Parents of the Year

It was a rough day. This week has been extra busy for both me and J. Little seems to have gotten over the rough patch that consumed the last two weeks, but has still been a lot of baby. We discovered that he's probably phasing out one of his regular three naps, which has thrown our schedules a bit off balance. Today though, we threw the schedule out the window (and Little's much needed second nap) and decided to go out and enjoy the warm summer weather. We were going to head down to the Oregon Brewer's Festival on the waterfront, but it was pretty warm in the sun and the idea of heading into crowd with Miles on edge was not in the cards. 

So, we hopped on the Max to Mississippi Avenue and picked up lunch at the food carts and a drink in the beer garden at Prost. There was a nice shady area with a corner bench to wrangle in the little dude, but also gave him the freedom to roam around. He had a blast throwing his truck into the planter around the perimeter and gently touching the flowers. As we sipped (okay gulped) our beer and blocked Little's many attempts to fling himself under the picnic table, for a split second I was reminded of our trip to Belgium and Germany last fall. It was our last trip before really thinking about having a baby and we relished our time in the sun -- today I made every attempt to block the sun by forcing our unwilling 11-month-old to wear his sun hat.

We thought we might be able to get him to nap so we could enjoy a second drink, so I attempted to nurse him to sleep. It almost worked, but then he opened his eyes and realized there was a lot of action going on. I always try to be discrete about breastfeeding in public, but today Little insisted on hoisting up my boob toward the gentlemen who were sharing our picnic table as if to say "dudes, I don't know what you're drinking, but you should order a Mass of this stuff." He was very proud of himself and we quickly asked for our check, since he literally had not napped in six hours. 

Thankfully, on the way home he conked out in the backpack, but the rest of the evening has been a bit edgy (for lack of a better term). Clearly, he's had a growth spurt because his pj top that fit just fine not that long ago was way too tight. After wrestling him to get it on, drama ensued when we realized that there was no way in hell that it would fit over his meaty biceps. We laughed mostly out of frustration that we would in fact have to take off the shirt and try to get him into another one before bedtime. He squawked and ran around like a tiny t-rex with his arms pinned to his body because the shirt sleeves were so tight. Like any good mother I photographed his misery, because we needed to kill time before the next round of dressing and honestly, it was tragically hilarious.


Little went to bed about 7:45 and is just now settling down to sleep. It'll either be an awesome night because he's so exhausted, or the worst night ever, because he's so exhausted. Only time will tell and I'm not exactly looking forward to finding out. Needless to say, we won't be winning any parenting awards this week.

Love Those Greens

I write this as I am taking on the ghastly task of sleep training our son. Yes, I know Dr. Sears warns about sleep trainers and how they are terrible beasts who hate children. I guess I'm just a terrible beast who desperately needs her child to get some sleep!

To take my mind off the difficult task at hand, I read and read all about introducing new foods to babies. Interesting stuff, you know. I learned all about nitrates and how they're not just in processed meats, but can be really concentrated in root vegetables and leafy greens. Buying organic helps a lot, since the farmers don't use commercial synthetic fertilizers, but being aware of how they're prepared and how much babies eat at first is important. Nitrates don't affect adults in the same way as babies, because of our ability to produce stomach acid that breaks it down (which babies start to produce between 5 and 6 months of age). Who knew?


To date Little has tried sweet potatoes, avocado, pears, banana, and peas. Avocado was the only food that he really didn't like. I tried it for five days with no luck. With that in mind, I set out to make Little his next two tasty meals -- butternut squash and kale. I, for one, love kale, collards, and just about any dark leafy green you can find. Despite his love for most of the other foods he's tried, I was still skeptical about how Little would react. He watched me from his high chair as I removed the kale stems and washed the leaves. He was especially excited by the salad spinner as it whirled around. And he was even more excited by the stick blender as it pureed them to a fine consistency.

My baby food book suggested that if kale was too strong, that you mix in a little banana. I was fully prepared to mix in A LOT of banana. However, the little dude surprised me. I gave him his first bite and he went "mmm" and flapped his arms for more. He's definitely his mother's son. It makes me happy that he has so many positive associations with the kitchen and with his food bowl. And I guess he's gained enough trust in me (despite my beastly sleep training) to know that I'm not going to put anything too disgusting in his mouth and that eating is a fun activity that we can all share. 

Three Day Soup

Way back in October, I had it all figured out. Miles napped like a champ -- three hefty stretches a day -- and even though I was sleep deprived from getting up at night, the free time during the day made life feel just fine. I caught up on work, blogged, and even started cooking again. I was quite pleased with the fact that I might actually be able to put delicious hot meals on the table at night. I had this brilliant idea to highlight all that free time by starting a series of posts on my blog called Naptime Gourmet. Like I said, I had it all figured out. 

