Updating...and also, I am dumb

No, I haven't forgotten that I keep a blog...I've just been busy.

Busy with what?!? You ask.

Well, give me a minute and I'll show you:


You take 5 boxes of tomatoes, 4 bags of bell peppers, 40+ jalapeno peppers, 5 heads of garlic and 4 bags of onions. Peel and chop and dice and crush and try not to cry from all the onion and garlic in the air and then you add these fine people:





The Husband is off to the right, you just can't see him in this picture, but that's my Mom, my Dad and my 92 year old Grandma peeling and chopping tomatoes as if it's their life's ambition to make salsa for their lactating daughter/ granddaughter. Me? I was plugged into a hungry baby all. day. long. More on the hungry baby later.




So after all the peeling, chopping, dicing, spicing and stewing, here's what you end up with!

That right there is 40 quarts and 6 pints of pure Salsariffic bliss. The last time we made salsa we made 4 batches and it only lasted us through May. This time around we made 7 batches in the hopes that it will last us until next August when we will make it all over again.

And yes, it's that good.

And for those of you who are counting, one quart is in the fridge and already half gone, and one pint went to work with the Husband so he could "share" with his coworkers.

And just to prove to you all that excellent education does not always equal a smart person, I offer you this story of my latest inadequacies as a parent.

We are breastfeeding. And let's all just remember the Burnstopia rule of Live and Let Live, I know it's not for everyone, but it's what the Husband and I wanted to do...we've made more radical decisions than this and I'm sure they'll creep out into the blog eventually...reserve your righteous indignation for those moments--the ones where we truly deserve it for being pants-on-head CRAZY rather than only moderately idealistic here with the breastfeeding thing.

Anyway, everyone told me to listen to the lactation consultants in the hospital which I did. They're great about helping you get a good latch and finding good positions and, in our case, keeping the Boy AWAKE to eat enough. What they weren't so much helpful with is telling me what I have to do to MAKE ENOUGH MILK FOR THE CHILD.

See. I might walk around like your average academic but inside I have very little concept of how to take good care of myself. It's why I'm a twin. I was never meant to survive this world on my own. It's also why I ended up with a great husband--God knew that I was not to be trusted to take care of myself so He gives me lots of help. Anyway. Since no one in the hospital mentioned anything about diet or fluids I just assumed that I could just eat normally and the Miracle of the Human Body would continue to make enough breast milk.

Not so much with the miracle thing you Big Dumb Wife.

All that fussing that the Boy has been doing? That I thought was gas or indigestion or switching his days and nights? Yeah. That was just hunger. Turns out that I wasn't eating or drinking anywhere near enough so my milk supply was dwindling in unbelief and the Boy was just hungry hungry hungry all the time. Hence, the nursing all the time.

And so, after many, many frustrating days and even more frustrating nights the Wife did what all smart women through history do, I talked to my sister (who breast fed 4 babies even with low supply) and she called me and my breasts to repentance and I have since started the all eating, all drinking all the time breastfeeding diet and LO! The Boy eats like a champ and he SLEEPS! At night! For 4 hours at a time! And the true miracle of the human body is that I LIKE my child when he lets me sleep.


She also told me to run and get this book:

Frankly, I think that if any of you are breastfeeding or have breastfed and will continue to do so you ought to run, RUN I say, and buy this book. It's brilliant. And aside from telling me exactly what I should be eating and how much, it's also really encouraging for those of us who chafe at being tied down--we're doing what's best and natural and ready-made for our child...so it's OK to be tied down a bit.

So, we made the salsa, I proved that smart people aren't always smart and now I have no proof for my other great accomplishment of the past week which is that the Boy is starting to smile more. Real smiles. Intentional-look-at-our-faces and SMILE smiles. And they are big and gummy and awesome.

But right now he kind of looks like he's trying to poop so I will NOT take a picture and just ask you to take my word for it until I CAN take a picture at which point it will be posted here for you all to admire my sons big pink gums.