My creative juices have quit flowing.
I have no new cute photos or milestones to share.
The few blog ideas I have in the hopper seem like all too much work to finish tonight.
And yet, I am staring at an old blog post and it feels like I need to get an update down on 'paper'.
But that update would include a whole lot of nothing: went to work, wrote some emails, sat in some meetings, fed Matilda, bathed Matilda, slept Matilda, watched some TV. Rinse. Repeat. Repeat again.
Maybe do some (get excited here people) laundry. Or even read some magazines.
We need some ideas for date nights at home.
Actually we need an idea for a legitimate date night this Friday as my friend, Marie, is adamant about babysitting.
So send us your ideas. Suggestions. Tips.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Look Out World...
Matilda is on the move.
It's as if she woke up on Saturday morning, and thought "today seems like a great day to begin crawling".
There wasn't any 'testing', 'trying and failing', clumsiness.
As predicted, it was just straight-out crawling.
Baby Gates are up, and we are quickly learning what areas of the house need baby-proofing (also known as deep cleaning). Matilda seems especially drawn to the lint in our carpet and dust-bunnies under our TV stand.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
What's Cooking: Week 1
I love our tradition of picking a cookbook to cook a new recipe from each year.
This year was Fresh Food Fast by Martha Stewart. We started out with good intentions, but after much discussion, I have decided to proclaim Fresh Food Fast dead. Not because the cookbook fall short (because it doesn't), but our cooking style has changed.
We are home a lot more. Cooking a lot more.
And I happen to have 2 major distractions from said cookbook.
1) Pinterest
2) I subscribed to about 6 cooking magazines this year, and each provides pages of inspiration that lure me away from my stack of cookbooks.
And I want to use this blog to showcase what our week looks like and share the major hits (and the major misses). Paint a realistic picture of what life is like with two full-time parental units, and a baby.
So I introduce our weekly blog 'column': What's Cookin'!
Monday night we re-made the Sweet Potato Burgers that I wrote about a few weeks ago. Since it is a favorite of Miss Matilda, it makes for very useful leftovers. We also made a side dish of the Tex Mex Bean Salad. This seemed like a super fun new recipe, but in reality it was a knock-off of Texas Cavier. Still delicious though and made great left-overs.
Tuesday night brought a new recipe that we found off of Pinterest. Caprese Pizza Toasts. They were SUPER EASY. SUPER QUICK. A perfect weeknight meal, paired with a big old salad.
To be honest, I'm not sure why it is called' Pizza Toast" because it doesn't have Pizza flavor at all, but it didn't matter to us because they were very good.
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled
1 serrano chile pepper, halved, seeded and rough chopped
1/2 small onion, rough chopped (we omitted this)
1/2 teaspoon of cround cumin
salt
1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt (we used greek)
2 teaspoons lime juice
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsn vegetable oil
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken (skin removed)
2 medium carrots, shredded
Naan Bread or pocket pitas (we found amazing Naan at Costco)
**We also added a good amount of Red Pepper, rough-chopped to add more veg).
1). Combine the ginger, chile, onion, cumin and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a mini food processor and pulse to make a thick paste (or finely chop and mash with the flat side of a knife). Mix the yogurt, lime juice, and cilantro in a bowl, combine with salt. Cover and chill until ready to use.
2) Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add the ginger-chile paste and cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is slightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken, carrots, salt, and 1/2 cup of water and continue to cook, stirring until the sauce is thick and the chicken is heated through (about 2 more minutes) Season with salt.
3) Spoon chicken down middle of bread. Drizzle with yogurt sauce and roll up.
Enjoy!! Let me know if you make it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
This year was Fresh Food Fast by Martha Stewart. We started out with good intentions, but after much discussion, I have decided to proclaim Fresh Food Fast dead. Not because the cookbook fall short (because it doesn't), but our cooking style has changed.
We are home a lot more. Cooking a lot more.
And I happen to have 2 major distractions from said cookbook.
1) Pinterest
2) I subscribed to about 6 cooking magazines this year, and each provides pages of inspiration that lure me away from my stack of cookbooks.
And I want to use this blog to showcase what our week looks like and share the major hits (and the major misses). Paint a realistic picture of what life is like with two full-time parental units, and a baby.
So I introduce our weekly blog 'column': What's Cookin'!
Monday night we re-made the Sweet Potato Burgers that I wrote about a few weeks ago. Since it is a favorite of Miss Matilda, it makes for very useful leftovers. We also made a side dish of the Tex Mex Bean Salad. This seemed like a super fun new recipe, but in reality it was a knock-off of Texas Cavier. Still delicious though and made great left-overs.
