Where I Have Been

Pretty much right here.  But I've got a good excuse for not updating! Really I do! ("No you don't."...yeah, I don't.)

So what's been happening around the Litt House lately, you're probably wondering.  A lot of cool Molly and Ben stuff. Some interesting me stuff.  Some stuff in general.  Where to start?

1. Molly turned seven AND eight months old since my last update.  I'll post letters and pictures soon.

2. Ben is 3 years, 8 months old and HI-larious!  He's just been the most fun (and challenging) little boy I've ever met.  He got his very own big boy bed back in August and after a few rough nights of not understand that he needed to stay in bed, he loves it so much.
 
3. Andrew is finishing his very last college class and will graduate with a BS in Computer Science this fall. I am so excited for him! He's been in school since we got married (2007).  He's carrying a perfect GPA and I couldn't be prouder of him! (I know he reads this blog, so he'll probably be a little embarrassed that I put this in here.)

4. I have a job.  I'm working part time for a really neat company and after my first week, I like it pretty well. 

That's really the whole scoop on the last couple of months.  More Molly and Ben photos and stories to come, so stay tuned!

Molly - Six Months Old

Dear Miss M,
You are nearing seven months old and I'm just getting to your six months old letter.  I'm so sorry for my tardiness, but I haven't had a moment to really sit down and write about you lately. Not since you suddenly decided you've had enough of this slugging around. You're ready to move!

I would say that at six months, you have been sitting on the precipice of just about everything; the verge of crawling, the verge of sitting up, the verge of eating solid foods, the verge of negotiating a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict (okay, well maybe not that.)

Your development, while on track, has been a little sneaky.  You were born four weeks early and you tend to do thinks exactly at the half-month point.  You rolled over at three and a half months. You rolled all the way around the living room at four and a half months. At five and a half months, you got up on all fours and rocked your socks off. Also at five and a half months, you laughed. And you laughed. And your laughed some more (you laugh the most when you're pulling the tiny hairs on the back of my neck.)

This month, all of these really neat thing sort of just pulled together into one adorable laughing, rolling, scooting, inch-worming, solids-eating, downward-facing-dog yoga baby.  You are this.close to crawling. The cats know there is no safe place for them now; you're hell bent on making them your baby snack. 

Your brother is warming up quite a bit more to you and I think, he sees the potential for mischief in you, my love.  God help your mommy.  All this to say, you're doing great kid!

I love you!
Mommy

Redefining Comfort Food

I am a pasta junky.  Correction: I am a pasta AND cheese junky.  For most of my life, macaroni and cheese has been my go-to comfort food.  I like it best the way my dad made it when I was a kid. A giant bag of dried elbow macaroni, cooked al dente plus a block of melted Velveeta cheese.  Stir, sprinkle liberally with black pepper. Devour.  I love it best when it's had a chance to set up over night in the fridge. I eat cold straight out of the container. Yum! 

But as I've gotten older, I've come to notice that there are two kids of food that I'm just not able to tolerate any more (and it's more than likely I was never able to tolerate these foods.)  Both wheat and dairy make me terribly uncomfortable.  It's not unusual for me to get heartburn from eating wheat products (pasta is the biggest culprit, followed closely by bread, tortillas, and cereal bars.) 

After doing a little research on my symptoms, I'm feeling pretty confident that I have a pretty good case of wheat sensitivity (not to mention lactose intolerance, but I always knew that and chose to ignore it.) 

I'm been eating a wheat free diet for the last 10 days and the change has been very noticeable.  I feel better physically and mentally. I also find that I don't have the same kind of spikes and dips in my blood sugar.  Wheat free eating is a great thing, but it does mean that my old comfort food just isn't going to work any more. 

Enter my new favorite recipe!  Southwest Quinoa Salad!  It's gluten free, casein free, vegan, and has 4 Points Plus value per serving (in case ant WWs are reading this.)  The delicious tang of the CSA tomatoes with beans, corn, and creamy avocado just blew that ol' mac 'n cheese right out of the water. A really great recipe for summer, I hope you'll try it.

Southwest Quinoa Salad (GF, CF, Vegan, 4 PP+)
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa, uncooked
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/3 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 small avocado, diced
Juice of a small lime
Salt to taste

Directions:
1) Cook quinoa according to package directions. Allow to cool.
2) Prepare beans, corn, onion, tomatoes, lime juice, and salt. Combine in a bowl.
3) Add cooled quinoa.
4) Allow to chill for a couple of hours as flavors meld.
5) Add diced avocado just before serving.

