Overnight Oats & a "Delurk"

I have had the following conversation probably three dozen times.

Me: [Random story/fact about the boys/etc.]

You [or your husband]: "Oh yeah! I [my wife] totally read that on your blog. Is that creepy?"

Me: "Not creepy at all. That's why I write it!"

Ok. This is me calling you out. You are not creepy. You are, however, awkward. Say hello! I am calling for a delurk today. If you've never commented, or you comment on every post, or somewhere in between leave a comment! Either on this post or another one of your liking. It doesn't even have to have anything to do with the post. I just want to get to know YOU. Introduce yourself!

I'll even throw in a "nice to meet you!" picture of the boys.

How can you say no to faces like that?

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As for the Overnight Oats. Are you excited? You should be. These have the power to change your life. To start with, I have a love for oats that I didn't know existed until I was pregnant with the boys. I had this master list of things I wanted to make to have on hand so I ate well and could build and keep a good milk supply. It just turns out that oats were in almost every single one. Granola, smoothies, breakfast cookies, etc. Then, we moved to Arizona. And my milk supply was all but gone. I called the NICU to see if I could get it back and the nurse just asked me how often I eat oats.

I had pinned a recipe for overnight oats on pinterest a while ago that I kept meaning to try, but it called for "chia seeds" and I had never seen them anywhere but on Amazon. I didn't want to buy a whole pound just in case I didn't like it. [Now, guess where my swagbucks gift cards are going to go?] I found chia seeds down here at Sprouts in their bulk section and grabbed a scoop for a couple bucks. And I've had overnight oats every day since.

They are magic.

They fill me up all morning. They're full of protein. I get fruit and calcium and fiber in my diet from the get go. They are YUMMY and I'm a night owl, so making myself a balanced breakfast in the morning [even just adding fruit to my bowl of cereal] just doesn't happen. However, making a balanced breakfast the night before? I can, and do, do that.

[Happy to say my milk supply has never been better.]

I've since modified the recipe a bit, because I'm one of the weird ones that doesn't like greek yogurt. Also, eventually [when I'm not living at my in-laws house], I plan to make a big batch of my own yogurt to use, and I don't intend to greek strain it. And the recipe made about half of what I needed to eat for breakfast, so I started by doubling the amount of oats it called for. I make mine in ziploc tupperware containers. They're not a part of the cutesy mason jar trend, but they do the job just fine. And fit a lot more of everything.

So without further ado, here's my favorite breakfast secret!

Overnight Oats

• 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats


• 1/3 c. milk [I use 1%]


• 1/2 c. yogurt [I have used vanilla and strawberry so far. Must say, I prefer vanilla.]


• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds <--don't skimp on these. They're my favorite part! [And they soak up the liquid and make it the right consistency.]


• Fruit or other mix-ins

Put everything but your mix-ins in a container. Stir well. Mix-in your mix-ins. Let it sit in the fridge overnight. Enjoy in the morning!

I've tried applesauce and cinnamon, mango, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, a tablespoon of cocoa and half a banana, a tablespoon of peanut butter and half a banana, and strawberry yogurt [instead of vanilla] with half a banana. Must say, the only one I didn't like was the peanut butter combo. And if you make one with banana, be sure to eat it within 2 days. [I generally make 4 of these at a time and let them sit in the fridge. I eat the banana ones first because I have a weird thing about banana...the blueberry one lasted a good 4 days and tasted divine!]

So there you have it. Have you tried these before? Favorite mix ins? I want to hear about it!

The Nursery

We did manage to finish the nursery before our boys made their early arrival. I am too thrilled with how it turned out. I remember when the idea hit me for what I wanted to do in this room. It was the absolute middle of the night and I had just gone to the bathroom for probably the 4th time since we went to bed. I had been thinking a lot about how to raise two righteous young men in today's world. All that kept running through my mind was "start now." Start now teaching them how to treat women. Start now teaching them to study the scriptures. Start now teaching them about missions. Start now.

I came back from the bathroom and woke Cameron up.

"I know what we're going to do for the nursery."

"Seriously, Kristin?"

I was too excited. Inspiration had struck and I needed to share it with him.

