Peach Pancakes



So I was going to wait and post this recipe on Friday, but then I decided that I wanted to make sure you had plenty of time to go out and get the ingredients before the weekend so you can make these. Because you need to make these--maybe even before this weekend if you are in the mood for breakfast for dinner (and really--you should always be in the mood for breakfast for dinner). A few months ago I probably would have balked at the thought of having twelve plus pounds of peaches in our house, but it was really fun finding new recipes to use them up--and now I actually have an excuse to buy peaches because you can bet I will be making these again (and again and again!)

Yes, that is raspberry syrup on those puppies. Sooo good (although regular maple is just as delicious).

Peach Pancakes
(Delightfully borrowed from here)
(One batch makes approximately twenty pancakes)

2 eggs
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons oil
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
2 cups ripe, peeled, diced peaches (approximately two peaches)

Mix egg, buttermilk, and oil in a large bowl. In a separate bowl stir together remaining ingredients (except for the peaches). Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the peaches and let mixture stand for five minutes (batter will be lumpy). Cook on a hot griddle, and press down gently after turning to make sure the batter cooks evenly around the fruit.

Truthfully, you could probably add peaches to any pancake recipe (much like you would add blueberries or chocolate chips), but the spices pair wonderfully with the peaches and the buttermilk helps to make them deliciously fluffy. And just in case that earlier picture wasn't enough to convince you to make these, try this one on for size (just look at those delicious chunks of peachy goodness!!)

Bountiful Baskets

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but Darrell and I have awesome neighbors. In fact, the whole neighborhood/development is pretty fantastic. We bought this home intending for it to be a starter home--we initially intended to move before we started having kids--but now I can't really imagine living anywhere else. Granted, our house is still built a little like a starter home and not a family home... But that's an issue for another day. And I digress.

The point of this post is to talk about Bountiful Baskets, this awesome food/produce co-op delivery thing that one of our neighbors introduced us to shortly after William was born. Instead of the typical meal or dessert that many people bring new parents, she came over with a small basket full of fresh produce. And it was delicious produce. We found out that she buys and picks it up every two weeks through this Bountiful Baskets program, and we were hooked. Over the past few years we have made a point to buy pretty much all of our produce fresh, and we try to stick to stuff that is in season (and subsequently cheaper), so it only made perfect sense for us to get involved in this program. For a flat fee, you are able to buy a basket full of produce (you never know what it will be!), and you can also buy add-ons of additional produce (like 25 pounds of peaches) and bread. Doing the program with our neighbor makes it even more great--Darrell and I on our own would never be able to eat through 25 pounds of peaches before they went bad, but splitting them with her makes the load much more manageable (plus--as we did when we had the peaches--it's a good excuse to make some pies or other desserts to share with family and friends). One of the other things we love about the program? Since we can't control what is in the basket, Darrell and I get produce that we would probably otherwise pass by in the grocery store out of fear of the unknown (what does it taste like? how do you fix it? will we like it? etc.) Thanks to Bountiful Baskets, we've learned how to tell when a mango is fresh (and how to cut it), we've tried cooking with eggplant (we grilled it--it was okay, but next time we'd definitely us it more in a meal versus on the side), and we've found creative ways to eat through large quantities of produce (like 13 pounds of peaches--don't be surprised to see some peach recipes pop up in the next few weeks!)

Here's a picture of our basket from a few weeks ago--yum!!

In addition to our "normal" basket haul, this week we split 25 lbs of peaches and 18 lbs of grapes with our neighbor. It was a lot of produce for a little dough!

Bossypants

Isn't that a great cover? I sent Darrell to pick up this book for me at the second-hand store by his office, and he promptly called me after retrieving the book and asked "What kind of book are you reading?" I'm not sure what answer I gave him at the time, and I'm not sure I could give a succinct answer to that question after having read the book. Marketed as an autobiographic comedy by Tina Fey, there is so much more to the book than just that. There are reflections on childhood endeavors, notes about entering the "working world", serious points about the ever-changing role of women in the workplace--especially in positions of authority--and even some anecdotes about being a mother. All wrapped in with some bits from Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, and just being famous in general.

