9/30/2008

Mystery

Filed under: — Aprille @ 3:38 pm

I just downloaded (and am writing from) Stainless, the Chromey new browser for Leopard (thanks, Jack). I decided to try Flickr on it.

It automatically logged me in.

How did it know?

Also, either I really need to upgrade WordPress or Stainless doesn’t support it very well. I fear the former.

Short naps

Filed under: — Aprille @ 1:43 pm

Hi, everybody.

Does anyone have tips on how to get a baby to extend his naps?  Miles has no trouble going down for a nap, but he wakes up 30 minutes later, almost exactly on the dot.  Sometimes if I catch him right away, I can ease him back down again and he’ll sleep for another 30-45 minutes, but that doesn’t always work either.

Also, I want to do something to help the Obama campaign, but it’s hard for me to physically get away and do anything.  I will not make phone calls; I hate getting political calls, so I’m not going to be a part of that.  However, I want to do something.  Do they need envelopes stuffed or something that I could do from home?

I suppose I could call my campaign headquarters and find out, but you guys are smart.

9/26/2008

Brownies

Filed under: — Aprille @ 2:00 pm

I never got around to making the cookies (though I still might some time soon), and now I don’t have time before we head to Nebraska to see Tyler and his sports team.  Actually Miles and I are going to visit Tyler at his workplace and then chill out at a bed and breakfast.  He and I are not big football fans.

Anyway, I wanted to make the cookies to bring on the trip, but since that didn’t happen, I’m going to make a batch of brownies instead.  These brownies are super-awesome.  Denny’s coworker brought us a pan of them after Miles was born, and they were so good I demanded the recipe.  Here ’tis.

I’m skipping the frosting recipe, because I made it once and it was gross.  The ones Denny’s coworker brought had some kind of glaze on them that was good, but I’m not sure about the recipe for that.

Super-rad Brownies

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
  2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

I plan to double this for a 9×13 pan, because there would not be enough for 4 people with the original recipe.  My brother probably won’t eat any because he’s a health nut.  This is why he has like 1% body fat.  Oh well.

9/19/2008

Flour

Filed under: — Aprille @ 6:46 pm

I want to make that New York Times cookie recipe that’s been going around.

It calls for 8.5 ounces cake flour and 8.5 ounces bread flour.  Cake flour is about 7% protein, and bread flour is about 13%.  All-purpose flour is around 11%.

Can anybody think of a good reason why I shouldn’t just use 17 oz of AP?  Is a 1% difference in protein really going to have a big impact?

9/15/2008

In search of…

Filed under: — Aprille @ 7:47 am

…a low-profile rotisserie.

Growing up, I remember my dad had (has?) a free-standing electric rotisserie.  It was pretty bare-bones; the food item just rotated above an exposed heating element.  It made great food, though, and I especially remember how good it made the house smell.  I always wanted to chew the strings that he’d used to wrap the meat (kind of gross in retrospect, but they were soaked with roasty goodness).

Now when I search for “rotisserie” on cooking.com or where ever, I see lots of grill accessories and some free-standing toaster oven type thingies.  I’d rather not get an additional appliance to hog up space in my kitchen, and I don’t want one for the grill.  What I like about my dad’s is that it’s easy to stash when not in use.

An exposed heating element like that might be unsafe with a kiddo around (although my brother and I emerged unscathed), but I’m just researching options here.  Any great ideas?

9/12/2008

Splash party USA

Filed under: — Aprille @ 9:53 pm

Here’s a Miles Minute in the tub.  I tried to edit so the modesty towel remains in place, so I’m pretty sure this is rated PG.  Sadly, there was a lot of cute footage I had to cut as it was not appropriate for the wild, wild web.  We all know there’s no nudity on the Internet!

9/8/2008

Ice cream toppings

Filed under: — Aprille @ 9:38 pm

Why do some fruits sound appetizing on ice cream and others don’t?

Good:

  • Peaches
  • Strawberries/raspberries/blueberries
  • Cherries
  • Pineapple

Bad:

  • Apples (unless in pie form)
  • Grapes
  • Oranges (maybe mandarin oranges, but it’s still iffy)

9/7/2008

Monthly Miles Memo #8

Filed under: — Aprille @ 4:38 pm

My little Miles, today you are 2/3, aka 8 months old.  We just got back from a trip to the library with Mubby; you had so much fun listening to the books at story time, doing the chicken dance, and staring at the big kids.  You yourself are looking a lot like a big kid lately, especially since you have three teeth.  They all came within a few days of each other; first a bottom one and then two top ones.  Surprisingly, teething didn’t seem to upset you a whole lot.  You’ve even been sleeping pretty well lately, overall.  Last night was a notable exception.

Your pattern lately has been that you sleep in your crib until about 2 a.m., waking once or twice between bedtime and 2.  Then I haul you into our bed where you sleep soundly until 8 in the morning.  Yes, I know, we thought we had quit with the whole co-sleeping thing, and you still do a great job napping in your crib and spend the first half of the night there.  But six solid hours of sleep are wonderful, and that’s what we generally get once you’re in the big bed, so that’s what we’ve been doing lately.

