I am a mom...

With the holidays come and gone, there is a lot of visiting festively decorated houses and dropping by families' houses. All sorts of different ways of doing things, styles of furniture, food traditions and styles of parenting. After many days of observing other peoples' parenting skills (or lack thereof) and then watching a marathon of Super Nanny, I started to wonder: what kind of mother am I? And what sort of family will I raise? Will my kids scream cuss words at me while throwing toys at my face, like some of the little monsters on Super Nanny? Or maybe they will be little hippies and love the earth to the point of obnoxiousness. It's a little early to tell how Ally and all my future kids will turn out, but I do know what kind of person I am now and I am sure my own little quirks and habits will have some sort of effect on her future quirks and weird habits.

I started to notice the things I do as I go about my day while I tried to figure out what kind of mom I am...

I am the kind of mom who reads Natural Health magazine while munching on a donut...




I am the kind of mom who hates to eat animals or look at picture of animals who will soon be food, and yet I am always raving about the delicious pork roast I make every so often that is just SO yummy!

I am the kind of mommy who keeps a very clean house, despite a messy baby and a messy dog who try to make this as difficult as possible...


I am the kind of mom who is always reminding everyone to drink water even though I never drink enough myself.

I am the kind of mom who went to culinary school but who's favorite recipes are the quickest and least complicated...


I am the kind of mom who makes her daughter's baby food myself from organic veggies and fruits.

I am the kind of mom who has her baby on a strict schedule because it makes me feel less chaotic.

I am the kind of mom who hates the wind because it rattles my brain.

And I am the kind of mom who sits down on the couch with a sigh after a long day and sips red wine while browsing through Facebook.

I am certainly not the perfect mom (even if I might think so after a particularly awesome day of eating all her food, taking her naps on time and lots of happy giggling) but I do hope I will be a good role model for my little lady and someday have a beautiful, thoughtful and caring young woman on my hands. As for right now, all I can do is watch her grow.

Ally's Favorite First

1/2 cup organic carrots, diced
1 organic apple, peeled and diced
3/4 cup filtered water
more water for steaming

steam the carrots for 15 minutes. Once soft, blend the carrots with 1/2 cup filtered water in a food processor until it is a smooth puree.
Steam the apples for 10 minutes and then blend with 1/4 cup water until it is a smooth puree. You can add more water if you would like a thinner puree.
In your baby food storage jar, mix 1/4 apple puree with 3/4 carrot puree for a yummy carrot apple baby food!

I used my Baby Cook machine to do the steaming and the pureeing. There are fool proof lines to show you how much water to add, a little steam basket to steam the fruits and veggies in, and very little clean up. If you do not have such a handy little contraption, the amounts of water and steaming times may take some trial and error. Also, with my handy little machine, I get to puree the fruits and veggies in the liquid it was steamed in to try to recapture some of those nutrients that are lost while steaming. You can do this too by using the steaming liquid instead of filtered water in the puree. Just steam your veggies in filtered water and ka-blam!