I’m excited to finally be getting our adoption jewelry added to the website.   We’ve made a number of special adoption gift necklaces for other people, and I proudly wear a few myself.  The individual product pages aren’t all up yet, but any of our personalized jewelry can be personalized with special adoption words and sayings.

By the end of August every year, I feel the same way.   I am insanely sick of the Arizona heat.   It is miserable, and the “it’s a dry heat’ thing doesn’t fly with me.  It’s hot – like my oven.   I also become super anxious for Fall to arrive.  I LOVE Fall.  Love love love.  It’s the end of the heat, we can be outside, my favorite holidays are on the way, I can decorate the house with pumpkins, and I can bake, bake and bake some more.   Fall rocks my world basically.  I go from being quite grumpy in August, to quite happy in October (September is really just more summer, so I’m probably still quite grumpy).

So in my anxiousness to get fall here, I whipped up a batch of pumpkin muffins today.   The house smells divine.  Nothing better then the smell of pumpkin bread, with lots of cinnamon, in the air.    I’ve tweaked a recipe over the past year to try and make it super healthy, and I have to say, it’s pretty darn yummy for having almost no fat and lots of fiber and protein.   I thought I would share in case anyone is looking for a healthy lowfat pumpkin bread / pumpkin muffin recipe.    I made them as muffin tops, as I’m on a Vitalicious Vitatop kick right now, and they don’t offer a pumpkin muffin top.  The muffin tops are really easy to wrap up, freeze and then pack in a lunch box or back pack.

Low Fat Light Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

2 Cups White Whole Wheat Flour (I like King Arthur’s or Trader Joe’s)

1 1/4 cups Oat Flour (I use Arrowhead Mills Oat Flour)

2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tbsp Cinnamon

2+ tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (we like our pumpkin spicy, so some may like less)

1/2 cup Flax Seed Meal (I like Bob’s Red Mill)

1/2 – 1 tsbp Salt

1 1/2 cups Sugar – white, brown or combo

2 cups Canned Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

Approx 1 cup Cinnamon Applesauce (I use 3 individual serving cups of applesauce)

2/3 cup water

5 large egg whites

Mix the dry ingredients / mix the wet ingredients, mix them all together and call it good. 

Today I’m baking mine as muffin tops – at 350 degrees, for about 11 minutes.  I prefer everything under baked versus over baked, so this baking time could probably go up a few minutes.   I got about 24 muffin tops.

I have tried this recipe with so many combos – and it’s very forgiving.  You can add nuts, dried cranberries, even chocolate chips.   It’s certainly not the full fat Starbuck’s pumpkin muffin that leaves a big grease stain on your napkin, but it’s mighty tasty, and nobody else in this house knows that they are a “light” version.  If you make

For 24 muffin/muffin tops, the nutritional info comes out as follows….

Calories – 133
Fat – 1.3 g
Cholesterol – 0
Total Carb – 27 g
Fiber – 3g
Sugars – 16g
Protein – 3.5g
Vitamin A – 63% Daily Value

For those on Weight Watchers, they come out to two points a piece. 

Enjoy!

I’m very excited to have just launched a redesigned version of our website – not massively different, but I think we’ve made some great changes.  To celebrate, we are having a 40% off sale this weekend only.   Save 40% on your entire purchase of personalized jewelry or photo jewelry with the discount code NEWWEB.   This is a great opportunity to order some holiday gifts now, ahead of the rush, and save BIG!!

Happy Shopping!

Sentimental Silver Sale!

I admit, I spend entirely too much time on Facebook – but it’s such a great way to stay up to date with friends and family, share photos and stories, reconnect with long lost friends and find out what my favorite businesses are up to.    So naturally, Sentimental Silver has a Facebook Fan Page.  If you haven’t checked it out, please do!  It’s the first place you’ll hear about specials and discounts.

One of our most popular personalized silver necklace sayings is “I AM BLESSED”.   I love it, and I think it captures how so many of us feel.    Life can get crazy, but at the end of the day, we are blessed with family we love.

