2014 Already?

I'm a bad blogger...has it really been since August that I typed anything up?  Yup, I've been slacking on a lot of fronts for the last half of 2013.

"Binary Dad", "Binary Kid", & Mom

Weight loss?  Try weight gain...
Mom of the year?  Ha!  At least he's clothed and fed...

On the bright side, both hands are now in working order...I can bend both thumbs again!  I realize you are probably thinking "what the heck is up with her thumbs?"  Well...last February (2013), I was diagnosed with all three RMI (repetitive motion injuries) that you can get...Trigger thumb (the reason I couldn't bend my thumbs), Carpel Tunnel (hands went numb quickly), and DeQueirvain's Tendonitis (something to do with the tendon that runs from your wrist to your thumb, I only had it "released" on my left hand and can't see any difference than in my right).  I had surgery in the first week of September and the first week of November, leaving me pretty useless for most of the months before and after.

We also lost Gabe's Grandpa in November, so life is "adjusting" still.

Where did that year go?!?

This year, I am getting back on track though.  No more excuses, well...one more, but I am trying to work with it.  I've been having trouble with my right knee.  I was diagnosed (again) with tendonitis, this time in my knee!  Starting next week, I'll be going to physical therapy twice a week for the next 6 weeks, in hopes of it getting better.  If it doesn't I may be looking at another surgery.

My blender that can supposedly make Ice Cream...finally got it working!

I'm also restarting my low-carb journey, with some minor tweaking because we are still breast feeding here.  I'll be starting in "phase 4", or lifetime maintenance.  I don't want to cut carbs drastically and cause issues for the little man.  He also loves to stuff Cheerios in my mouth, so I figure this way I may not stall out or gain when he decides I look like I need a "two Cheerio snack break"!  I plan on shooting for the 80 carbs a day end of the 80-100 carb spectrum and dropping into "phase 3" if I need to to see a change on the scale.  Let's be honest for a minute...I currently weigh 5 pounds more than I did the night before our almost 15 month old (next week!) was born!  That's a lot of poundage considering I was down to only 5 pounds heavier than before he was concieved by the time he was 2 months old.

(01/01/2014) Current weight: 302.0
(06/01/2014) 6-month Goal: 250.0
(01/01/2015) 12-month Goal: 200.0
(06/01/2015) 18-month Goal: 150.0

Well, there it is...by June, I want to be back down to what I weighed 2 years ago.  I can do it!  But, not by diet alone this time...nope, this time I will also be working out from the beginning!  In fact, I am starting with working out!

We have a family membership at a gym near our house, it has free daycare, a swimming pool, running track (walking for me), all sorts of machines (even a "women's center" with a door to the daycare room), and trainers!  Of course, I have been waiting for a call from the trainer since we joined...but since I haven't been able to take advantage of the gym anyway, I'm not too upset (I plan on trying to get with a trainer when I start going in regularly so that they can help set me up to succeed).  My goal for the gym is go in once a week to start...little man has horrible separation anxiety and has never been watched by anyone but my Mother (who lives 400+ miles away, so not often), so I figure the first month or so will be "workout free" while he gets used to the idea of playing with a "stranger" while I work out.

To aid in my "exercise to lose weight" goals, we brought the Wii back upstairs.  I ordered three new workout games to go along with Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus (that I already owned).  I picked up Jenny McCarthy's Your Shape, the one that comes with a cute little webcam, Jillian Michael's Fitness Ultimatum 2010 (I really don't like the way she trains on The Biggest Loser, but for the ~$6 I paid for the game, I'll give her a shot), and Gold's Gym Dance Workout.

My impressions so far (I got them yesterday)...

Dance Workout

Your Shape

• Your Shape: Holy dog poop, this one makes you sweat!  I know...it's supposed to...love the camera, not real happy about her yelling at me to match her moves or "focus on your arms/legs"!  I can't really bend my right knee right now (that's what the PT is for), and there's no getting down on the floor without someone near to help pick me up since I can't put weight on my knee (Garrick had to drag me out of the tub a while ago because I literally could not get out on my own!).
• Fitness Ultimatum 2010: Haven't loaded this one up yet...frankly, I'm intimidated by Jillian Michaels' and right now I'm "evaluating" these three games to decide which one I'm going to stick with for a while.
• Dance Workout: I am so not coordinated enough for this game!  I get my right and left confused and it is so fast paced, I miss out on most of the workout trying to untangle my legs from each other.  This one is losing out on the "gonna do this one first" race.

