New camera fun

Favorite Ingredient Friday

SAUERKRAUT AND PORK ROAST

Ingredients
1. 3 to 4 lb. pork roast or pork ribs (either)
2. 1 lg. onion (chopped)
3. 1 tsp. salt
4. 1/2 tsp. pepper
5. 2 pts. sauerkraut

Directions
-Place meat in roaster. Place sauerkraut smothered over, salt, pepper and onions over top. 2 quarts water over. Bake at 325 degrees for 3 hours.

My mother cooks this every year on New Years, we've always heard that it brings good luck for the New Year. And we always serve it with mashed potatoes.

*For more Favorite Ingredient Fridays, go to Overwhelmed With Joy!

First video

OK! Here's my first video upload! Sorry it's so dark. I didn't think about the lighting in the room when I was taking it. This was taken tonight right before Joey got his bath and he was getting sleepy and was being so darn cute!

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

New toy!

Well, my digital camera finally bit the dust. It still halfway works, but it keeps freezing up so I decided that with our Christmas money to get us a new camera. I've been wanting one that takes black & whites and also has audio with the videos so I can post videos of Joey, well I finally found the perfect one! Now I just need to figure out how to work the darn thing! So, coming soon... videos of Joey!!

Christmas 2006

Just a quick post on our Christmas. It was such a great day. Just a quick recap... we woke up and went over to Patrick's parents house, opened gifts, had breakfast, mom and I came back to our house to cook, took the food back to my in-laws, ate, then opened more gifts when Pat's Grandma, aunts, uncle & cousins came over.


"Merry Christmas Mommy & Daddy!"

"Is this for me?"

"Cuddles with Mommy!"

"Thank you Aunt Kerry!"

"Toys, toys & more toys!"


If you would like to see the rest of our Christmas 2006 pictures, go here.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! Patrick and I just got back from Christmas mass. We left Joey at home with my parents. He wasn't in the best of moods to take to church, hopefully next year he will be easier to take to church with us.

Tonight, my parents, Patrick and I will be exchanging our gifts, then in the morning we're going over to Patrick's parents house to exchange with everyone over there, then have dinner with everyone. Then later in the day Pat's grandma, aunts and cousins will come over. BUSY DAY! I'll be sure to post pictures in the next couple days.

This is my first Christmas away from Ohio. It's really helping having my parents here. But I've never been away from my brother on Christmas. It's weird. I didn't think it would bother me as much as it does. Growing up, Terry was more like a father to me at times. He's 16 years older than me and was always not only a brother, but a wonderful role model to me too. I'm really going to miss him the next couple of days. Merry Christmas Bubba, I miss you!

The Lord works in mysterious ways

The Lord definetly works in mysterous ways... I was so upset yesterday about our car breaking down, and not being able to afford heating oil along with our regular bills. Well, today Pat recieved a hoilday bonus. It's enough toget the car fixed and pay for part of a tank of heating oil. Which I just called and it's $2.39 a gallon! Ouch! Well, at least we're going to have some extra money to help us!

In other news, Joey had a visit today from his physical therapist and his speech therapist, both is which went excellent! Joey worked very hard with his PT is reaching while sitting, attempting to stand and trying to get to the crawling position. He still has a long way to go with the standing and crawling, but he's getting so good with his sitting and reaching! His SLP was very happy with his speech progress. She said he's making all the sounds any infant should be making. She also said his eating his going great!

My parents are on their way to Connecticut from Ohio right now. They're somewhere in Pennsylvania and I'm going crazy! It's not been that long since I've seen my mom but I haven't seen my dad since October! I can't wait to have both of our families together for Christmas!

Also, I finally got my copies of Gifts! I don't care that they have flaws on them, I just wanted a couple copies of them to share with my family! yay!

Favorite Ingredient Friday

Candied Nuts

-1 1/2 cups raw or roasted cashews, peanuts, whole almonds, and/ or pecans
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 tablespoons butter
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
1. Line baking sheet with foil. Butter the foil. Set baking sheet aside. In a 10 inch skillet combine nuts, sugar, butter and vanilla. Cook over medium-high, shaking skillet occasionally, until sugar beings to melt. Do not stir.

2. Reduce heat to low. Continue to cooking until sugar is golden brown, stirring occasionally. Remove skillet from heat. Pour nut mixture into the prepared cookie sheet. Cool completely. Break into clusters. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

*This was anther recipe I made last weekend to add into my cookie/ candy tins. Very easy and yummy!

