Sunday presented us with beautiful Fall weather, so after my chores and errands were done, I packed up the kids and dog and headed for Hartwood Acres. I really wanted to test the performance of the BOB jogger, so we hit the trail that goes down to the horse stables. This was the first time the dog has been in those woods all year! To my dismay, Sheeks munched on some horse nuggets along the way.
I forgot how steep and rutted-out the path is down to the stables. This is something one doesn't notice when one isn't steering a 32-pound stroller full of 30 pounds of babies and trying not to slip on small rocks and roll on twigs in the process, all with an eager dog leading the way as well. There's a good reason the BOB has a hand strap for any possible runaway moments. It was an exhilarating trek, and we were rewarded at the bottom of the hill by one of the Clydesdales looking all cute and pastoral to greet us. We encountered another couple near the stables who looked at us askance as if to say, "You brought ALL that down THAT hill?" Why yes, indeed. We are crazy. Kai and Seda loved it despite their bobbing around.
After that, we moved on to the paved path. Pushing the aforementioned load up the long, not-so-steep hill back up to the mansion is quite a workout! Can't wait to do it again!
We are venturing out on a less than exciting trip today to Target. Whee!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Nurture and Nourish
Wednesday was a gray October day. There were bursts of yellow, orange and red scattered amongst the fading green of another summer gone by.
Earlier at work that day, I had heard someone say that on a dreary day they just want to go home and crawl into bed. I wonder why this is? In our part of the world that gets 4 distinct seasons, perhaps it is because Autumn is a time for bedding down, in preparation for the long sleep of winter, so we can waken refreshed again for Spring.
When the days darken, rather than turning in, I turn to my fond childhood memories of helping my dad build a fire, building couch forts with my brothers, playing board games in the family room, baking with my mother, donning musty ponchos and going on Sierra Club hikes, and sundry homey activities. These are the sorts of free fun things that nurture the spirit. I am soooooooo looking forward to recreating that life for my children!
Gray days also make me want to cook up a batch of chicken stock or bake bread. And nothing says homey like chicken stock simmering on the stove or bread baking and wafting throughout the house.
Tuesday when I retrieved Kai and Seda from my parents’ daycare, my mom had some chicken stew bubbling away in the oven. Wow, did that smell good! I returned home to my second bowl of vegetarian chili this week, accompanied by homemade corn muffins that I made on Sunday. The muffins were from the recipe on the box of cornmeal. When I bake, I measure. When I cook, I wing it, inventively. If it's good, I write it down so I can recreate it. Here is an estimation of the recipe:
Vegetarian Chili
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced onion
Half green bell pepper, diced
Half red bell pepper, diced
1 package Boca crumbles (3 packages come in a box) – could use reconstituted TVP instead, 1 cup dry? (textured vegetable protein)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
Few dashes of chipotle powder (optional)
1 15oz can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 15oz can black beans, drained
Half a bean can of water
1 28oz can diced tomatoes (I use Muir Glen fire-roasted)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
Saute until onion translucent. Add garlic and spices, stir, saute until fragrant.
Add remaining ingredients, stir, bring to simmer, turn down and cook on low for an hour or two.
Serve with cornbread or tortilla chips. Top with grated cheese if you like.
Earlier at work that day, I had heard someone say that on a dreary day they just want to go home and crawl into bed. I wonder why this is? In our part of the world that gets 4 distinct seasons, perhaps it is because Autumn is a time for bedding down, in preparation for the long sleep of winter, so we can waken refreshed again for Spring.
When the days darken, rather than turning in, I turn to my fond childhood memories of helping my dad build a fire, building couch forts with my brothers, playing board games in the family room, baking with my mother, donning musty ponchos and going on Sierra Club hikes, and sundry homey activities. These are the sorts of free fun things that nurture the spirit. I am soooooooo looking forward to recreating that life for my children!
Gray days also make me want to cook up a batch of chicken stock or bake bread. And nothing says homey like chicken stock simmering on the stove or bread baking and wafting throughout the house.
