Christmas Wish

I had to interrupt my bloggy break with excellent news.

Today we got the one thing we really wanted for Christmas. At Baby's appointment with the pediatric orthopedic surgeon, the doctor told us that everything looks good, and the harness is working!!! This is the absolute earliest we could possibly know, and x-rays confirm what we have prayed for.

We have been praying that the harness would work and we could avoid casting, and that Baby would heal completely. I had actually asked the Lord for this confirmation for Christmas, and He is so gracious that He gave us this.

The first appointment I was in tears when Baby was put into the harness, and this one I was in tears because she will be staying in it...yeah, I see the irony too....

So best guess is that she will be in the harness 24/7 for another 5 weeks, and then she will get brief periods out of it. We will learn more as we go along.

Merry Christmas to us! And you too!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

In the joy of preparing for our Christmas festivities and caring for my family, time has been slipping away on me! All of a sudden it is bed time and so much is left undone! But my family is well loved and cared for, and that is what matters. (And the fact that we had an almost NORMAL night last night! Praise the Lord! The previous 2 Monday's after Baby's appointment had been long and dreadful!)

With that in mind, I am taking a blogging break until the New Year! After all, there are goodies to eat, family to love, presents to open, girls to play with, goodies to eat...er...did I already mention the goodies?...oh, well stop by because I made some delicious things!...and friends to visit with.

Unless of course the doctor tells us good news next Monday in which case I will have to of course come tell you! But assume no news is good news too.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season filled with the Lord's love and grace.

Baby's Doctor Appointment

We had another check up for Baby this morning as the Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon checked her out and checked out the harness positioning. He did make some minor adjustments to accommodate growth and allow more kicking!

He was really, really pleased with what he saw! Baby's knees lay much flatter, and her hip was in the socket! (It is common in these first couple weeks for the hip to pop in and out of place) but her hip stayed in place all week!

He was even more pleased to hear that there was no clicking of the hip all week and that she was beginning to kick her left leg more, moving her left foot on its own for the first time! (A classic sign of hip dysplasia is that on the side of the hip with dysplasia the children move that leg a lot less, and this was very true of Baby, when she did kick on the left it was more of a motion carrying over thing than a deliberate kick. Yet last night when I was nursing her she suddenly started tapping her left foot - she has NEVER done that!)

So while it is still too early to say the harness is working for Baby, there is lots of very good news, lots of positive things to make us hopeful, and nothing negative to indicate it is not working. Which is the best case scenario at this point!

We go back next Monday.

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Tree Ornaments

This is likely only part 1 because I am sleepy, have little windows of time, and am only going to talk about 1 tradition, turns out our family has more than I thought!

When I was little I began receiving occasional Christmas ornaments. Eventually it became expected to get at least 1 from somebody! My husband received some too. Yet our first Christmas our tree was a little on the sparse side, so it was a good thing that we stuck it in the corner and only had to decorate a third of it!

Our first Christmas tree decorating just the two of us was special, and Mr. Pear had a special ornament for me for the tree. A couple one. And now each year we get a couple ornament, and it goes on the tree when we put it up.

Our daughter's first Christmases were marked with a very special ornament with their name on it. Both have the same ornament, Joy Ride from Lenox. It is a special gift from us to them so that one day they have a tangible reminder of how thrilled we were to celebrate their first Christmas with them.

Each year it is our tradition to put a Christmas tree decoration in the stockings. We try to pick something that is both nice and kind of marking that time in their lives. So far there is lots of Winnie the Pooh as that was the nursery theme for both girls, and a huge favorite around here.

Each year the grandparents give the girls an ornament too.

So for those of you keeping track, each girl gets 3 ornaments each Christmas, except for their first Christmas when they get 4. At this rate, at their 23th birthdays they will each have 70 Christmas Tree decorations. Yeah, I don't think their first Christmas trees will be sparse either!

It is such a fun tradition! And I am making a photo log of their ornaments so we not only know which ornament belongs to which Pear, but also who gave it to them and when.

While it may not be something that gets tucked away in their hope chests, it is a special tradition that already I am looking forward with to helping them when they have their own homes one day in the very far, very distant future.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

...I would teach Miss Pear that song, but really don't think I could handle hearing it all day at the top volume rain can excite her to, so we will stick to our "two little eyes to look to God" song we are learning intermittently.

First off, we had a MUCH better night last night. While it did take until 11PM to get Baby down for the night, once she was down she slept until about 4:30, got up, nursed, and went straight back to sleep until about 7:40 when she repeated the process and finally woke up around 9:30. I feel SO much better.

Unfortunately, Miss Pear's cold has been lingering for 14 days, so we had to go to the doctor is this very cold, rainy weather. She has what I understand to be the start of a sinus infection, so she is on antibiotics now, along with most of our neighbors!

So it will likely be the continuation of a couple quiet days while we slowly get ready for Christmas.

Miss Pear helped stamp all the Christmas cards earlier in the week and was very proud to help mail them.

Most of the baking is done, but I would like to make one more slice and another batch of shortbread cookies. This baking will be munched on through Christmas and New Years. Of course there are special Christmas logs to be made in advance too so that they can just be stuffed with whip cream the day of!

I am starting to do the other things I can do early too. I roasted three chickens yesterday, took the meat off in large chunks and will just warm it gently the day we need it. I made cranberry sauce today. Oh, and on the weekend I made the special ribs.

I am still hoping to make ahead some side dishes too.

I don't want to be one of those women who miss all of Christmas because they are in the kitchen, yet I want special meals too! So I will see what I can do to figure this out and make it easier. And as tradition demands the same things each year, maybe I can even make up a bake ahead plan for each year! Now wouldn't that be all organized!

Of course, with a 14 week old, planning ahead to make things easier seems to be the name of the game for EVERYTHING!

Do you have a favorite thing you must have each Christmas?

T'was the night before Christmas...

After a night of being up each and every hour with Baby (the first night ever like that), many hours more than once, I read The Night Before Christmas for Moms at My Quiet Corner. I read it last year too, and it was great then, but a must read this year!

And we are praying for a quieter and sleepier night tonight.

But even with the severe lack of sleep, I love being a mommy.

Rainey Monday Morning

This morning began with huge grins from both my girls. Baby was just happy to see me come and get her and immediately launched into baby flirting (which I adore!). Miss Pear came running in while I was nursing baby and declared in a voice of wonder and excitement, "I hear the rain!"

It does not rain much here, and Miss Pear longs for both rain and snow. It is unlikely I can do much about having snow in her backyard for her, but today she gets rain, and you can tell she is excited - there are nose prints on all the windows and she has created a special dance in honor of the occasion.

Baby had her first follow up appointment this morning with her doctor. He was able to answer all our questions and made an adjustment to the harness. Basically we now feel equipped to answer most of our own questions. In the face of each question you must ask if it brings the knees forward or if it brings the ankles together, and if the answer is yes, then you may not do it. So we will continue to work on new nursing positions and diaper change methods. We will continue to do just do our best, pray lots and love her lots. The hardest thing to learn today was how to help her hip back into the socket if we notice it is out....Baby could not care less, Mommy's heart cracked a little at the same time her hip did.

I keep reminding myself of some important truths:

1. God is in this with us, He is not one to abandon His people!
2. God loves us, and loves Baby.
3. By doing this we are giving our girl greater health as she gets older and avoiding surgery.
4. It really could be worse so don't whine.

Okay, so the last one is kind of a "suck it up, cupcake!" thing, but still.

A Saturday Night Update

And to tell you how my brain is functioning I originally wrote Saturnight; after all, the day has passed!

I did honestly want to write you and update now that 5 and a half whole days are up to let you know how we are doing, but I am very tired, and my pillow is calling me, so instead I am going to share with you an email update I shared with other friends today, changing the names of course!

We go see the specialist again on Monday, and we have a list of questions for him!

So far things are going better than expected, and we are slowly figuring things out, finding things that work, finding clothes that fit (including socks which were an unanticipated challenge), and generally learning how to do everything all over again. We have found a new way to swaddle Baby – very important seeing as pants of any kind, including sleepers are completely out. We are finding new ways to hold her, to rock her, to comfort her and to nurse her. Things we had taken for granted were suddenly very perplexing and difficult, but we are slowly figuring them out.

Miss Pear has been a trooper through all of this. She is very concerned about Baby, and wants to do what she can to help jer, which usually includes showing her toys, gently rubbing the back of her head, and talking to her. She talks about Baby’s sandals and seems quite happy that they both wear sandals as she is at the point where she loves similarities (When Baby is dressed you can only see the straps coming out of her onesie, and down under her foot and the two straps that go around her leg at the ankle and just below the knee, so if it straps around the foot and ankle it must be sandals). (And yes, Miss Pear is wearing sandals in December - afterall, we are in Southern CA).

Baby is settling back down in her night time sleeping again (the first night she was up every 2 hours), but napping is still very hard for her. She has figured out how to kick her good leg more, so that is one thing returning to normal for her, and she seems to be adjusted to the whole thing from a movement standpoint.

It has been a long and exhausting week with lots to learn, but God has been so good to us in so many ways to encourage us, strengthen us, and provide wisdom and ideas at just the right time.

