Thoughts on food allergies....

(Before you read I would like to say that this "challenge" is minor in the scheme of life. I use this blog as an outlet for my thoughts on life and parenting & by no means am trying to complain or vent. Just writing because I like to and am very mindful & thankful for my healthy little babes.) 

So food allergies have just become part of our new normal. Honestly, when we found out about all of Nora's allergies I was kind of already on edge about her general state of well being to begin with so the laundry list of scary foods kind of freaked me out. However, once we removed all the "bad stuff" from her diet and saw her amazing transformation, it really was ok. SO totally worth it! 

But as the girls get older the reality of the effort behind always keeping up this lifestyle is kind of sinking in. We can't eat bread, cake, cookies, waffles, pancakes, muffins, hamburgers, hotdogs, no fried food, nothing breaded, nothing with oats, nothing with nuts, no rice at most places because of the veggies mixed in, no flour tortillas, no meat with the marinade at most restraunts, no strawberries, blueberries, no margerine, no peas, NO NUTS, NO EGGS, pretty much no fast food, no Cheerios, no goldfish, no wheat thins, no cheese itz, Just a lot of "no's". 

(Discovered we could eat original lays potato chips...they were digging this little treat and we didn't feel bad about giving it to them one bit!!) 

Being allergic to wheat and soy is a huge limiter of food. Throw on top of it an allergy to eggs and you are pretty much shut out of the carb world all together. 

I really didn't think it was that big of a deal. I substitute applesauce for eggs in pancakes and desserts. I make little quesadillas out of corn tortillas and just make it work. But for the most part we just don't do bread or baked goods. Nora so far could care less. The child would eat a rat if I put it on her tray. She truly will eat anything. However, lately Zoe is refusing our regular food and I can't give them separate food. The fighting and crying over wanting what the other has is just impossible. So there's that. But the main thing that I am realizing I have to adjust to is the PUBLIC. I can control this little world we live in here, but what if we want to be social? Here are my struggles right now:

(The girls had already finished their gluten free pizza....now time for hovercraft mommy!) 

PLAY DATES: We love seeing our friends and the girls are at an age where socialization is fun! However, when we get asked to come play I have to start a mental checklist. Will it fall over a lunch time? Is this family familiar with our situation? Will we be at a house or in public? If we are in public, will there be a separate place for us to sit? Is it the kind if place where food gets left in the play area? Are we going to a restraunt? We can't go to any Asian places! Will the mom think I am annoying when I have to ask that they wipe their tables down and make sure to sweep the floor before we come? Will I be able to keep tabs on two 15 month olds amidst a sea of snack crackers being left behind as toddlers run around the park? Is it worth it? Yes, they need friends, but how can we safely go to a public park at lunch time!? Kayla, you are their mom and can't be lazy and make them miss out! This is what goes through my mind, when most moms only have to plan play dates around naptime! 

(But for the record, I've never wanted to punch any friends in the eye yet!) 

CHILDCARE: I have been so blessed to pretty much be a SAHM with my girls. However, I have the ideal job for working 2 or so days a week and it being very worth it. However, I don't feel like I can leave Nora at even a home daycare for a couple days a week because WHEAT is like the staple of all kid snacks and I am just not ready to send her off, not having her mommies watchful eye keeping tabs on everyone's snacks. Peanut and tree nut allergies get a lot of publicity, which is great, she is allergic to both, but not a lot of people know kids allergic to wheat and soy! This is a tough allergy and one that is not easy for parents to avoid, even if it's just for when they are around you. Avoiding these things in a kids lunch or snack "on the go" is near impossible if you aren't a mom prepared to prepare these kind of meals. And why would you be? So this leaves us with the option of getting a nanny, which I now know is hard to find if you only need them 8 hours a week. So all these allergies are starting to seep into the plans I had for working as well. 

SCHOOL: I know, they aren't close to school age, but they are close to preschool age. I am hoping to put them in preschool 2 days a week next fall when we have baby girl #3, and it's kind of the same situation as above. I had actually decided I wanted to do that this fall and work the two days that I took them to Mother's Day out and the only place that still had availability isn't a nut free campus and told me they would just put Zoe and Nora at their own table for lunch. I wanted to say "lady, I'm not putting them in school so they can be isolated to their own little table, furthering their already antisocial tendencies of only wanting to play with each other. Plus, how will you handle birthday parties? My child can't have ANY store bought baked goods because she is allergies to eggs, wheat,  soy, and most of all the almond extract in pretty much every store bought cake!" Of course I didn't say this....but I don't think any school is going to smile when they see us coming down the hall!! 