"We'll theme it around 'I'll go where you want me to go'. Vehicles, maps, travel, etc. It's perfect."

Needless to say, Cameron was much more excited to talk about this once the sun came up.

The biggest shot of the room I could get. The view going the other direction isn't very pretty at this point. I'm still waiting for the boys to get a bit bigger so we can take a picture of the boys in these cute hats my sister made for them and blow it up for the wall over the cribs. Until then, it's just big and blank.

That gorgeous changing table was built from scratch by my very own handyman husband. (Affectionately named "Handy Cammy" by my sisters.)

It was truly a labor of love. He designed it, built it, and stained it all on his own. It is perfection and I couldn't be more in love with it. The right hand cabinet fits our hamper perfectly. The top drawer has diapers and wipes. Middle drawer holds all the cloth diapers I made until the boys fit them. The left cabinet is stocked with diapers and wipes from our baby shower. I feel so prepared. And once the boys are grown, it will make a beautiful console for elsewhere in our home.

I had a blast designing the prints above the table. The large one says "I'll go where you want me to go" on a background of a subway map.

The heart print on the bottom right includes maps of where all the men in our immediate family served their missions. I love that our boys have so many good examples to look up to!

The clocks mark the minute our boys entered the world. On the far right you can see a shadowbox with two missionary tags that say "Elder Call" on them, from Cameron and his dad's missions. Eventually that engagement picture on the far left will be replaced with a cute newborn picture as well.

I love the artwork above the rocking chair. My mom gave me a puzzle last Christmas of the US made up of license plates. I'd done it 3 or 4 times already and knew it would be just perfect for the nursery. Cam found a piece of wood at work, we put the puzzle together, he stained the wood with leftover stain from the changing table and adhered the glued together puzzle to it. Bammo, artwork for $0.

The curtains are actually two sheets we bought from DI. Cam cut them into strips and I sewed them back together. Each sheet cost $2. Curtains for $4. And they block out the sun pretty darn well.

I love this little pillow. I really wanted to include a tandem bike somewhere in the room. Two seats for two boys. I love that. And it only took about 10 minutes to make with my silhouette.

This "dresser" was really a great solution as well. Cam found it outside his work and asked if he could have it. Apparently it had been there for years. We cleaned it up and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Lucky enough, target carried bins for $6 that fit perfectly.

This clock is one of my favorites. We found it at RC Willey for $16 on clearance after a $25 giftcard we got from unsubscribing from their mailing list. Who knew?

I couldn't be happier with how this all turned out. The idea of "start now" causes me to act a little differently. I know sometimes it feels weird to read a Book of Mormon board book to 2 week old babies, but starting now means the habits are being formed both in us as parents and in them. It sometimes feels weird to plan a FHE when the boys aren't even old enough to focus their eyes on us or react to our facial expressions, but we're starting now to develop a pattern of consistency and a priority on family time.

It's not much, but it's a start.

 

Mountains and Valleys

For the past few months, Cam and I have been pretty much on cloud 9. After 2.5 years of working and crying and praying and hoping and everything else that comes along with infertility, we are expecting! We've come to the top of the mountain. We did it!

I caught myself, during General Conference, listening to all the talks about trials and kind of blowing them off. I thought, "these don't apply to me. We conquered our trial."

And while, yes, I believe that our successes deserve to be celebrated and recognized, there is a whole lot wrong with this mentality.

It bothered me that talks I would have clung to during the past few years now got ignored or disregarded in my mind. And I tried to figure out what I was supposed to learn from this realization.

When we first got our diagnosis, my initial thought was "this isn't about me." It helped me stay away from the "poor me" that was so easy to slip into. This was about my babies, about my husband, about my family. Not to say that there wasn't a ton of dark days, crying in the shower, etc. But I gained an incredible understanding of eternal perspective and the power it holds. That perspective helped me keep from getting bitter, questioning God, and turning against Cam (for the most part.)

Basically, I was on my A-game spiritually.

And you will never hear me say I would trade infertility for anything. I learned more about myself, my Savior, my Heavenly Father, my marriage, my children in the past 2 years than I ever could have without it. And I am grateful for it.

