18 month old Ruby

Ruby had her 18 month check up this week.

She's in the 20th percentile for weight (22.6 lbs) and the 28th for height (31 inches).

She loves her sister (most of the time), books, eating, and runs everywhere.

Her teeth are starting to come in, she currently has 4 that have broken through the gums.

She's becoming more independent and doesn't cling to mommy quite as much.

She's our little peanut and we're so glad she came along when she did.

Menu for 3/11-3/16

First things first.

Ruby is doing puzzles! One day Aleks said, "did you know Ruby can do the animal puzzle?" Sure enough, here she is:

Not only is she a puzzle whiz, but this kid can throw a darn good tantrum. I only captured a mild one here:

Now onto our week's menu:

Sunday

Roasted chicken with chimichurri and roasted broccoli

Monday

Chicken teriyaki with broccoli

Tuesday

I'm not going to be home for dinner, so Aleks is sous vide-ing some steak and putting it on a salad with poached eggs. 

Which I think is gross. 

The poached egg part. 

Wednesday

Chicken tikka masala with rice

Thursday

Rigatoni with turkey sausage and kale

Friday

Our version of Chipotle's burrito bowl.

Chicken, beans, grilled vegetables, chesse, lettuce, and salsa.

Yum.

Have a great week!

It was a good day

Today was my day off! 

Which meant, I stayed in gym clothes all day and didn't wear any makeup.

A perfect day.

Highlights included: Maia's dance class, cookies and milk at Panera, backyard playtime, baths, and tv.

Ruby went down this slide backwards, on her own, like it was nothing.

Maia, on the other hand, just sat at the top because she's "too scared."

Look at these curls! 

Unfortunately, I think once we finally cut Ruby's hair, it's going to be straight.

And that curly headed beauty ate an entire pint of blueberries for dinner.

I think she gave herself a stomachache, because it took her a long time to settle down tonight.

Aleks and I were taking on the couch this evening. 

Maia ran up to us and said "Mom, Dad, you're not talking very well!"

While she is very cute, I wish she had volume control.

She is so loud.

Especially in the morning.

And at the risk of embarrassing myself, I'm going to share a memory with you that popped into my head yesterday. 

I don't know why this came to me, but I was remembering a day when I was in 1st grade and I had left class to go to the bathroom. Apparently things hadn't come out easily because I remember going to my teacher and saying, "I just had a really hard BM and my bottom hurts so I'm going to stand over there and finish my work."

Bahahahahaha!

Can you even believe it?!

I'll bet my teacher still tells that story to this day.

Now that I'm a teacher, you can bet if a student had said that to me, I'd still be talking about it.

Tomorrow is a half day off, which includes a trip to the orthopedic surgeon for a follow-up on my shoulder. Hopefully I'll only have physical therapy assigned and not surgery.

Keep your fingers crossed!

This week's menu and other things

1. It's amazing how once my shoulder was back where it belongs, there's almost no pain! Today is the 4th day since it was dislocated and I'm out of the sling and have full mobility. Yesterday the muscles were a bit tender from the trauma, but I'd say I'm back to 90%.

2. Some notes from last week's menu: The chicken slow cooker thing was a disaster. The chicken was dry, kinda gross tasting, and apparently I still don't know how to cook rice.

Homemade marshmallows, yes. Rice, no.

I suppose it's all about priorities.

The flank steak tacos were great tasting, but I couldn't stomach the texture of the steak for some reason.

The wanton soup was the best. Those pot stickers froze beautifully and I didn't even have to defrost them before adding them to hot chicken stock.

3. Maia and I did an experiment the other day. We were comparing and contrasting her animals. Seeing which ones were smaller and bigger, etc. and then drawing about it in her journal. It was very scientific of us.

4. Our week is a bit calmer, thankfully. Here is our menu:

Monday

Asian beef salad

Tuesday

Beef Pho

Wednesday

Chicken sausages and roasted potatoes

Thursday

Chopped Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken

Friday

General Tso's Chicken

I'm hesitant to say anything, but it appears spring has arrived in Wichita.

It's been gorgeous.

We hope you have a great week!

I had a really fun zoo day planned

Tonight I was planning to write about being a singer and how sickness affects the voice and confidence. A topical issue since I've been sick and had my first WSU gig last night.

But something more exiting happened today.
At 1:00 I was playing with Ruby and lifted her up onto my left shoulder. She started to slip and as I adjusted to catch her, I felt my shoulder pop.

