Lucy's Birthday...Finally(April 19, 2011)

Lucy turned 2 on April 19. Yes, It is July and I am finally blogging about it:) I have several posts I am behind on, and for journaling sake I want to catch up, so here I go:)

That week was crazy for medical stuff for Peter, but we still managed to have lots of fun with Lucy. She did turn 2 afterall:)

So after Peter and I came home to nap after his sleep study, we woke up, showered and started up north to share cupcakes with Lucy's cousins in Westminster. We had lots of fun to choose cupcakes from Target. Then we shopped at Costco and picked up a new blender(our's broke)-we will pretend it was a birthday present for Lucy if she ever asks:)


Then we went to celebrate and eat at BJ's Restaurant. YUM! That was my 3rd or 4th time and I still love it! We had lots of yummy food, starting with avocado egg rolls, Evan had a yummy loaded baked potato and sides, I had a YUMMY chinese chicken salad, Lucy and Peter shared a grilled cheese Sandwich and smiley face fries. Then we also ordered Lucy creamy avocado and chopped avocados, her FAVORITE, her own food group!!!




Lucy LOVED her free hot cookie and ice cream-and part of a candle:)



We got home and heard singing messages from Grandma Liz and Grandpa Steve and loved the card they sent(my mom makes her own cards and sells them).


Then we were able to gmail video chat with Grandma Betty and Grandpa Romney. They sand to her, watched her blow out her candle and not want to eat cake. Lucy is very particular about the sweets she eats. Definitely good on her part:) She opened our non-wrapped gift- a musical dog! Lucy still loves it, and doesn't want to part from it:)


It was a great day. She does so much and is turning into more of a little angel. She brightens our lives and makes us feel so blessed on a daily basis, even when she tests our patience:)

Lucy Loves to Love on Peter. She says his name so cutely! She cuddles him, tickles him, kisses and hugs on him. She pets his head and plays with his hair.

She loves playing with her baby dolls and feeding them bottles and kissing them.

Lucy loves getting up on her chair and eating food. Sometimes when she is hungry I find her waiting at the table for food:) She does not like sitting on a booster seat.

Lucy loves getting in the car and going places. When we play outside sometimes she will go wait next to her door for me to open it, so we take lots of quick trips around the block:)

Lucy loves the outside!!!! If she could bath, sleep, eat, play, work, everything outside, she would be a happy camper.

She hops, jumps, and runs everywhere! She holds her hands in the air sometimes while traveling across the house:)

She laughs ALL the time, less crying lately, that is a plus.

She has figured out how to open her door by sitting next to the door, sticks her fingers under the door, jiggles it 2-3 times and pops the door open. BRILLIANT

Jumping and hopping down the stairs makes us nervous but she loves doing it! Today at nursery I was told she climbs up on everything and jumps off, makes them very nervous!

Lucy has so much good about her, for now we are just loving and enjoying her. One day we will get to fill her in on how crazy, beautiful, funny, smart, loving and inventive she is.


I can't get enough of her. Sometimes I just want to wake her up so we can play:)

Dolmas

I love Dolmas. Stuffed Grape Leaves. I have only had them at Whole Food's and at a Mediterranean place at the Flatirons mall. YUM!

I have found that some have meat so I want to try those. I've only had them stuffed with rice.

I broke and bought some with tzatziki sauce today:)

Valerie gave me a recipe I want to try, maybe I'll be brave:) It might just be easier to buy them, but now I want some with meat:)

Peter's sleep study, allergy tests and more

So Peter has had a rough start from birth, and for some follow up and figuring things out Children's Hospital scheduled a sleep study. So the night before Lucy's birthday Evan and Lucy stayed home and bonded and Peter and I ventured out to Children's hospital.

Peter usually goes to bed at 7:30, so this night was not going to be easy. We checked in at 6:30. I grabbed a bite of dinner at the cafeteria, and at 7:30 they checked us in at the reception desk in the sleep study clinic. They didn't pull us in until about 8:30 or so. Then we waited until about 9 for everything to get set up. I had to wait to give him his bottle because they wanted him to have it after he was hooked up to the machines-BAD IDEA. He Cried, and CRIED and CRIED. If you know Peter you know this isn't normal. But they had to hook him up to sooo many wires and bind up his hands to prevent him from pulling everything off. That didn't really work, I wish they would have started us at 5 so he wasn't overly tired and sad that he was being restrained.