So yes, we have a handle on the allergies, but I am starting to see that as they get older, controlling these situations will be tough. She will get to an age where she knows she can only eat her food, this phase of kiddos leaving a trail of food that they then eat off the floor is short lived, I know! But for now, now that we want to be out and social and part of the world, I am seeing how truly all encompassing the food allergies can be. 

To date we know that Nora is allergic to:

Wheat, soy, eggs, peanuts, almonds, lentils, peas, corn (mild), coconut (mild) 

And based on reactions we think she is allergic to:

Strawberries, blueberries, and milk (but just milk alone...she eats milk products). 

We are praying that she will get to a point where she can eat eggs baked into things, we thought we were in the clear and by about the 5th time we tried the gluten free bread with eggs she started getting hives. Zoe is allergic to eggs and can eat them baked in just fine, so we are hoping for the same reaction soon with Nora! 

I still feel baffled about how on earth all these allergies came about. I have been told a number of things ranging from it being because she was a c-section to me being to "clean" during pregnancy. Well, I spent most of my pregnancy with my hands in peoples mouths working on their swallow post CVA so I didn't have much of a choice but to wash my hands at work ha! And the c-section was out of my control as well....so I suppose there isn't much I can or could have done about this! They also say it's genetic. That does seem likely since Max (Betho's son) has allergies too and Bethany and I are identical twins. But we don't have ANY allergies, so it's just strange! 

But we will figure it out & friends don't freak out about us hanging around! We are so glad to be a part of the fun but may have to ask you to do a few strange things before we arrive!! :) 

Continue to pray that my little Nora grows out of ALL these allergies. We know that nuts and wheat usually stick for life, but we also know we have a God way bigger than a measly little food allergy so we will still pray, expecting healing for our little Nor Nor! 

Happy Sunday!! Here we go on another week! I should probably go to bed! And not that anyone wants a tour of my pantry but here are a few of our allergy friendly staples! 

Our life saver! Both girls had horrid eczema on whole milk & although Nora is technically mildly allergic to coconut she does way better on this than milk. 

Finally discovered a brand of soup mixes that are soy and wheat free. Sure they are 4x the price, but now if we have to I can whip up a casserole for a party or event that Nora can eat! 

Old man Bob has become an Agan staple

So has Annie! Who knew there was such a thing as "rice pasta"!? 

We love us some sun butter. However, we aren't sure what kind of bread we can eat anymore. :( 

These are the BEST and a life saver! Freeze dried apples! Our bag is always full!! 

And then our beloved, not really, epipen. Praying it always stays in it's little plastic home where it belongs!! 

My controlling child and her copy cat

My little Zoe girl has been really giving us a run for our money lately. She has started exerting her little will in a big way, and as sweet as she is, our days together lately have been a challenge! I love her inquisitive nature and "I wanna be a big girl" attitude. But the thing is she is 15 months old and just isn't a big kid yet! Her latest shenanigans include:

*Only eating grapes that are plucked directly from the vine....and no, she cannot eat a whole grape. So to avoid fit city I cut them up and pretend I am plucking them from the vine so she will happily eat them.

*Wanting to use a fork and only a fork to eat. Don't mind if she doesn't get one bite in her mouth, it's a risk she is willing to take.

*ONLY wanting to eat food from the source (e.g, eat the cereal from the box or tuna from the can and she must hold her water and have it in a regular cup with a straw like the big people). The other day I baked a whole chicken and was cutting pieces for them and she was screaming because she wanted the whole chicken on her tray!!! Can you imagine!? It was her size! 

*Wanting to push the stroller. People, the child really thinks she is capable of pushing the double stroller. We have had to literally hold her down in target because she was trying to push us away and take off with Nora like she was 16 years old! 

*Forcing visitors out of our house if she deems it's time for them to go or is afraid I am going to leave her with them. Her most recent was picking up a visitors shoes, handing them to them and waving and saying "bye bye". Actually quite embarrassing! (And they are unfortunately both good at this one)

*Wanting to open the dishwasher herself, turn on the stove when it's time to cook and unload the dishwasher. For a while I let her pretend she was helping me light the stove and it thrilled her to death and then we realized she was capable of turning on the gas and have had to child proof the stove with lovely black knobs! 

