No Sleep 'Till Hanoi

outside a little

2011-02-07T19:01:00.011-05:00

Yesterday was warm. It was in the 40s. I took advantage of the "warm" weather and we spent a lot of the afternoon oustide. It was nice to see Oliver riding his bike and scouter. I think this is first time that I've played outside with him in two months. I know it's terrible and I should be taking him out more, but I hate the cold. Anthony has been great about having him outside. They play for hours in the snow and go on long hikes in the woods.

Tonight while I was in the kitchen working on dinner Oliver came and said he wanted to have a conversation with me. We sat down together and he said "Mom how do I stop growing? " He touched the top of his head and said "this is as big as I want to be. How do I start growing down?" I smiled and laughed at him. I asked him why and never got a straight answer. I think I know what it might have something to do with. Lately we are making him do more for himself and we are telling him that he is a big boy.

We had another really funny conversation the other day. It's a little dirty. Sorry, but I really want to remember this one. Oliver and I were in the bathroom because he said he had to go potty. As I was unbuttoning his pants his "oh shoot Mom, I crabbed my pants." I just laughed and told him that was ok.

Otherwise we are surviving this long winter. We visited my parents in Florida about two weeks ago. We had beautiful weather. It was great to be able to walk around in short sleeves and flip flops. Oliver likes the winter, but while we were there he told me that he was glad that he didn't have to wear all of the clothes I make him wear at home.

a bit of a recap

2010-12-29T15:14:00.009-05:00

Here are pictures from Halloween through the beginning of December. We've been busy and done a lot. Oliver was a shark for Halloween which he loved. He was telling everyone he was going to eat them up. I remember thinking it was so cold that day. Wow was I wrong. We went to California in the beginning of November to visit with two families we adopted with and to see our family. I'll post separate pictures of the kids from Vietnam. There are too many to go through right now. We had a great time seeing everyone in California.

We did so much with our family. Oliver loved visiting everyone in CA, Aunt Mary, Uncle Mike and Olivia, but he especially loved his cousin Elise. She is older than him and great with him. They were adorable together. Oliver cried for days about leaving Elise. For about a week he would ask when we were going back.

The pictures are out of order. Sorry. It was a lot to go through. Next I'll go through December and post more about what Oliver's been up too. He is nonstop action which is another reason I can never post to this blog. I want to because I feel like time is flying and I'm forgetting everything. Oliver is so much fun. He brings such joy to our lives and the lives of our friends and families. We are lucky.

2010-12-29T15:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T20:11:00.002-05:00

Guess who is 3?

2010-12-06T20:25:00.001-05:00

August

2010-09-05T13:37:00.011-04:00

August came and went in a blink of an eye. It was a crazy month with a lot of ups and downs. Thankfully it ended on the up side.

They are still working on the house. The kitchen is pretty much done and now they've moved onto the basement. We went on vacation to Montana two weeks ago today. The day before we had to move all of our furniture into our bedrooms so the floors could be refinished.

That Saturday was crazy and Oliver was really confused by the whole thing. At one point, while I was at the store, he wondered into his room that was crammed full of stuff. He got back into a corner and couldn't figure out how to get out. Andrea found him in there. He was crying. She went to pick him up, but he told her no that he wanted her to wash her hands. She and Anthony were painting and she had paint on her hands. She told him it was dry, but he insisted. When I got home he told me that he wanted upies, but he didn't want to get dirty. He was so sad and cute. I felt bad for him.

Our trip to Montana was perfect timing. It was great to be away. We all had fun and enjoyed being outside so much. We stayed in a cabin at a ranch. Oliver thought it was our new home. He told me he was glad that our stuff wasn't all over the place.

Hopefully September will be more normal.

week one

2010-08-02T14:00:00.011-04:00

A week ago today we started construction on our house. We are redoing our kitchen and finishing the basement. I promised myself and Anthony that I would try very hard not to stress about the whole thing. It doesn't sound that hard for a normal person, but
I'm such a worrier and stress pot. I keep telling myself that the construction is a good thing and it is nothing to worry about.

So far so good. Anthony even said to me the other day that he was surprised at how calm I was being. Coming from him that's a big compliment. I wish I could be like him. He can just push any worry or bad thought out of his head. I on the other hand have to twist and turn a worry until it is ten times worse.

They are making good progress on the kitchen. I told them I wanted that to be the priority. The builders said three weeks. I don't want to jinx it, but so far so good. I might not be worrying, but I'm still very superstitious. I can't give everything up.

Everything is all over the place. We had to pack up the kitchen and most of the basement. The first day they took down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. We have our dining room set up as a temporary kitchen. That night I went to cook dinner, but realized that all of the outlets were in the wall they took down. We looked for an extension cord and couldn't find one anywhere. So that night I cooked chili in the bathroom and rice in the bedroom.

Oliver has been great through the whole thing. The first two days he kept saying they were too loud and he wanted them to leave. He was confused and thought they were knocking the whole house down. He asks to go down to his new playroom even though we've explained that there is nothing there yet. We let him ride his bike down there. He's happy about that.

On Thursday we went to my parents for the weekend. It was my Mom's birthday and we celebrated it twice while we were there. The night of the second celebration we asked Oliver if he had fun. Oliver said "it wasn't really Grandma's birthday party it was a pretend birthday." We asked him why and he said "because there weren't real candles on the cake only pretend candles." He had a good point so we didn't argue with him.

While we were at my parents we went to the beach. Oliver really liked it. He spent most of the day digging in the sand. He didn't like the sand all over his hands or in his shoes. He kept asking me to wipe the sand off of everything. Getting away for a couple of days made dealing with the construction a lot easier.

I hope this week goes as smoothly as last week. Although no one showed up today.

buzzed

2010-07-21T23:00:00.012-04:00

We have had a lot of fun company lately. Our niece Mary was here for a week and than her sister Erin came this weekend. Oliver loved it. He would stand at the bottom of the stairs and call " Air-in; Mare-ee". When they drove away on Sunday he turned to Anthony and I and said "I"m sad. I want them to come back NOW."

He had already been sad over the weekend. Part of me was glad that it was no longer our fault.

Oliver is usually a very laid back kid. He has never had a problem going to the doctor or having his hair cut. For some reason the last time I took him to get his hair cut he freaked out. Two minutes into it he stopped cooperating. He buried his head into me. His hair was only cut because I held his head up. He was a mess and I felt terrible about it.

Saturday morning we were both saying Oliver needed his hair cut. Anthony said that he could do it. In college he shaved the hair of everyone on the floor. I should have remembered the awful incident where poor Kevin got a cut and the only hair that remained were his initials, KOD.

I figured Oliver would perfer to have his hair cut by Anthony. It started out ok. Anthony cut it into a cute Mohawk ala Maddix. Shortly after that Oliver was not happy. He started crying, but it was done before we knew it.

He was still screaming as I brought him into the bathroom. Anthony and I immediately told him how good he looked. At this point Oliver wouldn't even look at Anthony. He was so mad. Mary tried to talk to him about it. Eventually he went up to Mary and said "Daddy cut my hair off. I look different." She was so good with him. She reminded him of a Yo gabba gabba episode we watched about kids being different. He didn't buy into it. Erin tried too.

Eventually I asked him what was wrong. He said "I'm mad at Daddy for cutting my hair off.". I told him it will grow back, but he said "No. It's on the deck." The poor thing. He hates his hair. Through the weekend he kept talking about how different he looked. That night when we were putting him into bed he told us he wanted his hair back. I told him it would grow back and he asked me if we could get him new hair tomorrow.

Oliver really was so funny and sad at the same time. By Sunday he was kind of getting use to it. When he saw Andrea for the first time he told her he was happy now about his hair because I told him it would grow back. But on Monday again he told me he wanted his old hair back. He wanted to know when it would be back and if it would be really really long.

It is a big change. It might have been a little too short on Saturday, but now it looks nice. If anyone sees him you have to tell him his hair looks good. Anything less and he turns to me with this intense "what did you do to me" look.

It's funny because he is still so young, but at the same time not. He always has opinions. I was surprised by how much this meant to him. I really shouldn't have been. In the winter I moved a painting that was right in front of his play table and he told me he wanted the picture back where he could see it. I guess I just still assume that he'll go along with what we want.

Obviously I'll attach pictures. I don't have any good ones because he was so uncooperative about taking a picture. He really looks so handsome and older with his new hair cut. We love it.

summer

2010-07-02T17:32:00.005-04:00

Today has been one of those perfect summer days. The sky is bright blue and there is a warm breeze. I wish every summer day could be like this. It has been so hot here. This weekend it will be back up to 90. My sister in law JoEllen says that she tries not to complain about the weather in the summer because she complains so much about the cold in the winter. I'm usually the same way. I hardly ever put the a/c on. But this summer seems hotter.

Luckily, our town pool opened full time this week. Oliver loves going there. I forgot how easy our days our in the summer. Everything is more relaxed.

I can't believe that it was a year ago that we were at the pool. This year flew by. There were some babies at the pool today. Seeing them next to Oliver was funny. He looked big. He can go into the big pool this year since he is potty trained. They won't let him wear any swimmies in the big pool which means I have to go in with him the whole time. Right now he is happier at the baby pool. I hope it lasts.

