Harriedmumof5

What kind of parenting is this?

2010-09-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

Just some background for those that do not know, Liam our son has a host of medical problems one being a medical eating disorder, he is failure to thrive and has a MicKey feeding tube. He is 11 years old. He only has about 10 foods he will eat only 2 in any given week. All of them have to be cooked. He has been like this his whole life. Of course there some psychological components to the medical eating disorder when you have gone your whole life without eating.

We finally are with a specialist that is helping. So about 6 weeks ago we made a list of 10 foods that Liam would try. 5 came from Liam and 5 came from John and me. I really want Liam to eat something portable that does not need cook as it is a challenge and struggle to feed him with all of our apts. In the past we have done several incentives nothing has worked but now they are doing some other techniques with Liam rather then just try the food. So Liam got to choose the first food to try a bite of and he choose Fruit Loops. Yes Fruit Loops! I am not sure if you can even call it a food but so be it. If Liam tries a new food two weeks in a row in therapy he gets $8.00 to buy a new game. His brother who is 15 months older also gets $8.00. So Liam is in his apt and we were getting coffee and my phone rings. Dr. wants to know if we will do an additional $4 if Liam eats an entire bowl of Fruit Loops. We say yes because just as a kick off but no in the future. Liam eats an entire bowl of Fruit Loops first time in his 11 years. We were thrilled but then reality hit me: I had to buy the Fruit Loops and they were not on sale because of the time and need so cost $3.86. We had to pay Liam and Levi each $12 for Liam eating the bowl of Fruit Loops so I paid almost $30 for to get my kid to eat a food that we do not keep at home or even approve of our kids eating. The appiontments cost us a little over $200 for each session (our insurance covers most), the apts are 25 miles away one way. It takes almost 3 hours of our day to do 1 apt. So we paid close to $300 so our child would eat a bowl of Fruit Loops and that is my definition of insanity.

40 years old!

2010-09-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

I turned 40 yesterday. Apparently from the way most people are acting I am suppose to feel old. I am sorry to say I have not lived up to their standards. It is hard to feel old when you have an active 3 year old running around. Maggie has a strong opinion on the subject also. I am not old because I am still her mommy. I guess some where in her mind she has it when I am old I will cease to be her mommy.

Psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis just sucks!

2010-09-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

I can handle the fact that I have psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. It is hard to handle the fact that my 5 children all have psoriasis and 3 have psoriatic arthritis. My heart breaks into 500 million little pieces when I see my kids suffer. I have tremendous guilt knowing I gave them this horrendous gene. Miss Maggie my 3 year old has a UTI. It has been a bit of a nasty bug with fevers topping out at 106 degrees, a typical febrile seizures and other seizures not caused by fever but illness. If it was not bad enough to be suffering from a UTI her reflux is out of control. It makes for a paranoid mommy. Even at age 3 little Miss has been known to stop breathing in her night from the reflux. Can it get any worst? It has been confirmed she has scalp psoriasis. Not shocking news at all since we found psoriasis behind her ears earlier this summer. It does not seem to bother her a whole lot, for Little Miss this is just what normal is.It just adds to the guilt that I have. I can only pray that some day soon there will be a cure for autoimmune diseases.

