Budding musician

Our nephew, Chris, is a very talented guitarist. I think Sophia's been watching him play. She might have a little ways to go, though...

First popsicle

Actually, it was a huge mango frozen fruit bar from Trader Joes. And she had no problem finishing it. That's my girl!

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Parmesan

I wouldn't call this a traditional eggplant parmesan, but I didn't have marinara sauce on hand and I had a lot of tomatoes. So I decided to roast the eggplant and tomatoes at 450 degrees in the oven for about 45 minutes. I had cut them both about 1/2 inch thick and then made sure each side had plenty of olive oil. I seasoned the top side with salt and pepper, and placed them on a lined baking sheet. I suggest using parchment paper.

After I took them out of the oven, I placed a piece of mozzarella cheese on top of each eggplant, placed the roasted tomato on top of the mozzarella, and then sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top of the tomato. The flavors were very rich and sweet together. It definitely doesn't taste like an eggplant parm, but I think it's a lot healthier option. I served this with pesto pasta.

Whaddya say?

Sophia has been "talking" for a long time now, but just recently I can make out some clear words. She's very vocal about things. She'll let you know what she wants, usually in the form of a tirade of babble and hand gestures (must be the Italian genetics). But when she actually uses real words, it's amazing to see how much her vocabulary grows each day. Guess it's time to really start censoring our conversations around here!

I won't pretend that all these words listed below are said so clearly that you would understand, but they are very obvious to me:

• ball
• bubbles
• bye
• bottle
• baby
• balloon
• daddy
• duck
• down
• dog
• go
• hi
• hello
• hush
• kitty cat
• mama (which I actually think is "more" because I still don't think she calls for me)
• muh-mah (kiss. Ok, not really a word, but I'm adding it anyway)
• mum mum (food)
• night night
• no, noooooo, no! no, no, no, no, no--oo--oo... (favorite word around here)
• out
• see
• two (she counts with babble and points with her fingers, but only says "two" after the first thing and then returns to babbble counting)
• uh oh
• uh huh
• water
• yum!

Tomato tart

Wondering what to do with your abundance of tomatoes? I have a tart in the oven right now, and I'll need to update this post after eating it to figure out if it worked, but while the ingredients are still on my mind...

Preheat oven to 375. I used a rich pastry dough recipe for the crust, and set it in a tart pan or cheesecake pan with a removable bottom. In a medium size bowl, I mixed equal parts cottage cheese and cream cheese (I don't measure so I'd say about 3/4 cup each), 1 large caramelized onion, a pinch or 2 of thyme, lots of black pepper, and 2 eggs. Pour this in the tart. I was going to add some grated Parmesan cheese to the bottom of the pastry, before pouring in the filling, but I forgot. I'll do this next time. I prepped 2 large tomatoes by cutting thick slices and then setting them on some paper towels and then sprinkled with salt to get some of the moisture out. Set the slices on the top of the filling, overlapping slightly (they will shrink slightly during the baking process), in a ring formation. Bake in the oven until the filling is set, the crust is golden (about 45 minutes or so) and the tomatoes look slightly roasted on top. I plan on serving at room temp with chopped basil on top.

I realized I haven't been updating the blog with recipes as much as I wanted. I'm trying to add pictures, too. If anyone actually tries these recipes and has comments on them, they are welcome. Especially if it's a complete failure or missing an important ingredient. I usually write the ingredients and stuff down after the meal but sometimes it's later and I forget a step. There's no way I'm disciplined enough to actually measure or write the steps down in the process!

Got milk?

August 12 on the 12th

We started out the day with our new forming habit of watching Sesame Street while eating breakfast. I'm not sure how I feel about this from a child development point of view, but as a mother chasing around a toddler most of the day, this is the only time she'll sit still and eat.

Case in point, it's getting ever so challenging to get her dressed in the morning. She walked around half-dressed for a good portion of an hour because every time I got near enough, she intercepted me with a toy, a ball, or just ran away.

After her play time, she had her morning nap, so I was able to work on the computer and make her baptism invitations. Rick finally figured out the details with Father Nick. Apparently we also have to take a class...huh? I wasn't aware of that when I agreed to this!

Nothing like refueling with goldfish crackers. And we were off to run our errands! But first we detoured to the park. It was hotter than heck and everything Sophia touched was burning her hand. She would touch, say "ouch" and then touch again. A little sensory lesson, I suppose. We drank lots of water at the park.

Once home, I unloaded my Best Buy bag and started to make us lunch. The tomatoes and basil from our garden are my new favorite obsession. I incorporated them into a turkey sandwich.

Did I mention I had a bladder infection? Still wondering if I could have taken care of it on my own instead of taking Cipro. This nasty little antibiotic has given me lots of unpleasant side effects. Can't wait for that to end.

So on to the rest of the evening...Molly the cat loves Sophia's room. She makes a point of getting comfortable in there right before Sophia's bedtime, hoping I'll forget she's in there and close the door. She wasn't so fast to hide this time, and got the boot.

One of our night time rituals is brushing Sophia's teeth. She loves her toothbrush and does a great job of it. She'll announce the time by opening her mouth wide and saying "ahhhh" repeatedly until I produce the toothbrush. And then she might let me take a few attempts at brushing her (5 and counting) teeth, but mostly she wants to do it on her own.

Rick had a really long day yesterday among the last few days of getting up at 4 am and coming home around 7 pm. These are his shoes in the last picture. They had less dirt than normal, but do you see what I deal with on a daily basis? Take off your shoes before coming in the house! Grrr.

Some closure

The pathology reports came in from the fetal tissue, and the miscarriage was caused by a chromosomal abnormality called full trisomy 16. This is "good" news if there's a way to look at the bright side of all this. Full trisomy 16 is basically a fluke that occurs when conception takes place. This is the most common reason for miscarriage in the first trimester. The odds of this happening again are slim to none. In a nutshell, there was no way to cause or to avoid such a miscarriage, it was determined when sperm met egg. However, just to rule out any genetic or auto-immune issues, we have some tests to complete to set our minds at ease for the next go round.

The garden

As if I need any more challenges with a curious toddler, enter the garden. Amazingly, Sophia already knows what is edible. What's also amazing, our dog does too. Put the two together, and it's a battle of getting anything actually picked and served at the table. Yesterday, I suceeded in salvaging a few hidden gems. I hid these tokens in my shirt so as not to be detected by toddler or dog, and ran into the house with my loot before either could pounce on me. The toddler quickly discovered my prize, however, out of reach and safe from her sticky fingers.

Collage Board

This is the finished product.