Monkey See

I don't like to cook, but I really do like to bake. So figuring out what kind of cake to do for Grace's birthday each year will be something I look forward to. Since Jay's on a diet this year, I thought it would be a smart idea to do cupcakes instead of a cake so that those who came to our birthday gathering could take the extra cupcakes home with them. It so happened that I saw some cutely decorated cupcakes in a magazine. They looked fun and easy so I showed the picture of them to Grace and she exclaimed "Monkeys!!!!" Yep, these were it.

The photo and recipe have been on my fridge for over a month but I never read over the ingredients or cupcake procedure that closely. I was in for an mini-adventure. (The use of this term will become clear shortly.) I added the cupcake ingredients to our weekly grocery list and headed to the store. Two products almost put a halt to my plan. It was all going smooth until I was trying to find mini-Oreos. I'd never looked for these before and assumed they'd be in the cookie aisle. I also assumed they'd be by the other Oreo products. I started to panic when they weren't were I thought they'd be. What else could I use? These cookies were the monkey ears, what other food would work? Then as I walked further down the aisle, away from other Oreos, I found them in a bag, right next to gingersnaps. How odd and how handy, all at once. I needed gingersnaps too. Phew. So now to the next mini-item. Mini-M&Ms. Here my assumption was that they'd be in the candy aisle. Being Valentine's weekend there were a plethora of bags of small packaged candies. I dug around and didn't find any that included mini-M&Ms. Ahghhhhhghhhh. Again I started thinking, what would be the same size as mini-M&Ms that I could use for eyes? The only thing that came to mind were those little red hot candies, but then all my monkeys would look possessed. I finally found an entire bag of little packages of mini-M&Ms that was tossed in the wrong bin. I grabbed 'em and thank goodness we had everything we needed. Lesson for Kate: Read the fine print in these magazine recipes.

So the day before Grace's party I started the baking process. This was the easy part. Even making the homemade frosting worked well. Then the decorating. It was make or break time. The prep of the decorating implements was fun at first. I needed to "clean out" the filling of the mini-Oreos. Tasty. (Yes, I used a knife, not my tongue!) Then I read the directions to the next part: "Cut the gingersnaps." What do they mean by "cut"? The first few I took a knife to promptly shattered. Then I tried a few other things which resulted in treats for my pug assistant. Finally I used a knife to score the top of the cookie and then picked it up and snapped it. It broke right where it was supposed to. Another phew. After opening seven packs of mini-M&Ms to get the necessary 36 brown ones for the monkey eyes, I was ready for the cupcake assembly line to begin.

First the mouth, then the ears. Mouth, ears ... on all 18 cupcakes. Now the part that could be tricky. The eyes. The tube of frosting I had was too big and if I put an obnoxious amount on the cupcake it could ruin it. I did a few "test eyes" on the back of some of the shattered gingersnaps using the non-brown M&Ms. One turned out very well so I felt I was ready to move on to the real thing. I ended up having two test monkeys. With not enough white frosting they looked ... eyeless. But then I got the hang of it. 

The last few steps. First, little bits of frosting for nostrils. Got it. Done. The last step, little tuffs of frosting hair on the monkey heads. I skipped this last step. I'd created some quite cute cupcakes and I had an inkling that this last touch could be the end of their cuteness. (I took this photo of some of them before I realized that a few were caged monkeys. Hee.  Notice that I have the magazine image placed way away from my cupcakes so there is not the opportunity for a direct comparison. Ha.) 

Grace's birthday party day arrived and I was wondering if all the work was worth it. When I saw this little face consuming a monkey face, I had my answer.

The Truth -- It Hurts

Two years ago today I was being lied to by well-meaning labor and delivery nurses.

"You'll likely give birth before noon." = Grace was born at 3:18 p.m.

"You're through the worst of it." = Hmmm, not sure what their definition of "worst" was -- but I don't think it was the same as mine.

But I thank them for their lies because it made me realize the truth. The fact is, in my heart I wanted give birth naturally, I just wasn't brave enough to make that declaration. Their encouraging (albeit non-truthful) words allowed me to be honest with myself.  