*Wanting to dictate when and how Nora can sit on my lap. Often if Zoe is playing happily alone and hears me call for Nora she sprints over and sprawls across my lap frantically looking behind her to make sure she has claimed her mommy territory. She also likes to sit in the middle of my lap when I read to them and pushes Nora until Nora is barely sitting on my leg. Heaven help me!

*Sprinting up to the tip top of any slide at any playground and NOT letting us get her down without an ugly scene. Again, she's 15 months old and although she can get to the top of the chic fil a playground in about 3 seconds flat, she is 15 months old and should not be up there being trampled by 7 year olds. She does not agree!

*Refusing high chairs in restaraunts. She wants to sit in a chair and eat with her fork even though her head doesn't clear the table. She is the loudest person I have ever known. For real. Anyone who knows her would agree, and trying to manage her yelling at us in public because she wants to sit in a chair that she keeps falling out of in between stabbing herself with the gigantic utensils and screaming is quite the experience! 

Crawling, climbing, and jumping off any chair she can see. We had to move all the kitchen chairs away from our table because no matter how much I tired and how consistent I was with redirection, I could not get her to stop using the chairs to crawl on top of the kitchen table and jump up and down. So I have managed to control that little sitch, but have no idea what to do about her newest game of standing on the window sills and jumping off! 

The list truly could go on and on and on but I'll stop here. I just adore that controlling little toot of mine and hope she doesn't take it too hard when she realizes she holds very little power in her current position in life. Sorry Zoester. Some lessons are hard and may be even harder for you sweet girl! 

Oh and Nora, she doesn't ever seem to think up this stuff until she sees it and spends the day copying Zoe. And then Nora doesn't forget it either. 

But I love the crazy twin dynamic, even if one seems to be a bit of a bad influence on the other. However, in Zoe's defense, Nora has started consistently biting the heck out of her when she annoys her. Super NOT ok and I'm currently working on a plan to end the biting. It happened today in the grocery store and a lady witnessed the whole thing and said, "bless her little heart her sister got her good!" I felt so bad and a bit embarrassed but what can ya do!? I guess no one, even babies, are perfect! 

Any advice on dealing with a very strong willed child are more than welcome!! :) 

And about Nora, she is a super quirky sweet, unique little soul that deserves a post all her own too! Coming soon... 

Wearing mommies shirt, refusing to sit in her highchair, and eating her snack from the bag. This sums up Zoe up perfectly! 

Happy 4th of July!

We have had a great long holiday weekend! This Friday Lance was home so I went into a nursing home to fill in for a few hours and did a little speech therapy"ing" while Daddy got to bond with his girlies at home. I was told I was needed to cover for THREE hours so I though "No Biggie" and slept in (which is a relative term at our house), went through Starbucks, sat and drank my coffee while catching up on some instagram pics of my friends cuties in their festive clothes, and THEN around about 9:15 decided to look up where the heck this place was and headed all the way down to Meyerland.

When I got there I was greeted and handed my schedule. I had SIX hours worth of patients to see. I kindly told them I was scheduled for three hours and they just smiled and said "Oh, no there must have been some confusion, we have you down for 6 hours" and pointed me towards a file cabinet to sift through and locate my patients charts. I am hoping to help a lot more on Friday's so I just smiled and said "Ok, no problem!". Oh my, Lance just got a whole lot more than he had planned for his day off. Me, I didn't mind so much. I really like working in skilled nursing. Being able to make a few extra bucks and turn back on a part of my brain that has been pretty much dormant since last April is nice for a change!

We spent much of the afternoon exchanging texts like:

 ME: The girls patriotic clothes are hanging in Zoe's closet &  the bloomers in a bin underneath

LANCE: Oh NO, I can only find one pair of "patriotic bloomers"!

ME: I need you to make a casserole too (insert about 15 texts with instructions and things that need to be added and omitted to keep it allergy friendly)

LANCE: I'm on it!

ME: Ok, swim suits are in Zoe's room, swim bag is on green chair in living room, sunscreen is in bag, pack snacks, bring swim diapers....

You get the idea!

But their AWESOME dad KILLED it. Everyone napped, everyone ate, everyone was dressed to perfection with chilled snacks in hand when I arrived at the Girod's house for our little party. I really was so proud of Lance and the thing is, it really was no biggie for him. He is SUCH a great daddy!

