Childbearing Has Stolen Their Brains

Car Seat Canopy

2012-01-27T16:54:00.005-05:00

I blinked and a month went by! It's been kinda busy around here and I have even less free time than when Bowen slept all the time. He's so sweet and smiley, though; I don't mind seeing him awake. When he was born my friend Trice made a car seat canopy for us, and it is super convenient. We already had a BundleMe for warmth, but the seat's accordion shade leaves a little to be desired in terms of cuteness. Plus, when the fabric canopy is closed it keeps germy stranger fingers out of the baby's face. Here is the tutorial Trice used, and I finally finished making this argyle/stripe one for my friend Jill who had a baby the same week as me. (We got a Hobby Lobby last year and I love it! Cutest fabric.) I traced the canopy from Trice and the Lazy Sewist in me substituted wide grosgrain ribbon + velcro for the straps instead of making fabric strips and tear-my-hair-out buttonholes. Sewing rickrack between the layers was probably the hardest part, and you could totally skip that. Trice and Jill and I are pretty partial to rickrack, though, so that was worth the effort.

Christmas

2012-01-14T15:34:00.002-05:00

We had a really fun trip to New York to spend Christmas with Steve's whole family. There were his parents, their seven "kids," six significant others, an extra mom (we're happy to include her!), three children, a cat, and two dogs including a Great Dane who would have been a good size for Olivia to have riding lessons.

I am always so impressed how laid-back my mother-in-law is while having so many people (especially kids and dogs) around.

Christmas Eve: that's all the snow we got

Making pecan pie with Grandma

Olivia is 3!

Steve's parents graciously offered to keep Olivia so we could get away, so we chose Longboat Key, Florida. We enjoyed our Bradenton Beach trip so much we thought we'd try that area again. We tried some new things like St. Armand's Circle and Sanibel Island, and revisited Tijuana Flats, and Mr. Bones Barbeque, and this lovely cafe...

Paradise: All you can eat pancakes on the beach. Even in January.

Day trip to Sanibel Island

Happy new year!

The kids had good checkups last week; Bowen is 75th percentile for height and off the chart for weight so I guess he's getting enough to eat. (With nursing I never know.) Steve was traveling for work the past two weeks so we're happy to have him home. While he was home last weekend we had some beautiful weather so we took our first family walk together.

On the docket: de-Christmas-ing the house, decluttering, moving furniture around, organizing the kitchen cabinets, working on my 2011 photo book, pondering a smart phone. Hope you're staying warm!

Looking back

2011-12-31T09:43:00.002-05:00

Jill posted a challenge (okay maybe it was an invitation, but it was challenging for me) to ponder these questions and post answers. It was a lot more fun than making resolutions.

What was one goal you accomplished in 2011?
Having another baby. Last year I didn't get what I really wanted for Christmas, but this year I am so thankful to have a sweet little boy as part of our family now. It was neat going through Christmas with a newborn, thinking about Mary changing Jesus' diapers (and being thankful that we have Pampers now) and wondering what the Messiah's birth stats were.

What is your favorite memory of 2011?
Sitting in the shallow water of Grotto Bay, Bermuda, pregnant but surprisingly buoyant.

What is your least favorite memory of 2011?
The challenges of pregnancy - constant hip pain, restless legs when trying to sleep, and heartburn. It was worth it, though, as my symptoms went away after Bowen was born.

What was the best trip you took in 2011?
Cruising the southern Caribbean, just Steve and me.

What was your favorite purchase in 2011?
A ring with a bunch of different colored sapphires set in yellow gold. I bought it while walking around downtown Frederick with my friend Sarah, but then I gave it to Steve so I'd have to wait until Christmas to wear it.

What was the best book you read in 2011?
Millionaire Next Door

What was the best movie you saw in 2011?
The Heartbreaker. It's a French romantic comedy that made me giggle. And it's filmed in Monaco, which is on our travel bucket list.

What changed about you in 2011?
Being more judicious with my time and relationships. I try to spend more one-on-one time with each of my parents and hide the FaceBook friends who drive me crazy.

What made you cry in 2011?
A lot of things make me cry, and surprisingly I didn't get the baby blues after this pregnancy, but I remember two times this year when I was absolutely sobbing. One was in the Rochester airport in June when I was trying to figure out how to salvage my trip to England. The other was during a conversation with Steve about the possibility of us moving to Sweden.

What made you scream in 2011?
My daughter, for the first month of being a big sister. She was downright nasty. She was also two. It was awful. See "verse of 2011" below.

What made you proud in 2011?
How polite, sympathetic, and friendly this same little girl normally is. If there's a child crying at the grocery store she wants to go three aisles down to give him/her a hug. She greets all the moms of her classmates at preschool. She says please and thank you. When someone comes over she opens the door and says, "So nice to see you! Take off your coat?"

What new skills did you learn in 2011?
Changing a boy diaper without getting soaked. Usually.

Best meal of 2011?
Grilled lobster tail and rum punch on a beach in Antigua.

Best drink of 2011?
A blueberry martini from Outback.

Favorite photo of 2011?

My family all together on Thanksgiving

What was your source of comfort in 2011?
The phrase, "It's just a phase."

What was your verse of 2011 and why?
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Proverbs 15:1
I'm naturally a screamer, and I have to constantly remind myself that Olivia's tone of voice tends to reflect my own and I need to be a good example.

Williamsburg

2011-12-21T15:12:00.003-05:00

Steve and I went to Colonial Williamsburg during our honeymoon (April 2000), and ever since then I've wanted to go back and see their Christmas decorations made from natural materials. Yesterday Steve took a vacation day and my parents watched Olivia, and it turned out to be quite warm for December. Our way of being tourists is to walk around and take pictures of things like architectural details.

There was plenty of interesting things to see without buying passes, and I couldn't get enough of the wreaths and garlands. My favorites were ones containing shells...

... and osage oranges

... and bittersweet.

Food highlight: Virginia ham sandwiches with tavern root beer for lunch from the Cheese Shop. As for Bowen, he slept through the whole thing but that was fine with us.

Check, check, and check

2011-12-18T23:43:00.000-05:00

My jewelry orders are shipped.
Steve is home from a week in London and Gothenburg.
We're getting over colds.
My niece and nephew's gifts are on their way.
I'm starting to wrap the other presents and put them under the tree.
I'm finally getting some Christmas cards in the mail. This is not going to be the year I start composing a Christmas letter to go inside, and I didn't manage to do photo cards this year either. I'm really enjoying everybody else's Christmas cards and letters, though!

Also?
I found peppermint icing for cookies. Helps the candy cane crumbles stick to the top.
Eggnog makes a great coffee creamer.
I love how the living room looks with just the light from our tree.

I put off designing the annual photo book until after Christmas, but I still have 16 extra things on my to-do list this week (and no school for Olivia). I may not be back to chat for a while.

Have a merry Christmas, friends!

Dentist

2011-12-15T11:20:00.000-05:00

Olivia (finally) had her first dental checkup. She tried out the tools...

...and sat still while Miss Janet cleaned her teeth.

And then we headed to Frosted Crumbs for a special treat. Sugar, of course.

Random Thoughts: Polishing shoes

2011-12-12T16:22:00.000-05:00

Do people polish their shoes any more? Or repair them when they're worn? The shoe repair place (at least the one I know of) closed down years ago. Times have changed, but when I was a kid I loved to watch my dad polish shoes. I'm sure he still has his wooden shoe-shine kit up on the shelf in his closet. He'd wrap a piece of plastic around his fingers to protect them from the polish, then wrap the cloth around that before dipping it into the can of polish. Then after polishing he'd buff the shoes and they'd look and smell so good. I digress.

After & Before

My friend in college, Cindy, taught me how to use Mink Oil on my Doc Martens, and I still have the same can and various orphan socks for applying it. I use it on Steve's work shoes, and then try not to say anything to see if he notices that the shoe-polishing fairy came for a visit.

Pepperminty

2011-12-08T17:06:00.000-05:00

Peppermint Bark from BeurreDeMonBiscuit

After Thanksgiving I tend to go on a peppermint kick. Peppermint mochas, peppermint bark (esp. Ghirardelli), coffee creamer, candy canes in hot chocolate, peppermint tea*...

I've experimented by mixing cruched starlight mints into double chocolate cookies and, more recently, brownies. But it leaves the candy component inextricably stuck to the pan (metal or glass) so my next experiment is to try sprinkling the candy on top. I watched Paula Deen make these cookies yesterday, which are baked cookies dipped in melted white chocolate and then crushed starlight mints. Mmm...

In the meantime I am thoroughly enjoying these "Rippin' Good" peppermint Oreos (found at Martins/Giant but I hear Trader Joe's makes their own as well).

*When we were in Boulder in 2003 we toured the Celestial Seasonings plant where they have to keep the peppermint in a separate room so it doesn't permeate the other ingredients. We stuck our heads in and the smell was enough to curl my nosehairs.

Capturing a moment

2011-11-30T13:59:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fun to have Bowen photographed as a newborn. You know... sleeping, scrunchy-faced, buck naked except for a silly knit hat. Google found a photographer nearby who specializes in newborns, Capture a Moment Photography, and she had an opening a week after Bowen's delivery date. Melody is so great with little ones. She cranks up the heat in the studio, plus she has a space heater nearby, so the baby slept through most of the 3-hour session.

"Why three hours?" I thought. But Melody has done this before and I haven't, and she did use up a whole morning with scene changes, patiently adjusting his arms and legs and letting him settle, propping up his arm a little more, smoothing out his scowl, adjusting the lighting, feeding the baby, changing diapers, cleaning up when we didn't use a diaper... So while Steve, Olivia, Grandma and Poppy were at school doing the Halloween parade, Bowen and I spent a quiet morning with Melody. I am thrilled with the results. Here are some (it's hard to choose)...

Headboard project

2011-11-22T07:34:00.021-05:00

Every time Steve and I stay in a hotel we comment on how luxurious it is to have a king size bed, but I didn't want to have to find a new bed to replace our queen that matches our bedroom furniture. We currently have honey-stained components, someday I hope to have room for the dark-stained suite I inherited from my grandmother, and the quandary of stain color was enough to keep the king bed tabled for years. That is, until well into this last pregnancy when sleeping was difficult and we decided a new mattress might help. We had already gotten a box spring alternative that converts from queen to king and minimizes lateral movement (I did a lot of flopping around while pregnant), so all we needed was the mattress. Every mattress at the store felt so comfortable to me, so Steve picked one out and I found new bedding and then I saw this tutorial reposted on CraftGossip. An upholstered headboard - brilliant! And nailhead trim! Swoon. Here is the inspiration piece...

And here is the one my Dad and I made...

Rather than use heavy plywood I started with a hollow-core door from Lowes, which happens to be the same size as a king mattress. I found the fabric in the red tag section of Jo-Ann, and we used a nailhead trim kit to make an even line. The whole thing cost less than $100 and took maybe an hour to make and hang (with Hercules hooks). I finally feel like our bedroom is decorated, and the bed got even more comfortable after Bowen was born.

November trees

2011-11-21T19:25:00.001-05:00

It's a chilly, drizzly day but miserable weather can be beautiful...

I love seeing the "bones" of trees once the leaves are gone, and there's something about fog that just adds to the appeal.

This is my town

2011-11-20T17:01:00.001-05:00

Just because we's Frednecks don't mean we ain't clever.

(I realize Strasburg is in Shenandoah Co., but this truck was spotted in Frederick County so I'm counting it.)

First haircut

2011-11-19T16:53:00.000-05:00

Mommy was sad to see the curls get cut off

Checking myself out in the mirror

"...has graduated from babyhood"

Ginger Chews

2011-11-17T15:23:00.002-05:00

'Tis the season for Ginger Chews. I only make these in the fall because I want to keep them special, but oh how I love them! I made a pan by scratch on Tuesday for our community group dinner, and then decided there's gotta be a faster way. I got a pouch of molasses cookie mix, mixed it as directed (using a pastry blender and much elbow grease) and pressed it into an 8" pan. Bake this for 25 minutes, allow to cool before cutting. The center is gooey like brownies so if that skeeves you out you can bake 5 minutes longer.

What? What baby? Oh, him. He's been asleep all month, which has made for some great snuggling. Things are going better with Olivia although she's still 2-going-on-3. She's napping consistently again, thanks to her daily Dum-Dum ~~bribe~~ incentive.

Olivia loves Bowen, loves to touch and kiss and hug him. Bowen gets up just once during the night, which is awesome. We're starting to see more of his eyes being open, too. I'll post more pictures soon from his newborn photography session. Here he is in the cute little aviator hat my friend Lori sent.

Okay, my time is ticking away and both kids are sleeping (!!!), so I'm going to get some work done. Happy Thanksgiving and I wish safe travels for you all!

Rawr

2011-10-31T20:43:00.001-04:00

Until Olivia is old enough to appreciate creativity and handiwork, I am totally fine with purchasing Halloween costumes with minimal effort. This year she's a lion -- thank you, Jo-Ann Fabrics and your pre-made costume section. (Note to self: Try costume on child while there are still a variety of sizes left in stock.)

Preschool parade with Poppy

Preschool class

It wasn't until Olivia was on the way to school on Friday that I realized a blue-and-white striped scarf would have made the perfect accessory. Now I have two years to knit one before Bowen is a lion for Halloween.

We are... Penn State!

Friday night we partook in our first trick-or-treat at the mall. I should have known when I saw the *full parking lot* what a zoo it would be inside. There was a line of characters snaking the entire length of the mall, patiently waiting for a turn to collect candy at each store.

What do you say?

Olivia wanted to hold all the candy in her hands; didn't trust that sneaky Jack-o'-Lantern bucket.

And tonight our little lion had a black nose and whiskers...

Rawr!

Hope you had a fun Halloween! Don't forget to take taxes out of your kids' stash while they're in bed.

Nursing

2011-10-30T21:30:00.008-04:00

Nursing didn't go so well with Olivia and me, so I worked myself into a panic in anticipation of nursing Bowen. All I could think about was the pain, even though I know many people don't encounter the cracking and bleeding and shooting pain in their armpits and plugged ducts and whatnot. Not to mention the loneliness of being the sole provider during the graveyard shift and the social awkwardness of anything boob-related in public. But I was determined to give it my best, if only for the antibodies. I read up on breastfeeding before Bowen was born, and Amalah/AlphaMom's pages like this, this, and this were really helpful. Things like knowing that babies are born to suck but have to be taught how to latch properly, and ways to boost supply. Good stuff.

