Praying with one eye open

When we were little girls, we used to get in trouble if we caught a sister with their eyes open during prayer…because of course, that meant our eyes were open too. When I pray, I like to close my eyes…I can block out all the distractions around me, try to connect my thoughts, “search me and try me o God”. I once tried hiking and praying with my eyes open and praying out-loud. It was a bit awkward for me but I was willing to try it until I ran into another hiker.

In past weeks, Abby has gotten a lot more mobile. During devotion time, she is constantly getting into trouble. Now I must pray with one eye open and less than half of my faculties working well. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when our own prayers are less than coherent!

Quilt top nearly finished

Today I was able to finish the blocks and get them all sewed together. The quilt top is finished except for the border that I will put around it. I need something for the inside border but then the outside border will be a thin strip of the red/orange material. I am thinking that I will make this into a duvet cover instead of a traditional quilt since I already have a duvet. By the way, I think I am now addicted to making quilts. It is so much fun to see the fabrics come together!

One thing that I was surprised to learn about making quilts is that they are pretty forgiving with mistakes. I am not so much of a detailed person when it comes to crafts, cooking, etc so this was a lot of fun and hid my mini-failures.

Buffets

I have a love/hate relationship with buffets. I feel like I always overeat at buffets in order to “get my money’s worth”. I mean, who goes to buffets for a nice gourmet meal? No! You go to buffet to get quantity. So, for the most part, I resist buffets. There are two exceptions to my rule. The first is Chinese. I love Chinese food – it’s my all time comfort food. I would never be able to pick only one dish and be satisfied so Chinese buffet is great. My other exception is indian food. I just love indian food – probably my favorite ethnic food genre. It’s the only place where if I leave feeling overstuffed, I’m okay with it. Since we moved here, we pass an Indian food restaurant every time we leave the apartment. Today we finally went there for lunch. We weren’t planning to go when we left the house for church so we didn’t have any food packed for Abby. She also hadn’t slept at church so she was tired. We decided to risk it anyway and went on in. Paul and I took turns getting our plates full from the buffet. The names of the dishes were the same as other Indian restaurants we’ve been to but the food wasn’t quite the same. It was okay. Probably wouldn’t go back to this same one. There was one dish with curried potatoes and cauliflower. I sliced them up and let Abby at them and boy! did she enjoy it. Her hands and shirt were stained that bright yellow curry color. I’m actually not sure if there was more food on the floor or that she ate. We became that family that left a disaster behind us. Thankfully we were in the back corner and maybe, just maybe no one else would even venture back there.
On a completely different topic – Abby is definitely learning the word “no”. She’s been doing this nasty whining that we’ve been working on with her. This morning when I said “no, ma’m”, she immediately started crying for real. Just a few minutes ago, I told her “no” when she was trying to reach for the computer. Again, she started crying. So….progress!

Valentine's Day

I wanted to make Valentine’s Day special for Paul so first thing in the morning, I put a bottle of wine, some dark chocolate and a card at his place at the table. I also wanted to make him a nice dinner. We didn’t really want to go out and also don’t have a babysitter so chef Sarah took over the kitchen. I asked Paul what he would like several times throughout the week and finally it was up for me to surprise him. I know he loves Mexican food so I decided to try to make fajitas (I’ve never actually made my own before). The meat soaked in lime marinade all day and then I fried it up with some onions and peppers. I also made Spanish rice from scratch – better tasting than the box and pretty easy too! For dessert, I made molten lava cakes. Paul tried to feed Abby before we ate so that he and I could eat at the same time. Abby started throwing a fit, didn’t want to eat, then screamed and screamed. I was trying to pass the Spanish rice and knocked over my wine glass, spilling wine all over the tortillas and Abby’s dinner – hey that might help her sleep J Finally, we decided to put Abby down in her crib and start over. Abby slept for about 30 minutes and was refreshed when she got up. She then ate and played – for those of you worrying that I fed her spinach soaked in wine, never fear, new batch of pureed spinach coming up. During her nap, Paul and I had a very delicious fajita dinner. My molten lava cakes worked!!!! I have a sweet husband who cleaned up after dinner and is now giving Abby a bath so she can go to bed. By the way, he also got me orange roses – my favorite! I love how he loves me – both practically (with dishes, cleaning, Abby) and impractically (roses, cards, etc). God has blessed me with the husband that I needed in so many more ways than I ever knew while we were dating. Random fact: Paul and I never had a Valentine’s Day while we were dating. This is our third as a married couple

Starting a quilt

I started on my quilt this week. I've never done one before and actually never wanted to make quilts until recently. I had in my mind that quilts only looked a certain way and I wasn't a huge fan. And then my friend Bev, showed me quilts from magazines that were not your grandmother's quilts. Bev let me borrow the pattern which I am now using. At first, I was going to try to do just a small one but then Paul wanted one for our bed...so my quilt grew. My quilt is browns and oranges...the main blocks are african in print. The one I finished today was the african mask...I need to do 4 more like this one. Each block is 18 inches wide so it's quite a large block.

