A couple of firsts

When you're a baby there are firsts cropping up all over the place!

Today was our first day playing hooky from church since we were sick. Dean and I have had a bit of a cold all week, but last night was the worst. Dean was up almost every hour coughing and his nose is super congested as well. He can barely breathe when he's eating and has been extra slobbery at night since he has to sleep with his mouth wide open. We're both feeling a little better and I hope that he'll be able to sleep better. And he hates the stupid bulb booger snatcher thing. He screams and screams when I try and use it.





Another first we had while he was in CA was his first trip to the ocean. I had taken him on some walks by the ocean before this, but he was asleep and in his stroller, so I am not counting it. Unfortunately we didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked, but I guess we'll go back in two years, right? By then he'll be much more excited about it I'm sure.

Tonight was the first time he woke up from a nap without
crying. I heard a few movement noises and when I peaked in he flashed me a winning smile. I could get used to that!

I am trying to get Dean used to his crib since he's been sleeping in the pack n' play in our room. The last two days I've put him down for naps in his room to get used to the new set up before I move him in for good. He's done pretty well, and has been completely enamored with the bumper and mobile. There are so many colors and patterns to look at! It was so funny the first time I put him in there. He didn't cry once but stayed up an extra 1/2 hour (even though he was really tired) just looking at everything. It was cracking me up.

Happy Dean

I finally got a video of Dean being happy. This was taken this morning. He's now 11 weeks old. Smiles make motherhood so much more fun.

Viewer beware! I have a cold and I attempt to sing him a song. You may want to turn down the volume. Listen at your own risk. I am not responsible for any hearing loss or damage.

I warned you! Maybe you should read the fine print next time...

The bloody BYU Cougar

My sister just emailed our family a horrible (yet true) tale of a Cougar. No, no. No football player scandals or anything. A real cougar. At my sister's in-laws' house in the UT mountains.

For the long version and more pictures, visit Hollywood Flakes.

The short version is this:

Her father-in-law discovered a cougar making a terrible racket in his garage. He called his sons who lived nearby for back up. They ran the cougar off, unaware if it was legal to kill it. Unfortunately, they later found some of their most beloved animals dead at the cougar's doing. (My niece's favorite cat, Crookshanks and their beloved family horse of 23 years, Fancy...A horse I've ridden a time or two.) The next day they found fresh tracks again and called their cougar hunting neighbor to come help track the cougar down since it had obviously lost its fear of humans and was very dangerous to those who lived in their neighborhood. How dangerous?

Think SF Zoo people. Possible death!

Their son Troy (who is my age) went with the hunter to find the cougar. It had ravaged a deer. The hunter sent his two $8000 dogs up a very steep hill to track it. Find him they did. And they had their revenge.

Though Hollywood posted this next bit on her blog, I wanted to share it too since Chelsea is also my niece...It is her dad's account of Chelsea's reaction to her cat being killed. Keep in mind that she waited through 3 rounds of kittens to finally get her beloved orange cat so she could name it Crookshanks after Hermione's cat in Harry Potter.

It was one of those tragic moments when we discovered poor Crookie. He was born 3 years ago on Chelsea's birthday, and has been her best kitty ever since. Those of you who were here for Christmas probably remember her heartfelt song "crookie the orange kitty" sung to the tune of Rudolph.

On the way home Chelsea paraphrased her Warriors books (books about tribes of cats living in the forest) to come up with an epitaph. It was something along the lines of "crookshanks lived a more interesting life and died a more heroic death than most cats. Some cats get old and sick, others get run over, but Crookshanks died with fangs bared and claws unsheathed, (maybe protecting the other cats we think?) He now joins Starclan in the great Silver Pelt (the milky way)."

Chelsea wants to make sure crookie is buried in Katalia, which is her imaginary land up by the water tank. I don't know how I am going to dig in the frozen dirt, but I'll have to try. She thinks that now maybe Vladekia and Blue Star (the other two cats) might get along better, because she thinks they were both rivals for Crookshank's attentions. (but we fear they might be dead somewhere...we didn't see them tonight).

A few weeks ago for Speech class, Chelsea had to make a Worry Chart listing the top ten things she worried about. She listed "my cat getting killed or injured"......and that was the only thing she could think of to be worried about. The rest of the chart was left blank.

So sad...so sad.

Lucky.

Christmas was a lot of fun in California. I love going to Moss Beach. I think it's one of the prettiest places in the US. Here are a couple of pictures to prove how lucky my in-laws are.

The sunset over the ocean (the view from my in-laws' terrace)

The view at the end of their street.

The crossroad of their street.

My morning walks were quite enjoyable. There was so much color! I loved the variety. Take for instance these houses.


How cool would it be to have a totem pole in your front yard? Somehow I don't think our HOA would appreciate it. Nor would they appreciate a purple or puke green house, a rainbow on our garage, or a triangle storage shed. Too bad. The variety is refreshing.

