Home Sweet Home

Even though we have always loved traveling, there is nothing better than falling into your very own bed after a trip. It is even sweeter after a traveling debauchery. Here's baby bejos catching a few winks in the airport at about 2am, just before this mama began to lose it and we stormed out to find a motel.

The rest of the week is dedicated to some R&R as we watch the winter storm drop a predicted 12-18inches of snow outside! We also have a mountain of presents to work our way through :)

Travel Woes

This year we avoided the Northeast at Christmastime, optimistically elluding the weather issues that often plague our travel, and headed to a warmer destination.

Our travel luck ran out last night. Due to mechanical issues and then an overworked flight crew our flight was cancelled after a long three hours in the plane. Three hours after that, we checked into a motel for a few restless hours of "sleep". Again baby bejos has been a trooper even if his parents are teetering on the edge of sanity and civility. Deep breathing and a pledge to be sane and civil to each other is the only thing holding us together for now....

Merry Christmas

love and hugs and kisses

xoxo

Cousins...

Baby bejos is loving his cousins

watching their every move

and basking in the love and attention

Traveling

We are happy to be in warm sunny weather and out of airports...although this baby was a fabulous traveling companion

Battle of the Mother-In-Laws

Without actually being knowingly involved in a battle, our mothers are duking it out. SG and I both grew up with mothers who baked up a storm for the Christmas season. Last year when making peanut butter blossoms SG and I had a minor tiff over the correct procedure of making these tasty treats. My mother places the kiss on the PB cookie before baking them, while SG's mother places the kiss on the PB cookie after baking them. I couldn't remember the results so when baking these tasty treats I tried both methods.

The results?

My mom's method produces a very slight burnt kiss but a definite "blossom" look

 My MIL's method creates tidy little bites of deliciousness with a less "blossom-y" spread

The winner (I am sorry to say mom) is my MIL's method which produces a softer overall cookie. Not that any cookie will be left uneaten, I promise! Even baby bejos was reaching for a bite when he thought we weren't watching.

Wishing you sweet treats all season long!

my baby sleeps in the closet

We live in a small house. A very small house that isn't much bigger than a matchbook. No, really, I mean it. Our humble little abode is about 900 square feet, and yes, I know that is a HUGE space in terms of NYC, but we don't live in NYC.
So, when baby makes three, we had to make a few decisions with our space. I gave up my office space, moved into the sun room, and crammed a few baby bejos necessities into the guest room. Now that he is 7 months old we figured it was time to move him into his own room. After seeing this post on Ohdeedoh we decided, in the vain of Harry Potter, that we would move the baby into the closet.

The pictures aren't very good for whatever reason, but you'll get the point

It has worked out quite well and, most importantly, we still have a guest room! The next challenge is to find space for everything that came out of the closet and is currently living in a pile on top of the guest bed. Good thing the room isn't booked in the near future, although I HATE living in the disorder that the reordering of rooms has created. Oh well...

Baking Disaster

Another highly anticipated recipe: Chocolate Coconut Bread.
Turns out there is a very good reason why the recipe calls for unsweetened coconut. Sweetened coconut burns at high temperatures like the 475 degree oven one is intended to bake this bread at. Duh!

The salvaged bits, although undercooked, had promising flavor. I guess I'll have to try this one again, but this loaf will go unnamed...

baby bejos is 7 months!

And he is sitting up all on his own...with the occasional topple. Makes us rethink the lovely tile floors.

We spent the weekend pulling out the Christmas decorations, hanging lights, and, to SG's chagrin, attending holiday festivities. I love Christmas lightings and Santa sightings and was delighted this year to be able to share my excitement with baby bejos...I think a little bit of the holiday cheer even rubbed off on SG too.

Dear Santa,
all I want for Christmas are kitchen utensils, as I find them waaaaay more entertaining than typical baby toys.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread

Yum! 

This is the recipe I have been most excited about trying and it did not disappoint.

Bread

We have become a household of homemade bread, and not the kind out of a breadmaker. We are not purists, as we use a no-knead method, but the results make us look damn talented. And this is the book that makes it all possible

The issue is that I have stuck to the same few recipes time and time again. So, starting this week, I am venturing out and trying new recipes.

first up: Jim's Irish Brown Bread

Guinness, buttermilk, whole wheat flour....yum!

And thanks to my BFF, Auntie A , we are in the habit naming each loaf we bake. Perhaps you remember Cliff? Coming out of the hot oven this bad boy brought me back to Ireland and conjured up all things Irish, for it was in wintertime that we honeymooned in Ireland, and the bread was perhaps the highlight for me, a semi-vegetarian, in a not so veggie friendly place. On top of that I caught a fever induced sickness (we fondly dubbed it "the Irish Ick") and the only thing I could stomach was tea and toasted brown bread. This bread is nothing like the brown bread I enjoyed so much in Ireland but it does deserve an Irish name. So, I dub thee.... Murphy
because all that time I was sick all I really wanted was a Murphy's Stout

First real snow

This past weekend we received our first real snowstorm that left a few inches behind. Baby bejos was fascinated with the phenomenon. Glued to the window, slack jawed and drooling, it was hard to tell if it was awe or just another symptom of teething. Hard to tell these days.

Even though the temps these next couple of days are predicted to be near 50, I think we have seen the last of the bare ground for the season. It was so nice to get out of shoveling duty last year with the excuse of a baby bump...sigh

Thanksgiving

Here are a few shots from Thanksgiving. All was well except for the second round of the stomach virus that made it through our house. I am already sick of winter and it hasn't even officially begun yet!

Happy Thanksgiving

Warm wishes from us to you!

Deadlines

This is the time of year when I realize just how much crafting I need to get done before the holidays and swear that next year I will start earlier. Yesterday SG took charge of baby bejos and let me focus on crafty things all day long! I was giddy with the possibilities....
I cannot, obviously, show the actual products because too many recipients may be reading this right now!

So, how about some footage of the child instead.

I found a feature on my camera that produced some fun results with color. Here is baby bejos trying to inch his way off the changing table. Crawling may be in our very near future. Eek!

one of my New Year's Resolution is to get better at this whole filming/editing thing since so many of you are so far away and the requests for live footage are numerous

Self Image

 

How totally out-of-body it must be to see yourself for the first time.

In other news we just got our 6 month stats...15lbs, 27.5" long, one long skinny boy!

Memorial

My grandfather, whom we called Papi, passed away on November 1, 2010. My aunt held a memorial service for him last week in the home where he spent his last few years, and I was lucky enough to be able to make the journey down to be there with some of the family. It was the first time they all get to meet E, which made it all that more special. 

We had some friends in town this weekend and got to do a little hiking, a little eating, and a little baby training for the soon to be new parents. 

All was well except for the short lived stomach bug we all shared. Yuck!

The boys were in charge of fondue Friday night. Check out the fury of stirring going on!