Happy Healthy Shay Shay!

My adorable goof ball is healthy as can be! As mentioned in a previous blog post, she was diagnosed with a heart murmur at her 3 year old check up. The dr was slightly concerned as it seemed pretty loud, but after a full heart work up by the cardiologist it was determined that she only has a normal childhood murmur (depends on type, location, sound, etc)! Just wanted to share that - yay - and this cute pic of my big girl!

7 Months Old!

Mitchell Ford Nelson
7 Months Old
9.26.2010
19.5 Pounds

Mitchell is such a happy, busy little boy! He is not crawling yet but can push himself everywhere by rolling and scooting backwards (see photo #2). As seen in the last photo he was doing this most of the time I was trying to get a photo of him - he just wanted to flip over and scoot away! So I have to keep my eyes open. He definitely does not like to be in one place for too long and prefers to be out and about looking at new things or going for stroller walks instead of home. He is very loud (see previous video) and "talks" all the time. He has started to get a bit of separation anxiety and often when I walk out of the room and leave him with other people he will start to cry, but that is pretty normal for his age although I think it is cute he is mommy's boy!
He is a healthy, happy, chunk of a little boy who we love so dearly!!!

Loud Baby Mitchell

Here are some of Mitchell's vocals - such a happy, loud boy (and often at 5 am)!

The joys and pains of children...

The joys and pains of children...

this week was a true look at the dynamic of joys and pains of children and although daily life can be a struggle sometimes, the JOYS definitely outweigh the PAINS and I would not trade my children for anything!!!
JOYS!
Getting to see your adorable children celebrate life by being a kid - laughing, playing, pretending, hugging, smiling, loving!

This weekend we visited my brother's family to enjoy some time together. Shayla had been asking to see her cousins all week long so since Jon had an overnight scout camp out on Friday night we left on Friday to go visit! They had a great time together and love each other so much. We went to a new play place I heard about in Irvine called Pretend City which is a miniature version of a city for kids to play in from the miniature fire station and grocery store to the ATM they could get money out of to the art studio. Very cool but hard to handle 5 kids with only 2 adults so bring 1 adult per moving kid if you go!

PAINS
Sleep issues, Health Issues, Power struggles, Etc

Baby M has been having sleep issues and not napping longer than an hour and a half during the day. This makes it hard to get anything done and then he is so tired he is down at 6:30 pm but then up at 5 am - makes for one tired mommy too! Shayla too seems to not be able to get through the night without waking up and coming to climb in bed with us.

On the health issue side, I was guilty of causing an ER incident when we were visiting my bro's family this weekend. I brought zucchini bread that I had put walnuts in and gave it to her kids for a snack not knowing (or having been told) that their son may have a walnut allergy - well the allergy was confirmed as his body was covered with hives a few hours later and a midnight trip to the ER since his face started swelling, but with some Benadryl he was ok and looks like they will have to be avoiding tree nuts for heir little guy! Be sure to always ask as with kids allergies can pop up at any time since he did not have it before! Anyway, on my health side of things Shay was diagnosed with a heart murmur at her last checkup and the dr is pretty sure it is harmless (since kids often get murmurs but they are no cause to worry) . She sees a pediatric cardiologist this week to confirm that it is nothing to worry about - so keep your fingers crossed/prayers there that all will be normal with her.

Power struggles - I have a three year old (enough said!) and a six month old who is starting to have major separation anxiety if I leave the room and he cannot see me (sigh)...

But as I said take a look at these photos as it is all sooo worth it!!!

Baby Dax (seven months old) who can STAND already
and Baby Mitchell (six month old - barely sits on his own)

At the pretend grocery store

In the pretend firetruckThe other three loving cousins!!!

Fun with Friends

A few photos of some recent fun with friends!

Pudding Painting with Hank!

Ballet Class with Mary!

Labor Day Party with Cole and Hailey!

Mitchell with his giraffe!

Playing at Padaros

There is this fun beach grill called Padaros which is on the beach but the kids are fully enclosed with lots of sand to play in and we can play without fear of them running off and have a great lunch too! We went with friends last week!

Hank, Shayla and Cody enjoying the pizza!

The kids enjoying push up pops (Shaylas first time with one)

Mom and Mitchell

Shayla and Mitchell

A day on the farm!

It feels like fall is in the air! The weather is cooling down and we went apple picking! There is a cute family run farm near us that does farm tours where the kids get to hold chickies, pet and feed farm animals, make their own ice cream, and pick their own apples. We had such a great time and Shayla loved it!

Shayla enjoying a red fuji! Yum!

Picking away!

Feeding the goats

Making ice cream

Loving on the baby chicks!


Mitchell got in on the action too!

Shayla wanted to share the baby chick with Mitchell...he was more interested in me (L

A visit to VV!!

This past weekend I went up to Victorville (where I spent most of my "growing up" years). I got to spend time with my dad (mom was out of town) and had a get together with some of my closest gal pals from high school! It was so neat to see everyone and turn back time for a day - we really have not gotten older have we? Anyway, here are some pics of the fun weekend!

The girls minus Heather (H send me your pics!)