My multi-tasking needs improvement

I've heard that once you have children you get "baby brain". Meaning, you don't always think straight and you get distracted easily.

Yeah. Well, when I was pregnant I totally melted off the bottom of a pot while trying to steam broccoli. Forgot to put water in. Oops. And then I did it again a few weeks after Dean was born. Double oops.

Then today I was trying to get a Crockpot dinner ready, make lunch, and entertain Dean all at the same time. I thought it went pretty well until about an hour later when I heard a weird pop sound.

The cord was partially tucked under the ceramic pot and got melted. It melted a hole in the cord and the metal part of the Crockpot.

I never did things like that B.B. (before baby).

Guess it's time to buy a new Crockpot. I almost feel like the commercial where the men are destroying their houses so they can go shop at a home improvement store (Lowe's? Home Depot?) for replacement items.

one two switch-a-roo

A new year and a new church time! We've finally moved off the 2:30 time schedule since the new meetinghouse was finished. Except for a brief summer of 12:30 church (after our ward split), we've been on the 2:30 schedule since May of 2006. Unfortunately we're not in the new building even though it's closer to us. But we do have a new time.

8:30 AM!

Though it is a bit early for church, it was mighty nice to be home before noon. Dean also seemed to do better with this change. He slept through the last two hours of church. I have to admit that I, myself, was drowsy during those same two hours of church. But I merely nodded off once or twice.

Identified by my bum

If you missed it, the story is two posts below. Here's the picture.

Just shoot me.

Poor little Dean had his 2 month check up this morning. He's definitely getting bigger! (The first picture was taken his 1st week. The second was taken his 10th week.)

Weight at birth: 8 lbs. 6 oz.
Weight today: 13 lbs. 10 oz.

Length at birth: 21 3/4 inches
Length today: 24 1/2 inches

He was doing perfectly fine until the mean nurse (she was actually very nice) started shooting him with his vaccine needles. He seems to be sore now with a little fever. The Tylenol seems to be taking the edge off, but he's still even fussier than normal. So sad.

On the flip side, he's really learning to smile and coo so much better. Here are some pictures from a little photo shoot earlier than this week.

Sometimes the ups outnumber the downs

We've been here in California just about 2 weeks now. I think this is the longest break I've taken from blogging since I started back in Feb. 2006! Sorry to my faithful readers who've checked in to only be disappointed by my lack of new posts. I've been absolutely spoiled here. I haven't had to think about what to make for dinner. I've had no piano lessons to teach. I've had help with Dean all day long. It's been fabulous.

First off: The airplane situation went ok. Our plane was delayed 2 1/2 hours so we were in the airport forever! He would have done really well had we left on time. He cried about 1/2 hour before we boarded and about 10 min. or so on the plane. We had a few glares, and one person moved to avoid sitting in front of us, but overall he slept quite a bit and did well enough. Not bad for a 2 mo. old who's a fusser under normal circumstances.

He's really started behaving much better here. I guess it's due mostly to him getting older. He's starting to figure out the whole smiling thing and he has longer periods of awake contentment. Christmas day was probably his best day ever. He went down easily, was happy when he was awake, and had minimal fussiness. What more could I ask for? It was a Christmas miracle. His behavior modification has been a relief as I am getting a little burned out on the incessant crying sprees. Like the one he had tonight.

Jimmeny Christmas! He's been so much better the past two weeks I'd almost forgotten what it was like at home. He was out of control crying. You know, the kind where he holds his breath followed by a piercing scream. Three of us took turns trying our best tricks to calm him down and he'd have none of it. But he finally did go to sleep. I'm just hoping this is a mere bump in the road and that he'll continue to improve with age.

I forgot to bring my camera hook ups for the computer so no pictures yet.

But speaking of pictures here's a funny little ditty. While taking family pictures on Christmas day, I accidentally walked in front of the camera while Th. was taking a picture. That resulted in a nice close up bum shot. I'd quite forgotten about the bum shot until tonight. Th. said as they were looking at the family pictures with their son Big O, he kept asking "Where's Celia?" on the pictures I wasn't in. When they got to the bum shot he said, "Oh, there she is!" (He's 4 and probably right at the height to ID me by my bum.)

Perfect timing

Nothing like having to cancel your credit card right before you take a trip because there's been fraudulent activity on a crazy website that's not even in English.

What's worse is they had the 3 digit code on the back as well which means they hacked an online transaction somewhere along the way.

Why do people have to be such jerks? And at Christmas time nonetheless.

Over the river and through the clouds

To grandmother's house we go. Or to Dean's grandmother's that is. And luckily for us we don't have to rely on a horse and carriage to get us to northern CA.

But I am a bit worried to fly with an infant. I'm worried about being that passenger. You know. The one you dread to be seated next to.

At least we have a non-stop flight.

We're leaving tomorrow evening and will be gone until the 3rd. Hopefully I'll get a chance to post while I'm there. If not, Merry Christmas everyone! (And a Happy New Year.)

Could I have a big red bow for that?

Well, Merry Christmas to us.

