so i've been making bread

well friends it's been a while. i started back to work about 2 months ago - i can't believe time has passed so quickly.

we've settled into a new routine with our nanny share, the new school year, the job, soccer, etc...

to catch you up:
bez is reading at a 2nd-3rd grade level and already knows all of his 1st grade math
sofia learned how to roll over (back to front and front to back)
bez has been playing soccer - he likes playing defense and has scored 3 goals this season
sofia started eating bananas and oatmeal and pretty much loves any form of eating (as evidenced by her wonderfully chubby cheeks and round belly)
we got 7 pumpkins and i made a pretty gross pumpkin pie (still searching for a good recipe)
the sounders made the playoffs and won the us open cup
sofia had her 4 month appointment, she is 25.5in and 15.5lbs. just like her brother at 4 months, she is 90% height, 75% weight. as our doctor said, this is one big baby.

i've noticed that the difference in ages between sofia and bez is easier in some ways (bez LOVES her, isn't jealous at all, can help keep an eye on her for a few minutes and entertain her when i'm cooking, etc) and super challenging because we want to make sure that bez doesn't miss out on anything, which makes scheduling crazy! he has a busy little life between sports, friends, and school and it makes it tough to get and keep sofia on a schedule. i just hope that it's enriching her life to be out and about, hanging out with her big brother and not messing her body clock up too much! fortunately, the nanny seems to be getting her on a schedule during the week (then we undo all of her work every weekend).

in the midst of all this, i've been learning how to bake bread and i found an awesome recipe for bread. it's super easy to make. i've been starting this on saturday night and finishing up on sunday and it tastes almost just like our favorite bread, rosemary diamante from seattle's essential bakery. you should try to make it. it's easy, yummy and will make your house smell goooooood.

rosemary sea salt no-knead bread (adapted from williams-sonoma catalogue)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 5/8 cups water
coarse sea salt (for topping)

in a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt and rosemary. add water and stir until blended (dough will be shaggy and sticky). cover with plastic wrap. let dough rest at room temperature, 70deg F until surface is dotted with bubbles, 12-18 hours (i've left it 20 hours and it's been even better).

Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle dough with flour, fold dough over onto itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, let rest for 15 mins.

using very little flour, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. coat a towel with flour (or cornmeal - the recipe says cornmeal, but i don't like it with cornmeal). put dough, seam side down on a towel, dust with more flour or cornmeal. cover with another towel, let rise until dough is more than double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, at least 2 hours.

about 30 mins before dough is ready, put a 2 3/4 qt cast-iron pot in oven, preheat oven to 450deg F. remove pot from oven, pop the bread into thepot, seam side up. sprinkle the top with coarse sea salt. cover with lid and bake for 30 mins. remove the top and bake until loaf is browned (approx 15-30 more minutes).

cool for 10 mins before removing from pot.

jackie brockway

so i told you i would tell you about my grandma. she had a heart attack last week (she's okay) and it reminded me how i only know so much about her and how we might not have that much time to get to know eachother better.

jacqueline stevenson was born in portland, or in 1917 (i think?). i believe her grandma came over to oregon on the oregon trail in, literally, a covered wagon. her grandma, cora stevenson, was from norway. can you imagine that? taking the boat to NYC, and riding with your new husband across the country in a covered wagon?

anyhow, i know that her father did something at reed college (caretaker i want to say?). they lived in campus housing when she was a little girl.

at 92 she is still at least 5'8" and she was at least that growing up. in the 20's and 30's that was very tall for a woman. she always says that her height was the reason it took her so long to find a husband.

i don't know too much about her childhood, but i know she went to university of oregon to earn her bachelor's degree in home economics before joining the red cross during WWII. she was shipped to africa for an aid mission. she spent some time in morocco and algeria, where i believe she met my grandfather.

scandolously, i believe my grandfather, weston brockway, was married to another woman and had 2 children when they met in morocco. as it goes, they fell in love. my grandma says that grandpa weston (who was a clasically trained pianist and later a high school music teacher) would play her songs every night in the USO (under the guise of entertaining the troops). they married and moved to hartford, ct where my father was born.

