Mike and Music

Michaela wasn’t too fond of bath time at first, but she’s since grown to tolerate it (I’m not sure we’re at “enjoy” yet).  Here are some shots of tonight’s bath.

Mike and I signed our family up for an outdoor education class for infants (0-12 months) through the local community college district.*  The class is a great chance for us to learn about developmental milestones for the baby, make friends with people who have kids around Michaela’s age, and explore our beautiful city.  The class meets once a week for two hours.  And the class is free!

We went to the first session yesterday and were pleasantly surprised to find a good turnout– about 20 kids.  At seven weeks, Michaela is the youngest kid (the next youngest is 11 weeks); the oldest kid in class is 11 months.  We all sang a song to get to know each other (”Michaela’s here today/Michaela’s here today/We’re very glad to see you here/ Michaela’s here today”) and then broke up into groups to do an exercise and get to know each other.  The other folks in class all seem very nice and I’m looking forward to getting to know them better.  Not surprisingly, Mike is the only dad in the class.

As you can see in this picture, Michaela wasn’t the most active participant.  But we had fun anyway!

* Don’t worry.  In spite of the fact that our child is less than two months old and we have her enrolled in this class, we’re not going to be the type of parents who over-schedule each and every minute of Michaela’s life.

Tonight I made a delicious pasta dinner using a recipe from our “America’s Test Kitchen” cookbook.  I can’t say enough good things about “Test Kitchen” recipes.  My only issue with them is that most of the recipes seem to require using every bowl, pot, and pan I own.  This meal isn’t like that, thankfully.  It is, however, delicious!

Skillet Penne and Sausage

Ingredients
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 onion, minced
* salt
* 1 lb sweet Italian turkey sausage or hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed (I used chicken and artichoke sausage)
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1/2 cup sun-dried tomato packed in oil, rinsed and chopped fine
* 8 ounces penne (2 1/2 cups, can also use ziti) (I used whole grain pasta, to make this more healthy)
* 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
* 1 cup milk
* 1 (5 ounce) bag baby spinach
* 1 ounce parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
* pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. (Be sure to use at least a 12-inch size skillet to hold all ingredients.) Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the sausage and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Sprinkle the sun-dried tomatoes and penne evenly over the sausage. Pour the broth and milk over the pasta. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the spinach a handful at a time and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. (It may seem like a lot of spinach, but it will wilt considerably.) Stir in the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mike and I haven’t been doing a very good job of cooking at home since the baby came.  Breakfast and lunch are mostly memories, and we haven’t done much for dinner, either.  We’ve had some cobbled together meals (a sad iceberg lettuce and tomato salad + warmed up store-bought enchiladas, for example) and have gone out quite a bit, too (Michaela is 3 weeks old and has been to Chipotle 3 times– I think that sums that up).  But tonight I made an effort to give us something healthy to eat for dinner (and lunches in the next couple of days) and to clean out the freezer.  The result was my take on a Turkey Tetrazinni recipe I originally saw on Amber’s Delectable Delights.  Delicious!

(A word of warning, though.  I found this recipe to be one that required a lot of dishes.  I probably could have been more efficient and used fewer, but my brain is too addled right now to be efficient!)

Turkey Tetrazinni

Ingredients
12 oz egg noodles, spaghetti, linguine or other pasta  (I used “No-Yolk” egg noodles, which come in an 8 oz package, and found that it was plenty of noodles)
12 ounces mushrooms, sliced (about 4-5 cups)  (I used one small container of mushrooms, but increased the other veggies)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/4 cup cream
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup dry sherry (or vermouth or dry white wine)  (I substituted water.  I know, I’m no fun.)
3 cups coarsely chopped cooked turkey
1 cup peas  (Instead of peas, I used frozen mixed veggies: carrots, green beans and corn, and probably used more like 1 1/2 cups)
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan (divided into 1/3 and 1/3 cups)
1/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and Pepper
1/3 cup fine fresh bread crumbs (or panko)
Freshly chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

Method
1 Preheat oven to 375°F. Start heating 2 to 3 quarts of water for the pasta. Add 1 teaspoon of salt for each quart of water.

2 Cook the mushrooms in 3 Tbsp of the butter over medium heat, stirring, until all of the liquid the mushrooms give off has evaporated, 5-10 minutes. Set aside.

3 In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 1/4 cup of butter. Stir in the flour, and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring, for 3 minutes.

4 About now, put the pasta into the boiling water you’ve heated. Follow the package directions and cook until al dente. While the pasta is cooking continue on with the recipe.

5 Into the saucepan with the butter and flour, slowly whisk in the milk, cream, broth, and the sherry. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 to 8 minutes.

6 When the pasta is ready, drain it. In a large bowl combine the pasta, the sauce, the mushrooms, the turkey, and the peas. Stir in 1/3 cup of the Parmesan and the 1/3 cup of Swiss cheese. Stir in the lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Note that if you have been using unsalted butter, and/or unsalted or low sodium stock, you will need to add more salt than you might expect. Just keep sprinkling it in until it is seasoned to your taste. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg if using, again to taste. Transfer the mixture to a buttered 3-quart casserole.

7 In a small bowl combine well the remaining 1/3 cup Parmesan and the bread crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the tetrazzini, and dot the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, cut into bits.

8 Bake the Tetrazzini in the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is bubbling and the top is golden.

I posted this on Facebook, too, but for those readers who aren’t connected to us on Facebook…  This is a picture taken by our good friend Scotty Papek.  The proud mother in me has to point out that Scott is very talented, but he also had a great model!

