Oh Christmas Tree...

I used to love decorating the tree. I'd spend a whole evening making an event out of it. The first year Rick and I celebrated Christmas together, I tried to make him partake in my ritual. I think he made it to the part where I handed him hot chocolate, he finished his cup and hightailed it to the couch. I would take each decoration out and remember the special moments--the person I got it from, or the event I got it for. I would pick the perfect spot for the decoration: the newest ones usually displayed towards the front and the not so great ones displayed towards the back. I would make sure we had the tree at least 2 weeks ahead of Christmas and never would I take it down before New Years.

This year was different. This year we have a little walking terror. This year the tree was strategically placed on top of the coffee table, which is also strategically placed in the corner of the living room, to minimize the chances of Sophia hitting her head on a corner. This year, decorating had 3 parts to it: part 1 was during morning nap, part 2 was during afternoon nap, and part 3 completed the tree decoration after Sophia went to bed. There was no hot chocolate. There was no pomp and circumstance. Decorating the tree was an item to be checked off the list.

All my breakable ornaments were hung up at the very topmost part of the tree. Who knew I had so many breakable ornaments? All the ones I thought Sophia could possibly get a hold of with minimal collateral damage were toward the middle--but still out of reach, or so I thought. All the ones I secretly wished she'd be able to reach were at the bottom. Surprisingly, these all survived. Each day, sometimes twice a day, Sophia insisted we look at each and every ornament. I held her as she pointed to an ornament, and I recited what it was. This was cute the first time, maybe even the second and third. After 2 weeks, it got old. Even that was not enough for Sophia, as I'd catch her climbing up on the couch to reach for the ornaments. "Do not touch" became the catch phrase of each day, 50 times a day.

So the day after Christmas, I decided it was time to pack up and move out the dear Christmas tree. And it wasn't a day too soon either. I know I'll be able to reinstate my treasured Christmas tree dressing tradition one day, and hopefully Sophia will stay after the hot chocolate is served and reminisce with me. But until that day comes, so long Christmas tree and good riddance.

Lucky number 3

Got my Christmas present early this year with a nice hcG count of THREE. YAY me!

A holiday party with friends

My weekly obsessions

Tis the season...

• Lindor truffles
• Panettone

What's for dinner

Cioppino

There are so many recipes for Cioppino, an Italian seafood stew, but of course I've got my way of doing things too. So here's my take on it.
You'll need:

Fish and shellfish. Whatever is fresh or frozen fresh, or even canned if you like. You pick. Here's my pick this time: 12 oz Mahi Mahi, 16 oz shrimp, two 10 oz cans of whole baby clams, drained. Our seafood selection has been horrible, but if I had a choice I'd pick: 1 whole dungeness crab, separated, 16 oz shrimp, 1 good size fillet of halibut, 2 pounds of littleneck clams in shell, 1/2 pound calamari.

1 large onion, rough chopped

2 fennel bulbs, rough chopped

2 large celery stalks

3 cloves garlic, minced


1 heaping tsp thyme

1 heaping teaspoon oregano

1 heaping tsp Old Bay seasoning

1 heaping tsp black pepper

1 pinch of red chili flakes

2 tbsp chopped parsley

2 bay leaves


1 cup of dry white wine (I used Sterling Sauvignon Blanc)

1 eight oz bottle of clam juice

1can of 28 oz Cento tomatoes (I used chef's cut) or you can use tomato juice or whole, whatever consistency you want. I like it chunkier. Use the juice too.

16 oz of chicken stock

Preheat to med. on stovetop a large dutch oven or stew pot. Add enough olive oil to coat pan. In this order, add onion, fennel, celery. Saute until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. If you decide to season with salt, do so very sparingly because the clam juice has a lot of salt and the stock typically does, too. Add garlic and all the above spices (except parsley), and stir another minute. Add the wine and let simmer a minute or so. Add the clam juice and the can of tomatoes. Add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, more if you like a thicker stew. Here's how I would add the fish: fillet cooks about 10-15 minutes, clams or mussles about 10 minutes, scallops about 5 minutes, shrimp about 5 minutes, calamari about 3 minutes, and the crab goes in last because it's already cooked and just needs to warm. Add the chopped parsley last, give a quick stir and serve with crusty bread or garlic bread.

hcG and me

I think I've explained the whole hcG count, but here's a short refresher course. hcG is a pregnancy hormone. You have it if you are pregnant, you don't if you aren't. Most pregnancy tests show a positive pregnancy by the time your urine shows an hcG count of 100. The early result pregnancy tests show an hcG count of 25, some are rumored to go as far as 15 hcG. I've been going to the lab each week to have them take blood to test my hcG levels. The goal is to get down to zero, but I can stop going to the lab once it shows that it's under 5. Once your hcG is down to zero, that's the end of the miscarriage and a normal menstruation cycle should be on it's way.
My lab results showed that my hcG count is at 50 as of last Fri. When I had started this process, I was at 1600 hcG, so the steady decline is just what they want to see. Hopefully I'll only need to go into the lab this week, maybe one more time after that and then I can move on to the next process. I'll be so happy to say good-bye to the weekly torture sessions!

