Emma's Busy Social Calendar

Emma makes lots of friends. This past week she met mommy's friends, R from Ithaca, S from Seattle, and E from right here in San Francisco.

Here is Emma with E. Baby is looking pretty pensive here in her fauxhawk.

Emma also has to schedule in tummy time, so she can practice lifting and supporting her head. She's pretty good at it now.

Emma also went to visit Herbivore 3 times, 5 times if you count dropping in just to pick up pieces of vegan strawberry rhubarb pie (R, you better remember that we took one for the vegan team in visiting that restaurant so many times!), Enjoy Vegetarian, and Cha-ya (twice). We went to the new branch of Cha-ya that opened on 9th and Irving and enjoyed it immensely. It is a vegan Japanese restaurant serving cuisine based upon Buddhist vegetarian traditions. Trust me, you don't miss the meat here, and the food is absolutely fresh and delicious. We kept meaning to take pictures, but we ate the food so quickly that taking pictures only came as an afterthought.

Emma is scheduled to meet another of mommy's friends this Sunday, then attend a birthday party for E's little girl the following week. What a busy little baby!

The Dreaded Kale Smoothie

Well, the vegan has flown back to New York.  I am at home sick with a terrible cold. Can't tell if my cold has affected Emma, but she has been very fussy for the past three days. 

Before R came to visit me, she wrote to me to tell me about her special kale smoothie.  I thought it sounded absolutley gross, but it turns out that it wasn't so bad.  She made it practically everyday that she was here for herself, me and husband. The ingredients are super secret, but it tasted quite good and was very healthful.

This past week was a busy week, full of new friends for Emma, and lots and lots of vegan cuisine from around the city and at home. We have had vegan cupcakes, pancakes, pies, Japanese and Chinese food.  I will post more about the restaurants later, but sadly, I don't have any pictures of the vegan food.  

Husband and I have been really good about the vegetarian diet.  We both feel really good about it and proud that we have stuck to it for this entire month.  We are going to keep to the diet as much as possible.

The Vegan Has Landed

The vegan has arrived! My friend, R, arrived on Monday from Ithaca, NY to visit us. Emma has taken a shine to her.

Emma is growing quickly - she's got a large baby belly. She is also attempting to rollover.

On R's first night in San Francisco, we all went to Herbivore, a vegan restaurant. I admit I was skeptical at first, not because it is a vegan restaurant (one of my favorite restaurants is a vegan one), but because I had heard some negative reviews about the place. Happily, our meals were very good. R and I both had the "cheesesteak" and husband had the BBQ "chicken" sandwich. Here's the "cheesesteak" (yes, I know, a traditional cheesesteak does not have lettuce and tomatoes on it, but it was still very good):

The portions were huge, but we saved room for dessert and finished with a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie and German chocolate cake. The pie was especially delicious.

When Tigers Smoked Cigarettes

So, this morning, I was reading Emma this Korean fairy tale:

(Roughly translated, "The Angel and the Woodcutter.") when I opened the first page and read the first sentence.  Hmmm, I thought, maybe I didn't read that correctly, doesn't really make much sense.  I read it again, and then later checked in on Babelfish.  I was right.

The story opens with this first line:  "A long, long time ago, in a time when tigers smoked cigarettes."  What?

"Momma, everyone knows tigers don 't smoke cigarettes."

Getting Ready for a Party

Let's get ready to go to a party! She is modeling her new red dress (a little big, but she will grow into it) with her little ballerina socks.

Since it is chilly outside today, let's wear the little ladybug sweater that mommy made for her.

We are all going to attend a small baby shower for Lance's former co-worker. Emma soon will have another little friend born into the world.

An Experiment

My husband has gallstones.  It causes painful stomach problems.  Before he goes for the ultimate solution, which is surgery, we are trying changes to our diet, as suggested by his doctor.  We have been more and more conscious of what we are eating ever since I got pregnant, but now we are going to try a vegetarian diet for a while.  Now, this is huge.  My husband has previously threatened a coup in our marriage when I suggested going vegetarian.  But, on the way home from the wedding, we stopped and visited some friends in San Luis Obispo who are vegetarian.  The wife has always been vegetarian, but her formerly carnivorous husband recently turned to a vegetarian, organic diet.  He couldn't stop talking about the benefits and how good he feels.  I mean, he used to almost exclusively eat red meat, didn't even eat chicken!

This isn't to say that we won't cheat once in a while.  In fact, we probably will.  And we will still include dairy and fish in our new vegetarian diet, but let's see how this goes. 

Last night's menu:
Salad with romaine lettuce, candied almonds, dried cherries, pears and blue cheese

Ciambotta - an Italian vegetable stew

This meal, which really should have only taken about an hour or two to prepare took me all day since I had to prep the veggies, make the almonds and croutons all throughout the day between nap times!  It was worth the effort, and delicious!

Greetings from the Coast!

We took our first long trip with Emma this weekend.  We attended my husband's sister's (my sister-in-law's) wedding in Nipomo, CA, near Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo.  Having had a nuclear meltdown right before the wedding, Emma was on her best behavior during the ceremony and reception.  It was a beautiful wedding at a very nice facility.

Beachwear Emma - we didn't really get to go to the beach, though, because it was a bit chilly on Friday and Saturday.

During tummytime at the hotel - gotta keep in shape!

"I'm ready for my close-uo."

And a picture of the wedding cake - very contemporary and pretty.