SF Moms

speaking of cookies

2009-01-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

evie and i have been enjoying sesame street videos on youtube. hours of fun to be found. here are a few favorites to enjoy.

evie's current favorite:

making christmas cookies

2008-12-19T15:33:00.001-08:00

lots of work to be done
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

another lovely friday for the kids. this time spent making christmas cookies. click on the pic to see more shots from the day.

yay! goats.

2008-11-17T09:27:00.001-08:00

DSCF3508
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

last friday was gorgeous, so we all piled in and headed to the hidden villa in the los altos hills. the girls enjoyed checking out the goats, even if karen was slightly nervous about goat bites!

friday at the park

2008-11-08T14:12:00.001-08:00

marion & lucie
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

spinning on the carousel, climbing, sliding. and warm sunny weather to boot. another great friday at the golden gate park playground!

mmmm. candy!

2008-11-02T21:38:00.001-08:00

DSCF3408
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

harvard class of 2029?

jam session

2008-10-28T11:56:00.001-07:00

jam session
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

evie, charli and inara play a special song for sahana's 30th birthday at the bay area discovery museum.

chilling after the museum

2008-10-23T10:58:00.001-07:00

DSCF3290
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

evie didn't want to stay put for this photo, but the girls were hanging out in the sculpture garden behind the deyoung cafe, after an afternoon of fun at the academy of sciences.

strictly fun

2008-10-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

it was another fun year at the hardly strictly bluegrass festival. the girls seemed to have even more fun this year, you know, being able to stand up and all.

lots more great photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcampioni/sets/72157607726874414/

friday, october 3rd

2008-09-17T19:32:00.001-07:00

hi ladies,

this is an early call for folks to make the first day of the hardly
strictly bluegrass an annual tradition. mark your calendars.

the festival starts on friday, october 3rd in speedway meadow in
golden gate park. last year was a lot of fun, and i think it will be
even more fun now that we've got more walkers/dancers in the mix. if
you make it out to the show not only will you get to see alison
krauss and robert plant play together, but inexplicably you'll also
have the chance to see mc hammer. how can you let your kid miss that?

you can see this year's line-up here:

http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/

relive memories of last year's show here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcampioni/sets/72157602315327911/

hope to see you all in the park!

julie & evie

ps - the next baby loves disco is coming up on saturday, september
27th from 2-5 pm at ruby skye. any takers?

the food wars

2008-09-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

just read this interesting article in the ny times about mistakes parents make when feeding their kids.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15eat.html?em=&pagewanted=all#

celebrating charli's second

2008-09-12T19:01:00.001-07:00

DSCF2954
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

i'm going to go out on a limb and say that charli's second birthday at the bay area discovery museum was a success. i know i've got paint on all of my clothes and a smiling child.

click on any picture to see more shots from the day.

No-Knead Bread recipe

2008-08-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

ok, claudia and i have talked this recipe up, but it seems that folks don't believe us about how easy it is, so i thought i'd step you thru the recipe with pictures. the recipe was originally published in the new york times in 2006.

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours' rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour*, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon of kosher salt

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18 (i've let it go for up to 24 hours), at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes. (I turn the dough out on a silpat mat covered with flour).

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 3 to 4 quart heavy covered pot** (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under silpat and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf.

*OTHER FLOURS Up to 30 percent whole-grain flour works consistently and well, and 50 percent whole-wheat is also excellent. At least one reader used 100 percent whole-wheat and reported “great crust but somewhat inferior crumb,” which sounds promising. I’ve kept rye, which is delicious but notoriously impossible to get to rise, to about 20 percent. There is room to experiment. -- (note the "i" in the previous section is mark bittman, i like this as all white flour, or 2 cups white, 1 cup whole wheat).

**THE POT Readers have reported success with just about every available material. Note that the lid handles on Le Creuset pots can only withstand temperatures up to 400 degrees. So avoid using them, or remove the handle first. (I use a 2.5 liter corning ware casserole dish).

FLAVORINGS The best time to add caraway seeds, chopped olives, onions, cheese, walnuts, raisins or whatever other traditional bread flavorings you like is after you’ve mixed the dough. But it’s not the only time; you can fold in ingredients before the second rising.

garden party

2008-07-14T11:04:00.001-07:00

DSCF2365
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

thanks to marion and lucie for a lovely afternoon at their new home in berkeley. they put on such a spread, that i know we will be back.

good planning marion. if you can't be in the city, bring the city to you!

daddies get down

2008-06-26T08:59:00.001-07:00

some video from baby loves disco. jeff and ben get down with the girls.

beating the heat? not exactly.

