Raising a Barrel of Monkeys

Serendipity

2010-01-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

So Jenny and I are of two different characters while cooking. Jenny requires, absolutly requires, a recipe. It frightens her that I can look inside the refrigerator, think about what is in the pantry, and whip together any number of dishes that all have multiple ingredients and are quite complete dishes. She can't do that. If there's a dish of mine that she really likes she needs to watch, measure, and write down what I've put in it since I can't tell her.

While my free-wheeling "Hey, let's add some of that!" style works fine for cooking, it may not be the best idea while baking. While there have been successes, I can make buttercream frosting in about a quarter of the time that Jenny can (I figured when they said "low heat," that was another way of saying "high heat and stir rapidly"). That said, there have been some memorable failures: the banana bread I forgot to add sugar to (that's very important it turns out), there were the espresso chocolate chip cookies/rocks (it turns out that if you add more liquid that you just shouldn't add flour until the consistency is right), and there was the flourless chocolate cake made with unsweetened Scharffenberger chocolate that seemed like a great idea (it wasn't).

Tonight was a bit of a failure, and success.

I thought Thomas and I should make gingerbread, so I got out the recipe from Baking Illustrated and went through it, sort of. We didn't have a 11" x 7" pan so I figured I'd use a 9" x 13" and just cook it for less time. After about 30 minutes, a toothpick inserted came out clean, but it sure looked short, it hardly rose at all. The gingerbread came out like some sort of dense ginger brownie.

I went and checked the recipe to see if this was what was intended. The first thing I noticed was a note that said if you didn't have that pan, use a 9" square. The second thing I noticed was that the recipe mentioned a cup of milk. I had added no milk. Perhaps that explained it.

Of course I did the mature thing and immediately blamed my two-year-old assistant. Then I ate them and drank milk on the side. They are delicious, but nothing, and I mean nothing, like gingerbread as far as the texture goes, but the entire family had seconds. I wrote notes in the cookbook so that Jenny could make them again.
__________________

The Letters of Horace Walpole (1754), vol. 2, Letter 90

This discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word...I once read a silly fairy tale, called "The Three Princes of Serendip;" as their Highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had traveled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right--now do you understand Serendipity?

Sneek Peek at Baby Rosemary

2010-01-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

Here she is in 4-D at 29 weeks. She kept her hand in front of her face the whole time.

Apron models

2009-12-25T22:48:00.000-08:00

Santa baby

2009-12-25T22:36:00.001-08:00

Rock you like a hurricane

2009-12-25T22:31:00.001-08:00

Thomas discovered that he could play Rock Band which my cousins got for Christmas. I don't know if I should have been happy or disturbed when he beat my father's score. In Dad's defense he was playing the guitar while Thomas was on the drums and it did happen to be a song where the red and yellow colors were dominant and those are the ones that he likes to beat, but still.

Two chickens and one honorary chicken

2009-12-25T21:17:00.000-08:00

My mother has three chickens in her backyard. The dog, who is now 13, has always suffered from a bit of an identity crisis. When he was young he thought he was a cat as we had a cat. With the cat having been gone for years now he is now convinced he is a chicken. In the morning you will see three chickens and a dog eating raw rice and chicken scratch out on the porch.

Dog pajamas

2009-12-25T12:24:00.000-08:00

My mother tried to make certain that the family is outfitted in matching Christmas dog pajamas for Christmas. I think she succeeded.

Jelly Beans

2009-12-25T12:09:00.001-08:00

So my parents love to go up to Shaver Lake in their motor home. (Or as Thomas likes to call it the "mo home") At their campground they have bear themed everything. There are wooden bears that are cut into just about everything. With that in mind, what did I think that my father needed for Christmas?

A bear themed Jelly Bean dispenser! How does it work you ask. Well you push on the head and out come Jelly Beans that are stored inside. It also answers the question that has always been posed. What do bears do in the woods? My sister thought it was great. She'll be getting one next year.

Fun with aprons

2009-12-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

So Thomas got an apron, measuring cups, and a cookbook for Christmas all of which he loves.

Ruthann got an apron as well, as seen below. My sister got an apron also and figured that pictures needed to be taken of both her and Thomas in their new aprons.

Do you think Jenny was surprised?

2009-12-25T09:19:00.000-08:00

Jenny and I usually don't get each other presents. I decided to give her one this year as a surprise. I think I succeeded.

Thomas's new apron

2009-12-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

Ruthann's new apron

2009-12-25T09:11:00.001-08:00

Thomas unwraps presents

2009-12-25T09:04:00.001-08:00

Christmas with the Aunt Geek and Ruthann

2009-12-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

Cranberry Pie

2009-12-01T15:29:00.001-08:00

Thomas take pictures

2009-10-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Thomas figures that if Dada can take pictures, he can take pictures too. Of course Dada used a tripod AND camera while Thomas only used a tripod. He did make everyone smile so that their picture could be taken.

Hanging with Aunt Geek

2009-10-03T11:10:00.001-07:00

Grandma and Aunt Renee

2009-10-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Commitment is . . .

2009-09-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

finishing a gallon-sized jug of soy sauce. Monday was our 7th anniversary. In many ways, it doesn't seem that long ago, but there's been a lot of life lived since this picture was taken.

