Momento

Catching up

2012-01-23T23:21:00.001-06:00

Well good grief how has it been over a month since my last post! Ok, first things first, we still don't have any results from Caleb's muscle biopsy last month. They said 4-6 weeks and with the holidays I'm sure that messed with the timeline. At this point I'm not really sure what the results are going to tell us. We already know he has Mito, (that's what many people have the biopsy for) the MRI told us that. (not all Mito can be diagnosed with an MRI but the type he has can) From what I understand they might tweak his vitamins or diet a little depending on the type he has, but I think that's about all they would do. So I'm not really all that concerned with the results.

We have an appointment with the Specialist at Children's on February 15th that we made back in September so I'm guessing we will just get the results then. (hopefully they will be back by then and we won't have to go in again later)

As far as Caleb's progress- He was getting stronger back in November, and then around Thanksgiving (ish) he started to go down. He seemed to get weaker and Christmas was hard on him. We traveled to Arkansas for Thanksgiving and then Michigan, Illinois, and Arkansas for Christmas. (all driving!!) Traveling is hard on him too. He was also teething, his top eye teeth are finally coming through! And teething is really hard on him. I think it was one of the things that made last summer so hard for him. So I don't know if he was getting weaker and the teething made it harder or what. Since all of this is new for us we don't know what his normal will be. It's very possible that his energy will come and go in cycles. Time will tell I guess. We are still waiting on 1 of his eye teeth. He wakes up multiple times a night crying and in pain. It subsides pretty quickly but I hurt for him. We don't really know why he is crying honestly. I hope it's just teething, but if it isn't I pray for the day when he can tell us what is hurting. Anyway he seems to be going back up now. I've noticed his energy increasing and his PT has also noticed his balance being better. Yea!!

Caleb also started Occupational Therapy in December. She comes to the house and works on fine motor skills and hand strength. He seems to be okay in this area but anything to keep his brain active and stimulated has to be good for him. One thing I don't think I have mentioned here is that we had an appointment at Scottish Rite the day before his muscle biopsy and we got to see his MRI and ask questions. The "dead" spots were small and the Doctor said they are in the areas of his brain that affect movement. (which seems to be his biggest struggle) So it was helpful to hear that information. We didn't really know what to ask when we were first presented with the news. As time goes on our list of questions get longer as we encounter more things and have had time to process the initial feelings surrounding the diagnoses.

Moving forward- The same people that do his therapy have a nutritionist that is going to start coming out probably once a month to help and monitor. We are also going to see the speech therapist to help work on his mouth muscles. He doesn't seem to have a problem with speech but she can help him learn how to suck through a straw and work on chewing. I don't think that will be weekly like the other 2 therapists but we will see.

I shared in my November post about being scared to be hopeful because,

I have read that with this disease there can be times where they get better and times when they get worse. I'm standing in faith that he will not get worse but only continue to get better. But sometimes I am scared to hope that he will continue to improve. I am scared to tell people that he is doing so well because what if tomorrow he isn't?

I think part of the reason I haven't blogged lately (besides being gone and crazy busy!) is that I didn't want to say he wasn't doing well. It's hard trying to sort through it all. Something that happened recently is the nursery at church noticed he was doing better and mentioned it. They were really excited. My first thought was, "yea well it won't last." AGH! That's horrible! and it's exactly what went through my mind. Now before you go telling me to cast down those thoughts, which I did, but let me finish :) I thought about it and wondered why I can't be happy too. And then I realized that I can be grateful for the "up" times. What if he didn't have those and everything was a "down/weak" time? So as much as the "down" times hurt my heart I will be grateful for the improvements and for the "up" times.

One last thing that happened recently was while playing in the playground at Chick-fil-a, an older kid came up to Caleb and Jason and made a really mean comment about Caleb, to his face. (his eyes roll around sometimes when he is tired and he loses head control) Jason came out really mad! And the more I thought about it, the more mad I got, and the more sad. I don't want my baby to have to deal with mean people. He doesn't understand what people are saying, but he soon will. And my heart hurts for him already. He won't be "normal" and it really kills me. It makes me beg God to heal him even more.

Thank you to each and every one of you that have prayed for my sweet boy. Thank you for praying for our family and for Jason and me. We need God's strength and provision. We need His guidance and love. Thank you also to each and every one of you who have given us money for Caleb's medical bills. We are overwhelmed by your generosity and love. Thank you Alyssa for making the bracelets to raise money and awareness. Thank you Mom for watching the kids during the countless Dr. appointments over the last months. We love you all!

Love,

I really am going to try and post Jordyn's birth story and something not so serious here soon, but I'm not making any promises!! :)

Caleb's Muscle Biopsy

2011-12-10T01:15:00.001-06:00

I really have been trying to make some time to update everyone on how Caleb's surgery went on Tuesday! Geez life is busy! Anyway...
We had to be at the hospital at 6am (sheesh!) to check in. The surgery was scheduled for 7:30 and it was right on time. (love early morning appointments and surgeons that are on time!!) we checked in at admissions, where they asked us to pay the $12,500 that insurance wasn't covering (haha) so we wrote them a check for $50 and went on our way over to surgery. We went to a pre op room where we changed Caleb into the hospital clothes, they checked his weight and temperature, and then everyone came in to talk to us. The surgeon, the nurse, the anesthesiologist, the other nurse, geez! Then they gave him some stuff by mouth to make him a little loopy. After that was good and kicked in we walked with the nurse while she wheeled his bed to "the doors" and we said our good byes.
At this point we went back down to admitting to see if we were eligible for a discount on the hospital portion. (I have no idea what the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and lab fees will be but insurance won't be paying any of that) thankfully they said we could get a 60% discount once we got all our paperwork in. (still working on that) so we grabbed a quick bite to eat, we hadn't eaten yet since Caleb couldn't eat we didn't want to dangle that in front of him! Then we went back up to the waiting room. It was close to 8:30 which is when we were expecting them to be done. They called us back pretty quickly and the surgeon came in and said everything went great. Then we went back to the waiting room. When he started to wake up they came and got us to be with him. We came up to his bed where he was under some blankets lying face down and as soon as he saw us he started to get up and move towards us.(this was the part after his MRI that was the worst, the waking up. He was very inconsolable and agitated. It took almost 30 min to calm him down last time so I wasn't really looking forward to it) I picked him up and tried to keep all the tubes untangled. He had an IV, 2 monitors on his chest, one on his toe, and a blood pressure cuff, and the incision! Once I got him on my lap I started reading him a book and he calmed down and was great the rest of the time!! It was so awesome! (although he wasn't a big fan of the IV and when the cuff would take his blood pressure he didn't really care for that either, but not too bad) They brought in a DVD player and he watched some movies as we waited out our 2 hours. He drank some apple juice and just sat in our laps. Around 10:45 they started taking the monitors off and getting us ready to go. Caleb was a little sleepy but otherwise acting normal. We picked up 2 balloons on the way out (sissy got the pink one) and away we went.

"what is this thing?"

They gave us some Tylenol mixed with pain meds and he took that twice that night and once during the night but then switched to regular Tylenol. By the next night he was off any meds and acting like nothing happened! He was crawling around and even standing on it. I took off the outer bandage last night and the other part comes off Tuesday.
We won't get results for 4-6 weeks but the hard part is over (for now!) the results will hopefully tell us what 'kind' of Mito he has. Meaning where the breakdown in the mitochondria is exactly. Sometimes they can taylor the vitamins or diet to help out if they can find that.
We were supposed to start the vitamins after the surgery, but we went to Scottish Rite on Monday and we are going to do 1 more round of blood and urine and Caleb has to be fasting and off the vitamins. Sooo, next Monday we are taking him in for those two things and then that afternoon we can start them.

Playing with his balloon on the way home

How it looks now

Overall the whole thing was super easy. (not fun but easy) Thank you to everyone who was praying for us during the procedure and for all your texts and facebook messages. I seriously don't know how we would get through this without our faith in God and our family and friends. Thank you so much!!

Love,

My Precious Boy

2011-11-16T23:08:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on Caleb. He is doing better and better every day! He is keeping down his food and has also continued to gain weight. (we are up past 18.5 lbs now) He has physical therapy every week and the last 2 weeks the PT has noticed him getting stronger. He is sitting better and standing more balanced as well. I didn't used to be able to carry him on my hip very well because he was so unstable, his core muscles weren't strong enough to hold him up. But now it's no problem at all.

Today was the best day yet, he actually wanted me to put him down so he could stand at the coffee table and play with his "Ra ra." (Translation- Elephant. yes I know, makes no sense! haha) Anyway, he would bend down and put it on the lower shelf of the table and then stand back up. (he needed help getting it back from the shelf but no matter) He has also been crawling more lately, and today especially. He stands at his tool bench and plays, crawls over to the garden and checks the mail, (his favorite) and tonight he was even crawling around chasing a balloon. For those that haven't seen him all of these things are such a huge improvement over where he has been the last few months. It was not all that long ago that he pretty much just sat in a chair most of the day watching TV and even that was too exhausting so he would roll out of the chair so he could just lay on the floor and watch TV.

Our appointment for his consultation for the muscle biopsy is next Monday the 21st. We are hoping to have the procedure done the beginning of December. With all of his drastic improvements lately I really want to get him started on his vitamins to see what those do for him as well. (we have to wait until after the muscle biopsy to start the vitamins as they could interfere with the results)

As far as why the improvements over the last month or so, well, God is really the only answer I have. (and it's really the only answer I need!) Caleb was throwing up multiple times a week for over 4 months, and then one day he woke up and hasn't thrown up since. (that was over 2 months ago) He had declined to where he was not able to sit up and had no desire to stand or crawl. He didn't really want to eat much, and it was the same few things if he did eat.

Now let me be really vulnerable here, I have read that with this disease there can be times where they get better and times when they get worse. I'm standing in faith that he will not get worse but only continue to get better. But sometimes I am scared to hope that he will continue to improve. I am scared to tell people that he is doing so well because what if tomorrow he isn't? It's in those moments that I stop myself and I praise God for today. I thank God that today my son is feeling so good and is physically stronger than he was yesterday. I thank God for his charming personality and adorable little face. His smile brightens up the room and you can't help but smile back. He is such an amazing little kid and I have such hope for him.

Please continue the prayers, they are working!! :) Thank you all for your love and support as we walk through the trials of this life.

Love,

One day at a time

2011-10-31T22:53:00.001-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks Caleb has been making some great progress! He has been gaining weight (a big deal seeing as he hadn't gained any weight for about 4 months) he put on half a pound in the last 10 days!! He is over 18 pounds now. (18 months old) he has put on 3 pounds in just the last 2 1/2 months! The Dr was very serious about him gaining weight and told us he has to be eating or he would have to have a feeding tube. Caleb is still finicky sometimes, but he is eating way more than he used to and not throwing up, like at all! He has only thrown up twice in the last 2 months and it was not near like the crazy episodes he had for so many months. We are so amazingly thankful!!
Tonight he was also sitting better than he has in a long, long time! He was even using his hands while he was sitting and didn't need them for support. So great!
I don't think it's any coincidence that everything seemed to really start going uphill very quickly after he was prayed for by family, church, and friends. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our precious little guy. We have heard from lots of different people that "God's got this." How that plays out we are not sure but we know that we are not alone, and God has a plan and purpose.
So we will keep believing for miracles in our little boy's body, and celebrating the improvements we can see.

Love,
Jessica

A Hard Day

2011-10-28T17:15:00.001-05:00

Opening a care package from Gateway Riding his Harley

A "few" weeks ago :)

Thank you to everyone who commented and who have expressed their love and prayers. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends to support us on this journey. I know some of you have looked up Mito and Leigh's Syndrome. If you found any of the things that we did they were anything but promising. Most of the kids have lots of tubes coming out of their body, some have full time nurses, most don't leave the house, and some sites say patients only have months to a year to live. However, that is not the case with our Sweet Caleb. (and I'm believing that will never be the case!) We still don't know so many things, but I do know that today Caleb doesn't have any tubes, we haven't been worried about whether he will wake up tomorrow, and so many things that parents of kids with Leigh's worry about.

But that doesn't mean we don't have our own struggles. Today was a rough day for me. Caleb has actually had a pretty good day,and a really good week. (besides having a little cold, however it has only been a small cough so we are thankful for that) He has had an appetite and has been motivated to play. A few weeks ago he just sat in his chair and watched TV and then when that got to be too much he would lay on the floor and watch TV. Someone asked me if the Mito makes him tired all the time or if he sleeps a lot. He isn't necessarily sleepy all the time, more just physically worn out. Even if he hasn't done anything. His cells don't make the energy needed to function properly and so far that is most evident in his muscles. He doesn't walk and at this point is a long way from walking. That is not really something we are even that concerned about at this point.

Anyway, I was playing with the kids on the floor and I started thinking about 8 weeks ago and what Caleb's energy level looked like. He was pulling up more and crawling around more. Then he was rolling a truck around but had to lay down to do it, he just didn't have the energy to sit up. It makes me sad for my little boy that he can't do the things that other 18 month olds can do. He can't stand up and look through a toy chest without getting tired and sitting down. He can't sit up straight and play with his toys. He can't run around outside like he wants to so bad. He can't ride his tricycle around and chase his sister.

I try to take each day for what it is and enjoy it with my precious gifts, but some days are just harder than others.

A Partial Diagnosis for Caleb

2011-10-21T18:34:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting/procrastinating on writing this post. I want to keep everyone in the loop but am struggling with how to put it all in words.

Caleb had his MRI a little over 3 weeks ago. I got a call from the neurologist the next week with the results. He said there were little parts of Caleb's brain that had died and this information coupled with some of the blood work confirmed that he has a Mitochondrial Disease. (Mito for short) The Dr had already contacted a specialist at Children's Medical Center and had an appointment set up for the next week if we could make it.

So this past Friday we went to see Dr. Pascual. The following is an email I sent out to some people later that night.

Well we had Caleb's appointment this morning. The Dr was amazing, one of the leading physicians in the country if not the world for Mitochodrial Disorders. He had done his homework and knew all about Caleb and his history without us telling him anything.

He diagnosed him with Leigh's Syndrome. (feel free to google it if you would like more info. The UMDF website is a good place to start) The Syndrome explains Caleb's issues over the last months, the eyes, feet, vomiting, weak muscle tone, low energy, not walking. The Mito is the cause of the syndrome. (different Mito diseases manifest in different ways) There are at least 20 Mito disorders that cause Leigh's, so the next step is Caleb will have a muscle biopsy in a few weeks and they will try and find the specific genetic mutation.

The disease is inherited so the Dr basically told us not to have any more kids and to take measures to be sure. (Allison is out of the water, she would have symptoms by now. Jordyn could have it, but we have to wait until she has symptoms to test her. We are not concerned at this point) anyway, I don't know that I was ready to be done having kids. (Jason was done but I figured if I give him a year or two he might change his mind) So while the thought had crossed my mind the finality of the Drs statement was hard to hear.

We really have to wait for the muscle biopsy results to know anything more. As a whole Mito diseases are not curable. It is considered a Rare Disease and there are still many unknowns. The method of "treatment" is HEAVY vitamins. He gave us 4 prescriptions for vitamins today (vitamin C, B-1, coQ10, and L-carnitine) but we can't start them until after the muscle biopsy. There is a chance they won't be able to find the specific mutation, IF they do, then they can tailor the vitamins more. Everything is a little overwhelming still.

He said it does shorten his life and at this point can't predict how it will continue to affect Caleb. (get better, stay the same, or get worse) Caleb had a really hard day today, didn't eat much, threw up, really low energy, so that made it really hard too. We are trying to work through the emotions still.

We trust God and believe He is big enough to heal our precious boy. And yet seeing him like he is hurts us. Anyway, prayers are welcomed.

