Food Trials!

We have started introducing food to Sweet Pea. It has not been going very well. We were hoping to have better luck since even with medication his reflux is still giving him trouble. 

We started with sweet potatoes, and not even an hour later he was showing symptoms. We were going to do rhubarb for his first fruit, but due to a lack of time we went with the lowest jarred fruit, pears. The pears actually looked like they were going to be a success until the second day when he started having problems. Tomorrow we're going to give bananas a try and see how that goes. 

Christmas Proofs

We ordered our pictures last night! Here are the proofs as a preview. I won't get them until the 21st so I may delay the mailing of our cards since we haven't sealed them yet. After all there are 12 days of Christmas, and it will be more fun to send out pictures. :)

Coming Soon: Sweet Pea's First Food Trial

On the first of December we're taking a big step. Sweet Pea will try his first food. We are a little nervous, but hopefully it will go well since we have finally got everything balanced out. We will be a little more cautious than "the 4 day rule" we'll only be trying a new food every 8 days. We are going to slowly work our way up from the foods least likely to cause a reaction up the chart. 

The lowest vegetable is yams with sweet potatoes coming second. Since James and I really aren't sure what the difference is we'll be trying Beechnut's Sweet Potatoes. I was always a fan of Gerber with Peanut, but I have heard that Gerber tends to have a lot of problems with cross-contamination. I would love to make our own food, but with two little ones it is difficult to find the time. If sweet potatoes are a success we will move on to the least allergenic fruit, rhubarb which I'll have to do myself. 

Depending on how things go we will probably alternate between fruits and vegetables until around 8 months when we will start introducing meats. Cereal and Grains will come last and we will be avoiding dairy completely until 18 months if we get the okay for a trial. It should be interesting as time goes by because we'll have to watch for ingredients that may contain soy, dairy, and rice. We are hoping that he'll be able to tolerate a substitute milk. Since he can not have soy or rice that leaves us hemp milk and coconut milk, luckily our local grocer carries both. 

I'll post more as we introduce different foods.

Are Those Wedding Bells I Hear?

Daddy J and I are far from your textbook romance... but I wouldn't change a thing. After starting a family we are finally ready to tie the knot. There have been many discussions over the past year on when, where and how and a lot of those are still unanswered but we are making progress.


For awhile we had decided we would go the courthouse route. We had discussed eloping at Sandals Jamaica. But after talking more about it we both admitted we would like a wedding, even if it is a little off beat and less traditional. I am opening my mind and looking at all options and not only the ones the wedding industry shoves down your throat. I am slowly realizing that I am not really a fan of most of the traditional wedding stuff. The important thing is our union, celebrating, and having a great time!


When we first started planning our wedding two years ago we were planning for a wedding at The Walt Disney World Resort. I used to work there and am a bit of a Disney nut. Because of the cost of The Disney Wedding packages we started discussing other options because I come from a very large family. After talking more about it we decided we wanted to get married in Indianapolis, my home city. We were hoping to get married at The Scottish Rite Cathedral. 


Now that we are starting to plan again we've decided we would still like to get married in Indiana in the fall. We love the idea of an outdoor wedding with the changing leaves and crisp fall air. We have started looking at locations but there is one we have fallen in love with, Wea Creek Orchard. It is perfect the price is right, we would have the day before and the day after for set up and break down and there is a huge barn we could hold the reception in. A barn sounds odd, but I saw it on a wedding website and I fell in love with the idea. The only problem is that it is not available for the dates that we are looking at. We would be willing to put it off for another year if it means getting this location. I am anxiously awaiting an email to see what they can do. Another option we are looking at is at Cataract State Park. I went here often as a young girl and it is beautiful. There are two sets of waterfalls and over one is a covered bridge. The pictures would be amazing. I also found out we can rent out the bridge along with the shelter by the falls. The only problem we've encountered is that there are only pit toilets available. We are looking into the nice portable restrooms but we are also waiting to see if DNR would be okay with this. We have also thought about Brown County, as it is just amazing in the fall. Finding a location that has everything that we require will be an interesting adventure. 


