Grab a beer...

Happy mother's day, y'all! I love being a mom, and one of the reasons I love it is because I've made so many wonderful, funny, caring, real friends through my moms groups. My life is enriched 1000x over by these people. Love you guys!!

Ok, smushiness done, it's time for...

(1) I learned something new about myself this week, which is that much like some people (like me) treat their birthdays as week-long affairs, I apparently feel that mother's day actually lasts the whole week leading up to Sunday. All week I was flooded with thoughts like, "I shouldn't have to empty the dishwasher, it's mother's day" (on Monday) or "I shouldn't have to pick up dog poop, it's mother's day" (on Wednesday). I know this isn't realistic or reasonable, but I'm definitely going to try  to enforce this next year.

(2) I did my cookbook challenge again this week, this time selecting

I never liked Ina Garten when I tried to watch her show, but her recipes are amazing. I've  only made one recipe out of this book before (spinach gratin, which is a holiday staple in my house). Now I wish I'd been using this cookbook all along. Everything I made this week was scrumpulescent! We had:

(a) Caesar salad. Boring, you say? Not at all. This one had homemade dressing, 

pancetta (yum!), and roasted cherry tomatoes. 

I am now a roasted cherry tomato devotee. 

Olive oil, salt & pepper, roast at 400 for 15-20 minutes = gourmet.

(b) Pesto peas. They were supposed to be put into pasta salad, but I had them over 

leftover brown rice because I needed to eat it up.

Yummo!! Shown here with curry chicken salad not from Ina (from epicurious.com, here).

When the weather gets hot like it did this week, we love eating a variety of salads for dinner.

(c) Chinese chicken salad (sensing a theme here?) with asparagus and red peppers. 

Hubby thought it could use a little heat, but it was delicious nonetheless.

(d) Shrimp salad (no pic)

Everything was awesome! This cookbook stays on the shelf for sure.

(3) Had my 28 week doctor prenatal appointment. At this appointment last pregnancy I had gained 11 pounds in 4 weeks, so I was a little apprehensive. The damage was 7 pounds this time. I guess it's all about perspective, because I was actually happy with that number. Then we did our hospital tour on Friday, since we'll be delivering at a different hospital than the one we used last time. The layout of this hospital makes it unlikely baby2 will be born in a bathroom. The car is still a real possibility.

(4) Of course there were mother's day festivities to be had: mani/pedi, afternoon tea with Jake's grandmother, brunch this morning. Hubby got me exactly what I wanted: he reloaded my starbucks card. What a great man!

Next week we're taking Asher on a little trip, a last hoorah before the baby is born. It'll be a good chance to play with my camera and new flash and lenses. Lots of pics next time.

Peace out.

Food boot camp, and a shout out to my mom friends

Before I had a kiddo, I had visions of myself making all my own baby food from locally grown organic vegetables, of my kid enjoying a wide variety of healthy foods, of being a family of good eaters. When Ash started solid foods, he ate one jar of (organic, natch) sweet potatoes and promptly decided healthy was not for him. Food has been a constant struggle for us. Now Ash subsists almost entirely on yogurt, apples, grapes, french toast, Clif Bars, and jelly sandwiches (no peanut butter for this kid). That sounds not too bad, I know, but when that is practically all your kid eats (ok, also french fries and smoothies from the gym), it gets old, and you start to feel like you've perhaps failed in the feeding-your-kid department. Plus, in the interest of full disclosure, Jake and I probably allow too many treats on the side. What can I say - my kid wears me down.

Jake and I have been saying for a long time that we're going to do a food boot camp, where we only put meats and veggies in front of him, and let him starve until he breaks down and eats. But let's face it, Jake and I are softies. Never going to happen. Instead, tonight we instituted a food chart. The deal is, when Ash gets five stickers (like tonight he got one for eating broccoli), he gets a treat (first a trip to the frozen yogurt place, then a train he's been asking for). So we'll see. Keep your fingers crossed.

This food issue is the thing most likely to make me feel like a bad mom if I think about it too much (which is why I mostly avoid thinking about it). In recent days, I also happened to have read several books/articles written by moms who feel like failures, feel completely overwhelmed, feel like all the moms in the world except them have it together. It's the new problem that has no name, maybe? Apparently a major source of this angst is a feeling of competition with and judgment from other moms. I guess I've been unusually lucky, but this has not been my experience AT ALL. I'm surrounded by moms (mostly from my two awesome moms groups) who, despite the fact that they DO seem to have it together, don't make me feel like a loser. When I go to one of my mom friends and say, "I really wanted to leave Ash at the store today," I don't also have to say, "Not that I would, of course, I love him and feel very lucky to have him." They know. So I just wanted to give them a shout out here. I've been feeling very grateful lately to know so many moms who support and inspire me. XOXO to you all!