Fig Preserves

We LOVE figs. We were spoiled in Italy each summer with an abundance of beautiful figs in the market. When they were in season we bought them by the kilo. Thankfully, we're blessed to have a huge fig tree in our backyard so we can continue to enjoy the little gems.

Over the past few weeks the figs have all come out. My sweet husband has been fighting with the squirrels and birds and mosquitos (all this rain has turned our backyard into a mosquito haven...) to pick them every day after work. By the end of last week we had more than 5lbs. that we had to use. So we decided to try our hand at making preserves.

Don't be intimidated. The process is simple, and canning is really easy. The main thing is that you want everything to be sterilized. I boil the jars first and wash the lids with warm soapy water (don't boil the lids). When processing the jars after they are filled, just bring a large pot of water to boil. Submerge the jars in the water for the amount of time specified in the recipe. Once they're done processing remove them from the water and let them cool for 12-24 hours. As they cool you will hear a "pop," this means that the jars have properly sealed and can be stored for a least a year. If you have a jar that doesn't seal properly you can reprocess within 24 hours.

Here's our recipe:

NOTE: This recipe is for 1lb. of figs.

1lb. of fresh figs, quartered
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. port wine
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
a pinch of salt
a pinch of fresh ground black pepper

In a large pot mix the figs, sugar (white and brown), vanilla extract and salt over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Stir occasionally and let the mixture cook for about 20 minutes. To test the mixture to see if it is done drop some of the liquid on a plate that has been chilled. If it sets immediately, it's ready. When the mixture is ready remove from heat and stir in port wine, lemon juice, and black pepper.

Fill sterilized jars, leaving half an inch of headspace. Seal and process for 15 minutes.

That's it. Easy peasy.

Our 5lbs. of figs made 12 8-ounce jars. I've been enjoying the preserves on toasted gluten-free bread (I like Udi's multi-grain) with almond butter. One of my favorite recipes to use fig preserves for is crostata. It is basically a rustic pie. I'll share the recipe a little later, but for now, you'll just have to trust me. It is to die for.

6 months

Sweet Jane is 6 months old.

Can't believe it.

Jane has changed SO much in the past 2 months.

She giggles. She bounces (it is a really funny bounce she does when she is sitting up). She is "talking" a ton (almost every week she has some new sound, mainly squeals and such). She is eating food (kind of...still nursing her, but just slowing incorporating some fruit, veggie, and grain purees...yum). She loves to "swim". I take her to the pool a couple times a week and she just splashes and kicks all over the place (future Olympian?). Her little personality is just coming out and it is hilarious. We are loving watching her grow and learn and take in the world in around her.

Jane had her 6 month check up today including another round of vaccinations. Jane is growing like crazy. She's almost 19lbs. and 27.5 inches tall. She's already in her 9-12 month clothes! Again, can't believe it.

Last Sunday we had Jane's dedication/baptism. It was such a special day for us. Sweet Jane did great! She missed her morning nap, was held by someone who wasn't me (she's entering that clingy stage), and got water splashed all over her - all with a smile on her face! After church we had a lovely brunch and my mom's house. Jim's sister, my sister and her boyfriend all came in town too, so it was extra special! Our church will have the service online in a few days. I'll share the link when it is up.

This Sunday we put Jane in the nursery for the first time so Dad and I could get back to our Sunday School class. We LOVE our class. We started going to the young parents class while I was pregnant and it has been such a blessing for us. We've missed them so much the past few months! Jane did great in the nursery, and I did pretty good with her being away.

We've also started introducing real food. We started with bananas, but had to stop because of a bad reaction. At this point we aren't sure if it is a possible allergy or just a fluke. We'll try again in a week or so and go from there. After the banana problems we switched to brown rice cereal, to get her use to something bland. After about 5 days of spitting it out and dramatically gagging she gobbled the whole serving up! Over the weekend we started her on sweet potatoes. She is slowly starting to like those.

Here are some pictures from the past few months:

Swimming with Dad.

At her 6 month checkup.

Not sure about this food thing. 

Love those thighs! 

My sweet family after Jane's baptism.

