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.

One Week Down

I did it!  One week: no chips.  I even managed to do that with half a bag of tortilla chips sitting in our cabinet (it's still there).  I'm going to keep going with this streak.  Now I am not going to pretend I made wonderful food choices all week; I did not.  But at least I didn't eat any chips! 

Hi I'm Joanna and I'm a Chip-a-holic

It's true...chips are a huge downfall for me when it comes to dieting maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  I am one of those persons who could sit on the couch and easily polish off a half a bag in one sitting.  Obviously this does not bode well when I'm still trying to shed 20 lbs of baby weight (and yes that "baby" is turning three in November).  I started thinking today about those "small steps to weight loss" that many articles have talked about: things like cutting out pop (I rarely drink pop anyway), drink more water (um that's pretty much all I drink), work out (check), etc.  The problem is I already do all those things and have been doing them for around 5-6 years now so those won't help me lose weight.  So what other change could I make?  Cut out chips.  Completely.  I won't even eat the baked chips or other supposed "healthier" chips.  I'm going cold turkey (God I can feel the withdrawal coming already).  I'm going to start with a small goal: go one week.  One week, no chips.  If I do it, then I'll try and go another week.  I'd like to see how long I can keep this going.  My hope is that I'll go SO long without them that I'll lose my taste for them.  Oh sorry, I just fell out of my chair laughing.  But seriously, I know that can happen...I'm just not sure I'll ever go long enough to lose my taste for them (they're SO good!).  Okay blog readers (all 11 of you), help me out.  You need to hold me accountable.  I will check back in next Sun.  One week.  No chips. 

Another Trip to the ER

Wednesday morning began like any other morning.  I got up and ran as usual.  Walker got the girls dressed and fed as I showered.  I was putting on make up Actually, I was about to put on make up but my contact was bothering me so I was cleaning it when I heard a thump and a loud wail.  I knew Taylor had done something but figured it wasn't a big deal until I heard Walker yelling, "there's blood!"  So I go running out into the kitchen to find Taylor sitting on the edge of the sink while Walker was pressing a paper towel to her forehead.  I grabbed an old bath towel for him to use since the paper towel was already saturated.  Taylor was crying and was not at all happy with us trying to clean the blood from her face.  Walker moved the towel away from her head and I got a good look at the wound: about an inch long cut slice (I think that's a much more accurate word) on her forehead that looked pretty deep.  I actually got a little sick to my stomach looking at it so I turned away (FYI: I don't do well with open wounds).  How did she do this?  Well we have one of those rolly chairs for our desk and Taylor loves to stand on it and lean against the desk.  We also have a drawer on the bottom of the desk that does not like to close all the way.  Put them together and what do you get?  The chair rolls from under Taylor's feet and she catches the drawer face first.  We decided Taylor needed to go to the ER so Walker called in to work and I finished getting ready.  Lucy was quite perplexed by all the chaos.  We got the bleeding to slow down enough to put a couple of bandaids on Taylor's head so she wouldn't bleed all over her carseat.  I also took her shirt off and gave her one of her many "loveys" to hold.  Walker and Taylor went to Provena, while Lucy and I headed off to work. 
At the ER Taylor quickly started acting like herself: running around and climbing everything.  She seriously does not learn.  Luckily the doctor said since it was a clean, straight cut, stitches weren't necessary.  The cut was repaired with Dermabond (glue) and Walker was given the instructions to keep Taylor's head out of direct sunlight for at least 3 months (to minimize scarring).  No concussion or other head injuries...thank goodness!
I have to admit, I wasn't completely freaked out by it.  Call it mommy gut or whatever, but I knew Taylor was going to be just fine.  I think a part of me is becoming a little too used to her bumps and bruises but also, me panicking and driving myself crazy with worry isn't going to help these situations.  I have a feeling we will have many more to come.  Oh and the rolly chair is gone: today I brought home my wood desk chair I had at school that does NOT have wheels.

