Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~Harriet van Horne

After much hard work and determination, I am actually finding a bit of joy in cooking.  I’ve figured out a few roadblocks that have been in my way.

1.  Hard water – We have horrible hard water and our dishes and utensils never seem to come out looking clean.  It’s hard to get excited about cooking when nothing looks shiny and new.  So, we started adding A LOT of vinegar to our dishwasher and it’s made a ton of difference.  Sure, we go through white vinegar by the gallon, but here’s the before and after.  Amazing.

2.  I have three cats. . .two of which feel like they need to try to eat everything on the table. (Thanks, Autumn, for being so awesome and just eating kitty food.)  I’ve learned to just shut them in the bedroom while I’m cooking.

3.  I have diabetes.  That makes it really hard to cook things that I really want to make.  I’ve been told to eat only protein and veggies. . .what’s the fun of that?  I’m beginning, however, to look at this as more of a challenge.  Eating at home, after all, is a lot better on my blood sugar than eating out.

4.  My daughter hardly eats anything.  No matter what I make, she lives off strawberries, applesauce, Smart Puffs and chocolate milk.  She will “try” almost anything, but takes 1-2 bites and is done.  I can’t even get her to eat more than a half of a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup and its her favorite candy! Getting Olivia to eat (and color) are  probably two of my biggest challenges right now.

5.  I don’t like cooking the same things over and over.  I love making NEW recipes.  I don’t think I’ve repeated any recipes this past month!  Thank you, Pinterest.

So, I’m putting together a new cookbook of recipes that I’ve personally tried and Ryan’s approved of. Ha!  I have like a zillion cookbooks and recipes stashed in different places, so I’m condensing them all into one.  And I found the cover of my cookbook:

 

I don’t look anywhere near that domestic in real life, but the little girl is the spitting image of Olivia.  If only Olivia would beg for food like that. 

And, for dinner tonight we had Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken, Onion roasted potatoes, broccoli, strawberries/bananas and 7 Up biscuits. Delicious.  Just click on the links for the recipes.

The potatoes were my favorite.  Super easy and very tasty. 

I will be a cook someday and I will enjoy it!  And if I ever find a recipe where Olivia goes back for seconds. . .I’m going to make it every day!  She may not find joy in eating, but at least she finds joy in wearing her pajama pants as a hat.  LOL!

I Feel The Earth Move. . .

Living in Kansas all my life, we’re accustomed to tornadoes, but earthquakes?  Yes, the 5.6 earthquake in Oklahoma last night was felt at my house.  Bizarre.  We had just finished watching the KSU vs OU game and Ryan was in the shower.  I was sitting on the bed with two of my cats when the bed started shaking and the pictures on the wall started rattling.  Ryan didn’t feel a thing in the shower.  The weird thing is that all day yesterday, I was plagued with awful dizziness.  Honestly, at first I thought the shaking was my dizziness going to a whole other level.  A dizzy person + an earthquake is kinda frightening.  Thankfully, facebook exploded with reports of everyone else feeling the earthquake and I knew I wasn’t going crazy.  Never thought I would feel the earth shake at my house in Kansas, but I guess stranger things have happened.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Olivia LOVES the story of  The Three Little Pigs.  I think it’s because she’s a little scared of the big bad wolf and she likes to be scared.  Today, we searched the house for three pigs and a big bad wolf.  We re-enacted the story many many times.  I took pictures and I’m putting together a little story book for her. 

“Little pig, little pig, let me in!”

“Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin!”

“Then, I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in!”

You know the rest of the story. . .ha!

Olivia was back to herself today, although a little more tired and a little bit crankier.  She ate pretty bland food today, but had pizza for dinner and kept it all down.  I realized yesterday how quickly you seem to forget about the NICU, but how quickly it can all come flooding back.  A single smell, a glimpse of an isolette and I remember the life and death horror of it all.  I thought it had toughened me up.  I remember parents being anxious about taking their children in for something very minor and thinking, “Try saying good-bye to your child EVERY night and wondering if you’ll ever get to say hello again!”   But, the truth is, your baby is your baby.  You don’t want them in any pain.  It’s still going to break your heart every single time.  I’ll never be tough when it comes to that.

