Knock, Knock

Knock, Knock.

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange, who?

Orange you excited a baby is coming?

My sister-in-law is having a baby in April and I wanted to throw her a little shower for her family and a few friends. Unfortunately, we picked a day when none of the family could come. But her friends brought their kiddos, and had a very nice play date and lunch. I have found parties to be an ever growing "hobby" of mine that I very much enjoy. Here are a few of the details I had a lot of fun doing.

The "Orange You Excited?" banner.

I made a little banner with the scraps for the mantel.

My sister has a small collection of pitchers with oranges on them that I used as vases.

On the table, I put I different citrus candies in mason jars; lime lollipops, candied orange slices, lemon drops, and candied grapefruit slices.

For lunch the guests built their own salads from the toppings I put out; strawberries, mandarin oranges, grilled chicken, avocado, grapefruit, Gorgonzola cheese, and candied walnuts.

For dessert we had key lime yogurt pies.

I forgot to take pictures of the water bottles at the party, but here are a few of the extras. I had planned to give each cookies and jelly to take home, but when the guest list dwindled, and I lost my kitchen, I had to come up with a simple parting gift. The soda-pop was a last minute addition. It was a simple, relaxing gathering. We can't wait to meet Vizon number six next month!

Third Time's A Charm

After three visits to the doctor in less than three weeks, Lily is finally healthy. This time she had a double ear and sinus infections. And all this time this crazy Mama thought she had allergies! But it was nothing a five day antibiotic couldn't knock out. She is finally back to "normal" and sleeping her 11 hours during the night. We are still trying to find our new "regular" schedule since time change. (Why do I keep putting things in quotes?) But for the most part we have settled back in. She finally gained a little weight. Although she grew another inch from 4 months to 6 months, now 25 inches, she actually lost weight and was down to 14 pounds 1 ounce. Doc wasn't concerned, and I assume because of her being sick she wasn't eating real well. She has rebounded well, both eating and nursing more than previously and now closer to 15 pounds. Although Daddy tried to give her cold spinach yesterday and she wasn't having any of it; we'll mix it with sweet potatoes tonight.

Through this ordeal we also had to switch doctors. When I was pregnant, they asked if I would mind being assigned to one of the Family Medicine residents. I didn't mind; he was always under supervision and I was happy to help out. He was supposed to be the one to deliver Lily, but with how everything went down, their wasn't even time to call him. We really liked Dr. Flores and he continued to see Lily after she was born. But when we had to see a doctor on February 27, outside of our routine visit, we had issues. They scheduled her an appointment in Pediatrics but then told us we couldn't go to Peds because we were part of Family Medicine so they scheduled us a new appointment. But when we showed up in Fam Med for our appointment they refused to see her because she was under two years. Back down to the reception desk. Two hours later, we were finally seen in Fam Med. A nightmare for an infant. Then when we had to go back in on March 16 it took me two hours to get an appointment because no one knew where to schedule her and I had to keep waiting to talk to nurse advice. I called Kevin in sobbing tears not know how to make my baby feel better because no one would see her. I blame the hysterics on not sleeping for two weeks while she fought through this cold. I ended up switching her to a regular pediatrician. We really liked her and are happy with the department, nurse, and whole change. I was able to tell our doctor that we had to break up and it wasn't his fault. He felt bad, then I felt bad. It was all quite embarrassing. But Lily is well and we are all rested!

Ruined

You know when you follow a link, which leads you to another link, which leads you to another, and all of a sudden you ask yourself "How did I get here?" A blog I read directed me to this blog post. I don't know this woman, but her blog has been haunting me ever since. It was beautifully spoken, and beautifully written. The gist: I can't ruin my children, they were born ruined and it is my responsibility to show them they need Jesus as their Savior. I need to be real with Lily showing her my faults yet striving to be the best mother in Christ that I can be. Show her that God commands are showing his true and perfect character and that he gives us his commands to protect us and enjoy a relationship with us. As sinners, we are enemies of God, but even as his enemies, he loved us and died for our sin. My sin. I am ruined. But when God looks at me, he sees me through his son, Jesus, who paid the price for my sin. Death. All so that I could be called a daughter of our heavenly Father.

How Can I Have 'Smore If I Haven't Had Any?

For wedding gifts (four and a half years ago) friends bought us camping equipment; a tent, sleeping bags, chairs, a lantern, and all the accessories. So we decided to go camping - in our backyard. Well, not literally our back yard. Rancho Jurupa Regional Park is less than a mile (maybe less than a half mile) from our house.We figured for our first time, and with a six month old, we didn't want to head all the way to the Grand Canyon only to fail. And we didn't completely fail. . .

We arrived around 3:00. It took about an hour to set up camp. We did a practice run with the tent at our house the night before but didn't set it up all the way so we had to figure a couple of things out by trial and error.
Bug hung out in the pack and play while we set up camp. Actually, she only hung out here for about 15 minutes. The girl can hang out on the floor at home for hours, but didn't want to be contained (not that she actually moves yet.)

