It's New Year's Eve 2008, and I have yet to post about so much that happened in the last few weeks of December -- Lily's school holiday concert (a treat for your ears! um, sort of), Anna's daycare transition, our trip to Vermont, and Lily's trip to the ER among others.
But for tonight I'm going to live in the moment and focus on the commemoration "du jour."
We were supposed to be in transit from New Hampshire to DC, via a stopover in NJ to see our old neighbors and break up the drive home. But dog sitting issues and viruses too numerous to mention sent us packing days early -- it took us about 12 hours to get from Vermont back home, with me squeezed in between the two car seats in the back for much of that trip -- so we're improvising this New Year's Eve.
Noah cooked a yummy dinner, complete with a few frosty mojitos. It's now 9:20 and Anna's sound asleep, wheezing away in her bedroom; Noah is slumbering on the couch*; Lily is practically propping her eyelids open so that she can watch Wall-E, a New Year's Eve treat (the bedtime breakage that is); and amazingly I'm the most awake person in my house, blogging away on my new blogging-dedicated laptop, fooling around with my new HD Flip video camera (Noah wins the Hanukkah award!). Honestly, I'm normally the one who falls asleep on the couch first...THIS is something new!
Earlier I asked Lily about the holiday. I give you her, in her own words (please don't laugh too hard at my croaking voice...I'm recovering from laryngitis).
And early in the new year I do promise to make sure you're caught up on the tail end of last year. The cliff's notes version -- we had tons of (mostly good) adventures last year and can say, without hesitation, that it was a fantastic year. We were blessed with Anna's arrival and, as our holiday card display demonstrates, many, many wonderful friends.
Can you find yours? Even more have arrived since I took this picture, and if Lily has anything to do with it, we might never take the cards down.
Here's hoping that your New Year's Eve is a bit more rockin' than ours. Best wishes from the four of us for much love, laughter, secure jobs and good health in 2009!
Not the best photo of us...Anna looks stoned and Noah and I both look like we need a drink...but the ONLY photo of the four of us.
*Rest assured that I'm not going to spend my New Year's alone. Noah has since woken up (it's not 10:27) although my eyelids are starting to feel heavy... I'm going to try my best to make it to midnight. I'm 33 not 83 afterall!
One of our favorite holiday traditions is decorating gingerbread houses. While I'm not certain that the Jews in Biblical times glued cookies together and stuck candy atop, it's something that Lily and I cannot resist.
Over the years this activity has taken on a role of increasing importance. This year, for example, we've already decorated two houses and have one more house and one gingerbread train (oh la la!) in the queue.
To help make this year's decorating that much more festive, we invited a few little girls from Lily's new school over for some gingerbread fun recently. And what fun it was! The invitations should have come with a "sugar high" disclosure, what with the 10 pounds of icing and mountains of candy we had on hand.
The extra "icing on the cake," or cookie at it may be, were the princess costumes that the girls changed in to mere seconds after they walked in the door. While I don't have any pictures of that, rest assured that Cinderella (2), Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbell make a mean gingerbread house!
The girls were as adorable as the houses. And, yes, I know they're all blonde. Not sure what's up with that. Come to think of it, ALL of Lily's girlsfriends are blonde. Huh...
I guess that this light display really puts to shame the broken strands of lights that adorn the cherry blossom tree in our front yard. The strands that have been there for two years now. The ones that I didn't even bother to plug in last year.
Whenever we drive past houses in our neighborhood that are all lit up, Lily's eyes grow wide and she breathlessly exclaims, "MAGIC. LIGHTS. LOOK!!" Her head nearly exploded when I took her to the Mormon Temple last year; they put on an extraordinary display that's well known around the DC area. My only word of advice -- just smile and quickly walk past the "greeters."
I would have to agree, though, that these lights, in particular, are totally magical.
So a very Happy...Merry...Peace be with you. Whatever you celebrate, may you do it with those you love close by.
I have been waiting to post photos until I got some more, but with 12 inches of snow...and, of course, two infants to take care of and feed...well, Jamie and Dan have a few (million) things on their to-do list that rank higher than emailing me photos. Imagine that.
I'm delighted, though, to report that Abby and Betsy Beth (new nickname) are doing great on this, their third day of life. I'm still in complete awe of Jamie for delivering twins the "old fashioned" way. Especially because, as I've since found out, Betsy Beth (baby b) was delivered sunny side up. OUCH! And the new mommy is doing yeoman's work of nursing both of them. It almost makes my head pop to think about her schedule right now!
