Bedrest

I've come down with a cold and am spending most of the day in bed with R2 and Harry Potter. So much for my laundry goal for this week. Wish me well. I hope to be back up to speed soon.

R2's first movie

R2 will be escorting Fred & I to a midnight sing-along of the Buffy musical episode tonight. Good fun will be had!

This is a double first, it's also a first first that wasn't first a first for Boo. Um, in other words, Boo hasn't been to a movie yet.

Tasty Tubers

Raised in the land where they are famously "Famous", I've always considered myself especially qualified to judge potatoes. Here are four of the best.

Mrs. Mitch's Fluffy & Whipped
Fluffy and dense all at the same time.

Serves 6

3 pounds white rose potatoes (You could use Russet or Yukon Gold but white rose is the best)
1 stick unsalted butter
½ cup-1 cup half and half (I usually use ¾ cup but it is really how creamy you like it)
½ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Peel potatoes and quarter them. Boil for approximately 20 minutes or until cooked throughout. At same time, melt 1 stick unsalted butter and half and half in a small saucepan on low. Drain potatoes and put in mixing bowl. I use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment but you could use a hand mixer as well. Put potatoes, sour cream and salt and pepper and start mixing. While mixing slowing pour butter/half and half mixture in mixing bowl until all butter mixture is incorporated. Add additional salt and pepper as needed.

Fred's Crispy & Roasted
Quick and easy dinner with crispy goodness, and bonus easy clean-up. From The Best American Classics cookbook, which is also recommended for tasty recipes and interesting reading.

Serves 4

1 whole kosher chicken, 3 1/2 - 4 pounds, giblets removed, fat around cavity discarded
2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes (Fred doesn't peel, you could if you wanted)
1 1/2 T olive oil
Salt & pepper

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Line the bottom of a broiler pan with foil and spray with nonstick vegetable cooking spray.

Toss the potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil, salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Spread the potatoes in an even layer in the foil-lined broiler pan bottom.

Wash, dry, and butterfly the chicken and position on the broiler rack pan. Place the broiler pan rack with the chicken on the top. Rub the chicken with the remaining oil and sprinkle with pepper to taste.

Roast the chicken until spotty brown, about 20 minutes. Rotate the pan and continue to roast until the skin has crisped and turned a deep brown and the meat registers 160 degrees in the thickest part of the breast, 20 to 25 minutes longer.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. With potholders, remove the broiler pan rack; soak up excess grease from the potatoes with several sheets of paper towels. Remove the foil liner with the potatoes from the broiler pan bottom and invert the foil and potatoes onto a baking sheet or second cutting board. Carefully peel back the foil, using a metal spatula to help scrape the potatoes of the foil as needed. With additional paper towels, pat off the remaining grease. Cut the chicken into serving pieces and serve with potatoes.

Oosje's Stuffed Baked
A long-time favorite, actually from Brennan's in New Orleans

Serves 2

2 large Idaho potatoes, scrubbed
4 strips bacon, quartered
1/2 cup chopped green onion
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Preheat oven to 400 and bake potatoes til soft, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Then reduce oven to 350 degrees.

While potato is cooling slightly to make handling easier, grill bacon pieces in a skillet until crisp. Drain off excess drippings leaving 3 tablespoons in skillet. Add onion and saute slowly. Remove skillet from heat.

Cut shallow lengthwise slice from each potato and carefully spoon out inside; add to skillet. Add cheese, cream and seasonings, mixing and mashing to blend thoroughly. Return skillet to low heat and heat through.

Stuff mixture into potatoes, drizzle with butter and dash with paprika.

Bake at 35o degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

Oosje's Warm Reds
A light, grown-up potato salad for a real dinner or brunch, mostly because it seemed like there should be one that your doctor/Boot Camp instructor would be OK with.

Serves 4 as a side dish

1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes
1/2 cup plus 2 T olive oil
3 T white wine vinegar
2 T white wine
3 T minced onion
2 T minced parsley
1 chive, minced
Salt to taste

Boil and dice potatoes.

Whisk together 1/2 cup of olive oil, vinegar, wine, onion, salt. Mix with warm potatoes. Let set 20 - 3o minutes.

Toss with 2 T olive oil, parsley & chives just before serving.

Red Wine in a Silver Bag

Solstice 1997

Bampa had invited his girls to join him on an 8-day float trip through the Grand Canyon. This was a trip he had been wanting to take for 20 years. Oosje and Auntie BSU declined. I eagerly accepted.