The day was great. Bethany is truly such a good, fun, thoughtful mommy and had made chocolate dipped frozen bananas, and frozen star shaped watermelon Pops for the kids. She went to great length to make sure no gluten or soy was in anything and that all of the treats were totally safe for everyone in our little allergy clan. The girls LOVED all of it and probably consumed more sugar that day than in their lives combined. It was so fun!! We swam and grilled and just had a wonderful family day. We were disappointed at first because we were going to have a few other friends over who ended up going out of town, but it ended up being the perfect, low key afternoon that I think we all needed!

We are loving that tomorrow is only Sunday and we have a whole extra day left to spend with Lance!

 Nora that morning. She is an interesting little person. SO quirky and funny. Like really, such a goof! 

 Nora scoping the scene

 Daddy & Nora with their sparklers ( I promise I love Zoe too, but she was too busy running around like a wild woman to get a picture or stop for such things as this!)

 All the sweet cousins

 This was today at chic fil a. Zoe LOVES her Aunt and Uncle. And she is much to big (in her opinion) for a high chair. She will sit at the table like a big girl thank you very much!

 Patriotic cutie #1

 Patriotic cutie #2

 

Lance's casserole

Typical potato casserole 

 Lance's casserole was absolutely DELISH, but Betho texted me this picture and I had to chuckle! He forgot to crush up the chex on the top and just dumped them on. She said he came in with what looked like a very billowy casserole and when she opened it, it took some self control not to laugh. But Lance, it was SO yummy and maybe even better that way!!

Sisters....so thankful that we all get to share these holidays (and most every day) together and help each other raise our kiddos. It is such a blessing & if it weren't for Betho my kids for sure wouldn't have had such a fun filled day! (I think she tried to instagram the tired out of our faces here!)

 Lance & his girls! Don't worry mom, I treated the clothes ASAP....no stains! :) 

That about sums it up, I hope everyone had as great of a weekend as we did! :)

Adoption mommy has returned!

I'm putting this out there in blog land! Please pray that Lance gets moved back closer to home soon for work. This is what we are waiting on to go back active with our adoption. I need my third baby girl in my life!! I woke up a few days ago and morphed back into adoption mommy. At breakfast yesterday I read a book about Ethiopia to the girls that a friend gave me. They were very excited to hear that they will have a sibling one day from Ethiopia. I was happy they were down for the journey! ;) 

But really, prayers for our family would be appreciated. We are currently weathering a bit of a storm with jobs and long commutes and uncertainty. However, God seems to swoop in and make all things right just when you think it's all wrong! I'm ready for the swoop God!

Proof that I am now adoption Mommy again. I'm drinking coffee at 1:15am and working on adoption paperwork. Feeling excited and hopeful & possibly a little too much of the effects of the double shot espresso! 

But I mean....I'm going to be a mommy of three. It will really happen. It got WAY put on hold but, hello, look what caused the "hold"!? Two other precious angel babes! Somebody pinch me....for real and possibly hook me up with a sedative to counteract all this caffeine! :/

And because what's a blog post without a picture of these two. In their car seats, just helping themselves to snacks and bopping along to the music. 14 months going on 14!! 

This week in a nutshell

Thoughts for today:

* It's been hitting me lately that having kids has in fact changed me. I don't know if this is good or bad, but it's true for me. Little thing, subtle things. For example. My bedroom is ugly. It doesn't match and the furniture is old and just a little bit of effort would morph it into a better looking space. But I just don't care that much. I just close the door so I don't have to see it and it is out of my mind. I also don't really care that some of our closets are piled up with clothes or that Nora's room is now the playroom. It's odd because before the girls were born some of these things would have sent me into a nervous breakdown. For real. I used to get SO overwhelmed with chaos and messes. I was the person that couldn't relax to eat dinner if I could see anything out of order anywhere! Before I could relax to study for a final in grad school I had to clean the whole house. Like, I'm talking dusting and vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen. I still like to do a quick once over at night so I can wake up to a clean house, but I feel like this part of me is kinda shrinking. I'd rather play with the girls amidst piles of messes than spend time doing house work over reading them books or playing games with them. I didn't expect to be that person. I just push piles of junk aside all day long and then once 8pm hits I get busy!

