Do I Dare?

Last year, I thought this would get me posting more regularly. It didn't. But I'm going to do it again this year anyway.

Oh Wait...

Did you want a real update? Well, OK.

Malcolm is loving preschool. At first, he was a little apprehensive, but now he asks to go every day. I love the teachers and the other parents are really nice. We've noticed a huge increase in Malcolm's pretend play; I'm not sure if school is the influence or if it's just developmental.

We've been staying busy as usual. Yesterday afternoon, I took Malcolm to a Halloween party at Ari's house. The kids were so cute. Here's a picture of Malcolm the Monkey:


This afternoon, we're going down to the neighborhood shops for their Halloween Festivities. Malcolm is very excited to go trick-or-treating for the first time. We've been having a lot of cloudy & rainy days lately but today it's sunny and gorgeous. Perfect weather for being outside!

Breads

I'm posting these here so I don't forget the recipes. I like to bake and keep these kinds of breads around to snack on.

I'm going to give you the recipes exactly how I make them. However, you can omit the nutritional boosters and the bread will still taste great. I'll put asterisks next to the ingredients that are optional. If you are interested in cutting down on fat, use unsweetened applesauce in place of the oil - equal portions. And, you can always use 100% all-purpose flour or 100% whole wheat flour instead of both. I use a mix because the bread will turn out really dense when using 100% whole wheat flour. I use 'Super Flour' from the book Super Baby Food.

Super Flour
Combine following ingredients into a 1c measuring cup
1 Tbsp wheat germ
1 Tbsp soy flour
Fill rest with whole wheat flour

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup Super Flour
1/2 cup All-purpose flour
2 Tbsp Brewer's Yeast*
2 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal*
2 eggs
1/2 cup refined sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 to 2 cups grated zucchini (small to medium zucchini)
1/2 cup chocolate chips or raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sour cream

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2. Beat together eggs, sugar, and oil. Blend in the grated zucchini, and then the sour cream. Mix in the flour, brewer's yeast, flaxseed meal, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 70 - 80 minutes.

Sweet Potato Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup Super Flour
1/4 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/2 cup All-purpose flour
2 Tbsp Brewer's Yeast*
2 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal*
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground all-spice
1/3 cup water
1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (about 2 large to 4 small potatoes, steamed or baked. If you have a little more than 1 cup, that's OK! You can used canned, too)
1 cup raisins

Directions
1. Combine sugar and oil; beat well. Add eggs and beat. Combine flour, brewer's yeast, flaxseed meal, baking soda, salt, and spices in separate bowl. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with water. Stir in sweet potatoes and raisins.
2. Pour batter into greased 9x5 inch loaf pan (or 2 small loaf pans). Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about one hour.

*Cough*Cough*Cough*

Welcome to the House of Illness. I'd invite you in, but that would be a bit rude since you'd be exposed to our unsightly germs. There's no sight of H1N1 or seasonal flu, but plenty of mucus to go around. Malcolm and Tony have been fighting the snot monster for a couple of weeks now and my lungs are trying to escape my chest cavity. Last week, I had a lovely head cold with slight cough, sore throat and ear ache that developed into bronchitis and a sinus infection. I went to the doctor's office yesterday to acquire prescription strength cough medicine with dreams of sleep that night. Even the codeine-laced Robitussin couldn't keep my cough at bay.

Autumn is in full-swing in Seattle and the changing leaves take my breath away. Cold season is also in full-swing and also takes my breath away.

Cold season, you can kiss my butt!

The Trials of Sleep

Ever since our trip to San Diego, Malcolm has been having a hard time with sleeping. Previous and during our trip, he slept through the night. Now, he wakes up 2-3 times a night, comes into our room and crawls into bed with us. Last night, he was up every 45 minutes from the time he went to bed until around 2 AM. We have no idea how to encourage him to stay in bed all night since we never had to do it before.

Thank goodness for coffee.

And here's some cuteness from San Diego:




To see all of the pictures I took during our trip, go here.

Confession

One or two of you may be wondering why I haven't been updating my neglected blog. Yes, we've been busy, but we always are. We recently traveled to Utah, San Diego and Dad & Carolyn were in Seattle for a short visit. Malcolm also started preschool. These are all blogworthy events, but I haven't written a word. Why, might you ask? Well, it's because I spend much of my internet time farming.

What? Farming?

Yes. Farming.

On Facebook, they have a few farming games. I get to be a virtual farmer and grow crops. I sell my crops for coins, plow my land and sow more seeds. I earn enough coins to buy a little farm cottage. I tend to my animals. I pull weeds and scare crows away from my neighbors' farms.

If only I could make actual money from being a virtual farmer...


p.s. I'm trying to wean myself from farming so much so I can be productive in other areas of my life. Maybe.

It's Raining Babies

It's time for me to give belated shout-outs to my friends who have had babies recently!

Congratulations to Olya & Pierro! They welcomed their son, Nichola, into this world on August 14th.

Kristin & Todd now have a beautiful, red-headed daughter, Caterina. She was born on September 3rd.

Chandra & Kevin have their hands full with two healthy boys, Cedric & Gregory. They were born on September 4th.

The Reality of HLHS

When we first received the news that baby-to-be had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, I was in an exam room with a screaming toddler. Tony had left to go to work and I was there to have my monthly check-up. A doctor (not my own) came in and gave me the news. I was taken off-guard and had no clue what to ask. So, like every person who has access to the internet, I went home and started to do my own research.

The information out there only gave us an idea of what HLHS entailed. The scientific papers & studies were, well, really scientific. The 'personal stories' were vague. We wanted details. It wasn't until we met with the pediatric cardiologist that we received realistic statistics. A lot of what I had read on the internet had given me false hope.

In most of the scientific papers that discussed the surgeries, they gave a survival rate of 75-80%. The cardiologist let us know that those statistics only take into account the babies that have the first surgery and are released from the hospital. Those numbers do not take into account the newborns who die before surgery and those who pass away before the second surgery. When you look at it that way, the survival rate is more like 50%. And then, 10% of those children do not survive the second surgery and then many do not make it to the 'final' surgery.

A child with HLHS is put through 3 open-heart surgeries in the first few years of their lives - at a minimum. The possibility of complications is high. Since this is considered such a new procedure, cardiologists aren't really sure how long the rewired two-chambered heart will last. Many of these children will need a heart transplant sometime in their teens; some might make it to their early twenties.

I think it's pretty amazing that doctors have figured out how to make a 2-chambered heart work well enough to keep a person alive. But, it's really important to take into consideration how having half of a heart will effect the rest of the body's organs.

I wanted to write about what we were told by the pediatric cardiologist (and there was lots more) in hopes that it would help other parents who have just found out that their baby-in-utero has HLHS. For a week, we thought Baby Bee had a better chance of survival and had no idea the kind of pain he would go through once he was born. We had to make the most difficult and painful decision once we had all of this new information.

Playing in the Rain

Last week, we received some glorious rain. Of course, it started raining shortly after I promised Malcolm we'd go outside and play in the garden which is one of his favorite things to do. We found out that a little cold rain doesn't deter the determined tike.

Our Current Reality

This is not going to be an uplifting post. Far from it. Consider yourself warned.

On Monday, we had our 20-week ultrasound. We found out that Baby Bee is a boy. We also found out that he has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Essentially, the left side of his heart is not developing and is not functioning. You can get more details by doing a Google search.

I will be going in for further testing in the very near future to see if there are more birth defects. If Baby Bee only has HLHS, the hope is he will be able to have open heart surgery shortly after he is born. He will either have a series of 3 surgeries to allow his 2-chamber heart to function or he will have a heart transplant. There is a 25% chance that he will not survive his first surgery.

We were completely taken off-guard by this news. The last thing we expected to hear was that our baby-to-be has a very serious and rare heart defect. We are filled with a deep sadness. This has been the hardest thing either of us has ever been through and it's only going to get harder.

