Patient Little Kittens

We now have two kittens. The original kitten is Gracie. Her sister that came to live with us a while after is Beetlejuice (due to her smaller than proportionate head and of course Jake). Emma love her kitties. She calls to them, reads to them, hugs and kisses them. Luckily we got them as very young kittens, so they don't know any different than having a toddler love all over them. Emma loves to carry them around as well... which I did not think would be very popular with the kitties...but so far they don't seem to mind. They never try to wriggle free, and they don't even seem to mind getting "caught." Every once in a while it's clear that they are not interested in playing with a one year old...so they take refuge behind the washer and dryer where they have a nice warm place to lay down.

Cruise to Mexico

Cabo was very beautiful! Heather and I did some snorkeling while my mom, Jen and Aunt Kathy did a canopy zip-line tour. Emma had a great time hanging out with Great Aunt Maryanne, second cousin Juls and Great-Grandma Hillery (Eema).

We had a a great time on our all ladies cruise. I was so happy for Emma to be able to spend some quality time with all of these lady relatives. It was a great opportunity to be with Grandma, but it was too bad she was kind of under the weather.

Emma had the most fun when she was eating (which was a lot). Her second favorite thing was the childrens pool. We didn't go as often as we should have, but when we did Emma had a blast. She laughed and laughed.

Grandma like to hang out near the pool too. I think it was nice for her to be around a young baby again and hearing her laugh and play.

Ladies Lunch

Every other Friday everyone at my office is allowed an hour and a half for lunch. Since I am off Fridays I invited three of my closest work friends over for a little luncheon (a free lunch made by me has to be as good as going to Ruby Tuesday's right?). Sylvia wasn't able to make it... but Dawn, Misty, Emma and I enjoyed ourselves. On the menu: a salad of arugula and watercress, prosciutto, fried goat cheese, honey and a fig balsamic vinaigrette; orange balsamic glazed open faced chicken sandwiches with caramelized onions; and chocolate molten lava cakes with chili-chocolate whipped cream, all washed down with iced tea and frozen lemonade (sort of an Arnold Palmer slushie). It was nice to see those ladies I don't get to see for very long because of my crazy work schedule, and a good chance for me to do some cooking! Jake was a little disappointed that I didn't cook for him (like he would eat goat cheese anything!) so the next day I made him pineapple upside down pumpkin gingerbread.

A Day at the Museum

We had a trip to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum today, with cousin Joanne and her two kids Kaity and Ryan. Emma is too young to understand a lot of the information they had to offer but she did enjoy seeing the animals and making all of the corresponding sounds.



Emma was especially fond of the live fish. She got so excited to see all of them and make the "bloop bloop bloop" sound. In the same area was a sand table where the kids could look for "fossils."



But I think Emma had the most fun in the submarine. It looked out over a mural of exotic fish that she pointed to.

The museum itself is kind of sad. It becomes very clear that Las Vegas does not put a high enough priority on things like natural history, or even history in general. There are no dinosaur fossils at all, only a few "scenes" from nature. Hopefully one day this city will make culture a bigger priority for its citizens and not only the tourists. But for now I am so glad that Emma is so easy going and takes complete joy in the little things.

Back to School

As a kid I *loved* school. I couldn't wait to buy new school supplies. The beginning of the school year was a clean slate, a fresh start, another opportunity to strive for perfection. I organized and re-organized my binders and back-packs a million ways.

I was an excellent student. I achieved good grades with little to no effort. My teachers all generally liked me, and school was just natural for me.

After graduating the relatively selective magnet "academy" where I attended high school I was offered several academic scholarships to a few prestigious universities. Being young I decided to stay home for college. I told my parents it was because I thought the local university was as good as any I was accepted to (please!). The truth was that my boyfriend was here, and I wasn't going to leave (I do deserve a little credit here, we did get married and are still very much in love).

The first few semesters of college were much the same as high school. I put in no effort and walked away will all A's. Then I accepted an internship in the U.S. Senate. I moved to D.C. for several months. Jake and I took some time apart (which I think was necessary for the success of our relationship). But by the end of my internship we were back together and engaged.

When I came back to Las Vegas everything seemed different. I had a taste of the great big world, I was engaged to be married, I had my first real job and taking classes at a local university just didn't seem as important. Working and earning real money became more and more of a priority. After all, I had a wedding to plan and we wanted to buy a house, start a family. Life just kind of happened. Three months after we got married I was pregnant, and school just didn't seem like an option at the time.

