Sick

Sophia is at school and Amelia is playing at a friend's house this morning, so I'm going to grab my little baby and take a loooong nap. I think all the sleep deprivation and anemia and just general run-down of having three kids and working has taken a toll on me, and I officially have no immune system. Henry and I are both sick with some sort of crummy virus - fever, headache, coughing, etc.

Yesterday afternoon when Henry woke up from his nap at 4 p.m. with a temp of 101, I called our pediatrician, who told us to go straight to the ER. I was bummed, because I knew it meant a full sepsis work up, including a spinal tap, for our baby. But I was already feeling mega guilty for getting him sick in the first place, so off to Children's we went.

Thankfully, although we were there forever in the end, they were wonderful. They immediately put us back in a private room, so we didn't have to deal with the germy waiting room. The nurse and doctor we had were wonderful. And Henry was as happy as he could be - cooing, smiling, sleeping, nursing, and enjoying my undivided attention. His chest x-ray and bloodwork came back indicative of a virus, so we were spared the spinal. And finally around 10:30 p.m. we were headed home, SO thankful that he was okay and we didn't have to stay!

Now, naptime!

Onions?

I never really thought about writing a Vegetable of the Week post about onions. They seem like such a supporting actor, and I forget about them.

But honestly, they're one of my favorite ingredients - one of the few things I buy every single week.

I was inspired to write this post by a non-recipe that I made up Sunday night out of desperation. Henry was glued to me all afternoon. Every time I put him down, he screamed. When I held him, His Tiny Highness was in heaven. So, of course, I did nothing but hold him, until it was 5:40 and I realized I had no dinner plans ready. My menu planning started on Monday (slight oversight there).

So I caramelized some onions - I sliced them thin and sauteed them long and slow in olive oil until they were light brown - and served them over some nice fat rigatoni, with some extra olive oil, fresh Parmesan cheese, and lots of sea salt and fresh ground pepper. It was insanely good. We ate almost a pound of pasta it was so good! I just served it with a tomato/mozzarella salad.

My usual onion non-recipe is French onion soup - just caramelize the onions and add beef broth, simmer, then add some bread/cheese on top in individual bowls and finish off under the broiler. Voila! One of my very favorite foods!

There are many variations of onion, ranging in flavor from spicy to sweet. Onions come in yellow, red, or white varieties. Yellow are the most versatile for cooking, while red onions lend themselves to raw use. Honestly I don't buy white onions unless I'm chopping them up for Mexican food. Different varieties of onions also create different levels of reactions in your eyeballs. Onions release an enzyme that irritates your eyes, causing pain and tearing - making it a lachrymatory agent (like tear gas!) If you refrigerate the onion for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it, and cut the end off last, you can reduce this effect.

You don't generally think of onions as being particularly nutritious, but they actually do contain antioxidants that have been shown to help fight off diseases such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. They're also a good source of fiber.

Wordless Wednesday

Disney on Ice

I took Sophia to Disney on Ice Friday night.

I had strep throat (but had finally given in and started antibiotics the day before, so I wasn't contagious) and really did NOT feel like going. The pouring rain didn't make me want to go any more.

But I'm so glad we did. She had a great time! And I had a feeling Sophia has needed a little more one-on-one attention lately.

It was a little sad, though. I took her last year, and it was the first time she ever went to any kind of show (she hadn't been to a movie or anything yet) and it was so magical for her. Her mouth was literally open the whole time, in awe. But Friday, one of the first things she said to me was, "those are just people with costumes on." When I said "really?! Are you SURE??" she said "yeah, Mom, look - their mouths aren't moving."

But she loved it anyway. And it got me out of my grouchy mood. The funnel cake we shared helped too :)

Bangs

I am so organized and well-rested that I'm actually bored.

I took today off work, because we were going to go out of town. We changed our mind about the trip, but I kept my day off. Last night I got bored and whacked at my hair with a pair of scissors until suddenly I had bangs and layers.

This morning I got bored and took pictures of myself with PhotoBooth.

I'm a goober. Now it's time to pick the girls up from school - time to put down the coffee mug be mommy again!