When we think of fall, we think of apples. We are doing a theme with apples and burlap. In place of floral centerpieces we are going to have wooden buckets lined with burlap and filled with apples that will also serve as favors. Because of the liquor laws depending on our location we will also have a sparkling cider toast in place of champagne so even the kids can be included. I love the barn at Wea Creek. I want to string lights through out and use minimal decorations as the barn is beautiful as it is. We hope to have the ceremony in the orchard. If we end up at Cataract I can't wait to enjoy the beauty of it's old red covered bridge.   


We have started to discuss food, and after looking at some of the local caterers I was really surprised. This is a big one as it will be the deciding factor in how many people we can invite.I would love to do the food myself as I love to cook, but cooking for that many and living out of state could prove to be a challenge. So we are looking into possibly having a restaurant cater and have a less formal dinner. We are thinking we might do a family style dinner.We have also considered serving heavy hors d'oeuvres and skipping the traditional dinner. 


I already have a dress. I thought it was THE dress, but it was THE dress for our big pre-babies cathedral wedding, complete with cathedral length train. Since the dress I have isn't practical for the wedding we are planning now I am trying to sell it. I have a dress picked out that I love, but no one will see it until the big day! I have been looking at accessories and in place of a bouquet I am planning on carrying a white lace parasol. It is something different and it works with our outdoor ceremony. I have also fallen in love with the bird cage veils. As for our wedding party, we haven't really discussed this. We originally had planned on a large wedding party, but we are thinking of just having one person each, this is still up in the air. 


I'll probably post more as we plan more. If you would like to see some of our ideas you can check out my wedding board on Pinterest.

30 Days of Thanksgiving

So I have missed a few days. :) But we have been pretty busy lately enjoying our little ones. So here we go

Day 5 - I am thankful for the roof over my head.
Day 6 - I am thankful to have food to feed my family.
Day 7 - I am thankful for running water.
Day 8 - I am thankful for heat when it is cold and A/C when it is hot out.
Day 9 - I am thankful for the one vehicle we have. At times I get a little aggravated because it often limits what I can do during the days, but there were a few times this year we were with out a working car so I am very thankful that we have one.
Day 10 - I am thankful for music - I <3 watching Peanut dance :)
Day 11 - I am thankful for the veterans and active duty soldiers who fight and have fought to protect our rights.
Day 12 - I am thankful for having furniture - One of the things we often overlook.
Day 13 - I am thankful for strollers.
Day 14 - I am thankful for my mei tai and my moby wrap... babywearing allows me to get a lot more done
Day 15 - I am thankful for pinterest. I have found so many uses for items I already have
Day 16 - I am thankful for carpet shampoo machines - because purple grape juice does not look good on beige carpet.
Day 17 - I am thankful for Netflix streaming. I don't have tv but Netflix will do.
Day 18 - I am thankful for being born in America.
Day 19 - I am thankful that our lease is almost up... I can't wait to have a yard and be able to fit more than one person in my kitchen.

Day 4 of 365

Here is the pictures from Day 4 (Yesterday)

Peanut has a new obsession with squeezing into tiny places like.....

under the couch!

Here is Sweet Pea enjoying the Jumperoo!

30 Days of Thanksgiving

I have seen some people doing this on Facebook. I think it is a great way to reflect and think of all we have to be thankful for. I'm starting a little late.

Day 1 - I am thankful for my wonderful spouse. He is a great partner and my best friend and I can't wait to be married to him. He has given me two beautiful children which leads me to....

Day 2 - I am thankful for my Peanut. She has been such a blessing. I love waking up every morning to see her smiling face bursting with excitement to start the day. I love that she is so loving and has welcomed her little brother into our family with open arms. I love that the first thing she has to do is give him hugs and kisses each morning. It has been an amazing 15 months of watching her grow from a tiny newborn into a toddler. I love the little person she is becoming. Nothing is better than re-experiencing life through the eyes of your child.