So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the two newest beauties in NJ --
Today has been a long time in the making. It has been greatly anticipated. And talked about. And thought about. Today was a great day.
Today is the day that my maid of honor, Jamie, delivered her twin girls. The last of my bridal party to enter the world of motherhood (with the exception of Sara and Anna -- and neither of you is allowed to get pregnant any time soon -- and the little flower girls -- DITTO for you guys!!). We studied the calendar and realized that she got pregnant the day I delivered Anna. And today is 10 years to the day that she met her husband. The only thing that could have made today any better was if she'd named one of the girls after me...
All I can say is thank god for blackberries. In my hand and in hers. And her husband's. I got dueling blackberry updates from both Jamie and Dan, starting at 6:24 a.m...."As promised. We're here. Stay tuned!" By 8:20 I got a note from Dan telling me that the pitocin was in. Start the clock. The induction had begun.
Seeing as though today was my last official day in the office for the rest of the year (THANK. GOD.), I could not have been more slammed. It was complete insanity. And yet, with every spare second I got, I'd check my crack-berry hoping for yet one more update.
When, at around 12:15 p.m., she told me that the epidural was in, was working, and she was going to try to take a nap, I almost died. Excuse-moi! Sleep? Now? What was I going to do without my updates!?!
Thankfully the nap never happened.
2:24 p.m. "We're at 10 cm! Waiting for Dr. and moving to LD/OP room to push." Just as I was going in to withdrawal, an update came through. In the nick of time. Not like I didn't have any work to do today...I guess I now could get back to that.
My dear, brave, strong friend, Jamie, who has been on strict bedrest for the last 14 weeks, finally caught a break. At her final OB appointment earlier this week, they discovered that both of the girls were head down an in the perfect position to attempt a v- birth. After lots of consideration, she decided to give it the old college try. Amazing. A-freaking-mazing!! She'd labor in an OR just in case she needed the c-section after all, but she was going to try to push them out.
3:41 p.m. Radio silence. I can only imagine what was going on. And I did. For the two nano-seconds that I had to breathe today. Two of them. Babies. T-W-O. 'Cuz pushing one out just wasn't enough. Jamie had to go and trump all of us by pushing out two. Too posh to push? Not her!
3:52 p.m. Email from Dan. "WE ARE PARENTS!!!!! Details to follow." That's it? One? Both? He was killing me...
4:41 p.m. As I was writing a pitch regarding security of travel to high-risk areas (think Mumbai), a new email crosses my screen. "Both within an hour of each other!!" Apparently they had both arrived when the last email was sent. I nearly have whiplash it happened so fast. From the first real email at 8:20 a.m. to the last at 3:52...
Less than eight hours. Two babies. Holy cow is all I can say. HOLY. COW.
With all the scares early in her pregnancy...to the week 24 scares that lead to the long, painful and boring bedrest...with visions of babies in the NICU dancing her her head...it's now over. They are here. Jamie wins the mommy hero award. One hour in to her new life as a parent, and she's already deserving of sainthood in my book.
So happy birthday, Miss Abigail (baby A) and Miss Elizabeth (baby B). We've been waiting a long time to meet you, and Aunt Courtney cannot wait to get my totally Purelled hands on you!
A big hug to the new mommy and daddy too.
What a day indeed... More/better pictures to follow as soon as I get them!
So often I'm the one behind the camera that photos of me with the kids are few and far between. Of course, that's 100% fine with me. Between the grey hair, circles under my eyes, and extra 15+ pounds, I don't feel super compelled to document myself right now.
But my mother was over for her birthday weekend before last, and she insisted on taking a pictures of the three of us. You know mothers... We love to "insist" (read: demand) until the tables are turned. It was her birthday though, so I had to say yes. As much as it killed me. And it did.
Anyway, I do exist. In written words and in photos.
I've since gotten 2 inches chopped off my hair as well as a LONG overdue color "refresher." A year ago I had to ditch the highlights in favor of an all-over color treatment to camouflage the large and very noticeable grey streaks that shoot forth from each of my temples. It's complete injustice when, at 33, you have far more grey hair than your own mother!
5 calls with the pediatrician; one at 11 p.m. last night.
27 loads of laundry.
5 bottles of pedialyte. The plain kind that is nearly impossible to find in stores.
2 1/2 missed days of work.
1 case of Rotavirus...and 1 totally pathetic baby.
