“Hmm…I think this tomato needs to go mom.”

“Much better…now what else shall I pull out?  Decisions, decisions.”

Recently (since baby has arrived), I have had a bad habit of leaving the fridge door open randomly.  Never good to come back and find sweaty, luke warm milk.  Ooops!  Mary James seems to be thoroughly enjoying my new lapse in memory.

Want more photo fun?   Check out Wordless Wednesday or Seven Clown Circus!

Yesterday, Mary James was happily noshing on cheese and peaches when I decided to warm up a few green beans for her lunch.  I placed a few on a microwaveable dish and then popped them in the microwave.

Approximately five seconds later I hear a popping sound and then the sound of something arcing in the microwave.  I quickly turned around to see something like this in the microwave:

VOILA!  Instant fireworks show….in my microwave.  I immediately rammed my finger on the end button to stop the green beans from cooking.  I HATE FIRE.  It absolutely terrifies me.  I assumed that there was a piece of metal in the green beans.  Since that seems obvious.  Right?  Ummm…no.  I threw out those green beans, got some more on a different plate and tried again.  Sparkly green beans celebrating the 4th a little late.  Again.

So, I called the consumer hotline number on the Del Monte can.  The lady I talked to was very nice and said she was suprised when people called about green beans arcing in the microwave.  She read me a prepared statement. Must not be that rare if they have a prepared statment.  I’m just saying…

Evidently certain dense vegetables (green beans, carrots, green peppers) contain high levels of certain minerals (iron, magenesium, selenium) which will react with the microwave causing an arcing effect.  These vegetable will not arc if placed in water or liquid.  According to the USDA, hotdogs will also arc if the salt and additives are not mixed properly.  Yum.

I had to show Ben my pyrotechnic display when he got home work.  I forgot that my husband LOVES fire.  Silly me.  He wanted to keep frying the green beans as I freaked out. 

Mary James may be petite (she’s around 10-15 % in height and weight), but man can she eat!  She started refusing baby food around nine and half months.  Oh and did I mention she has learned to shake her head “NO” when she doesn’t want something???   Yeah…so that’s fun.

When she discovered that she could shovel food into her mouth much faster than I could, spoon feeding went out the window.  Unless that spoon is carrying precious cargo in the form of guacamole or ice cream!  The child will eat ANYTHING!   (Including non-edibles: cat food, cat hair, dog hair, people hair, fuzz in general).  Gasp!

At Mary James’ nine month appointment, I asked her pediatrician what she should be eating.  He said “Honestly Erin?  My son ate whatever was on our plate.”  I told him I knew peanut butter and honey were off limits until a year of age, but was there anything else?  He replied, “Egg whites and citrus fruit.  Albumin in the egg and oil in the rinds of citrus fruits can cause possible allergic reactions.”  OOPS!  She had already eaten quite a few eggs, lemons and mandarin oranges by this point.  Thank goodness she didn’t have any allergic reactions.

I know her appetite and non-picky palate will not last forever so I am savoring these moments.  And of course, documenting them for the future.   You know…so I can say “Well you loved it when you where a baby!?!”  Which has never helped me to eat squash mom–thanks though.

I honestly cannot think of a food she has tried that she didn’t eat and like.  Some first bites get a “What tha…” look but she promptly opens her mouth for more.

Foods Mary James eats:

FYI:  All of these “finger foods” are soft and diced into very small pieces.

Broccoli

Avocado (Guacamole)

Peas

Beans

Tomato

Carrots

Potato (Sweet and Idaho)

Squash

Zucchini

GREEN BEANS

Corn

Edamame

Cheese

Eggs (Evidently you’re not supposed to feed egg whites until 1 year of age due to possible Albumin allergies.)

Rice

Pasta

Wheat toast

Chicken

Turkey

BBQ

Roast

PEACHES

Strawberries

Cherries

Blueberries

Watermelon

Cantelope

Honey Dew

Lemon (Citrus fruits are also on the DO NOT FEED list…again oops!)

Mandarin oranges

Mmmm…Broccoli!

Maybe eating a bunch of different fruits and veggies while pregnant/breastfeeding has helped.  Who knows?

I’m baaaack.  Finally I have a little time to blog again!

Shoney’s restaurant, “…”a down-home” restaurant, where folks can gather to enjoy our great food and great service for a great value!“  Or so their site proclaims.  Shoney’s = Denny’s = IHOP (w/o all the pancakes).  Evidently, Shoney’s is only a south-eastern (a smidge northern and New Mexico) thing.  Used to be a regional franchise of the Big Boy Chain.  Remember this guy?

I rarely eat at Shoney’s.  When I was a little girl, we used to go after dance recitals for their hot fudge cake.  Mmm…  I also remember you could buy a Shoney’s bear, totally cheapo, but I secretly wanted one.  Other than their hot fudge cake (oh and their strawberry pie is dreamy!) the big draw is their breakfast bar.  It’s your normal breakfast bar smorgasbord…bacon, eggs, sausage, french toast, biscuits, pancakes, fruit, fried potatoes, grits, gravy.  You get the picture.

A few weeks ago, Ben had to go to work around 4 AM.  On Saturday.  After working a full week.  Yeah…  So to cheer up his working Saturday, Mary James and I met Ben and Adam at the Shoney’s to fill our bellies with yummy breakfast fare.

Little did we know what evil was lurking amongst the french toast.  Or the eggs.  Or the bacon.