Personally, I would say that I liked probably half to three-quarters of this book. I've never watched 30 Rock, and most of the Saturday Night Live I have watched was during the Chris Farley era. So a lot of the references to those shows (including little snippets from specific episodes) were lost on me. However, I very much enjoyed the narrative style (and dry, sarcastic humor) of the book, so for the most part I could get past the references that were lost on me.

While there were definitely parts that I enjoyed (especially the comments about parenting), this is probably not a book I'll hang on to. If you are a Tina Fey/30 Rock fan, then I would definitely recommend this book, otherwise you're probably better off passing this one by.

Flying Tips: 2 Months Old

So I've been meaning to share this post pretty much ever since we got back from the beach (a month ago!), but better late than never I suppose (if you haven't noticed, that's starting to become a little bit of a theme around here. I blame William for that).

Darrell and I made sure we were as prepared as possible for flying with a two-month old in the weeks leading up to our beach trip this summer. We consulted our friends who had traveled with newborns, talked with our pediatrician, and even searched the internet for tips. And our work paid off--William was a champ on the plane and in the airports. By the time we got home, we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves for managing the trip so well--and then realized that the next time we fly with William (at around eight months old) it will be a totally different ballgame, and our strategies that worked this time won't necessarily work next time. In fact, we realized this will probably be the case until William is two or three years old--sure, he may be more used to flying than some kids because he will be traveling at least every six months, but so much changes for him in those six months that each time will be like flying with a totally new kid. Since this isn't an issue just limited to us, I figured I'd document the things that did/didn't work for us to help others who may be preparing to fly with an infant. And at the very least, I'll have these notes to look back on when (if?) we're traveling with a sibling for William (although I imagine once you start throwing multiple kids into the mix things change yet again).

Tips for Flying with a Two-Month Old

Timing of the flights/Layovers: At two-months old, William still wasn't doing super long stretches of sleep at night, so flying during the day versus flying red-eyes didn't make much of a difference because he was awake and eating just about every three hours regardless. In fact, the one border-line red eye flight that we took was actually the one William was best behaved on--mostly because he slept the whole time. Since it was still easy enough for him to fall asleep in random environments (and he was plenty light to hold while sleeping--especially with the Boppy pillow), the later flight was perfectly manageable (as, I imagine, an early morning flight would have been as well). The daytime flights weren't a huge issue, but nursing him during take-off (to help prevent the pressurization from bothering him--which seemed to work) meant that he was then awake for the next hour or so because that was his (somewhat normal) routine. If your kid naps after daytime feedings then I imagine daytime flights would be even easier to manage.

As far as layovers go, Darrell and I agree that with a newborn (or probably child of any age) it's better to have too much time in the airport than not enough. I don't think we would have been very successful if we had needed to do any dashing through the airport, and with inevitable delays even a reasonable (for two people) ninety minute layover can be quickly whittled down to nearly impossible to manage with an infant. Both of our layovers were around three hours, and while it ended up being more time than necessary it was better than the alternative.

Strategies on the Airplane: As I mentioned above, we nursed William during take-off, and not once did he seem to be bothered by the pressurization changes. I suppose I can't guarantee that that method will work for everyone, but it worked for us (and from what I've heard/read from others, it's worked for them as well). Supposedly just sucking on a pacifier will work as well, but we didn't actually try that since our flights coincided pretty well with feeding times. Aside from that, there wasn't a whole lot we needed to worry about doing on the airplane. We basically just held him and bounced him and let him look around at stuff as he pleased. If you are concerned your child will respond poorly to not being walked around for the duration of the flight (or concerned about putting him/her down for naps without being able to stand/walk), spend a few afternoons (if you are able) just sitting on a couch for practice. And while I can't talk too thoroughly about diaper changes on the airplane since Darrell changed the only one we had (we made sure to change him before boarding each flight so that we hopefully didn't have to worry about diaper changes in the air--but we had no choice after William decided he needed to have an explosive poop mid-flight), based on what he said my advice would be to take only what you need to the bathroom, not the whole diaper bag. Darrell apparently had a hard time getting the door to close once he crammed in there with William and the diaper bag (aside from that, though, he said that it really wasn't too awful to do the diaper change).

