Things I want to remember from May...

I obviously haven't been posting regularly (mostly due to adjusting to having two and feeling a lack of motivation about blogging in general) and so this is a good opportunity to recap/journal/chronicle random thoughts and what's been happening for both you and me... It's going to be long since it's a lot for my record. So here goes in no particular order.

We seem to have melded as a family of four fairly seamlessly... Not without some adjustmentof course, but a LOT easier than I was preparing myself for... This is largely due to the fact that Sarah still hasn't had problems with jealousy - not that it won't/can't happen in the future - but I was expecting it to happen much earlier and to a great degree. Praise God - much answered prayer!

We've been so well taken care of. Mom and Dad came to take care of Sarah from the day before Keeley came, to when we got home. Mom stayed on for a number of days, then we were on our own with Todd home for a week, and she came back when Todd went back to work until Lynn (Todd's mom) came for ten days. I didn't have to worry about cooking/cleaning for practically three weeks. Many yummy meals came in, and I am so thankful for those I still have in the freezer!

Like before, I've healed really quickly from the c-section, but now am in "in-betweenville" as far as clothes go... not back to "normal" yet, and not wanting to go out and buy clothes that will fit now, but not when more weight comes off... Will probably go thrift shopping soon! Otherwise I have no shorts that fit! UPDATE: Went thrift store shopping and got some really cute/inexpensive "tide-me-over" summer items... some will hopefully be able to be worn after a few more pounds come off...

So far I haven't had the arthritis symptoms I had with Sarah where my joints ached in my fingers/hands/wrists/elbows/shoulders... Not sure why, but I'm thankful!

Breast-feeding while trying to help zip up and button a 3 year old's pants isn't easy.

I am SO thankful that breastfeeding is going so well, but still need to rev up my supply. Right now I'm supplementing with formula. Guess I better pump... bleh.

Keeley is an amazing cuddler...much to our delight, however it does pose a challenge when juggling a very active 3 year old too... We're soaking it in as much as possible.


Sarah got her first tricycle and loves it! It is a snazzy Schwinn that Nana and Papa got her (my mom is QUEEN of finding great deals at consignment stores) and Sarah really loves her helmet and knee pads too...

Aren't the azaleas amazing?


Lynn came for 10 days and her husband Bobby came for five from Clovis, NM. What a blessing it has been to have our family showered with so much love! I'm so blessed that I get to have great in-laws... Bobby helped Todd get our deck prepped and scouted out the best stain for our part of the country/our deck wood etc. so that we don't have to strip the deck every time we need to re-stain it... Lynn was so helpful in getting Sarah to the bathroom and giving me the peace of mind that comes from having the girls taken care of so I could sneak in a nap... sigh... I love family!

I know I've already said it, but Sarah has really amazed me with how much she has taken to Keeley. She never skipped a beat in including her when she talks about our family, making up endearments/nick names for her, taking pride in being a "Big Sister", wanting to be a good helper, wanting to take care of Keeley and mimicking me as I change Keeley's diaper or feed her.


Quotes from Sarah lately...

"There's the Eiffel Tower!" (in reference to Power line towers - she has two books that had the Eiffel Tower in them lately, so obviously, we must be living in Paris!)

"Mommy, what does 'encouragement' mean?"

"Mommy, what does 'spirit inside me' mean?" Not an easy one to explain to a three year old, but she's getting it...

"He washed Larry's (Larry the cucumber) sins away!" Um, sure?

"Jesus is coming back!"

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I've taken to blow drying Keeley's bottom after changing her to hopefully help with getting her diaper rash to heal faster... Lots of Boudreaux's and baby powder alternately per doctor's instructions... UPDATE: it's getting much better...thankfully. Never had to deal with that much with Sarah so this is new territory...

It's AMAZING how comfortable our bed is now that I'm not uncomfortably pregnant and definitely sleepy at bedtime...

I've recently "gone off" sugar for the most part... Trying to choose something to cut out without really "dieting" which could affect my milk supply. So far it's not been too hard except for ice cream.

I'm enjoying doing some moderate exercise now that I've passed the 6 week mark. Arms and abs are where I'm starting. Surprisingly, I was able to do 50 crunches without much strain, but V-ups are somewhere in the future for sure... Now to increase the reps....

