The Last Picture before

I was looking at old pictures and I came across this-

This is the last picture Randy and I took before we had Adam.  This was taken Friday and Adam arrived Tuesday.  I remember this day so clearly.  I had been doing nothing around the house.  I was SO pregnant and SO huge! Adam was 9 pounds and 1 ounce when he was born so he was at least 9 pounds that day.  By the end I was too pregnant to even drive or shop. I just wanted to do nothing! We had just moved to DC a couple months before so I didn’t have friends banging on my door and I was able to relax most days.  I would putter around, do some laundry, eat lunch and pretend to work on Adam’s nursery.
Randy got out of training early that Friday and I was so excited to be able to hang out with him on a work day.  It felt like we were playing hookey.  We decided to head to the movies.  Looking back we had no idea that this would be one of the last days we would spend just the two of us and a couple short days later it would be the three of us.
What did we do with our last moments of freedom you ask?  We went to see The Muppets (in retrospect a movie we’ll probably have to watch over and over with Adam, hmmm) then Chinese food at our favorite place in Chinatown. 
We were on our way home after that (at all of 8:30 pm) but maybe we deep down knew this would be the last night for a while we could do whatever we wanted, plus I was desperate to get that nine pound baby out before he got any bigger, so we decided to walk over to the White House Christmas tree (by walk I mean drive and park and walk across the lawn…hey at 39 weeks pregnant a walk is from your bed to the bathroom).  It was a pretty warm night for early December and we had such a sweet time.  We walked around and looked at all the little trees for each state, the train set, took pictures and talked about our baby that was almost here.
Just three days later it was Randy’s turn to finally hold him 🙂

It wasn't me

This was actually pretty funny to watch.  After explaining to Adam that he needs to be nice to the plants, he was trying to rub it’s little leaves, when it accidentally fell.  He got so startled when it fell. I gave him a hug and told him it was an accident and it’s ok, things break.

This will come as a shock to….well no one that I know..but growing up I was pretty clumsy.  Ok, I’m still pretty clumsy.  I remember one of my ex boyfriends used to get so mad at me when I broke something.  This would infuriate me.  I hadn’t done it on purpose.  I know I could have been more careful, but once something is broken there isn’t much you can do besides move on.

There are two main moments in my life that stand out where I broke something.  I remember these moments not because I broke something but because of how the other person reacted when I broke it.

The first was when I was about 13.  I had walked home from school and I didn’t have my keys (a common theme in my youth since the door was often open- my dad’s philosophy was if someone wanted to break in they easily could and this way he wouldn’t have to replace the door as well).  It was cold and I was knocking on the glass pane to our side door, probably harder than I should have, when the whole pane shattered (there were 8 panes on the top of the door so it wasn’t a huge piece of glass).  I remember so clearly though being so worried that I would get in trouble that I ran around the corner and hid for quite some time.  When I was finally too cold to wait any longer I headed home ready to face the wrath.  My father was home and he hardly even reacted.  He checked to make sure my hand was all right and then we went to Home Depot (our second home back then) to get a new pane.  Thinking about this day I still can’t remember why I was so worried, I’m sure with three not so careful kids my parents must have had A LOT of breakage)

The second time I was younger, maybe 10. I had gone fishing with friends of the family and their son.  It was the end of the day and we were waiting to load all of our poles and towels and caught fish into the car.  I was tired and wanted to sit, so I sat on the cooler.  Only problem was it was styrofoam.  It of course couldn’t hold the weight of a ten year old girl and collapsed.  I felt awful and fully expected to be in trouble, these weren’t my parents and they had been so nice to take me out fishing and now I had destroyed their cooler (looking back I guess styrofoam coolers aren’t that’s expensive).  Of course there was no negative reaction at all.  Just confirmation I was alright and that was all.

It’s funny the moments that stick in my mind.  I want to make sure when Adam accidentally breaks something, he doesn’t remember that moment when his mom yelled at him for breaking something but how the first thing she did was make sure he was alright and then help him clean up.

But let’s hope he takes after Randy when it comes to clumsiness 🙂

Life Lessons at Fully Booked

Adam started out this week with a bad cold and I’m ending it with the same one.  Hopefully we’ll all miraculously feel better by tomorrow and be able to enjoy the weekend.  Or maybe we’ll just have to stay home and cuddle in bed and watch Homeland. 

