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.

Pass the Butter, Please!

Lately, I've been reading a lot about food, how it affects our bodies, and just how far food companies will go to get you to buy their product.  I'm sure my co-workers are already getting tired of me ruining their lunches by sharing tidbits I've learned!  ;)  But I just have to share what I've read recently about margarine and butter.
Until about a year ago, I had been a margarine-loving girl.  It was cheaper and if I bought the "light" version, I thought I was saving so many calories!  Walker suggested we switch to butter last year because he felt margarine was basically glorified plastic.  I didn't really understand what he meant at the time but I went along with it.  About a month ago, however, I read about how margarine was made and I really started to understand his argument.  Are you ready for something disgusting?  I should warn you, if you really like using margarine, you may not want to read the next part!
So when they make margarine, they start with really cheap oils: corn, soy, canola, or cottonseed.  These oils are already full of free radicals (which are really bad for your body).  Then they mix it with tiny metal particles, usually nickel oxide.  They put this oil-metal mix into hydrogen gas in a high-temp machine.  Added to this is soap-like products and starch.  Then they clean it by steaming in order to remove the unpleasant odor.  The natural color of margarine is gray.  Gray....blech!  Of course this wouldn't tempt people to buy it so they bleach it and then add that oh-so-pleasant yellow color.  The biggest problem with margarine is that it is partially hydrogenated which means it has trans-fats!  Trans-fats, which everyone knows (thanks to Mayor Bloomberg), are terrible for you.  But so many margarines claim to be trans-fat free!  Well....here's where you need to read the label.  It says "no trans-fats per serving."  The FDA allows food companies to lower the serving size so that the serving contains less than 1 g of trans-fats; then they can say in big bold letters on the front of the package "TRANS-FATS FREE!" when really, they're not. 
I found an ingredient list of that appetizing margarine spray (actually found it in a google image search; I Can't Believe It's Not Butter's website of course does not list the ingredients).

 water, liquid soybean oil, salt, sweet cream buttermilk, xanthan gum, natural soy lecithin, polysorbate 60, lactic acid, (potassium sorbate, calcium disodium edta) used to protect quality, natural, and artificial flavors, vitamin A (palmitate), beta carotene (color).

What is polysorbate 60???  A quick google search showed that it's an emulsifier and not only is it added to cream substitutes, baked goods, and frozen desserts but also to medical treatments for acne, mouth sores, and (get ready for it) vaginal itch!  YUMM-O!! Pass me some of that polysorbate 60 please!  (in case you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm at its finest)

Ingredients for butter?  So glad you asked....

sweet cream, salt.

Yep, that's it.  Those are the ingredients in salted butter which is the kind we buy.

So I think we'll be sticking with real butter from now on and I sincerely hope you make the switch as well (if you haven't already). 

Taylor is Three!

