Six years

Six years ago, this happened. It's been quite the ride getting to know each other and our true selves. We still love each other, but this kind of love is different than the love we had six years ago. I suppose it will keep growing and changing and so will we. But I sure am glad he is her daddy, and I sure am glad he is my honey.

Happy Valentine's Day. Love the ones you have.

Block

I have gone nearly a month and a half without experiencing a single day of Writer's Block. Well, today ended my streak. I just don't feel like writing today. I feel gross and unmotivated and sad and like I've eaten too much sugar. I haven't had any today, because I just don't feel like it. I don't feel like doing anything. I am tired because I woke at 1:30 thinking K was about to wake up and I'd be comforting her and holding her while she slept until it was time for her 4:00 feeding, just like I had the previous two nights. She didn't wake up, but I didn't sleep well after that. I managed to get breakfast and lunch on the table, take a shower, and fold two loads of laundry. I managed to walk to the pharmacy and to the bookstore. I managed to pull some art supplies out of the garage.

I have not managed to clean the kitchen. I have not managed to prepare anything for the six-year anniversary of our engagement tomorrow. I have not managed to organize even one pantry shelf. I have not managed to bathe my child or get Robert's dinner ready. I have one hour before he gets home. I just don't feel like getting off the couch.

I will, of course. I will manage to finish everything. Because life moves on, even when one is more disappointed than they could have imagined being just hours ago. Even when one is mourning possibilities that just aren't in the cards this time. Even when a hunch proves to be just ... Nothing.

Tomorrow is another day, next month is another month, and next year is another year. And maybe by then this disappointment will be joy. Maybe I will have forgotten the ridiculous, self-indulgent sadness I feel right now. Maybe ... Someday.

February Recipe: Part One

I recently fell in love with Brussels sprouts. (Okay, that was ridiculous. It just took me nearly two minutes to type that sentence. Stupid little phone keys! Stupid uncoordinated thumbs!)

Anyway, when I was a kid, my stepdad, the gourmet chef, made brussels sprouts. Once. And never again. My sister and I thought they were the most horrific little vegetables ever to be invented, and we choked them down, gagging and making gargoyle faces. My poor stepdad took the hint and never made them for us again, although he did threaten us with them at least once a week. Once he had me cut out a picture of Brussels sprouts from the weekly King Soopers ad and he taped it to the table in my sister's spot. She was not amused, though the rest of us laughed our fool heads off.

Anyway, a few (okay, almost ten ... Sheez I'm old) years ago, a good friend mentioned that she was making Brussels sprouts for a holiday meal. I proceeded to gag and ask her why on earth she would torture her guests that way. She said they were really good roasted and that I should try them. No thank you. *shudder*

Then, a few (okay, five) years ago, I found a recipe for Brussels Sprout Soup in my favorite cookbook. I tried to ignore the recipe, but one day I asked Robert to help me pick recipes for the week, and wouldn't you know? He somehow turned the book open to that very page. I protested, I gagged, I threw a fit on the floor, but he just really wanted that soup. Ugh. I reluctantly bought the accursed sprouts and made the stupid soup for him. It wasn't THAT bad, but I still despised Brussels sprouts.

Until ...

This fall, I found brussels sprouts on a stalk at Trader Joe's. I don't usually buy things that aren't on my list for the week, but those sprouts intrigued me. I figured if Trader Joe's had them in their store, there must be some way to make them edible, and besides, they were so pretty! Like tiny cabbages. Call it mothering instinct, but I just pictured itty bitty cabbage patch dolls poking their heads out from under the leaves. They needed a home.

I googled this recipe for lemon-encrusted roasted Brussels sprouts. The recipe was simple, and the girl just raved about how she couldn't stop herself from eating the whole pan. Yeah, right, I thought, no one likes Brussels sprouts THAT much. I figured she just went a little overboard on the hyperbole. And then ... Oh, Heaven! Oh, peace on earth and good will to men! How can there be war in this world when there are lemon-encrusted roasted Brussels sprouts? I could hardly stop myself, and there were only a few left for my husband when he got home from work. Oops.

So, in my recent rekindling of interest in Pinterest (ugh, that sentence makes me ill), fueled by a non-spammy app for my Android, I repinned this recipe and got around to trying it today. And Oh.my.word. I think I may have dreams about Brussels sprouts and rosemary-infused potatoes synchronized swimming in a fountain of olive oil somewhere in Italy tonight. There's just no way that dreaded vegetable that used to haunt my worst nightmares (You know the one where you're about to shove a big, juicy Canaanite grape in your mouth and it turns out to be a Brussels sprout? Yeah, that one) should taste this good.

