Magic Sleeper

Annmarie has slept in one of these SleepSacks since she was about one month. Right after she decided she no longer wanted to be swaddled and wanted her hands free, primarily to put in her mouth. My childhood friend April sent me a box full of them, courtesy of her twin boys. Basically, as soon as we started using the SleepSack Annmarie started sleeping through the night. She would sleep 7, 8 sometimes even 9 or 10 hours at time at like six weeks. It was amazing. I would still wake up and wonder, why isn’t she waking up? Isn’t she hungry? Shouldn’t she eat? Our Pediatrician assured us, that “some babies just like to sleep”, that when she is hungry she will let you know. He also asked us not to let the parents in the waiting room know how much our baby liked to sleep. I suppose I’m blowing our cover now.

The SleepSack, therefore got coined the Magic Sleeper, because it appeared to have magical sleep qualities. To this day Annmarie still sleeps in one. It’s become part of our bedtime routine – bath, books, rice cereal (we still give her a little rice cereal before bed for some extra calories and iron), brush teeth, magic sleeper, cuddle, bed. And because evenings are pretty cool in S.F., she typically wears one every night. When we lay one down on the floor, Jamie and I sing “Its Magic Sleeper Time” and she goes over and lays down on it. It’s really precious. I think she is going to sleep in one until she is 12. Really, and I just found out while typing this post that they make them for kids - see here. I'm so happy. I guess after that, she will need to move to a Snuggie.

The Joys of Having a Girl

Pigtails!

The only time I can try and attempt them is when she is in her bath, where she sits still long enough.No pun attended with the swine flu pandemic.

Date Night: Bacar

On Saturday Jamie and I went out to dinner to Bacar. This place is basically in our neighborhood. We have lived here for six and a half years and this is our first visit. We had tried multiple times to get in when we first moved to the City, but we would go in without a reservation and it would be a two hour wait or they were booked for the night. So last night, we thought we would try again. I think with the economy the way it is and the fact that we got there at 5:45, we had no problem getting a table. We were remembering the days when we wouldn't go out to dinner until 8:00 or 9:00 pm. Oh how times have changed.

We started the evening at the bar and we both had yummy cocktails. I had a French 75, I made these once for Cooking Club, but never had one in a bar before. It was very refreshing. We were seated at our table and ordered oysters – Beau Soleil (my fav), and homemade gnocchi. For entrées', I ordered the halibut and Jamie had the quail. We had a very pleasant waiter, who actually told us that he enjoyed serving us and liked that we were "not dicks on a Saturday night." He noted on Saturday nights he typically gets very demanding tables and enjoyed talking with us. We had talked to him about Annmarie and other restaurants. Two of my favorite topics. Overall, the food was really good, nothing that blew me away, but good nonetheless. I would go back. We also enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and of course we had dessert, a meyer lemon pavlova. Yum!
(pictures taken complements of the iPhone)

Ice Cream

We are trying to encourage AM to eat with a spoon or fork. Here she is with some ice cream. It's coming along.

Note: Video is a little long and not all that exciting. I'm posting for the grandparents.

Jamie Runs: Zippy 5K

Race #4 in the past 5 weeks and my third straight weekend of racing. Overdoing it…yeah…but this one was so close to home and on a nice day against some stiff competition, so I figured I’d go out to see how I could measure up. Today was the Zippy 5k in Golden Gate Park, which was my virgin PAUSATF race. (that’s Pacific Association of USA Track & Field, for those of you who are acronym challenged). The running club I have been with for about a year now, Tamalpa Runners, is a member of the association, and we race against other running clubs along the PAUSATF circuit over various distances and race types (road races, cross country, ultra-marathoning) throughout the year.

This was a relatively small, low-key race of only about 200 people in each the men’s and women’s races. As I would come to find out, low key does not mean slow…and I guess they call it “Zippy” because there are some really really fast dudes that come out for this one. Warming up with a friend of mine from work, who also happens to be an elite runner with Transports, he cautioned me that the first mile was slightly downhill, and to hold back a little as “there will be 30 or so guys that go out at sub-5:00 mile pace!” Yeah, Ok buddy…I’ll be right behind ya. Right way behind ya.

