Monday Meal

>> May 26, 2009

It's Tuesday?! What? Long weekends completely throw me. Why you ask? I don't work. Asher's not in school yet. Ah, but dear hubby is at home. And that makes all the difference in the world. Especially on a long weekend when he has no deadline or threat of impending doom. It was a truly glorious weekend. We did yard work and housework on Saturday and still had time to go to the park for a bit. Sunday afternoon was spent out on our patio. Asher had his water/sand table out and was having fun combining everything. We discovered a table and umbrella (likely from the 70's but that's okay) and set up for a nice leisurely day. Monday was spent with a nice lie-in (after taking an hour and a half to put Asher back to sleep at around 3 in case you thought he might have actually slept through the night, but that's another post) a bit of lounging and laundry and a trip to the park. All of it with Jeff by our sides all happy and relaxed. Big contented sigh.

Which is why I totally forgot that yesterday was Monday. So here is what I had planned for this week's Monday Meal:

This is not so much a test as a testament as to the totally great kid that I have. Here he is with a plate of fish sticks, chips (fries) and peas.

He loves all of these things. I had thought he loved chips the best, followed by fish and then peas.


I guess not. He's not touched his fish and chips in favour of finishing off his peas first.


Grammy and I are very proud of our little man.


He loves his peas so much he'd like to share.


Even the ones in his mouth.


I love my little man.

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>> May 23, 2009




Oh, for a full night's sleep.

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It's Monday! Again.

>> May 18, 2009

Okay, so this is quickly becoming less about me getting nutrition into Asher in new and fun ways and more just a topic to get me going on a Monday. So here is Asher having High Tea (I don't know if that technically calls for capitals, but it sounds like it should) at the Ritz. It apparently takes two months to get a reservation here (lucky Mum booked it as soon as she bought her flight) and you can't take pictures because there might be famous people there. So we hid our camera behind the menu and the tea pots and the sandwich tray and tried to take pictures with only Asher in them. Even though there was no one that we recognized.


Asher was very good. For the most part. He did scream for a couple minutes when I pinched his leg in the highchair clips while I was buckling him in. I felt so bad. I felt bad for the well-dressed people who thought there were in for some high-dining and I felt bad for the look of complete horror on my son's face as I caused him pain and then I felt bad all over again when I went to change him after and saw the little red mark I left on his leg. Poor little man. He got a bit restless at the end, but once I let him out to walk around the hotel he was thrilled. And greatly admired as he strutted his stuff in his fancy little suit.

This is the tray of goodies. We had already gone through the sandwiches and they brought us more. Mom loved the scones the best, I found the pastries a bit disappointing. Who knew that the Ritz could make such wonderful sandwiches.

Asher loved the ham sandwiches the best. But apparently he only likes ham sandwiches like they make them there because he's been less than thrilled with them here at home.
There you can see his backup snacks and sippycup.

And the rest of the pictures are really just of him being adorable. Enjoy:(I have no idea what that look is he's giving me)



(checkin' out the neighbors)





This really says it all. Tea at the Ritz is, well, ritzy, but at the end of the day toddlers are exhausting.

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Monday Meals...give or take a day...or two

>> May 5, 2009

Okay, okay. Perhaps I should have waited to start the whole weekly blog thing until I knew I would have some actual time on my hands. This week also has a great excuse. My Mum is visiting from Canada. Yay!! It's been very nice to have another adult in the house to talk to during the day. And of course it is truly wonderful to see Asher and his Grandma laughing and having fun. More on that later.


Right now, I have to talk again about cottage cheese. I loved my last comment that perhaps if it's not in this country then perhaps I'm not such a stranger after all. Alas, I found it. Granted it was on the bottom shelf so no one can see it, but still.

I thought I would put some peaches in it to have a familiar and sweet taste to entice him:



I know you can't really tell so much from these pictures, but he was essentially just sitting there with his mouth open, moving the stuff around, trying to not swallow it:



All in all, not a big fan. Which I am totally okay with. So what next? I'm thinking maybe tomatoes. Or potatoes. That's not such a big deal I know, but he keeps steeling them out of their basket and trying to eat them raw. I'm tempted to let him try. But for right now, I'm going to say that next week I'm taking off. It will be Mum's last couple days with us and I don't want to worry about it or give excuses again.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures from a wedding we went to this last weekend. None of the pictures are of the wedding, they are all of Asher in his awesome little suit. Tell me he doesn't look like a tiny little Doctor Who only without the long coat.