Bowen was born on a Friday, so the lactation consultant (LC) stopped by before her weekend, while I was still hopped up on morphine and blubbering through tears when sharing my nursing fears with my nurse (Hi, Jennifer Pifer, you are awesome). When it was time for Bowen to nurse I was all thumbs and he was this sleepy, flopsy thing who couldn't care less if he ate. The LC helped me position him properly, although I had to wonder if I really needed three pillows every time he nursed. But we had all weekend to practice and on Monday morning the LC came back, things looked good, and we got discharged (read: sent home to go it alone). Steve went to the local compounding pharmacy to get APNO after getting quizzical looks when I asked for a Rx from three different doctors, and I really think the ointment was helpful. I took Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle to boost my supply when my milk came in (and felt super crunchy taking herbals, but "Blessed Thistle!" is my new swear word so it's okay.) And even when I am super tired in the middle of the night I make sure we have a good (as best I could tell) latch. And at the risk of jinxing things, I'm here to tell you it's possible to nurse without scabs. Praise God! It's still lonely being the only one who can feed Bowen (and he's still so sleepy it takes 45 minutes each time because I have to mess with him to keep him awake), but I dislike pumping even more. The pediatrician said a good time to introduce a bottle is around 2-3 weeks of age, so our plan is to try supplementing with formula sometime in there. In the meantime Steve gets up during the night to hold Bowen if he cries and it hasn't been very long since the previous feeding. Super helpul is my man!

[Don't get me started on how great Steve has been with Olivia. Our formerly-sweet little girl is adjusting to life outside the center of the universe, now constantly testing boundaries, refusing naps, being uncooperative, and being contrary for the sake of attention. It is really hard for me to know whether to extend an extra measure of grace or if that's letting her walk all over me. And Grandma & Poppy are back in New York after their weekend visit and Steve is back at work now so she's not going to have as much attention. Feel free to send advice my way, anne2819@yahoo.com.]

I digress... Even if I am properly covered up, I still have a hard time breastfeeding in front of people who aren't medical personnel or close friends. Nevertheless I am working on a nursing cover using supplies I already had (the dream of every pack rat) and this tutorial, but I lined it and put the D-rings on the other strap so the tail goes down. Why did I wait until after Bowen was born to do this? Procrastination, mainly (I'm not a nester), plus I wanted to make sure nursing would "take" before putting the effort into sewing something. I decided to make it from fabric that I liked instead of "boy baby" fabric. It's the little things that help make this nursing thing more fun, and I love purple, pink, and orange together.

The first few days

2011-10-23T22:30:00.000-04:00

Welcome, little one

2011-10-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

Our precious little boy, Bowen Elliott, was born yesterday morning at 9:40 weighing 9 lbs 6 oz and measuring 22 inches long. Bowen and I are both doing well, Steve is super helpful, and Olivia is doing great with Grandma and PaPa this weekend. I love how soft Bowen's scalp is, and his furry little seashell ears. Just loving this little one and enjoying the steady stream of visitors!

A little about his name...

Yep, it's different. Bowen is not even in the top 1,000 for any time period, which may explain why I got quizzical looks when I tested it out on unassuming strangers like the old guy bagging my groceries.
I like last names for boys, and Bowen was originally a surname as with Capt. Jeff Bowen, an Asheville NC firefighter who was killed in the line of duty right before we were there this summer.
I first heard Bowen used as a given name years ago and kinda tucked it away. So thank you to our pastor in Delaware, S. Bowen Matthews, a wise and gentle man.
Friends of ours had a nephew named Bowen, who was born in April this year and lost a short, heartbreaking battle with PKD. (Full story here.) Hearing his story cemented the name on our short list.
My dad, who is a retired airline pilot with a lingering Tidewater Virginia accent, pronounces it "Boeing," which I think is funny. He can't not put a "g" at the end.
We're not going to use the nickname Bo. His name is Bowen, thankyouverymuch.
My grandfather was named Elliott, so that's where we got the middle name and its spelling.

Big Girl

2011-09-28T09:53:00.001-04:00

Steve and I painted the walls in Olivia's new room after I finally decided to put the color on the walls and paint all her furniture antique white. As much as I loved the old green dresser, I like it even more now.

And I love how the light paint brings out the detailing in her headboard as well.

Furniture? Check. Mattress? Check. We've been letting Olivia peek in at her room as it progresses, and she was excited, wanting to show everyone who came to the house. She helped me make the bed, and we sat on it a little and talked about it. I love that Olivia is a good sleeper and has only climbed out of her crib twice, but I was still ready to move the crib to Olivia's new room and use a bassinett for the baby. Except the crib doesn't fit through the doorway and so presented a logistical challenge. Steve was in England last week, so I used that as a procrastination tactic despite the looming deadline since I've heard horror stories about kids adjusting to the Big Kid Bed. I was expecting her to play and talk really late at night and wander around and get up super early in the morning, which made me want to keep her in the crib as long as possible. Finally over the weekend we decided to just try it to see how it goes. In a word: anticlimactic. Olivia sleeps the same amount in the big girl bed, even at naptime (which shocks me). She's under strict orders not to get out of bed by herself, and she has a magazine on her bedside table to read when she wakes up. I fully expect this to change because it seems too good to be true, but we're enjoying it for now!

Sisterhood

2011-09-27T08:05:00.000-04:00

Not me

Childbearing is a sisterhood in and of itself -- getting advice, comparing stories, venting, cheering, consoling, rejoicing. And now I am part of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Maternity Jeans. There is a certain pair by Liz Lange (for Target) that has made the rounds at our church, including Dunie, Meghan, Courtney, and now me. We are not all the same shape and height, so it is kind of magical and fun knowing that all these wonderful women wore these jeans while gestating. And I'm excited to pass them on (soon!) to someone else with a tiny peanut in her tummy.

Remembering

2011-09-11T21:02:00.000-04:00

It has been ten years. I'm already starting to forget some of the details of September 11, 2001, so here's my story.

Steve and I had been married a year and a half, and he was halfway through his PhD program at Penn State University. My high school class had just had its 5-year reunion, and I remember being jealous of my classmates with flashy jobs in NYC. I was working for a small company doing medical credentials verification, but on September 10 (the day before) the company went through a round of layoffs so I was sleeping in at home on this particular Tuesday morning. Steve called from the lab to ask me if I had heard what was happening, and I had no idea. I turned on the TV and the cable was out, so I turned on the clock radio to hear one of my morning show guys saying, "There it goes, the South tower is falling." I used our dial-up modem to pull up CNN's website, which I rarely followed before then. At some point the cable came back on and I was able to watch the footage on TV. I was suddenly un-jealous of my New Yorker friends and it made me appreciate living in rural Pennsylvania. Yes, then the news broke about Flight 93 crashing nearby in Somerset County and I remember watching the map showing the locations of the rest of the airborne planes. The best way to describe my general feeling is numb as I sat on our futon and watched the footage all day. I don't remember crying, although I probably did. I still tear up when I hear the many accounts of bravery and heroism. I remember making phone calls and hearing, "All circuits are busy," as people checked in with their loved ones. I remember feeling horrified watching footage of people jumping from the towers. I don't remember being scared, partly because we were living out in the middle of nowhere (away from potential targets), but also because I believe in a God who is sovereign, who was and is in control of the situation despite it seeming like chaos. I do still feel nervous when I'm in DC and see low-flying airliners near the Mall (landing dutifully at Reagan airport).

I remember the immediate outpouring of patriotism, American flags everywhere - on cars, on bridges, on crane hooks, everywhere. Signs saying "God Bless America" were also prevalent, but also a church in Berkeley Springs, WV who put "Bless God, America" on their sign. The weekend following September 11 we drove down to visit my parents in Virginia, joined by my second cousin, Susan, who was living in the District, working as an aide to the Senate minority leader at the time. It was a pretty snazzy position on paper, but after being evacuated on (and probably living in fear after) 9/11, and then having to evacuate and go on antibiotics during the anthrax attacks a week later, I think she and her husband are happy being farmers in Minnesota now. Gradually the car flags grew tattered, the red ink on flag magnets faded, and people went back to their state of normalcy, as suggested by our president. Plenty has changed since 2001, especially in the airline industry. (Remember greeting arriving passengers at the gate?) Life goes on, but we will never forget.

33 weeks

2011-09-10T13:30:00.004-04:00

This baby, little Sven Torsten...
... is approximately the size/weight of a pineapple (without the top, I presume). At my bi-weekly OB appointments he's measuring right on track, and his heart rate and my BP are good.
... gets hiccups at least once a day.
... is very busy in there, just like his sister was. Sometimes it feels like he's doing the Fighting Irish arm dance, but Steve thinks it's probably one-armed push-ups like the Nittany Lion.
... is scheduled for delivery Friday, October 21, which is 6 weeks away. Sometimes that seems like a small eternity, and other days I feel like I don't have enough time left. Go time!

I realize I haven't shared a whole lot about my pregnancy this time around, mostly because I haven't had the time to fixate upon it and share every nuance and difference compared to the first one. The other part of the reason is because Mama always said if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. So I will share the nice things... A couple of the symptoms (cankles and round ligament pain) that plagued me last time have yet to make an appearance this time. I realize I probably jinxed it by saying that, but if they start now it's still an improvement over last time. I've been having Braxton-Hicks contractions, and it makes me wonder if I had been feeling them last time and just not realizing it. At 39 weeks I wrote, "The baby pushes on the low anterior part of the entourage to the point where I have to practice my breathing exercises," which sounds like what I think I'm having now, tightness in my lower abdomen. I also reported (starting at 33 weeks) "arthritic hips," which I don't remember but has become my biggest malady this time. Since June if I walk/bike/do the elliptical or even stroll for an extended period I have so much hip pain, and Tylenol doesn't cut it. at. all. I finally got a referral for PT after learning this may be an alignment issue and not just the work of progesterone loosening my joints/ligaments. I miss being able to take walks with my family, especially now as the weather gets cooler. I have been lifting at the gym, but now that makes me sore as well. Thinking twice before getting something off the floor or from the basement pantry is making me feel downright slovenly.

Okay, enough complaining. Yay for fall!

Big Girl Room Preview

2011-09-04T15:26:00.019-04:00

When I was pregnant the first time I wanted to keep the nursery neutral so we wouldn't have to redecorate if we had a boy after Olivia. And (we think) we're having a boy after Olivia, so the planning paid off and we just need a picture to replace her paisley one. In the room next door Steve's home office has moved out and we're creating Olivia's big girl room. (Much more fun for me than decorating a nursery.) I've gone back and forth on how to do this. I don't want anything too juvenile (i.e. princesses) that will have to be redecorated in a few years. I'm not really into themes (i.e. princesses) because I get tired of them. I don't want pink or purple because there's enough of that in her clothing and toys. And until she's old enough to care, I generally don't ask what she wants. (I know that sounds awful, but if you've been privy to our pre-lunch conversations you'd understand. "Do you want a peanut butter sandwich or grilled cheese?" "Grilled cheese." And 3 minutes later... "No, I don't want grilled cheese!" And then I get out the PB... "I want grilled cheese!")

When Steve was in grad school something we enjoyed doing in our precious spare time was poking around the antiques stores the towns around State College. We couldn't paint the walls in our apartment (or replace the awful brown carpet), but we could buy furniture. This dresser was one of our early aquisitions, and although it needs to be touched up I still love the color. It has been living, largely unused in our guest room because it fit well, then my mom suggested we put it in Olivia's room. It has carved wooden bows in the upper corners, so that makes it even more appropriate.

I'm not a huge fan of matchy-matchy furniture sets, although I like this blue vanity, so I planned to paint different pieces of furniture different colors in this palette from Pottery Barn.

Green dresser, blue* bedside table, maybe a stormy purple headboard, and off-white walls. (Although I hated having off-white walls growing up. Sure, the living room was blue, sewing room apple green, and my parent's room was ~~pink~~ peach, but everywhere else was Navajo White or wallpaper.) *This grayed teal reminds me of the mountains... swoon.

I scoured thrift stores and for $50 found this bedside table (manufactured the same year I was born)...

...and this headboard.

I apologize to those of you who equate painting over stained wood with killing a baby deer, but this is a girl's room and I think dark wood is either dated or too sophisticated for that. So this week during OJ's naptimes I've been priming and painting. One more hint of what's to come...

Are you at all surprised? I love birds. And my friends would say I'm nesting, but I call this GO TIME! If I don't get things done now they'll never get done after the baby comes (7 more weeks). I still need to paint the walls, but after that I'll show you the Big Girl Room.

Happy birthday to our first baby

2011-08-26T20:55:00.080-04:00

Riley is eight!

8 weeks old, October 2003

It doesn't seem that long ago that she looked like the Poky Little Puppy.

Ever since she was about 10 weeks old she has insisted on leading the pack if we're walking. Not poky at all.

It's true what people say about having a dog (especially a puppy) gets you ready for having kids. The shift of focus & responsibility from self to another, helpless being. Poo immunity. Remembering to feed, water, walk, take to the doctor, arrange for a sitter.

I'm starting to notice more gray on Riley's face, which makes me sad, but she's in great health and still as sweet as ever.

When Steve goes running without her, she howls like a hound dog. (She's a German Shorthaired Pointer) The neighbors at the cabin said she'd do the same thing when we'd go to Asheville for the morning. Good thing they thought it was funny.

She LOVES to swim in the pond, but won't have anything to do with a body of water the size of, say, a bathtub or kiddie pool (except stealing a drink when nobody's around).

She patrols the yard all day long to protect us from invasion by squirrels or rabbits. Or kids on skateboards.

She loves to play fetch with a tennis ball, but no other toy.

She curls up in a ball to sleep on the sofa next to us when it gets dark outside.

Riley doesn't love Olivia, it's more like a curious tolerance. Riley will fetch a ball if Olivia throws it, but if Olivia walks up to Riley to pet her, Riley just dips her head in submission and runs away as soon as the petting ends. (To Riley's credit, Olivia hasn't always been the gentlest person.)

We love you, Riley!

Water fun

2011-08-20T08:25:00.000-04:00

After unsuccessfully looking for a water table at yard sales this summer, I found one on clearance at Wegmans. Olivia loves it! A theme to her patio play this summer has been moving water from one container to another...

Fill the watering can, pour it into the sand pail, then into the dump truck.

And now the supply chain includes dumping that into the water table. Good, clean fun. Sometimes she paints with water and an old paintbrush on the sidewalk. No cleanup. We haven't even been to the local pool this season, mostly because it's only open in the afternoons (naptime), but also because we have found enough fun here at home. Our friends Sarah and Catie visited us last week, and the girls played in the sprinkler.

Note the grass and leaves, indicative of how hot and dry it has been. It has been great to have thunderstorms rolling through this week to cool things off and give our plants a drink. I'm ready for fall!

County fair

2011-08-19T22:15:00.006-04:00

We skipped our county fair this year because it was over 100 degrees out. This week is the fair for the next county over, so we joined our friends Mary and Preston to pet some animals and get fresh kettle corn. I wish I had been taking video of Olivia feeding the Holstein calf... and her resulting belly laughs. Check out that tongue!

One of my favorite books as a kid was about a duckling named Henry, and another about a lamb named Timothy. I have a business idea: a baby animal lease program, where members could enjoy the cuteness of a chick/puppy/calf/cub/joey as long as they want without having to worry about what they're going to do when it becomes an adult. Just trade it in for a baby monkey or something. I digress. The ducklings were my fave at the fair...

And I love the softness of a horse's nose. Olivia had so much fun seeing (and feeding) all the animals. We'll practice flat-palm feeding before next summer, but fortunately the ones we fed were very gentle.

Peach season

2011-08-13T20:43:00.001-04:00

Today we went to Marker-Miller Orchard's peach festival. Homade peach yogurt, cider donuts, BBQ smoking on-site... it's like a Country Time lemonade commercial.

