Italian Easter Bread (Pane di Pasqua)

To celebrate Easter this year, I decided to make some traditional Italian Easter Bread (baby fingers not included). I wanted to deliver sweet treats to our neighbors and also invite them to Sojourn for our Easter service, but I also wanted to make a recipe with some significance. Growing up, we would eat Pane di Pasqua every year at Easter--not usually homemade (my mom wasn't much of a baker), but I found the store-bought version to be just as tasty. Thank you, Publix. I will forever miss you.

I found a recipe online that I liked, but I wasn't quite sure if I could use it, since I don't have a stand-mixer with a dough hook attachment. So I called up my grandfather to double check. His response: "Ash, did your great-grandmother have a fancy mixer to make bread dough in the countryside of Italy?" Touche, Pepa, touche. Levi and I would go old-school and mix by hand. 

I tweaked the recipe just a bit, since traditional Pane di Pasqua usually includes a citrus flavor, as well as some anise. I didn't have any anise on hand, so I used a splash of vanilla extract instead. I also chose to add some orange zest to my dough, to follow tradition.

Here is what you will need to make 6 individual loaves:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1.25 cups scalded milk, cooled to room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• zest of one medium orange
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups flour (approximate)
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon of water
• 6 dyed Easter eggs
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• sprinkles

Tip: the Easter eggs do not need to be hard boiled. They cook when the bread bakes. Levi and I dyed the eggs right out of the fridge, without hardboiling them. 

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast, warm (not hot) milk, salt, butter, eggs, sugar, orange zest and vanilla extract. Add about half the flour and beat until smooth (either with a stand-mixer or by hand). Slowly add the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Don't worry about how much flour it ends up being, just keep adding until the dough is not sticky anymore.  Knead until smooth with either dough hook attachment or turn out on floured board. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2-3 hours (if you use Rapid Rise yeast, you can cut this time in half).

I also have to give some mad props to my great-grandmother, Angelina. Mixing dough by hand is not easy work--it requires some muscle. I couldn't imagine having to do so multiple times per week for a family of 6.

The dough before resting. After rising, it nearly filled the bowl.

Once it has risen, punch the dough down and divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each piece to form a 1 inch thick rope about 14 inches long and, taking two pieces, twist to form a "braid", pinching the ends and looping them into a circle.

(It might also be helpful to recruit a 16 month old to make a floury mess and taste test the raw dough.)

I doubled the recipe to make 12 loaves--enough to give to neighbors and friends. Worked great!

Place on a greased baking sheet or line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Cover and let rise until double, about 2 hours again. Brush each bread with beaten egg wash. In the middle of each bread ring, gently place an Easter egg. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden in color.

Meanwhile, combine 1 cup of confectioner's sugar with 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan. Heat on the stovetop until the sugar is melted and smooth. Once the loaves are removed from the oven, immediately drizzle the sugar mixture over the top and add the sprinkles. 

That's it! Italian Easter Bread. 
Happy Easter, friends! May we never forget the living Christ who gives us reason to celebrate.

Levi: 16 Months

What a month, what a month! We have been hit with sickness after sickness all month long. First Levi brought us a nasty cold (turned sinus infection, for me) and then a stomach bug. Then he moved on to a bad vaccine reaction and molar related clinginess and crankiness. Oh, joy! Luckily, he is back to his normal happy-go-lucky self and he is definitely making up for the previous weeks. Here is a recap of his 15th month:

EATING
Milk drinking has stayed the same. I no longer warm his milk--he drinks it straight from the fridge.

This month, foods he tried for the first time:
Grapefruit (oddly, he loved it)
Italian Wedding Soup
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Smoothies (these have become a breakfast staple and they really help soothe his gums)
Thai Chicken Soup with Rice Noodles
Campbell's Chicken and Stars Soup (this was just about the only thing he would eat when he was sick!)
Still-Frozen Waffles (a friend gave me this tip for teething--works like a charm)
String Mozzarella Cheese
Instant oatmeal (instead of baby oatmeal)

For a month that Levi had a very low appetite because of his sickness, he sure did try a wide variety of new foods! Once his stomach bug had run it's course, he was back to wanting to eat for every meal, but he still was having trouble because his molars were paining him. Enter smoothies. Healthy, delicious, and who doesn't want to drink out of a fancy Starbucks cup every morning?