*Just to note, I did not get a chance to 'fix' any of the photos which I know isn't bothering you, but it is bothering me so I had to say something.

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Monday Meals...give or take a day

>> April 28, 2009

Okay. So much for blogging with discipline. I totally forgot I had decided to do the whole checking out what Asher's eating on Monday. Okay maybe totally is a bit of an exaggeration. I remembered while I was in the grocery store yesterday that I was supposed to try Asher out on Cottage Cheese. They don't seem to have any in this country. So by the time I got home I had forgotten again.

Then I'm reading this blog today, and lo and behold it's a recipe for homemade cottage cheese. I have to say, I found the idea of cottage cheese before rather revolting. Now I really don't know if I'll be able to feed this to my child. I am truly sorry to those of you who make this a part of your daily diet. My good friends Emily and Sam would eat it for lunch if they wanted something light. And I didn't hold it against them. Much. but now that I have such a concrete way of making it myself I don't know if I can go through with it. But I will try. Maybe.

To be fair, we've had kind of a major deal happen. We bought a car. Don't get too excited. It's actually 6 years older than our last car. Which was a '99. Jeff is more distressed by this than I am, it actually reminds me of my first car, which I loved. I don't have a picture for you today, but I will take a before and after (it wasn't cleaned before we got it, but for 150 quid we're not complaining).

Also my Mom is coming into town tomorrow. Yay!!! Well, I should say into the country, or maybe onto the continent, but you get the picture. So there may be more blogging without obligation in the next couple weeks rather than blogging with discipline. But I will more than make up for it with a barrage of pictures of her visit.

Off to get my beautiful son out of the bath.

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8 Things...better late than never, right?

>> April 24, 2009


Liz tagged me.


8 Things I'm looking forward to:

  • My mom's visit
  • Being pregnant again
  • Adopting
  • Our trip to Chicago
  • Asher's first word
  • Playing in the back garden with Asher (he's currently afraid of grass so not a lot of playing going on)
  • Building forts with Asher
  • Seeing more of the UK and Europe

8 Things I did yesterday:
  • Bought a slow cooker (crockpot)
  • Sorted and cleaned out the kitchen thoroughly
  • Did some grocery shopping
  • Took Asher for a booster shot
  • Had blood taken for fertility tests
  • Did laundry
  • Met Jeff for lunch in city centre
  • Watched TV

8 Things I wish I could do:
  • Fly a plane
  • Play the drums
  • Roller blade
  • Speak Japanese
  • Make really good bread
  • Write Screenplays for a living
  • Play the bass guitar
  • Play peek-a-boo or swings with Asher for as long as he wants me to without getting bored

8 Shows I watch:
  • IT Crowd
  • Big Bang Theory
  • Supernatural
  • Lost
  • Doctor Who
  • Torchwood
  • Pushing Daisies
  • The Mentalist (whenever it makes its way over to this side of the pond)

8 Songs on my music player:
  • Accidentally in Love
  • Battu
  • City of Blinding Lights
  • Dwell
  • Emotionless
  • Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
  • Going Under
  • Here I am to Worship

8 Favourite warm weather activities:
  • Going to the beach
  • Swimming
  • Exploring
  • Eating at an outdoor cafe
  • Going to the zoo
  • Sitting in the sun, reading
  • Opening all the windows
  • Wearing skirts and tank tops and flip flops

8 Favourite Happy Things:
  • Jeff
  • Asher
  • A Clean House
  • Playing Video Games
  • New Toys (usually in the form of electronics/small kitchen appliances)
  • Driving
  • Reading
  • Sleeping in

8 People I tag:
  • Tink's Mom (someone new I'm following)
  • The Blogess (I know she's got way funnier things to blog about, but really who wouldn't want to hear her answers to Things I wish I could do)
  • Road Blocks and Rollercoasters (one I've been following for a while)
  • SciFi Mama (tried to pick some I haven't tagged lately)
  • Rachel (have been following for a while but never tagged, I don't think)
  • Maya (would love to know what's on Maya's playlist)
  • April's Mom (just started following the other day)
  • Brit' Gal (another new one for me)
I have to say, I don't normally do these things, but in the interest of blogging with discipline, I thought it might be a good way to fill a day. Especially today. Was feeling very blah today. Sad to say I did not have the patience today with the little man that I have been enjoying as of late. Hopefully tonight everyone will get more sleep.