Thomas's World

2009-09-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

Why does Dada work? "Dada go work. Buy more O's." (Yep, gotta earn that buck ninety-nine.)
Why is he wrapping his play colander in a beach towel? "Thomas make col-der feel better."
What are you making in the play kitchen? "Thomas cook pasta. Thomas make milk." He also talks about making juice, popcorn, chicken, & cupcakes. Oh, and tea. Lots of tea. With milk.
"I luv you, Mama." "I love you, too, Thomas." "I luv you, one, Mama."
"One, two, free, five, nine, ten, eleven. ELEVEN!!!"
"Here you go, Thomas." "Fank you, welcome."
"No ride Mama's car! Ride Dada's BW (BMW) car! PCW car." (Kid's got taste.)
"R, S, T, W, car, Y" (more BMW's)
Playing with Ruthann: "Peep-by-you, Roo-fan!"
When he's feeling lazy and wants carried: "Thomas no want walk on floor!"
"Mama, music a bit loud."

Pudding

2009-09-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

I love warm pudding. It just tastes like comfort. It's also fast and easy and you don't need to keep a dorky box of mix around. Here's my recipe that I just made up.

Fast Chocolate Pudding (with a minimum of dirty dishes)
Equipment: Small pot, whisk, 1/4 c measure
1. Whisk together 1/2 c sugar (i.e. 2 of your 1/4 cups), 1/4 c cornstarch, 1/4 c cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt in the small pot. Make sure to break up all the lumps in the cocoa.

2. Stir in 2 c milk (I just use the 1/4 c measure and count to 8) and a splash of vanilla. Whisk well to dissolve the cornstarch. You'll be left with a foam of cocoa powder floating on the top.

3. Turn the heat on to high or medium-high and whisk constantly. Don't let gunk accumulate in the corners of the pot. The cocoa powder will dissolve when the milk gets warm. When it comes to a boil, the cornstarch will activate and it will get very thick very fast. Turn off the heat.

4. Gently whisk in another cup of milk to cool the pudding to the proper warm temp for eating. If you like it chilled, pour it into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Keep the wrap touching the surface of the pudding to avoid forming a skin. Stash in fridge until cool. But really, it's better warm.

I was in the mood for Mexican chocolate, so I added a teaspoon and a half of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne to step 1.

Other ideas: add in some chopped chocolate after step 3 for added decadence. Replace some of the milk with cold coffee for a mocha flavor. Leave out the cocoa for a vanilla pudding. Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, and black pepper are all possibilities. Vanilla + nutmeg = eggnog flavor. Replace some of the milk with fruit juice (may want to reduce the sugar). Chocolate orange maybe? Imagination is so tasty! Just don't add lemon or lime juice or the milk will curdle (not good eats).

And now my bowl is empty. It's time for a refill. I'm going to warm it up on the stove a bit first. Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!

I don't know what to say.

2009-08-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

Still here, still alive, not smoked out yet.

2009-08-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

Life in Southern California has definite seasons, there's the dream perfect season (Spring), followed by heat (Summer), followed by fire (Fall), and then mudslides (Winter). Right now we're apparently in the early part of fire season. Last year was really bad with the highlights being ash raining on the sidewalks and evacuation of the school. This year we're on the other side of the hills. The particulates all are on the other side, but this is the view behind our apartment. No, those are not clouds, it's smoke.

Great idea?

2009-08-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

One of the advantages of coaching is that you have access to a large amount of stuff that people think is pretty cool, but that few people have lying around. As a result I decided that I would try to see what would be the reaction if I walked in the house wearing a football helmet. I placed in on my head and Thomas just stared at me for about five seconds and the a soft voice filled with awe, "Thomas want!" These pictures are the result.

Of course if it's good enough for Thomas.

It's good enough for Ruthann as well.

Ruthann's Baptism

2009-07-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

We realized that Ruthann had been baptized a year ago on the 20th. It's also her great-grandfather's birthday. We thought that this meant that we needed a party. What does any party need? Pulled pork, coleslaw, and ice cream sandwiches! This is how Ruthann eats an ice cream sandwich. Let me also say that I can think on no other meal that she has ever eaten where there we no crumbs left over at the end.

Where's Thomas's ice cream sandwich you may ask. Thomas thought that the best part of ice cream sandwiches was that if you hold it in your hand it will melt, onto the carpet. If we broke off a piece of it and put it in his mouth he screamed. This resulted in his ice cream sandwich being taken away if he wasn't going to eat it. Who ate it then? Ruthann did. It was a double dose of joy.

If you're taking pictures of Thomas...

2009-07-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

He's going to want pictures of Gilgamesh.

Dada get camera

2009-07-29T10:37:00.001-07:00

Dada take pictures of Beowulf!

Jenny and Ruthann

2009-07-29T10:32:00.001-07:00

Note the black eye, someone opened the door of the play kitchen into her face.

Thomas no sleep in bed

2009-07-29T10:24:00.001-07:00

Can you believe that we make him try to sleep in a bed?

Take Pictures Thomas Bear

2009-07-16T09:17:00.001-07:00

I got out the camera and I heard an small very insistent voice, "Take pictures, Thomas, bear."

This is it.

