turkey shirt

I got together with some of my sweet crafty friends and painted this onesie for Meg yesterday. I was reminded that I am not very crafty (or if I am, I need a lot of fine tuning) but it was fun to make it anyway!

land of the living

The best news to report out of the Webb Home today is that we are all NOT sick! Does this mean we are well? Well...some of us (me, Meg) are still in the recuperating stage. I got what Meg had, full bore, while Mark got a less-awful version of it. You know you have it bad when you are contemplating driving yourself to the ER for an iv for dehydration! Anyway, today I am appreciating my good health.

mom stripes

Poor Meg has had a nasty stomach bug (rotavirus) all week. This is my first time really ever dealing with this type of...mess. I got my first taste of what was to come when I had Meg in Publix on Monday and she had a massive throw up in the middle of the aisle! I was completely unprepared for any clean-up, as well as during the next massive throw up in the car on the way home. Now I take a bunch of towels and disinfecting wipes wherever we go (which isn't very many places since I'm afraid of another Publix incident). Meg has been spending a lot of time running around the house completely nude (because of diaper rash from sickness out the other end), which she is loving. I am developing a spidey sense and can tell right before she is about to have an explosion (either end) so I can run to deal with it as it happens. Mark says I am earning my "mom stripes." I agree!

brown bread

This bread recipe goes well with the soup I made last night (and basically all soups). It is super easy, no yeast and no kneading, and you can substitute flax meal for some of the flour. I bake it for 40-45 minutes instead of the hour that the recipe calls for. It makes the house smell great and is SO good hot out of the oven with butter. Mmmmm!

slow cooker chicken taco soup

Click here for an awesome soup recipe. It is incredibly healthy if you are looking to get a bunch of nutrients you don't normally get, like iron, folate, etc. (click on "detailed nutrition" on the lower right). It is in my crock pot right now and I can't wait! This is pretty spicy, so I use mild Rotel (which is the recipe's "diced tomatoes with peppers" ingredient). And instead of using the chicken breasts and shredding them, I just buy a package of those chicken breasts already in strips ("tenders"?), chop them up into bite sized pieces, and throw them in.

happy halloween

We skipped town this Halloween and headed north to my brother's house in Macon, GA. My nieces are 3, 4, and 5 so it was really fun to see them get excited for trick-or-treating. Grace was a wicked witch, Elise was a pink pony, and Sophia was a spooky ghost. In their neighborhood, you sit out on the front lawn to pass out candy instead of having people come to the door! So Mark, Meg and I requested to have lawn duty while the little girls and their parents went trick-or-treating. Very fun, although we ran out of candy in an hour!

The next morning we all headed to Roswell, GA, to Mark's brother's house where Meg got to hang out with all of her cousins and she loved every minute of it. Chloe and Leah and Ryan were so sweet with her!

My SILs Christie and Katheryne (above): they never fail to inspire me and teach me something new! I am so glad I got to spend time with them (all the guys were at the FSU game in Atlanta).

the business of being born

I really don't watch that many movies, but I've just seen some good ones lately that I feel the need to blog about. A couple of people thought I'd like The Business of Being Born and they were right. It's a documentary so it comes with bias but it is SO fascinating, especially if you've been through a birth or about to be going through one. [Disclaimer for the weak-stomached: you will see births happening and Ricki Lake naked.] Here is the synopsis from the film's website:

"Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business.
Compelled to explore the subject after the delivery of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to question the way American women have babies.
The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal.
Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?"