Champions of the Kitchen!

You already know that I love to cook! love food! love to eat out! love desserts and vegetarian meals and a good steak and potato and love chocolate! I love to eat! Good for me is that Will loves to eat as well. Because I love to cook, I prepare most of what we eat. When I have had a bad day or I'm just in the mood to not cook, Will takes me out. We have a great arrangement!

Will and I have taken on a few recipes together and even have a couple dishes that we would rather cook together than buy out (pulled pork and baklava). We have often said that we think it would make for a great date night in to prepare a meal together and then enjoy it together, after the kids go to bed of course! One of our first to attack will be Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. Last Friday night we made a quick recipe of Giada's Nutella cookies (soo yuuummmmy!). Saturday night we decided to do a mini-version of our eat-in date nights.

We love eating eggs! especially the buttery yummy goodness of fried eggs! Have you ever had a Croque Madame, a-ma-zing! I digress. We decided we would attempt poaching eggs, following Julia Child's instructions. An intimidating idea, but look at this!

Our supplies: a wooden spoon, a slotted spoon, a skillet with 2 inches of water and a tbsp of vinegar per quart of water (2 tbsp for us)

Crack the egg right over the water. "Press the white over the yolk." This was the intimidating part to me. What does that mean? How does the yolk stay together? Will started pushing the egg around almost like he was rolling up a snowball. Uumm, Will, is that what its supposed to look like? I wasn't sure at that point.

Look at our first attempt! It worked! Much prettier than I anticipated

Curious about the yolk...perfect! A little salt and pepper and ready to eat!

We were so excited that it worked we wanted to try it again. Our second one only passable. Our third one was deserving of its own piece of toast and, of course, a picture!

Eat up!

Poached eggs were so good -and didn't take the dozen eggs I expected- we decided to attempt one more style of egg. Shirred eggs...melted butter under a broiled egg basted in butter. The buttery goodness hear might be a diet-sin, but wow it was so tasty!

We had so much fun! and really felt like we were cooking! Maybe we are ready to tackle the famous Boeuf Bourguignon! Next time I will have to take a picture of the chefs!

My First Bath

This is a new room. What is that blue thing Dad is putting water in?
Hhhhmmm...I wonder what this is all about. (already a great thinker!)

Aaahhh, this is nice Mom!

This is a much better idea than that cold sponge bath in the kitchen. Aaahhh, warm water while Mom washes my hair!

I like that big sister enjoys hanging out with me!

Mom, if you are going to take my picture, at least comb my hair!

Much better Mom!

Bath time is not bad Mom! Why didn't we start this earlier?!

Benjamin's first bath at 4 weeks old! This last picture is just because I love his super sweet and expressive wrinkly forehead!

Quote of the Day

Will had to go into the attic to get down the baby bathtub for Benjamin's first bath. Anna-Kate saw him pull down the door/stairs from the ceiling.
"Wow Dad, you are really strong! Mommy look at Daddy so strong!"
(I also loved Will's grin at hearing his daughter state that he is the strongest!)

If I Doubted

I have gotten quite a few "Benjamin looks so much like Anna-Kate at this age" comments lately. I have always seen a lot of Simmons in Anna-Kate, and I see a lot of Miller in Benjamin. Because of that, I haven't seen what people are talking about. I took this picture of Benjamin yesterday and it reminded me of a picture I had taken of Anna-Kate. Look at this:

Benjamin - 4 weeks old

Anna-Kate - 8 weeks old

Not only do I see so much resemblance in their sweet little faces, but look at their stances. Both have their left arms out and their legs are in the same position! How cute is this! I guess they really are siblings of the same parents!

I Hold Him

"Mom, I hold him."

"My brother."

"Mom, my baby is fussing." do you want me to hold him?

She moves her arms and wiggles out from under him. Note to self: this is why you don't leave a 2 year old unattended with her baby brother.

My Glow Worms

We are swaddlers over here, and we love our Miracle Blankets! As I swaddle my baby, I always think "straight jacket." But, as I look at their sweet sleeping faces, I always think "glow worms!"

Anna-Kate at 1 week old




Benjamin at 3 weeks old

A few random notes:
- Anna-Kate at one week is about 5 oz bigger than Benjamin at 3 weeks.
- My note that said that Benjamin had given me a few 5 hour stretches at night totally jinxed me! For the last 4 nights, Benjmain prefers to only go 3 hours between feedings.
- Still obsessed with sweet sleeping faces and so-cute baby yawns!

3 Weeks

at 3 weeks old:

Weight: 9lbs, 9oz - 65%

Height: 21.5 in - 65%

Head Circumference: 38.5cm - 74%

At 5 days old, his percentiles were all in the 85-95th percentiles. The doctor said that she is not surprised that he has slowed down in growth. Anna-Kate did the same thing.

