From My Window

Puddle jumping in a summer rain. Does it get any better than that?

Taken from my daughters' window at the tail end of a warm summer rainstorm.

Happy weekend!

Waiting

Lately we have found ourselves in the familiar territory of waiting. Everything is carried by the undercurrent of waiting for the newest addition to our family. Of course, I am most affected by this state of being considering my ribs are the ones being pushed and prodded by this busy little person. I am blessed with very healthy pregnancies, healthy but increasingly problematic. This baby has presented me with the challenge of needing to sit down most of the day. You may be able to imagine the difficulty of running a household of five busy kids while needing to sit constantly. God's grace has helped me get through the past few months with a relatively contented spirit but I tell you, fervent prayers for an early delivery have been offered up on a daily basis lately. Only two weeks to go now so I think I just might make it.

To entertain myself as I sit, I have been reading. All my life I have loved to read but the busyness of being a mom tends to push reading down on the priority list. It has been a treat in the past few months to just read as I sit. When I have the energy (and Joe is here to watch the chickadees), I head to the library and load up. Any cookbook or biography that looks remotely interesting gets stuffed in my bag. I've been going through a book every couple of days and it has been wonderful.

When I can't stand sitting on the couch anymore I have been sitting at my sewing machine. A set of blue swaddling blankets await the latest addition. When I can waddle over to the fabric store I plan to make up a set of pink blankets. The fun of not finding out what kind of baby is kicking around in there, two of everything! A few repurposing projects have been completed and that has been fun. Hopefully I can show you those soon, they turned out great.

So I have been waiting over here. Not posting too much but focusing on enjoying my kids and trying to breathe. Before too long I'll be sitting around nuzzling a little newborn neck and protecting him or her from the adoring herd of siblings. I can't wait!

From My Window

Early morning sun on clouds and flowers on my Catalpa Tree. The blooms are so beautiful it almost makes up for the worms later in the summer. Almost.

From my laundry room window.

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Year of Pie. June: Creamy Coconut

Recently, my dear husband informed me that he had a request. Since he "hardly ever asked for anything" (anyone who has ever met him can take a break to laugh hysterically), he felt sure that it was a reasonable request and surely I couldn't refuse him. He simply wanted more pie. That's all. More pie. Well, who could deny anyone such a practical and reasonable request. Far be it from me to say no to that. What we came up with was a plan to make a different pie each month showcasing that season's most "pieable" flavor. For June I decided on Coconut Pie, or Creamy Pie as my neighbor's son calls it.

After a bit of scanning cookbooks, I turned to good old Allrecipes.com to scope out the best coconut pie recipe. When I found one that sounded good and adapted it, I knew I had a winner. It was creamy and luscious, definitely not vegan but it was for a potluck dinner so an exception was made. The crust was my usual recipe but made with all whole wheat flour. A few weeks ago I made another pie and doubled the crust recipe and put this one in the freezer. Whenever you make pie crust, try to make an extra one. It doesn't take any more time to make two but it sure saves time. The wheat crust was especially nice with the coconut filling. Whole wheat crust is sturdier so it's great with a substantial filling. Speaking of filling...

Creamy Coconut Pie

2 eggs

1 can of coconut milk (look in the asian section of the store)

1 1/2 cups half and half

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter

3/4 cup coconut

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup coconut, toasted (350 degree oven for 5ish minutes. Watch it closely!)

1 prebaked and cooled pie crust

Whisk the eggs really well. I pretty much beat the fool out of them because if you don't you'll get little bits of cooked egg white in your custard and that's yucky. Really yucky. Beat in the coconut milk and half and half. In a saucepan combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in the egg mixture and cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir constantly to keep it from scorching or getting lumpy. When it is nice and thick, take it off the heat and stir in the butter. After it is melted, stir in the coconut. Pour the custard into the pie shell and press a sheet of waxed paper onto the surface and set it to cool. Chill until ready to serve.

Just before serving, whip the cream and 1 tablespoon sugar. When you have stiff peaks, pile it onto the chilled pie and sprinkle with the toasted coconut.

Now step back and see what you have created. Good job!

Cubbie

Here is a photograph of me and little Jacob from a few weeks ago. He was outside in his diaper after exploring all the neighborhood rain puddles. Last week he was a sick little guy and this week he is back to his usual wild self. Never has he suspected that he was younger or smaller than any of the other banshees that live with him, if they can do it then he sees no reason why he should not also do it. Giggles and games of imaginary kitty cat are back in our daily routine. Twice a day breathing treatments are a new part of our day but hopefully only for a month or so. These 15 minutes segments of immobility are made endurable by rounds of finger games and tickling. He is a wonderful baby with a sweet personality and it's an inexpressible blessing to have him back full force. And those two tiny teeth, who can resist those?

Almost Home!

Jacob was released from the hospital this afternoon and we are at my parent's home with all the kids. He is so happy to be able to walk around and play with his brothers and sisters. Tomorrow we will head home and get settled into our new routine of breathing treatments every 4 hours. Thanks again for all your prayers!

Update on Jacob

Just wanted to give you an update on Jacob. He was able to go off the oxygen yesterday afternoon and did great with that all night. They are still needing to have breathing treatments every 3 hours and will need to be able to go 4 hours between treatments to be released. Also, he has to be able to keep himself hydrated without the IV but isn't drinking very much. Last night he had trouble with his IV and he and his dad didn't get much sleep. He is much more active and keeping him contained is a bit of a challenge. A good challenge but a little tough for a big pregnant mama!
We really appreciate all your prayers and messages. We were visiting my family for the weekend in Oklahoma so aren't in Arkansas. It's been a blessing to be close to both our families and our kids are having fun at their Grandparent's farm. Our 7 year old asked my mom if we would be going to a hotel after we got out of the hospital so they wouldn't have to go home yet! Little stinker! Keep us in your prayers and I'll post an update soon.