Well Appointment

We went to see Dr. Cathy in January. Everyone is looking good and right where they should be. She used their height charts to predict how tall they each might be.

Lucia
height 53 1/4'
weight 68#
predicted final height 5'6"

Elliott
height 54 3/4'
weight 82#
predicted final height 6'2"

Mazie
height 48"
weight 45 1/2#
predicted final height 5'0"

4yo check up

We went for our four year old check up today and got good reports. Below are our statistics for height and weight.

Lucia
40 1/4"
37#4oz

Elliott
42 1/4"
45#4oz

Mazie
37 1/2"
28#6oz

House Fires

The week after Christmas, we went to watch the fire department, which H is a member of, burn an old house. They do it for practice. The children really enjoyed it. I thought it was interesting but quite scary. It will certainly make you think about your own home. This particular house was very old, and older houses do generally burn faster, but the speed and ferocity with which this fire spread was very upsetting. H has been on the fire department for four or five years now. There have been a decent number, too many, of homes completely lost. Several people in our area have perished in fires, including children.
Here are several things I've learned since H joined the fire department. First off, most house fires start with the clothes dryer. I never run our washing machine, dryer, or dish washer once I go to bed. In fact, I make sure their cycle will finish before the time I want to be in bed; otherwise I wait until the morning to start it. And, I try not to run the clothes dryer if no one is home. I don't always stick to this, but I try to do it as little as possible.

Another thing that is good to know. Have a hammer or ax hidden outside your children's windows. That way if you can't get to them through the house, you can still get to them. If you have bedrooms on a second story or your windows are high off the ground, you also need to have a ladder outside so you can get up to bedroom windows. You can find rope ladders for sale that would facilitate a second story escape, but you still need a way to get up from the outside if you need to.

Another thing I've learned is why you don't ever put water on a grease or oil fire. Everyone knows not to do that, but sometimes I think it is interesting and even helpful to know why. This is how I understand the why: If you were to throw water on an oil fire, the water would sink to the bottom of the oil, stuck there. Once the temperature increases enough, the water basically gets so hot it explodes out of the oil, thus spraying all the hot oil and water everywhere. Very scary.
Finally, we have just introduced the beginnings of a fire plan to our children. We have told them if the fire alarm goes off at night, they need to sit under their bedroom window and we will come get them. We will add to this as they process. The next thing we will add is for them to shut their door and then sit under their window. But, we didn't want to overwhelm them.

I hope this has helped and given you some things to think about. Fires are very scary for parents to think of, but to have a plan and for parents to be on the same page does give peace of mind. Here's hoping none of us every has to deal with a house fire.

Three Year Check Up

This week we took the three to see their pediatrician. She was very pleased with their language skills. They did fine counting. They are growing. The mamas got all their questions answered. It was a good appointment.

Below are their stats. The only real difference, percentage-wise, is Mazie's weight. She's always been below the chart; now she is at 10%. Yay Mazie! We are so proud of you, and your brother and sister.

Elliott
Height: 38 3/4" 75%
Weight: 36.6# 75%

Lucia
Height: 37" 50%
Weight: 30.2# 50%

Mazie
34 3/4" 10%
25# 10%

Save Our Beaches

I have been trying to think of some eloquent way to express the devastation of our beautiful Gulf of Mexico. I just can't do it. It has been hard to pay too close attention to what is going on in our region. It makes me angry, yes, but mostly it makes me sad. Along the stretch of the Gulf from Dauphin Island to Apalachicola are the prettiest beaches I've ever seen. They are being destroyed by carelessness and greed. Our children may likely never know what it means to spend the summer at the Gulf. Perhaps I am being dramatic. I hope so. I hope so for my family's sake, but even more for the people who life full-time at the Gulf, who feed their families with work and fish from the Gulf, who live off the tourism of the Gulf. There is a lot of suffering going on along the coast right now. Dolphins, herons, charter boat captains. Everyone down there is affect by this oil spill. Every one. Every creature.

Most of the parking lots at all the local and state beaches are full of tour buses bring workers in, tents with air conditioning being pumped in, tractors and other equipment, moving trucks. There are booms or layers of booms at all mouths. Boats of usually three workers can be seen at regular intervals. I am not sure what they do, whether they are testing or cleaning, but they can be seen at all the beaches now, tooling around in the water. The boat ramps are closed to the public so they can handle marine recovery traffic. The boat ramp nearest where we stay has been turned into a boat cleaning station.