Since Friday we have gone through lots of emotions and tried to begin to process what this means. Thankfully Caleb has had a MUCH better week and that has made it easier. To tell you the truth my days are too busy to think too much about it. Trying to figure out how to carry Caleb and Jordyn down the stairs at the same time keeps my hands full. (literally!) Jordyn has been a wonderful baby and sleeps most of the day and I'm so grateful!

We have been so blessed with friends and family who are praying and comforting us. I hope to be able to post a little more frequently, If not about updates then just a place to process through some things. Comments are always welcome and please feel free to add Caleb to any prayer lists or groups you have.

Overwhelmed

2011-09-10T23:54:00.000-05:00

(not that I have ever even watched an episode of southpark but I thought this was funny!)

My experience as of late (like the last year or so) is in trying new things it's so easy to get overwhelmed. The two big things that have tackled me are trying to be more "crunchy" (aka green) and Food Storage/gardening/composting/rain barrels/diversifying investments/getting ready for "what if." A few months ago I posted HERE that I had to give up cloth diapering Caleb and what a pride issue I had connected with it all. Well I am happy to report that Caleb has been back in cloth diapers for a while now (except at night, the wet on his skin for so long was the issue and I figured 1 sposie a day was a good compromise) and I've tried to stay very humble about it all. :)

But back to the overwhelmed issue. I have found that when trying to research and read and do what I think/can afford that is best for my family, it's so easy to get lost in the millions of things people say you HAVE to do. For me, midwives and birth center/home births have always been normal. My mom had both myself and my brother at a birth center with a midwife. So that wasn't a crazy jump for us. (but little did I know the whole world that would throw us in to!!) Next was cloth diapers. Again, my mom did it and knowing that you don't have to use pins anymore I was willing to give it a whirl. So when I was pregnant with Allison I started looking into all the different kinds of cloth diapers that are out there now days. HOLY COW!! I very quickly became buried in a sea of information and quickly gave up. I didn't touch the idea for a few months but after a few conversations with some friends decided to gently broach the subject again. I tried to take it in more manageable chunks and did finally make some decisions and cloth diapered Allison all the way until potty training.

Over the past 3 years I have tried to educate myself and make small changes for our family. A few things; trying to convert our cleaning products to things with less chemicals, trying to line dry my diapers when it is nice out, giving the kids vitamins on a regular basis, better baby carriers, digestive enzymes vs. antacids, amber teething necklaces, vaccines-or the lack of them, discovering the amazing Eden Salve, and Colloidal silver (I wrote more about that HERE). But a little over a month ago I wanted to try this "no-poo" thing I heard about and I also wanted to switch to a deodorant that wouldn't give me cancer. (and if you don't believe in that theory I was going for more natural too) So HERE was my initial trial reasons and information. I gave the no-poo method a month but after that I was done. I even tried a scrub to get the extra oil out but it still wasn't anywhere near what I liked to touch and fix on a regular basis so I went back. One of my initial reasons for even trying it was there was no cost to start, and no risk involved. If I didn't like it I could go back at any time. So I did! Currently I only wash my hair about twice a week. It really could probably go even a little longer, but I'm ok with twice. I like the way it feels, and yes even smells. I haven't jumped on the "Make your own shampoo and conditioner kick" yet, but maybe in the future.

I'm still using the homemade deodorant but it did give Jason a rash so he had to go back. :( So my original statement was about being overwhelmed. Sometimes it is hard deciding where to start, or deciding to only take one small baby step and not "bite off more than you can chew." There are so many things out there to change/try that it can be very intimidating!! So little by little I try new things and try to remember that I'm not signing my life away each time I make a change. If it doesn't work for us, I can go back. (which doesn't happen often but giving myself permission to go back is huge!) So if you want to start a garden, start one! It may be small and you might not do it again next year, but give it a whirl! (that's what we did, I did a little research and we just did it. I looked at it like a science experiment and it was a blast! We are even going to plant a fall garden!)

So what's one natural thing you have been wanting to try? I'd love to hear from any of you that might stumble upon this humble (sometimes) ole blog of mine. Community is such a powerful and necessary thing and can be a valuable tool! My next venture is worm bin composting!! I'm so excited and I'll share more as we get into it! (HERE is a link if you just can't wait!)

Love,

Oh, and if any of you are curious about my comment; Food Storage/gardening/composting/rain barrels/diversifying investments/getting ready for "what if." I'll deal with that in another upcoming post :)

Caleb update- they actually found something!!

2011-09-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

Ok, so Caleb had his neurology appointment almost 2 weeks ago. The doctors couldn't tell from the examination what he has so they took blood. Well Hallelujah something finally showed up in the blood work!! (this is his third time to have blood taken and everything has come back negative so far) Anywho, so the nurse called me this week to tell me the results. (by the way I'm pretty sure God has us on the fast track because EVERYTHING has been quicker than they told us. The blood was supposed to take 3-5 weeks to come back, they had to send it out, but it was 1 1/2 weeks! The same for us getting in to Scottish Rite, getting Physical Therapy set up, and getting into Neurology as well) She said his pyruvic and lactic acid levels were high in his blood. Everything else came back normal, muscle enzymes, liver enzymes, and I think the Chromosome panel too. She couldn't tell me what that meant (the 2 that were high) but did say the Doctor wants an MRI and more blood work. So in two weeks we go back in and they are going to do an MRI, more blood work, and a urine sample all while Caleb is under sedation. Of course I'm not thrilled about the sedation, but I do like that he won't know they are sticking ANOTHER needle in him. Poor guy has had enough needles stuck in him to make up for the lack of vaccines!! (haha)

From what I can find out the high levels are pointing to a Metabolic Disease/disorder of some sort. When the Doctor came in and was talking about the possibilites at our last visit he would mention something and I would say, "Oh yes" or something approving. He would ask if I had heard of that, or knew of a test he was talking about and I didn't know any specifics, but it was just ringing true with what we think is going on. We have thought all along that it wasn't just a bunch of separate issues, but they are all connected in some way. From previous doctors, and the therapist his fat reserves are good it's his low muscle tone that is preventing him from doing the "normal" things for his age. (the eye issues, the foot issues, not being able to sit up straight, becoming fatigued and laying down)

So that's the first thing we have coming up (Sept. 28th), and then we got confirmation for an appointment on October 12th where they are going to do some nerve conductivity tests. He has to be put out again for this test, sigh, but this one shouldn't last as long. I'm not sure it's possible they might not do this test if the MRI comes up with something. At this point I'm grateful that they have a clue which road to go down. (the neurologist said at some point we may end up at a muscle specialist where they would take a muscle biopsy, but I think with what they found from his blood that may not be the case anymore, time will tell)

Keep the prayers coming. Oh, and my due date is less than a week away! AGH! Jason asked how I'm going to make it to the appt. on the 28th (especially if this baby comes after the projected arrival) and I said, Um it's Scottish Rite, they have wheelchairs!! :) And the baby will give me something to do while my precious Bubba is in the procedure. I'll let you know how it all goes!

Love,

Caleb gets his feet tomorrow!!

2011-08-21T12:46:00.000-05:00

These last two weeks Caleb has been growing and changing so much! I don't have an exact answer as to why, if God is healing him, if his muscles are getting stronger as they are supposed to, if switching formulas helped. Whatever the reason I praise God because it is progress, and we haven't seen much of that for the last 3 or 4 months. Here's the low down....

Caleb has turned a huge corner in both his eating and throwing up. He hasn't thrown up hardly at all these last two weeks. When he did this week it was because he gagged (still a little sensitive with the gagging) but as soon as he was done throwing up, he wanted more to eat. And he ate a lot! That has never happened. Then with the eating, um who is this kid? Caleb used to eat a rotation of about 5-10 things, and that was it! All of a sudden he is eating things that we eat!! And trying new things! I'm so excited! Eating used to be such a frustration for me with Caleb, I hated giving him the same things over and over, and half the time he would decide he didn't want one of those things on that particular day anyway. (even though I knew he loved it most every other day) Last night he ate ribs and corn on the cob! He has decided he likes scrambled eggs, he likes Pickles, which means he likes ketchup, chicken nuggets, and even noodle and meat dishes!! It's been such a crazy change I'm almost giddy. We still don't do too well with anything potato (french fries, tator tots) but I'm ok with that.

Tomorrow is the day we go to pick up Caleb's orthotics from Scottish Rite. I'm really excited about that too. I'm not expecting major changes right away (although I wouldn't complain if he was walking by the end of the week!! haha) but then the Therapist comes on Wednesday to do the initial assessment and get things going. I'm so excited she will be here right after we get them to help him transition into them. Divine timing if you ask me!!

In case you are wondering, they will be very low profile orthotics. They come up just above his ankles and that is it. I really don't think most people will even see them unless they know to look for them. His bone structure is good and they didn't want to mess with his legs or knees. Who knows, maybe it will be like the eye patch and after a few days we will see HUGE improvements! Which by the way we patched him faithfully for about a month and then stopped doing it as often and haven't seen his eyes loose control in over a month! (did that make sense?) Anyway, we are so thankful that God is faithful (which also happens to be the meaning of Caleb, not a coincidence) and he has His hand on our precious little boy. Thank you all for your support as we go through all of this!!

Love,

Caleb Update

2011-08-17T15:18:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to update everyone on what's going on with Caleb. Thank you so much to everyone who asks and tells us they are praying for him. We still don't have many answers but progress is being made.

This coming Monday (the 22nd) we go back to Scottish Rite to pick up Caleb's orthotics. Then that Wednesday (24th) ECI, (Early Childhood Intervention) is coming by the house to do their evaluation and set up physical therapy. They will come to the house to do therapy and they will decide how often he needs it. I'm very excited that he will have his orthotics and they will help us build Caleb's muscles. His leg and arm muscles seem to be pretty good but it's his core that is really weak. I'm so happy they will be coming to the house, with Squirt due in about 4 weeks that will be such a blessing! I'm don't have any expectations as far as how soon Caleb will be able to walk, but I'm hoping it is soon!

The last big thing is we have an appointment with the Scottish Rite neurology department. It will be Tuesday August 30th. (soon!) I'm very hopeful that they will be able to give us some answers, or if not then be able to tell us for sure that there is no major problem just developmental delays. The Pediatric gastroenterologist did call back and say the upper GI came back normal. His next step would be to do things that the Neurologist will do so he wants to wait for those results. (thankful for that!) So I have no idea what the appointment on the 30th will look like and what tests they will be able to run but again, praying for answers and peace.

Jason and Caleb at Scottish Rite Caleb waiting for the Barium to reach his colon

On a fun note Caleb's vocabulary has exploded over these past few weeks. He talks A LOT! While many of the words are only understandable to me and Jason he is communicating so well! He is so expressive and loves connecting with people. He loves going to the store and flirting with anyone who will look his direction. He is so sweet!!

Again thank you all for your prayers and support. I know God has a plan and purpose for our little Squirt who will be joining us soon. Honestly with things with Caleb, we haven't done "lots" of preparing. (so glad this is the 3rd time around and we sorta have an idea what's coming :] ) So prayers for God's timing and a peaceful transition would be greatly appreciated as well.

Love,

Eating a sucker trying to help the barium move down, he loved it! (his first)

What does clean smell like?

2011-08-07T23:19:00.000-05:00

I initially just wanted to write about my "no poo" journey and homemade deodorant, but then that got me thinking, what does clean smell like? When I first started researching "no poo" I read a few places about your hair smelling like hair. Hmm, what does hair actually smell like I wondered? My hair has always smelled like whatever shampoo and conditioner I used. Now my reasons for trying this whole "no poo" thing are more of just trying something different than anything, that and this is cheaper and faster. But I guess if I'm honest I do like taking little steps toward eliminating chemicals from my family's day to day life.

I think it started back when we decided to cloth diaper Allison. Trying to do our part in not filling the landfills, not putting the chemical filled disposables on her, and knowing that we were planning on more kids the economical side was a big pull too. After that, I guess we got sucked in! (haha, just kidding) But in using a midwife and starting to talk to people in those circles you have the opportunity to see a whole new world. (are you picturing yourself on a magic carpet ride? I am. Love that movie) Our Chiropractor was a huge catalyst (shout out!!) in helping us to change our way of thinking and eventually many of our methods.

But back to the point. What does clean smell like? When I started to look at cloth diapers and how to wash them one of the biggest things you read is how you want your detergent to be "free and clear." No dyes, no perfumes, no additives. I remember washing some diapers and smelling them. They didn't smell like anything, and I had read that if they don't stink, then that's good. Weird. I mean clean has to smell like something right? Just watch a Pine Sol commercial right?

So over the last few years I have started to try and be more natural in my cleaning methods, vinegar is starting to become my clean smell, and in our medications. The way I see it, when God created the earth, at some point, maybe after the fall of Adam and Eve, he created things in the earth to help us. I mean back in the Bible days I'm pretty sure they didn't have all the drugs and anti biotics we do now. But I think there were things all over in nature that produced the same if not better results. And I'm guessing if they worked back then, they probably still work now. i.e. Baltic Amber (you may have seen Caleb sporting his super cool necklace, there is actually a reason he wears it, you can read more HERE) Colloidal Silver, (see THIS previous post), garlic, and a bazillion other things.

And back to the point again, (geez even my blog is ADD, I guess since I'm writing it that makes sense) What does clean smell like? I've heard for a long time that deodorants and anti-perspirants have aluminum in them and being that it is applied every day it really is bad for you. (more reading HERE) So I decided to try a home-made deodorant that I have heard from many works really well. I tried it today for the first time but I'm really interested in what my husband thinks. (him being the stinky one and all :] ) It's hard to find a deodorant now days that doesn't have some sort of scent. Even the "fresh" scent has a perfume-y smell to it. You can't hardly find unscented. Hair products are the same thing, they are all scented. Now don't get me wrong, not all scents are bad. There are many essential oils and natural products that have scents that can be pleasant and not harmful. But let me get to the point (it's about time right?) in today's society we think clean needs to smell like something. Could it be that clean doesn't have a smell? I'm beginning to believe that just might be the case. Clean is so refreshing and......not smelling. After the clean you can always do things to smell pretty, or like I said some smells are fine, but what is producing that smell? Is it a natural ingredient or is it some chemical that is artificially produced to re-create a scent?

I've also started to realize that if you make your own stuff (cleaning products, natural remedies, etc) it really can be much cheaper than the "normal" store products. I know you can buy natural products at the stores and they tend to be more expensive than the "normal" products. But if my hair regimen continues I'm approximating I'll spend about $15 on hair products a year. That's right, a year. A box of baking soda and apple cider vinegar is all I use and only a tablespoon or so at a time once a week or so. (and that might go down depending on how my hair oils continues to adjust over the next few weeks) I'm currently going on 3 weeks not using traditional shampoo or conditioner and it's going great. (now to be honest one of the reasons I chose to do this is that I knew I could go back at any point and I already had the ingredients to get started) But it's going great and I don't have any plans at this point to go back. Want to join me?

oh and if you are curious about making your own deodorant I used THIS recipe.

Caleb's Scottish Rite Initial Visit

2011-08-02T16:28:00.000-05:00

Today was the beginning of our Scottish Rite journey and we think it went really well. We started off in the orthopedic department since that is where the issue initially presented itself. One Dr. came in and did an initial evaluation talking to us and looking him over. His initial eval said about what we thought; his bones all seem fine, it looks like the muscles are just weak.
So then the Orthopedic Surgeon came in and we talked with him. He wanted to do x-rays just to be sure but was pretty confident everything would be normal. We told him about our other concerns, his eye, the throwing up, the muscle weakness overall, and he agreed that neurology might be able to give us some answers. (last night as I was looking around on the website I found out they had a neurology division, didn't know that!) He kept saying there might be a reason for his overall "loosey goosiness" (his words) But he said he wanted to go ahead and fit him for some orthotics to give him some support. A therapist came in next to evaluate him. She agreed about the orthotics and also wanted to get him going with some physical therapy through ECI. (Early Childhood Intervention) She said she thinks if we focus on his core muscles the other stuff might get stronger in the process. (exactly what our Chiropractor said) They come to the house to work with him, how much is determined by the initial evaluation.

