The Sunshine Before The Storm

After the last drop of paint makes it to the wall, the fresh new hope of the future is evident. Lopez is covered head to toe in caramel apple colored paint splatters. Kylie is feeling good today despite the fact that her 5th IV has effectively failed this morning, on a Sunday. Unknowing of what's coming next regarding her and her unborn baby's health hasn't seemed to consume her as she bounces Lopez's four month old son on her lap. She makes him smile so big that it lights up the room brighter than the sunshine.

The painting is finished, baby's crib has been put together, and the custody papers have been filed. Regardless of what comes next, right at this moment and on this Sunday, all I can see is the beginning of a family in their new home that is full of sunshine today!

Nothing makes Kylie more excited these days more than a bowl of non dairy whipped topping & chocolate syrup, no matter how sick she is! (No doubt she is going to kill me for posting this pic of her)

The beginnings of a nursery!

❤️Give My Readers What They Want

Since reposting "Crazy Cake Saved My Broken Perfect", I have received many requests from my readers for the recipe & it brings me great happiness to share it with you all! *RECIPE BELOW* If you decide to give it a go, I would love to see your pics & emails!

It's true this recipe is completely Vegan (a  Vegan diet usually excludes anything that comes from an animal including dairy products). I have replaced the oil with applesauce on occasion in order to improve the nutritional value and it still turns out crazy perfect every time.

My kids, Kylie and Isaac were born with a metabolic disorder called Phenylketonuria (PKU) which causes them to lack an enzyme that digests one of the amino acids (Phenylalanine) that make up a protein. This cake only contains approximately 1.5 grams of protein per serving.

From what I understood about the history of this recipe, (which was also referred to as "Wacky Cake"or "Depression Cake") this cake came about during The Great Depression when resources such as dairy products were either hard to come by or people just couldn't afford to purchase them.

I would like to wish my youngest son, Junior a happy 8th birthday today! We have been so blessed to have been given the opportunity to adopt him in 2013 and make him a permanent part of our family. Enjoy your crazy cake today, son!! 

RECIPE:

Great Grandma Renken's Crazy Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together in a 13x9 inch unprepared pan:

3 Cups sifted all purpose flour 

2 Cups sugar

2 Teaspoons baking soda

1/2 Cup cocoa

1 Teaspoon salt

Make 3 wells with a spoon in the dry ingredients.

In the first well, put: 3/4 Cup vegetable oil. In the second well, put: 2 Teaspoons white vinegar. In the third well, put: 1 Teaspoon vanilla.

Pour 2 Cups of water all and mix well, but do not beat. 

*optional (but will add protein depending on what kind & how many you add) Dot with chocolate chips!

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, leave in pan. Cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, then serve!

All About Lopez

Lopez is the father of my first grandchild & no he was definitely not the father I had imagined for my first grandchild! Kylie was born with pre conceived conditions of a would~be future husband. These conditions included an unconditional love that would hold her hair back while she threw up every fifteen minutes. These conditions did not include an ex-girlfriend that would demand police attention due to threats causing unnecessary fear that would ultimately cast a gloomy cloud on Kylie's sunny day. I have accepted the fact that she is angry as I know I would be too. 

Through all of this, I keep thinking that that no matter what he looks like he may be at first glance, his past happens to  validate his actions most of the time, in my opinion. At least the fact that he has a baby with another girl who happened to be over 20 when he was only 17 when his first son was born officially gives Lopez the benefit of my doubt!  My grand child's father has a bad past full of people taking advantage of him. I can confidently proclaim that he is done being taken advantage of! He is our family now, our son in law, and we love him. We also love his baby boy!

Lopez's plans for the future are great & his actions have supported his plans so far, which I will explain later! In the mean time, we are having the time of our lives preparing for our babies to finally come home!

Preparing for two babies:

One Week At A Time

It's been two weeks that's felt like two years, but I can honestly report that the fear seems to have become intermittent instead of constantly paralyzing.

Kylie has healed beautifully from her surgery to place her permanent feeding tube. She is now taking her formula (nutrition without phenylalanine) via pump feed every single night. She just had her 5th IV in three weeks started once again today, so it looks like a PICC line is in her near future! She has started complaining of excruciating headaches the past couple of days which makes it impossible for her to focus and articulate her thoughts. I have to admit though, it's kind of nice to win an argument for a change!