My weekly obsessions

• Greek style honey yogurt
• Trader Joes cheese puffs
• Raisins

Sophia's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

(the above picture was actually taken on another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day)

If this sounds familiar, I've adapted my story from one of my favorite childhood books.

It was an unusually chilly morning, so the heater came on very early. Sophia is a very light sleeper, and it only takes the heater going on a few times for her to wake up. So at 5:00 am, it begins. Sophia wanted to cuddle, no--she wanted down, no--she wanted milk, no--she wanted mommy to get down and get her milk, no--she didn't want milk, no--she wanted milk, but she wanted mommy and daddy to get out of bed and get her milk. I just knew it was the start to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Sophia didn't really want her milk when she got it. She wanted daddy to hold her. She wanted Elmo on TV. She wanted to play while Elmo was on TV and not really watch TV. NO, she did not want her daddy to watch Fox News on TV. No, she really didn't want Elmo back on TV. She wanted Calliou. She wanted mommy to hold her while she watched Calliou. No, she didn't want mommy to lean back on the couch, she wanted mommy in an upright position. Oh, and Sophia now wanted her milk. And mommy desperately needed her coffee. But Sophia wanted her milk to magically appear, because she didn't want mommy to get up to get her milk. It was becoming a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Sophia wanted breakfast because daddy was eating his breakfast. But Sophia didn't want to get in her highchair. Sophia didn't want her dog near her highchair. Sophia wanted blueberries, but she didn't want the blueberries in a pile. She wanted to throw the dog a blueberry, but she didn't want the dog to actually eat the blueberry. Sophia wanted to watch TV while eating her breakfast. Sophia now wanted to watch Elmo, and she wanted only Elmo. Mommy needed another cup of coffee. Sophia needed a nap. Mommy hoped the nap would cure the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Fred had spent the night because he had knee surgery the following day and couldn't drive. The spare bathroom is next to Sophia's room. As mentioned, Sophia is a light sleeper. Fred decided it was time to get up and go to the bathroom, 10 minutes after Sophia went down for her nap. The heater came on. Sophia woke up. Sophia wanted her blanket when she woke up from her painfully short nap. No--not just her favorite bear blanket, no--her other new favorite bear blanket, and her green silky blanket, and her pink fuzzy blanket, and her quilt, and her pillow. Sophia wanted to cuddle on the couch, but she wanted to cuddle with all blankets and pillow on top of mommy. It continued to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Sophia wanted to go outside. Sophia didn't want to get dressed. Sophia didn't want to change her diaper. Sophia didn't want to put on her coat. Sophia wanted to throw ice at her dog. Sophia didn't want her dog to actually eat the ice. Sophia wanted her dog to take the other end of the torn out mint strand. Sophia didn't want her dog to actually pull the strand out of her hand. Sophia wanted to play in the water, but she didn't want to get wet. Sophia didn't want to be in her wet clothes. Sophia didn't want to take her wet clothes off. It was a terrible, horrible no good, very bad day. And it was only 12 noon.

Test results

So my test results came back negative for MTHFR and Factor V Leiden, which is a good thing. However, I was hoping to have something I could fix. At this point, there's still no diagnosis for why I keep having miscarriages. I'll continue to focus on getting better from the ectopic. That's actually been slower progress than I had thought. My hcG count went down to the 200s which is also a positive thing, but I still have the pregnancy hormones, residual pain, bleeding (going on 40 days now!), and the exhaustion to deal with. Anyway, bah humbug...it could be much worse and I feel stupid complaining about anything at all. I'll continue to get my blood drawn until the numbers go down to zero, and by then I should feel like I'm getting back to my normal self!

My weekly obsessions

Starting to get an appetite back!

Trader Joes Almond biscotti
Cuties (mandarins)

Thanksgiving recap

My Aunt Lynette hosted dinner this year. She put on quite the spread. She had the best turkey I've ever tasted. I hope she'll share her secrets with me.

