Killing Me With Cuteness

My husband will probably kill me for posting this, but Tru is killing me with cuteness.

He hasn't started crawling but he wants to stand up and walk!

Thanksgiving

For my husband's family, Thanksgiving has always been the big holiday where people travel and everybody gets together. Christmas is done by individual families.

My mother-in-law, Cheryl, always put it on and made everything and it was a giant feast. I'd seriously need to be rolled home every single year.

Then, just to top off the fun, the following day, everybody returned to her home for homemade Mexican food that was as authentic (and waaaay better) than any real Mexican Food Restaurant.

Cheryl really just loved to cook and have family together and perfected any of her families' favorites recipes. It was unreal. She was an gifted cook and even though relationships weren't always perfect, she really went above and beyond to express her love for her family this time of year. And her talents really shined on Thanksgiving.

Sadly, Cheryl passed away last year shortly, before Thanksgiving.  Her only daughter, Zack's sister, took on the torch and did a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner in honor of Cheryl's memory that year.

This year, Zack's sister is 8 months pregnant and just not feeling so grand and so everybody decided to go ahead and do their own Thanksgiving with their own families.

It's so odd to think that this family holiday is on hiatus while babies are born (one of Zack's brother's wife is due in January) but I'm so grateful for my family. I'm convinced that this tradition will certainly pick-up next year.

It's been so beautiful watching everybody come together and grow in unity since Cheryl's passing; I'm so grateful to be part of this family. Strained relationships are mending, we're making efforts to get together with extended family more often, and our family is growing closer than ever. Cheryl is surely looking down from Heaven beaming with joy that her family is growing so strongly. I married well.

And this year, I won't have to be rolled home... Just rolled to my bed.

Winning At Parenting... Or Not

Janni's first haircut was during a vacation to California when she was 16 months old, Zack's aunt had the pleasure of cutting it. And it was absolutely adorable. We saved the hair in a ziplock baggy. Milestone saved. I'm pretty sure I gave myself a pat on the back for winning at motherhood.

She's currently 3.5 and that's literally the only hair cut she's ever had. Ever. Not even an at-home trim.

That is until this past Saturday. Her hair was getting straggly and stringy and just ridiculous to work with, so I decided we'd both get hair cuts together on a day Zack was home and could stay with Tru.

And the results? Absolutely darling. Sadly, my phone wasn't charged enough to take pictures during the cut, so I had to take back that "winning at parenting" back pat.

This is also the first time she's ever had bangs and my heart my literally explode from all the cuteness!!

Now, if only she'd stand still enough for a perfect picture, I may have to give myself back that winning at parenting back pat.

Sweet and Savory Steak Fajitas: Original Recipe

When Zack and I first started dating, he had me over to his apartment and made me chicken fajitas. He had set the table nicely and tried really hard to impress me.  The mood was sweet and thoughtful.  They were a bit spicy (and by that I mean, I could hardly taste the flavors it was so spicy) for my taste, but they were overall pretty good.  Regardless, he did impress me! 

(Photo courtesy of cheat sheet.com)

We've since tried several different flavors for fajitas that were not so spicy that I spend the rest of the night sipping on milk or yogurt for the evening.  We've tried both steak and chicken.

By far, one of our favorite recipes was created out of a, "I wonder if ... " attitude.  Zack was coming home from work and he typically is the one who likes to cook fajitas (so much so that he kicks me out of the kitchen while he cooks them).  I was desperate to have them cooking by the time he got home so I could say in the most pleasant of tones, "oh look, fajitas for dinner. I've got them covered this time ... back off, Buster."  So I added a little of this, a little of that, hoped for the best, and when Zack walked in, smiled sweetly and told him, "Fajitas for dinner, I've got them covered, Love."
I served them to Zack and he nodded his head, asking, "what did you put in them?"  When I told him, he was surprised. 

After we (we meaning Zack, he still kicks me out of the kitchen when it's fajita night) had made them a couple of times, Zack actually said, "this is a recipe that would be worthy to put online."

I agree! It's the perfect taste of sweet and savory with a bit of a spicy kick ... just spicy enough that I'm able to enjoy them.

