The Joy of Thoughtfulness

Brought home by my husband

Taken from our friends' yard while helping them move

The Joy of the Perfect Bite

My sister and I often talk about the perfect bite.  We got it from a Barbara Streisand movie, I believe, where she takes a little bit of each item from her plate onto her fork for the perfect bite.  And so, often if something mixes well together, even if it's not everything on the plate, my sister and I will refer to it as the perfect bite.

So I discovered another perfect bite with the help of my sister-in-law at our brunch that we hosted (first "party" after having a baby, not as hard as I thought it would be to put together, but then again I had my husband and mother doing almost everything...).

 

Mini waffle, Zoi honey yogurt, sliced strawberry, yogurt, blueberry, sprinkled flax seed.  I recreated it for breakfast this morning (while holding my son if I might add).

 

 To be honest though, the first time I had them with mini Eggos and the seconds time with organic minis, the Eggos were way better

 

Do you have a favorite perfect bite?

The Joy of Elegance

Classic is Back

 

Chevrolet commercial has got it right. Love the dress, the hair, the necklace, the package.

The Joy of Making Banana Bread

Chocolate Walnut Banana Flax Bread

2-3 very ripe bananas
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
a handful of chopped walnuts and
 chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla with a potato masher – don’t worry about getting all the lumps out.

Add the flour, flax, baking soda and salt and stir until almost combined; add any additions and stir just until blended. Spread into a greased 8”x4” loaf pan (or 2-3 small loaf pans) and bake for 50-60 minutes, until golden and cracked on top and springy to the touch.

 

The recipe turned out really nice and moist. Definitely will make again.

 

The Joy of a Trade

I made my first official trade of goods or skills. For knitted bottle covers I exchanged my painting "skills."

 

 

We chose to go with glass bottles for our little one but obviously had concerns about them breaking.  I saw cute covers online to add an extra layer in case of impact, or more like imminent impact, but every item adds up.  A co-worker of mine does amazing knitting, so I propositioned her. Love each pattern and that they're all different!

 

She is also expecting her first. She gave me a fabric swatch of her curtains in the baby room and requested elephant knobs for the dresser...

 

And I offered an additional painting...

 

 It felt pretty good actually. It made me sad that we don't trade for everything in life.  Our family could possibly starve though with me painting and my husband singing ... Regardless it was exciting.

The Joy of Infant Play

Although I'm an occupational therapist, work with kids on a daily basis, and part of my degree focused on child development, the first time I had awake time with my son I was at a loss of what to do with him. So I'm tracking my activities.  It helps when I think of how many slots of activity time I have during the day and have a slew of activities to choose from.

Three quick activities:

 

1. Patty cake - We have several patty cake type games in Russian that mom can do solo with clapping or you can hold your baby's hands and "clap" with them while smiling and singing.

2. Bicycle legs - I like to do different rhythms of bicycle legs while counting to the rhythm. Also most all of my activities and counting come out with a made up song. I substitute my own words to well known, everyday songs. Which works out better because I never know the right lyrics anyway.

 

3. Scarf Play - Thanks to a friend of mine, I now have another purpose for my headscarves, besides attending church. N enjoys tracking the scarf movements, feeling the wisps, and his first games of peek-a-boo.

One long activity:

1. Dancing with your baby to music - It's never too early to start dancing with your baby, in my opinion. Besides it gives me a little workout as well.