Friday Fragments

I'm annoyed that the new Final Fantasy still hasn't come out. We should have just gotten the stupid Wii instead of the PS3.

I started playing a game called Folklore when I was pregnant, then didn't have time to finish it with a newborn. I feel like I need to go start all over at the beginning because it's been so long but I don't want to do everything over again.

I don't know what to do with all of the papers that come home from daycares. I feel guilty throwing away his "artwork," but the scribbles are mounting into unmanageable piles. Obviously I'll keep all of the special ones, but how many sheets of paper with a single blue line do we really need?

I don't like writing with blue ink.

My favorite pen right now is a purple Bic Round Stic.

Why can't companies just spell words the right way? That drives me crazy.

I would kill for a bowl of Captain Crunch Berries right now.

I accidentally put my apple in the fridge overnight. I hate eating cold apples.

We took our P90X "before" pictures last night and included a very cheesy body-builder-twist pose just for giggles. We're big dorks like that. Maybe I'll post it with my 30 day progress. Maybe I won't.

I can't wait for baseball! 5 days until the first spring training game.

A-Rod is starting to grow on me. I'm very ashamed to admit that.

Power90 - Week 6

This is the last week of Power90 for us. We're starting P90X on Saturday! As I mentioned yesterday, the box was waiting for me on my doorstep when I got home from work on Tuesday. I read through the manuals last night and I can't wait to get started! We're waiting for Saturday so that our off-days will be on Fridays. That seems to be the day that I come down with a major case of the "fuck-its," especially when things are super busy at work, like they have been lately. That way I can sit on the couch and watch TV or read a book and unwind without feeling guilty or having the workout hanging over my head.

So anyway, after completing 42 days of Power90 I'm a total Tony Horton convert. I looked in the mirror the other day and noticed that I have real arm muscles! I **might** have struck a few yoga poses to check myself out, because I'm kind of a tool like that. The only downside to the Power90 program is that it's repetitive. There are only two tapes and I'm SO tired of the cardio workout. That's what I'm looking forward to the most about P90X - there are 12 tapes and you rotate through. I think that will help prevent things from getting stale.

I'm most nervous about following the diet plan, or our modified version of the diet plan. I want to make sure that we aren't making a change that's too big for us, since baking and cooking are favorite hobbies of ours. We were going to take it in incremental steps but after reading the books C is all gung-ho about following the plan exactly. I'm most likely not going to follow that path with him.

I'm very much looking forward to watching C try to do the yoga poses! I have a feeling the Yoga X tape will provide me with some much needed comic-relief :)

Things You Want Wednesday - Lilypadz Edition

Lilypadz Edition

This post is for the BFing mamas and mamas-to-be. I posted about these a long time ago when I first discovered them. Once you can get past the "cre8ive" spelling, you'll love them. They were total sanity-savers!



I didn't discover them until almost two months into EPing, and when I did I wished that I had bought them sooner! Those of you who have already been there understand the obnoxiousness that are breast pads. I decided not to go with disposable pads because it felt too wasteful, and I had heard that the plastic lining on the back makes them less breathable. I found a few pair of relatively comfortable cotton ones, but they were bulky and hard to hide under my clothes. I had seen advertisements for Lilypadz in the baby magazines but I always wrote them off as a non-necessity marketed towards mothers who buy useless crap like diaper genies and wipe warmers.

I regretted my initial reservations the moment I put them on. My boobs had never felt better. Since I was EPing rather than BFing the level of irritation was through the roof. After a few days with the LilyPadz they healed right up. The Lilypadz are much more comfortable than the cloth bra pads and you can wear them under anything since they're seamless. Hell, you could even go braless if you were so inclined (shudders at the thought). Even after I was done EPing I still wore them under swimsuits to hide the will-never-be-quite-the-same parts. I'll use them again this summer, too.

If you're currently BFing or plan to, definitely put these on your list of possible-possibilities. You will almost feel like a normal woman again.

It's Here!

Let the ass-kicking commence!

Tonight is our off-night from Power90, so I'm planning to read all of the documentation that came with the program. There are two large volumes. I'm geeky and love reading instruction manuals, so I'm rather excited to crack those books open!

