Lucien rolls over from back to belly!

On November 8th, Lucien rolled over while his OT aunt cheered him on. He did it for me today without too much coaxing. This boy wants to move!

Oct 13 meal board

Meal planning to save money, headaches, and bored tastebuds

We had been feeling pretty tired of the same-old foods cooked week in and week out. We'd go to the grocery store with a list of foods that needed to be replaced and so we usually would end up cooking the same thing over and over. Well, I was sick of it! This realization happened to coincide with the Reavey's gift to us--a new fun cookbook, 100 Days of Real Food (100DRF).

This is the third week of our new meal planning system (see pics below). We now follow a prescribed weekly line-up that is freeingly rigid. Yes, it may sound rigid and boring BUT we can try new recipes while not being overwhelmed with finding, choosing and planning five meals/week. Sometimes choice is not your friend!

• MONDAY: "Monday, Fun-Day Fish Day!"-- we make fish-based food like "Gaga's Cracker Fish" (saltines, butter and Old Bay on haddock) or fish cakes (100DRF) or anything with fish in it (I try to use sardines as much as possible). This week I added garlic-butter-shrimp to a previously frozen Broccoli-Rice casserole (100DRF) and it was delicious.
• TUESDAY: "New Food Tuesday" -- This is my chance to introduce Isaac to new foods and for me to try new recipes. I've made quinoa burgers, homemade (hm) chicken nuggets with a broccoli-like veggie called romanesco and hm chicken potpie. The trick here is to make the new food with an old favorite (French fries, for example). Everyone must have a "no thank you portion" and I refuse to offer meal alternatives: you either eat what I make or wait until breakfast.
• WEDNESDAY: "Noodle-Me Wednesday" -- Any noodle-based food. That means casseroles, lasagnas, meatballs and spaghetti (I can slip in new foods here too, but it can also be old stand-bys if I'm feeling uninspired.
• THURSDAY: "Good Morning Thursday" -- Breakfast for dinner!  The key here is to make healthy versions of breakfast food but not removing the fun from the meal. This is also an easier meal to prepare so it fits nicely into a busy day. We include green eggs (6 eggs+ milk+kale/Swiss chard/beet greens---all in the blender and scrambled=green eggs!). 100DRF has an amazing banana waffle/pancake recipe that we adore.
• FRIDAY: "Pizza Day" -- Just like at the Oberlin Co-ops! One special touch is that Josh has been grilling the pizza. Trust me, this is incredible. I mean, the Best Pizza I Have Ever Had In My Life. Whole wheat crust+sauce+fresh mozzarella cheese= One Happy Wife!
• Saturday: "Remember Me Saturday" -- Leftovers if company isn't coming over or we aren't going out. 

One helpful tip from Margot was to freeze foods by making 2x of most dishes. Also when I freeze, I freeze flat in gallon Ziplock bags  (Moms, think freezing breastmilk!). We freeze pizza dough, unbaked casseroles, and the inside of chicken pot pie.

That's it! This has transformed us! Basically, I just need to buy all of my usual foods that need replacing plus special things for my Monday and Tuesday meals.

Our first week was:

• MONDAY: "Gaga's Cracker Fish" and broc-rice casserole (100DRF)
• TUESDAY: homemade (hm) chicken nuggets with a broccoli-like veggie called romanesco
• WEDNESDAY: "Noodle-Me Wednesday" -- hm meatballs and whole-wheat spaghetti
• THURSDAY: "Good Morning Thursday" -- Breakfast for dinner!  Green eggs and banana pancakes
• FRIDAY: "Pizza Day" -- The Best Pizza I Have Ever Had In My Life (Josh's grilled pizza) 

Isaac walks four times around the sun

This morning, as I followed an online recipe for "That's the best frosting I have ever had" (my first real buttercream) with Isaac before school, I felt proud that I have a son who wants to help me stir and is curious about things like what exactly was in the big tupperware containers (chocolate muffins that I made last night).

Earlier, over breakfast, I reminded Isaac that Josh and I were planning on coming into his Montessori classroom to celebrate his birthday. Initially, he was a little upset saying, "I don't want to celebrate my birthday." This didn't surprise me because over the last couple of days, he has been mixed about his birthday--at times very excited and at times very unenthusiastic. I probed a little more this time. "Is there something about the celebration that makes you nervous?" I asked. Then he said, "I don't want to walk around the circle with anyone." In his school, the birthday child chooses a friend to walk around the "sun" with him for each year that he's been alive. I asked if he couldn't choose between Nolan and Luke, two friends we hear a lot about. He nodded. I said that sometimes when I can't choose between things that I play a game. I went and got a quarter out of my bag and showed him what heads and tails are. We then took turns throwing it up in the air and seeing that sometimes it lands on "heads" and sometimes on "tails."

Next, I wrote "H, h, heads--Luke" and "T, t, tails--Nolan" on our whiteboard easel. Then he flipped the coin and I marked how many times they both came up. Then we switched roles. At the end, I reminded him about how games can some times help us make decisions. He decided that Nolan would walk with him (I didn't point out that Nolan had "lost").