We spent our Fourth at the beach. There were other people that went down too but there were not the usual crowds. We had to drive about 20 miles so the children could get into some bay water to play. All the water in our area is closed to swimming. We had a good time but it wasn't quite the same. Again, as sad as I am for us, I am even more heartbroken for the communities along the Gulf, their residents and their creatures.

All the flags are flying at half mast for the tragedy that has been inflicted upon the Gulf.

This picture below is of one of the many booms that have been placed in the water.
I like this poem because it illustrates our interconnectedness.

The Fish by Mary Oliver
The first fish
I ever caught
would not lie down
quiet in the pail
but flailed and sucked
at the burning
amazement of the air
and died
in the slow pouring off
of rainbows. Later
I opened his body and separated
the flesh from the bones
and ate him. Now the sea
is in me: I am the fish, the fish
glitters in me; we are
risen, tangled together, certain to fall
back to the sea. Out of pain,
and pain, and more pain
we feed this feverish plot, we are nourished
by the mystery.

Enraptured with Kale (A Parenthetical Acclamation)

I have had two culinary obsessions this summer. Homemade Ginger Ale and Kale Chips. I make them a lot. They are delicious and nutritious. I think you'd like both of them. (Don't be afraid; read on.)

A few of my thoughts (because I always have a few, dont' I?):I don't use as much agave as this recipe calls for, but you make it to taste. That's the beauty of the drink. I like 4 tablespoons of ginger and about 1-2 teaspoons of agave.

Also, don't turn your nose up at the kale. It ain't that rubber stuff they used to garnish your plate with when you ate at the country club as a child. When I was pregnant our dear friend Newt put me on to Kale for its calcium. (I think on her Facebook page she lists "eat more kale" as her religion. Not really, but maybe.) At this same time the woman who lives across from the beach house we go to was growing and sharing Kale with me. (She has the most wonderful yard. I really should do a post about it one day too.) So I had the most gorgeous and fresh Kale to eat. I loved it and I still think about Kale a lot.

The proportions of the Ginger Ale make the drink where it can suit just about anyone. If you love the ginger, like me, pour it in. If you like sweet, squirt in that agave. The Kale chips are easy to love too because you can do so many different flavors. That annoying phrase "your imagination is your only limitation" applies here. One of my favorite Kale chip recipes (I keep capitalizing it because I think it will make Newt happy) is toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. I've also added ground ginger to that. I've done olive oil and hot sauce. That was good. Another one I really loved is olive oil, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and white pepper. Think of the flavors you love and throw them on your Kale.

One trick for the Kale is to let it dry well after you wash it. I usually spread it out on a dish towel for a couple of hours. Then, when you are putting your flavor on it, don't be too liberal as it will increase your baking time.

H wants me to tell you that she Hates the smell of the kale chips baking. I usually try to do them when she is at work, otherwise she makes me crack a window even when it is 133 degrees outside. (And that's just not right.)

Kale does other things well too. I use it in smoothies. Throw a banana, some berries and some Kale into a blender where you've crushed ice in water. So good. Green smoothies are great, delicious ways to get your veggies in. And in the hot, hot summer, turning on the blender is much more appealing than turning on the oven. The Green Smoothie Challenge website has some good recipes. Sauteeing with garlic is of course yummy. I've also made a raw salad (is that redundant?) out of Kale, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Very filling and refreshing.

Well, I thought this was going to be a quick little recipe post. Now I'll have to add "ramble on" as one of the labels.
____________________________________________
Ginger Ale your way and Kale Chips your way. Try them today.
(Photos are from their website.)

Ginger Ale:
Make the Ginger Juice. In a blender, place the chopped ginger root (no need to peel) and add an equal amount of water. Blend on high for approximately one minute, until the ginger is completely chopped and pureed. Allow the mixture to sit in the blender jar for 30 minutes.

Strain the ginger pulp from the juice through a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium-sized bowl. Press the pulp to remove all the juice. Refrigerate the juice until ready to use. It keeps in the refrigerator for one week.

To make a Ginger Ale (Makes one, 8 oz. glass):

In a glass, whisk together until combined---

2 T. Ginger Juice

2 T. Raw Agave Sweetener

Juice of 1 fresh lime

Add ice and sparkling mineral water. Adjust for your taste.

