Breathe in, Breathe out, Breathe Easy

I cannot believe that my due date is a mere 7 days away (hopefully not longer!). I am feeling many uncomfortable pangs these days, everything from mild back pain to heartburn to excruciating pelvic pressure. All I can do is keep myself occupied, continue to ready the house for baby and try to get some sleep in here and there.

As the date approaches, I am getting more nervous, excited too, but a bit anxious. I try not to read TOO much information about babies these days and I am relying more on what my doctor tells me at each visit rather than the stack of printed materials they shower me with. Not that I don't enjoy reading about how to make sure baby's umbilical cor doesn't get infected, how to install a car seat properly, how to breastfeed properly and how to protect against SIDS, Flat Head Syndrome and Rickets all in one sitting, but I find that too much information, taken in all at once is more conducive to a full blown anxiety attack than to feeling like a well informed, confident parent.

So...as the days tick by, I have been looking around our nursery with a sense of pride at all the preparation that we have gotten done, I wonder at every quiet, peaceful moment with my husband, "is this the last one of these we'll have" and I get a little anxious thinking about this whole new life we are entering into. But above all, I am trying to keep the faith. Faith that my marriage will be strong enough to withstand sleepless nights along with a mountain of chores and bills, faith that my baby will be healthy and strong, faith that together my husband and I will raise a well adjusted child that will choose the moral high ground no matter what this crazy world might try to throw at him. I am realizing that now, more than ever, I need to stay present, live in the moment and take things one day at a time. All I can do is try my best and hope that with a mountain of faith, a whole lot of patience, and a little wisdom, everything will be all right!!

So here, as I begin, just like so many women before me have and countless women after me will, an anxious but eager warrior, facing the unknown with a sense of trepidation and wonder, committing to protect my baby from environmental pollutants, flat head syndrome, buck teeth, rickets and vitamin D deficiency, I will use the tools that life has given me to try and figure it all out in time. Throughout this journey, I will continue to work with my doctors, my husband, my baby and my own best instincts to provide my child with the best life that I can provide him.

In doing this, I can rest assured of at least this much- that at the end of the day, although I might be new to this, and although situations may be thrown at me that I have no idea how to handle, I will pray for wisdom, do my best and continue to observe life (mine, my husbands and my child's) as it unfold around me, exactly as God has intended it to.

Breathe in, Breathe out, Breathe Easy,

-New Mommy in Town

`And I Think to Myself, What a Wonderful World...

As the dog days of Summer slowly give way to the crisp, clean days of Fall (my favorite season) I am feeling inspired and invigorated by the sense that magical happenings are on the horizon for, not only myself, but for my family and my loved ones as well. Not only will I be welcoming my beautiful boy into the world in just a few short weeks (or less depending on what fate has in store for me). But I have lately been shrouded in a cloak of warn, fuzzy feelings and a sense of security like I have rarely felt before.

Part of this, I know is due to the time of year and the weather. How can one not be inspired when met with beautiful, blue, cloudless skies each morning, a cool breeze, the sound of the wind at their back as they walk along and the site of children already in Halloween costumes as they accompany their parents on errands or a weekend trip to the pumpkin patch. The leaves are beginning to change, holding the promise of soon filling the Columbia River Gorge and surrounding areas with breathtaking amber-gold beauty.

As reality begins to settle in around me and I realize that soon, I will be facing the longest and most important journey of my life. I am filled not with anxiety or fear but with an overwhelming sense of well being and freedom. I just instinctively know that my child and I will have an intensely close bond and I am aching to meet him, hold him close to me and begin to help shape him into the man that he will become. I feel like I will be a good mom and I am so thankful that my current work hours are such that I can afford the time to get to know my son and learn how to be a mother to him.

This feeling of peace has been a welcome change, as or the last month or so, I had found myself itching to return to a full time job and the money that comes with it. However, as my due date fast approaches, that urgency has been calmed and replaced with a sense that everything is happening and will happen as it should and that, when the time is right for me and my family, everything will fall into place just as it is meant to. To try and put this feeling into words that are relateable, it is almost as though I were being held for a time, in the giant fist of the universe, surrounded by darkness and feeling lost and unsure. But, in the last month, that grasp has been slowly opening. And with every finger that lays itself flat around me, I am being illuminated by light and positivity, assuring me that I am in and have been traveling towards the place I was supposed to be all along.

To add to my joy, I have been blessed lately with a close time of bonding and sharing these last quiet days with my husband. I feel very close to him these days and I thank God for bringing us together and allowing us this journey together.

It is not just my own life for which I feel these feelings of well being. My mother, who is an avid writer and childcare provider, has been busy writing up a storm and looking for childcare work. She will be coming up for a month after the baby is born and her presence will be a welcome, much needed gift during what is sure to be a blessed, yet trying time. My dad, a cross country truck driver has a schedule now where he is afforded the time and resources he needs to begin to put down some roots of his own and make some positive changes in his life. My husbands job is going well and we thank God for the good fortune of him having steady, well paying work in these trying times.