Poor, poor Anna. Just as I was gloating that I had TONS..BOATLOADS..of use it or lose it vacation. Because I had saved all my annual leave to deal with sick children post maternity leave. Of course they'd get sick what with Lily transitioning to a new preschool and Anna starting daycare. But, then, they hadn't gotten sick. Hadn't missed one single day. Until Tuesday. I should learn to bite my tongue...
The email from the Huck came through at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Anna had been projectile vomiting. So had others in the classroom. Something was going around and it was fast and furious. Could I pick her up. Within the hour. They'd just sent NINE other babies home.
Slammed at work, unlike any day in recent history, I couldn't have gotten away if we'd been in the midst of an attack. I had deadline after deadline after client deliverable due before close of business. Noah was at home. Sick himself. Too sick to drive downtown. So my dear sweet mother obliged; Nettie to the rescue!
I've never seen a baby throw up more than Anna has these past 5 days. And when she wasn't throwing up (and, no, this isn't sweet smelling baby spit-up...this is full-fledged quasi-adult vomit...of the most stinky variety), she was lying around looking completely pathetic. And while the bug did make it to my digestive tract too, it totally invaded my mother's. She wins a medal for this grandmotherly tour of duty.
I'm happy to say that, five days later, Anna appears to be on the mend. I've started mixing in a touch of formula to the pedialyte bottles. She's had a few bites of rice cereal, and I've even snuck in a bite of applesauce here and there. Knock on wood, but so far she's managed to keep it all down. Although I do hold my breath every time she makes just the smallest of noise that's out of the ordinary. I fear that she's going to get a complex, but I've been following her around with towels and plastic bags.
With only 4 days of life as a Huckleberry Cheesecake Blueberry left, I hope that she's able to make it to school this week. Her teachers won't forgive me if they miss one last second with her. They might also not forgive me for the shiner she got today. When she took a nose dive off the living room sofa. When I was just steps away and supposed to be watching her. As if the stomach thing wasn't enough, now my baby is getting her first black eye.
Fear not, the guilt is gut-wrenching. Or perhaps that's the Rotavirus raring it's ugly head.
Can't say that I blame her for looking so darn pissed off!
Today my mother turned another year older. To be kind, I won't reveal her age. She's young at heart, and that's what matters. And since I was recently told that 80 is the new 70, well, then, my mother is practically a teenager.
Yesterday, we girls went out for a birthday brunch to celebrate; three generations of "ladies" in the family.
Tonight my mother had a little celebration, complete with belly dancer. Yes, my mama has flair. As Lily says, "me and Nettie are party girls!" So you can imagine her extreme disappointment when she realized she wasn't invited.
Lily decorated a card to my mom, with a drawing of her (my mother) as a princess, declaring that my mother was going to freak out when she saw it. She wrote out "To Nettie, Love Lily" by herself. I almost freaked out when I saw that. When did my baby grow up??
Since Anna's best gift is her smile and fabulous belly laugh, I leave you with her. Mom -- this one's for you. A big birthday hug and kiss from us all!
Note: watching this video may require Dramamine. Some viewers have been known to get sea sick from this segment in particular...it's a bit "rocky."
I am proud to announce that I survived the last 72 hours. Hopefully I look better than I feel. This one was a doozey that I've been dreading a bit for a few weeks.
I wish that I'd kept track of the mileage that I put on the car -- that would have put it in to perspective -- but with gas as cheap as it is right now, I'm no longer eyeing the gas gauge like I used to.
Here's hoping that you're not totally exhausted, or bored, after you've read out it. Internet -- I'm warning you -- this one is long. VERY. LONG.
Friday AKA "vacation day"
9:30 -- My day started with a tour of in-home daycare #1. [I am sure that, once the dust settles and my head clears, I'll likely share all my daycare stories/angst/issues with you. For the time being, though, I will share that lately I have been 150% preoccupied with finding Anna a new home during the day. For a variety of reasons, including waiting lists YEARS long...seriously, one place I called told me they might be able to offer her a spot in their THREE YEAR OLD room...yes, like, in 2.4 YEARS...I decided to expand my search beyond traditional center-based daycare to in-home daycares. Read on.] It took 50 minutes to tour 2 rooms and a bathroom, during which time Anna cried. No screamed. HER HEAD OFF. Because of course you know that they're interviewing me even more than I'm interviewing them. I think we failed. I sort of got that "we'll call you if a spot opens up" kind of a good-bye. Which is fine. I wasn't feeling it.
