Sometimes….

30 Tuesday Aug 2011

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The other day I was trying to write a list post about the ten things I’ve learned about adoption.

I couldn’t do it.

You may have noticed I don’t write about adoption on this blog very often. Sometimes I feel like I should. There are a lot of people on the internet looking for information about adoption. I used to be one of them. I still am, most of the time. Sometimes though, I get tired of adoption on the blogosphere. I get tired of reading about it, I get tired of being asked about it, I get tired of thinking about it.

The thing is, I don’t ever feel like an adoptive momma. I feel like a momma-momma. I don’t go through the day looking at Little T, saying to myself, “there’s my adopted son”. I think, “there’s my son and I love him so much that I’d give my life for him.” When I think about adoption, I think of it as a part of him. I think about how I need to be sensitive as he gets older, so I can help him process everything. I think about his birth family as a part of his life that may come back someday, and how I can help him get through it. I think about ways to make sure he feels included in his birth culture. I think about these things as a momma who wants the best life she can give for her son because he has some special circumstances. Sure, the circumstances are unique to our family, but aren’t they always?

Sometimes I don’t want to read about adoption. Sometimes, this momma needs a break so she can go through the day without being being told that her son is her adoptive son, instead of her son, son.

Dinner photos from the Veggie Queen Cookbook

29 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by Momma J in vegan

≈ 4 Comments

I had a lot of potatoes and a lot of energy, so I browsed through the index of The Veggie Queen Cookbook to find something to do with them. I decided on Jill’s recipe for Curried White and Sweet Potato Pancakes with Fresh Fruit Chutney. I had to make a few modifications. Big T doesn’t like sweet potatoes and we didn’t have any, so I left them out. I also didn’t have the chutney ingredients, so I used a sweet chili sauce instead.

This brought back fond memories of sitting in one of Jill’s classes at the McDougall Clinic. I remember frantically writing down her advice to “leave out the ingredients we didn’t like”. I was a really bad cook back then and you’d think this would be common knowledge, but it was a major epiphany for me.

“What freedom!?!” I thought. “You can just leave out the ingredients you don’t like!” Whhhoaaaaaaa…

Back to cooking~

Big T and Little T loved the way they turned out. Little T ate three potato pancakes for dinner and two for lunch the next day. I sliced them into little finger sized bites so they would be easy for him to eat.

Yesterday it was hot over here in California. I didn’t want to heat up the house with the stove, so I looked through The Veggie Queen’s pressure cooking e-book. I decided on making the Summer Minestrone Soup. I can give it to Little T myself, or spoon out the thicker vegetables for him to eat with his fingers. I like to squeeze a lime over the soup because I’m a lime-aholic.

Scrumptious! That’s whats been cooking over in our neck of the woods. Happy eating and full bellies to all of you.

P.S. If you’re liking what you read, please give the link below a quick click.

Thank you~Momma J

I Heart Faces

28 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by Momma J in Photography

≈ 17 Comments

Okay, so this weeks challenge was a focus on the color white. I thought of a few things I could do with Little T. I.E: ice cream, balloons, confetti, things like that. In the end, I figured the thing Little T would love the most would probably be plain old tissue paper for present wrapping. Boy, was I right. We put the tissue paper all around him and watched as he had a blast. He ripped it, threw it, shouted at it, and then he tried to eat it. That’s when the photo shoot had to end. I had this adorable picture of him with a piece of tissue paper in his mouth, looking at me to see if he could get away with eating it. It’s a beautiful photo and the look he’s giving simply melted my heart, but I decided on the one below instead. It captures the essence of Little T. He’s full of life. He’s always letting his little light shine bright. Hence, the inspiration and name for this blog.

Little T, shouting at the tissue paper.

Hope you enjoy, and click out the link below to see the other great pictures that are entered.

Belated Birthday Party Post

28 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by Momma J in The Family, The Travels

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first birthday

My Dad and Step Mom had Little T’s birthday party at their home in the Central Valley a few weeks ago. Little T always has a great time when he’s around his family and cousins, and it turned out to be a very nice day.

Papa G and Nonnie T took care of the food, while Big T and I were in charge of the decorations. I wanted to throw a themed party, but the decorations were a little last minute because we didn’t have time to organize. I took an early trip to the Dollar Store and grabbed some balloons in Little T’s favorite colors.

Birthday Balloons

I cut out some orange stars to scatter on the table and decorated with some other things I found at the Dollar Store. Big T was impressed at my star making skillz. That’s what happens when you’re a former kindergarten teacher. Do you think I can put star making on my resume?

