courtneyb

A busy September already September 7, 2011

I can already tell this Fall is going to be a blur. Friday I went to The Great Allentown Fair to see Sugarland with one of the other moms from daycare and a friend of hers. The concert was great but I think they should consider alternate adjectives for the fair itself. This is the second year in a row I’ve gone out there for a concert. The grandstand is old and steep and not at all ventilated. Because the fairgrounds is in the middle of Allentown they have to be off stage by 10:30, and don’t get me started on the nightmare that is parking. But I digress.

Saturday we loaded up and headed to Dagsborough, Delaware to a housewarming party for our friends R&B, stopping in Newark to pick up other friends for the ride down. It was nice to see people. As you can see in photos, Kate and I ended up in the pool; she’s such a water bug.

Work is obviously busy too, but I love the energy at the start of a new term. I’m actually tying this on my iPad sitting in a bus headed in to NYC for a couple of days. I was here two weekends ago and hurricane Irene ruined the last two days of my Final Cut Pro training so I’m headed back to finish. Just in time too since I have a class to assist next Tuesday.

Being gone isn’t SO bad; Kate gets some extra daddy time in and Kelvin is thankful I’m gone during the week and not on the weekend so daycare can break up the day. She’s still very chill for a toddler, but she’s cutting two more teeth (bringing the current count of pearly whites to 14 for those of you keeping track). And she’s at the crawl/walk stage doing the mode of transport she thinks will be faster in a given situation. Smart girl.

Shamed into a new post September 1, 2011

I was actually on Jess’ blog and saw that it’s drawing my last post headline into her blog. And it’s shame that brings me here. If she had my phone number, Jess’ Aunt Margaret would have probably called my by now (see aunt Margaret, Jess does pass on your messages).

It’s been a busy year of course, and I hope anyone coming to read my blog has kept up with us through the photos and videos I’ve posted to Flickr this year. Absolutely amazing to watch Kate grow and change this year, and of course, Kelvin and I have grown and changed too in some obvious (my increase in weight) and not so obvious ways.

As you’ve seen in pictures, Kate is trying to walk now and is very into pushing things so she can steady herself. She’s very much a perfectionist already and would rather not try something until she knows she’ll be successful. So odd to me that that is already part of her personality. She’s generally easy going though and has been quite the traveler. Yes, the pink glasses are prescription and the patch is so she exercises her bad eye by forcing her to use it exclusively for 90 minutes every day. She doesn’t seem to mind going to “school”, and her teachers there are fabulous. But she does enjoy the weekends– sleeping in, eating Indian or Thai food (she has quite the palette), taking more than one nap, and just hanging out with us.

Baby’s first Thanksgiving November 30, 2010

If we were buying tickets for the Munchkin she would probably have more frequent flier miles than most people. We made our trip to Detroit for Thanksgiving without incident. It was nice to spend time with Kelvin’s family; she got to meet her Aunt Falisha and some of Kelvin’s aunts and uncles.

Several weeks ago she rolled over on her own at the house. I didn’t actually witness the first time; I just turned around to see her on her back when I left her on her tummy. Thanksgiving Day at her grandma and papa’s she decided to roll over again and did it several times over the weekend. And of course I don’t think she’s rolled again since we’ve been home. In her time I guess.

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 clove minced garlic
1tbsp butter
1can whole kernel corn (drained)
2 cans of cream of potato soup
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 1/2 soup cans milk
1/2 lb shrimp
Tony’s to taste

Saute onions and garlic in butter, add corn, tony’s, soup, cream cheese, milk, and shrimp. Stir constantly to blend until boiling then reduce heat.  Cover and Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Poop post September 14, 2010

Everyone always says when you have a baby you start obsessing about poop. And it’s true. I won’t leave you with the gory details, but let’s just say that Kate has decided she prefers to store things up for several days before she gives us a prize. And by US, I mean ME. I keep telling her that I pay good money to send her to school and she could leave them with a prize if she wanted. Kelvin also said that he hasn’t witnessed any of these monster blowouts; maybe she’ll give him one as a welcome home present.