Last night Oliver and I were outside as the sun was starting to set. Oliver came running over to me and he looked very upset. When I asked him what was wrong he said he couldn't find his shadow anywhere. I took him to a spot with some sun and he was very happy. He asked me if I could take a picture of his shadow so that he could always see it. So I did.

I hope everyone has a fun Fourth of July.

yoga and fishing

2010-06-19T08:59:00.005-04:00

rambling

2010-06-14T15:15:00.007-04:00

So far June has been a big month. Oliver turned two and half, our niece Andrea is staying with us while she works in NYC, and our town pool opened.

It is great having Andrea here. Oliver loves it. The other day Andrea got Oliver dressed for bed and she put him in a purple t-shirt. The next morning when I was changing him he did not want to take off the shirt because it was Andrea's favorite. Eventually I got him to change. But that night when Andrea got home and was wearing a purple shirt Oliver insisted on putting the purple shirt on so they could match.

He likes to watch as Andrea does her Wii Fit. One day he was asking to watch Andrea's show with the hoop dee hoop. Andrea finally realized he wanted to watch her do this hula hoop thing on the Wii. Now he has started to do yoga with her. I can't believe how much he pays attention to it. He'll watch the screen and try to move his body to match it. After each pose he'll say "that was easy".

He has been copying everything we say for awhile, but luckily he hasn't picked up any bad words. We all try to be careful, but some slip through. The other day Anthony bought life jackets for all of us for his canoe. He got a small one for Oliver. We put it on him and he immediately wanted to take it off because as he said "this one sucks. I want the big one." Oops.

So far Oliver's twos are going really well. We have hardly (fingers crossed) had any tantrums. The big difficult thing he does is to be completely contrary. His response to everything is "No" even if it is a good thing like ice cream. He'll catch it and change to yes. If we are outside he wants to be inside and vice versa. It gets old fast so hopefully he'll outgrow it fast.

The other thing is when he wants something he wants it NOW. I've been telling him a lot he needs to be more patient and his has to wait. On Saturday I was sitting outside reading. Oliver opened the front door, poked his head out, and yelled to me "Mommy can you get me some patience?" I told to ask his father for some. I heard him ask Anthony for some patience, but Anthony misunderstood him and thought he was asking for some pigeons. I tried to explain to Oliver what patience meant and he quickly told me he didn't want any after all.

Besides being a very poor blogger (I'm a great blogger late at night in my head.) I've been very lax on my picture taking. We took a ton of pictures over Memorial day weekend, but I still haven't gone threw them all. I need to be better about that too. If only I had some more time.

fun and silly weekend

2010-05-02T22:38:00.004-04:00

catching up

2010-04-09T17:04:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure where March went. For the most part the weather was great and we were busy playing outside or at the park. Oliver is getting big. We started working on potty training and he is doing great with it. He finally seems like he is eating better too. He'll at least try new things. Lately he loves to say to me "Mommy try this. You'll like it." After I try it and say I liked it he'll say "I told you."

He is really growing up. The other day while I was changing him I told him that he is getting so big. Oliver told me that is because he is growing up. Later that day he opened the refrigerator and said he wanted something. I asked him what he wanted and he said wine. I told him he wasn't old enough for wine and he said to me "but Mommy I'm growing up".

We visited a friend this week who is pregnant. She is out of her first trimester and finally feeling a lot better. She said to me several times that she was happy that she has her energy back. In the car on the way home Oliver said to me "Mommy. I finally have my energy back". I thought maybe I heard him wrong so I asked his to say it again and sure enough that is what he said. I didn't even think he was listening to us.

It is funny hearing him use those grown up phrases. There are probably twenty more silly stories that I could tell about things Oliver is saying. It seems like all day he comes up with one funny thing after the other.

funny stuff

2010-03-03T08:22:00.004-05:00

Yesterday all day Oliver was walking around saying the funniest things. I kept saying to myself I'm going to write it down on the blog because it is so nice to have a place to record these memories. I know how I've been. If I don't write it down here in a month or sooner it's completely gone. My plan was to do it when he napped. But that didn't happen. I've been so tired lately. This weather is just killing me. I'm so sick of it. I have so little motivation. I really need to make myself snap out of it. Instead of writing everything down I read in bed. Oh well.

So this morning I'm doing it. As it is I forget most of yesterday. My days are pretty similar.

Oliver goes a mile a minute. He is always saying something. Right until he falls asleep he is talking to the animals in his crib. I heard him telling his monkey that he could have a banana after he woke up in the morning. I think that is in response to me just telling him that he couldn't have cookies in his crib that he could have cookies after breakfast.

Yesterday morning he kept going up to one of our cats and putting his hand on her back while saying "so what's the problem?" He kept asking her over and over again while bringing her different things to play with to see if that made her feel better. I realized that I say that exact phrase to him, but not exactly that same way. He was saying it so sweetly. I say it much more exasperated.

We are at the point with him where you have to watch everything you say. He repeats everything back. We were goofing around with his stuffed monkeys, Curious George and Monk. I took George and asked him what his name was. We've been working on Oliver's full name so I thought he would say "George Licata or more like George Cata". No. Instead he said "George Bush". Which is really funny and a little strange because we don't talk about politics much at all. I'm not saying we don't know anything about what is going on in the world, but it's rare for us to be talking about politics. But we did spend the weekend with Mae and Joe who do talk a lot of politics. They even babysat while we went to the movie's. We saw Crazy/Heart. It was amazing. I think while we were gone they went over some things with Oliver. Either them or Gretchen Carlson. :)

We had such a great visit with Mae and Joe. Oliver loved seeing everyone. I'm glad we are coming in again soon.

As I said earlier I've been pretty lazy and uninpsired so I haven't taken any new photos of Oliver this week. How many pictures can we have of him in his snowsuit? I do have pictures from the weekend, but I haven't downloaded them yet. But that is on my list to do later. I'll post some pictures later.

Winter

2010-02-22T16:18:00.001-05:00

2010-02-22T16:04:00.002-05:00

Winter is still here in New Jersey so we have been up to much lately. We, like everyone, have had a lot of snow. Last year when we went in the snow Oliver hated it. That is not the case this year at all. He loves it. He wants to be outside playing in the snow all of the time. He is a much better sport about being cold than I am.

We've been having a lot of play dates and just trying to keep busy. He is still crazy about his trains and loves playing with the train table he got for Christmas. Oliver pays attention to everything we say and do. It's so funny the things he picks up on. Saturday night Anthony asked me what I wanted to do that night and before I could answer Oliver said "how about we take a nap and than we play trains. How about we do that guys?"

We went into NYC this weekend to go to an art museum. He was great there. He especially liked all of the pictures of the naked ladies. For some reason he calls breasts "beeps". When we went onto a floor with less naked pictures he said "where all the beeps go?". That night when we asked him what his favorite painting was he said "dancing beeps". We think he is talking about the big Matisse painting with the naked ladies dancing.

Last week we got to go swimming. Kim and her family belong to this cool family gym. They have this huge indoor pool with a big kids section. He loved being in the water. The kids section went up to four feet deep. When Eloise tried to get him to go into the deeper section he stopped when the water was at his shoulders and said "No. I'm too short". We even tried putting a life jacket on him so he could float in the deeper section, but he kept saying "I'm too short".

It is a little warmer today so we played outside for a while this afternoon. It was so nice to be able to do that. I hope warmer weather is on it's way.

pictures

2010-01-17T18:39:00.004-05:00

Just a couple of pictures from our week.

Sofia and Ollie

2010-01-13T17:05:00.003-05:00

all good here

2010-01-13T16:28:00.004-05:00

Things are quiet. Anthony is away on a business trip and we've just been hanging with our regular gang. It's funny because last year I was hoping to make some friends in our town and now I've made a nice group of friends. We pretty much see each other Monday through Thursday for a couple of hours. Oliver loves it. He's so social.

Lately people are asking me when I'm putting him in school. I feel like people are always waiting for you to move onto the next thing. I don't know why. When we were dating it was when are we getting married? Then the kids and now it seems like the next step is school. Actually one of my new years resolutions is to enjoy things more now and not worry about what's down the road. In general I want to worry less. I'm trying. Although I still hate flying.

But anyway, back to school. I feel like he gets a lot of what he would get at school through everything we do here. School will come, but now while he is such a good napper it doesn't seem necessary.

I should say school doesn't seem necessary right now depending on the day. Some days are different. If Oliver hadn't napped yesterday and it had been like it had been in the morning than this would be an entirely different post.

We are lucky we have so much to do indoors because it's been freezing here. I'm already sick of it. Once Christmas is over what's the point. I've been cooking and baking a lot. I have these amazing smelling spice cookies in the oven right now. I can't wait for them to come out of the oven to have them with my fifth cup of tea of the day.

I have some really cute pictures of Oliver and Sofia. Sofia is 10 months old and our friend Beth's daughter. Oliver loves her. She is such a sweetheart. I tried to get a picture of the two of them in front of the tree. It wasn't easy. I have several really great ones of Oliver copying what she is doing. I included a picture of him in his reindeer toes.

2010-01-06T22:16:00.000-05:00

Holiday recap

2010-01-06T21:21:00.008-05:00

I don't think I exactly jinxed things, but the holidays turned out much different than we planned. Oliver came down with bronchitis. It started the night of Christmas Eve. so that meant we couldn't go to my family on Christmas Day and to Anthony's family the next day. We were pretty much house bound for the whole week. His bronchitis ended up getting worse before it got better. Finally by this weekend he kicked it and started feeling a lot better.

