For my mom!

My poor mom - gone all week at an art class, missing her grandkids, and I go dark on the blog. Here's what you missed, mom, aside from the river of puke! As you can tell, not a whole lot...

I was intrigued by this little gem when I saw it at Whole Foods, so I picked it up and knew right away it was going to be good by how soft it was in the package.

Turns out it is the BEST BREAD I HAVE EVER EATEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. Soft and sweet and eggy in the way good bread is. I am hooked. And since 1) I'm swearing off regular trips to WF for the time being (it kills my budget and I am working extra hard this week at being good), and 2) when you do the math on the fat grams it is downright shocking that someone figured out how to make a loaf of bread that is this bad for you... it was unfortunate that I ever found it in the first place. While the kids had the flu, this was pretty much all I ate along with a few ginger ales and saltines. I have a hard time eating when someone in the house has the stomach flu. It's a thing.

But I will see you in my dreams, Authentic French Brioche.

I took this picture of Ellie one morning after she had woken up, but it doesn't do her bed head justice. She looked like one of those pups whose hair makes them look like a lion and their heads are half of their body. The picture just ends up looking like another shot of her awesome head of hair. No, I don't do anything other than brush it right out of the bath tub at night and she sleeps on it wet. When she wakes up, voila...

While the kids mainly sat on the couch or slept in their beds for most of last week, Maddie and I had some great one on one time! I stood her up against the back sliding door and she loved looking out at the back yard. She is getting really good at cruising along furniture, and now she can cruise along the window which I find more impressive since nothing is really holding her UP anymore, just aiding her balance. She still seems wobbly though and I'm not holding my breath for steps before her first birthday (which is a mere 17 days away!).

I am telling you this babe is so narrow and slight, pants never fit! Even when I roll the waist band. Pretty funny because there's an inch or two of room in all the pants Ellie was wearing at this age, and I can't even use them with Maddie!

I let Maddie roam around the house a lot more than I ever let the other two kids at her age. For one, she is so entertained by Robbie and Ellie and anything they're doing/playing with that she rarely needs me for stimulation. She is cautious, and I don't have to worry about her trying to scale the stairs yet (although I keep a close eye when she nears them, because one of these days she'll try and realize that she's been able to do it all along!). Whenever I can't see or hear her, I look one of three places: wherever the older 2 are, the bathroom where she likes to peer down into the toilet and ponder life, and by the baskets under the table in the family room. She loves to pick up and take out whatever is in the baskets and then put it back. She seriously does this for up to a half hour. Who knew the third kid would be this easy?

A shot of my sick girl from earlier in the week... still beautiful!

And feeling better...

Sisters playing toys...

Naked baby on the loose (again)...

THIS is what I found after I spent 5 minutes feeding Maddie her lunch one day. These two cannot be left unattended for any amount of time. Stinkers.

In case you can't tell, they had swiped the large rolls of ribbon from downstairs and decorated Robbie's room with yards and yards of it. It was strung up everywhere. Robbie was pretty proud of himself even though I was less than thrilled. I had immediate flashes to the future when he will one day TP someone's yard. He'll be good at it. (That's my boy! ha.)

On Saturday night after the kids went to bed I ran to Buy Buy Baby for car seats. Long story, but after researching 5 point harness car seats vs. the booster seats I had the kids in, I was horrified. They are not nearly as safe for kids Robbie and Ellie's age as I thought they were. I wasn't going to mention it on here, because no judgement if you use those booster seats for your kids. We just decided that the kids would be much safer in an accident (God forbid) in different car seats and it seemed like the right choice for us. My dilemma was that they are both too large for the Britax car seats we had for them when they turned one, but I found a newer model by Britax that holds kids in a harness up to 85 lbs. This car seat can also be converted to a booster seat by removing the harness and using the car's seat belt like any other booster seat for up to 120 lbs. Anyways, I wish we had these 2 years ago, but I think they weren't even on the market then so now I have a bunch of Britax Boulevard/Marathon car seats and Graco booster seats that we need to sell! (*If you want to buy one/any of them from me, send me an offer. They're in great condition and gently used, and have never been recalled. I'll be putting them up on Craig's List soon!)

Soooo... that left us with 2 very large boxes on Sunday for the kids to play with. I taped up the open side to hold the flaps open and gave them crayons and they colored the outside and played on the inside for most of the afternoon. Boxes are a mom's best friend.

