01.31.07

Still at it.

Posted in Parenting, Piper at 1:22 pm by Anne

Another night done with the girls sleeping in their respective beds and Praise the Lord! I don’t know how or why but I am not going to mess with this kind of progress.

Today I went to my last doctor’s appointment before the C-section. It was anticlimactic as all get out but I don’t really know what I was expecting this third time. Piper kicked around the baby monitor for a half hour, I leafed through a really tedious Better Homes and Gardens mag for 20 more minutes, then my doc came in and asked me if I had any questions. The end.

No working out for two weeks, no sexuality for 2 weeks (nothing more alluring than oozing lochia), and no driving for 2 weeks. Staples will be removed the following friday and goodnight.

I did wake up at 4 this morning with the realization that we need baby spit-up rags, so that was good in a weird kind of way. I would hate to be stuck without the cloth diapers that work so well in that area, so another trip to Tar-jay is in my future. Maybe tomorrow even if I can swing it. ZZZzzzzzz.

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01.30.07

chowdah-head

Posted in Recipes at 2:38 pm by Anne

This is the soup I made for supper last night. And the subtle bad-assery therein is the main reason behind renewing my subscription to Cook’s Country. Honestly, it is my favorite cooking magazine. Note: Shan is not into sweet potatoes the way I am but he still really liked this soup. So put that in your pipe and smoke it. Also, (I’m adding this after Mama C-ta’s question) don’t be freaked by the corn muffin mix, all it does is thicken the soup in a nice way.

Chicken and Corn Chowder with Sweet Potatoes
From Cook’s Country

3 c whole milk 1 c yellow corn muffin mix (like Jiffy brand)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 sweet potatoes (about 1.5 lbs), peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3 c frozen corn
1/2 c chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
1. Mix milk and muffin mix in bowl until well combined. Meanwhile, heat butter in large Dutch oven over medium heat until foaming. Add onion and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin, and oregano, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth, chicken, and sweet potatoes. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until sweet potatoes are just tender, about 8 minutes.
2. Stir in milk and muffin mixture and simmer until soup thickens, about 10 minutes. Add cheese and corn and cook until cheese begins to melt, about 2 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper. Serve.

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Princess Post

Posted in Parenting at 10:49 am by Anne

Leave it to Cecily. She always has the best soaps and lotions, the coolest shoes, and somehow, she also always finds the best articles. This one is essential for those of us with daughters who are currently deeply entrenched in the ‘princess’ phase and although I have no plans of chunking all of our princess paraphrenalia into the nearest dumpsite, it is vindicating to read someone who gives voice to my inner complainer.

I remember reading that pink used to be a masculine color during the Victorian era so it was interesting to me that it was also considered masculine in the 20’s and 30’s.

I almost cried at the very end of the article when her little daughter crows about looking like Ariel. I had to swallow my reaction. So read it already; it’s well done.

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01.29.07

Monday monday

Posted in Parenting at 12:43 pm by Anne

Last night marked the first try at getting the girls to sleep in their own beds and it didn’t go over like a turd in a punchbowl as I was expecting! Each of them woke up only once and came to my side of the bed (lucky for Shan). So I’d hoist my gargantuan belly out of the warm covers and get them settled in again and then drag-ass back to my own bed.

Two crappy things:1) Emma developed a cough and runny nose and 2) around 4AM I developed a hungry stomach that forced me out of bed and into the kitchen. I’m not kidding, the stomach was growling. loudly. I thought Shan would wake up. He did not. I snarfed a waffle and a cup of hot cocoa and slept a few more hours on the couch. not comfy.

So now I am waiting for the pediatrician’s office to call me back about Emma. If I can somehow nip this thing before Piper comes home, I would like to do it but something tells me that isn’t an option so this is just a formality.

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01.27.07

pie scraps

Posted in Recipes at 10:34 am by Anne

I made these last night with some leftover pieces of crust. A double recipe makes about 4 good sized pies. Did I mention tasty? yum. And they really do look like the photo. You may want to make sure you put another cookie sheet lined with foil underneath to catch any potential blueberry juiciness. Oh, and I didn’t lightly coat each pie with cookingspray…just egg wash prior to sugar sprinkles.

Blueberry Turnovers

From

The perfect picnic dessert: no fuss, no mess, no utensils required. These are great hot or cold.

