Big long very bad day

Well it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Nobody was hurt. Nobody was hospitalized.


We had a full day at the hospital. Every 3 months all the specialists want to see both kids. I also need new scripts every 3 months for everything from Speech Therapy to formula.


To make things more interesting my son began throwing up on the way to the hospital. It's like 50 miles or so one way. Far for us. We rarely leave the county otherwise. Thankfully we stopped in a tiny town. It was like on TV - Bank, Post Office, Gas Station and inside the Gas Station Attendant was shooting the breeze with the town policeman and the oldman...it was awesome. Said lady working at the gas station was kind enough to let us have like 300 paper towels and bags for both his clothes and to cover the car seat. She even found a box we lined with a bag to serve as 'barf bucket'.

Note to self: Remember to also pack UNDERWEAR for extra clothes. Thankfully my son who tells everyone everything didn't tell everyone we saw today that he was going Commando. I was thanking God for that - after several hours and doctors all running at least 30 minutes behind a piece I would have dropped to my knees and balled like a baby.

Not over the underwear. Over how stressful things can be. I love my babies so much. I'd give a kidney to make them better. Anything. Most of the time I am on top of things other times I want to have a good cry because it's not fair.

DD barfed from being so upset because we totally were an HOUR late for nap time thanks to late doctors. She freaked. Thankfully everything is better now. Naps have been taking, car seat cover has been washed. Momma has chocolate.

My house is trashed. My speech therapist will be here in 13 hours and it will probably still be bad when she gets here. I did however put together chicken noodle soup and put it in the crock pot - so we'll have good food - full of veggies and chicken and homemade stock.

I'd rather that than fast junk and a clean house although I'd like to be June Cleaver and do it all in pearls with perfect hair. One day I will be more awesome. Today I know my babies are loved. I know I advocated for their health and well being to the best of my ability. I know they feel happy and secure.

I also know when my son is too old to call chicken noodle soup chicken little soup anymore I will be sad. That's the stuff life is made for. <3 Love.

Crock Pot Salisbury Steak

So I decided to make Salisbury steak. I totally forgot to take pictures! My husband has bought frozen tenderized steaks that I had to make something with. I cooked an onion & can of mushrooms in a pan until the onions turned clear and dumped them over 2 big steaks[they were frozen but thin enough I didn't worry about it] in the crock pot set on high. Then I heated 2.5 cups of beef broth [from a box - low sodium] in the pan whisking in enough powder of brown gravy mix. Once it began to thicken I dumped it over the steaks and popped the lid on the crock Cooked on high for an hour and then dropped to low for the last 90 minutes. Made mashed potatoes and called it dinner. I am sure we could have had another veggie but the gravy was SO amazingly awesome DH and I both has seconds of potatoes just to eat the gravy. The left over steak and gravy went to work with DH with bread for his lunch. He said it was amazing even re-heated.

It was not salty even with using the mix and the broth but you'll have to judge how your family likes their food.

My wonderful husband recently found Orrington Farms Brown Gravy Mix. It's soy free! We haven't had gravy mix in a few years since we noticed one by one the mixes we used to buy started becoming 'soy contaminated' as we say in our house. Not that I don't mind making my own gravy but sometimes you know you want that 'brown gravy' taste [think poutine - it's just not the same with something else] and I cannot seem to replicate it completely from scratch. Google them and check out their products. I know I'll be seeing what else they have to offer and will be buying this gravy mix again.


If you don't know what Poutine is or you've never had it. Try it! If you can't get cheese curd - grated mozzarella works well even if some fans might turn up their nose. Fries, cheese and gravy! Nom!!

added level of difficulty

My husband likes to play Halo. You can turn on 'skulls' which make the game harder. Sometimes he thinks it's fun to turn on all the skulls. While some of them are for fun most of them make the game even harder and you die quicker. Apparently dying a bunch of times within seconds of re-spawning [your character coming back after it dies] is a great way to spend an hour. Funny enough before my son got mobile I used to like Halo too. Now I don't have time or something. I am also too tired after the kids go to bed anyway and no more violent video games during the day.

Well we turned on all the skulls for our lives. First my husband begins having asthma trouble, then my son starts up. I am not happy but we'll deal - fall and asthma means breathing treatments and steroids. Then I broke my toe. So I am not supposed to be on my feet much for the next ten days. Then last night DD had a hard time sleeping last night and is also needing breathing treatments! My husband will also be working a crazy schedule next week.

I am also having to get creative with food. I cooked spaghetti sauce in the crock pot for the first time. Added the cooked meat and veggies with a jar of sauce and some water. It started to burn around the edges after 2 hours on high. Turned it to low. Another 2 hours. It finished the last 4 hours on 'keep warm' because even on low it was bubbling away.