A Birthday Shout-Out

Malcolm!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my adorable, funny, nutty little boy. We can't believe you are two already! Your Daddy and I love you a million tons of love. It's so much fun to see you grow up.

xoxoxo,
Mommy

Update on Being a Parent

And having a parent - Happy Birthday to my dad! He's 30 years older than me today!

18 week belly picture:

I started feeling Bee move around at 17 weeks. I'm now 19 weeks pregnant - almost halfway there! Next ultrasound is coming up on Monday.

This past weekend, we went over to Julie & Jeremiah's house so the kids could play. Here's one of my favorite pictures:

To see the rest, go to my Flickr page. Eliska and Malcolm play well together; she's pretty enamored by him and follows him around everywhere.

The little guy has finally started saying his name properly. We've known that he's known how for some time now because sometimes he'd slip up and say, "Malcolm" instead of, "MahMoh". He hasn't called himself MahMoh in a few days.

Five!

Happy 5th Birthday, Cameron! We'll have to celebrate when Malcolm and I come and visit you in San Diego in September :D

Aaaahhhh...Brief Relief

For those of you that watch the news, you've probably heard that Seattle experienced a record high in temperatures this week. Since many of you live in areas of the country that get hot like this every summer, you may be thinking, "When it gets into the 100's around here, I just stay inside." Well, that only works if you have air conditioning which few places in the PNW have. Our good friend, Julie, recently had central AC installed in her house. She just so happened to have a portable AC unit that was going unused that she is letting us borrow. We thought about buying a couple of window units but not until there were no AC units to be found. Thanks to the generosity of Julie, we've been able to sleep.

This morning, I awoke to temperatures in the low 60's. I opened every window and currently have goosebumps from being chilled. It is glorious. The temperatures are expected to be in the high 80's/low 90's later today, so we're enjoying this while we can.

Hot.

Hot.Hot.HotHotHot.Hot.

HOT.

Mal's First Camping Trip

This past weekend, we went on a much anticipated camping trip. It had been 3 years since we had camped last and I've missed it. I found a great deal on a huge tent that Tony thinks is too big. Our other tent was fine for the 2 of us but would have been too crowded for 3 (soon to be 4). We also got Malcolm his own sleeping bag and camping chair that he loves.

I packed up our car Friday afternoon and we picked Tony up from work and headed north. We decided to camp at a campground that we'd been to previously and also try a hike that Tony & friends had done but I missed out on due to my back seizing up. Our trip there took quite a bit longer due to our first car sickness incident (yuck!) and me missing our turn and driving waaaay too long before realizing it. But, we made it there and our friend, Eric, had already arrived and started a fire. Adrianne & Natalie showed up an hour or so after us and we settled in for the night. Although Malcolm loved playing in the tents at REI, he wasn't so sure about sleeping in one that night. After finally falling asleep, he only woke up once during the night.

On Saturday, we headed up to the North Cascade Trail a bit before lunchtime:




We have a backpack carrier for Malcolm that Tony carried him in for most of the way. Mal loved going 'up up in the air' as we climbed. After about 2 miles, Malcolm decided that he'd had enough so The Johnstons headed back down while the rest continued on the trail. We now know the limit for hiking distances with Malcolm at this age. Tony also discovered that it's a lot more work carrying a toddler on your back.

Back at camp, Malcolm spent most of his time throwing rocks which is one of his favorite things to do. We had a tough time keeping him out of the fire pit (when there was no fire going, of course). In the early evening, a fellow camper was walking around with his 3.5 year-old son and he and Malcolm ended up playing for a couple of hours. I think that might of been the highlight of the trip for Mal. He had a much easier time going to sleep that night but had a hard time staying asleep due to the cold and his insistence of not sleeping with covers. He ended up sleeping with us which meant I slept really poorly that night.

We spend Sunday morning having a leisurely breakfast and took our time packing up camp. It was really great to get out in the mountains and spend time together as a family and get to hang out with good friends. We can't wait to do it again.

Welcome, Trekell Boys!

This morning, my fabulous friend, Jill, gave birth to her twin boys; one naturally and the other via c-section. We're glad you are finally here, Max and Alex! I hope to meet them later this afternoon.

My 'friends who are pregnant' list is dwindling quickly. No one else has announced a pregnancy since me. Right now, I have 6 local friends who are pregnant (not including me). I have three friends who are trying to conceive so I'm hoping they'll have news soon.

Babies!

A Quick Hello

All is well in Johnston Land. Not much new to report. I've been plagued with daily headaches and try to avoid taking Tylenol too often since it can be bad for your liver. We've been busy going to play dates and whatnot. Today, my goal is to clean & pull out our camping gear to take inventory. It's now 1:15 PM and I have yet to lift a finger. I blame the headache.

Comparison at 13 Weeks

Here is my belly at 13 weeks:


Looks very similar to this, no?


Guess how far along I am in that second picture when I was pregnant with Malcolm...21 weeks.

Ugh.

I broke out the maternity clothes this weekend. Sad face.

Father's Day

A few weekends ago, we went on a family bike ride. The city closes the street by Lake Washington on Sundays during the summer so bike riders can ride without worry of cars to and from Seward Park. I bought a new bike last summer but haven't ridden it often because Malcolm hated the trailer. I finally got around to selling it and I bought an iBert bike seat to replace it. He LOVES the seat. Tony had bought Chris' old bike from him a few years ago and had yet to ride it before that day.

We had a great time on the bike ride but Tony hated his bike. So, for Father's Day, I got him a new bike (he picked it out). We went on a bike ride to Seward Park; it's this gorgeous park that is just a few miles away from our house. Malcolm loves to sit by the shore and throw rocks into the water. He loves it so much that he throws a big fit every time it's time to leave. Here are a couple of pictures:





We'll be doing the family bike rides for as long as I can manage. Tony is loving his bike so much that he's planning on father/son rides once biking becomes too much for me. He's also eager to get out without me because apparently I ride too slow. Can you blame me? I'm freaking pregnant and carting around a toddler on my bike!

I've also been taking Malcolm out on the bike a few times during the week. We'll bike to the park and to the Farmer's Market. I get stopped constantly by other parents asking me about his seat :)

Atlanta

It seems almost silly posting about our trip to Atlanta 3 weeks after the fact, but I said I would and I'm not one to go back on her word. I'm going to do a short recap.

My awesome friend, Betsy, got married to her awesome girlfriend, Sarah, in Costa Rica a couple of months ago. We could not attend the ceremony for a variety of reasons. They decided to celebrate with all of their friends and family who could not attend the wedding during the last weekend of May in Atlanta. We packed up our bags and got on a plane and went.

We spent our trip hanging out with a bunch of really great people. Kik and Amy came up from Tampa and I actually got to see some peeps from Tallahassee for like, 10 minutes. We also got to hang out with my old friend, Keely, and her 2 daughters. Malcolm still talks about Tuesday (Keely's 4-year-old).

It was a lovely family vacation. Every time I get to hang out with my southern friends, I want to move back just so I can do it a lot more often. Here are some pictures:

After dinner on our last night there:


Malcolm and Tuesday walking in the park:


To see the rest of the pictures, go here.

Results - Thumbs Up!

We got the results from the tests run earlier this week and everything came back negative which is a Very Good Thing. There is no indication of Down's Syndrome or Spina Bifida. For those of you that don't know, the risks of these two things increases an enormous amount once you reach the age 35.

We've been keeping busy with play dates galore. I purposely didn't schedule anything today so I could have a bit of downtime and a few minutes to clean up the house in preparation for tomorrow morning's play date. It's raining on and off today which is wonderful - we needed it very much! Our garden has been a little neglected - there is much to harvest. I harvested the broccoli last night since it looked like it was about to bloom. We'll be noshing on that all weekend. I hope to get out in the garden this afternoon to pull up the broccoli stumps and make room for the zucchini. I also have a ton of kale that needs to be harvested.

