Mama Says

This little girl...her hair is getting so long that it's in her face quite frequently...so we like to put it up in "tails", as Josiah calls them. I can't believe how big she's getting and how fast the time is going....

Here's our "jungle"....with a forest of tomato plants....still with little yellow flowers and green tomatoes. We heard some good advice about chopping off the excess greenery and yellow buds in order to insure a harvest by first frost....I think we'll be following that tip. =)

Take looky at this baby....our first harvested carrot....just to see what was really going on under that soil....

Not your average looking carrot....but still edible! A little more tricky to dice....

This little duo has been working on developing some musical talents....in addition to the chorus of shrieks, laughs, and provoked cries.

This budding young pianist climbs up on the piano bench everyday to play us tune....I think she mostly likes conquering the climbing challenge it offers her, but there must be at least some musical draw in her!

This little drummer boy is busy developing his air drum skills....practiced at home to his current favorite "Jesus Take the Wheel", and at church during the singing time has his eyes on the musicians...mimicking their guitar strums and drum moves. It's especially endearing when he really gets into it and closes his eyes....=)

Well...if it isn't completely obvious from my lack of communication, I haven't been in the blogging mood.....this pregnancy has been heading to the bed at naptimes and fairly soon after the kids are in bed for the night....and also frustrated with long bouts of nausea....It's worth it for sure, but I'm ready to be over with this phase of the pregnancy!
I also did a super long update for you, and for some reason it didn't post...so I was bitter. =)
We've had a busy summer.....harvesting apples from the tree, hosting visitors =0), weeding the garden, going for walks, and trying to keep up with the little darlings of ours.

Here's some of our visitors this summer...

Auntie Squisha, Uncle Jason, and Tyson....who was born a day after Grace. He's got her beat in the body mass department!

My brother Paul....the Las Vegas showman....spent the day with us in Bellingham.

My parents took us all to Anthony's for a special birthday dinner for Paul....just the grownups!

Daddy's been on a few fun fishing trips....

Josiah's  had a few fun rides this  summer....including some tractors, an asphalt paver, a fire engine, Daddy's truck, and a riding lawn mover.

And, of course, little miss "I've got something in my mouth".....probably something she gleaned from the garden....rocks, rotten apples, dirt, green/red boysenberries....she's had fun tagging along everywhere....anywhere where her brother is. She calls him "iah" and follows him like a shadow....squeals of terror or delight are sure to be heard from every corner of the house. Sometimes from her mother too...as she discovers Grace's latest "get-in-ta". =)

I found this little Grace bottoms up in the wagon full of muddy water....she was trying to take a drink! I have no idea what could be so appealing about drinking mud, but then again...I'm not the one with the radiant smile!

She is so into everything....very slowly learning the words "no touch".....she enjoys playing in the toilet water, climbing up on the dining room table, turning on and off the computer, chasing her brother around the couch (redeemingly cute), and escaping out which ever door she's not allowed to....so far my trying child.....but then she leans in for a kiss, puckering up her little lips, and saying, mmmmaaaaaa....and her charms reduce my frustrations to little smirks....

Look at those teeth...going on 7 so far....

Brent is a meat and potatoes man....born and raised....I always seem to get more compliments on the food when it surrounds this genre. When we went to Argentina together (when Josiah was 5 months old...to work at an orphanage...and travel) he was delighted to find the local restaurants serving up large and inexpensive portions of Argentine beef...taters, empanadas, and homemade pasta. =)  Some of the familiar Spanish words he grew fond of were bife de chorizo, bife de lomo, and milanesa...words describing various cuts of meat that were mouthwateringly delicious (if you like beef, that is...which...we do.)
Since the chances of us being able to eat Argentine beef at home are slim, I did learn one form of preparing beef to take home with us....the supremely flat, breaded and fried Milanesa.
The orphanage where we stayed served this quite frequently, though we were never sure which days it would be a steak, and which days it was liver. =) (which wasn't so bad served this way!)
Making milanesa is simple....you can even buy cheap cuts of meat because you're slicing it so thin it's always tender...even liver!
1. While partially frozen (easiest this way) slice your meat as thinly as you can.(for 2 lbs of meat...)
2. Pound out the thin slices so they're even thinner....meat mallet between wax paper works great....fun for kids to do this part!
3. Beat several eggs (I'm so not a precise chef...sorry) (...you my need 4...)
4. Make superfine breadcrumbs...or buy them if you like (I suppose maybe 2 cups ...ish?...)
5. Add spices to the breadcrumbs....sea salt, a bit of pepper, Italian seasoning, parsley, garlic powder...you can even add Parmesan cheese if you want....(how much?...ha...I guess generous dustings of all but the pepper)
6. Dip meat in egg, then in breadcrumbs, then fry in a pan of oil over medium high heat.
It will cook super fast because it's so thin.....you could also make a whole bunch, bread them (not yet fried), and then freeze them in between wax paper so that it's a really quick meal. That's what they did at the orphanage...

To make it a bit more healthy, we used sprouted grain bread crumbs (which we thought tasted better than the white bread), and fried them in unrefined coconut oil. Also, I had a small cut of meat so our pieces are much smaller than normal, but because it was sliced thinly, we had enough for dinner, three sandwiches (liberally piled), and a kiddos lunch. Economical and yummy!
We served it with a red potato/sweet potato garlic mash, and buttered fresh asparagus (we always butter vegetables because it aids in the absorption of vitamins)...YUM!

Here's a fun blog called ASADO ARGENTINA
it tells you how to make bife de chorizo....and other fun stuff!

