Baby Girl loves meatloaf. I made it just for her. Not surprisingly, she seems to like salty foods more than sweet ones. Just like her mama. I'm so excited to get to cook things we both enjoy eating! Scrambled eggs was the first, but that barely counts. This was out first real shared meal. Granted, she ate about an ounce or two. And I had to pop little bites into her open mouth. But it counts, right?
Ingredients
1 lb ground pork (using up the remainder of my mom's pork share. When its gone, I'll use beef)
1 lb ground turkey
4 carrots, grated
1 cup minced shiitake mushrooms (or any other type)
1 large minced onion
Garlic, to taste, minced (or garlic powder)
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
6 tbsp ketchup
1 cup oatmeal
3 eggs, beaten
Preheat oven to 375
Sautee veggies
Mix raw meat, oatmeal, eggs, Worcestershire, and 3 tbsp ketchup. Add sauteed veggies. Mix, mix. Add more oatmeal if mixture seems runny.
Form log in shallow pan.
Bake for about an hour.
Yum!
In other news, I'm starting to wonder what in the fuck I'm going to do with my life. Before Gumball's dad (you know, my soon to be ex-husband) took off, I had planned to return to nursing school. Since leaving Massachusetts, and my nursing program, I find myself in a sort of limbo. I can afford to stay home with the baby. For awhile. On the other hand, I only know a handful of people here, and have zero life outside of the baby. That has been a relief, in a way, since my life feels so sad and lonely. I'm ok with not having any sort of life of my own, for now. I want to stay home with the baby. I pretty much can't stand to be without her. This is good for now. But I know that I am going to have to start planning for our future. And I have no idea what I want to do. Returning to nursing school would be an option, but there is no program like the one I left behind. I have a Master's degree. I was in a two-year to BSN RN program. Here I could study for four years to get a BSN RN. Or do an advanced, two year intensive, Master's-level program for an NP. Or I could, you know, get a job. In some field I've studied. Public Health or something.
I know people do it all the time. I'm just having trouble imagining how I could leave little Gumball. I imagine that with traffic and commuting, I would get to see her for about 2, maybe 3 hours a day. During which time I would have to feed, bathe, play, love and cuddle her. It just doesn't seem like enough time. Everyday she does something new. In the past week she's begun crawling and clapping her feet. I don't have the emotional strength to leave her yet, and imagining missing anything feels like a spear through my heart. Also, I want to make sure that she gets a maximum amount of love each day. How can I do that if we're not together? I really just don't know.
Here's my opinion (not that you asked): If you can afford to stay home a while, stay home a while. If it starts to seem that you should get a job, start a little early and get a part-time job. Perhaps in the meantime, an educational program will be developed near your new home that calls to you enough to let you step away from Gumball here and there.
ReplyDeleteAnd, even if you don't feel like it... even if you feel like your story is just sad and lonely right now, please find people. Start now, because it can take some time. I found people in my new town about a year ago. It took me until three weeks ago to actually meet anyone. She's wonderful. Today I met four more people. And you know, we're all different (I just haven't found that group of like-minded people from one source yet, LOL). But here's what we have in common: We're all moms. We have all had successful and unsuccessful relationships. We all like the funky "party favorites" station on cable. And, I'm guessing that right now we all still have burning fingertips from making jalapeno jelly this afternoon.
(By the way, I found my people on Facebook. It's a group that is "Blank Area Mommies" (only with the name this area is known by, duh, LOL). But there are groups through hospitals (often they're breastfeeding support, but I know the one where I delivered is more "feeding the baby" support). Also, CafeMom... and BBC's meetup groups might be good, too (I'm the only one in my area... @#$&%!!!).
Hugs!