Four [and a half] Months

Jane is 4 and a half months old and boy, oh boy, what a difference a schedule makes. Perhaps we would have benefitted from one earlier, but I'm kind of winging it when it comes to being a mom and babies do not come with an owner's manual. hah.

In all seriousness though, I did read that babies wouldn't really accept a routine until they were about 3 months old anyways.

So after 3 months of feeling like I was just barely treading water trying to squeeze everything in, I knew something had to give. From trying to be the world's greatest everything (mom, housewife, chef, jewelry designer, etc.) I was exhausted. It was time to get this baby in a better routine!

It's been about 4 weeks and life for me (and sweet Jane) is much more calm. Jane has always been very consistent with her mornings. About 2 hours after she wakes up she goes down for a nap. I've always thanked her for that dependable two hour chunk of time for me to get stuff done. It was the afternoons and evenings that needed some serious work. Now, after a lot of work, Jane is still taking her morning naps AND taking a shorter nap, usually an hour, in the afternoons, then going to bed between 7-8. We're still working on getting her through the nights. She wakes up between 3-4 in the morning to eat, but honestly I'm up at that time to check on her anyways, so that is just fine with me.

Jane is growing and changing SO fast. She is sitting up like a champ, just needs a little bit of support. She is flipping from front to back and back to front. She is purposefully grabbing for things and bringing them right to her mouth. She has found, and LOVES, her feet. She is cooing and giggling and squealing. Oh how I am loving this stage...so much better than 0-3 months. (Just being honest here. 0-3 months was really hard for many reasons.)

We had her 4 month well baby check up this week. Jane is doing great. She weighs in at a nice 16 pounds, putting her in the 75th percentile for weight, and she is already 26.75 inches tall, putting her in the 97th percentile for height. No idea where she gets the height from, but she was 22 inches when she was born, so still measuring tall for her age doesn't surprise me. We've also had her second laser treatment for the birthmark on her face. Breaks my heart to see her after the treatment, but it is getting lighter each time and really doesn't bother her at all.


Here are some pics from the past few weeks:

Tummy time! 

More tummy time!

A new found love of running errands with Mom!

Yummy...I love my feet!

She loves to bounce in her new toy.

These two are just two weeks apart and are the best of friends! :-)

Daddy and Jane at the lake.

Mamma and Jane at the lake.

First boat ride.

Driving the boat with PopPop is just exhausting.

Who knew paper at the doctor's office could be so much fun!

Sitting up like a big girl!

Three [and a half] months

Jane is 3 months and some odd weeks old now and I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it and feeling a bit more settled in to my new life.

Being a parent is so much harder than I ever could have imagined. It is literally a 24 hour job. And the worrying, holy cow, I don't think there is a second that goes by that I don't worry about this sweet little girl. I do a lot of praying for peace these days in my attempt not to become a crazy, overprotective parent.

Jane is a healthy, thriving little girl. She is packing on the pounds (up to almost 14lbs., which means this little chunk has nearly doubled in weight since birth!) She has found her feet and her hands and can often be found holding her feet, even when she sleeps. She loves looking a herself in the mirror and coos all the time. I just love her sweet little voice. She's holding her head up really well and can sit up for a while when propped up by pillows. It is SO much fun watching her learn and grow. She is soaking up the world around her like a little sponge and it is just so cool.

Jane was born with a port wine stain birthmark on her left cheek, chin, and neck. Port wine stains often change in texture and deepen in color with age, so we met with a pediatric dermatologist and decided to treat it. We started her laster treatments yesterday in Birmingham and our sweet little girl was such a trooper. Mom and Dad took it much harder than she did, hah. Every month for the next 7-10 months we'll be doing the laser treatment. The birthmark turns dark purple after the treatment for 1-2 weeks. I wasn't planning on talking much about her birthmark or our decision to treat it, but since the treatment is a visible process I figured it would be better to fill everyone in. :-)

And now for some pictures!

Our little chunk! 

Kevin's mom stopped by to meet Jane!

Aunt Tammy getting good snuggles from Libby and Jane.

We stopped by the brewery on our way out of Birmingham.

California Dreamin'

Jane, my mom, and I recently went to California for a fabulous 10 day trip.

Unfortunately Daddy-O had to sit this trip out. After all, someone's gotta earn the moolah, right?

