Pumpkin

One great thing about living where I live is that in the fall, pumpkins are very easy to find and prepare. If I had easy and affordable access to a can of Libby's pumpkin I would have never come across how easy it is to cook pumpkins.  Of course, I would totally use canned pumpkin if there was consistent, convenient, affordable access but alas, I do not.

Until then, I will enjoy the simplicity and excitement of making my own. Over here, the pumpkins aren't round like in the States, but elongated.  I go to our fruit and veggie market, affectionately known as "The Bar"** and buy a inch wide slice for literally 16 cents.  Not too shabby.

Peel the outside.  Cut or scrap out the inside.

Cut into chunks and steam (covered) for 6-8 minutes, or until a fork can easily go in.

Then mash and Voila!  You have pumpkin ready to be made into baby food or a pie or pumpkin bread or my almost famous "Autumn Applesauce".  (I recently found what's now my favorite pumpkin bread recipe - go to allrecipes.com and search Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread. It's awesome!)

Pumpkin is so easily available, I even found some on the roof of the building across the way!  I was washing dishes one day, looked out the window to find pumpkin!  It's everywhere!

Here's a closer look!

(I guess the owner of this "garden" forgot to bring in the harvest, these pumpkins aren't looking so good anymore!)

** The Bar's actual name is "The Romantic Feeling Bar".  I found out later that it's just a bad translation of something that would be considered normal over here.  Either way, the name cracks us up.  We love having it so close, it's literally a 5 min walk from our front door.  It's part produce market, part zoo. I'll post more pictures of The Bar later!

Michael, the Un-Baby

 Michael is our third son and just turned 6 months old.  Sometimes we call him "Mik-ka Moka" or "Mooka-Loka" or really any sort of gibberish that begins with the letter M.  It's funny how things you were concerned with over your first child change by the time the 3rd comes around.  Michael has the privilege of having 2 older brothers, and he thinks he's as big as they are. It also doesn't help that sometimes the "bigger boys" also think Michael is as big as they are as well. 

Sometimes I call him the "Un-Baby" because he does things most other (first born) 6 month olds don't do. But no worries, he's still safe so far!  I can give few examples but of course pictures show it best!

And yes, sometimes intervention is needed. Babies have no real need for flashlights.

He gets to chew on canons.

Chews on his brothers (don't be too sad or concerned for the other boys, if they really didn't want him chewing on their faces, they wouldn't put their faces in his face! I typically doubt the sincerity of their screams and cries and complaints of drool in their eyes.  They know what they're getting into.)

Sometimes he gets put under the pile. (Yes, that is an upside-down stuffed animal shark on top. It's about as tall as Jordan.)

He's already trying to play with their trains, and it makes them quite upset since he's still in the destruction phase! That face has guilty written all over it!

One last example, he plays with eyeballs.  Note to self: don't just ask the other boys to bring Michael a toy, try to be more specific!

Ok. I guess it's official.  I have a blog!

Off and on for awhile now, I've been thinking about starting a blog.  Then out of the blue about a month ago, Dave suggests that I start a blog. I instantly say, "no, I don't have time", "I don't know how" and the endless list of reasons not to blog come out. But the bug was planted.

This morning, Dave takes the two bigger boys out to give me a morning to myself, with the baby at home of course. I knew exactly what I would do: NAP.  I almost never nap, either I don't have the time or the opportunity but I knew, today was the day!  That's all I was thinking about while playing with Michael. I was laying on the floor with him on my tummy, we're enjoying a "fun baby moment" together. Then, he throws up all over me, my shirt, my neck, my hair, the rug underneath.  I knew it was yet another, "fun baby moment". I put him in the megasaucer and take a shower. Off he goes to bed, I excitedly get in bed myself....

And of course I can't sleep.  I say, "of course" not in a negative, bitter way but in a "how ironic" way.  Laying there, my mind drifts to what else I could do. After thinking through the many posts that I would post running through my head, it then occurs to me, today is the day!  I go to the computer, turn the coffee pot back on, and sit down.  I get on a few friends' blogs to figure out how to make my own, thinking through my first post and then it happens.  I have to think of a name!! Ah!! Right off the bat too, which makes sense, but I kind of wanted to write out 10 posts before having to come up with a name!

I don't do this well.  I have lots of words, but not always creative words.  That's Dave's department. And he's not home.

Sadly "The Daniel Family" was taken, that would have been too easy. A long time ago, I told Dave that if I were to ever blog, I could call it "Maternal Content" based on another "fun baby moment" that I will spare you the details of now. He didn't like it.  But, now that I am sitting down to start, I didn't want it either.

How do you come up with a creative name?  Lots of my friends blog and have fun names.  Cute names. Creative names. I don't want my identity to be completely about being a mom, though it's a large part of it.  Nothing about living in Asia because I want to be able to keep blogging when we move back to America. I didn't want to put something along the lines of how many people are in our family, just in case anyone else gets added in the future (no, this is not an announcement!)  I needed something that says something about me but doesn't lock me in to anything that might change.

"Words form an Extrovert" is what I decided on. Hopefully the name will only grow on me and not the reverse.  In His Sovereign loving grace, I happen to be an extremely extroverted extrovert who happens to live in a place where there aren't many Americans in my neighborhood.  And in the past, for a few years, I was with mostly introverts or what I would call, "barely extroverts".  Or extroverts that are guys. One tipping point that helped me choose to blog was thinking about this and knowing that, as a mom of 3 very small boys, living on the 5th floor in an apartment with no elevator, in the suburbs of the suburbs of a large city, in a foreign country, I have a lot of words. Words that are waiting for other adults to share them with, not so much 4 year old boys who call themselves adults, but other REAL adults.  Real adults who can feed themselves and take themselves to the bathroom.  I knew blogging would be one way to get my words out and alleviate the pain of poor unsuspecting introverts who happen to walk by my way.

Here we are.  I'm not the most eloquent.  My backgrounds might not be the best.  And even after posting this, I might want to re-type and re-post, attempt to be funny or creative later. (It's always funnier in your head.)  But for now, here is where I'll leave it.

My first post. I have officially entered the blogging world.  Yet another check mark on the list of things I said I'll never do!