I Think I Could Win an Award...

for crunchiest hippie mom. I've already told my mom a slightly different version of this story. I will highlight the "Things White People Like" for you, in green. (appropriate, no?) A few weekends ago, I decided to take Emmeline with me to the Farmer's Market. I went to get her dressed, and put her in her cloth diaper. I made sure she had her Barack Obama onesie on - it's so cute! I packed her up, and loaded her carseat into my Honda Civic Hybrid. We drove to the Farmer's Market in Vienna. I put her into her Baby Bjorn carrier, and quickly picked out some organic produce. She started getting upset, so we drove home and I put her down for her morning nap. While she slept, I steamed the veggies and made some baby food for her. As my mom pointed out, the only thing missing was my Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte. So this weekend, Shawn and I thought we would make a repeat performance, with Starbucks. I swear, we don't set out to be like this. I guess we balanced it out by forgetting our reusable canvas grocery bag. We had to use a plastic one.
Honestly, I LOVE making her food! It takes no time at all, and is significantly cheaper than the jarred stuff, especially if I wanted to get her organic food. I can make small or large batches, then I freeze it. I have ready for her broccoli, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, pears and zucchini. That way, when she's ready for new tastes, I have some ready. And, the ice cube trays I use to freeze individual servings are about 1 oz each, so I know how much she's eating. Of course, I have to plug the machine my mom got for me: The Beaba babycook. It steams and purees in one piece. VERY easy. I'll post more pics as I take some.

Gustatory Delight

Emmeline has had her first taste of food...and is now addicted! She's an eater. You can't tell that from her faces, but she really has loved eating, and tried to "help" feed herself. So, egg yolk + breastmilk is good apparently, in case anyone was wondering. Next stop: Veggies!

Emmeline Found Thumbthing She Likes

I had really hoped for a few weeks that we were clear of the pacifier AND the thumb. I was wrong. The thumb has made it's appearance, and it is NOT leaving anytime soon. So far, she really only goes for it when she is in bed, or is very tired. VERY tired. Like tonight. We have a lot of family in town for Shawn's graduation, so she has had a few long days. Luckily, Emmeline has fallen in love with her Grandma Patsy! She also has met Aunt Pam, Uncle Charles, and Cousin Carl. Today Emmeline got to have a ladies' lunch date with Grandma Patsy, Aunt Pam, Anita, Toni and Mommy. Then she hung out with Grandma Patsy, Toni and Anita while I went to get a pedicure. Tomorrow, we will all venture downtown for a little tourism before a barbecue, and then hit the National Mall Sunday morning for Shawn's graduation ceremony. I'm hoping she makes it through the weekend not TOTALLY spoiled.

Crunchy, Hippie, Granola Momma

Emmeline in her very bulky cloth diaper.

I promise I'm not trying to win any awards. Or prove anything. I committed to using cloth diapers before Emmeline was born. Maybe I've been brainwashed by the Montessori world, or maybe by shows like 20/20 and Dateline. The idea of Emmeline's dirty diapers sitting in a landfill somewhere for 70 years while her poop runs into the groundwater horrifies me. However, it's absurdly difficult to fit cloth diapers on a newborn. And the cloth diapers I had here were all-in-ones, which are so bulky, that virtually no pants fit over them. My memories of the diapers provided by the ONLY diaper service around here were of a similarly large bulk. I was beginning to despair of ever getting her in cloth only to come across a bag of fitted diapers loaned to me by Erin. Grace had long since outgrown them, and I had borrowed them, then promptly forgot about them. Well, they fit beautifully! We've been trying them out in the evenings and weekends, and I LOVE them. I have just ordered enough online to cover her butt for a while. This does mean more laundry for me, and there's an argument to be made that I'm doing an equal amount of damage to the environment by using so much water....but I'll do it. It's not like a day goes by without me doing two loads of laundry anyway. And I will continue to use disposables, just much less frequently. I have to plug these diapers, because I think they're so great: Kissaluvs fitted diapers. They have 2 rows of snaps so you can use one size for a long time (between 10 and 25 pounds!). I ordered two different kinds of covers, so I'll see which kind work better. I'm pulling for the cheaper ones.

In developmental news, Em is trying SO HARD to roll from her back to her belly. She can get up on one side, and then hangs out there for a while before giving up. She's grasping at everything, chewing on anything she can get, and has lots of new noises.

Here is Emmeline, shocked at accidentally chewing on Daddy's finger. Ew.

See? Onto her side, but not quite all the way over. Someday.

She Cracks Me Up

School Days, School Days...

First things first:

Emmeline in her Easter finery. We had a great time with family, and at church. Please note the adorable shoes.

Now, onto more pressing matters. I am back at work, which means little miss is at school with me. Of course, I was dreading this: I know my baby best, and her schedule, her needs etc. I know the Nido teacher is good, and it's not that I don't trust her, just trust myself more. Also, I was worried about the pacifier thing: no pacifiers at school, and she's been falling asleep with one for a while. I have seen babies come into the Nido for 5 years now, and many of them have a really tough time with the transition.

Naturally, my fears were unfounded. Emmeline has done so well these past few days. She is staying awake longer, and has begun to put herself to sleep, sans pacifier, in the space of 5 minutes. Of course, she may have begun to do those things at home with me anyway. But I really think that the help of an objective third person has made this easier. I know babies cry, and I don't even mind my baby crying, but I do like to minimize it.

Hopefully things continue like this, at least for a little while as I get used to being back at work!

We've Got the Sniffles...

My poor little girl has her first cold. Somehow, she contracted it BEFORE starting school. Shawn and I can hear her on the monitor at night making beautiful music with her nose. That is, when we're not in her room snorking out her nose with that awesome blue bulb. Man, she LOVES that. I can't imagine being woken up by an inability to breathe only to have someone shove something plastic into my nose and forcibly drag snot out. What a way to spend an evening! Through it all though, she keeps smiling and playing. She hasn't acted sick at all, just coughing and sneezing and wheezing her day away. Of course, when I added the injustice of a few vaccinations to her day, she did hit the roof. And I don't blame her.

But I titled this post "We've" got the sniffles. No, Shawn and I are not sick. But I go back to work on Friday, and Em phases into the Nido tomorrow. WAAAAAAA!!! I am looking forward to being with my crazy little toddlers again, and I can't wait to have someone objective helping me out with Emmeline's napping issues, but I am shocked by how sad I am to think that somebody else will get to see all those post nap smiles, and hear her babbling all day. This is what (according to my research) 56% of mothers have to do. I know. Get over it. I will, but for now I'm shedding a little tear for the impossibly stupid laws that only allow a woman 12 weeks to take care of her infant before returning to work. As if 12 weeks could possibly be enough. Canadian mothers get 6 months, and most European moms get 1 year. And there are actually PACs here that claim that America is more family friendly than Europe. Get real.