Simple words and actions mean a lot

2009-08-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

I have been a family law paralegal for years. I cannot count the times I have been told by clients who were divorcing that they knew their marriage was over when their partner said something very simple and innocent. Just a few words said and at that point they just knew the marriage was not going to work. I have yet to hear from a person how their marriage was "saved" by their partner saying something simple and innocent. If the marriage was going downhill it has always taken work on both parties to save it. There was no easy fix (it makes you think how easy it is to break something but so hard to put it back together).
At times I believe John feels he is in a protected category and that I would never leave him because he knows divorce is not an option in our relationship. So little effort takes place at times by both of us when it comes to our marriage one has has to wonder why we have lasted for so long. Complacency is not always a good thing. Of course what John is forgetting is I have friends that will bring shovels and ask no questions. :)
The other day I knew our marriage was not in jeopardy when John said to me in all sincerity, "I would like to look into getting a Mac". I know you are asking yourself what does buying a Mac have to do with having a healthy relationship? Well let me tell you. John is anti Mac. John is so anti Mac, I believe Mr. Bill Gates himself is paying John off to tow the Microsoft line. I have been lobbying for years to get a Mac. All the reasons I have given have fallen on deaf ears when it comes to John. I swear there is a solid rock in the brain lobe where reasoning skills should be when it comes to John. Yes, my husband is hardheaded! It would be easier to convince Mr. Gates himself to purchase a Mac then to get John too consider it.
Then WHAM out of the blue John has seen the light and now is finally willing to consider a upgrade in life. One will have to ponder at this point, what will we do with all of our free time once we get the Mac and no longer have to repair the PC. Will we be living in utopia then? Will people visible see the sense of calm that will surround us? I digress, if John is willing to budge on the Mac issue after 20 years, just think of all the other issues that have caused roadblocks in our relationship that have now been open. Who would know that just a few simple words said would have such a profound effect on our marriage.

P.S. I have been pondering this for days now. I was at the grocery store and the man ahead of me was purchasing, flowers, a bottle of wine, and really good chocolate. This man was clean and neat but you could tell just from the way he was dressed and by his calloused hands that he was a hardworking blue collar worker that nothing in life had come easy for him. My first thought was he must have a date. Woo Hoo older guy! Then I noticed his wedding ring. Maybe it is a foreign concept to me that a spouse would bring home flowers, wine and good chocolate on a Wednesday. Was it their anniversary? Was he in the dog house and this was his way of saying he was sorry? Or was it just the mere fact that he loved his wife and wanted to show he cared? I will never know that man's intentions but I do know there is a wife out their that is very lucky.

GLUTEN FREE NAAN BREAD

2009-05-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

We love Naan Bread especially in the summer. I like to make it on the grill. It is a quick and easy. I have not made it since I have been gluten free though. So tonight I decided to give gluten free a try.

I just have to say I love sorghum flour. I use it for almost everything. We get it directly from the mill.

NAAN BREAD

1 Cup Sorghum Flour
1 teaspoon yeast ****
1 teaspoon honey or sugar
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 olive oil

Add ins: We like garlic the best but any herb or spice would be good like rosemary.

in a small bowl add yeast, sugar and warm water. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes. It will get all foamy. Combine flour, salt, xantham gum. Add olive oil and yeast mixture. Stir. It will be pretty sticky. Let rest for 15 minutes. Divide into 6 big pieces or 12 small pieces. Roll out on a flour surface. I need a little of the flour in so it is not sticky to handle. Place on grill for 2 or 3 minutes per side.

**** 1 teaspoon of yeast are you freaking out? A package has 2 1/4 teaspoons in it but why oh why are you buy individual packages. It is much cheaper to buy a jar of yeast or better yet a bag. You should store it in the fridge.

My Second AH Ha Momment

2009-05-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Boy I have just been on a roll. I was looking over what we spend on groceries and decided we could cut back on the chocolate sauce, carmel etc. I do not buy it that often maybe a bottle every other month but it was something that could go. I started exploring how to make Carmel sauce at home. All I wanted to say now DUH. Took me less then 5 minutes to whip up a cup. I did substitute half and half for the heavy cream as I always have that in my fridge. It does make it a little thinner but once you cool it down you it thickens right up.

Caramel Sauce Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup of sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream ( I use half and half)

Yep that is it for ingredients

Oh ya I use the water method as you all know I would burn up the sugar.

1 First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.

2 Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.

3 As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.

4 Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big. (Check here for an explanation of why adding the cream makes the mixture bubble up so much.)

5 Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

Makes a little over one cup of sauce.

My AH HA Momment

2009-05-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think I make life to hard. My kids like smoothies. I like making them out of yogurt. We like them thick but not diluted. It is a hard consistency to get because if you add to many ice cubes the smoothie is not flavorful enough. I always use frozen fruit but that does always help either. A couple of weeks ago I got organic plain yogurt on sale. It was a great price but I was left with the dilemma what to do with a gallon of plain yogurt before it spoiled. That is where my ah ha moment came. Why not freeze the yogurt in an ice cube trays thus eliminating the need to add ice cubes but still being able to obtain a nice smooth thick cold smoothie. I froze the yogurt in the ice cube trays. Once frozen I transferred to a zip lock bag. We use the Hamilton Beach single serving blender that we leave on the counter top for easy access.