Sophia was her usually playful self, after warming up a little. By the end of the night, she had managed to get everyone to do her biding.

I have to brag a little about my cheese platter. I thought it turned out pretty. And the cheese was good, too!

And my fallopian tube will live to see another day

Had some much needed good news from the Dr. today. My hcG levels were down and the ultrasound showed nothing in the fallopian tube. Which means my body is already absorbing the mass, and the second round of Methotrexate did the trick. So I will continue to do blood work until my numbers go down to 0, which should take about 1 month or so, and then I get to do a repeat of the HSG to clear out my fallopian tube. I jumped up and down with my Dr. and sighed a HUGE sigh of relief. I just ordered this lovely stuffed animal to celebrate. Yes, they make fallopian tube stuffed animals. Seriously, you can find anything on the internet!

Bribery

Sophia is learning all about taking bribes, or um, being rewarded with good behavior. Add this to the list of things I said I would never do when I had my own kid. This is where theory absolutely doesn't match up to practice. I go back into the cobwebbed corners of my mind when I took all those Child Development classes in college, and I specifically remember bribing with food as not a good thing. Have you seen my child? She loves food. Stamps just don't cut it for her. A cookie, on the other hand, well that gets results. After the millionth struggle on the changing table, it dawned on me to tell her I'll give her a cookie if she'll be a good girl and let me change her diaper. She readily agreed and we walked over to the cupboard where I took out an animal cracker and held onto it until I set her down on the table. She was an angel. She held up her end of the bargain and was a good little girl. So I have to admit that I've used this little trick a few more times since then, all with excellent results. And I've even been able to change her diaper without the bribe a few times, I'm thinking it's because she's stopped associating getting her diaper changed with throwing a fit.
Today it was time to clip her nails. I get anxiety thinking about the amount of fit throwing that will occur. But I decided to offer her a cookie for each hand, and she nodded her head profusely. So we headed back to the cupboard and I extracted 2 animal crackers, and gave her one while I clipped one hand and then the next as I finished the other. She sat there so well, I had to hold back the desire to give her another cookie for being a good girl.
See what I started?

Thankful

I am thankful for so many things, but I couldn't have made it through this last few months without the love and support of my family and friends. Thank you for being there for me.

My epic ectopic

So to catch any readers up to speed, I'm going through an ectopic pregnancy. I didn't have the nerve to post that I was pregnant in the first place because it's starting to feel a little like the boy who cried wolf..."I'm pregnant, wait, nope I'm having a miscarriage...I'm pregnant! Wait, nope, another miscarriage." But really what's the point of creating a blog to post about making babies, when I'd have to actually keep a secret about the making baby part until it was considered a viable pregnancy? If you can't write about your feelings in a blog, what's the point of having a blog? So from this point on, I am going to discuss the dirty secrets and details. If you are reading, you want to know anyway, right?
So back to the epic ectopic...
I found out I was pregnant on Halloween. One week to that day, I started to bleed. I feared that I was having yet another miscarriage. I called the Dr. on Mon. to report my news. They had me come in for an ultrasound on Tues. My Dr. didn't see anything in my uterus, even though it showed all the signs of being pregnant. My fallopian tube showed something, and the ovary appeared to have some stuff too. She feared an ectopic. We made another appointment for that Fri. to do another ultrasound. On Fri. morning I started to have intense pain in my lower back and shooting down my leg. I called the Dr., who told me to go immediately to the ER. I spent the entire day in the ER, with them confirming ectopic. I had feared that my fallopian tube had burst, but it was just the pressure of the ovary and tube that had put pressure on my sciatic nerve, hence the pain. They gave me 2 shots of methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug that destroys the most rapidly dividing cells. We hoped this would take care of the ectopic. On a side note, there was no heartbeat, just a ball of dividing cells. The zygote really didn't ever have a chance of being a viable pregnancy, especially since it had decided to implant in my fallopian tube.
So I went home, and with the help of my mother, we waited. The chemo is a nasty drug. Given all the side effects, I felt that it was really doing what it was meant to do. That week I had another blood draw and then an appointment on Fri. to do another ultrasound. Things weren't boding well when my Dr. popped her head in and gave "that look." My blood work showed that the cells continued to multiply. The ultrasound showed that, even though I continued to bleed, my uterus was still mushy. It didn't work.
I was told to go back to the hospital to undergo another round of the nasty methotrexate. This time the drug better work, or else I will lose my fallopian tube on the right side. As of Sun. night, I feel like I'm making progress. Things are starting to clear out of my uterus. I hope to see some results on my next blood work, which is this Fri., the day after Thanksgiving.