A Day of Rest

As part of my effort to get our lives back into a rhythm since Henry's birth, I am making it a goal to truly celebrate Sundays as a day of rest again. I used to be pretty good about this, but slowly it got harder and harder to get everything done in six days, and so Sundays became just another day for doing laundry and grocery shopping and scrubbing bathrooms.

My friend Karla sent me something a couple of years ago from her church, which talked about how arrogant it is to not take Sunday as a day of rest. Basically it said that even God took a day off, so who do you think you are that the world cannot possibly go on if you're not working seven days a week. And it's true. I get in this mode where I think that I am so needed, so important, that I cannot possibly spend a whole day resting.

Well, that's crazy.

Yesterday Davis took the girls to his brother's house to play with their cousins, while I spent five hours cleaning the house from top to bottom. I did not stop moving during that whole time, except one short break to feed Henry - I got everything spotless. And that meant that I had no cleaning left to do today.

We went to church this morning.

Then we came home. And we rested. And did nothing.

It's amazing how refreshed I feel, how much more I've been able to reflect on today's church service (and my three year old Sunday School class, who sometimes give me just as much to think about as the sermon!), and how much less chaotic this week feels already. It's only 3:45, the day is crawling by - how awesome is that, instead of looking at the clock at 11:00 p.m. on Sunday saying, "oh where did the weekend go?!"

Happy Sunday, my friends!

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-11

My Little Boy

Henry



He's still 100% mama's boy. This morning he basically was happy as long as I was holding him and looking at him. If anyone else was holding him, or I was ignoring him, then - crying.

I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I love it a little bit.

Yesterday he went back to have his hearing checked, because he failed his newborn screening test. At that time, he had lots of fluid in both ears - it wasn't infected, it was just left over from his days of swimming around in water. Yesterday his one ear had cleared all the fluid and passed the hearing screen, but the other did not. This meant we had to wait three hours to see the ENT doctor (seriously *ugh*) just to be told "he has fluid in his ear, but you already knew that. We're not going to do anything about that, but you already knew that." Thanks, Doc, be sure to bill my insurance for a high level evaluation on that one. Henry should clear the fluid out of his other ear in the coming months, and in the meantime he's fine mostly hearing out of his other ear.

Henry is sleeping pretty well. He's still waking up 1-2 times a night, but I have no idea what time. Every night I look at the clock, and then every morning I've forgotten.

That's what's going on in Henry land. Nice and boring, just the way we like it! I loved answering the nurse's questions yesterday - "nope, he has no history of anything!"

How I Got My Act Together

As you might have gleaned from this past week's posts, I was having some "moments." I've been irritable and not very nice to those around me, mostly because I've been frustrated with myself. I've been scatterbrained and forgetful and running late - things I normally pride myself on not being. It was frustrating to me, that I just couldn't seem to be able to get my act together.

Well, I finally had enough, and over the weekend I went out and bought a personal notebook to help keep me in line. Let me share it with you (please excuse the PhotoBooth backwards pictures)

It is just the right size to easily fit into my diaper bag

On the inside, I use the front cover like a wallet - I have my driver's license, debit card, insurance cards, and "club" cards like Kroger and membership cards like for the zoo. I also have a stack of my business cards.

(see that page that says "Leadership" on it? I'm going to get some scrapbook paper and decorate it!)

Behind the card holder, I've tucked some receipts I need to keep, and a bright pink piece of paper where I keep my grocery list - the MINUTE I realize I need something, it goes on the list. AND back there I have several notecards (a thank you card and a couple of generic cards) in their envelopes with a stamp on each. This is because sometimes I'll be at Starbucks or somewhere and think of a card I want to write, but by the time I get home I forget or don't have time. Then, behind that area is a zippered pouch - in there I keep cash, coupons, and a pair of small nail scissors (because I always need scissors when I'm out and about - seriously!)

Then, there's a monthly calendar - here I keep birthdays, trips out of town, and other big things. I keep this synced up with our big calendar in the kitchen.

Behind that is a weekly calendar. For each day, there is a to do list portion and an appointment section. This is where I write down everything, to the tiniest detail. Where I need to be when, and what I need to be doing.

Behind the calendars, there are a bunch of blank pages. Here I'm writing down things that we need - things that I can never seem to remember when I happen to be at certain stores. Like what color hairbows the girls need, what dimension table we need, etc. Again, the minute I think of what we need, it goes on the list.

