Time for a Break

Four years later and I think I need a break from blogging.  Hence the absence for the past few weeks.  Summer is busy and I'd rather spend my time doing things with the kids, relaxing, and maybe even squeeze in a nap or two.  I don't want blogging to become a chore so maybe if I take a break I'll get back to the point of wanting to write again.  I know a lot of family and friends read and its how you keep up with the kiddos, so I'm sorry.  But I'm still just an email away for all of you!  If I start up again I'll be sure to let people know, until then....later gators!

14 Months

Here's what Lauren is up to at 14 months:

• She is walking/running all over.  More comfortable inside, starting to get better on grassy surfaces.
• She says the following: ut oh, Dada, Mama, ball, ba-ba (bottle), ca (car), hi, yea, and sneaks in some other shockers once in a while.  She signs please and more, waves hello and goodbye, blows kisses, and shakes her head for yes or no.  
• She understands a lot of what you tell her now.
• She loves books - pulling them off the shelf, looking through them herself babbling, bringing them to you to read to her.
• She loves to take anything out - like pulling the books off the shelf, emptying boxes of things in the pantry, pulling all the toys out of her basket toys.  
• She HATES water - the bathtub, the pool, the hose.
• She has turned into an awesome napper - takes a solid 2-3 hour nap each afternoon.  
• She has 2-3 bottles a day.  I'm trying to transition her to soy milk with no luck.  We've tried two different types and frankly, Luke and I love them!  So if we can get her on board we'll be a soy milk house from now on.  
• She's a pretty good eater but is getting a little picky.  I'm working really hard at finding more and more things she can have just like everyone else....or else we'll become a dairy free house for main meals - I feel bad that she's "left out" all the time. 
• She is hilarious - her personality is finally starting to come through and its adorable.
• She will do just about anything Luke does - which has its perks and its downside :) 

Dirty Girl

Dirty Girl Mud Run - complete!

Saturday I ran my second 5K along with my best friend, only this one included mud and obstacles.  I was really excited but also really nervous but it wasn't that bad at all!  I mean yes it was challenging, tiring, dirty, and seemed way longer than 3 miles but it was so much fun!  I did things I've never done before, we pushed each other, and I feel pretty damn proud about it all in the end.  We crawled under things through mud, up and over rope obstacles, jumping through tires, bouncing down an inflatable (it was the dirty GIRL mud run), through creeks, seemed like circles through the woods, and then finished with a nice big slide into another mud pit.  Woohoo!

 Before

After

Yesterday Made Me Happy

So I had a total me day yesterday and it was fabulous!  Some running, some dvr, some shopping, yay!

Highlights:

• I'm two runs away from completing the C25K program.  Some runs I feel like I could puke when I'm done but I'm getting there ;) I think once I'm done I'm going to be more of the 1.5-2 mile runner.  Mud Run countdown - 3 days!
• Officially down 16.5 lb in 5.5 months and still going...
• I bought size 6 shorts!!! (been a LONG time since I could say that and this was definitely the easy winner of the day)
• I found the following dairy-free foods for Lauren:  American cheese slices, 'cream' cheese, blueberry waffles.  This was a close second...cheese alone opens up so many options and she loves it!  Not like the cardboardy shredded mozzarella we tried before. 
• And not yesterday but still exciting - I made homemade dairy-free spaghettios for the kids and they both loved it!  Definitely a keeper in our house. 

My dairy-free love playing outside tonight.

Today Made Me Sad

It's Father's Day and Zach is an awesome father who loves donuts so Luke and I made a special early morning trip to get some.  Before I left I researched to see if there was any type or brand of donut that is dairy free.  I couldn't find anything.  So we went to Turkey Hill to get some Maple Donuts (Zach's favorite) and I read just about every sweet breakfast treat label on the shelf.  Every single one contains milk.  Sigh.

So we paid for our donuts and went home to eat them, all in front of Lauren and couldn't give her a bite.  Now she was happy with her oatmeal but she watches every single thing you eat and signs that she wants some.  And 99% of the time I have to tell her no. It's awful.  I fear it's only going to get worse when she realizes what she's missing.  I know to some people a food allergy might not seem like that big of a deal, but think about holidays, family gatherings, vacations, parties and how they all revolve around food in some way.  Celebrations involve food, that's just how it is and Lauren can't partake in almost any of it. 

