It was the first time in 8 months....

that I have walked out the door without a child, of any kind, for a length of time. I just spent slightly less than 2 hours blissfully all on my own. I ran into Mike Walker, I picked up a co-op order, went for coffee... and looked at the world without child lenses on. I saw road kill. Sound stupid? I am usually refereeing the back seat and looking out for other cars... way to busy to see road kill. I counted 4 squirrels. Bad day for squirrels.

So, what does all this say?

I have no clue what to do when on my own anymore.

When I got home, John seemed exhausted and said he had been 'bit, scratched, hit, and generally mauled... and that was just the dog'. I replied... 'so, now you know why I am so tired when you get home?' He said, YES.

The two hours were indeed very fleeting. I look forward to more.

Jack Attack!

From my camera phone and edited in iPhoto....

Splish Splash!

Dory, Belle and Trey

They had a great time playing for several days while they stayed with us. I was proud of how well Dory did with sharing. All of them really!

Soooo....

It has been awhile since I have given regular good updates. I feel like a bad blogger!

The kids are growing so fast. Dory is giving up nap time in the afternoon, but by evening she is getting very unruly and very hard to manage. Jack is just all over the place and enamored with his big sister. She's just the coolest thing ever in his eyes. It is really neat to see. He sneaks watching TV pretty often but is really good about finding something else to do. He speed crawls, cruises, knocks stuff off tables, eats every leaf he can find so I come running when he starts to choke on it, LOVES to get into the dog food, and is the biggest momma's boy ever. He also has a nice collection of bruises on his face right now. A whopping 3 all on the right side. Dory is super clingy now days too. She wants to hold my arm all the time in order to cuddle with it. Odd. And has recently started to lift the corner of my shirt for skin to skin cuddling on my back when sitting on the couch... also odd. I think all of that has to do with a need for attention and more mommy time. Everyone needs more mommy time.. :( including mommy. LOL Soon, soon we will have Jack on solids and solidly on a sippy cup and it will allow mommy more freedom. Maybe then I can get a bit more time for everyone else.

I have been busy sewing... I even had an order roll in from Hawaii last week. It really took me by surprise, but I am tickled. Maybe I don't get to deliver this one in person, but hey... in some sense I have made it down to paradise!! LOL Now, if I could just get my business cards done so I had something to hand out to direct people to the website! (BTW- it's www.jonquilmom.com) But, one thing at a time I guess. I have a ton of projects other than slings as it is.

The garden is doing really well, we cages huge tomato plants this morning while Jack crawled around in red mud. He had a blast. Daddy and I got scratched up from the wire. Next year... cage EARLY, like when they are put in!!!! The beans are producing great even though the Japanese Beetles have taken over. They have been wonderful and tasty.. the beans that is, not the beetles. Radishes are also up and yummy. Go John. :)
Dory added a parsley plant that she bought for a dollar at the Charlotte Tailgate Farmer's Market yesterday. She was so proud. That reminds me, I have to clean dirt out of her car seat... we had an accident bringing it home. Her marigolds are getting huge but the carrots and new zealand spinach have barely propagated. I am loving the kale though... it is doing very well!
Our blueberries got ravaged by the beetles and the fact that I fertilized them at a very bad time. Live and learn.

I will post pics in just a little bit. I have a few really good ones to share!

Makes me smile

http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/grantbarrett/comments/tocology_obfuscation_enhances_legislation/

I love it.

Stealthing First Foods

Someone, it's obvious who, decided all on his own that it was time to start solids this morning. He then stole his sister's banana and went to munching. I have no clue how much he got, but he sure was happy about it, munching away all smiles and dog hair. He picked it up off the floor and I had not vacuumed in a day or so, hence the dog hair.
He was so covered he got a shower.
Of all the things to steal from his sister, and the issue we suspect, I have feeling we got lucky with the banana!

4 teeth

I have been bitten umpteen times... since someone particular has been teething what looks like the top 4. He has been clingy, chewy, feverish, had runny poo, sleepy... and so on for a few days. It all makes sense.

Something new

Bud got, *gasp*, his first sippy cup of water. Man, he sure is growing up.
My Mom gave it to him last night.

AND he has sat in his booster seat at the table since Friday night. Like a big boy. Eating his spoon.

New Milestone in Mommy Heart Attacks.

Bud climbed the stairs. Up to the landing. Up 3 steps. I wasn't watching, but I am pretty sure he was on the floor when Dory went to her chair for breakfast.

I'm going to go and have a good faint now.

Glutened

Well, I have been sick all week. DOG sick.

I was warned against not taking care of cross contamination. :(

Anyway, I have had within the past week:

-migraines (Hx of clusters, but this is my first real migraine)
-light nausea
-painful itchy rashes in no less than 8 places: knees, ankles, elbows...
-brain fog
-painful scalp
-followed my nearly every other hair on my body reacting to touch with pain
-throbbing knee/leg pains
-crushing 'sinus infection' like head pain when I move... but it's a delayed reaction
-fever w/ chills and sweats in rotation

One time it got worse after I know I was glutened by cc.