We had two guides, each with an assistant "swamper", two boats, and 26 new best friends. 14 of the friends were there together on an annual trip organized by Mike. There was a family of 4, a father and son, and a few others. There was a Dow chemist, a man who specialized in landmine removal, an aerobics instructor, and more. Although reality TV had not yet really launched, looking back we looked like the cast of Survivor or the Amazing Race. It was an almost perfectly planned cast of diverse ages, backgrounds and relationships.

We launched on June 21. From the moment of launch, the river looked and felt like it had been designed by Disneyland. We floated for a few minutes before we hit a few small bumps. Some of us who hadn't been rafting before didn't know that those were the small ones that we would barely notice only a few hours later. We cheered and laughed and hollered.

We stopped for lunch at a big cave. It had a name, I don't remember it now. Bampa had read about it and was hoping to see it. We played Ultimate Frisbee.

That night we made our first camp. The guides made dinner, which started by setting up the tables and getting out the beer, wine and soda. The beer was all canned and All-American cheap stuff. The wine was from a box, but, for travel, the boxes were discarded leaving silver bags with pour spouts. Dinner was fabulous. There was a campfire and we chatted with our fellow passengers.

Being Solstice, it was light late into the evening. But, everyone was tired and sore from a day in the sun, Frisbee on the sand, and too much good food. Bampa and I, like most of the passengers, put our sleeping bags on the sand without a tent, sleeping under the stars.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up and wondered, blearily, who had turned on the car headlights. That was rude in a campground. I peeked open one eye before I remembered where I was. The full moon was high in the sky, and the light that it cast bounced off the white sand flooding the beach with light bright enough to read by. A solstice moon to remember.

Let's do it again someday.

One Month

Yesterday was R2's one month birthday. He weighed in at 9 lbs, 8.7 oz. That's 2 1/2 pounds of milk-fed goodness in a month.

Goals for this month (or sooner):

1. Adjust R2's eating schedule from every 2 hours at night and 4 hours during the day to a more Mama-friendly schedule. That project started today by waking him up to eat during the day.

2. Expand the clean laundry that shows up in Mama's pile to more than nightgowns and panties.

Cousinpalooza, Part II

Welcome to Cousin McD, born May 24!

Cousinpalooza, Part I

Congratulations to the Captain & Aunt Fanny. Baby Girl is due November 27.

Old News: Travels to The Sunny State

I couldn't post photos while we were in the Sunny State, so here are some highlights of our travels. Long on pictures, short on words.

Saturday: Grandpa's Going Home Party

As I said, an amazing event honoring an amazing person.
Sunday: Meeting Aunt D. & Uncle D.
A special welcome to Strider's House! Sunday, Monday & Tuesday: Fun with Nanna and Papa, The Captain and Aunt Fanny

Boo found a hopping spider.

She got to help Papa make ice cream, just like her Daddy helped his Grandpa.

R2 supervised:

There was some wheelbarrow fun

Fair is fair, if Boo gets to sit on Nanna's lap, then Nanna should sit on Boo's lap, too. Wheelbarrowing was hard work, so popsicles followed:
There were ducks to be fed...

Shoes to try on...

Note the painted toes that match Mama's. Boo picked the colors (orange & pink).

And cuddling to be done...

Tuesday Evening: Fun with The Captain & Aunt Fanny

The Merry-Go-Round at Balboa

A trip to the beach. Boo wanted Daddy to put his feet in the water, but not her feet! Notice the Rainy-State-ish sky. Building sandcastles...

Knocking them down... Wednesday Morning: A Visit with Opa Hans
Playing with some of Opa's toys...
Talking to Granma...

Wednesday evening: Fun with Tom, Mrs. Tom, Offspring of Mr. & Mrs. Tom, Dave, and Mrs. Dave

Thursday: Sandy Gay-Go

Boo was excited to go to "Sandy Gay-Go" but was initially confused at why Dora's cousin (Diego), was nowhere to be found. But, Cousin H. showed fun tricks in the pool, so it ended up being OK in the end.

R2 and Poppa hung out and got to know each other.

And more cuddling, this time with Mr. & Mrs. Tattoo (and more, but Mama didn't get photos of everyone, oops!)

Friday: Dinner with Mitch & Mrs. Mitch, and their Puggish niece
Mitch predicted that Daddy would propose marriage to Mrs. Mitch when he tasted her potatoes. He was only half wrong. Mama did the proposing. Although Mrs. Mitch decided to stay with her current spouse (which is probably a good thing in the end), we did cap the fabulous dinner with a nice evening by the firepit and swimming pool.
Saturday: Fly home.

What? You thought there would be pictures of a toddler and an infant on the plane? Please! We were sleeping! Well, Mama was sleeping, Daddy was supervising the portable DVD player that, with the help of Dora, was keeping Boo in her seat.

