Christmas 2010 Recap

For Christmas this year, we went to Fort Wayne to celebrate with Chris' family. I got incredibly sick on Thursday (worst headache ever!) but luckily got better in time to enjoy the festivities! On Christmas Eve, we went to church with Chris' mom and her husband and his grandparents. After church, we all went to BakerStreet for a very nice dinner. Then home to bed to wait for Santa!

On Christmas morning, Colin woke up early as usual. We opened the door and he headed out to play with his new toys from Chris' Dad. He walked right by the tree and left his presents from Santa untouched! He had no interest in opening them at all. Until he opened that first one...

Then he couldn't get enough!

In fact, when we did Christmas with Chris' cousins and their flock of kid-lings, Colin was the minion that opened everyone else's presents! Kinda funny. Kinda not. He ended up with WAY too many toys! We spent our first morning at home purging his room of old toys and books to make room for the new ones. He especially loves his new cars and puzzles! The boy is a puzzle machine. 

On Monday we drove back home to Cincinnati early in the morning and celebrated a belated Christmas with my family and my grandma. Grandma gave Colin two of the Martha Stewart kid's chef series sets - which everyone loved! Every piece is a miniature version of the real thing. I can't wait to have him help me in the kitchen with those!

And we will have plenty of time for that since I am off work (except for one day) this week and Colin's school is also closed, making me a temporary stay-at-home mom! I am very excited about the idea. Being away from home has put us a little off schedule so today we stayed in and hung out. But we did venture out for the UC basketball game- it was Colin's first! 

photo op with the big 'o'

what a cheeseball!

LET'S GO CATS!

The Bearcats are undefeated so far this season and beat DePaul tonight 76-60. Colin was a little antsy so we ended up leaving at half time but he really had an absolute blast! And I'm glad that we got to see the Bearcats play in person. It's great to have a good basketball team again!

Glasgow Family Rules

A very fun package arrived for us today- our official Family Rules! Chris and I spent a lot of time thinking over each of these rules and I cannot wait to hang them up. Our pastor shared a message over this passage that really got this whole process going:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.      Deuteronomy 6: 5-9

Write them on the doorframes of your houses. That verse in particular really stuck with me, so we are going to hang our family rules right inside the front door for all to see when they first enter our home. And it will be there for us to see everyday as well. Deuteronomy 6:5 was also the inspiration for our first rule:

Colin couldn't resist a photo shoot:

Next time you come over for a visit, take a look! We already implement most, if not all, of these into of these rules into our daily lives (although Chris likes to argue that I do not always leave my shoes at the door), but it will serve as a nice reminder. And if that doesn't work, Colin will always remind us! He has taken being 'prayerful' to new levels. Whenever we eat dinner as a family and every night before bed, we pray out loud together. Lately, Colin has been reminding us to pray!

We went to dinner with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend at Grand View Tavern. The dining area was full so they put us in a booth at the bar. As soon as we all got settled, Colin reached out his hands to my Dad, on one side, and Chris on the other for 'pierres', as he says it. We all giggled a little and I said a quick prayer. And again the next morning, he climbed into my lap, put both of his little hands into mine, and asked for 'pierres'. How could a mother refuse? Hopefully the rest of the rules will be as easy to follow! 

Getting ready for bed with 'Dadda'

A Trip to the "Looavull" Slugger Museum

As I am writing this, the little guy is playing independently in his room with the door shut- his new thing- and I am munching on dried apricots- a new favorite snack of his!

This weekend we ventured down to Louisville for a mini-family vacation. It was cold and dreary, not much of a vacation, but we still had fun! My parents treated us to a visit to the Louisville Slugger Museum- a very exciting trip for young boys! Although, I think my dad was beside himself with excitement :) I have been to the museum but have never done the tour- and boy, oh boy, is it worth it! The tour guides do an excellent job walking you through the production process and the overall history of the sport. And as we were walking through, the workers were producing special-order bats for Brandon Phillips, Josh Hamilton, and Dustin Pedroia, just to name a few! Colin was literally entranced with awe! I've never seen him so speechless. We will definitely have to make a trip when he's older.