I thought that in the beginning I had an ear infection so I started treating myself with immune system boosters, like echinacea, fermented garlic, probiotics.... oh, the counter intuitiveness of it all. Apparently when you come off gluten the body's immune system goes into overdrive; I was making something bad even worse. I cut it all out about 3 days ago and I am slowly feeling better.... Shoot for as much pain as I am in I might as well have been doing recreational drug detox! Sheesh!

I thought I WAS detoxing at first, but then it was suggested that I had been glutened in the beginning.... last Sunday when we used a particular porous piece of stoneware to cook that yummo chicken, maybe? *sigh*

Well... I am sure that I am in this for the long haul now. This is HELL. Give me drug free childbirth any day.

Gluten Free and Dirty Mommy Talk

Readers beware... if you are not a parent, this might just be way over the TMI quota!
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Well, for as long as I remember Jack's poop has been green. Spinach green to be exact. Honestly I don't remember how it was in the beginning, but I THINK it was green. And while nursing wasn't a huge problem, there were things that drove me nuts. Like the way he would pop off and struggle with me when I knew he was starving and arch his back. He also had some very nasty crusties behind his ears, I thought it was dried milk at first, but apparently it wasn't My Lactation Consultant told me as much when we went in at I think it might have been 4 months? Anyway, she said the likely cause was a food intolerance, wheat or dairy in my diet. She followed that by saying they usually out grow it by 6 months, so it was up to me if I went through elimination diets. I chose to wait it out since it can take nearly that long to cycle through anyway. As long as it takes to clear my body, it takes that same time to clear his... back to back.

So, while we were waiting it out, it just continued to get worse. His ears especially. One day when I looked at it I almost thought it had started to rip off... but it only took a split second to realize that was wrong... it was just gooey and his ears do not stick out but lie flat (lucky kid) so I was looking up under the flap and it was all yucky. *sigh*

I was starting to be torn and his poop was getting darker green by the day. At 6 months, we were worse and not any better. So... I knew it was time to try. I tried convincing myself it didn't hurt him to have green poop, but seriously... it's his little body's way of saying something is wrong. As much as I do everything else under the sun to try to make sure the kids are healthy it didn't make sense for me to ignore this any longer. So, the day Of Max's Bar Mitzvah/ Ankle Sprain, I went gluten free. The day before I gluttoned on all the gluten I could; cookies, crackers, bread... you name it, I tried to eat it. By the end of the day I felt so sick. Sluggish, vile, icky... so much so I could not even eat the last 2 organic oreos. I was heartbroken. But, I knew I was doing the right thing.

Now, with an allergy/intollerance to wheat it is usually the protein in it that carries a problem. It is also for all intents and purposes identical to the protein in Barley and Rye, so none of those either. Oats are super close, but may or may not react. Milk/dairy is also extremely close, not the lactose(the sugar) that we know I have issues with but the casein, the protein. Well, so far I am only eliminating the gluten, not dairy. So far there has been improvement. His ears have healed completely and his 'mustard seed' is looking more like it.

So there you have it.... that is Jack's largest new development.

Chicken.

I just had the best. chicken. ever.

Really, it was THAT GOOD.

What was it you ask? Maybe a total fluke, but I don't know.
I used e's curry chicken recipe for the most part.

I thawed Henrietta, put her in one of my stoneware pans, rubbed her down with about 1c of CO, 1tsp curry powder, 1tsp red curry paste and some salt... she had some skin pull away around the breast so I rubbed under her skin too and packed what stuck to my hands in. I baked her at 425 for an hour, flipped her upside down and put her back in for 5 minutes until John checked her temp. She was super close to being ready so we left her in but turned the oven off while we made rice and veggies that I had forgotten about. (Too busy posting to remember I was cooking. )

Anyway, It was the tenderest juciest chicken I have ever had, bar none.

But...

then...

I went back for seconds...

and put the pan drippings on it. Heavy CO and curry flavor...

My toes curled.

O. M. G.

Yeah, that good.

New Bud pics

Seven months.
Weighed in at 21.5# on the home scale today.
He's a bigun'.

Build A Bear

We now have a bright pink teddy bear named Sammy who is dressed from head to toe in a hula outfit that is red, orange and yellow. And wears pretend makeup.
Auntie said it was all she could do not to seer her towards something else. And she asked quite a few times if she was really sure that was the one she wanted. LOL Yep, the tacky days have begun.


And, the overnight trip has been a HUGE success. They went to see Curious George at the movies this morning... and Dory sat all the way through it and was very impressed at how dark it was and how BIG the screen was.
I will bet she remembers this trip for a long time.

I am so proud of her and how she acted. I feel like I done good by her. :)

She is on her way to Auntie's

for her first overnight trip ever. As a mommy I m now thinking of all of the horrible awful things that can happen. However, within 25 minutes of them departing for Anderson I got a pix message with one zonked out little girl sleeping. They are on their way to the build a bear workshop... then off for swimming, the Greenville Zoo, ice cream with one of Tricia's students and tomorrow morning they are hoping to catch Curious George at the cinemas for the toddler showing! Whew! I don't know that they will get it all in...

Something's Brewing

It's Kombucha...