Christmas

Merry Christmas! It flew by too fast as usual and is a bit of a blur. I don't know how much of that is going through the holidays for the first time with two babies and how much was my poor sick two year old who was up every few hours with a cough and fever every night leading up to Christmas.

This Christmas a cough, last Christmas pinkeye...

2012

2011

Poor little man was pretty miserable both years, but after a few doses of good medicine he was up and about and playing with Christmas toys again! I'm really grateful for antibiotics--it's a terrible, helpless feeling when your baby is sick. Next year I'm going to put him in isolation right after Thanksgiving. 

P was a really fun age this year! He loved the Christmas tree and Christmas cookies and Christmas music, we talked a lot about Jesus' birthday. I got some electric candles for an advent wreath, which he didn't fully understand, but he called them Jesus' birthday candles and carried them around the house. Santa was super exciting too, he wasn't terrified. 

He got really into the old clay-mation Rudolph, from the 70's/80's. This is his "very, shiny nose."

Me, mom, sis and sis-in-law did our annual Christmas lunch at a great little place out in the country. Baby V is swaddled up and lying on the floor behind us for the photo :).

We even had some snow this year (before Christmas). P said it was "yucky."

Baby V was baptized on Christmas Adam (Dec. 23). It was a really sweet celebration and covenant with our church family. The church was decorated beautifully!

V is starting to look so big and be really interested in what's going on around him. He grabs at toys and smiles and laughs constantly.

Christmas Eve!

V was a party animal on Christmas Eve, but...

...he slept through Christmas morning.

P had a ball (even with his cough)! This is the train board we made for him. I painted water and roads and trees and such, then we glued down the pieces. It's really fun and he seems to like it. I'll post some more info on how we did it in a later post.

It was a wonderful Christmas spent with family. We are blessed beyond belief and rejoice wholeheartedly in God's great mercy, Christ came to dwell with us and to restore us to the glorious presence of God! Though there is pain and sadness and broken relationships here on earth, He will wipe all that away when He comes again. Come soon, Lord Jesus!

Think it Through Thursday...on Tuesday: God Our Sustainer

I have a good friend who has organized a really neat weekly devotional for women by email. It's called "The Redemptive Pursuit." I occasionally write when she asks me and I'll be contributing for the next few months. Anyway, this was what I shared on Monday and I thought I'd post it here too. If you're interested in signing up to get the weekly email, go to THIS PAGE, where you can enter your email (easy to cancel later if you so desire) and also read current and past devotionals.


Psalm 62:5-8, 11-12

“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone,
My hope comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God,
He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
One thing God has spoken,
Two things have I heard:
That you, O God, are mighty,
And that you, O Lord, are loving.”

I am pregnant for the second time and with that has come a lot of fear and uncertainty. My first pregnancy, in 2010, was very difficult. I was put on bedrest in the hospital at just 27 weeks and told I would stay there for the duration of my pregnancy, that turned out to be 8 more weeks. My little boy was born at 33 weeks weighing 3 pounds 13 ounces  and he went straight to the NICU after birth, it was days before I could hold him. Still, we were very blessed, our sweet boy healed and grew quickly and we took him home after just two weeks.  Those 8 weeks in the hospital when we were constantly monitoring the baby’s heart rate and praying that he wouldn’t be born too soon were probably the hardest of my life. There was no way to live or hope without the assurance that God was sovereign, that we were His children and that His plan was ultimately for our good and the good of our baby son. We pored over Scripture and begged for the prayers of friends and family, there was nothing to lean on but the Lord.

This second pregnancy has been different in a lot of ways. I am at almost 30 weeks and still at home, living life! I’m being closely monitored by doctors who prescribed a series of injections to help prevent what happened before. I have not been put on bed rest, but I do have to be careful about my activity level. Overdoing things can cause contractions, and I desperately want to avoid that. My lurking fear is being back in the hospital with a tiny baby  in the NICU  and missing sweet things like snuggling my two year old, taking him to the pool and cooking dinner for my family. In my fear, I have found myself leaning on the things I can do: drink lots of water, no caffeine, don’t overdo it, get shots on time. Even though we are in exactly the same situation as my first pregnancy, helpless and with nothing to lean on but the grace of God, I grasp at the illusion of control.  I’m like the man who looks in the mirror, turns away and instantly forgets what he looks like (James 1:23-24). God took care of us so well through that first difficult pregnancy. When we were expecting the worst, He showed His grace to us in a way that was beyond what we could ask or imagine: an incredible gift and constant reminder—a healthy, perfectly normal, wild, two year old boy.

