Gems from James

Lucky you on a Monday!  I've got several gems polished up just for you!

While reflecting wistfully on his wife's always inconsistent disposition since Gracie's arrival on the scene:
"You were such a happy pregnant girl."

While shopping online:
"Look at this hat!  I don't know how much it will cost by the time I pay the shipping fee, but it doesn't matter because it's the hat I've always wanted!"

Declining my pro-offered scarf while holding our naked baby at the outdoor farmers' market on a fall day mid-diaper blowout change:
"She's going to have to learn to deal with the cold sometime."

Said the stranger passing by:
"She's shivering!"

Mentally preparing herself for the cold.

The Griswolds are preparing for another vacation - I'm sure there will be some tasty morsels for you when we return!
Shelby

Goal Oriented

We've been very busy this past week round these parts.  Busy-ness which has included, but was not limited to Gracie's four month shots, swim class, moms' group, lunch with nana, coffee with friends, and my triumphant return to (substitute) teaching.  All of this activity has meant the nap schedule has gone.  Off.  The. Rails.  And I knew I would have to pay the piper eventually. And pay I have.  So, at four thirty this notmorning notnight, I vowed that we would not be messing with the tattered remains of the nap schedule for at least two days.  Our public will just have to wait to see us for awhile.  Which will of course help build our mystique.  I know Suri would approve.
So, knowing I would be under house arrest for the next couple of days, I began setting my goals for the day.  Did I mention it was four thirty?  That may explain why my goals are somewhat mismatched.  But whatever - the important thing is that I have goals, right?
Here they are, in no particular order: Have a nap, bake this chocolate zucchini cake, work up a sweat to my new Jillian Michaels DVD.  Guess which one is yet to be accomplished?  But it's only four thirty in the pm.  Coincidence?  I think not.

It's busy-ness like this that will get you into trouble . . . 

More Surprises

No one ever told me she'd laugh like this.  That dripping sound you hear?  It's my heart melting.  That and the leaky kitchen sink neither Jimmy nor I have the brain/will power to repair.  Is it ridiculous to call a plumber about a leaky sink?  I feel like they'll laugh at us for being too incompetent to repair it ourselves, then charge us a trillion dollars while they laugh some more.  I think I'll just stick another cereal bowl under the drippity-drip and go eat up my daughter instead.
Shelby

Griswold's Family Vacation

We made it out alive.  We've survived our first family vacation with bébé in tow.  We spent one week in beautiful Victoria, just the three of us, then joined up with seven other Griswolds in Kelowna.  What makes us the Griswolds, you ask?  Some highlights, just for you:

• Arriving in downtown Victoria dressed for winter on a record breaking 30 degree day (record breaking!  It was freezing just two days before) and having to buy a completely new outfit before I melted in front of the historic Fairmont Hotel.
• Waiting in line an hour and a half for Victoria's best fish and chips, then having to run to the car twice (once to pay for more parking minutes, a second time because we forgot to take the keys to put the newly purchased parking pass in the car) just as the (well worth it) fish and chips were served.  Ok, Jimmy tells me they were worth it.  I don't eat fish.  Only chips.  Which makes the wait even more mind boggling.
• Jimmy nearly running over my foot as I tried to retrieve our first born from the back seat of the rental car.
• Finding, upon our arrival in Kelowna, that the airline handled our play pen so delicately, they managed to break every spring loaded joint in its frame.  Jimmy recommended we just lay our baby on THE FLOOR OF A RENTAL HOME to sleep.  Did I mention Gracie just learned how to roll over?  So I came up with a much classier solution: buy a playpen and return it at the end of the week.  What?  We decided the colour palette didn't work for us.
• There were many more incidents that qualify us for the Griswold standard, but I'll spare you and give you just one final escapade.  We arrived at the airport for the flight home, and as I picked Gracie up to go through security, I felt moisture.  I realized instantly that I had forgotten to pack any extra clothing in our carry on and spend the next several minutes praying it was just a pee leak. Withe bated breath I opened the diaper to see it was definitely not a pee leak, but Gracie more than answered my prayers by providing a pee fountain seconds after I opened the diaper.

