The Great Leap Day De-lurking!

In honour of an extra day (I know, it's not really extra, but it feels like it) I declare today The Great De-lurking. I am often surprised when I see someone and they say "I read on your blog..." and I had no idea they ever read this blog. So, come out come out wherever you are! It's an extra day so do something you don't normally do - Leave a comment! Let's see who's really out there.

Another tooth!

Tooth number two has officially appeared. A tiny bit of it was palpable yesterday, but now it's visible, just one week after the first one sprouted.

And, despite early exaggerated reports of her rolling, Kate is now an official roller. Both directions, no help from us, pulling her knees up underneath her in an early attempt at crawling.

And (again!) she is a veggie eating machine. Tonight was carrots. She could eat most of a jar if I let her. Instead, she gets about a third of a jar and loves it. Same for sweet potatoes and squash. Rice cereal, on the other hand, she hates. We're going to try barley cereal instead. Maybe that will suit her tastes better.

All this excitement means no "what's cooking wednesday". ok, that's just an excuse. I just didn't feel like cooking tonight. Maybe I'll do a late entry tomorrow if I'm feeling inspired.

Favourite things

This weekend the weather was perfect for hanging out on the porch. Here is Kate enjoying the weather and her saucer.

Six months

Kate turned six months old on Wednesday. It is so odd to think that she's been with us for half a year already. It seems like just yesterday that we met her for the first time and she screamed for the first 1.5 hours of her life on the outside.


The last month has seen a lot of changes. She is interacting more and can tell us what she wants and reach for things if we don't give them to her. She is getting stronger and is spending all of her waking hours playing with something, usually by chewing on it. She woke up on her half birthday with a tooth peeking through her lower gum. She has started trying solid food and really enjoyed the squash she had last night.


Earlier this week I had a realization that I'm good at being her mother. And another time this week I told Marlene "I like her". Seems a silly thing to say, but it's true. I've loved her since before she was born, but I've really grown to like her as her personality develops and she becomes a little person. I like spending time with her. She's funny and makes me smile. I look at pictures of her after she goes to bed at night, and if she takes a long nap I miss her (not that I would trade long naps for short!).

She has definitely made our lives different, and for the better in many ways. People say (whoever 'people' are) that they can't remember what life was like before they had a kid. Of course I can remember, and there are parts that I definitely miss. But I wouldn't undo it. No way.

What's cooking Wednesday

The theme for today's meal is yellow. It wasn't really planned that way, but clearly that's what happened. Tilapia, gold beets and sweet potato oven fries. Even the sauces are yellow.


The sauce on the fish is from this month's cookbook, Crazy Plates. They had it over baked sole, but I pan fried tilapia instead. And cooked it perfectly, I might add.

Heart and Sole

1/3 c lemon juice
1/4 c of chicken or veggie broth
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp each cornstarch and grated gingerroot
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to boil and cook until thickened and bubbly. Serve over fish.

Verdict: It was good, lots of flavour, but was lacking. It's a low fat cookbook, and sometimes that doesn't work. I added a couple of tablespoons of butter and the sauce was much improved. It is potent, this is four servings. Use sparingly or it could overpower the fish.

Last time I'll mention it

I went to the urgent care clinic yesterday and got a prescription for antibiotics. The sinus infection was starting to include an ear infection, just for good measure. I should start feeling better tomorrow.

Graeme and Kate are both totally healthy.

And that's the last I'll mention it. I'm bored by being sick.

Sickness update

I'm in the snot phase now. Full nose, full head, even the ears feel full. Blech. But at least there is progress, right?

Kate has a low grade fever this morning- 100.1. She is also vomiting more than normal, and anyone who knows her knows that she's a pretty big barfer already. Her mood is totally normal though. I'm hoping that the antibodies she gets from breastfeeding keeps symptoms very minor. We'll check her temperature again after her nap.

So that's our update. Kate was clearly feeling well yesterday:


Update: At 1 pm, no fever.
8:30 pm: Kate hasn't had a fever since this morning, but I'm pretty sure I have a sinus infection. Joy. I might be heading to the clinic tomorrow for antibiotics.

Graeme is home!

Graeme got home about an hour ago. Yay! It's so nice to have him home, not least because I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I seldom get sick, but every two years or so I get a cold. And I have one now. Not snotty, but it hurts to swallow and my head feels heavy and wooly. I don't know if Kate has it due to the lack of obvious symptoms, but she slept badly last night and had a 3 hour nap today (I slept with her for 2.5 hours of it). We're going to go for a walk in the sun since the dog has been totally neglected today and then I might sleep again. I could sleep all day, I think.

No What's cooking Wednesday today. We'll probably just grill something and have lots of veggies with it. If I'm feeling better tomorrow, I'll try something new, otherwise I'll just call it a wash.