2008-06-23T10:48:00.001-07:00

mommies and babies attempted to beat the san francisco heat last friday by spending the afternoon at crissy field. unfortunately, it was a bit of a blazer there too. still, it was quite lovely.

here are some pics of the girls, edited to reduce charlie's exhibitionism!

ms. kyra slept thru the our time there, so sadly, no pics of her. click on any picture to see more shots from the day.

babies do love disco!

2008-06-23T10:39:00.001-07:00

DSCF2241
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

evie, charlie and stella rocked ruby skye on saturday afternoon.

while the entry fee ($15/person, including babies) was pretty steep, i think we got our money back in free baby legs and goldfish crackers. we probably wouldn't do this every month, but every few months (especially when it's blazing hot outside) is definitely a possibility.

oh, and we wanted to thank stella for hosting the most excellent after party!

more pics from the day are here.

calling all disco loving babies

2008-05-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

ok, i don't know about your kid, but mine is filled with the spirit of deney terrio lately, in what i can only assume is a bad case of dance fever. to help encourage this joy, i think that next month we're going to splurge and go to baby loves disco on june 21st - $15 each for baby and mommy. i'm not in love with the price, but i am in love with the idea of her just blissing out dancing.

anyone care to join us?

going old school

2008-05-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

so, i've been phasing out cleaning chemicals at my place ever since i found out i was pregnant. first i went to "earth friendly" cleaners and now i'm all the way to cleaning with baking soda and vinegar. my house can smell like a salad at times.

what does this all mean? well, first i have a box of cleaning supplies for anyone who might be interested (so let me know if you need any windex or tilex). second, i have some tips on chemical free cleaning for anyone interested in that (i bought a book).

don't worry, i promise not to evangelize!

the hostesses with the mostesses

2008-05-16T18:42:00.001-07:00

DSCF2069
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

thanks, spring and stella, for the most excellent backyard, water party on the scorching summer day!

click on the pics for many more shots of the day.

note, the pics aren't posted to the public area of flickr, so people shouldn't be venturing upon them on their own (e.g pervs). but let me know if you have concerns.

HOMELESS prenatal program donations

2008-04-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hello moms!

thank you for all those contributions
(toys, clothes, mattress, swing etc...)
- we dropped a carload off today and it felt like driving a small moving truck...
and i found marlon's old pink panther blanket in the process - he
talked up a storm - puhh, i had no idea about the memory of a one year
old - glad i found it, i had forgotten all about it.

if anyone needs closet space and has items that really only gather dust
(or will expire such as formula etc..)
please let me know - i'll organize another drop-off.

meeting with art agnos and dena from prefund

2008-04-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

thanks again to carolyn and lisa for organizing the discussion last night. for those of you who weren't able to attend, it was very interesting and informative and focussed on the work of a group of mothers in potrero hill to save their local elementary school from closure by opening a "feeder" pre-school on campus. their work was both inspiring and intimidating.

while it didn't help answer my immediate "where do i send my kid to preschool" question, it really got me thinking further down the road to elementary school, and whether public schools in san francisco can be an option for us. i feel committed to the idea of public schools, first in that i believe in them from a societal perspective, and second because i really can't figure out how my family can continue to live (and potentially grow) in san francisco without them. our options seem to be to get involved with a school and get it ready for our kids, or to move somewhere where the public schools are less of a gamble. i prefer the idea of putting a little sweat equity in - and from our discussion last night, it seems as though we need to start soon.

the org dina mentioned (parents for public schools) has a website and is having an open house this saturday morning. you can find out more here:

you can listen to sfusd board of education meetings on kalw (91.7 fm) on tuesdays at 6 pm, the next meeting is scheduled for tonight.

if anyone else has the same interests or concerns as me, i'd love to talk about how we can get involved.

What a playground

2008-04-14T15:44:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to post this one for awhile now! This was such a fantastic day... playground, then the de young. Claudia and I were wishing that our boys would sit and visit nicely like all of the girls in the group!

a GIANT thank you

2008-04-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

Just checking in to say thank you, thank you, thank you times 10 to everyone that helped Julie wrangle Brighton on Friday. It was an intense week for me and she really saved me from going insane. I was so glad to know that the big guy was with such loving Moms- I really do appreciate that we are surrounded by such wonderful families. And the pink hat was fantastic - thank you Spring, I hear that you were on it!

friday at the gg park playground

2008-04-12T07:53:00.001-07:00

DSCF1945.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

good hoofing this week as summerlike weather appeared and we walked to the gg park playground for the kids to play.

thanks to all the mom's who helped out with brighton. and an extra big thanks to stella for lending him her extra hat!

just a couple of gals at the coffee shop

2008-04-08T08:51:00.001-07:00

DSCF1883.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

they are just getting so darned big!

marlon turns 1!