And she has been for over a month now.  Yep, behind on blogging again. 
There is a reason why they say "terrible twos" and "thunderous threes."  I hoped and prayed that on Taylor's third birthday she would wake up and it'd be like a light switch and all of her tantrums and defiant behavior would magically disappear.  Yeah, that didn't work.  Taylor is very spirited, incredibly active, and horribly stubborn.  I only have myself to blame for the last one; I'm quite stubborn myself!  I guess the good thing is, she will not grow up to be a wishy-washy person.  In fact, I'm sure she will be quite head strong and not afraid to speak her opinion.  So, she and I butt heads quite often but I'm trying my best to use calm and firm parenting.  I do not want to resort to spanking. It's not that I think people who spank are bad parents (I DON"T); more that I don't think it would be very effective for her.  Also, she already has problems with hitting us when she's angry so I don't think spanking her would send the right message.  What I have found to be effective is taking away toys; specifically "pink Ariel."  "Pink Ariel" is the Little People Ariel figurine and she's wearing a pink dress (as opposed to the mermaid version of Ariel which we also have).  Ariel gets placed on top of our bookcase every 2-3 days.  Every time Taylor asks for her, I remind her why Ariel is up there and that Ariel will come down tomorrow.  It works.  Kinda.
So growth-wise, Taylor is in the 2nd percentile for height and the 6th percentile for weight.  No, I did not flip-flop those!  For the first time in over 2 years, Taylor's weight percentile is higher than her height percentile!  If you're curious what this means in terms of sizes, well she still wears 2T.  She could probably get away with 24 mos. bottoms depending on the brand.  On top she definitely needs a 2T for the length and some 2T shirts are starting to get too short as well.  She's just so darn skinny!  I think she only weighs 25 pounds with clothes on.  I guess that means in the last year she's only gained about 5 pounds (hmph, we should all be so lucky).
So since Taylor turned 3, she has aged out of Early Intervention services.  We were definitely sad to stop our sessions with Miss Amanda.  Technically, she now has an IEP (Individualized Education Plan for all the non-educator types out there) from Champaign Unit 4 schools.  This means that she is eligible to get speech services from them for the rest of this school year.  But that entails her going to the Pre-K center once a week for a half hour during the school day.  Well that obviously isn't going to happen given where Walker and I work and where our daycare provider is.  Unit 4 did their own speech evaluation and based on that, she has qualified for a classroom spot for next school year.  This means she will go there for half a day, every day and she would receive her speech services while she is there.  Of course I had hoped she would have gained enough from her EI services to not need any more speech therapy.  This did not happen.  Don't get me wrong; Taylor definitely made a lot of gains, but at the end of the program she was still showing a 31% delay (compared to 35% delay when she was first evaluated).  That was definitely disappointing to hear.  What's interesting about Taylor is she is on target or even above target in so many areas but then so far below target in others.  For example, 36 mos. olds are supposed to be able to count to 3 to score in the "average" range.  Well, Taylor can count to 20 (and sometimes beyond that if I get her started with "21").  But at the same time 3 year olds are supposed to have an average sentence length of 4-5 words.  Taylor's is 2.5. Taylor has an amazing vocabulary (or so I'm told; I really don't know what kind of vocabulary average 3 year olds have) but she just won't put those words together to form longer sentences.  Taylor still relies a lot on carrier phrases; "I want" still being her favorite.  A new one for her is "it's really" like "it's really hot," "it's really high," etc. 
I don't feel as guilty about her speech development as I used to.  Now I just feel kind of a sadness and longing.  It can be so hard being around her friends (who are all advanced in their language skills to begin with) and watching her struggle to even get out a 4 word sentence.  I think a lot of Taylor's hesitation with longer phrases is her articulation.  She has such a hard time pronouncing words correctly when she's trying to put them together.  If you ask her to say one word, she'll say it near perfect, but when you ask her to say that same word in a sentence, everything gets jumbled up. 
But the great thing is, Taylor only needs the IEP for speech.  The therapist from Unit 4 said there was clearly no cognitive delays.  I was so relieved to hear that.  I guess I kinda already knew it, but it was nice to hear it from someone who interacts with 3 and 4 year olds all day.  Taylor knows all of her letters (uppercase and lowercase) and now knows all of her letter sounds too.  And just the other day she started sounding out words.  Well, okay, she was not putting the sounds together to read the words, but all on her own (seriously, I did not tell her to do this!), she started pointing at letters in words (in order, not just randomly) and saying the letter sounds.  So now I'm showing her how to sound out 3 letter words.  I don't know how quickly she'll catch onto putting the sounds together to make the word, but we'll work on it.  I'll probably start doing some phonemic awareness stuff with her so that she can build a strong foundation for when she's ready to put those sounds together.
Potty Training:  uugghhhhh.  That is how I feel about this subject.  We kinda tried to do it over the summer.  It didn't go so well.  Then we tried again back in the fall.  It went pretty well at daycare (as in Taylor would actually sit on the potty for more than a minute) but at home it was a big disaster.  It got to the point where Taylor was refusing (and throwing a tantrum) to sit on the potty.  We tried reading books, bringing in the iPad, bribing her...nothing worked.  Finally I consulted with my sister (why I didn't ask her sooner, I have no idea) and she said not to push it and that Taylor would use the potty when she wanted to, not when I wanted her to.  I checked with our pediatrician and she said the same thing.  I definitely don't want Taylor to have negative associations with using the bathroom so we're not pushing her.  I do a lot of modeling with lots of excitement (you have no idea how stupid I feel applauding myself for peeing) and we have her dolls and even "pink Ariel" go on the potty (eyedropper filled with water behind their back).  We also ask her if she wants to sit on the potty or go pee in the potty.  About half the time, she'll consent to sitting on the potty but it's only for about 10 seconds.  I know there are people out there who are judging me and maybe even secretly shunning me for having a 3 year old still in diapers...well if that makes you feel better, go right ahead.  Lots of kids aren't potty trained until 3 or even 4.  I figure as long as she knows how to do it by the time she enters kindergarten, we're good (for the record Champaign Pre-K does not require them to be potty trained).  I might break down and buy a really cool toy that she can't have until she's using the potty consistently but at this point, I don't think even that would be enough motivation for her.
I'm not sure there is really anything else to share.  Hopefully I'll be able to post again soon with an update on her behavior, potty training, speech or maybe all three!