Tuesday night brought a new recipe that we found off of Pinterest. Caprese Pizza Toasts. They were SUPER EASY. SUPER QUICK. A perfect weeknight meal, paired with a big old salad.
To be honest, I'm not sure why it is called' Pizza Toast" because it doesn't have Pizza flavor at all, but it didn't matter to us because they were very good.
We tend to always have one night a week that ends up being a bust. Not a bust in the sense that dinner is terrible. But a bust in the sense that we get home, look at the chalkboard to see what is in-store for dinner and either realize we forgot to take meat out, or we are just too tired to consider making a big meal. That was Wednesday night. We made Brinner. Our stand-by. Frittata with asparagus, red pepper and feta with hashbrowns. Easy. Quick. Low maintenance.
The real gem of the week was a new recipe we tried from the Food Network Magazine. These will be made again (and again and again). If you are looking for a great new dish to try that breaks you out of the status quo, make this: Indian Chicken Wraps.
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled
1 serrano chile pepper, halved, seeded and rough chopped
1/2 small onion, rough chopped (we omitted this)
1/2 teaspoon of cround cumin
salt
1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt (we used greek)
2 teaspoons lime juice
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsn vegetable oil
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken (skin removed)
2 medium carrots, shredded
Naan Bread or pocket pitas (we found amazing Naan at Costco)
**We also added a good amount of Red Pepper, rough-chopped to add more veg).
1). Combine the ginger, chile, onion, cumin and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a mini food processor and pulse to make a thick paste (or finely chop and mash with the flat side of a knife). Mix the yogurt, lime juice, and cilantro in a bowl, combine with salt. Cover and chill until ready to use.
2) Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add the ginger-chile paste and cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is slightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken, carrots, salt, and 1/2 cup of water and continue to cook, stirring until the sauce is thick and the chicken is heated through (about 2 more minutes) Season with salt.
3) Spoon chicken down middle of bread. Drizzle with yogurt sauce and roll up.
Enjoy!! Let me know if you make it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Total Domination
While most babies are currently working very hard on things like crawling, and walking, our daughter is pouring her efforts into dinner time, or really any time of day that involves her sitting down for a meal.
Unless you have seen it for yourself, you really probably wouldn't believe how much this girl can eat. So we taped one recent dinnertime feast (well, we only taped about a quarter of the feast. there was still MUCH food to be devoured after the tape stopped rolling)....
Unless you have seen it for yourself, you really probably wouldn't believe how much this girl can eat. So we taped one recent dinnertime feast (well, we only taped about a quarter of the feast. there was still MUCH food to be devoured after the tape stopped rolling)....
I am certain she could win her age division at an eating contest (assuming of course the food was either asparagus or zucchini or all-time favorites).
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thoughts on *potentially* Losing My Job
This week my company announced there would be about 850 jobs cut over the course of the next month. It was a surreal day on Tuesday as the news started to unfold, meetings were held, and of course the rumors started flying.
It has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. From fear that I would lose job, to an optimistic 'whatever happens will happen for a reason'. I hope that this company, whom I have dedicated 7.5 years of my life to, will recognize and see the value that I feel I add to the organization.
But beyond all of that it was a very good reminder for me that no matter how amazing my employer is, how generous they are, or flexible and accomodating (because it truly is all of those things)....it is still a corporation first. And I work in Corporate America. And layoffs happen. I am not immune.
And so this whole process serves as a reminder to me to enjoy life outside these corporate walls. The time you spend with your family. The memories you make with your family. And a reminder to truly be present when you are doing those things. Because if you spend all of your energy and time on work, and work ceases to exist you aren't left with much.
For now I wait and see what my fate will be. But among all that waiting you can bet there will be lots of baby snuggles, laughs with friends, cooking dinner with my hubby and time to stop and appreciate all that I have right now.
It has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. From fear that I would lose job, to an optimistic 'whatever happens will happen for a reason'. I hope that this company, whom I have dedicated 7.5 years of my life to, will recognize and see the value that I feel I add to the organization.
But beyond all of that it was a very good reminder for me that no matter how amazing my employer is, how generous they are, or flexible and accomodating (because it truly is all of those things)....it is still a corporation first. And I work in Corporate America. And layoffs happen. I am not immune.
And so this whole process serves as a reminder to me to enjoy life outside these corporate walls. The time you spend with your family. The memories you make with your family. And a reminder to truly be present when you are doing those things. Because if you spend all of your energy and time on work, and work ceases to exist you aren't left with much.
For now I wait and see what my fate will be. But among all that waiting you can bet there will be lots of baby snuggles, laughs with friends, cooking dinner with my hubby and time to stop and appreciate all that I have right now.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Translation Tuesday: Cool Dudes
Remember "hat practice?"
