MaternityShare

Will is now grabbing toys hanging down from his jungle gym in each hand.

Just last week he was grabbing one with one hand then reaching over and grabbing with his other hand as well. Today I saw him going to town with both arms swinging and batting at the toys that hang down on either side of him. He was also pausing to grab them one in each hand. He is developing into a big little boy!

It’s funny to say things such as these because, after all, don’t all humans do theses things? Well, each new life seems like a brand new experience… especially for me, being a new mom.

I love my little man!

Now, its off to bed with me. Its late and Will has a good head start on the sleep.
nite!

I am aspiring to become a good cook. I am going to start out with some basic recipes that are more traditional like pastas, casseroles and such. After I get a few of those under my belt (successfully) I will move on to more elaborate dishes.

So, my radar is now primed to be on the lookout for recipes. This one caught my eye the other day from the top of my gmail page:

FRENCH FRY SPAM CASSEROLE

Wha?!
For real?

I had to click on it, so I did. It is for real and I am real scared.

Bon appetit!

What do you do when you don’t see eye-to-eye with your partner?

You can:

A. agree to disagree
B. hold it against them
C. passive aggression
D. leave
E. negotiate (but won’t this option just end up falling in one of the above?)

Some say that life won’t bring to you anything that you aren’t strong enough to handle.

Ok.
But, there are degrees of successful handling.
Whatever.

What does it mean to be human?
I live. I die.
But what about inbetween?

Heaven help me. I think I am going insane. But, I feel pretty clear about it. I guess I am not going insane.

I miss my family. My mom, were she here would laugh and play with Will so I could take a bath or work on my craft (which will bring me both pleasure and money).

I miss my friends… their familiarity, their wisdom, their stories and jokes that would make me laugh and help me cope with the hard parts of being a new mom and life in general.

I am making friends here but they are new moms too and it takes a while to grow a friendship like the ones I grew in Portland. I am thankful for what I have here in the Bay Area but I sure am missing family, friends and familiarity: Portland.

How is that in my quest to learn more about food and cooking I have come across some amazing Portland business that I am dying to try out. Here I am in the Bay Area far away from them. Today would be a perfect day to head over to Sweet Pea Baking Company. Mmmm-a-licious. They are Portland’s first vegan café and bakery. “Located at 1205 SE Stark Street, Porltand, OR, Sweet Pea will feature fresh gourmet vegan baked goods, Stumptown coffee/espresso and a light breakfast and lunch menu.” (click this to find out more.) I love vegan eats. I’m not even vegan. They just sit well in my stomach. And I am almost always happy and have energy after I eat a vegan desert. Not so with “normal” desserts (even some of the “healthier” ones). Vegans know how to do it. They have been practicing at it a while. Now, I don’t eat vegan that much but, let me tell you, I notice the difference. It just keeps getting better. All the faux desserts and other dishes they make are great alternatives.

Hm, maybe I SHOULD become vegan.
I’m not ready for that yet. Breastfeeding, money, effort, etc… But I think my life would be better. Anyway…

Here is another cool place I must check out:

Food Fight Grocery a vegan grocery at 1217 Stark St in SE Portland, Or.

ps. Check out these great deals on vegan pies from Sweet Pea.

*salivating*

Will laughed for reals for the first time yesterday. He has been working up to laughing with little ‘ha’s and ‘ha-ha’s but yesterday it was a laugh! Sort of a giggle.

He was upset and I was trying to distract and cheer him so I make this gibba-gibba-ga gibba sort of nonsense sound over and over really fast and he laughed at me! Aw. Those kinds of moments are pure gold.

I managed to catch a few seconds on the camera video. I just need to figure out how to post it up here. Stay tuned…

Oh dear. I have the flu. I had wondered when this would happen as it would eventually. Being a mom to a little one while being sick challenging. I took it pretty easy most of the day but I think that Will didn’t appreciate that. It seemed to lessen his coping skills with teething and other discomforts (like gas). But I pulled it together and was fun mom by late afternoon and all was well. I love that little boy! He is so wonderful!

Will slept a bit more today I think so I wonder if he will sleep well during the night. Well, I had better hit the hay to help prepare myself and to speed the healing.

Man am I tired today. And I have a headache. I believe that I am not so desirable company today and my in-laws are in town. I want to be happy and entertaining but I can’t keep it up, my jolly attitude keeps derailing itself like a gutter-ball. I usually get in some morning nap time with Will to help refresh myself but I haven’t been able to lately. Add to that the fact that I keep going to bed late because I want to hang out with the grown ups and I can see why I feel so crummy. I think Will is going through a growth spurt as well so I imagine that that puts more demand on my body.

Will hasn’t been getting enough good sleep either, or rather it is taking him longer to get to it, the good sleep that is.

All this being said, it is great to have the in-laws here. Will gets to bond with them and they get to bond with Will. Good stuff. And they are real nice people to boot. So, really, I am lucky.

I am feeling grateful.

We have Billy’s parent’s visiting this weekend. It has been nice to see them get to bond some more with Will. Today, Billy’s mom did a bunch of housework for me today. I also worked even though she intended to give me a break from all that. I was just so excited to go with the momentum and get some stuff done around here. I did however take her advice and have a bath. I soaked in epsom salt and pretended I was in the natural hot springs of Breitenbush. I have been craving a Breitenbush soak for some time now.

This evening Billy and his dad were watching Comedy Central as well as Current TV in the living room (our loft is really just one big room with half wall dividers for the bedroom) they were having quite a nice time, laughing and talking. It was quite nice to hear these family sounds. The only problem was that it disrupted baby’s sleep. So I put on a heartbeat track and a womb track so that they would keep repeating on iTunes so baby would have some good white noise to soothe him. It seems to have done the trick. I feel soothed too.