 My goal for these "games" is to do one workout everyday  I'm not in the gym, so 6 days a week. 

Sharing my Burrito Blanco at Azteca...this is one of our favorite meals, but beans, rice, and flour tortilla are going bye-bye.

I made Peanut/Pumpkin Seed Brittle for Christmas!

Munching on a quartered hot dog wrapped in half a refrigerator biscuit...he loves these!

Phone's for you, Mom!

Starting his early love for Starbuck's (water)...

How to keep a baby properly strapped into his car seat and warm!  A car seat poncho, made by yours truly for a whopping $8...you can purchase one on Etsy for $40 if you can't sew...

Fun with Gak!  Flour + water + blue food coloring = a ton of fun!  Until it's time to clean up...

Rosie has taken to cuddling with the stuffies and baby blankets...I think we've watched enough Doc McStuffins, she may think they're really alive and really do need cuddles!

Daddy bought himself a PS4 for Christmas...now if only they'd come out with workout games for it!  We currently have the PS2, PS4, and the Wii all hooked up with motion/sensor bars all stacked on top of each other!

Our "Elf in Training" because Mommy is too cheap to spend $30+ on a creep looking elf when she's perfectly capable of crocheting a whole wardrobe for Barbie, and she can "report to Santa" every night.  She currently has two other dresses, an apron (for baking), and a bolero in her wardrobe as well...working on another set, but the pattern is problematic...

Santa came!  We decided that our family traditions (Garrick, little man, and I) will be a blend of family traditions...we opened all of our gifts Christmas morning, from family and Santa.  We had planned to order pizza and watch the Batman series of movies (we got the boxed set last Christmas and still haven't watched the second and third movies), but as plans with a toddler tend to change, it was visiting Grandma, dinner at IHOP, and home in time for bed.  As time goes on, we'll come up with some Christmas Eve traditions.

Now, do not look past here if you don't want to see me in my underwear.  The following photos are my starting photos for getting back in gear for losing weight.  I have yet to find my measuring tape to get actual measurements, but I did "suck it up" and take a clothed and unclothed photo of myself (not naked).  I also set up a "motivation jar", which in this case is a big wine glass, full of 154 glass beads.  It's pretty, but more importantly, for every pound I lose, I get to move a glass bead out of the jar and when it's totally empty, I've reached my weight loss goals!
































Do Not Scroll unless you want to see it!

Well, there I am...I'll do another picture in 6 months and 12 months.

A Baby-Friendlier Version of My Great-Grandma's Cookie Recipe...

We have been making a recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation in my family, I know this recipe only as "Great-Grandma Our Last Name Here's Cookies".  They are essentially an Oatmeal cookie with Raisins, Chocolate Chips, and Nuts!  They are cram-packed with yumminess and customizable to suit everyone's likes/dislikes.  For example, Garrick doesn't like raisins in cookies (or on the planet, but that's another story), so for him, I skip the Raisins (but I do still add the "Raisin Juice").  I recently made a batch (which is really a double batch of the original recipe, but as my Great-Grandma used to say, "Double batches of cookies are the only way to do it"), raisins, chocolate chips, nuts and all!  I even modified it a hair for my likes by replacing half of the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips and using some Golden Raisins instead of using just the plain old brown ones.  This was the first time I've made them in at least 5 years, but probably closer to 10 years...I just haven't made a lot of cookies, especially since these don't fit into a low carb diet at all.  Anyway, I let Gabe try them, being careful (or so I thought) that he didn't get a nut or raisin, or chocolate!  Well, as evidenced by his diaper after helping me polish off several of these cookies, he still managed to get the raisins, nuts and chocolate!  The up side to him not fully digesting food yet is that I can tell how long it took him to move particular foods through (and in this case to see that he got whole raisins and chocolate chips swallowed)!

Long story, well, long...I decided that before our next trip (which is coming up shortly), I would make a "baby-friendlier" version...no nuts or chocolate in these!  Also, instead of sugar, I used mashed Banana!  I also only made 1/4 of the recipe, so essentially, a half batch, that still yielded 5 dozen (plus 3) baby-sized cookies!

Here's the recipe for "Baby-Friendly Oatmeal Raisin Cookies"...