Then we headed off to x-ray. That went pretty well, although I wasn't allowed in the room since I'm pregnant. (the guy was funny, there is a sign on the door that says if you are pregnant to tell the tech. I said, "You can tell I'm pregnant right?" He laughed and said yes but it's always kinda weird getting that out of the way with an obviously pregnant women. funny.) Anyway, after that we headed over to Family Services (like Social Services) to drop off the paperwork to get started with the physical therapy.

Our last stop was back down to Orthotics to get him fitted. They made little casts of his feet and then cut them off. He did really well during that but watched everything. We picked out camo to go on his orthotic, although most of it will be inside a shoe but it's more fun than white. That Dr. said he won't need "special" shoes, but they might need to be wider than what you normally find. He said they have shoes if the ones we have don't work. It will take a few weeks for them to make the braces, so we go back in about 3 weeks to get those.

They passed all our info on to Neurology and they are supposed to call us within a couple of weeks to set up that appointment. Hopefully that will go quick since Squirt is due to join us in about 6 1/2 weeks.

Caleb has an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist on Thursday to see if we can find a reason for his continual vomiting. We will see what happens with all that.

Overall we are happy with today's outcome, they addressed all our concerns, agreed with what we felt and what we have been told by other Dr.'s. I told Jason that sometimes I think it would be easier if they did find something "wrong," but of course that is scary too. So for now we keep on taking steps and the Dr. today said too that there might not be "a reason" for all of his symptoms, but I am hoping that IF there is the next few visits (the GI, the therapist, the Neurologist) will find it.

Thank you for all your prayers!!

A more natural way-gardening, bug bites, and for anything that ails you!

2011-07-23T00:32:00.000-05:00

Lately the Jacobs' house has been doing things a little more ~~old fashioned~~ natural. Our garden has probably been the biggest undertaking, and while I can't say it has/will feed our family for months it has been an amazing learning experience and hopefully in the future could feed us for a while. I've run into all sorts of things. Birds and spider mites really like tomatoes, and now that I know that next year I will cover my tomatoes early on in the season, and watch closely for those pesky bugs. (and not wait until they have devoured both my tomatoes and beans, grrr!) I now know that cabbage takes up a ridiculous amount of room and is probably not worth it for us. Watermelons also take up a bunch of room (seriously) but each plant produces more than one watermelon so I say that is a win. We also tried lots of different varieties of tomatoes and 2 different kinds of watermelon. Some worked better than others so we have that to go on for next year.

We also learned that you don't have to spend lots of money making the boxes or on the soil. We used Mel's mix for the first two boxes (and spent a pretty penny on the soil!) but for the third one we used some recycled wood and left over dirt and things are growing quite nicely there as well.

Most everything grows way better in April-June. Everything grew bigger in the early months, now it is so hot things are much smaller when they are ripe. What a learning time this has been!

With all that being said I have so thoroughly enjoyed watching my little plants grow and produce stuff. It's been so fun to go pick something from the garden, wash it off, and eat it. (or cook it)

We started with almost all "starter plants" this year. Not sure if we will make the switch to seeds next year or not. Honestly the plants were not all that expensive. (yes seeds are really cheap) but I think there is more room for error with seeds and for many things the growing season is so short (especially when we have 100+ temps for half of June!) they recommend plants many times. We will see what we decide for next year!

Now on to bug bites! I have always been irresistible, well for mosquitoes anyway! They LOVE me. And I HATE them! There were times when I remember scratching the bites until they bled, or "accidentally" scraping them with my razor (when they were on my legs) because I would much rather deal with a scab than the itching! I also have always had bad reactions to fire ants. Like if I got 1 bite on my foot I couldn't wear shoes for a week! They would swell, get black and blue, seriously crazy stuff. But I have found something that works REALLY well on any kind of bite and seems to speed the healing process. It's call Eden Salve and you can only buy it at The Bulk Herb Store. Here is what they have to say about it:
Why It Works:
We formulated this salve using an effective blend of herbs and natural ingredients to numb pain, as well as heal and soothe. It acts as an astringent to draw out infection and poisonous bites. It is an antiseptic and fights bacteria. When you and your family needs it, Nature’s Healing Touch is here for you!

I have a bad habit of tending to my garden at dusk, you know when all the bugs are out? I have put this stuff on all my bites and they are gone by the next day. Benedryl cream NEVER did that for me! If you read the comments on the website people have also used it for sunburn, cuts, and even Brown Recluse Spider bites!! This is some good stuff!! HIGHLY recommend it!!

Ok, switching gears, for anything that is wrong with your body (seriously) Colloidal Silver. I have mentioned it on my facebook a few times, but over the last 2 months we have personally used it for:
-An Ear infection
-A massive sinus infection
-Warts (a crazy stubborn one on Jason's hand that he has tried EVERYTHING, even tried to cut it off!)
-Athlete's foot
I'm telling you, this stuff is so crazy awesome!! And I just love that I don't have to rub/ingest chemicals, or wipe out our bodies good bacteria in order to kill the bad! It's safe for Caleb to take and it taste's like water. (You can also use it to clean with since it has both anti bacterial and anti viral and anti fungal properties, but our budget doesn't exactly allow for that right now! So we will stick with vinegar for now) We buy ours from our Chiropractor, but most any natural place sells it. If you have heard bad things about it you can read HERE. One thing to note- you really only need 10ppm (parts per million) less is more with this stuff.

And one more natural remedy for you women out there. If you get a yeast infection THIS has been my go to. It has worked better than other natural remedies I have tried. I also like it because you can do it during the day where as over the counter remedies you have to wait until night time. (laying down)

I also have a short update on Caleb, but since it is into the wee hours of the morning that will have to wait!

Caleb's Eyes

2011-07-04T17:07:00.000-05:00

We had our appointment a few days ago and things went really well. The first nurse came in and tried to make his eye "do it's thing" but couldn't. She tried all sorts of things. I described what was going on to her and she just had to take my word for it because his eye worked perfectly. Then they came in and dialated his eyes so they could see if he needed glasses. (many times being far-sighted causes the wandering eye) He was not a big fan of the eye drops, in fact it was almost as crazy as getting his blood taken. (although thankfully not as long) We went out to the waiting room to wait for his eyes to dialate and then they called us back again.

The doctor came in this time and tried again to see the problem. He was able to see in his eyes and determine that he does NOT need glasses. (YEA!) But again his eyes did not want to "cooperate" and they never got to see what we see at home. So they said that his eyes are pretty strong (they see lots of cases that are far worse) and we should patch it 1-2 hours a day. The patch goes on his strong eye (the left eye) to help the weak one get stronger. They gave us a few patches, we made an appointment for 2 months later, and we were on our way! We were only there a little over an hour.

They put a patch on him before we left and he did great! It's a disposable patch, like a sticker almost, and we use a new one everyday. He messed with it just a little at first, but then forgot about it. It's been pretty much like that everyday, he touches it a few times, then leaves it alone for the rest of the time that it is on.

We can already tell a difference, his eye doesn't loose control as much as it used to, and he seems to be able to get control back quicker. We are very thankful for the results of the appointment and the improvement of his eye.

Our next step is Scottish Rite and our appointment is August 9th at 8am. It can't come too soon. I know he wants to walk but he doesn't have the support to be able to. It makes me sad sometimes so I am very ready to get him some help!

A short update...

2011-06-23T23:14:00.000-05:00

We got the results back from Caleb's blood work and it all looked good except he has a bacterial infection. We are not sure how long he has had it, so it is possible that's why he has been getting sick. We won't know for a few weeks. In the meantime the Dr. wants me to keep a food journal to keep track of what he is eating, which I think is a great idea, but I'm believing we won't need it :)

Caleb's first opthamologist appointment is next Wednesday morning, we would love your prayers and I will let you know how that turns out. I'm ready to get these balls rolling, I think :)

We also have an official appointment at Scottish Rite! I received the acceptance letter in the mail and the appointment is set for Tuesday August 9th at 8am. I wish it was sooner, but from what I hear once you get in things move pretty quickly. We think Caleb is ready to walk he just doesn't have the proper support. He wants so bad to keep up with his big sisters!

Thank you for all the love and supportive comments, and of course the prayers.
Love,

Caleb's Chiropractor, Pediatrician, and ER visit

2011-06-19T00:17:00.000-05:00

Well this week we saw our Chiropractor and our Pediatrician. Dr. Jim Bob (the best Chiropractor ever!) said he thinks Scottish Rite is the way to go for Caleb's feet. He doesn't think the hips will need to be repaired, he things the feet are effecting the hips and once the feet are "fixed" then the hips can be adjusted into place. So hopefully the Doctors at Scottish Rite will find the same thing.

However our appointment with our Pediatrician was not so uplifting. Our actual pediatrician has not seen Caleb before. We took Allison in every couple of months for well child visits starting at 7 months until 2 years. We did a "delayed vaccine schedule" with her. At 2 years she was "caught" up except for 1 or 2 vaccines. So we brought Caleb in at 6 months for his first well child visit. Well because of the way Doctor's offices work he saw the Physician's Assistant at that appointment. When I quit teaching we had to get different insurance and we weren't sure exactly how they covered well child visits. Turns out the only thing they cover is the actual vaccine itself. So with our current budget we didn't have the money to take Caleb in every 2 months. In March Caleb and Allison caught a nasty stomach bug and I ended up taking Caleb in because he didn't seem to be getting better. (Of course on the day we took him in he miraculously recovered) Anyway, since March every few weeks he gets sick again. He can only keep down Pedialyte and maybe bananas and dry cereal. It can last from 1-3 days.

This problem has gotten a little sidelined as we look to have his feet and eyes checked out. But it has been nagging at me especially as it continues to come up again. He started throwing up again on Thursday evening...(our appt was Friday afternoon) While we were at the appointment on Friday he started dry heaving (he has never done that) and was very upset and fussy. In the past even when he was "sick" he was still his happy little self. Anyway, the pediatrician was not very calming nor consoling when she talked to us. She basically lectured us for not bringing him in, told us he could go blind, she was VERY concerned that he was so small and if we had brought him in "like we were supposed to" she could have sped up the process to get him into an eye doctor. I tried to explain to her why we hadn't been in since his 6 month and of course I got pretty emotional. I tried to do what was best for my children and I didn't need her lecturing me about how I had "failed." I saw the issues and did what I knew to do. Anyway, she ended up saying that she wanted to take some blood and test for all sorts of things. Thyroid, kidneys, I don't remember what else but that is where she wanted to start. With everything going on I didn't think to ask about something for him throwing up.

We went to a different Lab to have his blood drawn and we picked up some Pedialyte on the way. Well he ended up throwing that up too and dry heaving again. He was very lethargic and sleepy as well. Again, he has never been like that before. (I thought he was just tired at the Dr. because he was missing his nap) so at this point we tried to get a hold of the dr to get a prescription. Well they had closed 4 minutes earlier and a different doctor was on call. They don't prescribe medication after hours and his recommendation was to go to the ER. grrrrr. But at this point he was acting so out of the ordinary we did. We checked into the Medical Center at Lewisville ER. I was hoping they wouldn't have to take blood since he just had that done (they had to stick him 3 times to get it right, ARGH!) They ended up giving him some anti-nausea medication and some Tylenol (his temp was 100.8) After about 15 min. they let us give him some Pedialyte and he was able to keep it down, yea! His temp also went down and he was acting much more like himself. So they gave us a prescription and let us go. All in all I was pretty satisfied with how the whole thing went. (granted I haven't seen the bill yet, ugh) I didn't know how it would all play out otherwise I would have gotten something from the Doctor when we were there! Live and learn. So we spent a little over 5 hours in doctors offices, labs, and the ER. But he was feeling much better and that is what mattered.

So now we are supposed to find out the results from the blood test on Monday and the Pediatrician is going to call Scottish Rite and another eye dr. as well to see if he has any openings sooner than our current appointment. Part of me hopes that they find something in the blood tests, then at least we can move forward. But of course I don't want anything to be "wrong" with my little bubba. However, something is wrong, and I want it to be "fixed." One other thing is that the ER and another source recommended seeing a Pediatric gastroenterologist for the throwing up. We will see if the blood gives us any answers, and if not then it looks as though we might be making another appointment.

God please heal my little boy.

I wish it was this easy............

Prayers for Caleb

2011-06-09T20:44:00.001-05:00

Just thought I would write a post about my baby and ask you for your prayers. When Caleb was born we noticed he has very flexible hips. When we would sit him somewhere his feet would lay completely flat. [See pictures at left ] We just figured he was our little noodle boy, and loose at the joints.

Since Caleb starting crusing (right after he started crawling, at around 9 months) his feet have also rotated so he is almost walking on his ankles. We just watched for a few months to see what would happen. Kids foot bones are still being developed for the first few years of their lives so we made sure to keep him in flexible soled shoes or barefoot. Over the last month I have been thinking about taking him to see a podiatrist. So I called on Monday and made an appointment.

They had an opening for Wednesday morning so we went in. The Dr. looked at his feet and hips for about 5 minutes and she knew right away that he needed more help than she could give him. She said she thinks his hips play a part but that his left foot had "club like" qualities. [I have looked around and found a more acurate picture, Talipes Valgus, and his is a little more severe than in the picture] When he was born it wasn't like that which is another reason she thinks the hips play a part. So she is in the process of referring us to Scottish Rite Hospital here in Dallas. We were a little shocked because I was just thinking he might need special shoes or at the most braces. We are supposed to hear something by Friday about who to contact to set up an evaluation there.

So, we are still trying to wrap our brains around what all this means and how comfortable we are with it all. We are not quick to rush to the Dr. for just any reason (except our Chiropractor, love them and trust them, I'll go to them at the drop of a hat!) But we "wait and see" for most everything. So the possibility of him needing surgery was NOT the direction I was thinking. We are praying for peace and direction. I don't know how long the normal referral process is for Scottish Rite, but if that is what we are supposed to do I'm praying for a super expedited timeline, and if it isn't, then things will get clogged in the works as we look at other possibilities. (we are going to see Dr. Jim Bob,our chiropractor, see link above) next week to get his opinion of the situation. We would so appreciate any prayers for us as we navigate these uncharted (for us) waters.

And since we are on the subject of Caleb and Dr's and prayer there is another issue that we are getting checked out next month. Since about 9 months one of Caleb's eyes occasionally turns in. Usually when he is tired, concentrating, or watching things come into his mouth. At first I just watched it but after a few months it would seem to get stuck and he couldn't fix it. It still only happens when he is tired or watching things come into his mouth, but after researching on the internet (good old Google!) my "Professional" opinion is he has what's called Strabismus. The muscles in his one eye lose their ability to control the eye, which in his case make his other eye turn in slightly as he tries to focus.

At first we tried to get him to focus on something farther away and he seemed to correct it. Now if we cover the good eye he seems to be able to correct the "bad" one. So again, from what I have read and heard from a few people is that he might only need an eye patch for a while. (you'd better believe I'm going to pirate out everything he owns!) However, after my incorrect diagnosis of Caleb's feet I am trying to just wait and see what the Dr. says. Our appt. is on July 7th (it was a 6 week wait to get in!)