Fireworks

2009-07-12T20:09:00.001-07:00

Ruthann is Hiding

2009-07-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

So out of the kindness and generosity of my dear, lovable wife's heart we've upgraded cameras to a DSLR and even got image software. Expect more high quality pictures in this space more often and e-mail me or Jenny if you want a higher quality file so that you can make a print at Costco or somewhere else. I shrink the images way down for posting on the blog.

Talking to Grandma

2009-07-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hanging with Jimbles

2009-07-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ruthann and Mugsy

2009-07-12T19:26:00.001-07:00

Lahar

2009-06-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

It mewed at the door to come in Thursday and hasn't left yet. Very friendly and purrs. Beckham tolerates her. A lahar is a volcanic cloud of ash and mud that can flow downhill at over 100 mph. Her color reminded me of ash and of clouds.

Synchronized Sleeping

2009-06-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

First Cow's Milk

2009-06-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

Once you're one, you're allowed to drink cow's milk. I think this is the first time she's drank from a sippy without spitting all of it back out.

Birthday Morning-After

2009-06-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

Ruthann's First Birthday

2009-06-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Thomas thinks the German Chocolate Victoria cake is for him. Well, one piece of it is.

Is this all for me? I'm not sure what to do with this big thing.

Pieces go in The Mouth! Oh, it's so good!

Here, Mama. Want some that I found on my dress?

Could the day get any better? Yay! A bath!

Two Months Post-Surgery

2009-05-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

I'm so pleased with how well her scar has healed. Part of the wrinkliness immediately after surgery was due to the clear SuperGlue-like Dermabond that was holding the wound closed.

Notice how much additional pudge is on those cheeks!

Yep. Posting topless photos of my own daughter on the internet.

Gilgamesh: Then & Now

2009-05-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because when you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
-- The Velveteen Rabbit

Huntington Rose Garden

2009-04-19T21:53:00.001-07:00

Taken with my phone after the camera batteries died.

Easter

2009-04-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Superbowl

2009-02-02T10:10:00.001-08:00

That's our boy, holding a football and pointing to the Superbowl game. OK, so it took several tries to get this picture. Thomas wasn't actually interested in the game, though he did like when there was music. He mostly enjoyed tromping around the den ("The Forbidden Room") and eating. We ended up having a rather snobbish looking set of snacks. Escagots in brioche and French brie on baguette. But I did make Buffalo drumsticks with homemade blue cheese dressing, which is a little more traditional. We also had plenty of cold beer. I was a little surprised that none of Curtis's man-friends had a Superbowl party, but all we need for a party is some good food.

P.S. My favorite ad was the Hulu evil-alien-plot ad, but there were a decent number of laugh-out-loud funny ads.

Give that Man a Medal

2009-01-19T15:05:00.000-08:00

Curtis rocks. He's my hero. Why?

Because Curtis got up at 3 a.m. to watch the sick toddler who refused to go back to bed after I'd spent an hour cleaning him, his bed, and his bear, comforting him, and reading him a story.

Because Curtis cleaned vomit from the carpet, not once, but twice while I re-cleaned the aforementioned toddler.

And all that without even being asked.

In the Bathroom

2009-01-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

Now that he's getting older, Thomas has become more competent and likes doing "grownup" things. I've been working with him on a bathroom routine. I guess you could say this is the start of potty training, but really, we're just building up some skills that are nice now, though they will be essential down the road. But here's our little ritual that we're doing 5-7 times a day.

1) I announce that we're going to go change a diaper and Thomas walks to the hall gate. I take down the gate and he walks into the bathroom.
2) He gets his step stool, puts it into position, climbs up on it and turns on the light.
3) I lift him up onto the counter and change his diaper. This is his least favorite part. Sometimes he plays with a toy to distract himself, sometimes we play games together, and sometimes he fights and I hold him down.
4) I put him back on the floor and remind him to wash his hands. He fetches his stool, moves it to the sink, and climbs up.
5) We wash our hands. I operate the knobs and soap since he can't reach, but he does scrub his own hands.
6) After we dry our hands, Thomas moves his stool and turns off the light.

Diaper changes now take significantly longer, but he enjoys it a whole lot more. He really feels like big stuff operating the light switch. Even with his stool, it's nearly at the edge of his reach.

Talking with Thomas - 21 Months

2009-01-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

Thomas is becoming quite the talker. This week he made his first two-word sentance, "Bye-bye, dada." Since he never seems to be willing to talk into a phone or other recording device, here's a snapshot of his current speech. It's divided into actual English words, protowords, and other sounds and listed in roughly their order of appearance.

