Ally's Music

I hear all these stories about parents whose kids are singing along with the ABC’s or Old MacDonald from a very young age. Allyson has never really done that. We listen to music – she LOVES the Little Einstein’s! I have a couple of little kid CD’s in the car and she always (always, always, always) requests the “Pop Song.” That’s code for Lollipop, Lollipop. But she doesn’t sing it. She dances around in her seat and yells at me “Mommy, dance!”

We go to her ballet class, which she loves. I sing to her every night before bed – songs at her request. It’s usually Farmer Goofy (the Disney version of Old MacDonald), Itsy Bitsy Spider or My Favorite Things. (Most of the time I have to sing all three.) But she has never belted out the tunes along with me.

Then we were sitting in the family room playing on the floor the other day and she starts dum-da-dumming. It took me a minute to make sense of it, but who would have known? The kid was singing (or dum-da-dumming) Eine Kleine Nachtkmusik. Not Baa Baa Black Sheep or Twinkle Twinkle – freakin’ Mozart! It had to have been one of her shows, we’ve been watching Little Einsteins DVDs on repeat lately. I think one of the kiddo CD’s in the car sings one of the songs to that melody too. Who knows where she picked it up? But I love it!

So…now I can’t get the darn song out of my head. I’ve been humming it all day long. I wonder what classical piece she’ll start humming next?

~Becky

Today was a good day...

Today started out well. I fit into jeans I haven't worn in months! Maybe the last eight weeks of morning (all freakin' day-long) sickness have been a good thing? Either way - I'll take it. Maternity clothes are in my near future, but this old pair of Lucky's will suit me just fine for the next few weeks.

Next, we got to go have another ultrasound. This is our second for this pregnancy. The first I had a few weeks ago to get a better determination of due date. (Remember - Baby #2 was a surprise so this Momma wasn't counting days.) Today's ultrasound was part of the genetic screening. This along with the blood draw that I did last week will help rule out any genetic abnormalities.

We got to the perinatologist's office and went into the room with a tech. I guess that for this genetic screening they send you an actual perinatologist's office for a high-tech ultrasound - not just the regular one at the lab.

Anyway, we got in the room and the tech started taking some pics of some fluid measurement at the back of the babies' neck. She was having a hard time getting a consistent number, not really concerning to us - we realized the baby was just laying in a position not conducive to this measurement. After about 30 minutes she went to show her pics to the doc. Guess they weren't good enough cause the doc came in a few minutes later to get the measurement herself. Within a few minutes - done.


Then...she asked us if we were interested in knowing the sex of the baby. Um...yes - we were, but you can't tell this early, right? She said "well - you can't be 100% certain at this stage but I have a pretty good guess." When a doctor says that she has a pretty good guess, I know that I would tend to believe her. Especially when it was not prompted. We didn't say "can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?" I mean, she does this for a living, right? So, we promised not to go out and buy bedding on her guess but said "sure, we'll take the news now."

We don't really care what we have either way. I've been thinking that a girl would be easier because we have all the stuff already. Steve is such a great "girl dad". I know how to do "girl" having done it once already. but then, a boy would be wonderful too. The nuclear family - Dad, Mom, Daughter, Son. Exactly like my family. She could torture love her little brother just like I do. ...back to the story...

The doc pulled up a picture on the ultrasound machine and said "see this swelling between the legs here?" We said "sure." (Do you ever really know what you're looking at in an ultrasound?) She said "well, when boys and girls develop they all have some swelling here, but at this far along in gestation this amount of swelling is probably not going to go away." Probably not? So that means ... BOY?

Yup - it meant boy.

So...we'll find out for sure in about 7 weeks, but we got a pretty good guess from the doctor that Allyson is going to have a little brother. We are off to find names for Baby #2. We're focusing more on little boy names - obviously - but we'll have a few girl ones picked out too. Just in case the next ultrasound comes back with something different. You never know.

~Becky

Carroll Family 3.1

It's been awhile since I have written anything. Sure, I stick around on Twitter and Facebook, but the urge to write has been missing. I miss it though. I write mostly for myself, but for some sort of record of the goings on in my life to have forever and to keep to share one day. So here's the latest from the life of Becky Carroll...

