Saint Louis

I can't believe that it has been 1 1/2 years since Chris and I last saw our friend Lisa! Although life sometimes gets in the way of friendships (kids, med school, distance), we are lucky that Lisa is one of those great friends who you can not see/talk to much, yet pick right back up where you left off. So, when we were pondering what to do for our Memorial Day weekend a mere four days prior to it, we came up with St Louis and were so excited when Lisa said that she was free! We knew that we would have a great time while we were there, but we were just a little concerned with how the 5 1/2 hour trip would go with our little lady.

Azra did surprisingly well, and thanks to Chris, we have some great photos to document Azra's first vacation:

I do love me an impromptu vacation, and I'm so glad to know that it doesn't have to end once you have kids!

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake and Cavan

Last week we finally had a get-together with some friends that we see far too infrequently. It's not like they live a few states away, but rather a few miles! We agreed that once you have kids, it's a little difficult to force yourself out of your nighttime routine. Luckily for us, we did, as we were able to enjoy some delicious cheesecake and cute moments with the kiddos.

I now have an extensive collection of magazines due to all the great free to $5 per year subscriptions that I find (like here). I scoured my large pile of food magazines and came across a recipe which I thought looked particularly delicious.

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups oreo crumbs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 9 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam
• 1/4 cup fresh raspberries, pureed

Directions:

• Place a greased 9-in. springform pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Securely wrap foil around pan. Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press onto the bottom of prepared pan.

• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Set aside 1-1/2 cups; pour remaining batter over crust.
• In a microwave, melt chocolate; stir in jam and puree until blended. Stir in reserved batter just until blended. Drop by tablespoonfuls over the plain batter and gently smooth across the top. Place springform pan in a large baking pan; add 1 in. of hot water to larger pan.
• Bake at 325° for 65-75 minutes or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy with a scoop of whipped cream, fresh berries, and cute babies.

My First Mother's Day!

May is a month of renewal for me. I have decided to get back to what I love: writing, reading, baking, crafting, playing piano, listening to music, and being outdoors. Somehow, after the birth of Azra, I just quit doing everything that I used to find so much joy in. It's been months since I've even picked up my mp3 player! So, I'm dusting off my trusty sewing machine, bringing out the cookbooks, and getting my hands a little dirty in my fancy new vegetable garden. All while listening to a few new albums by some of my fav bands. I thought to myself, why not give the website a little face lift too? I tinkered around for a bit in some HTML language, and found out that it's really pretty fun! Perhaps I'll add "learn HTML" onto my to-do list while I'm at it.

Azra (read: Chris) decided to support my new attitude by surprising me with a fancy new camera for Mother's Day. I am now the proud owner of this pretty piece of technology:

Not only does it actually work, which is a huge step up from my old camera, but it automatically downloads all of my pictures and videos to my computer when I get home! How cool is that? Not having time to download all of my stuff is no longer a viable excuse.

Naturally, I had to put it to good use on Mother's Day by getting shots of my free Mother's Day frozen yogurt from TCBY:


My lovely new raised vegetable garden:

And of course, my beautiful baby girl:

All in all, it was a great Mother's Day and a wonderful start to a fantastic summer. You might say that here in the Brock household, "our future's so bright, we've gotta wear shades!"

Back to Work

Monday marked the beginning of my first full week back at work. It was a bittersweet event. Obviously I would miss Azra during the day, but I was also longing to get out of the house and be around people again. I missed my coffee breaks with co-workers and actually stepping foot outside to get some fresh air. Late fall is just not a great time to be home with a newborn. There were only a handful of days that weren't too windy, cold, or rainy in which to take Azra outside.

I eased into the transition back to work by going in part time last week. It was so nice to be back, that I actually had to remind myself to miss Azra. That sounds terrible, I know, but it was a much needed break after three months. However, now I'm no longer forgetting to miss her, but rather remembering how great it was to be around her all of the time. I could barely pull myself away from kissing her squishy little cheeks before I dropped her off!

But then again, who couldn't resist those big blue eyes and silky soft cheeks?!

Now that I'm back, the guys were pestering me to bring in treats to mark my return. I had every intention of bringing something delectable into work. So much intention that I actually baked something and boxed it up to bring the next morning. Only problem? It never made it out the front door!

