Yellow Mellow

Remember when???

The Loves of my Life

OUT OF THE KICHEN: The other day, Andy noticed that Adam was always reaching for his yellow toys. So, while in the bath tonight, we put a yellow ducky next to other colored toys and every time he reached for the yellow ducky!

How cool that his daddy noticed this!

In other Adam news - he started army crawling today. He can stand while holding on to me or the furniture. He can pull himself up in his crib. He can walk while holding on to my pants or my hands. He rolls all over the place and boy is he FAST!

He's eating cheese now and uses his pinchers to grasp it. So adorable!

We've been having a blast hanging out with friends and enjoying the wonderful weather. Andy has taken to gardening like a pro and I even planted a couple planters this year. Ugh. Dirt. We've also hired nanny one day a week to allow mommy and daddy to go on a date night. I try not to bombard her with phone calls and texts... :-) She's doing great and it also helps that our neighbor, a police officer, keeps an eye out for us.

I can't believe its the end of May already! My baby brother will be turning 25 tomorrow. Wow! I thought I was 25! I sure miss him but I know he's happy and having the time of his life out in CA.

Time just flies. Our summer calendar is already filling up! With a trip to Estes Park followed by a trip to Canada, we're a busy bunch! We're lucky to have such wonderful friends and family housesitting and pet sitting while we're away. I'm so looking forward to seeing my family and taking on Adam on our first family vacation!

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom. I really hope that God's plans are for me to have more children. This family is my passion. I can't imagine doing anything else.

IN THE KITCHEN:

Adam's palette is growing! We've steamed and baked sweet potatoes, steamed green beans, pears, and peaches. He also eats baked chicken thighs, whole milk yogurt, mild cheddar cheese crumbles, banana, and avocado. I'm eating just about everything now except obvious soy and peanuts. I'm cautious with the other nuts - but so far so good!

Recipe of the day - Chicken Parmesan. I made it tonight with spinach linguine. It was delicious! If you'd like the recipe - email me directly!

That's all for now! I promise the next post will have more pictures!

Leave a Light on

Leave a Light on for Baby Owen.

I'm leaving my outside lights on for Baby Owen so that Heaven can see them too.

(Copied from creightonchic.blogspot.com) - Thanks, Megan, for this post.
If you have any prayers to spare, this family could sure use them. . .

I ended up checking out a blog for a fellow multiple momma after a Facebook friend posted a prayer request a couple of days ago. This family is going through a really tough time right now. They have a 4 year old son and 6 month old boy triplets. On May 22nd, the mom (Mel) was doing baths and putting the triplets to bed when they noticed that Owen, one of the triplets, had flipped himself onto his tummy in his crib. When they went to flip him back onto his back (babies are supposed to sleep on their backs now to reduce SIDS risk) he was unresponsive. Mel called 911 and started CPR on little Owen. Long story short, this little guy has been in the hospital since the 22nd with a very grim prognosis, only a 2% chance of survival. The family found out today that his EEG (brain waves) were flat, no activity. In the morning they will take him off of the ventilator to verify that he can not breathe on his own. They have then decided to donate his organs.

I can not even imagine the pain this family is going through. So many people have sent well wishes and prayers, and Mel has unwaivering faith and trust in God, she is seriously an amazing woman. My heart breaks for her and her family. So my one request for tonight is that you add this family to your prayers for the forseeable future. I can't imagine losing a child. So young. So innocent. So sudden. It's just awful. If you'd like to visit her blog and leave a comment letting her know of your support, you can do that here: bissingfamily.wordpress.com

Life is so short. Remember to love deeply, forgive quickly, and live every day to the fullest. I think we all forget how precious life really is. I am holding my girlies a little closer tonight. I hope you do the same.

Funny Face Friday!

You all know that Rebecca Black song, right? "Friday, Friday. Gotta get down on Friday..." I can't get it out of my head. Every single Friday. It happens. Usually the night before while I'm trying to go sleep but instead think about every possible thing I should/could do on Friday, Friday. UGH!

Last night, instead Rebecca Black's broken record playing in my head, I couldn't stop thinking about those in the South. About all the people who didn't have beds that night. Who lost their loved ones...... their children.... their parents... I snuck into Adam's room a couple times to just kiss him.

