Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

I absolutely adore my family. I know how that sounds, but it's true. So spending Christmas with everyone was pretty special to me. It was a laid-back day, which was perfect.

One nice thing that has evolved is holiday food. Growing up, when we went to my grandparents' home in Maine, Christmas dinner was always a deli platter from the local corner store. I never knew how unusual that was until Mike joined us one year and was appalled (really, quite upset) that we didn't have a full spread. The company was great, but the food left much to be desired. Apparently, we have started a new tradition in the Sturgis family extended to eat well when we are together. The food all week was delish, thanks to some talented cooks. Jared spearheaded Christmas dinner, making turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes... Annie and Brandon contributed stuffing, Mom made her famous apple pie and I made pineapple dressing (thanks for the recipe, Liz!). The sad thing was that everyone left the next day and didn't get the chance to enjoy leftovers.

Present time was nice - we exchanged names as usual and got some really nice, thoughtful gifts but no one went overboard, which was good. I was happy to give my parents a Snapfish-ordered album of photos of Maya, which I think we well-received.
But we talked about abolishing gift-giving in the future. Afterall, in the end, it doesn't really matter. We just liked hanging out together and passing the baby around.
Which, by the way, was super-helpful. Caring for an infant is so much easier with an entire cadre of support. I could actually take time to shower, pluck my eyebrows (seriously thinking of impersonating a Marx brother) and sit down to eat since there was no shortage of people who wanted to hold Maya. She loved the attention, and who wouldn't? So much love! So it was with sadness that I left my family and headed to the airport. Where we were slammed with the inevitable 2-hour delay that resulted in us getting home around 2am. sigh.

No mormon gathering would be complete without playing a board game! A little Taboo to finish off the day and sate our thirst for competition.

Ye Olde Alma Mater

Christmas Eve day was leisurely spent. Just for kicks we went to visit BYU campus, where Mike and I went to school (actually, everyone in my family but my mom attended at one time or another). We hadn't been back since we graduated in '99 and though there were definitely some changes, it was still the same place. Surprisingly the Museum of Art was open, so we browsed through the art collection and the sculpture garden outside.

Though most of the buildings on campus were closed for the holidays, I was especially pleased that the Harris Fine Arts Center was open. I walked the halls where I practically lived while pursuing my degree in theater.

I couldn't help but take a picture of "The Slab" - where I would meet and hang out with friends, eat lunch, rehearse lines, and wait for my next class. I was surprised to feel a little ache of nostalgia walking through those halls. Despite roommate woes, irksome cultural habits and ridiculous "honor code" rules, I truly loved my time there. And how could you not be awed to have this view as you walked around campus?

Our Christmas Adventures

Utah was cold and snowy. A White Christmas! Sunday morning was spent at church, of course, and I was excited to put Maya in a cute little dress she doesn't wear often. Of course, she chose that day to have her first official blow-out and because it had never happened before, I was not prepared. I was in an ill-equipped mother's lounge (changing table but no trash can?) that was on the other side of the building from the ladies' restroom. So after using every last one of my wipes trying to clean up the mess, I put her into a cute little sleeper I just happened to have with me (that was not very warm and a little too big!) and schlepped my way to the ladies' room with Maya, diaper bag, dirty diaper and soiled clothes in hand. By the time I had finished, the service had ended and I finally found my family - Mike asked "Where have you been?"

But the day was redeemed when we gathered at Annie and Brandon's afterwards for a tasty lunch of tamales and jicama salad. We met Annie's adorable kitties, I napped with the baby (always a pleasure) and then we went to temple square to see the lights and tour the conference center.

Chef Brandon (not usually this grumpy looking!)

Chris with Angel (and wearing a scarf I crocheted for him years ago - isn't that sweet?)

The Sturgis family together for the first time since... oh, I guess it was just since this past May in Japan... but who knows when we'll all be together again? So we recorded it for posterity.

Baby's First Christmas

We spent Christmas in Utah at my sisters' houses. Emily lives in Pleasant Grove and Annie lives in West Jordan (or vice versa?). It was Mayumi's first time meeting her aunts and uncles and she LOVED having lot's of people around to give her undivided attention. Below are some photos of her taken by Auntie Em - more to come of the whole family.

my friend the ceiling fan

Every morning we wake up to a smiling, gurgling baby who is gazing adoringly at the ceiling fan. We're not quite sure what the attraction is, but she looks for her friend on every ceiling she sees. The funny thing is, occasionally it seems that the ceiling fan offends her and she'll start to cry. Bizarre.

