"Europa!"

I've mentioned before that I have a little know-it-all five-year old son. He's full of knowledge, that one, and he's always seeking to learn more. Reading chapter books and doing algebra rank high on his "fun" list. He's a funny kid.

Knowing all that, it should come as no surprise that he adores non-fiction and memorizing facts. Recently, he chose a book at his school library all about the planet Jupiter.

Sitting at dinner (as a family, of course, because that's one of the finest things of all), my husband casually asked him if he could remember the four largest moons of Jupiter.

He perked right up. He LOVES this sort of challenge...

"Io... Callisto... Ganymede... and..."

(Long pause.)

And then a tiny feminine voice popped up:

"Europa!"

Having a know-it-all, super-bright son is a fantastic and wonderful thing. Having his little sister- who we were once told may never talk, walk, hear, or see- help him arrive at the answer?

Well, that's one of the finest things I can think of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday.

Lazy Snow Day? No Way!

I got the call at 6:15 am. No school. I was already up... the kids' breakfast was already cooking on the stove. I suppose I could go back to sleep... I mean, all three children were still snoozing away...

Forget that! This was a golden opportunity! Time to get moving in the kitchen.

I cooked up some chicken breasts and put the bones and some veggie scraps on to simmer for stock..

I got some granola going while I mixed up the dough for burger buns...

While the dough rose and the granola cooled, I chopped up some of the chicken and veggies and mixed up a fabulously delicious chicken salad...

And then I baked those buns...

And then it was about 8:30 and the kids were done with their breakfast. :)

Capitalizing on "found time"?

That works for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday.

Garlicky Clams Linguine

Lent is upon us, my friends, and that means coming up with some tasty meatless meals to fill our Fridays. We tend to do "Pizza And A Movie Nights" on Fridays and that makes it easy. We throw a bunch of veggies on the pizza and call it good! But on those nights when we prefer to have a nice, sit-down meal, it pays to have a few good meatless recipes up my sleeve. Since I'm Catholic but my husband is not, I like to have some meals planned that comply with my abstinence from beast and fowl but don't seem like too much sacrifice for him. ;) One such recipe is my mom's Garlicky Clams Linguine. My husband and my children all love it and the children have eaten it since they were two. This recipe has a real Linguine with White Clam Sauce feel to it, with a rich, yummy garlicky-ness! Made from basic ingredients-- many of them pantry staples-- it's an easy and frugal meal to get on the table but still feels special. I hope some of you will try it!

Garlicky Clams Linguine

• 12 oz linguine pasta
• 3 T butter
• 5 T olive oil
• 6 large garlic cloves, minced
• 3 10-oz cans chopped or minced clams, drained, with all juices reserved
• 1/3 cup dry white wine (you can substitute chicken or veggie stock here if you don't do wine even in cooking)
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 1/2 t dry oregano
• parsley, salt, and pepper to taste

Cook linguine in large pot of salted water until tender.

Melt butter with oil in large heavy skillet over low heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add juice from clams, wine, carrot, and oregano. Increase heat to high and boil until reduced to about 1 1/2 cups (about 10-12 minutes). Stir in clams and parsley. Simmer until just heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Drain linguine well; add to skillet of hot clam sauce. Gently toss to blend. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 generous servings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post is linked to:

$5 Dinner Challenge

Tasty Tuesday

My Story Monday... Getting Pregnant After A Preemie- Pondering #3

My little girl had just turned one. My son was about to turn two. I was in no way feeling "baby crazy" (and I was still taking an antidepressant- I was told not to go off of it during the winter months), but I was starting to think I might not be done having children.

By then, my body was fully healed. I had long since gotten into the routine of caring for two very small children and C. was thriving- she was no longer on oxygen, no longer on an apnea monitor, and no longer needed an NG-tube to eat. As you can see from her birthday shot- she had no trouble eating whipped cream!

I think a lot of people assumed I would be done having children for one of two reasons-- my last baby had been born so, so very early and, probably just as significant for many, I already had a boy and a girl... so wasn't my family complete? I wasn't so sure.

I was also very scared. The cause of my premature labor had never been determined. There wasn't anything specific to monitor or any preventative steps to take. I had carried one eight pound baby to 41 weeks and delivered a one pounder at barely 24. MY health had never faltered. I had absolutely no clue what a third pregnancy might bring.

One thing I DID know was that, should we decide to have another baby, I would have no choice but to have another c-section. The classic c-section I had needed to ensure C's safety meant that I could never, ever, ever attempt a vaginal delivery again. The risk of rupture is just too high. (Somewhat random side-note: One of the hardest things for me has been the number of women who try to tell me I could have done a VBAC- or scoff at the c-section I had in the first place. I appreciate what you're all trying to say- truly. Please trust me when I tell you that I had excellent doctors who knew what they were doing.) I wasn't scared of having another c-section. I would have SO preferred a vaginal birth, but I knew I could handle a c-section and the thought of a planned one versus a wild, middle-of-the-night Christmas Eve surgery sounded very do-able.

I started doing research, even though I knew I wasn't really quite ready to be pregnant again. I learned about perinatology and went on some prematurity boards to ask other women about their experiences with perinatologists. I even went so far as to get a recommendation for a good one from our beloved pediatrician. I filed all this information away and carried on with parenting my two-under-two.