So, as the days roll on and the seasons change, I hope that this sense of well being and peace not only continue to permeate and guide my own life, but the lives of all that share this small space called earth. I will be praying that this holiday season brings a wealth of love to all, bringing families together and in spring us to share our time or whatever resources we may have with those around us that are less fortunate.

And to all, a Good Night :)

-New Mommy in Town

Who Says You Can't Get Anything For FREE?

If you find yourself with some FREE time on your hands, why not check out some of these FREE, fun websites? Below are some of my favorites!

Free Rice
This website lets you answer trivia questions for a good cause! For every answer you get right, the site will donate 10 grains of rice through the UN World Food program to help end hunger

Click here to answer questions for a good cause

Magnetic Poetry
Creativity at your fingertips- Itching for something to write but stuck in a rut? Find creativity with a click of your mouse by playing with Magnetic Poetry online!

Click here for Magnetic Poetry

Trivia Cafe
Get your Trivia on at the Trivia Cafe. Lots of brain teasing questions to get your mind racing!

Click here for fun trivia

Bookworm
Free, fun word game for users of all ages. This one gets harder as you go along

Click here to find YOUR inner Bookworm

Learn More Stuff
For inquisitive minds that are always wanting to learn more about "stuff". This site is great to browse through and increase your useless knowledge or to get answers to questions you've always wondered about but haven't known where to look. Aptly titled "How Stuff Works!"

Click here to learn How Stuff Works

Guide to Making Your Own Baby Food

Although the time to feed baby solid foods is still a long ways away, I have become very interested in the health benefits (and cost savings) involved with homemade baby foods. I figure that, with a little planning, a blender, a fork, a strainer, a food mill or a baby food grinder, I can just as easily make foods for my baby at home. It is exciting to know that, with minimal effort, I can provide my child with food as nutritious, if not more nutritious, than store-bought baby foods. So, with a little research I have found some helpful tips and recipes for making healthy, delicious homemade foods for my little one when he is ready for them!

Tips for Making Homemade Baby Food

• Work under the most sanitary conditions possible.
• Wash your hands with hot water and soap, scrub, rinse and dry with clean towel before fixing your baby’s food, before feeding your baby, and after changing your baby’s diapers.
• Scrub all working surfaces with soap and hot water.
• Scrub all equipment with soap and hot water, and rinse well.
• Prepare fresh fruits or vegetables by scrubbing, paring or peeling, and removing seeds.
• Prepare meats by removing all bones, skin, connective tissue, gristle and fat.
• Cook foods, when necessary, boiling them in a small, covered saucepan with a small amount of water until tender. The amount of water is important — the less water used, the more nutrients stay in the food.
• Puree food using a blender, food processor, baby food grinder, spoon or fork. Grind up tough foods. Cut food into small pieces or thin slices. Take out seeds and pits from fruit.
• Test for smoothness by rubbing a small amount of food between your fingers. Add a liquid such as formula, water or fruit juice to achieve a desired consistency.
• If pureed food is not being used right away, refrigerate quickly.
• To freeze: pour cooled, pureed food into a paper cupcake liner or a section of a clean ice cube tray, and cover with foil. When frozen solid, store cubes in a freezer container in the freezer in a freezer bag or box.
• Reheat frozen cube in a heat-resistant container in a pan of hot water.
• When cooking foods for the family, remember to separate the baby’s portion before adding seasoning or spices. Babies need very little, if any, added salt or sugar.

Thawing and Warming Baby’s Food

Here are some suggestions on thawing and warming food for your baby. Frozen food can be thawed in the refrigerator or the microwave oven on the defrost setting. But remember, food that has been thawed should never be refrozen.

Stove Method: To warm food, place it directly in a saucepan and slowly warm over low heat, stirring often. Stir and test temperature of food before feeding it to your baby.

Microwave Method: Microwave ovens heat foods unevenly and cause hot spots. There may be hot spots even if the food feels cool to you. It is important to stir food well to prevent burns to you or your baby. Here are some other tips:

• Cover dish with a microwave-safe cover, not plastic wrap.
• Stir food and turn the dish often during the heating process.
• Allow food to sit for a few minutes; stir well and test temperature before feeding your baby.
• It is not recommended to heat pureed meats in the microwave. Hot spots in the meat could seriously burn your baby.
• For other foods, heat food in a microwave-safe dish or an opened baby-food jar.

Equipment Needed to Make Baby Food

Sieve/strainer: It should have a small mesh. You can press foods through it with the back of a spoon. It can be used for juices, soft fruits and vegetables, but not meats.

Spoon, forks and potato masher: Use these to mash soft foods, such as most canned fruits, egg yolks, bananas and potatoes, to the right consistency.

