Mixin' It Up Must Have

As most of you know I'm soon heading to Toronto to be with my sister and her family while they welcome their newest addition.  As such I've promised friends and family who won't be able to attend the birth, I'll be baby blogging non stop while I'm there...  So before all the baby post flooding starts, I thought I would write a quick post about something that is definitely on my must have list! 

Last Christmas there was a Kitchenaid Mixer under the tree for Jon and I.  I didn't really understand all the fuss over these babies until I used mine!  There is nothing it can't do from making pizza dough, to mixing up all types of batters... and it's taken all the guess work out of getting the right consistency with icings and meringue.  I absolutely love this mixer!  (And Jon loves the tasty treats that I whip up with it!)

My favorite thing about the mixer though, is my favorite thing about most things... Accessories!!!  There are SO many cool accessories to this mixer that I have got to get my hands on!  Here are my top 3!

The first one is kind of a two-fer.  It's The Fruit & Vegetable Strainer & Food Grinder Attachment.  This is the food grinder with the attachment for a fruit and veggie strainer (Yes... an accessory for an accessory!!)  This would be such a life safer to have with a little one around.  When the day comes, Jon and I plan to avoid processed food for our kids as much as possible, and will mostly be staying away from the store bought bottled "Gerber" style stuff.  We both really like the theory of baby eats what we eat...  So this is definitely a handy little gadget for when that day comes, both for grinding up meats, pastas etc, and for fruits and veggies to make a homemade applesauce without all the sugar and junk thrown in.  Not to mention, it would be perfect for puree-ing pie fillings, and other baked yummies.  

Kitchenaid is clearly after my own heart, because they have an accessory, for the accessory of the accessory...  Yeah, this is the Food Tray.  It just sits atop the Strainer & Food Grinder to give you a bigger surface area and be able to put more food through at once.  All about the optimization!  

And finally, my last mixer must have is the grater and slicer attachment.  There is nothing I hate more that grating...  I have no idea why, but I just really feel like we should be farther along as a society and should have come up with a better way to get little shreds of food rather than scrapping it repeatedly over a metal board.  Maybe that's just me...  But this, I love... and it slices too!!  Easy peasy salads all the time!!  Love love love!!

I think Kitchenaid saw me coming when they designed this mixer.  The list goes on and on for the accessories you can put on this thing.  At the end of the day these ones are the ones I think are most useful, and the ones that will actually get pulled out and used.  Yeah... they had to have seen me coming...

Sweetness...

Blogs like this are dangerous for me to follow.  Love love love it.  Obviously I've saved pictures as ideas for when our baby finally decides to join us...  <3

This photographer mom takes pics of her little girl in these scenes while she's laying down sleeping.  Love it. 

 

 

 

Beef With Barbie

 I am in complete shock, and honestly... a little bit of a panic about what type of society we are breeding!  On October 21st my sister is expecting a baby boy and I will be going to Toronto to help take care of her and the family, and to occupy her two year old daughter, Nalini.  

I thought it would be nice to get Nalini something small so that she doesn't feel like it's all about baby, and try to offset any jealousy that may arise from the birth of her baby brother.  Always being a doll lover myself as a child, I thought Barbie was a good way to go.  So off I went to Walmart so excited to buy my niece her first Barbie.  I was so excited about all the possibility.  After all, it's 2010... Barbie can be anything she wants to be...  Until I saw shelf after shelf of "Barbie Bride", and "Barbie Mommy" and "Barbie Tea Party".  (I'm not gonna lie, I did stop for a minute at the Barbie Tea Party set...)  But then I went to ask a store clerk for a "professional" barbie...  And I just about lost my mind when she looked confused and then took me over to "Dog Walker Barbie".  The kicker is the dogs weren't even on a leash, they were in her purse!!  ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME???  Where is Doctor Barbie??  Or Lawyer Barbie??  Or Business Tycoon Barbie with the pin-stripe suit and matching briefcase??  

In a slightly calm, but definitely bothered tone I asked the clerk if they had a Doctor Barbie, and she said she did... And took me over to this atrocious thing pictured below, the only difference was that the set also comes with matching pink heels...

  

Now I've never given birth but I'm just gonna guess that if the first time I am handed my child it's by some chick wearing jeans, a pink jacket, and pink heels I'm really gonna have to question the credibility of this doctor.  What is wrong with our society??  And why does "Doctor Barbie" have to be holding babies??  There are other types of doctors!!  A simple stethoscope and medical bag would have been fine I think.   

Don't get me wrong... when I was a little girl, I LOVED everything pink, I loved fairies and princesses, I had all the Barbie Dream Houses and multiple versions of Ken.  They had about 100 weddings in my childhood room, and I don't know how many tea parties.  I fantasized about my wedding day, and couldn't wait for the day that I would be a mommy.  I honestly think there is nothing wrong with that.  But thank god I also had parents who told me I could do all that and be all those things while also having a brain and a mind of my own and get satisfaction from making something of myself also.  

It just really panics me and makes me wonder what types of girls we are raising??  Maybe I'm worrying for nothing.  After all, almost all of my Barbies had pink tu-tu's and matching pink heels, and I was still aware that I could do anything but I have to say I am still disappointed about where we are as a society.  

Who knows, maybe the little girls of today are smarter than we realize and don't need the "professional" dolls to teach them they can do it all....  Hopefully.  

