Psychic Medium - Part 2

After hubs had his reading  we booked one for my mom, who really needed it.

Remember that  2010 volcano eruption in Greenland that put so much smoke &debris in the air it suspended flights to Europe?

well, that's when my Grandma died....my mom couldn't fly to Poland to be there for her last few days of life or for her funeral. She never got to say goodbye and she carries such guilt over that.

 she hoped to get some sort of closure through this reading, and she did just that.

I have the conversation recorded, 

So as I play it back I will mention some of the good parts.

Thomas: who is Christopher?

Mom: my son

Thomas: did he work a lot last month?

because your Mother wants him to know she was watching over him and is proud of him for helping so many people

My brother is a cop, even on his days off he was out helping people after hurricane Sandy.

Again, Thomas.... doesn't know anything about our family

Thomas: Someone in the family is pregnant, but they don't know it yet. Shes not going further into it but it will be known soon enough

I took a pregnancy test after this HA! phew negative. Very curious though, I have lots of girl cousins in Poland so maybe one of them. We shall see.

Thomas: your mother is at peace, she found who she needed to find on the other side. She's  there with another woman

We are assuming the other woman is my Aunt who passed away from cancer in 2006

Thomas: your mother is saying that she wished she had one last goodbye but shes acknowledging that it wasn't your fault you didn't she wants you to know that

Mom: :::crying:::

Thomas: she says you are always looking for some sort of sign to know shes there

Mom: that's exactly what I do!

Thomas: know shes with you all the time in spirit

Mom: what does she see for me, for my future?

Thomas: shes telling me that you will be moving. Not soon but definitely sees a move...maybe 3-5 years.

My dad retires in 3 years exactly and they plan to move to Arizona

Once upon a duckie

Yesterday evening while Sienna was getting a bath in her duckie tub

she said her 1st English word....

"DUCKIE"

up until now, 

all words that she had said were in Polish :)

her little voice just melts my heart!!

Grilled Veggie Sandwich

 

This is one of my favorite sandwiches ever! I thought Id share the recipe.

Even though its vegetarian, trust me - you wont miss the meat and if you do...I'm sure it would be yummy with a chicken breast as well.

1/4 cup of mayo

3 cloves garilic, minced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 cup olive oil

1 cup sliced red bell peppers

1 small zucchini, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

1 small yellow squash, sliced

focaccia bread split horizontally

1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, minced garlic, and lemon juice. Set aside in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the grill for high heat.
3. Brush vegetables with olive oil on each side. Brush grate with oil. Place bell peppers and zucchini closest to the middle of the grill, and set onion and squash pieces around them. Cook for about 3 minutes, turn, and cook for another 3 minutes. The peppers may take a bit longer. Remove from grill, and set aside.
4. Spread some of the mayonnaise mixture on the cut sides of the bread, and sprinkle each one with feta cheese. Place on the grill cheese side up, and cover with lid for 2 to 3 minutes. This will warm the bread, and slightly melt the cheese. Watch carefully so the bottoms don't burn. Remove from grill, and layer with the vegetables. Enjoy as open faced grilled sandwiches.

*Since its cold out now and we didn't feel like going outside to grill, I baked the veggies till they were soft & it was just as good!

To-Do Lists

I hate them

I hate making them

I hate sticking to them

BUT I love crossing things off of them

So tell me if I'm crazy for doing this...

stare at it

work on it

cross a few things off

THEN ADD THINGS THAT WEREN'T ORIGINALLY ON THE LIST JUST SO I CAN CROSS THEM OFF

haha

it gives me a weird sense of satisfaction

anyone else as crazy as me??

♥

what my 9 month old eats

This month little Sienna entered the "picky eating" and "I refuse to eat anything" moods

lovely.

This pickyness has been pretty bad lately. We have been strict with what she eats from day one...no juice, no junk, avoiding gluten and buying all organic produce. I have been making her purees but shes starting to only want things she can feed herself.

Breakfast: for breakfast she has yogurt mixed with mashed banana or a fruit puree. Sometimes Kefir in a sippy cup. This stuff she loves and isnt usually picky about. On weekends when I have Dans help, I make her gluten free pancakes that she loves. I cut them into small pieces and she feeds herself. They're made with coconut flour, ground flaxseed, cocnut oil, egg, vanilla.

