2.02.2013

My New Life



I remember being really annoyed when a food blogger that I used to follow had a baby and seemed to forget about food for a while and fill her blog with baby pictures and updates. What a fool I was!

Not only has having a baby made me forget all about blogging almost completely, but my hang up with Good Food, too, has fallen by the wayside. Even when I do remember that I'm supposed to be a kind or sort of "foodie," it's only for brief moments - certainly not long enough to make a decent meal. I am now in awe that the other blogger continued as much as she did; and that she had even a few food related posts in those first few months.

Let me backup for a second: Leo was born December 13, making him 7 weeks and 2 days old today. I won't go into to it too much, but he is a pretty wonderful little thing - when he's not screaming.

Though I kept up pretty well with my local, "good food" regime while I was pregnant, everything has gone out the window in the last two months. It didn't help that I had to have an unexpected cesarian section - just getting out of the house to buy groceries became a huge endeavor, not to mention finding the time and energy to make something creative.

My breakfasts and lunches have been quick bites grabbed in those peaceful and unplanned moments while the baby is sleeping. Apples and peanut-butter, leftover Chinese takeout, almond butter and honey sandwiches.... the things that sustain but do not excite. Dinner has been quickly planned and executed by Stanley or myself. Rarely has it been culinarily interesting. Often it has been take-out.

I've recently started using the baby carier quite a bit, and that makes things a little easier, although cooking isn't quite the same with a whimpering infant strapped to your front.

In short, food has become much more about just getting quick calories and some nutrition into my body and less about "voting with my fork". Breastfeeding, it turns out, burns significantly more calories than pregnancy. I was never so hungry during those 9 months of pregnancy as I am now.

I go back to work in less than a week. The nature of my job means that I will automatically be more in tune with what's going on in the seasonal produce world. Grocery shopping will get a lot easier. There will be less time to cook, but hopefully as the baby and I continue to adjust to each other, we can come up with some routines that allow for cooking time.

I'm not sure if anyone still reads this, but I'll try to update out progress as I can. This new phase of life is incredibly challenging in so many ways, food being a big one.
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