I am not sure what will happen at Monday’s appointment, except that the doctor will examine Baby, make any necessary adjustments to the harness, and hopefully have answers to all our questions. It will probably be about a month before we know if the harness is working. In cases like Baby’s there is an 80-90% chance the harness will work, and we are praying fervently that it would for Baby.

And to another friend I added:

It is weird that things that we just took for granted are now so hard. Baby and I will not be in church tomorrow because to be really honest, I have a hard time nursing her at home, in my comfy chair, with our pillow, so I cannot imagine somewhere else, with no pillow, and having to cover up! And even holding her is sometimes hard as she wants to get into her old happy spot and simply cannot with the harness.

And of all things, what is persisting to be an issue is burping. I don’t know if it is the new nursing positions or just her knees being pulled up, but Baby is having a hard time burping and needs to more than before (unless she was just able to do it better by herself before and we never noticed), and right where we would tap her back to help her is where the harness criss crosses on her back.

But you know what? Honestly?? It is not that bad. It was horrible at first to see my baby all wrapped up in these straps and Velcro, to change her diaper by threading the tabs between her body and 2 straps on each side of her. To realize that the hang nails and sores on my one thumb are not from dry skin, they are from rubbing on the Velcro changing diapers. To pack a way 3-6 month clothes that will be given away that Baby did not even wear or only wore once or twice. To realize that Baby will be in a harness longer than she has been alive. Through all the things that were hard, that hurt, that made me cry and even feel sorry for myself, I can honestly say it could have been worse.

How could it have been worse?

• If we did not have the Lord, and His help, love, comfort, wisdom, strength and encouragement it would have been worse.
• If my husband and I were not blessed with a loving spouse who was determined to do our best, and supporting each other and giving lots of hugs, it would have been worse.
  
• If we did not have family and friends praying for us, it would would have been worse.
• If Baby were our first daughter we would have had no clothes on hand in the sizes we need and would have been running all over trying desperately to find clothing that fit and maybe worked instead of just washing what we had, it would have been worse.

But you know what would have been really, really bad?

What would have been horrible is if we were not doing this.

If we were not doing this that would mean that they did not catch it. This does not go away. The degree of Baby's hip dysplasia means that she would have never just outgrown it. If this were not caught, and it was not noticed until she was 9 or 10 years old, it likely would have meant surgery.

So while we are not having a whole lot of fun, we are deeply grateful because by doing all this now Baby will never remember it, and it will help give her a long healthy life.

Saving on Meat

The weather has turned cooler here in Southern California, ushering in our version of winter. Okay, so the rest of the country would call it fall, but we take what we can get, and this is the time of year I break out those favorite winter recipes, like stew. I have been keeping my eye out for a good price on stew meat lately, and the best price I had found was about $5 a pound. Needless to say I passed on that!

This past weekend I was grocery shopping and made a point of perusing the entire meat section, and found a top of the line brand roast marked down for $1.99 a pound. That is pretty much as good as it gets on beef around here, so I scooped one up. (I was tempted to grab 2, but was determined to keep to my budget! Even the best sale is a bad sale if it does not work in your budget)

And what do I plan to do with my roast? Cut it up for stew of course! That really is all stew meat is, except it is usually the lesser cuts of meat.

I was chatting with my favorite check out lady who loves to see her customers save money, and she agreed this was the way to go, and then she said something very interesting to me. She said that at her store (a Pavilions) the family cuts of meat are selling well, so they are not being marked down as much. But the premium brands of beef are being selling poorly, so that is where to look for a deal.

Of course I could not keep this tip for myself! Hope this helps someone else!

Because I am sentimental

Monday and yesterday I did a job that really hurt. I put away all of Baby Pear's 3-6 month clothing. She had only been in them for about 2 weeks (longer for the sleepers). For a lot of reasons Baby will be the last pear added to our household, so it is time to pass things on. Some of the clothing was new to baby and only worn once or twice, a couple outfits not at all. It was hard to pack it up knowing that when she finally gets out of her harness she may even be out of the 6-9 month clothing.

We have friends due any day, and I am boxing stuff up to ship to them. If they do not have a girl I will pull out all the girl stuff for a neighbor due in February. (We did not know that Miss Pear was a girl until she was born, so we have lots of generic stuff - plus I love baby blue on girls).

But even knowing that these clothes were going to a good home it was hard.

So I am saving all my favorites, all the special ones. The outfits that:

• Miss Pear wore when we filed the final application for my green card
• Baby wore to ER and then home from the hospital
  
• both girls wore and wore and wore
• were special gifts

My plan is to make a blanket for each girl out of them. It is all knit cotton that I am saving so it will just be squares sewn together and then quilted (probably knot quilts). For the back I am going to use their receiving blankets and flannel crib sheets. At the rate I cannot part with stuff they may both end up with queen sized quilts!

I am also saving their dresses for a second quilt for each.

It is definitely making boxing stuff up and passing it on easier.

Day 2 - Moving right along

Things are going better than expected. We did have a long night last night with Baby up every 2 hours (she did not even do that as a newborn!) and when she is awake she just wants to be held, but who can blame her.

We are getting better at the diaper changes - the tabs have to be slid under 2 harness straps on each side.

We are figuring out the clothing challenges, and except for a couple convertible gowns we should have all we need, we just need to figure it out.

We have figured out sleep stuff, and my MIL is making 4 new swaddling blankets that are larger and warmer. And 2 new flannel crib sheets arrived in the mail from her today too - perfect timing!

If you are wondering what the harness looks like (a very common question we are getting), the baby in this picture is wearing the same harness as Baby, except Baby's is a very stylish pink, and is all soft straps and velcro.

Basically we are figuring it out. It may not be the easiest thing in the world to get our brains around, but it is certainly not the worst situation. And God is being so gracious to us and taking such care of us I cannot even begin to explain it.

The good news for today is that all the clothing up to 12 months has been washed (not folded, but washed), so I can now start trying stuff. (Although I will try it as I need to change Baby, not a fashion show. Changing her is hard for all of us, but especially her).

The other good news is that her napping seems to be settling back down again into her usual awake for an hour or so asleep for 45-75 minutes. I am hopeful that means she is settling back down and is not just exhausted.

Day 1 - hopefully over

So our first day of Baby in the harness is hopefully over (please Lord, let her be down for the night!) Baby seems to be starting to adapt but is not happy to have her kicking and stretching ranges limited..

The big thing today was trying to figure out how to still swaddle her so she does not bat her head and wake herself up without pressing on her legs or harness straps. We were victorious on this one.

The next big thing is trying to figure out how to dress her! She is immediately out of size 6 clothes. We think size 9 month might work, if not 12 month - I washed everything that did not need stain treatment today, that will be washed tomorrow. As far as I can tell pants appear to be completely out, and sleepers are still a question mark. It looks like long sleeved T-shirts and onesies, dresses, and those longer sleeping gowns (and those convertible gowns that can be snapped as either a pant suit or a gown) will be the order of the day, but we will keep trying to figure that out too. (By the way, do you know who is carrying the gowns and convertible gowns right now?)

I have realized that it is all a learning curve. By God's grace we are going to figure all this out, and by His strength we are going to keep moving forward.

While this is certainly not what I would have chosen, I am trusting God through this, He is always faithful, always good, and always loving.

I don't know how much I will be here this week, but I did want to pop in tonight and let you know that we are doing better than expected.

Baby Pear has a new outfit

We saw the specialist this morning, and the end result is that Baby is in a harness for a while, likely three months.

The appointment went well, we like the doctor and he talks in a way we can understand, so that helps. He said that her hip was "completely unstable" but that the harness should work. (roughly 80% of cases like this it is successful). So we have three weekly appointments scheduled, and after that we should know if the harness is working or if we need to switch to a cast.

While the harness is indeed no picnic and must not be removed (it is straps and velcro that go from the tops of her shoulders to the bottoms of her feet), it is better than a cast.

God was so good to us through this - besides the doctors. There was a mom with her 9 month old there for a check up who had gone through this, and she was able to encourage us so much through understanding our feelings and the enormity of it all and being able to speak from a compassionate "been there done that" perspective to the practical of how to cloth Baby now.

Basically Baby just got launched right out of 6 month clothing to likely 9 month, we are trying to figure it out.

So even though a lot of stuff is going to be hard - no more swaddling, no more holding her in her favorite across our body position, both of which were her favorite way to fall asleep - God is in this with us, and it is by His strength and wisdom alone that we are going to get through this.

So now I have to get back to sorting clothing to wash in larger sizes while Miss Pear is sleeping and Baby might be sleeping.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and emails of encouragement and prayer. Even though I was not able to respond to all of them please know that they were of enormous comfort! Prayer is the very best gift, and truly our biggest need right now.

More Baby Pear stuff and other stuff too

So at 8AM Friday morning I was on the phone to make an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. I only have two things to say about that: first, how sad that there actually is such a thing; and second, how wonderful that they were able to get us in Monday at 9:45.