10:45 -- Trip to the pediatricians. When they asked me why Anna needed the appointment, I simply explained that I was sick and tired of having a sick baby. They needed to fix her. Or I was going to ask for a refund and a model upgrade. Seriously, I think she's been congested since birth. And she's sounded like a 60 year old smoker for the past 2 months. Nothing serious enough to keep her out of school, but after two different medications through a nebulizer AND a round of oral steroids, I expected more progress. Which I wasn't getting. But I did get a long and serious conversation with one of the elder pediatricians in the practice. Who Anna totally charmed with her smiles, raspberry-blowing talents, and chants of "mamamamama" (LOVE THAT!) and aba-aba-aba (well, Mamma Mia was one of her first feature films!). Bottom line -- the pediatricians suspects a dairy allergy. Huh... So she's now on soy formula. Of course we got the diagnosis days after we dropped some $150 on those commercial sized vats of Similac that you can get at Costco. Uugh! Well, here's hoping that this does the trick. We'll know in a few weeks. Naturally dairy elimination takes time. And, yes, the coughing continues...
11:30 -- Since we were so close, and since I can always come up with an excuse to hit "Tar-jjaay," Anna and I stopped at the local Target on our way home to pick up Similac Soy and a new vacuum cleaner. My Mothers of North Arlington mom's group has adopted a few families for the holidays, and their Christmas wish lists were posted on our website. Of course, by the time that I got around to check it out, the ONLY gift left was the vacuum. But since that item was actually on my own list a few years ago, I was more than happy to oblige. Awesome that I can teach Lily about the gift of giving while teaching about cleanliness (next to godliness right? guess you haven't been at my house lately...). Anna and I got everything on the list, plus a few extras, and I was able to resist getting anything at "Cafe Tarjjaay" even though I hadn't yet had breakfast or coffee. Still not sure how I was able to put one foot in front of the other. Screw breakfast...can live without that...but I'm usually not human 'til I've had my coffee.
12:45 -- Got stuck in traffic. Started swearing that I hadn't gotten anything to eat at Target.
1:30 -- Home. Quick diaper change. Restocked the diaper bag. Stuffed my face with various scraps of leftovers.
2:40 -- Picked Lily up early from school. Forgot to sign her out, for which I'm sure we'll be tarred and feathered tomorrow. Oops.
3:00 -- Toured in-home daycare #2 with Lily in tow. LOVED IT. Rather than scream, this time Anna was all smiles. Before we left she was on the floor, playing with toys and the owner, laughing. WILDLY.
3:45 -- Piled both girls in the car to race downtown for the Huck holiday party.
4:05 -- Pull in to garage. Thankfully we found a spot right away. We did a quick costume change. I think I used half a package of wipes giving Lily a sponge bath next to the car -- she gets SO FREAKIN FILTHY at school!! But soon enough both girls were wearing matching velvet holiday dresses. We were ready to go. Lily was giddy she was so excited about seeing her old friends and her FAVORITE BAND play. Like, OMG, is that Coach Cotton? Willie Bob? And Boogie Woogie Bennie? Yup, local pre-school heroes, Rocknoceros, were the featured entertainment. These guys have groupies. Just ask Noah (wink, wink).
4:15 -- We arrived with the concert already in full swing. A bit overwhelmed by the sudden attention when we walked through the doors, Lily balked, hid behind me, and decided she wanted to go back to the car. AS IF! Anna and I schlepped all the way downtown just for her to rock out to Rocknoceros. Like it or not, she was going to stay. When she discovered, though, that an old classmate was wearing the exact same dress, she quickly turned her frown upside down and joined the four year old mosh pit. I guess having the same dress as a classmate is cool in preschool. If only they knew how UNCOOL that soon becomes.
Although it's hard to see, the girls were jumping. Because apparently that's how "cool" preschoolers dance. Or that's what they told me.
5:45 -- After too many desserts to count, and lots of "jump up and get down-ing," we headed home. I was starting to feel the day. And guilty. Having spent several hours that day touring new daycares, the teachers and directors at the Huck couldn't have been nicer. They were so happy to see Lily. THEY were practically giddy...
6:30 -- 11:30 -- Home. Dinner. Kids in bed. Noah packed for ATL. Attempted to watch Stepbrothers, which turned in to Noah's out of control laughter and my nap on the couch. Welcome to our Friday nights!
Saturday
7:30 -- Noah left for Atlanta and wished me good luck. His alarm clock, of course, woke the kids up. No sleeping in for me...
9:00 -- My mom arrived to watch the kids so I could make it to my pilates class. I haven't been in three weeks and knew I'd be in trouble. I was SO dreading this class. But I also knew that if I missed one more week I'd be too intimidated to go back. I'll have you know, though, that I'm STILL in so much pain that I can actually feel it in my abs when each finger moves to type. Clearly I love you a lot.