A Bee

Here's a little profile of the occupant in my uterus. And no, the technician wasn't even going to try and tell the sex of the baby. Everything looks good so far. At one point during the ultrasound, Malcolm pointed to the monitor and said, "Bee!" We were going to call the occupant 'Jellybean', but now I think it must be 'Bee'.

Checking In

Hi. I'm here. A little tired from lack of sleep. OK, maybe a lot tired. We went to Atlanta last weekend for a little family vacation to visit friends and had good times. I will post pictures sometime in the future.

Pregnancy update: Haven't really had any nausea and my food aversions are pretty much gone. I've started cooking again and buying food which has been nice. My energy is up a little bit but I'm still not pushing myself too hard. Some days it's very difficult not to because, well, the house is not going to clean itself. I have my first doctor's appointment next Thursday and have genetic counseling and ultrasound on the 15th.

Only 30 more weeks to go! Ha.

Comparison

Here's my belly when I was around 7 weeks pregnant with Malcolm:


And now, here's my belly around 8 weeks pregnant with #2:


I already can't fit into most of my pants & skirts and my t-shirts ride up my belly.

Could it be twins?

Dear Energy, I Miss You

Malcolm loves going to the Kid's Corner at the YMCA. He asks for it. Unfortunately, I have had a very hard time mustering up the motivation to work out. When people are usually low on energy, exercise helps except when you are low on energy due to pregnancy. I took him to the gym a couple of times this week and totally took it easy; all I did was bike & walk on the treadmill. It killed my energy for the rest of the day.

I think it's time for me to start doing some menu planning. I've had a terrible time figuring out what to cook for dinner the past couple of weeks because the thought of all food nauseates me. I talked to some of my other pregnant friends to see what they do since this seems to be a problem for every woman when pregnant - they make the standard favorites of the family and *try* to eat it but if they can't, no big deal. Now I need to get off my butt and start the planning.

What did pregnant women eat before cereal was invented?

What I'm Reading

I am fully aware that by the end of the year, I will have very little time to myself. One thing I'm going to do my best not to give up is reading. Right now, I go to bed a little early so I can read in bed for 30 minutes (rarely do I make it that long). I'm currently engrossed in Under The Banner of Heaven and In Defense of Food. I've also started reading Eat, Pray, Love, but it's not grabbed my interest very much. I've been a bigger fan of non-fiction lately; I just haven't read any great fiction recently.

So hey! Happy Belated Mother's Day! Mine kinda sucked. I spent most of it in bed feeling exhausted and nauseous. Bland food is my only friend. Tony gave me the best gift - he took care of Malcolm all day so I could rest. He also got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

First Trimester Blues

Gestation is wearing me out, folks. I am TIRED. I don't have the energy to do all of the cleaning that needs to be done. I don't have the energy to take Malcolm out as often as I should. I drink more caffeine than I probably should. I don't remember it being this bad when I was pregnant with Malcolm, but I have a feeling that it was.

The one difference between my first pregnancy and this pregnancy is the nausea. With Mal, I experienced more food aversions than nausea. Very few foods appealed to me. As of right now, I'm having no problem eating, but I am experiencing a lot more nausea. I'm not actually throwing up thank goodness. Also, when I got pregnant with Malcolm, I lost 7 pounds. This time, I've already gained 5. I should admit that my starting weight this time around was 10 pounds less than the first time around, so I'm sure that makes a difference.

Updated Pregnancy List

One of the Ericas had her baby a couple of weeks ago, so she's off the list. Instead of just adding one more person to the list, there are two to add:

Erika
Jill
Chandra
Lisa
Kristin
Shana
Tiffany
Olga
Vaishali
ME!

For those of you that don't already know, I'm pregnant! Tony & I just started trying and it happened right away. If all goes well, we'll have a new little one shortly after Christmas. I guess we know where we'll be spending this winter holiday this year...

Chirp! Chirp!

Our lovely spring weather is about to turn into our typical spring weather...the day Dad & Carolyn arrive. My back is giving me much grief and I cannot clean the house properly before they get here. I know they don't really mind, but I do. Tony stayed home from work today to help me out with Malcolm & to drive me to the chiropractor's office later this afternoon. Let's hope she's able to adjust something to help me mend. My back has been messed up for a week now :(

The Box

My mom sent me a waffle maker for my birthday (thanks again, Mom!) and Malcolm had a blast playing in the box. It reminded me of stories my parents would tell of me and Jenn playing in boxes as kids. Here's a little clip:

Happy Birthday to Me!

There is a long list of things I should be doing right now during Mal's nap time, but instead I'm posting here. Procrastination!

I took Malcolm to the aquarium this morning; it was the first time he'd been since he was way little. He loves fishies. The crowds of school kids on field trips was overwhelming. Tony bought us a membership for my Christmas present. I'm going to try and take Mal there at least once a month.

To celebrate my birthday, we're going out to dinner tonight and having a few friends over later. I should be cleaning and getting the house ready for guests. It's very hard to clean house with a toddler constantly messing it up :)

Spring Tease

We've been having gorgeous weather here the past few days. I love the rain and cool weather, but warm, dry, sunny weather is much more conducive to planting vegetable gardens and playing in the sun. Today is the last day of the spring tease so I'm going to be sure to take full advantage of it with Malcolm after his nap.

My friend, Sandi, got laid off from her job today. That makes 4 friends now (Lorian got laid off a couple of weeks ago).

In other random news:
-loan closed, house is refinanced. We'll be saving over $300 month
-just found out last night that Malcolm got into our 1st choice preschool. Hooray! He'll be starting in September.
-Malcolm is no longer enamored by blueberries. Now he's all about the strawberries. He's decided that he doesn't want to eat all of his previous favorite foods. Eating time has become a guessing game...AGAIN. Oh, the joys of toddlerhood.
-I'm turning 35 in two days and am kind-of ambivalent about celebrating my birthday.

And a very big congratulations to my dear friend, Betsy. She got hitched this weekend to the lovely Sarah in Costa Rica. I wanted to be there so badly but we just couldn't afford it. Fortunately, they are having a reception in Atlanta over Memorial Day weekend for all of those that could not attend the wedding. Our tickets are purchased!

I Stand Corrected

Sunny gave birth to little Spencer at 10:59 PM last Friday after being in labor for 22 hours. 22 hours, People! I visited them in the hospital last Sunday before meeting up with my book club. The new parents are totally in love with their little man.

On Monday, we had a play date with a mom/daughter duo that we hadn't seen in some time. The mom is 22 weeks pregnant.
On Tuesday, it was very apparent that I caught Tony's head cold. I felt too poor to do anything for the next two days. Malcolm got pretty bored.
On Thursday, we went swimming at one of the local indoor pools with Angie & Rowan. Since then, Mal's been talking about 'splashin' in the water' nonstop. I think I need to take him swimming more often.
On Friday, we met up with a high school friend of mine who lives in the area (Tacoma) with her husband and two boys. I find out she's 22 weeks pregnant. We took the boys to the zoo. Mal's favorite exhibit was the Arctic marine animals...where he wanted to get in the water and go splashin' with the whale/seals/walrus/otters.

I'm going to write this down because I keep leaving pregnant friends out. These are my friends who live in the area that are pregnant:

Erica
Erika
Jill
Chandra
Lisa
Kristin
Shana
Tiffany
Olga

That's 9 people, y'all! So please ignore my previous post where I said I thought this baby boom was slowing down. I was completely wrong.

Almost the End of March

I meant to wish Mom & Paul a happy anniversary earlier this month but, obviously, I didn't. The days slipped past me as they often do.

My plan was to do some yoga while the little man napped today but, obviously, I'm not. Instead, I'm drinking a cup of coffee and farting around on the internet. There is a long list of other things that I could be doing and I'll likely get some of them done before he wakes up.