Even though he was really sick he managed to have a lot of fun. His energy was good for most of the week. It was helped by the medicine in his nebulizer which made him completely hyper. Although we didn't get to do the fun things we had planned with our family and friends we still had a good time here. We spent a lot of time playing in our pajamas.

My parents bought Oliver these really cute Christmas pajamas. They had a reindeer on the front and little reindeers on the feet. Oliver was so excited when we put them on Christmas Eve night. He came running out of his room and while pointing to his toes he yelled to everyone "reindeer toes". That night he was really sick and in the middle of the night he was coughing so hard that he threw up all over himself. While I was cleaning him up he looked up at me with the saddest face and said "Oh no Mommy. Reindeer toes a mess". He just broke my heart so I put them in the wash so he could wear them in the morning.

Oliver wasn't as excited as I thought he would be Christmas morning, but he was running a high fever. Once we started opening the presents he got into it. He loved all of his new toys. The big hit was hungry hungry hippos. He also loves his lego table and his curious george tea set. My brother, showing patience that I didn't know he had, played the hippo game with Oliver for hours. Oliver was very sad when my parents and Uncle Frankie left our house to go to our cousins Christmas Day. We did get to see my family on Christmas Eve, but we didn't get to see any of Anthony's family. We were so disappointed not to go to Mae and Joe's for Christmas at their house. Oliver would have loved playing with all of his cousins.

We missed everyone so much. The holidays aren't the same when you don't get to see all of your family. It really made us appreciate how lucky we are to have a big and loving family.

almost here

2009-12-23T16:17:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it. It just doesn't seem possible. I don't know when it will hit me that tomorrow the holidays start, but right now I still can't believe it.

I'm surprisingly stress free. I hesitate to say it and jinx myself, but there it is. The holidays this year have been a breeze compared to last year. Last year we were still adjusting to being new parents. It felt like from the moment we landed at Newark on Oct. 1st until after the New Year we were constantly going and just trying to fit everything in.

This year feels so different. We've been busy, but a good and fun busy. We've done all of the fun holiday things we love to do. It hasn't been rushed or crazy. We were able to sit back and enjoy it. Maybe that's why it doesn't really feel like Christmas to me? No stress.

Oliver is very excited for Christmas. He wants the hungry hungry hippo game. He sat on Santa's lap over a week ago. When santa asked him what he wanted Anthony told him that game because he knew we bought it for him. Now every day when Oliver wakes up he asks if the hippos are here yet. I almost caved last night when he said "why no hippos yet?"

Nothing to do with the holidays, but to do with what Oliver says in the morning. When I get him up I ask how he slept and how he's doing. For awhile now he'll ask how I am doing and when he sees one of the cats he'll say "good morning Sadie. How are you?" This week when I asked him how he is doing he's been saying "two". He is confusing it with how old are you and it makes me laugh.

I'm trying to remember these little things because the other day when he asked for his toothbrush I remembered when he didn't know the word for toothbrush. What he use todo when he didn't know the word for something he would call it duck. It got a little annoying and kind of strange. It made me think that I need to start writing some of these little things down because time is clearly just flying by.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and very Merry Christmas!

holidays

2009-12-16T21:43:00.003-05:00

Mae and Joe came for a visit for Oliver's birthday and for Mae's birthday. One day we went into the city to see the tree and go to all of the shops. Everything looked so pretty. It was so cold. Joe and Anthony forgot to bring hats. Or more like they didn't think they would need them so they didn't bring them. But they were freezing. After some great bargaining by Joe they both got some warm hats. We had a fun day and it really got us excited for the holidays.

Oliver and I were working on Christmas shopping today. We went to a bunch of stores. At one point we were trying to walk quickly back to our car, but no one was letting us cross the street. We started to go and this woman came speeding past us. I was annoyed because not only did she not let us cross but she was really close. So I yelled "thanks lady" to which Oliver yelled "your welcome lady". He is such a funny silly boy. We love him so much.

Oliver is two

2009-12-15T08:28:00.004-05:00

Actually he turned two over a week ago. I had wanted to write something on Dec. 6th, but I was too busy. This is a crazy time of year. A good crazy. We went from Thanksgiving, Oliver's birthday, and now Christmas.

We put up the Christmas tree this weekend. He kept saying "I like that Mommy". We put popcorn strings on the tree. He recently had popcorn at the movies and he loved it. You can imagine what happened. We should have figured it out, but no we didn't. All of a sudden he was spitting a bunch of food out. I saw that it was popcorn and asked him where he got it. Of course he said "I don't know". We had to have a long conversation about the popcorn on the tree being different from the popcorn we eat out of the bag. He was really funny about it. He would say "popcorns. same thing. no. tree. yucky."

We are looking forward to seeing lots of friends and family over the next two weeks. I love this time of year. I don't even mind the craziness of the mall. Although this is the first time I have experienced toys r us at the holidays. It was nuts. In the first five minutes a woman with a cart overflowing who couldn't see where she was going hit me and another woman took my cart with my pocketbook in it while my back was turned. Cut throat.

I've been doing a lot of cooking and baking. I made an incredible chocolate cake that was so easy and the recipe recommends making it ahead of time and freezing it. I'll have to post that.

I hope everyone is having a fun holiday season.

2009-11-10T23:50:00.000-05:00

pictures

2009-11-10T23:41:00.003-05:00

a much better week

2009-11-10T23:00:00.003-05:00

It's Tuesday night and so far the big news of the week is this:

Anthony is away until Saturday on a work trip. Oliver is sick. Not seriously sick. Just a icky running nose and nasty cough. Oliver is a big fan of the, I'm not sure of the name of it, but I've been calling it the boogie sucker. The first thing he said to Anthony on the phone tonight was "no boogies". He is sneezing all of the time. Now after he sneezes once he'll say "bless you Ollie again".

We have been laying low. Not doing any of our usual fun things which is such a shame because the weather has been unseasonably warm.

Oliver hasn't been himself since he's been sick. He's been fussy and not happy. But Oliver can get away with murder because he has the cutest sick voice. It's a cross between Lindsay Lohan and Elmo.

We had a great weekend. We took a rode trip to Baltimore. We were there for our friends, Mike and Amanda's, party to celebrate their wedding. They got married in September in Boulder. Unfortunately we didn't make it to Boulder. I'm so glad we got to go to this party. It was a great time. Oliver loved the party and loved being away. We went to the aquarium which was amazing. He loved all of the animals. Especially the turtles. Anthony and I love taking road trips. We've hardly taken any since we've brought Oliver home. There is no reason for us not to do it again. He was so easy. He loved the hotel. He loved seeing all of the new people. After the holidays we'll have to go somewhere again. Speaking of the holidays, I can't believe how soon the holidays are going to be here. I'm not ready at all. I have so many things planned in my head. I hope I can get to half of them.

I've been cooking a lot too. A lot of homey fall weather food. I made the most unbelievable chicken pot pie. When I get the chance I'll post the recipe.

Oliver's Halloween morning show

2009-11-05T07:45:00.001-05:00

I'm so bad with the computer. I can't figure out how to put the video or even the link on the blog. Sorry you'll have to do it the old fashion way and cut and paste this web address.

www.wpix.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=db56539b-91b0-46b8-bb14-f5bd49435cc1&src=front

If anyone has any advice or tips on how to make my blogging life better I would love to hear them.

one of those days

2009-11-04T17:25:00.000-05:00

I'm definitely one of those people whose mood is effected or is it affected by the weather. Fall is finally really here. I like this time of the year because the holidays are so close, but I love the warm long days of summer. I'm feeling sad today and the weather really has little to do with it.

We got really terrible news of a friend's father who passed away today from a long battle with cancer. I'm sad for my friend and her family who have had a really hard past couple of years. Selfishly I'm sad for myself because I really should have been a better friend. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the little things in your life. There always seems like there is going to be more time.

Anyway, it doesn't seem fair to go from that heavy topic to the light and lovely topic of Oliver, but so be it. Oliver had a great halloween. We had a halloween party. We made too much food, but it was yummy. The kids were adorable. Oliver loved trick or treating. After the second house he turned to me and said "more shopping mommy". Too cute. He was a very reluctant dragon. He didn't love being dressed up or having something on his head. He would only really have it on his head when he was distracted with something else. He actually got to be on a local morning show when they did a segment on kids costumes. He hated wearing that costume which was Frankenstein. They only way we got him to do that was through bribery. There is a clip of it and I'll have to figure out how to post it. It's funny because he doesn't stay still. For the whole segment you can see his Frankenstein head poking around.

2009-11-04T17:20:00.000-05:00

barefoot bloggers

2009-10-11T13:54:00.009-04:00

I actually made and ate the chowder on Thursday. I just didn't have time to take a picture or post anything. It turned out to be a long day. Oliver didn't nap at all. I guess I jinxed us. He called me into his room about 45 minutes into his nap ( he usually sleeps 2 1/2-3 hrs). He was saying "mess mess". I was looking at him and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. I finally looked down and noticed he didn't have his pants or diaper on. That's when it hit me that he peed in the bed. Ugh. Why are crib mattresses so hard to change? So no nap that day.

He was saying mess in this picture.

