28 gallons

I got a surprise package delivered to my door today from the Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas. I stopped pumping just after Elijah turned 1 in October, and I hadn't sent a donation for a couple of months before that, so it was completely unexpected. It was a thank you letter and a certificate for donating 3,633 ounces of human milk.

That's right, folks. Just over 28 gallons of milk in nine or ten months. I would do it all over again. I would have donated milk when my other kids were babies if I had known about the milk bank and how easy it is to become a donor.

I am convinced that part of the reason for Elijah's good health (great for a baby with a CHD) and his speedy recoveries following his two open-heart surgeries was his exclusive diet of breastmilk. Elijah's first feedings were eight mL each, and the section in the Congenital Heart Surgery Unit milk freezer allotted to him was so full that they asked me if I could store my pumped milk somewhere else.

Jack saw a newspaper article about a woman who had donated her milk and forwarded it to me. I became a donor in less than a week after filling out some paperwork and getting a blood test done (paid for by the milk bank). I received containers for milk, printed labels, prepaid insulated mailing boxes, and reimbursement for dry ice. FedEx picked up the package and the milk bank sent me more supplies as soon as I requested them.

Doctors of premature babies feel that breastmilk is so important to their medical treatment that it's prescribed like a medicine and dispensed by an accredited milk bank. Milk banks depend on donations from lactating women whose infants are less than a year old. If you or someone you know might be interested in becoming a milk donor, please click on over to the Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas. I'd be happy to tell you more about my experience as a donor as well.

*This is an unsolicited plug for human milk donation. I just feel that strongly about it.

Christmas

I read this today on 71 toes, and I loved it. I was just thinking this morning about how different Christmas is this year for be because of how much I miss my Mom, but how it's not really that different, because Christmas for my family has always really been about Jesus and everything he did for us. I'm glad I can teach my children that, too.

"For Christmas is a beautiful time of the year. We love the excitement, the giving spirit, the special awareness of and appreciation for family and friends, the feelings of love and brotherhood that bless our gatherings at Christmastime.

In all the joyousness, it is well to reflect that Christmas comes in three levels: Let’s call the first the 'Santa Claus level.' It’s the level of Christmas trees and holly, of whispered secrets and colorful packages, of candlelight and rich food and warm open houses. It’s carolers in the shopping malls, excited children, and weary but loving parents. It’s a lovely time of special warmth and caring and giving. It’s the level at which we eat too much and spend too much and do too much–and enjoy every minute of it. We love the Santa Claus level of Christmas.

But there’s a higher, more beautiful level. Let’s call it the 'Silent Night level.' It’s the level of all our glorious Christmas carols, of that beloved, familiar story: 'Now in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus…' It’s the level of the crowded inn, and the silent holy moment in a dark stable when the Son of Man came to earth. It’s shepherds on a steep, bare hill near Bethlehem, angels with their glad tidings, a new star in the East, wise men traveling far in search of the Holy One. How beautiful and meaningful it is; how infinitely poorer we would be without this sacred second level of Christmas.

The trouble is, these two levels don’t last. They can’t. Twelve days of Christmas, at the first level, is about all most of us can stand. It’s too intense, too extravagant. The tree dries out and the needles fall. The candles burn down. The beautiful wrappings go out with he trash, the carolers are up on the ski slopes, the toys break, and the biggest day the stores in the entire year is exchange day, December 26. The feast is over and the dieting begins. But the lonely and the hungry are with us still perhaps lonelier and hungrier than before. 

Lovely and joyous as the first level of Christmas is, there will come a day, very soon, when Mother will put away the decorations and vacuum the living room and think, 'Thank goodness that’s over for another year.' Even the second level, the level of the Baby Jesus, can’t last. How many times this season can you sing 'Silent Night'? The angels and the star and the shepherd, even the silent, sacred mystery of that holy night itself, can’t long satisfy humanity’s basic need. The man who keeps Christ in the manger will, in the end, be disappointed and empty.