Allyson turned two in December and has been more and more fun every day. She's also developing some of those glorious Terrible Two Traits that I was hoping she'd skip. No such luck. The "no's" have arrived along with the whining when she doesn't immediately get what she wants. I thank goodness for a husband with much more patience than I have at times because I can just look at him with pleading eyes that say “if you don’t take over I’m going to muzzle her” and he jumps right in. Don’t get me wrong, we have very fun days. The last sunny weekend we had we played outside for hours, throwing the ball for the dogs, learning to ride a tricycle and making “lunch” in her little play house. I’m thankful for each one of them because they get this family through the days when we can’t get to bath, book and bed soon enough.

It could be the fact that work has been kicking my tail on a daily basis. The credit union where I work just announced a “mega merger” (Credit Union Journal term – not mine) with another like-sized credit union. When this will take place remains to be seen, but the ball has started rolling. Who will I work for? Will I still manage a team? Will I still manage my team? Will I even still have a job once the merger is complete? Who knows? Only time will tell and I’ll just continue doing my job well and hang on for the ride. I think managing a team makes it that much more stressful – especially for this still fairly new manager. Not only am I dealing with those questions myself, but I have to help seven other people work through those emotions themselves. I hope that getting through this makes me a better/stronger manager.

And then for the biggest (and best) news…we’re expecting! Baby #2 was not in the 2010 plans of the Carroll family, but life ends up working in strange ways and things just happen. I always wanted kids 2 ½ to 3 years apart and had resigned to the fact that it wasn’t going to work out that way. Well…somehow it was decided that my plan was to be – one way or another – and here comes Allyson’s little brother or sister.



I’m almost 12 weeks along and my due date is September 27th, 2010. In the throes of morning sickness that is different from the first time but sucks just as much, I’m trekking along in my second pregnancy. This one still feels a bit unreal. We planned on having Allyson – the surprise factor for this one has just thrown me for a loop. Either way, I can’t wait to meet baby number 2 and kiss all those adorable fingers and toes. And I know that Allyson is going to LOVE having a sibling. I know I do!

The other kicker? I’m a bridesmaid in my brother-in-law’s wedding on September 25th. (Mike and Morgan - I’m still SO very sorry for the timing!) So…will I be there in some maternity dress trying not to look like a hippopotamus? Will I be in the hospital after having just had a baby? Will I bring a couple-day-old baby to a wedding? Or will the worst thing possible happen – “does anyone have any objection to this marriage? Um….I think my water just broke”? Mike and Morgan have been so awesome. Mike’s take on it is that it’s going to be a story to tell no matter how it turns out. He’s such an awesome uncle – and looks forward to having another niece or nephew. I am so thankful to have these two as family. I volunteered to refrain from bridesmaid status, but they’ve both said that we’ll just play it by ear. So we’ll just see…

So…life is a little crazy right now like it is for everyone. We have to figure out things about our house. Do we stay here with two kids? Do we try to buy something else? Do we rent out this one and rent another? Lot’s of decisions to make. So stay tuned for another edition of the Carroll Family.

~Becky

Birthday Cake

I know that I'm the worst blogger in history. It's been over a month since I last wrote, but when you add the holidays, Ally's 2nd birthday and crazy work stuff into the mix, blogging becomes last on the list. So now begins the catch up. There are quite a few things I've been meaning to write about and share (I'll save you the groans and not head back to December and Christmas craziness) and Ally's birthday cake is one.

Last year we had Ally's ultra-ridiculous first birthday. Complete with custom invitations (which were super-cute by the way), designer birthday cake and 50 people. This year was much more low-key.

But we couldn't go the year without some sort of birthday cake. She's been really into suns lately. I don't know what it is. Whether its the first thing I drew when I started coloring with her, or just something she got stuck in her noggin, but the kid loves 'em. Whenever we sit down to color it's "sun?" When we go out to eat and get a kids menu with crayons, "sun?" "Ma-maw, sun?" "Poppa, sun?" "Daddy, sun?" We, of course, oblige and now we have suns drawn all over the house (and grandma's houses too.)

So when I thought about what kind of cake we should make her it came pretty easily. What I didn't realize was that my husband would get so into and eventually take over. For those of you who know Steve, not real surprising, huh? What did I end up doing - even though it was ALL my idea - baking the darn cake. That's it! Oh - and mixing the frosting. The rest is all Steve. He did a phenomenal job, and now I have to brag. Hey - maybe I've got my very own "Ace of Cakes."

He started out by taking three rounds and carving the sun.