they eventually moved to eugene, or where they raised my father and aunt susie (who in the 60's renamed herself "sioux"). she worked as a home economics teacher (I remember her telling me her favorite thing to teach was how to make deviled eggs). in 1963, weston died tragically of a heart attack and grandma was left to raise my father and aunt by herself.

after his death, she went back to school and earned a Ph.D in psychology. she trained to be a sex therapist, of all things, and spent many years doing that.

she has also dabbled in art throughout her life and this grew into a full-blown passion by the time my memories of her start. when i was a child, she traveled the world, painting watercolors from all over the world. her favorite place to paint was santorini, greece. her paintings are beautiful and are such a part of my memory.

my favorite gift is still the painting of mont saint michel she painted at my request. we used to pour over books about monet and when she traveled to giverny, she painted me a picture of monet's garden. when she visited us in alaska, she would host "painting class" at our kitchen table and teach my mom and me techniques.

my favorite memories are from the townhouse she had in beaverton, or. she lived in a light, airy white townhouse that was surrounded by flowers. i remember walking with her on the grounds and she would teach me the names of different plants. i still remember her blowing my mind when she explained that the color of hydrangea can change if the soil changes. my little 10 year old brain was like "what????!!". she had (and still has) a little kitchen table painted with still life scenes. when i stayed with her, she would always include me in her night time routine which was tea and a handful of shortbread cookies. she would also take me to the pool in the summer - i don't remember the pool, but i remember the walking.

she loves tea cups and flowers, poetry and politics. she always has a good story to tell about the family, or her life. she is as she has always been - irreverant, funny, harsh, sweet, startilingly intelligent, tall, strong, and loving.

'kayso

It's been a crazy few weeks! I'll spare you the details, but I'll say this - I'm capable of more than I thought. I also think I may have located my breaking point.

You know how they say 1+1 does not equal 2? (oh you haven't heard that?). Well they are right!




My grabdfather's funeral was nice. It felt good to drive to Portland, like making the effort was a tribute to him. Tony wore a suit and shaved in tribute to grandpa and had a great point when he said, "how would he dress at my funeral? I don't know, but I know he'd look smooth.". The best part was getting to see my mom and uncle and getting to hear stories about what he meant to both of them.

While we were in Portland we also saw my 92 year old grandma. She's amazing and I'll tell you about her someday.



Bez started soccer last week - he already thinks he's good enough to play for the Sounders. We recommended a little more practice.

He starts1st grade on Wednesday. Yeeps! Time is flying by. We met his teacher today, who seems great - she is passionate about reading and gives playmobil toys as rewards. Can't beat that! We also got to find out who will be in his class. We were so worried for him (will it be the right mix of kids? Will he have friends in his class? Won't he be sad if his best buddy isn't with him?). As always, wonderful kid-hood prevailed. We went over the list and he said, "cool!". Love that kid.


The baby had her first day with the nanny today. It went well - she did her usual thing (sleeping, pooping, napping) and I got to come home to a smiley, happy baby.

Sofia is the happiest baby ever! She loves to talk, smile, play and snuggle. And eat. And eat. And eat.




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Grandpa

My handsome grandpa:




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a birthday, a loss, a change...

this has been a week. what a week.


thursday was bezzy's 6th birthday. when people tell you that it goes too fast, it's true. when i look at him now, i see this lanky, funny boy. he tells jokes ("hey mom, what do you get when you..."), has his own friends, reads, makes projects and so much more.





on saturday, we had his birthday party at stone gardens - a rock climbing gym in bellevue. it was SO fun. the kids got to climb around like the crazy monkeys they are and because there were 2 instructors managing the kids the grownups got to chill. my favorite part was having a 7 kid limit. i didn't have to worry about "enough" kids coming and it was so much more mellow than parties in the past. it was also fun seeing our social kid giving attention to each of his friends, not worrying about presents and enjoying his day. i am pretty proud of the little guy he is turning out to be.