The Fruits (and Veggies) of our (I mean JBG's) Labor

I picked up our first CSA share this past Saturday.  What a treat!  I've been wanting to do this for some time, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to really use all the veggies that we would get.  I've recently become more adventurous in my cooking (which I hope to post about soon) and broadening my veggie horizons.  The share is still a bit more than we can use in two weeks, so we're splitting our box with my sister and her husband (she purchased the share for the weeks we don't get a box, and we split that haul too.  The math works. Trust me.)

Because I wanted to show off the beauty that is locally, sustainably, and organically grown produce, I took a photo.  See!?   The tomatoes are heavenly.  I'm making chili oil with the tiny fiery red peppers.  I've used half the eggplants for a noodle-less lasagna.  The parsley went into quinoa tabbouleh, and the squash and zucchini is sitting in a casserole dish in the freezer for Sunday's Squash Casserole dinner.  Next summer: growing my OWN veggies (Ha!)

Our Morning in Photos

It gets so terribly hot here pretty early in the day.  Ben loves all things water, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to take him and Molly to the pool by myself.  Until, I can work those kinks out, I figured playing in the sprinkler was the next best thing!

Molly - Five Months Old

Dear Noodle,
You turned five months old on Tuesday.  Hip hip hooray! What a day!  This month was extremely short, it seems. I thought I had just written your four-month letter and here we are at already five months old.

It's been a great month for you little one. You are a right roly-poly.  You had experimented with front-to-back and back-to-front rolls right after you turned four months old.  Now you're a champ at them!  When I put you on your play quilts, I often find that you've rolled completely off of them. I'm sure I'll find you under something, like my desk or your brother's play table before long.  You really do enjoy being on your tummy.

You're also quite the grabber.  Anything brightly colored, bumpy or squishy, furry, or looks like a pony tail, you have your fist on it.  And then it's in your mouth.  Everything is in your mouth. I kind of forgot about this stage from your brother.  You're a constant drool machine.  Your daddy likes to call your Droolia Child! 

Yesterday was a big day for you.  You started your first day of mother's-day-out with your brother.  I was so nervous. I cried the whole night before.  You?  You did find at the hand off.  You were all smiles for Miss C.  She's a lovely young lady who adores you and your only little classmate. When I came to pick you up, I just couldn't wait to get you into my arms.  Of course, the day was a little rougher than expected.  You were in a new place. You had to check it out. Sleep be damned!  However, no sleep for you turns you into a very cranky monkey.  The bonus?  You sleep long and hard all night through.  Anyway, tomorrow is Day 2 and I expect you'll do just fine (and maybe even take a nap!)

My little one, how I love you.  I think about you and your future. Who you'll be and where you'll go.  I feel like I was just finding out that we were going to have you and now you're five months old.  Slow down again, OK?  I need just a little more time with you right as you are, right now.

I love so!
Mommy

Conversations with Ben - Memorial Day Edition

This conversation took place at the dinner table on Memorial Day. We were having an indoor hotdog "cook out."  It's just too flipping hot out by the end of May to grill outside in central Texas.  Ben is not one for any kind of animal product but certainly found *these* hot dogs to be tasty.  Then the corn-on-the-cob was brought out.

Ben:  Mommy, I want some corn.
Me: You have to finish your hot dog first.
Ben: I don't want anymore hot dog. I want corn.
Me: Finish half your hot dog and then we'll talk about corn.
*A good 15 minutes passes and Ben is slowly but surely finishing the agreed upon half of hot dog.*
Ben: I'm done with my hot dog. Can we talk about corn now, Mommy?

Hilarity ensues!

Molly - Four Months Old

Dear Nugget,
Today you are 4 months old (plus 9 days or so, but really you're still closer to four months old than five months, so let's just go with that.)

Another fabulous month in what I predict will shape up to be a banner first year.  The only thing is that month four didn't bring on anything super exciting. It wasn't until four months+ 2 days that you started doing some really cool things.

First, you rolled over. Hooray!  You when from your back to your tummy and got your arm stuck under you and then yelled at me for three minutes while I tried to figure out the video feature on my new iPhone (thank you, by the way. It was a lovely Mother's Day present. You're such a thoughtful baby!) I finally got the thing to work and then you flipped yourself back.  *sigh*   I figured you had had enough dance-monkey-dance from me, so I didn't make you do it again.  But since then, you'll flippy-flop (that's what your brother calls it) on your own.  You're getting good at it, kid!

