No More Bricks

Don’t let the title confuse you, this WILL be a post about baking bread.
A book with the same name ‘No More Bricks” by Lori Viets was where I borrowed it from.
And as you will soon see, it is a most appropriate description of the goal you end up undertaking when you set out to learn the methods of baking bread exclusively with whole grain flour.

My initial bread baking journey began two years ago when Rob bought me this Bosch Mixer. I was able to mix up to six loaves of bread dough at one time in just 10 minutes. I would bake one or two loaves right away and then store the remaining dough in the freezer for later use as either another loaf of bread or pizza dough. It was so great! I vowed to try and never buy bread at the store again. It was somewhat more nutritious than store brought bread (no extra preservatives), super tasty, cheaper, and the baking process made your whole house smell wonderful!

But I was still wanting more nutrition from our bread and using the refined flour you buy at the store just was lacking big time in any sort of health benefits. So this year, we invested in the NutriMill Grain Mill so that we could mill our own flour. With a grain mill, you take the whole grain and grind it up into fresh flour. That way you are able to use all the components of the whole grain in your baking. But whole grain flour is very different than refined flour from the store; and my first baking results were rather disappointing.

This is the picture of my first loaf of bread I baked using freshly milled whole grain flour.
And what do you think it resembles???
Yes! A nice, rectangular, fairly edible, dry brick!! Rob was certain we could use my original loaves as lethal weapons because they were so dense and hard. Seriously folks, you could kill someone with these if you wanted to (and then with enough pb&j, you could just eat the evidence).

So my quest for ‘no more bricks’ began. And if you are really only interested in seeing presently how my baking is going, then you can just scroll down to the end and see the pictures that convey I am finally getting the hang of baking with whole grain flour. But if you have a bit more time and don’t mind some biology and agriculture, the middle part of this post will try to explain why I am even bothering with such an endeavor. The information on using whole grains is great (and convicting) and I can’t do justice to all the many facts that exist on this subject, but I’ll do what I can to make this worth your time; and I hope you find it interesting and intriguing. The main source that has truly enriched my knowledge on the matter is the book ‘No More Bricks” by Lori Viets . But because I cannot cut and paste her words on the pages to this post, I found a website that has basically the same information and is cut and paste friendly. So to give proper credit, I will use purple text when I am referencing this website.

So are you ready, here we go…
we’ll start with just a basic picture showing both some wheat stems (top)
and their tiny grains (bottom).

The heads of wheat hold the tiny whole grains inside their individual husks (chaffs).
Those whole grains (which have had their inedible husks removed) are made up of three parts which are shown in the image below.
To understand the benefits associated with milling grain, you need to understand what comprises a whole grain. There are three main layers: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.

• The bran is the outer layer where all the roughage that helps move unwanted poisons and toxins through your system is found. The bran also contains numerous vitamins, minerals, and proteins.

• The germ is the health center of the grain, overflowing with vitamins B and E, as well as unsaturated fat and protein.

• The endosperm is the starchy white center.

Whole grains contain almost 90% of all the vitamins, minerals, and protein you’ll ever need. However, commercially milled products don’t offer you those nutrients. Why? Once milled, the oils found in the bran and germ oxidize and turn rancid within 72 hours. So for commercial purposes, both the bran and germ—and all the nutrients contained within them—must be removed in order to give products a shelf life. The endosperm is all that’s left of the original grain. So you’re basically eating gluten and starch when you eat products off the shelf. For PR purposes, you’ll see breads and cereals claiming to be “enriched with vitamins and minerals!” Don’t be fooled. The fact that a product needs enriching is a sign of how much of its health value has been diminished. Usually only 2-4 of the missing vitamins and minerals can be replaced anyway, and nothing can be done to replace the fiber and protein.

So when milling your own flour, you’re able to mill only the amount you need, so nothing goes to waste and you are left with fresh-tasting, chemically unaltered flour.