English Words
Pronunciation	Word	Meaning
ma-ma	Mama	That'd be me
da-da	Dada	Curtis, though it's interesting that Thomas should pick Dada, since we refer to Curtis as Bauji, which is Hindi for father. Why? Because we're weird.
bye/bye-bye	bye-bye	"goodbye" (when leaving a place, also to people who are leaving him), "going out" (as in, "We're going bye-bye")
uh-yeah/ya	yes	His default response to anything said to him.
maaa	Max	Curtis's parents' dog, but not dogs in general
foy-yer	flower	also used for trees and colorful shapes like hot-air balloons
wah-yer	water	water, cups, fountains, sprinklers, bath, but oddly enough, not usually "I'm thirsty." That's just fussing.
hi	hi	greetings
ice	eyes	Accompanied by a poke in the eye, we're working on that
Protowords Words that have a consistent meaning, but do not closely resemble adult words (or at least not enough for strangers to understand)
Pronunciation	"Word"	Meaning
tzah	"cat"	all cats, including ours
ha	"hot"	things that are hot, steam, bright lights
ha	"hair"	usually accompanied by pointing, to distinguish from "hot"
ya-ya	"light"	light, lamps, light bulbs
baah!	"bath"	Thomas loves to bathe. The idea of a bath is always VERY exciting
ruh-rar	"truck"	just about anything with wheels
Other Interesting Sounds
oh		Was just a sound, but has started to refer to cereal O's.
wow		Doesn't seem to mean anything, but often inserted into babbling
uh-oh		One of his favorite sounds. Used for all occasions.
"panting"		The sound a dog makes, and dogs in general
buh, buh, buh	"beep, beep"	The sound a truck makes
"clicking" with tongue against roof of mouth		done to imitate Ruthann
mao	"meow"	What the cat says

Thomas's words reflect the things that are important to him. What I find interesting are the things that aren't on this list. There's no "me" or "mine" or any other self-referential word. He doesn't have any word for Ruthann. There are no words about eating. He uses words to call attention to things that he sees, but almost never to ask for things. The most surprising to me is that he doesn't say "no." It's usually one of children's first words because it's so powerful, but Thomas just shakes his head when he doesn't want something. And believe you me, it's not because he never hears the word from me. It wouldn't surprise me if he believed that "sister" was pronounced "No! No smack."

Company's Comin'

2009-01-10T19:12:00.001-08:00

The past week has been full of company. We had friends over on Saturday and Sunday, an overnight guest on Tuesday, and on Friday, I got a call that a friend was in the area. The Baby Circus and I met her at the Huntington Library and Gardens. Thomas loved walking around the Gardens, though his favorite part was the fire hydrant. I guess because it was on his level.

Pretty Baby

2009-01-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

Ruthann's finally gotten to do something fun that her brother hasn't. She got to have her portrait taken. I'm not usually into the whole studio thing, but they offered my favorite price: free. I guess the Babies R Us photo studio was just really bored. I was glad that I had picked out cute outfits for the kids. The plan was to take a few shots of Ruthann, then Thomas, then both together. Thomas didn't like the raised area where the pictures were taken or the guy assistant. He just wanted to be held by Curtis. So Ruthann got more pictures taken and a free 5x7. She's such a cute, smiley thing.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

Looking over last year's resolutions, Thomas and Beckham completed all of their resolutions and Curtis says that he's just going to copy his list over to this year. I only gained 14 pounds, then lost 48, but regained 10 and have now lost 2. Overall, a success, but I'd like to lose another 11 pounds. I made definite progress on praying more and getting stuff (mostly laundry) put away, but have completely lost control of the dishes and the paper clutter.

For 2009:
Curtis: Continue to lose weight, actually learn a language. Basically, the same stuff as last year. By the end of the year, be able to do 50 pushups in the morning and another 50 at night by ramping up one a day.

Jenny: Achieve what the chart calls a "healthy" weight. Get the children on a schedule that I can live with. Reclaim control over the housekeeping.

Thomas: Learn a language (English) (He's currently limited to mama, dada, bye-bye, uh-oh, wow, and Maa (for Max, his grandparents' dog)), Become an artist/craftsman.

Ruthann: Achieve what the chart calls a healthy weight. Get her heart fixed. Make some friends who want to do some free babysitting. Eat solid food. Learn to walk.

and we have a 2009 goal for the whole family: get a yard. There has to be a little piece of outside for Mr. Thomas to leave his toys out in. Even though we're on a month-to-month lease here, we need our leases to always coincide with school-years, so this is mostly a project for this summer. Plus by then, Ruthann will be ready for serious outside playing.

This Weekend She'll be 5 Months

2008-11-14T08:33:00.000-08:00

Can't Imagine Why People Think They Look Alike

2008-11-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

Election Thoughts

2008-11-05T16:31:00.000-08:00

Curtis had the most profound thought of the evening:

"Do you realize that when this campaign started, we didn't have any children?"

Baby Circus as Circus Animals

2008-11-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

It all started when Nonie found an adorable elephant costume at the goodwill. Then if Thomas had a costume, well, Ruthann needed one too. Then they needed somewhere to go in their costumes. So here they are at Curtis's HS football game on Saturday. Yeah, it was the day after, but when you're this adorable, it's o.k. to be the only people in costumes.

P.S. Ruthann's being held by a super-nice lady whose son is on the team.

Turning Japanese? I Really Think So

2008-10-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here is my baby eating rice with chopsticks. Thomas and I were having dinner together and he wanted to eat my food just like I was. He had to have a pair of chopsticks for each hand and held both sticks together in his fist, but he did manage to get one grain at a time to stick to the sticks and go into his mouth. I've seen adults do about as well. To complete the scene, he also had some miso soup in a sippy cup. Babies are so cool.

At a consignment sale yesterday, I found a board book about sushi. I like this line "Miso in my sippy cup, tofu in my bowl. Crab and avocado fill my California roll." He does like tofu. Maybe a trip to the sushi buffet is in our future.

Would You Like Some Ham with Those Eggs?

