Monday, December 31, 2012

Fudge Recipe

We're coming off of two weeks of partying and just enjoying family, and a result of that has been a TON of food consumed. Mom made my favorite peanut butter chocolate cream pie, and then to appease the non-peanut butter OR chocolate eaters in the family (Steve) she made an apple pie. Which was so good she made another the next day. And there was none left for breakfast. Steve made the rookie mistake of giving Henri a huge piece, reasoning that she'd eat only a little and then he'd get to finish it off, thus getting two pieces. While she normally eats very few sweets and is pretty good at limiting herself, on this occasion her head went down and there was no prying the pie from her grip. She inhaled it faster than we ate ours and was very very happy. I guess I should have seen it coming as she asks a few times a week for an apple pie (she'd had one once in her life before and it clearly made an impact).
Anyway, we are home and safe and someone nicely plowed part of our driveway while we were away (have I mentioned our fantastic neighbors?) and back to healthy(ish) eating. But I had a request for the Nutella Fudge recipe I mentioned a while back. Rather than try to make it sound original, I'll just give you the link HERE. Very simple to make, very easy to eat the whole pan yourself. Be warned.
I doubt I'll stay up till midnight tonight as I am now very old and have a busy week to go, but I plan to spend some time re-capping the year (complete with pictures!) for you all for later this week. Hope you're having wonderful celebrations!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Holidays continue

Two weeks of nothing in a row, my apologies. It's a bit more hectic than usual around here and the camera still retains all its photos. Truthfully, you might not get a proper post for a few more weeks as my schedule is ridiculous and it's pretty packed through January. I'm promising myself a treat come May when this is all behind us. Anyway, Henri is on the mend, we've gotten nothing but rain with this nor'easter, and we finally have Christmas lights up on our house!
And speaking of Henri, here she is on Christmas morning with her favorite gift; an Ergo doll carrier. Bobby now truly goes everywhere with her.

 
See you in the New Year!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Oops

Just a quick post to say I'd typed one up and then this and that happened and it didn't get posted, and now it's old news, so it will stay that way. But I'm so close to finishing the year and blogging every week, I'm going to count it even though it didn't make it to publish :)
Anyway, we are safely back in our little hovel after a quick trip to NY. H's toddler hack morphed into scary high (for me...103) fever tonight with 40 respiration rate, but the on-call nurse said I was doing everything right and there was no reason to bring her in. So she's snuggled in bed with her beloved Bobby and Ellie, full of Tylenol and getting steamed by her eucalyptus oil-filled humidifier, and hopefully she's able to sleep comfortably tonight. I'd forgotten what a noisy, restless sleeper she is and we've shared a room and bed the last few nights, so we can all use some shut eye.
We had a marvelous Christmas with Steve's family and I'll share all the photos once I've uploaded them. H was pretty disoriented when we got home, what with the fever and having just fallen asleep, and was heartbroken that "Gamma Shepler" was not there. Hopefully we'll see them sooner than later. Many wishes for a Happy Holiday Season to you all, and I'll write a proper post soon :)

Friday, December 14, 2012

"Vacation Week"

I had big plans for this week, and most of it actually got done, but it was not the peaceful, rested and happy time I had been envisioning. Henri's cold got worse so I was home with her for four days. And she was a tearful mess. Fortunately she'd improved to just a toddler hack by Wednesday so I sent her to school (where she had a wonderful time) and then I came down with the cold on Thursday morning. Needless to say, the house remains a wreck, gifts are still not wrapped, and crafting did not occur. But everyone was fed, laundry was done, and I have just one paper left to write for this semester! I've been baking today to get ready for our church's cookie and coffee night on Sunday when we have a special song service. The nutella sea salt fudge was splendid. My attempts at peppermint meringues appear to be a complete flop. I have two more kinds to go (red velvet whoopie pies and a Yugoslavian Christmas bar) so there's hope yet.

Most of these pictures where taken on the same day when H was looking cute and the sun was out, and as you can see the model was NOT cooperative. At least I'm giving an accurate representation of life in these parts :)

This is a few weeks ago when we went to get our tree; H loved how they smelled and kept hugging them :)

First snow!