When the race started, the pace lived up to its billing. Once the gun went off, the pack in front of me separated like the Red Sea. Immediately. While I certainly am not leading the pack in most, er all the races I’ve ever run in, I don’t think I’ve ever been left in the dust this quickly at the start of a race. I took Ben’s advise and laid off a little the first mile, clocking 6:14 before slowing down a bit for the loop around Stow Lake, which had some rolling uphill and downhill. Laying off at the beginning left me with a little gas left in the tank for the last 1.1, which I was able to crank up to 6:03 pace and pass a handful of runners in the last half mile and finish in 19:34. I was thinking I may be able to break 19:00, but this was not the easiest course to do that on, so I’ll have to save the PR for another day. A humbling experience…I probably finished in the bottom third of racers while running one of my faster times ever for this distance.

Next weekend is a bye week from racing, and then the annual Relay pilgrimage on May 2-3. More to come then…

Angela and Annmarie were on hand to cheer and take some pictures.

SF Zoo

Today Annmarie visited the zoo for the first time. For some reason she wanted nothing to do with her stroller. So we either had to carry her or let her walk, and for someone who is easily distracted, this wasn't the easiest thing. But we took our time and didn't try to see everything.

She liked the giraffes, but wasn't too overly excited about any of the other animals....



That was until we got to the farm house petting zoo. And then the girl didn't stop smiling and giggling. She absolutely loved the goats.

We showed her how to brush their hair and then that's all she wanted to do.





She wanted to go around to all the goats and brush their hair. She was never scared and seriously thought it was the best thing ever. She also liked the ducks and wanted to bend down to kiss them. But tonight I think she will be dreaming about the goats.

Angela's Book Review: Three Cups of Tea

I just finished this book – Three Cups of Tea

Amazing!

Dr. Greg is amazing!

It’s amazing how education could solve so many of the world’s problems.

I loved what Jon Krakauer said - “What Greg has accomplished, with very little money, verges on the miraculous."

Jamie Runs: Muir Woods 25K

On Saturday Jamie ran in the Muir Woods 25K, which is about 15.5 miles. It's a trail race that started at Stinson Beach and then climbed the trails of Mt Tam. up and down for about 3,300ft into Muir Woods, and then back down to the beach.

When Jamie got home from the race, I asked him how it went and he told me "I got worked!" He was exhausted, there were parts he had to walk (which is very tough on his fragile ego). But with 3,300 feet of elevation gains, I guess that is inevitable. And then he said - "Dude, a girl wearing a tiara beat me!" Smile

Recipe: Overnight Artichoke and Ham Strata

Make ahead tip: Prepare the strata a day ahead; cover and chill overnight. In the morning, just uncover the strata and bake it straight out of the refrigerator in a pre-heated oven.

3 English muffins, split and quartered cooking spray

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 cup chopped lean ham (about 4 ounces)

1/2 cup granted fresh Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1 small jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

3 large eggs
3 large egg whites

1. Arrange muffin pieces, crust side down in a 8-inch square basking dish coated with cooking spray; drizzle with butter. Arrange ham and next 3 ingredients over muffin pieces.

2. Combine remaining ingredients in bowl; stir well with a whisk. Pour over muffin mixture. Cover; chill overnight

3. Preheat over to 375.

4. Uncover strata; bake at 375 for 45 to 50 minutes or until set.

Easter Vidoes

Easter egg hunt

Dancing at the park

Easter Sunday

Easter morning started off with a quite and small Easter brunch for Jamie and me. I actually cooked breakfast. I rarely cook breakfast these days. I made a strata and a tomato and mozzarella salad. I'll post the recipe for the strata this week. All Annmarie wanted was Rice Krispies.
We just laid low at home the rest of the morning. After AM woke up from her nap, we headed down to a local park to partake in the Easter festivities.
AM had a great time playing in the fake hay.

