Junk Drawer 7/25/2012

One of ‘Em

Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Captain America, Iron Man…pretty much everyone in the Avengers…and Pepper. Yep, you can put my name in that list of Super Heroes. Or any list of Super Heroes. As a matter of fact if you list more than one mom’s name in a row chances are you’ve already made a list of Super Heroes.

I’m pretty new to this Super Hero game so my feats of heroism (in my mind) are mundane day to day tasks for other moms…in other words…just life. But that doesn’t stop the insane feeling of pride and accomplishment I get when I come home from a day of work and pumping breast milk for my baby and spend the 20 minutes I have to myself straightening the living room, vacuuming, putting up the clean dishes, straightening the dining room and then cleaning out the truck. Then we go pick up the Ninos and I spend the evening cleaning the kitchen, cooking dinner, feeding Joey every 5 minutes (not literally), telling Jimmy “No!” or “Stop!” every 2.5 minutes (literally!), changing Jimmy’s diaper, changing Joey’s diaper, then changing Joey’s diaper again, giving Jimmy a bath, then actually eating dinner, then cleaning up after dinner, fist bumping Jimmy approximately 5,280 times, burping Joey, cuddling Joey and hoping Jimmy isn’t jealous, putting Jimmy to bed with lots of kisses, good-bye waves and fist bumps, falling asleep on the couch trying to figure out what I’m wearing tomorrow…then waking up to feed Joey again.

But it doesn’t end there…

I go to bed, get up every two hours to feed/burp/change Joey, and then get up at 5 to cook breakfast, prepare my “pumping bag”, the boys diaper bag, get Jimmy’s sippy cup of milk, find their clothes, get dressed, get Jimmy up, change and dress him while he has his sippy cup of milk, change and dress Joey, feed Joey, put the bags in the truck while Jimmy freaks out about what toy he thinks he can take to the sitter but he really can’t, take the boys to say good-bye to Daddy, load the boys up, unload them at the sitter, then make it to the train on time.

All of that probably makes me a normal mother of two but it certainly feels like a Super Hero.


Mexican Fiesta Marinade

We tried this last night on chicken in the oven. The original plan was to grill it but we were both tired and it was hot so we decided to just bake the chicken instead. I put the chicken in the glass dish, mixed the marinade and poured it over the chicken. Let it set in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes while I fed Joey. Then baked it in the oven at 400 for an hour, turning the chicken once.

It turned out pretty well. I wouldn’t put it in my all time favorite seasonings list but it was good and a nice change. I’d still like to try it grilled.


Swiss Brain

Poor Joey. Well, really poor everyone that I’m responsible for caring for. I may be a Super Hero in my head but its probably only because my memory is so full of holes these days that I can’t remember how much I forget.

I feed Joey about every two hours. Sometimes its less and sometimes its more…but most often it’s two hours on the dot and he’s letting me know its time to eat. I’m glad he remembers because sometimes he’ll start fussing and I’m not sure why – it certainly can’t have been two hours already! I look at the clock but that’s not helpful because I can’t even remember what I was doing two hours ago and the harder I concentrate on remembering what I was doing the more I can't remember. When I finally determine that it must have been two hours already and he really is hungry then I can’t remember what side I fed him on last. Seriously? You would think that wouldn’t be too difficult to remember and two hours goes by in a flash…how on earth could I forget what side I fed him on?? Poor little guy! I’m pretty sure he’s gotten the “empty” side a few times. But I’m never for sure because I CAN’T REMEMBER!!!

I'm not worried about him though - he's obviously gotten the "full" side plenty of times too!



Big boy!