Lucky 13

Hard to believe that on February 28th, 13 years ago, The Doc and I took that leap of faith from friendship to something more. Even though it was such a long time ago I remember it like it was yesterday!



Are we not the *cutest* couple ever?!? (ok, you can go barf now!)

Dish of the Week: Gnocchi Nicoise

This weeks dish is Gnocchi Nicoise, a dish that I found in my Food Network Magazine.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces bacon, diced
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 pound coarsely ground beef (look for "chili grind")
2 tablespoons brandy or red wine
3 shallots, chopped
1 cup diced carrots
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 15-ounce can plum tomatoes
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2 1-inch strips orange peel
2/3 cup nicoise olives, pitted and chopped
1 package (about 1 pound) vacuum-packed gnocchi

Directions
Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and garlic; cook until the bacon starts to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the ground beef; cook, stirring, 3 minutes. Add the brandy, shallots, carrots, celery and tomato paste; cook until the vegetables soften, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Crush the tomatoes into the pan with your hands and add any juices from the can. Stir in the broth, bay leaf, orange peel and olives. Bring to a simmer and lower the heat; cover and cook 20 minutes. Uncover, increase the heat and bring to a boil to thicken the sauce.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil the gnocchi until one floats to the top, about 1 minute. Drain immediately to prevent the gnocchi from becoming mushy. Remove the orange peel and bay leaf from the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Toss the gnocchi with the sauce.

The Verdict:
The Doc gave this dish a solid 4 stars even though he is not a huge fan of olives. I personally love them, though they could be omitted and it would still taste great! It just wouldn't be nicoise then! I couldn't find the nicoise olives so I used kalamata olives instead (gaeta olives would work as well). I also used frozen gnocchi because that is what I found at my local supermarket. Just keep in mind it takes more than a minute to cook! This makes the perfect dinner for a cold winter night!

Shaun's New Shoes

Now that Shaun is trying to move himself around, I decided it was time to retire his Robeez and get him some pre-walkers from Stride Rite. He isn't crawling yet but he has three new ways to get from point A to point B. The first is a butt scoot, made easier with the hardwood floors. The second is rolling from belly to back until he's reached his destination. And lastly is what I call the backwards belly slide, where he pushes himself backwards when he's on his belly. In any case, I think it's time we started looking into gates!

Handsome in his new shoes!


Showing off the traction:


Just because I haven't posted a picture of the boys together in a while!

The Dish of the Week:

I always liked to cook and try new dishes. I cooked in college, when the Doc was in medical school (the first time we really lived on our own), and even when we moved to Philly before David was born. However, it wasn't until after David was born that I decided to broaden my horizons. I became slightly addicted to cooking shows on the food network, like 30 Minute Meals, and now we try at least one new dish a week!

Those of you who know the Doc, know that he's not one for gushing. This sometimes makes it hard for me to tell how he really feels about the recipe. If he doesn't like something I have made, it's in his best interest to tell me so that I don't make it again! I appreciate the honesty, and even when he tells me he doesn't like something he always makes sure to compliment the effort (he's a smart guy!). That was when we came up with our star system (like in movies) - after each new dish he'll give it anywhere from 1 to 5 stars.

Last week we ended up trying four new dishes. Here is the winner (according to the Doc):

Crock Pot Mongolian Style Beef

Ingredients:
1 lb beef flank steak, sliced thinly across the grain
1 medium white onion or yellow onion, sliced thinly (about 1 cup)
½ cup light soy sauce
½ cup dry sherry
½ cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
¼ cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
½ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
¼ cup cornstarch
1 cup cut scallion, in 1 ½ inch pieces (green onions)
1/3 cup fruity white wine

Directions:
1. Slice the flank steak thinly across the grain - the strips should be 2 to 3 inches long each; set aside.

2. Combine the onion, soy sauce, sherry, broth, garlic, hoisin, brown sugar, ginger, and pepper flakes, then put the mixture into the crock pot.

3. Put the cornstarch in a large Ziploc bag; add the sliced beef and toss well to coat.

4. Add the coated beef into the crock pot, gently pushing it into the liquid to cover; pour the white wine over - do NOT stir.

5. Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours; an hour before you're going to serve, turn the crock pot to high, add the cut scallions, stir, and cook for an additional hour.

Stir, and serve over rice or noodles.