Colleen meets Maya

We love getting visitors and having Colleen come over was no exception. Colleen is a talented local actor whom I met when we were both in Mary Zimmerman's Pericles at the Shakespeare Theatre. She took me under her wing and since then has been a bosom friend. And Maya instantly took to her, too. Good taste runs in the family.You may notice Maya is wearing different clothes in this photo. 10 minutes into our little visit Maya spit up all over herself and Colleen. Talk about first impressions...

but Colleen loves anyway.

o christmas tree

One of the many nice things about living in a big house is that we finally have room for a Christmas tree! And since it is Maya's first, we wanted it to be special. Mike went and picked up a 7 foot douglas fir and after some problems with the tree base, we finally decorated it. Maya loves looking at the lights, of course. Mike calls her Copernicus.

The best thing is that Mayumi is too young to care whether or not there are presents under the tree. Napping with her daddy in the comfy glow is enough for her.

Grampa's first visit

Forgive the delay in getting this post up - between getting Christmas shopping done, entertaining visitors at our home, hosting Enrichment activities and nursing a sick baby (and myself) back to health, December is turning out to be a bit frazzling.

But it was so nice to have my parents visit a couple weekends ago. It was my dad's first time seeing Mayumi and he played the part of proud grandfather quite well. He participated in Maya's baby blessing in church on Sunday. Mike gave her a beautiful blessing and included in the prayer circle were my dad and several of our good friends. My mom brought a dress for Mayumi's blessing that my sisters wore when they were babies. It was this cute 70's polyester outfit with a huge matching bonnet. Maya pulled it off like the fashionista she is... So, here are some photos from the visit - it is so nice to finally have a home big enough to comfortably host visitors and it is so nice to have a family that we actually want to visit us!
Obaa-chan with her granddaughter.
Both Maya and Grampa are sleeping, but mom only had room on her lap for one of them.
Grampa takes a turn holding Maya...

Proud to be from Beantown...

Mike's friend, Weaver, sent this outfit as a gift. If Mike could dress Maya in it everyday, he would.
Still undefeated... everyone else may think it is annoying, especially after Spygate, but we're pretty pleased. It must be that Golden Pig good fortune.


Oh, don't worry. She also has Celtics pajamas. You'll get pics of those in good time, too. Wouldn't want anyone to be confused about where our loyalties lie.

I'm taking Suzi out for lunch...

Maya is very attached to her parents - we always need to be holding her or else she gets very upset. In some ways this is wonderful; it has really forced me to slow down and enjoy the precious time I have with her. I know she'll grow quickly and someday I'll wish I could just hold her all day. Unfortunately, life goes on around me and eventually dinner needs to be made, laundry needs to get done, floors need to get swept (the last thing we want to do is attract cockroaches). Maya can't sleep unless someone is holding her, which makes it quite difficult to get anything done. I ombu a lot, but as much as I love holding her, it really slows me down.

I was commenting on this to my friend, Suzi, who has two of the most beautiful and charming little girls, Isabel and Elena. Elena is the youngest (she's a few months older than Maya)and has apparently outgrown her swing, so Suzi loaned it to me in hopes that Maya might like it and give me a few moments hands free. I was a bit skeptical - Maya hates being strapped into anything, like her carseat, her bouncer, etc.

But a miracle happened!

She likes it. Sometimes she falls asleep in it. And stays asleep for 20 minutes or so. Long enough to eat dinner. Long enough to fold some laundry. Long enough to (gasp) go to the bathroom. Just not all at the same time!

So, thank you Suzi. I owe you one!

a walk in the park

Just some pics from a lovely walk in the arboretum with my girls. Fall color comes a little bit later than New England, and it's not quite as vibrant, but it was beautiful just the same.

Liz holding Maya - who very early on in our walk decided she didn't want to be in her stroller and demanded to be held. I ended up putting her in the Mei Tai and Liz had to push around an empty stroller!
Liz is a good sport when she hangs around with me and Katie. Much of the conversation ends up being centered around our newborns and Liz patiently listens - even pretends she's interested!
The new mommas.

