Annual Pumpkin Carve

Every year we do an annual pumpkin carve. This year we specifically invited a few of the newer younger couples in our ward so that we could all get to know each other better. It's amazing how much good conversation came out of an evening of carving pumpkins. With arms in pumpkin goop and our hands busy carving, we had hours to talk and I was so impressed with these new friends: one wants to start an art guild, one is an accomplished actress, and one is an entrepreneur. With good company and plates of really tasty pumpkin cream cheese turnovers that Krista brought, it was such a pleasant way to spend the evening.


Krista and Ertle made a scary face, Maria and Brinton cleverly brought a graphic printed out on paper which they traced to make their owl, I made a pumpkin, and Marianne and Steven made a Tarheel.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pumpkin Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting

My friend Damaris has a popular food blog - Kitchen Corners - you know the one! And this month she is hosting a pumpkin recipes cook off. Although I'm generally not competitive about basically anything (never be on my team for any game because I will probably tell the other team the answers), there are a few things that get me to try new recipes, and they are a) a potluck or dinner party, and b) a contest. This is the latter! Vote for me! Just kidding, there is no voting involved. Just try the recipe, and I'll be satisfied.

Pumpkin Cake

4 eggs
1 2/3 c. sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 16 oz. can of pumpkin
2 c. flour
2 teasp. baking powder
2 teasp. cinnamon
1 teasp. salt
1 teasp. baking soda
1/8 teasp. nutmeg (I ground mine fresh from the nut, and let's be frank... I used a lot more than 1/8 of a teaspoon!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together eggs, sugar, oil, applesauce and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Sift dry ingredients together, add to the above wet ingredients, and mix thoroughly. Spread batter into an ungreased (I greased it anyway) 15" x 10" pan, or two circular pans for a layered cake. Bake 25-30 minutes. Let the cake cool (I baked the night before and then froze the layers) and then frost with cream cheese frosting.


Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream together:

6 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)

Then add:

1 teasp. vanilla

Then add:

1 c. powdered sugar

Voilà! Cream cheese frosting is amazing when it is done right, and "done right" means something different to everyone, so taste to test, and add more powdered sugar, or cream cheese, or whatever it needs in order to be perfect!

Chopped walnuts or filberts makes a pretty garnish.

6 Months

Today we went in for Gigi's 6 month check-up appointment with Doctor Goldbach. These appointments are something I look forward to for months. Gigi? Maybe not so much. Each time we go, she gets about four shots: two in each thigh. After doing my research, I'm a bring-on-the-vaccinations type of a mom. I understand that not all parents feel that way, and that's fine.

For my own records, she is...

26 inches long (90th percentile)
18 pounds and 2 ounces (85th percentile)
and 75th percentile for head size

Before we went to the appointment I told Marcos that I didn't think she would be in the 90th percentile anymore for weight, and she wasn't. She has been slimming down a bit, and by "slim" I mean that she still has cellulite on her buns, but her activity level is starting to thin her out. Thankfully, she is still breastfeeding exclusively on my Häagen-Dazs super premium breastmilk, although sometimes I am concerned that I won't be able to keep up with her much longer.


And rice cereal! Six months means that we have started very slowly rolling out the rice cereal. We tried a few weeks ago, and nothing stayed in her mouth, so we gave it a break and are just now starting up again with a once a day evening feeding. After just two or three days, we are quite impressed that by the last feeding, a few spoons full of cereal actually stayed in her mouth. Progress!

Six months also means that our camera is frustrating me more and more. The Canon point and shoot we bought before our last trip to Brazil has served us very well on all of our travels and our colorful life for the past two years, but with an active and moving baby, everything is starting to come out blurred (see above for example). I keep eyeing everyone's D-SLR cameras, but at the rate we're going, we will only be able to afford one by the time she graduates from college.

And by then, she will probably have already learned how to sit still.


"Active" in the life of Gigi means that at six months she is rolling both ways like a champ, she can sit up on her own very well and play with toys in front of her, and she is starting to experiment with pushing back just slightly onto her knees from a tummy position (in preparation for crawling, which I'm hoping is still a ways off).

