Our week at a glance

Whew. It's been a week since Joe and I drove home from visiting with my family in VA and attending the annual conference in DC and I can't believe how quickly the time has flown. Looking at my day planner at this past week, it seems quite uneventful: a doctor's appointment on Monday to finally get the whole hip-pain thing figured out and a playdate with Eden this afternoon. That leaves lots of blank time, but for the life of me I don't recall it being blank, nor can I recall exactly what I did with all the time. Here's what I can remember:

Monday: Went to the Orthopedic center to figure out why my hips are still hurting so badly (6 months post childbirth and pregnancy, one would figure I'd be mostly back to normal, but many days my hips are quite sore and nothing seems to help). End of that appointment left me having to schedule 1) some physical therapy, 2) a recheck appointment with the doctor and 3) the suggestion to see my regular doctor for a Rheumatoid Arthritis workup. That's . . . um . . . a pleasant way to start the week. Three more doctors appointments with a 6 month old and the thought of some horrible illness. I'll worry about that another day (this is me trying to remain positive and not let all the icky things bother me so much).

Tuesday: I can't remember, but I don't think I left the house during the day. Perhaps I went grocery shopping that night...

Wednesday: I can't remember, but I don't think I left the house during the day. Perhaps I went grocery shopping that night...

Yup. It's official: I'm super busy with a baby and have no idea what I did with my time, other than know it wasn't much but so much all at once!

Thursday: Our field trip! I decided it was time to make the trek out to faraway lands to visit Whole Foods to check out and purchase some organic foods with which to fill my freezer with homemade baby purees. Got lots of goodies for Ava to eat and me to lovingly prepare (and somehow make space for in our tall skinny freezer [wishing we had a deep freeze in the basement. What basement? I mean, the garage.]) Came home with apples, pears, peaches, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, sweet potatoes and chicken. I had already prepared frozen beans and peas earlier in the day. Once I arrived home, I promptly went to work peeling and cubing many, many tons of potatoes (the others will wait till the weekend) and in the end have so far accumulated many thousands of cubes of baby food. Hopefully Ava will eat them all before she outgrows the need for pureed food.

But what fun I had! Having done a taste test of homemade pears and a jar of baby food pears, I can say that mine taste better. Like real peas. The same can be said, with much certainty, for peas and beans and sweet potatoes. And the color is leaps and bounds more appealing than the bland gray color that jarred beans and peas take on. So, while I'm sure it's much more expensive to make my own (given the strong urge to use organic foods), I can rest assured that Ava is developing a taste for real food and not what comes out of the jars (real as it may be, it's just not tasty). And it gives me something to do that's creative. While it may not seem creative in typical artist fashion, right now it's the perfect way for me to be creative. The kitchen was a mess when I was done, there were peas everywhere (this was before I had the process streamlined later in the day) and at the end of it all, my daughter has yummy food waiting for her in the freezer. Most creative and productive!

Friday: More pureeing - this time it was peaches, which luckily didn't require the steamer. At lunchtime, Ava and I went to my friend Gail's house for a mini-playdate with her daughter Eden. The girls are six months apart in age, but it's fun to see them actually play "together" - Eden loves to touch Ava's hair and Ava loves to stare, reach for Eden's toys and then suck on them. After that, Joe and I headed to the mall for some shopping (behold! I am not a size 8 according to New York & Co! I've never been a size 8 before - I'm not sure it's a real size or just a slight adjustment in their clothing, but I'm not complaining) and some dinner and dessert.

Not much on tap tomorrow aside from some Soup oon E! in the morning, some Tudors in the afternoon and perhaps a nap (for me and for Ava, who reverted this week to the unpleasant non-napper. I hope my happy napper returns!)

Amount spent on food = $$; Time spent preparing and cleaning up: many hours; seeing Ava's mouth open wide and hearing "Mmmmm" as she eats yummy food: priceless.

Ok. Cheesy, but here's how I spent my morning - surrounded by pureed peas and loving every smushy minute of it! Who knew something as little as a pea required to many gadgets!