the house of clevengers

All good things...

2011-07-19T16:39:00.001-04:00

This blog was a great way for me to chronicle our foray into parenthood, capture sweet and funny moments with Madeleine and stay connected with family and friends. But I've not really been "into" it for awhile now. I'm noticing something of a trend with blogs...I still love to read them but virtually none of the ones I originally started reading are still on my must-read list. Ours has really never been a must-read but I find that even the must-post feeling has gone away.

So with that, thanks for reading and catch you on FB or whatever the next social media trend turns out to be!

George, George, George of the Jungle

2011-04-03T19:55:00.004-04:00

Madeleine's preschool curriculum uses a theme each month. It's been a fun and memorable way of teaching a number of subjects to preschoolers so a big plus in my book.

March was a dual-themed month - the jungle/rainforest and the desert. Madeleine's awesome lead teacher, Miss Clara, planned a Rainforest Showcase for the parents. They performed three songs (wrapping up the showcase with the title song), named the four layers of the rainforest (which I did not know), and walked us around the room to see all of their artwork. AMAZING and creative art projects, by the way. Anyway, here are a few photos from the Showcase.

If I may make a plug for a kids magazine we love, Your Big Backyard is such a fun monthly treat for us. Fortuitously, the February edition was about Toucan's which is M's classroom name. They performed one of the songs from the magazine, I See A Toucan (to the tune of You Are My Sunshine), during their Showcase.

The Big One

2011-04-03T16:31:00.005-04:00

Or the big 1 as the case may be. This is only about six weeks so late so I seem to be improving on my recent blog backlog. Yes, sir, Max turned one on Valentine's Day. Brett's sister and her family and my parents came to celebrate with us and our dear friends, the H family, also joined the party. It was fantastic. We had a taco buffet and my SIL made the most amazing Spanish rice. Recipe and photos to come at a later date.

Time seemed to move so slowly when Madeleine was a baby but I feel like Max's first year has flown by. Maybe it's because you know the second time around how quickly they change or maybe it's because we had a major move, two major job changes, and major childcare adjustments. Most likely all of the above.

He's walking, running, and 100% boy. Actually more like 90% boy and 10% mountain goat. The kid LOVES to climb.

Shirred what?

2011-03-28T15:53:00.003-04:00

My mom graciously watched our kiddos while Brett and I spent a couple of days in St. Louis. We stayed at the most amazing B&B - seriously the best we've ever had the good fortune to visit! - the Fleur-de-Lys Mansion.

Our first breakfast was a yogurt and fresh fruit parfait followed by parmesan herbed eggs with artisan wheat bread and fresh grapefruit. I had never had a baked egg or shirred egg before but I am a convert! They were kind enough to share the recipe so I thought I'd share with you (sorry, no picture) though I've modified to one egg as opposed to two. Sadly the waistline needs to be at least somewhat considered when not on vacation.

Parmesan Herb Baked Eggs
butter
1 t cream
Large or XL egg
fresh chives or freeze dried chives
salt and pepper
3 oz grated parmesan cheese

Preheat broiler. Butter a ramekin and add cream. Pop in oven for 3 minutes until cream is bubbling and starting to brown. Take out of oven and crack egg into ramekin. Sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, and chives. Cover with parmesan cheese and place back in oven for 5 minutes or until white has set.

Note: I do not like runny yolks (like gag when I see them) so I like the white and the yolk to set.

You are going to LOVE these!

Pictures from the last few weeks coming soon.

On Breastfeeding

2011-01-08T22:37:00.007-05:00

This isn't dinner conversation.

I just really need to get this out on paper (on the screen?).

What is it with the mommy bashing? Mothers must take the prize for the most judgmental group of people on the planet. What do we judge one another about?

Epidural or no epidural.

Breastfeeding or formula.

Stay-at-home or work outside the home.

Daycare or nanny.

Private school or public.

The list is virtually never ending.

And I, likely not the only one, am frankly tired of it.

I felt like the judgment started while I was pregnant. Do you abstain from all caffeine? How much tuna or swordfish do you eat per week? Have you given up soft, unpasteurized cheeses???

Then it was whether or not I was one for surprises or not. I am not one for surprises and I had nursery decor to plan, people.

The labor and delivery portion was (and continues to be) also an opportunity for competition. I will never win one of these competitions because both of my children were born within four hours of arrival at the hospital with very little drama.

Breastfeeding...now there's my favorite.

I had a breast reduction after graduate school and as a result was unable to breastfeed.

I was devastated.

I spent the first four weeks of Madeleine's life alternating between attempting to breastfeed her and pumping. And crying through pretty much both.

After week one, we were told we had to start supplementing with formula because she had lost too much weight and wasn't "thriving" due to lack of nutrition.

I cried.

Four weeks in to all of this, the sweet lactation consultant (with tears in her eyes, I might add) told me that we sometimes have to recognize that it isn't going to work and mourn what we had anticipated/expected. She shared the story of her special needs child and the process she went through mourning her ideals of a "normal" childhood.

When I think back to that time, I get a little sad but I mostly get angry.

At some point, the literature promoting the benefits of breastfeeding turned into nipple propaganda. I was devastated because I just knew Madeleine would be overweight and sick all the time. Worst of all? She'd never have a chance of getting into an Ivy League school - ack!

The reality is that Madeleine is an incredibly bright, healthy, good natured little girl. She had never experienced an ear infection until she was around 14 months old and didn't have another until she was almost 3 years old.

I'm all for breastfeeding but sometimes...it Just. Doesn't. Work.

There are an awful lot of ways we mother our children and this one aspect isn't going to make or break your child's future. We all have our hot button issues. I didn't breastfeed but buy largely organic and/or local produce, make our meals from scratch, and don't allow juice. One of my friends breastfed her kids for the first year but lets them eat pop tarts and drink sodas.

Which kid(s) are better off?

Who knows.

Here's my personal view on motherhood: Have grace with yourself and show grace to others.

What hot button issues get under your skin?

m-a-x

2011-01-02T16:27:00.005-05:00

Do you remember the line from "You've Got Mail" when the little boy says, "I can spell fox. F-O-X."? Thankfully for Max, he should have a much easier time learning to spell his name than poor Madeleine.

Even I'm getting tired of writing out the N-I-N-E letters for her to endlessly trace.

Anyway, I was inspired a few months ago to paint three canvases to spell Max's name in the nursery. Those of you who know me well, know that I appreciate and expect brutal honesty.

I am waiving that expectation for this post.

If you, like my husband, think these look like my three year old painted them, please keep your comments to yourself. Better yet, lie.

Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys...

2011-01-02T16:12:00.005-05:00

Even the snail variety are hard to hold.

Reflections on 2010

2011-01-01T17:12:00.003-05:00

The past year was one of those years that I would never have guessed all that would transpire. I'd still like to write down all that happened but oddly, don't feel quite ready to do so.

Instead, I thought I would reflect a bit on our 2010 goals and how we did.

1. Solidify budget and stick to it! - I'm realizing we're not really strict "budget" people. We did analyze where all of our money was going (shocking how much you learn by doing that) and made conscious decisions to cut back or increase as appropriate.

2. Continue with investment withholdings and don’t skip. Check! This was an exciting achievement for us and with the market improving, you can actually see progress which is nice, don't you think?

3. Save 1/3 of our emergency fund. Sort of check. We ended up paying off Brett's car instead but this is next on our list!

4. Eat healthier foods and exercise at least five times per week. Ahem. Well. We did eat a lot more local produce and when we lived in Virginia, I was walking almost daily. The wheels sort of fell off the bus after the move to Arkansas but hope springs eternal. Right?

5. Mother intentionally. I don't think this is something you can ever say, yep, I nailed that one. That said, I do think I have been much more aware of this and I'm happy with the progress we've made of being a more intentional family. As Max has gotten older, we've found that our evenings together are such fun - playing, reading, laughing. I still struggle with being "present" when I have a lot going on at work but I'm continuing to work on it.

6. Sharpen the saw by trying one new physical activity and learning a new skill/hobby. The other day I thought, bummer, I didn't do this. But actually I did! I bought a few canvases and some paint and have been puttering around with it. I'm certainly not "good" but I sure am enjoying it. Pictures to come from my latest project for Max's room.