Here's a few photos of our first family of four camping trip....that ended early! =)
Highlights would be....cooking t-bone steaks over an open flame....lots of walks...dipping our feet in the lake on the hot hot day....kids sleeping through the night..(while mama lies awake listening to the bats eat the bugs off the tent)...picking wild strawberries...watching the kids get super dirty and just enjoy being outside.

This little munchkin was all over the place...in the fire pit, on top of the table, escaping towards the road (has some imaginary magnetic pull, apparently), putting all sorts of unknown items in her mouth...there was a whole new world to explore that kept us on our toes!

Josiah had so much fun....when asked his favorite part of camping he replied that it was "playing in my tree house".....which I'm still not sure where that was....a vivid creation of the imagination...=)
(notice the girl up on the table....again...that's a tortilla that she found and decided to carry with her on our next walk. =)...also notice the cup on the ground...which was on the table....and found by the girl...)

"Are we having fun yet"?....Caught off guard by the camera man....while wiping some fingers....and soooo ready for bed!

This patient, patient man....."let's go for a walk!" was the quickest route to sanity...strap that baby in the carrier!

And here we are....Gracie with the tortilla, Josiah with his sword "to protect his family", he says...

"I will not complain...I will not complain..."
I have been waiting for this warm weather and sunshine for....well....a long time. Now that it's here...it is so great to be outside all the time and watch the garden grow. It has been hot though...which makes it hard for my kids to sleep....but I am refusing to complain......=)
Here's just a few random updates....
Brent took Friday and Monday (today) off of work so that we could go camping and have some family time. Well....the camping didn't last long....we made some really great memories....and experienced some moments of "NEVER AGAIN"!!!...which culminated in us packing up and coming home early. We went to Baker Lake, so we were just a quick drive home....I think we'll wait to go again till Gracie's a bit older...this "vacation" was more exhausting than being at home!

We went strawberry picking today....got 20 lbs of berries....that was fun. I love berry picking season. =) The kids did great, and ate their weight's worth of berries...

I'm further along than I thought I was....the belly is already starting to protrude, and I could have sworn that the baby jostled the glass of water that I had balancing on it....I guess we'll have to wait for an ultrasound to be certain. Right now, we're thinking I'm close to 12 weeks....making the due date in January! Yikes....ready or not here he/she comes! I think it's going to be a boy...but that's just me. We'll carry on the Rollins tradition of waiting to find out till the baby pops out! I'm not ready to tackle the name game....though the name "Jack" has been floating around recently....and if we give him Brent's Grandpa's name for the middle name...then we've got ourselves a Jack Daniel....and for some reason that combination of names has a familiar ring to it....

That's all for now....no eye candy photos....I can't find the camera...
No creative juices are flowing......though the iron is giving me more energy!!

I was looking through the old birth pictures of the kids and thought it would be fun to share them with you...
Just in case you didn't know....both kids were born on June 4, two years apart, two hours apart, in the same room (at a birth center)...so the following pictures are going to look awfully similar.
This one was right after Josiah was born...the afterglow still burning bright....I remember how Brent was so giddy and excited and amazed at the whole thing. He was quite a bit more calm with Gracie's arrival.

Josiah was born in the tub, and so after I had a few minutes to stare at this wonder, and the "I can't believe that just came out of me"  had faded, they passed him off to Brent while I got out of the tub to dry off and get warm.

This one was from Gracie's birth...the final stages of labor were in the water, but she got stuck on my pubic bone, so they had to reach up and grab her!!

I love the difference in the looks on Brent's face between the two...one he's awestruck, the next, he's just plain beaming.

Introducing....baby sister....

What a precious, exhausting, time...

I found out last Wednesday night...so I don't think I'm very far along. I just had a feeling...and I was staying up really late to write the blog about how awful I was feeling....then it hit me that I should take another prego test. It was very positive and I just stood there for a minute letting it all sink in. By this time it was around midnight, and I didn't want to wake Brent up cause I knew we'd sit and talk about it for hours and he'd have to be at work early....so I went to bed and lay there myself awake for hours thinking and processing this news. After the alarm went off I told Brent that he needed to go to the bathroom....he kept insisting that he was warm and cozy and didn't need to go...befuddled as to why I was insistent...so then I said..."fine...I'm pregnant!". I loved the puzzled, smiling..."what..?" that came out next... the only bummer was that we had only about 10 minutes to talk before he had to leave.
Anyway, I will make an appointment with the midwife soon, and we'll get this due date settled....I'm thinking maybe March 09??
 The reason I'm sharing so early is because I'm a bit scared/nervous/apprehensive....about the potential for having a miscarriage,(we had one before we got pregnant with Josiah) and I thought that if I shared this with all of you then I would - A. feel supported through whatever and B. know that there could be a few more prayer warriors fighting for the life of this baby.
This little one was a surprise, but then again, we weren't doing anything to prevent it....so I guess the potential was always there in my mind. I'm wondering how it will be with three....and if this time I'll figure out my health issues so that I'll produce enough breast milk....
I met with the naturopath Tuesday afternoon and I had low iron levels...so I got some liquid iron to drink with OJ, my thyroid levels with on the lower end of normal, so I have a few months supply of a natural supplement to support that, and I've got some killer prenatals......but I'm still left questioning the reason why I never was able to produce enough milk for either of my kids!!! That is so frustrating to me! I'm on a mission....and I have 9 ish?? months to figure this out....
Thank you all for your words of encouragement and support!!