I didn't follow the amounts of the original recipe (who buys 1.75 lbs of fingerling potatoes?). I used 2 lbs of fingerlings, and two 16-oz bags of Brussels sprouts from TJ's, then just drizzled a bit of oil, crushed five or six cloves of garlic (you're welcome, Robert's coworkers!), sprinkled salt and ground pepper, ground a whole Trader Joe's package (minus one sprig for garnish which I forgot to use) of rosemary in the food processor, then tossed in a couple of pinches of chili flakes. I skipped the sucanat. I never have liked putting sugar in savory dishes. 

We paired our sprouts with rice, beans, and tortillas (insert joke about Mexican diets here). Even with all those extra sprouts, we barely had any leftovers. Robert even said "Thank you for lunch." And that, in my book, is a raving success.

Eating in peace

Karlina's Abuelita and Tia came over yesterday for a visit and brought Karlina's mommy a present. A wonderfully liberating gift for Mommy and Baby alike. A gift that means Mommy can eat her dinner without little fingers digging in to her plate. A present that means more than half of Karlina's food will eventually end up in her mouth instead of in the dog's mouth. A gift that means Daddy's super hot chilies are no longer in peril of infant consumption (and Karlina is no longer in peril of the multiple ill effects of said chilies). A gift that means fewer heads banging on the table while watching the dog eat. A gift that does not mean just one more thing to move around the kitchen because it straps to our existing chairs. And, a wonderfully thoughtful gift that means Mommy can once again eat food that requires two hands to consume.

Week 7: At least the oven is done ... Or not

I SO hope I can finish the kitchen this week and move on to the back half of the house. It's getting a little ridiculous that I haven't finished yet. I'm getting frustrated and that does not help my productivity. So, here's the agenda for this week:

1. Treat the burner grates with ammonia overnight. (Sunday night.)

2. Clean the house Monday. Robert is giving me a jump start today by vacuuming. What a guy!

3. Laundry on Tuesday, and hopefully clean and organize pantry.

4. Clean and contact-paper large cabinets on Wednesday. Start rearranging so nothing breakable is on any bottom shelves.

5. Finish organizing and baby proofing Thursday. Clean both sides of the door. Hopefully get the bookcase moved back into the hallway so I can get my books out of my closet.

My other goal for this week is to get stuff ready for Valentine's Day. I want to make some cards for Robert as well as a cake or something similar.

February goals are to finish one craft project this month, and call one family member each day.

Spring cleaning and Bible reading remain my quarterly goals.

Have a great week, everyone!

