Our (Neurodiverse) Family

Yes, you read that right. So, one of the moderators for the ICP Support/Itchy Moms page on facebook is writing a book about the liver disorder as a way of increasing awareness. She is going to have a section in the book devoted to women's experiences with cholestasis. I volunteered, and since there were many women clamoring to share their stories, the moderator sent me a questionnaire asking me about what my experiences were, my health history, family history, etc. My mom also filled out the questionnaire, and because of our family history of cholestasis, our stories are going to be in the book. My aunt is going to be interviewed as well. The moderator called me last night for a phone interview, where I gave a play-by-play of my pregnancy with Kate. I'll give you the gist of the conversation: When did the itching start? I had a day of intense itching at 32 weeks. It was the telltale itching on hands and feet. I decided that if it didn't go away in the next day or so, ...

I took French all through high school and took a few classes when I got to college, but stopped because of class scheduling and because BYU's foreign language classes are brutal. Great, but brutal. I have studied it on my own off and on, and even volunteered at the Missionary Training Center, letting French-speaking missionaries practice speaking French with me.  My French has gotten pretty rusty, although I still have the accent down, at least according to some francophones I've spoken to. Naturally, I want to expose my daughter to this beautiful language. Not for overachieving reasons, I assure you, though I understand that there are benefits to exposing young children to foreign languages.  Plus, a former beloved baby-sitter from my childhood commented that Kate's lips were so beautiful, they looked like she should be speaking French ;) For Christmas, I got her a French board book that had flaps you lifted to see the French word and it's English transl...

I *love* chicken parmesan. I probably love it more than I love spaghetti, and that is saying something because I really love spaghetti. Well, I love spaghetti as long as it doesn't have mushrooms in the sauce. Mushrooms are evil. My mom gave me her recipe for chicken parmesan (which is really really good) when Stephan and I were newlyweds. For whatever reason, I wasn't able to make it as good as hers (why does that always happen?). It was probably our ridiculously tiny kitchen at the time, or just my lack of experience...we'll never know.  It took about two years, but I finally came up with this recipe. It is kind of a mash-up of my mother's way of making chicken parmesan and Pioneer Woman's . Ask Stephan to list his all-time favorite dinners that I make, and this is on his list. He salivates every time I tell him that this is for dinner. To begin, you need chicken. I prefer using chicken breast tenderloins because they cook through easier. For this reci...

I haven't been updating this blog as much as I would like. One of the main reasons, of course, is that I'm the mother of a toddler and don't get much time to update. The other big reason is that my computer access is limited. Sure, I have the tablet, but who likes using the touch-screen keyboard for long posts? Not me. We have  a family computer (well, Stephan's computer that he built himself), but Stephan uses it a lot in the evenings, partly to help Kate relax enough to fall asleep (she is so his kid). This would be okay...if I didn't have many blog post ideas brewing in my head, and I'm SURE the few people who read this really miss the days when I updated this more frequently ;) Solution? Behold! A Blue Tooth keyboard! Stephan took pity upon me and bought this for me off of Amazon. Ahhh, Amazon, you are  magical place. It didn't cost too much either. Bonus. I'm actually writing with this post with it right now. So far, I like it, altho...

If you have ever had the privilege of seeing Kate in real life, you probably know how much of a chatterbox she is. Wherever I go, strangers always comment on it (along with telling me how beautiful she is, of course). These are some of the words she has so far. ma-ma da-da (sometimes she'll use this for both Stephan and me) app-oh = apple (and fruit in general) bo-uh = book bee-bee = I guess this is baby, but she also says this pointing to my chest...hmmm tat= cat or that kee = kitty fow-er = flower tair = chair was dat? = what's that? ai of = lights off hi hi daiw = hi there ba-ba = bye bye i luboo = I love you bah = bath dai-pah = diaper pa pa = papa (she often calls Stephan this). I think it's also her word for grandpa beh = breast (tee hee) day-uh = there baw-uh = ball (probably her favorite word) puff = anything that looks like cereal And for my personal favorite.... puh puh puh puh (in rhythm) This is...