The Verdict:
The Doc gave this dinner a solid 4 stars. It was lacking in the veggie department so next time I will be adding some sugar snap peas, broccoli and maybe some water chestnuts. We served ours over basmati rice. This is a great no fuss dinner for those days you just don't feel like doing much in the kitchen!

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day, the *holiday* invented by 1-800 Flowers, Hallmark & Russell Stover, but this year I was actually looking forward to this day of love. Today was David's first Valentine's party at the Rec Center, where we have playgroup three times a week. I was able to buy David's first box of Valentine cards and this morning, before his party, we filled them out for all his friends.

Each kid had a mailbox with his/her name on it; David got to put a card in each box. It was a lot of fun, and David enjoyed frosting his own heart shaped cake. Sadly, the Doc is on call this weekend so he wasn't able to come to the party, but I made sure to have a nice dinner waiting for when he finally got home at 7:30.

Here are a couple pictures from the party!

David's cake


Shaun playing


David singing songs at morning meeting


The Valentine mailboxes

Hi, My Name is Pam and I LOVE to EAT!

So it's not real secret how much I love food - it's seriously amazing that I don't weigh like 300lbs. After having David my baby weight came off pretty quick, and I was almost back to my original weight before getting pregnant again with Shaun. After Shaun, I lost the first 20lbs very quickly (thank you breastfeeding) but the last 10 stuck around. I was having a hard time getting rid of it.
The first thing we did was change our eating habits drastically. It is amazing how much eating out can have an impact on your weight. Just by cooking every night I was able to drop another 5lbs. Then in October we bought the Wii Fit and I started to do a Wii workout during the boys naps. In 6 months I was back down to the weight I was before Shaun. I was so happy. My motivation was seeing the Doc drop 30lbs since summer because he started running again. I couldn't very well sit on my lazy butt while he was getting in shape and being healthy!

Now since we live in New England and it snows here in the winter (a lot), the Doc wasn't going to be able to run outside much. He had always talked about getting a treadmill, but it's expensive and, frankly, he's cheap! I mentioned this to his family and suggested that they get him Sears cards for Christmas. So after the new year we became the proud owners of a Nordic Trak treadmill! I started to use it as well. I have never been one for running, (I prefer the elliptical machine) so I thought I would just use it to sort of power walk.

Well the Doc challenged me and said that I should try to jog. I didn't think I could but I figured it couldn't hurt and I could always go back into a walk. Well I am now up to 20 minutes of straight jogging in my 30 minute workout. It's not a fast speed but I am working on it and happy that I have been able to push myself to get to this point. I won't lie, it sucks, and I HATE it, but afterwards I feel great!

It wasn't until I was looking at some pictures from this summer that I realized just how much our hard work has paid off. The Doc is at a nice healthy BMI and while I still have more work to do but I am happy to be seeing some results! You can see below - pictures from the summer and more recent ones!!

Me in August (Shaun's Baptism)


This is me a couple weeks ago:


The Doc in August (Shaun's Baptism)


The Doc today!

David Charles (the 2.5 Addition)

Hard to believe that David will officially be 2-1/2 years old on Monday. I have even started thinking about pre-schools!! YIKES! I am pretty sure I have decided on the pre-school we will send him (it was recommended by a Mom at our playgroup). Two girls from his playgroup will most likely be joining him there so he'll already have some friends in school!

I am also happy to be able to report a growth spurt! Wednesday was David's check up and he no longer falls into the "runt" catagory! He has jumped up to the 50th percentile in his height!! I actually didn't believe it and had the Doc remeasure him at home. Sure enough, he is just about 3 feet tall (35.5 inches to be exact)! His weight (29lbs) put him in about the 45th percentile. He's just an average Joe now!

There were no shots this appointment, but he did have to have blood drawn (checking for lead levels) and he was the bravest boy ever! I told him that the lady was going to pull up his sleeve, find the spot on the other side of his elbow, and then Mommy would kiss it better. He sat on my lap and watched as the lady took out the butterfly needle and stuck it in his arm. He seemed almost facinated. She told him how brave he was and then looked at me suprised that he never even flinched. When it was over she put a band-aid on his *boo-boo* and a sticker and not even two seconds after it was over he looked at me and said nonchalantly "Hey Mom, kiss it better now!"

