Cooking the blues away

Last night I cooked my butt off in an attempt at filling time. This is a strategy I learned in my late teens as I went to work while all my friends went off to college and I was bored as heck - I would cook all weekend, read cookbooks from start to finish, and taught myself all kinds of techniques: pickling, preserving, bread making, etc. It's been fun to revisit some of these skills now that I can (temporarily) eat like a kid again.

I bought a crock pot and made a lovely chana masala, then while that bubbled away, made my favorite white bean soup, corn muffins, and my usual weekly pot of black beans. This morning I made a blackberry coffee cake to bring to Bed Rest Friend. I would cook more if I had any more space in the fridge.

BRF and I talked about space management today, ie, where the baby sleeps, where his toys go, where he plays when he's big enough. I'm glad even people with big houses have these concerns! I don't know how breastfeeders don't co-sleep; I can't imagine getting up and walking into another room several times a night for feeds. Or maybe it's because I co-sleep that Bumpus still wakes up a lot? I'll never know the answer to this question. And my guess is it's different for every baby.

I do feel tons of relief when I think about that upstairs space being the new kid space, where all the toys can be slung about and B and his friends can be as loud and crazy as they want. But I am concerned about safety. There will be windows - should I put bars on the outside to prevent falls? Then there's the staircase - it's in a hole in the floor. How do I keep him from falling down it? Or his little friends? It's pretty dangerous. For the foreseeable future I'll always be up there with him, but still I have to figure out how to make it less hazardous.

Tomorrow they come to finish the electric, then I'm off to our gig in Santa Barbara. I have not decided if I'm going to try to crash at the house of the people who are watching B or not, or if I should attempt the drive home. I guess it all depends on how I'm feeling.

Well, happy New Year, everyone! I hope those of you in the trenches of trying for babies see your wishes come true in 2013, and those content with where you are continue to be healthy and happy!

Here is a before and after picture of my hallway with the old square attic access and the new unpainted pull-down ladder.