Monday, July 24, 2006

We're totally stoned!!


The house, that is....

We went to the house Saturday, and it looks soooo great! They've finished the stone-work on the exterior, except for the little bit of stone on the 4 columns on the front porch. It really looks beautiful. They've also hung all the sheetrock and have taped and floated. My dad says that they'll sand that down and then put another coat, and sand it to make sure it's smooth, then they'll be ready to texture. Once we have a texture date, we'll know better when we'll be closing on the house. Hopefully, the end of September to mid October, since our lease here will be up at the end of October.

We also met some of our neighbors Saturday. Super nice people. They are from New Orleans, and have 2 boys, ages 3 and 5. She has met their neighbors next to them, and she said that there will be something like 8 or 9 kids on our circle alone. We haven't met any of the people on the straight part of the street. We're so excited about all the kids. There shouldn't be any shortage of kids for Paul to play with!! So far, this neighborhood has everything we've been hoping for. We're so ready to move!!!!

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Blueberry-Coconut-Macadamia Muffins

I made these muffins this morning for breakfast. They were soooo yummy!! The recipe came out of a magazine called "Eating Well." I'm not sure how I got a subscription to the magazine, but I'm not complaining, because the recipes are delicious!

So, without further ado, here's the recipe for Blueberry-Coconut-Macadamia Muffins!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsweetend coconut
2 Tbs plus 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
2 Tbs plus 1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
5 Tbs chopped macadamia nuts
2 Tbs canola oil (I used olive), divided
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour OR whole-wheat flour (this is what I used)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1 large egg white
3/4 cup nonfat buttermilk
2 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp coconut or vanilla extract (I doubled the vanilla extract)
1 1/2 cups fresh OR frozen (not thawed) blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

2. Combine coconut, 2 Tbs all purpose flour, 2 Tbs brown sugar, and 2 Tbs macadamia nuts in a small bowl. Drizzle with 1 Tbs oil. Stir to combine, set aside.

3. Whisk the remaining 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 Tbs oil, egg, egg white, buttermilk, butter and coconut (or vanilla) extract until well combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients; stir until just combined. Add blueberried and the remaining 3 Tbs nuts; stir until just combined. Divide batter among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with the reserved coconut topping and gently press into the batter.

4. Bake the muffins until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pn and let cool on a wire rack at least 5 minutes more before serving.

Makes 1 dozen muffins - it's great with a little honey drizzled on it!

Try them some morning - they're delicious!!!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Fuzzi Bunz are on their way!!

Yesterday we went to Paul's friend O's house to play. O had his 1st birthday on the 14th, and his mom, C, had me and another friend over for lunch and a playdate. It was lots of fun, and the boys had a great time together. It's funny to watch emerging toddlers play together. It's a constant, "he has that, and I want it." battle between them. And it doesn't matter what the object is. It's obviously better if the other kid has it. But, once you get it, it somehow loses it's coolness, and you want whatever the other kid now has. Sharing is not in the toddler vocabulary.

My friend C uses a type of cloth diapers called Fuzzi Bunz. They basically have an outer diaper that goes on almost exactly like a disposible diaper, but they're washable and have an absorbant insert that soaks up all the pee. The insert is washable too, and it looks kinda like a big cloth maxi-pad. She's been using the FB's since O was born and really likes them.

When Paul was still in my tummy, I had dreams of using cloth diapers, and had even orderd a bunch, complete with diaper covers. But, after Juan changed his first diaper (and newborns aren't the easiest to change - the scream the whole time) he said "HELL NO! We're using disposible!" So, 'poof!' there went the dream.

So then, I met C, and she's using these great Fuzzi Bunz, and the dream returned. In fact, I had already told Juan that with the next one, we're using those. So, when I was over at her house yesterday, she showed me one, and I got to thinking. Why do I need to wait to use them? We already dump the poop out of Paul's diaper, so what's the big deal? Not only that, you can put a liner in the diaper (looks like a dryer sheet), and it catches the poop and you flush the whole thing!