Our good friend, Sunny, is currently in labor. I'm thinking the little guy will be showing up any minute now. Last update I got was early this morning and she was 3cm dilated. After today, I will only have 6 friends in Seattle who are pregnant. I think the baby boom is slowing down and will be surprised if someone else tells me she's pregnant.

Malcolm has been a bit of a grump this week. Tony thinks the cause is from the hours of separation from me over the weekend. I'm not so sure of that. He's started counting to 10 pretty consistently. He was skipping 9 for a couple of days but found it somewhere. He's also singing and it is the cutest thing. His newest is, "Do, a deer, a fee..." and that's as far as he gets in that song. He sings all the time. Probably because I'm always singing to him :)

New Neighbors

In December, our old neighbors moved out. Since then, the unit next door has been blissfully empty until this weekend. While we were enjoying the snow in Whistler, people moved in next door. I realized this fact this morning as I heard lots of running up and down the stairs. However, we should have been clued in last night when we came home and our main floor had the aroma of fried food.

The joys of living in a townhouse. I honestly thought the soundproofing and smellproofing would be better.

Whistler Weekend - Wahoo!

My dear Mom reminded me that it had been awhile since I posted an update. Although I have been keeping this blog for over 5 years now, I still forget to write in it often. How long does it take to establish a habit, anyway?

So! We went to Whistler this past weekend! Months ago, Julie told me that they were planning a trip to Whistler in March. We had a long list of reasons why we couldn't commit at the time. As the trip got closer, our friend, Jill, offered to take care of Malcolm so Tony and I could snowboard. And then, we found out that we could still cross the boarder with just a birth certificate for Mal (this changes in June). And THEN, the currency exchange rate has been fantastic and Whistler's been running great deals on lodging to boost business. I just couldn't let the opportunity to snowboard pass us up and convinced Tony that it would be a good idea for us to make the trip. He was nervous about how Mal would do in the car and with being away from us for several hours.

Our drive up on Friday took a looooong time. Our plan was for me to pack everything up and leave the house by 3 PM and then pick up Tony from work. It was hard for me to get everything done and take care of Mal and meet the deadline. We left the house by 3:30 and picked Tony up by 4. Traffic up was terrible through Everett (always is) and then we met a friend of ours for dinner in Bellingham. We then had an hour wait at the border. Ugh. We didn't roll into Whistler until 11:30 PM. Due to the late arrival, we didn't leave our condo until well after our intended time. Lots of boring reasons why we were delayed. Short story: we only boarded for 3 hours on Saturday. Lots of fun and the snow was great. Saturday night, we had dinner with the whole group (10 of us) excluding the babes and Julie's mom who was taking care of the kids.

On Sunday, Jill and her clan headed out in the morning. My wonderful husband stayed behind to take care of Malcolm so I could snowboard with Julie & Fes. It was another bluebird day with soft snow. We headed down from the mountain around 1:30. We took off for Seattle around 3 PM. Tony gets extra super husband points for having lots of patience with a grumpy baby who slept poorly the night before and really wanted his mommy.

It was really great to get out to the mountains. I sure do miss snowboarding. Strangely enough, I'm not sore at all. I guess the time I put in at the gym paid off!

Blueberry Man

Malcolm would eat blueberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let him. Sure, he'll still eat other fruit, but he's on an extreme blueberry kick. His poops are blue-purple in color. And no, I'm not kidding.

A long-time friend is in Seattle this week for a conference. She arrived a couple of days early to have some vacation time so me and Malcolm played tour guide yesterday. We first went to Ballard to visit the Nordic Historical Museum and the Ballard Locks. We then had lunch at Blue C Sushi in Fremont before heading up to the top of Queen Anne hill to check out the views. We've had gloriously clear weather here so the views were great. Fun times.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to Dad & Carolyn. 18 years, no?
And happy 19-month birthday to my little Mal!

Happy Belated Birthday, Buddy!

On Sunday, February 22nd, Buddy (aka Baby Piet), was born at 3:40 PM. Me & Mal arrived in San Diego on the 24th for a 5-day visit. There was an unexpected stay in Children's Hospital for Buddy, but he was discharged the day before we left. If you would like to see pictures, please send me an email or leave a comment (I don't like to plaster pictures of other people's kids on the internet w/o their permission).

He's a doll. Jenn & Piet are so happy to have him home. Congratulations, you guys!

Malcolm at the Computer

I sometimes (OK, maybe often) give in to the struggle to let Malcolm bang on my laptop. One day, he just happened to take a screen shot. I have no clue how to do this myself. My 19-month-old has already surpassed me in using the computer. Click on the picture to enlarge it - you can see he was taking pictures using PhotoBooth and chatting using iChat. I was checking out the preschool I'm hoping to enroll him - you can see their website in the background.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

From our visit in December:

It's Time To Come Out and Play

Dear Buddy,

The World is waiting for you. Your mommy, daddy, big brother and grandma are there, right now, wanting to meet you. Listen to your Auntie Kris: it's time to come out now.

Love,
Me

18-month letter

Hey little man!

So it's been quite awhile since I wrote you one of these letters. Once you started walking, I got a lot less uninterrupted time on the computer. Plus, I'm lazy. I admit I have a lazy gene or two in me. Wait...let's not call it lazy. We'll just say that I like to relax.

Anyway, back to you. You have become a little talking machine. It's no surprise since you've always been a big talker, but you catch us off guard all the time. You are now stringing two words together pretty consistently and have recently started doing three. The first thing you do every morning is point to everything in the room and tell us what it is. If there is more than one of something, you state that there is two even when there is more than just two.

Your fascination with cars and planes is a little nutty. You are such a stereotypical boy in this respect. Your grandma Sherry recently sent you a few belated Christmas presents and we've never seen you react to toys this way. Once you discovered that you have your very own train set and Hot Wheels, we couldn't get you to eat, bathe or sleep (at least for that first night).

Screech Kitty is your buddy and he is so tolerant of you. He's always been a bit of an ornery cat so this has surprised us. You often sit on him and proceed to bounce and, for whatever reason, he puts up with this. You love Persephone but only get occasional sightings of her; she is still very weary of you (with good reason!)

You are a good-natured kid who's easy-going. Lately, though, you've been prone to frequent tantrums. I've read that this is a normal thing for your stage of development and that it will pass. Both me and your daddy are really looking forward to seeing you grow out of this stage.

Things you like: giving & receiving kisses, looking at pictures of airplanes on Daddy's computer, going for walks outside so you can touch every car that you walk by, riding your 4-wheeled bike, pestering Screech, talking, taking baths, running around naked, playing chase, being outside in general and playing with friends. Your favorite foods are blueberries, broccoli, grapes, cheddar cheese and applesauce.

You amaze us every day. We love you, little guy!

Love,
Mommy

Still Six

Keely had her baby last week and another friend found out that she was pregnant with twins. It happened just as I predicted.

Jenn is the next in line to have her little boy. I wonder who will be the next to announce that she is pregnant? And no, it will not be me.

The Economy

My dear friend, Natalie, was just laid off from her job. Not that long ago, Seattle was on the national news because economists were saying that the city wasn't being affected by the recession. Just yesterday, the city made the national news again with reports that it finally caught up to us. Scary times, people.

A Stomach Flu

A flu to the stomach is no good. I'm just glad it's over and neither of my boys caught it. I can still only eat bland food. Mal was worried about me on my sickest day (Friday) but it seemed that he understood that I needed to lay down and rest and couldn't play with him. He didn't complain and spent most of his time entertaining himself and making a huge mess of the house. He visited me often to nurse but never asked me to get out of bed to play with him.

