National Pancake Day?!?

So I was all excited to blog today about the awesomeness of National Pancake Day, and was super proud of myself for actually having a pancake recipe to share, only to discover that today, in fact, is not the only National Pancake Day. In fact, today is truly not about pancakes at all, but rather about the end of Mardi Gras and the beginning of Lent. And traditionally, today--also known as Fat Tuesday--was just a day to use up the richer, fattier staples such as milk, butter, and eggs before the fasting of Lent began. And it just so happens that pancakes happen to be a quick, easy, delicious recipe that use all of those ingredients. In fact, according to Food.com, National Pancake Day is actually not until September 26th. How disappointing is that?!?

But, since IHOP recognizes today as National Pancake Day by giving away FREE pancakes (yes--even your local IHOP is probably participating in this giveaway), I'm going to follow suit. And, just for fun, I'll probably celebrate again come September 26th. Because really, any day with a built-in excuse to eat pancakes is a good day in my book.

Buttermilk Pancakes
(recipe originally found here)

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients, folding to combine. Batter will be lumpy. Cook pancakes on a preheated pan or griddle (approximately 300 degrees) until bubbles begin to form (three to four minutes). Flip and cook another minute or two.

If you need a quick substitute for buttermilk (because who really keeps that stocked in their fridge?), pour one tablespoon lemon juice into a measuring cup and fill to one cup with milk. Let stand for five minutes before using.

Oh, and fingers crossed this works as my shelf-stable dry pancake mix! I mixed up a few extra servings of the dry ingredients in a storage container and hopefully I'll be able to just scoop out a cup or two whenever Darrell and I want to make pancakes. Granted, we'll still have to measure out the correct ratio of wet ingredients, so it won't be quite as simple as those "just add water" mixes, but they should definitely be way more delicious. As long as the dry ingredients stay homogeneously mixed and don't get clumpy. I'll check back in after a few weeks/months to let you know how the experiment is going.

30 Before 30: Update

Well, here I am, a year and a half away from my thirtieth birthday. I'd make some quip about how quickly the time flies, but now that I have a kid, I'm pretty sure that this "fast" pace is actually just normal. So, with a mere eighteen months left for me to accomplish my 30 before 30 goals, I figured it was time to check in and see how my progress was coming.

As you may recall, I created four 30 before 30 lists to highlight four of my favorite past times: cooking, reading, crafting, and running (and because I'm an overachiever and couldn't settle on just one list). Here's where I stand on each list:

Cooking: So far, I have blogged about two recipes that Darrell and I have added to our permanent collection. I make the distinction of having "blogged" versus "made" because in reality, I've probably made ten or so recipes that we are going to add to our collection, including three or four from the list of recipes I wanted to be sure to master. I just haven't gotten around to blogging them. Because in order to blog them, I want need a picture of them. And in order to have a picture of them, I need to remember to take a picture of them. And in order to remember to take a picture of them, I need to not be juggling three other things, including feeding my son (who does not wait patiently for his food, mind you). So, while I think that I am pretty on pace to meet of goal of thirty new recipes by thirty, it seems the new challenge is going to be getting all those recipes blogged.

Reading: According to the blog I have read eight of my thirty books. That number seems low to me, though, and I feel like I've read some that perhaps never made it to the blog (which is very likely). However, I'm still not doing too poorly in terms of being on pace to hit my thirty--the only catch is that I gave myself a list of five that I wanted to be sure to read and I haven't read a single one of those. Guess I need to start convincing my book club friends to pull out some classics, eh?

Crafting: I'm actually surprised to see that I have six craft projects on the blog (since I started the challenge). I would have thought it was half that many. Granted, I still have a long ways to go to hit thirty in the next eighteen months, but William is becoming better able to participate in crafts, which will make it much easier for me to get them accomplished. And you'd better believe I have some more cute kid crafts on Pinterest in the back of my mind that I can't wait to try.

Running: Can we just pretend I never made this goal? Ugh. I don't think I've ran a mile since William was born, let alone an actual road race. Even though thirty miles of road races is only ten 5ks (approximately), that's quite a bit to squeeze into the next eighteen months. Especially considering I don't think I could actually run a 5k right now. Good thing my brother's fiancé is getting into running and is on board with doing some road races this summer before their wedding. I will desperately need some running buddies to help me get this goal accomplished.

