How to enjoy a Maple cookie

Wholeheartedly!

Yummy!

Waning into weaning

While I am not yet quite ready to admit it, and my stubborn nature will insist I continue to try and reach the arbitrary goal of "1 year" which I set out for myself, I digress - it appears we may be inadvertently waning into a state of weaning.  The Oxford Dictionary defines wean as

"accustom (someone) to managing without something to which they have become accustomed to"

while Wiki is more specific in describing the process of weaning as:

the process of introducing a mammal infant to what will be its adult diet and withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk

Sound pretty harsh eh?  Well, yeah - and pretty sad too, considering where we started all those months ago.  Hours and hours of practicing, focus, trying, bleeding, crying and more trying.  Then we settled into a nice hum breastfeeding bliss where the feeder and feedie were generally on the same page, albeit the feedie could be somewhat demanding from time to time (the whole point in demand-breastfed I hear you say, so touche).

Well, that was then, and now is now, and now more closely resembles a mid-air refueling of a very antsy F16 in the middle of a dogfight ...

Breastfeeding an eight month old boy, nothing

more than a mere 'refueling' for more jumping!

Gone are the days of blissful breastfeeding, like a snuggly momma dog with her delighted pup...

...no, these days, despite having only one suckling, with only one tooth, I definitely resemble this poor momma dog more closely...

I know, it could have something to do with the fact that our feedie has turned into a bit of a foodie and loves all things fish, chicken, beef, broccoli, spinach, breadsticks, cottage cheese, gosh - you name it, he'll probably eat it (including chili, garlic, onion, curry...) but when I rush home clear across town to make it for the lunch-time feed - I expect at least, well, a bit of a feed - instead, Luka thinks it is a swell idea for mommy to come home to play and jump around with him.  Which, I must admit, in the grand scheme of lunch hour dates, is not all that bad.  

But boy oh boy, I will miss the whole "but I'm breastfeeding" excuse for that last piece of chocolate...

So, while I'm not quite ready to give it up yet, the signs are there that our little man is moving on to greener (and spicier) pastures. 

Swanky New Years Eve Brunch

After a lovely evening at the wedding of our friends at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel in Colombo(and the whole reason for visiting Sri Lanka).  Chris and I rode a tuk-tuk back to the much less swanky hotel nearby where we stayed (also known as the only room left in the entire neighborhood on the 30th of December).  We booked into a hotel 1km from the wedding and hired a babysitter recommended by Susan's office in Colombo.  She is a marketing executive who babysits expat babies (Sri Lankans apparently do not have a culture of babysitting, and expats are apparently the only terrible parents who would leave our children unattended in the care of a non-family member) be that as it may, $7 an hour later, Chris and I set off to the wedding.  Chris did duck back to the hotel after the ceremony to feed and put Luka to sleep, meaning we pretty much paid the babysitter to watch TV and eat roomservice.

The following morning we took a stroll back to the Mt. Lavinia to say farewell to all the friends and the lovely couple who set off on a tour of Sri Lanka.  Work commitments unfortunately meant that we could not join them.  We did however partake of the nice poolside brunch at the wedding hotel before heading back to our friend's home where we spent the day by the pool and new years eve ducking and covering.

Back to brunch... we were overjoyed that the hotel had high chairs, meaning we could actually not play 'defense' for once as Luka was somewhat safely strapped in.  Here's what he had to say about the fare on offer.

Look at my dexterity mommy, I can see the bread stick,
reach for it...

...and pick it up to show you...

...EXACTLY how I feel about eating breadsticks at a
swanky brunch!...

..now move that plate of food closer to me!

Feeding frenzy

When we moved from Cape Town to Dili, I packed a childhood favorite of mine in anticipation of this whole solids business.  Maltabella pap (or porridge). The thick, chocolate brown colored, malty porridge was always a favorite growing up, and sure enough, guess who else loves it.  But ever wondered what it takes to feed a seven-month old his porridge?

Loving every minute of his breakfast.

Apparently it takes 1 tooth, 2 spoons, 1 rattle, a nappy to protect the chair, a big plastic bib, and finally, a shower.

Poor rattle had three baths today!

Learning to feed myself

So amid teething, developmental milestones, and a little cold - Luka also developed a very strong sense of self, and particularly independence this week.  Our latest mission is to feed ourself, with rather messy shower-inducing consequences.