Second, you giggled!  This was so fun.  You were laying on your shrinky-dink tummy time quilt and I can't even remember the exact sequence of events, but all of a sudden you started to laugh. It was wonderful! Then your brother got in on the action and we all couldn't stop ourselves.  If only you'd laugh for Daddy.  Maybe that could be your Father's Day present to him?

I was late taking you for your four month well check, but you weighed in at thirteen pounds. You're 23 and a half inches long and your head is 40cm around.  You're sitting pretty at 25%-50% in all three categories.  You're doing great, lovey!

Miss Molly, you're just so much fun to have in my life.  I love you so much.  You're happy and smiley. You wake up with a little gleam in your eye and a toothless grin.  I love it!  I am so thrilled to be your mommy.  I finally feel like we've got our groove. You, me, and Ben-Ben. 


Five months is just around the corner but let's not get there too fast.  I need more snuggles and drool. Cuddles and baby pterodactyl impressions (my favorite!), so keep 'em coming.

Love you, baby girl!
Mommy

Blogger, you are dead to me now!

*Update - It appears that Blogger redeemed itself.  You are reinstated into my good graces, however I'm watching you. (Just kidding! You know I love ya, B!)

Stupid Blogger!  Last night there were some technical difficulties in which posts were deleted.  Not by me but by Blogger.  I'm sure their staff is apologetic and whatnot, but the stupid thing ATE my Mother's Day post.  My post was so wonderful!

Of course, I don't write anything ahead of time. I just write as I post, therefore no other copy of my last post exists.

I don't know how to digitally give Blogger the finger, but if your staff can imagine it, I'm typing with one hand and the other hand ain't throwing you a peace sign.

A Tale of Two Gifts

I celebrated my third Mother's Day this year with two babies. A handsome, funny, wily three year old and a snuggly, cuddly, happy 4 month old.  What a great day!

Andrew had been working hard for a few weeks to come up with something appropriate for the occasion. I hadn't made any formal requests since there wasn't anything that I had to absolutely.have.now.  My techie husband shows his love through gadgets.  I treasure that about him. In fact, the very first present he ever gave me were a pair of ear phones for my annual trip to San Francisco.  I had lost mine and hated the Apple ones that came with my, then, iPod Mini (gads!  Look how huge that thing is! It's practically the Zach Morris phone of MP3 players.) 

I've grown to love gadgetry and all its glory, and more than that I completely appreciate how excited my husband gets when I ask him, "Can you tell me about [insert name of something techy here]?"  The Saturday before Mother's Day, we had date night and I was presented with this fabulous toy, the iPhone 4 (by the way, that Speck case is turquoise and hot pink and MY husband picked it out!) It's a toy and a tool all wrapped in one and I love it.

*Yes, that's him holding the sandwich. Isn't he adorable!?*

 

The second part of this story is how much I love being a mother and what that means around Mother's Day.  It means handmade gifts from my children.  

Growing up, my sister and I were the princesses of craft and handmade gifts (what a surprise, huh?)  We made picture frames, hand print butterflies, coupon books for my mom, which usually had offers for "Good for ONE free hug & kiss"  or "Good for ONE emptying of the dishwasher without complaint."  My mother loves these presents. She cherished them and until Ben started going to preschool and making gifts for me, I didn't really understand.

I do now.  Last year, I received a lovely card with his hand print in the middle of a paper heart. Along with the card came a laminated book mark with an original Jackson Pollack-esque drawing on bright white copy paper with the finest Crayola markers (tee hee!)  I love, love, love that book mark. I love it so much that when I accidentally let it slip between my seat and the bulk head on a flight back from Toronto, I was frantic.  I waited anxiously until we landed so I good squeeze my zaftig self between my seat and the one in front of me and rescue my precious bookmark.  At that moment is when I got how my mother felt all those years.

This year, Ben presented me with a bird house.  He chose lovely shades of red-orange, blue, and green. He layered the paint on thickly so that it wouldn't ever come off, he said. He gave it to me at a little reception called "Morning Muffins with Mommy."  As soon as we got home, he made me put it in the try right away.  And here it is.  My lovely bird house, hanging in our back yard on a rainy morning. 

I can't say if I love one gift more than that other, but I think that if something were to happen to my birdhouse, I might actually cry a little.