So there you have it. Overall, I'm not quite as far along as I'd like to be, but considering I've spent the majority of the past twelve months finishing out a pregnancy and learning how to raise a child, I'd say I'm not doing too poorly. And it can only go up from here, right?

Dance Party!

(Yes, Valentine's Day was nearly two weeks ago. Yes, this dance was nearly two weeks ago. Yes, I'm just now getting the pictures posted. Do you expect anything less?)

As I've mentioned many times, Darrell and I don't really get into Valentine's Day (although I do love me some Russell Stover chocolates!) But that doesn't stop us from getting into a Valentine's Day bash at the Shriner's Mosque. Friends, family, drinks, and a great band? Sign us up. Of course, now that Darrell is a Shriner, he usually has to work for a few hours (aka most of the night because he always likes to be helpful), which typically makes the night not quite as fun for me. But that was not quite the case this year--I happened to run into this girl at the dance and we had some good fun at the shot bar on the dance floor.

My good friend Brooke--one of the girls I coach soccer with, and new mother to Gavin, one of William's future best friends

But, as always, the highlight of my night was spending some time with this guy!

While we love our lives now as a family of three, it's still great to have some nights to just the two of us. And I even managed to stay out until midnight--go me!

Part Falcon

I am convinced that William is not fully human. The only explanation for the razor-sharp fingernails talons that grow on his hands is that he is part falcon. Because no matter how often I trim them or what "strategy" I use to trim them, they always grow back in as weapons of mass destruction. And since one of his favorite past-times is playing with faces and the insides of mouths/noses, anything with even the tiniest amount of sharpness is unacceptable. I seriously wish I could hire out someone to take care of his nails--do they do manicures for infants?

Now, I'm not usually one to point the finger of blame, but I'm pretty sure the falcon traits do not come from my side of the family. I've researched my lineage fairly extensively, and there are no traces of any birds of prey. But Darrell, on the other hand... Well, he has lots of family that hail from the Atlanta, GA area (he himself was born there!), and it also happens to be the home of the Atlanta Falcons. Coincidence? I think not.

Baby Must Have

I've started like two different drafts of "must-have" and "please skip" purchases for baby, and hopefully someday I'll get around to finishing them and posting them, but for the time being I at least want to get this one out there. Because we have loved every penny put into this purchase (which, for the record, wasn't even very many because we found it on Craigslist!)

I know you may be thinking "I'm not a runner", but trust me, you should still seriously consider getting a jogging stroller. It handles so much better and rides so much smoother than any other "traditional" stroller I've ever used, especially if you'll be using it on any surface besides flat, level pavement. We initially decided to get a stroller like this because we knew that in the summer we'd be trekking through grass and gravel frequently at my brother's baseball games and our soccer games. But what we hadn't considered? Navigating the stroller through this:

There may be city ordinances requiring people to clear their sidewalks so many days after a snowfall, but that doesn't always mean that it happens. And by golly, when we get a day with temperatures above twenty thirty you can bet I'm going to want to get us outside and get some fresh air--snow-covered sidewalks or not (and yes, I know the road is clear in this picture and that we could have walked on that, but they aren't always cleared--and definitely not as safe).

Yes, the stroller may be a little bulkier than other varieties, and yes, Darrell and I can barely get it in the trunk of our cars, but that doesn't matter in the least. The fact that I could enjoy a walk with William today without cursing out the snow-covered sidewalks has more than made up for the negatives.

William: Ten Months!

One of these months I'll actually get the update posted the day week William turns the new "age". Although who am I kidding--I only have two of these updates left (EEK!!), and there's not a very good chance I'll get more punctual. But gosh darnit, I'll get them posted. Because this is the closest thing to a baby book that William has.

We (hopefully!) won't have another doctor's visit until his one year well-visit, but we're guessing that his is pretty close to twenty pounds. And he's definitely getting longer, although I haven't bothered trying to get him to hold still so I can try to measure him (any task requiring him to be still is difficult these days). He's still in size three diapers, and hopefully will be for a while because we have a few boxes still to go through. Most of his 6-9 month and 9 month clothing still fits, although I swear he grew an inch one night because the next morning it seemed like all his pants were borderline capris.

