Look Who is Nine Months Old . . .

Wow, time flies!

  

It's like I just had this kid . . . and here is he crawling all over the place, standing up to pretty much everything, and trying to eat trash (or anything else he gets his slobber-covered little hands on).

  

I imagine he'll grow up to be an electrical engineer or something -- he is obsessed with cords and outlets.  We have to keep the vacuum pretty much hidden or he'll be there chewing on the cord any chance he gets.

He LOVES Pat-a-cake and other clapping songs.  Well, he loves for me to sing them.  The other day, in my trying to encourage him to clap himself, I sang the song without actually clapping myself.  He seemed a bit perturbed, and then grabbed each of my hands with his and pushed my hands together.  He may not clap, but he will make Mom clap if she forgets.

He still thinks Mom is the most amazingly funny and cool person in the world -- and everyone else is an obstacle that lies between him and his mother.  He will actually grin and crane his head around to follow his Daddy around the room -- and he'll reach for Dad.  Then once Dad has held him for approximately two and a half seconds, he's throwing himself recklessly back in Mom's general direction.

Annie loves to carry him (awkwardly) around the house.  He doesn't seem to really mind -- although it gives me a mini-heart-attack every time I see it.  He's a little wary of Ellie soon.  And rightfully so -- she's pretty sure he's to blame for anything wrong in her world, and she always seems to want whatever it is he's holding.

Ellie making Isaac cry.  Again.

"Look Mom, I can fly!"

Just some random Ellie pictures from today.

 

 You can tell it's spring once the 'fleet' is out in the front yard . . .

Conference Sunday

Conference Sunday, for us, typically means a lot of time with family.

And, as most Utahns have now recognized -- the gathering of large numbers of Mormons downtown also seems to have an odd affect on our weather.  (Seriously -- ALL THIS SNOW?!)  

I'm still wondering what all of those out of town visitors who come to Conference are thinking about it being 70 on Saturday, and the solid 6 inches of snow we had Sunday morning?

All of our large trees had branches hanging to the ground, and our poor trampoline looked more like a snow cave.

But, it's all good -- 'cause we were inside playing Conference games where the rewards are M&;Ms. 

Well, the theory was to play a game where the kids had to listen for a specific word to earn the M&M . . . but it basically just became us eating M&Ms.  Although, Annie did have a little check list of words she was listening for in Conference, and she was A-MAZING at listening for those words over the two days of Conference.  She could be coloring a paper, eating some snack and playing games, but if she heard the word 'temple' it was marked on her check list in two seconds flat.  At last count she had over 45 marks in the 'Jesus' column  (she only really listened to a few talks -- and it didn't matter if she heard Christ, Redeemer, Savior, Lord or Son, it was marked quickly under the Jesus header without so much as a question to us -- I was kinda surprised she knew so many different names for Jesus!)
Here's Ellie enjoying the candy.

The girls were distracting Grandma Ruth with several rounds of Uno.
I don't think she minded.  :-)  Someone sure loves her granddaughters!

 Then later that afternoon, we spent time with more family.

Here's Isaac with my Uncle Karl.

Isaac all, "Dude, Mom, we're fine . . . leave us alone . . . "

(I was a tad worried about one or the other injuring each other.  After Isaac's repeated attempts at standing using Karl's head to stand up against, and Isaac's trying to steal Karl's metal spoon (a comfort device), Karl kept raising his arm to shield himself from the advances of a curious 9 month old, all while laughing and referring to my son as a "turkey!")

Isaac in one of my FAVORITE outfits on him -- 'cause it matches his eyes perfectly.

Ellie, shockingly, showing some attitude.

 Great Grandpa, Ellie, Uncle Karl and Annie all hanging out on the floor together. 

Can't tell you how much I love this picture.

(And yes, I totally did dress my girls in new matching outfits for Conference Sunday.  Is that weird?)

Does it fit?

Daddy came home from his business trip with a new backpack.  

Ellie wanted to wear it around the house, but it was a tad big . . .

So big in fact . . .

(Side note: check out her curls!  This kid is getting curlier hair by the day!)

"Why Daddy . . . ?"

So, on Sunday Greg left for California for a business trip.  (He's back today . . . I hadn't mentioned it on the blog while he was actually gone and we were all home alone and all that.)

