I cannot believe both our teams made it to the final game of the NCAA championship. J has always been a Michigan fan and we love Louisville, so as a first time March Madness bracket participant those are the teams I picked (with Louisville winning in the end). Yesterday was the final four games so my two youngest wore these shirts and showed their team spirit at the park. 

I got a lot of cute pictures of them together, but now that Michigan and Louisville both made it to the National Championship this picture is priceless!

A couple years ago I mentioned Z was obsessed with maps and geography. Well, the fascination has only grown since then. This year he has tackled memorizing and being able to recognize all 50 states.The memory cues that he uses to get them “stuck in his head”, as he calls it, are pure genius. Of course this is coming from his mom who is bias, and thinks knows each of her children are brilliant. I make no apologies. 

 Arkansas– tea cup

Minnesota– a pillow with a bite taken out of it

 North Carolina– diamond

Nevada– kite

and of course many states that look like guns, knives, and dogs. He is a boy.

This video was shot while showing Z a picture of a map and pointing to each one. He can identify any state, in any order, on any US map. I hope you enjoy his enthusiasm in this video as he channels in his super powers to oblige his mother in the making of this movie.

Next up, continents.

We had a nice, but low key Easter this year. The kids did an egg hunt at the church the weekend before and they each got a chocolate bunny from my parents which were part of a part of a fundraiser for SJ’s school, and that was it as far as festivities go. I wore the same dress I wore last year only I wasn’t 3 months pregnant this time.

You can’t really tell in this photo other than my hands and Z’s foot holding her back, but SJ was acting like a wild child. I told my brother (the one taking the picture) that trying to get a family photo immediately after service is like shaking up a soda and then attempting to drink it right away. I don’t know why they are so crazy after church, but between the dozens that he took we somehow managed to got a decent shot. Next time I think I will just hire a 3 year old female stunt double.

The previous week we had celebrated Palm Sunday in a way I will never forget. Our pastor lined up a beautiful service of worship through the arts, and not to brag, but I have such an artistic family that many of them were involved.

My brother Jeremy did an extraordinary painting live throughout the morning. It breaks down the crucifixion story into 14 different segments (the traditional stations of the cross)

 and my brother painted each of them in an hour and a half.

 At the end our pastor had him explain the piece and Jeremy laid it all out according to what time of day everything happened and he made it all very personal. He was crying. I was crying. There were a few hundred people crying and worshiping together in church that morning remembering what Christ did for us. It was inspiring. On top of that Jeremy’s wife (my sister in law) did a beautiful dance with some of her friends. I had never seen her dance before so that was really neat experience too.

I’m blessed be a part of such a talented family and even more so to serve a awesome, majestic, powerful, creative, loving, and LIVING God!

Hello April and hello to having a 6 month old! He’s already half way through his first year. Ezie is all over the place developmentally. On one hand he’s ahead of his peers by having the physical attributes of some one year olds.

Everyone says E looks like his dad.

He’s 18 1/2 pounds and just over 26 inches.

First Easter

He wears some 6-9 months clothes and I find myself putting him in 12 month clothes more and more often. He also has 8 teeth now! Yes, eight teeth at 5 months old. I never even knew that could happen. He had the bottom 2 at 3 months and then nothing for a long time until we noticed all of the top front 4 looked like they were about to come in. I was so busy looking at the top I hadn’t even notice that there were two more that had already shot up on the bottom. In about 10 days he cut 6 teeth.

Ties are for chewing!

 He’s such a trooper about it too. The way these teeth are taking over he’ll probably be opening aluminum cans with them when he’s two. I am kidding, but he is a bruiser for sure!

UT shirts from their Uncle.

It’s quite deceptive actually. Here I have this hearty boy that looks like he can hold his own, when really he can’t even hold his own pacifier with too much coordination.

SJ giving the baby a bath.

He doesn’t scoot, sit up, or roll over. He’s a very observant, interactive, and content little guy though.

I haven’t gotten a picture where you can see his teeth, but they are all broken through.