Nothing says Griswold like a naked baby in an airport.  Nothing.

There were also many un-Griswold like moments.  The beautiful Butchart Gardens were absolutely incredible.  Knowing it's taking them 100 years to create their garden makes me feel better about the state of my own.

There was naked rolling over.

The naked roll over stage 1.

The naked roll over stage 2.

And because I know you can't tell on your own: The naked roll over stage 3.

And swimming.  Or swim-sleeping?  Either way, very safe, I'm sure.

Birthday parties.

And of course, spaghetti.  Spaghetti that had to be inspected, strand by strand, before being eaten.

I'll be back soon with the promised and much anticipated birth story.  The story that I swore I wouldn't want to talk about with everyone.  But now?  You couldn't shut me up if you tried.  Actually, you could, if you had ice cream, or chocolate, or cake.  Or chocolate ice cream cake.  Anyway, I've become the annoying woman who won't stop talking about pregnancy, birth, and her child.  I guess that's ok.  It's kind of a big deal.  At least to me!

To tide you over until my return, a Gem from James, vacation edition.  We were walking in downtown Victoria when I made mention of the idea of a push present, and my gratitude that my husband was blissfully unaware of this recently created tradition.  James' response after I explained the significance of a push present? 
"I'm glad I had never heard of a push present!  Sounds like a giant scam!  Where's my "I got one past the goalie present?!"
Indeed.

Until next time, much love from the Griswolds!

Anybody Still Out There?

Loooong time no see, blog o' mine.  Those first few weeks with Gracie were rough, let me tell you!  The question "How are you doing?" would bring hot and instant tears to my eyes, because I could feel the last vestiges of my old life slipping through my fingers.

"Remember when you used to just go to bed?"  I'd think to myself.  "Wash your face, brush your teeth, and lay your sweet little head on the pillow?"  In my new life, bed time meant a terrifying bath time experience with a shrieking, red-faced, Kiebler elf posing as my baby.  It meant many, many minutes of back ache inducing rock/walking, finished with a cirque du soleil-esque balancing act as I tried to lay Gracie down without waking her.  Then I would drag my bag of bones to my bed and lay my head down only to be woken several seconds later by my sweet needlet.  I remember crying hysterically to Jimmy at one point "I don't want to be sooo responsible for her every need!"  Guess I should've thought that one out a little better approximately ten months ago . . .

Bath time now invokes lady-like modesty and a micro smile.
But I can tell she's sm-eyes-ing a la Tyra Banks.

So, I thought I'd give you the Coles Notes version instead of letting my cyber tears ruin your coffee through every live long day of that beautiful transition period into motherhood. Thankfully, there were many real people over whom I could spill my real tears.  My own mother was very sympathetic, as were my sisters and sisters-in-law.  One of my friends understood my tears, after some explanation.

The convo went a little something like this:

Me: I just can't stop crying! (Said while cry-choking)

Friend: Aww, are you crying all the time because you love her so much? 

Then the tears came even harder because I was definitely not crying all the time because I loved her so much.  I was crying all the time because she terrified me!  I didn't know what to do with her, and no matter how many books I read, or whose advice I followed, I couldn't get a handle on her schedule.  Did it matter that anyone and everyone I knew who had ever come into contact with a real baby told me that a newborn will likely not follow much of a schedule?  No.  I kept reading my books when I should have been sleeping, looking for an answer.  One day Jimmy had to coax me off the ledge via phone when I called to cry to him while he was at work.  "I think it's great that you love to read books and try to find new ways to do things. But you know who's not reading all those books? Gracie."

He was right, of course.  Despite giving her my reading glasses and propping open The Baby Whisperer in front of her during tummy time (the chapter on Y, where moms are supposed to get You time - I wanted her to absorb all of that one, thank you very much, the faster the better) she wasn't toeing the line. 