I think she was watching Steve trim the base of the tree

My attempt at the Christmas light shot that makes kids look so angelic. Clearly a fail on many levels

Morning attire


We had differing visions of how this photo shoot would go....

Minimally cooperative....

And then full-out rebellion. How dare I ask her to sit for two seconds on the bench she normally loves to climb on?!?!?!?!?!

And once that gasping fit had slowed, another began because her hair was irking her....

But all was better once she spotted my water bottle and could "cheers!" hers against it...

Last weeks art project. I'd wanted painted letters in H's room, but getting enough to spell out Henrietta is a expensive, and I had a large wall to fill (I know, this photo doesn't show scale well), so I painted canvases and stenciled/painted animals to represent her name: Hedgehog, Elk, Newt, Rabbit, Ibex, Elephant, Turtle, Toucan, Ant. She likes to name them off before she goes to bed, though she thinks the hedgehog is a sheep and the elk is a cow. Pretty close, I think.

The hedgehog. I thought he was so cute, and as it's Papa's trademark animal, and as H inquires about her Papa at least a few times a day, I thought it was a nice tie in.
Back to a normal-for-us schedule this week with two on-call shifts at the hospital and one in clinic. I'm hoping to get out of my Sunday shift so we can spend some time with Steve's family for Christmas; either way it's going to be a super short trip :( I think we're going to Skype a "Happy Birthday" to Papa, and then plunk the young 'un in bed, and then bake some more. Have a lovely (warm) weekend!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

More phone pictures

It continues to be the usual pace around here; a bit hectic, but still plenty of time for snuggling on the couch and reading with our Boo. This coming week I have no clinicals (yay!) but a huge "to do" list that will more than fill my time. Henri has had a cold for the past few days and was a total miserable whine pot today. She just felt crummy and was acting it out. It sounds pretty deep and I hope it's not anything serious, but I'm assuming she takes after me who spent every winter as a kid with a cough that sounded like I was on death's door. So I'm keeping her steamed and she's loving tissues, and we're keeping it low key.
We splurged a bit this afternoon and went to our favorite restaurant, Mr. Sushi. While H likes to play with a roll if I give it to her, she's yet to really eat one, but there's plenty of other stuff there she likes. I'd texted my mom the below photo and she was worried I'd only given H water. So in case you're concerned as well, the following was Henri's lunch: A Happy Baby (to keep her amused till the food came), her very own cup of water with a straw (this was a very. big. deal to her), an asparagus sushi roll, rice, miso broth, tofu (some day I'll get to eat the tofu in my soup; right now Steve and I have to give H all of ours as the greedy monster looooves it), cucumbers, tomatoes, tempura fried sweet potatoes and squash, and oranges. Some days it amazes me that she's still only 21 pounds.
Anyway, I have on my list for the week to "take pictures with the real camera" so I hope to do so :)

We helped decorate the church last weekend. After 5 years, it all comes together pretty seamlessly under the very capable direction and vision of Jessica


And then back home to decorate our own tree. Henri was enthralled with it and kept hugging it and sniffing it before we put it up. She's pretty much ignored it since :)

Steve washes the dishes every night (awww). He's found a way to make it more enjoyable: stream McGyver on his pad and tune out the family noise :)

At Mr. Sushi's today. Note the bags under H's eyes. Poor kid's not doing so hot

But the cup of water made it all better for a time. (Note: it's not like she's deprived of water at home. She has three cups in constant use and at any given time there's a full sippy within 2 feet of her. It's just that this had a removable straw which meant she could spray us/drip water everywhere and play in it)

Hopefully this drizzle ends soon as I'm itching for a long walk. I'd finally started to lose (a very tiny amount of) weight when the icky weather moved in and that, combined with the amazing carrot cake I just made, seem to be conspiring to undo said progress. And yes, I know cake is not a great diet staple, but Steve made carrot juice and I couldn't let the leftover pulp go to waste. So if anyone wants a slice, just head on over :)

Friday, November 30, 2012

A boring week...