Upon arriving at the airport, Greg remembered something he forgot.  'Cause seriously, the smartest people I know can be the flakiest (I'm looking at you, Talina!)  :-)  So, I got our children into the van and drove to the airport -- it was actually nice to have somewhere to go and get out, if even just for a drive, since we were all sick and wouldn't be going to Church -- or anywhere else for that matter.  We got there, handed off Greg's stuff, he gave kisses goodbye to all of us again, and we headed back home.  Annie was quiet for a minute.  Thoughtful.  As we were driving away, she suddenly looked up and made eye contact with me in the rear view children's mirror, "So . . . ?" she asked with a hint of confusion, "Why is Daddy going to Disneyland without us?"

Guess we hadn't adequately explained Dad's California business trip :-)

Sunday night, Greg called to say goodnight to the kids.  As Ellie was talking, she was telling him about her day when she suddenly asked Greg, "Why Daddy go on a mission?"  Since the last person we took to the airport was my little brother off to Argentina, this was another time I realized I had not really explained well enough to the girls what Dad was actually doing while he was gone for four days.  :-)

So Fancy

When climbing up on to the top bunk very early this morning (to clear any thrown up on bedding -- 'cause that's just how much fun we had last night), I came across something that made me smile.  Greg screwed a 2x4 on the side of Annie's top bunk that filled some of the gap between her and the wall.  Carefully written along the top edge of said 2x4, in Annie's very best handwriting, is the phrase, "I love being fancy." 

It just made me smile.  I wasn't even upset that she was writing on furniture.

Which is good -- I needed to smile.  'Cause the rest of the night was horrific.  Isaac was spiking 103 degree fevers and was so congested he could barely nurse.  Ellie's sick and coughing and her face and pillow were covered with dried green snot this morning.  And poor Annie, she's coughing so hard (even with the humidifier going full blast and turning their room into a swamp) that it was making her throw up. 
And my throat hurts so bad that I can barely swallow.
How is it we are all so sick, but each of us with completely different symptoms!?
Getting a tad bit sick of the pox placed upon our house . . .

Exciting News . . .

I haven't mentioned this yet -- but in addition to my three adorable nephews, I'm gonna be a proud Aunt to a new niece or nephew come September.  And no, my sister in law Liz did not have a frighteningly close unexpected pregnancy with a fourth :-)  This time it's my sister Talina who'll be a new Mom.  This is so exciting on so many levels.  It'll be the first cousin for my kids on my side of the family, and Talina and David and "Little Talina" (as I'm currently calling the fetus) will be living within five miles of us.  (The girls other cousins' are a big part of our lives via blogs, photos and videos and such -- but unfortunately live half way across the country from us, so we only get to see them once a year or so in person.)

Add to that, Talina's pregnancy was a bit, unexpected, to say the least.  :-)

Some of you might know about my sister Talina's blog, where not too long ago, Talina and David announced their plan to adopt, since they'd received a pretty definitive 'infertile' diagnosis and all that by doctors.  In fact, end of December, Talina's last blood work before officially announcing adoption, was unequivocally 'infertile'.   With no hope of pregnancy without the use of IVF.  Talina and David were excitedly moving forward with their adoption plans, with an unexpected positive pregnancy test threw a wrench in their plans :-)

Talina announced her pregnancy to the family by telling my poor Mother that they were no longer eligible for adoption . . . due to LDS Family Services' strict policy on not allowing pregnant women to adopt . . . :-)

I love Ellie running up and throwing herself around Talina's leg in the video :-)

In her third month of her 'miracle' pregnancy and Talina's feeling pretty good -- if she can ignore the crippling tiredness, and the finally subsiding nausea.  :-)  We're looking so forward to meeting our newest niece or nephew this fall!  Congratulations Talina and David! 

And yes, Talina thoroughly understands that anytime any 'helpful' person uses her story as a 'see what happens if you just sit back and relax/decide to adopt . . . you'll suddenly get pregnant' example with any other infertile couple, that said couple reserves the right to come and key her car.  :-)

More Comparisons . . .

After yesterday's comparison pictures, I had a request from Aunt Star to see how she compares with her nieces . . .

Ellie, Aunt Star, Annie & Ellie (all around 2 years old)

Aunt Star, Aunt Talina, Annie & Ellie

This middle picture is one of my favorites of Star and I on Christmas morning.  Star looks freakishly, freakishly happy.  (And who wouldn't be, we apparently got a Smurf Big Wheel!)  The picture on top is Ellie and Annie when Isaac was born -- it was the best 'both excited' picture I had around the similar ages.  The bottom two are both crazed Ellie pictures -- 'cause whenever I see crazy-faced Ellie, I think of this picture of Star with her wide-eyed Christmas morning excitement! :-)

Comparisons

 These are just random picture comparisons -- I came across a picture of me as a 2 1/2 year old in a family member's facebook page, and it got me thinking about Ellie at this same age . . .