Anyway, this is not turning out to be such a Coles Notes version, but I'm so certain you've missed my long windedness that you're basking in the warm glow of my complaints.  Long story short, and to everyone's relief, I do love my baby now!

Who wouldn't love this half grin?

Hormones having abated, and sleep being had at night (by Gracie, not by me - we have traded sleep patterns), I finally feel like I am doing something right, sometimes.  And what a great feeling it is, to be striving for halfway perfection, some of the time!  Well done, me!

As a reward for your patient reading, here is a gem from James, post partum edition. While at work after Gracie's birth, James was telling his co-workers all about life as a new parent. Then he threw in some details about my life as a new parent: "Yeah, Shel's back to her normal weight, but her stomach is still a little soft."

Just when you were starting to think he had a good head on his shoulders with his comment about all the parenting books above.  He fooled you!

 Look at how much bigger she is!

I'll be back later with some details of Gracie's birth story.  You've got to know there are some Gems from James in that one - at some very inopportune times - but my doctor had some gems of her own to put him in his place.  Worry not!

Shelby

She's Here!

And I was wrong!  Our little bundle has arrived wrapped by the stork in a pink blanket rather than a blue one.  Don't fault my mothers' intuition for my mistaken prediction of male offspring - these things take time to develop.  And news travels fast!  Do you think the 151 page views on the day of our girl's arrival is coincidence? Me thinks not!  Sorry not to have updated you sooner, but I've been fairly pre-occupied.  Besides, the media have taken care of updating you for me.  

You can read about our little celebrity here, here, there, over here, and also there. And much like Beyonce and Jay-Z's little arrival caused some name confusion at first (was it Ivy Blue or Blue Ivy?) the media has once again reported a baby name with some inaccuracies.  So let me set the record straight as I know this detail matters much to the world out there.  Allow me to introduce Gracie Marlowe (not Marlo or Marlow) Quinlan.  Born at 10:24 am on May 5th, weighing in at a somewhat hefty 8 lbs 2 ozs.

Tonight's another big game for proud papa Quinlan, so keep your fingers crossed out there.
Go Rush, go!
Shelby

Nursery Sources

And now, in case you have some nursery decorating of your own to do but don't have a mother who will do it for you (I don't know how you survive, you poor thing), here are the sources for all of the finds from our lovingly designed room.

First up, the wall decal, the only thing in the room I had anything to do with.When this room was the guest room, we had one branch (the lower one on the left) on the wall anchored by a bookshelf.  We had purchased the branch at our local Rona.  When we took the bookshelf out of the room, the branch was lonely, floating in the middle of the wall.  So my mom came up with the idea to turn it into the tree of life.  I took to Etsy to find someone who could custom design a tree around our existing branch, and Wilson Graphics was up to the challenge.  After sending many pictures and measurements, they designed this beautiful tree for us.  See how it even wraps around the corner on the right?  I just love how it turned out!

This unbearably cute lamp came from Home Sense.  After I bought the elephant piggy bank (which came from Indigo online) on the dresser below, my mom wanted to incorporate some other jungle animals, and this fit the theme perfectly.

I love the shapely legs and the pulls on this dresser that came from Ikea. Unfortunately for you, it is discontinued.  The Q in the window, the yellow hippo book ends, and the white tray all came from Home Sense.  The sheer curtains, curtain rod, and all of the fabrics for the bedding and chair came from Fabricland, and were sewn by my mom (alas I cannot sew on a button).

The crib and change table were hand me downs, having housed my younger sister in her babyhood, then used by my niece and nephew in more recent years.  They're made by Stork Craft, a company still in the baby furniture biz.  The chair is the best find in the whole room, in my opinion.  My mom found it at Home Sense for, are you ready?  30 dollars!  It was on clearance, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, except that the fabric didn't match our room.  The price and the size (you can see we don't have a lot of room to work with) meant my mom couldn't turn it down, and spent several torturous hours recovering it by hand.  The storage baskets on the change table came from Ikea as well.

Isn't it gorgeous though?  I love, love, love the nail head detail.