And finally, in the back cover is a little notepad. This is where my work to do list goes. I've had a system for a couple of years now that works well for me, where I assign priority to tasks using stars - 4 stars means I need to do it today, 3 stars means this week, 2 stars means as soon as I have time, and 1 star means eventually. Usually items end up getting stars added to them before they actually get done. Also, when I write something down, I give myself all the information I need - for example instead of "call John" it will say "call John re contract amendment at 555-1234" that way I can take care of things just by looking at my list, rather than having to look up number or try to remember what I'm talking about. I also keep a pencil (for writing in the notebook) and a pen (because I can NEVER find one when I need it!) in the back.

The night I sat down and filled in my notebook, it felt so awesome - it was like emptying my brain onto paper. That night when lying in bed and the next morning while standing in the shower, instead of having a million little things buzzing through my mind, I had a totally blank mind. Awesome. Not only did it feel nice, it was what I needed to be able to focus on what was important - I could say my prayers without interrupting myself with don't forget to... And I could sit there and nurse Henry without jumping up to take care of something. I filled in the calendars for a whole year - all the way to March 2011.

I carry my notebook with me everywhere. Literally - I sleep with it next to my bed. When I walk across the house, the notebook goes with me. That way when I think of something I need to remember, it goes on the to do list. When someone calls and we make plans, they immediately go in the calendar. When I realize we need something from the store, it goes on the shopping list. That way my sleep-deprived brain is not constantly trying to keep all that information inside.

Sure, I've still got a little mommy brain - I forgot the girls' backpacks Monday when I took them to school. But for the most part, I feel like I have things under control again. I'm not so unpleasant to be around, because I'm not constantly frustrated with myself. And most importantly, I can focus again - when I'm working, on work; when I'm with the kids, on them; when I'm alone, on Heaven.

(I have a Family Notebook that I made a couple of years ago, which I'll write about soon)

This Crazy Mommy Life

IS WHERE IT'S AT!

Nooooo! Not the Miiiiiiiiiilk!

Enough time has passed, that I can actually blog about last week, when Whirlpool broke my heart.

This is not the story of my new Whirlpool Duet washer, which doesn't get my clothes clean and gets unbalanced even with tiny loads and which drives me totally batty with, um, strong dislike.

This is the story of the night I opened the freezer right before going to bed to discover that all the ice in the ice cube trays had melted completely. And all the food was completely thawed. Like completely thawed. Which, of course, immediately made me start screaming "noooooooo! not the miiiiiiiiiiiiiilk!" and sobbing and wailing hysterically. I don't think I've cried that hard since high school.

You see, I had about 150 ounces of breastmilk in that freezer. (This, by the way, was on top of the box of milk that I donated to one of my midwife's clients who wasn't making enough milk and didn't want to supplement with formula) I always use those first few weeks of breastfeeding, when I have too much milk, to stockpile my freezer. When I go back to working in the office this summer, it will relieve some stress if I don't always have to make sure to pump as much as Henry eats. When Amelia was a month old, I needed surgery and my freezer stash saved me when I had to pump and dump for 24 hours after anesthesia.

After I cried to the point of throwing up (seriously, it was insane) I went back to the freezer and discovered that all was not lost. And this is actually why I wanted to blog about this... several weeks ago, I bought these.



I had toyed with buying them before, but they seemed kind of expensive. After I bought them, I was so happy - my freezer was so neat, it was easy to organize the milk from oldest to newest. And it was easy to freeze the milk flat in the little drawer thingy. (They also hold my favorite - Lansinoh - storage bags perfectly) But best of all - those boxes saved some of my milk!! I still had to throw out about 50 ounces, which killed me. The milk at the front and back of each box was thawed, but all the milk in the middle was still frozen solid! You have to understand everything else in my freezer was completely thawed! The boxes must have retained some of the cold (which means they also protect your milk from the temperature fluctuations of opening and closing your freezer door) and then having the frozen milk packed tightly together must also have kept it cold enough.

So, if anyone out there has any breast milk in their freezer - buy one of those storage containers!