*Operation "get pre baby body back." Betho and I have started doing weight watchers. I lost 4 pounds the first week and although I will likely NEVER see the 122lbs on the scale that I was accustomed to for the past decade, I'll settle for a slightly more realistic number! However, I have a WAYS to go, but it's SO time to fit back into my clothes. Bed rest and no exercise during pregnancy did a number on me and damage control is finally in full effect!

*Work. God has been doing some work on my heart about "work" outside the home. There has never been a stronger advocate of stay at home mommyhood than me. For us, it was simply the only way with the exception of me going in one day a week and leaving to them with my mom & sis. No matter what the cost, what the sacrifice, whatever I would stay home. Period. Well, I truly believe God has some other plans for us for the time being in this area. I have the worlds most flexible job. It is truly a blessing and with very minimal work I can aid in supporting our family. Due to our adoption getting closer and closer and some other factors I have clearly heard (after much prayer that I didn't even want to pray to be totally honest) God telling me to help out my Husband for the time being with finances. Its nothing big, but in addition to working Monday I will also be working for 6 hours on Friday. Not sure for how long, but likely up until we get baby girl #3! I feel peace knowing I am following what I am certain God is telling me to do but oh man, leaving them another entire day is going to be hard for me. 

* That leads me to my next thought. I realized as I was planning out what I want to tell the nanny for Friday, that my girls and I are finally in such a good daily rhythm. Our days are getting pretty predictable and although they are still babies and can freak out at times, I find myself spending most of the hours of the day just LOVING life with my girls. They are at such a fun age and surprise me and make me smile SO much! I think that's where my reservations with work come into play, because although I am with them 5 out of 7 days I worry that I might miss something or that someone will fall and need their mommy and I won't be able to pick them up and kiss them. Relinquishing control of those children has been a problem area for me since day one and it's honestly not getting a bit better. Probably worse. Just sayin....it's the truth! 

* Our adoption. Now that my girls are 14 months old I am totally rested and actually kind of bored and needing to take on a third child to fill up my time. Ha...yeah right! I am actually pretty freaked out at the thought of adding a third baby to the mix and equally SO excited it makes me giddy. I have no earthly clue where this child is going to sleep, how the heck you put three car seats in the car, how on Gods green earth I will be able to take three children to the pediatrician at the same time...triple stroller? The double stroller doesn't even fit in there?! My nice little routine may get a bit messed up when little Jane Jordan makes it to America. But I'm counting on the fact that my girls will rise to the occasion and with the grace of God we will figure it out. I mean, isn't that what all people do when they add another child to the family? Just figure it out!? As far as a timeline goes, we have decided to be open to accepting a referral for a baby as soon as Lance is relocated back to Houston. He works in the woodlands right now and I unfortunately (for Lance mainly) solo parent for most of the week. The latest he should be back is early Fall, meaning that anytime between next few months to October/November we may be getting a little picture of our third baby girl. Yes, I'm getting goosebumps typing this!! 

* Her name. Soon after we felt God telling us to adopt a little girl, we named her. We chose Jane Jordan so that she could share that fun little connection with us through sharing our names (those are our middle names). For the past several months I have been wanting to change her name to Ivy. No good reason but that I love the name. However, my husband has a picture of his third little girl in his mind and that picture will always and forever go with the name Jane Jordan and I am ok with that. So I don't get to have my little Ivy unless we have a fourth daughter...hehe! 