Two DIY Christmas Gifts

'Tis the season of over-spending, falalalaaalalalalaaa!

Well at least that's usually how it goes in our house every November through December.  Despite me buying Christmas gifts early (seriously I start over the summer) somehow we always spend more than I intended.  This year I tried to be a little smarter and I decided that for some of my colleagues I would try a make-at-home gift.  The nice thing about this is that even though you don't spend as much, the gift hopefully means a little more because you put some time and thought into it.  So this year I made Lemon Sugar body scrub and Caramel Cheesecake dip. 

I got the basis for the scrub from here.  Now I don't know how she got her scrub to be bright yellow like that.  Maybe it was because she used olive oil as her base.  I had a whole big container of coconut oil already on hand and I've read how amazing coconut oil is for your skin so I used that as my base.  It is in solid form in the container so I scooped out roughly a cup and nuked it in the microwave for 30 sec. to liquify it.  Then I added my sugar and lemon juice and mixed it up.  I ended up adding a little more sugar than the recipe called for because I didn't want the scrub to be liquidy.  Then I scooped it into these cute jars I got at Hobby Lobby (50% off!) and tied a cute ribbon around them.  I printed out a label at school that listed what it was and what the ingredients are.  I do think next time I will add a few drops of essential oil to make it more scented.  Maybe lavender....

Cost:
Coconut oil: $6.99 (and I barely used half the container for 4 large jars of scrub)
4 glass jars: (4X $1.14) $4.56
Lemon juice: free as we already had some
Sugar: approx $2-$3. (I don't remember how much a 5 lb bag of sugar costs at Aldi's but it's not much)
Ribbon: free (leftover from different project)

And then I also made a caramel cheesecake dip which I found here.   Now I didn't do the graham cracker crumbs because I couldn't think of a cute way to package them with the dip and the apple. 
I found 2 small jars at Hobby Lobby (again 50% off!) and bought some holiday cellophane treat bags.  I put the dip in the jars, placed that at the bottom of the bag, placed a granny smith apple on top and tied it shut with a ribbon.  And of course I put a label on the outside of the bag so that my recipients would know what it was.  The bonus part was I had leftover dip since I only made 2 jars worth.

Cost:Jars: (2X $0.80) $1.60
Low fat cream cheese: $1.39 (I feel strongly this is the price of cream cheese at Aldi's; we buy it a lot)
Caramel sauce: $2-$3 (can't remember what it was at Aldi's)
Cellophane treat bags: $1.00 for 20 of them
Ribbon: free (already had some)

So there you have 2 cheap but thoughtful gifts perfect for Christmas or whenever.  If you're looking for more ideas like this, just search on Pinterest: there are more than you can imagine.  :)

Halloween Run-Down

Well everyone else is blogging about what they did over Halloween so I guess I should share our festivities.
This year, the girls went as butterflies.  I'm sure most almost-3 year olds can tell you what they want to be for Halloween but Taylor doesn't seem to get it.  And as smart as Lucy is, I'm not sure she got it either, so I chose their costumes for them.  It all stemmed from over the summer when I saw Halo Heaven had butterfly wings for $1.00 a piece.  I was already placing a big order so I added those, got free shipping, and a costume idea was born.  As soon as Target had their winter "basics" wear out, I bought the girls black tops and black leggings.  All I needed was the tutus.  I was going to have a friend show me how to make them but we're both busy gals so I found some tutorials online and spent a few nights putting them together.  I'm not really happy with how they turned out but I probably didn't put as much effort into it as I could have.  I'm not Emily (LOL just kidding Em!  You know I'm green with envy over here every time you show off a new project!).

 Okay enough with costumes.  Our first event was Boo at the Zoo at Scovill Zoo in Decatur.  This was our 2nd year doing it.  Last year we went later at night and it was COLD!  So this year we met some friends a little earlier (at least during daylight hours) and I think a much better time was had by all.  We even spent a little extra to ride the train.

Ready to ride the train!

aww so cute!

On Monday night we went to the Trick or Treat event at the Savoy Rec Center.  I'm sure we would have enjoyed it more if we had not had to chase Taylor everywhere.  And then Lucy insisted on being carried because she was a little overwhelmed by all the people there.  We didn't get to stay long and I definitely didn't get to take any pictures.

