Whole Wheat Pancakes

Ummmm...don't those look good? I guess all that syrup counteracts the healthy benefits of these full-of-nutrition pancakes, and they really are good without all that....but this was Grant's plate, what can I say?
This recipe evolved from my mom's old standby that I had growing up. We make it every Saturday morning. Sometimes I make them, sometimes Grant. Now I have to admit, they don't always turn out the same.....especially because there are some parts we don't measure exactly. But they're always good, and you should see our kiddos put them away. Lately, we make 1 1/2 times this amount so we can have leftovers for breakfast (for the kids and me) on Monday morning.

Recipe
2 eggs
4 t. baking powder
2 T. sugar or honey
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups whole wheat flour (part buckwheat if we have it)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
2 - 2 1/2 cups milk

Beat eggs with a whisk or fork. Add remaining ingredients, ending with the milk. Start with 2 cups and stir until smooth. Add more milk if necessary to get desired consistency. Don't add too much....runny pancakes = bleh.
Heat a skillet or griddle and pour batter into desired size pancakes (I prefer to use a 1/4 cup measure; Grant makes them a little smaller). Cook on first side until bubbles form, then flip and cook until done.
Feed the baby small pieces to keep her from yelling until it's time for the family to sit down together. Realize that she's eaten 2 complete pancakes before you make it to the table. And she's still begging for more. And she doesn't even get syrup. Must be pretty good!

What Country Are You?

I just took this ridiculous and amusing quiz and discovered that I am indeed.......

You're Ireland!

Mystical and rain-soaked, you remain mysterious to many people, and this
makes you intriguing. You also like a good night at the pub, though many are just as worried that you will blow up the pub as drink your beverage of choice. You're good with words, remarkably lucky, and know and enjoy at least fifteen ways of eating a potato.
You really don't like snakes.

Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Well, I guess the part about potatoes and snakes is about right.......

Happy Cancer-Free Anniversary, Joseph!

Six years ago today, I had the privilege of donating bone marrow to my younger brother, Joseph. He was only 16 years old, recently diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia and near death.
As God had ordained, all three of his older siblings were perfect - not only good, but perfect - matches for donation.
I was chosen for a few reasons that I won't go into here....and was happy to do whatever I could. I ended up having a much more difficult recovery than I anticipated, but it all ended well and Joseph is perfectly healthy today.
I like to tease him that he has "girly" blood, which in fact he does. His blood carries exactly the same DNA as mine and his blood type is not his original A- but now A+, as mine is. He got an upgrade, that's what I say!
We are so thankful for his healing and his life. The anniversary of September 11 has many sad thoughts and memories associated with it....but for our family, it has happy ones as well, because that was the date (one year after the terrorist attacks) that Joseph got a new chance at life.

Note: I don't have any recent pictures of Joseph....this one was from Christmas 2006, where he's obviously getting a kick out of reading a ballerina book to Corban. HA.

Ranger Kid

Corban(4.5) has joined the Royal Rangers at our church, which is a wonderful program for boys, sort of a Christian alternative to Boy Scouts. Last night was his first night. Grant is helping out in his class, which is really nice. Corban came home very excited about the evening and showed me his handbook, in which was the Royal Ranger Code. I read it aloud to him:

Corban immediately replied, "He must be better than his mom and dad!"

I laughed so hard I cried.

Family Visit

Sorry about the long absence.......we've been enjoying a six-day visit from my parents, older sister, and her two daughters and there has been no time for blogging. During their stay, we went to the beach, the Virginia Living Museum, Trader Joes and the park, had a birthday party for Annika (1), went to church, nursed my dad's toe (he slipped and smashed it into our solid oak dining furniture and probably broke it), shopped for shoes, ate at Cheddars, and had a rip-roaring time just watching the kids.

Corban (4.5) loved swimming in the waves.....

Marissa (2.5) loved shoveling the water.....

And Annika (1) loved crawling into the waves until they knocked her down....

And then she took a face plant. Poor baby.

The kids enjoyed pulling each other around in the wagon...Katie (4.5) would say, "Corban, show me how strong you are."

He'd immediately flex his biceps and grimace appropriately....to which she'd nod and say, "Good. Now pull Marissa in the wagon." And he'd obediently head off across the yard, wagon in tow. It was so funny.

Annika developed a quick attachment to Granddaddy, just like her big sister. There was a little rivalry between them for his attention occasionally.

Marissa and Katie became good buddies and snuggled up together to read.

Sabrina (2) and Marissa, on the other hand, had much more of a tumultuous relationship. They spent a good deal of time yelling at each other and engaging in pushing/shoving/hitting matches before we could catch them. Something about those 2-year-olds.....

But the biggest surprise of all was how Sabrina and Corban interacted. Two peas in a pod, those kids. They would run and play and wrestle....and obviously Sabrina would win. :)

Annika loved giving high fives to anyone who would respond to her constant requests for them....especially Nonny and Aunt Sarah.

This was the best we could do at a photo of all the kids on Sunday morning.

And we can't forget Monty....Sabrina was terrified of him at first and would shriek at the sight of him.....but that quickly gave way to her obsession with following him around, hugging him, patting (okay, smacking) him, and pulling his tail. She meant well, really....but I think he was relieved to see her go.

It was a wonderful visit (except for Dad getting hurt) and we were very sad to see them go.

