Panning Technique Practice

Luckily, finding a moving subject was easy enough.

We live in a Zoo

Yesterday I was downstairs keeping an ear out for a napping Gabriella when I thought I heard a very slight noise on the stairs. I paused, but I didn't hear anything else for a few minutes so I went back to what I was doing. A few minutes later I heard a very faint little rustle so I went to the stairs to investigate. Sitting extremely quietly at the bottom of the steps waiting for me was this...

She had brought the bears down one by one, lined them up, posed herself and sat perfectly still waiting for me to discover her in her cage. She thought it was hilarious.

I think this face is hilarious...

A Tale of Three Pizzas

Most of you know that Gabriella is allergic to all dairy products and that she also has a life threatening allergy to peanuts. Many of you know that Juliana started to display many allergic symptoms (including failure to gain weight) at only a few weeks old. Working along with our pediatrician and a lactation consultant, I cut a lot of foods out of my diet in order to continue to breastfeed. More specifically, I cut out all of the top eight allergens. Recently, I have trialed wheat back into my diet and so far that seems to be going well.



When people hear about my restricted diet, most of them ask... "What on earth CAN you eat?" Truly, most prepackaged items are out for me. Soy is particularly terrible for appearing in everything. We do have to read each and every label, but we were already in that routine because of Gabriella's allergies. It was a pretty bumpy start to cut so many things out at once (and unlike Gabriella I actually know what cheese tastes so the lack of it gets to me much more than it does her), but right now it is a pretty livable routine. I started off my day with some Special K "red berries" in rice milk and for lunch we all had pizza. We made three pizzas actually. Jonathan's was a pretty traditional canadian bacon/pineapple on a Bobolis individual serve pre-packaged crust. Gabriella had hers on a whole wheat bagel sans cheese (she can't have the Bobolis because of milk ingredients.) My pizza was Gabriella style, but on an organic spelt tortilla... which is one of the few grain products I could find prepacked without soy and of course had to be purchased from an organic foods store. So maybe all of that is a bit complicated, but like anything else you get used to it and make new routines. Jonathan has been great about trying out new recipes. Last night he made AMAZING Mongolian beef. I can't tell you how excited I was to have chinese! I can even take a small part in that victory because I actually made the soy sauce substitute (although Jonathan found the recipe.)

Probably the second most frequently asked question is, "Are you losing tons of weight?" In short, no. I've pretty much ditched all the pregnancy weight, but you won't exactly be seeing me in a bikini this year with a shockingly slim figure. You see, I have developed a love affair with olive oil. A lot of fats are out of my diet, but this lovely little "healthy fat" has moved right on in. I add italian seasoning and dip homemade bread in it, I drizzle it on broccoli and roast it in the oven and Jonathan uses it in cooking a ton. Between that and my discovery of coconut milk ice cream... there is little danger of me wasting away.

Since most of you probably just come here for pictures of my cute children and were extremely disappointed by the pizza shot, I'll add these gratuitously....











I will warn you though that Food Allergy Awareness week is coming up soon and you'll probably see something here about that.

Juliana Video Clip

Here is a short video clip of Juliana Jayne. Be sure to turn your speakers up!

78 Degrees

It hit 78 degrees today. I can't tell you how nice it was to go out in summer clothes and take in a little sun. It was especially nice since we've been cooped up with colds. Yesterday was the first 70 degree (plus) day of the year. Our weather forecasters have been bemoaning the lack of 70 degree days so far in 2008. Normally Portland has had quite a few by this time of year. I thought it would be wise not to complain about that to my Iowan friends and family members, but now that some warmth has come our way I'm OK with inciting a little jealousy.

Anyhow, Here are my girls outside earlier this evening ...

Sitting Pretty

Gabriella and Juliana both have bad colds right now. I blame the community center where Gabriella goes for her little dance/gymnastics class. Every time we walk in the door to that place she gets sick.

A few days ago I took some pictures of Juliana is the dress I came home from the hospital in. I don't know why on earth I didn't think to take pictures of Gabriella in it. I didn't have a ton of time to take these so I might have to do more sometime. You can see the reddish tones in her hair very well here. You can also kind of see her cupie doll curl, or at Jonathan likes to call it... the mohawk. The funny thing is that my mom would always make a little finger curl just like it on her babies' heads (boys and girls alike.) I'm sure I had plenty of gel stuck on my head to achieve this exact look, but Juliana's hair just pops up that way naturally.

