Happy Birthday

Providence turned 7. It's been a weekend full of celebration.

Thursday: Haircut
Friday (actual birthday): movie date with mama
Saturday: dinner and presents with Isaiah's family
Sunday: cupcakes with my brother and family.

I made chocolate zucchini cupcakes with the girls and they are so delicious! If you have as much zucchini in your garden as we do you need to make them. Right. Now.

Makes 24 cupcakes:

Cake:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting:
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended.  (Looks kind of like moist sand).

Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Scoop evenly into 24 cupcake liners.


Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until cupcakes spring back when gently touched.  Cool completely before frosting. (I made them the day before).

To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and butter; set aside to cool.

In another bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture.

Spread (or if the frosting is still a little warm you can dip them) over cooled cupcakes. Top with mini chocolate chips or coconut (or whatever else your little heart desires).

 

I have made this recipe sans frosting and it is still wonderful.

Boy is doing this, and girl is doing that

A lot of :mommy: bloggers do milestone posts for their kiddo's. I'm going to double up since Jubilee didn't get an 18 month one and is now 19 months. I know these may not be as much fun to read unless you are obsessed with the children making milestones... but not only am I obsessed with these two I also have a terrible memory so I'm doing it.

Asaph :: 3 Months

Wears 6m and weighs about 20lbs

Nurses on demand...a lot. And on that note he knows who feeds him - he's a total mama's boy for now.

Sleeps a 4-6 hour chunk but then nurses on and off for the rest of the night. Naps when and where he wants.

Blows bubbles and drools like crazy soaking anything in his path.

Loves his thumb, he sucks it with all other fingers straight instead of curled which results in a lot of eye poking. For some reason though, he won't do it in the car so we switch to the pacifier because he likes to suck on something while he falls asleep, and Isaiah can't handle the crying (not that I'm dancing jigs about it).

Smiles, oh how he smiles, just looking his way can produce one and melt your heart (such a difference from his sister Jubilee who was nothing like her name for the first 6+ months of her life).

Laughed for the first time for his Nana. Warning: his smiles make your heart melt but his giggles make your heart explode - really!

---------------------------

Jubilee :: 19 months

Wears 2T and weighs about 30lbs

Sleeps 10-12 hours a night, takes one 1-2 hour nap.

Milk is her favorite food, she drinks 1-2 gallons of raw milk a week.

Talks all.the.time. Will repeat pretty much anything.

Thinks she is a big girl and wants to copy-cat everything her big girl sister does, whom she thinks is the greatest.

Loves, LOVES her father, when he comes home from work she'll squeal "Papa" and run to his waiting arms.

Aunt Kris is still her next favorite outside of immediate family. Grandpa is up there too.

Brings me the phone saying "Om, Om" to call Oma almost everyday.

Tells me when she needs to use the toilet about 30-40% of the time, her reward when she goes is to wash her hands, she thinks it's the best.

Is very maternal, loves taking care of babies real or dolls, worries when someone cries or gets hurt and will ask "kay? kay?" till she knows they are ok.

Favorite book is Goodnight Moon, she wants to read it over and over and over. When she reads to herself she'll point to letters and say "I, E, O" etc. without matching the sound with the letter.

Curious, independent and unafraid. Bad combination. Makes life an interesting challenge.

Throws mean tantrums, complete with throwing herself down and flailing limbs.

Is finally growing into her name, she brings joy to everyone she comes into contact with.

Along Comes Another Month

It has been over a month since I last posted. Life has been busy.

It's been busy-fun with:

-The reviews I am doing over at She {hearts} It

(I just posted a review about these summer sneakers).

-Providence lost both of her front teeth, LOVE that.

-Watching this little guy grow

-Going to the zoo with friends

-Building forts

-Parties and parties, baby showers, birthdays, graduations...

It's also been busy-hard, Isaiah had a seizure last month and besides the initial 911 call, ambulance ride, and hospital visit we've since been going to doctors, getting tests, seeing a specialist, etc. He is doing well, no problems since. His neurologist said it all points to pain medication that he was taking (seizure is a side effect).