Though I am just as helpless now to keep my unborn baby safe and healthy as I was two years ago, it took physical helplessness to remind me just how dependent I was upon the sustaining hand of the Lord. There is no health unless He gives it, there is no life unless He gives it, there is no honor or work or contentment, peace or happiness, security or salvation unless He gives it. How quick I am to forget this! Even in times when what He gives is not good in my opinion, there is comfort in the knowledge of His complete sovereignty and goodness—our God is both mighty and loving.  “How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure, That He could give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure.”  He turned His face away from His own Son so that He could keep it turned upon us, He doesn’t abandon us in our weakness or try us beyond what we can face. We are helpless to control our circumstances, but what a comfort that we can lean on the Lord who guides every detail of our lives and who is shaping us to be more and more like His Son—all for our ultimate good and the good of His kingdom!

DIY Secret Fit Belly Panel: A Tutorial

I know everyone has different preferences with regard to waists on maternity pants, shorts and skirts. I personally like the ones with a stretchy panel that covers your entire belly, I find the low, stretchy band really uncomfortable.

I decided these couldn't be that hard to make, given the right materials, and I had been wanting to make a few maternity things. One maxi skirt and one pair of lace shorts later, I think I've got it!

You need: *1/2 yard (or a little more depending on your size) of "Poly Interlock." I got mine at Hancock's, Joann's probably has it too. Mine is neude, sorry it blends in a bit with the carpet!

*A garment that you made or are repurposing

*A maternity garment to use as a template (although it wouldn't be too hard to just look at these pictures and take a few measurements on your own body, just remember the belly panel needs to fit snugly to keep your pants on comfortably)

*Sewing machine, matching thread, etc...

1) Lay your piece of poly interlock on a flat surface, fold it so that the grain runs up and down and you have two layers with a fold on one side. Now fold your templace garment in half as shown, that puts your seam in the back and a fold in the front (matching the fold of the poly interlock). Using the existing belly panel as a template, cut around the top and back, then along the curve of the bottom, leaving room for seam and hem allowance on all sides (don't cut the fold!).

2) Now that you have your pattern piece cut out, fold right sides together and sew along the back. Be sure to set your machine to a stretch or zig zag stitch, it's also helpful to use a stretch needle and increase your stitch length to about 3.0. Turn right sides out, fold the raw edges to one side and topstitch. It looks more professional and adds a little durability!

3) Now, hem the top edge of the belly panel. Remember the curved edge fits under your belly, the top edge is straight. There's no use trying to iron and pin this stuff, it's so slinky. Just turn under about 1/4", then another 3/4" or so as you sew. This seam is against the grain (the stretchiest part of this type of fabric) so it's essential to keep using a stretch stitch or the seam will just break when you try to pull it over your belly.

4) Be sure that whatever garment you will be fitting with the belly panel is prepared: lower (under belly) in the front and with finished raw edges. My garment had a lining so I basted the two layers together and finished with a zig zag stitch since I don't have a serger. This fabric doesn't have to be stretchy.

5) Obviously the stretchy panel is a good deal smaller than the non-stretchy garment, so we will need to quarter pin. With right sides together, find center back and match that to the center back of the panel, pin. Next find center front of garment and center front of panel and match those, pin. Do the same on each side. Now, you should be able to see that the slack in your non-stretchy garment is pretty evenly distributed, if not, fix it. You can either continue to pin, using the same method of 'matching centers' or go ahead to the sewing machine.

6) As you sew these two pieces together, you will need to stretch the poly interlock to the width of your garment. The first picture below shows the poly 'unstretched' and the second picture shows the way you should stretch it as you sew. USE A STRETCH STITCH and match the raw edges.

7) Last step! Fold the raw edges toward the belly panel, and topstitch (still using a stretch stitch) and stretching the poly as needed.

Sorry this photo is weird, I was trying to take a picture of myself and it was not particularly successful... I am really looking pregnant... Still, you can see that the fit is nice and smooth and it's really comfortable. I think the neude will be invisible under shirts. I'll add a photo of that when I can get somebody to take one!

Toddler imagination...

Last weekend, W and I took P for a walk on his bike. It's one of those fun trikes that has a handle for parents so you can steer for him. He loves it! Family walks are one of our favorite things so we enjoy it too.