Last night we signed all the papers and handed over a nice little (little?!?) check for a down payment on a new car. Unfortunately the car is not on the premises here in McKinney and has to be transported from another dealership. The expected arrival date is the day after we leave for CA, so unless it gets here early, we will pick up our silver 2008 Toyota Rav 4 (2 wheel drive and as basic as it comes) when we return in January. This is second only to our house in the way of $$. Sheesh. It's a good thing for financing.

It will make for a boring Christmas morning since we won't be unwrapping any presents, but really, I'll take the car.

You know you're tired when

You know you're tired when you fall asleep while actually saying the family prayer. It was pretty funny when Matt had to wake me up.

We had a really full week last week with my in-laws here. We had a lot of fun and almost bought a car. We would have bought it if they had been able to get their hands on what we wanted. Who knew it would be so difficult to get a 2007-2008 Toyota Rav-4 with a V6 engine without the bells and whistles (and in a decent color)? Apparently people who want a V6 don't want a basic car. I guess we'll try again after Christmas. Too bad since we're not sure our Neon will actually make it to the airport next Tuesday since it tends to almost over heat at freeway speeds.

And now I need to work like mad to get my Christmas/birth announcement cards done. It's much harder to do projects with a little baby who needs attention I must say.

Dean by the tree

I know he's still just a little guy and can't really do that much that's entertaining, but here's his first video debut by the Christmas tree. This was taken last Tuesday. Also, we took pictures for our Christmas cards last night. We're not using this picture, but I thought it was a great frowny face.

Getting to know you: Christmas Edition

My aunt sent this in an email so I thought I'd put my responses up here.

Wrapping paper or gift bags?

• Gift bags are nice because they're reusable. However, I do use both. One thing that's fun is using plain brown wrapping (like you'd use to cover a book to keep it from getting damaged) and then doing different things with the bows and tags.

Real or Fake tree?

• We always cut our trees fresh from the forest growing up, and those were some great memories. We have a $10 tree from IKEA in our house now. It works.
  

When do you put up the tree?

• I would love to put it up the day after Thanksgiving, but I have a feeling that we won't put it up until Dec. 1st as a martial compromise.
  

When do you take down the tree?

• New Year's day? Or whenever we get back from our parents' house after Christmas/ the New Year.
  

Favorite gift received as a child?

• Not sure. I know I really liked the dolls and pound puppies my mom made. Can't think of anything else that sticks out in my mind.
  

Do you have a nativity scene?

• One. I got it in Guatemala. I love it. They're in brightly colored traditional Guatemalan dress. I wouldn't mind getting others. My mother-in-law collects nativities and I think it would be a fun collection.
  

Hardest person to buy for?

• My brother Eric.
  

Easiest person to buy for?

• Me. Just kidding! Um. Matt, however, his wanted items are usually some pricey computer part like a new processor or video card or something.
  

Worst present you ever received?

• Is any present a bad present? I mean, seriously, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. (Is that the phrase? It sounds really weird once I type it.)
  

Mail or email Christmas Cards?

• Both. I love making Christmas cards, but it's hard make enough/ get them out to EVERYONE I want to. Good heavens it's expensive to mail cards now a days.
  

Favorite Christmas movie?

• Best Christmas Pageant Ever. A Christmas Story. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. (Depending on my mood.)
  

When do you start Christmas shopping?

• Whenever I see something that screams "CHRISTMAS PRESENT!" but usually it's sometime between late November and mid-December.
  

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

• Hmmm...I wouldn't put it past me, though I can't recall a specific time.
  

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

• At my parents' house I love to eat: our traditional shredded wheat breakfast on Christmas morning. Also, my mom's date balls are good. And in the stockings I always like the malt balls the best. Oh, and cheese balls are good too.
  
• At Matt's parents' house I love to eat: homemade chex mix. And burritos from El Gran. It's not a Christmas thing, really, but we're only there at Christmas time and boy are they good.
  

Clear or colored lights on the tree?

• Colored for sure. Unless it's an angel tree. But for a regular tree, colored.
  

Favorite Christmas song?

• I like "What Child is this?" a lot. Silent night is great. And for a secular song, Ella Fitzgerald's version of Jingle Bells.
  

Travel or stay home for Christmas?

• Right now it's travel. We've yet to spend a Christmas on our own. We're on the "every-other-year" Christmas schedule with our parents. Once Dean hits 2 and we have to buy him a plane ticket, we might start reconsidering.
  

Can you name all the reindeer?

• Heck yes.
  

Angel or star on top of the tree?

• I don't have either, but I'd probably say star.
  

Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?

• Christmas morning for sure.
  

Most annoying thing about this time of year?

• TV commercials that use tweaked Christmas songs to sell their products
  

What do you love most about Christmas?

• Time off of normal life to spend with family.
  

The Blessing

On Sunday Matt blessed Dean. It was very nice. My in-laws were able to come so that's been fun. The outfit we blessed him in was my father-in-law's christening outfit. Matt, his brother, and Lady Steed & Th.'s two boys were blessed in it. So we kept the tradition going.

