, nap and read books.  Now, it is a mad rush to get her to finish up nursing, dressed and out the door.  Ick.

Also, I hate pumping and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pump enough to keep up.  Ick.  Ick.

BUT, I do like how Ellis Rose is able to play with some other kids her age at daycare.  AND, I love how she now has more people involved in her life.  I think the more people involved in her life, the better.  It takes a village, right?

At the end of the day, Ellis Rose is healthy and happy despite these most recent changes in her young life.  And I'm still her mama.

Gone to Carolina

So....you know how I mentioned there will be lots of changes in our household?  Well, the biggest is that our household is moving!  To North Carolina!

Adam and I have shared the dream of one day living in NC so this is a huge step to starting "our life."  We fell in love with NC when we worked on an organic farm in Pittsboro (near Chapel Hill) and have started many sentences with "When we live in NC..."  Needless to say, we are pretty excited about this newest transition.

That being said, we will certainly miss some aspects of Little Rock.  Namely, living so close to my parents.  It has been great to just pop over there or meet them for lunch or drop Ellis Rose off so we could see a movie.  We will miss those things.  BUT, they are certainly more than welcome to visit us AND we'll be much closer to the McEvoy side of the family.

I'm probably being paranoid, but I'm not going to name the town in which we will be living.  I find it hard to believe someone would read this blog and decide to stalk me but you just never know!  Plus, the town we are moving to is tiny so it is conceivable someone could find us.  Before I had Ellis Rose, I wouldn't have thought twice but now I'm a protective mama.  So, watch out bad guys (and gals).

Adam already has a job and I am still applying but hoping to get one soon (or at least an interview!).  I will also not say where we are working because I've just heard of way too many people getting fired over content in their blogs.  I can tell you that Adam will be teaching and his job seems like a dream and I am so proud of him.

We also already have an apartment of which I've been dreaming about at night.  I love moving because I love to dream up ways to decorate new spaces.  And this space we are moving to is going to be wonderful.  14 ft ceilings (imagine the Christmas trees we can buy!), 10 ft windows, 2 bedrooms and, yes, 2 bathrooms.  I think I'm more excited about the 2 bathrooms than I am about anything.  No more jogging outside the bathroom door while I wait for Adam to finish up.  Anyway, I'll be posting some of my decorating ideas soon.

Anyway, that's the biggest news I have to share.  For the next month or so, we'll be packing up boxes and selling some of the crap we've accumulated while living in Little Rock.  That's another good thing about moving - you get to purge!

Dear Postpartum Hair

Please stop falling out.  Thanks.

Love,
Your somewhat annoyed owner

The big diaper post

Long before Ellis Rose arrived, we knew we'd do cloth diapers.  We chose to do cloth diapers for many reasons, among them:

1.  It is cheaper in the long run

2.  It is better for the environment.

3.  It is easy.

4.  The diaper covers are just so darn cute (that may have not been on Adam's list of reasons but it should be.  I'll post of a picture of Ellis Rose in her diaper so you can be the judge)

So, we embarked on the sometimes overwhelming world of cloth diapering.  First of all, most of the cloth diapering websites use acronyms to describe their products.  So I had to wade through the CD's (cloth diapers), AIO (all-in-one's) and PF's (prefolds) for a while before I had a good idea of what we wanted.

We finally decided on one-size diapers because it just seemed easier than trying to figure out how many of each size to purchase.  We bought a mixture of BumGenius 3.0 and FuzziBunz diapers but decided to just start off with 12 total.  (Most websites recommend 24 if you want to do the laundry every 2 days).  I didn't want to go out and buy 24 diapers in case we didn't like them or in case our baby had an adverse reaction to them.

Then, my wonderful and glorious sister bought me a month with a local diaper service.  This was great because it would give us a chance to ease into cloth diapering while we were easing into caring for a newborn.  The cloth diaper service uses pre-folds and Bummi's covers.  I have to say, I liked this much better than I thought I would.  So so easy!

So now we have several pre-folds, 4 Bummi's covers and 12 BumGenius and FuzziBunz.  I think we'll hold off on purchasing any more for the time being because we seem to do be doing fine with this combination.  Of course, I haven't yet started washing them myself so I may realize I need many many more when I have a pile of dirty diapers to wash everyday.

If you are considering cloth diapering, I highly recommend the following websites.  Don't let the acronyms getcha down!

Jillian's Drawers - Resource Page

Diaper Pin

Diaper Safari

And if you live in the Little Rock area, check out Green Mommie Diaper Service