In all my years, I never envisioned living life with steadfast grief. Not grieving the loss of a child. Grieving the loss of the life I saw for my child. Grieving the loss of the life I envisioned for my family. I am the firstborn...type A...the rule follower...a closet organizer. I appreciate and crave order. But grief has no playbook. And it leaves behind one hell of a mess. Denial Zella the zebra came into this world in mostly the same way as her older three siblings. There was no fanfare upon delivery, just another silently breathed prayer of thanks followed by a slew of sleepless nights and tongue-tied nursing struggles. The diagnosis that followed her arrival nearly 18 months later caught us off guard. We were determined to make the most of it, and honestly as an ... [Read More]
My Favorite Recipes in a Pandemic
With the threat of COVID-19 and our subsequent quarantine, for the first time in my life I have found myself with time in the kitchen. Skill? Not so much. Patience? Ha. Below are a few favorite recipes I have discovered over the past five months of lockdown. Life Changing Peas Peas? Bear with me. Yesterday I was scouring the garage chest freezer for a green side dish to add to our chicken poppyseed casserole dinner. Usually I'll throw some frozen green beans in the instant pot, but all I could find was a ginormous bag of frozen peas. I'm still unsure as to when I made that purchase... A quick Google search led me to Favorite Family Recipes and their amazingly simple yet refreshing spin on frozen peas. Although I don't despise peas, I generally prefer to eat them in something ... [Read More]
Perfecting the Grilled Cheese
An American Tradition I will utilize this platform to proclaim that the ultimate American comfort food is an excellent grilled cheese sandwich paired with a cup of smooth, creamy tomato soup. You know I'm right. Don't @ me. But let's be real, the vast majority of the time my reproduction of this staple looks a lot like a couple pieces of leftover bread with a processed American cheese single shoved in between. And don't forget the hastily heated can of condensed tomato soup. Today we needed more, though. The past week has been emotionally hard. Life is beautiful, but simultaneously cruel and unjust, and altogether too difficult to comprehend. We made it to Sunday, and I decided lunch was going to need to be more than just Kraft and Campbell's. Leveling Up Your ... [Read More]
CPAP Therapy & Your Neurodiverse Toddler
We recently started implementing CPAP therapy with Zella, our four year old with ADNP syndrome. Although the following probably only appeals to an incredibly tiny segment of the population, I thought I would share some of the information we have gleaned in going down this road less traveled. Zella’s History with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Zella has mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea. She was first diagnosed as a two year old after a particularly interesting (read: HEINOUS) sleep study. (Shoutout to Jake for suffering through that one.) Find more information about Zella and her ADNP syndrome diagnosis here. At this age Zella was averaging about 2 apnea events per hour of nighttime sleep. A sleep study one year later at age 3 further confirmed this diagnosis with similar ... [Read More]
My Favorite Things Pt. 3
Friday was a bit crazy as we were tied up with an octopus and a lawn gnome, not to mention an outing to our beloved Del Taco. And Saturday was the definition of lazy...and so this post is coming later than I had planned. The third and final installment of my favorite things will include a combo of wardrobe and makeup items that I have come to love and adore. Without further ado... Temptu Airbrush Makeup The day was Mother's Day...2011. I was a mom to Cole, 22 months old (just older than Penn's current age), and pregnant with Vera (only known as "Baby E #2" at the time). Jake gave me perhaps one of the greatest Mother's Day gifts of all time - the Temptu Airbrush Makeup System. It was, and still is (8 years later), glorious. I'm a fan for so many reasons... Ultra Hygienic - ... [Read More]
My Favorite Things Pt. 2
Part two of my favorite things are home-related items, the first of which comes from one of the greatest companies of all time: Sheets & Giggles. The product? Sheets...made from eucalyptus. Speaking of eucalyptus... Sheets & Giggles Eucalyptus Lyocell Sheet Set Still one of *the* best videos of all time, but I digress. In May of 2018 I backed an Indiegogo campaign for eucalyptus bedding from Sheets & Giggles. My life was changed for the better five months later when these sheets and this duvet were delivered by my beloved UPS driver. I have at least a little bit of experience when it comes to buying sheets, thanks to our yearly home rental for the Masters tournament. When it is time to upgrade one of my tournament sets, I pour over sheet reviews, attempting to ... [Read More]
