Cooking...? Baking...?

Snow Cream!

As a kid we used to make snow cream, a combination of clean fresh snow (only to be collected when the wind is not too bad so there is not extra fiber included), evaporated milk, sugar, and vanilla. You can substitute sweetened condensed milk for the evaporated milk and sugar or just use cream. With all the predicted snow, on Friday night I put out a bowl to collect the quintessential ingredient.

Saturday morning I had more than enough snow! By 11am I couldn't wait any longer and had to make it. I can't believe how good it tasted (just like ice cream), but maybe this had to do with the fact that I had not had it since I was a kid and memories sometime make food taste better. I can't wait for Elizabeth to try it... the way it snows around here, though, she may have to wait until she is 5!

January 30th Snow

On January 30th Durham got the biggest snowstorm that Nathan and I can remember since we moved here in 2004. It started snowing on Friday night (the 29th) and didn't stop till Saturday night, and we had a total accumulation of 5.5 inches. On Saturday I shoveled our steps and walkway, but the weather was COLD and overcast.


While this wasn't Elizabeth's first snow (that was December 18th) it was the first that we could take pictures with her and the snowy backdrop.
Saturday night Nathan took to the streets and drove over to Michelle and Mark's to give them a helping hand and babysit Camden so they could go to Mamma Mia since their scheduled sitter was iced in.

Sunday morning was the most beautiful blue-bird pow-pow day! We started our morning by calling Hong Kong Chinese... we had made plans with friends to go and have dim sum but with the weather we were not sure they were open. With no answer, we rescheduled to go to iHop. On our way out the roads were not too bad. The powdery snow made for good driving. Amazingly Durham had not plowed, salted, or sanded I-85, Hillsborough, or Guess Rd by 11am. These are all major arteries through Durham! I am wondering how long the city will be shut-down due to the snow.

As we drove by, we were surprised to see that the restaurant was indeed open. I think that we choose the best time to go! They had pretty good Dim Sum with the full service, but there was hardly anyone there. And from what I have heard, it is generally a mad house on Sundays. As we were leaving the crowd was starting to gather. With 6 people we were able to try lots of dishes: shrimp dumpling, fried shrimp taro cake, spring rolls, BBQ pork buns, eggplant, bok choy, BBQ pork, lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice, fried rice, short ribs, fried pork dumplings, and sesame balls. My favorite was the BBQ pork buns, fried pork dumplings, and the sesame balls.

In afternoon we took some photos and then while Elizabeth was taking her afternoon nap, Nathan and I shoveled our driveway - the whole thing. It is longer than it looks and it looks long!

Doesn't Elizabeth look cute in her infant snow suit?

Elizabeth's visitors and timeline from birth to January 31st

Warning: This is an incredibly long post.

For Elizabeth's baby book I have been writing down who has visited during her first weeks. Here I wanted to document it with pictures. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of everyone, but I have documented them here as well. I have also put a few other events in case I don't get to them in another post. I fear if I don't write down all her firsts now, then I wont remember them.

November 27th
For her birth Nathan and Nana were present. 6:52am


Pappy and Jesse at 11am

Keith Gerdes and Erin Riney at 5:30pm

November 28th
Elese Stutts at 5pm
Aunt Michelle at 10pm


November 29th (homecoming day!) 1pm
Pancake
Nana, Aunt Michelle, and Cousin Alex




Nana stayed through December 5th. She left that Saturday afternoon.

November 30th
First trip to the doctor (Dr. Singleton)


Michelle Leslie

December 2nd
Umbilical chord fell out
First bath

December 3rd
Heather Petrusa brought us dinner - Foster's adult mac 'n cheese

December 5th
Mark Leslie


Marie Fogarty and Ian Carroll brought us dinner - Veggie chili with cornbread and sherbert


December 6th
First outing! Went to pick out our Christmas tree

Anna, Josie, and Nancy Nave

December 9th
Laurel Clayton brought us dinner - Apple salad and white chili and oranges

December 11th
Two week check up Dr. Lail

December 12th-13th
Nomi and Kevi


December 13th
Dan and Sarah Calvert brought us dinner - stuffed shells with salad and garlic bread

December 15th
Suzanne Minton brought us dinner - red beans and rice

December 17th
Michelle Leslie brought us dinner - lasagna with garlic bread

December 18th
Visited Amanda's lab - Kyle Gaulton, Li Qin, Damien Croteau-Chonka, Marie Fogarty, Karen Mohlke
Attended Health Planning Source's Holiday party.
First snow!

December 19th
Sarah Birken brought us dinner - Shepard's pie

December 20th
Daddy gave her first bottle feeding

Graham, Christoph, and Elese Stutts

December 20th
Alex Russ (spent the night and first non-family house guest)

December 21st
Marissa Akerman brought us dinner - chicken pot pie and cream puffs

December 25th-27th
Pappy, Jesse, and Nana came for Christmas

December 27th
Lily, Alex, Todd and Michelle Lankford came for Christmas dinner and gift exchange

December 28th
Four week check up with Dr. Hosford
Sarah, Ben, and Jane Birken brought us dinner - chicken french bread quiche

December 31st
Visited Michelle and Mark at their house for New Year's Eve dinner. Elizabeth got to meet, Michelle's mom, dad, and brother as well as Mark's mom.
Went to a New Year's Eve Party at Dan and Sarah Calvert's house. Elizabeth saw Rebekah and Brian Wrenn and Lindsey and Joe Heidrick. Several other people were at the party too.