Andes Creamy Mint Brownies

Photo and Recipe Courtesy of Tootsie.com

Brownies:

1 pkg fudge brownie mix (eggs, oil and water, according to package)

1/2 cup Andes Mints, chopped

Topping:

4 squares white baking chocolate, chopped

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup chopped Andes Mints, divided

Directions

Preheat the oven according to brownie box. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan. Prepare the brownie mix as directed; stir in chopped Andes Mints. Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake according to package directions. Cool in baking pan completely.

In a saucepan, combine white chocolate and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Refrigerate 30-40 minutes or until chilled. In a mixing bowl, beat heavy cream, gradually adding the 2 Tbsp sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into the chocolate mixture then add 1/4 cup Andes Mints. Spread over the brownies and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of Andes Mints. Refrigerate.

I must warn you that the last part is vital to the taste of the brownies. For some reason, neither Chris nor I were wowed by the brownies when they were complete. However, after letting them sit in the fridge for a few hours definitely did them good. The homemade whipped cream and the fudge with a hint of mint really stood out once it was chilled. Someday I might make these again to take into work, but this batch is staying right here with me.

Beggar's Night vs Halloween

This was our second Halloween here in Des Moines, but this year was the first that we actually celebrated. Last year was spent with Chinese food and an episode of Ghost Adventures in the loft. Some might think this was a pretty uneventful way to spend Halloween - and they'd be right. The Chinese food was sub par at best, and halfway through the night long Ghost Adventures Live episode, we found out it was all a hoax. BOO!

Now that we have a child, we can actually participate in trick-or-treating without strange looks! Only we couldn't participate in trick-or-treating, but rather begging. The Des Moines area celebrates two holidays for some reason - Halloween and Beggar's Night. The latter is very similar to the trick-or-treating on Halloween night back in Nebraska. Rather than say "trick-or-treat," beggars are supposed to do a trick or joke in return for a treat. Des Moines is apparently extremely proud of this as all you hear on the radio or read in the newspaper is about how you'd better have your joke ready for Beggar's Night. I can appreciate how the native Des Moinesians are attempting to keep the tradition alive, but it doesn't seem to be working. We spent Beggar's Night at our friends' house and most of the beggars would fore go the joke and go straight for the candy bowl.

We decided to take our little ones out to beg at a few houses to tell a joke or two (probably more so for candy for us to eat rather then their first experience in a costume). Azra went as a banana, but I can't say that she enjoyed it too much:

Once she was next to her boyfriend Cavan, then she was much more content:

All-in-all it was a good night, and Halloween night at another friend's house was fun as well. However, an eve to the eve of All Saints Day seems to be a little unnecessary. Let's just stick to good ol' Halloween.

Month One: Joys of Parenting

It's hard to believe that our little girl is one month old today! Here she is doing her one-month birthday dance:

It seems like it was only yesterday that she entered into our lives (very painfully, I might add! :) ). I've truly enjoyed the last four weeks home that I've had with her, and I'm so glad that I have another eight left before I have to leave her for work.

After making it through month one, here are a few of the lessons I have learned about parenting:

1. Moms don't wear sweats and a ponytail sans makeup because they're lazy, it's due to being interrupted by the baby every time you're about to step foot in the shower.

2. You either quickly learn how to feed both you and the babe concurrently, or you don't eat.

3. The three changes per day due to spit up, pee, and other baby excrement are not only the baby's clothes being changed. Note to self: Triple check the fit of the diaper before sitting your baby on your lap. Assume all wet spots on your leg are baby pee and not spilled water.

4. Purchase a large computer hard drive before the baby's arrival. We hit the 300 photo mark by only the third day of her life. It'll take me weeks to pare down and organize all of the photos!

5. Looking into her big blue eyes makes you forget about your lack of sleep, cute clothes and good looks that went out the window when she came into this world.

A Birth Story

It has been two weeks and four days since the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Azra. Today marks the day of my first week at home alone with the baby. Chris and I really enjoyed two weeks at home together to spend some quality time with Azra, and each other. Now that I'm on my own, I can finally get to sharing all the of the details of her birth!

After 39 weeks of patiently awaiting our baby's arrival, I was beginning to get particularly antsy. Not only did I have to endure the constant emails/calls/texts from my caring friends and family asking if she had arrived yet, but I had to carry around all the extra weight which was really starting to hurt my legs and back. Once I hit the due date, I had permission from my midwife to begin trying everything I could to speed up the process a bit. On Monday the 14th, I started trying oils, teas, and I even turned to acupuncture!