The chowder was pretty good. It isn't a thick chowder at all. Maybe that's how they like it in the Hamptons. I like a thicker chowder. I made a lot of changes to the recipe. I decided to make crab corn chowder. I halved it because it was huge. I left out the potatoes because I knew I would end up freezing it and potatoes just don't freeze right. I subbed 1 cup of clam juice for 1 cup chicken stock. I added a chopped pepper and used less bacon because I didn't want to overwhelm the crab. I think you can leave it out altogether. The same for the cheddar cheese. I meant to add fresh cilantro, but completely forgot.

It was a good easy recipe. It was fun one for my first barefoot blogger challenger. Thanks Jill of My Next Life www.jillbuker.blogspot.com for choosing the recipe.

The next recipe is a souffle. I've always wanted to make one so I'm excited. Does anyone know if I need a special souffle dish?

Oh my gob I made a whoppie pie

2009-10-11T13:00:00.003-04:00

Whoppie pies are the new big thing around here. It's kind of like the new cupcake except the cupcake will never go away so maybe it's the new beef cheek. Oliver and I had them at a fall festival the other day. They weren't nearly as good the ones I had growing up. Oliver loved them so I decided to make them. My Aunt in Johnston, PA is the queen of the whoppie pie except we call the go's. I'm not really sure why. I think I read somewhere that it looks like a gob of coal. Neither name is that great, but they taste so good.

I've tried making them several times over the years and they never came out. This was the best batch yet. Not saying much since the others were inedible. But this were really good. The key is crisco. I know you'll be tempted to change it to butter, but don't. I've done that and it just tastes wrong. There must be something in the crisco that makes them taste right.

This recipe from Aunt Katie makes 20 Gobs.

My gobs can out a little too big. I think I would make them smaller. I also burnt one whole tray. They do spread during cooking. I also added a 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to the icing because it didn't taste sweet enough. Speaking of the icing. I didn't think it made enough. Since I only got 13 Gobs it was enough, but I think it could/should be increased.
Pre-heat oven to 350.

Cakes:

Cream 2 cups sugar and 1/2 c. crisco

Mix together with a whisk 4 cups flour, 1 cup cocoa unsweetened, 2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt.

Add 2 eggs to sugar mixture. Mix. Add flour mixture and mix. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 cup buttermilk, and 1 cup boiling water.

Put about 1 tsp sized cakes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Make sure you have enough tops and bottoms. Bake 8 minutes. You want them firm not soft.

Frosting:

Heat 1 cup milk until warm. Add 5 tbs. flour. Mix until thick. Try to get out lumps. Let mixture cool. Beat 1 cup crisco, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 1 1/4 c. powdered sugar together. Add cooled mixture. Beat until smooth. You can put mixture through a strainer. I didn't.

Once tops and bottoms are cooled ice. They last a couple of days in the fridge and freeze very well.

Enjoy

better

2009-10-08T14:28:00.003-04:00

We are all finally better. Oliver ended up having my bronchitis. He really had a hard time with it. He was waking up all night coughing. We've been so lucky with his sleep. I give those families so much credit that have kids who don't sleep. It sucks. It was so hard to function the next day. It only lasted three days, but it was hard. We are all better now. It is great to be able to get out of the house and do all the fun things we normally do or just run to the supermarket for food.

Speaking of food. In an effort to come up with some new things to cook I joined a cooking group. Barefoot bloggers. www.barefootbloggers.wordpress.com

Twice a month they make a recipe out of one of Ina Garten's cookbooks. Today my first recipe is due. It's corn chowder. I had grand plans of making it earlier in the week so I could blog about it first thing this morning. Of course that didn't happen. My chowder is on the stove cooking away as I write. I'm loosely following the recipe. We'll see how it goes. I'll post pictures later. I haven't taken any pictures of Oliver in two weeks now. Maybe I'll get a picture of him eating the chowder. Yeah right. He may be a good sleeper, but not so much of an eatter.

Sick

2009-09-27T21:33:00.002-04:00

Everyone in our house is sick. I'm getting over brochitis. Anthony and Oliver have bad colds with high fevers. Oliver has been running a 103 fever on and off since yesterday. It just breaks your heart to see him like this. He is so sad. He keeps saying "help mama help" and "done done". After he coughs he points to his throat saying "ouchie". Poor thing. I hope it doesn't last another day.

These are the only pictures we took in Stockholm

2009-09-04T07:29:00.001-04:00

pictures

2009-09-04T07:23:00.002-04:00

These are pictures from our last day in Paris.

recharged

2009-09-03T09:38:00.004-04:00

I didn't realize it, but I was completely burnt out before our vacation. I know this is dumb and obnoxious, but I didn't think I could get burnt out as a stay at home Mom. I know I work really hard. I also know that if it's gross outside I can stay in my pajamas all day. I guess part of me thought if I didn't have to put work clothes on I had less of a job here at home.

I realized this with a conversation with someone in Belgium. I thought there english was just bad and I was misunderstanding them when they asked if I worked at home. I thought they meant I had a home office. I kept saying that I use to work as a lawyer, but now I'm home with Oliver. She kept saying so you work at home. I finally realized what she meant and it all kind of hit me that I needed a break.

I was stretched a little thin this summer. It was all good things, but we were so busy. I feel like I was a bad friend, wife, mom, relative. Not the worse, but I could have been better. The summer flew by and I don't want the fall to be the same.

Taking a break from everything has made me excited to me home and to get back into the swing of things. I'm really in the mood to start cooking and baking. The markets in Europe are so much better than here. Why can't we get amazing cheese and meat? If I was a real go getter I would open up an amazing store. But I'm still me.

The pastries in Paris were incredible. There are a whole bunch of new things that I want to try to make. The first is orangettes. They are chocolate covered orange peels. I think I could make them and they would be nice for Christmas.

I know what you are thinking. Christmas. She is being way too ambitious. But you are wrong. Whether I was recharged or not I would be thinking of Christmas now. It's labor day weekend so Christmas is around the corner.

home

2009-09-03T07:40:00.004-04:00

We are back home. Our trip was so great and it went so fast. It feels like we just left.

Oliver did so great. He liked traveling. He enjoying going down to the lobby and getting all kinds of attention from the hotel staff. I think he thought we were living in the hotel. When we would be leaving a restaurant he would start saying "hotel hotel". On the way home yesterday we told him we were going home. In the airport I asked him where we were going and he said "hotel". But now he's happy to be home and playing with his toys. He's asking for the cats too.

I could completely see how he could pick up the language if we were staying there longer. He was trying to say everything. He picked up a couple of words. He is talking up a storm. Stringing all kinds of sentences together. It's great, but he doesn't stop talking. He is always babbling something. Yesterday we were all exhausted, but he was still talking and talking away. It's funny to really see his personality. He is so not a baby anymore in good and bad ways. Mostly good. I think.

The trip was so fantastic. I had a great time everywhere we went. I really loved Paris. It was cool to be somewhere that I had been as kid and be there now as an adult. I know Anthony felt the same way about Paris, but especially about Belgium.

One downer of the trip, but in the end no big deal was that Oliver had his second visit to the hospital. Our first day in Belgium he fell off the top of a slide and cut his head so we went to the emergency room. Thank god for our family. They handled everything. I don't even know how Anthony and I would have found the hospital.

It ended up being a funny story because when we got to the hospital Emmanuel told them that Oliver was his son Hugo. No big deal right? Emmanuel has a son Hugo. He did it because they have socialized medicine and he figured it would be easier. He also said I was his wife and that Oliver was almost 4 years old. The real Hugo was there, but had to be taken to another room because everyone was afraid that he would tell that he was actually Hugo.

Oliver didn't even need a stitch. They did that glue thing. When the doctor came in speaking French to all of us I just looked at Emmanuel. He handled it all. The doctor kept asking both of us how old Oliver was. Emmanuel told him almost 4. The doctor said he was very small for his age. I wanted to say small for his age and he doesn't speak any French. Oh well. I'm sure they knew what we were doing.

I can't post any pictures right now because I need to download the rest. Also most of them are on Anthony's work laptop.

I'm happy to be home and can't wait to catch up with everyone.

2009-08-24T13:23:00.003-04:00

I was able to post 3 more pictures. We only have wi-fi in the hotel lobby and my battery is starting to go so that's it for tonight.

Dawn- if you are reading Happy Birthday!

xoxo

Leigh, Anthony and Oliver

2009-08-24T13:19:00.000-04:00

pictures

2009-08-24T13:00:00.002-04:00

our trip

2009-08-24T12:49:00.004-04:00

We are having an amazing trip. We left Belgium and our family yesterday. They were so good to us. They kept us well fed and busy.

We have been so busy that there has been no time to download our pictures let alone post on the blog. We are in Paris now and I finally downloaded all of our pictures. There are an overwhelming amount of pictures so I just quickly went through and picked some. I posted 4 pictures and I've been trying for the last 20 minutes to post more. I guess I have a bad connection because I can't do it. I'll try one more time.

Oliver has been great. He is so easy and just goes with the flow. I'm amazed at how well he has adjusted to everything. The flight went perfect. We were able to get a bassinet. It was little bit of an issue because they are only for babies 9 months and younger. We flew scandinavian airlines. When they asked us how old he was and how much he weighed we just kept on saying he'll fit. He didn't exactly fit, but it worked. He slept the entire flight.

Oliver is so cute picking up the different languages. After a day or two with our italian family he was saying ciao. Now he is saying merci.