I thought it would be nice to put together a few of our most popular “I AM BLESSED” necklaces into a new collection, and so we are introducing “The Family Blessings Collection”.  It is a great way to celebrate the blessings in your life, and makes a wonderful gift for a mom or grandmother.   We will be adding it to the site soon, but here are a few of our favorite combos….

I am soooo lucky to have one of Phoenix’s most talented newborn and family photographers, Meggan Jacks, as one of my closest friends. I am more than happy to let her play with my darling daughters and capture some amazing photos of them. She has a fabulous baby plan to capture your baby over their first precious year.   We recently did Gracie’s second photo shoot – and the images are gorgeous.  Of course!

Right after Gracie was born, a friend of mine came over with a few of her slings, because she said I NEEDED one.  Not would I like one, could I use one, but you NEED one.   So I figured it was worth checking the sling thing out.  I never carried Bella in a sling, though I did use a Baby Bjorn sometimes.

She came over and showed me exactly how to wear the sling, how to put Grace in it, and how to take her out, and told me to trust her and try it.

Wow, wow and wow.   I never really thought of myself as the “baby wearing” type, but it has to be one of the best baby items I own.   With Bella being very active in dance, I spend a LOT of time in a dance studio, and the sling has made all that time so much more tolerable.  My hands are free (yay!), every random person with germs is not touching Grace (yay!) and Grace sleeps (double yay!).

It is also fabulous for an adoptive parent to use for bonding with their baby.   And speaking of adoptive parents, having been blessed with one child through adoption and one biologically, I have to say the sling gives a somewhat similar sensation of carrying around a pregnant tummy, which I think is great for an adoptive mom to be able to experience.   Truly love the sling.

I’m not sure how we’ll transition now that she’s getting bigger.  I’m using the New Native pouch style sling.   It’s so simple, uncomplicated, I toss it in my purse and go.  Nothing fancy, but it does exactly what it needs, with nothing that it doesn’t need.    It’s also cool, which is important when you live in Phoenix and are toting around a 98 degree space heater.  I love it.   Love love love it and would highly recommend it to anyone.  It’s my mainstay, must have baby sling.

I have a few other carriers that I’m getting ready to try soon.    I have a Beco Butterfly Baby Carrier (in the GRACE pattern – purely a coincidence!) and I do still have my trust Bjorn.   Though seven years ago the Bjorn was navy.  That was it.  So I did “update” mine so to speak with this over the top Baby Bella Maya girly zebra stripe and hot pink cover.   Adorable!!!

I think slings and pouches are probably a very individual thing, and you have find what works for you, but I think they are certainly worth checking out. 

I’m such a stress eater.  You know you are in trouble when you are an adoptive mother, and at each doctor’s appointment you take your very pregnant birth mom to, YOU have gained more weight than she has.  Awesome.    The stress of the adoption packed a good ten pounds on me (making me a good 15 more than where I prefer to be).  So now that Gracie is sleeping well at night and I can’t use the constant fatigue as an excuse, it’s time to get that baby weight off.   After we first had Grace, people would tell me how great I looked, and than I’d mention we adopted.  About a month later I said screw it, and started accepting the compliments.  Gotta take what you can get!

So good old Weight Watchers.  Time to count the points.  I do the online program, and really have no excuse not to stay on top of it, with my handy dandy WW iPhone app and all.

I started a few weeks ago, and was picking up steam, and than the stress of Bella’s surgery.   I mentioned being a stress eater, didn’t I?   But now that she’s stuck on a terribly restrictive diet, the least I can do is stick to me measly 20 point a day WW diet.

I remember doing WW in my late 20′s – I’d have my points, eat all my flex points, and go a few over, and still lose, every week.  Yay me!   Yeah, well mid (late) 30′s is a whole different ball game.  Might as well throw those flex points in the trash.   Go over those 20 little points (about 1000 calories) and there’s no losing.   Good times!

I’ve found my few low point staples, the ones that keep me from running to my nearest Dairy Queen for a caramel chocolate chip Blizzard (well, at least on a good day they do).    My fabulous one point breakfast is a Deep Chocoalte Vitalicious Vitatop.

