Recently, I decided that we needed to branch out and try cooking beef. The only beef we know how to cook is hamburger. This week I went to the grocery store and, lo and behold, rib-eye steaks were on sale. I felt better about experimenting on $20 worth of steak rather than $40 (it was a big package of steaks).

Dave found some steak rub in our pantry and fired up the grill.

I want to tag this post to the recipe section so here’s the recipe: rib-eye, steak rub, grill.

OH. MY. WORD. Delicious. What in the world took us so long????

After I took this picture, I thought to myself that it looked kind of GROSS but I promise that it was wonderful!

What’s for dinner at your house?

We signed in and then the receptionist asked for the doctor’s order. Oops! Was I supposed to bring that? We’ve spent the past three years at Children’s Hospital and they always seem to have everything already in the system. Not here. The neurology tech said we could either wait until 9am when the neurologist came in or we could go home and try to find the paper. I vaguely remembered seeing it on top of the microwave. We drove home to find the paper.

Sure enough, I found the paper on top of the microwave so we made our second trip back to the local hospital. We arrived around 9am. The neurology tech informed us that the doctor faxed the order to the hospital 5 minutes after we left. OK, thanks. I would have preferred not to know that!

By this time, Hope was exhausted and in need of a nap. I was expecting a heartbreaking meltdown, especially when the tech said that at this age, she swaddles and restrains the child. She asked if it was OK to turn cartoons on. Sure, anything that might help! Hope was mesmerized by Word Girl. In fact, she lay perfectly still watching Word Girl and then Word World, sucking Dave’s finger during the entire 45 minute test. Ahhhh, thank you God!

When things don’t go as planned, I get really annoyed. I was annoyed that we drove all the way to the hospital and then had to drive home and then back to the hospital again. But, then, I tried to think that perhaps God used that small inconvenience to keep us out of a wreck or to allow the test to go smoothly or just to test our patience and grow our character.

We got the test results today. Normal. The best guess is that Hope refluxed and had what looked like seizures. We are extremely relieved!

Houdini Hope is going to give us a run for our money!!!!

Me? I would rather learn a little and be done. But, I realize that learning a little and being done doesn’t exactly create greatness. I doubt Bill Gates ever had that attitude.

Recently, Dave has been encouraging me to learn something new. So, today, while he was in Philadelphia, I pulled out the camera. I decided to try taking a picture in the mirror. I have “spatial issues” so figuring out where to point the camera proved difficult for me! I figured out how to set the camera to Live View and how to auto focus in Live View. Click!

Here is the result. I think it turned out cute.

Yesterday morning, bright and early, I found Lauren and Hope like this.

Hope is going to miss her big buddy these next few weeks!

While Lauren is away, Dave and I have a lot to get done. We are going to transfer Carmen’s room from the upstairs to the basement. We’ve got a lot of clearing out to do down there (the room has mostly been used for storage) and setting up. Hospice will be delivering a hospital bed for Carmen. Up until now, Carmen has been in a crib, rigged with one side higher than the other to keep her from refluxing while being fed. I bet she will be far more comfy in a hospital bed with a foam topper. We got the air conditioning mostly fixed so it’s cooler throughout the house and no one will be turning into an icicle in the basement room.

After we get Carmen’s room set up, we will work on Lauren’s and Hope’s rooms. We’ve all been sharing rooms for so long that I can’t quite imagine Dave and me in one room and the girls having their own rooms! I think this will be great for everyone in our family!

Carmen will be four this coming Tuesday, July 20th.

Lauren is on her way to Camp NY Grandma and Grandpa. She will be gone on Carmen’s birthday, so we celebrated last night.

It is HOT here so we celebrated with ice cream instead of cake. We recently introduced Lauren to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. My personal opinion is that all other ice cream makers should just stop. Nothing can compete with Ben & Jerry’s.  Lauren seems to agree. When we went to the store last night, she asked, “Where is that fish ice cream?” So, we got Phish food! Chocolate ice cream with gooey marshmallow, caramel swirls and fudge fish!

Hope had her eye on the ice cream!

It’s hard to believe that Carmen is just turning four. I can’t remember much of life before Carmen. I cannot express how much she has impacted us.

