The Stork Club

This is what one of our book club members jokingly titled our book club due to the number of pregnancies and babies gracing our group. While it is fitting, we still haven't decided on a name. We started pondering one after Emily, who brought her precious 5-day-old peanut to book club last night, put together a beautiful journal for us to record books, dates, venues, thoughts and ideas in, and it needs a title (if you have inspiration, feel free to comment)!

We are still the original 6, plus one wonderful recent addition, and I couldn't be happier about seeing everyone each month. I often come to book club feeling a bit bedraggled, and I almost always leave feeling relaxed and uplifted after spending time with these women. I suspect that we're not too different from other book clubs in that we talk about the book for less time than we talk about other topics. Kids always come up, of course, as well as husbands, and parenting. We cover other serious topics and light topics (Edward or Jacob?) in between, but to me, it's less about the subject matter than it is about connecting with six other women, supporting each other and receiving support, giving and receiving positive female energy.

I feel so blessed to have our book club, or more appropriately the women in it, in my life. Two months ago we read a story about friendship, The Girls from Ames. What I enjoyed most about this story of friendship was how it continually reminded me how lucky I am to have so many amazing women friends in my life...and how I need and want to nurture these relationships even more in times when it gets harder to do so. I have friends from family connections, from elementary school, from junior high and high school, from college, from graduate school, from Australia, from my professional life, and now from motherhood. The friendships are different in many ways, but in the end, they are all girlfriends, and girlfriends are the best.

Almost Three

Anna's first "real" dentist appointment was Friday. She is 2 years and 9 months old on April 2nd, and she's finally (FINALLY) almost done with teething, with one last two-year molar peeking through her gum, ready to erupt. We are having a celebration at our house when this tooth comes through, complete with cake and balloons and probably champagne to toast The End.

Somehow, it's just three more months until she's three years old. I'm guessing every parent says the same thing throughout their child's life, but I'll say it anyway...how did this happen? Where did 365x3 days go?

Today, Anna looks "for something in particular" in the Pottery Barn catalogue she's browsing. She's drawn towards anything colorful, and as noted by a schoolmate's mother yesterday, she is very aesthetically driven, noticing and complimenting pants, boots, coats, and slippers that her friends wear.

Today, Anna is already showing signs of perfectionism, despite my best attempt at encouraging her to just enjoy the process (easier said than done). She gets frustrated when her body can't produce the precise outcome her mind envisions, on paper or in space. She's determined, though, and she conquers her fears and frustrations regularly and on her own time.

Today, Anna is still as sensitive as ever. She's in tune with the emotions of those around her, especially me and Blake, and she feels so deeply for others when they are hurting or sad. It seems she has an awareness of the world around her, of other people, that I don't see often in young kids.

Today, Anna is thoughtful and silly and loving beyond belief. She has a vocabulary that often surprises me. She makes us smile more than ever with her words and her affections. I found myself thinking the other day about what a truly fun kid she is to be around. Most of the time, the toughest parts of life with this toddler don't stem from defiance or tantrums. Most of the time, rather, the exhaustion comes from a full day of managing life on toddler time, and for me, figuring out how to support her when she is worried or anxious or scared. Anna is such a kind, caring soul, and I find myself inspired by her kindness and sensitivity daily.

Today, when I go up to close her door after she's sound asleep, I just watch her. She sleeps on her stomach, head turned to one side. She holds tightly onto Ella's hand, and sometimes, she holds one of my old baby blankets in another. I have to stop myself from scooping her up and rocking her, because I can almost see her growing and changing in those quiet nighttime moments, and I wonder just how long she'll want to snuggle like she does now or how long she'll actually fit on my lap. Today, I cherish each and every almost-three-year-old snuggle.

Brain Dump

I'm in need of a brain dump today. I do "brain dumps" often. I have my notebook full of lists where I clear my head before meditating, sleep, exercise, or anytime I need to really be present for the moment. Often I just write a list, sometimes it's stream of consciousness thoughts, other times it's coherent writing.

I'm standing at the counter having just put the kale chips and salmon in the oven and the millet on the stove to cook. Anna and Mo D are reading in the chair. Blake is on his way home to spend a few minutes with our girl before we head out to dinner together. I'm looking forward to some time with my husband this evening, some time to process and talk about the coming months. In a way, this is a celebratory dinner, even though it was planned before we had reason to celebrate. We are putting an official offer in to buy a new home. Given the circumstances surrounding the sale of this house, unless an inspection shows something is really wrong, the house should be ours in a couple of short months. It's this, along with the lack of sleep from Anna's sickness this week, along with numerous other transitions, happenings, and thoughts that are making my head a little (OK, a lot) FULL and a little CRAZY!

In my head this week:

Making an offer on the house, buying the house, moving out of our house and into a new house, decorating and painting and fixing the house.

Getting our house ready to sell, showing the house, moving our clutter to storage so the house is "showable."

Doing all of these things with a toddler.

Trying to get pregnant (trust me, this is only in my head right now)!

Weaning.

Moving Anna out of the crib.

Worry about Anna's continued anxiety around other kids.

