I’ve been absent from this blog, it’s true. Not only am I running after a toddler and attempting to work full time, I’m also cooking and baking up a storm. I never considered myself one of those “domestic-types” but you know…I should smack myself in the face for even thinking that. There is something hormonal in women and moms, I’ll guess, that makes us want to take care of our families. Not all women, of course, but I know that I was not this way before and I am this way now and all I can do is just say it’s a miracle. A MERRRACLE!
Anyways, if we are all better by Wednesday, we’ll be heading to Southlake to the Kourosh Kompound for Thanksgiving festivities. This year, since I’ve been doing so much cooking and baking, we’re going to have a menu planned out in advance and I’m actually going to contribute more than the salad, tortilla chips, or store-bought dessert! Here’s what I’m thinking:
- Vegan frtittata
- Cran-pear sweet potatoes
- Vegan sausage stuffing with mushroom gravy
- Pumpkin chocolate-chip cupcakes with cinnamon icing (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)
- and/or banana bread
I actually have really been intrigued with the idea of using seasonal fruits and veggies, so lately I’ve been experimenting with squash, pumpkin, and sweet potato. Sweet potato is such an amazing thing…I also really want to try baking these Vegan Sweet Potato Cupcakes (here’s to hoping I can find some Sweet & Sara vegan marshmallows at Whole Foods) and/or these Vegan Sweet Potato Biscuits. Doesn’t your mouth just water reading the words??!
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Navab is 19 months old now. Her vocabulary is exploding. She’s putting together sentences by herself. She’s saying “I love you” (I ruvv roo) and giving hugs. I’ve taught her some Baha’i prayers and songs and you know what? SHE MEMORIZED THEM. Navab memorized “Blessed is the Spot” and it’s awesome. I’ve also been telling her that there’s a special prayer she can say when she’s feeling sad or scared called “The Remover of Difficulties,” and we’re working on that one. I think it’s actually easier to teach her the prayers and songs at this point than trying to teach her how to be still and act reverent when we’re in Baha’i meetings (which is a rare occurrence these days, heh).
Myk is super busy these days. He’s coaching the swim team at his school and he usually leaves before I wake up and doesn’t come home until after 8. He’s working his butt off. I really miss him but I know this is temporary and he’ll be back to normal soon. We’ve recently powwowed (is that a word?) and come up with a 2 year plan for ourselves which, we hope, will increase our happiness and will help us get the most out of our life together. So, that’s kind of exciting.
Since my personal chef has been gone so much, I actually learned to cook and have been doing a lot of that. I am religiously going through Veganomicon and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, as well as just been looking up random ingredients on Google and seeing what pops up. My favorite sofar has been this bean and barley soup which I heavily modified, but I think that’s the idea. Here’s a fun factoid, too: if you’re breastfeeding, whole grains will really help increase your milk supply. I do not kid! It’s one of the many reasons to eat healthily while breastfeeding. I’m hoping to acquire How to Cook Everything Vegetarian as well as Vegan Brunch (because I love brunch…and by the way, Houstonians kind of look at me cluelessly when I comment on the lack of good brunch places here. Seriously, katfish and grits are great and all, but I am a VEGAN. Brunch deserves some vegan love, you know?).
Speaking of breastfeeding somewhere back there…we’re still going strong. I’m pumping once a day at work now and am looking to cut that out in the next couple of months because Navab is only drinking about 3oz of milk during the day, and it seems like giving her soymilk now would be okay. It looks like I’m going to just have to be really dilligent about how long I’m pumping and gradually cut down. I have this problem where I keep getting plugged milk ducts if I wait too long to pump or don’t pump for long enough, so I have to be really careful. Otherwise, the boob sock has to come out and I have to take a sick day from work. That is no joke, too! You really feel like you’re getting the flu or something. Thank God I’ve never gotten Mastitis. Ow ow ow.
I’ve got a couple of sickies in the house right now. We’ve all been passing around the same cold for about 6 weeks now. Mine appears to be very slowly going away, but Navab’s came back with a vengeance a couple of days ago. She’s on the verge of getting pneumonia and she has an ear infection, poor gal. So she’s on antibiotics now and for the most part (everything except for the scary cough) seems to feel fine. Myk also has a rattle in his breathing so I think he’s got the same thing going on. The man needs to go to a doctor, so hopefully that will happen tomorrow. Okay, gotta go take care of the sickies!
But before I go, let me just tell you that we’re having a camera setback right now. The LCD on my point and shoot cracked (and no viewfinder, go fig), my Canon got an ERR 99 (and I need a new shutter mechanism) and the repair will cost more than the camera is worth, and our other camera is also having problems. So, no pictures for now unless they’re from my iPhone. But I’ll leave you with this one adorable one from Halloween.