Every morning I get up at 4 a.m. to start her IV fluids and medication before she wakes up and the sickness kicks in to the point of no return. On this particular morning, I open the door quietly as to not wake Lopez. He has taken the night shift to take care of her once again... bless his heart! The faint smell of fresh paint makes me smile. I have had plans to paint her huge bedroom that lays a top my entire three car garage so many times throughout the years and just never got around to it. Maybe because it's so ridiculously huge! I find myself standing in my daughter's bedroom and smiling at 4 a.m. in the dark! Gosh, I haven't done that since SHE was a baby.

Problems & Promises

The ultrasound to confirm viability was just yesterday. My daughter's little kidney bean sized baby prooved a strong heartbeat&measured perfectly.

Despite the happy little camper in her belly, the past two weeks have consisted of morning sickness that has effectively turned into all day & all night sickness. Two nasal gastric j tubes have effectively been placed & threw up again. A hep lock was placed to administer IV anti-emetic medication & fluids.

Today, we are here prepping her for surgery to have a permanent gastric peg placed in her tummy. Her Phenylketonuria (PKU) requires her to take in 1800 ml of formula per day to keep her phenylalanine levels low enough as to not cause problems for her unborn child. 

As we are getting ready for this risky endeavor, I realize her joy is slowly slipping away. That same joy she held so proudly just two weeks before.As the mother of the mother to be, it was that very moment when I decided exactly what my job would need to be for the next few months. 

As she is wheeled away into the operating room, I try so hard not to show a tear... I reach over and give her husband a little slug in the arm. He looks up from his obsessive game as he earnestly tries to keep his mind busy, smiles, and together we nervously laugh together.It was then apparent we would be keeping the joy for her until she wakes up again.It just so happens to be the greatest privilege in the world to be able to share that with people that you love!

Her Joy, My Fear

In most cases, a parent can imagine the flood of emotions they experience when their healthy, ambitious eighteen year old daughter comes to them with news of an unplanned pregnancy. Every dream for her future that had been nurtured and promised to her since she was a tiny little girl... crumbled in a single three word sentence, "I am pregnant".

In my case,the emotions were very similar, however my eighteen year old wasn't healthy and her pregnancy was planned. I was mad at her for being reckless. I was mad at myself for not doing something that I am not even sure I could've done. There was a moment when I looked her in the eyes and I could literally feel the joy she held deep inside and I was mad that I couldn't share that with her. As a mother of a daughter with Phenylketonuria (PKU) who had been told  her whole life that she should consider adoption for her future because of all the risks involved, I was blind to see any joy in this up hill journey that we were all about to embark on.

I will continue to struggle every day to find the joy she so desperately wants to share with me simply because as her mother, I can't stop the fear that has taken a firm grip and continues to squeeze me tightly.

It's time to get ready for a new baby in the house and share the joy, because it's coming despite the risks and the fear!

Sunny Road

Someone once told me that the more information one knows about you, the more they have to use against you. My first thought was "I have nothing to hide!" I obviously didn't fully understand this at the time this advice was dispensed to me.

     

It was only after someone that I considered a friend had used some things that were said in a hurtful way and used it as a desperate attempt to get what they wanted. It was in that very moment that I truly thought I understood this advice.

Today, I actually decided to apply this to my life, this wise advice once given to me. It didn't feel good... I wanted to defend everything she said with hurtful, mean things back, but I realized in that moment that I would only be giving more of my integrity away... more of myself, and ultimately exposing my vulnerable road of despair. Don't get me wrong, even knowing this risky exposure, it was SO hard to NOT be defensive. Almost as difficult as passing up a slice of pizza pie heaven after resigning to a diet, AGAIN!!

I stood in this moment & reminded myself that it is not my job to teach this mean, spiteful person how to travel her road she was on. I had applied this advice once given to me and I decided NOT to give her anything else to add to my heart that was already swirling in the blender.

I shut the hot door securely behind me and began my uncomfortable journey on the high road... A road often less traveled, along with the advice I should've taken a long time ago! A perfect, sunny path that I will join my mom on! Thanks for the advice, mama! I fully understand now!