Irony (and some Big News)

I wanted to share some irony (and some news) with you.  I've been wanting to post about this for a while, but it's something that I expected to take a while to write, and I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write, lately.  With both kids in their rooms, apparently napping (although I keep hearing noises from the Birdie, so this might not last long) I thought I'd give it a try.

My husband and I have been to Disney World three times since we got married.  The first trip down there was our "babymoon," which we took in May 2006, when I was in late 1st trimester with the Birdie.  It was fantastic, except for me being exhausted the whole time.  The. Whole. Time.  Most days (if I am remembering this correctly), Craig and I would go to the parks in the late morning, return in early afternoon, and I would take a nap while he would go back for a few hours.  Also, I couldn't ride any real rides.  I am a ride-a-holic, so that was pretty hard for me.  Worth it, but hard.

Our second trip was in January 2008.  We were spending a week in Daytona (a mistake, because there is almost NOTHING to do in Daytona, although we had a nice time anyway) and decided to take a day and go to Disney World.  My birthday, January 10, to be specific.  At that point, I was 18 weeks pregnant with the Imp, so we just took the Birdie to Epcot and walked a lot.  A lot.  But I wasn't exhausted anymore - that was a bonus.

After we left Disney World, on the ride back to Daytona, I started brainstorming.  We needed to make a trip to Disney when we could stay on the property and have lots of fun, preferably with friends and family there.  We thought November 2009 would be good timing, because November is a slow month at Disney, but the weather is still nice, the Birdie would not yet be three (kids under 3 get in free), and the Imp would be old enough to enjoy it, too (17 months).  We planned and schemed for the next year and a half.  We got my parents and Craig's parents on board and even got one of my good friends, Jaime, to join us there with her family, too.  We weren't able to stay on the property, but we were able to stay close enough that we may as well have been on property - for a lot less money.  It was perfect!

And I was very excited about the fact that I'd be at Disney World and not be pregnant.  I'd have plenty of energy.  I'd be able to ride the rides.  I'd be able to have a glass of wine here and there if I wanted to.

Oh yes.  I bet you can see where this is going.

I'm sure, at this point, it won't be much of a stretch for you to figure out what I discovered just two weeks before we were scheduled to leave.

That's right.  Baby #3 will be here in mid-July 2010.

(Yes, as a matter of fact, we do know how that happens.  But thanks for the offer, anyway.)

We were planning on trying for #3 when we got back from Disney World, so this really did not throw a wrench in anything (except maybe my plans to have a few drinks at Disney, but who needs that anyway?  Probably saved us some money!)  It just pushed things up one or two months.

So, we are very excited, and looking forward to meeting our new little one in just a few short months!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I seem to be all about recipes these days.  I think it's because that is how I have spent many of my recent Saturdays - puttering around the kitchen.  I guess it's because I like to eat.

So today, I made spinach & artichoke dip.  I made it because we are having company this evening, and I wanted something to stuff into crescent rolls for little finger food things.  After I made it, I tried it out on chips first, and Craig said it tasted like something you'd get in a restaurant.  Woo hoo!  He's not that easy to please.  So I figured I'd share it.

It wasn't too hard, although it took a while, between all the, "I need to sit on the potty" trips and "I want some juice!" and "DINK!  DINK!"  and "Ohs?  Ohs?"  Etc.  But it was pretty easy, and probably wouldn't have taken all that long if I hadn't had so many interruptions.  But we all know how that is!

The only problem is, I'm not sure how much cheese I used, and particularly how much of each kind.  I basically just pulled out all the white cheeses I had in the fridge and used a combination of them.  I had grated parmesan, provolone slices, and shredded "pizza blend" cheese.  I used 3 or 4 provolone slices and chopped them up really small with a knife, so they almost looked shredded.  It would definitely be easier with just plain shredded cheese, though!  But here's what I used and what I did:

Spinach Artichoke Dip

What I used:

- 1 12 oz. pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained (I squeezed it with my hands to get all the excess liquid out.  It was kinda gross, but I thought it probably needed to be pretty liquid-free.)

- 1 can artichoke bottoms (could use hearts, but bottoms have more "meat" and less leaf on them)

- 1 slice of bacon

- about 1/3 onion, minced

- 1 to 3 cloves garlic, minced (this depends on how much you like garlic.  I used 3, and I love how it turned out, but that is probably a lot for most people.  If you are not a garlic lover, I'd suggest just one.)

