Happy 2nd Birthday to Lucy!

Well of course I haven't been keeping up with the blog.  I was waiting until after I got Lucy's 2 year pictures done (which required good weather) but I got those done 2 weeks ago so now I"m out of excuses.  It's okay; I don't think anyone was holding their breath waiting for this post ;)

Weight: 23.6 pounds
Height: 31 inches

Yeah she's a tiny one too but she's still able to wear Taylor's clothes from last year so it is really working out well.  Lucy is slowly losing her little fat rolls.  Her thighs don't have any more creases but she still has a touch of the wrist and ankle rolls.

I think I have the smartest 2 year-old ever but of course I'm biased, lol.  I also may have the sassiest.  We always used to say that Lucy was our well-behaved child.  And in many ways, she still is.  However, in the last 3-4 months she has developed quite an attitude.  For one thing, Lucy does not like sharing us with Taylor.  If Lucy and I are cuddling on the couch, she gets highly offended when I let Taylor come up too.  Lucy definitely follows The Toddler Rules of Possession:


 
 


And she will definitely let you know when you've broken one of the rules by screaming, arching her back, rising on her tiptoes in indignation, or (gently) throwing herself on the floor and then rolling over halfway to make sure you are watching and understand the gravity of the situation.  And while I love Lucy's advanced language skills, it also means she can defy me with more attitude than Taylor can.  Taylor will just flat out ignore me and turn on her selective listening.  Lucy, on the other hand, will tell me "no," "I don't want to," "NOOOOO," or my new favorite "No ma'am!"  Oh two is a fun age.....

Now about her eczema.  I did post the prayer request on Facebook a few weeks ago and I really appreciate everyone who has been thinking of us.  I feel like since then, we have spent almost $100 on "stuff" to try and deal with this.  We renewed her prescription cream but then I decided not to use it because I was worried it was damaging her skin and I didn't want her skin to become dependent.  We bought stuff for baths, new ointments, creams, moisturizers, itch-fighters, and even medicated bandages to wrap around her legs at night.  Oh yeah, and a new humidifier.  All of the new stuff and new routines seemed to be helping somewhat but let me tell you, it is exhausting.  Not just for us, but for Lucy too.  Last weekend we cut wheat out of her diet.  I know it will take a while to really see the effects of that but I think it might be worth it.  We had an appt. scheduled for May 13th but after a particularly bad day on Tuesday, I called and got it moved up to this morning.  This morning we saw someone different.  I certainly liked our former dermatologist but I just felt like we heard the same thing each time and now that these visits are costing us $50 each time, I wanted some answers and I wanted something that would WORK.  So today we saw a new PA and I like him as well.  He told me he wanted to make things simple for us.  He understood my concerns with the steroid cream but we worked out a plan to get Lucy weaned off it once we get things under control.  It will take a few weeks and in the meantime I am supposed to take pictures of her skin every week so he can see her progress (I probably should have asked how I get the pictures to him....).  When I mentioned our co-pay he told me not to make another appointment but that he did want to hear from me in 2-3 weeks to report on how Lucy is doing.  I really don't care if we have to lather up in moisturizer twice a day for the rest of her life; I just want her to stop scratching because I really feel that's what is making everything worse.  She's not sleeping well because she scratches herself in her sleep.  In general Lucy is a happy child and I want her to stay a happy child.  I don't want her to be miserable all the time because her skin is so irritated.  He also wants us to keep using the Zyrtec twice a day.  We were using Claritin but I don't think that was really helping.  I think the Zyrtec is helping as her skin has been looking less red (not completely normal but at least the redness has gone down somewhat).
I'm really nervous about this summer because she will be wearing less clothes and whenever her skin is exposed to the air, she immediately starts scratching it.  It's like she's been waiting allll day to scratch her lower back or her upper thighs because she just goes to town on them at every diaper change.  Ugh.  I'm really praying the new routine works for her and that we'll be able to wean her off the steroid creams. 
Oh let's end with on a happy note some pictures

I know her skin doesn't look that bad in these pictures; let's just say I've gotten pretty good at retouching.

Chocolate Chip Power Breakfast Muffins

Last week, I found this recipe (thank you Anna for pinning it!) and wanted to give it a go.  But when I looked at the recipe closely I knew I had to modify it.  Do you see the second ingredient listed?  All-purpose flour.  BLECH!  Seriously people, I've read about all-purpose flour; it's not good for you.  Now I suppose I could have substituted with whole-wheat flour but that doesn't really help on the carb count and yes I'm one of those crazies who is following a low-carb lifestyle (for the record, it works).  So I immediately googled substituting coconut flour (which is excellent for you by the way).  The thing with coconut flour is you need a lot LESS of it because it soaks up liquid like you wouldn't believe.  I decided to use 1/2 cup and then add in almond milk to make sure the batter didn't get too doughy.  Also at the last minute, I decided to add in 1/4 scoop protein powder.  We use this protein powder at our house; Walker claims it's one of the better protein powders on the market and since he's the diabetic in the house, I believe him.  Do NOT get a protein powder with a lot of added sugar!!  Now, because of this added dry ingredient, and the use of coconut flour, I had to add 1 cup of almond milk to the recipe.  Also, I used plain non-fat greek yogurt; none of that honey added stuff (hello added sugar anyone???)
The other substitution I made was for the blueberries.  If I had planned ahead, I would have made it with the blueberries but it's Sunday morning and we haven't gone to the store yet.  The only suitable thing I had was about 1/2 cup of Ghirardelli 60% Cacao bittersweet baking chips.  Well that's not a hard call to make; chocolate it is!  The baking chips were pretty big so I chopped them up a bit in my mini-food processor. 
Now I don't count calories (it's way too much effort for me and with the way I eat now, I don't need to and I'm still losing weight) but I know some people out there really like to know the nutrition count.  With all of the substitutions/additions I made to this recipe, the approximate nutrition count is this:

Calories: 209
Fat: 12 g  (yes I know but fat doesn't make you fat, sugar does)
Carbs: 17 g
Protein: 9 g
Sugar: 7 g (yee-ha!  that's with chocolate!!)

You might scoff at how many calories there are but remember, I'm using these as a meal (or most of a meal), not a snack or a dessert.   Also, I calculated the nutrition using the exact brands I have so if you make variations you will have to calculate your own nutrition (although I admit, I took a guess on the coconut flour since I just keep that in a snap-lock container).

  

I was really pleased with how they turned out.  I was worried that they'd be really dense but they're not too bad.  I highly recommend eating these slightly warmed- the chocolate is all melty and gooey which is perfect.

Chocolate Chip Power Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients:

• non-stick spray
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 cup oatmeal–quick or regular oats, plain
• 2/3 cup Stevia in the Raw sugar substitute
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vanilla flavored protein powder (I used Optimum Nutrition's Gold Standard 100% Whey)
• 12 ounces plain nonfat greek yogurt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled (do NOT use margarine- that stuff is nasty!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened original almond milk
• 1/2 cup Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet baking chips, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray or liners.
3. Combine flour, sugar, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and protein powder in a bowl.
4. Combine yogurt, eggs, butter, vanilla, and milk in a second bowl.
5. Fold yogurt mixture into dry mixture; stir to combine completely.
6. Mix in chocolate chips
7. Spoon into muffin tins.
8. Bake until top is golden and springs back when you gently touch it, about 25 minutes.

Yields approximately 10 muffins.