The rug was another Home Sense find, and it was the only thing I got to see before the room was put together.  My mom wanted to make sure I would like the rug because it would give the room the vintage French nursery feel she was going for. And . . . I didn't love it when she showed it to me!  It just seemed so grown up for a baby's room!  But she explained more of the vision, and of course I trusted her.  I knew I didn't want a room with a total kid-like feel (no Disney characters for me) so the rug stayed, and of course I love the results.

The drum light was from Home Sense again and it was another steal at 13 dollars! Since Home Sense can be hit or miss (in that no two stores have exactly the same stock, and what you see one day could be gone the next) it took several trips to many Home Sense stores in our city and even down highway 2 in Calgary to find this light.  But it was worth it! 

The art work are a set of oversized counting cards that my mom found at Home Sense.  Because of the aforementioned difficulties in shopping at Home Sense, you should know that these cards can also be found at Chapters and Indigo.  When I looked online, I saw that they even have different sets featuring different animals. My mom framed them with white frames from Ikea to turn them into the room's art work.
And there you have it!  
Guess what?  Today marks my 80th blog post!  An odd milestone, but a milestone nonetheless.  It's also the bébé's due date, but I need all you readers to keep your fingers crossed that labour holds off until late tomorrow evening at the earliest to Jimmy can make it home!  And it wouldn't hurt if you sent winning thoughts to Jimmy's team as they play their first play off game.
Much appreciated,
Shelby

The Big One

Today is my dad's birthday.  And it's a big one.  I'm sure he'll be ecstatic that I'm mentioning not only him, but making vague reference to his age, so let me bolster his ego with this:
Last week my sister and I were getting pedicures for her birthday, and my dad stopped by to bring birthday smoothies.  After he left and we were discussing our appreciation for our dad, the esthetician said to me, "Your dad?!  I thought he was your husband!".  And that is not the first time such a mistake has been made. Yikes!

Unfortunately it doesn't look like he will be sharing his birthday with the newest grandchild to hit the block.  Sigh.   Oh well.  Happy birthday dad!
Speaking of husbands (it was two paragraphs back - try to keep up!) my real husband has been very sweet as my grouchiness clouds up our house waiting for peanut to arrive.  But there were a couple gems from a few weeks back I thought worthy of sharing.
In regards to his inability to attend our prenatal class during which we'd learn infant CPR:
"It's just two fingers, right?"
When I asked if I should contact the trainer who works on the bench if I go into labour while he's playing out of town:
"Yeah, because that would help me play real well!" 
We have since worked out a plan that satisfies all parties involved - worry not!  And know that he always says things with the intent to tease.  We're both sweating a little bit over the fact that the bébé may decide to arrive on the scene while he's out of town.  It would make a good story, and blog post I guess . . .
Shelby

Meal Planning 101

I make a monthly meal plan.  Upon finding out this fascinating fact about me, people generally have two reactions.  They are incredulous and can't understand how or why I make my monthly menu.  Or they're torn between a combination of admiration and jealousy that I call jealmiration.  Either way, I feel an explanation is in order. Why do I feel this way?  Because my sister-in-law said she thought such a post would be interesting to my readers, and seeing as she makes up a full 25% of my readership, I cannot ignore her.  
So, the method behind the madness:
Step 1 Organize your Recipes