I send in daily substitutions to daycare for her because she is able to eat maybe 40-45% of their menu.  We pack all of her food if we leave the house and the more I read the more I'm thinking she can't eat out at all.  I found a few blogs that I follow about other moms with dairy free kiddos and it helps in a way but also stresses me out more when they talk about things I never thought of before. 

So I'm not sure what the point of this all is, just venting my stress lately.  And I don't want any 'woe is me' response either.  I'll figure it out, we'll all be good, but some days it flat out sucks.

Father's Day

Luke was busy at school this week preparing gifts for Daddy.  This one made me laugh out loud.  I love this kid!

Hi, I'm Going to Brag

This is too exciting not to share.  After 13 months I can finally say I am not only at my pre-Lauren weight but under it!  Booyah!  This is big because 18 months after having Luke I wasn't back at my pre-baby weight then I went and got pregnant again.  So I'm only a few pounds away from pre-Luke and my "before I had any kids" weight.  I got this.  No biggie. 

We Have a Walker!

Lauren decided it was time to take her first steps this weekend!  She had been so close for a while but was hesitant to let go.  Zach got her to do it and she hasn't stopped since.  She looks adorable, all zombie like with her hands out in front of her.  She also got her first taste of real cake and icing this weekend - none of that dairy/soy free stuff I tried to give her on her birthday.  Still dairy free of course, but the real deal.  And I FINALLY found dairy free yogurt!  It was an incredible weekend around here.  As I was smiling from ear to ear showing Lauren the yogurt I found that really is dairy free (there's a lot of tricksters out there) the Rocky theme song was playing overhead in the store.  It was the perfect moment.  I felt like running through the isles in triumph! Not to worry though, I didn't actually do that. 

Color Me Rad

First 5K - DONE!

I was nervous for today but once I was there and running with all those people around, it wasn't bad at all!  I ran farther than I have yet, did walk at two points briefly, but finished in a little under 40 minutes!  I was pretty pumped.... and colorful. 

Before

DONE! WOOT WOOT!

YAY KIMMIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

After

The end result.

I had a blast and am ready for more!  Mud Run - 5 weeks.

Still Dairy Free

Lauren went to the allergist today to get skin tests for food allergies and try a food challenge to see what, if anything, she could tolerate.  I was terrified of this appointment because of all the unknowns, more so with the food challenge than anything else.  Then of course you sign tons of paperwork stating you understand the risks for doing testing and every possible thing that could go wrong. 

She was a champ for the skin testing.  Squirmed a little but overall nothing bad.  They tested for dairy, soy, peanuts, and two different types of cat allergies.  That was a surprise, we went in thinking only food was our issue but after talking to the doctor he decided it would be smart to test just in case at the same time.  I agreed.  Dairy - positive.  Soy and peanut - negative.  Cat - one positive, one negative.  It's amazing to see the difference between them all and how even the positive reactions looked completely different.  She was uncomfortable but also hungry and did a great job. 

They also gave her a pea size piece of baked pancake when they started the skin tests.  She scarfed it down and wanted more but within 5 minutes was scratching and getting red in her arms/cheeks.  So that was a big old positive too.  No baked milk or any dairy whatsoever for Lauren.

Crazy how quickly she reacted and pretty scary also.  Based on everything we learned today the allergist recommended she go back on soy formula (did a complete circle here...) until 15 months, at that point she can switch to soy milk and see how it goes.  He also confirmed again that she can have absolutely no dairy.  She now has an epi-pen prescription in the event she accidentally does ingest anything with dairy and a full supply of Benadryl along with the epi-pen at home and school.  Daycare has an action plan and we understand what we need to do as well.  If we are very careful about what she eats (which I'm probably overly careful which in this case I think is okay) then she shouldn't have to use any of the action plan steps but its there to be safe. 

We'll go back and try the oral challenge again in 6 months.  The doctor is still optimistic that she could grow out of it, it just may take a while longer for it to happen.  And if she doesn't, she doesn't and that's all good too.  I'm a really good label reader and substitution cooker nowadays. 

