Demanding

This is what happens when Rowan doesn't get his way. He was mad here because we wouldn't let him stand and grab at things on the coffee table. He will also throw a fit if you try to take him off the swing, if you take away a spoon he wants to play with, if you put him into his crib for a nap, if you try to change his bum...you get the picture. It is really hard not to laugh.

John's 37th Birthday

This is the second year in a row that we have had a house full of guests for a BBQ to celebrate John's birthday (we had the party on May 3rd). Last year we BBQ'ed and made french fries in the rain. This year, I got smart and only had salads with the BBQ'ed burgers that were done up in the garage. Good thing too because, yep- it rained.

I decided to tackle a very large cake instead of putting my efforts into making cute little french fry cups. It turned out quite well although, I guess coconut is not everyone's favourite. Oh well, you can't please them all.

Here are a few shots of the day.

What Is This On My Head?

We like to torture our child by putting funny things on his head. I take credit for the bucket and blue hat but the rapper-look is entirely John's fault.

p.s. For those of you who are worried that I am not feeding our child properly-- I ended up having to give Rowan another feeding of milk before I went to sleep. I have no idea what we are going to do the week John has Rowan to himself because I am sure I won't be able to get enough milk to fill at least one bottle every day and soyless/milkless formula is impossible to find. Oh boy...

3 Things

Today three things happened:

1. I "hand expressed" about 4 oz of milk in the morning to help wean Rowan. You see, I am going to be in a conference all day for a week and John will be managing the little guy on his own. It occurred to me that, as nice as John's boobs are, they are no substitute for mine. And well, it is pretty hard to nurse when I am swimming in a sea of geeky Industrial Hygienists in the monstrosity that is the Conference Center in downtown Toronto. As such, I had to make the painful decision to start getting him off me and using a sippy cup (because a bottle is out of the question). *Snif*
2. Rowan went his first day with only 2 feeds from me. One in the morning. One at bed time. I am not sure this is healthy for a baby of 8.5 months. I know you are supposed to feed breast fed babies on demand, but he doesn't demand milk. In fact, he really doesn't demand food. He gets a little cranky, but we are pretty good about getting him a snack in the morning, breakfast, another snack, lunch, snack and then dinner. I think his diet is more balanced than my own but I have been giving him milk at each nap too just in case. Needless to say, I was sick all day worrying that the 4 oz I left for him in his sippy cup wouldn't be enough. But, he is amazing and he did very well just eating solids. I am relieved but also very sad at the same time. We see his pediatrician when we get back from Toronto and if cutting down to only 2 feeds per day is not right, I am sure he will let us know. For now, we are going to try and keep a sippy cup of water and milk handy throughout the day to encourage him to drink and see how things go.
3. Rowan got a tiny sun burn on his arms. He took two trips to the park in short sleeves and we were AWFUL parents and didn't put his sunscreen on. Needless to say, he will be going out with SPF 50 and a long sleeved shirt from now on. He didn't seem bothered by it at all but I feel very sick about it. Like with much of what will happen to him in his life, we will suffer more than he will.
   

The Best Banana Bread. Hands Down.

I made this banana bread for brunch at friends' one day and it went over very well. I thought it might be worth posting even if my sister is the only one interested in making it since it is milk and soy free.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups sugar

¼ cup oil (I use corn)

¼ cup apple sauce (you could just use ½ cup of oil if you don’t have the apple sauce)

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups mashed very ripe bananas (I use 3 to 4)

½ cup rice milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup of nuts (I used nuts in a shell. I don’t know the name but they are the ones you see at Christmas. Could be macadamia?). Walnuts would be fine.

½ cup chocolate chips (I used soy/milk free chocolate that you can get in the organic section at Loblaws. They were in a red re-sealable bag.).

Directions:

1. Move over rack to the lowest position so that the tops of the pans will be in the center of the over. Heat over to 350C. Grease the bottoms only of 2 loaf pans (8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ inches or 1 9 x 5 x 3 inch pan, with oil or shortening. I lined the bottom with parchment as well.
2. Mix sugar and oil and apple sauce in a large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Stir in bananas, mild and vanilla; beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda, slat just until moist. Stir in nuts and chocolate. Divide the batter in to the pans.
3. Bake the loaves for about 1.25 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, remove from pan and wrap in wax paper and tin foil.
4. Store at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for 10 days.

Baptismal Blasphemy

Picture this. A mother, a father and a baby in a store that sells baptism gowns and outfits. The mother is drinking a coffee between rows of white satin. The father is, well, being his usual self and rolling baby around in his stroller. The lady who was working in the store is eyeing them up. She approaches and starts suggesting outfits that might be okay because they only have 2 of the alter boy style outfits that the mother and father and baby set out to find. A size small and a size medium. They had already tried the small on in another store and knew it wouldn't fit. But, they decided to try the medium on just in case it wasn't as small as it looked.

The mother takes her son out of the stroller and the father stands there, not really knowing how to help undress the baby in the store. With his onesie pulled down off his shoulders and around his waist the mother puts the under dress on. Her little boy looked like an angel. She then puts the smock on.

Arm 1-- no issue.
Head--no issue.
Arm 2-- tight but she got it on.

After some wiggling and awing, it was decided by the mother, the father and the store lady that the alter boy outfit was indeed too small and, of course, it had been discontinued and so there was no way to order a larger size in time for the big day.

So the mother, sadly begins to undress the baby and that is when the panic sets in. The smock will not come off. Under her breath she is begging the father to help. He explains that he doesn't know what to do. She is frantic, the line up is getting longer in the store. There are grade 6 girls trying on dresses fit for a prom and impatient mothers who you can see hate the dresses their daughters are picking out but who don't have the heart to say "no" waiting for help. The mother in on the floor now in the store prying at the smock. She is calculating the distance between her location and the nearest seamstress in the mall because it looks like this thing will have to be cut off. She looks at the price tag and thinks: "80 bucks. No big deal. NO BIG DEAL. HA! I am going to tear his arm off if this continues. Poor baby. MY POOR BABY SOMEONE HELP ME". The store lady seemed quite used to this frantic behaviour. The mother on the other hand couldn't calm down which only made the baby wiggle even more. He is now starting to howl. Not cry. Howl like a trapped animal. The mother is convinced that the baby's shoulder is going to dislocate and then, between swear words and apologies said in prayer, God came to the rescue and baby's arm came out of the sleeve.

God tips canoes but God also saves the day and a mother's sanity around here.

The mother and father quickly put the onesie sleeves back on to hide the red welts and picked out a jumper that had buttons all the way up the back and down the crotch. Lesson learned: DO NOT try on baby outfits that have been discontinued, no matter how cute they are. Practical is where it is at... I wonder how those mothers of the sub-teen daughters made out. I bet they said a few swear words and prayers under their breath too that day.