Monthly Archives: December 2009

Reflecting on Four Christmases

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I did not drink one drop of egg nog this year.

Next year I must find a way to simplify the holidays. This year, Christmas lasted from Wednesday through Saturday. We celebrated Christmas (with the food and gifts and the whole sha-bang) four times. I love hanging out with my family, but toting along an 8-month-old and all the gear necessary for meals, baths, diapering, sleeping and entertainment, all while trying to maintain some type of nap schedule over a four day period is not conducive to stress-free celebration. I’m not a control freak when it comes to my baby’s schedule, but by Saturday everything was making him weep because he was so tired. I actually felt guilty because he was short on sleep for that whole extended weekend and he was just falling apart. Tack on driving through terrible conditions and arriving home to a driveway piled up with a foot of snow and you have the true definition of “burned out.”

There really was no way to do things differently, though. When all of the kids are grown up and you’re trying your best to see everyone and work with so many different schedules, sometimes you just end up having to go to twice as many celebrations. We always celebrate the holidays with both sides of the family – usually we split it up between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but this year both sides of the family split up their celebrations to accommodate everyone’s plans. His immediate family on Wednesday, my immediate family on Thursday, his extended family on Friday, my extended family on Saturday. I guess I feel a little conflicted because we had so much fun, but I was stressed as well, and now I’m exhausted, but I’m glad we got to see everyone. I can’t really say that I would have skipped any of the celebrations (why would I?), but at the same time I wish they were condensed to the two days as usual because it’s hard to be away from home for so long with a baby that only likes to take naps and sleep at home. I’m also a little apprehensive about how this will all work out years from now when we have more than one child. I think we would really have to pick and choose which celebrations to attend and try to alternate it each year. I know that some people will be disappointed, but I just can’t see us trying to pull this off again with more than one kid. These things are easy when you are just a couple. It’s pretty hard to pull off with a baby. I am wondering how families with multiple children do it? Is it something that parents just get better at with experience? Did we overdo it or does every young family do it this way? Or am I just over-reacting and this is the reality that every single family faces this time of year?

Deck the Walls

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The other night, inspiration struck. I added a little more Christmas cheer to my living room by wrapping all the photos on the walls to turn them into wall presents! Dog-gone-it, there won’t be very many gifts under the tree this year, but there sure will be plenty on the walls!!

Have you done anything “outside the box” with your decorations this year?

Savory Hamburger Soup with Rolls and "Texas Roadhouse" Cinnamon Butter

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I adapted the recipe for this delicious soup from one I found on All Recipes. You can see the original recipe here.  Eric absolutely loved it – we will be making this again!

Savory Hamburger Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 potato, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 1/2 cartons beef broth (or about 48 ounces)
  • 2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
  • 1/4 (16 ounce) package frozen green peas
  • Ground black pepper to taste (generous sprinkle)
  • Garlic Salt to taste
  • Oregano to taste (generous sprinkle)
  • Cumin to taste (generous sprinkle)
  • 2 spoonfuls of Juan’s Fiesta Artichoke Spinach Party Dip Mix
  • Squirt of Worcestershire sauce

Directions

  1. In a large frying pan brown ground beef and chopped onion. Season with black pepper and garlic salt. Drain grease from pot. Pour into slow cooker.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker. Season with a little more pepper. (With the Oregano and Cumin, I just sprinkled the top of the mix and stirred it in. I didn’t measure it – just use according to your preference.)
  3. Cook on high for a couple hours or until all the veggies are tender.

“Texas Roadhouse” Cinnamon Butter

Blend the following until smooth:

1 stick of butter – softened
1/8 cup evaporated milk*
1/8 cup sugar*
“Squirt” of Maple syrup**
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

*The original recipe called for 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk – I mixed half and half evaporated milk and sugar instead – still amazing!!

**The original recipe called for 1/4 teaspoon corn syrup. Maple syrup was an improvement, I think!

(I didn’t have these ingredients so I made some substitutions. I couldn’t tell the difference and Eric really loved it, so I’ll probably just make it this way again!)

