new zeb news

Oh, and in other news Zeb has added a new word to his lexicon. Zeb said "*Doctor". I have two adult witnesses. He wasn't just mumbling either! The word was being repeated in a discussion and Zeb looked up and chimed in with "Doctor". It was quite impressive. Perhaps he'll take after his dad. He's also standing on his own for brief periods of time. He's got to walk in the next month and a half so I'm hoping this standing is good news! He loves to walk along everything in the house and LOVES his stroller.

*the spelling of the word he said is actually Dockter. The pronunciation is the same as for the word Doctor. The discussion was actually about the neighbors' last name.

zebby's fave song!

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Don't mind his dirty shirt, red cheeks, or the shaky camera work. He LOVES this song! and loves the actions!! This video may have to tide you all over for the next few days- Zeb and I are headed on a last minute road trip today and Kent has two tests (friday and monday) so I'm not sure if he'll have any spare time to blog. We'll be back on Saturday- hopefully with some good pictures.

He's chubby - but graceful

Looking through the camera tonight I found this picture Leisy had taken earlier in the week. I laughed for a few minutes. Apparently the boy was in pursuit of a graham that had almost escaped being devoured. Don't worry - he got it. He's not starving.

two in 2

Yep, two new recipes in 2 days. This one was GREAT. Kent gave it a ten! I reserve my tens for "favorites EVER" meals and gave this one just a nine.

Green apple Jamaican Jerk Cheeseburger

Doesn't it's name just make you hungry? Before continuing I must confess that I didn't actually use Jamaican Jerk seasoning. Many of you are very aware of my extreme aversion to "hot and spicy", so we found some great "sweet and tangy" bbq grill seasoning to take the jerk's place. I am sure that the Jamaican jerk seasoning would be quite delicious. This recipe did win the "Everyday" (with rachael ray) burger contest after all.

We changed ours up to make it a little more pocket and figure friendly. We also halved it and it still made three good sized burgers.

• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, grated and patted dry
• Zest of 1 lemon plus 1 1/2 tablespoons juice (I just used bottled juice-no zest)
  
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (reduced fat works great)
  
• 1/3 cup chopped chives (or green onions)
  
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup, divided (or regular store bought syrup)
  
• 2 tablespoons Jamaican jerk seasoning, such as McCormick, divided
• 1- 1.5 pounds ground pork (ground turkey)
  
• 8 slices applewood smoked cooked bacon (turkey bacon!)
  
• 4 ounces smoked cheddar cheese, thinly sliced
• 4 kaiser rolls, split and toasted

toss the apples with the lemon zest and juice. Add the mayonnaise, chives, 1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup and 1/2 tablespoon jerk seasoning. Stir to combine and refrigerate.

whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup and 1 1/2 tablespoons jerk seasoning. Add the ground pork and combine. Shape into four patties and cook them up-adding the cheese near the end.

top burgers with cooked bacon, slaw, and put on toasted buns!

penne with spinach sauce- thanks Giada.

I feel like it's been ages since I've posted new recipes. This week I'm determined to try some new ones!
Thanks to the food network for showing me today's simple dinner. It really was outrageously easy and pretty tasty. It will also most likely be our St. Patrick's Day dinner in years to come. It turned out ultra green.

I abhor cream (just ask cousin Justin who snuck it into my food once) so usually my pasta must be topped with marinara, but this lovely pasta sauce was made without cream and I decided it was worth trying. All in all it is a very healthy and tasty pasta. I'm rather uncultured and very non-gourmet so the goat cheese spooked me a tad. When all was said and done it tasted just fine- not goaty at all.

1 pound whole wheat or multi grain penne
3 garlic cloves
2 ounces goat cheese
1-2 ounces reduced fat (I used whipped) cream cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces fresh baby (or grown up) spinach leaves
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
I also added (without these additions it's more of a side than a meal):
sauteed yellow squash and zucchini
cooked chicken pieces

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the penne and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

Mince the garlic in a food processor. Add the goat cheese, cream cheese, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and half of the spinach leaves. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Set the cheese and spinach mixture aside. I did it all in the trusty magic bullet!

Meanwhile, place the remaining spinach leaves in a large bowl.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Spoon the pasta atop the spinach leaves in the bowl. Scrape the cheese and spinach mixture (I didn't use all of the sauce) over the pasta mixture and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten (I didn't use too much of it). Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the Parmesan over and serve.

faces of Zeb

Just a happy wake up face of Zeb. It is WONDERFUL when he wakes up from naps like this! all smiles and freaky hair.

I can't stand when he tries to slither out of his high-chair. He gets in these precarious positions and then FREAKS.

hey- and all you cheesy cousins - Robert and Laura have a bloggy now! Check out their link on my sidebar :)

the crawler.

For some reason our weekends have been so mellow lately (Kent may beg to differ- his weekends still include much studying). The dullness is actually pretty nice. There's nothing better than having no obligations and having Kent home to relax with. With that being said, here is the height of our excitement this weekend.

disclaimer: the video is pretty dull unless you have a vested interest in Zeb.



I have been requested to show the rugrat in motion. Here he is heading for the sound of water- always his greatest motivation to move. My favorite part is watching his little bum move back and forth. I also love the phase he's been going through- he looks for our approval for everything. He also shakes his bum when he gets really excited. You can see it at the end when he's standing against the tub. He wanted in so bad.