• 1/2c Butter (1 stick)
• 1/2c Sugar or 1/2c Mashed Banana or 1/4c Applesauce and 1/4c Mashed Banana (I used 2 small bananas that were very ripe )
• 1 Egg
• 1/4-3/4c Raisins (I used 1/4c and then snipped each raisin in half or thirds, I should have used more...)
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons Raisin Juice (*see Note)
• 1c Oatmeal
• 1c Flour (All Purpose)
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• optional...chopped banana, apple, or anything else your child likes (and can safely eat)

*To make Raisin Juice...Place raisins in a pan/pot and cover them with water.  Bring to a slow boil and simmer "for a while".  I usually simmer mine until the whole house smells yummy and the water is a nice dark "raisin" color, about 20 minutes.  Then, pour raisins into a strainer over a bowl (I use my big glass measuring cup).  This separates the raisins (to be used in the cookies) from the "Juice"! Save both!  Once the raisins and the juice have cooled, you're ready to make cookies!  I usually do this the night before, but I've been known to do it up to a week before and put everything in the fridge until cookie-making time.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a bowl or bag (I use a sandwich size ziploc for this size batch), combine Flour, Baking Soda, Ginger, Nutmeg, and Cinnamon.  In a separate bowl, cream Butter and Sugar (or banana or banana/applesauce).  Add Egg and mix (I use my stand mixer for this...I so badly want a good quality one of these, what I have is a hand mixer with a stand).  Now it gets "fun"...mix the flour mixture and the raisin juice with the butter/sugar/egg mixture...but not all at once!  Take a small bit of the flour and mix until combined, now drizzle in a little bit of the raisin juice and combine.  Continue mixing small amounts of the flour mixture and raisin juice until it is all combined.  Now, by hand, mix in the Oatmeal.  You now have your "dough base" to which you can add your "goodies"...for this batch, I simply added the raisins (these are not required, but are very yummy and Gabriel loves them).  Each time you add something though, mixing it in thoroughly before adding the next item, saving delicate things for the last (chopped banana should be carefully mixed in at the very last so you don't just smash it up).

Because I'm making cookies for my almost 10 month old, I made them fairly small (as in I could probably get 2 or 3 in my mouth no problem, but he takes 10 minutes to eat one).  I got 5 dozen (plus 3) cookies (63) out of this!  That's a ton of cookies for a baby!  I put a large container of them in the freezer for later and am taking half or better of them with us on our trip for Gabriel to share with his 21 month old cousin (and probably the 5, 7, and soon to be 9 year old cousins too).  But, back to baking them first!

Line your cookie sheet(s) with Parchment paper (man do I love baking with this stuff), this will keep your cookie sheets clean Hello easy clean-up! and keep your cookies from sticking.  I use two spoons to form these cookies, the dough is super sticky and this method just works awesome.  Make the cookies whatever size you feel is appropriate for you and/or your child...mine where roughly 1 teaspoon worth each (give or take).  By now, your oven should be up to temp (unless, like me, you've had your butter softened, flour mixture ready, raisins juiced and snipped, and oatmeal measured for like a week because you forgot last week that you were out of Ginger and had to wait until you bought more to make the cookies...then sit back and wait for your oven to come up to 400 degrees), place your first cookies in the oven and set the timer for 8 minutes.  The original recipe says 10-12 minutes, but I find that my oven burns two-thirds of the cookies if I bake them that long, this time produces mostly perfectly cooked cookies with only a few with darker bottoms.  When the timer goes off, remove cookies from the oven and then get them off the cookie sheets and onto cooling racks!  Give your sheets a minute to cool down a bit, then repeat the whole cookie loading, baking, removing process until you are out of dough!

We've recently removed one of the toys from his Exersaucer to make an "eating area" on it...works great!

So that's it for the cookies...now, here's some random (semi-recent) photos!

Deviled Eggs with Mommy for an afternoon snack (he's been getting a daily snack and sharing dinner with me, but still mostly a boob baby).

Spinach off my plate out at Olive Garden!  Garrick and I celebrating 10 years of being together!

Daddy (Garrick) & Gabriel "patiently" waiting for me to grill dinner!

"The Dinner" I was grilling!  Steak, Grilling Cheese (OMG that stuff's good, but spendy!), and Sauteed Mushrooms!

Using Rosie as a ladder...and giving "good pets" too.

