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!  

All about Luca

Luca is about 1.5 months from turning 2 and we are well on our way to her being potty trained.  I would love to have her completely trained by the time she turns 2 but I’m not sure if it’s realistic.  We didn’t initiate this in the first place so we are encouraging her but not being overly annoying about it.  She has been going on the toilet since 18 months and she keeps her diaper dry a lot, even after nap and overnight.  One problem is that she is still in her crib, so she can’t get out and go if she needs to.  She will sometimes wake up before we do and play quietly in her crib (so quietly we can’t hear her on the monitor) and since she can’t get out she has to go in her diaper.  I’m just not sure I’m ready to let her be ‘free’ in the house yet at night, and I would even have to leave her door open since she can’t open a door yet!   But I might have to if she keeps this up...It’s just hard to gauge because Lola wasn’t at this point until she was 2.5. 

Last week Luca had a reaction to Pistachios.  She was trying to open the nuts in the shell, and less than an hour later her hands were swollen up.  She didn’t seem to have a reaction in her throat but it’s difficult to tell…she might have had a little reaction and we just didn’t know it.  I am taking her to my allergy doctor in the morning for tree nut and peanut testing.  It should be an interesting appointment because they have to do the prick test on her back for the 7 tree nuts plus peanuts.  They did say that she can sit up after (adults have to lay on their stomach’s and stay still for 15 minutes) and they will just monitor her.  I am seriously crossing my fingers and hoping that it was just a random isolated incident! 

Not the best picture, but you can kind of see how swollen her hand is.
It was really shiny and red which you can't see very well in the picture.  

Luca is really starting to talk and her (stubborn) personality is starting to show!  She says “no” more than any other word and she wants to do everything herself.  If you try to help her she yells “no” and gets really angry.  But when she can’t do something herself she gets really frustrated and has a meltdown.  She is pretty active and very coordinated…both girls are!  She can walk down the stairs really well, without holding on, which scares me!  We have never had a gate at the top of the stairs, so both girls got really good on the stairs really quickly!  She sleeps with her lovey, ‘Bunny’, which is a little bunny attached to a little blanket.  It is disgusting, even though we wash it once per week!  I think the problem is that we waited too long to wash it initially so it seems to be permanently stained and smelly.  She chews on it just like it is a binky which is why it is so gross.  She leaves it at home when she goes to school and she is really good about it.  She just puts Bunny “night night” on the way out the door!    

Travel and such

Not a lot new lately on our end.  The kids aren’t really sick right now, thankfully, just a few sniffles.  I keep reading about the flu and this norovirus (or something like that) and it makes me nervous…I know it’s just a matter of time that someone gets really sick and then we all catch it.  I just hope we all get sick at a convenient time for everyone.  Right.  Cause it always happens that way! 

I had to say “no” to a work travel trip this week.  I had known about this potential project interview for a few weeks, but the guys in our Denver office told me that this client had pushed back all other selections and it was assumed they would do the same with the contractor interviews.  Well, Monday came and I get a phone call saying the interview was to be this Friday morning!  And it’s in Snowmass, CO which is like 3 hours outside of Denver so they are going to travel to Snowmass on Thursday and stay the night.  This means I would have to travel Wednesday.  And it was Monday.  Problem is that I am supposed to be off Friday which means my kids aren’t going to school.  Ryan is working, my parents are out of town, and once again it’s MONDAY and I need to travel WEDNESDAY.  Ugh.  This kind of thing happens every few months and it’s frustrating.  To rearrange schedules at the last minute in our family is hard when Ryan owns his own business.  Normally my parents could help out but they are out of town until Saturday.  So I had to say no.  I have never said no to this kind of thing before.  Normally I just shuffle things around and make it work, but I also typically get more than 2 days’ notice! 

We’ve got some cool fundraising coming up for CureCMD (www.curecmd.org).  I’m trying to do a jeans day at my office on Feb 28^th which is rare diseases day.  Ryan plans on raising money for his Ironman in September, and there are a bunch of us that are going to run the KC Marathon in October.  Hopefully we can get some money flowing in to Cure CMD!   Megan Malone from KNOTS is making adorable beanies and bow ties and donating $10 from each item to Cure CMD (http://www.etsy.com/shop/KNOTSLLC).  

No, it's not lipstick...it's from fresh juice!  And it wasn't staged, this is what she looked like after drinking from my glass.  The juice mix: beets, carrots, spinach, ginger, lemon, and apple!  

And even more cake!

Okay, more pictures of cakes!  This past week was full of sweet treats.  Lola’s birthday was on Thursday, so I made cupcakes for her to take to school.  I also made a Barbie cake for her to eat when she got home from school.  Then I made 2 mini Barbie cakes for both girls to eat on Friday.  Then I made a HUGE cake for her birthday party on Saturday.  I must be crazy right?  10 sticks of butter and 30oz of pureed strawberries later…. 

First the Barbie cake.  I used a cake mold I found online, and then cut a smaller round cake to go underneath (so it was taller). 

Then the mini barbies.  I used little Disney Princess dolls for these, and Wilton molds for the cakes.  I used the leftover icing from the big Barbie cake.  I made these really quickly with the icing I had left.

Then the big Rainbow cake!  It was strawberry with strawberry cream cheese filling, and pretty big at 12 inches in diameter.  

We had her birthday party at Paul Mesner Puppets for the 2nd year in a row.  I think the kids had a good time.  

This is how the cake started

Plus a Barbie

Always add a 'crumb-coat'

Buttercream icing smoothed down with a wet spatula

The finished product!  

The mini-Barbie cakes

The beginning of the rainbow cake

Finished!  

I didn't even get a picture of Lola blowing out
the candle...she is on the far right, Luca made the picture though!