Crust:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 tablespoon butter
Dash of salt
1 tablespoon ice water

Filling:
2/3 cup blueberries
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon sugar, divided

To prepare crust, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, cream cheese, butter, and salt in a food processor; pulse 5 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With processor on, add ice water through food chute, processing just until combined (do not form a ball). Press the mixture gently into a 3-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap; cover with additional plastic wrap. Chill for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°.

Divide dough into 4 equal portions; place each portion between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Roll each portion into a 5-inch circle. Place dough in freezer for 5 minutes or until the plastic wrap can be easily removed.

To prepare filling, combine blueberries and next 4 ingredients (blueberries through juice) in a bowl. Working with 1 dough portion at a time, remove plastic wrap from dough. Place dough on a lightly floured surface, and brush with egg white. Spoon about 2 tablespoons blueberry filling onto half of circle. Fold dough over filling, and press the edges together with a fork to seal. Place the turnover on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat turnover with cooking spray, and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon sugar. Pierce the turnover with a fork. Repeat procedure with remaining dough, egg white, filling, and sugar.

Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan, and cool on a wire rack.

Note: Expect the blueberries to ooze out of the crust a little during baking.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 turnover)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 177(29% from fat); FAT 5.8g (sat 3g,mono 1.6g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 3.4g; CHOLESTEROL 13mg; CALCIUM 11mg; SODIUM 108mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 28.4g

Cooking Light, APRIL 2001
CALORIES 177(29% from fat); FAT 5.8g (sat 3g,mono 1.6g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 3.4g; CHOLESTEROL 13mg; CALCIUM 11mg; SODIUM 108mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 28.4g

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Another survey…for those of you in diapers

Posted in Parenting at 10:28 am by Anne

I know this won’t touch everyone but my question is this: Have you ever broken down the price you spend per diaper? At Sam’s the other night I bought a box of 144 size 4 swaddlers for 36 dollars. I thought that was a good price until my sister pointed out that breaks down to a quarter a diaper. Granted, Emma doesn’t go through that many diapers a day…maybe between 3-5 but Piper will be soiling herself though a box soon enough. I wonder what average price for the wee baby dipes is?

Do ya’ll shop around? I happened to remember buying diapers at wal-mart a few weeks ago and calculated the price breaking down to 23 cents per…big freaking deal.

Then I looked around on the net and found a few articles about price averages and most of the sites went directly to that freaky club my sister used to belong to, the scary CLOTH DIAPER sadists. No thanks. I’ll spend a quarter just to avoid scraping poo into a toilet and adding to my already heinous laundry load.

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01.26.07

Call it what it is:

Posted in Emma, Lily, Piper at 3:54 pm by Anne

I am nesting. Big Time. I just spent the last few hours going thru Lily and Emma’s clothing. Throwing out the stains, packing away the smalls, washing the news…and capped it all off by going through all of Piper’s goodies. It’s just about time for that kind of a thing. Even though we don’t have the crib yet. Someone should bring the crib over I think. Someone with a pick-up truck. Someone like my BIL! Come on Bro, don’t leave me hanging.

It was nice pulling out the hardly used 0-3s that Lily and/or Emma barely wore; I like stain-free baby clothing even if it is a bit of an anacronism. The long white nighty with flower embroidery along the edge that Emma went home from the hospital in is the front forerunner for Piper. I think it was worn once.

The older girls sense something is in the air. They’ve kept mainly to themselves, letting Mama have free reign upstairs…interrupting only for juice or to make sure I hadn’t left the premises entirely.

At the grocery store this morning a checker commented “And you have another one coming; I feel sorry for you!” After witnessing a double reprimand, one for Emma and one for Lily. Again, a homicidal thought flickered across my mind but I just smiled and said nothing. People think they are so cute or brilliant, it wears me out.

note: I spent a good part of this early morning tagging posts that have either recipes on them or links to recipes. Sorry I’m not more organized than that!

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01.25.07

37 weeks and all is well.

Posted in Food, Piper at 1:27 pm by Anne

At least that is what the Dr says. And no, even though I am carrying Piper a hell of a lot higher (even the doc concedes this fact) than I did the other two girls, it DOES NOT MEAN I AM HAVING A BOY. Are we living in the goddam dark ages, or Asia, where only boys have any worth while girls are less than or equal to dogshit. Seriously. If I hear my MIL or ANY GODDAM STRANGER suggest that maybe I am having a boy (with a hopeful gleam in their eye) I will be sent to prison for a very grisly homicide.