He ate almost the entire banana at this sitting!  Right before an early bath. ;)

Enjoying Strawberries and Cheerios for dinner because we had smoked sausages and I wasn't sharing, lol.

I recently made 2 "tester" slings out of cotton, trying to find a good workable size for myself.  I have a size 9 sling from Seven Sling (thanks to my sister) and my homemade one that is a whopping 1" larger than the Seven Sling.  Both are too tight...after a screwup in cutting, the other sling I made is also a size 9...and this one is a hair too big.  But, with rolling the shoulder like I did, it was workable...now to get Gabriel to hold still in it, I don't think he likes slings.

That's it for today (in pictures), but in other "news"...we recently joined a gym (go us)!  So far, all we've done is enjoyed taking Gabriel to the swimming pool, but Garrick meets with his personal trainer tonight (was supposed to be last night but the trainer had his days wrong) and I'm still waiting for a call from the trainer he set me up with.  It's been about 10 days so far and I'm still waiting...but since we're fairly busy this week, I'm not really in a rush right now.  If nothing else, next week I'm thinking about starting to do a "couch to 5k" using an app on my phone and the indoor track at the gym (while utilizing the free day care)!  Soon, I hope I can start posting progress again!  Also, by Friday night, we'll be "plus" one more kid for the month...but shh, it's a surprise!

I linked the gym up there...if you're in the area and decide to check them out, give them Garrick's name and we'll earn a referral credit!

Ever-Changing Diaper Washing Routine...

I have yet to find a routine that works 100% of the time for washing our cloth diapers. Mostly I blame our failing washer...but I keep tweaking the system looking for the "easiest" way to get them clean!  Today, I updated the routine...or rather, the written instructions for the routine I have adopted over the last week or so.

Our old routine had stopped working, our washer only pretends to wash things now...leaving actual poop still on them even after 3 cycles with soap!  Since I do most of the washing, I'd slacked off on writing up the changes I made to my "system".  The main change was adding a "soak" step to the whole process, this seems to have really helped in getting the diapers clean until we can get a new washer (hopefully in the next few weeks) or attempt "fixing" this one!

So, here is what I typed up (I love my snipping tool)... What I forgot to add was the water level...you need as much water as possible in the washer, but I generally wash nothing unless it's a full load (large), so that should never need adjusting anyway.

Hanging on the wall...

My typed instructions are so that anyone can do the laundry for me.  I tried to keep them simple, because it is a very complicated set up anyway, especially if you think about all the chemicals sitting on top of my dryer for washing various things (liquid Tide Free & Clear for our clothes and the baby's clothing, White Vinegar for use as a fabric Softener but used rarely on the baby's stuff, scent beads for our stuff only, dryer sheet solution which shouldn't be getting used at all right now and I keep hiding the dryer sheets so they can't be used as it can cause the diapers to repel moisture, the powdered Tide for the diapers, the homemade cloth diaper detergent for the diapers because neither "soap" work well enough on their own so I mix the two, a small jar to pre-measure the diaper detergent into so it can be dumped in if I'm in a rush, measuring spoons for all the stuff so they don't cross-contaminate each other (most worried about stuff getting on/in the diapers), various cups and scoops for everything else...ugh)!  As for the mention of "which OxiClean tub...I reuse those for lots of stuff, my Tide Powder is in one with a yellow lid.

I forget where I read it (another blog, I know that), but someone posted that they leave a dry-erase marker in their laundry to write reminders like "don't put the black bra in the dryer" on the washer lid.  This works great in my multi-step wash routine!  When I put the diapers in for their first cycle (to rinse out the poo and unstuff the diapers without me having to do it by hand...as a side note, the KCK All in Ones, which were really pockets that someone had modified the pattern from the AiO pattern, are the only brand of diaper that do not unstuff themselves in my washer!  Before Gabriel was born, I had heard that Applecheeks were the only brand designed to do this...I couldn't afford those though, and am too lazy to unstuff dirty diapers to go in the wash...and no one else wanted to touch them either), I write on the lid "soap" and "rinse" (I also write "soak" between them now too).  This way, I know what step I need to do next and anyone else can help by doing the next step in the process without too much confusion.  I also fill my little glass jar with my measured amounts of detergent at the same time, this way I know that if the jar is empty, I just forgot to wipe off that step (rather than running it twice with soap).  Obviously, I went dry erase marker crazy on the front of my washer too...don't worry, it all washes off!

