What the heck?

Lately, everytime I turn around I hear that someone that I know is doing homeschooling next year. Okay, I'm not knocking homeschooling or anything, but what is up with that? Am I missing something? I mean, I and almost everyone I know went to public school, and we all turned out just fine - we can read and write and speak coherently and everything! :) People who go to public school go to college, become doctors, lawyers, teachers...and great moms. Again, I am not against homeschooling, but I just don't see what the big attraction is and why more and more moms are yanking their kids out of school to educate their kids at home. Maybe I lack vision. Maybe I'm lazy. I don't know, but I just can't wrap my mind around this sudden trend of homeschooling being all the rage...

Trying to remember...

I love my children, but I'm only human - sometimes I get impatient, sometimes I yell, and sometimes I think that being a stay-at-home mom is not all it's cracked up to be...

...but I also have moments where I think my children are incredibly cute, where I can't imagine myself doing anything else with my life right now, when I realize how amazingly and frighteningly fast they are growing up. Sometimes I feel like time is literally just sifting through my fingers before I get enough chances to truly enjoy my children while they are still small - life is just so busy!

So, with each child, I try to do a little bit better at savoring the moments while they are small.

At those moments when Edward is fussing on and on, or just woke up grumpy from a joke of a nap, or wakes up in the middle of the night just because he wants to be held, I'm trying to remember...

...that there will come a time when something as simple as a pacifier won't make "everything all right"...

...that someday soon these tiny hands won't be so tiny anymore, that they won't always be reaching out just for me everyday like I am the only thing in the world...

...that he won't always have these cute little baby feet that kick like crazy with excitement everytime he sees me...

...and that there will be a day when he won't think that I am his whole world, when he won't want me more than anything else, when I can't fix everything just by holding him...

I will always be their Mama, and they will always be "my babies", but they won't always be babies, and I'm trying to remember that and soak up as many of these fleeting moments as I can...

I'm trying to remember...

Adventures in new fruit: Papaya

It all started when I bought these at Wegmans. I was feeling adventurous.

Yes, they were incredibly delicous - I highly recommend them.

Well, it got Lou and I talking about tropical fruit. I told him they had the same cookies in "Guava" flavor, but I didn't know if I liked Guava (never had one), so I chose the safe Mango flavor (LOVE mango).

So then I was curious as to how a Guava tasted, so I decided to get one at the store. Alas, they didn't have any, so I ended up getting a Papaya, since I've never had one of those, either.

I LOVE fruit - all fruit. Well, okay, so cantaloupe is my one exception - not nuts about it, but I love everything else - everything from the boring apples and bananas to the more exotic starfruit and plantains, and everything in between.

So anyhow, I was excited to try the papaya...

I did my research before I went to the store so that I would know how to pick a good one, and according to everything I read on the internet, the one I picked at the store should have been the best papaya in the universe.

So I get it home and begin to cut it up, just like I saw on a handful of Youtube videos. Kind of freaky-looking inside, isn't it? Those black seeds look like caviar - nasty. I read that they have a sort of peppery bitter taste, but I was too weirded out by their fish egg appearance to try one.

Anyhow, so I cut up this papaya and now I had a huge bowl of beautiful salmon-colored cubes of fruit that seemed to have the texture of canteloupe or honeydew. I was so psyched to taste it - it was just so pretty...

Okay, the seeds are not pretty, but the fruit is, once you get it all cut up.

Anyhow, so I decided to smell it first (a weird habit I picked up from Lou after years of seeing him do this to ALL food). I took a step back - whoa, this stuff smelled nasty - I mean NAS-TAY. Okay, no big deal, I tell myself, maybe you can't judge a fruit by it's smell (although, generally, you can...).

Then I pop a piece in my mouth and...gagged. Oh mother of all that is good and holy in this world, this was THE most disgusting thing I have ever had in my mouth - BAR NONE. I didn't want to spit it out, because Maria and Josephine were watching and I didn't want to set a bad example, so I finished chewing, facing away from them, so they couldn't see the expression of absolute horror on my face.

"Who the heck would eat this stuff on PURPOSE?!", I thought frantically as I swallowed the sickening stuff. Seriously, it tasted like puke - and no, I don't mean that in the "oh, it was so gross, it was like puke" sense. I mean it ACTUALLY tasted like I was eating puke (which, by the way, is what it smelled like, too).

Now, I know it wasn't rotten. The skin was part yellow, part green, just like it was supposed to be, and it had just the right amount of give when I pressed it. So maybe I just hate papaya, but I really don't understand how anyone could like it!

All over the internet, websites are touting it's virtues as one of nature's most healthy fruits - it aids digestion, it's a wondefrul meat tenderizer, it's chock-full of vitamin C, folate, potassium, fiber, vitamins E & A, and it has tons of antioxidants & flavanoids (touted as being able to stave off cancer). Christopher Coloumbus nicknamed it the "fruit of the angels"...

...yeah, too bad it tastes like VOMIT!!!

Oh, and FYI, the girls thought it was gross, too. Maria agreed with me: "Mom, not to be rude, but it kind of tastes like barf".

So, now I have all these cups of papaya, and I don't want to WASTE them (that junk was expensive!!), but I certainly don't want to EAT them. I wonder if I put them into a smoothie, will the bananas and honey and lime juice cover up the taste, or will I just end up with an up-chuck-flavored smoothie?

Hmm...I wonder.

Any ideas?

More weird crap for you to try

Okay, this is not so weird as the last one, but it is good, and for sure more healthy than saltines with butter and sugar.

