Cherish These Moments

I know that this may sound a tad morbid, but I've accepted that my Dad will not be around forever. We just celebrated his 75th birthday this past November. I was an early birthday gift just before he turned 48.

My Dad hasn't always been perfect, but he's always been my Dad. He has a young child in his 50's. A teenage girl in his 60's. A daughter, who became a mother in his 70's.

Since my son was born, we've been "going for coffee" the last couple of weeks. We sit at the restaurant for at least an hour, sometimes two. We chat about the kids or whatever. I ask him how to fix something or if he's got a cordless drill I can borrow. He shows off his newest grandson, then brags up his granddaughter, who is at preschool.

However, it dawned on me the other day, watching my Dad hold my son, that these moments are coming to a close. I have to head back to work here soon. Even though my Dad and I aren't the hugging type, and I can't remember the last time he's actually told me that he loves me, I know he does.

I'm saddened to see these special mornings end, but gratful for the time.

Mardi Gras!

Happy Mardi Gras!



Since Mardi Gras seems to be such a fun holiday in New Orleans, I thought that it'd be perfect to celebrate with Lily. We could have jambalaya and make a King cake. After all, if the recipes are a fail, you can get Zatarain's jambalaya mix or a boxed cake mix. Hey, I'm a Mommy, always gotta have a back up plan!



I found this recipe for Jiffy Jambalaya. One of the variations added shrimp, the other orzo. I added kidney beans, okra, and changed some of the seasonings to fit what we had or was easily available. It was so good and Lily are really well, which surprised me because it was rather spicy.





For the King Cake, I took this recipe for Country Cinnamon Swirl Bread and this recipe for Mardi Gras King Cake and combine them. I also used this bread braiding technique to make it more whimsical. Lily loved the King Cake and ate 2 pieces!



Since Lily has been begging me to do a craft, we did one. Using form board and whatever I could find on the craft table, we made our own masks for a masquerade ball! She had fun gluing the feathers, ribbon, googly eyes, foam letters and hand, and the flower to her mask.

I had really wanted to get beads for us to wear, but with making the bread together and making masks together, we both had a good time. I didn't feel rushed to get it all put together and she didn't feel overwhelmed with me pushing her from one thing to the next.

Against the Scale and the Calendar

My son is 1-month-old today. I'm usually wearing maternity jeans, sweat pants, or exercise pants. Ya know, anything with a stretchy waistband and a little more room in the tushy and thighs.

I've lost about 32 pounds since he was born, almost 8 pounds of that being the healthy baby boy that I gave birth to. I still have 8 pounds to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight, 12 to go to get to the weight I was before I had kids.

I started using My Fitness Pal to track my exercise and calories. It was encouraging, at first. Then, I'd over eat or under exercise. One meal at Pizza Hut was over 1,000 calories!!

I've really been berating myself on my weight. After all, after I had my daughter, I was back down to my pre-pregnancy size by the time she was 4 weeks old.

Oh, how quickly we do forget!

Actually, I wasn't. I started thinking about how differently the weight is coming off this time. I'm still a Fatty McFatfat. In reality, the weight loss hasn't been that different.

After my daughter was born, I went to Sears and got a pair of jeans in the next size up. I wore them until they wore out. I'd continued to lose weight until I was back in my normal area. I could take those pants off without unbuttoning or unzipping them.

I'm my own worst enemy on this process. I'm focusing too much on the number, both on the scale and on the calendar. The scale tells me I'm fat because it's not the same number it was back when I got pregnant. The calendar tells me that I'm running out of time on losing the weight.

It took about 33 weeks to put the weight on, I should stop being so hard on myself. The weight is coming off at a healthy pace. It's really all about perspective.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!

Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd, which is also the biggest reading holiday for the National Education Association.

Lily celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday the day before with her preschool class. She made a Cat in the Hat hat and Thing 1 with her hand print and paint. They also read Dr. Seuss stories at the end of class. One of the older classes actually make Cat in the Hats. So cute!



The previous Saturday, Target held a 2-hour story time event. For 2 hours straight, they had someone there reading a pile of Dr. Seuss books to anyone who would listen. The children received a goody bag with snacks, stickers, crayons, and an activity book. Lily sat there for an hour coloring and listening to the stories. From what I was told, Target holds this event every year, the Saturday before Dr. Seuss' birthday.

For our little home celebration, we picked out a couple (of the many) Dr. Seuss books we have to read. I love the "Party Editions" because they have shiny covers. One of my favorites is "Green Eggs & Ham," but it's such a long book.



I started reading "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" to Lily and Navy. About half way through the book, Lily wanted to be the reader. After a couple of pages, she just started making the story up as she went along. Then, she just stopped telling a story and was flipping through the pages looking at the pictures.

We also played on Seussville for a little bit. Lily really seemed to like the animation and links that were available. It's weird to think that Dr. Seuss was called "Ted" by most of the people that knew him and he was quite a ornery guy.

How I wish we would have had Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook to make something out of. It would have been a lot of fun. Of course, I didn't find it until we were at the library today.

National Nutrition Month : Eat Right With Color

Around our house, this is a very literal thing. Brightly colored foods are more appealing to a preschooler with a poor appetite than bland looking food. Rainbow anything is a win!

Red; Orange; Yellow; Green; Blue; Indigo; Violet

One recent experiment was rainbow pancakes. Using various foods (strawberries, mango/papaya, pineapple, spinach, blueberries, grape preserves), we colored the pancakes before tasting what we'd made. It was a fun experiement and helping in the preparation helped Lily had a slightly better appetite. (FYI: Spinach pancakes aren't so good. Gotta work on that!)

With a small child that doesn't eat well, when she does eat, I have to make every calorie count. I have to try to squeeze in everything that she should be eating during the day from the various food groups.

Applesauce milk with oatmeal baby cereal... It doesn't sound very tasty, but 4 ounces of pureed apple, a couple of tablespoons of single-grain baby cereal, and 8 ounces of milk. She's got a "milkshake/smoothie" that's got a serving of dairy and a serving of fruit, with a little bit of grains and fiber.

For me, orange is my food color right now. I'm all about oranges and grapefruit right now. Of all of the fruits, they're the ones that are usually on sale. Not to mention with cold and flu season in full swing, they pack some mega vitamin C.

So, for us, right now "Eating Right with Color" has heavy emphasis on color.