Labels keep things moving smoothly, with few questions when I have to ask someone to go "start that load of laundry please"!  We always use the longest wash setting...I don't know why but we always have.

I got smart and dated the routine this time...that way I can know if it's out of date and we aren't going to be the ones using the information (grandma takes over laundry duties when she comes to visit most of the time).  I still need to finish typing up the rest of the clothes washing routines, which are also out of date...but that may have to wait until I get home!  But, they go in the plastic sheet protector and hang n a peg on the wall too for easy referral for anyone not used to my "system".

Happy Mother's Day!

Fun at the Chinese restaurant!

Seven months ago today, the reason I no longer dread this day arrived! After spending most of the past decade trying unsuccessfully to become parents (mostly through the "if it happens, it happens" method), I can say that I really did "hate" both Mother's Day and Father's Day. No more though! Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there (especially my own Mom {who is here with me for a week and a little bit}, my Mother in law {as close as we can be to it anyway}, my sister, & sister in law {who is trying to do it all over again and I can't wait to be an aunt again!})!

Just coming in from outside...

Also, coming up this week is the anniversary of my Dad's passing...13 years have gone by, it really doesn't seem like that long ago. Gabriel carries a little bit of his grandfather around with him (his middle name was my Dad's name), he also looks a lot like him in certain aspects. He does this forehead wrinkle thing that only my Dad could do...it's so cute! I really wish my Dad had stuck around to meet his grand kids...he would have had such a blast having 5 grandsons.

Here's the forehead wrinkle thing!

p.s.--I'm not a nut job, up early today (I wrote this on Monday and scheduled it...'cause I can).

Help A(the) Kid(s) Out?!

Our oldest nephew in school (who doesn't love going to school in your pajamas?)!

I may or may not have mentioned this before...I meant to, but am not sure if I remembered to...but, my sister put my oldest two nephews into am online public school this past year.  It's not quite like public school and it isn't home school, but a good mix of both "worlds"!  This is their story, please give it a read and "like" it!  They are in a contest to win a Kindle Fire!  The top 10 voted for stories will receive one!

2 Boys No Longer Bullied | What's Your K12 Story?: I decided to make the switch to K12 and ORVA starting this school year because my boys had been being bullied at their school. They were constantly being pointed at as the one who started it. I would...  Read the rest of their story by following the link!

Current and future "home school" kiddos! (Tanner, Wyatt, Gabriel, Riley, & Logan)!

 Not only has it benefited the two going to school, but the next in line (my sister's #3) has already started learning to write and is being included in some of the learning opportunities (science experiments and such)!  Poor Gabriel isn't even 6 months old yet (he'll be 5 months in under a week) and I'm already researching what sort of home-schooling I want him to have!  I don't plan to ever put him in public school...

February In Summary...

This car took the most "visible" damage...

We have been so busy these last two weeks that I never got a chance to post about our accident!  Yes, an accident...  On the 19th, on our way home from lunch (My Mom, Garrick, myself, and the baby), we were rear ended at a stop light!  Luckily, none of us were seriously hurt (sore backs and such), but the lady that hit us was seriously injured and was taken by ambulance as she was losing consciousness and had a pretty nasty "ouchie" on her arm (or so I was told, I never saw it).  We still haven't got my car fixed (the 2005 Ford Freestyle), but it was drivable, at least enough to get us home.  The impact was enough to move us an entire car-length (my car length) out into the inter-section (and then we rolled a few feet because I closed my eyes and took my foot off the brake when I saw/felt it coming)!  While I was panicking (looking for my 4-way button and parking the car), Garrick and my Mom did a quick assessment of everyone in the car and then Garrick jumped out (after I figured out how to unlock the doors) and ran to see if the other driver was okay (and call 911 because she was definitely not okay).  I was so shaken up that I couldn't move from my seat, Gabriel very nearly slept through the incident and didn't react until I started crying (damn "Mom hormones").  I had my Mom get him out of his seat and handed to me (so I could check him and make sure he was okay), after that, I calmed down enough to realize that I was sitting in a car that was sitting out in the middle of a busy inter-section and did not want to be hit again while sitting in the driver's seat holding my infant!  So, I grabbed his blanket out of his seat and covered him up while standing on the sidewalk.  Of course, it was raining lightly, and he wasn't in the warmest outfit (and I wasn't even wearing long-sleeves or a jacket)!  Since before he was born, I have had a pink, flowery baby blanket that is fleece (the kind that looks like it came straight off a sheep) and fuzzy (synthetic fleece maybe?) in a bag in the car...I had someone get it out for me and wrapped that over the baby as well.  I eventually calmed down enough to let Garrick put him back in the warm car, where he kept an eye on me, watching every move I made, until he drifted off to sleep, safe in his car seat.

