2 and 4 year pictures

I had the girls’ pictures taken late last week.  I wanted to go to the same photographer that we went to right after Luca was born.  We have an 11x14 framed print of the girls from this session on the wall of our TV room and I wanted to put another one under it with a similar format and frame.  Since Luca is getting ready to turn 2 I thought it would be perfect timing… Boy was I wrong.  Luca was not happy from the get-go.  Granted, she has been pretty grouchy lately.  Her molars are coming in, and she entered the ‘terrible 2’s’ several months ago.  “No” and “mine” are her favorite words.  She spends a decent amount of time at home walking around and crying, wanting to be held.  Luca spent the first 30 minutes hiding and crying, while Lola hammed it up for the camera.  Finally, after 45 minutes, Luca started to warm up.  It was about this time that Lola decided she was going to stop cooperating.   After 1.25 hours, we got a ton of pictures of Lola, a couple pictures of Luca not crying, and 2 pictures of both girls together (with Luca not crying).  Needless to say, I was flustered and frustrated.   One of the 2 pics of the girls was just okay, and I like the other much better.  In a perfect world, we would have gotten even better pictures but at this point I will take what I can get.   J   

This is the picture we had taken almost 2 years ago!  

This is the picture I ended up liking the best of the two of them.
Lola's feet crack me up!  

I love the picture of Lola on the right

Moooooo (for several reasons)

Yesterday was day 20 of no dairy… And this morning I gave it up.  The last straw was when I swam on Saturday morning.  I had to stop mid-lap several times because there was so much phlegm (sorry, gross I know) in my throat.  For the past 20 days, I still wake up with my ears full, nose stuffy, and crap in my throat.  It was then that I realized that the congestion, drainage, etc… has nothing to do with dairy.  Ugh.  I am glad on one hand because I missed my greek yogurt and skim milk, yet still frustrated on another.  Not sure what I am going to try next.  The only other thing I can think of is giving up tree nuts which can also cause these symptoms, but I think that will be 1000x harder to give up than dairy.  I might try it for a week.  I would assume that if it’s going to work, I would notice a difference after a few days.  I need to finish up my almond milk first though.  When it comes down to it, my problems could truly be an anatomy issue, like the specialist told me.  I really don’t want to have surgery though!  Or it could be the fact that although I get allergy shots, there is still enough crap in the air and in my house to make me stuffy.  I do live with a cat and dog, and I’m allergic to both! 

My sister-in-law Sara’s heart surgery was on Thursday and it went well!  She got a new cow valve and stem to replace the defective valve she was born with.  This surgery has been on the radar for a long time, but it was finally time.  Apparently the valve and stem looked worse than they thought so it was good she got everything fixed.  It was a really scary time for everyone because it’s such a major surgery.  I felt like I was going to throw up for days, I was so anxious and nervous.  She is going home today and the road to recovery really begins…

We watched the Jayhawks beat North Carolina last night!  Awesome game!  We watched it at my sister-in-law Gina’s house.  The girls played with some other kids while we watched and they were pretty good.  But that is mostly because Gina has a whole closet in the basement filled with toys.   J  

This hat is a jayhawk head, but she insisted on
wearing it backwards 

This is Lola, although it's difficult to tell...   :)  

Went for a 'snow run' yesterday in 5" of snow.
I wore my new Cellar Rat socks
and Yak Trax.  The Yak Trax work best on
packed icy snow, so I ran in the middle
of the road for most of the run.  Even uphill I
didn't slip at all.  It was a really nice peaceful run.
There were not a lot of people out!  Ha.  

'Spaghetti' and meatballs!  Not actual spaghetti, but spaghetti squash was subbed for the noodles.
I made the meatballs with no cheese or breadcrumbs, but instead used carrots and red peppers.  Tasty!  

Day 14 and other things

Day 14 of cutting out dairy…and I still haven’t noticed a difference.  I am actually not starting to mind the almond milk, it’s pretty neutral tasting.  It does offer more calcium than cow’s milk; however, it has a long list of ingredients.  Coconut milk is the same way.   I thought for a brief moment of continuing with the Almond milk even if I continue to not notice a difference, but I think that cow’s milk offers less ‘processed’ ingredients so I will probably switch back in a few weeks if I don’t think its helping to ease my stuffiness and drainage. 

