Laylah Christian

I am exhausted! Thursday afternoon, my friend Brandie finally went into the birthing center. She'd been contracting for days and began dilating weeks ago. She saw the midwife in the am, who told her to go home, eat, shower, do some walking around the block and then come back when she was ready. She was offered the chance at a water birth, but decided she wanted the epidural more. Anyway, about an hour after the epidural her contractions had all but stopped (big surprise), so they began pitocin. I know that is usually the recipe for a c-section, but I kept my mouth shut. She'd already had 6 vaginal births and I didn't want to add to her emotional stress. Thankfully, the pitocin did indeed get things going well. Finally about 1 am she couldn't take the contractions anymore. She was also having pain that she felt was in her bladder - once the midwife heard that & removed the catheter, it was better. But by this time she's in very active labor. After witnessing a couple of contractions, realizing the epidural was wearing off, the midwife said, "Okay lets just go ahead and deliver. I've never witnessed a birth before. If you ever have the chance, don't pass it up. So amazing! First thing I know, I am seeing hair. The midwife called Dad over to catch the baby and he did great. Brandie pushed 2 maybe 3 more times and Laylah was here. She was crying immediately. Next thing I know, the midwife is saying "who's this lady?" It took us all a minute to realize she was talking about me. She said come cut the cord. I don't think I've ever gotten my camera strap off my neck so quickly. My hand was shaking. It was surreal. Then after the cut, baby is wisked over to the warmer for cleaning and weighing. When I realized I had blood on my hands, I didn't want to wash it off. It was too precious. Then the midwife told me I had blood on my shirt, and I smiled. I also told her that if it were me, I'd be taking the placenta home. Of course, I'd never seen a placenta (in person) before either. So far, no one wants to see the picture I took of it. :P

So Laylah Christian held out long enough to be born Friday Nov. 5th, her mommy's 36th birthday! She is pefect. And I am a Nanny again. :)

Mini Me

I have always enjoyed watching for Greg's personality traits in our son. He is most definitely his father's son. As I spend my days with him, I sometimes see my father, Greg's brother, even my father-in-law in him. But I've recently begun to see and allow myself to appreciate the me in him. He loves music (well, he gets that from us both). He's endlessly creative.

He's constantly rearranging his bedroom (a passion of mine). He wants an apartment in the garage (yes this is the same child who shared our bed until he was 9). He's settled for setting up his closet as a bedroom, thus leaving the rest of his room as his apartment. "Now, I come out of my 'room' and there's still another door before I get to you." I remember trying to make a clubhouse out of my closet. I remember all of the arranging ideas that I knew better than to try.

Thank you God for my memories. For the memories of what I wanted to do, and the memories of the feeling of not being allowed to try much. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this incredible child's life. It really is an honor, and I don't want to ever forget that, not even momentarily.

It worked!

Monday night @ midnight, Fallout: New Vegas was released (video game), and the night owls that we are were there to pick up the game. Gregory had a friend over, and Tuesday afternoon Hubby told him he needed to at least make an offer for the friend to play (bless his heart, he's used to having to wait for his turn & never even asked to play). Next thing I know, Landon (friend) is playing and Gregory is pouting and exuding negative energy. I assumed it was because he felt he had to hand the game over. I called him over to me to talk about it.

He sat down, face parallel to the floor, and I asked what the problem was. He just shook his head no and didn't speak. I didn't relent. He (& his dad) know by now that when I ask, "what's wrong?" I don't let it go. After a minute or so, with a cracking voice he says he's so stupid. I wasn't expecting that. I asked why he felt that way and he said he'd been playing for 2 hours without saving, and his character got killed, so he lost everything he'd done in that 2 hours. His broken heart was so heavy.

I picked up his chin with my hand and stared him in the eye. I told him he's not stupid and he responded "yes I am", several times. I started telling him he's not stupid, he made a mistake. That when I forget to buy tea bags (a hot commodity in the house) it didn't make me stupid. Told him I wouldn't allow someone else to be so mean to him, and I wasn't going to let him do it either. Looking him straight in the eye, I told him how smart, how capable, how lovable he is. Then I told him, "You are a smart, good person. Say it." He mumbled it quickly. "Again!" I said. He repeated. "Again!" "I'm a smart, good person." "Again!"...