Minor Discomfort

A friend of mine just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last week. As with all matters of gossip and importance, details of her birth story started making the rounds.

Luckily for her, everything went quickly and smoothly. She was in labor for less than 12 hours, had a reasonable-size baby, and her pain was nothing more than some "minor discomfort."

"Minor discomfort?"

Did I get the short end of the stick in terms of labor pain?

My "minor discomfort" had me clawing at the car doors, screaming, cursing, and puking.

That epidural was sweet freaking relief.

Agnostic Easter

** note: this post is not meant to be offensive or to poke fun at any religion. **

Visit this post for a refresher on my (lack of) religious perspective.

When you think about secular-turned-religious-based holidays that have a relatively permanent place in secular society, Christmas is the most obvious one that comes to mind. Christmas is easy to explain away to a non-christian - it's about celebrating the birthday of a VIP. We can share in the celebration by making it about family, togetherness, and giving to others. I honestly hadn't given any thought at all to the Easter season until I received a note from daycare saying that they're collecting cottage cheese containers to make Easter baskets. Baby C isn't quite old enough to understand what an Easter basket is, and I'm guessing that most christian children his age won't be able to understand what the season is celebrating, either, but at some point we're going to have to figure out a way to talk about Easter and the Easter Bunny.

When Baby C is old enough, we plan to tell him about Passover and Easter. Actually, we hope to have someone who is more well-versed in the major religions tell him AND us about them. That's all a given. Then I told C that I also planned to tell him about the other traditions of Easter - the pagan origins, the spring equinox, the celebration of spring and fertility and rebirth and all that jazz. I had to laugh at his response:

Don't you think that would be too confusing? Too hard to explain?

Really? Explaining that it was a celebration of the transition from winter to spring is more complicated than explaining that there was some guy who died and then rose from the dead? Besides, what do the secular traditions (eggs, rabbits, flowers, chocolates) have to do with the religious sentiments, anyway? And once he sees his first zombie movie, just forget about it.

Thankfully we have a long way to go before we get to that bridge.

Friday Fragments

I can not be trusted with a pint of Ben & Jerry's in the freezer.

Between the bandanna mask and the 90's slang and hand gestures, I think Shaun White very closely resembles a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

I can't wait for the Olympics to be over so that we can get to the important television - Jim and Pam's baby!

I don't ever want a "mom-cut."

Speaking of hair, I'm getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow and I can't decide what to do with it. I hate my hair, it's too thin to be interesting.

I pulled out more greys last night than ever before. Maybe I need to start coloring more often.

We ordered P90X last night and will start next Saturday as long as it's here by then. Oddly enough, I'm very excited.

I can't wait for Yankee Baseball to come back.

I think Baby C may have dropped the F-Bomb. I don't think that's what he meant to say, but C and I both looked at each other with that "WTF did he just say?!" look. I think he meant "duck."

I've realized I'm even more of a car snob than I thought - I can't wait to get my car back from the shop today and lose this POS rental.

Power90 - Week 5

I made the mistake of getting on the scale this morning, and I haven't lost anything. I know that doesn't mean much, because I don't have a lot of pounds to lose before it gets unsustainable. I also know that I'm making progress in other areas, as evidenced by the fact that I can do a ton more reps with heavier weights and that I no longer feel like I'm going to die by the end of the cardio workout. My upper body is definitely more toned than it was before. So the rational part of me is reminding myself that I need to be looking for progress in other areas that aren't as easily measured as stepping on the scale, but the quantifier in me wants to MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE!

C is still doing very well with it - his pants are noticeably looser around the middle and he's really happy with his results so far.

We ordered P90X last night so as long as it gets here next week we're going to start it on Saturday, February 27th. I'm going to start tracking my food intake because I'm pretty positive that I'm not eating nearly enough protein. I need to be better about that.

Wish List Wednesday, Revised

Things You Want Wednesday - Vodka Edition

The pregnancy rate among my circle of friends has exploded recently, and all of them have been asking us mom experts for advice and suggestions. I've decided that I'm going to do my own version of Wish-List Wednesday where I tell you all about stuff that I like and think that you might like, too.