The rest of the day seem to be monopolized between brain freeze (are you kidding? do we really need to see one of those?) and trying to get all the stuff together that we need, such as a hard copy of the test results, a referral and a hard copy of the ultrasound. While the last one was the hardest to track down because I got caught in the hospital's telephone answering loop, our daughter's pediatrician was excellent in walking us through what we needed to do. In fact, her final words to me Thursday evening were to call her if we could not get in by Monday, if we had any trouble getting the paperwork, if we had any questions, and to just call and let her know when the appointment was so that she had peace of mind....and that she would be praying for us. We LOVE our pediatrician.

So we are now all set for Monday's appointment - at least paperworkwise. Our brains are catching up.

But how sad is it that Miss Pear can say both cardiologist and orthopedic specialist.

Today we are spending the day putting up the tree with a brief interlude to run to Joanne's and CVS for baskets on sale and diapers on sale. And then I am thinking buttermilk waffles for supper because maybe that will tempt Miss Pear's appetite (she has had a cold all week and is just off her game still).

Baby's Results

We got the results from Baby's hip ultrasound on Monday, and as suspected, she has hip dysplasia, and we are being referred to a specialist ASAP in the hopes that treatment can begin before everyone takes off for Christmas and the other holidays.

Christmas Shopping...

...is officially done!

Remember when I shared this list:

1. Get special cards and mail them ASAP - Ordered and mailed
   
2. Order stamps - Oops, still need to do this
   
3. Order picture Christmas cards, the picture was taken this morning (I have a 20% off coupon code for Kodak!) Ordered and awaiting arrival
   
4. Pick up a Christmas decoration for each of the girls' stockings (this is tradition, it is how our kids will have decorations for their own tree one year, each with a special story. The grandparents also send them, so each girl will get 3 a year). (Baby's special one with her name on it should be here any day now, but that one goes under the tree, she still gets a second one in her stocking) -Complete
   
5. Order one thing online for Mr. Pear - Complete
   
6. Mail some stuff. One more trip but the presents are wrapped, I just need to seal the boxes.
   

For me it is always easier when the shopping is all done, and everything that needs to be mailed is out the door.

Then I can focus on decorating, reading Christmas stories, baking, and wrapping presents for our girls! (Even though we don't go overboard at Christmas, wrapping still takes a while because I LOVE it! Why yes, I do make my own bows, why do you ask?)

Before the picture cards are delivered I do have to still write the Christmas letter. I have to confess that I have not started. I cannot figure out how much of the medical yuck to share with our family and friends. I don't want to dump on them, but also want to share what is going on in our lives. I guess I will figure it out. Any ideas for me?

Most years I buy special Christmas paper for the letter. This year I am planning on just stamping the letters with a nativity set I have. Nice and simple, but meaningful - plus I already have everything here!

No News Today

I had been holding out hope that we would hear Baby's results today, but when I called to follow up I found out that our doctor was out today (she takes Wednesdays in lieu of the time she works in Urgent Care if she is working there that week), but it would not have mattered if she was in because the results have not been sent over yet. Sigh.

The lady who I talked to was so sweet, she followed up by checking the latest faxes just to be sure, and said that if she did not have it by 4:30 she would call the hospital to send it over (again).

So hopefully it will be on our doctor's office first thing in the morning tomorrow.

The push for us is to get things rolling so that if we have to see a specialist that we can get the treatment started before the Christmas and other holidays start closing offices.

If we have to have treatments we would just as soon get them going ASAP so that we can be finished that much sooner!

Mental hiccup

It was a long morning, even breaking out the Christmas books did not help for some reason - probably because Miss Pear is exhausted and Baby is a bit out of sorts from yesterday.

So now with them both down I started reading stuff in the news and bloglines as a mental break, and wanted to share the good stuff with you. Keeping in mind the long morning I had, just humor me if it is not really that good or funny.

Did you ever wonder how much the 12 days of Christmas would cost? Apparently we all should have invested in that, it's value is up 10.9% year over year!

Life as Mom is contemplating a simpler Christmas.

Blogger is being mean and randomly posting this without me hitting post.

Donetta has a wonderful post for the Precious Promise this week, and another excellent one about prayer that I intend to go back and read again.

Jen wrote about Intentional Christmas Traditions, and while the accidental ones are fun, we long for the meaningful ones!

The DHM at the Common Room had an excellent post about the out of control materialism of Christmas. We will just ignore the fact that I had to go to Target to buy Miss Pear a Cabbage Patch Doll because they were on sale for $19, are the 25th anniversary edition, and that I was given one the very first year they were available.

This all distracted me from waiting for the phone to ring with Baby's results, for which I am thankful. I will distract myself further with cookies.....

Bloggy Goodness

There were a few great things I came across that I wanted to share - and this time I am determined to remember to tell you!

Advent coloring page! (HT to Alexandra)

I am ready to start my freezer cooking again, and came across this at the Common Room. An excellent read! And a tale of caution that has no need in my family I am thankful to say!

I loved this post about looking for Jesus at Christmas as hard as we look for a lost ring.

There are many more, but I hear a little one starting to wake up, and I figure actually posting 3 is better than none at all! (Little goals, more checked off the list!)

Baby's Ultrasound...

...went okay. She did great.

We will know more probably Wednesday or Thursday, and will let you know what we can.

Until then I will be praying like crazy. And while we do pray about this with Miss Pear at her level, in front of her (and Baby too) it will be a kind of stiff upper lip or laugh so you don't cry thing until we know more.

Kind of the mommy version of "la-la-la I can't hear you!"

Or to roughly quote Therese of Avila "I see you fear, but my eyes are on God."

Baby Pear's Ultrasound

If you think of it today, could you please pray for Baby Pear? She has her hip ultrasound to check for hip dysplaysia today at 3 PM California time. And it is pretty obvious there is something there all of a sudden. We are praying that ideally it would be something that could be stretched and exercised out, but most importantly for complete healing and correct treatment right away.

I realize that in the scheme of things this is not the biggest of deals, but at 11.5 weeks she has been through so much that the thought of this is heart breaking.

And if you could please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom and strength, that would help so much.

Thank you for the encouraging notes and for all the prayer, they mean very much to us, and we can say with all honesty that it is the Lord alone who is helping us right now because it has just been a bit too much.

Happy Thanksgiving

Yeah, I know it's not Thursday, but somehow I did not get near my computer on Thursday to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

Even though we are Canadian, we do celebrate both Thanksgivings. The Canadian Thanksgiving is to give thanks at the close of the harvest and God's provision - I like that. And to be honest, we celebrate American Thanksgiving with the same attitude.

We celebrated again this year with our neighbors. I made yam and carrot casserole (substituting a sweet potato for the russet), rolls (my favorite stand-by special recipe), Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake pie, and a pumpkin roll (HT to InAShoe).

It was a wonderful day. I had made the pie and the cake minus the filling on Tuesday, so that gave me some room to be relaxed and lazy on Thursday morning. Our neighbor made a delicious meal and we were all stuffed. Fortunately she made way too much food and we have to go over tonight to help eat the leftovers. Sometimes it is tough to be a good neighbor! :-)

We skipped Black Friday entirely except to run a bank errand and pick up something we already needed at CVS but while I got what I needed, all the great deals were already scooped up.

So with Thanksgiving weekend arriving, our Christmas shopping season comes to an end. To be honest, all I have left to do is:

1. Get special cards and mail them ASAP
2. Order stamps
3. Order picture Christmas cards, the picture was taken this morning (I have a 20% off coupon code for Kodak!)
4. Pick up a Christmas decoration for each of the girls' stockings (this is tradition, it is how our kids will have decorations for their own tree one year, each with a special story. The grandparents also send them, so each girl will get 3 a year). (Baby's special one with her name on it should be here any day now, but that one goes under the tree, she still gets a second one in her stocking)
   
5. Order one thing online for Mr. Pear
6. Mail some stuff.

In our house Canadian Thanksgiving officially launches Christmas shopping and prep season, American Thanksgiving ends it, and I love that, it makes our December so much more restful and focused on quietly preparing both our hearts and our home. It also helps that we have to get stuff in the mail early too! :-)

How was your Thanksgiving?

Baby Pear is keeping us busy...

Baby Pear is 11 weeks today. Baby’s 2 month check up was yesterday, which we are 2 weeks late for due to her being so sick, too sick to vaccinate at the actual 2 month mark.

The great news is that she has made a full recovery from the meningitis, can do all the developmental things and is growing wonderfully with her height being in the 95 percentile and her weight in the 90th, which is stunning considering how sick she was just a couple short weeks ago.

The bad news is that there is a clunk in the hip test, so we are scheduled for a hip ultrasound to check for hip displaysia Monday at 3, back at the hospital. Apparently it can show up later and not just at birth, which is why they keep testing for it.

It just feels like way too much. She is 11 weeks old and has had to have a heart echogram in the hospital when she was born, was very sick with a cold, was hospitalized with meningitis, and now this. With Miss Pear’s heart thing thrown in for good measure. It is just way too much.

I don’t know how parents can turn their backs on modern medicine for their kids. Everything we are facing can be fixed with modern medicine to give our girls a healthy life. I read about parents who have lost their children by refusing modern medicine and I just don’t understand, I know it is an issue of faith, but I just don't understand. We pray for our girls and their healing, but also use the resources He has given us in tandem with prayer. They are not in competition with each other.