- about 2-3 cups (sorry!) shredded or grated (or chopped into tiny pieces) white italian cheeses (like parmesan, mozzarella, provolone-is that italian?-etc.  Best with a blend, I think.)

- 1 egg

- large spoonful sour cream (I used a serving spoon, maybe 2-3 T?)

What I did:

1.  Thaw spinach in microwave, stirring every 25 seconds or so until fully thawed.  Drain by squeezing out excess liquid.

2.  Open, drain and rinse artichoke bottoms, then dice into small cubes.

3.  Cook bacon in small skillet on low-med heat.  Remove and set aside.  Add onion to bacon grease and cook on low heat until transparent, about 2-3 minutes.  Mince garlic into skillet and cook another minute or so.  Remove to a small bowl and set aside to cool.

4.  Add egg to onion and beat.  Blend with cheese in a medium bowl.  Make sure it is well mixed.  Add egg & cheese mixture to spinach and artichoke mixture and mix well.  (I mixed with my hands to make sure it was well-blended and the spinach was broken up.)

5.  Optional:  Crumble bacon and add to mixture.  Microwave bacon for 20-30 seconds if it is too soft to crumble.

6.  Add sour cream and blend well.

7.  Transfer to greased casserole dish and bake at 375 until melted through or bubbly on top.  (So far, I have only cooked it in very small one-serving dishes, and it took ten minutes.)

Serve with tortilla chips and salsa.

Alternately, you could use the mixture to stuff the crescent rolls you can buy, unbaked, at the grocery.  Put a spoonful of mixture into dough before rolling it up, then cook per instructions on the package.  I tried this, and it was good. :)  I was afraid it would leak out the ends because I put quite a bit in, but either the cheese or the egg held it together, and it stayed in place.

Enjoy!  And let me know if you try this, what you think, and if you make any modifications, because I am always looking for ideas!

Nickname Dilemma - Help Wanted!

I need nickname advice for my kiddos.  I would love to post their real names on here, and honestly, many of you (including anyone who read my Oatmeal w/photos post before I edited it) already know them.  But in retrospect, I've decided I'm more comfortable sticking with nicknames right now.  Just to be on the safe side.

I've been referring to my daughter as "the Birdie."  This comes from my infant nickname for her.  When she was about two weeks old, I decided she looked and acted like a bird bobbing around when she was hungry (many moms will be familiar with this, as I've learned it's a fairly common observation during those early weeks).  I started calling her "Baby Bird."  At some point over the next few months, this morphed into "Bitty Bird," because she was on the small side for all of her first and much of her second year.  Although she is fairly average now, size-wise, the nickname has stuck, and I still call her that fairly often.  I will continue to call her that on here.

Bitty Birdie

The advice I need is for my son.  Because my daughter's nickname quickly presented itself to me, I expected something to become obvious for him fairly early, as well.  So I waited.  And waited, and waited.  But the only things that were coming up were "little guy," "little bitty guy," and "baby guy."  Not very creative, huh?  "Baby Guy" has stuck, and I call him that a lot now.  However...that one really doesn't have long-term application.  When he is 3 or 4, it's not going to sound right at all to be calling him "Baby Guy."  So I am wanting something a little more lasting for him.

For the past several months, I've been calling him my imp.  He really is.  He gets this mischievous look in his eye, he grins at you, and then he does something you don't want him to.  My little imp.  My troublemaker.  He doesn't do really bad things - he is very easygoing and doesn't complain a whole lot - but he does do little things that are kind of cute, kind of annoying.  For example, over the weekend, he turned the TV on, and when a basketball game came up, climbed into his sister's Princess chair and started chanting something unintelligable at the teams.  (I suspect he was thinking either "Go Cats!" or "Go Cards!" - except neither team, of course, was one of the ones playing.)  Certainly not a big deal, and really, very cute - but we have been trying for months to get him to leave the tv alone.

So, he is very impish.  He's a little troublemaker, although...not really, I guess.  I just call him that, and he agrees.  :)  He likes frogs...maybe call him Frog?  I don't like that as much.  Any ideas?  Anyone?

Imp?  Frog?  Booger-Butt *?

* Yes, I call him that.  No, I don't think that would make a great blog nickname.  That's one I probably don't want to stick.

A few more photos, to help show his personality a little more:

 

 

 

Does anyone have any ideas?  I'd appreciate any help I could get.  Thanks!  :)

Oatmeal Results with Photos

This is more about the photos than the results, but it's worth mentioning that while I think everyone thought it was a decent attempt, no one really liked it all that much.  My husband's opinion was that it tasted okay, but it had a weird texture thing for him.  "You know when something has marshmallows in it and it doesn't quite seem right?  It's like that."