On Wednesday I went to bed only to feel too restless to stay there, so I went downstairs and watched TV for awhile. Around midnight I started feeling contractions that were strong enough to interrupt me from watching "The Rachel Zoe Project." I didn't really believe that it was true labor, but I decided to start timing them for lack of anything better to do. After an hour of contractions, I was beginning to get a little lonely. Still not believing that I was in labor, but hoping that I was, I went upstairs to wake up Chris so he could keep me company. I don't think he believed it either because he seemed a little annoyed to have been waken up at one in the morning.

At this point, I completely lost track of time. I remember the contractions being much more intense than I ever could have anticipated. I rotated between the exercise ball, the bath tub and the bed. I don't really recall ever telling Chris to do anything to help, but he was always there doing just the right thing nonetheless. From rubbing my back during contractions, continuously bringing me water to drink, to even turning off the lights and lighting candles in the while I was in the bath tub, everything he did was just perfect. I didn't really have much time to think about what was going on as I was trying to sleep for one or two minutes in between the contractions. However, I imagine he was beginning to get a little nervous (especially given my frequent shrieks of pain!).

After my water broke (luckily, while I was in the tub), Chris knew that it was time to go. I was able to make my way back to the great room while Chris packed the car and put our dog in the kennel. By this time, I was in too much pain to get up and walk to the car. During a very short break in between contractions, he helped walk me to the car. It must have been right before 8 by this time because I remember looking ahead to the road and seeing all of the cars of rush hour. Luckily we live only five minutes from the hospital, so I was in my hospital room in no time.

By the time I got to the room, I was already 8 centimeters and feeling the urge to push. Pushing was super difficult, but less painful than the contractions. I felt like she would never arrive, but Chris was right there for me, cheering me on, and reassuring me that I really could do it. After 1.5 hours of pushing, Chris proudly announced that we had a beautiful daughter. The midwife laid her on my chest and she looked up at Chris and I like she knew exactly who we were.

Azra Mae Brock

8 lbs 2 oz

9.17.09 - 9:14 AM

My Very Own Modern Art

Have you ever walked into a modern art museum and thought to yourself, "Hey, I could make that!"? I know I have. Modern art museums are one of my favorite things to visit while vacationing. And not necessarily to appreciate the art, but to make fun of it. Granted, there are some really cool and inspiring pieces that grace the walls of the museum, but there are usually a lot more absurd pieces available.

Most absurd pieces I've seen to date:

1. Wood stair rail, Neues Museum in Nuremberg, Germany

Unpainted, black iron hinges still attached, laying on the floor at an angle. Perhaps it was the manner in which it was laid is what made it art (if it were instead parallel to the wall, then would it just be a 2"x4" instead of a masterpiece?).

2. Wall of framed pieces of hair from 100 different people, Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany

One squiggly piece of hair per frame. Beautiful, just stunning. I was moved.

3. Three-screen video of a woman repeatedly falling back on a wall, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN

I will never understand the "art" of artsy films. It was quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen, but I imagine many an artist walked by and stared for hours to find the meaning of the film.

Anyway, all of this to set the scene for my recent nursery project! I found this super cute wall mobile on Fawn and Forest website:

Like everything else on their website, it is fun, unique and colorful. And also like the rest of their products, it's darned expensive -- $330!! Shoot, I was just about ready to hit "buy" before I saw that! As with the modern art in the museums, I thought to myself: I could make that! And so I did.

SUPPLIES
Wood panels
Wood dowel
Fishing wire
Acrylic paint
Lacquer spray paint

During my initial brainstorming process, I thought of cutting Styrofoam to size to replicate the aluminum panels in the original mobile, cover with scrapbook paper and Modge Podge, and hang. However, I was lucky enough to stumble across some thin, precut wood panels while scouring the aisles of Michaels. I picked those up, along with a wood dowel, and acrylic paint in green and yellow (I had some white and black left over from another project, which I used to create all of the different shades for the gradient effect). At Walmart, I found the lacquer spray paint needed to give the glossy look of the original, as well as some fishing wire and a few hooks in which to hang on the wall. The hooks allow just enough space between the wall and mobile for the wood panels to sway ever so slightly in order to keep Curtis busy while changing his diaper.

Grand total for the entire project: $330 -- 1/10th the price of the original!!

It may not look as professional as the expensive version, but I am still proud to say that I made it. Plus, finding thrifty ways to get the look of something expensive is way more fun! So, what do you think??