William is still a fantastic eater; we're hard-pressed to find something he doesn't like. The only thing I can think of that he hasn't really liked was red beans and rice, and we're pretty sure that was just because it was too spicy (we felt a little bad for him that night--he was hungry so he kept opening his mouth to eat it, but would make the most pitiful faces once it was in his mouth. We quickly prepared something else for him). And as the introduction of red beans and rice indicates, we've started giving him more of our table foods--including a variety of meats (fun fact--his first red meats were prime rib and T-bone. We may be creating an elitist eater)--in addition to his pureed fruits and vegetables. Oh, and I would be remiss if I forgot dairy products; kid loves himself some cheese. We've had to make it his "dessert" otherwise it's hard to get him to eat anything else once he's had a few pieces of cheese.

Nighttime sleep has improved dramatically, mostly due to the fact that Darrell and I finally toughened up and let him cry it out (I hope to do a more detailed post about that... Someday...). After a few rough nights, he's been consistently sleeping nearly ten hours every night--and some mornings he'll go back to sleep for even longer after waking up for a feeding around five. Now Darrell and I just need to learn to go to bed a little earlier so we can benefit more from his improved sleeping habits (says I as I'm typing a blog post at 10:00 at night. Whoops). However, about the same time his nighttime sleep improved his enjoyment of baths plummeted... You win some, you lose some. Bath time is slowly getting better though.

I probably say this every month, but William has gotten so much more fun. He loves to play ball with Daddy and has gotten really good at rolling it back and forth. He also does "so big" (but only when he feels like it) and has started playing peek-a-boo whenever he has something to pull over his face. Although he's always pretty well enjoyed his books, he's shown much more interest in them lately--not just while we are reading him to him, but he'll often go pull them off the shelves and turn the pages himself. Of course, there are times he prefers to use them as "surfboards" (one under each hand and then he pushes himself around the house with his legs), but at least he isn't ripping them up or anything. And truthfully, he'll use anything he can get his hands on as a surfboard--apparently crawling just isn't good enough these days. He has, unfortunately, mastered opening drawers and cupboards, and thinks emptying them of their contents is the best thing ever. Hopefully soon he'll learn the concept of putting things back--but I'm not holding my breath. He is learning to associate certain sounds with different events: he knows the sound of the garage door and usually makes a beeline for the stairs when he hears it because it means Daddy is home, he knows the sound the gate makes when it is opened/closed, and, the weirdest one, he knows the sound the dishwasher makes when it is opened--and no matter what he is doing he will make a beeline for it as soon as I open it. He's also developed a few "quirks" that we haven't quite figured out yet: he has this strange fascination with scratching at his scalp/pulling his hair (always fun at mealtime) and he's started randomly extending his arms, kind of like he is reaching for something or pointing at something, but then sometimes he acts like he's maybe trying to wave. We aren't sure (and, quite frankly, he probably isn't either).

Can't wait to see what excitement next month will bring--and can't believe we almost have a one-year old on our hands! Oh, and I can't forget the outtakes from the photo shoot--more expressive and more mobile means more fun outtakes (but a much harder time getting a good shot!)

Trying to play "So Big" without letting go of his foot

Doing his best to protest the photo shoot

Trying to take his teddy bear and make a run for it...

Good thing Mom was there to catch them on their way down to the floor

Looking all sweet and innocent after making his escape from the chair



Happy Valentine's Day!

So Darrell and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day (his logic: I don't like being told when to be affectionate and tell you I love you. My logic: s%&@ is crazy over-priced and restaurants are crazy busy). It's been this way since we started dating (in fact, I know for a fact that the first Valentine's Day we celebrated together was on a Tuesday because the card Darrell bought for me was crossed out and re-written in mulitple places, including the ending, which was modified to read Happy Valentine's Tues Day!) However, Darrell still knows that I love me some chocolate, and especially the Russell Stover chocolates. Which--while they do sell them at all times during the year--they sell them in much larger packages and much wider varieties around Valentine's Day. And while Darrell refuses to prescribe to the typical Valentine's Day mushy-ness and sappy-ness (some things haven't changed in eight years--I got a text from Darrell this morning wishing me a "Happy Friday"), he still knows how to make me feel special. With the most awesome box of chocolates I've ever seen in my life.

And for the record? Darrell actually bought that for me ten days ago; I've just taken forever to get it posted. Which means he doesn't even consider it a Valentine's Day gift--just a random "I'm feeling like being nice" gift. And those are my favorite kind.