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Eating My Words

P1: I spoke with the director of volunteer services at Mount Sinai today and it looks like I may be able to start some volunteer counselling with patients starting in the spring. I am very excited! I will have to go for an orientation session and provide a reference, which is not at all a problem. The bigger issue is defining exactly what I am going to be doing. I will have to discuss this with my ob/gyn, Dr. M. She sees a number of high risk patient groups so it will be interesting to see how she can use my help. She sees pregnant women with cancer and obese pregnant women, among other groups.

The director of group fitness for the Toronto Athletic Club also asked me to move my audition up a few weeks. So it's now booked for March 16th. I am very nervous about this, not only because I haven't taught anything but spinning in a few years, but also because Sherma is going to come and watch Little A that day and I will have to leave before she wakes up from her nap. It will only be the second time she watches Little A so I can only imagine how much Little A will freak when a stranger comes to get her from her nap. Oh well, she has to get used to other people at some point. Right???

P2: Things with Big A did not start out well again this morning. She came out of her room and sulked on the floor in the hallway for about 15 minutes, saying no to everything. So I continued to get dressed and ready and basically ignored her sulking and eventually she snapped out of it. She was great for the rest of the morning. Adam thinks she is reacting to the increased attention Little A is getting due to her new found skills of crawling, standing and climbing.

I am now starting to rethink this whole "hating babies" thing. I think I will qualify it by saying I hate babies under 10 months old. Every day Little A is becoming more delicious and a pleasure to be around. I finally remember why I didn't go back to work until Big A was 14 months old and was so ambivalent about it. And Little A is now a happier and easier baby than Big A was (due to the fact that she can entertain herself with just about anything...one of her favorite things to play with right now is a bag of baby carrots...that can keep her going for almost an hour!). Little A is also eating much better and I am less worried about her nutritional status. She loves fish, cheese, almond butter, bagels with hummus, meatballs, most fruit, french toast, puffed corn, cheerios, her protein bars, fruit leather and she will even eat steamed carrots now. Really, the biggest challenge we currently face with Little A is her seperation anxiety and hopefully once Sherma starts sitting for us, she'll get over that too.

F1: Tomorrow I am making a creation I call Bulgarian Chicken Stew. It is one of our favorite dinners and is easy and healthy. I am actually using turkey tomorrow, either chicken or turkey works just fine. The sauce calls for a jar of Pindjur, a Bulgarian roasted red pepper puree (that also has eggplant, onions, tomato paste, sunflower oil, garlic, parsley and vinegar) available at specialty food stores and some grocery stores.

Bulgarian Chicken Stew

1 large onion, diced
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb ground chicken or turkey
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
500 ml jar Pindjur (or simply puree a jar of roasted red peppers if you can't find this ingredient)
1 can tomato paste
Hot chili flakes, to taste
Water

Saute onion in oil over medium heat until softened. Add chicken or turkey and saute with onion until almost cooked through. Add garlic and vinegar and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add cabbage and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add Pindjur and tomato paste (and chili flakes if using) and turn heat down to medium low. Add a little water to thin out sauce and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve over brown rice.

F2: I did a kick-ass weights workout at the gym Sunday and paid for it with sore muscles yesterday. Even an hour in the saltwater pool with Little A didn't help to soothe the pain. So I made a massage appointment at the gym for Saturday when Adam can watch the girls (not helpful for my sore muscles now, but craving a massage made me realize that I should get as many massages as possible for the next couple of months while I still have health insurance from my old job!). Unfortunately, they just called and cancelled the appointment. Sigh! I will have to try and get one somewhere else if possible. I am a BIG believer in massage. I think it does wonders for both physical and mental health. The only problem with it is the more I have it, the more I crave it. I also have a husband who HATES giving massages. I really wish I'd known that before we got married!

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