Adventures of the 3 M's - School Style

Adventures of the 3 M's has resumed.

Walked to the fountains for fun!

Daddy picked the 3 M's up so Mommy could attend a meeting for MotorMouth's school. 

Daddy had to entertain the 2 M's

Mini-Me

MotorMouth

Mission Accomplished on all accounts

Motor Mouth's Allergy Update #2

This is Michael, the uber friendly receptionist 

at the Allergy & Immunology Clinic

This is Motor Mouth on August 19th

This is Motor Mouth on August 9th in the ER

This is Moor Mouth having a skin test.

Motor Mouth is allergic to oak trees, dust, cats.

Sorry, no pictures of me dancing around and singing "What's up pussy cat" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Rehab" in the exam room for 15 minutes in a desperate attempt to keep Motor Mouth from scratching his itching, itching arm!!

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This is Motor Mouth getting blood drawn for the 1st time.

This is how much more we know about what caused his severe allergic reaction.

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Doc says they won't know what happened to cause his face to swell to unrecognizable proportions unless it happens - again.

We'll keep you posted.

Family Fun Night - Chicago Theme

When we were visiting Tulsa, we were 'otherwise occupied' on our weekly themed Family Fun Night. But I lugged all of this Chicago stuff across the country to bring Chi-Town to T-Town. 

One night, after an evening of boating,

 We had pizza for dinner. My mind made associations: 

Pizza = Chicago = Family Fun Night!

Chicago Tribune Newspaper, our Chicago 'Bible',

& the map of Chi-Town we lived by (until iPhones)

Our Chicago "Bible"

Sears Tower, 'Chicago Style' Pizza

& Children's Museum

Hancock Building

Day Pass Cards to ride buses and 'El' Trains

Chicago Attractions & 'Chicago Style' Pizza

Grandma DonnaMomma & Grandpa FlyGuy hosted

Cute Grandma DonnaMomma

Motor Mouth

Mini Me

My initial plan was to play the movie Chicago on the DVD player and have the soundtrack playing, but I forgot them at home in Chi-Town. We talked about Chicago instead.

Let's give linkylove to queen of family theme nights, Whitaker Woman.

What's Cooking Wednesday - Designer Pancakes

While Grandma DonnaMomma and Grandpa FlyGuy were visiting, I decided to make pancakes for everyone. DonnaMomma asked if I needed help. I said 'no'. Then I remembered J talking about how his mom made heart-shaped pancakes for them on Valentines day, as kids. I took out my heart cookie cutters but realized that wasn't going to work! So I called DonnaMomma back in and asked her to please show me how she made heart shaped pancakes. She does it freehand! I am not artistic so I thought this was gonna be a flop.

Here is what we did for the kids:

Heart

Turtle (it was supposed to be a bear)

J for Motor Mouth

P for Mini Me

Kid's Names

Smiley Face

Chocolate Smiley Face

And, by special request from Motor Mouth.....A Dinosaur

 - Mommy came up with this all by herself!

BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

This recipe was taken from Cooking Light's Five*Star Recipes. Grandma Grandma gave me this book. It's the one she used and has pages earmarked...Including this one!

WHATCHA NEED:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup nonfat buttermilk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Vegetable cooking spray

WHATCHA DO:

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine egg, buttermilk and oil, and add to dry ingredients; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Coat nonstick griddle with cooking spray, and preheat to 350 degrees. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle. Cook pancakes until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked; turn pancakes, and cook other side.

Yield: 9 (4-inch) pancakes.

Serving Size: 1 pancake (WTH? Who eats just 1 pancake?)

WHATCHA CHANGE

1. I was feeding 6 people so I doubled the recipe.

2. I didn't have buttermilk and I know you can put lemon juice with milk instead - I had it but I didn't feel like it. I used plain old 2% milk.

3. We used chocolate chips to make one of the smiley faces. Get creative!

4. Lightly butter each one when you pull them off the griddle.

DonnaMomma suggests using a mixer just enough to get the lumps out of the batter, pour into a mustard bottle (new & empty) to create your designs easier. When you make your design, do it and wait just a few seconds to use a spoon (or measuring cup) to pour the batter on top of the design to make a circle. If you start and stop the pouring, you can see it when you flip it over.

WHATCHA THINK?

Everyone loved the pancakes!

Normally, the kids like to drown it with syrup. They were happy with just butter!

WHAT IS 'WHAT'S COOKING WEDNESDAY'?