I use a binder with plastic sheet protectors and dividers marking out categories like soups and sauces, side dishes, meats and poultry, etc.  My recipes are torn out of magazines, photocopied from library books, handwritten, or printed off (thank you Pinterest!).  A new recipe does not make it in to the binder until it has been tested and approved by Cee Lo and Christina.  Or just Jimmy and I.  This collection of favourite recipes then becomes your reference guide for building your menu.
Step 2 Give Yourself a Framework
To make this whole process easier, I like to give each day of the week a meal type.  At our house Monday is pasta, Tuesday is meat and roast vegetables of some kind, Wednesday is soup (which will become salad for summer), Thursdays are for stir fry, Friday is "fun" night, meaning homemade pizzas, quesedillas, or nachos (I know, woo hoo!). Saturdays are a "wild card" day meaning it's the day I usually try a new recipe or we go out to eat (the good times never take a break around here).  Sunday is the day my dad makes dinner, and I love leaving that day blank.  Of course, this framework should be customised to fit your schedule.  I purposely plan a lighter meal on Wednesday because that is yoga night.  You may want to plan to make a larger meal one night and have left over night the following day when you are busy with some activity or other.  You could even come up with a set of meals for two weeks and just keep rotating through them, adding something new in every once in awhile. To keep things fresh, I try not to repeat the same dish within a two week span, unless it's one we love.  
Step 3 Lay it Out
Get yourself a calendar of some kind and write your meals out so you can see them.  This is crucial!  I like typing my meals into my iCal.  Then I have them on my phone if I'm out and about and need to pick something up at the store.  
Now that you've got your plan laid out, take a look at your meals and start the master shopping list.  I use a ready made list like the one below to simplify the job a bit.  

I look at my calendar and tally how many meals I'll need chicken, beef, or pork chops for.  Likewise, how many packages of short or long pasta will I need for the month?  And so on.  Since most of the recipes are familiar to me, I can think of the main ingredients off the top of my head, but sometimes I reference back to the binder to double check.  I always look through my cupboards to see what I already have and which staples (spices, olive oil, etc) I'm running low on. In terms of produce and other perishable items, I look at what I'll need for the first week or so of the plan.  Add to this the breakfast, lunch and snack foods you normally buy, and you're ready to hit the store.  I usually go to Save On Foods for the first Tuesday of the month to get 15% off my entire purchase.  Superstore also offers a $25 gift card when you spend $250 once a month.  The only thing is, I don't like to buy my meat at Superstore, so it can be hard to get to $250, and it means I have to go to another store.  But sometimes it's worth it as Superstore has such great prices on other household items like dish soap, laundry detergent, and toiletries.  And I can always find something in the Joe Fresh section to bump up the tally.  Either way, I do only one big shop per month.  I freeze all of my meats and cheese to make it last, and I buy produce and other forgotten items on a weekly or bi-weekly trip as needed.
FAQ'S
A friend once asked me "What about freedom of choice?  What if you don't feel like having spaghetti and meatballs on a given night?".  Others may wonder what will happen if you decide to go out last minute (again, I say others because I never decide on anything last minute).  These people are just trying to find an excuse to avoid planning.  It's incomprehensible to me, but there you have it!  My answer is simple: if you don't want a planned meal on the night it's written, you swap it for another night.  And if you go out instead, maybe you just drop that meal all together.There's room for flexibility within the plan, really!  But knowing the plan is there far outweighs these petty worries about so called "freedom to choose".
And there you have it!  It takes some work, but I find the less often I'm at the store, the less money I spend.  And I love having a ready answer to the question "What am I going to make for dinner?".  It's like the runner's high for people who like to organize.  Jimmy raves on and on about what a marvel I am.  He really appreciates all the thought I put into the meal plan.  Or not.  Let's face it, this whole system is built around satisfying my OCD tendencies.  Jimmy wouldn't mind if we had the same meal every other day.  He does, however compliment my cooking on a regular basis.  He just isn't interested in the planning that brings it to his plate.
If you're still reading, I applaud you.  This seems very long winded and uninteresting, not to me because I love planning, but other, non-planners probably needed a nap half way through step 2.  We'll see if my sister-in-law was right through the page views and always plentiful comments left by my mom and her desk mate at work, each representing another 25% of my readers.
Always striving for new heights of neuroses,
Shelby

Nursery Reveal!

You know that my mom is the fashion and art director here at Chez Quinlan, but did you know she is also the fashion and art director of my life too?  Well she is.  And she does a fabulous job.  Her latest project?  The nursery, bien sûr.  The theme? Vintage French Nursery.
The nursery used to be our guest room - of which I have no pictures.  I do have some kind of before pics through which you can see the amazing transformation.

Blah . . .

Floating branch that used to be anchored by the guest room book case.