There is so much more to tell, but that's it for now. We'll be in Paris until Saturday.

2009-08-11T23:05:00.000-04:00

2009-08-11T22:58:00.000-04:00

where have we been?

2009-08-11T22:37:00.003-04:00

I can not believe how time has been flying by. Wasn't it just Memorial day weekend?

Our summer has been great. We have seen so many friends and a lot of family. Oliver has loved all the attention. I feel like he has changed so much these last months. He really is a big boy now. He is talking up a storm. He is repeating everything we say. I mean everything. Down to my ums. I apparently say that a lot especially when I'm looking for something or standing in front of the fridge. He'll just lean against the fridge and say "um".

He is really into trains. That's his big toy right now. He brings a train with him where ever we go. As we walk into a store he'll show it to the first person he sees and say "choo choo". He likes to knock one train over and say "help help". He'll get another train to push the train that's been knocked over back up. Than he says "thank you".

We joined our town pool so we've been spending a lot of time there playing with our friends. He loves the water. He loves to kick, splash, drink, and jump in it. I signed him up for swim lessions for the fall. I think he is going to love it.

The past couple of days we have been teaching him to say ciao and give kisses on the cheek. We are getting him ready for our trip to Europe. We leave this weekend. We can't wait. We are going to visit Anthony's family in Belgium and than we are traveling to Paris and Stockholm. Anthony's parents are going to be with us in Belgium. I'm so glad we are all getting to take this trip together.

This last week running around getting ready for our trip reminds me so much of last August when we were getting ready to go to Vietnam. It's crazy because that trip is behind us and now we are planning a big family vacation. There were times last summer when I never thought we would get to this point.

We will definitely post pictures while we are there.

We have a lot to thank on Father's Day

2009-06-29T22:46:00.007-04:00

I am lucky enough to have two wonderful fathers in my life. My Father, Frank, and my father-in-law Joe. Both men have done so much for me over the course of my life. They have worried about me when I was in the hospital and took food requests when I was recuperating at home. Thank you does not seem to be enough. Lately time has seemed like it is flying by and it has been making me appreciate the importance of telling your love ones that you love and need them in your lives.

I would have never got through law school without my Dad. The advice and support he gave me during my trials at the DAs office was priceless. He has a prospective that few can get during a trial. I still think back to how lucky I was to have that. It's been fun to watch him grow into his roll as a grandfather. He is just as silly and scutchy as you would expect. Oliver loves it.

My Father-in-law has giving me a lot of support, but has helped Tony in so many ways. I know that Tony wouldn't have the career he has today without all that Joe did for Tony when he was younger. He took him to wonderful places and he showed him how to do all kinds of things. Joe has been a grandfather for a while, but he has not lost his sense of wonder and excitement when he plays with Oliver. Oliver loves the vast array of animal noises Joe can make and it seems that he never gets tried of making them for him. Joe never triers of feeding Ollie or of any of us for that matter.

The final Father I want to thank is Tony. I could not be the mother I am without him. He gives me so much help. I love watching how patient and calm he can be even though he is reading the same book to Ollie for the 15th time. His silliness is unparalleled. He'll do anything with Ollie. The goofier the better.

Thankfully he shares his wisdom with me. It is unbelievable how much he knows about babies and kids. I always knew he grew up around a lot of children, but still all the knowledge he took from it is incredible. Oliver and I have already learned so much from Tony and we will continue to do so.

It brings happy tears to my eyes that Oliver will gain so much from these amazing men.

What else can I say except life is good. I love you all. We have such fun!

Father's day

2009-06-28T00:13:00.003-04:00

sleepy

2009-06-10T15:46:00.001-04:00

2009-06-10T15:31:00.000-04:00

I don't know where the time has gone

2009-06-10T15:09:00.004-04:00

I seriously can't believe it has been over a month since the last time I posted on the blog. Very bad. We had a busy month, but nothing crazy. We have seen a lot of friends and family over the last couple of weeks. It seems like once the weather gets nice everyone wants to hang out. It's been fun and Oliver has been loving it. Our nieces, Andrea and Erin, came for a visit this weekend. Besides being our family they are such great people. They love Oliver and showered him with attention. We had a great time.

Saturday we went into New York City. We spent a lot of time in Chinatown. We ate, shopped, walked, and ate some more. I love all of the produce in Chinatown. The girls weren't so into all of the fish markets. Still nothing compared to Hanoi.

One year ago today

2009-05-06T17:38:00.004-04:00

we got the phone call that we had a son. I still remember seeing my agency's name on the caller id and having butterflies in my stomach when I answered. Sandie told me she was looking at a picture of a beautiful and chubby baby boy. I asked her if that was our baby and she said of course it was. She emailed me pictures, but I asked her not to email them to Anthony. I knew he was on his way home from work and I wanted to be the one to tell him. I also wanted us to open the email with the pictures together. He wasn't going to be home for over a hour so I knew if I stayed in the house I would either a) open the pictures or b) call someone and tell them the news. So I left. I went to buy photo paper and Vietnamese take out. I met Anthony at the train station. I told him and when we came home we opened his pictures. It was such a crazy feeling looking at those pictures and thinking this is my son.

One year later it is hard to imagine a time when Oliver wasn't here. Life is good and we are all so happy.

Referral picture

Today

On another topic

2009-04-29T08:54:00.004-04:00

My friend Beth and I have been laughing a lot about all of my adventures in trying to make some local Mom friends. I feel like I'm dating again. And I haven't been dating for a long time. Anthony and I have been together since we were 20. College takes a lot of the charm and finesse out of dating.

Don't get me wrong. I have a great group of friends that I've had for a long time and I'm lucky enough to see them a lot. But already with every ones kids it is hard to find a day when we can hang out and none of our kids are over 3 yet.

I thought it would be nice to make some friends with some local Moms. I also thought it would be good for Oliver to have some more kids to play with. Everyone kept telling me it would be easy to make friends now that I had Oliver. But I hadn't had to make new friends for a long time. College was fairly easy. You are living with all these new people. In law school it was kind of easy because everyone is starting new and doesn't know anyone. At the DA's office everyone is hired in a big class so again everyone is starting all over together. Plus the DA's office had the added benefit of bonding over the craziness of what we were now doing. My point of reference for making new friends is high school. That was a long time ago, but oddly/sadly enough there are a lot of parallels to high school.

I'm curious about other peoples experiences and thoughts about this.

I have a lot more to say on this one, but for now I'll leave it at that. I'm meeting my good and old (not in age way) friends Kim and Kelly today.

Outside

2009-04-29T08:12:00.005-04:00

The weather took a crazy turn last Friday. It got seriously hot. I was glad to see that winter was gone, but was a little surprised that we went right into summer. We've had some really hot days which has meant we've been outside a lot. It was been great. Oliver loves being outside. But our little boy who hated to wear shoes and socks now hates to not wear shoes and socks outside. He will not walk barefoot on the steps, walkway, grass, deck, or driveway. It's really funny to watch. He'll take one step. Stop and put one of his feet up. He stays that way until I go over to him and pick him up. My Mom bought him some sandals and that are helping, but he doesn't love them either. It is no big deal and I'm sure he'll get use to it, but it is funny to watch him once you set him down with no shoes or socks.

At one point on Sunday it was so hot. I was running out of summer clothes for him. I didn't buy that much yet since it is only April 28th. Oliver was running around in his diaper with his socks on. Very stylish. Actually, he spent a lot of the weekend just in his diaper. He looked so cute with his big belly hanging over.

You'll see in the pictures he is drooling more than he usually does (which is a lot anyway) so I really think he is getting some teeth. My friend Dana gave me some teething tablets that are really helping. I would highly recommend them. They are Humphreys. They are all natural homeopathic teething tablets.

yummy food

2009-04-16T07:39:00.007-04:00

I love all of Dorie Greenspan's baking books, but recently I came across her blog. It is about her cooking, baking, and travels. She spends a good part of the year in Paris. She has the most amazing looking lamb tangine on a recent post. I made it two nights ago and served it last night with couscous. It was incredible. Oliver and Anthony loved it. I highly recommend you go to her blog and look at that recipe. There are some other great ones too.

www.doriegreenspan.com/2009/04/-lamb-tagine.html#more

life

2009-04-14T08:33:00.005-04:00

I feel like Oliver has changed a lot this last month. He listens and pays attention to more than I realized. He can get impatient with food and his bottle. When I tell him wait I guess I do this thing with my hands. I put it up like what most people do for wait. This weekend I said something about waiting and I didn't even realize he was listening. I looked at Oliver and I realized he was doing the thing with his hand.

He is starting to say a lot of words and he is really into animals. By far his favorite is his duck. This morning when I went to get him I said good morning and he said duck. He runs around the house yelling quack. He tries to give our cats his stuffed duck and when they won't take it he throws it at them. We were at my Mom and Dad's house this weekend for Easter. (you can tell by the pictures we aren't home. How does she keep her floors so clean?) Anyway, they live by a pond. Oliver would look out the window and make his what's happening thing he does with his hands and say duck. Really cute.

He has started getting picky with his food, but his loves his bottle (bop). He is always asking for his bop. Sometimes it can get tricky because they way he says up is bup. Usually we can figure it out.