Big T and I ran out of time to decorate and had to call Aunt D and Uncle T to come and watch Little T while we set up with my Dad and Step Mom. Little T was asleep when everyone arrived for the party. He was really startled when he woke up and was surrounded by people. It’s sooooooo hard to be a baby.

When he woke up, Ro was there to give him a birthday kiss. He said, “Hey, Ro. I’m not old enough for this stuff yet.” Then she told him to get over it and gave him another one.

Speaking of Ro, they were up to all sorts of shenanigans in Papa G and Nonnie T’s playroom. Ro decided this toy was for climbing.

Little T agreed.

After they played for a bit, it was time for the birthday cake. Little T had no idea what was going on with the whole singing and the candle stuff, but when we presented him with a slice of chocolate cake, he decided he was down with the whole thing. He had two slices.

Little T’s favorite thing to do was climb the stairs and his older cousins were there to help him. I love how one of his birthday balloons is stuck to T’s leg in this picture. I also love how he’s wearing less and less clothes as the day went on.

When he was done stair crawling, he practiced walking with Uncle J.

After the party, I slipped into a food coma because Papa G and Nonnie T had a dangerous amount of good food.

Little T decided to come to my rescue, so he sat on my face and brought me to my senses with his stinky diaper.

His plan worked. Thanks baby, Momma knew you’d be there when she needed it.

P.S. Change your diaper, Little T.

I can’t decide.

27 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by Momma J in Quick Snippets, The Family

≈ 1 Comment

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photography

I’m going to start entering the I Heart Faces photo challenge. I’m doing it because I haven’t been inspired with my photography for a while, and I’d like to feel challenged again. Monday’s challenge is a focus on the color white. It has to feature white in the photograph, and it has to have a face in the picture. Little T was my model, he’s such a good sport and had a great time. Too much of a good time, because he eventually started trying to eat all the tissue paper, heh heh. Here’s what I’m deciding from, too many choices!

Next Week’s Meal Plan

26 Friday Aug 2011

Posted by Momma J in Meal Plans, vegan

≈ 2 Comments

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baby food, food, meal plan, vegan food, vegan meal plan

Here’s our menu plan for the week. I try to cook in batches so we have enough food for a day or two. The recipes are pretty simple, but if it’s something more difficult I’ll make it on the weekend while Big T is around to watch Little T. I also take a look at what fruits and vegetables we have around the house to make sure they aren’t going to waste and try to make things that Little T can eat on his own.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with Baked Apples-2 diced apples shaken in a bag with cinnamon and nutmeg, then microwaved in a covered bowl with a little soymilk for 2 minutes to soften. Obviously, it tastes better if you do it on the stove or in the oven, but the microwave is quick and easy.
Sugar Free Peach Muffins from http://www.fatfreevegan.com
Green Drink- kale, romaine lettuce, apple, ginger, celery, pear, and lemon.

Snacks:

Fruit Salad
Healthy Almond Butter Bombs-made with oatmeal, almond butter, agave, and mashed bananas.
Watermelon Juice-watermelon in the juicer with a squeeze of lemon)

Lunches:

Summer Minestrone from The Veggie Queen’s e-book.
Mexican Lasagna from http://www.fatfreevegan.com
Salad with Tahini Dressing–A variation from the Crazy Sexy Diet Cookbook. This is more for myself, but Little T loves the Tahini Dressing.

I don’t ever plan out dinners and toss together whatever ingredients we have. I do know that I want to try to this recipe for roasted tomato soup from Healthy Happy Life, and the recipe for bread salad from The Veggie Queen’s Cookbook.

San Francisco Trip

24 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by Momma J in The Family, The Travels, vegan

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

family, infant traveling, san francisco, traveling, vegan, vegan dining, vegan restaurants

I love San Francisco. I love the history, the weather, the culture, and the food. I lovveeeeeee the food. Before I start posting about the food we ate, I should clear something up. The person I was staying with asked me how on earth I eat so much without gaining a ton of weight. I wish I could say I’m one of those people who can eat whatever they want and not suffer the consequences, but that’s simply not the case! When I’m home, I follow a low-fat strict vegetarian diet with no dairy. When I go on vacation, I splurge. When we travel I try to stay in places with a kitchen so I don’t go too crazy (because I always feel gross when I verge too far from my routine), but occasionally on vacations or special dinners, I eat.

A lot.

This was one of those trips.

Okay, so back to SF. Big T told me we were going to have to take public transportation to save some taxi $$$. I panicked as I imagined hauling Little T, the car seat, the stroller, and our luggage around. After a good hour of mulling it over, I decided we could pack everything we needed in two backpacks so we’d only be carrying the car seat and the stroller. To tell you the truth, it was kind of a fun challenge!

