Belle has been through a lot this year. She is a 10-year old cat, who saw a lot of health issues recently. The most severe of all was the discovery of large scabs across her back, which would irritate her so much that she couldn't leave them alone, resulting in bloody, oozing sores.

At first, we thought she had finally angered her brothers enough that they were biting her more. Not unusual for the three feline siblings. But when these wounds didn't heal and started getting worse, we took her to the vet.


Tests, including a couple of skin biopsies, resulted in stumped dermatologists. Our vet wanted to start her on steroids to clear up the skin, but her weight (over 20 pounds) was a serious issue. The steroids would cause her to become diabetic, so Belle went on a very, very strict diet.

Tangent - at the same time, Tigger (also 10 years old) needed a dietary change because his teeth are awful. Coupled with his past kidney stones, he needed to be on a mix of food to maintain urinary system health, as well as dental health. Gizmo (age 7) had blood-work done for the first time this year and we found out he's got high cholesterol, so he needed to be on a senior diet high in potassium and vitamin K.

If you caught all that, it means that all three cats are on 3 completely different diets, with a mix of dried and wet foods for the boys and Belle on her very, very strict wet food only, high-protein, diabetic diet. How do we accomplish this? With this feeding structure, seen below.


It was actually a scratching post/bunk bed for our cats, which Paul and I built several years ago. The stainless steel contraption on the right is a water fountain.

When we started noticing that Belle could sit in front of the food bowls the entire day and eat 3 cats' worth of food, we knew we needed to make it more difficult for her to access all the bowls. Because of her weight, she had issues jumping up to the second level, but the height was a minor obstacle for the boys who were extremely content that their food would be left alone. Over time, all the cats became accustomed to feeding in their own spots. So, this year, when we needed to put all three on different diets, it was fairly easy and straight-forward.

In just one month, Belle has lost a pound, which is equivalent to 10 human pounds, so the vet considers her weight-loss a success! Meanwhile, Belle has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that causes these lesions. If controlled, she is fine, but if left alone, they can start manifesting itself internally, which would be fatal.

Belle will be on a daily pill for the rest of her life. She is on Novartis' Neoral, which is an immunosuppressant. Long-term side effects of this drug can be scary and we are cautioned to handle it carefully as the oil inside the drug can also have an adverse effect on humans, but the trade-off is necessary for Belle's condition.

Luckily, we have discovered the secret to pilling a cat without a fight - Greenies pill pockets!!! All of our cats beg for these like dogs for bacon.

For now, Belle seems to be extremely happy and content. She has been a lot more active and social since the weight loss.

Something about this cat has always triggered our mothering instincts. Observe that both Kayleigh and Abby treat her like a baby.

This is probably one of the most flavorful "boeuf bourginon" recipes I've ever come across.

I love one-pot meals. Meat, veggies, aromatics, and juices all mixed together, flavoring more overnight. They make great weekday meals when prepped on a Sunday evening.

This week, we are repeating a dish we had only a couple of weeks ago. It was so delicious.

Ingredients:

3-pounds filet of beef, trimmed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 slices of bacon, diced
3 cloves of minced garlic
1.5 cups of red wine
2-3 cups of water
2-3 teaspoons of beef paste
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of dried thyme
5 cippolini onions or pearl onions
8-10 carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

Cut fillet crosswise into 1/2-1 inch thick slices. Salt and pepper generously both sides. In a searing pan, at medium-high heat, sear both sides of beef in 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil until browned on outside and still rare on inside; about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and set on platter.

In same pan, saute baconon medium heat until crisp. Remove from pan and set on platter. Drain all the fat, except 2 tablespoons, from the pan. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Deglaze pan with wine, cook on high for 1 minute, scraping bottom of pan. Add water and beef paste (can be substituted with beef stock), tomato paste, thyme, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Bring to boil and cook uncovered on medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes. Add onions and carrots, simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes, or until sauce is reduced and veggies are cooked.

With a fork, mash 2 tablespoons of butter with flour into a paste and whisk it gently into the sauce. Simmer for a few minutes to thicken.

Meanwhile, saute mushrooms separately in 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil until browned and tender.

Combine beef, bacon, mushrooms, and vegetables. Cover and reheat. Season to taste and serve immediately or cool before placing in fridge.

This is the year of the Water Dragon. The lucky dragon means that this is a great year for new beginnings - businesses, marriage, babies, etc.

Our family rang in the new year with one of my most favorite Chinese meals - hot pot! Think fondue, but lighter. A spread of seafood, poultry, sometimes meats, cellophane noodles, and a LOT of vegetables cooked in a deliciously flavored stock, eaten with Chinese bbq sauce (Char Siu).