On top of this the doctor told him he couldn't drive {at work} for 3 months, so over one weekend we weren't sure if he would even be able to keep his job since driving is part of it. Thankfully everyone that needed to be on board decided to work around his limitation and he is able to "ride-along" till August, when he will be released to drive again.

Providence and I have been reading about the Israelites in her Bible lessons, as we read each story over and over I shockingly tell her how they didn't learn...they STILL didn't trust the Lord to take care of them after all HE had done. Then my surprise and disgust turns to shame, I'm right there with them. Fretting after all He has done.

Yummy in my tummy

While working through my yeast issues my diet is extremely restricted. Nothing to feed the yeast: sugar, fruit, processed foods, refined foods, gluten, even some starchy veggies like carrots, potatoes, and corn, all no-nos for the time being.

This is forcing me to be a little more creative in the kitchen. I warned Isaiah that dinners around here may be getting strange for a bit, like mashed turnips instead of potatoes (delicious by the way). Perhaps it's not so strange for some (like me) but my pickiest eater by far is my husband and I wanted to warn him. I found some great recipes that fit my criteria. Though some of them I've been a little apprehensive about sharing with the man of the house, he is the type that just won't eat what he doesn't want.

One of them was planned Wednesday night, a recipe that sounded wonderful and simple:

Coconut Chicken with Spinach

For 2 servings:
1 large chicken breast (chopped)

3 cups baby spinach
1 onion (chopped)
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons coconut oil
Handful of almonds
Salt and pepper to taste

Add almonds to the food processor to chop them up, then lightly brown in a pan with coconut oil. Set aside.

In a pot, add the coconut milk and spinach, then cover on a low heat to simmer.

Now add the onions to a second pan for 2 minutes with coconut oil, then add chicken until thoroughly cooked. Take the chicken and onions and add them to the pot with the coconut milk and spinach. Stir and cover for 2 minutes. Served garnished with toasted almonds, salt and pepper.

SOOOO good, changes I made were of course doubling the recipe, I used regular spinach and slivered almonds so I was able to skip the food processor step, also I only had one onion but it was pretty big.

As I was preparing this mushy mess of goodness I thought "Isaiah will probably have to scrounge for dinner tonight I don't think he will touch this." I got a welcomed surprise when not only did he eat it but he said "This one's a keeper to put in regular rotation." Wow, his horizons may be expanding - I'm thinking of trying some kind of quinoa salad on him next.

*since I didn't take a picture of the dinner he is a picture of the picky eater*

Battle with the beast

The beast of yeast! I have been dealing with thrush the past 3+ weeks, horrendous. I've been trying to work on it naturally (you should see the arsenal on my counter of things I am taking for this) but this last Sunday Isaiah told me to go to the doctor. He said he didn't want to hear me sobbing as I nursed anymore. So on Monday I went and we were prescribed nystatin, granted I was already beginning to improve by Monday and I am just continuing to do so. I can even talk while nursing again! Latching on still causes a sharp intake of breath at times but cracks are beginning to heal - hallelujah!

Life has revolved around nursing and taking many many things for my thrush for a few weeks now, it will be SO good to be able to nurse without thinking about it. To enjoy it. I hope those days are coming soon.

The corners of your mouth turn up

Ace loves his big sister - his biggest sister I should say. She can make him smile all live long day.

What's a Day, More or Less?

I have been meaning to post this short story for awhile now, but wanted to take a recent photo of Asaph to put up with it and haven't...so here's the story sans photo, but rest assured he's growing and still oh-so-cute in his little manly way.

An envelope arrived recently from the department of Health and Welfare, enclosed was birth certificate info that we need to make sure is correct. Since I like to read and verify these kinds of things (I typically I read any papers before I sign) I scanned over the facts

Name: Asaph blah-blah

Yes.

Sex: Male

Looking good.

Blah-Blah-Blah. Wait hold on there.

DOB: March 16, 2011

Ooops, he was born the 15th...

Unfortunately to have anything fixed on the birth certificate you need to have the corrections notarized. More unfortunately if the corrections happen to be the time or date of birth you need a signed affidavit from the birth attendant. They make this real easy for a gal who just gave birth. I called my midwife and she said she'd take care of it. I'm thankful because when I told Isaiah what we would need to do he said "Let's just leave it, it's only one day."