Actually the only catastrophic blowout occurred in her Gram’s car headed to Effie’s shower. She was dressed in her adorable brown and pink romper that Gram pressed for her. She let one go that soaked through the diaper, her clothes and onto the car seat. Cara’s mother-in-law noticed it as I pulled Kate out of the car seat so my clothes were saved. It was pretty comical. I had successfully gotten her undressed and put the outfit where I thought it was out of the way on the towel I had her on and she of course stuck her foot in it. So I clean up her foot and as I return to finish cleaning her nether regions she decided she needed to pee. Lovely. I sent everyone into the shower and we finished getting clean and changed. She wore her “As cute as my Aunt” outfit to the party and I will forever tell the story of her first major blowout. Because I’m the mom, and I can do that.

Who cares about soup? September 13, 2010

So I know people keep checking this and it’s obvious I fell of the blogging train. I have been posting pictures to Flickr, but it’s Jess’ Aunt Margaret who prompted me to finally post. Her message to me was “please write something about that little baby! who cares about soup!”

Enough about the yummy zucchini basil soup, and more about Kate! She’s getting so big. I was surprised at how little and alien-like she looked in the post below. She’s definitely filled out and trying to catch up. At her last appt on August 23 she was creeping up on 11 pounds and I know she’s well over that now. So finally, she weighs more than the cat.

We’ve had a busy couple of months. I went back to work part-time working 10-2 just before the start of the semester so Kate started going to the Lafayette College Early Learning Center here on campus. We like it there, and because she is currently the youngest there she gets lots and lots of snuggles. I think when some of the staff take their breaks, the come right down to see Kate.

Kate and I successfully made a surprise trip to Louisiana for the Labor Day weekend. It was my sister-in-law’s baby shower and Kate still had two uncles and an aunt she needed to meet so Kelvin bought us a ticket and away we went! Only my dad knew we were coming so he had some covert work to get the car seat ordered and installed so he could pick us up undetected. Her Gram squealed and her Aunts Cara and Effie cried when they saw her. Uncles John and Josh were surprised too and didn’t give their turn to hold her up to anyone.

We’re attempting to get into a routine. She’s got the sleeping all night down, but she can be pretty cranky in the evening. I think it’s just a ploy to get her dad to hold her, and if that is the case, it’s working.

Zucchini basil soup July 21, 2010

In my quest for creative ways to use up the zucchini before it goes bad, I came across an easy zucchini soup that I’ve adapted and made three times now.

1 onion
1 tbsp olive oil (to saute onion)
zucchini
beef broth
fresh basil
salt & pepper

Cut zucchini into chunks and add enough broth to cover. Saute the onion and once caramelized, add to the zucchini. Simmer until zucchini is falling apart. Tear basil by hand and add to the mixture. Turn off heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once cool, puree until smooth.

I prefer it served lukewarm. Add a dollop of sour cream and a sprig of basil if you’re looking to pretty it up

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes July 8, 2010

1 1/2 cups (360 mL) brown sugar
1/4 cup (60 mL) melted butter
3/4 cup (180 mL) apple sauce
3 eggs
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
1/2 cup (120 mL) buttermilk (i make sour milk using 1/2 cup milk and a tbsp vinegar)
2 cups (480 mL) grated zucchini
1 cup (240 mL) chocolate chips
2 cups (480 mL) unbleached flour
1 cup (240 mL) cocoa, sifted
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) salt
2 tsp (10 mL) baking soda
1 tsp (5 mL) allspice
1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL) cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease large muffin pans and line with muffin cups.

In a medium bowl mix together the sugar, butter and oil. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well Incorporated. Stir in vanilla, buttermilk, zucchini and chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until well combined. Spoon batter into large muffin pans. Bake in the center of the oven for about 35 minutes.