Also a sleep deprived week. While working overnight shifts works great for our family schedule, it generally means I get 3ish hours of sleep in a 48+ hour period. I know that's nothing compared to what my brother pulls, but it's really throwing me. Even with a decent nights sleep I'm still wonky, and I have absolutely no idea what day of the week, or month, or even year, it is. Our professors have told us over and over that midwifery school is like pregnancy and labor, and I totally get that now. I'm clearly in the transition stage where you've lost all sense of time and place and are totally focused on one thing: get this schooling (labor) over with! Not to say that I don't enjoy it. The staff at hospital and birth center continue to be welcoming and kind, my clients are wonderful, and I don't think I could have imagined a better preceptor than Connie. I'm also thrilled to announce I have now performed many speculum exams and paps and received rave reviews from both Connie and my clients. It's stuff like this that gets me excited to head to clinic every morning :)
So because I've been either zombie brain or at the hospital, the picture count is low. Here are a few I had on my phone. Plans for the upcoming week include decorating the church, a surprise dinner with Aunt Tammy and Uncle Paul, a 24hour shift at the center/hospital, decorating the house, and lots of paper writing (it never seems to end). I have tons of crafting I need to get going on for Christmas, as well as 40% of my shopping left to do, so I'm looking forward to the break I have in clinicals in two weeks.
Getting ready for the park is now a huge production. H has become a big fan of swinging

I read an article on the jobs your 18-month old should have. H's doing most of them, but I hadn't included her in meal prep (I hate people in the kitchen when I'm trying to cook). I let her whisk the dry ingredients and then cut in the shortening for our biscuits. She actually did a great job and they turned out delicious. She still refused to eat one, though...

She got to play with a small ball of dough later on and enjoyed that as well

Sorry about the background...She loves to ride in her doll's stroller so she was getting pushed around this morning while getting ready for school

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Thanksgiving in VT

Though it was a flying trip, we had a wonderful time in marvelous weather enjoying amiable company. Can't wait to get back!

And an unrelated note: I'm a bit ticked at Google for charging me to upload pictures. Understandable, but I liked free. So I'm taking advantage of all the space I just purchased, you're welcome :)

H reading Trader Joe's Thanksgiving flyer with her breakfast. She was mumbling like she was reading and saying "mm hmmm", haha.

Waiting for the feast (and the table to get set)

Signs of the season were everywhere

What we should really be thankful for

This years place cards. Meghan made the stars from paper; hard to see in this light, but they're puffy and teeny tiny. Very cute.

The never-ending quest for a decent family portrait. At least we all coordinated...

Papa has a great assortment of vehicle type toys

After eating we headed out to whack some golf balls into the trees

Pretty Payte

I have beautiful sisters

The lovefest directed at Papa continues. H dominated his time and attention, and if it looked like he might be doing something else she'd grab his hand and demand a "walk"...which is nothing more than a stall until she thinks of something to make you do for her.

The moon always looks more impressive in real life

Yet another beauty!

They had no excuse. I didn't see either sully their hands with dishwater

The cousins were introduced to Catan

H woke up Friday in a fine mood

Reading "Go Dogs, Go!" with Gram

Chillier day, but still lots of sun

Used to be my hat, back in the day....

A version of field hockey using whiffle bats and a play yard ball

H trying out all the rocks on the stonewall as chairs

OK, another example of an attempt at a photo....do you see what the little stinker is up to in the background??? Eating leaves. She's gnawing on a stem here.....

Tire swinging

H loves to swing

The Ent has lost an eye

H found the sled on the front steps and was thrilled. She wanted me to give her a ride, so I guess come snowfall she'll be expecting a sled.
We've sort of hit our stride (I think) with clinicals and so far they seem to be fitting well into our schedule. I feel like I'm either there or on the computer which is hard for H, but this is a relatively short period of time in her life and will be over by summer (*fingers crossed*). She's seemed to be fine and is adjusting her wants/needs in accordance to which parent is available at the time. I'm still waiting to be the primary midwife to catch a baby (got to deliver a head this week!) as things have been dreadfully slow, but everyone assures me this is abnormal so I'll remain patient. I've got grand plans for crafting this week after I complete a largish project for a class, and I might make some of those draft logs as icy air is coming in from somewhere in the kitchen area and I'm freezing. I think next weekend we'll be brave and try decorating for Christmas. Has anyone else started?

