Starting in the Basement

Hello blog, it’s been a while!  I am thinking of making one of my New Years resolutions to blog more but I generally do not have time to make resolutions until February.  : )

Here is my yearly recap of 2011.  It was quite a year.  Copy and paste into your own blog.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Had a baby.  Do I need to do more than that?  It seems like enough.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

My New Years resolution every year is to not google medical symptoms.  I did keep that resolution but I may now need to make a resolution to not google my child’s symptoms.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Me.  Sarah gave birth to the beautiful Cameron.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?

None…but 2012 will have a good answer!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

An Oregon address.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

March 20, 2011.  The day Camille was born.  Also, March 19, 2011, the day I actually went into the hospital.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

This one is hard.  I guess having a baby is a big achievement but it feels very ordinary when you think about all the babies out there.  Instead maybe I should say that my biggest achievement was surviving severe sleep deprivation for 9 months and not killing anybody.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Work stuff that I would not like to go into in public…

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

NO!

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My awesome stroller.  I have used it almost every day since Camille was born.  It was seriously expensive but worth every penny.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Rent and student loans.  Boo.

13. What did you get really excited about?

Babies!  And girls nights out away from the baby.  Camille meeting her relatives.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Adele’s entire album.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Happier, for sure.
– thinner or fatter? Much thinner!  Thanks to delivering a baby.
– richer or poorer? Poorer, because babies are expensive.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Taking care of myself by eating well and exercising.  Oh, and SLEEPING!

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worrying about being the perfect mom.

18. How did you spend Christmas?

In Portland, with family, eating and playing.  It was awesome!

19. What was your favorite TV program?

Dexter, Homeland, Breaking Bad, True Blood.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?

I really enjoyed The Language of Flowers and The Hunger Games series.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

I did not really get into music this year but I did sing a lot of Ray Lamontagne and Adele to Camille.  I also fell in love with James Blake’s version of A Case of You.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?

Um, there were films this year?  I saw two movies, 50/50 and The Descendants.  Both were pretty good but not favorites.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Celebrated at home with a few friends.  Camille was 2 weeks old so the excitement of my night was having sushi and a glass of champagne.  I turned 30.  I would like to have a giant 31st birthday to make up for a slightly lame 30th.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Being closer to family.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

Whatever is on the top of the pile.

26. What kept you sane?

Frenchie.   Family.  New mom friends.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Do it now or else it will never get done.

I was worried that once I had a baby I would no longer have time to read.  For now at least that has not been the case.  I am still able to read in the evenings, on the train and when I am letting Camille nap in my arms (which, of course, I never do. On a totally unrelated topic, does anybody know how to get a 7 month old to nap in their crib?).  I was turned onto The Hunger Games by somebody from my book club and I am so glad!  The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy of books so of course I was forced to read all three as quickly as possible!  It is a young-adult science fiction.  Now, I generally hate science fiction because all the made up sh*t makes it hard for me to follow, but I thought this series did a great job of having very little made up crap and names so I could actually keep track of all the different animals and people.  The series is a bit strange because it is about a post-apocalyptic world where the Capitol holds power and televises The Hunger Games where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl ages 12 to 18 from each district and has a massive battle where only one person can survive.

A little morbid, yes, but good!

Another pretty good book was A Good Hard Look by Ann Napolitano which is a fictional account of Flannery O’Connor’s life and stories about her hometown.  Not life changing, but a good read.

Now for babies!  Camille is eating solid foods as fast as I can make them (which is not very fast).  So far she has had apples, pears, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, banana, broccoli and avocado.  She has liked everything except avocado but I think it was kind of a gross avocado so I can’t blame her.

This picture is totally weird but funny.  Actually, she kind of looks like me in this picture!

I have not written in quite a while!  I guess the last time I wrote was right before I started working so that may explain things.  I was inspired by this post by SoMi to write about imperfections, or things that I don’t do that I should!  Join in!  It is liberating.

I don’t bathe Camille as much as I should.

I don’t use my gym membership.

I don’t read the news (but I try to listen to NPR in the mornings)

I don’t dust more than 3 times a year.

I don’t always turn off the TV when Camille is in the room.

I don’t iron.

I don’t eat a healthy breakfast (I eat toast with butter and jam almost every day!)