As for the cat allergy, totally shocked.  However, the doctor didn't say or even hint that we need to get rid of the cat, just gave us a list of things we could do around the house to help her out.  So Knuckles and Lauren can both stay ;) She LOVES him but luckily he doesn't reciprocate that love yet so it won't be so hard to keep him away from her.  And of course, we'll work on keeping cat hair to a minimum, which all of you cat owners know is pretty impossible.  Good thing we have a Dyson!

The great news about this appointment is being able to eat soy again gives us a ton of new food options!  Woohoo! 

A Happy Mommy

Happy Mother's Day all!

19 - 13

The past 19 days I have put in over 20 miles running/walking.  In 13 days I am running my first 5k.  Aaah!

Remember when I posted about signing up for a mud run in June and talking about getting myself in shape so I don't die?  Yeah, well my best friend turns 30 in 13 days and I tried to sign up for a 5k with her a few months back.  Originally it was sold out so I went on a waiting list.  Honestly, I didn't think that meant much and I wasn't preparing to run all that time since I figured it wouldn't happen.  Then I got the email that there was openings about 3 weeks ago and now I'm down to 13 days to "race day".  It's not really a race, they don't even time you.  Instead they throw color packets at you at different points throughout the race so you end up looking like a tie dyed smurf.  But do I still want to be in the best shape possible, of course!  And its giving me motivation to keep working and work harder.  And you know what, its totally paying off.  I feel great, I'm losing weight, and **drum roll please** I'm actually enjoying it.  

One Year Old!

Lauren is 1! Her birthday and party turned out great.  I made her a dairy and soy free cake (booyah!) and some dairy and soy free icing!  I tasted both and thought they were pretty good.  She enjoyed the icing and not really any cake but it's all good.  She's just holding out for the real deal.  Hopefully sooner rather than later, we head to the allergist for testing in 2 weeks. 

Lauren likes to cruise along things and walk holding someones hands.  She's afraid to test out her balance on her own but I don't think it'll be much longer.
She mimics sounds/words you say.  She currently enjoys saying "ut-oh" and looks down at the ground.
She is 19 lb 4 oz and 28 inches long.  Still hanging out in the 15th-20th percentile.  She's a petite little thing.
She has two teeth, bottom front. 
Her hair is really starting to fill in. 
She wears size 2 shoes and 12 month clothes.
She LOVES books and enjoys "reading" them to herself.
She's very observant and likes to point things out.
She is very independent and wants to do as much as she can on her own - she thinks she is a much bigger girl than she is :)  You could also phrase this as stubborn.
She's eating some finger food and some jar food.  She loves cut up fruit the most and tomato flavored puffs.
She's still on the crazy formula and will continue on it until after we meet with the allergist.  I'm hoping at that point she can be switched to some form of milk.
She likes to be outside.
She still is iffy with naps but we're working on one solid nap mid-day as opposed to two stinky ones.
She has started disliking bath time and screams!  Weird all of the sudden.
She is starting to love her stuffed animals and baby dolls.  She pulls them up to her cheek, hugs them, and mimics the "aww" sound.
Her personality is really starting to come through and it's adorable!

Her birthday cupcake Friday.

Not too sure about it all.

Starting to realize it's delicious!

Cake at her party.

A very clean smash cake experience :)

Happy 1st Birthday Lauren, we love you so much!

Mmm Sweets!

The sweets.

Laurens special cupcake! Not too fancy but I'm pretty proud of this one :)

Tomorrow is Lauren's 1st birthday party. I made all the sweets. Thank goodness for a husband and family that actually make real food. Should be a good time!

Is this for real?

Tomorrow my baby girl turns 1!  I'm getting all teary eyed and sentimental over here.  And then a mother's day commercial just came on showing a teeny tiny little thing and then BAM he was in college.  I seriously think it happens this way, tv doesn't lie.  I'm so excited for her but I'm also sad that the baby chapter is coming to an end.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for no more babies, but I just can't believe its been one year.

A year ago I was crazy pregnant, got up went to work, made it all the way until 1:45 when my water broke (at work with students in the room....nightmare!), and around 8 hours later with about 5 pushes total at 10:06 our little lady was born.  That was a hell of a day, in a good way of course, but insane. 