Here are the promised pictures.

Possible disaster.

well, last week at my check up my doctor spoke with me about birth control and put me back on the pill. i was told that it could temporarily decrease my milk supply but that it should come back after a little bit. i've been on it a week and I've noticed a definite change in my milk supply for the worse. up until now i've had ample. now i feel like he never gets enough to eat and he sucks me dry quickly. i'm starting to get cracked and i hurt.

i'm angry at myself that i didn't research it more than my dr's word. after looking at things on the internet tonight, i've decided it was the wrong decision to start at all. hopefully i can get back to my normal supply by stopping now. it's only been 1 week.

i am angry and sore and i hope this isn't a horrible disaster.

on a totally unrelated side note, we blessed him today at church. I'll post pics and write about that later though. my in-laws are in town, so it's a little harder to find time to post at the moment.

When in doubt, check it out

We got our bill for my hospital stay. When we saw it we were a little surprised. We have an EPO where our co-pay for inpatient hospital visits should be $150 with 100% covered after that. But the bill was for $506.

I called today to check it out.

The first guy told me that the bill was right. That the $506 was our % we had to pay. I didn't know exactly what our plan was, so I hung up and called Matt. He said that was wrong since 100% was supposed to be covered after the initial $150.

So I called again.

The next lady was just as clueless as the first guy, but when I explained what I understood our coverage to be, she transferred me to a claims resolution dept.

After taking one look at the statement, that lady said, "Oh, they definitely read this wrong and charged you incorrectly. You're supposed to only be charged a one time $150 co-pay. They charged you $150 for every day you were there."

So, the moral of my story is: when in doubt, check it out. If it seems you're paying too much for something, you just might be.

(Oh, and they charged us $56 for being in a private room. The hospital only offered private rooms. Don't get me wrong, given a choice of a shared room that's 100% covered or upgrading to a private for $56, I'd have chosen the private room, but it seems odd that they don't cover a private room when private rooms are the only option in the hospital!)

Looks like who?

I personally think he looks most like Grandpa Brasfield's baby picture. I wish I had baby pictures of all of my siblings, though, so we could make a fair comparison. (Scroll over for names)

5 weeks post op

Well, it's been 5 weeks since I had my little Dean. I had my six week check up today and everything looks good. I'm 3 lbs. from my starting weight, but my body doesn't quite look it. But what can I expect when I had major surgery and can't exercise yet? Sometime soon I'll be able to work on flattening the pooch. It could be worse.

Dean's doing better. He's still pretty fussy, but we figured out at least one reason he was crying soooo much. After reading the Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, we realized he was tired beyond tired as well as overstimulated. He has a really hard time falling asleep if anything else is going on around him. So, he's not one of those babies that just falls asleep when he's tired. We've been working on noticing his tired signs from the outset and try putting him down immediately. It doesn't always work, and sometimes it takes him 30+ min. to fall asleep, but he's been much better with the extra sleep. He also has gas that contributes to his fussiness. I think my holiday eating has agreed with his stomach.

But enough of this blab. Lets get to the pictures. The pictures in the green shirt are from today. (I love the one where it looks like he's dancing.)

Curses...but I guess I'll still give thanks

Well, the Brasfields are notorious for having car trouble on Thanksgiving. You'd think we'd be exempt from that curse this year since we were not planning on driving any more than the 2 miles to Walmart and back. Yeah. Matt went to get some foil and had to call me from a pay phone when our car wouldn't start. Dead as a doornail.

Since we only have the one car, I had to call our friends to go pick him up or give him a jump. Luckily the car was jump-able, but even after letting it run for half an hour, it wouldn't restart once turned off. Dangity, dang, dang. My father-in-law said it could either just be our battery or it could be our alternator. I think it's been about 3 years since we changed our battery last, so it's possible that's it. Then again, this car is falling apart and I wouldn't be surprised if it were the alternator (or both).

So, we're going to try and fix it. On the upside, I am thankful this is going to help expedite our new car search. We've put it off because it's a bit overwhelming and we really don't know anything about cars or what we want. That means a lot of research. But I think we're shooting to find a new car before the year is over. That means furniture will have to wait. But I don't mind. I'd love to have a new car.

After looking online until about 1:30 AM, we are considering getting some sort of SUV crossover. Not an SUV. Not a mini-van. Not a compact. It's either going to be a crossover or a large sedan. Maybe a Toyota Rav4. That was looking fairly decent last night. We originally thought we'd get a lightly used car and buy it outright, but we've noticed that the cars that will suit our purposes and last awhile (even lightly used) are still quite pricey. So for the first time in our lives we're going to have a car payment.