My weekly obsessions

from last week...

Francisco International Sheepherder's bread
Calbee Snapea Crisps
Hershey's Bliss dark chocolate

12 on the 12th November

I had some reservations about including this day in my 12 on the 12th project, but I guess you have to take the good with the bad, so I went with it. I had to go to the lab for a blood test, so Rick came home to watch Sophia. I got a rare picture of his face and a rare picture of the both of us with Sophia. Off to the lab to draw blood. I'll elaborate with a more detailed post, but I was very anxious to get my results. I took Sophia to the park after the lab. She was collecting pine cones and putting them on the park bench. When we got home I realized how long her nails were and how much dirt could fit under such nails. I spent the rest of the day chasing after her with the nail clipper. I won. Not without a fight and a few scratches. Rick came home early to work on a bid. He also came home with some carne asada. He decided he'd cook that night. Which meant that he'd cook the meat and I could do everything else. I'll take it. I was impressed he brought home the meat, tortillas and salsa. I didn't have chips for the salsa so I decided to make some home made chips, which were a big hit. Sophia also couldn't get enough. The dinner came out good, and it was fun to have it a team effort. I needed all the distractions I could get that night, and Sophia was providing some great entertainment. She loves to make faces. I just sat there with my camera as she made silly face after face at the camera. It was hilarious.

She melts our hearts

We've slowly been adding more things to Sophia's bedtime routine. The new thing is that she gets to pick something she wants to go to bed with. The other night it was a baseball. That made Rick proud. Tonight it was her book; her big hardback book of animals to be exact. That made me proud. I have no idea how she's going to have a comfortable night of sleep with that in her crib, though.

My weekly obsessions

• Turkey chili
• Whole grain waffles with peanut butter
• Twix (come on, it's candy I smuggled from Halloween)

To Grandma's house we go...

While Rick was hunting for the week, Sophia and I headed off to grandma's house. Sophia kept Grandma pretty busy.

We did a lot of exploring in the backyard...

We went to the park...

and the zoo, too!

Happy Halloween!

Thanks to Heidi (featured below with the kiddos) and Zion for a spooky-great time! Their house was off the hook with defrightfully good treats, eats, and fun. Sophia rocked the Pebbles costume well. She was in high gear the whole time and showed absolutely no fear with trick-or-treating. Boy are we in for a treat in the coming years for Halloween, if this was just her dress rehearsal. I thought for sure she'd hang out in the radio flyer while the bigger kids ran through the streets, but she was right there with them!

My weekly obsessions

Decided I'd try something new and write down what I've been using/eating a lot of for the week.
This week:

• Pomegranates
• Bay leaves
• Those frosted sugar cookies they have in the bakery section of the grocery store (I know, yuck! But sooo good...)

Wet wipes

I'd like to think of wet wipes as my equivalent to Rick's duck tape or gorilla glue. However sexist it may seem, duck tape really is a man's answer to most quick fixes. The power of wet wipes has become increasingly apparent as Sophia gets older. Not only does it remove banana goo from her hair, the thickest snot from her nose, and the obvious diaper duty...I've found it comes in quite handy as a quick all purpose cleaner. I've also found that the seemingly coolest of all men will take the assistance of an offered wet wipe in their most uncoolest moments.

The other day I was at the grocery store and noticed this man strutting around the store. He looked out of place among your typical mid-morning senior citizens and stay at home moms. As much as I tried to ignore the anomaly, Sophia had this thing with him. She was trying to get his attention and as she was making the effort to gain eye contact, he was making the same effort in ignoring her attempts. The irony of the situation was that we continued to intersect even at his attempts to head in the opposite direction of us. One intersection was the egg rack. As we pulled up, he was grabbing for an egg carton. Any seasoned shopper knows that you approach the egg cartons with caution, knowing that these fragile containers often hold surprises. This guy proved my suspicion that he just isn't a regular grocery shopper by the handling of the eggs. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a rush of motion as he began to fling what appeared to be raw egg contents from his hand. I quickly dug into my diaper bag, approached him and said, "wet wipe?" Defeated, he gingerly accepted the wipe as if pondering whether it would be better to just wipe the egg on his expensive trousers. I gave a sympathetic look and continued on my way to rescue the world, one act at a time, with wet wipes.

What's for dinner?