...and he lost a tooth - his first.




because every 6 year old boy needs star wars sheets...






sadly, my grandpa steele passed away today. if i could describe him with one word it would be stoic. he was always dressed to the nines and seemed so strong to me, even in his old age. he shared his birthday with bez which i think is so special - they will always be connected.

my mom says he was an avid outdoorsman. i remember seeing pictures of him hiking well into his seventies. mom is passing that on to bez (it skipped me), and the stubborn streak that probably kept him alive in the past few years.

we love you and miss you grandpa.

i am back to work on monday and i am not ready. I wish we could all stay home together for ever, but isn't it funny how life gets in the way of itself.

the good news? you know what happens all the time now? this face ....

9 weeks

sofia's 2 month dr's appointment was today. i can tell she's doing great, but it's always reassuring to talk with the doctor, just to be sure. before we went in, i guessed she was 12 lbs. i was just about right!

here are her stats:
weight: 12 lbs 3 oz / 80th percentile
length: 23 in / 75th percentile
head: 40 cm / 80th percentile

she is tracking just about where bez was tracking at 2 mos. apparently, we make big babies. i was reading back through old blogs and can't believe it was only 3 weeks ago where she was at her peak fussiness. it's hard to believe that this chubby-cheeked, smiling, laughing baby was a fussy newborn just a few weeks ago. she's changing so fast! it's so different having an almost-six year old - the changes happen so much slower, but are so much more significant (he can read! tie his shoes! do the monkey bars! swing by himself!). sofia changes are less significant (she can lift her head! she grabs my hair!), but come so much more frequently.

one of the things the dr and i discussed was sleeping. sofia has been sleeping with us (don't judge!), but i'm feeling like it's probably time to start transitioning into her crib. it's so hard because i LOVE sleeping with my babies - i find it so comforting to have them right there instead of across the room or in a different room. that being said, we transitioned bez to his crib when he was about 6 months (i think?) and it was pretty hard. when we had her we agreed to do it sooner. the dr. also advised that babies who are in their own bed tend to sleep for longer periods at night. so here we go! tonight i am going to attempt to put her in the crib next to our bed - wish me luck!

in addition to her stats, sofia also got four shots. bez was so nervous for her - "mom, i wish that shots were bad for you, like ice cream". he has decided to invent vaccines that can be taken by mouth and taste like "juice and candy and other stuff" so babies don't have to get them. he's a good big brother.

last weekend we went up to my mom's house on whidbey island. bez loves to be there and it was nice to get a little mom time. being on whidbey on a sunny day reminds me of why i live here. it's so beautiful. being with my mom reminds me how much we do every day between working and the kids and the house. when she's there, i feel like i'm able to take a deep breath and just really and deeply enjoy it all. thanks mom.

chocolate cupcake yummm...

bez's birthday is coming up soon. he wants chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting. so i'm practicing. because there have been birthdays where i haven't practiced and it's been gross.

i love making cakes and cupcakes for birthdays, but every time i try to make chocolate cupcakes, they turn out too dry, too moist, too flaky, or something else. they never turn out right. also, making chocolate cupcakes from scratch is a pain in the toosh. it takes forever and it's sooo messy.

well, i'm so happy to report, i've found the perfect recipe. it's fast, it's easy, and it's yummy. my foodie friends will find this lazy. i'm going to put it out there - it's from a box. well, a couple of boxes. but, it's too good to share. the other thing? you don't have to tell people it's from a box. unless you write a blog entry about it.

i adapted the recipe from this one. you'll see the similarity.

makes 24 chocolate cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 3-4 oz box instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup whole milk
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

preheat the oven to 350 (ish). if your oven was made in 1962 (like mine), put the dial somewhere between the actual line for 350 and the line you drew on the stove where you thinkg 350 actually registers. then continuously monitor the thermometer inside your oven until it's 350.

throw all the ingredients into a big bowl. mix them until it's not too lumpy.

scoop about 1/4 cup (slightly less) of batter into cupcake liners in a cupcake pan.