And a M-M festival wouldn't be complete without the cow train!

I came home with a half-peck of seconds (about 20 peaches for $4), all of which were totally fine except for a small spot or non-prizewinning size. Peach crisp is cooling on the counter right now! Earlier I made peach frozen yogurt. Frozen yogurt is really just that: yogurt that is frozen. Dump plain Greek yogurt (plus a little milk or plain regular yogurt to thin it out) into your ice cream maker, add mix-ins, and voila. Why did I think making fro-yo had to be harder than it is? Okay, I do not peel my peaches or keep vanilla-infused sugar in my pantry, but I substituted sugar + vanilla bean paste with no problem (and I still get the visible vanilla seeds which psychologically ups the yum factor). Using yogurt instead of cream does give it a tartness/bite, but the sweetness of the peach mixture balances that out. I imagine it tastes much like buttermilk-peach ice cream. Hmmm....

Rag curls

2011-08-07T20:53:00.000-04:00

My mom came over for lunch recently, on one of the days when it was over 100 outside. What I normally do with Olivia's hair on a day like that is put it up in two ponytails - one for the bangs and another for the rest. It's easy, it keeps the hair off her neck, and she leaves it alone. But there were some little hair clips sitting on the counter, and while I was fixing lunch Mom created this.

Mom said she and her sister (Hi, Ruth!) used to do this with rags because there weren't fun hair accessories back then. Here's a tutorial (Thanks, Google). I seem to remember a different story about them ironing their hair, too. Like, with the clothing iron because there were no flat irons. And I want to say I remember another story about sleeping with hair wrapped around something like orange juice cans to get a great flip, but that may have been Rosemary and Judy.

After naptime the clips had mysteriously disappeared, and this wasn't the first time. One day I'm going to find a cache of hair accessories stuffed in Olivia's mattress or in the wall behind the giraffe picture above her bed, Shawshank-style.

Speaking of naps, Olivia is back to her old schedule (whew!). Of course, that probably just jinxed it but I wanted to give her credit.

Carolina on my mind

2011-08-06T20:41:00.001-04:00

We spent this past week at the cabin in western North Carolina. I never get tired of this view, all the layers...

We poked around Asheville, trying some new restaurants and revisiting favorite spots...

Liquid Truffles at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge

Olivia loved hanging out at the pond. "We go swimming after ze nap, okay?"

All of our trips lately have been fun, but I think I'm ready to put away my suitcase for a while.

Bermudiful

2011-07-25T09:45:00.001-04:00

Steve and I spent the weekend in Bermuda, and it was wonderful. 15 degrees cooler (85°) than it was at home (101°), surrounded by turquoise water and white-roofed buildings wherever we went, and the people we met (mostly cabbies) were so cheerful and friendly.

Why Bermuda for a weekend? It started when Steve talked to customer service with the airline involved in our England trip, and they offered us flight vouchers. DC is not their hub, so the options were places like Charlotte, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. Or Bermuda. And the only non-stop Bermuda flights this airline offers are on the weekend, so we stayed over in DC on Friday night, flew (2 hours) on Saturday morning, and flew back on Sunday. Each time we go to Bermuda we stay somewhere different, and this time we chose a resort on a bay. (No waves = sit in the water with my virgin pina colada and no belly weight). We left Olivia home with Grandma and Papa, and it was SO nice to be able to relax on the beach all afternoon and then go for a long, late dinner at a British-style brewpub.

Cheers!

Grotto (cave) on site

The view from our balcony

Out of all the islands we've visited, Bermuda is definitely our favorite.

Mini Blackberry Pies

2011-07-21T12:53:00.002-04:00

It's blackberry season here and I love to pick berries, so my mom and I went to the local orchard to pick some. I love pie, mostly because I love my crust recipe and the filling is just an excuse to eat pie crust. It seems my berry pies always end up a soggy mess once they are cut, though, so I looked around online and talked to my friend Rosemary, and decided to try tapioca as a binder (1/4c to 4c berries) this time. I also came across the concept of mini pies. I rolled out the dough and cut 6" circles, forming little bottom crusts in the wells of a jumbo muffin tin, then used the scraps to make lattice tops. The regular recipe says to bake at 425 for 15 minutes and then 375 for 20-25 minutes. Since these were small I checked at 10-minute increments and lost track of the total time. The results were rather deep-dish, which yielded a pleasant crust-to-filling ratio, not soupy at all (perhaps too stiff even?). Next time I'll try to roll the crust a little thinner, add slightly less tapioca, and maybe even make a mixed batch of mini pies; some blackberry and some peach.

Beach Week

2011-07-16T17:03:00.000-04:00

Olivia loves her sandbox, so when choosing our summer vacation destination we figured it would be a good year to do the beach. We'd only been to NC beaches before (Duck, Sunset Beach), so we decided to check out Ocean City, Maryland because it's much closer. Plus it's just the three of us so we wanted a place with condo options. Olivia did indeed love the beach; she would dig in the sand and play in the water with Steve all morning and nap all afternoon.

Sometimes we'd do the pool after dinner and have to drag her out even though she was shivering.

We found lots of great restaurants, mostly over the border in Delaware (closer & less crowded).
Favorite meal: Brunch at Harpoon Hannah's: Eggs Neptune (Eggs Benedict + jumbo lump crabmeat) and coconut muffins. Oh, and the ribs from Nick's. And the spicy short ribs (and birch beer) at Dogfish Head. And the pizza from Mancini's. Okay, I love food. And we were usually hungry by the time Olivia woke up, so we got to beat the dinner rush. One night we just ate on the boardwalk: Thrasher's fries, Fischer's popcorn, Dumser's ice cream... all so good! Plus we got to see my pal Cheryl and her family, who were staying at Bethany Beach the same week.

One morning we took a break from the beach to drive down to Assateague. I've wanted to go there ever since reading Misty of Chincoteague as a kid, and we did see some wild ponies.

We drove around the peninsula and considered going to Tangier Island from Crisfield, but the boat schedule didn't jive with ours. I never thought I'd be "that mom" who plans life around my kid's naps, but I am.

Looking at the jellyfish

I loved seeing the sunsets over the bay, too. Another natural thing of beauty was the Delaware Seashore State Park which, if you're an OBX person, is a lot like driving from Duck up to Corolla -- ocean on one side, sound on the other, nothing else but sand dunes.

We had a great week at the beach!

Granola

2011-07-08T14:00:00.000-04:00

I've blogged about making granola before, but I have a new twist...

I put together a batch of trail mix (this time granola+Craisins+chocolate chips) for the car ride to New York. I figured if Olivia and I were off on our eating schedule I could snack on the go, so I had it on the passenger's seat, safely in the air conditioning, or so I thought. As the day progressed I kept getting more chocolate on my hands until I gave up and stopped eating it lest I end up with chocolate on my clothes or on the car seats. (I opted for cloth seats this time so it won't stick to my legs in the summer.) And when we got to NY I left the bag of granola in the car (mostly because my MIL always has cookies on hand for snacking, it's so great). Since the weather was cool and beautiful the chocolate chips solidified, forming clumps of granola for me to enjoy on the drive home. Added bonus: Clumps make it easier to get in my mouth while driving, so less searching for crumbs.

So I figured I must try making clumpy granola on purpose. After a couple rounds of making granola and then microwaving it with chocolate chips, I had the duh-moment of adding the chips to the ingredients before baking since the temp is so low and I don't stir my granola while baking. Here is my latest version of Alton Brown's recipe:

Anne's Granola

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup sliced/slivered almonds

3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup raisins or Craisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Measure out coconut oil with metal measuring cup and place in heatproof small bowl in oven. (Coconut oil is solid at room temperature.)
In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, flaked coconut, brown sugar, chocolate chips, and raisins/Craisins.
Once coconut oil is mostly melted, pull the small bowl out of the oven, dump the oil from the measuring cup into the bowl, and mix in the maple syrup, oil, and salt.
Combine both mixtures and pour onto a sheet pan with sides. Cook for an hour and 15 minutes.
Allow to cool completely (I let mine sit overnight).

Burger me (again)

2011-07-06T13:47:00.000-04:00

I could watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives for hours on end, or at least until I get hungry and seriously consider installing a flat-top in the kitchen. I love the kind of hamburgers where they take a ball of fresh ground beef and smash it on the griddle with a huge spatula. Jake's (Del.) makes them this way and I miss being able to go there. So Steve and I experimented with making burger patties uniformly so they didn't fall apart on the gas grill. They were good, but not amazing. Same with our sliders (which I took photos of but never blogged about, and I don't care about dangling prepositions). A year went by and another grilling holiday was approaching when Steve decided that he wanted to make burgers. He grills a mouthwatering steak so that's what we usually have since our experience with backyard burgers is that they're inevitably dry, too thick in the center, shrink up too much, or a combination thereof. Golf balls. When Steve started talking about making thick burgers I remembered something I picked up recently from watching Cooking Channel/Food Network: Bobby Flay forms his (sausage) patties with an indentation in the middle to combat burgers' (even those pre-formed from the store) tendency to get too thick in the center. This time we went with 80/20 ground beef and the same seasonings: L&P Worcestershire + Lawry's seasoned salt and oh. my. golly. Turns out my husband has a gift for burgers. We had more the next night, too.

4th of July with my folks. Ready to eat!

Mini cupcake for the little one

Rain chased us inside for dessert, but cleared out in time to watch fireworks. Olivia hopped from lap to lap saying, "That was a good one!"

Also over the weekend we got to see our friends Dave & Sarah. I met Sarah freshman year in college and we'd get together while I was visiting my brother in Florida, and then Kentucky. Now they live in Maryland, just an hour away, and I couldn't be more thrilled! Their daughter Catie is adorable and so pleasant and of course I have no photos to share, but here are some others...

Cow Train at Marker-Miller Orchard
(also Rachel & her kids and Anne-Marie's MIL & daughter Jordyn)
There was a dog riding in the cow in front of Olivia

Helping Daddy water the grass

Staying cool

New York

2011-06-14T21:05:00.001-04:00

I was supposed to be leaving England today. Steve was in Manchester for business last week so the plan was for me to drive Olivia to my in-laws' house in western NY, tour northern England for a few days after Steve's meetings ended, then fly/drive home together. But, flight delays/cancellations made our Plans A, B, and then C fall through. Technically I did go to Manchester, but the just the one on the Thruway as I passed through on 21. (To the unnamed airline who detrimentally delayed/cancelled 4 of our flights in the past week: I know you have your reasons for doing what you do, but you are on my naughty list.)

As disappointing as it was to have our England plans fall through, we rolled with it and Olivia and I had a wonderful visit with Grandma & Poppy. The weather was absolutely beautiful (especially compared to hot, sticky Virginia or cold, rainy England) and I had a great time visiting with Steve's dear, sweet parents. The traditional mother-in-law gripes simply do not apply. Cherie even offered to keep Olivia the rest of this week and bring her home over the weekend. Here are some pictures of our stay...

Chill & Grill

Helping Poppy with the dishes

Playing with Grandma

Painting the sidewalk

Puzzles with Uncle Matt

Seneca Park Zoo

Picking strawberries

Beautiful New York

Knot Dress

2011-06-08T22:10:00.017-04:00

I sort of lost interest in sewing for a while (between working and being so tired 1st trimester), in fact I passed off a few projects on my mother which she graciously took on and produced adorable things for Olivia to wear. (Note to self: Finish Mom's lap quilt that was supposed to be finished last Christmas. Ahem.)

I was recently introduced to the clothing company called Matilda Jane. Try not to laugh if this is a household name to you, but I am sort of brand-unconscious. I thought this girl's knot dress was just darling. The pairing of all the fun prints broke the rules and blew my mind, but it would pain me to pay so much for a real MJ dress if I can make something similar. In theory. (Usually when I think this I never actually get around to doing it.)

But it was on my brain for several days and so I tried to pair fun prints and make a knot dress. The cutting counter lady at JoAnn Fabrics is a little tickled at how often I've been there in the past week trying to figure this out. Ultimately I scrapped (ha - NPI) trying to come up with a formula (geez that sounds geeky) and decided to first make a knot dress and then see if I can get a little crazy with my fabric combinations.

Here's my "safe" combo, before I added in the sash/lining floral from my stash. I used this tutorial (free!) for the basic pattern, but I nixed the elastic and added a sash and also a ruffle at the bottom, so the measurements are different. And so I don't lose those on a sticky note somewhere in my studio, my dimensions were thus: bodice pattern from tutorial (size 4), 3" strips for straps (tapered at the end), 3" strips for sash & ties, 10.5"x28" rectangles for skirt front & back, 9" strips for ruffle (1/4 yard cut in half lengthwise).

Something I really appreciated about this pattern/tutorial is that Bridget has you sew all the front pieces together, sew all the back pieces together, then sew up the sides. ["Professional" patterns have you create rings of fabric (one front piece sewn to corresponding back piece), gather the top edge to fit the ring/tier above, and sew the two rings together before adding another ring.] For example, with Bridget's method I knew I needed to gather the raspberry ruffle to 28", which I found easier than guess-and-check. I figured I can just leave the extra strap length inside the back of the dress so I can just re-sew to lengthen them as O grows. (Easier than making a bunch of buttonholes, cuter than having your excess strap length hanging off the knots on the front.)

I purposefully didn't leave the knot buttonholes for last because I could see that being the one thing still left to do five years from now. Full disclosure: I still haven't sewn on the back ends of the straps because I had to wait until my model was awake. Let's hope my child will get to wear this thing without pins still holding it together.

It's the kind of piece that Olivia can can wear as a dress now and a top later, and even layer over a shirt for cooler weather, so that's how I talked myself into doing a more involved pattern. Now if I can just figure out how to mix patterns with abandon.

In Honor of the Orangutans

2011-06-06T22:04:00.001-04:00

I'm not a big fan of banana-flavored things, or even dried banana chips. But our little monkey loves bananas ("BAH-na-NAHS") and I've been eating more of them lately. When they get a little spotty I freeze them. Olivia also loves smoothies ("movies") and tonight after she picked through dinner I decided she needed some more to eat. So I raided my growing stash of frozen banana cubes, which she doesn't like to eat plain like she does frozen blueberries. I used part of a container of vanilla yogurt and a scoop of vanilla protein powder (Olivia is practically vegetarian so I sneak protein in her food however I can), mixed in some frozen bananas and milk, and blended. Score! The child will drink her weight in smoothies.

Not to be left out, I decided to try and recreate the beloved Banana Cream Milkshake from Chick-Fil-A for myself, hopefully shaving off a few calories in the process. I saved a little of Olivia's mixture (yogurt, not ice cream) and added some more bananas to thicken it up and add some lumpy texture. I had box of Nilla wafers in the pantry (free from a Nilla Wafer Party, so that deserves a mention even though they wound up in a cliche with bananas) so I crushed up a few of those and voila! I know I talk about food a lot on here, but everything is just so delicious when I'm pregnant.

Oh yeah, the orangutans! My friends Trice and Jen and I took our four little girls to the National Zoo in DC today. One of my favorite parts was seeing an orangutan traverse the O-Line. I think he would have liked my banana creation.