This is the first time we have dealt with any real medical "problems." We truly believe that God is still a healer and nothing is impossible for Him. Again, if that is the path he has for us we have faith and will walk in that. Will you believe and pray for the same? What an amazing testimony it would be. And if he chooses to use Dr.'s to fix these issues we will believe for complete healing for Caleb as well. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Homemade Strawberry Freezer Jam

2011-05-25T14:53:00.003-05:00

Ok people, you HAVE to make this!! It's rediculously easy and SOOOOO good. You might never buy store bought Jam again! (seriously!!) The directions are straight from the box and I got a little "foodie" today with my non-foodie self so bear with me :)

Ingredients:
1 box of Fruit Pectin
3 1/4 cups(3-4 pints) of crushed Strawberries
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
4 1/2 cups Sugar
1 cup Light Corn Syrup

Now, I have always used the "Sure-Jell" Pectin (on the left) and it usually works out fine. I have tried the low sugar kind and the liquid pectin, neither of which I recommend. However this last time I bought the MCP (whatever the heck that means, but it is made by sure jell) and I fell in love with it! It's what I'm going to stick with. Usually with freezer jams you have to cook the pectin powder with water for a few minutes. Not a huge deal, but I loved not having to use my stove AT ALL! And sometimes my Jam didn't set correctly but I didn't have any problems with the MCP. Onward and upward.....

Cut up the strawberries and mash them with a masher.(the metal curvy masher doesn't work as well as the plastic ones with holes in them. I found a great one at Wal mart this year that has a few "sharp" edges on the bottom) I don't use a food processor, a few years ago I tried it and my jam didn't set up as nice. I usually get my hubby to help mash while he is watching TV :) I mash them in a big bowl and pour them into the measuring cup.

Then pour the berries back into your big bowl and add the lemon juice. The directions say fresh but I used the bottled stuff and it was just fine.Then gradually stir 1 box of pectin into the fruit. Mix thoroughly and stir every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. Pour 1 cup of light corn syrup into the fruit mixture and stir well.

Then gradually stir the sugar into the mixture until it is completely dissolved. (a few minutes)
Now pour into your prepared containers leaving space at the top for expansion.

I have been using the plastic Jam containers that you buy right beside the glass ones at the store. The lid screws on, they stack great, they come in 2 sizes and they don't break! I love them (and they are cheap)

Let the jars stand at room temperature for 24 hours to set then put them in the freezer (or fridge to use right away!) They can stay in the freezer for up to 1 year, (longer but that's what the paper says) but they probably won't last that long! I love to give mine away and of course we eat it all year long. It's soooo scrumptious!!

Here is 2 batches worth

Ok, well that's all I have for today. If you don't believe me that this is the best Jam you have ever had, I'll give you one of mine to try and I promise you will be convinced!!
~~[this offer is for a limited time only and will end when my "extra" supply runs out~~] It has run out :)

Check out lots of other canning recipes HERE

Some good Tex-Mex

2011-05-17T20:34:00.000-05:00

I've said it before, but I really like food. I like to cook, but I don't like that I HAVE to cook. But such is this season of life and I'm thankful for it. I LOVE Mexican food. (some would say Tex-Mex but whatever) Living in Texas there are good Tex-Mex restaurants all over. Pretty much any place that has salsa and queso is a winner in my book. (I personally thing that Costa Vida has the best Queso out there right now, oh I love queso) Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I thought I would share a few super easy recipes that I use pretty often.

The first is my Fake Homemade Salsa. Although I do enjoy some good ol' medium Pace picante salsa and especially if it is mixed with sour cream. Oh yum. I love Mexican food.

Ok, anyway, sometimes I want a little more flavor than what the jar stuff provides. So if you own a food processor and a can opener you can make a dang good "homemade salsa." Here is what you need

Ingredients:

1 can of Rotel (I have fallen in love with the Great Value Fire Roasted kind but the regular stuff is great too)

Cilantro

Red Onion

Lime Juice

Garlic

I only use 1/4-1/2 of the onion, and I just cut it into fourths. The food processor does a good job chopping it up. Put in some cilantro, maybe 1/4-1/2 the bunch. I use my garlic press and put in about 2 cloves. Squeeze in a few teaspoons of lime juice and pour in the rotel. (undrained) Hold down the chop or grind button until it is the consistency you like. It's normal to have a chunk or two of onion or a long string of cilantro, so I just pick that out and toss it. And that's it!

(Disclaimer-I realize if I was a real food blogger or a photographer I would have pretty pictures to go along with these instructions, but alas I am not. With that being said I did take some pictures of some posts I am planning on doing, so just think of it as a bonus if it happens I guess :] )

I use this Salsa in my Mexican Casserole and Enchiladas. I'll also share my super easy Mexican Casserole with you. This is a favorite of ours.

Mexican Casserole

1 lb of ground meat (we use turkey)

1 can of Refried Beans

Sour Cream

Salsa

Shredded Cheese

Pre-heat oven to 350. Brown the meat. If using Turkey, season heavily before it cooks. I usually use taco seasoning. After it is cooked add the beans and let them warm up. Stir them together. Put this in the bottom layer of your dish. (I use a big Pyrex bowl, a 9x9 pan would work ok too) I then put a layer of sour cream. Then I put a layer of the salsa. (If I don't make the homemade salsa I just use a strained can of Rotel) Then I top with shredded cheddar cheese. (you can use whatever cheese you want) Put it in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Then serve with chips or just use a fork.

Optional: sometimes I have added a can of corn and black beans for a bit more, but usually not.

I'll leave you with one more, Chicken and Quinoa wraps. I posted this on Facebook yesterday, but here it is again.

Ingredients-

3 chicken breasts (or 1.5 lbs of ground turkey or beef)

1 can of corn

1 can of black beans

1 can of red/kidney beans

1 can of rotel (great value has a fire roasted one I have fallen in love with!)

1 cup of un cooked quinoa

red onion

cilantro

cheese

tortillas

Cook the meat. I put taco seasoning on the chicken and cooked them in a pan, baking would work fine too. Or brown the turkey (make sure you season it while it's cooking, that's my secret for turkey)

Cook the quinoa-I used 2 cups of chicken broth but water works fine too. There is so much other flavor going on you don't really need more than water.

If using chicken chop it up somehow, a food processor works fine. Open all the cans, drain them and dump them in a BIG pan/pot. Add the meat, cooked quinoa, chopped cilantro, and chopped onion. (I left the onion raw but you can cook it with the meat if you like a milder flavor) Get everything nice and warm and serve it up!

This seriously makes enough for about 15 people. I used BIG burrito tortillas, put some cheese in it, then heaped on the mixture. Wrapped it up and ate every bit. You can also wrap them in foil and it makes a great "on the go" meal. I put some in the fridge for leftovers, and some in the freezer for later.

Well I think that's it for tonight, enjoy!

Trusting in your motherly instinct aka- The Holy Spirit

2011-05-13T18:13:00.000-05:00

My Munchkins

I have had two conversations this week about trusting yourself and what you think as a mother. The first was with a bunch of other moms, some new and some who have had children for years. It is my personal belief that "society" today tells mothers that they shouldn't trust their instinct but listen to charts, Doctors, or statistics. I made the comment that with both kids I have made decisions in both directions and learned lessons from both and that no one can prepare you for the things you learn. Here's what I mean:

-Allison, my first born did not like to sleep on her back. She always worked out of the swaddles that we made, she liked her hands out, but she would only sleep in short spurts on her back. After talking with my mom and Chiropractor/Midwife, we decided that she had good enough head control to not suffocate herself and just a few years ago you could prevent SIDS by putting them on their stomach. (they still don't know what causes it!) Now it's their back, and everything you read tells you that your child could die if you lay them on their stomach. So I took the "huge risk" and put her on her stomach. All of a sudden at 2 and 3 weeks she was sleeping 4 and 5 hours at a time instead of 2 or 3. Um, makes sense to me! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to do something that might be harmful for my baby just to get some extra shut eye, not what I'm saying at all. But this is one of those things that the more mothers I talk to, the more I find that they let their baby sleep on their too! And we all smile and talk about how our kids are still alive. (and with no flat head, an added bonus!)

However on the other hand....
-Caleb my second, was born at almost 8 lbs. I didn't take him in to the Dr. until he was 6 months old. (there were a few reasons for this, one being our insurance changed and doesn't cover well child visits anymore and with me staying home we did not see this as a necessary medical expense for our mostly Well children. That being said I do love our Pediatrician! She supports whatever we want to do for vaccinations, she usually prescribes some type of homeopathic remedy for whatever is ailing the kids if we do have to go in, and she doesn't rush to the worst case scenario) Anyway, at 6 months he was in the 50% for head size but less than 5% for both height and weight. The Dr. asked me all the questions about feeding, sleeping, and development and they were all just fine. He was still on breast milk at this point and we had JUST introduced a few solid foods that month. I was in no rush to feed him solids and he didn't seem that interested. He wasn't showing many of the signs, so I waited. But then according to the charts, he is small. It was at that point I started worrying and questioning my choices. On one hand I KNEW that he was being fed enough. He wasn't mal-nourished, he wasn't crying because he was hungry, he was a happy baby. But what if??? And the questions kept coming. I started supplementing with formula in case he wasn't getting enough calories from my breast milk. Which eventually led me to stop breastfeeding all together and go completely to formula. And do you want to know what?? He didn't gain ANY more weight! Nope. He is still (at 12 months) at the very bottom of the charts. (if he is on them at all!) Well, he has gained weight, but no faster than he would have if I had kept breastfeeding him. At the time I kept saying I didn't want to be selfish just because I wanted to keep breastfeeding him, if formula was best, then that's what I needed to do. But today as I was discussing the situation I said,

"I didn't trust myself enough to keep going with what I knew."

Wow. What a statement. As I thought about it more this afternoon more thoughts about it kept coming. I think another lesson that every mother learns is to listen to that little voice that says, "go check on the kids" or "go check his diaper even though he is in bed" or one of another hundred other things. There have been times where I have listened and times where I haven't. But I am trying to trust that voice more and more. And here is where the problem lays, It's not my voice or prompting at all! It's not that I didn't trust myself, it's that I didn't truly ask God and listen to his guidance. Doh! What a pill to swallow.

I've also heard lot of mothers lament over the fact that they had to stop breastfeeding, or never had a chance, and they beat them self up about it, even years later. But the truth of the matter is that if we have a word from God about something, then it's not about us. [side note- I don't pretend to know every one's situation and don't want to offend anyone by making a blanket statement about any mothering issue] With that being said, if God releases you or encourages you in whatever you are asking about, there isn't really anything that anyone can say if you truly believe God. Take Heart!

When God told me that Caleb would be a big brother despite the bleeding I was having, it didn't matter what anyone said, (including the devil) that could sway me from that word. And yet I struggled with fear and belief. But I continued to go back to that promise. [another side note- at our sonogram this past Wednesday they saw a Hematoma on the screen that was the cause of the bleeding earlier in my pregnancy. It's not effecting the baby, in fact it's not even attached to the placenta! Just in the uterus. So that question is answered and I'm glad we didn't have to spend the extra $120 to get that same answer a month ago. Again, a word from God changes everything]

Many times that "motherly instinct" is the Holy Spirit prompting and if I'm listening I can hear it as that and not my own intellect. What a much stronger thing to stand on! Then there is no guilt, no regret (well there doesn't have to be. Again choosing to stand on the Word and not let the devil pull you into that is such a struggle as a mom sometimes) But the lessons we learn as we go along this journey are so great, and I'm so thankful I have an amazing Captain who loves to lead and guide me if I can get myself out of the way long enough to listen!

One last thing, I have come to learn over these last few years that God loves the "little" things. He is not too busy to deal with anything that we need an answer for. He delights in the details and would love to answer our "little" questions if we can just remember/choose to ask him for the answers. I really struggle with this but am trying with His help to get better.
Love and peace,

Caleb's One Year Birthday Party

2011-05-07T00:09:00.000-05:00

For those who couldn't be here with us I wanted you to be able to share in the joy :)

Maximize your Morning by Inspired to Action

2011-05-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

Since I decided to "redesign" my blog I have been thinking up post ideas, taking more pictures, and trying to think as my day goes by about what to write. I must tell you that I have thought up some amazing things. Too bad they are still in my head and I haven't quite figured out how to get them "down on paper." It's mostly a time/priority thing. I haven't got my day organized where I can make time to blog yet. But I'll keep trying.

One of the things that I have been wanting to tell you about is a wonderful thing that I am pretty scared of. I downloaded this free e-book (HERE) last fall and read over it, and then let it sit on my computer. I read THIS blog all the time (sometimes just skim it because like I said, I'm a little scared of it) and kept up with the last Maximize your Morning Challenge.

I have really struggled since staying home to get my lazy butt out of bed before my kids wake up. Then I struggle to spend time with God during the day. Then I struggle with dinner, lists of things to do, and lets not even talk about exercise. HA!

I know God has been calling me to get up earlier, sigh, and I really do want to, sort of. I have every intention, until my alarm goes off, or Caleb wakes up an extra time during the night or fill in the blank. So I took a big leap and signed up for the May 15-August 15 Maximize your Morning challenge.

I vacillate between being excited and dreading what's coming. I know it will be good and I fully expect my days to be completely different even just waking up 15-20 minutes ahead of my kids. I'm pretty sure Allison is going to love it since a few times this week she has stood at my door and said, "I don't want to get in your bed! I want to go downstairs!" I mean she is practically begging me to do this.

But I wanted to get this out there in case anyone else is needing a little push. It's all online, just checking in via Twitter or Facebook. It's a way to be accountable and encourage other Christian women in our journey to be better moms. So if you struggle like I do, or if you have it all down you can sign up to be a coach (I say that very tongue in cheek!) Just click on the button and sign up by Wednesday the 11th. So far there are 600 women joining together in this opportunity!!
So click on the button and join us!!

11 weeks and bleeding

2011-04-19T16:23:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a while and I've thought of so many things that I wanted to write over the last almost 2 weeks. After the kids got better I attended the women's conference at our church (Gateway) which was AMAZING. And lasted from Wednesday night to Saturday at noon. I was completely exhausted by the time it was over, but very spiritually refreshed.

Then last week we were just getting back into the swing of things, and I caught up on my sleep by taking naps when the kids did. It was fabulous! So with a busy two weekends ahead of us I thought I'd better write while I can otherwise it will be another two weeks before I do! So here goes.....

When I was pregnant with Caleb I started bleeding at 6 weeks. I did not have any bleeding with Allison so it freaked me out to say the least. We weren't sure what to do, so we called our midwife. We tried to get in to the office with the Dr. that delivered Allison so he could do a sonogram but he was in surgery all day. The last thing I wanted was to go to the ER but that's what we ended up doing. We knew we couldn't stop a miscarriage but wanted to make sure I was ok as well. After many long hours and a sonogram that lasted WAY too long, and then a few more hours of waiting we finally received word that the baby was ok and I had a sub-chorionic hemorrhage. They said there was a 75% chance everything would be fine. So the bleeding stopped and I didn't have any more bleeding the rest of the pregnancy and Caleb was born a year ago next week!

So, this pregnancy was going smoothly and all of a sudden in my 11th week I had a rush of fluids and I went to the bathroom and sure enough it was blood. I had quite a bit more blood at this point and got quite scared. I didn't have any cramping at this point but bleeding is not normal, right??!! So I called Jason and called my midwife and immediately started to worry and pray. I knew it was too late in the pregnancy to be what I had last time, but I was almost at the "magical" 12 week mark where everything was supposed to be ok. We had told family and friends, and even facebook for goodness sake!

I dropped the kids off at my parents and Jason and I drove out to see our midwife to listen for a heartbeat. We got there and discussed options, and decided to start with a heartbeat and go from there. We had heard a heartbeat at my appointment a few weeks before so we knew there should be one. After a few seconds we heard it! Loud and clear, and even a little kick from the baby! A few tears slid down my cheek and hope rose again inside me.

So we talked about options, I had bled quite a bit, much much more than last time. Even though we heard the heartbeat there was no guarantees that everything would be ok. We just knew that right that second the baby was still alive. There is an ultrasound place that we could go do (with considerable expense) but even then they can't always tell you why you are bleeding or if the baby will be ok.

