Red Egg & Ginger Party

To celebrate Ashley's 1-month birthday my parents hosted a Red Egg & Ginger party at their house.  It turned out great!  It was an open house style event on a Sunday afternoon, which worked well since there were lots of little kids in attendance and it didn't conflict with the popular June wedding season.  Around 100 people showed up! 

Ashley loved meeting everyone.  She was a perfect angel the whole time (no spit up or diaper explosions thank goodness!).  Everyone took turns holding her and she didn't cry at all - even when my mom cut a lock of her hair and rolled the red egg over her face!  I am so proud of my little girl.  I loved showing her off :)

Ashley's First: Passport Photo

In preparation for upcoming travels, we needed to get our little American baby a US passport!

Taking a passport photo of a newborn baby certainly presents some challenges.  Instead of torturing some poor photographer, I thought it would be easier to take them at home.  It certainly was an exercise in patience!

Here are some of our outtakes:

Visit from Grandpa and Grandma

Girl in Boy Clothing

95% of Ashley's wardrobe is pink and it is definitely very girly.  Lots of dresses with ruffles and frill :)

There are very few gender neutral outfits, plus this outfit which is probably more suitable for a little boy:

What do you think - can you tell that this is a girl baby?

Ashley's First: Bath

Ashley seemed to enjoy her first bathtime - no tears at all!  At the end of the bath Christopher splashed some water onto her face to see what she would do and while it made her flinch and scrunch up her face a bit, even that didn't upset her.  Good job Ashley and you too daddy!

1 Month Old!

Happy 1-month birthday Ashley!  I can't believe you are already one month old.  Stop growing up so fast - mommy wants you to stay little forever!

Things we have learned about you over the past month:

• you don't like having a wet/dirty diaper
• you're not a big fan of diaper changes (bad combination with above)
• there's a good chance you'll turn out to be a "two time sneezer"
• clothes that snap up the front are your favorite (read:  you hate having things pulled over your head)
• your cry sounds like a tortured kitten (or Bango when she goes to the vet - same thing!)
• newborn clothes & diapers no longer fit you - on to Size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothing!

Bringing Out the Best

People often talk about how having kids changes them.  Not just their lives, but everything:  the way they think/act, decisions they make, what they say, etc.  I didn't think I would be immune to that, but I was certainly surprised by how quickly it would happen to me.  I thought it would happen in a few years, starting when Ashley starts to talk and we would have to watch our language around her.  But it started the day we brought her home from the hospital!

During the latter part of my pregnancy there were many days where I just spent the whole day in my PJ pants or Lululemon.  Christopher bought me a pair of designer maternity jeans for Christmas, my friend M loaned me a bunch of her maternity clothes, and I only purchased a handful of maternity-wear, not wanting to waste money on pieces I would only wear for a few months.  Since I work from home, most days it didn't really matter what I wore.  I had a few outfits to wear when I needed to visit customers for work, or an appointment out of the house.  What I'm trying to say is that I was quite the slob for most of my 3rd trimester, and yes - some days I didn't even leave the house and was too lazy to take a shower!

Doctor's orders for my C-section recovery limited my stair climbing for the first week at home.  I was allowed one roundtrip per day.  Because of this I was motivated to shower and get dressed before coming downstairs, since I knew that was my only chance for the day.  This got me into a good routine starting as soon as we came home from the hospital.

I know that alot of new moms say that they don't have enough time to even shower and spend the entire day in their PJs.  I don't want Ashley to be embarrassed to be seen in public with me, so I've been putting in the extra effort getting dressed each day for her (which is fairly challenging since the intersection between clothes that fit and are nursing-friendly is quite sparse)!

Ashley's First: Bottle

Daddy fed you your first bottle this evening and you drank from it without a fuss!  Great work sweetie pie :)

Ashley's First: Playdate

A was born the day after Ashley.  Today we went to visit her and her mommy for a playdate.  Looking forward to more playdates in the future - ones with a little less sleeping and a little more playing  ;)

Ashley's First: Meeting Gong Gong & Po Po

Homemade Egg Noodles

To go along with the Beef Stroganoff we were having for dinner last night I made some homemade egg noodles.  The first time I tried this recipe I rolled out the dough by hand with a rolling pin - so much work!  This time I whipped out out rarely-used pasta maker and it made life way easier.  Yummy :)

Ashley's First: Wedding

Our friends were married this evening outside the State Capitol in Hartford.  It was a small ceremony held outside, so it was perfect for Ashley's first wedding - in case she started fussing we could just walk away quietly without disturbing anyone.  But of course our darling daughter was an absolute angel the entire time and slept peacefully in the bassinet of her stroller :)

Ashley's First: Starbucks

Don't call social services on us, we didn't feed her an espresso shot.  Only Christopher and I had drinks this time.  But I guess since I nurse her, she enjoyed some of my chai latte when we got home :)

Ashley's First: Trip to the Grocery Store

Today Christopher took Ashley and me to the grocery store to pick up some fresh fruits & vegetables.  She was an angel the entire time.  Stop & Shop has shopping carts with infant seats attached to them, so we took Ashley out of her carseat and put her in that - bundled up in her cozy pink blanket.  That left much more room for groceries instead of putting the carseat in the buggy!