Two and a half years old -- Annie, me, Ellie and me

Four and a half years old -- me, Annie and Greg (well, Greg's like four and a month or so).  And you can see where my girls get their blond hair from!

Then just for fun -- Isaac, me, Isaac and Greg.  All of my children got my 'bald 'til past a year' gene. :-)

I Love You, Grover

So, my kids are watching Sesame Street, and a bunch of talking fruits and vegetables are discussing healthy eating with Rosita.  Rosita asks what she should be eating, and the talking banana informs her that there's a "whole rainbow to eat."  To which an annoyed and suspicious Grover interrupts, "Don't believe it . . . you can't eat rainbows." 
It was corny, but I laughed out loud when I heard it.

The Off White Overalls

With my girls, especially with them having their birthdays in the same month, we've passed on a lot of clothes.  I've always enjoyed seeing my two girls in the same Christmas outfit or Easter dress or fuzzy pink pajamas at the same ages.  But with Isaac we've had an understandably few things that have handed down that all three of my children have worn.  Yesterday, when we were getting ready for Church, I was having a hard time finding a 'dressier' outfit for Isaac that he fits in well right now.  I stumbled across this pair of off white overalls that both of the girls had worn.  It was originally a gender neutral outfit, so I decided to put Isaac in it.  He looked cute, if not a bit too reminiscent for me of his two older sisters.  Although, about half way through Sacrament meeting, when I handed Greg our SECOND diaper and the wipes for yet another diaper change, I also handed him a dark blue outfit to change the boy in to, since the off white one was giving me flashbacks and was just a bit 'too girly' after seeing his two sisters in it first.  :-)   I snapped some pictures of him in it before Church though (although, only with the jacket on, since the striped shirt made him look a bit too much like his sisters for me.  :-)

Ellie, Annie and Isaac -- all around 8-9 months old in the same outfit.  I feel like I should add here, I don't actually have a problem with Isaac in this outfit per se . . . it was just how much it reminded me of his sisters that was weird to me.  :-)

The girls also enjoyed the pre-Church fashion shoot --

Hiding one of his cute smiles between his hand -- most of the rest of the pictures he looked pretty grumpy :-)

We just trimmed Ellie's hair, and it is SO curly.

Too Big . . .

Seriously, this kid is getting too big, too fast . . . 

Trying so hard to stand, but it's tough on a toy that's on the floor.

Much better toy for his posture . . .

He can pull himself up to this tall toy, and sit himself back down when he's done.

I didn't get a picture of it this time, but he likes to let go completely and stand without any help.  Little show off.  :-)

Crawling all over the place.

Yes, I realize this diaper is HUGE.  He wears Ellie's size 5's at night. :-)

He's not a fan of the toys that roll away and make him follow, but he's getting better and better at it.

And then, just for fun, here's our new favorite recipe:

WHOLE WHEAT TORTILLAS 2 c. whole wheat flour • 1/4 cup oil • 2/3 c. hot water • 1 heaping ¼ t. baking powder  •  3/4 tsp. salt

Throw everything in a food processor and pulse it a few times until the dough forms into a ball.  Cover with a warm, damp cloth and let sit for 15 minutes or so.  Then roll into balls and let the kids go to town smashing them flat in a tortilla press.  Or for those of you who's husband's didn't bring back a tortilla press from Mexico, we had great success just rolling these out with a rolling pin too.  Then we threw them on a hot skillet, flipping over once bubbles formed on one side.  The kids LOVED them . . . I'm not sure if they enjoyed eating them more, or using the tortilla press.

Oh, and edited to add:  I REALLY hate Blogger now.  All the funky spacing and stuff that I can't get rid of . . . it looks bad and I can't do anything about it.

Mobile

Did I mention Isaac crawls now?  Like really, really crawls.  Up on his hands and knees, getting to and pulling up on anything he wants to.  It's amazing.  And a bit scary.  I think I should go get some more childproofing done . . .

Big Airplanes

These are just a few pictures from last weekend, when Grandma & Grandpa took Annie & Ellie to the airplane museum . . . 

Someone was getting tired and fussy.  Not sure if it was Ellie or Grandpa though . . . :-)

I Told the Witch Doctor . . .