W and I were walking along talking when we realized P was talking too...to himself.

"Basketball?"
"No!"

"Ride?"
"No!"

"Leo?" (our dog)
"No."

"Ahh-sahide?" (outside)
"No!"

"Elmo?"
"No!"

"Apple?"
"NO!"

He went through these many times over, we were laughing so hard once we figured out the gist. He was listing all the things he loves and asks for a hundred times a day then filling in what we would say (totally unfair because I usually say "OK," except for the Elmo thing).

It's amazing, isn't it? He's not even two but he's having imaginary conversations about his thoughts and feelings on what we let him do. Unbelievable! Can't wait for those teenage years.

"Wheelie?"

"Absolutely!"

Girl?! Boy?!

I bought two baby things before we found out what we were having...

This little confection. It's a baby swimsuit, have you ever seen anything sweeter?! I am crazy about the colors and mix of large and small polka dots. I would totally wear this swimsuit...maybe if it was in my size with a little more support up top... 

I also bought a set of light gray and cream bodysuits at Old Navy, with a tiny pair of striped sweatpants and a little hat with ears.

            Well, I won't be using that little swimsuit anytime soon, we are having a boy! I am so tempted to keep it though, it's 6-12 months so there is a good chance a girl born in any season could wear it at some point. We are so excited about a boy, a little brother for P, another mischief maker, someone to hang on my other leg while I'm cooking dinner and beg to go "ahh-sahh-ide" (that's the way P says outside).

I think this soft, little hat is so cute. Can't wait to put it on a fuzzy, baby head.

I'm going to be working on a quilt for this new guy. It will match the one P has (oranges and teals), but with some different colors and patterns. I'm using a few prints from Moda "Grow with Me." These trucks and a really cool light gray geometric pattern. I'll post more on that later. I'm using THIS PATTERN by Jaybird quilts. I think it will be really fun and modern, I'm thinking of doing a self binding (like on my picnic blanket HERE) and doing the actual quilting by hand, YIKES! I've just fallen in love with the look of it and Purl Bee is super inspiring-possibly to my detriment.  Look at those teeny tiny stitches?! It's an art form.

My Skirt Secret

So now that I'm about 17 weeks pregnant (Surprise! If you didn't know it already!) I've been on the hunt for a few new maternity things. I was teaching when pregnant with P, so I have more than I need of basic things like black pants, khakhis, plain t's, and all that. What I don't have is pretty, cool, casual everyday wear.

I saw/stalked an adorable pregnant girl at the dr's office wearing a long, flowy maxi skirt with a fitted black tank--super cute combo over a baby bump--and instantly decided that I needed that skirt as soon as humanly possible. I suspected the brand name of the one she was wearing and knew it might be exorbitantly expensive so before springing for that one, I hunted around for something comparable.

Two skirts, one cost $22 and one $99. Which do you think is the expensive one?

Ok, I'll tell you. The first skirt is Pea in the Pod and it cost $99 (if you know Pea in the Pod, $99 is actually on the lower end for them). The second is from Forever 21 for $22 (Holla!). There are some differences BUT are they $77 dollars worth of differences?! Obviously the Pea in the Pod skirt has better quality materials and I think the print is a little more chic and mod. I have to say though that the Forever 21 skirt is more comfortable, it has that wide shirred waist band which is perfect for the bump and it's actually a better length for me. I wish someone were here to photograph them on me, I think you would be more impressed with the Forever 21 version (the paisley looks a little more "BAM" in the photo than it does in real life).

So  my little skirt secret is that I'm keeping the cheap one. If this weren't maternity garb and I were looking at several seasons worth of investment, I might go with the more expensive version because I do like the print and colors best. But...for one summer of wear and since the style and feel are almost identical--I'm going with the cheaper version and treating myself to approximately 77 Strawberry Limeades from Sonic.

I've got a few maternity-wear tutorials in mind, the easiest shirt ever that would also be cute on a non-preggo gal and a pair of lace shorts (AHHH!). I've been so sad seeing all these adorable shorts everywhere that I can't sport this year, so dang it, I'm going to make some. Then I can sport some shorts too... :)

Celebrate Easter: Teach Kids the Real Meaning of Easter

My little guy is only 22 months old, but I am always amazed at how much he notices and understands and remembers. It is not too early to teach him Scripture and Bible stories. Though he's too young yet to grasp the concept of God incarnate coming to earth in the person of Jesus, who sacrificed Himself to atone for the sin of mankind then rose again to bring "life on life for you and me" on Easter morning, I don't think it can possibly be too early to start talking about it. I don't want him to know a day before he heard the gospel and loved the Lord, so we will talk and pray and read, hoping that the Holy Spirit will make his heart soft and that he will understand and know for himself the peace that surpasses all understanding and the joy that can only come from knowing the truth.