There are so many other more haunting facets of eating flour that is NOT from whole grains that I think you will find it beneficial to investigate. And if you are really interested in more, I can provide you with lots of resources.

But listing all the benefits of whole grains doesn’t give anyone insight as to why whole grain flour will produce bricks if you don’t alter a normal recipe and process. It is because when you are milling grains (of wheat, barley, millet, rye…) and try to bake with all three parts of that milled grain, you are working with the added weight and sharp texture of germ and bran. That means the yeast has a heavier load to rise and the bread needs extra help at holding it’s rise. There is an art to this process which is what I am slowing learning which involves lots of trial and error. I am glad I have a family (and some friends) that didn’t mind consuming all my outcomes even when they were still on the hard and dense and sometimes crumbly side. Again, the book ‘No More Bricks” by Lori Viets is the teaching tool I am using in this learning process and I highly recommend it to anyone interested!

The book has taken me from my first brick above to a few loaves that look like this

which were still lacking lots of rise but not completely flat on top.

And then finally to fairly consistent end results that looks like this. Voila!

From start to finish, the milling process all the way to a freshly baked loaf of bread (or 6!) takes right under 2 hours with only about 20 minutes actual hands on attention. Every other Monday has been my baking day. Two loaves are baked that day, one is given away, and the rest of the dough is divided into fourths and frozen for later use.

I still have much to learn in this process and once I master this whole wheat oatmeal recipe I have been using, I will move onto other grains. I have always loved a great pimento cheese sandwich baked on rye bread; so rye will be the next grain I start buying.

Milling your own flour is not just for the Amish! Many families are starting to do this in their homes as well because of all the great benefits. And you can too!

Here are just a few more reasons to consider…

Taste
After eating bread prepared from grain you mill yourself, there is no going back. Commercial products will taste stale, even if they’re “fresh” off the shelf. Freshly milled breads are lighter, moister, and can have a variety of taste depending on which grains you chose to mill.
There’s fun in experimenting with different grains in your recipes. Try adding or combining buckwheat, spelt (good for people with wheat allergies), oats, rye, wheat, quinoa, millet and many other grains for a never-ending variety of taste.

Time
Does milling and baking your own grains take a little longer than grabbing a loaf off the shelf? Yes. But not that much longer, and the payoff in taste and health benefits more than makes up for it. Don’t let yourself be intimidated by the thought of milling your own grain. These days, grain mills come in a variety of sizes, are simple to use, and are adaptable to the average household, meaning you can buy big or small units depending on your needs. Plus, they eventually pay for themselves in money saved on buying commercial products.

Getting Started
Today when we struggle to find time to fit in the laundry, walk the dog, get the kids to baseball and soccer practice, the suggestion we mill our own grain may sound far-fetched. But today’s grain mills make the process easy, and the benefits associated with milling your own grain are tangible and ongoing. Investigate different types of grain mills, or find a friend or co-worker who owns one and ask to give it a whirl. Experiment with a recipe or two, and you’ll quickly understand why so many people are choosing to take the time to pamper themselves with freshly milled, home baked goodness.

 

queen d4 to d2 takes bishop (checkmate)

Halle’s Tia (her Aunt Cristen) gave her a chess set for Christmas this past year and it has been so fascinating to see her develop this keen interest in the game. She is developing quite a knack for the skills involved and can hold her own with Rob for a long drawn out match (I still have yet to beat the girl…)

So when we found out there was a park in Austin that offered knee-high chess every Saturday at Wooldridge Square (in the downtown area at 9th & Guadalupe), we thought it would be fun for her to try her maneuvers against a non-family opponent. It was here that she met up with nine year old Jacob who was checking out the park with his family and was willing to play.

It was so tempting to say ‘watch your queen’ or ‘look what your rook can do’ but this was a special type of spectator sport & parents have to hold their tongues! Still, even without our aid (not like I’d be of much assistance any old way), Halle did excellent and was able to keep her moves in stride with this boy. What a sight to see the looks of intense deliberation on both of their faces as they considered their moves and watched each other’s!