I initially started off just thinking about baby and kid products, but the more I think about it the more I think it should also include mom products or family products or just random things that I like and want to share.

After the events of this weekend I decided that there's no better way to start things off than to showcase my beverage of choice after a long week at the office or day with a tantrumming toddler.

Vodka.




C and I discovered Svedka a few years ago at The Party Source. Vodka has always been my go-to liquor, ever since the early undergraduate years when my roommates and I thought that empty bottles of Absolut made a nice decoration on the top of our cabinets.

Absolut was the mainstay for us in our poor college-student days - not quite the bottom-of-the-barrel but still within the budget of a few chicks who were scraping together change from the couch cushions.

I strayed from my habit every so often, when times were tough and we only had Kamchatka (AKA campshitka, because we were SO original), when circumstances called for a vanilla flavoring (hello, Stoli!) and on the occasions of open bar events when we could indulge in some Grey Goose or Ketel One. When I finally had steady employment we moved a step up the ladder to SKYY. It was a prettier bottle and didn't have that slightly nauseating bite that Absolut had. Then one day we were shopping for the staples and The Party Source had a fancy new display of Svedka. We decided to try it, since the price was better that SKYY and the reviews suggested it was just as good. There has been a bottle in my freezer ever since (not the same bottle, of course!).

Now I'm not claiming that this is a fantastic tasting vodka (it's not). I'm not saying that it would make a great martini (it won't). All I'm saying is that it's better than most of the alternatives in my own personal vodka price range.

If you're looking for a vodka to sit around and sip then go get yourself some Grey Goose. If you're looking for a vodka that blends well with mixers (especially cranberry and lime juice, my favorites!) then this is a good purchase. It won't break the bank and it won't burn your mouth.

**I'd also like to add that I think "tantrumming" should be a word **

Tantrums: The Whole Story

This post has to start with a secret. A dirty little secret that makes me feel ashamed of myself for even thinking it. It's too awful to say out loud, so I'm going to have to type it. It's the ultimate in working mommy guilt.

Ready?

Here goes - I was **gasp** looking forward to coming to work today! I even briefly considered trucking in yesterday during our massive snowstorm. That's how bad the tantrums were this weekend. I've never once looked forward to work as an escape. I can now say with 100% certainty after this weekend that I would never make it as a SAHM (though part-time work is an attractive option!).

I guess we're in a control stage or something, because the tantrums over snacks and food this weekend were refuckingdiculous. Excuse the language, but it really does require a strong 4-letter word.

I'm almost wondering if we should rethink the food approach we've been taking where we decide what he eats and when and he decides how much. Apparently he would rather starve than eat what we're eating (even when it's chicken nuggets or broccoli and cheese or pizza, three things that he absolutely LOVED up until, apparently, this weekend).

Breakfast always goes so well. He has a waffle or english muffin, a handful of blueberries or grapes, a banana, and milk. He eats everything we give him. This weekend was no exception, but after that one blissful meal it all went downhill. All three days.

Some of the excerpts:

No, Charlie, you can't eat three bananas for lunch. Eat your grilled cheese (another meal he loved!).

** much tears shed and screaming over this injustice **

No, you can't have cookies for dessert when you didn't eat your lunch.

** more tears and screaming **

Charlie, stop eating the cat food. I have chicken right here. You love chicken!

** tears and screaming **

Charlie, don't throw your food- do NOT tip that bowl over, I swear!

** and on **

OK, fine. You don't want your chicken? Just eat the fucking applesauce and we'll call it a night.

** and on **

(don't worry, I didn't really curse at my child, however much I may have wanted to)

Each meltdown was spectacular. NOTHING could calm him down. He just sat in the kitchen (or the dining room, or the living room) and screamed and screamed and screamed. Sunday, same thing. Monday, same thing. I was to the point where I just had to walk away. I know he needs to eat, but I offer him plenty of food that he likes. Eating handfuls of stale cheese crackers isn't going to do him any good. We're not starving him for christ's sake, he can eat all of the freaking fruits/veggies/chicken/yogurt/turkey hot dogs he wants. He was such a good eater before and now it's all going downhill.

Thankfully he snapped out of it last night and had applesauce, mac and cheese, and peas for dinner.

