My MacBook is temporarily dead, and with it goes my ability to post pictures easily. The laptop is in the Apple repair process right now. Thank FSM I bought the extended warranty because the most recent repair apparently involves replacing the motherboard.

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If you haven’t noticed, updates to this ‘blog have slowed considerably. Like every working mom before me, I am struggling to achieve work-life balance. Fiber hobbies and ‘blog updates were the first things to fly out the window. (I can knit a little on the bus or while the baby nurses, but that is about it.) I spend 2 to 3 hours every weekday with the baby, and my other hours rotate around working, cooking, cleaning, and, surprisingly, sleeping.

I wondered for a while why I was more tired now than pre-baby, even though I get roughly the same amount of sleep per night. I eventually realized that I was always “on” - I don’t stop to read or knit or browse teh Internets, instead I am frantically chopping vegetables for tomorrow’s meal, folding laundry, writing thank you letters (my god, people are generous when you have a baby, it is sort of stunning), vacuuming, sewing more diapers, grocery shopping, paying bills and filling out reimbursement forms, washing bottle parts, etc, until I fall over.(*)

In addition to being physically busy, there is more to think about - meal planning (god, how I hate meal planning - and with breastfeeding, I am always hungry [I joke that I am like a Hobbit, I have second breakfast and sometimes second lunch or second dinner]), making sure Charlie Cat gets his insulin shots on time and is not vomiting because he loves his new “kitty Atkins” food (low-carb, prescription only, so expensive, sigh) so much that he chuffs it down as fast as possible and then sometimes pukes it back up, how to slowly replace my work wardrobe (postpregnancy, my feet, waist, and boobs are bigger, necessitating replacement of every damn category of work clothing), being mindful of a schedule for pumping milk, getting back into the medical editing groove (it’s coming back to me slowly, but I can tell that I’ve forgotten a lot), and of course, thinking idle Mommy thoughts about the baby and wondering how she is doing.

All that is to say, I am not complaining. (Although, it would be nice if my hair stopped falling out already.) I am absurdly happy. Life feels so full, so rich. Being the parent of an infant is better than I ever dared hope. Right now, the house is vacuumed, the toys are mostly organized, the fridge is full of tasty leftovers, and the laundry is folded and put away. (OK, the master bathroom definitely is still dirty. And the garden and yard sorely need weeding.) I miss interacting with the fiber community and wistfully look forward to resuming my hobbies again, but I wouldn’t trade my life today for anything.

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(*) Lest anyone think that Matt’s life hasn’t changed, I want to emphasize that he is doing a lot more, too. He is the one settling the overtired baby while I am doing other tasks, he does all of the baby pick-up and drop-offs, and he spends every lunch hour at the day care (the employees there have remarked approvingly about his dedication). Matt takes care of nearly all of Charlie’s evening injections and feedings, does most of the litter and kitty vomit cleanup, and runs numerous errands on my behalf.

My sister and her long-time boyfriend are now engaged! I’ve been waiting to hear this news for more than a year. :D

They visited us a couple weekends ago to meet Meredith and soak up some Minn-eh-SOH-tah culture.

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We had a get-together over Labor Day weekend, and I decided to make lemon-glazed madeleines.

The recipe is from David Lebovitz, and it is just fantastic! I finally got to use the madeleine mold that Matt and I received as a WEDDING GIFT (back in 2004), and it was worth the wait. This recipe makes 24 cookies (or slightly less, depending on how full you fill the molds).

Cake
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar
rounded 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup (175g) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
zest of one small lemon
9 tablespoons (120g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

Glaze
1 1/2 cup (300g) powdered sugar
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
4 tablespoons water

Heat oven to 425 F. Spray the madeleine mold with PAM+flour (or brush with melted butter and dust with flour).

Beat eggs, sugar, and salt for 5 minutes (frothy and thickened). It will be light in color.

Whisk the flour and baking powder to aerate, fold in small batches into the eggs.

Add lemon zest to cooled butter, slowly dribble butter into batter as you fold just until incorporated.

Fill each mold to ~3/4 full. Plop the batter in the center, do not spread. Bake for 8 or 9 minutes (a tich longer if you use the baking powder). Meanwhile, make the glaze by stirring together all ingredients until smooth.

Remove cakes from the oven, move to a cooling rack. While they are still warm, dip each cake in glaze (submerge, really), and remove the excess. DL recommends using a dull knife to scrape off the excess glaze, but I found it more efficient to do it with my fingers. Return cakes to the cooling rack to allow the glaze to set.

Note: DL recommends chilling the batter and freezing the mold before baking. This (afaik) is to promote the formation of the “hump” in the center of the cake. I didn’t care so much about the look, so I skipped that step.

We had some bad news this week. My Charlie cat has diabetes.