Levi is also doing really well with using a fork. He is getting more methodical about actually stabbing the piece of food he has his eyes on--instead of just chucking his fork all over his tray and hoping he ends up with something on it.

SLEEPING

The time change this month definitely threw us all off for a couple of days, but Levi bounced back rather quickly. He has been sleeping from 7 PM - 7:45 AM, sometimes even 8 AM. It has been awesome! His meal times have shifted a bit, since he is waking later. I'll note that below. 

2-3 nights a week or two ago, Levi had some trouble sleeping. It was the days just before I figured out he had some molars coming in. But once we figured that out, I made sure to give him some Motrin just before bed and he was back to his sleepy self.

The past few days, he has had some trouble napping and has wanted to play or talk in his crib longer than normal. I'm watching for signs of his readiness to drop his first nap of the day. I'm not ready for that--but he is getting there, I think.

WAKE TIME

Of course, books are still high on the list of things that Levi adores! Also, he has gotten super attached to his blanket this month, even wanting it outside of his crib, which is a change. When he was sick, that was the one thing that could keep him calm (and snuggly). But, we're trying to break him from that new formed habit and only let him have it during nighttime or nap time. 

Another of his favorite activities is to stand on the couch and look out of our living room window. We live on a busy road, so there are always cars flying by or people outside. He loves to observe it all!

Since we had a few warmer days this month, we also were able to head to the park or play in our backyard. Levi has always loved to be outside. As a tiny baby, a walk outside was the cure to any screaming fit we couldn't find the solution to. And it has been so fun to watch him outside now that he is more mobile and curious! He loves to play with sticks, dirt, trucks and balls outside--typical boy.

MOTOR SKILLS

We've been practicing with him more, but still no walking from Mr. Levi! Our prediction that he would be walking by 15 months is long gone. He is a bit more fond of walking when we help him now (which is big improvement), so we are at least happy about that.

COMMUNICATION

Levi  learned how to say "more" this month and he has perfected his pronunciation of "daddy". He says daddy so well and often, yet he still refuses to work on "mama". I'm not bitter or anything ;)

One thing that has majorly changed this month is his non-verbal communication, a.k.a. screaming and yelling. Oh boy! This seemed to really begin and coincide with the weeks he was sick--he would wake up feeling cruddy (or with puke all over him) and just make these frantic high-pitched screams until I went to get him (understandably so). But then, this trend continued even after his sickness had ended. It was like he realized his capability of shrill screaming and didn't see a reason to stop. So now, instead of talking in his crib when he wakes from a nap or expressing his disapproval in a more subdued way, he resolves to screaming. 

When he does that, we've been trying to make him look at us and sternly tell him no or we will give him a gentle pop on the hand, but nothing seems to be breaking him of the screaming. I don't want to resort to excusing it because he is a toddler, but I think that has a lot to do with it. He certainly has strong opinions on things now (boy, he's just like his daddy!), but he isn't to the point yet where he can communicate with words. So, it's just a phase we're all going to have to work through together!

Another form of communication that Levi has mastered is kissing! He gives kisses on demand now (or just on his own), which is pretty much the best thing ever. He'll even pucker his little lips. We've also taught him how to (gently) head-butt when we say "noggin"--he's such a cool kid.

DIAPERING

Welp, my plan for nighttime diapering that I mentioned in my previous post worked for several weeks. But now, for some reason Levi went back to being wet most mornings. Even in a disposable diaper! A friend recently recommended hemp inserts to me, so I bought a few of those. He wore one last night for the first time and woke up completely dry--so I think we have finally found a solution!

TEETHING

Levi got two molars in this month, both of which have slightly broken through his gums. Total teeth count: 10.

SCHEDULE

I mentioned above that our schedule has recently changed a bit. Here's a rough view of most days:

7:45 AM- Wake up, milk, breakfast

8:30 AM- Levi watches cartoons or plays while I get to work

9:00 AM- Nap (most days)

10:30 AM- Wake up, bath every other day, play

11:45 AM- Milk, lunch

12:30 PM- Nap

2:30 PM- Wake up, run errands or get together with friends

3:30 PM- Milk, snack

5:00 PM- Levi plays while I get dinner started (sometimes he will still want a 20-30 min nap during this time)

6:00 PM- Milk, dinner

6:30 PM- PJ's and read a book

7:00 PM- Bedtime

OUTINGS/EVENTS

Levi had his 15th month well check this past month! He weighed 21 lbs (15th %) and was 31.5 inches long (55th %), so he is still pretty tall and lean for his age. Brian has been joking with me for a while that he couldn't wait for the day that Levi was half of my height--well the day came when he was 15 months old. Levi got two shots at that appointment, one of which was his first MMR shot. About a week afterwards, he started running a 103* fever and developed a bad measles-like rash in reaction to it. Apparently, that only happens with 1 in 20 people, so our little guy is quite unique!