So we moved her to the "floor" and she was a little more content. The puppies didn't really like being tethered.

After we set up camp we took a walk around to see what was there. The park has recently been remodeled and was really cool. There was a disc golf course, 9 hole miniature golf, a water pad during the summer, a "nature" play ground with giant rocks and tree trunks to climb over, two lakes, two play grounds, two different campgrounds (one with full hook ups, the other with water and electricity), 6 little cabins to rent, a primitive camp site, and a nice walking path. We went a little aways away from all the people and let the dogs run around off their leashes. Growing up, Kevin and I both had dogs that would bolt when the front door was opened, and we have tried very hard to make sure our dogs come when called. Only once have we had one of the dogs run off, and that was because Charlie wanted to go play with the other puppy in our neighborhood.

After our walk, and a short nap in the stroller, it was dinner time. Mmm, sweet potatoes.

Hanging out with Daddy while Mommy started the fire. Daddy eventually had to come rescue the fire with some more lighter fluid. The log just kept turning black but never caught.

We roasted kielbasa dogs over the fire. I thought my little contraption for holding the roasting sticks was quite handy.

Then we roasted marshmallows. I'm not sure Kevin has ever roasted his own marshmallow. He asked me how he would know when the marshmallow was done. Then as we were eating our smores he asked me if there was caramel in them.

The Reed's do a small twist on the classic smore. It may have been cheaper, or simply easier with a family of six, but we buy chocolate covered graham crackers instead of chocolate bars. I like it so much better than the chocolate bar that never really melts.

The night was a little rough. It was cold. We bundled Lily up. She was in a long sleeve shirt, leggings, socks, booties, footie pajamas, a sleep sack, and a hat. She slept in the pack and play until about midnight, and then she was done. She could have been too cold, or it could have been a new surrounding, but I think her cough got the best of her. She is still battling the runny nose and the hacking cough that makes her gag. I think if we had gone before she got her cold she probably would have been fine. And while we normally let her cry it out at home, we figured it wasn't really fair to the other campers. So she slept with me. She slept. I didn't. And Kevin didn't either. Apparently, I am too used to our giant cal-king bed, and I hogged the air mattress. In my defense, he never told me I was hogging the bed. We woke up at 6:00 when the sun came up, let the dogs pee (they slept in the van), fed Lily, and then went back to bed until 9:00. That was probably the best sleep we had all night.

For breakfast we had boxed donuts. Doing a real camping breakfast sounded like so much work for our first time out. I told Kevin that while he was out getting firewood on Saturday morning, he could pick himself up some chocolate milk (his favorite) and grab me a bottled Starbucks Frappachino to take along. He came back with two; surprising for the guy who doesn't like coffee. When I asked him how he liked it, he said "It tastes like coffee." I think he was expecting chocolate milk with a hint of caramel. I am laughing now as I write this. My cheeks hurt.

Then Lily got cereal.

After our breakfast of champions, we took the path around the park and looked around some more. The weather was absolutely beautiful; even Kevin couldn't complain.

We stopped at one of the play grounds for Bug to sit in the swing; a first. Unfortunately, it was nap time, and she did not really want to be jostled around.

But caught on quickly that this was a fun thing. She had an okay time. We will try again when it isn't nap time.

She did eventually take her nap in the stroller.

We really did have a wonderful time. We have some kinks to work out but we will try again soon. Let me know if you know of any great parks less than an hour and a half from Riverside.

Kitchen Repair - Part Six

I haven't posted much about the kitchen because not much has happened. Two and a half weeks ago they rebuilt the cabinets using the old faces, doors, and drawers. This was a three day process, mostly because it was just one guy. Another guy showed up for part of it, but he wasn't here when the first guy showed up, and left before it was done. Not quite sure his expertise. But the cabinets were built. Then the painters came. They painted the kitchen, two walls in the dining room, one wall in the family room and the ceiling in the kitchen and the family room. I lost my gold wall in my kitchen. I'm not too heart broken. It wasn't the color I really wanted originally and the painters came before we picked out a counter top. So taupe it is. There was a small mark on the ceiling in my dining room/living room from where they put the pole up for the containment tent. The guys were going to paint the whole vaulted ceiling to make sure that the new paint didn't show against the old. We only painted two and a half years ago, so I pulled out my leftover ceiling paint and had them roll the tiny spot. It was not worth their trouble, nor mine of losing access to these rooms as well as the others. Plus it gave us more of a credit toward our upgrades.

But after picking out a counter top on Friday, we have been at a standstill. Nothing happened this week. Well, nothing at the house. The slab is being cut for installation next Monday. If everything goes as planned the kitchen should be complete next Friday. I hope everything we have picked out at separate times matches!