Levi's Favorite Smoothie

1 cup cold milk (always add liquids first as it will blend better)
6 ice cubes of yogurt or 1/2 cup of yogurt. We prefer plain for this one
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon chocolate sauce(trader joes has a yummy organic one)
1/2 frozen banana (I throw over ripen bananas in the freezer and use as needed. No need to wrap them up or peel. Microwave for 30 seconds and the peel will come right off).
1 tablespoon of peanut butter.

Add all the ingredients and blend. Levi likes a dollop of whip cream on the top.

19 years is really not that long at all

2008-12-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

This month John and I celebrate 19 years of being together, being married. Half of our lives we have spent as a couple. It seems very strange because it only seems like yesterday John was proposing. If I had a crystal ball 19 years ago and seen what my future would hold with Mr. Johnny Barrett III, I would have still said yes.

My favorite gift I ever got from John besides our children is a framed picture of our wedding day with the following lyrics attached:

Love of mine some day you will die But I'll be close behind I'll follow you into the dark No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white Just our hands clasped so tight Waiting for the hint of a spark If heaven and hell decide That they both are satisfied Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs If there's no one beside you When your soul embarks Then I'll follow you into the dark

Gluten Free Dinner Rolls

2008-06-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

This recipe is awesome. I made it tonight. I cannot beleive how yeasty the rolls tasted. It was surprising how they tasted since they looked like baking powder biscuits but had this yeasty dinner roll taste. Everyone in my family loved them.

28 min 10 min prep 7 -9 Rolls
4 tablespoons shortening
3 tablespoons honey
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup potato starch
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vinegar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients. Mix well to remove all lumps. The dough will be quite wet. Wet hands to handle dough. (Re-wet hands as needed.) Take about 1/4 cup of dough and shape into a ball. Drop into greased baking tin. (Repeat until all dough is used). Let rest for 10 minutes. Bake 18-20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in middle tests clean.

I doubled the recipe and baked in muffin tins. It made two dozen. Cook time 15 minutes.

Good Bye Home Depot!

2008-05-05T03:19:00.000-07:00

I hate Home Depot. Hate is a strong word but really that is how I feel. Every time I go into that store I am left with huge regret and leave asking myself, why do I bother coming here?. The store is so huge I can never find anything I need. When you ask for help the staff acts like you are interrupting their social time with other staff members. Unfortunately where we live at the big box store type hardware store is the only hardware type store we have. Three times I had been to the big box store trying to get a clamp for our window. Three times I got the run around and left without the clamp. It is very frustrating when you have to beg for help. I guess Home Depot does not need the little person's business. That is fine by me because we finally got a real hardware store where we live at. How do I know it is a real hardware store? Well 1 they have the obligatory older man. You know, he is retired but comes in a couple of days to work because he loves his job so much! So opening day, I marched right over to our brand new hardware store and could not find the clamp for the window. I even got help without having to hunt someone down. The staff saw me looking and asked may I help you. WOW! is that a novelty or what who would have thought customer service in a store. Unfortunately, the clamps had not come in yet, so the manager was called over and he said he would order them ASAP. He let me know what day to come back for them and also let me know he would order 4 different styles to choose from. When I went back they thanked me for coming back and they never once acted like I was inconveniencing them. So finally after several trips we have our window clamps. I just got to remember to bring them into the house and actually use them now.

P.S. I also like the fact I can take my hardware receipt to my favorite coffee stand and they give me a discount.

FINALLY DID IT

2008-03-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

I finally finally made a decent loaf of bread. I am so excited. It was not dry and crumble like most gluten free breads. Levi could not tell the difference. Maggie was thrilled to death. She loves toasted cheese sandwiches. I also made french toast.

The Recipe:

1 cup sorghum flour

2/3 cup tapioca flour

2/3 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1/3 cup dry milk powder

1/2 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast granules

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup lukewarm water (more or less)

I made mine in the bread machine.