A few weeks after Meredith was born, Matt and I noticed that Charlie was starting to look awfully skinny. We weren’t sure if it was just his neurotic behavior (he truly seemed dismayed to see that I was home all day long and yet had little time for him) or if it was something else. We tried changing his food from diet food, which he’d been eating for the past 8 or so years, to regular food, but that only gave him gastrointestinal troubles. Last week, he went to the vet, who suspected from his weight loss (from 16.x lbs last year to 10.x lbs!) that he either had diabetes or a thyroid disorder. So. Blood tests showed diabetes. Dammit.

The vet indicated that cats who are diagnosed early and treated promptly may go into remission. If we are lucky, Charlie’s blood glucose might be controlled through diet alone (after a few months of twice-daily insulin injections). Matt does not believe this is a death sentence, and neither do I. But it sure sucks.

Oh, and since Charlie and James returned from the vet visit (James seems healthy, hurrah), they are fighting like crazy again. We are doing another round of kitty rehab (forced togetherness with supervision, separated while we are out of the house). Tough times.

In other bad pet news, my so-ugly-and-yet-so-cool plecostomos passed on 2 weeks ago. We came back from a vacation in NJ (introducing Meredith to the in-law clan, donchaknow) to find a 9″ skeleton in the tank. It must have died early during our time away to be so thoroughly skeletonized by our return. I’d had this fish since I was a graduate student in 1998, it was a tiny 1″ baby when I brought it home. This fish used to make “party streamer” poop all around the tank and was the source of much hilarity. It moved with me from New Jersey to Massachusetts to Minnesota over the past decade. So sad to not have that guy around anymore.

Meredith and I have gotten hands-free nursing down to an art form. If I put her on a nursing pillow, I can spend the time working on a project. Lately, I’ve been crocheting a modified version of the Tiramisu blanket. The pattern is mindless (only single crochet stitches), easy to pick up and put down without thinking twice, the crochet equivalent of stockinette.

It currently is 27 inches wide and a little over 14 inches long. It’ll be a square eventually - guess I’m just past the halfway mark. The corners curl (normal for single crochet), but the border should tame the piece. The stitch is quite pretty, even at the denser gauge I am getting.

The yarn I’m using is a tightly spun, cabled cotton, and my gauge is tight, so this is turning out to be a firm blanket. It may end up as a playmat because it’s not exactly snuggly. I’ll wash it a few times and see what happens.

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The time has come to leave the baby in other competent hands while I return to work and begin whipping my postnatally mushy brain back into shape.

How can I leave such a cutie behind?

But truth be told, I have missed working. I enjoy what I do and my work colleagues are great, so I therefore am eager to get back. Furthermore, I have missed feeling that I am skilled and capable. As a stay-at-home mom, I was a bumbling newbie, unsure what to do when the baby cried, confused about how to entertain/educate/stimulate a newborn brain, uncertain whether I was a good caregiver. These days, we’re understanding each other a little more (I can keep her mostly happy most of the time), but it still is difficult on those days when I try so hard and she just cries and cries. Sometimes I feel like she’s yelling, “You’re doing it wrong! You’re doing it wrong!” and I long to be in a situation in which I confidently make the correct decisions and take the most appropriate actions.

Anyway, I’ve packed my work bag for the first time in months. This weekend, I’m going through my closet to identify the office clothes that still fit. I’m preparing bottles of milk for Meredith to drink while I am at work. I’m happy and sad that this day has come. Wish us luck!

Charlie and James have not dealt well with the new baby in the house. We just have less time for them, sad as it is. (Honestly, though, when the baby is crying and the cat is clawing the skin off my leg because he wants attention, do you think I’m going to put the baby down and play with the cat?)

I’m glad that they get along and hang out together. I think they comfort each other a little bit.

I finished sewing all of Meredith’s diapers. I’m so happy! I know she’ll keep growing and will need more diapers soon, but for now, I am working on other projects!

Check out this nascent polar bear (also for Meredith):

Pattern is here. I haven’t run into any errors so far (good), but when I had a question about the instructions, I wrote to the author twice and never got a reply (not so good). Anyway, I eventually figured out what I was doing wrong, so it’s water under the bridge.

The yarn I’m using is Sirdar Snowflake (reviewed here). It is nearly impossible to see individual stitches - god forbid you drop one somewhere. I’ve had to keep track of every round that I’ve knit because I can’t see individual rows, either. But the yarn is soft and cuddly and hopefully will wear well.

I never know how firmly to stuff toys. I want them structured but not too hard to hug, soft but not limp. It’s kind of a hard balance to strike. I also have some difficulty with localized regions of firmness - don’t want the bear to have palpable tumors or anything. I’m stuffing this toy with corn-based material (like Ingeo, but no good to spin) that I got at Joanns. Anyone have a favorite machine-washable stuffing that they’d like to recommend?

