One Year

My little guy turned the big number 1 on the 15! It's been interesting watching him grow and try to start to walk! Exciting and scary at the same time.

Here are some photos of the cake and such:

Big monkey cake for the grown-ups - recipe below!

Little monkey cake (w/ alternate frosting) for the birthday boy!

SMASHED!

I had a lot of fun making these! The cake recipe is one I found on Smitten Kitchen - I've included it below. I did one and a half times the recipe so that I had enough to make an extra 12 cupcakes and 3 mini cakes in my Pampered Chef one-cup glass baking bowls. (One of these was the little boy's cake shown above.)

Two-Layer Banana Cake from Smitten Kitchen
3 1/2 cups (14 3/8 ounces or 406 grams) cake flour
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (5 grams) salt
3/4 teaspoon (2 grams) cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces or 227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (7 ounces or 200 grams) sugar
1 cup (7 5/8 ounces or 218 grams) packed golden brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups mashed or pureed very ripe bananas (5 to 6 large)
6 tablespoons (3 1/4 ounces or 91 grams) sour cream or (weight will vary) plain yogurt
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of 2 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper, then coat the paper and sides of pans with butter and flour, or a nonstick spray. [You'll also want to butter and flour 3 muffin cups or ramekins.]

Whisk cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl and set aside. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until blended. Beat in eggs one at a time, then bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients in two additions just until combined. Divide batter among two pans; you’ll want approximately 5 cups of batter per pan. [Fill your 3 muffin cups or ramekins two-thirds of the way up with batter and divide remaining batter among your 2 9-inch pans.]

Bake cake until tester inserted into center of each layer comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. [Muffin cups should bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Please watch them carefully.] Cool each layer in its pan for 15 minutes before flipping out onto a rack to cool the rest of the way.

Buttercream Frosting - this was a French buttercream that my pastry chef sister made for me! I split the recipe into 2/3 and 1/3 - the 2/3 got an additional 5 oz of melted semisweet chocolate to make the brown, and then the 1/3 got 1 spoonful of the chocolate frosting and some drops of yellow food coloring to make the yellow part of the monkey face. The link above is to a similar recipe, although I can't promise the niceness of having someone else make it for you!

Alternate Frosting
I didn't want Joseph to have a ton of sugar, so I mixed cream cheese and applesauce together for the frosting on his cake. (Joe I says it tasted pretty good!) I then decorated with leftover chocolate buttercream.

All in all we had a good time. Joseph still went to bed at a reasonable time, even with staying up to 'open' his presents (ok, Mom and cousins might have helped him a bit with that). I'm so proud of him and of making it a whole year as a mom! (Without serious injuries! haha)

One year! (Almost!)

It is hard to believe but my adorable son will be the big number ONE tomorrow! Hooray!!!

We have come so far so soon - it seems like only yesterday that he was a smushy little ball of love, barely able to move, and today Joe told me that he saw Joseph start to take steps! CRAZY!

We rearranged the living room and dining room last night (since the projector bulb broke, there's no need to keep it in the layout we had before) so he now has more room to wander. It feels much more open now, and he has a little corner all to himself (already full of toys!). Pictures of the birthday boy and the new layout will be forthcoming once I find the card reader for the camera. ;)

So now the question is: do we replace the projector bulb ($200 and will last for about 4 years) or do we pony up the big bucks and buy a TV (probably in the $600-$800 range)? We haven't owned a TV since we got married, but with Joseph starting to be more into things it might be nice to watch some Veggie Tales or Sesame Street once in a while without having to set up a projector screen.

Mom-i-verse, what say you? Is TV good in moderation or better to just avoid at all costs?

Bacon-licious Corn Chowder

This weekend I made two soups with bases of bacon, onion and garlic. The corn chowder was so yummy that I had to post the recipe! (The other soup is awaiting taste testing in my fridge because we had a date night last night. :)

This is another 'use up things in my pantry' recipe, and I must apologize for those who can't tolerate dairy as it is most definitely NOT dairy-free! I am able to have dairy again, so have been relishing the taste of real cheese and milk. Milk by itself is not a good option all the time, but milk in things like soup is fine for me! Hooray!

Ashley's Quick and Easy Bacon-licious Corn Chowder
Ingredients:
1/2 lb bacon, chopped into bite-size pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced (or use a Garlic Press - I love my Pampered Chef one!)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken stock (or 1 tsp bouillon paste + 1 cup hot water)
4 cans corn, drained
2 cans whole new potatoes, quartered - reserve water from 1 can, drain other
1 can condensed milk (12 oz)
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Process:
Place large pot on stove, turn burner to medium-low. Add olive oil, garlic, onion, and bacon. Cook until onion is soft and bacon is at your preferred level of doneness (mine was medium, ~10-15 minutes), stirring often to avoid burning. Add corn, potatoes, chicken stock, and water from 1 can of potatoes. Stir and let cook for 10 minutes so that the corn and potatoes get the taste of the bacon (keep stirring every so often to avoid burning). Add condensed milk, cheddar cheese soup, Parmesan, and spices, stir until well-combined and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring periodically. Turn off burner and remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes (or you'll burn your tongue like I did!) and serve with garlic bread, cornbread, or rolls. Serves 8-10.

This was a great lunch on a cold, rainy Rochester day! My husband, brother-and-sister-in-law, and three nephews all liked it too. Enjoy!

In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms

While feeling down (due to PMS) and walking through Wegmans, I came across this book: In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I've been dealing with some mental/emotional issues with my decision to stay at home, so thought I might give the book a look-through and see what it had to say. I am so glad I bought it!

