christmas eve, mom, dad, shannon, and adrianne came over for dinner. bryan and shannon made a fantastic shrimp and grits (though shannon doesn't like shrimp so would not eat any - mom made her empanadas instead), which we served with peas and a caeser salad. for dessert, we had the coconut candy bars i had made. it was all so very delicious, and i was tipsy with joy to be having dairy again. 
after they headed home, bryan opened a gift - a storm trooper coffee mug from oliver. does he know his daddy or what?? when bryan was young, they used to open gifts on christmas eve. while i won't let him open ALL his gifts, he does get to open one. :)
christmas morning was very special and fun with oliver, even if he had no clue what was going on and couldn't have cared less. next year will be a lot of fun with him. oliver gave me just what i wanted for christmas - 4 solid hours of sleep.
at his 2am feeding, bryan wanted to open presents, but i told him no. i swear he is worse than hannah! ;) bryan had let me sleep a good bit early on in the night, so i got up super early and made the pecan toffee i promised chris. it turned out tasty, though i think i could have cooked it a little longer, made it a little harder. once that candy thermometer hit 310°, i pulled it off! i had never made toffee before and wasn't going to start messing with sugar. ;) now that i've made it, though, i feel more comfortable with it, so next time it will turn out better. once bryan and oliver woke up, we opened a few gifts, including my cute new purse and the frog garden statue i bought bryan. oliver's day care provider bought him a book and a cute toy; and he got a stuffed hippo, some books, new pjs, and a toy from us and santa.we made biscuits with sausage gravy for breakfast (oh man it was good), which we enjoyed while watching the disney christmas parade on tv, then got ready to head to mom and dad's house.
once we arrived, we opened gifts, which i had been very excited about. we bought mom a belleek vase as well as a cast iron porcelain glazed dutch oven. mom loves belleek but as with everything, would never buy it for herself, and she has admired my le creuset a few times. she was thrilled with both gifts, and wanted to just sit and hold the bellek for awhile. :) once she starts using the dutch oven she will fall in love with it as well i am sure - mine is one of my favorite kitchen items. we bought dad a book with wood working projects to build backyard playsets, as well as a gift certificate to his favorite running goods store. he was pretty excited about the book, and started planning with hannah last night. adrianne received a book and a reciprocating saw from us, which prompted her to immediately think of all sorts of new projects for her house. shannon got a cookbook and a book about architecture, which she thought was pretty cool. bryan helped shannon prepare a delicious dinner of ham with a cherry orange glaze, cranberry sauce with port wine (same one we had on thanksgiving), cauliflower gratin, roasted potatoes, rolls (which mom made), brandied carrots, panettone, and i forget what else. shannon made an apple gingerbread pie for dessert, which unfortunately i missed out on. food pictures yet to come.
oliver was pretty fussy - due to gas. we had thought that if i had dairy and pumped off my milk, he would miss the dairy, but it seems to stay in my system longer than we thought. he was pretty bad off yesterday as well, the poor thing. so now we know, and it's back to a strict no dairy diet. at his last doctor's appointment, bryan asked him again about probiotics, but he was pretty dismissive of it. however, i have ordered some online, and i'll tell him... and i am hoping he is not as dismissive as he is last time about the situation. i think he was dismissive because i am sure they get lots of new parents freaking out about nothing, but this is a definite digestive and intestinal blockage issue, and i am hoping he will want to be more proactive. otherwise we'll have to get a second opinion! i can certainly abstain from dairy, but if there is anything else we can do to help oliver as well, i am all for it. i can't stand to see him upset and in pain. i try to not let it get to me, but combined with little sleep, it bothers me. luckily, he is doing much better, though still a bit stuffy from his cold.