Ashley seemed to enjoy the trip, half asleep and half awake.  Since it was our first outing (other than to the pediatrician's office) we kept it brief - probably no more than an hour door to door.  And of course while we were shopping, two ladies commented on how adorable she was :)

Morning photos

Our bedroom gets some decent light in the morning, and Ashley was sleepy after her feeding, so it seemed like a good opportunity to take a few quick shots.  I adjusted the blinds so that we weren’t getting any direct light on the bed and we snapped away.

Hiccuping Baby

This baby hiccuped a lot when it was in Mommy's tummy, so it wasn't a surprise when she had a particularly loud (and cute) bout of the hiccups today. What was surprising is that her hiccups didn't seem to wake her:

She does also hiccup when she's awake:

Baby meets the animals

On Monday we finally said goodbye to Hartford Hospital, our home for the previous four days.

Besides being Ashley's homecoming, this was Ashley's first car ride and her first encounter with the animals who she'll likely terrorize for the first few years of her life.

She didn't mind the car seat and just slept the whole way home.

Tyson was rather indifferent to her presence.

The cat eyed her with suspicion from her perch at the top of the stairs.

Babies = Knitwear

In addition to bringing out the hidden knitter within me, babies-to-be seem to have the same effect on others.

Check out the beautiful hand knit blankets and hats that Christopher's mom and her friends knit for our little one:


Being a knitting newbie I am still at the stage where I couldn't bear to part with something I've worked on for so long. We are very lucky to have such generous friends and family and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors!

More Sewing!

This weekend I sewed these super cute onesie dresses. Since I am a beginner sewer they took me longer than 10 minutes each, but I was very pleased with the results. And only costing $3 each, you can't beat the price!

I think they will be great for the summertime when it's too hot to dress the baby in anything more than a onesie, but you want something a little nicer for the baby to wear than just underwear...

Can't wait to make more!

Nesting Phase 3 - Knitting

My mom was a big knitter when I was growing up, but to be completely truthful I was never into homemade knitwear. She knit me these great sweaters and outfits, but I'm not sure if I didn't like them because they were too scratchy or because none of my friends wore homemade clothes and I didn't want to stand out.

At the grade school I went to we had to wear a uniform, with a traditional school cardigan - you know the one, a solid color body with two stripes in a contrasting color at the elbow of the left sleeve. Instead of buying me one from the school campus store, my mom decided to knit mine. But she took certain, um, liberties, with the design. So instead of having the stripes on my left elbow they were on my right. And instead of having buttons mind had a zipper. Anyways, one day a teacher noticed this and told me I couldn't wear that cardigan anymore (I guess the purpose of having a uniform is that everyone is wearing the same thing, so my sweater somewhat deviated from that). I was so embarrassed - I went home in tears. The next day, armed with a permission slip from my mom, I went straight to the campus store first thing in the morning and bought myself a brand-new school-issued cardigan. Relief!
Anyways, I'm not sure if it's my decreased mobility or the pregnancy hormones, but I was recently struck by the desire to start a knitting project of my own. So I took on this beginner project of a baby blanket (I did the garter stitch version). Only a few days into it I was having such a good time knitting that I ordered more yarn to make another (to try the seed stitch version)! I have also heard that it's good to have an "early labor project" to help distract from the contractions, so I am hoping that knitting could be that for me. We'll see...

Unlike the sewing projects I have been working on I really like the portability of knitting. You don't need to set up a machine, iron & ironing board, pins, thread, bobbins, etc. so I can just veg on the couch and knit while watching TV. And because you just have yarn and knitting needles, it's easy to sit down and knit a few rows if you have a few minutes to spare, instead of hauling out all your sewing stuff and then putting it away. I guess that's why people that are really into sewing/quilting have a dedicated room for it...

I'll do my best to keep my enjoyment of knitting from embarrassing my pre-teen with my wares, but I do think little kids wearing chunky homemade knit sweaters look super cute, so I have hopes of trying something like that next. Maybe knit a hoodie (like this one) in time for the cooler weather in the fall... We'll see if I have time for any knitting at all once the baby arrives!!