And I most certainly don’t know how people face life without God. Without Him I think I would have curled up into a little ball long ago. Even though this is all very hard on a mommy's heart, I am confident in God.

And on this Thanksgiving Eve I am so thankful for our little family, that we belong to the Lord and that He will never lose us, misplace us, or forget about us, we are His. He is very faithful and will see us through.

$4 Games

The front of the Target flier in the weekend's papers advertised $4 games for the preschool age set. As I have one of those I figured it would be worth checking out, and was it ever a gold mine! They had the classics like Memory (assorted varieties) and Chutes and Ladders on, but also the newer ones like the Lady Bug game and the Cranium ones.

So if you have little guys on your shopping list, it is actually worth checking out, and it is not a Black Friday thing, so you could still go today or tomorrow!

Oh, and shhh, don't tell Miss Pear what she is getting for Christmas.....

Thankful

This Thanksgiving is especially sweet to us. We now understand how rich a blessing it truly is to have two healthy children in our family, to have a healthy, loving marriage, and to have a family who really does love each other.

I was looking at Baby Pear this weekend trying to figure out how she is already 10 and a half weeks old. Then I though about all she had been through already and wondered how she was so little. And snuggled her a little closer.

I looked at Miss Pear and thought about what she has on the horizon, still not truly understanding how it is possible when she looks so healthy AND WILL NOT SLOW DOWN! And dropped an extra little kiss on her head as she zoomed by (her favorite game "zzzzzoooooooooommmmmmm" as she runs past).

I looked at my husband as he slept, after I returned from nursing baby last night, and realized how blessed I was.

The Lord has blessed us richly, and my heart over flows with thanks.

Mystery Meals

You may recall that whenever I talk about freezer meals I mention the importance of labeling your meals!

At the minimum be sure to include what it is and when you made it.

Ideally also include cooking instructions.

If you neglect these finer points of freezer cooking you will find yourself where I am, with mystery meals in the freezer.

Sigh.

So today I am freezing the mystery red meal. I am thinking that it is actually either pizza sauce for mini pizza buns or a spaghetti sauce. I am really not sure.

So, when you practice freezer cooking, please remember to label everything, and if you could label mine too that would be great....

Umm....maybe not

I had to laugh this morning when I read Donetta's Note to Self while I was waiting to see if Baby was going to go straight down for her nap or need a bit of help.

In all honesty, my note to self would read as follows.

Dear Brain,

The rest of the body would like to remind you of two things:
1. You are not super woman despite the faulty reasoning that refuses to be removed from the thought process.
2. You have a 3 year old and a 10 week old in the house, and no help during the day.

Therefore the very idea of getting caught up this week was a high, lofty, and unattainable goal. We know you like to set high standards for yourself, and understand that motivates you, but it exhausts the rest of us.

Therefore, while the girls nap today, can we nap too?

Thanks,
The rest of your body.


As a result, I am going to give my granola one more stir, and then nap....

Traditions

It seems like this time of year we all start to focus on traditions. What our families do for each of the special holidays that come up. And it seems like the stranger the tradition the better - like how the girls in our family always wear sandals to Christmas Eve service for no other reason that we now live in Southern California and we can!

But sometimes it is the more year round traditions that cause the most laughter.

Growing up in Canada meant that both my husband and I grew up playing neighborhood hockey (both on ice and on the road) and loving it, all but living the season right long with our favorite teams, and being heart broken when they would get knocked out of the playoffs, assuming they made it! So we do try to share these things with our girls. I think hockey was one of the first things Miss Pear was actually aloud to watch on TV - after all, the Canadian Women won the gold medal last Olympics!

So this weekend there was a game on TV (rare in Southern CA), so we decided to watch it as a family fun thing. After all, we have to pass down the tradition of loving hockey! And as always it is the funniest things that children catch on to and that fascinates them. This time Miss Pear was fascinated with the concept of penalties and the penalty box. I think she was amazed that these big hockey players could be put on the big trouble chair just like her.....

The Best of Intentions

Remember how I said that this was the week I was going to catch up??? Well, I am working on it, but it is slow going.

The Santa Ana winds blowing over the weekend brought in such low humidity that it is messing with all of our sinuses, so that is slowing us down, and Baby Pear is not sure about this either! You know it is dry when the weather announcer is thrilled to announce that humidity is back into the double digits - 11%

I have managed to finish the thank you notes for the meals we received after Baby was in the hospital, to instill order in the kitchen, to bake cookies, to make a grocery plan and go shopping tonight, and to do tons of laundry. Oh, and yesterday I baked a 21 lb turkey for meat all this week.

But you know how when you have the best plans stuff always happens to change that plan?

Well, Baby has decided not to nap much while Miss Pear is napping, which is fine, but she did it back to back days, and that has not happened yet as far as I can remember...

Miss Pear needed some reminding about listening and not arguing about stuff on Monday, and for some reason this kind of stuff always seems to be harder on mommy that on children.

And those two things are not things going wrong, they are parenting things which are always more important than my plan.

However, this morning, my plan was to drink coffee while I clipped my coupons and organized stuff for my shopping this evening. Things were going great. I was almost done. And then I sent my FULL cup of coffee flying.

Did I mention that we have carpet under our table?

Yup, my plan was toast.

But Miss Pear had a great time retelling the story.....

And she assured me, "That's okay, Mommy, accidents happen."

I love being a mom!

How great the privilege

I was thinking today about the privilege we have in raising the next generation, that God entrusts us with His children! It was awe inspiring, and very daunting.

So I started thinking what I had done yesterday being a wise caretaker of this gift:

1. Continued to work hard on obedience, even when I just really wanted to give in. And made sure to tell Miss Pear how much I love her and give her lots of hugs and kisses at bed time.
2. Had family devotions (okay, so Baby was sleeping, and we are not exactly on track with this since her arrival, but we are trying).
3. Continued to work on a sweet little song I am teaching Miss Pear, I am not sure of the real name of it, but it begins, "Two little eyes to look to God," and I sang it when I was little
   
4. Cared for and loved them.

Sometimes I thing about raising kids with a kingdom focus and I get so overwhelmed! I think of all the things I could be doing that I hear other families are doing. But then I remember that God made my family the way it is and put us in this season. As long as I am doing #4 for His glory I am on the right track. It is all about what God is leading our family to do, not the one next door!

Right now we are kind of in a strange season in our life. With the medical stuff that is now not an every day thing (Baby Pear is fully recovered, and Miss Pear is in the waiting and praying stage), it is adapting to life with a new sweet little one. I just remind myself that I will not get this day again, that I will not have my girls this age again.

So while I do my best to catch up, and keep the house neat and tidy, I remind myself what God has shown me.

If my well loved family is fed and has clean clothing to wear, I have met the minimum requirement, all else is basically a bonus.

Not to say I do not want to get caught up, and the sooner the better, but this is my perspective check.

(And in the mean time my computer time comes in snippets as I use time when they are napping and rely heavily on autopost! Although sometimes I sneak an extra minute like right now when I am waiting on baby to go down for her nap and know she will need me one or two more times, and would prefer not to dash up and down the stairs!)

Catch Up Week

I am determined to make head way in catching up this week.

It was wonderful to have the grandmas down to help, but as all women know, it is never the same if you don't do it your self. After their visits I always find I need to hunt for things in the kitchen as it is never where I would expect it to be. So we need to catch up from that. Plus the general stuff that comes with a new little sweetie being added to our family, plus the added stuff of that little sweetie being sick and in the hospital.

The last three weeks knocked us flat, and now it is time to catch up.

Along with my normal cleaning routine, which I hope to get through all of this week, I am hoping to:

1. Finish all thank you notes
2. Box up clothes the girls have outgrown
3. Sort through the hand me downs we have been given for Miss Pear and put the appropriate ones in her drawers or in a box to pass on (leave rest for her to grow into).
4. Bake a 21 lb turkey Monday for meat during the week (follow up suppers will be wraps, white chili, and bbq turkey buns with the remaining meat being either frozen for enchiladas or made into enchiladas)
5. Update the household binder with a new weekly plan
6. Begin thinking about a new daily plan that is more than just take it as it comes and hope for the best!
7. Make scones for the freezer
8. Make muffins for the freezer (2 new recipes to try)
9. Compile some new breakfast ideas
10. Tidy and declutter! (This could be a week long project in itself! This one always gets out of control with company).
    

Yeah, I am not sure I will get through the list too, but I have to start somewhere!

And the big item on my list that is not something I can check off is to continue to work very hard to find a time when I can have my quiet time with God.

Of course, this is all Lord willing! Miss Pear seems a bit off her game on the weekend, so I am praying that she is just feeling a bit low from the Santa Ana winds that were blowing and nothing more serious.

What are your plans for the week?

Miss Pear and the Cardiologist

I was waiting to write this after our company left. I had started it and looked at it many times, but was never comfortable enough about it to hit the publish button. I realize now that it is not the post that has me uncomfortable so much as the harsh reality of it. So now that Baby is doing better, it feels like time to share this too.