No, for Christmas to last all year long, for it to grow in beauty and meaning and purpose, for it to have the power to change lives, we must celebrate it at the third level, that of the adult Christ. It is at this level–not as an infant–that our Savior brings His gifts of lasting joy, lasting peace, lasting hope.

It was the adult Christ who reached out and touched the untouchable, who loved the unlovable, who so loved us all that even in His agony on the cross He prayed forgiveness for His enemies. This is the Christ, creator of worlds without number, who wept, Enoch tell us, because so many of us lack affection and hate each other–and then who willingly gave His life for all of us, including those for whom He wept. This is the Christ, the adult Christ, who gave us the perfect example, and asked us to follow Him. Accepting that invitation is the way–the only way–to celebrate Christmas all year and all life long."


"The article was written as a Church News editorial by William B. Smart, and appears in his book, Messages for a Happier Life (Deseret Book, 1989), pp. 33-34."

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving I invited my sister and her family to come to our house. It was my first time roasting a turkey, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. And it was yummy. My sister brought most of the rest of the food with her, which was nice for me.

We also invited a Chinese couple and their little boy. Lisa brought her camera and took lots of pictures. I'm glad, because I don't think I took any. After dinner, we played games. Ellen got the game Sorry! for her birthday, and we had a lot of fun explaining to James how to play.

Ellen loves Sorry!

Meanwhile, the boys were in the playroom closet making up games of their own. This is where our books are supposed to go.

Rose and Claire were dressing up, as patriotic princesses, I guess.

Hank loved it, even though there were times when he wasn't sure what to think of all these kids.

Inviting Lisa, James, and Hank to share our Thanksgiving dinner with us made this holiday so much more special for me. It was hard to dwell on what was lacking when Lisa and James had so many questions about what Thanksgiving is all about. I'm thankful for new friends, and so grateful for family.

Comfort food

I read this book last summer and loved it. I kept it so long I had to pay a fine at the library. I copied several pages of recipes to try. One soup recipe sounded delicious, and I have made it several times since then. There is something about the combination of flavors in a warm broth that I could just keep eating and eating.

So after spending a couple of hours this morning at the dentist's office having several teeth filled and a root canal done, the dentist said I could eat anything I wanted. That's right. No "eat soft foods for 24 hours" or anything. I was really, really surprised. I had already planned for chicken soup knowing I had an appointment, and it was a cold, cloudy, drizzly day anyway, but when I got all my regular chicken soup ingredients out, I realized I could make pho soup instead. Yum.

Vietnamese Soup in a Teapot

For the Pho Broth:

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 whole onion, peeled and cut in half

4 cloves garlic, smashed

2-inch chunk ginger, peeled

2 whole star anise

1 cinnamon stick

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed

2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce, or to taste

Juice of 1/2 lime

Salt and pepper to taste

For the Garnishes

1 package flat rice noodles soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and drained (or angelhair pasta cooked according to the package)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

a bunch of fresh leafy herbs, washed (for example: mint, basil, Thai basil, and cilantro)

1 cup fresh bean sprouts, rinsed and drained

2 tablespoons sliced scallions

2 medium carrots, peeled and grated

1 fresh red or green chile, sliced very thin.

Lime wedges

2 thinly sliced shallots or 1 small red onion, sliced (optional)

Asian chili sauce, more fish sauce, hoisin sauce

To make 6 servings:

In a large pot, bring the chicken broth, onion, garlic, ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick, and brown sugar to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until it is done. Skim the scum off of the surface of the soup. Take out the chicken and shred or cut it into bite-size pieces.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the rice noodles. Cook them in the boiling water, stirring, for 45 seconds. Drain the noodles in a colander, and rinse under cold water. Toss with the vegetable oil and put in a serving bowl.

Arrange the herbs in a glass of water as if they were a flower arrangement, and put them on the dinner table.

Put the chicken and remaining garnishes into individual serving bowls.

Bring the broth back to a simmer. Stir in the fish sauce and lime juice; add salt and pepper if needed. Strain the broth into a teapot. keep the remaining broth hot on the stove.