Nesting Phase 2 - Cooking/Stockpiling Food

Both Christopher and I grew up in households with large chest freezers stocked with food. It was especially handy in his house with 2 growing teenage boys. From the stories my mother-in-law has told me, it was nearly impossible to keep food in the house, and that was with regular shopping trips to Costco!

So when I told Christopher that I wanted to get an upright freezer for our basement, he was all for it. My plan was to prepare and freeze meals for when the baby came and we were too tired/busy to cook and also use it to store breastmilk for when I went back to work. And we were both pleasantly surprised when we discovered a separate circuit in our basement labeled "Freezer" so no rewiring was involved - score!

I thought it would be a good idea to take an inventory of what we had in our freezer to make sure that it all gets consumed and nothing ends up with really bad freezer burn. With a chest freezer it's alot easier for things to get "lost" in the bottom, but I love our upright. The shelves help to keep things organized and since most things are at eye level it's easy to find what you're looking for. Here is a list of what we have:

1 x chicken parisienne
3 x beef stroganoff
2 x continental beef
1 x lemony flank steak
2 x Chinese style satay beef3 x Chinese beef stew
3 x Woodland Park Italian Beef
1 x turkey meatloaf
13 x homemade hamburger patties
3 bags of Chinese dumplings
1 x porkchops a l'orange
2 x BBQ spareqibs
2 x cottage pie
1 x Chinese style curry chicken
3 x spicy penne with sausage & peppers
5 x manicotti
2 x cheesy chicken bundles
1 x meatless spaghetti sauce
5 x spaghetti sauce with meat
1 x honey pecan chicken
2 x Hawaiian chicken
3 x Colorado style beef enchiladas
2 bags of chocolate chip "lactation cookies"
2 bags of bacon & cheese potatoes
2 bags of chocolate chip muffins (Christopher's latest addiction)
plus store-bought frozen pizzas, ravioli, pierogies

Each homemade "meal" is portioned into either a serving for 2 or more, depending on what it is. So by my count we should have enough food for over a month without needing to buy/make anything. The freezer is pretty stocked - do you think we have enough?

Nesting Phase 1 - Sewing

The idea of 'nesting' seemed so funny to me, but I suppose all creatures go through some sort of preparation phase when expecting a little one. Looking back, I think I kicked off the nest-preparation phase of my pregnancy with some sewing projects.

After I finished the bird mobile hand-sewing project I decided to challenge myself with some sewing-machine projects. Now keep in mind that I am most certainly a beginner sewer and that I only ever use 1 stitch type on my machine and still struggle to sew a straight seam. Since we purchased the machine for the Christmas Cape project back in 2008, I have only used it to hem the occasional pair of pants. And I only attempt this for inexpensive pants that if I ruin I won't be heartbroken - expensive/designer clothes still go to the seamstress for hemming (and I'm ok with paying for this since I don't have alot of clothes in this category anyways).

As it turns out, there are quite a few projects that even a beginner sewer can tackle. The key is to look for ones with no (or minimal) stitching that is visible on the outside. Besides, babies can't tell if your seams are straight anyways, right? :) And after I finished the first one I had the confidence (and extra fabric) to try making other things and it just snowballed from there!

Here is what I've sewn so far (notice how everything is with the same fabric!!):

Changing Pad Cover & Basket Liners

Crinkle Tag Blanket

Soft Blocks

Laundry Hamper
(to make this I purchased a perfectly good laundry hamper from Target, spray painted the frame white and used the fabric part as a "pattern" for my sewing)

Burp Cloths

Nursery Pics

I had alot of fun putting together this nursery for our little one - I hope she likes it. And I hope the doctor is right and that she's a girl, otherwise it's back to the drawing board!

Craigslist FTW

Babies change so quickly that they outgrow their stuff pretty fast. So it seems only logical to try and save some money by picking up a few items secondhand on Craigslist. Here is what we've scored so far:

• Diaper Champ by Baby Trend (original not the new Deluxe since it gets better reviews on Amazon)
• Fisher Price Papasan Infant Swing (one that can be plugged in as well as runs on batteries - tough to find!)
• Bumbo Seat + Tray
• Fisher Price Rainforest Bouncer Seat

Overall we paid around 1/3 the cost we would have spent if we had purchased these items brand new!

Infant & Child CPR

At each of the pre-natal classes I have attended the instructor has recommended taking an infant & child CPR class. I didn't really take this to heart because I figured that I could just call 911 if there is an emergency. Plus on TV people do CPR all the time and I figured if I needed to I could just "wing-it" or try to remember the CPR training that I had during my Red Cross swimming lessons 20 years ago. Ok, perhaps not the best idea...

