Well, look at that, it’s the end of the week again and I haven’t posted. Oops. Anyhow… Let’s see what’s been going on this week.

1. I made butter this week. As I become more and more ONE with my kitchen I find myself getting a little more adventurous. I was reading somewhere how to make butter and I suppose I never realized how easy it was. You take heavy cream and either shake it in a jar for 30 minutes, or if you’re lucky (like me) you pour the cream into your Cuisinart, turn the mixer on high add a bit of salt and in 15 minutes, MAGIC. You have butter & buttermilk. The butter is delicious and without all of the additives & preservatives you normally find in the market. Bonus, you have buttermilk, which promptly was used to make buttermilk biscuits.

2. Speaking of kitchen skills, I have cooked more in this last year than I have my entire life. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, however I’ve definitely gained more confidence since becoming a sahm.  This week was the best week so far in the Meal Planning department. I planned 6 meals, purchased food for 6 meals and (here’s the amazing part) I cooked food for 6 meals. Last night we treated ourselves to takeout and it was wonderful.

3. This week in the mommy blogosphere I closely followed some drama around a highly controversial topic: Wet-nursing (nursing another infant other than your own). Very long story short: 1 mommy blogger was at a conference (without her baby for 24+ hrs). She had forgotten her pump & her breasts were seriously engorged. Mommy blogger tried to hand express with not much luck. The next day, at the conference another mother (mom #2) got to talking with mommy blogger and after learning of her situation, offered up her own baby. The baby was hungry, mom #1 needed relief (it would be several hours before she would be home w/her own baby), and it was done. A fellow blogger at the conference oversaw this take place and so the drama unfolded online later in the week. As I was following the mom #1’s tweets over the weekend, I honestly felt her pain as she described her engorged breasts and was frankly relieved when I saw her tweet that said, “I just nursed another woman’s baby”. If I were in the same situation as her, I may have acted in the same manner. Especially if I knew the person who’s baby I was nursing, or loaning my baby to. It’s a heavy topic to be covered in 1 paragraph, so I may revisit it later, once I’ve digested it more thoroughly, however thought I’d throw it out there as food for thought.

4. Yesterday Quinn had a playdate with a little girl that is practically her same age. At this stage, they aren’t really playing with each other as much as around each other. Actually, mostly they were vying for snacks from the opposite mother. Quinn wanted Evelyn’s snacks and vise versa, which was really cute. I also took the opportunity to work on “sharing” with Quinn. It’s safe to say she hasn’t quite grasped the concept yet. She’ll act like she’s going to hand you something and then she’s all “SYKE!” and pulls it back. This is funny when she does it with Jake or I, but other child find nothing amusing about this game. After a few times of me showing her, she actually got the hang of “sharing” with Evelyn yesterday. She’s still sort of a hoarder with toys but I’m hoping with age & practice, she’ll get better.

5. This week I booked a flight for Quinn and I up to my folks house. I was honestly too chicken to drive all the way up there with just Quinn and I — meaning, no entertainment for her other than my blabbering mouth. I’ve driving the 4+ hour drive so many times that flying up is such a treat, I think this is my second time in 12 years.

6. Yesterday I had to make a trip to a local consignment store to pick up a few shirts for Quinn as all of her shirts as of late have become belly-shirts. I’m still blown away at how quickly these little beings burn through clothes and am seriously looking forward to her growth slowing down during this second year of her life. I’ve got bags upon bags of clothes in the basement that no longer fit her, however I am very leery to give any of them up in the event that we have another girl (eventually). However yesterday when I was in the consignment shop I wondered if after hanging onto these clothes for another couple of years, would they still have any resale value? If childrens’ consignment stores are anything like Buffalo Exchange then I may as well toss the clothes in the garbage immediately after our second child (if it’s even a girl) grows out of them.

7. I cannot explain how much I want warmer weather here. LIKE RIGHT NOW. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sun shining through our windows, revealing every last dust bunny that is skattered under our furniture, but it’s SOOOO cold. I feel like this east-wind from the Gorge has not let up in 4 months. It’s almost better when it rains — because then at least you’re not tempted to frolic in the sunshine, only to come in minutes later with wind-burn to your cheeks.

More quick takes can be found here & here