 As far as being concerned about developmental delays he doesn’t show any warning signs like being floppy or stiff. In fact Z was the same way. He never really rolled over. He mostly just laid there until he started crawling. I think it’s harder for the big fat babies to get around. I know how technical and savvy I must sound right now, but I am a mother of three so that must give me some credit.

I think I wear him more than I did my other two.

That’s 6 month old baby E in a nutshell,  a carefree gentle giant.

The sun did come out at the end of Spring Break.

I still haven’t given him any solids nor has he slept through the night other than one time for 7 hours. I guess with that mouthful of teeth he’s ready chomp into some food pretty soon here and hopeful the sleep will follow. HOPEFULLY.

We went the children’s museum yesterday with some friends.  It was a play date sort of thing. While stoping to nurse E and get the other kids a snack my friend broke out all kinds of organic goodness for  packed up in these adorable little cloth sandwich bags. Fortunately she brought enough to share with all the kids, which was good because all I brought was some easter candy from the church egg hunt in case I needed to bribe them out of the building (it happens from time to time). I call it hush money.

I want my kids to be healthy. Shoot, I want to be healthy, but despite my attempts at new years resolutions healthy habits are often out ranked by convenient ones.

Last night I tried to make up for it by pulling together a recipe from my pinterest board.

 The previous pinner had labeled it “Kid-approved spinach recipes” so I thought it would be worth a try.

My brother, who I live with, is working on implementing videography into his recording studio. You have to be prepared to be filmed at all times when you are around him, and today this little clip showed up on Facebook.

It’s a just glimpse of what I was cooking in the kitchen, but I thought I would share it because the recipe actually turned out pretty good. My kids were eagerly eating something with spinach in it and we had leftovers for lunch today. I was worried that frozen spinach might somehow be void of nutrients, but it’s quite the contrary. Frozen spinach is really nutritious, probably even more than the spinach you find in the produce section. So if you are interested in the recipe from All You here it is.

Spinach-and-Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Ingredients

• 24 jumbo pasta shells
• 1 15-oz. container ricotta
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella 
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
• 1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten 
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 26-oz. jar spaghetti sauce 

1. 1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Mist a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Cook pasta shells according to package label directions; drain and set aside to cool. While pasta cooks, in a large bowl, stir together ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan, spinach, egg, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and nutmeg.
2. 2. Spread 3/4 cup spaghetti sauce over bottom of baking dish. Stuff shells with cheese-and-spinach mixture and place in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over shells and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella.
3. 3. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake about 10 minutes longer, until bubbly and cheese begins to brown.

Oh yeah, and today I order one of those reusable sandwich bags. Their called Lunchkins. Isn’t it cute?
Maybe I will be inspired to fill it with healthy snacks for the kids and I. Or maybe I’ll fill it with hush money. Either way I look forward to filling it.

The snow this year just doesn’t quit. I am not complaining though (other than getting sick of wearing boots everyday).

So even though our first spring break hasn’t been the typical tulips, beach balls, and sunshine that you think of with spring, we’ve still had a good time so far.

Meme came to town and we built snowmen and had snowball fights.

Then we met up with “the cousins” at Chuck E. Cheese. We are on Chuck’s email list because they give freebies every now and then, like 20 free tokens for your half birthday. The half birthday thing cracks me up though, because my kids are exactly 2 and a half years apart, so to really do up the 1/2 thing would be stealing thunder from the real birthday! Regardless of that little tidbit, we used up all 40 tokens along with cashing in the winning tickets for some measly prizes. What more could a kid ask for?

In other birthday freebie news, SJ’s birthday package from Totter’s Otterville came with an extra ticket for the birthday child, so we used that yesterday and they played hard!

SJ spent a lot of time dancing in the ballet studio, but she also set up this whole gourmet meal for her baby.

And Z made a new friend.

Here they are in the Otterville grocery store dressed up as mailmen adorned with batman face paint. The other little boy looked like a batman mask and Z had the bat signal on one cheek and Superman logo on the other. When the boy saw Z he shouted “MINE is even MORE COOLER than yours!” I cringed and held my breath to see how Z would respond to this typical boy competitiveness. He just smiled and said “Mine is Batman Superman” and he was so kind about it. I exhaled and they ran off to the ball pit.