After everything was set up the lights went out and I was in a bed right next to Peter. I thought I was going to get some sleep, ethe bed was even comfy. Boy was I wrong!!! Peter was so tired and so sad about what was going on, it made me cry and mad that they couldn't do anything to help him. It was so bright in there for him so I got all the linens and covered the monitors to make it dark.

I'm happy I brought the mobile he got from Grandma Betty. It was a SUPER LIFE SAVER. We pretty much played it every time he cried, which was always, and I had to hold him or pat his chest to soothe him. Finally around 11pm the nurse said that if he didn't fall asleep by midnght the test would be void and have to be repeated. I was so nervous and scared and sad and mad that he wasn't happy. All I could do was pray. So I prayed and prayed and prayed and we were blessed. He slept just enough that they said it was fine. In saying that though, I didn't get any sleep, he really didn't sleep much. At 6am they came in and put him on oxygen for 20 minutes. At 7am, we were packed up and checked out of the hospital. That was the worst experience of my life!

I had to call my mom to talk to me for the drive home because I was afraid I would fall asleep..thank you mom! We got in, fed Peter and then he and I slept for a large part of the day. After we woke, showered and dressed..we were off to celebrate Lucy and her 2nd birthday:)

A few weeks later we got called and since the test was crazy, and he normally sleeps 12 hours a night and didn't this night, they are going to have him come in on June 13 to get tested in clinic for his breathing to check lungs etc. Hopefully he will be cleared of any concern and we can move on from so many doctors.

After the sleep study the following day Peter and I went in for a feeding therapy examination. He was choking on most everything and would only have bottles but was wanting more. They had me bring in tons of different food and show them how he ate. He choked on the food and 2 hours later they scheduled him for feeding therapy for every other Saturday. I worked really hard on the tips they gave me. After a month of trying, he is now off of feeding therapy and eating like a champ!! He eats more than Lucy! Peter still struggles a little but overall great! the Lord has truly blessed us.(his food wand to train his tongue)

He also had an allergy test along with Lucy. Randi Mosher came to help.
So sad and itchy
Randi was so calm

They watched Finding Nemo while they waited for the test to finish.



Next thing up is physical therapy since he isn't crawling yet-he's delayed, but I think he will pull through:)

I LOVE GMAIL!!!

So I was getting ready to send an email with attachments but I totally forgot to attach them. Have you ever done that and then had to send a second email with the attachment? I have-several times!!!

Back to my email-as I sent 'send' without attaching the photos, I got this message that popped up

AWESOME!! So I only had to send one email, not two. Isn't gmail awesome! I love technology.

This is how we start summer break:)

Evan is officially on Summer Break...let the chores and tasks, I mean the fun begin!

I have been searching for swing sets for a bit now, and I found one for $40, they accepted $30. We REALLY hoped that it wouldn't be a dud deal and missing parts(it was already taken apart and ready to sell). We had fun putting it together(only missing two bolts that we don't need until we decide to attach the slide), this is what our day looked like (with sick Lucy-but she was a trooper)

Lucy likes to read anywhere--the elliptical was moved for installation of our new windows

Evan mowed the lawn while Lucy and I walked the neighborhood blowing the white puffy dandelions. Then we began sorting and putting together our new swing set.

Lucy liked "helping" daddy
But we needed to get an allen wrench to help tighten everything so we all packed up and went to borrow a wrench, we saw a FREE sign and went in to a church handing out leftovers from a garage sale. We came back with a lot of loot, including a bike helmet just slighty too big for Lucy-I've got to hide it so she doesn't think that she needs it for her little bike:)


The finished product(I might spray paint to another color later)


Then we decided that Lucy didn't love the big girl swing because she kept slipping out and it wasn't safe for her or Peter. So we got some birthday money from Grandma Liz and Grandpa Steve and coupons from Toys R Us and came back with a new swing for the two cuties. The other swings will be saved for when they are older.


At the bottom is a video of Peter and Lucy swinging and squealing together.




