Author: Faith

Letter to Mimi: Month Eight

Dear Mimi,

I’m not going to lie, this month was a little hard for me. You, the baby who was basically sleeping through the night at two weeks, started waking up 3-4 times a night. You would wake up crying at 2 am, 3:30 am, 4:30 am, 5:00 am, and then be all smiles and and ready to start the day at 7 am. It was WRECKING me.

Fortunately the waking-4-times-a-night thing lasted only a few weeks. Now you’re getting up 1-2 times a night which, while far from ideal, is doable. I haven’t given up on getting you to sleep through the night, though. Your pediatrician told us that you’re physically capable of doing it so we’re trying to figure out how to help you do so. I just checked out a few books on sleep training from the library so we shall see, my friend. WE SHALL SEE.

During the day you continue to be a wonderfully pleasant baby. You’re interested in everything and laugh easily. I’ll sit you on down on the carpet with a few toys and you’ll happily play by yourself for 10-15 minutes at a time.

You’re still fascinated by your brother. He’s better at making you laugh than anyone else and is (usually) very gentle and kind with you. This last month you’ve been going through a hair-pulling stage and when E gets too close you grab his hair with your tiny fists and yank hard. You’ve actually pulled some of his hair out but he just laughs and doesn’t listen to me when I remind him not to get too close. He thinks you’re hilarious.


Watching the two of you together brings me joy in a way that I didn’t really anticipate. The other day I was listening to the radio and they were talking about sibling relationships and about how they’re the longest running relationships we have since your siblings are in your life before your spouse enters the picture and they’re there after your parents pass away. It makes me glad to think that you and E will always have each other.


Sweet Mimi, we all love you so. I wouldn’t change a thing about you (except for that pesky little waking-at-night habit–work on that, won’t you?)

Love,

Mama

Kitchen Remodel

(Click to see larger)

So for some reason I decided that this was the ideal time to start the kitchen remodel that I’ve been wanting to do for years. I’m doing as much of the work myself as I can because 1) our house isn’t fancy to begin so it doesn’t make sense to spend the $$$ it would cost to have it done professionally, and 2) I am under the delusion that I enjoy doing things like this myself.

I was really gung-ho to get started and have already taken down most of the cabinet doors to start sanding and painting them. But along with the “I am woman, hear me roar!” enthusiasm sometimes I feel overwhelmed and wonder what on earth I’ve gotten myself into. To tell you the truth it largely depends on how well Mimi (and I) slept the previous night. 🙂

But I’m already past the point of no return so I better just buckle down and get it finished. The goal is to have things largely put back together by Thanksgiving (fingers crossed).

Birthday Weekend

I didn’t find my ring but we still have a lovely weekend complete with three (!) birthday dinners.

They sent me a coupon for a free birthday meal so on Friday night we took the kids to Tucano’s. It’s a Brazilian steakhouse where the servers walk around with skewers of various grilled meats and they bang on bongo drums and sing “Happy Birthday” to you in Portuguese. It was kind of crazy but E loved all the spectacle and stuffed himself silly and even ate a grilled chicken heart. I was so proud!

On Saturday night N and I went to The Copper Onion, one of my favorite places in Salt Lake. And then on Sunday we went up to my in-laws’ house for steaks and cake and ice cream.

As a treat I ordered a birthday cake from City Cakes, our favorite local vegan bakery. It was lemon with raspberry filling and “cream cheese” frosting and DELICIOUS. It was super moist and tasty and didn’t taste “off” at all.

E really got a kick out of the weekend’s festivities. When he got up on Friday N prompted him to wish me a happy birthday which he did by saying, “Happy birthday, Mama! I got you an umbrella!” It’s probably a good thing that N kept E out of the loop on the other presents he got me. N was so thoughtful that I felt a bit spoiled. And fortunately none of his gifts is small enough to be lost in the shag carpeting 🙂

The reason I can’t have nice things

It’s actually not my kids, it’s me. (Sigh.)

Yesterday I lost the lovely little diamond band N gave me for our 10th anniversary earlier this year. I was using some serious chemical anti-mold stuff to clean under one of our bathroom sinks where the faucet had been leaking so I took off my rings (I wear two stacked on my ring finger) and put them in my pocket so they wouldn’t get gunky.

HOURS LATER I realize in a panic that I’m not wearing my rings and they’re not in my pocket anymore. I find one of them lying on the couch but I can’t find the other one anywhere. I’ve been looking all over the house but half of our house has this thick shag carpet that hides dropped tiny things really well. And I can’t remember if I took them off before or after I made a quick IKEA run. I think it was after, but eep.