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And then it was Thursday

>> April 23, 2009

So all week I've had this and that on my mind but didn't want to post it because it would have been a sentence or two.  Maybe a paragraph.  I've got to get it out of my head that posts have to be a certain length.  I got all inspired by C. Beth's blog the other day and actually put both buttons on my sidebar.  And then proceeded to not blog for 3 days.  So now I've got a mosh of stuff....


Okay, I've actually forgotten most of what was in my head now because I'm so frustrated with the UK run around health system.  It's ridiculously long and convoluted and I honestly don't want to spell it all out again.  Although I could, and it would be very witty in a sarcastic way, but I don't want to have it ruin my day and if I continue to dwell on the thoughtless inconsiderate manner in which this was handled I'll just ramp myself up for the entire day.  Because this, like everything else is in my Father's hands and He knows the timetable better than those policy-loving pencil-pushing non-communicative presumptive I do.  Have you guessed this is about my appointments with the fertility specialist?  Yeah.  The appointment I was supposed to have on March 30th, can't even be properly re-booked until sometime after May 18th.  It took me a month to get the first one.  AND getting the appointment isn't even the hard part.  The procedure that was performed in my doctor's office back in Chicago has a waiting list here.  And no one can tell me how long that waiting list is.  I don't see that as a good sign.  But what do I know, right?  Nothing.  Father's timetable.  Not mine.  Got it.  Sort of.  Moving on.

I remember some of what I was going to say now.  Originally I was going to start off with a lovely little sentence like:  The joy has lasted.  And it has.  Even with this morning's setback.  I do feel like crying.  But I don't think I'm going to.  There are far worse things going on that have brought tears lately.  Yesterday we learned that a dear friend's 5-month old grandbaby had just died.  Still waiting to hear how it happened and very sick at heart that it was possibly not medical.  I couldn't think of it yesterday without being nauseated.  My heart aches for this family.  So while there is petty disappointment for me, there is tragedy for others and miracles for still others.  And yet, the joy has lasted.  My only conclusion is that it comes from that peace that defies understanding and I am oh, so grateful.

The other thing that I wanted to do was clear up a little bit of misunderstanding over my introduction to Monday Meals.  This is what happens when you edit your blog too much.  You don't realize that in the taking out of certain things, if you don't put them back in another form people don't actually know that you've said them.  Or thought them.  Whatever, they don't know it if you don't post it.  First of all, I want to thank you all for the comments left.  (And Liz, I just remembered looking over those comments that you tagged me.  I'm totally on that tomorrow!)  I just want to explain a little further where we're at.

We did a lot of baby-led weaning while we were still back in Chicago.  I made most of his food then.  When we were moving around so much during December and January it wasn't really feasible to be making our own puree so we did more jars of food at that time.  Once we settled in here in Oxford, he had enough teeth that he was mostly just eating what we ate only chopped up into smaller pieces.  (Our boxes arriving put a damper on that and I took a couple weeks off and used pre-made toddler food but now we're back to real food) So that's where we are now.  He essentially eats what we eat and with the imminence of his molars I imagine there's not much he won't be able to handle within the next couple months. 

My issue is this.  I don't eat a lot of variety.  This is surprising to me more than any of you, because I really like food.  However, for the most part, I would prefer other people make that food for me.  If I didn't have Jeff to cook for I would eat the same thing all. the. time.  I do like cooking.  I would love to have a huge kitchen and spend hours creating something fabulous.  I just couldn't be bothered half the time.  (And I currently have a kitchen the size of a broom closet.) However, I understand that that's not always healthy, especially for growing toddlers.  And, I want to give Asher the opportunity to develop a wider range of tastes than mine.  For instance, I will probably get him some cottage cheese to see if he likes it.  I will try very hard not to throw up while I'm feeding it to him.  

I have quite a few cookbooks and I know there's nutrition information and even some recipes I think in Dr. Sears Babybook (which I have just found again in my unpacking!) but I thought it might be fun to try some of your ideas and I thought it might be fun for you to see how someone else's child gets it all in their hair enjoys it.  So Monday's Meal, or snack, will be cottage cheese.  I really will try to be okay with that.  

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About This Blog

I love this adventure I'm on with my Rocket Scientist. The most recent addition to our expedition has me in awe daily. I can't wait to see My Little Man as a big brother. We started off by moving from Western Canada to Chicago and now we're in the UK. Will this Strange Mamma ever not feel like a stranger in the land?

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