Ingredients:
3 bell peppers (any color, but we prefer yellow, orange, and red)
1/2 onion
2-3 medium sized steaks
Corn Tortillas
Gucamole (optional)
Sour cream (optional)
Sauce:
1/3 cup terriyake sauce (I used this recipe to make my own, but any kind works)
4 tbsp Sriracha Sauce
Garlic Powder
Onion powder
Pepper

Slice the steak into strips and add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Slice bell peppers and onion into steps. Add oil to skillet and heat it on medium heat; stir until thinly coated and allow to cook until soft. Remove bell peppers in onion and place aside. Add a teeny bit more oil to skillet and allow to hear up. Add steak strips and allow to cook through. Add cooked bell peppers and add shriracha and teriyaki sauce.

Warm tortillas if you'd like and spoon fajitas mix onto tortillas. Top with sour cream and guacamole and try not to die of delight!!

Fit Healthy Mom's Post-Baby Fitness.

With my first pregnancy, I gained a typocsl amount with about 8 or so pounds retained after having my baby.

With my second pregnancy... Let's just say that I gained quite a bit more.

I basically had what felt like low blood sugar the entirety of the pregnancy and I have to wonder if it was partly due to needing 2 blood transfusions shortly before conceiving. I had to eat constantly to keep from feeling like I'd either pass out or throw up. I spent my days in panic mode because it was constant. It was less then thrilling.

That said, I wasn't surprised when I'd had my baby and even through nursing and pumping temporarily for a friend, the weight just wasn't falling off.

Finally, 6.5 months after having my baby, I'm taking action to lose weight.

Fit Healthy Moms is the program I've decided on because it's basically calorie counting and 30 minute workouts 3-4 times a day.  You calculate extra calories if you're nursing, which I am, and then there's a formula to make sure you're just eating enough to maintain a healthy diet but no more. You're encouraged not to drink either drinks but to drink water.

I'm not sure if I'll post progress picture but I may.

So excited!

Lazy Evenings

Looking at this picture, you can see a lot of things. I have a baby and a messy toddler and I appear to be lazy watching television. But that's not the whole story. 

I've had a terrible headache the entire day. So, after having my sister-in-law over, who is 9 months pregnant, this is the only part of the mess that her 3 boys and my girl managed to make out in the living room (my children's bedrooms took the bigger hit), I decided to lay down on my brand new (dream) couch and relax (watching my favorite SVU (still miss Stabler)) before running around like a mad woman to clean. It's then, as I appear to be lazy, that I realized that this is the very first time I've actually been able to relax since getting it last Thursday.

So, here's to lazy evenings and new couches!! 

A Bit Discouraged

We drove the hour and fifteen minute drive to the gastrointestinal specialist today. Tru, the little booger, was squealing and laughing, and being absolutely delightful. I overheard a mother of a sick little girl say, "well, it can't be that bad!" Like, I literally felt like a fool for being at a gastrointestinal doctor's specialty office with poor, precious young children whose faces screamed they were miserable and needed to be there for help and my baby is laughing and being adorable!!  A FOOL! My only hope is that he made the day of s few kids not feeling so grand.

Luckily, the specialist told me that this happens ALL the time (parents with sick kids come and their kids are having a happy day) and that she believed me that Tru was indeed a screamer.

Another head-to-toe as Tru grabbed and chewed on her stethoscope cord and I was given a few things to watch for and to immediately run to the ER for an ultrasound to check for intussuception (basically, the intestines fold like a telescope and gets stuck and there is blockage) if begins screaming like her has.

She gave me as prescription for liquid intestinal relaxants/painkillers and sent Tru on his way.

Not a total waste of time but basically a waste of time.

Oh, Tru! We're so blessed to live in a country with advanced health care for fragile little babies like yourself! So blessed!

We love you, Baby Boy!

There's Nothing Worse... There's Nothing Better

There's nothing worse than having a headcold and having to take care of your daughter who has a stomach bug...

There's nothing better than the moment your husband gets home and you can run away to rest for an hour.

Thank you, Honey!!

And the irony? Tru doesn't have the stomach bug but we're taking him to the Gastrointestinal doctor tomorrow for something he may not even have... So all the while, Janni is puking her guts out (over share, I'm sorry). 

This is Motherhood.

Finally, I Have A Date For Specialist

Tru has been very difficult these past few months. He screams, and he screams, and he screams... and I can't quite figure out why.

Took him to the pediatrician and she thought she'd send him to a specialist because she couldn't figure out if anything was really wrong.

She told me she'd need to get me a referral to a specialist and they'd call me when they had one.

I finally got the call this week and now the appointment is made for this Friday.