For our family of four, 2012 should be a good year - if you believe in the Chinese Astrology. Abby is a Fire pig, Kayleigh is a Metal tiger, and I am an Earth sheep, but all three of us have lucky elements of Water. Paul is an Earth horse, with the lucky element of Wood. Being a Water dragon year, luck is strong for all of us girls. Water helps Wood grow, so it also bodes well for Paul.

I hope the predictions hold true. Happy New Year to everyone!

Doesn't everyone love a snow day?

We have been oscillating between unseasonably warm days and blizzards this winter season and it's been kind of fun. Colorado weather is always unpredictable and there's nothing that creates a thrilling energy better than an anticipated day off due to snow.


Weather was the biggest news story all day yesterday. Forecasts were for 3 inches all the way up to several feet! Yet, driving into work, not a flake was to be seen. The skies were a bit gray and heavy, but then the sun came out mid-morning, with patches of bright blue sky. Then, at rush-hour, the flakes began to fall. By the time I made our 1.5 hour drive home, the roads were already covered.

Very few people made it into work today. I telecommuted. Paul already had well-over 40 hours due to his demanding work schedule these days. The girls were off from school.

We had a peaceful day. At one point, the fireplace was going in our living room. I was on the couch in the living room, working, while watching Paul and the girls play in the snow.




Paul brought out a sled for the girls, but the snow was so dry and fluffy that the sled just sunk and didn't slide at all. They attempted a few runs on the mostly shoveled driveway, but it wasn't thrilling, so Paul pulled the girls to the end of our cul-de-sac in search of a better sledding spot, but Kayleigh leaned back against Abby and almost immediately fell asleep!

2012 is going to be a great year.

So many friends and family are having babies and planning to have babies this year. Some are having their firsts, most are having their seconds or thirds!

All the talks about babies has made me reflect on the past 21 months, thinking about how parenting has changed since Kayleigh's joined the family and what it's been like to raise two little girls.

The best part by far is seeing the closeness of the two sisters develop as they get older. Kayleigh absolutely worships Abby and tries to mimic her with everything. Abby thinks Kayleigh (aka HER baby) is the cutest thing in the world.

The toughest part may be that they're so distinctly different in personalities and temperament that a lot of the experience we had dealing with Abby's "Terrible Twos" phase does not apply to the Kayleigh-style attitude we are seeing now.


The girls rarely get to watch television. When they do, they generally get a movie. Their recent obsession is with 'Rio.'

I understand now what my mom has always said - that raising two kids is actually not much more difficult than raising one. They share with, play with, entertain, help, learn from and teach each other. All leading to less and less dependency on Paul and me. It's been a healthy exercise in allowing the girls resolve conflicts on their own. It has noticeably helped Kayleigh develop her vocabulary and has helped Abby stretch her mind, trying to come up with a solution that is beneficial for her and also accommodating and pleasing to her sister.

Minor episodes of jealousy are inevitable, though, but for now they're limited to noticing age-related unfairness, like Kayleigh getting distraught over seeing Abby get 2 vitamin gummies while she only gets 1, or Abby getting upset because Kayleigh doesn't get reprimanded for dawdling NEARLY as often as she does.


Abby and Kayleigh get along great MOST of the time.

The two sisters are so different that I think similarities really end at their facial features. Beyond the dark, curly, brown hair, big, expressive eyes, and little button noses, they couldn't be more different. We love each girl so much, but so uniquely, if that makes any sense.



They say that the second one tends to be louder because that's the only way they get heard. Parents pay less and less attention as more kids are added. It's true! The reason isn't because we care less, though. No no. It's because the household just become really, really loud and to save our sanity, we need to filter out most sounds. Screams, choking coughs, nagging persistence that begin to sound urgent, etc. get responses. Everything else becomes buzzing background noise. Abby is at an age where constant chatter and singing are the norm and a lot of times, she's just talking to herself.

And in case you were wondering, we are not currently planning on having a third child, but the option is still available, so we'll just have to see how things go.

The wonderful Uncle Allen bought Abby and Kayleigh a 34" tall Snuffles bear. Completely out of the blue, for no reason except "just because."

Abby and Kayleigh literally fell all over themselves in their adoration of this bear.

So, this weekend, our first time seeing Allen since the bear appeared on our front porch, Abby came up to me and held my hand...

Abby: Mommy, I'm going to tell Uncle Allen, "Thank you for the big bear!"

Me: Oh, I'm sure Uncle Allen would LOVE to hear that.

Abby: No, Mommy. I think YOU would love to hear me tell Uncle Allen "Thank you for the big bear."

