A Turn of Events...

. OK, so today wasn't the glorious day I'd envisioned it to be...though it was pretty close, until about 7:30ish this evening. We had our play/lunch date with Gretchen and Josey, we came home and had supper, did all our evening chores - even got a load of clothes washed and dried (but have yet to be folded! - Sal, I know you're cringing!!!) Anyway, I'm sitting in Dad's chair watching my most treasured show, Beauty and The Geek (even though my favorite geek got the boot tonight...) when I decided that my hands were dry and I needed to lotion them. So I took my rings off, laid them on top of the end table and went about lotioning my hands. Now, all this time, my very tired son, who when asked "is it time for sleepy?" vigorously shakes his head "NO!" is dinking around behind the chair and the end table where he KNOWS he's not supposed to be and usually where he ends up when he's tired and trying to keep himself awake. I finish lotioning and go for my pudding cup, which I've already given Brighton one of, and commence eating it. When all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye, I see a sparkle, a glimmer and then as fast as I saw it, it was gone.

I'm not sure how it happened or even what happened exactly, but all of a sudden, my rings were slipping out of Brighton's hand and falling into the chair I am sitting in. Now, this isn't your run of the mill recliner that you can take apart and reassemble without knowing it. Oh no. This is a Bradington Young recliner. A well-made, sturdy, TIGHT chair. I think I might be able to stick my hand down into the seat and retrieve my $XXXX set of rings...wrong. I removed the cushion, turned on all available lighting, and "jiggled" the chair because I swear I heard it "cling" around in the bottom against the springs. EUREKA! I found my diamond! Unfortunately, however, I can not find my wedding band. In all the "excitement" I don't recall if he tossed it overboard with my diamond or if he lurched it over his head when I sternly told him to "GET OUT OF BEHIND THAT CHAIR! NOOOOW!!" After he dropped my diamond into the chair. At which, he responded by wailing...I don't blame him. I've never EVER used that tone of voice with him before and I'm sure it scared him...

So tonight, I managed to make my son cry, lose my blessed wedding band (we do have insurance...but still...), feel like a complete jerk, and discover that no matter how angry or frustrated I am, I can recoil and rise above that frustration and anger when it really matters. And, of course, his unyielding cuteivity got to me when I said to him "where's mommy's ring?" and he just looked at me, eyebrows arched and threw his hands up as if to say "I don't know! It's the darnedest thing!!"

The Funniest Laugh Ever

I couldn't resist...And if you can't view the movie, here's a link http://www.break.com/index/funniest_laugh_ever.html

A Good Morning!

Well, it so far has been a wonderful morning (excepting the below zero temperatures and the dog nearly trampling Brighton while in a hissy to get her treat after coming back inside). I woke up about 6:15, Brighton still sleeping, I went into the kitchen, started some fresh blueberry scones and made myself an espresso macchiato breve. (two shots of espresso over foam and steamed half and half). Brighton woke up and practiced his Stand Up routine to Feebee in his bedroom until I could come get him. Then I finished the scones (I burnt them a little bit...but definitely still edible), Brighton and I each had a scone, drank my espresso, let the dogs out and now I'm blogging. And as soon as I'm done with that, I'll be getting us ready to head out the door to go to a play date with Gretchen and Josey. I think it's going to be a good day.

Would you like the recipe for my scones? Again, from America's Test Kitchen's Family Cookbook. They are the best scones...and SO EASY!

Some tools that defintely make it easier to prepare:

Food Processor or Pastry Cutter

Dough Cutter / Scraper

CREAM SCONES WITH CURRANTS:

Makes: 8

Prep Time: 5 Minutes (not for me, about 15 minutes if I have everything prepared)

Total Time: about 40 minutes

2 C all-purpose flour, plus extra for the counter

3 Tbsp sugar (or splenda for baking)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes and chilled

1/2 C currants

1 C heavy cream

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together to combine, about 6 pulses. (Or you can whisk it if you don't have a food processor). Scatter the butter evenly over the top and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few slightly larger butter lumps, about 12 pulses. (use your pastry cutter to cut through the butter to produce the same effect. If you have neither a processor nor a pastry cutter, you can use a knife. If you don't have a knife, I don't know what to tell you...)

Add the currants and quickly pulse once to combine. Transfer the dough to a large bowl. Stir in the cream with a rubber spatula utnil the dough begins to form, about 30 seconds. (if your dough is too dry, add a little more heavy cream or half and half about a teaspoon at a time. Your dough should be silky, not sticky).