Benjamin is a sleepy baby but slowly waking up more. He has about 2 longer awake periods and then one or two short awake times. There are times when he barely wakes to nurse and then keeps sleeping. At night, he tends to eat some time between 10 and 11. Then he will wake me up 3.5 to 5 hours later. I am ready for 5 hours plus to become consistent! He always wakes me up 2.5-3 hours after that.

So far, he seems to like to be held tightly or snuggled well in blankets or swaddled. AK appears to be adjusting quite well to having him in the house. Will is loving having a son. I am enjoying seeing a "little man" in the house and look forward to seeing what his personality will be, but until then I quite enjoy my newborn snuggles.

Benjamin declares that the photo session is over.

Dear Diary

Dear Diary,
I have been told to rest. I have been to told to give in and let people do more things for you. I have been told to enjoy being pampered while it will lasts. Stubborn me...may be I should have listened....

Wednesday, I decided I would cook for mom instead of letting her cook for me. I love to cook, so this makes sense. She was here to hold the baby if he fussed and help entertain the toddler. I thought this was a great plan! I was craving caramelized onions, so I made French Onion soup. I was able to do most of the work while AK napped and mom held B. See, plan makes sense!

A neighbor and friend came over to join us since she loves caramelized onions as well and her husband had to work late. As she arrived, I was grating cheese for the soup's croutons. Ouch! I grated a bit of my thumb. A bit of water and one Hello Kitty band-aid later and I finished grating the cheese.

Trying to multi-task with a little visiting, answering a 2 year old's question and put finishing touches on supper, I realize I forgot to leave time to bake for 20 minutes. Okay, plan B, bake for 5 minutes. Should be fine (it was).

Now we are ready to eat! Seated at the table: neighbor friend with her 9 month old, my mom, Will, me, Anna-Kate. Pray. Before the first bite....yes, Benjamin is fussing. I know he just wants to join the party. Uuummmm, French Onion soup is not the best one-armed meal.

I have taken about 2 bites when everyone else has 2 bites left. Mom offers to hold our fussy little one. I take my next bite. Anna-Kate, who is a little pitiful with a cold, sees that my lap is free. "Mom can you hold me?" She has pretty much finished eating and she is a little pitiful with her cold. Okay, yes I can hold you.

I take one more bite of my soup. Can I add that I have been craving this flavor for a couple weeks? I was quite excited about my meal! And, did I mention AK had a bit of a cold? I have now taken approximately 4 bites of my soup...
dramatic pause...
Anna-Kate sneezes on my place mat. Notice I say place mat. What is on my place mat? The craved french onion soup with the cheesy toasted gruyere croutons. So, I stood up calmly and made myself another ramekin of soup (~10 min process). Or, I looked at the others at the table, kissed my child's head, and calmly just took another bite of my soup.

I'll let you decide what I did.

Moral of this story: enjoy these newborn snuggles, even those that happen as supper starts. Enjoy that my toddler wants to be cuddled, even when that means my food might be in jeapordy. Neither the newborn snuggles or toddler cuddles are here long. And, let others cook for you when they offer!

42.5 Weeks

The last "belly shot"
I realized I haven't taken more than one or two pictures with my little man. Mama is enjoying your snuggles Benjamin!

"My Baby"

When we had been home 2 or 3 days, Anna-Kate asked me, "Is Benjamin going to stay here?" I answered, "Yes, Benjamin is going to stay. He is a part of our family now." "Oh, okay."

For the last week or so, Anna-Kate says, "My baby is fussing, " and "Mom, my baby needs his milk," and "Where is my baby?" ...

As long as Benjamin doesn't need to be held or fed when she wants to cuddle, then she likes him just fine! (And, I am absolutely in love with the first picture!)

In Daddy's Hands

no words really needed for this picture...

Wrinkles

I am obsessed with the wrinkles in this little guy's forehead!

Will laughs at how excited I get when I see him yawn, so sweet and it brings out those adorable wrinkles.

Too soon?

Random sweet picture of my handsome boy, looking totally relaxed

totally relaxed....those two words did not describe his momma this morning! "Totally postpartum" would have described me more accurately. My recovery is going okay. My boy is a good sleeper, all day sleeper. I needed 4 things from the store today. I thought that should not be too hard to do with my 2 year old and 10-day old baby. Uuummmm, you be the judge if that was too hard of a task for me or not.