*For more Favorite Ingredient Fridays, go to Overwhelmed With Joy!

figures

So, I spent the evening last night over at my in-laws house since Patrick had to work late, then he joined us after he got off for dinner. Afterwards, we packed up Joey in my car and Joey & I headed home. I thought Patrick was right behind us but then realized he wasn't and figured he probley forgot something had to turn around. WRONG! His car broke down! Keep in mind, he drives the better and newer of our two cars. I have a 1994 Saturn station wagon that I've been expecting to die any day now. He drives a 2002 Pontiac sunfire that has been driving like a top. Well, the top finally stopped spinning and fell over. So, now we have a lovely tow bill and whatever it's going to cost to fix the darn thing RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS! And I need to order heating oil and pay bills. Figures....

News video

This link was just emailed to me via the Connecticut Down Syndrome Congress's list serve and it's a news video out of Manhattan from WNBC about the NDSS and a family in NYC.

25%!!!!!!!!

I was doing my usual online search of various articles on Down syndrome when I came across this one today. It's not the full text but you'll get the point. It's from the OB GYN news and the statistic is awful! Only 25% of women with prenatal diagnosis say no to abortion! Only 25%! There are so many families out there who would LOVE to adopt, why abort?! I had heard before that around 80% of babies with trisomy 21 were aborted but I had never seen it in writing and to do so hurts. Gaaaaaaa!!!!!!

Since I'm on a rant about abortion, I just found another article and the only thing I have to say is, you go girl! "Pro-Life Nurse's Refusal to Do Abortions Changes Chicago Hospital Policy" by Steven Ertelt. A nurse in Chicago refused to assist in the abortion of a 22 week old fetus with trisomy 21 and her decision helped other medical workers at the hospital who didn't know that they had a choice to participate or not.

Wordless Wednesday

For more WW, go visit the Wordless Wednesday headquarters!

What a difference!

It's amazing the difference in Joey since his surgery last Friday. I always thought he was an alert little guy before, but now he's completely different. I didn't realize how much he couldn't hear. He never used to jump when there was a loud noise or wouldn't always turn his head when we called his name. Now he does! He's actually gotten so startled that after he jumped, he started crying! I just can't get over the difference!!!

Baking madness!

What a weekend! I spent literally most of it baking cookies and candy to give out. The list of people I want to give goodies out to almost doubled since last year so yeah, I was a baking maniac!

Breaking my arm stirring the fudge!!

Chocolates are a pain to make! Halfway through, I started making them all solid instead of decorating them!

I love spritz cookies! I only made a triple batch :) All together over 250!

Double batch of peanut brittle!

Triple batch of fudge... over 6 pounds!

Chocolate & Christmas chip cookies, double batch!

Not pictured, candied pecans & sugar cookies. I still have to decorate the sugar cookies so I'll be up late finished those tonight!

A good laugh!

My future sister-in-law made this and I love it! Check out Joey and his new moves!

Favorite Ingredient Friday

Mom's Fudge

Ingredients
1. 3 cups sugar
2. 3/4 cup(1 /12 sticks) butter or margarine
3. 1 small can (5 oz) evaporated milk
4. 1 1/2 package (12 squares) Baker's semi sweet baking chocolate, chopped
5. 1 jar (7 oz) jet-puffed marshmallow creme
6. 1 tsp vanilla
7. 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
-Heat sugar, butter, and evaporated milk to full rolling boil in 3 quart heavy saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil on medium heat until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees F, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, about 4 minutes. Removed from heat.

-Stir in chocolate and marshmallow creme until melted; stir in vanilla and walnuts.

-Spread immediately in foil lined 9 inch square pan. Cool at room temperature at least 4 hours. Cut into 1 inch pieces.

-Makes 3 lbs or 40 serving.


*This is the same recipe my mom has used for as long as I can remember to give out to family and friends around Christmas.

*For more Favorite Ingredient Fridays, go visit Overwhelmed With Joy!

Surgery update

Joey's surgery went very well. His ears were full of fluid & wax but unfortunately, his ears canals are still too small for tubes. So the doctor cleaned his ears out and the audiologist did his hearing test. His right ear is still perfect, his left is good but not perfect. The audiologist compared it to someones eyes starting to go bad, but not needing glasses yet. So we have to go in every year now for an annual hearing test and maybe in the future, he might need a hearing aid.

He woke up just fine after his trip to the OR. He was so unlike most of the other babies in recovery. It seemed like all the other babies were crying and screaming. There was Joey, happy as can be, blowing bubbles at everyone who walked by. HE'S SUCH A TROOPER!

Joey's ENT is planning on scheduling another ear cleaning the same day as Joey's circumcision in April to do another ear cleaning and possibly then tubes.

Tomorrow

Well tomorrow is Joey's surgery. Hopefully he won't have to get the tubes. Hopefully, they'll go in and any fluid is no longer in his ears and he'll pass the hearing test. If that's the case, no tubes. If there's fluid, he will get the tubes and then they'll do the brainstem hearing test while he's still asleep. We have to be at the hospital at 6:30am which means we have to get up extra early! Which us luck tomorrow and be sure to say a little prayer for Joey!