Grease an 8 1/2" by 4 1/2" loaf pan and dust with rice flour.
Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
In the mixing bowl of a heavy duty mixer, whisk the eggs, vinegar and oil. Add most of the water holding back about 3 tablespoons to add as needed. Turn mixer to low and add the flour mix a little at a time. The mix should be the consistency of cake batter. Add the remaining water a little at a time to achieve this texture. Turn mixer to high and beat for 3 1/2 minutes. Spoon into the prepared pan, cover and let rise in a warm place about 35 minutes for rapid rising yeast; 60 or so minutes for regular yeast or until dough reaches the top of the pan.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes in a 400° oven, covering after 10 minutes with aluminum foil.
Turn out immediately to cool. For a softer crust rub immediately with butter or margarine. Cool before slicing.

I also made peanut butter cookies which I make all the time since they are so easy.

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Bake 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes

1 tsp salt

Who am I kidding? I cannot live without a car!

2008-02-27T07:13:00.000-08:00

We have been without a car for two days this week because the tank is in the shop yet again! I will admit I fantasize about being a one car family. But the fantasies go deeper then that. I am definitely sending the wrong message to people about us by driving the tank. One car would be great, besides being good on our pocket book, it would be great for the environment. Win Win right?
First day without the tank almost had to take the Maggster to the emergency room. Thankfully, we figured out what was wrong with her and did not need to resort to those extremes. It is hard to drive 10 miles without a car, so that got me thinking what if those things happen again. Even with careful planning those kinds of things always come up. Today, we are again tank less, and I feel confined. I cannot even go two hours without the tank no matter how much I despise it. How ironic is that! I am sure now, me threatening to get rid of it will fall upon deaf ears if the tank ever finds out how much I actually do depend on it. Maybe I will have to threaten to spray paint it pink or something.
So for now the dreams of living with one car are shattered unless I convince John he really does want to walk to work. It is less then 4 miles. No problem!

Parenting a Teen

2008-01-24T03:32:00.000-08:00

I screwed up. Plain and simple. I talked and reacted before I thought about what I was saying. James has always been well to him perfectly reasonable but to John and me a bit maldramatic when it comes to his life (what teen isn't?). Something was wrong on Tuesday with him and when he was explaining to me what was wrong, I committed the sin that most parents do and went with "my life experiences over rules your life experiences. You will see this is a minor thing when you look back on it in 10 years", oops, totally discounting that it was important to him now. It was one of those mistakes I wish I could go back and take back. Of course now I feel guilty as heck. It really bothers me when parents do not listen to their kids, yet here I did exactly that. Sorry James.

Retrouvaille

2008-01-23T04:03:00.000-08:00

This past weekend John and I celebrated our two year anniversary of going to Retrouvaille. Hell is a very strong word to describe a marriage. I mean it is eternal damnation. So if I had to describe our marriage two years ago it would have to be purgatory. Being married to John was like living in Purgatory. I knew some how there was a way out but I was not sure if it would be positive or negative (Heaven or Hell). I was not even capable of saying what was wrong…it was just bad everything was wrong nothing was right. No infidelity etc. but still bad. We would talk until we were blue in the face…it came to a point from these conversation that both of us was more interested in hurting each other for one perceived insult after another. I knew I was right and John knew he was right. It became more about proving each other wrong. Neither of us was hearing what the other was saying. Thank God for Retrouvaille. We achieved in one weekend what it would have taken probably two years in marriage counseling if ever…there is no way I was going to give our marriage two years. I could not imagine giving our marriage two more weeks that is how bad the pain was. John and I had gone a really long time not really communicating. We worked opposite shifts and it was just easier to do what we wanted personally instead of what we needed to do as a couple. We had down what is called married but living single to a tee. When we started working the same shift, things got difficult. Good Lord! I had to see that man every evening. He felt the same way. All we did was fight. The only thing that we agreed on was what was wrong with our relationship. Neither of us wanted divorced but I know how marriage counseling works and I was not interested in spending years and fortune only to wind up divorced. Besides I really loved John. I just was miserable living with him and vice verse. I was positive I could live a part from him but stay married. Yes I know that sounds crazy now but hey it sounded reasonable then. I was reading a bar magazine (legal magazine) and learned about Retrouvaille. It has something like a 98% success rate. People even attend who have been divorced and get remarried. Retrouvaille is a peer based marriage ministries. It is run by married couples that went through similar situations as you are in other words their marriage sucked. It is not counseling. You attend a 3 day weekend where you work one on one with your spouse. You never ever share with anyone but your spouse. I cannot tell you how much Retrouvaille was a God sent for John and me. The weekend was such hard work, but so gratifying. I have never cried so much in my life but mostly they were happy tears. Retrouvaille gave me back my marriage and my husband. I found the man I had fallen in love with. John and I have experienced two miracles in our lives with our marriage. The fact that we are married. John and I both agree we are married because of Devinne intervention (not sure how I feel about that by the way because you all know I am into Free Will) and that our marriage was saved by the Grace of God. By the way our Retrouvaille weekend rates higher for both of us then getting married.