Blake traveling in May amidst house closing, selling, and moving.

My first weekend away (alone) coming up soon.

Summer schedules.

Jury duty questionnaire and the impending summons I'm guessing may arrive around moving time.

A conflict with a friend that's leaving me sad and confused.

Parenting philosophies, where do I (and we) fit, how does this impact friendships, preschool, when we'll start, and where to go.

I think that's enough.

Organizing Art

New finger paints finally arrived yesterday. Anna couldn't wait to try them out. I couldn't wait to photograph her trying them out.

Primary colors.

Hard-working hands.

The finished product.

Mommy and Anna (taken by Mo D).

Anna and Mo D.

I've had it on my To-Do list to find a way to store all of the art work we've accumulated around here. Knowing more keepers were on their way, I ran to the store this week to get some supplies. Martha Stewart gave me the idea to use mailing tubes to store small and large sheets of paper that can be rolled up. I was going to buy some, but it turns out stores like JoAnn Fabrics have them and will give them away. I took a few home, "painted" the outside with colored duct tape, and labeled them. I also purchased a few inexpensive poster frames to display some of my favorite pieces. I'm so excited to have a saving space for Anna's works of art.

Purple and teal (I had no idea they made duct tape in my favorite colors)!

Healthy Carrot Muffins

I hesitated to post this recipe, because I feel like I've posted a few too many not-so-great muffin recipes in my quest to find our favorite. This, though, is the one we make almost bi-weekly, and while it may not be for everyone, it's great for us, because it's dairy-free, it's not too sweet (after I took out 1/2 the sugar), it has veggies and fruit and plenty of protein, and Anna devours them like candy. We adapted it from this Food Network recipe, if you'd like to see the original.

Healthy Carrot Raisin Muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup quinoa flour

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

2 Tbsp wheat germ

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch fine salt

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

4 medium carrots, grated (about 2 cups)

1/2 cup applesauce (or 1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple drained)

1/4-1/2 cup raisins (depending on how you like it)

12 cup muffin tin and paper liners

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 1/2 cup muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk the flours with the brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs (be sure they are room temperature). Heat the coconut oil (in a saucepan or microwave) until just melted. Let cool to room temperature, then gradually whisk oil into eggs and then the vanilla (this can get tricky, as the oil will solidify if the eggs are at all cool...if it does, they will still turn out OK, just keep whisking).

Quickly and lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula. Stir in the carrots and applesauce or pineapple until evenly moist. The batter will be very thick. Stir in the raisins.

Divid the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Turn muffins out of tins and cool on wire rack.

Enjoy with a dollop of honey (if you need a little extra sweetness).

Thinking Spring

Today is the Vernal Equinox, and we celebrated the new season despite the cold, rainy day. I think today felt even colder, because we had a taste of warmer temperatures earlier in the week. I could feel Spring coming just two days ago; I could smell it in the air that blew in through our open doors, I could see it when the sun shone through our windows and warmed our house, and I could hear it early in the morning when the birds' chirping kept me from falling back to sleep.

Yesterday, Blake broke out our bikes and the bike trailer, and we went for our first bike ride of the season. We stopped at the park for the second time this week. This morning I took down the few remaining winter decorations in our family room and foyer and replaced them with spring-like flowers and grasses. We enjoyed a carpet picnic inside, practicing for days soon to come. I washed our shower curtain (this doesn't happen often enough), plotted a spring cleaning strategy, and straightened up mess in anticipation of our much-appreciated cleaning support coming tomorrow.

Anna playing in the sunshine that warms our dining room in the afternoon.

Our carpet picnic this afternoon.

Leftover chicken tortilla soup, a recipe we're definitely keeping! We used frozen homemade chicken stock, and didn't do the fried tortillas, so it really was very quick.

I also thought about garden planning today, too. I'm desperate for GOOD lettuce. We're not sure we'll be planting much of a garden this year, though - we looked at a potential new home yesterday for the second time. There's a long story that goes with this house (for another post); for now I'll just say that it's looking and feeling like we may be buying and moving soon. Next year we could have an enormous vegetable garden on 2 acres.

Finally, we did something we've been meaning to do for over a week. We donated to the Red Cross to support relief efforts in Japan. I was browsing the web this morning, reading about the different ways people welcome Spring, and one person's words reminded me that the first day of Spring is the perfect day to make a donation to help a nation rebuild and renew itself.

Birthdays are Fun

Aunt Kaity celebrated her 20th birthday on February 27th, but with her spring break trip and our vacation to Florida, we didn't have a chance to give her her gift. So, she came over last night for pesto pasta and birthday cake to celebrate. Anna loves birthdays these days, even if she's not the birthday girl. She gets so excited about wrapping and giving presents, making (and eating) birthday cake, and singing "Happy Birthday" to anyone (even her stuffed animals and dolls).

I couldn't drag Anna outside yesterday with the cake-making and present-wrapping going on. I don't remember the last time I made something from a box, but I found this cake mix and frosting from Cherrybrook Kitchen that is dairy, soy, and nut free, and was excited to give it a try. I'm glad I did...it was delicious and so much easier than homemade. Anna gladly stirred the mix, licked the bowl, and washed all the dishes when we were done.

