Whole 30

We started Whole 30  last week. Whole 30 is a more restrictive paleo- mostly meat and vegetables. some fruit and nuts. no dairy. James did it in the fall and felt and looked great. We thought after the holidays would be a great time to kick-start our healthy eating.  We're about a week into this. I wanted to share some of the shortcuts we've taken. Well, not exactly short-cuts but getting some things made at night so we're not trying to make everything from scratch right before a meal.

Here are some of the most helpful:

One night each week we've made egg muffins and baked egg cups, hardboiled eggs, and bacon. 

Another night we made Lara bars and salad in a jar.
Another night James made chicken patties and shredded lots of sweet potatoes for this yummy breakfast staple 

What I've missed the most so far is popcorn for our Friday night movie night. I missed pizza too but this super shrimp salad made me not mind.

The first few days were pretty rough- headaches, just yucky feeling- but now I feel good. I still get hungry during the day but not so many highs and lows. I'm not sure how much of this we'll continue afterwards but I'm definitely glad we've done it. still hoping to lose some weight too!

OBX 2013

We love the OBX. We've gone there a lot of years now- starting New Year's Eve 1999-2000. We did miss a few years while we were in Kansas but we've been there a lot. Our trips have changed over the years- NYE James and I, then with Janelle, Rob, and their new baby, a few more trips of James and I, then with our growing family. Here's some pics from this year's trip.

 walking around the lake

 a little cross fit on the nature trail right behind the condo

 hanging out with Papa

 It was warm enough to go out on the beach a couple times. We even got to see a migrating whale!

 We went to a new place this time Museum of the Albemarle. They had a kid's program on doctors in the early 1800s. So glad they did because we probably wouldn't have gone otherwise and it was really nice. Definitely going back sometime. The Coast Guard exhibit was really good.

 Last year we found O'Neals Sea Harvest- a small restaurant/ seafood market. We've been there 3 times now. We ate lunch there- all fried but really good- and picked up seafood to cook at the condo for dinner. Yum!

 Loved the nature trail

 Date night! The Flying Fish was super! My parents cooked mussels and clams from O'Neals that were so good that we ordered them again.

C's 7th birthday was well celebrated- Friday night at Grandma's, Monday night at the condo with rice krispy train, Friday lunch at Black Pelican, and Friday night at the condo with cake.

Good trip! Good memories!

Merry Christmas

Such a super Christmas Day. At 7:03 C came down asking if they could go downstairs yet. We played red light, green light down the stairs. They were so excited to open their stockings- Reeses' Tree, a quarter, an orange, and some other fun things! Angry Birds hand sanitizer is pretty exciting! (I like it too especially after our RSV December.)  

We had eggnog french toast and maple bacon for breakfast. Yum! After breakfast we gave a gift to Jesus first. It is his birthday! We've been saving money in a piggy bank. Christmas morning we counted it and got out the World Vision catalog to select a gift. Then we opened presents here- I love that kids like taking turns passing out and opening the gifts.  

Merry Christmas

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Christmas

This has been a different Christmas for us. Of course the most important part isn't different- Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus- God's gift to the world. But it's looked different this year. Partly because we have a brand new baby and her hospital stay changed some of my germ thinking. Partly because in Baltimore we spend more time as a family...
But here are some of the things we've done to celebrate this year.

Wednesday night we went  to Symphony of Lights. We enjoyed yummy hotdogs, apples, and chex mix in the car on the way there- a great idea especially with all the traffic! And enjoyed Gingerbread Chex mix and faux hot apple cider (actually ginger ale for me and apple juice boxes for the kids) on the way home. The kids were awed by the beauty of the lights. A great reminder that for all of us to be in awe of God's Creation and His love for us despite our sin.

We've been doing our Jesse tree devotions each night. Janelle made this awesome quilt and gave us the whole kit. It's been fun each night after dinner to read the Jesse tree passage- K and C have been reading the Bible verses this year and James leading the rest. Then after the Jesse tree, we turn over the numbers on our advent calendar and of course eat the candy! KG thinks it's funny that the candy is only for kids which I keep reminding her means no candy for her when she grows up.

We made salt dough ornaments.  I wish I had pics of James and the kids painting but here are some pics of the final projects. 

 We love getting out the Christmas books the first of December each year. So fun to read Christmas books- lots of favorites. We've also watched some great Christmas movies- two years ago Becky and David gave the kids a set of holiday favorites and we've added a few. Buck Denver Why Do We Call it Christmas has been a good new one this year.  Here's our waiter for "Hot hot hot hot chocolate" - he even did the dance!

We've also been doing the Focus on the Family Advent Activity Calendar each day. This link is to the 2012 calendar. We've been using the calendar I printed out last year. But whatever you use (so many great tools out there), it's been super to teach the kids about Jesus' heritage. Another thing the kids  really understand through this advent activity is how the Old Testament tells lots of the prophecy and promises and the New Testament shows how God keeps all His promises.

