The problem with knowing too much

I must do something about our food situation. I'm going to go broke...er. Knowledge is a tricky thing. I can't un-learn the things I have about our food supply though sometimes I wish I could still consume mounds of GMO laden corn tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant in blissful ignorance. Some foods I used to eat I now look at and think they might as well be labeled with poison warnings. Therefore I am basically left with shopping in the health food sections of stores (and not even everything there is without issues) and the organic section of the supermarket produce aisle (which is sadly limited in many stores around here). This week I went to Hyvee and spent a little over $100, came back home and still felt like I didn't have a lot to eat. This is kinda ridiculous and has been bothering me ever since. I must find a solution. 

Here are my main obstacles:

1. Americans (me included) are not used to paying so much for food. We have been tricked by Taco Bells and Ramen Noodles into thinking that one should be able to eat on a small fraction of our income. Thus, it becomes really difficult to go from spending a dollar or two on, say, a roll of regular biscuit dough, to then spending $5 on a roll of biscuit dough that does not contain GMO ingredients, high fructose corn syrup, bleached flour,etc (I may or may not do this) which leads me to my next problem...

2. I do not have enough time to cook all these things from scratch which, undoubtedly, would be cheaper. Oh what did I do with all my time before I had a baby?? I probably could have baked five loaves of bread a week and made my own butter. But no, I had more important things to do like watch The Bachelor (Darn you Ben and your stupid vineyard!). 

3. I'm probably eating too much organic "junk-food". One does not really, truly need organic cookies...Right? And one probably doesn't need $5 biscuits for that matter. I could just eat toast. Oh, but wait! The bread I buy also costs $5 a loaf...Oy.  My real goal is to eat whole foods. Organic processed foods are still processed foods. Perhaps they are a much, much better option for an occasional treat, but they should still be just that, a treat. It is the same issue of time and convenience to which I must find a solution. 

4. My husband (sorry honey). If it were just me in the house, I think all this would be a tad easier. However, while Brian is supportive, he doesn't have quite the same conviction and concern about the same things as I do. Also, he doesn't cook much. Therefore I feel almost forced into processed foods ($$) just so there will be something in the house that he can/will eat without me. I think I could be perfectly happy most of the time with a meal totally comprised of vegetables. Not so sure Brian feels the same... 

While I do believe in the saying "pay now or pay later" referring to health care costs, there has to be a better way. I understand that my grocery bill is bound to be higher due to the changes I've made and I'm ok with that. I really believe I could lower it though if I just learned some tricks to better planning. 

So for all my fellow Micheal Pollan readin', Food Inc. watchin', Whole Foods shoppin' peeps out there, what do you do??? 

 



   

The First 3

I cannot believe my little guy is already three months old. Here are some reflections on/things I've learned in the past three exciting, sweet, and exhausting months.

1. The Baby K-tan wrap is the best thing I own. It's like the Moby, but one does not need an engineering degree to use it.

2. Baby coats and jackets are adorable but basically useless thanks to not being able to use them in a car seat. Unless of course you make a habit of taking walks outside in the cold. Which I do not.

3. Brestfriend pillow is better than the Boppy. However, both of them are only helpful in the first few weeks. 

4. I've never seen so many blankets in my life. 

5. On the subject of blankets, receiving blankets are also basically useless. 

6. My advice is to scratch the receiving blankets and go with the Swaddleme blankets with the Velcro. At least for those of us that don't have mad bible times swaddling skillz. 

7. I should have Terminator arms by now. 

8. The NoseFrida is a way less scary snot-sucker than those silly hospital things. And no, there is really no possible way you can suck snot into your mouth. Promise.

9. I'm not sure what babies have against their mothers eating. They almost always wake-up and/or start crying the minute you sit down to a meal. This seems a bit counter productive for them. I try to explain this, but he's not buying it.

10. It is surprising what one can do with one hand. 

11. A sleeping baby in the house is like walking through land mines. You are always terrified of setting one off. 

12. Your only goals for the day should be to wash and feed yourself. Anything above that and I feel like super-mom. 

13. I have a new found respect for dairy cows.

Gabriel's Story

I thought I'd better write out Gabriel's birth story before I forget more details! Warning: this will be long. 