Fast forward to now. My wonderful employer has offered tuition assistance so long as your degree is in your work field. I decided I had to take advantage of this opportunity. Sure, it meant abandoning a degree I had almost finished for one in Public Administration, but it's paid for. Public Administration, through my work at the court, has become a field that I am passionate about and it would still allow me to go to law school.

So here I am again, at the beginning of a new school year. My books are ordered, schedule is made. But this time things are different. I'm not eager with anticipation. It doesn't feel like a fresh clean start. I'm scared. This time I'm going to need to put in effort. This time if I fail, it's not because something happened, it's not because I got my first real job, not because I was planning my wedding or discovering motherhood. If I fail this time, it's because I didn't work hard enough, study hard enough, prioritize correctly. I'm scared because I know I can no longer get by on general knowledge without doing the reading or studying for tests, or even on my good people skills. I'm scared to find out that I might not be as good of a student, as smart, as dedicated as I always thought I was, as I always liked people to believe I was.

So wish me luck. At the end of August my re-entrance into the world of higher education will begin. I will work hard, actually read and study like I never have before (literally).

Three days off, a kitten and a baby shower

Finally Thursday came, and I had a day off!

Jake took Thursday and Friday off so I got to actually see my husband!

Mom, friend Darlene and I spent all day Friday cooking in my kitchen preparing for the baby shower we were throwing my sister on Saturday. How wonderful it was to have two sous chefs... My kitchen didn't even look like a bomb went off after we were done.

Our Menu:
Zucchini tarts
Mini crab quiches
Mini green chili quiches
Pear, onion and Parmesan cheese strudel
fruit platter
crudites with hummus, white bean balsamic dip
pita chips and guacamole
Chicken salad and turkey with cranberry sauce tea sandwiches
Hazelnut panna cotta w/ raspberry sauce
and more coconut brownies (I'm on a kick)

Everything came out beautifully.

Also, on Friday my mom brought me a cute little black kitten. Anyone that knows me knows that I am NOT a cat person... but she is too cute. It was a rescue, of course. Emma was thrilled to death to have a kitten. She follows it around saying "Meow" or patting her knees saying "comeer" (come here). So far so good.

So today it's back to work.

We start potty training next weekend!

Brownies Two Ways

Yesterday was, in addition to the last of the 11 days I worked straight, a birthday celebration for Jake's aunt and cousin. My mother-in-law called and asked if I could please make a cake and another dessert of my choice.

Coming off of three hours sleep, and tending to both Emma and her 9 month old cousin Nay-Nay (Nathan) I decided brownies were the way to go. Easy, impossible to mess up, and all with ingredients I knew I already had.

The first batch is a fudge style brownie (made with melted semi-sweet chocolate), and topped with a home made caramel and pecans. My brother-in-law is a big turtle fan, so I knew that these would go over well.

The second batch, may possibly be the best brownies I've ever made. These are more cake-style, though quite moist (made with cocoa). I topped them with coconut, pecans, butter, brown sugar and salt (salty sweet HELLO). Although it sounds a little bit like German chocolate cake, it's really not. I baked the brownies with the topping so it got gloriously crunchy.

Because I was smart enough to make a double batch of each, I have just enough left over to take to book club tonight.

The aforementioned cake was banana cream, and quiet yummy, but it was gone before I could locate a camera!

Big girl potty....here we come!

Today we bought Emma a potty, and three pairs of darling little girl panties.

As a first time mom, it is hard to know when is the right time to venture into the world of potty training. But, Emma has taken to removing her diaper herself once she is wet...so I think it might be time. I've heard from plenty of other people that their daughters were potty-trained at 18 months... Emma is almost 19 months.

As a working mom, I think that this may be especially difficult, because during the week she will be with different grandma's and will not have the consistency I think may be required for potty-training, although I am home with her during the day... I am not there for a night-time routine. Additionally, during my three day weekend there are always many errands to run, that I do not get to during the week.

I think the best plan of attack is to have all the grocery shopping done on a Wednesday, so that on Thursday when my weekend starts we can commit to being home for three days straight, and hopefully have it mastered (for the most part).

The other thing is that I think in order to truly master potty training, we have to convert the crib into a big girl bed, so that she can go potty during the night, should she need to. I am particularly concerned about this idea. I know that my parents had me in a big bed by 17 months (so that I wouldn't be jealous when the new baby moved into the crib), but that seems very early to me. I am wondering if it would be too confusing to her to use panties during the day but a pull up at night. The only problem with this idea is that she tends to remove her diaper either as soon as she wakes up or possibly during the night.