Please remember little Ben who has surgery early tomorrow morning to have his eye removed due to retinoblastoma, a cancerous tumor in his eye.  Please say a prayer for his parents and family and pray for a strength that only God can provide.  We love you, Ben!!!

Olivia’s Surgery

Thankfully, Olivia’s surgery is over with.  I’ve been dreading its inevitability for 4 years!  Olivia was a little apprehensive about having surgery, but once she discovered the playroom, her fears were calmed somewhat. 

She was thrilled to have her own little bed that she could ride down the hall in!

Plus her own hat, an anesthesia mask that she got to decorate with stickers AND movies on a portable DVD player.  Yes!

So, that’s pretty much where the fun ended.  The surgery itself went fine.  We warned them that she wakes up very combative from anesthesia.  This is very unlike her mama whose been known to wake up singing.  I don’t know why the parents can’t be in there BEFORE she wakes up instead of being called in there after she’s awake and screaming with 5 nurses holding her down.  They kept commenting about how strong she was.  Yep, my girl is a fighter through and through. 

Then, her iv infiltrated and blew out her vein and the fluids were going into her tissue.  This caused a very swollen, very red, very painful hand!  No wonder she was screaming!

Luckily, her vital signs were good and we were able to go home pretty quickly.  Olivia quickly got to work playing “hospital” with all of her animals.  Minnie Mouse even needed a bandage on her neck just like her. 

We even had to put wheels (aka sliders) on her crib so that she could rush her friends to the OR. 

Soon after, however, she threw up and now has to go on a 24 hour clear fluids diet.  I’m assuming it’s from the anesthesia?  Yeah, I haven’t told her yet that she can’t have chocolate milk.  That is like telling a fish that they can’t have water.  She is now taking a much needed nap with daddy and I’m hoping everything is back to normal quickly.

Keloid Cyst Removal

Despite being under the weather, if Olivia doesn’t run a temp or have chest congestion, she is still scheduled for her keloid cyst removal surgery tomorrow.  It is a fairly simple procedure, but they have to put her completely out for it.  Last time she had surgery, she had an allergic reaction to something and they gave me a list of about 8 things it could have been.  Hoping that doesn’t happen again.  She also has a hard time waking up from anesthesia and becomes very distressed.  Please pray that things go smoothly and she is back to herself in no time!  Thank You!

Prayers For Ben

My heart has been very heavy this week.  I want you to meet Ben.  He will be two years old this month and on Monday he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma.  He has a cancerous tumor in his eye.  Let me back up a bit.

Ben’s mom, Amanda, is one of my very dearest friends.  She lives in Ohio and we actually met a few years ago through my blog.  I surprised her last year for her birthday with a trip to Ohio and we “met” for the first time.  Some of you might remember that.  She is such an amazing and caring person and a wonderful mother of three boys (with another sweet boy on the way.)  A few months ago, she noticed that Ben was developing what she thought to be a lazy eye.  She later noticed a flicker of light in his one eye and made an appointment with an ophthalmologist.  That was when she heard the words that no mother should ever have to hear, “Your child has cancer.” 

The tumor actually takes up his entire eye and and on a rating from A-E based on size and severity, his is an E!  He had an MRI yesterday that showed the cancer is contained within the eye and has not spread.  Praise God!  He does, however, have surgery on Saturday to remove the entire eye and it will be replaced with an artificial eye.  He has actually been going blind over the past few months and the vision in his eye cannot be restored.  Many many prayers are needed for Ben and his family.

Throughout this tragedy, glimpses of God’s work can be seen.  The fact that the cancer is contained is a blessing, which hopefully means he will not have to go through chemo.  We still need to pray about that.  The specialist doing the surgery is actually the best in the nation and it is an hour from their house.  Basically, if they lived in California or somewhere, they would send them here! 

Please pray for this wonderful family.  I hope I said everything correctly as I try hard to understand what is going on.  I just want their whole family to feel God’s love and comfort and to know that so many people are praying!!  Let’s surround her and her family with our love and support.  Amanda is the kind of person who would be the first one to help someone in need.  That’s just the kind of person she is!  And it breaks my heart that their family is going through this.  Please pray and keep little Ben and his family close to your heart!