Babies' 1st Christmas: 2012

Christmas morning began with the reading of the Christmas story out of the babies' Jesus Storybook Bible followed by opening presents at home before heading out to eat waffles with Tom's family and Christmas dinner with my family.

Wren got her first baby doll.

I think she likes it!

Grady got his very first car!

He seems to be a fan!

A sensory book to share.

May I help you?

What a face!

He can work those baby blues I tell ya!

Doing what she does best...cheesin'!

Our little family on Christmas Day 2012

We had a white Christmas, followed by a white day-after Christmas too!

2012 Christmas Card

Project: Homemade Baby Food

I've made several small rounds of baby food lately, but last night and today I decided to prepare a bunch so I'd have a stockpile in the freezer. Since I chronicle recipes and baby stuff here, I wanted to record how and what I made for my reference, and maybe it might be useful to another mama too.

We are still on first foods and not really mixing yet, so I chose the following foods:

Ambrosia Apples - 4

Rome Apples - 2

Avocados - 4

Bananas - 2

Blueberries - 8 oz frozen bag

Carrots - 6

Bosc Pears - 2

Peas - 16 oz frozen bag

Sweet Potatoes - 4

Preparation for the chosen foods:

Apples - halve, core, bake on cookie sheet for 30 min at 425º, remove skins, puree 

Avocados - halve, remove pit, scoop meat out with a spoon, puree

Bananas - peel, mash with fork

Blueberries - boil in water for 15 minutes, drain, puree with small amount of reserved cooking water

Carrots - peel, chop, steam for 20 minutes, puree

Pears - peel, halve, core, bake on cookie sheet for 30 min at 425º, puree

Peas - boil in water for 6 minutes, drain, puree

Sweet Potatoes - bake on cookie sheet for 1 hour at 425º, remove skins, mash by hand or puree

After all the foods are mashed/pureed, transfer them to ice cube trays for freezing. I only have 4 ice cube trays and ran out of space in those, so I ended up using small food storage containers and leftover unused breast-milk collection cups from the NICU. After the foods are frozen, pop out the portions and separate appropriately into ziplock freezer bags. I labeled the bags with the food and date.

To serve, I thaw selected portions in the microwave for just a few seconds. After checking for hot spots, I stir in a little formula to desired consistency.

I've chosen to make most of my babies' food for a couple of reasons. If I make it, I know exactly what they're getting and it's hopefully more cost effective in the long run. I'm also silly and plagued with mom guilt and I feel like since I couldn't give them my breast-milk for very long, the least I could do is make them fresh good food. It's more work on the prep side, but after it's made up, it's super convenient to get the individually frozen servings out of the freezer.

After a day of taking care of my munchkins (who were detoxing from Thanksgiving craziness), grocery shopping, cooking, doing laundry, and making baby food, I rewarded myself with this.

And this is for my Aunt Tamara, so she can see the babies in some more of the Christmas duds she bought them. :)

Crying

I mentioned in my 12 week update that I would post about a crying story...it goes as follows:

One of my friends who is a worship leader at my church, Julie, asked Tom and I to help her lead worship on Sunday, December 11.  She is an extremely talented musician and I always love singing with her.  Around 7am on the morning of the 11th, myself along with several other vocalists and the rest of the worship band began rehearsing.  We rehearsed a combination of worship songs and traditional Christmas songs.  One of the Christmas songs Julie chose was "Away in a Manger."  She had asked that I begin the song by singing the first verse as a solo.  "Sure thing," I told her.

We got to the point in rehearsal where it was time to practice "Away in a Manger."  Julie said she would probably say a prayer before the song, then I would come in after the intro.  The band proceeded to play the intro and I attempted to sing the first verse.  But I couldn't get it out.  I got all out of breath and started tearing up and my voice got really wobbly.  I stopped and apologized to Julie.  She looked at me and another friend/fellow singer, Suzy, looked at  me and they both started to realize why I was getting emotional.  

Julie asked me if I wanted to share my news with the whole worship team so they would be clued in on why I was emotional and I told her to go ahead and share since I was clearly unstable.  So, Julie shared with the team and I turned around and made eye contact with Tom, who was playing bass behind me.  He had this befuddled look on his face. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with me and why in the world I'd be crying.  [Later, after rehearsal, he said, "What happened?? You didn't get this way when you rehearsed this song at home??"] After the post-announcement buzz died down, I looked at Julie and said, "Don't worry, I'll get it in the service."  Then she said, "Well, if you don't, just look at me or Karlie (her daughter) and we'll pick up where you can't."