After a couple of minutes, he was grinning while saying it, and then giggling. "Again!" With a smile on his face he says, "You know this is torture, right?" "Yep! Again!" We ended up laughing so hard our sides hurt. And most importantly, he was no longer believing the lies his "self" was telling him.

Thank you God for allowing me to be in and stay in the moment with him, and for the ability to help him out of a pit. Allow me to remember this lesson (what I thought he was upset about vs. the real reason) and the honor of watching him grow through it.

You didn't see anything...

Yeah, I'm going to pretend that I haven't gone 9 months without posting.

Yesterday, Vivian's baby sister Alden was born. Alena's baby sister will be born anyday now. Gregory turned 12 in July. Chase and Kayla are now 11. Mikey is 4 and going to school. JoJo just turned 3, and Stella will be 3 soon too. Alena is 2 and just too cute! Her mommy says anytime anyone knocks at their door, she goes running down the hall yelling, "Nana's here! Nana's here!" (I'm Nana)

Now you are up to date on the important stuff. :)

Gumbo

I don't like to cook. I'm not very creative, nor are the palates of my dining companions. I'm also not a recipe follower - I'm a pinch of this, dash of that kind of cook. But recently I've hit on something my hubby asked me to please write down. It's my gumbo. I've made it several times lately and he's asked me to make it when we've had friends over. So here goes my attempt to make a recipe out of my gumbo experience.

First, the roux (pronounced roo, like kangaroo). Traditionally, a roux is made with one part veg. oil and one part all purpose flour. I could get a nice medium roux this way, but if I tried for a dark roux, it would burn. Everytime. A while back, I'd heard of a "dry roux", using only the flour and not the oil. Rather than frying the flour, you are toasting it. I use the same iron skillet and the same amount of flour (1 cup per batch), stir it like usual to keep from burning, and slowly but surely it will darken (a medium heat, stirred almost constantly).
Another nice thing is I can make extra roux to keep for later.

Because I don't cook with them often enough to use fresh, I use Zatarain's dried bell peppers, onions, and green onions. I soak about 1/4c of each of those in a couple of cups of water while my roux is darkening. To that mix, I also add parsley powder(~1Tsp), cayenne pepper(~1tsp), creole seasoning(~2Tsp), and one chicken bullion cube (salt & black pepper as well {~1Tsp each to start}).


I use an 8 quart stainless stock pot, and for this size gumbo, I will use 3 boneless chicken breasts and 1.5 pounds of smoked sausage, both cut & browned before adding to gumbo.


Once my roux is dark enough, I slowly add the seasonings & the water they soaked in. This will bring the roux to a paste.


While I am dealing with the roux and seasonings, I have the browned chicken and sausage cooking in a couple of quarts of water in the stock pot. Once my roux paste is thin enough to pour (yet still thick - cake batter-ish), I pour it into the stock pot.


Then I fill the pot (again, an 8qt pot) with hot water and allow this to cook at a slow boil for as many hours as possible (at LEAST 3). Gumbo is something that gets better everytime it's heated. While it is cooking, it will thicken and you will probably need to add water after an hour or so. It's this step that determines how thick your gumbo will be. And if/when you add more water, be sure to allow it to cook down for at least another half hour. Also, check for seasonings every half-hour or so. I usually add salt & pepper as it cooks. We like our gumbo thick - on the line of a bisque or a cream soup. Some like it thinner. I'd say go with thicker if you're unsure - you can always add a little more water.This is the pot at the beginning of the cook. When it's *ready*, it has cooked down to about 3/4 full.

More traditional gumbo would use chicken on-the-bone for stock flavoring. It would use andoulli, and fresh veggies(~.5c each), perhaps even okra (though we only use okra in seafood gumbo). All of these things can only make your gumbo better. But you can make a very good gumbo without. Just saying...