Car Conversation

KF: Tomorrow we get to go to school (our Kid's Day Out program... my kids attend, I teach the 3's class)!!!
SF: I do?!
KF: YES!
EF: That means you will get to see your friends! Lily... Ben... and...
SF: I don't have a Ben in my class (with a little 2 year old attitude).
KF: Sadie, yes you do.
SF: No, mom (and since when does she call me MOM instead of mommy???).
KF: Well then, what do you call him???
SF: I call him... um.... Freddy.

Veggie-licious

You know I love to eat veggies when I take a picture of them so you can see how yummy they look... I wish you could have a taste!!! I have found that I absolutely LOVE roasted vegetables... here's the recipe I've been making for us lately!

Roasted Potatoes, Carrots & Asparagus (this serves 3ish)
Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
Cut 6 new potatoes in half. Drizzle with 1 t. of Olive Oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay out flat on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

While the potatoes are roasting, cut 5-6 carrots (use regular carrots... save the babies for another meal) in half lengthwise and place on one end of a separate cookie sheet. Drizzle with 1 t. Olive Oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Take your potatoes out of the oven and toss them with 1/2 t. dried rosemary. Return the potatoes to the oven and also put the carrots in the oven. Bake 5 minutes.

Prepare your asparagus with the same sprinkle/drizzle method as the potatoes and carrots.

Take your carrots out of the oven, toss them and add the asparagus to the carrot cookie sheet. Bake everything for an additional 10 minutes. Serve it up and enjoy!

It's a lot of drizzling, sprinkling, tossing and roasting... but so worth every bite. :)

Here's another roasting recipe I'm going to put on the menu for next week. Let me know if you try it before me!

Roasted Cauliflower
2 T Olive Oil
4 Cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 head of cauliflower, cut in small florets

Set oven to 425 degrees. Stir together all ingredients in a large bowl until cauliflower is coated with oil. Transfer to a baking sheet in a single layer. Roast 35-45 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes for the last 15 minutes, until cauliflower is a dark brown color, but not burnt. Enjoy! :)

Happy roasting everyone... might as well get some good roasting practice in as marshmallow season is right around the corner! :) Who knows... you might love these veggies so much that you'll trade out 'mallows on your skewer for some yummy veggies!

Helmet Hoopla

We are a week and a half into helmet therapy and are so pleased with how things are going! Cole transitioned very well into wearing his helmet 23 hours a day and we managed to get his helmet all spiffed up this week!


Even more exciting than that, we went to have his head measured on Wednesday. His little head grew 1/4 of an inch all in the RIGHT DIRECTION! 1/4 of an inch!!!!!! Isn't God good??? Thank you for all your prayers! Amy (our orthopedic tech) could not believe it and I just wanted to cry because I BELIEVED! :) I'm just so thankful!

Because you probably want to know:
- I am hopeful for Cole to have his helmet off by June 27 (mainly because we have a very special wedding that day and oh how I would rejoice to be done with this on that day) - but he will for sure have it off by his 1st birthday. They want to make the sure that the bones of his head are fusing before the helmet is completely removed, to keep the flatness from reoccurring.
- Because of our helmet we are getting to talk to some very interesting folks. Apparently some think we've dressed him up like a football player in 80 degree weather just for fun. Whatever!
- Sadie thinks Cole's helmet is "so tute (cute)" and wants her own helmet. The bicycle helmet will have to do for now! :)

Snatched herself a SALE!

Tonight Sadie was "shopping" in her kitchen. Cole and I were sitting nearby playing when she turned to me and asked... "Mama, you want me to buy this for you?"

I looked at what she was talking about and before I could reply, she made sure to let me know, "It's on sale."

You know it girl... snatch it up for me if it's on sale (I hope she had a coupon for it too)! :) Gotta love that girl... she knows how we roll.

Lions and tigers and SADIE, oh my!

Tonight the Shriner's Circus is in town! We are going to take the kids... and I'm considering seeing if they would be interested in Sadie. :) She has many talents that she could perform for them... but check out her newest stunt that I ALMOST witnessed this morning...

I was switching some laundry and left Little Missy and Coley to play in the living room. I returned just in time to see Sadie perched on a blue stool preparing to jump (the long ways) over her little brother. I busted out my best mother "eh-eh" just in time to give her a moment to think again. When I asked what she was doing... "I was just going to jump ober my wittle bruder." Yes, I'm sure you were.... AND thank God for that helmet. We may be needing it.

Would you dare???

I read a marque sign this morning...

"Try our fish tacos and shrimp quesadillas."

I LOVE fish. I might even try these dishes at a "sit down" restaurant... but at TACO TICO??? I think NOT! One word for this... disgusting.

Won't fall down and bump his crown!

Yep... he's still a cutie... even with a helmet! :)

Cole and I went to pick up his helmet today! He's thinking this whole experience is no big deal (I on the other hand, took a moment to hide and cry in the bathroom for a few minutes this morning... a good cry always does it for a woman)! They trimmed the helmet around his ears today and trimmed a little off the back. The helmet is designed to sit right at his eyebrows and touch his cheek bones to apply the proper amount of pressure for therapy. Right now we are phasing the helmet in... today he's wearing it an hour on, an hour off - tomorrow we will gradually be increasing his wearing time - eventually he will be wearing it 23 hours a day, allowing an hour for bathtime and cleaning the helmet.