Anyway, last night, I ordered 12 brand-new Fuzzi Bunz in all different colors, and I know it's silly, but I'm really excited for them to get here. I think they're better for us, will save us lots of money, better for Paul, and better for the environment. It's a win-win-win situation. Hopefully, my next post won't be about how much I hate them and how I wish I hadn't spent the money on them!! ;-)

Monday, July 17, 2006

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

Paul found his whine last week. It's really quite painful. He whines if he's hungry. He whines if he wants more food. He whines if he's tired. He whines if he's thirsty. He whines if he wants a toy (or other random object) and can't get it. He actually whined at the dog the other day because she took a ball from him and walked away.

We're hoping that his whining is just a way for him to communicate his wants and needs and that once his language develops some the whining will subside some. We're really hoping! If it doesn't, we may have to put him up one Ebaby.com yet! Just kidding, please don't call CPS on us, we're not going to auction our baby!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Cutie Pie

Took this one when we went to visit my parents while they were camping.

Paul thought the red light on the camera was really funny.

Things that make you say ewwww...

Yesterday, since I was just about to lose it, I took Paul to this place called "Raddijazz." The concept in neat, it's called an indoor playnasium. It's basically a big indoor playground for kids of different ages. There are three different areas, the volcano, complete with a foam pit (similar to a ball pit, but with foam cubes instead), the lake area, with cushy boats to sit in and big geese to climb on, and some other area that I'm not real sure what it's supposed to represent, but it's basically a playground like what's at McDonald's.

The floors are carpeted and kinda spongy so if the kids fall it doesn't hurt. Lots of stuff to do, big time stimulation. And then you add kids. Of all ages, and it becomes, as one of my mommy-friends put it, like a mosh-pit. There are kids running in every direction, jumping rolling, and sometimes flying through the air. Needless to say, I get a little protective of my little guy toddling around. I was constantly telling the older kids to "watch the babies!"

The thing that gets really annoying about Raddijazz is that there are literally kids of all ages there. Crawling babies to 10-year olds. I really wish they would have a baby day or morning, or something like that so that the older kids aren't constantly trampling the babies. Oh, and did I mention the daycares that come and don't supervise the kids? Nice.

So on to the ewwww.... I let Paul go into the foam pit. I went in with him, because I have no idea how deep it is, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to retrieve him if he went under. It did make me wonder how many kids have disappeared under the sea of red foam cubes. Not to mention dirty diapers, peed in pants, snot and other unmentionables.

So, we're in the foam pit, and I keep smelling poop. Like the mom that I am, I sniff Paul's butt to see if he's the one with the stinky. Nope, not Paul. We get out and go to another area. No more poop smell. I follow Paul back to the volcano. I smell poop again. Sniff Paul's butt again. No stinky. Then I realize it: it's the ball pit. That's what smells like poop. All those foam cubes that have God-only knows what on them have started to stink. Paul didn't go near the foam pit again. Ewwww.

Oh, did I mention that you can't wear shoes at Raddijazz? I understand why, but I also know that I will be taking a pair of socks for me if we go there again, which is doubtful. The bottoms of my feet were sticky in a really gross sort of way when we left, and I could only imagine, but didn't really want to imagine, what was on my feet. Ewww.

All in all, I've decided that Raddijazz is just gross. I don't think we'll be going there again anytime soon.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Turn on the Babysitter!

Thank God for TV and Baby Einstein! Paul is currently plugged in...and it's a good thing, because Mommy was about to lose it. It's funny how, after 4 straight days of sick baby, a morning of incessant crying just doesn't sit well with me. We're getting out of the house. We have to. I may go completely crazy. I'm already about 1/2 way there.

So, last night, after busting my butt cleaning the house while Paul was asleep (who, as if a buzzer went off in his head, woke up just as I finished and was going to sit down), dealing with Paul with no break (because Juan was sick), and giving Paul a bath, he took an hour to get to sleep. Most of that hour was him crying uncontrollably. Just what Mommy needed. I finally got him to sleep at 8:30. UGH. What a few days we've had.

Juan said that he's going to keep Paul tonight. Thankfully, Juan's feeling better. I'm not sure where I'm going, but you can bet your ass I won't be staying home!

Monday, July 10, 2006

Of vomit and laundry...

Wow. What a great weekend it's been. I have now dealt with vomit from a baby a total of 10 times since Friday afternoon at 4:00 PM. Eight of those times were between the hours of 4:00 and 10:00 Friday evening. The 9th time was a direct hit. I didn't see it coming, and then I did...all over me. So gross.