Chicken Gumbo
Like most things I make, I wouldn't base the name off a traditional recipe. This one in particular does not use the traditional roux, which I find to be too heavy with the rice. I like it more soupy. I once knew a woman who was from New Orleans and this is how she made her gumbo, and although it was many years ago, I still remember it being the best "chicken soup" I ever had. So here's my rendition.

Coat bottom of heavy stock pot with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and set stove top to medium high heat. I used 1/2 of a fryer chicken, so 1 leg, thigh, breast, wing and seasoned with salt and pepper. Add to pot and brown on all sides. While browning, chop up 1 and 1/2 large onion, 3 medium stalks of celery and 3 large onions to bite sized portions. Add to pot with the chicken and let saute until slightly soft. While this is being sauteed, add 1 heaping tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning, 2 teaspoons of whole leaf dried thyme, 1 teaspoon of whole leaf oregano, and 2 teaspoons of cracked pepper. Once veggies are slightly soft, add water until it completely but just barely covers the chicken. Bring to a boil. Once to a boil, place a lid over the pot and bring temperature down to low and simmer for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. At this point, I skim off the excess fat. Continue to simmer the broth. Now you will add some smoked sausage. I use cooked linguica but you can also use the traditional cooked andouille sausage. Remove the casing and cut in half and then into bite size pieces. Add to the pot. Once the chicken is cooled enough to touch, take off the skin and shred from the bone. Add to pot. Add 1/2 cup of chopped fresh parsley. Simmer all together for another 1 and 1/2 hours.
In the last half hour, cook some rice. Once again, I swayed from tradition and used basmati rice, with the zest of one lemon added to the salty water. I think the lemon adds a clean flavor to the finished dish. It's up to you.
Scoop out some rice, and ladle your gumbo over. Top with sliced green onions and serve with hot sauce.

Another pumpkin patch

I might have mentioned in the past that I love this time of year. It's gotten better since Sophia's been around. Not only do I get to enjoy the season through her eyes, I have a scapegoat to blame my excitement for. We visited the Peter pumpkin patch, which is also a working farm. They had lots of things to do, but here are the highlights:

Eating dirt. Well, not really. We actually dug up some Yukon Gold potatoes. Sophia ate dirt.

Feeding the calf. I'm always amazed at how fearless Sophia is around livestock. It makes my heart stop when she jams her hand into the fence with whatever morsel she deems acceptable for the animal to eat. So far the animals have been on their best behavior. I fear for the day they aren't. Sophia was very fond of this calf. A few tears were shed when we had to say goodbye.

And best of all, spending a beautiful day with close friends.

Pumpkin Patch

October 12 on the 12th

Monday the 12th was the day before we were supposed to get a huge amount of rain from the remains of the typhoon in East Asia. So in light of all that, I really wanted to get some errands done and make sure Sophia had a good run at the park. That was first on our agenda. Sophia isn't that patient with errands these days. I never know if she's going to throw a fit in the store, so I run around like a mad woman. The goal was to get a car seat for Rick's truck (to give him more opportunity to take Sophia on outings), use up all the coupons I got for diaper wipes and bath soaps, and the big purchase was the potty for training.

Before you think to yourself that I'm nuts for starting this early, I'm really not even close to starting her on the training. But I thought I'd start introducing her to the concept of sitting on the potty and maybe she'd begin to get interested. She's in major denial about her poops, so I feel this is going to be a long road anyway. I always ask, while she's pooping, if she has to poop. She starts out with a straight faced "no" followed by a more whiny "NOooooo" which is followed by an adamant head shake side to side. Anyway, back to the potty later.

One of Rick's clients has an apple tree which must produce record amounts of apples, because we've gotten 2 full boxes, and I know she must have other takers besides us. The first box was much appreciated. Sophia loves apples, Rick loves apples, I don't mind making apple stuff. I finally got down to feeling like I was making a dent in the box when Rick came home with another full box and a look of guilt on his face. Well, it wasn't a full box this time, because he had dropped off half the contents at his parents, because I think he knew how overwhelmed I'd be at tackling another box. Anyway, we have apples coming out of our ears over here. An apple a day, huh?

So then it seemed as if the day flew by and I didn't have time to snap pictures much during the middle of the day, and forgot about taking any until after dinner. So here's the after dinner chaos, taken as I was shuffling Sophia to her bath. No bath is complete without brushing the teeth before and after the bath. I think she's so infatuated with brushing her teeth purely for the tooth paste. I'm not complaining (really). So after the bath, she decided the new toilet needed a little plumbing, with the lint remover. Go figure.

