Weird Weather

Two weeks ago we had tornadoes. Homes in Dexter were destroyed and we lost power and had some basement flooding. One week ago we had several days in the 80s and one day when I got out of work the radio announced that it was 89 degrees. Today, it's freezing cold outside. Spring weather in Michigan is unpredictable, but these past few weeks have been a little extreme.

Our magnolia tree, which usually blooms in mid to late April hit its peak last week with beautiful blooms and today most of those flowers are now dead and frost-burned.


Last week was so hot that the little man had to hangout in nothing but his diaper, bib, and sunglasses while helping Joe grill veggie burgers and yet today I'm guessing Inga put him in his snowsuit when she took him for a walk.


I'm not complaining since the warm days have meant lots of extra walks outside, but the weather lately certainly has been weird.

Hotel Chillin'

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent the night in Detroit when Joe had a work dinner to attend. We don't travel much these days, so I wanted to take advantage of a change of scenery even if it was only for one night 45 minutes from home.

Here's a couple pictures of Tripp enjoying himself in the king-size bed.

"Mama, these horizontal stripes make me look like I have a pot belly!"

"Mama, I like this big bed! Lots more room, but I'm still going to sleep pressed as close to you as I can!"

Happy Pi Day!

With today being Pi Day and all, I thought I'd write about some amazing pie I had recently. I haven't had much time to bake pies recently, but the pie I had this past weekend was better than anything I've ever baked. These amazing pies came from Love's Custard Pie stand in Detroit's Eastern Market. Joe and I had seen Love's featured on a recent episode of Bizarre Foods that featured Detroit. Since we spent this past Friday night in Detroit, we made a beeline to Eastern Market on Saturday morning and found Love's stand right away. We sampled and purchased the chess pie and the navy bean pie. Both were amazing. The chess pie was probably my favorite pie I've ever had (better than the chess pies I've made and even better than the chess pie we had at our wedding). The owner, who is from Mississippi, asked how it compared to South Carolina chess pies and I told him that this Mississippi version was sweeter and creamier than anything I've had before. The navy bean pie was also really good, and very unique. The bean puree texture was slightly gritty and the spices were similar to those of a pumpkin pie. I can't wait for our next Eastern Market visit so that we can get some more of Love's pies!

Photo courtesy of Love's Custard Pie

Another wonderful "pie" experience from this past weekend was the pizza pie we had at Supino Pizzeria in Detroit. Supino is located just outside of Eastern Market and was recently featured on both Bizarre Foods and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Joe and I shared a Bismarck which was topped with mozzarella, prosciutto, and an egg and a Supino which was topped with roasted garlic, black olives, chili oil, ricotta, and mozzarella. Both pizzas were fantastic and we can't wait to go back and try more kinds. We ended the meal by ordering two house-made cannolis. I am very picky about cannolis and am usually disappointed, but this one was authentic and perfect. The shell was fresh and crisp and the filling was perfectly smooth with a powdered sugar taste.

Overall, it was a yummy, pie-filled weekend in Detroit!

A Tale of Two Cookies

In my opinion, chocolate chip cookie lovers fall into one of two camps. There are those (me included) who like soft, chewy cookies and there are those that prefer crisp cookies with a crunch. Of course, there are tons of variations on chocolate chip cookies, but those are the two general sides. The past two weeks I've tried out two new chocolate chip cookie recipes, one soft and chewy and one crunchy.

The first recipe was advertised as the "BEST-EVER Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies". Now, that statement is a lot to live up to. While these were not the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had, I have to say that they were pretty darn good and I will definitely be making them again. There was nothing healthy about them, but they were yummy. Check out the Apple A Day blog for the full recipe.

Photo Credit: Apple A Day

In complete contrast to the cookies above, I also made some gluten-free Chocolate Chip/Almond Butter cookies. I had high hopes for these cookies, but they just weren't for me. I liked the flavor and the high protein content, but did not love that they turned out very thin and crunchy. If I was on a gluten-free diet though I think these would satisfy a craving for traditional chocolate chip cookies. If you like crunchy cookies, give these a try.

