4 Hours

I have determined that is the maximum amount of time I can spend alone with my kids in our apartment.This makes me sound like a terrible mom, but it's true. Maybe it's the size of the apartment, or the weather, or some crazy post-natal hormones. Since Lily is awake from 7AM to 7PM, and Joe is at school for at least nine of those hours, this is a problem.

Thankfully, she still takes a one or two hour nap after lunch. The two late afternoon hours before Joe comes home are easily filled with books, arts and crafts, household chores, cooking, or a movie. (I can't wait for warmer weather and longer days so we can head out to the park for some pre-dinner romping.) That leaves the morning. The long, long morning from 7AM until 1PM. Fortunately, these are also the easiest hours to get out of the apartment. Lily's in a good mood, Thomas is happy to sleep in a carrier or stroller, buses are frequent, and places aren't too crowded yet. Here are some of our recent adventures. 

Outside. A while back there was snow, and there will be snow coming again tonight! Lily likes to take her beach toys to the park and build towers of snow. She really wants to throw a snowball and make a snowman, but the last couple of times it's been too powdery to make a good ball. Maybe this time.     

   

The Hyde Park Neighborhood Club. Thank God for this place. There's an indoor gym filled with bikes, balls, scooters, big blocks, tents, and kids under three. They also offer different classes throughout the week. We usually attend a music class, a dance class, and sometimes an art class. It's amazing. And Lily loves it. And we can walk to it. And it's cheap. And have I said it's amazing???

The second floor. In our building there's a large common area adjacent to the laundry room that has accumulated some fun toys. You can often find a couple of kids and their parents hanging out. It's a nice, big, open, carpeted area where the kids can run around and blow off steam and play together. When it's too yucky to go outside we just camp out there for an hour or so just for a change of scenery. Thomas likes to watch Lily run and jump and dance all around. 

Shopping malls. We haven't been to too many of these, but I'm always pleasantly surprised when we do go. Yorktown Mall is particularly fun with the Morton Arboretum Treehouse and fun little train ride. I already related this story on facebook, but I'll go ahead and tell it again. This was Lily's first time on a big kid ride all by herself. I half expected her to freak out once the operator closed the door and it started to move away from us, but she didn't. She was in the last car with a little boy. When he got in with her she turned to him and said (in her own way) "I'm Cinderella. You're the Prince. This is my pumpkin." Then as the train rolled around and around we could hear her singing songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein version of Cinderella. It was adorable. 

Random free events across the city. I've taken to checking the Chicago Parent calendar pretty regularly to find free things to go to. This has become another huge lifesaver. These pictures are from Juicebox, a kids concert series at the Chicago Cultural Center. The first one we went to wasn't excellent but I'm excited to go again next week to see a dance group. 

Grandma's house. We usually go to my mom's house once a week to do laundry because it's easier to have Joe carry one really big bag down to the car than for me to carry five basket loads down nine floors with two kids in tow. And it's cheaper, too. Last week Lily decided she wanted to go dressed as Tigger and Piglet.  

The Garfield Park Conservatory. This is such a beautiful place. And it feels like being outside in the sunshine in summer. I could come here every day. I made Lily a little sketch book out of printer paper, construction paper and staples. We did some of the scavenger hunt they have there and I helped Lily draw some of the plants we saw. She really liked stopping to talk about what we were looking at and draw things so I'm going to add this to our things we take when we go on an adventure so she can draw things we see and remember them later. 

These next pictures represent my attempt at taking our traditional cheesy self family portrait. It's hard to hang onto two squirmy kids and a camera all at the same time. 

As long as we get out of the apartment, even if it's just for a half hour stroll around the neighborhood, it helps break up the day. And it keeps us all happier. Enjoy the snow tomorrow and get out and play!

2 Months

Two months. I have that silly conflicted feeling of it being both much shorter and much longer than that. Shorter because things are still so new. Every day you change so much. Longer because while I remember what it was like before you came, I can't imagine life being any different than it is now because our little family feels so complete. And you're so strong! Holding your head up so high, scooting all over your play mat, smiling and flirting with me, rolling over. It's ridiculous. You must think you're six months old or something. 

You are such a little chunk, dear Thomas. This morning I weighed you on our scale at home and it said an impossible 11.5 lbs. That's humongous! No wonder I get tired carrying you around everywhere and my arm falls asleep when you nurse. Your cheeks are so big and so kissably soft. They actually hang down from your face. 

And your feet. Ohmigosh your feet. They are so chubby. And so small. And I could just die. Lily had long, skinny feet that always (and still do) seem a little too big for the rest of her. But yours are almost comically short and pudgy. I love them.

You're so very tolerant of most things. Your crazy sister who wants to play with you and hold you and scare you and dance with you and read to you and paint on you and fix things for you and, and, and. All at the same time. Your crazy mama who sometimes has to let your cry a little longer than she would like while keeping Lily alive. And your crazy dada who sings you silly songs and does all he can to make you happy while mama takes a break. 

