A series of firsts

The first roll

Admittedly this happened a few weeks ago but it's taken me a while to catch it on camera. We've encountered a few issues...namely the screeching. So, the little man has learned to communicate. It generally sounds like grunts, and squawks and lots of effort. Unfortunately, when I point the camera in order to capture said "roll", the grunts and exertions make a simple roll sound like an act of torture. This rendered the several videos, some with successful rolls, others not, unusable. 

The first pair of shorts

In got sooo hot in the last few weeks (read 25 degrees +) that Callum got into his first pair of shorts. It was a momentous occasion !

The first haircut

It was with horror and embarrasment that Nuwan and I spotted that Callum's hair was looking decidedly mulletish. Not only was there a "party" in the back,  a la uncle Jesse, there's was a wispy haired party in the front. It was to try and remedy this disaster that we headed to DOOZ at Bellevue to give Mr Callum his first haircut. We were excited....we told the grandparents and the aunts and uncles. They were so excited that every time they saw Callum leading up to the event, they were convinced he'd already gotten his haircut.
Alas, there was one critical step I'd forgotten. I'd forgotten to tell his Seattle grandmas. It was lunch at Grandma Gill's where I casually mentioned our weekend plans.
"Callum's getting a haircut on Saturday." I said to Grandma's Sharon and Gill.
Jaws dropped, gasps ensued and looks of horror were exchanged. I was expressly forbidden from touching a hair on my precious boys head.
"But his wispy curls will be gone." They cried
" Quick, let's count the curls."  They said, united in their efforts to thwart Nuwan and I.

Ultimately, we were given reluctant permission to trim just a little to maintain his "coolness".

So, with reluctant permission in hand, off we went to DOOZ. Callum was photographed and placed in his bumbo chair.

 His hairdresser placed a cloak around his shoulders and Callum processed to chew it with vigour....mmm tasty plastic.

 The hairdresser declared him the calmest baby she's ever seen and was impressed by his cool. He happily chewed on his hands as his hair was neatened and trimmed ever so slightly. An after photo was taken and he received his very own mini-ducky.

Now, we did run into Grandma Gill the following day and either the haircut was so subtle she didn't notice it, or she was too polite to mention the massacreing we doled out onto our first born.

The first Mother's Day

Sunday was my first Mother's Day...yay! I was woken at 6:30 (the why's of this follow) by Callum and Nuwan and given my first mother's day present. A lovely Le Creuset loaf pan and a new French inspired apron and oven mits.

Callum apparently heard me complain about my missing loaf pan and in his own words "you can never have too many aprons"....agreed!

After Callum went to bed Nuwan even cooked me a delicious chorizo and prawn risotto which I enjoyed with glass of my favourite Semillion.

The first 5k

We woke up at 6:30 and woke Callum up in order to take Callum out for his first mother's day 5k run. The weather wasn't great but as we got out onto the course we were greatful for the cool rain rather than the hot sun of the past few days.

Here's a few happy snaps of us coming into the finishing line. We made it in under an hour! Yay!

The first passport

I have sort of accepted that I have a Yankee baby. That didn't stop us from registering his birth with the Australian consulate in order to obtain his Australian citizenship. Along came his citizenship ceritifcate in the post, with a slightly unexpected surprise.

Woops, we now had a child that could not travel back home! So we are now in a frantic effort to get his Australian passport so that he can actually enter his homeland....geez. 

The first of many conversations about life

The first time laughing at a "Dad joke"

Summer is coming

People loved to tell us depressing tales about what Seattle weather was like over and over again. One thing we did hear as well was that as soon as the sun was out in Seattle, people run outdoors, jump atop bikes, into kayaks and into runners and soak up the vitamin D. Now that it's coming onto a year of us being here, this is exactly what we've done. I mean, the only thing Callum gets apart from breast-milk is his daily (when his parents remember :P) dose of vitamin D drops.

We've had a few spells of good weather and we've used it to try and see some of what our new home has to offer. Now that I'm no longer limited by morning sickness, reflux or the "don't eat that or your baby will have two heads" diet, our options have certainly expanded. 

Kirkland Waterfront.

