Let's Bake a Cake

For Christmas Helen got the cutest gift! A Sassafras Cake Making Tool Kit. It came with a bright green spoon, two cute oven mitts, a blue pan, a pig timer, and a rather yummy and super easy recipe for a cake. Which of course, I can't find anymore, so if anyone has the recipe handy and could share, I'd appreciate it! Even Matt thought the cake was good!

Helen loved making her first cake. She is still talking about how she helped "stir." We even did a little bowl licking. The problem? The downside? The cake had to bake for 40 minutes. Which wasn't so much a flaw with the product, as a flaw in Helen's patience. In that she has none. 40 minutes pushed her close to the proverbial edge. She just didn't understand why that cake had to cook when the batter was already so delicious. And to some extent, I have to agree. Batter is delicious. Why bake it?

But batter, cake, whatever your preference, we had so much fun with the Cake Making Tool Kit. The pink "Mommy's Helper" apron that I put Helen in while she cooked didn't hurt the cute factor either.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Helen really enjoyed it (she is still asking for "more presents!") and Patrick loved crawling around amidst lots of paper. I got everything I wanted this year for Christmas. The centerpiece of my Christmas was my beautiful new Animal...Dyson Animal that is. Its already revolutionized my life. I am a fairly clean person...well, let's be honest. I am a complete neat freak. So I always thought my house was clean. The Animal has proven me wrong. I had no idea what filth I have been living in. This thing finds dirt where I didn't know dirt could hide. It seeks it out and destroys it. Pet hair on the carpet is a thing of the past. And with a 100 pound golden retriever that is a small miracle.

Meg had a wonderful Christmas too. Although most of her gifts came with European names like Prada and Manolo...my designer gift has made me equally if not more happy. Since most days I'm barefoot around the house, I'm just as excited to be walking on a floor cleaned by a designer vacuum as I would be to walk around in designer shoes.

My favorite website in the world...www.overstock.com...has a large selection of Dysons! Happy vacuuming!

Million Dollar Idea

If someone wants to make a fortune, I can tell you how. Drive-thrus. Seriously. You know how I picked my dry cleaners? Its the one with the drive-thru. Pharmacy? Drive-thru. Dining establishments? Drive-thru. Or the occasional curb-side to-go (another great invention, by the way).

Today I needed to get some eggs. Eggs. Period, that's all, nothing else. Just one case of eggs. They cost $1.56. I would have paid $5.56 if I could have just driven up to Randall's, pulled up to a window, asked an attendant for a dozen eggs, and never left the car. Instead, I loaded up two children and a giant diaper bag into a cart, navigated through the store, through the checkout line, and back into the car. It took 30 minutes. I do not exaggerate.

Its not just eggs. I would do this for just about anything. I would be lying if I told that I haven't just driven through the Sonic drive-thru when I've been short on milk. Formula, diapers, if Sonic sold it at the drive-thru, I would buy it. And for a mark-up. I would pay for the convenience of never leaving my car with two children. I'm sure there are people with no children who would pay for the convenience of staying in the car, too. Lazy people, but people with cash nonetheless.

Really this idea has endless possibilities. I would love to drive-up somewhere and say "I need a birthday present, could you bring it to me?" Really what I need is a drive-thru at Wal-Mart or Target. Where I could get it all. Groceries, diapers, formula, toys, cards, gifts, you name it. I would build a drive-thru superstore myself, but I don't want to have to get out of the car.

Why I Love Puffs

Gerber has the most wonderful invention. The Puff. Or Stars as Helen calls them. They come in all sorts of disgusting, yet wonderful to a baby flavors, like corn and sweet potato. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love corn and sweet potatoes, but generally not in my snack foods.

The beauty of the Puff is that is a great starter solid food. It dissolves just about the instant it hits the tongue. Perfect for little fingers to grab, but a good tool to learn the art of chewing, a precursor to the Cheerio. At least that is what I remember my pediatrician telling me about the Puff.

What she didn't tell me was how much free time the Puff would give me. Patrick just finished lunch and is enjoying a lovely dessert of banana puffs. I threw some on his tray and voila! He's chowing down. Mommy free. Its remarkable the things I can do with this 10 minutes of Puff time. Clean up the kitchen (let's face it, after feeding a toddler and a 9 month old, the kitchen can use a wipe down), unload the dishwasher, or the more frequent use of time...blogging and/or email checking. Regardless, I can't thank the wonderful people at Gerber enough for their amazing creation. They thought they were making strides in baby nutrition. Little did they know what they were doing for mommies everywhere.

MeMaw, Anyone?

Grandparent names are tricky. I had an Omi and a Granny, Matt had a Mimi and a Grandma. There are countless options. I suspect its just as important to many grandparents to find the right name as it is to parents trying to name their child!

Helen and Patrick have four wonderful grandparents. But their grandparent names are as different as they are. Nana and Papa went the traditional route. While Ninny and Ger got their names a little differently.

Nana and Papa have wanted to be grandparents since Matt and I got married...and probably even before that! I have a vague memory that they told us while I was pregnant that they would be Nana and Papa. Period. They laid their claim. I imagine many late night conversations over the years debating the perfect grandparent names.