We recently got Mal a new car seat:


He wasn't too happy to be strapped down in it, but that's because he wanted to play. I wasn't feeling the love for this car seat at first. I had a hard time installing it properly and it made me swear a lot (and I rarely swear). After much trial and error, I finally installed it and I'm liking it OK. There are only 2 things that I do not like about it: the latch strap is too short to put the seat in the center and the knobs to tighten the harness are placed so close to the front of the seat that they are difficult to turn because the actual car's seat is in the way. The latter problem won't be an issue when Mal's forward facing, but that's not going to be for some time.

It's a Glorious Day

Mal's 17-month-old photo with the Ugly Dolls:


I didn't realize how long it had been since I updated until I thought to check today. Nothing new has been happening with us, I suppose. Our friend, Sunny, who is 7 months pregnant, was laid off from her job. That really sucks! I bought my plane ticket to San Diego for our visit next month to meet Buddy. I had a dream that Jenn & Piet will name him Oliver. I found out that another friend of mine is pregnant. I currently know 6 women who are pregnant. My friend, Clare, had her little guy last week. It seems that as soon as one of my friends has her baby, I find out that another is pregnant. Keely is due any day now so my guess is that I'll find out another friend is pregnant next week :)

I skipped the gym this morning to watch The Inauguration of President Barack Obama. What a glorious day it is! He has got a lot of hard work ahead of him.

Mine!

Ah, the sound of possessiveness. It has caught us both off guard. It started this week and we can only guess that Malcolm learned the "Mine!" thing at the childcare at the YMCA. While there on Monday, he got really upset and they couldn't console him so they came and got me from the gym. I originally thought that he was overtired, but Tony thinks he had an altercation with another kid that upset him and it had to do with the "Mine thing.

We pretty much just ignore him when he says it since we're not really sure how else to respond. If, during play group, he has issues with sharing, I'll address it then.

We're in the process of refinancing our home. When we first purchased our home, we thought we'd be selling in 5 years. Now we're not so sure that's going to happen. The rates are so good right now that we just couldn't pass the opportunity up. It's still a little scary, but I'm not sure why.

Hi Button!

Malcolm has started saying "hi" and "bye" to everything. When he first sees something, he says "Hi Kitty!" or "Hi Daddy!" He started doing this while we were in Florida. It started with, "Hi JoJo!" He's also trying his hardest to start talking in sentences. It goes like this, "babblebabblebabbleWORDbabble". It is all so very cute.

Family Photos

Malcolm turned 17 months old today. Holy guacamole!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our travels in December. Not many photos were taken while in San Diego because everyone felt craptastic. To see all of the photos, visit my Flickr page.

Boys love remote controls:


Cameron pretending to be pregnant like his mom:


Grampa & Mal:


JoJo, PopPop & Malcolm:


Aidan taking pictures:


Cute Cousins:


Aunt Sally & Malcolm playing the piano:

Setting Goals

My darling husband mentioned to me the other day that he'd like to set some family goals for our household. Want to help me come up with some good ones?

One goal: look into refinancing our mortgages. First step accomplished today: I finally called the mortgage broker that came highly recommended by Julie & Sunny. The rates are excellent right now and they are both refinancing. He'll be calling me back tomorrow with the low-down.

Another goal: call the company that holds our home warranty. We mistakenly thought it was only one year but it turns out to be a three-year warranty. I need to give them a ring to see if they will reimburse us for the electrical work we had done recently.

The Garage Goal has been looming over our heads since we moved in. We really need to get off our butts and install shelving, organize and purge. The biggest reason why we haven't made much headway on this goal is because it would be best if both of us were doing it at the same time. Thing is, one of us always needs to be watching Malcolm. Our garage is less than childproof and he could get himself into some trouble down there if we let him.

Happy 2009!

After a looooooong day of travel yesterday, we made it back home to Seattle from Florida. We enjoyed our travels in December, but it's good to be home. I'll update with pictures and stories soon. Right now, I'm working on getting settled back in. Our sleep is all out of whack which is to be expected. I was in bed before 9 PM last night and Tony went to bed before me! Granted, I had been awake since 12:30 AM PST, but still. Mr. Malcolm decided to wake up at 4:30 AM this morning. Tony got up with him so I could sleep a little longer. Both of my boys are currently taking much needed naps and I'm drinking much needed coffee while making a mental list of the things I want to get done today.

2008 was a good year for the Johnston family. I'm looking forward to what 2009 brings us. In the very near future, I'll have a new nephew to fawn over, a new brother-in-law to joke with and a new place to visit if things move quickly for Dad & Carolyn. I already know of 3 trips we'll be making this year: San Diego to meet my new nephew, Atlanta to celebrate the union of Betsy and Sarah and Houston to visit Dad & Carolyn. I'm sure we'll also be going to Utah, but no clue when.

Snopocalypse in Seattle

Seattle's weather is making national news. We just aren't equipped to deal with this much snow in the city. Typically, when it snows here, it melts within a day or two. Not this time. And, they're predicting more snow tonight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our flight isn't cancelled on Thursday. Many, many people have been stranded at the airport due to cancelled flights.

Patti reminded me that I never reported the results on the quinoa recipe. It was tasty! I halved the recipe and we had leftovers for days. I'd only make the full portion if I was taking it to a potluck with lots of people. I didn't have any of the vegetables on hand that the recipe called for, so I omitted those and added fire-roasted green peppers instead and it gave it a great kick. Now I think I must make it again soon...

Let it Snow...Some More

It's been snowing all day long. Fortunately, the wind the news was warning us about never came to our area. We still have power and plenty of food. I'm planning on measuring the total snowfall in our yard tomorrow. Fun stuff!

Let it Snow

We got between 4-6 inches of snow yesterday. I am so happy that it waited until after Malcolm and I got home from San Diego. Another storm is expected to hit on Sunday bringing more snow and high winds. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't lose power.

Sickies

Jenn & Dad are now sick with the tummy bug. So sad.

Reporting from San Diego

Me & Malcolm are in San Diego. He's asleep on the bed beside me. Poor kid has a tummy bug. He started getting sick on Thursday. Fortunately, he didn't get sick on the plane ride but did get sick in bed last night. Pieter, bless his heart, cleaned up the bedding and stuff while I cleaned up Malcolm. He's in a relatively good mood but hasn't had much to eat the past couple of days.

I am also sick but not with the same thing. I have mastitis. Yesterday was definitely the worst with the fever and chills. I haven't had any fever today but the muscle aches are sticking around. Dad & Carolyn came back from their cruise today and were totally OK with having a mellow day. I still feel a little guilty having my sister who is 7 months pregnant and her partner take care of me and my kid.

Onion

Malcolm's memory catches me off-guard all the time. For example: last week, while at the grocery store, I bought an Onion. Mal kept calling it an Apple. While going through the check-out, the cashier told him that it was an Onion. Mal said Onion.

This week, while leaving the grocery store, we walk by the cashier from the previous week. Malcolm points to him and says, "Onion".

Another odd tidbit - the employees at this grocery (it's a co-op so it's small) have taken to calling Malcolm, "Famous" because they say he looks like Macaulay Culkin. I actually get people telling me that often. I think "Famous" is an odd nickname whether he looks like an actor or not.

As you can see, the daily posting for a month didn't keep me posting daily after the end of November. I've been busy, you see. I created a very long 'To-Do' list and my free time has been dedicated to crossing things off the list. Couple that with getting ready for our trip to San Diego and trying to put up Christmas decorations, i don't have much time on the computer.

Now that I've checked the forecast for San Diego, I can pack the suitcase. It'll be nice not to have to pack a coat, but I'm kinda sad that we're going to miss the first snow in Seattle this weekend (if it actually happens).

The Electrical Problem

I found a great electrician to come out to our house Monday afternoon. He found an extremely disturbing problem: the 'hot' wire going into our electrical panel for the dryer was loose and melted. Every time we used the dryer, it was shorting out. This scenario was a prime candidate for a house fire. I cannot tell you how lucky we feel that the panel never set fire.