My other Thanksgiving curse: my pumpkin pie was too salty. Blast it! Without thinking I used kosher salt in my filling since I had it out for my crust. After I dumped it in I knew I'd made a mistake. But I hoped it wasn't going to be too noticeable. It wasn't HORRIBLE, but it wasn't good. So I think it's headed for the trash. Last year I had a pumpkin pie mishap as well. I had a major miagrain when I was making my pies last year and I forgot my crust made two crusts, but my filling made 1 filling. I split it in half. It tasted good, but the pies were so thin!! Haha. I guess even good cooks can have an off day. Or item.

My pecan pie, on the other hand, turned out splendidly as did the rest of the dinner. (Thanks for coming and bringing your goods Erin and Christian!)

Oh, and the other little blessing for the day: Dean slept through the whole dinner and almost through our entire game of Settlers of Catan!

In all things give thanks.

When everything in life is a gift from God (from the air we breath to the ones we love), it's hard to verbalize my gratitude sufficiently. Here are a few things I am most grateful for today.

1. My husband who is a source of great strength for me.
2. My son who recently joined our family. He was worth the wait and prayers.
   
3. The Doctors and technology that made it possible for him to join our family.
4. My parents and siblings as well as my extended family. I'm extremely sad to miss out on the huge family gathering this weekend for my Grandma's birthday celebration.
5. Good friends from all stages of my life.
6. The ability to keep in touch with friends and family I can't see on a daily (or yearly!) basis.
7. A house to live in.
8. My husband's job and the opportunity it affords me to stay home with our baby.
   
9. Food to eat.
10. Public toilets* that flush, have doors on the stalls (and actual toilets in the stalls rather than a trough!), provide toilet paper, and soap and water to wash hands.
    

*Though it's been almost 7 years since I lived in China, #10 is still quite important and amazing to me.*


Happy Thanksgiving!

A cute Thanksgiving Craft

Since many of you have young children, I thought I'd link this cute turkey craft page of my friend Emily. You can do it with your kids or by yourself if you need some new fall decorations. The instructions are here from Martha Stewart Living.

The holiday at hand: The Menu

Turkey Time

Alton Brown's Good Eats Turkey (recipe link)
Last year we discovered the delights of brining the turkey. Sure it adds an extra step, but oh is it worth it! Additionally, the use of a digital probe thermometer is absolutely ESSENTIAL for not over or under cooking the turkey. We didn't use the candied ginger or the allspice, and I don't think the aromatics really added much, but the rest was superb. We used our camping food chest to hold the brine.

We've always done a small (but whole) turkey, even though it's just the two of us. But neither of us eats dark meat, and truthfully I don't eat a whole lot of white meat. And I think boiling the carcass for soup was one of the most disgusting byproducts of Thanksgiving and Christmas. That is one thing I don't think I'll ever be able to do with meat/bones... So this year we thought we'd buy just the turkey breast with ribs. We'll still brine and follow the same general process set out by Alton, but it will just be a lot quicker. Less waste. We'll see how it turns out.

To dress or stuff?

I myself prefer dressing. I don't like the idea of eating something that's been stuffed inside the skeleton of something else. It's the same thing, just in a side dish.

My family's traditional dressing is a cornbread stuffing. Honestly, growing up, the look of it kind of grossed me out. I like it well enough now, but I think I prefer a white bread dressing. I haven't yet found my perfect recipe, so this year will be another new creation. Last year I made sourdough stuffing from scratch. It was pretty good, but this year I will use french bread.

I don't want apples or sweet things in it. I will omit sausage if the recipe calls for it. I just want it to be bread, vegetables, broth and seasonings. I think I might just try this one.

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

A must have from scratch. Russet Potatoes. I wanted to buy a potato ricer this year, but Matt says he likes a few lumps here and there. So they will be mashed rustic home style by hand. Since we'll have no drippings this year due to our turkey change, we'll have to make a gravy out of chicken broth, a roux from butter and flour, and seasonings. We've done this before and it's worked nicely.

Green Bean Casserole

This was a Bras(s) fam. addition since I never had it growing up. I enjoy its presence on the table.

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE—serves 4 grown people
Ingredients
¾ C. milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 (16 oz. or so) bag frozen green beans, thawed (can also used canned, but I prefer frozen)
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 can French fried onions

Directions
Mix together milk, soup and pepper. Stir in beans. Stir in some of the onions, but keep some out for the topping added at the end of baking. Bake in a casserole dish on 350* for 20 min. or until it is hot and bubbling. Top with remaining onions and bake 5 min. longer or until crispy.

No Rock, just Rolls

I think we've done rolls differently every year. I've made my mom's wheat rolls, regular white rolls, frozen rolls, etc. I haven't decided yet what I will do this year. Mom's are really good though, so I'll put down the recipe.