Back to the subject of the potty, sort of. We like to introduce things really early around here. Take her "big girl" bed for example. I am in no rush of moving Sophia into a big girl bed. However, our friends were getting a new bed for their teenager and we couldn't pass up the fortune of this really cool trundle bed. So until I'm ready to move Sophia into it, Molly is making sure she gets the pillow nice and broken in for Sophia. Speaking of pillows, I put a pillow in her crib the other night, and she loves that thing! Makes bedtime even easier. Night-night.

18 months old

Sophia is a year and a half today! At her 18 month check-up, she weighed 27.5 pounds and was 32.5 inches in length. She is in the 90% across the board.

Life's a Beach

Sophia's first time at the beach! This girl is fearless. She ran straight toward to the water with no hesitation. It was all we could do to keep distracting her with things to play with in the sand.

Ohh, I like what you did to your hair

September 12 on the 12th

This day was all about Sophia's baptism. I wish I had better pictures to post here, but I guess being part of the ceremony doesn't lend to too much photography. I managed to get a few before the baptism and then after the baptism, at the reception. The first picture was taken before everyone arrived. Guess who got there early? I actually told Rick I bet the first person to arrive was my mom and grandparents. Wish I would have bet money on it. Soon after, the whole gang showed up. Aunt Kathy and cousin Chris are the God Parents. Noni greeted the guests as they arrived; here's one with Doris and Auntie Fayrene. Everybody's greeting Sophia now. Grandma and Sophia posing for the camera. Rick discussing the meaning of life with the boys--really, I'm joking. Madeline's showing Jessica what to do in church, while ZK is too cool to be associated with the girls. Our niece Aundrea has a lovely profile. One of the tables (the roudiest) at the reception. And last but certainly not the least, the food. Yum.

Did you know you can click on the image above, and it should appear bigger on the screen? Just wanted to let you know.

2 little monkeys jumping on the bed...

Sophia got to spend some time with her friend Danielle over Labor Day weekend, which is a rare treat.

Disclaimer: no monkeys were hurt during this photo shoot.

Dove Stew and Polenta

Rick semi-jokingly tells everyone that he's the man--he's supposed to bring home the meat, and I'm the woman--I'm supposed to cook the meat. I write "semi-jokingly" because I really believe he does feel this is true. I do oblige occasionaly. I do not usually participate in eating the kind of meat he brings home.

What you'll need:

1 large onion

3 stalks celery

2 large carrots

Olive oil

pepper

1 heaping tsp thyme

1, 6 oz can tomatoe paste

1 cup red wine

1 packet brown gravy

1 packet mushroom and herb gravy

(you can use canned gravy, just omit some water)

6 cups water

Rough chop onion, celery and carrots. Preheat a large pot on the stovetop and add enough olive oil to coat. Add vegetables and saute until slightly soft on medium heat. I would not add salt because the gravy is usually salty, but that's just my opinion. Add thyme and tomato paste. Add 1 cup of wine and stir until incorporated. Let the wine cook down a bit, maybe 5 minutes.

Add the gravy packets and stir into a thick paste. Add the water and stir well to incorporate. Bring to a boil and add the dove. Lower the temp and simmer for at least 4 hours. The sauce should be pretty thick. Serve over polenta.

Budding musician

Our nephew, Chris, is a very talented guitarist. I think Sophia's been watching him play. She might have a little ways to go, though...

First popsicle

Actually, it was a huge mango frozen fruit bar from Trader Joes. And she had no problem finishing it. That's my girl!

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Parmesan

I wouldn't call this a traditional eggplant parmesan, but I didn't have marinara sauce on hand and I had a lot of tomatoes. So I decided to roast the eggplant and tomatoes at 450 degrees in the oven for about 45 minutes. I had cut them both about 1/2 inch thick and then made sure each side had plenty of olive oil. I seasoned the top side with salt and pepper, and placed them on a lined baking sheet. I suggest using parchment paper.

After I took them out of the oven, I placed a piece of mozzarella cheese on top of each eggplant, placed the roasted tomato on top of the mozzarella, and then sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top of the tomato. The flavors were very rich and sweet together. It definitely doesn't taste like an eggplant parm, but I think it's a lot healthier option. I served this with pesto pasta.

Whaddya say?

Sophia has been "talking" for a long time now, but just recently I can make out some clear words. She's very vocal about things. She'll let you know what she wants, usually in the form of a tirade of babble and hand gestures (must be the Italian genetics). But when she actually uses real words, it's amazing to see how much her vocabulary grows each day. Guess it's time to really start censoring our conversations around here!