11:00 -- I returned from pilates. Amazingly, the next hour and forty minutes is a blur. I know it was only yesterday, but I honestly can't remember it. I do know that I managed to shower, get dressed myself, and together with my mom get the girls dressed. Much beyond that I don't remember.
12:40 -- Restocked the diaper bag.
12:50 -- We left for the Nutcracker. We got lost. We found our way. We arrived in time to get a good spot in the line for general admission seating. Which I HATE. Put me in a line for general admission seating to watch paint dry, or mold grow, and I'll still get competitive. It's why I hate flying Southwest Airlines too. Hurry up. Wait. Hurry up. Wait. All the while my competitive juices are RAGING. This time, though, I'm happy to report that we got great seats. 7 of them. My cousin Susana had organized us small group of girls to go see the Nutcracker. And while I remembered all the details of the outing, I forgot to prepare Lily for a full-length performance that had NO DIALOGUE. Or at least it wasn't meant to have dialogue. The whisper shouts from Lily and her friend, Charlotte, were likely heard by everyone in the theater.
Lily with her cousin, Camilla, and buddy, Charlotte.
2:00 -- 4:30 -- Nutcracker. Music. Riveted baby Anna who refused to sleep lest she miss a second of it. Lily did very well until 20 minutes before it ended when she declared that she was bored. And wanted to go home. I gave her another snack, which bought me 15 minutes. 5 minutes before the curtain call she fell asleep in her seat.
4:35 -- DASH. We dashed out the door, 35 minutes after the performance was scheduled to end, only to find snow falling and traffic backed up. The whining 4 year old in the backseat added to the fun.
5:02 -- Arrival at a birthday party, 32 minutes late. When I searched for wine I only found juice boxes. Damn. Oh well, it was worth looking for!
6:15 -- Party ends. Pack children in to the car. Head to Williams-Sonoma for a late errand. Because I'm a mean mommy. More snow. Anna's first. Shame that Noah missed it.
Anna's first snow. And, yes, we do call that snow in these parts. Don't laugh!
7:05 -- Home. So tired.
8:30 -- Both girls were fast asleep. Miracle of all miracles! Lovely, just enough time for me to do a load of laundry, load the dishwasher, and watch one of my twelve million shows stored on TiVo. Some day I'll have the time AND energy to make a dent in the queue.
Sunday -- the day of rest?!?
7:35 -- Phone rang. It was Noah. He had figured that we were up (we weren't). He was calling to tell me that he woke up with his eye crusted closed and ask what it might be. Like Lily had had. A few different times. "You know, Courtney, when her eye was pink and crusted closed..." UM, you mean PINK EYE?!? Poor Noah.
7:45 -- Stripped sheets off all our beds. Washed them each. Twice. In scalding hot water. My fingers are crossed that I caught this before it spreads.
8:00 -- While I was down in the basement, I folded three baskets of clean laundry. Amazing that we had any clothes left in our dressers. "Paid" Lily with a candy cane to come get me if Anna started protesting loudly from her exersaucer.
8:30 -- "Paid" her again to watch Anna while I showered.
9:00 -- Organized Lily to create cards for the three birthday celebrations we were about to attend. Major creative session ensued. Lily declared that my mother, "Nettie," was going to "freak out" when she saw her card. Who taught my four year old to say "freak out"???
9:50 -- Restocked diaper bag.
10:00 -- My mother arrived. We had a lovely, and amazingly non-rushed, brunch at Harry's Tap Room in Clarendon. In honor of my mother's birthday. To be kind, I won't disclose which birthday. Lily ordered her own meal. Fruit. Smoked salmon (as in lox). Vanilla bean ice cream. Interesting combo...
12:15 -- Dropped off seriously overdue library books on our way home.
1:05 -- Restocked diaper bag. Again.
1:15 -- Left for second birthday celebration of the day. This one for twin girls at Lily's school. At Monkey Business in Falls Church, VA. Anna spit up on me. Twice. Isn't a party 'til someone pukes! Lily cried. Twice. Not a party 'til tears are shed either. These over some weird oblong bouncy thing that looked like a....well....I'm not going to go there, but the tears weren't worth it.
3:05 -- Departed Monkey Business for the third birthday celebration of the day, this one at Jumping Jack Sports in Ashburn, VA. We had about 30 minutes of travel time. Did I mention that this party started at 3?