7. Invest in relationships that are important to me. This one is somewhat bittersweet. I wrote this intending to more carefully tend to the wonderful friendships I had in Virginia only to move away. I did invest in relationships that were important to me before moving and continue to invest in those relationships from a distance. I've also been very blessed to rekindle relationships from my college years with a few very dear friends who still live in the area to which we moved.

One huge lesson I've learned about myself is that I need a tribe. Peeps. Homies. Friends.

Life is pretty tough without your peeps. But then again, you get the opportunity to form new friends and have the wonderful knowledge that your old tribe is still holding down the fort.

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, and laughter-filled 2011.

happiness = garam masala?

2010-12-26T22:09:00.001-05:00

Today I came across a local Indian market that is just wonderful! I’ve looked for garam masala for quite some time and was never able to find it until today. I couldn’t help but think of Colonel Brandon’s line in Sense and Sensibility…”the air is full of spices.” Indeed it was! There were bags and bags of spices everywhere and different types of produce I’d never heard of before. I was even able to find ghee which is often called for but not often found. I did find directions once on how to make ghee (clarified butter) but had no desire to spend that much time prior to spending a lot of time making the actual dish.

One unsavory find was the meat locker of goat hearts, goat kidneys, and lamb legs. Ewwwww….

Just a few days ago, I read an article at the doctor’s office about 8 steps to happiness (what can I say…I’m a sucker for anything about happiness) and one of the steps was choosing to be happy. Simple. Not always so easy. The past several days have been wonderful on the one hand – great time with mom and dad – and challenging on the other – Brett down for the count and sick kids. All I wanted to do while Max was napping today was have a pedicure. Not a single nail place open that I could find. I was so upset/disappointed/angry that I could have screamed/cried. On my way home I came upon the Indian market. Spent a little over 30 minutes just wandering up and down the aisles looking at everything. After I’d made my purchases and was driving away, I had a rather silly grin on my face thinking about all of the fun I’m going to have playing around with my finds.

And then it hit me.

I had chosen happiness by being willing to find happiness in something different than what I’d originally planned.

Maybe this is a good lesson to remember in 2011.

family dinner

2010-12-15T15:19:00.003-05:00

night before last, the clevengers shared our first sit-down family dinner. it was an exciting milestone for us! everyone was able to eat slowly and the food was even hot. max ate like a champ - dry rub brisket, steamed broccoli, and boursin mashed potatoes.

sweet, sweet max

2010-12-14T21:59:00.002-05:00

chowing down on dog food...

he has the BEST laugh...check out his four teeth, too!

seriously. check out those eyes.

what happens when you forget the extra change of clothes?

2010-11-07T07:38:00.002-05:00

answer: your son arrives home in a girl's plum shirt and no pants.

madeleine

2010-11-07T07:27:00.001-05:00

madeleine is getting to be such a little lady. there's hardly any "baby" left in her. sometimes this makes me smile and sometimes it makes me cry. do any other moms feel this way or am i just really strange??

dance class has been a hit for the most part. m has wanted to be a ballerina for quite some time. this year i signed her up for a ballet, tap, tumble class. their sweet teacher has the patience of job.

m was allowed to wear her costume to school. these were taken just before the ladybug flew away...

razorback day

2010-11-07T07:23:00.004-05:00

razorback day is every friday at the kids' school and we really enjoy showing our pig sooie spirit!

well, hello again

2010-09-19T18:45:00.003-04:00

i am not a fan of excuses. i am especially not a fan of excuses that involve time, i.e., why something isn't done, why someone is late, etc.

so...it pains me to say that the reason i haven't posted in so long and so long before the last post even is because our camera is the BAIN OF MY EXISTENCE. we bought this camera in 2006 because we were going on an african safari in spring of '07. (before you ask how amazing the african safari was, please keep in mind that madeleine was born summer '07. read = no go to africa)

anyway, this camera is *horrible*. cookies can cook in the time between pressing the button to take a picture and the camera actually taking a picture. you essentially have to decide what you want to take a picture of and then press the button several minutes beforehand. it also takes a disproportionate number of blurred pictures.

all of these issues have led to me essentially not taking photographs.

this makes me very sad because i feel like i've missed most of max's babyhood and i know i've missed many special moments and milestones.

here are a few photographs i was able to get recently (by miracle).

and yes, we're buying a new camera. just trying to figure out what to get. suggestions/recommendations??

life as a six month old...

2010-08-24T17:08:00.003-04:00

is very interesting. let's see there's...

reading...

relaxing after bath time...

playing with toys before/after dinnertime...

eavesdropping...
lots of hugs and kisses from big sister...(bossing, too, but we won't dwell...)

and of course, sleeping. sometimes daddy falls asleep with me.

busy summer

2010-08-19T10:31:00.004-04:00

so many things have been happening and changing this summer. it's been hard to know what i want to write. for now, here are a few photographs from the last two months.

Birthday Girl

A little sibling fun

My grandmother came up for the weekend and taught me to can and make her famous homemade bread. Below are the beautiful jars of delicious muscadine jelly and our dough rising...they were later devoured and didn't make it to see another sunrise.

Madeleine starts dance lessons at the end of august. One hour per week with a combination of ballet, tap, and tumbling. I have a strange obsession with her ballet and tap shoes. The tap shoes in particular. I think they're the cutest thing I've ever seen and they make me cry.

where has the time gone

2010-06-19T18:46:00.003-04:00

in the midst of having a house on the market, packing, moving, unpacking, and getting settled, poor max has been ripped off in the photograph category. i assure you it isn't for lack of adorable expressions and moments!

here are a few from the other day with grandma.

thoughts on baby #2

2010-06-19T10:22:00.002-04:00

there are so many ideas for blog posts floating around in my mind and yet they never seem to come to fruition. one that i was just thinking about (again) this morning is observations from baby number two.

my doctor repeatedly told me that every pregnancy is different and every child is different. she was right.

madeleine was not a very happy baby. she did not like to be swaddled, didn't really like to be held too much, didn't eat very well, didn't really love the swing, wasn't a big nap-taker, and didn't like to be put down. as you've probably figured out, this all means that not a lot made her happy. on the positive side, i could count on one hand the number of times she spit up, she was a tummy time rock star and took to physical things quickly, and last but certainly not least, looking at her petite features and mile long eyelashes made my heart flutter.

max, on the other hand, is such a chill baby. he's just a generally go-with-the-flow, happy kid. he loved to be swaddled (great out of that a few weeks ago), takes naps that could go down in the record books, loves his swing, cuddles up to you like nobody's business, and is pretty content to be put down and look around for awhile. he's also got acid reflux that would peel the paint off a wall. it's thankfully not the exorcist-style projectile (most of the time at least) but we go through multiple bibs and a towel at virtually every feeding and have a tough time squeezing in enough tummy time for fear he'll spew everything he's eaten all day.

all that to say that i stand amazed at God's workmanship in each of our kiddos and am so very grateful that He has blessed us with the opportunity to plan such an important role in their lives.

two big milestones!

2010-06-15T15:35:00.005-04:00

i've been MIA for awhile. lots going on which i'll post about soon.

two big milestones in the clevenger household...madeleine started preschool yesterday. adorable, no? she ran to me at the end of the day and said she had SO MUCH FUN. the teacher raved about how well she did and she even got a star on her daily sheet! go madeleine!!!

and second big clevenger milestone is that max rolled from back to front today! the developmental charts say babies roll from front to back first but poor max doesn't get a lot of tummy time because of his terrible reflux. he gets a lot of bouncy seat/standing up time instead. he did it twice for grandma today. yay, max!!!

signed, one proud mom

happy mother's day!