January 1st
New Years's (black eyed peas and collards) brunch party at Rebekah, Jackson, and Brian Wrenn's house. In attendance: Lindsey and Joe Heidrick; Heather, Dianna, and Matt Madsen; Sarah and Dan Calvert; and several other people

Danny Loss and Rebecca Rogers spent the night January 1st and 2nd



Elizabeth's first game of Settlers of Catan
Elizabeth's first outing to a restaurant - The Federal

January 4th
First smile

January 5th
Heidi and Jim Brantley brought us dinner - gumbo and french bread



January 6th
First lunch out - The Old Granary at Farrington with Sarah and Jane Birken

January 7th
Laurel Clayton brought us dinner - roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and mac 'n cheese

January 9th
Lindsey and Joe Heidrick's Asian dinner party

January 12th
Visit to Amanda's doctor and Amanda's lab

January 13th
First family dinner out at Rockwood Filling Station

January 15th -18th
The whole family (even Pancake) traveled to DC! Very easy baby to travel with. Slept the whole way. Nathan fed her a bottle while we were driving.
First trip to the Don's
Visits from Ruth and Michael Brannon; Mike Wipfler; Rose Stellar, David Stern, Sarah Davidson, Richard Hoppock, and Jake Thomsen; Christine Swearingen and Lou Steadwell; and Julia and Allen Lear

January 20th
First babysitting! Christoph and Elese babysat Elizabeth while Nathan and Amanda went to the UNC vs. Wake Forest game (UNC lost).

January 22nd
First Science talk. Amanda and Elizabeth went to Kyle Gaulton's happy hour genetics talk. We saw lots of people in the GMB program.

Sepi Alavi spent the night the 22nd - 23rd

January 23rd
Dinner out at Tyler's Taproom - woke up at the end of dinner

January 24th
Drove to Greer, SC for Kim McDonald's baby shower. 3.5 hours with just Amanda. She did very very well. She did not wake up until we got to Kim's house. After the shower we drove the 45 minutes to Nana and Pappy's House where we spent the night.

January 25th
Spent the day with Nana and Pappy and visited Grannie and Nancy Nave

January 27th
2 month appointment with Dr. Hosford
Visited Michelle and Camden in the afternoon

January 28th
Dinner at Broad Street Cafe with Heidi and Jim Brantley

January 29th
Snow storm!

January 31st
Brunch out at Hong Kong Chinese with Lindsey, Joe, Sarah, and Dan

Baking... (well sorta)

No Bake Cashew Brittle Bars

Cooking...

Matzah Ball Soup

I made homemade chicken broth from the chicken leftovers that Laurel brought us earlier this month and then froze it. Tonight we added boneless chicken breast, carrots, celery, and a dash of thyme. I shredded the chicken when it was cooked and added Matzah Balls we made from a mix.

Cooking...

Pear French Bread Pudding

I substituted Pears for Apples, used a whole loaf of French bread (~5 cups), an extra egg, ~1/3 cup of brown sugar, and put it in a 9X13 pan. Delicious!

The pope hat

When I put this hat on Elizabeth I thought she looked like the Pope... you decide.

Cooking...

Shepherd's pie (inspired by Sarah and Ben who brought this to us after Elizabeth was born)

Reading...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I flew through this short story last night and this morning while trying to get Elizabeth to sleep. This is thanks to our iPod Touch and the application that lets me read books. There are so many free books, that I think I will be reading quite a bit more than I used to.

6 weeks old

Today Elizabeth is 6 weeks old. I've been doing a bad job keeping up with her milestones on paper, but we have done great with getting pictures of it all!


The big thing is that on Monday January 4th she smiled as seen by the video below!
Our normal morning schedule is for her to eat then we get up and I put her in her bouncy seat on the dining room table. I open the shades and she can look out the window and experience the sunshine. I prepare my breakfast and/or pump. On Monday when I walked to the table with my breakfast I said "Hi" to Elizabeth and she smiled. I did it again and she smiled again! I grabbed our big camera to try to capture her pure joy and she looked at it like - what the heck is that? you think I'm going to smile to that? I called Nathan and told him the good news and he suggested I use the video camera. Brilliant suggestion! why hadn't I thought of that. Oh, maybe because I was up at 3am for an hour feeding and changing and getting her back to sleep... I grabbed the camera and caught 3 more smiles. This was so special, because if I had not caught it on film Nathan would have accused me of lying. She has only smiled a few times since, and they are not as big and as pronounced as those Monday morning smiles. We are just waiting until she smiles and laughs all the time!

Another thing - she has grown out of two of her outfits. This is the first and only time I will mention this because from her on out she will be growing out of things weekly. And she is finally able to wear the outfit that we planned to bring her home from the hospital. However, to mark this first milestone we took a picture of one of the outfits that is too tight on Pancake's head. He's being such a good dog. He just ignores her mostly and is loving being out all day basking in the sun and napping. We will see how good the family interacts when we take a trip up to D.C. with all 4 of us in the car.

To go with this we have also moved up to size 1 diapers this week. She can still wear the newborn since they are up to 10lbs, but the ones go from 8-14lbs and she is well over 8. They are a little roomy in the tush, but they do the job (well not all the time).

Loving...

Dooce.com

An amazing blog of a mom who writes freely about her life, husband, two children, and two crazy dogs. Nathan and I love it!

All smiles

Elizabeth smiles from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.

How to charm me...

Still find me attractive when I don't take a shower and am packing an extra 30 pounds (mainly focused around my midsection). [Thinking - maybe the larger "girls" help?]

Reading

Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children by Ann Hulbert