What's Cooking Wednesday was born out of The Fairy Blogmother's desire to get out of the what's for dinner rut? Playing is easy. On Wednesday, post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over to link back here, the Home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

I am a Mom.

My kids are adopted. We have great adoption stories for both of them. But I have not wanted to share any of these stories in Chicago. Why not? I just want to be a MOM. I don't want to be an 'Adoptive Mom'. I just want to be seen as what I am - a Mom. A Real Mom. I don't want to be defined by the process in which I was blessed with my children. 

When we came for our interview weekend, J and I agreed we would not say a word about adoption to anyone. But it just made us weird. There were gaps and awkward pauses as we tried to not talk about this part of lives but were at a loss for words to replace the details. In a matter of hours we were telling Tall Joe and Songbird our story. 

In the last few months, J and I have argued about it several times. Sometimes pretty heated disagreements. J just didn't get why I didn't want to share the truth of our lives. It's not that I didn't want to share it. I just want to be seen and treated like a regular mother. In Tulsa, it just felt like there was always this thing. This difference. I actually had people make comments to the effect I was not a real mother.

I just wanted to live like I was just a mom. Like all the other mothers who wanted to be a mom and went through a time of waiting and anticipation while they prepared for their newborn. Like all the other mothers who were in the labor and delivery room, anxious for a healthy baby to be born. Like all the other mothers who held their baby for the first time in a hospital room and were complete and scared at the same time. Like all the other mothers who left the hospital with a new life that represented an answer to many prayers and hope for the future. 

See. I'm not so different from all the other mothers out there, am I?

I am Scared

J's parents were in for the weekend. Thursday through Monday. I have stuff to post on that, but I want to be more self centered right now.

I'm feeling scared and apprehensive. This homeschooling thing seemed so clear cut and wonderful two weeks ago. It gave me peace of mind for 1 week. Then I started to happen. The part of me that drives J insane happened. The part of me that had us impulsively shop for all new living room furniture years back. Then, when they approved us for the payment plan, freaked out, wondering how it was all going to work out. The part of me that had us purchase a home and then freak out when they approved us for the mortgage. The part that needs to go away.

I know you were shocked I wanted to homeschool. I was too. I thought it was the right thing to do. I felt at peace with it. But as it quickly approaches, I'm getting in my way. Right now, I feel like the little girl that was too shy to take swimming lessons so she never learned. I get gripped by fear sometimes and right now, I am scared.

I'm not scared that I won't be a good teacher. I've done lots of teaching and instructing and tutoring since I was 7 and helped my next door neighbor re-learn how to read English after 6 months in Italy. 

I'm scared that we are going to be chained to schoolwork. That our Adventures of the 3 M's is over. That our Widney Wednesdays are going to be monthly and not weekly. That Family Friday is not going to happen anymore. That maybe I bit off more than I can chew. 

Mini Date Night - Ministry Style!

J's parents had the kids all afternoon and evening Sunday. J had a last minute volunteer glitch for evening service. I asked if I could fill in.

After talking to J Mom of 5, who suggested J and I go out for ice cream after this evening's service, I decided to turn it into a mini date night - ministry style!

I was in the bat cave alone except for lots of high tech gear

Had my M & M's to keep me company

Part way through service, J came over the headset and told me I was doing a great job!

Still had some M & M's to keep me company

Then I screwed up on a video!!

And had less M & M's to keep me company

I worked really hard to not screw anything else up

I had no more M & M's so I was lonely

Soon, I got to leave the Bat Cave

And have a nice dinner with my husband.

It was an honor to be considered

On Thursday, I got a call from ML. I had no idea why ML would be calling, but it was nice to hear her voice again. Our paths had crossed a few times, and then we served together on the Oklahoma Adoption Coalition for a couple of years. I resigned from the Coalition last year, so I knew it couldn't be that.

Here is a synopsis of how the call went down:

"This is Widney Woman." I said as I normally answer my cell phone.

"Hi Widney Woman. It's ML."

"Hi ML!!" No thoughts in my head on why ML could possibly be calling me.

"CJ gave me your new number. Where are you guys living now?"

"CHICAGO! We moved here in April."

"I got a phone call from TT."

"You did?! That's great! She dropped off the radar a few months ago. How is she doing?" I said, so excited to know this call meant TT was back in our lives.

"TT is pregnant. She asked me to call you to see if you and J would be interesting in adopting this baby. It's a little girl due in October."

"Oh.  ?" I said, it finally registered why ML was calling. 