Spread this on warmed rolls and it’s pretty much to die for!

I’m linking this to the Tempt My Tummy Tuesday blog carnival. Head over there for even more amazing recipes!

Why Babies Are Just Like Puppies

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With all of the drool soaking my carpets and puddling on the linoleum, prospective buyers might suspect we were owners of a St. Bernard. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) we have had no prospective buyers, therefore eliminating the potentially embarrassing scenario where someone actually steps in a lake of drool and falls into another. It’s not a completely unlikely scenario. After all, somehow each morning I manage to step in it, even if there is only one little spit puddle in the whole room, and cringe at the feeling of wet sock. Is there anything worse?

It died down for a few weeks. The little man returned to his peaceful 12 hour nights and those two adorable bottom teeth gleamed when he smiled. The drool was minimal and I got a break from wet socks.

Then one evening, he woke up an hour after he went to bed. And again a few hours later. And again an hour later. And somewhere in between shuffling to his room at 3am in a stupor and crashing back into my pillow, it hit me. He’s getting another tooth. I should have known, because I was being showered in drool again. The next morning, I saw a glimmer of white in his gums while he blubbered. He is so pitiful when he cuts a tooth, and “blubbering” is the best word I can think of to describe the pout, furrowed brow, watery eyes, and sad gibberish continually streaming from his cute little down-turned lips. Baby Orajel had him smiling again, but it only lasted for so long, and I just don’t feel right about continuously slathering meds on his gums.

He cut another tooth this morning, the right lateral incisor, giving him a potentially lopsided grin, with two bottom teeth in the center, and two top teeth on the right side. I’m sure the top two left will follow soon, though, and in a month’s time they’ll look even.

In the midst of all this drool, we have the biting, and that is what led us to realize that having a baby can be just like having a puppy. We’ll be sitting in the living room, and all of a sudden he takes off, panting and laughing and smiling from ear to ear while he charges the coffee table. As soon has he gets in range, he flops on his belly and turns his head to the side to latch on to the leg of the table with his teeth and he begins to GNAW. And he sounds like he is GROWLING while he does it. I am not kidding. If it’s not the leg of the coffee table, it’s the leg of the couch, or my brand new heels, or my arm! Everything he can fit into his mouth, he no longer licks, but chews! He leaves these cute little twin teeth marks in everything! Eric and I are laughing as we pry him off of things all day.

Of course, puppies also cuddle and that is our favorite part. When he crawls across the room to climb up into my lap and bury his head in my neck, I melt. He opens his mouth wide and just sort of presses it into my cheek, a “kiss,” leaving it dripping with spit, literally. It’s so cute.

He drools in my mouth when we play airplane and he bites my shoulder when I carry him to bed, but oh my, I love this little boy so much.

High Chair "Art"

Date Night

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Fun: The Worst Case Scenario Game of Surviving Life

If you’ve ever wondered how to correctly fall down the stairs, keep a person from swallowing their tongue, or what to order when your date has halitosis (guacamole, of all things!), this game is perfect for you. What’s funny is when you find yourself acting out a scenario in an attempt to guess the right answer. We ended up in a tie except Eric had more body parts left than I did.  And I’m now fairly certain that I would never survive in a worst case scenario.

Food: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Here’s the weird part, Eric originally said he didn’t want to help bake, but then he ended up doing most of the work. He’s a closet Emeril. We used the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book (you know, the red and white checkered binder) and added cinnamon – they turned out amazing! We can’t stop eating them…. and that’s why we don’t bake very often. This was the first time Eric used the stand mixer I bought  for myself with my birthday cash. Growing up, he baked a lot of cookies, but always stirred the batter by hand.  He was impressed with how much easier it was to throw the ingredients in a bowl and watch the mixer do all the work. That mixer was a Walmart door buster – definitely worth my $17.

