Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Every once in a while, I have a good idea

Before Lucas was born, I had already decided not to have a traditional baby book. Part of my reason for this is that I've never once seen a baby book that was actually completely filled in. The makers of the baby books put in all of these blank spaces and questions, and inevitably, you only fill in like a third of them, and then you feel bad every time you look at the book, because you realize that you never made note of the momentous occasion when your child first "Coughed artificially (a polite little cough to get attention.)" (That's a direct quote from my husband's baby book. Shockingly to no one, that blank is not filled in.)

So I decided I would make Lucas a scrapbook instead of getting a typical baby book, which sounds unbelievably ambitious, except that I discovered a company (and when I say that I "discovered" it, I obviously mean that a nurse my husband used to work with gave him a catalog to give to me, and then I forgot to look at it for about two years) that allows you to make individual 12x12 scrapbook pages online, and then they'll print and send them to you. It's fabulous. (The company is Studio J. And no, they didn't pay me to say this. But if they want to give me free stuff, I won't say no. You know, just in case they're reading my blog.)

If you make your own baby book, you can look like a super mom because you've recorded the dates of events like "first time in a lake" and "first high five" and not like a slacker mom because you forgot to record when your child "first ran with confidence" or "first said 'I won't'." (Those were really in my husband's baby book. Who writes these things anyway? Seriously.) The problem, of course, is actually remembering to write down the dates for random, vaguely interesting milestones. Enter my good idea (which, in all honesty, I can't totally take credit for.)

After Lucas was born, my mother-in-law brought him some cute gifts that she had gotten him from the Hallmark store, and in the bag with the gifts was this little datebook:
Yes, I wrote the word "Lucas's" over the phrase "Life is a Special Occasion." (Also, yes, the extra "s" does belong after the apostrophe to make "Lucas" possessive. I promise.)
So I stuck the datebook in Lucas's diaper bag, and every time he did something amazing (which, let's be honest, was every day), I could just write it in the appropriate date square in the datebook immediately instead of hoping I'd remember which things belonged in the baby book AND hoping that I remembered to write them in whenever I got around to it. Plus, since I had the diaper bag at all of his pediatrician appointments, I could immediately write down his height and weight at each appointment rather than trying to remember to write it in the baby book at home... which I wouldn't have remembered to do, so Lucas's baby book would've looked like mine, where my mom recorded my height and weight at birth, 9 months, and four years old.

I also used the book to keep track of when he tried new foods for the first time so that I could check for potential allergies. Just thought I'd share in case you were wondering why "first ate tomato paste and onion powder" seemed like a momentous occasion to me.
So instead of trying to remember if "First time someone said baby looks like a dinosaur while crawling" or "First time baby gave someone a wet willy" is in the baby book and then remembering to write them down, they are now in the calendar, and I can transfer them to the scrapbook later... if I ever get around to it.

Anyway, my advice to new moms is to stick a small calendar in your purse or diaper bag. Or just go ahead and pre-apologize to your kids for the fact that their baby books are mostly blank.

Obligatory Royal Baby Post

Apparently all of the babies born in England on the same day as the yet-to-be-named royal baby will get a special silver coin struck by the British mint. Of all the rotten luck. Lucas was born 17 months too early and on the wrong continent. So close!

Since we haven't seen any pictures of William and Kate's new baby, let's look at my baby instead. I'll always be a bit biased and think that this baby is cuter than any other I've ever seen:



Unless and until we have another one, of course. Which is not happening yet.... just so we're clear.

Why am I awake at 12:45am? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Monday, July 15, 2013

A baby and his phone

At my mom's suggestion, I uploaded the video of Lucas having an important phone call to YouTube. I better make him promise that if he becomes a YouTube sensation, he'll remember all the little people like Mommy and Daddy.


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Squash, Zucchini and Chicken Dinner

Alternate title: Probably the Only Recipe I'll Ever Post on Here

I don't really love to cook. I don't hate it, but I also don't get any pleasure from it. Weirdly enough, I love the show Top Chef, which is kind of a tease for my husband, since I watch a show portraying amazing cooking with exotic ingredients and then I'm like, "What do you want for dinner? Peanut butter and jelly or canned soup?" (Slight exaggeration... kind of.)

Anyway, when I do cook, I typically stick to recipes that I know we both like, because if I'm going to put effort into dinner, I don't want us to hate it. I also like things that are easy and don't require a ton of weird ingredients. 

Our friends Teri and Ryan have a garden, and all the rain we've been getting is resulting in a bumper crop of zucchini and squash, so they brought some over to our house yesterday. I was going to cook some today to eat with leftover pizza (classy AND nutritious), but then at the last minute, I decided to actually make dinner. I kind of just threw things together based on what we had in our cupboard, and it turned out surprisingly well. Dan and I both thought it was good, and Lucas ate a few bites of chicken, which is kind of miraculous, since he hasn't been eating much today (the joys of teething.)

So this may be the only time that I have a kind of absurdly simplistic recipe that I MADE UP MYSELF to share with the world (unless you count "throw whatever veggies you already have lying around into the crock pot with some meat and hope for the best" as a recipe.) If you've already seen this recipe 400 times before, please don't burst my bubble by telling me. Thank you.

And so without further ado, I present:

Bethany's Very Own Chicken Recipe that She Made Up Herself. No, Seriously.
(Except that, giving credit where credit is due, the cream of chicken was Dan's idea.)

I didn't take this picture until after we had eaten some, because I didn't know yet if it would be good.  Also, there's a light bulb in the background. I should totally be a food photographer.


Ingredients: 
- 1-2 pounds of chicken tenderloins
- 2-3 squash and/or zucchini cut into slices (I used one large zucchini and two medium-ish squash) Bonus points if your friend grew them in her garden. Double bonus points if you grew them yourself.
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- olive oil
- Italian seasoning (I used Pampered Chef because I already had some on hand.)
- salt (if you think it needs it. I put some on mine, Dan thought it was fine without.)

1. Put some olive oil on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Unless you don't want to. I'm not your boss.
2. Lay the chicken tenderloins in a single layer on the bottom of the dish.
3. Empty the can of cream of chicken soup into a bowl, then mix it with just enough water so that you can pour it over top of the chicken instead of it just falling into the dish in a big can-shaped blob.
4. Pour the cream of chicken soup over the chicken (see why step 3 was so important? You're welcome.)
5. Spread the cut up squash and zucchini over the top of the chicken. It's ok if it's not in a single layer. We're all friends here.
6. Drizzle some olive oil over top of the veggies, then sprinkle the Italian seasoning on top of the veggies. (Maybe that should've been two steps.)
7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45-ish minutes (I should've put "preheat the oven to 400" as step one, but I forgot, and now I don't feel like re-numbering all of the steps. Sorry.)

Ta da! If you try it and like it, let me know! If you try it and DON'T like it, remember the words of my former elementary school principal: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Also, if you made any changes that made it even better, feel free to share! But don't be one of those people who's like, "I loved it, but I used beef instead of chicken, and broccoli and shallots instead of squash, and teriyaki sauce instead of cream of chicken soup, and I grilled it." Because, come on, that's a different recipe.