Actually, no.  I think marshmallows are pretty much always a good thing.  Unless you tried to put them in, say, mashed potatoes.  Then, not so much.  But since I've never had marshmallows in mashed potatoes, nor do I think I would try it if ever given the chance, no, I really don't think I can relate to that.  But I get your point.  Sort of.

I think the problem was all the stuff.  All the fruit, all the nuts (which my daughter didn't like)...so I'm trying it again tonight, just oatmeal and water/milk.  And I cut the recipe in half.

However, despite the mediocre results, everyone did eat some.  Everyone.  (Except the cats.  But I tend to think that goes without saying.)

My Birdie, who has always been an oatmeal lover, was pretty enthusiastic about it.

As I mentioned in my previous post, however, the Baby Guy has repeatedly refused to touch the stuff.  In fact, he cried for a good two or three minutes after I gave him the oatmeal.  I finally force-fed him a bite, after which he cried some more.  As I was getting my camera to document his refusal, however, something changed.  By the time I got back, this was happening:

And even he seemed pretty pleased by it.

Unfortunately, the success was short-lived.  The Birdie only ate about half of hers (she will usually clear a bowl easily) and the Baby Guy wouldn't eat the second helping I gave him (even though he only had about three real bites in his first bowl - because, remember, I didn't think he would eat it - and he asked for more.  At least I think he did.  Sometimes it's hard to tell.)

Breakfast quickly turned into...

Bitty Birdie playing with Play-doh...

...and the Baby Guy eating Cheerios.  (Seriously, what would we do without Cheerios?)

Side note:  a 19-month-old is probably not old enough to play with Play-doh.  Especially if he is sitting in his high chair.  The result?  Blue teeth.  Or whatever color Play-doh you happen to be using.

So, that is how the oatmeal turned out.  I'm not giving up, though.  I still think it's too convenient to not try it a few more times.  We'll see how it turns out tomorrow morning.

Slow-Cooker Oatmeal

Despite it's unrelatedness to this post (yes, spellcheck, I know that isn't a word), I have to start out by expressing some shock and awe that I am up this early on a Saturday.  Of my own choice.  (Okay, you are probably now looking at the time this posted and thinking, Um, that is not early.  I was, however, up at 7:30.  Somehow, it is now 8:45, and I am really not sure how that happened.  Plus, it will be even later by the time this is posted, because I'm sure a child will wake up before I finish this and it'll get postponed*.  But, trust me, I was up early for me.)

And I guess it wasn't entirely by my own choice.  My baby guy woke up at 7:30 and I comforted him, then realized I had a headache.  (He went back to sleep.)  My headache medicine has caffeine in it, which means I either keep the headache or put caffeine into my system.  Neither is conducive to another hour or so of snoozing, so after a brief failed attempt (that must have been longer than I thought), I got up.  And decided to post to my blog.

* I am dying to make a joke about posting and my post being postponed, but the only way I can think to do that is by emphasizing the word post in "postponed" using italics, and that's not all that funny.  But you need to know that my use of the word "postponed" was, in fact, pun intended.

Anyway.  On with the show.

I am probably the world's biggest fan of doing things the easy way.

Well, except for having babies 18 months apart, maybe not that part.  But it will be easier when they get older, right?  Right?  RIGHT???  (Please tell me yes.  Even if it's not true.  Okay?)

Anyway, like I said, it's all about doing things the easy way.  So when I read somewhere/a friend of mine suggested to me the idea of slow-cooking oatmeal overnight in the crock pot, I thought it sounded brilliant!  I love oatmeal, and up until now, my favorite way of fixing it has been to put some in a bowl with milk* and cook it for a few minutes in the microwave.  Which works just fine.  But fixing it before bed and letting it stew all night?  Even better!

* Not a fan of oatmeal fixed with water.  Ew, blech.

So, I've been wanting to try this for months.  Months.  And I never did.  The reason why:  unless I wanted to fix 5 quarts of oatmeal for my daughter and I to eat for breakfast (and maybe my husband, but you never know), I didn't have a crock pot small enough.  And I just hadn't gotten around to buying one.

But yesterday, that changed.  I decided that this was going to be the night when I tried it, no matter what.  Of course, "no matter what" changed to "well, if I have the chance" when I came home and started helping take care of two rambunctious toddlers.  But fortunately, my husband wanted to escape after they went to bed, and that escape included a trip to Target because we were out of pull-ups for the Birdie.  I asked him to get me a 2-qt crock pot while he was there.

