Rrrraarrrr!

I am so tough, I eat raw elephant for breakfast!

Visual Development

When I found out Ian can now see color, I became concerned that his world was too bland. (He doesn't have any brightly colored toys yet). So I made this poster for him out of construction paper. The first time I set him in front of it, he quietly gazed at it for more than 40 minutes. Whenever he gets bored with it, I only have to turn it clock-wise to gain a few more minutes attention.

Rise and Shout Little Cougar!

Lately, Ian seems to think that when I am changing his clothes, I am actually playing a game with him. When I pull his arms out of his sleeves, he hunches his shoulders and laughs histerically. He then makes a fist and sucks on the cuff.

I like to pretend the bears on his jammies are actually Cosmo, the BYU Cougar mascot.

Scott and I sing the Cougar Fight Song to Ian A LOT. Ian loves to do "Ra, Ra, RA RA RA! Gooooooo Cougars!" And we sing it to him so much that I end up with the song running through my head most days. In fact, last night I dreamed I was at a sporting event, the US flag was raised, and we all placed our hands over our hearts and sang the Cougar Fight Song. A little irreverent, huh?

Ian is such a happy little guy from the moment he wakes up. And thanks to baby sleep expert Dr. Weissbluth, I am usually happy when Ian wakes up too. He is sleeping much more these days, and true to the book is much more "charming, social, and attentive to the world around him."

Focaccia Recipe

This recipe came in a newsletter for new moms when Ian was only a few days old. I remember tucking it away in my recipe box, and wondering if I would ever again have time to take a shower, let alone prepare a meal. Thankfully I think I am starting to get the hang of this mom thing.

Bread Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated pizza dough *
2 cloves minced garlic
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp dried tarragon leaves *

* I made dough in the bread-maker, and I used a few teaspoons of dried rosemary instead of tarragon. (What on earth is tarragon? Since Wal-mart didn't carry it, I assume it doesn't really exist.)

Bread Preparation:
Roll dough into a circle and place on greased cookie sheet.
Mix garlic, olive oil and rosemary, and brush 1/2 the mixture onto the bread dough.
Cut the dough into quarters (making one horizontal cut and one vertical cut.)
Fold each quarter over, making a triangle out of each piece.
Brush remaining olive oil mixture over the tops.
Bake at 350 degrees fir 15-20 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Chicken Salad Ingredients:
1 Avocado, peeled and sliced
Shredded Chicken (I boiled 3 chicken breasts, and shredded with a fork. The recipes actually calls for a drained 12 oz. can of dark and white meat chicken.)
2 Celery stalks, chopped into small bits
Red wine vinegar
Mayonnaise
2 Green onion stalks

(I think sliced grapes or chopped almonds would be fun to add sometime.)

Chicken Salad Preparation:
Mix chicken, celery and green onions with desired amount of mayonnaise. (The recipe calls for 1/3 cup, but I bet I used more than that.) Add a few dashes of Red Wine vinegar to a create a subtle flavor. (Probably just about 2 teaspoons.) Let refrigerate while focaccia is baking. (Even more flavorful and delicious the second day.)

Sandwich:
Peel open baked focaccia and add sliced avocado and desired amount of chicken salad. (I think a minimal amount is best, so the focaccia's flavor can come through.)

Mormon Night at Minute Maid Park

We like that Houston has a Major League Baseball team (we don't care that they are not any good). Last night was "Mormon Night" at the Astros game, and we headed down there with our friends the Linfords (also recent transplants from BYU). The park was packed with families, and there was a line for the diaper changing station in the women's restroom.

We didn't get there until the 6th inning, but it was just in time to see the only Astros Grand Slam of the game. (unfortunately, the ball park was indoors, and more than incredibly loud when the Astros scored -- Ian freaked out, understandably, and Scott and I spent most of the rest of the game pacing around out by the concession stand.) But the whole retractable roof idea was cool, and the little Minute Maid Locomotive that moved (slowly) across the wall when the Grand Slam was hit was pretty cool. And it's always fun to get out of the house.

New Larson Family Rule: No Larsons shall go to baseball games until at least 3 years of age. Notice me plugging Ian's ear. Amazingly, he eventually fell asleep, and stayed asleep through all of the Astro's victory cheers.

Focaccia

I decided to try a new recipe for focaccia and chicken salad sandwiches. They turned out so beautifully, I just had to snap a picture. (Okay, the bread-maker did most of the work, but still.) And the leftovers gave me a good excuse to have our new neighbor over for lunch.