2010-05-12T12:07:00.003-04:00

miss arminda and madeleine surprised me with gorgeous roses, a balloon, and a card that makes me cry every time i look at it.

the kiddos

2010-05-12T12:05:00.002-04:00

fishing

2010-05-12T11:48:00.003-04:00

got this idea from no time for flashcards and it has been so much fun! madeleine asks to play it multiple times a day. we're so proud of how well she has learned her letters.

letter fun

2010-05-08T10:29:00.004-04:00

thought i'd post some of our fun letter projects.

c for caterpillar - madeleine loved making the caterpillar with his antennas and googly eyes

f for flowers

r for rainbow and rain - the stickers were multi-dimensional and madeleine tore the top off most of them which is why they look a little strange. she also colored with crayons that represented the beautiful colors in a rainbow!

y for yarn - this one was especially fun as she picked out the yarn (red is her favorite color) and cut it herself.

z for zebra - obviously madeleine did not color this one but she did glue the zebra onto the page.

a day in the life...

2010-05-05T20:45:00.006-04:00

we often wondered how our lives would change with two kids. i should probably write a post someday on how it's changed but possibly the most noticeable change is that we really are pretty much always busy.

two kids would keep you busy regardless but there's something particularly busy with a toddler and an infant. the toddler is old enough to get into stuff and do a few things for herself but not old enough to really take care of herself. (how horrible am i that i can't wait until she can get herself a bowl of cereal and watch TV when she wakes up in the morning?)

here are a couple snapshots from a day in the life. (note - these aren't all from the same day but are representative of normal day to day life. :-))

jammies

2010-05-05T20:40:00.002-04:00

am i the only mom who has a weird infatuation with children's pajamas?

we were given these airplane jammies as a gift and they're my favorite of max's jammies collection. the airplanes are adorable and the blue makes his eyes look so blue. not that i would care if his eyes weren't blue but i'm a little excited about his blue eyes.

(watch - tomorrow they'll start turning brown or hazel)

baby fat

2010-04-29T14:17:00.003-04:00

how is that fat is so adorable on babies and so repulsive on the rest of us?

i love max's thighs.

they make me smile.

the stomach fat that stayed behind after max's exit? not so adorable. don't love it. doesn't make me smile.

i had lunch with a close friend recently and continue to be shocked (in a good way) every time i see her. she has lost at least 40 pounds since i first me her and she looks phenomenal. inspiring. my unbiased view is that weight watchers should hire her as their next spokesperson.

so anyway...as i sat at the table thinking how pathetic that i hadn't lost weight, my mind was made up that i needed to do something. note that my mind was getting made up as i was devouring my second pita and inhaling the spiced olive oil. maybe my subconscious knew this was a last supper of sorts?

i started weight watchers (again) the following day. though i hate to speak too soon, it's gone better this time around. i did WW after i had madeleine and though i lost weight on the program i felt like i was living in a german war camp, barely subsisting on the measley points i was allotted each day. i'll keep you posted...until then, here's something to make you smile. hey, at least my thighs don't have rolls!

the many faces of max

2010-04-18T17:30:00.005-04:00

max weighed 13 lbs - 1 oz at his two month checkup - big boy!

my favorite people

2010-04-18T16:32:00.002-04:00

the exotic artichoke

2010-04-18T16:15:00.005-04:00

i've been on somewhat of a quest this year to try new things, specifically new vegetables and cooking vegetables i've only had prepared by someone else. also on the list is an attempt to eat more fresh foods which of course typically consists of veggies and fruits.

anyway, whole foods had artichokes on sale. i love artichoke hearts in salads, with pastas - so delicious. i've never had a fresh one, though, and had certainly never attempted to wrestle the strange looking fellow. the sale seemed like a sign. an artichoke sign.

scouring the internet i came across a simple recipe for steaming them that sounded both tasty and natural.

i had intended to include all of the ingredients in the photograph but left the bay leaf and mayonnaise on the counter. whoops.

after trimming the tips, top, and stem, i added a quarter of the lemon, several cloves of garlic, and a bay leaf into a few inches of water and steamed the artichoke for 45 minutes. while it was steaming, i minced a few cloves of garlic, squeezed the juice from the other lemon quarter, and added to a cup or so of real mayonnaise.

artie turned out both delicious AND beautiful! too much for one person, though. i'll make this for a party sometime.

polka princess

2010-04-01T16:00:00.002-04:00

chronicles of madeleine

2010-04-01T15:47:00.004-04:00

madeleine's kindermusik class just ended. she didn't seem to enjoy it for the first couple of months and suddenly really enjoyed it the last two weeks.

go figure.

the maxers

2010-04-01T15:32:00.002-04:00

max has a pet name...maxers.

as a matter of fact, i call him this so much that madeleine now corrects me when i say max with "NO! he's baby maxers!"

whatever his name, he is one handsome little fella. i am seriously smitten with this guy...

5821 5th street south

2010-04-01T15:18:00.004-04:00

we have really loved our house. this little yellow cape cod is where we found out we were expecting, where we headed to the hospital with both of our kids, where we brought madeleine and max to begin our life as a family.

it's been home.

a lovely home.

they just put up the for sale sign in our front yard and i just saw the official listing online. i'm excited about this next chapter in our lives and yet very sad to see this one end.

i've lived in arlington longer than anywhere else but my hometown. i know the best thai restaurant, the great little french bistro only the locals haunt, and a myriad of other favorites.

i know i'll develop new favorites, new traditions, and new memories but a very special place will always exist in my heart for 5821 5th street south.

news

2010-03-28T03:38:00.002-04:00

i wanted to post a quick note with news…

we’re moving to arkansas!

we have really wanted to move to arkansas for awhile but things never really seemed to align for it to happen. most of the time we’ve been content, and frankly happy, to live in dc and consider ourselves very blessed with all that the area has to offer. other times, however, my heart hurt with the desire to live closer to my parents, friends, and other family. once we had madeleine, it became a mixed bag of feelings. on the one hand, what an amazing place to raise a child – opportunities to see and do so much. on the other hand, having children without family nearby is very hard. it was sad to me that madeleine only occasionally saw her grandparents or that she didn’t know or play with my friends’ children. when we were expecting max, it became even more evident how nice it would be to have family nearby.

don’t get me wrong, i’ve loved raising a child here. madeleine is bilingual, has seen and done things i didn’t do until my 20s or even 30s, and has eaten more ethnic food than most adults.

but it’s just not the same.

you all read about my new job in november that provided the flexibility to work from home and eventually move back to arkansas. we decided shortly thereafter to wait until late 2010/early 2011 to actively resume the search for jobs for brett. God evidently had other plans. As brett was discussing a local opportunity with a colleague, his colleague mentioned that he had contacts with a northwest arkansas company. brett was asked to interview in a matter of a week and had a job offer within a week and a half. it’s all happened very quickly but we’ve decided to accept the position and make the move.

brett starts his new position in one week and will be commuting between arkansas and dc until we are able to sell our house in virginia and move. It’s a little overwhelming with all we have to do but God has been incredibly gracious to provide great people to support us, energy to get moving on things, and a wonderful opportunity. we’ll keep you posted on the transition and, of course, thank you for your prayers.

seven is my new best friend

2010-03-21T17:45:00.003-04:00

i hesitate to write this as i may jinx myself but...

max slept for seven hours last night. sept. siete. S-E-V-E-N.

at two weeks he slept for five hours one night and i thought i'd died and gone to heaven. he didn't do it again, though, so i assumed it was a fluke. granted, the seven last night may not happen again for awhile but seriously, i am really, really thankful that it happened.

my funny girl

2010-03-19T11:56:00.002-04:00

lots going on here which i'll post more about in the coming days.

thought i would share a few funny madeleine anecdotes:

- spring has finally sprung in DC so we are spending as much time as possible outside. madeleine, miss arminda, sophie, and i were all in the front yard the other day when sophie started panting. madeleine just stared at her so i explained that sophie was panting because she was hot and that is how dogs cool off. looking very serious, madeleine walked over to sophie, patted her on the back and said, "good idea, sophie."

- i had first explained the concept of panting last week. madeleine had joined me to pick up sophie and sammy from the groomers. on the way home, madeleine laughed and said "i can hear their tongues." it took me a minute to realize she was hearing them panting in the back and equated that with 'hearing their tongues.'

- max was lying on my lap this morning and started doing his normal baby stretching. arms up, to the side, down, legs pushing off my stomach - you know the drill. when he put up his right he just left it kind of waving in the air. madeleine looked at me and filled me in with "he wants a high five."