2008-03-31T09:05:00.001-07:00

DSCF1835.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

much fun was had by all in celebration of marlon's first birthday. congrats to all of us for making it thru this first year!

click on the picture to see more shots from the day.

friday at the bay area discovery museum

2008-02-26T20:37:00.001-08:00

DSCF1709.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

the bay area discovery museum is a great location, with a beautiful view of the bridge from the tot space. the kids had a great time. i couldn't manage a picture with everyone smiling, but this has a decent percentage. click on the pic to see more shots from the day...

friday at the rec center

2008-01-13T21:30:00.001-08:00

DSCF1555.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

another lovely friday at the rec center. it's such a great place to get in out of the elements this time of year. we had a little quality time outside, then went inside and watched the kids all happy to be on their own. it's like magic.

click on a picture to see the full set from the day.

a few drinks at christmas

2008-01-04T21:32:00.001-08:00

DSCF1421.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

kai and marlon kicked back and enjoyed a drink together on christmas eve.

Steps and changes

2008-01-04T19:15:00.000-08:00

Inara started walking 4 weeks ago and now she's really starting to get the hang of it. It's so cute to see her upright and mobile. Also she now has 3 teeth and is working on the 4th. She also started dancing to any music, kinda swaying like a blind person and bobbing her head. So many great new changes...I really like this stage.
Also I am very happy to be in the 2nd trimester of my pregnancy. I'm 15 weeks now and in another 3 weeks we get to find out if we're having a boy or girl. I'm thinking boy....though I'd be happy either way, there are benefits to each. My belly is really starting to grow. It's weird to be going through that again.
Also we've been busy, holidays of course, then we went to Tahoe, and will be going again next weekend and then off to Maui to visit my parents at the end of the month. Then it'll be Inara's birthday. Which gets me to thinking...Do you guys want to do a group birthday party for all of our babies so we don't have to try to coordinate a million different parties. I'd be happy to host. Let me know what you think...

are you %$(&%$##% kidding me?

2007-12-12T13:37:00.000-08:00

ok, if all of these recalls aren't bad enough, merck just recalled a vaccine because of sterilization problems at one of their plants.

of course, they haven't heard of any problems to children yet, but i'm sure it's all fine cause i trust big pharma as much as i trust all of these people putting lead in our toys.

this is bloody ridiculous!

an accident? i don't think so

2007-11-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

k ladies. when do you know when those sounds they make that sound like words are intentional?

last week evie looked at mike, waved and said "hi da". we get lots of "hi's", and i've been hearing occasional "ma's". then this morning i went to pick her up from her crib, she reached for me and said "ma ma".

i decided that one was on purpose!

happy thanksgiving! we're headed to chicago later today. fingers are crossed for a smooth trip. hope you all have a special day. so much to be thankful for this year.

2007-11-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Happy November everyone. I am getting a free minute while Inara naps and there are a million things I should be doing - work, laundry, cleaning up, craft projects, reading, sleeping....and on and on. But instead I'm posting here because it's more fun.
Inara's new thing is climbing up playground equipment and going down slides. She loves the park and we try to take her everyday, but the weather is getting chilly so we can't stay too long and then she cries when we leave. She also cries when I take her out of the bath since she loves to crawl around and splash.
She's become a big fan of cats too. Luckily there are a lot of them roaming our neighborhood and we go and see them daily too.
I'm feeling less able to be energetic though and am back to taking at least one nap with her a day. I also get really nauseous if I don't eat for too long and then food sounds bad but if I just break the cycle and eat something so I can recover.
I'm 7 weeks pregnant for those who don't know. Big surprise!
Today we finally found the midwife we want, and this time we plan to have a home birth.
Ok, Inara is awake.

halloween fun-for-all

2007-11-04T14:58:00.001-08:00

DSCF1037.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

i finally got around to uploading my pics from the great halloween bash thrown by lisa, carl and kyra. much fun was had by all. click on the picture to see all the pics from the day.