bake for 20-25 mins, until you press on the top and it bounces back all spongy-like.

wait for them to cool completely, then spread buttercream frosting on them. try not to eat two. especially if you're breasfeeding and trying not to eat chocolate. just try it, i dare you.

yummmm.....

quick yum

section of toasted baguette
chaivre (spreadable goat cheese)
roasted tomatoes
peppered turkey
salad greens

strawberry and blueberry salad

yummm......

things i know...

today we watched cbs sunday morning and they were featuring a story about merle haggard. originally from ok, his family moved to ca during the great depression and he grew up in a converted train car right next to the tracks. on the show, he played a song he had been writing about what happy memories he has of that time and it got me thinking...

As parents, we spend so much time focused on things we think really matter (no tv until he's 5! her nursery isn't the right shade of retro-mod pink! my diaper bag doesn't match the car seat!)- i've been guilty of all of these. Here is what i've learned about what's really important:

don't worry about your child being some perfect expression of who you are. let them be themselves. let them dress in silly clothes. let them get their best clothes messy. they don't need a faux-hawk. by the way, they are going to ruin those shoes within a month.

teach then to respect others. don't let them stomp, or whine in restaurants, or chew with their mouth open, or forget to say please and thank you. when they are riding their bike, tell them to get out of the way of other. make them take turns on the swings.

kiss them more than they want, hug them more than they need. snuggle them when they sleep. Sleep in their room sometimes so you're there when they wake up.

do things for them you wouldn't do on principle before you had kids (buy that toy at walmart, go bowling, go to Disneyland). You will appreciate the look on their face more than your own stick-to-ittiveness.

make friends with people who have kids. you'll be lonely if you don't. you'll see less of your friends without kids and it'll be hard. put yourself out there. it's weird and you won't have anything to talk about besides poop, but you'll be glad.

talk about poop. it changes all the time and your pediatrician won't always be available to discuss.

read to them every night. let everyone who is in the house at bed time read to them if your child asks. let them make friends with your grown up friends.

feed them what you are eating. don't feed them dessert until they have eaten a good dinner. don't make special food for them. feed them veggies from the beginning like it's no big deal, make them eat veggies with every meal.

sometimes mcdonald's is the cheapest, easiest option for lunch. it'll make your kids happy. don't beat yourself up about it, just get the apples instead of fries and enjoy the fact that you don't have to stress about what to feed them.

make them play outside at least once a day - it'll force them to be creative. they will say they are bored. make them go back outside. don't tell them what to do.

don't worry about it being perfect. do the best you can. if you mess it up, it's not going to scar them for life. just don't do it again.

breastfeed your baby if you can for as long as you can (or until it starts to feel creepy). your big kid will be so much healthier as a result. and yeah, it hurts really bad for 2 weeks, but then it gets better.

love love love them. don't worry about spoiling them with attention, the more attention you give them without them having to ask, the less they will ask for it.

off to go enjoy this morning!

zuniparty

let me say first - the zunigas are not good at parties. our strengths do not lie in planning, cleaning, or entertaining. we always second guess ourselves (did we plan it on the right day? did we buy enough food? what do people like to drink?) so, going into hosting our "meet the baby" party, we were prepared for disaster.

july 2nd (party prep day) came along and there was cooking, beer-buying, sangria making, and cleaning taking place - all while holding a squirming, fussy 7 week old who seemed to be extra grumpy (or were we just extra busy?). our lovely friends invited bez to spend the night at their house, so we could prep, which made the prep so much easier.

the menu:

pasta salad (homemade)

fancy sausages (trader joes!)

chips (potato and tortilla)

guacamole and salsa (homemade)

berry salad (nature made)

yellow cake cupcakes with strawberry frosting (awesome easy recipe)

artichoke dip (homemade)

on july 3rd (a weird day for a party - i said we were bad planners) - the day was here. we told our friends to show up anytime between 1pm and 6pm. not sure what to expect (will people come all at once? will everyone come late? will everyone flake? will everything be ready on time?) what a surprise that none of that mattered. people came in shifts, so we could catch up with old friends (tony's roommate from 10 years ago!), new friends and enjoy the food and people at our house. there were lots of arms for baby-holding and lots of babies! there were breaks for nursing (a total of 4 breastfeeding babies), pregnant friends and slip and sliding in true seattle fashion. 60 degrees? no problem, just sit in the sun until you stop shivering. the older babies held hands and played on the floor, while the big kids played soccer in the backyard.

