A few pics from Ada’s birthday
party last weekend! Small house + many babies + kids = a very content and busy wee Ada. She LOVED it
all, right down to the sneaky chocolate Guinness cake fed to her and ripping
open the presents after a much needed nap.Thank you so much to the guests for making it out on a bit
of a miserable Saturday, you made our day! Ada got lots of cute gifts and has
given her new toys equal attention. Thank you givers! Full credit to Jo for the beautiful cake
and to Mel for the gorgeous wee cupcakes, a new career may await you both! Next time I will delegate the role of photographer... learning slowly.
Coming back from a cousin’s
place near Hamilton today I was listening to the compilation I made to play
before the service at our wedding. I still love every song and I have to share
one of them with you. Whenever I listen to My Favourite Book by Canadian band Stars I am struck that it seems to be basically written about Cam and I.
Simultaneously singing, fighting
back tears, passing another vehicle and trying to keep a baby awake in the back
seat is not ideal. This song just does that to me, it says what my heart thinks. I am so so thankful to be going through life and motherhood with Cameron. I
honestly don’t want to boast too much because he is amazing and no other dudes
should try and compare themselves to him cos he is so great and I am lucky and
undeserving and blessed.
Listen up:
In the 80’s I loved it if my tape covers had
the lyrics on the back, because singing along to every word of a song is one of
life’s joys, so just in case, here they are.
Stars, My Favourite Book.
I was always late, you never afraid, that we could be falling
All our friends would say, maybe we should wait, but they can't see what's
coming
And to this day, when everything breaks, you are the anchor that holds me
And that is why we'll always make it
How I know your face, all the ways you move, you come in, I can read you
You're my favourite book
All the things you say, the way you shift your eyes
I never knew there was someone, to make me come alive
When the days are long, and the thunder with the storm, can always get me
crying
You can make my bed, I'll fall into it, shattered but not lonely
Because I never knew a home, until I found your hands, and when I'm weathered
You come to me, you're my best friend
And that is why we'll always make it
How I know your face, all the ways you move, you come in, I can read you
You're my favourite book
All the things you say, the way you shift your eyes
I never knew there was someone, to make me come alive
And when we're making love
I'd give up everything up for your touch
How I know your face, all the ways you move, you come in, I can read you
You're my favourite book
All the things you say, the way you shift your eyes
I never knew there was someone, to make me come alive
When you go to work all the day I wait
For you to come home, recount our time, in our little place
These are so easy it is almost embarrassing! You can freeze all of them, yay! The puree's work well frozen in a silicon muffin tin or one sprayed with vege oil then popped out into a freezer bag.
Baby spinach dahl, about 6 serves (adapted from Good First Foods by Sara Lewis)
Bring to boil and simmer for 25 mins:
3T red lentils
2T white rice
1t oil
pinch ground coriander
pinch turmeric
1c homemade vege stock or water
You may need to monitor this and add a touch more water to stop it from sticking.
Add 1 tomato, without skin and seeds
1 bunch spinach chopped, without stalks (you could use silverbeet too)
and cook for further 2 mins
Puree or mash to desired consistency.
Champ-cannon, 12 serves (adapted from River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook by Nikki Duffy)
3 med-large potatoes
1/4 cabbage
a few spring onions
3 large stalks of silverbeet
Bit of natural yogurt
Peel and cook the potatoes and steam the very finely chopped greens above.
Puree or mash to desired consistency with yogurt and a little of the cooking water.
Whole Grain Pancakes, makes so many baby ones so make some for you too.(recipe lightly adapted from Chef Michael Smith but taken from the blog Poppytalk)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat or almond flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through to
salt. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients
until well blended. Pour the wet into the dry and use a wooden spoon to
lightly stir the batter smooth, being careful to not over mix. Let sit
for 10 minutes so that the baking powder can do it's thing.
