Happy Autumn!

Asher at the Dallas Arboretum, enjoying all the sights and sounds.

We bought a membership, so we can visit all we want now!

Free-range Peanut, watch out for the mud!

Climbing on pumpkins and hay.

Mommy's attempt to get another good bench picture. Good photography is hard without an assistant.

Beautiful pumpkins and other such gourds! I think Autumn is my new favorite season! I've already celebrated this month by baking sweet potato scones, mini pumpkin ginger cupcakes, zucchini walnut bread, and spiced pumpkin bread. What's next???

Last night, we attended the Fall Festival at our church. Asher dressed up as a buckaroo. Yes, the same buckaroo from his 1st birthday party. We had to get our money's worth! I was so happy Mark was able to make it. We had a lot of fun, and saw lots of friends. It was really good to finally feel a sense of community. It made the Big D seem a little smaller and more familiar. We really hope to stay here for the rest of residency. What does God have next for us??? I am thankful to just be enjoying what He has given us for this year.

Bouncy fun!

Whoops!

Asher helped rescue ducks. Mommy got to pick and eat the prize- chocolate!

Daddy and his Buckaroo.

Mark enjoying his cotton candy.

Ode to Mine Weaning Breast

Please do not stare at my chest;

I'm a weaning mother, and I need my rest

From the suckling Peanut friend;

It's time for your sippins to come to an end.

Thrush, engorgement, mastitis times three-

Please know what I have endured for thee!

Yet how can I deny my precious babe

Of that which is his ultimate fav?

I'll give you a kippins of milk from a cow;

Please do not think I don't love you now!

A wee bro or wee sis you want, we know;

You must stop nursing, so it can grow.

Twelve months of milk and snuggles for you;

Though mommy is sad, she'd like to be through.

Please do not stare at my chest,

When I have weaned and have wee breasts.

Before my babe they were so nice,

But nursing is worth the sacrifice!

Happy 1st Birthday!

One Year Ago:

One last walk on Galveston Island, just 2 weeks before the hurricane.

Delivery Day: 41 Weeks Preggy- Sorry Asher, we're dragging you out!

Our new Peanut.

Asher turned 1 year old on September 22!

Mommy, Daddy, and Asher celebrated by going to State and Allen Lounge for dinner, one of our Dallas favs! Asher enjoyed some chicken, pita, and hummus, and Mommy helped him use a fork like a big boy. We had a wonderful evening walk to dinner in the cool weather, such a nice, peaceful way to be together.

To Asher- What a blessing you are to raise! You have brought us so much joy during this last year of trials. We love you!

Asher is a Hebrew name meaning "happy" or "blessed". He really is a happy and blessed little boy.

Asher's Buckaroo Birthday Party

Sweet, sick birthday boy. He definitely was not himself but held it together pretty well for the party. Thanks, buddy. Family and friends helped us celebrate Asher's 1st, buckaroo-style, at my grandmother's house in College Station on Sunday.

He poked around on the cupcake but didn't eat a thing. :(

Here's a smile!

Looking like a real little buckaroo!

Banana layer cake and cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Don't forget the Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream! Yum!

Other items on the menu:

Rudy's BBQ

Mimi's Mac 'n' Cheese

Tortilla chips and salsa

Chickfila diet lemonade (awesome)

Bottled root beer

Assorted Hershey kisses

All the children of The Triangle plus spokes (will explain in future post) together at last! How many more will there be???

(L to R) Ramsey George, Asher Huffman, Andrew Huffman, Will Fowler, Hudson George, Abigail George, Casey George, Caroline Huffman, Luke George

Huffman Siblings

(L to R) Mark, Meredith, Asher, Elizabeth, Andrew, John, Caroline, Katherine, Abigail, Luke, Dustin

All Georges!

(L to R) Stephanie, Jason, Hudson, Logan, Casey, Ramsey, Megan, Katherine, Abigail, Luke, Dustin

Nasty Virus

Poor Asher! He has had a rough week after picking up some nasty virus causing him to vomit all night then get an ear infection and nasal congestion and losing a whole pound of body weight in the process! He now weighs less than he did at 10 months old! Good thing he had plenty of fat to spare. We almost canceled his birthday party, and probably should have in retrospect since we passed the virus around my family. However, except for Asher being sick, the party was a success!

Not a Baby Anymore

I do not have a baby anymore. I have a big boy who can walk. I am going to cry.

Colossal Cookies

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I got this recipe years ago from my college roommate, Beth. I used to make them a lot, and I recently rediscovered them! The recipe uses 1/4 c dough for each cookie, hence the name "colossal". I prefer descriptive names (any cookie could be colossal), but whatever you call it, it is delicious! P-butter and chocolate are a fabulous match!