2008-10-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

Stupid Smart Baby

2008-10-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

In the last week or so, Thomas has figured out:

* how to turn the fan off when it is hot and on when it is cold.

* how to lock the screen door when I go to the laundry room.

* how to shut the front door to keep any fresh air from coming in.
and worst of all
* that chocolate is really, really good.

Thomas's First Haircut

2008-10-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

In honor of turning one and a half, I gave Thomas his first haircut. He got much blonder. Suddenly, he's looking more and more like a little boy instead of a baby.

Before:

After:

Family Fun

2008-09-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Rosh Hashanah! While I'm still not entirely certain what exactly it is, Curtis got the day off for it. Many of his students were grumbling about spending the entire day at Temple, but we took the opportunity to head to the Getty. They were having an exhibition of Bernini's Baroque portrait sculpture. It was a fantastic exhibit. I felt priviliged to have seen sculptures that hadn't been displayed together since the 1600's. Just beautiful. We also saw the exhibit on humor in drawing, which was just ok. We wandered into a building that turned out to house the decorative arts. Somehow I'd never been there in all my visits to the Getty. I just fell in love with all the gorgeous furnishings. There's something about wood and inlay that just speaks to me.

The best part of the whole day was the babies. They were PERFECT. Ruthann fussed a little, then slept through most of it. Thomas waved at people, played with a few toys I brought, and sang happy songs. The docents got a kick out of him. I shoved them around in the double stroller, and they didn't seem to mind the confinement as long as we didn't stop for too long.

It was a fabulous day out.

My Momtourage

2008-09-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my weekly mom's meeting. The group meets at a nearby church for two hours with childcare provided in the church nursery. It's so great to have time with other women who are also moms. I can get advice and stories from the moms with older kids and give advice to the moms with younger kids. Today was especially great because there were two other women with little babies there. One of them I feel is my alter ego literally my other self because she has two girls who are each two months older than my babies. We even have similar lifestyles. I just love bouncing things off of her and going, "You mean it's not just me."

Thomas was a big boy today and played in the nursery the whole time. I think it helped that there were lots of snacks today. He looked so big walking back in with the group of other kids. When the kids come back, it's adorable to see the women and children interacting. I can tell that I'm not the only one who discovers that even though we were only apart for two hours, I missed him and find myself happy to see him again.

A Mini-Vacation from Deciding

2008-09-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

Last night, we failed to learn from the horrible experience of taking the babies to a restaurant for our anniversary and went to Red Lobster. It was actually wonderful. Ruthann stayed in her seat, looked around, made cute baby noises and smiles, and then went to sleep. Thomas liked looking at the lobsters in the tank during the long wait and played and ate happily at the table. Most people would have hated our table. In fact two different families rejected the other table in the room. It was in a small, echo-y porch where there was a loud birthday party going on at the other end. It was great for me, though, since Thomas's toddlerness just blended into the other noise.

An odd thing about being a housewife is that I live an almost completely unconstrained life. The only things I need to do certain times are for Curtis: provide dinner, and for the babies: feed them and change diapers. Everything else is done or not done by my choice. And it turns out that decision making is actually mentally tiring. It was actually quite refreshing to have my options severely curtailed. To only have to decide between the limited options of the menu rather than the vast possibilities of the items in my kitchen and nearby grocery store. It was also nice to just sit and eat. I didn't have to prepare the food, serve the food, clear the table or wash the dishes. Because of the noise, I didn't even need to carry on much of a conversation. It really felt like a vacation.

I think that this may be part of the reason that many people don't like to cook at home. It's too mentally tiring to make the decisions. Cooking at home from scratch saves huge amounts of money, but it requires a lot of decisions. The hardest part of making dinner every night and the part that takes me the longest is deciding what to make. Actually preparing the food usually takes under an hour. Without "convenience foods", nearly everything we've got at home needs to be combined with at least one other thing to be "dinner." But there are a huge number of possible combinations. If you've got pizza dough, you make pizza; a bread mix, you make bread. But if you've got flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and milk, you could make pizza crust, bread, pancakes, muffins, scones, pasta, crackers, pie crust, cookies, cakes, and the list goes on.

Cute Family

2008-09-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

I propped Ruthann against Curtis to do something for Thomas. Thomas decided he wanted to crawl up onto the couch and sit down with Gilgamesh (the bear). Curtis fell asleep and Thomas started petting his sister's fuzzy head.

Worst Wake-up EVER!

2008-09-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

I was asleep at 4:10 a.m. I was not even consiously aware of the sound that woke me up, but when I opened my eyes in a panic, the cat was THIS close to me and it had that look in its eyes. I jerked my head back and snatched at my pillow, but was too late, as the cat unleashed a hairball that got my pillow and the bottom sheet. Curtis was not amused to have to wake up and move so that I could strip the bed. Oh, and did I mention that they were BRAND NEW sheets? That we were sleeping on for the FIRST TIME EVER! 'Cause what I really needed in my life was more laundry.

Ruthann's First Operation

2008-09-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I forgot to mention that Ruthann had a "procedure" on the 3rd. Doctors inserted a catheter from her leg into her heart and used a balloon to open up the pulmonary valve. While scary sounding (she's so tiny!), it was actually an outpatient procedure and we got to take her home that evening. She didn't like coming out of the anesthesia, but after that she was peaceful and smiley. Now, more blood goes to her lungs to be oxygenated. With more oxygen in her system, I can tell that she feels better. She's been much more alert, awake, and smiley this last week and a half. She'll still have to have open-heart repair surgery sometime before her birthday, but now we don't have to rush into it.

