Tonight Baby Gray ate:
- some “green” puffs
- a banana
- a serving of broccoli
- a serving of rice cereal
- 4 ounces of applesauce
- part of another serving of rice cereal with applesauce in it
- milk
Wow! I’m scared of this kid’s eating habits later in life!
Have Your Cake…
And if it’s good, eat it, too!
T-Paw makes a killer chocolate cake. I can’t duplicate it. I haven’t even tried in several years because it’s rarely the same. I’ll try again soon. I need to be able to make this cake. It’s delicious. I love it.
This is NOT T-Paw’s cake. It is, however, the closest I’ve ever had (minus the pecans–bleh). Usually I don’t even try other chocolate cake. This one had a look about it, though. I’ve been known to order chocolate cake, look at it, and not eat it. The key is in the icing–not frosting, icing. (Side note: these are my own made up definitions. I have no idea if they are accurate according to anyone who bakes professionally and has a clue about these sorts of things.)
To me, frosting is a fluffy, matte-colored, thickly coated cake or cupcake coating. Icing is glossy, thinner, and usually gets a little coating over the top that might crack or crinkle after it has set; additionally, icing might be cooked, rather than just mixed. Again, these are only my definitions.
T-Paw’s cake has cooked icing. I can make the icing. The cake above had cooked icing. It was good icing. It’s rare that I say that about icing.
This is T-Paw’s cake. It’s thousands of times better if it’s microwaved a touch before eating; this is a 21-23 second piece. You want it just warm enough that the bottom of the icing (the part touching the cake) darkens a little. Yum!
When I master it, I’ll have you all over for T-Paw’s cake!
Eight
Eight.
To some, eight years might not seem like many. Mr. Gray and I have been together more than eight years. To others, it’s more than a lifetime. Two of my nephews weren’t even born eight years ago. It can be right in between. Eight years is half my oldest nephew’s life. It’s all relative, really.
Today, though, to me, eight years seems like yesterday. I can hear my Grammie’s voice. I can smell the Jergens soap on the kitchen counter in its pottery pump. I can see her standing behind me in the mirror when I am getting ready, just like she always did. When I see a butterfly or a certain shade of blue, I think of her–not just today, but every day. It seems like only yesterday she were here. I remember her so vividly. I remember her as if she is still just a short trip up I-35 to visit.
However, I know she is gone, and she is happy. She is joyous and free! She is singing–singing beautifully to Papa, and he can hear her. They have gone Home, but we will see them again.
Weight Watchers… No, Not Me!
After Baby Gray’s last appointment, Dr. Miller wanted us to come back for a “nursing weight check” to see if he was gaining anymore weight. (If you’ve seen him lately, you are probably as puzzled by this as I was initially.) We went in this morning, and he’s now 18 pounds, 5 ounces. The nurse said, “I think Dr. Miller will be much happier with this,” and went on her way. I didn’t like that answer, so I enlisted Auntie Heather, our good friend the Registered Dietitian to run his numbers.
She did, and all looks well! I never had any doubt this kid could eat!
The Envelope, Please…
The winner of Mother of the Year goes to…
Someone besides me!
I thought it was funny; he’s definitely getting more mobile. I love it and hate it at the same time. It’s exciting to watch him grow, learn, and figure things out, but I miss my little baby boy.
In all seriousness, though, I was close enough to stop him from taking a nose dive while I was photographing him!
Run For It
This weekend, Mr. Gray had to work a 5K run sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce in our hometown. He asked me a while back if I wanted to run since he needed to be there anyway. I eagerly signed up–and forgot about it. I ran at the Blue Bell Race (early April) and then I ran a mile or so one afternoon after that. Needless to say, I was a little nervous about Saturday. Plus, I was going to be jogging with people I know; I don’t like that at all. I prefer to run slowly anonymously.
Friday I set my goal at 45 minutes–ridiculous. I really didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping, realistically, to come in at about 42 minutes, or 13 minutes per mile. That isn’t what I’d like to run, but it was what I thought my body might be capable of with no training. I dropped Baby Gray off with Nonna and headed downtown.
Way too many people I knew were there for my comfort zone. It was also a weird mix of people, so I couldn’t decide to pick as my “pace person” (yes, I judge people at the starting line and pick who will be a good pace person for me there–I’m usually right). My main goal is always to run jog the whole thing, regardless. This was the first time I haven’t done that (even in high school). I had to stop and walk about three-sets of thirty steps. My right foot went numb at almost two and a half miles (according to my phone). I tried the walking so I could wiggle my toes and try to alleviate it, but it didn’t work, so I just finished ran it out.