Now that we're in a new house this year I had to make our tornado kits again. We are good to go after I put some more water down in basement with some extra tennis shoes. Its scary stuff. Every Spring, Andy the insurance man, just shudders when the weather report mentions anything but sunny skies. Such is life in the midwest.

ANYWAY, I thought I needed to cheer myself up. So here are some funny faces from Adam. Take some time to make a funny face yourself today. It'll do the trick!

Love,

Sheila

Friday.

EASTER!

HOPPY EASTER!

Did the Easter Bunny visit you?

He came to our house! We had so much fun with Adam's Easter basket! And he seemed to like it too! He got some sippy cups, pacifiers, toys, bubbles, a book, and a little bunny! The Easter bunny also brought Adam's 4th tooth! All front teeth have popped in. Poor buddy!

I think the BUBBLES were his favorite!

We all wore coordinating Easter outfits. Yes, I'm THAT mom. Andy was a good sport. I paraded us around church showing everyone how ADORABLE we were. I'll post some pictures of that later...

Easter dinner was at my house this year. I made a feast expecting a small army. But for the five of us who were there - It WAS quite delicious! We had a honey baked ham, candied sweet potatoes, potato and shitake mushroom gratin, roasted asparagus with mushrooms, spinach salad with strawberries and candied pumpkin seeds with a strawberry vinegrette, deviled eggs, apple and banana salad, sweet berry salad, and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert!

(And not a picture to boot. UGH!)

The entire feast was mspi friendly!

It was great to see my parents and Andy's dad, Lyle, came too! Adam enjoyed being the center of attention and soaked up all the Grandparent love!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Its a time of year where we celebrate rebirth, forgiveness, acceptance, and humility. Wishing you all a blessed Easter!

Love,

Sheila

Mommy and Me Monday

Hosted by Krystyn
I thought I'd take a break from the screaming bloody murder Monday to post a pic of my baby and Me! Too often, moms are stuck behind the camera... So here's proof that mom really exists! And in "keeping it real" mom is wearing NO makeup. (I'm so brave.)

In other news: Adam is cutting a tooth today. It looks like it hurts so bad and he's quite beside himself. Some tylenol and ice chips in the mesh feeder will hopefully help a bit! LONG DAY!

Snack of the day: MSPI friendly Blueberry muffins: Mix 3/4 C. Hemp milk with 1/4 C. Safflower oil, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 cup of sugar. In a separate bowl mix 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until dry ingredients are incorporated. Batter should be LUMPY! Add some blueberries. Line a muffin pan (or grease it) and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 12 regular muffins.

They're pretty tasty - better undercooked and with a butter alternative. I like Earth Balance Soy Free.

Recipe Adapted from: http://eatingoutmspi.blogspot.com/

I miss cheese...

Look at the date! December?!? That's how long it took me to edit the post!

Today is: April 17, 2011

I really do. I miss it. It's not the end of the world or anything... But I miss it. Almost as much as butter.

Adam Jones Dokulil is now 7 1/2 months old! I can't believe it! I can't believe how wonderful being a mother is. I love being home with him. I love how he looks at me when he wakes up and I walk into his room. I love how he giggles at me! I love teaching him how to wave and bounce and walk and sing. Life is good!

Its sure been a journey getting here! But I look back it and feel so proud of all of us. Adam and I hung in there for 12 weeks as he and I learned how to nurse. The HARDEST thing I've ever done. But he's so good at it now! And he loves to nurse!

His reflux has calmed somewhat. He's been on Prevacid now since November. I've been dairy/soy/peanut/treenut/citrus free since November also. I MISS CHEESE! I MISS BUTTER! I MISS CREAM! (But don't feel too bad for me - I discovered double stuffed oreos and other decadent treats and somehow didn't loose an ounce during this "diet"!)

We're in full swing with solids. I make all his food with my baby food maker that my brother and his lovely girlfriend bought me. I LOVE IT! My goal is to never buy jarred baby food. Its so easy to make and I enjoy doing it so why not!?! (Ok - I did buy 4 jars of baby food for our tornado preparedness kit. But that doesn't count, right?!?)