Growing Up

2008-09-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, for the first time, Ruthann slept in her crib all night out in the living room with her brother. We also, for the first time, managed to get up at 5:15 and get to a 6:30 morning Mass. (A routine we'd like to get in to, but have been failing at the getting up part.) The nice thing about getting the babies up so early is that at 7:30 a.m., they're both ready for a nap (hence this post).

Thomas is up to 15 teeth. The top two canines came in around Aug 7th and the bottom left one came in Labor Day (9/1). Just one more canine (already a noticeable bulge in the gum), then he'll have his full complement until age 2.

Ruthann's getting better at finding her hand and thumb. She was sucking her thumb in her crib this morning. Hopefully soon she'll have enough control of her arms and hands to not need a pacifier any more. Thomas is supremely jealous of the pacifier and wants to take it as soon as he sees it, even if he already has one (or 2 or 3). He never uses a pacifier any other time, so it's just annoying. To quiet her fussing in public, I give her a pacifier, which causes him to start fussing (and he's even louder.)

Curtis is settling into a new school year. He's teaching only 4 of the 8 periods (physics, AP physics B, AP physics C, and freshman biology). I guess the football team is coming along well. They have their first game this coming Saturday. The circus and I will go, which almost guarantees that I won't actually see any of the game.

My birthday is this Friday. Since nearly everyone I know who's over 5 is significantly older than I am, it's fun to complain about how old I'm getting. After all, I'm "looking down the barrel of THIRTY!" I've decided that for my birthday, I'm going to splurge and binge on a huge amount of ice cream. I haven't decided how to ditch Thomas for this operation, since he eats more than I do. I'm proud to say that I now weigh less than I did when I got pregnant with Thomas. Since July 25th, I've lost 15 lbs. Now my jeans fit again, so I'm prepared for when it finally cools off. I'm not sure it's ever going to be fall, though. Yesterday, it was 101 and Saturday was 103.

Back to School

2008-08-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

Football moved to twice-daily practices. Teacher meetings run all week. And school starts next Wednesday. Fall must be around the corner.

I'm home alone with the circus. So far, things are going well. Thomas has been extra-loving with lots of hugs and head-rubbings (his version of a kiss). I think he misses Curtis. Today I took the circus out to do some shopping. On the way home, we stopped at the grocery store to get salt. It was getting close to lunchtime and Thomas demanded a treat. He pointed and fussed until I gave it to him. I let him munch on it up to the checkout. I think I must be doing somthing right with this kid though, because the thing he really wanted was a red bell pepper. The cashier got a big kick out of the pepper with the bite out of it.

Two Months Old

2008-08-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Happy to be two months old!

Siblings

Curtis taught Thomas how to eat corn like a big boy.

Thomas tries to make friends with Bex. The cat is indifferent.

Sleeping Through the Night

2008-08-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's SO not fair. Ruthann slept from 11ish to after 8am today. However, Thomas woke me up at 4:30am and Curtis's alarm went off at 5:30. Fortunately, they both took a nap and I got a little more sleep.

Fresno

2008-08-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

We took the Baby Circus on the road to go see Gramy in Fresno. She enjoyed seeing her only great-grandkids and the grandparents were very excited to see Thomas (and Ruthann, but she just doesn't do much at this stage.) Thomas had lots of fun stomping on the kitchen floor, eating everything in sight, and playing with his grandpa and the garden hose.

(Max is such a good dog. He didn't even try to take Thomas's cracker.)

Baptism Pictures

2008-08-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

Lots and lots of baptism photos here on Willowlaughter's picture site. Here's some of my favorites.

A Quick Update

2008-07-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

Thomas recognizes that Ruthann is a person. Yesterday, he was imitating the way she was chomping on her finger. He also likes to grab her nose (something he also does to Curtis and I, apparently noses are funny). Unfortunately, he also likes to poke her in the eye to watch her wince (wincing is also apparently funny). We're trying to discourage that one.

She's still not sleeping through the night, but at least she's now sleeping in the night, so conditions are improving.

We had Ruthann baptized last Sunday (the 20th), but I only got 3 pics with my camera, none of which were very good. Once Ruthann's godmother posts some of the pictures taken with her awesome cameras, I'll link to them. Ruthann didn't cry at all, and just looked kind of confused as the water was poured on her head.

I had my 6-week post-partum checkup today and got a clear bill of health. I'm also back to around the weight I was when I got pregnant with Thomas. So now's the time to lose that 15 lbs that's keeping me from wearing my favorite winter skirts. I'm not the only one in a health-conscious mood. Curtis is checking out gyms. Today he's starting Bally's free trial period to see if he likes it. We should be lean, mean, baby-wrangling machines by Christmas if this keeps up.

Following the Birth of His Sister, Thomas Becomes a Punk Rocker from the 80's

2008-07-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

One Month

2008-07-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

Ruthann is one month old today. On one hand, it's hard to believe that she's already a month, but on the other hand, it feels like she was born forever ago. I was trying to figure out why the last 30 days seem like a fog and came up with the following list.

