Healthy Eating? Getting Enough?

Having a child with an allergy has been hard. We were told by the Doctor he would grow out of it most likely, and that he'd be fine eating crackers and breads with milk in them. I scoured the internet about milk allergies, read blogs with mom's of children with a milk allergy. From what I gathered, it was best to rid of all milk products to see exactly how much the milk affected him. SO that is what we did. It took me a day or so to go over all the boxes ingredients, and what not, I continued to give Owen things that had milk in them (breads, waffles and stuff) Then I cut out all milk, his bumpy skin was better! It was crazy. His eczema almost cleared up (almost).

It wasn't too hard to switch to non dairy items. It's such a habit to grab an item and turn it around to see what's in it. Luckily things are pretty well labeled now a days. My big concern is that he's getting enough nutrients throughout the day. I worry because finding good healthy and easy snacks for Owen is hard. Most things aren't too filling. He still can't have nuts due to his age, so that knocks a lot of things out. Then I have to look at if it has milk. 

We've found lots of cereals and crackers that are non dairy, of course fruits and veggies, meats, we found Silk Soy yogurt at Walmart, which Owen loves. There's also some pasta and pasta sauces. I've found waffles, breads, and other items. Now Owen isn't always good at eating everything. He tastes, then spits. Wonderful. 

I've noticed lots of items I go for now are Organic and Gluten Free. Most things I buy tend to be more on the pricey side. Not really by choice, But, that's what happens when you have to buy special things. I've also scoured Pinterest for ideas. I've realized also that it's easier just to make things yourself. They add SO much stuff in to boxed things now a days. It makes it convenient, but not so healthy. Now, don't get me wrong, I still buy a lot of that stuff. I'm slowly realizing, "Just make it from scratch Priscilla!" 

Today I've done just that. I made some healthy toddler muffins. Packed with fruit and veggies, not too sweet, soft, easy to eat, and Owen liked them, even better!

They are a tad bland, I may add some sugar next time, or some more cinnamon. But little ones taste buds don't need a ton of flavor. 

I have another recipe for blueberry and banana muffins. They have squash in them. The only thing, they have some butter. Not sure if I want to try them or not. I've also found some other recipe's on Pinterest. Having a finiky eater, a some times I'll eat, eater. A little one that put's it in, and spits it back out. Or you look and thing he's eaten, to see every piece of food on the floor. It's hard, frustrating and makes me worry. 

Do any of your have to deal with any of this? Allergy? Picky Eater? What are some things you've done or found helpful?

Back to School

Sorry for the lack of blogging. Bottom line, things have been quite and kinda boring. I seem to be in a 'funk'. 

I feel bad. Landon is on summer break, I want to do a ton of things with him, we always kept busy and did stuff. I feel like we haven't done anything. Our days are revolved around Owen. If Owen's fussy we have to head home. If it's 11 or a little after Owen is grouchy because it's about lunch time. We have to be home for nap time for Owen. We are still doing things, but I find myself and Landon saying, "SO, what are we going to do today?" 

One thing we have been doing is getting stuff for school ready. We've got all of Landon's uniform shirts, we got a great deal at Old Navy. We've purchased most of his school supplies, that was fun and a nightmare all wrapped in to one. We just have a few things left to buy, like baggies, tissues and dry erase markers. Man, they want us to buy a 12pk, or 12 dry erase markers. Target didn't' have too many to choose from, but those things are PRICEY! I will probably go to one of the office supply stores to get those. I keep forgetting every time we are out. After that we are done with supplies. Landon's got his lunch box picked out, he decided he wants to use his backpack from last year, he got his new shoes this past weekend at Dick's. Now I just need to get socks and undies and some hoodies, I'm sure it'll be cool in the mornings when school starts, and we're done.

I'm excited about Landon going back to school. He misses his friends. I am excited to see who his new teacher is. I am actually kinda nervous. Whomever his new teacher is, has a lot of expectations to live up to after Landon having Mrs. Ferguson! 

Landon is missing his two front teeth, but you already knew that. One day when I was putting Owen down for a nap he came up the stairs in a panic, "Mom, I got gum in my hair" and he was holding a chunk of hair in his hands. Yep, he cut his hair, Now his teeth and hair match! So funny. 