Exactly one week before Baby Pear was admitted to the hospital Miss Pear had her annual check up at the pediatric cardiologist for her heart murmur. We were not concerned when we went in, we knew it was a preventative thing to monitor her as she grows. And she was saying cardiologist as only a 3 year old can...it was so funny.

The appointment basically went as expected, except for the last part.

Miss Pear has a small membrane in her heart. It is something that is not there at birth, but develops and seems to accompany her kind of heart murmur.

This year it was causing things to be louder. So that means that at some point in her life, preferably before she is 6 she will need to have heart surgery to remove it.

The surgery will be to ensure she remains healthy and to protect the valve. But it will be open heart surgery.

It is very weird. Outwardly she is the picture of health. I guess inwardly too. But if we do nothing, she could need valve replacement by the time she is 20. The surgery will be preventative, which seems so strange.

We are not to do anything for a year. We go back to see our cardiologist in a year, and he will evaluate her again, and likely refer us to the surgeon then. We asked if it was safe to wait a year, and he assured us that it was, we just needed to start thinking and talking about it now.

Of course it was a week later that we ended up in the ER with Baby Pear, so the combination pretty much threw us, but God is faithful, and He is going to see us through this and all of life's trials.

It is two weeks since we landed in the hospital, three since we heard the words open heart surgery. It all still seems so overwhelming, but somehow it feels like God is strengthening us to help us get back on track and do what our family needs, to keep things running, and to re-establish normal.

To be honest, we are not really sure how to pray. Mostly I pray for God to protect her, and that she will have a long and healthy life. I pray that she will be mostly oblivious to what is going on until we absolutely have to tell her, and that she will quickly recover. And I pray for miracle healing, that as medically unlikely as it is, that the membrane will be gone or at least markedly smaller next year.

Pleasant Surprise

So we needed to do a milk run - for some reason this time while I am nursing I am drinking milk like crazy! And we had a Costco list, so we combined them.

It is a cool evening, and so without even thinking I just grabbed my jeans to change into. I have not worn my jeans since last winter! And I was thrilled to find out that they fit great! Baby is 9 weeks old!

Had I not been distracted I probably would have bypassed my jeans in favor of something more forgiving, but sometimes distractions are a good thing!

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I cannot remember where I got this recipe from, all I know is that it was my go to recipe for years, until we could not have nuts in the house. Now that tree nuts are once again aloud, my trusty recipe is back!

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add milk and vanilla, blend until creamy.

Beat in egg.

Combine dry ingredients and add gradually.

Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes

Million Dollar Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is one of the recipes Miss Pear and I made on Sunday. While I got the recipe from a friend, the original comes from
(sorry, I cannot get just the text only to load).

It was a delicious recipe that is supposed to make 10 dozen cookies, and I think I actually came pretty close to that. While the cookies are a fair bit of work, they are worth it! Here is the recipe!

Million Dollar Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 10 doz.

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
4 cups flour
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure then blend to powder)
24 oz. chocolate chips
1 8-oz. chocolate bar, grated (I just used bakers semi sweet chocolate as it was all I had)
3 cups chopped walnuts (optional, and I skipped this one)

Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together and then stir in salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour; add blended oats. Mix in chips, grated chocolate bar and nuts. Roll into balls (I use a medium cookie scoop) and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 375 F.

Freezer Blessings

Throughout our pregnancy and recover and adjustment the freezer has been our friend with well packed goodness to thaw and bake or thaw and eat.

Never was I so grateful though as the weekend Baby was in the hospital. We did not know that all my meals would be provided, so Mr Pear raided our freezer packing me a snack bag of muffins and granola bars. Even though I did not need them for breakfast and lunch, they were fabulous midnight snacks!

This week I need to begin replenishing the freezer baking. We are low on cookies, muffins/loaves/granola bars (for breakfasts), and hamburger buns.

We were not able to go to Church on Sunday, Baby was still needing the quiet, so after nap time Miss Pear and I played in the kitchen, something that has been much harder to do since Baby arrived.

We made two batches of cookies, one was just a large recipe that completely filled the BOSCH, and one I doubled. I will include the recipes later this week.

What I have discovered lately is that freezing the cookie dough is working much better than baking all the cookies and then freezing them. I find that once frozen the cookies bake up better, they always taste fresh (some cookies get that freezer taste very fast), and they store better.

To store the cookies I first line a sheet pan with waxed paper (parchment would work too) then use a scoop to make rounds of dough. If the batch does not all fit on one pan I will often just layer them by using another sheet of waxed paper. Then I freeze the dough. Once frozen enough to easily work with I first freeze one freezer bag of 24 dough balls - 2 cookie sheets worth - 1 cookie jar full. I then use the Food Saver to freeze the rest so that the dough will last longer.

In the freezer I stack the Food Saver cookie dough on the bottom of the pile making sure the newest is on the bottom. On top of that I stack the bags, again making sure the newest is on the bottom.

The reason I do this is that the Food Saver bags are more expensive, so if I am going to bake them in the next month or so there is no reason to use them, a freezer bag will do great!

Sunday we baked to trays of cookies, froze 2 bags of cookies and 2 Food Saver packages! Very successful afternoon, and lots of fun!

Click over to Tammy's for more Kitchen Tips!

Click over to Mrs. Dryer's for WFMW!

My Freezer My Friend

Our upright freezer was completely out of control. I had lost track of it while pregnant, and then my MIL riffled through it to find stuff and left it in a way that I could not find things I knew were in there. So desperate measures were called for.

I set up a card table beside the freezer and started sorting.

The top shelf is now for baking only. This naturally includes baked items and items that are ready to be pulled from the freezer and baked - such as cookies. And ice cream on the right so it does not get too hard.

The next shelf down is for prepared meals. Both left overs and freezer meals.

The next shelf down is for meat on the left and extra meal space on the right or miscellaneous.

The bottom shelf is for cheese on the left and all other things on the right.

The door is for veggies, butter, and other baking supplies.

Now all I have to do is make a chart for the front of the freezer so that anyone messing in there knows where stuff goes rather than just shoving it wherever it fits, which happens more than I care to admit.

I love using my freezer to help me care for my family, but it only works if I can find stuff. Unfortunately, like many women, I had completely lost track of what was where! But just like the rest of the house, a little organization goes a long way in the freezer.

Now I feel ready to tackle freezer cooking again!

Click over to Tammy's for more Kitchen Tips!

Click over to Mrs. Dryer's for WFMW!

Baby Pear Update

It has been one wild week considering that a week ago we were in the hospital!

Baby Pear had her follow up appointment with her pediatrician on Wednesday, and she was very pleased with Baby’s progress. From last Thursday to Wednesday morning she did lose 6 - 7 oz, but considering how sick she was we are thankful it was not more (and I am confident that by now she is at least at a plateau if not gaining again as we are back on track with nursing). We talked about Baby’s improving and only slight/occasional sensitivity to light (only direct sunlight and florescent light are issues now), and that was to be expected. We also talked about her continued sensitivity to sounds, and the doctor was actually pleased to hear that, it means that her hearing was not impacted in any way (we did not know that hearing loss is often an unfortunate side effect) so we are very thankful.

While Baby is still uncomfortable and therefore a bit fussy (I say a bit because each day gets better, and today was light years better than say Saturday and even Wednesday), her napping is almost back to normal!

Although I have to confess, we miss the panda bear wall hangings at the hospital. I would take Baby for laps around the ward, and we would always stop to look at the pandas, and they would always make her happy. She would smile and coo at them. In fact, if I tried to moved on before she was ready she would fuss. So far nothing at home has caught her interest like those pandas. It is funny the things that help and make little ones so happy.

Today is the first day I can honestly say that I can see "normal" creeping back into our day, and for that I am very thankful!

Thank you for all the prayers and encouraging emails, they mean so much!

Baby Pear vs. the Hospital

and Baby Pear is victorious!

On Thursday evening we took Baby Pear to Urgent care as she had a fever. We were quickly referred to the ER across the way so that tests could be done with the results back ASAP. The end result is that we were admitted to the Children's Hospital while Baby was treated for meningitis.

There is lots of news about that and miraculous answers to prayers that even left the doctors confused and surprised.

But the end result was that we were released this morning with a diagnosis of viral meningitis. So while we are home, Baby has a couple rough days ahead of her, so I will not be here unless an update is required.

But she will make a full recovery, and is recovering so fast it is startling for even the medical pros who took such good care of her and lavished love on her, and for that we are incredibly thankful.

Change of plans...

...be back next week....

Reformation Sunday Baptism

Baby Pear was baptized yesterday, and we had no idea it was Reformation Sunday until the pastor announced it!

At six and a half weeks Baby Pear was baptized. We chose this particular Sunday because it was the one Sunday her grandma would be visiting us from over 2000 miles away. It was a beautiful service, and we were joined by our sweet neighbors and Baby Pear's godmother who is also a dear friend and the mom of Miss Pear's best friend!

Baby was baptized in a traditional christening gown made from Mr. Pear's mom's wedding dress.

While this might seem a bit over the top, christening gowns are tradition in both our families.