With some nice weather this month, we took our first family walk in 2014 across the Louisville pedestrian bridge. It was so great to enjoy the weather and the beautiful scenery again! This was the best picture we could get of our excursion:

We also celebrated Levi's buddy, Seth, this month as he turned 1 year old! Cherish and I took the boys to the zoo recently and they seemed to have a nice time. Both of them are still a bit clueless about the animals, but they do love the time outside. We're hoping those two stay buds for a while! 

Lastly, I went out of town for 2 days towards the end of this month, to run a marathon booth in Lexington. That was the first time in a while that I have left Levi with anyone during the day, but he did really well! He played at the Fisher's house the first day and at the Tweito's the second day. Both said he was a happy guy, but he did have some trouble napping. I was really proud of him though!

If you made it this far down, you are a true friend! Thanks for reading about our little guy.

Levi: 15 Months

Our little man will be 15 months old tomorrow! This past month, we definitely saw him learn several new things as well as display that stubborn little personality of his a bit more. Here is a recap of Levi's 14th month:

EATING
Levi is still drinking 5-6 oz per milk from his sippy cup, 4 times throughout the day. I had been slightly warming it in the microwave, but this month, I only did that for his first sippy cup of the day. Now, he drinks it cold from the fridge, usually alongside his lunch, snack or dinner.

He has been pretty adventurous with his solids this month! Some things he tried for the first time:

Collard greens (He could not get enough! Yuck!)
Meatloaf (Not a fan at all)
Waffles
Broccoli and cauliflower stuffed shells
Sauteed squash and zucchini (first time having these not-pureed)

This month, Levi started refusing his oatmeal in the morning. It was kind of frustrating, but I kind of get it. He had had oatmeal every morning for almost 8 months straight--so the dude just wanted a change. I don't blame him. So now I've been making him a real breakfast each morning, but the extent of my "making" is scrambling an egg on the stove top. I've been rotating frozen waffles, Cheerios with fruit, and scrambled eggs throughout the week. He seems to enjoy the variety much more!

Another change this month is Levi's independence concerning his food. He really does not like me to feed him from a spoon anymore--instead he wants to use his hands or attempt using his own utensils. The other night, he did actually use his own fork, and while he was haphazardly stabbing at his tray, he did manage to pick up a few pieces of food and eat them off the fork.

Levi also loves to feed Brian and I now. He'll just hold up whatever he is eating and expect us to just eat it from his hand. He thinks it is hilarious when we actually do. This happens A LOT when he doesn't really care for what he is eating. Surprise, surprise! Unfortunately, he isn't really into the dried mango anymore. He got sick of it after several days in a row and it got to the point where I would find sticky, slobbery mango pieces on the floor because he stopped sucking on it. So we're taking a break from that.

SLEEPING
Not really anything new here! Little man goes to bed around 7 PM each night and he has actually been waking at 7:30-7:45 AM each morning. His first nap of the day has gotten a bit shorter because of that (only 1 hour instead of 1.5), but it's nice to be able to sleep in a bit on these cold winter mornings!

Every once in a while, he will take his 3rd nap of the day (usually between 4 and 5 PM), but it's pretty rare these days. Once he wakes from his second nap around 2:30, he can usually make it to his bedtime without a problem.

WAKE TIME 
Since starting to sleep in most mornings, his wake time has actually shortened before his first nap of the day. Most days, he is ready to go back to bed by 8:30 AM, meaning that he is only awake for 45-60 minutes. Kind of weird to me, considering his age, but I can't complain. Before his second nap of the day, he is usually awake for 2 hours.

Some of Levi's favorite toys at this time are trucks, puzzles, his soccer ball and BOOKS. He will sit and look through his books all day long. It's so fun to see how much he loves them. He has also learned how trucks "work" and he will push them along the floor on their wheels.