Lunch: This is where I try to sneak in veggies. I started to adding cinnamon to certain purees to make it more tasty for her...recent favorite is sweet potato & cinnamon  or Apple, carrot, cinnamon. I swore I would never do this, but sometimes I have to trick her with a snack...she opens wide thinking shes getting a yogurt melt but instead I sneak in a spoonful of veggie...it makes for a priceless facial expression too since its not what shes expecting.

Since shes big on feeding herself, I like to steam up some big pieces of broccoli or string beans or asparagus and let her hold it and bite pieces off

 

Dinner: usually a meat, if she cant have what we're eating for dinner we cook her chicken in coconut oil, sometimes some sourdough bread with butter or pieces of cheese and when all fails, she gets more yogurt for dinner because that she wont refuse.

to make life easier, I portion her chicken when I buy it then freeze it. When I need one serving for her...I just take one ziplock out and its enough for a dinner and lunch the next day for her, that way I always have it on hand and don't have to defrost a whole lot but just enough

There is a farmers market 5 mins from us every Saturday and where we get fresh baked sourdough bread (practically gluten free)...her second favorite thing to eat. Who doesn't love carbs?

3rd favorite thing to eat...soups & stews which I make often anyway because I'm a huge fan myself

here is a Sienna serving of homemade Chicken soup

snacks:  she loves these, they save us during cranky times in restaurants and I don't feel guilty giving them to her because they're 100% fruit

what she drinks: she still drinks pumped breast-milk throughout the day of course with drops of DHA & vitamin D added. In her sippy cup she gets coconut water & kefir

& a typical face when trying something new - isnt she a riot? 

any mamas have any healthy suggestions? 

 Id love some! :)

Sienna's 1st Christmas

We had a wonderful 1st Christmas as a family of THREE

well four, if you count the the little gremlin who is trying to bite me for sticking a Santa hat on him- it made for a cute candid shot atleast :)

Christmas Eve was by far our busiest day, filled with lots of  food and little traditions that make the busyness all worth it. 

So many of my Christmas memories are centered around my mom, that sometimes the holidays feel empty without her. But these traditions, the pieces of our lives I'll always have with me to carry on for years to come in my new family and hopefully Sienna will do the same.

Christmas day we got up early, certainly not our choice but we dont have control of how long we get to sleep anymore...someone else is in charge of that, its a good thing shes cute.

I woke up craving pancakes, not just any pancakes...but thick fluffy ones! yum. So hubby whipped some up while I got Sienna dressed cute to open gifts.

 

We decided to keep her gifts simple and to a minimum and we will continue to do so every Christmas.

why?

 1. I know she would be way more interested in the wrapping paper this year 

2. I don't want her growing up thinking Christmas revolves solely around gifts and setting expectations.

I want my daughter to growing up believing in love, empathy, kindness, the simple things that make the holidays...not a toy store worth of gifts that she doesnt really need and wont appreciate because of their sheer abundance.

It makes me really sad that so many kids have nothing, they will receive nothing and yet other children receive everything and appreciate nothing...I see it happen all the time.

When I was little & lived in Poland, my parents did not shower us with gifts... Santa came and brought a gift or two per child...just getting markers & a coloring book made me truly happy, and I learned to appreciate what I had and I think those lessons are ever lasting.

My best memories of Christmas as a child were not gifts...but going sledding with my siblings, my dad going out in the forest and bringing us a tree, caroling.

I know I am able to give my children everything I never had, and everything I always wished for...I could, but I wont. I think the lessons I can teach them will be way more meaningful than getting every toy they ever wanted.

So no, I was not one of those parents who spent hundreds of dollars on her toys. She got 2 toys and they're plenty enough....she gets showered with love, not gifts :)

 

 

first Christmas pierogi! - so glad she loves mamas cooking!

Christmas Eve Hike :)

The weather has been so amazing here lately (upper 60s, low 70s), big part of why we moved to Arizona. We decided to take advantage and go on little nature hike. 

Sienna loved it... she was obsessed with picking up sticks and touching bark on the trees, we let her crawl and get dirty....shes a natural little explorer ;)

Now I have to get to cooking, lots of pierogis to make!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I'm really excited that its Sienna's very 1st!

Sofia & Sienna....twins?

A lot of people have said that Sienna looks just like her cousin Sofia,

 I never really saw it...until I saw them side by side.

Sofia is on the left in all photos

Sienna on the right

few days old

6 months old

making the same faces at 7 months

circus act life

I don't know what it was about today, but it was a rough to say the least.

