A Few Of My Favorite Things

I've been trying to get little video clips of Henry recently, doing the little things he does that make me extraordinarily happy/giggly.  While he's a huge ham in person, if you bring the camera out and he knows it's on him, he pulls the whole deer-in-headlights-blank-stare thing.  I always find it hard to believe that after 16 months of having a camera in his face he still does this.  Especially since he tries so hard to get laughs out of everyone, I just always figured he'd cheese it up for the camera but nope!  I'll keep trying though, because I hate the thought of missing my opportunity to get these moments on video before he stops doing them.  It's happened to us too many times already.  Like the day he learned to walk when we were heading to bath time, and he was naked bear crawling like Mowgli from the Jungle Book. On Skype with my sister no less.  I have no video of it and he never did it again because he got the walk down 5 minutes later. Sad.  That would have been a good one to laugh about with him when he was a teenager.
Instead of video I guess I'll settle for just jotting down a couple of the things he's currently doing and I'm currently loving.
He started saying peekaboo- "de-dooooo!"
When we ask who's Mama or Dada, he points to himself.  He knows, he just thinks he's funny.
When he runs toward us, he gets so excited that he closes his eyes/scrunches up his face (often hits something in the process). Melt my heart, it's so cute!  We actually have a picture of this, so that's good enough.
He's been getting startled recently, and pretty easily which is a little sad but mostly funny.  He doesn't cry, he just jumps and lets out a surprised yelp. Hilarious! I'll be truly sad if we don't catch it on video soon.
He'll only eat his raspberries when his little pointer fingers are inside the hole of them.
I know these things don't sound like much unless they're coming from your own child.  But they're the special, silly every day things that happen around here that make me just fall more in love with him each day. Every day it's something new and something equally wonderful.  I love this age!

A picture from a few months back.  The silliest scrunchy face I've ever seen. 

Salmon Tacos!

There are a few restaurants in Anchorage that I'm downright in love with.  One of them is Bear Tooth, and they make the world's best tacos and burritos.  They have all kinds of other delicious things as well but I love the tacos the most.  The best part is, you can eat on the restaurant side, or be served in a dark theater while watching a movie on the big screen.  That's a quick way to win me over!  The minute I tried their salmon tacos, I was rarely able to order anything else. I just couldn't get enough.  Now that we're living a billion miles away I have been thinking about those darn tacos non stop and have been eager to try recreating them.  We have a lot of farmers market veggies that need to be used (cabbage, garlic, tomato, onion, jalepenos) so I thought last night would be the perfect time to try.  While they didn't taste exactly the same (do they have some sort of secret ingredient?) they were darn close and damn good, and I'll definitely be making them again!  For something like tacos I thought I'd give the general idea (not really a recipe) of what I made so that you can follow along if you want, but tweak things to fit your own preferences. If anyone out there ever wants more specific details though, I'd be happy to give them!  When I cook for our family, I always ask Eric to be very honest about what he likes and doesn't like, and I also add a few extra ingredients for him sometimes to fit his spicy-craving tastebuds. I just enjoy getting the honest feedback.  So I'll include the things he'd change just in case you'd like to try his way!

Here is how I prepared them:

You'll need:

-Crunchy taco shells (I've had some awesome fish tacos in soft flour tortillas too!) 

-Fresh salmon fillets ( I got two small ones, about 8 ounces total which was enough for 3 tacos (not a lot fits in a little shell!) each and salmon on the side for Henry.   

-Creme Fraiche (found near the sour cream)

-Cabbage (I used purple but green would be delicious too)

-Tomato (I had a handful of various cherry sized ones from the Farmer's Market)

-Onion/garlic

-Avocado

-Cilantro

-Lime

-Sweet chili sauce 

-Jalepenos (optional) 

I started with sprinkling the salmon with salt and pepper, and baking on a sheet at 400 degrees for about 14 minutes or so (until it was opaque and flaked with a fork).  I threw the taco shells on the sheet for the last couple of minutes just to get them nice and hot.

 

Meanwhile, I shredded half of a tiny purple cabbage (you really don't need much since the shells are so small) and pushed it to the side.  I chopped and mixed together half of a small white onion, two cloves of garlic, a handful of small tomatoes, a handful of cilantro, and half of an avocado.  The original salmon tacos from the Bear Tooth don't have avocado but I think it makes any meal better.  I sprinkled it all with salt and pepper and tada!

When all that is done...