To all the mothers who read this blog, I hope it was a wonderful day for you and every day you spend with your children you remember how loved you are by those wonderful little people.

Experiencing technically difficulties. Please do not adjust your television set.

*sigh*  As you can see, my once cute, colorful, cherry-ful blog is no more. It seems to be going through a Minimalist period.   Actually, what happened was that I thought I could monkey with the code for a fun new font. I followed the directions, made sure to check for typos, and bam!  It didn't work.

I'm going to try to get it back up to its former loveliness soon.  Anyway, here's what's coming soon:

1) Molly's 4 Month letter

2) A new craft blog!

Green Chili Chicken Casserole

I don't think I've posted this recipe here. It's one I created a while back that my hubby love, love, loves.  It's really easy to make and freezes very well, so if you do OAMC, then this recipe would fit nicely into your repertoire.

Here are the ingredients:

Shredded Monterrey jack cheese, cream of jalapeno soup, Green Chile Tomatillo salsa, chicken breast, white corn tortillas

Ingredients:
1lb. cooked, shredded chicken breast*
1 to 1 1/4 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (you can grate your own instead of buying the already shredded stuff. I'm just lazy.)
1 10oz can of Cream of Jalapeno soup (This might be regional. It's available in Texas along with a lot of other traditional Mexican soups.  If you can't find it, you can sub Cream of Chicken)
2/3 cup Green Chile Tomatillo salsa (Again, this is a variety found in my local grocery store. You can sub any kind of green chile or tomatillo salsa. Heat intensity is personal preference.)
15-20 White tortillas, cut in half or quarters

Directions:
1) If preparing to eat immediately, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  If preparing for the freezer, skip this step.
2) Spray a 9X13" baking pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
3) In a bowl, combine shredded chicken, soup, 1/3 cup salsa and mix until the chicken has been thoroughly coated with the wet ingredients.  Set aside.
4) Spread 1/3 cup of salsa on the bottom of baking pan and build your first tortilla layer. Spread about 1/4 of the chicken mixture over the tortillas and then sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese.
5) Repeat the layering process for two to three more layers (of until you run out of the chicken mixture.)
6) Loosely top the casserole with the remaining tortillas and spread the last 1/3 cup of salsa over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
7) Bake in a 350 degree oven, loosely covered with foil for about 25-30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until the cheese on top browns.  Or if you have a broiler safe baking dish, brown the top for about 5 minutes under the broiler.

To bake from frozen - Allow casserole to thaw completely in refrigerator. Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 35-40 minutes until completely heated through. 

Green Chile Chicken Casserole - Ready for freezing or to pop in the oven.

*A note about cooking the chicken -
The best way I've found to cook chicken for these kinds of recipes is in a slow cooker.  The chicken will be extremely tender and moist and it's an easy way to infuse flavor.  The the casserole in the photo in this post, I cooked thawed chicken on high for about 4.5 hours. I flavored it with one small can of hot green chilies, 2T of olive oil, 1 peeled whole garlic clove, and about 2 tsps of salt.  The resulting juice and chilies from the slow cooker were incorporated into the sauce for this recipe (as was about 1/3 c of left over Creamy Jalapeno dip from Chuy's!). 

Another option for the chicken is to make up a big batch of KA's Chicken Tacos chicken. The flavors would be perfect in this recipe! If you really wanted to coordinate ingredients, I would use a tomato based salsa and a sharp cheddar cheese (in lieu of tomatillo salsa and Monterrey Jack cheese.)

Conversations with Ben - April 22, 2011

This morning, waking up, getting changed, and dressed for the day.

Ben: "...and then Mommy take me and Molly to the liberry and she will get me a movie to watch and it will be a great day!"
Daddy: "Oh yeah?  That sounds like fun."
Ben: "Uh huh. And I get to go to the liberry."
Daddy: "It's library."
Ben: "Liberry."
Daddy: "Library. Lye-BRAR-ee"
Ben: "No, Daddy. Liberry. LYE-BERRY."

Conversations with Ben - April 10, 2011

Riding in the car on the way to the grocery store.

Ben: "Mommy, what those birds doing?"
Me: "Where, honey? What birds?"
Ben: "Thoooossseeee birds there. See?"
Me: "Oh right.  They're digging in the dirt. Probably looking for something to eat."
Ben: "What do the birdies eat?"
Me: "Hhm.  Bugs and worms, I suppose."
Ben: "Oh."
Ben: "I don't like to eat bugs.  They're too pointy."