* Nora's ER trip. I won't go into unnecessarily long details. Aside from saying, we thought Nora had a virus for a week. On two different occasions her lips and face turned pretty blueish and we were told that's normal with a fever and viral progression. Then Thursday morning she was sitting at Chic fil a with her cousins, laughing, smiling, bopping along to the music like her normal self and out of NOWHERE she started shivering and her little lips turned greyish/blue. I picked her up and tried to warm her up because she was covered in goosebumps but nothing helped so we left and she fell asleep instantly in the car. Then as we were pulling into the driveway (I had already called and scheduled a 2pm appointment after naptime) she woke up and was totally lethargic, not really that responsive and I freaked out. I called my sister and told her to come straight to my house, they were still in the car practically behind us. As she pulled in I literally kinda tossed Zoe into her lap in the drivers seat of her car and rushed Nora out. Right as we were pulling up to the doctors office she totally spaced out and started making an AWFUL gagging sound and I had to stop the car right where I was, not in a spot and run her in, wishing the whole time I was at the ER and not the pediatricians office. We got her straight in and although she was still pale the gagging seemed to take away the blue color. The doctor thought she was probably choking on something that came back up while she was playing and that the cough cleared it. However, as we were leaving one of the nurses patted her on the head and said, "oh Kayla she is so hot, we need to take her temp". Which was 103.5 and was only 97.5 about 20 minutes earlier. They told me to go have her blood drawn and told me it was ok to just let her sleep then take her in. So we took her in and they drew blood and then we came home & she was as happy as could be all day. I kept my phone close, but wasn't too worried at all. So at about 6pm I see a voicemail pop up on my phone, it never rang, and it was from my doctor and this is what I hear: "I just got Nora's labs back, her white count is 22,000 which is highly evevated, in addition she is showing some bands of cells that are a cause for concern and indicate a significant bacterial infection. I would advise that you take her to Texas Children's hospital in Katy immediately. Thank you." Umm, ok. I was home alone, getting dinner cleaned up and making a bedtime plan, as Lance wasn't expected home before 9 or 10, and was trying SUPER hard not to freak out. So of course my awesome family steps in with no problem, my mom goes with me and my sister and dad take over Zoe duty. Lance met us there and although the hospital staff was SO nice, it was just an awful night. Poor Nora had to have blood drawn again, because they couldn't get a hold of the labs from my pedi (who is not longer my pedi as of yesterday) and this time from her vein. It took 30 straight minutes of holding her down to find a vein and get the blood, it was truly traumatizing. She was hysterical and covered in sweat and at one point she just looked at me with this little look of defeat and just started moaning and groaning. It was gut wrenching. She also had to have a chest x-Ray, a catheter put in to get urine an IV & a shot of antibiotics into her leg. All this happening WAY past bedtime. The end result. A really bad UTI. We were so releaved that's all it was and as MAD as I was that she had to redo painful tests, I am so thankful it was an easy fix and not something like meningitis, which was a word thrown around a few times! (Oops that got long!) Oh and we later learned that what happened in the car was likely a febrile seizure, which as scary as it was is relatively harmless and caused by a sharp spike in temperature like she had. We also learned that in babies, when their bodies are fighting infection, all the blood rushes to protect the vital organs and can leave the less important stuff (e.g., hands, feet, arms, face) blue from lack of oxygen since the oxygen has to move into the core. So this dang UTI was what was causing Nora's week long fever, rash, and blue lips, and apparently a seizure. Geez! But happy to report she is totally better and hasn't even been the slightest bit feverish since the incident! 

So that last part really should have been a post all it's own so I'll leave it at that. Bless you if you have actually made it to the end of these ramblings!! 

Enjoy some snapshots of life lately with us. :)

Zoe every night for weeks while she was cutting Molars. She has never done teething particularly well. 

Our newest fun toy....the splash pad! Zoe is in heaven, Nora could take it or leave it. 

Mother/daughter girls night. So much fun & so relaxing! Loved painting and drinking wine for 2 hours with nothing to think about!! 

Half way to our forest masterpiece! 

My little nuts with their bottles they just can't seem to part with! I only let them have them before nap and bed. But really not sure how we are gonna break the bedtime bottle! I'm still not too worried about getting rid of them quite yet though. 

Nora's latest car pose. She is such a chill child! 

My little maniac. You you see her black eye, bruised nose and legs covered in bites, scratches and bruises!? She is truly a wild child. She is also holding the plastic part of the toilet paper role. She just runs in and yanks it off with all her might DAILY! 

My precious Nora right before we were about to finally head home from the ER all cozy in her Jammie's and sleep sack. You should have seen the bag I packed, complete with all her favorite things and a half gallon of coconut milk!  

Daddy giving her ice chips after the final antibiotic shot while we waited for 30 minutes to make sure she didn't have an allergic reaction. Allergies? Nora? No way! ;) 

Keeping her occupied so she wouldn't yank out her IV. How sad is this picture? 

Me home alone with the girls the next night after the ER. I decided to put them to bed at 6:30pm since they were exhausted ( I didn't mention Zoe was up from 11-3am the night we got home from the hospital and Nora was up until about 1am. Poor Lance was on mandatory overtime all week/weekend so he was truly a zombie). So Nora slept until 7:15 and apparently thought it was a nap and was bouncing off the walls. I was desperately trying to submit a late report for work as she happily banged on the keyboard. Please ignore my air dried puff hair! I must say, I was nearing the end of my sleep deprived rope here! 

