RookieMoms Blog

In the spirit of it can be nice to be told what to do, I am taking the four-week challenge with the Six O’Clock Scramble cookbook… to let the author, Aviva Goldfarb, boss me around and help me get dinner on the table for the next few weeks.

Whitney did the newsletter in bits and bobs, but I’m really going for it with the cookbook. The book is organized by season of the year with each season having 13 weeks of different menus. I opened it up, started with Summer Week One, and printed my weekly grocery list from the website.

At first I was a little annoyed to have to go to the website for the grocery list, but then I realized how annoying and awkward it would be to carry the cookbook around the store, and I got over it.

So far, I’m a week and a half into my experiment, and it is going great! The first week, I bit the bullet and took Holden to Berkeley Bowl for a massive shopping trip to get the week’s supplies. I got everything but the fresh fish and chicken (which I sent the baby-free Rookie Dad out for a different day), and it took us just about an hour.

Each week, she lays out five meals allowing for leftovers, take-out, and the unexpected. Instead of following the days in order, I used the week’s meals as a menu of options based on what was going to last in the fridge, my mood, and how much prep time we had. That said, once Alec brought home the fish and chicken, we did the fish ASAP and the chicken the next night.

To be totally honest, half of my tomatoes perished and my basil was a little droopy by Friday… but we had fresh, healthy, original meals every night without much fuss on my part. My only other teeny complaint is that the side dishes sometimes take longer than the main dish so you gotta read all the recipes.

For week two, we’re off to a good start. The whole family hit the Berkeley Bowl together and we’re all stocked up again. The fish and chicken both required marinating so we pushed them off to nights two and three.

… I’ll report back at the end of my experiment!

In the spirit of Love Thursday, I wanna talk about my husband and our honeymoon.

We sold most of our stuff, stored the rest of it, and moved out of our apartment in San Francisco to travel the world for six months. The trip itself was amazing; we ate (cauliflower pizza - yuck), drank wine and funny-sounding beer (Zlatarog - yum!), biked, hiked, indulged in massages, toured castles, visited caves, saw friends, and spent time deliciously alone without cell phones.

Oh yeah, and we blogged for friends and family. Took tons of photos. Recorded almost our every thought and insight.

This photo was taken early in our adventure when we were biking around Prague thinking all was going according to plan. Aren’t we thin and carefree? Isn’t it lovely? This church is actually called the “wedding cake church” by tourists and tour guides. We are so clever and cheeky to be in front of it.

About six weeks later, in Swakopmund, Namibia… we found out that we were expecting our first baby. We hightailed it back to California (well, after about 4 more weeks of travelling) and landed in our little Berkeley bungalow. A few months later, our son Holden was born. A few months after that, RookieMoms.com was born.

Tiffany, a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern who provides counseling to new moms and busy women, and who is herself a new mom to an 8-month-old baby boy, sent us five tips for modern mamas.

She calls it “How to survive the joy of motherhood”

Create focused play time. Spend time playing with your baby or toddler, letting them lead the play. Give a sports-announcer type commentary of what they’re doing. Play along with them, imitating their actions and giving them lots of praise. (“Look at you sitting up all by yourself!”) You’ll help your little one with their development in language, self-esteem, and attachment.

Make time for yourself. Get a sitter and go to an exercise class or have lunch with a girlfriend. When you make time for yourself, you make yourself a better mom for your baby.

Carve out time for your relationship. Having a baby can put a lot of stress on your relationship. Solution? Date night. Have adult fun with your partner while you both coo over your adorable child. Nurturing your relationship can help provide a strong base for your child. For single moms, whether you’re looking for romance or to spend time with friends – be sure to fit in some fun for you, too.

Trust your instincts. Whether you let your baby “cry it out” or pick them up at the smallest whimper, do what feels right for you. Read books, talk to your pediatrician, and then decide for yourself. Focus on what works well for you and your baby.

Use relaxation techniques. Practice relaxation for your mind and body through: yoga, meditation, massage, deep breathing or a warm bath. You deserve it!

As you know, there will be days (and probably the first few months) where these will be impossible to fit in your schedule. Sleep comes first.

“Don’t forget,” she reminds us, “to get support from family, friends, veteran moms and other rookie moms!”

Tiffany is based in Benicia, CA.

Photo by betsythedevine.

We made these shirts on Zazzle and wore them at Blogher. We were like make-up free booth babes without a booth.