We’d planned an evening plane ride so Little T would sleep, but he was really excited when we got to the airport and didn’t sleep until the plane was in the air. Once we were in the air, we were both happy to get snuggle time and Little T fell asleep.

He's such a little snuggle-bug.

On the airport, we utilized our electronic gadgets to get us through the short trip. Oh technology, how I do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

1. Watching an episode of “Modern Family on our iphone.

2. Reading “The Help” on my kindle.

3. Knowing exactly when our bus was coming.

4. Landing and being able to search for coffee.

The next night, Big T and I had a date at Millennium. It’s our favorite vegan restaurant because it serves unapologetic vegan food. By that I mean, there isn’t “fake meat” in sight. It’s pricey, so this was only our second visit and the third probably wont come for a while, but it’s always worth it!

We ordered a White Russian to drink.

For an appetizer we had fried oyster mushrooms with a carrot salad and a lemon dressing.

Fried Oyster Mushrooms

For my entree, I had this pastry that had a savory flavor and was filled with potatoes:

Big T had a grilled portabella mushroom with risotto, and for dessert I had chocolate lava cake and he had a berry cobbler.

The next day, I managed to convince Big T to travel out to Berkeley. The reason? I wanted Cinnamon Rolls, and I wanted them bad! We went to Cinnaholic, a vegan cinnamon roll shop. This is the way it works over there. First, you get a gourmet cinnamon rolls. Next, you pick a flavor of frosting. They have about 20 different flavors and we were feeling so overwhelmed! After you decide on the frosting, they let you pick a topping. I decided on the plain frosting with cookie dough. Big T had mint with oreos, and the helpful lady at the counter (who was so friendly, we could have stayed and talked with her for an hour), said her favorite was lemon frosting and raspberry. I’m going to have to try that next time.

Cinnamon roll from Cinnaholic Bakery

We took the BART over to Mission. Little T had a great time sitting with us and taking the BART and the bus and shouted gleefully at people entering and exiting. I think he was saying hello and goodbye in baby babble.

Little T is a subway pro.

Mission is bright and colorful, with amazing murals all over the place. Here was my favorite building:

A Building in Mission

We went to a Mexican food restaurant that has a lot of vegan options. Amazingly, we found room to eat, even after the cinnamon rolls.

Ordering lunch in Mission

On the way home, we stopped at the Stern Grove Music Festival. The concert was beautiful. We made our way to the side area so Little T could run around without being disruptive. It was a nice end to a fun day.

Stern Grove

Practicing Walking at Stern Grove

We were sad when our trip came to an end, but we were also glad to have a few weekends at home. Our yard is getting a bit overgrown and we have animals to snuggle with. I also have a few projects at home that I’m looking forward to getting started on.

Big T with all of our things at the bus stop.

It’s the little things…

22 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by Momma J in Quick Snippets, The Family, The Travels

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infant travel, Life

I’m amused. After spending a week researching things for Little T to do in San Francisco, it turns out the best place to be was our friend’s house. Go figure.

Here were Little T’s favorite activities…

Playing with the foot massager:

Shouting and hearing his echo in the hallway:

Walking around and around the spinning chair:

Admiring the colors on their rainbow blanket:

And shouting at us through the bars of their Ikea lamp.

Little T should write a SF travel guide for babies.

Southwest airlines makes me grumpy.

21 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by Momma J in The Family, The Travels

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

southwest airlines, transracial adoption

Our experience as a transracial family has been extremely positive so far. The only time we’ve been made to feel uncomfortable is when we fly Southwest Airlines. They always make a big deal out of seeing Little T’s birth certificate. Once, the airline stewardess even went as far as to say, “how do we know he’s really your child?” She demanded to see his birth certificate, AND his adoption papers. Excuse me, but it isn’t your job to play airline detective. I looked up their policy on showing birth certificates. It’s true that they need to verify a child’s age if they are under two, because they need to make sure they are young enough to qualify for a lap seat. So the reason for showing birth certificates is proving he’s young enough to ride on a lap, NOT to prove that he is our child. The airline stewardess was way out of line and it upsets me when I wondered what Little T would think if he was old enough to understand.

Ultimately, we need to get on the plane so we hold our tongue and show proof of his age, even though we know we’re being singled out because our family looks different. But THIS time, we were irked more than usual. This is because when we were in line, the family in front of us had a child that was the same age as Little T and they were also flying with their baby on their lap, but they were not asked to show a birth certificate. It left us wondering, why don’t they ask everyone this question if it’s airline policy? My best guess is that they saw the video of my husband dancing and decided he looked suspicious. But in all seriousness, what would you conclude if this kept happening to your transracial family?

I don’t know. Maybe it’s nothing. I try to think of explanations or reasons that we would keep getting singled out, but it’s just not sitting well with us.