For dinner, I had made reservations at a restaurant at 4th Street Live. I made them earlier in the evening on purpose to avoid the crowd and, sure enough, the restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived. As the hostess was seating us at our table, I asked for a high chair or booster for Colin. She looked at me and said "We do not have any. This isn't a child-friendly place." That would have been nice to know when I made the reservation and mentioned that we had a small child! Nevertheless, we sat Colin in a chair and made sure that he was careful with his straw while we enjoyed our meal. Other than a trip to the potty, Colin sat in his seat the entire meal and was very well-behaved! I could not have been more proud!

He was extremely easy all weekend. I was a little worried about how the museum trip would go with someone so young but I think they made the tour interesting enough even for him! Can't wait to take him again when he's older- but we will probably skip the restaurant :)

1-2-3 BLAST OFF!

I have been working on A, B, C's and 1, 2, 3's with Colin for awhile now. I count when we are going down the stairs and back up again. Sing the A,B,C's in the car. Everything and anything that can be counted is counted. And any quiet moment is a perfect moment for singing the alphabet or listening to them on tape. 

Still, I get nothing. The kid will literally not repeat any of it. Although, he has started saying "1-2-3-blast off!" which I'm pretty sure is due to his repeated viewing of Toy Story. 

Then we had a break through moment! We were playing together with a wooden puzzle of numbers 0-9. He laid down the '7' and I said 'seven'. Without missing a beat, he blurted out (out of nowhere!), "seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven" -as if he's been saying it for years!

My jaw dropped! The little stinker refuses to say "one, two, three" but has no problem with seven through eleven. Well, we gotta start somewhere! Wonder what other knowledge he's hiding in that little mind of his?!!

Christmas 'Dights' and Breakfast with Santa

Last night, Chris and I bundled Colin up and tucked him his carseat for a Christmas light search! Out of our back window, we can see a huge house lit up but we weren't sure where to find it. After heading down a few streets, we were greeted by a massive display of Christmas lights- seriously, it puts the Griswold's to shame! They have a Santa's workshop, a carousel, manger- the entire yard is Christmas-fied! I cannot imagine the amount of time and labor that goes into such a display but after seeing the look on Colin's face, I can tell you it is well worth it! Kudos to the home-owners for spreading Christmas cheer to all who pass by!

This morning we woke up to SNOW! A layer of snow had blanketed the grass and trees and has continued to fall all day. The roads were still clear so we took Colin to my parents' church, St. Tim's, for Breakfast with Santa. Last year, Colin was grumpy and tired so sitting on Santa's lap didn't go so well. This year, he was very cooperative:

Then we took a trip to the barbershop for a quick haircut- which he barely stayed awake for! Chris had to keep his held from falling over in the middle of her snipping. Very funny to watch!

But THANKS be to God! - 1 Cor. 15:57

I can't believe that it's the end of November already! This year has flown by! And what a wonderful year it has been. We have so much, as a family, to be grateful for:

1. Chris condo finally is rented out- yay!

2. Colin is thriving in his school and since he has been in the 2 year room (a debated topic because of his smaller size), his language has really taken off.

3. (Amanda) making it through yet another down-sizing and both of us being blessed with successful careers in a really tough economy.

4. Potty-training going SO well so far! We hope to have him completely diaper-free during the day before Christmas. He has shown such independence in this process, it's been a really sweet time.

5. A beautiful beginning to a wonderful marriage:

6. An awesome church - 7 Hills Church - that is growing by leaps and bounds and is taking us along for the journey!

7. And last but not least, wonderful family and friends! We were so blessed to have some many of our loved ones make the trip to Columbus for our wedding. We love you all!

Now, on to the festivities. 

In the morning, I could tell that Colin was going a little stir-crazy so I opened up his finger-paints (a birthday gift from Caitlin) and his adorable art smock:



It takes a very long time for little fingers to cover up such a big piece of paper! But we had fun. We stayed in Kentucky this year and hosted dinner for my parents and brother. It was my first attempt at preparing the entire meal- but I was very pleased with the results! Everyone hung out and watched some football while the turkey was in the oven:

The results:

My first homemade rolls (pre-baking in this picture). May be my favorite part of the meal!