Spinach and garlic prepared especially for my by daddy.

Luka's first Thanksgiving

As has become a bit of a tradition in our household - Chris and I once again hosted Thanksgiving supper for (mostly) American 'orphan' expatriates spending this holiday far away from the warmth, hospitality and food of their families.  I happened to read through our thanksgiving escapades of two years ago in Kabul (see post here) and chuckled at what Thanksgiving pre-Luka looked like, versus this year.

Now if you have ever been at our Thanksgiving table it probably means that you have lived either in Baghdad, Kabul or Dili.  For the past six years, we have hosted probably close to 150 people for Thanksgiving - mostly Americans, with the odd foreigner* (sic) thrown in for good measure.  So it was that we co-hosted our first Thanksgiving in the USAID compound of the Green Zone in 2006.  This entailed four ovens, 3 turkeys, 50 guests, and an insane amount of booze.  The following year in Kabul was our first solo attempt.  We made due with a bird we found through a friend of a friend, were forced to use a can of old cranberry sauce I found on a derelict shelf in a local supermarket, and had to opt for mashed potatoes over sweet potatoes that were not available.  Despite these shortcoming, we hosted 25 very happy friends for a wonderful meal.  Enter 2009, the year of our most legendary of Thanksgiving feasts (and the topic of the link above).  As we cooked our way out of the daily grind of war-torn Kabul, we procured birds, and even made a special trip to Dubai to smuggle in fresh cranberries, celery, sausage, and sweet potatoes. The result was a wonderful Thanksgiving where we hosted 35 guests from American interns to American legend in Afghanistan Nancy Hatch Dupree.

Luka inspects the imported organic turkey, cranberries and
locally procured sweet potatoes

The turkey surgeon at
work to butterfly the
yuppie bird. 

Fast forward to our current island home where we hosted our second Thanksgiving for about 12 friends and colleagues this year.  As with our last island feast, we BBQ'd a bird (well, one of them at least), but it was not just any bird.  I mean, others had turkeys alright.  No, but this was not some Singapore-based, Australian contractor-procured frozen butterball.  No ma'am.  For our feast this year, a friend actually flew in a fresh (not live thank you!), organic turkey from a gourmet butcher in Bondi Beach in Sydney.  That's right.  When I picked up my dear friend and Oxford classmate at the Dili International airport on Wednesday morning at 0700, I was faced with a slightly shellshocked customs officer holding a turkey in one hand and a bag of something I couldn't quite make out in the other.  Rebecca exited the arrivals hall, close on the heels of the customs officer who was by now clasping the turkey in one hand while frantically dialing someone (presumably his supervisor) on his mobile phone.  After a quick dash back to the car to store Ms. Becca's heavy bag, Luka and I rushed over to the quarantine office (me secretly hoping I didn't recognize anyone from our cat import fiasco).  I stormed into the quarantine office and came face to face with the clearly overwhelmed customs officer, still not able to reach his supervisor and started firing off in Tetun explaining that tomorrow is an important day in America, and that I am going to need that bird.  "Bon dia maun, aban iha loran bo'ot husi Amerika, entaun hau presiza ida ne'e" pointing at the bird....oh, and 'by the way, I'm going to need those eight Scotch Fillets as well!'  Fortunately, we walked off with the bird and the steaks.... oh, and the cheese, celery, cranberry relish, five bottles of wine, corn syrup, fresh pecans, and of course Tim Tams.

On the menu this year was thus a BBQ'd butterflied organic yuppie turkey from Sydney, one oven-baked butterball (donated by a friend at the US Embassy), our sausage and sage stuffing (made with chorizo for lack of other sausage), maple glazed sweet potato casserole (made with local honey for lack of maple syrup), simple green beans with sun dried tomato and pine nuts, corn bread muffins, gravy and our 53% density organic cranberry sauce.

And yes, there were pies.  While it goes without saying that I now believe pastry chefs have one of the most difficult jobs in the entire world (perhaps after POTUS and mom) and yes, we may or may not have wasted about 4kg of failed butter in the dough - we did in fact successfully string together 2 sort of holding on butter pie crusts and one crisco backup - but pies we had including home made pumpkin pie (from real fresh pumpkin) and awesome pecan pie thanks to the Australian-procured nuts - I mean, how wrong can you go with pecans, sugar and some egg??

