Jumping Daisy

>Thea’s first boat ride…I think she liked it!

Daddy helping Leila fish…they were unsuccessful, but Leila did get to see another kid catch a cat fish. She asked me, “Can I pet it?!?!” I told her she could pet her own fish if she caught one. I am glad she didn’t catch one.

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I found this picture on my phone memory card when looking for vacation pictures. It was taken in July of 2007, during my Uncle Jim’s funeral Cory took Leila outside to walk around and she found these very friendly kittens.

These pictures are from the last time that my Grandma Dalene saw Leila before she died. How the time has flown by.

>I recently finished reading this book and I had to post about it. The Author is a pediatrician named Mark Sloan, and here is the book:

This book was truly amazing! I haven’t really been into reading books in the last few years with everything else that I have going on, but lately I have rediscovered the public library as a great “Mommy Day” Activity when I am home with the girls, and as a wonderful resource for information on whatever I happen to be interested in learning more about that day.
I tend to read non fiction books. I generally feel that if I am going to take the time to read a book, I want it to be filled with truth…I can create my own fiction, but good informative prose feels like a good use of my reading time.
On the day that I discovered “Birth Day” I was browsing through the new books section of the library and since I am a mother who recently gave birth, this book drew my attention. I have to say though, that this was such a really interesting read that I would recommend it to anyone, no matter what your experience is with childbirth.
The book is filled with interesting medical information about the process of childbirth as a child goes from fetus to newborn and also includes lots of interesting historical information. I had always kind of wondered how it happens that a baby goes from living in a bag of water to breathing air in no time flat and now I know, and you can too!
On top of everything else, the Author adds a personal anecdotal touch to his book, that really keeps you engaged. Definitely check out this book, I can’t recommend it enough!

>My sister Cassie has been living with us since sometime early this year…before Thea was born. She had kind of a crappy living situation and were more than happy to coerce her to move in here with us to escape the creepy roommate and not have to pay rent at two places.
So anyway, today is a very sad day for me…Cassie is moving on to her next home. When I moved out of my parents house in 1999 Cassie was 13 years old. We didn’t have much in common, and I think we irritated one another more than anything else. Over the past ten years a lot has changed, and the 5 year age difference between us seemed like much more of a real difference back then. After being blessed with a few short months sharing a roof with my little sister again I feel like I had the opportunity to get to know Cassie the woman, and realized how much we have in common, and how much I like her.
Cassie is great friend. It was interesting for me to hear about our childhood through her eyes, something that I hadn’t really heard before. Maybe the best part of having a Cassie was the help. She has been a lifesaver during these months with a new baby around and a very active 3 year old. It is kind of like having a sister wife that you don’t have to share your husband with! I have had it good, and I haven’t taken it for granted. I think that decades from now I will remember this time that we had together and I will be happy to have had the pleasure of sharing my home with my sister. Cassie is pretty awesome, even aside from the help around the house and with the babies, she is funny, smart and beautiful and one day she is going to make one amazing mother.
I love my Cassie, but I think Leila will miss her the most. Cassie’s new house is only across town though, so she best plan on making frequent visits so we can all get our Cassie fix in.

I feel like I should have more to say, but right now I am just not feeling inspired, so I will just say this– Everyone should have a Cassie.

>We spent a week in Missouri visiting with family and hanging out by the lake. Thea and I had a very relaxing week of napping and hanging out in a cabin where I didn’t have to think about my mess and all of things I need to do around my house, so I had a very nice relaxing time in spite of the fact that we didn’t spend much time out and about. The rest of the family had a great time out on the lake in Dad’s boat and with Uncle Randy’s jet ski’s.
Thea did take her first boat ride, a short little cruise around the lake. Since the water is so smooth down there, it was nice to get to take her out. The water on the reservoir up here is always very choppy and I wouldn’t feel comfortable having my little baby jostled around in a boat.
Unfortunately, the day before we left for our trip Cory’s Dad suffered a stoke. We decided to go ahead with our trip as he seemed to be doing pretty well on Saturday morning. Things turned badly for a bit but Ed seems to be recovering very well and you would never guess that a week ago he was in a very sensitive medical state. He is still in the Hospital at the University and Cory and I and Thea came back early from vacation to spend some time with him. We expect him to be released next week and then he will have some therapy. Leila stayed with Grandma Lori and Papa Carey and continued to enjoy her wonderful vacation eating chips, playing on the boat and staying up way too late. When Dani asked Leila what her favorite part of vacation was she responded with, “My family!” That makes me feel really good, and I think the rest of the family would agree.
I have some pictures that I will try to add later when we locate our card reader, including pictures of fun on the boat, and Leila’s first (and unsuccessful) fishing experience.

Cory and I have decided to take on a big project this fall that is going to keep us from getting ready to list our house. So we have decided that to save ourselves some stress we are just going to put off our plans to move for now. So our new plan is to work on getting Thea to sleep in the crib in Leila’s room. Once we have that worked out, I think I will feel a little better about staying put for a while. Maybe this way we can afford more of what we want in a house by the time we are able to get around to selling.