Keep on growing, little Thomas. There are great things to come.

January Resolutions

1) Go outside every day. Nailed it. I made it outside  at least once a day, even if it was only to the car to drive somewhere, every day except one. And on that day we went down to the second floor to run around for a while, so we got out of the apartment for a bit. I think that counts.

Last week I had my 6 week post-partum check-up with the midwife and I've been given a clean bill of health and the official go ahead to start exercising again. Therefore, this resolution is now to exercise at least 5 times a week. This sounds ambitious, but my definition of exercise is very loose. It can be anything from walking to and from the grocery store (one mile total) to Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred to dancing with the kids for half an hour. The goal for this month is mostly just get used to moving again everyday and keeping track of it.  

2) Keep up with the housework. This has gone okay. We revamped the play area and toy storage boxes so that there is more open floor space and things are easier for Lily to get to on her own. There have been a few days where Joe has come home to total chaos and has taken over childcare so I can clean up and have some relative alone time. (For the record, he would  have been willing to do the cleaning himself, but I wanted to do it.)

3) Cook dinner once a week. Once I started doing this, it was hard to stop. And it seemed to get easier each time I did it. Lily is now old/well-coordinated enough to help out a bit, as well. She is a great mushroom brusher and onion peeler. Every couple of weeks we roast a whole chicken (inspired by the 'A Feast of Ice and Fire' cookbook we got last year, I have half a post written about how glorious it is), and we can't eat the whole thing in one sitting so we've been looking for interesting and/or easy ways to use up the leftovers. A couple of our favorites so far are a chicken and broccoli braid and chicken pot pie. 

Chicken and Broccoli Braid (from AllRecipes.com)
This was actually really delicious. Joe's not really a big mayo fan, but he liked this. We ended up making two braids and saving one for a couple of days later. If I do it again I'll probably halve the recipe because while it reheated fine, it wasn't spectacular. I'm excited to try this idea with different kinds of fillings.

Ingredients:
2 cups diced, cooked chicken meat
1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped (we used frozen)
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 clove crushed garlic
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons slivered almonds (we skipped this)
1/4 cup diced onion
2 - 8 oz packages refrigerated crescent rolls
1 egg white, beaten

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375*F.

In a large bowl, toss together chicken, broccoli, red bell pepper, garlic, Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, dill weed, salt, almonds and onion.

Unroll crescent roll dough, and arrange flat on a medium baking sheet. Pinch together perforations to form a single sheet of dough. Using a knife or scissors, cut 1 inch wide strips in towards the center, starting on the long sides. There should be a solid strip about 3 inches wide down the center, with the cut strips forming a fringe down each side. Spread the chicken mixture along the center strip. Fold the side strips over chicken mixture, alternating strips from each side. Pinch or twist to seal.

Brush braided dough with the egg white. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 28 minutes, or until golden brown. 



Golden Chicken Potpie (from Family Meals, another of my new favorite cookbooks for simple, GOOD food)
This is a really good, pretty simple recipe. It's really pretty light, not super heavy like I expect potpie to be. I would throw in some peas next time, maybe just use a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. This is a nice recipe because I can do all the prep work in the morning while Thomas naps in a carrier and Lily is in a helpful mood, then Joe can assemble it and throw it in the oven during the witching hour.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 stalk celery, finely sliced
2 small carrots, sliced
1 cup mushroom caps, quartered
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme (we used a pinch of dried)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Directions:
Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat and warm the butter. Add the onion and celery and saute until golden, 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots and mushrooms and saute 3 minutes. Pour in the wine, bring it to a simmer, and reduce for 3 minutes. Add the stock and thyme and simmer until the vegetables are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and 1/4 cup cold water until smooth. Whisk about 1/4 cup of the hot stock from the pan into the flour mixture, and then pour through a fine-mesh sieve back into the pan, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the diced chicken, return to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes to heat the chicken through. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl, let cool, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours. The filling can be made up to 2 days in advance.

Preheat the oven to 400*F. Butter a 9-inch pie dish. Pour the filling into the dish. On a floured work surface, roll the pastry into a 12-inch circle. Brush the top and bottom of the edge of the dish with the egg. Lay the dough over the filling and trim so it hangs 1 1/2 inches over the edge. Wrap the dough around the edge and press firmly. Crimp the dough against the lip of the dish with the tines of a fork. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to relax the dough. Brush the top of the pie with the egg. Cut a few vents in the center. Bake until the crust is golden and the filling is hot and bubbling, about 45 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

(We baked it in a 9x9 square dish and did not need to trim the dough at all, we just dropped it right on top. So then we didn't need to let the dough relax either, so everything went faster.)