Potato Bacon Cheese Chowder

Description:
This is a recipe I picked up from my friend, Kay Bautista (http://www.facebook.com/kaybautista). Always a hit in our home! My kids love it with the potatoes mashed a little and some rice. Mier and I eat it with french bread. Super yummy and easy to make! :-) Will take a picture next time we have this. :-)

Ingredients:
Around 3 big potatoes cut into cubes
1/4 kilo Bacon chopped
1 whole onion chopped
2 stems celery chopped
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2-3 cups chicken stock
1 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp white wine for deglazing (optional)

Directions:
1. Saute the onion and celery in butter (and little oil for the butter not to burn easily).
2. Add the bacon then the potatoes.
3. When the potatoes are almost tender, deglaze with white wine if you have/want else add your flour and mix. Your mixture will look like "paste" or buo-buo, this is called roux (mixing flour with butter).
4. Add chicken stock, 1 ladle at a time and stir the mixture until no lumps before adding more stock.
5. When you get the consistency that you want for your chowder that is the time you stop adding stock. Since it is a chowder so it shouldnt be too thin nor too thick.
6. Add your cream and grated cheese and stir.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I Know.

Time for another challenge prompt atAnother Freaking Scrappy Challenge. :-) This time we are asked to "scrap about a belief, or philosophy you have – it can be something deep or something light. It might be a religious or other philosophy, or something as light as your theory on how
you can put two socks into the washing machine and only one ever comes back to you."

I scrapped about Cerise's health situation and what I feel saved her from a possible brain development delay. You can read my journaling below. I printed my picture on Bazzil cardstock on sepia color to give that look. Love how it turned out. :-) Thanks for looking!

Title: I Know.

Journaling: Your doctor said that you were lucky. That you are a miracle baby. You see, we found out about your thyroid problem when you were 3 months already and only then did we start your medication. This was dangerous because we only had 3 months before delay in brain development could occur. The thyroid problem was not detected right away by the newborn screening test. After 2 1/2 months of failure to thrive, we saw an endocrinologist who ordered blood tests, thyroid ultrasound and a nuclear scan. We found out that your thyroid was smaller than usual. So, were you just lucky? I don’t think so. I think it helped that I breastfed you for about 4 months. You might say, I’m such a fanatic on breastfeeding to believe so. But really, breastmilk is the best! And I would have continued to breastfed you if not for your congenital heart problem (but that’s another story). I believe my breastmilk was your saving grace. No other food would be perfect for your system, for your brain, for your body but my milk. And although I had to stop, I’m glad I was able to feed you for your first 4 months of life. This was what helped you. I know.

Our Little Reader - Cerise at 10 months

Cerise loves to read just like her big sisters :-)

Cerise is 9 months old!

Beef Broccoli

Description:
This dish was so easy to make. And turned out pretty good too. Definitely a must in our monthly menu. :-)

Ingredients:
400 grams beef breakfast steak, sliced thinly across the grain
2 cups broccoli florets
2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

For the beef marinade:
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth

Directions:
1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl then marinate the beef for at least 20 minutes

2. In a separate bowl, combine the ingredients for the sauce and stir well. Set aside.

3. Cook the broccoli in a small pot of boiling, salted water until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

4. Apply high heat on a wok or a frying pan then pour-in cooking oil when the pan is really hot.

5. Put-in the beef and stir fry for a minute. Add the garlic and cook/stir for another minute.

6. Pour-in the sauce and bring to a boil. Then add the broccoli.

7. Stir-in the cornstarch (diluted in water) and cook until the sauce thickens.

8. Serve hot with rice.

She's 9 months already!

Can you believe how fast time flies? In a few months, Cerise will be a year old already.She is growing fast and bigger. During her pedia check up yesterday, she gained 1 kilo from last month! So she is now 6.7 kilos! Wow! Her pedia says she is catching up with her contemporaries which is very good.