The thing is, I really hope my trials aren't over. (And considering there are two little peaches in my belly, I'm pretty sure they aren't!) While everything when you're in the trenches seems horrible, I truly believe that during our time of want, our Heavenly Father had never been more aware of us.

Spiritually speaking, I have totally slacked since we got our wonderful news. It's been 3 months and I have barely cracked my scriptures open outside of our family study.

How terrible to say "thanks! We got what we wanted! We don't need you anymore!" That could never be further from the truth. I need a perspective shift, again. To realize that I need my Heavenly Father more than ever to guide me as I prepare for this responsibility. To realize that I need His help to get me back on my feet and get my head around being a stay-at-home wife and mother. To realize that I need His help in all aspects of my life, not just ones I pick and choose.

Bottom line is, the trials are far from over. I need to keep my guard up and continually be aware of the influence of Satan around me and my family. Luckily, I feel prepared to deal with just about anything so long as Cam is by my side. And he is. Always.

Those talks still apply to me. I think it's time to go back and really listen to them with an open heart and learn all that I can from the inspired counsel given to me.

Because there is a serious high when you reach the top of the mountain, and I can't believe that I will never get to feel that exhale, that triumph, that relief, that joy, that pride again.

I hope there are plenty of mountains in our future. And the time to prepare for them are when we're enjoying the beautiful valleys.

Just in Time

I am deeply humbled today. I am grateful.

This weekend has been a rough one. I reached a new depth of sorrow that I didn't think was possible. Nothing really happened to cause it. Some days infertility gets the best of me. It turns me ugly. It causes thoughts and doubts and anger and hate, disbelief, pride, the list goes on.

I realized, this week, that I have been putting up one heck of a front. I constantly say "Oh, we're doing ok. There are good days and bad days, but you caught me on a good day." I constantly tell myself that it's not that bad. That things could be worse. That I am stronger than this.

But sometimes I just need to feel.

We are mourning the loss of someone that, in the eyes of others, never was and could possibly never be.  I completely understand why people are afraid to say anything to me sometimes. I wouldn't know what to say to me either. I understand.

I sat through sacrament meeting today with my head down. Tears rolled off my cheeks and made dark spots on my red dress. I choked through a few words of the opening song. I kept silent through the rest of it. I sat and cried through the opening speaker who talked in detail about how the strongest time she's felt the calming power of the holy ghost was during her pregnancy, emergency c-section, and first few days of her new daughter's life. I kept my head down and tried to avoid eye contact with this sister when she left the chapel to get a drink.

I whispered to Cam when the next speaker mentioned a lesson we had on fasting a few weeks ago. The men had a great lesson on the importance of fasting and the closeness we receive from our Heavenly Father. I remember that lesson, but a lot differently. The men and women meet separately in the 3rd hour of our church. The men had that great lesson. Us women had a lesson on fasting that was completely focused on what we can do, as women, when we can't fast because we are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Cam looked at me like I needed an attitude adjustment.

Let's be honest. I did.

But I said, "At least I'm here."

I sat and felt Cam's arm around me, my hands in his strong hands, and I felt lucky. I had gathered myself, and the tears had stopped.

Sacrament meeting ended and a sweet, wonderful friend of mine came to talk to me.

I had texted her earlier this morning asking if she wouldn't mind teaching the 7-year-olds for me. I had agreed to teach during one of my extremely convincing fronts of "we're doing just fine. today is a good day."

She was already teaching another class so she couldn't help me out, but asked if there was anything else she could do. I left it at that.

She knelt down by my pew and asked me if I had found anyone else to teach.

I said no.

She put her hand on my knee and asked me if it would be OK for her husband to teach so that I could go home.

And tears of gratitude poured forth as this beautiful, kind woman was able to see exactly what I needed when I was going to stubbornly put myself through more pain than I could handle this weekend. She rubbed my back and I managed to get out a quiet "thank you."

Cam gave me a hug, an I love you, and the keys to our apartment.

And I walked home with tears streaming down my face.

The tears this time were very different, though. I was so thankful. and humbled.

For the first time since we found out about our infertility, I found anger with my Heavenly Father. Surely we have suffered enough through all this. I felt forgotten. I felt angry. I hated Him for creating our bodies this way. I hated Him for blessing every single one of my friends and neighbors with the one thing that we desperately want. And I hated Him for giving me too much to handle. For breaking me down this way.