Joey update!

Geez, I've been so focused on other things lately Ive not had a true Joey update post! He's doing so good! He's finally feeling better and back to himself after our little trip to the ER the other day. He's not liking to take his antibiotics very well though.

Did I mention when they weighed him at the hospital that he weighs 16 lbs 8 oz?!?! He's getting so big! He grew out of his 6/9 month clothes and is already in 12 month clothes!

I can't believe he turns 9 months old tomorrow. The months just keep flying by! Before I know it, he's going to be 1 year old!

He's doing such a goof job with his sitting. He sits up for about one minute now, sometimes longer. I had him sitting next to me on the couch last night watching TV and he was so excited just sitting there next to me. I wish my husband would have been home to grab a picture of it.

He's still not doing much in the way of crawling. He wants to so bad! He gets up on his knees then falls down and rolls over. He'll get it soon. His PT has been working on it with him.

Friday, we have another trip to the hospital but this time instead of the ER, we're going to the OR. Joey's ENT wants to knock him out since he can't see inside of Joey's ear canals and since he keeps failing his left sided hearing tests. The ENT wants to be able to get a good look inside of them, if there's fluid clean it out, put in tubes if needed and while he's still sleeping, have the audiologist do the brainstem hearing test. This will determine if he keeps failing the test due to fluid or an actual hearing loss. I'm hoping for the fluid well actually I'm hoping that if it was fluid that it's disappeared since his last hearing test and that he won't need tubes at all! But with the size of his tiny ear canals, I doubt it.

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays, go here!

Light A Candle

This was emailed to me today and I wanted to share it with everyone out there in blogger land too...

Today, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical monolith that charges nearly $1,000 for a 30-day supply of one of its HIV/AIDS medications, is donating $1 to the National AIDS Fund for each person who simply visits their website and "virtually lights a candle." The tally is over 1,000,000 now.

Please, please take a minute to "light a candle", www.lighttounite.org.

This really will take just a second!! Please forward this on to other friends!

12 Days of Christmas

Since there's only 12 days until Christmas (well Christmas Eve), I figured I would post an article I found online. It's about the Origin of the 12 days of Christmas. Very interesting!

Kiera Rose

Patrick and I wanted to have a baby girl. Unfortunately, the results from the tests they ran after my miscarriage have come back inconclusive. There wasn't enough of a sample to see why my baby didn't survive. There also wasn't enough to determine the sex of the baby. My doctor said I probably passed most of it at home without knowing.

As soon as I became pregnant, we were hoping for a little girl. And we never decided on a boy name, only a girl name, Kiera Rose. Since we'll never know for sure, we are calling our baby Kiera. Kiera, a lovely Irish name. Rose, because she would have been as beautiful as a rose.

One of those days...

Sorry I haven't posted since Friday, we had a BUSY weekend! My best friend from Ohio flew in and then the 2 of us went and picked up are other friend who is stationed in Groton at the Navy base. Anyways, it was a great weekend. I really needed to see someone from Ohio.

Last night Joey started getting sick. Running a fever, and cranky. Gave him some tylenol and put him to bed. He woke up a 2:30 crying and still had a fever. More tylenol. Woke up this morning still with a 102 fever and crying. I called his doctor and he told me to go ahead and take him to the ER. After bloodwork, labs, ect, it came up that Joey has a bad UTI. So now he's on antibodics and still feeling crumy but seems like he's doing a little better.

On the way home from the hospital, I called my OB to see if they could get me in sooner than my appointment next week or make me an appointment with someone to talk to about my miscarrage. I can't sleep very well at night and I've been crying whenever something reminds me of my baby. Needless to say, I'm a wreck! I also asked if they got the pathology results back from why my little baby didn't survive. The results are in and the receptionist said someone would call me. Well, it's 6:41 and no one called! I'm not too happy about that.

Geez, I can't wait till I can go to bed and hopefully tomorrow Joey will feel better and maybe I'll get some answers about my little baby.

Favorite Ingredient Friday

PEANUT BRITTLE

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water
2 cups raw Spanish peanuts
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. baking soda

Directions
Heat and stir sugar, syrup and water in a heavy 3-quart saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Add salt. Cook over medium heat to soft ball stage (234 degrees). Add peanuts at 250 degrees. Cook to hard crack stage (290 degrees), stirring often. Remove from heat.

Quickly, stir in butter and soda. Beat to a froth for a few seconds. Pour at once onto 2 well-buttered 15-1/2x10-1/2x1-inch pans, spreading with spatula. If desired, cool slightly and pull with forks to stretch thin. Break up when cold.

Makes about 1 1/2 pounds of brittle.

