Angkota Adventure! It worked!

Well today Jonathan and I had another first -- quite an amazing one!   We have been out of cash for a few days and a trip to the bank was in order. 

An angkota is a little blue city minibus.  It travels a loop on a certain route all day.  The seating inside is benches all around and the door never closes ....EVER.  One way to anywhere is 25 cents.  (Not my picture.  I got it off the web.)

(Background information) When Jonathan was little, I used to wear him in an Ergo baby backpack.  It worked well on the angkota and he could be content in it for 3 hours at a time, with a break here or there.  Then he started getting too wiggly, bored, and fussy.  For a time I just decided not to take him to town in the angkota at all.  Then my mom got us a nifty little stroller that folds up easy-peasy.  I can roll him down to the bus-stop, fold up the stroller with one hand, heft him onto my hip with the other, get on, hold him on my lap to destination, and do the reverse steps getting off.    This required knowing the location of the stroller friendly sidewalks in town.  There are not too many of them, but I could manage from the bus-stop to the bank to the pharmacy and back across the street to catch the bus home. 

Now in advanced pregnancy, it hurts to even think about going to town on the angkota with Jonathan.  Everything seems so heavy and my pelvis just isn't as strong as it used to be.  I usually am limping the next day.  Not many of our friends have cars though and motorcycles are not an option for us either .....so on the angkota we go....just not as frequently as before.

Now that Jonathan is such a big boy, I decided to try something new and you know what?  He IS a big boy now and he did just fine!  We left the stroller at home and HE WALKED all the way to the bus-stop and around town and on-and-off the angkota several times, in and out of several stores, and all the way up the hill from the bus-stop to home!  We used his favorite red Elmo toddler harness, which he loves, but he also held my hand about half the time.  The only time I carried him was crossing the street.  It really decreased the physical burden, there was no fussing, and we both still had energy when we came home!  He even had dry pants!  I was so proud of him! 

Sorry, I don't have any pictures from today -- I haven't yet figured out how to manage Jonathan and myself and my belongings AND a camera.

But for those of you who are wondering how the belly is growing, I'll attach a picture from this last week.  Enjoy!

30 weeks pregnant with Baby Brother! 

Milestones of Toddlerhood

A quick blogpost so there is something new on here for the faithful who check!

(Sorry, Singapore plans and 3rd trimester fatigue have caused blog-neglect)

MOVE TO TODDLER BED -- a sudden change in the middle of the night, and here he is waking up in the first morning in his Big Boy Bed!

TODDLER ROOM DECOR -- time for some Big Boy stuff, glow in the dark planets and stars!

AND SO IT BEGINS -- I just hope we don't get any apple trees or bean sprouts growing up there!  (See he thinks I ought to try it too -- it's fun!)

A NEW APPRECIATION FOR STICKERS -- Yep, if you're sending us a care package, throw in a sticker sheet or two.  It will be a big hit!

BOYS and LEGOS and TOWERS -- Okay, they are Duplo blocks, but so fun!

FOOD PREFERENCES:  Loves Broccoli but suddenly doesn't want anything to do with beef stew, which used to be a favorite?  Hmmm.

Focus on Food! Cauliflower crust pizza Success!

Over the past 6 weeks or so, since going on the diabetic diet again, a large amount of my time has gone into researching food options, studying recipes, and just cooking from scratch to try things out.  Let me tell you ....it's not for the faint hearted.  Most of the diabetic recipes I've tried have been a flop the first time through.  Our local ingredients are different, my equipment is different, my oven is different ....so things just turn out....different.  One banana bread recipe I tried turned out looking (and tasting) like a Christmas Yule log and I wished I had a fire to throw it on.  Kudos to my husband, who hates to waste food, and did end up eating most of it.  Another chocolate zucchini cake I tried turned out about 1 cm thick, with the texture of a rubber tire, but indeed having some chocolate flavor -- it's only redeeming quality.  I have limped out of the kitchen many times, discouraged, hungry, and wondering if I would ever have a second installment for my Focus on Food series.   

Finally, after FOUR almost disastrous attempts, I finally have a success to to tell you about .....

CAULIFLOWER CRUST PIZZA!!!

I will refer you to the original blog post from Your Lighter Side, for the full recipe.   Please note from the photo above how the pizza is crisp enough to hold on the tip of the fingers.  It looks like real pizza!  I was immediately drawn to this recipe because, well, I love pizza.  It is so sad to give it up, because Pizza Crust can be so very high carb, even the whole wheat variety.  Yet this pizza crust has practically NO CARBS at all!

