happy month of bryan

work has been exceedingly busy lately, with our new project getting into full swing, and many deliverables with my name on them. it has been challenging and fun; i love being busy.

oliver slept through the night last night! for the past few nights we've been doing cio with him. friday night, it became very obvious that all he wanted was to hang out with me in the middle of the night. so i relented, finally, to bryan's requests to let him cio. it seems to have worked! i'm under no delusions that he will do so forever now, but now that he's done it once, he can do it again. ;)
his new favorite game is peekaboo.


hannah is here! she arrived this morning, ready for a summer of fun. she's already got many plans for swimming, shopping, horseback riding, and hollywood. pretty usual. she can't believe how big oliver is.


the kitchen has been coming along. not too much progress since the last update, but there hasn't been much big stuff to do. bryan has been working on all of the trim, as well as the pocket door, both of which are looking great. we're still waiting for the last piece of the fan so the contractor can complete the cabinet installation and trim. our granite arrived; bryan went to the shop yesterday to ok the slab and verify the cuts. they're working on that this week, and hopefully by early next week we'll have an install date. and hopefully it won't be while we're in l.a.!

the month of bryan officially starts today. let the fun begin!

sunday we went to mom and dad's for dinner. shannon made a cuban meal of guava glazed pork ribs, cumin scented black beans, coconut sticky rice, and fried plaintains. for dessert i made a variety of emapandas using various combinations of mango, chocolate, cream cheese, and guava. my favorites are the cream cheese and guava. oh so good. the guava bbq sauce is my new favorite as well. it was incredibly delicious. i am so excited to have our kitchen back so we can cook. i'm way over the not cooking thing.

since the cabinets are in, bryan hooked up the stove, which we have used a few times, but mostly avoid since we still don't have a sink or dishwasher. bryan made a delicious pasta, with a rotisserie chicken, cream sauce, and the garlic scapes from our csa. it was so nice just to have the house smell like cooking again, and the delicious pasta was fab as well.

surely i am missing something, but it can't be too exciting if i am missing it. we are planning on becoming zoo members this weekend, which i think both the kids will enjoy. i am HOPING it actually gets warm enough today to go to the pool, which never seems to happen on my days off. i think i'll go rescue oliver from hannah, or vice versa - not too sure who needs rescuing at this point!

holy jeez

it's still snowing here, and there's a pretty serious layer of snow on the ground. i am working from home today, because it turns out that i am completely freaked out by snow. it's been 8+ years since i've really had to deal with it, and it always scared me to drive in, so now i'm a total basketcase. i find myself peering out the window and asking, do people really just go on with their lives in this stuff?!?! whereas when i first moved to atlanta, whenever there was ice/snow, the city would shut down, and i would laugh at how people didn't just go on with their lives like we did in the north with much worse weather. I'VE BEEN CONVERTED TO A SOUTHERNER! the plows hadn't come through by 7:30 this morning so i elected to work from home. they've come through once but the roads still look scary (i.e., not totally clear). i think i'll have to make a few trips around the block to see if i can get used to it. i guess i can't just hide in the house every time it snows. damn.

bryan is learning all about the snow. and how crappy it is to clean up. it took him some time on sunday to get the driveway cleared, mostly time to figure out the snowblower. he is also learning how to salt properly. he's currently suiting up to tackle the foot or so of snow sitting in the driveway. he has learned it is best to clear it before it has time to freeze over. :) i am thinking that shoveling will be a good way for me to get in work outs. just the thought of "getting up" an hour earlier to do so makes me want to cry though.

the good news about working from home is i get to peek at my beautiful baby all day today. he really is super adorable and kissable. he is 5 weeks old today! at our 4 week appointment last week, we got to see how much he grew. he measured in at 9 lbs 10 oz (a gain of 2 lbs 2 oz) and was 22 3/4 inches long (a growth of 2 1/2 inches). i can't believe how fast he is growing! he is turning into a little person right before our eyes. before we know it he will be crawling. i'm looking forward to the sleeping through the night part. he is great and all, and we do get to sleep at night, but when you only get to sleep in 1 - 2 hour increments it is not the happy refreshing type of sleep. it's the type of sleep where you don't think you slept at all. we'll get there!