Day 3 (it is actually two things Sweet Pea and our GI) - I am thankful for my Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea was a big surprise. We found out we were expecting again when Peanut was only 4 months old but I wouldn't change a thing. He is such a blessing. We have a lot to be thankful for with Sweet Pea. He is such a happy baby, with a smile that just melts my heart. But it didn't start off that way. We had a lot of issues during his first days at the hospital from issues keeping food down to a failed hearing test. We had a lot of worries during his first month. He had another hearing test and passed. He continued to have problems eating but with the help of his GI we have solved that problem as well. He is such a blessing.

Day 4 - Our extended families - We are very blessed to have tons of family. Although we don't always get to see them as often as we would like, we are very thankful for our many loved ones.

Potty Training Peanut

Peanut has been doing really well with potty training. Since she is doing so well our goal is to be diaper free by her next birthday. I am still not pushing the issue, if she uses her diaper it's not a big deal but if she uses the potty I do try to make sure to reward and phrase her. I don't want her to feel rushed but I still give her a step in the right direction by putting her on the potty at times I expect she'll need to go. She has used it on her own twice now so I feel like she is understanding the process.

I am looking at switching over to pull ups but the cost is making me hesitate. Once she starts using the potty on her own more often I will probably make the switch because she'll be going through less diapers/pull ups. Plus, she removes her diaper so that isn't really an issue at this point.

I am starting to do some diaper free time throughout the day to encourage her to use her potty and the one time I have done it was the second time she used the potty. I've read that this is a good approach so I am trying to remain open minded. However with this approach there can and will be accidents. Which is why I am thankful for carpet shampoo.

365 Photos and Halloween

The last week has been a crazy one. Peanut is teething again and waking up several times a night. Between Peanut and Sweet Pea I haven't been getting very much rest. I managed to still take the pictures, so I'll probably continue and post them a couple times a week.

Peanut's 2nd Halloween was great! Sweet Pea slept right through all of the fun. We took her to the local mall for their safe Trick or Treat. We went last year but she was too small to understand. This year she was a little timid at first but she really got into it. We could hardly keep up with her, she wanted to go  to every store, even the ones not handing out candy. She also tried to steal a few buckets. :) She waved bye-bye to all of the displays, and she saw her uncle dressed up as a giant hot dog. She refused to wear her wings or antenna so she was a flightless bee.


DAY 1 - Halloween

Day 2 -  I didn't get a chance to get Sweet Pea, but I got a cute picture of Peanut reading before bedtime.

Day 3- Good Morning!

365 Photos

I have already fallen behind. I have a picture of each of them from day 2 but I didn't get one of them together and I missed day 3 all together. I am going to start again fresh on Monday. This week has been a busy one.

Peanut and Sweet Pea have been a handful. Sweet Pea was sick and now Peanut is sick and I am exhausted. I've been finishing up their costumes, I didn't get to do as much with them as I would have liked because we had some last minute things come up. :(

I am working on opening up a shop on Etsy. It has been pretty time consuming creating products, researching, and making sure that I have everything in order for taxes. I am very excited about the launch of my shop and am hoping to have it up and running mid November.

Random things from this week:

• Peanut is up to 11 teeth. The molars were a bitch.

+

• Sweet Pea can roll over, and enjoys rolling around the rug. He also has fallen in love with the Jumperoo, but I try not to let him in it for more than 10 minutes a day because he still is so young. 

• Peanut is talking a lot more, sometimes she'll even repeat what you say. Our favorite Peanutism these days is "Wipe my butt daddy" but "What's That?" is also pretty amusing. 

• Peanut also is obsessed with stealing Daddy's identity. She wears his tie, sunglasses, hat, work badge,belt, watch and carries his cell phone. It is the cutest thing ever. 

• Peanut also loves to say "Bye, Bye!" She often will gather up some things walk over to the gate and wave and shout "Bye, Bye!" like she is leaving. 