In between playing with / in their boxes, I let them play in the back yard while I worked in the kitchen. Cheryl stopped by to drop something off for me, and Robbie ran up to me while we were talking inside the house and said "Mommy, I peed in the back yard." and then ran back outside.

Good to know. I felt conflicted about that report, but whatareyougonnado? I let it be. I think this is just what having a little boy is like, right? They just pee in the back yard? I was about to ask you for your thoughts, but I decided against it. Feel free to keep your thoughts to yourself on this one! ha.

Sunday afternoon while the kids were occupied by their boxes (and various activities in the back yard), I painted a tree for my friend Cheryl. I had done one of these before for her, and she used it to make a family tree by putting the names of her family members on it. It was a cool idea. Well sadly, her father was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is failing quickly. She wanted to have another family tree (I think the first was given away to a nephew?) put together, I think to display at his funeral whenever that will be. And she made a quick decision to leave for home in Minnesota sooner than she had planned, so I wanted to send it with her. The kids played quietly and then hovered over me towards the end as I finished painting, and I think it turned out alright. I am so rusty with my painting! And this is just a simple organic form and then I use acrylic paint and water to do a thin wash of color, almost pushing the paint with a scrubbing motion from the inside of the tree to the outer edges to get the color to concentrate along the outline. After I took this picture I decided to roughly edge the tree with a brown sharpie to make it pop and give it a little more definition.

I have a bunch of canvases and a collection of pretty acrylic paints for the kids and I to enjoy this week. One day I'd love to do a collection of their silhouettes.

We ended the weekend with early bedtimes for the kids Sunday night, thanks to daylight savings and the fact that R and E skipped their naps. They went down so easily! After dinner Rob and I settled in on the couch for a date with our DVR and our favorite treats - skinny cow ice cream sandwich for him, and my all time favorite ice cream in the world, which I just found yesterday for the first time in a year or so!!

I'm not even embarrassed to admit that I bought 4 of these while I could find them. It says limited edition on the lid and I'm not taking any chances. I haven't had a weakness for ice cream since I was pregnant, but this stuff is irresistible. It's not overly sweet, and tastes like a frozen chai. I could just eat it all day long.

Happy Monday!

{*Maddie update: I cut out yogurt and cheese from her table food diet and she has not thrown up since that last time on Wednesday evening. I think dairy (but not her formula) might be the reason she was randomly throwing up, and that her little system is still sensitive to it.}

So much to laugh about

After serving Ellie her breakfast, she said "Thanks, Mommy! That's so kind of you!". She has also said this to me after brushing her hair, dressing her, etc. It kills me every time!

Me: "Robbie, can you help Ellie remember not to push Maddie over when you guys are playing? You're the big brother - I need you to help protect your little sisters!"

Robbie: "But mom, I'm the train guy {as he plays with trains}, so I can't protect anyone."

Rob called me this morning to let me know his iPad is missing, and he can't remember using it since Monday. He asked me to try and figure out if the kids snuck it, which is becoming more and more of a possibility these days!

Me: Robbie, did you play with Daddy's iPad or hide it somewhere?

Robbie: Um, yeah. Last day.

Me: Well where did you put it?

Robbie: Well, I hid it in the kitchen. Or maybe I put it in Daddy's purse. {?!} Actually, Ellie took it.

Me: Ellie, did you hide Daddy's iPad?

Ellie: Um, yeah! It's in the playroom.

Robbie: Yeah mom, she hid it in her purse.

Rob was on the phone and could overhear all of this, and we both just started laughing as we gave up the search for the time being. Clearly we weren't getting anywhere.

On the phone this morning...

Rob: How are you feeling today, bud?

Robbie: Good! I just have no more throw ups this morning!

Robbie: Mommy, Maddie's a genius!

Me: She IS a genius!

Robbie: Yeah, she's a genius because she does all the right stuff, not the wrong stuff.

Robbie and Ellie take showers with me sometimes in the morning, and our shower door is all glass. They figured out that they can back into it and make prints on the steamy door with their sweet little bums. They are so proud each time, too, always making me look and oooh and aahhh over it.

Ellie likes a little solo playtime every once in a while and disappears into the playroom for sometimes 1/2 hour or an hour on end, often emerging with all sorts of accessories - something on her head (a box, or last year's flower petal headband from Easter), a purse on her arm, and pushing her toy stroller which is full of toys, not babies. And she is very serious about it.

This is the flu that never ends, yes it goes on and on...