Let me just say

I thought the tantrums started a few months ago.

Holy hell was I ever wrong, because the really good ones just started on Saturday. And with that, naptime is over. Waaaaaaay too soon.

Friday Fragments

Chinese food makes a lovely lunch for a Friday

I don't know why my company celebrates Chinese New Year, it just seems kind of random. Any excuse for a party, I suppose.

I'm so glad I have a night out planned for tonight. I really need it.

I'm going to Chicago for a conference in May and I'm really excited about it!

I'm annoyed with people who twist facts to make other people do what they want them to.

I'm obsessed with my DSLR. I can't stop playing with it and I want a new lens more than anything.

The Woodchuck Spring Limited Edition tastes like drinking a flower. NOT good.

I can't wait for baseball season to start.

I wish I hadn't bought capris last spring when I was super skinny from BFing. I know they're not going to fit in a few months and that makes me sad, even though it was an unsustainable weight loss.

We don't celebrate valentine's day, but I might hit up the clearance chocolate on Monday morning.

Power90 - Week 4

I can't believe it's only been 4 weeks. It feels like forever. I can recite almost every line from both videos now, including Tony's attempts at snarky comments. We missed one day last week because I was sick and I felt really guilty about it. I can tell that I'm still making progress because I've been able to bump up the weights on pretty much all of the exercises. Bicep curls with 8 pound dumbbells sounds weak, but when you consider that I've never been able to use much more than 4 it's a sign of obvious progress.

I still want to shake my fist and curse at him (actually, I do shake my fist and curse at him) when he reminds us that it's time to max out on our push-ups. I try until I can't even bend my arms anymore and then I try some more. Still mostly girly push-ups though, but that's ok for now. The workout buddy system is a big help. We're able to motivate and push each other and correct each other's form. We're still planning to start P90X on March 1 and I'm really looking forward to the change. Definitely not ready yet, though!

Moooooo

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Recipe Wednesday - Simple Chicken Pot Pie

I LOVE chicken pot pies, but I'm not a huge fan of the ingredients in most of the store bought ones and I just can't justify the cost of buying Applegate Farms frozen pot pies, even though they're very tasty. We have a Gordon Ramsey recipe that we cook up every so often, but the pancetta and cream make it pretty unhealthy and the puff pastry is pretty labor intensive. I was really excited when I saw a new and simpler pot pie recipe on Weelicious.

Chicken Pot Pie (Makes 4)

This works best if you make it as a team - C made the filling while I made and rolled the dough.

Crust (my own version, visit Weelicious for the original):

1 stick butter, chilled and cubed
1 1/4 cup AP flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tablespoons very cold water

The original crust was shortening-based, so I substituted my super-quick butter-only crust instead. It's not going to be quite as flaky but it will still be tasty and won't clog your body with trans fats (I'm not claiming butter is healthy, but at least we know where it comes from!).

In a stand mixer with beater attached, mix flour, sugar, and salt until combined. Add the butter and beat on medium until the chunks are no bigger than pea-sized. Trickle in the cold water while you mix until the dough just comes together (sometimes it takes me an extra 1/2 tbsp or so). Since this is quick crust you don't need to refrigerate, so just cut it into sections and roll (8 portions if you want top and bottom crusts, 4 pieces for top crusts only).

Pie Filling (this is directly from Weelicious):

2 Cups or 1 14 oz Can Chicken Broth
2 Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless
4 Tbsp Butter, divided
1 Small Onion, minced
2 Stalks of Celery, diced
2 Carrots, peeled and diced
1 Tsp Fresh or 1/2 Tsp Dried Thyme
3 Tbsp Butter
3 Tbsp Flour
1 Cup Milk
Salt
1 Cup Peas (frozen)

1. In a saucepan, bring chicken stock and chicken breasts to a boil, reduce to a simmer, partially covered for 12 minutes. Remove the chicken breasts to a plate, reserving the chicken broth, and when cool, cut the chicken into bite size chunks.

2. Heat 1 tbsp of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the onions for 4 minutes or until translucent.

3. Add the celery, carrots and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

4. Melt the remaining butter into the vegetables and sprinkle the flour over and stir to make a roux. Cook for 1-2 minutes stirring to coat the vegetables.