When Having Long Hair is Great

2011-06-04T09:42:00.000-04:00

The Adam Scott

2011-06-02T14:56:00.001-04:00

We've had a cut-up watermelon slowly disappearing in the fridge this week, so I went online to try and find a recipe that didn't involve booze (although that would be tasty) or the word "gazpacho." It should come as no surprise that I chose an easy recipe (the Lazy Cook) that involves lemons: Watermelon Lemonade. I didn't even make the lemonade from scratch or strain the watermelon (all that fiber!); I just stuck my immersion blender in the container and combined that with already-made lemonade (concentrate from the freezer section - my fave).

Steve said I needed to name the drink and while I was working out a tongue-twisting combination of "watermelon" and "lemonade," he came up with The Adam Scott. Love me some Adam Scott. (Sorry I lied about the next thing on my Lemon List being Arnold Palmer cupcakes; this is a subtle nod to him!)

Lemon Buddies

2011-06-01T14:02:00.000-04:00

I got a giant box of rice Chex a while back and it is consistently a bust with Olivia (and everyone else here except Riley). It's been hanging around for months, hogging the Rubbermaid cereal dispenser, so when I recently bought a family-size box of something else that won't fit in the cabinet* I figured it was time to boot the Chex.

It is not my instinct to make Chex mix at this time of year, but I recalled them developing a plethora of recipes in addition to the traditional one. I settled on Lemon Buddies because they just spoke "summer" to me and I've already been through two rounds of Lemon Coolers. I love the smell while zesting lemons, and I put the zested-but-unjuiced one in my iced tea while the buddies cooled. Plus Lemon Buddies are fortified and gluten free, right? Great way to spend a 92° non-naptime. (But we're not talking about the singing currently coming from the crib.) Up next on my Lemon List: Arnold Palmer cupcakes, y'all.

*My sweet little grandmother used to rip off the top few inches of each cereal box so they would fit in her lazy susan. I seriously thought about doing that, but now the family size cereal is in the container and I have Lemon Buddies.

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T20:09:00.005-04:00

The Rest of May

2011-05-29T16:56:00.001-04:00

Hi, world. I'm still here, it's just that I don't give much priority to blogging these days. What's new?

I spent last weekend at Lake Anna with three of my college roommates, catching up and relaxing. These are still some of my dearest friends and I cherish any time I have with them. I had seen two of them at our class reunion last fall, but it's so much more fun to relax on the dock with no kids to corral.

Back on the homefront, several of our weekly activities have wrapped up for the summer, plus Steve hasn't had to travel much in the past few weeks, so it has been rejuvenating to spend time together as a family again. Just the three of us, the dog, and little Nubbin who has started moving enough for me to feel. For those of you who were not exhausted by my blogging every nuance of my first pregnancy, I apologize that I just don't have the time any more. Regarding FAQs: I'm feeling good, the next ultrasound is in June, and we are planning to share the baby's sex if you promise not to tell my dad because he wants to be surprised.

Olivia has one more week of nursery school so I'm trying to cram in my appointments and work before she's all mine for the summer. (By the way, work is going well! I just don't take the time to blog about it.) We're not going to talk about how naptime is no longer a sure thing (gah!). At least the pools are open now, so that's something to do during ~~nap strikes~~ free afternoons that we can't do in the mornings (when pools are closed for swim team and lessons). Oh, and? Yard sales are awesome for finding inexpensive new toys.

Yesterday we went to the farmer's markets for the first time this season (Berryville & Purcellville). Strawberries, eggs, summer squash, cupcakes. I figured buying local produce even at these prices is still cheaper than a farm share and then we're not stuck with mass quantities of kale and stuff. We're just not big vegetable people. Or maybe we're just not big vegetable adventurers; we stick with our favorites. After Olivia's nap (the first in three days, but we're not talking about it) we picnicked with playgroup families. I can already tell a difference from last summer (same picnic hosts) how independent Olivia is in terms of us not needing to hover while she plays. At the playground she's able to do so many more things this year, too, but one of us still tends to walk around and help her get unstuck. I expect it will be like starting back at square one with the new little one, but I dream of someday being one of those moms who can read a book at the playground. Someday. There will still be books around when Nubbin is yelling, "Look, Mommy" from the top tower.

Today after church Steve got to play golf with friends, a rarity, and Olivia is napping (after I went in to put the kibosh on her playing frog for an hour), so all is well.

Dolls

2011-05-11T20:34:00.000-04:00

Olivia has been taking more interest in her stuffed animals lately, teaching the rabbit its letters and pushing bear around in the doll stroller and shopping cart. She'll tell me she's going to the store to buy bananas, except she pronounces it like Sha Na Na and it cracks me up even more.

We're slowly cleaning out extra stuff from my parents' house, and my mom keeps procuring fascinating "new" toys like the Sesame Street club house. (It's funny how Steve's mom still has great old FP play sets, but different ones. We had the A-frame, they had the Tudor. We had the airport, they had the barn.) I figured now would be a good time to bring home the beautiful oak doll bed and dresser from beneath my parents' ping pong table. My great grandfather made the set for my grandmother when she was little. And here I am playing with it when I was little. (Notice the lovely console TV.)

Olivia helped PaPa sink some nails to fix it up. And Grandma made a new mattress and linens and gave Olivia a "new" doll she had kept from my childhood.

The whole concept of sheets and pillows is new for Olivia, but she is loving it. Some things are worth keeping around for the next generation!

Babymooniversary

2011-05-10T16:25:00.001-04:00

Steve and I spent last weekend in DC to celebrate our anniversary, upcoming baby, and Mother's Day. Last time we spent a weekend in DC I was 7 months pregnant and developed round ligament pain in the midst of all the walking. I figured it would be more fun to do a trip earlier on in this pregnancy. Saturday we started with brunch (baked eggs) at Blue Duck Tavern and then walked up to see the gardens of Dumbarton Oaks. It was a gorgeous day!

Thankfully I'm into 2nd trimester and don't need a nap every afternoon, but both of us crashed for a few minutes in the room before dinner. Then we walked to District ChopHouse (pork chops stuffed with fontina & sage, plus a sample of Bourbon Stout in honor of the Kentucky Derby which ran during our salad course). I know this is lame, but after dinner we caught up on our TV shows via web stream.

Sunday was Mother's Day so we brunched at Old Ebbitt Grill (Chesapeake Eggs Benedict, similar to classic EB with an added crab cake on each) and walked around the national mall. My favorite part of the Smithsonian is the mineral exhibit at the Natural History Museum.

My parents graciously watched Olivia, and she had such a great time she didn't want to come home.

Perfect Eggs

2011-05-06T16:23:00.000-04:00

I love eggs. How do I like them? With the center almost set, not runny but still soft. The ideal in my head is my mom making coddled eggs (once in a while) when we were growing up. Several years ago I bought this double-size Royal Worcester coddler, because I figured two coddled eggs are better than one. Turns out it's a lot of time and cleanup, and the large coddler cooks the eggs unevenly. So I went back to pan-frying (typically overcooking) or poaching (undercooking, served over grits to soak up the yolk). In my breakfast cookbook I noticed that the only eggs with a quanitative time measurement are boiled eggs, so I finally realized that may be the ticket. Plus I recently organized my recipes and unearthed one for soft-boiled eggs (to go on a salad). It took some tweaking, but finally I can boil an egg to my liking. I'm no Martha Stewart, people.

Here's my formula: Cover eggs in a saucepan of water. Bring to a boil and then set the timer for 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let it sit for 6 minutes. Put eggs in cold water to stop them from cooking and make them cooler to peel.

I am part English and I claim it when it's convenient, i.e. my 4pm sugar crash remedied by "tea time." And for breakfast or lunch I like to eat my soft-boiled eggs with ~~toast~~ an English muffin and marmalade, if only to feel a little British. Last time I went to England I had to miss my preschool class trip to see the elephants raise the circus tent at Apple Blossom, and one of the few things I remember was the Barbie display at Harrod's. I think it's time to go back so I can actually remember England.

Easter & Bloom

2011-04-30T15:40:00.000-04:00

We had a relaxing Easter with Steve's parents last weekend in upstate NY.

On Sunday it was wet outside, so Olivia did a little egg hunt in the living room.

It seems like every weekend is something big these days. This weekend is the Apple Blossom Festival so we donned our pink and green. Olivia loves fire trucks, so I took her to the Fire Truck Rodeo.

Later we headed downtown to watch the parade and have a picnic with our playgroup friends.

Cotton candy

Apple Blossom is like homecoming for our little town. It was so fun to see old friends who had come "home" for the festivities.

Pass

2011-04-20T13:25:00.000-04:00

"Hollow milk" is not a familiar flavor, sorry.

And why is it that I have no problem eating a chocolate bunny, but I can't imagine biting the head off this duck. It's not like either one looks real.

Wait... Quax = wax. Yick.

New life

2011-04-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

I love spring! So many things about it represent new life... Flowers, robin eggs, Easter (the cross, not the bunny), ducklings, bright green grass, leaf buds popping out... My orchid is not to be outdone by the fruit trees; it has two branches full of blooms.

Aaaaaaaaannnd there's a baby growing in my belly! We are thrilled to be expecting this new little one in October. I am so thankful that Olivia is still napping well because this whole first trimester has been a challenge for me to make it past lunchtime before collapsing into bed. (Sorry for the lack of posting lately.) I had morning sickness for a few weeks early on, but I'm feeling fine now, hungry all the time. I'm so excited for several of my friends to be in my People Who Were Pregnant At The Same Time Club.

The early OB appointments have gone well, but it's a little strange to be starting out with a different practice. (My previous OB quit 8 months into my first pregnancy.) The first ultrasound (3/17) showed the baby all curled up and quiet, but that strong little heartbeat was so reassuring for Steve and me to see. At 11 weeks the doc said it was a little early to heart the heartbeat on the Doppler, but then he tried it and didn't get a reading and didn't want to send me home like that, so he squeezed me in for a little surprise ultrasound. The baby was moving around like crazy, somersaults and stretches, and the heartbeat was just fine. I'm sorry, but that little one on the screen is so much cuter than the illustrations.

Olivia is doing really well, talking and singing all day long. We haven't tried to explain the baby thing yet, but she loves her doll baby and reads to her, feeds her, and teaches her letters. She says lots of things that make us laugh ... "Hmmm... Let's see," "Not yet," "Where we goin-in?" When she sees us in the morning it's "Good nap?" Songs include the ABCs, Twinkle Star, Baa Baa Blacksheep. Wants to know the name for everything ("What dat called?") and she looooves watching Caillou.

Happy spring! Here's to new life.

Pancake Saturday

2011-04-09T20:25:00.000-04:00

I love pancakes. When I was a kid, every Saturday my mom made pancakes. Buckwheat, Bisquick, oatmeal, all kinds, but always Saturday. (Sunday was scrambled eggs and some sort of pastry.)

The local Kiwanis Club has a Pancake Day fundraiser every fall and spring, and thousands of people come to have all-you-can-eat buttermilk pancakes and sausage all day long. The Kiwanis guys man the griddles and Key Club volunteers bus the tables and hand out juice. When we lived in PA and DE I used to come home just for this.

In recent years the logistics of navigating this potentially crowded event with a little one kept us away, but yesterday we tried it. We came during a lull, so there was a short line, plenty of spots to sit, and Olivia actually sat and ate a pancake.

Still here

2011-03-19T22:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I haven't been taking the time to blog lately. We're doing well, enjoying the early bits of spring...

We had a sweet visit from Grandma & Poppy

My dad turned 76 years young, and instead of taking him to see the Sixers we opted for the Globetrotters. Was a lot of fun.

Happy Spring, y'all!

Chipotle Mexican Grill

2011-02-21T22:29:00.002-05:00

My first Chipotle burrito was at one of the original locations while visiting my friend Erin in Denver in 1998. Ten years later I was so excited when I heard that -- in place of the hot dog stand -- we were getting a Chipotle here in our little town. Their food is delicious, but you can imagine how small the seating area must be if the restaurant replaced a hot dog stand, so usually one of us will run in and order while the other stays in the car with Olivia, and then we eat at home. One day I wondered if, since we're eating at home anyway, maybe I should try to make this myself, so I googled. It did entail a trip to Wegmans, but I'm not sure if that was actually necessary or just a good excuse. My favorite combination is a chicken burrito with rice, pinto beans, corn salsa, and cheese; chips and guac on the side. Here are the recipes (with my comments) I thought were pretty darn close:

Chicken Marinade

1 (2 ounce) package dried ancho chiles
1 (7 ounce) can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, peppers discarded (or just buy adobo sauce)
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
6 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 red onion, quartered
1/4 cup canola oil
2 pkgs boneless chicken thighs

1. Soak dry chilies overnight in water, until soft. Remove seeds.
2. Add all ingredients except chicken to blender or food processor. Puree until smooth.
3. Stab chicken with fork to let the marinade soak in, especially if you are marinating for just an hour.
4. Spread marinade over chicken, refrigerate for one hour or up to overnight.
5. After marinating, salt meat to taste (optional), and grill on medium high on an indoor grill where the chicken can be pressed flat, turning only once. If using an outdoor grill, use charcoal to make it ultra delicious. Place foil wrapped bricks on top to press chicken flat. You can also make this on a Panini grill on medium high heat. Place something heavy on top to weigh it down. (Steve just grilled the chicken on the gas grill, no pressing, was fine. Also? You could probably halve the recipe before adding the chicken and freeze half of the marinade for next time so you can save yourself some work. I'm just sayin'. One package of chicken thighs was enough for 6+ burritos.)

Cilantro Lime Rice
(We 1/5-ed a recipe, hence the weird numbers)
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp soy oil (Couldn't find, went with canola)
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lime juice

Cook rice, water, bay leaf, and salt in rice cooker for 20 minutes. Let rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Mix in oil, cilantro, and citrus juice.

Corn Salsa
6 ears sweet corn (or 3 cups frozen corn)
2 poblano chiles
1/2 red onion, diced
2 jalapenos, diced
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon lemon+lime juice
Salt to taste

Roast the corn and poblano chilies on a grill and let cool. Cut the corn off the cob. (We just used frozen corn and sauteed it in a large skillet.) Combine all the ingredients and add salt if necessary. Try not to eat it all with chips before your burrito is created.

Guacamole (Confession: We bought Wholly Guacamole instead of making our own.)
1 large ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large serrano or jalapeno chiles, seeded and chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt

Using fork, mash avocado with lime juice in small bowl. Add cilantro, onion, garlic, chiles, and salt; stir to combine. Makes about 1 cup.

Making the Burrito
Buy the biggest tortillas you can find. I warmed each one in the corn skillet for a few seconds before assembling. A scoop of rice, a spoonful of (canned, warmed) pinto beans, a spoonful of chicken, a spoonful of corn salsa, a sprinkle of Monterey Jack, and you're good to go. Please don't overfill your burritos. They will be impossible to wrap, and (geez, you piggies) the real thing is two servings. If you need instructions on how to wrap a burrito, check out YouTube. ¡Buen apetito!