In the past 30 days, we:

* spent 5 days at the hospital.
* went to 5 different doctor visits.
* had visits from my mom, Curtis's parents, the kids' godparents (twice), Curtis's dad, one of Curtis's students and her mom, and 10 meals delivered by various members of my moms group.
* had two babies in diapers who both want to eat any time they're not asleep.

AND I rarely get to sleep more than two hours at a time.

I need a nap just thinking about it!

The Reunion

2008-07-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

The Babi-kini

The kiddos with their great-grandparents

The aforementioned 86-year-old great-grandfather going down the highest, fastest slide at Curtis's uncle's water park

Great-grandma being helped out after her (second) turn down the slide

Thomas splashing in the kiddie pool

The Yoghurt Goatee

2008-07-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

Thomas's first attempt at eating with a spoon (actually, one for each hand)

A Thomas Update

2008-07-10T15:46:00.002-07:00

Poor Thomas has been neglected on this new blog. All the mandatory baby pics and me being too busy and tired to post mean that he's got a whole list of back news to impart. He's now 15 months old and has been very busy in the last 3 weeks or so.

* He's now officially a walker. He gradually worked up to it while my mom was here (6/6-7/2). He walks back and forth across the living room, carries toys, and can climb up on the couch and the green chair all by himself. This weekend, he's getting his first pair of real shoes so he can try his new skill outdoors.

* We are finally done with teething of molars. Last week, I discovered that his top right molar (the last one) was about halfway revealed. He's still drooling, but not as badly and he's definitely less grouchy.

* His new way to flirt is to try to bat his eyes at people. He blinks very deliberately at you repeatedly until you bat your eyes back. Very cute.

* He's continuing to get better with toys. He's been exploring how things can fit inside of each other and the magic of lids (they fit on top, but won't go inside the object even if you scream at them). He's also (at long last) figured out how to turn his pushtruck so that he's not stuck once he runs into something.

* Last night we allowed him to feed himself with a spoon for the first time. He did shockingly well. I think less food ended up on the floor than normal. Later, I'll have to post a picture of his yoghurt-goatee (the applesauce didn't drip as much).

* While he's not talking yet (at least not in English), he does have two sort-of-words. He will point to objects at say "Whazzat" in his cute baby-voice. He as also decided that the cat is "zha." He will say zha whenever he sees the cat and has also said it while pointing to a picture of an orange kitten in his book (meaning that it's not context-specific).

More Pictures

2008-07-10T15:46:00.001-07:00

The women who cared for Ruthann before she was born: me, my usual nurse, and my OB (who is ironically named Dr. Little)

Thomas ignores Ruthann, but likes the toys on her bouncer and carseat. I wonder if he remembers when they were his toys?

Thomas displays his musical skills on the drums

Now that he's a walker, we had to test out his monkey-backpack harness to see if he minded wearing it. Not really, and it looks too cute.

On Monday, Ruthann's cord fell off, so on Tuesday she got her first bath. Remember when Thomas used to fit in this tub?

First Days at Home

2008-06-28T14:37:00.001-07:00

Ruthann was born on Grandpa Jim's birthday, so we all got birthday ice cream cake. Yum-ola!

Ruthann and Noni

Everyone loves Thomas

Ruthann and Grandma

A moment of bliss. Thomas asleep in his crib and Ruthann asleep in the bouncer.

A Birth Day Story

2008-06-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

When my OB said, "You know, once your water breaks, you're going to have this baby in an hour," I started thinking about how long it takes from the time you arrive at a hospital till you are actually seen by someone. We decided to schedule a time to break my water at the hospital. My doctor gave me two choices, Friday or Monday. Since Monday was the day that Great-Grandpa had put a $500 incentive plan on, I said Monday.

The Before Picture

Monday, June 16th, at 7:30 in the morning, my entourage showed up at the hospital. Mom and I went to admitting, while Curtis drove Thomas to the sitter's. He was back in plenty of time, since it took an hour and a half (9 am) for the hospital to get things organized and start the I.V. with the Pitocin (to start contractions). Those contractions were SO easy that even though they were 5 minutes apart, I would not have realized that they were the sign to head to the hospital. At 9:30, my doctor came in and broke my water. Now the contractions were definitely painful and it was only about 15 minutes before I was in enough pain that I would not have been able to walk or really do much of anything. If not for the induction, I would have had this baby on the bathroom floor.

Pretty soon, I'm in transition, which means SERIOUS pain. The nurse asks me if I want something for the pain. "YES!!" I gasp, but she just leaves the room. Confused, when she returns, I try to remind her of her offer. "At this point, anything we gave you would slow the baby's heart rate too much." Incredulously and in MAJOR pain, I gasp/shout, "Then WHY did you offer?!"

Another nurse decides that the baby's heart rate is dropping too low, so I get to lay on my side and get oxygen. This is good as my hands and feet had been tingling and going numb. I keep asking (begging) the nurses to let me push (since I remember with Thomas that all the transition pain goes away once you start pushing). They haven't checked me in a while, but couldn't believe I could possibly be at 10 cm yet (HA!) and besides, I should wait for my doctor. I try not to push, but it just hurt too much not to. My secret pushing was revealed when my doctor arrived, helped me roll to my back to check the progress and found that the baby's head was already there. I didn't have to even push for her to be delivered. It was 11:02 am, two hours after they started the I.V. and only an hour and a half since my water broke. (I think it could have been even faster if only they had just let me push.)