Of course there are things that I would like to change about my life but for now this is the best I can do!

Camille’s 5 month birthday was yesterday which meant two things.  First, it might finally be time to start reading the news again (who is Michele Bachmann and why do I care?), and second, I needed to come up with the 5 month baked good.   Since it is peach season here in the Northeast I wanted to make something with peaches that wasn’t too heavy.  I considered making a peach pie and molding the top crust into the shape of a 5 and then I pictured the scene when that went horribly wrong.  It involved peach pie being thrown out of our window, or maybe in Frenchie’s face, depending on my mood.  So I tried to simplify my idea which is something I have been doing more of lately and started looking for a peaches and cream cake.  I thought that seemed like a pretty obvious idea but it turns out not to be so popular.  At least not what I was picturing.  I found coffee cakes and non-frosting cakes.  I was picturing something like a tres leches cake but with peaches.  I didn’t have the right ingredients fo ra tres leches cake so I decided to go for a fluffy vanilla cake with a whipped cream frosting and peaches.

I ran into a couple of issues here.  First, I needed to pick a vanilla cake recipe.  My go-to white cake recipe is the White Butter Cake, but it is a little more dense than I was picturing.  I remembered a vanilla cake recipe from Sweetopolita and decided to go with that even though I was nervous about all the eggs.  Sometimes when cakes call for a lot of eggs they end up tasting very eggy.  I know, big surprise.  But the method was so weird I decided to give it a shot.  I mean, these cakes are all about having fun and experimenting while watching Camille grow up so I might as well take a chance, right??

This cake only uses egg whites but you do not whip them and fold them in as expected.  You just add them into the other ingredients in 3 batches and mix after each addition.  When I was pouring it into the pan I thought the batter looked a lot like box cake batter.  Later I actually read Sweetopolita’s post and realized that was what she was looking for.  The cake came out very light and fluffy.  I thought it worked really well for a light summer cake and it would go well with any fruit or berry.

I went with my favorite frosting, whipped cream cream cheese frosting but stupidly I thought I would try a different method at first.  I tried to just cream the cream cheese and sugar and then add in the whipped cream.  That resulted in a very runny frosting.  I then tried to fix it and made it SO much worse and had to dump it.  Unfortunately I was then out of all the ingredients and had to make a sweaty dash to the store (Boston had like 1000% humidity today).  I finally made the frosting the right way by whipping the cream cheese and sugar together, separately whipping the cream and then folding them together, and all was well.  I added the peaches in the shape of a 5 and we were ready to go (except that it kind of looked like an S).

Oh wait, I forgot the peach issue.  I forgot to buy farmer’s market peaches during the week so I asked Frenchie to pick some up from Stop and Shop.  Well, he found some lovely peaches but they were hard as a ROCK!  Since the only Sunday farmer’s market was too inconvenient to go to today I was stuck.  I ended up poaching the peaches so they were soft and slightly sweet but definitely not as good as peaches that actually ripened on the tree.

In the end it turned out pretty well, until Camille decided to stick her foot in the cake!  Silly baby!

A lot has changed since I last wrote.  Camille is 4 months old and she has already traveled across the country and moved into her second home.  If you are thinking of waiting until you have a 3 month old and are about to go out of town to move, I suggest you DO NOT DO THAT.  Worst weekend of my life.  We basically just powered through on no sleep or food.  It was almost a relief to get on that plane Sunday night and just sit.  Until Camille started freaking out and not sleeping.  : )  Luckily that only lasted for about an hour and I finally just continuously fed her until she had no choice but to sleep.  Then she slept the rest of the flight while I watched bad TV and made sure Frenchie didn’t drop her while they both slept.

Our vacation to Oregon was wonderful.  She did not seem bothered by the time change at all and she slept great after all the daily stimulation and new people.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the strawberries were delicious.  Camille got to meet her cousin and it was love at first sight.

It was also really fun to spend time with Margot, my niece, who turned 6 while we were there!

Camille also took her first hike.  We borrowed a friend’s jogging stroller which had great suspension and got us through some rough trail.  Well, it wasn’t really rough trail, just a little rough for a stroller.