As the 10:45am service began, I honestly thought I'd be okay when it came time for my verse of the song. But once again, after the intro began to play, my heart started thumping rapidly and emotion began to take over.  Julie started the song [because I think she knew I would lose it again] but then I came in too, so she dropped off and I continued to sing but I only got to the word "crib." Which as you know, is only the 6th word into the song.  "Away in a manger, no crib..."  I pulled the mic away from my mouth and Karlie and Julie took over.  And for the rest of the 3 verses of the song, tears continued to stream down my face.  I  just couldn't pull myself together.  So there I was, vulnerably standing on the stage of the sanctuary in front of everyone in the 10:45am worship service, weeping like a crazy lady.  

I was weeping tender tears of joy out of praise and thanksgiving.  I can't really even explain it in words.  Most people who know I'm pregnant probably just chalked it up to me being hormonal.  Those that don't know I'm pregnant probably thought something was wrong or that I was sad.  

Never before have I approached Christmas as a pregnant mommy-to-be. Carrying two precious lives inside of me struck a new chord with me as I really let myself think about "Away in a Manger" as a sweet lullaby about [baby] Jesus. My perspective is already changing as I have begun seeing the world through the eyes of  a mom.   I've also been thinking more and more about sweet young Mary carrying the son of God, now that I can identify with carrying a child[ren].  I can't even comprehend how she must have felt.

I just want to close with the words to the that sweet lullaby:

Away in a Manger

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed

The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head

The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay

The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes

But little Lord Jesus no crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus look down from the sky

And stay by my side 'til morning is nigh

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever and love me I pray

Bless all the dear children in thy tender care

And take us to heaven to live with Thee there

A Christmas Equation

See if you can figure out this Christmas Equation...

Our 2011 Christmas Card

[front]

[back]

Merry Christmas from Tom, Sara, Ruby, and the Soon-to-be-Born Twin Babies!

Little Birds

I was recently asked to be an "artist in residence" who would make and donate 12 homemade Christmas ornaments to an event held at my church called "The Gift Goes On."  The event was a shopping bazaar with the theme of "purchasing with a purpose". There was a silent auction, vendor booths, live music, and sweet treats.  Proceeds from every item sold went to medical and clean water treatment for villages in Cambodia and Christmas presents for needy children in Oklahoma City, which will be distributed by The ROC (Reaching Our City).  It turned out to be a great success and we raised around $7,500 for some wonderful causes!

I wanted to share the inspiration for the little bird ornaments that I made.  I began searching for something I didn't think would be done by one of the other artists and I came across this tutorial for handmade clay birds ornaments over at jessicajanehandmade.  If you want the scoop on how to made some birdies of your own, follow the previous link.  I made some that were stamped with words and some that were just glittered.  Warning! They were quite time consuming [for me at least].

Joy to the World!

I had high hopes for sending cute photo Christmas cards this year. But it just didn't happen. I had arranged for my friend and her fancy-shmancy Canon to snap a few shots of Tom, Ruby, and I in Norman on OU's campus a few Saturdays ago. But I'm not liking my new smile courtesy of the torturous springs connected to my braces. Let's just say my smile is kinda bumpy right now. Plus it was cold and windy all that weekend. So I canceled and gave up b/c I was kinda behind the game on it anyways. So now you get my lazy digital excuse of a Christmas card. But the message is still the same. ;)

3 Things

This is my last post on our Christmas decor I promise. I recently ordered 3 things (okay technically 4 because one thing is a pair) online to complete our Christmas decorations and they've all arrived!

1. Monogrammed Tree Skirt:

We've never had a tree skirt, and its not for lack of shopping for one. Because I have, I've just never found one that I loved. And I've always wanted a monogrammed one. In years past I just bunched up gold mesh fabric around the base of the tree and called it good. But now our tree officially has a skirt. I found this tree skirt online at Pottery Barn Kids on sale. And because our tree is skinny, the smaller dimensions of the "kids" tree skirt are fine. I think it will be perfect when we eventually get a bigger tree too because I had to fold the material over at the seam because it's a little too big.

2. Needlepoint stocking for Ruby:

This is our first Christmas with our 8 month old puppy Ruby, so of course I had to get her a stocking of her very own. It is needlepoint, to keep with our tradition. Her name is monogrammed on it and the scene is of 2 dogs sledding. I know she's spoiled...

3. Wreath Stands as Stocking Holders:

The black wreath stands I blogged about here work just great as stocking holders since we don't have a mantle.

I think Ruby is going to get some new toys in her stocking. She's pretty rough on them. According to my mom, she has bionic

jaws. Note the former rope pictured below.