Yesterday there was a last-minute cancellation in a CPR course that we were on the waiting list for, so fortunately both Christopher and I were able to take advantage of the open spots. The class was hosted by a local children's store and the attendees were all parents or grandparents of young children, plus us - the expectant couple. It was taught by American Heart Association certified instructors, took 3 hours, and covered adult, child, & infant CPR & choking. The class was very hands-on and gave us plenty of opportunity to practice on the mannequins provided. The steps are very easy to do and can really make the difference between life & death.

During the class some of the others shared stories of a family member requiring CPR, or a time when their child had choked on something, and they were really eye-opening. We learned that over their lifetime, every kid can and will find a way to choke on something (food, toys, etc.). Part of this has to do with their anatomy and how their throats are still developing. Combine that with their natural curiosity and desire to put everything in their mouth and choking is inevitable.

When we left the class both Christopher and I felt that it was the best thing we have done so far to prepare for the baby. I'm really glad we took the time to do it and I would highly recommend it for anyone.

Early!

All the people I know that are expecting babies around this time have been having them early. One little girl arrived 3 days early, another little boy 13 days early, and a friend due in May already knows she will be induced 2 weeks early. It has just hit me like a ton of bricks that this kiddo could show up anytime now!

So do I feel ready? Well although our nursery is all set and we've taken our pre-natal classes, I can still list a few things that I want/need to do:

• pack our bags for the hospital
• launder the baby's linens & clothes
• vacuum the nursery
  
• sterilize bottles
• make space in our kitchen cupboard for the bottle sterilizer, bottles, drying rack, etc.
  
• find "homes" for the bouncer seat & infant swing (why is baby stuff so huge?!?)
• attend a child & infant CPR course (I have been having a really hard time finding these classes)
• sew a tag blanket with the leftover material I have from my nursery basket liner project
  
• have dinner at Red Lobster - I am a sucker for those Cheddar Bay biscuits!
• watch Alice in Wonderland in 3D
• attend my 3 remaining pre-natal yoga classes
  

And beyond this list - does anyone ever really feel fully and completely prepared to become a parent for the first time?

Tick-tock, the countdown is on!

B. Smith

I'm sure everyone has received a phone call where the caller had the correct number, but was asking for someone else, but never have I experienced such a case of mistaken identity!

Our phone number, at some point used to belong to someone else named B. Smith. No problem - I understand that numbers get recycled over time. We figured this out pretty quickly when we were getting calls for B. Smith from various organizations, typically asking for donations.

Now for the longest time I have just been giving my phone number to have the cashier at Petco look up our rewards card number because I was generally too lazy to dig out the rewards tag on my keychain. But it wasn't until I looked at my receipt the other day that I noticed that it said B. Smith! So, B. Smith not only had our phone number at one point, but also had a pet that she purchased items for at Petco, and was a member of their rewards club. All this time when I have just been giving my phone number, my rewards purchases were being credited to her account!

Back when I was ordering takeout sushi, the restaurant I frequent tracks your order by phone number. Again, when I picked up my order the receipt showed my phone number and also read B. Smith! So not only does B. Smith have a pet (like we do) but she also orders takeout from my favorite sushi place (like I do).

Then just last week, we ordered some takeout Chinese food (we are trying to collect and sample several takeout/delivery options in the area for when the baby arrives), again our receipt read B. Smith!!

So far we have learned that B. Smith supported a variety of charities, shopped at Macy's (with a Macy's credit card), had a pet, and likes to order takeout sushi and Chinese food upon occasion. Where will she turn up next?

Open to the Opposite

Someone had told me that when you are pregnant you're not supposed to eat eggs with soft yolks. I don't eat a ton of eggs anyways, but when I do I tend to enjoy them with runny yolks - over easy or soft boiled for the most part.

Christopher prefers his eggs scrambled, so I took this as an opportunity to learn how to perfect the art of scrambling an egg. What I discovered in my research is that I had been doing everything exactly wrong.

When scrambling eggs in the past, I used to break them and mix them up in a bowl with a little bit of milk before putting them in the hot pan. Then I tossed them around for a minute or so and dumped them on the plate.

The scrambled egg recipe I found that I liked the most was from Gordon Ramsay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU_B3QNu_Ks

Following his recipe, you don't break the eggs until AFTER they are in the pan, and you cook them slowly over LOW heat, adding the cream at the end. Who knew?!?

Since uncovering this secret to the perfect scrambled egg I have to say that I have enjoyed them much more than I have in the past. And Christopher gave the recipe a thumbs up too. So if you make scrambled eggs the way I used to, try doing the opposite and see what you think!