K-10

This past month has been quite eventful for little Miss K. She is just doing SO much that she wasn't last month. My favorite part about this month? Sleep. Glorious sleep. She is going down for the night between 8 and 9 and not waking up until between 4 and 5. Then she nurses back to sleep and stays asleep until between 7 and 8. I'm still sleeping in her room with her, and Daddy sleeps there twice a week. But after the 4:00 feed, I go back to my own room for another hour or two. She sleeps better, I get a little more sleep, and have an opportunity to take a shower and get ready for the day before she wakes. It's so nice to not have to depend on a long morning nap for my shower. Now I can fix lunch and clean a bit while she naps.
Which brings me to naps. They are still inconsistent and all over the place, but for a couple of weeks she was going at least an hour twice a day. However, this past week, she did NOT want to go to sleep in her crib for naps. She wanted to sit up, pull up, play with her babies, wave at me (smart aleck), and generally just NOT SLEEP. She did finally sleep a couple of times early in the week, but most of the week I just tossed her in the Ergo and played some music on my phone (she loves Gaither Vocal Band to fall asleep.) She falls asleep pretty quickly that way, but I don't want her to be dependent on that, you know? Anyway, after she falls asleep, I just lay her down on the bed and surround her with pillows in case she decides she wants to escape.
She is pulling up to standing on EVERYTHING these days. Her crib and the coffee table are favorites, but she's tried the chairs, the dog (that did not go over well), Mommy's lap, her jumparoo ... I can't leave her even for a second in the living room (I'd love to knock down the wall between the kitchen and living room so I can keep an eye on her while I get stuff done, but knocking down walls is just so messy). She still is not crawling forward, but she can get anywhere she wants by scooting, pulling up, and cruising. She still doesn't want to stand on her own just yet, but she has done it for 3-5 seconds a few times. She just might be walking when I post her 11-month update.
She's still pretty little for her age. Tenth percentile for height and weight, and 75th percentile for head circumference. Yeah, her head is huge, just like Daddy. At her 9-month checkup she was 16 and a half pounds and 26 inches. She is growing so fast. Her hands are getting so big they look like they belong to someone else. She is still pretty comfortable in 6-9 month clothes, but her jammies now have to be 9-12 months because her feet get squished. Plus they put nonskid nubs on 9-12 month jammies, which she needs.
She still loves to eat anything and everything except mangoes and avocadoes, and I think we have identified a sensitivity to sweet potatoes. She has vomited the last two times I've given them to her. So we're holding off sweet potatoes for a while. She loves those little green puffs to shove in her mouth, and she cannot make it through breakfast or supper without her precious pear slices. I don't know what I'm going to do when red anjou pears are out of season.
She is saying a few intelligible words with purpose now. Baby and puppy are the big ones, but she tries to say "ropa" (clothes) when she gets dressed in the mornings, and she has said Daddy a few times too. Her vowels are more distinctive this month. Last month they were still all the "uh" sound, but she's added "a" and "e" sounds. She is forming her mouth for "o" and "oo", but they still don't sound like much except "uh." She's also saying a Ron of new consonants like g, k, d, t, f, n, s, v, and a little bit of w.
Just this week I also noticed some teeth on top and bottom that are getting ready to pop through. I ordered he amber teething necklace to help with the drooling and pain.
Man, that's a lot of stuff. I'm a little overwhelmed thinking about all the new stuff she's doing, so I imagine she's having a hard time with all these new things too. I have to keep reminding myself, especially when I can't get her to sleep, of a quote I read that said that they are not trying to make your life difficult, they are trying to show you how difficult it is for them.
By the way, my phone automatically updated to the Ice Cream Sandwich OS today, and I'm loving it, especially the new camera features that are pretty stiff competition for Instagram without all the Big Brother we-own-your-pictures stuff. Here are a few from today. the

Week 6 sum-up: Still?

Yeah, still not done with the kitchen. I did work my rear end off this week, though, and with a newly mobile kiddo, I am not able to dedicate as much time to my project as I have been in the past. Add to that the fact that now, when I put her in her crib, instead of playing with her toys and falling asleep, she wants to stand up. She can't, though, because she's tired and can't think straight, so she screams. I stick her in the Ergo, she goes to sleep, but by now half of her nap time is gone. In short: It's the baby's fault.

The cabinets above the stove are cleaned, contact-papered, and organized, the vent hood is sparkling clean, and the oven is almost there. I spent an hour yesterday scrubbing the burner grates and there's still burned stuff stuck on them. Last night, I thought there must be an easier way. Google led me to an ingenious solution: ammonia in a trash bag over night dissolves the grease. And, supposedly, I don't have to do much. I'm buying ammonia today. I also could have put them in the oven when I did the self-clean (I will next time!), but I'm not interested in running another cycle because man, that stunk up the house.  Also today I hope to finish cleaning behind and underneath the oven. And my wonderful husband said he would clean the toaster oven! Yay for help.

I still have the bitty pantry and the large cabinets, but after the oven, that will be easy as pie. Next year when I do my Spring Clean, I'm going to start with the fridge and oven when I still have lots of motivation. Then I'll be able to move on to the fun parts. Also, next year, God willing, I won't have to contact-paper the cabinets and drawers again. Yay.

Valentine's day planning/decorating didn't happen this week. Is it even worth it to do it next week? I mean, I'll plan and execute the menu, but decorating? I just don't think I'll have time. K isn't really old enough to appreciate it, either, so maybe next year. Sad face.

I did not succeed in calling a family member every day this week. I missed two days, but the other days I made up for it by calling multiple people. So it kind of counts, right? Maybe? Not really ... Sad face.

I haven't tried a new recipe yet, but I have ingredients for one, and I'm planning to make another for my hubby's Valentine's Day cake. Stay tuned.

Bible reading is still on track. I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll be able to accomplish at least this one goal. I'm already to May's readings in the OT and almost halfway through November in the NT. Happy face.

Okay, Spring Cleaning, you're kicking my butt. Six weeks left. Tons still to do ... But I remain cautiously optimistic. I will finish by Easter. I will, I will, I will!

Tomorrow Karlina will be 10 months old. Happy face! Special post tomorrow, which I'm going to write today so I don't have to worry about blogging on Sabbath.

Happy weekend, all!