I'm also carrying a little mommy guilt...we have like no pictures from this first year, well no compared to the 3.45 million we had of Luke.  So yeah, we have plenty but I know with Luke things were celebrated way more.  But you know what Luke didn't get, some awesome, adorable, heart melting time with a sibling.  The two of them together is just the best thing ever.  She ADORES him and smiles, laughs so hard, and just wants to be around him.  Today when I picked her up at daycare she was all so-so to see me (I did steal her away from her push toy outside, how dare I?) but when we went into Luke's room to get him she spotted him right away, got the biggest smile on her face, and pointed towards him.  He came running over smiling right back at her. 

So her first year was different and fast and awesome in its own ways.  I still can't believe its here already!   So much to do in the next few days, operation "soy and dairy free" cake and party food is under way.  Keep your fingers crossed it turns out okay and she likes it! 

Party Planning

Like I have nothing better to do I spent way too much time browsing the Internets and found some really cute ideas for Lauren's party this weekend. 

I found a neat idea for homemade treats as party favors - the look will match the party theme perfectly.  Hopefully they taste good too.  It's basically a chocolate covered Oreo decorated with confetti sprinkles in white and pink chocolate. 

Then I saw an idea for a birthday balloon wreath.  Here's what I did:

 Supplies: straw wreath, 150 balloons, 2 packs of greening pins

Start pinning balloons on to fill wreath.  I got this far and ran out of balloons...Zach went out to get me more but they were slightly different colors.  So what did I do, take off all of this and start over! Crazy I know.

 About 2 hours later (split between two nights so I didn't go completely nuts) and wa-lah, our new birthday balloon wreath.

 For about 20 bucks I probably could have bought one even nicer than this but whatever.  You win some, you lose some.  I think it turned about correctly but I can't say I love it.  However we WILL use it for every birthday for about ever, and I don't want to see a balloon again for a very long time :)

Currently hanging on an inside door until party time!

HBD

Lauren's birthday banner is complete!  I made Luke one for his second birthday and used it again this year, and hopefully a few more years to come.  I decided to switch it up a little with Lauren's.  I was cutting and pasting and cutting and thinking I wasn't really liking it.  Then I finally put it all together and I love it!  It turned out super cute and I hope she likes it some day too!

Before I strung it all together.

Used panorama on my phone so it looks a little strange.

close up

Thirty

Day 3 and being 30 isn't so bad.

In the last decade of me I graduated college, got my first real job, lived on my own, got married, bought two different houses, bought my first new car, adopted two cats, and had two kids!  Could I have squeezed anything else in 10 years, geez.  But it was all awesome and I can only hope my thirties will be just as good. 

My birthday started off with soccer practice for the little man - probably needs a blog post of its own but lets just say it was interesting.  There was not a lot of actual soccer playing but at least he wasn't the kid hiding in the net and throwing all the cones everywhere.  So we'll go back next week. 

We had a little family time around the house and I took a nap - like a long one, uninterrupted.  Some of you may balk at this notion but for me it was one of the best birthday gifts ever!  Celebrated with the kids and enjoyed a little ice cream cake then Zach took me out to a surprise location for dinner!  An awesome night out with my husband to end my day.  Not too shabby.

Everyone kept asking me how it felt to be thirty and I was all like, oh no big deal, I'm just as young and spry as before, I mean I STILL got carded at the bar...still not too sure how I feel about that.  Anyway, yesterday I scrubbed down the deck and railings and power washed everything (looks amazing!) and last night I was so sore.  Like crazy sore.  So apparently it does feel different being thirty, the needing Advil, taking it easy kind of different. 

Catching Up

Life is busy right now.  Work, home, family...all busy. 

The past few weeks have been beyond stressful at work.  Whether you agree with standardized testing or not, its a reality for me that this year they count towards my yearly evaluation.  Well, first year of three, kind of confusing and not worth getting in to but yeah, stress. 

I'm working on planning Lauren's 1st Birthday party!  It's so exciting!  I think I have a cake and icing I can make for her that are dairy and soy free and the other day I had a brilliant idea about alternatives to ice cream.  Zach took care of the details today and I think it'll be a hit.  

The weather has been beautiful.  We've been spending lots of time outside, even Lauren is starting to get used to the grass.  The house on the other hand is a disaster but who wants to be inside cleaning with weather like that!