While the taco shells are still hot, put a smear of creme fraiche in the bottom ( a little bit is plenty.  Eric preferred it without any, as it has a little sweet flavor to it so leave that out if you don't like the mixture of sweet and savory!) I like the slightly sweet creaminess mixed with all of the other flavors. 

Then layer on a few chunks of salmon into the shell, squirt a little sweet chili sauce over the top, next comes a little of the cabbage and then the tomato salsa!  Squeeze some lime on top.

Eric put a crazy amount of chopped jalepeno on the top of his.

I served fresh Iowa corn on the cob alongside it, and a cold beer. Yum.  Oh, and the meal was toddler approved which is always a bonus!  Henry usually eats whatever we do, but he can't chew the cabbage and such, so he had the salmon, corn, and some avocado.  He ate about 1/3 of a whole taco too after insisting on it.

Motivation

Happy Monday to you! I hope while reading that title you weren't imagining that I was about to say something inspirational to give you motivation or something... Because that whole motivation thing, yeah I don't currently have it.  I was all jazzed about getting things done when we first moved in but suddenly, I'm just plain tired.  I don't know if it's the heat, or all of the stress of change catching up with me, or perhaps the wild tiny person in the house or what has gotten into me.  None of them seem like excuse enough to not get things done though.  I really, really want to get some projects done around the house.  I want to spend nap time cleaning and unpacking and organizing, but it seems like the smallest tasks just wipe me out these past few days.  I'm sure I could go to bed earlier and solve much of the problem, but I can't seem to give up that evening wind down time.  I used to be able to power through the days with loads of energy regardless of the number of hours I spent sleeping the night before, but I think the reality is that I just can't do that anymore.  I hope in that typing out my short list of projects here, I'll feel obligated to do them.
On top of the list:
*Unpack/put away clothes. (yikes, people.  We have a million clothes and approximately 5 hangers and 0 drawers. I kid you not, so obviously some work has to be done there.)

*Find homes for all of the random odds and ends that got packed in various boxes. (Enter dread.  I hate dealing with small piles of random junk, but I also have a hard time parting with those little trinkets.)

*Meal plan.  We spent a trillion dollars at Costco today filling our cupboards, but I need to plan meals and fill in the holes with some other things from the store.  Also, we have two drawers packed with farmers market deliciousness, and I want to use it in something wonderful before it goes bad.

*Henry's high chair.  I bought a very old wooden high chair for H that I need to sand and paint.  It's one of the things I'm most excited for, but still can't get myself started.  What is wrong with me??

*A few other little things like order pictures and fill frames, find rugs, pillows and whatnot.

Let the fun begin.

We Made It

Well, I'm back.  And I'm writing from our new house in Iowa rather than my usual writing spot in the old house in Alaska.  Strange.  I really didn't anticipate being away from here for as long as I was, but when the reality of an enormous cross country move came crashing down on me, well, things got a bit busy.  We are about three weeks out from the start of it now, and just starting to settle in.  Eric left a few days before us, and the following days in Alaska were an absolute blur.  Just Henry and me, racing around town with to-do lists pages long, trying to check each thing off  before take off time.  Somehow, most things were accomplished, with not a minute to spare.  I had to leave a few boxes in the hands of friends, and forgot only an item or two at the house.  Anyway, a few weeks and a zillion dollars later, here we are.
Our first stop after leaving Alaska was Olympia, Washington, where we got to be a part of my brother in law's lovely wedding.  Being in that area, Eric and I both had to stop ourselves from wishing we could just stop the trip there and live there for a few years.  It was a really neat area that felt good deep down for both of us.  That wandering spirit in us both is still adjusting, I suppose.  The wedding took place on someone's home property, surrounded by many gardens, an enormous coop of chickens, and all kinds of other fun things.  It was a really nice vacation, and it felt so good to be in the lower 48 and feel some true summer weather.  We continued on our way to Iowa, and since Eric would still be driving for a few more days I stayed with my sisters a couple of hours away for a few days.  It was so nice to spend time with them and see all the little cousins together.  The temperatures down here are HOT, but I couldn't help but be impressed with the fact that I handled it well.  I think I've been craving some summer so badly, that I wasn't about to complain, even if that meant 105 degrees for a few days. Despite all the fun, I was itching for a bed to call my own, to get Henry back to his routine and his own bed, and see some of our things again.  Lugging around multiple enormous duffle bags for days had gotten old.  As had the musical beds (5 in the course of a week!)
We got to the new house a week ago today, though it feels like only a few days.  I keep telling everyone "well we've only been here four days!" before they remind me that it's been a full week. I guess it has just been a lot to keep up with, and we are taking our sweet time settling in.  Not intentionally, really.  Coming with only the neccesseties, we essentially started from square one.  We needed to find furniture first off, but we are keeping the budget pretty tight since it cost us so much to get down here.  Luckily that meant taking a trip to Eric's family's farm and rummaging through all of the old pieces that belonged to his grandparents and family.  We found some really neat old things that we were able to move in.  I also did some Craigslist hunting and have a few re-purposing projects to do (should be interesting...) , along with buying some things new.  Point of the story- there's a lot of work to do!  This sort of things stresses me out, as it's always nice to feel settled and at home which makes it difficult when getting there is slow.  But I have to remind myself that though the process is a slow one, it's a chance to start fresh and that's very exciting.  I have many more thoughts on what's next from here (more house things, work/school etc.) and more from these past few weeks, but I don't want to start back with an enormous novel so I'll leave it at that for tonight.  I'm thankful we all made it here safe and sound, and from here on out my goad is to go with the flow and try not to freak out with all of the change, uncertainty, etc.  So far so good, as there is much to figure out but so far we are all dealing quite well.  Henry, especially.  He has amazed me with his flexibility through all of this change.  I think he's happier now that we're back to our routine (just in a very, very different place) but he managed so well the entire time.  We are grateful for that!
I'm stopping for real now.  Just a few pictures over the last few weeks:

Off they go, from Alaska to Iowa, with everything we own now.  Goodbye old belongings!

This is what I've carried with me for weeks. Ugh. 

Our first day in WA, enjoying sun with his Amma and Uncle J

This was a special night for us.  Staying up late to play in the fountain. 

These are the moments I've been waiting for.  All of those fun activities you can do when it's warm out!

Wedding day!  The bride (my new sister in law!)'s parents brought us these outfits from India.

A much needed sister date. Which luckily won't be so rare from now on. 

Yes, definitely IOWA! The corn box at the county fair was a hit tonight. 

Progress.

We are making it... just enough to keep me from blowing up but not quite enough to have me feeling settled and confident in this upcoming move.  I know we'll get everything done, we don't have a choice, but it feels like there is not enough time to accomplish it all.  I'm choosing tonight though, to focus on the fact that we have, in fact, made some progress.  You wouldn't know it by looking in our house (hence my uneasy nerves) but we had to spend time going through all of the half-packed boxes in the garage that were spewing their random contents all over the space first.  ALL over it. Since we just moved across town last October, we didn't think we needed to pack carefully but that decision seems to have come to take a big ole' bite of our butts.  The plus side... and there is one... is that we've been able to purge a lot while sifting through each box and that makes me incredibly happy.  I am growing to hate the clutter.  A trait from my Mother that I never saw in myself growing up.  High school Victoria thrived in knee-deep clutter, but with each passing day I hate it more and more.  I keep telling Eric over and over (and am probably driving him insane by doing so) that if we don't absolutely and truly love something and know for fact that we will need to use it, then just get rid of it before we look at it long enough to want it.  Since we only half way unpacked when we moved into this house, there is so much stuff out there that is just that: stuff.  Things that have absolutely no meaning to us or purpose in our day to day life.  If I ponder over each thing long enough I can think of plenty of reasons why maybe we should keep it a while longer, but I know that since it hasn't been touched in over half a year and we had forgotten all about it, we no longer need it. So out it goes. When we move to the new house in Iowa we will be without a lot of things that we'd like to have.  But we can get by simply and it feels good to know that from here on out the things we acquire will be things that we love.  We are really ready to make this next place one that feels like home and reflects us. Waiting to complete that process will be frustrating, but I'm looking forward to it.

Packing is being put on hold now for a few days, as we are half way through our week with Eric in the middle of nowhere living alongside the grizzlies. He's working outside a small village, while we hold down the fort here.  Henry has been battling his molars, so keeping him content is my focus.  And, packing is much easier with two people, so I'm anxious for E to get back so we can keep going together!  Actually, even packing + entertaining baby-tot with two of us has proven to be difficult, and has resulted in more Baby Einstein than I'd like to admit.  Oh well.  So it goes sometimes.  At least we are all getting very good at our animal sounds as a result, since Henry is nuts for the Old McDonald episode only. As far as these molars go, we hate them.  Henry's usual signs of teething include a shockingly large and constant flow of drool, finger chewing, and sometimes a little irritability depending on the tooth.  His first molar came in fairly easily, but this one.  This one has made the poor boy miserable.  Yesterday afternoon he seemed to have turned a corner thank goodness, but I saw the corner of his third one today so it should start all over again soon.  A lot of mamas tell me that their babies feel the pain while the tooth makes its way up slowly, and then when it gets to the surface it pops up quickly and the pain is gone.  Henry seems to be the opposite.  I won't even know a tooth is coming until one day it's just right there slicing through the gums, but it takes forever to come all the way through.  No wonder he hurts, it's been almost a week and there is still 1/4 of the tooth under the skin.  Thank goodness we forget that feeling, right?