I am still hoping to fit in a trip to the children’s museum, and of course Easter is on Sunday, then it will be back to the grind stone. Have you seen any signs of Spring yet?

These are some pictures of our family doing an Easter craft last year.

The significance of these photos is that they were taken on April 3, 2012 which was the last day of life as I knew it.

I heard someone say that you know you are special needs mom when your life can be categorized into two segments: before your child’s diagnosis and after.

I relate to this. SJ’s diagnosis was kind of gradual in the way that we found out, but the first time anyone labeled her as a child with hearing loss was April 4, 2012. As we approach the anniversary of that date I am reluctantly adjusting to the idea of passing that one year mark.

I was out shopping recently when I noticed they had put out the seasonal St. Patrick’s Day displays. SJ’s birthday is right around St. Patty’s day which was part of what inspired the GREEN eggs and ham party theme. That’s when it hit me. I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of the aisle and gripped my shopping cart as my mind took me on a rapid pace roller coaster ride reviewing the sequence of events that had transpired over the past year.

SJ’s birthday. Not talking. Doctor. Questions. To do list. ENT. Sound booth. Denial. Loud bell. No response.

She. Can’t. Hear.

Pause.

My heart was pounding and I had to catch my breath.

Shortly after her diagnosis was confirmed I remember packing up her little 18 month clothes and I felt like I was parting with “the hearing SJ” and putting all of those memories in a box. As the anniversary of her diagnosis approaches I find myself revisiting some of those feelings all over again. Every month, every holiday, every little outfit that she’s outgrown seems to trigger memories of the valleys that we walked through last year. I still feel like I am walking around in shoes that don’t fit sometimes, but I guess all mothers feel that way and we just need to grow into them. God knows the hairs on my head, he certainly knows my shoes size, before diagnosis

and after.

I have a whole grab bag of thoughts (and a couple questions) for you on this Miscellany Monday.

I have a new obsession called the Library. My sister in law (the one I live with) took me a few weeks ago and all they required for membership was local mail with my name on it. So I got a card and I go often. Lately I have been talking up my Library membership like it is the new iPhone. I am that cool.

 I know Valentine’s Day was a month ago, but SJ had surgery that day so we basically didn’t acknowledge it at all. We did however go to a young married party at our church that weekend and we played the newly wed game. It was so much fun. I loved seeing how alike and different J and I answered each question.

One question was
“If there were a fire what 3 things would your husband try and save?”
My answer was family, computer, and photos. And while most husbands answered that they would save their wife and/or children, the answers ranged from pets, to guns, to TV. I knew J wouldn’t save our TV because we have a 13 year old box TV that switches from color to black and white, the latter being more and more frequent. In fact I think if we saw a fire fighter coming out of a burning house with our TV we would throw our hands out and scream “Noooo! Put it back!!!” Anyway, back the game, when it was J’s turn to answer he said “family, computer, and photos” SCORE!

Another question was which would your husband least want to do, go shopping with you, or clean the toilet? I misunderstood and thought it said which would your husband rather do, so I said go shopping. All the guys were answering, go shopping, go shopping, go shopping. Then J meekly squeaked out scrub the toilet. I was shocked and blurted out “WHAT YOU WOULD RATHER SCRUB THE TOILET THAN GO SHOPPING WITH ME!?” That’s when everyone explained what the question actually was. Which made sense, because shopping is one of our favorite things to do together, but then it hit me… “Sooo… all of you guys would RATHER scrub the toilet?” There was a resounding yes. I never knew J was such a rare find.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about and wondering if I am a minority in is the use of area codes. I am old enough to remember not having to use an area code, but these days its 10 digits and that’s that. The problem is not everyone sees it that way. I have to exchange phone number a lot because of SJ’s appointments and I start with (972) and then give the rest and it throws people because they automatically put in the local area code. Or if they give me their office number they leave out the area code and inside I am thinking “REALLY? You expect me to know the area code. Not only am I new in town, but even if I weren’t there are several different area codes in one metroplex. Add the mass use of cell phones and you are dealing with even more!” So what do you think, area code, or no area code? That is the question.

Lastly I leave you with the quote that’s been in my mind the most lately.