So you have a son or sons. Good for you. I have daughters. And I will have THREE daughters. Get that into your head and give me a break with all the comments about estrogen this and paying for weddings that and oh how awful and blablabla.

/vent off

And very related to the price of tea in China, we went to the brand new opening of our local Sam’s Club last night. I used to have a Costco membership back when I didn’t mind driving 20 minutes one way and ever since that membership slipped away I’ve missed it, the Tillamook cheese blocks, the individual prepackaged boneless skinless chicken breast packs, the organic milk bundles and inexpensive butter parcels. But now, we are cooking with gas again. I guess corporate got scared with Costco’s success because this store is almost identical. So they carried Cabot cheese instead of Tillamook, and soymilk instead of organic moo milk (I’ll begin working on that STAT)…everything else more than measured up and I am THRILLED, THRILLED I tell you because I know we’ll be buying baby diapers up the yin-yang very soon…not to mention their produce rocked my world. We have red raspberries and blackberries in the fridge right now. In January! Yes, I’m lovin’ it.

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01.24.07

Dental Madness

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:12 am by Anne

Lily had her very first experience with the dentist today. Dad took her in and while he was there had his teeth examined as well but that is a little beside the main point which is that Lily received a glowing report. I knew at first she was a little concerned about ‘getting a shot’ but after multiple assurances from me that the dentist is not like her normal pediatrician, she felt a little better. There was no need to get into the future possibility of novacaine (yowtch!), fillings, and deep tooth cleanings resulting in bleeding and tender gums.

On their way home Shan called to give me an update. She was great but his mouth was a slightly different story. While he received an A+ for tooth cleanliness and regular flossing (What a kissass!), he received a C- for irregular dental visits (he’s been three times since 2000). So now he has an additional appointment for this afternoon at the same office and they are going to perform a root cleaning. WTF?

Here is the thing, readers, you may remember me telling you how we don’t have health insurance like most people have health insurance. Basically we have catastrophic coverage, meaning there is an 8 grand (per person) deductible we have to meet before the diseased cocksucking asshole insurance companies help with anything. Please don’t get me started on how I feel about our completely ass-backwards insurance and medical engine, please…the placenta cannot take it right now. And no, I do not believe in universal health coverage. Fuck that shit. When capitalism is totally gone from the country’s agenda there will be only socialism…which is where we are heading anyway but I digress.

Anyway, turns out that after all the dental crap is done today, the total bill comes to a whopping 900 dollars. Nice. And I haven’t seen the inside of a dentist’s office since Lily was born. I’m thinking that since the upcoming C-section/stay in the hospital is going to run about 7 grand, I won’t be going to the dentist for, oh, ten more years…that is unless any of you can point me in the direction of a painless black market practitioner.

Anyone? Anyone?

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01.23.07

sweetness

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:50 am by Anne

This morning after bathing the girls and in the process of dressing them, Emma looked over at Lily and said, “You pretty, Lily.” “Thank you Emma,” Lily replied, “You are beautiful.” If I can just keep these little girls on balance like this, I’ll consider my parenting skills in a positive light. They still fight everyday, I’m not saying that Emma doesn’t seem to grab handfuls of Lily’s hair a little too regularly, but playing together, sharing the most special toys without a fuss, and being complimentatry to one another…how great is that?

I am down to wearing only ONE PAIR of pregnancy pants…kind of a jogging/yoga number that I’ve been wearing for so long that the black dye is beginning to obviously leach out. Eff the jeans…they were reasonably acceptable until this point of having to constantly jerk them up…and I mean CONSTANTLY. Maybe someone should invent maternity suspenders, Keee-rist.

While picking out a t-shirt this morning to finish my own terribly fancy outfit, Emma pointed to a non-preggo shirt hanging up,” Wear this one, Mommy!” “No, baby, I can’t fit that one. Why don’t I wear this one instead?” I guess she saw the truth of it. “Ok, Mommy.” and then she added as an afterthought “You pretty too.”

She can be a pain but she’s mine all mine.

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