Getting Examined After Delivery

She came out screaming (which is good), but with the cord wrapped around her (not a problem, since the doctor just clamped and cut it right then). She was cleaned up, but was very white. They were worried that she might be anemic or something, so took her to the NICU to be examined. She pinked up after about 10 minutes, but they kept her for a "four-hour observation." Eventually, she was cleared by a doctor and allowed to go to the regular nursery. They had to do yet another examination and paperwork, while I was making phone calls trying to track down what had happened to my baby, who I had not seen since she was born over 5 hours earlier. At last she was brought to my room, just in time for two cars of visitors to arrive. Car 1 brought Thomas back to us and the second car had Ruthann's godmother and her sister. We all had a good time for an hour or so before visiting hours ended at 8 pm. (Well, all except Thomas who got scared by my reaction when he yanked on my I.V. and then was bored and tired.) As my visitors left, Ruthann was taken back to the nursery to get checked out by her pediatrician. This is getting long, so what happened the rest of the night will be taken up in the next post.

In My Room, At Last

Ruthann's First Visitors

2008-06-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

So, between 7 pm and 8 pm on her birth day, Ruthann and I had lots of visitors. Everyone enjoyed passing her and Thomas around. Ruthann just mostly wanted to sleep. Hey! I look surprisingly decent for having given birth eight hours ago.

Mama enjoys visitors in her super-flattering hospital gown

Big brother Thomas wants up on the bed to trample Mama's poor tummy and yank on her I.V.

Ruthann gets some adoration from her godmother

Curtis smirks that he has the dominant genes, since yet another child looks pretty much just like him.

A Baby Post with Heart

2008-06-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

The Mystery

As our visitors were leaving, Ruthann's pediatrician arrived and took her to the nursery for (yet another) examination. After a while, I started trying to track down my baby (again!). After all, I had seen her for a grand total of an hour. The pediatrician came in to tell me that while she was examining Ruthann, she heard a heart murmur and then the baby turned blue. The blue spell lasted less than a minute. (Apparently, because it was so unexpected, it totally freaked out the nurses and they had her on oxygen in a flash. I kept overhearing them talking about it at their desk for the rest of the shift.) Ruthann had been taken back to the NICU to have a full workup (chest x-ray, EKG, etc) done by the neonatologist. The pediatrician started telling me about the different possibilities which ranged all the way from "which she'll outgrow in time" to "requires transfer downtown for immediate heart surgery." After the neonatologist finished the tests on Ruthann, he sent all her test results to a pediatric cardiologist (to his home even) for evaluation. The cardiologist came in in the morning to see me with the diagnosis.

The Bottom Line
Ruthann has a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot. It fell in the middle of the possibilities raised by the pediatrician. There are no day-to-day symptoms or problems, but it requires open-heart surgery to repair. This surgery would happen sometime between four and eight months of age. If left untreated, Ruthann's blood oxygen levels would gradually decrease and by the time she was seven to ten years old, she'd be one sick little kid. Nowadays, they can operate on even very small children, so they no longer have to wait until the children start to have problems to operate.

The repair surgery is now common and there are three hospitals in L.A. that are quite skilled at it. She is not on any medicines, oxygen, or active monitoring and she will grow at the same rate as any other baby. All she has is an extra set of appointments with a cardiologist who will check her blood oxygen levels every couple of weeks.

The doctors wanted to keep her under observation for a few additional days to rule out anything else like infection. We finally got to take her home from the NICU Friday afternoon. (I had been discharged Wednesday afternoon.)

Two Days Old Being Observed in the NICU

Overall, if the cardiologist hadn't told me about her condition, I never would have guessed it from looking at her. She is pink and pretty, feeds well (better than Thomas at this age), and sleeps well for a newborn. It's kind of strange to say that a heart condition is no big deal, but this one really isn't. We don't have to treat her any differently from any other newborn baby and her condition will be repaired before she (or Thomas) ever has any memory of it.

The Technical Stuff

Tetralogy of Fallot has four components (pictures below). The most serious is called pulmonary stenosis (A), which means the valve going from the right ventricle to the lungs does not completely open. There may also be some muscle below the valve that also partially blocks it. This reduces the amount of blood going to the lungs, which causes her blood oxygen levels to decline as she gets larger. If the blood cannot flow to the lungs because of the stenosis, it passes through a Ventricular-Septal Defect (B) (a hole between the ventricles) and mixes with blood that is already oxygenated. The third component is an Overriding Aorta (C). The artery that carries oxygenated blood to the body is shifted over to service both ventricles.

The final component is a secondary feature. Because of the Ventricular-Septal Defect, both ventricles feel the same pressure (which is more than the right ventricle would usually feel). This causes the right ventricle to build up additional muscle. This is called Ventricular Hypertrophy (D). There is also a small hole between the atria (E). The surgery will patch both holes and repair (not replace) the pulmonary valve to restore normal blood flow. We'll learn more about the surgery as it gets closer.

Wikipedia also has a pretty good article.

Normal heart with oxygenated blood in red and old blood in blue

Heart with Tetralogy of Fallot (letters refer to components above)