babbling

2007-10-24T06:25:00.000-07:00

let me start with a welcome sahana! nice to see you here!

i just need to take a "poor me" moment to share with you all. i'm really starting to see what the big fuss was about regarding the difficulties of being a working mom. my outside job is really stressful right now, and i'm finding it difficult to find the time or energy to take care of much more at home than spending a little time with evie. as i watch stuff pile up around me, and try to figure out what i can make quickly for dinner, i long for a lotto jackpot.

evie has been a champ these past few days, sleeping until 4 or 5 in the morning before she needs to be fed (woohoo), but i'm still finding myself exhausted when i have to go to work.

pile on top of that a very unpleasant experience with the mini-pill - after one week on it, i wanted a divorce. let's just say, we stopped that. the quest for the right birth control continues.

i think i need a ladies night out. nothing wild, just a few drinks and no bills or unpacked boxes (from our move in july) in sight. any takers?

Fall is here

2007-10-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I felt yucky. I think I've hit the beginning of sick season. Last week I had a cold and yesterday a 24 hour flu-y thing (though only mildly luckily). Inara has also been kinda out of sorts the past few days - clingy, clumsy, and not pooping in the toilet. I want to say it's teething but no sign of anything yet (other than swollen gums).
The whole rain and getting dark earlier thing gets to me right at the beginning of the fall/winter but then I adjust to it, look forward to the holiday and snowboarding season.
On the positive side of things, Inara is now consistently saying Dada when Joe walks into the room. She is also wanting to eat solids twice a day suddenly. This may be in part because I switched to step 2 foods (which she loves). It also gives my milk factory a little break.
My sister took me out on Wednesday to get a manicure as an early birthday present. How nice it was to pamper myself. Yippee. That night Joe also took Inara so that I could go out dancing for my co-worker's going away party. So I'm at least getting a little of my own life back.
I also took Inara to get Halloween photos taken in her costume. The little camera ham did such a great job that it was hard to pick the 1-2 photos I liked best.
Ok, gotta eat lunch before Inara wakes from her nap.

Once loved pet becomes second fiddle

2007-10-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

So before Stella my kitties, Lefty and Luna, were my babies. Since the arrival of the kiddo, Lefty has "moved out" (small visits every couple weeks) and Luna has taken to peeing and pooping in the house about once a month!!! Now the poor girl acts attention starved and tries to jump on my lap, or get under my feet, every time I'm holding the baby. I already feel attached enough and hate to admit I get short tempered with her. Is anyone else having behavior problems with a pet? Any thoughts? I talked with the vet and they gave me the card of a behavior therapist.....sorry I'm not Hollywood enough for that one.

On a more positive note, I found some good internet dialog about keeping baby out of kitty litter. Since crawling is upon us, or the next step, I thought I was a good idea to keep mouthfuls of shit out of our future. Enjoy!

hardly strictly

2007-10-07T22:22:00.001-07:00

DSCF0948.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

it was a great friday with beautiful weather, fantastic music and a great turnout for the walk out to the hardly striclty bluegrass festival in golden gate park. it's a little early to tell how all of the second hand smoke pot smoke from the crowd (not the mommies) will effect them, but they all seemed to enjoy the show and the company.

click on the picture to see more shots from the day.

total recall

2007-10-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

ok, don't know about all of you, but i'm getting damned tired, and somewhat scared, as i read about recall after recall of children's products (today it's plush boy's rattles from target). i've already found things evie had that were recalled (the oh-so-delicious lead-laced, vinyl bibs from babies-r-us).

it's hard to keep up with all of the recalls, but i've found it useful to subscribe to the recall notification emails from the consumer product safety commission. you can sign up for all recalls, or just the ones involving infant/children's products.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx

another lovely friday

2007-09-29T20:41:00.001-07:00

first lucie and evie enjoyed going doubles on the swings...

DSCF0908.JPG
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

then the girls really seemed to enjoy our walk over to samovar :-) mom's enjoyed it even more as we found ample stroller parking for the sleeping beauties.

Organic eats for our little one's food adventures

2007-09-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Mommies,

We're back! Stella and I enjoyed our Hawaiian vacation with fellow SF mom friends Karen and Charli. All in all it was a success, no screaming on the plane and not too bad on the sunburn department. I've included a couple photos for you to enjoy. It wasn't the napping on the beach that I envisioned, but then, when do mommies get to nap??

