November 16th - November 22nd
BEST
When I became pregnant I spent 9 months planning, reading, browsing, researching, conversing, about what kind of mom I wanted to be. Among the day dreams of nursing in the glow of sunlight sitting in the rocker in my perfect baby room, starring lovingly into my baby's eyes as he gazes back and wraps his little fingers around mine, was making pure, organic, home-made baby food. And here we are almost 9 months later...nursing in the sunlight turned into just barely surviving 6 months of being hooked up to a pump like a cow, mother and baby gazing at each other turned into figuring out how to change a diaper with one hand because you have to use the other one to pin him down so he won't crawl off the changing table, and home-made baby food turned into one disastrous attempt which ended up in dirtying two pots and every slicer, dicer, blender thing I have in my kitchen. Guns and Roses had it right...welcome to the jungle!
So I picked up the pieces of my broken day dreams and headed to Whole Foods to see what mooshed up food in a jar they had to offer my Babyhead. Thank God for Earth's Best...totally organic baby food, each ingredient label reading "organic sweet potatoes, water" or "organic winter squash, water" etc. It put my guilty-momma heart at ease that I was not up to doing the task myself. So the refrigerator shelf got stocked with many, many little jars and a little tummy got full of yummy, good baby food.
Then my Fabulous Neighbor Laura saved her William Sonoma catalog for me with a page rabbit-eared. "Beaba Babycook." European baby food maker finally sold in the US. Reading through the description I became very excited...steam basket, yes...self timer, yes...powerful blender, yes...all in one counter top device...YESSSSS!!! This is exactly what I need to bring the momma day dream of home-made baby food alive. 4 weeks later (because everything takes longer with a baby) I finally made it to WillSo to purchase the Babycook. 2 weeks later I actually took it out of the box. And a few days later I actually tried it. Now my life is changed forever. It is the best thing a new mom could have in her kitchen. The first time Tavian tried my home-made yams, cooked and blended with love just for him, his eyes lit up and he opened his toothy little mouth waiting for more. Like a little bird being fed by a momma bird. Dear Beaba Babycook...I heart you!
WORST
Saturday night used to be incredible dinners at new, hip restaurants. Saturday night used to be fun bars and lots of dancing to the latest releases. Saturday night used to be hitting a great wine bar before seeing the next Oscar nominated movie. Saturday night used to be ordering in our favorite pizza, cuddling on the couch, and not even giving it a second thought to start a movie after 9:30. Saturday night used to be just the two of us...Eli and me.
Saturday night is now Eli, me, and the buzz of the baby monitor while our beautiful son is sleeping. Saturday night is now eating left over delivered Thai food and being too tired to have even a semi-stimulating conversation. Saturday night is now only being able to watch one episode of The Office on the TiVo because some how it is already 9:00 and we have to get ready for bed soon. If this sounds like complaining, I'm not (well maybe a little) it's just that life has changed in so many ways with the Babyhead and sometimes it is hard for me to realize it.
This particular Saturday night Tavian and I were sitting in our living room with Fabulous Neighbor Laura and she mentioned she didn't really have any plans for the evening. Thinking she would be great company to help me pass the time until Eli came home I offered to make us all dinner and maybe we can see if there is anything good on PayPer View. She kinda laughed and said "No, I mean why don't I babysit and you and Eli can go out." It took me a second to realize that yes, we actually could leave the house on a Saturday night! I called Eli and he was excited for the opportunity too. He would head home soon, I would get Tavian in the bath and into bed, Laura would come over and listen to the baby monitor buzz while we went to a movie.
The sudden shock of being able to go out numbed our ability to realize that there is no way you can go out on a Saturday night at 8:00 and expect to not sit in the very front row of a movie you might not want to see, but it was the earliest one playing. We stood at the movie theater counter debating on whether we should try to stay up to see a 10:00 movie, but just thinking about it made us tired. I made a few calls to other theaters near by...same story everything sold out until 10:00. Defeated we decided to just head home.
We needed to drown our sorrows, but couldn't risk a hangover so we opted for chocolate milkshakes. We headed toward Cold Stone to get the real deal, instead of our usual non-fat frozen yogurt. As I was sampling the gingerbread ice cream, Eli order his milk shake only to be slapped in the face with a "sorry our blenders are broken we can't make milk shakes." Two strikes for our "night out" and we promptly headed home to the buzz of the baby monitor before we ran into strike number 3.