As a working mother with two college degrees, I have had a range of reactions to my decision to leave work. Some have supported my decision and said "That's great!" Others have been more negative and implied that I was going to lose my skills/intelligence/usefulness by leaving my job. Granted, the naysayers are fewer in number than the encouragers, but it can be hard to deal with when they are people you respect (or thought you respected).

This book was totally helpful to me in that it a) helped to validate my decision to stay home and b) offered wisdom on dealing with the changes that will occur and the various emotions that will come as I change my perspective. I also agree with Dr. Laura's assessment that colleges train women to think that their best contribution to the world should come from being 'career women.'

I went back to work after Joseph was born because I felt like I 'had to' for financial/benefits reasons, and, honestly, because I felt like I 'needed to' in order to prove that I could do both (since I'm so 'educated'). As a result, I've had more struggles with trying not to cry as I leave my son every morning--although thankfully I have had the privilege of having my sister, a very loving auntie, watching him instead of an institution--than I ever have had with leaving work at the end of the day. My entire life has changed, and I no longer want to put my energy into primarily supporting work instead of my family.

Don't get me wrong - I love my job, have a great boss and co-workers, and feel very blessed to have been able to earn income doing something I like for 4+ years. I know many other people would trade places with me in a heartbeat. However, my son is more important, and there is no one else in the world (not even my mom or sister or mother-in-law) who can be his MOM!

Here's to all the stay-at-home moms out there - HIP, HIP, HOORAY! I look forward to joining you soon.

Poopy Picasso

We have finally experienced one of the 'parenting horror stories' that are hilarious and a turn-off for potential parents all at once! Hooray! Below is my abbreviated reenactment of yesterday morning:

7:00 am - Wake up to baby crying, change his diaper and put him into a disposable because the cloth ones are downstairs, nurse. (I do not replace the pajama bottoms as I am planning to change him into his church clothes soon. This will be important to note in a few.)

7:30 am - Decide to go back to sleep for a few, hubby puts baby in crib. All is quiet on the western front, which was, in retrospect, unusual because Joseph screams when he's in his crib normally.

8:00 am - Joseph starts crying - we think, oh, he must need a diaper change. Hubby gets up to get himself and baby ready for church, while I stay in bed and am a bum because I don't feel too hot. He walks by the baby's room to go get a cloth diaper to change him into.

Suddenly, I hear "Ashley! Get the bath running!" I sit up in bed and say "What?" as I am still sleepy. "Joseph took his diaper off and there's poop everywhere! Start the bath!" Again, I say "WHAT?" as I am hoping this is a joke.

I get out of bed and walk down the hallway. Joe already has the baby in the tub with water running. I walk into the baby's room, smell poop, look at the crib, and see poop EVERYWHERE!

Somehow Joseph took off his diaper (either before or after pooping), and then decided it would be a good idea to smear poop all over his crib - all over the sheet, all over the toys in the crib, over some of the bars on the side. It was disgusting! I instantly grabbed the Clorox wipes and started cleaning gingerly, trying not to dislodge more of the stuck on fecal matter from the sides of the crib. GROSS!!!!

After about 45 minutes of elbow grease, order was restored. However, I now have to call the doctor's office and tell them that Joseph ate poop!

Any other 'parenting horror stories' out there worth sharing?

Overnight Diapering Problems...

Sigh... as all my loyal readers (all 5 of you ;) know, I am a cloth diapering user and proponent. However, this past week we've been having problems with our overnight diapering: My little man developed an irritation on his pee-pee that was bleeding!!! YIKES!!!

Thankfully it was just a little dot here and there, but it's been consistent every few days with a little drop of blood on his diaper in the morning. NOT what you want to see.

I'm not sure why it's been happening, but we took him to doctor and they gave us some ointment to put on it, and recommended either using disposables or "softening" the cloth diaper in some way so it wasn't so irritating. We've gone down to one liner during the day, which has seemed to help, but the overnight has been the issue.

For now, the plan is to switch to disposables for overnights until the irritation is gone, then to try some different cloth diapering solutions and see which one works best. I found this page on the Cotton Babies website that was helpful, so I ordered 3 BumGenius stay-dry diapers with some extra microfiber inserts and hemp liners to try. I also decided to try the hook and loop (aka Velcro) diapers instead of the snaps as a) we've only been using snap covers and b) they seem more adjustable, so we will hopefully be able to get a good fit.

Here's hoping this works! Anyone else have any overnight ideas for me to try?

Crazy Moms

 

Image credit: http://youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com/saf-seeking-emotional-deliverance/crazy-mom-twitter-facebook-stalking/

Top ten reasons why people think moms are crazy:

10.) Moms talk to themselves all the time. (It's only because the baby books say that talking around your baby is good for language development! No, really.)

9.) Moms cry at commercials. (Well, at least I do... must be those pesky hormones.)

8.) Moms wipe off boogers, snot, drool, spit-up, etc. with their hands and/or clothing like it's no big deal.

7.) Moms can understand toddler speak as though it's English.

6.) Moms talk about the condition of their child's bowel movements with anyone who will listen.

5.) Moms wake up in the middle of the night to check and see if their baby is still breathing. (Yes, I did this too.)

4.) Moms think that their baby is the most beautiful thing in the world, even when the baby looks like a squished up little old person.

3.) Moms sing songs about anything and everything... just to make it fun!

2.) Moms actually care if their child's clothing--which will inevitably be getting covered in food, drool, or worse--matches.

1.) Moms go through labor and, once it's over, would go through it AGAIN!

I hope you enjoy the list, and let me know if you have anything else to add!