I say no! We are "fun" parents! Yes, it's a can of beer, but Chris is drinking the alcohol....Luke is only enjoying the condensation that eases his sore gums. Luke was all too interested in beer on this particular evening. He was giving Lucy's beer the eye earlier in the night. (I happen to think he enjoyed seeing the light shine through the glass and the light-colored beer.)
I just want to add that this photo was taken after the loaf was baked. It grew no bigger than when I put it in the oven. It was the densest (is that a word?) bread we've ever encountered.
My first loaf looking much better than it tasted! My second and third loaves (both baked in the bread maker) have been much tastier!
Tonight, our little family had the pleasure of attending an outdoor movie at Penn Treaty Park, which is just down the street from our house. The Friends of Penn Treaty Park and the Philadelphia Department of Recreation hosted the movie. Chris and I ate a quick (but home-cooked) dinner before walking to the park for the supposed 7 PM start. I didn't want to miss any of the film! Well, it was 8:30 before the movie started! I would have been annoyed at such a delay in most other circumstances, but we met some great neighbors and chatted during the time before the movie began.
Luke was very happy walking to the park in his Ergo carrier, where he remained quite content for nearly an hour after arriving. (We normally walk him in the stroller and take the carrier along in case he gets fussy.) We took a big quilt and two lawn chairs, as well as a box of dark-chocolate Raisinets for movie-time munching.
The sound was very loud, and Luke got scared a couple times. A few times, when I was nursing him under our sling, he was startled by the loud noises, but all was fine after he ate and had some more cuddle time in the carrier. He eventually fell asleep for a bit.
All-in-all, the Kellys enjoyed a great, free night out, something we hope to do more!
We are at the "almost" stage for sitting up on his own. Luke has been grabbing his feet for about a week now when he sits on our laps or in the Bumbo. This must offer him some kind of stability because he is now able to sit without support for a few seconds. We are a bit nervous to move our hands away completely in case he teeters over, but unless we move our hands, I'm afraid we'll never give him the chance to sit up on his own. I'll be sure to post photos when he masters this skill.
I am amazed that this has happened so fast. In about four weeks, Luke has gone from being unable to roll over to nearly sitting up on his own. Wow! Baby development is absolutely amazing!
Another fun new experiment has been making our own granola.
Here is the recipe that we love: 2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup wheat germ (I didn't have any wheat germ so I substituted ground flax seed that I had in the fridge.)
2 tbs dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt 1/3 cup chopped walnuts 1/3 cup sweetened flake coconut (I used unsweetened and it turned out fine) 1/3 cup dark or golden raisins (I also used dried cherries) 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 cup maple syrup (When I didn't have enough maple syrup, I used a little bit of honey to make up the difference - it was yummy!)
3 tbs canola oil
1 tbs water
Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 275 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch metal pan with cooking spray, then set aside. Mix oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, salt, walnuts, and coconut in a bowl. Bring syrup, oil, water and cinnamon to a simmer in a saucepan over low heat. Drizzle over oat mixture, and stir to combine. Pour mixture onto prepared pan. Working a handful at a time, squeeze cereal to form small clumps. Bake for 30 minutes. Stir in dried fruit. Continue to bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes longer. Let cool. Enjoy! Granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
After being inspired by Michael Pollan and Nina Planck (two food authors I am reading now) to look at the listed ingredients in my food, I pulled our bread off the shelf. How bad could Arnold's Healthy Multi-Grain Bread be? It's multi-grain and advertised as "healthy" so one would think there's no need to worry.
Uh, wrong.
What's bread except for milk, butter, and flour, and maybe a few other normal ingredients depending on the recipe and the type of bread. Well, our (former) favorite had some pretty scary things in it, apparently to allow it to be massed-produced cheaply and to extend it's shelf life. Because we threw it away, I can't list the 20 or so ingredients here, but I assure you, there were plenty of soy-this and diglycerides-that. I think all the ingredients in a loaf of bread should be pronounce-able, and if not, we'll be just fine without it - in fact, we'll be better off without it.
And so, I found myself a recipe for homemade bread online. I baked my first loaf on Thursday. It was, well, it was awful frankly, but it was edible, and I knew everything that went into making that bread. It was as dense as a brick, and it didn't slice very well. (I think I should have found a recipe for whole wheat bread because I used whole wheat flour, but my recipe called for unbleached white flour.) Despite the minor catastrophe, my wonderful husband pulled out the butter and jam, poured a glass of milk, and "enjoyed" a piece of homemade toast.
Inspired by my efforts, Chris thought we might like to try to bread maker. I didn't think another gadget would fit in our kitchen, but I took a look on Craigslist and found a local person selling a pretty good model at a great price. You can probably guess how the story goes... we bought the bread maker, made our first loaf (it was a half loaf) on Saturday night, ate it ALL on Sunday, and loaf number two is baking as I type. (We found a cabinet to fit the contraption when it's not busy baking us bread.)
I feel remarkably better about sending Chris to work with a sandwich made with homemade bread. I feel better about eating it too. I feel better nursing Luke knowing that I am "making" his food with good wholesome ingredients.
I don't know if all our bread will be homemade from now on, but I do know that it's not that difficult to make and that we will probably be healthier people for eating foods we make ourselves.
After some inspiration from our friends Madhavi and Jeremy, I am back to the blog. I was making lame excuses about being unable to post recently, and I don't want to regret my lack of verbage in Luke's later years, so here we are: back to blogging!
I am going to elaborate on some of the highlights over the next few days. I have done this before... made promises to my blog, and never actually came back to post the updates, but we'll see how this effort goes!