- week before last we were watching dora and i was talking with madeleine about how some people speak one language and some people speak two or more languages. i pointed out that she speaks spanish and english but mommy doesn't speak spanish, only english. i asked if miss arminda spoke one language or two and she correctly said that she speaks spanish and english. to torment brett (who is frequently told not to attempt to speak spanish by madeleine), i asked madeleine if daddy spoke spanish. she promptly laughed and responded, "NO!"

there are many more little gems but we're headed to the ENT for Max's appointment. hope they either figure out why he keeps having respiratory issues or at least rule out physical problems.

hope all of you have a great day with a lot of laughter.

congestion, anyone?

2010-03-17T00:53:00.002-04:00

max spent four days in the hospital week before last due to a rather aggressive case of rsv. everyone is always horrified that our two week old was in the hospital but it was actually a relief to us. he had been sick for the previous week which resulted in brett and i trading off holding him upright 24 hours a day for seven days. he would turn purple when he couldn't catch his breath, sounded horrible, would choke while eating...extremely stressful.

the hospital stay actually eased the stress because he was on oxygen which made his breathing easier and on monitors at all times so i wasn't afraid to close my eyes and fall asleep because his machine would go off if his oxygen levels fell or if his heart rate was too fast/too slow.

well, as the luck of the irish would have it (happy st. patrick's day), madeleine started showing signs of a cold toward the end of last week. even though i've forbidden any touching, any talking/coughing/sneezing/laughing near his face, max now has terrible congestion once again. it's one o'clock in the morning and i haven't slept tonight and will likely not sleep until around five o'clock when i will wake up brett to hand max over while i get a few hours of sleep.

poor little guy.

get your max fix on...

2010-03-11T21:45:00.004-05:00

sorry we've been a little MIA. i'll write another post about things that have been going on but wanted to post a few pics of the handsomest baby boy in the world.

celebrity cookies

2010-03-04T19:28:00.002-05:00

here's a link to a post about max's thank you cookies...you should seriously consider custom cookies the next time you're trying to think of what to get someone. i think they're appropriate for just about any situation except a sympathy gift. that would just be...well, inappropriate. and weird.

these are the cookies i had made for a friend who just bought a new house.

they've been a huge hit AND i'm not contributing to anyone's clutter. i may be contributing to the growth around their middles but not disorganization or unwanted gifts...

there's no place like home

2010-03-04T19:25:00.002-05:00

we clicked our ruby slippers and were home this afternoon.

okay, it didn't work out entirely like that.

they took max off of oxygen yesterday afternoon and he went 24 hours without needing to be put back on so they discharged us this afternoon. very happy to have our little family of four back together under one roof.

hoping for a healthier march and remainder of 2010! thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

the stepson of the vegetable world

2010-03-03T09:03:00.004-05:00

a bag of fresh brussell sprouts was calling my name at the grocery store a few weeks ago. i adore brussell sprouts and have since childhood. my mom called them little cabbages and i thought they were awesome.

i had seen a recipe for roasted brussell sprouts a few months ago and decided to give them a try when the aforementioned sprouts were smiling at me in harris teeter.

whipping out the cast iron skillet, i trimmed my little cabbages, gave them a healthy dose of olive oil and topped with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. roasted them at 425 and halfway through, madeleine says "something smells yucky." i had to explain that it was our unch. she looked at me, skeptically. by the time they finished roasting she was literally holding her nose.

she refused to eat them.

i made them again last weekend and once again, we had the smells yucky conversation. i explained that they're delicious and help you grow big and strong. went on to say that i love brussell sprouts. she looked over at me and announced, "little people don't like bwussell spwouts. only big people."

touche, madeleine, touche.
image credit

max's first hospital stay

2010-03-02T20:08:00.005-05:00

i was hoping max's first "first" would be something a little happier like...first social smile, first sleeping through the night (wishful thinking)...but he's currently having his first post-delivery hospital stay. last week he was very congested and got progressively worse. brett and i have been taking shifts to hold him upright through the night so he could breathe and sleep. it's been extremely tiring but, of course, anything for your kiddos right?

won't go into the entire ordeal over the past week but yesterday the peds decided the best place for him was the hospital due to his respiratory distress (he has RSV). we were admitted yesterday and he'll be staying until he's able to breathe without oxygen while keeping his oxygen saturation levels at an appropriate level and also able to breathe without having to work so hard.

he has been such a trooper. i'm blown about by his courage and resiliency - impressive!

brett said he's using his IV board to keep the cute girls at bay. :-)

love these...

2010-02-25T18:48:00.003-05:00

we had the most amazing experience with max's delivery. the doctor was an amazing Christian woman i had never met (plan to post about her soon) but absolutely loved. the l&d nurses were seriously the best nurses EVER and we had amazing post-partum nurses as well.

i was trying to come up with something to tell them thanks. i tried coming up with something after madeleine was born, too, and never could come up with something that could be shared so ended up doing nothing.

anyway, as you all know, i'm a huge fan of bake at 350 so i asked if she could make custom cookies to match maxwell's birth announcement. she did and they are awesome!!! my amateur photography does not do them justice but trust me that they're beautiful and tasty to boot.

grandpa's girl

2010-02-25T18:44:00.002-05:00

madeleine has an affinity for bologna that i can only attribute to my dad. i try hard to serve nutritious, home cooked meals and m thinks bologna with processed cheese slices is the bees knees.

oy vey.

aimee dislikes blogspot

2010-02-19T15:24:00.003-05:00

i have no idea why the spacing is all gimpy in the last post but i've already wasted 45 minutes on it and i refuse to spend more. hmph.

tadpole becomes a baby frog

2010-02-19T15:03:00.010-05:00

after knowing max as tadpole for the past 9 months, it seemed rather fitting that he should have a frog hat as he's graduated from tadpole to baby frog.

suited up for his first doctor's appointment. he was down to 8 lbs 2 ozs so he didn't lose the average 10 ozs. honestly, we were surprised he lost weight at all the way he eats! we go for the kidney and bladder ultrasounds on monday. please keep us in your prayers that all goes well and that the doctor will have wisdom in determining next steps.madeleine "bought" max a gift for his home arrival and chose this adorable baby einstein activity mat. here she is showing him all of the wonderful features. he wasn't quite as enamored as she was but i'm sure will be in no time.

we're settling in as a family of four and enjoying it very much. madeleine is a very loving big sister and wants so much to help. unfortunately she has a terrible respiratory infection so we're trying to be judicious when deciding how much she can "help" without infecting him. hopefully this goes away soon!

and one final gratuitous face shot. because he's just that cute. how much do i love those lips...

thoughtful friends and neighbors

2010-02-19T14:52:00.003-05:00

i would be remiss if i did not mention the amazing outpouring of love we've received these last few months from our wonderful friends and neighbors. as many of you know this pregnany has been almost a comedy with the varied and numerous complications ranging from swine flu to sciatica. through it all, we have repeatedly been shown love and support from food to early baby gifts (when we thought he was coming in january) to snow shoveling to everything in between.

the thoughtfulness has just kept on with a delicioso chicken tetrazzini from our friend and neighbor, lori; a super fun let's dish session to stock up on dinners with our friend dwain; a fantastico chicken parm from our friend and neighbor, ann; dog sitting from our amazing friend/neighbor, barb; impromptu child sitting (also from ann!); and this adorable fruit basket from my friend, jessica. how cute is this? i mean, really. too cute.

and...THANK YOU to everyone for the wonderful gifts of clothes and hats and snugglies and blankets and everything else. we are so blessed!

more pics..

