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11/25/11

My Granio

A week ago today, my Granio passed away.
She was passionate, opinionated, funny, beautiful, adventurous and devoted. A fiery red-head with the spunk you'd expect, she gave our little Maeve her fiery locks. Her home always smelled warm, like her, and was full of things she loved. There were so many pictures of her grandchildren, and recently her great-grandchildren, that she kept them on a rotation. The walls were decorated with pictures of times at the lake house and sprinkled throughout the house were childish gifts and trinkets we gave her each year.

Nearly every time you visited, the house was re-arranged. As she got older we would make surprise visits to try and keep her from going to too much trouble for us, it nearly always back-fired though. Adam and I took our first trip together to visit her in 2006. Following my Dad's advice we didn't tell her we were coming. She had a weak heart and we didn't want her re-arranging the house. After ringing the bell she opened the door in surprise, hugged us and swore if my Dad or Uncle Kevin had any kids do this again she would leave the house to the Salvation Army...and she probably meant it. She pushed us out the door with cash and her car keys and told us to come back in an hour so she could ready the house.
She always won.

She was funny.
I am pretty sure no other grandmother threatened to spank them with a fly swatter for disobedience. And I distinctly remember her teasing threats of a "knuckle sandwich" followed with a good laugh. Her laugh was light and always accented with a slight snort and a sigh.
I will miss her laugh.

She was adventurous.
I loved her tales of sneaking out of the nursing school dorms at night to go "out on the town." How they would have to take turns sneaking out the window for fear of being caught. Even the activities she planned with us weren't typical "grandma" trips. She planned outings to exotic petting zoos, the kind with camels and llamas, drives out to Maryland to explore the most beautiful park full of miniature ponies, paddle boats and playgrounds. I remember games of miniature golf, and her often winning.

She loved her animals.
Visits to her always meant visits to her sweet dogs and hearing of the strays she has taken to the vet and saved. In later years she began coaxing cats as well. She was always concerned for animals, and I remember how much she worried when she learned Adam's dad was a hunter. She never wanted animals to suffer, not for any reason. Not having a dog of our own, we always loved that visits to her meant visits to a dog. My brother would stand in the backyard throwing balls for her old Golden Retriever Jessie while Jessie just stared at him and lied back down. She taught us to never bother a sleeping dog, to always train them when they're young and that if you really love your dog you'll cook them chicken and rice for dinner.

She was generous and thoughtful.
She remembered things you told her. When my brother was younger and getting ready to get his first dog, books came in the mail about choosing the right breed and training your pup. The gifts came without warning and always with a simple note, "I thought of you and thought you could use this." I was in the third grade the first year I performed in the Nutcracker. She drove down from DC to see my performance and brought me "The Nutcracker" book. When I expressed interests in music, the Charlotte Church cd came in the mail and a note about her watching her on Oprah. Her latest love was Charice, though she was pretty devoted to American Idol too. Trips to visit her meant picking out sweets in the grocery store, trips to the bookstore and treats sprinkled throughout your stay. Every time we went into the city without her, or it was time to go to the airport we were handed soft coolers full of bananas, sandwiches and sweets. Oh, and an umbrella, gotta have an umbrella. She made gifts of her jewelry to us girls, wanting us to enjoy it as we grew older. Each piece accompanied with a story about our PopPop and when he had given it to her.

She was devoted.
When my Granio loved you, she really loved you. She had these photo albums she made for my brother, cousins and me full of every picture we ever sent or she ever took, ever picture we ever colored for her and every piece of correspondence. She loved us, and it was a tangible reminder seeing those albums grow year after year. She and I talked a lot on the phone, but we wrote each other constantly. I began writing Granio as a child and by the time I was in 8th grade I was writing her several times a month. I looked forward to her letters coming in the mail. She was full of concern, advice, love and excitement. The last letter I received from her was for my birthday in August. She wrote about worrying about my being pregnant in our record heat, excitement over the baby, happiness that my cousin Shannon and I were close friends as adults, her thoughts on the Republican candidates and admitted she didn't feel well, that she needed to slow down. Something I'd never heard from her before.

Things happened so quickly with Granio. She wasn't feeling well, and not quite two months later she's gone. I've tried not to think of her too much this past week because when I do I feel like I can't breathe. My parents had booked me a flight out, I go to DC tomorrow. I won't have made it in time. She'll have never met Maeve and I hadn't seen her since last year. This is the first time in my life she won't be a part of my DC visit. She won't be there to hug, to laugh with, or to talk to. There's no Christmas present to buy, no birthdays to remember the Christmas card I had already addressed will never be mailed.
It seems unbelievable that she could be gone, too painful to really consider.

I will always love her, I will always miss her, and as my fiery redhead grows I will tell her about her great-grandmother and all the things I know.

11/23/11

Baking Therapy: Molasses Sugar Cookies

Tonight's treat is molasses sugar cookies. They are gooey, spicey heaven!

Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 cups shortening
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon salt


Directions:

Melt the shortening in a large pan on the stove, and cool.
Add sugar, eggs, and molasses, beat well.
Mix remaining dry ingredients together and add to the pan. Coax your dear husband into mixing the batter well.
Chill 3 hours or overnight.
Form into walnut-size balls.
Roll in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Store in an airtight container to keep from getting overly crisp. If they do lose their softness, an easy way to restore it is to place one slice of fresh bread in the container with the cookies for a couple of hours or overnight and they will be soft again!