If I'm honest, I'll admit to you that I didn't do the very best job taking care of myself during this point. I put on some weight... not enough to ever make me "overweight" by those charts or the doctor's standards, but enough that I felt out-of-shape. I wasn't exercising regularly. I was grabbing whatever I could to eat whenever I could with little thought to its nutritional value. I felt like I was so busy juggling my two babies that I didn't have time... in reality, I should have just planned better and made it a priority. Hind-sight is 20-20 and all that...

The point is-- it wasn't really a good time for me to be having another baby just yet. And I didn't But in my mind, the seed was planted...

It would be another year before I felt "ready".

A Parent's Worst Nightmare

"It's every parent's worst nightmare."

I heard the T.V. promotion for the upcoming special on teen pregnancy and, as always, it didn't sit quite right with me.

And then my husband spoke aloud what had been in my heart:

"That's not my worst fear."

It's not mine either. It's not even close, to tell you the truth.

Let me be perfectly clear. Of all the dreams and aspirations I have for my two daughters, getting pregnant as a teenager is nowhere on the list. I pray that we will instill in them the morals and judgment to make better choices. I fervently hope that we will provide the right support and communication to help them grow into adulthood before becoming mommies themselves.

But... my "worst fear"?

Nope.

Off the top of my head, here are several things that I think would be worse:

• Losing a child.
• Having a child be kidnapped/injured/raped.
• Having a terminally ill child.
• Having a child who commits a violent act against another.
• Having a child addicted to drugs.
• Having a daughter run off to abort a baby.
• etc. etc. etc.
  

Every parent's worst nightmare? Not these parents. It may have something to do with the fact that we stood over our first daughter's NICU bed as they told us she wasn't going to make it. (She did.) Had they told us then that our little girl would make it but she would later become a teenage mother, trust me, we would have happily agreed to it. And I'm guessing we're not alone in that feeling.

I don't like that ad. I don't agree with it, and I just don't like it. I don't like the idea that there may be young girls out there struggling with having just found out they were pregnant who see this promo and feel like even greater failures. Who wants to be told you're your "parent's worst nightmare"? How is this going to help the situation? It is too easy for me to envision a fifteen-year old girl who thinks killing her baby is her only option...

Teenage pregnancy shouldn't be our worst nightmare. It shouldn't be something we silently fear as we send our daughters off into the dark. We need to prepare our girls as they head out into the world. We need to arm them with the support and tools they need to make good decisions.

And, at the end of the day, we need to be their soft place to fall.

I want my daughters to know that they will never be a nightmare to me, no matter what they do. And I want them to know that, while we want them to wait, a baby is never a nightmare. A baby is a blessing, a tiny human whose life is full of promise. I want my daughters to know that I would help them find a way to best fulfill that promise...


How about you? As you raise your children, is teenage pregnancy one of your greatest fears? Do you think a fear tactic is a good one? I'd love to know what my readers think.

Homemade Baby Food

This is my third baby, but I've learned something new this time around:

I've learned how to make baby food.

I am ashamed (literally- my cheeks are flaming as I type this) to admit that I once purchased banana baby food in a jar. Seriously? Did I not think I could mash a ripe banana with a fork? I guess I just never even considered it. I know, I know...

But I'm not afraid to tackle all sorts of fun foods for little Baby G. Our freezer currently contains cubes of sweet potato, squash (both butternut and acorn), peas, chicken, ham, avocado, blueberries, pears, apricots, apples, mango, and banana. I have to admit that I have WAY too much fun coming up with different combinations of food for my little girl to try.

Two sites that have been incredibly helpful to me are Once A Month Mom's baby food section and Wholesome Baby Food. These web sites give me the instructions I need to feel confident tackling whatever sounds tasty! They also help provide guidelines for appropriate ages to introduce specific foods- Wholesome Baby Foods does a wonderful job of outlining allergen risks.

Making baby food has been a delight for me- I adore learning how to do something new. It has also saved our family a whole lot of money. I haven't calculated it all out, but I can say that we have not had to budge an inch from our $200/month grocery budget, even with another little mouth eating solids now. What a win-win!

How about you? Do you make baby food at home? What's your favorite thing to prepare? (By the way, can anyone guess what G's been eating in the above shot?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday, hosted at The Finer Things In Life and Frugal Friday, hosted at Life As MOM.

My Pastry Bag

I am SO low-tech in the kitchen. I'm just not very gadget-y. I don't even own a box grater- I just make do with a single plane grater that fits easily in a drawer. I cook and bake all the time and it never fails to amaze me how many different "tools" some women have in their kitchens!

I'm not a fancy, schmancy cake baker. I've seen some of the amazing creations floating around here in the blogosphere and I don't mind admitting that I am just not in that league. But I do make hand-decorated cakes and treats for special occasions that require some piping detail.

I do not own a pastry bag.

I don't want a pastry bag.

I use this:


Here's why I love the Ziploc (or similar type) bag:

• It's inexpensive.
• If I feel I can't get it clean, I don't feel that bad tossing it.
• I can custom-adjust the piping line without adding tips.
• I can have different colors going at once without any real investment.
• It's less "stuff" to store- especially "stuff" that only gets used a few times a year.

It is true that I cannot make stars or flower petals with this. Truth? I can't make them anyway ;) - I have zero in the way of cake decorating training.

Keeping it simple works for me!

(Just for you, Ally (see the comments), here are the decorated Teddy Grahams! They graced my 5-year old son's football birthday cake.)

~~~~~~~~

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday, hosted at We Are THAT Family.