I don't know what Ewan's deal has been today but he's been crazy upset when I haven't paid attention to him...or, to rephrase, wanted to do another activity while he's in the same room. I spent about 4 hours today following him around with my laptop while I worked. We played...I chased him...and rolled cars and bottles...and read books...and took him for a walk. Should be sufficient but after Amy came home he still wanted me to play with him. She comforted him and played with him until he took a nap.

After work, he was tired again, so we took a two hour nap together and afterward he was in a great mood. But, once we had dinner, he wanted to start rolling cars and bottles again...no problem. One thing he really liked is I picked up a board using it as a ramp and launched the cars off of it. He laughed and got a kick out of that. I did this for about 45-60 minutes but then I wanted to sit in the livingroom. He threw such a fit, screaming as loud as he could and did this off and on for about 30 minutes. Amy finally got up and took a bath to relax and I got out a book again which calmed him down.

And, now he's moved into the kitchen by himself and seems content for the moment...rolling a bottle. Let's hope he stays that way. Maybe he's teething again...Heh, he's back already. My little guy. Hope whatever it is passes soon.

He goes in weekly phases really...crabby for a week, angel for a week, independent for a week, needy for a week and it all starts again...

And now guess where I am. Back in the kitchen rolling a bottle.

On the pregnancy front, the test still looks pretty negative. It's still early so hopefully tomorrow or Thursday we get the positive.

Amy was inseminated last Sunday and Monday. It's way too early but we've been taking pregnancy tests anyway...and we *think* we see the faintest of lines on the test. Any line means it's positive no matter how faint but I can't tell if my brain is putting one in because I want to see it or not. We'll definitely know in the next few days. It's exciting.

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I just got several new vegan books and so far they're great:

The Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton

The 30-Minute Vegan: Over 175 Quick, Delicious, and Healthy Recipes for Everyday Cooking by Mark Reinfeld

This week I made the enchiladas from 30-minute vegan and they were delicious. Also, I've made the tasty tofu bits, banana ice-cream, and zucchini & carrot casserole.

Both books are easy to follow and the payoff has been great.

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This weekend I spent extra time rolling things with Ewan...matchbox cars, empty bottles, diaper genie roll, spices. Every time I sit in the livingroom he grabs my hand and pulls me back into the kitchen to start rolling again. I think it's surpassing his love of pouring water now.

Vegan cookbooks are exploding, lately, and I've been trying to keep up.

In the last 5 months I've gotten:

Eat, Drink & Be Vegan: Great Vegan Food for Special and Everyday Celebrations

Great Chefs Cook Vegan

Vegan Planet: 400 Irresistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World

Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-America​n Cuisine

Vegan Vittles: Down-Home Cooking for Everyone

Vive le Vegan!: Simple, Delectable Recipes for the Everyday Vegan Family

You Won't Believe It's Vegan!: 200 Recipes for Simple and Delicious Animal-Free

Prior to that, I added about 5 or 6 new books. Since I only used 3 cookbooks the first 2 years of being vegan, and now I have about 20, it's been an adventure having so much variety. (I've been vegan for 3 years this May).

The advantage to having so few cookbooks in the beginning was 1) I really got to know the recipes and books inside and out and 2) I was lucky enough to have picked excellent books so I was spoiled. The recipes were delicious, varied, and easy to follow.

I never really cooked before going vegan so I am especially grateful to my early books for helping me to build my confidence.

In case you're wondering, these were the books I loved so much:

The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen

Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine : Over 200 award-winning recipes, Dr. Jane Goodall Foreword, Third Edition

Later, I added Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Moskowitz & Romero.

So far I've loved the books by Dreena Burton (particularly Eat, Drink & Be Vegan) and, surprisingly, Great Chefs Cook Vegan. The recipes have been easy to follow (even though they can be really involved) and the outcome excellent. Vegan Planet has also been consistently great.

The others I'm still getting to know and haven't been a grand slam every time. They've involved adding more spices or me wishing I hadn't done a step.

I usually cook 2-5 new recipes a week so I'll use this blog to document the results.

Happy cooking!