Random Happenings

A sample of what's been going on at our place lately:

 With all of my children, I have one precious picture of them asleep as a baby. They are so sweet when they sleep. I realized I didn't have one of Max, so the past week I kept sneaking in take his picture while he was napping, and I kept waking him up. This picture shows how much he appreciates my attempts to capture his cuteness!

Eve got into the KoolAid. 'Nuff said.

Kate decided to give Eve a make-over while I folded laundry. This is the finished product. Kate said to me "Doesn't she look like a movie star?" I guess that depends on what movies you watch, my dear.

Max started eating rice cereal. So far, so good. He's also working on sitting up, and scooting around backwards (imagine a caterpillar on its' back scooting along.)

There's a lot of baby love around here, but Kate is definitely the biggest helper with Max. Every morning she likes to be the one who changes his diaper and picks out his clothes.

We made butterflies out of toilet paper rolls and cereal boxes (via Pinterest). There's so much I love about this picture-- the lighting, the way Evie is so carefully dipping her paintbrush, her enormous paint shirt. But maybe the best part is how even 3 days later she keeps telling me, "Mommy, my butterfly is the very beautifullest."

Max, 6 months

Indulge me...

My name is Max. I have brown hair and brown eyes. And little bubbles that come out of my mouth.

I am six months old now. My favorite person is my mommy. I love her so much that I can't be apart from her for more than two hours, even at night.

 My nicknames are Little Chief and Stinky. Who comes up with these things?

I love my sisters. Even the one who lays on top of me and calls it hugging.

I also love my dog. She takes my toys away, but she doesn't seem to mind when I pull on her ears. And, she licks up my spit-up, so I guess we're pals.

Gluten Free Girls

 When I first found out about my Celiac, I learned that it is a genetic disease. In fact, odds of one of my children having the disease are 25%. Instinctively I knew it would be Kate. She has always complained of tummy aches, had diarrhea, etc. So, when we were in the doctor's office for her the day after Thanksgiving because we thought she had appendicitis, I asked them to test do the Celiac panel when they drew her blood.
That was a crazy, emotional day. The good news was that our little girl didn't need to have surgery. The bad news was that she was traumatized from IVs, ultrasounds, and CT scans. When we found out she was okay to go home, I didn't give a second thought to the Celiac panel.

That is, until I took Max in for his well check in January. Just out of curiosity, I asked the doctor about Kate's results and it turned out her levels were sky high! We immediately scheduled an appointment with a pediatric GI, but were told it would take two months to get in.
In the meantime, Anna and Eve both started complaining of tummy aches. At first I blew it off, thinking they were jealous of the extra attention Kate was getting. But we eventually got their tests done as well. Anna's level was even higher than Kate's, but Eve's was normal. To give you a reference-- Kate's was 150, Anna's was 165, and Eve's was 4. I think anything above 100 indicates Celiac disease.

We met with the GI who advised us to have an endoscopy done on Kate. The reason for this is because if it were not Celiac disease and we imposed a gluten free lifestyle on her, it may not even fix whatever was causing her tummy problems. Plus she'd go her whole life without a creme puff for no reason.
Kate was NOT happy about having to get a scope done, but when the day came, she toughed it out. (No pictures because Trav took her.) The results showed that it is clearly Celiac, and her doctor said it would be safe to assume the same for Anna, even without a scope.
So there you go. Three gluten free girls in this family.
There's only one thing to do in this situation. Stuff yourself full of pizza, then say goodbye to gluten forever. We'd always wanted to take the kids to Pirate Island Pizza, so the Saturday after they were diagnosed, we headed up there. Imagine our surprise to find a lock on the door! Apparently there was a fire in the kitchen a few months ago and it closed down.

We decided to make do with Pizza Pie Cafe. The kids love that place, but I couldn't think of what I would eat there. (I was NOT going to try a gluten binge, thank you very much.) This turned out to be the best thing ever because Pizza Pie Cafe now serves gluten free pizza! I have been searching for gluten free pizza for 4 months and hadn't found it. I was so thrilled to finally know of a place to get some!
Anyway, the kids wanted to do their gluten-glut so they got the regular stuff and enjoyed every last morsel. Especially the Oreo pizza; that does not come in gluten free.

And they had tummy aches the rest of the day to show for it.

2012 Word

Here we are at the beginning of March, and I think I've finally come up with my word for the year. You know, the one word that sums up what I am trying to become this year? In 2010 it was Rejoice. In 2011 it was Bless. And the word for 2012.... Do.

Do. As in

Just Do It.

I will go and do the things which the Lord has commanded....

Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only

I can do hard things

Make it do

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me

Do what is right

I feel like I have so many aspirations of the kind of person I want to be. I imagine myself being compassionate, educated, confident, kind, righteous, etc. when I am "grown up." The only trouble is, I am grown up! If I want to become those things, then I had better start doing something about it! 

So this is my year. My year to spend more time playing with my kids, more time enjoying the mountains, more time serving in my community, more time loving my husband, more time growing close to the Savior. It is my year to Do.

For me, doing will mean engaging in purposeful activities. I will have to limit my time on Pinterest for sure, because as much as I love it, it only gets me with a longer list of projects I want to do and less time to do them. I will also have to limit the time I waste in other ways, so that I might use my precious minutes to do something productive. 

Do implies action. It implies gumption, pushing yourself through difficult circumstances till you come out on top, or at least finish the race. Do implies getting something done, whether it's a bathroom re-do or calling a long lost friend. Do means actually doing something after you ask your visiting teachee "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Do means the world (at least my world) will be a better place because I'm in it. 

Because I want to be like Grandpa Max, who wholly deserved it when we sang this hymn at his funeral almost eight years ago:

Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?

Have I cheered up the sad? 

Or made someone feel glad?

If not, I have failed indeed.