Happy Birthday Sydney

Dear Sydney,
Today you turn one year old. Everyone told us this year would fly by, and while I believed them, as I sit and reflect on the last twelve months I know I was not prepared for the warp speed at which it flew.
You are such a delight and have changed our lives for the better in so many ways. When I was still pregnant with you, before we really knew you, I was afraid I wasn’t going to like you. I was afraid I wouldn’t be a natural mother and that I wouldn’t like parenthood. I now feel silly thinking back to that time – you have made motherhood so easy and I literally cannot put into words how much I love you. The word love doesn’t even begin to cover it. You have eclipsed my world – all I see is Sydney.
Every stage you go through is my favorite. I am amazed at how quickly you learn new things – it took you about five days to learn how to crawl and about two days to walk. I love how you can stretch the word “hi” into two syllables and how my heart melts every time you say it. I love how total strangers stop to tell us how beautiful you are and how gorgeous your big brown eyes are. You look so much like your dad, but I’m glad you have something of mine.
Life seems pretty perfect right now and you are a very big part of the reason why.

Happy Birthday baby girl.

Love mom.

Birthday Planning - Low Sugar Cake Ideas

Syd's birthday is a week from today. I'm planning a low key party with just immediate family - I really had to stop myself from going overboard - it would just create more stress in the long run and realistically she has no idea what's going on.

The decorating I can totally handle (although I have to resist the urge to redecorate the entire house to match her party). It's the cake I'm worried about. Past baking attempts have not gone so well (see example). I'm getting cupcakes from Dessert First for the adults but I don't want to give Syd so much sugar. Now, I know there are basically two school of thought on this...some believe depriving a baby of an authentic birthday cake is tantamount to child abuse; while others believe giving a baby sugar of any kind is tantamount to child abuse. I'm somewhere in the middle I guess...we've given Syd very little sugar this year - and while I don't want to send her into a sugar induced coma, I'm certainly not anti-sugar in any way.

I did a little research and found two recipes I think I'm going to try for her cake. Her party is cupcake themed and I found a giant cupcake pan that I'm hoping will work.

Recipe One: Pumpkin Apple Harvest Cake

1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin puree
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup organic sugar
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Whipped cream or confectioners’ sugar for topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare an 8-inch round cake pan by greasing and flouring it.
2. Combine pumpkin, eggs, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, and salt, stirring to combine. Add apples and nuts, stirring again. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
4. Cool the cake, still in the pan, on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack, remove pan, and cool cake completely.
5. When ready to serve, turn cake on to a pretty plate and top with whipped cream or confectioners’ sugar, if desired, or serve plain.

If you make the cake, smooth it out when you put it in the pan as pumkin makes it bake in whatever shape it goes in there with.

Recipe Two: Banana Cake
2/3 c. banana, mashed
1/2 c. butter, softened
3 lg. eggs
3/4 c. water
2 c. unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
Optional: 1 c. chopped walnuts OR 1/2 c. chopped walnuts & 1/2 c. raisins

1. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan.
2. Beat together mashed banana and soft butter until creamy. Beat in water.
3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until very foamy.
4. Beat into mixture. Blend in flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until smooth. Stir in walnuts or walnuts and raisins, if desired.
5. Spread batter evenly in pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool.

Serves 8-10.

Steps!

I knew it wouldn't be long, but I wasn't quite prepared for her to pick up the whole walking thing this quickly! Pretty much the day after Sydney really got the hang of walking behind her shopping cart she started talking steps. She's up to three or four at a time so I know "official" walking isn't far behind!

Personal Shopper

WARNING: Cuteness Alert.

We got Sydney a toy shopping cart and she LOVES to push it back and forth in the living room. We need a longer house because she doesn't quite get how to turn it around and gets frustrated when she runs into walls or furniture.

Whoa.

For Christmas Sydney got a ball popper that has been one of her favorite toys. She's picked up a little vocabulary from it.

Idea

If only I could figure out a way to attach a vacuum to this...

Don't Be Alarmed

I have the tendency to get very passionate….okay, obsessed…about things. Strange things. I once saw an advertisement for Sherwin Williams that had a retro poster of a puppy on it that was labeled Fido and I scoured the internet for it….looked on every poster site, googled it, even sent emails to Sherwin Williams. I never did find it, but every once in a while I see it in the background of some movie I’m watching and I can feel myself starting to twitch.
So, last March I went to Washington DC for a work conference and in my hotel room was this iHome Alarm clock that was uh-mazing. My biggest pet peeve about alarm clocks is how bright they are. Even when on the dimmest setting my side of the bed glows like the Vegas strip. But this alarm clock had a dimmer – and not just a high or low setting, but a dial that you could adjust down to no glow whatsoever. And also, there was this feature that when the alarm (or sound, or radio, or song from your iPod) went off it started all quiet and then gradually got louder. Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.
So as soon as I got home I googled the brand and model of this amazing gadget. Well, this time I found it right away…but finding it wasn’t the issue. I soon realized that all these amazing features came at a price. To the tune of about $100. Ouch.
But I’m obsessed you see. So I’ve had my eye on eBay and this week, there it was. My iHome alarm clock – a few models newer than I the one I used but based on a model-by-model comparison I found, all the key features I wanted were there. The price? $40 buy it now. I still think that is a lot of money for an alarm clock. But I’m obsessed I tell you. Should be arriving in 3 -5 days.