Okay for all of those keeping track day 7 with out going to Wally world. I have so far spent $3.00 more then I would have if I had bought the items at wally world so not bad at all.

Gave up Walmart Cold Turkey

2008-01-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

It has been coming for a very long long time but yesterday was the straw that broke the camels back.

I had 3 returns. 1 popcorn machine that does not work, one telephone we did not need, one moldy package of tortillas that had not expired yet but were mostly blue.So I am told that I cannot return the popcorn machine because we do not have the warning page. You know the one that says do not use in the bathtub. WTF??? It is defective. Does the manufacturer need to know that? I did not realize I had the wrong receipt for the telephone and I said I will be back with the right one and the lady gave me a lecture about how you had to have the receipt to do returns. She was nasty as can be. She was really nasty. We are talking about a $6 phone. Give me a break. Then she would not take back the tortillas even though I just bought them and I had the receipt. After you lifted the top tortilla up it was blue with mold all the way down. She said it was again Walmart policy to take food back. HUH that is a new one too. Ironically enough, my receipt had $450 worth of purchases on it (it was Christmas and I had went grocery shopping). I said I am done shopping here when you sell me bad food then will not take it back even though I bought it within the last two days and the tortillas did not expire until 1/27 and defective appliances. What kind of customer service is that? I thought it through. We are buying almost all of our groceries at Trader Joes. The only two big things we buy there is health and beauty. If I watch sales I can get those cheaper elsewhere anyways. The last time I held a grudge was against Jack and the Box during the whole Ecoli thing in 1993. They thought my baby had gotten it second hand. The first time kids died Jack and the Box did not change their policy on cooking meat. It took another round of kids dying for them to do something. We boycotted Jack and the Box for 14 years. How many years can I go without going into Walmart to shop. John says it is only a matter of days.

Happy New Year

2008-01-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

I have not posted in a while. I have been in a tad bit of a funk lately. I am trying to pull myself out of this funk. I think the New Year has brought to the surface everything my family had to survive last year. I wonder if everyone has as much bad as we had with as much good as we had...okay the only really good thing was Maggie but she was an awesome good thing.

So John and I have been doing some talking and reflecting about what impact we are having on this planet and what kind of place our kids are going to inherit based on how we are living our lives. Over the last year we have really changed how we eat. Especially now with John's health etc. Not only have we changed the way we eat to be more organic, we are trying to be more green. To leave a smaller foot print on this earth. We have switched to all cloth diapers. We are buying the energy saving light bulbs. Reducing the amount of paper we use. We are trying to knock our garbage in half. We are still trying to figure out the food waste thing. We have pick up here once a week not sure how to store it until then though. Will any of this make a difference? I do not know but I know I can say, hey we are trying to do our part. What have you done to make this earth a better place to live.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a very sad and weird year for us. I am glad it is coming to an end. Maybe 2008 will be better. Of course I am not going to put my foot in my mouth and say it cannot be any worst...the universe has away of showing you how things can be worst. I am not totally writing off 2007, as we got our precious gift, Maggie. I am not sure if we realized how incomplete our lives were without her in it. She is the thing that unites us as a family and keeps us going. Pretty powerful for a pint size thing she is. Seriously who can resist that ear to ear smile.

