Tuesday 23 June 2009

Orange you glad THAT's over with? (for now, anyway)

First things first: did you know how much fun oranges are? Neither did I!


Whew! Well, we had a rough night's "sleep" (well, an "awake" would be more fitting) while we were in Ottawa - somebody was cranky and screamy for no good reason. The next day, whilst having my hand gummed, I realized that it was, in fact, being chewed...with a TOOTH!!!

Vaughn's first tooth showed up on Tuesday, June 16th, at 5 months and 1 week. Well done, sir!

Later that week, after procuring and administering Tempra every evening, the angel had another super screamy night, which we didn't know how to fix or what to do... and to our surprise, we found ANOTHER TOOTH on Saturday morning! What a week!


Mr. deMille, I'm ready for my closeup!

And my X-TREME closeup!




Hey, you know what else is super fun, besides oranges? Funny dog sounds.
Good thing Mommy didn't have much dignity to begin with.






Weekend at Bernie's

We kicked off our trip to Ottawa with a stay at my parents' place. It was wonderful to see them, and Vaughn got to experience a whole gamut of fun things...

It didn't start out too well; he had to help with the laundry.
Things soon looked up, though. He learned to express himself through music.
He got to experience fine wine.


He was exposed to fine literature.

And, last but not least, he got to associate with the ladies! The V-man LOVES the ladies.


The rest of the week, spent downtown, was awesome, too. We were able to see lots of different friends (Kris, Lisa, Andrea and Danielle, we'll definitely meet up next time!), eat at fabulous restaurants, and go for lovely walks around the Hill, over to Quebec, and along the canal, too!

Boy, do I miss Ottawa.

It was really, surprisingly, nice to come home again, though. We seem to have settled in here quite well, and are so happy in our little house!

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Five Months Old! Giddyup!

Our little guy keeps on growing and growing!

He's smiling and laughing, rolling over and over, reaching and grabbing for things, and generally delighting everyone he meets with his happy disposition and alertness.

Of course, that's just during the day.

At night, he's a wee bit less delightful, since he rolls over in his sleep, wakes up on his tum, and freaks out, since he doesn't know how to sleep on his stomach!

I roll him back over and reswaddle him at least once a night. It's not a long sleep disruption; no more than 5 minutes (unless he needs changing), but it still adds up to me needing to nap at least twice a week.

He's on a 4-hour routine right now, and his day starts at between 6:45 and 7 am. He gets two one-and-a-half-to-two-hour naps in every day, and a way-too-short 20-minute catnap at 5pm (so I usually have to make or prep dinner during one of his long naps; naptime is also good for going to the gym (he sometimes naps in the babysitting room), showering, and catching up on email...or the elusive nap), and gets his nightly ablutions, jammies, story, and is put to bed by 7:30.

We're still going strong with the cloth diapers; it's gotten much easier, but we're still using a gdiaper at night, for convenience and to protect his skin from wetness. The main challenge is keeping him in one spot, since he's such a squirmer. It's like wrestling a really, really happy greased squirrell! (I would imagine)

All in all, at five months old, he's happy, healthy, and although we're still not getting full nights of sleep yet, and our lives have changed completely, we're happy and healthy too, and so in love with our little pooper!

Friday 5 June 2009

The Domestic Goddess Proceeds Gingerly

Well, since nobody seemed to care about my last foray into Domestic Goddessity (the peanut butter sammich), I thought I'd try to step it up a notch.

I've been playing around with my classic bran muffin recipe, trying to combine it with a gingerbread, to make a fantastically awesome GingerBran Muffin. I developed a taste for ginger during the "morning sickness" weeks of my pregnancy, and let's just say that I developed a fondness for bran muffins, too.

I recruited my favourite Test Pig for the trials. My other Test Pig informed me flatly that she doesn't care for ginger in baked goods. Fine, then. More for me.