Ellie recovered fairly quickly from the flu after her nap the first day she had it (Tues). I thought Robbie was on the upswing also, so when the kids woke up yesterday having made it through the night without incident, I gave them little bowls of cheerios and sliced bananas. Poor Robbie took two bites, stopped eating, and threw up. Back to the couch and one teaspoon of water every 10 minutes!

I babied his tummy and we made it through the day without any more throwing up. Although he was still flushed and seemed to have a low grade fever, water and even a Popsicle had stayed down so I allowed the kids a Graham cracker. What a relief to finally actually be on the way to health again!

The kids were sitting at the table finishing their crackers when Maddie started to get fussy, so I pulled her up on my lap to give her a bottle and planned to put her right to bed (she's never fussy, I assumed it was from being tired).

Well she got 4 ounces down and then pushed the bottle away, which is odd. I held her as I talked to the kids and all of the sudden she threw up her bottle on my lap! I could not believe it. She was the one child I haven't had to worry about for the last two days!

I was at a loss - could a baby get the flu twice in one week? Was this really the flu? She has now thrown up Friday night (in her crib), Sunday morning in her stroller, and Wednesday evening in my lap. I called the pediatrician and talked with a nurse for a long time as we tried to figure out the pattern or what could be causing her illness (stomach virus vs another issue related to her diet, milk allergy, formula, etc). We came up with nothing, so she recommended seeing the doctor which we will be doing this afternoon.

We are a mess! I am beyond thankful that Rob and I have not caught this bug, but now I feel like we need to get to the bottom of Maddie's issues. If anyone reading this has any insights, ideas, experiences with something like this please feel free to leave a comment. I did start ogive Maddie yogurt and bits of cheese along with Florastor to help her body break down the milk protein about 2-3 weeks ago. I am suspicious of that being the culprit, but who knows.

Oh one more funny story, so after Maddie threw up I took her upstairs for a quick bath. The kids were resting on the couch watching a show, so I explained what I was doing and that I'd be right back, and they barely acknowledged me.

I come back down with Maddie wrapped in a towel to dress her where I could see the other kids, only to find that in their hungry state, they had raided the kitchen! They had pulled donut holes off the counter, fruit out of the refrigerator and spoons from the silverware drawer. Robbie had taken the raid to the next level and found himself a ziplock baggie, filled it with some of the fruit, and stashed it under the chair in the playroom! So glad he is still at the age where he tells us everything he's done truthfully, or that would have been disgusting to find later.

I felt like I was spinning my wheels today! I have been prayerful through the kids' illness because it often leads me to unnecessary worry and anxiety. I have felt the strength and peace of God fall over me and have felt calm and even grateful for the last few days. I am certainly ready for the kids to be healthy but the slower pace and time with just them, caring for them when their needs have been so immediate and high, has been my privilege. It also helps me appreciate our healthy days so much more!

Bummer

Well it became clear at 4am this morning that Maddie probably did have the flu because within 20 minutes of one another both Robbie and Ellie were throwing up in their beds. I always wondered how I would juggle this situation, but thankfully I didn't have to figure it out right away since Rob was still home. After a few hours when the worst seemed to be over for the kids, and it was clear that I would most likely not get sick (I thought for sure a few times that I had it too - the Lord had mercy on me! Seriously.), Rob left for work and I set the kids up in the family room like this:

Oh my! 2 sick beds, a bucket (to share because the others are MIA, nice) and a baby in a high chair. Good times on a Tuesday. :)

Everyone went down for naps in their beds around 9:30am or so when it was clear that their little bodies were exhausted and not going to break the throwing-up cycle themselves. Robbie just woke up a few minutes ago (4 hour nap), Ellie is still sleeping. The stomach flu always hits my kids so hard! Poor Ellie especially, when she got sick just before her nap, her face would flush red hot and her eyes sort of rolled back with each heave. She couldn't sit herself up straight while getting sick. (Anyone else have this happen with their kids? I called the nurse at our ped's office because yikes. Not exactly normal. And then Robbie got really mad at me when I hung up because "You didn't tell them that I AM SICK TOO, Mom!" Oh dear.)

At least all 3 kids have the flu out of the way now! We lasted 6 months since the last time, and since Ellie just had croup a few weeks ago and Robbie had it yesterday, *we should really be in good shape this Spring.

(*Famous last words.)

Mommy milestone

Odd things happening with the babe. She was {over}due for her 11 month photo shoot in the rocking chair after church today, but it didn't happen {again}.