Miss Pear was baptized in the christening gown that I was baptized in. It was made by my grandma, and the reason that mine was new was that my mom was not the first born, so the family dress was not handed down to her. As an only child, my dress automatically got handed down to me. After Miss Pear's baptism the gown was preserved and placed in her hope chest.

Baby Pear could have been baptized in the same dress, or we could have borrowed Mr. Pear's family one (being a younger son, the gown was not handed down to him either). But this seemed kind of disappointing to me. And so we began casting around for ideas until my MIL volunteered to make it. We were thrilled. Baby's dress will be preserved and be the start of her hope chest as well.

So both girls had special dresses.

Baptism is so much more than tradition, it is the dedication of our child to God, the claiming of His promises for her, and the promise to do all possible under the power of the Holy Spirit to raise our her for Him. Our church family makes promises to help us. Our girls will need to one day make a decision for themselves. But on Sunday we gave our youngest to the Lord and she was welcomed into her church family.

So while both girls were baptized at six and a half weeks (I was baptized at 2 weeks, my husband around 8 weeks), and in family gowns, the tradition is nice, but not the most important.

We have prayed that true revival will start in our families with our little nuclear family. That the grandparents and aunts and uncles will move from tradition to real relationships, and that there will be godly generations to follow, with no one left out. So the fact that Sunday was Reformation Sunday seemed very special to us because we have essentially been praying for reformation in our families.

Bit Busy

So my mom arrived, Baby Pear is being baptized on Sunday with two families joining us, one is traveling to be here, and we are hosting lunch afterwards which will be snug but fun.

All children are doing well and Miss Pear is running grandma all over the place.

And grandparents are a lot more permissive than they were as parents.

If I would have asked to hang from the chandelier I would have been lectured about the dangers. Miss Pear is all but given a boost.

So I will be back next week with lots of news and stuff.

See you then.

Fixing Items with Battery Leaks

Sometimes, I regret to say, I just don't think things through...like when we put Miss Pear's baby gear away.

We had been given a bouncy seat, and it was great! So I stored it for the next time around.

Baby Pear arrives, and the nice clean bouncy seat is waiting for her. Except when we turn it on there is no vibration!

Close inspection reveals that the battery has leaked!

Who was it who was so silly as to store something with the battery in it? Oh yeah, it was me.

Fortunately, when these things happen you can fix them!

You simply take a bit of sand paper and sand off the battery corrosion carefully, and do not sand too much.

We did this and our bouncy seat is once again working beautifully!

As far as I know, this should work on any item that has suffered this kind of damage.

Total savings - according to Babies R Us - is probably about $50 because we did not have to buy a new one! (And with Baby Pear, it is indispensable!)

For great money saving tips head over to Crystal's Frugal Friday!

Winter Garden Update

Well, what do you know, it worked!

Forgive me if I sound a bit surprised, but the directions for planting garlic were to go to the grocery store, buy a bulb, break it into cloves, and plant said cloves bottom down, top up. That was all. No information on if I should use all the cloves or just compost the little ones in the middle. No information about how long it would take or what else I could expect.

So I am happy to report that after about 2 weeks almost all my garlic is up, and the cilantro is starting to sprout too.

I think I like this gardening business!

Fortunately these new little crops were protected from last week's strong Santa Ana winds that whipped through the area and blew down our tomatoes and broke our fence gate (which was repaired this weekend).

Nurse Mommy

So now Baby Pear is sick. At 5 weeks old she has her first cold. Is it just me or does that seem cruel? It is bad enough that we had her at the doctor this morning. It is just a bad cold, nothing bacterial in it, praise the Lord! But it is going to be a long couple days because Miss Pear is still sick. And Mr. Pear has had to work late every day since he returned from vacation.

So I will be missing for a couple days while I nurse my family.

See you next week.

Napping

I just had to tell you that both girls are napping - at the same time. I kid you not! Praise the Lord!

Unfortunately Miss Pear appears to be sick with a really bad cold. I say appears because I am not sure if it is that or the really bad Santa Ana conditions hitting Southern California which can cause the same thing in our family.

Fortunately we seem to have figured out Baby Pear's problem sleeping or at least staying asleep. We put two thick books under her mattress side by side so she is at a slight incline to help with the reflux which brings on strong hiccups. Plus we found some bigger receiving blankets so we can swaddle her in a way that she cannot immediately get her hands free as when she does she waves them around and that wakes her up. So far, so good.

Unfortunately in the high winds a car drove off the road on the highway across the ravine from us. Fortunately the fire stations near us have been practicing on our street for ravine rescues all summer. Unfortunately because it happened on the highway it is the CHP's jurisdiction and not their's, but at least they were ready. That is the kind of excitement we can always do without....

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

Corn Bread

Growing up in Central Canada meant that cornbread was pretty much unknown to us, until we moved down here. Then we saw it everywhere. Some of the first cornbread we had was dry and flavorless, leaving us saying that we were not fans.

But then we had good cornbread, paired with chili, and we changed our minds, we liked it!

The only problem is that we cannot find a recipe for moist, flavorful cornbread. And everyone I ask for a recipe who has one like that says it is a mix!

There must surely be a recipe out there that fits that description that does not involve a mix!

Do you know of one that you could share with me???

Trusting and Focusing on God

Recently I have been praying about finances a lot. Unlike many people, what motivated me was not necessarily the last year in the stock market, but rather that we were expecting Baby Pear. Being pregnant has always made me feel vulnerable, and always brings one of my very biggest fears to the top: the fear that I will have to return to work and trust our children to day care and public schools. This is an unreasonable fear as the Lord has impressed upon us very firmly that He does want me home raising our children. But part of me is still afraid. Kind of a case of I believe but help my unbelief.

In light of some of the headlines I wanted to share some verses with you that have been helpful to me, that have encouraged me.

Psalm 50:10-12, 15
For every beast of the forest is mine.
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mind, and all its fullness...
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

Philippians 3:8-10
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death.

And then two verses that are essentially life time verses for our marriage.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil to give you a future and a hope.

Isaiah 59:11
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.


What the Lord has been teaching me is to trust Him, to look to Him and not stare at my problems. But rather to lift my problems up to Him and really trust Him. He is trustworthy and loves me. I am to let Him be the one in the driver's seat. This is another exercise in working on my type A personality and remembering that I am not in control He is, and that even though He has made me a very capable woman who can take charge and get things done, that only works when I am trusting on and leaning on Him.

So whenever I start to dwell on what we can and cannot do, on what the issues are, I need to shift my focus, and remember that the Lord knew full well what He was doing when He moved us here and put us in this precise home. (Believe me, God picked our house). It is His job to work, and my job to trust and obey. (One of my favorite hymns)

What verses of the Lord's provision are helpful to you?

Still not getting things done

So the list of things not getting done remains long, but mostly inconsequential.

I know that I have still not found a picture of Baby Pear that I am comfortable posting, so I may just pass on that. I still have not returned to the Hope Chest series. I still have not posted about the diaper fiasco this weekend (you will laugh), and a ton of other stuff.

In real life my MIL is taking care of the house, and we got to Costco last night to do the shopping. I have to finish the birth announcements, make 2 batches of granola bars, and a batch of granola, work on Baby Pear's afghan, and work on her baby book.

But really, this is all taking back stage to getting Baby Pear to nap. We seem to suddenly have had trouble Monday and Tuesday, and are not sure why.

So I will just continue to do what I have been doing - taking care of THE most important things - my family, and working the rest in later! So if I continue to be somewhat absent, bear with me. And if I continue to not respond to lots of comments (I use email) be assured that I have been blessed by all the comments, and have read them!

Life will settle down eventually again in a new way, but my girls will only be this age once, and I don't want to miss it.

Plus we have help until Saturday, and I don't want to miss any sleep chances either! :-)

Unusual Provision

Like may Christians I am well aware that the Lord is my Provider, but often in the course of everyday life I forget. The attribute of Provider is not one you can just search for the word in a concordance, rather you need book like Nave's Topical Bible to look it up, to see instances of God's miraculous provision.

A great chapter for this is 1 Kings 17 where the Lord uses Elijah to proclaim a drought.

In the first part of the chapter we see the Lord miraculously providing for Elijah. He provides daily and sovereignly.

In the next part we see the story of the widow's oil, where her flour and oil lasted miraculously as she shared what she had.

The chapter ends with Elijah reviving her son, this once again providing her with a son.

So often when we (okay, I mean me) think of God's provision we think about the big things, the monumental things, we don't think about the each and every day. We forget about the little things.

Like the shampoo bottle that was almost empty and I had forgotten to buy, I prayed for it to last until I could get a new one. That was in July, I actually made an emergency run to the store. The bottle was immediately put upside down to get everything out, and each time I would wash my hair the amount I would need would come out followed by air, I was sure it was empty, but each shower this repeated, for over two months. I finally threw out the bottle last night.

Like the lunch meat I got on sale for about $0.50 a package that has been lunches when I had no energy and when I needed to stretch our budget.

Like a grandma ordering a much needed dress for a Christmas present.

Like the gift card that just perfectly covered the cost of a new diaper pail when our old one quite working.

Like the provision of meals through friends when we were just too tired.

Like the great diaper sales when I needed to think about stocking up for Baby Pear's arrival but had to make it fit in the budget I had. We ended up with more than enough plus tons of wipes!