Then Miles turned three months old, went on a sleeping strike during the day, and demanded constant attention during his waking hours. Not only was there no time for prepping dinner, but I was lucky to sneak in lunch some days. Dinnertime in our household was pretty turbulent and haphazard. At Miles' four month checkup, I shuffled into the pediatrician's office looking like a zombie and begged her to tell me that things would get better. She very nicely told me that I looked like death and that four months wasn't too early to start sleep training. I cringed at the thought, but Jesse and I were frazzled and desperate. It took three nights of hell to get him in a routine. He now sleeps, well as they say, like a baby.

Miles will be five months old next week, takes three decent naps a day, and will go six to eight hours at night uninterrupted. What does that have to do with food you ask? Well, I am no longer sleep deprived (most days) and have it all figured out again (ha). Naptime Gourmet is officially resurrected. It won't be easy. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will have to seriously challenge myself to prepare something new each week.** However, I'm going to give it my best try because cooking is one of my simple pleasures; it makes me happier and us healthier.

For the debut Naptime Gourmet (resurrected) entry, I have chosen a simple, healthy, delicious three day bean soup. Why three days? For starters, it took me that long to finally get the energy to cobble together the ingredients. My lack of ambition was stupid, since it took about fifteen minutes to prepare. Then, after cooking all day with what seemed like no progress, I thought I might have to hover over the slow cooker for that long for the beans to finally cook. And finally, this morning I realized that there's so much of it we'll be eating on it for a while. I really don't mind though, because it is insanely tasty.

Brasilliant's Three Day Soup

2 c. black eyed peas (insert lame Fergie joke here)
1 c. red lentils (or any other bean really)
4-5 c. vegetable stock (I use Better than Bouillon)
1 14oz can diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh, peeled and diced)
1-2 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. Penzey's Cajun Spice (I bet thyme would work well instead)


Place beans in slow cooker and cover with 2 inches of water. Cook on high for 2 hours, or until beans begin to soften. Add remaining ingredients, turn slow cooker on low and forget about it for 8-10 hours (or until beans are cooked through).The lentils don't really hold up to cooking for that long and serve more as a delicious thickener. Sprinkle with a bit of grated Parmesan and voila! Simple. Healthy. Tasty.

Side note: I wanted to render a little bacon for the recipe, but was feeling lazy and didn't want to go to the grocery store. I'm glad I didn't. I find that black eyed peas have a wonderfully smoky, almost meaty flavor on their own, so bacon or ham would have just been overkill. The point of this recipe is to let the beans speak for themselves. And because the soup cooks for such a long time, all of the flavors really meld together. One option to kick up the spice would be to mince a little jalapeno or throw in a touch of cayenne. But I think I'll just let Jesse liberally apply Tabasco at the table!


** Be warned, I am not above subbing in the occasional baby food recipe from time to time when Miles starts sampling more complex concoctions. I do, however, promise not to bore you with such delicacies as whipped sweet potatoes and breast milk.  

Maybe Moby?

When I got pregnant, I had set out a game plan of ideals. One of my main goals was to have a natural childbirth -- clearly that did not happen. Another one of my goals was to wear the baby as much as possible. I thought it would be so easy to just sling Little on my chest, wrap him up and go about my normal life. Well, just like my birth, life threw a curve ball. I gestated a child who hates swaddling (unless under extreme duress) and despised all forms of child carriers including the famous Moby wrap that apparently is loved by all babies and parents. The first time I put Little in the Moby he howled. The second time he screamed as though I were prodding him with hot pokers. The third time, well, it took us an hour to calm him down. I'm not one for giving up, but needless to say, the Moby went on a high shelf never to be touched again. 

The galling thing about his reaction to the Moby is that it places him in the exact upright position in which he loves to be held. For some reason, after two weeks of avoiding it, I decided to pull the wrap off the shelf today to give it another try. I wrapped it a little looser than usual and slipped him in with hardly a whimper. After a minute or two, he realized he was being confined, so I popped in the pacifier. It worked like a charm. He tolerated it for about 15 minutes then began to rooting around to be fed. I nursed him and slipped him right back in and he passed out for a catnap. In fact, I'm blogging while baby-wearing -- how very new age mom of me.

Morning Daycare

Little is one month old today. It's hard to believe. On one hand, I feel like I've hardly accomplished anything, but on the other, he's changed so much. One thing that we have developed is a pretty consistent morning routine. Little is usually awake and alert between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning. We both get up, I nurse him and J changes his diaper and takes him to the office (the dining room). Most mornings he happily coos in his swing and drifts off to sleep. I also happily drift off to sleep for another hour or two until Little is ready to eat again. 

However, this morning he was not stoked about the swing and wanted to be held like a sack of potatoes over J's arm. Unfortunately, typing with one hand is not really an option when rapid-fire emails flood your inbox, so Little was back in the bedroom with me for the morning. Even though we technically got seven hours of sleep last night, I was pretty drowsy. So, I nursed him again and instituted the Brasilliant school of morning daycare (dim lights, a nice belly rub, and a pacifier). It worked like a charm. We slept in until 10am.