Friday morning at the laundromat

So our washer stopped working on Tuesday night. Since there is only one repairman in our town, we had to wait until today for him to even come have a look. By this morning, we absolutely needed a trip to the laundromat, mostly for the little dude's pajamas. Once upon a time, I loved going to the laundromat.  Not anymore. It's not quite so fun with a little dude who has been feeling very very cuddly and a laundromat that is really quite dirty for a cleaning facility.

Anyway, I was quite embarrassed this afternoon when the repairman figured out what the problem was. He flipped the washer upside down, dug around with his tools, and eventually pulled out...a nursing pad. A breast pad, if you will. The reusable kind that I wear to help with leaks. Oh my. Not something I really want to share with anyone, especially not a strange and helpful washer repairman. He pulled it out, and was all, What is this? And I was all, I don't know!! Not sure! So weird! Lesson learned is this: Put all reusable breast pads, little socks, and other tiny textiles into a lingerie bag before you put them in the washer.

An overnight in Bonavista

(dude in his collar and cardigan) 

(room 306, aka the Honeymoon suite) 

(just chilling in the hotel room) 

(coconut water in the middle of the night)

We went to Bonavista this past weekend so that we could eat here and celebrate the 30th birthday of an old friend. We stayed at the Harbour Quarters, where we have stayed in the past, except this time we stayed in the suite so that we would have a place to hang out after Cohen went to sleep. 

Cohen woke up a few times in the night, and eventually I ended up trying to get him to sleep in between Jon and I. Umm, no. That ship has sailed, I guess. As soon as I brought him into bed with us, he was wide eyed, and ready to hang out. Him and I ended up letting Jon sleep while we had a midnight (4 am) snack of coconut water. Dude loved it. 

In the morning we feasted on gas station coffee and muffins, and listened to This American Life on the iPad as we drove home through a mini-blizzard. 

More on our last Bonavista overnight here. 

Spelt baby biscuits

Lately I have felt like 9 month old Cohen is teething because he is always wanting to gnaw on everything, including the side of the tub, the kitchen table, the pyrex dishes he eats from, etc. I was thinking he might like a teething biscuit. We have been giving him those rice cracker things for a while, that are awesome, except I don't love that they are all individually wrapped (too much packaging!), and that they are forever getting crumpled in my huge diaper bag. 

So I thought I would try to make some type of cookie at home. I wanted something that was really hard so he would have to gnaw on it for a while before it got soft, and I wanted it to only have ingredients I use anyways.

They look pretty sad, kinda like dog treats. But. Cohen seriously loved them. He chewed on it for two hours before it started to get soft, at which point I took it from him because I am sorta paranoid about him choking.

He would not let go of that little cookie even an hour later when we went for a walk. Later, Jon confessed to me that he tried one because he was curious, and ended up eating three because he thought they were good!! They are seriously hard as a rock. So funny.

Spelt Baby Biscuits (recipe adapted from here)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
pinch salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup spelt flour + more for rolling (or whatever flour you want)

Preheat oven to 350 C
Whisk together the oil, egg, salt, sugar, vanilla.
Add the flour and mix well
Turn the dough onto a floured surface, and keep kneading more flour in until the dough is pretty dry and easy to work with
Roll the dough into a rope and form into donuts, or roll out and use cookie cutters to make shapes. I found the donut shape awesome for Cohen to grasp with his little hands
Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden, then turn the oven off and leave in there for a few hours so they will be nice and dry and hard.

9 months old!

The little dude is 9 months old today! Some notes about the past month:

- He is getting so chatty. We haven't heard an actual word yet, but he is always blabbing on and on. He has the cutest little voice. 

- These days he sleeps 7pm to 7am in his crib, and I go in and feed him at 9pm. He naps 2 or 3 times during the day. 

- His favorite food is applesauce, which I am now making in huge batches every week or so to keep up with his demand. He pretty much always has steak and sweet potato for lunch, and squash or some other veggie for supper. I am making all his baby food. I really find it super easy. Simmer in a bit of water, throw in the food processor, and freeze in ice cube trays. 

- He loves "working" at the computer. We ended up giving him one of our old MacBooks to play with. He loves to bang on the keys over and over. 

- Just recently he has started to wrap his sweet little hands around our necks. It's like the tiniest and best hug ever. 

Scenes from a normal work week

(What a ya at?) 