The nurses said that I'd forget the pain of giving birth over time. But I haven't and don't want to. The pain of labor and delivery is part of what I experienced on the day that we got to meet our daughter. It's a part of our history together. It'll always be with me.

Since we're talking truthfulness, I feel obligated to be totally honest about something. Grace is the most beautiful, hilarious, smart 2-year-old you'll ever meet.

And that's no lie.

Less is More

Jay and I eat very different meals. And by that, I mean different from eachother, not different than what other couples and families ate, although it was likely that too. We knew that we would need eat as a family once we started having kids (or in our case, kid : ) For a long time I was hyper-obsessed with fat content and eating "healthy" foods. Jay ... well, he was pretty much the opposite. So, some of our usual meals would be me eating vegetable soup or a baked potato and him eating a multitude chicken tenders in buffalo wing sauce (many of them) with blue cheese dressing. Neither of our methods were model eating by any means. For the past few months, our meals have continued to differ, but with a purpose.

Things have changed.

Jay's been on weight managment program. He's eaten mostly shakes and oatmeal and nutrition bars for the past months. He's lost 70-some pounds since September. He's looking and feeling great. His motivation? Grace. She's so active that he wants to always be able to keep up with her, and be around for her too.

Jay's done awesome. (Here's before and after pictures. He hasn't worn the soccer jersey since college. And he says it fits him better today than it did back then.)

He hasn't whined or been grumpy about the diet. Not at all. And now he's eyeing fruits and vegetables Grace and I are having with interest. (Since I've been "cooking" for just Grace and I, I'm eating better than I ever did. Providing a balanced meal for Grace means a balanced meal for me too.)

Let us not forget that this eating healthy shift has occurred in the land of cheese and beer. The fact that I'm not dragging Jay to Friday night fish frys every week might be to his advantage too : ) We've avoided having any snack temptations in the house which has been relatively easy. The things I snack on, dried fruit and granola bars, aren't things that tempt Jay in the least. The only item that I feel I sacrificed for him was a little thing called Jumbo Rice Krispies. Those things are good! So good that a box rarely lasts 24 hours in our house. Serious.

At the time Jay started the program, we both happened to read the book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (by Brian Wansink). A very, very interesting book that really gives insight into why we eat so much often without even knowing it. (Owning big dinner plates we feel like we need to fill with food -- mmm, pasta. Motivation to clean said plate -- don't want to waste any food! The convenience of not so healthy foods -- hello candy bar from Ms. Vending Machine. You get the picture.) Such obvious things, but things that are fixable without going on a diet-diet.

We're looking ahead to healthy, tasty family meals (which we have realized is indeed possible) and enjoying some special treat meals (ahhh, McDonald's, you know we love you.

Jay's also been working out regularly. While he's always been active (softball and volleyball in particular), it wasn't a regular part of his week. We are very much looking forward to family fitness (spring, where are you?). A handy Christmas gift -- Mr. Lawn Tractor -- will mean Jay spends less time mowing on weekends, and more time with Grace and I.

Since Jay's made such a huge change in his life, I've given in on something I have protested for years. Jay wants us to go bicycling as a family. Sounds like a simple request, right? Well he happened to marry someone for whom the phrase "It's just like riding a bike." does not apply. I have had many bikes in my life, but for some reason I've never been very good at it. (Meaning, I get on the thing and fall over and bruise the heck out of myself.) So I balked at the idea of family bike riding -- until now. Inspired by Jay's dedication, I'm willing to give it a try again. As long as our bike trips don't lead to the McDonald's drive-thru, I think we're on the right track.

Making Up for "Lost" Time

I've never watched Lost. Ever. Not sure why or how that happened. Perhaps the show debuted when I was working on my dissertation so I felt that I didn't have time for another hour-long drama (we were already watching 24 among many other things). That was 2004 and now it's 2010. Lots has changed, but two things remain the same. Still working on the dissertation and still haven't watched Lost.