I finished in 37:29–a personal best. I averaged 12:18 per mile, which is still slow, but it’s an improvement for me! I got second in my age division (I didn’t ask how many were in it, and I won’t because it was a small race). I was definitely pleased.
By the way, my foot is fine. I cut my toe that Thursday and had a band-aid on it; apparently it was too tight! I pulled my shoe off right as I crossed the finish line and got rid of the band-aid. All was well after that!
Then and Now
Tonight’s news is still sinking in with me. Osama bin Laden is dead. I don’t even know the last time I thought about Osama bin Laden. Maybe last September; maybe not. Tonight, though, as I’m sure is true with many around the world, he’s on my mind.
I am so grateful for our military men and women; they go out each day in terrible conditions and do a job most don’t want to do. Those who went in after Osama bin Laden took an incredible risk to seek justice for an incredibly devastating act almost a decade ago.
In 2001, I was at school when news of the attacks came in; I was in the office as an office aide at the time. At that point in time, nothing anyone could have said or done would have made me understand the impact of 9/11. Mr. Gray and I were dating at the time, and I just remember him saying, “This is going to be big.” I had no clue. None. When was it the TV would be going back to regular programming, again? I’ve been to New York four (five?) times since 9/11, and I’ve never actually been down to Ground Zero. For whatever reason, I have felt a disconnect to the whole thing. I saw the tiles on the fence; they were incredibly moving, but it still wasn’t clicking for me.
Tonight, I saw on my Twitter feed that President Obama was going to make a speech as early as 9:30 with no hint of what it would be about. A few tweets later, someone posted, “It’s gotta be Bin Laden.” This peaked my interest. I told Mr. Gray to turn on the news so we could see what was going on; about that time, my Twitter feed went crazy with reports of bin Laden being dead. We turned on the news and started hearing the pieced together story that leaked before the President was able to make the announcement. It wasn’t clear what was going on, but, again, my interest was there. It took me almost a decade to get it.
Maybe I’m just older now. Maybe I’m wiser. It could be that I’m a mom, and I feel like there will be attempts at revenge. Maybe that turns on my “Mommy Instinct” or something. I don’t know what changed in the information that made me feel more connected.
I will continue to pray for our military men and woman and all the behind the scenes work they do. I am very thankful to our soldiers. Thank you! Thank you!
Royal Wedding Day (Please Read On)
I have to be really honest here. I have no clue who Kate or Harry (William?) really is. I doubt I would recognize them in a photo or anything. While I know today is history-in-the-making, it just hasn’t been something that interested me.
This morning when I was talking to Annie, she mentioned she got up to watch it. She was telling me a little about the ceremony and the officiant. She talked about his statement that each of us have a royal wedding because we are all sons and daughters of the King. I love this! Love, love, love it! This is my prayer for marriage. I pray that each person who enters into marriage will not treat it lightly or passively. I pray that they will realize the impact of the covenant being made.
I read several comments about the Royal Couple looking “in love” and like “real people” on Twitter and Facebook. While I was perusing, I came across my cousin’s wife’s photo album of the Royal Wedding (they are in London and got to watch). She took some great photos of the procession and recession. The fact that she and my cousin are there is really cool to me (although my interest level didn’t rise much).
I wish each and every royal couple a blessed life together!
A Few to Ponder
Why is it that my dog wants to eat everything we eat… except the Cheerios Baby Gray drops on the floor?
Why did it take me so long to appreciate the fact that my husband folds and puts away towels? Even if he doesn’t do it my way, it’s done!
Why is it that I love the idea of running, and the feeling when I’m done, but I rarely get up and do it?
Why am I most productive in the middle of the night?
Why is it that when we have no where to be, Baby Gray wakes up at 5:00 am, but when I need him to be up so we can leave, he sleeps in?
Have you ever noticed how the irony in your day can make it or break it? Take what you get and laugh it off, or let it ruin your day. The choice is truly yours. I like to laugh and sing a line or two of the ol’ Alanis song, myself.
Walkin’ on Sunshine
Not what you normally expect from me, huh? Miss Shooby had her Spring dance recital this morning. So cute! They have a great teacher who is a TCU graduate with a degree in ballet who comes to teach the kiddos there at the school each Wednesday morning. I think that is so awesome–that allows for more family time in the evenings!
It took her a bit to get warmed up to the whole performance aspect of it all, but once she got into it, she was into it!
The teacher uses all the technical terms for each position and movement when the ballerinas demonstrate them. Even the two youngest girls (Shooby is one of them) know what things mean.
Baby Gray hung out with Honey to cheer Shooby on this morning! He’s such a good sport! He even helped Honey push the stroller around.
Here’s Shooby’s fan club, minus her daddy, who so graciously took our photo (and Cookie, of course). The kiddos weren’t into it!