Breastfeeding Mommas: Be Careful of Mother's Day Massages!

It was my gift certificate from last year, and I wanted to use up before it expired. So I went and laid down on my belly for an hour. It was a lovely massage. I felt very pampered and a little smushed. Two days later I have the beginning of mastitis! My milk duct is clogged and I feel like I have the flu.

So, the moral of the story is to use your massage gift certificate before it expires, but lie on your side and not your belly!

 And if you do get mastitis, La Leche Leaugue has some helpful stuff to say.

happier breastfeeding times ~

A Belated Huge Welcome!!

A few photos from the littlest one's first days ~

one day old!

2 days old and snuggling with papa

First sunbath

Baby cocoon

There's a baby sheep on me!

How my tired momma loves me!

Held by Her Brother for the Very First Time

Petunia was not totally stoked about it. But Mr. Brown was thrilled!

Snuggle bunnies!

Sweet and Savory Couscous, Bizarre and Crazily Delicious

While my mom was visiting we did a mega, pre-baby food shop at the coop. In line, we found one copy left of the new cookbook, Jerusalem, and she bought it for me (along with all the groceries!).

What a stunning cookbook. So very beautiful and creative. And it's my peoples! I told her I wanted to make everything in it. Though in typical fashion, after pouring over the pages, I made something completely different.

What I made is going to sound weird, but I promise that if you are daring enough make it too, you will be sooo happy, and even your two and 1/2 year old will be happy, even if he doesn't usually like couscous. I'm serious, he will stuff it into his sweet little maw by the handful, though of course I'd prefer if he used his spoon. I would have taken a picture of the enthusiasm, but my camera battery died and the deliciousness was getting cold.

Now try to have an open mind and read on:

Milk Couscous with Sour Cherries, Salami, Bok Choi, Banana and Cinnamon

In a big saute pan heat up olive oil and add the chopped white parts of a head of bok choi, a handful of dried sour cherries, and however much you like (I like not much so it doesn't overpower) finely diced salami. Let the bok choi soften, the cherries plump and the salami get crispy for about 5 minutes.

Pour in a little over a cup of milk and watch it bubble up - very fun! Add the green parts of the bok choi and one chopped banana and stir it all around a bit. Generously shake in ground cinnamon and wait until the milk really seems hot and almost boiling to pour in one cup of couscous. Stir the whole shebang quickly, turn off the heat and let it sit covered for a bit.

Take off the cover, and voila! You will have a dish beautiful and delicious enough to make Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi proud, even with the salami.

Newborn Knitwear

When my mom left this morning, I found $50 hidden under my phone, and her amazing knitwear, for the little one not yet ready to come out yet, folded sweetly on the changing table.

baby cocoon and hat

beauteous baby blanket!

Thank you Omi!

Little Monkeys

I've never experienced a paint color making me as happy as this one does. It feels like how I imagine the sky in the Greek Isles, or when the sun makes reflections on it, like the bottom of a very clean and nice swimming pool. I want to lie on our bed and stare at it for ages. These little guys just wanted to jump around in it for ages.

It's called "old pick-up blue" by Benajmin Moore. Thank you Ben!

3 little monkeys

4 little monkeys

monkey entropy!

Breakfast in the New Kitchen!

Yumm!!

He digs the new house (and the yogurt)!

Isaac worked up his appetite for yogurt with grated apple and raisins after drawing this picture:

Crayola marker on typing paper

I love this drawing. It reminds me of outer space, with lots of energy and rings and stuff.