I instantly knew that it was dislocated.

Did I mention that we're in the middle of a new music festival of which 

Dr. Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn is in charge?

Thankfully Nana is in town and came over right away to help with the girls.

2 hours later I was at the clinic (with my super amazing, supportive husband, who left a festival event to be with me) getting x-rays of my shoulder. After seeing the pictures the RN said, "yep, you dislocated your shoulder."

"No sh#@!"

This was seriously the worst pain I've ever been in. The RN said that they could try to get it back in at the clinic, but sometimes the muscles have seized up too much and if that was the case they'd have to send me to the ER.

I told them I'd take them to dinner if we could get it taken care of right then and there.

So here's how it went down:

They had me lay on my back on the table and wrapped a sheet under my left arm and around my torso and one doctor held the ends of the sheet. The RN held my left arm out to the side. So while the doctor pulled the sheet and my torso to the right, the RN pulled and gently twisted my arm.

Forever in my mind will be ingrained the moment we all heard a little pop, I felt a huge jolt, and the RN excitedly proclaimed, "that was it!"

So, now I'm wrapped up in a sling and on an ibuprofen regimen to help calm down my angry arm muscles.

And here's the best part: I have to stay in this sling for 3 days. 

Which means I can't change my shirt for three days. 

Or wash my hair. 

Or put on deodorant under my left arm. 

And of course, because it was my day off, I'm wearing a t-hirt that, unfortunately, accentuates my assets.

Unfortunate because I have to work tomorrow. 

If I'm not careful, my students are gonna get more at their lessons than they bargained for.

Ugh, is this craziness over yet?

It feels like we've been getting hit with one thing after another.

At least I'm not bored...

Menu planing for the last week of Feb.

This week is WSU's festival of contemporary music and most of the events are taking place Wednesday and Thursday night. I'm sitting in on music theater auditions Monday and Tuesday night. 

It's a nutty week and we needed to plan recipes that are quick and easy.

Monday

Flatbread with cranberry sauce, sautéed onions, and goat cheese.

What's the difference between flatbread and pizza anyway? I read something somewhere that said that pizza has yeast and flatbread doesn't... anyway, it's pretty yummy.

Tuesday

Bun cha

This is a Thai dish that our friends Keri and Andy introduced us to. It's so good, a bit complicated, but totally worth it. And perfect with a cold beer.

Wednesday

Flank steak tacos with cowboy beans

Aleks puts the meat in our sous vide a few days before and then finishes it off in the skillet.

Do you know what a sous vide is?

The French translation is "under vacuum."

Basically you vacuum seal the food you want to cook, fill the machine up with water, set the temperature, and then let your food cook in the water bath.

It's kind of like a slow cooker.

When we first got it, I thought we'd use it for a week and then put it in the garage. Well, I was wrong, we use it all the time.

Totally worth it.

Thursday

Indonesian peanut chicken in the slow cooker with rice

I've never made this before, so we'll see how it turns out.

Friday

Won ton soup.

I made potstickers last week and froze the extras.

This week they're going into soup.

We hope you all have a fabulous week!

Tooth Watch 2012 and other updates

 My darling 17 (almost 18) month old Ruby Ann has cut her second tooth!

She now has her bottom front left tooth and her top front right tooth. Watch out raw carrots, we're coming for you!

She's also saying bird- "ba", ball- "ba", pacifier- "ba", pancake- "pa", and "mama" and "dada."

Why should she talk when her sister does it for her?

The other day we made masks, which was a huge hit.

It's surprisingly hard to get the eye hole to nose cutout ratio correct.

Ruby's was the second one I made and it fit better. I think she looks like an owl.

Mark your calendars people!

Aleks is having some music premiered at Carnegie Hall on Feb. 9, 2013. 

You are all invited. 

Seriously. 

It's going to be amazing. You can check out more details here.

We interviewed a new nanny on Thursday and I'm really encouraged. I think it's going to be a great fit. With just that interview I feel like the chaos is starting to be contained.

This week is a busy one. It's WSU's Festival of Contemporary Music.

I'm performing on Wednesday night, the first time since we've moved.

Also, Nana's coming to help out! We can't wait to see her!

I got a haircut.

Well, I got them all cut. (*Groan*)

It's no Chelsea cut, but it's better than the last one.

I'm feeling homesick today for Pullman.

Ha! I never thought I'd say that.

So, here's a shout out to my Pullman friends, "hugs to you all!"