N was really sweet about it. I would have been a little bit upset if he had lost something expensive/sentimental that I gave him because of carelessness but he took breaks from cooking dinner to help me look and after I went to bed I heard him looking some more on his own.

I’m going to try and not let this cast a pall over the weekend but I keep worrying about it. Right now I’m going to go give my bedroom the most careful vacuuming it’s ever had and then my sister Jan is taking me out to lunch for my birthday. I’m hoping that it will eventually turn up, but even if it doesn’t things will be okay.

More than okay, even.

Faith vs. Food

Winner Round One: Faith!

I followed through and made a galette with the pears from the co-op. I used this recipe for the crust and it worked well (you normies can substitute real butter for the vegan margarine).

I have totally fallen for galettes. Less fussy than a pie, they’re great for a quick weeknight dessert. Plus saying “galette” makes me feel kind of fancy 🙂 I have two pear trees in my backyard covered in fruit so we’ll probably be eating a few more of these this fall.

Winner Round Two: Food

Yesterday I decided that shrimp cocktail and garlic bread sounded like an awesome lunch. I had picked up a shrimp ring at Costco on a whim the day before because I love shrimp cocktail and I was shopping hungry and my birthday’s later this week and hey don’t judge.

Anyway, so I enjoyed my tasty-but-weird lunch but a few minutes later my face starts feeling flushed and itchy. I look in the mirror and see this. And my heart just drops.

I’m sorry, but what the hell?!! Did I really just developed an allergy to shrimp? I had it a few months ago and was fine. But this time my face got really itchy and I had a few scattered hives on the rest of my body. I downed some Benadryl and the hives went away in about three hours.

Shrimp is pretty easily avoidable but I’m freaked out by the idea that I’ve developed a food allergy at thirty. I didn’t know that could happen. Am I going to develop other allergies? Maybe it was just a weird one-time thing. I’m scared to try shrimp again because if I have another reaction and it confirms an allergy I’ll be bummed.

Bountiful Baskets

Several of my neighbors have signed up for Bountiful Baskets, a produce co-op. It seemed fun so I thought I’d give it a try; we got our first basket on Saturday.

Our basket included iceberg lettuce, 5 pears, 5 lemons, 4 tomatoes, a cantaloupe, concord grapes, 5 bananas, 4 green and 2 red bell peppers, celery, and 5 ears of corn.

Not bad for $15, but it’s a lot more produce that we usually buy in a week. However, I do enjoy the Iron Chef aspect to it all–the contents of the basket are a surprise and it’s an interesting challenge to think of ways to use all of these ingredients.

So far I’m planning on baking the pears into a galette and making roasted corn soup. We’ll probably just eat the melon, grapes, and bananas on their own and the veggies can go into a sauce/salads. But what to do with the lemons and kiwis? Hmm…

A Winner and The Weekend

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for a copy of Maphead! The prize goes to Elaine who was lucky #1.


I hope that everyone has a great weekend. I’m still a bit under the weather so my weekend plans are absurdly couch-centric. Tonight N and I will probably watch the next few parts of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and then on Saturday and Sunday I’m going to watch my church’s general conference, bestirring myself from the couch only when strictly necessary.

Here’s to the weekend!

Maphead Giveaway!

Thanks for the well-wishes, guys. Mimi is sleeping a bit better now, waking one or two times during the night instead of three. It’s still not optimal but I’ll take it. Last week I got worn out from the lack of sleep and trying to do too much (hello, simultaneous DIY kitchen and bath remodels!) and I ended up coming down with a nasty stomach bug. I was stuck in bed with a fever and crazy chills but after taking it easy over the weekend I’m feeling better.

I have some fun things to post this week, including A GIVEAWAY! N’s brother Ken is in town visiting on his way to a speaking thing and he is graciously offering a signed copy of his new book Maphead.

I’ve read it and it’s a fun, smart read that is being well-received. (Watch for the New York Times review later this week!) If you win Ken will sign the book and he can make it out to you or whomever you’d like if you want to give it as a gift.

To enter, leave a comment on this post (be sure to include your email or a link so I can find you if you win) before midnight (MST) this Thursday, September 29th. One winner will be drawn at random. If you want something to talk about in your comment, tell us some place you’ve always wanted to go.

I’ll start. I know it’s not that exciting, but I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland. I blame watching watching Riverdance on PBS at an impressionable age.

Your turn!