2010-02-16T17:05:00.002-05:00

introducing baby max

2010-02-16T16:51:00.002-05:00

maxwell davis clevenger, born on valentine's daty at 9:04 pm weighing in at 8 lbs 9 oz and 20.5 inches long.

i am in L-O-V-E with this little guy...

funny mads

2010-02-13T08:12:00.006-05:00

madeleine made a homemade heart card for each of us yesterday - love them!

our favorite ski bunny

girl loves her some soup - just like her mom!

funny story...the three of us went to my ob/gyn yesterday which is in the reston hospital complex. as we were leaving, madeleine pointed to another buliding in the complex and says "that's the little people doctor". she had pointed out the office building in which her pediatrician is located (which we go to a couple times a year and looks a great deal like most of the other buildings). i was shocked so i said "wow! yes, that's your doctor." to which she responds "that's madeleine's doctor. and other little kids, too." she's so smart. and funny.

belly shot - 38 weeks

2010-02-13T08:09:00.001-05:00

as requested...told you my stomach is HUGE.

madeleine at school

2010-02-11T10:39:00.005-05:00

madeleine and miss arminda go to preschool at the local elementary schools two mornings a week. miss arminda is so good about taking our camera so we get to see what m does when we're not around. how sweet is that? we've never asked her to do this. she just does it. clearly understands a working mother's heart...

so serious...

who doesn't love puzzles?

oh man - i wish we'd had one of these when i was a kid.

fine motor skill development with BIG buttons and shoelaces - how fun!

madeleine's class at snack time.

you'll never guess...

2010-02-11T10:32:00.004-05:00

yep, more snow.

this was from three snows ago...so these posts are not sequential. i've got bigger fish to fry, people.

S-N-O-W

2010-02-11T10:17:00.005-05:00

word of the week has unquestionably been snow.

i used to love snow.

i was sad that we didn't get more snow.

i feel differently now.

don't get me wrong, i still think snow is beautiful and can be fun. being snowbound is not beautiful or fun when you're 12 months pregnant...um, 9 months pregnant...and fearful you'll go into labor and end up with a hippie natural birth that you've never wanted.

that said, here are a few pictures to document the past five days.

this was after the first day...a lot of snow but still somewhat fun.

this was after the next round of snow...

fun is quickly waning...this is what brett monikered the clevenger snow cafe.

this is the poopy path brett dug and kept shoveled so the dogs would have somewhere other than our back patio to do their business.

this is sophie going to do her business. poor girl.

new letters!

2010-02-11T10:08:00.004-05:00

i haven't done a great job of keeping up with our letters of the week. well, more like letter of every other week and sometimes multiple letters in one week. hey, if it works...

i've intentionally started doing the letters out of order. one thing i noticed with numbers is that madeleine can recite her numbers but doesn't always recognize the actual number when she sees it. she seems to actually "learn" the letters better when we don't focus on the sequence and instead focus on all of the fun things that start with the letter and do crafts to visually reinforce it. so now to the fun part.

brett loves making kettle corn popcorn but never eats the entire bag (better than i can say for myself. ahem.). i saw half of a leftover bag and thought, 'aha! p for pocorn.' madeleine loved making this one. i didn't think p for poopy would be as much fun...

given the record breaking snow we've had this past week, s for snow seemed to be rather fitting. funny side note, though...brett nor i could remember how to make paper snowflakes so i had to find directions on the internet. they still weren't great but they worked.

a dangerous sport

2010-02-02T08:38:00.002-05:00

i've been thinking a lot lately about a very dangerous sport that i seem to engage in a lot. the sport of jumping ahead. a dear friend from our church (my former CALM Bible study leader) sent me an e-mail last friday saying that she was praying that i would "resist the temptation to run ahead of Him and “make things up” about what might, could, happen". it struck me for a couple of reasons but one of the craziest things about it was that i swear God has been using a multitude of avenues to tell me this.

at my ob/gyn appointment on thursday, i had a laundry list of questions about what we could do if "x" happened. if i had another bad reaction to the epidural, what could we do? if my sciatica returned and i couldn't lie on my back, what would we do? if i had a panic attack during labor, could they give me drugs?? dr. speyer calmly (seriously, the woman has the patience of job) said that we would deal with whatever happened when it happened. it wasn't really what i was looking for but the rational side of me knew that she couldn't very well diagnose and treat things that hadn't occurred.

i'd also been reading eat pray love which deals a lot with her battle with her thoughts. toward the end of the book she realizes how much she worried and fretted when everything turned out just as it was supposed to.

okay, God, i get it. i'm a jumper-aheader.

this has been a lifelong sport for me. i spent a considerable amount of time from around age 9 on worrying that something bad would happen to my parents. by bad i mean that they would die. it was the worst possible thing my mind could conjecture and it stole a lot of joy from my life for many years. and then a crazy thing happened in college...my dad had a heart attack. the bizarre part of it all? i didn't die when i got the call. (granted, he didn't die either. praise God.) but it was like this HUGE fear i'd had all my life was sort of playing out in front of me and God gave me the peace i needed *at that moment*.

this fear led to a lot of really bad habits that had to do with jumping ahead. i carried stomach medicine with me at all times in case i got sick. how horrible to get sick and not have medicine handy! i insisted (still do frankly) on driving so that i could leave if something happened and i wanted to go. i still have a hard time accepting invitations that are far in the future...what i don't feel like going that night??

point is that i have realized this whole jumping ahead business is something i'd like to put behind me. it's also something that i think is probably a fairly universal human pasttime.

elizabeth gilbert provides a great mental image in her book about controlling thoughts. she views her mind as a safe harbor and talks about consciously turning away the thoughts she doesn't want to have. i've started trying to use this myself. "oh hello, mr.-reminder-of-something-i've-done-wrong. i'd like to say it's nice to see you but it isn't so i'm going to have to ask you to leave." "ah, mrs.-might-happen-sometime-in-the-future. fancy meeting you here. tell you what, if indeed you do occur, come on back. otherwise, please keep on sailing."

i'll be honest. i'm really not great at this yet. but i'm trying.

valentine's day crafts

2010-01-26T21:01:00.007-05:00

the weather has been alternately be-u-tiful and frigid so we've tried to enjoy the outdoors when possible and find indoor fun when the outdoors is just too cold.

this weekend we made a valentine's sensory tub that has been so much fun (and so cheap i might add). if you select the link, it will take you to the website where i originally saw this. ours is slightly modified in that we used white rice, red kidney beans, and heart erasers from the dollar section at target. glitter, fun as it is, is just not my friend at this point so we didn't do that. we talked about the different sizes of the rice, beans, and hearts...counted the hearts...scooped and measured (fine motor skills)...and frankly, just had fun running our hands through the stuff.

adorable heart measuring cups that i found in the dollar section at target. she loves them. as do i.

lots of scooping and measuring...

tonight we skipped over a few letters and made "h" our letter of the week because i wanted to do something valentine's-ish (not a word, i know). i found these super cute heart foam stickers for a buck at target and madeleine had a ball peeling off the backs and sticking all of them to the letter before we cut out.

hello again

2010-01-18T08:59:00.004-05:00

it's a good thing one of my 2010 goals wasn't to more regularly update our blog...i'd be failing miserably.

so quick update on the clevengers...

we spent most of the weekend getting ready for baby...swing setup (thanks mom and dad!), bouncer setup (thanks terese, lori, and joann!), car seat cover changed/installed with winter snuggie (thanks again ladies!), hospital bag half packed, bassinet setup, baby clothes washed and put away (i'd forgotten how tiny they are).

i spent thursday before last in the hospital being monitored for pre-term labor. thankfully, we weren't in pre-term labor but things appear to be progressing. need to hold out until at least thursday when i'll be 35 weeks. after that, bring it on!

work is rather crazy busy for both brett and me and we're both trying to get as much done as possible so we can enjoy (as much as you can enjoy no sleep and a crying newborn) maternity/paternity leave.

other than that, we're ready for spring.

2010 goals

2010-01-02T09:17:00.004-05:00

Sailing into the Sun
Originally uploaded by cmiguel

i’ve never really been one to set new year’s resolutions but i am a goal kind of gal. SimpleMom provided a wonderful list of questions to reflect on 2009 and a thought provoking list of questions to inspire goals for 2010. We’ve all heard that people who set goals are significantly more likely to achieve them so who am I to question statistical significance.

i’ve decided to share my goals with all of you as a step in accountability. this year i tried to focus more on “visioning” what i wanted the year/my life and setting goals accordingly. as a result, my goals are largely focused on improved health – physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial - and family.

would love to hear if you’ve set goals for 2010 and if you’re up to sharing, what some of them are.