5. Add the milk, reserved chicken broth and peas and simmer over low to medium for 10 minutes or until thick and creamy.

6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

7. Place 1/4 of the mixture in 4 10 oz ramekins or 1 large ramekin.

8. Dust a flat surface with flour and roll out the dough 1/4 inch thick (about the size of a pie plate).

9. Place the ramekins on the dough upside-down and cut 1/2 inch wider around to make the top crust of the pot pie.

10. Place the cut-out dough on top of the ramekin and gently pinch the sides, pressing it to make it stick. (I happen to think that the crust is the best part of a pot pie, so I lined my ramekins with a thin crust, as well)

11. Using the tip of a knife, make 3 slits on top of the dough (to allow ventilation). (Of course I made 4 slits so it would be an even number!)

12. Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

13. Cool and serve.

How we dress our kids

I've always thumbed my nose at the idea of dressing kids in cute little matching outfits purchased at exorbitant prices from the likes of Janie and Jack or The Gap. Who needs collared shirts and sweater vests getting in the way when you're trying to do some serious playing? I can't imagine that would be comfortable, no matter how stylish it might be. I'm a laid-back kind of person who is most comfy in yoga pants and a hoodie. I assume my child is, too, but what do I know?

Baby C's wardrobe consists of a lot of hand-me-downs and secondhand finds. I'm pretty particular about what I buy for him - regardless of how good of a deal it is, I'm going to pass it up if it has a name brand on it. My kid isn't a walking advertisement for The Gap, Old Navy, or Cherokee. I don't buy much in the way of patterns, either - trying to get out the front door by 6:45AM is enough of a hassle without having to make sure that the shirt I grab out of the laundry basket matches the pants I grab off the floor. That's generally how I dress myself, too, so it's not like Baby C is getting shafted in the clothing department. He has a few pair of pants - 2 pair of jeans, 1 pair of light cargo pants, and 1 pair of dark cargo pants. (Am I the only one who always wants to add an "s" to pair? What is the grammatically correct way, anyway?) He has a bunch of shirts - a few long-sleeved, but mostly short-sleeved. My best idea yet was to buy a few plain, solid, long-sleeved t-shirts for him to wear under his short-sleeved t-shirts. That way he gets a lot more use out of them through the seasons. His Star Wars shirt has been with us since July. He has plenty of Bearcat gear and a Yankees jacket to keep him warm.

I'm not a huge fan of characters on clothing, but I make exceptions for old-school comic book logos and Star Wars. I'm thankful that he hasn't latched onto any television characters yet but I'm bracing myself for that milestone. Maybe if we make Chewbacca and R2D2 mainstays in our household we can avoid the Elmos and Barneys of the world. Oh, how I hope.

Anyway, the one thing that I haven't been buying secondhand are his shoes. So far we've bought him 2 pair. His first shoes were garage-sale finds, those super-cute Adidas Sambas. His second was a pair of blue Vans that pretty much matched my own. We got the third pair yesterday, and I decided that it was time for his first pair of Chucks.




After we got home and I snapped a few pictures to send to his Aunt Katie, I realized that I'm no different from anyone else. I'm a total brand whore. I guess it would be more accurate to say that I'm a "style whore," but not in the traditional sense of "style." I guess I want what everyone else wants - for their kid to look like them and follow in their fashion footsteps. Unfortunately for Baby C, his parents have no sense of style at all, and so he ends up with "geek" written all over him. It's like we're stuck in 1996 or something. He already has the Nirvana lullaby CD, now all he needs is a flannel. Kid is lucky I haven't sent him to school in his "statistically significant" shirt.



He's definitely well on his way to geekdom.



With parents like this, who's really surprised?






** this coming from the girl who wore nothing but leggings and NKOTB t-shirts for her entire 3rd grade year **

Friday Fragments

Hooray for new blog games! I found this one through one of my newly-discovered mom blogs Things I Can't Say. It's the perfect place to put those random thoughts that swirl around my head.



The aftermath of three toddlers at the same table in a restaurant is truly amazing.


I bought 3 Haute Pocket diapers on clearance and so far they've been a huge disappointment.


