Wordless Wednesday

How do people make it through life without a sister? ~Sara Corpening

So Thankful for Good Friends

When we started planning our trip out to Colorado for Thanksgiving one of the things we wanted to make sure we did was visit all of the friends we could. We were lucky enough to have time to spend an entire day with Heather and Tony on Sunday. Their son is only about 6 weeks older than Brenden and we were hoping that they would become fast friends. We were right!

I would recap our entire day but Heather already did that on her wonderful blogs and I am no where near as good of a writer as she is. Please click here and here to hear about our day. It was awesome.

She didn't take any pictures, but I definitely did. It was so fun to see the difference between the last time that we were able to see them and now. It gets harder and harder to leave Colorado every time we visit.

Thank you Heather and Tony for letting us invade your house, cooking us some yummy soup, and introducing me to Bacon, Bacon, Bacon pizza from Papa Murphy's. (It's fabulous!) We had the best day!

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

Apparently this runs in the family.

7 Months Old!

Every month I have posted about what new things Lauren has done and how wonderful it is to experience her growth. I'm still loving every minute and every new skill. However, having to say she is "7 months old" has been ridiculously more difficult than I ever could have imagined. Maybe it's because my baby is starting to get to the crawling stage. (Too soon!) Maybe it's because she is now closer to be a toddler than to being a baby. (AHHH! Not a year old! SO not ready for that!) No matter what it is, it's hard, and I'm trying my best to not think about it and focus on the positive things.

Hello happiness!

Like I said, she's close to crawling, but not completely interested in it. She'd rather be standing up, moving her feet like she's trying to walk, or bouncing up and down. Her favorite sounds to make right now are "da-da" or "da-de" plus a ton of gurgling. She's still trying to get in her bottom teeth, so I expect them to show up sometime between now and Valentine's Day. Teeth are so unpredictable!

This little girl can EAT! She is holding her own bottle like a pro now and will eat anything we put in front of her. Oatmeal, barley, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, green beans...you name it, she'll eat it. She loves frozen strawberries in her teether and any type of bread, be it puffs, biscuits, or pancakes. She's even able to feed herself, although sometimes pieces end up in her lap.

Yummy!

She is an absolute joy to be around, always wakes up with a smile, and rarely has meltdown moments for no reason. So far, it seems like she's going to be a social child, just like her brother, although I'm not sure how I could handle two kids as out going as Brenden. She is an observer and an explorer, and often becomes enthralled with carpet, a piece of paper, or her grandpa's goatee.

Lauren, you make me a better mommy every day. We love you! Happy 7 month birthday!

7 months old!

Seven Years Ago

On this day, seven years ago, a cute guy walked into the bar I worked at. He sat at a table and shared a pitcher of beer with his friend. When I asked if they would like another, they said they were headed to a movie, so I jokingly asked if they were on a date. "I haven't been on a date in a really long time," I whined.

Somehow, he picked up on my totally obvious subtle flirting and handed me his number, telling me he would be more than happy to take me on a date. The next morning I sent him a text and that night we met up at my bar. The rest, as they say, is history.

Thank you, Tim, for that tiny slip of paper. I love you!

One of our first pictures together. December 2003

Peek-A-Boo!

I love this new game!

Yesterday I Lost My Mind...

...and let the kids fingerpaint with chocolate pudding. Messy? Very. Fun? Absolutely! Yummy? Brenden would say "YES!"

Wordless Wednesday

The family is one of nature's masterpieces.
~George Santayana

Uh oh!

She's almost on the move!

Before and After

Lately I've been reflecting a lot on what I expected having children would be like versus what having children is actually like. Of course it is 100 times more difficult than I ever thought it could be, but it's also 10,000 times more rewarding, and in much different ways than I expected.

Before having kids I always thought that sleep deprivation was just silly. I was staying out until 2 am and still getting up and ready for work by 8 am. How much more difficult could it be with a baby? (Go ahead and laugh at me. I still do.) Of course, reality smacked me in the face pretty quickly, and quite roughly. I never knew that one little person could take so much energy out of you!