He fixed the damaged wire, tightened 3 other loose wires and replaced a blown fuse. Problem solved for less than $200 (or so we thought).

I attempted to do a load of laundry on Tuesday. About 20 minutes into the dry cycle, the power goes out. Crap.

Jim the Electrician comes out again this morning. He checks the dryer (Tony pulled it out from the laundry closet. No easy feat) and makes sure that everything at the panel is a-okay. He then checks our main breaker and found that it was very loose and not bolted down. Therefore, it would flip if you breathed on it funny. Just to be on the safe side, we had him replace the main breaker. I haven't attempted to do laundry yet, but he assures me that the problem has been fixed. He didn't think to check the main breaker before because the melted wire seemed to be the obvious problem and our main breaker should have never passed inspection.

Whoever did the electrical work on our place did a shoddy job. Whoever did the final inspection to make sure it was up to code did an even shoddier job. We will be letting all of our neighbors know about this and strongly urge them to have an electrician check out their panels.

Blog Changes

So as you can see, I changed the look of my blog out of necessity. There are a lot of templates that are unfriendly to photos :( I do not know Html well enough to create my own template, so my pickings were slim.

I also changed the title of my blog (again). The previous title was just too long and rarely do I actually write about our 'adventures'. We'll see how long I keep this current title.

Malcolm's sleep has been wonked ever since daylight savings time ended. I thought it would fix itself eventually, but he's showing no end of his 5 AM waking. I'm often able to get him back to sleep, but on mornings where I am not, I have a really hard time functioning throughout the day.

I can't seem to find an available electrician to come out and fix our problem. So lame.

Peruvian Baked Quinoa

I think I'm going to try this recipe tonight (I'm going to make half the portion). I'll let you know how it is.

From Vegetarian Times:

Think of this recipe as a protein-packed, gluten-free alternative to mac ’n’ cheese.

Ingredient List

Serves 8

2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium leek, white and pale green parts halved and sliced (1 cup)
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
2 large eggs
1 cup nonfat milk
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese (4 oz.), plus more for sprinkling, optional

Directions

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add leek and bell peppers; cover, and cook 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in quinoa and garlic, and cook, uncovered, 3 to 4 minutes, or until quinoa grains turn opaque.
Add 3 cups water, and season with salt. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 3 to 4 minutes more, or until most liquid has been absorbed. Remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 13- x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Whisk together eggs and milk in large bowl. Fold in quinoa mixture and cheese. Transfer to prepared baking dish, and bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until browned around the edges and on top.

Nutritional Information

Per SERVING: Calories: 241, Protein: 12g, Total fat: 10g, Saturated fat: 4.5g, Carbs: 27g, Cholesterol: 72mg, Sodium: 295mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugars: 3g

The Last Day

I feel like I should do some monumental post for the last day of NaBloPoMo, but that's not happening at this time of night. Sorry, folks. I am tired. I have thoroughly enjoyed this long weekend with my dearest husband. We relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. I have also been eating lots of pie. Mmm...pie.

I have gone over to Julie's the past two nights to dry clothes because every time we try to run our clothes dryer, our main circuit breaker flips. I'll be calling around tomorrow to find an electrician who can come out ASAP. It's super frustrating that we are having this problem in new construction.

Goodwill Score

With breakfast remnants in it. I love it!

I think I'm going to have to change the layout of the blog again. This cutting-off of pictures is no good!

Cuteness

Sometimes I am amazed at how much I love this little guy. He's pretty awesome. Thanks to Auntie Manda for the cute picture!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Folks!

I hope everyone celebrated Thanksgiving the way they like. I am too pooped to write a real post. See you tomorrow.

xoxo,
Kris

The Center of the Universe

I enjoy reading the blogs of people I do not know. That's why many blogs exist. They are outlets for the many writers who we would never get exposed to otherwise. A group of 'mommy bloggers' started doing videos focusing on specific topics. I love it! It's called Momversation. All of the topics are valid to every mom out there. A quote from Alice Bradley of Finslippy really hit home for me. She said, "Since when did our children become the center of our universe?" I easily let Malcolm be the center of my universe and her saying that was a good reminder to me that I need to make a point to not do that.

That little center of my universe has been sleeping for over three hours now. This nice, long nap allowed me to eat lunch, fold laundry, sort through the pile of clothes in the bedroom clutter and write this post. I feel bad, though. He fell asleep on the car ride home from the Y and hasn't had lunch yet. It's now 3:30 - waaaaay past lunch time. Poor guy must've been so tired.

List Revisited

I made the banana muffins yesterday. They are, by far, the best banana muffins I have ever made. I made a couple of changes. I replaced 4 Tbsp of whole wheat flour with 2 Tbsp of ground flaxseed and 2 Tbsp of wheat germ. The muffins came out super moist and fluffy. Since I make them with whole wheat flour, they tend to be pretty dense. Not these! I believe I found my new baking trick.

I dealt with a little bit of the clutter in the bedroom. I listened to the advice of my Aunt Sally and just focused on tackling one pile instead of feeling like I had to clean up the whole mess at once. I still have quite a bit to do, but at least I've started. It can be so difficult keeping this house clean because my little toddler is constantly making messes for me to clean up. Fortunately, he's at the age where he can learn to pick up after himself. We play the clean-up game every day and he thinks it's fun. I'll have him scrubbing toilets by Christmastime.

I often like to look at pictures of Malcolm when he was a newborn and marvel at how much he has changed. Here's a picture of him when he's about 4 weeks old:

Thanksgiving Feast

I don't know about you, but my mouth is already salivating in preparation for all of the food I plan to consume on Thursday. Julie & Jeremiah will be hosting this year. Because I love food and my own cooking (is that pompous to say?), I have volunteered to bring a sweet potato dish, a green bean dish, cranberry relish and an apple pie. Everyone else is bringing 1-2 dishes. I got stuck with 4 because I want to eat all of these things and no one else volunteered to make them :)

It's Day 23. I'm Due For a List

- I cooked carrots and butternut squash for Mal today (cook it, mush it, portion it into ice trays, freeze it). I also had plans to make banana muffins but ran out of time.
- I cooked halibut for dinner tonight. I honestly can't recall the last time I made fish. It's been a few years.
- Mal has been refusing to eat dinner the past few nights. I've been offering a wide variety of foods and he just turns his nose up. Don't know what's up with that.
- It was a lovely sunny day in Seattle but I didn't manage to get Mal out of the house to enjoy it. Bad Mommy!
- I intended to tackle some of the clutter in the bedroom. Didn't happen.

As a matter of fact, this weekend flew by and I wasn't nearly as productive as I hoped. This seems to happen every weekend. Yet, I seem to constantly be busy doing something. I don't get it.

And Here is My Underbelly

*the landscape pictures are not showing fully due to the new format of my blog. LAME.

There has been something that has been weighing on me heavily and it continues to get worse. Aunt Sally, if you're reading this, you may want to stop now.

I have something to admit. I have a clutter problem and it seems to be getting worse. Today, I will be showing you my bedroom. Why I am doing this? I'm hoping that by doing this I will be embarrassed enough to actually do something about it.
Here is my side of the room:

*hangs head in shame*
clutter I hide behind the mirror:

Old tape cassettes that I'm not sure what to do with, a ribbon from a gift, a gift bag Mal pulled from the closet and other crap:

Mal's old clothes that need to be sorted and the co-sleeper that I'm not sure where to store long-term:

On top of the dresser (with a nice layer of dust):

This stuff used to be in a bag until Mal pulled it out to play with. Still, I was hiding it in a bag beside the dresser:


I could blame this on being a mom to a toddler, but the truth is is that I've always had a slight clutter problem. And I've always hated it. I have the Hanna gene that is getting severely ignored. I need to figure out how to tend to my need to clean.

