a valentine's day feast

This is the valentine my husband made for me. dean came into our room and rummaged around in the closet until he found soldering wire. so they were playing with it and i was still pretending to sleep. all of a sudden troy hands me this little heart he fashioned out of wire. and i melted. :)



this is my genius four-year-old eating tofu with chopsticks.


here's max trying to stab his sushi with a chopstick, but getting his soup bowl instead. a moment before, he successfully stabbed a sushi and ate it, but i think the bite was too big and he chickened out on bite-the-size-of-my-head number two.


and here is the man himself, looking dangerous and manly with his chef knife. he's cutting a sushi roll. what a man! (that's dean trying to relieve him of the dangerous knife)

here are the dishes my lovely husband made for dinner on valentine's day:


sushi with fish (first try--looks pretty good!)


cha siu baau! hou hou sihk!


miso soup from scratch. yes, that dark green stuff is seaweed.


pork potstickers.

that is true love, ladies and gentlemen.

name them one by one...

as i woke up this morning to the sound of my struggling baby and looked at the clock, i really resented the fact that i was the only one in the house who had to be awake at 4:49 am. it was very warm in my bed, and quite chilly outside it. so as i got up and donned my robe, picked up my hungry child and settled into feeding posture, i decided i needed to do a gratitude exercise. so before i need to get out of bed for real and face my day, i wanted to post about what i came up with at 5 am.

1. my baby goes to bed at a reasonable hour most nights (almost always before midnight, usually before 11), and doesn't wake up until close to 5, sometimes more like 6. that's miraculous for a two-month-old. plenty of people get up at that time and stay up--start the day--but i am allowed to go back to bed for a couple of hours. and maybe other new moms should not be reading this so that they will still be friends with me.

2. i am not the driver of the large vehicles i heard go down my street at 5 am. what time did they have to get up to be driving the garbage truck down my street that early?

3. i have a husband. that in itself is something to be grateful for, but my husband is also the most generous, selfless, wonderful man, and for some reason he decided that i was worthy of his attention forever. i'll never understand how i got so lucky. but besides that miracle, he is an amazing husband and father, always stepping in to help at the right moment. this morning he dealt with dean's poop while i lay in bed. what a man!

4. i had a happy childhood. despite the guilt my parents may feel about their behavior while they were figuring out how to be parents (which i mention only because i now know how they must have felt), i came out of it knowing i was loved, and a whole person, and able to forgive their mistakes--knowing they are human too. that all gives me hope that my kids will be able to forgive me when they have kids.

5. i am living the life i always dreamed of, and i'm learning more and more that it really is the life i want. it's taken me three kids to arrive at this place where i have what i want and want what i have--even if it means getting up at 5 am to feed a baby for a little while--but i'm here now, and my life is great.

i got warm again, after getting out of bed so early. my baby also has an amazing knack for settling down quickly once he's fed.

and that was way more fun than a list of complaints.

i am superwoman

i just wanted to post while i'm having such a good day. i've had a non-superwoman day or two in recent days, but i'm feeling on top things today because...
drumroll, please...
i, maurine, went to costco with a baby strapped to my chest and two boys in my cart. i spent too much money, probably, but we all came out alive and in good spirits despite the fact that no food was consumed by any of us while in the store. tada!
all please note: my kitchen is not spotless, the living room needs vacuuming, and my room is still a disaster. but i'm still proud of what i accomplished today, and very proud of my boys for being so patient (or asleep, in reed's case) in the store. i got many amazed looks from other costco shoppers, and one man even said, "you're my new hero!" to me. so i'm basically superwoman. :)

in other news, dean has done all of his excreting in the proper receptacle so far today. also, max stayed in his bed all night last night. and reed, angel child, slept 8 hours in a row. and my bachelor brother just got engaged less than an hour ago! what more could i ask for? this is a good day and i wanted to document part of it, at least, so i can remember that i have good days too.

so there we have it. life is officially good.

another word or two about the cake

max liked the cake. he was more interested in eating the sprinkles off the cake than the actual cake, i think, but he still managed to cover his face in frosting. but what else do you expect from a little boy turning two?

so i was really proud of this cake. i was pleased that the size of the bowls i used to bake the ears was right. i learned how to draw mickey and practiced ad infinitum as a kid. but it's been a few years, so i was surprised at how well the face turned out, especially since i haven't used a piping bag for at least ten years. i kind of want to decorate cakes more. that was really fun! maybe i'll actually make and decorate cookies for a holiday in the near future. and post more pictures!

ok now i've had my say about the details surrounding max's second birthday. you may go back to your lives, citizens.