Yikes! Hikes!

Due to a very wet March, and (so far) pleasant April, our family hikes for March and April ended up being about a week and a half apart.

Our March hike took place quite spontaneously one night after dinner. We just went on a short trail (about 1/2 mile) that is in the hills near our house. That one went well for being late in the day after we'd all been at work and school. That is, until the little guy fell in a bit of mud and declared that he was done. After a bit of tough love from us, he was able to recover and we completed our hike without further incident. Didn't really get any pictures on that one, that's just how spontaneous it was!

Yesterday we took our April hike (although with the improving weather, I'm sure we'll be getting in more than one a month through the summer). With the threat of rain today, we ceased the opportunity of a dry, somewhat sunny, slightly warm day. Kai and I actually did this hike with a group of friends in January and we thought it was so fun we wanted to take Joe to see it. It was another shorty (about 1 mile), but it is all hill. The view from the top is amazing, as are all the views around here. We are so lucky to have such beauty around us! This one went very well. Kai did not even ask to be carried and he literally ran up the hill, or at least a good chunk of it. See:

The view from the summit. This was enough for me to get up there, although Kai was only concerned about the rice krispy treat that I had for him at the top.

Yellow flowers for Daddy. I have to say, I love the kind heart our little guy is developing. He is really learning to think of what other's might like, and always wants to be sure everyone has things equally (ie, I got some "yellow flowers", too!).

Busy, busy...

I've done it again, I've been a very bad blogger...

Life just seems so busy right now, and the days are passing more quickly than I can keep up with them! We haven't been busy with anything particular or "major", I just haven't gotten around to blogging! So, here's a little catch up.

First of all, I am loving age 4! We are seeing a level of independence, cooperation and understanding in our little guy that we've never seen before. Don't get me wrong, we still have our challenges, but overall, life with a 4 year old is grand! (Uh, oh... now I've done it...) Kai has never been one to play much with his toys, but he is finally starting to and we're actually seeing periods of independent play, something that was never before seen in our house! He's also been very cooperative in helping with chores around the house, and like his Daddy, is learning to take great joy in crossing things off the "to-do" list. Earlier this week, he "helped" me (ie, played while I did the work) rearrange the pantry section of our garage, then really helped me take a bunch of boxes to the recycling. I seem to be getting more done around the house, even though he is not napping at home anymore (or, rarely, I should say). The no nap situation has, of course, led to less Mommy computer time (hence the lack of blogging), which isn't entirely a bad thing!

A few weeks ago Joe and I escaped to the coast for a night while Kai stayed with my parents. Time with grandparents is a win-win-win situation. Everyone is happy! Grandma and Grandpa kept Kai very busy with super fun activities, while Mommy and Daddy did pretty much nothing, and enjoyed a stormy weekend at the coast. But, after a short time apart, we were all super happy to be reunited! It's amazing what a little down time will do for you!

Kai has been back in soccer for a couple months now and is doing so great. He is going move up two classes next session, where he will start learning more soccer skills and scrimmage! He is also expressing interest in trying baseball, and swimming this summer, so I think we'll stay pretty busy for a while. Oh, and he's already asking about the track meets like we did last year. He is really a natural athlete and I can't wait to see where this takes him (if anywhere...).

And I must brag about how he's doing a preschool... he is doing great!! He wrote his name for the first time around the first of the year, and he continues to practice and improve it. He is getting great pencil control and does really good at tracing and connect the dots. He's also been in speech therapy (they come to his preschool... how great is that??) since December, and we're starting to see lots of improvements there as well.

Alright, enough bragging... errr, I mean catch up. Here's a few recent pics!

A day to remember... the day he cleaned his room without being asked!

At the Monster Truck show last weekend... who do you think is more excited??

More food talk

Since I know you all have been waiting on pins and needles to hear how my diet changes are going, I thought I'd provide a quick update. Well, I'm happy to say that after almost 5 months of gluten free, and nearly 2 months free of animal products and artificial sweeteners, I am feeling better than I have in years! Amazing what cleansing your body of chemicals will do! The biggest struggle in all this has been no diet coke (huge former addict) and no chewing gum. I know, you're thinking... "Gum, this girl can't even chew gum??" After stripping my diet of animal products, diet coke and other artificial sweeteners, I was still left with a small amount of residual GI symptoms. I started researching gum contents and found that most gums and other sugar free mints or candies contain phenylalanine, which is a relative of aspartame, which we all know has a bad rap. Eliminating phenylalanine from my diet has made a huge difference, and bridged the gap from doing mostly better to feeling really quite normal. My skin is clearer than it's been in years, both my dermatitis and facial blemishes. I think I've had one zit in the past 2 months! My other symptoms are continuing to resolve or have resolved completely.