The neurologist said that Hope appears to be on track and doing great in all areas. She is a very happy baby.

Here’s our little girl who is certainly keeping us on our toes!

(If you are looking for a toy for a 4-5 month old, Sophie the Giraffe is a big hit in our house!)

When Dave is traveling for business, chaos occurs! This week he was in San Francisco for part of the week.

It all started on Tuesday when the temperature hit 100 degrees. Our air conditioner wasn’t keeping up with the soaring temperatures and our three level town house kept getting hotter and hotter. Wednesday was another 100 degree day. And so was Thursday. At one point, our AC unit was set to 72 degrees but the main floor was 86 and the top floor was 90. That is not normal!

Slight tangent:

Wednesday I took Hope to her scheduled orthopedist appointment. Her feet have been turning in so her pediatrician recommended we take her to a specialist. The doctor was amazing. He asked to take Hope home, kissed her on the forehead and sang to her the whole time he put casts on both legs from her toes to her knees. Hope seems just fine with them and actually seems to enjoy kicking them together and making lots of noise! The plan is to keep them on for 6 days and then take them off and re-cast until her feet straighten out. The official diagnosis is Metatarsus Adductus. My mom said my feet were turned in too so maybe Hope got my feet.

Back to the air conditioning issue:

Wednesday night, the best idea I could come up with for sleeping arrangements was to offer the main floor to the nurse and Carmen.  Hope, Lauren and I would sleep in the basement. The main floor was hot but not 90 degree hot like the top floor. The basement was ice cold but I thought maybe I could bundle us up enough to sleep comfortably.

A friend’s husband went and bought a powerful fan to try to push some of the cold air from the basement to the top floors. Thankfully, the big fan helped cool the middle floor off immensely! The top floor was still very, very hot so I went with my plan for us to sleep in the basement.

Well, long story short, the basement was not comfortable and we were all freezing! Wednesday night, I bundled Hope up in fleece but she was still cold and woke up every hour or so all night long. At 6am, she woke up and I fed her. Immediately after feeding her, I picked her up and her eyes rolled back and then she had what I can best describe as a seizure. She blanked out and would not respond to anything. She just stared at me. The whole thing probably only lasted 10 seconds or so before she snapped out of it.

I called Hope’s pediatrician and left a message. Meanwhile, I needed to get Lauren to summer camp so we drove over to the neighborhood community center. When I got out of the car, a lady walked over and told me that something was wrong with my tire. Apparently, it was making a loud rubbing noise. We have those run flat tires that don’t actually go flat so my best guess is that I do actually have a flat tire or something. (Confusing, I know.) But, there really wasn’t anything I could do about that right then, so I drove back home on my injured, out-of-sorts tire.

When I got home, Hope’s doctor called and asked that I bring her in right away. Carmen’s nurse was leaving shortly so I scrambled around trying to find someone to stay with Carmen. I found a friend who was able to come over right away, my babysitter could come early and stay the rest of the day with Carmen, and another friend could pick Lauren up from camp and take her for as long as needed. One thing I have discovered along this crazy journey with Carmen is how very, very important it is to be the kind of person who is willing to be available. I’m very thankful for my friends who are willing.

Hope’s doctor said she looked fine but he wanted blood work run. He sent us to the lab but told me that if she had another seizure, I should go directly to the emergency room. The lab was closed for lunch so Hope and I had 30 minutes to spare. I drove over to the bagel shop across the street and ordered some lunch. I put Hope in her infant car seat carrier across from me at the table. All of a sudden, her face froze and she repeated her morning episode except this time her arm was sticking out funny. I debated calling 9-1-1 but decided to just hop in the car and drive to the emergency room.

As I drove to the ER, I had a little talk with God. I can’t remember everything I said but I know I said something like, “Please, please, don’t let there be anything wrong with this baby. I CAN’T handle it. I’ve accepted that Carmen has Tay Sachs and will die. Not Hope. She has to be OK.” I suppose I am not to the point in my faith where “thy will be done” is the first thing that comes out of my mouth. I have more growing to do.

I also thought to myself what a sight we must be!  I drove into the ER with my maybe flat tire, my 5 month old with casts to her knees and told the receptionist that my baby had two seizures. I got some strange looks and some immediate questions about the casts. Nothing like being under suspicion.