We heard this song on the radio during our long trek back to North Liberty on Thursday and Cory and I agreed that this about sums up our feelings lately…things will slow down sometime, right?

>I am posting this mostly for Jessica, who was looking for ways to get her daughter to eat veggies, but since it is so wonderful, I decided to post it here. This cake is so moist and delicious!

Chocolate Zucchini cake

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup oil (or sub apple sauce)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla

cream together above ingredients. mix in:

1/2 cup sour milk (if you add a tsp of white vinegar to 1/2 cup of milk and let it set a few minutes, i will begin to curdle and you can then add it in. Or use sour cream.)
2 1/2 cups flour
4 Tablespoons Cocoa
1/2 tspbaking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

mix this all together and then add in two cups of grated zucchini (I used 2 average sized zucchinis)
Sprinkle 1/2 cup of chocolate chips on top and bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes.

I didn’t bother frosting mine… it was so good it didn’t need frosting!

Enjoy!

>During our trip to Champaign this last weekend Cory brought up a book that he has recently started reading. Cory is a real dork when it comes to statistics, so no surprise that he thinks Freakinomics is a really interesting read. Must run in the family because Evan had read it too and had a lot to say about it.
As I mentioned in my last post, Evan and Karen have great kids. They are all teenagers, and they are very friendly, confident, smart and productive people. At least partially a product I am sure, of the way that they were raised. Something that I have always admired about Evan and Karen, is the lack of anxiety in their home. They always seem to be such relaxed, go with the flow and everything will be ok kind of people.
When discussing parenting and statistics, Evan pointed out the likelihood that anything bad will happen to your child is so low, it isn’t even worth worrying about in most cases. Their kids don’t run wild by any means, but they do have a lot of freedom, and I am sure that has helped to build their confidence.
So there you have it, statistically, your kids will be fine, they won’t be abducted from the playground, might as well let them have some freedom and learn to take care of themselves.* Man I wish I could do that. This is my goal, to not feed my own anxiety to my children, I know that is what is best for them, but this is a huge challenge for me, and I don’t think that this is something that will ever come easily. I want my girls to grow up carefree and confident.
Juxtapose this realization on my part with some heartbreaking news that I heard this week. I am a member of an online community comprised mostly of mothers of young children. It is so wonderful to belong to a group of caring individuals that share each others joys and heartaches as we all raise our children and learn from each other.
One member of this community announced this week that her nine year old daughter has been diagnosed with a 100% fatal neurological degenerative disease (Juvenile Battens Disease). She had mysteriously began going blind, and in combination with some personality and learning challenges that had developed after she had turned 5 years old, her mother made it her mission to find out what was going wrong with her child. Now she knows that this is the first step, and her child will eventually deteriorate until she passes away in her early adulthood. This isn’t a woman that I am particularly close to, but my heart is breaking for her. I can not imagine anything worse than watching your own child’s life robbed of them slowly as they deteriorate. The odds of this happening to a child? This disease strikes 2 to 4 of every 100,000 live births in the United States. Life isn’t fair. No amount of statistics can reason away the truth when it hits you.
I really do try to let go of my worries and my heartache over things I can’t change, but it isn’t something I am any good at. I have to remind myself that this world is cruel to those that live here, without any regard to the kind of life you lead, and all you can do is play the odds, hope for the best and worry about the worst only if it happens to you. That is the healthy, well adjusted way to get by.
For some reason I have a really hard time not worrying about the worst when it happens to anyone. This is probably why some would say that I am a “bleeding heart liberal.” It’s true…I can’t help myself. I have a tendency to take a walk in the shoes of others no matter how cramped they may be, and most times I just wish I could let it go and be thankful it isn’t me. On days like today, it hurts to be me, and yet I know I have no idea of the pain of those that have been hit with the short end of a deadly statistic, and I hope I never do.

If you want to say a prayer for Kate and John and their daughter Rachel, I am sure they can use all the prayers they can get.

**disclaimer: I am not suggesting sending my 3 year old off to the park alone, and the Champaign Coobs’ would not either…remember their children are teenagers and I am speaking in generalities about my own children and my ability to let them be little and learn for themselves without stepping in all the time, and not worrying about what might happen to them, as unlikely as that might be. (Just in case you were getting nervous. :))

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>Sunday night in a fit of determination Thea finally managed to swing her chubby little leg hard enough to propel herself on to her belly. And then she was pissed. And so begins the first stage of mobility. Oh, and tooth number 2 also made its grand arrival on Sunday night!

We spent this last weekend in Champaign Illinois visiting Cory’s brother and family. It was really a great time. Evan and Karen have three of the nicest teenagers…I only hope that we do as good a job with our girls! Unfortunately, our camera stayed home so we didn’t get any pictures on our trip…sorry to disappoint!