I rarely make a recipe as is. I usually change ingredients or proportions to make the recipe more wholesome or just more delicious. I can't remember how I've changed this one. Here it is, my version of Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies! I often cut this recipe in half since it makes so much dough. Notice that it is a flourless cookie, a nice change. Do you need help to justify making these? Ignore the fat and sugar, and focus on the wholesome, substantial ingredients: eggs, natural PB, oatmeal, chocolate!

• 1/2 c butter or canola oil
• 1 c sugar
• 1 1/4 c brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 c natural peanut butter (non-natural PB is hydrogenated oil- yuck- please don't use)
• 6 c oatmeal
• 2 c chocolate chips
• 2 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt

You know what to do. For "colossal" cookies, use 1/4 c dough, press down a bit, about 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake ~12 minutes at 375 F.

Baking Notes:

I can't believe I just recently discovered parchment paper! It's like wax paper sans wax. You can find it with the wax paper and foil at the grocery store. Simply place paper on baking sheet, cookies on paper, and they slide right off! No more scraping them off with a spatula and having your cookies fall apart on you! This is a great option for large cookies. I don't bake cookies without it! Even better: You don't have to wash your pan!

My abbreviations:

c = cup

t = teaspoon

T = tablespoon

bs = baking soda

bp = baking powder

11 Months Old!

Happy 11 Months, Asher!

Latest Stats:

Weight- 25.5 lbs (same as at 10 months! He's thinning out from all that rambunctious crawling!)

New Tricks- going from squatting to standing, taking some steps and falling down (4 yesterday!), throwing a ball

Favorite New Toy: an empty plastic nutmeg container (Why do we spend money on toys???)

Stay tuned for exciting 1st birthday details.........

My precious family of 3!

Big Boy Asher wearing a big boy outfit.

Cousin Jack came to dinner last week. We miss seeing him! Two years ago, he was a student at Texas A&M Galveston, and we loved spending time with him regularly!

Abigail Susan George was born Thursday, August 13, to Aunt Katherine and Uncle Dustin! She is beautiful! Now Asher has 4 boy cousins and 2 girl cousins (all under age 3!).

What fun they will have!

Graduation & A New Home

UTMB Graduation 2009

Dr. Huffman, Dr. Huffman, & Dr. Huffman!

Finally, here are some photos from our medical school graduation in May. The graduation was extra special this year because of Hurricane Ike, because 8 months earlier, no one knew if there would be a graduation this year! It was even more special to Mark and me because Mark's dad, who graduated from UTMB in 1980, was able to be a part of the ceremony, as our "hooder".

I graduated first, since M comes before R in the alphabet! Appropriate, since I am older :)

I will always feel at home as long as I am with Mark and Asher. They are so good to me and such precious blessings from the Lord!

Though, it has been wonderful setting up a new place to live. It's taken several months to pick out new furniture and put everything in place. We're about done now! Here are some pics:

Our bedroom with my "princess" chair that Mark insisted I needed:)

No more sleeping on a mattress on the floor! I love all white bedding. It is so peaceful and cozy, like a fluffy white cloud. Mark won't sleep under the fluffy white cloud (the down comforter) during 100 degree weather.

The dining room and Mark's special library cabinet. He loves his books!

The living area. Out of everything that got flooded, we were the most sad about our leather couch that we bought with wedding money when we moved to Galveston. It was such a great find and so comfortable! It was a Bernhardt couch in worn, medium brown leather. Here is our new couch- more contemporary, a little too stiff and slick. The pillows slide down. It's just not the same. We are still trying to warm up to it.

Here I am, very pregnant, resting on the beloved couch in our Galveston house just weeks before Asher was born. I took many great naps here, usually while trying to study.

Happy 10 Months, Asher!

Asher turned 10 months old yesterday! I can't believe he's in double digits:)

Here are some Asher Facts:

• Weight: 25.5 lbs!
• New Skills: standing alone (10 second max), dancing, grinding teeth, opening drawers and throwing everything out
• Fav Foods (besides Mommy's delicious milk): blueberries, strawberries, broccoli florets, yogurt, goldfish crackers

PJs and Pancakes Party!

Last night we had a theme dinner party at our apartment with my cousin Ashley and her kids, Zandt and Lexi. We all wore PJs and had a yummy breakfast dinner of chocolate chip banana pancakes, sausages, scrambled eggs, and fruit salad! We watched my favorite animated movie- 101 Dalmatians. Last month they had us over for a beach party dinner, complete with a hotdog stand, meal tickets, and a lifeguard (Lexi) on duty. Their dinner was much more creative than mine! I think we will continue the theme dinners. Let me know if you have any good ideas!

Here are some thoughts on healthcare from my brilliant hubby, Mark. He posted this on the blog http://bejohngalt.com/2009/07/massachusetts-in-suit-over-universal-healthcare/#comments. I encourage you to read it and leave your comments!