Strategies in the Airport: Since I recommended taking slightly longer layovers, I figured it was only fair to give you some pointers for passing the time in the airport. Darrell and I spent most of our layovers walking around the airport to give William a change of pace from sitting in the seat in the airplane. We also stashed a small play blanket in his diaper bag so we could lay that out on the floor and let him play on his back and get some energy out. We did try a little bit to keep him awake so that he would (hopefully) sleep on the airplane, but in retrospect I don't think that was our best strategy. Because we kept him awake longer than normal, by the time we boarded the plane he was a little over-tired, and so it was a little bit of a battle to get him to fall asleep (thankfully, though, not too much of one. He only fussed for a few minutes--and no red-faced screaming like he is prone to doing at times). I think we went into the trip with the belief that having the baby sleep was the best way to handle the flights, but in reality, all you really want is a baby that isn't going to be fussy. And if they are going to be awake and content, then by all means let them instead of trying to force them to fit your perceived "ideal".

Recommended Gear: I've already alluded to a handful of the things we took with us on the flights, but I figure I'll make a nice easy list for quick reference.

Baby Carrier: We have an Ergo carrier and absolutely love it. These type of body carriers are perfect for airports because you can leave the child in them to go through security, plus they allow you to be hands free to manage your other luggage. Having him in a comfortable carrier like this also made it a lot easier to walk around the airports during layovers. (Note--we had a car seat provided for us at our final destination, so we didn't need to worry about traveling with one of those. If you are needing to bring your car seat and/or stroller, you may not need a body carrier. Although even if we had been traveling our car seat/stroller, we probably still would have used the body carrier because most of the time William is more content in there than in his car seat.)

Play Blanket: Darrell and I aren't huge germ-a-phobes, but I still don't think I would have wanted to lay William down on the floor of the airport without something underneath him. And since William wasn't mobile or even rolling over, the blanket didn't have to be very large (in fact, you could probably get by using the diaper changing mat that comes with most diaper bags).

Toys: At two-months old, William wasn't really into rattles and books and stuff yet, so we really didn't need too much in this department. Passing him back and forth between Darrell and I and making silly faces at him was enough to keep him content.

Over-Stocked Diaper Bag: An airport is not a place you want to run out of diapers. Pack what you kid would normally need for that time period, and then throw in three or four more. Same goes for wipes and burp cloths and outfits (William blew out of his diaper and onto his outfit before we even boarded our first flight of the trip--and by that point we already had our one bag checked so we were glad we had plenty of extra outfits in his diaper bag). While you are at it, make sure you have at least one extra outfit for yourself available as well. Traveling with a newborn is stressful enough; you don't want to have to do it in a outfit covered with spit up (or, ahem, other bodily fluids). If you are thinking that there is no way all this stuff would possibly fit in a diaper bag (which, for the record, it didn't), just make sure to have it easily accessible in another carry-on bag (roller-boards are a lifesaver!). With a newborn you may be tempted to take just one carry-on item so there are fewer things to keep hold of, but you'll really regret not having a change of clothes for yourself if baby decides to pee on you mid diaper change (and the person sitting next to you on the flight probably won't appreciate it either).

Boppy Pillow: This may not have been the easiest thing to carry around the airports, but it was totally worth having. In fact, I'd recommend it even if you aren't nursing--having something to rest my arms on (or William on) when he feel asleep was priceless. Plus, it can totally double as a neck pillow for you!

Pacifier: The name pretty much says it all. Again, I'd pack a few extra, because those suckers are easy to lose (or if they fall on the floor in the airplane you may want to consider giving the baby a different one--again, not a huge germ-a-phobe, but I do draw the line at a few things).

Nursing Cover: Since I've been exclusively nursing, a nursing cover (and my Boppy) were the only feeding items I needed to worry about. And let me tell you, not having to worry about water and formula and getting the milk to the right temperature (but not having it go bad) was huge. Unfortunately, because I carried William's food in me at all times, I really can't offer advice for those of you who are using formula or pumping and bottle feeding (for the record, I did bring my pump as a carry on, but only because it put our checked bag over the weight limit. There was never a time where it would have been easier to give him a bottle than just allow him to nurse under the cover).