We decided to wait and see what happened. If I continued to bleed then we would probably schedule an ultrasound and if the bleeding kept up as heavy as it had been then the midwife wanted me to go to the ER. The bleeding did slow down, but it also continued. It did darken which was a good sign, "old blood" is better than "new blood." So the midwife left the decision up to us whether we wanted to have a sonogram done or just wait. I went back and forth so many times that weekend. And God was there through it all.

The day after I started bleeding I went in to get Caleb dressed for the day. I had made him a onesie that said "I'm the big brother" and taken pictures and posted them on facebook for all my friends and family to see. As I was looking through his clothes that morning I heard God tell me to put that on him today. He was telling me that Caleb would in fact be a big brother. I fought it a little, I didn't want to get my hopes up. I mean what if I was wrong, then I would feel dumb for putting him in the outfit. But God was clear and so I obeyed. He wore the onesie that day and I held on to that word for the next few weeks as my situation didn't change.

At one point I decided I wanted a sonogram. Even if it couldn't give me any answers I would feel better, right? But I had no symptoms that anything else was wrong, I wasn't having any contractions or cramping, no clotting, so the midwife said that if it was just "old blood" then we could just wait. Well as I was getting ready for bed that night I felt like God was telling me that I should just trust him and we didn't need to spend the money we didn't have on a sonogram. TRUST.
"UUUGGGGHHH!! What God, am I going to have to trust you for the next 8 months??!!"
"Duh"
"Oh, right"
With my last two pregnancies I have felt some of the same feelings about having to trust God. I mean you are never really sure that everything is going to be ok until you have the little baby in your arms. No sonogram or doctor or midwife can guarantee everything will be fine no matter how many tests they run. (or don't run) I had learned a little about trusting God and having faith that God is good no matter what this life may bring me. But this was different, I mean bleeding is NOT normal and it wasn't stopping.

I continued to bleed for the next three weeks off and on. Then I went for almost a week with no bleeding, then wham, more blood. [still "old blood"] I can't tell you how frustrated I was every time it happened, and then how much I prayed and held on to the word that God gave me. Fear continued to plague me and at those times I would pray and quote scripture even more. It seemed like every time we went to church all the praise and worship was about trust. I mean EVERY SINGLE SONG! And of course I cried every time. There was one song that said something about no matter what happens God you are still good. And "Faithful God" still brings me to my knees. If you have a minute or two take a listen [the video is a little cheesy but just close your eyes :) ] Faithful God

At this point I am almost 19 weeks and I feel the baby kick and move on a regular basis. I haven't had any bleeding for about 4 weeks. But there are no guarantees. I still wonder if the baby is ok, why was I bleeding, what if it starts again. But I continue to believe that no matter what happens my God is good and I can trust him. I have heard many times that if you pray for patience then watch out because you will have some trials that you have a chance to "use" your patience. Well in the same way, how do you build your faith? I'm pretty sure I didn't pray for more faith, but the only way to have more faith is to be in situations where you have to use your faith. Right? Giving into the fear wasn't/isn't an option for me, so the only thing I can do is pray and trust in God. I'm believing and trusting that this little squirt will be 100% healthy and fine when he/she joins us mid-September. And until then I only have one choice, to continue to believe that my God is good and I can trust Him.

Missing

2011-04-04T14:51:00.000-05:00

Last week was not a fun one. Allison got sick on Sunday (threw up in the car twice!) which continued the rest of the week. My mom came to help on Monday, and then Tuesday I came down with a version of whatever Allison had. Thankfully I just felt really nauseous most of the day and thankfully my mom came to rescue me because I couldn't do anything! I was stuck on the couch and the kids really aren't very self sufficient yet. :) I thought Caleb had given it to Allison since he was throwing up last week, but his must have been because of teething before because he came down with the real thing on Friday night. So, we have been cooped up in the house for over a week (we did make a trip to my parents and to wal mart last night for groceries) and I'm ready to be throw up free!! Two days last week I got no break during nap time, one woke up as the other was falling asleep. Needless to say I didn't have much time for blogging, or much of anything else besides taking care of the kids.
So, while today Caleb is not 100% he is getting better and I'm looking forward to the Pink Impact Women's conference this week. (I'm getting out of the house, YEA!!!)
I wanted to post some updated pictures of the garden but since the winds are about 30mph today I'll have to do it tomorrow. The beans are growing like gang-busters, we have a tomato, and like 8 jalapenos. We are going to have to re-plant the strawberries, we started with some roots and when we planted them I was pretty sure they were dead but I planted them anyway just in case I was wrong. (I wasn't) So we are going to buy some plants and get those in the ground. Hope all is well with you and yours!

Allison got to feed a Giraffe at the zoo over spring break!

Not better, just different

2011-03-23T14:50:00.000-05:00

Allison at 4 months sporting her cloth

Within the last month I have had to give up cloth diapering my little boy due to his reaction to either the diapers or the pee against his skin. [not sure which, doesn't really matter at this point] My firstborn was born in a hospital, not a birthing center. Both of these events have humbled me and caused me to look at the way I view my choices and others that make different choices.

If I'm totally honest with myself, pride is a big issue for me. I had a major, "Re-new my salvation card" experience about 2 years ago that showed me how prideful I had become and how much humbling I really needed. My sweet savior came and showed me His love, grace, and mercy in such a way as I have never been able to receive before. [it was always there but my pride was too big for me to accept it] So with my pride out of the way I could be a "real" Christian, right? Sigh, how quickly we I forget.

As I was thinking over this last week about buying "trash" diapers for my little munchkin, I realized that I took pride in cloth diapering. A little too much. I looked down on others for their choices, obviously they weren't as informed, or cared about the environment, or "fill in the blank" as I was. Yuck. Do you hear all the pride in that statement?? It makes me want to throw up. It doesn't matter what other people choose to do, or how they do it, it's just that, their choice. And it doesn't make them any less of a person, or a Christian, [or maybe more importantly it doesn't make me any better of a person or Christian] for the choices they/I make. Pretty sure God isn't going to give me a gold star for using cloth diapers when I get to heaven. But that pride, that sure can steal one's eternal rewards.

Having my first in a hospital is the same thing. I was so excited to "break the mold" [a.k.a. do it better] and have my baby at a birth center and when that didn't happen I was somewhat devastated. I feel a little differently about this issue for a few reasons that I won't go into here, not the ultimate point really, just my pride. My sorrow over the loss of control [birth is great for that] was normal, but the pride I realized I had about the whole situation was again, disgusting.

And so, as I pray for forgiveness and also ask forgiveness from any of you that I have offended by my "Holier than though" attitudes and words, I leave you with this. An amazing song that brings me to my knees every time I hear it. Please listen to it, I promise where ever you are it will speak to you.

Hillsong- Grace Like an Avalanche

Blessings,

Food- I've decided I like it quite a bit

2011-03-22T16:03:00.000-05:00

So last night I decided to make THIS pie and it turned out wonderfully!! My mom loves Key Lime Pie and she used to order it at Pappadeaux when I worked there. She and my dad would come up after the occasional Cher concert or whatever and she would order their Key Lime Pie and a cup of coffee. Since she has had a rough few days (their dog was attacked by another dog and they didn't know if he was going to live or not, at this point he will live and his leg is healing but still don't know if he will keep the leg or not :( ) So as I said it has been a rough few days so I made the pie and brought it over to share. I'm always a little apprehensive about a new recipe that I haven't tried before sharing it, but alas The Pioneer Women did not disappoint!

Tonight I'm tackling something else I've never tried before, homemade pizza! Right down to the crust. I'm pretty excited about it. My dough is rising right now (enough time for me to go take a nap if I hurry) and I'll be following THIS little "method." I'm pretty sure it's going to turn out amazing, but if not cereal is always an option!

Lately I've found my self making Chicken Fried Chicken and Chicken Fried Steak at least once a week (one or the other, not both) even though it is something I never had growing up. Hubby prefers the Chicken, but I myself like the steak. I'm also determined this week to make THESE. And I'm pretty darn excited about them too. I LOVE onions. When I worked at Sonic we would occasionally have a Patty Melt on the menu. I used to get a container of the sauteed onions, put some ketchup in a bowl and go to town! Kinda like an onion ring without the greasy batter, ya know? Oh my mouth is watering right now! Anyway, I can't wait to find something for these babies to go with! (Is it weird I'm planning a meal around onion strings? Oh well, I'm ok with weird)

Geez my kids today! Naptime has been a workout for me. If it isn't 1 that is awake and needing to be rocked back to sleep it's the other, and the oldest has been a bit of a challenge lately when it comes to getting to sleep. The workout comes from going up and down the stairs, my midwife will be happy!

Well I think my dough has risen, the kids are about to wake up and I still haven't had a nap, ah the life of a mom :)

How far should you go?

2011-03-16T15:03:00.001-05:00

This is a question I have been thinking a lot about lately in terms of preparing for a disaster. I can't say that I've come to any sort of real conclusions, but I did find a good place to start the other day.

I've thought about a few different scenarios and depending on which one happens determines the course of action. But one thing is for sure, times are changing and it's only a matter of calendar pages before life as we know it makes a drastic turn. (not to get all "dooms day" but all the signs point to yes in my opinion)

Possible scenarios-

Crazy inflation happens and food becomes more expensive than a car (or something like that) In this case, the ideal place to be in is to have lots of food stored up and hopefully useful things :) Like I said yesterday I like to bake bread using THIS new book I found. It has 4 ingredients, you mix it for like 30 seconds, then store it in the fridge in a bucket for up to 2 weeks! So I have picked up a few extra of each ingredient over the last few weeks and put them away "just in case." I don't really have much more of a method, except that I have bought extra rice and cans of beans, we have some milk frozen that we rotate through our normal stock, and some extra meat frozen as well. A few weeks ago I did stumble across THIS little blog/website and if I do get serious about storing up food this is what I'm going to do. They have an e-book that gives you checklists and ideas and all sorts of good stuff. But I'm not there yet.

(this scenario also includes a massive attack on our power grid and we have no electricity for an extended amount of time. Although we don't have a generator, (if it were up to my husband this would be taken care of already) or much more than a little bit of wood in the back yard (but I'm sure we could find things to burn if need be!) the stored up food would come in handy, but not the frozen stuff, hmmm well anyway. And I would be able to bake the bread, but whatever. I've only put a little thought into this remember?

Other way it could go down- something massive happens and we all have to flee our houses. (pick your disaster) Now if this is the case, again I don't have any long term solutions, but I did find a good manageable place to start. One of the emails I told you about yesterday "Everyday Cheapskate" sent this the other day and my first thought was, "I can do that!" So go check it out, let me know what you think! In an Emergency, Ready, Set, Go!

It's a beautiful day out today, we are hoping to plant the rest of our garden by the weekend, I'll update with pictures when we do!

A few of my favorite things

2011-03-15T18:26:00.000-05:00

My new favorite summer shoes that I might just wear everyday. (please ignore the sock lines) (and I saved the picture rotated but for some reason blogger isn't cooperating today)

I got these shoes at Old Navy for $19.50 and they are soooo comfortable!! They have nice cushioning on the bottom and plenty of room for my toes. I'm so excited about wearing these babies, if Texas would just decide it's going to be warm enough on a consistant basis I would!

I get "daily deal" emails from about 3 different places and while I usually delete them I have found a number of deals that I do like. I've never had any problems with any of the deals I have purchased and Groupon even lets you just use your iPhone and not print out the deal. Major plus! Anyway, here they are.

Mamapedia -and this one donates a percentage (albeit very small, but still) to any local school you choose

We use Goat's milk soap at home for everything (now) My kiddos and husbands skin is pretty sensitive so Dove doesn't really work for us. So I started just buying the bar soap but this last order I also bought some liquid soap and I love it! I have it at the kitchen sink. It's a little expensive, but I think it's going to last me a few months so it's really not that bad. And it's not anti-bacterial which is important to us. (Article on why) Now I fully believe that you can pretty much find anything on the internet to back up whatever kind of claim you might come up with. But this is something I have heard about for a few years now and since I don't like Antibiotics anyway (unless really necessary, then they are great!! :) ) I subscribe to the idea. I tried a local semi-local company but liked this kind better. The Oatmeal and Honey is one of my favorites and Jason likes all the "fresh" scents. Goat's Milk Soap

And last for today is another daily email with a very different purpose. It's from a Debt-Proof Living website and she sends out daily emails about all sorts of random things. This is where I got the info to bake my own bread. THIS book is incredible and it is sooo easy. She sends out all sorts of good tips for anything you can think of. How to make your own cleaners, meal planning, and my favorite is when she posts tips from readers. I have gotten tons of cool ideas about everything around the house. It's called Everyday Cheapskate and I think it's pretty great. Here it is.

Ok well gotta go find some dinner!

We had a fun day at the zoo!

A New Beginning

2011-03-10T14:28:00.005-06:00

I've been thinking a lot about this little neglected blog of mine lately. Wondering what I should do. And this morning I decided to head in a new direction. I'm not exactly sure what that looks like yet, but I thought today was as good a day as any to start moving there. So I am.

I love to read other people's blogs and get ideas from them. Whether it's informative and useful like homeschooling and health information, or food fun, or crafty fun, I love it all. And I really enjoy just reading about other people's lives too. So maybe my blog will just be about all the things I love :) and maybe it will just be about my life. But for now I thought I'd share a few things I've got going on right now.

First up is my garden. I remember when I was younger my mom had a small garden, I know she grew tomatoes, but other than that I don't remember much. I know she was constantly fighting bugs and I remember a dog we had ate her tulips one year, but that's about it. At some point last summer I remember telling Jason I wanted to do a garden this year. Mostly for fun, for me and for the kids. I think little kids watering a garden and getting to harvest the food is so much fun. I think it teaches them patience and diligence. Something that you don't find much of in today's society.

So, I'm happy to say that we are actually making it happen! I struggle so much with procrastination and having way more ideas than I can actually complete, so many of my thoughts stay right there, in my head, or on one of my many lists, and never make it any further. Anyway, here is the progression and what we have so far!

Here is Jason building our boxes. We used the square foot gardening method and mostly followed Emily's books that can be found here.

Here is the space cleared out

Jason and Alyssa moved the boxes and then lined them with a weed mat. We followed the instructions for the mixture of soil. Jason has his doubts :) but I think it will turn out grand!

Allison taking a donut break. Before I knew it she had eaten the one I gave her and started on a second!

Mixing the soil, Caleb supervising

Allison watering the cabbage, broccoli, and swiss chard

We also planed some onions, potatoes, and blueberries. This weekend we will be planting more, and then the following weekend the rest. We have lots of tomatoes and peppers, some strawberries, and even some cantaloupe. I can't wait to get it all planted and watch it grow!

I have all sorts of things I want to post about but I think I'll try not to blow my whole wad today. :) But I will leave you with one more thing. Allison is in Granbury visiting Jason's parents so while she is gone I want to make this for when she comes back. And I must admit I'm pretty excited about it too!

It's called glass block Jello and here is how you make it- Instructions

Well, it's off to do the dishes and laundry before my little man wakes up! Enjoy your day!

Caleb 6 weeks and Allison 2 years

2010-07-07T23:43:00.005-05:00

Growing like a weed!

2010-07-07T22:48:00.004-05:00

The kids playing together :)

What the church sent when Caleb was born

Caleb will be 10 weeks old this week and Allison is growing every day! She learns new words and is forming sentences. She makes me laugh all the time. Today she sang "Jesus Loves Me" all day, but the only line she actually knows is, "Fo Bible" (for the Bible tells me so) She is such a hoot! Here are a few pictures of my little weeds.

Jason getting a turn to feed Caleb

She loves her brother, I usually have to ask her to stop kissing on him!

We went to the cabin for the 4th and Allison didn't hate the sand! That's a first for her.