We're supposed to get some white death today but I haven't seen a flake yet.


I'm really bad at getting prints of pictures that I take. My cube could use an updated Charlie picture.


I still haven't mailed my sister's christmas present and I feel awful about it :(


I often find myself wishing that I had gone to school to be a teacher. I think I'd be pretty good at it.


I miss my family and I'm sad that we live too far away for Baby C to see them all the time. I wish his childhood could be more like mine in that respect.


Dunkin now has a rewards punch card for coffee buyers. This could be dangerous.

Power90 - Week 3

We're up to level 3-4 on both sculpting and cardio now. I thought I was going to die by the end of the new cardio routine when we put it in on Sunday - it's amazing how much extra pain a measly 4 minutes and 30 seconds can cause. I have pain in arm muscled that I never knew even existed!

My progress for this week included a few successful inverted push-ups. Go me!



I'm sticking to my original plan of not worrying about losing weight. Charlie, on the other hand, was very proud to tell me that he's lost four pounds so far. My own personal concern is that I can get to the point where my butt stops jumping when the rest of me does.

The only real issue I'm having with the program is that the "X-work" bothers my knee. It's a lot of jumping around. I know I'm going to get it a lot worse with the plyometrics that go with the P90X.

If you're interested in the Power90 and P90X programs, or any kind of fitness at all, check out the blog of my friend/co-worker/trainer at Coach Lynn Fitness. She is one seriously in-shape lady.

Return of the Witching Hour

I don't know what gets into this kid during the 6:00 hour. So far he's been an absolute terror both nights this week. On Monday he was pissy from the start, but I figured he was tired and irritated, with in being Monday and all. He screeched through dinner and refused to eat. After dinner he sat on the living room floor and yelled. There was pretty much nothing we could do to stop it. We put him in the tub and it got even worse. He didn't want anything to do with it. You would have thought the water was scalding hot (it definitely wasn't).

Yesterday was pretty much more of the same, except he was mostly pleasant from 5-6. Around 6:00 all hell broke loose. We sat down to eat and he screamed at everything we put on his plate and refused to even allow it to sit on the tray of his high chair. It was like he couldn't be within a 24-inch radius of the broccoli and chicken. These aren't new foods, either, he's eaten them happily many times. He wouldn't even touch the cheese muffin. Once he was down from his high chair it just kept getting worse. He yelled about everything, stopping every so often to point to my "no" (nose) and then walk over to C to point out that he had one, too.

It's just so random - screamscreamscreamscream "nose!" screamscreamscreamscream. Rinse and repeat. I don't know what his deal is all of a sudden, but I'm sure the gray hairs are sprouting like crazy.

Through the Eyes of a Toddler

Every morning when I open the door to Baby C's room I'm greeted with a huge smile and the biggest and most excited "HI!" you could ever possibly imagine. He's just so excited to be awake and so ready to start the day. The enthusiasm is catching, even when it's 6:30 on a Saturday morning and I want nothing more than to crawl back under the covers.

His excitement for new information never wanes - he finds so much joy in the most mundane things, in the simplest tasks, in the activities we take for granted every day. On Saturday he spent more than 15 minutes discovering the lightswitch. I held him up next to the switch and he turned the lights on and off over and over, clapping his hands and giving himself a "Yay!" every so often. On Sunday he helped me unload the bags of groceries - he pulled one thing out at a time and handed it to me to put in the fridge. Eggs. "Yay!" Milk. "Yay!" Orange juice. "Yay!" Yougurt. "Yay!" There was much clapping involved, too. This is how our days go - he helps me put the laundry in the dryer, pick up the peas that fall around his high chair, and put his toys away, all celebrated with a round of applause.

He winds the clock on his laugh and learn chair and dances the same silly dance to the same silly song over and over again. It just never gets old! Every new thing is an adventure. Each pebble on the ground must be studied. Each leaf must be picked up. Each puppy must be petted.

I'm starting to think that this is where we go wrong when we grow up. This is what life is really supposed to be about. Why do we lose that natural excitement for life? What is it about school and work that beats it out of us? Having a toddler of my own gives me a glimpse back into that frame of mind, however fleeting. The hard part is holding onto it.