Some of you may remember that the original color was to be in either navy or red. WELL - when the helmet was ordered, they told our tech that they could make the helmet navy blue. Come to find out, the manufacturer considers navy blue and royal blue to be the same color. Interesting. We had the option to send it back, but at this point in time, we are just ready to get this on and get it off - so royal blue it is! I have been reading that some people paint their helmets... but we'll see.

Pray that his little head starts growing! The growth of his head will determine how long he needs the helmet. The helmet is designed to put static pressure on the "rounder" parts of his head allowing for gaps in the helmet on the "flatter" side of the head for him to grow in to. The research I've done on children his age, having similar severity of Plagiocephaly, normally wear their helmet 10-11 weeks. It would be such a blessing to be done with his therapy before the middle of summer! Grow little head, grow!

Spring "Flowers"

Sadie picked me this beautiful bouquet a couple weeks ago! Only a mother can think weeds are the most precious gift ever. :)

Sickness Central... this is Kristen and I'll be your nurse!

Well, you all know how much I LOVE being a nurse... sorry to report I've had some good practice in nursing this week.

Cole started coughing and running a fever last Sunday morning, so I stayed home from church so he could get some good rest. He slept most of the day and wasn't too in to eating. He went to bed at his normal time and when Eric and I checked him before going to bed his breathing was increased. He was taking 50 breaths per minute... long story short, by the time I left with him for the emergency room, he was taking 62 breaths a minute. They admitted him to the hospital early Monday morning. His tests came back positive for RSV, pneumonia and brochiolitis. While we were in the hospital they gave him breathing treatments and suctioned mucous out of his little nose/lungs with a tube. We were released to bring him home on Wednesday.

Within an hour of getting home from the hospital, Sadie began coughing so hard that she threw up. Lovely. She seemed to be better the rest of Wednesday evening and most of the day Thursday until she did the same thing at supper time. Nothing like someone puking at the dinner table. This morning she woke with a fever and did the whole coughing bit again... I must say, I never thought that I could handle puke, but I'm passing this test with flying colors and haven't even gagged once. Ended up taking Little Missy to the doctor this afternoon and she has strep throat. Neat, huh!?

All I can say is that it's a good thing that we only have two kids. I might go crazy on round three. :)

So... there's my week in a nutshell... and why you haven't heard from me until now. :) I better get going... I'm sure it's time for some body's dose of Amoxicillin.

FLASHBACK

Today as I was clipping coupons I stumbled upon a coupon that caused me to have a flashback to my preteen/teen years... remember "Teen Spirit"... the deodorant that YOU HAD TO HAVE???

"Teen Spirit" is apparently no longer cool (although after some research they still carry it in Sweet Strawberry, Berry Blossom, Pink Crush, and NEW Pop Star). This deodorant better be steppin' over and making room for THE NEW Hannah Montana Anti-Perspirant by Secret.

Oh, and if that's not enough for you, they also are making Hannah Montana tooth paste, nail polish, lip gloss, body wash... and my personal favorite... Hannah Montana Drama Clean Shampoo and Conditioner. Sounds like drama to me, alright.

I'll save the coupon for you... I won't be using it.

My FAVORITE things... according to Sadie

My Mommy likes to:
- Cook supper.
- Use scissors (I'm guessing this is in regard to clipping coupons).
- Read the mail (HA!).
- Read magazines.

It's just fun and a little funny to see what our kids think we LOVE doing! Ask your kiddos... and report back with your "favorite things!"

Bedtime Blues

I really love sleep. No.... actually, I really, REALLY, love sleep. AND I HAVE NOT BEEN GETTING ENOUGH OF IT.

Problem is as follows...
- I like to stay up till 11 or so working, reading, writing, hanging with out with Eric, etc. (so I will go out on a limb right now and say that this is PARTLY my fault).
- Cole has been waking up between 4-8 times every night... apparently the boy can't get enough of me. Oh... and did I mention that Cole wants nothing to do with daddy during the night???
- Sadie has been waking up in the night "scared" needing a drink of milk and wanting her "special light" (a light that illuminates half the house at 2AM).
- When Little Missy wakes up, Coley always wakes up.
- When Coley wakes up, Little Missy sometimes wakes up.

I don't mind getting up a couple time a night... but needing to get up 9 or more times a night SENDS ME OVER THE EDGE. Do you sense the tension???

I've tried everything I know for the boy.... Sadie was a perfect Baby Wise baby... but Cole may become Baby Wise's next research project. It's gotten to the point where something has to be done.

So, last night we decided we were going to try the "cry-it-out" method... we had previously tried it... but with the kids sharing a room, it is very difficult. We knew it was going to be a big ordeal:

The boy is stubborn + has a little bit of a temper = LOTS of noise.

We planned for Eric and Sadie to camp in the basement and I was going to be noble warrior who got this boy to sleep (How does the mom always end up with this job???).

ANYWAY... I would just like to report that I received the best nights sleep that I've had in MONTHS! The child ONLY woke up when it was time to eat!!! Does he know our tricks??? Is it the snoring and sleep talking keeping him awake??? Will Eric and Sadie forever have to sleep in the basement??? We're trying again tonight... perhaps this was a fluke.