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April Fools!

P1: I finally have drafts completed of my last 2 papers for my course. I'm feeling pretty good about them but Adam is going to give me feedback on the long one today, so we'll see if I'm deluding myself by thinking it's impressive.

P2: I had a bad start to the morning with Big A today. She started acting up seemingly out of knowhere and it escalated to a full-blown tantrum. Unfortunately, I didn't handle it well. I tried demanding an explanation from her about why she was misbehaving. The parenting experts tell you never to do this because little kids don't really know why they do the things they do. In hindsight, I think she simply wanted my attention and that's all it was. It began when I was upstairs in the bathroom getting ready and she was eating her cereal in the living room watching television by herself. Perhaps I am asking too much of her to sit by herself in the mornings. Later, once we had made up, she wanted hugs and to sit on my lap and for me to sit in the living room with her. Clearly she just wanted some attention and company. It's just hard to give her 100% of my attention in the mornings when I'm on my own with both girls and need to get stuff done. I guess this is the plight of most mothers. Once it was resolved, we played an April Fool's Day trick on Adam. We called him at work and told him we saw a mouse in the kitchen. He was freaked and said we better call an exterminator. So Big A then yelled, "April Fools!"

Little A has finally discovered walking (assisted at this point, of course). She holds onto the push cart that Big A used to learn to walk and pushes it from one end of the living room to another. The biggest benefit is this activity makes her tired and hungry.

F1: I firmly believe that if you eat substantial, well-balanced meals, you only need to snack on fruits and veggies. If you don't, you likely need to add some protein to your snacks (a small serving of cheese, nuts or yogurt, etc.). But I tend to eat quite a bit of protein at my meals (for example, for lunch today I have 2 wild salmon fillets), so fruits and veggies are good snacks for me. One tip I have, is that just about any fruit gets sweeter when you roast it or grill it and makes for a very healthy, but indulgent tasting snack. Right now the plums I have been buying taste like candy when I roast them with a little cinnamon, they don't even need any sweetener. And plums, like prunes obviously, have a lot of fiber to keep you regular and feeling full. Even berries can be cooked into a compote. You can add cinnamon or other spices or citrus zest or vanilla to your cooked fruits for great flavour. Cooking fruit is also a good way to use up fruit that is no longer in it's prime or not very tasty to begin with. You can also spoon cooked fruits over waffles, pancakes or yogurt. Try it, you may never need unhealthy snacks again!

This weekend is Easter weekend so my parents are visiting and we are celebrating my dad's birthday. Unfortunately, Adam will be eating "Kosher for Passover" until next Tuesday night so tomorrow will just be chicken, spinach and quinoa for supper. Saturday we are doing take-out with my parents from a new bbq joint that is supposed to be good and Sunday, I'll feed Adam chicken, veggies and potatoes, but I'm going to make Big A and I the banana pancakes I've been craving. Here is the recipe.

Banana Blueberry Pancakes

2.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbls baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

2 ripe bananas
2 eggs or 4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
water
blueberries (maybe a 1/2 pint)

Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. In another bowl, mash bananas and mix in eggs and vanilla with whisk. Add 1 cup of cold water and stir. Add wet ingredients and blueberries to dry and add more water until you have a thick batter (don't make batter too thin 0r runny or blueberries will split the pancakes when you try to flip them). Drop ladels of batter onto hot, greased griddle or frying pan . When first side is done (edges are getting dry and bubbles do no longer fill with batter), carefully flip pancakes and cook another few minutes until golden. Makes about 8 large pancakes or 16 smaller ones. Serve with maple syrup or blueberry sauce.

F2: MBT shoes...I can't say enough good things about them. I bought them as a treat to myself at the end of my pregnancy with Little A. I have all sorts of foot problems that got worse during the pregnancy. So I decided to try a pair, having confirmed their value with my podiatrist. They are extremely expensive ($250 and up), but are so worth it. I do a lot of walking and they are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. I wear them every day. I would love to get the boots but they are $400, and with little income to speak of and tuition costs right now, I simply cannot justify it. If you do a lot of walking, I highly recommend these shoes!!!

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