They are so good.  No, not exactly one of those giant 4826 calorie chocolate muffins from Costco, but first thing in the morning, they do just fine, and are 100 calories, full of fiber and ONE WW POINT!    Beats my 8 point bowl of cereal that I’d probably have otherwise.

And speaking of Costco, that’s where I’ve been getting them.   They aren’t exactly cheap, but the Costco price is completely fine with me.  I will cry when and if Costco stops carrying them.   I actually really want to try some other flavors – Fudgy Peanut Butter Chip, Triple Chocolate Chunk and Double Chocolate Dream are at the top of my list (do you get the chocolate theme?).  I’m just waiting for it to cool down, as I haven’t heard the greatest things about their summer shipping (and let’s be honest, it’s 115 here, nothing should ship here).

Second item that I must have in my freezer at all times – Hostess 100 Calorie Pack Chocolate Cupcakes.

Another chocolate fix, that thanks to the high fiver, comes in at 1 WW point.   I only like them in the freezer, not sure why.   And there’s something about getting to eat THREE chocolate things that makes me happier than eating one, larger chocolate thing.    The other packs look good as well, but I think the chocolate ones are the only ones with enough fiber to make them a 1 point snack.

Western Bagel’s Alternative Bagel is another staple.   A one point bagel, that is actually chewy and bagel-ish, compared to some of the other lighter bagels.

I don’t tend to eat them alone, but instead use them for a sandwich.   I love them with some egg-beaters and lowfat cheese for a breakfast bagel, or with turkey and lowfat cheese for lunch.    I usually get them at Super Walmart, but need to check some other places because I’d love to try the country white, and thus far have only been eating the sweet wheat (though cinnamon spice is quite yummy, just not the best partner for turkey, or cheese).

I also love Hungry Girl – her emails, website and books are great resources.

I’ll certainly be looking for more great finds.  Unfortunately I don’t eat terribly healthy on WW – I’m just not good at weighing and measuring every ingredient in something I make from scratch to calculate the points, but hey, I’m not standing in line at DQ.   Baby steps.

We are nine days out from Bella’s surgery.  Somehow they have been very long days, yet have gone by very quickly.   While she’s still eating less than a bird, she’s back to her normal self, which is such a giant relief.   I have to say, the past week, where we have been pretty much holed up in the house, has been nice in a few ways.  We’ve had no schedule to keep.  No school, no camp, no swim lessons, no dance classes, nothing.  Boy, can I just say I’m a lot less stressed that way, and I’ve gotten a lot done.   I love our life and all the things we do, and Bella is a very active child who needs a lot of outlets for her energy, but being hermits and never going anywhere has been a lovely break from it all.   Give me three more days and she’ll be driving me bonkers and I’ll be happy to get back to our normal, whatever that may be.    Two more days and Bella can move on from her full liquid diet to a soft diet, and she’s VERY excited about that.  Overcooked macaroni and cheese will be on the menu all day, every day.

We all survived Bella’s pharyngeal flap (p-flap) surgery with Dr. Stephen Beals to help correct her velopharyngeal insufficiency.   The surgery went smoothly, no big surprises or complications, which is exactly what mother hopes for.   The surgical team was amazing.  Dr. Beals and Dr. Drewson are phenomenal, and I truly believe we worked with the best people possible on this.    We’ve had 1.5 years to plan (and delay) this surgery, and during that time every person who heard that Dr. Beals was our surgeon replied with “oh, he’s the best”.

With Uncle Josh, Aunt Kim, a giant stuffed tiger and Tawnya's Raggedy Anne the morning of surgery.

The pre-op nurses at St. Joe’s ROCKED.    We kept Bella very busy in pre-op, and then Dr. Drewson gave her the magical elixir known as Versed, and while she didn’t appear “drugged” or “silly” as I’ve heard, she could have cared less when we had to leave.   Though she was a little upset when they took the Nintendo she was playing away.  Either way, she didn’t fuss or get upset.  God Bless Versed.

Playing Pixos in Pre-Op

Versed starting to make her not care if any of us are around...

