I'm Hooked

On this little gem of a snack.

Peanut butter banana smoothie.  My friend Kim made me one of these the other day when we were at their house.  It was so good.  It's better than good.  It's one of those things that when I  find it, I tell everyone I meet about it.  And how they have to try it for themselves.   

Please go make one right now for yourself.  And god bless you Kim for introducing me to this heavenly snack.

2 cups fat free vanilla frozen yogurt

1/4 cup milk

1 frozen banana

2 TBS peanut butter

1 TBS nutella

2 TBS wheat germ

I Found It!

About an hour after delivering Pete in the hospital, the kind lady who brings the dessert cart around to each room, paid me a visit.  Pick anything you want... she instructed me.  I assume from the work it took to deliver a baby and the fact that it was nearly eleven o'clock (my normal lunchtime) was the reason that I was ravenously starving.  I devoured a piece of carmel cheesecake within a minute.  From that moment on, ALL I want to eat are sweets.  TJ fueled the fire when he brought me home a huge piece of chocolate cake from Lazlos the first week we were home from the hospital.   I thought about that cake for days.  But now I'm realizing that I better pull myself together and begin to wean myself off of sweets.  Not completly, for heavens sake. Maybe just not having chocolate after lunch and dinner....every day.

So, thanks to my new found interest...Pinterest, I stumbled upon a dessert blog.  And it's healthy.  Healthy ways to make desserts.  I'm in heaven.  I found this recipe .  It is the perfect dessert for me to make.  It's a single serving.  Tastes like a thick piece of chocolate cake without all the fat and calories!  I made it with applesauce instead of oil so this little gem is only 2 grams of fat and 140 calories.  ALLELUIA!  However, I did add dark chocolate chips both in the batter and on top...Baby steps.  Baby steps.

Try it!

My Weekend at the Hilton....I Mean Hospital

I can't believe I'm here again.

That I get another chance to have a baby at this magical place.

That our doctor will again amaze me by his devotion to me and the tiny babe inside of me.

That TJ and I get to call parents, friends, relatives and tell them the good news of who has made their presence in the world this very day.

That I will witness God's miracle of birth...again.

The more children we have, the more this hospital becomes a sort of retreat for me.  We leave our other children at home in the care of grandparents, while TJ and I sneak away in the middle of the night to a very quiet, calm hospital room for some time together.  A marriage retreat for sure.

We are anxious and excited and a bit scared, at least I am, I don't think TJ has anything to worry about! We walk around the eire calm hallways of the labor and delivery floor and talk a little, mostly just walking silently, my arm locked into his arm as we stop every so often for me to breath through a contraction. Once I get an epidural, the nurse turns off the lights and orders us to sleep.  Its ironic really that I get to sleep and rest while my body is contracting and progressing,  making ready for the baby to leave it's home for the last nine months. While TJ sleeps, I pray the rosary over and over. I'm too anxious, too excited to sleep.

And then, in a matter of minutes, our lives have changed.  We meet the person who has expanded our family...again. 

My heart is swollen with gratitude for our doctor, for TJ, for the wonderful nurses who walked with me every step of labor, calming my anxiety and fears.  I am so grateful to God for blessing us with this tiny person.

And I feel like a celebrity.  Strangers coming in my room and complimenting me on a job well done.  Now come the cheers of way to go, you did it and congratulations you did an awesome job, and he is absolutely perfect!
And I feel proud. All attention is on me and the baby, and I rather like it.

And not only do I have people asking me what can they get me a gazillion times a day, but I can pick up the phone and request whatever I want to eat, whenever I want it.  No cooking.  No cleaning.  They bring in a tray of food, and when I'm done someone comes and whisks it away.  I ordered these pancakes five times in the two days at the hospital.

And if that wasn't glorious enough, a kind  woman comes knocking on my door once a day asking me to pick whatever dessert I want.  Oh, angel from heaven.  I miss her already.

I love to watch the kids come up to the hospital and meet their new sibling for the first time.  Then everyone leaves, and I am left alone, alone with this brand new tiny person.  I got really sad when TJ went home the first night after having Evelyn and I spent the night alone in the hospital.  This time I was still a bit sad, but admittedly looking forward to sitting in bed and doing whatever I wanted!  Hold baby, stare at the baby, check emails, watch a Netflix movie, take pictures of baby...

