I’ve never been one to make big New Year’s resolutions and advertise them. And when I’ve made resolutions in the past, they’ve usually fizzled by sometime in February or March. Most of the time they had something to do with eating or exercise. Well, I’m pregnant at the start of 2012, so no resolutions there. All I want is a healthy pregnancy! So I eat what I eat in my weird way of eating, and exercise when I can (this has been a rather physically challenging pregnancy), and it’s all good.

So now what? Do I have a resolution this year?

Not so much a resolution as a shift in attitude.

For a while now I’ve been contemplating the kind of mom I want to be, the kind of example I want to set for my kids. And as I’m rapidly approaching the age of 30, I’ve also been reflecting on my life to this point. And I’ve come to a conclusion.

I don’t have time for BS any more.

Pardon the language. But that’s really the phrase that has stuck with this whole thing. If I’m going to raise a family, get a degree, start a career, work in my mom’s ministry, and whatever the heck else God has for me in life, I don’t have time to BS around anymore.

I spent most of my 20’s with an “Oh, I’ll do it later…” attitude towards life. I was young, I had time!

Well, it’s later now. It’s later. NOW.  As in, TODAY. Later has arrived, people! It’s knockin’ on the door! And it’s not going to go away if I try to ignore it!

No more “I’ll do it later” attitude for me or my family. No more putting things off with lame excuses. I gave my husband a really good butt-kicking on this subject the other night when he was contemplating not doing a class for his Masters degree this quarter. He asked what I thought, and I told him straight up I thought it was a bad idea to not do it and that none of his reasons were good enough to me. I told him “No more excuses for our family – are you gonna do it, or are you not?” Well, he’s doing it, and after his first session glued to his computer doing schoolwork he came out of his office and thanked me for not going easy on him.

I’m not going easy on myself either. I know I’m never going to be Superwoman and “do it all” – that’s an unreasonable goal. But I can do something. My goal this year is to get into college.

Let me rephrase that. I am going to get into college. I don’t know yet which one. I have a few phone calls to make. And I’m probably going to have a few tests to take. So this is going to take a while. I probably won’t update everyone on every single little detail, but I’ll update whenever there is anything worth updating.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m crazy to tackle going back to school when I’m going to have two little kids, and possibly more by the time I finish. But the fact that always overcomes those moments is “Why not now?” I’m 28. I’m young. I have very supportive family and friends. My kids are young – they’re probably not even going to remember most of this madness! So why not go for it now?

What about you? Later is now – what are you going to do?

Here’s a hospital visit for ya, Mom and Dad!

Yep, we spent the first few days of 2012 holed up in a hospital room with the two-year-old. We headed to the ER Sunday evening when what started as a runny nose turned into labored, rapid breathing and they admitted us when his oxygen levels were at only 83%. Tests for flu, pneumonia, and RSV all came back negative, so it seems it was just a nonspecific bronchial virus. He spent Sunday night and his nap on Monday on oxygen as the virus resolved, and then last night he slept with no oxygen at all and his levels stayed up on their own!

So now we’re home. Kiddo is taking a quick nap in his own crib, Daddy is getting ready to go to work for the afternoon, and I’m watching grownup TV instead of Over the Hedge or Ratatouille. Thank goodness. Because those are the only movies he wanted to watch while we were at the hospital.

Otherwise the holiday season was great for us! I’ll do a happy post for you soon. I promise.

Kiddo had Roseola last week.

For those of you who may not know, Roseola is a sneaky disease. It poses as possibly a dozen other things for days before your kid’s fever breaks and then this weird looking rash randomly appears on their body and they turn into a Cranky Monster.

It all started last Sunday night – we had kiddo’s birthday party at my parents’ house that afternoon, and a little after midnight he got suddenly and violently ill. By morning he was running a fever, and by the way he reacted when I tried to take his temperature with the ear thermometer I had a feeling it was an ear infection. We ended up at Urgent Care that night (for both of us – I’m dealing with strained rib ligaments and was in so much pain I was in tears and couldn’t lift my son) and he did indeed have inflammation in his ears. They gave us a prescription for antibiotics and told us to keep giving him Tylenol or Motrin as directed, and home we went.

Me? I got nuthin’. Because I’m pregnant and there are like, oh, five medications in the entire world that I can take. So basically I get to just ride this thing out. I’m better now – in way less pain. It’s just taking time and caution. I try to lift the kiddo as little as possible and I haven’t exercised in way too long.