It is too bad that nature started calling for Halle just moments after the game began. Ten minutes into it all, she was squirming around a lot and it was becoming very distracting for her to concentrate. Jacob said he would wait to finish if we excused ourselves to find a potty. But just in case, Halle said “good game” and “thanks for playing” when we left; as we were certain there would be others wanting to play before we would return. It turns out, her ending comments were appropriate because the hike up to the nearest bathroom kept us away a good while, and when we got back a new game had started. Oh well… At least Halle had fun and left in good spirits. We’ll be back again for sure!

In the meantime, I’ll need to work on my own strategy against Halle in order to give her some fair competition and allow her tactics to really develop. Because as it is now, we are not evenly matched. The below are some of my favorite comments from Halle (to me) that have been spoken while she is accomplishing her task of outwitting me at chess:
“You don’t see what’s coming do you”
“It’s all about planning”
“Oh, you saw that” I suprised her by protecting one of my pieces that she would have captured with her next move

 

thanks Dave Ramsey, we’re now debt free!!!!

Wait!! Before you get too impressed, I do have to preface that we still have a mortgage. But according to Dave, you can call yourself debt free if you have no other outstanding payments on loans or credit cards. And as of 3/9/09, when we made our last payment on the remaining balance of Rob’s loan for his Master’s Degree, we are able to finally share the exciting news of being in this category!!

The quest for this debt-free title started three and a half years ago when we went through Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University” – a 13 week course at our church, back in San Antonio. We had been hearing nothing but praise about it and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. If the class truly could live up to its name, we knew that having a “financial peace” would be of huge benefit to our single-income family of five. And even though we never considered our spending outrageous (we didn’t have credit card payments) and the debt from vehicle and student loans we did have was fairly acceptable (in our eyes at least), we believed there was probably something we could do better in our money management. And if a class could really and truly help create a working budget (we had already tried and failed many times in the past), it was worth a shot to try it out.

Well…

You can safely conclude our opinions now on this class and on Dave Ramsey!! It wasn’t an easy process to get where we are today; a TON of changes in our spending was needed to be able to pay off more than $55,000 in 3 1/2 years. But we did it and believe others can too!!! I know we raised a few eyebrows and possible concerns with our spending habits as friends and families saw the “luxuries” we were doing without; however, I always felt like life was comfortable (we weren’t suffering) as we just slowly adapted to living under a lower (much much lower) standard of living than we were used to. And now, even though our “debt” is gone, we will still continue to apply (for always) all that we learned in ways to spend money more wisely. Dave does stress that ultimately, one main result of being out of debt is the ability to give more freely. And, even better, he encourages that you teach that principle to your children at as early an age as possible. What a different financial state we would be in now if we had this perspective on spending/saving/giving early on in life. A big regretful sigh!!! Better late than never, right? Anyways, as you can see, we are super excited about what this class enabled us to do!!! And we think that everyone (in debt or not) can profit greatly from Dave Ramsey’s material. I know that I do have apologizes to offer out there to friends and family; for probably speaking too much, too often on all this money/debt/budget stuff. I just knew how much we were benefitting (I mean tremendously benefitting!!) from the money management tools we had received, it was almost impossible to keep that news to myself.

So thank you Dave Ramsey! We will raise our glasses high, in your honor, when we celebrate this feat at Fogo de Chão on Saturday : )

