Madison was a huge surprise for us. We had been told quite some time before that we wouldn’t be able to have kids and that even fertility treatments would be very unlikely to be successful. So we mourned what might have been and then got on with lie and enjoying everything that we’ve been blessed with. We had seen other couples torn apart by being childless and didn’t want to be another one.
We both said it was ok and that we had each other and…then one day I went to the doctor because I had been really sick for a couple of weeks and my “flu” didn’t seem to be getting better. The doctor gave me a pregnancy test before he prescribed antibiotics becuase that’s what you do. We both sort of looked at each other and said “Well, this is a bit of a joke becasue we know what it’ll say” and the stick showed positive.
There was a long silence and then we both laughed and decided to do another test as this one was obviously incorrect. The second test was positive, a hurried ultrasound the next day showed a little heart and all of those impossible dreams that we had shelved years before came rushing back.
One of those was realised last night.
And blew a lot of bubbles in our pink rocking chair.
Then she went to bed (briefly) and I replenished our granola supply. Now, I loved Locavore’s maple granola but I also got a book all about Quinoa ( by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming) at Christmas from my father-in-law and one of the recipes was for granola. Yyyyyyuuuummm…
Mix in a bowl; 2 1/2 cups of large flake oatmeal, 3/4 cups almonds, 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, 1/3 cup quinoa, 1/4 cup flaked coconut, 1/4 walnuts. Add 1 cup maple syrup, 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 tsp. cinnamon. Bake on a cookie sheet at 250 for 1 hour. Add 1/3 cup of dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of raisins.
I made a few changes though. I didn’t have walnuts, so I used pecans. I didn’t have dried cranberries so I used a mixture of candied ginger and dark chocolate.
I also made a big batch of funeral squares.
Shortbread bottom ready to be baked
And I put the Jacob’s Cattle Beans to soak over night.
