It has been a wonderful 3 1/2 months. She is a calm, even-tempered little lady who started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks and hasn't looked back. Her favorite things are the hanging minions on her activity mat, Sophie the Giraffe, and eating her swaddle blankets. She also enjoys laughing at Dad, being worn by Mom in the Moby wrap, and scouring the clearance rack at Carter's. She makes our job easy and we are so thankful to have her in our lives.
The one downside of maternity leave:
This is spring
staring out at this view all day. Yes, Dino, it is April, and yes, it is still snowing. We've all been getting a little stir-crazy in here, which is why the return to work brought a welcome change. (Not pictured: The 839 new emails waiting for me when I got back. More on that next week.)
I'll leave you with link to my wonderfully imaginative aunt's newest book, Stripes of All Types. As you can see, her beautiful illustrations captivate even the youngest of readers.
When I was pregnant with Babygirl, I was like a lot of soon-to-be moms in that I looked up pictures of nurseries on Pinterest, drooled over clothes that I would never buy at Baby Gap, and spent countless hours researching the best detergent for cloth diapers. Oh wait, that last one doesn't ring a bell with you? Feel free to stop reading now, because it's only going to get weirder.
We've thought about getting her into cloth diaper modeling, but it's just so competitive
2) They save you $$$$ Especially if you plan to have more than one child, cloth diapers pay for themselves and then some. We registered for them through Target and were gifted quite a few before Baby was born. And because we use adjustable-sized diapers, we have all the diapers we will need until she is potty-trained.
3) They are not what you think I know what you are thinking. The ones your mom used that you have to fold and pin. Those require needles and they scare me. The ones we have for Baby are ca-UTE and come in colors like pink that hubs pointed out may not be practical for our next child. Like if he were a boy. Like saying that boys don't wear pink.
Boy wearing pink
CONS 1) You will have to deal with... you know Luckily my real job often requires me to deal with poop, so the idea of dealing with my sweet baby's poo ain't no thang.Maybe you are not so lucky to have a job such as this. This might be an Issue for you.
2) You will have to do laundry Maybe you are like me and you love doing laundry. As in, the putting-dirty-clothes-into-the-washer-and-pouring-detergent-on-them part. It's the rest of the process that can be so very painful. If I could find one chore to outsource, folding and putting away laundry would be it. That said, about every other day you will find yourself confronting the washer. But the fact that you are not spending $30 on a box of diapers might juuust lift your spirits enough to finish the task.
3) They are not cheap These babies are made to last, so if you are not committed to the process, you could end up spending a lot of money upfront. But you could always sell them on eBay! (No joke - moms are rabid for other kids' used diapers.)
So there you have it. The good and the not-so-good. We use Bum Genius 4.0 diapers and they've come out squeaky clean every time. We also use flannel cloth wipes (because at this point, why the heck not) and a spray wipe solution of water, coconut oil, and lavender baby wash that smells aMAzing. The scent alone is enough to distract you from what you are actually doing. In other news I was standing at the sink, hearing birds chirping and my first thought was, "who turned the bird noises on the baby's swing?" It did not immediately occur to me that those could be ACTUAL birds. And that got me pretty freakin excited. Happy spring!
If that title doesn't get your attention, I don't know what will. But since you haven't clicked away, I'll share with you some of my criteria for making tasty meals in our house:
1) lean protein 2) some sort of fiber component - usually beans, because they are 3) cheap One of my favorite ways to do this is to start with a rotisserie chicken from Costco for $4.99 ($4.99?! You can hardly buy a chicken sammich at McDonald's for that much). Here is what you do: DAY 1) Eat the chicken. It is delicious. (Maybe pair it with some frozen green beans and rosemary bread, also from Costco and sold in 2-loaf packages. Freeze one for later. You'll be glad you did.)
"Eat the wha?"
DAY 2) Hopefully you didn't eat ALL the chicken. You can probably scavenge about 2 cups or so of the dark bits and little underside pieces that usually get thrown away. Do not throw them away. Make this: Chicken Tortilla Soup (ready in 15 minutes, I promise)
4 cups chicken broth 3 cloves garlic, smashed 1 can Mexican-style diced tomatoes (Rotel works) 1 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp oregano 1 small jalapeno, seeded and diced, which you could leave out if you are from Minnesota and only like bland foods (just kidding, Minnesotans! We love your bland foods) 2 cups or so of the scavenged chicken bits 1 can black beans 1/2 c whatever kind of shredded cheese you have in the fridge *optional but highly encouraged: cilantro, avocado, and crushed tortillas Bring broth, tomatoes, garlic, jalapeno, and spices to a boil in an appropriately sized saucepan. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 5 minutes. Add chicken and beans. Simmer 5 more minutes. Stir in cheese. Taste it and add a little salt. Top with cilantro, avocado, and tortillas.