When Adam is sick it takes some imagination to fill the days.  We can’t go to the playground, gymboree or playgroups since I don’t want other babies to get sick too.

So….that leaves us with some time on our hands.

We spent some time dancing.  Adam was obsessed with the shadows!

Mid Dance move
 
We ate lots of watermelon! It’s our love of the week.
 
 
 
We took some long walks and saw this! What, Manila- you’re getting too cool for us! A pop up In-N-Out with a huge line?!
 
 
We whiled away some time in the supermarket looking for some new dinner ideas.  I wonder how exactly you’re supposed to cook pork face?

We bought a new mop which Adam proceeded to walk around with for the next three hours.  This boy really loves him some cleaning supplies.  Note to self, next time I need to amuse Adam for the day I’ll just buy him a feathered duster. That should buy me a couple days.
 
 
We ate some more watermelon
 
 
We looked out our window with a little help from our phone.
 
 
 

We spent a lot of time at the book store they have on our high street, Fully Booked.  This place is awesome and has a huge children’s section where Adam can run around and look at books.  It’s cool (temperature wise) so it’s a great place to go during the hottest time of the day, which here runs from about 10am to 5pm 🙂 

Adam spotted this group of girls there that LOVED him!  They collectively would say Aaaaaaaahhhhhh, every time he did anything.  Adam ate it up, he brought them books, tried to read their books and was flirting up a storm. 

It’s moments like these that I can picture Adam as an older boy, with his own relationships and interacting with people without my being involved.  It’s always a bittersweet moment when I think about how fleeting this time is that he needs me to be involved in every moment of his day.  He’s already having moments like these where I stand back and watch him interact on his own.

Some day he’ll be hanging out with his friends and he won’t need (or want) me there (tear).  But it’s also so exciting for me to think of him creating his own friendships and relationships, having a BFF (do boys have BFFs?), going on dates (not for another 14 years please Adam) and complaining to his friends about how annoying his mom is.

I read this recently and it really made me envision Adam as an older teenager, which right now seems like a million years away, but I’m sure will be here in a blink of an eye.  I guess every new stage is so different it’s scary at first and then you reach it and it’s over before you know it and you wish for it back.  Another reminder to try to enjoy each day as it comes. 

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-single-ladys-manual-for-parentteacher-night

 

Adam & the Easter bunny

My lemon cake and the three of us headed to the Easter Brunch this past Saturday morning.  We had a really fun time.  It was such a cute morning, they had games and an easter egg hunt and lots of yummy food.  It started at 9 am, which in my past life would have been way too early on a Saturday, but in this life it’s three hours after we all got up 🙂   Poor Adam woke up sick on Sunday so I’m glad we got to squeeze some fun in.

Guess who was waiting for Adam at the door?

Things went better than Christmas for sure.  Adam was curious and walked over to the Easter bunny all on his own.  When I put him on the Easter Bunny’s lap he started barking (I guess he thought it was a huge dog) but after about half a minute decided he had had enough.  I guess if I thought it was a huge dog holding me a half minute would have been my limit as well.

We headed outside to color some eggs. 

Then it was out to the yard for an Easter Egg hunt.  Adam was more interested in the plastic eggs than the candy. 

 The building on the left is our apartment building!

It’s so fun to experience holidays with Adam, especially as he becomes older and more aware. It’s been so long since we’ve dyed eggs and Adam (and Randy) loved it.  He insisted on holding the eggs all weekend and we’re currently down to zero unbroken eggs.  We’ll have to dye some more I guess!

Maida Heatter's East 62nd Street Lemon Cake

Mmmmm, I’ve been thinking about this cake ever since I had it at our friend Linda’s house a couple of months ago on New Years Eve.

We went to a potluck Easter Brunch at the Deputy Ambassador’s house this Saturday so I decided to try to make my friend’s Linda’s lemon cake.  I’ve had this at her house and once I taste it I just want to eat the whole cake! It has an amazing subtle lemon flavor and is so delicious you want to keep eating it.

I of course didn’t have a bundt cake pan so I had to go searching for one on Friday evening (the exciting life I lead).  I luckily found one…but it looks like this.  As long as it tastes good, who cares!