The green beans in my garden are going wild. I’ve never (successfully) grown string beans before, and I was a little late harvesting these, so they weren’t too tender. But it doesn’t get any more local than the backyard!

They went into a stirfry with pork. Yum.

I’ve been doing a fair bit of cooking lately, but little of it has been worth posting. I ran into a couple of duds in Cook’s Illustrated, which is unusual. (Chicken breasts stuffed with leeks, mushrooms, and more chicken - ended up dry, despite poaching in liquid. Chicken paprikash - bland.) I’ve also been baking repeats (gingerbread blueberry cake, pound cake, corn muffins). I don’t often make the same thing twice, but I guess I’ve been feeling a little less experimental in the kitchen.

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My parents visited us for the first time since the baby was born. They were so happy to see her and so uncomfortable holding her (at first), it was amusing. My mom said it was 34 years since she’d held a newborn (ie, me!).

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Meredith’s 2-month check up was this week. She had her first shots, and we both cried in the doctor’s office. Matt wasn’t sure who to comfort first. Heh. (He opted to hug the baby because she was crying harder… I’m such a wimp.)

(Picture taken during a happier event - the baby shower at work!)

She is so big for her age - 97th percentile for height (24 inches) and weight (13 lbs, 7 oz). I’m still surprised that babies can grow so well exclusively on milk.

Back in January 2007, I cast on for an Anemoi mitten. I talked about the tubular cast on and color choices here, and I don’t think I ever posted about it again.

Well, I finished knitting 1 mitten sometime that spring, and the project stalled. I wasn’t excited by the pattern anymore. I put it away and waited for my interest to reignite. Needless to say, it never did. It’s been lying forlornly in the bedroom for months, and it’s time for me to dump this mitten and move on.

Would you like to finish this project? No strings attached (har har), you can have a pair of mittens without having to knit a second one!

I’ll send you the mitten (needs finishing - ends are not woven and the thumb needs securing), all of the remaining yarn (J&S Shetland, fingering weight, should be enough for the second mitten), and I’ll even buy you a copy of Eunny’s pattern so that it’s all legit.

Leave a comment if you’re interested. If more than 1 person wants it, I’ll have a random drawing. People with allergies, please note that this project has been around cats.

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UPDATE (8/9/08): Comments are closed, thank you for playing!

The winner is Devri!

Mmmm, tasty Indian food from a couple weeks ago:

This is from the Sept/Oct 2007 issue of Cook’s Illustrated.

Chicken tikka
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 t salt
2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 c plain whole-milk yogurt
2 T vegetable oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 T grated fresh ginger

Trim fat from chicken breasts. Combine cumin through salt in a small bowl, press chicken onto spices until evenly coated. Cover chicken with plastic wrap, refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, oil, garlic, and ginger; set aside.

Masala sauce
3 T vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced fine
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 t grated fresh ginger
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 T tomato paste
1 T garam masala
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 t sugar
1/2 t salt
2/3 c heavy cream
1/4 c fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven until shimmering. Saute onion until light golden. Add garlic, ginger, pepper, tomato paste, and garam masala and stir until fragrant. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, stir in cream, and return to simmer. Remove from heat.

While the sauce simmers, put a rack 6 inches under the broiler and begin heating. Dip chicken in the yogurt mix and place on a wire rack set in a foil-lined jelly roll pan. Chicken should have a thick layer of yogurt on it. Discard excess yogurt. Broil until fully cooked (exterior will be lightly charred), turning as needed. Remove from heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, cut into small chunks, and stir into sauce. Add cilantro and serve over Basmati rice.

Afterthoughts: The chicken tikka was great - it browned wonderfully under the broiler (although if juices collect in crevices, it won’t brown, obv), and the thick yogurt marinade really clung to the meat. I did end up discarding a lot of the marinade, I could probably cut it by a quarter or a third to have less waste. For the sauce, I thought the full amount of cream made the dish way too rich. The next time, I’ll probably reduce it by at least a half.

My baby:

My new baby:

The delivery of the second was much easier than that of the first, I must say.

After my last car died, we hopped on the waiting list for a Prius. Ten weeks later, here it is! It’s weird driving it around - I feel like people are watching me. I’ll try not to run any red lights. ;)

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Every spare moment has been dedicated to sewing new diapers because Meredith outgrew the original diaper stash very quickly.

Some are lined with fleece (thanks again, Cynthia!), others are lined with suedecloth (Alova, from Joanns). I think I still need to make about 4 more to round out the collection. Note to self: sewing with black thread on black elastic is a BAD idea.

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Thanks to Diana for a gorgeous baby sweater! You rock and roll, girlfriend! I don’t know how you do it all.