Day 1

It feels like this year has gone by so fast. It seems like we just brought Sweet Pea home from the hospital but he is going to be 3 months old on Friday! With two little ones it is easy to get lazy with the camera because I almost always have a baby in arms so my goal is to take at least three pictures a day. One of the two of them together and one of each of them alone. I am thinking that at the end of the year I'll have 3 of the mosaic portraits printed with my favorite picture. So to start off our year in pictures...

Here is Day 1!

Sharing Smiley360 Mission

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New Pictures!

Here are some more pictures of the little ones :)

Potty Training Peanut: An Update!

Today my Peanut made me proud, she used her potty on her own! I have been trying to keep the potty more available to her during the day. I have been working with her more having her try to go after waking up, before and after naps, about 20 minutes after eating and right before bed. 

I was in their room feeding Alex a bottle and noticed that she was standing by the potty about to reach in it. I've been trying to discourage her from playing with the potty but I was very surprised and very happy to see that she had went.  

We did our usual send off party at the toilet and then she got a special treat she split an Oreo with me :) Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come!

The Missing Sippy Cup

With two little ones sometimes things just disappear. I swear our apartment is like the Bermuda Triangle sometimes, things come in but they go missing never to be found again. Today one of the missing items turned up in a scary way. I have searched high and low for a sippy cup that had cranberry juice. I went through her room moving the furniture, I checked under and behind the couches, the dining room, and even the kitchen and our bedroom that are off limits to the kids. I was convinced that James picked it up or it somehow was thrown away. 

Peanut found it!

This morning I was feeding Sweet Pea his bottle and Peanut comes out of her room upset and covered in what looked like blood. There was a huge spot on her thigh and tons running down her leg and all over her hands. I rush for the first aid kit without even stopping to take a look, convinced that I was going to have to rush her to the ER for stitches from the looks of the big "gash".

I get over to her, Daddy on the phone, trying to wipe her leg with a washcloth to find the source of the "blood" and then I realized it was sticky and thankfully not blood. After smelling it I realized it was juice, and after looking in her room I found the missing sippy! 

Today's lesson, old cranberry juice looks a lot like blood.

Potty Training Peanut

I've been working on potty training Peanut. We've been working on it since last month as she is really making progress. I didn't have high expectations because she is still so young. She was consistently coming to me and removing her diaper after she went so I thought it was worth a shot.  

She still tries to play with the potty, so I keep it in the bathroom with the door closed. I was trying to place her on the potty several times a day to get her used to the idea and she would go when I took her. She now comes to me and removes her diaper before she has to go, which is a huge improvement. The only problem I am encountering is getting to the potty before it is too late. I am trying to figure out a way to keep it out without her playing with it. If you have any ideas feel free to comment. I'll be updating as we progress! 

FPIES

So it turns out our little guy has a condition called FPIES (Food Protein Induced Entercolitis Syndrom). So far his triggers are Milk, Soy, and Rice. It is not a condition many are aware of so I'm doing my part to raise awareness. At the bottom of the page there are links for more information.
 FPIES is a severe delayed food allergy of the gut, it is understood to be a T-cell mediated response, a Non-IgE Food Allergy, in which food is considered a foreign invader and the body “fights/attacks” it until it can violently expel it; although the exact mechanisms are still not well understood.

Symptoms include: profound vomiting (often to bile), diarrhea and/or constipation. These can lead to: lethargy, low body temp or fever, hypotension, and in severe cases, sepsis and shock. And still yet, many children also experience many discomforting symptoms while the body "fights" this reaction and these can include: extreme stomach pains, gas, runny stools with or without mucous or blood, persistent hiccups, acid reflux, rashes, sleep disturbance, and agitation. 

To learn more:  *The FPIES Foundation website 

*FPIES United Family Fund

New Pictures!

The last week has been a busy one. Peanut is really enjoying her little brother. She even gave him hugs at the doctor's office before his first round of shots. He did great but she cried for him.