Bubble Bath

Dallin loves taking baths. He likes to wade around in the water and play with his toys.

The other day he started blowing bubbles in the water with his mouth. I love that he figured out how to do that. It's pretty cute.

Holiday Treats

I love this time of year for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is an excuse to make lots of treats. Cookies, pies, bars, fudge, muddy buddies, cheesecake, desserts, and anything with pumpkin in it! This week our Relief Society had a holiday treat exchange. A great excuse to make some sweets! There were 2 recipes I wanted to make. I should have just chosen one, but instead I made both. Things got a little more hectic and stressful at home while baking than they should have for a simple R.S. activity, but now I get to enjoy the leftovers of 2 treats. I'll share both of the recipes with you. They're pretty easy and so very yummy.

Pumpkin Crumble

This recipe reminds me of my days at BYU working in catering. During Christmastime, we catered a lot of events and Christmas parties, and one of the common dessert choices we offered was Pumpkin Crumble. Catering could be a crazy, hectic job sometimes with long hours on your feet. I always looked forward to breaktime, sitting back and eating a plate of turkey, stuffing and gravy, and finishing it off with a heaping spoonful of Pumpkin Crumble. It was a peaceful heaven for 5 minutes. And then off to the dishroom.... I got this recipe last year at a R.S. holiday treat exchange. I don't think it's the same recipe the BYU kitchens use, but it still tastes pretty darn good.

Layer 1: Put 1 pkg white cake mix (set aside 1 cup) in a bowl. Add ½ cup melted butter and 1 egg. Mix well and press into a 9x13 pan. Do not bake.

layer 2: Mix 1 large can of pumpkin, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup milk, 1 cup white sugar and 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Pour over cake batter.

Layer 3: Take reserved cup of dry cake mix and mix in ¼ cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and ¼ cup butter (cold). Cut into crumb mixture and sprinkle over pie filling.

Bake at 325° for 45 minutes. Let Cool slightly before serving.

Topping: Whip together 2 cups whipping cream and 1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding.

Mini Pecan Tarts

My mom would make these sometimes around Christmas, so I always think of these when I need to make a holiday treat. This is not her recipe (because I don't have it), but this one was taken from Laurel's Pink Family Cookbook (pg 26, for those who have the cookbook or even know what I'm talking about), with a few changes based on online recipes. To make these, you need a mini muffin pan. They're easy to find and I just got mine on sale at Target. A wonderful tool that helps form the dough cups in the pan is the mini tart shaper from Pampered Chef. My mom has this and it makes the tart forming part go much faster. It's not necessary to have though. I found that my fat toe thumbs did the job just fine.

3 oz cream cheese

1/2 c. butter

1 c. flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 c chopped pecans

1 t vanilla

Cream 1/2 c. butter and cream cheese well. Add flour. Shape into 24 balls. Press into mini muffin tins to make cups (this is where some fat thumbs come in handy). Mix the rest of the ingredients well for the filling. Fill dough cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes before removing from pan.

Eat and enjoy!

Progress

After last month's excitement with Dallin in the hospital, things are back to normal and going very well. Dallin saw the kidney specialist again this week. His calcium is much better. It was 11.5, and while that is still a little higher than the normal range, it's much lower and a much safer number for him to be at. His potassium is in a good range now as well. He's getting used to all the medical tests he's subjected to on a regular basis. He hardly cried when they drew his blood. We've been taking his blood pressure at home a few times a week. He used to scream and fight when his blood pressure was taken a the doctor's but now he's used to it and doesn't care at all. As a result, his blood pressure has also been lower.

He's completely on the formula now, except for one nursing session in the middle of the night because I'm too lazy tired to get up and make him a bottle. He's taking the formula very well and doesn't seem to notice a difference. It also seems like he's gaining weight! (knock on wood) His weight has fluctuated between 14.5 and 15 lbs. for the past 10 months so I'm trying not to get too excited, but he weighed 15 lbs. 2 oz. at his appt. this week. That's almost 6 oz. more than when he left the hospital. He looks like he's getting chubbier. His face is fuller and his belly is more round. The trouble is getting him to KEEP gaining weight, but I'm pretty optimistic that he'll be getting bigger.

We are finally getting him started with a physical therapist here. It's been a pain to jump through the insurance and medical referral hoops to get therapy started for him, but we're finally making progress. I'll be meeting with our coordinator on Monday to plan out his goals for the next 6 months and choose his therapists.

He's still cautious around food, but making some attempts. The other day he tried and loved this chicken tortilla soup. He actually opened his mouth again for several bites! And it was a little on the spicy side for me. He is his father's son. Another thing he enjoys is cheese puffs.

He likes to lick the cheese off them.

And it makes him happy to be a big boy and feed himself.

We're still very far away from getting him completely onto solid food, but he's making little baby steps of progress.

I did it

I did it!

I finally succeeded.

I watched The Illusionist without falling asleep.

It probably helped that we started it at 7pm instead of 9 or 10 like we had done before. Through my sleepy viewings of the movie, I'd seen parts here and there (like the ending) that I didn't understand. Now having seen the whole thing, it all makes sense! It's almost like the movie was intended to be watched this way!

And it's actually a pretty good movie. I still prefer The Prestige, but I would definitely enjoy watching The Illusionist again.

Now I have to watch other movies that I've never been able to finish.

Next on the list: Casino Royale.

Embraceable - A Film about Williams Syndrome

I found out through some friends on facebook about a documentary film being made about Williams Syndrome. I have no idea when it's coming out or if it will be in theaters. I'm just excited that it's being made and I hope I get to see it when it comes out.

Embraceable - Trailer from Kent Creative on Vimeo.

This makes me want to start teaching Dallin how to play the piano. I think we have a few things to work on first though, like not eating the music or the piano keys. And being able to sit up at the piano without falling over.

Tasty Music

I keep a box of piano music underneath the piano. Dallin likes to crawl over to the piano and stand up by the box.

I always think he's so cute when he does that.

Now I've found out what he's really been doing.

He took a bite out of my music book!

Do you think I can say "paper" when the doctors ask what he's been eating?

Trunk or Treat

The three Lafayette wards had a Trunk-or-Treat for Halloween at the church. Dallin, of course, still fit into his monkey costume from last year. We came up with a different theme to go with his costume this time.

He was a monkey and we were zookeepers.

Apparently metal buckets and zookeeper hats are hard to find. (Thank you Hobby Lobby!)

The inside of our trunk has stuff in it, so we passed out candy next to the trunk.

There were a lot of kids and lots of creative costumes. Dallin doesn't understand trick or treating yet, but he did like taking candy from people and chewing on the wrappers.

All three of us.

When we got home we looked through the candy and let Dallin play with.

He was pretty excited about that.

He managed to unwrap a chocolate and melt it all over his hands.

And wouldn't you know it, with all the chocolately mess he made, he didn't eat any of it.