Heat over medium-high a large cast iron skillet or heavy pan and use a
little butter or oil to grease the pan. Spoon batter into skillet -
large pancakes or small pancakes. When you
see bubbles rise on top and start to pop leaving holes, it's time to
flip. Remove onto a plate covered with a large bowl to keep warm while
you cook up the remaining batter. Babies enjoy these plain but serve yours with maple syrup, fresh fruit or
jam and dig in.
I love the number 11, I think of it as pretty and interesting. At the moment thought we are on the big countdown to the number 1, so Ada being 11 months old feels a bit penultimate. Nevertheless each week brings new tricks and personality to our wee button so 11 months deserves a wee post.
First piece of news is that chase has become the best game ever and Ada loses it giggling. So. Much. Fun.
Ada stood by herself for 5
whole seconds the other day and then sat down, stood back up and raised
her arms in the air. Very much a LOOK AT ME moment.
She continues to be on time with milestones, not really early and not
really late. Ada loves her trolley and activity table where I tell her
to play DJ and make some music. She pulls herself up on everything,
especially friends and sliding doors. Walking is next. Oh. My. We are not there yet, surely?!
After 4 months of signing a few baby
sign language words to Ada she used two unequivocally in two days when we were down at Hayden
and Emily's wedding in Wellington. Ada was being looked after by a friend
and I came back to help put her down for a nap. After changing her
nappy she was on my knee and signed food. I said "but it is
bedtime" and Ada burst into huge tears. So I stood up and told her we
would go get a banana and the tears stopped. She ate the whole thing and
went happily to bed 3 minutes later! A whole conversation with a 10
month old. So cool.
The last achievement this month is that she ate what we had for dinner last night, Moroccan meatballs sans chili. Wahoo, cooked tomato is on the menu. Phew. Onwards!
I have been intending to write
more than captions for photos on here for the longest time. Two months ago I told myself that I would write something on average every two days. I published 4 coffe blogs that day and that was it. Yesterday
a dear friend said if I wrote a baby book she would be a follower. Too kind!
Trouble is, I don’t really write! As an aside said friend would be an amazing
writer and have you glued to her life and her insights, she is a quiet hero of
mine.
My general demeanour is happy go
lucky with a dose of charming complaints. I don’t get angry or depressed often, what you
see is what you get. However, when I process big thoughts they usually simmer
under the surface, waiting patiently until I get the right opportunity to
discus with a good friend. I can usually draw this process out until action is
required. Trying to capture big thoughts when they happen is a lot of the
reason why I blog. Having to finish the thinking process before I press publish
helps me to be disciplined with finishing what I start, I need this to write
and I often need this to think things through. I get distracted easily, sometimes by
a cute baby waking up, more often by FB or Trademe.
who me?
For the past few months I have
had some low level background dissatisfaction with myself or with life. The
simplest answer seems to be a job, I sort of want one for the money and for the
variety. Do I get a fill the gaps job, put my very wonky career on hold? Do I
dig deep and figure out my next step on the path to my perfect job? I haven’t
really been willing to look this in the eye because I am grateful for the opportunity
and support from Cam to care for Ada full time and want to make the most of it.
To name aloud that I am unsatisfied makes it bigger and more problematic, when
day-to-day I am really happy with things.
When we returned from Canada and I
was 5 months pregnant getting a full time job was not on the cards. When Mum
friends discuss going back to work I feel like my position is moot as I don’t
have a job to go back to, the decision is made for me.
Even though I have spouted all these thoughts here I haven’t come up with an
answer, just said the question aloud. Work is only a small part of what may be
the solution and I am not sure of my next step at all. I am finding it a bit disconcerting, like I said, this has been on my mind for months, my abilty to put off thinking these big thoughts has been rather accentuated by my ongoing baby brain. As it stands I am not figuring this out yet, I am going to enjoy Ada's first year without worrying about this. I am waiting until January to see what I come up with and plan on
booking in some soul searching over the holidays.