Anyone have any home remedies for colds they would like to share? Honey? Ginger? Lemon? All of the above?

Bananas. Not sure about that.

When I don't post for a few days, it seems like there is so much to say, and so I just dump it all out rather than compose a real post. Again this time, there is so much to tell. Graeme is away for a few days at a conference. We're doing ok, although I keep thinking it's Tuesday since he left on Saturday morning. I've been trying to have some social event to do each day so that I can talk to adults. Kate and Westley aren't the best conversationalists. Today we went to yoga. (Kate loves it. She laughs and squeals through most of it.) Tomorrow we'll go for a walk with some mama friends.

On to the disjointed part of the post.

Kate got a high chair on Friday. She seems to like it. It's nice to be able to have her higher up when I'm working in the kitchen. She can watch much better.


Today we tried a new food: bananas. She didn't seem very impressed.


She eats very little during our food times. A spoon full or two at the most. But it's fun. That's the whole point for now.

She wore some new foot wear today:


How's that for a random post?

Mmmm

Last night we gave Kate her first meal (other than the taste of steak). Rice cereal. Yum. She seemed to be slightly more interested in the spoon than in the cereal. She did eat a little bit. We clearly need to get a high chair, since feeding her down near the floor attracts Westley a bit too much.

What's cooking Wednesday - two meal bonus edition

Tonight you're getting a two for one WCW. I bought a rotisserie chicken on Monday, and made two meals out of it. The first, which we had tonight, came from this month's cookbook Crazy Plates. It's one of my regular books, but I used it tonight because I found a recipe for which I had all the ingredients.

One Flew over the Couscous Nest

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tbsp ground gingerroot
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup each chopped onions and chopped red bell pepper
1 tsp each ground coriander and curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c chicken broth
3 c peeled, cubed sweet potatoes
1 c couscous
2 tbsp orange juice concentrate
3/4 c light coconut milk
2 tbsp each cornstarch and chopped fresh cilantro

Heat olive oil and add chicken, ginger and garlic. Cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink (Since I used cooked chicken, I just sauteed the garlic and ginger with the onions). Add onions and pepper and cook 3 minutes. Stir in spices and cook for 1 more minute. Add broth and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, prepare couscous per directions, but add orange juice concentrate to couscous before adding water.

Combine coconut milk and cornstarch until smooth. Add to chicken and veggies along with cilantro. Increase heat and cook until thickened. Serve over fluffed couscous.



Verdict: I didn't make the couscous. I thought I had some, but then remembered it went out with the last canned food drive that came by. So, we had it with pita. It was good, but needed a bit of salt, and wasn't quite as flavourful as expected. Graeme didn't think much of it and is in the process of heating up some chowder.


Bonus WCW meal!! Whenever we have a rotisserie chicken, I make my 'not so heavy chicken enchiladas'. I can't call them 'light' because they aren't exactly low calorie. But they aren't as dense or heavy feeling as enchiladas usually are. And they are easy.

Not-so-heavy Chicken Enchilladas
About half the meat from a rotiserrie chicken, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
1 c sour cream
1 tsp cumin
handful of cocktail tomatoes, halved
bunch of cilantro, chopped
grated cheese
salsa
tortillas

Combine chicken, onions, cilantro, sour cream, tomatoes and some of the grated cheese. Pour a bit of salsa into the bottom of a baking pan and spread around. Place a few tablespoons of chicken mixture into a tortilla and roll up, placing seam side down in baking dish. Continue until all chicken mixture is used. Pour additional salsa on top of tortillas and top with cheese. Bake in 350 oven until hot and melty.


These might suck made with totally inferior canadian tortillas. My only advice is to come to Texas and import real tortillas.

What the pediatrician doesn't know...

Most sources say you should introduce food to babies by first giving them rice cereal, then bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots. I found one source that suggests meat early on. But most do not. But most didn't ask Graeme his opinion.

We had steak for dinner last night, and once again Kate was sitting on my lap while I was eating. She grabbed for my fork with a piece of steak on it, so I let her have it. She just sucked on it for a good five minutes. She loved it. Eventually she dropped it and Westley was there waiting. They have forged a new relationship.

Kate needed a bath afterwards.


Today I bought some rice cereal and bananas. And plastic bibs.

I want that!

Kate has started showing interest when we're eating. She watches us, watches the food go to our mouths and sometimes makes chewing/sucking motions with her mouth when we're eating. This only started about a week ago. This evening, she was sitting in my lap as I was eating dinner, and when I started to drink my water, she reached for my glass.

I let her try it, and she loved it. At least, she loved the glass.

She tried to suck at first, but then realized it was kind of nice to put her tongue in it. I think we're going to try food in a week or two since she's showing interest. It's going to be really fun.