See You Up There

Monday morning we went to the OB-Gyn full of excitement at the prospect of hearing our little baby's heart beat and possibly getting to see him on ultrasound. After trying unsuccessfully to find the heartbeat with the doppler, the doctor did an ultrasound to locate the baby.  We knew something was wrong when she said, "where's the heartbeat?"  Apparently our little one died a few weeks ago and stopped developing at 9 weeks.  We are very sad but know that God has a plan and that this is for our good.  We just have to wait a little longer to meet our little baby in Heaven.  LeeAnn is having a D&C procedure tomorrow at 1:30 so we would appreciate your prayers for that as well as for us as we get through this.

Recipe 2

Dinner tonight was:

Salmon pan fried in a little bit of olive oil seasoned with salt and pepper and then topped with avocado salsa.

I cooked the salmon on medium heat, it took about 4 min on one side and maybe 3 once I turned it but our filets were pretty thin. I like to make sure that the salmon is not overcooked because it gets really dry when over cooked but cook it how you like it.

Avocado Salsa:

1 large tomato seeded and chopped
1 large avocado chopped
1/2 of a small onion (about 1/4 cup)
1 Tbl of fresh cilantro chopped (I left this out because my husband is not a fan)
1 Tbl lemon or lime juice (I used a little of both tonight and was really good)
1 clove of chopped garlic
a few dashes hot pepper sauce (I used tobasco)
a little salt

It will taste good right away but is best if you chill it for a couple of hours. This is from The Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and there is a Mango Salsa recipe in there that is also wonderful on fish.

This is a great, really healthy meal that takes no time to make.

Moose update

Moose has been a really good kitten, very playful but really just a lap cat. We took him to the vet on Wednesday and he was given 3 vaccinations. We were warned that it might be a bit much for him and it was, when we came home he fell asleep and barely moved for the last two days. Today he is back to his hyper playful ways so I think all is well. Here are a few pics, the most concerning one being Moose on top of Frank's cage... our only real issue with our kitten :)

Recipe 1

I have decided to post may favorite recipes as I make my favorite meals, after all the one hobby that I have always kept up with is cooking.

My first recipe is one of my favorite salads and is probably one that you all know but I made it for a church pot luck today and thought I would go ahead and make it my first post.

Spinach
Strawberries
Walnuts
Feta
Vinaigrette (my favorite on this salad is Briannas blush wine vinaigrette)

Just slice up your strawberries, make sure your spinach is clean and toss everything together, you do not need much feta because it is a pretty strong cheese. Super simple and really good!


The other recipe I made this weekend is Leigh's Yummy Banana Bread and that recipe can be found here. I have been looking for "my" banana bread recipe for a long time and think I finally have one that I plan to always use, thanks Leigh :)

I miss Gus

I miss Gus

Encouraging

This morning we visited Hope Evangelical for the second time. The pastor recognized us from our visit last week and we were welcomed by several of the members. We really did enjoy attending Harvest but were so lost in the crowd that we never felt a part of the church. This morning was so encouraging because it really feels like a place that we can be involved, the message was meaty and interesting, the people were friendly and the church has a heart to reach out to the community. We are excited to see what God has for us and what we can do to serve Him in this new place :)

On the baby update, I am still feeling pretty rough everyday. If I am not in the actual act of eating I am in a constant state of nauseousness. I am actually encouraged by this, albeit tired of it, but at least I know that the hormones are doing their job and if I am as far along as we found out at our appointment it should only last for one or two more weeks. Our next appointment is on Sept 29th so we will let you know how that goes.

WOOHOO!

In the tradition of recent blogs making the same announcement we are making, here is a photo you might find interesting...



We are excited to announce that there will be a new little Grissom added to our family some time around April 3rd :) We had our first appointment with our OBGYN's nurse today and it had its ups and downs. We really like our nurse and feel like we are in capable hands for this brand new process but were a bit disappointed when we did not get to hear the heartbeat. I am only 10 weeks along and it is not uncommon to have a hard time finding the little heart at this early stage, but it was one of the main things we were looking forward to today. Once we finished our appointment we were sent downstairs to get bloodwork done... when they finished taking my blood everything got a little woozie and I ended up passing out (no fun at all!). I was only out for a few seconds but the lab insisted that I go to the clinic and get checked out before I left, it ended up being a pretty long morning and I am still pretty tired from it. Quite a bit more of a dramatic beginning than I was hoping for...

We are excited to finally make this public information and will keep you posted on how it is going :)

Sad day

Yesterday Jeff and I had a sad day. Gus was rescued from a home where he had been neglected, left in his crate all the time and not really interacted with. This being said, we did not leave him alone much but when we did put him in his crate he was not a happy camper and apparently he would bark and cry for longer than we knew. Our neighbors called our landlord 3 days in a row (Gus was only in his crate 1 of those days...) without ever talking to us and on Sunday morning, on our way to church, we received a phone call informing us that we had to get rid of him. We called the family that gave him to us, packed up all his stuff and dropped him off with tears in our eyes. Due to his history Gus was a very high maintenance dog and we were struggling with that a bit but, overall, he was a great dog and will be missed!

Our little circus and visiting a new church

So, I know that we have only been blogging lately when big things are happening, hopefully I will keep up a little better now :)

Lately our lives have been working and taking care of the pets... a little overwhelming, not to terribly unexpected with all the change that we had in such a short time but the size of our little house has been felt lately. We are tired, Gus has a tendency to keep us awake but he is getting better all the time. This followed in the wake of Moose getting use to us, he used to cry all night as well but we have gotten past that phase now. Frank continues to be the easiest of our little circus to take care of, chirping politely most of the day and occasionally hearing a bird outside or on TV causing him to go into a fit wishing he had a friend to play with.

Tomorrow we visit a new church, Hope Evangelical. We are excited about trying to find a smaller church where we can hopefully get plugged in a little easier. We have enjoyed Harvest but feel disconnected and lost in the crowd...

I hope you all enjoy our blog as much as we have enjoyed our friends blogs. My wish is that it would not feel like we are so far away :)