Food mills or grinders: You may already have a food mill in your canning supplies, but if you don’t, they are available in stores that sell kitchen supplies. The smaller size baby food mill is similar to the larger version. They can be purchased in the baby section of department stores. It can be used at home or when traveling. The larger mills and grinders are useful when preparing soft meats and both can be used for cooked fruits, vegetables and soft fresh fruits.

Blenders: Your blender can come in handy to prepare food for the baby. Food items cooked for the family can be blended smooth for baby or to freeze for later. Hand-held blenders are useful pieces of equipment that you may want to consider.

Plastic ice cube trays: Use trays for freezing extra food that you prepare. After the food is frozen, remove the cubes and store in a container designed for freezing.

Pureed Baby Food Recipes

Pureed Fruit Delight

1/2 cup freshly cooked or home-canned fruits, or cooked dried prunes (without sugar) (Use apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots or prunes)
2-4 teaspoons liquid (water, unsweetened fruit juice—not citrus—or formula)

Remove skin and seeds. Press through a sieve, or put ingredients in food mill or blender and puree until smooth. Serve or freeze. Freeze no longer than 1 month.

Applesauce Deluxe

1 medium apple
4 tablespoons pineapple juice

Peel, quarter and core apple. Cook with pineapple juice until soft. Blend until smooth in texture.

Bananas Plain and Simple

Ripe bananas may be pureed or mashed and fed to your baby directly.

Yummy Fresh Fruit

3/4 cup ripe fruit (uncooked peaches, nectarines, pears or apricots) without sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened fruit juice (not citrus)

Remove skin and seeds. Puree ingredients in baby food mill or blender until smooth. Serve or freeze. Freeze no longer than 1 month.

Vegetable Medley

1/2 cup cooked fresh, frozen or canned vegetables (potato, sweet potato, green beans, peas, carrots, yellow squash), without salt added
2-4 tablespoons cooking liquid, formula or water

Cook fresh vegetables or use frozen or canned vegetables without salt or seasoning. (Read labels for ingredients.) Press vegetable chunks through a sieve or baby food mill. Thin with cooking liquid or formula to eating consistency. Or put cooked vegetables and liquid in a blender and puree until smooth. Serve or freeze. Freeze no longer than 1 month.

Note: After the individual vegetables have been fed several times, some good combinations are: potatoes and carrots, potatoes and green beans, carrots and peas.

Simple Strained Meat or Poultry
(for babies over 8 months)

1/2 cup cooked meat (small pieces of lean chicken, beef, turkey or pork)
2-4 tablespoons meat broth or formula

Cook lean meat (fat, skin and connective tissue removed) over low heat in a small amount of water. Puree meat and liquid until smooth. Serve or freeze. Freeze no longer than one month.

Egg Yolk Puree
(for babies over 8 months)

Cook one egg in simmering water 15 to 20 minutes. Remove shell. Remove yolk and mash with 1 tablespoon of formula or water until smooth. Serve or freeze. Freeze no longer than 1 month.

Note: Use only the yolk. Avoid feeding egg whites until 1 year to avoid problems with allergies. Use the extra egg white in the family’s casseroles, salads or sandwiches.

Your Choice Combo Dish
(for babies over 8 months)

1 cup cooked, cubed or diced meat (cut off fat)
1/2 cup cooked rice, potato, noodles or macaroni
2/3 cup cooked, diced vegetables
3/4 to 1 cup liquid (formula, broth or water)

Combine and blend until smooth. Serve or freeze in serving-size containers. If frozen, use within 1 month.

Note: If you prepare combination dishes, use them only after you have fed the individual food several times.

Creamy Custard
(for babies over 1 year)

3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups milk, warmed

Mix egg yolks and sugar. Stir in milk and mix well. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture coats the spoon. Refrigerate. Use within 2 to 3 days

Nesting and Birds and Procrasting, Oh my!

Long time no write. I have missed my poor little blog, sitting here, isolated on the Internet with no one to show it love, not knowing if I would ever stop by to visit again. Well, fret not little blog. I am back. I figured that I would resist the lure of resting my wings on the couch, visiting with my good friend, the remote control or perching upon my comfy bed, with my well worn pajamas and a good book and instead, I would get up and write something! Can I get an amen for ambition?