And then I listened.

I am not forgotten. My God, My Heavenly Father, sent an angel to save me from myself today. He loves me so much that He is giving me this refiners fire to bring me closer to Him. It gets harder when He needs me closer to Him. When I feel like I can't do it anymore, He steps in and lets me know that He is there. That He will never leave me and that He has given me everything that I need in order to come off conqueror.

And what a blessed day that will be.

I am so grateful to that sweet friend for being close enough to the spirit to follow the prompting to help anyway. For not being afraid to give me what I need even when I deny needing any help at all.

I am not strong.

My God is strong.

He is my strength.

Everything that I do, I do through Him. For without Him, I would have given up completely many, many times.

My God loves me. He loves me enough to give me a husband that lives his life in a way that make God's hand so easy to see.

He knows what I need.

What I have thought I needed is wrong. He knows me and loves me and only has my best interests at heart.

I trust Him.

We trust Him.

For the first time in a long time, I can honestly say "Everything is going to be OK." And believe it with every bit of me. For the first time I don't care what OK means, because my Heavenly Father will protect me. He is all-powerful and wants nothing more than us to have the greatest joy. I know that now. If this trial is necessary for me to experience joy, then I will be ever grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves us enough to watch us go through this deep pain.

It takes a special kind of parent to do that.

It takes a perfect parent.

When I got home, I noticed a pink envelope on the ottoman. I don't know how I missed it yesterday, but I opened it and inside was another piece of fabric for our little one's blanket. Along with the sweetest note. One for baby call, one for me.

Each of the 3 pieces of fabric I have received so far have come at such moments of weakness.

I have been surrounded and buoyed up by angels.

How could I ever doubt my Heavenly Father's love for me?

His love is everywhere.

[slideshow]

I Love You, Baby Call

Note: I am not pregnant. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

I've bounced this idea off of a few people and I'm still hoping I'm not totally out of line doing this for myself. (Part of me thinks this should be something someone else does ...like a baby shower... The other part of me thinks that people who really would like to be involved will get left out if anyone but me organizes this.)

Anyway, we've received a lot of e-mails, letters, phone calls, notes, and kind words that say how much they love our little one already. The support is overwhelming. We are so loved. Most of all, our little one is so loved.

I saw this idea on another blog a while ago. I didn't bookmark the page, but the idea stuck with me. (If anyone knows where this came from, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!)

I would love to make a blanket for Baby Call. With a piece of fabric from everyone who loves him/her already. It can be a piece of fabric from anything. Clothes, blankets, the fabric store, etc. This will be the blanket our little one comes home in. Our baby will be welcomed and wrapped in the love of all those who prayed and fasted and cried and hoped for his/her arrival.

This is a 2-part project, though. If you decide to send some fabric, please include a little note. I want to record the story behind each square in this blanket. I want your love to be tangible for our little one. I want our baby to know just how much love it took to bring him/her safely home. I want him/her to know that they were worth the wait.

I hope this came across the right way. Please be kind in the comments. This is something very dear to my heart.

If you'd like to be a part of this, please send a small piece of fabric (2"x2" or larger) to us. If you need our address, e-mail me at k.call.design{at}gmail{dot}com.

(And if you're sitting there wondering if it would be "weird" or "not your place" to send something, but you really want to, please do. It's all about love and support right now. Even if I don't know you at all, or have never met you in person, your support means everything to us.)

On My Mind Today

Harry Potter 7 part 1: Are YOU ready?

C and I are big fans of Harry Potter, and the first part of the 7th movie is coming out in November. You better believe that we're getting ticket to the midnight showing. Allow me to refresh your memory if you don't remember the midnight showing of the 6th:

We do the whole dress up, scar on the face, best seat in the house thing. That premiere was in July of 2009, summertime.

This premiere is in November. Which means it's going to be cold, and possibly snowy. And what do Hogwarts students do in the wintertime?

They wear scarves.

And just for a perk, what do Hogwarts students have?

