Daddy's Girl!

Lily, for a very long time, was very much a Mama's girl.  Almost always choosing Mommy over Daddy for comfort, play or whatever else she needed.  Over the last couple of months she's made the change from a Mama's girl to a Daddy's girl.  She runs screaming and laughing to the door when she hears his keys every afternoon.  Every morning, she climbs into bed with me only to ask, "Where's Daddy?"  She uses whatever she can find to tie around her waist as a belt "just like Daddy", and steals his hats (off his head, or from where ever she can find them), plops them on her head and grins big, sometimes even proclaiming that she going to work--this is usually accompanied by the finding of one of Daddy's work hats!

This morning just proved my theory that my Lily is now more Daddy's Lily :) than mine.  I'm not upset or offended.  I think it's great!  I never had much of a relationship with my dad so it makes my heart all warm and fuzzy to see my little one getting her needs met by her daddy!  This morning Lily woke up to a bad dream (daddy was up getting ready for work so he "rescued" her), and also had had a pee pee accident (that was my fault...I let her have too much to drink at Grandma's birthday party), then after being comforted by Daddy and cleaned up by Mommy she went running into the kitchen--which was still dark--only to run full force into my wooden step stool which hadn't gotten put back last night and was sitting in the middle of the floor.  She was having a BAD morning!  After hugs and kisses from Daddy she crawled back into bed with me to get warmed up and while we were snuggling she turned over and said, "Mommy, I like you, but I still miss my daddy." 

Yep, I picked a good one!

Lily's Crooked Thumb

I noticed a while ago that Lily's left thumb wouldn't straighten out all the way.  I figured it was maybe just a faze or a "special" way that she was holding her thumb to make it look neat.  One day, while she was sleeping, about 6 months ago, I tried to make it go straight and discovered that it indeed was stuck at about a 30 degree angle at the second knuckle.  To my memory, she hadn't had an injury and it definitely wasn't hurting her at all so I didn't really worry about it, waiting for her to grow out of it. 

Recently, Jeremy and I have begun to notice that the angle has gotten worse.  And Lily has started to notice it as well, starting to be a little self conscious about it.  We told her it was her special thumb and asked the Dr. about it at the next appointment we had.  We were referred to the sports medicine Dr. at Salem Pediatric who looked at it for about 30 seconds and said she has a ganglion cyst and referred us to Shriner's Children's Hospital.  She will have to have a surgery to remove the cyst and lengthen the tendon.  The Dr. says it's a pretty simple surgery the she probably won't even have to stay overnight for.  I'll keep you all posted about what the doctors at Shriner's say and when the surgery is and how it goes.  It'll be a while as it's a process to get referred and schedule an available appointment.

Merry Christmas To All!

I think postage and the cost of printing stinks!  I would rather save that money and spend it on more Christmas presents for my sweet family and awesome friends!  So, here's our Christmas card for this year.  Merry Christmas everyone!  Pictures courtesy of Picture People.

Baby Grace Update

I had my 35 week check up today.  Dr. says she's finally head down!  Yay!  I was little concerned because I hadn't noticed a lot of difference in the movements.  But when the dr. felt my tummy and wiggled Grace's head around she definitely let us know that she didn't like the disturbance.  She was moving around so much that the dr. had a hard time finding and keeping her heart beat. 

My weight gain is right on target!  At one pound a week, I'm still reaching numbers I had hoped to avoid for my entire life but at least my total number of pounds for this pregnancy is still well within the healthy range.  Dr. Renard says that if I make it to my due date Grace should be in the high 6 to low 7 lbs. range.  I just have to put in a little recommendation for my dr.  When I asked her about when I would need to start having "the exams" (you know the one) her reply was, "Well, if you don't want them you don't ever have to get one.  It's your choice.  If you get to your due date and haven't had the baby yet we would do one at that point but until then you don't ever have to have one."  Love her!!  I seem to remember having to be examined almost every time I went to the dr. after I was in my 3rd trimester when I was pregnant with Lily (not that that is completely accurate I tend to exaggerate memories sometimes :)).  So, it's nice to know that I don't have to be examined if I don't want to.