Again, you're probably wondering what on earth I eat. I am actually quite enjoying my new style and don't feel deprived in the least. I eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, rice, potatoes, steamed veggies, beans, peanut butter (smeared on nearly everything!). I found a great coconut coffee creamer I've been using, as well as some pretty tasty vegan and gluten free cereals. Cooking (and eating) has become much more adventurous and challenging, especially with living in a house with two boys who want nothing to do with all my veggies. Don't worry about my hubby... I still make meat and other "normal" food for my boys. OH, and I've been eating Yumm sauce on everything... lots and lots of Yumm sauce!

Lots of people are worried about me, and feel bad about what I can't eat. Don't be! I don't feel bad about what I can't eat because I feel so good now, I don't even want the other stuff. And, I get to be creative and try interesting new things!

February Hike

A family hike each month continues... this month even more spontaneous than last. We saw a break in the wet weather and went for it! Our little hiker went about 1 1/4 miles without being carried AT ALL and very minimal whining. (I'm sure the rice crispy treat at the top helped just a litte.) We are so proud of our little trooper and hope the improvements continue!

It was a "race" the whole way!

Can you believe this is practically in our back yard?

Such a sweet little face!

Guess who's...

FOUR!!!

That's right, we had a birthday at our house this weekend. Anyone care to guess whose?? I'll tell you... the greatest 4 year old around! We spent a weekend surrounded by family and friends helping us celebrate the momentous occasion. Yep... this little boy is well loved!

I guess he approves...

Celebrating with the fam...

Fun times with friends...

Is there something on my face??

We had family over on Saturday for lunch, and some friends over yesterday for a fun time with a bunch of wild and crazy boys! I loved every second of it, especially yesterday toward the end when the little boys started taking their shirts off. You know it's a good party when the clothes start coming off...

Don't know what we'd do without this little guy!

What's happenin'?

Wow, looks like I've started my blogging year off with a bang... NOT!

Well, we've had lots going on, but I honestly don't know what I've been so busy doing... know what I mean? So, I'll give a down and dirty update of life in our house.

- Naps are on the way out for the little guy (hmm... could this be a reason?). He'll still take them, but it causes bedtime to be somewhere between 9:30 and 10pm. Not acceptable. The result is the inevitable dinner/ bedtime meltdowns. Fun stuff.

- We've been experiencing a very mild winter and have enjoyed many outdoor activities (hmmm... could this be a reason?)

- Kai is becoming quite the board game player and we spend lots of time doing this these days, and I love it!

- Kai restarted soccer a few weeks ago and once again reminded me that he is a natural athlete. He shows no fear or reservations about getting right into the action. Makes us so proud!

- We're seeing more and more glimpses of life with a 4 year old everyday. Mostly good stuff.

- Joe has taken on a new role at work and as always I am so proud of him!

- Kai has decided he likes to be cold and has taken to wearing shorts and t-shirt most of the time. I have decided it's not worth the fight, or the self conscious feeling I get when people are gawking and (I'm sure) wondering why I don't put a coat on my kid.

- Not much new with me... just mothering, wifing, cleaning, cooking, working, running, laundering, socializing, and best of all enjoying each and every day with my boys. :-)

The pictures above are from a recent parade to celebrate the Duck football success this past season. It was a great community event, and Kai really showed how he loves his Ducks!!

The Green Monster

Reminisce with me, if you will, back to this post from early 2009. I was so proud of Joe at that time. Imagine my pride now that this project is complete! The second phase of our city's "EmX" bus rapid transit line opened to the public last Sunday, of which my hubby was the project manager. Now as I drive around our city, there are EmX buses everywhere, and all I can think is, "My husband made this happen". Amazing! Not that he would ever publicly admit this (being the humble man that he is), but he is also taking on a new role at the office. With the upcoming retirement of his direct supervisor, he will now be known as LTD's Facilities Manager... that's big stuff! I cannot express how proud I am, and how lucky Kai and I are to have such a wonderful Dad and Husband to take care of us! OK... enough mushy stuff...