Turn the dough and any floury bits out onto a floured counter and knead until it forms a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. ...Press the dough into a 9-inch cake pan. Unmold the dough and cut into 8 wedges. Place the wedges on an ungreased baking sheet (I use one with sides incase the butter melts and falls to the bottom of the oven).

Bake until the scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. ("Resist the urge to eat the scones right out of the oven. Letting them cool for at least 10 minutes firms them up and improves their texture")

VARIATION:

Ginger Scones

Substitute 1/2 C chopped crystallized ginger for the currants

VARIATION:

Cranberry-Orange Scones

Add 1 tsp grated orange zest with butter and substitute 3/4 C dried cranberries for the currents

VARIATION:
Lemon-Blueberry Scones

Add 1 tsp grated lemon zest with the butter and substitue 1 C fresh or frozen blueberries for the currents. Mix the dough by hand after adding the blueberries to keep them plump and whole. (Coat fresh blueberries with about 2 Tbsp flour to keep them dry, or if using frozen, thaw them out and dry them with a towel before adding to the dough. Otherwise, your batter will look grey and your texture will be too wet.)

tip: you can also brush a little cream or half and half on top of the scones and drizzle sugar on top for a little extra sweetness and to gloss up the top-however, it's not necessary for these scones.

20 Month Old Convictions

Brighton is convinced that he no longer has to sleep...ever. I'm not sure what it is that he finds so fun and fascinating around the house, but whatever it is, it's WAY too important to stop and rest. As an adult, and a mom, I cherish those last few moments just before I drift off to sleep. Bright, on the other hand, weeps and cries, and throws everything out of his crib before he loses his battle with Mr. Sandman. Thankfully, he's pretty predictable when he gets tired in that he gets very clingy, wants you to read book after book after book, and he gets these dark circles under his eyes. Speaking of him napping, that is precicely when I should be taking a shower, cleaning the house, doing laundry...but instead, I blog ;)

As you can see, on the day that we were getting ready to take Dad to the airport, Dad and Bright are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. And mom is just, well...bushy.

Having a Kid is FUN!

I never in a million years thought I would enjoy having a child like I do. Having to be self-sacrificing, patient, loving, thinking before you say/act, doubting yourself, all that fun stuff. Whenever someone brought in a baby to work, I would think to myself "you've seen one you've seen 'em all." How horrible right? Well, I was selfish (still am sometimes) and totally and completely ignorant to this beautiful and wonderful experience. True, sometimes it's hard and it surely isn't all warm and fuzzies, but having your child wake up in the morning and want to do nothing but give you big hugs, show you his latest creation, finding those sneek moments that you wouldn't have caught but on video (what you doing?), knowing that you are capable of love you never thought possible or knew existed, it's all so awesome and makes everything else fade into the background. Everything you thought you knew about life is changed forever.

and monkey towels are fun too.

PFFT!

Lastnight, Brighton came up with the funniest thing. Out of no where, he started "pfft"ing. Kind of like either a sneeze or like someone going "pfft!" as if to say "whatever!" I did get it on video, but I'm not yet sure how to load that up to google. I also noticed after viewing it 23 times, that he said "whatyoudoing?" in the video...Andrew will be working on how to get that fixed so we can show you.

Today we're baking banana bread right now, we just finished lunch and Brighton is helping me do laundry. I thought it would be fun to let him help me with the banana bread. Well, if by "fun" I meant tossing flour out of the bowl, than it was fun. Well, he enjoyed it anyway.

He now has chores around the house. Which include (but aren't limited to) feeding Feebee, unloading the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, putting the laundry in the dryer and taking it out of the dryer into the laundry basket (since generally we leave our laundry in for the full cycle and then some, no worries, it's never hot when we remove it...). Here's my recipe for banana bread from America's Test Kitchen's Family Cookbook Below the recipe there's variations. I tend to just like the original...
Makes one 9" loaf
Prep: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes plus 1 hour 10 minutes cooling time.

Tips:
Make sure you're using ripe bananas
Make sure you're using a 9x5 inch loaf pan that is at least 3 inches deep
Freeze ripe bananas so you can use them anytime!