I laughed. I told him I could have got the gum out he didn't have to cut it out! He is also growing his hair out, has been all summer, and now it looks funny. He is refusing to let us take him to the barber to get it fixed. Oh well. 

Landon had his first sleep over on Saturday night. His two friends, Matthew and Claire stayed the night. They had a blast. Greg and I laid in bed listening to them chit chat til about 11. It brought back floods of memories for both of us. I loved sleep overs growing up. 

Only 20 days til school starts. It's so hard to believe. It's hard to believe we have been here for a YEAR in 16 days. Crazy. The year has flown by right before my eyes!

13 Months

Oh my Owen, today you are 13 months old!

SO what are you up to these days Mr. Man? 

~ You are just a tad under 20lbs.

~ You wear 12 month clothes and size 3 shoes. You are in a size 4 diaper. 

~ You are getting better at eating. You usually have some milk between 5-6. When you wake up you have oatmeal for breakfast. You devour it! You usually have a snack about 2 hours later with some juice, then lunch around 1130. You have a snack after nap, and dinner about 530 and bottle at bed time.

~ You favorite things to eat are oatmeal, crackers, cereal, applesauce, yogurt (Soy yogurt) ham, hot dogs, meatballs, spaghetti, banana's, apples and veggie straws.

~ You are still allergic to milk so you drink so milk and we've cut out all products that have milk in them.

~ You go to bed at night around 8 now. You haven't been sleeping good lately, makes mommy sad. You tend to wake about an hour after your down, then at midnight and then around 5 or 6. You are usually up for the day at 730-745. Some nights you won't wake at midnight, some nights you won't wake at 5-6. It's so odd, I don't know what it is, we think we are good, then you are up all night. I am blaming teething and your bad itchy skin. 

~ You take one nap a day. You go down at 1230 and sleep anywhere from 1 hour to 2. I like the 2 hours days, but that's not all the time. 

~ You do great with your cups, I could probably toss the bottles, but I'm in no rush. You mainly take one to go to bed at night. 

~You talk a lot. A lot of gibberish and lots of new words. You say, Mom, Dad, Landon (La-da), yes, more, cheese, icky, hello, night night.

~ You wave bye bye now.

~ You have 9 teeth. Looks like those molars are coming though. 

~ Your hair is a strawberry blonde. Explains why you are so feisty!

~ Your skin is still bad. Some days are better than others. I try my hardest to keep it from flaring up. I use lots of Aquaphor and creams. No scents in anything. Cool baths, cool room at night, humidifier and Zyrtec. I am praying you grow out of it.

~ You've taken maybe two steps alone. We are working hard with you to get you walking. You are doing much better and I can see you walking within the next few weeks. I think you'll be much happier.

~ You love to get in drawers and empty them. 

~ You love your water table outside. 

~ You love Landon. You squeal with delight when you see him. You love to be rough with him and climb all over.

~ You have your moments where you can be pretty ornery. You like to pull my hair and hit. 

~ You do not like to sit still, AT ALL. Or be tied down. You can stand in any strap at the store. It can be in a shopping cart, a high chair, anything that buckles, you still manage to get out. 

~ You still dislike your carseat, even you big boy one. Sometimes you are ok in it, most of the time not happy. We are really debating on turning you around when you hit that 20lb mark.

~ You love to play in your room and Landon's room. 

~ Some of your favorite things are your water table, your balls, cold teething rings, books and anything you are not supposed to have.

Here are some of your action shots getting in to things! Figured I'd show ya'll what Owen can do.....

Owen you are a handful but you sure are fun and funny to be around. You have the prettiest blue eyes, and such a sweet smile. Your laugh is super contagious and you love to make us laugh. There is never a dull or quiet moment around the house, and we wouldn't want it any other way. Now if you'd start walking we'd be good!

