We are the loud one's behind the glass..

Went to church tonight. Got our God on... Then I remembered why we don't make it every week. We are Catholic and since having children I have started to envy other churches with their blessed nursery. For the most part, Catholic churches do not have a nursery at every service instead they have the cry room. You would assume from the title that it is the room where parents taking their crying children. In reality it is the room where parents take their screaming children and parents go to cry . It is a glass fronted room where you can see the service and supposedly hear through a speaker, but really you hear nothing but just follow the cue of others, sitting, standing, sitting again, kneeling, "oh, are we getting up for communion?"; but are about as engaged as one can be while trying to keep your four-year old from standing on the seats, and and occupying a baby with puffs because if you don't keep his mouth full he feels he needs to show everyone how talented he is by screaming na-na-na-na at the top of his baby lungs. I am pretty sure we won't be there next week.

Now if you ask "why don't they have a nursery program" and any reasonable person would ask is because the church feels that children are part of the family and should experience the church with the family. True in theory but not in reality! You have room full of families you are simply trying to maintain and in our case maintaining ineffectively. The four year old makes is 20 minutes then he is done. So for the next forty minutes is a series of threats and the eventual time out where I or my husband drag him screaming from the "cry" room.

He is simply not ready to sit through a 60 minute service quietly despite my best efforts to come fully armed with books and coloring books and small cars. I leave feeling like a horrible and ineffective parent. In my opinion it is a real issue with the Catholic church and an issue that keeps young families from feeling fully included in the community.

Visualization Shouldn't Include the Word "Squishy"

Motherhood is humbling. My son is four-years-old and apparently four is the age of "saying the darnedest things". So along with cute phrases or mis-pronunciations such as "Mommy, look at all the American flags" (except he can't say the "L" ) he also has an acute power of observation. Today he wanted to go swimming so we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the pool. As I took off my cover-up to join him in the water he says "Mommy, your legs are squishy" Funny, funny, laugh, laugh and then he moved on to more important things like the bug on his towel (thankfully). Squishy, that only made me think of other places on my body that would qualify as squishy which led to a huge desire to eat some sort of sweet which I then thought would only lead to more squishy places, so I did abstain, and tried to visualize me being not squishy which is my ultimate goal. So motherhood is humbling, very humbling. A talking mirror didn't do Snow White much good and it certainly wasn't on my Christmas list, but I got one. Throw in a talking scale and a refridgerator that oinks and I have a trifecta of self-esteem. Oh, well. He loves me anyway as done my bouncy 7 month old baby. The day will come, I can hear it, when he will say "Mommy your tummy is so flat!".

Babyfood

Aidan has been eating solids for about two months and has proved to have a voracious appetite! Owen, my four-year-old is a picky eater. His repertoire of food choices is very narrow: PB&J, ham and cheese, applesauce, and the occasional hotdog and chicken nugget. We are constantly battling dinner time because frequently Owen does not want to eat what I have cooked for dinner. My goal with Aidan is to try to incorporate some of the flavors from the family dinner and thus have been experimenting with making my own baby food.

My first attempt involved zuchinni and summer squash. I was making a favorite of Kevin's and mine, Grilled Vegetable Tostadas. This recipe includes grilling zuchinni and summer squash, so I took a portion of both, steamed them in the microwave and pureed them with a hand blender. I then blended them with a little of left over sweet potato. Aidan eagerly ate the concoction while Owen complained and nibbled on a tortilla! Now I guess I shouldn't get too excited, Aidan is only seven months old but with motherhood, it is the little victories that sometime make a stressful day a little brighter.

Another issue I have been facing as I take on the challenge of making my own baby food is equipment. I had been eyeing a remarkable gadget called the Baby Beaba. This is European creation that steams and puree's in the same bowl. This concept has me mesmerized and if it hadn't been for the steep price tag I would have purchased immediately, but the $150 price tag kept me at bay. So instead I took stock of what I had at home. I have frequently steamed vegetables, especially the long-baking squash, in the microwave and found it very convenient, time-saving and not detrimental to the taste. So knowing this and then discovering while cleaning out my cupboards my hand blender which I picked up years ago at a garage sale I was able to solve my problem without any extra expense! I can steam in the glass bowl and puree in that same bowl!

In all my experience preparing my own baby food has been very rewarding. While I will still continue to use some commercial baby food occasionally but at the same time blending in flavors from the dinner table I hope to create a less fussy and sensitive eater.