1. Solidify budget and stick to it! if you haven’t heard of dave ramsey, i’d highly recommend checking out his stuff. it’s really inspired me to be the master of our money rather than the other way around. this and the next several goals are very much based on his program though we don’t follow all of his principles. i’ll do another post on that…

2. Continue with investment withholdings and don’t skip. brett and i have been using a financial planner for several years and have (in addition to 401k withholdings) money taken out every month for investments and madeleine’s college fund. every year for the past four years, we inevitably have a month or two (or three) that we stop our investments because something unexpected has come up. our goal this year is to not “stop” any of the withholdings.

3. Save 1/3 of our emergency fund. this may sound like a small goal but our living expenses are so high in DC that our 6 month emergency fund needs to be quite large. we would have to stop all of our retirement and college fund withholdings (which dave ramsey recommends but we have chosen to not do) to have any hope of saving more for this fund. we do have a fully funded baby emergency fund.

4. Eat healthier foods and exercise at least five times per week. specific steps we’re taking…eating more fresh produce, fewer refined foods, less sugar, and buying locally when able (but not going crazy on this last one). i can’t do a lot of exercise right now but i can walk. so i walk.

5. Mother intentionally. intentional = deliberate, knowing, willful, designed. i’ve been thinking a lot about what kind of family life i want to have and what kind of family life we currently have. i want to be more intentional in how i mother madeleine and tadpole. look for ways to encourage their (realistically this is much more related to madeleine for obvious reasons) passions and strengths and opportunities to help them overcome their weaknesses. also, looking for opportunities to start our own family traditions and reinforce family values.

6. Sharpen the saw by trying one new physical activity and learning a new skill/hobby. franklin covey trademarked the sharpening the saw concept which essentially means that you continue personal growth and development. it’s pretty easy between career, marriage, motherhood, and the myriad of other responsibilities to not focus much in this area. i don’t want to be that way, though. this year i’m going to try one new physical activity, considering sailing as i’ve always wanted to try it, and learn something new, considering spanish.

7. Invest in relationships that are important to me. working from home for the past two months, i haven’t done a great job of getting out. seriously, i need to get out of the house more. i’m going to actively plan lunches, dinners, movies, etc. with people i care about.

happy new year, everyone. i hope it's your best year yet.

photo source

snow angel

2009-12-27T07:10:00.002-05:00

christmas baking

2009-12-27T06:51:00.007-05:00

i've just returned from the airport...dropping off my parents for their flights home (sniff, sniff). we had a lovely time with them - good food and great company just can't be beat! i thought my first post could be about the good food part. we had several great dishes but i'll focus on the healthiest ones - the cookies, rolls, and muffins.

special shout out to pioneer woman for the rolls and muffins. i made monkey muffins for Christmas breakfast - amazing. the rosemary butter rolls were part of Christmas lunch. the photograph of the rolls is just before they went in the oven (everyone was sitting at the table, ready to eat when they came out of the oven so it seemed rude to make them wait while i took a picture).

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monkey muffins (i used cut up canned biscuits and fat free sweetened condensed milk):

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/12/monkey-muffins/

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rosemary buttered rolls:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/10/buttered-rosemary-rolls/

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and for the cookies, no pictures. we ate all of the lemon cookies and most of the chocolate chip so photographs were a bit of an afterthought. these are AMAZING. not a really good cookie. truly a must try.

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lemon burst cookie - holy cow these are unbelievable. you have to use fresh lemons...the zest and lemon juice elevate these to something otherwordly.

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/10/12/lemon-burst-cookies/

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soft chocolate chip cookies - these are my favorite chocolate chip cookie. ever. period.

i used chocolate pudding mix instead of vanilla because it's what i had on hand. and boy am i glad i did.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Award-Winning-Soft-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

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happy baking!

Simple Mom — Live simply, stay sane. Life hacks for home managers.

2009-12-09T16:55:00.004-05:00

go register for this great Dayspring candle giveaway!!

Simple Mom — Live simply, stay sane. Life hacks for home managers.

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Christmas fun!

2009-12-07T12:26:00.004-05:00

with the snow this weekend, m needed mittens/gloves that fit. found this adorable hat and mitten set at old navy.

we were headed to the annual old town alexandria boat parade of lights. wish we had pictures but unfortunately the rain/snow mix sort of ruined the pics. we had a good time anyway.

saturday night i baked sugar cookies and Sunday, m and i decorated christmas trees and ladybugs. i realize the ladybugs aren't exactly "Christmas" fun but had to make them for my favorite lady. this was my first time using royal icing. they certainly don't look professional but i'm pretty happy with my first go round.

oh, and madeleine wanted me to take a picture of her hot chocolate. i'm not sure how these little white playdough sombreros are hot chocolate but she loves them.

i was not paid for these advertisements...

2009-12-05T14:29:00.003-05:00

but i'm so darn excited about them that i just had to share!

i signed up for e-mealz (http://www.e-mealz.com) and am loving it. basic premise is that they do your meal planning for you and send to you along with your grocery shopping list. i've always been a meal planner but usually spent a lot of time doing it each week. the meals have been delicious, easy to make, and cost effective. it's only $5 per month...seriously, consider doing it and saving yourself time and money.

going to put in another plug for simple mom (http://www.simplemom.net) because she rocks. i love, love, love her website and continue to be inspired to simplify by her posts and ideas.

recently found the most adorable cookies at bake at 350 (http://bakeat350.blogspot.com). she shares great recipes on her blog and also sells her beautiful cookies on etsy.com. adorable!

you know the really cool thing about all of these great blogs...they're all fellow moms who have started their businesses as a way to earn income while raising their kids! i was telling my mom recently that i feel like this network of blogs is really encouraging me as a wife and a mom and reminds me that God really does give each of us our own giftings and talents. i also feel like (though i am not a stay at home mom) that corporate america could do a better job of harnessing the amazing creativity and passion of these women.

i just feel fortunate to be able to learn from the gifts and talents of others (though i do have my occasional green with envy moment when i wish i could actually DO all of these things...wait 'til you see the cookies at bake at 350).

first snow of the season

2009-12-05T13:56:00.005-05:00

i don't recall the name of the poem or even the author but in high school we studied a poem that talked about snow covering all things and making them beautiful. as i recall it was specifially talking about covering graves but we won't dwell on that because today...today is our first snow of the season! it's so lovely. i want to live closer to home but would sure love to live somewhere that gets more snow.

our friends and neighbors just adopted their gorgeous little boy, elijah, from south korea. he is so handsome and has the most laidback little personality. he'll be a real heartbreaker!!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

2009-12-05T13:15:00.007-05:00

sorry for the lack of posts lately. life has been busy, in a very good and productive way. we're going from zero posts to multiple in one day.

we celebrated thanksgiving with our wonderful friends and neighbors the Sunday prior and had a lovely time! after hearing how stressful the family get-togethers were of so many people i know, i guess we were pretty fortunate to have a delicious dinner...drama free!

the original tree decorating plan was for madeleine and i to make the martha stewart bird ornaments. after painstakingly resizing, printing, and cutting out the elaborate birds, i realized i was not keeping in mind that m is two. not twenty. so, we improvised and instead made stars and a couple of angels. they turned out well and she was so proud. oh, and it's a cinnamon dough so they smell delicious!

we're trying to have a simpler Christmas this year, focusing on things that are usable and reusable and less costly. as a result, we were able to make donations to Amazima (http://www.amazima.org/) to sponsor a child for a year and to the Lottie Moon Missions offering. the impacts from those will last so much longer than the newness of the latest toy and that makes us feel great.

i made cookie mix in a jar for several friends. they turned out so cute! the mix recipe was originally called cranberry hootycreeks but how weird is that for Christmas. i renamed them cranberry & snow cookies. :-)

happy thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T08:16:00.001-05:00

For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful and ever mindful of the needs of others.

holiday festival at pentagon row

2009-11-14T21:32:00.003-05:00

while researching fun outings for Christmas vacation while my parents are here, i came across the holiday festival at pentagon row. we went tonight with our friends and neighbors and had a great time!! they had "snow", ice skating, horse-drawn carriages, pictures with the clauses, face painting, and balloon animals (didn't do the last two) - AND we were so fortunate to have absolutely beautiful weather!

btw, when we left the house, i felt good about how i looked and then i saw the pictures. at what point do you go from cute pregnant to just B-I-G??

and picture just prior to our lovely birthday dinner for brett last Sunday night...24 weeks

two things i know for sure...

