monday miscellany

1) Henry is ten weeks old today, and we're still pretty much in the same routine. In the last couple days he had a lot of trouble napping well, which meant he had several short naps and was sometimes cranky in between them. Yesterday he took great naps though- two long ones, and a little cat nap in the evening.  The trade-off was that he didn't sleep as long at night.

Tolerating tummy time, but definitely not loving it!

2) I need two fillings, which means I have to go back to the dentist twice to get them. Double torture. Great.

3) Novocaine doesn't work well, or wears off fast, on me. So at some point whenever I have a cavity filled, I get the fun surprise of finding out when will wear off as the dentist drills in there. This makes it extra fun.

4) Yesterday Celia and I made a quick trip to the store together. It was nice to get out by ourselves and have fun. I think I'll try to take her out every weekend.

5) Celia talks sometimes about her relationships with her friends at daycare. There's one boy who really likes her and always wants to play with her, but doesn't always have the most appropriate behavior. He can't talk much so he tends to act instead of talking. On the way to daycare one day, she was asking me what she could say to him because sometimes he hits and yells. When we got there, he came right up and wanted to play with her, and she said "Dunnie, don't hit and scream at me. That's not the way to play. You have to talk to each other to be good friends." Ha! It was so cute. Unfortunately it went right over his head...

6) Speaking of daycare, the other day Dunnie and another boy were fighting over Celia. She's very popular with the boys. Archer said hi to Celia and she said hello back, and then Dunnie stepped in front of Celia with his arms out saying "No!", trying to keep Archer away from her.

7) I don't think we have any appointments to be at this week. We've had more than one every week for a long time. I'm hoping we can get out and do something fun instead.

8) One thing I miss from before I went vegan is buffalo wings. I don't miss the actual chicken, but the buffalo flavor. Last night I tried making this buffalo chickpea dip and it was impressively good! I don't think I'll be missing wings anymore! It was really good, low fat, and very nutritious with chickpeas being the main ingredient.

9) Sometimes when Celia's watching tv, I have Henry nearby in his seat. It isn't my intention that he watch tv too, because the AAP and all the research on the subject discourages any tv for infants. However, he always ends up watching! I don't think it's doing him any damage because we also spend plenty of time talking and playing with him too, and at this young age he's probably just enjoying the lights and movement on the screen. He watches and babbles away the whole time. But it still makes me feel bad that I've let him watch it. I guess this is just the way it is with younger siblings! They end up doing all kinds of things you never would have let your first do.

10) Celia is so into drawing right now. She spends a lot of time at her easel. She always asks me to draw things I can't really draw. This morning she wanted me to draw Abby from Sesame Street, and I tried but it didn't look much like Abby. Celia said "I think you did a pretty good job." Haha!

11) I am done with green smoothies. It was sad to say goodbye, but I've read some information on them that made me decide I wasn't getting the nutritional benefit I thought I was. Apparently it's controversial because there are some diehard juicers and smoothie fanatics out there, but basically when you grind everything up so small you're not getting the fiber and other nutritional benefits of the whole food. I knew that about juicing- basically you end up drinking sugar and you're not getting the benefit of the whole food. So I never juiced. I thought a smoothie would be good because I was starting off with the whole foods, but the act of liquifying it all takes away the nutritional value. This information comes from Drs Caldwell Esselstyn and Colin Campbell, and when you read the explanation of why they're not good for you it really does make sense. So, I've started eating my greens whole, lightly steamed because that's how you get the most nutritional benefit. Some day soon I'll share my favorite ways to eat them, because just eating plain old greens isn't always the most appetizing thing.

Goodbye, smoothies.

Also, Esselstyn and Campbell both have great websites with compelling information on plant-based diets and how they prevent and reverse disease. Highly recommend browsing them, and reading their books! If you have or are at risk for heart disease, cancer, or autoimmune disease, a plant-based diet is for you. Their health and nutrition advice is based not on random theories or fads, but on scientific evidence. That's the way to go.

12) I went for my first run since early pregnancy on Friday. It was truly awful. Ha! It's just not fun to run when you're out of shape, but I know how good I'll feel and how much I'll love it once I get back to regular running.