It is so much fun to watch him change and grow.

sorry for the food posts

2009-04-01T08:36:00.005-04:00

I love to cook and it is rare that I make a recipe as it is written down. I'm finding that when I go back to make recipes again I can't exactly remember what I did to it. I thought it might be helpful to me if I started writing them down here.

Oliver is talking up a storm. Mostly only things we can understand. He learns anything to do with food very fast. He knows the word for cracker except he calls it crack. We were in the supermarket and he saw a box of crackers. He started screaming "crack" "crack". The other morning for breakfast he kept asking for crack. He would push his yogurt away and say "crack". It's hard not to laugh. His other big word is duck. He thinks all birds are ducks.

Screaming at the ducks/birds in the yard

More cooking

2009-04-01T08:18:00.003-04:00

I also made a recipe from last weeks New York Times. It was delicious. The whole point of the article is to make something inexpensive, but still fancy enough for a dinner party. I made some changes to it. It is the kind of recipe that can easily be played around with. The only thing I wouldn't do is subsititute chicken breasts.

My picture doesn't do this dish justice. Sorry.

Pasta With Roast Chicken, Eggplant, Raisins and Almonds

Adapted from “New York Times”

3 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, patted dry

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 eggplant diced

1 1/2 pounds dried pasta, preferably bucatini or linguine

1 teaspoons crumbled fresh rosemary

1/2 cup dried raisins

2/3 cup almonds, toasted

1 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped mint

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

4 tbs. butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange thighs in a large roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour 2 tbs. oil over all of the chicken. Bake until just cooked through and skin is crisp about 35 minutes.

2. Dice eggplant. Put in colander and salt generously. Leave for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry. Put in same roasting pan just drain off most of the fat. Add 2 tbs. oil or use chicken fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until soft about 35 minutes depending on how big your pieces are.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When chicken is done, let cool slightly, then use hands to pull meat and skin from bones, making bite-size pieces. Reserve meat and discard bones.

4. Meanwhile, add pasta to boiling water and cook just until tender but not mushy.

5. Melt butter in a small sauce pan on low. Add breadcrumbs. Stir until toasted about 2 minutes.

6. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth to the pasta pot on the stovetop and turn heat to low. Add chicken, eggplant, rosemary, raisins, mint and almonds to roasting pan and toss, adding more salt and black pepper to taste, and more chicken broth if mixture seems dry. Top with breadcrumbs reserving some for individual bowls.

Bread

2009-04-01T08:03:00.004-04:00

I have found an amazing bread recipe. I was nervous about making my own bread. I had never worked with yeast before. My Dad, who has been making incredible bread, for at least 20 years, swears by Mark Bittman's Sullivan Street Bakery recipe. I had looked at that before, but it still seemed complicated. I came across this recipe while looking for something else. It seemed so easy I had to try it. I think you can mess around with the types of flour, but I'm not brave enough to do that.

Here's the recipe:

4 -5 Loaves of Bread
Ingredients

* 24 ounces hand warm water
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried fast rising yeast
* 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 6 1/2 C unbleached white bread flour

Directions

1. Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl - the water should be warm. Not too hot or it will kill the yeast.

2. Add the yeast to the water and then the salt, mix well.

3. Rub the mixing bowl with 1 tbs. oil because the dough is very wet. This will help you get it out of the bowl. Add all the flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or a dough hook until all the ingredients are incorporated.

4. Leave the bread dough in the mixing bowl and cover loosely.

5. Proof for 2 hours on the counter or on top of the fridge.

6. The dough can now be stored in the fridge or you can use the dough to make a loaf of bread immediately. I store mine in a large tupperware which I also rub with oil.

7. If baking a loaf of bread now, pre-heat the oven to 450F and place a baking sheet or pizza tray in there. Tear off a large ball, about the size of a small melon, and knead it for about 1 minute with floured hands and on a board with wax paper and flour on it. Shape it as desired or place it in a greased and floured loaf tin. Allow to proof and rise for a further 20. Slash the surface with a sharp serrated knife if you wish.

8. Put bread into oven. Add a small pot of boiling water cover removed to the oven as soon as you add the bread – this steams and bakes the loaf to give a brown crust, a good chewy texture and keeps the inside moist. I bake mine in a small oven proof pot. It gives it a nice shape.

9. Bake at 450F for 40 minutes or until well risen, brown and the loaf sounds hollow when it is tapped on the underside.

10. Remove the bread when baked and cool on a cooling rack. Serve warm with butter, cheese, jam, hams and cold cuts, or slice when cool for sandwiches.

11. Store the excess dough in a large covered bowl or Tupperware in the fridge this will keep for 2 weeks. This amount of dough will make between 4 and 5 loaves of bread, depending on the shape and amount of dough you use.

Shoes

2009-03-29T22:10:00.004-04:00

Remember when we first got home from Vietnam and Oliver refused to wear shoes. Well that is long gone. He loves wearing shoes. He'll wear any shoes he can get his hands on. I wear a lot of flats so they are perfect for him. He slips them on, clops around, and goes about his business. It is so cute and funny. I have to hide one of my pairs because he won't leave them alone. The other day I had them on. He was trying to pull them off. When that didn't work he tried to slip his foot in over mine.

Last week I bought him a pair of chuck taylor's. I couldn't resist. Plus Anthony had a similar pair when we were in college. He is so cute in them. He looks like a little hipster.

Six months

2009-03-15T18:01:00.003-04:00

This was our first free weekend in a long time. We ran some errands, played, went out to dinner, and went for a hike. We bought Oliver a table. When we were in California he loved sitting at Elise's table.

He loves his table too. Anthony put together the table first. While he was working on the chairs Oliver took matter into his own hands. He pushed over a chair from the dining room. He got himself on it and sat very proudly at his new table. He is so funny.

Time is flying by and it is hard to remember a time when Oliver wasn't with us, but today is the six month anniversary of when we got Oliver from the orphanage. It is hard to put into words how happy we are and how much better he makes everything that we do. We are incredibly lucky.

TWD

2009-03-03T09:21:00.005-05:00

This week they are baking Chocolate Armagnac Cake. It is a wonderful light chocolate cake. It called for dried prunes, but since I'm a fig lover I went with dried figs instead. I think the figs worked well.

I've been keeping up with the Tuesdays with Dorie gang and baking along side them. The caramel crunch bars were in BIG hit in California. I need to put up more pictures from our incredible trip.

2009-02-26T10:42:00.000-05:00

California

2009-02-26T10:11:00.005-05:00

I wish we realized they were sitting right by the garbage can.

We're having a terrific time in California visiting Oliver's Aunt Mary and Uncle Mike and his cousins Olivia and Elise. We went to the San Diego zoo, and have been having a lot of fun. Oliver is having the best time running around and playing with his cousins. They're both really good with him. He's very happy.

One of Ollie's favorite things. Sitting at the table with Elise.

2009-02-17T22:07:00.001-05:00

Baking take two

2009-02-17T22:03:00.002-05:00

I decided to try to bake with Tuesdays with Dorie again. It is a good thing I didn't join over the summer. I would have been bounced out.

This week they are baking caramel crunch bars. They came out so yummy and they were easy to make. I put the whole thing together while I was waiting for our dinner to simmer.

2009-02-17T13:51:00.000-05:00

Tet party

2009-02-17T13:33:00.002-05:00

This Saturday we celebrated Tet and my birthday. This is our fourth year and by far the best one. Oliver had so much fun. He loved playing with all of the kids and staying up late. He loved the Vietnamese food especially the pho and bun cha. I think it is a great tradition and since Anthony and I love to cook it is nice that we can make Vietnamese food. We have an incredible asian market here so I was able to get everything we needed. I love how tastes and smells can bring you back to another time in your life.

2009-02-05T17:32:00.000-05:00

fun things

2009-02-05T17:13:00.003-05:00

Things are great here. Oliver is a lot of fun. He is into everything. He is trying very hard to climb on everything. His legs are a little too short to get on most of the furniture, but he sure is trying hard.

He loves to dance. He'll point to the radio and do this little wiggle dance move when he wants us to turn the music on. We went to a music class at the library today. He went right next to the singer and was dancing around. I was surprised at first because he is pretty shy around strangers, but when she bent down to play to him he took off. He takes a little while to warm up to new people especially men. Once he has figure out someone is cool than he is a total showoff.

We started a tumbling class last week. He didn't do too much. He walked around pointing and staring at things. The last ten minutes of the class he started going on all of the fun stuff. Hopefully, this week he feel a little more comfortable there. I think once he gets use to it he is going to love it.

In the last couple of weeks he has really started to play with his stuffed animals. He loves to give them hugs and kisses. When he wakes up in the morning or from a nap he'll play in his crib with them for a long time. It is funny to hear him giving them kisses. The other day I went into his room and he was standing in his crib waving at the window while a train was passing by.
Ollie is 14 months old tomorrow. My birthday is next week. I can't even believe it. Time is flying by. We haven't done anything to celebrate Tet yet. We are going to have a birthday/Tet celebration next weekend. My birthday always falls around the Lunar New Year. We have been incorporating both things for years. We are so excited to have Oliver here to join in the celebration.

Ollie and the Snow

2009-01-19T21:38:00.005-05:00

Over the last two days it's snowed about six inches. Really light fluffy snow that sticks to all the tree limbs and rooftops and makes everything look like a Christmas card.