Kiddo’s fever lasted for three days. It stayed above 100 the entire time unless he was on Tylenol, which he started refusing because the antibiotics tasted nasty, so he refused all medicine.

We visited our pediatrician three times during the week. The first to make sure he wasn’t getting dehydrated, since he was barely eating or drinking and vomiting quite a bit. He was fine, thankfully.

The second time, it was to get an antibiotic shot. He was throwing up every time we gave him the oral antibiotics, and what good is medicine if you’re not keeping it down? We hated getting him a shot, but we reasoned that getting it over and done with all at once was going to be better for him than having to hold him down and force medicine down his throat twice a day only to have him throw it back up immediately. He took the shot like a champ – cried but didn’t scream – and recovered just seconds after the nurse was done.

They also told us about these acetaminophen suppositories we could use on him since he wasn’t taking oral meds at all…and I will say nothing more about that except I have now done things as a parent I never imagined myself doing…

The fever broke sometime Wednesday night. He woke up Thursday happier but still tired and much crankier than his normal laid-back happy self. He ate and drank a little more and still slept a lot.

Friday, when I went to change his diaper after getting him out of bed, there was this weird hives-like rash all over his torso! It freaked me out. I wracked my brain for anything we had done differently that might cause him to have a reaction like that, but nothing came to mind. All his lotions and soaps and our laundry detergent are fragrance-free and dye-free, and he hadn’t had any different food. Besides, in the past when he’s had allergic reactions his eyelids always swell. Always. Without fail. And his eyes were normal.

Hence trip #3 to the pediatrician!

They all kept asking about allergies, but Husband did a little research before we went and it sure looked like Roseola. Sure enough, our pediatrician confirmed it. There is nothing we can do to treat the rash. It’s not itchy or anything, it’s just there. Just a sign that he had Roseola. It explains everything he was going through – like I said before, Roseola can look like a dozen different things in the days leading up to the fever breaking and the rash appearing.

So now my kid just looks like I washed his clothes in the worst laundry detergent ever. The rash is gone from his torso, but currently covering his arms and legs. And his butt. At least it’s not itchy or painful. Nothing aggravates it, nothing makes it go away. It just hangs out until it decides it’s ready to leave.

And let’s not forget about the crankiness.

Child was – to put it delicately – not himself for a few days after the fever broke. It was like a cranky alien had taken up residence in his body. The fits he threw during those days were so epic, I had no idea a 2 year old could harbor that kind of rage. Every little thing set him off. It was exhausting. I could not calm him down. All I could do was put him somewhere he couldn’t hurt himself and walk away until the screaming subsided. It was awful. We did discover that if we turned on a certain DVD of baby worship songs and plopped him down in the middle of the floor in front of the TV with his Blanky, he’d chill out pretty quick.

I am now soooooo tired of that DVD.

Every online forum we looked at of parents whose kids had been through Roseola said the same thing – the fever breaks, and the kid warps into a little monster for a few days. Then it subsides and they return to normal.

We finally had a mostly normal day this past Monday. He threw one epic fit in the morning but was happy the rest of the day. He is now 100% back to his regular self.

So. That’s Roseola for ya. At least once he’s had it, he’s pretty much immune.

Thank goodness. Because that wasn’t fun.

I know, I know, how have we gotten halfway into December and I haven’t posted anything yet??? I’ll do an overview post this week. That’s easier than doing one post for every item, isn’t it?

But I did consider one thing worth its own post!

For many months now, we have had an issue with The Cup Throwing. It took place at the end of every meal – as soon as we said “All done!” kiddo would pick up his cup and hurl it with great force to the floor. Not angrily, he’d just expressionlessly pick up his sippy cup and launch it into orbit. Milk or juice would get splattered on the floor. And on more than one occasion, my bare or sock-clad toes were the landing spot of the cup. Which is not fun.

We tried everything. Disciplining him, ignoring it, all we could think of.

Until I had a lightbulb moment.

My son is a creature of habit. He knows his routines, he loves his routines, he thrives in his routines. So why not make the handling of the cup part of the post-meal routine?

Here’s how it had been going: Say “All done”, throw the cup, remove leftover food from highchair tray, clean up splattered beverage, clean up child, remove him from highchair.