He found a 1.5-qt one and a 3-qt one, and after some thought, I decided the 1.5-qt one made the most sense and he bought me that.  When I read the directions glanced briefly at the little piece of paper included with the pot after I'd started my oatmeal, I noticed that it suggests the crock be at least half-full "for best results."  So the 1.5-qt one was the better choice of the two (although a 2-qt would have been perfect) because my recipe would have only just half-filled the crock, and in retrospect, I am going to have to scale it back a little.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When Craig got back, he immediately got on the computer, so I had him look up some recipes for me so I would know how much liquid to put in for a given amount of oatmeal.  The recipes he found directed 4 cups water + 1/2 cup half 'n' half for 1 cup of steel-cut oats and 3 cups of water for 1 cup of rolled oats.

Water.  So I'm sure you can guess the first change I made.

I had steel-cut oats, but in looking at my little crock pot, I suspected that there would not be quite enough room for the oats, the liquid, and the other stuff * I needed to put in it.  So I used half a cup of steel-cut oats and half a cup of quick oats (the 1-minute kind).  Those two things are probably mortal enemies, but I hoped they would work together just this once, enough to make a decent breakfast for me and my family.

(Aside:  I just heard the baby guy's crib music start up.  Not a good sign.  But at least he can do it on his own now and didn't cry for me to come do it for him.)

Along with the oatmeal blend, I used 4 cups of liquid.  2.5 of those cups were skim milk, the other 1.5 was water.

* Because there always has to be other stuff.

And what was that other stuff?  In typical "me" fashion, I got a bit carried away with myself here.  I tend to think, "if this sounds good, and if that sounds good, won't they both be good in it?  And why don't I add this other stuff, too?"  So here is what happened.  I thought nuts and fruit would be good.  Dried fruit, that could hydrate and puff up all nice while it cooks.  And I was right about that.  But next time, I may add a little bit less.

I added roughly 1/4-1/2 cup of raisins, as well as about the same amount of dried cranberries out of a cranberry-almond-cashew mix I had.  I love the way nuts cook up when they get a bit soft in dishes like this, so I chopped up about 1/4 cup of cashews and 1/4 cup of almonds from the same blend and added those.

Then I stirred it all up a little (btw, that didn't make any difference.  All the oats settled back on the bottom, the liquid went to the top, and the fruit floated.  But I felt better, having stirred it.), put the lid on, and turned the cooker on low.  All of this took somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes.  (Would have been less if I hadn't separated out the cranberries, almonds and cashews before I chopped the nuts.)

Then I went to bed.

The Verdict:

After I got up with the baby guy at 7:30, I checked the oatmeal.  It had been cooking for about 8-8.5 hours, which is pretty much perfect.  Well, my first thought, upon looking at it, was "Oh no."  The inch or so of space that had remained at the top of the cooker when I put it all together was gone, and when I nudged the cooker, the mixture was a bit...wobbly.  This led me to believe that it had not cooked very well, and was still pretty runny.  And it had grown.

But when I opened it up and stirred it, I discovered three things.  First, the consistency actually was pretty good once it was mixed up some.  I dislike dry oatmeal, so the fact that it was not very dry was nice.  (And it wasn't runny once I mixed it up.)  Second, some of it had stuck to the sides and bottom.  I had already scraped some of it into the mixture when I realized that may have been a bad idea.  Oops.  So I had to hope that I hadn't mixed in any burned flavors.  And third, unless my husband eats a lot of it, there is too much for just the Birdie and me.  (So far, the baby guy has refused to touch oatmeal whenever I've put it in front of him.  He takes one look and clamps his lips as tight as a little clam.  Don't worry, though, I'll keep trying.  I'm just as stubborn as he is.)

After my failed attempt to go back to sleep, I came up and fixed myself a bowl, adding some brown sugar and a little milk on top.  And?  Overall, I like it, although I'll make some changes next time.

The changes:

 Definitely reduce the fruit and nuts.  They're very good, but there's just way too much.  Maybe a heaping 1/4 cup of each, total (instead of a heaping 1/2 of each).

 Lose the cashews.  The almonds were a really nice consistency - softened, but still pretty firm.  The cashews were just mushy.  And gross.  Ew.

 Use a bit less milk and a bit more water, respectively.  I think the reason it stuck may have been the milk.  Although if I try that and it still sticks, then I will assume that it's just supposed to stick and I'll go back to more milk.