I am finding that the Lord's provision is still miraculous, but if we just watch for the big things that He does (and He definitely still does big things), we miss the small everyday things that teach us to trust and strengthen our faith.

Free Shipping at Land's End

Thank you for everyone who gave me such great ideas on Modest Girls Dresses. I am checking them all out.

Miss Pear's grandma just ordered one from Land's End for a Christmas gift, with free shipping.

If you are needing something from Land's End they have free shipping this week with:

Promotion Code: Frost
PIN: 00006126

Winter Garden

A couple years ago I was blessed to receive a gardening book specific to Southern California and arranged in monthly chapters so that you know what to do each month without flipping all over the place and making your own list - it even has a check list at the back! I love it! Although at our old home we had very little and I had basically memorized what to do when. So the book got forgotten, unfortunately.

However, this weekend it was pulled back out as I started asking if I could plant a winter garden in this region. Not that I have the time or energy to do so, I was more curious.

It turns out that we can plant a whole host of things including: broccoli, cabbage, cilantro, garlic, carrots, potatoes, and that our tomatoes will go for a while longer!

I was thrilled - so I planted garlic and cilantro and called it done for this year!

I will let you know how it goes!

Can you plant a winter garden where you are? Where are you and what do you plant?

Just Wondering...

Sometimes I just wonder about stuff, and with my business back ground the news lately has me wondering a lot of stuff.

Chiefly, I am wondering if I am the only one who read the summary about the CEO pay of companies that have gone under in this fiasco and was rather shocked, after all, regular workers would have been fired without benefits for far smaller infractions than this.

Is it just me or does this sound like being rewarded for financially murdering your own company?

(And that is likely the last you will hear from me on the topic, after all, that is not the focus around here, but like I said, I was just wondering...)

Managing Busy Seasons

Did you see this article over at Girltalk?

It definitely encouraged me!

Although I do still have help until the 11th, we are coming off a couple long days and nights where coherent anything is kind of missing. But the short article definitely gives perspective!

As for time with God - aren't night time nursings MADE for prayer? That is how I pass them so that I am not chatting to Baby Pear the whole time! (We keep night time nursings as quiet, and dark as possible, and start it right away so that Mommy does not develop bad habits!)

How do you (did you) fit in prayer and Bible reading with babies?

Praying for Noah

For those of you who have been here for a while, you are probably familiar with the little button on my sidebar about praying for Noah.

I would encourage you to click on it today as Noah is very sick and in the hospital again.

Modest Girl's Dresses?

I have been looking for some new dresses for Miss Pear - size 4 or 4T kind of depending on the cut. I cannot find pretty dresses that are modest that are not outrageously priced! (Last modest pretty one I saw was about a$80! I think not!) They are all cut well above the knee and/or are so ugly that I could not possibly put that on my girl!

There are no reasonable thrift shops or consignment shops around here to help out, and dress hand me downs seem to be very scarce, plus Miss Pear is very tall.

And yes, I had hoped to sew some dresses so that I could add a longer skirt, but with being so sick during my pregnancy that did not happen, so now I am a bit behind...in everything.

Where do you find pretty, modest, inexpensive girl's dresses? Both for church and everyday.

Any help would be very appreciated!

2 Week Check Up

Wednesday was Baby Pear's two week check up.

She weighed 8 lb 10 oz. Up a pound from her birth weight (which is kind of funny because they give babies 2 weeks to gain back their birth weight, she had done it in a week), and up 1 lb 1 oz from last Tuesday. (Her lowest weight was the Friday night in the hospital when she weighed 7 lb 1 oz).

She measured 21 inches, up one inch from last Tuesday, and an inch and a half from when she was born.

So she is doing great, and we are thrilled.

She continues to pick her head up and toss it back which is kind of anxiety inducing when you are holding her on your shoulder - her favorite position. And she can hold her head up for a surprising amount of time! She remains an active baby and both Mr. Pear and his mom have asked if she was really this active in me, when I say she is calmer now, they are very surprised.

The question in our mind is if she will follow her older sister and gain a pound a week for the month. (Her cousin was born at 10 lbs and gained a pound a week for the first 2 months - hence the blue ribbon pumpkin baby status!)

Either way, she is healthy and that is all that matters.

When Miss Pear was born we just took for granted that everything would be fine, and that we would have a healthy baby. After last year and our miscarriage we have no delusions about that any more, and are extremely grateful to have a healthy baby. Not that we were not grateful when Miss Pear was born, we just did not have a point of reference I guess. Now we just know to be thankful for the wonderful two blessings we have been trusted with!

Is it just me or just here?

About a year ago I quit buying pork chops. We liked them, but the price was getting higher, and the meat was getting progressively tougher. If I cooked it until the pink just left, we had shoe leather, if I stopped before that, my family would not eat it. Lately I found a great recipe for pork chops, and tried again. Same problem.

Is this just a problem out here in California, or is pork just getting leaner everywhere and therefore tougher.

I have to confess, with the price of meat being what it is, I think I am done with pork chops. Am I the only one?

Are pork roasts just as bad?

Taming the Stash

So we had our 2 week ob appointment this morning (which went well) and it used up all my energy, so I had lunch upstairs to save my trip back down stairs for supper. While eating my lunch today I was reading through Bloglines and I came across this post from Coupon Cravings about controlling your shopping when your stash is huge - and actually looking at it to see how big it is!

I think we do pretty well at controlling our stash. I follow a few simple rules.

1. All household items that are not the one in use go in the garage in the old bookcase. All like items are stacked together. (So all the laundry soap is together so I know that I have 3 or 4 bottles there!)
2. All like pantry items are stored together with assigned places in the kitchen, overflow of canned or bottled items in a smaller bookcase in the garage, cereal and the like on top of the cupboard so that mice don't invade our garage and help themselves.
   
3. All medicine and toiletry items are stored under the bathroom sink in our bathroom.
4. All baby extras, except for diapers and wipes are stored in the girls' bathroom.
5. All diapers are stored in the appropriate girl's closet, all wipes are stored in Baby Pear's closet except for a back up package in Miss Pear's (who only wears diapers at night).
6. Once we have more than a 6 month stash I only buy that item if it is free, a money maker, or I have to roll CVS Extrabucks this week and that item is on special.
7. Pass on what we accumulate too much of. We have friends who are youth pastors and friends who are older and taking care of their parents who need a little help, and they are always happy to take whatever we have extra of. So if my stash gets out of control I ALWAYS have a home for it...that is not mine!

While I am not in full deal mode shopping at the moment, we did decide to try and keep our CVS ECB's going as they are good for a month, and Mr. Pear is very adept at shopping there (plus gatorade for flu season, toilet paper and kleenex is all on special this week). But unless there is a fabulous deal, or the ECB's are going to expire this week (like some are), I have not been worrying about it too much. This is a season to make my stash work for me, and enjoy the benefits of that hard work of creating it, not a season to be trying to build it up. Although I must say, a well stocked pantry has been such a blessing to us!

Well stocked and managed pantry most certainly has worked for me! Check out the other WFMW tips at Shanon's!

How do you manage your stash and keep limits on yourself so that you are not overwhelmed?

Baby Pear's Arrival

Our birth stories are not the usual around here, they finish up in the OR with a C-section. So rather predictable, and this time I did not even go into labor! Although I thought going into labor on Labor day would have been good!

However, I did want to share the events with you as prayer made such a HUGE difference in everything and God was so good to us! And I wanted to thank you because so many of you were praying for us, and I have to tell you, that carried us through.

The night before our C-section we got Miss Pear to bed, and began reviewing what still needed to be packed and done - unfortunately not enough to distract me. So I had my little cry and talk with God and while I was not excited about surgery, I was resigned to it. Little did I know that the Lord was really firming my heart and mind for what lay ahead - a kind of get it out of your system now kind of deal. He knows I always need that! Mr. Pear was very sympathetic and understanding about it too. He prayed for me and with me, and did everything possible to reassure me.

On Wednesday the 10th our little secondary alarm clock, also known as Miss Pear woke us up. We all got cleaned up and had a very early breakfast as I was not allowed to eat or drink anything but very small sips of water to keep nausea and dizziness at bay. (Even that was kind of a secret between me and my doctor, and was truly kept to a minimum and just in the morning - surgery was scheduled for 4, but we were over half an hour getting started late due to standard hospital delays). So after breakfast we slowly got ready, moving towards the afternoon's adventure, but really focusing on Miss Pear, playing with her, reassuring her, and just focusing on giving her our undivided attention. Then, like all Moms, I quickly rechecked to make sure she had everything she needed, and realized that the night time diapers (only ones we still use for her, Praise the Lord!) were lower than we would like, so if she refused to wear big girl unders while we were gone it would not be enough. So we went to Target, because they were on sale there...isn't that what all moms giving birth in the afternoon do in the morning??? And wouldn't you know it, a puzzle for Miss Pear somehow ended up in our cart too. After lunch and extra snuggles Miss Pear was put down for her nap, and the final steps began in earnest. Shortly after 1 we left for the hospital.

