Good cheer!

Daniel, 5 1/2 months old (Dec 16)

PS  I know four minutes is terribly long, but I wasn't sure how to make the movie shorter, and was too lazy to figure out how right then (to be precise, I knew if I tried, I wold procrastinate and never ever get it up). So there :)

Incredibly Exciting Allergy Update, Oh Yeah! (there's your vowel fix for the day)

Anna can now eat this ...

and this!

I don't know if I've been unreasonably paranoid the last two years, or if my caution has helped her get over it faster, but whatever, Jeff suggested that I do a dairy test with her -- hadn't thought to do one before -- and lo and behold, it was fine!  Hallelujah! =D

Ultimate Snow Day!

We got some "snain" on Saturday, and enough to truly call it snow and make a snowman yesterday, but this morning when we woke up it was snowing huge, beautiful puffy flakes.  The kids raced through their chores and went to make a fort with the cousins.  Jeff left for work, and I decided to go on a walk with the kids.  I was bundled and Anna was re-bundled, when I got a call from Jeff ... he was on his way back home!  The roads were horrific, and he didn't have any urgent calls, so he decided it just wasn't worth it.  Hooray!  We waited for him, and then we all went on a walk together (almost all -- I left Daniel with Susan).  It was truly, truly delightful.

Started off with a good snowball fight :)

Can't miss when she's this close!

You can't tell in the picture, but a snowball was headed directly for the camera here ;)

"Who got me?!"

Off we go ...

I told her not to eat it right off the road, but I don't think she listened ...

Whee!!!

Everyone got a turn on the sled ... even me :)

Time to head home for some hot apple cider now :)

Enough.  Can I go wipe my face off now?  

(Kate hates a wet face ... so much so that she dries off her face several times during every shower!)

A Depressing Weekend

Last weekend was fun: ADM and more visitors than normal, hanging out at the Esau's, all that good stuff.

But I enjoyed a large pancake breakfast on Saturday, and Jeff consumed large quantities of tortilla chips that night, which resulted in three disappointing revelations.

I am mildly sensitive to gluten.
Jeff is sensitive to corn.
Daniel is sensitive to gluten.

All of which were not completely unexpected, just completely unwanted.

So now my cooking looks like this:

obviously, I've been doing this somewhat for over 5 years now ...

I've been able to practice this one about 9 months ...

I've been suspicious and avoiding it since corn season this year which was, what, 2 months ago?

... and now this.

On Monday, when Daniel was fussy all day and had his mucousy diapers, I wanted to have a temper tantrum, or a nice pity party, so I gave myself a pep talk:

I am thankful that none of my family have any life-threatening allergies.

I am thankful that we're healthy in every other way.

I am thankful Daniel is a happy baby.

I am thankful I have the privilege of nursing him.

I am thankful for very supportive and allergy-understanding friends and family.

I am thankful that I'll be able to eat these things again once Daniel is weaned, I'm not off them forever.

I am thankful I don't need to do a full Total Elimination Diet.

I am thankful that it doesn't seem I need to go truly GF, just wheat-free.

The pep talk worked, kinda.  At least I didn't have a temper tantrum :)

Daniel - 13 Weeks

Thirteen Weeks - October 2nd
Today we went in for his Nexus appointment!  Hooray!!!  (We had to wait 45 mins to get across for it, making me realize again just how thankful I am to have it.)

My thighs have slimmed down ...

I can suddenly fit in this tub ...

I got a major haircut ...

Okay, okay, you figured it out! 

My poor little brother didn't get his photo shoot at thirteen weeks since we were visiting Aunt Coralee, so I'm filling in for him.

Did I do a good job?

Bonus:

 Kate at 11 weeks (we lost most of our pictures of her, so nothing for 13 wks)

Anna at 13 weeks  

(she still fit into these clothes [click the words to see Daniel in them] at 13 wks? Wow!)

Daniel - 12 weeks

Twelve Weeks - September 25th
He can go ten hours between feedings at night now.
He's beginning to 'talk' now ... and you should hear some of the stories he comes up with! ;-)

First I got tonsillitis, 

followed by appendicitis and pneumonia,

ending up with neuritis.

Then they gave me hypodermics and inoculations. 

I tell you, I never thought I'd pull through that spelling test!

Sibling Sweetness

This is what I saw when I got out of the shower this morning.  Aww, melt this mother's heart!

Daniel - 11 weeks

Eleven Weeks - September 18th

So, I'm 11 weeks old now.

Huh.  Not that exciting.

But lookit what I just discovered ...

 my hand!  

 It makes nice slurping noises when I suck it :)

Cool, right?

Oh ... 

 and ...

 I've learned how to do a good job smiling in the last couple weeks! 

But Mommy keeps forgetting to take a picture of it.

I'm deeply offended.

Haha, just kidding!   Wasn't that funny? :)

Bye, see you next week!