Adam enjoys bananas, pears, avocados, chicken thighs, sweet potatoes, green beans, and...... ...... WHOLE MILK YOGURT! We're just in the early phases of a dairy trial. But so far so good! He's had 1 tablespoon of yogurt everyday for the last 5 days and passed! This means I can add yogurt to my diet! It also means that he will switch to from his one bottle a day of Neocate formula ($$$$) to a one bottle a day of regular formula like similac. If he passes that - I shall go on a cheese eating binge for sure. Fingers crossed!

Spring is also in full swing! (Or, at least it was until it snowed all day on Friday.) We've been to the zoo several times already with Megan and her "honeys". Megan has twins the same age as Adam and we all have a blast hanging out together! (I know I do!)

Until next time!

Sheila

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Hello World! I can't believe its been 3 months since Adam was born. I feel like I opened my eyes and its Christmas time already. A lot has happened! Let me catch you up.

Adam was born Cesarean because as his father put it, "Buddy, you slept right through the part where you were supposed to turn!" He was a breech baby. The delivery was piece of cake and I definitely don't feel like I have missed out on anything by getting to skip the major labor part!

The doctor pulled him out one butt cheek at a time and finally held him up to me so I could see whose head had been banging against my ribs for so long. Such a beautiful guy! He wailed, we cried, and life as a trio began.

Adam lost weight very quickly (as many babies do) and we were forced to start supplementing with formula in addition to nursing and also pumping. This is known as triple feeding. And it blows. Big. Time. We fed Adam every two hours whether he wanted to eat or not using this method for 3 weeks until he finally got back to birth weight. It took about an hour to complete the feeding process, then change a diaper, wash the bottles and back to bed. The alarm would go off about 45 minutes later and the process would repeat itself. My mom came and stayed a week to help us out. She did all the laundry, put clothes away, cooked us all 3 meals a day, got up in the middle of the night, cleaned. She was amazing and I bawled when dad showed up at the end of the week to pick up mom who was standing in the driveway with her suitcase and her thumb sticking out. I think I even heard the tires peel as they drove off into the sunset together. (Ok - that's not REALLY how it happened - but it's close!)

Finally we were on the right track! A growing, VERY happy baby! A growing, VERY happy baby who couldn't for the life of him keep much down. For several weeks, Andy and I struggled to get him to retain anything! We never left the house without 12 or so bibs and a couple changes of clothes and extra blankets. His diapers were always suspect and he had this rough patch of skin on his cheeks, legs, and arms.

I knew that something wasn't adding up and made sure he was weighed weekly if not more often so I could track his growth. And sure enough, he started to slow down in his weight gain. A typical baby should gain between 4 and 7 ounces a week. During October, Adam was lucky to gain 1 to 3 ounces a week. Back to the doctor we went where Adam was diagnosed with MSPI (Milk Soy Protein Intollerance) and excessive reflux. We were told to start the triple feeding again, given a prescription for Zantac, and I cut out all dairy and soy products from my diet.

That's pretty tricky. There's a lot of weird words that mean milk or soy. So label reading has been important. Eating out is the most difficult because its hard to trust what's in the food.

He is getting better. However we do occasionally have days where projectile spit up, awful diapers, and ezcema reappears. When that happens, I look at my food journal for patterns and that's how we've come to realize he is also sensitive to peanuts, pecans, avocados, and possibly citrus.

He's getting so big!

Besides the diet drama, this is one awesome kid. He sleeps all night now, and actually needs to be roused to eat. He is the most unfussy baby I have ever met. He chatters a lot. Smiles constantly. Giggles. He adores his daddy. (And his mommy.) He's working on sitting up too. After 3 months of nursing, we almost have the hang of it. I'm one proud mom!

Here's my favorite photo of last week:

Lastly, A few recipes I made followed lately that fit within our MSPI little life:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/herb-roasted-chicken-recipe/index.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/pot-roast-with-vegetables-recipe/index.html

http://mspimama.blogspot.com/2010/10/black-bean-corn-salad.html (This was awesome and I ate it all with some corn chips!)

A couple GREAT sites for MSPI familes are: http://mspimama.blogspot.com/ and http://intolerantoffspring.com/

Peace out Peeps! I'll be posting again soon! (I hope!)