Show: The Office (x3)

We dragged the memory foam, pillows and blankets off our bed down to the living room and camped out on the floor for an Office marathon. Cookie crumbs may have ended up in the sheets… It’s funny because I remember doing this with my sister when we were little. For some reason watching TV is so much more fun when you’ve built this impressive pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, like a fort without walls. Here I am at 26 and I still love it. I look forward to having a pile of kids on the floor with us for movie nights someday. Speaking of The Office, is it just me or does Dwight Schrute get funnier every season? I think he’s becoming my favorite character on the show.

Dwight K Schrute from The Office (tvfanatic.com)

I think that was pretty much my ideal night! How do you like to spend time with your family?

My Little Mover

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My little man is crawling!

Sunday  night was the first time I saw him do it, on the day he turned 8 months. We were at small group at our pastor’s house, and during the prayer, I felt Micah get off my lap. I opened my eyes to see him crawling towards his toys! Amanda, who was sitting behind me, saw it, too, but everyone else had their eyes closed!

Monday and Tuesday, Micah became shy about crawling. I would catch him trying it again when he thought I wasn’t in the room, but if I was there he would whimper and reach up to me (to be picked up). Perhaps the only reason he did it on Sunday night was because we all had our eyes closed.

Yesterday he finally decided he was brave enough to try it in front of me. I’ve been capturing video on my camera of his progression since last month and I compiled it this morning to music. The first time I watched it with this soundtrack I teared up. What is it about the music? I love it!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DRd0aPvuos&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1]

Of course, this also means he is getting into even more things than he was before…

Apparently the drapes are more fun than his toys!

Snowed In

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Eric shoveling the driveway...

It’s not just the depth of the snow that’s keeping us home today, it’s the weight. After shoveling about ten feet of the driveway, Eric decided to call for backup. To say that finishing the driveway with a shovel would be backbreaking is an understatement.  We need a plow!

Trouble

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Remotes. Cords. Furniture. Doors. Walls. Garbage Cans. The Dishwasher. The Laundry Room. Straps. Items on the shelves in the Grocery Store.

These are just a few of the things that Micah has been getting into lately. Now that he is becoming increasingly mobile, I have to be increasingly aware of his wherabouts, because quicker than you can say, “Micah, no-no-no,” he’s devouring the TV Remote or dismantling the coasters under the coffee table. I used to be able to lay him on a blanket and know that he would still be there when I returned from using the bathroom or throwing in a load of laundry, but now he takes every opportunity he can get to explore new territory, which usually involves something I don’t particularly want covered in saliva. When I’m grocery shopping, I have to keep the cart in the middle of the aisle, otherwise he leans over and tries to grab food off the shelf, and at his age that means knocking if off the shelf.

Last week he learned how to pull himself up, and that has made him even more of a little mischief-maker.

Exhibit A:

Micah is eating the fitness hoop I hid behind the couch.

Yes, he is a little climber. So,  in preparation for his advancing skills, we are taking down the cheap six-foot bookshelf in the living room and storing it in the guest room instead. We are going to figure out some way to make sure the fireplace “cage doors” stay shut. I am moving everything off the coffee table (including my beautiful centerpiece) and will store baskets of toys underneath it instead to appease his curiosity. We’ll be looking for baby gates pretty soon, too.

I’m not going to go crazy with the baby proofing, though, because I don’t want to have a false sense of security. I need to have my eyes on this kid at all times, even if it’s inconvenient. So far, he has already proven he can do the impossible, so I’m not going to put my trust in plastic baby-proofing devices. I have decided there is no such thing as baby-proof, only baby-resistant. Since Micah already has the title of “Crib Houdini” (I’m sure you can figure that one out), I wouldn’t be surprised if he figured out how to manipulate the rest of his environment as well.

I’m actually looking forward to this stage because I have started to grow tired of watching him lay there and suck on his toes… I am ready for some action and excitement. I can’t wait to play “chase me” with this kid!