Here she is in her Donkey pool. Back story-she went to Tennessee with Jason's parents and there was a donkey next door to where they stayed. She talked about it and how loud it was. When we were at Wal mart she got to choose which float she wanted and out of the hippo, penguin, and donkey she smiled and picked the donkey. On the front of the package was someone playing in the pool so she knew that's what it was for. So she called it Donkey Pool. She asked to play in it for days and finally here at the lake she got to!

I've taken up bread baking, it's so easy and super yummy!!

We have a two year old!!

2010-07-07T19:31:00.003-05:00

Allison's birthday was exactly a month after Caleb was born. We had family over to the house, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and had a great time. Allison didn't know what a party was, but she sure had fun!

Blowing bubbles in her birthday outfit

Cute Shoes

She loves balloons!

Opening presents

Her favorite present, a Bike!!

Caleb's arrival

2010-06-28T16:28:00.005-05:00

Well I figured I'd better get this written down before any more time goes by or I won't remember how it all went down. (trying to do it 8 1/2 weeks after the fact is going to be challenging enough!) And of course as we speak the children are waking up. sigh.

April 24 came and went. (due dates are so disappointing!) I took off from school on the 20th and Benjamin was my sub. I spent that week with Allison enjoying her and trying to get a few last minute things done.

Tuesday night we went to Life Group since it would hopefully be the last time for the semester. We went home afterwards and went to bed. I woke up around 2am with contractions. I had a contraction timer on my phone so I started using it. They were about 10 min apart. They continued for about an hour. I was hot and then cold so I went downstairs on the couch. (I didn't wake up Jason at this point since I wasn't sure if it was real labor or not and contractions weren't too strong) The contractions spread out to about one every twenty minutes. I slept downstairs for a while but then went upstairs until morning. When Jason woke up I told him I had been having contractions. So he called in to work (I mean called my Dad) and stayed home with me on Wednesday. I continued having contractions every twenty minutes or so all day long. I was nauseous, lethargic, and just ready to get the show on the road! Jason finished decorating the house (since it had been on our list of things to do for months and all of a sudden there was a real deadline!) and was on hand in case things got going. A few little things happened that said labor was continuing, but it was still dragging. Allison went over to my parents for the night. We let the midwife know what was going on and made sure things were set up for Caleb's arrival.

We went to bed Wednesday night a little disappointed. At around 2am the contractions started getting stronger and a little closer. I went down stairs and with a renewed sense of energy I started walking around the house trying to move things along. Jason joined me downstairs and he napped while I worked. :) Around 4am we called Ann (our midwife) to let her know we were close to needing her help. I was having a bit of a hard time deciding if I wanted them to come yet. I was afraid that things would be like last time and I didn't want them sitting here all day. But we decided at 5am to have them come to our house. Ann, her apprentice and Cindy all arrived around 6am. Contractions were still about 10min apart but they were definitely stronger and I needed some encouragement to get through them.

Ann checked my and said I was at a 5, but then said she thought I was only at a 3. NOT what I wanted to hear. So I got in the bathtub for a little bit, then labored on our bed, then decided to get on the birthing ball. The contractions started double peaking but were still 6-7 minutes apart. I was getting really worried at this point. I was having a harder time staying ahead of the contractions and I starting wondering how far it was to the hospital and thinking that maybe it wasn't so bad last time. I didn't know how much longer I could do this! Cindy started giving me some hip resistance through some of the contractions and I started to feel Caleb move down to a different part of my pelvis.

Cindy suggested I try and empty my bladder so I went to the bathroom. I had a contraction and my water broke! (all over her new shoes, sorry Cindy! :) ) Right away I had another contraction and the urge to push came. Ann came and checked me and I was complete! I said, "Praise Jesus!" (she also said there was a bit of a cervical lip but it disappeared when she checked me. This was also something I was afraid of since this is what prevented Allison from coming last time) I was sooo relieved and we made our way back to our bed.

My water broke around 9:15am and Caleb was born at 9:43am. I only pushed for 15 minutes!! It was fantastic. (well maybe not in the middle of it but now that's how I remember it) It didn't really feel fantastic but the fact that I pushed him out in 3 contractions and it was at home in our bed and it was over was fantastic. Jason got to catch him, although he almost didn't make it! Once his head was out and they said one more push and I would be done I wasn't stopping for anything! But since I was holding Jason's hand he had to run around the bed and get in the middle of them to catch Caleb. But he made it and then handed our son to me. I was so overwhelmed and relieved.

The first thing I noticed were his eyelashes, they were so long, just like his dad! After about 5 minutes he decided he was hungry so I fed him while Jason called the family. Mom, Dad, and Allison headed over right away to come see our newest little Jacobs. Jason cut the cord after the placenta was delivered. Everything happened so fast they hadn't gotten my herbs ready for my bath so we relaxed with Caleb and Cindy got my bath ready. Allison was very excited to meet her little brother and started pointing out all his little features. It was so cute.

I got in the bath with Caleb but he didn't seem to like it very much, he just wanted to eat! So I fed him and relaxed in the bath. Allison was running around showing everyone Caleb's room and playing with the birthing ball. She was so excited. After the bath Ann did the newborn exam checking all his little parts and joints. He was perfect! Jason dressed him and we all relaxed.

I know on that day I said how hard it all was, but I truly believe that part of natural childbirth are the hormones that help you forget all the pain and toil so you are willing to do it all again. Today I do remember it being tough, but the memories are mostly good and while I'm not ready to have another child just yet, I will do it again at home in a heartbeat.

Our little addition

2010-05-08T21:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a few pictures of what's been going on here over the last week...

Caleb Jason Jacobs

2010-04-30T12:55:00.003-05:00

Well everyone, he is here! Caleb finally came to meet us April 29th at 9:43 am. He weighed 7lbs 12 oz and was 20 1/4 in. He was born at home and we are loving all the comfort that provides! Birth story to follow but here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Deja vú

2010-04-25T09:20:00.012-05:00

April 25th

So how is it that almost 2 years ago exactly I was posting about the same thing? Waiting on a dear little baby to enter this world and commenting on how the due date is coming and going. Sigh. Well Little Caleb seems to be following in his big sisters' footsteps already and making us wait to meet him! I was due on Saturday and today is Monday and we are no closer today than we were then. Well I guess technically that's not true, but physically there are not any real signs that things are really beginning. So with that, I guess I'll catch up on a few things (since it has been over 4 months since I have posted anything! oops)

Well life has been quite busy here at the Jacobs house. Speaking of we are loving the house we moved into in September, and this last week we have finally gotten a few projects done that we have been trying to do since we moved in! A friend of mine described life as Triage this last school year and I couldn't agree more. With me working full time (and with teaching that is like time and a half!) and trying to keep with with Allison, all while cooking sometimes and keeping the house from being totally dirty and messy all the time, I don't really have much time for decorating, or even finishing unpacking the "extra" things from boxes! But with the emminent arrival of our newest little one Jason and I have managed to get motivated and get some things crossed off our list.

We did some beautifying of the outside with Jason pulling up some shrubs in the back so we could have some flowers (I'm really disappointed I didn't get a before picture, man what a difference!) and setting up a gazebo for us to have some shade this summer. Allison loves to be outdoors and this way Caleb and I can join her without us all getting sunburned!

Our Summer Shade

The Flowers out back

Jason cutting down the arbor out front

As far as inside goes we finally got some things on the walls in our room and the big project was pulling together The Texas Room.

Curtains and things on the walls really make such a difference!

Now for Allison. The one thing I can say is she is definetely not a baby anymore! She is such a big girl. She loves to help do things, and recently she has taken to playing with her baby doll. She loves to change her diaper and put her in the baby highchair. I bought her a set to play with when Caleb get here that will let her do all the things that I will be doing with Caleb. It has a changing table, a pack and play, a bouncy seat, and even a carrier. Here are a few (ha!) photos-We also had our pictures taken just a few weeks ago so some of those are mixed in here too.

Blowing bubbles at Grammy's house

Look at those curls!

Sporting the boots

Taking care of her baby

36 weeks

Eating some yummy crawfish!

What follows are some family pictures we had taken by a local photographer. I absolutely love them and can't wait to get them hung up around the house.

Allison and her "cheese" face. She always says Cheese when you take her picture, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she will be looking at the camera or smiling when she says it, but we got lucky here!
Such a big girl! She loves parks and playgrounds and begs to play anytime she sees a McDonalds or Chick-fil-a. This is at the duck pond by my parents house.

Wearing daddy's boots

Riding Tony

Her hair is so long in the back!

All bundled up and ready to go on one of the many FREEZING cold days we had this winter.

Crazy snow in February

Sisters

Listening to the baby

Being smart

Well there is the update, I'll post again as soon as I have some pictures of our newest addition!

Early Christmas

2009-12-16T20:53:00.002-06:00

We opened presents with the Butterbaugh's this last Sunday night and Allison was such a hoot! I'm working on trying to figure out a different way to post videos. It takes forever through blogger, so I'm doing a little research on the subject. She had the present idea down after the first one. She would come over to me and get a present then go in the middle of the room and open it, then play intensely with it. ADORABLE!

Her vocabulary has started to really take off. Some words are totally off the wall, for example "ouf" means flower. But most of the other ones are pretty close. It is so much fun!

We leave for Michigan and Illinois on Friday. This is Allison's first 20 hour car ride, so it should be interesting. Grammy has a bunch of toys that she has never seen before and we are planning on moving Allison between cars. I'm excited for her to play in the snow, although part of me expects her to feel it and go back inside. But it's 2 full weeks with Jason and Allison and I can't wait.

Baby Boy Jacobs is growing wonderfully. I'm 21 weeks and my belly is huge! We have been slacking off on the belly pictures this time around, but I can post the sonogram pictures. Enjoy!

Oops!

2009-12-11T20:31:00.002-06:00

Well I changed my background but forgot to change the font color if anyone tried to read it over the last 24 hours. But it's fixed now and I'm working on uploading some videos!! (I tried last night but no success)

Videos, Pictures, and new words

2009-12-10T20:42:00.006-06:00

Allison continues to amaze me. Tonight she said Baby Bop and Elmo. Well, her version of those words anyway. And my mom said she said Zoboomafoo today also. What a ham!! Here are some more recent pictures and 2 videos.

Just playing with her toys

She has not been a big fan of her highchair lately. Looks like we need to get a booster seat!

YUM! Ketchup!

Watching Barney with Grandpa at the cabin

She loves to play in the dog crates, we didn't set this up, she did!

Wow, so those videos literally took hours to post. Good Grief!!

Lest 2 months goes by....

2009-12-07T08:54:00.004-06:00

Oh dear me, where does the time go??!! I suppose when you are moving, growing a baby, taking trips, and keeping track of a toddler it just goes!

Our house is fabulous, still nothing hung on the walls, but we are settling in quite nicely. We love the room and the dogs are enjoying it as well. (although they still haven't gotten the hang of the tile floors quite yet and sometimes look like scooby doo trying to chase each other)

Allison is growing leaps and bounds every day. Her vocabulary started taking off a few weeks ago and every few days adds a new word to her repitoire. She is starting to appreciate the value of a hat, and even leaves her hair bows in for a few hours at a time. She is still a great sleeper and is more flexible than we could ever ask for. She is absolutely IN LOVE with Christmas lights and asks for, "Mo, mo" as soon as we pass a house that has them. She can't get enough! The, "OOHHH, and WOW!" that is emitted from her sweet little mouth is so adorable it makes me want to just drive around for hours so I can hear it again!

My belly has grown exponentially in the last month. I wore a sweater last week that I have a picture in when I was pregnant with Allison around this same time 2 years ago, no comparison! I'm at least 3 times bigger currently. It was so nice of Allison to stretch out my body so it expands this time with no problem. It reminds me of a balloon, after you blow it up once the next time isn't nearly as difficult. Oh the joys of pregnancy. (and I love ever minute of it! well almost)

Our last little tid bit of news if you hadn't already heard was Friday was our sonogram and we found out our new little peanut is a HE peanut! Allison is going to have a little brother!! We are so very excited (and I told my mom this means I get to go shopping again! :) ) and Allison still doesn't have any idea what is coming down the pipe! But I know she will be mommy's big helper and she will give her brother a run for the money. i.e. Yesterday I had to stop Allison because she was head butting the dogs. sigh, what a bruiser!

Ok, well here's a few pictures to tide you over for now.

Here she is wearing a shirt of mine, she insisted! Pulling the wagon in the backyard

Daddy and Allison waiting in line to ride the Merry Go Round at the State Fair

Her usual 2

TEETH!

Cute bits of scrumptiousness

2009-10-14T21:10:00.005-05:00

Her new baby doll. Sometimes she thinks the bottle is for herself, but occasionally she does share with the doll. (that is until the bottle had an unfortunate run in with our 4 legged children and no longer exists. sigh)

Sisters just waking up one Sunday morning. Look at that hair!!

She loves to put things in her car. But sometimes they don't fit so well. Her head has to stick out through the hole in the front to fit!

She got a little carried away coloring

Her Silly Hat that she wears quite frequently. (a Barney song) The funniest part is that she can see through it so she walks around with it over her head like this.

And here she is eating like a grown up :)

Tupperware

2009-10-14T12:10:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I was getting bored and didn't think I had enough to do so I signed up to sell Tupperware. (ok this is definitely not the reason, I just love their products!!) So if you are interested in the good deals they have or just want to browse the catalog let me know! The picture above is a link to my website or just send me an email and I will include you on the monthly specials I send out.

I have a bunch of cute pictures to upload, there just seems to be 100 other things that demand my attention when I get home. (including the little one that all those pictures are of!)

The Pregnancy is going well, I told all my students a few days ago and a few of the girls said they had noticed my growing waistline! :) We are going to use the same Midwife that we used last time, but this time we are going to have the baby at home. All those car rides during labor was for the birds!! We are going to find out what we are having around Thanksgiving. I would love for Allison to have a sister close to her age (I never had one at all!) but a little boy would be a dream come true for Jason. Someone to follow him around and fix things with, I can see it now!

We hope to go to the Texas State Fair this weekend so we will have lots of cute pictures to show from that too. I think Allison will love all the animals and the food too. I have some pictures of her eating like a big girl, it cracks me up.

Ok, pictures to come!!

In case you hadn't heard...

2009-10-08T20:41:00.002-05:00

Allison is going to be a Big Sister!!!

Changes on the Horizon

2009-09-12T10:40:00.007-05:00

I'm guessing anyone who used to read my blog has probably given up on me ever updating it again on a regular basis! Sorry! I can't hardly believe I used to write almost once a week. Goodness that was so long ago. Well I finally got a good video of Allison doing all her tricks and we are closing on our house in 2 days so I thought I should write a little something. Yes I did just say in 2 days we are going to be home owners!! In my last post I was writing about what a disaster our house search was, and here we are just over a month later and we are about to get the keys to our new house!!

The whole process has been totally God and even today I recieved some more news that further confirmed this being our house and it being what God has for us. We have prayed through out the whole thing that God would show us if this wasn't supposed to be our house. Even though we absolutely love it and think it's perfect, we were open. So here is a little synopsis of our process.

After waiting on God and being obediant with our finances we finally felt the ok to go out and look again. We went to 5 or 6 houses in Lewisville. The last one was one we skipped over the first time because it was too wierd and was a burn out. We didn't really know what that meant and when we drove by the house we said absolutely not! It was peach first of all, and such a wierd layout that we didn't even want to consider it. (God has such a good sense of humor!) Well after looking online the more we saw the inside of the house the more interested we became. So we decided to go look. It was perfect! At the end of the day it was the only house we were interested in, and it was exactly what we were hoping for price wise.

Well we had both sets of parents out to the house to check it out and they said it looked good so we put in an offer. Later the next evening we came to an agreement and so began the paperwork. We had the inspection and the guy suggested having the foundation looked at. When we had a foundation company out they said it needed lots of work. We though for sure this was going to be the end but the seller agreed to fix it all!! He also agreed to everything we asked as far as repairs go.