The old chair and artwork from the guest room.

And now . . . the end result!  It's so full of sweet little touches and details.  My mom did a beautiful job.

As you come in the door, on your right.  More details on the artwork in a post to follow.

A view of the chair, painstakingly re-covered by my mom. You won't believe the deal she got on the chair - sources to come soon!

Notice the nail head detail.

The très French looking dresser.

A view of the chic rug and hand sewn crib skirt and mama's blanket for those late nights.

More of the custom created linens - and yes, I know the bébé can't actually use them.  It's for the look people! The little pillow (which also won't be used - yet- was mine.  It's printed with French poetry, and my mom turned it into a mini pillow for the little one.

The custom made wall decal we plan to use as a growth chart.

My mom calls it the tree of life.  Worry not - sources are coming!

The unbearably cute giraffe lamp and sleek and stylish side table.

The of the moment drum light, lovingly installed by James, after my dad taught him how to do it with our dining room lights.

 My mom slaved over this room.  She did all of the shopping, sewing, and pounding of upholstery nails, not to mention trying to figure out how to fit all of that furniture into a not so big room.  All I did was find a designer for the tree of life then help my mom put it on the wall.  Jimmy of course risked life and limb with the electrical and moved the old furniture out.  Other than that the room was a total surprise fro me and Jimmy, which was so fun to come home to after yoga one afternoon.  And now we wait . . . 10 days to the due date.  Jimmy told me the other day it might be time to tell his boss that we're having a baby seeing as he may need to leave work in a hurry any day now.  
"What?!" I said. "You still haven't mentioned it?"
His reponse: "I like to keep my private life private."
Clearly.
I'll be back soon with all the details on where my mom found all the goods!
Shelby

Guess Who's Back?

Back again?  My cousin Wyatt and his ukulele, that's who.  He's got a cute band mate too.  And of course my stellar skills as a videographer are on display.

Family dinners aren't just an opportunity for Wyatt to wow us with is musical talent. It's also a time for us girls (and one boy) to strike a pose.

Don't look directly at the belly.  Those lines can make you dizzy.

And just when I said "Pontifications from Paul" wouldn't become a regular feature, Paul goes ahead and delivers more material for me to make use of.  As I mentioned, Paul lives out of town, and as he was preparing to hit the road the other day, he told me he'd be back in nine days.

Me: You never know, the baby could be born by then!

Paul: What? No!

Me: Yeah!  We're only two and a half weeks from the due date.

Paul: Really?  Wow!  You look great, then!  I didn't realize it was so close.

Thanks, Paul.

Shelby

PS. Sometimes uploading videos and pictures and the formatting on Blogger makes me really mad.  Do you see how one of my paragraphs above is actually a part of the picture caption?  And do you think I could fix it?  Also, I had to create my own YouTube channel in order to upload that video.  Just saying . . . a post that should've taken me 20 minutes to publish has taken an hour and a half.  I'm done my complaining for the day.  Now you can go and complain to someone else about how you wasted six minutes of your life listening to me complain.  You're welcome.

Feathering the Nest

. . . or preparing for the apocalypse.  I have this fear that once the baby is born neither Jimmy nor myself will be able to visit a grocery store ever again.  

To be fair though, there are two loaves of bread in there somewhere that I picked up for my Nana and haven't delivered yet.  Once those are out of there it will really free up some space.

I've mentioned before that James hasn't been spouting many gems lately.  I think my late third trimester grouchiness has really put him off his game.  You know how I know?  He volunteered to clean the kitchen tonight.  Volun.  Teered.  As opposed to voluntold.

Luckily, his brother Paul is in town and has provided me with some fodder.

Paul: So Shel, do you find that you're really a lot warmer carrying all that extra fat, I mean body weight, around?

Even Jimmy shot him a look that warned him he may have only moments left to live.

Seeing as Paul lives out of town, the lovely little tidbits he says aren't likely to become a regular feature here at Chez Quinlan, but if that changes, I think I'll call it "Pontifications from Paul". 