Bread follow-up

2011-02-02T23:30:00.001-05:00

Life is too short to make things you can buy at the store. Like whole wheat bread. Uncle! My latest batch of rolls did rise somewhat, but they're just so dense and dry that I wonder why I bother. And I realized that the Wegmans wheat pizza dough contains "unbleached wheat flour" which I now realize is code for white flour, so I guess the answer to making better whole wheat bread is to not make it whole wheat. Fail. Half and half with whole wheat pastry flour? I'm just not motivated to try that right now.

Now I want to learn something more like the artisanal wheat/seed/multigrain bread in our grocery store bakery. Most of the time I'm too cheap to buy it. And I avoid going to Wal-Mart, but if I'm there I will buy their lovely and affordable wheat loaf. By the way, it's a lot easier for me to type artisanal than to say it. Ar TIS ' nul? Artist anal?

Other things I want to recreate at home... Corn risotto a la Village Square, also their Bordelaise sauce, chicken burritos a la Chipotle, Outback's blueberry martini, PF Chang's chicken lettuce wraps, Ruth's Chris creme brulee....

Thanks to Jill I am now hooked on Winter Energy Cookies, smething between a cookie and granola bar. I have tried "healthy cookie" recipes and have given up trying to reconcile that oxymoron. Bring on the molasses and cranberries! My parents gave me a KitchenAid hand mixer for Christmas and it is a champ with thick batter like this. My arm is now the weak link. Probably because I've been shirking the gym on account of my cold. I miss the mixer lift in our old house. It made my stand mixer so convenient, but now I don't have a spare cabinet.

Also on my mind this week, other than the usual Olivia and jewelry orders and laundry: Getting my lampwork station set up in the garage which involves a hole in the exterior wall for a vent hood, my parents' upcoming birthdays, dreaming about a Subaru Outback, still-unfinished Christmas gifts (gah!), my dear friend Reid, my brother, my Titus 2 girls.

Hope all of you are snug and happy! Punxutawney Phil says spring is just around the corner.

Because I have nothing else to do

2011-01-28T16:38:00.001-05:00

One night back in high school I spent the night over at my friend Melanie's house. Like typical highschoolers, heh, we decided it would be fun to ~~sneak out and drink~~ bake bread from scratch. So that evening we assembled all the necessary ingredients, mixed, kneaded, waited for it to rise, punched it down, waited for it to rise again, ... I think it finally finished baking at like 2am. It apparently scarred me for life, because as delicious as homemade bread smells and tastes, in my head it takes all day so it's too much trouble. A couple years ago when Olivia was a wee little one, I tried and loved the dough hook on our Kitchenaid mixer, plus I got a whole wheat baking book from my in-laws for Christmas, so I finally got around to making bread again.

Yesterday, in between my 5 trips into the nursery to assess why Olivia wouldn't nap, I used the recipe in my mixer handbook. I successfully proofed my "old" yeast so I used it, but it baked up into a loaf of stone bread and batch of stone rolls that my parents graciously ate and then took off my hands last night.

Today I bought new yeast and went searching for the recipe that used to be on the back of the King Arthur wheat flour. (Now they have some quick version on the bag which, based on Elizabeth's experience, I am going to skip.) I think it's the molasses that really gets me; so much flavor! (Note to self: make Ginger Chews soon.) This time I also added wheat gluten (Thanks for that info too, Elizabeth) to make a better texture since I was using whole wheat flour. I mixed the dry ingredients together and then put all the wet ingredients together in a 2c measuring cup. The bread didn't rise at. all. after two hours in a warm place. Maybe should have mixed the warm water and yeast separately? Maybe my gluten had gone bad? Too much flour? Not enough? I am no bread dough detective.

Anyway, I had a ball of dense dough on hand and I didn't want to throw it out or bake it into weaponry again. The thought popped in my head to roll them out and cut them into squares to bake. Riley had a dreaded bath this morning and has been such a good girl aside from eating my chocolate bar from Grenada. And now that these were being compared to Milk Bones and not bread, they were moist and chewy and Riley waited around for more after I put them in her tin. Then I made a batch of granola to end on a high note. Will try whole wheat bread again another day.

Chuck is my hero

Also? Last night we tried coconut snow cream using a can of coconut milk and maybe 1/2 cup sugar for the base. Then I mixed in snow until it looked right *and didn't measure*. It turned out well, not difficult at all. The fat in the coconut milk isn't all that great when cold, but that was my only criticism.

Snow Cream

2011-01-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

My dear sweet brother had a rare long layover in DC (he's a pilot), so he came out to stay with us. It snowed today, so I thought it would be fun to make snow cream. Mom used to make it when we were kids, but honestly I can't remember what it tasted like then. Here's a recipe I found today, which made 2 servings:

½ cup milk

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp. vanilla

Mix these together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Meanwhile send someone outside with a bigger bowl and measuring cup to get 4 cups of fresh snow (neither yellow nor covered in ashes from a nearby wood stove). I still remember Mom's huge plastic yellow bowl, so big that snow for snow cream is the only thing I remember it being used for.

Add the milk mixture to the snow and mix until it's the consistency of soft ice cream.

After Tom and I snarfed this down it dawned on me that this would be a great way to recreate the coconut shaved ice stuff we'd had in Old San Juan. When I say "shaved ice," it is for lack of a better term. It wasn't as grainy as, say, a frozen margarita, so the snow gave it the perfect fine texture. I just swapped out the vanilla for coconut extract. I'm sure there's a way to do this with coconut milk, but that's for another time.

Happy snow day! Picture yourself somewhere warm.

Warm

2011-01-18T23:27:00.003-05:00

My brother used to live in Florida. One year Steve and I went to visit in January and we slept with the windows open. It was lovely, but it ruined us; now we ~~love~~ need to go somewhere warm every year during the winter. Our birthdays are a couple weeks after Christmas, so it's fun to celebrate by doing something together instead of exchanging more gifts. Last April we had planned to go on a Mediterranean cruise, but our plans fell through. I'm still getting over that, honestly. But the next best thing is a cruise somewhere warm in the winter, so we used our credit from Royal Caribbean to do just that.

We've been on one cruise before, in January 2004 (pictured) on Carnival's Imagination... Miami, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman with a day at sea in between each. It was warm, but far enough north in the Caribbean to be affected by the deep freeze that week. I remember huddling under my towel while I sat by the pool.

This time we decided to head farther south, flying to Puerto Rico to begin, and then stopping somewhere different each day. Right before we left I read this detailed review of a similar cruise written by a gal named Chrystal, and it ended up being a great description for our trip as well. Here are some highlights...

Old San Juan

We got a cab from the airport to the pier and dropped off our bags on the ship, hit the Windjammer (buffet) for lunch, and headed downtown. I had read that one can walk there from the port, but our ship was on the wrong side of the harbor so we cabbed it. It's funny how I get a picture in my head of how something is going to look, and when I get there it's totally different but it makes sense. Or at least this time that's the case. I had seen lots of pictures of the two forts on the city wall, so in my head all of Old San Juan was built from stone and was very level.

In reality it was vibrant and colorful with blue cobblestone streets built into the hillside overlooking the harbor with the open sea and forts at its back.

There is a touch of Spanish Colonial architecture with arches and carved wooden doors, but also very Caribbean with each house being a different pastel color, all with white trim. It was Saturday so a lot of locals were out flying kites and having picnics on the huge lawn outside the fort. Chrystal's review described getting a coconut shaved ice treat and I agree it was a fabulous way to spend $2. Steve and I walked around a bit and then headed back to the ship on account of an ominous cloud.

When we got back to the ship our stateroom attendant had brought chocolate-covered strawberries for my birthday. We changed for dinner, where we met our dining table-mates, Kitty & Ron, a dear sweet couple from Chicago who recently lost their 3-year-old son to brain cancer. They were in desperate need of a vacation and we thoroughly enjoyed eating with them all week. This is the view from our table. That night we set sail for the Virgin Islands. We did all of our sailing at night, and each morning we were someplace new.

The Serenade of the Seas is a nice ship; not the biggest but big enough. Our "porthole" stateroom had space to walk on either side of the bed, we had plenty of built-in storage plus a loveseat, but I hate claustrophobic showers. (I know space and water are at a premium, and even the balcony rooms have beam-me-up showers, but it's hard to shave when you can't bend over.) The food and entertainment on the ship were great. It was clean, the service was excellent wherever we were, and the cruise director (Bing Bong!) did a great job of keeping us entertained. I can't remember what went on which evening, but the entertainment during the course of the week included two shows by the ship's song & dance troup, an Olympic gymnast, a ventriloquist, a (clean) comedian, and the Newlywed Game starring fellow passengers. It was fun to be entertained and then crash into bed.

St. Thomas

Steve and I were in St. Thomas to celebrate my 30th birthday, and both times we've gone I have had a cold. We made the best of it, taking our time getting up and getting room service for breakfast. Then we took a taxi to Brewer's Beach for some beachcombing.

There were plenty of shells and even some sea glass. It is the kind of place free from tourists where the locals spend their day off (It was Sunday), so we did some people watching and airplane watching (it's next to the airport runway) and headed back. On the way we stopped in Charlotte Amalie, but last time that's where we stayed and on Sunday the shops had closed up anyway, so we went back to the ship. Each day was kind of like this; we'd head out and explore the island in the morning, then head back to take showers and nap until dinner.

St. Croix

The week before our trip I came across a lampwork artist, Hope Gibson, living on St. Croix, and emailed her to see if she'd be interested in getting together for coffee. She offered to pick us up at the port and take us to see the famous beer-drinking pigs, then drop us in town. In reality she did so much more, giving us a tour of the west end of the island, stopping for photo ops, and giving us a local's perspective of life on the island. She's from Louisiana, but has lived on STC since before Hurricane Hugo (1989). The island is dotted with ruins of sugar mills, and I get inordinately excited about ruins. A wedding had been held recently in this "room" at Butler Bay Plantation; I can only imagine how beautiful that was. (Kind of like Ross and ~~Rachel's~~ Emily's wedding on Friends.) Hope drove us up through the rain forest and we did stop at the Domino Club for a drink and to see the beer-drinking pigs.

Then Hope dropped us off in Christiansted so we could get lunch and do some shopping. We found great food & beer with a view at Fort Christian Brew Pub, then we poked around at the shops in town before heading back to the port. St. Croix was part of the sugar trade, so Danish ships would come over using pottery as ballast, then they'd throw it overboard and fill the ship with rum and molasses to bring back home. The cool part of that story (to me) is the resulting "sea pottery" called chaney that still washes up on the shore. Local artists bezel-set it into beautiful jewelry. One person's trash is another's treasure.

This was Steve's birthday, so when we got back to the ship the stateroom attendant had brought him chocolate covered strawberries.

Antigua

We had heard about Creole Cruises' Lobster Lunch from Chrystal's cruise review, and then I saw it as a top-rated activity on Trip Advisor, so we made reservations. Glenn picks you up in his beautiful new boat at the port, then you cruise along the north shore to uninhabited Bird Island for some snorkeling. We saw several kinds of fish and live coral (which apparently is not that common in the Caribbean). Our last snorkeling adventure wasn't great, but Steve and I both thoroughly enjoyed this spot and had no problems with our gear, the water, or the boat ride. After snorkeling we pulled up to a beach on Bird Island and had the most awesome lobster I have ever had.

Each of us had half a lobster hot off the grill, plus garlic bread, salads, and Glenn's own rum punch with cinnamon and nutmeg. There's nothing like eating in the shade on a beautiful beach while the waves lap at your feet. We walked up to the top of the island after lunch, and then did some more snorkeling at Starfish Garden, just off another uninhabited island with the beach covered in shells. I saw yellow, green, brown, and orange starfish; they were everywhere! Back on the boat and back to the port just in time for "all aboard." This was a fantastic shore excursion and I highly recommend it if you go to Antigua.

St. Lucia

I had read how Chrystal had gotten up at 5:30 am to see the Pitons (mountains), so during the night I kept peeking out the window to see if we were there yet. At one point I did see the tip of the island but fell back asleep and missed the rest of the ship's approach. Was very disappointed as our plans were to just poke around town and not do a big excursion (Pitons are a couple hours from port). I was excited to learn that there was a craft market in Castries, but the best thing about it was that it had a roof. It was dimly lit and crammed with row after row of vendors selling all kinds of awful souvenirs made everywhere but locally. Then it began to pour down rain, so at least we were somewhere dry. The vendors often had their children there with them, and the kids would play on the floor or in the base cabinets of the stalls. So precious, and by this time I was really missing our girl. Outside was a produce market, and then we walked around the streets of the town, which felt genuinely foreign unlike the Virgin Islands. Stray dogs and chickens, lots of people but few tourists... ask me about the guy with three teeth and a conch shell. We checked our email briefly at a tiny internet cafe, then headed back to the ship for lunch and a nap. I was kinda wishing we had gone to see the Pitons, but I woke to the captain's announcement that we would be sailing right past them at dinnertime!

It was hazy and the sun was setting, but I got to play around with my polarizing filter.

Grenada

I've been captivated with the concept of being able to smell spices in the air in Grenada, so when we were choosing the itinerary for the trip I definitely wanted to go there. My mental picture could have been correct, but by the time we got to Grenada we had spent so much money on extra stuff (cab rides, tips, drinks, excursions, etc.), plus I was reading a book on fiancial responsibility, so I didn't really want to fork over $60 for a cab ride to see a waterfall or nutmeg plantation. So we had a big breakfast, took the water taxi to nearby Grand Anse beach, rented chairs and an umbrella, and read and listened to all the Brits sitting nearby. (There was a P&O ship docked next to ours.) I am so glad we had the umbrella because being so far south I sensed that no amount of sunscreen would keep me from getting fried. After we returned to the ship and were eating lunch in the Windjammer the sky opened up and there was a downpour -- good timing! Naptime.

Our last day was at sea and we sat and read by the pool, watched some of the entertainment (belly flop contest, lecture about water, lecture about nutrition), had one last meal with Ron & Kitty, and packed our suitcases. It was a great trip but I was glad to come home.

Olivia did really well at my parents' house, except for the day she had the pukes. Mom and Dad (Gramma & Papa) did a great job and Livi has adjusted well to normal life. When we went to pick her up she ran over for hugs, and then wanted to be passed back and forth and back and forth until we drove home. My parents had a fun time with her, too, and we are SO grateful to have that gift of time away by ourselves.

Three (Free)

2011-01-03T08:11:00.001-05:00

Our little girl is three!

Things she says that are too cute for me to correct:
banana (pronounces it BAH-na-na)
I dugot (forgot)
wockles (waffles)
magmets (magnets)
yay-ah, thay-at ("yeah," "that" said with two syllables - she did not get this from me)
Chicken Way (Chick-fil-A)
F instead of Th (I'm free)
W instead of L (Wowes not Lowes) or R (Wiwey is our dog)

Favorite color: yellow. And red. And blue.

Future occupation: "When I get old enough I work on a cherry picker. I work on the wires. I put the cones out."