And thus began my emotional Thursday afternoon. I had to call my friend Michy Mee, to help me keep perspective. Michy Mee did a great job - as I knew she would. Thanks, Michy Mee!

Reasons to adopt this baby:

1. It is Mini Me's half-sister.

2. The baby is going to be beautiful!!! Part Costa Rican, part American Indian, part African American, part White. Wowzers!

3. What if TT decides to parent this child and not place her with another family? What will happen to this innocent child's life? What kind of life will she lead without us?

4. What would we tell Mini Me when she is older and finds out we could have parented her half-sister all this time, saving her from a potentially hard life, but we said 'no'. 

5. The girls could share a room and toys.

6. Part of both of us kinda want this baby.

7. The belief in some Christian circles that if God brings the child to us, He will provide the funds to care for the child.

Reasons to NOT adopt this baby:

1. I didn't think to list any of these above: "Because we feel this is our baby" or "Because we feel called to adopt this baby".

2. Just because a birthmother gets pregnant, doesn't mean it is our responsibility to parent her subsequent child(ren). Saying 'yes' to one, does not mean we must say 'yes' to all.

3. We cannot parent every one of our children's birthparents' children. Otherwise, we would be about to have our 5th child under the age of 5 (5, 2, 2, 1, newborn).

4. We can comfortably care for 2. It is our financial responsibility to care for our children - not the state, and not our family.

5. I am approaching 40 and never wanted to have children older in life because of how I felt growing up, having older parents. 

6. In 2007, we decided we didn't want ANYMORE children so J had a vasectomy to remove even the most remote possibility of that ever accidently happening.

7. We are looking to downsize our vehicle to a itty bitty city sized car. A new baby would require a BIGGER vehicle than we have now.

8. I am going to homeschool Motor Mouth and will have to figure out something to do with Mini Me. I am not equipped mentally to care for a newborn, a preschooler, AND do homeschool.

9. I may be a stay@home mom, but that means less income and more sacrifices as it stands.

10. I am excited about Mini Me being potty-trained to save money and not have to mess with diapers. The thought of 2 1/2 more years of diapers makes me cringe.

11. It's one thing to navigate buses and El trains and city life with 2 kids, 3 just makes is miserable.

12. The kids sleep through the night. The thought of sleepless nights makes me want to cry!

13. It is going to cost approximately $15,000. This is cold, but honestly, If we had that kind of money, I'd rather spend that kind of money on a house...Or on my big ass ring J is supposed to buy me for our 10th anniversary. I TOLD you it was cold. But honestly, that is how I feel. 

14. In addition to the $15K, we need to spend more $$ on all new baby gear 'cause I donated, sold, gave, or tossed ALL of the baby gear we had. And, we just dropped a chunk of change on Mini Me's new stroller and we'd need to drop twice as much on a stroller to handle a newborn and Mini Me.

15. We don't want another child.

So I called ML back and told her the answer is no. She gave me TT's new number. ML broke the news to her. The following day, I called TT. I didn't go in to detail with TT on why our answer was no. We visited and caught up. It was nice to talk to her again. She's so wonderful. We love TT and she loves us.

The Loft

My blog hero, Whittaker Woman, asked to see more pictures of our loft. The reason J captured that amazing photo of the Chicago skyline the night before we left for vacation, was because he was running around snapping pictures of the loft. In the morning, he got a few more pictures of the outside.  

Heather (a.k.a. Whittaker Woman), this is for you!

We enter from the balcony. 

The balcony is so big, we are able to fit our patio furniture.

We eat here a couple of times a week.

The entry

Kitchen

J put in those lights. That picture is 5 ft x 3 ft

View of our neighbors balconies from the kitchen.

View down hallway from entry
Mini Me's bedroom. 

Mini Me & Motor Mouth are actually asleep in the bed which 

is why the decorative pillows are on the floor.

It's hard to see, but we have an Eiffel Tower collection up there.

Motor Mouth's Bedroom

It's the only bedroom that is fully enclosed.

Kids Bathroom
Master Bathroom

We have a double sink, not sure why he didn't get it all.
Ceiling in the hallway.

Our bedroom 'ceiling' is on the right.

View down hallway and partial office space

Partial living room ceiling view

Ceiling view of living room & Paris' room

That picture of the kiddos was our 2006 Christmas card cover.

Below, in the frame, are the wings Motor Mouth was wearing in the photo.

Living Room

Dining area

Early morning view of the Chicago skyline from living room.

There are more pictures in my Loft Pictures Category. 

Hope you enjoyed, Heather!!