Sunday

Here's a couple of pictures of us this morning before we went to mass.

Wonderful fall weekend

Rebecca's new favorite toy is Paddington. She loves to look at him, touch him, pet him, watch him, shriek at him, and chase him. He is incredibly tolerant of and patient with her, thank goodness.

We got rain! The first rain in a year basically! It made for a nice Saturday morning to sleep in, and then I was fortunate enough to be able to go enjoy a pedicure by myself while Ramy took care of Rebecca.

This evening, I was welcoming fall and decided to make myself some pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie always reminds me of my dad, because he and I always loved Thanksgiving for the pumpkin pie, and it was a matter of great pride in getting the proportion of spices just right. It's nice to have those memories of my dad that don't make me sad. I'm sure he gets all the most perfectly-made pumpkin pies there are now, and he can even enjoy eating the batter and not having to worry about raw eggs.

This is my recipe for Pumpkin Streusel Pie (my dad actually didn't like the streusel, because it has pecans. He was a pumpkin purist! I made his pumpkin pie the same way, just without the streusel topping).

Pumpkin Streusel Pie

For pie:
2 eggs
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9-inch, deep dish pie crust

For streusel topping:
2 Tbsp. butter, room temp
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare pie crust in pan.

Whisk eggs until well beaten. Add pumpkin and whisk to combine. Add in sugar and spices and whisk until fully incorporated. Gradually add in evaporated milk, whisking until fully incorporated. Pour into unbaked piecrust. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 40 minutes, or until pie is just set in middle.

Combined streusel topping ingredients with a fork. Sprinkle mixture over top of pie and return to oven. Bake for an additional 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until knife inserted in center comes out clean (except for streusel topping). Cool on wire rack. Serve immediately, topped with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Refrigerate.

A Busy Week

First of all, we're so happy that Baby Jack arrived safely on Monday afternoon and that he and Molly are doing wonderfully well.

Rebecca had a good week this week. She tried zucchini, yellow squash, and nectarines this week. She loves squash in any incarnation apparently. Blueberries and apricots are next up.

I've finally gotten my fall schedule completely nailed down. Things are going well with all my different clinical sites. As it turns out, I'm not going to be applying for internship this fall. Disappointing but for the best. I'm probably switching advisors and dissertation projects. I just don't want to be working with cancer patients. I'm tired of hospitals. I'll take the opportunity to get some neuropsych training next year and make myself more marketable for internship and beyond.

We're enjoying the cool fallish weather!!

Another recipe

I made some delicious pumpkin bread this afternoon. Here's the recipe.

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp. flour

Pumpkin Bread:
1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts), toasted
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup water or milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and lightly flour two 9x5x3 loaf pans. Set aside.

Cream Cheese Filling: In a food processor, process the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and process until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing until well incorporated. Stir in the flour. Set aside.

Pumpkin Bread: In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly beaten. Add the sugar nad melted butter and whisk until blended. Whisk or stir in the pumpkin, water, vanilla extract, and nuts.

Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir just until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix, as it will make dough tough.

Divide the batter in half and divide it evenly between the two prepared pans. Divide the cream cheese filling in half and place each half of filling on top of the two pans of batter, smoothing the tops. Top with the remaining half of batter. Bake the breads for about 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Place pans on a wire rack and let cool for about 10 minutes before removing breads from pans. Can serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. Store leftovers in the refrigerator or freeze for later use.

Sunday

Here's a picture of Rebecca as she most likes to be - naked. What a change from her newborn days when she screamed when you took her clothes off and we made up the "I'm a Naked Baby" song.

I'm so thankful for Vicodin. It has allowed me to spend much of the weekend blissfully unaware of my tooth pain. I'll be glad when tomorrow is over and hopefully my tooth will be fixed.

Some comfort food recipes

To comfort me in my time of need, I made these today. Delicious!

Chicken Corn Stew

4 large chicken breasts (bone in)
1 quart chicken stock
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 medium sized red onion, diced
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 can petite diced tomatoes with diced green chilis
1 can (approx 15 oz) whole kernel yellow corn
1 can (approx 15 oz) cream style corn
1 cup heavy cream
Hot sauce (to taste, optional)
Garnish: shredded monterey jack cheese, fresh parsley
Place chicken breasts in slow cooker, along with chicken stock, bouillion, onion, cumin, chili powder, white wine, pepper, bay leaves, and garlic. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Skim fat from top of crock. Remove chicken from crock and shred. Discard bones and skin.