Luke starts soccer this weekend and I think he's pumped.  We bought him his own real soccer ball last weekend, got some soccer shoes, and practiced running around with his shin guards on.  His attention span is all of 10 minutes so hopefully they keep things moving Saturday morning.  It could be the longest 45 minutes ever!  Pictures to come :)

The warm weather has super motivated me to work out.  I've squeezed in some sort of workout 4 of the last 5 days! Let's hope the scale agrees with my efforts as well.  

Lastly, tomorrow is Friday and the LAST day of my twenties!  Say what?!

11 Months

Lauren is less than one month away from turning one!  Aaah!  Then I'll have no more babies, so crazy.  I'm starting to plan her first birthday party already and worked on her birthday banner the other night, yay!  She's been up to a lot lately:

• She moves constantly.  Whether its crawling, cruising or pushing around any toys with wheels Lauren just wants to go, go, go.  She tries to stand very briefly by herself but doesn't have the balance thing covered yet.  
• She's not a sleeper.  We either get one 2-hour nap a day or two 45-60 minute naps a day.  How can this be??  At night she's out by 6-6:30 most days and gets up at 6:30-7 the following morning.  Lately this has also included an hour or so feeding/awake session in the middle of the night.  
• She drinks four bottles a day, still on the crazy formula. 
• She eats stage 3 fruits and veggies and is finally eating some other solids than cheerios.  Her favorites: tomato puffs and bananas.  She has at least tried green beans and we're still working on carrots and strawberries.  As far as protein, she'll only eat the stage 2 meat options.
• She is wearing 12 month clothes and size 2 shoes. 
• Her hair just keeps on growing and filling in! 
• She tries to do what Luke is doing so I'm using that to my advantage when it comes to eating new foods - he shows her how he eats it and then she gets excited and at least tries it.  
• She chews on EVERYTHING!  Has two teeth in the bottom front.
• She's been congestion free for the first time in the last 6 months finally!  Now she'll turn 1 and we'll have to figure this out all over again but its all good.
• She is very serious but also super ticklish and will always laugh for her daddy and brother.
• She started her transition to the 1 yr old room last week, she won't move for another 3 weeks but she'll slowly spend more time there to help her adjust.  

Happy 11 Months Lauren!

Hello Weekend!

And hello spring! Today was the perfect example of why I love the weekends.  The boys had some guy time at the barber shop, the girls went grocery shopping.  When Lauren went down for her nap I took Luke to the park which he was beyond thrilled about since we hadn't been since last fall.  When he went down for an afternoon nap I got some exercise in outside by myself - its the best kind of me time there is, so glad the weather is starting to break and I can do that more often.  Then back home, shower, get the kids ready and off to an early Easter dinner.  Home to get the kids in bed, stuff our own Easter baskets and eggs for tomorrow and soon to bed myself.  Today was jam packed, exhausting but awesome!

woohoo, I love the park!

Don't mind the battle scars, you should see the other kid! Seriously though, he had a rough week at school and apparently got his grace, or lack there of, from his mother.

He actually went down the big kid slides today without hesitation.

And it doesn't matter how many years pass, he still LOVES this spinning ball thing the most.

Monday Funday

Monday the kids and I had an unexpected day together.  Got a 2 hr delay call at 6:10, left for work at 8, then got a cancellation call at 8:15.  So I turned around, picked them back up from daycare and we hung out the rest of the day!

 We pulled out the Easter baskets last weekend so there was a lot of fun time playing with eggies.  They were playing so nicely for a little but soon after these shots Lauren was hit in the head with an egg.  Sibling love.

 I attempted a picture of all 3 of us together - got a semi good one of Lauren and I, one that at least has all three of us in it, then mostly Luke's head.

Lauren took major steps this week in the land of solid food and actually ate a banana!  At least 5 pieces! You don't realize how completely awesome this is for us, she was refusing almost all solids except cheerios.  And I was just about in tears at the grocery store last week because almost everything you would want to buy at the store has either dairy, soy or both.  Not cool and pretty stressful/frustrating for a mommy.  So the fact that she ate fruit that didn't come out of the jar is amazing and wonderful!  Even better, she ate green beans at school today!!!!!

 And there actually were a few minutes of 'down time' because they were mesmerized by the snow falling.  Then we made cookies and had a sugar high!  Woot!