It was about midnight by this point, by the way. My mother owns the house next to ours and rents it out, and as it turned out, it was empty that night (the new renters moved in the next day!) so I took the milk over there and stuck it in the freezer until the morning - when thankfully a repairman was able to fix our refrigerator for $181. WAY better than a new fridge! The starter on the something or other burned out. I have no idea, and I really don't care ha!

Oh man, it was scary, though. Someone who has never hooked a mechanical suction device to their breasts will have no idea what I'm talking about. Lucky them.

Right Now

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~ Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

It's been hard lately, keeping things mellow. I've always juggled lots of things - I worked two jobs through most of college, I had a baby in law school while being on law review and clerking. I had a job and two kids and was on the board of a nonprofit and volunteered at church. I just always functioned best with lots of things going on. But for some reason, that hasn't been the case this past month. My mind has suddenly reached its multitasking limit, and I feel very frazzled. I forgot about a work meeting today (for the first time ever), Thursday I couldn't figure out what day of the week it was, I'm forgetting birthdays, I walk around with a constant dread that I'm forgetting something. It's a little scary.

But mostly, it's sad, because it also means I'm not stopping to soak up Henry's fleeting newbornness. I'm letting cobwebs get in the way, when I'm sitting in my chair nursing Henry and I become so obsessed staring at the dust on the ceiling that I have to put him down to get a duster. And I'm letting life FLY by a million miles an hour while I try to keep everything straight.

My new plan (1) get more sleep. I don't know what's up with me going to bed at 1 a.m. every night, waking up at 3 a.m. to feed the baby, and then getting up at 6 a.m. That's not good. (2) devise some sort of crazy Alzheimers sticky note system. Or something. Maybe make better use of my Blackberry calendar again. I just need a foolproof method of keeping track of everything outside my brain to free up some space inside my brain.

We'll see. Just please don't make fun of me if you see me walking around with a note stapled to my forehead.

Plant Markers

The girls and I planted a little herb and tomato garden in a flower bed next to the patio.



I made these plant markers - I made ten of them in about fifteen minutes. They are so easy! Just cut the top and bottom off a Coke can with regular scissors, then cut the sheet that's left into strips. Using a ballpoint pen, write on the BACK of each strip. Remember to write backwards (I thought this would be hard, but it wasn't).

They are aluminum, so they will not rust.

Espárrago

That's asparagus, in its native Spanish (from Spain, not Mexico) language.

Asparagus are very low in calories, but a great source of folate, Vitamin C, calcium, fiber and potassium. They are also rich in antioxidants. They also make your pee smell funny. Just saying.

Asparagus comes in bundles of "spears." All of the spear is edible, but you'll want to cut off the bottom inch or so, because it is tough. The further up the spear you get, the more tender it is. After trimming the bottom off, you can also use a potato peeler to peel off the skin toward the bottom, making it even more tender.

There are three ways I cook asparagus usually. My non-recipe is to roast asparagus spears in a 425 degree oven, single layer on a baking sheet, with some olive oil and kosher salt. Depending on the size of your spears, this takes about 10-15 minutes.

A staple meal around here, because it takes only about 20 minutes to make, is salmon cakes, roasted asparagus, and mac and cheese (yes, I often make this from scratch, but we kind of secretly love Annie's shells and cheese from a box). The salmon cakes are just canned salmon, 1 egg, 3 Tbs mayonnaise, 1/4 c. flour, 1/4 c. cornmeal, and half of a small onion finely chopped.

I must really think salmon and asparagus go together, because my other favorite way of preparing asparagus usually accompanies my very favorite salmon. This is another quick weeknight meal. For the asparagus, I cut the spears into 1 inch pieces, then stir-fry in hot sesame oil for about five minutes. Meanwhile, combine 2 Tablespoons soy sauce with 2 teaspoons sugar. Pour soy mixture into wok and stir-fry another minute. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve. Sometimes I leave the soy/sugar out and just sprinkle sesame seeds on plain stir-fried asparagus.

Finally, my favorite risotto is made with asparagus and shiitake mushrooms. Oh yum - I could eat this every day and not get sick of it! Unfortunately my family likes it too, so I have to share.

So you see? Asparagus are both versatile and super easy to prepare!