K and C sang with KWAM (the kids choir at Trinity Assembly of God). KWAM also had a children's play last Sunday. I was still at home with baby C recovering from RSV and T stayed home to spend time with me. But James and the rest went and really enjoyed the play. KG was excited that she got to go "on stage" too.  

We still make time for resting! I knew there was a good reason to leave laundry out!

and just being cute!

Merry  Christmas!!

Thankful

Sometimes I get caught up in thinking about little things what's not good- like the kids arguing, the house being a mess, ..  then things get harder and I realize again how very much we have to be thankful for. An amazing God, a wonderful husband, terrific kids, loving family, ... 

I'm so thankful for everything about baby C's birth.  God took care of all the details. a super hospital, great delivery, baby C waiting until my Mom got here, James being here with me or the kids the whole time, my parents' super help with kids, food, the house, me, ... 

I was reminded again of my many blessings this past week. last Sunday KG was a little sniffly. we stayed home from church and did our best to wash hands, not share cups, not touch the baby, ... But it's so hard to keep a very contagious cold from spreading. 

Wednesday night baby C was slightly sniffly. Sometime during the night she got an icky cough and felt a little warm. Thursday morning I called our pediatrician who said to bring her in. After her exam, the doctor told me to take her to the ER. We got to the ER and they said to admit her- she had two ear infections and a slight fever. They tested for RSV and did a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. The "cast" is really a protective case for the IV. She received IV fluids to rehydrate her for the spinal tap and keep her hydrated while she was so sleepy. They admitted her for 48 hours of observation and to administer IV antibiotics while waiting for results of the tests. So for 2 days we nursed, slept, checked vitals, got IVs, talked to doctors and nurses, and repeated... Franklin Square Pediatric was super nice. All the nurses and doctors were terrific- thorough, friendly, ... The charge nurse even carried all my bags to the car when we were discharged. 

That's the short version of baby C's hospital stay. What made this harder was that while I was at the hospital with C, James had a 6 pm flight scheduled to Ft Knox, KY. Pretty tough when you're miles from family and have 4 kids at home. Our closest friends just moved to PA. We couldn't reach the  babysitter we'd used. Our neighbor was unable to watch the kids. The other friends here we might have asked to watch the kids have babies and I didn't want to ask them and risk spreading RSV to their babies. So thankfully James' NCOIC watched the kids. Grandma & Pops Leon were getting ready to come up when Leon broke his leg- tip/fib fracture. So he and Grandma were at the hospital until midnight. Then Brian and Grandma drove up to Baltimore and watched the kids until Saturday afternoon when James finished work and I got home from the hospital.  So thankful to friends and family who help! 

If I'd just posted this the other day, that would have been the end of the post but I waited and C's breathing got worse on Monday. She started wheezing and having very rapid hard breathing so I called the doctor and they said go back to ER. When they checked her, she was very congested so they did a deep suction and one breathing treatment. Her oxygen sat was still low so they admitted her. We spent the night but she didn't get worse so they discharged her in the morning. We went back to her doctor Thursday afternoon improved but still low oxygen sat so they sent us home with nebulizer/ albuterol and said just watch to make sure she doesn't have more breathing problems. 

Thankful for 

-terrific friends and family who love and care for us

-a wonderful pediatrician who has called me 3 times to check on us

-God caring for our sweet baby girl

-C improving- she even gained 8 oz this week- our baby is 8 lb 11 oz now!

-knowing signs of respiratory distress

- James home 

-good hospital

C's nebulizer

First meal out

It seems that lots of traditions didn't start out as planned traditions but you do something and enjoy it and so you do it again. I remember that saying from our trip to CA wine country- "how do you know if wine is good? If one sip, invites another." I think that's true with our first meal out. With K, our first meal was for brunch at the Hubbards- very nice. With C, everything was different since he stayed in the NICU for a while. After T was born, we went out to a nice Sunday brunch at Legends in Kansas. With KG, we went to Joe's Crab Shack. 

But I think Baby C may have the honor of the yummiest first meal out. She slept through the whole thing but we all really enjoyed Miss Shirley's. The kids were all decked out in new Christmas sweaters. We got lots of compliments on how cute they were- someone even said "best behaved kids I've ever seen at a restaurant." 

The restaurant was all decorated for Christmas.

Check out the pretty girls in red sweaters. A friend of my parents made the hat for Baby C.

James enjoyed a yummy drink.

The kids loved the coloring placemats- they were cute. They had lots of games and were all about breakfast.

It was very hard to order- so many yummy choices. I got the Trio of Breakfast Sliders

K & C got the crazy box french toast breakfast.

James got the Big Easy Benedict. I didn't get pictures of my Dad's Crab Cake Benedict (the yummiest crab cake I've ever had), my Mom's Pumpkin Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast, or the Cinnamon Roll French Toast KG and T shared. Everything was delicious!