We planned to have a home birth from the beginning (the reasons why would take a whole other post so if you're interested you can contact me and I'd be glad to share) and were lucky to find an amazing midwife. Not once did I have to set foot in a hospital or doctor's office and still haven't to this day. Lori, our midwife, came to our home for all prenatal appointments. That was lovely and made me feel so comfortable with her as we had time to chat and get to know each other.

Gabriel's "due date" was Wednesday, November 21st, the day before Thanksgiving. November 21st came and went without any signs of labor. As did the next day, and the next, and so on. My parents had plans to come up for as much as two weeks but couldn't come until Friday due to my mom's work schedule. So at first I was worried that he would come before they got here. Then, when Friday came and went with no baby, I was worried that I was wasting their time off waiting around to go into labor! Finally, Monday morning, which also happened to be my father's birthday, I started to feel contractions. Most of the day they were consistently about 8 minutes apart. They weren't that painful, but I decided I just wanted to hang out at home all day and see what happened. That evening, Lori came by for a quick visit to see how things were progressing. Before she came I thought the contractions were getting closer together, but by the time she got there, it was almost as if they stopped! I was so frustrated! But, almost as soon as she left with orders to call if they returned less than 5 minutes apart or my water broke, they returned and seemed to be stronger. I can't remember exactly but this may have been around 7 or 8 o'clock. She had suggested that I try and get some sleep but I wasn't sleepy so I opted to rest on the couch watching TV for a little while. Finally I decided I'd better go lie down, but knew there was no way I was actually going to go to sleep with the contractions going on! At this point they were still manageable, but painful enough to keep me awake. Brian went to sleep beside me and I tried various things to manage the contractions that were starting to get closer together and more intense. Finally around 2 or 3 maybe, I decided I should give Lori a call. 

Lori came about an hour later and after checking on me, she went down stairs to rest until I really needed her. At some point the contractions became very strong and painful. At some point I got in the tub to see if that would help with the pain, but honestly it really didn't. (However, that brief time I spent in the tub must have been when my water broke because I never knew when it happened.) I guess when Lori heard my moans of pain, she came up to help me from that point on. One thing I knew could happen but wasn't expecting was that during transition I threw up! I remember thinking how unfair it was that I had to deal with that on top of everything else. But after that, I think my body got a bit of a break, but not for long. 

This is the part of the story that it gets a little more foggy for me - the pushing. This started around 5:30 Tuesday morning. This was by far the most frustrating and difficult part for me. I think I had expected it to be much faster and easier than it was. Throughout my pregnancy, Lori had told me how my body was "built" for child birth. In addition, when she checked me during her initial visit the night before, she commented on how low he was already and that some women push for an hour to get to that point. So needless to say, I was expecting things to be very quick at this point. I think we all were. I don't know exactly what the deal was, but I just couldn't get the pushing thing down. I tried various positions but nothing. I remember her saying several times that with one good push he would surely be out and then nothing. I was exhausted but I never remember feeling afraid. Lori was so calm and confident that I never felt fear. I did at one point think that he was just going to stay in there forever! Because I was so tired, my contractions were weakening which did not help the situation. They gave me spoonfuls of honey which helped surprisingly well to strengthen them. Finally, I returned to the squatting position with Brian behind me holding me up. I finally learned how to channel my energy to the right place and at 10:40 am Tuesday morning, Gabriel made his appearance.

Poor little guy had quite the cone head from being stuck in there so long, but other than that he was beautiful, healthy, and perfect. I remember one of the first things Brian said when he saw him was, "He has my eyes!". And he really does. They handed him to me right away and helped me back up into our bed to snuggle with him on my chest. It was incredible. We stayed there for quite awhile as Lori and her assistants went about cleaning up. My poor mother, who had been so worried, came up and got to meet her grandson for the first time. After a little while, Lori helped me to start nursing him. They left him with me for quite awhile before they took him to check him out and even then he was only and arm's length away. He was 8 lbs even and 21 inches long! They prepared a bath for us with some healing herbs which was lovely. After that, we all just hung out in the bed for a long time. Brian took a nap, but even though my body was so exhausted, I couldn't sleep. I laid Gabriel on my chest while he napped. 