Dad doing the dirty work. I don't do bones. Yuck! Not the turkey, just the bones.

It was a quiet, restful day! Very much needed. We plan to enjoy these next few days before we head into the holiday season. Hope everyone was able to rest and take a moment to count their blessings- and to savor the memories! God is good.

Managing Your Child's Food Allergies 101

1) EDUCATE YOURSELF

It was very overwhelming at first to realize that Colin was not going to be able to enjoy your typical infant/toddler staples- like Cheerios! I began to do research- I found blogs, checked out books at the library, etc. And learned a lot by trial and error. You have to learn a lot in the trenches! 

A blog that I sometimes follow has a lot of great allergy-free recipes and introduces new allergy-free products as they come on the market is a blog by Cybele Pascal. She is also a mom of a brood with allergies. Her latest posting is all about allergy-free Thanksgiving ideas! Great source. She has also written a WONDERFUL cookbook called The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook. Check it out!

My profession allows me to have to access to any allergist in town any day of the week! Lucky for me, I am able to get as much as advice as I need. Not so lucky for them, they ALL have heard about Colin's allergies at least once and have shared advice with me a time or two. Dr. Ann Ghory was the first to recommend that I test Colin. Another doctor has suggested books and share advice from his long-time allergy mentor. And yet another has advised me to seek out a nutritionist, which I did do and it is very helpful. Your allergist is FULL of information- ask for it!

2) READ, READ, READ LABELS!

Grocery shopping can be daunting with food allergies. The first few times I went it took me forever to check each and every label- twice- just to be sure it would be okay for Colin. But it gets easier, I promise! Now I can go to the grocery and grab items quickly because I know what he can and cannot have. 

Reading labels is very important. There are a lot of surprising ingredients in foods- and one of those surprises may be an allergen. For instance, some yogurts can have gluten in the mix. If we ever switch brands of yogurt, we need to check the label first. Also, Tostitos makes a tortilla chip that Colin can have but some their tortilla chips are made with soybean oil, which we avoid. So if we are unsure, we always check the label.

3) AVOID PROCESSED FOODS

As I've already mentioned, a lot of foods can have surprising ingredients- especially processed foods. I remember working with a guy who's family owned a hog farm. Their biggest custom was Tyson because they would put the pork in their frozen 'chicken' nuggets! If you don't read labels, you would never even know. We have found that it is usually easier (and less expensive) to just make things FRESH. And it has made us healthier as well!

There are allergy-free brands that make chicken nuggets and fish sticks but Colin is not the biggest fan. Like I said, it's easier just to make a substitute for him.

4) TELL OTHERS

For months, we were watching what Colin was eating like a hawk and he was still have a slight reaction. One Sunday when we dropped him off at nursery, we realized that they had been giving him snacks! Animal crackers, goldfish- all things that shouldn't have. Every Sunday when we drop him off at nursery, this is what we sound like:

"Hi! This is Colin. He is allergic to this, this, this and this. He cannot have any of the snacks you are serving- not even the pink lemonade. We have snacks and juice for him in his bag."

Every time. At school we do the same thing, except we leave notes in his lunch box for his teachers. We still have to tell family members. Friends. Babysitters. Everyone and anyone that comes in contact with Colin around mealtime or offers him a snack must know about his allergies!

5) HAVE A BACK-UP

Of course, we have an epinephrine-injector on hand and we keep one at school. We have never had to use it, gratefully, but it will save Colin's life in case of an emergency. What we use on a regular basis is an antihistamine. We keep a bottle at home, a bottle at school, at my parent's and one in his diaper bag. We just had to pull the bottle from his diaper bag last night. We go through A LOT. No matter how diligent we are there are times when Colin still comes in contact and has a reaction. So we are always prepared!

*It is important to note that I am NOT a doctor or a nurse. I am just a mom who has built a home around her child's food allergies. This is just what works for us!