After lots of swinging we came in for leftovers of gnocchi, bbq chicken, peaches, avocados, and cabbage salad...yum! Kids are a little sick and pooped and tucked into bed. Lucy kept dragging us by our hands and leading us to outside..she was NOT happy when we wouldn't go outside each time she wanted to go.

Magic Erasers..they really are magical

Among other things like crayon off walls etc, Magic Erasers can do ANYTHING!


My sister handed down her kitchenAid to me. It definitely had a lot of love on it:) She cooks a LOT! I have eaten many yummy things that started in this machine.



Then I tried washing it with wipes, hot water, soap, it wouldn't budge. Then I remembered I had magic erasers. Amazing before and after!



Now it looks like this!


I can't wait to get cooking!

two pieces of advice from Patriarch Jensen

In July 2009 Evan, Lucy and I went to a 4th of July picnic and there we had talked with Patriarch Jensen of the Littleton Stake. (turns out he was my parents bishop way back in the day before I was born). He gave a great piece of advice that has stuck with me ever since

"You are not entitled to anything"

We were telling him that we were looking for a house to buy. He said too may people think they "deserve" or "are entitled" to everything they want. He told us that we didn't need a home with the most bedrooms, or the most space, or the most whatever. He told us that we were blessed to have a house with walls, roof and enough space to sleep. That we didn't need all the vacations and luxuries that people in this time feel they are entitled to but can't afford. He said we needed to pay attention to our needs and not our wants.

Boy, if that was ever some thought provoking advice!!!!

Evan and I searched and searched and searched for homes. We looked at close to 90-100 homes. NO JOKE! We really felt we needed to stay in the Littleton Stake but only had a limited price range.

We prayed that if the Lord would bless us with a home in the right ward with a good house payment and something that was good for us then we would try to bless others through our home and other things that the Lord would bless us with.

The house we really felt we should be in had an offer on it in May, and in two more months of house after house after house, the offer was rescinded and we were able to put an offer along with 2 other people. We prayed so hard that if it was the right place for us that it would pull through---IT CAME THROUGH. Prayers were answered, we rescinded our offer on another house (that would have been prettier, more updated etc) and started to prep for this house. It tooks MONTHS before everything came in how it should, and finally we closed in January of 2010(it was a short sale). It took us 3 months to fix up the house to be able to live in it. We LOVE our home.

As many of you know the house had lots of issues, and it wasn't until about a month ago in talking to my friend Jessica Berg, that I saw a HUGE benefit in buying a house under what we could have paid. Jess said that in our heeding the patriarchs advice, he saved us from financial trouble-maybe he had some foresight for us. We had so many things "come up" like a new sewer line etc. It was tough trying to balance everything financial but now we are blessed being able to take care of those projects that come up and pay on our house payment and still eat. We may never be rich but we have definitely been blessed with what the Lord knows we need. I think Jess was right, that he gave great advice, we listened, we struggled through some major trials, and now we are being taken care of by the Lord.

I felt so strongly about this piece of advice that after church today I went up to the Jensen's on the way to their car and told them how I appreciated that piece of advice so long ago. As I walked away he said the kids were great and then said

"You are the mother that every kid should have" and when I repeated in my mind I took it as or thought of him saying it like "You should be the mother every kid has"

I took it as a compliment but then the instruction of that has been flashing in my mind all day. (I wish I could go up to him and have him say it again so I can hear the influctions etc so I know I got his wording right-maybe I'm making up the compliment part of it. Either way heading the instruction part of it is incredible to me)

I NEED to be the mother that every kid has. WOW. He was paying me a compliment but then instructing that I need to be "that" mom. Don't slack off but get better and better. How would I know what that means other than praying for guidance, watching other great mothers like my own, learning from mistakes, not feeling "entitled" to anything, working alongside my great husband, setting goals, not slipping to the things in my life that have brought me down before, following what is instructed in my patriarchal blessing, praying praying praying for guidance and direction and having the Spirit more in my home. I could go on and on.

Needless to say I am grateful for the compliment and have felt rejuvinated in my calling of who I am and who I need to become. I have been feeling a weight on me that I don't know quite how to explain other than I feel like I have been suppressing who I am and who I can be because of some hurtful things done and said to me in the past few years. I am done feeling like I am less than I am or holding back who I am or my potential. I am ready to fight for who I am and who I need to be.