On Friday, Kai and I took a ride on the new line with friends. It was a long ride, but the kids did great, especially with the promise of donuts at the end! Kai calls the sleek looking EmX buses "The Green Monster". Here are a couple cute kids on a bus.

The donuts, by the way, were super yummy. Yes, I had one... and yes, it was gluten free. The "Holy Donut" shop makes vegan donuts (and other baked goods), and they also offer GF! I thought the vegan GF donut was fabulous, but then again, I haven't had many baked goods over the past few months!

Can I survive without bread??

The answer is: YES! I have been living gluten free for the past 2 months. Though not always easy, it has been much easier than I once thought. You might be wondering how I came to make this crazy, life altering decision (believe me, my husband thought I was off my rocker when I brought it up to him). Quite simply, it was made for me.

Over the past 5 years or so, I have acquired an array of strange bodily situations. Ranging from skin rashes ("eczema"), to mouth sores, increased hair loss, to unpleasant GI symptoms (need I say more??). A lot of these have worsened over the past year. There was always something to explain these strange things, and each was passed off by my doctors as "benign and untreatable". Being told I just had to live with them. A couple years ago, my grandpa was diagnosed with celiac disease and he advised us all that it is highly genetic and those of us related to him by blood probably have some degree of it. I researched it briefly about a year ago, but decided it would just be "too much trouble". A couple of months ago, after discussing this with my running partner while running, I decided to revisit the research. I was amazed that nearly every "strange" thing that had been happening to me was a symptom of celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Wow! Even infertility! That right there sealed the deal and I decided to give it a try.

Today I am feeling great; mouth and skin rashes are improving daily and breakouts becoming less frequent. It even seems I am losing less hair. Even my easy bruising and thin blood seem to be improving. As for those pesky GI symptoms, I would say they're about 80% better. I'm trying a few other things to get that 100% under control! I am now a firm believer of what undesired gluten can do to your body. I even feel better able to concentrate that I have for years! As for the infertility part, sorry folks... we're not gonna test that one!

So, you might be wondering if living gluten free is really that hard, or worth it. For me, it hasn't been that hard, once I learned what does and doesn't contain it (and still learning, might I add). Eating out is the hardest part, and eating at other people's homes (just because I don't want them to feel bad if I don't eat their food). We don't eat out that much anyways (remember... we have a 3 year old!), and I take my lunch to work everyday. To my surprise, I haven't even missed bread or pasta, and I don't really eat the replacements that much since they're not all that tasty. We did have quinoa and corn pasta the other night and it was pretty good. Probably the thing I miss most is graham crackers and my daily ritual of dunking it in my morning coffee and the occasional bedtime snack of enjoying one with peanut butter on top. Luckily, carmel corn rice cakes are pretty tasty smothered in PB as well (haven't tried them in coffee... think I'll pass on that one!). Is it worth it?? For me, YES! I am feeling great and not even feeling like I'm "missing out" on that much.

My husband has been very supportive of my efforts, and is even starting to try some of my "special food". At first his response was, "Keep it on your side of the table", but this week he's tried GF pasta AND GF pizza crust (the pasta was definitely better than the pizza crust). Both he said were "chokable" (as in... he could choke it down), but hey, at least he tried them! Kai even loved the GF pasta and GF pizza!

Since I see my blog as a way to try to help others as well as share my life experiences, I will probably be posting some gluten free info, and perhaps tasty things I find to eat or bake.

A Brand New Year

We started 2011 off the a bang! A super spontaneous day trip to the coast! No matter how you cut it, the Oregon coast is beautiful any day of the year.

We had big plans of putting away all our Christmas decorations on New Year's Day and having a productive day at home, but those were quickly set aside when we realized that our little guy was not in the mood for housework (ie., he was climbing the walls by 8:30am!) We began getting ready and were headed west before noon. Turns out, it was just what we needed and we had a really fun family day together.

We explored the locally known "Hobbit trail" which is about a 1/2 mile hike from the highway to the coast. We then walked on the beach for a bit before the wind got the best of us and we decided to turn back. Kai did pretty well on our little hike, especially since we haven't done any hiking since Sept. That brings me to one of our goals for the New Year, to take a family hike once a month. They'll obviously start out small, but hopefully by the end of the year we'll have a good little hiker on our hands. After our hike we had "linner" at a restaurant on the coast which was new to us. All home made and very natural and quite tasty! Also, mostly gluten free (new development in our house... more on that later). I think we've found a new go to place to eat in Florence! We were headed home by 4:30, which was fine since we were concerned about the dark and ice coming back over the hills. And now, some pictures from our fun filled day!

