Erica’s Blog

 Thing One wanted to help make her birthday cake.  Funny, I guess that’s one difference between kids & grown-ups.  Me, I want to be totally pampered on my birthday and not have to do anything to make the celebration happen.  She wanted to be able to say she’d helped to make the cake.  We mixed it up last night, and I put it in the oven at 7:20 this morning.  This way, it will be fresh but have plenty of time to cool.  After the infamous Easter cake incident of 2002 (?), I know better than to assemble a cake before I leave the house, so we’ll take it to the park plain and frost and decorate it there.

  As you can see, she enjoyed doing a taste-test on the batter.  She wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so I used the “Darn Good Chocolate Cake” recipe from The Cake Mix Doctor - doubled to make a single-layer half sheet cake.  For the chocolate chips, I let her choose what kinds she wanted from my secret stash (I made her leave the room when I pulled it out so she wouldn’t see where I keep it; can’t have the kids getting into it).  She ended up deciding on 2/3 semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/3 raspberry chocolate chips (VERY yummy!).   The base is a Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge mix.  Mmmmm.  I’ll be using milk chocolate frosting.  Kinda hard to go wrong with so much chocolate, eh?

Here’s a message I forgot to post earlier in the week.  It’s a thank-you from the nurse manager of NICU bay 1 at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (see earlier post about donation day):

Laura and avid knitters!

Thanks you so much for the blankets, hats and booties!  What a great selection of prints, solids and sizes.  It has been just delightful to hand out the ‘matched’ sets and the parents are so excited to receive a little gift just for their infant.

Thanks again for including us in your project!

Linda  Crowley, BSN, RNC
Nurse Manager
NICU Bay 1, UIHC

I received the following email this morning:

	MARCH OF DIMES - HURRICANE KATRINA SUPPORT
	Dear Friend, March of Dimes provides lifesaving help and support to babies and pregnant women devastated by Hurricane Katrina The March of Dimes extends its heartfelt sympathies to the thousands of Americans who are coping with the tragic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This special email is sent to update our volunteers, donors and friends on how we are responding to the crisis. Your continued support is critical at this time to allow us to continue to support infants and pregnant women in need: March of Dimes specialists are assisting with direct service and support for over 100 sick and premature babies who were transferred to Women’s Hospital in Baton Rouge. March of Dimes is currently working to obtain much-needed clothing and other supplies for displaced pregnant women and babies in the Gulf Coast area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Our staff is also working to ensure that those Katrina survivors who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or are parents of newborn babies, receive essential information on nutrition, safe water, safe preparation of formula and the signs and symptoms of premature labor. The March of Dimes is gearing up to provide even more urgently needed services over the next 3 to 12 months as the number of premature births is expected to rise along the Gulf Coast due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Please. Consider supporting the March of Dimes with a generous contribution today so we can continue to provide this critical assistance to mothers and babies in dire need. Donate to March of Dimes Hurricane Assistance Fund Need Help? Contact Us. Find your local chapter. Emergency Health Information Sheet (Useful information for pregnant women or those responsible for feeding a baby who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina.) Sincerely, Dr. Jennifer L. Howse President March of Dimes This online e-mail is sponsored by the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization. The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. For more information about the March of Dimes, visit our Web site at marchofdimes.com. This e-mail is for information purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, 2005