What a difference a year makes!

Katherine turned 1 year old on September 8th. It's hard to believe it's been over a year since that fateful night Steve rushed me to the ER because I couldn't catch my breath.  Our lives are so different now and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The beginning of our journey as parents was definitely the hardest part.  Katherine stayed in the NICU for 29 days.  I also had to fight a nasty female doctor for the right to continue breastfeeding.  Thankfully our hospital stays are now a distant memory.  Today our little girl is continuing to grow and learn and amazes us every day.  Katherine has amazed her medical team with how quickly she caught up developmentally.  She was discharged from Child Health Specialty Clinics at 11 months.  Katherine was doing so well the nurse practitioner didn't see a reason for her to have any more follow-ups with them.  Most preemies are discharged from CHSC at 18-24 months.  We are so proud of our little NICU baby.

Katherine September 2012

  Motherhood might be the most exhausting thing I've ever done but it is by far the most rewarding.  I love the days she crawls into my lap as we eat our breakfast before she goes to daycare and I go to work.  I also love watching her play with her princess castle and the little people that go with it.  It's been fun to see her grow from banging her toys to very specifically putting her princesses in the castle.  I love that now she cuddles with her blanket or a clean burp cloth to go to sleep.  I love that she's learned how to wave and do high-fives.  I love that her first time saying to bye-bye she said it to Steve as he left for work, The Fuzz and our house when we left for the day.  I love that she's started giving kisses by touching her mouth to our cheeks.  I love that she won't do any of these on command if she doesn't feel like it or if she thinks you already know the answer to the question.  I love that she's such a smiley baby.  I also love her giggle.  I love that she's a daddy's girl.  And to all of the people that say "Just wait until..." with some negative outlook on parenting or who try to warn me about the not fun part of raising children, I want to say "No. I will not wait until xyz because I'm too busy enjoying everything I just listed." I know someday she and I will argue but I'm not thinking about that as I observe all of the above.  I marvel at how the tiny baby in the picture above grew into the little girl in the picture below.

Katherine September 2013

Operation Declutter The Continuing Saga

Operation Declutter is in full swing.  We've begun to go through our house and get rid of items not needed and organize those that are.  I'm pleased with everything we've accomplished so far.

Our cookbook cabinet was a disaster, overflowing with cookbooks and loose recipes torn from magazines and printed off the computer.  I sorted through the cookbooks.  The cookbooks we use frequently stayed in the cupboard.  The cookbooks not used very often found a place on a pantry shelf downstairs.  Steve helped me sort through the paper recipes.  Recipes we aren't going to make ever were thrown in recycling.  Recipes that had potential found a place in my recipe binder.  The cabinet looks so much better and it is so much easier to grab a cookbook.

I loved my Scentsy pot but it was impractical for my house.  I have a fairly large home with open doorways between rooms.  I also don't have an appropriate place to put the Scentsy where Katherine can't get it now that she's mobile.  (Yup, she's crawling!)  My little sister Darcy moved into an apartment in Ames and the previous tenant had pets.  Her apartment has a smell.  (Lucky her, right?)  I boxed up my Scentsy and all of the wax and mailed it to her.  Clutter gone from my house!

Does anyone not have a bathroom closet that overflows with all the necessary and unnecessary items shoved in it?  Ours looked that way.  I wanted to put in small plastic totes to contain the clutter.  Lucky for me it's back to school season so things like small plastic totes are super cheap right now.  I bought four small purple crates for a dollar a piece.  Two of the purple crates now house bandaids and medicines (pain relievers, allergy meds, etc).  I actually over-bought the crates because I have two left. I already had: 

• A small tote for feminine hygiene products simply because I don't like looking at the boxes and the boxes take up so much space for the quantity they hold.  
• A small wicker container for baby travel toiletries.   
• A rectangular cloth storage container from the hospital for my nursing pads.  Again I don't like to see the box.  (This storage container was actually from a formula company.  The lactation consultant gave it to me so I could have the small cooler and ice packs.  I donated the bottles of ready formula to a local pro-life pregnancy resource center.)
• Two pink crates which store baby lotions (we have a lot) and miscellaneous items (travel kleenex and things like that). 