When the sun peeked out of the clouds a few weekends ago, Nuwan, Callum and I headed for Kirkland on Lake Washington. Kirkland is a cute, lakeside  town that has plenty of great dining options as well a lovely waterfront complete with a "fake beach". 

Fake Beach: A portion of waterfront land that is covered in imported sand to resemble a real beach. Seattle is rife with them.

We popped Callum in his pram and he prompty fell asleep thanks to the bumpity, bumpity of the stroller on the pebbles. Nuwan and I then hunted down some Banh-Mi (pork rolls) and happened upon a tea shoppe that sold New Vithanakande Tea.

We stopped at my favourite shop, Sur La Table, where I proceeded to break a creme brulee dish (sigh, the shop assistant assured me it was stacked incorrectly), bought a set of insulated glasses for half their value (they were priced wrong) and generally decided that we have an undue fascination with cookware. 

It was a beautiful day and even Callum enjoyed the sun. However, it became pretty clear that our little man hates the sun.

The Skagit Tulip Festival

Every year Skagit county, north of Seattle, hosts a tulip festival. It's a beautiful display of flowers and colour. We decided that we were going to make a day-trip of it. It was a risk, spending the WHOLE day out with Callum and there's always the Seattle weather to contend with. We drove up in pouring rain, it kept raining as we found parking, it continued to rain as we walked around the fair set up in the town. Thankfully, it stopped raining as we got to the tulip fields and gardens themselves. Unfortunately, the rain did leave a muddy mess. 

Nuwan and I love fairs. All those home-made goodies, artisan products and endless oppurtunities to part with money. We all came away with presents. English toffee for me, bbq sauce for Nuwan and a set of hand-made washable dinosaurs for Callum. We also had some "first" all-American experiences, we shared a corn-dog (weirdly sweet) and discovered what root beer was. Well, sort-of. The helpful people at the root-beer stand said 

"It's sweet and is made from some root." hmmmm. 

The flowers were spectacular and even though it got a bit chilly, and the Cal-man got a bit cranky, we thoroughly enjoyed the day. 

Mothers group

Mother's group is turning out to be a lot of fun. We've met some lovely new "moms" and Callum is making friends. Though, I was informed today that occasionally my Australianisms cause confusion during sharing time.

"What's this 'cot' she keeps talking about?" 

Callum looking somewhat forlorn. 

Cinco De Mayo

A "mom" at mother's group asked last week what people on the west coast did for Cinco De Mayo. A picnic was quickly organised at a local park (over facebook of course) and we ventured out to make use of the fabulous weather. Another mom volunteered to bring plates and cups, left over from tail-gating season. "I hope you like purple and gold she said". There was a promise of skinny-girl margaritas and all in all, Nuwan and I had no bloody idea what was going on.

Firstly....we had to ask. What is Cinco-De Mayo. If you haven't already searched it. it's

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a celebration held on May 5. It is celebrated in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla .It originated with Mexican-American communities in the American West as a way to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War, and today the date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

At Newcastle Beach Park 

Our lovely mother's group

Next....what is tail-gating and why does it result in left-over purple and gold plates? Tail-gating is the custom of hanging out and socialising in the stadium car-parks before and after sporting games. Literally, hanging out at the tail-gate of a vehicle. People often bbq food, drink and generally have fun. Now, the purple and gold? I was just getting to that. The University of Washington's football team, the huskies, are coloured gold and purple and this couple are "u-dub" alumni. Make sensus?

In his NYPD shirt from Punchi and Bappi :)

Now the Skinny-girl margaritas are just a normal margaritas, made with "skinny" ingredients that are not as fattening. It was invented (I use the term loosely) by someone called Bethenny Hesse, who everyone agreed was tres annoying, apparently.

Who'd've thought that moving to an English Speaking country would involve picking up a whole new language!

Six weeks with Callum

Visitors

Wow….did we get busy after Callum got here. Nuwan and I were amazed at our popularity….alas it wasn’t true…it was all about Callum.

We had both sets of grandparents and punchi and bappi and various times. Callum got thoroughly spoiled. I would feed and suddenly he’d be whisked away for a cuddle or a burp. Callum was still a true newborn at this stage and adhered to the old adage of sleeping like a baby. He certainly did!  We even had to wake him to feed him. There really is nothing as nerve wracking as being a new parent. There is a little person who is totally dependent on you, relies on you for everything. Unfortunately the only feedback you get is tears or snores which are hard to discern. What’s a hungry cry? What’s a sleepy cry? What’s a “nappy change please” cry?