Well, I guess she pleases everyone here, but I just don't have a proper response to her surprisingly honest and observant remark.

Every year, the girls' daycare puts on a holiday show for their family and friends, held at a local high school.

The 2011 show was held on December 15th and was Kayleigh's first performance. It went about as well as Abby's first performance, where she just stood on stage and stared at the audience. The enormous stage and an auditorium full of people ooh-ing, aah-ing, and laughing as little toddlers march onto the stage dressed in holiday garb was overwhelming, so stage-fright froze her. Still, for the toddler class, it's not really about how well they perform, but how cute they looked. And our Kayleigh was adorable! You'll see her as the 4th kid from the right, dressed in a black and white dress with a red ribbon around the waist.

The teachers put each kid in a Santa hat and they rang bells and danced to "Jingle Bell Rock." (Apparently, Kayleigh is one of the most enthusiastic dancers during all rehearsals leading up to performance night. You would have never guessed!)



Abby's Pre-Kindergarten class sang and danced to Mele Kalikimaka - a Hawaiian Christmas Song. Then, without music they sang Silent Night a capella and performed it in sign language. We thought all the kids in this class did a fantastic job. It's hard to imagine how much she's matured in just 2 years, when SHE was the one who stood on stage as a toddler, frozen by the newness of the experience.

I haven’t posted much about Kayleigh recently, but she is has been growing in leaps and bounds.

Note: Paul has always called Abby "Short Stuff," so naturally, Kayleigh is "Shorter Stuff," hence the title of the post.

People are noticing that she is talking and understanding a lot more. She is so busy building her vocabulary, though, and not focusing on making sure she says each word correctly. From her intonation, context, and choice of sounds you can understand her pretty well, but it’s still frustrating (and funny) to hear her refer to socks as “gocks”, sippie cups as “bippie bop”. And, yes, most of her words seem to start with “G” or “B”. So, although she can even say short sentences, like “There you go, Abby,” they come out as “Gair you go, Babby.”

It’s neat to hear her mixing Chinese and English, but with her lazy focus, we sometimes get things like “nilk” as she tries to combine “nai” (Mandarin for milk) and its English equivalent. We do consider all of these minor issues because when we get her to concentrate, she can say pronounce all of these sounds/words just fine.

Last note about her language development that is really cute to witness is that she currently walks around the house, muttering words that she feels are related. For example: “Goggy (doggy), puppy, go-go (Mandarin for dog), arf!, woof!”, “Hoss (horse), neigh!”, “Mao (Mandarin for cat), cat, meeeeoooowwww!, Belle-Belle (name of one of our cats).”

Kayleigh can walk up and down stairs now, holding onto the rails or one of our hands. She is trying very hard to learn how to jump, but she bops around and dances quite a bit. Watching Abby do gymnastics, she has taught herself to do a very good forward roll. Seeing that, we tried enrolling her in gymnastics, but she’s still not quite ready to be in a group class. We are eagerly waiting for summer to take her swimming because she just loves water and apparently has no fear of it.


She is approaching her 2nd birthday in April and daycare is getting ready to transition her from the toddler class to early pre-school. Sounds so grown up, doesn’t it?

The other reason I haven’t posted a lot of photos of Kayleigh is that she hates having her picture taken. In fact, when she sees a camera pointed at her, she’ll charge towards it, shouting, “No! No! No!” and will swat it out of your hands. So, I’ve been trying to be clever and sneak in some pictures with my iphone, but she has figured out that if I’m holding the phone a certain way I’m actually trying to take a picture and she’ll drop whatever she’s doing to attack the phone. However, if she's absorbed in watching her favorite movie, "Rio," as in the picture above, I can get away with a few snapshots.

When Abby stopped using a pacifier when she turned 2, she unfortunately started thumb-sucking - a habit she picked up by observing other kids in her class. When we found her pediatric dentist, we mentioned to him our concerns about her thumb-sucking and talked to him about all the methods we have tried to get her to quit.

Right there, he turned to Abby and gave her a very serious talk about why she doesn't need to suck her thumb any more. Whispering to us, "that's usually all it takes, so we'll see..."

Then, he offered a challenge to Abby. If she could stop sucking her thumb by the next check-up, he would give her a special award.

The pep talk worked like a charm. Abby immediately stopped thumb-sucking with just a few occasional reminders.

Well before her next dental check-up, we felt she had earned her award. So, at the following checkup, the hygienist used dental plaster to make a mold of Abby's sucking thumb and created a really cool trophy, complete with Abby's name and decorations!

Abby is so proud of her trophy that she took it for show-and-tell that week. It now sits on a shelf in her bedroom, a display of her achievement.