Karl @ 15 months

Karl, our little baby, is turning into a toddler. Sometimes I have to stop while I try to remember what he looked like as a newborn. It's amazing how quickly they grow and change. The pictures that I will post in this entry make him look like a little boy.

In addition to getting older Karl has a love of books and wants us to read to him all the time. It is especially pitiful when he does the 'more' sign after thrusting a book into your lap. Like his cousin Max, Karl gets very upset when the book ends and grunts/whines until you read it again.

Karl knows a ton of sign language, but has gotten lazy in his use of it. He recently realized that whining and waving his arms got him the same thing as 'more', so often he will just do that when he sees something he wants. The rest of the signs he takes or leaves. There is one new sign that he is loving lately...'grandpa'. He signs it any time we ask and then finds it hilarious if we pretend to be moose afterwards. We hope that Grandpa is no longer referred to as Grandpa, but instead by Moose or Grandpa Moose. Sorry, Dad, but it would be a great nickname for you :)

The weather has been cold and I've been bundling Karl up so we can play outside. He doesn't really care for the mittens I put on him.



Karl is learning that he does not care for certain food.
When Karl does eat the usual pattern goes something like this.

"I guess I'll taste it. Not bad. Oh! Hey Charlie! You want some? Ok! Here you go. What, mom? Don't feed the dog? I'll throw her off and take another bite. It worked! Ha! One for me, one for Charlie, one for me, one for Charlie."



Karl is currently cutting 2-4 new teeth. I'm not sure exactly how many because he isn't very fond of fingers prying his mouth open, but I did spy at least 2 teeth coming in. Hopefully that doesn't disrupt sleep too much for him.

Not much else to report. Send healthy thoughts your way as the Sax house has been taken over by the flu.

Family Updates

The Sax clan continues on with life in these cold & icy times.

Erik rode his bike a few times so far this winter, but it has been awfully cold and slick outside. In my opinion, the lack of bike riding has made Erik seek new projects. We currently are growing a basil plant and trying to get tomato seeds to bud. Erik also bought a Topsy Turvy (one of the tomato upside down planters). The only problem with this? He wants to hang it INSIDE our house...in our living room next to the fire place. Um, no.

Erik is also going to get started on his strip built kayak in the next few days. So, maybe that will buy me some time before he starts screwing in a hook to hold up the Topsy Turvy.

I have been working more and more on music and being a doula. I have 3 regular voice students, with two starting next week. I have four beginner piano students starting lessons next week. Also, I've been asked to work at the local retirement home and lead a group of residents in song.

This past weekend I attended a doula training workshop, which is one of my steps in the certification process. I made it through the two days of doula workshop, but didn't make it to the breastfeeding class on Monday because I was called to a birth at 5:00 in the morning! Good news about finishing the doula class was that I could use this birth as one of the three I need for certification. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the women who want a doula. I already have one client for the end of March and have been contacted by two other women about my availability for the same time. I need to figure out fees once I am certified to make it worthwhile with driving, time & paying for childcare.

Karl continues to be as sweet as ever. He has started doing the sign for "grandpa" and is looking forward to showing it off when we see Grandpa soon! He also has started shaking his hands in the air and saying 'yea yea yea yea' when he wants us to give him something (usually a snack). It is slightly annoying because we hear it all day long. He still loves books and will bring them over and do the 'yea yea yea' thing until you read it to him.

He has also taken to running around and giggling if you say the words 'I'm going to get you'. It is hilarious.

Lazy Sundays

After sleeping in and watching True Grit and U571 on TV this morning, I was in the mood for some culinary experimentation. This led me to start making my own salmon benedict.

English muffins are an easy recipe for someone already capable of plucking their own pizza dough, maybe even easier since they seem to be more forgiving. There are two ways of doing it, one is a gooey batter, the other a rolled dough. Either way it seems, a culture of yeast eats sugar and craps carbon-dioxide in order to help make those nooks and crannies.

Here's my first batch!


The main difference from pizza seems to be the use of milk, and no oil. Similar rise time seems to work though.


They came out looking exactly like Thomas's, and in fact that's exactly how they tasted, leaving Claire a bit disappointed that they weren't somehow much better. The fresh taste is great though, I think they're worth the effort.

I'm totally pumped, because now I get to use it for salmon benedict, Yeah! Claire doesn't like salmon, nor benedict, so she missed out tonight. :(

My next adventure was in hollandaise sauce, which required watching several videos to get pumped up, since the only other time I've tried that resulted in some strange looking egg drop soup of butter. I found a cool video online which showed me some tricks- like using your hands to separate yolks, and how to double-boil them. The other key was using water if the emulsion stiffened up too much. Also, "hollandaise can sense fear." I might get the t-shirt.


Success! I've also mastered the art of poaching eggs, which don't seem any worse for the wear when I have to use apple cider vinegar since we're out of white vinegar. Now the only thing I need to achieve the "total culinary mega challenge" of completely scratch salmon benedict is a smoker, so I can smoke my own fresh salmon.

In related family news little Karl tried his first bite of smoked salmon. He seemed to like it!

A New Adventure


As you may know, the Sax clan is always up for an adventure! Especially when some of the outcomes include saving money and learning new things. For the month of January we have decided that we will not spend any money eating out for dinner or lunch. We have taken advantage of a Christmas gift from my father- America's Test Kitchen Cookbook for 2010- and have planned many of our meals around new recipes found within its pages.

Interested in coming over and knowing what is on the menu? Well, you are in luck! We've already planned out each meal and how much we think the ingredients will cost us. Erik and I won't mind a bit if you decide to steal our meal ideas and make them yourselves this month!

January 1st: Chicken Noodle Soup (with homemade noodles). There is an entire blog post dedicated to this on Crafts By Claire
January 2nd: Dinner with Sheila. Sheila was so nice and watched Karl while we went to see "True Grit". After the movie we headed to a new restaurant near her home and had a great dinner. Thanks again, Sheila!

January 3rd: Homemade Ravioli & Salad
January 4th: Beef Teriyaki
January 5th: Homemade Pizza & Salad
January 6th: Slow cooked beef brisket
January 7th: leftovers
January 8th: Roast Chicken, rice & peas
January 9th: leftovers
January 10th: Lasagna with homemade noodles & salad
January 11th: leftovers
January 12th: leftovers
January 13th: Homemade Pizza & Salad
January 14th: Spiedies (grilled chicken sandwich of sorts)
January 15th: Stew
January 16th: leftovers
January 17th: Pesto spaghetti with homemade noodles
January 18th: Eggs Benedict (minus the ham) & Asparagus
January 19th: Veggie Wontons
January 20th: Pot Roast & roasted vegetables
January 21st: Quiche & Salad
January 22nd: Leftovers
January 23rd: Grilled Chicken & Spicy Rice & vegetable side
January 24th: Corn chowder
January 25th: leftovers
January 26th: Stir fry
January 27th: Curry Chicken
January 28th: MeatBall Subs
January 29th: leftovers
January 30th: Vegetarian Chili
January 31st: leftovers


So, when can we expect you for dinner?