holy crap, it's spring

the weekend was fairly phenomenal. i'm almost afraid to believe it, but springs seems to FINALLY be upon us, and the weather was absolutely amazing. i'm not deluding myself into thinking we won't get another day or 8 of 30 degree weather at some point in the next month, though.

but before we get to the weekend, i must brag a little about our dinner last thursday. bryan made carnitas (something he's rather adept at), and they were really, really good. i had mine with a little salsa verde and sauteed zucchini. bryan made a little salad type side as well. super delish, and not many leftovers to speak of. bryan certainly seems to have a divine ability for cooking true mexican cuisine. i'm sure his training in the more classic/french styles helps him to do that so well (technique is universal in some aspects). i am happy to reap the benefits either way.

then came friday. i worked from home, as our day care provider had the day off. the day started out with me realizing that with ollie's morning change i was using up the last diaper in the basket. i had thought earlier in the week what we had would last until saturday, but i was off. by a day. that's a LONG TIME in Infant Diaperland. luckily we have a few back ups floating around, so we were able to make it until mid-day. between naps, oliver and i had fun playing with toys (his grip gets better every day) and in his jumperoo (he can spend hours in it and i can spend hours watching him). we went to home depot to meet with one of their designers about kitchen plans. oliver's nap schedule luckily coincided with our appointment time perfectly. i love well rested and not cranky baby. we really liked the plan the designer came up with, and started making a few small adjustments. we have a few more updates to make, but we're pretty happy. then it's time to write down all the $$ numbers and figure out how we're going to pay for it, since we're not too keen on incurring too much debt. that aspect of the whole thing has me feeling a little nervous, but we're both REALLY excited to have a new kitchen. all these years of planning "well, if it were OUR kitchen..." and "well, when we do our OWN kitchen..." while renting will finally come to fruition! we're still trying to decide on final choices for the counters, floors, and backsplash... and then we're off! my laptop also decided to DIE COMPLETELY late friday afternoon... as in not even trying to come on, no sound, no lights. it worked when i arrived in this office this am, but i'm still having the helpdesk come take a look since i've been having a few problems.

saturday dawned bright and sunny. oliver had some oatmeal with bananas for breakfast, then he and i played for awhile (which consisted mainly of him trying to chew the bejesus out of everything i handed him). bryan woke up right when ollie was settling down for a nap, so i assigned him to baby duty so i could clean the house, thereby regaining a little of my sanity. bryan even took the babe with him to the grocery store to do all our grocery shopping so i could continue cleaning. it took me half the day, but i was finally able to get the house cleaned the way i like, oh happy day! bryan's friend dirk arrived around lunchtime to work on computer stuff, and he and bryan made us roast chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. oliver decided he was NOT in the mood for his last nap of the day, so the 3 of us whisked ourselves off to target to get some shopping done before dinnertime. the day passed too quickly, that is for sure.

sunday, bryan performed in our church's passion drama. good friday got snowed out (that was the 16" snow day, if i recall), but the pastor put a lot of work into the drama, so they moved it to this past sunday. and added scenes. lucky us. it was LONG. oliver's AM schedule worked fine with church, and he would have been ready for his next feeding and nap about 20 minutes after getting home from church - on a normal day. but this drama was LONG so he ended up pretty cranky.

after a much deserved nap (for both oliver and i), bryan hooked the bike trailer up to his bike so we could all go for a spin in the gorgeous weather. i had been looking forward to this weather for this exact purpose! oliver grinned at us from behind the mesh of his seat (not for the picture though, of course!). he seemed VERY excited at this new experience! i think he was also very happy that he was outside, it wasn't chilly, and the wind wasn't blowing in his face (another new experience for him). i was thrilled to be on the bike again, and while the ride wasn't very long (just around the block to the park and around the park once), my butt is currently remembering how a bike seat makes it feel the next day. i look forward to overcoming that pain. oliver seemed to enjoy the ride, at least until the end, when i think the strap was rubbing against his neck, making it a little uncomfortable. he was pretty happy to get home and out of the contraption. we'll have to come up with a solution for that. if he'd just learn to sit up already, that would do it! :) hopefully we can think of something (and he should be sitting up unassisted in the next month or so), so that we can take some long weekend rides together. i want to wear the wheels out on that trailer! actually, not really, as i don't want to have to spend money on new wheels.

oliver and i spent some time sitting on the back deck watching daddy do some yard work. it was at this time that i believe to have diagnosed oliver's current sniffle situation. he's had some congestion and a light, dry cough for a little over 2 weeks now. we saw dr andy week before last, who said it was viral and come see him again if it lasted more than 2 weeks. this weekend, his nose started dripping, his congestion seemed worse (especially at night), and his eyes looked watery and red. when we were sitting outside, his nose went into overtime snot production. allergies! so we have that to contend with. unfortunately, there's nothing the doctor could do to make him feel better, as he's too young for any kind of treatment. and i am not thrilled with the prospect of subjecting oliver to allergy testing (my memories of the same have a nightmareish tinge to them, and i was old enough to understand what was going on), but i think he's too young for that anyways. we have oliver's 6 month wellness visit next week (6 months! already!), so i'll be sure to discuss it with the doc then. in the meantime, we'll continue with the baby vicks, nose drops, humidifier, elevated crib mattress, tylenol at night when he's feeling just terrible, and extra hugs and snuggles.


oliver's new food this week was green beans. he likes them. :)

last night for dinner, we had planned on making a ham, but i was excited by the weather and we decided to smoke it today instead (see the WFD below). so instead, we made a teriyaki glazed pork loin with pineapple "crust", teriyaki onions, grilled baby bok choy, and crispy potatoes. bryan augmented a bottle of teriyaki with soy and mirin. i seared the pork loin in the cast iron, then transferred it to the oven to roast, continually basting with the teriyaki. in the meantime, i let sliced onions marinade in the teriyaki. at the end, i dumped the onions into the pan, pressed crushed pineapple onto the pork, and turned on the broiler. it worked out rather well. it would be much better with fresh pineapple; we had the canned variety, leftovers from a cake i had made. i thinly sliced potatoes, which bryan pan fried and then broiled until a bit crispy. the baby bok choy i simply seared on the cast iron griddle, which still had a trace of butter on it from the grilled cheese bryan made me for lunch. bryan had 2 helpings of everything. :)

check out new pictures and movies in the april 2008 gallery. the new gallery plays the movies much better, fyi.

WFD: the aforementioned ham. as i stated, the weather inspired me to eat outdoor type food, and in the absence of gas for the grill, i thought about the smoker. smoke & spice, our go to bbq book, had a few good recipes for smoking whole hams. since i didn't have any ginger jam, i opted for a more traditional maple bourbon recipe, to which i added some brown sugar. i scored the ham and rubbed in a wet rub, wrapped that sucker up in plastic wrap, and left it to ruminate overnight. bryan's had it going on the smoker since mid day, using some cherry wood i believe. we'll just make some cheater's mac n cheese (orzo+cheddar) and grilled zucchini to go along with it. i've got a few ideas for that leftover ham too... but more on that in good time. :)