He still loves to sing songs and his newest phase is the Imagination Movers. I actually don't mind this one, in my opinion it's WAY better than the Wiggles. They're more like a band that plays kids music as opposed to the human version of the Teletubbies. When he watches he gets his toy drum out and plays along with them while singing all the songs. It's pretty funny and I really should get it on video! He can recognize the entire alphabet and has finally figured out his colors. He is always asking to wear his *Geen* shirt. We started working on numbers and counting. He loves to do his workbooks with Daddy before bedtime. Hopefully in a couple months he'll be more interested in potty training but for now he couldn't care less if he sits in a wet or poopy diaper. Gross, I know, but I don't want to push it. He'll sit sometimes but I don't think he's quite ready for full speed ahead.

That is about all for David updates and of course, no blog post would be complete without pictures!

What?! It wasn't me...


Just hanging out


Taking a break from his workbook to smile for the Camera

And now being silly for the camera

Shaunisms

Shaun is really starting to show off his personality. He is very demanding at times, but also very silly. He loves to blow raspberries and smile at anyone who even gives him even an minute of their time. Recently, he started moving himself around. First it started with him pivoting while sitting on his mat, and now he is starting to push himself backwards while lying on his belly. I think we'll be seeing him crawl in the not so distant future. I could be wrong though, I mean I was sure he would have had a mouth full of teeth at this point (he has been drooling like a dental patient who had too much novocaine since he was 4 months old).

Looking more and more like a big boy!


Showing off his smile!


Taking a nap.


All clean after tubby time!


Playing with his big brother and being silly!

All I Could Do was Laugh:

So David is just a riot. I know I have said this before, but this story proves it. We were in Target yesterday (I know big surprise there) and walking down the aisle with the baby food. Shaun was sitting in the front of the shopping cart and David was walking along beside me. I was looking at the various flavors of jar mush to feed Shaun for the next week when David yells really loud - "MOM, I JUST FARTED!!"

I just laughed to myself and said, "that's nice David" and continued grabbing different jars of baby food. It didn't even phase me because this is his latest milestone (if you want to call it that); announcing to the world when he passes gas. But then he caught me off guard when he yelled "EXCUSE ME".

It was at that moment I realized we were not alone in the aisle when I heard the lady at the other end start cracking up. All I could do was shrug my shoulders and laugh along with her.

Snow (and lots of it!)

I have to admit that I am impressed by all the snow that has fallen so far this winter and it's only mid-January! That being said, I love it!! I love looking outside (from the comfort of my warm & toasty living room) and watching the snow fall. It's so pretty the morning after a snow storm and the trees are all covered in white! Since we spent the previous three winters in Philadelphia, we didn't really see much snow. Now that we are back in New England, I made sure that David was prepared with his first pair of snow boots and snow pants.

David has been having a blast playing in the snow, helping Daddy shovel the driveway and sledding at his Grammy and Papa's house.

Here is David watching the very first snow fall this winter:


Helping Daddy shovel:


First time Sledding with his buddy Jesse:


Getting bundled up to play outside with Savanah and Little John:


More sledding!




Ready for more!

7 Months...time is flying!

So here we are, another month gone by and our Shaun is 7 months old. Time is really flying. He is so different than David in so many ways that we sometimes feel like first time parents all over again.

He has been eating solid foods for about two months now, loving all the yummy flavors he gets to try. With David, I would have been happy if he ate 1/2 a jar of baby food - Shaun eats TWO jars!! We have begun to slowly introduce him to the stage 3 foods that have more textures to them to get him to learn about chewing. We have also started giving him the teething cookies, though not very often as they are SO messy.


He has a couple new milestones. He has recently started to try to wave hello. He can stand and balance himself up against a toy or the couch longer before falling on his bum. He blows raspberries and started saying Ba-ba-ba. However, the greatest milestone, at least for me, is that he officially sleeps through the night! His older brother David didn't do that until almost 9 months old! He does have some nights where he wakes up for a minute and we'll go in to help him locate his binky, but then he goes right back to sleep again.

Here are some pictures of our little man taken today:

Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year! I can't believe that another year has gone by and we are beginning a new one. Many people are inclined to make a New Year's Resolution, myself included. It's generic; but I am with the millions whose resolution is to get in shape. A new year is also a good time to make some changes and try new things.