I won't pretend that all these words listed below are said so clearly that you would understand, but they are very obvious to me:

• ball
• bubbles
• bye
• bottle
• baby
• balloon
• daddy
• duck
• down
• dog
• go
• hi
• hello
• hush
• kitty cat
• mama (which I actually think is "more" because I still don't think she calls for me)
• muh-mah (kiss. Ok, not really a word, but I'm adding it anyway)
• mum mum (food)
• night night
• no, noooooo, no! no, no, no, no, no--oo--oo... (favorite word around here)
• out
• see
• two (she counts with babble and points with her fingers, but only says "two" after the first thing and then returns to babbble counting)
• uh oh
• uh huh
• water
• yum!

Tomato tart

Wondering what to do with your abundance of tomatoes? I have a tart in the oven right now, and I'll need to update this post after eating it to figure out if it worked, but while the ingredients are still on my mind...

Preheat oven to 375. I used a rich pastry dough recipe for the crust, and set it in a tart pan or cheesecake pan with a removable bottom. In a medium size bowl, I mixed equal parts cottage cheese and cream cheese (I don't measure so I'd say about 3/4 cup each), 1 large caramelized onion, a pinch or 2 of thyme, lots of black pepper, and 2 eggs. Pour this in the tart. I was going to add some grated Parmesan cheese to the bottom of the pastry, before pouring in the filling, but I forgot. I'll do this next time. I prepped 2 large tomatoes by cutting thick slices and then setting them on some paper towels and then sprinkled with salt to get some of the moisture out. Set the slices on the top of the filling, overlapping slightly (they will shrink slightly during the baking process), in a ring formation. Bake in the oven until the filling is set, the crust is golden (about 45 minutes or so) and the tomatoes look slightly roasted on top. I plan on serving at room temp with chopped basil on top.

I realized I haven't been updating the blog with recipes as much as I wanted. I'm trying to add pictures, too. If anyone actually tries these recipes and has comments on them, they are welcome. Especially if it's a complete failure or missing an important ingredient. I usually write the ingredients and stuff down after the meal but sometimes it's later and I forget a step. There's no way I'm disciplined enough to actually measure or write the steps down in the process!

Got milk?

August 12 on the 12th

We started out the day with our new forming habit of watching Sesame Street while eating breakfast. I'm not sure how I feel about this from a child development point of view, but as a mother chasing around a toddler most of the day, this is the only time she'll sit still and eat.

Case in point, it's getting ever so challenging to get her dressed in the morning. She walked around half-dressed for a good portion of an hour because every time I got near enough, she intercepted me with a toy, a ball, or just ran away.

After her play time, she had her morning nap, so I was able to work on the computer and make her baptism invitations. Rick finally figured out the details with Father Nick. Apparently we also have to take a class...huh? I wasn't aware of that when I agreed to this!

Nothing like refueling with goldfish crackers. And we were off to run our errands! But first we detoured to the park. It was hotter than heck and everything Sophia touched was burning her hand. She would touch, say "ouch" and then touch again. A little sensory lesson, I suppose. We drank lots of water at the park.

Once home, I unloaded my Best Buy bag and started to make us lunch. The tomatoes and basil from our garden are my new favorite obsession. I incorporated them into a turkey sandwich.

Did I mention I had a bladder infection? Still wondering if I could have taken care of it on my own instead of taking Cipro. This nasty little antibiotic has given me lots of unpleasant side effects. Can't wait for that to end.

So on to the rest of the evening...Molly the cat loves Sophia's room. She makes a point of getting comfortable in there right before Sophia's bedtime, hoping I'll forget she's in there and close the door. She wasn't so fast to hide this time, and got the boot.

One of our night time rituals is brushing Sophia's teeth. She loves her toothbrush and does a great job of it. She'll announce the time by opening her mouth wide and saying "ahhhh" repeatedly until I produce the toothbrush. And then she might let me take a few attempts at brushing her (5 and counting) teeth, but mostly she wants to do it on her own.

Rick had a really long day yesterday among the last few days of getting up at 4 am and coming home around 7 pm. These are his shoes in the last picture. They had less dirt than normal, but do you see what I deal with on a daily basis? Take off your shoes before coming in the house! Grrr.

Some closure

The pathology reports came in from the fetal tissue, and the miscarriage was caused by a chromosomal abnormality called full trisomy 16. This is "good" news if there's a way to look at the bright side of all this. Full trisomy 16 is basically a fluke that occurs when conception takes place. This is the most common reason for miscarriage in the first trimester. The odds of this happening again are slim to none. In a nutshell, there was no way to cause or to avoid such a miscarriage, it was determined when sperm met egg. However, just to rule out any genetic or auto-immune issues, we have some tests to complete to set our minds at ease for the next go round.

