does this look right to you?

judgment: judg-ment [juhj-muhnt] –noun 1. an act or instance of judging.

JUDGMENT. no E. that's right. it's word, and espn is using it to describe this week in college basketball. and it's a good week because ku beat #2ou last night (i know without the best player in college basketball, so what?!) but it's still tripping us out. JUDGEMENT. the english language has no rules. at least none that apply all the time. i'm so thankful i was born into the language. getting a degree in it was a cinch ([sĭnch] n. Something easy to accomplish)in my four years of higher education i never learned the rule for judgment.

i know a lot of you are already in on the no cow's milk lifestyle, but just to reiterate, and if brooks wants to elaborate (because he probably reads our blogs all the time...) here's a thought:

we're sick. colds really, runny noses, headaches, coughs. i took cassie in on thursday because her cough was so bad and i wanted to make sure it wasn't something terrible. she was tested for strep and it came back negative. we went again on tuesday for her two year check-up, and she checked out fine. just a cold, that she shared with all of us. my favorite part about taking the kids to the doctor when they're sick is knowing that he's not going to tell me they have an ear infection. brooks says that it's the milk in children's diets that causes ear infections, and the extreme cases where they have to have tubes put in.

i definitely get a weird feeling from the nurses at the office when i tell them she doesn't drink milk AT ALL, but when the doctor comes in he has no problem with it. my kids are growing, they're healthy for the most part, and they've never had ear infections. i'm pleased.

plus, water is so much cheaper.

here's an article if you're interested. my favorite thought: "the nutrients in cow's milk are excessive for human beings."
http://www.foodandhealing.com/article-earinfections.htm

when i woke up on february 13th, two years ago it was with a lot of excitement and a lot of snow. several inches. it was beautiful to start that monday with such an image. our short drive to the hospital made me glad that we had planned to go in that morning, that tom didn't have to jump out of bed unexpectedly to scrape off the car because i was having contractions. i was doing what seems to be typical these days for birth, i was being induced.

two years later the pain still lingers from my 1.5 hours of labor and delivery. poor cassidy didn't know what was going on i'm sure. she was probably all cozy inside, thinking, "i'll stay for another couple of days. my reservation hasn't expired yet." but i kicked her out. and she kicked my butt. i can't blame her. it was really cold that morning.

it's cliche, i recognize this, but i would endure that pain again for little cassie faye. at first glance she is a stark contrast to her brother: long curly hair, more olive-complected, louder and more outgoing, ready to steal the show. but when you get to know her, she's more reserved than you'd think. she's not the gifted performer that her cousin abbie is, although when she gets around the right people she can turn on the charm. this makes her a lot like her papa: she loves people, but not too many, and mostly ones she knows. and she's really cute.

so today we celebrated cassidy faith and her two years of being in our family. it was a new experience for wyatt, realizing that the day was more about her than him, that her gifts were more for her than him, that there was maybe a time when it was just him... no, i don't think that thought has crossed his mind. when i ask him what he wants this next baby to be he says a girl. that's a pretty good testimony to how much we love our little girl.

just to put it out there, in case you weren't sure: i am finished with being sick EVERY day. let me rephrase that: i am READY to be finished being sick EVERY day. sometimes multiple times. and the only person (other than me) that you can feel even sorrier for is tom. the man has spent the last two months being all things to all people in this house. granted, i still do the everyday tasks like cooking (usually), laundry and regular child maintenance, there are many mornings that i do not make an appearance and he takes care of all their needs. a couple of mornings this turned into waffles and yogart, which is a pretty delicous meal. homemade, from scratch waffles, no less.

and to top it all off he put together wyatt's bunkbeds this weekend. no instructions, just putting together the boards we got from a friend. figuring out what size screws to buy, sawing off the tops because they were too tall. all the while letting wyatt help and letting me mope. it was a rough weekend, me feeling like i'd been hit by a train and cassie running a fever, with a runny nose and hopefully a new tooth on the way. tom did it all in stride. he's a keeper, in the marriage sense of the word.

but again, let me reiterate (for my sake and tom's) i'm ready to stop throwing up everyday.

tom is legally off the cleanse. yesterday was his last day, officially, but he gave in a couple of days early. i guess the thought of eating another salad pushed him over the edge. this time around i think i learned more from the cleanse, and i think more of that knowledge will be transformed into my cooking. we went to the store today and instead of russets i bought red potatoes. a small change, but i think the smaller potatoes mean we will eat less of them. also, due to huge pregnancy cravings i bought a lot of fruit: oranges, grapes, cantaloupe, things that were affordable. also, susan brought some cantaloupe over the other night and it was delicious. wyatt actually identified the cantaloup in the cart, "like aunt susan?" should be yummy.

also this week, i perfected the oven-baked french fry. yummo, people. i made them for the burgers we had for sabbath supper (those were another story) and sam said they were the best fries he'd ever had. now, for those of you who know sam, you'll quickly recognize he's exaggerating. for those of you who don't know sam, he's exaggerating. he's like tom, he tends to do that. but i have to admit, having sam over for dinner is one of my favorite things because it seems like no matter what i put on the table he loves it. maybe it's just because he's a starving college kid. either way, it boosts my cooking esteem by miles.

so the fries: simple. i tried them the other week for sunday night group dinner and due to the issue of baking several things in the oven at once the potatoes suffered. the recipe: line a cookie sheet with foil (a susan simon tip), put some olive oil on it, slice up some taters into wedges (with the skin on, that makes them really yummy), drizzle them with more olive oil and then sprinkle them with seasoning, like kc masterpiece or some other delicious rub. bake at 450' for 25 minutes, flip them and bake for antoher 25 minutes, then for the last couple of minutes broil them. like i said, easy and yummy. (as long as you're not trying to bake something else at 350'). everyone enjoyed them, except baby cass who just wanted more burger.

also, i must say, sam said kiddush this week before dinner and it was fantastic. he has been saying it the last couple of times he has come to dinner and this week tom and i noticed how comfortable he seemed with his hebrew. cassie has been lighting the candles, too, and i think pretty soon she'll be singing the blessing. in a few months their home will be a wonderful place to be on sabbath.

this comes from my brother, the most well-informed man in europe...or america for that matter.

it's a good reminder of what's really happening. and if you don't read his blog then at least check out this post:
http://augustcool.blogspot.com/2009/01/mother-of-all-quagmires.html