She's a hellion.

Mads has come into her own. In the past few months, she has taught Kelly and me how to be better people. She shows independence by repeating no to everything we ask. She demands that she puts on and takes off her own shoos, or shoes. In short, she is a combination of the best and worst of Kelly and me. I'll settle for happy.

Holy crud, she swims in the ocean

My parents share a lovely home on Kiawah Island, SC. We are sharing it with them this week. We decided to hit the beach last night. Few words but glorious margaritas. Oh, and the view Mads' first trip to the ocean.

Playtime

That's right, she plays.

Illin' in DC

Hit the gallery again.

Reading, writing, and reusing

I spend time reading blogs about everything from fly fishing to throw pillows. Now that I have started writing again, I am realizing that all of the blogs I read offer more ways to spend money than save money. Screw that.

My goal of reducing our possessions by 25% by the end of the year will not happen. In fact, there is actually another consumer in our midst. So, in an effort to make some changes, I set out to reduce the disposables that Mads consumes. Our landlord was kind enough to gift us a great wreath that used cotton rags as its primary material. My cousin sold us what I thought was just another gadget/machine/thing for the nursery: a wiper heater. What the heck did we need that thing for? I'll tell ya. Hot rags on your bum probably feel pretty decent after you literally poop your pants. In a moment of obvious genius, or really just obviousness, I cut up the rags from the wreath and voila, Mads has a spa treatment every time she defecates.

Project of the day

Wreaths are ridiculously expensive when you consider that they are excess trimmings from trees. They cost upwards of $50 on high-end websites. Today, I was charged with decorating the house for Christmas while Kelly dealt with a cluster feeding. I am learning new terms every day. Cluster feeding means that baby Mads needs food every hour. Kelly's exhausted after these feelings, and I have the good fortune to clean out several dirty diapers in a row. Back to my Christmas project.

Boxwood costs $4.98 at the local Despot's place. Our landlord's generous gift of a wreath covered in cotton rags left us with a foam circle. I channeled the many years of watching HGTV while watching the baby.

Angles betray the exposed white foam. I might need a second shot at the Despot for some more materials.

A fine dinner, a relaxing evening with a sleeping baby, and more complex directions

I am ten days into this father thing and cannot handle the number of packages coming to our house. I like to pepper the Amazon deliveries with books from Half.com so that I feel like I am involved. Today, we received more, well stuff.

So, I relied on a typical way of calming myself. I fixed some food.
The sweet cream goat cheese, prosciutto, and fresh pasta all came from Cheesetique. I prepared for today during last night's sojourn.

I little tip, when cooking fresh pasta, cut the boil time by 50%. I read a great article in some men's magazine many yeas ago about simple pasta recipes. Easier is often better. Boil the pasta and set aside two tablespoons of the pasta water. Sauté shallots and garlic in some butter and fry the pasta for about a minute. Make your wife love you again by topping it with fresh Parmesan. I don't have any pictures of the pasta. We devoured it too quickly.

Done and done. Now, I don't care how many packages come in the mail. I'll just cook my way through this pain.