See the house got struck by lightening 2 years ago and this guy bought it and totally re-did everything. He finished in March of this year and it had been on the market since then. Mom asked why I thought no one had snatched it up and said very simply that God was saving it for us.

So here we are just a few short weeks later and the house is really about to be ours! There were actually some delays because we held off on the apraisal in case the seller didn't want to fix the foundation so I didn't think there was any way we were going to keep our original closing date. But when God does something he does it big, so not only are we keeping our original closeing date, but we got the final numbers for our mortgage payment today. Now let me explain the difference between where we are living and where we are about to move to. The house we are currently in is 1400 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, old, needs lots of repairs and updates. It served us for a time but at this point the only thing we like is it is a roof over our heads and it is close to my parents. (we will miss that!) However, our new house- brand new on the inside, 2200 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, and just plain beautiful!! The downstairs is all tile which will be wonderful for dog and kid accidents. (we have had plenty of those!) So with all that being said get this-our payments will be $25 more a month!!! YEA!! (our original numbers were not this low!) It's all been so easy and so God that we are just amazed at how good he is.

So with that here are a few photos of the house:

The formal living, just to the left when you walk in the front doors

The master sinks

The kitchen looking into the formal dining and formal living

The beautiful real wood staircase (the floor is really wood as is the upstairs hallway)

And here is the video of the not so baby Allison

Is it August already??!!

2009-08-12T14:11:00.005-05:00

Where does the time go? My my. Well I start school next week (kids don't come for another week) and I can't hardly believe summer is comming to a close. It has been a rather relaxing summer for the most part, just Allison and I hanging out, running our errands and playing with toys. We got to eat lunch with daddy most everyday and Allison thinks "DA" is home everytime she hears a noise out front.

We have switched to 1 nap that doesn't last long enough most days, but I will take what I can get. Some mornings I can drag myself out of bed early enough to be ready by the time she wakes up, but many times a shower and some reading is all I can get done before she gets up.

She is still quite a ham. Any store we go to she waves at everyone as we are leaving and blows them kisses, and recently she has started reaching out to complete strangers wanting them to hold her! She has an old purse of mine that she loves to carry all over the house and sometimes when we go out. Anything that has handles immediately becomes a purse as well. She loves to have her hair fixed but usually pulls it out in the car or within a few hours. (even though she still loves to twirl it while sucking those middle two fingers)

She loves going to church, the bath, shallow water, (still not a huge fan of deep pools but if she can walk in and out she is in heaven) dogs, purses, talking, and sucking her fingers. She is our little angel and I am having so much fun watching her grow up!

Jason's parents finally moved back to Texas at the end of July and we are so glad to have them close. (although Granbury is still too far in our opinion :) ) But it's for sure closer than Chicago! Alyssa turned 19, I mean 13 at the end of July also. She only has 1 more year of middle school left, how is that possible??

In other news we found a house we like and are hopefully going to "start the process" this week. It's all a little daunting but we are trusting God and trying to let him lead. I'll keep you posted.

Her new hair-do. I think she looks like Red from Fraggle Rock.

Her classic sucking the fingers twirling the hair pose

We start em young!

ok just kidding, there wasn't anything left in the cup, I was just trying to get her to hold still so I could get her picture, so cute! (although the flowers in front of the ponytails were an easy way for her to pull the whole thing out!)

Allison helping Pa Paw

No it's not a laptop case, it's a purse!

Allison helping sissy with her birthday present

Alyssa with her b-day present from MaMaw and PaPaw

Allison in her special chair

Coloring with daddy and going off the paper

A guest who overstayed his welcome, Jason ran over his friend 2 nights later

We are very independent now and like to feed ourselves :)

What's wrong with this picture?

2009-07-18T15:30:00.008-05:00

(scroll down to see aforementioned picture)So how about once a month? It's summer and I know I'm supposed to be "off" with nothing to do so my blog should be updated 3 times a week right? Something like that! Allison is quite the needy one right now in our family, she now has 3 molars, one more bottom tooth in the front and is still working on the last molar to complete the "set."

Jason went on his Quest at the end of June and it radically changed all of our lives. I registered for a Heart Quest (the first one available is in November and now they are filled up through the end of this year for Heart Quests) Anyway, absolutely completely radically transformed Jason and subsequently me and our family. God has shown us his love and mercy like never before and we will never be the same! I am expecting great things for my Quest and I am excited about God's timing for it all.

I officially only have 4 weeks of summer left, boo! We are trusting God with my "work future" but are hoping that this will be my last year of full time teaching. We are praying about continuing to expand our family (both in number and house) and I would like to be home more if and when that does happen.

As I mentioned above we are now looking to purchase our first home! We are currently renting a house a block from my parents and while we love the location the house itself leaves a bit to be desired. So we are currently about half a step away from getting our finances approved and have begun looking for the future Jacobs' residence. The first day we looked solely in Coppell at 6 houses. We were sorely disappointed and decided maybe Coppell would not be where we would purchase our first home. We prayed and felt a lot of peace about looking a little north in Lewisville, or possibly Grapevine. We did try and look at a few houses during the next week, but everything went wrong! Seriously. I have the realtor 7 addresses to look at, 4 of them went under contract the previous day, 1 of them she couldn't get ahold of, and the 3 that we did see....... 1. People had gotten the call during dinner but didn't pay attention to it so they were very surprised and the house was strange. 2. We got there and the people said they are going to go with the contingency contract. Weird. So we didn't see that one. 3. Everything started normal enough, but then when we got to the master bedroom the door was locked. Weird, but we continued. They upstairs we heard something coming from a room. That room was locked also and there was someone in there watching a movie. (the sound got louder as we tried to open the door) Hello people??!!! Do you want to sell your house or not??? (we didn't like the house anyway)

So at that point we surrendered to God and said, Ok not yet. Our Realtor is going out of town this week so we told her we would just look again when she came back. We both have peace about this but are still very excited to see just what God has waiting for us!

Ok, now the part you probably just scrolled to anyway :)

Below is said picture. See anything wrong?

Apparently Miss Allison decided she did not like the restrictions of her diaper while napping the other day and I was quite surprised to look up and see a full moon staring back at me! Needless to say she now wears shorts to nap in too!

Being a ham. I was trying to get a picture of her new little "pebbles" ponytail on top of her head. She loves to twirl it while sucking her middle two fingers. (pictures to come)

Daddy got her a new balloon, her pride and joy!

Daddy bought me some beautiful flowers!

My new do

Ok before they were a stretch but now they are real pigtails!

And here are 2 videos for your viewing pleasure

Coming soon: Allison showing you her body parts and immitating different animals.

Apologies

2009-06-20T11:10:00.006-05:00

Well I'm afraid I've gotten a bit lazy about blogging lately. I post lots of pictures on facebook but forget to post them here too! We have been having a wonderful summer so far. Lots of playing, running errands, and we start swimming lessons on Monday. I also just discovered that Allison has a molar that has come through already! So now she has her 4 front teeth (2 on top and 2 on bottom) and a molar. How crazy!

She has also started talking up a storm! I have no idea what she is saying most of the time but she is saying something! I have started doing animal noises with her too. She loves them! Anytime you say the word doggie she scrunches up her mouth and does her own little "Woof woof" sound. I'll try and tape it. So I have started adding to the list of things kitty, lion, bird, monkey, you know all the favorites.

On to the good stuff! Technology got the best of my today so the pictures are in the reverse order of what I want them to be. Her birthday pictures are at the bottom.

These first few are her with her most prized possession lately. She won't go into a different room without the balloon. She loves it! She got it at a grocery store (she was playing with it and the guy let us keep it)

I love this one!

See the balloon string? :)

She loves her doggies, yes she is laying on P.J.

Her favorite book!

Those cutie teeth!

Her first popsicle

Playing in a bucket of water at Grammy and Grandpa's

Birthday cake

Her "O" face

Opening presents

Her ball pit

The Party

The birthday girl

Good Grief!!

2009-06-11T22:14:00.003-05:00

Well I guess I can check one more thing off of my,"Never Have I" list. Before today I could claim that never have I run out of gas while driving. (not to mention I had Allison with me and it was pouring cats and dogs outside!!!) Thankfully I had enough time to exit the free way and get most of the way out of traffic and then a nice guy came and pushed my car into a parking lot. Then my wonderful mother (shout out!) came and rescued me. I have always been one to push it to the limit with gas in my car, but I think that might change. I don't have a counter or anything, I just know I have at least 30 miles once the light comes on. I think from now on I might just get gas as soon as I see the light!! (duh! Isn't that what it is for??!!)

Sugar and Spice

2009-06-04T08:37:00.005-05:00

I don't have a lot of time (I'm supposed to be grading papers right now) but I couldn't wait another second to post these pictures. I just checked my email and they were waiting for me! I do have lots of pics from her party as well I just have not had 2 minutes to upload them. And with Benjamin's wedding this weekend it will probably be next week before I do. Looking forward to seeing everyone that is coming!! :)

1 year ago today...

2009-05-27T23:01:00.003-05:00

Jason and I were getting ready to go to the birthing center. I was in labor and the long awaited day had come. (Little did we know how much longer we were going to have to wait!!) It was the 27th of May, but for those of you smart ones out there you know that Allison was born on the 29th. That's correct. Now before you start counting how many hours of labor that is, she missed being born on the 28th by 17 minutes. But apparently the girl really did not want to meet us on the 28th! I have been reminiscing all night as I bake cakes getting ready for my sweet little girl's birthday party on Saturday. One year ago today I had no idea what it was to be a mother. One year ago today I was just beginning a 24 hour journey that showed me how strong I really was. One year ago today I had never met my wonderful little princess named Allison. One year ago today I was so sick of being ginormous I couldn't hardly stand it! And today.....how can I imagine my life without my Allison? I never could have dreamed that I would be back in my old clothes and loving my little girl so much, one year ago today.

This little piggy....

2009-05-17T22:11:00.005-05:00

Here's a sneak peek at her flower girl dress!

Uncle Ben and niece Allison

She really is all girl!

She adores her new front facing car seat!!

Well we are t minus 2 weeks people! I picked up all the supplies for Allison's first birthday today and I have finished shopping for her too. I'm going to try out some different cake recipes this week and her photo shoot is on Wednesday. I'm so excited! I'll post the results. And if I can ever get a video of her making her dog noise I'll post that too, it's hilarious!

P.S. Allison did finally get her top two teeth this last month. They are creeping down, I hope she smiles big enough on Wednesday to see all of them, they are pretty cute!

11 Months...the countdown begins!

2009-05-04T20:50:00.002-05:00

Her mohawk, just like her daddy What?

The cutest smile!

Baby in a box

11 Months

2009-04-28T20:53:00.002-05:00

She now weighs 21 lbs 8 ounces and is 29 inches long! She FINALLY has tooth #3! At the Dr. yesterday they pricked her finger and took her blood. I was ready for a crazy ordeal but when the lady pricked her, Allison just gave her this crazy look like, "What did you do that for?" No crying, not even a peep! Then she watched intently as the lady took the blood. She did pull her finger away once or twice but only because she doesn't like people holding her finger. It made me laugh how amazing she was. (now the shots were not such an easy thing, she did scream bloody murder!)

She has decided she no longer likes baby food and loves anything she can feed herself. So far she likes pretty much everything we have given her. I'm in the process of figuring out what we are going to do for her 1st birthday. I have 1/2 of her outfit but I am still looking for the other part. I'm not planning a big party, just a fun get together for our little princess. More pictures to come!

This and That

2009-04-22T21:37:00.009-05:00

We don't let her go out in public like this...... We are so going to have matching purple outfits someday! I thought since it was 90 degrees she could wear a skirt!

She loves this shampoo bottle! She runs for it every time the bathroom door is open.

Well folks it's been awhile as you can tell. Things have been crazy busy here at the farm! Besides our little weed who learns new things every week I have been busy running a Calculus review, hosting a jewelry party, going to the lake, going to wedding showers, going to baby showers, and somehow trying to keep the house in order. It's been a busy few weeks and the next month and a half doesn't look any less busy! I am the Senior Class sponsor so I have Powder Puff, Sr. Dinner, Sr. Picnic, and Graduation all on my plate. Not to mention our State test is next week for the kids. And my brother is getting married in about 6 weeks! Oh and our little baby girl turns one year old! Holy hannah how did that happen??!!! I can still remember so many things about her birth like it was yesterday. (although some things, like the pain, have been erased from my memory, thank The Lord!)

So to give you a quick update, Allison still only has 2 teeth! But we think there are at least 4 working on the top and should be through soon. (hopefully!) She has been clingy and chewing on her fingers non stop! But we do have the best teether in that she doesn't drool and no other real symptoms. I'm praying lightening strikes twice (or as many kids as we end up having!) and the others turn out like her. (not that there are any yet!) She has been so easy!

She is now running around everywhere and today for the first time Jason and I saw her get up with no help from anything else. She usually crawls over to a table or stationary object to pull up, but she finally did it on her own today! She is catching on slowly to the baby sign language and does "all done," and "more." Although today she said both more and all done when she was finished eating, so we will keep working on that! :) She says a version of "Uh Oh" that you will see momentarily, she blows kisses, waves Hi and Bye, shrieks at any dog she sees and points to it, and she has finally started saying "Mama." The little stinker said it about once a week before and every time I would try and get her to say it she would laugh at me and say "Dada." It was a joke for a while because it sounded so deliberate. But she is finally coming around.

She still loves her little tykes car and is constantly getting in and out of it, honking the horn and just sitting there. She hasn't figured out the moving part of it yet. She makes out with the dogs on a regular basis so I'm sure her immune system is the best around. She did get a little touch of a cold a few weeks ago, but nothing major so we have been blessed in that area too!

Her eating has changed and in the last week she has decided she doesn't care for baby food anymore. It is cheaper not having to buy it, but involves a lot more thought in making sure she can eat what we are having or trying to figure out what else to feed her. We have started phasing in milk for her bottles so I hope that continues to go well.

Elmo is still one of her favorites and I am planning on getting her an Elmo Live for her birthday. (I got it 1/2 off at Target!!) Ok, well I'll leave you with some videos and a few shots of our princess.

We have fun with our baby :)

She says "Uh oh" a few times here the first time is right after Jason says it. And she blows a kiss! :)

10 Months and Scowls

2009-03-31T18:30:00.007-05:00

Here is her newest trick. She scowls, and then smiles real big. She is so funny! Here are the little clips that I got for her hair. I have them in all different colors and I love using them! She forgets about them and while I do love a huge bow these are so cute!

Allison has fallen in love with stuffed animals. We have 3 of them that are super soft and she hugs them all the time. She will give them hugs and kisses on demand (no one else, oh wait the dogs get hugs and kisses all the time too!)

She is 10 Months people!! Only 2 months until she is 1, holy cow.

I got her a tiger that she can sit on, she loves it! I also got her a rocking horse that she has fallen in love with too.

She loves flying in the air!

She likes to ride side saddle in her car all the time!

This girl loves Elmo! I don't know what it is, but she loved him from the beginning!

Here is a cute shot of her teeth

Here is another cute one of her teeth

She was just sitting there watching TV with daddy, so cute!

I re-arranged the living room to make room for this jem. She fell in love with it the moment she saw it. She will sit there and play with the mailbox and the door for 15 minutes. (which is an eternity for her, she is such a busy body!!)

Bruises and Friends

2009-03-20T23:43:00.004-05:00

Well it has offically been over a month since I have posted anything, so hopefully the next few posts will give you a glimpse into what's been going on in our lives. We've been very busy and Allison has been learning lots of new tricks. Besides walking, she waves and points at everything. She still makes us laugh when she dances or wiggles her head (I have yet to get a good video of that) side to side. I am on Spring Break this week and she has been teething the whole time. Her top teeth are just about to break through, so we have had a runny nose all week and a fever one day. All in all she has been great, but I'll be glad to have her back to her non teething state.