 

 

As P gets bigger, I have been interested in finding creative ways to teach him about God, particularly around the holidays when the focus is so often diverted too much to the trivial or the self-indulgent. To me, there's nothing wrong with fun traditions and things like the Easter bunny and Santa, but I hope that in our family those things never outshine the hope that we have in Christ!

 

 

So, here's a roundup of a few neat ways to teach your little ones the meaning of Easter or maybe just be a sweet reminder to you as you're decorating and cooking and dying eggs that there is nothing more important for a Christian than the fact that Christ died but rose again.

1) Almond Cookies: Each step of this recipe tells part of the Easter story. Older children can help make these cookies and you have a neat opportunity to talk through the gospel while your hands are busy with the steps that represent each part.

2) Resurrection Eggs: I used to get these in Sunday school years ago, the 12 eggs are filled with small items that represent everything that happened during Holy Week and an accompanying scripture reference. A thorn, a sponge, a small cross, a stone, and the last egg is empty. The 'The strife is o'er, the battle done! The vicory of life is won!" This talented blogger also had the idea of using these eggs on your Easter table, each person opening an egg and sharing what's inside. She has free printables for the cute presentation.

3) Resurrection Rolls: Here's another recipe, but it's definitely semi-homemade. All you need are marshmallows, cinnamon, sugar and crescent rolls. You wrap dough around a marshmallow and when they bake, the marshmallow melts and you are left with the miracle of an "empty tomb," children will be excited and it's a good conversation starter.

4) Easter Garden: I couldn't find the original source of this (it's all over Pinterest), but I like the idea of growing wheat grass this time of year and incorporating it into a centerpiece or mini garden for your kitchen window. It looks a little 'bonsai' to me :).

5) 12 Day Countdown to Easter with stories and activities: This blogger created a 12 day countdown to Easter with suggestions of gospel stories for each day along with some activities. It's a good resource!

6) Easter Garden and Linky Party: Here's another Easter Garden but this blogger's daughter helped make it, I love the empty potato tomb! For this post she was also hosting a 'linky party' of ideas for sharing the real meaning of Easter with your children-there are close to a hundred ideas all in one place! I didn't screen them all so you may have to pick through.


Let me just leave you with a bit of text from my favorite Easter hymn:

"Look there! The Christ, our Brother, comes resplendant from the gallows tree,

And what He brings in His hurt hands is life on life for you and me!

Joy, Joy! Joy to the heart all in this good day's dawning!

Good Jesus Christ, inside His pain, looked down Golgotha's stony slope,

And let the blood flow from His flesh to fill the springs of living hope!"

 Joy, Joy! Joy to the heart all in this good day's dawning!"

Yay!

P has been babbling like crazy the past few weeks and saying some recognizable words more consistently. After Mama and Papa, his favorite word is 'ball,' which sounds like 'baw' with a big 'w' at the end. It's very cute and he says it all the time, over and over, and points and says 'ball' when he sees them. Last night he started saying 'yay'! The husband and I both say it all the time and hearing it come out of his little baby face, perfectly articulated is just too much. We spent all of dinner time trying to get him to say it. Fun!

At church this morning I got a really nice surprise! My friend, Mrs. D, our pastor's wife, beckoned me over and handed me a gigantic bag of buttons! YAY!

It was so sweet of her to share them, many came from her mother, but she saw this post and knew how much I adore unique buttons. I am definitely enjoying them already and I'm going to have to come up with some projects specifically to fit some of these cool buttons.

I spent a little time this afternoon watching a movie and sorting them out by color on a big baking sheet. It was exactly my kind of fun, so many different sizes, shapes, colors, and materials. (In the car on the way home from church, I was 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over them and my husband said I was like a seven-year-old girl excited about a hobby.) There were a bunch of vintage glass buttons-those milky white ones on the left above are all glass. There were some really interesting things too...

These are smaller than a pea, made of black glass and set with a rhinestone, very 'special occasion.'  

There were six of these "Indian Head" nickel buttons, when in the world were they manufacturing "Indian Head" nickel buttons and for what purpose? There were some other really neat metal buttons in shapes and designs I'd never seen before.