Please pray that they are able to tell me what's wrong.

Slowly Decorating Our Home: Janni's Room

Last December we bought a fixer upper...

It was seriously SO bad that we were able to buy it $17,000 below market value... and let's just say, it's needed more than most houses need to make it look presentable.

Janni's room was, by far, thee absolute worst room in the entire house.  Think Barney purple and a pink. It was just, ew, gross.  Janni, on the other hand, thought the colors were about the greatest thing in the world.  I put off telling her that no, we would not be keeping her room purple, until we were ready to paint it.  And, not surprsingly, when we did paint it, she actually asked me to paint it back purple to which she was promptly told, "No honey, too much work. I'm sorry, I should have asked you."  But I really wasn't sorry because there was no way on earth that my daughter was going to grow up in a room the color of nightmares! Ha!

I let Janni choose her bedspread, which was actually a very nice one and I really do love it.  We used it as a basis for the wall color, a light teal/blue.

So, here it is.  It's got a very girl, princess theme and I can't decide if we're finished decorating or not!

Sources:

Bed Spread: TJ Maxx (similar)

Curtains: Target (similar)

Headboard: Thrifted

Nightstand: Thifted

Lamp Stand: Thrifted

Lamp Shade: Target

White Chair: Thrifted

White Mirror Decor: At Home

Gold Mirror Decor: Thrifted

Blue Cube Storage Bins: Walmart

Hanging Book Shelves: IKEA

Elsa Picture: Kohls (similar)

Dragonfly Coat Hanger: Gifted By Family 

Paint: Home Depot: Azure Afternoon

A Nice Day

Today was nice. Which means a lot considering hour incredibly difficult it was the rest of the week.

Tru took over a 2 hour nap and it was glorious. Then, friends from church who live literally a 10 minute walk up the street, took both Janni and Tru for 2 hours (not something I would ever dream of doing with dream baby Janni at 6 months but Try is different). I came home and did some cleaning and then walked down the street and got my kids.

The family has the sweetest teenager girl, who walked us home and we stopped at a few yard sales on the way home. I bought a jogging stroller for $7 dollars (I want to start jogging/running and really need a double stroller but having this stroller will really help for evening walks until we get one) and a cute little nautical themed mirror for Tru's whale themed nursery!  The jogging stroller needs a new front tire but we have fix-a-leak and I'm hoping that'll fix the flat and that we won't have to buy a new tube. Zack is going to take a look at it tomorrow.

The teenage girl and I chatted the whole way home and she offered to come over once a week to help me with the kids. She's 15 and homeschooled. And frankly, if she wants to hold a fussy baby while I rush around the house and clean, God bless her sweet heart!!

She also has some health problems and says that she's used the natural doctor my girlfriend was talking about yesterday and that he's really, really helped her feel do much better and she's physically much, much healthier since she's been seeing him these past 2 years.

I think these encounters help me feel more and more hopeful that we'll be able to help Tru feel better. I feel encouraged by reaching out for help in ways I've never felt since giving birth to Tru.

Having a baby is never easy but having a consistently fussy/screaming baby has really been testing my limits. This is why I'm seeking help with the medical community and I'm looking into mom support groups because my husband works upwards of 10-12 hour days several days a week and I need somebody to come along side me on the hardest days.

This is partly why I'm blogging do often, because I need a place to vent, to write out my thoughts, and to know that I have this little corner of the internet to really share how I'm feeling.

I have hope knowing there are people willing and wanting to help. And these nice days, full of sunshine and a glimmer of hope are really what I need these days.

God is do good!

A Lot of Hope

On Thursday nights, Zack and I take a class at our church.

Child care is provided and Janni has pretty much always loved going into the baby/toddler/preschool/etc. her entire life. Try usually lasts until the last 45 minutes or so and then screams until they have to put my number up on the screen to come get him.

Tonight, I made a soup to bring for everybody who would want some and didn't have enough time to make Janni anything for dinner before we had to leave for church and since the soup was on the spicy side and she won't eat anything remotely spicy, I was a little unsure what she would eat.  I dropped both Tru and Janni off at their rooms and felt bothered that Janni didn't have dinner.  Tru had some baby food I'd left with him to eat but Janni had nothing and her last snack was hours before. Typically, they provide cheese itz for a snack, but that wouldn't be until near the end of the night.