MOM’S WHEAT THANKSGIVING ROLLS--makes about 3 dozen
Ingredients
2 ½ C. warm water
2 Tbsp yeast
½ C. sugar
1 Tbsp salt
1 C. oil
2 eggs, beaten
4 C. wheat flour
3 ½ C. white flour
butter melted to dip

Directions
1. Mix the yeast and a little sugar into the water. Let sit about 10 min. or until bubbly. Add the rest of the sugar, salt, oil, and eggs. Mix with an electric hand mixer.
2. Add the flour in one cup at a time, starting with the wheat flour. Use the hand mixer for the wheat and knead in the white. Put in a clean, oiled bowl. Let it rise once to double (about an hour). Punch it down and roll out thin.
3. Cut out circles with a cup. Dip ½ of the circle in the butter, place on a greased baking sheet and fold over to make a half moon shape. Let them rise until double and bake in a preheated oven at 350* for 15 min.

Something for the Pie Hole

I have tried many pie crust recipes. Butter crusts, butter-shortening crusts, shortening crusts. You name it, I've tried it. I think the most frustrating part of pie crust making is the water. Recipes always say to use as little water as possible, just until it sticks together in a ball. Unfortunately, this often leaves people with a crumbly mess because they don't put enough liquid in. It's always better to use a little too much water than not enough. I promise.

I got the best crust recipe from my friend Pam this year. I was surprised to see the recipe because it was an all shortening crust (which I generally don't prefer). The last few years I've gone to shortening-butter crusts, but this year I'll replace it with Pam's recipe. It's different from other shortening recipes because it includes vinegar, an egg, and enough water. It makes 3 crusts at a time, so you can either freeze the extra or make a couple pies! The only thing I altered was the salt. Her recipe didn't call for any, and since there's no salted butter in it, I really think it a necessary addition. The crust was flakey, hearty, easy to work with, and baked up beautifully. This year I will make 3 pies because I will have 3 crusts.

Pam's Pie Crust

This recipie makes enough crust for 3 pies.
5 cups flour
2 cups shortening
1 TBSP vinegar
1 cup water
1 egg, beaten
1 1\2 tsp salt (I always use kosher salt when baking)

Combine flour, salt and shortening with a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles coarse crumbs. Mix together, vinegar, water, and egg then add to flour mixture. Mix until just blended and forms a nice ball. Separate into 3 equal sections. Form each 1/3 into a ball. Place between two sheets of waxed paper and flatten into a disk by hand. If it seems a little sticky, sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and lightly rub to cover. Continue to roll out in a circle with a rolling pin. Flip you pie pan upside down and roll the crust 2 in. bigger than the lip of the pan. Place in pie pan. Be sure to poke holes in bottom of crust.

1. Pumpkin Pie. Brasfield's recipe. A must. I'm using fresh sugar pumpkin. A question arose on my sister's blog about using large pumpkins for pies. I have used large pumpkins and it works great too. I truthfully didn't notice a difference in taste. The large pumpkins take longer to bake since they're about twice as thick. And you'll have tons of pumpkin. But that's not a bad thing since it freezes well. Both sugar pumpkins and large pumpkins are noticably better than canned. I was shocked to see the difference in color, smell, and taste when I compared canned and fresh pumpkin side by side. Canned isn't horrible, just not as good.

To cook fresh pumpkin:
So, cut the top off, clean out the pumpkin, cut it into chunks and cook it on a cookie sheet at about 350 for an hour or more (depending on the thickness) until it's tender. Peel off the skin and puree in the blender or food processor with a little bit of milk.

Pumpkin Pie filling:
Ingredients
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 can evaporated milk
2 C pumpkin puree (canned or fresh-if canned, make sure it's not pumpkin pie filling, just pumpkin)

Directions
Combine the pumpkin with the milk and other liquid ingredients. Add all the other ingredients and whisk or beat well until smooth. It will be very runny, but that is how it should be at this point. Pour into an unbaked pie crust. Cover the crust (not the whole pie, just the crust) with foil and bake in a preheated oven at 425* for 15 min. Without opening the oven, reduce temperature to 350* and bake for 45 min. Take the foil off the last 10 min. or so of baking.

2. Pecan Pie. Waterman's recipe. I've had a lot of bad pecan pies, but my mom's recipe is great. Very rich, but not too runny or gloppy or anything.

Ingredients
3 eggs
2/3 C. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C. melted butter
1 C corn syrup
1 1/2 C. pecan halves

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375*. Beat the first 5 ingredients together. Place pecans on the bottom of an unbaked pie crust and pour liquid mixture on top of the pecans. Bake 45 min. (You might want to put foil under the pie pan to catch any drips.

3. Some new creation. I love watching the Food Network pie bake off, and think it would be awesome to come up with a great new creation to compete with in the competition. Past Thanksgivings I've made coconut cream pie (I'm not so good at those. The custard is hard to master.), and I've also tried buttermilk pie (a favorite of my sister's family), but it was just a little too rich for me. I made an apple pie a couple months ago, so I don't think I'll do that (but I do have a great apple pie recipe if anyone wants it).

So I'm looking for a good new creation. Something I've never made before. Anyone have a good suggestion? In reality, I'll probably not have time for the third pie, but I wouldn't mind finding a great new recipe.