On top of Sienna's awful night sleep & her usual wake ups every 3 hours. I was up from having nightmares...strange ones too. I think watching "American horror story" was a bad idea on top of History channels convincing doomsday shows, my anxiety has been through the roof with this 'end of the world' stuff.

Well anyway, the morning started off with Sienna asleep in our bed and me needing to get up to pump...but how do I wake a child who never wants to sleep in the first place? I would be crazy to...So I laid there feeling uncomfortable from my need to pump and waited for her to wake up

8'oclock she wakes up crying, not her usual smiling self pointing at me saying "mama"

I should have known right there and then it was going to be a rough day

I pick her up and her pjs were soaked, so were my bed sheets.  WONDERFUL. Never usually sleeping this late, her diaper didn't hold. Before I even get to pee and daydream about getting to brush my teeth...I change her and rush to pump. Now, I wish there was a hidden camera  in my house so I can show everyone (including my husband) what its like to pump with a mobile & clingy infant around....it could be mistaken for a circus act.

of course she refused to nap and I hadn't been able to get anything done except entertain her and I was failing miserably at that, she was fussy and tired but refused to go down. Every time I passed by the sink full of dishes and tower of dirty laundry I cringed. 


Days like these leave me second guessing myself,  its really difficult to know you're doing things right when the only person who can validate that is looking at you screaming her head off eventhough you are certain you did everything you possibly could.

The frustration got the best of me

Psychic Medium reading

I was a skeptic until a couple of weeks ago.

My hubby does Graphic Design work for a 'Celebrity Psychic Medium" in NYC. They never actually met in person and their conversations were always strictly business related

One day, Thomas offered to give Danny a reading over the phone kind of as a Thank you for his work, (nice guy)....Now mind you Danny isn't a believer in the after life, spirits, ghosts, heaven...none of that stuff...but he though eh why not what do I have to loose.

This guy has a really good reputation and read people like Jenifer Lopez, Courtney Cox, ect
celebrity-psychic-thomas-john-jennifer-lopez/

Anyway, it was a Saturday afternoon and we happen to be at a friends house when he called to give Danny his session

30 seconds into the phone call my non believer husbands jaw was on the floor

Thomas connected with Dan's beloved Grandmother who passed away in 2001, the things he knew he couldn't have known otherwise

I recorded some of the conversation with my phone and jot down what stuck out the most, so as I'm listening to the recording I'll share some of what was said...


Thomas: did you and your wife break up for a period of time before you were married because she was unsure?
Dan: yes
Thomas: well your grandma wants you to know that she brought you back together

(I started crying at this point, he couldn't have known this on his own...he doesn't know us or that the reason we broke up was because of me...and she brought us back together...wow)


Thomas: are you planning another child? 
Dan: not at the moment, but yes soon
Thomas: well your grandma is showing me another girl, a boy and another girl

(this made me excited - I've always wanted 2 girls & a boy)


Thomas: she wants you to know shes very aware of your child and is often around her. Shes showing me blue eyes and that she connects with your daughters. When you look at them she wants you to think of her

(Sienna's blues are even more special to us now, they are her great grandmas)


Thomas: who is the 'P' 'E' name?
Dan: my brother, Perry
Thomas: the person he is currently dating, he will end up marrying. He will also start his own business down the road

( we always said that! he was never as serious with anyone as he is with his current girlfriend)


Thomas: shes telling me shes so happy you traveled to her place of birth to connect with your roots and that you visited the place her and grandpa met

(they met in Auschwitz, the concentration camp where Dan & I visited in 2007)


He said he can sometimes see the spirits and Grandma showed herself, vaguely but he saw her and described her to the very last detail. It was incredible. There was a lot more family detail that wouldn't be fascinating to anyone but family, so I wouldn't bore you with it but everything made total sense...he knew about a necklace Dan's mom saved from Grandma, little things that noone else would know. I'm gifting my parents a reading from Thomas, they are suppose to have it this Saturday. I hope my Grandma steps forward, its all my mom ever wanted...to hear from her, one last time.

Here is Danny with his dear grandma

Show & tell Monday

This Week's Questions: Christmas talk

1. Tell us what your favorite thing about Christmas is.
 Being with family of course is always the best part, and being across the country from mine always makes the Holidays a bit harder. My moms cooking was always my favorite thing about Christmas, growing up in a Polish household we celebrated Christmas Eve with the menu always being the same for my whole life, though I tried I cant ever make beet soup as good as my moms.