I was more than a bit nervous about traveling with the Little One and actually almost cancelled the whole trip two days before we were set to leave. Jane had one of her bad days, like REALLY bad, like so bad she screamed from 9am-9pm (no joke) kind of days. I knew once we got to California it would be fine, but I was just really scared about the flight. I didn't want to be the passenger with the screaming infant. But after a lot of prayer from a lot of people I decided to go. I'm so glad I did. Jane was amazing on the plane. She was super happy the whole flight. And I was the proud Mamma who got to prove everyone on the flight wrong.

When we walked up to the gate you could see the fear in everyone's eyes. I could almost hear the passengers saying, "Don't stop here, don't stop here!" I know I've said that before, especially before my long overseas flights. So we board the plane, we're in a bulk head seat with room for three. My mom was busy taking pictures of me and sweet Jane to document her first trip and from behind, my mom heard a man say, "Oh s***." (Rude, right?) He was the one sitting next to us and he was less than pleased to be on a flight with a baby, let alone in the same row. He was the main one I was determined to prove wrong and I'm so glad we did!

Anyways, enough about the flight.

Normally when we go to California we ALWAYS squeeze in a trip to San Francisco - one of my absolute favorite places on Earth - or do some wine tasting in Napa or drive down the coast to Carmel and Monterey, but this trip was different. This trip was all about family. Basically all of my mom's family lives in northern California in the Sacramento area. My grandparents, my aunt and uncles (my mom has 1 sister and 3 brothers), my cousins and their kids, my great aunts and great uncles, and so on and so on.

In addition to introducing Jane to the famiglia it was Weezie's (Grandma Louise, my mom's mom) 75th birthday. That made the trip even more worth it. I absolutely loved the time to spend with my amazing family. I'm so blessed to have all of them in my life!

I could go on an on about all the details of the trip, but instead I'll leave you with some pictures and videos.

Ready to go!

Knocked out...finally.

Discovering Baby Einstein with Weezie.

Me, Kara & Jane

Uncle Noah and Jane

At Noah's house

Mariah and Jane

4 generations

Grandpa Ben & Jane

Jane's first trip to a museum!

Visiting Mariah at her job at the museum. (We're a proud family! Can you tell?)

Paul & Jane

Trying to roll over!

Saying Goodbye

To those not part of the Auburn family they were just trees. But to those who bleed orange and blue the trees were part of the family.

Some of my first (and favorite) memories of Auburn after moving here in 1996 were of rolling the trees. And, at every life milestone I wanted a picture of me at the trees...high school graduation, college graduation, getting engaged, getting married, having a baby. Don't ask me why, I just thought it was important to have my old friends in the pictures.

So today I'm sad.

I'm sad that my little girl won't be able to roll the oaks after watching an Auburn game with her Daddy.

I'm sad that she won't be able to take pictures with the trees at her big milestones.

I'm sad that this is the end of a beautiful tradition that was uniquely Auburn.

I walked downtown with my sweet Jane to say goodbye to the oaks that have called the corner home since forever.

Downtown was quiet. Eerily quiet. It was incredibly depressing. I got there just after both trunks had been cut down. All I could think was, "Damn, this sucks."

Now the trees are gone.

Life will continue.

New traditions will be made.

But, every time I take Jane to Toomer's corner I'll have to remind her that once upon a time two beautiful oaks stood there and we used to cover them with toilet paper. She'll think it is strange and I have no doubts that she will whine about having to hear stories from her dorky parents. But, I will tell her anyways and I'm sure I will still take hundreds of pictures of her at my favorite corner.

Anatomy of a Photo Shoot

Okay moms and dads, I'm sure you can relate. Getting that "perfect" picture of your little one is not an easy task. [I know they are all perfect, but I'm talking about the ones where they look angelic and have that sweet little baby smile] I rarely snap the photo quick enough. So even though the pictures are far from "perfect," they end up being some of my favorites. From Jane's expressions to her crazy and sometimes inappropriate gestures they make me laugh over and over.

In this latest photo shoot I was trying to get a smiling picture of Jane on her 12 week birthday. I took over 26 and my silly girl was done. She'd had enough. The last picture says it all...hah.