Transformations

I remember reading that a husband might gain "sympathy weight" during their wife's pregnancy. Having gained a good amount of weight already, I can understand why the sympathy weight gain would be helpful. I've been feeling a bit tubby and I'm sure that if Chris were to gain a few pounds along with me then I wouldn't feel quite so bad about my expanding stomach:

24 WEEKS
It's not quite so bad now that the baby is getting bigger so my stomach is more pregnant looking rather than just looking bloated. Plus, I still fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans which I consider quite a feat. My favorite part is that my belly button is finally starting to pop out! I don't know why, but I just love pregnant lady belly buttons! The only slight problem is the hole from my navel piercing. I'm just waiting for that to either rip in half or sag like the earlobe of a punk rocker with their gauge removed. Either way I see belly button plastic surgery in my future - if it even exists. Note to future daughter: don't get a navel piercing.

So, back to the transformations. As I said, Chris has not gained any weight with me, but rather lost some! He recently finished a 10-week fitness program at Farrell's Extreme Bodyshaping. I was very impressed with his results and highly recommend the program to anyone wanting to gain some muscle, lose some weight, and get fit! Farrell's plans on opening a location in Lincoln for anyone interested. Check out their website here. I'm so proud of him for completing such a hardcore program and experiencing such great results, so thanks to him for reluctantly allowing me to show him off!

Yoga For The Unbalanced

My trainer on Wii Fit says my balance needs work. I disagreed, and I believe that’s part of the reason that I shoved the balance board under the couch never to be seen again. I’m fully aware that I look more like a 5-year-old ballerina than a limber yogi (that’s one who practices yoga, not the bear) when I’m attempting the Tree Pose. Here's me:

And yes, the ballet barre would certainly help, but I’m still not so sure I could rest my foot against my thigh instead of my ankle. What? You want me to raise my arms above my head as I’m attempting to balance on one foot? That’s not gonna happen.

I know what you’re thinking: why in the world would I begin yoga classes if I can’t even take the criticism from my Wii Fit trainer? I started prenatal yoga last night as an attempt to be more "in tune" with the baby, and what a better time to dare such an attempt than one when I’m supposed to lose balance throughout the nine months my stomach is expanding?! At only 17 weeks, one would probably just make the mistake of thinking I eat too much ice cream (which may be so), so I can hardly blame the balance issue on the babe. And here there are very very pregnant women showing me up! I always hear that you’re supposed to lose balance when you’re so far along, and yet they were doing a perfect tree pose, arms raised and all, and I could barely balance without my arms raised and my foot on my ankle rather than my thigh. Imagine the fun had by all in attendance (but me, of course) as they got to see my beautiful attempt at a tree pose. I’d like to think they were too focused on their pose and breathing technique that they didn’t notice, but a stomp to the ground each time my raised foot hit the floor to catch myself from falling surely would’ve awoken them from their deep meditation.

It’s a bit of a stretch for me to join a yoga class given I have a strong distaste for exercising unless it serves a purpose (i.e. sports). The last five minutes were spent doing the Matsya Kridasana relaxation pose (Matsya Kridasana translates to “flapping fish,” which may make it more enjoyable now that I found that out). Basically the time is just spent laying on your side, focusing on your breathing. However, instead of relaxing, I spent my time looking around the room, wondering if the pose would be finished after the song ended (sure enough, it didn’t).

Overall, the class was a great experience, even though I definitely need some work. Perhaps this will inspire me to become a yoga expert and gain muscle tone that even Madonna would envy.

That's One Loooooong Hiatus!

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last post! And with so much going on, I could've had material to post every day this month - had I had the time. I've been assigned another person's job duties after his departure from our company, and on top of mine, it's one heavy load! Whoever thought that salaried employees should be denied overtime pay was an idiot. It's just not right! Nonetheless, I've been hanging in there, bogged down with work, studying, baby stuff, more studying, and more work. It's a good thing that I had a vacation last month, otherwise I would've been mega stressed. "Vacation?," you say? There'd be no question had I wrote a lengthy (but entertaining) story about Chris' 30th birthday surprise extravaganza! This weekend, I promise!

Anyway, we've been scouring the internet and stores for the perfect baby gear - just looking, not buying. For those of you who are unaware, Chris is obsessed with Batman. Not in a creepy way, but I still think he'd name our child Batman if he had the opportunity. So today, I receive this photo from him:

That's right, it's a Batman onesie...for a GIRL. I don't think so! I'm almost praying to not have a girl now that I know what's coming! Please help!