And here is what I changed: Say “All done”, hand the cup nicely to Mommy or Daddy, remove leftover food from highchair tray, clean up child, remove him from highchair.

Why had I not thought of this before???

It was not easy to institute. Day 1, when he threw the cup, I calmly picked it back up, put it back on his tray, and explained that we were not going to proceed until he handed his cup nicely to me. He threw it again. I picked it up and explained again. He threw it again. I picked it up and explained again. And on and on the dance went. He threw that darn cup around a dozen times before he handed it to me. And that was just at breakfast!

I knew I had to remain patient and consistent. It wasn’t easy. Some meals went better than others. Breakfast was the biggest battle at first. And he threw fits. And he would hit me. When that happened, he got a time-out in his highchair. I just push it over towards the wall and turn the chair around so he’s facing away from everything. Very effective. Then, after he calmed down and “apologized” (leans in for a hug – child is still not talking) we’d try again.

It took a few weeks – good days, bad days – but the past few days, he has handed his cup over immediately! Cue happy dance!

Toddlers are not easy in a lot of ways. There are times I don’t know what I’m going to do, and times I wonder if I’m even doing anything right. But at the end of the day, I know my kid. And if I know my kid, I must be doing my job.

A little bit of encouragement in the often maddening maze of parenting a toddler.

…decent family photo!

Seriously, do you know what a big deal this is??? We tried to get a family portrait last year. Kiddo was having none of THAT business. In every picture he was sucking his thumb with his face half-hidden in my shoulder.

But this. THIS is pure family memory gold.

Okay, just to be clear, I don’t hate Black Friday. I pretty much avoid leaving the house at all costs on that day, but that’s just because I don’t do well in really crowded places and long lines. Just one of my little quirks. And the reason I try to go to Costco late on weeknights. I avoid that place like the plague on weekends.

Wait, where was I? Costco? No. Black Friday. That’s right.

Is it just me or does Black Friday get a little more insane every year? Bigger deals, bigger ads, earlier store opening times, the whole enchilada. Now, I love a good deal as much as the next person. Heck, my husband was in line at a store at midnight last night and I was a nice supportive wifey and told him to have a nice time. While I slept. Ahem. And then after I got up this morning I was on the computer clothes-shopping for Hubby because, duh, deep discounts and free shipping at the store we get most of his clothing at because they’re the only place we know of that carries his weird size in lots and lots of styles.

And their website did not crash three times and wipe out my cart and make me angry like it did last year. For which I am grateful.

So what I have to say about Black Friday has little to do with the actual shopping. It has to do with my heart.

I don’t have to tell you we live in a materialistic culture. And when Christmas rolls around, oh man, the retailers exploit that to the max. Advertising is everywhere – on the television, splashed all over the internet, on the radio, and lined up in a visual assault as you enter any store, even if you just need to pick up some socks that day. It can be hard to find a balance between being naturally excited and still keeping in perspective what Christmas is really about.

Because the thing is, when we start to talk about the real “reason for the season”, unfortunately we often come across as holier-than-thou. But if we’re excited about getting good deals on Christmas gifts, we can go too far to the materialistic side of things.

My brothers and sisters! Hear me! It does not have to be one or the other! We can find balance!

Christmas is multi-faceted. It’s the season of the birth of our Savior. It is a time to celebrate family and loved ones. It is a time to give and receive gifts. And all of the above can coexist in peaceful, happy harmony.

My perspective is a little different this year. We decided we would save up for Christmas, and whatever that budget is, that is what we have to spend. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Period. So those dollars are precious and we have to spend them thoughtfully. It’s made me think differently about gifts and realize that we can honor Christ with the way we give and receive.

I’ve always kind of thought differently about gifts. It goes back to when I was a kid. I remember when I would see commercials during cartoons for a flashy new toy, and oh did I want that toy! My little child heart desired it with every fiber of my being! I held on to hope that it would be wrapped in pretty paper for my birthday or Christmas. Usually, though, one of my friends got that toy first for whatever reason. No problem. I got to preview it! Woo hoo!

And then…when I saw it…when I played with it…it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the grand experience of the commercial. It was just something you turned on and sat and watched as it spun around and made noise and flashed lights. I came to realize throughout my childhood that I would rather have simple toys and my imagination than lots of flash and pizzazz.