Tuesday when I retrieved Kai and Seda from my parents’ daycare, my mom had some chicken stew bubbling away in the oven. Wow, did that smell good! I returned home to my second bowl of vegetarian chili this week, accompanied by homemade corn muffins that I made on Sunday. The muffins were from the recipe on the box of cornmeal. When I bake, I measure. When I cook, I wing it, inventively. If it's good, I write it down so I can recreate it. Here is an estimation of the recipe:
Vegetarian Chili
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced onion
Half green bell pepper, diced
Half red bell pepper, diced
1 package Boca crumbles (3 packages come in a box) – could use reconstituted TVP instead, 1 cup dry? (textured vegetable protein)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
Few dashes of chipotle powder (optional)
1 15oz can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 15oz can black beans, drained
Half a bean can of water
1 28oz can diced tomatoes (I use Muir Glen fire-roasted)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
Saute until onion translucent. Add garlic and spices, stir, saute until fragrant.
Add remaining ingredients, stir, bring to simmer, turn down and cook on low for an hour or two.
Serve with cornbread or tortilla chips. Top with grated cheese if you like.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Twenty Tiny Toasty Toes
The furnace works...now. Last week, my furnace guy Ralph said a ceramic tube on the pilot assembly was cracked. Wednesday, he said he'd found the part. Yesterday, the living room was 59 degrees with no heat. We didn't really care, as we like it cool, and I bundled the babies up with pants and hooded sweaters over their sleepers. So this morning, Ralph came and finished the job and now we are cookin' at a balmy 65, which is how we like it.
Around 5pm yesterday, I built a fire, the first of the season. Hauled up two loads of firewood to outside the front door. Tons of spiders in the wood pile! Sadly, some met their maker in the inferno. I kept the home fires burning until we went to bed after enduring the VP debate. Anyone else have a headache after listening to HER? I was hoping for some implosion, but alas, she wasn't as bad as she could have been.
Today I'm doing some serious cleaning, or at least making some headway. I'm lucky Seda and Kai have long naps so I can get stuff done without feeling I'm ignoring them too much!
Right now, as I type, I'm looking out at the silvery sky above the field across the road. It is a watercolor gray, like Payne's Gray out of the paint box. There are twinges of color changes happening in the trees. I'm glad fall is here. I'm ready to go on more walks with the kids and dog now that the weather is cooler.
Yesterday I went to my first meetup event of Pittsburgh Hip Mama held at the Quiet Storm Coffeehouse in Friendship/Garfield. That place is always a favorite of mine. Met a couple nice moms of young babies, looking forward to more events with this group.
Around 5pm yesterday, I built a fire, the first of the season. Hauled up two loads of firewood to outside the front door. Tons of spiders in the wood pile! Sadly, some met their maker in the inferno. I kept the home fires burning until we went to bed after enduring the VP debate. Anyone else have a headache after listening to HER? I was hoping for some implosion, but alas, she wasn't as bad as she could have been.
Today I'm doing some serious cleaning, or at least making some headway. I'm lucky Seda and Kai have long naps so I can get stuff done without feeling I'm ignoring them too much!
Right now, as I type, I'm looking out at the silvery sky above the field across the road. It is a watercolor gray, like Payne's Gray out of the paint box. There are twinges of color changes happening in the trees. I'm glad fall is here. I'm ready to go on more walks with the kids and dog now that the weather is cooler.
Yesterday I went to my first meetup event of Pittsburgh Hip Mama held at the Quiet Storm Coffeehouse in Friendship/Garfield. That place is always a favorite of mine. Met a couple nice moms of young babies, looking forward to more events with this group.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Crazy Eights
First we were two, now we are four. 4 times 2 is 8, and today is our 8th anniversary. This is us in the judge's chambers around 2pm on Friday, Sept. 29, 2000. Lucky for us we were married in a year ending in zero's so when we're 90, we'll easily be able to figure out how long it has been.
Almost exactly a year ago, Kai and Seda came to be when our DNA was mixed in a dish. How romantic.
I won't be getting the traditional pottery or bronze gifts, because I'm far from traditional. I will probably be getting a humorous card, as is our tradition. We don't really do gifts for each other. After all, we've given each other the greatest gift of all this year, the gift of children. Tonight's dinner will be crusty tilapia, mashed potatoes and peas, one of the hub's favorites.
I guess you could say we celebrated yesterday, by going out to lunch at the Indian buffet. Of course the kids were there with us, soaking up the curry fumes. We can't wait till they are ready to eat there too. Kai was awake and very interested the whole time. Seda slept through most of it, despite my waiving a papadum under her nose.
