Is It Just Me?

So, I have this (not so secret) hope that my daughter will grow up to have curly hair. Sometimes I deliberately fluff it up (as much as it can be fluffed for being barely there), and tell myself it's curly. Or, I just take photos of it after it's dried from the bath... (See pic below.)

It's not just me, right? There does appear to be a slight curl to it, right? Be honest now.

In truth, I will love my daughter's hair curls or no curls, but this week my incredibly thoughtful husband brought Grace to see me at lunch. (I say he's incredibly thoughtful because he already put in his 40 hours for the week. He worked 4 long and late days, and then on his day off drove 40 minutes both ways so that he and Grace could spend approximately 30 minutes with me. Most of that time was shared with middle school girls and a few fellows popping in to fawn over the baby. He's a good man. What can I say, I got lucky).

Now, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, one of my 7th grade girls came in, took one look at Grace, and exclaimed, "She looks nothing like you Mrs. Dietz! She looks so much like your husband!". This is true. Everyone, including me, can see Ken in Grace. Most see Fenix as well (with the exception of his grandma on his mother's side, who asked to hold her at one of Fenix's soccer games (a bit awkward...), and then very loudly announced, while holding her an arms distance away, "Well, you look NOTHING like you're brother!". Aren't split homes fun for everyone?:)

Very rarely do I get that Grace looks like me, so I'm thinking that the curly hair is our last saving grace (saving grace...ha, do you see what I did there?).

I'd like for Grace to inherit more than my temper and lack of patience.

So, we'll see.

What do you think?

Look closely.

Is it just me, or do you see a hint of curl???

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Confession 1:

If we had the money, I would totally hire someone to come in once a week and clean our house. I am not a fan of deep cleaning whatsoever, or dishes, or laundry, or vacumming the couches especially. (This is probably my least favorite thing to do, which is why in my next life I am only having one animal and it's not going to shed...or it's going to be a fish.) My house is currently a disaster area and every weekend I recommit myself to being a better homemaker during the week, so my weekends aren't so...messy.
(Don't worry, I DO clean, my house won't be a disaster area past today, I will just hate every moment of it:)

Confession 2:

I become more and more like my mother every day. I thought I would mind, but I don't. I do however, feel a bit sorry for my husband.

Here's one example: I have developed total plane anxiety. Anytime we fly I think we are going to die and I spend about twenty minutes at the start of each flight nervously praying. My mother wasn't necessarily this way on planes, but anytime we traveled she was excessively anxious.

Confession 3:

Being a parent to a child in split home is hard (sorry Sharlee, I hope I'm not falling to that category of parents you dislike, it's the best word to describe it though.) You are held to abnormally high standards, superhuman standards. There's no room for error, because you are constantly scrutinized. I'm sure this isn't true for all parents of a child that lives in a split home, but I think it may be for most. Ken and I definitely aren't innocent of this either. In addition there is no easy decision. All decisions have to be ran through another party, who leads a different life with different obligations. Time and holidays are divided. You cross your fingers that birthdays and other events fall on the right day. You learn to accept that your child is being raised with a different set of rules, values, and guidelines depending on his home. There are laws and guidelines and politics that typical parents don't have to deal with. And, I'm just the step-parent, so I can only imagine how it is for my husband and Fenix's mom, let alone Fenix. At this point he seems to handle it all really well, and I hope it continues that way as he gets older. Despite it being difficult at times, I wouldn't trade my relationship with Fenix for anything in the world. I have been BLESSED by his presence in my life.

Confession 4: I love to bake. In fact, that's the reason for this post actually. Ken and Fenix bought me some really nice stainless steal measuring cups for Christmas. I used them once over the break to make some really deliscious cookies (which I sent to Ken's work, because I couldn't trust myself to keep them in the house), and I'd really like to use them again, however, I made a New Year's resolution to lose the last of this baby weight, and I have a feeling if I bake, it's going to be even harder to make that happen. (I have pretty much no self control. Therefore baked goods are not even allowed in our house for the time being.) So, instead of baking and gaining five pounds, I thought I'd share a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies that I made over the holidays. They are phenomenal! Really! And, I'm not even a huge fan of pumpkin. So, if you're in the mood to bake, and you aren't all pumpkined out from the holidays/actually have a some self control, this is a really good recipe to try.



(Just to you know, I stole this picture from allrecipes.com.)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips, not semisweet
Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper

What you need to do:

Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth.

Then, beat in the white and brown sugars. You'll want to add a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Next, beat in the eggs 1 at a time, and mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter.

Last, toss in your chocolate chips.

Scoop the cookie dough (you'll want about a tablespoon) onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for around 2 minutes. (I'm not sure, but it seems like if I leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for a lot longer, that get flat.

Take the cookies off and cool them on a wire rack.



(This picture has NOTHING to do with this post, but she is so stinkin' cute, I couldn't resist.)

Thank You!

If you know our family, then you know that Fenix only lives with us half the time and and that he spends the other half of his time with his mom and her family. This is tough, as I'm sure it is for the billions of families who are in similar situations. However, despite splitting his nights between his two homes, we still get to see Fenix every school day, even on the mornings that he is technically with his mother. Why? Well, my husband meets Fenix's step-dad or mom at 6:30 every morning that they have him. Ken brings Fenix back to our house and they eat breakfast together and then Fenix gets ready for the day and Ken takes him to school. Usually once a week on one of Fenix's mom's days I pick Fenix up from school and take him to religious ed as well. Sometimes, this annoys me. Having Fenix in the morning DOES NOT annoy me, nor does having extra time with him in the afternoon, but the fact that Fenix's mother can't seem to make the time to take her son to school does (last year she worked from home, so her schedule was more than open to take him to school, etc. This year, she is going to BSU, therefore she passes right by his school on her way to school, and she is also working part time at a place located 3 minutes from Fenix's school/5 minutes from our house.) Yet, despite all this, she absolutely cannot take him to school. I have to admit I don't understand this AT ALL! God forbid, I ever be in the situation where my child is living in a split home and I only have her half the time; however, if that did happen, I can guarantee you that I would be spending every moment I could with her. In fact, I spend every moment I can with Fenix when we have him. We make plans around our schedule with him because we want all that we can get with him. We make sacrifices for him because we want him to be happy and because that's just what you do when you're a parent. Although to be honest, we don't look at it as a sacrifice. It's just what you do. Needless, to say, I am completely baffled by Fenix's mother. And in truth, kind of think that if she can't budget in taking Fenix to school in the morning, then maybe Fenix should just be with us during the school week. It would be different if she worked at that hour and so she had to drop him off with Ken in the morning. However, that's not the case.

This morning was one of those mornings where my husband picked Fenix up and he spent the morning with us before school. I have the day off because Grace has her four month doctor's appointment. We ate breakfast, Fenix and I played with Grace together, and when it came time for Fenix to go to school, Grace and I walked him down to the bus stop, because Ken had to leave for work. Now, despite my annoyance with Fenix's mother, if I could say something to her about this situation, it would be this:

Thank you!

Thank you for giving us more time with Fenix. Your selfishness is only resulting in a loss for you and a gain for us. I'm sure there will come a time (especially when Fenix begins to realize and vocalize which of his parents have been the one to always make time for him) that you will look back, and regret the time that you gave away.

But in the meantime, thank you! We will take all the extra time that we can get.