Pro Baker in the Making

Sarah has been watching Grandma bake since she was a wee baby and has obviously picked up on some of the tricks of the trade.

As with most children her age, Sarah always wants to help around the kitchen: measuring, scooping, pouring, mixing. She loves kneeding dough, adding her own toppings to make pizza, rolling and cutting out cookies. Grandma is very patient with the big messes.

Lately Sarah has been making her own little concoctions without help. Often these are just a mess of God knows what in a bowl. However, a couple of months ago, at home, Sarah decided to mix up a bunch of things - first off, molasses and cocoa and raisins, and I immediately thought, "Ewww!" After it was all said and done, the mixture was cookie textured, so we rolled it into a ball, put it in one of the easy-bake pans, and baked it. And it was very yummy! Sarah ate the whole thing for her snack.

Two weeks ago at the bakery, Grandma found Sarah mixing up a huge bowl full of water and flour and a TON of cinnamon. We thought there was way too much cinnamon for the final product to turn out. Sarah added some sugar and apple chunks, and baked it in a round cake pan. It was a little heavy liked a baked pudding but still had delicious flavour.

Then last week, Sarah started mixing again. This time she had flour and baking powder, salt, molasses, water, an egg, and sugar as a base. She then decided to add coconut and chocolate chips. Keep in mind, the only help she had was with cracking the egg, nothing else was measured "properly" - Sarah was just going to all the different bins with her measuring spoons and cup and throwing in a bit of this, a bit of that. The resulting batter looking like cake so we baked it in a funnel pan. Wow! Delicious! So good, in fact, that all of the family enjoyed it for dessert with our dinner. And, because I love chocolate chips (no surprise there), I finished off the rest in the days following. Not one crumb left.

I'm a little worried Sarah might eventually come up with something of pure baking genius and we won't have the slightest idea of how to re-make it.

But, for now, I'm glad Sarah enjoys baking, and only hope she continues. Her grandma and great-aunties (who are also fantastic bakers) will be soooo proud!

Quick Peek for Lacey and Blair

I had the pleasure of photographing Lacey and Blair on their wedding day on April 23, 2011. I've finally given her the CD of images so now I'd like to share a few of my favs:
(For you editing gurus out there, my apologies, this was my first attempt at using lightroom)

Here's Lacey getting help with her dress from Maid of Honour, Inez

Blair was super nervous (and had to be reminded that he couldn't wear white socks...haha) but pulled it off quite nicely with this shot.
Lacey and her girls arriving at the church
Rings have been exchanged

Group shot on the front steps of the church

Now one of Lacey and the lobster pots

Someone asked me if I brought "backdrops" (What the...?) Who needs a fake backdrop when you have THIS gorgeous scenery!?!

The rings in the lobster pot. Poor little Maria had just bumped her head and wasn't feeling too good...but I think it's a great family shot regardless.

I had to keep reminding Blair to smile but the serious look goes over sometimes too, doesn't it?
Another great backdrop.

Probably my favourite of all...so sensual!

The cake...very nice!
Lacey and her step-dad dancing and having a fun moment together.
Kisses for Mama = So sweet!

Thanks Lacey and Blair for entrusting me to capture your memories. Wishing you many happy years ahead.

Enjoy!

Myrna

Great News!

If you've followed for a while (last year at this time I posted this) then you know about how we have to go to St. John's every year to take Sarah to the Janeway to see the pediatric urologist.

We left on Tuesday morning to drive in. It's such a long drive and a little more challenging this year with baby Charlotte in tow.

Wednesday morning was "doomsday" for Sarah. I always take the time, as recommended, to explain the procedures in advance to give Sarah time to process and understand. Nevertheless, she was still very nervous and scared. Her memory is very good and no amount of explaining can take that away.

The regular ultrasound went very well. A breeze. Last year, Sarah freaked out just laying down on the table, regardless of the fact that an ultrasound doesn't hurt a bit. This year, she was actually quite interested in seeing how that magic camera could see inside her body.

The VCUG was a different story. We were in the waiting room and Sarah's name was called. The nurse approached her and said, "Are you Sarah?" to which she replied, "No! I don't want to go down there." Poor thing thought that if she didn't admit to being "Sarah" then she wouldn't have to walk down that hall. We got to the xray department and Sarah immediately remembered the room and the big machine and started to cry. The xray technician was amazing and patient and let Sarah choose which colour gown she wanted, which stickers she wanted, etc. All was going well until Sarah saw a "boy" and she started freaking out again. She said she didn't want that boy to see her private parts. That boy was the doctor coming in to do the xray himself. Sarah was assured that he would not see anything, only the girl nurse would see her to insert the catheter, etc. All was ok again. Until it was time to inject the dye to fill the bladder. Sarah had to go pee. This is necessary to get the results to see the direction of the urine but Sarah couldn't understand why she was supposed to pee on the xray table and wanted desparately to go to the bathroom. Oh my! What a fiasco!

After all was said and done, the doctor said he couldn't see any major reflux and thought there was definite improvement. What exciting news! But we still had to wait for confirmation of those results from our pediatric urologist. The appointment was on Thursday afternoon. We had to wait. We said our prayers of thanks anyways.