Socially, Gigi is right on track. She smiles with her entire body, with her arms flailing and her body rocking back and forth. She thinks it's funny when people make loud kissy noises to her, and Marcos has taught her how to click her tongue, which she does proudly even though it is slow and laborious. She is alert and attentive, and although strangers don't scare her, she will sometimes knit her brows and stare at new people and soak them in before trusting them with her smiles and laughter. I have some amazing videos of her in action that I would love to post, but they are always too big to upload.

When she sleeps I want to yell, "Let the Wild Rumpus Start!"
She often has her hands in fists and her leg up like Max in the book "Where The Wild Things Are".

Currently my only worry about her, besides what we will eventually have to do to kick the finger sucking habit, is her hair. Her hair! I have already had to cut two tiny budding dreadlocks off of the back of her head where she rolls around and gets it matted up. Ay caramba!

And that is Gigi in a nutshell: a happy baby who eats and sleeps well. Sometimes they just come out that way. We have seen enough not to take any of the credit. We hope that all of our children will have such a lovely disposition, but for now we are just thankful every day that Gigi is ours.

29

Friday was one of the best days of my life: so full of simple happiness and good people, and orchestrated by my husband Marcos to be a very special day. Besides having my blog hacked by my sweet husband Marcos, I turned 29 years old.

I awoke in the morning to feed Gigi and get ready for work, and in the silence and darkness of the early morning, Gigi snuggled against me with her tummy full of warm milk. With her little body sleeping nestled into my chest, I felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness that I get to be such a big part of this little girl's life. It was my first birthday as a mom, and I felt a rush of honor and humility, and influence and power.

And who doesn't like to feel influential and powerful, if only in their very small sphere?


At work, it was an exciting day with two visits from smart, brilliant and competitive prospective students. When people come to visit the UNC School of Social Work from out of town, I roll out the red carpet and arrange for them to meet with me to overview the program, and I also arrange for them to sit in on classes, meet with faculty members who share their interests, have campus tours and lunch with current students, and anything else that matches their areas of interest within the field of social work. The visits went really well, and then we rushed off at noon to Elmo's Diner in Carrboro for lunch with the birthday club!


Each month the Student Services Suite does a breakfast or lunch party for all those who are celebrating their birthdays that month. Rachel and I (above) were the lucky ones this time, and we were completely spoiled. We were treated to lunch, heaps of presents, and the most amazing blackberry cobbler for dessert. Here are the ladies I work with: they are the salt of the earth.


When Marcos came to pick me up after work, the weather was about as perfect as can be hoped for on an October afternoon. After dilly dallying a bit and driving around in the sunshine and swinging by Target for a secret gift from Marcos, we headed out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The perfect meal out: hibachi steak with wasabi mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and mung sprouts, and tempura fried asparagus. The perfect dessert: pumpkin pecan cheesecake. The perfect date: Marcos and Gigi (who is a big deal in Japan).

The newest onesie I made for Gigi, because she is a BIG deal in Japan

After dinner we window shopped in fancy stores, enjoyed walking in the outdoor shopping center in the brisk evening, and talked with friends we ran into along the way. Just being together as a family and enjoying a cool autumn evening stroll made me feel like the richest lady alive. It was one of the best days of my life, and hopefully the beginning of one of the best years...

Sometimes it's Good to Get Away

Last weekend we drove down to Charlotte to visit our friends Aline, Dwight, Josh and Bella. They moved away from Chapel Hill about two months ago, and took with them our best Brazilian connection, our reason to watch the Superbowl (to watch them watch the Steelers), the big screen TV that supported us through our Harry Potter movie marathon, our reason for doing big Brazilian feasts, and some really good friendship bordering family-ship.


On Saturday we explored a nature trail that circled around a small lake near their new home. We weren't sure how the big kiddos would do walking the entire way, but they were total troopers. It was perfect weather, a great time of day to be outdoors, and we had lovely company.


Bella and Josh hopped, skipped and jumped the entire way. Alongside the lake there were constantly things to keep the kids moving forward and exploring. When we started to sweat, it was that satisfying exercise for the sake of adventure type of feeling.


85 photos of the same pose later, we got a few decent family shots. Gigi is constantly observing her surroundings so the camera had to compete with a lot of other exciting little nature bits.


The yellowing leaves and the setting sun bathed us in honey glow for the last stretch of the trek. Ahhh... luscious lighting.


Dwight, Aline, Josh and Bella. We miss you already!