OK, not a witch doctor.  :-)  A week ago today, we went to see a woman who'd been highly recommended to us in regards to helping the kids out with their allergies, eczema and asthma.  Tisha began her career as a nurse, then went on to get her Master Herbalist Degree.  Um, I don't really know what that means, but one can't argue with results.  One family we know, who's children had such severe allergies that in Sacrament they were passed a special rice cracker, since there were too many allergens in bread . . . one child was on no less than 10 different medicines at any given time.  Through use of diet and herbs, these children are thriving and living pretty normal lives with minimal medical intervention in their day to day lives.  I was so sick of slathering steroid creams and other chemicals on Ellie's skin (sometimes multiple times a day) and her still waking up in the middle of the night crying because her legs itched so bad.  Right before going to see Tisha, Ellie's eczema had spread to not only her hands, legs and feet (her feet felt like reptile skin, they were so rough and hard), and was now covering her chest, stomach and sides, and creeping its way around her back.  This is no way for an active two year old to live, and it broke my heart.  Add to that Annie's coughing and asthma (not to mention those expensive ER trips) and I was ready to try something better than what we were getting at the doctor's office -- which all seemed to be treating the symptoms (and not that well, since nothing was under control) and nothing was addressing the problems.  Ellie and Isaac had both recently finished some antibiotics as well, so the yeast in their bodies were causing all kinds of problems (aggravates Ellie's eczema and they both get yeast-diaper infections that have to be treated with prescription anti-fungals.  Yeast in your system also causes sugar/carb cravings as that's what the yeast feeds on).

So, we met with Tisha last Tuesday.  I already mentioned the two week allergen/yeast cleansing diet she put us on.  No yeast, dairy or sugar.  Also off limits: fruits (except pineapple and citrus), tomatoes, peppers and potatoes, processed foods (as much as possible).  And for me, eggs.  (Although I've cheated on that one -- no way I'm making dairy-free, sugar-free whole wheat waffles every morning and making a completely different meal for myself!)
We were all put on some herbs -- each of the kids are on some different things.  There's a line called Doctor Christopher's that makes decent tasting liquid herb complexes for children (their Kid-E line).  The girls also take another brand that's called "Yeastie Beasties" that's designed to help the diet clean out the yeast from their guts.  For myself I bought ground herbs in little baggies, mixed the prescribed amounts, and packed my own capsules, that I take with each meal.  I don't take very many compared to most people doing the cleansing diet (due to the fact I'm nursing a baby), but I'm still getting amazing benefits just from the diet.

Only three days in, I noticed a decrease in Ellie's eczema.  On day five it was nearly gone.  And this morning, the last stubborn patch behind her knees is gone.  I have spent so much time and money and effort in trying to treat Ellie's skin, I have been beyond amazed at our results.

Annie says she doesn't cough as much.  And feels better.

None of us (that I've noticed) have gotten the big burst of added energy that a lot of people who've done the diet have told me about, but I know for many this doesn't come until the middle of the second week.

The most amazing thing has been Ellie's skin.  The second though -- weight loss.  Holy cow y'all, I have dropped NINE pounds in less than a week.  You have to understand, I'm not a fan of crazy or crash diets.  Sure you drop a lot, but I don't consider it healthy to eat all lemons and wheat grass or something.  But I've been eating -- as much as I want, and I'm dropping weight like I never have before.  My cravings are rapidly diminishing, and my appetite is easily cut in half (I think if you know you can't eat any of the crap, you just aren't as hungry anymore) :-).  I eat a lot of veggies (we went through one of those boxes of spinach from Costco in about 4 days), chicken, whole wheat tortillas, quinoa, whole wheat noodles, green smoothies (spinach, almond milk, pineapple, frozen banana (we can have up to one banana a day) and some ice.)  And drink LOTS of water -- but that's not unusual for me.  While nursing I tend to drink about 100-130 ounces a day.  I am also supposed to drink raspberry tea every day . . . but I think it's kinda nasty tasting, so I'm not as great about that.

I think the trick now will be once we transfer back to a more normal diet.  The problem is all of us have at least some allergy to milk -- but man, I love cheese!  Tisha also advises that one should actually always avoid dairy and sugar . . . but she admitted to my sister that if you stick with the guidelines about 70% of the time, you shouldn't have any big problems.  (Things like peppers, tomatoes, fruit will become 'okay' again).  I want to transition some of what we've learned this last week and keep it going in our home as just our normal diet.  But then again, I really, really want a York Peppermint Patty . . . so we'll see how it goes . . . :-)