2. Tell us what your plans are for Christmas this year.
This year we will be celebrating Sienna's very first Christmas, we hope to make it perfect for her

3. Show us a picture of Christmas in the past. Or present.

4. Do you wrap your presents all in one box, or do you like wrap each present separately?
I'm not a fan of wrapping, nor am I good at it so any shortcuts....count me in.

   

5. Tell us about any special traditions that you or you and your family like to do.

A Traditional Polish Christmas Eve supper always consists of:

Christmas wafer (Oplatek)

From the oldest to the youngest gathered around the table, we shared bits of oplatek wishing each other health, happiness and special wishes for the New year. This is also the time to mend things with any family member you may have had your differences with. 

Red Borscht (czwerwony Barszcz) with mushroom dumplings

First thing you eat after oplatek, followed by a fish dish and pierogi.

After dinner we listened to Christmas Carols and open gifts till it was time to go to midnight mass.

Headband Giveaway!

Since I had extra material from making Sienna one, 

I'm giving away one of these Christmas headbands!

1. you must be follwing my blog

2. leave your email & your baby's age for sizing purposes

I will have Danny pick a random number and if your comment is that number, you win! 

I'll be taking comments till Monday!

:)

3/4 to a year

My Dear Sienna,

you are 9 months old today!

This past month has been your biggest one yet! you've done SO many new things that  just amaze your Daddy and me. You are one SMART girl!!

you keep adding new words to your vocabulary and the best part....you're picking up Polish! which makes me so so happy. Its so important to me that you know your roots and my goal before you were born was to teach you Polish, and sure enough you're already got some words under your belt.

When you're in your high chair feeding yourself you shout "daj! daj! daj!" if you want more of what you're eating, or you'll shake your head and say "nie nie nie"

Daj = Polish for 'give me'

nie= Polish for 'no'

We are trying to expose you to both languages, so we mix it up. We call you by your Polish name of Sienka and I feel like thats what is going to stick when you're older too

Sometimes we call you Neni, and that is the name your cousin Sofia gave you when you were in my belly & she was too little to pronounce Sienna. We thought it was so cute we keep calling you that. My other nick name for you is stringbean, because you're long and skinny!

you have your well-visit today so I'll fill in your stats later

I predict that you're close to but not over 16lbs and 29" long (yep string bean indeed)

Your appetite picked up this month (thank goodness) 
your favorite thing to eat is yogurt, its a good way for me to sneak in some veggie purees..You never could tell, it just tastes like flavored yogurt to you ;)

Your sleep went from horrible to horrid,
 but I'll leave that for another post.

1st bath in the big tub! you hardly knew what to do with yourself with all that room to splash

I have no idea why, but you're obsessed with wet washcloths - you try to suck the water out of them and when I take it away you throw a screaming fit like nothing else

 whats up with that? are you thirsty or something? does Burts Bees make their baby body wash appealing to your taste buds? I have no idea but given a cookie and wash cloth, you would definitely chose washcloth.

You are something else I tell ya...

which leads me to your next favorite thing to do...make crazy faces & noises

 You always make me laugh with your sillyness!

One of my favorite things you do is give kisses when asked, you open your mouth like a little birdie and you lean towards your mama or dada - melts us everytime.

today you were fulling on your gate yelling for dada, sick of mamas face all day? that's ok - I'm glad you miss your daddy because he texts me everyday from work saying how much he misses you.

2 weeks ago, was the first time we left you with someone for more than an hour - we went to a wedding & you stayed with you auntie Kate. You cried for mama as we were leaving and it totally put a damper on my night and I told myself I'm not leaving you again ( I'm sure I'll have to eventually) but atleast not for a while.

Sienna in a nutshell - 12/13/12

Your favorite toys these days: my phone, pump tubes, little specs of dirt you somehow find on the floor, your nose sucky thing, shoes, scrunchies ( you think its funny that you can pull them and it snaps back)

ALL TIME FAVORITE  - keys 

its the only way we can eat in peace at restaurants

Your favorite toys aren't toys, I'm sure you will love the wrapping paper of your Christmas presents way more than the actual toys.

well I think that's it, If i think of anymore of your shenanigan, I'll be sure to report them here :)

we love you string bean!

Here is a little movie I made of us getting ready for Christmas :)

Sienna's 1st Christmas -2012