Friday, November 16, 2012

Clinicals and homelife

It finally happened. After much agony and stress and planning and reassurances and studying, I began my clinical portion of training. Lest you be one of those confused by my course of study, no I'm not finished school yet, no I'm not getting paid for this (I wish!), yes I still have another 6-9 months to go, and yes I'm still writing papers and completing projects. But it's the hands-on stuff and way more exciting than textbook reading (though that's thrilling in its own way as well). Anyway, given HIPPA and all that good stuff I obviously can't tell you what I saw and did, but know that it was awesome and I'm so not used to working a full day anymore, and everyone was so welcoming and kind, and I do indeed have a pager, and all of my clients have seemed thrilled to have the additional attention of a student. I think it's good for them as well, because they feel more the expert in their pregnancy (since I have the title of "student") and want to tell me about everything going on with them and what they think it is, what they should do about it. It really makes them the leader in their own care, which is what midwifery is about. Anyway, I'm very humbled that they are so willing to let me in on this special time in their life, be so open, and be completely forgiving of any bumbles I make (be assured, Connie has her hands poised right above mine if I'm doing anything that would in any way risk mom or baby). I've already seen some really hard stuff that I'm still processing, some really happy stuff, and heard some pretty crazy things (the nontraditional lifestyles gravitate towards this care and it's pretty awesome). I'm on call through the weekend so I may or may not get some more hours, but this coming week I have a few overnight shifts as well as clinic, and being that it's the holidays, I'm hoping for some action :)

Other than that, everything has been the norm around here. H loooooooves her school (there's happy cheering in the backseat when I drop Steve off and tell her I'm taking her to school), she's testing like crazy when she's home, she's started to not play as independently (boo) and grabs our hands to pull us to wherever she thinks we should be, and she's starting to string 3 words together. She also has this habit of not correctly pronouncing the first letters of a word, but she'll pronounce those letters in other words so I know she can say them. It leads to some pretty bad-sounding phrases. And while my language isn't always lily-white, I assure you what she's saying is NOT what it sounds like. For example, "S" usually gets the "SH" sound at the beginning of a word so demands to "sit"...well, you get the picture.

(I just dashed off to hit up my favorite thrift store...got there 7 minutes after it opened and there was only 1 parking spot left. Crazy. I made out like a bandit!!!!!!) Anyway, some views from the week:

Food shots are annoying, my apologies, but this cake has been a huge part of my week. Not only is it chocolate, I made the frosting out of avocados, agave syrup and coconut oil. Who knew? It's fudgy and rich and it's made me very very happy. Also very very fat. That's the trouble with being the only chocolate eater in the house....

Oh yeah! I became an aunt again :) Dustin Josiah. This kid has the most incredible hair, I can not wait to meet him, and it amazes me that my little brother is a dad. Sounds like everyone did really well, and I can see already that Katie is going to be a great, easy-going mom. Hopefully we'll get to see them over Christmas!

She's not so much in to dress-up as she is anything with zippers....

Being a ham. I'm trying to keep her hair up at all times because she has this massive mullet going and I don't want to cut her hair because it's so thin....and only long in the back. We'll see.

Hard to spot, but our friendly cat and groundhog. They spend a lot of time in our backyard.

Pants I made H. Anything I make her she proudly wears because she thinks it's special. I'm milking this time for all it's worth as I know this phase does not last long

She's starting new favorites for books, ones that have a longer story line. Right now it's "Dr. Dan the Bandage Man" and "Nurse Nancy" (I'm so proud) although she just picked up "Goodnight Moon" the other day and it's been with her since.

Steve and I had a friendly bout of ladder ball the other night. I smoked him

Henri pretending she has no idea where all the balls are that she just ran off with. She has a pretty definite idea of where stuff belongs and what the proper order of things should be and gets VERY upset if that gets disarranged (no idea who she picked that up from). She doesn't like us throwing the balls, she wants them hung neatly. She freaked in nursery because the kids were running around playing duck duck goose. And unfortunately she thinks all the refrigerator magnets should be in a heap on the kitchen floor. Good thing she's such a cute tyrant.
 
We're looking forward to a quick trip to VT for Thanksgiving Day. I'm having fun plotting for Christmas and trying to think of a few traditions I want to make/keep just for our family as it looks like there will be a lot of traveling. We might save decorating the house/stockings for January when things settle a bit. Hope you're all enjoying this season of thankfulness :)