We got to see how the other half of the nation lives on Christmas. We went out to eat for Christmas dinner. It was quite sad. We were the only family there until the end when another family arrived. It was mostly single people. We have to start new traditions now that we have lost my mom but I am not sure what those traditions will be yet. I am at a loss.

I am struggling with being gluten free. I keep on getting hidden sources of wheat. It is very frustrating as it makes both me and Maggie sick. We never know is it gluten making Maggie sick or is it something else. On the illness front we got Liam two appointments first one is in Bellevue and if that does not work out then we are taking him to New York City. Liam is doing okay now. He is not gluten free not eating well but not loosing weight. John got answers to his problems also. He has colitis. Not sure how he is taking that news. He does not seem to want to talk about it.

John and I are experiencing a quiet week with Levi visiting grandpa and Liam visiting Aunty. Hopefully we can use the time to declutter and catch up on some neglected housework. I swear it feels like I am always throwing things out. I am really not sure how it multiplies.

It is almost Christmas

2007-12-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe how fast time has flown. We are no where near ready for Christmas. Ironically enough I do not feel the sense of panic either. Levi and Liam put the tree up this year and did the decorations. It is crammed into the corner of the living room. It looks great! They did a nice job!
Maggie is growing leaps and bounds. She is talking a mile a minute and is starting to ask questions. SIGH time just goes way to fast.
We still have no news about Liam. We are waiting for a phone call from the hospital. We discovered today the phones are dead. No dial tone at all. The neighbor's phone is out too. Well that explains something.
John and I celebrated our 18th anniversary on Thursday. It does not get much better then this...we took a nap with Maggie.

Post Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T04:10:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.
Our Thanksgiving was very quiet. We stayed home this year. We spent the day missing Johnny. He spent it in Blaine with his girlfriend's family. I guess this is something that is coming with the kids leaving the nest, sigh. I did have to explain to Johnny though that he is suppose to call his mother on all high holidays or else he is not allowed to leave the house.

For once Liam was feeling a little bit better. We went out for dinner and to the movies. Maggie loved Thanskgiving. She was in hog heaven. She had a million different veggies for dinner. She had green beans for the first time. I am not sure what she liked more the green beans or the onions. Our plan was to take the family to dinner then to the movies. Maggie would sleep at the movies. You would think I would learn after 5 kids they are never going to do what you want. We went to see Enchanted. Maggie was enthralled and watched pretty much the entire movie. She did not nap at all on Thanksgiving. She ended up going to bed at 4:30 pm and not getting up until 7 am the next morning.

Mr. Liam is back to not feeling well again. Our brief respite was just that brief. It was funny at the movies. Liam has to have calories. Any calories. So we are ordering popcorn when Liam proclaims he just wants water. Liam loves water too bad it did not have calories. So John tells Liam no you have to have soda how about a sprite. Liam said no he just wants water. John says no you need soda so then they involve me ask your mother. So the 3 of us are arguing back and forth with John and I insisting Liam drink something with sugar in it and Liam saying no water was fine. I am sure the people around us thought we were the worst parents on the planet.

It is almost Turkey Day!

2007-11-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

I am sad right now. A year ago yesterday is when my mom had her stroke. She almost died this week last year. We had planned a big Thanksgiving feast with all of our family instead we stood vigil at her hospital bedside. I feared my mom would never get to meet my unborn child. Fortunately, for us, my mom lived for two months after her namesake was born.

We have been struggling in our household for two months now with sickness. I am sick of the sick. Liam has another ear infection. We just cannot seem to get healthy. On top of that we are really struggling with the gluten free thing. Ya that sums up our life, work, sick, gluten free, sick, work, gluten free who has time for anything else?

Last week we went to a gluten free bakery and spent a ton of money only to have most of what we bought turned out to be pretty gross. It was not bad tasting because it was gluten free more like they could not bake or cook. Made me feel good though, my Levi proclaimed my pizza was 100 times better then what we got at the bakery. I need to experiment more with the baked goods. I know I can come up with really good gf bread.