Our Golden Pig

When we were in the process of trying to conceive I was visiting an acupuncturist (Kate Yonkers) and an accupressurist (Wan Lee) once a week, in addition to receiving treatment from our fertility doctor. When we finally got the good news that we were pregnant, Wan Lee declared that my baby would be very lucky since 2007 was the year of the golden pig. I was pleased, but forgot all about his prophecy until after Mayumi was born and we were walking around Eastern Market a few weeks ago. We were looking at some beautiful oriental furniture and debating whether or not to make a purchase when the vendor, a nice Chinese lady, asked us about the baby. I told her Maya was only a few weeks old and she exclaimed, "Oh, she's a Golden Pig! Very Lucky! Wait right here." She proceeded to dig through one of her cabinets and extracted a red silk pillow with chinese characters embroidered on it in gold thread and handed it to me. I blushed and told her I couldn't accept it but she insisted, saying that "if you take it, it will bring me good luck. It's for baby."

It piqued my curiosity about the Golden Pig and I did a little research to discover that in China, this is a big deal. Babies born in the "year of the golden pig" are believed to have good fortune and will lead a comfortable and wealthy life. Both NPR and the washington post have reported that China is expecting a huge baby boom this year as parents attempt to birth their children under this auspicious sign. So Mike was right about Maya bringing the Sox good luck. Apparently she's also rubbed off on the Pats and the Celts. We expects great things from this little girl!

The Pig type is usually an honest, straightforward, hard-working and patient person. They are a modest, shy character who prefers to work quietly behind the scenes. When others despair, they are often there to offer support. They can be naive, over-reliant, self-indulgent, and materialistic. This type of person is reserved with those they do not know too well, but as time passes and they gain confidence, those around them may discover a lively and warm-hearted person behind that mask of aloofness. Despite those born in the year of pig having a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, they have few close friends who understand them and share their inner thoughts and feelings. It is easy to put trust in pig type; they won't let you down and will never even attempt to do so. Such people simply want to do everything right according to social norms.
It is important to remember that these people are not vengeful creatures. If someone tries to take advantage of them, the pig type tend to withdraw to reflect on the problem and protect themselves. All they need in such situations is a little time to find a constructive way to respond. The people of the pig type are conservative creatures of habit. They dislike being made to travel too far from familiar surroundings, unless it is a trip to the countryside. They love nature and are never happier than when they are out somewhere, far from the city.
There is a tolerant and peaceful side to their character. Such people are never afraid to allow others their freedom of expression; they do not want to cause arguments and if there is any way to avoid arguing, they will probably take this option. However, they are not weak and if the situation forces them to fight these people will rise to the occasion, whether it is to defend themselves or those close to them.

My little golden piglet!

Nipple Confusion

Now that we have established breastfeeding with Mayumi, the doctor recommended we introduce bottle-feeding so that she'll have the chance to accept it and get used to it. So I got a Medela pump (I feel like a cow when I use it) and we've tried several times, with different bottles and nipples, to feed Maya.

She's not a big fan.

Apparently I never accepted bottles (or pacifiers, for that matter) when I was a baby. Like mother, like daughter.

I'm disappointed because if she doesn't take a bottle, that means I'm strapped to her for the next year or so. Wouldn't it be nice if men were equipped for breastfeeding as well? Um, no I take that back, look at this Youtube.

Eagle sent us the following videoclip from YouTube - it made us laugh and is somewhat related to this post:

I'm one of those moms...

that talks about her baby all the time and thinks every photo is worthy of being posted. So please have patience with me - I'm sure by the time baby #3 comes along I'll be over it. (Typing with one hand while I nurse is getting old fast!) But when you see the photos below, I think you'll see why I think Maya is so precious.

Maya has been such a serious infant, and almost all the photos we have of her, she is sporting a scowl. But I finally captured her smiling! Granted, it's in her sleep - perhaps she's dreaming of milk?
We have several baby carriers, but our favorite has been the Mei Tai. She falls asleep within minutes of being strapped in. Here's the proud papa looking at his angelic little girl.
Generally Mayumi doesn't like to be in her car seat - she would definitely rather be held. But at least she isn't screaming in this photo...