Return chicken to crock and add tomatoes with chilis, yellow corn, cream style corn, heavy cream, and hot sauce (if desired). Keep crock on low heat and cook for an hour (or more) or turn to high until stew is heated through. Garnish with shredded monterey jack cheese and fresh parsley, if desired.



Baked Macaroni and Cheese
1 (8oz) pkg large elbow macaroni, cooked
16 saltine crackers, finely crushed
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. seasoned pepper
1 10oz. block sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 10oz block extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups milk

Layer one third each of macaroni, crackers, salt, pepper, and cheese into a buttered 13x9 inch baking dish. Repeat layers twice.

Whisk together eggs and milk; pour over pasta mixture.

Bake at 250° for 50 minutes or until golden and set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Pain!

I am in misery with tooth pain. I think I have an abcessed tooth. Of course it is the weekend. Called Dr. Setiady and will see him at 8:30 am Monday. In meantime, he is calling in amoxicillan and vicodin. Plus I am to take 600 nmg of ibuprofen with one extra strength tylenol. He warns it will get worse before it gets better. Glorious.

Yay for Friday!

We love Fridays, especially the Fridays when Ramy is off (every other week). It's nice to be able to have three whole days together to just hang out. Of course Ramy can cram more stuff into his day off than I can into a whole week off. It's only 7:39 a.m. and he's already been up and gone to take his dad for bloodwork.

I have to go in for a couple of hours for some more training in Redlands. I think Ramy and Rebecca are going to get the cars washed and who knows what else while I am gone.

We are anxiously awaiting news that my friend Molly's Baby Jack is on his way. He'll be gracing Molly with his presence within the next few days, so we're excited to hear about his safe delivery. We're also hoping my friend Julie is going to get good news about a baby this week too. She and her husband have been trying to have a baby for some time, and Julie goes to the same group of doctors who helped us have Rebecca. AND my friend Raquel who lost preemie triplets last fall is now 10 weeks pregnant with another baby, so everyone is hoping that this pregnancy will go fine for her. Lots of prayers for so many babies this week!

No word on whether or not I'm going to get to apply for internship. I hope they let me know something soon, so I can know exactly how crazy busy the next few weeks/months are going to be for me!

Love to all!

Another week

It's the start of another week. It will be a busy one for us. I have to be away from Rebecca four days this week - that's the most ever. :-( But at least she'll be with Ramy on Friday while I'm at training.



I'm so happy that summer is coming to an end! It was so nice and cool here this weekend, we didn't even turn on the a/c. I can't wait for fall! I'm looking forward to yummy stews and chowders that just don't seem right to make in the summertime, as well as some homemade bread. Last night, I made lasagna and bruscetta for dinner. Ramy looks forward to wearing his sweats and watching football. Rebecca also has some sweats as well as a UCLA outfit, so she's ready to watch with him.

Rebecca tried green beans this weekend for the first time, and they were a big hit. Here's a pic of her chowing down on some banana in the mesh feeder.

Here is Rebecca wearing a cute buggy outfit that her Grammy made her. Speaking of which, Rebecca's Grammy won Best of Show in the Lincoln County Fair for the baptismal gown she made for Rebecca. We are so proud!

Great news!

Dr. Jeng called yesterday with the news that all of Rebecca's tests - the metabolic panel, the organic acids, and the amino acids - came back completely within normal limits. I asked about the possibility of the intermittent form of maple syrup urine disease, and he said that was what they had been most concerned about. But if she had even the intermittent form, something in either the organic acids or amino acids would have been out of whack. I told him about the Soothie and our suspicions and he agreed that it was likely the culprit. What a relief to know that she is completely healthy.

Also, she has learned to pull up. She will pull up on anything. Me, Ramy, the side of the co-sleeper, the wall, you name it. When I take a shower in the morning, I usually put on one of her Baby Einstein DVDs for her to watch (and be distracted by, so she won't notice I'm not right there with her) and corral her in the co-sleeper by our bed. I came out of the shower this morning, and she was standing by the bed, trying to climb onto the bed to get the remote control.

We are in the process of babyproofing the house. We have the plastic outlet covers in all the plugs now, and we are getting the covers for the power strips today. We went shopping for gates for the stairs last night but then discovered that they won't work if you have an iron railing/banister. So then we learned you have to get an adaptor kit for that. But those will be up soon, and then we'll also be getting the screen that covers the railings too.