Ingredients:

For the cake:

3 cups sifted all purpose flour  
2 teaspoons baking powder (recipe calls for double acting baking powder but I used regular)  
1/2 teaspoon salt  
1/2 lb butter  
2 cups sugar  
4 eggs 
1 cup milk 
2 lemons, rind of, finely grated 
For the Glaze:  
1/2 cup lemon juice  
3/4 cup sugar

Directions:
Adjust oven rack 1/3 from bottom of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9×3-1/2-inch tube pan and dust it lightly with fine dry breadcrumbs (I used flour and it worked fine).
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In large bowl of electric mixer cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat for 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs individually, scraping the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula to keep mixture smooth. On lowest speed alternately add the dry ingredients in three additions and the milk in two additions, scraping the bowl with the rubber spatula as necessary and beating only until smooth after each addition. Stir in lemon rind. Turn the batter into prepared pan. Level top by rotating pan briskly back and forth.
Bake for 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes until a cake tester comes out dry.
Let cake stand in pan for about 3 minutes and then cover with a rack and invert. Remove pan, leaving the cake upside down. Place over a large piece of aluminum foil or waxed paper and prepare glaze. (I was nervous about this part but the cake came right out)

(I was planning on going to bed and finishing the glaze in the morning because it was 9:30 and past my bedtime, but luckily I read the recipe again and realized the glaze needs to be applied while the cake is hot, but luckily the glaze is SUPER easy).

The glaze must be used immediately after it is mixed.  Stir the lemon juice and sugar together and brush all over the hot cake until absorbed.
Let cake cool completely. Use two wide metal pancake turners or a cookie sheet to transfer it to a cake plate. (I just used my hands)
Do not cut for at least several hours. (It’s a good thing I needed to bring this to the brunch or I would definitely not be able to wait a couple hours).

This picture does not do the cake’s deliciousness justice.  Go and make this cake right now!!

Ocean Park

Last weekend the Alis headed back to Salcedo market.  Yup, we went back already.  We got some delicious vegetable noodles and picked up more baskets and plants.  This market is amazing, the more we go back the more things we discover. 
 
 

Adam and Randy waiting for their vegetable noodles.

Adam loves to carry stuff and insisted on carrying my baskets for me, such a gentleman!
 

Sunday we went to Ocean Park aquarium

I really wanted Adam to see the aqaurium.  He loves animals and I thought he would love it and he did love it!  Full disclosure, it was a VERY hot and humid day and by the time we got there it was mid afternoon and we were all already in need of a nap.  Adam was in full toddlerdom and wanted to do what he wanted to do which did not include looking at all the exhibits and posing for pictures with mommy.

I think the best piece of advice I’ve read recently about raising a toddler is to not get disappointed when planned activities don’t go as planned.  I think this is pretty good advice.  I like to plan things out, but sometimes it’s more important to let a hot, tired toddler run around the same cool room for as long as he wants than to see all the exhibits.  Letting Adam run around the one big cool room they had was by far the best part of the day and it’s more important for all of us to enjoy our time together and focus on the time we spend together rather than what we get accomplished.

Toddler life lesson number one, learned.  Thanks Aquanaut!

 

Happy one month Manila!

It’s been quite a ride so far.  This month has flown by.  Every day seems like it’s jam packed.  Maybe that’s because with no car Adam and I have been walking everywhere. 

 This is how all the cool kids ride in their strollers.
 
Between our walks to the supermarkets, cooking dinners, loads of skyping and Gymboree this has been a full week.
 
What – you don’t skype pantless 🙂
 
 
Helping Mommy cook
 
 
Gymboree!
 
 
What I love about this picture is how Adam is clapping after pulling all the dirt out of the pot. 
 

I feel like Adam woke up today older.  He looked older to me and was acting older.  When he decided he didn’t want to nap, he went and hid behind the chair in our room.  It actually took me a couple of (frantic) moments to find him. 

  
Adam even managed to eat raisins out of his bowl without throwing them all on the ground! So grown up- ok he managed to go a couple blocks before throwing them but that’s pretty far for Adam.
Raisins are the new apples for Adam by the way, he is in LOVE.
 

In other news, I managed to cook every night this week!  We didn’t have to eat out once. Everything was edible and some things were even tasty.

One of a million reasons why I love Randy, he never asks me what I’ve made for dinner. What he asks is what I want to do for dinner.  This means if I haven’t had a chance to cook I don’t feel guilty having to say let’s go out to eat.  And when I do tell him I’ve made something, whatever it , even vegetable stir fry veg, he always says thank you.  It’s the little things that help a housewife stay happy and as they say, Happy wife, happy life.

Happy wife and happy baby.