Who would have thought that I would have become this interested and consumed with quilting? I am already imagining my next one....one at a time...right? :)

9 month check-up

On Monday, we took Abby for her 9 month checkup. She weighed in at 15 pounds, 1 ounce and is 25 3/4 inches long. I chose to go to the SIU teaching clinic. My thoughts were that an experienced pediatrician would be assisting a new doctor and wow! I would get really great medical care. Instead, only the resident came in, very nervous I might add, and seemgly out of his element. After asking me “Did she come in for her 8 month check-up?” (there is no 8 month check-up) he then proceeded to ask “What shots are we getting today?” (There are no shots scheduled at the 9 month check-up). Another weird question – is she gaining weight appropriately?” Well, in my “professional” opinion yes but isn’t that why we are here. Finally, after a barage of questions, we got to the actual physical. Paul was the one holding Abby and talk about awkward. Paul had never been to a check-up like this before so I don’t blame him at all. The dr. though, well eh should know better. He was trying to look in Abby’s ears with her sitting up. With a squirmy baby, not a good idea – one jerky move and that ear piece would go just a bit too far. I could tell the doctor was not comfortable with it and finally he said “why don’t we lie her down?” Most pediatricans that I have been to tell me what they are doing and giving assessments as they go such as “she has good reflexes” or “she has great eye movement”. Nothing from him. He started checking her hips and kept pusing her legs around to the point where Abby was screaming. Sorry but Abby doesn’t cry very easily – in fact she had blood drawn and DID NOT cry. But the dr. kept on and kept on. I could tell that he thoughts something wasn’t right. He slipped out to get the senior resident. During this little break, we tried to calm Abby down thought her little body is heaving with sobs. Senior dr. comes in and repeats almost the entire physical ending with the hip area. He showed jr. doctor how the fats rolls are identical on both the front and the back and thereofre everything was fine. Junior dr. finishes up with us and tells us we are free to go. Abby is still bawling at this point so after dr. leaves, I try to nurse her and comfort her. She still isn’t even dressed either. Well I guess we took too long because jr. doctor comes back in adn tells us that we can leave. Poor uncomfortable doctor. I thought we were finally done but as we were checking out, senior dr. runs us down and asks for our phone number “just in case we need to follow-up”. That evening, jr. dr. calls and tells us that he forgot to tell us that we need to get hemoglobin checked and then Abby should start taking vitamins. I said I had a couple quesitons. ”Did Abby need to take vitamins if her score was okay?” ”Yes, it is recommended” Then I asked what they thought was wrong with Abby’s hips. ”Oh nothing, she was just fighting me hard”.

So Tuesday we go to get her hemoglobin checked. I pick up the orders and see three tests – hematocrit, hemoglobin and lead. I wasn’t told by all these. The dr. promised me it would only take 10 minutes. 45 minutes later, we were finally called in. I told the “nurse” that we didn’t want the lead test. She argued with me and finally said “Well, it’s kinda required”. ”By who?” I ask. ”Well the state in certain areas”. I said I still didn’t want it done and she said “Well, I’ll just let the doctor know”. Okay, fine.

Wednesday afternoon, jr. dr. calls, Paul answers. He says Abby’s levels are “low” and go immediately and get the prescription which is already at our pharmacy. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him but I wish I did. The “low” level wasn’t actually in the bad zone – just above it. I would rather try to correct any low levels via diet rather than medicine. So now the question…do we get the vitamins and then just store them or do we just completely ignore the fact that the prescription is at the pharmacy?

Final irony. Jr. dr. says that Abby’s lead levels are fine. After I refused??

9 months old today

Abby is 9 months old today. I am sitting here watching her play on the floor where she is rolling over and over until she gets where she wants to get. This is brand new. It's almost as if her body knew she was hitting the 9 month mark and said "Get mobile now". I guess that means we have to babyproof the house now. I think she'll find out soon enough that rolling is not an efficient way to get around and hopefully figure out crawling. Another fun thing Abby is doing is trying to mimic what we are doing when we talk. She can say bababa now. She used to do "k" sounds - I know - backwards. She has also figured out to do the "all done" sign with her hand but she does it all the time, even when hungry so no context for it yet, I guess. We're only using three signs so far - "more", "all-done" and "please". Question for mothers out there. Is juice necessary for babies/toddlers? Do they really get important nutrition from juice? Abby so far does not like juice and loves water. I am fine with this and would actually prefer it. I don't want to push juice on her unless she needs it. I was thinking that it has got to be better to eat your veggies and fruit than to drink it.