My little monsters before bed. They love to run room to room and turn off lamps! :) 

Ok...marathon post complete. Happy Saturday!! 

The best moment

(Before you begin reading, please know that I do know about paragraphs! Blogger isn't allowing spacing right now!) We had one of those OH SO SWEET moments today. So sweet in fact that I don't want to forget and must document on this blog. This morning we were headed, after a STRESSFUL I might add morning, to the pediatrician. Nora broke out in a rash and fever last night, our Nanny woke up sick ( I swear all illness seems to occur on Monday-it's like the universe knows it's my work day), I had finally gotten all my clients covered and gotten Nora into the doctor at 11 and then couldn't find my keys. I was literally dripping in sweat looking for the keys, took all cushions off all couches, moved every table and searched the car while trying to keep the girls out of the street. I was walking in to cancel our appointment, which I had already cancelled work to be at, when I found the keys in a high chair. HMMMMM. I wonder who the sneaky guilty party was. I think Zoe. :) Anyway, I took a deep breath and was feeling a strangely familiar feeling I hadn't felt in about 8 months. Ya know that super frazzled new mommy feeling where you just about want to cry!? Ha! That was me today standing in a pile of couch cushions, sweating, looking for my keys. I literally put my head down on a pillow to ask God to reveal the keys and Zoe came over and with both hands and grabbed my hair and pulled my head up as hard as she could and looked at me like, "Ummmm Mommy what is up!?" I kindly explained to her that I was asking God to find my keys that I was pretty sure she lost. :) So we went to the doctor and left with a diagnosis of Hand, Foot, Mouth disease for Nora. The poor child has sores lining the back of her throat. She is also cutting like a million teeth. It is very sad and my little piglet has no interest in eating or drinking. However, she weighed in at 26.8 pounds SO I think she just may have some reserves! Ok so back to the point of my post. On the way home I looked back and noticed that my pitiful little Nora had fallen asleep. I wanted to keep her up so I could try to feed her lunch and then let her get a good nap at home. So I started saying "Nora, Nora" in a soft little voice. Zoe then looked over and seemed concerned that something was wrong. I swear she could sense her sissy was feeling bad. She looked at me and then is the SWEETEST, I mean SWEETEST little voice, clear as day started reaching her hand over to Noras and saying "Nowa Nowa". She just kept saying it over and over and Nora just looked at her smiling. Then the whole time they were eating lunch Zoe would lovingly look over at her and start saying "Nowa, Nowa, Nowa". That was just what I needed to put a smile on my face. The sweet sister love that I am seeing unfold each day is just too sweet & I couldn't help but think about our third little one that gets to come into a family with two sweet sisters. Little Jane is going to no doubt be so blessed by her two sweet sisters. Ok, mommy moment done. Now pray that a miracle happens and Zoe doesn't get hand, foot, mouth. She is an even more pitiful patient than Nora when she's sick so maybe we will get lucky! Happy Monday to all and any tips on dealing with Hand, foot and mouth welcome!

Nora, Nora Beth, Norten Porten, NorNor, Noreen, Porty, Edith

Little Nora Angel gets her post today.

Oh how I love this sweet angel of mine. Nora is truly the sweetest, happiest, most joyful child! She sleeps like a champ and is literally standing in her bed just waiting to start jumping and laughing when Zoe & I come in to get her. Since we are starting on sleep, I will say that this child has become a super sleeper. I never thought I would say this, but she sleeps like a rock for 12-13 hours every night, naps great and is always such a little delight. It appears removing all her allergy food was the answer to our sleep problems. Nora can hang all day on one nap with no problem, but will also nap for two hours in the morning if I put her down and again in the late afternoon. If we put her to bed late she sleeps late and still gets rested, her other half isn't so easy on sleep.

Although Nora is truly the sweetest little human I know, she STRUGGLES right now with seperation anxiety. So much actually, that if someone even walks into our house that she doesn't know she FREAKS out and clings to me and screams her head off. Like tears, and snot, and the whole thing. She won't stay in the church nursery and even if I stay with her, she keeps me within arms length, that is if she even gets down at all. If I start drying my hair or messing with my keys, she will literally walk into the living room to make sure no one is there. If I start getting my keys and a sitter IS at the house it's all over. The panic attacks begin! I am hoping we have hit our peak and will start to see a change soon. However, if Nora knows you, she loves you and even though she is often not a person who likes a lot of people in her face, she is so sweet.