Favorite toys: baby stroller, playdough, stickers, ball

Playing "Jump on the Cushions"

Often heard saying/singing:
"I want to do it BY MYSELF"
"Why?"
"Daddy, you're funny."
Jingle Bells
ABCD (the alphabet song)
"Good to SEE you"
"You happy, Mommy?"
"Peanut butter! Jelly! Jelly! Jelly!"

She had a great time at Grandma & Poppy's house in New York over Christmas, surrounded by aunts and uncles (and their tablets) to play with.

Happy birthday, Olivia!

Olivia, Age 2

2010-12-29T22:04:00.002-05:00

First snow of the season

Our Cindy Lou Who

Her favorite ornament is Minnie Mouse. "Meenie!"

How her stuffed animals are arranged after naptime

Often heard:
-No. (The answer to every question, and half the time it means "yes". She's not saying "no" in Terrible Two fashion yet; she's still pretty agreeable.)
-I did it! (Even if she had nothing to do with it, like when we put her shoes on her feet)
-I got it. (She says this when we ask her to say something and she doesn't know how. "I got it.")
-Ready, set, GO! (Or "2, set, 9, go!" Followed by running.)
Daddy-daddy or Mommy-mommy (as "thank you" when we do something for her)
-Tie? bow? (Even when I'm tying the tails of the trash bag. She notices bows everywhere.)
-Trash (and likes to throw things away, even non-trash things)
-Fire truck, trash truck
-A bubble bath? A bubble bath? (Here's hoping!)
-Papa and Poppy (Her grandpas; she just started saying Grandma, too.)
-Matt (Any other guy who comes to the house)
-Choo choo (Her toy train, Papa's train, train tracks, Thomas the train, etc.)
-Apple juice (Her name for applesauce, and if you insist that it is applesauce she will correct you until you give up.)
-Who dat? (In reference to everyone she sees or hears, including the GPS)
-What dat? (Everything else that is unfamiliar)

She is learning how to count and I don't even know how she did it. School? Awesome. Except she skips 4 and will say, "No, Mommy" if I try to help. In the car there's a constant narrative (CVS, tree, two tree, car, two car, red car, trash truck...) and declares where we're going when we get close to Papa's house, school, Ellie's house, church, and our house. When I make oatmeal we have a routine... "Mommy bowl, my bowl, sugar" ... and she'll get the spoon from the drawer and canister of brown sugar from the cabinet. She loves to Swiffer, and if I vacuum or Swiffer she insists on helping.

Christmas and her birthday brought lots of new toys, so I think we'll start a rotation. She liked ripping the wrapping paper. Lots of fun, our little girl!

December

2010-12-14T22:04:00.009-05:00

By the time Thanksgiving is over, Christmas shopping is in full swing and I get inundated with custom jewelry orders. I'm not complaining, just explaining why I haven't have time to recount in great detail the nuances of our daily life on this here blog. Having a business at home that works well with our family has been a huge blessing, and I am so thankful that it's FUN unlike say, medical coding.

In order to feel like my life in December is not all about jewelry and a toddler I have taken breaks here and there to decorate for Christmas and bake. We have a Christmas tree (a real one at that) for the first time in years! Oh yeah, I forgot I already told you that. My favorite ornaments are those we've brought home from our trips to Bermuda, our Caribbean cruise, Montreal, California, Florida, our honeymoon (Williamsburg, Okracoke). And I like the ones from my childhood like this jar-lid ornament from preschool thirty years ago. On the back is a frog made of fingerprints and I still remember making it.

Our favorite cookies (double chocolate with white chips and either peppermint crumbles or Craisins) have gotten easier; I used to make them from scratch and now I just buy the envelope mix and stir in the extras. I would like to know, however, why one can't purchase pre-crushed peppermint candy.

Even though I've taken breaks to embrace Christmas amidst the busy-ness, I've been kind of stressed (ask Steve). But now that my jewelry order queue is finite (the deadline was Sunday) I feel like I can relax a little and enjoy my family and friends again. So if I don't get right back to blogging about our household minutiae, know that we are all doing well and enjoying much yuletide cheer.

Thankful

2010-11-29T15:16:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Quiet, restful togetherness. Steve's parents and three of his six siblings traveled to Virginia from upstate New York, Connecticut, and North Carolina to join us and my parents. I was glad to have a big group (11), and it was so good to see everyone! The guys deep fried the turkey, which I love because it frees up the oven and gives them something to do. In the kitchen we fixed mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, roasted Brussels sprouts, homemade stuffing and Cherie's rolls, an extra turkey breast, and Jello salad. On Friday we headed to downtown Winchester to get some fresh air, then took naps and watched more football. By Saturday morning everyone had gone and Olivia was on company-withdrawal, so we went out and got our first Christmas tree in several years, a Douglas fir. I'm embracing the holidays!

Food Notes:
Stuffing: Went with a hybrid of croutons and soft unseasoned cubes, added rehydrated dried apricots+golden raisins+Craisins, sauteed onion & celery, local sausage, fresh sage, and pan drippings from roasting a chicken. Baked to get the top crispy and golden. It was delicious and not hard, so for all you Stovetop people, try making your own stuffing.

When we got a break from cooking "dinner" we made Rice Crispies treats. Anne-Marie had brought these to the PSU-OSU tailgate and they were gooey and delicious -- not bricks -- so I had to try. We took the marshmallows off the burner when they were almost melted so their remained some bits of marshmallow, then added the cereal and dropped them on waxed paper instead of pressing them into a pan. And then they were gone.

Yukon Golds make the best mashed potatoes. They are naturally buttery tasting (and looking, hence the name) and creamy in consistency, even before I added the sour cream.

I was on a mission to have people be pleasantly surprised by roasted Brussels sprouts (quartered, olive oil + salt, 375 for 20 min) and mince pie (which is really just spiced apple & raisin pie). I think I succeeded.

We used Karen O'Hare's recipe for sweet potatoes, which is delicious and could pass for dessert. Note: if you are going to double it, use two casserole dishes or one with a tray underneath as the souffle puffs up and *could* drip onto the bottom of your oven, causing it to burst into flames or at least smoke up whenever you use your oven. Ahem.

Sweet Potato Souffle
One 40 oz can of yams (which are not sweet potatoes but are easier to use)

one cup sugar
two eggs
one half stick butter, softened
one cup milk
one half tsp nutmeg
one half tsp cinnamon

Mix with electric mixer, pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Topping:
one half c of frosted flakes
one half c of nuts (any type)
one half c of brown sugar
one half c of butter

Melt butter, turn off heat, add other ingredients, spread over potatoes, bake an additional 10 minutes.

Shop Small

2010-11-22T07:20:00.007-05:00

This Saturday, November 27, is Small Business Saturday. Instead of making plans to fight the crowds at the big-box stores at 6am on Black Friday, perhaps you could go hiking or spend time with your family instead. And on Saturday check out your local art co-op, get your nails done, and eat at an independent restaurant. Show these small business owners that you support your community.

Even if you don't do your Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving weekend, I encourage you to buy local and handcrafted as much as you can. And if hand-knit and wheel-thrown are your thing, make an Etsy wish list so your loved ones can find something more creative than a gift card.

Spread the word!

(Pinked Pins by MollyauContraire on Etsy)

Cupcake Quest

2010-11-21T22:34:00.002-05:00

I love cupcakes. And I love cupcake shops where you can just buy one and then leave, without the rest of the batch lurking in the refrigerator. We've found cupcake shops in Charleston, Savannah, Montreal, and a bakery that sells wedding cake by the slice in Rochester. My favorite of all, though, is Sweet 'N' Sassy (SAS) Cupcakes on Main Street in Newark, Delaware. It is probably good that it opened after we moved to Virginia because at least two days a week I would have eaten "dinner" at S&S between teaching my afternoon and evening classes at Sparkles. (Hey, Lisa and Charlene and the rest of you bead babes!) So now I just stop by when I'm in town to visit. (Hey, Cheryl!) I think it's hilarious that some UDel student scratched off certain letters on SAS's door so it reads "Sweet ass Cupcakes."

SAS makes my favorite vanilla-vanilla cupcake. (Note: In cupcake nomenclature the first part of the name is the cake flavor, followed by the frosting flavor.) They're so rich I can only eat one before I go into sugar shock, and I love that you can see the little vanilla seeds in the frosting. I eat them sideways like a taco so I can get a little frosting in each bite, and I'm one of those people who thinks the cake is just there as a vehicle to get the frosting in my mouth. A 1:1 frosting-to-cake ratio would not be absurd in my book. The phrases, "not a frosting person," and "too rich" are about as puzzling to me as Olivia's narratives (23 months). Give me the corner piece of that Costco cake, baby.

Locally, the only retail cupcake shop I know about makes icing one might find in a grocery store case featured on Cake Wrecks (read: first ingredient is Crisco), so I am not tempted to buy cupcakes there. So my latest food quest is to recreate SAS cupcake frosting.

I love watching cooking shows, and a while ago I was watching Road Tasted with the Neelys when they went to visit SAS. The owners demonstrated how they make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. I didn't bother to write anything down because I figured they'd have the recipe on the show's website. Fail! Apparently the point of the show is to highlight small food businesses who mail-order their products, and an order of SAS cupcakes cannot be had for less than $50. So I kept checking the listings and finally recorded that episode at 4am on November 10. Steve manned the remote and I scribbled down, "2lb cream cheese, 1lb butter, small glass bowl of Madagascar bourbon vanilla goo, 20 cups of powdered sugar." No problem! Let's try it. Notice that this is my first blog entry in a few weeks; it's jewelry-making season which means I've been busy, but sometimes a girl's gotta just take a break and think about something different. So Friday night we were able to find (locally!) the gooey stuff with vanilla seeds in it, and yesterday during Olivia's nap I quartered the quantities and made my first batch.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Servings: 24

Make vanilla cupcakes following the directions on the box as the cake is of secondary importance and Betty Crocker makes a moist, delicious vanilla cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

(It's not vanilla, but it's awesome! Sorry, Elizabeth, I know this ruined it for you.)

1 bar (8oz) cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (so you can see the vanilla seeds!)
5 cups sifted powdered sugar

Combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (Note: Never put your aluminum paddle in the dishwasher.) Beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Slowly add the powdered sugar. (Anyone want to trade their white mixer for my snazzy, shiny black one?) Once it has been incorporated, increase the mixer speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. The frosting will be very soft, which makes it easy to fill your piping bag but doesn't mound well. Next time I will stick the filled bag in the fridge for a few minutes before piping so I don't have to worry about the edges.

I ate one as soon as I finished frosting them, but the frosting was so rich I had to stop there. My second one was even better this morning as the sugar had all dissolved and the icing was cold. Now I don't have to drive to Delaware for darn good cupcakes. (Sorry, DE peeps. I do have to drive there for Cheeseburger in Paradise!)

This was my first piping job so I used what I had: a cookie press with a star tip. That worked fine but I had to keep reloading it. I kept thinking of my college buddy, Andy, who was a Dairy Queen alum and showed us how to properly make soft serve cones that aren't hollow. Anyway, last night Olivia and I went to Michaels for new toys. Her a giraffe, me a decorating bag and larger star tip. The cake decorating aisle: uncharted territory. I could see myself buying all manner of sprinkles and dragées (beads! for cupcakes!) but I behaved. And now it's Thanksgiving Week so I'm going to be cooking other fun things when I'm not filling jewelry orders. Hope you have a safe and yummy turkey day!

Weekend

2010-11-07T22:25:00.001-05:00

Relaxing morning

Long walk

Finding animals on the internet

Time change

Coincidence?

2010-11-06T11:31:00.000-04:00

Steve noticed the similarity in these, and it made me chuckle.

Date Night

2010-11-05T14:32:00.000-04:00

When Steve and I started dating back in college I decided I really liked him and he was a keeper until I realized we had none of the same interests and I saw his music collection. He was a card-carrying member of the Weezer fan club, and his other favorite bands included James, Travis, (I know - me neither), Oasis and Radiohead. I was pretty sure it wasn't going to work out for us.

But over the years both of our music tastes have evolved and even merged. I never would have guessed 12 years ago that Steve would find a concert in our area of bands we both liked and suggest we go. And go we did. Matt Maher, Addison Road, Tenth Avenue North. We may have been the only people there in their 30s (mostly youth groups and associated chaperones) but we had a great time.

And I got to go to Ikea (beforehand) all by myself! My parents kept Olivia yesterday afternoon and overnight and the little squidge slept and ate like a champ. Fun was had by all.

Navy... the new chocolate brown?

2010-11-02T16:00:00.000-04:00

There was a time not too long ago when chocolate brown was the new black and navy blue was completely passé. We had overused it in the 90s with cranberry and hunter green. Whenever someone says, "____ is making a comeback," I wait for it to stick locally before jumping on the bandwagon. It took me years to believe capri pants would last and now they're pretty much all I wear in the summer; tweed capris with boots didn't make it past the first winter. Three years ago I scoffed when my mother declared that navy was back. But the first three things I just pulled out of the dryer were navy, and none of them were Steve's. (I honestly think he chose his college and grad school solely for their school colors as he wears mostly gray and navy.)

Another recent navy moment was while watching Duplicity (which I enjoyed more than expected, mostly because of the corporate strategy with P&G and J&J-like companies. Loved the opening slow-mo fight between CEOs). Julia Roberts is an undercover corporate spy, and the CEO has her in his office asking if she can be trusted. Her makeup artist lined her brown eyes (actually just the lids) with a heavy, unsmudged strip of navy eyeliner. Although Jamie Lee Curtis tells the adorable Anna Chlumsky in My Girl, "You can never wear enough blue eyeshadow," blue is a color I have been told I can't wear with my coloring (brown eyes, light brown hair, warm skin tone). I am fully expecting to be arrested by the fashion police because I now wear navy and purple eyeliners and navy, purple, and charcoal clothes.

P.S. I googled Julia's makeup in Duplicity and found this site: comments from her makeup artist about her eyeliner and then product links... very cool.

Halloween

2010-11-01T14:51:00.000-04:00

Olivia had more fun than I expected last night. She and Steve would go out, visit a few houses, come back to warm up and eat candy, then back out to visit a few more neighbors.

Steve said at first it was a little scary for her to be greeted with a basket of candy in her face at the door, but then he had to keep her from going inside each house, and after a while she didn't want to come home. Meanwhile I manned our door and got some filing done during the lulls. I thought this was the most creative costume. His candy went in the bowl in front...

Olivia tried some of her M&Ms... it turns out they do melt in your hands. This is how she looked after I gave her one blue M&M and she walked in the other room for 30 seconds, but judging from the incredible coverage I think Riley had something to do with it.

And later Livi practiced her licking...

We each took out parental "taxes" on her candy stash. Part of the joy of having kids, right?

Dressing Up

2010-10-28T16:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we had a playdate. Olivia got to dress up as Ariel; June combed her hair and gave her stick-on earrings. June was happy to have a girl to ~~boss around~~ play with (she has three younger brothers) and Olivia was happy to have new toys and lots of playmates.

Today was Olivia's school's costume parade on the walking mall.

Mini moo. No, I did not make it. I'll reserve my costume making for when Olivia gets it. Tomorrow will be another parade at 12:30 for the Mon/Wed/Fri kids. Very cute!