"Cheese" for the camera! Looks exactly like his "I smell something" face.

Molly - Three Months Old

Good golly, Miss Molly!
You're three months old.  Slow down, there tiger.  If you're not careful, you'll be all grown up and I'll be looking around, wondering where my baby went.

What a month!  Not long after you turned two months, I thought it was about time you started trying out your new room. You had been taking naps there for a couple of weeks and seemed to love it just fine. One late evening you were "napping" and I thought that maybe we should try leaving you there for the night.  Best decision (and 8 hours of sleep), EVER!  You're a happy camper in your cozy abode.

I don't think it's the decor, though.  Poor baby! Your mama has just not gotten it together enough to actually decorate. I keep meaning to. There is a boat load of adorable tchotckes and flotsam at the "crapt" store (Ha! When you're older, you'll have to ask your brother about that one) that would be perfect for a girly-girl's haven.  Some day. I promise. It will be properly girlified.

What else did you do this month? Oh yes! You started talking.  Well, ok, not with actual words that I understand, but you are definitely making sounds with the intent to communicate. It's just wonderful to hear.  You'll stop and smile and then say things like, "Cooo gaaahhh aggooo," which I can only assume means, "Oh mommy! You are so pretty and funny. I think you're the smartest woman in the whole wide world! I can't imagine that some day you'll be as funny as a heart attack and as smart as a box of rocks."  Obviously, that's exactly what you are saying.

On the other hand, every time you see your boyfriend, The Fan In Your Room, you also say, "Cooo gaaahhh aggooo." The best I can hope for is that it means you're happy. 

You are such a love!  I snuggle you every day and give you kisses and tell you how wonderful you are. I'm beyond happy to be your mommy.

Love, hugs, and kisses!
Mama

Molly - Two Months Old

Dear Molly-wolly,
You turned two months old yesterday. Hooray!  You're a big girl, my love.  Today we went to see your pediatrician to get the official stats.  You weigh 10 pounds, 10 ounces. Your noggin is 37 centimeters around and you're about 21" long (but your pedi things because you love to sit all yogi style, that your nurse Sarah didn't did measure your gams quite right. But that's okay.)

So where does that put you on the classic growth chart?  All over the place!  You're 50% for weight, 10% for head size and 5% for length (but we know that's probably wrong anyway.)  You're 100% perfect! It said so right on the chart. I promise. *wink, wink*

The worst part though were the shots. Oh my sweet drama queen! You did not like them one bit. I don't blame you. Those suckers hurt!  You stopped crying shortly after the shots were given but then when I picked you up and you looked at my face, you just whimpered and sobbed on my shoulder.  Break my heart, little girl!

So other than the recent trauma of exams and inoculations, this month has been just lovely.  You have started to smile and coo and gurgle at us.  You've gotten accustomed to sleeping for more than two hours.  You love to eat and even though I quit breastfeeding you exactly 1,832 times, I also restarted 1,833 times.  You love boob, kiddo (your dad is slightly jealous. Yes, I did write that because I know he reads this blog. Hi, honey!)

The love between you and your Ben-Ben is growing so much.  Molly, your brother is smitten with you.  I am so excited for the day when you and he can play together (and inevitably argue with, pick on, and bicker with each other.)  

You're starting to stir so I'm going to go for now.  I love you, darling princess.  My sweet love!
LHK,
Mommy

P.S. I promise to edit this post with your two month picture soon!

How'd You Do It, Stella?

Get your groove back, that is. 

I miss my groove.  Before Molly, we had our thing. Our routine.  I knew when to feed Ben, entertain him, get him ready for bed (ok, his dad did that).  I knew when I had my time, our time, family time.  It was lovely. We had it good.

I completely forgot how all sense of predictability goes right out the window when a newborn comes home.  *head slap* Doh! 

The comfort in all of this is that a) the creature that killed my groove is seriously adorable, snuggly, and wonderful and b) the groove will come back...so I'm told.  In the meantime, we're just holding on to this ride by our fingernails, playing man-on-man defense and doing our best to still say loving and kind words to each other at the end of the day.

Molly - One Month Old

Dear Miss M,

So I'm writing this a couple of days late from your actual “one month” birthday mark. Don't worry. As these letters continue, I'll get later and later in the month until eventually I'm playing catch-up the week you turn a year old. I'm just that good.