Annie's Prayer Part 2

My (saintly) parents took my two eldest children today for about 7 hours or so.  (Greg and I stayed home with Isaac and got lots done.  Well, I read a book and did some dishes.  Greg replaced rotors on his truck, changed oil in both vehicles and vacuumed out my van.  He possibly wins on the productive front.)  Anyway, the girls were excited to go up by Logan to see the elk at Hardware Ranch.  If you've never heard of it, it's a large working ranch where you get on big horse drawn sleighs, and they take you out into a big field where lots (usually) of elk are just hanging out and eating (the strategically planted food).  This is one part tourism draw and one part giving the animals some easy food during Winter.
They were also getting to meet up with Aunt Lacy in Logan too, another perk of the trip.
The girls were so excited -- until they got up there and found that it was closed for the season.  They had the last sleigh ride on Monday.  They still got to see some elk from farther away, and then Grandma and Grandpa took them out to lunch and to the Dollar Store to buy a 'prize', and on the way home went to an airplane museum in Ogden.  Everyone still had a lot of fun, although my father is possibly still grumbling about driving all morning just to eat at Rumbi's.
Still, the girls excitedly told me all about the airplanes they saw, and how "hoog" (Ellie's way of saying huge) they were. 
But it made me laugh when Annie was praying tonight and said, "Thank you we got to go and see the elk.  Please bless that next year we will remember that we have to go before March to ride the sleigh and see the elk up closer . . . "

An update on our dairy/yeast/sugar-free diet.  Going pretty well actually.  We're all eating food we really enjoy, and trying our best to ignore the food we really, really enjoy.  :-)  Ellie's eczema is very quickly looking the best it ever has . . . it's been amazing how much it's cleared up already.  Another happy side effect of all this healthy eating -- I'm now down five pounds since Wednesday.  This is helping me to make up any lost ground in our Biggest Loser competition -- that whole (horrible) month of February really worked out to be useless on the weight loss front, so this gets me back in the game . . .

Annie's Prayers

The kids are doing okay-ish with the cleansing diet we're on (yeast-free, dairy-free, sugar-free). 

Ellie spent a chunk of the day screaming at me for candy, but the rest of the time was pretty good.  And Ellie does seem to now accept pistachios in lieu of anything sweet, so I think we're on to something there.

But Annie during prayer last night said, "Thank you we got to go to Costco. Please bless that we get to eat all food again, and not just certain foods . . . "

I know how she feels. :-)

God Loves Me

So, I was having a bad day.

We're doing a yeast-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, any-good-sounding-food-free diet around these parts for the next two weeks.  With all the illness and allergies and antibiotics and all that, the poor kids bodies are totally outta whack, and could seriously use some cleaning out of all things harmful in their diets. 

But the thought of coming up with three meals a day, AND snacks, that contain no sugar, yeast or dairy of any kind is kinda freaking me out, and was a bit overwhelming this morning while I was preparing breakfast and the bowl of quinoa in the microwave that I was reheating freaking EXPLODED and I was cleaning up glass and quinoa for the next 20 minutes while the kids (including Isaac) (who had all woken up before 6:30 this morning, adding to my angst) were angrily screaming to inform me that they were starving to death.  I remade breakfast, and fed Isaac while I watched the two girls freak out at each other and routinely threaten physical violence.  I was repeatedly reminding Annie that she needed to get ready for preschool already, dealing with Isaac who would NOT stop screaming and trying to clean up little pieces of quinoa spread from one end of the kitchen to the other.  I was stressing about a lesson I am supposed to give on Sunday, but due to the craziness around these parts, haven't gotten much done on yet.  Carolynn, our Relief Society President, had asked me earlier in the week if I'd rather her just do it so I didn't have to worry about it, but of course, I said it'd be no problem.  It was starting to feel like a problem now.  Well, a bit overwhelming at least.  Anyway, we got Annie off to school, and as she was waving goodbye, I noticed Carolynn's van drive past.  I waved, and then as I turned towards my house, thought to myself, "I could really talk to her right now . . . "  I shrugged off the feeling, then got hit by another wave of it, and thought this time, "Dear God, if it'd help to talk to her, could you like, I don't know, send her over or something . . . "  Then walked back in my house, feeling a bit silly, asking God to send someone to my house to talk to on my no-good-very-bad day. 

Not even five minutes later, I was upstairs looking online at some stuff for my lesson, when Ellie suddenly cries out, "Hey Mom!  Carolynn's at the door."

And there she was.  In her pajamas.  On my doorstep. 

She smiled and said, "Hey, I was just wondering how you were doing today?"

And I cried.  And then we talked.  Almost until it was time to go pick up our kids from preschool again.

God loves me. 


So do my friends.





(Oh, and she's teaching my lesson this Sunday.)