I am blessed with a good husband who puts up with all of my shenanigans. Evan is a great person to stick by my side, support me always, lift me up, understand me, listen to me, care for me and allow me to do all the crazy things I do that help make our family, our family.

YAY! I feel like I am getting a fresh start and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me. I don't know how I can do any of this without the Lord's help. I guess Patriarch Jensen's comment has invigorated me to do good and go forth and develop a better relationship with the Lord.

I like how our Heavenly Father loves us so much that uses all of us as His hands to bless others. I am happy that he has blessed me with Patriarch Jensen in my life. Hopefully I can be used to help and bless others-pay it forward right?

Cleaning out my emails and found this written to Lucy

I was cleaning out my email drafts, and came across this letter to Lucy. We had tried for a long time to get pregnant and finally a little miracle.

October 1st, 2008
I have wanted you my whole life. When dad and I got married we didn't know when we would start our family, but when we decided to try, it was difficult for us. I have PCOS, which means I have cysts on my ovaries and complicates things for me in that department. We started working with a fertility specialist and were given some great advice.
We were told to have me try to lose some extra weight, and to cut stress out of my life. I quit my job and tried losing weight, but that was very difficult for me. I still had stress in my life, but it has been decreasing as the time goes on.

I started taking Chlomid to help me ovulate, and on the third month of that medication, we went in for insemination on August 6th, we became pregnant a few days later, but did not find out for a while.

I wanted you so bad, and a week or so before my birthday I started having lots of gas and heartburn. I normally didn't feel that way, so I thought I was pregnant. I called the dr and asked if I could test early because I just knew that I was pregnant by how I was feeling. I had taken many many many pregnancy tests since the month I got married, but on this special Tuesday morning, August 19th, I peed on a stick, while dad was showering, and to my amazement, it read positive. Dad wanted to be told in a cute or surprising way whenever we found out, but I couldn't hold it in. I asked him that if I wanted to tell him something, if I could do it in a different and sooner way, and he said yes. I started crying as I showed him the test. He started crying and we were both in shock. It was such a great day! I was so elated, that I had to call everyone! There was no holding this news to myself.

Since then you have been a little pill. Just kidding. I have definitely felt the pregnancy symptoms. I have thrown up in the Target parking lot and the Cannery now, and the rest has been at home. Before we knew we were pregnant, I HAD TO HAVE mexican food. Dad just laughs at me:) You sometimes keep me up at night, and Dad and I got to see you dancing inside of me and you waved at us. Dad thought it was to him:) People ask me what I want, a boy or girl, but I don't have a preference. Some days I feel like you are a little boy, and other days I see all the cute girl clothes and wonder what that would be like. I am heavier than I should be so I am trying to eat well for you, so you can grow healthy and strong. I am also trying to exercise more, but that is going slowly..we shall see. Tonight dad said he thinks we should start walking around the temple. That would be nice.

I have been selfish and wanted to be the only pregnant lady around, but I realize that you are one of many coming to this earth to receive a body and to fulfill your mission that the Lord has given you.

You are such a wonderful gift to me and your father, and we hope that you will always know how much we want and love you! We are trying to be good people so that we can be good parents and provide a great home for you and your brothers and sisters yet to come. Please be patient with us. We can be very funny and do great things, but we are still working on our weaknesses.

We love you and I will try to keep writing to you so that you know you were on your first 9 months with mom, like how you make my stomach growl every couple hours and I NEED to eat.

I got mad at a baseball game and was a little too vocal about it. A Lady was smoking, making me feel sick, and it was not safe for you. I hsould have been more Christlike and not said anything. I am trying.

Dad does the dishes now, because the smell of dishes and garbage make me vomit..your father is a great man. Very special, as I am sure you will be too.

PS..I went to the ER the other night. It was 2am and my right side went numb and then tingly and then in lots of pain. We went and got checked out, and they didn't find anything wrong. So hopefully I can learn to lay better in the bed. They said that since I was laying on my back, it pinched some nerves or something...I am doing fine now though.

