First Icky Cold

I know this is not a happy milestone, but a milestone nonetheless. Finn is sick for the first time in his life. It's a first for us as parents, too - caring for a little baby that sometimes sounds like an eighty year old smoker. Despite this, Finn still has his little happy face on, even when he hacks and sounds like one of his lungs is coming up with all that yummy mucus. We are hoping this will pass very soon...it's hard to see your baby go through it when he can't blow his nose or clear his little throat.

We've had a few remedy theories handed to us by friends, including Vick's Vapo Rub under the nose/on the chest/on the feet, raising the mattress with towels to ease the congestion, saline solution followed up by a good vaccum with those nose vaccum things. Last night we tried raising the mattress by sticking towels under it and I think that helped. I did get up a few times in the night to put his soother in his mouth when he woke up from coughing, but it was manageable. Hopefully tonight will be better. God speed, little buddy!

B's Food Revolution: The Apple Pie.

Once upon a time in 1999, Brandi-Lee and her friend Monica were in Foods class and had an assignment to make an apple pie. They worked hard at mixing and measuring the ingredients, however they must have had a little too much fun chattering and laughing because the pie was a disaster. That day Brandi-Lee refused to make pies henceforth. It was the first and the last.

True story - I vowed never to make a pie after that tragic attempt. However, ten years down the road I decided to give it another try, with terrific and tasty results. It was so much easier than I remember...I just followed the directions on the Crisco box for the pie crust and used a filling recipe from my good pal Destiny. The results were SO YUMMY and I will so do it again soon. I did sustain some injuries: two slices to the fingers while chopping apples (see photo) and a burn to the arm while taking it out of the oven. (It was well worth it.)

Granny and Papa Come to Visit!

We had some very special guests fly in this weekend - Granny and Papa from Edmonton! This is Chris' stepdad and his wonderful and beautiful wife (perhaps one day I will do a Doucette family tree post, but for now just go with it and pretend you understand) It was only for one evening, but it was so worth it. We had some yummy chicken korma and homemade apple pie. We visited and they had the best time hanging out with Finn! (and us too I'm thinking right?)

 

 

 

Nursery Rhymes: Worse than Video Games?

I was online today looking for songs to sing with babies/kids, since the only ones I remember are Christmas songs and B-I-N-G-O (gets old FAST). I came across www.bussongs.com and they had this neat,  slightly prejudice number: Ten Little Injuns. Check out the lyrics:


Ten little "Injuns" standin' in a line,
One toddled home and then there were nine;
Nine little "Injuns" swingin' on a gate,
One tumbled off and then there were eight.


Chorus:
One little, two little, three little, four little, five little "Injun" boys,
Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little "Injun" boys.
Eight little "Injuns" never heard of heav'n.
One "kick'd the bucket" and then there were seven;
Seven little "Injuns" cuttin' up their tricks,
One broke his neck and then there were six. 


Six little "Injuns" kickin' all alive,
One went to sleep and then there were five;
Five little "Injuns" on a cellar door,
One tumbled in and then there were four.


Four little "Injuns" out upon a spree,
One dead drunk and then there were three;
Three little "Injuns" out on a canoe,
One tumbled overboard and then there were two.


Two little "Injuns" foolin' with a gun,
One shot t'other and then there was one;
One little "Injun" livin' all alone,
He got married and then there were none.


Encore Verse:
This little "Injun," with his little wife,
Lived in a wigwam the balance of his life;
One daddy "Injun" and a mommy "Squaw"
Brought up a family of Ten "Injuns" more.
 
2nd Chorus:
One little, two little, three little, four little, five little "Injuns" more,
Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little "Injuns" more.

Slightly morbid, don't cha think? For one thing, 'indian' isn't exactly a PC name for Aboriginal people. Then they're shooting each other? Dying from what could be alcohol poisoning? Drowning? Dying in their sleep? And what's with the last one getting married and that being equivalent to death? And we're worried about kids learning bad things from movies and video games! Ha!

I kept looking and found out that many of the songs we sang as kids are the same - violent, creepy, and could strike fear in to the hearts of children. What about Rock A Bye Baby and Three Blind Mice? Have you heard of The Harlem Goat or I Hate Everything?

I think I'll stick with Bingo.

One Fine Day.

Yesterday was sunny and crisp, so I decided to take the little one for a walk. We walked to Starbucks. While he was sleeping I enjoyed a Caramel Brulee latte (which is sugar and milk and coffee in a cup - I recommend half sweet...my lips were sticky after!)

Finn is saying 'hey'.