We chowed down like good Southerners, minus Mary James who was still eating mostly baby food at that time.  Small blessings, thank you God!  The rest of the day was a normal Saturday.  My parents came over for dinner that night, as they were leaving on trip to Alaska for two weeks.  We had chicken wings (strange for us), spinach salad, and dessert.  As we relaxed, the microscopic beings were happily replicating in our intestines.

Around ten PM I started feeling weird.  As I’ve had food poisoning three times in the past four years (bacon, something at an Auburn football game, and Chinese) I had an inkling of what fun was to come.  I told Ben, “I have a feeling I’m going to wake up tonight with food poisoning.”  At this point, Ben’s intestinal tract was starting to turn against him as well.

FYI: There are no 24 hour “stomach viruses.”  It’s food poisoning.  It takes up to 48 hours after consumption of the offending drink/food.  Learned this is in grad school (veterinary medicine).

Around 1 AM, the bathroom races began.  I will spare you the gruesome details.  Around 2 AM Mary James reared her hungry little head.  With the repeated flushing and thundering, from our sprints to the bathroom, poor thing probably thought there was a monsoon outside.

Ever tried nursing a baby with a crampy stomach and no control of your bodily functions.  DON’T DO IT.  She would get latched on and then I would have to tear her off, plop her in the floor and run.  She would release a bloodcurtling squall, insta-tears, and would crawl after me into the bathroom.  Pitiful.  No mother-of-the-year award for 2008-09.  Oh well.

As my digestive tract churned like an angry bucket snakes, I again tried nursing; 15 pounds laying against my belly.  Oy!  (And no, there is no risk of transmitting food poisoning via breastfeeding).  Not to mention the child will NOT take a bottle.  I remember thinking in a haze, “Whoa, this is the side of mommyhood no one tells you about.  But, geez its still totally WORTH IT.”

We were able to take keep down some anti-nausea medication around 8 AM.  Ben could barely move in the morning.  I was a little more with it, I guess because I HAD to feed and change Mary James.  Nothing against the hubs.   Ben’s dad came over to play with MJ in the morning and my parents kept her in the afternoon while we slept and tried to quickly recuperate.

In summary: I lost 5 pounds in one night, both baby caretakers being deathly ill is scary and hard, Shoney’s sucks, and family is wonderful.

Everyone asked if I called Shoney’s or the Health Deparment to inform them of our gastrointestinal distress.  Ummm…nope.  It was the farthest thing from my mind.  Oops!

Okay, so Lucy and Bentley aren’t exactly old, but still.  Getting them to learn anything new, especially Lucy, is like “trying to push butter up a hill with a hot knife.”

Sorry, for the stupid analogy.  That’s what it’s called right?  I had a professor who used that saying all the time.  I crack me up!

Alrighty, back to schooling the poochies.

Mary James has recently started down the sticky, crumbly, gooey, messy fun road of finger foods.  More specifically, Cherrios (Tally Ho!) and teething biscuits.  She hasn’t quite mastered getting Cheerios in her mouth everytime, but she does like to hoard them.  She grabs a handful in each little fist. 

Hmm…wonder if the dogs have whispered in her ear to store some extra food for later.  Seeing as how the “short, loud human forgets to feed them (the dogs) sometimes.”  Note:  I DO NOT FORGET TO FEED MY DAUGHTER!

One Wednesday evening, Ms. Mary J somehow she managed to keep one little Cheerio in her palm for her entire stay in the nursery after dinner.  It fell out as we getting her strapped in the car.

But I digress.

With hard, dissolvable (<– what this isn’t a word?  says who?) food comes many crumbs and of course the stray Cheerio.  Also known as doggie heaven.

In the short week, since Mary James has been eating cereal, Lucy has figured out that:

1)  The cereal is kept in the pantry.

2)  The box/bag make a specific sound when being opened, and a hand is stuck in to retrieve yummy goodies.

3)  These wheaty delicacies are next headed to a funny looking chair in the kitchen, where the “small protected one” is sitting.

4)  The best position is to the right of the weird chair.

5)  Certain death shall follow if I, Lucy, try to eat off the tray in front of the “small protected one.”

6)  The more patient I am, the more likely I get to clean up any treats raining from the sky.

So…I finished making “real” swiss buttercream frosting.

Whipping up the sugar and egg whites.

Butter and vanilla added.

Frosting turned out great.  EXCEPT…  Turns out I don’t like “real” buttercream frosting.  In fact, I thought it was quite gross.  Personally, I thought it was in dire need of more sugar.  I suppose I just have a less sophisticated taster than Martha Stewart.  Ha!

How did I fix my blunder?  I made “fake” yummy buttercream frosting.  Powdered sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla.

The finished product.  Hokey decorations and all.

So I’m making another cake.  Yeah.  Don’t know why I’m wanting cake…ALL the time.  Mmm….

I’m going to make a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.  I know.  You were expecting something really exotic, right?  Like pumpkin cake with caramel buttercream frosting, or a three layer strawberry cake with cream cheese strawberry frosting and real strawberry slivers between the layers.

Sorry to disappoint, but the hub’s favorite is white cake with white frosting.  And since he’s at work, and I’m at home, I thought I’d make his fav!  Also, we’re eating with my folks tonight and I volunteered to make dessert.

NOTE: You know I how I remember to spell “dessert” instead of desert (as in the Saharra)?  Mom alwayas told me desserts spells “stressed” backwards.  Ironic.  Gotta love having an teacher for a mom!

Back to the cake.  I’m going to try and make REAL buttercream frosting.  This should be an adventure.  Hopefully, it will go better than the pralines toffee I made over Christmas.  Talk about a waste of a pound of butter!

I will post pics tomorrow.  Good outcome or not.  Wish me luck!