Steve has been extremely helpful with Operation Declutter.  He made shelves for one of our storage rooms in the basement.  They are very simple plywood shelves.  They look nice and will keep our items off the floor.  He's actually made two sets of shelves because we have two storage rooms.  I so appreciate him doing this.  He thought of this project, measured the space and bought the supplies completely on his own.  And I'm so glad because I wouldn't have thought of it.

Steve also tackled a huge project while I was at work and Katherine took a 2-hour nap.  He cleaned and organized our home office.  That room was a beast.  It was our catch-all for everything.  Papers everywhere, random items placed on the table and desks.  Steve cleaned and organized it and hung some artwork on the walls.  His mom had made me a fabric photo board for Christmas a few years back and Steve had a friend make a "Count Your Blessings" wood carving this year.  Both are now on the walls!  It's so nice to sit in a clean office each morning.  This project was especially important because we wanted it clean for Katherine's birthday party.  To get to our main bathroom, people have to walk through the office and we were tired of the mess.

But Operation Declutter is not complete.  We have a few upcoming projects that will make our lives a lot easier.  We have a storage closet upstairs next to our linen closet that we plan to turn into a clothes closet.  Our closets are tiny because our house is really old and our dresser is also small.  This is quite a change from the walk-in closets we had at our apartment.  Laundry never gets put away simply because we don't have a place for it.  We plan to paint the closet and get a carpet remnant for the floor.  Right now it's bare wood, not finished and full of boxes.  It will be a big project but will be so nice when we are done.  When we moved in, I over-bought on paint... by a lot.  We will use that paint so we're saving an expense there.  I'm hoping we can get a cheap carpet remnant.  The space is not very big.  If not, Dollar General it is for a cheap rug.  Our second upcoming project correlates with the storage closet project.  I need to go through my clothes yet again.  (I've actually already started this.)  I still have maternity clothes floating about.  I also have clothes that are too big for me right now which need to be put into storage.  The last project is organizing our office closet.  Right now it holds a mismash of things: yarn, fabric, diapers, clothes and who knows what else.  I would like to get the closet organized so we can actually find things in there.  The fabric will be moved to the basement.  I had dreams of learning to sew and quilt and making fabulous items for our house.  Right now we are just too busy for me to be able to focus on that.  It will happen someday but now is not the time.  I'm using the yarn to make dish cloths as Christmas gifts for the daycare ladies.  The clothes will be moved upstairs to their permanent home after the clothes closet is complete.

There you have it!  Operation Declutter is in the works and it feels great.

Dear Spiders, I Hate You

Two weeks ago a spider bit my eyelid.  (Yes, you read that right.  It bit my eyelid.)  It also bit my right wrist.  This year the spiders have been particularly venomous.  Each time I've been bitten, the bite has swollen instantly and is a painful unbearable itch.  I woke up at some point in the night and my right eyelid was sore.  I decided to just go back to sleep thinking it was a tired muscle and the rest would help.  At 5 that morning, Katherine woke up to be fed.  My eyelid felt thick when I opened my eyes so I went to the bathroom to check it out.  My eye was starting to swell.  Before I went to work, I called for a doctor's appointment.  I left a message about my eye swelling and was called back within a minute.  (I'm not exaggerating.  It really was that quick.)  By 10 o'clock, my lower eye lid was starting to swell.  My appointment was at 10:45.  I told my boss I wasn't coming back after my appointment and clocked out.  Steve picked me up and drove me to my doctor.  Thank God he had the day off.  I could barely open my eye when I got to the doctor's office.  "You look awful!" my doctor exclaimed when she walked in the room.  "I feel awful" was my response.  There was no beating around the bush.  I did look and feel awful.  After explaining to the doctor that this swelling was acting similar to the spider bites I had earlier in the summer, she diagnosed it as an allergic reaction to the bite.  When I went in there, I wasn't sure what it was because my eye wasn't itchy the way the previous spider bites had been.  "Are you a spider lover?" was her next question.  Apparently there's people who don't want to kill spiders because they eat other insects.  That is so not me.  "No.  I'm actually afraid of them," I answered.  I think my doctor was relieved she wasn't going to have to convince me that spiders are bad and to try to rid my house of them.  She gave me a prescription for predezone and recommended OTC Benedryl.  A bug bomb was her final suggestion after Steve and I stated that we had been trying all summer to get rid of the spiders.  And we have been.  We've scrubbed the floors, complete with vacuuming and moving furniture.  We've put out sticky traps (and haven't caught anything).  Steve sprayed the perimeter of our house earlier in the summer after removing all weeds.  He also sprayed the perimeter of our bedroom Thursday morning.  We bug bombed the house Sunday which was tons of fun.  We had to be out of the house for 4 hours and we had to take The Fuzz with us.  We wanted to go to a park but it was raining.  We were in the car for pretty much the whole time with a baby and a freaked out cat (in his carrier).  It was loads of fun.  We have finally caught up on all of the laundry this little adventure produced.  (When we set off the bug bomb, we had to cover our hardwood floors.  This used every blanket, towel and sheet we have.)  Here are some pictures from our adventure.

