Random Four A.M.

My internet friend had her boy-girl twins this week.  I was so happy for her.  She was on the infertility journey longer than I was and was a strong, reasonable voice in the darkness encouraging and questioning.  She was due about 2 weeks before I was but due to a complication was going to have her babes early.  They came all on their own though which is fabulous.  My thoughts are with her as she settles into mothering these two babes outside the womb and gets to know them.

Completely coincidentally a blog that I follow’s writer had her girl-girl twins last night.  She was only 32 weeks and had very bad pre-eclampsia and some twin-twin transfusion syndrome.  One of her twins died, I believe just prior to being born.  The other twin is in the NICU.  I cannot even imagine the grief and heartache.  And the joy.

I turned to Mr. T tonight as I was taking him back to work from his lunch break (2:50am is still lunch, right?) and asked him if our baby was going to die.  It seems possible now.  Maybe even likely.  Which sucks.  I want the little bit of pregnant bliss I had back.  Not that I had much, mind you.  I had the thought that I just don’t think emotionally I could take losing her at this point.  But I doubt any mother or father ever thinks they could.  I will confess that after the first loss we decided to start trying again because I thought I could go through another loss…not that we were ready to have a baby.  Evidently, that was a wise course of action because we did then lose BabyAcorn.  And I did handle it and so did Mr. T and we did not fall apart or into the abyss.  But I think it would not fair as well now.  Oh, well.  Mr. T said everything was going to be just fine and likely here at 35w plus days everything will be alright…

Unless I stop on the side of the interstate to read the small print paragraph on the new digital billboard with the “If you See Something Say Something” slogan.  Then things may get dicey for me.  Have you seen this billboard?  Left side of sign has slogan.  Middle shows a man or a woman randomly.  Right side has this tiny print (from the road anyway) paragraph…I am curious what it says.  I mean, I realize it is a campaign to distract from real terrorism but do people really even speak with their neighbors anymore?  I believe I live in the friendliest city in the US and my neighborhood interaction pretty much consists of waving and saying hello.  I would have no idea if one of my neighbors was a crazy guy who was going to fly a plane into the IRS or blow up his truck of fertilizer in a parking garage.  I just get the icky creepy crawlies when I see the message because it so smacks of fascism.  And yes, I do believe the left can be fascist too.  It is all a big circle.  Eventually you can become so liberal as to be conservative…

KMart’s generic tums stink.  CVS isn’t open odd hours.  Their generic tums are highly effective.  You should pick up a copy of the book Crazy Love.  It was great.  I think I’m going to try to go back to bed now.

If I don’t have a chance to say it tomorrow…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Recap

So I’m sitting on the couch waiting for Mr. T to get ready so we can (excuse the brief interruption…the phone just rang and was a recording, “This is a lost pet alert.  Your neighbor Paul lost a small black dog with white on its face and ears on December 27th”…I hung up but I’ve never had that kind of call.  Have you?  What’s the deal?)  get to the movie on time.  We are the last people in America who wanted to see Narnia but haven’t yet.  So we are going to go tonight.  3D is the only option.  Not my favorite but Mr. T would rather see it in 3D then wait until it is out on DVD.   As I wait I am typing and eating homemade hamburger macaroni.  Yes!  Trying to get more protein in with the cheesy carby goodness of mac N cheese.  It is delicious.

No, we didn’t have homemade hamburger macaroni for Christmas.  Yes, this will eventually be a Christmas recap but I thought you’d want to know the current lay of the land before we get into the way back machine.

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Christmas Eve morning (my favorite day of the year!) I had a lovely acupuncture session and came home to get ready for Christmas!  I have a wonderful lady who helps me out and she came over and got busy!  In less time then it takes to make a loaf of bread from scratch the house was tiptop spiffy!  Meanwhile, I cooked scalloped potatoes, green beans.  I also finished baking the various kringles and croissants that were started days prior.  Oh, and I got snippy with Mr. T.  I know.  I know.  He is so wonderful how could I be so awful???  Um.  Tired.  Pregnant.  Hormonal.  That about sums it up.  I did apologize.  No excuses.  Just because one is Tired.  Pregnant. Hormonal. does not mean one gets to cast aspersions on the lack of helpful help from one’s spouse.

In the tradition of all Christmas Eve’s prior we had chili and ham buns for dinner.  It was really delicious!  We also watched White Christmas.  It was different from the musical but okay.  Mr. T worked.  He didn’t spot Santa.  But that was all my fault…as I was up almost all night again.  This time just about the time I was firmly committing to laying back down I ralphed the tomatoes from the delicious chili.  When?  3am…yeah, we had dinner around 5pm.  That may be a new personal record.  I showered and finally got to sleep around 4am.  Mr. T called that he was on his way home around 6:30am.  Needless to say 2 1/2 hours of sleep were appreciated but not nearly enough!

Christmas morning Mr. T and I had hot drinks (coffee for him, cocoa for me) and slices of kringle.  Yum!  And opened presents.  Mr. T’s Christmas presents consisted of every 8 year old boy’s fantasy- pop-up Star Wars books with real working light sabers, legos, Halo action figures…For me, Mr. T knocked it out of the park this year (yahoo!) with a stunning set of matching earrings and pendant, two anthropologie bowls, and Hate That Cat (I highly recommend Love That Dog first).  After unwrapping gifts and eating we went to bed for a few hours.  Sleep!  Wonderful!

