substitutions

This morning I woke up at 8:30 am. Actually, Joaquin woke me up, as he always does. This is a little later than we normally rise. I feel instantly rushed because we have to be at the Y at 9:30 to swim. I have a few problems to solve before we get there so I have to think quick about how I will get it all done. I sat Joaquin up and grabbed his diaper, a spare and one of his bummies whisper wraps. I set him on the floor and made the "family bed." I put him back on the bed, changed his diaper (blew a couple razzles on his tummy) and his clothes and put the diaper stuff in my gym bag.

You have to have a swim diaper to swim with your baby in a public pool. These are special diapers that keep the poop out of the pool. They don't care about pee. I don't have a swim diaper for Joaquin. I looked for one on a couple of cloth diaper sites that I use, and they have them, but I didn't order one and realized last night that I was too late. I decided to use one of his cloth diaper wraps that look a lot like the swim diapers you see online. But I didn't do this without a certain amount of anxiety. I pictured the lesson starting out with a bunch of stylish moms and their babies sitting on the bleachers while the instructor explains the importance of the proper swim diaper and then proceeds to check us all out. Of course she is disgusted with the fact that I am trying to pull the wool over her eyes with my whisper wrap, Joaquin and I are not allowed to participate and my new potential mommy friends shun me evermore.

I can't find my YMCA I.D. This is because I haven't been to the Y in over a year. Maybe two years. Yep, I've been paying my monthly fee and not going. I justify this because it's a) a good deal compared to any other gym in town, and b) the only place to go for mommy and me classes that I always knew I would take when I became an awesome mom. Again, I picture the staff, disgusted and turning us away, back into the cold, or at least not able to find us in the system. I imagine myself telling them to look at my bank account, I pay! Hmmmphff!! How do I get so worked up so early? Don't know!

I need to cut my toenails. I took care of all the, uh, hair yesterday but long toenails will probably never be in fashion. In one trip to the bathroom I brushed my teeth, cut the nails and brushed my unwashed hair into a happy updo.
When we arrived, I told the lady at the desk that I hadn't been there in awhile (ha!) and couldn't find my card. She asked my last name, I told her, and she said "Okay, you're all set!"
I took Joaquin into the locker room and undressed. I put my clothes in the locker but took my bag with us to the pool. When we got there a cute staff member holding a baby asked if we were there for the class. I said yes and asked if I could put my stuff down and get Joaquin ready. She said sure.
I seriously said out loud, "let's put on your swim diaper!" Geez. I put on the whisper wrap and got into the pool. About ten minutes into it the instructor told me and the one other mommy/baby taking the class that she used to just bring her little boy in his underwear. Ahhhh.
It was fun. Joaquin was very quiet and curious until the very end when he let out a series of high pitched squeals and started splashing me in the face. When we got home he took a nice long nap. He ate a third of a banana today, pureed and about a half a cup of blueberries, whirred in the vita-mix. He really loves blueberries now! Two weeks ago he gagged and gagged when he tasted them. Things change so quickly with babies.

I made a bean soup using the 17 bean mix from Trader Joe's. I followed the recipe on the back almost exactly. I did add some kelp (just a little) and some fresh dill at the end.

That's some whole grain cornbread on the side. I used the recipe out of La Dolce Vegan (awesome book, btw). I made some changes because I never have all the right ingredients on hand. The recipe calls for one and a half cups of flour and one and a half cups of cornmeal. I used one cup of whole wheat flour that I ground myself in the vita-mix and 1/2 a cup of bob's red mill all purpose baking mix. That's what I had. I rarely have white flour around anyway. I didn't have the two cups of "milk" it calls for so I threw a half a cup of sunflower seeds into the blender with two cups of water, turned it into a cream and strained it through a nut milk bag. Don't ever let ingredients stop you from making a recipe.
mmmmmm. Goodnight!