Daycare Pants

So...I admit that we don't always change Grant's diaper right when we should. Now, because all his poops aren't as loud as they used to be, sometimes we don't even know when he goes. Sometimes, I hear him go and think "I'll change him in a minute" and thirty minutes later I remember. Add that to the list of reasons that I'm not going to get the Mom of the Year award. But twice this week Grant has come home in "daycare pants". These are evidently community pants. The first time it was funny. Husband pointed to them on the washer and said "He came home in that because he wrecked his clothes". I laughed. Today, I had to actually see Grant in the daycare pants. It was simultaneously hysterical and sad. This is why:


Why are the "daycare pants" not gender neutral??

We keep extra onesies at daycare for this exact reason. Why has it never occurred to me to send pants too? You can see why I found it so funny. LOOK at that outfit. My first instinct was to blame the daycare. The lady who takes over the infant room at 5:00 is...less than attentive. She makes a show of changing Grant as soon as Husband picks him up every day. So he was probably sitting in poo and that's why it came out of his diaper. But, I should have extra pants there for him because he shouldn't have to dress like a girl. Unless he wants to. But we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. So, my to do list this weekend includes buying some daycare pants for Grant that don't say "I'm the next Boy George!"

Everything You Never Wanted to Know

So, I decided to spiff up my blog a bit and I wanted to show it off. I'm still tweaking things, but feel free to let me know what you think! Anyway, I decided to do an "all about me" post for lack of anything more interesting to write about.

So here it is: Everything that's going to make you think I'm weirder than you had ever imagined.

Ha!

1. I put cheese on everything. I love it more than I can explain. Sometimes when I go out to eat, if I am craving a cheese burger I usually won't order it because they won't put enough cheese on it.
2. I don't trust butterflies. I think they are tiny winged terrorist bent on my destruction.
3. I like the way my dog's eyes and ears smell. My husband finds that disgusting.
4. My inner child is actually my inner fat kid. His name is Lewis and he's 9 years old. He's overweight because his dad left and his mother's boyfriend is verbally abusive. He prefers to watch TV all day with his dog - who is also overweight.
5. I love to bake cheesecake but I rarely enjoy eating it (unless it's from the Cheesecake Factory which doesn't really taste like cheesecake).
6. I think my favorite food is probably a grilled cheese sandwich.
7. Bad grammar (or mispronunciation of simple words) does not just bother me, it actually makes me angry.
8. Every time I get really hungry I always think of the part from Willy Wonka (the real one) when Augustus says "Let me in! I'm starving!" in his chubby kid voice.
9. I think the best feeling in the world is holding my little boy. The second best feeling in the world is when I take off my bra after I've been wearing it all day long.
10. I despise my front teeth. I think they are so huge that people could pay me to advertise on them. But now, because Grant might have teeth like mine someday, I'm trying not to hate them so he won't hate his.
11. If we run out of Q-tips and I can't clean my ears with them after a shower, I feel dirty all day.
12. I like my job.
13. My favorite dessert is ice cream. I will always choose that over any other dessert.
14. I am a closet Martha Stewart fan.
15. I still watch "Murder, She Wrote" and I want to be Jessica Fletcher.
16. Four and a half years ago I had absolutely no interest in hockey. I unwillingly accompanied Husband to game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals because he promised me hot dogs if I went quietly. I was hooked before the first intermission and have been a Canes fan ever since.
17. I DVR Keeping Up with the Kardashians and I am not ashamed. Don't judge me.
18. I want to move to the NC mountains. Or any mountains, really.
19. I think frozen pizza is gross.
20. Jello makes me gag. Just watching it jiggle makes me gag.

Grant + Cereal = Funny Faces!

Four month check up today! Grant has not gained as much weight as we thought he had. He's just under 13 pounds (was 10 pounds 5 oz. at his two month check up). I was surprised to hear that he's 25 inches long now! He's getting too big and it's not fair! But, as they say, life isn't fair. So, aside from measurements and vaccinations (always a treat) we were given the green light for solid foods! So - after a trip to the DMV to renew my expired license - I headed straight to the grocery store for the requisite rice cereal!


Please disregard the flashlight and other husband debris in the background.

It looks like instant mashed potato flakes:



Again with the husband debris...

Which you mix with formula until it's "soupy but not soupy". Oddly, I completely understood that.