An Attitude of Gratitude

One of my favorite holidays of the year - and there is so much to be thankful for! Specifically, the healthy arrival of little Maya. This is her first Thanksgiving and I wanted to make sure she had one of the best meals of her little life. I had done a lot of prep the night before, so I got out of bed at 7:30 to stick the turkey in the oven. It was unseasonably warm outside - I opened all of the windows in the house because it got so hot with the oven on all day. Mike left to play Turkey Bowl (football) around 9, so I strapped Maya to me in the Mei Tai and worked on the rest of dinner: sweet potato pie, roasted green beans, stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, strawberry chiffon pie... when Mike got home I put him to work and finally jumped in the shower as our first guests arrived. Sui and her 4-year old daughter, Kaleila, brought frog-eyed salad, spinach salad and a sweet potato dish. Then Scott and Katie showed up with Cora AND mashed potatoes, rolls, and chocolate cream pie. We were a little late getting dinner to the table, but I managed to stick an apple pie in the oven right before we blessed the food.

The three ladies (Katie, me, Sui) with the fruits of their labor.

Sui holding a squirmy Mayumi while adorable Kaleila smiles for the camera.

Baby Cora was the official mascot - but just long enough to take the picture because it was way too hot in that costume!Maya slept through most of dinner, which was a blessing as I was able to eat most of my meal with everyone else. But sure enough, before I finished she woke up and demanded her share. She proceeded to feed for the next 3 hours straight...
Scott made the chocolate mint cream pie (middle) and proudly stands by the dessert table with his little girl.
The Nelson clan stopped by to help us polish off dessert. Eagle is really good with the babies and they happily sat in his lap until I tried to take a picture - then they both started fussing.

So, for those of you who are interested, our menu was:

Salads
Mixed Greens Salad
Frog-Eyed Salad

Main Dish & Sides
Cider-Glazed Turkey
Cornbread Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Corn
Rosemary Garlic Green Beans
Rolls
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar

Desserts
Chocolate Cream Pie
Apple Pie
Strawberry Chiffon Pie


The turkey was delicious and I'm happy to share the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens magazine (a few years back):

Buttery Cider-Glazed Turkey
Prep: 45 minutes Cook: 30 minutes Roast: 3 hours 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 12- to 14-lb. turkey
Kosher salt or salt
Freshly ground pepper
4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
1 small onion, peeled and cut into wedges
1 medium baking apple, cored and cut into wedges
2 tablespoons butter, melted
6 medium or 8 small baking apples, cored and cut into eighths (such as Golden Delicious, Gravenstein, Granny Smith, Winesap, Rhode Island Greening, Braeburn, Russet, Lady (use 2 lady apples for each medium apple; leave whole)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups fresh apple cider
5 about 3-inch sticks cinnamon, broken
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Chicken broth
Kosher salt and black pepper
Directions
1. Rinse turkey well and pat dry with paper towels. Season inside cavity generously with salt and pepper. Rub one of the cut garlic cloves on inside cavity. Place garlic cloves, onion, and the first apple in cavity.
2. Pull turkey skin to back; fasten with skewer. If a band of skin crosses the tail, tuck drumsticks under band. If no band, tie drumsticks securely to tail. Twist wing tips under back. Brush turkey with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place bird, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Insert a meat thermometer into center of one of inside thigh muscles, but not touching bone. Cover bird loosely with foil. Roast in a 325 degree oven about 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours or until thermometer registers 160 degrees F. (Cut band of skin or string between drumsticks after 2-1/2 hours.)
4. Toss apple wedges with lemon juice. Place apples around turkey. Continue to roast, covered with foil, for 30 minutes more.
5. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan bring apple cider and cinnamon sticks to boiling. Reduce heat and boil steadily about 30 minutes or until cider is reduced to 2/3 cup. Add 1/3 cup butter, brown sugar, and thyme. Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove and discard cinnamon sticks.
6. Remove foil from turkey; brush turkey and drizzle apples with the cider mixture. Continue roasting, uncovered, until meat thermometer registers 180 degrees F, brushing bird and drizzling cider mixture over fruit every 10 minutes. Remove turkey from oven; discard cavity ingredients. Transfer roasted bird to a large serving platter. Surround with apples. Cover with foil; let stand 15 to 20 minutes before carving turkey.
7. Pour pan drippings into a large measuring cup. Scrape the browned bits from the pan into the cup. Skim and reserve fat from the drippings. Pour 1/4 cup of the fat into a medium saucepan (discard remaining fat). Stir in flour. Add enough broth to remaining drippings to equal 2 1/2 cups; add broth mixture all at once to flour mixture in saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
8. Makes 12 servings