To serve, give each person a bowl, a spoon, and chopsticks. Let everyone fill their bowl with the noodles, adding chicken, squeezing lime, tearing off bits of herbs, then passing the teapot to pour the hot broth over.

Finally, adjust the flavors of your own soup to taste with the sauces and fresh chiles.

I've used both fresh ginger and ground, and replaced star anise with anise seed. I use a pitcher instead of a teapot. My kids love to put the noodles (any kind of pasta or rice), chicken, herbs, shredded carrots, and lime wedges in their bowls before I pour some broth over. Today I used leftover cilantro lime rice from last night, and leftover whole wheat macaroni from Sunday, straight from the refrigerator. The cold cooled off the boiling broth perfectly for my kids. They all asked for seconds, and Elijah liked it, too.

The recipe says that in Vietnam this soup is traditionally eaten for breakfast. I probably will. Yum.

Are you kidding me?

Today I pulled into the gas station to fill up, and as I moved toward an empty pump, I found another car pulling in from the other side, so I backed up and drove to the next pump over behind another customer. Then I saw the person I moved for pull all the way through and circle around again. I said, "Are you kidding me?" in an annoyed voice, and then I heard a little voice behind me say,

"No, Mommy. I not tidding you. I lissen you."

Are you kidding me? When did she get so big?

In a pinch

Need a hat? Or long Rapunzel hair?

Try a pair of pajama pants.

Or shorts. Those will do in a pinch. And have become the headgear of choice around here.

Need some gloves? Hand mittens.

Still getting into the season

Jack has a stealth dimple that only shows up when he's practicing extreme winking. He can also curl his tongue like a burrito.

Rose has crazy clothes coordinating skills, not to mention the winking as well.

My kids might have super powers.

Getting into the season

I love the look of extreme concentration, the skinny legs, the long eyelashes, and the shorts with a long shirt.

Elijah's most recent visit to the cardiologist just after Thanksgiving was exciting. He hated the monitors for the EEG, he screamed the whole time the radiologist was doing the heart echo, and I heard someone mention "maybe sedation." Then the cardiologist came in to see us and said Elijah looks great, they got plenty of information and pictures, his O2 is great, keep doing what you're doing and come back in four months.

Then out in the waiting area I stopped to put his jacket on before we headed out and someone waiting said, "Was that him crying back there?" Oh yes. They could hear him all the way out there. Awesome. There isn't anything wrong with his lungs, that's for sure.

White chili soup

I couldn't have been more shocked when I asked Ellen what she wanted to eat for her birthday dinner and she enthusiastically replied, "PINTO BEANS!!" I make pinto beans and cornbread for dinner about once a week, and I knew she liked them, but I had no idea they were her favorite.

Pinto beans are not my favorite, and in an effort to branch out to other varieties of beans I tried a white chili recipe a couple of months ago and then completely forgot about it until a few days ago. I searched my favorite food blogs to find the recipe again. No success. Then I thought to look in my cookbook.

Sure enough, that's where I originally found it. The recipe calls for canned beans and pre-cooked chicken, but I'm way to lazy to add any extra steps where crock pots are concerned, and I only had dry beans. I usually start crock pot dinners right after breakfast and don't think about them again until it's almost time to eat.

White chili soup (lazy style)

1 lb. dry white beans (I used navy), sorted and rinsed (no soaking necessary)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (mine were frozen)
1 large chopped onion

1-2 chopped red bell pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. crushed dried oregano

6 c. chicken broth

2 c. water

Place all ingredients in crock pot and cook on high for 6 hours. When the chicken shreds easily, turn the heat to low until ready to serve. Ladle into bowls with shredded Monterey Jack cheese and tortilla chips.

This recipe makes enough for my family of 6 plus some leftover for lunch the next day. Yum.

Cranberry orange muffins

Soon after I returned home from my mission I became friends with the mother of a seven-year-old and two-year-old triplets. She invited me to stop by whenever I wanted and I often went by their house on my way home from teaching school and stayed most of the evening to visit and help with the kids.