Photo Credit: NPR

Quinoa-Spinach Bake

With a cupboard full of healthy grains at home, Joe and I decided to look for some new, healthy recipes this week. He stumbled on this Quinoa-Spinach Bake when Googling quinoa recipes so we decided to give it a shot. We used frozen spinach since Plum Market was all out of fresh spinach and we also used dried herbs instead of fresh. Overall, I’d probably give this recipe a 6 out of 10. It was healthy and made great lunch leftovers, but I thought it lacked a little in flavor. We’ll probably make it again, but kick up the amount of herbs and spices next time.

Image courtesy of Whole Living

Four Months

Dear Tripp,

Last week, on March 1st, you turned 4 months old. How is that possible!? It seems like you were just a tiny newborn yesterday. Almost on cue, you decided that you'd celebrate 4 months of life by rolling over. We've been waiting for you to hit this milestone for a while now since you've been so close. You finally figure out how to drop your shoulder and roll from tummy to back and you've done it 6 times now. I thought it would scare you, but it didn't. As you get better at it, I imagine you'll roll over all the time since it's a great trick to end the dreaded tummy time (although you're protesting less about tummy time now).


You are really good at sitting up and you're becoming much less of a bobble head :). You can sit up on my lap for pretty long periods of time now and you spend most of that time smiling at me and chewing on your hands. Chewing on your hands is definitely your current favorite activity. A close second is looking at yourself in the mirror. You don't know who you're looking at, but I've discovered that you love when I hold you in front of our big bedroom mirror and let you stare at yourself. You just smile and smile, and sometimes act shy and bury your head into my shoulder. It is adorable. Other favorites include hugging George (your giraffe), having momma whistle at you and make a motor sound with my lips, and sitting in your bouncy chair. You can really get that chair going. Sometimes you like laying on your activity mat and sometimes you don't. Generally you always like being on your changing table and for whatever reason you really like getting dressed and undressed. One of the funniest things you do is put your hands behind your head while you're eating in a "I'm just chillin" pose. You babble quite a bit and most of your babbling sounds like you're making a "g" sound. You also gurgle and try your best to laugh. Whenever somebody smiles at you, you usually smile back unless you're tired. Overall, you're a very happy baby!

We still can't get you on a consistent sleeping schedule. With sleep and most things, you do what you want and have a mind of your own. We always put you down around 8pm after your bath (which you love) and sometimes you sleep 3 hrs, sometimes 5 hrs. Last week you slept 6 hrs straight two nights and I thought we were turning a corner, but then you went back to being up after 3 hrs. Naps are similar in that sometimes you take great, long naps, and then other days there's nothing we can do to get you to nap for more than 15 mins. Your Papa and I love sleeping so we're not sure how we got a baby who fights sleep so much. Oh well, we will keep trying for better sleeping habits!


Happy 4 months, little buzz!

Chef Brock...

...is writing a cookbook!?!?!? I couldn't be more excited. I don't know when it'll be published, but I plan to buy it right away when it is. Check out this Charlestonly 10 interview with Chef Brock.

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

I always knew I would breastfeed my baby. It was never even a question and I never even considered an alternative. Breastfeeding is the healthiest choice for moms and babies and it's natural so why wouldn't I do it? As an added bonus, it's free...or so I thought. Before having Tripp I thought that my only investment would be buying a couple of nursing bras. Boy, was I wrong. Here's my current investment in breastfeeding (this does not include all the formula I'm buying to supplement):

1 lactation consultant assessment and consultation = $150
5 additional consultations and weight checks = $150
3 free consultations and weight checks = $0 (the lactation consultant really liked me and was very impressed with my determination to make it work - i love her!)
1 breastpump = $280
2 extra pump shields = $20
2 nipple shields = $10
1 hands free pumping bra = $35
1 bottle of homeopathic lactuca verosa = $12
2 bottles of MotherLove More Milk Plus herbal supplement = $85
4 bottles of MotherLove Goats Rue = $160
6 bottles of ayurvedic Shatavari herbal supplement = $90
1 unsuccessful ENT visit co-pay = $50 (I'm guessing at this amount...it was probably more)
1 successful tongue clipping procedure = $0 (again - love my lactation consultant)
1 nursing bra and 3 nursing tanks = $80
3 jars MotherLove nipple cream = $30

Total: $1,152

Free? Nope, breastfeeding has cost over $1,000 so far and I know I've forgotten to add some things to the list above. Taking all this into account, I would still make the same choice again and give breastfeeding my best effort. I also will 10000% breastfeed Tripp's future siblings as well as I can and hopefully have more success with them.