It's a really helpless feeling when you're holding your sick baby, and he starts throwing up, and there's literally nothing you can do about it, except damage control, try to catch it, keep it from getting on anything that can't be washed, and just let it come. Then, the baby cries because the heaving scared him, so you have to try to console him, all the while, covered in vomit, trying not to vomit yourself, becase the smell is awful.

So, yesterday, he was feeling much better. Very bright, playing, having fun, eating some. We thought that the worst was over. So, my dumbass gave him a half of a bottle. (He usually gets a bottle right before bed.) He goes to sleep at 7:00, no problems, no pukies, just sleeping, peaceful baby.

I wake up to him crying at 12:30. I lay in bed thinking..."calm yourself down, you can do it, go back to sleep." He doesn't, so I get up, go to the bathroom, and then make my way to his room. I only get half-way down the hall before I smell it: he's thrown up again. And he had milk before he went to bed. Eww.

Sure enough, he's thrown up all over his bed, and somehow, landed face first in it. I holler for Juan's help, and get to cleaning Paul up best I can. I get him at least dry, and rock him to try to calm him down, while Juan stumbles in, says "Oh my God" and gets to chaning the sheets on Paul crib. I love this man. He's wonderful.

Paul still smells atrocious, so I decide it's bathtime...at 1:00AM. Do what you gotta do, sometimes. I get him cleaned up in a record time-bath, he smells better, but still a little foul. By this time, Juan has the sheets changed, and the crib put back together, so I get to rocking Paul back to sleep. We were all in bed and asleep by 1:30.

When I wake up this morning, at 6:30, woken by Paul, I find out that poor Juan had been up 3 or 4 times between the vomit and the alarm with stomach troubles of his own...other end, though. So, he's home from work now, too.

On the brighter side, Juan and I went to the new house and ran the speaker wire for the surround sound in the living room yesterday. Glad to get that done. They've insulated the house, and are ready to start sheetrocking!!! Yea!!!

Okay, now I must go shower. Yes, it's 9:15 Monday, and the last shower I had was 3:00 Saturday. I stink. Bad.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone's having (or had) a fun, safe 4th of July holiday!

Today, Paul and I went to a 'wading pool' that we hadn't ever been to before. It was a pretty neat little pool, perfect for babies and young kids. At the deepest, it's only 2 ft. Paul loved it. As I said before, he's a total fish. Even if he goes completely under the water, he doesn't cry, doesn't get upset. It hardly phases him. He just blows the water out of his mouth and keeps going.

We went to my parents house this evening for dinner and possibly go see the fireworks. My parents live less than a mile from where the city shoots off the fireworks, so we thought we would take Paul to see them. The weather was crappy today, though, rainy and storming, so we opted not to go sit in a soggy field, getting rained on, to see some lights in the sky.

When we got to the house, my mom was in such an awful mood, both Juan and I wanted to turn around and come home! My dad had wanted to smoke a brisket, chicken, ribs and any other meat he could find. Mom actually asked us to come over so that Daddy could smoke the meat. Anyway, she was actually pissed that he was up early getting the fire built and the wood cut. What the hell did she expect? I didn't hear all the rant about her day, but what little I heard was just silly. Daddy decided to make "armadillo eggs," which are stuffed jalapeno peppers. Mom was pissed that he came home with the peppers and started cooking those. Then she was pissed that he was roasting peppers to make salsa. Her list never ended.

When we had just arrived, I was putting something in the fridge. The door was still open. Daddy came up and raised his arm to give me a hug, and accidently hit one of the shelves on the door on the inside of the fridge. The shelf is broken somehow, and doesn't fit very well anymore. Anyway, the entire thing came crashing to the floor, and a big jar of marichino cherries breaks all over the floor. I thought Mom was going to come unglued. She acted like Daddy did it on purpose. Poor guy couldn't do anything right. After dinner, he was cleaning up the kitchen, putting away the extra food, and Mom actually told him "if everyone would just get out of the damn kitchen, I could get this crap cleaned up in about 2 minutes." Um, I'm sorry, but the response to your husband cleaning the kitchen without being asked should be: "Thanks so much for cleaning the kitchen, Honey, but I'll finish this up." Where did she get off bitching at him? Poor man couldn't do anything right. I really felt sorry for him.

Needless to say, it was nice when Paul started to act tired so that we could use the excuse to leave. Great dinner, I ate entirely too much, but Mom's attitude could have been much better!