Sad baby feels better while he eats yogurt that I froze.

Balance

To all the Mamas out there, maybe you've already been as glued to Honest Toddler's blog/tweets as I have been, but if you haven't seen today's post, read this.  There haven't been many posts that don't have me snorting and whatnot with gut-deep laughter, but this one touched much deeper.  I often think back to being pregnant with Henry because sometimes it just feels like it was yesterday.  It can be hard to look at him and understand that he is on his way to being a big boy and he'll never be a baby again.  I miss being "one" with him despite the fact that I adore watching him grow into this amazing little person. I just really love HT's perspective in this post. You'll see. It's yet another reminder to just hug that little one in, hold him close to me and together enjoy that familiar feeling.  I think we're both still really learning that we're completely separate people. To me he is just as much a part of me as he was when his little life grew inside of me.  I suppose it will always feel this way, but it's my job to find a balance between that feeling and helping him to explore on his own and be his own person. Lucky for me he's young enough that every day Henry rides in that middle place too- wanting to be as close as possible one minute, and the next running from me as he heads off to explore is own interests.  My gosh I love it all.

Our friend Megan snapped this picture of us as we flung down the slide at one of those bouncy places, and I'm really happy to have it. 

A Little Panic, A Little Relaxation

I need to just be honest, I'm FREAKING OUT about the move.  Eric has to travel for five days which means we have a week and a half of time together to get this place packed up and ready to move across the country. We have essentially nothing no where near enough ready at this point, and my blood pressure feels through the roof over it.  It would have been lovely if we could have risen to the occasion and spaced this all out over time (you know, how some people start these things early? I don't know, I've never tried that) but it really isn't our style to be ahead of the game and overly prepared.  We apparently enjoy working under pressure.  This weekend must be productive.  So naturally Henry has a fever from who knows what,  and I usually catch every single thing he has, so here's to hoping that tomorrow brings a very healthy day for all. And the next after that, and the next after that and so on.
I'm sorry, are you sensing panic in my jumbled thoughts here?  It's hard to decide if I should share my stories of craziness and sweaty palms/anxiety attacks over this enormous change, or just wait until things have quieted down a bit.  Hopefully you can all bear with me for the next few weeks as I try to rein in the crazy a bit and just buck up and get things done.  I hope to sound more relaxed next week as all of our things sit nicely in boxes ready to start the new journey.  Adjustments are all around us right now and will be for quite some time, so I guess I just want to be able to focus on that rather than worrying if we'll even be able to get our things out of the house and on their way to the new one before it's time to go.  I feel like I was barely home this past week and essentially lived at the birth center (which was AMAZING, but incredibly busy) so with the next week off call we'll see what can get done.

Before I sign off to go make myself useful around the house,  a few photos of the more relaxing aspects of our week.  What have you all been doing to relax and enjoy the weather? I would love to hear.

Henry has learned to blow dandelions!

We went to an awesome park, but Henry was really only interested in the swings. 

On Father's Day, we played in the yard with friends and Eric and I got a little solo game of badminton in.  We were horrible, but it was fun to spend time one on one while Henry was entertained in the yard.

In an attempt to spend more meaningful time together even when at home rather than just exist in the same space, we've spent some evenings sitting on the porch together.  We tried a few new beers this night.

The geese have had babies!  They're fun to watch. 

Nap time on nice days has been split between getting dishes and things done, and spending some time alone resting in the sun on the porch.  It's much needed and very, very relaxing. 

After a dinner picnic on the porch, Eric and I caught H standing really close to Finny looking at him strangely.  Turns out he was working out how he was going to scootch in for a hug.  They hugged over and over for a good five minutes.  Our dog is a patient one. 

Today, it felt like real, actual summer.  I don't remember it ever feeling this warm up here the past few years.  Maybe I've just forgotten, but we were darn hot. We can't buy a baby pool or water table before moving, so I made do with his baby tub as a water table.  He wasn't as impressed as I thought he'd be, but I assume because he didn't feel well.  When we get home to 90 degree weather we had best be living in a pool to get by. 

 Have a wonderful weekend!