at the end of the day, we realized what a nice, interesting, and friendly group of people we know. we realized that there are people we are so glad to know well, people we want to reconnect with, and new people we want to get to know better. we realized that maybe we aren't so bad at this afterall.

fuss budget

holy cow weeks 4-5 has hit us like a ton of bricks! sofia had a few rough nights in a row this week. according to our doctor, fussiness peaks around week 5 or 6, so we probably only have another week or so of fussiness increasing, and then it will hopefully wind down.

bez had his last t-ball game last weekend and we got to have a pizza party with the team - while i don't know if he has a future as a major-league player, this is the first time he's really enjoyed an organized sport. he'll start soccer in the fall and hopefully it will be as much of a success!

this week is my first full week home with both kids and the last week i have "off-off" before i start working from home. i read an article recently about how to balance feeling like a good mom and working. the pieces of advice i really took to heart are:

schedule time to work everyday - tell your older children so they know when they need to occupy themselves. make a routine for the kids while you prepare to work so they know what is happening.

write a list of things you want to accomplish during the summer with the kids - try to get them all checked off before the end of the summer. here is the start of my list:

1. bike riding at the park
2. walk at greenlake
3. beach
4. zoo
5. jetty island
6. grandma's house on whidbey island
7. fish ladder
8. edmonds saturday market
9. swimming at the ymca

i'm so excited to spend the summer home with the kids, but also a little nervous about how it is all going to work! the last 5 weeks have passed soooo fast - i can't believe i'm going to be handing sofia off to another person in 7 more weeks. my friend natalie (who has a little girl about 2 months older than sofia) and i are planning to do a nanny-share and we meet with the program director tomorrow.

one fun thing - my mom came over last for the day and we had so much fun! we tried a new restaurant in edmonds, five. had a deeelicious pear and gorgonzola pizza and a yummy salad with miso vinaigrette. then we walked on the edmonds waterfront and saw a blue heron's nest and two big babies. we topped off our walk with ice cream. it's not often i get to spend time with my mom with work and everything else, so it was great to spend time with her.

this time home has been so nice. i've loved the extra time to get stuff done that when i'm working always seems to get backburnered. i'm loving cooking yummy, healthy meals, seeing friends and of course, naptime with sofia. this week, bez starts swimming lessons and i'm looking forward to the ymca's monday and friday mom/baby yoga class. the ymca by our house has a great indoor play area for bigger kids (like the mcdonald's playhouse tubes), so bez can spend time playing there while sofia and i do yoga.

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Planning

planning, planning, planning... it's summer in seattle, which means we have to cram in events and parties in between t-ball, bday parties, shows, baby showers, weddings, bbqs and etc. in the weekends we have left before it starts raining again (did it ever stop raining?).

this year it's tony's 20th high school reunion in las vegas at the end of september. we are trying to cram a vacation to the california coast during the same week without breaking the bank. it will also be my first month back at work, so it will take some creative planning in order to make it work. right now we are trying to decide between san diego (sd zoo, beaches, etc) and the orange county beaches (our favorite book store in laguna, disneyland, etc) for a three day jaunt before heading back to las vegas for the rest of the week. tony's high school band, isolation, has been asked to perform at one of the reunion events. i'm so excited to hear him play with his hs friends cj and joe!