Homemade

Lily starting eating solids about a month ago, and like my use of cloth diapers, I was looking for a very cost effective way to go about feeding my daughter. I was not about to pay 50c a pop for pre-made food containers. So with very little (if any) change to our monthly grocery budget I began pureeing fruits and vegetables for Lily. My sister wrote all about her baby food making on her blog, but I swear when I first told her I was going to make my own baby food she rolled her eyes at me. But now we are buying large quantities of fruits and veggies and splitting them.

I started with carrots. It seemed like a sweeter veggie and very easy to do. I steamed them up in my little steamer basket.

Pureed them up with my borrowed magic bullet (thanks, Mom) and put them into my little freezer containers so I could pull one out at a time. Excited to try out my little masterpiece, I served them that night. SHE HATED THEM! She gagged shuddered and spit them out. Then when she was down she spit them all up down her outfit. What a mess. I was sure my baby food making days were doomed.The second day went a little better but the carrots still weren't her favorite. We slowly began introducing other foods and they went much better. Below Daddy is feeding her squash, a favorite. She also loves peas, sweet potatoes and mango. To be honest, I have a blast making the food and may have gone a little overboard with the pureeing. In our freezer right now we have apples, pears, peas, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, squash, mango, prunes, and blueberries. Just a couple of each for a little variety. The easiest thing has been too cook just a little extra of whatever Kevin and I are having, and puree the extra. So far carrots have been the only thing she hasn't loved. She does well with all of her green veggies including the spinach. Lovin' my cheap little baby!

Six Months

Lily turned 6 months at the end of February. She is sitting up on her own but occasionally spills over. It's not a big deal upstairs on the carpet, but is a little traumatic on the tile. She is still a lot of the same as she was last month. She eats five times a day, and still takes three naps. She is a creature of habit and her days are pretty much the same. First nap is and hour and a half, the second is 2 hours, and the third is an hour. She is up at 6:30 every morning, and we struggle to stay awake until 7:00. She still sleeps through the night; now if only Mommy could. Lily is still working through the residual symptoms of her cold with a runny nose and cough. She occasionally has a coughing fit at night and while it doesn't wake her up, Mommy hears every cough (while Daddy snores on through.) She is becoming a better solid food eater. She loves sweet potatoes, peas, and mango. Not a big fan of carrots though and she is unimpressed by cereal no matter what I mix in it. She is, however, very interested in the things around her, making it difficult to focus on the spoon. But she is good at trying new things and is getting better and eating more every day. We have a lot of fun and she adores her daddy, which is why she is actually smiling in these photos; Kevin was making her laugh. He kinda likes her, too.

Still Sick

The past two (really three) weeks have been a little crazy. Our kitchen is still not done and the mess that it creates is slowly (or rather quickly) driving me mad. Progress is slow. My parents came down last week while my brother had a week off from school. Mom hung out with me and the babies while Daddy did projects around my and my sisters house; it sure is nice that she lives down the street. Daddy put some plywood up in the attic creating wonderful storage for more of my junk.

Side story - My parents bought me a deep freezer this summer. We went back and forth on whether or not we should get a bigger one. When I asked my Dad's advice, he said "you will fill whatever you have." The same has gone for my house. We bought a larger than we needed house three years ago so we could grow into it. Instead, we have filled our house to the brim. Every closet, cupboard, and shelf is full. And yes, I could probably get rid of it, but the pack rat inside me says, "I might need it one day!" I'm also pretty sentimental, so we have a bunch of stuff that we simply just can't get rid of. Thus the new attic flooring has been a life saver. In my defense, we don't have much storage in the garage as we are determined to park both of our cars in it.

So up into the attic went Christmas decorations, outgrown baby clothes, the baby bath tub and the bassinet. I was actually quite sad to see the bassinet go. My mother-in-law did a beautiful job on the bedding and I loved the way it looked in my bedroom. And while Lily hasn't slept in it for 4 months, it was official that the teeny-tiny stage is over.

The visit with my parents was nice. I enjoy the family dinners and just hanging out knowing I don't have to entertain them.

Pe-Pa, Caleb, Grammie, and Lily Bug

Doesn't she look so big sitting up by herself?

But the last two weeks have been marked by a really nasty cold. Lily started the whole mess which got our whole family sick, as well as our friend's family of four. I have no idea where she picked it up. I blogged a week ago last Saturday about her cold and this Saturday she seemed to be exactly the same. I ended up taking her to Kaiser on Sunday. I went back and forth knowing that if it was a virus it had to run its course and it would just be a waste of money. But because she was still running the fever I was worried about an infection. So we went in. A lot of drama later (which isn't worth talking about) we were home. The took x-rays for which she screamed. Nothing. Virus. It has to work its way through. She still has a lot of snot. Tomorrow marks two weeks. Hopefully things begin to look up.

Snot Bubbles!