Bunny Rock Star

Maggie's imaginary friends have been well-documented over the years and I'm happy to report that she has another one. I don't actually know if you can call this a "friend" though, as "Bunny Rock Star" is really more of an imaginary famous rabbit. Maggie has a special "rock star" voice she uses when she sings Bunny Rock Star's songs and today she came into the living room singing in this crazy voice.
She said, "Bunny Rock Star has a new song now. Wanna hear it?"
Of course I said yes so she proceeded: "If you say so, yeah yeah yeah, if you suh-suh-say so, doot doot doot, yeah, if you say so!"
I love that not only does she have a network of imaginary friends and celebrities, she even creates songs for them!

Grant and I have been working on a crazy project for the entire month of July and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. We've been building a dollhouse for Maggie from a kit and while it's been very fun it's also been way more work than we thought and one of us (take a guess) has gotten so frustrated that throwing it out the window or catching it on fire has been threatened on numerous occasions. Here's a photo of the bricks along the base just to give you an idea of the insanity.
Thanks, Amy, for your suggestions about the low-protein cookbook from a few posts back. It looks like there is one and I definitely will be purchasing it soon.
And thanks, Amanda, for your CSA suggestion. I did look at her blog - how on earth do I know her? She looks so familiar!

CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture)

Okay, before I dive right in let's just define a CSA so we're all on the same page:
A CSA is basically a share of a farmer's harvest so you pay a certain amount of money to a local farmer and then you get a box of produce, meat, eggs, preserves (maybe just one of these, maybe a variety) every week. It's so cool because you actually know the farmers who are growing what you eat, and you know the food is as fresh as possible and didn't burn up a lot of fossil fuel being shipped across the country to you! You don't know what you're going to get each time but you have a general idea based on what's seasonal.

We've been a part of a meat CSA with Rolling Hills Farms for about four months now and we've really been happy with it. I never knew meat was "seasonal" before! Anyway, we share a "half share" with some friends so every other month we get 12 pounds of meat and 2 dozen eggs. We've gotten some things I'm used to cooking, like chicken, and some things I didn't typically cook before, like pork shoulder roasts. It's been really fun because I love trying new recipes so I've had a bona fide excuse to look for new ones, and I found a delicious pork and hominy stew recipe that we all loved, among other new recipes. I also feel really good about cooking and serving this meat for my family knowing that it was farmed with humane, sustainable practices, AND in my small way, helping local farmers do what they do!

So with that said, I'm starting to plan for my spring and summer and we've decided to be a part of a produce CSA. There are tons of options in our area and I know some of you out there have tried them. It looks like two of the biggest are Avalon Acres and Delvin Farms. Does anyone have any input for me about pros/cons for ANY farms (not just these two)? My sister-in-law had a coworker who was a part of Avalon Acres and they got TONS of eggplant last year which is totally not my thing but I was reading on their blog that they've drastically reduced the eggplant they will grow this year.

Please help a girl out! Thanks!

Not too much exciting around here...just loving life!

We went to Chattanooga this weekend with some friends and on our way there we stopped for a little leg-stretcher in Monteagle/Sewanee, about 45 minutes outside of Chattanooga. There's a beautiful university there and so we went to a coffee shop on campus and walked around the campus a bit. It was completely fogged over and gave the effect of walking in a cloud. I literally couldn't see more than 20 feet ahead of me. Anyway, it was also starting to drizzle a little and Maggie said, "Oh! Is this bleat? Is it bleating?" She meant sleet but I didn't correct her. Then she said something that I can't really type on my blog. She said, "I'm _________" and the word she said was an invented word of her own creation that is a combination of the words "shivering" and "chattering" (because her teeth were chattering). What word do you come up with if you combine the first part of "shivering" and the last part of "chattering"? It was all we could do not to crack up.
Here is Maggie with one of her best friends, Caleb, in Sunday school. Caleb's mom and I teach together and I took this while we were waiting for the other kids to arrive. They weren't even trying to look like each other but it just was so cute I had to surreptitiously photograph it.

Here's a photo of Finn standing in his crib, the little cutie. He still is our little snuggler and gives the best hugs. His current favorite thing to do is give a hug and then snuggle up next to you and wedge his arms in between your body and his like he's just trying to get extra cozy. If you just look at him and start laughing he'll crack up right with you. His hair is ultra fuzzy and he's starting to need a haircut as it goes over his collar in the back. My mom doesn't want me to cut it yet but looking at my baby photos I definitely had a mullet so maybe I shouldn't take her advice? (Love you, Mother.)

Photos of Christmas Past

I am completely unable to post photos of holidays in a timely fashion. I'm so sorry. Let's just say I'm trying to continue the holidays for you.
Here are all four grandkids at Mimi and Poppy's celebrating Christmas. From left is Jack, my sister Erin's son, Maggie, Lily Kate (Jack's sister) - in Maggie's lap, and Finn.

Here are the youngest cousins in their matching Christmas pajamas:
Today was a very big day for Finn. He pulled himself up to kneeling in his crib (I think he would have been standing if I had only waited two more minutes to come in his room) AND he turned our kitchen step stool into a walking toy.
He actually pushed this stool across the kitchen! Our boy is strong!

We had our official LAST last appointment with our favorite geneticist. Finn has gained over a pound since our appointment in December, so we were very happy with that. He continued to get a good report developmentally and IVA-wise. Now that he's starting to eat table food I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by what to feed him. I mean, I know I could steam a million veggies and cut up fruit for him (although he does have to be careful because even certain veggies and fruits are higher in protein - like sweet potatoes, peas, corn, bananas). What my ultimate goal is (realistic or not) is to adapt what I cook for the rest of the family for him. For instance, I make a veggie stir fry with cashews for myself, Maggie, and Grant, and just pick our the cashews for him. What I want to avoid is making two meals every night. Luckily his protein intolerance isn't like a peanut allergy so just eating something that we pick out the beans, nuts, etc. from won't be bad for him. So far I've come up with two meals that we can all eat together and I just told you about one of them. The other is spaghetti with quorn (a meat substitute) for us and without for him. Anyone have any suggestions? I honestly wish he could just not have meat - that would be so much easier. We're eating a vegetarian diet most of the time - I'd say I have one meal a week with meat in it - but he most likely won't be able to have nuts, beans, soy, etc.

As for Maggie, she came up with a good question for his medical team. On the way to his appointment she asked, "Will Finn always have to go see a special dr?" I said yes and then she said, "But will he always have to go to Children's Hospital? Even when he's a grown-up?" We decided that was a good question and I thought surely he wouldn't keep going there, but we made a point to ask during his appointment. It turns out he will! Dr. Summar said his oldest patient is 90 years old. Isn't that strange?!