Not a treat

2010-10-27T20:33:00.000-04:00

I saw this poll of people's Halloween trade-ables and it made me chuckle: http://allrecipes.com/Cook/1642698/BlogEntry.aspx?postid=201759

Bit o' Honey, Smarties, and Mary Janes (those black and orange things) were my least favorite. Oh, and non-treats like pretzels or toothbrushes from the orthodontist. Favorites were Junior Mints and Twix.

I used to hoard my candy for months, to the point where the chocolate would go bad before I ate it. I've learned my lesson.

Fall

2010-10-26T13:44:00.002-04:00

Apple crisp with double the topping

Leaves blowing through the air and crunching beneath our feet

Bittersweet (Thanks, Cheryl!)

Osage oranges

Ginger Chews

Apple cider

Pumpkin everything

Blue sky with brilliant leaves

Applesauce (now even easier with the crockpot & immersion blender)

Warty pumpkins

Candles

Oatmeal

"Aggles" fresh from the tree

Sitting around a fire pit (and eating hobo pies and s'mores - Thanks, Mandy & Jenni!)

Football and chili

Did I mention apples? I'm on the Honeycrisp bandwagon.

What's new

2010-10-25T14:31:00.001-04:00

Soon I will be able to give Olivia's age just in years instead of doing the math. Right now my standard answer is "She'll be 2 in December."

When I picked her up from school one day last week she came running, yelling, "Mommy! Mommy!" even after I picked her up. And then she grabbed my face in her hands and planted one on me. It's even easier to love this kid when she loves back.

She's teaching herself letters using the Fridge Phonics. Pictured are the ones she can find when asked. We'll be driving around or at a store and she'll yell out a letter when she sees it. And she'll keep saying it louder and louder until you acknowledge the source.

Our friends Matt and Molly stopped by on their way through town a few weeks ago and Olivia still points to one particular chair and says, "Matt." And in the dining room she points to a chair where "Papa" sat on Grandparents' Day.

I bought this fabric to make a stuffed animal for Olivia, but she is having so much fun with it. She refers to it with a meow.

Her favorite activities are bubbles, the rice bin, going to the store, and TV. When she hears the song from, "Bob the Builder" ("Can we fix it?"), she says, "No way!" That is completely independent of our home improvement skill levels and I'd like to know who taught her that little trick.

This summer there was unexplained grumpiness and chewing on her fingers, so I figured she was getting her cuspids/canines/eye teeth/the pointy ones. Weeks went by and I forgot about it until last week when I realized they had finally made an appearance.

We go for walks with our friends Meghan and Lily (Lily is 2) and Olivia loves to find airplanes in the sky. And "sky" is pronounced "guys."

Tomorrow we're heading to Hedgebrook Farm with the playgroup, which I'm hoping will help link the animal sounds and names we've been working on.

Homecoming

2010-10-17T22:25:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it's been 10 years (almost 11) since college. I loved my time there; it was a cross between summer camp and Friends, with a little studying thrown in to keep things real. Now that we're all grown up it's harder to get everyone together, so I was excited to see two of my roommates Valerie and Jessica (and Casey and Andy and the kids).

2010-10-12T16:14:00.000-04:00

It was Columbus Day weekend and Steve's mom had an extra day off, so she drove down from New York for a visit. The weather was gorgeous and we had a good time outside. We went to the orchard...

... and downtown...

In transferring my photos I realized that I have collected 100 pictures on one camera and 800 on the other, so I'm going to work on updating my Picasa album.

Olivia says, "Cool," when she sees someone wearing sunglasses. Here she is, looking cool in her new hoodie Daddy got her in Sweden.

And talking on the phone at the fabric store. "Papa?"

Crafting on the Web

2010-10-07T10:23:00.001-04:00

Rather than plague you with details of my cold, I'm telling y'all (the crafty ones) about Craft Gossip. They post free tutorials from all over the web on a daily basis. You can click on the sidebar links for past tutorials in different categories like scrapbooking or knitting. I am addicted to finding sewing ideas and tutorials on the internet, like these adorable owl ornaments from Fiona Carter. I have found blogs and websites of some really creative people, and it makes my heart happy.

I don't even care if I make the stuff, I just like to look at and bookmark them. And make project lists. And buy fabric. I consider it a much better addiction than cocaine, or even shoe shopping. The internet has become more entertaining than TV, especially with the advent of DVRs. Now I only watch shows I really like, and only when I have OD'ed on web surfing.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

2010-10-01T11:10:00.004-04:00

It is no secret that I love Pumpkin Spice anything, so I was excited that my recipe-of-the-day email from Allrecipes.com was for a Pumpkin Spiced Latte. It's one of those things I love but never thought to make, and now that pumpkin puree is back on the shelves I want to try it. It is probably a good thing that there isn't a Starbucks super close to our house, and the PSLs from Dunkin Donuts (which is within walking distance) are not my favorite. Now I can make my own. Although the recipe above just uses double strength coffee, I would use our stovetop espresso maker. Simple and quick, doesn't take much cabinet space, but it won't froth your milk. I often see them at TJ Maxx if you're in the market for one. Happy fall, y'all!

(The latte pictured was at the new Espresso Bar & Cafe on the north end of the walking mall. After I dropped Olivia off on her first day of "school" I met my friend Debora to catch up, celebrate her birthday, and make earrings. The weather was perfect and I was so happy to be able to just sit and have coffee like the old days, without chasing/entertaining a toddler. Some days Mama just needs a break.)

1 ¾ years old

2010-09-29T11:10:00.005-04:00

A lot of people describe speech development in toddlers like a switch flipping on. I didn't believe them, but now I see where they're coming from. In a couple months Olivia has gone from repeating simple words on command to identifying things on her own like cereal, lawn mower, CD, TV, flag, flower, frog, knee, the letters M ("um") and W ("doubadee"), and Elmo. We'll be in the grocery store and Olivia will see an Elmo balloon in the distance and yell it out. I think it's a super power, the ability to sense Elmo's presence in the most obscure places. Maybe it's just effective marketing on the part of Elmo's people.

The other night we were driving home from my parents' and she kept saying, "Moo. Moo." She keeps repeating something until you acknowledge what it is, so I was all impressed that she remembered that there are normally cows in the field next to the road we were on. But after me saying "Cow!" and "Moo!" she kept saying it until I realized she was pointing in the other direction, at the moon. I just about cried I was so proud. We've read books with the moon in them (Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon, Pajama Time) but I didn't know that she understood that that thing in the sky is the same thing on the page of a book, and I don't remember pointing out the actual moon before (Thanks, Grandma?). Once I figured out she was saying moon, she said, "I see it! I see it!" She is a little person.

I'm amazed at what she can understand. She can follow directions ("Put the cup back on your table.") and follow our finger if we point to something. I was describing to someone what Riley looks like (brown patches with cookies 'n' cream ice cream) and I noticed Olivia was sticking out her tongue like this. It took me a minute to figure out that we taught her how to lick an ice cream cone by sticking out her tongue. She heard me say "ice cream" in a normal-speed sentence to someone else, and assumed the position. I gotta watch what I say!

Olivia likes to see what I'm cooking on the stove, so she'll ask for me to hold her: "See? See?" and loves to watch things bubble and be stirred. She likes to walk into the grocery store or school(Walk? Walk?) and loooooves to play with the dog. Riley's favorite game is to be chased, and Olivia loves to chase her so it works out well.

A couple of weeks ago Olivia had a cold, and on Saturday morning she was wheezing. Steve was concerned, but I figured the nurse would just remind me of the comfort measures, so I was like, "She's fiiiiine. We'll just run the humidifier." But Steve has asthma so he's a little more in-tune with the symptoms, and when all was said and done we were the proud owners of a nebulizer. (It administers albuterol like an inhaler.) The clinic hours are sometimes really busy, but we got in and out really fast. Olivia got one treatment in the office and the wheezing stopped immediately. That evening we gave her another one, and has been fine ever since. Dr. Eisenberg (the doc on call) said they don't diagnose it as asthma at this point, but it may be an indication that Olivia will develop it. And she may very well grow out of it.

We're enjoying being part of a local playgroup. It gives both of us social time and something to do together that is equally fun. (I don't love playing with toddler toys, she doesn't love the fabric store.) I've met a lot of fun moms in our area whom I wouldn't know otherwise. Here is Olivia with her friends Conner and Ellie (and Ellie's mom acting as the mother duck) after a picnic lunch at the state arboretum.

We also went to a local orchard farm market for a wagon ride and picking apples and pumpkins. It was 90 degrees out and Olivia was ready for the tractor to start pulling us.

My hair has lost its virginity

2010-09-22T22:26:00.000-04:00

I have never dyed my hair (except for some lemon juice action in high school), but I thought red highlights (lowlights?) would be fun for fall. Just a touch. Now I wish I'd been more bold because I think I'm the only one who can see them. I just didn't want a full-on Sydney Bristow, ya know?

When I chopped my curly hair off last year I was expecting it to be curly. Surprise! Hormones brought my curls when I was a teenager, and apparently hormones took them away when I had Olivia. Ever since the mop-chop my hair and I have been getting reaquainted. I like the cut I've had this summer, but it has a mind of its own so I have to blow it out every time I shower or nap (hate). Plus I don't like having to get it cut (read: get a sitter so I can get it cut) so often. Now I'm wondering what it looks like longer, without all the curl I had pre-pregnancy. We'll see how long I last with growing it out; last time it was about this length people kept telling me they liked my hair short so I gave up and got it cut it again.

School

2010-09-14T17:46:00.001-04:00

People keep asking how Olivia is doing with school, and it's about time I updated my blog. Olivia is not even 2 so I have a hard time calling this "school," but for lack of a better word I will do so. Last Thursday was her first day at The Weekday School. She had a great time and her teacher mentioned that Olivia seems to be strong on empathy, coming close to a child who is crying and after he's settled down OJ will go back to whatever she was doing. On the first day of class they did finger painting, something I don't care to clean up at home but am more than happy for her to experience elsewhere. Next on my list of sewing projects is a (better than theirs) smock/apron as my friend Trice and I were less than successful at washing out the paint from the girls' clothes. Trice's daughter Ellie is in Olivia's class along with two other kids between 1 and 2 years old. There is an assistant teacher, which makes for a really good ratio if you ask me. There's a bathroom in the classroom and a walled-in playground just outside the door. (Olivia likes to run away at the park playground, which is really dangerous with cars around. Freaks me out.) Today was another good day at school. It's 5:20 and she is just waking up from her afternoon nap (normally she gets up around 4), so I consider that to mean she got her wiggles out this morning.

So if I stay at home and Olivia is 1, why is she in school? Well, first of all I actually work from home. I have a successful home-based business and it's a wonderful creative outlet, so I want to keep it going. Naptime is not enough to do that and take care of the house and run errands and maintain friendships. Second of all, it's not full-time daycare, it's two mornings a week. Steve travels a lot for work, so by the end of a typical week of being the only parent even in the evenings, I am ready for some relief. Third, I think there are important things kids learn from being around other kids (siblings, usually) and I think it's great to have teachers who know a thing or two about early childhood education. Not that I want Livi to learn everything there is to know in life before she starts kindergarten, but it doesn't hurt to learn how to share.
Feel free to share your thoughts. What we do isn't right for everyone, so please don't think I'm on a soapbox. I'm just filling you in on what's new with us. And now I need to go make dinner as the voice coming from the next room is saying, "Mama, where are you?" She's a little person. Here's a photo with her Grandma & Poppy in NY over Labor Day weekend...

Applesauce

2010-08-30T21:25:00.003-04:00

My dear mother-in-law, Cherie, has an apple tree from which she makes applesauce every fall. As is true with a lot of things, her homemade version is better than storebought. I have never made applesauce myself but on a recent trip to a farmer's market I was inspired by a box of Lodi and Rambo seconds. Seconds just beg to be "hidden" in sauce; the box was even used for applesauce jars before this.

I confess I was not interested in making applesauce before because I understood there is need of an apparatus, which places it low on the priority scale for this Lazy Cook. I did borrow Mom's food mill one year but got busy with other things and never used it, probably because it sounded like a lot of work. But I like my applesauce chunky so I figured maybe Google would tell me I could skip the food mill.

Google did just that, and of all the recipes I found I liked this one the best.* Because of the Lodi tartness I substituted a small juice box of apple juice for the water in the bottom of the pan, then went to town on my peeler-corer-slicer. For some reason I don't see this part as difficult/cumbersome, but what's not to like about making apple-skin ribbons?

So how does one make applesauce anyway? Chop, cook, pulverize. I used my hand mixer after letting the apples cook down, but the apples were sliced so thin they just kinda slipped through the blades. In hindsight I should have used my immersion blender, but at that point I was just ready to eat some applesauce and be done with it. I got my chunky applesauce; it was even kind of like eating pie filling. Was happy with the results, would like to do it again when it's cool and crisp outside maybe even with the food mill if I can talk someone into doing it with me so I don't think about how long it's taking.

Oh, and the eggplant in that box pictured above became a gratin, and the plums became another rustic tart.

*That applesauce recipe turned out to be part of a blog written by the wife and daughters of C.J. Mahaney. It covers everything from parenting to photography and makes me want to hang out with them.

How to keep a toddler busy

2010-08-28T22:08:00.003-04:00

Olivia is a busy girl. I don't know if she's any busier than other kids her age, but toddlers have notoriously short attention spans and Olivia gets bored doing the same things over and over. I polled my friends for ideas for inexpensive entertainment and Elizabeth gave me this idea. Put rice in a box and have Olivia bury objects in it. I got some farm animal miniatures at Michaels so we can make it more interesting with animal sounds, and there's a cup for scooping rice (and hopefully dumping it back in the box). We do this on the porch so it's out of the sun but I don't have to vacuum every time.

Another idea from Elizabeth was to let Olivia paint the sidewalk with a paintbrush and water. Zero cleanup, and when the paintbrush is inside (and dry) it's still fun for her to "paint" things.

Livi also enjoys pouring things from one container to another in the rice bin, sandbox, bathtub, and now of dry cereal or water from cup to cup. She has a little table and chairs for a play surface on her level, and Riley helps with the cleanup. Any more under-two entertainment ideas from the peanut gallery? I am saving things like finger paints and play-doh for when she's a little older because of the enjoyment-to-cleanup ratio.

New words for Olivia:
Where are you? (Whyou, not to be confused with Wy-ee which is Riley)
I see you
shoe (previously soss)
rock
hot
please (peesh?)
baby
Lyla (Wy-wa)
Ellie (Eh-ee)

I do interval training, so when Olivia is in the stroller and I start running she says, "Wheeeeeeeee," like that little piggy.

Seven (49)

2010-08-26T17:38:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday, Riley! Or, as Olivia calls you, "Why-ee."

Music for kids (of all ages)

2010-08-24T11:31:00.000-04:00

I'm going to come right out and say that I don't like children's music that contains children singing. It makes my skin crawl like the smell of pink J&J lotion. When Olivia was born Steve and I went through our CDs looking for lullaby music we don't mind hearing over and over, like Sarah McLachlan and John Denver.

