Saturday Shopping and Baking

Morning started today at 4am with baby-feeding, but thankfully Robert went back down till seven, a slightly more humane hour. M and I swapped off watching him and each got a facsimile of sleeping in that way. It's not like the old days when we'd snuggle in together until halfway through the morning or later, but sleep is sleep. It helps that Robert is at his most charming in the morning, happy and smiling and noisy with sounds that aren't crying. We still have a lot of new-parent hormones flowing, and a big gummy smile can turn either of us into a cooing parental puddle, which is pretty funny to watch and oddly enjoyable to experience.

I didn't make it out shopping last night like I was going to, thanks to a sudden and acute attack of the lazy, but I went out today to Kroger with Robert. I used to do my WIC shopping and non-coupon shopping at Meijer, but I am still unhappy about the way I was treated last month, so boo to them. Kroger was very busy, something about one of the other nearby Krogers being closed for some reason, but we soldiered through anyway. I picked up some escarole for the birds because the vet says they need more veggies, and a little ball of lettuce is just the right size. I also got some bananas and a cantaloupe, and two boxes of Mother's Milk Tea , because I was totally out. The stuff is horrible, but it really works, I had some of that and some oatmeal this evening, and it made a real difference when I pumped, plus Robert was less fussy.

The WIC voucher this week got us milk, cheese, eggs, juice, beans, rice and peanut butter, all the nutritious staple foods. I did make the mistake of setting the voucher down in the carseat while I was bagging the lettuce, and when I looked over again, Robert had it clutched in his teeny little fist. He was happy about it, too. I had visions of trying to present a crumpled up, soon-to-be-drooled-on voucher at the checkout, and spent several minutes carefully prying it out of his hand. The time when I could use his lap as my coupon table is past, I think. Ah well. While we were there, I browsed the clearance carts and shelves as well. Kroger usually has interesting things on clearance, and sometimes I can get really good deals. Today I got some lemonade tubes and some almond-cranberry oatmeal for well under a dollar each, and I picked up a NUK Learner Cup  for just 3.19 on clearance. Good deal! Robert won't be ready to use it for awhile yet, but might as well get it now when the getting is good!

At the checkout, I found that my cashier had the same midwife as me, Sister Kay, which was cool. I felt bad though, because she had her baby less than three weeks ago and was already back at work. I think that's just awful, but what can you say? It's not like she probably had much choice in the matter, checkers don't get paid maternity leave. It was another reminder to me to be grateful for all that I have, even if sometimes I feel frustrated or like we never have enough. I'm actually very fortunate to be in the position that I'm in and have the opportunity I do. Once we got home, Robert went down for a nap and M and I cleaned out the birdcages, then he did all the dishes. Woo-hoo!

Having all the dishes done put me in a creative mood. I haven't been using eggs as fast as we get them lately, so a lot of them have built up in the fridge, and I decided to use some for baking. I found a cool recipe for cinnamon-sugar biscotti and made that. It was easy, and I even got down the food processor to give my flour a proper sifting. M and I both thought it turned out really well. I would like to try it sometime when I have real butter on hand, I think it would be even better. I tried some with my tea, but that was actually kind of icky, because it made me taste the tea for longer. I ended up going with my usual technique, letting the tea cool till tepid and then chugging it as fast as possible. Undignified, but it works.