We give thanks!

Okay, I just realized that we are six paragraphs into a post without a mention of Master Luka - so most importantly of course - this was Luka's first Thanksgiving - and as it were, the topic of our thanksgiving this year.  So with friends and colleagues gathered around a table in Dili, we gave thanks for friends, family far away, and especially, so very, very especially, our little Luka.

Baby Recipe: Fish, Potato and Bok Choy

So we're pretty much decided to pull out any stops as far as feeding Luka.  We figure if we introduce him to interesting food now (we hope) he will be an adventurous eater like his mommy and daddy (and know a little bit more about how to prepare food when he one day gets married than either his parents did).

This week, Chris prepared him an array of delicious food (seriously, you could serve it to guests) including
this delicious boiled fish, potatoes and bok choy (not kidding).

To prepare:
Boil some potatoes on the stove, when soft, remove the potatoes from the water and set aside
Add some deboned white fish (Dory, Tallapia) to the potatoe water, boil until cooked
Steam some bok choy (add some fresh garlic)
Mix all together with a hand blender/bar mix
Spoon into ice trays, freeze overnight
Dump the cubes into a ziplock or Tupper, label and date

Note: each cube is roughly equivalent to 1 tablespoon (Tbs)

To serve:
Remove desired number of cubes x number of feeds, place each feed into a small tupper with a lid and thaw on the counter. refrigerate as needed.

Bubba Brunch Club

Since moving to our new house in town, we have thoroughly enjoyed simple pleasures such as going for a walk down to the beach, to a favorite cafe for breakfast, and especially in hosting again.  Yesterday saw the first 'Bubba Brunch'.  We invited two other couples with young ones about Luka's age, as well as another couple with a young son.  It may seem unnecessary to state this fact, but it is great for parents with babies to visit other parents with babies.  There are the obvious benefits (changing table, wipes in case you forget), but also the more important - comfort.  Watching the other two moms constantly bouncing, walking, standing while eating, dodging spit-ups, breastfeeding, changing nappies, all the while having a great conversation, makes it all seem so normal and acceptable.  I am not saying you can't visit someone that does not have a baby, on the contrary - but it is nice to know if your bub is a little fussy because of teething or tiredness, that everyone will understand.

As for brunch, everyone knows that babies do best in the am.  Add to that the fact that most parents do best after 9am, and you pretty much end up with a timeframe of between 10am-4pm - which is pretty much almost as long as our brunch lasted yesterday.  Truth be told, Chris and I did jump out of bed at 0700 to go for a 30km mountainbike ride (my first in over a year), thanks to a babysitter that showed up at 0730.  Once home, we had a shower, then started preparing brunch which included 2 home made breads (whole wheat and french), a spinach, mushroom and cheese strata (prepared the night before by Chef Chris), home made yogurt and fruit (the yogurt, not the fruit), roasted beef sausages with apricot chutney, and Susan's (well, with a little help from Alice Waters) whole wheat buttermilk banana pancakes.

The beauty is that sometime during brunch all the bubbas (most of them at least) will be down for a nap, and when they are awake, they are delightful and interested in everything and everyone (in Luka's case this means mostly the food!).  The food is great (who doesn't love a brunch?), and by the time your guests leave (and the cleaner does the dishes) you can run out for a nice sundowner walk to the beach with bubba in a stroller (and yes, return in a torrential downpour) just in time for bath time and bed time.

Perfect day to spend a Saturday.  Unfortunately, I was not organized enough to snap a photo of yesterday's festivities, so watch this space for photographic evidence of the new Bubba Brunch Club.
   

Whoa, what's that flavor...ssssssour!

Hm, new food - cool!

In continuing Luka's flavor journey, he was recently introduced to yogurt.  Now since there are none in Dili, we employ some assistance from a Kiwi invention called an EasyYo that allows you to make your own home-made yogurt with a little bucket-looking thing, some boiling water, and a packet of easy-yo.  We have come to depend on it as much as on our bread-maker where there are sometimes weeks if not months without either in the supermarket.

As with most of the food we have introduced him to, he honestly seemed to like it, despite the somewhat surprised look when this new SOUR flavor hit his jowls.