All "glued" up and ready to go

Nothing a little donut can't make better

Visit with the Nutritionist

Since Taylor is receiving speech services through EI, we apparently qualify for other perks (unfortunately, one of those is NOT free health insurance).  A few weeks ago we had a nutritionist come to our house to discuss Taylor's eating habits and her overall health.  Now you all know how much I've stressed about how little she is for...well ever since she was born!  Even though her pediatrician reassured us over and over that Taylor was just fine, I still felt like there was something wrong.  I even had her go gluten-free for one every expensive week!  So I went into this appointment with apprehension.  I was positive that Taylor's diet of fish sticks and chicken nuggets would not be up to par and we were in for a lecture on feeding Taylor "convenience" foods.
Okay this is terrible, but I'm not entirely sure of the nutritionist's name.  I think her name was Sue.  So that's what I'm calling her.  Anyway, Sue showed up at our house and she was one of the most personable ladies I have ever met.  I mean she's the kind of lady who you would want to be your 2nd mom.  Since Taylor was sleeping when Sue came, the three of us chatted a bit about what Taylor eats and the concerns I had.  I right away admitted to feeding Taylor the chicken nuggets and fish sticks and Sue didn't bat an eye.  Actually what Sue focused more on was the fact that I try to sneak veggies into Taylor's diet by pureeing them.  She loved (no seriously, LOVED) that we had made pancakes with pureed beets and that Taylor had actually eaten them.  Sue also really liked that we gave Taylor the fruit/veggie pouches.  I kept telling her, "I'm doing the best I can!" and Sue was just so nice and supportive.  By this point, Taylor had woken up from her nap and Sue weighed and measured her.  Buck naked, Taylor weighed 23 pounds, 11 oz.  Yeah most 1 year olds weigh that!   Ah, what else is new?  And I think she was just shy of 34 inches.  She is still on the growth charts.  Barely but she's there!  However, despite her size Sue said Taylor was really healthy.  She has good muscle tone and her body looks good (that sounds weird but you know what I mean).
Sue encouraged us to keep doing what we were doing and to keep offering the veggies.  She also gave us some suggestions of new things to try (like crushing cheerios and coating very thin apple slices in them).  She also gave us a bottle of a multi-vitamin and a DHA supplement.  The DHA supplement was a huge blessing; I don't know if you've noticed but DHA supplements for kids are kinda expensive. 
So after that wonderful visit with Sue, I can finally say, I am no longer worried about Taylor's size!  And I'm not stressing about what she's eating either!  It is a huge relief to not have that underlying stressor.
And hopefully I will have an update on her speech soon.  I'm waiting for her therapist to do another full evaluation before I post anything.

Tuesday Temptations....cutting back

So I start school in a week.  Actually, now it's less than a week.  I started the Tuesday Temptations so I'd have more of an excuse to post (b/c clearly having 2 kids is not a good enough reason ::eye roll at myself::) and it was summer so I was trying to fill the time.  But now that school is starting up again and I started yet another blog (Mrs. Willis' First Grade) I feel Tuesday Temptations might become more of an every other week thing.  I do want to continue sharing recipes but if I find them online,  I might just post a link and a quick review. 

So this week I bring you 2 of my favorite recipes from Six Sister's Stuff:

Baked Chicken Ranch Taquitos

These are AWESOME.  No seriously, they are SO delicious!  I made these for my dear friend Emily after she had her baby and I can say confidently that she and her husband William loved them (I can't remember if her little guy Owen liked them or not....).  I have made them for staff lunch days at school and they got gobbled up.  They are incredibly easy and I have a feeling you could even make a batch and freeze half of them to save for another day. 

Baked Chimichangas with Green Sauce

Okay yes it's another "Mexican" dish but it is so good!  What I love about Six Sister's recipes is that most of them are pretty easy to execute.  Oh and they taste yummy.  This might not be the best weeknight meal if you're someone who likes to get dinner on the table fast.  They don't cook long but the prep is a little more intensive because you have to stuff the chimichangas.  However, I promise they are worth the work!