Any help or advise would be very much appreciated! Wish us luck!

Sunday Morning Waffles

I've been working for nine days straight... and another four to go before I have a day off. That overtime sounded a lot better before I was actually working it.

I thought a great way for me to enjoy the part of my day that I get to spend with my family would be to make some waffles on Sunday morning.

Last night I came home from work on my "lunch" hour. I spent a little time with Tera and Emma (Jake was at a going away party for a friend and coworker), and I prepared the batter for these waffles. They have yeast and require sitting out overnight to give them almost a sour-dough-like effect.

This morning I just had to mix in a few last minute ingredients and turn on the waffle iron, whipped up some home-made raspberry-maple syrup and breakfast was served.

I try to be sure that I don't fill the waffle iron all the way, so that the edges get super crispy. I'm not sure where I first learned this recipe...but it seems to be our favorite. Here is the recipe I use:

Sunday Morning Waffles

• Put 1 packet yeast into a large bowl with 1/2 cup of water.



• Melt 1 stick of butter in a saucepan with 1 cup whole milk.



• Once butter is completely melted add 1 cup buttermilk to milk mixture (this will help to bring down the temperature of the milk/butter so that you don't kill your yeast).



• Add your milk to your yeast with 2 cups whole wheat flour (buckwheat also works very well) 1/4 cup sugar and 1tsp salt.



• Mix well and be sure you have no lumps.



• Cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave out overnight.



• In the morning add 2 eggs, 1 tbsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp. baking soda.



• Fill waffle iron not quite 2/3rds as you would normally, this allows the edges to get super crispy.



• Serve immediately... leftovers can be wrapped in plastic then foil and frozen (later baked at 350 to re-heat).

I hope you all enjoy!

Life Plans

If you had asked me 8 or 9 years ago if I ever thought I would be a mother, working full-time, and still living in Las Vegas I would have told you that you were crazy!

When I was in high school, I had my whole life planned... I would have graduated law school by now. I would have either been working in a law firm in New York City, or in the Senate. I would have been working a minimum of 80 to 90 hours a week... single, but dating, in a meticulously clean house (thanks to a housekeeper no doubt). I would be able to afford every luxury... I thought I would be living alone, perhaps with a dog or two. I would eat at fancy restaurants every night, but still be able to keep a lean and sculpted figure. And strangely enough, this is what I thought would make me happy.

Reality:

I have not gone to law school, or even finished my bachelor's degree, as of yet (I am going back to school in the fall). I live in a town home, not quite in the lap of luxury I had foreseen. I am married, and have a daughter. I do work full-time, not in a field entirely out of the scope of my legal aspirations (but also not a place I ever thought I would be). I cannot afford the biggest and the best of anything. I cannot afford a housekeeper, and my house is FAR from meticulously clean (although I am making a bigger effort). We had two dogs, but they both had to go (chihuahuas and small children are not a good combination). I rarely eat out, certainly not at fancy restaurants. Instead I love to cook and bake, and I'm working hard on this lean and sculpted figure (although for now I would settle for a little less cushioning). How is it, that this.... so far from anything I thought I *knew* I wanted would actually be what makes me happy.

I was so ready to move away from home, to find something new. I felt no need to stay close to family... I had no desire to have children, much less ever even consider being a stay-home-mom (I would give my left leg to stay home with my daughter now). Thank goodness for my husband. Through him I have learned the importance of family, the true gift that children are. He has shown me what truly makes me happy. It's a lot less glamorous... but a lot more me.

Lime Cookies

These are some delicious lime butter cookies I made for a family barbeque. They are a variation of a Martha Stewart recipe, only a bit lighter and less tart.

Baking for family events brings me so much happiness. To feel like I can provide for some of their needs, in a most enjoyable way.

Dear Diary

Blogging, not something I ever thought I would be doing.

It's a nice idea though, like having a diary. I can let family and friends keep track of me and my family, and it's an outlet for things one keeps bottled up.

I'm hoping that this helps me organize my thoughts, and helps me to give my life a little bit of the direction it's been lacking.

My home is generally a war zone, I always feel the need to be on a diet, my catering is not off the ground, but I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful baby girl... if only I could be more organized!