Ninny and Ger didn't have names staked out. While in the hospital after Helen's birth, we in jest told Ninny that she could be "Grindy." A lovely combination of Grandma and Cindy. I saw the look of horror in her eyes. But the horror passed just quickly enough for her to zing my dad by calling him "Grill." A similar combination of Grandpa and Bill. Those horrible names became quite the family joke and therefore, of course, in my sarcastic clan stuck. So for some time it was Grindy and Grill...with the idea that Helen would come up with her own unique names for my parents. Well Grindy eventually morphed into Ninny and Grill into Ger (although an official spelling is still in the works).

What is especially wonderful is despite the different paths, both sets of grandparents have the perfect names. I couldn't imagine Nana and Papa being called anything but. And Ninny and Ger seem to suit my parents perfectly.

There is a great article on Grandparents.com about choosing a grandparent name. Check it out!!!http://www.grandparents.com/gp/content/activitiesandevents/everyday-activities/article/choose-your-grandparent-name.html

Mommy Worry

Probably every mom is afflicted with "mommy worry." I have a particularly bad case today. I was a worrier before Helen and Patrick, and I'm sure I will only get worse. My worries range from the mundane to the silly to the serious. And I can manage about 1000 specific worries in under 60 seconds. These are all the things I've worried about today.

1. Why is there baby food, milk, crayon marks, etc. all over our walls? How much does it cost to have the interior of your house repainted? We'll probably have to repaint sooner rather than later.
2. Why are my wood floors scratched? When will we have to fix that? How much will it cost?
3. Why does Helen hit Patrick?
4. Are timeouts really working?
5. When will Patrick cut that second tooth!?!?
6. Why do I keep forgetting to put Patrick's eardrops in?
7. Am I loving my children equally, yet uniquely today?
8. When am I going to take a shower?
9. Why don't we have any soap in the shower?
10. Why does Helen only like to eat yogurt and peanut butter? Why does she eat peanut butter in a bowl with a spoon like ice cream?
11. Are Helen's eating habits bad for her health? Is she going to be a 300 pound 3 year old?
12. Why doesn't Patrick like solid foods? Why doesn't he like Stage 3 baby food? Why does he want to feed himself??
13. Why do I always forget to brush Helen's teeth in the morning?
14. When do I need to schedule Helen's first dentist appointment? How much will that cost?
15. Am I ever going to be able to find a job after staying home?
16. Do I want to find a job?
17. Do I want to be a lawyer?
18. Can lawyers work from home?
19. Why do I miss working? Do I miss working or do I miss making money?
20. Would Helen benefit from going to Mother's Day Out?
21. Why can't Helen jump?
22. Why does Patrick army crawl? When should he start crawling for real?
23. Should I move Helen to a toddler bed?
24. Why does Helen only halfway want to potty train?
25. Why don't my jeans fit?
26. Why does my hair either look great or look terrible when its curly?
27. Did Helen walking onto the scene of Matt cutting the head off a deer scar her for life?
28. Why can't I keep my house clean no matter how hard I try?
29. Why are groceries so expensive?
30. Why does Chase always bark during naptime? Keep your fingers crossed no one wakes up!
31. When is Helen's mullet going to go away?
32. Should I cut Patrick's hair myself? Its starting to hang over his ears!
33. Will the kiddos behave during pictures on Friday?
34. Will my children be happy, well adjusted, smart, kind, funny, compassionate, tolerant, open-minded, and have a successful life?
35. Will anything bad happen to them? They need some bad things to happen, but hopefully its just the right amount to make them good people.
36. Will anything bad happen to me and I won't be able to take care of them?
37. Does Helen love Nerds and lollipops too much?
38. What will we have for dinner?
39. What should I make for lunch?
40. What will I wear? What will Helen and Patrick wear today?
41. Why haven't we childproofed the house?
42. Why do we have so many toys? We have so many toys and books that we are starting to get duplicates. We used to be able to fit all of our toys in a storage ottoman, now they need a whole room.

I'm sure the list will continue...its only 3:20...I have hours and hours left to worry.

Nerd Alert

Today the gang went Christmas shopping...Helen, Patrick, and myself. And of course, Aunt Me-Me. She can't resist a trip to the Galleria and I can't resist bringing along a helper. It became clear rather quickly that we had different agendas. I hit children's stores. She hit cool stores. She bought accessories and gadgets, I bought "big girl panties." While she made important business phone calls over lunch, I fed Patrick and tried to bribe Helen with a package of purple Nerds leftover from Halloween.

Nerds are my absolute go-to bribe. In a store and a tantrum is coming, out come the Nerds. Refuses to get in the stroller so we can get going, more Nerds. I'm sure a parenting counselor or expert would tell me to use some other strategy, but Nerds work for me. They are easily accessible, cheap, and most importantly effective. Whip out the Nerds and there's an immediate reaction. Pink is the Nerd of choice, but purple is a close second, so I'm never short on either.

Again, today was no exception. Helen refused to sit in the stroller and wanted to walk. Unfortunately, she already had a box of Nerds in her hand from the lunchtime bribery. So there was no ace in the hole...she walked. We had to hit one more store. Burberry. Great, of course it wasn't like we were going to hit the Disney Store.

All I can say is that if you've never crawled on your hands and knees on the floor of a high-end retail store picking up hundreds of spilled purple Nerds, try to avoid it. No one was sad to see us go. Least of all me.

I guess that wasn't as bad as the time newborn Helen poo-pooed all over me, herself, and then spit up all over everything at Saks. But I'll save that for story for another day.