 Reduce the oatmeal by a quarter.  Use 3/4 c. oatmeal and 3 c. liquid.  (I will reserve final judgment on this one until after I see how much actually gets eaten, but I just can't imagine it all will go.)

Otherwise, I am quite pleased by how this turned out.  It's easy to whip up the night before, and it gives you a hearty, filling, and, most importantly (right?) healthy breakfast to feed yourself and your kids in the morning.  I'll be doing this again, and trying variations.

Because, really, what fun is there in leaving "well enough" alone?

My Baby Guy is Growin' Up....

Last night was miserable for pretty much everyone in my house.  It's a toss-up as to whether it was worse for me or for my husband, as he was up more times than I was, but it usually only takes him about five minutes to get back into snore snooze-land.  On the other hand, although I was only up once, I have a raging cold right now and it takes me about forty minutes to fall back asleep...if I'm lucky.

So, why were we up?

I'll give you three guesses.

Yup, kids woke up screaming.  Three times.  Two kids, three times.

But, as you can probably figure from the title, our miserable night isn't exactly the point of my story.  It just sets up the circumstances.

About 2:50, the Baby Guy woke up screaming.  I let him go for a couple of minutes, because sometimes he will fuss himself back to sleep, but it quickly became clear that this wasn't going to be one of those times.  My husband was up with him the night before and it seemed to go pretty well (he was only up there for 15-20 minutes or so), so I asked him what he did.  "Turned on his music and held him until it stopped, then put him back down and he went back to sleep."

Ahhh.  The Standard.  Also The Best Scenario.  I figured I'd try that, but suspected it wouldn't go quite as well for me.  The Baby Guy is a Mommy's Boy, and I was afraid that when he realized it was Mommy who was holding him, one run of the music wouldn't be enough.  But I trudged up the stairs and went into his room, determined to at least give it a try.

Little guy snuggled into my shoulder immediately when I picked him up.  Even at 2:50 a.m., the snuggles can make me melt.  He put his arms as far around me as they would go and held on tight.  It was sweet, but also didn't bode well for putting him back down.

The music played.  I stood and rocked.  Baby Guy clung.  About ten minutes passed, and then something unexpected happened.  My little guy did something he has never done before.  He pulled away from me and looked down into his crib, then looked back at me.

"Do you want to get back in bed?"  I asked.

"Yes," he replied (using one of the five or so words of his that we can actually understand).

I blinked a couple of times, then kissed him, and put him back in his crib.  He didn't fuss.  I was amazed.  I covered him up, restarted his music, and left the room.  He stayed quiet.  I went back to bed and happily fell asleep went into my bathroom, took a (generic) Mucinex, then got back in bed and lay there hacking my head off for fifteen minutes while I waited for the requisite 4 hours to be up so I could take two more puffs on my the Birdie's Xopenex inhaler.  Then I lay awake for another 20 minutes listening to my husband snore sleep.  Ahh, the joys of being...sick.

But, only 20 minutes?  That's not too bad, right?  Yes, well, 20 minutes wouldn't have been bad if I had then fallen asleep, but what actually broke things up again was the sound of more crying.  The Baby Guy was awake again.  This time, my husband went up, and fortunately, it went as smoothly as my trip, with the Baby Guy again agreeing to be put down early.

And then, about an hour later, the Birdie woke up.  I asked my husband if he would go up even though it was my turn, and he took pity on me and went.  Again, we were fortunate since she had only kicked her covers off and replacing them was all it took to calm her down.

The rest of the night went fairly well, and I was eventually able to fall back asleep.  I'm sure you're happy to hear that.

Anyway, returning to my original point - the Baby Guy has never before indicated he was ready to get back in bed during one of these middle-of-the-night visits.  It's always been a case of me putting him down and hoping desperately while tiptoeing out of the room as softly as I could.  So I was surprised and pleased that he chose to go back to bed on his own last night, and I hope this is a new habit for him.

Just so's you know...

For those of you who may be wondering (most of you, I suspect) I do plan to update my blog again.  Someday.  Someday soon.  Someday soon, as in, I have taken my computer home (from work) with me every night since last Wednesday, risking getting to work and realizing dang it I left it at home again, so I could post to my blog before bed.  Except, once the kids are in bed...I've been soooooo tired - yes, don't you feel sorry for me? - so tired that I have to spend 3 hours reading a book I've read at least twice before go straight to sleep.  Yes.  Straight.

But, we'll see.  Maybe tonight will be the night.

Maybe.