 

shopping then and shopping now

Sink or swim. Fight or flight. Man vs Wild. No, I am not referring to some documentary on the discovery channel, where survival is the common theme; I am describing my own situation that best captured life in those early days/weeks/months after the twins were born. The concept behind ’survival of the fittest’ became of much personal interest to me during that crazy and hectic time. Agreeing with the idea that only those organisms best adapted to their particular conditions of their environment will succeed in the long run, I knew our livelihood depended on finding successful ways to adjust to the new conditions and challenges 3 kids (under the age of 3) brought upon this family (especially when it came to securing food). Thinking back to our early ancestors means of surviving and how the men did the hunting to provide for their clan, I first let Rob (the man of this clan) have a stab at being the source of our sustenance. But when he would return with his idea of a bountiful “kill” comprised of a month’s supply of unshelled peanuts and shiner bock, I knew that I would need to be the one foraging for our food. And that was scary!! The familiar task of shopping at a store with just one kid became a daunting one, now that three little ones would be part of my expedition for groceries. I was going into uncharted waters, but I knew our survival depended on it and I was determined to figure out a way (or die trying…)

It turns out, it was not as frightful as I thought it would be!! It just required a bit more time and a little getting used to maneuvering two different wheeled-devices around the store. This is how shopping used to look.

Dee and Gracie would remain in their infant carriers and I would push them with my right arm. Halle would get the front seat of a grocery cart that I would drag along behind me. Fortunately for me, D&G were so small that I could keep them in those carriers and shop this way for the first 15 months.

After those days, I would just throw all 3 in the shopping cart. And this is what our shopping trips look like today.

So I am pleased to say that going shopping has (**for about 99% of the time) been a positive experience and not something I have dreaded over the past 3 1/2 years. There are joys to be had (honest!) when it becomes the norm to shop with your little ones on a regular basis. I still love the looks and expressions we get from other shoppers. “God bless you” is a favorite of mine because I can reply with “Yes He has!!” Even though their words are in line with the other familiar “you have your hands full” comment, suggesting life must be super hard with multiple kids, I always want to try to turn it into one of praise for children. There is such a misconception existing today that children are a burden and keep mommy from having freedom in her life, I hope my response and attitude when shopping with my girls gives them something different to consider.

Oh and I don’t want to leave off the part of the ’survival of the fittest’ principle that concludes when a species can adapt and survive, they can reproduce. It is fitting to include here because we are praying our numbers will increase, soon after we start the adoption process this summer! Just wait till folks see a really full cart!!

**explanation of those non-pleasant shopping excursions: There are those 1% of times where all kids are screaming in the cart as I push it around the store. When people look at me, I am so tempted to say “poor kids, their mom must have wandered off, I am trying to help them find her.” But those are few and far between, and we ALL learn (me included) how to behave better the next time.

 

Rob the Builder

And…

Rob the Painter, the Electrician, the Auto-mechanic, the Plumber, the Welder, the Remodeler, the Dry-wall hanger, the Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker  (sorry, I couldn’t resist adding the last three…)

But you get the idea; he truly is a jack of all trades! And thinking back on the many many things he has been able to do that profits friends and family and our home with his sundry set of skills and talents, I realize how much I am blessed as a wife married to this man. I am astounded by the dozens and dozens of building projects he has completed over the years as well as the never ending amount of ways he is able to keep us in the clear of paying repair folks that would usually be required for home and vehicle upkeep.

This is just a small small (very very small) sample of things that he has done over the years, that made me so proud.
*How about you and my grandfather work together to build a bed for us. Done (and it looks beautiful!)
*Rob, this 1950s house needs some remodeling. Don’t you think this wall would look better with a big window that opens up the den to the kitchen? Done (and then more of our friends had him do the same in their home…).
*Rob, there is this precious dollhouse bookshelf in the pottery barn kids catalog. Can you make that for Halle? Done.
*oh, and I like these cool bookshelves in their home catalog. Can you make them for our den? Done!
*Rob, my car window is stuck down in the door and won’t come back up. What should we do? Oh, you are just going to rip the door panel off and fix the broken part. Cool!
*Um, Rob. I had a bit of an accident today and pulled the iron out of the electric outlet. The problem is the plug didn’t come with the cord. You can fix it! Swell!!
*Rob, I am bummed that we just don’t have all the shelf space we did in our closets in San Antonio. You will build a whole wall of shelves in our master closet! That’s super.
*Rob, it would be nice to have a playset for the girls. Done! (and btw, this thing is awesome!!)
*Hey, uh – I think now that we moved this bookshelf into the den, it should be painted black. Oh, and it needs to look distressed too. You’re on that. Sweet!

