Magazine Cuisine: Episode 18

We are starting to fall into a groove that includes actually cooking dinner and trying new recipes again. The hardest part now is finding recipes that fit the dietary restrictions that I am on for Matilda's food allergies, which still remain a mystery.

As the weather turned cooler this past weekend, we were both craving a good soup so we turned to Cooking Light's: Chicken and Barley soup.

I felt uber-productive as I had dinner ready for Nate when he returned: a true 1950's moment in our house.

And Nate was over complimentary of the soup. Who wants to guess why? Was it:
1) Because the soup was actually delicious
2) Because he wanted to reinforce the behavior of having dinner ready when he got home
3) because it was the first time in about 3 months we haven't had a protein, starch, and veggie dinner.

Perhaps it was all 3, but either way it was nice to be cooking again, cooking something new again, and to have dinner done before he got home so we had more time to spend together.

Munchie

Because any other nickname just wouldn't do....

Munch...

Double Munch....

Thinking about it...

MUNCH!!!!

Abundance

In spite of the severe neglect mentioned earlier, we were blessed to have an abundant garden.

It kills me to not be able to eat all of these delicious, ripe and juicy tomatoes. But Nate took full advantage to make a HUGE batch (we are talking more than a gallon here) of salsa. AND, new this year we made a homemade pasta sauce that we froze so that hopefully I can enjoy it in about 5 months once we get Matilda squared away!

It was officially the year of the cucumber in the Hanson garden. Not sure how many cucumbers one family needs but we pick them by the dozen.....

Sleepless in St. Louis (Park)

Excuse any spelling errors in this blog as I am currently delirious with exhaustion.

Rewind 6 weeks ago and we were in a pure state of disbelief and joy that Matilda was sleeping for 8 hours at a time,sometimes 9 but ALWAYS 7. Now, she would also fight naps like no-one's business but I firmly stated, and continue to state that I would rather fight day sleep as long as this child continued to sleep at night.

Well clearly someone has it out for Nate and I. Now, Matilda is not only fighting day sleep. But she is also not sleeping at night.

Okay, I wouldn't call it "not sleeping", but she won't sleep unless the pacifier is in her mouth. So she wakes up at least every 2 hours, sometimes every 10-20 minutes for that F*ING paci. Which means either Nate or I are waking up every 2 hours, sometimes every 10-20 minutes to plug that F*ING Paci.

It is no surprise that a girl with the nickname, Munchie, has a strong urge to soothe herself by sucking. We are strongly encouraging thumb-sucking. Although it is pretty funny because you can't KEEP her hands out of her mouth when she is awake, but when she is sleeping it's like she forgets she has arms with hands attached that would be GREAT for hand-sucking to get yourself back to sleep.

So screw a babysitter,we need to hire a full-time paci-plugger. The job isn't glamorous, and it is long hours (7PM-7AM), and the pay isn't great. But you get to stare at a pretty cute little girl all night, and as an added bonus we will promise to get up and changing any dirty diapers that may crop up....

13 Weeks

We did it! We managed to keep this little human being alive for 3 months. Seriously...it feels like a major accomplishment.

And I would say she sure is a happy baby these days--although she is currently sick with a cold so happy might not be the first word I would use to describe her.

At 3 months, this girl weighs in at 13 pounds, 7 oz!

I mean check out these thighs...

She is becoming more and more expressive every day. This is her--seriously-enough-with-the-camera-face.

And her "Daddy--you are freaking me out with your crazy singing" face...

We have also been working on the dreaded Tummy time, which she is getting better at and can go about a minute before really starting to cry. Doing it ON Nate has been helpful.

And we introduced the Bumbo Chair...maybe a tish too soon but she seems to like it, and it is hilarious when she finds her feet.

As we crossed the 3 month mark, I am thankful I work for a company that is allowing me to stay out for 5 months. While I am totally stoked to go back to the wonderful world of adults, and challenging my brain in different ways beyond worrying about blood flecks in diaper, sleep schedules and baby development--I can't imagine taking Matilda to daycare today, or tomorrow for that matter. I am sure even at 5 months I won't want to do it and it will seem too soon, but for now I am thankful to be home with her.

Lesson I Learned This Week: No matter how many times you wash your hands, and use hand sanitizer if you or your husband is sick, your baby is going to catch it.

Up Nort Part Deux

We were lucky enough to get to spend another week with the fam up in Hayward this past week. It was even better as Nate, and the Keaty's (sans Becca) were able to join for the whole week. It was quite lively with 3 little ones, but there was never a dull moment.

Finn went on his first speed boat ride with Gramps, and even caught a few fish!

Leo didn't get to go, and had to watch from the pier, but then got to partake in MUCH more fun activities...a true WI boy at heart.