It's been a crazy day on the kid front. It seems like all of a sudden they are requiring more food at each feeding. There was much screaming at mealtimes and I couldn't get the food down their gullets fast enough. There were nursing strikes and hunger strikes thrown in as well. Now why would you go on strike when you're hungry? We went grocery shopping late morning, came back, fed, bathed, and late this afternoon I was sat across the living room from them, watching their angelic sleep.
It doesn't get much better than that.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Footloose
K got the go ahead from the doc on Thurs to do some light weight bearing on his foot. Now he can hobble around like a crony of Captain Jack Sparrow with one crutch, a cane or no assistance at all. So this morning, he changed a diaper for the first time in 2 months! That means about 1200 diapers escaped his involvement. Wow...1200 in two months...good thing we do cloth! That's 1200 diapers that never went to a landfill!
These kids still sleep most of the day, all night, and are awake for an hour or two here and there before or after a feeding. Some days I can even sneak in a nap when they nap. These are still the easy times I guess, but I can tell that Seda's going to be on the move before Kai. She was the one kicking up a storm in the womb, while he just relaxed. I'm in no hurry for the crawling to commence, that's for sure. I'm going to have to start eating more because the weight loss will continue while I'm chasing these guys!
These kids still sleep most of the day, all night, and are awake for an hour or two here and there before or after a feeding. Some days I can even sneak in a nap when they nap. These are still the easy times I guess, but I can tell that Seda's going to be on the move before Kai. She was the one kicking up a storm in the womb, while he just relaxed. I'm in no hurry for the crawling to commence, that's for sure. I'm going to have to start eating more because the weight loss will continue while I'm chasing these guys!
Friday, September 26, 2008
When will the nightmares stop?
Not theirs, mine. At least once a week, I have a nightmare that we are still trying to get pregnant. The poking and prodding, the emotional burden, the whole nine yards! I wonder why this is happening? The dreams are vivid, and I'm a bit stunned when I wake up and realize that I do indeed have two beautiful babies in my midst.
We are the survivors of infertility and IVF. Here is our success story.
Our journey through infertility began in 2001, when we sought treatment after trying for a little more than a year. I was already down one ovary, but I was only 32, so there was still “time.” Well, that “time” was told by the slowest ticking clock in history, even though my obsession with wanting to get pregnant and have kids was racing at full speed.
To make a long story short, after losing a right ovary to a 3.5 lb cyst, then trying 6 IUI cycles with Clomid, then a lateral incision myomectomy, a blighted ovum m/c, acupuncture, naturopathy and another vertical incision myomectomy, then trying on our own a few months with a repaired uterus, we finally took the plunge into the world of IVF. Our first cycle in April 2007 was a bust, but the second cycle in October 2007 was a roaring success. We became the proud parents of boy/girl twins in May 2008, about 8 years after initially talking about having kids! Whew! What a journey it has been, and I have the road map of scars to show it.
After the first unsuccessful attempt, I was ready to give up. We even started talking about adoption. I started thinking more positively about things and quit dwelling on the negatives in my life. In that respect, I did a lot of yoga and walking to keep my brain in good shape. I hugged the dog a lot too. We had one more chance for another IVF cycle, and my best advice to anyone is to take that last chance when you have it! When the doctor asked if we were sure we wanted all 3 embryos transferred and reminded us of the risk of triplets, I said, “Let’s go for it! We’ve got nothing to lose.” I must say we were a tiny bit nervous about the first ultrasound because triplets would mean so many things, like needing a bigger car. We were thrilled when we saw the two little gummi bears on the screen! I work in a fertility clinic and was a patient in the same, so it was fun and easy just walking down the hall for bloodwork and ultrasounds.
The things I have learned along the way are this: A definite reason for infertility is so much easier to deal with than being diagnosed as “unexplained.” We of the unexplained are always trying to figure out a reason for being broken and we really beat ourselves up about it. And as hard as it is to go to your gyne’s office and see all the pregnant women, they are really there to give us hope that we too will one day stand in their shoes.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Four months old!
These are our first and last kids…a boy and girl, Kai and Seda. Who needs more? It’s the perfect equation. We already have the dog, so we are now an instant nuclear family. Good thing we don’t live in China, or we would have had to leave Seda at the curb. Besides, I considered pregnancy to be a debilitating disease because I’m such an active person and was pretty much totally immobilized by the seventh month. I’m also going to be ancient (40) in February in terms of fertility, so that’s that. Mission accomplished.