I spoke to one of the leaders watching the children in her age group and said I would look around the food table meant for our class and see what I could bring her. I looked and there was nothing she'd eat.

I sat down at our table and couldn't even listen to the pastor leading the class because my heart was hurting for Janni.  After about 3 minutes, it dawned on me that I had a blueberry-apple sauce pouch in my bag from earlier today and a bag of grainless granola from Trader Joe's. I quietly left the sanctuary where our class was being held and went to the other side of the church to give Janni her makeshift dinner.

On my way back, I ran into an old friend who happened to be carrying her very, very fussy 18 month old. In the past, she's shared with me how hard he has been on her.

I ended up asking her about what she's done for her fussy son and shared with her about Tru.

She told me that she has had a lot of success with a local natural path doctor and that when her older son was 3 and literally on the brinks of death, she found this doctor and took him there and he was able to diagnose him with celiac disease and start him on a dietary protocol and restrictions to save his life.  She also has had so much luck with her youngest son and since both her youngest son and my son are showing signs of eczema and extreme fussy/screaming/never wanting to be put down behaviors, she encouraged me to call him first thing in the morning and make an appointment!

She says that although her youngest son is still, by far, the most difficult child she has, that this doctor has given him supplements and nutritional dietary restrictions and that he is a much, much easier child and that any amount of money she has spent on him (insurance won't cover a natural path doctor), she wouldn't trade it for what he has done for her son!

I feel super encouraged and hopeful that this doctor can solve and resolve and lead us to some solutions to help Tru to be a more consistently happy baby!

Update On Tru's Doctor Visit

We took Tru into the pediatrician today.  In his usual fashion, he came in smiley. The pediatrician came in and he just smiled and grinned at her, and she told me there wasn't anything wrong.

She said that he appears to be a perfectly healthy baby.  He was happy, healthy looking, gaining weight well, and she could find nothing physically wrong with him... And then the nurse took him to weigh him and he began screaming a bloody murder.

And he screamed the entire rest of the time we were there. Relentlessly.

She said she'd refer him to a gastro-intestinal specialist just to make sure we're not missing anything that's causing him distress but it could take a month and we'll have to travel to Phoenix to see them.

And now we wait.

Please pray for us!

We sure do love you, Tru!

(Janni trying to pose for a picture)

5 Things I Love About My Baby

I gave my pediatrician's office a call this morning to see if we can have Tru allergy tested. I've pulled out the typical trigger foods like gluten, dairy, sugar, and soy to help his acid reflux and eczema but they haven't helped at all.

We have an appointment to see his pediatrician Wednesday afternoon to troubleshoot one last time and then we'll make some decisions whether or not to pursue a specialist because his screams really have us wondering if he's in some kind of pain.

Yesterday, when I was at my wits end with him because he just screamed and screamed and nothing I did was fixing his screaming, and nobody was available to come just sit with him so I could take a breather and get my sanity back... I decided that I needed to begin thinking of all his delightful, endearing qualities... Because we really do love this boy and are so, so happy he was given to us and that he is ours... But it's super quick and easy to lose sight of the fact that we prayed and fasted for this baby when he won't stop screaming.

Here are Tru's (current) top 5 delightful traits:

1. His smile. This boy just seems to be extreme in everything he does... Including his smile! Unlike his sister, you can get this boy to smile so easily!!

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3. His laughter. A lady at church told me that Tru is one of the few babies she's ever met that can go into a state where he wants to cry but he is can be easily swayed to laugh and you're doing everything possible to make him laugh in an effort to keep him from crying (and also because his laugh is probably the best laugh ever!).

3. That his bald head and lack of visible eyebrows makes it super easy to dress him up like a little old man!

4. His love for people. I was standing in a checkout line and the cashier was making him laugh and smile and laugh and coo. The cashier just beamed that he was smiling just for her and I didn't have the heart to tell her he smiles huge at just about anyone!

5. That he's a great napper. I usually can get a two hour nap out of him midday and if we're being perfectly honest, I'm not sure I'd survive the day if he didn't take that nap!

Yes, he's hard and things get stressful around here, but we really are in love with this little baby! And it's the best kind of difficult I could ask for!! Remembering this and keeping in mind that there is a sweet boy in him that really wants to come out and that he may be in pain that's preventing him from being a consistently happy baby really gives my mommy's heart compassion and determination to figure out what's wrong with him!

Tru, we love you Baby Boy!!