Looking for hobbits

Apparently, a decent shot is a goofy shot these days

So proud

He thought it was quite funny to keep poking me in the back while we were walking

Flying with Daddy on the beach

The green at the coast and especially on the Hobbit trail was such a refreshing change from our drab, gray city these days. I am already looking forward to Spring and all the wonders (and colors) that it brings!
Oh, and I must give credit where credit is due. We checked out this blog on our way over and stole most of our ideas from them. The woman being interviewed is a friend of ours, and her son and Kai are pretty good pals.

#10... Happy New Year!

I did it! I really did it!

So, here's #10, undoubtably the most memorable moment of the year for our little Kai. He was chosen for "Jedi training" on our recent visit to Disneyl@nd. We had watched other kids doing this on our last trip in the fall of 2009. He has talked about it for. a. year. This time he got chosen to be in the "training", and not only that... he was right out in the center of the stage. He was so serious about it all, and I was so excited for him that I was nearly in tears! After he finished, he kept saying, "Were you so happy that I got to do that, Mommy?"

Due to the enormity of this (in our little guy's eyes), I have deemed that a still photo is not enough. Below you will find the video footage of his "battle" with Darth Vadar. Be sure to watch for the high five at the end!

See next entry!

Happy 2011 everyone!!

Kai takes on Darth at OneTrueMedia.com

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

True Joy

Sorry, this may be a repeat for some of you, but how can I resist this face of absolute joy? Who else but a little boy can be this happy frolicking in the *chilly* ocean! No doubt about it, this kid is a true Oregonian!!

One of my favorites

OK, here's #8, quite possibly my favorite shot of the year. I haven't shared it because, frankly, I don't want a picture of my son in his undies on the internet. I just can't pass it up, though. So I will only keep this up for a short time. Honestly, that's why there have been less pictures lately... keeping clothes on this little boy is just not happening these days...

#7

This one is from January 2010. The beginning of his dress-up phase which is still going strong. Our little guy has got quite the imagination!

P.S. Make sure to check back every day for the rest of the year since I'll be posting a pic a day to meet my deadline!

Family Day 2010!

Hard to believe it's been 3 years since our amazing little boy was placed in our arms. After the first 24 hours of motherhood, I could have never imagined the years would fly by as they have (that first day was a LONG one!). The picture below was minutes after he had come off the plane. Don't we all look terrified?? (We WERE!)

Here we are today with our silly, funny, smart, caring little guy. It's no surprise that this is one of my favorite pictures of the year. It captures our daily life oh-so-well! This boy's always good for a laugh!
This is the first year that Kai is really understanding his story. All day we've been reminiscing with him about his travel day; what it was like for him and us. Although that was (by far) the best day of our lives, we concluded that we've all had way more fun today. After a couple weeks of non-stop action, we've taken a lazy day, winding down from the exciting weekend and really enjoying some family time. We started the day with breakfast (with Gr. & Gr. C) at Sl@ppy Cakes, then made the two hour drive home. We had a special afternoon movie time, complete with a popcorn snack in the family room, then some Christmas clean up and playing with new toys. We've been enjoying some family game time after dinner and will end the evening with a viewing of Kai's homecoming video. Perfect end to a very fun holiday weekend!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Number 5... Kai's first school picture! How can this NOT be a favorite??

As always, we are counting our blessings this holiday. I don't even know where to start, but they all begin and end with this amazing little boy. Hard to believe we were lucky enough to become his parents.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

Spiderman mask

#4: New spiderman underwear quickly and easily turns into a mask. One of the funniest shots of the year, no question.

Natural

This is definitely one of my favorites from this year. It was a great photo opportunity seized by Dad; I remember vividly the day it was taken and the great pride I felt watching Kai participate in his first track meet. He is such a natural for the long jump, and I think this picture captures it beautifully. Makes me very excited about the track meets for summer 2011!

Too wet to go out

#2: My goofy boy entertaining us on a wet spring day!

10 Best of 2010

In an effort to force myself into being a better blogger, I've decided to share my top 10 favorite photos of 2010. Some of them may have been posted already this year, but hopefully I can come up with some new stuff to knock your socks off. Or, at least, give you a little glimpse into our lives! They will be posted in no particular order, and you'll notice I've given myself most of this month to accomplish the task. Only time will tell if I make it!