Snacks/Water: This is (obviously) for you and not the baby. Chances are, if you are nursing, by the time your baby has reached two months you've already learned that having a bottle of water with you at all times (and especially while nursing) is practically a necessity. Since you can't carry liquids through security, Darrell and I bring an empty bottle and then fill it at a fountain (much cheaper than buying water in the airport). I've also learned that nursing makes me hungry at unpredictable times, so I've made it a point to carry snacks in my diaper bag at all times (roasted almonds and dark chocolate are my two favorites).


My final word of advice is this: Flying is going to be a new experience for you baby in and of itself, so make the event as easy as possible on him/her by minimizing the number of other "new" things he/she is exposed to. Don't have the flight be the first time you use a pacifier or bottle, practice nursing under a nursing cover (and in public) before leaving, walk around the house/neighborhood with them in the carrier, and make sure you are able to calm/soothe them to some degree from a sitting position. Hopefully, with these precautions, you'll be able to make your child's first flying experience an enjoyable one!

The Alchemist

I'm almost caught up blogging about the books I've read (of course, just when I'm "almost" caught up I finish another book which puts me further behind)! This was our book club book for May, and it was a nice, light book to start the summer with. In fact, it was a book I've read before, and based on some of the notes I made in the margins, I was able to determine that I read it sometime around my junior year of college (I won't specify how long ago that was, but let's just say it's been awhile). The other thing I was able to determine from the notes I left in the margins? This is a great book to be read and re-read because you can find meaning in it for all times in your life. Some of the things I had noted when I initially read it were far less meaningful this time around (in fact, there were some that I was shocked I had ever found significant), and there were plenty more things that I was surprised to find I hadn't commented on the first time through.

In short, the book is about pursuing your dreams and fulfilling your own Personal Legend. The path may not always be easy and the direction may not always be clear, but with faith and trust anything can be accomplished. Coelho shares this message by telling the story of a shepherd named Santiago who abandons the "comfortable" lifestyle he has to pursue his Personal Legend.

I would be remiss if I didn't address the one point of contention some of the members of my book club had with this book. They felt that rather just "story-telling", Coelho was using the book as a means to share a belief system--and at times it seemed that he was "pushing" the beliefs rather than just sharing them. While I can certainly see how one could get that impression, it didn't bother me terribly. Many of the messages in the book, although presented under the belief system used by Coelho, could easily be translated into whatever belief system you follow.

This time through, the message that stood out to me most was that even though there may be a short or easy route to your "treasure", the longer path, although more difficult, will carry some scenery to make the journey worthwhile. I'm curious what message will stick me the next time I read it!

Breast Milk Storage

Even though I stay at home with William and don't have a huge need to have a supply of breast milk built up in our freezer, I've still pumped enough to have a small stash so that Darrell and I can get away for an evening if we want to (or if I have to go on some medication that prevents William from nursing). However, since we aren't constantly using it, storing it was a little bit of a pain, especially since whenever we did want to pull some out we wanted to make sure we were using the oldest milk. So, with a little resourcefulness, we built our own storage container/dispenser, which will always ensure that the milk we grab is the oldest, plus it will keep it organized in our freezer. And guess what? I even remembered to take pictures of the process! They're like the crappiest pictures ever because I was too lazy to make sure I had good lighting, but I suppose they are better than nothing.

One of the best parts of this project? I didn't have to buy anything for it and it took me less than thirty minutes to complete. Of course, if you aren't a nursing mother, this craft probably isn't very useful, but maybe you can be creative and find something to do with it besides storing breast milk ;)

Supplies Used:

A shoe box that is the size of your breast milk bags (or slightly larger)
Duct tape
Box cutter or small knives to cut through the cardboard
And obviously frozen breast milk (which I opted not to include in the picture--if you don't know what it looks like then you probably don't care about what it looks like)

Step One:

Cut a piece out of the bottom of the lid. This is where you will dispense the milk from.

