Lily

The Faces of CHD – Pinterest Awareness Challenge

January 25, 2012 By Ruth H. 32 Comments

As many of you know, I am the mother of two little girls born with congenital heart defects, known here as Superkid and Lily. I’m also an avid Pinterest pinner–I love collecting ideas and inspiration via Pinterest.

Those two elements of my life had absolutely nothing in common…until today! With your help, I’d like to help promote awareness of and advocacy for children (and adults) with congenital heart defects by founding a Pinterest board devoted to sharing the stories of families affect by the #1 Birth Defect. The board is titled, “The Faces of CHD – Congenital Heart Awareness Week Feb 7-12, 2012.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Postcards from Holland, The Faces of CHD Tagged With: artificial heart valve, CHD, congenital heart defect, Lily, medical issues, Pinterest, Superkid

Every Heart Has a Story Event

August 15, 2011 By Ruth H. 9 Comments

Today I sent my three children off to school. Hunter the dog and I waved good bye as the school bus drove away (well, I waved, and Hunter looked downtrodden–he’s not a fan of those big yellow monsters that take his peeps away) and then we went for a run. I took a leisurely shower, after which I let my good friend Nicole in the house. She’d just dropped off her youngest at kindergarten, and needed some chat therapy. (I love it when I can provide a service and do my own dishes at the same time.) And now I’m sitting down to the computer, about to update someone else’s blog widgets and write some articles and be a productive, wage-earning member of society.

I know, my life is just one thrill after another. But I like it that way–I’ve come to appreciate the magic of ordinary days.

Every once in a while I like to take a break from the glue guns and spray paint and the “fluff” of my life that I generally write about here, and revisit the topics that started my blog. Last year, I wrote something to explain that, and I want to re-post part of that blog entry, today. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holland Has Hospitals, Postcards from Holland Tagged With: CHD, congenital heart defect, Every Heart Has a Story, family, forever families, gratitude, grief/loss, hope, Lily, loss of a child, medical issues, mitochondrial disease, school, Superkid

Birthday Breakfast

July 15, 2011 By Ruth H. 3 Comments

Today is an important day at our house. We’re celebrating Lily’s birthday! (You can read more about Lily and her birthdays here, here, and here.) Lily’s birthday celebration is traditionally planned by her siblings, Endeaver, Justone, and Superkid. This year, they wanted to have a special breakfast, and requested a very yummy treat.

I made these chocolate crepes for the first time last week, when we were visiting my sister. They were such a hit that we all wanted to have them again. What better day than today? (Recipes are after the pictures, below.)

I’ve learned that crepes are easier to make on an electric griddle, rather than a small frying pan.

You can make more of them at a time, and they are easier to flip. I get a nice circle by pouring the crepe batter onto my griddle with a 1/3 cup measure, and gently guiding the batter into a circle with the bottom of the measuring cup. The wonderful thing about crepes is they don’t need to be perfect to be tasty.

Once the crepes are on our plate, we drizzle on some high-quality chocolate syrup (we used Sander’s Swiss Dark Fudge)

add a few berries

and lots of heavy whipping cream.

Then we roll them up

and drizzle on more syrup and top that with more berries.

So good. But do you know what is even better than chocolate syrup on these luscious crepes?

Buttermilk syrup.

Trust me when I say that you have not truly lived if you haven’t tasted buttermilk syrup. It is divine. It will change your life. (And your waistline, if tasted too frequently.) And it really is a cinch to make.

Try it on chocolate crepes with raspberries.

And cream. (Many thanks to my food stylist, Endeavor.)

Roll the berries and cream up in those crepes and drizzle buttermilk syrup all over them. Try to avoid pouring the buttermilk syrup straight into your mouth.