in other news...

i'd been trying to think of a special cookie recipe to make for christmas. i was inspired by trader joe's. they have an oreo style cookie where the filling is candy cane peppermint flavored, which i thought sounded good. in discussing it with some friends who are not peppermint fans, i morphed the recipe (or really just came up with something totally new) into butter rum creme filling with gingerbread/molasses cookies. so i am working on fleshing that out. chris has also requested butter rum fudge between shortbread. i am thinking that would work well dipped halfway into chocolate. so those are my current food projects. results to come.

speaking of results, it's time i divulged the results of the great november frozen food experiment. we've eaten our way through many of our pre-made meals, to varying successes.

the tuna casserole worked out rather well. the noodles went a little softer than is preferable, but i blame that mostly on my brand selection (the cheap stuff was on sale). if i had cooked it even less than al dente than i did it would have been perfect. the flavor was retained rather well, however, and was one of bryan's favorite options.

we made the mistake of defrosting my cheese tortellini before cooking it, so some of it fell apart. but it still tasted good. :) the tortellini bake i put together with sauce and cheese turned out excellent however. the ham and portobello ravioli worked out as well. we have not yet had either of the lasagnas, and i am not sure if i will get a chance to since i'm currently off dairy (causes some digestive problems in junior).

the pork ad beef roasts themselves worked out well, though the accompanying veg and taters did not. i made the mistake of not parboiling them prior to freezing (should have known but still didn't do it), so once they froze and contracted, all the water squoze out. :\ this resulted in a uniformly gray, bitter mush. we ended up buying new veg to prepare alongside.

the cheese enchiladas and tex mex casserole (which was similar to chilaquiles) both turned out splendidly. katie was over for dinner when we did the tex mex casserole, and fell in love with both of her servings.

the meatballs and red sauce of course worked out fine, and have been nice for quick and easy pasta dinners.

my chicken dishes, chicken with rice and chicken with mustard mascarpone marsala, worked out fairly well. the rice didn't cook great, i think because we lost some liquid out of the pan. the mascarpone marsala sauce needed to be reduced further than baking would accomplish, but it tasted delish in the end.

shepherd's pie, beef and guiness stew, and chili all worked out well. that kind of stuff freezes pretty good. we still have some stew in there that i am excited about. perfect for the cold weather! :)

the chicken pot pie filling was good as well. we still have some left; the last time we had it was the night before oliver was born. bryan heated some up for dinner after they sent us home from the hospital. perhaps we haven't had it since because i unconsciously associate it with being in a painful labor. ;) i think i'm over it now though. i see chicken and dumplings in our future.

we had my leftover roasted tomato soup saturday night, with some fresh polish sausage and croissants. YUM. another meal perfect on a chilly night. my belly needed warming after we spent the afternoon out in the snow.

what else... that is all i can remember right now. all in all, everything worked out pretty well. we definitely learned some lessons. i am glad i spent the time making all the meals! however, i am also excited that we're getting back to real cooking. bryan made me some thick cut pork chops with apples last night. le yum.

well, junior is fussing. i think it's mostly because he knows that i, the milk dispenser, am home. too bad for him i actually have to work!!

back to the grind

well, i am back at work today. it was hard leaving my baby's angelic face this morning, but i am pretty excited to be back and work and be DOING stuff. not looking forward to missing out on nap time, however.

thanksgiving went splendidly. all the sisters were in town, and we had SO much fun as usual. katie spent a lot of time helping out with oliver, which was great. it made me miss my sisters as usual, but all in all we had a blast. dad posted pictures to http://greg2790.phanfare.com/album/504049#imageID=32824803 (password: Tgive) and http://greg2790.phanfare.com/album/502728#imageID=32765673 (no password). shannon cooked a bunch, which was awesome. bryan and shannon cooked an amazing thanksgiving day meal (picture proof below). the whole family turned out, and we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. bryan is already thinking of menu ideas for next year. i am thinking of the leftover corn budin i am having for lunch today.