Need to get out the door. AK decides to go to the bathroom. 12 minutes later, I have two bags on my shoulder, an infant carrier on my arm, reaching for the keys, when I hear, "Mommy, may I please have my blanket for the car?" Why don't we wait 'til we get back? "Mommy, may I plleease have my blanket?" We are trying to reward AK for staying calm and not tantruming. So, put down everything and get said blanket. Then re-pick up the two bags, baby, keys, and out we go. B starts crying the minute we get in the car. 2 miles in and I realize this is the first time I have been behind the wheel in 10 days.

We arrive in Wal Mart's parking lot (maybe that particular store was part of my mistake). I get B's stroller, put bags in the basket, and B's carrier hooked on the stroller. Get AK out of the car, "Mommy I need my stroller." No, you are my shopping buddy; you get to walk with mommy. About 8 steps later, "mommy, carry me please." sensing my pause, she adds, "just a little bit, not the whole time."

That moment is when I can feel the tears behind my eyes wanting to come out. I don't know if I can do this...how does anyone take a toddler and a baby anywhere? (Can you sense the postpartum irrational coming out?)

I carry her until we get to the first item we are looking for. Pick out that item. Then, "mommy carry me." until we walk to the next corner of the store for the next item we are looking for. Then "mommy carry me" until we get to the next corner of the store for the next item on my list. You can see the pattern. Luckily we only needed 4 items from 3 corners of Wal Mart.

I am that woman walking through WalMart, carrying a toddler, pushing a baby, looking like I might cry if someone looks at me in the wrong way. We pay and head back to the car, "mommy carry me." Have I mentioned it is way past time to wean AK off of being carried so often?

We get to the car, unload the bags, put the kids in the car...and what do I see in the bottom of my stroller? Yes, that is the item that I apparently just stole! I am not about to get the two kids back out of the car. My post partum hormones can't handle the thought of keeping up with this until the next time I am here. So, I park my car in front of the door. Hit the lock button on the car like 5 times. Run the $1.25 item back inside to the WM greeter, who looks at me like I am crazy for not just going home with $1.25 stolen item. Then run back to my car.

I drive home. That was a 50 minute outing that felt like a 2 hour outing. So, how did I relax when I get home? I vaccuumed my house. Why was that relaxing?? It wasn't.

Apparently since my physical recovery has not been that bad, my mental recovery is the one taking the hit. I have found myself saying things that don't make sense or doing things that I look back on and think why did I not ask for help or why did I do it that way. For example, a friend (you know who you are) is going to bring me a meal soon and I say, "or I can pick it up from your house." Thank you to that friend for just saying, "okay," and moving on. Or, another friend brought a coffeecake to my house and I said, "should I put it in the freezer?" and she just kindly says its cooked so you can eat it for breakfast if you want to. I won't bore you with the rest of the list.

So, what do you think? too soon to be behind the wheel, running a so-called simple errand?

First Bath

Benjamin's first bath, with our mommy-in-training.

Surviving the Adjustment

The question everyone is asking is "how are you guys adjusting with the newborn?"

Benjamin is adjusting great! He is a sleepy little guy. He is awake, cumulative, maybe up to an hour. He fusses when he is getting his diaper changed, when he is hungry, and when he is cold during his bath. When he is awake, he just calmly looks around, trying to learn the faces of these people he has been listening to for so long. :)

Anna-Kate is adjusting so well! It is just week one, so I am sure there are still hard adjusting days to come. But, in the first week.....she has not regressed at all in potty training. Since the day we left for the hospital, she has only had one accident! and it was when she was excited about coming home for our first night at home as a family of 4. She has only asked to hold B once. She gets super concerned when he cries. "Mama, Benjamin is hungry; he wants milk." "Mama, Benjamin is fussing?" I love seeing her empathetic heart! On Friday when we picked her up from preschool, her teacher told me that she had spent the entire time after outside play taking care of one of the babies. She will swaddle the baby, hold and pat the baby's back, hold out the baby and pat the baby's back as if to burp them, ... I love seeing this nurturing side come out (and mimicking real life imaginative play).

Me and Will? We are tired, but not as tired as we should be with a newborn in the house. Benjamin lets us sleep at least one good stretch per night, meaning he has at least one 3.5-4.5 hour stretch between feedings, the rest normally 2.5-3 hours between feedings. Will has loved that AK has really embraced the extra time with daddy this week (a trip to a park, picking up donuts, requesting daddy over mommy,...). My postpartum hormones have definitely kicked in. I cry when anyone mentions Will going back to work tomorrow. I cry when AK is being really sweet or when she is being hard. Ugh, hormones! Otherwise my recovery is going better than it did with AK, so I won't complain (much ;).

Our Monkey

Aunt Bonnie finds the best and cutest things! Look at this monkey hat! So cute! Now we need one or two chilly days so he can wear it out...