Amelia

Amelia had her school program today and it was one of the cutest and funniest things I have ever seen. I mean, what can you expect from a group of two and three year olds? LOTS of entertainment - because no matter what, they just do their own thing.

Amelia was front and center, and I think more than anyone, she did her own thing. That's John and Max, her little buddies, to her right - aren't they adorable? Those boys are CUTE.

At one point she was singing perfectly, and then she just stopped and leaned back and yawned the biggest yawn ever. She would also randomly stand up to sing, then sit back down. I didn't get those things on camera, because I was laughing too hard.

Then there was the wardrobe malfunction, where her dress became unbuttoned in the back and we were all pretty sure the whole thing would just fall right off. Thankfully it didn't, and the teacher swooped in to re-button her.

But I had to stop filming with the camcorder, because I was laughing so hard that the camera was shaking too much. At one point I did get a short video clip with just my regular little camera - the quality is bad, but it's easier to share than the camcorder footage. Here you can see - Amelia doing her own thing.



I love her. And I'm very proud of her.

They also had some of the kids' art work up on the wall. Here's the Very Hungry Catepillar *groan*

It was a really fun day. Unfortunately it was more than my brain could handle. You see, normally Amelia doesn't have school on Thursdays. Since working from home, I have BARELY been able to keep everything straight in my sleep-deprived brain (plus, Henry seems to have stolen even more of my brainpower than my previous children). So when Amelia went to school today, it totally threw me off. I got on the phone with my boss later in the day and asked him if he'd had a good weekend ha! When I went on my run tonight, I went a slightly different route and almost got turned around (even though it's my neighborhood, which I've lived in on and off for more than fifteen years). Scary.

Ready to Play

Sophia and Amelia are such great friends, and they play together beautifully.

But I know Henry will fit in perfectly, too. As much as Sophia loves baby dolls and dress up and playing teacher, Amelia loves trains and blocks and balls. Most of her friends are boys, and John and Max are her best friends at school.

She's already introducing Henry to trains.

Building

One of my favorite things about having kids, is getting to re-live that fun and carefree time in my life. Watching them, I remember things and feelings that I had mostly forgotten - simple pleasures that used to fulfill me in ways that are hard to come by as an adult.

Things like building.

It wasn't the end-product, but the process that was so fun.

It's a good reminder for me - not only of how fun childhood was, but a reminder to live in the moment and to love the journey as much as the destination.

And that pants are optional.

Okay, maybe not.

Lunch

Featuring: Spinach tortilla, refried black beans, cheddar cheese, avocado.
Reviews: "mom, this is great."
Stats: 335 calories, 16 grams fat, 12 grams protein, 17% RDA calcium, 13% RDA iron, 10% RDA Vitamins B6 and B12

What It's Really Like

My life is beautiful, it's blessed, it's full of fun and creativity and love. It's also full of this:

Sunday.

9:10 a.m. I am still in bed, because the baby was up too many times last night. Sophia comes in and asks when it's time to leave for church; when I tell her we missed church, she bursts into tears.

9:40 a.m. Guilt-ridden, I call my friend Ashley and ask whether they are going to Sunday School. They are, and I ask her to swing by and pick up Sophia, please. I rush to get Sophia dressed, while giving Amelia lame excuses about why she can't go to Sunday School too.

9:50 a.m. Ashley comes by to pick up Sophia, we talk about her teen daughter and I need coffee. They leave and I make coffee. Henry is crying, but I ignore him for a minute. I feel bad.

9:55 a.m. I am nursing Henry and Amelia is crawling all over my chair. It makes me want to scream, but instead I tell her to go get a book we can read. I read The Very Hungry Catepillar SIX times. Amelia wants me to keep reading, but I want to scream again, so I offer her milk instead. She will do anything for milk, so she leaves me alone.

10:40 a.m. I was going to be productive and do laundry, but I have just been sitting in my chair holding Henry and playing on the computer.

11:26 a.m. I re-heat vegetable soup from last night's dinner for lunch. Amelia decides she doesn't like it. I tell her that she liked it last night, but she won't budge. Sophia eats all of hers, and I let her eat jelly beans that she got in Sunday School. Amelia wants candy too, but I tell her she has to eat her soup first. She forces herself to eat and starts gagging. I tell her to stop, she throws up. I don't understand her.