FIRST ATTEMPT

On a Saturday morning, we rushed to the nearby street market to find us some cauliflower.  As you can see, this was a few days after the horrible mosquito attack on Jonathan's face, which tells you how long I have been working on this project.  The lady who created the recipe simply uses frozen cauliflower from a bag.  We had a few extra steps:  washing, cutting, steaming.  Finally we could start the first step of the recipe!

We grated our cauliflower -- or tried to.  It was too mushy and kept falling apart. 

Then we mixed 1 cup of grated ("riced") cauliflower with 1 cup of cheese (we had to use cheddar although the recipe calls for mozz) and 1 egg.  Here's what it looked like.

The first attempt was baked in a pie pan, as it seemed like the best option at the time.  Well, I have no after pictures because discouragement set in as soon as it came out of the oven.  The first attempt was WAY too soggy.  I needed to drain the cauliflower, or even squeeze out the moisture before baking it.  So the result turned out being more like a casserole.  But the amazing thing is....although it was a casserole, it tasted fantastic! 

Jonathan ate his up.  We all ate it up, in no time flat.  So, not exactly pizza but the flavor was good enough to make me keep trying.

SECOND ATTEMPT

Here it is, all flattened out and ready to go in the oven.  I found an old pizza pan -- perfect!  Uhm, no.

Here is SECOND ATTEMPT finished product -- quite STUCK to the pan.  We had to hack it off, bit by bit.  The food that ended up on the plate still looked like ....a messed up casserole.  Again, amazingly, it tasted fantastic and nothing went to waste!  As for the pan, it took THREE DAYS of soaking and scrubbing to get all of the stuck-i-ness OFF!

THIRD ATTEMPT

This time I tried putting greased foil over the old pizza pan.  It looked so great coming out of the oven.  I almost cried when I tried to serve the first piece.  Hopelessly stuck.  Again.  Here is what we had to do, turn the whole thing over and detach the top of the pizza from the bottom of the pizza -- you can see how much was stuck on the foil.   So....casserole again, but still tasted good.

FOURTH ATTEMPT

Why couldn't I just be happy with a delicious cauliflower pizza casserole?  I really wanted to be able to PICK UP the pizza slice in one piece and bite into it, for heaven's sake!  I'm realizing more and more how much of food enjoyment has to do with texture and the tactile experience.  Casserole is not pizza.  So after the third attempt, a LONG, LONG while went by before I wanted to try again.

The fourth attempt was inspired by the acquisition of  a new pizza pan.  There is a long and dear story attached to this pizza pan -- about God's love, and His provision, and me not listening to His voice or looking for His hand in my life.  I will have to share it soon in another post on another day.

The fourth attempt came out of the oven looking just lovely.  This is before the toppings, of course. 

Best of all, check this out!  It is somewhat crisp on the bottom and IS NOT STUCK TO THE PAN!!!  Hope is alive!

You can actually pick it up and eat it!  And as with the previous three "casserole" attempts, Jonathan thought it was just fine!

I see relief in my face on this picture.  It was a long hard journey, but we finally actually ended up with pizza we could pick up and eat, that was made on a crust made of cauliflower.  My only complaint now is that it disappears far too quickly!

So folks, I really do recommend this recipe, in spite of all my troubles with it.  It won't be as hard for you -- I had a lot of challenges to adapt to.  It's not too terrible time consuming if you use frozen veggies from the store, and it's a great way to get those veggies into your family's tummies!  My number one tip:  Use a good pizza pan! 

Progress! Dave learning with a new tutor!

As the new school year approached, we were praying for a new language program for Dave.  The tutoring he was receiving last year just wasn't producing strong results.  For one thing, it all happened in the middle of his busy school day on campus. It was hard to focus.

We prayed for a specific person -- someone mature, male, with strong tutoring experience, and who uses a curriculum.  We followed a few dead-end leads before the Lord finally led us to Pak Sabto, who meets all of those criteria perfectly!  Pak Sabto is a full time home tutor.  He and Dave have been meeting for about 2 months now, and Dave is making progress!

Now Dave can hang out on the front stoop  of the corner store with the other men and say quite fluently "I can't speak Indonesian, but my wife can."  He's become so fluent in that phrase that people don't believe him anymore! 