Around noon we got up to get ready for the arrival of Mr. T’s parents.  We began heating up the ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and croissants for dinner along with making cheery Christmas salad (delicious! Cherry balsamic vinaigrette with greens, red peppers, onions, clementine sections, pomegranate seeds!).  They arrived and we ate and then opened presents again.  Mr. T got a ton of games and fun stuff.  I received the Little House on the Prairie book set, a few cooking accessories (2 scoops and a chopper!), and a gorgeous hand crocheted baby blanket for little Miss Au.

(Mr. T is anxious to leave so I’m going to leave you hanging…sorry…I know it is riveting…  😀 )

We had an excellent, excellent time with Mr. T’s parents.  Then we set up the inflatable 3 foot high mattress and tried to watch the Hogfather.  But after 20 minutes we both fell asleep.  For two and a half hours!  It was delicious!  The snow was falling, the fire was going, the Christmas tree was glowing, and there we were snuggled in.  Fabulous.  After napping we made waffles and watched “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  Neither of us had seen it.  It was okay.  The waffles were yummy.  We are now out of bisquick.  After eating we finished watching The Hogfather.  Best Christmas movie EVER.

Then on Sunday my family came into town and we had a repeat performance of gift giving and receiving, eating (traditional Christmas lasagna!) and watching The Hogfather (again!).  Oh, and we played 3 games (0-3) of Pandemic.  I still haven’t ever won that game.  Mr. T received the expansion for Christmas so it was nice to play with new toys.

Overall, it was a lovely, lovely Christmas.  We are very blessed.

Merry Christmas!

White chocolate, cranberry, pecan cookies  *  Dark chocolate, white chocolate peppermint bark  *  Mr. T busy getting ornament craft project underway for BabyE  *  My Due Date Club craft project(s) FINALLY finished  *  Cream cheese, cherry Kringle  *  Cream cheese Kringle *

See?  We have been busy!  I have photographic proof!  We have occupied our days finishing projects, baking, crafting, and enjoying being “snowed in” a few times.  The anticipation and buzz around today’s holiday have been wonderful.  Contentment reigns with loose ends tied and satisfaction in a job well done.  Plus, getting to just take it easy today feels well earned. 

We have had a wonderful day so far.  Mr. T came home from work and we had our Christmas morning.  (I got a lovely necklace and earring set, thank you for asking!)  We spoke with my family on the phone (they will be here tomorrow!) and wished everyone a Happy Christmas.  Then Mr. T’s parents stopped over for Christmas lunch (ham, scalloped potatoes, croissants, green beans!) and we exchanged presents with them.  Now Mr. T and I will cuddle down with a movie or two and watch the snow fall gently. 

From our house to yours we wish you the peace of a newborn savior, the joy of family and friends, and the love of the Lord who sent his child that we may be not only forgiven but also taught what LOVE really is.  HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Liar!

Yes, I know I finished my previous post stating I would post the following day and I didn’t.  I’ve been busy.  Really.  Snow, ice, rain, cold…broken cars…work…sleep…appointments…hypnosis…you know, lots going on.  Okay, and maybe lots of wasted time.  But soon I’ll post the promised stuff and try to get back on the posting bandwagon.

Merry! Merry! Merry!

The house is aglow most nights with a fire.  The presents under the tree are of course for AU.  Mr. T did most of the Christmas decorating this year (didn’t he do a wonderful job?).  I did most of the directing.  Although the Christmas season is a full week shorter than it could be we have been in high festive/elf mode this past week.  Mr. T and I have procured gifts for our nearest and dearest.  None of them are wrapped but maybe I’ll get to that tomorrow.  The girls and I had a day of baking planned for yesterday but snow thwarted some and but GF Em braved the weather.  She created 3 cookie masterpieces.  Lemon volcanoes–erupting with flavor!  Toffee Bars–Gooey center with chocolate almond top!  Mollasses Cookies– Just like Mr. T loves!  Oh, me?  What did I do?  I sat and watched.  That’s sort of my theme I think.  Content gazing.  I guess it beats navel gazing.  But seriously?  This year, friends and family can expect portions of Christmas Chrunch and Peppermint Bark.  In fact I have about 8 gallons of Christmas Chrunch hanging out on the kitchen island. 

Wait?  You don’t know what Christmas Chrunch is?  Oh.  Here’s a picture.

Looks good huh? 

I can’t give you a recipe because, well, I just poured stuff into a Whole Foods bag until all the containers were empty.  Then I sent Mr. T to the store to procure more white chocolate because there just wasn’t enough to cover everything.  But the deliciousness those bags contain: rice chex, corn chex, peanuts, almonds, pecans, dried cranberries, pretzels, M&Ms, coconut flakes all doused with white chocolate goodness.  It was easy and, have I mentioned, REALLY tasty. 

Tomorrow I have a cookie recipe and peppermint bark to show off.  My camera died.  Again.  Alas.  So, tomorrow it is!