I have been asked many times if I would do a natural home birth again. Anyone who knows me well knows how squeamish I am about all things bloodly and painful. But the answer is a big YES. Honestly, labor was miserable, painful, and exhausting. However, I am convinced that had I been in a hospital I would have ended up with a c-section and I obviously didn't need one. I just needed someone with Lori's experience and skills and to be allowed time to let my body do it's thing. It was so wonderful to be able to be in my own home and my own bed and never have Gabriel leave my sight for a second. 

I am sure there are things I forgot or left out, but I wanted to record the event for myself more than anything and for anyone else that had expressed interest in knowing my birth story. 

And here is my big boy just about a week ago. Can't believe he is now almost 7 weeks old. 

Back to School Fun

I don't know what made me think about this today, but I used to show these videos to my students when I was teaching Spanish classes. I think they are hilarious. I thought I'd share in case you need a laugh - especially all you teachers going back to work this week. 

1. Que hora es: Part 1

2. Que hora es: Part 2

3. First Semester of Spanish Love Song 

4. Second Semester of Spanish Love Song

Unfortunately, these videos probably don't say much for the state of Spanish instruction in the US, but they sure are good for a laugh. 

Enjoy and may your semesters be as smooth and painless as possible! 

Bring on the ice cream, but hold the pickles

Apologies for my long absence. In my defense, I do have a good reason. As many of you may know by now...I'm pregnant! As of this week I am 11 weeks along. While this is a lovely thing to have happened, it has done a number on my relationship with food. Things I once loved I can't even look at and foods I haven't thought about in ages suddenly seem like the best thing ever - Taco Bell bean burritos for example...  

And cooking? Ha. Brian has been a trooper, but I'm afraid he may be starving in silence...For some reason, nearly everything in my fridge and cabinets is about as appealing as eating old shoes. It is also futile to go to the grocery store or plan any meals beyond the next 10 minutes. 

So perhaps you can understand why I have been uninspired to post. The good news is it seems to slowly be getting better. The queasiness is subsiding though what sounds good is still totally unpredictable. On the bright side, perhaps I will be struck with creative genius as cravings come along and the ability to stand in my kitchen for more than 5 minutes returns. Though I promise, no recipes for pickles and ice cream. 

That's just gross. 


Pickles and peanut butter in the other hand...





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Enchilada Soup

I guess I'm on an enchilada kick. Driving to the store Monday evening I was trying to come up with something new for dinner and this soup popped into my head. It is basically the enchiladas I made in the last recipe post, converted into a soup!This is great by itself as a meal or maybe as a side with some yummy quesadillas.

Ingredients: 
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cans enchilada sauce
2 cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes
2 cans black beans or pinto beans, drained and rinsed 
1 cup frozen (or fresh) corn (roasted is good if you can find it) 
1 cup vegetable broth 
1/2 tbsp cumin
sauce from chipotle peppers (you could also add the pepper, chopped) 
salt to taste 

In a large pot, cook the onions and garlic for a few minutes until tender. Next, add all other ingredients and simmer for about 10 minutes or so. I would add the chipotle in small amounts and keep tasting until you reach a flavor and heat level you're okay with. 

You could keep it vegan as is, or if you like, garnish with some sour cream and shredded cheese. Chopped fresh cilantro would be delightful as well. This is super satisfying and quick. Great for a weeknight dinner. 
 

Confessions

1. Sometimes I clean the house to 90's rap music. There's nothing like a little Gangsta's Paradise to get you in the mood to scrub the kitchen sink.

2. I love pickle and peanut butter sandwiches. Don't judge; they're awesome. However, not just any pickle will do. They absolutely must be dill and very crunchy. This is a great choice.

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3. During training for my first half marathon, one of my toenails fell off. I am not allowed to mention this around Brian. Ever.

4. I can never remember how to spell the word necessary. I got lucky this time.

5. When I was young, I thought it was such a waste of space to have a pool on a cruise ship. You know, with the ocean right there and all.

6. Ok, so this is not technically my confession, but you must know. My husband does a mean The Real Slim Shady on karaoke.

7. And for the grand finale, I have had a big crush on Tom Selleck since I was three. Yes, that's right, three. Bet you can't guess which Friends episodes were my favorite.

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(You can stop rolling your eyes now, Brian.)