Nora is a bit quieter than her sister, but she knows what's up. She is a very observant person, and is constantly trying to figure out how things work and what things do. She loves to put the shapes into their spots on their little laugh and learn play house, turn and smile at me and start clapping for herself. When I chime in she is just beaming with joy and pulls out the shape to do it over. She is a CLIMBER and is on everything. I mean everything. She climbs on the ottoman, window sills, bed, chairs, on top of the water table, on top of the diaper drawers...on top of anything her little leg can get up and onto! My sister actually said the other day, "I have heard of these kind of children but had never seen it before yours." She is also so very into details. She will find a spec of dirt on the floor and go get it, she likes to pull all the stoppers off the door stops, she will point at even the tiniest of eyes on a baby in a book and say "eyes", she always seems to find the smallest things and bring them to me, that is if she doesn't eat them while I am not looking. Lets just say Nora's diapers have had a few "extras" in them from time to time! She used to be obsessed with leaves and with EATING leaves. It drove me nuts because we could never go outside and play because I was on leaf patrol. However, she has now learned she isn't allowed to eat them and has to bring them to me. So now she spends half her time she's outside looking for leaves to bring me. It's funny.

She has picked up a few new words, but her main change lately has just been her ability to comprehend so much stuff and follow directions. If you ask her how old she is she proudly holds up one finger, she will "go get a book" and come sit in my lap with it, she knows "lets go bye-bye" and she knows "lets go night night". If I say want a "nana" or "applesauce" or "grapes" she will look right at the food she wants. She does that with lots of stuff these days actually. It often surprises she that I can ask her to get something and she gets it. I think it's just hard to believe they are really toddlers now. She will actually say "zoe" "mama" "dada" "papa" (for my dad) "eyes" "block" "bye" and she even calls my sister "kk" sometimes which is actually what Betho & all her family calls me. I'm not sure whats going on there. But we've heard it from time to time. She will point or gesture to get what she wants mainly and hasn't mastered the art of imitation quite yet. But she is a very effective comunicator in her own way. She watches Zoe so carefully and tries SO hard to say what she says. When Zoe growls like an animal or imitates sounds Nora will watch and watch then give it a try. It never sounds as good or accurate as Zoe's talking, but it is just so sweet that she wants to be like her sister and is trying to keep up. I think Zoe's tendency to do things early is like a built in motivation for Nora. Yesterday, I was cooking and she was pulling on my leg and fussing. It took about 5 minutes straight until she finally yelled "MAMA" then "UH" (for up). So, I know if she wants something bad enough she will find a way to get her point across.

Nora is a bit quirky to say the least, much like someone else that gave her half her DNA, and does some funny things. She loves to be holding something in each hand and in her mouth. She likes to put toys where they belong and not just tossed around. When the play room is a mess she walks in and takes what she wants and leaves. However, if it is all nice and the toys are where they belong she will find one an sit and play so nicely. She is a lot like her Daddy from what I can tell. I told him just the other day that maybe she will share his passion for organized closets and folding clothes so neatly. We could use another detail oriented person in the family, becasue I am definitely not one and Zoe's looking like a bit of a mess in this area too! :)

Nora is an adrenaline junky, the therapist in me says she is definitely a "sensory seeker". She loves jumping and spinning, and running. The higher and faster and louder the better for Nora. She continues to be a great eater and has fallen into her special (which is really just totally healthy) diet wonderfully. She has never liked sweets and junk food so nothing has changed much aside from eliminating all bread and her formula (which we would have anyway) and pretty much only ever doing organic fruits, veggies and meats. We still find "on the go" snacks a challenge but we have found a few that work. Her and her sister are on coconut milk and sometimes I add a few ounces of whole milk to their bottle at bedtime, but aside from that the only dairy either get is from cheese and yogurt.

Nor Nor we LOVE you so much and can't imagine life without you!!!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

 Very typical Nora. Something in all hands and mouth. Preferably pushing something as well with a free part of her body.

 Crawled into the bathtub all by herslef in search of this play phone.

 "I'm ONE!"

Little "Edith", my mom created that nickname because Nora walks around like a little old lady, using tiny steps and with her arms up at her waist. Priss pot for sure! :)