We made it, kiddo! You, me, your dad, and Ben-Ben have survived month one. Way to go! So what have you been up to this month? Mostly sleeping, pooing, eating. Technically, because you were four weeks early, you've been playing catch-up, growing and gaining weight that you would have done while you were still inside me.

You're a chunk-a-lunk, now! I love holding you and snuggling your sweet cheeks. Daddy was worried you weren't going to get that chipmunk look he loves so much, but you didn't disappoint. You're a championing breast feeder. I wasn't sure how that was all going to work out, but you've taken to nursing like a duck to water. You love it! Me? Well, I'd like to sleep a little more and be less of a buffet station at the Golden Corral, but I've been reassured that you eventually get more efficient and I will sleep for more than three hours at a time, once again (fingers crossed!)

Your brother is so taken with you, Miss Molly. He loves to help take care of you. When you cry because you're hungry and I can't get to you right away, your bubba will say, “It's okay baby girl.” Sniff! I think you two will be great friends as you get older. You'll love him. Ben-Ben is funny and adventurous. He's mischievous and stubborn so you'll have your work cut out for you as a little sister. But he could use a good dose of teasing and picking-on. Be gentle though, Molly-wolly. Your Ben is sensitive and has a soft heart. I know you'll be his protector. He certainly will be yours.

This letter will be short. You're currently giving me the stink eye and letting me know that you're about to wail for lunch in T-minus any minute.

I love you, my sweet princess!

Kisses,

Mommy

Introducing the Fabulous Miss M

She's here! She's here! She's here! We are now a four top (or a “four pack” as was often used to describe my family growing up, much to my little sister's irritance after awhile.) The Litts are now the quintessential suburban couple with 2.0 children (well, it's really something like 2.4 children, but my assumption is that in order to get .4 children, I would have to be constantly pregnant. Yeah...no thank you!)

I'm not sure how to start this birth story since it's a bit different than Ben's birth (i.e. totally unplanned). With Ben, I had lots of time to contemplate how he would be born and his birth date was sort of assigned to us.

However, with this little girl, things didn't go as planned (I wonder if I'll be able to look back on this post during her teenage years and say, “Yep. From the get-go, she was a wild card. Always keeping us guessing. Oy vey!”) Our daughter is probably one of the few children in the world with three birthdates, though only one is the official date. She was estimated to be due on February 7, 2011 as per the handy-dandy pregnancy wheel. But being the special patient that I am (high risk, yada, yada, yada), we were actually scheduling her birth via repeat c-section for January 27 (this Thursday). She (and my placenta) had other plans.

This is where her story begins...

The Monday that she was born, I had my regular check-up with my OB. At that appointment, my blood pressure was slightly elevated. This was pretty unusual for me as my blood pressure had always been normal and even a little low from time to time. At first, my doctor was not overly concerned but asked me to come back in that Friday and have my blood pressure checked again, just to make sure.

Friday morning came around and after I dropped Ben off at preschool, I headed to my doctor's office. My doctor was in surgery that morning, so I saw one of her partners instead.  The nurse took my bp and got a reading of something like 138/89, but she wasn't sure that was accurate since she was having a hard time hearing. She called in another nurse to re-check my pressure and that nurse got magic "pre-e" cut off of over 140/90.  Not a good sign. I was trying to be calm and think about the positive. I didn't have high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia with Ben, so this was startling. The doctor-partner came back in, and as sweet as can be, told me I was being sent to the hospital for a 24-hour bp evaluation. Depending on what those numbers looked like, my regular OB would decide if I got to go home to be on bedrest or we were having a baby that weekend.
After a quick trip home to get some stuff and to coordinate care for Ben, Andrew and I headed to the hospital.  I got checked in, changed, and hooked up to the automatic bp cuff (or as I like to call it, Boa the Constrictor!) I got an IV from the oldest practicing nurse in the United States (seriously! I think one of the other nurses said she was about 75 years old and had not intention of retiring!) Every 20 minutes or so, Boa would squeeze my arm and spit out my fate in the form of systolic/diastolic numbers. I was hitting 143/78. 150/89. 158/90. And so on. For two hours my pressure steadily climbed until I hit two in a row in the 180s/90s. My OB was in my room for both of those numbers and every time my blood pressure would hit above 170, her sweet little face would contort as if she smelled the world's worst fart. It didn't take long to get a diagnosis with those numbers: severe pre-eclampsia.
With pre-e, there is only one cure: the baby has to be delivered. My doctor had hoped we'd at least wait until the 36 weeks mark (which was 2 days away) to deliver, but after those readings, it was definitely go time.
Not even an hour after my OB told me, “We're having a baby tonight!”, the anesthesiologist and his nurse anesthetist came in to get me ready for surgery. I was wheeled into the OR at 6:30. At 7, I got the spinal and at 7:14 PM, out came the cutest, reddest little girl, screaming and a hollering!  She was perfectly healthy and beautiful! Margaret Olivia (who we call “Molly) was born January 7, 2011 at 7:14 PM, weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 19” long. Not bad for an early bird!