These are large, painted plastic and are a bit worn and chipped, but would be really special with a coat of bright, glossy spray paint.

 

Here are a few of my favorites. Love the colors and interesting shapes.

This one is tiny, clear glass with an etched design. So dainty!

These might be my favorite of the whole bunch! They are heavy and made of glass. I'm kind of nuts about them!

Thanks, Mrs. D! If you're seeing some of these for the first time and thinking: "Maybe I'd like to take those back now," you just let me know! :)


Are you like me? Looking at all these beauties makes me think I should have been snipping the buttons off my clothes before giving them to Goodwill all these years. But if you snip off the cute ones, do you have to replace them with plain ones so you're not just donating junk?

It's a conundrum indeed.

What is happening here?!

A few weeks ago I had a sweet little baby boy. He was mischievious and into everything, but relatively unaware of his misdemeanors.

Now, I am seeing a new side of this little man. Those of you with bigger children will be laughing at me and saying "Duh." I was surprised the first time he looked me in the face and deliberately did what he was instructed not to do. I was even more surprised when, after I took away a household item that he had decided was a fun toy, he screamed and tried to hit me. I've always known he had a little heart in need of grace (just like myself), but I had just never seen it so clearly.

I definitely didn't see it in 2010! Look at that face!

So...I consulted a few parenting books and decided on time out for his particular age and level of understanding. Happiest Toddler On the Block reccommends starting out by simply taking your child to another room (away from the situation at hand), leaving them there and walking out-using the "kind ignoring" technique. Then gradually you start a timer and persist in putting the child back into time out when he or she gets up. I have to tell you, P seemed to find this absolutely delightful. I knew the system wasn't working when every time-out session ended in fits of giggles and with P peeking through a crack in the door where I was watching to make sure he didn't get into anything.

So, last week I bought a time-out booster seat. It stays in the corner of our office with a kitchen timer beside it and I am commencing to faithfully administer time-outs. This discipline thing is one of those child rearing issues you don't think about when you are "oohing" and "ahhing" over soft, miniscule baby clothes at baby showers...unless it's a shower like the one we threw for C a few months ago. The guests went around and gave a piece of baby advice as C opened her gifts. It was funny and sweet and informational all at the same time.

"Enjoy every moment, they grow up too fast."

"Write down those little things they say and do because you won't remember it later."

"Don't feed your baby Vienna sausages at public events like piano recitals" (Thanks for that one, Ashley)

...all true and all great suggestions.

One I remember clearly was from C's Mom, she said:

"Someone has got to be in charge, it had better be you."

Amen, Mrs. H!

Abundant: Think it Through Thursday (on Friday...)

My husband and I were chatting the other day about New Year's Resolutions. It's been the topic of everything from radio shows to magazine articles to blog posts to...well, you get the idea. W said he thought a New Year's resolution was kind of silly, he thinks we should have resolutions and make changes all year long. I said I agreed, but that I also think there's something motivating about a fresh start. Although it can also be an excuse to put off making changes, "Oh, yeah, I'm starting my diet TOMORROW." "AFTER New Year's I'm going to start doing the dishes."

There's a blog I follow called The Lettered Cottage, if you haven't read it you should check it out. Anyway, this week Layla posted about choosing a word for the year. Not really a "resolution" so much as an idea or an inspiration or a reminder. It seemed to me in glancing through the links over at Lettered Cottage, that most of the words that people chose were verbs relating to attitudes and outlooks on life.

Words are powerful. They can be truly hurtful or incredibly encouraging. They can tear people down or bolster their confidence. They can make a marriage stronger or destroy it. Prayer (through the work of the Holy Spirit) has power to change us, it humbles our hearts and teaches us to lean on the Father and it's a way for us to come into the presence of God and pour out our hearts in supplication for hurting or sick friends, family or strangers. Words are a gift and we need to take care not to wield them like weapons or use them to make excuses.

One of my favorite books in the world is Rachel Jankovic's, Loving the Little Years. If you are a Mama raising babies and toddlers it is an absolute must-read! There's a section in this book where Rachel writes about having a one year old, a two year old and newborn twins all at the same time (gives me some perspective with my single 19 month old). She describes the craziness and how incredibly hard it was. She goes on to say that during this time (changing diapers for 4 and nursing 2), she caught herself using the word "overwhelmed" several times a day-in answer to questions about how she was doing and also to herself. I'm sure that no one observing her life would have called her nuts or selfish for feeling "overwhelmed," but Rachel said she realized that in a way she was throwing herself a pity party. She decided to cut that word out of her vocabulary, to dive into this hectic life that God had given her and tackle the work cheerfully. She replaced a negative word in her life with something positive and she said that there was a palpable change for the better in their household after her change of attitude.