*I must admit to you guys that this is not the recipe I've used in the past. In my move from Ohio to Connecticut, I can't find the recipe I used in the past, but this one is the closest that I've been able to find. I just hope it comes out just as good!!!

For more Favorite Ingredient Fridays, go to Overwhelmed WIth Joy!

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays, go visit here.

How do I grieve?

I've never really had many people to grieve passing away. My grandma and my dad's best friend are the only 2 people close to me that have passed away. Losing your own child doesn't compare to anything I've ever felt before.

Today, I tried getting my life back to normal since my mother is back home and I'm back to taking care of Joey by myself. We did our normal daily activities, but I kept finding my mind drifting from one subject to another. I still can't concentrate. It's like I suddenly have ADD or something.

So, Joey and I went out this morning to BJ's Wholesale Club to get diapers and other things we need in bulk. I walked around the store in a haze. I also bought Pirates of the Caribbean 2. We came home and I put the movie in. I couldn't even sit down to watch it during Joey's nap. I could barley watch my favorite soap opera. I couldn't do housework. My mind can't stay on one subject.

My appetite keeps coming and going. I'm only wanting to eat junk food, nothing healthy. I want to sleep all the time.

I know my hormones are extremely off whack and I'm sure that's the reason behind this. Writing this, I keep thinking of other things to write, but they make no sense. I'm trying so hard to cope, but it's so hard. I know it's affecting my husband and Joey too, I'm trying to stay strong for them, but it's hard. I know I need time to grieve, but it's so hard.

Sitting!

Joey is sitting! Well, only for like 30 seconds at a time, but he's sitting! Before he would fall over instantly or bend in half, but now he can hold himself up! Yesterday he sat for about 2 minutes before he fell over! His OT about had a heart attack today when she saw how good he was doing today! I love days like this!

Where has the week gone?!

Unfortunately, my mom has to go back home to Ohio today. We hate to see her go home. I wish her trip here would have been for a different reason, but it was so nice having her around. This past week has been full of her cooking and even cleaning our house for us. Plus, having her around just made me feel so much better! Not to mention she was able to spend lots of time with Joey. The good news is that my parents will both be back here in a couple weeks for Christmas!!

6 Weird Things About Me

I've been tagged by Sunny Days At The Beach sooooo, here it goes!!!

1. I have a HUGE turtle collection.
2. I don't eat fish. I can't stand the taste or smell of it!
3. I also don't like to eat raw tomatoes! They taste nasty and are slimy!
4. Sometimes when I get to laughing very hard, I snort.
5. Up until I got married and slept alone in bed, I had my electric blanket on my bed year round and ALWAYS had it on. (I get cold easily)
6. I bit my fingernails since I was little until one day while I was pregnant with Joey when I decided to not bite them anymore.

What to do with a MeMe:
Copy the idea of the MeMe into a new post on your blog. Answer the questions. Tag 6 people. (Make sure you leave them a comment letting them know they've been tagged.)

I'm tagging:
1. Michelle
2. Rebecca
3. Heather
4. Amy F.
5. Miranda
6. Amy

Still lost...

The past couple days have gone by easier than what I expected them to. I still feel lost at times. I've been losing my train of thought and can't focus on what I'm doing. My mind just keeps wandering.

I was looking so forward to having a baby in July. My two best girlfriends are both pregnant and the three of us were all due in the first two weeks of July. Now it's just the two of them pregnant. I was so excited for us to have our babies around the same couple of weeks. Now we're not. That makes it even harder for me.

I know it's been a lot easier on me since I was only 7 weeks pregnant. Don't get me wrong, it still hurts. It hurts a lot, in fact it hurts like hell knowing that I lost a baby, but it would have hurt a lot more if I would have been showing and felt the baby move.

I'm so grateful that my mom was able to fly up here to be with me. I was so scared to go to the hospital without my mom. Thank God, she was able to catch the first flight out Tuesday morning in time to go to the hospital with me. She's been a huge help with Joey so I've been able to take it easy and not do all that much. I've even been spoiled with a couple of my favorite meals that she fixes! What would I do without my mother?!

Today we even went out for lunch and then to the mall and went shopping for a little bit. We found a couple cute outfits for Joey and even a Christmas gift for my husband! It felt good to get out and try to get my life back to normal.

Favorite Ingredient Friday

BEEF ENCHILADAS

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 cup cottage cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 (6 inch) flour tortillas

Sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions
In a skillet, brown the ground beef. Drain. Combine with cottage cheese, olives, parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Place about 1/3 cup filling on each tortilla; roll up. Place tortillas, seam side down, in an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. For sauce, saute the onion and green pepper in oil until tender. Add tomato sauce, green chilies, chili powder, sugar and garlic powder. Pour over tortillas. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and return to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

For more Favorite Ingredient Fridays, go to Overwhelmed With Joy!