On Halloween we were going to try and do some actual trick or treating but Walker's dad invited us to attend the Halloween party held in his neighborhood for the kids.  They had a really nice set up in the clubhouse- there were games, snacks, and even a little haunted house in one of the rooms.  The girls loved playing the games (especially the fishing one!).  However, the girls didn't get to eat a good dinner before the party so we were only able to stay for about 45 minutes before they started to lose it.  At that point, we knew we just needed to skip the trick or treating and go home.  They still got a lot of treats from the party and with all the goodies they got from Miss Monica at daycare, they're set for a while.  I wish I could have gotten them to sit together for a picture but we're at the precious toddler stage so that makes posed pictures a nightmare challenge.

playing the game

picking out her prize

nom nom nom!  this is a good dinner substitute

frosting face!

it was almost impossible to pull them away from the fishing game!

Lucy is, no, was 18 months

Oh behind once again....Lucy turned 18 months on Sept. 7th...almost a month ago but that's okay.  I wanted to get her stats before I posted and I was late in scheduling her check up, and then last week happened....
Anyway, Lucy is 22 lbs 15 oz but that is with a cloth diaper on (I think it's weird our ped. office doesn't weigh them naked anymore) so I'm guessing she's more around 22 lbs.  She is also 31 inches tall.  I was not expecting that quite honestly; she still seems so little!  Comparatively this puts her around the 20th percentile on both charts.

Developmentally, I'm pretty sure Lucy is on track with her gross/fine motor skills.  She can walk and run, hold a crayon (no toddler crayons over here!), feed herself, use a spoon, etc.  She tries to jump but can't figure out how to get her feet to leave the ground so mostly she just bounces.  Oh and Lucy loves to dance and has mastered several dance moves like stomping, swaying, turning in circles, etc.

As far as her language goes....okay I guess I need to just insert a warning here that extreme bragging is coming.
So I think an average 18 month old has around a dozen words (at least according to babycenter.com).  Lucy has more like 6 dozen words.  That is not an exaggeration!  She repeats everything we say (yes even the f-bomb which I accidentally let loose when we were lost in Milwaukee).  And not only does she repeat it, she will store it in her brain to practice later.  I've been telling everyone lately about when Lucy and I were at the store and she all of a sudden started saying "I said no!  I said no!"  Ummmm gee I wonder who she heard that from?? 
And not only does this girl have a large vocabulary already but she is quite adept at stringing those words together.  Lucy speaks mostly in 2-3 word phrases and quite often throws 4-5 word sentences in there.  Those usually tend to be ones she has heard us or her sister say though.  I don't think she has come up with her own 4-5 word sentence yet, but I gave up trying to track all the things she says long ago.
And if I could just brag a bit more....Lucy knows most, if not all, her uppercase and lowercase letters.  I didn't explicitly teach them.  She just picked them up from watching Superwhy, Sesame Street, and reading alphabet books with us.  Lucy also can identify 0-10 and she can count up to 13 (and then jumps to 16; I don't know where 14 and 15 went).
And as far as colors go....well Lucy knows all the color names.  Sometimes she'll still mix them up.  It's so weird; one day she'll identify all of them perfectly and the next day she gets them confused.  That is happening less but sometimes I do still have to remind her that the frog is green, not red.  I was starting to get worried and then I was like "duh, she's only 18 months...I'll worry if she doesn't know them solid by 3 years."

Okay end of bragging.....

Health-wise Lucy is okay.  Still allergic to peanuts (and has now been exposed to them 3 times accidentally) and her eczema is really bad.  It was getting better over the summer but the past 2 weeks she has been covered in splotches and her skins is sooo dry.  We've gone back to coating her with straight vasoline several times a day.  We are out of her prescription cream so that could be part of the problem.  Our ped. suggested eliminating dairy since that also came up as an allergen for her but honestly I haven't seen an improvement, if anything she has gotten worse since we took it out of her diet.
And Lucy finally has more than 6 teeth!  Just in the past few days 2 more have broken through.  Her ped. also said her gums were swollen so maybe some molars will finally be on the way.  I know that will make eating so much easier for her. 

I wish I had some nice pictures to share but I've been so busy taking pictures for other people lately I haven't had hardly any time (or motivation) to take pictures of the girls.  I think I'm going to have to take a step back from doing sessions for other people for a bit but that might be a post for another time.