There was a lot of interest in baby Tillie from the boys...

There was a lot of outdoor running around (can anyone say energy to burn?) and even some running around WITH tears.

And there was the 2nd Annual Dia De Los Adventuras, which is essentially a day for Nate and I to take Finn (and hopefully next year Leo too!) and spoil them like all Aunts and Uncles are supposed to do. Bakery. Game Store. Candy Shoppe. World's Biggest Muskie. Check.

And Grandma and I dominated the night-time bath sessions while the boys (the big boys that is) were out fishing.

It was a great week of family fun. It was also a great week in understanding just what we would be getting into if we were to ever consider having 3 children.....and I can say right now that it just wouldn't be happening unless Grandma moved in with us!

The Way It Should Be

I recently ordered a few prints to hang in Matilda's nursery from a website called Zulily (http://www.zulily.com/). Essentially, it is a 'deal a day' sort of site with different brands, and products featured on discount every day.

I drooled over this site when I was pregnant, just waiting for the day that I knew the gender of Baby H. So once I found it it was a girl, and Matilda was in our lives I hunted for cute clothes, things for the nursery, etc.

So, I found these prints and ordered 2 of them. Well, I get the package this week and there is only ONE of the prints, and they packaged it--folded in half. So now, there is this GIANT crease down the middle of the print.

I decided to do something I hardly ever do--especially now that time seems to be just a little bit more previous--and emailed their customer service line.

Imagine my surprise when I get a PHONE CALL last night while we were watching the Packers (GO PACK!), from a customer service rep who wanted to me to know that they were going to not only refund my money but give me additional credit to their site for my inconvenience. He wanted to get back to me PERSONALLY, and not just send an impersonal email back.

I couldn't believe it. It is so rare to get good customer service 'these days' so when you do find it, relish in it and be loyal to those places that give it to you. I know I will be a Zulily fan for life!

11 Weeks

Another week older!

No real new milestones to report (unless you count topping off 12 pounds--12 lbs 5 oz to be exact). Matilda continues to be a focused and serious baby some of the time....

And a very happy, silly baby the other part of the time

We are still REALLY struggling through food allergies. She has had a solid week of diapers with blood in them, and one very awful night last Thursday where she pretty much cried in pain all night. It was terrible. Terrible for her. Terrible for us. I am working on cutting out ANYTHING that would be suspect from my diet to protect Tillie, while searching for a good pediatric allergist.

For how sore her little tummy must be, she continues to be smiley, and is working on giggling.

Lesson I learned this week: Sometimes you just need to go to the doctor, even though you know they probably aren't going to be able to tell you anything new, or didn't know.

Where the Wild Things Grow

Many things in our lives have been neglected this summer. None more than our home. We have a garden that we have barely harvested (although it isn't that fun to harvest a garden that you can eat NOTHING out of--thank you to Matilda's acid reflux and food allergie)s. Flowers that are wilted. Bushes that are dead. Herbs that are dried to a crisp.

And we have this:

Yes, take a closer look. That is a WILD squash plant growing. In. Our. Front. Yard. Seriously now. It looks ridiculous.

But to be honest I am so impressed that this sucker grew from what I can only assume is an ornamental squash I put in our fall window boxes last year, and has survived all summer long, with no TLC, when everything else around our home has died. I mean check out the flower boxes. They actually GOT some love in the form of morning waterings and they are toast. Not this squash plant. But it lives.

And you know what...it has little cute ornamental gourds growing on it. So does it look ridiculous? Yes. Are our neighbors probably worrying about the resale value of their homes living next to us right now? Most likely.

But who is going to be jealous of all the cute little squash we have? Mmm hmmm. That's right.

And hopefully my super cute fall window boxes will make up for it (well that and Nate hacking the thing down in a few weeks...)

Magazine Cuisine: Episode 16

We are getting a little more capable of cooking each week. Of course, Matilda helps out by being much more content in the evenings (minus last night--but who wouldn't be a little fussy if they were pooping blood....), AND an earlier bedtime.

So usually cooking 'together' goes a little something like this:
Greta preps during day--you know measuring stuff, cutting stuff, etc
Nate cooks while Greta does the night-time nurse
We eat together once Tillie is down for the count

Sure, dinner is sometimes interrupted by the ever-persistent Paci War, but I'll take it, because then I get to eat food like this: BLT Bucatini.

From the most recent edition of Cuisine magazine, this was a super easy recipe that got us to use some of our garden veg (the most neglected garden of the century), and gave us some leftovers for Nate.

Essentially it is spinach, tomatoes and bacon reduced with vinegar and some red-pepper flakes with salt and pepper. Easy, and delicious---although it's hard to screw up anything that has bacon in it!