Me: This is a stable. It is where animals live and it is where baby Jesus was born. Jesus was born in a stable. Do you know where Mackenzie was born?

Mackenzie, after pausing to think: In a tortilla.

… a fresh Christmas tree keeping me company in the family room as I work tonight. It smells better than I do.

… a bike trainer in the basement so I can get a workout without braving a freezing dark night for a run.

… Scott returning from his last residency interview! A few more transitional year interviews lurk in January but for now he is staying put.

… seeing good friends finally get the baby they have been waiting for. Adoption is amazing.

… realizing Christmas is just two weeks away!

… hearing my baby (ok, ok, she’s almost 2) thoughtfully say to herself from the backseat, “I love me, Mama loves me, Daddy loves me, *Mackenzie loves me!”

*She pronounces her own name “Mah-seh-ssie.” That also makes me happy. Please, no one teach her how to properly pronounce a k. Thank you.

I’m posting this because I think it reflects my interests right now, and I think it will be fun to look back on this in future years.

A medicine ball, maybe two so Scott and I can work out together (8 lb for me, 12 for him). We went to three training sessions with SmugMug’s physical trainer last week in California and they were absolutely the best workouts I’ve ever had. With the weather getting so cold here, running with Mackenzie is not going to last much longer and I need to transition quickly into working out at home. The trainer had us doing an hour worth of kill-your-body exercise without any machines and I’m hopeful I can recreate some of that in my living room. Any Ohio friends interested in getting together to workout?

Chipotle gift card. Their black bean fajita bowl with maximum beans, veggies, guac, salsa, and lettuce and minimal white rice just hits the spot every time. But, it’s absolutely more expensive than cooking from scratch at home so we don’t grab Chipotle very often. Guilt-free fast, healthy dinner though? Mmmm…

Mothering books. The game is on. Mackenzie is a sponge and a mimic and I’m always up for honing my craft. I borrowed “I am a Mother” from a friend recently and I would recommend it without reservation to every mother I know. It’s a short read and just what I needed to restore peace and excitement about my role and the challenges ahead. I’m also highly interested in “A Mother’s Book of Secrets” because the photographer’s blog is one of the few I read from people who I don’t know personally and it never disappoints. Also, all the proceeds from the book go to research in fighting blindness for children. Since the time Mackenzie started sleeping through the night, I haven’t picked up a single parenting book but I know there is lots of wisdom and helpful information out there.

Creative, quality toys for Mackenzie. Did I mention she is a sponge? Especially when it’s cold and we’re cooped up inside, I love having something different to pull out and play with her. Or even better, something she can do alongside me while I’m cooking or cleaning or working. I’ve thought about things like a durable play kitchen, alphabet placemat, toy stroller and baby doll, and simple puzzles. Seriously, gifts for her are truly gifts for me too right now because my life outside of her is work. So she is my fun, my relaxation, my creative time.

Here’s one thing I made for her that we enjoy: I chose ~7 different colors of construction paper and cut out 3 or 4 fish from each. Then I taped one fish of each color to a separate piece of white paper and wrote out the color (paper plates would have been a better choice). I put all the fish and paper in a ziploc bag and she gets it out a few times a week and likes to match up all the fishies and talk about colors and counting.

Time to enjoy Christmas. This is a gift I need to give myself this year. I really need to carve out time to decorate, to cook, to find ways to help others, to share with Mackenzie the magic and joy and meaning of Christmas. She’s old enough to understand. I let Halloween totally pass us by this year because she wasn’t aware of its existence and I felt like life was too busy to add “one more thing” to our plates. Well, Christmas is hands-down my favorite holiday of the year and this is our first at home with our little family so I’m determined to savor it.

After nearly a week of no potty accidents, we ventured out to do some fun Christmas shopping for cousins.

We didn’t give it much thought, actually, because before tonight, Mackenzie had survived hours of church, cross country plane flights (both ways), hour-long runs, etc. in underwear without much drama. In fact, on multiple occasions she’d held it for 2 hours or more when confronted with a potty she did not find acceptable. We were so confident about her staying dry on this particular outing that in fact, we didn’t even think to bring a spare change of clothes.

*insert musical chords of doom here*

She unloaded a lot of pee right before we walked out the door, and the first stop was only 12 minutes away. Granted, she had been drinking a lot of water that night, but we were still in a bit of disbelief when she began imploring “Need to go potty!” starting about 8 minutes away from our house. We assured her we were “almost there”.

Well, the first store closed a few minutes before we arrived, so we drove on across the street to our next planned stop. Unfortunately, it was a big street and required waiting at a long light, a U turn, and wrapping around the block to get to the store. By the time we arrived, our reassurances had taken on a frantic tone and just seconds before I leaped out of the card to free her from the car seat and whisk her to the bathroom, we heard a very small voice say cheerfully, “Next time peepee on the potty.”

Yes, the wee child had wet her pants. No, we had no changes of clothes. Yes, we stripped her bottom half in the freezing cold and put a diaper on her and drove straight home in dejected silence.

So for all of you who exclaimed, “Oooh lucky!” when you heard Mackenzie started potty training herself at 22 months, beware. You might get what you wish for, and early (to us) potty-training has definitely caused some challenges!

1) Although we never use them, Mackenzie noticed the latches that lower her crib side the other day. Apparently they look like the pump top on a soap dispenser, because Mackenzie said with a twinkle in her eye, “Mackenzie gettin’ soap, Mama!” and then she proceeded to soap up my hands, her hands, the crib rails, her face, her teddy bear and everything else she could think of with imaginary soap.

2) Today after church I offered her broccoli and hummus for lunch. She said, “No”, which is her standard first response to most things these days. I figured she was full from all the snacks at nursery (a girl deprived of things like goldfish crackers 99% of the time can put quite a few away when given the opportunity). So, I said, “Ok, let’s get ready for a nap.” Instantly, her face contorted and her lower lip quivered and she said, “Mackenzie.. needs… more broccoli please!” Normally she doesn’t mind taking a nap at all but hey, I’ll take it if it means more green things go down the hatch.

3) Scott came back yesterday from 900 miles of driving to interviews and I let Mackenzie in the bedroom as he was waking up from a nap. She squealed and dashed over to where he was laying. She patted his face and gave him big “snugs”. (I know that’s a silly word, and I’m pretty sure I am the one who actually invented it and not Mackenzie. But you should hear her say it. So cute. Who am I to stop that train?) She giggled as she felt his hair. “Daddy… has… SPIKY hair,” she exclaimed. To my knowledge, the only time she’s heard the word spiky before was last month as I explained to her why we don’t touch rose bushes. She’s just at the age where she draws connections between things and tries to apply vocabulary to new situations and we just love it.

4) I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I own feetie pajamas. They are red. I wear them when I am sick, cold, or just need a really really good night’s sleep. Rest assured, a picture of them will never appear on this blog. Anyway, I walked into Mackenzie’s room to get her up the other day while wearing said pajamas and the sheer delight in her voice when she stood up and declared, “Mama has feetie jams too!” made my heart happy.

5) While praying with her at bedtime at my parents’ house, she reverently folded her arms and repeated phrases as Scott and I prompted her. In the middle of the prayer, we typically let her do freestyle thanking for things that she is grateful for, and then start prompting her again as we ask for blessings and finally close the prayer “We say these things.” “In the name of Jesus Christ.” “Amen.”

On this occasion, my mom happened to join us on our knees for the first time on the trip, and I’ll admit I was excited for her to hear what a good job Mackenzie does praying. It’s something we’ve done diligently with her and it’s typically a very sweet experience.

Well, that night, the prayer went something like this:

Scott: “Dear Heavenly Father”
Mackenize: “Father”

Scott: “We thank Thee for this beautiful day.”
Mackenize: “Beeyooful day.”

Scott: “We thank Thee for Mama.”
Mackenzie: “Mama.”

Scott: “and…”
Mackenzie: “and Daddy.”
Scott: “Yes, we thank Thee for Daddy.”

Mackenzie: “Gramma.”
Scott: “We thank Thee for Grandma.”

Mackenzie: “and Grandpa”
Scott: “We thank Thee for Grandpa.”

Mackenzie: “Reesey.”
Scott: “We thank Thee for cousin Reese.”

Mackenzie: “Jesus Christ.”
Scott, after opening his eyes halfway and shooting me a questioning look: “We thank Thee for Jesus Christ.”

(At this point I may have been sporting some Motherly pride as I thought of my toddler being sincerely grateful for Jesus Christ.)

Mackenzie, with enthusiasm: “Amen!”
At which point in time, Scott, my mom, and me, simultaneously erupt in poorly suppressed snorts and laughter.

Because I am who I am, I don’t generally write up recipes from cookbooks on the blog. Unless I heavily modified the recipe, it feels like giving away someone’s hard work for free and I worry about things like that. However, I’m posting this recipe here along with a list of other recipes we love from the book, and information on buying the book… so I don’t feel too badly about it!

The Cookbook: Fresh Food Fast

The book is called Fresh Food Fast – Delicious, Seasonal Vegetarian Meals in Under an Hour. It delivers just what the title promises. Not all recipes are healthy, as you’ll see below, and Scott has been the main experimenter from this cookbook so you will see cheese make a more frequent appearance. Still, I’m very grateful to have a husband who enjoys cooking and I love that he is willing to experiment!

The book is organized as about 12 menus per season, with a shopping list for each and helpful tips on speeding up the process and cooking with ingredients that may be new to you.

Recipes we’ve tried and loved

Scrambled Eggs with Dandelion Greens and Goat Cheese – ok, not healthy but delicious and really fun to eat a new kind of green
Black Bean and Zucchini Quesadillas – We do keep some cheese in there as a binder, but these are very veggie heavy and so delicious that I am already looking forward to next summer. And, I may blog about them next summer. They are really, really really good.
Three Sisters Stew with Okra and Leeks – I’m pretty sure baby okra want to be in this soup when they grow up.
Thai-Style Tofu and Vegetables in Spicy Coconut Broth with Jasmine Rice
Warm Mesclun Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette and Five-Minute Eggs – We don’t eat eggs very often anymore, but this was a staple at our house for over a year.
Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry with Warm Pita Bread – Recipe below
Balsamic-Roasted Seitan with Cipollini Onions – We were nervous about trying seitan, but Scott grew up a meat and potatoes guy and declared this the ultimate comfort food for him. Especially when served with:
Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips – So delicious, though you’ll want to cut way down on the butter/oil.
Crunchy Cabbage Salad – Very good, fast, light and simple. Halve the dressing.
Tomato Goat Cheese Strata – I hesitate to mention this because it is not at all healthy, but it’s really really delicious and promises to wow if you make it for a special occasion.

And in the interest of full disclosure, I will list recipes we’ve tried and have NOT loved.

The Beans Won’t Make These Again

Spinach Soup with Basmati Rice and Carrots
Curried Chickpea Pancakes with Spicy Tahini Sauce
Chilled Cucumber Soup with Mint
Spicy Corn Frittata with Tomatoes and Onions – decent, but didn’t blow us away
Arepas: Pan-grilled Colombian Corn Cakes
Lemon Lentil Soup with Spinach – I have mixed feelings about this one. It was cheap, fast, healthy and decent tasting, but Scott didn’t love it. It may make one more appearance just to be sure he doesn’t like it.
Broccoli Rabe with Balsamic Brown Butter – Meh, it was decent but horribly unhealthy.

I will say that even I discover a recipe I won’t make again, I rarely regret cooking out of this book because it gets us trying new things in season and the meals come together pretty fast.

TIP: We almost always write in pencil a rating out of 10 at the top of a recipe as we sit and eat it for the first time. We include a couple of sentences to justify the rating and it has helped immensely with figuring out what is worth making again when the season comes around the following year.

Red Lentil and Sweet Potato (Squash) Curry

We made this particular dish last night, likely for the 4th or 5th time. We used most of a sweet potato squash because we had run out of sweet potatoes and it still worked beautifully.

Canola or grapeseed oil (enough to sautee onions in, optional)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 4 cups)
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon curry powder (or 2 tsp if you use our hot curry powder from Penzeys)
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 c. red lentils
Whole wheat pita

1) Bring 3 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a small pot.

2) In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil and add the onions. Saute for 3 or 4 minutes.

3) Add the sweet potato, ginger, garlic, curry powder, and bay leaf and saute for 1 minute.

4) Pour in boiling water and stir in lentils. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes. The sweet potato should be tender and the lentils broken down.

5) Serve over (or stuffed in) warm whole wheat pita.

I have tested this theory and found it to be sound.

As her 2nd birthday looms, I’ve thought back on all the plane flights Mackenzie and I have taken together. I fly fairly regularly back to CA for working vacations with my family out there and we’ve also taken several just for fun trips. Here are all the flights I can remember:

- (in my belly) June 07′ quick flight to Baltimore for business and met up with my dad and Aunt

- (in my belly) July 07′, a week each in Utah and California to see family.

- (in my belly) Oct 07′, visit to CA then to Hawaii with my parents to sport the maternity tankini and snorkel with the fishies.

- March ‘08, a near miss with a trip to NYC that was canceled last minute. I remember being really nervous to fly with her on my own, but a medical emergency in the family had us canceling our flights anyway.

- May ‘08, an 18 day visit with my family in CA to let Scott focus on studying for the boards (4 flights, all on my own). I was so concerned about Mackenzie on the plane, I completely forgot to take care of myself. I breastfed her all day and cuddled her and I don’t think I ate or drank a thing. When we arrived, I was surprised to find I was so wiped out I could hardly walk straight. Take away lesson? If I don’t take care of myself, I can’t take care of my baby.

This was the trip where Mackenzie cut two teeth, wailed all night, and peed all over me at one business meeting, bit me while breastfeeding during another business meeting, and blew out her diaper on a road trip. We had a blast, I learned a ton, and that 2nd business meeting ended up being the beginning of a great partnership for SmugMug.

- June 08, Bean family reunion in Oregon (4 flights, all with Scott). We took an extra week to explore the coast and revisit our favorite spot from our honeymoon: Cannon Beach.

- December 08, flew to Paris on Christmas Day, drove to Venice and flew home. (7 flights, all with Scott) . A fantastic time all around, though there was a low point when we were stuck at in the ticketing area of an airport in the middle of the night for 5 hours with bright lights, hard floors, and uncomfortable chairs and one VERY tired baby.

- January 09, flew to CA for 2 weeks to attend a SmugMug getaway in Tahoe (4 flights, all on my own) . Fabulous in every way. Great skiing, great time working.

- April 09, flew to CA and then on to UT for a family double-header. (5 flights, 3 on my own) . It was especially fun to see my pregnant-with-twins sister in law, my 1 day old niece, and two of my brothers’ new houses.

- July 09, trip to CA and returned with a broken foot for Mackenzie and a confirmed vitamin D deficiency for me (something I now affectionately call “Hermit’s Disease” ) (4 flights, all on my own.)

- September 09, flew to CA for a family reunion on my side in Tahoe (4 flights, all on my own). So epic and fun, I’ll remember it forever.

- November 09, flew to NYC with Scott (and met up with my mother in law) for a quick trip because he was performing at the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. (2 flights, with Scott).

- November 09, flew to CA literally at the last minute to surprise my family for Thanksiving. (4 flights, all with Scott) More on this soon, but it was such a great trip and I’m thrilled to have such a fun, spontaneous husband.

We have no more plans in the next 24 days, so I think our trip total comes to 9 and the “Children under 2″ flights since Mackenzie’s birth is 38! Exactly half of them were just me and Mackenzie. I will definitely blog soon about my best travel tips for traveling with a baby or toddler because I’ve learned a lot by trial and error over the past few years.

Scott’s brother was picked out of the audience at a Jon Schmidt concert last week to do some improv blues on the piano. It was so fun for me to watch! Steve said it was one of those moments where you just have to grab the opportunity and enjoy the moment. I think I would have frozen up on stage for sure, assuming of course I had the skills to be up there in the first place. Hehe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Oke5bdMIs8

(You can skip the first half, where Jon Schmidt keeps trying to convince the audience he doesn’t know Steve. It’s true, he doesn’t. )

Fifteen days ago, I set a goal to blog 30 times and exercise 30 times before the new year.

How am I doing? Well, if you count this post (kind of lame, but I won’t let that stop me), I have blogged 10 times and exercised 10 times. I’ve logged 9 1/2 miles of walking, and 21 1/2 miles of running, along with 3 insanely difficult sessions with an awesome physical trainer.

That means (so far) I’m right on track, but boy this is harder than it sounded when I started out!

I watched a talk by Dr. Neil Barnard about Osteoporosis prevention, and I wanted to remember a few things he said. He focused on debunking the “milk makes for strong bones” myth, and he advocates a whole plant food diet.

“After weaning, the reasons for continuing to drink milk are cultural, not nutritional”

That’s actually paraphrasing it, but his point was hit home to me by looking at how high our dairy-heavy population’s hip fracture rate is compared to no-dairy Japan. It was staggering.

“If you want to complement your proteins, just say something nice about them!”

He was explaining that the idea of plant proteins needing to be eaten in some sort of special, carefully planned way in order to save you from protein deficiency is just silly.

“Give your bones a reason to live. Exercise.”

That made me laugh, but I think it will also motivate me to be more active.