New Mom Group

Today, Michael and I went to a Catholic Mom's Group that Ben's college friend, Teresa, told us about.  I met a bunch of lovely mommies and am looking forward to making some new friends for myself and for Michael! They are a very active group of Catholic homeschooling families in the Austin area, and a few of them live near us and in the neighborhoods where we are looking to buy a home.

They meet at a different park every week.  Michael swung in a swing for the very first time (and I didn't bring my camera!).  I was actually kind of alarmed because he was catatonic while I swung him.  I thought he might be asleep (his eyes were shielded with sunglasses) but he wasn't.  He just looked and acted like he was asleep in the swing, kind of leaning against the corner of the baby swing, but his eyes were open.  I was concerned he was getting too hot so I took him out.  We had to leave after about an hour and a half because he was getting flushed and refused to nurse/hydrate himself.

Food:  I've been offering lots of veggies (as well as meats, though less frequently), and except for tomatoes, he is uninterested.  I stopped eating salads with my raw leafy greens since babies need to have their veggies cooked.  My current favorite method for preparing greens is to saute some onion and garlic and whatever else I have lying around (zucchini, carrot, sweet potato) in a cast-iron skillet until fairly soft (no oil or liquid needed in the cast-iron*), add some greens (and tomatoes, if around), about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, and some appropriate seasoning (I use Trader Joe's "21 Seasoning Salute").  Sometimes I toss in some crumbled ground meat.  I then offer Michael everything in the skillet, and he picks only the tomatoes.



* I used to saute everything in olive oil, but I worry about overheating it now since it's extra virgin olive oil.  EVOO has a low smoke point, and as soon as any fat hits it's smoke point it's unhealthy to consume.  And I don't know of any healthy cooking oils with a higher smoke point.  I had been using cooking wine or broth to saute in a non-stick skillet, but I'm not sure if boiling liquids in a cast-iron skillet is "okay"?  Luckily, the cast-iron doesn't really need anything, especially if you saute onions first, which give off a lot of their own moisture.