Step Two:

Cut off the other end of the box. You will put the milk into the box from this end.

Step Three:

Tape the lid to the rest of the shoe box (you could probably tape the lid on first, but I figured it would be easier to do the cutting without the lid attached).

Step Four:

Fill with milk!

Now, whenever I pump, I can just put the bag in at the top, and whenever we need milk I can just pull it out from the bottom and I know that it will be the oldest stuff. Not too shabby for a mere thirty minute investment of my time!

Photo Booth Fun

So my sister and Nick had a photo booth at their wedding, and it was the first wedding we'd been to where they had one available. I seriously wish we would have taken more advantage of it... But now we'll know for next time we're at a wedding with one!

This might actually be the only family photo that exists from the wedding. Minor fail

Some families have in-laws.... Our family has out-laws :)

I seriously regret that Darrell and I didn't take a picture like this with William. You had better believe a photo like this is now on my "to-do" list

All of the cousins on my dad's side of the family--love these guys!

William: Three Months!

Guess who has found his hands?

As cute as he is chewing on his hands (or our hands or his blanket--whatever he can get to his mouth), I'm not a fan of all the drool that comes along with it. And we're pretty sure he isn't going to be teething early or anything; according to Darrell's mom, Darrell was a drooler from day one, so apparently this just runs in the family. Joy.

Aside from the increase in drooling (and slightly more frequent spitting up--yuck), everything is still going well with Mr. William. No formal doctor's appointment this month, but we're guessing he's pushing fifteen pounds. Size two diapers are starting to get snug on him, as are pretty much all three month clothing. We still don't have much for a consistent day-to-day routine, but lately he's fallen into a pretty consistent habit of eating, playing, then napping (of course, the length of each activity varies from time to time, but I'll take any sort of consistency I can get at this point!).

And speaking of playing--my how things have changed in that department! He is so much more alert and aware (and smiley!) now, which makes it fun to just lay around and play with him. It's amazing how well he can track objects that we hold in front of his face, and he's even able to track us if we are in the same room as him (and believe us, he's definitely figured out who "we" are--while we were out of town for my sister's wedding there were times when he refused to be held by anyone but Mom or Dad). Of course, this increase in being alert means that naps are a little bit more of a battle because he just wants to keep looking around, but I suppose there are worse problems to have.

A benefit to his increased awareness is that he is much better able to entertain himself and be content without needing to be held or carried. Darrell and I pulled out his high chair this month, and have actually been able to enjoy meals together on a regular basis while William hangs out kicking and talking (and usually chewing on a blanket) in his chair. I use the phrase "talking" lightly--most of his sounds are still indistinguishable from his cries/fussy noises, but we've definitely noticed a few coos (more like happy sighs at this point) and we even got a giggle out of him one time.

As far as nighttime sleep goes, William has gotten a lot better (most nights) in that department. For whatever reason, it was nearly an instantaneous change after he got his two-month shots; apparently he decided "I was man enough to handle those shots so now I'm man enough to need fewer feedings in the middle of the night". Most nights we get at least one five hour stretch, and there have even been a few nights where we've gotten six and even seven hour stretches. I try not to let myself expect those kind of nights, though, because it seems like as soon as I do he throws a fussy night into the mix and is up every two and a half hours. And there's nothing worse than going to bed expecting to get a solid chunk of sleep and then having that ripped away from you.

I'm sure I could think of plenty of other things to brag about (and probably others to complain about too), but it's getting late and pictures are more fun. So here you go!

Big Smiles!!

Think Before You Ink

Doesn't just apply to body art....

Not just one, but two grammatical errors. Brilliant.

Lake Time!

Well, it only took until the middle of June, but we finally got William down to my parent's lake cabin! We didn't get a chance to see how William liked the water because we weren't there long (just a quick stop to put the pontoon in on the way to one of my brother's baseball games), but we did get him out on his first pontoon ride!

Showing off his fancy new life jacket!

We're on a boat baby!