we got snow this weekend! on saturday, we had plans to run some errands while my folks watched ollie. we actually got out of the house according to plan, but had to turn back since i had forgotten something. so close! on our way to my parents' house, the snow came down harder and harder. we had some lunch and i sewed oliver's christmas stocking (blue plaid fleece), then we headed out to target in the snow. bryan drove. he did very well. i hate driving in the snow. it has always and will always scare me. i was glad to have 4 wheel drive. the snow is all crusty and gross now, and there is some ice. thank goodness for salt and plows. apparently we're supposed to get more tomorrow night. i may have to leave work early, for my sanity.

i guess that's about it. mom and dad came over last night for pork roast dinner. while it was totally awesome having pre-made meals all last month (and we still have some in the freezers), it was nice to do some real cooking again. i am looking forward to oliver's schedule evening out even more so we can get back to cooking again. i am also looking forward to beginning to plan our kitchen renovation! super exciting.

organized some more baby pictures in the gallery.

feeling thankful today

things i am thankful for:

- having had the willpower this morning to not eat candy for breakfast. the woman in the cube next to me brought in halloween candy, and managed to get all my favorites save one (she is forgiven). it's sometimes hard to concentrate on working with a bowl of two-bite baby ruths sitting 3 feet from you.

- knowing that the financial "squeeze" i feel shortly after pay day is due to the fact that after i've paid the bills, bought food and other needed household goods (and perhaps a few extras), i've overpaid our credit cards and made a noticeable deposit into the savings account, not because i don't have enough to cover the bills. it's easy to forget that when we are too tired to cook and want to eat out, or there's a new video game bryan wants, or i find a fantastic deal on a designer wool coat, and i look at our checking account and don't feel comfortable spending the money on said item.

- that due to this, our savings account is growing again, surely and slowly. priority driven budgeting has served us well. we have aways to go (and i'm sure it will always feel that way), and i know there are lots of big ticket expenses coming up (including but not limited to a child, a car, and a new kitchen), but seeing our progress makes me know we can do it.

- experiencing such an easy and perfect pregnancy thus far. for any of the discomfort, in all reality, i have had it very good. so few symptons and no actual problems (knock on wood). i know plenty of women have it a lot harder. i've "hit the wall" and i'm ready to it to be over, but i've loved the experience and hope that in the future i have the opportunity again, and that it's just as delightful.

- being both happy and challenged in my job. part of the happiness comes from the challenge. i've been challenged, and happy, in my employment in recent years, but it's been a long time since it's been both. and everyone here seems to be impressed and thrilled with my work, which is a good feeling.

- having access to my parents. it's been so nice to be near them again, to spend time with them, have the ability to just drop in, and be able to share the excitement of this year with them in such close proximity.
- finding the house we did, in the neighborhood we did, for the price we did. i feel truly blessed about this. i absolutely love *our* home. i enjoy all the improvements we've made, and am excited to continue to do so for years to come. i've been looking forward to owning our own home together for years, and i'm still taken aback at how it all came together so seamlessly for us. bryan kept telling me to be patient, but that's not one of my strong suits. he was right once again, and everything has come out better than we had even hoped to plan for in that arena.

- being one of the few lucky ones to have a loving, attentive, and totally devoted significant other. i can't begin to explain how helpful and supportive bryan has been, even when i am cranky for no reason other than having a 30 pound wiggling bowling ball in my tummy, or too tired to do anything (even talk) other than lay on the couch. he hasn't complained once, and in fact is always there insisting i relax while he takes care of whatever needs taking care of at that moment. in my increasingly weak moments when i can't help but complain about how i am feeling, he smiles and tells me he loves me and how excited he is for this new chapter in our life.

i'm a pretty lucky girl.