Why is it so cute when babies do this? You'd think we'd be accustomed by now- but it just gets cuter every time we find zeb in this position.

Today playgroup was at a park on the Maumee river- and was great. It was a little chilly but Zeb didn't seem to notice. I miss the Utah mountains tremendously but I love having the river here.

The rugrat LOVES to swing- here is he is with his pals Sam and Hailey. He was in heaven swinging and crawling around the playground. I think he may have Pica. The boy eats everything. Not only will he eat anything, but he'll actually choose toilet paper or woodchips over grahams or cheerios. I guess since him eating these weird things is "at an age where eating such objects is considered developmentally appropriate," he may just be going through a phase! I feel like he is growing and developing in leaps and bounds everyday lately. I'm sure that Kent is going to come home after his month away (in June) and have a different little boy than the one he left!

After playing at the park Zeb trucked along with me to our favorite park for a run. He was so good. He waved and yelled to the people we ran past and babbled to himself the whole time. He loved all of the dogs that were out on their walks too. We even ran through a group of snakes! It was such a great day for a run. Even the bridge was totally water free.

toilet baby

oh, this guy makes me so mad sometimes. Last night we played in the front room from 2-4, yep, that's AM. He woke himself up coughing and then coughed so hard he vomited all over himself. He was entirely awake at that point and the crawling around and reading books helped the mucus loosen so he could go back to sleep (2 hours later, of course). Other than the nighttime cough and mucus this kid has no symptoms of being ill.
Besides making me so mad, he really makes me laugh so hard. He is the master mimic-er (is that a word?) and has begun to speak! He now says mom, dad, up, and hi. He also just yells a lot. We are working on the word "ball" but he can't seem to master the "L" sound. His favorite room is still the bathroom. He especially loves when I flush the toilet. I absolutely love watching him dart for the toilet as fast as he can when he hears the flush. I got it on video this morning for you all to enjoy as well. You can also hear his fabulous elocution of the word "hi".

Conference has NEVER been so difficult to listen to. I'm pretty sure that part of it was because I kept waiting and anticipating President Hinckley's talk- and it never came. It was really weird to not have him speak- I missed him. Perhaps more than that, this conference was so difficult because we have "the little hellian that whined" (instead of the little engine that could).
He is such a busy body, crawling everywhere, attention seeking, slobbering, teething, coughing, fun, and crazy little rugrat (I still love him, I promise). He cannot be appeased right now. He wants EVERYTHING constantly. He's got bruises all over his forehead (I'm sure somebody has already called DCFS on us) and yet continues to pull himself up on everything and then fall head first as he reaches for faraway objects or tries to walk away from his handholds. He somehow manages ubiquity as well. There's toilet paper all over the bathroom floor, the pots and pans are out of every cupboard, my sock drawer has been completely emptied, and ever cord near the computer desk is out of place. The only room not a disaster right now is his bedroom- funny how that works, huh?
Here's a little video of him doing his stuff- kinda boring but good stuff for gmas, gpas, nanny annies, aunts, and uncles.


Even with Z's antics, I did love the last session of conference. Elder Ballard's talk could not have come at a better time- and I'm so excited about elder Bednar's talk.

and we also had the lovely chance to go on a long walk between sessions! Our favorite park has finally thawed out (only a few puddles left) and we, along with the rest of toledo, decided to head over for a nice Sunday walk. It did turn into quite the adventure! The bridge was out of commission due to the raised raging river waters (okay, it's just a slow moving creek, but the bridge was slightly covered) but we decided to cross anyway! I made Kent cross first to make sure it was safe and sound and then followed with Zeb and the stroller. He zonked halfway through our trek- it was quite pleasant.

Two wonderful conferences!

This morning I (Kent here) attended the 10th annual medical missions symposium. Students for Medical Missions is a student group here at UT that focuses on medical missions to developing countries. I was always impressed with my Utah doctor, Dr. Bingham, who took time off of work every summer to serve in Africa. We have a few amazing doctors like him who help keep this club functioning. I have been excited to get involved in this group and was recently elected to be an officer in the club next year! (Not a huge accomplishment by any means but I'm hoping it will give me a chance to go on one of these missions. It's harder for first years to go since we basically have no clinical experience).

During the symposium a number of doctors were inducted into the Medical Mission Hall of Fame. They shared experiences and stories from their lives and service to medical missions. The keynote speaker was John Bul Dau. This man is amazing and his story helped me to see that my training as a physician is more of a calling than it is a career. John fled his native country of Sudan during civil war, lived as a refugee in Ethiopia, traveled to Kenya as one of thousands of Lost Boys, and finally was selected to come to the States to be educated. He wrote a memoir, God Grew Tired of Us, which was also made into a movie. The movie was presented after John's first hand account. It was emotionally moving and inspiring! He is working now to set up a medical clinic in Sudan. It would be so amazing to be involved in something like that!

Another great thing about the conference: free breakfast and lunch for Leisy and me!! Leisy was there while Zeb was compliant. He had to go home for a napski, but I really enjoyed being with Leisy so much today! I guess I should have studied, but I came home to listen to general conference. Our church leaders are amazing and it's neat to receive direction and guidance from them. Two amazing conferences - and three more sessions to go!