I think Oliver likes it. His first time in the snow he wasn't so sure, but the other day we went out for a hike and he loved it. He liked stepping in the snow and kicking it. He laughed when it hit his face.

Hopefully the snow keeps up this winter. We have to take him sledding next. Leigh and I are having a lot of fun with him.

Anthony

Year in review sort of

2009-01-11T15:21:00.007-05:00

I figure better late than never. We have been crazy busy since Thanksgiving. I've hardly had any time at all let alone time to reflect on this last year. I feel like I can divide 2008 into several categories. Obviously pre-Ollie and post-Ollie, but also before we got the referral and after. January through April was incredibly long. Especially January, February, and March. This time last year the holidays were over and we were thinking we would get our referral call any day. Every time the phone would ring I would hope it was our agency. Every time we spoke to anyone all they wanted to know is when we would hear. Of course, everybody had our best interests at heart. We could never get away from thinking about it.

So many times we would hear that everything happens for a reason, and although in your head you know that is true, it is so hard to believe it until you see the reason. Luckily May 6th we finally saw that reason. We were still on edge until we got our travel approval August 19th. After we got that email telling us we could travel to bring Oliver home time has been speeding past.

The three weeks in Vietnam was one of the most incredible experiences of our lives. It's very hard to put into words. Some days I wish we could go back. I still think about the food.

And since we've been home we've been having a wonderful time with Oliver, doing all the things that we dreamed about before we got him: from spending holidays with family and friends to simple things like reading him his favorite books or playing on the floor. It's been great.

For this year, we want to encourage Oliver to be a happy, silly and inquisitive boy. Hopefully, we can get him to wear socks and shoes too. I want to try to make a better record of all that Oliver is doing and record his adventures on this blog.

Holiday Fun

2009-01-05T08:15:00.001-05:00

but loved decorating

2008-12-18T07:49:00.001-05:00

Not a fan of Santa

2008-12-18T07:44:00.002-05:00

So much to be thankful for

2008-12-02T13:31:00.000-05:00

Having fun

2008-11-24T17:37:00.002-05:00

Things are great here. It is so cool to see how much Oliver is changing. He is laughing like crazy. He likes to take one of our hands and use it to do or get whatever he wants. He is walking and blowing kisses. He loves to dance. These days it is usually to Christmas music. He is so cute wiggling his little butt. His big move is swinging his arms from side to side. He still hates shoes, socks, and bibs. He doesn't really like food with any texture. He has found my belly button and it just cracks him up. He peed standing up in the tub the other day. When it started to happen he pointed at it and just had the biggest smile. He really is a dude.

11 months old

2008-11-06T07:34:00.003-05:00

Wow Oliver's tenth month flew by. It is so different than when we were celebrating these monthly birthdays without him.

He is doing great. Very very busy. He is starting to walk. Although not in his costume. He loves yelling and chasing the cats. Most of all he loves throwing his toys through the cat door.

We had a full weekend. Halloween and his party at Frank and Diane's.

He seemed indifferent to Halloween. He didn't mind his penguin costume which was nice. He liked sitting in his stroller and watching all of the kids run around the neighborhood.

The party was so much fun. We were glad the rest of the family got to meet Oliver. He loved meeting almost all of his cousins, Aunts, and Uncles. We can't wait until Christmas when he can meet the rest.

A big thank you to Frank, Diane and everyone who did so much for the party. It means so much to us.

2008-11-05T11:30:00.000-05:00

Help please

2008-10-30T16:13:00.002-04:00

So Oliver absolutely will not keep his shoes and socks on. I don't know what to do. He makes it his mission to get them off as soon as they are on. Yesterday I wanted to take him out to play in the leaves and as soon as I put him down his took them off. It hasn't been so bad, but now it is so cold outside.

I would appreciate any thoughts and advice.

Thanks!

2008-10-28T13:12:00.000-04:00

good times

2008-10-28T13:06:00.003-04:00

We are all doing great. Anthony and I are loving every minute with Oliver. He is a very busy boy and it has been hard for me to do anything. He is into everything. Loves climbing on things and has even taken a couple of steps.

This weekend my Mom had a shower for me. It was so much fun and great to see so many of our family and friends. This Saturday Anthony's brother Frank is having a party for us to meet all of the Licatas. Ollie had a great time this weekend with everyone so I know he'll just love Saturday. It is really an amazing feeling all of the love and support everyone has given us. We all feel so very lucky.

One shower game that Kim organized had to do with the size of Oliver's belly so I thought I would post a picture of it too.

One week

2008-10-09T07:04:00.003-04:00

I can't believe we have been home for a week. It went so fast. Oliver is doing great. We went back to the doctor on Monday. His lungs are clear. No more bronchitis. You can tell he is feeling better.

Ollie is such a cute and silly boy. He is really trying to walk. He is pushing a box and a car around the house. The car is really funny because it goes faster than him.

Anthony left for Sweden last night. He is going to be gone for a week and Oliver is already looking for him.

Home

2008-10-02T21:54:00.003-04:00

We wanted to let everyone know we arrived home safe and sound. Oliver was given the all clear to fly. He was still sick, but so much better. He was a real trooper on the flight. He slept for a lot of it. We had some space by our seats so we were able to lay some blankets down for him to play on the floor. He got a kick out of that.

We are all having some trouble adjusting to the time change, but hopefully that won't be for too long.

Feeling Better

2008-09-27T23:57:00.001-04:00

Oliver is doing much better. His breathing is better, he's happier, and he's playing quite a bit. He's still not doing such a good job keeping his bottle down, but he's eating cereal, baby food, and drinking juice. He's definitely getting better every day.

We go back to the doctor's tomorrow for a follow-up.

It seems like several of the babies from our orphanage had bronchitis. Most of them who were adopted with Ollie have coughs and are getting treated. Unfortunately Ollie's wasn't knocked out by the first round of anitbiotics and flared up badly right before we were to fly home. Oh well. The important thing is he's getting better. We'll be home later this week. I hope the poor babies still in the orphanage are doing ok.

Tony and Leigh

Sick in Hanoi

2008-09-27T01:27:00.003-04:00

We should be in the air now on our way home. But we're still here nursing Oliver over his bronchitis. He's doing a little better today, but he's still having a hard time keeping down his bottle--I think every surface of this room has been puked on, including mommy and daddy about 10 times each. Thank god we have a washing machine; it's running nonstop. Oliver also has a raspy cough and pretty bad rattle in his chest. And you can tell he just doesn't feel very good.

But he's breathing a little better, and he is playing a little. The doctors and nurses at the SOS international clinic have been fantastic. They lent us the nebulizer (sp?), so we give him those treatments twice a day. Plus he has antibiotics and something for his fever. Hopefully he'll be getting better every day. And the Doctor thinks he should be well enough to fly by Wednesday.

We know he'll get better soon, but it's been a tough couple of days. Finally we realize what our parents went through every time we were sick. It's hard to see the little guy not feeling well, and it's a pretty hopeless feeling when you can't do anything to help him. It's been rough as new parents in a strange land with a sick little baby. But Grandma and Grandpa Frattolillio have been terrific. A huge help to us and Oliver. We're all very lucky they're here with us. And my mom gave a great phone consultation, since she's too far away to make a house call.

We've had such a great time here that I had been slightly sad to see our stay in Vietnam end--I guess it's true you should be careful what you wish for, eh? Right now I can't wait to take Ollie home. Soon enough.
Tony and Leigh

We could leave but

2008-09-26T03:20:00.002-04:00

Oliver is sick again. We took him to the doctor this morning. He has really bad bronchitis and they don't want us flying with him. It was a long morning. The poor little guy had a chest x-ray, blood work, IV antibotics and fluids. He was very happy when they took off the bandages and he could have his hand back. He was pathetic trying to get his hand in his mouth. Within a hour after he had the medicine and fluids he perked up. We go back to the doctor Sunday and they think we should be able to fly on Wednesday.

2008-09-25T09:10:00.000-04:00

We're done!

2008-09-25T08:57:00.004-04:00

We have Oliver's passport and most important we have his visa to come into the US. That's it. He's ours and we can come home. Luckily, we were able to get on an earlier flight. We are leaving Hanoi on Saturday. We land late Saturday night in Newark.

We went out to celebrate with two other wonderful families. The Bensons and Harrisons. They also adopted beautiful babies from our orphanage (the beautiful Madeleine and handsome Nam) Along for the ride is Alexander, Katrina and Adam's son, whom Ollie just loves. Alexander is 4 and he thinks we have all moved to Vietnam. The babies are thriving. It was so fun to celebrate. We kept on saying that we couldn't believe that this is it. It felt like the last day of camp.

Mom and Dad are watching Oliver tomorrow morning while we go to our cooking class. We are going to the market too. I asked Anthony to steer me away from the dog section. Wish us luck!

2008-09-25T01:53:00.000-04:00

2008-09-25T01:51:00.000-04:00

2008-09-25T01:32:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we're having problems charging our computer again. We'll see.

Today is our appointment at the US Embassy for Oliver to get his visa. It's the last step in the process. Everything should be all lined up, but we'll be glad when this last appointment is done.

Oliver has been really good. He's slept completely through the night the last five nights. He wakes up happy and ready to tear things up! Of course, I'm sure we'll be back to square one once we deal with the long flight, jet lag, and new adjustment back home.