Happy Birthday, Annika!

Our sweet little girl turned 1 yesterday. What a treasure and delight she is.....she fills our home and lives with joy every day.
We had the special privilege this year of having my parents, sister, and her two daughters here (from Arkansas and Tennessee) on her birthday.

As a photo is worth a thousand words, here are some shots from the day.

Watching tv with Nonny

Marissa (2.5), Katie (4.5) and Corban (4.5) helping decorate cupcakes. They thought that was great fun and actually didn't make too much of a mess!

Annika is very pleased to have her own baby doll.

And now she has two!

Corban and Marissa tremendously enjoyed their goodie bags, with books and toys and yes, a little candy, from the grandparents and me.

"I'm not really sure what to do with this...."

"Okay, I'll give it a shot...."

"Oh yeah, baby, that's some good stuff!"

Annika's Birth Story

At the request of my mom, I'm posting Annika's birth story. I guess it's fitting, since we'll be celebrating her first birthday next Saturday.

Annika was due on August 28, 2007. Mom flew out to Virginia on August 21…..we had her come a week early because Marissa had been born six days early and we were just sure that Annika would follow suit. I was so relieved when Mom arrived and I wasn’t in labor yet, and I was sure it would happen any day. I had been 2 cm dilated at my previous 2 appointments and was having Braxton Hicks frequently.

Two weeks later, the situation hadn’t changed at all, except that now Mom only had a week left with us and Dad and my inlaws were arriving in two days. Still 2 cm dilated, still no true labor and in fact, despite having my membranes stripped twice, I was having fewer contractions than ever. We decided to induce. I was so nervous and anxious about it….but so ready to not be pregnant anymore!

September 6, 2007. I was up at 3:45 to shower and get ready….we had to be at the hospital by 5:00 am. It took an hour to get the initial blood work run, paperwork filled out, and all the normal stuff done. I finally got the pitocin and my antibiotics for GBS running in the IV at 6:15. The nurses were very accommodating about finding the very unused telemetry unit and trying to figure out how to work it. Turns out hardly anyone requests it and they just never pull it out. I was probably the last one to use it with my labor with Marissa! Anyways, it finally started working and I was free to roam around, towing the IV with me. Our main nurse for the day was Martha. Very nice lady.

So at about 9:15, Dr. Hill showed up and checked me, saying I was still only 2.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Argh! No progress. He broke my water, which wasn’t particularly pleasant. He figured things would hop right along. So I puttered around the room more.

There were two nursing students (both 30-40 something moms) on the unit that morning, and since I was the only patient who had agreed to let students observe the birth, they hovered around my room, popping in and out at regular intervals. It was sort of nice for a distraction, but eventually I got tired of trying to smile and have a conversation with them while I was focusing on labor. They really wanted me to deliver before their shift was up around 2:00. Believe me, I was more anxious for delivery than they were!

Around noon, I was really focusing hard on relaxing during the contractions and was ready to get checked. Only 4 cm. WHAT? I thought surely we were further along than that. After Martha suggested that Dr. Hill come back and re-break my water and possibly increase the Pitocen, I began to panic. I didn’t think I could handle these intense contractions for a whole lot longer. Grant and I decided to go for the epidural, so Martha called for the anesthesiologist. We waited and waited.

I eventually shifted from my semi-lying position to my left side (Bradley position) and felt the contractions intensify further. I was leaking a lot more, I guess Annika’s head had been blocking the water from coming out when I was upright.

By the time the anesthesiologist arrived, around 1:00, I was dilated to 5 cm and was entering transition. I had to sit on the edge of the bed and hold completely still while he did his work, and that was the hardest part of the whole thing. I was in such pain in that position and I KNEW I couldn’t move a centimeter. I had already heard that he was unable to give an epidural to another patient that morning because she wouldn’t hold still enough.

Everything was in by around 1:30. I was feeling significantly better, but still in some pain. My midwife, Lois, arrived and checked me….oh, I was already almost fully dilated. They immediately began to prep the room for delivery. Before I knew it, I was feeling the urge to push. What? The epidural hadn’t even kicked in completely and here I was about to deliver. Go figure.

Lois was telling me not to push yet (I’m still not sure why) and Martha whispered in my ear, “If you feel like pushing, you just go ahead and push!!”. So I did. I really couldn’t help it anyways. Annika was born in just about 3 pushes. 1:55 pm. If I had known I would go from 5 cm to delivery in less than an hour, I never would have gotten that epidural! Well, the nursing students got to witness their first delivery and were in tears. They said it was one of the happiest days of their lives. It was for me too!

Annika was perfect. Tons of dark hair and dark blue eyes. One of the nurses commented that she had never seen a newborn with such long eyelashes. She nursed beautifully from the get-go. After I got a stitch or two, and basic clean-up was finished, we were left alone to bond with her for over an hour. It was so precious. Then they took her to be measured and have first shots, etc. while I was doing final clean-up. She was 8 lb, 13 oz, and measured at 19.5 in. long, but we knew they were off, which was confirmed a week later at a check-up when she was 21.5 in long.

Then I got to go see the first bath (hospital regulations prevented Grant from getting to bathe her...they changed something because just 22 months ago, he got to give Marissa her first bath) and we got settled into our room. We were so glad everything was over, so relieved that it went so smoothly and we had our gorgeous baby girl. God is so good to us.