After giving all of our information to the police, we were allowed to drive our car home, leaving the tow truck driver to collect the other car, which was not drivable.  It was an eventful occasion, with 2 police cars (the responding officer and his superior that arrived a few minutes after he did), a fire truck (the accident occurred blocks from the fire station and they were on scene in under 5 minutes), and an ambulance too.  If Gabriel had been a little older, he would have loved that!

Our car seat...(stock photo)

The "bad" news of it was we had just moved Gabriel into his new convertible car seat about 7 days prior to that!  That would be the $300 car seat that we hemmed and hawed over getting (because of the steep price), but ultimately settled on because it is the only convertible seat that has "stay in car" bases (we ordered a second base that is still sitting in a box in my dining room) and excellent reviews.  If you're curious, it's a Graco Smart Seat, All-in-One Convertible Car Seat (in Larkin, exclusive to Babies 'R Us).  We chose this one also because it converts all the way to a booster seat with a weight limit of 100 pounds and a height limit of 57 inches (at 4 months old, Gabriel weighs around 18 pounds and is 27.5 inches).  Of course, for the last 2 weeks, I haven't been ab;e to use it (car seats involved in car accidents are considered unsafe because they can't guarantee there was no damage to the seat) and we are back using the infant seat until the insurance company (her's, not ours) buys us a new one.

Back up sensor & corner damage...

No clue what this is...spare tire well maybe?

My tail pipe is broken-ish...

We take our car in on Monday to have the estimate done and are still holding our breath that there isn't more unseen damage that will make it so that they total it (Blue Book estimate is around $9000 still).  The good thing I did, as far as escaping bodily injury, was take my foot off the brake as the impact occurred...letting the SUV take the full brunt of the impact.  Unfortunately, I have been told by people more "in the know" than me that there is more likely a lot more damage that is not visible because of that.  We know that the entire rear bumper needs replacing (including the back up sensors which are now dangling free from the bumper), the tail pipe needs fixing (or replacing), and whatever that big metal piece is...(it's right where the spare tire sits in the back of the SUV), other than that, we will just have to wait and see!




That wasn't my "whole" month, but a scary part of it anyway!  Now, to make up for all that...baby photos! 

 First time in the stroller without the car seat!  Sorry about the red eye...hard to catch good baby pictures!

 Nursing...but I love how I was able to capture his beautiful eyes!

 He's started to "discover" that he can interact with his environment!  Toys that light up or make noise are especially intriguing!  This is his Seahorse (Fisher-Price makes them and WalMart sells them for about $15)...he sleeps with it every night (it stays up against the crib wall at about head level so he can watch the lights...he sleeps in the middle of the crib)!  Here though, he was playing with it at the hotel while we were visiting family in Central Oregon at the begooning of the month.

 Can't forget the toys that don't light up or make noise though!  Flatofrog has recently been taken away again because he's coming apart again...

 Passed out cold during a nap while on vacation...

 New toy from Aunt Stacy!  This is an "allergy friendly" developmental baby toy that came with instructions on how to clean it so that it has no allergens attached to it (we don't have any allergies though).

 Visiting other relatives in Portland!  Here, he was visiting with his Aunt Nanny (my cousin Tana) while sitting on Grandma's lap.

 Finger sucking!

 Gabriel has developed a fascination with this box...and my coffee cups (no matter the color), he seeks this box out every time we go in the kitchen!

 First time in the high chair!  He didn't last very long this time, but since this, he's been in it a few times to play while we ate dinner and the other night he played in it while I cooked dinner (for most of it anyway, it was his dinner time too so Dad had to hold him while I finished up cooking our dinner).

Another new toy...this one was supposed to be a gift for someone else, but it accidentally got left out of the box and we had just watched Dumbo (with the dancing pink elephants on parade), Gabriel saw this and has been playing with it ever since!

Gabriel's first Valentine's Day!  Well, a few days after V-Day...I got him this onesie on clearance on the 15th for 48 cents!