Cheers!

http://berlinswhimsy.typepad.com/berlins_whimsy/2010/04/raw-ginger-ale-recipe.html

and

Kale Chips

http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/baked-kale-chips/

Baked Kale Chips
Adapted from a bunch of inspiring places

1 bunch (about 6 ounces) kale (I used Lacinato or “Dinosaur” Kale but I understand that the curlier stuff works, too, possibly even better)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet (I needed two because mine are tiny; I also lined mine with parchment for easy clean-up but there’s no reason that you must). Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.

The Dangers of Home Food Preservation

The month of June I become obsessed with home food preservation. I love the idea of putting up food for my family all the while decreasing my much-too-large environmental footprint. I can't drive a Prius but I can make sure all the tomatoes we consume come from less than an hour away and are stored in recycled jars. Plus, it is just so darn fun to do. Don't get me wrong, it is a lot of work. But there is something about it I love so much. I have given myself the five year goal of growing and canning all the tomatoes we need for a year. I am guessing that is about 75-100 quarts. Not quite two quarts a week. Seeing as how I did not plant the first tomato plant this year and I only canned about 30 quarts of tomatoes, I don't know that I'll reach the goal, but I'm going to try.

I don't just can tomatoes. I canned salsa, yellow squash pickles, carrot pickles, cucumber pickles.
I've dried at least 100 tomatoes, lots of squash, coconut, onions, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, apples. I've grated 30 cups of zucchini and frozen them. I grated some onions, froze them in ice cube trays, then when they were frozen, I popped them out into freezer bags. Then I can just pull out one or two onion cubes when I am cooking.

One of the things I love about canning is that you put up whatever is in bounty. There are more blueberries around here that you could shake a stick at. So, saving some in the freezer makes good sense. Come to visit next June and I'll put you to work. The picture above is of Aunt Patti and Reverend Holly, two of my canning and cooking buddies, at the u-pick fields we go to about an hour from here.
In the beginning I was running three dehydrators. One of them I got from the top of the shop. I cleaned it up and put it to work. I woke up at three in the morning several nights later to a loud cracking and popping noise. I got up to see what it was and half the kitchen was filled with smoke and the dehydrator was on fire. I screamed for H and then reached around the dehydrator to unplug it. She got out the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. We are very lucky that I am usually a light sleeper and that the fire was making noise. Our smoke detector never went off.

The next day I was lethargic and nauseated all day. I don't know whether it was the smoke I breathed in or the stress and anxiety from the fire, but I sat on the couch most of the day feeling puny.

I felt good about the way H and I handled the fire. I felt like we responded well. What I was most upset about was that the dehydrator was giving me all kinds of signals that it was on the fritz and I didn't take it seriously. It felt too hot, it burned some of my tomatoes, then it started smelling funny. The regulator must have been going out. I should have unplugged the thing days before it finally caught fire. That is the mistake I made. I am just so thankful that a marred counter and 40 lost tomatoes are all we had to deal with.

13.1 X 5

The last weekend of this month we headed north to Nashville for the Country Music Marathon. NanaLin's son Chris ran the full and I ran the half. We loved being with NanaLin and GrandPa and NanaLin's family for the weekend. H was a trooper dragging LEM around the course to try to get a glimpse of their Mama. I felt good during my race and finished in the time I wanted to (12 1/2 minute miles=2:42:12). The thing I felt best about while running was that I had not gotten crazy and signed up for the full marathon!
The children did great on the ride. It is AmaZing how much easier travel is becoming. It is almost enjoyable now. Saturday night we went to the OpryLand Mall where the children got to pet sting rays and eat at the Rain Forest Cafe. The next weekend this area of Nashville was completely flooded and is still recovering.
One side note about Lucia. Her favorite color is orange. It always has been. Mazie and I ran in Target to grab something when we were leaving Nashville Sunday. Mazie saw a pretty orange bathing suit for Lu. So we bought it and gave it to Lu when we got to the car. She held it for the next hour or so of our drive and kept saying things like, "Thank you for my orange bathing suit" and "I love my new orange bathing suit."
We are thankful for safe travels and a safe race.