Yummy...

 Getting ready for the big moment:

"Here comes the airplane..."

And...



No thanks Mommy.

Evidently the spoon explodes on impact because I don't
recall getting the spoon near his nose...or anywhere near
his hair but it ended up there too.

And it pretty much continued like this:

I think he was over it before we even started. But I had to keep trying! I was so excited and he just burst my bubble. It wasn't a good day to start something like this. After being messed with by the doctor and then his shots he was a cranky little man. But we shall try again tomorrow! And after we get him used to the cereal (the pediatrician said a week or so) we can start on stage one vegetables so stay tuned for our next feeding installments!

New Recipe: Praline Bundt Cake

So, one of my goals for 2011 is to try at least two new recipes each month. If I try more then Yay! but if not...hey, I've got a baby that needs attention. So I've already had the opportunity to try a new recipe! It's one I've had my eye on but, for some reason, just haven't made it yet. It's Praline Bundt Cake from the December 2007 issue of Southern Living. It's a very time-consuming cake but it looked so delicious I had to try it.

The garnish on the cake are sugared pecans. YUM! I have a recipe for these but in my attempt to follow the recipe exactly I made the ones in the recipe. They got a little burned. That's what I get for following directions!

Then I mixed up and baked the cake:



I was encouraged by the results! It wasn't burned.
Usually I burn anything in a bundt pan.

When it had finally cooled it was retardedly late so I went to bed. I do too much baking at night!



Nothing like some morning motivation to make some icing!

So, I got up early this morning to make the icing/glaze. Not too early...I slept past my alarm - again. My excuse will be that husband was snoring again and I couldn't go right to sleep last night. FYI: Breathe right strips only work for people who snore through their nose...they have yet to invent something for mouth-snorers.



Making the glaze...YUM!

And here is the finished product:

Which was evidently tasty:



Even I ate it...and I plan to eat more tomorrow. Most people who know me know that when I bake I usually don't want to eat it afterward. There was only one thing I baked that I really enjoyed eating...but there is another one the list! And there isn't even chocolate in this!

In case you didn't notice, I put the link to the recipe above which I will try to do any time I put up a post about a recipe attempt.

Notes/Suggestions:

• The pecans burned even though I followed the recipe. In the future, I will try to cook them at a lower temp (perhaps 325 instead of 350?) and probably stir them sooner than the recipe called for.
• The recipe said to bake the cake for 1 hour and 15 minutes but it only took an hour in my oven.
• With most cake recipes I have to double the icing/frosting/glaze. Not this one! There was plenty of icing with just one batch (and I even had to throw out a little bit).

This was a great new recipe. Totally worth the time and effort and I can't wait to make it again...or at the very least to enjoy some leftovers with my coffee tomorrow :)

Bye-Bye 2010!

I can't say that I'm sad to see this year go. We have, as I've said in past posts, had as much sadness this year as we've had happiness. But I won't dwell too much on that! I'm happy to welcome 2011 because I think it's going to bring good things!

A look back at our 2010:



On January 19th we got our first look at our new addition.





On April 1st we found out our new addition
was a little boy

 

On May 21st we lost my mother to cancer

(pictured above with me when I was little and then dancing with me at my wedding)




On August 26th our little man Grant Jay made his debut



We celebrated our first Halloween, Thanksgiving,
and Christmas as a family

My goals for the new year:

• Become a "stay-at-home mom" for Grant.
• Find a good doctor so I can get regular check-ups and stay healthy (recommendations are welcome but if I hate the doctor I will blame you - I'm picky).
• Make more time to play with Grant.
• Get a hair cut! (Looking for a new place - again recommendations are welcome...and again with the blaming thing)
• Clear off the dining room table - and keep it clean - so we can have family dinners. No TV, no computer, just us and our good company!
• Try at least two new recipes each month (dinner, dessert, breakfast...doesn't matter as long as it's new)

What I'm looking forward to:

• Planning a 1st birthday party! This is tops on my list. I've made quite a few 1st birthday cakes (check out some of my cakes here) but I'm finally going to make one for my own child! So I'm really looking forward to that.
• More of Grant's milestones: crawling, sitting up, walking, talking
• Hopefully, a visit to NY to show off our cute baby boy to any family and friends who haven't been able to meet him yet.
• Our first Mother's and Father's days.
• A better year.