The Muffin Micro Manager

Speaking of the way things change post baby.....Tonight as Amanda and I were doing what any couple normally does on a rainy evening, I came to realize that without having each other to lean on, day to day tasks would become virtually impossible.
When you have a baby who refuses to be put down, it's important that you and your partner work together in order to get things done.
When you can rely on one another for help, you are then able to continue to do the things you loved pre baby, just with a little tweaking.


I love baking. I have always loved baking. When I am stressed, or sad, or lonely, or angry, or really feeling anything other than flat lined, I love to put on music, strap on my vintage apron and put a myriad of ingredients together until I come up with an end product. The fact that it's an edible end product is even better.
Nothing has ever stopped me from baking. I baked the whole time I was pregnant, and hope that one day Jace will want to bake with me and learn to bake on his own.

I am even writing down recipes for him, and any future children. It's on actual paper with an actual pen. This way it will seem just as archaic as the recipes I inherited from my grandmother, on old brown 1940's recipe cards.
Tonight I put together a great recipe my sister emailed to me, only I made the recipe my own. The muffins came out great. They were really fucking amazing. Only Amanda complained the whole time she ate hers that she didn't like having chocolate in her muffins, and never again should I put chocolate in muffins.
"They are Trader Joe's Chocolate Chips though" I stated firmly, as if that would change her mind.
"So. I hate chocolate chips in muffins".  (Munch munch. Munch munch.)
I am in love with a freak.

However. The baby was a little fussy tonight. Needed to sleep, didn't want to be on his own. My hands are still so numb. Sometimes after hours of holding him, the pain becomes too intense, I have to find another option. So I sling him. This fits perfectly into my attachment parenting scenario, and gives my hands a break, but sucks for my back.
So, here he is, snoozing in my sling. I had already put my muffins in the oven and realized I could not get them out, nor could I check their doneness with a baby strapped to my chest.
Enter Amanda. My chocolate chip hating other half.
While I stood four of five feet away ready to micro manage, Amanda kindly took my muffins out of the oven, and at my instruction, checked for their doneness. She even refilled the muffin tins with batter, and put in a second batch for me.

While I wasn't able to finish my baking spree, I still got the satisfaction of baking. I also got the satisfaction of being there for my son when he needed me.
Tonight I had the best of both worlds. Bossing Amanda around, and rocking my son back and forth, back and forth against my chest.

So see...Most things now will go this way. We will become really proficient in baby passing. Our priority in making him happy. Secondly, we will be able to enjoy all of the things that make us who we are.
It will just be done a little differently these days.





                                                Recipe for Kate and Amanda's
                                         "I hate Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins"

1 C All Purpose Flour
1/2 C Rye Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt

2-3 Really Ripe Bananers
2 large Eggs
1 tsp Authentic Vanilla. Not the fake kind from beaver butt excretions.
1/3 C Milk
1/3 C Oil (Vegetable or Canola)
1/2 C Brown Sugar Packed
1 C Vanilla Yogurt

Oven to 350.
Mix all dry ingredients together in one bowl
Mix all wet ingredients together in another bowl
Add Wet to dry and Mix
Add 1/2 C Chocolate Chips, or not if you're making them for Amanda.

Place in greased muffin tins and bake for twenty minutes or until golden brown.

Best fucking muffins ever. Best. Fucking. Muffins. Ever.