First Dentist Visit

We took the babes to the dentist today for their first checkup. The dentist just counted their teeth and made sure they had no cavities. Each of them is still missing a few molars so we won't have a cleaning done until the next visit.

Our main purpose for the visit was to give them a good first impression of dental visits. Hopefully we succeeded. They seemed to have a good time and enjoyed talking about the dentist on the way home.
After the dentist we went to lunch and then ran some errands. The Target we went to is attached to a mall, so we let the three take a spin in the little vehicles.

Listen to your heart

I think these photos show how much our children love our pediatrician. Over the holidays they found a jingle bell on a cord and used it to listen to one another's hearts.


Fortunately, everyone was healthy as can be.

Doctor Visit

We have been sick for almost two months now. Not sick as in super sick, but certainly sick as in not well. Usually it has been one child, maybe two, at a time, but there has been no reprieve. With the holidays approaching and Lucia holding her ear saying it hurt, I decided to go visit our doctor to make sure everything was a-okay.
We had some congestion in our throats and chest, but our ears looked fine. I feel better having them looked at. Lucia, Elliott, and Mazie love their doctor. She really takes time with them and calmly introduces each procedure. These photos are of the children listening to one another's hearts with a jingle bell a few days after their visit--a task initiated solely by them.
Here are our stats from the visit today:

Elizabeth Lu
h: 34"
w: 26# 6 oz
increase from September: 1 1/2 pounds

Elliott K
h: 35 1/2"
w: 31# 6 oz
increase from September: 3 pounds

Mazie Bell
h: 32"
w: 22# 4 oz
increase from September: 1 pound

Christmas Tree Farm, II

Here are a few more photos from our trip to the tree farm. Last year we never got any ornaments on our tree, just lights. If we get the tree decorated this year, I'll post a picture.

Two Year Check-Up

Yesterday we went for our two year visit to the pediatrician. Grandpa and NanaLin went with us because H had a conflict come up at work. Our doctor was pleased with everyone's progress and language skills. She asked if they were speaking in sentences and if they showed imagination. They do. When I told her they knew most of their colors and shapes, she said she doesn't even ask about that until the three year check-up. We talked about potty training and eating dirt and swine flu.

Mazie's weight has fallen a little bit. She's always been in the lowest 5%, but now she is even further from hitting 5%. Our doctor again told me not to worry, that she is doing just fine. She is just going to be small.

My greatest excitement is that we can come off whole milk. I had tried to find powdered whole milk a while back and couldn't. I determined that the fat must go rancid too quickly. Well, now I can jump back on that wagon again. Going to powdered milk will really help us. I believe we all have to choose our battles. We can't do everything under the sun. One thing I am committed to is having our children on organic milk. Yes, we've had to by a few gallons locally over the years (that means laden with hormones and chemicals) but I've really tried to keep us in a good stock of organic milk. Now, with powdered milk, I am looking forward to it taking up less room in the deep freeze and fridge, and hopefully being less expensive. Also, it will last longer, enabling me to stock up for longer stretches.

Here are the three's weights and heights with their percentiles. Percentiles are for full-term children. We are no longer seen as premies.

Lucia:
25 pounds, 25%
33", 50%

Elliott:
28# 6oz, 50%
35 1/2", 75%

Mazie:
21 pounds, <5%
32", 15%

We are so thankful that they are growing and healthy and enjoying life.

Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me

Our last Synagis shots were in April, thank goodness. The last few months of shots were really tough as the babies did Not like getting the shots. In addition to sticking their skin, the medicine also burns for about half a minute.

The last two months the babes' weights were pretty stable. I've listed them below so I won't forget (and so I can throw these scraps of paper away!). The first weight is for March, the second April, so these are their 18 and 19 month weights. We are not scheduled to see the doctor until September.

Lucia--21.9 lbs & 22.33 lbs
Elliott--25 lbs & 25.41 lbs
Mazie--18.56 lbs & 18.56 lbs

New Weights

As you can tell from Maze's saggy britches, she did not gain much weight this past month. The babes were weighed yesterday for their Synagis shots. Each month it gets rougher and rougher to give the shots. The babes are getting more and more upset. Luckily for them (and our nurse) they only have two more shots after this month.
Elizabeth Lu 21# 13 oz
a gain of 7 oz

Elliott K 24# 10 oz
a gain of one pound

Mazie Bell 18# 10 oz
a gain of 8 ounces