We took a red eye back to Boston, which was rough for Frenchie and I but fine for Camille since she just slept the whole way, and found our new home in total disarray.  We have slowly made our way through all the boxes except for Camille’s stuff.  Frenchie says her room looks like a squash court because it is so empty.  I need to decide what sort of book/toy storage I want and we still need to buy a crib.  Unfortunately that requires decision making ability and money, neither of which we have.  Luckily I suppose Camille does not really know the difference.

I have also been distracted from organizing the new house with an almost crippling anxiety about going back to work in August and sending Camille to daycare.  After a couple days of agonizing, I finally made the decision that I need to at least start off working part-time and see how that goes.  So far my supervisor has been very supportive.  Unfortunately, the daycare we had lined up does not do part time so I also have to find a new childcare solution!  In the next 2 weeks.  I guess I should have made this decision sooner but I was in total denial that August was actually going to arrive.   Yet it is looming in my 15 day Accuweather forecast and I can no longer sleep.  I am sad and jealous that Camille will be spending her days with somebody besides me, I am worried she is going to get sick, I am worried that I won’t remember how to do my job, and I really do not want to wear real shoes again.  More complains, complains.

Luckily I have this precious baby smile to remind me that life is, in fact, really good.

Camille’s 4 month birthday snuck up on me so I decided at the last minute to make a lemon meringue pie because we had a lot of lemons.  It turns out lemon meringue pie and high humidity do not mix (duh) so it turned out pretty awful.  Still, here are the pictures of a very tired 4 month old and her pie.

When I am feeling particularly whiny this is what Frenchie says to me, “complains complains.”  Well today is one of those days.

We are moving on Saturday.  We are flying to Oregon on Sunday.  With a 3 month old.  For the first time.  I have heard that flying with infants is not that bad so I am trying not to be anxious…but I am.  While I am really really excited about moving into the new apartment I am anxious about moving day.  We have a few friends to help but I feel guilty because we are too old to have friends help us move.  So I am trying to make it is easy and have things ready to go but it is hard because our apartment is so cramped there is nowhere to put the boxes.  Also, Frenchie brought boxes home but only like 12.  Maybe he doesn’t realize how much crap we have?  AND, that baby likes attention and is not happy when I spend my time filling boxes instead of making her hippo talk, or feeding her ALL THE TIME!

Also, allergies, moving, and not being able to take allergy medicine do not go together.

Oh, and did I mention we have a lot of crap.  I have 3 tall kitchen bags full of shoes and I only ever wear flip flops.

Complains Complains

ps.  In case you think I am too negative I will say that I am very happy that it is not hot this week!

I can’t believe it has been three months already!  Camille is more fun every day.  She is playing with toys and especially loves this weird hippo toy.

This guy cracks her up!  She is starting to sit in her Bumbo seat and people are still saying that she has an incredibly strong neck.  I have no idea how or why she is so strong but it works for her.  She has also managed to turn some pages of her books and she rolls over from her stomach to back!  She still hates tummy time though…

For 3 months we had chocolate cake with my cream cheese whipped cream frosting.  I got the cake recipe from the Flour cookbook’s chocolate cupcakes.  It was good, but I still like Smitten Kitchen’s double chocolate cake recipe better.  But nothing was as good as making her smile in her Bumbo seat.

Do you have some old bananas waiting to be used?  Well, I have two ideas for you.  One, is a recipe for delicious muffins (with frosting, because who doesn’t love frosting?) and the other is for banana soft serve.  It turns out if you freeze a banana and then blend it with a little milk you get a texture resembling soft serve ice cream.  I was skeptical at first but I blended the frozen banana with a scoop of Nutella and a splash of milk and voila, ice cream!  It was delicious.  Next time I am going to try a scoop of peanut butter.  Or maybe a scoop of both…

Okay, now for the more complex recipe.  I have had a can of dulce de leche sauce in my pantry for a long time now and I kept waiting for inspiration.  I finally found it when I imagined my brown bananas with caramel sauce.

I wanted to make something for Frenchie’s sister’s visit so I thought these would be great because muffins are not a common French food.  She one-upped me by bringing these.

Well I can’t compete with that!  We had a great visit and I think Camille officially loves her French aunt.

Luckily she still politely ate my muffins while I drooled over the macarons.   Here they are.