We all do this with words. "I'm just worn out" or "I'm so stressed right now." These may be the truest words ever spoken, but maybe they shouldn't be spoken. Maybe take out these negative words and replace them with something positive. I know this is something I need to do on a daily basis. When my husband walks in and asks how my day was I often say "It was a LONG day." The unspoken insinuation being that it was very full of unpleasantness, too much to handle and I had to do lots of things I didn't want to do and the toddler ran me ragged (or didn't take a nap or shredded a whole roll of toilet paper or learned to climb on the dining room table or dropped an electric razor in the toilet...the list is endless). I'm going to start thinking of my days as "abundant" instead of burdened and long. I am abundantly blessed with work, abundantly blessed with friends and family and an awesome 19 month old and the best, kindest husband in the world.

I don't mean that I'm going to (or that I think anyone should) adopt a weird, sappy, sweet demeanor that just ignores hard, unpleasant, real-life stuff, but an attitude that says "I'm not going to dwell on the bad, I'm going to appreciate and revel in what I have." Imagine how great it would be if in 2012, everytime you start to say, "I'm so stressed, " you say "I am so blessed" or you think "I'm so annoyed" but instead you say "I'm overjoyed." It might seem a bit over-the-top at first, particularly if you start speaking in rhymes, but it could be a good reminder to chalk up all the many reasons you have to be thankful and give some perspective on the one or two that you may have to be legitimately stressed, annoyed or overwhelmed about.

Have an abundant year, everybody!

Sunday Morning Goodness

I love restful Sunday mornings before church. No TV, no loud music, just family hanging around in the kitchen or living room, maybe reading books or playing with Baby P and talking. I like to make something yummy for breakfast, not always elaborate, just something out of the ordinary.

This morning I had a yen for Eggs Benedict.  ("I'm up to my ears in yens." Rory, Gilmore Girls Season 1) The real kind with poached eggs-something I had heretofore never attempted and real hollandaise-something I am totally wild about.

 

Let me just tell you, this breakfast was to die for and it only took about 15 minutes. No joke, the sauce is the most time consuming part and it is not bad at all! I used Julia Child's recipes for the hollandaise and the eggs. I always thought these two things were tricky, and I guess if you compare them to rice or frozen pizza, they could be considered tricky. Even so, I have not had a flop batch of sauce when following Julia's detailed instructions, and it is sooo, sooo tasty! Creamy, buttery and tangy all in one.

Hollandaise Tips: If you melt the first, large amount of butter in the microwave, you can do the sauce in one pan. (This is a small thing but it means a lot to me, I'd rather throw a small bowl in the dish washer than handwash two saucepans.) Definitely get the white pepper, it has a totally different taste than black that really compliments the creamy, butteriness. I use bottled lemon juice and I usually half Julia's recipe since there are just the three of us. I use two eggs instead of three and half the butter, it still turns out.

I do suggest halfing the recipe or you will be standing alone over the sink, eating hollandaise with a spoon because it is just too good to throw out. 

This is all merely hypothetical, you understand.

Now for the poached eggs. I was very nervous about this, especially after seeing Julie and Julia where she screams and cries over poached eggs.

While it was reminiscent of chasing a jelly fish around a pan with a spoon, it just was not that bad. I brought the water to a "gentle boil", did the vinegar, used a spoon to make sure the yolk wasn't showing, boiled for 4 minutes and they were great!

They look like weird little alien eggs sitting here in the hot, salted water (as per Julia's instructions), but they tasted great and the yolk was soft but not too runny-I like a little texture difference between my sauce and my egg yolk).

I will live to poach again!

I did the sauce first and kept it warm. While the eggs were poaching, I toasted English muffins, sauteed a little frozen spinach in a tablespoon of butter then just had to throw it all together. (muffin, a little sauce, spinach, egg, sauce, a twist of fresh ground pepper)

It does my heart good to see my baby "Hoarking Down" forkfuls of Eggs Benedict. (Yes, that's a little Ratatouille reference.)

He loved it! A great Sunday morning