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Warm, intriguing ambient music from Macabro: http://ping.fm/fMWAm
Latest LP available for free download.
We're pretty attuned to Boog's cries by now. There's I'm cranky 'cause I'm hungry, cranky 'cause I'm sleepy, cranky 'cause I'm sleepy and hungry, this frustrates me, and this is pissing me off.
There's also get me out of this crib/walker/playpen/bathtub 'cause I am so done.
But lately, he's been adding this new cry. Whenever we put him down to go to sleep and walk out of the room, he has this I'm lonelly, don't leave me alone cry. You'd have to hear it. It makes your heart physically ache in your chest.
I'm not sure if this is some new 'dumb' mechanism he's evolved to help better train his parental units, or if he really doesn't want to be alone. Either way, I never realized that loneliness is something you learn. How bizarre.
We finally found a place in Philadelphia, and we signed the lease Tuesday evening. We have an apartment on the second and third floor of a Victorian twin in Roxborough (just past Manayunk) in Philadelphia. The area's nice. Very suburban. It feels like Houston.
We're excited about having space for a kitchen table. I think that's the first piece of furniture we'll buy.
Down the street there are video stores (Blockbuster and Hollywood), a grocer store, a Bank of America (where both of us bank), an LA Fitness, and Applebees (for when Deb's parents visit), a post office, an office supply store, and lots of little shops, cafes, a 24 hour diner, some BBQ, plenty of pizza and Chinese. And we're right next door to a 7-11. Slushies for everyone!
We're supposed to be moving sometime next week. If that seems a little soon to not know for sure, then you'd be right. This weekend we're packing.
The house has been totally revamped. Here's pics (check out the floors!):
Today, we bought Aiden a Munchkin fresh food feeder (picture). It's essentially a tiny mesh bag you put food inside, and then your baby gums the hell out of it, mushes the food inside the bag, that then oozes through the mesh. The mushed up food is then safe to slide down the baby's throat. Or onto their hands. Their face. Their shirt. You know: wherever it goes, you know it's safe.
So, anyway. We get home and stick a banana in the feeder. He loves it. There's this strange animal fire in his eyes while he gums on the mesh. He tries to cram the entire thing in his mouth. His mouth has to stretch to get it all in. And when he sucks on it, he growls. When the banana runs out, he flails and whines. When we give him more, he shoves it back in his mouth and growls again.
Debbi says it's like baby crack.
That picture is really somewhere closer to three months. He still won't crawl, but that's ok. We get so excited about all the new things he does, all the new sounds he makes, but really, we'd like him to slow down, so we could enjoy it more.
More picutres since we're behind and people have been getting on to us. Reall, it's not our fault. Aiden and Surri prefer to stay out of the limelight... :-p
They're originally from Dilbert, but I actually got them from a financial planner. Weird.
* Make a will
* Pay off credit cards
* Fund 401k to the max
* Fund IRA to the max
* Buy a house
* Put 6 months living expenses in a money market account
* Invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund and never touch it
* Buy life insurance
I'm a little behind. I have life insurance. My 401k is mostly funded. My credit cards are few and working themselves down (despite Christmas!). I guess the next low-hanging fruit is to make a will.
Recipe: No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.
1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.