3:40-5:00 -- Enjoyed a great party. This one for the son of MY friend. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow....and a very long day.
6:30 -- Lily asked for dinner, even though she'd eaten pizza and ice cream cake at the second birthday and birthday cake at the first. I think she's in the middle of a major growth spurt. I hope it's up and not out. With dinner, though, came a little concert.
Sorry it's so dark. And sorry to "out" you Jamie. We still love you even if you give LOUD gifts and sit on the other side of the aisle!
It's now 10:30. Both girls are in bed and sound asleep. Noah's in the air and should be home some time before midnight. I hope. I still have to put the newly cleaned sheets back on my bed, and I have to enter my time from last week...my work computer is booting up as I write. And I'm exhausted. In. My. Bones. So much for a relaxing three day weekend.
But as tired as I am in my core -- way too tired to be funny for you, my loyal blog readers -- I'm supremely relieved to have made the decision about Anna's care situation. While I'm dreading that conversation tomorrow, we are pulling her from the only daycare that we have ever known and putting her in this in-home daycare that is mere blocks from our house and that gets RAVE reviews from parents current and past. I just keep remembering her squeals of laughter when we were there on Friday. I hope. I pray. My fingers are crossed that we're making the right decision. I'll keep you posted.
As I mentioned earlier, while we escaped hosting any of the THREE Thanksgiving meals we gorged ourselves at last week, we did volunteer to bring desserts. Lily had been begging forever (literally since September) for a pumpkin pie, but I thought that I'd do something a bit different. As Emeril would say, "kick it up a notch!"
So, BAM!, that's just what I did.
Luckily for me, before I had even had time to crack the spine on my copy of Joy of Cooking, Daily Candy DC delighted me by forwarding along a recipe for pumpkin bread pudding. To continue with my celebrity chef quotes -- YUM-O!!! -- as Rachel Ray would definitely holler.
This one came from the chef at Washington's own 1789 Restaurant. And while my kitchen looked like a small roadside bomb had exploded after I made not one but two of these, it was SO worth it. CRAZY YUMMY!! And something that could as easily be served at a holiday dinner as it was at Thanksgiving. If I make this again, I might consider sneaking in some golden raisins... Sadly I didn't take a picture of it, for which I was chided by my food blogger buddy WhereInDC, but it was as rustically pretty as it was delicious.
Olson’s Pumpkin Bread Pudding Recipe Pie is for the birds. Wow Thanksgiving guests with a sinful bread pudding straight from chef Travis Olson’s pastry pantry at 1789 Restaurant. Pumpkin Bread Pudding Serves eight to ten
Ingredients 1 loaf challah bread, with crusts discarded 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon 1½ tsp. ground ginger ½ tsp. ground nutmeg¼ tsp. ground cloves 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 c. granulated sugar ½ cup water 1½ cups pumpkin puree 1 c. light brown sugar 5 eggs, lightly beaten ½ tsp. salt 2 c. heavy cream 1 c. whole milk
Preheat oven to 375°.
Cut bread into ½-inch cubes.
Combine the spices in a small bowl and then evenly sprinkle the mixture over the bread cubes.
Toss the seasoned bread cubes with butter and then spread the cubes on a sheet pan and toast in the oven for about twelve minutes, until just golden.
Reduce heat to 325° and place an empty two-quart baking dish inside to warm.
Add the granulated sugar to a small sauce pot. Whisk in about half of a cup of water until it makes a pourable consistency. Boil without stirring until the mixture turns amber, about twelve minutes.
Remove the warmed dish from the oven and coat the bottom with a thin layer of the caramel mixture. (There may be leftover caramel, which you can save and use as ice cream topping.)
For the custard, add the pumpkin to a mixing bowl and whisk in the remaining ingredients, one at a time in the order listed.
Add the toasted bread to the baking dish and pour the custard on top. Press down on the bread (yes, with your hands) to help it soak up the custard like a sponge, cover, and let sit up to an hour.
Return the dish to the oven at 325° and bake until puffy and no liquid appears when pressed, about 45 minutes.
Enjoy warm with ice cream.
Of course, despite the list of ingredients, the finished product is completely fat- and calorie-free. In fact, it's practically a diet food, so go ahead and enjoy that second serving. You know you want to!
My only words of caution -- in the interest of full disclosure -- is to not try to trick any VERY literal four year olds with this bread pudding when they've had their hearts set on pie. So while it kicked the pants off of the traditional dessert, we will be making one of those in the very near future to satisfy my daughter's craving.
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