Whoa! What's that tingly feeling in my jawline!!!
 Yowzer that was sour!

Breathtaking

Exhibit A

If you are a keen gardener (or lucky enough to receive flowers from your loved one) you will know 'baby's breath' as a tiny white flower often used as filler. If you are a new parent, you will likely associate 'baby's breath' with the sweet sound and breastmilky (also somewhat sweet) smell of your bubba's rhythmic breathing, and pretty much think it is the most beautiful sound/smell on earth.

Another familiar type of 'breath' is of course, the oft feared garlic breath (and yes, apparently there is a website called www.garlicbreath.org) which, if you are a foodie, like us would generally indicate an enjoyable meal in the near past, of if your olfactory factory is in overdrive, like my dad, it would just mean a nosy nuisance for days after the calories of the cheesy garlic bread has made themselves at home on the hips of the diner.

Exhibit B

Today, I would like to present to you the latest in breath technology - a hybrid of the above mentioned breath classes.  Behold, baby garlic breath or perhaps garlic baby breath?  That's right - imagine my surprise one sunny lunch hour when I made the trip back home to breastfeed Luka, and while burping him as per normal, his burb comes out smelling like GARLIC!  I had to take a serious double-take and then realized this is foodie daddy cooking up a storm for him, which this week included delicacies such as "Carrots with Garlic" (Exhibit B) and "Broccoli with Basil".  Trust me, when I got home, I myself wanted to sit down for the mushy goodness coming out of Daddy's Test Kitchen!

Going Green

Hmmmm...should I really be eating something that is
luminous green???

As the son of an environmentalist it was probably just a matter of time for Luka to get his Green on!  Ha, just another way of saying that we managed to introduce his first green food, his daddy's favorite when he was growing up, peeeeeas.  Not sure about the mushy green mush at first, after a nice breastfeed and some mango, he eventually took all of it, so who knows what the strategy there is - end result though - pretty cute photos.

Aaaah, not so bad afterall!

Snack time

Teeth?  Who needs teeth??

Am I the only one noticing an orange theme here...
hiking backpack, stroller(s), t-shirts, and now all my food!

Bananarama!

Yummie banana!

Self-feeding training. Lesson 101 - m o u t h.....

So, since moving to the tropics, 'solids training' has taken somewhat of a leap forward.  I guess tropical fruits such as mangoes, bananas and avocados are all the rage on a baby's palate as Luka is practically helping himself from the refrigerator these days!  Of course I blamed ouma for feeding him all the good stuff and no vegetables - so I ensured we had some sweet potatoes and butternut in the mix this week as well, and yes, loved it.    

Behold the newest Foodie in the Family

Breakfast in bed!

The prep-phase

While I am a strong proponent of  'Breast is Best', there comes a time in every infant-son of food-loving parents to make the jump to delectable dishes like....rice cereal!  Trust me, this important step is much to blame for this post, and pretty much, most of the feelings of being overwhelmed in the last week.  A quick search online will give you an indication of just how complicated and controversial introducing solids can be in a normal term baby - let alone to a premature infant that is somewhere between 3.5-5.5 months old.  I mean, do we go by the old WHO 'breast-only for the first six months', or the new WHO guidelines of 'breast-only for the first 4 months', and if so - which four months or six months exactly are we talking about, his birth age (which means his digestive track's real age) or his corrected age (meaning his developmental age) - you see my point here....

'Presentation is Everything' right?
Just because it is not Kobi Beef does
not mean we can't have white linens.

So, once I got back on my motherhood horse after a few blows this week, (we won't go into low weight gain issues, low milks supply - leading to rented pumps and miles driven for Medela parts in the Southern Peninsula, herbal supplements - and just general overwhelmedness and under-decisiveness) meagerly mom (and darling daddy of course) decided that guidelines are exactly that, there to guide us - and in the end, guidelines don't make decisions for Luka, we do.  So with the  blessing of Luka's paed and encouragement from a few great nurses - we embarked on the big Solids phase!  Nothing too crazy in the beginning, just some rice cereal (gotto work him up to that seared Ahi and all), and after the initial 'hey, what's-this-weird-stuff-in-my-mouth-tongue-thurst' - Luka seems to really like it!