And the list goes on and on; laying tile, laying hard wood floors, building decks, hanging doors/cabinets/dry wall, remodeling, rewiring things (ahem, so I don’t actually know what the proper terms are for what it is he re-wires, I just know that he does; and it saves us needing to hire electricians every now and then), turning his jeep into a true off-road vehicle, fixing almost every car issue we encounter (alternators, breaks,…), building an entire barn (or as he would say, “equestrian housing” is the more sophisticated term). And even though there are tons of other things to share, I’ll throw in just one more because it is a favorite of mine. He was actually called to remove a raccoon trapped inside a bedroom wall (yeah, one of our friends thought to call up Rob for assistance with the matter when animal control wouldn’t come to the rescue!).

From the very big to the very small, there is so much he has done to make me say “WOW!!

If there is any sort of issue he encounters related to appliances/cars/trucks/boats/home-maintenance/etc etc…, he has this compulsion to fix it right away, no matter the time, no matter the surrounding circumstances. It is not a rare thing to find him tinkering with something in our home (or vehicle) to make it “better.” Not too many nights ago, well after all the kiddos were in bed, I left him at the computer to go brush my teeth. I quickly come back out when I hear this very LOUD banging noise. The scene I come across is Rob on the floor with a sledge hammer and our office chair turned over on its side. The wheels of the chair have been removed and Rob is pounding the ever living daylights out of this poor chair. I ask him what in the world he is doing! “It didn’t sit right,” he said. We’ll yeah, if you bang on it like that of course it will have issues. He didn’t appreciate my humor (sigh… people rarely do…) But I guess he was right, the chair didn’t sit right and because of that, it was dragging a piece of metal across the carpet every time you moved it.

I throw in that story to say this and try to sum it all up. Life is truly better around here because of him! I know that I often take all these for granted, but no more. On this special day (Rob’s birthday!) I want him to know just how much I appreciate and admire all he does.

Many men have done excellently, but in my eyes Rob surpasses them all (and that should be my mindset, because I am married to him!)

As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Song of Solomon 2:3

Happy Birthday Rob! You are the one that captures my heart’s appreciation, admiration, attraction, and affection.
I love you!!

 

happy feet from a running feat

This past Saturday, all the girls ran in their first race. This whopping 1K was quite a distance for these little legs, but they did AWESOME; I was so proud of them!! Dee and Gracie were the smallest ones out there, by far, and they looked super cute next to all these bigger kids. But how grown up they all felt to finally be running in an event of this sort “like mommy does.”

They all crossed the finish line with big smiles and were awarded in Mardis Gras style with their own set of victory beads.

Even though they won’t be capable of any greater distances for quite some time, I am not without my own hopes and dreams of a future family of runners. How fun would it be to all run in races together. A team name like the “Fast Feet Van Vleets” would definitely earn merit!

you can see more photos here

 

my purple feet feat and the goal I didn’t meet

Actually it should be noted that purple exists only on parts of my toes (the entirety of my feet aren’t a blackish bluish reddish color). It is just that the words feet, feat, and meet make for a much catchier title, don’t you think?! But if you look down at my feet, you do see purple; so I think it is fair to stick with what I have : ) Gracie’s story with the similar name had an end result that I could post a cute (non-stomach upsetting) picture of. Not so with me. Instead, I’ll just post the pre-purple “feet” feat pictures and tell the story of how I got mine.

I do have to say that I hesitated posting this at first because I didn’t want to come across as prideful. Yes, I am proud to have accomplished a high feat for once (most everything I post about me is on the low and humbling side.) I am just without the pride (make sense?). Especially because I didn’t meet my initial secret goal I had in mind when I set out to do this thing.