One can only hope!

Shelby

Adventures in Babysitting

Today I put in what I'm hoping will be my last baby sitting shift before the bébé arrives.  With so many nieces and nephews, you might wonder how I can be sure I won't be called to the front lines again.  Thankfully after a long winter away, my mother-in-law is set to return this Thursday and will resume her regular child minding duties.
And as far as last shifts go, this one did not disappoint.  Highlights included wiping a very stinky and very sticky poop out of the training potty, a four year old and several bottles of brightly coloured nail polish, and a 36.5 week pregnant woman dropping it like it's hot in order to wipe up a "small" pee accident from the floor.  
Before all of this, the day started off quietly enough with a little baking project. Remember when I almost poisoned my nephew who is allergic to eggs?  Today I vowed to make up for that little blunder with some egg free baking.  Not only is the recipe egg free, it's also gluten, sugar, and butter free.  And it doesn't taste like cardboard, either!  

The original recipe comes from 101 Cookbooks, and I changed it only slightly.  The genuine article calls for 1/3 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut, but I care not for the texture nor flavour of coconut, so I left it out.  I've made the recipe twice now, and I have one tip.  As there is no sweetener in this recipe aside from that long, yellow fruit from the tropics, be sure your bananas are venerably ripe to impart a hint of sweetness.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Inspired by 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients

3 large, ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coconut oil, warmed until just melted

2 cups rolled oats

2/3 cup almond meal

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl whisk together oats, almond meal, cinnamon, salt and baking powder.  In a separate bowl combine bananas, vanilla and coconut oil.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  The dough is a bit looser than a traditional cookie dough, so don't be alarmed.

3. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.  Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the bottoms are golden.  Makes about 3 dozen bite sized cookies.

And to finish the day off, my six year old nephew is hosting his second annual NHL playoff draft.  Last year I came in dead last.  I can't say why, as I have a bullet proof strategy.  I pick players who have names that sound cool.  I'll let you know how it goes this year.  I'm hoping for stellar results.  

Shelby

Women

My friend Paul, who is not a woman, shared this video, and as he said, it's funny, but not funny.  

An easy trap for women to fall in to - being sure to take care of others and leaving themselves last.  I think we all know someone (man or woman) who doesn't look like the type of person to have a heart attack. Someone who is young and at a healthy weight, but unimaginably, does have a heart attack.  If we know the signs and catch an attack early, hopefully tragedy can be prevented.
Paul maintains not one but two blogs!  One related to all things lacrosse and the program he and Jimmy run here in Edmonton and the other about his family and their experience with two sons far, far away at prep school.  I of course, read both blogs religiously.  Ok, so I don't always read the lacrosse blog, and I may skip over the posts on the family blog that deal strictly with sports, but I love the videos he makes of his boys (and not because Jimmy makes occasional appearances either), especially the soundtracks he picks to go with them.  Paul was Jimmy's coach once upon a time, and he taught Jimmy the same thing he teaches his own sons now - the value of hard work.  
I can't wait to annoy and perhaps embarrass our kids when I post videos and pictures of them online.  Ah the joys and privileges of parenthood! 
Shelby

A Dog?

Through work, Jimmy has become friends with a lovely family who have been blessed with four sons.  Yes, four.  Upon hearing our baby news, the saintly mother of those four boys (who should really have a personal assistant to help her organize their hockey practices) exclaimed that if our baby is a girl she is taking her home.  I guess someone who is that starved for an extra x chromosome will do anything, even raise five children!
We were visiting with three of the four boys last weekend, and Jimmy began teasing them about the fact that they could be welcoming an adopted sister into their home if their mom's wish comes true.  The youngest boy, an animated five year old announced that this wasn't a concern as he suspected the baby would be a boy. But he added, if it was a dog, he'd take it.  
After we recovered from our laughter, Jimmy asked what he'd name the dog. Without hesitation the boy declared "Lilly!"  So no sister for him, but he does want his new pet to be a girl.  
Oh boy!
Shelby

