Urgent Care

This week has not been the best week here. Amid car problems and a fussy kid (seriously, the molars started coming in 2 months ago and we still only have 1 all the way through) I tried to put us back on our normal routine and headed to the gym on Wednesday morning.

I have been trying to become a jogger again (I have never been a runner, but I have jogged a half marathon before) so I am starting my cardio on the treadmill everyday. I would love to be jogging a 5K everyday, but so far I have only made my way up to 2.5 miles. But on Wednesday I was feeling pretty well and was certain I was going to get my 5K in, when at 2.25 miles I saw the lady come out of the Kids' Klub make eye contact with me and motion for me to come down.

Urgh!!!

I just knew that Jacob's fussiness he had at home must have followed us to the gym and he was done. That and the people working there must have been done with him. I felt really bad when I walked in and saw that Jacob's forehead was bleeding. It seems that Jacob had something that another kid wanted so the kid came up behind Jacob and pushed him. He fell face-forward into the corner of the wall. Poor kid.

We ended up at Urgent Care where they were able to put Jacob back together with liquid stitches.

In the process we learned that for some strange reason the urgent care places closest to where we live don't open until noon Monday - Friday. Justin found one online for me that opened at 9, but when I got there the lady acted like I was crazy for walking in and informed me that although they opened at 9 the doctor wouldn't be in until 2:30 and they couldn't see any patients. Yeah, I'm still not understanding why they were open if they couldn't see patients.

At this point it was 11:30 so we decided to head back to the first urgent care place we went to and be the first ones there instead of heading to the ER where the wait would have likely been much longer. That and we only have a $20 co-pay for urgent care, but the ER would have cost Jacob's $300 deductible + 10% of the charges over $300.

And I was very happy that the blood stain came out of his little shorts!

Bread

Last year I learned how to really bake bread. I had baked bread before, but I learned how to make the most amazing 100% whole wheat bread that can be as light and fluffy as white bread - no dough enhancers - just time, patience and A LOT of kneading.

I ordered a wheat grinder and got it a year ago, but then let it sit in the box for about a month before I finally got it out and started using it. I am proud to say that I haven't purchased a loaf of bread at the store since sometime last June! Now there have been times when we ran out of bread and we were breadless for a couple days before I baked again, but we have loved eating healthy homemade bread.

Some things I have learned over the last year - you can make whole wheat bread with red wheat, but it isn't nearly as good as it is with white wheat. I have also learned that bread turns out best when it is made on a less humid day which is hard to come by down here in the Houston area.

Even though I keep saying I am going to try another recipe from the lady that taught me how to make bread, this Buttermilk Whole Wheat is the only one I have made so far. One reason I love it is that it only has 7 simple ingredients - whole wheat flour, water, buttermilk, salt, yeast, brown sugar and butter.

When I was taught, we kneaded the dough by hand and it was a lot of kneading. The first time I made it at home by myself I also kneaded by hand and after a bit I gave up and the bread didn't turn out as light and fluffy as it should have been. Then I borrowed my mom's old mixer that is awesome!!! I hope she never wants it back!

And yes - that is my KitchenAid behind the older mixer. The lady that taught us to bake bread told us that the motor in a KitchenAid isn't strong enough to knead the bread and I have seen a few other recipes online for whole wheat bread that say the same thing. I use my KitchenAid for everything else though.

Baking this bread is quite the process - it starts at least a day in advance. Then it involves lots of kneading (even with a mixer), autolysing, lots more kneading, rising again, rolling out and shaping, rising again and then finally baking (I can only make bread when I know I will be at home for a large chunk of the day). But the final result is amazing!

The Splash Pad

Last summer I didn't do much but hang out at home with Jacob. It was a killer hot summer last year and it hardly rained so it was best to just stay in the air conditioning. Plus, Jacob was so little that he didn't do anything if we went out anyway.

This year I want to get out and do things with him more often, especially since he likes to play so much. I took him to the spash pad for the first time ever just over a week ago and I think over time he will really like it. If you are wondering, a splash pad is an concreted area with all different kinds of fountains that the kids play in. It scares me a little to take Jacob to the pool by myself, but I don't have to worry about him falling into the water at a splash pad.

While we had family in town, we went to a splash pad on Friday and this time I was determined to get some good pictures of Jacob playing in the water (I forgot my camera the first time I took him). He saw the water grate and walked over to it and sat down to start playing with it and I got the camera out to take a picture.

What neither Justin nor I noticed was that right above the water grate was a bucket that, once full, turns and dumps all its water out. I thought I got the picture right before Jacob was clobbered by the water, but because of the delay our camera has it looks like I stood back and took a picture of my son practically drowning.

Also what you don't see is that Justin was just out of the shot and ran up and grabbed Jacob right after he was so brutally knocked over. This was the only picture I took on Friday because we spent the next little while trying to console our screaming child. Luckily, after a little while he seemed to have mostly forgotten the incident.

33 already?

Last week I celebrated my 33rd birthday. I don't really mind getting older, because so many people always tell me that I don't look that old. :)

We had some of Justin's family in town, so Justin took the day off work (and the next day too) and we celebrated all day. We went to breakfast at IHOP and then headed down to the Kemah boardwalk for a few hours. We took Jacob on the train there and due to a problem with the first train we got on, we got to take him on the ferris wheel for free. He loved both of them!

Justin, Jacob, Julie and Justin's mom, JanJacob loving his train rideThanks Eric for being our photographer while we rode the train!

After spending a few hours in Kemah it was time to head back home so I could get everything ready for Bunco. I agreed to host Bunco this month way back in October last year. At first I was a little bummed to be hosting and in charge on my birthday, but then I was pretty excited to be able to throw myself a big birthday party. Another one of my friends has the exact same birthday, although she is quite a bit younger, so I made each of us a giant cupcake as a birthday cake for our dessert that night.

My cake is red velvet with cream cheese frosting, Kaytryn's is a dark chocolate cake with a fluffy frosting that I made chocolate on the bottom and left vanilla for the top (but colored it pink).

I was completely overwhelmed with birthday wishes on facebook this year and couldn't respond to everyone. But it really was a great birthday!