Lettuce Wraps

So if you didn't know this about me I LOVE LOVE LOVE lettuce wraps. My first experience with lettuce wraps was at PF Chang's with Evan. I order them every time we go(cheaper during happy hour). I don't need anything else.

I love them so much I found a copycat recipe for them online and make them a lot.
They are TASTY!!!

6 years ago I really had worked hard on getting in shape etc. After I started my venture on that I happened to meet Evan. A year later we got married, and through the course of five years I have had different things affect me causing me to gain weight and my body shut down a little.

I would REALLY love to have more children, and if you already know how hard we tried for Lucy and Peter and how the pregnancies and births went, then you understand how crucial it is for my body to be in better shape. I have let what people suggest to me and say to me about health and what I need to do crush my self esteem, but I am done with that. I REALLY want to get my body into birthing shape again, so I am working really hard. I am working with a nutritionist and we bought an elliptical and I am training for a 5K, 10K, bike race and 1/2 marathon. I just bought new shoes making me even more excited that it actually could happen and family bike rides outside. I even have some friends that encourage me to go to the gym with them.

I have slowly been losing weight in a healthy and slow way, but under doctors orders, this is what needs to happen.

Anyway. I am trying to eat 6 times a day, low cal meals to fit in my allotted amount. So if you have any 300, 200 or 100 or less calorie meal options I would love to try them.

Back to the lettuce wraps. I looked up a fast easy way to make wraps. The copcat version of PF Chang's is higher in calories because of all the oil and sauces that go in, but this new version was quick, yummy and low cal. I found it on Rachael Ray's site. I will still make the other wraps other times but for now this is what I will try.

They called for Teriyaki sauce, I didn't have any so I substituted A Thai Peanut Sauce that we had-higher calories, but yummy. Next time I will make sure I have Teriyaki sauce to try as I am sure it is equally yummy.
Here is the recipe I followed and changed a little. My changes are in blue

TERIYAKI TURKEY LETTUCE WRAPS Burcu Avsar By: Noemi Costanzo From: Dinner

About 12 wraps from this. About 90 calories a wrap(without brown rice) but using peanut sauce. If you stick to the Teriyaki 45 calories a wrap without rice. Amazing eh! I love it. Evan said I could make these each week. They are a keeper. I am sure if we wanted a little more, then scallions, water chesnuts, mushrooms etc would add more flavor. This recipe takes only five ingredients to make! INGREDIENTS: 1 pound ground turkey
1 10-ounce bag shredded carrots -I used pre-made cabbage/carrot coleslaw-mostly cabbage from Target
4 to 5 scallions, thinly sliced -I didn't have any
1/4 cup to 1/3 cup store-bought teriyaki sauce -I used Peanut Sauce
1 head iceberg lettuce, leaves separated
I had brown rice on the side-Evan ate that, I didn't to conserve calories since I used peanut sauce instead of Teriyaki. I used the frozen brown rice from Costco. It just needs to be microwaved for 3 minutes and then it is good to go. I want to learn to freeze rice myself. My sister said she heard it could happen so I googled and found this.

My Dipping Sauce: soy sauce/chili/hot mustard equal parts for dipping sauce. You can change the portions to fit the consistency you like.


DIRECTIONS: In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil over high heat.-I didn't use oil, just threw the frozen but defrosted turkey roll into the pan. Add the turkey and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until browned, about 4 minutes. Stir in the carrots, scallions and 1/4 cup water; lower the heat to medium-low. Cover loosely with foil and cook until the water is absorbed and the veggies are soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in the teriyaki sauce to taste and cook until heated through, about 4 minutes. Divide the mixture among the lettuce leaves, about 1/4 cup for each; roll up and serve immediately.

Yes, paper plates. We are having dishwasher issues!

Panting

So if you haven't watched Charlie and Lola, you should. It is the cutest show, and I LOVE IT!

Lucy and Peter love it too, and one of the episodes we watched a month or two ago was about how hot it was, and how dogs pant to stay cool. So three kids sit around panting.

Can you guess what Lucy's favorite thing to do is now:) PANT She pants all the time. Lucy gets our attention and then sticks out her tongue and pants. Then she expects us to follow along with her.