The garden

As if I need any more challenges with a curious toddler, enter the garden. Amazingly, Sophia already knows what is edible. What's also amazing, our dog does too. Put the two together, and it's a battle of getting anything actually picked and served at the table. Yesterday, I suceeded in salvaging a few hidden gems. I hid these tokens in my shirt so as not to be detected by toddler or dog, and ran into the house with my loot before either could pounce on me. The toddler quickly discovered my prize, however, out of reach and safe from her sticky fingers.

Collage Board

This is the finished product.

Projects=distraction

I'm filling up any idle time I have with some projects. One in particular I've had on my list is a collage board. Think of a modern day cork board. This will go in Sophia's room. I went to JoAnn Fabrics to collect all the articles I would need for this project. Talk about unorganized! That place was a mess. I must have walked up and down those aisles a dozen times trying to find a half dozen items. Took me awhile to decide on the fabric and then remembered I didn't know the exact size canvas I'd be using, and have no clue how to convert feet into yards. So I went up to the person behind the counter and told her to cut me a piece as long as the width of my outstretched arms. Rick later informed me that this is the Italian measurement system. As any craft store takes pride in their knowledgeable patrons, this lady looked at me in disgust and quickly informed me I'd be safe with 2 yards of the fabric.
Once home, I quickly wrapped the fabric around the canvas to make sure it fit (check), unloaded the bag with my list of materials to add to the fabric (check), painted the canvas white to make sure my old painting project didn't peak through the fabric (check), and then went to get the staple gun. The staple gun is Rick's. I should know by now to have added that to my list of supplies. So my project would have to wait until I could locate Rick, to locate the staple gun. In the evening, we went on a search: garage (nope), storage shed (nope), storage area in lower driveway (nope), trucks (nope), back to the garage to look in the cupboards (nope, but we did find all the beach toys we were looking for last week before camping, and now have duplicates of in a who-knows-where location).
So this morning I planned to go out for the staple gun. But Rick beat me to it and presented me with my own brand new staple gun, fresh from the hardware store. I will be hiding this with my other supplies that have disappeared through the years...my drill, hammer, step ladder, do-it-herself kit (which is a pink and blue tool kit, and yes he's secure enough with his masculinity to have brought numerous things out of that kit to job sites and he wasn't afraid to use them, and subsequently misplace them). So in with my other contraband goes the staple gun, once I've figured out how to use it.
So my easy project will have to wait until my next window of opportunity (i.e. Sophia's naptime). Thanks Lynn, for the project idea. Hope it's as easy as you made it look! Stay tuned for the results.

Good-bye, angel

I lost the baby. It was measuring only 8 weeks at my 10 week appointment. No heartbeat. I knew right away something was wrong, just looking at the ultrasound screen. I was already getting that sinking feeling heading to the appointment. I have been through this before, but it still breaks my heart. My Dr. said I should do some more testing to figure out why I continue to have miscarriages. I am so lucky to have Sophia, she really is a blessing. I just hope we find out the reason behind all this loss.

Lake Siskiyou

We went "camping" in the Lake Siskiyou area of Shasta City. We actually rented a cabin, but it was more like a shoebox with a bathroom. The are was beautiful though! The weather was hot, the company was fun, and I need a spa day to recuperate from chasing around Sophia. Camping isn't what it used to be now that we have a kid. Everything is so much work. Who knew dirt would be the least of my worries? Lots of things are actually hidden in the dirt...fish hooks, cigarette butts, bottle caps, straws, you name it...Sophia wanted to taste it. And boy I thought I was so smart about creating a nice dark coccoon for Sophia to sleep in at home. Little did I know that our light sleeper would not thrive in a shoebox surrounded by a bunch of Travalini's. But she actually adapted to the place in the next few nights. We were able to work out somewhat of a routine.
Here's the beautiful lake, with Mt. Shasta in the background.



We took a 4 mile hike one morning.



Sophia playing in the water.



Drove out to the headwaters, where supposedly the purest water can be found. Lots of hippies with all kinds of containers to collect water.

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Also went out to one of the oldest trout fisheries.



Tons of sweetpeas...



Trevor and Mario and crew cooked a huge dinner of chicken and tri-tip, feeding at least 60 people.



Most of the ladies were walking around with wine glasses, I walked around with Sophia and Gatorade.