"Release my love, or be slain by my
spoon!"

We have started on breakfast only, after a breast feed - with his porridge as 'breakfast-in-bed'.  We make it lots of fun (thanks niggie) and allow him to play with the spoon after the feed (which, proud mommy can say he managed to jam into his mouth - okay, and his eye a couple of times).

First of many Foodie excursions

We returned to the US Consul General south of Cape Town yesterday to register Luka's 'birth abroad' and apply for his passport.  As these things go of course the registration of birth abroad has to be sent back to Melbourne, Australia - which is the Consulate that covers Darwin.  Once they approve it, they return it to Cape Town from where they can process his passport, all of this of course hopefully in time for me to attend my July graduation at Oxford (so if you know the US Consul General in Melbourne, now would be an excellent time to let me know ;)

After shuttling back and forth between the Consul General and a local pharmacy to have proper US-sized photos taken, and a few back and forths with DHL to determine the best address to send the eventual passport to, we decided to reward ourselves with lunch at one of our new favorite spots, Bistro Sixteen82 the modernist bistro-style restaurant at Steenberg Vineyards.  Enjoying delicacies such as my pink tartare (Norwegian salmon tartare served with chilis and lime), and a Garden salad followed by a delectable dessert, we were inspired by Luka's good behavior, albeit overwhelmed by the attention he attracts.

I admit that I do prefer to stay close to home with him still, but from time to time, when we're already out I figure venturing outside the house is probably good for me, and good training for us.   

Day 33: aka Easter Sunday to the outside world

Easter Brunch in Darwin - 'Serjak-style' with a fabulous
Baked Breakfast Cheesecake in the park between feeds 

As Christians around the world celebrate Easter Sunday today, Chris and I are spending Day 33 in the Special Care Nursery on the 6th floor of the Royal Darwin Hospital, hardly aware of what month it is, let alone day of the week.  For some reason I got really antsy for the first time today, feeling as if I am ready and eager to get out of here.  Perhaps it was the twins' all-too familiar wailing that constantly sound through the nursery as they desperately call for someone to feed them, or the feeling of the all-too familiar recliner chair below my all-too tired backside, or the ever-invasive glow of fluorescent lighting in a place constantly plagued by people coming and going...

Luka's Easter Brunch - 'Gavage-style'

I have just about washed the skin off my hands for fear of spreading an infection I don't have, have worn the same 3 outfits for going on 5 weeks, and get excited at the prospect of finding parking close to the door, only to forget where we parked when leaving 10 hours later.  I watch the machine record a 'Brady' and know that I have been here too long when I argue to the head nurse that it was not a true Brady, that it was in fact caused by Luka's impending bowel movement.  I have sat here nursing, pumping, and generally flashed about half of Darwin, and don't even care anymore - seems my chest no longer belongs to myself.  On top of that,  I seemed to have acquired what is known as 'nipple trauma' to my right side due to Luka's early interest in breastfeeding.  Turns out the tiny size of his under-sized mouth and therefore inability to 'latch well' is likely to have inadvertently caused this - but as is my nature, we powered through.

Sleep tight little man, grow big and strong!

And then, I look down at little Luka cradling my finger in his tiny hand as he sleeps off his latest feed ... so peaceful and precious, and I realize - I would sit here for 33 more days, or 333 if that is what it takes...

Happy Easter everyone!

Day 13 - Grams 'n Growth

On Sunday evening's weigh-in, our little man gained a whole 72grams, putting him at 1755g total, and inching his way closer to his birth weight.  He continues to feed well, and we try breastfeeding between 2-3 times a day with some success.  He is still far from feeding himself that way, and is mostly dependent on the tube for 'cavage feeding' but we are hoping that with increased size, comes increased strength and wakeful time to keep practicing on the breast.  He is still under 33 weeks gestation, so not really expected feed yet - but seems to be giving it a go nonetheless.

In other news, we have to move again, so we're packing up the apartment at the Botanical Gardens tonight - a fun fact for the fans of our kitchen - yes, we do in fact have more types of flour in our mobile Darwin pantry, than we have pairs of shoes here (combined).

And in other news - we are pretty sure Susan got a speeding ticket on the way home from the hospital last night - boo silly Australian speed trap cameras!

Holding Luka's head to sooth him during Kangaroo Care