So what is this feat I feel proud but not prideful of??? My faithful readers (all five, maybe six, of you!) probably already know : ) But in case you stumbled across this post, I am excited to get to proudly (but not pridefully) announce that I ran my 1st full marathon! Yay for me!!
And for my sisters, they ran their first half!!

I know that I should have just set a first time goal of finishing (that would have been a noteworthy feat in and of itself), but I had to throw in a time goal to try to attain as well. And with too lofty of expectations, I set out to try to complete the run in less than 4 hours. But…
it didn’t quite happen that way. Boo : (

I came in about 5 minutes slower than I had hoped for. My completion time was 4:04:37.
Oh well, that just means there WILL be marathon #2 and then #3 and #4 and so on!!!
I can totally see why these are addicting!!

And with family there to support me, it certainly makes them all the more fun and the distance attainable!! As you can see, I had quite the enthusiastic fan club waving for me as I neared the 25 mile marker. After weeks and weeks of their own cheering-mommy-on “training” they were as ready for this day as I was. It was Rob who had helped them work hard to prepare for this event. When I would do my long training runs early on Saturday mornings (running around and around and around our neighborhood), he would load the girls up in the truck and head to the front of the subdivision to get doughnuts. They would first drive around to try and find me, hollering out “go mommy go!” when they spotted me. Then on their way back from their breakfast, they would do the same thing again, i.e., circle the streets in search of their mom and then give me that extra bit of energy with their sweet encouraging cheers. Well all the hard work paid off, because they certainly exceeded all my expectations. I was feeling miserable and my mind was quite loopy come those last several miles. But hearing their enthusiasm for me gave me that extra bit of determination and adrenaline I needed to push through the pain and exhaustion. Even some ladies that were running behind me let me know they benefitted from my girls. It was so great!!!!

So what, do you ask, is up with the color purple and my feet? Good question. Twenty six miles of having your toe nails being slammed back and forth against the inside tips of your shoes will do quite a bit of damage!! I went up a half shoe size after the last half-marathon I ran, but apparently I could have still spared some more room down there. I had been feeling something of discomfort in those last miles down in my toe area but wasn’t sure just what to make of it. But when the race was done and we finally made it back to the truck, I knew the blood seeping through both pairs of socks was not a good sign. I was certain that once I braved taking off my socks, I would lay eyes on something ugly. Sometimes I don’t like being right! Broken skin, blisters, and black toes and bloody toe nails – YUCK!! But it was all worth it – honest!! I will do this again and again. Especially in the winter when I have no need to wear sandals and paint my toes (by the way, I think it will be months before I actually have all 10 of my toe nails back to put polish on anyways…)

 

Dee is for destruction

de*stroy [di-stroi] – verb (used with object)  1. to reduce to useless fragments, a useless form, or remains, as by rending, burning, or dissolving; injure beyond repair or renewal; demolish; ruin; annihilate.  2. to put an end to; extinguish 

Yep. That is what our little Dee does best. She really does have this innate knack for figuring out ways to destroy. We have had to say goodbye to many an object because of one ‘gifted’ little girl.  And her actions truly match, in just about every way shape and form, the definition above.  Although I am thankful to say that nothing has been burned…at least not yet. Give her time.  She is only two.

I am often alerted by Halle with the common household phrase, “mom, dee is into something she shouldn’t be.”  And she is.  I wish I kept better track of all those things that have met an untimely end in her care.  But at this moment only a few incidents come to mind. Little unripe, green tomatoes on the vine, what does Dee do? She rips them off and throws them at her sisters. A cassette tape discovered, what does Dee do? She pulls and pulls until all the tape is off the reel and in a big tangled pile.  And I know there are many many others, but… (regretful sigh…) this is all I can remember right now. Nevertheless, there is always this constant amazement I have for the craftiness of Dee.

Going forward, I plan to do a better job of keeping up with these things.  But until the next “feat” surfaces, I do have an image that captures the fate of one poor marker. The picture below is what prompted the post.  