I’ve found a really good clean eating cookie recipe here:  http://www.runningtothekitchen.com/2012/10/chocolate-chunk-paleo-cookies/.  I was very skeptical but you really don’t feel like you are missing out on anything when eating these cookies.  If you total up the calories, they are still ‘high’, meaning just because they are fairly good for you doesn’t mean you can eat 10 of them in one sitting.  The almond meal, which is the main ingredient, is somewhat high in calories, but overall healthy calories. 

Ryan has been coming up with some really good healthy recipes lately.  Getting the kids to eat them is another thing…although he did make some green curry last week and it was way too spicy for the kids so we just cooked their chicken separately.  We do try to get them to try everything we cook though, green curry being the (spicy) exception.  It goes on their plate whether they like it or not.  I figure if things just keep showing up on their plate they will eat them eventually right?  Ha ha…

Lola's dance class...they were trying to put the mats away
and all the kids just wanted to play!

Luca has crazy hair when she wakes up!  

Lola is fearless...

day 10 of no dairy...

Day 10 of cutting out dairy…so far I haven’t noticed a difference in decreased stuffiness or congestion.  I am going to give it another couple of weeks though because I was sick last weekend so that didn't help.  I am really missing my frothed milk with my coffee.  Almond and Coconut milk don’t froth at all! 

I woke up Sunday morning feeling really crappy, but it thought it was because I ate too much the night before (anniversary celebration), stayed up too late, and we lost an hour for daylight savings time.  The kids were with my parents so I laid around and drank my coffee.  I run on Sunday mornings, usually around mid-morning.  I was not feeling good at all, but finally decided to just get my run over with.  What a terrible idea!  It was probably the worst run I have ever had.  I stopped 4 times because I thought I was going to throw up, and I had chills the whole time.  I got home and went and laid down and slept on and off for a few hours.  I finally took my temperature later and I had a fever.  I’m pretty sure I had it the whole day.  Nothing like running 6 miles with a fever.  Not smart!  I still had a fever on Monday, but it broke by Tuesday morning.  That’s when my stomach got really mad at me and I could barely eat anything.  This morning (Thursday) I am finally feeling somewhat back to normal!  I feel like I've gotten sick way more this winter than ever before.  The kids haven’t been sick very much though.  Very frustrating!  

Allergies and more allergies!?

Luca didn’t react to any of the tree nuts or peanuts during her allergy testing.  They want us to get blood work done as well, but I haven’t scheduled anything yet.  I need to call the lab and try to schedule but it is just one more thing to do!  I feel like it was something with the pistachio shells so I will just keep her away from them, which isn’t really a problem most of the time. I am really glad she didn’t test positive for anything, yet I’m even more confused because of the previous reaction.  I have a feeling the blood work is going to come back okay, not sure why just a feeling.  

Ryan has been eating Paleo for 2 months now (no grains, wheat, dairy, pasta, rice, bread).  He has lost a few pounds, but his main goal was to feel better.  I think I previously mentioned some GI issues he was having last year, which went away when he stopped eating bread, pasta, wheat and grains.  His bloating went away when he cut out dairy.  He has always been lactose intolerant but would sneak dairy here and there, but once he cut it out he felt so much better.  I have adopted his eating habits for the most part, but I haven’t cut out dairy.  I don’t have much dairy, only yogurt and some skim milk in my coffee each morning.  But…the other day I was reading about how dairy (specifically cow) can cause stuffiness, congestion, and extra mucous in some people.  This would technically be considered an allergy, different than being lactose intolerant though.  I guess similar, but instead of the gastro issues, it just triggers the nasal passages to swell up.  I am constantly stuffy and while my allergy shots appear to be working, there is a lingering stuffiness each and every day.  I also have a bit of a cold right now, so once my cold is gone I am going to cut out dairy for 30 days and see if I can tell a difference.   I will miss my greek yogurt the most.  I will be subbing with coconut milk, which is what Ryan has been drinking.  Back to the paleo thing though…I have had no problems giving up bread or pasta for some reason.  I thought that would be really difficult but it is proving to be easy for me.  I guess it helps that we don’t eat out very much, and the fact that I already cut out pasta during evening meals because it made me feel gross (aka uncomfortably full) the rest of the night.  I didn’t eat much bread before, just the occasional sandwich.  I am lucky to have a good cafeteria at work that allows me to eat healthy.  I don’t have to think about packing a lunch in the morning before I go to work, which helps a lot. 

So today is day 1 of cutting out dairy.  I just have to be careful that I get enough calcium, so I will be watching that closely.  Wish me luck!