Jackson Curtis!

It was the very best weekend. On Sunday our babies were baptized and at the very same time my sister gave birth to the most perfect little man - Jackson Curtis!

7.5 pounds | 20 inches long | October 11, 2015

And one of my best friends from high school was her labor & delivery nurse!!! Lindsey had a great labor and is doing fantastic. I think we've facetimed 32438598345 times already. I cannot get enough of this little man and also can't believe I'm an AUNT and Matt is an UNCLE!

  Congratulations Lindsey and Ryan! Let the spoiling begin continue!

Five on Friday: Health Edition!

Today's five is going to look a little different. Since we seem to always have a lot going on in our family, I thought I'd give everyone one (or five) big updates on how the fam is doing!

one. Thomas had his second eye surgery on Tuesday and it went just as well as the first surgery! The doctors didn't even make us stay a full day in the hospital like last time because Thomas showed no negative reactions to the anesthesia.    But wait, it gets better! On Wednesday morning we had his follow up appointment. We were informed that his left eye is healing beautifully and that his right eye is already completely healed! The stitches dissolved completely on their own too so the doctor didn't even have to remove them! Hallelujah! And then...we received an even bigger surprise. Probably the best surprise I've ever received (topping my engagement which was a pretty damn good surprise) -- THOMAS HAS BEEN CLEARED FOR THE CONTACTS in a week!!!! We weren't expecting contacts for at least another few weeks but the doctor said his eyes will be ready sooner than we thought!   Y'all! I can't tell you how excited we are. My baby, who hasn't seen our faces since birth, will (hopefully) SEE out SO SOON! I am praying for a miracle. A full healing miracle. I pray that he will respond to us and show us that he can see us and that his brain has not shut down the development on that eye completely. It's going to be a long road ahead to improve his eye sight but we are so ready. More than ready. We are elated. Lord, give us strength and patience for this crazy contact journey ahead.

two. As if we didn't already have a big week, Caroline decided to put on an Oscar winning performance on Monday with an emergency trip to OrthoCarolina for what we thought was a sprained or fractured wrist. We received a call from daycare just a few hours after drop-off saying she was holding her wrist and FREAKING out like they'd never seen. I think it took Matt less than 2 minutes to get to daycare to get her. Meanwhile, I was frantically packing up the baby at home (and all his pre-surgery eye drops) for a long day in the ER. But thankfully we were able to get in to OrthoCarolina right away and get an x-ray. Turns out she's fine and her pediatrician told us it was likely nursemaids elbow (which totally sounds like abuse if you google it!!!!) but is actually quite common in kids. Our doctor's daughter got it twice just by going down the slide the wrong way. A child can also get it by holding another child or caregivers hand and turning the wrong way at the wrong time. It can self correct (which we think is what happened) or your doctor can pop it back into place with an exercise. Anyway, that was an exciting day. I'm pretty sure my insurance company hates me.

Lindsey, Mom & Dad!

three. It's been a long time since I've updated you on my dad's cancer journey. Truth be told, it's because we haven't received any good news. The past 6 months have been the hardest yet for dad and we have all been very scared. After many rounds of chemo (and great news about his shrinking tumor) we were all very excited about his progress only to take a huge step backwards just after celebrating. The chemo stopped working earlier this year and the tumor has grown back to almost it's original size. So we are essentially back to square one. On top of that, dad got extremely sick and couldn't get better for months because his immune system was so weak. He had everything at once from pneumonia to a throat infection and had to take a break from work. During this time he dropped down to 108 pounds because it was too painful for him to swallow and became very weak. It was truly awful.   However, after several long months of feeling sick and being confined to the house, he is finally on the mend and feeling great (and positive). He is back to work and even went surfing for the first time in almost a year. Since the two different types of chemo treatments he tried no longer work the doctors have put him on a clinical trial with a new drug called Opdivo. He had his first treatment last week, will have another one next week and then he'll get a scan to see if there's been any progress. So please keep him in your prayers!

four. Still no Jackson! Lindsey is going on two weeks of hanging out at 5 cm and irregular contractions and we are all getting impatient! Ready for this little man to arrive!!!    five.  So, there's actually one more piece of significant news we have going on that I haven't shared yet because we haven't wanted to take any attention off of Thomas right now. But I promise to post early next week (after I likely write, delete and rewrite many more times). We're all healthy, by the way!

Pear, Prosciutto, Arugula, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Pizza

Yes, that is a LOT of toppings. For pizza night I had planned to make my favorite Caramelized Onion & Prosciutto Pizza but then got a little carried away with the toppings. I just couldn't stop. And I'm glad I didn't because this pizza is now my new favorite! You should make this for dinner...tonight.

Pear, Prosciutto, Arugula, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Pizza

Ingredients

1 pizza crust
1 pear, thinly sliced
olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
Kosher salt, to taste
2 cups arugula
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
8 slices Prosciutto

Instructions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add onions and brown sugar and toss/stir for several minutes, or until onions are brown and cooked. Set aside.

Roll out pizza dough. Drizzle on olive oil, sprinkle on a little salt.

Add mozzarella evenly over the top of the pizza. Arrange caramelized onions, prosciutto and pears.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the lower half of the oven, or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven. Sprinkle a layer of arugula. Top with goat cheese. Slice and serve immediately.

Print recipe for Pear, Prosciutto, Arugula, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Pizza

And then I took it one step further by drizzling a balsalmic glaze on top. Because once you've hit 371,532,874 toppings, what's one more?