Esophawhat???

Tomorrow morning, I'm taking Sam to Primary Children's for an esophagram and a swallowing study to determine the extent of dysphagia. Yep. Sam's swallowing issues (and eating issues in general) are about to be officially medically addressed.

Now, will anyone tell me how to get a 2 year old to swallow barium? or to hold still for multiple x-rays for that matter? Wish me luck...

An ode to PANCAKES

(Disclaimer... Blogger is having some issues once I post. My apologies if the font / text size are wacky...)

Anyone who has been around me recently, knows that I am on a quest to find the PERFECT pancake recipe. Yes... food (cooking/baking) has become one of my favorite things. I love finding FABULOUS recipes and I love trying new ones.

So, here's the verdict. After trying many many recipes, here are the winners. Post your favorite pancake recipe if you think it will beat mine. Or just post your favorite breakfast recipe! I promise to try it. :)


Winner #1 - Delicious, light, fluffy, and 100% whole wheat. Yep... I said light and fluffy in the same sentence as 100% whole wheat. Impossible? I thought so until I tried these...
Deluxe Hotcakes (thanks Leese)
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 T. baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 T sugar
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 c. milk
3 T oil
2 beaten egg whites (stiff peaks)
Mix in order. Gently fold in egg whites last. These are divine and healthy! Therefore they win.


Winner #2 - Buttermilk is the key here. Beautiful puffy yummy goodness.
Basic Buttermilk Pancakes
Whisk the following in a large bowl:
1 1/2 c flour
3 T. sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Whisk the following in a separate bowl:
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
3 T melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and gently stir until combined.

Runner-up. I tried this recipe based on pure disbelief that they would turn out anything like pancakes.... and they are delicious! These are rich and melt in your mouth. Definitely not healthy though.
Silver Dollar Hots
Lightly beat:
2 large eggs
Whisk in:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 c flour
1 1/2 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
Spoon one tablespoon onto the griddle for each pancake, nudging the batter into 2 1/2 inch rounds. (That's important or else they won't cook through all the way!)


That's it! Let me know if you have a fabulous pancake recipe you think might rival mine...

Ferber is my hero

Now... it's only been ONE day... really only TWO naps, but I love my new life. (Gaylynn, are you listening???) :) Zack is taking to this ferbering much faster than Sam. 15 minutes of crying for nap 1, about 7 minutes for nap 2. And voila! A sleeping baby! SO MUCH BETTER than the 20 minutes it was taking us to rock him to sleep. I'm a big fan.

A new forever family...

On Saturday, I was lucky enough to meet this friend
and this friend
at this place
to see this little girl
become part of this family forever.
Loved being there! I'll miss you Jen... are you SURE you have to move out of state this weekend??? I love these girls...
From our adventure at Cabela's. Thanks for the pics, Jen!

Matching...

I'm not usually a fan of dressing your kids in matching clothes... but with Sam's insistence, I couldn't resist. And then I couldn't resist taking pics. How stinkin' cute are these boys???

"The New Farrah Fawcett" or "We Miss You Bopie"

Soph- we miss you. From your 90's rock band groupie hair...


...to the way your hair FLIES as you run... (this pic TOTALLY cracks me up)..to your different funny faces and the way you make your parents crazy sometimes...




...to your zest for life - and FOOD (I still can't believe how you scarfed down thai food!)...
... and your fun little personality. Come back soon! Sam misses his favorite buddy!

Brothers

"Mom, can I hold baby Zack?"Since Sam has only acknowledged Zack's existence about once a day (at my prodding) for the past 3 months of Z's life, my answer was YES!


To see what else we've been up to, check out Lisa's blog. I love Ft Collins. :)
Welcome to the world baby Travis.

Bear Lake

Whew! Thanks for all the comments, loyal readers. :)

We had a blast with the Romneys at Bear Lake the few days before the 4th. What fun! I had never been there before, and it's beautiful. Our condo had a particularly lovely view... and thanks to Zack waking up to nurse at 5:20am, I was able to take this shot of the sunrise from the deck off the living room.



Slide.com worked so well last time, I'll use it again. Enjoy! (and of course... you are WELCOME to comment again... ha ha)

CA trip

We had a wonderful time in CA for my grandmother's funeral. It was a quick and last-minute trip (and yes! I survived traveling with 2 on an airplane for the first time - thanks to my mother-in-law for taking me to the airport and getting a gate pass to see me through security and to my mom for meeting me on the other side!!!), but it was fun to see everyone and good to feel closure from the funeral. I'm so glad we were able to go to Dallas in March to see my grandma one last time. Anyway - lots of pics!

This might well be my most labor-intensive post, so PLEASE leave me a comment or else I might never post again. :)

Library Books

Sam loves the library. One of his favorite activities is going through all the books from our most recent trek to the library and "reading" them one by one in his room.



LOTS more to post, so stay tuned! Just sorting through all my pics!