Ready to head in to surgery for her pharyngeal flap

The recovery room was not a pretty site.  She came out of anesthesia very violently, was screaming (well as much as one can when they’ve just had their throat cut up), trying to pull out her IV’s and the tube in her nose to help her breathe, and was swollen and had blood on her face.   It was the most heartbreaking thing to see, and I pretty much decided that there was a special seat in hell for me for putting my poor child through this.  They got some demerol in her system, and she eventually calmed down.  She would doze in and out, but the “in” always included her attempting to scream and cry, and her pain was very apparent.

My poor baby in post-op

Even though we’d worked very hard to get a 23 hour stay approved (vs outpatient), the post-op nurse was all set to get us out of there “as soon as possible”.   All while my child is out of it on pain meds, and we are having to hold an oxygen mask to her face because her oxygen keeps dropping and the monitor alarm keeps screaming about it.   After an hour or so, with very mixed emotion to go ahead and head home.   Dr. Drewson actually helped me make the decision, she said look, we will do whatever you want, but staying here you risk infection, she won’t be as comfortable, and frankly you’ll be pissed off most the time because the nurses won’t be getting her meds on time.  Good point on that last one.

So home we went.  For the first few hours were rough, but about four hours after we got home, this child shocked all of us.  She was sitting up in bed, drinking, and asking  to open presents (I had stockpiled some small gifts for her and wrapped them all – they were a nice distraction whenever her nerves hit before surgery, I’d have her look at the presents and decide in which order she wanted to open them).   A few hours later I was so glad we came home, because she would haven been bored out of her mind at the hospital.  She was playing Mario Kart on the Wii (in her bed – with the post-surgical entertainment center we set up for her), watching movies and chatting as much as she could.

The first night was a long night.  I slept in her room, and the pain was certainly a challenge.   Every day it gets a little better and more manageable.   She is a TOUGH cookie.   The first two days she kept crying for something more to eat than the clear fluids she was restricted to.   Unfortunately when day three hit and she could finally have milkshakes and soups, her appetite was gone.   My full time job became getting her to take the tinest sips of juice.   I think Tuesday she maybe consumed 12 oz of fluid over the entire day.   She’d break down in tears, and couldn’t pinpoint why it was so hard to drink (she didn’t feel it was the pain, she said more her tummy was too full).

We are now at the one week mark (YAY!!!!) but drinking and consuming anything is still our greatest challenge.  She’s down seven pounds, and I haven’t had her on the scale in two days, so we may be closer to 9 or 10.   She’s eating a teeny tiny bit of ice cream and pudding, and every five minutes I’m forcing her to sip her juice.   On Tuesday she can eat things like mac n’ cheese, and she keeps wanting that, so I pray when we get to Tuesday, she will eat more.   Watching her lose weight like this is so hard, I hug her and just feel bones everywhere. 

Aside from that we have the most amazing support team around us – my parents, siblings and our friends, especially her dance teachers Jen and Tawnya have been amazing, and have gone to such great lengths to help her feel better, and to work with us on getting her to eat and drink.   Jen and Tawnya have showed up many times, milkshakes in hand, and spent considerable time with her trying to get even a little bit of them down.   We are really blessed with fantastic people in our lives.   She’s gotten some cards and gifts in the mail that have made her feel really special as well.

Many people are surprised that her voice doesn’t sound too different (myself included).  But in five weeks we will return to speech therapy, where she will have to start a very intensive speech therapy program.   I’m hoping we can work with the amazing Deborah Leach down at Barrow.  The entire Cranio Facial Team down at Barrow’s is truly amazing.   Top notch.   We’re very fortunate to have access to such talented individuals.   Bella will have to re-learn to talk in a way.   She learned to compensate for structural problems, which is fabulous, but now she needs to learn to talk correctly, and using the new tool (p-flap) that she has in place.

It’s been a long week!    Two little girls.  Lots of crying from both.   Trying to keep everyone as comfortable and hydrated as possible.   As hard as it’s been, it’s nice to spend so much time with both my girls, with no schedule or clock to watch.   Gotta find that silver lining. 

My beautiful girls. I am blessed.