2 C all purpose flour
3/4 C sugar (I substituted splenda for baking)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 VERY ripe bananas, mashed well (1 1/2 C)
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 C plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 C walnuts, toasted and coarsley chopped (optional)

Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray (HINT: spray the pan in the dishwasher as to avoid getting the oil all over your kitchen)

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the mashed bananas, melted butter, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Gently fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture using a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in the nuts (if applicable). DO NOT OVERMIX; the batter will look thick and chunky.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smoothe the top. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, about 55 minutes.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for about 10 before unmolding onto a wire rack to cool for 1 hour.

Variations:
Banana-Chocolate Bread
Reduce the sugar by 2 Tbsp and mix 2 1/2 ounces grated bittersweet chocolate (a heaping 1/2 cup) into the dry ingredients.

Banana-Coconut Bread with Macadamia Nuts
Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1 C chopped macadamia nuts and 1/2 C sweetened flaked coconut on a baking sheet and toast, stirring every 2 minutes, until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Substitute the cooled, toasted coconut and macadamias for the walnuts.

Orange-Spice Banana Bread
Add 2 Tbsp grated orange zest, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg to the dry ingredients.

Looking Forward to a New Day

After a long weekend (it seems like just yesterday that Brighton had the flu...) we're finally going to get some rest this week hopefully. I thought I had the flu last night because as I lay down at about 9:30, I got extremely nauseous. I had Andrew get a garbage can and line it with two garbage bags just in case. I made about 5 trips to the bathroom just sure I was going to "spew". But nothing. So I took a tums and ended up falling asleep after voice mailing and texting two of my coworkers and one of my clients telling them I may not be in - depending on how the night went. Needless to say, the night went fine and I was able to go to work and drink tea (not coffee after that night!!), groom 5 dogs, eat some toblerone and a sandwich and soup for lunch. It was a good day.

Until I brought Brighton home. He spent the day with our savior, Grammy. And when he got home, he was exhausted! He took a bath and I took a shower and I couldn't even get out of my robe before he wanted to nurse and go sleepy. But before that, he decided while we were putting his Jammie's on that he had to wear his train sweater that he got for Christmas from Nana Sally and Papa Tom. Choosing my battles, I granted the request, and we went about our business. He had supper, we had ice cream, brushed and flossed our teeth (yes, Brighton decided he wanted mommy to floss his teeth just like mommy does her own). After having several meltdowns, Dad finally put Brighton back to bed. So far, he's sleeping, but I just checked on them and Bright was in his bed while Dad was in his undies rocking in the rocking chair. No doubt, a lesson he picked up from my watching "super nanny". Hopefully tomorrow will be better and maybe we'll look for a crib for Grammy's house...

PS. Take a look at the pics. Notice anything different about Andrew?

Dad's Birthday

Just what Daddy wanted for his birthday, snow! (well, at least one thing he wanted. Mom thought it would be a great idea to get Dad a charcoal grill for his birthday, but didn't think about the fact that he can't use it until spring until AFTER she bought it...)Brighton woke up this morning and saw the big snow flakes outside and was excited to go out and play. So we ate breakfast, read a few books, watched the first part of Bob the Builder, and now he's napping. Mom and Dad HAVE to get groceries today but I think we'll mosey on over to the aisle where they keep the disk sleds and then go sledding this afternoon. YAY!

Sickypoo

Yesterday was a crazy day. Brighton was sick with the flu, I just started my period the day before after not having it for almost two and a half years (I'm not counting after he was born) so my hormones were out of control!!! But we snuggled a lot I got puked on a lot, did a lot of laundry and didn't eat all day because I didn't want to eat or drink in front of my poor boy who by the end of the day was very hungry and very thirsty (he did eventually get pedialyte after he stopped vomiting every hour). The day ended with him getting a fever, and then not having ANY interest in drinking anything. He wanted to nurse but as the fever came up, he threw up again. So, Andrew went to get him some fever all suppositories (acetaminophen) which made all three of us a bit uncomfortable. But his fever quickly came down and he went to bed. I checked on him all through the night and he hadn't vomited, his fever was gone and he slept soundly until about 7:45 this morning. So, it's a much better day and I'm happy to say I'm slinging coffee tonight. It'll be good for me to get out of this house!

SNOW DAY!

When Brighton woke up this morning, he saw the snow outside and really wanted to go explore it. So at about noon, after a nap and lunch, we ventured outside. Feebee, Brighton and I.

It took us about 45 minutes to get his gear on. By the time I got his second layer of clothing on (he had his pj's then a sweat suit over top of that) and managed to get the snow pants on without too much incident. But the boots were another story. I think it took me about 15 minutes alone to get the boots on. Then came the mittens...That was another 10 minutes and we only ended up with one on. So I put his other mitten in my pocket, got his old navy mittens out and put that on the other hand. So you'll notice that his mittens don't match, but that's OK.