hannah arrived yesterday! :) we had lots of fun opening gifts with her (she was fairly speechless about the cheetah girls barbie doll that REALLY SINGS). she was excited to meet oliver, and just loves holding him. she has really stepped into the big sister role well, and is being a huge help - making sure he has his nuk in the car, feeding him, helping soothe him, holding him so we can go to the bathroom, good stuff like that. she's even offered to take up his middle of the night feedings for us, though i'm sure she'd reconsider around 2am. :) they are pretty darn cute together!we went to mom and dad's for dinner so they could give hannah her
gifts. she was excited to see everyone. she was freaking out about all the snow, even though it's super old and gross and there's not that much. we got a light dusting this morning which made her freak out even more. she couldn't wait to go play in it, so we bought boots and snowpants on the way to dinner at mom and dad's, and she and 2 of my cousins romped around for awhile. she was thrilled! she also snuggled on the couch with me for awhile to help soothe ollie while he was upset. she has a little hand crank music box that plays für elise, and since he loves music, that was helping to calm him. she was impressed with mom's ham pot pie, and scarfed down 2 big servings! :)the weekend promises to be busy. saturday is dad's birthday. shannon and i are taking hannah to libby lu in the morning to do their "spa" thing. we'll see how quickly we can get out of the mall after that. ;) mom and shannon were talking about going to the zoo, since they are doing free admission, but the snow/ice/cold/crowds may mean NO. bryan and i aren't too keen on going, and certainly don't want to take ollie out in it. so we suggested family movie afternoon at our house instead, which sounds just as free and way more warm. i am thinking we'll watch mr. magorium's wonder emporium. then we're taking dad out to a hibachi dinner. i think hannah will get quite a kick out of that as well. chris is flying in that afternoon and will be joining us. he is freaking out about the cold/snow. :)
sunday morning is oliver's baptism. we didn't invite the whole entire family since the family is so big and most people wouldn't come anyways. so we just have a small group. everyone will be coming over to our house afterwards for hot ham and rolls... and white cake with pineapple frosting. MMM. i can't wait to see maggie! her boyfriend proprosed on christmas!! :) i can't wait to hear all about it.
i've been doing some research for new year's eve dinner, and i think we have a loose plan. in addition to the beef rendang, i plan to make plain white rice (which i love with coconut curry) as well as some rice noodles (which bryan loves). since the rice will be plain, i think we're going to make some kind of flavor to go with the noodles - something with ginger, soy, and chili paste. i was hoping to make stir-fried mussels with chili, garlic and basil, since that sounded like it would be the perfect appetizer, but since i'm not sure if anyone besides bryan, mom, and i would eat them, i'm not 100% sure. i might make raita, since the rest of the dishes will be pretty rich. i am planning on terong belado (eggplant with chilli sauce) and some version of gado gado (mixed vegetable salad with peanut sauce) for our veg. for dessert, i'll see if i can pull off murukku (deep fried indian biscuit), though i'll vary the recipe to include cardamom and cinnamon for a sweeter version, and possibly serve them drizzled with honey. shannon and i will firm up the menu, but i'm pretty exited already!
bryan is set on having corned beef, black eyed peas, and greens for new years day dinner. far be it from me to argue with that. each are symbolic good luck foods. i am all about trying to fix our luck for 2008 - ours was so good in 2007, i think we need some help ensuring that we haven't used it all up! :P
speaking of corned beef, we need to pick up a brisket so i can corn one for st patrick's day. it's almost to late to do one BUT i think it will work. :) we'll do two (or one huge one and cut it into two) - one for corned beef, and one for pastrami (which is smoked corned beef). we did that last year, and while normally i love corned beef and am not a huge fan of pastrami, the home made pastrami knocked my socks off - by far my favorite. i'm excited to make it again, especially seeing as how well our smoker performs in the freezing weather here!
mom has been feeling much better. she loves that she can stay awake through a movie, stay awake past 7pm, and eat crunchy foods again. she gets tired and gets headaches, which is normal, but it's getting better, and i think the pay off with no jaw problems makes it very worth it.
update on ally: i called the vet to get the results from her bloodwork, and it is not a cancerous lump, woohoo! the vet said it appears to just be irritation, from her licking her skin tag. so that is great news. they gave me a spray to put on it, which seems to be helping. i am just glad that she is healthy!
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