Once checked in and in a prep room, we had time to kill. And it was hard. So we did what all couples do in that situation, we found a good mystery on TV to watch...yeah, I guess we are weird. But we had talked over everything, and prayed lots, and now it was just time to wait. I stink at waiting! He told me jokes and held my hand, and just did everything to act like we had just found a few minutes to be together with no interruptions rather than waiting for surgery. By the Lord's provision, it actually worked!

My happy calm remained firmly in place with only having to remind myself a couple times that at the end of the day I would be holding our baby. That is, until the nurse came in to put my IV in. You see, I am a hard stick at the best of times. Some of the most experienced lab techs and nurses have confirmed this. If I am having blood taken I drink large glasses of water to help. Remember the no eating or drinking part? I explained the situation to the nurse she was understanding, and assured me that if she was not completely confident she would not stick me. So she looked, and looked, and looked. And then went to get a smaller IV needle, and resumed looking. When she was finally ready, she went for it, and my whole body clenched in fear. Which was unnecessary because like she said, she was confident, and she got it first try. That has never in my life happened. Ever. It was one of the big things I prayed about because I hate needles and am petrified of them. The only thing that was not great was that it was in my wrist, but it was not my dominant hand, so that was okay.

The second thing I was petrified about was the spinal block - actually, the freezing for the spinal block. It was the worst part of Miss Pear's delivery, I described in as fire down my back. Yup, not looking forward to it. But the nurse and the anesthesiologist carefully explained everything to me very calmly and the nurse comforted me through the whole thing, and you know what? It still hurt, but not as bad this time. And with the block I did not even feel the promised pressure. I felt nothing more. Truly answered prayer once more.

I was much more alert this time for surgery, and more mentally and spiritually prepared for it. So I was able to anticipate more and pay attention to the kicks at the top of my tummy more, but felt nothing lower, not even the promised pressure. Surgery went beautifully, and when I heard Baby Pear cry, so did I - tears of joy and thanks. The Lord was so gracious to give us a healthy baby girl. And she had an immediate and lusty cry. She was the picture of health scoring 9 and 9 on her Apgar scores. When the surgery was over the doctor told me that everything went great. And without being asked said that if we had gone for the VBAC we would have ended up in the OR based on the head and shoulder size. The Lord knew I needed that reassurance that we had really heard Him correctly and had done the right thing.

It was so wonderful when we got to recovery and I was able to really hold our baby. Mr. Pear was the one to hand her to me. While she was 11 oz bigger than Miss Pear, she was an inch shorter, and I have to confess, I kind of forgot how small babies come. It was so sweet. And we were doing great. It was great to feel alert and coherent to really enjoy that first time together!

We did great until just after shift change, and then the nausea hit, badly. And after eating nothing for 11 hours, I was throwing up violently. It was awful. Fortunately I was able to hand Baby Pear to Mr Pear before anything started (God blessed me with an early warning system). They gave me the drug they give chemo patients and it did not work. Then, an hour later, they were able to give me another, and the mess ended, but I was exhausted. We would find out later that the Lord brought one of me to mind of one of my most praying friends right before this all started, and she prayed us through it, not knowing really what was going on. We are sure it made a difference. It took a week for my throat to fully recover, which also meant that I could not take all the calls I was not up to anyways. But this too turned out to be a blessing. By the time I was well enough to be moved to the maternity ward I was put in a corner room, so it was bigger and had a bigger shower with no lip to step over. This too turned out to be a huge blessing as it made showering so easy! Plus seeing we were there from Wednesday night to Sunday, and Mr. Pear stayed at the hospital with us, the extra room was nice too.

We quickly settled in and had a good night.

We began working on nursing, and even though we got off to the typical slow start, Baby Pear caught on quickly, another answer to prayer! One of the nurses was kind of surprised how I just kept hanging in there through long nursings, and I just said that I had never done this with her before and she has never done it at all, we just need to figure it out. Apparently the lack of frustration was rare. But we had God helping us, so it is no surprise.

Mr. Pear stayed at the hospital with me, coming home each day to pick up Miss Pear and bring her for a visit, and then taking her home and returning to the hospital. He is always so wonderful to me, and was a trooper through it all. And it was the first time Miss Pear and I had been separated overnight, so I really missed her!

Thursday night the allergic reaction I had after Miss Pear's c-section arrived again. This time we immediately recognized it for what it was and I was on proper medication within the hour. While it did get bad, the medication always stayed ahead of the discomfort and it never got as red, angry, or itchy - praise the Lord! I was miserable with it last time, and this time it was very manageable, plus we figured out what I was reacting to! Which is huge if I ever need surgery in the future.

Friday's drama was different. They heard a heart murmur in Baby Pear. And while we were not concerned because we are well read and educated on them based on our family history, when I shared that history the nurses all flipped out and a doctor from the Children's Hospital was called - they sent the head of thoracic surgery and cardiology (Children's Hospital is on the same campus, so the babies get excellent care as it is considered one of the top hospitals on this coast, another blessing). He did hear it, but felt it was just the regular newborn murmur. When it was still there Saturday morning an echo gram was ordered, and it was confirmed to be the innocent newborn murmur. Plus they checked for the murmur that Miss Pear has, and it was not there. But the results are being sent to Miss Pear's cardiologist to read as a formality, and when they heard that he was her cardiologist, they were all impressed. We were blessed by such great doctors all through this! Plus at the 1 week appointment the murmur could not be heard.

Saturday night I was the drama, and let's just say that there were, um, plumbing issues, which were resolved, but I was miserable for a couple hours until they were. Again, the nurse was so helpful and caring and gentle!

That was a big thing I had prayed for - nurses who we connected with, who understood us, and we could talk to frankly and honestly about what was going on, who were very caring, especially on the first night, and God answered that prayer in huge ways!

So while we had drama every day, it was always resolved well, and in a way that showed us clearly how the Lord was caring for us.

Sunday morning we were released to come home, and it was wonderful. I had missed my Miss Pear so much. And it is always better to be home.

The one big thing we had prayed about is Miss Pear's adjustment to being big sister. And while she is still not sure about holding Baby Pear (with help, she kind of just rests in her lap while Daddy does the holding), she loves to look at her and touch her gently. She loves to watch and help with everything. She is especially excited about the prospect of helping bath baby when we use the little tub in the kitchen. We had prayed abut this transition lots, and we are seeing answered prayer that is overwhelming. Miss Pear says that she "loves my baby the best", which is the ultimate expression of love from her.

In the time that we have been home, we have just focused on taking care of the girls, resting, and recovering. And that is just our speed.

Hopefully you will start seeing blog posts about other things than babies later this week, but you pretty much know that our blog will be filled with stuff about family and the girls!

Looking Better!

Hi Everyone, Just a very short post to let you know that Baby Pear is looking a whole lot less yellow today. The whites of her eyes look white, and the yellow ends about mid-chest (jaundice starts from the top down and clears from the toes up). When she wakes up we are going to work on our tans in the indirect sunlight. At least that is what we call our sunshine time, it sounds like so much more fun. We were able to get a great picture to use for the birth announcements this morning too!

Oh, and apparently we are going to have to move. Well, no not really, but that is the current half joke around here. Mr. Pear found a rattle snake in our backyard yesterday. Fortunately he did not have a little helper out there, he reacted very swiftly, and the snake was cold. Animal control arrived within the hour to take the offender away, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Did I mention that I am scared absolutely spitless of snakes? It is my biggest phobia. On the plus side the Animal Control Officer was very impressed with the markings on the critter he picked up, so at least someone was happy. Miss Pear came up and told me that there was a snake in the back yard but that was okay because we were inside and the "snake guy was going to come and snake the snake away."

Mommy Cream

It has long been said in our household that it is not the first night that gets you, it is the second! And such was the case, but we had a great night last night.

Baby Pear had her one week doctor's visit yesterday (a day early), and is already within an ounce of her birth weight. The doctor was very surprise considering that she dropped down to 7lb 1 oz Friday night, so to get up to 7lb 9 oz in 3 and a half days was impressive.

This accomplishment caused Mr. Pear to pull out his old joke of me not making mommy milk, I make mommy cream. I do remember Miss Pear gaining a pound a week for over a month once she started gaining.

The other good news is that Baby Pear was given the one month development assessment and can do it all...at 6 days.

The one thing that was not so great is she is very jaundiced. Not enough to need the light treatment yet, but enough to cause concern and have us put on an sunshine cycle here. Fortunately we live in California and sunshine is abundant. We are praying that the billy will clear from her system on its own. (But thankfully if light therapy is required, they will bring the stuff to the house.)

Miss Pear is still completely enchanted with Baby Pear, and calls her, "My Baby."

Also, it is because of Miss Pear that we are going with Baby Pear on the blog, at least for now. She has been calling the baby "Baby" for as long as we have understood that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy. When we found out it was definitely a girl, the name was simply added to baby. So there we go.

I will write more about last week and all the excitement. I am also trying to find a picture to post of Baby Pear for just a couple days. So many of you prayed for us so diligently, and it made such a huge difference in everything that I want you to see our sweet girl, but also want to balance that out with our privacy and safety (I know that my readers are wonderful, but we are very protective of our girls!).