Hope and I were in the ER from 1:30pm-7:30pm. All of her blood work came back normal. The CAT scan came back normal. Thank you God! I was exhausted beyond belief but Hope was absolutely thrilled with all of the attention! She cooed and smiled at everyone who came to check her.

I did find it a little humorous when the ER docs tried explaining seizures. Believe me, we are familiar with seizures!!! Even though we have seen thousands of seizures, it is very, very scary to watch your seemingly healthy 5 month old have a seizure.

So, it’s now Friday. Hope has a neurologist appointment next week. She hasn’t had any more episodes that I have seen and is her usually happy self. I really have no idea if we are going to find out she has some sort of epilepsy or if this was a one time occurrence. Maybe she was too cold in the basement? I know having a fever can cause febrile seizures but I don’t know about being too cold. The AC guy came today and the air conditioning is now running better. Dave is on his way home from California.

I’m hoping for a very peaceful weekend.

This week, Dave rented Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel for Lauren. Let me tell you, after watching that three or four times, your head starts to hurt. Especially listening to the chipettes sing “All the Single Ladies.” But, Lauren loved it (she had seen it at her cousins’) and had a great time this week quoting various parts of the movie. There is one part where someone says, “In the words of The Donald, you are fired!” Well, I heard Lauren say, “In the words of McDonald’s, you are fired!”

Yesterday, I went to pick Lauren up from Vacation Bible School. I saw a friend in the hall and she jokingly asked, “No VBS for Carmen?” At least, that is what I think she said. I laughed. All day long, that comment cracked me up. I kept having these visions of me dropping Carmen off at all the local Vacation Bible Schools and handing out a sheet on how to suction and when to give meds. And when the VBS volunteers would look scared to death, I would say, “Are you discriminating against the handicapped?!” Of course, I would never in a million years drop Carmen off anywhere but something about the thought struck me as really funny. Must be withdrawal from the Crazy Cake.

Jessica, if that is not what you said, please don’t tell me what you did say because I’m still having fun imagining Carmen and VBS!

Hope is having a grand time in her new (new to us) jumperoo. Have no fear, I limit how long she is in there. Hope spends 90% of her day scooting around on her tummy, so I figure a few minutes here and there in the big plastic toy are OK! Here she is, laughing at Lauren.

Hope’s pediatrician suggested we take Hope to a pediatric orthopedist because her feet are turning in. Carmen’s former physical therapist stopped by for a visit yesterday and I asked her to take a look at Hope’s feet. She said, “Well, she won’t be Miss America with those feet!” So, we have an appointment next week with an orthopedist. We don’t want to squelch our daughter’s chances of being Miss America! I giggled about that one all day too.

I hope all of you have at least one really good laugh today!

Back when Dave and I could eat anything and not gain an ounce, I made this cake for special occasions. Those days are long gone thanks to babies, lethargy, and the passing years.

Lauren and I made two 8×8 cakes and popped one straight into the freezer. I felt better about us only eating half a cake!

Lauren helped me stir up the mix.

She took a break to lick the bowl clean.

This cake calls for crushed up cookies or candy so Lauren broke up Dave’s favorite cookies, Pepperidge Farm Milano Double Chocolate cookies. Pre-Lauren’s peanut allergy, I made this cake with chopped up Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on top.

Here’s the finished product. Rich beyond words. I ate salad for lunch and dinner.

A close-up of the cookies.

My friend, Becca, gave this recipe to me years ago. I’ve since seen it various places with different cake mixes and toppings. It is most often called “Better Than Sex Cake.” I really don’t want to have the Birds and the Bees talk right now, so we are going to call it Crazy Cake at our house! Because this amount of sugar and fat IS crazy! And, it’s crazy good!

Crazy Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 jar hot fudge topping

1 tub Cool Whip

Candy or cookies for topping

Make the cake mix as directed. While still warm, punch holes in the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon. Pour sweetened condensed milk all over. Spread fudge on top. Cool and then spread Cool Whip on top. Crumble cookies or candies on top of cake. Refrigerate.

I think this cake tastes best once it has been in the fridge for a little while. The fudge kind of solidifies and the whole thing is just yummy!

Dave, we hope you enjoyed your Father’s Day Cake!!!