Keeley is now in the 75th percentile! Crazy! I love that I get to have a bit of baby chub this time around too. =)

Keeley is also smiling a bit now, along with some cooing... I LOVE this stage! She also has had amazing head/neck control and that, along with her being a good 2 lbs. heavier than Sarah at this point, makes her seem older to me...

Nursing in hot weather is definitely a challenge...I'm hot, which makes her hot, which makes me hot...yada yada yada...

Our pastor, Scott, spoke last week on I Tim. 2 where it talks about women and, among other things, how they are "saved by having babies." I'd never heard any pastor tackle this one (but it's the great thing about expository teaching that if you go systematically through a book of the Bible, you can't just "skip" the "difficult/controversial" passages like in topical teaching) and I was so glad he did... Something that spoke to me, was that he explained the the "saved" was better connected with the process of sanctification. As we live out our salvation, we are made holy -sanctified - by working out our faith in Christ - and a huge part of that, traditionally, for women is through raising our children... Man, that was EXACTLY what I was trying to explain to Todd the other night... God has been gently impressing on me what He wants me to put into practice through how I instruct/train/discipline Sarah... Phrases like: "Obey means 'listen and do', or "Obey me in little things so you'll be able to obey me when 'big' things come", or "When you get frustrated, use your words and tell me what's bothering you..." practically scream, "Um, Abbey, are you listening to yourself? Put those things in practice with ME..." from the Holy Spirit's point of view... Truly humbly walking now days...

I love that I've been getting to read a lot during the middle of the night feedings. I'm on a Chaim Potok kick right now... Reread one book, The Chosen, and read The Promise, and am now on to The Book of Lights... Somehow reading about World War II era Orthodox Judiasm in New York is capturing my attention... THAT's how amazing his writing is... Not sure what's next, but the book has to be able to be held in one hand... =)

Okay, that's about it for now... I've got to get some of the pictures up and posted next!

Today was the perfect day to...

Have a Rocky Road ice cream cone...

Rejoice in the sunshine and the plants that have survived the winter

stain the deck
and
dress Keeley in a cute cherry dress

she's one month and a few days old already... crazy...

Up next, things I want to remember from May....

Keeley Renée
Keeley - Irish "beautiful"
Renée - French "reborn"

(To type the é in her middle name, hold down the Alt key and type 0233 - when you let up the Alt key the é will appear. It's an "acute accent" rather than the "grave" accent that slants the other way... Credit for knowing this little trick goes to Deena who explained it when they had Josée)

Most of you have seen Todd's Facebook announcement, but just in case you hadn't here's the fun news!

We welcomed Keeley Renée into our family at 8:25am, Monday, April 20th. She was 6lbs. 12oz and 20" long.

She and I are doing well. The biggest praise right now (for me) is that she's eating well and has taken to breast feeding... Those of you who know about my experience with Sarah know that this wasn't an easy road the first time, so what a sweet blessing the Lord has given me that Keeley took to it right away! We're home now and will get used to our family of four... Todd has been amazing throughout this time and I appreciate so much how he has gone above and beyond to "be there" in all that that means....


Sarah REALLY has taken to her big sister role... We are thankful she is such a loving little girl and are amazed at how easily she has taken to Keeley...

Okay, now to get a little sleep while Keeley is!

Easter Challenge...

I'm so wanting to make sure that Sarah understands the TRUE meaning of Easter and it's a challenge when everything out there (activities of get-togethers, and gifts) seems to be geared toward bunnies, eggs and chocolate... I need to check out those Resurrection Eggs that you can buy, but for now, I'm happy with her saying, "Jesus is alive!"

Thanks Nana for the super cute dress & sweater (definitely a MUST in the PNW!) The only flowers blooming right now in my yard...

I LOVE the fruit trees that are exploding in their blooms right now... and the delicate confetti of pink petals they shower down...

When the weather gives you rain, go jump in a puddle (rather than complain)!

Getting used to always playing "catch-up"...

So obviously I haven't been "into" blogging myself lately... I've caught up on everyone else's, but haven't really been inspired to post myself. Anyway, thankfully it's not like housework where my blog can get really cluttered/dusty/dirty if I neglect it!

I'm up at 4:44 am sleepless/hungry/etc. so this is going to be rambling and perhaps rather boring so I can get sleepy again...Maybe more for me than you, so my apologies ahead of time!