I just began my surgical internship, so I obviously have a vested interest in paying attention to the medical environment these people are trying to create. Some of my thoughts:

-What’s happening to Boston Medical Center will be duplicated hundreds of times around the country. Doctors, nurses, etc. are generally in medicine because they want to practice health care, but hospitals are run by businessmen, and they WILL shut down if the hospital’s not profitable.

-”47 million uninsured” as an impetus for “health care reform” is rubbish. First, that number’s dubious at best. Second, the vast majority of the uninsured fall into one of three categories: 1. Young, healthy people who don’t think they need it (and usually don’t); 2. the American “poor” (usually overweight smokers) who are simply too lazy to enroll in Medicaid; and 3. illegals. The sob story is always the hard-working blue-collar worker who forgoes common luxuries while making just enough to be ineligible for gov’t assistance, but still just can’t find the dough for health insurance. In my experience, this patient does not exist. Even folks on Medicaid have cable, bluetooth, and a car, and can apparently afford two packs a day and enough food to weigh 300 lbs. Bottom line: health insurance just isn’t a priority for most people who don’t have it.

-No politician or talking head is talking about the real problems facing medicine. Here’s a list - the bottom three aren’t in any strict order, but number one is set in stone.

TOP FOUR PROBLEMS WITH AMERICAN MEDICINE
1. THE AMERICAN POPULACE - A JAMA editorial last spring broke down the costs of personal behavior. Here’s how it goes: around 16% of the U.S. GDP, total ~$14 trillion, is spent in medicine. 75% of that, or %12 overall, is spent on medical costs directly related to smoking, alcohol, and obesity. That’s $1.5 trillion dollars. Thomas Sowell writes about the conflation of “health care” with “medical care.” The medical care of the U.S. is by far the best in the world. Hospital stays of a day here would be a week in Japan, and our cancer survival rates are far superior to anyone else’s. If it’s independent of patient behavior, America is the best. The reason, however, that our life expectancy is lower than it should be is that patient behavior usually trumps medical treatment. Whether it’s the lady with COPD on two liters of oxygen who shows up to the ER to be admitted every other week, but isn’t there during rounds because she’s outside smoking, or it’s the guy with cirrhosis who comes in with ascites, completely demented from encephalopathy, every three days to get his belly tapped, but every time he goes home he doesn’t take his meds and drinks beer until he’s back in the hospital, the typical American patient behaves in a way that is completely refractory to medical care. And if you add other substance abuse (much of psychiatry) and irresponsible sexual behavior (much of ob-gyn) to smoking, alcohol, and obesity, that $1.5 trillion becomes higher. So why isn’t this talked about? Because personal responsibility can’t be legislated, and it doesn’t win you votes.

2. ECONOMIC DISCONNECT BETWEEN CONSUMER AND PAYER - It’s simple. If you’re not paying for something, you don’t have an incentive to behave responsibly or carefully. This was seen in TennCare, and it’ll be seen everywhere if Obama has his way. Costs will skyrocket; why get over-the-counter meds and be out ten bucks when you can go to your doctor at no cost to you? Most consumers of medical care aren’t paying for it, and most payers aren’t receiving it. This is also why a general sense of entitlement has infected much of the populace - the least appreciative and most noncompliant patients are those who don’t pay for their care.

3. TORT LAW - I’m glad I’m in Texas. Doctors’ (justified) fear of litigation drives “unnecessary” procedures (they’re necessary, all right - to CYA) and (in some places) outrageous malpractice insurance costs. Tort reform would go a long way towards lowering the costs and letting physicians focus more on patient care rather than getting sued.

4. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS - they’re leeches in the ER, sucking down your tax dollars. Enough said.

So here I am, six figures in debt and staring at the possibility of a career of decreasing compensation (which has been stagnant for twenty years anyway) to work for the government and take care of lousy patients. I have a finance degree; I promise you, I could have a much less stressful job and be making plenty of dough right now, but like the vast majority of physicians, I find medicine a noble calling. I guarantee, though, that if Obama has his way, I’m off to Costa Rica to do medical missions. Oh, and those smart kids you’d like to have spend from 7 to 11 post-college years training to be good doctors? Yeah, they’re going to do something else.

That’s all from me. My only hope is that Obama’s utter lack of executive experience in any field will result in spectacular failure.

Oh No He Didn't!!!

Asher's been getting into everything lately...everything!

"Mmm...tastes tamptastic!"

In other Asher news...

Imagine Mommy's shock when she walked into Asher's room and saw these mysterious markings on Asher's $700 espresso Munire crib! What could have caused this destruction?

Fortunately, Daddy came up with an explanation...

Apparently, there's a small beaver living somewhere in Asher's room. Case closed!

Also, here's our new computer desk and hutch from Weir's.

Let's hope that beaver doesn't escape into the living room...