Granpda with the kiddos!

Mitchell enjoying the hammock

Shayla enjoying the hammock!

Larissa's Favorite Things List - Summer 2010

I really enjoy it when my friends/family write about things that they are really into and enjoy because it helps me feel more in tune with them and gives me ideas on things I may want to try myself- whether it is a new recipe to try, a new book to read, a new website to check out, etc. So I thought I would share a few of the things I have been into as well this past summer! So, here are a few of my favorite things lately:

Websites:

• No Time For Flashcards - I think I have shared this before - it is a great site I go to if I am trying to get art ideas for Shayla for a quick art project- fun stuff!

• E-mealz.com - A cool menu planning website that gives you lots of weekly menu options based on stores, types of foods you eat (vegetarian, gluten free, etc). I just did a trial for a few weeks and like how all the recipes for the week print on one page and very easy to use. All the recipes I have tried from them are great too (although the veggie ones are high in using lots of fake meat products which I try to consume very little of so I won;t be a regular member of this site but fun to take a break from planning for a month or two and get great recipes and save $ on your food budget.)

TV/Movies:

• Pillars of The Earth. Okay so one of my most favorite books (and author for that matter) is Pillars of The Earth by Ken Follett. So, when I saw that there was going to be a mini series made of the book I knew I had to see it! Problem was I did not have the channel it was on! Luckily I found a coupon to get Two months free of Starz (the channel it was on) which was just enough to see the 6 week miniseries. Wow -- was it one intense show! It has been about 5 years since I read the book so I did not remember how corrupt the story was but it was very well done with amazing acting too, so maybe it will come out on Netflix or something soon for you all to see!

Books: Okay I am reading the final 3rd book of the Hunger Games Series and it is good but the first two were much better!!!

Food:

• Kashi Honey Sunshine. This cereal is so good and so healthy. I just eat it plain for a snack when I am craving something crunchy! 6 gm fiber and 20 gm of whole grains! Try it if you can find it - they have it at TJs and Target too!

• Coconut Oil. Although I have been using it as a oil/butter substitute for some time now, Coconut Oil has been making its appearance in new recipes I have been trying, especially dessert type recipes. There has been some research that Coconut Oil also stimulates your thyroid which may have happened to me as since I have been using more coconut oil, my thyroid medication for my hypothyroidism has been reduced - so that's a good thing (although it cold also be related to post-pregnancy status too as your body changes a lot during and after pregnancy and nursing so not sure what the cause is). Anyway, here is one of my favorite ways to use it combined with one of my favorite recipes lately! It has a texture just like magic shell (that stuff you put on ice cream) and is so healthy for you!

Chocolate PB Protein Magic Shell

• ½ - 1 Tablespoon coconut oil


• ½ - 1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter


• 1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder (I use Trader Joes Chocolate Whey protein)

1 - Melt your coconut oil and peanut butter together in microwave for 10-15 seconds until coconut oil is in liquid form and pb looks glossy.

2 - Stir in Chocolate Protein Powder. (It will be a bit grainy and liquidy but will harden when you mix with ice cream(

Done!

Mix into Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream for a Blizzard like treat – so good AND sooo healthy! Yum! You can also pour over any frozen treat (ice cream, fruit, etc) ad enjoy!

My mom taught me the trick of freezing ripe bananas and blending them into ice cream consistency. Really frozen blended bananas are like ice cream. I make mine more decadent and protein filled by adding peanut butter and some vanilla to liven up the taste! <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->

Here's a step-by-step list:

Peel ripe bananas.

Cut the banana into slices and lay on plate for freezing (1-2 hours up to overnight)

Place as much as you want (I usually use about 1.5 bananas for a serving) into blender and blend away until the consistency of ice cream! Save remainder in freezer bag for your next ice cream fix!

*If you like add 1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter and ½ teaspoon vanilla to make Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream and serve with Chocolate PB Protein Magic Shell for a super special PROTEIN filled treat!!!

*Options – Add other flavored protein powder for protein ice cream, add a few chocolate chips to blender to make chocolate chip ice cream, add any other frozen fruit for sorbet, try whatever you like and it probably will be good!

People:

Cannot get enough of my 3 babies (and hubby - not pictured)!!!

Happy Half Birthday to You!

Mitchell is 6 months old today - his half birthday!!! Wow - the time has flown by! He is such a sweet boy. He is at that funny in between stage where he cannot crawl yet and barely sits up on his own but wants to be involved with everything and always grabbing everything (and shoving everything in his mouth too). He is still teething like crazy and is eating solids like a champ. He is a very happy and very vocal boy always making sounds and cooing and smiling! Still takes about 2 short naps and two longer naps a day and is a pretty good sleeper. He loves to be roughed around, thrown in the air, wrestled with by his sister, etc. I cannot get enough of my little bubba boo boy!!!

Mitchell Ford Nelson
6 Months Old
8.26.2010
18 Pounds
29 inches

So now to the best part - all the cute photos of my 6 month old boy!

"Hello to you"

"I am 6 months old!"

"too much love from my sister"

"I can almost sit by myself!"

"I am going to eat this block! yum!"