More playing with his toys...this is what he does when I have to set him down (to run to the potty or whatever).  He pitches toys over his head and loses them...that's why he starts with so many!

Just sitting...(assisted, those are my legs on either side of him)!

The other "news" we got on the 19th was about my "sore thumbs"...I was diagnosed with Carpel Tunnel (hands going numb when slightly bent...so pretty much all the time), Trigger Thumb (joints catching...feels like the bones are popping out of joint and is very painful when they catch), and DeQuervain's (tendinitis)!  I'm going to Occupational therapy twice a week for the month of March in hopes that therapy will make it better.  I could do Cortisone shots, but from what little I can find on the subject, it isn't safe while Breast feeding (because no one has ever studied it).  I need to call my Lactation Consultant and see if she has any information that I couldn't find on the subject.  If all else fails, they could do surgery, but I'd rather not do that!

We now have a Johnny Jump up so that I don't "have" to hold Gabriel all the time ($13 at Sweet Repeat) and are looking for an ExcerSaucer that is affordable (or hoping the one from my sister gets here sooner rather than later...if not, I have other uses for them) so that I can entertain him without killing my hands.  I have them both taped right now and am supposed to be wearing splints/braces, but cannot do anything with them on, so I have only managed to wear them at night while sleeping and while driving.

Hand therapy is kinda awesome though...on Thursday I got to dip my hands in a paraffin bath, then into plastic bags.  Then, I got propped up on pillow things so that my hands were elevated and piled with warming balnkets, where I sat for a good 20 minutes.  Afterward, my therapist did ultrasonic massage on the right hand (it's a little worse off than my left), followed by a massage (of my thumb region) and muscle stretches.  Then, that hand got put in an ice machine while she massaged the left hand.  I got iced on my left hand as well, then she taped up my thumbs and wrists using sports tape.  After all was said and done, it was back in the splints and off to come back home where Garrick had been watching Gabriel and attempting to work at the same time (making both harder to do).  I believe these last 2 therapy sessions (at the first I got the splints) have shown Garrick a little bot of how hard my days at home really are...he's decided to take time off of work in the mornings when I have therapy so that he can take care of the baby.

I'm doing very well back on the low carb diet too!  In the first week I dropped 11 pounds!  Fat Bombs are my life savers...though Garrick thinks I should put more peanut butter and add more sweetener to them (that would up the carb count in them considerably)!  As are the new Atkin's Frozen meals (more on them another day), I have one for lunch every day (except some weekend days)!  I've made Mocha Mini Donuts (minus the glaze) in my mini donut maker (I only got 19 donuts, but if I figured out my carb count correctly, it's 2.7g net carbs for 3 of them) and Breakfast Bonanza Muffins (page 236 in Low-Carbing Among Friends, volume 1...also by Lisa Marshall) to have for fast, easy to grab breakfasts in the morning while I nurse.  Dinner seems to be where I'm having issues...but that's more because I'm just so dang tired by the time dinner rolls around!  Last night I made Coconut Flour Pancakes and scrambled eggs for dinner...I used my new (it was a Christmas present) Ice Cream Sandwich Maker (like the mini donut maker, but it makes 4 mini waffles at a time) to make "mini waffles" out of the batter!  I ended up making a double batch and serving a whole batch worth to both of us (a whole batch is 5.69g net carbs)...I was really light on carbs for the day and could "afford" it and I was also "starved" by the time I got to making dinner (not a good thing)!  A whole batch made approximately 12 mini waffles, so it could easily be divided among people and served with eggs and bacon, sausage, or any other kind of protein!  These waffles would make perfect "breads" for breakfast sandwiches too...

This morning I "missed" breakfast because I needed the car today and had to take Garrick to work.  When I finally got a chance to eat (after putting Gabriel down for his nap), I made a Muffin in a Minute!  I added a few dried Cranberries (the sugar free ones I made myself), a little orange extract, and about 1 tablespoon of Sugar Free Hershey's Chocolate Chips!  My Cranberry-Orange Chocolate Chip muffin was heaven with a good sized pat of butter on top!  I made it in a large glass dish and sliced it in half, it nearly filled my small plate!  And, with 1/4 cup of flax seed meal in it...I sure got my fiber for the day!  For the sweetener in it, I used a packet of Splenda with Vitamin B in it too, for an added "healthy boost".