I'm told by a reputable source (Jay) that I'd really like the show. He didn't watch it right away either, but got caught up over the years. I remember catching glimpses every now and then, and asking him, "What the heck is going on?" I guess that's a common reaction to the show.

And now it's the last season. What are my options? I'm not one to watch television by myself, so I can't see myself catching up on the show over the next few months. Not to mention the lack of time I have when I get home (teaching an online course, developing another online course, working on the aforementioned dissertation and most importantly, being a mama and wife).

Then, last night Jay mentioned that he DVR'd a pretty decent synopsis which provides the main gist of what's happened. After watching that, we'll watch the last season together.

I know there'll be some haters out there, saying "You can't do that! We've invested years into this show and now you think you can just watch a Cliff Notes version and jump right in!?!"

Yep. That's pretty much what I'm going to do.

Boot-a-liscious

** I know I said I'd update this weekly, but visits to the ER, urgent care, a trip to Texas and the inability to avoid some deadlines, derailed me a bit. In order to make up for it I'm going to provide you with a three part story -- otherwise known as a trilogy. **

The Boot Trilogy

Part I: I have big calves. OK, disproportionate calves. I have size 6 feet and size more-than-6 calves. Not particularly a problem unless you want knee-high boots. I want knee-high boots, and have desired them for many, many years. Each winter (or late spring when lots of sales are tempting me), I try on at least three pairs of boots. Sometimes all at one store. Sometimes at many stores. Each year I'm disappointed. This has been going on for a number of
years. End of Part I.

Part II: I had not even intended to go shoe shopping, but I was waiting around in Kohl's while Jay was exchanging some items. Ah, a boot sale. Hmm, lets take a look. What's this? A pair of cool looking boots on sale for $45 (marked down 50%!). Let me try those on. So I plopped down. Unprepared for my endeavor I had on athletic socks and jeans. Not the best attire for trying on boots. But I gave it a try anyway. I slipped the first on to my right foot. Ziiiiiip. What?! It fits my foot and calf? Huh? What?! I was so excited I almost ran down to the exchange area one-booted to show Jay. First I wanted to try on the left one. So I slide my left foot in, and ziiiii ... hmm. Seems to be stuck mid-calf. Aha, there was a bit of string there that it must have been catching on -- tried it again ... ack! I took the boot off to test the zipper -- it slid up and down with ease. Ah, it's fixed. Back on my foot it goes. Here we go, slide the foot in and ziiiiii--iiii. Dang it!

Since this process had taken quite awhile Jay had returned and repurchased some items and came over to the shoe section to find me red-faced and frustrated. He was impressed I had a boot on (he was, in fact, the one who helped me label my disproportionate calves phenomenon). I explained my dilemma and asked for his assistance. He started to help with the zipper. OWWWW. Not gonna work. So close.


Not only are my calves disproportionate to my feet, they're also disproportionate to each other. I didn't have big calves. Just big calf. I called it quits for boot shopping for the winter.

Part III: A week later I half-heartedly went to the mini-department store in my hometown "mall" with Grace. The reason I call it a quote-mall-unquote is because when I was growing up one of its two anchors was a grocery store, in the mix with a few clothing stores, shoe store, Hallmark, Radio Shack, Maurices (where I ended up getting most of my clothes as a teen), and the place where I got my ears pierced. Ah, a jewelry store too. It also had a supper club type restaurant if I remember right. I'm likely missing something ... anyways. So I went there to take a look at some things for Grace and Jay and just perused the boots. I strolled around a bit before I decided to try some on. I tried on the first pair, which fit! But I didn't like the way they looked and wasn't about to buy something just because it fit. After a few passes around the store, I tried on some more. I had Grace with and she was doing really well for an almost 2 year old. But she was on the edge of antsiness by the time I tried on the fourth boot. She'd been wandering around the shoe section playing with the foot sizer, repositioning that handy shoe mirror and pulling shoes off the rack to try some on herself. Still she was being good enough to let me concentrate on the task at hand. That said, nothing fit right and/or looked weird. I went back to the first style I tried on -- this time in black, hmmm. Ok, these fit, and you know, I kinda like them. They have two zippers. One regular zipper and the second for extended sizing, for women with "athletic calves" -- heee. So that's what I have. How nice of them to put it that way. This adjustable sizing was perfect. Who knows what my calves will do during the next few years? It's not likely they'll get any smaller. These boots were mine.