since this is our second baby, we decided not to have a baby shower, but decided instead to lift the idea of having a "meet the baby" party from one of my favorite blogs. once again, because it is seattle and summer, we have baby showers, bbqs, vacations, etc to plan around. looking at the calendar, july 3rd is the only free weekend we had to plan the party. it's a weird date to have a party, but the weather should be nice, so we compromise. i love making cupcakes and i am excited to make super-girly cupcakes, chocolate with strawberry buttercream frosting (also lifted from helen jane's blog). we'll also have sangria for the grownups and i'm going to cheat and use the super-easy and super-yummy red sangria mix from dish d'lish. it's also going to be the weekend after i turn 30 (ack!) so we will be "celebrating" that as well.

bez is turning six this year and we've decided to celebrate his birthday by hosting a party at stone gardens in ballard. we can't think of anything better than allowing 5 six yr old boys and 1 five year old girl to climb to their hearts content! it's always weird to plan birthdays for bez, because the weather can never be counted on and it seems like everything books up in seattle a long time out. we originally wanted to have his party at this great park near our house, but the park is reserved for every weekend from june 1 - september 30! oh the joys of living in a big city with only 3 months of predictable weather per year. the good thing is that it forced us to think outside of the box and he is really excited about having his party at stone gardens!

amongst all of this planning, and baby-having, i managed to squeeze in a mom-baby yoga class yesterday. it was so nice to do yoga for the first time in 6-7 months, but it made me wish i had kept up yoga through my pregnancy. i was surprised by how much my body had forgotten! hopefully it won't be a long road back to where i was before i got pregnant.

sofia continues to be a sweet, easy and sleepy baby and we relish the moments when her eyes are open. i'm looking forward to having both my babies home this summer!

day 1

...and here it is, my inagural post! i'm using this blog to record, for family and friends, what is happening with the kids (bez and sofia), tony and me.

the biggest news in the zuniga household is the birth of our baby girl, sofia, almost 3 weeks ago. what a magical experience it has been welcoming this sweet little girl into our family. what a surprise she was, too! here is the story...

on may 18th (1 week before sofia's due date), i was finishing up a conference call with my boss at 11:00am and headed out the door to go to my 39-week dr appointment at 11:40am. i was having contractions every 15 mins or so, but nothing too strong or regular, so i was expecting a run-of-the-mill dr appointment (listen to the baby, blood pressure, cervical check and out). my last words to my boss were "ok, i'll talk to you this afternoon".

during my appointment, i had my doctor check to see if i was leaking amniotic fluid. sure enough, i was and the dr asked me to go check into the hospital so she could get labor started right away. oh boy! we weren't quite ready for the suddenness of it all! i called tony and had him head over to the hospital from work asap while i checked in and got my paperwork completed. tony arrived around 12:45pm and they got my antibiotics, fluids and pitocin hooked up and started. from about 1:00pm to about 6:50pm, my contractions were slowly increasing in frequency and strength, but nothing too difficult so i decided to forego any pain relief.

around 6:50pm, the doctor (not my doctor, but one from the office we had met with before) came in and checked me, i was right at transition (6cm, 90%, +1), but they needed to completely break my water before we could move forward. She broke my water and went to eat some dinner. my next contraction was immediately much stronger.

it seemed like an eternity that we were in transition - the contractions were extremely strong and i tried really hard (for all of my pregnant friends) to remember what it felt like. unfortunately, the maternity-amnesia has set in and all i can say is that it was very intense and very painful, but i know it was not any more than i was capable of handling. eventhough it seemed like an eternity, in reality it was only 7 or 8 contractions before i started pushing. They went to grab the doctor and let me start pushing at 7:30 - 7 pushes later and she was here!

sofia was/is perfect! 7 lbs 10 oz, 19.5 in long - sweet, sleepy and beautiful.

now i have given birth both ways - with bez, i had an epidural during transition and delivery (that was an 16+ hour labor) and this time we went natural. i can say that i wouldn't change a thing about either birth experience. what an amazing thing to go through!

after she was born, bez came to the hospital in his jammies and had the chance to meet her. i am happy to report that he is proving to be the awesome big brother we knew he would be. tony was, as always, amazing - he held my hand through the labor, cut her cord and changed her first diaper. when we were all ready for bed, we wrapped her up and i snuggled her next to me and dozed off.

now it feels like she has always been here....