I had no idea you could do this! But Dee discovered that you could actually disassemble the top and shred the writing tip.  Of course that meant her hands, face, and clothes were completely covered in red.   And where was mommy??? I was just 10 feet away in the kitchen at the sink, but had no idea what she was up to (I never am).  I thought they were all just coloring innocently at the table.   I should know by now that unwatched, Dee is rarely up to anything innocent. 

 

twins!

6 am  – Arrive at hospital.  Mind is filled with lots of mixed emotions.  Nervousness and fear – have heard all the stories of complications that can happen with delivery and all the possible pain!  Joy and excitement – time is near! – I will finally get to meet and hold and see my girls!!  Go up to labor and delivery.  I am the only patient there. “Yes, I am the one about to have two twin girls” …”Yes, there is one little girl already at home”… “Ha ha, yes, that will make three girls.”  Rob throws in his usual comments about his penance and having three polished shot guns.  It never gets old to me and all the nurses get a laugh.

7 am– All settled in a labor and delivery room.   Everything is in place to monitor contractions, my heart beat, and babies’ heart beats.  Doctor comes in to break my water and the pitocin starts dripping through the IV.  Now we just wait… 

8am – In a VERY giddy state. Everything is funny – even the contractions.  TV gets turned on to pass the time.  ‘Tommy Boy’ is playing.  A funny movie, yes – but, with all the emotions, today it seems to be the most hysterical thing ever.  I laugh so hard, tears are flowing down.  By the way, every laugh shows up as a huge contraction on the monitor – the nurse has to ignore those.  She is thinking what a very strange girl! Rob has known this since we first met, but this moment just reinforces that and makes him laugh, too. 

10:30am – Anesthesiologist gives the epidural.  Much, much stronger than the one I had with Halle.  The room spins around for almost an hour.  I start rambling to the nurse about all sorts of “important” life topics (“Don’t you think RC is the best cola ever!” and “Such a shame they are so hard to find at gas stations these days”).   Rob isn’t quite so happy anymore.   My “cocktail” (as he calls the epidural) is a little too strong for his likings.  He watches the monitor – my heart rate and blood pressure go down and the girls’ heart rates drop, too.  I feel the opposite.  A complete peace.  I drift in and out of sleep until…

1pm – It is time!  Wheeled into the operating room (all moms of multiples deliver there – just in case…).  Welcomed by blaring 80s music, 5 or 6 labor and delivery nurses, two OB/GYN doctors, the anesthesiologist, and two nursery nurses.   Lots of laughing again.  Somewhere between “I’ll Stop the World and Melt with You” and “Material Girl”, two precious babies come into the world.  

1:31pm – DeAnna Jackie (Dee) was born.  6lbs 2oz, 18 ½ inches long.  She is placed on my tummy for a quick second before she is rushed to another side of the room.  

1:44pm – Grace Lee (Gracie) was born.  5lbs 9oz ,19 ¼ inches long.  Another quick moment with this daughter and then she is taken away, too.  

2:00pm – Back in the labor and delivery room.  In awe that there were NO complications, no pain, and NOTHING from the delivery to recover from.   Countless blessings from God.  I am overwhelmed.  Get to hold and nurse Gracie.  Dee is getting special attention from a nurse.  She is a little cold and needs to be taken to the nursery.  Gracie leaves shortly, too.  Rob goes to find food.  I am left alone for the first time that day.  And now… at the end of a new beginning, I have nothing but thoughts of thankfulness and praise for my amazing Gracie and wonderful Dee. 

Oh, and to try to answer the biggest question I have been receiving…..  Identical or Fraternal??  Don’t know yet.  The placenta is “sent off” somewhere. The results will let us know.   A few similarities show between Gracie and Dee.  Same dimple on the left cheek, same hair line.  But, they are still so new to the world.  Both have that puffy, pink, goofy newborn look to them – but they are still just absolutely perfect and beautiful at the same time.