(she also likes to look at herself in the mirror to watch her faces she makes)

So after a month or so of panting around the house, I was using the elliptical and all of sudden Lucy starts panting. I didn't know why, and then realized that I was panting(breathing heavy) and so Lucy thought I was playing doggies with her. So funny, I couldn't stop laughing since she did it my entire workout:) Guess I need to get in better shape.

Pinning down

I was thinking this could happen, then walked in on it:) maybe I willed it to happen by thinking or anticipating it:)

Spinach, skunks and black eyes

So I still have tons to post but we have been having hard-drive and I-photo issues, but here are a couple updates.

After 6 skunks last spring and 3 skunks and 2 cats, broken chicken wire this spring, we decided we needed to fill in the skunk hole den with concrete.

So a couple of our friends came over and helped since Evan and I were wimps and didn't really know what we were doing.

I bought broken stones and rocks from Home Depot for a super cheap discounted price as well as some concrete discounted, gloves, moth ball thingy, and peroxide.

They sprayed peroxide everywhere to kill the smell, then mixed concrete and stuffed that and rock into the hole. They also patched and filled in where the mighty skunks broke under the chicken wire. SO GREAT! and they were just brave enough to do it..I think they secretly wanted to wrestle a skunk and were sad they didn't find one in the hole. The trap is up for a couple days more, and after that I hope we never have to smell a skunk EVER AGAIN!!!


While they were prepping stuff Lucy wanted to play, she ran off the deck steps and face-planted into the corner of the wagon holding some supplies. So sad. It started out like a little scuff, but today it is purple..more pictures to come. She was a trooper. HER FIRST BLACK EYE or any owie like that, she almost made it to 2 without any accidents like that..oh well.



So I follow the Sister's Cafe Blog because I had some amazing salmon from a friend who used their recipe, so now I follow them ALL OF THE TIME!

I had heard of green smoothies and passed some links to recipes on to my sister. She tried them and didn't love them, so I didn't try them. Then today I looked at the conference snacks posted today, and they had a smoothie, green smoothie recipe, but it looked red so I thought I would try it. And since I am trying to get healthier, I had more motivation. Plus it's so much cheaper to get spinach at Costco but we never go through it all before it goes bad-now we can!

Evan was at costco and picked up strawberries, bananas and spinach, and I had the rest.










WE LOVED IT!!! and will do these often now.

This is how I made mine
2 handfuls of spinach-prewashed from costco
16 strawberries
1 banana
1-2 tablespoons light agave nectar(i love the stuff-costco sells it, I got mine at King soopers on sale)(or you could use juice concentrate)
about 12 ice cubes(i added these after i had blended everything to make it cold
1-2 cups water
1 braeburn apple-I wasn't brave enough to do it with seeds so i cored it

Makes about 5 1/2- 6 cups

Anyway, we LOVE it. I was so nervous but I really like it, and am probably going to do this everyday to help get my veggies for the day:) the blog says they use other berries, pineapple and oranges, etc..so sounds fun:)

I might try putting in flax grounded up tomorrow- This will help me get through my big thing of spinach from costco now:) PS, have people try it before you tell them what is in it so they don't get grossed out by a spinach smoothie.

We have vanilla yogurt I was going to add if it turned out gross but I didn't need it.

Anyway, if you try it, let me know:) Lucy couldn't have it because she is allergic to apples, so her's will have to be without apples.

My cutie pie kiddos(can you see her black eye?)

Spring Days and Nights

So I haven't posted forever because my computer has taken my photos hostage and Lucy and Peter have been SO AWFULLY sick! So, I will catch up sometime, but today I wanted to share a picture of Lucy swinging and our adventures on our walk.

Lucy Peter and I decided to take a walk. Started through the neighborhood, found the park, walked across and said hello to the donkey, cows, Sheep and horses.
She couldn't stop laughing, she made all the other kids laugh and giggle-it was contagious!
If you ever want to see them they can be found at the Littleton Historic Museum
Snuggling and sharing cheetos
Practicing for the airport-we get to go to Washington soon:)

After Evan got home from work we picked up dinner from Mc Donald's and headed to another park with a stroller and tricycle.

We didn't take but one photo.. I love it!
Poor Peter teething. He is getting his top 4 teeth all at once.



Evan, Lucy and Peter playing



I love my family so very much!