Well, now that we have hats mastered we have moved on to the crucial summer essential: sunglass practice.
Except we don't call them sunglasses.
We call them Cool Dudes.
And every time we put the on Matilda we do a little jingle about it and put them on her face.
And we just had a breakthrough we she actually keeps them on for more than a minute.
Did I mention this cool dude practice takes place in the bathtub every night?
Sunday, May 20, 2012
11 Months
I am in denial that Matilda continues to get older so I won't even mention that she is only 1 month away from the 1 year milestone. Where does the time go? I just don't understand. Anyway, that is a different post for a different day (and that day is only one. month. away....but I digress).
The past month has been a wild one for us. We were fortunate enough to get to go on our first family vacation as a threesome to Florida. Work got crazy for both Nate and I, and we both were desperate to get home to soak up every ounce of Matilda and her new found social butterfly skills.
The 11th month brought waving hi and bye....At times spot on, at other time at about a :15 delay. Either way...adorable.
....blowing kisses. Or should I saw locking in her own kisses. She get her hand up to her mouth but doesn't then actually blow the kiss.
....the beginnings of her snuggling toys/dolls. There were times the past few weeks where Matilda would be rooting through a box/bag/bucket of toys and pull out some stuffed toy of some sort, make all sort of cooing noises and snuggle it. My heart literally melts every time I see her do it.
...Independence. From the strong desire to feed herself to wanting to turn the pages of her books, this little one is starting to show us she has preferences..
....So Big. But in our house...we don't quite do So Big the typical way. We do "so cute", where we say how cute are you, and TIllie shrugs her shoulder and puts her head to one side. I know, I know. All the mothers of daughters out there are probably shaming and judging me that I should have taught her so smart over so cute. But guess what. It is so cute. And there will be plenty of time for me to tell her how smart she is. But with thighs like these...how can you not mention the cute word every now and then?
....the first glimpse into my life in 10 years from now, as she got angry when I took a toy away from her the first time. She gave me a face that literally sent chills to my spine, and then started crying. Awesome.
....and no. The 11th month did not bring crawling. Nate and I could not be more happy. Daycare could not be more perplexed. Because she is moving. Getting places. But no one can really quite put their fingers on how she is doing it. Lots of small, stealth movements I guess. But I am pretty confident she will be crawling soon. Any day really. Which means we need to baby proof and step up our game. Stat.
..Finally, the girl could still be called Munchie....not sure how long the finger sucking will last but for now it is here to stay.
It's hard to believe this one is past her first double-digit anniversary, and is moving toward toddler-hood, which I have heard has its own set of joys and burdens. But for now I am basking in the remaining days of babydom.
The past month has been a wild one for us. We were fortunate enough to get to go on our first family vacation as a threesome to Florida. Work got crazy for both Nate and I, and we both were desperate to get home to soak up every ounce of Matilda and her new found social butterfly skills.
The 11th month brought waving hi and bye....At times spot on, at other time at about a :15 delay. Either way...adorable.
....blowing kisses. Or should I saw locking in her own kisses. She get her hand up to her mouth but doesn't then actually blow the kiss.
....the beginnings of her snuggling toys/dolls. There were times the past few weeks where Matilda would be rooting through a box/bag/bucket of toys and pull out some stuffed toy of some sort, make all sort of cooing noises and snuggle it. My heart literally melts every time I see her do it.
...Independence. From the strong desire to feed herself to wanting to turn the pages of her books, this little one is starting to show us she has preferences..
....So Big. But in our house...we don't quite do So Big the typical way. We do "so cute", where we say how cute are you, and TIllie shrugs her shoulder and puts her head to one side. I know, I know. All the mothers of daughters out there are probably shaming and judging me that I should have taught her so smart over so cute. But guess what. It is so cute. And there will be plenty of time for me to tell her how smart she is. But with thighs like these...how can you not mention the cute word every now and then?
....the first glimpse into my life in 10 years from now, as she got angry when I took a toy away from her the first time. She gave me a face that literally sent chills to my spine, and then started crying. Awesome.
....and no. The 11th month did not bring crawling. Nate and I could not be more happy. Daycare could not be more perplexed. Because she is moving. Getting places. But no one can really quite put their fingers on how she is doing it. Lots of small, stealth movements I guess. But I am pretty confident she will be crawling soon. Any day really. Which means we need to baby proof and step up our game. Stat.
..Finally, the girl could still be called Munchie....not sure how long the finger sucking will last but for now it is here to stay.
It's hard to believe this one is past her first double-digit anniversary, and is moving toward toddler-hood, which I have heard has its own set of joys and burdens. But for now I am basking in the remaining days of babydom.
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