As I enter my 34th week if pregnancy. I am finding it harder and harder to not only find ambition, but to then actually find the energy to follow through on anything I ambitiously start. Lets take for example, my weeks long goal of cleaning/organizing the garage. I will wake in the morning, feeling refreshed and ready to go, I will diligently proceed to follow through on my commitment to pulling everything out of the garage, spreading it across the living room floor, and scattering some boxes around to put things in. Then, suddenly, and without warning, I find myself utterly exhausted. engulfed by mountains of various items and empty boxes, sitting on my living room floor and thinking that said floor looks like a mighty comfy place to take a quick nap if I could just clear a space. Once this train of thought begins to roll along the tracks it is a lost cause to try to stop it. Suddenly my hands are furiously shoving items into boxes in no particular order, rushing to fling those boxes back into the garage, often leaving the space in a more wild state of disarray than when I had originally started and, once that feat is completed, promptly lowering myself into napping position so that I might drift into a relaxed, trance like state while promising myself that all will get done...tomorrow.

From what I hear, this reoccurring predicament is a fairly normal one for the "very pregnant", the "very very pregnant" and the "dangerously close to giving birth pregnant" women of our society. As common as it may be however, it is extremely frustrating to me as I have always been one to follow through with my commitments regardless of how time consuming or tedious they may be. I can't shake the feeling that I am constantly working on various home projects only to end up with more of a mess than I started with in the first place and wondering how I will ever get it all done.

What type of bird would I have made I wonder? Trying to create a nest for my offspring while dropping sticks, carelessly breaking them in half, shoving them into some random assortment, absentmindedly falling from trees and chirping some maniacal tune that no other bird could decipher while drifting off to sleep every hour....probably not a very good one.

Well, so here I am. In the midst of piles of housework, half finished projects and a nagging feeling of fatigue. Writing again is a start. It is more than a start actually. In the midst of all that is not done, this entry alone is a shining example of something that I started AND finished. Not only that, writing gets the creative juices flowing and makes me feel like I am using my brain for something other than eating and/or sleeping. I find that the more I write, the more I am inspired to write and this sets off a positive chain reaction where I am getting SOMETHING done. And that something, even if it is a small something, feels good.

So, on that happy note, let me just say to you: areva derche and bonswa my friends. Until next time...

I solemnly promise that my next entry/entries will be beautifully written, inspirational, groundbreaking, heart wrenching, New York Times Bestseller stuff and an absolute pleasure to read. OK, I do not promise any of those things. I do however promise (if only for myself) that it will not be such a long time before I write again. If it is all I can do to drag myself to the keyboard and type out a single, solitary coherent sentence, I will follow through to get the job done!

With Love,

-New Mommy in Town

Recipe for Happiness :)

Ingredients:

2 Heaping cups of Patience

1 Heart full of Love

2 Hands full of Generosity

1 Head full of Understanding

a Dash of Laughter

Cooking Instructions:

Sprinkle generously with kindness, add plenty of faith and mix well. Spread over a period of a lifetime and serve to everyone you meet.

Riding for Two

Being pregnant for the first time can easily be compared to being on a roller coaster, blindfolded. Not only do you find constant changes to your body, your emotions and your thought processes every day but you really have no idea what's coming next and when it does come (whatever "it" may be) you are left in the dark wondering, "is this normal"? You cannot anticipate what stomach dropping (no pun intended) careening turn will come next and then...the free fall. A barrage of conflicting, sometimes confusing (sometimes even hurtful-although well intentioned) messages from loved ones, big, scary words thrown out by doctors with little or sometimes no explanation, the feeling of worry that washes over you every time there is a random ache, pain or change in your body, worry not only for yourself but for your developing baby whom you are trying so hard to protect yet have no way of communicating with. The ride can be thrilling but it can also be downright terrifying.

And herein lies the reason that, I believe, every newly pregnant woman should treat herself to a copy of the pregnancy bible, "What to Expect When You're Expecting". This book has really been a lifesaver for me. It goes through, week by week of your pregnancy and advises on what to eat, weight gain, what will be covered at each doctors visit, where to find local resources, symptoms (what's normal, what's not and how to address), aches pains, sleep patterns, fetal development, childbirth techniques, etc...

The list goes on and on which is why the book was written rather than someone like me trying to cover every informational aspect of pregnancy since the beginning of time in a Google Blog. But I can say, speaking from experience, that I have found this book immensely helpful. Everything I have experienced thus far has been addressed in some way in this book and the sections that describe what the doctor will discuss at each visit have been spot on, helping to eliminate some of that "lost in the dark" feeling and the anxiety that comes with it. Another positive about the book is that many of the questions are sent in by pregnant readers and the responses to these questions, while informative are often humorous in a gentle, non-offensive way.

There is much comfort in reading the submissions of other women and realizing that I am not the first to have gone through this whole "pregnancy" thing and that pretty much everything I have experienced so far, no matter how scary it feels to me, has been a normal part of being a pregnant, worried, first time mommy. So, if you are pregnant, do yourself a favor, check out your local bookstore or jump on Amazon.com and get yourself a copy of this book. The price you pay for the book is worth the peace of mind it brings. Who wants to ride a roller coaster while pregnant anyway? Especially blindfolded. Yikes!

Here's to getting "off" the ride!

-New Mommy in Town