We've been on the home stretch/in the land of "nesting" now for a while and seems like there's always "one more thing" that I want to get done before our newest little Lockwood shows up... No pictures yet, but we now have curtains in our living room and eating areas! Hooray! The combined rooms look SO much cozier/coordinated now after five years of being in the house... =) The lack of curtains seemed always to come down to indecision and not wanting to just throw up any ol' thing on the wall, and trying to figure out what the heck to do with our bay window... Hopefully I'll get some pictures soon... I also have a Roman shade that I need to finish this week and get it up in our bedroom. It's out of a dark fabric, so hopefully mid-day naps coming up soon will be even more possible in addition to making the room feel more finished...

Sarah has really taken to writing this past month or so and we are using some workbooks by Kumon that cover basic tracing, coloring (as in changing between/choosing different colors for different images instead of taking up the brown color crayon and coloring the whole page the same color), Uppercase letters and mazes... She's getting better and better at holding her crayons/pencils properly and really seems to be left-handed, so I think that 'll stick.

Imaginary role playing is her favorite form of play right now. I am forever taking on new roles that vary from "Annie" from the Magic Treehouse audiobook series that she LOVES (Thanks Aunt Heather for taking that suggestion as a Christmas gift!) and she is "Jack" who has his backpack complete with book/pencil/and medallion. We run away from army ants or examine dinosaur eggs on a regular basis... or I become Larry the "cute-cumber" who is the unfortunate victim in the Good Samaritan Bible story - she, of course, is the three travellers who pass by and eventually help Larry...

Just a cute pose I found her in when waking her from a nap on day...
She still often sleeps like she did in her toddler bed and crib before that...

Adventure Joe - Magnetic Bender toy
Found Joe suspended from our counter top the other day...
Can I tell you how thrilled I am that
Sarah knows what a snowboard and ice axe are?!?!! Seriously!

Sarah reinacting Laura Ingalls Wilder sewing by firelight... (her idea, not mine)

Sarah is now potty training and this is her "Baby Alive" that we are borrowing from friends. Pretty amazing toy even if she's quite annoying... "Keke," as named by Sarah, can really eat the baby food she comes with and drink a bottle of water. But BEWARE - she poops and pees it out again at random just like her human counterpart! Let's just say we don't really use her for her intended purpose, but she's played a small role in getting Sarah more in tune with her own body... =) The doll also "learns" and gives longer and longer times between her cues that she needs to and actually doing something in her little toilet... Weird and cool technology at the same time...

Sarah on her throne (man is she going to kill me when she's older for posting stuff like this!) doing her workbook of hidden pictures.

Today (probably in about three hours -ugh insomnia!) we'll start the egg dying, deck prep for restaining, cookie making, and prep for tomorrow's Easter meal...

May you be able to take the time away from eggs, chocolate, gifts etc. and be able to soak in/encourage each other with knowing the goodness and power of our Savior's sacrifice and ressurection!

Update/Correction/Clarificiation
(for recipe below...)

Here's a few things that I forgot to add to my lasagna (not used to posting recipes so please forgive me... =)

The sauce cook time is part of a larger part of the recipe where my great grandma adds meatballs and cooks for another HOUR, so anyone thinking, "15 minute sauce?" was right to question... I also forgot to say that I COMBINED 1/2lb. of the turkey and all of the sausage into the sauce so I ended up not sprinkling the meat separately from the sauce in the lasagna...

Oh, and my mom found a cool site that gives equivalencies for old can #'s to our today's can ounces... HERE so a 2.5 can is 27-29oz. or 3.5 cups...

And just so this isn't such a lame post... Here's a short clip of why Sarah is SO Todd's and my daughter...

Non-intentional Hiatus - meets - Collage Catch-up
(in no particular order)

This past Saturday morning, some of the girls from my MOPS group table surprised me with a baby shower at what I thought was just a girls' brunch outing at a cute little Tea House... Beautiful, colorful, fragrant roses (Christy was so cleaver and picked that preference up from my "47 Things" note on FB!), a gift card to Target, and a scrumptious brunch of English B'fast Decaf and Lemon scones... Fun conversation and much talk about babies, families etc. Thanks gals!
Also pictured: Sarah's penchant for using her toes like her Mama, a random duck nesting outside of the tea house, Sarah sporting a cute birthday outfit from Aunt Heather...

A couple of weekends ago, we went down to the Seattle Children's Museum to catch the Minniapolis travelling exhibit of Curious George... Sarah LOVED it... If only she didn't need her naps so badly, we could have stayed longer...

