The Dreaded "Santa Claus" Photo

I'm sure that at one time or another you've all been in a mall over the Christmas season and seen the *insane* line-up of parents/caregivers with their children in tow to get their Christmas photo with Santa taken.

I've actually got my photo taken with Santa several times as an adult (it was for my mom, ok!) so I'm no stranger to the scenario--kids wailing, clinging to their parents, planking on the floor, destroying their nice outfits and refusing to go anywhere near the old bearded man.

There seems to be various "windows of opportunity" where Santa photos tend to go over ok. Very young babies or toddlers 2 and over seem the most likely to tolerate the holiday tradition without too much of a fuss. Since this is the boy-o's first Christmas, it will obviously be our first attempt at the iconic Santa Photo. He's a pretty chill baby so I don't think it will be any trouble at all on his part--Santa better watch his beard and glasses though!

We're debating about whether we should make it a "family" photo and all get in there, or just get one with the boy-o alone while he's young enough that it's possible. (Because in all likelihood next years photo will have to be family affair in order to get him anywhere near St. Nick.) Hubby really wants to be there for the boy-o's first Santa photo, so we'll have to brave the line-up on the weekend, and I'm actually dreading that MORE than the photo itself. Yikes!

Have you had any Santa horror stories?? What are some of your wisdom infused tips for a FTM facing her first encounter with the holiday photo?

Silent Sunday--Go Riders!

Auntie A, Petey and Daddy.

Pureed Chickpea Soup- For You AND Baby

I've had some chickpea's sitting around for a while, and I kept meaning to try making "baby hummus" with them, but it never happened. Then today I found a recipe for making a pureed Chickpea Soup and thought that was the perfect idea--I can totally alter this to make it baby friendly for the boy-o! But I wanted to try it out too, so after making the soup base I split it into two and added some extra things to both.

Pureed Chickpea Soup

Ingredients:

- TBS oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 stalks of celery, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 1 can, rinsed chick-peas
- 1 box sodium reduced chicken stock (900ml)
- 2 cups water

Directions:

1. Heat saucepan with oil, and add onion, carrots and celery to sauté for a few minutes.
2. Pour chicken stock, water, and rinsed chick peas into large pot. Add in sautéed veggies.
3. Cover and boil for about an hour. Remove from heat and let cool.
4. Pour soup into blender/food processor and blend till smooth.

NOW... for the baby version I left it at that and simply added a little Rice Cereal to it before serving to make it a little thicker.

For the adult version I returned the soup to the saucepan to heat it back up and added some red chili flakes and some garlic powder, letting it simmer for about 10 more minutes. Removed for heat and served!

It was super easy to make and both the boy-o and I both really liked it! It's nice to finally eat the same thing for once. After I finished making the soup I simply portioned his half out into an ice-cube tray to freeze into cubes for future use!

"My Baby is Better Than Your Baby" Syndrome

As a FTM I get overly excited when the boy-o has learned a new skill, because not only is it new to  him, it's new for me too! I think it's part of our job as parents to encourage our children as they grow and develop. BUT, I cannot stress this enough, it is NOT our job as parents to pressure our children to do things before they are ready or to compare/belittle/judge other children on what milestones they have or haven't hit yet.

I honestly don't get it. I don't understand why some people feel the need to look down on other people's babies because they weren't sitting by 6 months, or crawling by 8 months, or walking by a year or WHATEVER! Those kids will figure it out eventually in their own time, so what's your problem?! It literally has nothing, at all, to do with you and your child. As if parents don't worry enough on their own about whether their child is "meeting their milestones," they certainly don't need you to chime in about how "ahead" your baby was.

Desperately Trying to Go Forward

Thankfully I haven't been the recipient of this sort of crap (at least not to my face, anyway) but I have friends who have--and makes me angry. It makes me really angry. What kind of sad adult feels the need to pick on a baby? Why do we need to make life a race right from the very beginning?!

I'm not saying that you should feel shy or ashamed to be proud of your babies accomplishments--or that you shouldn't share those new exciting thing with your family and friends--because you should totally share them! It's important to celebrate the little things. But there's no excuse, ever, for the "My baby is better than your baby" syndrome. I absolutely love hearing about the new things my friends little's have accomplished... it's so exciting to see them grow and change as they get older but I try really hard not to compare our babies or push Peter into things before he's ready because someone else's kid has already done it. Sometimes it can be a tough line to walk and we don't even realize we're doing it.