Here I am in the same dress (note the scary looking contraption that passed for a stroller in those days)...

Here is a clearer baby picture of me and my cupie curl...

Two Months

Juliana turned two months old on Tuesday and she had her two month pediatrician appointment today. Here are her stats....

Head Circumference: 38cm (16th percentile)
Length: 22.5 inches (34th percentile)
Weight: 9lbs 3oz (5th percentile)

So she is still a tiny thing, but making gains now that I've adjusted my diet to exclude the common allergens. Eventually we'll figure out exactly what she wasn't tolerating, but for now she is healthy and happy.

We talked to the ped about her reflux since the dietary changes haven't seemed to help that at all. It isn't a huge surprise that she has reflux troubles since I have reflux and so does my Dad and sister etc... the ped started her on Axid two times a day. Hopefully that will help her be more comfortable.

I also had a long talk with the ped about vaccinations. I was really nervous to give Juliana the five vaccinations she was lined up for today considering she is just now finishing healing from the food protein allergy related colitis. In plain words, her poop just got back to normal and I didn't want to shoot her up with goodness knows what (really, you should never read a vaccination ingredient list). I had done some research beforehand and I was very concerned with the potential for allergic reactions to vaccinations given that my kids apparently like to be allergic to things. Anyhow, the ped was so great about talking this through with me. As a breastfed baby that doesn't go to daycare Juliana is at pretty low risk for contagious diseases at the moment. Our doctor pointed out the three vaccinations that she thought were most important so we are starting with those and only administering them one at a time for now. That way, if she has an adverse reaction we'll know exactly what it was. Things like Hep B can wait a bit. I'm pretty sure we have awhile before she starts becoming promiscuous or using intravenous drugs. Did I mention that I LOVE our pediatrician? "Dr. Sarah" is so wonderful and talking to her about vaccinations really proved that she is willing to work to treat our children according to their individual needs.

Dr. Sarah noted today that Juliana is a strong little girly. While was checking Juliana for developmental milestones she put her on her tummy on the exam table. Juliana of course started pulling her legs up to her tummy and digging her toes in so she could attempt to scoot herself across the table. Dr. Sarah looked at her and said, "If you are crawling before I see you at four months I am going to cry for your parents." Should I be concerned by that? With the second one you aren't exactly quite so enthusiastic for them to gain mobility. I'll admit I was a bit wary when Juliana starting rolling over from tummy to back at three weeks, but when your pediatrician says "This one will be your mover" you start to envision a very busy future for yourself.

Juliana is smiling and cooing now. She is very interested in this business of talking. She watches our lips very intently and then tries so hard to move her mouth the same way. Eventually she'll get some good noises out and be rather pleased with herself.

It is hard to tell in pictures, but Juliana's hair is a rather strawberry blond color, with more or less gold/red tones depending on the light. The last few days I've been asked several times, "So where does she get the red hair from?" I wouldn't call it red myself, but I do love her hair color (which could certainly be subject to change at any time.) I assumed the blond was from Jonathan, but it does seem to be a different tone than his in his baby pictures. Jonathan's biological grandmother has strawberry blond hair, so maybe Juliana will get to keep her pretty hair color. Right now we joke that it is our Scottish roots coming out in her (Jonathan's maternal biological family has some Scottish ancestry and now that my brother has taken up genealogy he has discovered a lot of Scottish ties in our family as well.)

*If you don't have a blogger/google account and want to sign your comments (rather than leave them as anonymous) you can click the radial button next to "Name/URL" and simply type your name into that field. If that doesn't work for you, just add your name on the end of your comment ;)

I spy... Problem Solving Skills

Today I was nursing Juliana, Jonathan was due home in minutes and Gabriella was getting antsy. I decided it would be a good time to learn the game "I spy." I picked out a porcelain fairy that sits up on a shelf in our living room and started with...

"I spy with my little eye something that is white." I ended up adding that it was up high, it had wings, it was beautiful and it had a face.

Gabriella wasn't having much luck guessing. Suddenly an idea flashed across her face. She dug through the toy box and pulled out some wings for playing dress up. She handed them to me and said, "You have a face! You are white! Put these on and get up high."