Looking through the past blogs, I see many of us are entering the adventures of introducing solids to our kiddos. If you are planning to make your own baby food, you may find this article interesting. If not, it will be useful when you start feeding them solid fruits. It discusses which items are most important to buy organic. There is a shopping guide you can keep with you to remember while shopping.

http://foodnews.org/walletguide.php

Tonight sweet potatoes are on the menu....yum

music friday - oct. 5

2007-09-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

don't know if any of you have ever been to the hardly strictly bluegrass festival in golden gate park, but it was always something i've enjoyed. it's a FREE festival each year in speedway meadow. the sat/sun shows can get quite crowded, but there's a friday show that i think is a little more mellow (haven't been on friday, so i'm not 100% sure of this).

i'm very interested in bringing evie to the friday show this year, starting with buddy miller @ 3, followed by t-bone burnett, and if we have staying power jeff tweedy at 5:45.

just thought i'd get it out there in case anyone cared to join us!

good walk + huge meal + scary diaper = best night ever

2007-09-22T07:35:00.001-07:00

mike joined us on our mom's walk yesterday. the mom's walk turned
out to be just claudia and marlon and us, but it was quite lovely.
beautiful weather and tartine. turns out if you go there at 3 pm,
the place seems to magically clear out right about that time. quite
nice.

after the walk, we headed home and evie had her first taste of
oatmeal - much more of a hit than the rice cereal - and some sweet
potatoes. she was a very hungry girl. then quite a lot of water,
which she'll drink now if i just put a little bit of breast milk in it.

well it seems all that food and water needed to made some space in
her system... the scary diapers have arrived. that's quite a change
they take. but we all survived it (so far). it makes infant potty
training seem more attractive. i think i'll be checking out diaper free baby.

but the best news is that this all added up to the BEST NIGHT EVER!
evie went to be a little before 7 pm, and didn't wake up until 2:30
to eat. then back to sleep until after 6 am. mom & dad are very
pleased. if only we'd go to sleep when she does, we'd be well rested
now...

next help topic, getting baby to drink water

2007-09-19T18:50:00.001-07:00

well, as i've mentioned, we started evie on solids. she's supposed to start drinking water with each meal, but we've been having trouble getting her interested. finally today i heated the water a bit (we've been using room temp filtered water), and i added a little bit of breast milk. this bottle she drank.

anyone have any other ideas on how to get her more interested in water without adding breast milk?

solids begin, something important stops...

2007-09-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

ok, not sure if anyone else at all is looking at this, but if you are HELP! we started evie on solids a couple of weeks ago. so far she's had rice cereal, avocado and sweet potato. she had a few liquid diapers after we started the avocado, but things seemed to even out. but now, my daughter who has pooped every day of her life, hasn't had a poopy diaper since sunday.

how do i know if this is constipation, and if i should give her prune/pear juice? could this just be a normal change that happens when she starts solids? i'd like to avoid starting her with juice, but if she's constipated, i know i should do something to help.

any advice would be appreciated. if you're not comfortable with blog comments, you can just email me. thanks!

UPDATE: we have poopage! it's like feeling better as soon as you get to your doctors appointment...

checklist of things you thought you'd never do

2007-09-18T03:47:00.001-07:00

another fun post from "the poop". a list of all of the things you thought you'd never do as a parent. i'm especially guilty of thinking i'd never dress my daughter in pink. it's also fun to see some of the rules that i will probably be breaking in the future too.

friday walk pics

2007-09-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

last week was playing in the park and then a walk to find pie. can you believe i got coffee and a sandwich, not even noticing the wine by the glass options? must have been sleep deprivation...

here are a few pics from the "walk"

small victories and a new arrival

2007-09-06T07:59:00.001-07:00

Today marks two new milestones for Evie. She spent last night in her
crib in her own room!!!! I had to feed her twice during the night,
but all in all it was a success. Then this morning when I was
feeding her, I felt (ouch) her first tooth has finally come through.
Lots of new stuff.

A few fun photos from past Mommy "walks"

2007-09-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

Not much walking happening in these photos.

the truth about motherhood

2007-09-04T15:40:00.001-07:00

i really enjoy the poop, the parenting blog on the sfgate. there was a great post a couple of weeks back discussing the five things the author wished someone would have told her about motherhood. i especially related to the one about breastfeeding.

friday's walk to the panhandle park

2007-09-04T15:10:00.001-07:00

here are some pics of the kids on the swings at the park

first post

2007-09-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

i'm setting up a blog for my ragtag mommies group.