Real Time

Daddy started his new job today. Boo is with her daytime family. R2 and I are home with Strider. He is sleeping in Lil's swing.

When Oosje was here for R2's first few weeks, Auntie BSU would call and ask her to tell one new thing about R2 every day. Here's some new things for today:

1. Ways R2 is different from Boo:

• Boo has a square-ish tush. R2's is kind of pointy.
• R2 has very long fingernail beds, like Mama. Boo has short, wide fingernail beds, like Daddy.
• R2 hates having a wet or dirty diaper. Boo never minded it, and still usually doesn't.

2. R2 sleeps for several 4 or 5 hour blocks during the day, and likes to eat every 2 hours between 10 pm and 6 am.

3. R2 laughs in his sleep sometimes. Deep belly chuckles.

4. I didn't expect that of of the hardest parts of having 2 children would be protecting R2 from the zealous affections of his big sister. She loves to hold him, give him hugs and kisses, bounce or rock him, and touch/pat/feel him. She can be very gentle sometimes, but her excitement takes over very quickly.

A trip to the beach

Boo feeds the ducks

I wish this had a soundclip of Boo laughing.

I scream, you scream

Boo and Papa made ice cream for Grandpa today. Boo helped put ice in the ice cream maker. Daddy showed her how to put it down people's shirts, which was big fun. Not as much fun as sampling and sharing the ice cream.

R2, on the other hand, had other snacks in mind today. He has eaten every 30 minutes since about noon. He's working hard on catching up to Lil.

An amazing party

Grandpa's party was an extraordinary event with extraordinary people. 100 invitations went out. 200 people showed up, and many more called in their regrets. Many words of tribute were spoken, many stories of the impact that Grandpa and Gigi have had in their families and community. Guests came from far-off places and lingered over an excellent red cabbage salad and sweet summer strawberries. It was a wonderful day.

Nothing but time & no time at all

I have a lot of time to think about blogs these days. Many hours a day (and night) sitting with R2 and letting my mind wander. But actually getting hands-free time at the computer is another story. This blog is dedicated to Daddy, who took an early morning shift with Boo so that Mama could sleep then and be awake during naptime.

There was "Jedi Master", the story of Helen, our amazing labor & delivery nurse from New Orleans who put everyone at ease with her compassion, kindness, and skill.

There was "Working without a Net", the story of the first day after Oosje and Bampa left and R2 and I were on our own for the first time.

There was "Boo's first Diva Toes" when Mama painted Boo's toes purple so that they matched Mama's. There are even photos from this one, that I will post, but I don't have access to now.

There was "Visiting Day", when R2 went to meet the daycare friends and Daddy's coworkers. He also met Mrs. Carl in REI while Mama was buying a backpack.

There were many others. Each day generates at least a few stories to tell. I can't go back and tell them all. And, now that I write that, I think I wrote it in my last post, too.

Here are the current highlights:

Thursday we had our "2 week" check-up. By this time, the doctors want to see babies back up to their birth weight. R2 was 12 days old and weighed in at 7 lbs, 14 oz. He seems to be gaining an ounce a day, which puts him at about 8 pounds today, his actual 2 week birthday, and a full pound over birth weight. The doctor was amazed. He's going to pass up his big sister and Cousin Lil very soon at this rate.

Strider's humans flew to California yesterday to meet the family & friends from the Sunny State. Many thanks to Fred who is staying with Strider and his new Fish Friends.

The trip went as smoothly as could be hoped for a family traveling with a toddler and a 13-day-old. Boo was very excited about the airplane. She was concerned about how we would get on the airplane because they are too high in the air to reach. Daddy showed her pictures and videos of airplanes taking off and landing.

Daddy went out in the morning and picked up coffee for the parental units. Boo was not happy that she didn't get coffee, too. She needed coffee, and she needed it now. We promised her hot chocolate when we got to the airport. Not good enough, it had to be coffee. She was satisfied with Starbuck's special hot-chocolate flavored coffee and asked for it again this morning.

Nanna had lots of special surprises waiting for us. Boo and R2 both had beds waiting for them, new clothes, and lots of toys. Boo now has an Elmo chair anda Dora chair at Nanna's house. There is also a Dora tricycle and a very nice teaparty table that has been a big hit. We've all enjoyed tea day and night, although not in the morning, because then it's time for COFFEE!

Nanna also had diapers, wipes, bath supplies, and everything else we needed waiting for us. She always does such a nice job getting ready for our visits. Thank you, Nanna.

It's time for Mama to get Boo & R2 ready for Grandpa's party!