Power, schmower!

There are certain things that I consider luxuries that others may not. Sitting in a coffee shop, latte in one hand, book in another. To me, that sounds luxurious. First day that's warm enough to have that drink on a bar patio during happy hour...luxurious! A trip to Target only for things I want...not need. Oh the luxury! You know what I don't necessarily consider a luxury?(although i should!) Electricity. Power. Lights in my apartment. My coffee maker working! Yesterday we lost power for oh, just practically the entire day! AND it was due to a tree down which meant we also couldn't get out of our neighborhood (don't even get me started about that!). It was my husband's "Saturday" so he was bummed as he had planned a special breakfast for us. Now this has happened before and frankly I'm ok with no tv and since it was a beautiful day, didn't mind no lights or air conditioning. But dammit I hadn't had coffee. And I was hungry. For something other than yogurt and pretzels or something else that didn't require cooking. You might say this set of circumstances put me "in a mood". My husband, on the other hand, got crafty. He ran downstairs to my landlords and asked if he could borrow their grill and proceeded to make one of the best breakfasts I have ever had. He even made coffee! Yep! What you see is grilled steak, eggs baked on the grill, seasoned potatoes wrapped in foil with onions and coffee (water boiled on grill and poured thru filter). It was a badass breakfast! The rest of our day consisted of a free outdoor concert and snuggling in bed with Total Recall. All in all a pretty nice day.

Happy Birthday!

Wow! Where has the time gone? 6 months ago I was in the hospital welcoming my darling girl into the world (I am typing this a few days early to get it right but will post on the 16th). Soooooo many life changes! I'm somebody's Mommy, my husband is somebody's Daddy, I, now on a regular basis, refer to my own mother as Grandma! But today is special for another reason. For me, today not only celebrates 6 months of motherhood but also 35 years of friendship. A friendship that you should all be so lucky to have. A friendship that has not only stood the test of time but the tests of adolescence, marriage, children and distance. All those things that inadvertently pull people apart only brought us closer. We were born to be best friends. She was the brunette to my blonde, the alto to my soprano, the good friend to my bad influence. She was patient and loving as I went through my "wild" years and I stood by her as she married the man of her dreams all the while letting her know I could have a car waiting if she wanted to bail mid ceremony (of course she didn't....thank goodness! love you Josh!) We've gone through all the things best friends are supposed to. Joys and tragedies. Vegas! At our high school reunion we showed up together only to be greeted by an old classmate, who was possibly under the influence, hugging us both saying "Katie and Sara! Of course you're here together!" But what make this friendship incredibly special, and me, grateful beyond words is what happened 5 months ago. I was a mere 3 weeks into this whole parenting thing. The nights were still sleepless, the boobs still sore and my emotions still raw. My mother had left and we had a couple of weeks to ourselves when Katie came out to visit. Now visit is the wrong word...hmm....save us. She absolutely saved us. She walked into my place, took Evie Sue's bassinet out of our bedroom and into her's and said "I'll get you when she needs you." Yep, you read it right. My friend left her loving husband and darling children to fly across the country for 4 days to wake up with me and my new baby EVERY 2 HOURS. Evie Sue would cry, Katie would change her, come and get me, wait until I was done nursing and take her back to put her down again. She did this all night long...the whole time she was here! She made it possible for me to sleep in my own bed for the first time in weeks. And you know what else? She vacuumed. And cried with me. She took me to dinner. And Target. My mind is still blown by the kindness of my dear friend. As we continue to move forward in our lives I know that we will stay strong as friends even if we don't speak for a month or I inevitably forget a child's birthday. I know I can count on this friendship for years to come. So thank you Katie (Flater) Vadnais for being you. Kind, caring, selfless, lovely, wonderful you. I can only hope that my daughter will be so lucky as to have such a friendship but I know she will forever have her Aunt Katie! Happy Birthday!

Food, Glorious Food!

I'm a little emotional right now. We just took a huge step with Evie Sue (yes, WE...big step for Mommy too). The Button just had her first meal of "solids"! Yep, that's right, I bit the bullet. Yesterday while shopping at Target, I purchased my darling girl's first taste of solid food. Now if you read this blog you know that I had struggled with this. Which brand, what kind, do I really need to do rice cereal, should I let her decide, what does my pediatrician say, what do the ladies on my breastfeeding board say, what do my friends say......ahhhh! My friends said Gerber, my pedi said rice cereal whenever, the board ladies said nothing but breast milk until 6 months and then do fruit or wait and let her decide. I decided to try and split the difference as much as I could. She is 2 weeks away from 6 months so I figured we'd just go for it, today! I bought Gerber Organic Brown Rice Cereal (give my crunchy side some peace of mind) we thinned it significantly with breast milk, put a bib on Evie Sue and went to town! She did awesome. The second she saw that spoon she knew it was go time. She was so excited to "help" by pulling the spoon towards her mouth and at one point even tried to tip the whole bowl in her mouth. She swallowed everything we gave her and yes finally got so excited she knocked almost the entire bowl over onto the floor!(thankfully we were pretty much done anyway). I planned it for today so Daddy could be a part of it and help. I think he had as much fun as Evie Sue. One of the best parts? Right as we started I Skyped my mom. Grandma and Grandpa got to see Evie Sue chowing down! Now yes, it was little more than grainy breast milk but it was huge! Button had food...real food...in a few weeks we may try a banana! For now she will continue to nurse (my next short term goal is 9 months) and have one "meal" of cereal a day but I can already see how much she, and we, are going to enjoy this!