Macaroni

Those of you who know my children well, may think I am going to post about their love for pasta. You would be wrong.

You see, I have been doing some research in preparation for the history lesson tomorrow about the shot heard round the world. (April 19, 1775).

One of the sources included a lesson about Yankee Doodle.

Yankee - An American
Doodle - A fool (from the low German -dodel)

Macaroni - The height of fashion in the 1770's was the Maccaroni wig which was warn by the most sophisticated British noblemen.

So the song is saying basically - That foolish American thinks that he can be sophisticated and fashionable by putting a feather in his hat instead of buying a fancy wig.

Originally the song was sung by the British to mock the Americans. But as the Americans began to win the war, they took the song as their own. In a since they were taking pride in their lack of sophistication. (I'd rather wear a hat with a feather in it than some silly wig).

Over the course of the years the British and Americans made more and more lyrics to the song and taunted each other back and forth with it.

If the British had won, would the song have survived in some other form? Who knows.

I learn so much more by teaching my children than I ever learned in school.

allergies

Allergies run strong in our family, so it's not surprising that Isaac had some things show up on his recent allergy test. However, The number of allergens was somewhat surprising. He is allergic to just about everything in the environment, most significantly to cats.

He is also allergic to a lot of foods, some of these are a bit unusual. Here is the list:

Acacia Gum
Karaya Gum
Cottonseed
Sesame Seed
Mustard
Lamb
Egg
Rye
Cinnamon
Sweet Potato
Orange
Apple
Pear
Cherry
Codfish
Salmon
Clam
Oyster
Shellfish Mix
Cabbage
Cauliflower

He had the strongest reactions to shellfish and sweet potatoes.

It is no wonder the poor little guy hasn't been feeling well.

Isaac has been adjusting well to his new diet. Of all of these things, cottonseed is the most difficult to avoid. It happens to be present in a large number of foods ranging from McDonald's Fries, to saltines, to Laffy Taffy.

On the bright side, he is feeling much better already.

This would be a post

but someone wanted my seat

so here are some eggs

Happy Pi Day

I took this apple pi pie to Don's folks when we went there for dinner this evening. Nobody noticed the pi. Given Don thought me a little silly for doing that, it is just as well.

We had the pie with ice cream, which always reminds me of a T-Shirt a girl I knew in high school had. It showed a picture of pi with a scoop of ice cream on it and had the words "Pi a la mode, it's irrationally good" written on it.

autotune the news

turtle fence

Adjusting to life with 5

Sarah has had a cold the past week. She is finally seeming to get better. But she seems to want to be held all the time. I am suffering from severe lack of sleep. But otherwise we are doing well.

Sarah seems to be sensitive to wheat and milk. These are easy enough to give up.

Isaac has been having lots of allergy issues lately so we had to take him off of wheat as well. He seems to be getting better. But it doesn't help that he refuses to take his asthma medicine unless he's REALLY sick.

Abby participated in the science fair on Saturday. Paul posted about it on his blog. I was sad that I couldn't go because of Sarah being sick.

Now we are working on getting ready for the geography fair.

Well I better go and get a load of diapers in the wash before Sarah wakes up.

Sarah Katherine

Sarah Katherine was born on February 3, 2010 at 4:01 PM. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 19 in long. She has settled into the family well. For those of you who have not seen pictures yet, there are many posted on our family website. You can email us for the username and password.

She eats well and sleeps well. I have realized that my perspective has changed over the years, as now I think I have gotten a good night sleep if I get at least 6 hours total and am not wakened more than 4 times.

The other children all adore Sarah. They get mad if they don't get to hold her enough. Naomi is fascinated by the fact that Sarah drinks milk from me.

We are somewhat concerned because a couple of days ago the pediatrician's office called to let us know that Sarah had a genetic marker for cystic fibrosis on her newborn screen. Since there was only one marker, it most likely means that she is a carrier and does not have the disease. But she will have to undergo testing. The test is scheduled for March 4. As far as I know there has not been anyone on either side of the family with CF.

We will probably have Sarah's first real outing sometime this week. My favorite restaurant, Casa D'Angelo, is closing next Saturday, and we would like to go there one last time. We used to go there when I was little and get the family order of spaghetti and meatballs. And then I would drink cherry coke, which they made by putting cherry syrup in the coke. Then they put a cherry in the coke and put a little pink plastic sword through the cherry. The drink was served in a little goblet. It made me feel all grown up and special.

I guess we are also planning on going to church tomorrow. I will wear Sarah in the sling, and fend off everyone who wants to hold her.

Happy St. Valentine's day to all of you. In your celebrations may you make sure to remember the brave man who defied the emperor by performing secret marriage ceremonies. We will be celebrating by staying home and eating candy hearts.