MOTOR SKILLS
Levi has learned to "cruise" around furniture, but he is still not walking. He is actually the only one in his nursery class that can't walk yet :( He just seems so content with crawling still--and believe me, he is fast! Time will tell.

VOCABULARY
Levi's favorite syllable is "Da." He'll crawl around the house all day saying it--whether he is looking for Brian or not. He also says some other things on occasion:

"Da-da," or something that sounds very close to "Daddy"
"Hi"
"Buh-bye"
"Brush"
"Sock"

He knows a lot of other words and gets really excited when we say them (book, bath, let's go out, church), but he still hasn't quite figured out how to say them. Oh, and still no "ma-ma" either. Sigh...

SICKNESS
Of course, little man and I both developed colds again this month. Story of my life! So we've both been congested and having sleep troubles throughout the night. Brian and I will occasionally hear Levi coughing late into the night, but luckily, it hasn't been to the point where it keeps him up or where he needs my comfort.

DIAPERING
One change in this area for Levi's 14th month is his nighttime diapering. After many consecutive mornings of me finding him wet in his crib, I knew we needed to make a change. I'm not sure why all of the sudden he started peeing more at night (since he is still drinking the same amount each day), but it was becoming an issue. He was nearing the maximum weight for the current rise of his cloth diapers, so I expanded them to the highest rise setting. Then, instead of using 1 large and 1 small insert in his nighttime diapers, I added 1 extra small one. Since doing this, I haven't found a wet baby in the morning, yet his diapers have been completely full. Success!

OUTINGS/EVENTS
We finally had some pretty "warm" days this month--as in 40's and 50's! That really inspired us to get out to the park just a block over. Levi loves the swings and he was happy to be reunited with them after 4 long months!

Brian and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this month, so Levi went to his Tia's house for the evening. Tia (Auntie) Angelica is Brian's manager at work, which seems like the weirdest situation, but she is so so sweet to Levi. She has three teenage daughters, so they all love to babysit him together and basically dote on him for a few hours straight. In Angelica's eyes, Levi can do no wrong--we always get a report that he was "perfect the entire time." She is currently teaching him how to say Ciao, which means goodbye in her native country of Chile.

Our baby boy's 2nd Valentine's Day was this month as well! Since our wedding anniversary is on February 13th, I consider Levi to be my valentine on the 14th. However, he had another valentine this year as well...

Lastly, we did go to the zoo this month as well! First time in 2014...and it was still pretty chilly. But we had a fun time with friends, Carly and Peter, looking at the few animals that were out in their habitats. And look at these two cuties below!

Overall, this month had it's challenges, but it was rewarding. We are very blessed by Levi and we sure can't wait for some Spring weather to enjoy the outdoors with him in this new phase of his life!

The Cloth Life.

Here we are, almost 15 months into this adventure called parenting and 9 months into the wonderful world of cloth diapering. We were so, so blessed by the generosity of our friends and family when Levi was born--we had enough disposable diapers stockpiled to last until he turned 6 months old. I kid you not, we did not have to buy a single diaper for that dude for 6 months. Such a blessing!

Levi at 6 months old, sporting his very first cloth diaper!

Around the time he turned 5 months, we realized our nice little "diaper closet" was dwindling in supplies and we needed to make a decision about continuing to buy disposables or take the leap and purchase a stash of cloth diapers. I've mentioned on here before that we had considered cloth diapers when I was pregnant--but after seeing how many disposables he received at our showers, we put a hold on that thought.

I researched for hours and hours and I was just overwhelmed with all of the options. The world of cloth diapering has, what seems like, an entirely different lingo. Snappis, prefolds, fitteds, 2-in-1's, pockets, blah, blah, blah. It was confusing! I just wanted something simple to use, simple to wash, and reliable when it came to catching his pee and poo.

One thing I found super helpful when researching diapers is watching reviews on YouTube for each kind. Real-life cloth diapering mamas give their pros and cons of their experiences with each diaper. They can also point out features of the diapers in the videos that you often can't see a picture of before you purchase the diapers--which can help you make an informed decision. Because you can do that, I'll refrain from listing all of my pros and cons here for the diapers we use.