Our good friends Craig and Kim came to visit and celebrate Pete's birth.  And celebrate we did!  They brought champagne and we toasted to Pete.  Craig and Pete also share the same birthday so they brought a huge hunk of chocolate cake for me to devour!

When the kids come up to the hospital they are timid and shy at first, not really sure of what they are going to see.  Then they jump right in and onto my bed ready to hold the baby.

I have such mixed feelings about leaving the hospital.  On one hand I'm ready to get back to my own bed and shower and to spend as much time with TJ while he is home for the week.  I think the reason why I don't like leaving is that it signifies the honeymoon phase of giving birth is over.  Its one step closer to getting back to normal.  I will be back to dishes, laundry, bedtimes, doing homework with the kids.  By the time I get home my milk has come in with a vengeance and the upper half of my body will expand larger than I could have ever imagined.  It will hurt.  I will be tired.  There will be no one knocking on my door with a dessert cart.

I think that is why I cherish the two days spent in the hospital so much.   I can step off the fast paced train of life if only for a brief moment, and soak in this calm, brand new life.  I can thank God for the gift of my body and how it is nothing short of a miracle how this little one came into the world.

Saintly Snacks

Annie's Little Flowers group celebrated an "All Saints" party this month.  I was able to make the snack, and as I was thinking of what to make, it came to me to make a couple different small finger food snacks that symbolize a few saints.  It was fun.  So, we ended up with...

Saint Lucy's....eyes.
Saint Lucy is a martyr who had her eyes plucked out for being a christian.

Saint Therese's....Little Flower cupcakes.

Saint Therese is known as the Little Flower and promised to send a shower of roses down from heaven after her death.

Saint Clare's....eclairs.

There is no correlation here, it just sounded good!

Blessed Mother Theresa's....caring heart mints.

Mother Theresa walked the streets of Calcutta India caring for the homeless, dying, and the sick.

Saint Blaise's....candlesticks.

On the feast of St. Blaise which is in February, the priest will bless every one's throat at mass with candlesticks.  It is said that St. Blaise saved a young boy who was choking on a fish bone.

A Lovely Fall Treat

Oh, how I love fall.  I can't think of a single person who doesn't love this time of year.  The vibrant colors both outside and in, warm and yummy smells from apple cider candles burning to something baking in the oven, cool, crisp air, and football announcer voices setting the tone for the background noise throughout our home, all make for one heck of a beautiful season.

One of my favorite things to do on an early Saturday morning is sit downstairs on the couch with a good cup of coffee in my hands and flip through cookbooks.  Not just any cookbooks, but ones that intrigue my senses with beautiful pictures and words.This is one of my favorites that I pull out this time of year and read over and over.

This particular morning, TJ had just left to go for a run with Thomas following him on his bike. As I was flipping through her book, I stumbled upon this little beauty, and even better...I had all the ingredients.  As I got up to make a pumpkin latte, I thought wouldn't it be fun to surprise TJ and Thomas with a fancy little fall brunch when they got back.  So the kids and I set to work, which was really no work at all since I had all the ingredients for both the scones and pumpkin latte.  George thought I was funny as I was scurrying about the kitchen tyring to work fast so they would be all done when the boys got home!

Pumpkin latte.  So very good.

And to top them off you drizzle an orange glaze over the top.  YUM!

Right as we were finishing up in the kitchen, the boys called from TJ's parents house where they had stopped.  So we invited Tom and Tonja to come over for our little impromptu fall brunch!

I love how Tom has his napkin tucked into his shirt pocket!

For as much as I love this time of year, I also dread it.  It's the sickness.  This is the time when we seem to catch whatever is going around which usually involves the stomach flu.

I. Hate. It. 

I realize that no one enjoys being sick or watching their little ones not feel well, but I get very anxious about it.  I will say that over the years of my parenting, I have gotten a little better dealing with them being sick, but I still have a long way to go.  The anxiety of someone being sick hovers over me all through the fall and winter.  I dread the wondering of when we'll get it more than the actual sickness itself.

Annie broke me in right on schedule.  October 2nd, the very beginning of fall, she was sick.  Oh well, here we go....