11/21/11

Back to Baking

Anyone who knows me, especially my mother, will tell you I don't enjoy cooking. At all. Never as a little girl did I volunteer to help prepare our holiday meals or ask my mother or grandmothers to pass on their recipe secrets. No, when it came to cooking I would try and distance myself from the task as much as possible which meant I was often given the worst jobs; peeling, shucking, slicing and dicing. Ick. My brother always jumped in to help and has had a real talent in the kitchen since he was very small. I also lucked out on the marital home front, one of Adam's hobbies is cooking. But there's a whole other side to the kitchen for me and that is baking.

Anytime my Nana was preparing cookies I was her girl, I can create any family cookie from memory. And pies! Cakes! I spent my childhood studying my mother's cherry pie, and at holidays pumpkin pie has always been mine to make. Every occasion called for a double chocolate cheesecake, and now on my own I bring the pumpkin cheesecake. When Adam and I got married the bread machine was one of my favorite gifts and I was almost giddy when we bought a cookie gun!

Now, with Maeve here, I have practically no time for myself and have been going a little nutty. So, the last two weeks, at about 1am,when she's asleep, I've baked. Cake, muffins, cookies, bread. Anything carb-loaded and delicious when made from scratch. :) There is something so relaxing about baking, something cathartic. It helps me feel like myself as I'm working to discover the new me now that I'm a mom. And it makes me happy to know people are enjoying my treats. (Oh yes, I've been sending every baked goodie to work with Adam) So, I thought since I'm diving back into this old hobby maybe I would record my successful recipes as I go. The ones I think you really MUST have! I am definitely no Christy Jordan, but I know what I love. Hopefully you'll find something you want to try! :)

11/19/11

The Seventh Week

Whoo, what a week! A week from you.know.where. Maeve's schedule has been more than off, it's been practically none-existent. I have been exhausted, frustrating and feeling generally incompetent as she has screamed, wailed and moaned her way through our week.

BUT today made a huge difference. Today, for the first time in more time than I care to remember; I showered in the morning, did my makeup and we left the house. Better than that, we lived to tell the tale! We made it out to Fort Worth for an afternoon of fun and at 10:45 Maeve has finally FINALLY given in to sleep. And while I'm not usually much for drinks I feel I have more than earned this weeks heavily poured margarita. ;)

Happily I leave you with this; proof that I still sometimes shower and wear makeup...ok, when I have help and am leaving the house to see someone. These two pictures were from our lunch with friends today at Central Market and the last photo was from Friday when Adam got home from work.


Oh what a difference help makes!

11/16/11

Shiny Happy Baby

So, really this post is for my mom. I will, however, move forward pretending all of you out there are just as enamored with my little bean as I am. The (short) video is a bit dark, but Maeve has begun to really coo, gurgle and smile. You can see the hint of her tiny grin in the beginning.

11/11/11

Follow Up

Well, my six week post-partum appointment was Wednesday. I have to admit there was something sad to me about walking into the midwife offices and knowing it was my last time there until the next time. I've so loved everyone there and almost felt like I was leaving friends behind when I said goodbye and walked out the door. Everything checks out, although the bean had a meltdown and had to be passed off to the office staff for cuddles during my exam. Oh that girl! When I came out she was fast asleep.

On the weight loss train we have made some baby steps of progress. All in all with Miss Maeve I gained 98lbs. (Yes folks, that's no typo.) Six weeks after my girl's arrival and I've lost 52lbs. So...only 48lb to go! This week I joined the gym and am hoping that between Zumba and getting back to running I can shed what's left quickly. Now...I just need the motivation to exercise when I could be napping! :)


Before I go, a glimpse for you of my six week bean. A little girl who much prefers napping in my bed to her own...

11/8/11

Rookie Moms

One of my favorite mommy blogs out there is RookieMoms.com and if you haven't visited them, you really, really ought to! The blog is co-written by two friends in Berkley about motherhood, and new motherhood in particular. Today they had a guest blogger who definately struck home with me, so I thought I'd link her post. It's short, I promise! Give it a read!

11/6/11

At Five Weeks

At five weeks our little Maeve is still a lot of mystery. She's helping us navigate the night time hours and discover what bedtime for an infant is like. Ever the cuddlebug, we're working to teach her it's ok not to be held all the time. Last night was big for us in that we went to church for the first time since she was born! We had plenty of volunteer baby snugglers, I got to see friends I've missed since September, and Miss Maeve got to meet her little friend Miss Alice, just a few months older than her! Next week we'll all be welcoming the Reagan twins into the world, and there will be two more baby friends to love! What a year! Six babies will born to our circle of friends between June and February. We couldn't be more excited!

Our weekend in pictures:

After successfully nursing in the Target parking lot, Maeve passed out burping.

My sweet, sleepy girl.
Arms crossed, holding her head as she sleeps.
After church Adam and Maeve took the dogs out and then sat down to rest "just a sec".

11/2/11

One Month Checkup

Today was the bean's one month checkup. It was also our first outing by ourselves.

*EEP!*

I am happy to report, we survived! Getting there was a mess, but we weren't even late! Maeve's stats read as follows;
Height at Birth 20in, Height Now 21.5in 69%
Weight at Birth 8lb2oz, Weight Now 10lb 72%
She's fit as a fiddle, though she's a bit spotty from some baby acne and sensitive skin. Poor girl. Luckily it's due to clear up in the following weeks. After our successful appointment we ventured out to Las Colinas and met Adam for lunch for the first time, and she slept the whole time! What a treat! Ofcourse, we paid for that with a massive afternoon meltdown at home, but the important thing is we made it out of the house alive!


11/1/11

Aunts and Uncles and Cousins-Oh my!

This weekend our lucky girl got to meet her Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Mark and cousins Elizabeth & Ethan. She was in cuddle heaven!

Aunt Cynthia and the sleepy girl.
Maeve fell instantly asleep on Uncle Mark.
These girls gotta stick together!