Thank fully we got a nice pat on the back when we went to see the Child Health Nurse at the hospital. Callum was putting on weight, he was feeding well and he was doing all the right things. Unfortunately his bilirubin was a bit high and he looked a bit jaundiced. It wasn’t too serious thankfully but she wanted us to be cautious….off we went to the Drs.

WARNING : POO STORY

We’d been out for 3 hours by the time we went to the Drs….and when the nurse asked us to take of Callum’s nappy….he’d made a large deposit. As we took it off Callum decided it was an appropriate time to wee all over the table. Unfortunately this only helped spread his deposit all over the table. Nuwan and I, being the responsible adults that we are, burst out laughing. Callum had had his first Poonami!

Callum’s jaundice got better on it’s own with lots of feeding and probably lots of cuddling.

Getting out and about

We also got out of the house as much as possible. We had to go out for Appachchi’s birthday after all. We headed out for brunch to the Pomegranate Bistro. A nice little restaurant in Redmond that was firstly family and baby friendly and secondly had really good food.

We also took the parentals out for proper American bagels, I mean when in Seattle right?

Nuwan took them to Pike Place so that they didn’t leave Seattle without having experienced what it was most famous for.

We’ve been on our own now for 3 weeks and we’re doing pretty well. Here’s some photos to prove it! 

Wonder Weeks and growth spurts

One of the scariest thing about being a parent is going to a bookstore….have you every looked in the “baby” / “child” section? You’ve probably heard of  WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING, but that is merely the tip of a truly titanic-worthy ice-berg. Every quack and his/her dog has written a book about how to make your baby sleep, eat, poop and boogie.  It’s terrifying as a new parents because what I imagine is hidden in those pages is a myriad of things that we are probably doing wrong. Ways we are probably spoiling poor Callum for life.  It’s a mine-field out there and we decided the best strategy was ignorance, it is bliss right? We’ve read a bare minimum of what to do and are hoping that Callum will thrive by sheer dumb luck. I figure our parents didn’t have Doctor Spock advising them at every turn, they went by instinct. For what it’s worth, Callum seems pretty happy so far!

Having said that we did have some lovely Seattle friends impart their knowledge via books

So far we’ve survived the 6^th week growth spurt, we’ve had his one month birthday party and

Callum doing what Callum does best!

Callum learned to write...isn't he impressive :)

Okay.....so Ammi and Appachchi were so impressed by our little man in the tub that we decided to photograph him. Of course as soon as we took this photo Callum decided to do what he does second best...poop! 

We're trying to teach Callum to take the bottle. This would mean that I could step out for an hour or two...so far we've not had any success. Nuwan has to give it to him, otherwise he can smell me. It usually ends in someone screaming...not always Callum. We shall keep trying!

Callum turned 1 month during this time. Here he is in his Lankan cricket shirt that his mami and nendi made him. Patriotism starts young in this house. 

Just chillin...

Just sleeping...

He also grew out of his newborn suits. We had to pack them away and move on to his 0-3months suits. It was a sad day :(. 

Enjoying some sun with Ammi 

Callum loves to read, especially his special book he got from his Aunty Jill.

Finnish on top (haha)

You must know that in my other life I was a teacher and education is something I am passionate about...very passionate about. I have many opinions about the way that the Australian education system is going, but I will only say one thing. Why is Australia following the funding model of New York with expectations of Finnish results. Surely it doesn't take a Masters degree to see what needs to happen. 

Dukkah crusted chicken

With so many gluten free friends I've had to think outside the box for some recipes. Here's one that is as easy to make as it is delicious.