**** Ok, quick note. We tried the cry it out method tonight. Oh my. It was terrible. TERRIBLE. Owen woke up and Greg got him back to sleep, then he was up again shortly after. We decided it was time to self soothe and cry it out. Owen cried for about 15 min, well, SCREAMED bloody murder. I went in and layed him down and patted his back. He continued to scream. I did this for about 5-10 minutes. He was snotty, slobbery, screaming, sweaty and pissed. I picked him up for a second, nothing. It took atleast 20-25 minutes to calm him down. He wouldn't stop crying. We finally had to put some milk in bottle and he caught his breath. He was still crying but not as bad. I had to walk around the house, bouncing and gently swaying and shhhhing. Finally he passed out. I guess we can try again tomorrow? Gosh, so hard.....

Camping in WY

Some friends of ours from Dyess go to Cheyenne WY every year for their Frontier Days. It's a big thing around there. Fair, shops, Rodeo, Concerts, you name it. They always said when they got this year we should come up and hang out with them. 

After lots of thinking we decided we wanted to go. I searched for Hotels, since we were so last minute everything was booked. I started looking for camping spots. I checked in to Outdoor Rec to rent a camper. Most of the campgrounds were booked already. I found one that had tent sites, but we really wanted a trailer. I called the FamCamp at FE Warren (The base in Cheyenne) They had both trailer and tent sites. I called all the Outdoor Recs here in the Springs, and the only place that had one was Schriever. I called the campground back and now all they had was tent spots. So, tent it was. I was planning on renting a tent for the weekend. After talking we realized it was better to buy one. So that's what we did.

Friday I packed the car and around noon we headed towards WY. It was only 2 hours and 50 minutes to get there, a really straight shot and simple drive.

I've never been to WY so I didn't know what to expect. It was pretty, kinda flat, but not really? The city was nice, the downtown area was beautiful with TONS of gorgeous homes. There was the base there so it's a military community too, which makes it nice. 

FE Warren is a very old base. It was built by the Army for the Calvary back in the 1800's. The buildings and everything were old, and kinda spooky looking. The camp area was nice.

It took some time to put the tent together, but it wasn't too bad. The thing that was hard was Owen, he was fussy, oh man. Not in a good mood. 

We got a 6 person tent. I wanted space for a air mattress and the pack in play. We had plenty of room. 

We went to dinner after setting up. It was bad. We went to Olive Garden, their service is slow. Owen was fussy and was not having it. I scarffed my food down and then Owen and I went to the car. When we got back I put his butt to sleep. Then we hung out outside. 

There was antelope roaming the camp ground. SO pretty. It was cool. There was also lots of bats out once it got dark, scared me, lol. 

The weather was mid 80's and at night it was 60. Well, we froze our butts off. Oh my, by morning, this is how we looked. 

Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. I was cold, worried about Owen getting cold, you could hear every movement in the park. Every time someone unzipped their tent, people walking around, the trains, oh man, the trains....all night long. Plus I had read in the base paper that people were saying the base is haunted. Ugh! 

That morning we went to breakfast then headed to the capitol to watch the parade. 

We met up with our friends, Donae, Aubree and Jaxon. (The Raymundo's) 

Here is MS WY. She was TINY, oh my goodness. 

Owen loved the commotion of the parade and waved A LOT.

This is Donae's mom and Dad. Those are their horses and they pulled this wagon. So cool. 

When the parade was over Landon got to ride in the wagon back to the fair grounds. He was SO happy.

We then hung out checking out the fairground most of the day. It was fun. Hot, but fun. 

A storm rolled in. It got dark, lots and lots of thunder and lightening. It started raining, and then we realized we had some windows open on our tent. So we rushed back to close them, and lightening was all around us. We were scared. We were under all these huge trees in a tent. We went and had dinner and decided we should pack and go home. Once we got back to the tent it was sunny and nice. I didn't want to leave, neither did Landon so we decided to stay. It was nice, I am glad we did. We all slept much better. 

Sunday we got ready and headed home. I am not sure why we skipped out so early. The fair was just a normal fair, expensive food and games, fun to go through once, then that's it. It gets pricey. Plus with kids, it's hard to enjoy it all. 

It was a fun weekend, we've learned some things about camping in a tent, and believe it or not, we can't wait to go again!