I have decided that I enjoy cooking. (This was a long time coming.) I attribute it to a very supportive husband who also cooks a lot, and to a dinner group we participated in while living in Wymount. (Thanks for saving us from Maccaroni and Cheese, Lisa!) And to a weekly cooking lesson by a wonderful chef in our ward Relief Society, who helped to demystify the process of handling raw meat.

Update

I took Ian for another round of immunizations today, and it looks like our boy has been doing some growing again! This time he weighed in at 17 lbs. 14 oz. (I don't know what percentile that is, but it can't be bad for 3 months and 2 days old. Especially considering that he has gained 2 pounds in two weeks... amazing.) And haven't I lost an amount equal to what he has gained? Sounds good to me...
The shots seemed to have gone better this time -- I gave him some baby Tylenol before we left the clinic, and I think it helped.

Three Months Old

As of yesterday (July 10, 2007), Ian is three months old! It is hard to believe how much time has passed, though it seems as if Ian has always been a part of our family. Here is a run-down of what it is like to be Ian at three months.

Height: 24"
Weight: 16 lbs, 1 oz. (97 percentile!)
Eye Color: Blue

Favorite past-times: Drooling profusely, chewing on Mommy's shoulder, smiling at anyone, singing Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree (or listening to mommy sing it, rather, and watching her hands), chewing on Daddy's thumb during dinner time, looking at and talking to the ceiling fans (especially the living room fan) working arms out of a swaddled blanket, eating, laughing, babbling to Mom and Dad, ferociously "gumming" burp cloths and blankets, taking baths in the ducky tub, getting diaper changed (seriously--he gets very excited), being held facing outward, doing crunches (we think in preparation of sitting up) and definitely not sleeping during the daytime.

Ian still insists on being swaddled at naptimes and bedtimes, though he has obviously outgrown even his biggest blankets.

Blue Bell Ice Cream

It didn't take more than a few days in Texas for Scott and I to become acquainted with the greatest feature of the state-- Blue Bell ice cream. We heard about it our first Sunday here, and soon did enough "research" to agree that it is not only the best ice cream on the planet, but also the best edible invention there ever was. And as far was we can tell, it is only sold in Texas. (Don't worry folks: if you come and visit, we promise to have a stock to sample from. Or, it is available for shipping around the country on dry ice.)

The birthplace of Blue Bell ice cream is in Brenham, Texas, a little country town about an hour and a half from our home. And they give daily tours of the factory, with complimentary scoops of ice cream at the conclusion of the tour. What a delightful way to pay homage to the best ice cream on the planet.

So when Allison said she wanted to meet up with her buddy Jenn, who lives in Austin, Texas, I was delighted to realize that half-way between the two was Brenham, Texas. So off we went last Friday, to Brenham.

Sadly, over 945 other people decided to go to Brenham that day too. So the tours filled up, and there was no room for us. Even after explaining to Guest Services that we had driven almost two hours to get there (because apparently everybody does) and then pleading on behalf of our out-of-state guest, there was still no room for us. Oh well. They gave us paper hats, and pointed us to a fabulous sandwich shop, instead. And "Must be Heaven", the sandwich and pie shop, was indeed that good.

And when we returned home, 5 half-gallons of Blue Bell ice cream were waiting for us in the freezer anyway.

PS: The factory doesn't look anything like the above photo, which is posted on the Blue Bell Web site. It looks remarkably like every other modern factory, but they still manage to make extraordinary ice cream.

Blueberry Pickin'

Monday morning, we went down to Moorhead blueberry patch. We picked as fast as we could before it got too hot, and Allison sure picked 'em clean! (she picked three times as many as I did.) We gathered 2.5 lbs. of berries in just under 30 minutes, and they are delicious!A few weeks ago, Ian and I went with some friends from the ward, and came home with almost 7 lbs. of blueberries! (I had some help that time too : ) Blueberry season ends this week, but we look forward to going again next year. We plan to catch peach and blackberry picking next spring as well!

Adventures with Al

Last week my sister Allison visited from California. She is so fun to hang out with, and it was great to get out on some small adventures during the day, with some help with Ian. And her visit probably temporarily raised the population of vegetarians in Texas to ONE. It was so nice of her hubby to let me borrow her for the week!


Allison went on a walk around the neighborhood one evening while talking to her husband Jason on the phone. She found a new friend on the sidewalk along the way. It was an interesting frog, but I wasn't as eager to get as cuddly with it as she was. But we were glad she brought it home to show us!Ian thought the frog was fascinating!

The frog had the bulgiest eyes I have ever seen.