Christmas confession

I generally am a vocal advocate for starting the Christmas season (i.e. music and decorations) the day after Thanksgiving. I think Thanksgiving is an important and often overlooked holiday. Once Halloween is over (and sometimes before) stores clear out their fall items and move immediately on to Christmas, skipping that holiday in between. Costco had their Christmas items stocked and out in August! So, I try to create a little space in my life for the Thanksgiving holiday.

But I have to confess.

I started listening to Christmas music yesterday. I think I just needed a little extra cheer since I have a cry-some baby. It helps. He seems to like it too. At least his crying subsided a bit when I had it on. (He also seems to like the Remember the Titans soundtrack.)

Since it's on my mind (and on my computer--Pandora's the greatest) I'll let you in on what I like in the way of Christmas listening.

My favorites are the classics:
Ella Fitzgerald
Bing Crosby
Nat King Cole
Luis Armstrong
Frank Sinatra
Big Band Christmas
Perry Como

Now, I didn't really grow up on any of these. I mostly associate Mannheim Steamroller and the Vienna Boys Choir with Christmas at my parents'. I first got hooked on Big Band and these classics my freshman year of college. One of my roommates had the CD Ella Fitzgerald wishes you a swinging Christmas. Her version of Jingle Bells may be my favorite Christmas song. After getting hooked on that CD I went out and bought the other artists' Christmas CDs from her Era. Love it. The "swinging" songs make me the happiest and get my toes a tapping.

I also like to throw in:
SheDaisy (I have to admit I fought my roommates on this one a little because they're "country". But I soon became converted and 6 years later it's one of my most listened to Christmas albums.)
Jackson 5

Pandora does an excellent job of adding other artists to my list. I may not even bust out my actual CDs this year because of that website.

Oh and by the way

When Matt found out I'd started listening to Christmas music he gave me the "how dare you" head shake and said, "It's not even Thanksgiving yet!"

He believes that the Christmas season starts 2 weeks prior to Christmas.

Resistance is futile

Unfortunately it seems Dean takes after me in the sleeping department. He fights it. He'll have one eye closed and one eye slightly open for an hour, unwilling to submit himself fully to his sleepiness. Or his eyes will droop, droop, droop, and he appears asleep when BAM! His eyes shoot open wide and he cries. I don't know why he fights it. Sleep is when he seems the happiest. He even has what appears to be an occasional smile...

My mom said that I stopped taking naps all together by the time I was 1 year. How dare I! I always had a hard time falling asleep. In high school I could lay in bed for hours tired but unable to sleep. It wasn't until I got married that I learned to fall asleep within minutes of laying down.

Matt, on the other hand, has always loved sleeping. He can fall asleep within seconds of hitting the pillow. If only Dean were like his daddy in this regard. Sleep will eventually have to come. Why fight it?

Too much too soon

I was afraid it was too soon. Though I am ready, Dean was not.

I tried teaching piano lessons yesterday. He was sooo tired but would not go to sleep because of everything else that was going on. So what did he do during the 2 hours? Cried. A lot.

So I learned my lesson. I'm not just on my time schedule anymore. I have to think about someone else.

I'm pushing back my other lessons until at least after Thanksgiving. They might end up being pushed back until after Christmas. Really I wouldn't mind doing that, but I feel bad affecting 13 other people like that. But who's most important to me right now? Dean. So, one step at a time I guess. I can only do what I can do. And that's less than what I used to be able to do. I need to get used to that for now.

Mana from Heaven

You know, I think the LDS church organization and community are quite amazing.

Before I had my baby I had our compassionate service coordinator (a person in charge of coordinating service for people in need) send an email to the ward asking if anyone had a swing we could borrow for awhile (to see if Dean was a swinger). We didn't want to throw down a lot of money on an item that he may or may not like and will grow out of fairly quickly. I had people (some I didn't even know) email me, more than willing to lend me their $140 Papasan swing! AMAZING.

And then there's the meal thing. When people are sick, moving, having babies, etc. other people sign up to bring meals to them. These people generally aren't relatives, nor are they always close/best friends (though sometimes they are). However, we feel we need to look after each other (even if we are just acquaintances) because we're a part of the same ward family. It's such a blessing since many of us don't have relatives close by. It makes me feel watched over and cared for.

Matt felt a little bad that people were bringing us meals the few days just after my parents left since I was recovering fairly well and he's an able bodied soul. I know we could have made it on our own, but it was quite a blessing to have one less thing to worry about for a few days at least. I figure sometimes we give and sometimes we receive.

When we got home from the store today we had a message on our machine saying someone was bringing us food tonight. We hadn't expected it, but it was much appreciated! Ribs, salad, rolls, and a DELICIOUS pumpkin dessert. Like mana from heaven. A very nice surprise. Not only that, they also brought gifts for Dean! HOW NICE!!

So thank you ward. Thanks for the great meals, service, pumpkin bread (thanks Emily!), gifts, friendship, and swing. I appreciate it and am in awe of your generosity.