2009-11-08T11:41:00.002-05:00

i'm stealing this from john newton but i just loved this from church this morning...as john newton (who wrote amazing grace) was aging, his memory began to fail him. during a sermon, he lost his way and admitted that he could not remember what he was going to say. he followed it up by saying that he did remember two things...

- I am a great sinner.
- I have a great Saviour.

Truly if there are only two things I know for sure, it is those.

polka dot apples

2009-11-04T17:32:00.003-05:00

i love fruit. i adore apples. i've been eating two apples a day this fall.

madeleine loves applesauce. she does not love apples.

she came home from school today having made her own "apple" book which was essentially a coloring book where the kids picked the correct color (red, yellow, green) to paint the apple on each page. at the end of the book, the apple is gone!

i had just seen a little blurb on fun apples in parents magazine and decided to give them a try. my hope being that madeleine would realize how very cool apples are.

happy halloween

2009-11-01T20:20:00.003-05:00

happy belated halloween to everyone.

our baby/toddler halloween party didn't happen last weekend due to the family coming down with influenza - not sure if it was plain old influenza or the oink oink kind, but it was bad.

madeleine thoroughly enjoyed her first time trick or treating last night and was the cutest little pumpkin we've ever seen. our stamina (mine and madeleine's) only lasted for four houses so it was a fairly quick candy run. we enjoyed the rest of the evening handing out candy to people who came to our house.

debbie cats

2009-10-23T19:45:00.004-04:00

my sweet mom bought me a GREAT book for entertaining at Halloween. we decided awhile back to throw a toddlers and babies halloween party. i'm not into the scary stuff but i do love the costumes.

anyway, the party has (as is usual for me) gotten a little out of control with planning but we're excited. i decided to experiment on the cat cakes. they're cute but i hope they turn out better tomorrow night. i forgot the nose on the first one and should have gone with a brown nose for the second one.

madeleine was impressed, though. i have to say that one of the coolest things about being a mom is that madeleine really thinks i'm something. in her eyes i'm creative, know everything there is to know, make great crafts, and cook well. moms need those ego boosts.

will post more pics after the party.

getting more than you hoped for...

2009-10-22T18:32:00.003-04:00

there is a verse i love that says God will give us exceedingly, abundantly all that we've hoped or imagined. i have personally experienced that verse this week.

for several years, we've talked about how much we would like to move closer to family and live somewhere the cost of living isn't outrageous. specifically, we'd like to move to arkansas.

we've looked for jobs, to no avail. until now.

on somewhat of a lark, i applied for an internal corporate position with my current company (i'm in consulting) on october 5. received an interview request that friday. interviewed the following monday. received the job offer that friday. wrote back and said they'd need to approve an exception for me to live in a non-office location (my company does not have offices in arkansas).

the following monday night (two weeks from the day i applied for the job) i received approval for my exception case.

wow.

i mean, really...i get to work for the same company i work for now. keep my benefits (with a reduction in pay but let's not get greedy here) including maternity leave. work virtually 100% of the time (yes, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the time). move closer to family whenever we're ready to do so and do it at our leisure since it doesn't really matter where i live. and...do work i find interesting and rewarding.

i really did not anticipate it would work out. who would want to hire a five month pregnant woman who insists on living in a non-sanctioned location. who indeed.

i've always known God is faithful and i've seen it all throughout my life. times like these are reminders that not only is He faithful but He really does delight in giving His children things they want and love, not just what they need.

nursery pics - part deux

2009-10-18T19:13:00.003-04:00

rebirth of the nursery

2009-10-13T14:15:00.005-04:00

we have decided that the two kiddos will be sharing the nursery. we have two bedrooms upstairs and i'm not comfortable having one child downstairs and one upstairs when they're so young.

it's a bit more challenging to decorate a boy-girl nursery than a girl-girl or boy-boy nursery but we've risen to the occasion and are very excited about the new nursery. i painted on Sunday (madeleine was sick so we didn't go to church) only to find that pale yellow is no match for pale lavendar. i have three days off from my project this week so i was able to repaint yesterday. the yellow appears to have finally licked the purple so we now have a lovely moonlight yellow nursery.

as fortune would have it (or misfortune as the case may be) several of the items are on backorder (of course) so it will still be a bit before we have the complete rebirth captured in pictures.

here is a sneak preview of m's side of the room. i am IN LOVE with this tree and the furry friends just waiting to find their place on the wall.

it's a...

2009-10-10T17:18:00.001-04:00

BOY!!!

baby boy blue at 20 weeks and 2 days.

any guesses?

2009-10-07T21:02:00.001-04:00

i'll be 20 weeks tomorrow and am scheduled for my sonogram on friday morning. any guesses whether we're having a boy or girl?

simple meals

2009-10-03T20:36:00.004-04:00

as i've mentioned off an on for awhile now, i'm really looking for ways to simplify our life. how thrilled was i to be introduced to http://simplemom.net! it's great! she has categories to archive posts - you have to scroll down a bit on the right side - and ironically, the categories encapsulate all the things and reasons i'd like to simply - money, organization, relationships, being green, etc.

one of my first steps to simplify has been to be vigilant about actually planning our weekly meals (novel concept, eh) and then actually cooking what i planned (getting crazy around here). the planning has also focused on using items that can be used across multiple meals. for example, rotisserie chicken is so much faster than cooking the chicken (plus i really dislike cooking meat) and can be used in multiple meals for about the same cost as buying the chicken and cooking it yourself.

thought i'd try to share easy, inexpensive, tasty meals for awhile. please share yours, too! i'll be better about posting pictures to go along with them.

mini tostadas

anyway, last night i made mini tostadas and they were FANTASTIC! i used a biscuit cutter to make rounds out of flour tortilas. put refried beans, chopped scallions, and grated cheese on top - bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 400 for 12ish minutes. delicious! you could also add ground beef if you're not into vegetarian meals. madeleine loved her "little pizzas".

strata

tonight i made a ham and broccoli strata. so easy and soooo good.

grease a 9x13 casserole dish. layer as follows (starting on bottom):
16 oz of southern style frozen hashbrowns (the diced potatoes)
16 oz bag frozen petite broccoli florets
4 chopped scallions
1/2 c diced roasted red peppers (it may be tempting to leave out but they really add flavor)
1/2 lb diced ham (i had the deli cut a chunk which i then diced)
salt and pepper to taste

whisk 10 eggs with 3 cups milk and 3 T yellow mustard. pour evenly over the top and bake for 60 minutes at 350. i served it with fresh sliced apples to make a complete meal.

o' how sweet the sound

2009-09-30T20:52:00.004-04:00

every night at dinner, we all hold hands and say our prayer. it's typically a very simple prayer as i want madeleine to understand what we're saying.

tonight as i started the prayer, i realized madeleine was repeating everything i said. narrative below (m's portion in italics).

dear God,

thank you for madeleine, daddy (thank you mommy), sophie and sammy (thank you hophie and hammy), and little tadpole (thank you tadpoh).

please watch over and protect those we love. (watch pwotect we luf)

thank you for our food (thank you food).

in Jesus' name (in Jewus name),
amen (amen)

is that precious or what? my little heart just about burst! it's times like these that remind me that being a mom is a most amazing gift.

belly shots

2009-09-26T20:19:00.003-04:00

i've definitely expanded earlier this time around. i wish i'd taken pictures more often when i was pregnant with madeleine so here goes.

best banana muffin ever

2009-09-25T17:11:00.002-04:00

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Crumb-Muffins/Detail.aspx?prop31=3

more pics

2009-09-25T16:31:00.003-04:00

eating a pear on the sidewalk at school

seriously, how much do i love her???

best picks of the crop

she loves playing in the waterhose sprinkler

my FAVORITE! look at that precious smile.

miscellaneous pictures...