This week, she has added mango and plums to her food repertoire. Today, she will be having green beans for the first time. Butternut squash remains her favorite, and peas are her least favorite. She learned to recognize the peas by their bright green color. If she sees a spoonful of it coming, she barely opens her mouth. If it is another food, she looks at it and opens her mouth wide. Crazy baby.

I turned in a 25 page outline of my major area paper to my advisor yesterday. The committee meets this next week to decide who they'll certify to apply for internship. So we'll see if they'll let me apply. If so, then I'll be working my butt off for the next couple of months to get ready. If they don't, then I'm switching research advisors and changing dissertation topics to something easier.

My mom bought tickets to come see us at the end of September/first of October. So we're looking forward to that. It cooled off a bit here the last couple of days, which is very nice. I'm going to be buying our tickets home for Christmas this weekend probably. It looks like Rebecca and I will be in Tennessee sometime around the 15th. Ramy will come in on the 21st. Then we'll all go back sometime around Jan. 4.

That's all our news for this sunshiney Saturday!

Love to all!

Hooray for playing in the pond!

Rebecca has fallen in love with her Baby Huggums doll. These are pictures of her playing with it. She likes to explore the doll's face with her fingers and then she kisses the baby doll on the mouth. So sweet! Rebecca loves her exersaucer so much. It is a godsend. But it has some of the strangest sayings. One of the things you press says, "Hooray for playing in the pond!" Oddly, it is catchy, so now Ramy and I say "Hooray for playing in the pond!" at random times to one another. It can take on so many meanings.

Yesterday was the start of our new fall schedule. I got up early and got ready and got Rebecca fed and we were at daycare by 8 a.m., and then I made the trek to Chaffey College, discovering that there is no good way to get there. Another joy of the L.A. area traffic. So I've got to test out alternate routes to see which is the best of the worst. I got stuck in traffic on the way home, so Ramy picked up Rebecca. Then I dashed in just long enough to feed her and then had to leave again to go to a meeting in Loma Linda. By the time I got home last night, Rebecca really wanted some mommy time. She loves daddy, but even he is no consolation prize for mommy.

Fortunately, we don't have to go anywhere today. Tomorrow and Friday, Rebecca will go to daycare for just about 3 hours each day. So that's good. I got some work done on my comp paper last night and am hoping to get more done today while Rebecca (hopefully) naps.

Still no word back on her remaining bloodwork and urine tests. Today will have been a week since they drew the blood, so I'm thinking they'll at least have that back today, even if the urine tests aren't back. I am pretty sure it was the vanilla Soothie pacifier that caused all this worry, but I'll still be relieved when we get the tests back for sure.

Hooray for playing in the pond!

Happy Labor Day!

We've had a very nice, relaxing long weekend at home. Friday was Ramy's 9/80 day, but I had to go to Loma Linda to do a testing case. So Rebecca and Ramy hung out most of the day. Friday night, we went to On the Border to eat Mexican and rented a couple of movies. We fell asleep watching one, in fact.

Saturday morning, Ramy had to take his mom to Urgent Care. As it turns out, she has gout and was in a lot of pain from that. Rebecca and I cleaned up around the house. I introduced Rebecca to mango at lunch, and although she initially made a funny face, she decided that she liked it. Rebecca took a two hour nap in the morning and a three hour nap in the evening! Saturday evening, we went to an outdoor place where they have a lot of restaurants, but it was so hot out that we ended up eating inside.

Sunday morning, we went to 11 a.m. mass and then Ramy took his mom to do her shopping, while I made a few batches of food for Rebecca. In the afternoon, we went to Brea mall. It was sooooo hot. We exchanged some shirts I had gotten Ramy for his birthday and I got a couple of pairs of pants for my mom to applique or embroider for Rebecca. In the evening, we watched The Sound of Music on television and all hung out in bed together.

Today, we hung out at home and basically just relaxed. I got my eyebrows waxed. Ramy cleaned the floors, and I finished cleaning Rebecca's room. Then we all went to the pool. Rebecca loves to go swimming and enjoys splashing in the water. The swimming adventure wore Rebecca out, because she fell asleep as soon as we got her bathing suit off of her. She's asleep completely naked on the couch downstairs. I made a turtle cake today, and it was soooo good. Here's the recipe:

Turtle Cake

1 package German chocolate cake mix with pudding
3 cups chopped pecans, divided
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 (14 oz) pkg caramels (about 50 caramels)
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 cups milk chocolate morsels

Combine cake mix, 2 cups pecans, butter, and 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a large bowl; stir well. Reserve half of cake mix mixture for topping. Press remaining half of mixture into a greased and floured 13x9 inch pan.

Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Remove pan from oven, set aside.

Meanwhile, combine caramels and 1/2 cup evaporated milk in a small heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat until caramels melt, stirring often.

Sprinkle remaining 1 cup pecans and chocolate morsels evenly over cake. Drizzle caramel mixture over pecans and chocolate morsels. Crumble reserved cake mix mixture evenly over caramel mixture.

Bake at 350° for 20 more minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack.


As of Friday, still no word back from the rest of Rebecca's bloodwork. Actually, we think we may have found what caused it. In her bed, we discovered one of her beloved green Soothie pacifiers, but this one smelled like vanilla! Ramy washed it in lemon soap, and it still smelled like vanilla. As it turns out, Soothie makes a vanilla scented pacifier that looks just like the others. We think it may have gotten mixed in with a package of the regular Soothies. The thing definitely has a strong vanilla smell and it scented her bed. We noticed the scent on her mostly at night, and it makes sense that she may have had that pacifier those nights we smelled it. So we're praying that all of this worry has been because of a vanilla scented Soothie. But I'll definitely feel a lot better when we get her bloodwork back, just to be on the safe side.

This week, I start my work at Chaffey College and I also have orientation on Friday at the University of Redlands. This fall, I'll be at Chaffey on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Wednesdays, I'll be at Loma Linda, with supervision meetings and when classes there start, I'll probably be teaching a lab. So I'll probably be there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Then on Thursdays, I will be at Loma Linda and then at University of Redlands. I'll be at Loma Linda from 12:00 to 3:00 and then at Redlands from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. Ramy will be picking Rebecca up at daycare on Thursdays. I'm sad about being away from Rebecca more, but I'm also very thankful that I'm able to still be with her much more than I'm away from her.

This week, I'm hoping to get a detailed outline of my comp paper to my advisor. Then I want to have a full draft of my comp paper to him by the middle of September. I have to start setting big goals this way if I have any hope of applying for internship this year. Sadly, my motivation is just zilch.

Off to the grocery story!

Concern About Rebecca

Keep Rebecca in your prayers this week. Sunday night, Ramy and I started noticing that Rebecca's skin smelled like vanilla. Very odd. We noticed it Sunday night and then again Monday afternoon, night, and Tuesday morning. I emailed Dr. Swogger (Nashville pediatrician) and she was concerned and wanted her to come in right away. So I took Rebecca to a pediatrician at Loma Linda. He ran a panel of bloodwork to check for metabolic disorders, fatty acid disorders, and amino acid disorders. He also ordered a urine sample (great fun). Any time a baby smells like anything like that, they are concerned about a possible metabolic disorder. Most specifically, for her, they are concerned about something called Maple Syrup Urine Disease. Literally, in these babies, their urine smells like maple syrup, because they don't have the ability to break down certain amino acids in certain types of protein. It is an extremely rare genetic disease (1 in 200,000 in the US are born with it), but it is more common in Filipinos (1 in 100 Filipinos is a carrier for it - both parents have to be a carrier in order for the baby to have it). Usually, babies who have it start having problems and die within the first week of life if untreated. Now they do a routine screening for it and a gazillion other diseases when babies are about 24 hours old. Rebecca had that screening at birth and there was no indication of any problem. However, there is an intermittent form of the disease that can show up periodically and can be missed by the newborn screening. Treatment means avoiding all protein and special medication and supplementation of the specific amino acids they need. Untreated or with poor treatment, it can cause mental retardation, seizures, and death.

So we're worried. However, the fact that it really isn't her urine that smelled like vanilla is a good sign. And it really wasn't classic maple syrup scent - it was vanilla. Plus, the fact that her newborn screening showed no signs of problems is also good. Also, before we got her to the doctor on Tuesday, we stopped smelling the vanilla scent and we haven't smelled it again since. Rebecca also hasn't displayed any other symptoms that usually go along with MSUD. The doctor said there are all kinds of things that can make babies smell a certain way with no real explanation, but as long as there's no metabolic disorder, it isn't something to worry about. It will take up to a week to get the amino acid bloodwork back, so we're anxiously awaiting those results. I, of course, have completely panicked. Ramy, very much like my dad, refuses to worry unless and until we know there is something to worry about. Maddening.