Here we come chubs

We took Dean in for his 2 week wellness check up and he's gained a whole pound in 2 weeks! He now weighs 9 lbs. 7 oz! The doctor kept stressing that 1 lb. in that short of a time was a lot. What can I say? My mom said by her children's 6 week check ups they'd almost doubled in weight. We produce eaters I guess.

We've been a little concerned about him being slightly tongue tied. His frenulum looks pretty tight (I haven't seen him stick his tongue out beyond his lip), but it obviously hasn't kept him from obtaining proper nutrition from nursing. The on-call doctor we saw in the hospital commented on it and suggested we look into getting it clipped. I think it could be helpful, but the doctor we saw yesterday was pretty opposed to it. He said that Dean isn't being adversely affected by it and that in all his years of practice he's only seen a handful of babies that really were "tongue tied." He said if it's not a problem, don't try and fix it. So, I'm not sure what we should do.

He has totally broken out in baby acne. I hope it doesn't get much worse and clears up fairly quickly. Most of what I've read says it generally clears up on its own by 4 months. I hope it doesn't take that long...

He has allergies. I've never heard anyone (let alone a baby!) sneeze as many times in a row as he does. He sneezes a lot and has been a little congested since we were in the hospital. Poor kid. Hopefully it gets a little better once winter sets in and kills off the pollen allergens.

He's a crier. Since he's doing well feeding, we decided to try and give him a pacifier to help keep him a little happier when he's awake. He sucks on his hand to self soothe, and we'd rather he not. The first couple attempts were failures, but he did take it last night, and it helped him not cry while Matt was holding him while I made dinner. He cries about half of the time he's awake. I'm not too concerned. He'll figure this world out soon enough.

His stump is gone. He has an innie. Mostly at least.

Tagged for 6

My friend Diane tagged me for 6 things about me. After my 100 things about me (in 4 installments) awhile back, I don't know what more to say. But I'll take a stab at it.

1. Sometimes I start books and don't finish them. For instance, this year I tried to read Moby Dick since it's my brother's favorite. I read it for a couple weeks, but it was slow going and I kept falling asleep. Dang. Another similar experience was with Tess of the d'Urbvilles. I just couldn't keep reading after awhile. While I wish I'd finished them to say I've read them, I don't really care that I stopped short.

2. I have a hard time keeping plants alive. I just seem to forget to water them regularly. It's a good thing Matt's much better about it.

3. I store my Tupperware lids according to type and size of lids for easy finding. I can't stand piles of lids in a jumbled mess. OCPD? Maybe. But maybe I just like my lids in order.

4. Postpartum is the first time I've used maxi pads since 8th grade. What more can I say? (I probably already said too much.)

5. I'm not a fan of talking on the phone. Aside from speaking with my family, phone talking is a little awkward for me. I kind of cringe when I hear the phone ring. I don't hate talking on the phone, I just usually don't enjoy it.

6. I LOVE steakhouse and pepper jerky. For one who was a vegetarian for about 10 years, my sheer enjoyment of it's kind of odd, but I love the spicy/salty combination a lot. I really don't care for original and I dislike teriyaki.

Substitute

Last October I applied with the McKinney School District to be a substitute teacher. I didn't hear anything at all, got a different job, and just let it go thinking it odd that I couldn't even get a SUBBING job when all the teachers I knew said they were short on subs.

Last week I got an email thanking me for my interest in substitute teaching. The orientation is November 15th.

Man that's some efficiency for you. Over a year before making any contact.

Never too young to start...right?

There are so many types of fountains.

Water fountains: Good
Drinking fountains: Good
Soda fountains: Good
Chocolate fountains: Good

Spit up fountains: Not so good
Pee Fountains: Bad
Poo fountains: Worse

Dean likes the latter three the most right now. He is such a poo machine that even though I change him after he's gone, he goes again while I'm changing him. Sheesh. Can't the kid take a little break from the pooping? I see endless laundry and diapers for the next couple of years. A week and a half isn't too young to start potty training, now is it? Any tips on changing boys (other than speed) so I can at least avoid the fountain part and him squirting all over?

Hallows Eve

Before my parents left for home yesterday we went on our first excursion with Dean (besides the Dr.). I needed to get some nursing bras from Target so we all packed up and headed out. It was exhausting! Even just trying things on and walking was tiring. Dean was pretty good, though he did require Grandma and Grandpa to hold him while I was trying things on. And then my parents drove home. It was sad. But the time had come.

When Matt got home from work we each carved 2 pumpkins. It was quite fun. I think our most successful year yet for pumpkin carving.

We didn't really get many trick or treaters. I think it's because we live on a cul-de-sac with BORING neighbors. We were the only people on our street (that we could tell) with our porch lights on and pumpkins lit. So, I think that kept most people from coming. But in reality, I was ok with that.

I didn't get to put Dean's cute Halloween outfits on since his cord hasn't quite fallen off yet. It's hanging by a thread, but it's still there. No matter, we'll let him be Daddy's little monster as long as he fits the outfit.