On Thursday, with Dr. Akhtar - who made Sarah cry just by walking in the room, regardless of being told the tests were all done - we were given confirmation of the wonderful news. In previous years, Sarah's reflux had progressively gotten worse to a level 3-3.5. This year, it had improved to a level ONE! This means no more daily medication and a full TWO years before we have to go back to the Janeway to follow up.

When we went back to our apartment, Sarah immediately threw her medicine in the garbage. She was very excited about that part. And we thanked God for being able to fix little girls and their broken parts :)

Thank you to those of you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. We are very happy to be home.

Embarrassed

Last week I decided it was time to pull out the next size of baby clothes. Charlotte is growing so fast and I am constantly purging and sorting. I went to our storage area downstairs - TWO huge bins marked 9 - 18 months. I dragged them upstairs and began unpacking. I was overwhelmed by the amount of clothing, embarrassed even that my baby has so much.

I counted:

51 dresses (like, seriously, even my baby who attends church regularly doesn't need 51 dresses!)

33 pairs of pants

26 sleepers and pj sets

A laundry basket FULL of shoes

5 bathing suits

numerous sets (track suits, skirts with matching tops, etc)

20 sweaters and hoodies

and an uncounted pile of shorts and tanktops for summer!

These are, of course, all hand-me-downs from Sarah. And in my defense, I could literally count on both hands the items I purchased myself. The rest were hand-me-downs collected from our older nieces.

So much! My mother saw it all and shook her head.

And then a friends sister, was literally stuck among the forest fires in Slave Lake, Alberta. Her family, including their little girl, finally got out (Thank God!) but lost everything. That hit home and reconfirmed it all: these things mean nothing. Yes, we need some things. We obviously need clothes. But not even close to that much!

Embarrassed, I tell ya!

So I am packing up my favs and giving the rest away. Does anyone know someone specific who could use baby girl clothes (I have sizes from Newborn - 24 months)? I'm hoping to send little Chloe (the friends little niece in Alberta) the girl clothes she needs.

Have you been embarrassed by your material things lately? I think we need to be overwhelmed by it all sometimes to put things in perspective...don't you?

God Knows

On my not-so-confident days I look in the mirror and can pick myself apart top to bottom:

My hair is crazy;
My hairline is all over the place;
My eyebrows, despite plucking, waxing, threading, never shape properly;
My eyelashes are too blonde and, therefore, invisible without mascara;
My nose is too wide;
My eyes too small;
My upper lip too thin:
My skin is sagging on my jawline;
I have acne scars and enlarged pores;
And I have this ridiculous vertical wrinkle line on my forehead!

And that's just scratching the surface.

(nevermind the baby belly and stretch marks in unspeakable places).


But then on one of my confident days, comes along Christa behind the lens of her camera and captures me rocking it out, putting my best face forward, displaying my inner goddess, and comes up with this:



The flaws are all there, flashing blatantly, but I love them anyways. It's all I get. And I like to think God knew what he was doing when he put together all those misshapen puzzle pieces, better known as me. May as well get used to it and enjoy.

I think my girls, when they are older, will look at these photos and be astonished at how beautiful I was in my younger years. They will look in my eyes and know, behind the grey hair, wrinkles, and age-spots, that girl is still in there somewhere. And they will better appreciate me for it, knowing that I was, on occasion, someone besides their mom - I was also a woman!

Moms out there, take a day to yourself and have some shots taken. They can be risque boudoir or soft-spoken. Forget everything and keep telling yourself how amazing you are, how amazing you look. It'll show on the final image. You can go back to self-loathing later. But, do it anyways. Trust me, you'll thank yourself for it.


Photos courtesy of Christa Hann photography - you can view more at http://www.christa-hann.com/

She can't say His name, but she knows who He is...

I'm not sure how it happened. I've never (intentionally, anyway) spoken his name as I have no interest in him at the moment. And I'm fairly certain Kids CBC and Treehouse don't have any commercials with him in it. And I KNOW she didn't see him make a guest appearance on CSI. We don't even listen to the radio.

But...

On our trip to Corner Brook last week, we walked into Zellers, and there He was. His face plastered on a huge poster smack dab between the toy section and the electronics.

"Justin Beaver!" she exclaims, and then ducks her head in sudden shyness with a little "teeheehee" like a 12 year old with her first boy crush.

"What?!" says me, "You know who Justin Bieber is?"

"Um Mom, yeah" says she, and then proceeds to spend the remainder of the day looking for him down every other aisle in every other store we visited.

Despite my ignorance on the matter of Justin, his presence seems to have permeated the air...or the water...or something that has affected my THREE year old!

Okey-Dokey then.

If that wasn't enough, three nights ago. It was bedtime and for the first time since she was a baby, Sarah wanted to sleep in Mommy's bed.

"Why? What's wrong Little Pookie?" I asked.

"Justin Beaver is sick," she replied.