Last night, as I mentioned, didn’t work out quite so well.  We’ve heard that sometimes babies practice their new skills in the night, and that must have been what you were doing, because at 5 a.m., all you wanted to do was roll around and squeal.  Those aren’t new skills, exactly; your newest skills involve fine-motor work, especially with your hands and fingers.  You were probably communicating very eloquently in sign language early this morning, only it was dark so we couldn’t figure out what you were talking about.  You didn’t go back to sleep until 6:20, which would have been pretty brutal on a normal day, but luckily Mubby and Skittergramps are here to visit, so I am able to rest and recover today.

One of the most exciting developments of this month is your improved ability to recognize people.  When we iChat AV with Mubby and Skittergramps, your eyes dart back and forth at them and you shout with glee.  Another of your favorite things to do is stand at the window and watch your daddy walk up to the house when he gets home from work.  As soon as you see him, you start kicking and smiling, and he always gets a huge grin out of you when he taps the glass and puts his face up close to yours.

You’ve had a lot of exciting adventures this month.  You’ve enjoyed swinging at the playground, and running errands is getting easier all the time since you’re so good at sitting in the front of a shopping cart.  We went to the Co-op the other day and you charmed all the employees.  I had a moment of horror at the Co-op when they didn’t have any organic blueberries.  Blueberries have emerged as your favorite food, followed closely by squash, and I knew you wouldn’t want to live in a world with no blueberries.  Luckily, we found some in the frozen section.  I hope you aren’t too big of a fresh fruit snob.

You are only allowed to have blueberries on your bath days, and then only immediately before said bath, and then dressed only in a diaper, and not a fresh diaper.  You still think your food is about 75% for eating and 25% for spreading around your environs.  This is not such a big deal with bananas, but blueberries not only stain, they stick.  Once a week or so I take a chisel to your booster seat and try to make it look a little less like a car parked under a mulberry tree.

You like to take your food and do a wax on/wax off movement on the chair tray, sweeping your right arm in circles.  We noticed you doing that at other times too, along with some rhythmic smacking, and we were mildly concerned that something weird was going on with you neurologically.  I did some Internet research, and about the only thing it could be (besides, you know, a baby whapping his arms because that’s what babies do) is seizures.  Luckily, you don’t show any other signs of seizures, so we’re pretty sure it’s just your body trying to sort itself out as you grow.

I think my favorite of your recent tricks is your newfound interest in hugs and kisses.  Up until now, you were always more of an explorer than a cuddler, but lately, particularly (but not exclusively) when you’re sleepy, you’ll wrap your arms around your daddy’s or my neck and put your head on our shoulders.  You also like to dive mouth-first into my face, and you usually have two handfuls of my hair at that moment, so I can’t escape.  It’s slimy and it tickles and your breath is always sweet, and I don’t hurry up too much to extricate myself.  It can get awfully loud, though.  You’ve taken to shrieking at an outrageous volume when you get excited, and sometimes that happens when your mouth is right by my ear.  One time when it’s guaranteed to happen is when I change your clothes and diaper.  All I have to say is, “Miles, you’re nude!” and you start kicking and screaming with joy.  It’s fun to watch you so excited, but it makes your dad nervous because he’s been on the wet end of a between-diaper spray more than once.

Sometimes when things like that happen, he forgets that loud noises startle you and yells.  Just the other day, I heard him yell from the other room, and then I heard you crying. I was about to go scold him for upsetting you when he came in and showed me the source of his yelling.

As I mentioned in my description of this photo on Flickr, it’s moments like this when I know your daddy really loves me.  More than the diamond ring, more than the dozens of roses, more than the thoughtful cards and romantic dinners, the fact that your daddy did not immediately wipe off his face, but rather came to show me because he knew it would make me laugh—that’s love right there.

Thank you for that, Miles.  Thanks for reminding us that vomit can be hilarious, that there are worse things to do at 5 a.m. than hang out with our baby, and that super-slimy kisses are wonderful.  Please enjoy your nude time now in your youth, while a squealing naked guy is more likely to get kissed than pepper-sprayed.  I think you can still get away with it.  Your two front teeth make you look very mature, but you could still pass for a seven-month-old otherwise.

I love you, my big boy.

Mommy

9/5/2008

It would be too linty.

Filed under: — Aprille @ 1:07 pm

Most nights, Miles wakes up around 11:00 for a feeding.  I generally go to bed around 10:00 but stay in a kind of semi-sleeping vigilance until after he’s eaten.  Last night, however, Miles slept straight from his bedtime of 8:00 until about 1:30, then he ate and slept again until 7:30.  In our house, this counts as a Very Good Night.

Last night at around 11:30, I found myself standing next to the bed.  I listened for Miles and heard nothing.  I said to Denny, who was either still awake or awakened by my actions, “Why am I standing up?”

He said, “The dryer buzzed.  Are you planning to nurse the dryer?”

I decided not to.

Follow up:

Last night, after Miles was safely asleep in his crib, Denny and I decided to watch some Tivo (the Bones premiere) and have a snack.  As I opened the ice cream, the lid came off with a loud thwacking noise.  Denny shushed me, as we both live in fear of waking the sleeping tyrant.

I listened and heard him stirring.  I made a very apologetic expression and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Denny looked at me weird and said, “Why?”

“For waking him up.”

Denny laughed.  “That’s the dryer again.”

Seriously, why am I feeling so maternal toward the dryer?

9/3/2008

Miles half-minute

Filed under: — Aprille @ 4:18 pm

Nothing in particular, just being silly.

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