She got her very first "owie" here. She hit the bedroom door and it hit her back.Reid Womack came over to play. He's a little younger than Allison.
She thought she was big stuff, sitting on P.J. I got 2 pictures, then P.J. got up and walked away.

She also has finally started catching on to the baby sign language. She knows "all done" but we are still working on the other stuff!

Walking for real!

2009-03-20T21:52:00.004-05:00

It was a Saturday (I think!) and we hadn't really been pushing Allison to walk. But I had the thought that I would see what she would do. So I stood her up, and off she walked! It was the craziest thing ever!! It was about 2 weeks after the first video I posted but this was insane! She walked all the way across the living room. I freaked out and grabbed the video camera and this was what I got:

Here is some actual walking. Something just clicked and off she went.

The Northerners

2009-03-20T21:50:00.010-05:00

We were so fortunate that Andy and Natascha (my cousins) and their little boy Carson thought us normal enough to come visit and stay with us on their vacation. They are from Michigan and wanted to get away from the snow. They couldn't have picked a better week! It was in the 70s and 80s all week! Carson is 13 months and Allison had just really started walking for real the week before they got here. (see post below) So she loved having someone older than her around. They were buddies all week!

First Meeting:
At Bucca di Bepo (Planet Hollywood bought them out and it's not as good anymore, boo!)

We went to the Ft. Worth Zoo:
Carson-

Allison-Allison "petting" a penguinAllison making her sniffy faceI tried to get them both smiling and this was the closest it got, I have about 15 other shots of them picking at each other, bending over, leaning opposite directions, it was funny trying to find a good one of both of them.Cason making his sniffy face.

Sharing....No pictures, pleaseWatching a video together"You come here often?"The Captain and his SkipperThe Girls and JasonBenjamin, up to his old tricks...I ran across this one and noticed you can see the teeth! I have been trying to get a good one but can't seem to, so this will do!The almost married couple!Chilling at Sonic after the parkA Forced Goodbye hug!We had so much fun watching the kids interact. When one would cry about something the other would fake cry in response. They both did the "sniffy" face the whole week (Allison had forgotten how) and I think Allison might have given Carson a lesson in yelling. (She's really good at it!) I hope we go up north for Christmas and can give these two another chance to hang out, it was such a blast!

9 Months

2009-03-20T21:36:00.005-05:00

Ladies and gentleman, Vanna White:

Her brand new car that I got for FREE!! I used the points we earned by using our debit card (money we spend on food, bills, and such) to get this little car. I didn't have to pay shipping or anything. And she loves it! She sometimes sits sideways with her legs hanging out, or she will push it around the room by the door (picture someone who ran out of gas and is having to push their car) and since watching her 2nd cousin (we think that's the right term) Carson she does actually get in it. However, the car apparently only goes in reverse when she is driving. She hasn't figured out the whole moving the legs forward, but she does great at the backward thing, well until she falls underneath the dashboard! What a hoot!

I love this chair so much! She usually doesn't sit in it very long, but it's so great to have!

Sneaky little bugger!

TEETH!!!

2009-02-19T20:30:00.005-06:00

Well our little one sprouted 2 teeth this week! She has been more cranky than usual these last 2 weeks and over the weekend I could see the teeth right below the gum. Tuesday the first one came through and Wednesday the other one broke through too! It's Friday and the flat surface of both are through! I was so excited! Thankfully she hasn't been drooling very much, or many of the other normal teething things. Teething tablets are the most amazing invention ever!

Oh the walking front she has figured out she is a little scared to walk on her own, but she is standing on her own for longer periods of time. She will get a toy and stand there not holding on to anything for quite a while.

She is dancing all the time now and her latest thing is voice games. She loves to imitate Jason and they play with each other a lot. She has also slowly started picking up on the sign language. We think she did her first real sign, More. She tries to do All Done, but she doesn't know when to use it.

If you look closely you can see the teeth on the bottom

Mommy and Daughter

This was the cutest outfit, but she just did not want to smile!Sporting her new sunglasses

We knew it wouldn't be long!

2009-02-08T22:54:00.003-06:00

Here's our amazing little girl, once again! She's 8 1/2 months, no teeth, but about to take off running!

Fun with baby hair :)

She wasn't sure about her wagon, but after a walk to Grammy and Grandpa's she loves it! Thanks Mamaw and Papaw Jacobs!!

8 months and dancing!

2009-01-31T15:27:00.006-06:00

Allison is such a hoot! She is 8 months old and has just started dancing and waving. I haven't gotten a video of the waving yet, but I will. I would call it more of a flapping, but she does it when we wave at her. It's so cute! Here she is dancing, we play music all the time now just so we can watch her!

We took her to get her 2nd round of shots at the beginning of this month (my insurance switched over and she is now covered with her Pediatrician, yea!) Anyway I thought it might be really hard because she is so much more aware now. But she was a champ and stopped crying before we even left the exam room. Her one leg was a little stiff the next day, but that was it. We will go every 6 weeks for a couple months but by 2 years she will have gotten all of her shots.

She has been practicing standing on her own lately. She will be by the couch or by the coffee table and she will have something in her hands and sometimes she will stand on her own. Other times she doesn't have anything in her hands and it looks like she is practicing standing on her own. It's amazing to watch. She almost took a step today. She was standing holding on to Jason's pant leg and P.J. (our dog) was just out of her reach. She wanted to touch her so bad and you could see the wheels turning in her brain. She was inching out further and further and let go for just a second, but then she wasn't able to keep her balance.

The other thing she is doing is getting down from "high" places by herself. I was convinced it was just an accident, but the more she does it the more I'm convinced she is a genious. She will be on our couch and she will climb out of mine or Jason's lap and she will get on her belly and slide down the couch feet first! She did it today in the rocking chair when we were done taking pictures, it was incredible! It amazes me everytime she does it! (i'll try and tape it so you can be amazed too!)

Here's some recent pics:

She loves to play with magazines and the newspaper, can you tell?
Here's the story on this one. Allison was playing with something on the floor a few nights ago and I asked Jason to find out what it was. He picked it up and it was a lizard tail! We both kinda laughed and were grossed out at the same time. Well this afternoon I found the lizard that the tail belonged to. It looks really small in the picture but it was actually about 3 inches long (without it's tail) I tried to guide it outside but the dumb dog scared it back inside. So it's somewhere in our house again. I just hope it finds it's way out before the dogs find it.

And one last video for Mamaw Jacobs. She bought Allison a Bunny when she was here and Allison adores it. She gets a big smile on her face anytime it plays.

Januaryings

2009-01-19T17:39:00.005-06:00

Here's what's been happening round here :)

Allison got her 2nd round of shots (we are doing an alternative schedule) and she did great. I think she did better this time than last! Anyway, she is 18lbs and 27.5 inches. (the Dr. forgot to tell us where that puts her on "the chart.") It's almost time for her 8 month picture, but here is her 7 month.And she is now talented enough to decide when she is done!I bought her this chair, it's so freakin cute!

She finally has real hair!!! (you can see it better when it's wet)

Sisters

And here she is playing with her Christmas toy:

Christmas time photos

2008-12-29T20:05:00.005-06:00

Well here are some photos from our break:

Great Granny, Allison and Papaw

This was our ride to look at Christmas Lights

Here we are inside (there were 19 people total)

I love this picture

Allison and her Mamaw

Here's the tree all decorated. Allison hasn't even noticed it

Here is Allison in her brand new wagon from her Mamaw and Papaw And her new walker

See the star?

Finally the ever popular lemon. Oh come on, you know you did it to your kids too!

Stay tuned......

2008-12-28T23:05:00.002-06:00

We are all alive and well here in the great state of Texas. We stayed here this year, a first for the Jacobs family. We decided with Allison being only 7 months none of us would have a good time on the 18-23 hour car ride. No thank you! So, Jason's parents came here this year and we spent Christmas with his family. His mom took tons of pictures and as soon as I can get my hands on her memory card I'll post em! :)

Weekly Happenings and catching up

2008-12-14T21:13:00.012-06:00

Here's the 55 lb catfish they caught over Thanksgiving

Sometimes she gets stuck under Grammy's coffee table

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving

We were at a school Basketball game

Here's a picture of our massive tree in all it's glory!

We got Allison's picture taken today and will post them as soon as we get them! She did wonderfully! It was hard to pick which ones because they were all so cute. We brought Jason's Charlie Brown tree along and those pictures are adorable too. I can't wait to get them back!

Here favorite game:

It was 70 degrees today after a wonderful week of "cold." (I think it was down in the 40s and 50s) However, the high tomorrow is in the 30s. YEA!! Bring it on! We even had some snow last week. None of it stuck, but it was fun to see.

Jonathan played in the Tuba Christmas and we went to watch. Allison also enjoyed her "Biter Bicuits" can you tell?

It's Christmas time!

2008-12-08T20:32:00.003-06:00

Well the tree is up and decorated (It only took a week to decorate it!) and it's 70 degrees outside. Feels like Christmas to me! (and it was in the 40s Saturday night at the Christmas Parade, typical Texas weather!) I only have 2 more weeks of school and since we aren't traveling (we will miss seeing all you Family up north!!) I am looking forward to some relaxing time over my break. Jason's family is coming down here and we will have some get togethers with them. I would really like to get some crafting done, but we'll see how that goes!

On other fronts Benjamin found out today he has Mono! He has been sick for over a week and Saturday he finally went to the Dr. they said he had strep and gave him a shot. Well today he was still running fever and his tonsils were REALLY swollen. So he went back to the Dr. today and it is mono. So any prayers for him would be appreciated.

Here's some pictures from the past week:

Her newest trick, we can hardly keep them out of her mouth now!

At a Christmas party

Her absolute favorite, (next to being naked that is) magazines and newspapers taste so good!

Cutie tootie!!

6 Months

2008-12-03T23:59:00.003-06:00

Well she is officially 1/2 a year old! She is an expert crawler, she pulls up on everything, and she is about to say her first words! Here are some pictures, and I have also gone back and posted quite a few pictures from the last 3 posts, and a video. Enjoy!

Bed and Breakfast/ 5 year Anniversary!

2008-12-01T22:55:00.005-06:00

November 7th marked Jason and My 5th Wedding Anniversary. We celebrated by leaving Allison with Grammy and going to a Bed and Breakfast in McKinney. (far enough to be away but not too far that we spent the whole time in the car) It was a huge cool house that I didn't take enough pictures of, I never do, but here is our room. We ate at a Hibachi place and had a lot of fun. I had my first drink in over a year, although I only finished about 1/2 of it! I was getting spacy and Jason was laughing at me. Then on the way home I was singing to all the songs on the radio, not normal behavior for me! The room was great except it has the original windows (it's a very old house) and both walls are completely covered in windows so it was freezing! We did have a delicious breakfast the next morning. Then we went over to the third Monday trade days before we headed home. The only thing I ended up buying was lots of bows for Allison. But I got some really cute ones and I think they will last for a while.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T22:36:00.004-06:00

Pics of Allison eating Zwieback Toast for the first time

Ready to go to Grammy's in the morning

The Friday before Thanksgiving was such a great day. I got to go to Happy Hour with my mommy friend Alissa (both of our first HH since becoming mommies) and then I got to go home and look forward to the next 9 days with my baby! We had a pretty busy weekend and on Monday we got to hang with Alissa and her baby for a while. Allison got to eat in a real highchair at a restaurant and she did great. I also started buying her the level 2 food. I was getting sick of feeding her the same 5 things! (I'm sure she didn't care) Then on Tuesday Allison and I went to Dallas to pick up Alyssa and then we all left that night for the cabin. We were there until Saturday night. Benjamin and his new fiance Melissa came up Thursday night until Saturday morning so it was a full house all week. (Our 2 big dogs and my parents little dog also added to the chaos) It was a nice week spent eating, sleeping, reading, and fishing. Well, let me qualify that. Technically I don't think it would be considered fishing. My dad and Jason put out jug lines and then checked them about twice a day. However, they did catch the biggest fish they have ever caught 55lbs!! It was bigger than our dogs! It completely filled the bathtub they keep fish in outside. Crazy!

My family doesn't do turkey (weirdos) so we had a pork roast. Very good Mom! More than half the family was reading part of the Twilight series at some point during the week. Good thing we had 3 copies :) Allison charmed us all and had a great time crawling around, riding in her stroller, and just being adorable. Jason had a blast riding the new 4 wheeler and Jonathan and Alyssa took turns driving the mule around.

This was how she woke up from one of her naps at the cabin, arm out of the shirt through the neck

Her teeth were really bothering her one day so we gave her a popsicle to chew on, it was still closed of course but she loved it!

We came back home Saturday night. Sunday was busy spent doing laundry, cleaning, and buying a 9 foot Christmas tree. Yes that's right, 9 feet!! Here's how that went down.....We went to Garden Ridge b/c we have finally given in to the pressure and decided to buy a fake tree. Well the one we wanted was sold out and it turns out that half the stock of trees was sold out as well. Jason isn't much of a Christmas person if you know him. Yes he hangs Christmas lights but when it comes to our house he only lets me listen to Christmas music AFTER Thanksgiving and he isn't a big fan of decorating. So with that being said when the man says, "If we are going to do this let's do it big." I was a little taken aback. Mind you the tree looked perfectly reasonable on the floor at Garden Ridge. (I know what you are thinking, they have 20 ft ceilings and the place is huge. Yes I know, but I was so shocked he wasn't throwing a fit I didn't think about this) So we get this seemingly reasonable tree home and it takes up the entire living room!!! Jason has to stand on the coffee table just to put the top piece of the tree on! (his statement at the store was, "I have an 18 ft. ladder") So we squished it into the corner and it sorta fits. Lucy had a conniption when she saw it (our dog) she is scared of wrapping paper tubes so imagine her anxiety at a 9 foot tree in the middle of the living room! She knocked me over trying to get away from it. Stupid dog. (thankfully I wasn't holding the baby and the wood floor caught my fall.)

My parents also gave us some of our Chrismas so we could use them. We got a Flip. It's a little video camera that plugs right into the computer. It's pretty awesome. We got a great video of Allison laughing at peek-a-boo (her new favorite game) and once I read the instructions I'll upload it :)

The tree in action

I'm a member

2008-12-01T22:31:00.003-06:00

It's official, I have earned my mom patch. Yesterday was quite an interesting day! It started on Saturday night when Allison's head hit my lip and gave me a nice blood blister that resembled a black mole on my lip. Then Sunday morning she got poop in her hair as Jason was changing her so he had to wash her head off. Later that morning is when it got interesting. She spit up, yep that's right, IN MY MOUTH! GROSS!!! I ran to the sink to rinse out my mouth. YUCK!! But the day wasn't over yet people! As I was changing her for bed I let her dance naked on the changing table (her absolute favorite, the only thing better is in front of the mirror) anyway, she was dancing, then she looked down at herself and peed. Standing up. That was new. Then she stubbed her toe on the dresser so I hugged her and she peed again! It was a fun filled day!

Slow down!!

2008-11-13T21:25:00.006-06:00

Is there a pause button on life? I am so looking forward to the holidays when I can be at home with my little peanut. She is growing up so fast!

Here she is "talking"

And here is her latest progress on crawling. In about 3 days she figured it out and now she is a mad women! My mom had to put up blockades all over the place today to keep her from getting into things. How does it all change so fast??

and today....

She's growing up so fast!!!

2008-11-08T22:37:00.004-06:00

Bets are now being accepted for when Allison is going to walk!! She figured out how to move her hands with her legs. She was actually crawling yesterday at my Mom's, this video doesn't really show it, but I'll get it and post it soon!