A few friends recommended the BumGenius brand very enthusiastically--so I decided to buy two 4.0 pocket diapers with some Babies-R-Us gift cards. I mean, I hadn't spent a dime from my own pocket (no pun intended), so it was worth a shot! Around the same time, we also considered gDiapers again (we had when I was pregnant)--Brian liked them solely for their "look." He is such a sucker for that kind of thing. gDiapers are not one-size, meaning they do not expand and grow with the baby, so I wasn't loving that idea. This was supposed to help save us money after all--and buying a new set of cloth diapers every 6 months defeated that purpose. But we had a few more gift cards, so we also decided to give those a try (with some of their disposable inserts at first, since the cloth inserts are not included).

BumGenius 4.0's

gDiapers

Overall, after trying both types, I really liked the BumGenius 4.0's much more than the gDiapers (for various reasons), but they still weren't quite what I was hoping for. I didn't love that, because the 4.0's were pocket diapers, I had to wash both the covers and the inserts every time he dirtied a diaper. At $18 per diaper, multiplied by 12-16 diapers needed for a 2-day span, that was a pretty high start-up cost. More than we cared to spend.

And then I found the Flip system. Made by Cotton Babies (just like BumGenius) Flip diapers are the exact same exterior as the 4.0's, but instead of having a pocket that you stuff the insert into, they are simply a waterproof shell that you lay the insert inside of. This allows you to reuse the unsoiled cover multiple times, with clean inserts, before washing. We purchased two of these combo packs, which is just enough to get Levi through 2 days of diapering before I need to wash. $100 for all the diapers he will need until he is potty trained! Quite the bargain.

Flip Diapers (also shown below)

I have only recently found one downside to the Flip diapers as opposed to the 4.0's. Since Levi is so active now, it is a bit more of a pain to make sure the insert is positioned correctly in the diaper when putting it on him. This isn't a problem with the 4.0's because the insert stuffs inside, so it is all in one piece when diapering. But, with a bit more of a conscious effort to always double check the fit of the diaper and position of the insert before letting him crawl away, any potential leaks can be easily avoided.

Here is a look at our small, but more than sufficient diaper stash (we've added a few items since we first started with cloth):

• 3 -   BumGenius 4.0 One-Size Pocket Diapers with inserts (I mainly use these for nighttime diapering)
• 5 -   Flip One-Size Diaper Covers 
• 12 - Flip Stay-Dry Inserts 
• 9 -   Flip Stay-Dry Newborn Inserts (I have started using these as doublers with the large inserts, since Levi is now drinking larger quantities between changes)
• 1 -   Miscellaneous diaper cover (very similar to a Flip diaper, gift from a friend)
• 2 -   gDiapers, size medium (I use these with the Flip inserts, usually just on wash day)
• 1 -   Econobum Diaper with 3 prefolds (I bought this in the very beginning of exploring cloth diapers, because it was super cheap. The prefolds were just way too bulky for my liking though.)
• 1 -   gDiaper wetbag with $10 pail from Target
• 1 -   gDiaper mini-wetbag for on the go

Diaper cover (brand unknown)

Econobum Diaper with Pre-fold

Mini-wetbag that I keep in Levi's bag for on-the-go changes

The diaper pail, which stays in Levi's closet (so that little hands can't get into it...)

So 9 months into cloth diapering and we (I) love it! Well, as much as you can love something that comes in contact with human feces. Brian doesn't change Levi often, but when he does, even he can handle the cloth diapers with ease! While there are a few (rare) exceptional days, it is not at all as gross as it seems. As a mom, you become pretty accustomed to handling human waste, so I find it is really not a huge deal to flip a poopy diaper over the toilet instead of rolling it up for the trash can. 

What I love most about cloth diapering--besides the obvious cute factor--is the savings! In the last 9 months, we have saved nearly $350 because we use cloth.* 

Now, I am by no means saying that disposable diapers are a terrible option. We all know they are super convenient! And we still buy a small pack every two or three months for when Levi is in the church nursery or with a babysitter. But, personally, I just can't get past the savings of using cloth diapers, especially when they require very little effort on my part. Every other evening, I just dump the diapers into the washer (wetbag and all), transfer them to the dryer before heading to bed, and they are fresh and ready to go by the next morning.

So this is my experience with cloth diapers thus far! Once we have another baby, I'll be anxious to try them for the 6 months and younger age range, since I never did with Levi. I would definitely recommend giving them a try!

*Based on an average of 6 diapers per day, using Pampers brand. Price of laundry detergent, water, and energy taken into account.