Ode to "Third-Day Hair"

Oh Third-Day Hair...how I appreciate you. While some may turn up their noses at you, and think that you carry the stigma of laziness and uncleanliness, I however, realize that you are the official hairdo of busy, hard-working mommies.  I turn to you when time does not permit me to wash my hair, blow dry my hair, and style my hair (after three days), because I'm late for a meeting, trying to rush out the door, and it's more important that my little boy looks cute. You may be third string on the hair line up, Third-Day Hair, but teamed up with baby powder to make my look less oily, it is you that I count on to pull my "I'm a mom, so I don't have the time to do my hair" look together. While we met for a period of time back in my college days, it has been in the last eight months that I have really come to know your qualities, and how you help to make my life as a mommy just a little easier. (Please tell your kin, "fourth-day hair" and "fifth-day hair," and even "sixth day hair," that it's not that I don't appreciate them, because I do, but it's just not as socially acceptable, and while I won't say that I haven't met them, I try to draw the line (even if it means going to bed at 2am) so that I can avoid them.) And that's why I appreciate Third-Day Hair...

Mango Smoothies for Buhba

Those of you who know me, know that I am NOT a little domestic mommy. I hate, repeat HATE to cook, and I'm not so good at being crafty, and such. However, since I'm doing my best to be frugal, I decided to take a stab at making my own baby food. So far, over the last few months, I've done really well with pears, yams, bananas, and carrots (if I do say so myself!). Tonight I tried a new recipe, and made several weeks worth of "mango smoothie" for my Buhba (inspite of my last post about orange foods!). I actually copied Gerber, which I like to do a lot. I will buy one or two of their jars, and test them to see if Buhba likes them before I go to all of the trouble of making them. (Fortunately, he's not really disliked any food yet!) Anyway, the ingredients in this mango smoothie had of course mangos, but also apple juice. So, I got a bag of frozen mangos, and unsweetened apple juice and pureed it in my blender to a smoothie consistency. After that, I poured it into ice cube trays and froze it. After it's solid, I put the cubes into zipper bags, and when it's time for Bubha to eat, I take two-three cube out and defrost them (NOT heat them) in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Ta-Da! For the same amount of money as two servings of store-brand baby food, I made several weeks worth! Look at me, I'm growing up! Ha Ha!

My Son: Future Oompa-Lumpa?

I read recently about a condition called, "carotenemia," which is a condition in which a child's skin starts to take on a yellow/orange tone. This is due to feeding your child too many yellow and orange foods. (I'm not making this up!) Since then, I've been in a panic, because I've been VERY aware that the majority of foods which Buhba eats are yellow or orange (mostly the latter). Blame it on my choice of colors, or the lack of baby foods that appear in colors other than yellow or orange; but most of the time, Buhba's diet consists of yams/sweet potatoes, peaches, carrots, squash, mangos, pears, apple sauce, and other items in this pigment family. I've been trying very hard to expand our options, but seriously, other than green beans and peas, what options do I have? I'm open for suggestions - and soon, because I'm concerned that one morning, I'm going to wake up to an Ooompa-Lumpa, singing witty little songs about chocolate factories, instead of my sweet little boy! :)