Caps for Sale

Matthew checked out Caps for Sale from the library. Great read if you have one in the preschool set. Anyhow, he has been stacking everything he can manage on his head just like the peddler in the story stacks his caps on his head. (Funny side note: I can hear him in bed right this very moment repeating lines from the story: "Tsz tsz tsz!")

Such a good brother, always including Janie in his games.

Reminds me of this little one. Time sure flies when you're having fun!

Christmas

It was an interesting Christmas this year. The little ones and I spent a few days tossing our cookies if you will.

No pictures of that, don't worry.

Here is Matthew on Christmas morning. I LOVE the look on his face.





Joshua got a book to read to his babes - "Why I love My Daddy".

















Matthew often asks to hols his Janie and will assume this position, pillow and all.










He is such a loving big brother. :)

More CA

CA in December

We decided to take an early Christmas trip (as in the beginning of December) to CA this year to avoid crazy ticket prices. Joshua is in school and so could not join us, so I had the pleasure of taking my two small children through the insane airport security all by myself. Just FYI, you will not receive any help at SeaTac unless you are wheelchair bound or do not speak English. Nonetheless, we made it safe and sound and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

First stop was my Dad (or Matthew's "one Grandpa")'s place. We livened the place up with all three grandkiddos and the grown-ups too. Caleb and Matthew were so stinking adorable together. As soon as he walked in the door, Matthew said, "Hi Caleb. I came on an airplane." Without missing a beat Caleb responded, "Hi Matthew. I brought trains." And that was that. They played on Grandpa's train track (the edge of his kitchen rug) and talked about all things train.
Next stop was San Diego to visit with the Muellers. Matthew was a model two year old - hair pulling, screaming, naughtiness galore. Sigh. There were many happy moments of play time with these cute cousins and plenty of great adult conversations. Oh how I wish we lived closer to these closest-in-age cousins!








Last stop was Uncle Dave and Aunt Stella's to hang out with Magum's side of the family. There was lots more play time with sweet Caleb and plenty of crazy hugs with Magum.

Ten days FLEW by with hardly enough time to see everyone. Sorry if we missed you ... we'll be back in June. :)

November

Yes, I realize it is practically February. What can I say? I have been busy taking care of my three. It is a rare night when the dishes are done, the children are asleep, and my tutoring is prepped. SO here you go. November.

Jackie's birthday gift to me was a visit from my mom for Thanksgiving! Awesome! She got to meet our sweet Jane and spend a relaxing weekend with us. See how happy Jane is to be with Magum?


Matthew has decided to start wearing "big boy underpants." Too bad he won't wear them the right way and use the toilet! I am so over changing his nasty diapers.















He has also started to dress himself. Enough said.














Ah my sweet sweet Jane. She is such a trooper and puts up with Matthew's antics all day long. See? He brought her toys to her. And lovingly placed them around her ankles.

Fall Fun

The boys had their fun with the pumpkins then I had mine. Yes, I did cut up and cook the same pumpkin that Joshua carved. He said I could! Not too bad for my first ever pie, but thankfully there is a lot of pumpkin puree left for a second and even third try.

Just because she is sooooo adorable. :)

Super pink blanket boy to the rescue!

Pumpkin Carving

This year the boys carved pumpkins with the Masons. Matthew had a blast helping Daddy scoop the insides out.

The finished products. Matthew's perfect pumpkin was a bit too small and soft to carve, so he drew a happy face, see?

Jane had a nice snugly nap with Mavric. :)

Happy Saturday!

Dressing Up

I have so much fun dressing up my little girl. This is my favorite outfit on her right now ... how cute are those socks?

Matthew has discovered play dough in a major way. It is awesome! He will sit in his booster seat and play for an hour while I cook and do dishes.

A bear and a bee. Hopefully they will want to leave these on longer on Halloween than they did for the picture. Could it be that they were mighty toasty in those warm costumes?

Pumpkin Fun

Matt has been doing everything with his "perfect pumpkin". Here he is helping Daddy make pancakes.

Ahhh, tv time with the pumpkins.