Baking with Sarah is one of my favorite activities... She's a very "hands-on" girl and loves tasting EVERYTHING, touching everything - especially cracking the eggs, and really enjoys helping to eat the end product! (As does her Daddy...) I hope this pattern continues and we'll eventually get into cooking...
Also pictured: Sarah in her Chinese dress that Jos brought back for her... Thanks again!

I've been in major craft project mode... and driving Todd crazy (Why do you need to do something more?) =) He's so great at humoring me...

Finishing up Sarah's room (highlighting her name on the wall, personalizing her lamp shade, finishing up the hanging flower balls - so THERE Pottery Barn - not giving you my $ on these! Button wreaths from a former roommate from 6 or 7 years ago... Thanks Elizabeth! Little did you know at the time they'd be cute additions to her room!)

Hmmm... What else?

• Still trying to read through the beginning of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood - a response to Evangelical Feminism
• Organizing/revisiting all the baby clothes to figure out what we need - Seems like we have WAY too much pink/roses/"cutsie" things... I'm thinking - not pink, some fun funky things will be on the wish list...
• LOVE the fun M'udder Wear Nursing Cover . and pillowcase dress for Sarah from Amber B... If you are expecting, or have little girls, check out her Etsy shop!
• Still need to use our new carpet cleaner... A MUST at our house between lil' messy eater/potty training girl & our resident cat-who-pukes-on-a-regular-basis...
• I've handed over the church secretary role to wonderful Kay... so now I'm always thinking I have something to do, and then realize with a sigh...that no, I don't! =)
• Like everyone else, I wish spring would show up soon and perhaps give us some unexpected days of sunshine... If only I could dig in the dirt more easily... I have blueberry bushes to plant! I'm afraid that there will be few garden pictures this season since I haven't/won't be gardening as much in the next few months...or blogging for that matter...
  

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OH - and, by request (sorry it's taken me so long Heather C.), here's the super yummy lasagna combo that I made last weekend for some old friends stopping by and some new friends just up the street... I don't like touting my cooking, but this one did come out great... And who can beat cooking/entertaining for nine AND having enough afterward for a freezer meal?

Great-Grandma Mayme Morici's Prize Winning Sauce
(as featured in the Chicago Times, 1955)

1/4 c. olive oil
2 cloves chopped (I put in 4)
1 small onion chopped
1 6oz. can tomato paste
2 cans (#2.5 - which must be a type of can used back then, but can't be found today) peeled Italian (Roma/Plum) tomatoes drained ** I used the Italian Seasoned Crushed Tomatoes - the big cans
1 c. water
2 T. parsley chopped
6 leaves basil chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oil in 6 qt. pan. Fry garlic & onion until brown. Add tomato paste and continue cooking garlic and onion until soft. Press tomatoes through sieve (read: "open crushed tomatoes and pour in" - we have it SO easy today...) Add parsley & basil. Let simmer for 15 min. Seasoon to taste....

Homemade sauce really does make a big difference...

I used 1lb. of each ground turkey and sweet Italian sausage browned and ground in food processor (for a smooth texture), Ricotta cheese dolops, Plenty of whole-milk mozerella, chopped frozen spinach thawed(with water thoroughly squeezed out), cottage cheese, parmesean, and of course, lasagna noodles...

Combine:
First, a little sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan so the noodles don't stick(I also got a 9x9 lasagna pan filled with the extra ingredients), noodles - I overlap them a bit, meats sprinkled, sauce, mozerella/parmesean/cottage cheeses spotted over mixture, spinach... Repeat. Inevitabally I overfill my pans, but it doesn't matter if you make sure to line your oven with something to catch possible/probable overflow...

Cook at 350 for 1 hour or until bubbly... Let sit 5ish minutes before cutting into it...

Why this one was especially good this time I *think*... Great depth of flavors with sauce, just the right amount of moisture/creaminess/firmness...

Complements all around and GREAT leftovers... Oh, and the garlic bread (which you probably already do) is the bread buttered, put under broiler to brown, and then scraped with a clove of garlic... Much more authentic/better than garlic salt or other methods I've seen/tried... Our new friends brought a Caesar Salad and of course there was a fabulous Cab-Sav that we had... Can't wait until my conscience can let me have more than a few sips! No pictures because of awesome conversations and kid patrol going on.... =)

So... What do YOU all put in your lasagnas to make them yours? It's always so fun to know different people's traditions/versions...