Apparantly, Justin Bieber came over for a visit to our house and got sick and had to go to sleep in Sarah's bed. I suggested she sleep there anyways and Justin would just have to move over and make room. But, of course, she couldn't sleep in her bed with him there because he might throw up on her. How silly of me to suggest such a thing!

No episodes of Justin-Beaverness today. But Sarah turns a big FOUR tomorrow so it looks like I might be in for the next round of surprises.

I don't even want to think about what it's going to be like when she's turning FOUR-TEEN!

Playing for Keeps!

With Valentines Day just behind us, and seeing and hearing all the expressions of love (in all its many forms), I was thinking of when Charlotte was a newborn. People would come visit us, ooh and aah over the baby and say things like, "She's so beautiful, I think she's a keeper". Then they would look at Sarah and ask, "What do you think? Should we keep her?" Sarah, being three, didn't understand this question to be rhetorical, she took it quite literally, and would answer, "Yes!"

A few weeks later when the baby visits ended, Sarah and I were saying "I Love You" to each other and she, so sweetly and genuinely, added, "I'm going to keep you Mama." I was taken aback but smiled and replied back, "Well I'm going to keep you too, baby girl." I'll never forget that moment - so sincere in it innocence and yet so unknowingly full of wisdom about what love is truly about.

It seems that we are constantly bombarded by false images of love. Movies show people "loving" their spouses and then "loving" their boyfriends/girlfriends on the side. Everything looks so exciting and fun and adventurous, without portraying the hurt and betrayal. It's all "live in the moment" with no sense of commitment to anyone but oneself. And we are left confused. We think we can do the same. We don't seem to know what true love is anymore.

Love, to me, is not always fun and exciting, passionate and romantic. (Or else, I would also be divorced for long ago! Sorry honey!) These things are wonderful, yes! But, let's face it, I can have "fun" with just about anyone. Love is a decision. It is a decision to be committed. It is about staying even on the days when the feelings seem to have vanished into thin air. To have that loving feeling - it is the most amazing emotion in the world. To say "I Love You" is great. To hear "I Love You" in return is greater still. Too often, though, the words (important as they are) become only words and hold no meaning.

But, to me, to be able to say to someone "I Keep You!". No matter what. No matter how I feel today. No matter your faults, your insecurities, your craziness. No matter if we're fighting or making up. No matter what life brings. I keep you! And I keep you through it all. Now that's something. I sorta think Sarah had it right.

Here's to playing for keeps.

Can I hear an "Amen"?

Charlotte's First Snow Day

It was a couple of weeks ago now. We finally got snow and I decided to take the girls outside to play.

Sarah had fun making snow angels.

Charlotte was unimpressed.



So, I asked her about her dislike of the white stuff and she said,

"No, I do not like it in the snow
I do not like it - no, no, no!
I did not like it on your back
I did not like wearing that hat
No, I did not like it -
And that is that!"

I told her I thought she was exaggerating slightly (can we say "her father's daughter) as she did in fact fall asleep in my "back pack" for about a 1/2 hour.

Then she replied,

"Why yes, oh yes, I fell asleep
While you were in the snow knee-deep
For I had nowhere else to go
When you were shovelling that snow."

Hmmm...clearly, Charlotte has been reading far too much Dr. Suess!

I wonder what she'll say when I tell her we're going out again today?

My Pizza

Just a couple of weeks after Charlotte was born, it was clear she was not happy about something. Turns out she has an intolerance to cows milk, or the protein in cows milk, to be specific.

Suddenly breastfeeding, though still a top priority of mine, became even more challenging. My diet needed to be completely dairy free - no milk, no cheese, no butter...GASP! NO CHOCOLATE!

After a couple of weeks of not knowing how/what to eat, I began some intense research and discovered lots of great options - Soy milk, pudding, and "ice cream", vegan "butter", goats milk cheeses, the introduction of a Calcium supplement, and most importantly, that I could still eat dark chocolate!

Here's one of my recipes - it's so delicious and easy, I just had to share. I guarantee I'll still be eating this after I go back to having cows milk again.

Step 1: Ingredients. Mine are:
Naan bread or flat bread (Non-dairy)
Pizza sauce
Cooked chicken breast pieces (or if I've cooked a turkey, use leftovers instead)
Spinach (you can use fresh, but my only option right now is frozen, nuked and drained)
Variety of goats milk cheese (i.e. mozzarella, marble cheddar, and feta)


Put it all together

Bake it at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes

Slice and enjoy!


Bonus: This is a fantastic quick and easy meal idea. With the premade crust and toppings handy, everyone can have their own unique pizza ready to eat in about 15 minutes. AND, it's super easy for kids to make their own too!

Enjoy!

Charlotte Aime des Grenouilles

Warning: The following contains graphic images of a frog-devouring baby.

It seems Charlotte has decided "enough is enough!" with the milk-only diet. I, however, did not expect her to take an interest in french cuisine so soon.

"Oh, Oui, oui...this frog is lookin' mighty tasty Mama"


Unbeknowst to Monsieur Froggy, those are not just sloppy kisses...


Shameful display of gluttony


Whatever happened to rice cereal?