Shopping with Popularity and Power

I was never popular before I started shopping with Gigi. When we got to the front of the express lane yesterday, I apologized for miscalculating and having more than 20 items. The cashier lady just looked at me and said, "Listen, for a smile from that little girl, I would have let you come through with two thousand items".

Wow. Cuteness is power.

Happy Birthday Metta!

To my partner in life:

I love you.

When I thought about marrying you, I thought about:

new adventures
unseen countries
good conversations
love and passion
new and old friends
great background music
hosting and mood lighting

You have made all that possible, and more...
Thank you for taking me along for the ride.
I now see new and wonderful things in life because of you.

I love your:

laughter
compassion
thoughtfulness
practicality
resourcefulness
healthy sense of self
walter

Happy Birthday! Feliz Aniversário!

com amor eterno,
Quinhos

Motherhood and Working

I have been thinking that it's about time to debrief a little on how this transition to motherhood has been working out for me. It's something that I think about a lot, and I think it deserves a post.


Before Marcos and I were married, I made it clear that I was the type of woman who would very likely not remain at home full-time during the decades that we would raise our children. In all honesty, I don't consider myself a particularly ambitious person as far as fame and fortune goes, but I always felt that I would be in the best place as a woman, wife and mother if I had something in my life that was all my own.


When we discovered that we were expecting Gigi, I had recently finished my Masters degree and I was as yet without a job, so I prepared myself mentally for the idea that I would likely be at home with a baby for at least a year, which coincided with my breastfeeding goal. I kind of liked the idea of being with Gigi for a year, but that meant real preparation: knowing that I am a social creature and that even happy people can become depressed when they are isolated with a baby and have little contact with supportive and loving people, I began to broaden my network of support. For years I have worked on building friendships in my church and graduate school communities, but it was time to up the ante: my friend Aline connected me with an awesome local playgroup in Chapel Hill, my friend Angela started a fun mommies talk group for all of her friends and coworkers who were pregnant, and I attended a few La Leche League meetings to check out the network there. Sure, all of my initial aims were in the same direction - the world of motherhood - but I was going to get educated, and darn it, I was going to have fun and build ties in the process.


When Gigi came along it was time to disconnect from the world for a few weeks as we loved our new little being. Those first few weeks we were so busy adjusting to life with a little baby and enjoying our friends and family that we lacked nothing from the outside world. Slowly, life became more routine and I started to pick up my projects again during the small holes of time Gigi's naps allowed me, and our social life continued to keep us busy. We learned how to plan in extra time to get Gigi packed and ready to go, and she just joined our small family on our visits to friend's homes, our movie nights out, and our midnight grocery store runs. She was a natural at being a Prieto: always up for a spontaneous social event or a late night outing.


Then within a month or two after Gigi was born, my boss from graduate school contacted me with a proposition: she was going out on maternity leave starting in August, and wanted to know if I was up for taking her responsibilities half time for the better part of a year. After much praying and thinking and deliberating, I could not shake my impression to just GO for it! A demanding but exciting job, great coworkers and the perfect set-up of having Marcos home with Gigi on the days that I worked made for a sure win. Even though Gigi was only about four months old when I started working, between Marcos' heaps of love and support and a trusty breastpump, what started off as a crazy idea has become a fairly successful venture.


And so here I am two months into my half-time job, happier than ever to be Gigi's mom and to be a working mom. I have had many people ask how work is going, and I have nothing bad to say about it. At first I felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of things that needed to get done, but as with all things in life, day by day things are accomplished, deadlines come and go, and life moves on. Working has, very importantly, given me a chance to prove to myself that I am a productive worker with important contributions, which has allowed me to discard some baggage that I had coming into this job. Additionally, I have landed myself into an office full of women who have created a thriving office culture of birthday parties full of gifts and food, Christmas luncheons, and a lot of support, laughter, and kindness. Sure, being a working mom means that something inevitably will suffer, but since the main suffering has been the dishes piling up in the sink, it's a price we are willing to pay. If working meant tedious tasks, awful hours and having Gigi in daycare I would not have taken this job, but I knew that it would be a good situation, and so far it has exceeded my expectations.


And talk about expectations being exceeded: have you seen this little girl lately? I know that my brain is wired in a special way to love my Gigi more than life itself, but I have a hard time containing my happiness about being her mom. Which is good, because the most important work I will ever do will be within the walls of my own home. Hands down.