The little rascals are trucking along, plumping up nicely for being born 5 weeks early. Yesterday we celebrated Kai and Seda’s fourth month out in the air-breathing world. No fanfare, really, just a commemorative photo to add to the fourth picture slot in my twelve-slot frame.
There was no way of knowing that the last four months were going to be this easy. Not sure what I expected, but it’s been a breeze! Shortly before they were three months old, they were sleeping through the night. Up until then, I thought that the waking-up-every-three-hours-at-night thing would never end.
Pregnancy was also the best weight loss program I’ve ever encountered! Not that I have ever dieted, per se, but I have tried to lose 10 pounds or so over the last 6 years by watching my food intake and exercising. But nothing works as well as breastfeeding! I now weigh 10 pounds less than before getting pregnant!
I am gaining SAINT status these days because my husband had foot surgery on August 12, and I haven’t killed him yet. I’m amazed how much time is taken up by all the little chores he would do that I now have to do while he recovers. This, of course, is in addition to my usual role as cook, grocery shopper, maid, groundskeeper, new mom of twins, dog walker, etc. I bet you never thought about how many trips up and down the stairs are required when you do five loads of laundry in one day. That is five trips per load, so 25 trips per day! I think that’s why I now have legs of steel. Fortunately, this isn’t a daily occurrence. We do cloth diapers, but that’s the least of my worries. So again…I think I deserve a saint award of some kind. A coworker recently asked how my hubby was doing and asked if I’m still planning to stay married to him! I of course said, “Yes.” He’s on crutches, and that is thirsty work, and of course he can’t fetch his own glass of water. So Yours Truly runs to his aid. He did acquire a wheelchair to have a much-needed break from using crutches in the house. This is great for him, not much help for me, and fun for the twins as he takes them for joy rides up and down the hall. Women at work say they would be bitching and whining about his lack of help, but I say there’s not much point because I can’t do anything about it.
And when will he be back on his feet you ask? Ohhhhhh…January or so. He’s dreaming of skiing by February. Hmmm…bet he has no dreams of CHORES. I have put my letter in for a sabbatical from holiday entertaining this year for sure. We will be traveling for that to the homes of others, so no EXTRA work for me! Yay!
The little rascals are trucking along, plumping up nicely for being born 5 weeks early. Yesterday we celebrated Kai and Seda’s fourth month out in the air-breathing world. No fanfare, really, just a commemorative photo to add to the fourth picture slot in my twelve-slot frame.
There was no way of knowing that the last four months were going to be this easy. Not sure what I expected, but it’s been a breeze! Shortly before they were three months old, they were sleeping through the night. Up until then, I thought that the waking-up-every-three-hours-at-night thing would never end.
Pregnancy was also the best weight loss program I’ve ever encountered! Not that I have ever dieted, per se, but I have tried to lose 10 pounds or so over the last 6 years by watching my food intake and exercising. But nothing works as well as breastfeeding! I now weigh 10 pounds less than before getting pregnant!
I am gaining SAINT status these days because my husband had foot surgery on August 12, and I haven’t killed him yet. I’m amazed how much time is taken up by all the little chores he would do that I now have to do while he recovers. This, of course, is in addition to my usual role as cook, grocery shopper, maid, groundskeeper, new mom of twins, dog walker, etc. I bet you never thought about how many trips up and down the stairs are required when you do five loads of laundry in one day. That is five trips per load, so 25 trips per day! I think that’s why I now have legs of steel. Fortunately, this isn’t a daily occurrence. We do cloth diapers, but that’s the least of my worries. So again…I think I deserve a saint award of some kind. A coworker recently asked how my hubby was doing and asked if I’m still planning to stay married to him! I of course said, “Yes.” He’s on crutches, and that is thirsty work, and of course he can’t fetch his own glass of water. So Yours Truly runs to his aid. He did acquire a wheelchair to have a much-needed break from using crutches in the house. This is great for him, not much help for me, and fun for the twins as he takes them for joy rides up and down the hall. Women at work say they would be bitching and whining about his lack of help, but I say there’s not much point because I can’t do anything about it.
And when will he be back on his feet you ask? Ohhhhhh…January or so. He’s dreaming of skiing by February. Hmmm…bet he has no dreams of CHORES. I have put my letter in for a sabbatical from holiday entertaining this year for sure. We will be traveling for that to the homes of others, so no EXTRA work for me! Yay!
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