Before having kids I was constantly late. I would always end up doing something to waste time, usually staring off into space for no reason and all, lost in thought. Then BAM...I need to leave in 5 minutes and I haven't even begun to get ready. This did not bode well for being on time when you put kids into the mix. Now? Instead of being 10 minutes late I'm 30 minutes late, and I'm not even wasting time! A simple trip to the grocery store needs at least 15 minutes of prep time, which doesn't include any surprises, like dirty diapers or a 3 year old that must have juice but only tells me after we are in the car. And of course I have to run back in at least twice for my phone or a bottle.

It's not all "wow, this is WAY worse than I expected" though. I never knew just how funny a 3 year old could be. Or how much I would love seeing Lauren rolling over and smiling at me in the morning. I never knew that my favorite milestones would be my children holding their own bottles, and Brenden being able to go to the bathroom all by himself.

I always thought that the best memories would be the "big" ones; first steps, trips to Disney World, or hearing them say "mama" for the first time. Of course those are amazing memories, but my favorites have been tiny bits of time that I didn't even expect to notice. Like Brenden playing with Lauren for the first time. I will never forget seeing him lay down on the bed next to her to let him grab his ears. Or watching Tim chase Brenden through the house with an oven mitt.

Every day I have something new to look forward to. A new memory, a new revelation, a new milestone. What more could a girl ask for?

Sleepy

Thank you, Tim, for snapping these pictures. It will be nice to remember a time when he let me snuggle with him.

2007

2010

Wordless Wednesday

2007 - 6 weeks old

2008 - 1 year old

2009 - 2 years old

2010 - 3 years old

Allergy Testing - Brenden, 3 years old

We've taken Brenden to the allergist several times, but it's been a long time since he had a skin prick test done. The first, and only, time he had it done he was 7 months old. The nurse was not the best with children and actually asked me why he was still crying 15 minutes after the injections. Um...maybe because you just poked him several times with a bunch of stuff that is making him itchy and I can't stop it, or hold him correctly, because I can't touch it? RIGHT?!

After that initial test I was obviously nervous to go through it again. He's much bigger and much harder to contain at 3 years old than he was at 7 months, plus I hate taking him to the doctor when I know it will be so unpleasant. When we first walked in I was amazed at the number of things he was going to be tested for. I'm glad they were testing for all of it, but I didn't realize that they would be pricking them each individually, up and down both arms. I think I counted 34 spots. That's a lot!

I explained to Brenden that it wasn't going to be fun but that we needed to check him to see what he could still eat. Right after that the lady asked me if we were going to be testing for all of them, or just half. This did NOT ease my nervousness at all. I told her I just wanted to be done with it and braced myself for lots of screaming, thrashing, and who knows what else. She handed him a sucker, pointed to the cartoons playing on the television, and starting pricking.

He just sat there. He did say "ooooh" and shake a bit, which he does when something doesn't feel good, but he held his arms still and didn't cry at all. "I expected a lot worse," I said to the nurse. Her response? "He did VERY well. It's usually not that easy." Whew!

Then we had to wait. Twenty minutes of me holding his hands, telling him to keep his arms straight, and blowing on his arms to keep him from itching. Somehow he was able to sit there and even let me take a few pictures.

This is how he sat the whole time. He did so well!

Every number or letter, plus the circles, are where she pricked him.

The results? He's allergic to egg yolks, but not egg whites, cockroaches, dust mites, mold and cats. That last one really shocked me because he didn't react at all to dogs, like he did during his first test, and I know that he has reacted when he came in contact with dogs not too long ago. Maybe he's becoming less sensitive to it. Either way, none of the allergies are life threatening, just skin allergies, and we don't have to change anything in his diet. I'm not sure when we'll have a follow up appointment but I'm not worried.

I'm so thankful to have this over with! And I'm also thankful that it was so much easier than I anticipated. Brenden surprises me every day!

ETA: The allergy clinic called me back to let me know that the doctor reviewed the results and he is now only allergic to cats and dust mites. Being the crazy person that I am, I decided to test their results. Brenden has ALWAYS reacted to eggs when they were raw-ish, usually in salad dressing. I grabbed an egg, separated the yolk and the egg white, and rubbed a little on each of his arms. You know what happened? Nothing. Zip. Nada. No bumps. No itching.

How in the world did this happen?!? I'm not complaining! I'm just confused. How could he have been so very allergic and now be totally fine? Fine enough that they are allowing him to get the flu shot. How could he be so allergic to dogs and now it's cats? Our bodies are amazing things.