I'm still hoping for a baby for Christmas but as of yet my uterus is as calm as a summer day.  We'll see.

SSSHHHH...I'm Hunting Waskily Chwistmas Twees...

I remember from when I was young "hunting" for our Christmas tree in the forest.  We didn't do it every year, but the ones we did were the only years that I actually remember getting our Christmas tree.  We would get all bundled up and driving out to the forest (usually wasn't very far!) armed only with our saw, thermos full of fresh hot cocoa and the knowledge that a pot of my mom's fantastic soup was warm and waiting for us at home we would tromp out in the snow in search of the "perfect" tree.  Or at least as perfect a tree as you can get that has only been groomed by God.  So, this year Jeremy and I decided to go hunting a waskily Chwistmas twee with our family.  We went up to Detroit and got a cutting permit last Saturday.  It was a gorgeous, bright, sunny, freezing cold day.  For the first time in my memory it's the dead of winter in the Willamette Valley and it hasn't rained in almost 2 weeks now!  The air is so dry everything I touch shocks me and Lily's downey hair is in a constant state of "flitting away" with static.

We, too, went armed with a hatchet,--cause we don't have a saw (my poor sweetie)--a thermos of hot cocoa, bundled up and with the knowledge that there was a full crock pot of beef barley stew smelling up our house and a "map" from the forest service.  We went out and drove up several forest service/logging roads, got out until we were too frozen to stand it anymore and then moved on to the next one.  One road up the mountain--way up the mountain--sported a thousand foot drop off on one side and a rock slide on the other and our Christmas tree waiting for us to cut it and take it home.  When we stopped next to it I looked up and said, "Honey, I think it might be a little big."  "No," my husband assured me, "I work with lengths all the time and I can tell; that's not over about 10 ft."  So, up the hill he went with the hatchet and went to work chopping down the tree.  Lily and I busied ourselves taking pictures and Lily sweeping the road with a small branch and throwing rocks off the embankment.

"TIIIMMMBBBEEERRR!" Down our tree came.  As Jeremy climbed down the hill and stood looking over our tree laying on the ground, he said, "I think maybe it's a bit bigger than 10 ft."  So, he chopped off another bit chunk and we tied it to the top of our car finally answering Lily's question on the way up to get the tree...who's gonna carry it?

When we got home and Jeremy lugged the tree up the stairs and set it up in our living room with the 9 ft. vaulted ceiling, the top bowed against the ceiling so we, again, chopped off a sizable chunk off the top this time.  Now we have a huge tree awaiting lights and ornaments.  My evenings have been spent the last 3 days stringing popcorn into a garland.  One more to go and we will be ready.  Lily and I made cinnamon tree ornaments this morning.  They are still baking and our house smells like Christmas.  Now if only it would snow to match the crazy cold weather, it would really feel like Christmas!

Mmmmmm...Coooookkkies! Lily's favorite!

My Lily, I think, was doomed from the get go on the chocolate front.  I have always had a major sweet tooth.  I love chocolate candy, baked things or just straight chocolate chips from the bag.  A few of my favorite candies--the number one is totally dependent on my mood--are Skittles and brownies!  Jeremy also has a sweet tooth and will pretty much eat whatever is offered as long as it's sweet, but his absolute favorite is chocolate.  He loves chocolate the way a woman loves chocolate.  So, for Lily, I'm afraid it's been love from first bite.  When she was a baby just learning how to talk  she could identify a sweet yummy (that she had never seen before) as something yummy and to be wanted!

A couple of years ago my friend Heidi came up with this altered chocolate chip cookie recipe that is pretty much the only kind of cookie I make.  I always offer them first before telling people how good for you they are.  These are Lily's absolute favorite and she will generally choose to have these even over brownies!  She calls them "warm cookies" and jumps up and down excited when I ask her if she wants to help me make them.  They're so yummy and low in fat and sugar that I've even been known, in a pinch, to give her 2 or 3 for breakfast as we rush out the door.

