Atomic Tonic

We've been parents for over two years now. We've got two kids in diapers. We own two courier bags, one huge and hugely preppie tote bag, one too-narrow homemade tote bag and a hard-sided too-small Baby Bjorn diaper bag. I tend to throw a few diapers, some wipes and zip-lock baggies of snacks into my handbag as often as possible as I hate all our diaper/non-dipaer bags.

On Monday, I had to lie Linnea on paper towels and change her diaper on the concrete floor of the bathroom in the children's room at the library. I've found my next sewing project. Changing pads. Maybe if I start from the inside out, I'll finally get around to making the diaper bag of my dreams.

Like my bag-making, changing pads are turning out to be a lot like cookies (can't eat just one, can't make just one). I made the first pad yesterday during naps.

I wanted it as small as possible so I could carry it in my handbag. I sewed two layers of flannel into the middle so it's fairly absorbent, but all the layers means it's also fairly thick and since Linnea is already nearly hanging off of it, it's not making the cut. (Not for my bag, but we'll use it at home where we only need something under her bum and not under her head.)

I made the second one last night after both kids were tucked into bed. Matilda in hers, Linnea wedged into the Boppy Pillow on ours.

It's cotton on one side and fleece on the other like the first but this one doesn't have a flannel center. It's also wider and longer, so the tie is on the side. You fold it in half the long way and then roll it up. Next I need to sew up a little pouch for the diapers, wipes, snacks and pad. Right after I sit around and deposit my brains into kleenex today.

It's been two weeks since I've had grandparental back-up. My folks went to India for a wedding. I know right? I've also been fighting Matilda's cold for two weeks. The cold finally won yesterday. My folks returned last night. My mother will be here in an hour or so. I might shower today but only because she'll be here to kid-wrangle.

Forgive me internet for I have sinned. Since I started the Bake Off I've baked twice.

Yesterday I helped my mother and Matilda make a batch of icebox cookies. They only got as far as the freezer here - my mother took the dough home to finish - but I did slice and bake four thin nibbles for Matilda's dessert.

This morning Matilda and I made a chocolate cake so we wouldn't arrive to a Babysitting Round Robin we were crashing empty-handed. Matilda sat at the dining room table for 40 minutes while the cake baked and cooled and I showered and dressed. Sat and waited to "eat the happy birthday cake." Yelled up the stairs about the happy birthday cake. "Mama! Happy Birthday cake! Happy Birthday cake! MAMA!! Want to eat the Happy Birthday cake!"

Black Magic

This recipe is from my friend Shannon. It's easier than a boxed cake mix and a hundred times better. I top it off with either powdered sugar or a chocolate or vanilla glaze.

1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup powdered cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup hot coffee
1 cup sour milk (1 cup milk 1 tbsp. white vinegar)
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add oil, coffee, milk, eggs and vanilla. Beat two minutes and pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degress.

Happy five year anniversary, baby !!
Puss. Niclas

On Monday Linnea turned three months old. I haven't been writing about her much because it's hard to put into words how one falls in love with an infant.

She's telling stories all the time now. Chewing on her hands. Is thisclose to finding her thumb. Her hair is coming in a little. It's whispy blond. She laughs when we tickle her. Go nuts when Niclas and I put our heads together over hers. Looks from one set of eyes to the other, over and over again. Slaps herself on her sides with her arms. Pushes off with her feet. Grabs my shirt or hair when she's nursing. Snorts and grunts and man, the child can pass some gas.

I can pretty much guarantee a morning nap out of her, nursed to sleep and wedged into her carseat. Then she's sort of...up for the day. Catnaps on me but tends to wake up with The Anger if I put her down to sleep by herself. By 3 she's pretty well exhausted and cranky. By 3 I need to start dinner. So that's fun. She'll sometimes sit on Niclas' lap for dinner but she just STARES at me so I usually end up feeding her while we all feed ourselves. Then it's a mad dash to clean up dinner, clean up myself and get Matilda upstairs for her bath with Niclas before Linnea loses the plot and sets the house on fire with her angry, angry screams. Then we settle in for an hour or so of nursing before I can sneak her upstairs to bed.

I had a dream about her a few nights ago as she lay asleep next to me. She was wedged into her Boppy Pillow, head and feet in the air. I dreamt that I kissed her. Her head and face and the back of her vulnerable wee neck. Her long lean fingers and her chunky little thighs. Each of her toes which look exactly like mine.

And that was it. The whole dream. Just kissed her little body which is what I do all day when she's awake. Apparently I didn't get enough in that day.

Some nights I go to bed earlier than necessary so I can listen to her and rub her fuzzy head. Last night I pulled her blanket up so I could see her feet one more time before I lay down. I hug her to me and breathe in her smell every night when she wakes up hungry and I move her out of the Boppy. She's a pretty good reason to be tired.

Five years ago today Niclas and I spent the day lounging by the pool at The Luxor hotel in Vegas.

Around 7pm, we got married by the pool at The Flamingo with a handful of family and friends watching.

Then we had dinner in The Venician, moved to the suburbs and had a couple of kids.

I've got a meeting on Monday with a trainer/nutritionist because I still have 15 pounds of baby weight to lose and I'm starting to get all caught up in my underpants* about it.

The trainer has requested a food diary between now and then. I'm too lazy to write all that down. So I'm taking pictures instead.

*Thanks for that, Bibi.

There's so much to talk about. Too bad I have nothing to say. There's Linnea, old enough to play a newborn on tv. Chewing on her hands and rolling onto her back. There's Matilda, picking up new words every hour and wanting the tiny *pinching fingers together* spoon and the tiny block and the tiny toy. There's me asking her who's on the video conference. Her saying "farfar" (father's father) when it's not, it's Niclas' brother, Fredrik.

There's Fredrik, refusing to believe he looks just like his father.

Our nightlife has been pretty quiet the last three years. I've spent them pregnant and/or nursing which hasn't left much room for cocktails. I replaced the sugar in alcohol with the sugar in cake and the martini shaker with the KitchenAid.

I'm still nursing round the clock but looking forward to swapping out the cake for a drink sometime in the future. Saturday night we had a bunch of folks over for what turned out to be a rather rocking toddler party with shots and baked goods.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Glaze (directions follow)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
1 Combine the four, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.
3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.
4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.
5 Drizzle glaze over cake.
Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Grandma Babe's Lemon Knots

Ingredients
Cookies:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs
3 cups flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon low-fat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375°.
To prepare cookies, place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in rind and 1/4 cup juice. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (mixture will look curdled).

To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons juice, and buttermilk; stir until smooth. Dip tops of cookies into glaze; dry on racks.