Poem

My Blessing...

A blessing fell from heaven

and rested in my womb
Then God reached down his finger

and caused this flower to bloom.

In growing and in forming

He moved his hand there still,

shaping His creation

according to His will.

To me it isn't evident,

No, I'm not yet aware,

but somewhere deep inside me

my firstborn child is there.

I'm not conscious of this miracle,

but very soon I'll be.

I'll know that God has blessed my life,

To lend this life to me.

Written by: Alina C. R.

The poem above is one I wrote for a lady in our church for her baby shower memory book...but it's written out of experience seeing that I am pregnant with my second child.

Also above is a Victorian era painting by Bessie Pease Gutmann called "My Darling". I absolutely love the beautiful collection of artwork she produced.

Victorian art itself has a georgeous feel to it anyway. I will be finding more beautiful illustrations and photos to post and share with you.

Here is a Victorian era recipe for you to try...

SHORTBREAD TARTS

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

In the bowl of your mixer cream the butter and sugar together. Add the flour and cornstarch and mix until incorporated. Refrigerate dough for about one hour. Divide dough into 24 pieces (20 grams) and using tiny muffin tins (approximately 1 l/2 " diameter) that have been very lightly sprayed with Pam, pat dough into tins using your fingers to form shells. Prick the bottoms with a fork and chill in freezer for 10 minutes.

Bake for approximately 18 minutes at 325 degrees or until light brown in color. During baking time, prick bottoms again if the shells puff up. Cool tarts in pan on racks. When cool remove tarts from pan by using a sharp knife. These are quite fragile so be careful when removing. (These may be made in large quantities and frozen.)

CREAM CHEESE FILLING

1 8-oz. package cream cheese - softened

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In food processor or electric mixer beat cream cheese until fluffly. Add milk, then lemon juice and vanilla. Process until smooth. Fill tart shells with cream cheese filling and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving to allow flavors to blend. Just before serving top with fresh cut up strawberries, kiwis, etc. Makes 24 mini tarts. The tart shells can be made ahead and frozen.

The cream filling can be refrigerated for 4-5 days.

http://www.bessiepease.com/feature.html

New Devopements

Here I am at five months pregnant with my second baby. I am really looking forward to all of this. Having one child is wonderful, but adding a sibling to the equation gives more meaning to the word "family", don't you think? I can't wait to see the two of them play together....and then there's the inevitable "sibling rivalry". But I suppose the fact that I am the oldest of eight children, would never allow me to have only one child! No. Now, I may not have eight children...but I think I'd like at least five.

And I think Calista is also looking forward to the arrival of her sister or brother. She is always rubbing my belly and kissing it saying, "baby" and "belly". When I ask her about wanting the baby to come out, she gets really excited. Plus whenever she's around a new little baby...all she wants to do is hug and kiss and hold the baby. And I haven't seen any jealousy spring up yet, when I hold another baby....Good, I'm glad!

As for Calista's development: she's no baby anymore....(a little sad, but mostly exciting). She used to do this babbling thing where she'd let out a whole string of non-existing words. I'm sure she knew what she was saying..LOL. Anyway, I noticed that she hasn't done that in a long time....everything that comes out of her mouth is an actual word, and she knows a lot of them! She can repeat just about any word you ask her to, including two, and some three syllable words! She remembers things from a while ago and can put several thoughts together. She's doing those wooden puzzles with no problem, she unscrews and screws lids, puts her sandals on by herself. She says 1, 2, 3 and a, b, c consecutively by herself. She remembers some words and actions to songs...and knows or can copy sign some language (whatever she has learned from her Baby Einstein Signing video). That's all I can remember at this present time, so I guess I'll conclude here. God Bless y'all!
P.S. we will know the baby's gender on October 9th...I'll keep you posted.
Picture Above: Calista at Johny Rockets
with mommy....

Additions to the Family

Here is the sonogram of our new little one! We don't know the gender yet but we will very soon....so check back in.
Well, all is good here....We have a revival at our church this week so we've been a little more busy. Calista has been growing by leaps and bounds...and not just physically...She's forming small sentences all on her own..letting us know exactly what she wants or sees. I am having less and less problems knowing what she's thinking because of how verbal she is. Her hair is really starting to grow too...which makes me very happy. I can't wait to see long blonde locks on my little girl. All you mommys understand!
We have other news....Calista was blessed with a new cousin. Her Daddy's brother and his wife had a little boy: Connor William. Here is a picture of the little cutie: I believe he's nearing 3 months now.

Well, before I go I would like to show y'all a couple of my favorite pics of me and my princess.