Halloween

I think overall we have a fun Halloween. My tip my hat to my husband. After being up for like 26 hours [he didn't take a nap to spend more time with the kids Saturday knowing he worked overnight] he came home from work Sunday morning. Slept for only 4 hours got up because he wanted us to go to Trick or Treat through History out at the museum. It was a lot of fun. My son had trouble understanding he couldn't sit on the 200 year old sofa and was shocked to learn little boys wore dresses in the 1850s as babies and toddlers. Each room had a period appropriate Halloween thing for the kids and Mom and Dad got to look around at the cool exhibits. Being in Illinois we got to meet Abe Lincoln of course. My daughter was scared of him - being just turned two she still didn't really get it but she loved walking around and was willing to drag us along to go quicker.
We came home to a beautifully roasted chicken I'd put in the crock pot six hours before. It was perfect. $4 for a 5lb whole chicken - we'll get another meal or 2 out of it. I can't decide because hot chicken sandwiches or chicken salad or soup. I saved the broth I didn't use for gravy...it was amazing!! I put some have looked better carrots on the bottom to act like a roasting wrack so the chicken didn't stick to the bottom of the crock and burn. Roasting in chicken juice sure did give those carrots a second life.
Monday my son went to school in the morning. I went to see the end of the day. He had fun. After lunch we got ready. Another truck or treat, a trip to the park and then this HUGE trunk or Treat to end the night. It got cold on the end. The kids didn't like their costumes so I dressed them up as Farmers with overalls, plaid shirts and my son carried a bucket instead of a pumpkin. They had music and games. Not many people where we went even the other side of town had their lights on. Good thing we planned to go to other events instead of door-to-door.
Then Daddy got to come home and help with bedtime and go to work. Daddy sure was tired when he got home. He rocked it out though. Awesome Dad.

Dear Halloween Candy companies,

Why write "this is not packaged for individual sale" when you know people will be giving them away. Food allergies can be deadly. We have to avoid so much, don't ruin a fun day with unlabeled candy. Put your ingredient list and warnings on EVERY product you sell. It's good for everyone. Parents of children with food allergies will support you, as in buy your products and recommend your products to fellow parents of allergy kids.

Dear some stupid parents,

Painting your kid to really look dead is creepy. It's not fun. Maybe I am a stick in the mud but I have no desire to know what my baby looks like dead. Letting your 10 year old dress up like a "zombie hooker" makes parents like me want to SMACK you. Protect your child's innocence as long as you can. It's short lived as it is.

Winter Squash

One great and easy thing to feed babies & toddlers is squash. I prefer to cook butternut squash, acorn squash and pumpkin in the crock pot. split, seed and chop into small enough pieces to into into your crock pot flesh side down. Add about half an inch of water, cover and set on high. In 3.5 hours you'll have cooked squash. Cool and scoop out of the skins. Blended with some of the cooking water it makes great puree or with a fork or potato masher to have more texture for an older baby\toddlers. I prefer mine mashed with butter and brown sugar but real maple syrup is awesome and pumpkin is great for bread and pie of course.


I did however notice in the summer the acorn squash I made for my daughter was bitter. So I came up with an idea as I didn't want the squash to go to waste.

Flesh of one acorn squash, pureed about 4 cups
2 cups of unsweetened apple sauce
dash of cinnamon
1 tablespoon white sugar

I mixed it all in the blended it all in my regular blender. I would guess other sweeteners would work too or not using one at all.

My daughter loves acorn squash apple sauce - I'm so glad I did it.

Another great way to use it is in bread [banana squash bread] or muffins. My son hopefully will never know his chocolate chip muffins for school have a serving of veggies in them.

Apple-Pear-Squash & Blueberry bread

8oz of pear-squash puree
1.5 cups of apple sauce
1\4 cup oil
1\2 cup brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
dash of cinnamon
1\4 teaspoon salt
2\3 cup fresh whole blueberries

Mix dry. Mix wet. Combine. Fold berries in at the end. I washed them and patted them dry.

As for baking I would expect it would bake in an oven like a typical banana bread. I however have never baked this in my oven. I bake it in the crock pot.

Pour battered into a greased dish smaller than the vessel of the crock pot. Turn a heat safe bowl over inside the crock pot.I just use a small cereal bowl. Make sure it's not too high as the lid of the crock pot has to fit on top with the bread in the dish inside. Add half an inch of water. Place dish inside the crock pot on the over turned bowl. Put lid on crock pot. Cook on high. It won't look like it's doing anything but you will see about an hour inside the batter swell and 2.5 hours in or so you will begin to smell cooking bread. 3.5-4 hours later your bread will be done. Use a knife when it comes out clean it's done.

Warm with butter it was even an awesome Momma breakfast.