JAMSquared

On Saturday the 12th (the same day we did our Christmas photo shoot), Kristy, Stephanie, Paramjit, and I baked cookies in Kristy’s kitchen. Kristy made us each a neat apron with our initial on the top. We each picked two recipes to bake, although we only ended up baking 7 cookie recipes. We were there for about 10 hours, although that time did include lunch, dinner, and a photo shoot. Next year, we will not pick 5 recipes that require rolling out.

Jennifer, Stephanie, Kristy and Paramjit

The two recipes I picked were Chocolate Mint Wafers and Confetti Cookies. The Chocolate Mint Wafers were tasty, but I’m not sure I will make them again. The recipe for the Confetti Cookies came out of my Nanny’s recipe box. They were extremely tasty and I will have to make them again soon.

Confetti Cookies

Confetti Cookies

Source: Nanny’s recipe box

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup shortening (I used butter-flavored)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup cut-up small gum-drops (technically, I used spice drops)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

In large bowl, cream sugars, shortening, eggs and vanilla. In separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda (do not sift). Add to creamed mixture. Stir in gum drops and pecans; mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. If desired, dot tops with additional cut-up gum drops. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 5-6 dozen

Future Baker

Jessica observed our mad baking skills from her spot on the bar in her bouncer. Thanks Nick for providing the pictures.

About two weeks before Christmas, Aric and Nick took some portrait type photos for us. I was very excited about the photo shoot, especially for my plan to make Jessica a Christmas present. All the photos turned out great, but the following are the best ones. The family photos were taken in front of Aric and Kristy’s super tall Christmas tree. The photos of Jessica were taken in the make-shift portrait studio set up on the pool table.

James, Jessica and Jennifer

James, Jessica and Jennifer

Jessica - Our Little Christmas Gift

Jessica

Jessica

Jessica

Jessica

You might remember this post here about the trip to Ruidoso with James’ parents and our nephew Dawson. Well, for Christmas this year, I made a scrapblog of the trip and ordered one hardbound book for James’ parents. I was quite happy with how it turned out.

You might remember this post here about the 2009 Dzubinski family trip. Well, for Christmas this year, I made a scrapblog of our family trip and ordered one hardbound book each for my parents, my sister and her family, and my brother and his family. I was quite happy with how they turned out.

Jessica turned two months old on Wednesday. Thursday, we went to the pediatrician for her well check-up and immunizations. She weighed 11 pounds and 12.8 ounces. She is now 23.75 inches tall and her head is 40.75 centimeters around.

12/9/09

She has begun “talking” to James and I a fair amount. It is really cute how she coos and gurgles at us. James talks to her quite a bit. Sometimes I think he might even talk to her more than I talk to her. Maybe that is because he talks to her almost non-stop when he is with her, whereas since I am with her all day, I don’t talk non-stop.

12/10/09

Jessica has also started smiling a lot more often. She is such a happy baby. In fact, after her shots Thursday was the most upset she’s ever been. It took a while for her to calm down.

12/10/09

Play time is really fun for Jessica. She kicks and waves her arms. She’ll watch the blinking lights of the activity mat/gym and bat at the monkey, which will fall down if hit enough.

She slept 12 or so hours per night for 4 out of 5 nights last week, so we asked the pediatrician about that and she doesn’t want Jessica to sleep that long without feeding. So I’ve started waking her up before I go to bed to feed her. This means she goes to sleep sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 depending on how long she nurses. Then I wake her around 11:30-12:00. Then she wakes up around 8:30/9:00 AM. We are very fortunate she sleeps so well at night. However, she is a horrible napper. She will sleep for 15 to 30 minutes or so at a time. Occasionally, she’ll sleep for longer. She seems to prefer napping in her bouncer, because she’ll nap for much longer in it than in her crib, even though she sleeps wonderfully in the crib at night. She’ll also nap for much longer when she lays on my chest. I am going to try a few things and see if her napping improves.

Jessica Napping in her Bouncer

We’re supposed to give Jessica 10 minutes of tummy time three times a day. We have not been doing this, since she doesn’t really enjoy tummy time, so we usually turn her over after a few minutes. We’re going to have work at increasing tummy time.

Tummy Time

Jessica has started spending some time in her Super Seat. She is really too young for the activity tray, but she does seem to enjoy sitting up. Sometimes I’ll sit her up in my lap and hold her hands and she’ll just stare and smile at me. She definitely recognizes me as she watches me when I’m nearby.

Jessica in her Super Seat