Hanging with Mommy

Chilling with Daddy (and trying to stay out of the wind)

Aside from some fussing when my dad lowered the throttle and it got really windy on the boat, he didn't do too bad! It took him a little while to get used to the life jacket, but he did okay with it after a while. Next mission is testing whether or not the life jacket actually works to keep him afloat in the water--call me a mean mom but I'm excited to give it a try!

Wedding Success

Well, the weekend was a success. William was a champ on the wedding day (not so much during the days before when we were trying to set up, but whatever), I didn't bomb my Maid Matron of Honor speech (at least not terribly), and Amanda and Nick ended up as husband and wife (after a brief snafu trying to find the marriage documents). Not surprisingly, the biggest fail of the weekend was that Darrell and I didn't take a single picture; something about being busy working, being in the bridal party, and watching William kept a camera pretty much out of our hands. So no pictures to share right now, but as soon as I get some I'll do a more extensive recap. It was a wonderful weekend (although we're glad to be home!) and we couldn't be more excited to have Nick as a part of our family!

Wedding Wednesday: Timeliness

Alternate title: Don't put off stuff to the last minute and spend the week or two before your wedding freaking out.

I know I ended my series of "Wedding Wednesday" posts a few months ago, but in light of my sister's upcoming nuptials (just a few more days!), I decided to throw one more into the bunch. Because this week has been nothing but phone calls and last minute runs to the store and packing up half our house to travel to the wedding (granted, most of that is stuff for William, but I digress). And that's not even the half of it; apparently once we arrive at her place she has a (fully-booked!) itinerary for us for the next three days. Now, I fully understand that some of the stuff needed to wait until the final days because they are dealing with perishable items (flowers, food, etc), but I do know that a fair amount of the stuff could have been done in advance--and would have resulted in a lot less stress if it were.

So here's my two cents. If you know you are going to be in a difficult wedding planning situation (living in different cities, moving, starting new jobs, etc), throw out those "recommended" timelines and get as much stuff done as soon as you can--and start delegating tasks sooner than a week before the wedding. There's no reason that printing the programs should be a stressful ordeal (but it will be if you've waited until the very last minute to get them printed  and then are unable to get a hold of your finance to approve the final proof before the print shop closes. Unnecessary stress). And even though the store says it will only take three weeks to get your shoes dyed (or design and ship your wedding band), get those things done a lot more than four weeks before your wedding. Things might get lost in shipping or come back damaged, and now you are SOL. There is no harm in having those things done months in advance; it's not like the shoes will "go bad" before the wedding. And it will be much easier for you (and your family!) to enjoy your wedding day when you haven't spent the entire week beforehand stressed.


Disclaimer: Please don't think that I'm trying to imply that I'm perfect when it comes to managing my time. I'm definitely guilty of last minute stress before events; the chaos leading up to my sister's bridal shower is proof enough of that. And I certainly don't mean to be insulting my sister; many of the hiccups that have happened have been out of her control (although, to be fair, if she were getting the things done sooner than a month or two weeks before the wedding they wouldn't have been nearly as big of deals). But the bottom line is, regardless of the fancy wedding timeline that tells you to print your programs a month before the wedding, throw that out the window if you know your plate is going to be full with other tasks in those final months (or if wedding planning is going to be competing with another major life event). Paper products and material goods will not spoil, and the sooner you get them done the fewer things you have to stress about. 

June Randoms

So Darrell and I recently got iPhones (a little behind the times, I know). Since we end up taking a fair number of photos on them that I don't always get around to sharing, I've decided that at the end of each month I'm going to try to remember to post them in one hodgepodge post. Not surprisingly, most of them are of William... He's just so darn cute!

Darrell marching with one of his Shriner units, the Fife and Drum. He's in the middle of the first row--it was his first time marching with the fife; he used to just carry the flag because he didn't know the songs

One of William's first smiles caught on camera!

Just hanging out

Cutest little Twins fan

The shirt says it all

Love this face!

Three different kinds of sangria at my sister's bachelorette party--yum!!

Morning play time with Mommy--I couldn't pick just one favorite!

Entranced by Uncle Nick's piano-playing skills

Best. Shirt. Ever.