Cooking mishap

It's a life goal of mine to become home cook extraordinare. Seeing how I'm no where close to being able to call myself an extraordinary home cook, I like to practice. This weekend, I attempted to make homemade, restaurant style salsa. I was following a recipe posted at www.thePioneerWoman.com and couldn't have been more excited to try it.

Everything was going well until I was about halfway done pulsing the mixture in the food processor. Suddenly there was a loud, terrible noise. It was as if I was grinding metal. Kris noticed that I had more liquid in the processor than the machine could handle. I was happy for the reminder since we'll soon be using the processor a great deal as we start to make baby food. We went on with our merry way. Kris tasted the salsa and liked it; feeling quite proud, I began to pour the salsa into the container. Unfortunately, I found this a second later:

When something sounds like it is metal grinding, it probably is.

Tucker's 5 Months

Happy 5th Month Birthday Tucker!

Tucker is growing so fast. Even though we're not experiencing it for the first time, we're constantly in awe and amazed how quickly he develops.

He is very interested in his toys - especially those that he can stuff into his mouth or ones that make noise. One of his favorite things to do now is sit in his little exercise play toy, pushing all of the buttons to hear the different noises they make. He isn't showing any signs of teeth yet, but he does drools like a fool.

Like his big brother, he loves to fall asleep to rock n roll. His favorite music is Death Cab for Cutie, but really just about anything will do if he's tired. He is usually out within one to two songs, but he still has a hard time staying asleep if we try to lay him down. Maybe it's our crib mattress! Recently, he started to sing himself to sleep and the sounds are just precious.

In the last month, he's rolled over a few more times, but for now he seems to enjoy on his belly and spin himself around. He's done full 360 turns a few times- usually when Owen's moving all around him. He is always touching and grabbing whatever we have near us - so we have to be careful to watch him if he's in our lap while we're eating.

Tucker started baby cereal last week and has spent the last few days working on adjusting to his new schedule and routine. He also enjoyed taking a bath in the big tub with his big brother and taking a dip in the kiddie pool.

We constantly feel incredibly lucky and blessed.

Mini-vacation to Calistoga

Before returning to work, Kris and I overlapped our bonding leave for a few days so we could take advantage of the time together on a mini-vacation. We decided to opt for a close getaway in Calistoga, which is a small town on the north side of Napa. We just went for a couple of nights, but had the chance to stay in a nice B&B and enjoy scrumptious breakfasts and tasty food from many of the local restaurants. We visited a few different parks, tasted olive oil, explored the grounds of the incredible Castello di Amorosa, made a stop at the Culinary Institute, stopped at California's Old Faithful geyser, hiked through the Petrified Forest, and took a beautiful drive to the coast. It was fantastic.

on the castle grounds

hiking among the petrified forest

beautiful geyser in Calistoga

Back to Work

On Tuesday, I went back to work. I was quite anxious during the weeks leading up to Memorial Day because I knew it would be really hard to leave Tucker. Even though he's a chunky monkey, he is really still so teeny tiny. It wasn't perfectly smooth, but the week was much better than I had anticipated. I'm optimistic that next week will be even easier. Here are few thoughts and updates from the week:

• I justify my time away by reminding myself that he still sleeps the majority of the time I'm away.
• Tucker's still struggling with a bottle, but every new day he seems to get a bit closer to being comfortable with it.
• Having Kris home (for a few weeks) during this transition is WONDERFUL.
• The mornings have been relatively smooth. Morning feeding at 6ish, cereal w/breastmilk around 10ish, nursing with mom at lunch.
• The afternoons have been less smooth. We still need to work on the 2-3pm snack session. I get home around 4 (will generally arrive at work at 7 most mornings) and am able to nurse him right away. It's great.
• I did come home early Tuesday because Kris couldn't get him calm after a really long time of trying cereal and a bottle. Every day since has been okay, though he's ready for his mommy at 4.
• I really miss my boys and I'm practically ready to run to the car at noon and four.
• I've successfully built up a nice stock pile of breastmilk and continue to pump multiple times a day.
• The dedicated breastfeeding room at work is wonderful.
• We plan to introduce veggies to Tucker this weekend - fun! It's a little earlier than I would prefer, but I think he's ready. Now comes the big question of the week, sweet potatoes or butternut squash?
• Owen is at home full-time right now and has been a huge help to his Daddy. Kris actually noticed that Tucker is much more willingly to try a bottle if Owen's in his line of sight.

