Sophie Turns 2!

Happy Birthday Princess Sophie! Turning 2 on July 2nd makes this your Golden Birthday. We are going to have a lot of fun. I love you so much and am so proud of you. We're about to embark on an adventure, so I'll post more soon. In the meantime, here are a few shots I took in your princess dress. You are so beautiful, you take my breath away. (last year's birthday message)

(click to enlarge)

(somewhat) Wordless Wednesday

Here's a sneak preview of our photo shoot with Donita. Click here (seriously, you really want to) & be sure to leave her a comment.

Grandma's Cherry Slices

Last weekend, back in Iowa, my dad's side gathered for a family reunion. Melancholy and miles away I've been lost in my thoughts about my childhood, my family, and my late Grandma Pat. So, I decided to try my hand at her signature dessert, cherry slices. Just one bite and if I close my eyes, I'm a kid again.

Grandma Pat's Cherry Slices

1 can cherry pie filling

1 cup butter or oley

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups flour

4 eggs

1 & 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 & 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Cream the butter, vanilla, & sugar. Beat well, add eggs one at a time. Sift dry ingredients and add gradually to the creamed mixture. Beating thoroughly, spread in 11 x 17 jelly roll pan. Pan greased. Reserving 1 & 1/2 cup of batter, spread cherry pie filling within 1 inch of edge of pan. Place the remaining batter over top by small spoonfuls. Bake 45 minutes at 350. When cool, sprinkle top with powdered sugar and cut into bars or you can make a thin powdered sugar frosting and dribble on while warm.

Grosser than Gross & other random stuff

What's grosser than gross? Helena's umbilical cord stump fell off a month ago and I never could find it. Then Mark announced that he discovered it stuck to the bottom of his sock. As best as we can tell, it was stuck either in the baby towel or sleeper that we used. This means, the cord went through the laundry and fell out on the floor a month later. That's pretty gross. What's more gross? I'll probably keep it in her baby book.

I've become quite addicted to blueberry pommegranate juice. Really, it's yummy.

Have you discovered the Redbox? It's a DVD rental vending machine. The movies are good new ones (that I missed in the theater) that rent for $1 a day. You can even reserve them online! I've seen them around but have been leery that it was some sort of credit card scam. So far I've rented "He's Just Not That Into You," which I highly recommend and "Taken." This is another really good one. I can watch them late at night on my computer with head phones on the cheap.

I've got 20 hours of Respite to use by July 1st. Yesterday I was able to do some chores and escape the house. This afternoon Mark and I are catching a matinee of the "Hangover." I'm giddy!

Tomorrow my new and super talented friend Donita is doing a photo shoot with my family. Sophie turns 2 on July 2nd (her golden birthday) and Helena is 6 weeks old, plus I just wanted new shots. Thank you Grandma Betty for the timeless gift! Check out Donita's work here. I'll post up as soon as they are ready. She was my inspiration for the flower shots in the last post, but as you will see, I've got nothing on her.

I'm happy to update that after 6 weeks, Helena is starting to really come to life. I'm still limiting my dairy intake as that seems to help her gas problems as a nursing baby. That and simply growing and her system maturing has helped tremendously. She no longer is in constant pain in her belly. Two nights ago she even slept from midnight till 5am! I'm doing better about putting her in her own bed instead of letting her sleep next to me, which will be better for everyone in the long run. The biggest news is that she's begun smiling at least once a day. We've even heard a few coos. By far and away this child has been the hardest and it has been a shock to the system. This is especially after being spoiled by Miss Sophie who has been a 5 tiered cake comparatively, despite her feeding issues and surgery early on. So, I'm happy to report that Mom and baby are falling madly in love and that she's becoming more alert and gorgeous by the hour.

What else? Sophie's wonderful PT relocated and we are so so very sad to see her go. She has been brilliant with Soph and will be hard to replace. Fortunately, we were able to slip in another PTs schedule and will pick up again without missing a beat in July. Thank you so much Cory for your kindness, patience, skill, and passion for my daughter.

OK, enough stalling. I've got to get back to the laundry. JRS - Out!

To Contemplate a Flower

It started out as an urge to photograph some of the flowers in my own yard after the rain. Quickly I decided I needed more. I stripped the girls down to just onsies as it was a humid 82 degrees already by 10am. We headed out through our lovely neighborhood on a photo walk to feed our inner artists. This is what we saw.

As always, you can click the pics to enlarge.

Sea of Red

As Mark was working today, it was up to me to get all 3 kids ready for the press conference (see previous post) with Gov. Quinn on the cuts proposed for Human Services in IL. It just so happened to fall during a previously scheduled developmental therapy (DT) with the amazing Ms. Judy. She stopped by just before we headed out to give me an extra hand. As both Soph and Alexander have colds, and it was over lunch time, her help was a blessing.

We loaded the CRoutan and made it on time, even riding a shuttle from the parking lot to the site. The place was packed with a sea of red supporters. The kids were AWESOME the whole time. Judy was an angel, hanging out with us and our friends Bethany and her son Jeffrey from Sophie's DSC developmental playgroup and his big brother Mark. We had a concrete floor picnic for the oldest kids while the youngest kids rode in style in their strollers. Helena slept through the whole thing. I think the roaring crowd was a bit much for her.

The turnout was amazing and the speakers were great, as usual. This is a wonderful community and I believe we made an impact on the governor. I guess we'll know soon enough as there is a special session next week.

Below should be local tv coverage of the press conference. If the embedded video doesn't work, click here.








Here's a short video of the energized crowd before the press conference started.

Wordless Wednesday (Park, 3D, Helena is 1 Month Old)

3D glasses from the movie Up (Mark & Alexander give it 2 buttery thumbs Up)

This shot idea is ripped off from RK and Kinlee. Helena gives me this 'what the heck are you doing?' look all the time. And yes, I realize that it is not really a wordless post. Since I'm at it, big news from Jelly Bean is that she heartily took a bottle of milk for me and then another for Mark! Freedom and sweet relief in bottle form for Mama people! So, I guess I'll be doing more pumping and just maybe get out of the house without an appendage from time to time.