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July 2025
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Facebook username

Here is a link to my Facebook site; here is a link to Chuck’s.  I think you still have to be a member to see these pages, but we have been using them more for regular updates than our blog site.  Chuck tried to get a feed from our status updates to appear on our blog, but apparently Facebook has changed things and that can’t be done.  We’ll keep our eyes peeled in case a new way comes up to include it in our blog.

Forgot to mention

I forgot to blog about a pretty big thing that we did a couple of weeks ago – Chuck turned around Nicky’s car seat!  We’ve had a few questions about why we didn’t do it earlier, but the recommendations are changing and it’s being recommended that toddlers stay rear-facing as long as possible, even up to age 2.  He’s just really getting long and his feet are kind of smooshed against the back of the seat.  He’s always been just fine facing the rear, though, but he also enjoys being able to see things differently now.  In one car, Chuck’s already installed the car seat base for the infant seat – a little bit scary to think about!

New songs

Nicky has added a couple of new songs to his repetoire:

  • Skinnamarink
  • Where is Thumbkin?
  • Theme from Baby Songs

It’s weird…he just starts singing these songs out of nowhere – at mealtime, in the bathtub – and it’s very cute!

I LOVE parsnips!

Seriously, I don’t know why these aren’t more popular – YUM!  I made this recipe last night; super easy and very tasty and good for you!  Yay, leftovers!

Smarty-pants

Wendy brought over an awesome fridge toy for Nicky a couple of weeks ago – it has a main part that you can put each individual letter in and it’ll play a song for each letter. Tonight, he had the letter “M” in there and I asked him what “M” is for – he said, “Mommy”! <3

Ethan’s Angel

When Nicky was first diagnosed with his milk allergy, I happened to be talking to a customer at the pharmacy who mentioned that her son is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.  She really gave me a lot of support and answered a lot of questions I had in the beginning.  Her son’s allergies make Nicky’s look extremely mild in comparison; Nicky’s milk and egg allergies don’t appear to be airborne at all (he actually has to ingest or topically absorb milk to be affected).  Ethan is so severely allergic to all nuts that simply breathing a small particle of dust can send him in to anaphylactic shock.  His family has just received news that he’ll be getting a service dog, which is just incredible to me…these dogs are trained to smell even the smallest speck of nut in any form, whole nut, powder, or as part of a food or drink.  They’re raising money to help train their dog – $10,000 seems like a lot of money, but it’s a drop in the bucket for how much it will help this little boy enjoy his life.  Here is a link to his website:  http://ethansangel.org

Good luck to this beautiful and loving family!

A pretty big milestone

So, Nicky’s been able to climb into and out of his crib for at least a couple of months now.  Yesterday, I was cleaning the kitchen and Nicky was playing in the living room and I heard a small amount of bustle near the stairs, and then nothing.  I went over to see what was going on and didn’t see Nicky.  I called him several times, without answer, so I ran upstairs to see if he was in our room, which he wasn’t – he was IN HIS CRIB!  So, this means that he climbed over the gate at the bottom of the stairs, climbed up the stairs, climbed over the gate at the top of the stairs AND climbed over the (not lowered!) bar into his crib!  Katie suggested getting a cowbell for him to wear around his neck – not a bad idea at all!  It’s a very good thing that Nicky is a good boy and usually understands things well; I now ask him several times a day, “do we climb over gates?” and he says “NO”.  I wish I could have a glass of wine…

New recipes

I made Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar and Garlic last night, YUM!  It was pretty easy and a little bit gourmet.  I would definitely make it again!

Today, I made Vegan Banana Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Cookies.  It made lots of cookies and they were very, very good!  Nicky’s very weird…he LOVES to lick the spoon from the batter but doesn’t really like to eat the cookies after they’re cooked.  (Remember, he can’t have eggs unless they’re baked in something, so I almost always substitute any eggs in recipes anyway – nothing raw in my batters.)

I also tried to make jelly earlier this week; I made a strawberry batch and a cherry batch, neither of which “jellied” properly, so they’re both more like thick syrup than anything else.  Guess we have lots of toppings for waffles and French toast now – and I’m also looking for some good recipes to use up everything I made.  Maybe I’ll make jam cookies later this week.

I’m so glad to finally be feeling better such that I can play with recipes again.  I feel like I have a long way to go before I become a good cook for my family, so I need lots of practice!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I made these with Nicky today – YUM!  Everyone who knows me well knows that chocolate chip cookies are the way to my heart, so any way to prepare them is all good with me!

Watermelon pops

I made these for dessert for a barbeque at Kris and Ang’s house tonight.  They (of course) didn’t look quite as nice as the photo, but I think most people liked them.  We even substituted the center layer – we used a tofu cream cheese and soy vanilla ice cream and it was really good!  I’d make them again.