Our Blended Family, Dietetically Speaking

For many people, planning dinners and going to the grocery store is anything from tedious to joyous, depending on one's point of view. It's filled with the usual challenges of balancing nutrition with food preferences of each family member, what the cook likes to make, how much things cost, and sometimes special circumstances like allergies or intolerances are factors for the planner. Luckily for me, in my house allergies and intolerances aren't an issue. However, we do have an interesting set of parameters that I follow when doing meal planning in our house.

As many of you know, Nate is vegan. Strict vegan, in the purest sense of the term- no animal products of any kind, including honey, and nothing like sodium caseinate that is derived from milk sources. I have to scrutinize labels of all products that are pre-made, like bread and pastas. Because of this, we have shifted more towards a whole food diet and staying away from most processed foods. This is a good thing, one that I am completely excited about and in support of.

However, the other level of challenges that I face in meal planning is the fact that Nate is the only one in our house that is vegan. About 98% of the time, I am vegetarian. The occasional piece of bacon or some chicken enters my diet when we eat out, but at home I eat vegetarian. The kids are omnivores, and not happy about avoiding certain foods during dinner. They miss butter, and milk, and cheese, on top of missing things like my meatloaf and meat lasagna and grilled chicken. I cook vegan meals for the family, with every dish being free from all animal products. Although I am a fairly good cook (if I do say so myself, and I do), it still feels like a difficult challenge to make tasty meals that satisfy all members of the family.

Every so often the kids and I get to live it up and make a non-vegan meal. This happened the other evening when Nate went in to work late and stayed late. I made homemade macaroni and cheese (five kinds of cheese, no lie), carrots glazed with honey and butter, parker house rolls, and for dessert- peach pie with double vanilla ice cream. It was a lovely meal, and the kids were in ecstasy with each bite, exclaiming how much they loved butter and cheese and honey and how un-vegan it all was. There was enough left over that we got to eat it for dinner a second night in a row while Nate scrounged his own dinner. And then tonight it was back to vegan food, with quinoa, spelt, vegan crumbles, lots of veggies, and seasonings like rice vinegar and Bragg's, with roasted asparagus on the side. Good, but not macaroni and cheese.

Our Super-Safe Neighborhood

Sadly, ABQ is known for it's high crime rate. And of course it's DWI/DUI rate too. When one thinks of a safe place to raise kids, one does not usually think of ABQ. However, generalizing an entire city by the terrible statistics of a few parts of it is unfair and in this case, not appropriate. We live in the Westside of town (yes, they call it the Westside, no, it isn't like the Westside in LA, thank goodness!), on the very edge of ABQ proper. Behind us is the Petroglyph National Monument, and the heart of ABQ is a wee bit of a drive away on I40.

Our neighborhood has a low crime rate, which is to be expected in a new neighborhood full of houses with alarm systems and lots of construction still going on. But the safety of our neighborhood has little to do with that- it has a lot more to do with it's residents. So far we know of 3 Albuquerque Police Officers that live here (oh, and they get to keep their squad car all of the time, so they are parked on the street or in their driveways when they are at home), one Bernallilo Country Sheriff (also in possession of his squad car all the time), a state police trooper (again with the car), and an FBI agent. And they all have kids, which they all let ride around the neighborhood on their bikes and spend their time out of doors. What cop would let their kids do that if they knew the area was bad, I ask you?

Kids Being Kids

One of the major reasons why we chose to move to ABQ in general and to this neighborhood in particular was to provide our kids with a bit more freedom. When we were children, Nate and I ran loose in the neighborhood with all of the other kids, riding bikes and just being kids. In CA, our neighborhood was not safe for the kids to ride their bikes around or even play in the front yard by themselves. Traffic was dangerous and it wasn't exactly the safest area to raise kids.

Here in ABQ, our community is perfect for the kids to run around in and play without worry. Although it is not a gated community, it is fairly enclosed with no traffic driving through on their way to other places. The streets have sidewalks and streetlights, little to no traffic for hours on end, and lots of places for the kids to play and explore. There are parks and playgrounds, hills and paths, and plenty of neat stuff in between. O and E have been enjoying exploring the area and making friends while they are at it.

Speaking of friends, they both had sleepovers last night. O had his friend 'I' spend the night, and E went to her friend C's house. Luckily for us, I and C are brother and sister, so the four of them can get along as well. They all stayed up late, slept in, and are now going in and out of both houses and through the neighborhood riding bikes and in general being kids.

I am so happy to see my kids have parts of their childhood be as carefree as mine was. I love seeing them ride off on their bikes and come home an hour later dirty and happy. I like hearing their voices and their friends' voices calling through the house, and knowing that they are enjoying their new lives here in Duke City.

Geeks R Us

As many of you know, Nate and I are a bit nerdish. He is more nerdy than I, of course. But our geekiness has been something that we have embraced and even worked hard to pass on to our children. It appears that in the case of our oldest son, O, we may have been a bit more successful than we had anticipated. Not only did O try out for band and get accepted, but his instrument of choice is the Baritone. I suppose it could have been worse- it could have been the tuba.

Retraction on What Sucks the Most

I was rather ecstatic yesterday to learn that Albuquerque is getting their very own Sephora store! In fact, it opens tomorrow at the mall that is conveniently located across the way from M's school. How did I get so lucky?! I drive by there at least 3 times a week, so popping in whenever I feel like it will be so easy. I am so thrilled that I have a beloved Sephora to shop at- words can not do my excitement justice.

And of course, this now opens up the slot for what sucks the most about ABQ. As of right now I do not have anything to put in that spot, but I am sure I will come up with something. Ha.

Update on E's Eyes

Real quick- she does not need glasses! Her vision is off a touch, but not bad enough to merit glasses for even part-time usage, especially since she has no trouble seeing. E was quite relieved to learn that she does not need to join her Dad and older brother in the four-eyed club. At least not yet. ;)

Crazy Wednesdays

With three kids in three different schools, my daily schedule can be a bit cluttered. Wednesdays, though, take the cake. I spend a lot of time in the car on this day of the week, dropping off and picking up kids from all over the city. Here's what each of their schedules for the day looks like:

O- Starts school at 8:10am, gets out at 2:45pm.
E- Starts school at 8:45am, gets out at 12:30pm.
M- Starts school at 9:30am, gets out at 1:00pm.

As you can see, this makes for a crazy Wednesday! Luckily, Nate takes O and M to school in the morning. M goes into early care at 8:30am instead of us waiting until 9:30 to drop her off. All I have to do is drop off E at 8:45, and then I have a few hours with G to relax or run errands. Then at 12:15 we leave to pick up E, then drive straight over to get M. Back home until 2:20 when we head out for O, and then back home again.

Today we have an extra trip out: E is going to the eye doctor for an exam. She failed her distance screening at school again, this time worse than the last. She does not, however, have trouble seeing the board at school despite sitting completely in the back. So she may not need glasses until she is driving, or if she plays sports and needs to see the ball on the other end of the court/field. Her appointment is at 4:15pm today and I will post a quick update once we get back. If I have any energy left from my crazy day, that is.