 

The day before also included a Starbucks run, this time with Jessica and Jenna. Aunty Jenna is starting him early with the Starbucks...

 

More Christmas Photos + New Years Eve

I just found the USB cable to our new 'diaper bag camera' (so I don't have to lug around the giant Nikon to get candid shots) so here are more photos from our Christmas in Osoyoos:

Every year we get matching PJs.
Here I am doing my Sears catalogue pose.

If Finn looks warm, it's because I seriously think we was teething over the holidays. Hence, the rosy cheeks.

 

Us attempting a winter walk with our little gingerbread man.
Not a big fan.

 

So we brought him back home and got GG and Papa to look after him
while we went for a walk ourselves.

We also celebrated Chad's birthday.
He's very happy with his new cookbook.

For New Years Eve, we went to our good pals Josh and Destiny's house and brought in the new year with sleeping babies in every room and lots of great friends!

Finn hangin' wit da boyz.

Cohen really wanted Owen's soother.

We made pizza.

Sophie is trying to talk to Finn.

Chris and I say happy new year, with my 80's bangs..?

The girls did a puzzle. We're CRAZY!!!

Heads Up

Am I still a good mother if I don't do 'tummy time' with Finn every day? This is probably the second or third time I've put Finn on his stomach since he has been alive and I'm pleased to see that his neck is still strong. Whew.

 

 

Here are a few other recent pictures!

 

 

 

B's Food Revolution: The Omelette.

For Christmas Chris got me a cookbook by Jamie Oliver called Jamie’s Food Revolution. His objective is to get people cooking ‘real food’ and to pass it on to friends and family and eventually get the whole country cooking real, healthier meals instead of popping a pizza in the oven or getting take-out. My resolution for 2010 is to cook better meals for my family and to actually have a clean house. Not just tidy, but clean. (There’s a difference) So far my quest has been successful. I have cleaned the bathroom (probably #1 on my top ten least-liked chores) and bleached the kitchen. I have made the perfect omelette (see below) and my best feat so far is making a pie crust. I successfully made a chicken pot pie FROM SCRATCH, and yes I am telling everyone I know. It’s like getting an A+ on a math test for me: I think everyone should be proud.

This book is great because they're easy recipes and they're all the basics. He's got stuff from how to cook a good roast to a number of different salads. There's a chapter on different curry dishes, one on easy soups, "homely ground beef", breakfasts...all that jazz and more. I can't wait to get in to it!

The plan is to post some of my successful and not-so-successful meals and accomplishments so you can rejoice and laugh with me. I’m okay with both. First stop: the omelette. This’method’ (if there is one for omelettes?) came out of Jamie’s cookbook. Here’s how to do it:

THE OMELETTE
from Jamie’s Food Revolution

 

Serves one: 2-3 large eggs (I used two)| salt and pepper | a ‘pat’ of butter | a small handful of grated Cheddar cheese | fillings you want – I did ham, mushrooms, and tomatoes

Crack the eggs in to a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper | Beat with a fork | Put a small frying pan on low heat and get it hot (I had mine around 4) | Add a pat of butter | When the butter has melted and is bubbling add your fillngs | fry for a couple minutes and add eggs and move the pan around to spread them out evenly | When the omelette begins to cook and firm up, but still has a little raw egg on top, sprinkle over the cheese (I just grated it directly on top) | Using a spatula, ease around the edges of the omelette, then fold it over in half | When it starts to turn golden brown underneath, remove the pan from the heat and slide the omelette on to a plate.

I followed these directions exactly and it turned out just as good or maybe BETTER than at Ricky’s. Or the Pantry. Or wherevs. Here’s to 2010!

First Christmas

December 2009 is Finn's first Christmas. We went to four grandparent's houses, and that didn't even cover all the grandparents. Christmas is going to be a crazy holiday in the Doucette household, and I hope our kids can keep up with the madness. (They don't really have a choice, actually) Finn has 12 grandparents, not counting great grandparents, all with a different name to remember. We'll see how that pans out in a years time...

Over the holidays, Finn encountered some firsts: first time he grabbed something and stuffed it in his mouth. First look at snow. First squeels.

Anyway here are some photos of Finn's first Christmas:

First Christmas: Grandpa's house.

Second Christmas: Grandpa and Lori's (I'm trying to convince dad to be called Dido but so far he's not down with that)

 

Third Christmas: Grandad and Grammy's

Fourth Christmas: GG and Papa's, Grandma's and Mikes in Osoyoos. This photo makes my heart melt!