The Call at 3 AM

Remember those commercials when Hillary Clinton was campaigning? Hated them! So why did I make that reference in the title of this post? Because it was around 3 AM this morning that I remembered that I forgot to post something. I considered getting up and writing something real quick, but then realized that Thursday was already over and it was the wee hours of the morning on Friday.

Am I usually up in the wee hours of the morning? Why yes. Typically, once a night when Mal wakes up. I don't mind him waking up once a night. It's much better than what it used to be.

Hit and Miss Recipes

First, the hit: Vanilla-Scented Tofu Oatmeal. I know it sounds kinda weird, but it's good! I've been looking for a way to add more protein to our breakfast in the morning and this is perfect. I've only made it once (this morning) and it got me through yoga. The real test will be tomorrow morning when I do cardio and weights. I've been having difficulties with crashing before I'm done with my workout.

The miss: Gnocci & Spinach Bake. I was hoping this would be a hit with the boys, but Mal wouldn't even try it and Tony said, "It's not my favorite" which translates to "I don't really like it but I'll eat it." Mal usually will try everything so I was thrown off by him not even willing to take one bite.

Sometimes I Miss It

I love being a SAHM. I do! But lately, I kinda miss going to work outside of the home. I miss using my brain for things other than parenting. I miss going to the office. I miss eating my lunch at my desk as I work. I miss chatting with my fellow coworkers.

Does all of this missin' mean that we're going to put Malcolm in daycare and I'm going to go back to work? Not at all! It may mean that I may try and find some part-time work that I can do from home if such a thing exists. There are plenty of SAHPs that work from home by making stuff like cloth diapers and stuff. That's not me. I considered trying to get into the eBay thing, but I just wasn't feeling it. I have friends who are freelance editors, graphic designers and web developers who work from home, but I am none of those. I've pondered going into bookkeeping but I don't think I'd like doing that for very long.

Maybe this missin' thing will pass soon. Or, maybe I'll find something to do with Mal that isn't about making money (or spending it, for that matter).

A Walk Through the Trees

On Sunday, we went to the Arboretum with Amanda. Malcolm loved running around.

Go to my Flickr page for more pictures.

To Fish or Not To Fish, That is the Question

I've been seriously reconsidering adding fish back into my regular diet. It's more for Mal's benefit plus I know Tony would love it if I started cooking it again. Buying it is the overwhelming part. In order to do it with a clear conscious, I have to know that the fish was either raised on a farm with high standards or wild-caught in a sustainable fashion. And here is where I turn to the Monterey Bay Aquarium guide. I'm bookmarking it for easy reference. I feel fortunate that one of the best places to buy fish in Seattle is within walking distance of the house: Mutual Fish.

In other food-related news, I've read multiple reports that the Safeway down the street from us has a rodent problem. Gross and gross! I do very little shopping there and am planning to stop all-together until I read reports that they got their act together. Now if Tony would only do the same...

CryCryCry...Obama

Tony worked very hard to teach Mal how to say Obama. When this movie was taken, it was before his bedtime and was a little overtired (hence, the crying).

The Jamaican Pumpkin soup is just okay. I won't be making it again because...Tony doesn't like pumpkin soup. Maybe I should ask him these things first. Heh.

Food Love on the Internet

I often wonder how I lived without the Internet. Well, I know how I did, but I also know that it was much harder to find Answers. The Internet has all of the Answers. One of the things I love most about the Internet is finding recipes. I really enjoy cooking and trying out new foods & recipes. Before the Internet, I would say, "I want to cook something with kale in it" and then look at the handful of recipes in my short stack of cookbooks. It was limiting. Now, if I want to cook something with kale, I just type it into Google and have thousands of recipes to choose from. Typically, though, I start my recipe search at my favorite recipe websites. I *love* the fact that there are recipe websites. My newest obsession is reading people's cooking blogs. I find them so inspiring.

Right now, I have Jamaican Pumpkin Soup cookin' up in my crockpot. Earlier this week, I made Apple-Chard Quiche which is always a hit in this house. As a matter of fact, said recipe was the one that convinced me that onions are not evil. Before making this quiche, I never, ever cooked with onions. I hated them! It wasn't until after I ate them in this quiche that I realized onions are lovely when cooked. I still hate raw onions. I also hate cutting onions. They make me cry terribly.

Last night, as I was laying in bed trying to get to sleep, I was thinking about our upcoming trips next month to visit family (San Diego AND Naples!) I then remembered that my mom has never had fresh cranberry sauce. I never had fresh cranberry sauce until 5 years ago. For reals! I grew up thinking cranberry sauce came out of a can. I think the canned shtick is a southern thing. Now I am really excited to make my mom cranberry sauce for Christmas dinner. I'm thinking of trying out this recipe. I'll test the tastiness of it first at Thanksgiving. My mouth is drooling already.

How To Avoid Raising an Entitled Child

Last night, PEPS held a special event with a speaker who discussed how to avoid raising a child who feels entitled to whatever s/he wants. When they first sent out the email, I thought, "Hmmm...this could be interesting." so I signed up. I've heard the numerous reports of how young adults nowadays have to be treated differently when they go into the work force because of they way they were raised. You have to 'pamper' them and talk to them differently. I'm not sure what has changed in the past 30 years with how people are raising their kids and was hoping to find out more last night.

The event was being held at the home of a family that lives in the same zip code as we do. Our 'neighbors', you could say. The house was about a mile and a half from our house with a view of the lake. Yeah - one of those multi-million dollar houses that could easily accommodate 50 people in the living room. Oh yeah, these people totally felt like my neighbors (is the sarcasm coming through?) I showed up in the clothes I had been wearing all day - very casual. Wow did I feel underdressed and underlabeled. Someone actually asked me if I was there for the PEPS event. I joked and said that, "No, I just wandered in off the street to see what was going on" and quickly added that yes, I was there for the event after it looked liked she believed me. It was pretty apparent that I didn't fit in. The event was catered and I did enjoy the fancy snacks and tasty wine. I didn't enjoy the funny looks I got. I was outside of my comfort zone. Needless to say, I was the only one there with bright, red hair.

The mingling part seemed to last forever. The guest speaker finally talked...for 30 minutes. She focused on how to avoid making your child feel entitled to whatever s/he wants by not buying them every toy they ask for, not buying them a new car when they turn 16 and not taking them to Hawaii every year. Yes, I am serious. And then, they asked for donations starting at $150. If I would have known that this was a fundraising event, I would have stayed home. I appreciate what I have gotten out of PEPS and, in turn, have volunteered with the organization, but that's all we can really afford. My debit card stayed in my pocket.

My experience last night reminded me just how diverse Seattle can be. I'm not used to rubbing shoulders with the upper class. In fact, I often forget that people live in those huge houses on the top of the hill. I am much more comfortable around my direct neighbors even if we don't take walks around the neighborhood together. I hope that one day soon, even my wealthy neighbors will be comfortable with talking to a lady with brightly colored hair and tattoos.

15 Months Old

Malcolm turned 15 months old on the 7th. He had his well-baby visit last Monday. I'm posting his stats here for record-keeping purposes. He's now 30.75 Inches tall (they now call it "Height" on the paper instead of "Length". This amuses me.) and 19lbs,5oz. Yep, he's a lightweight. Could you imagine the back problems I would have if he was a heavy tike? Yikes! I assured the doc that he does indeed eat. Anyone that's spent time with us knows he's a good eater. I've talked to many other parents with kids Malcolm's age and the amount of food he eats is above average - especially when it comes to vegetables. I also feed him food high in fats 3+ times a day. The kid's just skinny. My mom confirms that I was also a petite kid so it's no surprise that Mal is, too.