As an adult, I’m kind of the same way. I like nice things, yes. But I like nice things I can use. Nice clothes I will wear for several seasons. Nice things for my kitchen I can use to make delicious food. Nice books I can read and make my imagination come alive. Nice music I can listen to that makes my heart soar.

And I love blessing people with gifts like that, things that speak to their hearts and have use in their lives.

This is where honoring Christ with gift giving and receiving comes in. With those precious few dollars we have carefully saved up to buy Christmas gifts, we have an opportunity to bless others. So this year, more than any other year, I’m thinking in terms of “What is a gift that would bless this person?” And I’m thinking in those terms for myself when others ask me what I would like as a gift. What are the things I would use and love for more than just a day? What are things I can use to bless others? Kitchen gear, for example falls into both categories for me, because I love preparing food for people. It’s one of my love languages or something! That’s why for the past several years kitchen items have been suggested a lot when people ask me.

So gift giving is about more than just ripping open paper. It’s an opportunity to really bless people, and to let others bless you too.

In conclusion, Black Friday does not have to be all evil. If you enjoy it, enjoy it! Use it as an opportunity to find gifts that would really bless people. You can have your Black Friday without being like the psycho lady in the red warm-up suit in the commercials for a certain retailer with a bull’s eye for a logo.

And if you’re like me and fear leaving the house on Black Friday, then cozy up on the couch with your hot beverage of choice and enjoy the opportunity to have a peaceful day at home.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love and laughter and turkey, and I look forward to sharing Christmas with you as well!

This one’s for you, Maryellen. And for anyone else who I told I would eventually do a post on this recipe!

This is actually a Rachael Ray recipe I knocked off and modified. Fewer fancier ingredients, different vegetables, and a cauliflower topping instead of mashed potatoes. It’s now one of our family favorites, and when I made it to take to a potluck tonight I figured it would be a good time to take pictures.

For the filling:

2 large carrots

2 stalks celery

A small bunch of green onions, or 1 medium regular onion

About 2 cups chopped chicken

Some olive oil or butter (whichever you prefer – I use olive oil)

2 Tablespoons flour

1 to 1 ½ cups chicken broth

Pepper and seasoning of choice

For the topping:

2 heads of cauliflower

½ to 1 cup chicken broth

A handful of shredded cheese (I use mozzarella, but any cheese you prefer will do)

2 egg yolks

Some chopped fresh parsley

Get the broiler in your oven preheating.

Now, take your cauliflowers.

Break those suckers down. Not stabbing yourself in the hand as you do this would be recommended. Yes, I have done that before.

Get the cauliflower steaming. It will be done by the time you finish the filling and get it bubbling.

Take your carrots, celery, and onions.

Chop them up.

Heat your oil or butter in a pan, and add the vegetables.

Cook them for a couple of minutes, then scoot them to the side, add more oil or butter, and the flour.

Mix that all together and let it cook for about a minute, stirring frequently. Then, slowly add the chicken broth. The mixture will thicken like gravy. Add more broth to thin it out as needed.

Look at that bubbly goodness! Now is a good time to add the chicken. This is chicken I had from when I roasted a couple of whole birds earlier in the week. Handy to have for recipes like this!

Add your seasonings.

I use pepper (the chicken broth has enough salt in it already for me) and Simply Organic all-purpose seasoning. Gives a nice herby flavor without being overwhelming.

Cover, reduce heat, and let the filling bubble while you deal with the now-cooked cauliflower.

Put the cauliflower in the blender or food processor and take it for a spin, adding chicken broth to thin it out as needed. You’ll want it pretty smooth.

Put the pureed cauliflower back into the hot pot (after removing the steamer basket and dumping out the water, if that’s how you do it) and add the cheese, egg yolks, and parsley. Season with a bit of pepper as well if you wish. Mix thoroughly.

Dump the filling into your favorite casserole dish. My favorite is my red oval one. It makes me feel fancy. Like a TV chef.

Dump the cauliflower mixture over the filling and spread it out evenly.

Place it on the middle rack of the oven and broil until the top starts to turn golden brown.

When it’s done, sprinkle the top with a bit of paprika. It makes it pretty. Then dig in!

I don’t have any pictures of the digging in part. Because we took it to a potluck. And we ate it. And it was delicious.

Grown-up variation: You can initially deglaze the filling pan after the flour with ½ a cup of dry white wine, before adding the chicken broth. This is quite delicious, but toddler tastebuds do not always appreciate it.