At this point I've only worn the boots once and no one noticed, and why should they? Most people can wear boots without such a saga. The lack of hoopla over my new footwear is a fitting end to this trilogy. (Get it? Fitting end, because no boots fit me before, and now I have a pair that fits and it is the end of the story. See how that works? :)

New Edition

Now that Grace is almost two we've decided to shift blog gears a bit. Of course, we'll still feature Grace's adventures (often co-starring Ella, her pug sidekick), but we start telling you a bit more about us grown ups too. Given the shift in focus I thought I'd also give the page a new look as well -- this will likely will be a work in progress. Right now it looks a bit like the Minneapolis Star Tribune masthead. You can take the journalist away from the newspaper, but can't take the newspaper away from the journalist ... or something. And to go with the newspaper theme, I'm going to do updates on a weekly basis. Can you tell I'm all about procrastinating other projects right now?

The Good, the Bad and the Funny

As all parents know, there are definite ups and downs in parenting, and sometimes the boundaries between/amongst these highs and lows are blurred.

The Good/Bad:
No more ear infections for Grace! That's the good. We got ear tubes for Gracie and we had been told how great it would be. But that night and the 10 or so days after weren't so great. Grace would not go down to sleep without a fight, a screaming, shrieking fight. In fact I was going to write a blog post right around that time but thought better of it. To get a sense of the how we were doing, here is what I jotted down … "Usually our blogs are cute and clever … I just don't have the energy -- mentally or physically -- to be cute or clever right now. Actually the lack of sleep doesn't bother me. It's the lack of being able to figure out what's wrong.”

While the tubes were ultimately a good thing, the timing might not have been the best. Grace had just gone through a big week of newness, as often happens in the life of a toddler. She had just transfered to a new room at day care, she attened her first Minnesota State Fair and had gone through her first (and hopefully, only) surgery. All that on top of exponential learning and development and making of connections. Some of those connections might have been part of the sleeping problem, and thus, part of our sleeping solution. Grace had made friends with all of her stuffed animals (all of which she called “babies”). Her room was pretty well stocked with these babies and at night she’d often stand in her crib and sob, saying, “babies, babies, babies.” One night we decided to remove these distractions and that happened to be the night when we got our good sleeper back. This was just in time for her first trip to Grandma and Grandpa Gorman’s cabin. As you can see in the photo she was always in motion. Days filled with playing in the sand on the beach and watching a friendly squirrel made for an exhausted Gracie -- not to mention a well rested mommy and daddy too.

The Funny:
So, the more words Grace can say, the funnier she gets. And sometimes what she says isn’t as funny as how she says it –- we’ll that and the fact that Jay and I hear Gracie's funniness in ways many others might not. For example, Grace is finally saying “Mama.” When she says it, it is often in that tone that sounds similar to part of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, you know where it talks about killing a man and how life has just begun … OoooOoooO. So sometimes an exclamation of "Mama!" can start off a Edenborg household mini-karaoke session.

Another word she says a lot, a lot is “colors.” She’s got a book she can color in and a magnetic board that she “colors” on. So she’ll often walk around repeatedly requesting to partake in the activity by exclaiming “colors.” So it happens that there is an rap song called Colors, where part of the background is the rapper saying “Colors” in a repetitious manner. So sometimes this leads to a bit of an Edenborg freestyle rap session. Such amazing creativity that Grace inspires!

Now, I’m not comparing our daughter is Freddie Mercury or Ice T, but she sometimes demonstrates a vocal range (at least the high-pitched notes) of the former and the beat-box ability (accompanied by some spittle) of the latter.

So, these days we're back to normal, albeit a new normal. But who knows, by tomorrow I might be singing a new tune.