Sie sind meine Wunschkinder | They are My Wish Children

All the photos from this post by Kirsten Ashley Photography & Design circa April 2013
a Mother's Day Mini Session that I will treasure forever!

The Germans have a word/phrase to describe Lily and Sam...

Wunschkind

A Wunschkind is a "Wish Child," or a baby you wanted and planned to have. So early on when Julia and I started hanging out, she asked me if the girls were "wish kids" after I had explained how close in age they are. (13 months apart)

I looked at her quizzically... "what's a wish kid?" 

And once she explained it to me, my heart just melted! To have a way to perfectly describe the spacing of my kids is just so cool!

If I had a quarter for every time someone asked me if they were twins, I'd be so rich.

Also if I had a quarter for every time people asked me if their age spacing was intentional.

Which is always such an awkward question... I know it's harmless and people are just curious. But dearest stranger in the grocery store, do you really want to know the intricacies of my plan to conceive my children? Also, your stealthy stink eye isn't fooling anyone - I know you think I don't know how to use birth control. Thanks for that.

The truth is I wanted these two babies close. I wanted them badly. I didn't get pregnant with Lily right away when we started trying, like I'd hoped.

And though 3-4 months is hardly worth worrying over when trying to conceive, for someone who is so excited to be pregnant and has friends getting pregnant all around her, that negative sign on the pregnancy test still stings.

Lily's pregnancy was so awesome. And her infancy was also amazing. She was an easy baby... which DEFINITELY impacted my fateful words to Jesse, "Hey this is so great, babies are easy! Want to have another one right away?"

In hindsight, I had no idea what I was actually getting myself into. You can't be a mom for three months and honestly think you know something about what that's going to look like in two years. But hey, ignorance is bliss and one thing led to another and WOW I was pregnant way faster the second time around.

And the rest is pretty much history. Two years back to back of pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and lots of diapers... lots and lots of diapers...

But I wouldn't change it for the world! 

I love these two crazy monkeys. I call them Double Trouble for good reason. But they are also so sweet I could eat them up. They love each other so much. And I love them so much it hurts.

There have been times in the last five years (many times) where I have wondered if I bit off more than I can chew. Classic Jessica move - taking on too much at once.

But that doesn't change the fact that they are my wish children! 

Thank you, German language, for so perfectly putting that into words for me.

How to Make Christmas Tree Pancakes

On the off chance that you have a shred of energy left this week and want to wow your family with a special breakfast, give these adorable Christmas Tree pancakes a try!

You will need two empty condiment bottles and a funnel.

Start by adding food coloring to your favorite pancake batter. You will need to thin the batter a bit more than usual (with milk) and you will also need to mix it up more thoroughly than usual to make sure it can be squeezed out of the condiment bottles.

Scoop some of the batter into a small bowl and add red food coloring. Then funnel it into a condiment bottle.

Rinse out that small bowl and add more batter to make the green accent color. And add that to the other condiment bottle.

Heat up your pan gradually, over medium-low heat. If your heat is much higher, you will brown the pancakes too much and spoil the color.

Make a Christmas tree outline.

Working quickly, decorate your tree pancake with the red condiment bottle. I usually do dots for "lights" or zigzags for "garland."

Then take a 1/4 C measuring cup and pour green batter from the large bowl into the outline, being careful not to overshoot. The batter will gently spread to the edges and fill in the tree.

Flip as you start to see the bubbles. It's tough to make sure not to brown them too much. But seriously, kids are so impressed with whatever we do, it doesn't really matter if it's picture perfect, right?

Whenever I make "fun" pancakes, I give the girls a ramekin of syrup on the side so they can dip instead of having to cut them up.

As you can see, Christmas tree pancakes are a bit involved, but it's a fabulous way to get some holiday smiles from your favorite loved ones!

A very Merry Christmas from our house to yours!