Something (maybe Elmo) had given Anna the idea that she wanted to finger paint yesterday, too. I didn't have any fingerpaints and didn't feel like making the homemade variety, but I did have some of the prepared frosting from Cherrybrook Kitchen that I'd opened a few weeks ago. It was going to go bad, so we watered it down a bit and played with it like we do Daddy's shaving cream. Fun, sticky stuff!

Making designs in the frosting.

Washing dishes.

I didn't like this frosting for the cake as well as the box version. It was great for finger painting, though. Although the box called for margarine and rice milk, I used coconut oil (Aunt Kaity loves coconut and it's much healthier) and rice milk. We all loved it.

After we wrapped Aunt Kaity's present, Anna wanted to wrap some presents for herself, too. So I found some paper to play with and she wrapped and opened book after book.

Frosting the cake.

Singing to Aunt Kaity.

Splat the Cat, March 2011

I haven't posted our favorite books in a while. One of our favorites deserves a special post. Anna knows Splat the Cat front to back, and she reads it to us all the time. We thought other folks (specifically grandparents) might enjoy hearing Anna's rendition of the story as much as we do. This one is particularly cute; I think her mouth is dry or she's swallowing drool from her molar coming in. Either way, she's doing a little lip smacking thing that's pretty endearing.

It's almost 5 minutes long...just so you know.

Frittata

I think I've mention Monday night meals. I teach Spinning on Mondays, so I prepare dinner before going to class. Blake and Anna get home late and have a healthy meal that just needs to be warmed up.

This frittata is one of our regular Monday night meals, and thankfully, it can be made dairy-free.

Chard and Sweet Onion Frittata

Olive or coconut oil (I prefer coconut for the health benefits and the sweet flavor it lends to the frittata)

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch swiss chard, washed well and rough chopped

8 large eggs, beaten

salt and pepper to taste

parmesan cheese (if you eat dairy, it's a good addition)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat oil (enough to just cover the bottom of the pan) over medium heat in cast iron skillet on the stove top. Saute onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add chard and cook until chard is thoroughly wilted. Salt and pepper the beaten eggs and pour them over the chard and onion mixture. Cook on the stove top for 2-3 minutes and then transfer the pan to the oven to cook until the top of the frittata is firm, about 20 minutes. If using parmesan, sprinkle it over the top about 5 minutes before pulling it from the oven.

Serve straight out of the oven or at room temperature.

Random Sunday Moments

Last night at 9:30pm after over an hour of Anna trying to get herself to sleep (thank you, time change), we thought she'd finally done it. We didn't hear anything for a few minutes, until...

"I have a boogie, Daddy."

A minute later, nearly screaming...

"Daddy, I have a boogie, and I don't want to drop it on the floor or anything!"

And, again, until Daddy comes up to get her boogie. And, then...

"I love you, Daddy!"

"I love you, too, Anna!" Daddy says.

"Thank you for the wonderful dinner tonight, Daddy!"

And then she was out.

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Beef Chimichurri a la Blake

This was our delicious dinner that Anna spoke of. Blake adapted a recipe for beef chimichurri, but he wants to perfect it before I post anything. The best part (I thought) was the sauce. It was herby and fragrant and crunchy.

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We're missing the beach. Anna and Daddy opened the sandbox while I was out for a run. She was just as focused on her filling and spilling as she was on the beach. This will have to do until we can get back to the real beach.

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Making our healthy carrot muffins again...Anna requests them constantly. We finally found and adapted a recipe that we love (after many trials, some of which I've posted and since thrown out), and we make them almost weekly.

Welcomed Home

This little guy welcomed us home yesterday. We woke early Saturday and heard his song outside the office window. We watched him for ages; he must have been playing with his reflection, as he flitted back and forth between the pear tree and the window ledge, clinging to the screen and staring at the window, seemingly oblivious to our presence.

The birdies really love our pear tree. I wonder if we'll have another nest this year?

Palm Beach Photo Album

Here they are, in chronological order. I'm not good with decisions, so there are quite a few photos in our album. Although, out of 250 plus photos, I think 42 isn't all bad. I had a bit too much fun with the Lightroom software - there was much experimenting to do.

Love this enormous smile showing all the excitement of our first day in the pool!

Splashing and jumping in the big waves.

Little prints.

Posing here and...

...here.

Windy days.

Curly girl.

Wardrobe change.

Daddy and Anna throwing shells.

Reflections.

I promise, this is not her usual reading material!

Jellies on the beach.

Yet another trip down the slide.

Adoration.

She's wet from the rain, and not bothered at all.

After the rain.

A wall of clouds...purely unedited. Strangely fake looking, I think.

This just screams vacation to me...freshly bathed after beach time, lathered with lotion, and scarfing down popcorn right before dinner.

Our bedroom.

Our last, quite chilly, morning.

Sharks! See the fins in the middle?

She obviously knows we're leaving today.