Okay, so take a slice of this:

Drizzle it with this:

And sprinkle it with this:

Last week I had a craving for sopapillas (friend tortillas drizzled with honey and cinnamon sugar), but I have been so bad with the sweets lately, that I just couldn't get myself to make and eat fried anything, so I thought up this alternative. It was actually immensely satisfying!! Soooo yummy, and way healthier than some of the other treats I have dreamed up. Mmmmm...you should try it... :)

Living dairy free...and hating it.

So I have had to give up milk products, after realizing that they were upsetting Edward's stomach. All babies are gassy to some extent, but this kid was really gassy, and often at night you could actually hear his stomach making horrible noises while he screamed in pain. We were giving him the gripe water, but wanted to find the source of the problem rather than just constantly treat the symptoms. I tried a blander diet (absolutely no spicy foods, garlic, onions, beans, brocolli, etc.), but it didn't help that much, so, after some research, decided to try giving up dairy. Apparently some babies have extra sensitive stomachs that have a hard time breaking down the proteins in cow's milk. First I gave up just milk - I was drinking about 24oz a day (I love milk!) - and saw some definite improvement. So then I gave it all up - cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc., and voila - gas problems gone. No more churning stomach, no more arching back in pain - done. And then I started to mourn the loss of dairy in my life...

I never realized how much dairy I ate until I had to give it up. No more cereal in the morning, or cream of wheat, pancakes, or waffles, or french toast (ALL made with milk!!). It was either eggs or toast - boooooring. Also, no more yogurt for my daily healthy 3pm snack, no more grilled cheese, no more quesadillas, or lasagna, ice cream, hot chocolate, pudding, cheesecake (not that I eat these last couple of things everyday, but STILL). No more cheese on my egg sandwich or tacos, or deli meat sandwich, no more tall glass of cold milk with dinner (insert sobs here..), etc.

What the heck am I supposed to eat?!! Not to mention where am I going to get my calcium?!

Well, I've started taking a calcium supplement (lame, but better than nothing), and have researched which fruits, vegetables and legumes are good sources of calcium.

And, I've started drinking this:
I have always found soymilk to be mildly repulsive, especially its freaky unnatural color. But, after WEEKS with no milk, I finally caved after my mom sent a carton to my house. It was just too tempting - the thought of being able to have cereal again in the morning...

...and believe it or not, I have grown to like it! Weird. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and if you go long enough without something, a close substitute starts to sound pretty dang good. The cereal covers up most of the taste, and I've even gotten to the point where I can drink it straight...in small amounts...and out of the container, so I don't have to see the weird brownish-grey cast that it has.

Anyhow, it's expensive, and way higher fat than my old skim milk, but it's a great source of protein, has calcium in it, and now, after a I have a couple of cookies or a PBJ, I can wash them down with some nice creamy milk.

And all in all, it's a small price to pay for Eddie to not be uncomfortable all the time. :)

Next adventure: vegan ice cream...

Weird, yet good

Here's a nasty snack that you would never think is good, but soooo is.



Take these:

Spread them with a thin layer of this:

And sprinkle them with this:

Yes, I've just described saltines with butter and sugar. Now I KNOW this sounds gross (not to mention totally unhealthy). I remember my Mom telling me she loved these when she was PMSing and I thought she was nuts. But I tried it out of sheer curiosity one day, and it's got this whole yummy sweet and salty thing going on that is really kind of great.

So if you're feeling adventurous sometime, and have a craving for sweet and salty, give it a try - you just might like it!

Do you have any odd snacks that you eat?

Upgrade!

As you can probably tell by my recent posts, I've been a bit down in the dumps lately. Well on Valentine's Day this year Lou did a great job breaking me out of my slump. We don't really make a big deal out of V-day most years. We're not some of those Anti-Valentine's people or anything like that. We just like to keep it simple. Anyhow, Lou outdid himself this year...

First he gave me these:

He said he felt cheesy doing the "box of chocolates" thing, but he's never done this before, and little did he know that I have secretly always wanted a big heart-shaped box of chocolates, so I was thrilled with this "cheesy" gift.

He also made me a wonderful dinner of steak, shrimp, bread and peas - yes, he was grilling outside in the middle of February - gotta love this guy!

And here's the big daddy. He gave me my new, upgraded engagement ring! Here's a picture of the original:

It's hard to tell in this picture, but this ring was VERY fragile. It was an estate ring, and though very beautiful, very fragile and always getting bent and beat up. You can see in the picture that the left side stone is missing. The darn ring kept cracking and the stones on the side kept getting lost. Lou finally had enough and said I was getting a new ring - I didn't argue. :)


Here's the new ice:

MUCH stronger, sturdier, and sooo beautiful. The center stone is the one from my original, but the rest is all new!

He had the old circle side stones replaced with a baguette-cut, which I love.

Here it is with my wedding band

And again, but flipped the other way. I have never before gotten diamonds on Valentine's Day, and although I'm not a big "give me jewelry" person, I have to say, I was ecstatic when I saw this ring!!

My last gift came from my Mom and kids. My Mom and Dad were nice enough to take the girls for the day, so we could have some time alone (well, when Edward was napping, anyway). When Maria came home, she had a mysterious paper bag that she and Nana had been working on. She told me that we needed to stay out of our room for a few minutes while she finished our surprise. This is what she did:

Her and my Mom cut out all the hearts that afternoon.

Cute, huh?

So how can anyone feel depressed after a day like that? It was just perfect. The only imperfect thing about it were the almond-paste cookies that I attempted to make for Lou (he loves almond paste). Yeah, they didn't turn out so great - hence why there are no pictures...

Oh well, Lou ate them anyway, giving me the whole "it's the thought that count's" bit, and I was okay with that.

Anyhow, thank goodness for family who boosts you up when you are feeling down. Happy Valentine's Day, loved ones... :)