“No-Guilt” Chocolate Chip Cookie

3 Lrg. Eggs                      1 cup Flax Meal

½ cup brown sugar           ½ cup white sugar
6 Tbs. butter (melted)         2 tsp. Vanilla
2 cups Whl. Wheat Flour    1 tsp. Baking  Soda
½ tsp. salt                       ¾ cup oatmeal (of any variety)
1-1   ¼ cups Mini-chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat the eggs well. Add the sugars and vanilla and mix until sugar dissolves in eggs.  Add the melted butter (be sure it’s not too hot so it won’t cook your eggs), mix well.  Add flax meal and baking soda, mix well.  Mix in all other dry ingredients except Chocolate chips.  When well combined add chocolate.  Combine.  This is a more crumbly dough.  Spoon it in 2-3 Tbs. drops onto your cookie sheet.  This dough doesn’t melt like most so you can place them closer than usual.  Bake for 10 min. NOTE: if you don’t use a baking stone reduce cooking time to 6 min.

Homemade Yogurt and Aprons

I'm always looking for ways to cut corners off our grocery budget by making as much as I can from scratch.  I found a recipe for homemade yogurt and decided to try it a while ago.  I haven't made it frequently because my results weren't very consistent.  But I decided to try it again last night with a new way to incubate it and it turned out the best batch yet!  The problem this far has been that I really like thick yogurt and I couldn't get it thick enough for my liking.  Last night, I used this recipe:

1 1/2 qrts Milk (I used 1% but anything works even reconstituted powdered)
1/4 cup plus half again plain store bought plain yogurt (be sure that it's the kind with the active cultures)

In a microwave safe dish or pan on the stove, heat the milk to 180 degrees F.  In my microwave it took about 7 minutes.  Then put aside (I'm impatient so I used the freezer) and let cool to between 100 and 115 degrees F.  Then add the yogurt start.  Stir thoroughly and let sit for 3-4 min. then stir again.  Pour the milk yogurt mix into a clean, dry, preheated thermos (just put hot tap water in the thermos while you're heating up and cooling down the milk).  Seal tightly with the thermos lid and set on the counter for 6-8 hours (I do it overnight so I'm not tempted to check it constantly!).  When the time has passed pour the whey off the top (that's the slightly foggy water that collects on top of the yogurt) and then pour yogurt out (this may take some pounding) into whatever kind of container you're going to use, chill and eat as desired.  I really like vanilla, cinnamon and a bit of sugar and dip apple slices in it!  This is no different than the plain yogurt you buy in the store and can be cooked with and used in any recipe that calls for plain yogurt (or sweeten, add vanilla extract and use in anything that calls for vanilla yogurt).

I decided to make aprons for Lily and Lina and Ciara (my sister's daughters) for Christmas.  They're matching in that they're all the same pattern and have ribbon ties but each one is made with 'girl specific' fabric.  Ciara's is bright circles, and flowers with orange ribbon ties, Lily's is cherries and red polka dots with green ribbon ties, and Lina's is green and brown with wild horses (she's 5 so she's obsessed with horses) with cream ribbon ties.  I made the first one last night with my new sewing machine and it turned out so good!!  It only took about 2 1/2 hrs. and only cost $6.25 for all the materials with a little left over.  I may decide that I like them so much that everyone will get one!  We'll see :)...Oh, and I made the pattern myself too just with butcher paper and Lily measurements!

Lily's modeling Ciara's apron that I finished last night

The Things That Make Me Happy

I'm feeling very thankful the last couple of days so I thought I'd share all the things that make me smile the most. 
-Making things from scratch
-A job done well
-Lily's silly giggle
-the first kiss from my husband when he comes home from work
-Lily's daddy scream when she hears his keys in the door
-the full-face-smile-puffed-up-chest look Jeremy gets when Lily kisses his cheek and calls him her hero or says he's a genius (generally for something very simple! Like a slice of cheese or a fetched ball)
-Baking with Lily and watching her lick every spoon and measuring cup after each ingredient--even the one with a little dry yeast left after making bread.
-Listening to Jeremy and Lily play in her bedroom.  Generally the "rough, rough game" which is why Mommy listens from the other room!
-Really good food!
-A clean kitchen
-Hot soup on a cold day

I hope you can find something to smile about today!  There are so many blessings all around us, you just have to change your perspective sometimes.