All Smiles

As a new parent I am learned how human instinct ensures survival. At first the Wombats were pretty relaxed. They cried when they needed to eat, barely made it through the feeding awake, then slept for three hours. Now, as they approach two the two month mark, they spend a lot more time awake and a lot more time fussing.

It would be very easy to justify a car trip back to the NICU to see if we could get a refund. I'm assuming they have a 90 day return policy. That's pretty standard in the industry.

It would be easy except for one thing . . .



. . . suddenly they learn to smile. They don't do it much. In fact, they barely do it at all. However, they smile just enough that you can deal with a long period of fussiness just watching for that glimmer in their eye before they smile. It's mostly likely involuntary but that momentary smile is enough to melt your heart and make a 3:00 AM feeding feel like the best moment in your life.

Crafty little bastards.


After settling the babies down in the nursery and letting Jen take a recovery nap I put out this Pata Cabra with bread we picked up at Sunday's farmer's market in town.


I also made this salad with yellow heirloom tomatoes from the same farmer's market, avocado, and Marcona almonds.


I cheated a bit and purchased a lasagna from the store which I heated up in the oven while we fed the babies and tried to recreate our New York City life from years ago by watching a few episodes of Monk, our second favorite detective/mystery show. Because, you know, we are senior citizens.


For beer I rounded out the variety pack Jen's dad got me with this Premium White from Alexander Keith's. This was probably the best of the batch, a very nice Belgian-style white brewed with orange and, presumably, coriander. Now I just need to try their Light and Dark ales to round out the complete set. That is a nice incentive to return to Quebec for a visit because, you know, there's really no other possible reason to return to that province.


For dessert I put out this Apple Raspberry Crumble from Meredith's Country Bakery. We picked this one up at the farmer's market in town as well. It went nicely with some tea and our number one favorite detective/mystery program: Psych! That's right. We're in a slightly younger television demographic now.

Thank God we stopped watching Murder, She Wrote.