Living Up to His Name

Today was rough. Especially the outcome of my follow up with my neurologist. She did not have good news for me. Looks like the next two weeks will be full of physical therapy, more tests, more doctors, more meds. I do feel that I am in good care. I am not to drive with my kids in the car so I think I'll forego the cost of daycare, but that makes things difficult at home since I only have one hand and they are more than a handful. My first session of physical therapy was just plumb exhausting and it was very disappointing to see how quick and eager my brain is but how slow and cautious my limbs were.

Abby has been fighting a fever due to teething, I'm sure. Every time she fights a fever or illness her breathing is compromised. So I could not wait to see her and how she was doing and just cuddle with her. She had improved today at daycare. I tried to cuddle her but she felt so much better that she was rearin to go and play. I could not comfortably hold her in a secure position so I waited for her to settle down some and let her play with Noam. They play so well together. She just adores him.

I was trying to open a can by myself and then a new bottle of dressing. It was not going well at all. I wound up dropping the can on my left foot. I immediately said OUCH! But then laughed. One positive to being a clutz and a bit of a handicap is that when you drop your cans on your foot after a stroke you don't feel a thing! Now I know to aim for my foot whenever I drop something! I gave up on the can and the dressing and ate my salad plain. It was good but very boring.

After that struggle I was ready for bed. I knew it was time for the kids to have their bath. It was certainly an even greater struggle getting us all out of our clothes or into our birthday suits in order to have a proper bath. It is laughable how long this took. I was starting to feel a bit whiny but determined to enjoy my children and just being able to be with them. Things could be so much worse. After the bath I was able to transfer baby and terror into their room for their traditional after bath moisturizing. Noam must have noticed my fatigue so he took it upon himself to put a diaper on his little sister and pull out her pajamas for me. He put his undies back on, jumped in bed and quickly got settled in under the covers. "snug in a bug rug, mama!" (I usually tell him he is snug as a bug in a rug) and then he said his prayers. Abby was lying down beside him. He pulled her onto his chest and snuggled her for me. Perhaps he knows I can't.

What a picture. It just melts my heart. Noam means God's pleasant gift and friend. I'd say he is definitely living up to his name. What a gift he is to me and what a friend to sweet-faced Abby. He held her and sang the song I made up for her. He didn't miss a beat or word.

Wish I had been able to catch it on video. Just the perfect ending to a wearisome day.

A crockpot creation

I was excited about trying two new recipes from the crockpot365 blog.
Though the meals were gluten free, they looked scrumptious and the blogger Stephanie has admirable wit and persuasion. Kim came over and helped me prep the recipes and Jason from work gave me the gluten free ingredients. Julie delivered them. All saints and yes, I have time to notify the Vatican.

The first recipe was green chile chicken. Looks like Steph appreciates a good ol kick and a punch of spice. The second recipe was called End of Summer Harvest soup. Well, I was appealed by the zucchini and squash and everyone knows how much I love soup, so I decided to write it in my recipe book as All Season soup :)

I messed up the first recipe by missing one tiny detail. I thought the second recipe turned out horrible. It was due to spaghetti sauce being a major contender in the mix. I couldn't justify having spaghetti sauce as a broth so I continued to let it cook, drained the vegetables when they were translucent and washed them off, rinsing with cold water. I then took half of the veggies and mixed it in with the chicken, added some chicken broth and Korean chili paste and cooked it all over again. Oh my goodness. My what a party in my mouth! It was really good served over rice. Ok, I actually haven't eaten it yet but I sampled more than a forkful before picking up the iPhone to share my delight. I am eating it served over rice. The other half of veggies I mixed with spaghetti sauce and put it in the freezer for gluten free pasta night. I'm calling this creation harvest chicken with pacific heat. Bon apetite!!!

Nursery Rhymes

Hey, Diddle-Diddle - the cat and the fiddle; there's elephants all over the room!

Because I'm not into frills and lace and pink and cartoons and cutesty-cutesy "rainbow throwup" (that's what I call it), I knew it was going to take some time trying to find a way to decorate the nursery appropriately for a boy AND a girl.

It actually was not as difficult as I had anticipated...or I just "lucked out"!

I saw a lamp that I was instantly drawn to. It was cute, it was completely "bearable" and had nice-even-keeled colors I knew I could decorate a room around. Plus, it was an ELEPHANT lamp! Bonus!

So I found a crib set that matched the lamp (although the two were not together and took some web browsing - it actually WAS a set). Then I found a rug that matched the elephant lamp and the crib set. Now what? I searched and googled "toddler boy bedroom" and I came up with cutesy-cutesy stuff. No, I did not want Monsters, Inc or Dora the Explorer or CARS all over the bedroom. The elephants would not like that. Besides the attack of juvenile (ok, I know we're talking about a kids bedroom here, but I just can't appreciate it) bedding, there is very few bed sets available for toddlers for a full-size or double bed. Noams bed is a full-size.

So I picked out a color that I thought would be appropriate for a boy and could maybe match the crib set - ah ha, Blue! So I googled 'blue bedding full-size'. I did not come up with much and thought perhaps I would just have to get a plain looking comforter or blanket to put on his bed.

So I googled red. Nothing. So then I googled blue and red. I found something. It looked like it could match. Hmmm. What's this? Discounted? Clearance? Yes, it really does match. Could it be true? Well, let's see. If it isn't, I'll return it. So I ordered it. (online shopping is so convenient for a single mom). I just happened to find it on Overstock.com and paid $1 for shipping. Not bad.

Then I found a rug and a pillow set.

The boys' bed set came first. I immediately put it in the washer. Ding! Without allowing any time to pass, I put it in the dryer. It came out all rumpled and looking like a sheet that the bachelor everyone has in their office mistook for a shirt and walked into work with (smile). I put it in the dryer again. Checked the "wrinkle release" button. Yep, it's on. Ding! Took it out a second time, still the same. Darn material! So. I set out (this was more than a week ago) to iron. I ironed two pillow cases, a fitted sheet, a sheet-sheet (what are those called? Oh yea, flat sheet) and the duvet cover (I just threw the old comforter inside it-genius!). It took me a LONG time. I realized half-way through that it was just going to look "only slightly wrinkled" even if I did the best ironing job ever. Slightly dismayed, I set up the bed. Fit wonderfully and I liked it a lot.

More than a week later, the crib set came. That was a challenge opening up that packaging. I was like a one-thumb wonder with a bear paw for a second hand. Fun stuff. Washed that except the two longer pieces that were part of the bumper set. I set out to put it on the crib today. I considered it my physical therapy. Can you imagine tying knots with one good hand? Mission accomplished...teeth come in handy (sigh)

Here are photos of the end result. I'm actually very pleased, no -thrilled! I finally have a nursery in my home and one that I can tolerate. Everything matches perfectly. All that is left is finding some fun pictures to frame and put on the walls. I'm thinking elephants...or something fun like that. From the beginning of life - my kids will know it is not necessarily a bad thing to be the "elephant in the room". If you have no idea what I'm talking about read At Home in the Herd, a previous blog posting.