I over bundled him naturally, he reminded me of Randy in "The Christmas Story" but we finally made it out the door. It briefly crossed my mind to let Feebee pull the sled for him, but then I thought better of it. Good thing too. She was a bit mad outside.

Now we're going to get ready to go to STarbucks to have some hot chocolate. You can see more photos by clicking on the title of the blog on the blog page.

Breakfast of Champions!

Ok, so these last couple of posts are just silly, but hey, that's OK right? Brighton decided to get into the fridge this morning and pick out his second breakfast. And just so you don't think that this is all I feed my son, he DID have whole wheat pancakes and milk for breakfast...

"Can I have this for breakfast mom?"

"SURE!" Says Mom. "Here, let me help you!"

"Is that enough for you my son?"

"Why yes. Thank you Mother, that'll be enough. Let me just get this little bit..." And now after his sugar high, he is sleeping and will probably wake up with a carb hangover.

The End.

Will that be a Solo, Doppio, or Triple?

I have a feeling I'm going to need some caffeine today to keep up with this little bear.

Brighton decided that he'd like to have an espresso like mommy.

Don't worry, I only gave him a solo!!

Boobies Make Me Smile..a Thoughtful Post

Yesterday while I was working, and admitedly being a wee bit obnoxious, a man came up to the counter with a t-shirt that said "Boobies make me smile". Now, two years ago, I may have found this t-shirt appauling, offensive and rude. Instead, to my manager/friend, AJ's chagrin (who was trying to decide how to tell this very large man that we would not serve him because he was disrespecting us of the female persuasion - btw, I do not like the term "female" it makes me feel like a dog), I giggled inspite of myself, finding the shirt extremely hilarious. Not because it was a very large man wearing it, not because it was totally obnoxious, and CERTAINLY not because we had several customers in line. But because as a nursing mom, the first thing that entered my head is my beautiful silly boy wearing this t-shirt. Because boobies make him smile! And frankly, they make me smile too.

I don't think of my"boobies" as a sexual part of my body anymore. Not because they are droopy and off kilter and rather goofy looking, but because the milk they create sustained my son's life for the first 10 or so months of his life. My milk provides nourishment, antibodies against infections, comfort, promotes healing, reduces the risk of diabetes for myself and my son, reduces the risk of breast cancer, and nursing reduces the effect of pain (ie. vaccinations) by releasing endorphines while my son is nursing. Not to mention so many other things that we have yet to discover. I only wish other people saw boobies the way a nursing mom and baby do. People would welcome nursing moms instead of berating them, which is much more offensive to me than a t-shirt that says "boobies make me smile". Though the intent of the wearer was not geared towards nursing moms, I hope that by telling him that I was a nursing mom and so that is why I liked his shirt, perhaps he will think of that the next time he sees boobies. So, boobies DO make me smile. At least my boobies do.

ps. man boobies do not make me smile

Didn't Take Long!

Didn't take long for Brighton to get in the toybox...

Doesn't he look a little guilty? Or bothered by our taking photos...

Ah, not too bothered, he just got back to his playing. Great idea daddy,

he loves his new old toybox.

Helping Dad

Dad has been wanting to bring home his old toybox for Brighton for a long time now. Finally today he did it. So he and Brighton spent some time fixing loose parts and cleaning it up from years of love and abuse and storage.

So Smart!

Our little man is so smart. Just as we'd suspected, he's been absorbing everything and just playing it out in his mind before he commits to actually showing us that he knows it. :) Lastnight when I got home from work, we stood in front of the fridge that has several Christmas Photos of friends and realtives. He dutifully pointed out "Grammy" "Tom" "Sally" "Indy" "Tom and Sally's '56" "Jill" "Jackie" Even Jason who he's only seen once or twice while in San Diego! This morning, he showed me where Guinness' (the cat) eyes, nose, ears, mouth, feet and whiskers were. He tried to point out the same features on Feebee (the dog) but she couldn't contain her tongue for licking him so he really couldn't do it, but I know he knew where they all were!! He, also, this morning while eating breakfast, looked up at the refrigerator and said "tom" and "sally" which really sounded more like "dum" and "seelee" but Dad and I knew what he was saying. Now we'll just have to watch our mouths so he doesn't sound like a sailor when he's two...