Thoughts and adventures in becoming a mother

Daisy has another cold. Not the awful, sore throat, fever, low energy, up all night coughing type of cold that makes you just want to cry right along with them, but an annoying little bug that mostly just makes her nose run. She seems to feel fine, and eat fine, and sleep fine, but she just has this whitish goopy nose that keeps on giving.

It’s so frustrating not to be able to do our normal activities, like MOPS, and church, and play dates, because of a bunch of snot.

Speaking of snot, Daisy hates to have her nose wiped and will go to great lengths to avoid it. The exception is when I’m rocking her before bed or a nap when she just can’t resist blowing and wiping her sticky little nose on the bend of my neck. It’s so gross. I really don’t even care if she wipes it on my shirt, at least that way I don’t have to feel it, but my neck… yuck!

Sorry for the rant and TMI… since Daisy has been in a sharing kind of mood I thought I would too.

Over the past year or so my parents have rekindled a love for the people of Haiti that began over 20 years ago. It started with a medical mission trip to Haiti last April, which turned into a second trip a few weeks later, and then a third, and their fourth trip is planned for March with the goal of finding permanent housing so they can return for a year or more in August. You can follow their journey here.

Our family lived in Haiti for a year in the late 80′s when I was only 2 and my brother was 6 months old, so it’s been really cool to see how God has worked in their lives and circumstances to allow them to do the work they’ve always felt called to do. Taking a bold step like moving to Haiti is, yes, a little scary, but also exciting and interesting. The less glamorous part of this move is all the preparation. They are in the process of selling or getting rid of all their furniture, books, kids toys, china, holiday paraphernalia, and yes… the family pets.

Their dog, Rugs, found a wonderful home with a home-school family with four kids, so I believe he will be about as happy as any dog possibly could be. The cats, on the other hand, are a different story.

They’re not particularly good looking, or exceptionally smart, or well bred. They were determined not too look at the camera or make any type of appealing face when I tried to photograph them for a craigslist add. They are, in a word, cats.

Peaches...admittedly not her best look.

Classic pudding...

To my brother and sister however, they are shining examples of  all that is good in the feline world. The kids sleep with them at night, wrap them in Christmas paper, and on more than one occasion have dressed them in doll clothes.

I wish I could take them both, but our dog is already doing his best to raise my blood pressure on his own, and I’m not sure two cats would be a good mix for anyone involved.

The cats are about 2 or 3 years old. They came from the same litter, one is male and the other female. Their names are Peaches and Pudding and it would mean the world to Anna and Jacob for them to find good homes.

So…the million dollar question……. Do you want a cat? How about two?

I am willing to drive anywhere east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio River to get them to you, although if you happen to live in the Charlotte area that would make my life much easier.

They really are sweet cats and are happy inside or outside. They’re good at catching mice and keeping your feet warm on cold winter days. Beyond that, I make no promises…they’re cats, and will not be bound by anything I decide to say about them.

Contact me if you or anyone you know is interested!!!!

I have to admit, and it’s no secret if you have been to my blog at all, that I sort of fell off the blogging band wagon. I was pretty pumped up about it for a while, but then sitting down to upload pictures and find something to write about started to seem less and less appealing, especially as Daisy grew more and more mobile. But, as I’m looking back over my old posts I realize how fun it is to capture all those moments in time, so I’m using the ringing in of a new year to kick off my official return to bloggdom. I can’t promise that it will stick, but I’m going to give it a try.

We had a great New Years Eve last night with my parents and 3 of my 4 siblings. We stayed up late, ate way too much junk food, had pink champagne (those of us who were old enough), watched old Twilight Zone episodes, and played board games until it was time to watch the ball drop. My father in law gave my husband and I a game called Over Under and it was a big hit.

Seriously, a really fun game to play.

It’s one of those games, that it’s fun to win, but as the game directions state, “The object of Over/Under is to have fun.” This is really important when playing any type of game with my super competitive brothers, who still argue at every family gathering that I cheated to win Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit  five years ago. And in case you’re wondering, I certainly did not cheat. Anyway, we had fun, learned a lot of new facts, and found a way to stay awake until midnight.

It’s hard to believe it’s 2012 already. It seems like only yesterday we were all waiting anxiously to see if Y2K was going to mean the end of the world as we knew it. Apparently life keeps going despite all the prophet’s best predictions of world catastrophe. And so, I’ll leave you, not with a prediction, but with best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!

Oh my goodness! Where has time gone?!? Daisy is a happy, busy, babbling 11 month old and that 1 year mark is looming ever closer. I started planning her party today. It’s going to be an outside party and I’m thinking of hay bales to sit on, plenty of drinks and snacks, and pumpkin painting for the kiddos. I just finished ordering her invitations on shutterfly.com and here is a sneak peak

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

In the past week or so Daisy has pretty much mastered crawling on her hands and knees and has moved on to climbing. She can climb up stairs, into cupboards, and onto boxes. If she can climb like this now I can only imagine how much trouble I’m going to be in as she gets older, taller, and stronger.  It’s going to take baby proofing to a whole new level.

Climbing up!

Pretty proud of herself

There is nothing better than fresh blueberries, unless of course you mix them with honey and butter and eat them on warm bread.  Last week I took my brother and sister and Daisy to South Carolina to pick some of the most delicious blueberries I have ever eaten. It took an hour and a half of driving through traffic jams and rain storms to get there, but it was definitely worth it in the end.