Yesterday we did a lot of shopping. It was fun. There are a lot of good silk products, artwork, ceramics, and other handi-crafts. LEigh got a beautiful silk dress. I tried to buy a linen shirt, something cool and comfortable for this heat, but I guess I'm a little, ah, larger than the average Vietnamese man. It couldn't button the large across my chest.

We had dinner at a terrific place, and as usual, the waitress held Ollie while we ate. I could get used to this, but something tells me this won't be the way at restaurants back in America. For lunch we had bahn minh, Vietnamese sandwiches. We can actually get really good ones back in New York, but we wanted to get them here. This version really piled on the meats and pate, plus some cucumbers and greens, all on a really good baguette. A French influence, obviously. Goes good with a cold Tiger beer.

Ollie is really into taking a bath. He splashes like crazy, just like the pool. Wait until we get this poor kid some bath toys.

We found out more of how he was cared for at the orphanage. He was rocked to sleep every night by the nannies, fed every three hours, held constantly, and was almost never alone. Not easy being an orphan, but it seems like he was very well cared for. It's clear how everyone on the street reacts to him and us that the Vietnamese take very good care of their children.

Here are some pictures from Hanoi, plus a couple more from the orphanage.

Tony and Leigh

Grandpa and Oliver

2008-09-23T06:56:00.002-04:00

2008-09-23T06:32:00.000-04:00

2008-09-23T06:29:00.000-04:00

2008-09-23T05:53:00.004-04:00

We're not posting as much as we'd planned, simply because we're having too much fun and are too busy.

Things are going very well. Oliver is a very good little boy. For the last three nights he has slept completely through the night. He takes a couple of naps during the day. He's a good eater (as his belly and chubby thighs prove), and he is very happy and laughs and plays. He is good when he goes out on the town with his parents and grandparents.

Grandma and Grandpa left for Cambodia yesterday. They've gone to Seim Reap to see the ancient temple complex at Angkor Wat. It sounds amazing. A little too much for a baby Ollie's age (and we can't take him out of the country yet anyway), but I'm sure Joan and Frank are having a great time. They're back tomorrow. We can't wait to hear about it and see the photos.

Ollie has really been having a good time with his parents, especially mom. He loves to be held by Leigh, and he likes to play with her. Leigh is terrific with him. A natural. He has a good time playing with me too, and often climbs all over me and grabs me when we sit on the floor and play.

We've been doing more of the same. Shopping, walking around town, going out to eat, and hanging out at the nice pool here at the hotel. There are a few day trips we'd like to take outside of Hanoi, but our schedule with Oliver's appointments makes it tough. I'm not sure what we'll be able to do, or if we're going to get to see the museum of ethnology that we wanted to go to.

One thing we are going to do is take a cooking class. We're doing that Friday. The food here is amazing, and we think it would be fun to learn some of the specialties and techniques. The class is combined with a trip to the market, which is half the fun. The markets are crazy. Long lines of stalls of women squatting on the ground selling everything imaginable: spices; greens, herbs and vegetables; all kinds of tropical fruits; slabs of pork, beef, and other meat; chickens, pigeons and unidentifiable sparrow-like birds; all kinds of weird looking eggs. We've even seen some insects and larva fried and for sale. And then there are the tubs of fish, still flipping and flopping in the water. And, of course, you can see most of this stuff being carried in hanging woven baskets slung from a bamboo pole across the backs of women. Lots of cool sights in the market but you feel a little funny snapping photos of people as they go about their daily business. But I enjoy the markets very much. Yesterday in one I bought these tiny crabs that had been coated with batter and chopped chilies and deep fried. You ate them whole. Yum.

Today Oliver was really into the pool. He was fearless--splashing, dunking his face, floating on his back. He's an adventurous little boy.

OK, Ollie is up from his afternoon nap, and we've got to figure out dinner. More tomorrow.
Tony and Leigh

Sunday in Ha Noi

2008-09-21T01:03:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post this morning. Ollie is taking a nap, and we're trying to get stuff together so that when he wakes we're ready to hit the town and do some shopping.

Yesterday we went to the literature temple, which was beautiful. And then we walked around a bit. It was hot and we were thirsty, so while Ollie slept in the sling, mom and dad stopped at a bia hoi place (means fresh beer) for a cold draft beer and a snack. The usual deal--small place, little stools, tasty food (we had fried rice and almost ordered the "rooster"), and again Ollie was the hit of the place. Once he woke up, the proprietor scooped him up and held him, carried him around the place, let all the other customers fool with him, while we ate.

Here are some pictures from that, as well as a few from earlier in the week, including Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. We'll try to write more later tonight, but today is my birthday, so we want to spend the day out and about, not in front of the computer.

Tony and Leigh

2008-09-19T21:56:00.000-04:00

2008-09-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

Ollie in Hanoi

2008-09-19T21:11:00.004-04:00

(Note: This isn't letting us add photos to this post for some reason, so we're going to post without and try to post the photos on their own. Hope it works)

It's Saturday morning here in Hanoi, and we're ready to hit the town. Not sure what our plans are--maybe the Temple of Literature (sounds right up my alley) or just another walk around the streets, shops, and markets of the Old Quarter. But we're feeling energetic because last night all three of us slept the best we have in days. Oliver went to sleep at 8:20, woke up once at 10:40, and stayed asleep until 6. After the restless nights we've had, we were thrilled. He seems like he's not as scared or freaked out as he has been the first few nights. So today he's full of smiles and energy.

Yesterday we took him out for a walk around the Old Quarter. Every street is filled with shops. Every single square inch, including people selling stuff on the sidewalk. And most streets specialize in one thing and are named that way. Silver street (Hang Bac), Basket street (Hung Bo), Silk street (Hung Dao), etc. Most of these names are traditional, but there are also streets that sell toys, plumbing supplies, art, spices, cheap clothes, etc.

Oliver had a good time. We went to Hang Bong, which is know for its art galleries. Vietnam has a pretty well respected art scene. After a while, Oliver got hungry so we sat down on the street to feed him a bottle and I realized that I had forgot his bottle liners. Mom shook her head, but smiled. So all three of us jumped in a TukTuk, one of those bicycle-driven rickshaws. The young guy pedaled us all over town to find a bottle, all for like three dollars. We made Ollie one and sat at a small Bun Cha place to have lunch.

Lunch, like all the food we've eaten, was great. The Vietnamese are big snackers, and everywhere you look there are people selling street food, cooking on charcoal cookers or open burners with big pots and serving their one specialty right there on the sidewalk. There are also lots of women selling baguettes, fruit, and drinks. Most of the women carry their wares in baskets hanging from a bamboo poll that they carry across their back. And they wear the traditional conical straw hat.

Bun Cha is a very popular Vietnamese lunch. It's grilled meat, served in a bowl of nauc cham (a mix of fish sauce, lime juice, grated carrot, chili, garlic, and sugar), and served with cold rice noodles and salad greens, cilantro, and mint. Our place was typical: we sat on tiny, low stools (the Vietnamese are very comfortable squatting) at small communal tables. The waitresses and cooks were very friendly, and they loved Oliver. The people here love children. They all ask if Ollie is Vietnamese, ask his age, and fool with him, even the men. The women in our bun cha spot actually scooped Ollie up and help him while we ate. And they cleaned his face--guess we didn't do a good enough job wiping the cookie off of his face.

Ok, time to hit the town. We'll try to post again, with new pics and more orphanage pics from Grandpa's camera.

Tony and Leigh

Oliver is here

2008-09-18T19:35:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of blog posts, but I did not have the right converter for my laptop, and the battery had died. It's fixed now, so I'll post just a few shots now a brief note, with a promise of much more coming (and hopefully video) every day from here on out.

We went to the orphanage in Ba Via on Monday and got Oliver. Its hard to put that experience in words. It was a two-hour bus trip outside of Hanoi past some factories, an area that looks like it's being prepped for a major government development, and then a series of small villages surrounded by rice paddies and water buffalo. The orphanage was small but clean and run by a kind director and nannies. It was clear they loved the babies very much. Some were crying when it was time to hand Oliver over to us. The babies were in a very small one-story building with sides open to the outside. As we walked up we could see the nannies sitting on the floor with the babies. We recognized Oliver right away. At first he didn't want to come to us, but soon we were all sitting on the floor playing.

For the last few days we've just been getting to know each other back in Hanoi. Ollie is very sweet. He laughs and smiles, and his favorite thing to do so far is to bang on the table with an empty water bottle. He is a very sweet baby. And handsome, we think.

He isn't sleeping very good. He wakes up every hour and half or so and cries and wants to be held. He seems a little scared and confused at night. That's to be expected, I guess, considering that everything he has ever know has changed dramatically in the last few days. He is very much a mama's boy. He loves Leigh and seems most comfortable when she is holding him. He has also been very good with his grandparents. He likes to play with them, and he as been very good when they've watched him.

He had a rattle in his chest when we got him, so we took him to the doctor. He has bronchitis, so he's on an antibiotic, and the doctor gave him a nebulizer, which he actually liked. He fell asleep with the mask on his face! He also had a pretty bad heat rash, and some bad scars from the chicken pox which worked its way through the orphanage recently. Other than that, he was in good health. He weighs 19 pounds, and has a belly and very chubby thighs.

Last night we took him out to dinner and he was the hit of the place--all the waiters were fooling with him. Today we may go to a museum about Vietnam's ethnic groups.