one for you, one for me

This was dinner tonight. The most hilarious part of this exchange, is Eloise's commentary. She really is funny.

breakfast in a jiffy

Breakfast in our house is not a sit down event. It happens in stages, depending on when people get up. Cooking for a living makes it hard to cook for the family. So I've adapted some breakfast recipes to make the morning meal a little easier. All ingredients are great to give the kids the healthy start they need for the day, in our house, that's a big need. (especially for eloise) Plus, it works for WW. Here are our two favorites:

Mini Banana Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup quick oats
2 Tbls. ground flax seed (optional)
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana (about 1 large banana)
1/4 cup applesauce

preheat to 350. Spray 24 cup mini-muffin pan.
In a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients. Then add eggs, banana, and applesauce. Stir just to combine. Pour into muffin pan.
Bake for 11-14 minutes or until golden brown. WW Points: 2 muffins = 1 pt

Baked Oatmeal
1 cup Applesauce
1 cup Sugar
4 eggs
6 cups Old Fashioned Oats
4 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cup Non-fat Milk

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients. Pour into pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. This can be refrigerated overnight before cooking. Cut into 16 slices. Weight Watchers Points = 4


I make one a week and it usually lasts all week. Both can be stored in the fridge to maintain freshness. If you have a baby that is 10 months or older, these are great breakfast foods for them too.

Enjoy!

blessings

We were trying to explain to Eloise the other day about blessings. Dave told her that when we receive a blessing (financially is what we were referring to) we give some of it away.

Dave: "Eloise, who would you like to give a blessing to?"
Eloise: thinking "Me"
Dave: "Well you can't keep it. You have to give it away. Is there someone you want to give it to?"
Eloise: thinking again "Eloise"

okay, we'll work on this later.

noodle

Eloise: "Mama, I have a noodle in my eye" (rubbing her eye vigorously)
me: "You have a noodle in your eye? You mean an eyelash?"
E: "Yes. No. A noodle mama. Can you get it out?"

little picasso

Does anyone know how to get non-permanent (or so it says) marker off hardwood floors? Without ruining the finish?

Sticky Situations

In the past two days I have found my girls in the most hilarious situations.

First, Eloise climbing up her crib (yes, she's 2 1/2 and still in one) to reach the Mickey Mouse she had thrown onto the ledge. Dave and I were close by, don't worry.

Second, Lily in the Tupperware drawer. That drawer is the bain of my existence. It never closes right because the items are always being moved. I have no problem with them playing in it. It's actually the drawer I open up when I'm trying to get something done in the kitchen. Lily loves to throw things out. And apparently, she loves to crawl inside.

Third, the diaper box. Eloise climbed in and then helped Lily inside. It was pretty cute.

Big Visit for a Tiny Person

I'm not a mom who runs to the Dr. at the first sign of a cold. I'm always waiting until the last possible moment to see if the sickness will run its course. (I've developed some tried and true methods for managing the symptoms). My fear of going at the beginning of a cold, is that it will be nothing and I've wasted time and money when I could have handled it on my own. Plus, I don't want them to think I'm crazy or something. (I would like to note that I NEVER think other moms are crazy or strange for taking their kids in. I don't even give it a second thought. This assumption only applies to me).

That said, Thursday night Lily came down with a fever of 101.6. Not high, but no other symptoms. I geared up for the snot to run and the cough to start. Friday, nothing. However, still a very high fever. (between 102-104). I called the nurse line as I was a little worried b/c of the lack of symptoms. She said, keep a watch out of lethargy and if no symptoms develop by Saturday morning to call again. Saturday, no symptoms and a sad looking Lily.

I had the "mother's intuition" that something wasn't right. So I called the nurse again and we talked about how to keep the fever low and that I would bring her in Sunday morning. At 3:00 p.m. she woke from her nap with intense chill's and her lips were turning blue. At this point I'm freaking out.

Dave and I were having difficulty deciding what to do. We needed to get out of the house. (big mistake here) We went to the mall for a bit and while there, lily was limp in her stroller. Took her temp and it was still very high. The nurse on the phone was so helpful. She said if I had "the feeling", take her in.

At 6 p.m. I arrive at Emmanuel Children's Emergency Dept. They were so great. We took her temp, it was 104 and she was roasting, lethargic and screaming sporadically. They dosed her with Tylenol to try and bring the fever down. I had horrible thoughts of her going limp in my arms. The doctor's would rush her in, take her out of my arms and shove me outside the door. All the while I'm crying my eyes out. Okay, I may have watched Grey's Anatomy too many times. I was praying the whole time that the Lord would give me words to pray. My brain wasn't working so well and I needed a little help. I will never leave you, nor forsake you. I started to wonder what the Lord was preparing me for.

Her little admitting bracelet. (I'm sure babies get this in the hospital, but since both my girls were born at home, this was the first bracelet from the hospital)


We were checked into a room at 7:30. They took her temp again and it was only down to 103.7. They decided to give her another dose of Ibuprofen to try and bring it down as fast as they could. I undressed her and put on this little tiny hospital gown with little pink hippos. The site of that alone was enough to put me on the verge of tears again. They rolled in this huge crib for her to crawl. Her heartbeat was pretty fast, but she was perking up a bit.

trying to get away before the crib came

Lily has a labial adhesion. I discovered it when she was 4 months old. Two doctors have told me two different opinions (of course) about treatment. One is an estrogen cream used for 3 weeks to a months in very small amounts to help it open. The other is leaving it until it opens up when she starts to make estrogen. The scary part about the adhesion is that it can fuse shut preventing her from urinating. I mentioned that she had this and they suggested we look at the possibility of a UTI (urinary tract infection). They would need to do a catheter to get a pure urine sample. (I was starting to get queasy) However, before they did that, they needed to check the adhesion and see about moving it apart. Sure enough, it was almost fussed and they needed to numb the area and pull it apart.

They put the numbing cream on and took us to x-ray so they could rule out a chest infection or pneumonia. Apparently pneumonia can lay dormant without other symptoms. The x-ray came back clear.

Time to do the awful stuff. It took 2 nurses, 1 doctor, and myself to hold her down. And this is just to pull back the skin. It was horrible. Thankfully, she starting to pee and they caught just enough for a sample. Phew! We were saved the catheter.

At 10:20 the tests came back completely clear and it was obvious her fever was breaking. They will continue to do further tests on the urine, but it looks good. Apparently kids can develop fevers without other symptoms which means it's just viral. Praise God!

Today she is a little down, sleeping alot, but thankfully no fever.

Just after I was recovering from all the trauma. Dave heads off to urgent care and finds out he has Shingles. Sigh.