Cautious Steps

Ivy will be 9 months old tomorrow.  Just shy of her 9 month birthday, she took her first step on Friday followed by 4 steps on Saturday.  They are cautious steps indeed and it takes some coaxing, but good or bad, walking is near!!

Lemons!

I miss Ranch dressing.  In my quest to not eat dairy to assure I get sleep (boy I sound selfish, I really stopped eating dairy to relieve her misery, I just benefit with sleep as well).  I don’t get to have Ranch dressing.  Truth be told I have had a few salads with Ranch.  I can’t be expected to eat lettuce by itself and finding a replacement dressing has been hard.

I do love Italian from the Olive Garden…but it has milk and eggs.  I tried honey mustard, not so yummy.  I tried some raspberry something or another and again, not so yummy.  I tried some oil and vinegar something and it was really quite hideous. 

And then it came to me – LEMONS! I tried a little lemon and a little lime and I had instantly found my replacement for Ranch.  So yummy!! 

I always knew I loved lemons and now I can love them more. 

By the Skin of my Teeth

Angie and I decided to go to the mall yesterday, it was time for a free gift at Clinique and I needed to pick up a few things for Easter. A trip to the mall is never complete without a visit to our new favorite accessory shop – Fuego.  It is there you can find hats, earrings, and our latest love: feathers for our hair.  While browsing for the perfect hair feather/flower  for myself, I hear a little bird in the background saying.. “ I love this headband, I want this headband.  Mom, can I have this headband.  If I get this headband I will look exactly like my friends next door.  Mom, I need this headband.  Can I have it? I love it….”.  

We were in the store for a while, for some it may have felt like forever.  Baby Evan was done in the stroller.  Angie had to hold him while she tried on hair feathers.  Ivy was in the stroller, perfectly content.  I parked her next to a rack of endless headbands.  She spent this rather long forever time taking them all off the rack and either throwing them on the floor or storing them in the stroller with her (all the while the store clerks were watching with terror and fear).  And Owen, dear little Owen was running around with a beautiful orange headband on using all the tricks up his sleeve to figure out how to get it. 

We even got as far as to the checkout stand.  I am being asked by the sales girl if we wanted the headband. I am internally answering with “please bless I do not buy that headband today.”

In a moment of desperation Angie blurted out that he could have a little Piglet from the Disney Store if he didn’t get the headband.  I agree, it was the only answer, our only hope to leave the orange headband in the store. (let me rephrase: our only hope to peacefully leave the orange headband in the store).

The headband went back, we bought Piglet (and a dog, not sure how that happened exactly), and he got a win/win situation as we arrived at home and he realized that I bought a different headband for myself and he could wear that one. 

Why is it?

I pack my lunch for work.  A sandwich, some crackers, some chocolate chips for a snack, even maybe an apple or two. Each time I pack a lunch Ben begins asking me within the hour of arriving at work what I want for lunch.  I promptly tell Ben that I don't need a lunch, that I brought my own. 

Well today I did not pack ANYTHING.  Not a problem, I told myself as I left for the day.  Ben will get me some lunch. 

Here it is 2:44 and I have been begging Ben to get us some lunch for hours!  I have no doubt that if I had my trusty little lunch box by my feet, I would have heard the lunch question all day.  But here I sit with no lunch and Ben reading about healthcare on the Internet, while I starve. 

Some might ask why I don't go get my own lunch, and to that I respond: That would be absurd.  (really, I cannot leave as I have only a minute between appointments.  In fact, the next one just arrived.)

So while I meet with them, I will continue to wonder why today is the first day ever that Ben has not cared about lunch. 

The Night

It is that time.  That time when small children calm down and go to sleep.  Actually, it is 9:15, I think it is past that time.  Not mine.  They are not asleep.  Owen is reading with Greg, which means in a few minutes Greg will come down and say, "He wants you".  Then I will say, "ok, I am going".  For now, I am sitting on the couch with Ivy.  She is dancing, growling, talking, spitting, sitting, standing, typing, oh and crying now cause she is stuck and can't stand up.  And in a minute I will be upstairs with Owen and Ivy on the bed. She will be crawling all over me, pulling my hair, grabbing owl's head.  Owen will be trying to get his feet under my body and will start rubbing my head.  I will be begging them both to fall asleep and they will not listen. 

This is how the bedtime routine goes at our house.  The joys of the night.

8 Months, 103, and Apples

Little baby is so sweet.  She turned 8 1/2 months today.  She stood yesterday by herself.  Granted it was only for about 5 seconds, but it was cute!  She is walking around on furniture all day and has even been brave enough to let go with both hands to grab onto something else.  She loves climbing up the stairs and has even learned how to go down.  (don't get me wrong, she still struggles..she fell down the stairs today).  She randomly waved at a man at Costco last week.  She waves now all the time.  She can't get enough peas, black beans and avocados.  She has two more teeth, two fangs.  The top two teeth came in, not the middle teeth but the two teeth on the outside of the front teeth!! Little vampire fangs. 

We are still holding off on dairy and actually it appears that she is also allergic to eggs.  I stopped eating eggs when I stopped eating dairy.  At first it was because I just felt it.  Then I didn't want to eat them after reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. However, it wasn't too long before I was feeling a little under the weather after eliminating almost my entire diet and opted to add protein back, with farm fresh eggs from one of the many chickens living at my dad's house.  Happy chickens.  I ate eggs for two weeks.  For the same two weeks, almost every night, the old symptoms were back.  Every night, crying, wiggling, sad.  Clingy baby all day.   I started thinking I was insane and I could add dairy back.  We had an appointment to check for an ear infection and before the appointment I suddenly realized this: two weeks of horribleness = two weeks of eating eggs.  Which led me to realize this; no more eggs. Sigh. 

No more eggs, happy sleepy vampire baby is back.

Owen has been very sick.  Not sure what he had other than a fever at 103 for the last 3 days.  He was so hot.  My poor little guy.  He cried a little, but was mostly brave.  He seems better today, actually, it appears the sickness left behind a little devil.  He bit Ivy's fingers today for no reason and later I told him to put his shoes on and he said "I am mom, duh!"  Duh?? That starts already?? Sigh again.

He had his first t-ball meeting today.  His dad, the coach, led a great meeting and Owen took off playing with the kids.  I can't wait!!!!!

Love vampires and devils!

And finally, I ate a delicious apple today from Pike Place.  It was yellow.  It said Opal on the label.  I looked it up earlier and found nothing.  I looked it up now and found out that an Opal is a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Topaz.  It is a new apple!  How thrilling!!  I will be heading back to Seattle to get me a few more of those.  If you have an opportunity to do so, try it out.

And now I love vampires, devils and Opals!