Gems from James: Christmas Past Edition

I know it's March and I shouldn't really be thinking about Christmas, but I figured we could all use a little Christmas cheer to hold us over till the next big holiday.  I'm talking about St. Patrick's Day of course.  What?  I'm very Irish - haven't you seen my last name?!
So anyways, you all know James produces gems for me to mine like gangbusters all year round, but what you didn't know was that he really shines them up in time for Christmas.  It all started way back in his university days with his job at a very classy wine store (which just moved to a beautiful new location, btw).  Most people agree that enjoying a festive beverage at Christmas time is right up there with building gingerbread houses, and so Christmas Eve is always a very busy day at the store.  The generous owner of the store would reward his hard working staff with a well deserved sip here and there throughout the day, opening bottles he had been saving up all year just for the occasion.  Needless to say, when the working day ended at four o'clock Jimmy required a chauffeur to get him to Christmas dinner where the festivities would continue.  After we were married it became a new tradition that Jimmy and I would meander back to my parents' house at the end of the night on Christmas Eve so that Santa might fill our stockings there.  
And thus Gems from James Christmas Edition was born.  Because he is such a generous soul, at Christmas time Jimmy shares his verbal nuggets with my whole family and not just me.  These are the type of gems that have mileage for years, and are often brought up at Sunday dinners.  Now that he no longer works at the wine store sipping vintage reds all day long, he has to work a little harder and faster to get himself into the festive mood, but he never, ever fails.
The year after we were married was the year Jimmy whisper-shouted to my parents and siblings what my Christmas gift (that I had yet to open) would be while I was sitting next to him, repeating his news every few minutes as he promptly forgot what he had just said.
A couple of years ago, Jimmy again suffered short term memory loss, saying to my sister:
"Do you like coconut flavoured lip gloss?  Because Shel got this coconut flavoured lip gloss from my aunt, and she doesn't like coconut.  You should have that coconut flavoured lip gloss."
And again, moments later:
"Do you like coconut flavoured lip gloss?  Because Shel got this coconut flavoured lip gloss from my aunt, and she doesn't like coconut.  You should have that coconut flavoured lip gloss."
But Christmas 2011 definitely takes the cake.  We pulled up to my parents' house, car loaded with gifts and food for the coming celebrations, and Jimmy decided at that exact moment he must immediately relieve himself . . . in the shrubs.  My very responsible brother-in-law chose this exact moment to exit the house to help his pregnant sister-in-law and her husband unload the car, which he did, laughing the whole time.  I don't believe Jimmy actually unloaded much from the car.  But he did make it into the house to have just one more celebratory Grey Goose and juice with his sibs-in-law.  Short term memory loss caused him to ask my sister several time where she had been that evening and otherwise entertain us, until suddenly, there was a pause in the conversation.  Jimmy leaned back in his chair and unleashed the best Christmas Edition gem yet:
"Man . . . a bird could fly right in to my face right now, and I wouldn't even care!"
We were stunned into silence.  Who knows what led him on this train of thought. The Grey Goose?  The thought of Christmas turkey?  We're not sure.  But we laughed at the absurdity of it.  
Jimmy didn't last much longer.  He suddenly became pale and announced he wouldn't be finishing his one last drink.  He made his way up to bed as I bid goodnight to the sibs, then followed a few minutes later.  I wasn't able to make it very far however, as I stumbled over a giant husband shaped lump lying at the top of the dark stairs.  I roused my no longer festive husband, and guided him to bed, where he rolled over and said:
"I really shouldn't have eaten those gummies.  They're what did me in!" And promptly fell into a peaceful slumber, sugar plum fairies spinning above his snoring head.  
And hey, guess what else?  I've been published on someone's site other than my own!  You can check out my first article here.
Can't you hardly wait for Christmas 2012?!  I told you some Christmas cheer was what we needed!
Update:  Jimmy just walked in the door and asked what I was doing.  I told him I was writing a blog post all about him.  His reply?
"It's about time you gave the people what they want!"  I need never worry about lacking material while he's around.
Shelby