(always coffee with almond milk in my keep cup) 

(preparing to teach kids about crowns and brushing) 

(after nursing the dude in a vacant patient chair*) 

(one of our hygienists makes the best baked goods)

I love my job, and it takes up a pretty decent part of my week. Highlights of work last week:

- This insane chocolate cake covered in Lindt balls. Made my one coworker for another in a time of boy-related stress:)

- Due to our sitter being stuck in town during the blizzard, Cohen had to spend a bit of time at work on tuesday, being handed around. He was a trooper. 

- We went to the elementary school to teach kids about brushing and healthy foods. I was eager to tell them that chewy granola bars and goldfish crackers are not awesome.

- The whole clinic did fluoride "shots" on Monday (aka girl day), which was pretty fun/gross.

- My work magnifying glasses broke, which was pretty devastating to me, as I can't work without them. But luckily we share a building with an eyeglass place, and they fixed them right up for me in less than a day! 

-More about my work days here.

(*my loupes really get in the way with nursing)

On the weekend

(family date at the local wing place)

(the three of us) 

(a long stroll on our one warm day) 

(family date at the coffee shop)

(parched at Sunday supper date night) 

(nail polish as art)

Things I learned about nail polish marbling

Today was rainy and dreary, and I decided I wanted to do a craft. I needed a craft that was easy, quick, and didn't require me to leave the house to get supplies. This nail polish marbling was totally that craft! I made a ton of card stock label things to use for name tags for an upcoming baby shower that I am making loot bags for, and I also decorated a few glass objects, all in under an hour (aka length of time of one afternoon nap).

(some practice cards) 

 (my water bath)

 (marbled candle)

What you need:

- nail polish (my newer, less gummy nail polish worked best)

- a bin that you can fill with water that you don't care about getting covered in nail polish

- some thick paper or card stock or a glass object that you want to decorate

- a toothpick or knife or something that you can dip in the water and make designs with

Some tips I figured out along the way:

- The water needs to be the right temperature. I found that room temperature was best. If it's too warm, the nail polish sets quicker, so you have less time to mess with it.

- You should really lay down newspaper or something, because it is messy. Our kitchen table is covered in nail polish now...

- Ventilation is important. Nail polish fumes are really strong, and you are using a lot of it. I think this would be best done outside.

- Do a bunch of practice cards. It takes a few tries to figure it out.

- I found my newer and more matte polishes worked best. The shimmery ones didn't show up as well on the paper.

- Basically you just pour a bunch of nail polish on the surface of the water bath, make some designs, then lay your paper on the surface of the water. Really easy.

(a bit of a mess, but worth it)

Now I want to make one huge (like 4 ft by 5 ft) marble painting to hang on the wall right above this table. I am thinking I would need to use a kiddie pool as my water bath to get such a huge surface, but maybe it would be worth it. I got this idea from here.  Teenaged me loves this art project.

Cohen eating food

(an orange slice (from my Richards white!)) 

(a big hunk of cucumber) 

(half an apple)

I can't stop taking pictures of our little guy munching on whatever we hand him. I wanted to write about what is working for us with food lately, mostly just because I like to look back on these stages that seem to go so fast. When Cohen started on solid foods a few months ago, it felt like we had a lot of differing advice on how to do it. Lots of people are all about baby starting with rice cereal. Others say to start with meat. Then there are the self-weaning people who say to just give your babe chunks of food, and see if they feed themselves. 

And like so many parts of parenting, we decided to just do what felt right. For us, that meant me making purees for Cohen using the food we already eat. So I made applesauce using this recipe, and I ground up brown rice, and I put uncooked oatmeal in the food processor so we have a big jar of oatmeal flour to mix with boiling water in the mornings. I have also roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots for Cohen. And more recently I actually boiled beef tenderloin, and threw it in the blender. He never likes a new food the first time, but after a few tries, he is eating everything really well. And then sometimes we give him big chunks of fruit or veg, just for him to suck on. We watch him really carefully, and take it away when he starts to actually break down the food. 

On a typical day, 8 month old Cohen eats a little bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, some sweet potato and beef mixed together for lunch, applesauce for dessert, and maybe some butternut squash or carrots for supper. We like to make his largest meal lunch, so that ideally he is not having to do too much digesting when he is going to sleep at nighttime. And I am nursing about 5 or 6 times in 24 hours. 

I know we aren't following all the rules, but this seems to be working really well for us. I love seeing Cohen eating so well, and I love that I don't have to buy any special "baby" foods. 

PS: I liked this post