Just because Michaela has joined our family desn’t mean the renovation work has stopped.  On the contrary, its pace has accelerated.  Mike has been hard at work on what will be our new office and bathroom, tearing down the old walls, framing in new ones, and preparing the room for the next steps of plumbing and drywall.

Tonight’s big project is tearing out the window that was in the room.  First Mike took down the ugly security bars (the last set remaining on our house, thank goodness).

Then he broke out the glass in the old window.

Next up on this project (I think– my knowledge of construction is extremely limited!) will be putting in studs we can wall over the hole where the window was, then making a space for the new window, which will be a different size and located several feet to the left of where the old window was.

Tomorrow we have several plumbers coming to give us estimates to rough-in the new sink, bathtub, and toilet, and once that work is done, we’ll have the drywallers come back and put up walls.

I may be able to work in the new office when my maternity leave ends at the end of January– very exciting!

Posting here has been a little light lately, because we’ve been very busy with our newest addition to the family, but I wanted to give a quick update.  Michaela is doing great!  Her bilirubin is down and she seems to be jaundice-free.  She has lots of energy and she’s eating like a velociraptor.  Mike and I think she’s going through or on the verge of a growth spurt, which is pretty exciting!

We’ve settled into a routine of feedings and diaper changes and cat naps.  Mike usually takes the first two or three night feedings (depending on when I go to bed) and I take the middle-of-the-night/wee-hours-of-the-morning ones.  This morning, I was up at 1 a.m., 4 a.m., and 7 a.m., I think, and then Mike took over while I slept in a bit.  I feel really lucky to have such a good partner; I don’ t know how single parents do it.

The most interesting thing about our new routine is something I never really thought about before, or during, my pregnancy: what Michaela’s every-two-to-three-hour schedule means for my schedule.  One of us has to be up every two to three hours to attend to her needs– obviously.  On the surface, that doesn’t seem like much, but what it means in real life is that every two to three hours, we have to put in an hour with her.  It takes time to feed her (especially now that she’s eating a lot!) and to change her diaper, so if I’m up at 1 a.m., for example, I don’t get back to bed until 2, and then have to be up again at 3.  That’s where the lack of sleep comes into play!

That said, it’s amazing how quickly the days pass.  It feels like at least once a day, I look at the clock and am shocked to see it’s several hours later than I thought it was.  And that’s actually a really good feeling!

Mike did such a great job narrating our first couple of days in the hospital that this post is going to seem pretty boring by comparison.  My memories are pretty hazy, but this should provide an idea of what our hospital stay was like once Michaela was born.

After I gave birth, we spent several hours in our Labor & Delivery room, then were transported to a recovery room. There was a constant flow of people in and out of our recovery room. Nurses checking my vitals and my blood pressure, nurses checking the baby. Doctors checking me, doctors checking the baby. People to collect linens, people to drop off and pick up food trays. Especially on our first day in that room, it felt like Grand Central Station!

The medical team had run some tests on Michaela and eventually it came out that she was jaundiced, which happens when you have too high a level of a substance called bilirubin. Jaundice is common in kids, especially preemies, whose livers haven’t developed sufficiently by the time they come out. After one night in our room with us, Michaela had to go to the nursery to be under “bili lights,” which are lights that break down the bilirubin. In the scheme of things, being jaundiced isn’t a big deal. And considering all the problems preemies can have, it’s really wonderful that was all she was dealing with. Further, we were in a hospital, surrounded by caring nurses who really went out of their way to be good to me and to Michaela. But it was still pretty stressful (to say the least).

Michaela went under the bili lights on Sunday night at about 11 p.m. (I think; it’s all a blur), and they left her under the lights until about 6 a.m. on Tuesday. Even though I had been cleared for release, my doctors kept me admitted so I could tend to Michaela; every two-to-three hours, Mike and/or I would go down to the nursery to feed her, or bring her to the room to feed her.

Tuesday morning, Michaela’s bilirubin level was down enough that we could take her off the bili lights, with the knowledge that we’d have to go back to the doctor in a day and a half to have her tested again. We got to spend some time with her on Tuesday, which was the nicest thing in the world after her being so far away from us for so long. Mike went home and cleaned up a bit, brought me a change of clothes. Michaela and I took a nap together and hung out. It was a good day. That night, at about 9 p.m., we were released and got to bring our baby home. FINALLY!

All told, Mike and I were in the hospital for six days. That’s a long time, and I can’t express enough how strange it was to be there “spur of the moment.” But it was definitely worth it, as we ended up with a gorgeous, sweet, healthy baby– just in time for Christmas.

Here are some photos that Mike took during our time at the hospital.

When we first got to the hospital, I was shown to “High Risk 1″ and given a bunch of drugs… and jello!  We were later moved to a nicer, more spacious Labor & Delivery room.

After many, many hours of labor, Michaela was born at 12:17 a.m. on 12/12/09.

She weighed 7 1/2 pounds.

Daddy, as you can tell, was thrilled.

The nurses brought her over and we had some skin-to-skin bonding time.

Later, in our recovery room, Michaela and I took a little cat nap.

Michaela was jaundiced and had to go under the “bili lights” in the nursery.  They gave her some very fashionable shades to protect her eyes.

Our first family photo!  I was sooo tired, as you can tell, and still being monitored very closely (note the blood pressure cuff).

The outfit Michaela wore to go home is the same outfit Mike wore home from the hospital 33 years ago.

Finally!  After six days in the hospital, I was wheeled out.  I’m not sure I’ve ever been so happy.