No pumpkin here, but look at that face! He helped me make Daddy's birthday cupcakes. After licking the spatula clean he declared, "I don't like it." Um, ok sure.

My perfect pumpkin. :) Not the best picture, but the closest I've come to capturing that gorgeous smile. I'll keep working on it.

Pumpkin Patch

Joshua wanted to carve pumpkins for his birthday this year. So, to start things off we headed out to the pumpkin patch. This farm was tons of fun for the family - tractor rides, all kinds of animals, live music, and more. Matthew and Grandpa enjoyed the fire truck.

Mmmmm... hot buttered "pop"corn right off the grill. The goats gobbled up the silk and husks and the chickens pecked off every last bit of corn.

See all those rows of pumpkins? Matthew ran up and down all of them on his search for "the perfect pumpkin." He would pick one up, study it for a minute, then declare, "That's not it."

At last, the perfect pumpkin! I think he really liked the stem. I didn't get a picture, but he used it to sling the pumpkin over his shoulder to carry. It was too cute!

Next weekend we will continue the birthday fun with pumpkin carving!

Diabetes and Me

In case you haven't heard, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes four days before my 32nd birthday. Yikes! From time to time you may see some posts on this topic because, well, that's what's new in my life and occupying my mind.
Thus far I have met with my naturopath, who prescribed an extremely low carb and low glycemic diet as well as chromium supplements. I am trying for many reasons to avoid medications, the biggest being that I am breastfeeding. Jane has not taken well to the increase in legumes in my diet. Uh oh. I am hoping to meet with a nutritionist next week and fine tune my diet. I am refusing to eat processed foods or chemical food substitutes. I am determined to find a way to eat real, whole food in proportions and ratios that work for my body. I also have several appointments scheduled for acupuncture. Hopefully this will help my pancreas to do its job.
I am debating meeting with an MD. My fear is that he would put me on meds immediately and I would like to try to push that off as long as possible, since I will likely need them at some point and do not want to put a "band-aid" on my problem without really getting to the root. I am curious, however, if what I have is actually type 1.5 diabetes. It seems to better fit my profile and he may be able to work with me in finding out.
I am feeling frustrated at this point. Why me? I don't have a soda addiction or sweet tooth. I am very aware of sugar and do my best to limit it in my foods. I am not heavily overweight. Even with a strict diet my glucose levels are too high and my fasting rates are not in the normal range. What more can I do? Am I going to die from complications at such a young age?
So far, I have found these foods to be helpful in my quest:
*bean flour - substitute it for some wheat flour to make a complete protein. We've had it in pancakes (high fiber whole grain of course), brownies, and cookies
*vanilla stevia - almost as good as flavored coffee creamer :). Helps make plain yogurt tolerable too.
*unsweetened almond milk - makes a great latte
*powdered stevia - perfect for sweetening cereal, cocoa, iced tea etc.
*mudballs - peanut butter, flax seeds, wheat germ, cocoa, stevia, pumpkin seeds, and honey rolled into yummy little balls
*sucanat - sugar in its purest form. Substitutes equally for sugar or brown sugar
*Bob's Red Mill High Fiber Whole Grain Hot Cereal - the only cereal I can eat. Delicious with some stevia, raisins, and milk
Those are most of my thoughts for now. Don't worry, there will be more cute kiddo pictures soon, but I had to get that off my chest first. :)

Jane's First Talkie

Jane gave me a wonderful birthday present- she started cooing and smiling! I didn't capture her beautiful smile here, but you can hear her sweet voice.

Just FYI, this is one of those videos only the Grandmas will truly enjoy watching. It will be pretty boring for anyone else. :)

32

My 32nd birthday... wow. When did I become such a grown up? Here I am with my cute little boy at Grandpa and Grandma's house. (I had to document me all dressed up because it is not every day I use ALL of nap time to get myself ready.)

My love. Doesn't he look so handsome in pink? We ate dinner at the Pacific Grill... Yum!

My sugar free birthday dessert: butter! No, I didn't eat it, but I did get to blow out a candle. :)

My sweet family. We may never get a decent picture of all four of us, so this will have to do. You get the idea. ;)