Pig: 8 months

We rang in month 8 with...mucus...lots of it. If it wasn't coming out of Pig's little nose, it was coming out of her left eye and if it wasn't coming out of there, it was coming out of K's nose. Yes folks, if it's snot you need, we've got it, so come on over, don't forget your galoshes and shovel.

Oddly enough I dodged the bullet this time. My mom, ever the superstitious person, would be pissed to see that I've written this out...on the internets...to haunt me later on... When I happened to say it during a phone convo with her, she was like "yah! (Korean for hey!) you shouldn't boast about things like that!" I was like, I'm not boasting, just marveling (ok, so perhaps that's a pretty close relative to boasting) that I've been living in a seething petri dish for the past 3 weeks and other than a little phlegm action in the throat, nada. Boasting? Nah. Am I tempting fate, you betcha.

Anyway, Quinn has been on all sorts of drugs and let me tell you how much I HATE having to give my baby antibiotics. To make up for it, I've been giving her organic everything else. K and I discovered a My Organic Market (MOM) nearby and it's my new love. I could putter about the place forever, lovingly picking up items, peeing myself over the produce selection, and chuckling in delight over the fact that everything in there is organic.

This market has only fueled my baby food obsession. I think about it all the time...what could I mix with beets....with tofu....with chicken.... I have the Korean version of the magic bullet blender which I use to puree everything. Decided to kill two birds by making chicken broth with a whole free range chicken....K could have chicken soup and I could save the broth and tear up the white meat for Pig. So at MOM, I picked up a nice free range chicken, celery, carrots, onion, and ginger root. Put everything in a steamer pot, poured some water over, threw in a bouquet garni and let it cook for 3-4 hours.

Side note: I'm one of those who really gets weirded out by handling chicken, especially a whole chicken...which at some point you have to hold upright, plucked wings spread and at that point it doesn't take much to imagine it dancing to "Puttin' on the Ritz." Even worse if the chicken arrives with feet attached...then you really don't have to imagine the dancing...kinda happens on its own once the feet hit the kitchen sink. I witnessed a chicken execution as a kid and other than grimacing slightly, it didn't faze me much. Something about the chicken sans feathers than gives me the creeps.

Anyway, the broth was awesome, thanks to the onion skin, it was imbued a great golden color. Chicken odors usually gross me out, but this time I couldn't help but sniff appreciatively. And best part, the meat fell off the bones so I was spared having to pull an autopsy gone bad out of the pot. K got a huge bowl full with rice and I proceeded to puree chicken breast with the cooked veggies for Pig. Looked like curry. And what do you know, Pig liked it! I call it Chicken a la [Pig] and we now have 2 zip loc bags of frozen cubes of it in our chest freezer. Next on our menu, soft tofu!

In regards to beets, I picked up a glorious bunch, steamed, pureed and gave them to K to present to the Queen P. But first we stripped her from the waist up, basically unsnapped her footed pajamas and rolled them down. If Jabba the Hutt in his younger days went to audition for the role of the topless guy they have standing outside Abercrombie & Fitch stores....well you get the picture. We were thinking we were saving her clothes from the Dreft-resistant beet masque but forgot about the straps on her high chair and of course she beet-ed those good. Next time, beets will be consumed in the nude, outside, in the kiddie pool...but of course to spare K's clothes, he will likely have to be in the nude as well, and I'm not sure that I want to have to explain all this to the cops.