Yields 9 large cupcakes or 20 standard cupcakes.

Weekend already? June 25, 2010

The week flew by. Kate had her first pediatricians appointment with Dr Verma on Monday. She had gained four ounces since the visiting nurse saw her on Friday; my girl can pack on the weight like her mom. But we’re happy about that. Verma sent us to Dr. Robert Kitei, an ophthalmologist to have her eye looked at. Seems she has a persistent hyaloid artery in her right eye. He told us to Google it, but when we look to know it is not PHPV. So we get to visit him a few more times so he can take a look every few weeks to see if it is changing. Usually this artery atrophies in the third trimester, so hopefully it will do that and not cause her any problems beyond the nearsightedness she seems to have in that eye already. I’m hoping she doesn’t have to get glasses, but if that is the worst of it, we’ll deal.

Other than that excitement, things have been pretty quiet. We are keeping her on her 12-3-6-9 schedule as much as possible. She generally wakes us up for the 3am and the others we generally wake her up. She’s so funny though because she cries out around 3am and as soon as we get in the room she stops. Really the only time she really cried was when Dr Kitei used a clamp to hold her little eye open so he could get a better look. She had deadening drops in her eye and he assured us it didn’t hurt, but she cried anyway. Until the moment he took it off and she immediately stopped.

It was nice to have Kelvin home this week. Beyond helping with baby, he was able to get some things done around the house. Zach even came up yesterday to help with a few yard projects and they power washed the house this morning.

So we have the weekend and then Kate and I will be on our own during the day while Kelvin works his 10 hour days. I think I need to start a list of little projects I want to accomplish (as soon as I get the last few thank you notes written) so I can be productive while she sleeps. And maybe I should make a list of projects for her Gram & Pop when they come to visit the first week in July.

Home, Sweet Home June 20, 2010

We did get to bring Kate home Thursday. It was the first of many times that we altered our plans for our little bee. Kelvin bad planned for Thursday to be one of our last couple outings for a while. He bought me tickets to see Brooks & Dunn’s Last Rodeo tour in Hershey and we planned to stay the night in Harrisburg. Instead, we got to bring our tiny girl home. The fortunate thing is that even though Kelvin prepaid our room, it looks like Hilton is going to refund the cost if we provide documentation. And my super sleuth husband is also trying to see if Ticketmaster will do the same. Every little bit helps; especially since we see the rate at which she goes through diapers.

We stopped on the way to pick up burgers and fries from Five Guys and shakes from Chick-fil-a that we ate once we got home. There was also a quick stop off at Walgreens to pick up the poly-vi-sol vitamins we have to give her every morning.

Friday morning a visiting nurse came by to check Kate’s weight. She was back up to 5 lbs even. Everything else looked good for both of us; in addition to checking the baby’s temp and weight she checked my temp, blood pressure and legs for signs of clots. It was nice to have someone check in on us.

The past few days have been full of pumping, feeding, changing stinky diapers, cleaning bottles and pump parts, sleeping and just enjoying our new addition. I think one of my favorite things has been letting her sleep on me. She spent well over an hour this morning with her head up on my right shoulder, her body tucked between my boobie and her feet stretched down on my left hip. It felt so nice that she was so relaxed and comfortable there on me.

We spent the rest of Father’s Day just hanging out. I’ve managed to cook a few yummy meals since we’ve been home. I’m relieve that it seems my terrible cooking streak is over. For the month or so before she was born I was having a terrible time cooking. Everything just seemed off; I would burn things or spill stuff or just not bring things together link normal. But last night I made pesto for the first time ever and used it for veggie flat breads and a small side of pasta with chicken. Then today I did bbq boneless pork ribs with broccoli, carrots, fries and a yummy salad with peppered mozzarella, figs and radishes. It sounds like an odd combination, but it was rather yummy.

Tomorrow is our first pediatrician appointment in the morning. I can’t wait to see how much she weighs.