Banana – Walnut Muffins

adapted slightly from Simply Recipes

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 F.  Mix bananas and sugar in a large mixing bowl or mixer bowl.
• Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla
• Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture
• Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated.  Mix in the walnuts
• Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin.  It if comes out clean, they are done.  Cool completely before frosting.

Dulce de leche Frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup dulce de leche sauce*
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (or to taste)
• pinch of salt

Using a mixer combine all ingredients until smooth.  Adjust vanilla and salt as desired.  The frosting is not overly sweet which I think works well with muffins.  If I was making a frosting for a cupcake I would add some powdered sugar.

*You can find dulce de leche sauce in the mexican food section of your grocery store.  You can also make it yourself with many recipes found on the internet.

The weather is heating up here.  By tomorrow it is going to be approximately 100 million degrees and I might die. I DO NOT handle the heat well and I am even more nervous with the baby because it turns out babies like to be close to you and when I am hot I DO NOT LIKE TO BE TOUCHED.  We only have air conditioning in our bedroom, and even there it does not work very well, so for the next couple of days Camille and I will be camped out in the bedroom drinking iced drinks.  With the hot weather I am trying to think of recipes that do not require a lot of cooking but are still more substantial than a sandwich or plain salad.  Yesterday I was on a mission to make a salade nicoise so Camille and I went on a hot search for anchovies and nicoise olives.  Unfortunately we only found the anchovies because I was not willing to walk all the way to Whole Foods for olives and Trader Joe’s has a lame olive selection. Any ideas on what to do with leftover anchovies?

Salade Nicoise

You can use a variety of vegetables for this salad.  I have listed what I used and the amounts depend on how many salads you are making.  Be generous with the vinaigrette.

Small potatoes, red, yukons or fingerlings work well, boiled and cooled

Green beans, boiled for 2 minutes and cooled

Orange pepper, sliced thin

Tomato, sliced into chunks

Canned tuna in olive oil

Anchovies

Hard-boiled eggs, cut in half

Lettuce

Fresh herbs for finishing

Directions:  After cooking potatoes toss in a bit of the vinaigrette and let cool.  Wash and dry lettuce and toss with vinaigrette.  Assemble your salad on a platter or on individual plates and sprinkle herbs and more vinaigrette over the vegetables.  Serve with bread.

Basic Vinaigarette

This recipe makes a cup of dressing but you can scale down if you are only using it for one salad

1/4 cup wine vinegar (red or white)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Mix all the ingredients in a jar and shake before using.

Family nap the morning after the salad…the cat lasted about 2.5 minutes on me before I got too hot and she had to be evicted from the bed.

We have almost 12 weeks of baby experience here in the basement and have narrowed down a few of our favorite baby items.  If you know somebody having a baby you may want to consider some of these as gifts.  Of course, everybody will have a different experience, but this is what has worked for us.

There is a big push for swaddling babies because they sleep an average of 45 minutes longer when swaddled.  That is HUGE for a new parent.  Camille has been swaddled since day 1 and I am still not ready to give it up.  There are many products to help with swaddling and we ended up with a lot of them.  For the first few weeks she was too small for any of these products so we just used blankets similar to these that my aunt got us from Pottery Barn.

We use the swaddling technique from the video, The Happiest Baby on the Block – The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Baby Sleep Longer (DVD), which also has some great tips for soothing babies.

When she gained a little weight we started using swaddle products and the easiest so far has been the Summer Swaddleme.

She rarely busts out of these although we have used them so much the velcro is starting to get a bit weaker.

Another unexpected gift was the Wubbanub.  These are soothie pacifiers with little stuffed toys attached.  The toy keeps it in place and eventually gives them something to hang onto.  Genius!!  We have the puppy but there are a ton of cute animals available.

Although there are lots of great, and adorable, pajama options for babies the last thing you want to do at 11, 1, 3, 5, and 7 in the morning is deal with snapping up pj legs after changing a diaper.  The gowns are awesome for sleeping and sometimes to hang out in all day if you have nowhere to go.  My favorite gown has snaps all the way down so you don’t even have to deal with the over-the-head dressing issue.  I don’t have the one below specifically but it looks nice and would make a great gift!  In fact, I think I am going to get this one because we only have one with snaps and it is dirty now.  Need more!

Snapibasic Side Snap Opening Gown