It's been over a week now that David has not needed to use his binky. I thought it may be a fluke, at first as he was very attached to his binkies. He always had to have AT LEAST three binkies to sleep at night; one in his mouth and one in each hand. I was beginning to become concerned by the fact that he was chewing on them and that he could choke on the broken pieces. It was surprisingly very easy to wean him from his beloved binkies, and he hasn't asked for them since. They have now been replaced with a stuffed Mickey and stuffed Donald Duck, but at least I no longer have to worry that he may choke.

David's New Year's Resolution:

Be a good big brother to Shaun


Help out around the house!


Shaun has also started to try new things. We introduced him to the sippy cup. I put some juice in the cup to see what he would do. He seemed to like it but needed help holding the cup. He has only had a handful of bottles so holding onto the cup was a new experience. The other adjustment was to how fast the juice came out of the cup; the flow was so much that most of it ended up on his shirt. But since practice makes perfect we'll keep letting him try to figure it out!




He is getting so big. When I am not wearing him in the ERGO at the store or supermarket he is big enough to ride in the shopping cart now. Check out our big boy in the Target cart!


Shaun's New Year's Resolution is to start sleeping through the night! However, thanks to Dr. Ferber, he is sleeping much better! In fact, for the last few nights he woke up only once and only needed help finding his binky before going back to sleep. I am hesitant to say he is officially sleeping through the night yet, but confidant enough to say that we are VERY close!!

So I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year. I know we did, even though I was sound asleep when the Ball dropped. 2008 was a great year for us and I know 2009 will be even better!

Christmas on the Cape

Christmas is officially over. Our tree is down and all the decorations put away until next year. But when you have a big family and lots of people to meet up with you have the luxury of having more than one Christmas! This past Saturday we drove down to the Cape to spend the day with the Doc's extended family. We did a Yankee Swap, had a fabulous dinner, and celebrated Nana's 80th Birthday. Normally, since her birthday is two days after Christmas, she celebrates it in February, but since we were all together I don't think she minded the Happy Birthday wishes and the cake. I know David enjoyed helping her blow the candles out!

Here are some pictures of the fun day spent with family!

Great Aunt Karen, Omi & the Kids


David and Daddy


Shaun in his favorite place - snuggling with Mommy in the ERGO. Perfect for getting baby to nap so Mommy can enjoy Christmas dinner!


Happy 80th Birthday Nana!


Nana & Shaun


Great Aunts Vicki & Karen holding Shaun (that kid just loves to be held - I mean god forbid you put him down for 2 seconds!!)

Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe that Christmas is over and soon it will be time to take down the tree, decorations and lights. This year we celebrated Shaun's first Christmas, and he really enjoyed playing with the paper! David was so excited to see all the gifts that Santa had left him at his Omi & Grampy's house. Mother Nature was not so kind, sending howling winds Christmas Eve which knocked the power out for our Christmas morning. It was not ideal, but we refused to let that bring us down. Christmas spirit ruled the day! Here is a slide show of pictures we hope that Santa was as good to all of you as he was to us! Wishing everyone a safe and Happy New Year! All the best in 2009!

Caroling with David:

Each night before David goes to bed and after Daddy has read him his bedtime story we sing songs together. With Christmas just around the corner - I have been singing carols to him. His favorites are Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Jingle Bells. I have only been singing these songs to him for a couple weeks and he already has picked up the lyrics. He can sing Jingle Bells by himself (although the lyrics are a little off) and Santa Claus with assistance from Mommy!

Check out David's version of these classic Christmas Carols:

Santa Claus is Coming to Town:

Jingle Bells:

Fat Baby No More:

So our fat baby is now an average baby! He only gained ONE pound since his four month check up and about 1 inch.

Height: 27 inches
Weight: 18 pounds

That puts him in the 50 percentile for his height and weight so he is now just an average Joe.

He can now sit up and play with toys and rarely falls but he is so jumpy that sometimes he loses his balance. He can also stand and hold himself up on a toy at playgroup (you can see him playing with it in the previous post at the rec center). We were able to snap this picture of him holding himself up on the couch at Owen's party a couple weeks ago before he lost his balance and fell on his bum!


Since he has gotten so good at sitting up we felt confidant in his ability to sit up in the tubby! Check him out with David. It is so nice to bathe both boys at the same time!



Next on the list of his accomplishments will hopefully be sleeping through the night! It's a work in progress and I am currently (thanks to some great tips from my mommy board) doing some hardcore sleep training with him. The first night was rough and I am not sure who shed more tears me, or him. But if a few bad nights means that he stops waking up every hour at night, then I'll take it.