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!

Super Mom

Just as the fridge was getting eerily barren and I was actually beginning to worry, I decided to put aside my pride and beg for a little money from my mom...

Of course she was more than willing to help in any small way she could and I was reminded that it is always foolish to feel afraid to ask my mother for something. She has a way of being so real about everything that she does, and I know she won't give me something if she does not have it and on the other hand, if she does have it then she will make sure I have what I need (within reason). I went out and bought groceries while Beau was taking his very last final exam at Cal University. Just before I had dropped him off we were having a conversation about our very limited account balance and what would be the best way to spend the money. He had been working really hard lately and was already exhausted even though he hadn't taken the test yet, and said he wanted a big plate of spaghetti for dinner. Beau is a very big man and when he eats he can really put food away! So in my semi-panic of thinking about our finances, I began to lecture him about eating too much when we are trying so hard to save money... well naturally as soon as he stepped out of the car and I was kicking myself all the way to the grocery store thinking, "what an awful thing to say!!!" So I made sure that when he got home from school, the last day he will ever be there, we were able to celebrate with big plates of spaghetti. And I was also able to purchase enough food for another week with only $35 out of the money my mom loaned me. I have become an absolute pro at grocery shopping for deals!

After our spaghetti dinner and Beau had left for a graduation party at the frat house, I stayed comfortably on the couch and enjoyed my alone time. I couldn't help by go back to the long phone conversation I had with my mom earlier that day when she had loaned me money and then we chatted about this and that, and I wondered why I was so lucky to have a mom that I get along with so well. See, I know everyone has to love their moms on some level, but not only do I love my mom, I actually like her! She is an amazing woman and a real inspiration to me. So I pondered on this thought and on the little growing girl inside of me and wondered if she will like me the same. What is it about my mom that makes her so fun to be around and a good mom at the same time? I came up with a few things that I think make her who she is...

My mom takes care of her family, and especially her husband. Everyone comes before she does, but you never get this sense that she feels oppressed or angry about her family-orientated lifestyle (no feminism in my house!). It seems to make her happier than anything to just be there for her family! And her kids do not come before her relationship to her man. Her and my dad having such a strong bond and being happy together showed me what love really is and gave me a solid foundation growing up. And while she was putting us first and taking care of us, she never pushed or pulled us in any particular direction. She gave us the tools, the map and the advice and let us forge our own path in whatever way we saw fit. My mom was always there to listen to my stories, help me through problems and let me vent frustrations, and I never felt that she was disappointed in me or wanted me to lead a different life. She let me have my life and she had her life... and isn't that really the way it is suppose to be?

And this leads me to the other thing that makes my mom awesome. She listened!!! Not just to me, but anyone she encounters. You never get the feeling that my mom is just waiting for her turn to speak or that she is going to try to push her opinion on you. Even if her opinion is different from yours, she always listens fully to what you are saying. Sometimes she will offer tid-bits of advice or tell you that she disagrees, but she won't push it on you like some people I have met in my life... most people really! And often times in my young life, I have found her side of the argument so compelling she didn't need to push it on me anyway; I just knew it was right. Never was there loud arguments, screaming fits or all out wars in my house because we didn't need them. You know that if you need to speak to someone then you will be heard. Everything felt fair that way.

There is so much more that makes my mom the amazing person that she is, like how she makes dinner every night even when she really doesn't feel like it, or her unwavering support and trust in me when I decided to drop out of college and lead a completely different life far away from home... but her love for her role as "wife and mother" and the way she will always listen are two things that I think I can easily adopt into my own life so that hopefully, I too can be a role model to my babies.

If you are reading this, I love you mom!!! Thank you for being a mom first and a best friend second and for always having my back no matter what. :) And just thank you for being you!

...

a cheap and easy way to make Beau's favorite spaghetti!

ingredients:
package of spaghetti
jarred sauce (we are being cheap remember!)
ground beef
pasta seasoning blend by Trader Joe's

In a pot, boil water with salt for the noodles.

In a saute pan, brown the ground beef with the pasta seasoning. Once browned completely, drain the oil by dumping the meat onto a plate lined with paper towels, then put the meat back in the pan. Add the sauce and simmer until heated through and you are sure the meat is all the way cooked.

Grab a handful of spaghetti noodles and dump in the water. Cook until it is done. Toss it all together and serve! See how easy that was? Then when you have a little more money you can add chopped fresh basil and some Parmesan cheese... but for now, he will never know the difference. :)

Looking for a healthier option if you don't feel like spaghetti yourself? Sometimes the red sauce is just too much for me right before bed! Try switching to whole wheat noodles and see if you man even notices. Then toss his noodles with the red sauce, and add blanched veggies, olive oil and some herbs to your version.