The feed zone

Yes it's another post about food. And speaking of the feed zone, I'm interested in the book of this title. Years ago I found Allen Lim's recipe for Sushi Rice Bars with bacon and eggs, and they are awesome on long rides when you're tired of sweet stuff. I remember one ride where a certain dog yet-to-be-rescued named Shelby got a couple of them to tide her over until Damie went back to pick her up. She seemed to like them too. Anybody have the book? Reviews?

At home our feeding zone is usually the recliner. It sits in a sunny windowed corner of the living room, and soon after Hunter's birth we turned it to face the television. It rocks and has huge puffy arms, plus I added a back pillow, a mini boppy (actually a neck pillow) and a tray table with a water bottle, so I'm pretty much set. I can get really comfortable there. I watched the neighbors' entire move, I see them walk their dogs many times a day, and I cringe when Heinz, fresh from Germany, still insists, despite his crispy fried red skin, to go shirtless while he digs up the wildflower bed.

I'm pretty sure baby Hunter looks at me and only sees one thing: lunch. He's the stereotypical male, glancing at my eyes, then down to my chest. :) I seem to fit right in with my family of big milk producers, at least based on Hunter's weight gain. I honestly wouldn't mind if his rate of weight gain tapered off a bit. He went from less than the 25th percentile at birth to at least 95th by 2 months. My poor arms were not ready for that kind of strain. 

I've found another goal so I can start working on some new PRs: milk pumping. So far I've only timed my pumping once, and got 5oz in 6 minutes. I wasn't particularly full at the time, so I'm wondering what I can do if I go in tapered. :) My pediatrician tells me that every 5oz is about 100 kcals, so breastfeeding is a super fast way to get off those extra calories. I don't often run fast enough to burn 100kcals in 6 minutes -- that's over a mile for me! 

If Hunter weighs around 14.5 lbs, and he needs about 100kcal/kg, then he's eating 650kcal/day, or over 30oz. No wonder I'm thirsty and dehydrated all the time. He does seem to eat ALL THE TIME, but I really enjoy feeding him, so it's never a problem. Plus that means I can eat more!

Just since my last post I've done some baking. I started making homemade bagels since we just don't have anywhere to get them here. They're delicious! Then our two plum trees started ripening their plums. We have millions of birds who will peck a few holes in each plum if we don't pick them fast enough, so we got a good harvest over the weekend. I've made a plum pie and banana plum bread. The pie is gone, and the bread is only 12 hours old, so it's half finished. :)

My sweet little baby has started smiling all the time at us instead of just in his sleep. I can actually act silly enough to make him smile at me now. He really only gets upset when his little tummy hurts, and I'm wondering what I can do differently to help him. I am proactive in giving him drops, but I'm wondering if i should cut out dairy from my diet. I mostly get it through cheese, which I've given up before (one torturous Lent season with my friend Lara). I'm trying to cut back, and then find myself forgetting that the half of a large Papa John's that I just downed has plenty of mozzarella on it. Oops.

Every day's goal is to eat just a little less dairy. And keep running. I'm not going to jinx how running with the baby is going by writing about it, so I'll just say it's been better than ever lately. I know it's just a phase or a fluke, just like that great sleep I got last night. :)

 Plums!

 Baby!