Husband's* ringing endorsement: "I could eat this every day." BAM. *He was known to eat dirt as a child, so do with that comment what you will. DAY 3: CROCK POT TIME. Do not be intimidated. This is also easy. Since you have a sad-looking chicken carcass taking up room in your fridge, put it to work. Chicken Stock
1 sad-looking chicken carcass 10 cups water (or whatever your crock pot will hold) 1 bay leaf 1/2 tsp thyme 1 tsp salt 1 onion, unpeeled and cut in half 1 celery stalk, cut in half 1 carrot, cut in half 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled (just throw them in! easy peasy) Put everything in the crock pot on low for about 8 hours or so (great to do overnight). Then when it has cooled a bit, strain it, pour 2-cup servings in freezer bags and lie flat on a freezer shelf. DONE.
But enough chicken talk. Today is the FIRST DAY OF SPRING. Let's celebrate by glaring at the 6-foot pile of snow on either side of the driveway listening to this happy tune by my middlemost brother.
"Nothing says 'welcome home' like the spring. spring. spring."
We're back! Went on a cross-country tour to introduce Babygirl to her aunts/uncles/cousins (although she still has one more special uncle to meet! She'll have to watch him here in the meantime). It is such a blessing to have so many people who love her already. As you can see, she had a blast.
Being her mom is pretty great. And speaking of the baby weight, we may have eaten a little too much delicious regional cuisine on our trip, so I'm punishing myself with this. Oof, Jillian. It's been awhile. Guess how much it cost for dog care while we were away? $20 per night. Guess how much it cost for chicken care while we were away? Nothing. Just filled their water and food trough, crossed our fingers, and came home to some lovely egg presents upon return. We missed you too, chickadees.
I've been known to get a little deceptively delicious on my former friends and sneak a couple veggies into desserts that have no business being there (spinach and black bean brownies, anyone?). But Greek yogurt is a different story. It's so hot right now(nevermind that that article is from 2011).
Fage > Chobani
Greek yogurt can successfully take the place of sour cream in many a dish as long as you never try to substitute it for ranch dip. Or mayo, in chicken salad recipes. Or for cream cheese in spinach and artichoke dip - some things are sacred, reader. But here is a recipe that your newborn will like!
Sour Cream Greek Yogurt Pound Cake* 2 sticks butter, softened 3 cups sugar 6 eggs, separated (perfect for the end of the week when you're all, 'what do I do with all these extra homegrown organic eggs?' I sympathize, reader. This cake is for YOU) 3 cups flour, sifted (or not sifted, right?) 1/8 tsp salt 1/4 tsp baking soda, stirred into yogurt 1/2 pint greek yogurt (don't be embarrassed if you have to Google 'how much is 1/2 a pint?' I just did. It's 1 cup) 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp almond extract (don't even think of leaving this out!)
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks. Add flour and salt alternately with yogurt. In mixer, beat egg whites with extracts until stiff. Fold into batter. Turn into a greased and floured metal tube pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. (Recipe can also be halved and poured into metal loaf pan.)
*I've been known to not be known for my baking skills, so the fact that I am posting this means that it is delicious AND easy.
Also, you know that feeling when you get back from Ikea and you have all these new things you can't pronounce wait to show your husband and he isn't QUITE as excited about your cable sweater blanket purchase as you are? That's where you come in.
"Look at this awesome blanket I bought that feels like a cable sweater!"
I knew you'd love it.
(She clearly did.)
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Yesterday was a three-egg day! Big. stuff. I doubt our two chickadees laid all three at once, though. Momma has gotten a teensy bit lazy behind on checking the nesting box. But Ginny and Hermione don't mind a couple of extra eggs hanging around; we've tried to give them lots of treats to boost morale through the winter. In terms of treats, they definitely have a preference. For example, I brought out the following: wilted celery greens multi-grain bread crusts a few broken strawberry frosted mini-wheats Guess which treats they a) completely ignored, b) stared blankly at, and c) clawed over top of each other for and inhaled before they touched the ground. Tomorrow we're talking about the dangers of chicken diabeetus and regulating our sugar intake, right ladies? Mini-wheat fight notwithstanding, the chickens get an A grade for laying the most eggs we've had all week.
Staying warm
Dino, on the other hand, gets a big fat D for taking advantage of the fact that I had a baby in my arms and jumping up on the poor Scharrers when they stopped to bring us a delicious meal (which, by the way, is extra-appreciated since they have 4 of their very own tiny humans to feed). Dino sort of redeemed himself by licking Baby's face only once when she was doing tummytime at his eye level when we both know he could have done much worse.
Guiltyface
Since I'm finishing this post up on V Day, here is a smile from our love bug
and a brutally honest Valentine from the interwebs:
