Poopcicles

Adeline is more than 10 months old now and Joel and I have become accustomed to being parents. One of the chores that we have worked into our lives with baby is that of washing diapers. I don't even notice the extra loads anymore. It's just all very routine. Joel does his share too and to be honest I find stuffing and folding clean diapers in the evening kind of relaxing, the bright colors stacked on the couch in fluffy rows. However, anyone who is thinking about making cloth diapers part of your routine I have one new piece of advice for you:

Don't leave the used diapers from daycare in the car overnight when it's 4 degrees outside. The resulting diaper ice cubes are a challenge to un-stuff and wash. They will undoubtedly be covered in pee frost and filled with frozen poo which may sound like it would be less offensive but trust us. It's not.

AN OPEN INVITATION

To Christmas Eve Dinner

Tomorrow Night 6pm

The Mulder House

Children of all ages welcome

Dela at Dinner

Well the time has come to start giving Adeline real food. Last night we had Chicken and peas (sorry Karen if that offends you). Dela loved the chicken. There is no question about that. Turn the volume up on your computer to hear what I mean.

The Holidays in Full Swing

It seems to me that the holidays rather snuck up on us this year. Maybe it's the baby, maybe the busy change in work maybe even the fact that it's about 50 degrees outside today. In any case Thanksgiving was delicious and is now long gone and we patiently await Christmas which we will be spending here in Cleveland. We are looking forward to seeing both sides of the family including grandparents that we don't often get a chance to hug the week after.
We put up our tree last weekend, it's not the best tree ever but it's pretty. We have a tradition when it comes to decorating the tree. Forget the eggnog we always break out a bottle of champagne. We put the lights on the tree first of course but then we fish through the ornaments and find the cork from last years bottle of champagne and hang that on the tree first. Then come all of the glittering homemade and story laden ornaments including a bulb we had as a wedding favor at our reception, a broken Bethlehem ornament Joel's parents brought him back from the West Bank. Due to a tree stabilization mishap in aught 4 it now just says Beth em. We finish the bottle of champagne in front of the fire and the last ornament to go on the tree is this year's cork. It's a great tradition but one that may leave our tree covered in cork by the time we are grandparents ourselves. Maybe we'll start stringing them together into garland....
Happy Holidays everyone! and an open invitation: Whether you celebrate or not you are welcome to our house on December 24th for a Christmas dinner. We will be in town and hope to share some of the holiday with our friends.

Heading North

Tomorrow morning Joel and Adeline will be picking me up from Lakewood after my overnight shift and we will be driving North for Thanksgiving. It's Adeline's first, obviously, so we are very excited to spend it with the Vandenbergh/Hull clan. It will be a quick trip because I have to work on Sunday but I wanted to take a minute and wish all of our adored family and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving and to share some things that we are thankful for.

We are thankful that we are healthy and warm
We are thankful for our beautiful daughter
We are thankful for our family and friends here in Cleveland and around the world
We are thankful for our home and the food in our kitchen
We are thankful that we both have been blessed with jobs which allow us to make a difference in the lives of children and families
We are thankful for each other

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

To Ponder

Why is champagne always better when it's enjoyed with friends? and blue?


Why do babies like to suck snot from their face?

How do babies always know the difference between the real remote and the crappy old one you've taken the batteries out of and given them to appease them??

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

For Adeline's first Halloween we went reverse trick or treating. We visited a few friends on the street and handed out candy. No we did not throw her onto the ice but we did have to explain our outfits to a few people.
For those of you who are not hockey fans or from Michigan it is the tradition at a Red Wings game to throw an octopus onto the ice when the Wings are doing well or just need some motivation. It all started many years ago when a hockey team needed to win eight games to win the Stanley cup. A seafood store owner in Detroit decided an octopus on the ice would be the perfect "rally call" and the rest is very stinky and messy history.

I dunno. I guess coming from a family who are both environmentalist and who both love cultures from all over the world, one being an educator, one being a healer, we feel comparing the good points makes the decision for us.

Get out an vote this Tuesday.

In Bloom

I am proud to announce that after growing orchids for more than 5 years with plenty of new growth but never a flower I now have one orchid in bloom (my phalenopsis) and 2 more in "spike" which will bloom soon.

In addition the Hibiscus hasn't stopped blooming since August and I even have flowers on my african violet. I am very good at keeping plants alive and getting them to grow but I have never been able to get anything to bloom. I don't know what's going on but I love it!



OK so it bloomed sideways. I'm not picky!

ps thank you to my wonderfully greenthumbed husband for teaching me everything I know.

8 MONTHS!!!!!

How do you like me now?

More Boston

The last post was added in a hurry. Now it's the weekend and I thought I'd add a little more about our adventure to Boston. I also added some to the movie. We had a great time. Dela made her first plane trip with ease. She fussed a little on the way out there, but slept for the entire plane ride on the way home. Her battle with Lob-lob must have worn her out. Sarah enjoyed many conference talks about various medical things and Adeline and I enjoyed the town. One day Dela and I went to the Boston community gardens right near Fenway Park. I was really neat to see all those small garden plots competing to look their best. As a whole family we went down to the New England Aquarium and watched lots of sea life doing their thing. Then we walked next door to Local Sea Food and ate lots of sea life. On Saturday we rented a Cadillac. (Well actually we rented a "Ford Aveo or similar" but the car company screwed up our reservation and only had a nice souped up Caddie for us.) So we took our pimped ride up to Concord, NH to see our friends Sean and Sadie. They moved out there this summer from Ohio, and we miss them already. They are expecting their first little boy on Halloween. Unfortunately we forgot the camera when we went up their. All in all we had a great time in Boston. One thing we didn't anticipate is with a little kid along for the ride, you can't leave your hotel room after she goes to bed...7 pm. So next time we go up, Dela's going to visit some grandparents, so Sarah and I can check out Boston's night life.

Hi! Look at me in my basket with my friends!! I'm having so much fun.


Mommmmmmyyyy I don't want any of my friends from school to see you kiss me!


What????? I'm teething. I'm allowed....



Here's proof. You can see my little tooth in this shot.

Rainy weekend

It's been a pretty quiet week in the Mulder house. Adeline has adapted to sleeping without a pacifier though every once in a while we'll walk past one in the house and her hand will shoot out at it. I think she secretly wishes for elasto-arms. Guinness is glad there is no such thing. Adeline is also putting up her first tooth. You can barely see the little white point sticking out of her lower gum. Poor thing. She has forgotten how to eat solid food and all she wants to do is nurse and chew on a teething ring. We can't keep them cold long enough.

The school year is in full swing for Joel and I am counting down my chief days. October 20th is my first day as not a chief. I can't wait. In the mean time I submitted my proposal to completely overhaul the residency program to my boss. I mean scrap the whole curriculum and start over. He's excited about it and now I have to stall him so that none of it happens before I'm long gone. They can blame all the change on me once I'm gone... I don't mind.

In similar news I signed my contract for my Job starting next summer in Traverse City. We'll miss Cleveland, esp. the people here.... Ya'll know who you are :-(

Our house is being painted and we got new windows for the front of the house. Both updates are badly needed and the paint job especially is long overdue. We'll post some pics when it is done.

I posted new pictures on our Shutterfly account in response to a Grandparent uprising. Enjoy!

Last March of the Pacifiers

On Wednesday we decided it was time to get rid of the pacifier. Adeline is 6 months old now and there is no reason why she should still have it. In my heart I know it will be easier to get rid of now than in another 6 months. So.....

Wednesday night we put her down without it. She cried for about 45 minutes like she did when we first started with the bedtime routine. But she fell asleep with only a few visits from mom and dad to tell her everything was OK. She slept the rest of the night and only woke twice for a few minutes at a time.

THEN we took her to day care. Joel dropped her off sans pacifier but since miss Bella doesn't come in until 8 Joel didn't get to tell her we were weaning. Long story short when Joel picked up Dela at 4 she had a brand new Winnie the Poo pacifier that the ladies from daycare had gone out and bought her. They felt bad that Adeline's mom and dad could be so mean and had forgotten one for the day. She apparently had the biggest "I-fooled-you" smile on her face we have seen yet.

Needless to say we had to start over last night but it wasn't as bad. She only cried for about 15 minutes and slept through the whole night with only one squeal around 1am.

I personally feel bad for denying Adeline of her one guilty pleasure while she's just ramping up to teething and when we were in the book store with her Wednesday we got her a monkey puppet which she LOVES. It's like the kitty but it lets her yank on it's tail and put it in her mouth.

We named it Paci.

Here is a compilation of a typical Dela day

....We Made Her For The World

Well the day has finally come. Adeline had her first day at Ghettocare today. It's actually The Cleveland Heights Educare but I have always called it by the first name, even before we had Dela. I joke because the outside looks like a lock-down high security building but it's a very nice daycare with bright clean rooms and friendly staff, good ratios and all the right activities. Adeline's "teacher" is Isabella who is kind of like an elderly Romanian Merry Poppins. Very sweet.

I know that we are very lucky to have put off daycare for 6 months. We certainly could not have done it without my mother and Joel's mother both of whom are saints for pitching in 3 or more weeks to watch Adeline. We are eternally greatful for them. But time has flown and here we are.

I couldn't actually be the one to drop Adeline off. I would have started crying like I did all last night. Instead I helped pack her up, wrote her name in permanent marker in all of her diapers, put together a care bag with all the things a baby might need, kissed her and watched as Joel and Adeline cheerfully marched down the street in the stroller. She smiled a lot and I wonder if she wondered why she was going for a stroller ride so early in the morning. Joel assures me that Dela handled the drop off well and was very interested in all the new people and toys. Still I can't wait to see her when I get home from work today.

It's not that I think daycare is a bad thing. It's actually really good for kids to play with other children, learn all about sharing and rules not to mention not being the center of the universe for a few hours each day. The trade off is the snot nose. (Which Joel has vowed Adeline will never have...) Still it is a hard transition as many of you know. God bless my wonderful husband for helping me through it. Last night I was all blubbering about being a bad mom and wishing I could quit my job and career. Joel made me feel better and said something that I've been repeating to myself all day to get me through. He said "She is a precious baby but we didn't make her just for us. We made her for the world and now we have to share". I love them both so much!

So now I think I should share my Baby Bill of Rights. These are things that I believe all babies are entitled to. Let me know what you think.

1. A baby is entitled to be loved unconditionally by both parents and as many grandparents as possible.

2. A baby has the right to be healthy and to the privileges available to make that happen including vaccines, car seats, vigilant parents etc.

3. A baby has the right to a complete meltdown after 5 hours in a car or the 5th pass between strangers.

4. A baby has the right to a routine and a safe, quiet place to sleep every night.

5. A baby has a right to his/her mother's breast milk whenever and wherever they please as well as all of the benefits and privileges included therein.

6. A baby has the right to be taken outside and to new places to explore his/her world through touch, sound, smell, sight and occasionally even taste.

7. A baby has the right to be held by their mother if they are in pain.

8. A baby has the right to an advocate at home, at daycare and at the doctor's office.

9. A baby has the right to a clean diaper and a regular bath.

10. A baby has the right to laugh, play, learn and love as they please.

What an Adventure!!!

Dela has been having the time of her life. First, Nana and Grampa Bo come from Michigan to visit for the weekend. Then the next weekend we drive to Starved Rock State Park on the Illinois River for another Mulder Family Adventure. Having grandparents around two weekends in a row can really spoil a girl, but Dela doesn't seem to mind.
She had a grand adventure. She got to see caves for the first time, and even go inside them... with a little help from dad and Tyler. We had a good game of where's the Adeline.
And long talks during hikes. But the best thing was all the cousins. Nathan is a little behind, so there are no cousins on the Hull side. Ellen, Laura, Jared, Tyler, and Ben were all very happy to see Adeline. This was not the first time they met Adeline, but it is the first time they were all together at once. Ellen and Laura of course are thrilled that Adeline has made the ratio of girl cousins to boy cousins equal.

The boys really liked Adeline too however... especially. The first thing he would say upon entering the room was, "Where's Baby Adeline?" He was really good with her. We all had a really good time. There was also a water park which we didn't get any picture in (if any other Mulders have pictures, we'd love a copy) that Dela loved. She splashed in the kiddie pool and grabbed at the waterfalls. Unfortunately, she would on occasion try to lick the water and ended up with a face full. That wasn't as fun.
All in all, all had a good time. Another successful Mulder Family Adventure has come to pass.

Dela's First Family Adventure!!

Yes, it's that time of year again for the Mulder Family Adventure. We are really looking forward to it, since this will be Adeline's first one. It's hard to believe she's almost 6 months old already. As you can see, she is quite the happy little kid.She is also a big advocate for A.I.D.S. relief in Africa, as you can see by her "Red Campaign" outfit. She is eating solid foods now and enjoys beans, bananas (see previous post) and carrots. For carrots she has decided to go into a little more artistic media of color accented black and white.

Note the drama in her eyes... and on her face.

Playing has also become a lot more enjoyable, since Dela has figured out how to sit on her own. She is obviously very proud of that. That will come in handy on the Family Adventure which we are leaving for today. After that, Dela's next big excitement is the start of football season...
I think we need to have a talk with her about loyalties.

"Hey, where's the remote?"

Bananas

As many of you know Joel (and I) have this thing against bananas. They are bad for the environment, one of the most genetically modified plants you can buy, (ever see a seed in your banana), they are economically devastating to parts of central america and yes they even have been known to fund terrorism in the form of rebel guerrillas.

BUT:

While at Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) this weekend we found an alternative source of bananas. There is a group in Costa Rica that uses banana farming to teach sustainable agriculture to local people. The Earth brand pays them fair wages and doesn't destroy their land. So now we can have bananas. I would also encourage any of you who shop at all at Whole Fools to consider buying these rather than from Dole, Delmonte or Chiquita.

Check it out.
http://www.earth-brand.org/social.php



The best part is Dela can now have bananas with her homemade string bean baby food and rice cereal. Yes I'm that mother......

Toys Rule!!

Here's a clip of Adeline in her new Exersaucer that we got from a friend. I thought it would make a good Delafix for you grandparents out there who don't get to see her as much as grandparents would want.

**** Warning: this video contains scenes of graphic cuteness****

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 egg beaten
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon vanilla
(combine in large bowl)
1 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Combine in separate small bowl and blend into liquid mixture
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
12 oz chocolate chips

Stir these into other ingredients, mix well, drop onto baking sheet like every other cookie you've ever made.
Bake @ 350 degrees 10-15 minutes

BEETS!!!

What does one do with beets?

A LA CUISINE!!!

This week's secret ingredient is cabbage!!

For those of you who are thoroughly confused let me take a step back and explain.

The Hatgas' and the Mulders have joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. Every Tuesday we walk down to Coventry and pick-up our share of veggies for the week. The great part about a CSA is that you don't always know what you are going to get. This week we got potatoes, scallions, yellow squash, zucchini, radishes a pint of blackberries and, you guessed it, a head of cabbage.

The 4 of us decided that it would be fun to take the craziest ingredient in the bag and have a cook off the following weekend using that ingredient, Iron Chef style. (I'm not going to explain that show to you but it's worth checking out sometime especially if you've never thought about turning raw blue footed chicken into ice cream)

Last night was battle cabbage. It was an interesting meal. We started with a cabbage and potato soup that Joel made (Irish) Then continued on to my favorite; Kelly's Cabbage Stir fry with shrimp (Chinese) next my Cabbage Tikkis with yellow squash Chutney (Indian) and finished with Kevin's Cabbage, bacon, barbecue pancake (Japanese). I would call all of them a success but in the end my Tikki's took home the prize. It was a lot of fun and it was a great chance to learn how to cook with a vegetable that I've never taken a second look at in the grocery store. I always thought it was for sauerkraut and coleslaw and I've never been a fan of either. I'm hoping that the next ingredient is just as challenging. Maybe some Bok choi.

In the meantime here are a few things we all learned about cabbage:

1) It gets everywhere
2) It does not freeze well

3) 1 head of cabbage will give you about 6 cups of shredded green stuff.

4) It doesn't go as well with Bacon as it does with shrimp.

5) Most Cabbage recipes also call for onions

6) It's not just for green Jell-o anymore!!!!

Adeline recommends the alligator.

A Trip North for the 4th

It was a long weekend but as always worth the trip. Joel, Dela and I drove North to the farm/lake last Thursday and spent a long weekend visiting with aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, grandparents and great-grandparents. Adeline did great. She was tired by the end and she is still catching up on sleep but we couldn't ask for a better baby.

As always when we head back to Michigan we are reminded of all the wonderful things that wait for us in "pure" Michigan and the reasons why, though Cleveland has a lot to offer, we feel the need to raise Dela there. Of course there is the "proximity to family" but beyond that there are a few less tangible reasons. Here are two, I have many...

The sunrise. When we stay at the farm, one of the things that I notice is the sunrise. It sounds silly and even a little cliche but it took me 4 years of living in the city to realize that I had missed over a thousand sunrises. Not that the sun doesn't rise in Ohio (though some maize and blue fans may suggest it) but it is obscured by row after row of house after house, building after building and instead you wake with the sense that the sun is up or perhaps, if you are lucky and travel East in the morning, you may steal a glimpse of it rising over buildings, a 5 lane road paving the way. I have sorely missed the moment that, looking out to the East, you can see the sun rise over the horizon obscured by nothing but the arc of the earth. At sunset in Cleveland you never get to see the shadow of a tree stretch on for what seems like an infinity before disappearing altogether into the shade. In the same way are lost the moonrise and the moonset.

The stars. I can count the stars in the city and within 40 miles of it. In Northern Michigan on a clear night there are more stars than dark sky. You can barely make out the constellations not because they are dim but because all the stars in between are so bright. You can see the Milky Way and sometimes the Northern lights. I want Dela to grow up knowing what a night sky should look like.

To even it out I feel i should add one reason why staying in Ohio wouldn't be all bad. The drivers. Sure when you get off the expressway and onto Chippewa Lake Road everyone waves at everyone else regardless of familiarity. It's just how it's done. However, once you hit an expressway, that is to say I-96 and South, you get the Michigan ("We invented 'em, we built 'em, we'll drive 'em into the ground") driver. This said, on this trip, I found myself as the "quintessential Michigan Driver" you have heard me talk about before. This is because at our first pit stop on the way home I opened the back door to get Adeline out to stretch and two spent shotgun shells fell to the pavement. Anyone who can help me figure out how they got in my truck will be rewarded.

Where have the Mulders been??

good question but if you had this at home would you be able to put it down and blog???

So here is a brief run down of our last month or so.

1. I was offered a job in Traverse City. We're moving next June.

2. Joel had his first Father's Day. Dela got him a kiddy pool. Fun ensued....

3. I've taken up cheese making, inspired by some friends of ours. So far I've made queso blanco, mozerella and ricotta. They all turned out pretty well.

4. Tim Russert Died. We are very sad. GGRRR Nachos GRRRR Football GRRR GOP. I don't know how we're going to make it through this year's presidential elections.

5. Joel is now Mr. Mom. He and Adeline have been spending some good quality time together while I'm at work.

6. We've both finished reading World War Z and feel pretty confident I could survive the Zombie wars. Sorry Kevin and Holly you aren't getting your Machete back. Now I'm on to the Omnivore's Dilemma. Adeline has taken to her nighttime story. She tries to reach for the pictures and grab the words. Curious george is covered in drool.

7. Adeline had her 4 month check up. She now weighs about 13# 7oz and is growing more every day.

8. Our garden was decimated not by the usual suspects like deer, rabbits and slugs but by quarter sized hail.

9. The new residents start on Tuesday as does my 2nd tenure as chief. God save us all.

10. We're heading up to the farm this weekend to show off the baby and to get a little R&R. We'll see many of you soon.

Memorial Day Weekend
through the eyes of a three month old

"What the...."

"I don't know what it is daddy, but it's big!"

"Nana does this hat make my head look small?"

"oohhhh bubbles...."

"Mommy don't leave me with the monkeys!!"

"What the....."



"Mommy, what is daddy doing???"




"It's NOT MY FAULT!!"




"Kelly made me do it.."
or
"Mommy I said don't leave me with the monkeys!!!"




"Life's pretty good....."



"....But it's bed time"