Posing for a pic in the blueberry field

The berries

Checking out the berries

Anna and Jacob spent as much time eating and throwing the blueberries as they did picking them, but we still went home with over a gallon of blueberries. A gallon of blueberries is a lot of berries, but it’s amazing how quickly we are already going through them. I froze about half of them, gave some away, made some Blueberry Honey Butter (which was amazing), and Daisy and I have eaten the rest.

The Blueberry Honey Butter was really easy to make, and I’ve never had anything quite like it before, so I wanted to share the recipe, which I got from GroupRecipes.com.

Basically you puree 3 &1/2 cups of blueberries and mix with 1/2 cup of honey, bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for 20min.

Don't forget to wash your berries!

Puree

Mix

Simmer, but don't make my mistake of walking away and letting it boil over. Clean up is not fun.

When the blueberry mixture is done simmering let it chill in the fridge, and then blend it together with 3/4 cup of room temperature butter and you’re good to go!

Delicious!

It tastes like blueberry jam, but without the pectin or the hassle of canning. If you have a large number of blueberries to use up, I highly recommend this recipe.

Blueberries…what a super-fruit!!!

Last night, for no particular reason other than that I like music and miss making it, I decided to dig my french horn out of storage and play a little for Daisy. Daisy is not usually startled or upset by what’s going on around her, and generally she loves music, but after a few notes on the french horn she burst into the most heart breaking tears I have ever seen.

I stopped and let her sit on my lap and touch the horn and her tears subsided, but as soon as I started playing again the corners of her mouth turned down and the tears started afresh. Her cries were quiet, broken, sobs almost like she was trying to hold them in, but was just too scared.  I tried having Nate hold her in the other room while I played, but that was no better. My mother in law said that she must have been moved to tears by the sheer beauty of the moment, but having not played for the past 5 years I think I can safely say that was not the case. I hope this is a sign that one day she will be a world famous hornist. By then we can recount this memory for her and laugh, but for now I guess I’ll have to practice in my closet during nap time.

We’re having friends over for dinner tonight.  Actually, we’re getting together with other Christians who are interested in being the body of Christ without a church building, agenda, or leader other than the Holy Spirit, and we happen to be sharing a meal together as well. I’m really excited about seeing what God will do.  Maybe this will blossom into a house church (and I truly hope it does) or maybe it will just be a nice dinner with friends, but either way I needed to cook, clean, and care for Daisy at the same time, so I turned to my trusty slow cooker. (If you’re curious how I feel about my slow cooker, feel free to read about it here)

Tonight we will be having  Lemon Pepper Chicken and Veggies. It’s a simple recipe I found in the Fix It and Forget It day calendar my mother-in-law gave me a couple Christmases ago. Here it is for your dining pleasure:

Lemon-Pepper Chicken and Veggies in the Slow Cooker

4 Carrots, sliced 1/2″ thick

4 Potatoes, cut in 1″ chunks

2 Cloves garlic, peeled and minced (optional)

4 Whole chicken legs and thighs, skin removed

2tsp. lemon pepper seasoning

1/4-1/2tsp. poultry seasoning (optional)

14 1/2-oz can chicken broth

1. Layer vegetables and chicken in slow cooker.

2. Sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning and poultry seasoning. Pour broth over all.

3. Cover and cook on Low 8-10hrs. or on High 4-5hrs

Pretty simple right? I made a few changes, mostly to avoid going to the grocery store, but I think it should still turn out fine.  I used chicken tenders rather than chicken legs, nixed the garlic, used lemon juice and pepper rather than lemon-pepper seasoning, added some season all and onion flakes, and added some frozen green beans in with the other veggies.  It’s currently cooking away and looks and smells good all ready!

MMmmmmm....

I am by no means a truly crafty person. I dabble, and am occasionally met with success, but creating takes a lot of time and energy for me.  That doesn’t stop me from spending my evenings and Daisy’s naps in front of my sewing machine.  So, while I haven’t been blogging all that much recently here are a few things I have done.

I made this flowered "Bapron" for Daisy and was pretty pleased with the results. She is too.

I made these pillowcase dresses to send with my parents to an orphanage in Haiti.

Daisy loves tags and I've had this material for forever...so viola!!!

It’s always rewarding to look at a finished project, even if it’s not perfect.  If you want to try any of these yourself, you can find the bapron pattern here, the pillowcase dress video tutorial here (one of many), and the tag toy I just decided to wing, but there is a good tutorial here too.  If I can do it, anyone can. So, dust of that old sewing machine and get started!

Daisy and I went up to Hendersonville, NC for a week a while back and had a great time.  The mountains of western North Carlolina have to be one of my favorite places on the planet.  They are beautiful, cool, and full of fun things to see and do.  In addition, my mom, aunt, and cousin were there keeping my aunt’s three granddaughters (twin 4yr olds and a 2yr old) and Nate’s parents live there too, so we stayed busy!

Mom and I made it out to a cute little farmer’s market one afternoon and I found this awesome lettuce basket to bring home with me.  I forgot to bring my camera and kicked myself all week for forgetting it, but here is a picture of the lettuce basket back at home.

My lettuce basket and a fresh salad in the making.

Finding this basket at the farmer’s market was fun, but the real accomplishment will be keeping it alive for more than a few weeks.  We’ll see how it goes and I’ll keep you posted.