11:50 a.m. I am trying to get Amelia to take a nap, but she won't. She isn't tired and I don't have the patience to enforce naptime. I tell her to just get up and forget about it.

12:12 p.m. I am nursing Henry in my bedroom while the girls play. I realize I haven't gotten dressed. I realize I haven't even brushed my teeth. I don't do either.

12:20 p.m. I finish nursing Henry and go into the living room. The girls have trashed the place. I mean spools of thread unrolled around the furniture kind of trashed. I scream and yell at them until they have it all cleaned up.

12:40 p.m. I go into the girls' room and they have also trashed it. They have pulled every book off their shelves and all the bedding off their beds. I yell some more. I tell them that they are not allowed to trash their room and then go around trashing the rest of the house because their room is too messy to play in. I tell them they must either stay and play in their messy room, or clean it up. I put them in their room and close the doors.

1:45 p.m. The girls choose to play in their messy room rather than clean it. They try to come out a few times, but I tell them to go back. Henry is screaming every time I put him down. I try to do some laundry, but quickly quit.

1:55 p.m. I decide I need a time-out. I get Henry settled down and take a shower. I let the water wash over me and decide to start fresh with the kids and the house. I get out of the shower and put on a dress and makeup. I feel better.

2:30 p.m. I am putting away laundry and I get Henry's room all clean. I tell the girls to hurry up and clean their room so we can go get ice cream.

3:15 p.m. Finally everything is cleaned up and the dishwasher is going. I get everyone in the car and we head out for ice cream. I spend the entire drive trying to decide whether ice cream is on my no-sugar diet. It's not, so I stop at Sonic for an unsweetened raspberry iced tea for myself. I know the raspberry syrup has sugar in it.

3:30 p.m. I get Shakey's for the girls. They are happy. It's a beautiful day. I feel bad about earlier.

3:43 p.m. We are driving home and I see giant billows of smoke and get curious. Instead of driving home, I keep driving toward the smoke to see what's going on. I get downtown and realize it's on the other side of the river. I turn around and go home and check the news. Recycling plant fire.

4:30 p.m. Davis is home from work now. I start getting on to him for being snippy with the girls. I feel like a hypocrite.

5:45 p.m. I am nursing Henry. Amelia is climbing all over my chair. I want to scream. I tell her to go find Daddy.

6:00 p.m. It's dinnertime, but I am just now starting to cook. Amelia is crying because Sophia pushed her. I plop her on the kitchen counter so she can watch me cook instead of playing with her sister. I notice she has no panties on under her skirt and her bare bottom is on the kitchen counter. I make her get down while I get the Clorox. She screams.

6:32 p.m. We are eating dinner. Davis lays Henry in the middle of the table while we eat.

7:00 p.m. I am getting antsy about the kids still being in the tub when it's already bedtime. But it's my fault for making dinner late. I take it out on Davis and tell him to hurry up and get them out of the tub and into their pajamas. Then I get mad that he is snippy with them again.

7:40 p.m. The girls are still running around and I am still stuck nursing Henry. I yell at everyone.

7:56 p.m. I tell Sophia they took too long, we don't have time for tea and a book. She starts crying. I tell her to get one short book. I read to them. Then I get mad again that they are not in bed yet.

9:15 p.m. The kids are all asleep and Davis has gone to watch a movie with his brother. I think that I like being a wife and mother when my husband and kids are not around. I start doing laundry and baking crackers. I start sweeping floors and wiping counters. I go look at the sweet girls sleeping and kiss them.

9:40 p.m. Henry wakes up. I nurse him and he smiles at me and everything feels good again.

Homemade Cheese-Its

I made some little crackers for the girls' school treats tonight. They're pretty cute, extremely tasty, and easy to make (though a little time-consuming if you choose to go the cookie-cutter method. You could easily roll the dough into a log and cut off thin rounds to save time).

HOMEMADE CHEESE-IT CRACKERS
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Cheese Straw recipe

Makes about 100 half-inch crackers

1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons butter, softened and cut into 4 pieces
3/4 cup flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (this is half the original amount and was still a little on the spicy side for 3-5 year olds, so I actually used a little less than 1/4 tsp for my second batch)
1 tablespoon cream (the original recipe calls for half-and-half, but I had cream on hand)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a food processor, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt and red pepper in five 5-second pulses. Add the cream and process until the dough forms a ball, about 10 seconds.