Friday night I gave her hummus spread on multi-grain bread. She ate half a sandwich worth, along with some grapes, multi-grain cheerios, and chopped melon. Oh, and it was roasted garlic hummus.

Saturday morning when she woke up and I went in to get her, I found her in a crib full of vomit. Lovely. Poor babe was covered from head to sleep-sacked-toe, but was happy and babbling as I stripped her down and gave her a warm bath to freshen up. After an entire day of eating and drinking normally and no change in her happy, contented disposition, I chalked the incident up to feeding garlic hummus to a babe not yet 1 year old.

But then this morning on our way out of church, as she was drinking her milk bottle, she unloaded it as she reclined in her infant car seat. We were in the hallway with the masses, and seeing as how she kept spewing large amounts of milk, all I could do was stop moving and tip the stroller so that she was more upright than laying back to keep her from choking. We sort of mopped her up and made our way to the van.

And I tell you this to say, it's no small thing that I felt neither anxiety or adrenaline as she puked all over herself! {"We'll clean it up." - "She'll be fine." - "Maybe she'll get sick again." - "Maybe it's a gag reflex sort of thing?" - "Could it be related to her teething and the little bit of congestion she has?" - "Maybe she has reflux?" - "It could be anything. It doesn't really matter, she'll be fine."}

She's been fine again all day since this morning, which leaves me perplexed as to why she randomly throws up without warning or fuss. She's not bothered by it either, when she does. Go figure.

We spent some time like this today...

And then Rob and I laid on the couch/floor while she crawled around, waiting for her energy to burn up before laying her down for her nap and catching a quick one ourselves.

Oh my, this one. Such a little love. {Looking not at all sick!?}

Crowd Pleaser - Chicken Divan

Miracles happen. I have 3 children who all eat table food, and last night I attempted to make ONE DINNER and feed it to my entire little family as we sat around the table together.

Success!

I have to share the recipe - it's from "The Gourmet Cookbook" but it's very easy to make. Just a few steps and a few pots and pans, but don't be intimidated. It was so so delicious and with a few tweaks I think it will become a staple in our meal rotation. Anything that gets me excited to eat broccoli is a winner in my book.

(*Important: I substituted a bag of ready-to-steam fresh broccoli florets for the long-stemmed broccoli in this recipe, and it was a huge mistake. I also boiled it for too long, what a rookie move. I should know better. It fell apart to mush in the cream sauce, so go get a big sturdy stalk of broccoli, and for pete's sake don't overcook it!)

CHICKEN DIVAN

1 1/4 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, rinsed and patted dry

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 T olive oil

1 large bunch broccoli (1 1/2 lbs) trimmed and cut into 4 inch long florets

1/2 stick (4 T) unsalted butter

5 T flour

2 C chicken broth

1/2 C heavy cream

1/4 C medium-dry sherry

2 t fresh lemon juice

1 C finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Add chicken and cook, turning once, until cooked through, 8-12 minutes total. Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut into long thin slices.

Meanwhile, cook broccoli in a 4 or 5 quart pot of well salted boiling water, 3-6 minutes but do not overcook! Drain and set aside.

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 375 degrees.

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking, for 3 minutes to make a roux. Add stock in a slow stream, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low and cook, whisking occasionally, for 10 more minutes. Remove from heat.

Beat cream with electric mixer until it holds stiff peaks. Fold cream into sauce, along with sherry and lemon juice. Stir in 1/4 t salt and 1/8 t pepper.

Arrange broccoli evenly in bottom of a 2 quart gratin or other flameproof shallow baking dish. Pour half of sauce over broccoli. Stir in 1/2 C Parmesan into remaining sauce. Arrange chicken slices over broccoli and pour remaining sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 C Parmesan.

Bake until just hot, about 15 minutes. Turn oven to broil and keep a close eye, pulling the baking dish out when the sauce on top is golden and bubbling, about 1 minute.

Enjoy!

Peace

This weekend we went for a walk through the Arboretum one evening just before sunset. It was chilly and gorgeous and the fresh air felt so good. At one point a squirrel ran up to us, about a foot away from the kids and I! Ellie kept asking to kiss it and couldn't understand why we didn't let her pet it when it seemed like a fearless domestic animal. (Rob scared it away for us.)

The kids collected pinecones and dried out blossoms that had fallen from trees, Rob gave shoulder rides when little legs got tired, and I snuggled Maddie in the Ergo Carrier. Total bliss. This is my happy place, for sure. Any season, any day, but always with my little family.