Get Up and Boogie

Last night, I went to The Showbox to see The Faint. Who are they? Take a listen:



I can't sit still when I listen to their music. I danced a lot last night. I was surrounded by people who just stood there. Seattle is weird like that. People will go to shows and just stand there. I don't get it. The only people who get down are those that are close to the stage. When I was younger, I'd be smooshed in the middle of all of those sweaty people, dancing right along. I'm too old for that now. I am not, however, too old to shake my booty when at a live show. And I could care less if I'm surrounded by people who think I'm the 'crazy dancing lady'.

Sick Kid + Heroes = Fail

A sick kid equals a grumpy kid which equals less computer time. Normally, I'd post after Mal's in bed, but last night I had to watch Heroes. And then after Heroes, I went to bed. So yeah, totally missed yesterday's post for NaBloPoMo.

I watch TV and I love it which is why we do not have cable. If we had cable, HGTV would be on all the time and it's not OK to have TV on all the time with a toddler around who is developing his language skills.

Compared to the statistics I've seen for the average amount of TV viewing of Americans, I don't watch a lot of TV. Monday night is Heroes, Tuesday is The Biggest Loser, Wednesday is Pushing Daisies (if I remember), Thursday is The Office and Sunday is Nature. Those are my shows! I'd be lying if I said the TV was only on for those 5.5 hours a week. Tony's a big news & movie addict and he gets a constant stream via podcasts. He's pretty good about not turning it on until after Mal's in bed during the week but will have the TV on all weekend long. I don't really like it but I also understand his need to wind down from a stressful week at work.

I do have two other shows that I love that aren't on right now: Lost and Battlestar Galactica. I don't really *love* Lost, but I like it enough to watch it each week. I do love BSG. That's good stuff.

Vaporizer = Victory

The sleep deprivation that I mentioned a few days ago was caused by a cold. After two sleepless nights due to a congested baby, we were seriously mourning the loss of our humidifier. After less than a year of use, it stopped working. This makes me grumble under my breath a lot. I really didn't want to toss our old one and buy a new one; it just seems so wasteful. But, there was no way I could do another night of waking up every 30-45 minutes to comfort a sick baby.

Yesterday, I started doing some research on humidifiers and decided to go with a vaporizer instead. I headed down to Walgreens and picked one up along with the smelly stuff to go inside. The vaporizer kicked the humidifier's ASS. Mal only woke up once last night which is completely normal. I am a vaporizer convert!

For Piet

Here's one article that discusses the issue of people being turned away at the polls in Georgia

My Newest Reading Obsession

I love to cook and I love to eat. I love cooking in my crock pot because I can start dinner during Malcolm's nap and it's ready by the time Tony gets home. I also love using the crock pot because I never know when Tony's going to be home and he always wants to eat *right away*. How can you time a meal to be done at moment's notice? Use a crock pot.

A tip from a reader has created my newest reading obsession: A Year of CrockPotting. I am going to try her sweet potato recipe for Thanksgiving this year (sorry, Mom!) and have also decided that I need a mini crock pot. I make oatmeal for breakfast at least 5 days a week and have started doing steel-cut oats. Thing is, those take 30 minutes to cook and Mal gets cranky from hunger on those mornings. I would love to be able to start breakfast before bed and come downstairs in the morning to a yummy-smelling kitchen.

The one thing I dislike about the crock pot: cleaning it. It's heavy and big and I just can't seem to get the inside perfectly clean. There is bean residue that will just not come off. Yuck.

I'm going to be breaking out the crock pot tomorrow to start on the soup I'm going to make for the soup swap I'm hosting next weekend. I'm drooling just thinking about all of the yummy soups!

No Sleep for the Weary

The little guy slept terribly last night which means that I slept terribly last night. Hi.

We spent a good part of the day at Angie & Jessie's house for a playdate. The kids had fun and so did I.

I am tired. This is all you get today. Early bedtime for me, folks.

The Happy Kid

Mal has really enjoyed his playtime at the YMCA's 'Kid's Korner'. It is a great morning activity that helps stave off toddler boredom. Diane, the main caretaker, comments daily about how happy and independent he is. Honestly, I thought all little kids are happy. Many people have remarked to us that Mal is a happy kid. To have a caregiver who watches kids daily make the same remark made me realize that it's not a trait shared by all kids.

From day one, we walked into the toy-filled room and he takes off to play without looking back. He doesn't seem to mind that I'm not around. The only time he fusses is when we leave because he doesn't want to stop playing :)

Pride and Hope

I have been having to fight back tears since the election was called at 8 PM PST last night. I have never been this emotional when it comes to politics. And I am far from alone on this. Far from alone.

Four years ago, there were riots in the streets around the world when the election was called. People getting together to protest out of anger. Last night, there were gatherings AROUND THE WORLD of people celebrating. I am amazed that the rest of the world is celebrating with us.

I am Proud of the people of America.
I am Hopeful of the possibilities of changes to come.
I'm also a little Angry at the reports of many people getting turned away at the polls in the South. That's disappointing.

Every Vote Counts

It is such an exciting day today! I have hope for the first time in 8 years. Our country needs to be taken in a new direction.

We're having friends over tonight to watch the election coverage. Much to do before people start to arrive!

Mal's First Bus Ride

We have a car and live in a city where it's a convenience instead of a necessity. I am very thankful that Seattle has a good public transportation system. I am also very thankful that neither Tony nor I are dependent on the car to commute to and from work as we have been in the past. This allows us to be a one-car-family. I used poor judgement recently and took my car to Firestone to get an oil leak fixed since it's within walking distance of the house. A few months ago, I took it in for the initial leak and they had the car for 4 days and it cost more than they originally quoted. Grrr. About a month ago, I stopped by the Volvo dealership to get a bulb changed. They noticed smoke coming from the hood so they took a peek and noticed the car was leaking oil. Grrr. I took the car back to Firestone and they had the car for 4 days again to 'replace a faulty part'. Last Friday, the car shows a message that there is no oil pressure. I dropped the car off Saturday morning and they still have it. There's another 'faulty part'. *sigh*

My point of the above complaining story is to brag about how good Malcolm was on the 1 hour bus ride to the pediatrician today. It can take months to get an appointment with Dr. Springer so I wasn't going to cancel it just because we didn't have the car. After lunch, Mal and I hopped on a bus in south Seattle and enjoyed the ride to Wallingford. He didn't fuss or get antsy at all. I'm so proud of my little guy! On the 1-hour bus ride home, he took a nap.

If the car isn't ready by morning, we're going to take the bus to the YMCA. I've been itching to get back since becoming a member last week.

Banana

Malcolm LOVES bananas. It was his first table food and since that first bite, he eats banana almost every day. Therefore, it was important to him to learn how to say 'banana' so he could tell me that he wants it. Here's a little video of him saying it while also trying to reach the banana on the table.

Halloween Adventures

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I'm pretty nonchalant when it comes to all holidays so I think it's kind-of funny that I declare that I have a favorite. Malcolm seemed to really enjoy it this year - even as a one-year-old. It started out with Grandma Sherry buying window decorations. They put them up together and she taught him to say, "Boo!" I then put up a few more decorations including a bat. He then learned how to say "Bat!"

I thought about taking him to a pumpkin patch for weeks but never got around to it until Julie called me up the weekend before Halloween. We went to a U-Pick farm a few minutes from her house. Her main objective was to get some cute photos of Eliska, but the set-up and bright sunshine didn't allow for it. Malcolm loved the pumpkin patch and wanted to take home every pumpkin.

I love carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns but could not find the time to do it this year since we got our pumpkins so late. Thank goodness Grandma Sherry sent Malcolm a decorating kit! Mal picked out which eyes, nose, mouth and ears he wanted:

I decorated my pumpkin with the other set.

Next year, I'm going to be more on top of things (like not waiting until the day before Halloween to get Mal's costume) and put up more decorations and get our pumpkins earlier so we can carve them.

Oh yeah - we got a total of ONE trick-or-treater this year at 10 PM. Tony gave her all of the candy, dammit!