There was a Beatles cover band that AM enjoyed dancing to. I also have this on video and hope to post this shortly.
She checked out the Easter bunny with Grandma.
We also attempted to take a family photo, but someone was not really into it.
Annmarie really enjoyed herself, she loved running around the park. We came back and Grandma and Grandpa hid some Easter eggs for AM. I didn't think she would get it, so I didn't do anything for her in the morning - bad Mama. And I thought we would just participate in the Easter egg hunt at the park, but we were too late for that. But we gave her a basket and with a little help she found all the eggs and put them in the basket. It was really cute.

We had a nice dinner, I made stuffed pasta shells.

Too bad I ended up puking at 3:00 am in the morning. Sorry people, buts its true. Could have been from the hamburger I had at the park - yuck!

Other than that is was a real nice Easter.

Annmarie: 16 Months (Random Things)

Facebook had this “25 Random Things about Me” craze going around their site. So we thought we would post AM’s random things as she would write them, but we limited it to 16 since she is 16 months old today.

1. I think my parents got my name from a Grateful Dead Song.
2. My father does not have an ounce of rhythm when he dances, but he sure makes me smile when he does.
3. Some times I think my food tastes better eating it off the floor.
4. Money….what’s that?
5. My parents have no idea how lucky they are when it comes to me sleeping. I basically started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks.
6. I’m with Mom – the iPhone is the coolest thing.
7. I like to consider myself slim. That’s what my Doctor told me. At my 15 month check-up, I still didn’t weigh 20 lbs.
8. My Dad let’s me do pretty much whatever I want. My Mom - not so much.
9. I sleep with a pink lovey, a small teddy bear and a pink loin.
10. I go crazy over bubbles and balloons.
11. My parents use to think Pirates Booty was the solution to everything. I’m not feeling it so much.
12. I LOVE being outside, going for walks, the swing at the park and chasing after birds.
13. I’m a pretty good dancer
14. I'm a city girl, but one of my favorite toys is my farm house.
15. I have a very short attention span. For example………wait, are we done with this list yet?
16. My parents are way crazy, but they will do anything to make me laugh.
Here are some pictures we snapped yesterday.

Happy Easter

Here are some pictures of Annmarie last Easter. We plan to take AM on her first Easter egg hunt on Sunday to a nearby park that is having a little festival for the kiddoes. Happy Easter.

Angela’s Weekend in The OC

This weekend I headed down to Orange County to visit my beautiful cousin J. I had some miles I needed to use/save, my beautiful cousin L was going down as well. I also have been craving a girl’s get away, I think it’s been two years since I last got away all by myself. Jamie was on board with the trip and very willing and capable to take care of AM. I was also excited to see my family that I definitely don’t get to see enough of, so it was perfect!

But that’s not all of it. Let’s be honest here, the real reason I went down was because cousin J was having a Twilight party!!! I couldn’t help myself, Edward was whispering in my head to go. I had to go!

J had a wonderful and fun Twilight party! A lot of the same themes used at my party were present at her party, but she also added a lot of extra fun things. She also has a big beautiful home great for entertaining. Some of the extra fun stuff she had at her party included; Twilight white lights around her door, a very Alice thing to do, a great poster of Edward and her fireplace mantle was beautifully decorated. The menu included; mushroom ravioli, orzo salad, fruit salad, a crostini bar, and red velvet cupcakes. For drinks we had Esme Island mojito’s and strawberry margaritas. There were extra Twilight touches all around that you can see in the pictures below. J did a great job and did almost all of it herself. Also, I can’t forget to mention cousin J’s husband for acting as bartender for the evening, the guy deserves a medal. Seriously, he had ten crazy Twilight women in his home.

Although, I have to say the best part of the party were the ten women at the party that are all crazy for Twilight! They are all incredibly awesome. We had a great discussion of the books and also played an Edward game, and let’s just say, nothing was left to the imagination. We watched the movie and we were all giddy. I seriously had too much fun.

(Click on images to enlarge)







Great party J! Thank you!

The next day we spent some time with the family. We headed to Newport to the pier and had a great lunch. J has three very darling and charming little boys.
It was a wonderful weekend and it was so great seeing everyone. And even though I have tried to quit Twilight, I just can’t seem to bring myself to do it.