Delicious Dessert without the "Doh!"

A friend of mine from my women's organization is an accomplished gluten-free/food allergen-free cook and recipe writer.  She has a great website and blog with her really fabulous recipes, including things like crispy kale and gluten-free/dairy-free apple pecan torte.

She and I were talking at my baby shower last month about foods and how certain foods can promote inflammation in the body or cause some people to react badly when exposed. I had told her that as much as I love to the taste of wheat and dairy products, they really do a number on my system.  My people (the indigenous Mexican side) were not really meant to eat Old World foods like dairy and wheat.  We're more the corn/maize, quinoa, tropical fruits and veggies, legumes, and fish eaters.

One thing that has concerned me is how to feed Ben in a way that allows him to enjoy treats but without the excesses of refined sugar, wheat, and dairy that are in those treats (and makes them so yummy!)

I told my friend that I absolutely LOVE ice cream. So much so that I really have a hard time just having a little bit at a time.  However, the dairy doesn't settle well with my system and having diabetes doesn't make it the most friendly food to my endocrine system.

That's when she introduced me to Frozen Banana Soft-Serve.  It sounded intriguing! I love bananas and frozen things and anything that felt like ice cream was probably going to be a success.  I decided to give it a try.

It was fabulous! Ben loved it! The texture and consistency of the bananas is JUST like soft serve from Dairy Queen or a fro-yo shop. The flavor is definitely banana but with the right amount of a good quality unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder), it takes on a great chocolaty bittersweet quality.  Next time you're in the mood for some ice cream but want to try a substitute that is full of fiber, potassium, antioxidants, and low in refined sugar and fat, give this recipe a run.

Delicious Frozen Chocolate Banana "Soft Serve"
3-4 medium frozen bananas (especially delicious with those too-black-to-eat-throw-'em-in-the-freezer bananas)
1-2 tsps unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder)
1-2 T plain, vanilla, chocolate soy milk (or rice, almond, coconut, hemp milk. Whatever you choose.)

Directions:

1. Using a paring knife, peel the bananas and cut into chunks.  Place in food processor.
2. Pulse frozen bananas until finely ground.  Slowly add 1-2 T of "milk" and continue to pulse until almost smooth.
3. Add cocoa and pulse until incorporated.
4. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Of Babies & Boys

Happy 3rd Day of 2011!  I'm hoping to stay true to my resolution and blog at least once a week. All is well around here and I'm still pregnant (which is a good thing, because I'm only 35 weeks, but it's starting to get a little old.)

Last week we got a date on the calendar for my RCS (that's repeat c-section) and in about 3.5 weeks, Baby Too will be here. Yay!  We spent this weekend finally clearing out the old guest bedroom/storage hovel for the nursery and the result is one very clean space and two very swollen mama ankles (I'm so looking forward to normal sized feet.)

Being a sufferer of CBS (Cheap Bastard Syndrome), I had first concluded that Baby Too's nursery would just be hand-me-down furniture from Ben's room and we would re-do Ben's room all big-boy style.  But mister-mister is not ready to be a big boy, as he so informed us not too long ago, so we had to do a little shopping. 

So creativity and luck at Ikea have got us a great new crib, changing station, dresser (coming soon), and Pottery Barn Kids nursery bedding (a major score!).  I can't wait to get it all set up and ready to go for BT.  Granted, she'll be doing most of her sleeping in our room and a lot of her hanging around on me, but it's nice to have something ready for her, all pretty and neat.

And since this post is also about "Boys", I wanted to end with a Ben Funny.  Before the Christmas break, he had learned the song "Jingle Bells" in preschool.  But what little kids hear vs. what you've told them are two very different things.  I give you the lyrics to Ben's own version of "Jingle Bells"

Chingle bells!
Chingle bells!
Chingle all the way!
Old MacNoah had a boat,
And the cow eats lots of hay!
Hey!