Next, I made a really bright yellow frosting. Gotta love the KitchenAid mixer!


Steve frosted the cake on the stand and then transferred it to the board. (Which we made up out of plywood and foil - it was New Year's Day, there was no running to the cake supply store.)


And then the final product. There was so much cake we could have fed 50 people, but we only has a small family party. Everyone got HUGE chunks.


And here's the birthday girl enjoying the cake. She was way more into it than last year.

Let me know what you think. I think it turned out great!

~Becky

THE Cookies!

I'm not much of a baker. I can follow directions with the best of them, but I don't know that I ever turn out anything fantastic. This recipe, however, is awesome! I up the amount of almonds and chocolate I use. Feel free to use the original recipe, but the nuttier and chocolatey-er the better in this house. Hope you enjoy!

Almond Roca Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 package toffee bits
1 cup coarsely ground almonds (I usually use the whole 12 oz bag instead)
4 ounces milk chocolate (again - the whole bag for me)
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil


Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars together on medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. At low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits. Mix until just blended; do not over-mix.

Place ground nuts in a small bowl. Using your hands, roll balls of dough into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls, then roll in the ground nuts. Place on cookie sheets several inches apart.

Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

Melt the chocolate with the vegetable oil in a double boiler. Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies. (I like to dip mine in the chocolate instead.) Place cookies on a cookie sheet and place in freezer or refrigerator until chocolate is firmly set. (Overnight on the counter in wintertime usually works just as well.)

Two batches later we're off to my parent's house for Christmas Eve and then the in-law's house tomorrow. YUM-MO!

Merry Christmas everyone!

~Becky

Hippo's for Christmas!

Love this song! Can't wait until Ally and I can sing it together. For now I just dance around annoying my colleagues and husband.

Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy!

~Becky

Date Night II

Over the weekend Steve and I went out on a much needed date. The last time was in August – I know – WAY too long. We have both been working crazy hours. Family events and holidays (decorating, gift buying, party attending) have been taking up so much of our free time and we were living like this old married couple, not one that had only been married for a little over four years. We had a conversation earlier in the week and decided that we needed to make a conscious effort to spend more time together. More quality, alone, adult conversation-having, adult beverage-drinking, kid-free time.

Don’t get me wrong. We adore our daughter. She’s a good girl – so good a girl that we take her everywhere (insert awesome-child Mom brag here). She eats at restaurants happily. She shops with us. She loves being in a stroller or shopping cart or walking along side us. We have yet to have any “that is not my child” moments (remember she’s not quite two yet – I know I’m jinxing myself). But taking her everywhere means not being without her.

And then there’s the working Mom guilt. That evil and nasty bitch. (That’s another blog post in and of itself.) I hear it – in my head. “You’re not with Allyson thirty-six hours a week. How dare you take an evening off away from her? What kind of a mother are you?” I’ll tell you what kind. One that needs to keep the spark alive in a marriage that created the little darling in the first place. As my parents have shown me, kids will only be around for a portion of the marriage. If you want to stay in love and remember the reason you got married in the first place it is imperative that you focus on the relationship as well as the child rearing. (And I listen to them. They’ve been married for thirty-two years.) Time away means relighting the spark. And let me tell you – we’ve got some spark!

Saturday night, we succeeded. I went to dinner and a movie with my handsome husband and two very good friends. A double date – who would have thought we’d have so much fun? We had dinner at Paul Martin’s in Roseville, a pricy but excellent restaurant. Halibut for me, Brick Chicken for Steve – YUM!


And then we went to see “The Blind Side” which is the best movie I have seen in years.

It was everything you could ask for: a great storyline, great acting. I’d watch it again in a heartbeat (which is odd for me cause I’m typically a “watch it once and give it away” girl) and will recommend it to everyone I know. Hope you get a chance to go out on a date night with your hunny and see this movie. It was a perfect ingredient to a wonderful night.

So – what have I learned?

1. I’ve learned that you can’t wait four months between date nights with your husband.
   
2. That it’s okay to let your kiddo spend the night at Gramma and Papa’s house (cause they love it as much as she does).
   
3. That you shouldn’t wait five years to go on a double date with good friends. (G – this time we made it through without food poisoning!)
   
4. And that you should take the time to focus on your marriage. Better to focus on it now than watch it slip past you. Steve – I love you more today than I did four years, two months and six days ago.

~Becky