That being said, my sister-in-law gave us a CD they enjoy called "Blue Moo" which is designed for kids but is clever and catchy for adults. For example, BB King sings the "One Shoe Blues." I love it and other Sandra Boynton albums like "Philadelphia Chickens." I'm open to suggestions if you guys have other adult-friendly kid music, too -- just leave a comment so we can all enjoy.

Family time

2010-08-17T15:57:00.000-04:00

My brother and his family were in town for a short visit last week. We'll take what we can get!

Catching Up

2010-08-09T22:29:00.004-04:00

I love seeing school supplies in the store. It's the most wonderful time of the year! Except for the humidity. We've been keeping busy around here, although I'm giving my sewing machine a rest. Highlights of late...

Brunch at L'Auberge Provencale

It's a local French restaurant we don't normally afford, but they're on Restaurant.com so I got a gift certificate during one of the specials. And then we forgot about it and finally used it the day before it expired. The food was lovely and it was wonderful to have a relaxing afternoon with just the two of us. Me and Steve that is, not me and my lemon drop martini.

Weekend at Deep Creek Lake

We stayed with friends, Lee and Joan, whom we know from our State College days. They race their Flying Scot on the weekends, which was fun to watch from our kayaks. We came to the lake with them maybe 8 years ago and were smitten with lake life. Again, lovely to spend a relaxing weekend catching up with Steve while Olivia was back home in good hands (Thanks, Mom & Dad). It was also nice to wear jeans and a sweatshirt when it cooled off at night (or we took the speedboat out), since July was so hot.

Working (feverishly) on my fall jewelry collection.

This time of year I'm usually making new stuff for fall, but this year I kicked it up a notch, hired a sitter so I could focus, and threw myself into creating new pieces with a cohesive look. You can read more about it here.

Oh and? My problem-child tooth #2... cavity, filling, pain, crown(s), more pain, and finally a root canal a week ago. I am happy to say it is now pain-free and I can chew on the right side of my mouth for the first time in four months.

Dishwasher Expectations

2010-07-27T12:17:00.000-04:00

We rinse our dishes pretty well before putting them in the dishwasher. And whatever little bits do get left on the dishes end up stuck to the inside of our glassware after the wash cycle. Is this normal? Is it too much to ask that our dishwasher do more than sanitize the dishes?

For the record, our dishwasher is probably original to the house, circa 1998. Not super old, but the kitchen has all builder-basic appliances. The above-the-stove microwave gave up the ghost earlier this year and I keep hoping the dishwasher will follow suit so we can get a new one. Aside from having us pre- and post-rinse the dishes, it is loud and has rust stains on the interior (although to be fair, the rust doesn't transfer to the dishes).

Dear Santa, I would like a quiet dishwasher that leaves our dishes clean once we scrape off big stuff like chicken bones. I do not want/need 8 different wash cycles or stainless steel (our cabinets are white).

Kimono jacket

2010-07-22T16:45:00.000-04:00

Dear Lord, thank you for giving us a girl. They are so fun to dress.

JoAnn's is having great sale this week, so I've been back several times as I keep thinking of new ideas. (Expect to see Olivia in lots of corduroy this winter.) I bought materials to make a little jacket for Olivia, obviously giving myself plenty of time before she'd need it.

Originally I was going to use gray fleece for the outside, but I told myself Olivia will have her entire adult life to choose conservative colors if she wants. (Probably what my mother told herself before she sewed me what would later be dubbed "curtain pants" at the bus stop.)

I found a pattern (from this seller on Etsy) and decided to give it a whirl even though I had no experience with taping together a PDF pattern or following non-pattern-company instructions. Turns out the pattern designer left out all the stuff that makes professional patterns confusing to me, so it wasn't hard at all.

Next time I'd probably place the button hole closer to the corner and may still move the button toward the right shoulder because it is supposed to be kimono-style, but otherwise I'm happy with the outcome and Olivia didn't want to take it off. I love that the hood looks like a Kewpie doll.

Look at those knees! So cute.

Also coming off my production line is a pair of pink fleece pants that I started last winter. They were still laying on my sewing table the other day, so I gave them to Olivia to keep her entertained while I sewed. (She likes to try to dress herself.)

They still looked like they'd fit, so I sewed a ruffle on the bottom to hem them and finished the waist with elastic.She's wearing these over her shorts because I just wanted a quick pic. (Note to self: the early morning light makes for a grainy photo, next time contain your excitement and wait a couple of hours.) Olivia and I both benefit from *ahem* tunic-length tops on account of our bellies. No, I am not pregnant.

Speaking of big sales this week, last night we hit the mall for end-of-summer clearance. We did the same thing last summer (note the last-season Gymboree stripes) and got some great deals, plus my mom gave me her Gymboree bucks so our stuff there was 50% off the lowest price. It's really hard for me to guess what size O will be wearing next summer, though. People are telling me that she won't grow as quickly now that she's a little older, but the line on the growth chart has the same trajectory for year 3 as it does year 2. I guess we'll have to starve her so she'll wear her clothes a little longer. Kidding. I do wonder how she's grows so well while eating like a ~~bird~~ toddler.

Thriving

2010-07-20T23:25:00.003-04:00

Olivia had her 18-month checkup this morning. 33.5" (90th %) and 26lb, 12oz (75th %). I love how Dr. Dameron acts as though Livi is the healthiest child he has ever seen. He is so encouraging, even when I'm not concerned about something, and this rookie mom needs that. Olivia didn't even cry when she got her Hep A shot, and even wanted to "go" to the nurse who stuck her with it. She was fascinated with the band-aid because it was on her arm this time. And the mysterious red bumps that have been showing up on and off around her neck and shoulders? Heat rash, definitely not allergies. Whew.

During the last checkup it was a stretch to say Olivia was saying 5 words, but this time she is definitely saying (and meaning) several more. She'll repeat things if you ask her, which was a huge turning point in my mind like I finally knew for sure that she got what words are. Mama, Daddy (now with the d's), ball, duck, cheese, no, uh-oh. If you ask her to say "dog" she says "woof." "Yummy" is "nummy." "Riley" is "why." "Grandpa" is "Papa" or "Poppy." If you ask her to say "one" she says "two." I think she does this because Steve and I take her hands and swing her while we're walking: "One, two, THREEEE!!!"

She likes the pool and slides and sandboxes (thanks, Grandma R). She likes to wipe things with a cloth (or towel or Kleenex) or wear it on her head. She dances to classical music and the elevator music on the Weather Channel. She loves to play ball with Riley, and still gets that belly laugh watching Riley chase the ball. Livi likes to climb onto chairs and sofas (and tables and footstools - eek) and her body control and balance has gotten a lot better to the point where I don't even stop her any more. How else will she become an Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics?

Tiny clothes

2010-07-20T07:52:00.002-04:00

I know how to sew curtains, pillows are no problem, I have made quilts with straight lines, but lately I've been learning how to sew garments from patterns, a small feat for me. They actually have to fit something, a body with curves and stuff. Granted, I've limited myself to clothes for Olivia and my mom has helped get me going, deciphering the cutting layout maps. Pattern sizes don't correspond to storebought clothing sizes, so when in doubt I make it bigger. Case in point, I made this shirt in size 2, according to Olivia's stats at her last checkup. (Note: turkey baster + funnel = most awesome toy ever.)

It looks okay in the picture, but it falls off her shoulders in a sort of too-sexy-for-toddlers/Flashdance type of way. I'm guessing she'll grow into it by next pink & green season. (I'm having flashbacks of my grandmother sending me homemade clothes with deep hems to be let out when I got bigger. I appreciate the amount of work that goes into a handmade garment, but I'm still afraid of becoming that kind of seamstress, the one who tries to make a piece fit from 18 months until kindergarten.

My latest finished piece is a corduroy jumper, largely because I have a history of losing interest halfway through a project, so I thought planning a fall outfit would be a reasonable timeframe. BUT, I am also instituting a rule (that I will probably break) that I finish one sewing project before moving onto the next.

I am happy to report that I finally finished sewing the (second set of) slipcovers for our porch furniture, this time with Velcro closures and a more practical print.

I have a bit of a fabric-collecting habit. I get it from my mother. We buy fabric with a specific project in mind, then either don't do the project or forget what it was, and here I am with shelves full of 1-yard lengths of pretty fabrics. (It was all purchased on sale and none of it is going bad yet! Packrats unite!) I've seen my friend Trice at the fabric store twice in the last month, and our other friend Heather has seen her there another time by chance. So I'm not the only one who goes to JoAnn Fabrics on a weekly basis with hopes of making cute stuff for our little ones. Either we need to stage an intervention or we need to get a sitter and have a sewing party. Or a field trip to a quilt shop that carries (ahem) better-quality fabric(as I am a bit of a fabric snob). I'm just glad to have local friends who sew!

Family trip to the mountains

2010-07-18T22:07:00.002-04:00

Steve and Olivia and I spent this past week in wild, wonderful West Virginia with Steve's family. Cherie (Steve's Mom) found a place to accomodate seven grown children with their spouses and dogs AND be within a reasonable drive for those coming from Connecticut, North Carolina, and New York. Plus she organized activities for us to do in the area, games at night, and family dinners (each couple cooked one night). We had a great time and Olivia had lots of fun playing with everyone.

Grandpa's (Poppy's) slippers

Steve and his mom outside the Paw Paw Tunnel.

Thanks for the fun, Bob and Cherie!

Budding artist

2010-07-07T13:21:00.001-04:00

"Olivia, what is on your nose?"

Normally we have a chair in front of the desk drawer keeping the pencils safe, but we borrowed the chair when we had people over and forgot to put it back. I'm just glad she didn't find a Sharpie.

You've come a long way, baby

2010-07-01T14:48:00.001-04:00

Last summer I made a couple of pillowcase dresses for Olivia from fat quarters.

This summer they fit a lot better! And once she gets bigger they can be worn as tops.

Last summer, Olivia was barely able to sit by herself in the baby "pool" ...

...and here she is this summer, trying to drink from a funnel.

Greeking my yogurt

2010-06-29T08:08:00.000-04:00

I haven't gotten a new yogurt maker yet, so I'm just buying the big containers of plain yogurt at the store so I can sweeten/flavor it myself. (Olivia would prefer to eat Yo Baby but I think that's because she likes the little chef baby on the packaging.) Once I stir the container of yogurt to incorporate the liquid (whey?) the yogurt stays kinda runny, so I decided to try to strain it to make Greek-style yogurt. Greek yogurt is thicker, and the brands at the grocery store are fat free and tend to sweeten with sugar or honey instead of aspartame or, heaven forbid, high fructose corn syrup.

Since Greek yogurt (yogurt cheese) is really just thick yogurt, I just needed some sort of strainer. In my yogurt maker research I came across a device made just for this, but reviewers mentioned difficulty cleaning, rust, and the need to empty the container during straining. Pass. Cheesecloth, ironically, seemed to be too loose of a weave and I could picture it soaking up too much of the good stuff. Tapping into my memory of chemistry lab filtration, I figured a coffee filter might do the trick. We have a small gold coffee filter for our old coffee maker, but I was worried that it wouldn't be a fine enough mesh for yogurt, so I cut down a #4 paper filter and set that in a mug. (Mug is from Earthworks in Barbados, for those who are curious.) Filled it up with yogurt, set it in the fridge for a few hours, peeked to find success! Creamy consistency like frosting. My only complaint is how much volume you lose in straining. I read online that it is reduced by half or more, depending on how long you let it strain. No wonder Greek yogurt packaging touts that it has twice the protein of regular yogurt.

The next try was with our "camping coffeemaker" which is basically a filter basket that sits on top of one's enamel camping mug, to be filled with coffee and water that tastes suspiciously like campfire. Here is the before and after so you can see the volume change. No, I did not measure.

Add some honey and granola and it's delicious. My question now is what is the nutritional value of the liquid that I'm dumping out? What do you do with your whey?

Rustic Peach Tart

2010-06-28T21:01:00.001-04:00

Last week I made it out to Marker-Miller orchard for the first time this season. I dropped Olivia off at my parents beforehand so I could pick berries in peace, and wore my grubbies with my hair pulled back. Alas, they were between crops, the strawberries having finished and their varieties of blackberries & raspberries were not ripe yet. So I got some of their apricots (pictured here still on the tree) and other produce they resell from other farms, picked up Olivia, and headed to the grocery store.

Not intending to carry on a theme, at the store I bought peaches: the sweet, white kind (my favorite) and the more ripe-looking regular kind. When I got home and was thinking about dinner, an image of a rustic peach tart popped in my head. It's somewhere in a cookbook or pile of magazine tear sheets, the image of peaches piled on a bottom crust and the crust then casually folded up around the edges. I got tired of looking for the particular image in my head and turned to my pal Google. I was hoping to use whole wheat pastry flour for the crust, and the recipe from Whole Foods just happened to use it without being asked. (Note: I am not a big fan of Whole Foods, for the record. They just happened to post a recipe that I like.)

This is a picture of my actual rustic peach tart, not just a photo borrowed from the web. I used the white peaches, skipped the almond lining, didn't bother to boil/peel my peaches, and forgot the sugar in the glaze; otherwise I stuck to the recipe. Oh wait, I microwaved the glaze as I couldn't bring myself to dirty a saucepan for two tablespoons of ingredients. Wait, let me guess - Whole Foods is anti-microwave. Maybe I should use this as an excuse to buy one of those mini-saucepans, but only if they can go in the dishwasher.

I like that I didn't have to roll my crust perfectly round like I would when using a pie plate. Another plus: the fold-over format of this crust lends itself well to being held like pizza instead of dirtying a dish. Of course if I had company I'd let them use dessert plates. Next time I'm using the fully-ripe peaches and I may throw in some of the local apricots or the "black velvet" ones I found at Wegmans.

Baby-dumb

2010-06-27T15:48:00.002-04:00

I am not really into kid and baby stuff, but I'm learning as I go. I usually poll my friends when I have a problem, and someone politely states the obvious answer that I had not thought of. There should be a manual with annual updates that include all the newly-invented baby gear and whether or not it's really necessary.

I stink at rinsing baby hair. I mean, the hair gets rinsed but Olivia sputters through it, gasping for breath and trying to find a way out of the tub. I've tried doing it with a cup, under the faucet, with a washcloth, with handfuls of water, but ultimately it either doesn't get the job done or my kid thinks she's drowning. I just don't know how else to do it, so I told myself that maybe OJ is just sensitive to water in her face. And nobody knowledgeable about baby-hair rinsing is in the bathroom with us when I need some advice, and so far I've forgotten to poll my panel of experts.

Last week my niece Lyla confirmed that the hair rinsing problem lies with me, that I'm apparently trying to drown her as well. The girls did very well in the tub together, and Olivia enjoyed all the new tub toys. Lyla had a rubber-sided bucket and they both enjoyed finding little things to put in it.

Then a few days later I was at Babies R Us in Akron and saw the label on the rubber-sided bucket which, come to find out, is designed for the purpose of rinsing baby hair. You press the rubber side against little Sven's forehead to protect his face, then dump the water toward the back of his head. Brilliant!

I'm going to be the old lady saying, "I wish they had that when I had little ones." And somebody will politely let me know that they did have those; I was just baby-dumb.