They have owls. That is an OWL on my HAT that I KNITTED. Bammo. I'm thrilled. :) Pattern from here. :)

We're going to the midnight showing with our friends, the Heldts. We're each wearing a scarf with one of the house colors on it. C gets to be Gryffindor. I have to be Hufflepuff. And the Heldts are Ravenclaw and Slytherin. We are dorks. and we are OK with that. :) I now have to go about finding a way to make a yellow and black scarf less heinous. I'm thinking ochre will fix my problem...and perhaps I'll make the black optional? idk. Any ideas are more than welcome!

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

I normally pride myself on being socially savvy. I am a total extrovert and gain energy around people. Sure, I like time to myself, but more than an hour or so makes me crazy! I enjoy first impressions, dinner parties, game nights, etc. You get the idea.

Because of the recent layoffs at work, I spend a lot of time alone. The room I'm in has 2 empty desks in addition to my own. It's in the corner of the office, tucked away. It's silent, and frankly, I think people forget that I'm still working here. Either way, I spend a lot of time in front of a computer screen. In an attempt to avoid inevitable blindness, I wear my glasses. Friday afternoon, I took my glasses off and walked across the office to find my boss and schedule an interview. I noticed someone new sitting at the desk of one of the employees who just got laid off. Being an extrovert and having been completely alone/secluded all day, I walk up and say:

"Hi! I'm Kristin. I don't think I know you!"

[Keep in mind my eyes are super blurry because I'm no longer wearing my glasses.] She looks up at me and things start to clear up. It's the CEO's wife. This is my 3rd time "meeting" her. I've said "I don't think I've met you before!" every single time. Ouch.

And then I started to backpedal & try to explain my situation. Fail.

Is it over? Oh, no. Fast forward to Friday night at Comedy Sportz. Like I mentioned before, the CEO of my company works there for fun on the weekends. He's a pretty cool guy. It was a great show, and we went to talk to him afterward. A young man and his wife also came up to talk to him he introduced us. "Kristin, this is Gabe. Gabe, Kristin works at my company. Gabe and me go way back. We were great friends before he went all big and famous on me. Gabe's a part of Jericho Road."

Me: "No way! I saw you in Phoenix when you toured with John Bytheway, back when I was like 11. We loved you guys. My friend, Julie, was probably your biggest fan! You guys still have a fan, I'm sure."   [Note: I meant to say "She's still a fan, I'm sure." It definitely didn't come out like that!]

Gabe's Wife: "Hey! They just released a CD last year!"

Me [again, trying to backpedal in front of the CEO]: "That's not what I meant! I'm so sorry. That came out all wrong!"

I don't think Gabe heard me. C didn't even hear me, but I know how it is when defending one's husband. I felt terrible! Not exactly the confident conversation I was hoping to have. heh.

Fail.

Oreo!

Me & Oreo. My parents got me Oreo for my 4th birthday.

I received an e-mail today from one of my best childhood friends, Nicole Paolini. We used to live next door to each other when we were about 4 years old, on Birch Falls road in Houston, Texas.

I'm on the far left. Nicole is right next to me.

This is what Nicole's e-mail said:

Hey girl!

I noticed you weren't on fb anymore and got your email from there. Just wanted to forward you this email since Oreo was originally your cat! :) Hope you're doing great!!

Nicole Paolini

Dear Neighbors,

You might know our family cat, Oreo. As she was pretty well known, for a cat, in the neighborhood, I wanted to let you know that she died today. She was 19 years old and had an very happy, comfortable life on Birch Falls. She was quite friendly to everyone. And I think that most of the male cats on the street thought she was pretty hot.

Just want to thank everyone for keeping an eye on her for us over the years and for giving her the occasional scratch behind the ears.

Amy and Keith

Mostly, it makes me happy they kept her original name. And that she was a total babe. And that the people of Birch Falls are still as wonderful, kind, and thoughtful as I remember them being. I love change a whole lot more than most people, but sometimes, it's awesome for things to stay just the way they are.

Pomp & Circumstance: Save the Date

If you're related to me and/or live in the Orem/Provo area and received one of our Christmas cards, there's one in the mail headed your way! If you're not related to me and didn't receive a Christmas card, but would still like one, don't be shy! Send me your address and I'll get you one asap!