Pak Sabto is 34 years old with a wife and newborn daughter.  He comes to the house on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  He has worked at language school in the past and even has written his own curriculum!

The funny thing is, Jonathan LOVES Pak Sabto also!  He calls him "Dahdo" and waits at the door when we mention that he is coming.  As soon as Sabto is in the door, Jonathan pushes a chair into the study room and sets himself in it, waiting for his lesson.  Sometimes Sabto will go over a few words with him before I lead him away and shut the door.  It's great to hear Dave and Sabto conversing diligently in the local language for their entire 1 hour lesson.

Jonathan waiting for his lesson with Pak Sabto. 

This day Jonathan got to sit in on the lesson for the first couple of minutes!  I guess he shares his daddy's love for learning!

P.S.  You see the couch in the picture?  I just have to share about the miracle that happened at our home last week.  It is the same couch -- an American hide-a-bed sofa given to us last year -- in the last video post of Jonathan dancing.  We just had it recovered -- very affordable -- and it looks brand new.  Best of all, whereas previously we were unable to fit this 83 cm wide couch through our 80 cm wide spare bedroom door, the upholsterer's assistants were able to fit it in after the work was done!  So the miracle is..... we now have a guest room!  Praise the Lord!  Let us know when you are stopping by!

Toddler dance moves!

Happy Sunday! 

Adventures of a big boy!

So what has Jonathan been up to lately?  Time for an updated photo album to show you how he's growing and some of the things he is learning!

Playing with playdough! 

Helping mommy whenever there is hand washing to do!  These are his wool diaper covers.

Hard at work!

Dave is slowly removing a old brick pathway from our yard and Jonathan is a faithful helper!

He is a good supervisor, cheerleader and .....

...is getting quite good at hauling bricks....

....and stacking them too!

I haven't gotten any pictures of him helping me with the dishes ...but when he gets tired of that he finds creative ways to entertain himself in the kitchen.

This picture is from a few months ago, but I had to throw it in!  He found his daddy's favorite shirt and put it on all my himself!  Tried to strut around the house in it ...but kept tripping!

It's a boy!

We are having another boy!  Praise the Lord!

Interpretation of a low definition ultrasound:  Baby's head facing down, neck and spine visible as long white curve. 

It will be very fun for Jonathan to have a little brother ....I can already see them playing together in the yard and running ahead of us wherever we go, despite our calls for them to SLOW DOWN!  I can see the dirty hands, smudged faces, and scraped knees.  I envision two friends sharing a room for most of their childhood, and a couple of sets of muscles to help me heft furniture around whenever I get the whim.   

Oh yes, Dave is already talking about trying for a girl down the road, but for now we are very thankful! 

So on Tuesday I went with a few friends to the big city to visit an OB doctor who has a fairly good reputation among the expats.

The FUNNY:  When he saw me, before even asking me any questions, he told me how much I look like a combination of Jennifer Garner and Hillary Swank!  Hmmm....I haven't heard that one before although when I was young people said I looked like Daryl Hannah off of "Splash," the mermaid movie.

The GREAT NEWS:  Our baby measured very well for growth and size.  Although the ultrasound was low definition, everything that we could see looked good.  He has all of his major parts.  The amniotic fluid is not too much and not to little.  

The AMAZING:  Because of our history of congenital malformations with Bethany, I asked the doctor to zoom in on the heart if he could.  It was difficult to see details, but I did see that many of the major parts are present, including a good septum, several chambers, and more than one valve.  However, knowing that his ultrasound machine was inadequate to give me a clear view, the doctor gave me a message to reassure me.  My friend taking pictures actually was able to record it.....

Okay, to interpret the video for you, it is a cross section of baby's chest where you can see his beating heart.
In the background you can hear the doctor talking, and here is what he said.  "We give this baby to Jesus Christ.  Because it is gift for us, and I am sure that he give to us the best gift for our life."  

We've wondered what this doctor's religious affiliation is, and this gives us a pretty good idea.  I appreciated his bold and tender words to me.  It was like a prophetic blessing for our child. 

The CONCERN:  I do have a low lying placenta, and doctor thinks it is a partial placenta previa.  This means the placenta is touching the opening of the cervix, which causes a bleeding risk.  Most likely, this condition will resolve as the baby grows, but in the meantime I need to be careful.  Please pray that by the time of my next ultrasound in 5 weeks, there will be nothing to worry about!