• 3 chicken breasts/thighs sliced into batons
• 15 skewers
• 1 egg and a dash of milk
• 1 cup of rice bubbles (make sure these are gluten free if you're going for a gluten free recipe)
• 3 table spoons of dukkah
• salt and chill to taste

Place the rice bubbles and dukkah into the bowl of a food processer and whizz up until most of the kernels are broken up. I added some salt and chilli at this point because I felt it lacked a bit of seasoning

Now the other day I ran out of rice bubbles so I used these instead, because they were on hand

Make up the egg wash by mixing the egg with a dash of milk

Thread the chicken onto the skewers

Dip the skewer into the egg wash and then the seasoned rice mixture

Place on a tray while you finish the rest of chicken in the same way

Freshly crumbed chicken....mmmm

These can be placed on a tray and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes

Otherwise lightly grease a fry-pan and cook the chicken skewers on a medium heat until cooked through

These are delicious on their own or with a mild tomato chutney.

Rosemary Scones (gluten free)

I've discovered during my forays into GF cooking that different GF flours work best for different recipes. Nat and I discovered for example that Redmill flour is great for cakes and strong flavoured desserts, King Arthur for pastry and this particular mix seems fabulous for scones. It's called Hodgson Mill and available at Walmart. 

Not a great picture but you get the drift right?

2 cups Gluten free flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. Xantham Gum

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp rosemary (chopped)

80g butter, very cold

1 cups milk

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 lg. egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 180ºC              Standard 12 muffin pan, greased

In a large mixing bowl, place flour, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum and baking soda; blend well.  Using a small holed grater, grate the very cold butter into flour mixture. Blend together flours and butter using two forks until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add rosemary and blend. 

In a large measuring cup, mix milk, vinegar and beaten egg together.  Pour milk mixture into the center of the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon.  Be careful not to overmix! Batter will be moist and very thick.  Evenly spoon batter into the prepared pan and using your fingers dipped in milk, lightly flatten the tops of the biscuits.

Bake scones for 22-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Remove biscuits from pan and serve warm or cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 8-12 scones

I flirted with the idea of adding parmesan but being my first try I didn't want to mess too much with the mix, especially as it was GF. I think I will dare next time. 

Coffee cake with caramel meringue buttercream and caramel chips

This is a recipe I've adapted. Credit for the original cake recipe goes to the lovely ladies at Exclusively Food and the icing is based on a Martha Stewart one.

Coffee buttercake

• 225g (1 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
• 75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
• 150g butter, chopped and softened (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon fine table salt with the butter)
• 226g (1 cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5ml) vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
• 83g (1/3 cup) sour cream (about 35 percent fat)
• 83ml (1/3 cup) milk
• 83 ml (1/3 cup) hot water
• 2 teaspoons of instant coffee

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Celsius fan-forced).

Grease the side and base of a 20cm diameter (top inside measurement) round cake pan.

Combine self-raising flour and plain flour in a medium bowl and set aside.

Combine the hot water and coffee until it is dissolved. Then add the milk.

Using an electric mixer or electric hand-held beaters on low speed, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl.

Increase speed to medium once the sugar is incorporated. Stop the machine once or twice during beating to scrape down the side and base of the bowl with a spatula. Beat the mixture until it is pale and creamy (about five minutes).

Add eggs one at a time, beating about a minute between each addtion.

Don't rush the addition of the eggs as the mixture will be more likely to separate and develop a curdled

Add the sour cream and beat until just combined (about 10 seconds).

Make sure you're scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time.

Sift half the combined flours over the butter mixture. Add half the milk mixture and, with the machine on very low speed, beat for about 10 seconds until just incorporated. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Add the remaining milk and sift in the remaining flour and beat, on very low speed, for 5-10 seconds to combine the ingredients. Stop beating as soon as the ingredients are combined as over-beating the mixture may cause the cake to be tough.

Spoon mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

Bake for about 1 hour and 7 minutes to 1 hour and 17 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed in the centre.

Place pan on a wire rack. When cake has completely cooled, remove from pan.

Caramel Meringue Butter cream

• 3 large egg whites
• 1  cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature

Put egg whites, sugar, and salt into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until mixture registers 160 degrees, about 4 minutes.

Beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition (meringue will deflate slightly as butter is added). Don't be freaked out by the curdled appearance, it will get better.

Beat until frosting is smooth and glossy, 3 to 5 minutes.

I like to serve this with some caramel bits on top. Just put 3-4 table spoons of brown sugar into a small saucepan and when it's all melted I pour it onto some baking paper and leave to harden. When it's hardened the caramel can be broken up into shards and placed on the cake for some tasty treats.