Lola is on the throne with her back to me.
I did a terrible job of taking pictures!

She was super excited about her Barbie cake!

More cake!

Since I'm on a roll with posts, I wanted to upload another cake picture that I made last year.  I found this when I was looking through my pictures.  I made this cake for my friend Elisa's baby shower.  Believe it or not, it was very easy and quick to decorate!  The roses are fairly large and so once I started I was finished in less than 15 minutes. 

I froze the cake after putting the two cake layers together with filling in the middle.  Once I pulled it out of the freezer I put a thin crumb coating on it.  It is so much easier to ice a cake when it is partially frozen.  You just want to make sure you have at least 4 hours before your party or event to allow it to thaw completely.  I made a fairly stiff buttercream frosting, to make sure the roses would hold their shape.  Once the crumb coat was on, I started on the roses.  I used a Wilton 1M tip, which is pretty large.  You will also need to get the extra large coupler to go with it. 

To make the rose, start in the center and make a circle working outward.  How big you make the rose depends on what look you are after.  I personally wanted the roses to take up the whole side height-wise.  Once you cover the cake with roses, you will notice there is void space between the roses.  I just added a little 'swoop' in each of these spaces.  I'm not sure how to describe it other than I just filled in the spaces with a shape that matched the void space.  And...voilia!  You now have a cake that looks like you bought it from a baker. 

The finished product!

New Year and more

Two blogs in one day = amazing!  We went out with some friends on New Year’s Eve.  We have never done anything on NYE, so this was unusual for us!  We usually just stay home and cook a nice dinner after the kids go to bed, but we don’t stay up until midnight.  My parents always offer to watch the kids but we never take them up on it.  Go figure, this year they were going to Chicago so they couldn’t babysit!  Ryan’s niece, Lauren, ended up babysitting for us.  We went to Grunauer, which is Austrian/German cuisine, and then went to Extra Virgin for dessert.  We ended up staying out until after 1am which is very unlike us.   J   We went with our friends Elizabeth and Anthony, who are ‘newer’ friends of ours.  They are great, they like to eat and drink so we get along just fine.  Anthony is going to do Vineman ½ Ironman with Ryan in July, so the 4 of us are turning it into a vacation.  They don’t have kids but we still have a lot in common. 

I’ve also baked a few things recently, which reinforces how much I really love to bake!  I love it, even though it takes time and makes a mess.  I would rather slave over something than buy it any day.  I made some toffee for teacher gifts just before Christmas, then tried a peanut butter pie I found on Pinterest for our dinner with Ryan’s sister’s and brother.  It had an Oreo crust and was made in a springform pan.  I also made some brownie Christmas trees, and just last weekend I made an amazing coconut cake to take to dinner at a friend’s house.  This cake was amazing and worth all the effort (ane mess). I got the recipe from my friend Bonjwing here:  http://ulteriorepicure.com/2010/01/08/recipe-coconutty/.  I do love baking, but I don’t like having baked goods sit around.  I cannot resist cake, pie, or cookies!  I just can’t…if they are in the house I will eat them.  And I won’t eat just one; I will eat until I make myself sick.  It’s a problem, yes I know…so I just make sure I get the stuff out of the house as soon as I can. 

Along the lines of eating…Ryan had been having some GI issues for a while.  Since last summer actually.  He’s always been allergic to dairy, but had started drinking skim (in lieu of soy milk) in his coffee a while ago even though he knew he shouldn’t.  He went to the doctor and they gave him some medicine that should have helped, but it didn’t.  He was about to make an appointment with a GI specialist when he decided to try an elimination diet first.  He cut out wheat, grains, and dairy.  His symptoms literally went away in a matter of just under 3 days.  It was shocking actually.  This was right at 2 weeks ago and he feels amazing.  I have to say that it is a bit annoying…not so much at home, but going other places.  We both have always been people that eat anything and everything, but that has changed.  We went to a friend’s house for dinner on Saturday (Elizabeth and Anthony’s house, where were took the above coconut cake).  He didn’t eat the grits and picked the blue cheese off of his salad, and he ate the teeniest bite of cake you have ever seen.  The cake thing annoyed me because I slaved over that cake for 3 days!  I guess what bothers me is multiple aspects - the fact that I feel a bit embarrassed that my husband is now one of ‘those’ picky eaters, we used to eat everything together and now we don’t, and finally…I really hate change.   J  

Brownie trees - I did a terrible job cutting the brownies, don't look too closely!  

Toffee with bittersweet chocolate and chopped hazelnuts and pecans

Peanut butter pie with an Oreo crust

And last but not least, the coconut cake!  

Christmas

Still behind on blogging...obviously!  We spent Christmas Eve at our house this year which was really nice.  The girls and I decorated gingerbread houses…actually I decorated a gingerbread house.  Luca just ate all the decorations (gummy worms, peppermints, gumdrops, M&M’s), and Lola put a few on her house and ate the rest.  I think 80% of the decorations ended up on the floor.  It was fun though.  Then I made some soup and let it simmer for a few hours.  Ryan got home around 5 and we ate and then let the girls open a few presents.  We assumed that Lola would wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning, but we woke up at 7:48am and realized nobody was up yet!  Both girls were still fast asleep.  Once we woke Lola up she freaked out and we went downstairs to open gifts.  After the madness, we headed down to my parents’ house mid-morning. 

Lola's gingerbread house

My gingerbread house! 

Lola got new clothes for her Bitty Baby, Olivia

Luca is styling in her new shades and vest

Lola got a new HUGE Knuffle Bunny

New 'Stompeez' slippers (as seen on TV!)

New doctors kid complete with nerd glasses