So I encourage you to pay closer attention to the ways you talk about your baby to others, and the way you react to the news of other people's littles. Is it supportive? If not, keep your mouth shut because no one needs to hear it--especially a baby.

I Would Like Exactly ONE Cookie

I'm sure you've been there... some days you really want a cookie, and I mean REALLY, but you don't want to make a whole batch because you know you'll end up eating them all yourself!

Well, today I present you with the solution! A recipe for making exactly ONE chocolate chip cookie! These "mini" cookie recipes are floating around all over the internet right now, and as much as I support the traditional way of baking cookies--these are just too damn good to ignore!

Single Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients:

- 1 tbsp butter melted
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 drops of vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 tbsp chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Combine melted butter with brown and white sugar. Add in vanilla drops and egg yolk. Combine well.
2. Add in salt, flour and chocolate chips, mix well.
3. Scoop out dough into microwavable safe bowl or container and microwave for 30-45 seconds. Do not overcook otherwise cookie with be hard and dry! Enjoy!

Silent Sunday: One, Two... Eating My Shoe!

What's in Your Closet: Having Hard Conversations

There's a really awesome video going around right now of a TED talk that happened in Boulder, Colorado by a woman named Ash Beckham. She talks about how important it is to have "hard conversations" with people, and that no matter what your "hard conversation" is, hard is hard. There's no comparing my hard against your hard--it's just hard. Her talk is about encouraging people to leave their closets behind and have those hard talks, because a closet is no place for a person to live.

Ash is a lesbian and part of her talk was about her coming out of her own closet, which she describes as having rainbow walls--but walls that no one could see, because it was dark inside. She talks about how difficult it was for her to have that hard conversation with people, and she shares how some of those conversations went. One of the stories she shares is about having that hard conversation with a 4 year old girl in a restaurant and the life lessons learned from pancakes. I'd like to share her video with you now.

ASH BECKHAM--IGNITE BOULDER

Not having those hard conversations is like a holding onto a grenade, but that doesn't make it any easier to say what needs to be said and leave our closets behind. There's a website called Post Secret that's been around for quite some time now, and essentially they help people take the first step in coming out of their closets by offering a way to anonymously share their hard conversation with the world. You send them a postcard with your "secret" on it and they upload them to their website to
display for all to see.

What makes it so difficult to have these hard conversations with one another? Fear of rejection or disappointment? Fear of causing pain or suffering to others? Or a fear of being open and vulnerable? The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what your hard conversation is about--it's hard, and it needs to happen...because the longer you wait, the more time you give that grenade to explode.

I've seen first hand how hard those conversations can be, and I've seen how beautiful life can become once they've been had. The boy-o has the lucky fortune of having a pair of Aunties on one side instead of an Aunt and Uncle, and I hope that he grows up inspired by their courage to have had their hard conversation.

But like Ash tells us, stepping out of a rainbow closet isn't the only hard conversation people have. No matter what your hard conversation is about--step out of your closet into the sunshine, because a closet is no place for a person to live.

MOVE-ember Update: Week One

Well, week one of MOVE-ember is over and it's time to report on how I've made out so far.

It wasn't a very successful start because this week has been rather stressful. My mom was here to visit the first few days which was great fun, but we were crazy busy running all over the city, and then the boy-o got an ear ache and is now back on antibiotics (after having just come OFF antibiotics last week from Strep Throat!). So he's been a seriously grumpy fussy-butt and has spent a lot of the last three days screaming at me if I even *think* of setting him down.

Ok, so enough of the excuses and back to the report:

Veggies/Fruit: I did much better at eating more veggies and more fruit. I could certainly stand to eat even more though, so that's a work in progress. Even with the stress, I managed to keep the bad snacks to minimum. Small victories, right?

Exercise: Besides the real workout on Saturday (which I was seriously sore from for DAYS!) all we've managed is some long power-walks in the stroller, and even some of those have ended in the boy-o erupting at not being held.

Water: Fail. I need to get my water bottle back out and start using that rather than glasses. Must. Drink. More. Water!

 

Weight loss: Even with the shaky start to MOVE-ember I managed to lose 3 pounds this week! Hurray! Also, to go with my new pants I finally bought I'm wearing a belt again. I'm currently on the second hole from the end. This will help me keep track of inches in a very practical way.

 

So week one may have kicked my butt a little bit--but week two is all mine!

In fact, I think I'll go refill my water bottle right now!