3. Divide the dough in half and form into balls. Chill for an hour or more.*

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough out to about 1/8th inch or a little thinner. Using a miniature star cookie cutter (or any other shape, of course) cut out crackers. Using the blunt end of a skewer, poke a hole in the center of each cracker. Transfer carefully to an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with the other ball of dough, or if you can only find one cookie sheet like me, proceed to step 5 and then come back when you're done baking this batch.

5. Bake the crackers until the tops are just barely starting to turn brown - 11 minutes in my oven, but check them often.

6. Cool on cookie sheet for a couple of minutes and then finish cooling on cooling rack.

*I confess that I usually don't chill my dough. And I didn't chill this dough at first, but it got too hard to work with, so after the first batch, I stuck the second ball into the freezer while the first batch of crackers was baking, and it was much easier to work with.

He Loves Me

I get lost in these eyes, especially when they look at me like this

Busy Around Town

I just downloaded some pictures from my phone - here are some of the things that have been keeping us busy the last two weeks.

Henry had his first playdate :)

This is sweet little Anna, one of my very dear friends' daughter. She was born just two weeks before Henry, and I hope they will be good friends forever. We met at our other friends' house for a barbecue weekend before last - there were three of us couples and our NINE children, all under the age of five! In fact, other than Sophia, they were all three and under. It was wild, and really fun.

Henry and Anna bonded by laying next to each other, flapping and kicking and grunting.

Then Davis and I had a very long overdue date night - I was SO excited! We haven't been out since before bedrest, in DECEMBER. As I've blogged about before, I firmly believe in dating your spouse. We started off downtown, but got bored after dinner - it was just the same as always. So we ended up in a neighborhood close to our house, and had much more fun at a bar listening to music there.

It's funny, because I said in that dating post that I would try to get a good date night picture - but seriously, for some reason, it's IMPOSSIBLE. Here's what happened when I tried

I need to talk to a teenager about a good technique for holding your camera out and taking a picture of yourself - they seem to have it all figured out LOL!

Now that the weather has gotten warmer, the girls and I have been visiting Sonic Happy Hour a lot.

Ooops, Amelia missed out this trip because she was sleeping

(yes there are FIVE car seats in my truck - that's from the daffodil trip).

My dad came to town earlier this week, and we went down to the Rivermarket to try out some of the new restaurants in there. Unfortunately the ones we tried weren't so great. But it was fun anyway. This was the only picture I got from that trip.

And then yesterday, I took Henry to the pediatrician for his two month check up. He's doing great, and has jumped up to the 50th percentile for weight - unadjusted for the fact that he was born at 36 weeks. Woot! He didn't even seem too upset about his shots. See?

Oh that shirt makes me sad - it's from Babystyle, which went out of business. Those cotton mix and match clothes were what the girls lived in when they were infants! Several of my favorite stores and restaurants have closed in the past couple of years, and it makes me sad. I hope things improve with the economy.

Now I've got to go get caught up on all that laundry I have NO been doing!!

Let's Party Like It's 2010!

If you haven't joined the Ultimate Blog Party, I hope you'll join me in the fun! I've been looking forward to this for weeks, because it's such an awesome and fun way to make new friends. In fact, I "met" many of my current blog friends through last year's UBP.

If this is your first visit here, WELCOME!! I'm so excited to meet you!

My name is Vera

that's me. You can learn more than you ever need to know about me here. Really, all you need to know is that I am thankful.

I have a husband, his name is Davis. But he doesn't really like being blogged about. So you'll just have to take my word for it - he's handsome and funny and, in my humble opinion, the best darn dad in the world! Sometimes I blog about marriage.

We have three children. This is a humongous, HUGE blessing and something I praise God for every day. We struggled with infertility and miscarriage on our journey here, and I've written about it in the past. Reading these posts now, with a baby on my chest, overwhelms me - I try to give credit where credit is due.

This is Sophia. She's four and a half (the half is VITALLY important!). We've been through some medical issues with her, and I've blogged about that too.