Here are few photos of our goodbye taken the morning just before I left for the office:

Happy 4 month birthday Tucker

We love you!

Owen saying, "I love you Tucker" early this morning

on the eve of the big day

playing in the crib with big bro earlier in the week

swingin' in the yard last Saturday

My Monday

Mondays usually get a bad wrap. I understand it - it's easy to feel blue when you have to wake up early to go to work after a perfect weekend.

This weekend was pretty much perfect for us. We planted our garden, went for a really long walk along the river, had lots of outside play time, watched a movie during nap time, ate some yummy homemade meals and we even went out for milkshakes on Saturday evening and took a last minute trip to the park as the sun set. Perfect.

But instead of feeling blue on Monday, I just felt happy. The weather was gorgeous and I had the day to spend with my two little boys. We ended up going on a 2 hour walk along the marsh in Folsom. For most of the walk, Owen joined Tucker in the stroller and he and I chatted about the birds and the grass and the snacks he wanted to eat. Owen ran along side the stroller for part of our adventure and luckily we also found a new neighborhood playground to check out. Tucker napped a bit and enjoyed the breeze and was happy when we stopped at a pretty park bench for a feeding. It was peaceful and special.

After nap, we had our second adventure of the day. We visited a farm that I found through localharvest.org, known as 'My Sisters' Farm. Three retired sisters have 10 acres in Shingle Springs ( a 20 minute drive up the hill) where they have decided to fulfill their life long dream - operating a small farm. They raise sheep for wool, chickens for eggs, turkeys for eggs and meat, and cow's for raw milk. They have ducks, a llama, two horses and a couple of dogs, too. When I called, I asked if they do tours and the woman, Patty, told me she'd be happy to show me around and that she had time right then and there. It was random and very last minute, but since Owen woke up that morning asking to visit a farm, I was motivated. At the farm, we got to pet a pretty brown cow, walked through a mini grape vineyard, chased ducks, checked out her barn, strolled through the tall grass to see the turkeys, pet the horses, and looked at the sheep and a baby lamb. Patty was very generous and kind and it was just a lovely little outing. We even left with 3 dozen eggs which should keep for 2 months. Owen was cautious around the animals, but happy to check it all out and explore the land. He really enjoyed it and I'm so happy I finally gave the farm a call.

So unlike many Mondays, this last Monday was pretty much perfect for me. I say pretty much because we had two major poop leakage issues before we left for the Marsh and we also had a super-major poop experience after dinner when Owen went poop in the tub! Owen started talking about poop but the accident happened before Kris realized that Owen needed to use the potty. We managed to draw a quick bath in our room and clean Owen and empty the tub while Tucker happily played. Still despite messy poop, extra dirty towels, and a tub to clean, I fell asleep trying to impress the events of my day into my memory bank, knowing full-well that someday, most likely a Monday, I will want to close my eyes and be back on the Marsh or on the Farm or even at home, carrying Owen from one tub to the next poopy and all.

Tucker's 4 month check-up

Officially, Tucker celebrates his 4 month milestone tomorrow, but we kicked it off today with his check-up appointment. We learned that we have a chunky monkey! Of course, we pretty much already knew this - his legs tell all, but still the confirmation is nice.

The stats - Tucker's listed first followed by a note about Owen:

Weight: 16lbs 4.5oz (79%) - Owen was 1 pound lighter but still very chunky, too

Height: 25 inches (56%) - Owen was just about 1/2 inch shorter

Head circumference - 43 inches - Owen was 40 cm

Tucker also received his shots and received a good bill of health! WOO! He and I both have mild colds, but the doctor isn't worried. And as far as milestones go, Tucker has started to roll-over from belly to back. It's only happened a couple of times so far- both times because he was in reach of a toy. He likes to stuff his toys in his mouth and continues to be very happy and mellow. He likes to sleep from about 8pm to 8am, but no- it's not straight - he still wakes 3-4 feedings a night. Oh yeah, and he's laughing now. He smiles and laughs at Owen all the time and it's seriously one of the most precious things to watch. Owen smiles and laughs and states that Tucker's laughing and keeps repeating his actions to make Tucker smile and laugh! I LOVE it!

I'll post Tucker's monthly photo tomorrow.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.