This was Thursday after my doctor's appointment.

This was Friday morning after 8 hours of medicine.

This was The Fuzz in the car Sunday.  He was a little freaked.

Best Friends

It's true.  Katherine and The Fuzz are best friends.  The Fuzz is extremely protective of Katherine and has been since before she was born.  He would lay on my belly and purr while I was pregnant.  But when my pregnancy started to get complicated, he wouldn't come near me.  He knew something was wrong before we did.  The Fuzz checks on her when new people come to the house.  My mom and grandma came for a visit awhile back.  Both sat on the couch while Katherine sat on the floor.  The Fuzz who is normally nervous in social situations made a point to walk over and sniff Katherine in their presence.  He didn't just walk over; he walked between Katherine and couch effectively putting himself between her and danger until he decided Mom and Grandma were not a threat.  Last night Katherine had a stomach bug and was throwing up.  In between throwing up, she sat on the floor with Steve and The Fuzz came over to sniff her.  He also came into whichever room she was in while she was throwing up.  He looked at us with big concerned cat eyes, waiting for reassurance that she was ok.  Katherine adores The Fuzz.  She smiles, giggles and screeches in delight at him.  She reaches out and smacks him or grabs his fur.  (We're teaching her how to pet him appropriately.)  To his credit, he hasn't bitten her even when she grabs a hunk of fur.  I credit part of this relationship to nature and another part to Steve and me.  When Katherine was very little, we would frequently take her over to The Fuzz and let him smell her.  This let him know she wasn't a threat.  When we brought her home for the hospital, The Fuzz came over and smelled her head.  It was adorable and the prefect start to their friendship.

Thankful...

I've been reflecting on my blessings a lot lately.  I have a lot to be thankful for.  Here are a few in no particular order:

• Katherine
• Steve
• my house
• The Fuzz
• modern medicine
• c-sections
• Katherine's medical team including Dr. Rundquist, Child Health Specialty Clinics, her Early Access service coordinator
• my church
• Steve's church
• my and Steve's extended families
• our friends
• books
• magazines
• Katherine's premature birth because we have learned so much about how fragile life is and baby development 
• babies develop the suck-swallow-breathe reflex at 36 gestational weeks just to name one fact we've learned
• St. Luke's NICU 
• even the mean NICU doctor because she taught me that I will stand up for what I believe is right for Katherine even if trained professionals don't agree with my point of view
• my lactation consultants, Nancy and Dena
• without Nancy's support I wouldn't have a successful breastfeeding relationship with Katherine
• without Dena's breastfeeding support group, I wouldn't meet other breastfeeding moms
• Medela
• Dr. Jones, my OB doctor
• sunshine
• green grass
• my job
• the lactation room at work
• silly comedies on TV
• my education starting with kindergarten and ending with my bachelor's degree.
• all of the conservation projects our grade school made me do because they made me care about the planet
• my life
• every day

Those are just a few of the many things I'm thankful for.

Operation Declutter

I've begun Operation Declutter.  Operation Declutter won't have me dashing around the house like a mad woman trying to declutter everything.  Rather I will be finding places for our items (other than wherever we put them down that moment) and getting rid of items we don't need.  A few examples from Operation Declutter:

1. My knitting, crocheting and quilting small supplies will go in a small plastic tub in the closet.

2. My Scentsy pot and the wax will be sold.  My house is too big and too open for a Scentsy pot.  I'm also afraid The Fuzz will try to eat the wax or knock it over.  Ditto the knocking it over fear with Katherine when she begins crawling.

3. The mandolin we bought over 2 years ago and have used exactly once and never in this house will find a new home as well.