One day she was just finishing up with a batch of cranberry orange muffins with real cranberries and mandarin oranges in them. Delicious. To this day, they are the best muffins I've ever had.

A couple of years ago I was craving orange cranberry muffins and thought it would be no problem to Google a recipe. I discovered that there are hundreds of orange cranberry muffin recipes made with orange juice and orange zest, but it took a while to find one with both cranberries and oranges.

I made them again Sunday afternoon (while fighting off my kids who would eat nothing but mandarin oranges all day long if they could). The recipe made 36 mini muffins and they were the first to go. You might like them, too!

Cranberry Orange Muffins (from here on the Internets)

Yield: 1 dozen regular muffins or 3 dozen mini muffins

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

2/3 c. sugar

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

scant 1/2 tsp. salt

5 T. butter, melted

3 eggs

2/3 c. orange juice

1 T. grated orange peel
1/3 c. dried cranberries or 6 oz. fresh, quartered, cranberries
1 11 oz. can mandarin oranges

Instructions:

If using dried cranberries, soak overnight in juice from mandarin oranges.

Combine dry ingredients. Melt butter and whisk in eggs. Stir in orange juice and orange peel and beat well. Stir liquid into dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Add drained cranberries and halved mandarin oranges. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 min (large muffins) or 15 minutes (mini muffins).

Yum!

The reason for the season

I loved seeing this Sunday night during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. We had friends over to play, watch, sing, and eat peanut butter banana cookies, orange cranberry muffins, and brownies.

Inside, outside, upside down

School. So much to say. Where to start?

This book is part of Ellen's reading curriculum. I read it to Ellen, Ellen read it to me, Ellen read it to Jack Jack, Rose, Elijah, Daddy, and herself. We made our own Brother Bear and box, gathered trucks, and re-enacted the story of Brother Bear going to town "inside, outside, upside down."

It was fun.

Three little monkeys

Thus the season of candy began.

I always wanted to do this when I was a kid.

I'm so glad that I can live vicariously through my kids.

We've been coming here for years. It's about time this finally worked.

Wonder. Or shock and awe.

Maybe I should have tried to get all four kids up there together.

What does the world look like from inside a bubble?

Rose had to really work for this one. Standing still is not really her thing.

Birthdays are for eating.

Letter pancakes for breakfast.

Texas Roadhouse for dinner. The 12 oz. or the 16 oz.? Hmmm.

Cards and presents and cake on fire.

I'll just have a taste.

And finish up with a bowlful, so I can get a spoonful and a handful to put in my mouth. I'm full.

First birthday + red velvet cake + ice cream - clothes = first hose down in the bathtub.

Happy birthday!

There's nothing like a bath

to make you feel better.

After eating dinner with your hands.

And carving pumpkins with your hands.

Particularly Team Boys' scary pumpkin.

Seriously scared. Put me in the bathtub, Mom!

All clean. All better.

Pipe organs and hand bells

We took the kids to a Christmas hand bell concert at Baylor tonight. It was really fun to hear the Carol of the Bells played on lots of bells. No pictures.

About a month ago we took the kids to the Halloween organ recital in the same recital hall at Baylor.

Ellen with the program:

Watching the pre-recital show (set up and last minute practicing):

Roxy Grove Hall at Baylor and the pipe organ:

It was a Halloween organ recital on Halloween, so they encouraged dressing up. We revived our Incredibles t-shirts for Jack, Ellen, Jack Jack, and I, Rose went as a monkey, and Elijah was a very cute Pooh bear.

The organ was very loud. Ellen spent most of the recital with her hands over her ears. I spent most of the recital standing in the back with fussy Elijah and tired Rose.

During the last number, the kids quickly perked up when they saw the ghost puppets dancing in the pipes of the organ. It was hilarious and we were all entertained.

As we were walking out, they passed out candy. On our way back to the car Ellen said, "that was really, really fun. Can we go again next year?" I'm so glad we held out and stayed to the end.

What musical adventure is up next? A piano recital tomorrow night, and the end of my first semester as a "real" piano teacher.