Fall Favorites & Monster Pants

So after a year of Jon asking me to make him monster pants I am finally doing it!!  If you don't know what I'm talking about see here.  These pics are of the pair I made last year.  The original is infant sized for a 6 - 8 month old and Jon just loved them when I finished them and really wanted a pair for himself.  I thought he was crazy but after a year of still asking for them I suppose he does really want them!  I've saved the first pair for when our little one eventually comes along, and I do have to admit that I love the idea of Jon and our little one having matching pants.  Cute!  Hehe...  That and the fact that now that the weather is cooling off a bit and I can totally feel fall coming I'm dying to get back in to my knitting but don't really have a project in mind.  I'll post pics as the new pair comes along.  For now, I'm just trying to decide if he'll be too warm if I do the pants in a bamboo/wool blend.  I love that type of yarn, but it is rather warm and Jon likes to be on the cool side.  I'm thinking 100% cotton might be a better choice...  I'll keep you updated on how things go with this project!  I think I'll be needing bigger circular needles...  Hehe...

Misconceptions

As I've been slowly getting through my reading for my Post Partum Doula certification it's really gotten me thinking about what type of mother I want to be when the day comes, and what type of birth Jon and I are going to want for our child.  I have to say that overall, I have been loving my reading, and coursework.  I think it's going to be very interesting to come back to some of these books after I do become a mother and see how my perspective on them changes.

One book that I've read that really got me thinking is Misconceptions - Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood by Naomi Wolf.  I don't think I've ever been so angered and yet so pleased with a book at the same time.  This is a very insightful look at one woman's journey through pregnancy and delivery, her experiences, and the sometimes hidden, and not so hidden agendas of doctors, hospitals, children's product companies and more.

Wolf details her experience of her first pregnancy with her husband, which was not planned.  As I mentioned parts of the book were enraging for me to read, and the reason for this is that I feel there is a distinct difference between a woman who accepts and deals with a pregnancy, as opposed to a woman who desperately wants it.  In one instance Wolf describes a feeling of not understanding pregnancy as linked to birth since in her mind it was so closely linked to death - that is a death of the woman she was before, and the woman she felt she would never be able to fully be again once her child was born.  While I do fully agree with the sentiment that you are likely never the same person once your child is born, I have a very hard time seeing it as a death.  To me it is more of a re-birth.  One of my favorite quotes is from the Johnson & Johnson ads "When a baby is born, so is a mother."  This is my approach to pregnancy and motherhood now...  As I said, I'm very interested to see how this will change once we do have a child, and I experience my own birth.  I'm sure there are things about myself now, and my child-free life with Jon that I am  going to miss, and am going to look back on and think "Oh wasn't it nice when we could ..... ?"   By the same token, I'm sure there are a million joys and emotions that children will bring that I can't even imagine yet.

All that being said, I could NOT put this book down!  I had to keep reading - partially because it's required reading for my Doula certification, but much more so because Naomi Wolf, while I didn't always agree with her stance, is such a captivating and beautiful author.  The writing in this book is almost poetic, without being overly flowery... and some how had the perfect amount of sentiment, without being mushy.... definitely not mushy.  It was truly captivating. 

While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book for a couple actively trying to get pregnant, I think it would be an fantastic read for someone who is pregnant, and a mandatory read for parents!  It truly is just brilliant.

I'll leave you with a quote from the book....   "Birth is viewed through a softened lens of pink haze: the new baby and radiant mommy in an effortless mutual embrace, proud papa nearby...  I want to record and do honor not to the fantasy but to the real thing.  Real mother love is more impressive than the fantasy of it.  That actual, specific, fierce maternal love that grows in the wake of that immense psychic and physical tremor that is pregnancy and birth should inspire awe, not sentiment.  I wrote this book to explore the genuine miracle, not the Hallmark card; to trace the maternal bond as it forms, heroically and poignantly, in spite of, rather than because of, the obtuse and unnatural ideology of motherhood under which we labor." ~ Naomi Wolf

Song for a Fifth Child (From a Friend)

This is a poem a friend of mine who is a new mother posted on her blog.  I wanted to share, cause I think it's beautiful...   


Song for a Fifth Child.

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Fall Festivities & Monster Pants

While things have been very hectic around here between the final quarter of the year wrapping up at Xerox, and Jon being busier than ever with school we still found a little time to hit up our usual fall favorites. Early October we were able to check out the Grape Stomp at St. Famille with Jon's family. St. Famille is our favorite Vinyard in the province with incredible wines and great local charm! We skipped our usual apple picking as we were both just too busy to make it down, but we did get two really nice fat pumpkins we're waiting to carve just before halloween!

Fall also means something else... It means I get to get back into my knitting!!! I've been knitting for about 8 years now, but haven't ever pushed myself from anything beyond scarves and blankets. Finally, I decided that I'm branching out, and pushing myself to do slightly harder patterns. I started with these monster infant pants, and am LOVING them!! These will fit a 6 - 8 month old baby. I've learned tons of new techniques with these pants and am really excited that none of them were that hard to pick up!! It's gotten me really excited about pushing myself, and trying new things!! The pattern for this pant came from www.ButtKnits.com. I added them to our favorite pages on the right hand side. I highly recommend the site for adorable patterns!!!

Knitting Projects

Recently I've been very fortunate to have quite a bit of free time in the evenings, and on weekends since Jon and I have been sort of hibernating because of this cold winter. So, from this bitter cold, I've had loads of time to work on my knitting!! Here are just a few of my recent creations, which I'm quite proud of. The first is a hat and mitten set. The second is a work in progress, but it will very soon be a stroller blanket. The small blue triangles on the side are meant as a cap to tuck the baby's head in and wrap him up... similar to the pockets they put on towels for babies to immediately wrap their heads.