4.  A file will be made for the EOBs that we are still getting from Katherine's hospital stay and doctor appointments.  This file will not be specific only to her EOBs.  All of the family EOBs will go here.  To quote Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

5. My closet will once again be sorted through.  Clothing that I won't wear again will find a home at Goodwill or the domestic abuse shelter.  Maternity clothing will be packed away.  And clothing that currently fits will find a place in my closest.

6. Shelves will get baskets to corral random items.

Operation Declutter will be a lifelong pursuit.  I don't expect my house to be perfect.  I don't want my house to be perfect.  However I would like to stop working around things that we don't use and don't have any intention of using in the near future.  I would also like to be able to find things I'm looking for.  Wish me luck!

Soda Bread Success

This year I couldn't go home for St. Patrick's Day and I was really bummed about it.  I know a lot of you not from Emmetsburg will say "Just go to the parade in town.  It's the same thing."  No, it's not.  I don't mean to be rude but it's really not.  Emmetsburg's population quadruples during St. Pat's weekend.  We have beauty pageants  for all ages of girls from kindergarten to high school.  There's a 5K called 'Round the Loch Run.  There's every single person I've ever met in town.  There's a parade filled with people I know who will smile and wave at you.  We're the sister city of Dublin and host an Irish dignitary who is usually a member of the Irish Parliament.  This dignitary visits the schools and talks about the Irish culture.  There are a bunch of other events during the week that I can't remember.  Now, do you still think a parade in some other town is the same?  To make myself feel a little better about not being home for St. Pat's, I decked us all out in green, painted my toenails green and made soda bread.  And the soda bread actually turned out this time!  If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll remember this post where I talked about my first attempts at making soda bread and what a flop they were.  In the same post, I also talked about soda cookies.  This year I decided to try soda bread again and this year, it actually turned out!  My aunt and Godmother had emailed me a recipe for soda bread over a year ago.  I flagged it in my inbox and would think almost every day "I should make that."  I decided that St. Patrick's Day when I'm missing my family, my friends and my home was the best time to make it.  Here's the recipe:

Irish Soda Bread

 By Patrick Rooney

4 cups flour

¼ cups sugar (original recipe 2 TBS. sugar)

 1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

 1 heaping cup of raisins

 1 ¾ cup low fat buttermilk

 ¼ cup cooking oil (original recipe 2 TBS. butter)

 Butter

1 egg

Combine flour, sugar, soda, salt, and raisins in mixing bowl; stir well.

In another mixing bowl add buttermilk, egg, and cooking oil; stir well.

Make well in center of the dry ingredients.

Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients; stir until thoroughly blended.

Turn out onto a floured surface; knead 5 to 8 times.

Form ball; place on lightly greased cookie sheet.

Pat to 8-inch circle, approximately 1 ½ inches thick.

With floured knife make large cross on top of loaf to keep it from cracking during baking.

Spread top of loaf with softened butter.

Bake in preheated 375 oven 40 to 45 minutes, until golden and loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

After removing from oven, spread top of loaf with softened butter again.

 Serve bread hot with plenty of butter. YUM!

 Makes one 8 inch loaf, or 2 smaller loaves

Sounds yummy, right?  It is!  Anyone with an Irish name like Patrick Rooney has to have great Irish recipes. Of course, I made a few modifications while making the recipe.  I only had golden raisins so I used those instead of regular raisins.  I don't know what the difference between the two raisins is anyway.  I didn't have buttermilk so I made my own by using 1 1/2 cups milk and adding 1/4 cup vinegar to it.  The bread turned out beautifully and we had it with our supper.  Steve and Nathan ate about half of it during supper while I fed Katherine.  (Steve did bring me a piece while I was feeding her.)  I was so pleased with how it turned out.  

I also found a shamrock cookie cutter Monday that I bought awhile ago.  I decided next year I would make the bread and the soda cookies.  I think shamrock-shaped soda cookies would be so cute and a perfect St. Pat's tradition.

Special note: I'm changing up my blog.  From now on, I will be writing about whatever topic interests me at the moment not just food.  There are so many things I want to write about and my decreased time in the kitchen are calling for a change in my blog.  For now, the blog will still be called "For the Love of Food" until I think of a better title (if I ever do).  I hope you'll continue to read!