Rainy day in the kitchen

And here's the rest of the story:

After chilling the dough, roll it into balls and flatten them with a glass dipped in sugar.

Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.

Next, eat deliciously.

The whole recipe can be found here.

Janny's first easter

You may have noticed the blogging hiatus last week. The problem isn't a lack of cute photos or amusing moments but that raising two kids is really tough. Prior to Janny's birth, I always had about an hour after sending Clara to bed during which I could rest, blog, or do dishes. Now, I have time and energy to do dishes.

Two positive developments transpired on that front this week. First, we hired help. A high school girl from church is coming for 2 hours per week to help Jill with housework, chasing Clara, or whatever else is needed. Second, I learned a little about Jill's experience. Previously, I had wondered why less than all the household management was getting done while I was at work. As of yesterday, I now wonder how Jill gets ANYTHING done during the day. This perspective has improved our marriage.

Our indoor/outdoor lifestyle is coming together. We have a functional grill and a set of patio furniture and we're using them.
The girls dressed in lovely dresses for Easter.
Clara was happy to show off the dress at church today.

Janny eats more than Clara did and is bigger than Clara was. This might become important in the near future. Yesterday, Clara bopped Janny on head (as she does with less frequent recurrence). Generally, Janny would wince slightly and continue staring blankly. This time, she turned her head towards Clara immediately and gave her the stink eye.

For our part, we continue to preach 'gentle with the baby' to Clara.

Clara's new favorite word is "yeah." She doesn't say "no" yet. It's useful and amusing that she will respond positively to any question.

"Clara, do you want to take a nap?"

"Clara, do you want to help mommy clean the floor?"

"Clara, is Daddy incredibly handsome?"

the cruelest month

Glorious spring weekend. We wore shorts all weekend and spent much time playing outside. Some flowers are blooming. New grill fired up for the first time (pork chops).

My 3 girls enjoying the great outdoors.
Our group of adopt-a-students is growing faster than our family. We had all these guys and gals come over for dinner on Fri night. We met a friend of one of these guys at church on Sunday, so maybe we'll have even more soon.
I'll conclude with a few vignettes from this crazy life.

First, we were badly late to church a week ago. We're usually a few minutes (okay 5-10) late. That week we made a special breakfast, strawberry crepes, that took some extra time. Just as we were finishing up and hoping to leave, Janny started to cry. So we gave her a bottle. She threw up on her outfit. After changing the outfit, Clara needed a new diaper. Voila, 40 minutes late!

Second, on our way home on Saturday, we decided to ride past our old neighborhood. We used to stop and chat with a sweet older couple that sat on their porch everyday when the weather was nice. Like most people, they loved to see Clara. We moved (in a near hurry) just as the cold got started, so we didn't get a chance to let them know. The lady was on the porch with her daughter-in-law. She was so happy to see Clara again and meet the new baby. We loved showing off the girls. As we talked it became pretty clear (not 100% and we didn't ask) that the husband passed away over the winter. We'll miss him.

Another young person we knew in NM also passed away last week. That makes 3 for us, all under 40. Causes were avalanche, heart, and heart. We're praying for you, Steele family.

3 weeks

After Grandma and Gpa S took off for home, the grandparents K took their turn cooing over Janny. With much love and help, the first two weeks with the new baby were not unbearable.

Janny is much like Clara was as a newborn. She sleeps in blocks of 3-4 hours at night and has one or two wakeful periods during the day. She cries if hungry or trying to do some business, but otherwise is very quiet and observant.

Janny's eyes are mysterious. They are very dark with shades that sometimes look gray, green, blue, or brown.
The first thing Clara says every morning after waking up is 'baby'. We walk over to say good morning to her little sister.
Finally, I have started rinsing dishes with cold water before placing them in the dishwasher. I might save a few gallons of hot water per day. Woo-hoo! I probably won't continue this next winter because the water is quite cold on my dainty hands.

birthweek

Before we get to a couple updated pictures, I'd like to share a few practical steps to ensure a smooth transition from a family of 3 to 4.

1. Make sure that #4 is not born on the same day as #3. I don't know the optimal spacing, but 18 months is reasonable.

2. Don't be the person that gives birth. This is hard, tiring, and requires a heavy dose of healing. The 'coach' gets tired and feels much empathetic pain, but recovery from these is quick.

3. Invite in-laws to stay so that they can cook, clean, and play with person #3 in the morning while #1, #2, and #4 sleep.

4. Have a job without immediate pressing deadlines and with a generous paternal leave. I'm writing this from home on Fri at noon in front of the ncaa tourney game.

Good luck!

While we were in the hospital, Clara turned into a full-blown toddler. She's heavier, funnier, and funner. Here she is in bandita mode.

Here's grandpa holding an infrequently awake and alert Janny.
When she's not running around outside (we've had marvelous spring weather this week), Clara likes to see what Janny is doing. She doesn't like the idea of Janny using her stuff, but sharing things like the packnplay is fine.
This is the up-to-the-10-minute-update of Janny: asleep on mommy's lap.
Hmmm, I'm getting sleepy. Maybe I'll take a nap.

Janny is born

Janet Verily Knutson was born at 2:48p today. We call her Janny.

Jill and Janny did a heroic job getting through the day. Both are feeling very tired right now.

Janny weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz, a whopping 7 oz more than Clara at birth. She's 19" long and quite dashing.


Nurse Tina was called in for special duty today and was a wonderful helper. She and her husband ride bikes, so hopefully we'll see them on the road some time.

And happy pi day to boot!

mini bobike

Recently, I have become aware that we're about to have 2 very small children. Until this point, I hadn't put much though into transporting the two kids via bicycle. We love the burley trailer, but until Janny can sit upright, we won't be able to fit both girls in it. Our relatives bought us a cool rear-mounted bike seat, but it's still a little big for Clara.

Last week I bought (via craigslist) a mini-bobike, a front mounted seat for kids weighing less than 35 lbs.

Installing the seat is no problem. Getting on my bike with seat installed reminds me of getting into the backseat of my roommate's vw bug back in college. Once on the bike, we were snug, but the handling and sight-lines are fine.

Clara and I rode around the block on the maiden voyage. I think the lack of smiles on Clara's face is due to (1) her taking any new activity very seriously and (2) the 40 degrees temp. Since there was no crying, I claim success.
For Matt and Jaime: we watched Nathaniel's video with Clara this weekend. She LOVED it, and watched it about 10 times. Here's her response at the end of a viewing:
That's 'more' in sign language.

Locally, Unofficial St. Patrick's day, or as its now called 'unofficial', was celebrated on Friday. Usually, I'm oblivious to such events, but I headed towards Green St at noon to buy my lunch. At least every 3rd house or apartment complex had a large (>20) group of people hanging out, drinking, and making merry. Everyone wore a green shirt except me, which is why I was surprised when not only did I receive a ball-fake on my way past the 'qb', but felt the football breeze just past my left ear as I walked down the sidewalk without turning back. On the way back from El Charro with 4 tacos in my backpack, I was prepared but the weak throw landed at my feet.

How could so many students be at so many parties? Our adopt-a-students, who didn't participate, say that students from all over the big 10 universities come here for it. I don't condone the over-drinking, but I enjoyed seeing that many people having fun.