I’ve been jokingly accused of being a Scrooge.

It’s not that I don’t like Christmas, I just have my preferences on some things.

Two things people automatically find Scrooge-ish about me: I don’t like pumpkin pie (which I’ve talked about before – it’s why I make cranberry-apple pie for holiday dinners), and I hate eggnog. Hate. As in, with a passion. I find it to be completely disgusting. I do not mind if Husband brings a carton of it into the house for himself to drink, but I will not touch the stuff. I tried for years to choke down a small glass of eggnog on Christmas Eve every year, until it occurred to me that I could say “no thank you.” There is no Eggnog Police making sure everyone drinks eggnog on Christmas.

If there were, that would be funny. Imagine the uniform potential!

I’m also fairly picky about Christmas music. The only Christmas music I listen to is Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Celtic Woman, and Eden’s Bridge. If anybody knows any good artists of that genre who have good Christmas albums, feel free to recommend them. I’d love to expand my list!

And Christmas movies…there is really only one that I truly love. One that I will watch every year. One that makes me laugh and gives me warm fuzzies every single time I watch it.

This little gem.

We finally own it! Early Christmas present to ourselves. You know what I love about this movie? It truly captures the magic of Christmas without having to insert a love story or something like that. All it does is show Christmas through a kid’s eyes as you laugh at his family’s antics. It never gets old for me.

“You’ll shoot your eye out! You’ll shoot your eye out!”

Classic. Absolutely classic.

All of the above being said, I’m getting crazy into the Christmas spirit early this year. Already I have asked to play Christmas music while we’re doing housework during Caleb’s nap over the weekend. I don’t know what changed. There’s just something about it this year. I can’t wait to put up the tree and see what Husband does with the lights on the house this year (although we will still wait until after Thanksgiving to do those things – that’s just how we roll).

And I have the urge to get a big pot of cider simmering on the stove. Does anything say “Christmas” more than the scent of hot cider wafting through the house? While Josh Groban’s rendition of “The Little Drummer Boy” plays in the background?

I think not.

I know I’ve been kind of quiet on the blogging front recently. Life just got busy there for a while, and then I got sick there for a while too. First it was the nausea, which is GONE thank goodness. Then I came down with a nasty sinus infection that hung on for two weeks before I went to my OB (I go to my OB for everything when I’m pregnant) to get some help, then it took another week after that for it to clear up. In the meantime, I was wiped out from being sick and just did not have the brainpower to blog. I’d sit down, try to start writing, and go blank. So I just kind of rolled with it and took a break to rest and get over being sick.

And if I had blogged, it would have been about being sick, and I didn’t think you’d want the details of my nose-blowing, Zofran-popping existence from those few weeks.

Everything is going well in our household, though. I’m 14 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good overall. The baby is healthy and we’ll get to find out the gender next month! Yay! Caleb is…well, he’s his happy adorable self, getting into everything and watching “Ratatouille” as much as I’ll let him and throwing fits like a champ when he wants to but always coming to Mommy for a hug to make up afterward. I love that little boy. Every time I look at him I just about can’t stand it. In a good way.

Husband has been really, really busy at work recently, bless his heart, but he got a much-needed break this weekend. I’m a teeny bit jealous that I didn’t get to go with him (I’ll tell you where he was when he gets back and has pictures for me to share), but I am genuinely happy that he got to go do what he did.

Speaking of which, It’s just about time for me to go pick up Husband at the airport! Schmoopy scene that will make onlookers gag and retch, here I come!

Home during the day and not feeling well, I turned on our streaming Netflix and chose a film that looked interesting to me. A documentary titled “Buck”. I’d seen the preview online some time ago and remembered it as intriguing, the story of a real-life “horse whisperer”.

And people.

WOW.

I’ve watched it again since then (I had to share it with Husband – he loved it too!) and I would watch it a third time. And a fourth. And maybe a fifth.

The insight this man has not just into horses, but into people and life, is extraordinary. Simple, yet profound. And what he’s able to do with horses is nothing short of astonishing. Beautifully filmed, it is a feast for the eyes and for the heart.

AND it’s rated PG so you’re getting a clean film in the bargain. Young kids might find it a little slow-paced. But it’s thoroughly enjoyable for older kids and adults.

Check out the preview if you’d like. Then go watch this film. I’m relatively sure you won’t regret it.