Emma, 8 mos.

Eating Baby MumMums...

I can't believe my little baby is already 8 months old !!! I love her so much everyday, and she is such a blessing to have! Everything people said about having kids is wrong, it truly is a wonderful blessing! It is hard trying to juggle school, Andy, and Emma, but we always seem to do it. I'm learning to manage my time better.

We're getting ready for Andy's third hernia surgery within in the next couple of weeks. He has his ultrasound yesterday to determine that he has a hernia, and then on Tuesday they'll schedule the surgery.

Hopefully, everything will work out so that we can go to Universal Studios with his family on the day that we have reserved. Before his surgery, we scheduled it for his four day weekend, but now it will presumably be the last days of his convalescent leave. Hopefully... if everything gets scheduled correctly.

We got a new car! It's Andy's car... a '75 Corvette with silver metallic paint. It's a two-seater with a pretty good motor. We drove it down from Columbia yesterday. Andy drove it with no AC! Ugghh... he took the T-tops off, got pretty burned, so the first thing we have to get for that is an air conditioner... duh. But it won't be drivable until we can get a little more fuel efficiency on it, too. I think the fuel to air ratio is off... But we need to take it to a mechanic.

But other than that, it's awesome!! Lol we washed it off today and the paint's not too bad, although we're going to get a brand new paint job on it, blue. We want to fix it up and take it to car shows, lol, well, Andy does... and Emma and I will just come along! He also says it will be our "date car" since it's a two-seater, but I can see him picking up Emma from school in it! She'll be the coolest little girl in her class lol.

Playing With the Box

I got a box of groceries via UPS while Emma and I were on the cruise. It is seriously a time saver if you like that kind of thing. Check it out here: Alice.com.

Afterward, though, I thought, "Ghetto playpen!" and remembered how during my childhood, boxes were the best toy ever... I mean, they're big, they're free, and you can let your creativity run wild! I think that people spend way too much money on toys for kids, when all you really need is a big box! Lol, everything in moderation, nothing in excess...

Healthier Baked Goods

I have taken it upon myself to discover the perfect healthy brownie. "Healthy" and "brownie" are not two words you generally hear in the same sentence. Fueled with excellent information this exceptional article from Jennifer Claerr,

I made my first "healthy" brownies yesterday. No butter. I used some of Emma's baby food instead (the fruit kind, e.g. applesauce, and apples and peaches), for the oil I did a 2:1 ratio canola oil and olive oil. I meant to use whole wheat flour but confused what was in the unlabled tupperware. Oh well, I can always do that next time. For the sugar I used 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup plain white granulated sugar. I am looking forward to getting some sucanat (if I can find some in health-food store starved North Charleston). Sucanat is the whole sugar: none of the original vitamins and minerals have been washed out of it. It has pronounced difference in taste and texture, which is why I'm looking forward to working with it to create the perfect brownie. It supposedly has a different taste, not unlike the molasses-y taste of brown sugar, but brown sugar is simply white sugar with a little bit of molasses added. Nothing special there.

The final test - Andy liked them! I'll add the recipe I used if anyone's interested. These brownies needed a little more sugar (they were slightly bitter), and the consistency was definitely different. Kind of like a Little Debbie brownie, flat, but nonetheless tasty. And it didn't leave you feeling guilty like "good" brownies do. I would definitely recommend trying it and maybe tweaking it yourself until you find a good fit for your family.

If nothing else, I would definitely recommend reading this article by Jennifer Claerr, it is positively genius:

How to Make Brownies, Cookies, and Cakes Healthy

Alaska! or Around the World with Emma

So, we're back from Alaska. All in all, it was a great trip. The staff onboard the Oosterdam was really nice. Having to pay for internet while I did my online classes wasn't all that great, but the cruise industry was hurt really bad with the economy so I'll give that to them.
Being home is good. Andy and I just bought a '75 Corvette on eBay that we'll probably drive to pick up this weekend. It's only a couple hours away in Columbia. It has a shiny new engine, it just needs a new paint job and an AC unit. Andy says he doesn't care, he will drive it even without AC!
Emma is saying "Mama" all the time now. She is so cute and just growing into her Emma-ness. It's amazing to see how she is changing and growing. She's putting off crawling for now, probably because she knows that Mommy or Daddy will just carry her wherever she wants to go. She "walks" when we're holding her hands, but has a little ways to go on balance.
It was fun and a little challenging to take her everywhere with me. The Snugli (read - cost-effective Baby Bjorn) was awesome. So much better than a stroller... I will have to say that travelling with a baby is easy, it's all the crap you have to bring along that's tough. With that said, just leave them at home! All you really need is a baby carrier. All the rest is just so tedious and requires extra measures... You have to put a stroller under the bus, you have to fit it in a closet (those cruiseship rooms are already small enough!), and you have to worry about not running over people (the thought did cross my mind once or twice, but I refrained knowing that I'm supposed to be setting the example).