The other day, we went to see Dr. Cindy Llego, a developmental pediatrician to assess her development. As expected, Cerise is behind in locomotor and eye and hand coordination. But she is of age at language and social skills. I guess it helps that we constantly talk and sing and read to her. :-)

Other findings of the doctor:

• with meaningful eye contact and appropriate emotional reactions
• good joint attention; looks at things presented
• able to hold head up in all positions; still with unstable truncal balance
• able to hold small toys and bang them
• heard to speak different vocalizations

The doctor's impression is Global Developmental Delay associated with hypothyroidism and congenital heart disease.

She recommends that we start physical therapy 2 to 3 times a week for improvement of truncal balance, tone and overall coordination. There's a pedia physical therapist whom she recommended to see. Cerise has an evaluation for tomorrow morning.

The doctor also encourages to continue language and cognitive stimulation at home by talking to her about what she is doing and letting her hold different objects and tell her about them. She says to also bring her to different areas of the house.

I am glad that we are trying to address these aspects now as these will help in her overall development. Next in line is to see the pedia cardio again for follow up check up adn the dreaded blood examination again to check thyroid and liver levels. Still praying that these will normalize soon.

Holding Pattern

While I was about to leave yesterday to pick up Cerise's blood exam results, I got a forwarded mail in my inbox. Now if you know me, I don't really like forwarded mail. If the subject is something interesting I MIGHT open the mail to read it. But if not, it goes straight to the Trash Bin.

But this was different. I had a feeling, a pull to read it. Maybe it was the Holy Spirit urging me to open that email and read it before going down to get the lab results. The forwarded mail was an article by Cathy Babao-Guballa from the Philippine Daily Inquirer about Holding Patterns. It was an interesting read moreso because I am in a Holding Pattern right now. She defines a Holding Pattern as "the oval or circular path of an aircraft flying around an airport awaiting permission to land." But she says this can be correlated to life's situations, that God can put us in Holding Patterns for us to learn, for us to trust, for us to put our faith in Him.

I was about to go down to the hospital to pick up Cerise's blood results. The truth is, I was afraid of the results. I was afraid that she will need more tests. I was afraid that medications may not be working. I was just afraid. But this article just reinforced that I needed to continue to surrender everything to Him. Whether good news or bad news, I needed to trust in His process.

I guess there was a reason for reading that article first before going down. It prepared me somewhat of how things would be. Cerise's results were not very good. Her hypothyroid has acted up indicating that her medication is not enough and needed to be increased. Her liver tests showed that liver enzymes went up, higher than it's previous test. Only her Ionized Calcium was within normal range but I need a confirmation from the Geneticist if this is okay. I still await for her email.

But despite my reading that mail, I felt sad. Beyond sad. Devastated actually. Here I am trying my ultimate best to do what needs to be done for Cerise to get better. And yet, it doesn't seem enough. How many times should my heart break into pieces? How many times should my tears fall down? How many times should I feel broken and useless? I don't know. Only God can tell. I implore Him to make things better for her sake, not mine. I cringe with every blood exam. I just want her to be normal and healthy.

I consulted with Cerise's pediatrician. Her thyroid is being addressed now with the increase of medication. For her liver, we opted for a liver ultrasound to see if there are abnormalities in it. Cerise is not jaundiced. There are no other indication of her liver problem aside from the levels. God heard part of my prayer as her ultrasound turned out normal. "The liver is normal in size and echopattern. No focal lesion. The intrahepatic ducts are not dilated. The vascular structures are intact." That's normal as normal could be.

Her pediatrician suggested to wait and observe first until thyroid is normalized. We will just repeat her tests three to four weeks from now and see from there. At least somehow there is hope. Time to pray and ask God to make everything well.

On a lighter note, Cerise looks healthy and well. She has gained 600 grams in 3 weeks time and looks fuller and better now. She is progressing slowly but positively. She holds her head up high better now and can turn already to her tummy although her arm still gets in the way. She recognizes faces and gets stranger anxiety. She follows me and her daddy around and can say the syllables MAMAMA and DADADADA. She is very observant and always looks around. She is now eating well too --- pureed fruits and vegetables.

We have an appointment to see a Developmental Pediatrician on Monday for evaluation. I hope that we can continue monitoring and helping Cerise so she can lead a more normal life. In the meantime, I pray that God molds me to be better in this virtue of patience and waiting. That I learn to surrender fully in His ways, no matter how difficult it may be.

My pretty Cerise