This is Amelia. She turned three in January. I love birthdays!

And this little guy, he's Henry, and he's nine weeks old. I had him at home, and I blogged about that too.

I love to cook and bake. I love cooking healthy, delicious things for my family. And on my blog I share recipes - often about simple, simple ways to prepare vegetables. I call them my Vegetable of the Week posts, although as it turns out, I'm not really great at sticking to weekly blogging obligations, so really it should be Vegetable of the Every Few Weeks. Psst... Stick around if you want to know more about asparagus this week.

I also love sewing. I haven't done a sewing tutorial before, but I decided in honor of The Ultimate Blog Party, I'm going to do a tutorial of my very favorite sewing project - my ten minute skirt and a shirt to match. If you have a sewing machine YOU CAN MAKE THIS.



I promise.

First, cut your fabric (one great thing about this pattern is that it works with just about any fabric - I'm using a light knit fabric here) into a long rectangle. You can adjust this pattern to any size, and it's also very forgiving, so no need to be a perfectionist - I'm certainly not!



I made this outfit for Amelia, who is somewhere between a 3T and a 4T right now. My dimensions were 14 inches by 44 inches.



Next, fold the rectangle in half so that right sides are together, and pin together



Then sew the two ends together where you've pinned.

Next, fold the top of the skirt over about an inch - this is where your elastic will go in



and sew. I did this so quickly, I didn't even pin it (though ironing is never optional when you're sewing - trust me on this and just do it!) Again, this is a super forgiving pattern because of the gathers.



Stop before you get all the way to your starting point, so that you have a gap between the two seams



Now, pin a safety pin to some elastic - I used 3/8th of an inch. Usually I just use what I have on hand, the thicker the elastic the tighter the top of the skirt will be. You will guide the safety pin into the gap in the seam



and just continue to pull it all the way through



Then, lay the elastic ends on top of each other, and hand sew across using a strong thread



Hey - it's suddenly starting to look a lot like a skirt!



All that's left to do is to hem the bottom. At this point, try it on your model if possible, then hem the bottom by folding under (ironing!) and sewing. Turn right side out - and you're done!



Now there are so many things you can do with the top. I just start with a plain t-shirt or tank top (Old Navy, Gap, Children's Place, Target, Lands End, whoever has them on sale!) and then decorate - sometimes I applique on a letter or name, like here. Or just coordinating shapes like here. I've also had the top monogrammed in a thread that matches the skirt. Or in this case, a ribbon and a circle cut out of the skirt fabric.

First, I sewed the ribbon onto the shirt



I just folded over the ends of the ribbon and sewed across the ends at the armpits



I then used some fusible interfacing like this



to attach my applique - you'll just want to follow the package instructions on that, it's super easy



and that's it! Easy as pie!

Pretty much everything I sew, craft, cook, bake, etc. on my blog will be quick and easy - because I have three kids and a full time job and I'm not very patient!

My blog started with a Psalm two years ago. Ever more so than ever, I want to say:

Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.
Psalm 66:16,20

I'm very excited about meeting new bloggers this week, and I'm so glad you stopped by! I'd love to know who you are and to go check out your blog, so please leave me a comment.

If you're one of my regular readers and you have not checked out UBP - go! Check it out! Along with all the blogging fun, there are lots of prizes. And in order to win them, you have to list what you'd like to win, so here are the prizes I sure would love:

US6 – Hand Stamped Personalized Necklace valued at $48 The Double Stacked A Lot Of Love.
Provided by: Kristen’s Custom Creations
Follow here: KLA Custom or Visit Our Fan Page: Kristen’s Custom Creations

US39 -Be My Guest certificate ($250 value) for one lucky winner, (2 night stay for a family of four) at any Hilton Garden Inn.
Provided by: Hilton Garden Inn
Follow here: bloggin2noggin

US11 – A $100 gift eCertificate to Restaurant.com, immediately redeemable online at over 13,000 restaurants nationwide.
Provided by: Amy LeForge of Earnest Parenting

US71 – A $50 Bear Bucks Card to Build A Bear Workshop.
Provided by: Liza Schwab
Follow here: mamaschwab

US49 – $25 gift card to Starbucks
Provided by: Janice Yurek