The first attempt was ok, but rather blah. Who knew that bran had such a strong presence? I had followed my original recipe, but then added a tsp each of cinnamon and ginger. Meh.

Batch two (three weeks later, after we ate the first batch) also had the addition of some crystallized ginger, chopped up fine. Somehow, it all sank to the bottom of the muffin cups. It added something, but not enough.

Batch three was last night's endeavour; I not only added the cinnamon, ginger, and crystallized ginger, but walnuts and about an inch of grated gingerroot. I also mixed the batter less, in hopes of keeping the chunks suspended.

The result? Not bad, I felt, but my Test Pig graded it a complete success (however, he also really enjoyed the first batch, so his opinion shouldn't be trusted) (this is also the same man that ...well, most of you have seen him eat, so enough said). With a bit of margarine or salted butter (aside: what's the point of unsalted butter? Seriously. It has no flavour.), it would be quite good, but I want something that doesn't need extra fat added.

I should mention that it's a pretty healthy muffin, with only 1/2 cup of molasses for sweetener and 2 Tbs of butter in the whole recipe. But I don't want a GingerBran muffin that's good "for being healthy". I want it to be good, period.






So, all in all, it's a qualified success. We'll freeze this batch, and next time add another 1/4 tsp of salt, and another 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and ginger, and perhaps a pinch of cloves too. And then I'll post the recipe for all to enjoy.





Except for Test Pig #2. You wouldn't like it.



DG confession:

Along the lines of the PB&J, the DG often falls short of her title.

Like last night, when, in a desperate attempt to trick the DGB (Domestic Goddess Spawn) into sleeping past 5 am, she taped two black garbage bags over his windows, creating gorgeous White Trash Curtains.

Hey, the sun is up and his room is bright at 5 am (even through the double-layered flannel curtains that the DG so lovingly crafted) and the DG has noticed that once the pooper wakes up and it's light out, he is NOT well-disposed to going back to sleep.

The DG has also noticed that she talks about herself in the third person too much.

Anyway, it seemed to work, so the DG will have to look past the hideousness until she can find the time to make an opaque (perhaps lead?) liner for the existing curtains.

Thursday 4 June 2009

You want me to eat what, now?


Well, life is back to normal, whatever normal is.

(at right: horizontal parenting)

I'm still getting to the gym 3 times a week, and sometimes even squeezing in an extra run outside once in a while. My 5k time is around 27 minutes, which is so much worse than it used to be, but I can actually run the whole thing without stopping to walk now! I'm plugging away, adding in speed intervals and hill training, just to keep it somewhat motivating.
The babysitting room at the Y loves the little guy, so that's really helpful. Unfortunately, they're only open during his naptime, which means that he has a great time there, and then I pay for it later!







V's new trick is eating! He's a little pro (or a little piggy, depending on your view), and mastered rice cereal by the second bite. He gets a bit agitated whenever you remove the spoon ("oh no! I could starve to death!") so we give him his own spoon to chew on between mouthfuls. Before I get the inevitable comments, the doctor approved his early start, since he is, sadly, lacking a bum.


Next stop: sweet potatoes! That can wait till we get back home again, though.




He's also getting pretty comfortable in his bumbo, and he can entertain himself with a good giraffe or two (thanks, MKX2!) for up to 15 minutes while I make dinner.



The Huff Photo Studio was set up again the other day to capture the x-treme adorableness of Tarzan Baby. Vaughn was a very good sport about the whole thing, although I'm noticing that he can only turn one way... hmmm...

Too bad he's so shy and inhibited.


We're gearing up for a trip out to Ottawa (yay!), featuring lots of walks downtown, good food, and good friends... yet still maintaining a sensible bedtime, since SOMEBODY now sleeps pretty well through the night, but gets up at 5 (booooo). I'm looking forward to having adult conversations whenever possible, too!
Our friends Scott and Jenn (and their little one) will be there too, so there will be lots of play dates, swimming in the hotel pool, and maybe smuggling some Parliament Hill cats home with us!

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