2009-09-25T14:21:00.002-04:00

craft time at preschool

cool shades

in her hot ride at clemyjontri

chugging water - we only giver her skim milk or water so she thankfully loves the stuff.

on the carousel. she had a flu shot that friday and wouldn't let me take off her band-aid.

shadow retrospective

2009-09-25T14:14:00.004-04:00

brett took these at the park weekend before last. is it just me or does the shadow of madeleine's head in the last one look just like dora the explorer?

walk like an egyptian...

channeling dora...

an open letter

2009-09-22T15:35:00.003-04:00

dear gestational diabetes,

you were an unwelcome visitor two years ago and yet you decided to come 'round again. you're still unwelcome, still a thorn in my flesh (or lancet in my finger as the case may be), and still create scheduling issues with the frequent doctor's visits.

that said, you keep my weight down, require that i make healthier choices, and thankfully say buh-bye in mid to late february. i look forward to bidding you adieu once again and hope you stay away for good.

signed,
your annoyed host

p.s. - before you came back to town, i ate A LOT of sweets and LOTS of carbs. so there. i fully intend to cheat on you once again when you leave town.

enough

2009-09-19T19:50:00.004-04:00

i remember feeling like i was on my way when i received my job offer from my company. i remember feeling like i was big time when i was promoted to manager. i remember my giddiness when i broke a salary threshold i'd long wanted to exceed.

and then it hit me recently that enough is never really enough, is it? our lifestyles have an uncanny way of expanding to match (exceed for some?) our earnings. i used to wonder if i'd ever be able to buy whatever i wanted in the grocery store and now i wonder when i'll get new stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.

am curious. any of you feeling like maybe there's something to a simpler life?

amazima ministries

2009-09-16T21:43:00.002-04:00

as many of you know, i'm an avid blog surfer. i love that you can reconnect with someone you haven't seen in forever, randomly pick a blog from their blogs they follow list, become enamored with that blog only to find another blog.

i won't share the entire story but tonight i was blessed to come upon the blog of katie davis (http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com).

wow.

i've been reading and crying off and on for the past two hours. please take some time to read about her ministry to orphans and to the needy in uganda. not only are the stories of these children incredibly powerful but the lessons she shares are frankly, life changing.

so...grab a box of tissues and read about her amazing life.

black is the new faux pas

2009-09-13T20:45:00.004-04:00

last weekend was a fairly eventful weekend. saturday i broke a front tooth (eating wheat chex - no exciting story there). sunday was just lovely so i decided to take the dogs along the trails in the park. it was 7 in the morning, brisk, a little breezy - perfect walking weather. we took off, had a great hike through the woods, were headed back home when we ran into a neighbor. i stopped to chat with him for a bit. all of a sudden i felt very unwell. i couldn't tell if i was going to throw up (yuck) or pass out so i squatted on my knees trying to figure out whether to turn or sit. when i blacked out.

oy vey.

the most embarrassing part wasn't the blacking out, believe it or not. it was that i blacked out again and my neighbor had to carry me up the hill. four months pregnant.

anyway, ended up at the er to make sure everything was okay (meaning, not just blood sugar related). if there's an upside to passing out on my neighbor, it's that tadpole had his/her first vanity shots! some people don't like sonogram pictures. if you don't, go ahead and surf elsewhere.

no, the technician did not tell me if we're expecting a boy or a girl. she was already being so nice, i didn't want to be pushy. (i know, i know - shocking)

changes are in the air...

2009-09-13T13:46:00.002-04:00

not only are the glorious smells of fall in the air but other changes as well...tadpole (our in utero name for baby two) will be here in four to five months, i'm likely going back to my old project next month, and our days as a family of three (excluding our furry children, sophie and sammy) are winding down.

though our website address will stay the same, the blog will be more inclusive of family happenings beyond the divine miss m. i'd always hoped to use the site to write more but it's largely been a picture posting exercise. hope to change that in the future.

fruits of our labor

2009-08-29T15:59:00.004-04:00

i feel like i am forever attempting to simplify life and get back to the stuff that really matters. and yet, i feel like i'm never quite getting it right. too much stuff, too much focus on work, not enough savings, blah, blah, blah.

one thing that always makes me smile and makes me remember why a simple life really is the best one is a garden. brett won't let me plant an actual garden here because we'd have to tear up some of the grass. so...this year i did some patio plants and planted a tiny watermelon plant in amongst one of my flower beds. the patio tomatoes and peppers came and went (not a big success, i won't lie) and the watermelon plant appeared to be a dud. and then, it took over. once it decided to run, run it did. we had runners that were at least 8 feet long in all directions. but no watermelons.

until last month. suddenly the cutest, tiniest little watermelon you've ever seen just appeared. we've had to keep madeleine away since she picks anything she likes. today was harvesting day. tonight we'll have it for dessert.

life is good.

message from bebemadeleine

2009-08-29T11:29:00.002-04:00

when life hands you lemons...

2009-08-23T08:34:00.001-04:00

it's my birthday and i'll eat icing if i want to, icing if i want to, icing if i want to...

2009-08-23T08:17:00.006-04:00

clearly the icing is the best part of the cake

maybe i ate too much...

princess outfit from miss ann and mr chris - our awesome next door neighbors.

i'm waiting on a jet plane...

2009-08-23T08:02:00.005-04:00

a few weekends ago brett had the wonderful idea of taking madeleine to gravelly park. for those not familiar with the dc area, gravelly park is a lovely grassy area along the potomac river and situated next to reagan national airport. it would be a pretty park regardless of the airport but watching the airplanes is icing on the cake.

madeleine LOVES airplanes. we take a blanket, lay on our backs and watch these humongous metal cannisters zoom over head (frightening low given the proximity to the airport) then immediately turn and watch them land. it may sound boring but it's actually very cool. promise.

all good evenings must come to an end.

my what a short crazy summer it's been...

2009-08-23T07:53:00.006-04:00

sorry for the month delay in posting. we were gone the first few weeks of july and then work happened. you get the drift.

barefoot kind of summer...

m's first soccer game - real madrid versus dc united. according to brett this was a big deal.

europe pictures - food!

2009-07-19T21:21:00.001-04:00

europe pictures - part 2

2009-07-19T21:13:00.002-04:00

pictures from europe

2009-07-19T20:24:00.004-04:00

pretend it hasn't been a month...

2009-07-17T14:39:00.004-04:00

so i ask for comments and then i disappear. what can i say? i was overwhelmed by all of the kind messages.

okay, really, i've been overwhelmed by life. where to begin...

we had a very nice father's day which was unfortunately only documented by these two pictures. (the camera batteries were dead before church and madeleine was asleep after church and then we were just too busy). the adorable men's shirt card was made by madeleine and miss arminda. inside was a super cute picture of madeleine.

the time between father's day and our vacation(s) just sort of went "poof!"

we had a WONDERFUL time in arkansas with my parents. madeleine loves her Ampa and Andma - the "gr" is either superfluous or too difficult to pronounce.

my hometown made me proud with a truly wonderful and impressive fireworks display. (strange that it was on the 3rd instead of the 4th, though...) it was madeleine's first firework show and she was, as usual, not scared at all. we explained that they were firecrackers (probably should have called them fireworks) and she shouted "crackers! crackers!" throughout the show and well after the show was over.

dad and i went to a local fireworks stand and bought quite a bit on the 4th due to the 50% off sale. i had forgotten how great the fireworks are in the south. in virginia, we are really scraping the bottom of the barrel with the available fireworks. you spend a fortune and they're basically little fountains that go a few feet in the air.

in arkansas, however, for $25 we got a box of timed, 42 shot fireworks that are guaranteed to go at least 200 feet in the air. i am not exaggerating when i say that our personal firework show was pretty much what the town firework show was when i was growing up except the town show was about 10 minutes longer. brett and i are addicted.

here are a few pics from our trip to arkansas.

madeleine's birthday gift from grandma and grandpa - radio flyer tricycle. m's favorite part? the trunk! she's such a little packrat.