At 10:30, Josh and I met up and went into the classroom with the cupcakes and four mounted photos from each year of Isaac's life. We were invited by the classroom with all of the children seated in a circle on the floor around a large mat with a lite candle in the center. The ceremony began. At the right moment, Isaac asked Nolan to join him in his "walk around the sun." To everyone's surprise, Nolan said, "No. I don't want to." One of their teachers, Elizabeth, said that Isaac could choose someone else. Half the children had their hands raised and Isaac picked Luke.

For each "year," Josh and I shared stories about Isaac. We talked about how much Isaac loves books, music, and family. We talked about Maine, car trips, camping and his new home. After each story, Isaac and Luke circled the candle while the children recited the months of the year. Once the ceremony was over, Isaac blew out the candle and we all sang "Happy Birthday." Then it was time for the cupcakes and Isaac had to choose another friend. Now Nolan's hand went up. Isaac picked him. They handed out napkins together. Then the cupcakes were passed out and all the children ate theirs on the mat. The kids were adorable saying that the cupcakes were really good and one child even said, "These are so good that I'd like this recipe!"

I'm very proud of my little boy. He has done so much "growing up" in the last couple of months and is really becoming the person he was meant to be -- someone with a fine sense of humor, sensitive heart and quick memory and mind. As we prepare to welcome his brother or sister into this world, I get nervous about how things will change for the three of us. I don't know how Isaac will be with his sibling and even though I promise him that I'll run down the hill with him this summer, I don't know exactly how I will be with two children. My I-don't-know-mind can sometimes turn overwhelmingly scary, but I'm trying to focus on today--for now, Isaac's birthday week--and resist the temptation to dwell on life after the baby is born.  My goal is to fully experience the moment with the joys of each day,  instead of the fear of the months ahead.

Happy Halloween

We joined our new Reading friends for trick or treating on Thursday night and really enjoyed ourselves. Isaac quickly got the hang of ringing the doorbell and saying, "trick or treat!" Eventually he got tired, but before he did, here is a picture of him with his buddy Nolan.

First official play date!

Night in NH

Fall night in NH

Happy Sukkot!

After several false starts, I finally succeeded in raising our family sukkah: an Olivier-Mason first. Here's a picture of Isaac and Anique preparing our first meal (Note the scary pirate pumpkin, chosen by Isaac as a crucial decoration).

The Gaga Chronicles

With Josh back at school this week and Isaac's first day next week, we had a childcare snafu on our hands. Thankfully, my family was available to help us out. Last week, Isaac played with his cousins in the North Shore while Nicole watched him.  This week, my mom and dad are watching Isaac for two days (and two nights!) and then Danielle will finish off the week. It's also a special week because I'm giving a talk at Southwestern University and it happens to be our ninth wedding anniversary on Thursday.

To celebrate our anniversary and take advantage of these childless nights, Josh and I enjoyed a nice dinner last night and then a 5:30am trip to the gym--that's a real treat. We then donated blood after work together. It's fun and special doing things together that typically would be done alone.

Meanwhile, my mom has been sending us reports about Isaac's visit. Here is a snapshot of life in Barrington right now:

  "This morning after breakfast, shower (I was in the shower, he stripped and came in too even though he had been already dressed) and music, we went to the Barrington park so he could ride his scooter and play in the park. We also went to the library where Isaac played with trucks and loved it." Later Isaac had a long nap and went to cello practice with my mom where the teacher commented that Isaac "keeps the beat!" After dinner, my dad made a fire and the three played music together.

It sure is fun having this different schedule, but we miss Isaac and I imagine the novelty of 5:30 at the Y would wear off eventually!

Cute pictures and videos from the last year

Old but cute videos from Steph

Isaac at Lowell Folk Festival

Another Josh-Isaac outing with friends. Just two more weeks of my class and I can rejoin my family!

More PA

Isaac and Josh in Pittsburgh

Isaac and Josh are on another summer adventure--they are in Pittsburgh visiting Tirzah, Bob and Ella. Meanwhile, I'm at home because I'm teaching a class at Tufts in addition to my MIT job. I really underestimated how much work it would be to teach my own class. There are 22 students with 15 class meeting and each class is either 2 hr:15 min or 2:45. That's a lot of time to fill! We've met four times and while I am less nervous (I was surprised about that--but teaching for over two hours is much different than presenting a one hour talk of your research), I still am struggling with creating a balance between good teaching that includes active learning with getting through a ton of material. I was taught straight lecture style and that's the way I know the best, but intellectually, I know that the style doesn't work for most students and so I'm trying to get them out of their desks, drawing on the board, using real-life computer programs that I used in my PhD (Ape) and next week they'll use an MIT simulator for genetics called StarGenetics.

I worry that I'm not covering enough or covering it deep enough. While I am trying to remember that this is my first class and I'm allowed to make mistakes, so that the pressure isn't so much, the reality is that I need this class to work out for me career-wise. I feel sad missing out of all the fun Josh and Isaac are having for the second summer in a row (last summer I was writing my thesis). It's only four more weeks and the money will be appreciated, but I am looking forward to sleeping soundly and exercising again.

Here are some great pictures that Josh has taken of their trip so far:

Catching bubbles

Isaac and Maya (new big sister to Hannah Julienne)!

Saying bye to the Lagoon

On the carousel on Martha's Vineyard

Apparently, they won a free ride!

On the ferry

My beautiful boy on the way to the Vineyard with Josh.

Hiking at Halibut Point

IOM's words: "I love my shoes."