you can be prepaired but not in control

i thought i was done and over the whole "allergy" bit, everyone knows my daughter has allergies and i sound like a broken record. yet every time i meet someone new in settings around food i have to be diligent about reminding everyone not to feed my kid.

i have spent months learning to cook and planning meals and trying to help us financially (because it's NOT cheap to feed your kid FRESH everything) handle this. For the first time in 5 months i finally had control. i had cooking and packing snacks fast and easy and one day a week. I had her meals planned and everyone she would be in daily contact with knows the drill. We were one month benedryl free. her skin is BEAUTIFUL and clear and FINALLY as smooth as a baby's butt should be.

Then i realized i can't ever relax or feel in control because i never will be. I can be prepared but never in control.

We got a pack of crayons out of my craft area and gave them to cecelia to use. she has a little table she sits at and paper to color on. she knew how to hold them and LOVED playing with them and hiding them all over our basement. I was really excited to open up the world of coloring and crafts (something i love to do too). For christmas we were going to ask for coloring books and markers for her.

For about a week she has had excema flair up. First it was on her face, then her chest and back and arms and legs. On Sunday we noticed it was really red and bigger blotches around her face. On monday we were business as usual... then tuesday she had her worst flair up since May. I was in the basement on the computer while she walked around (really she would run off, grab something to bring to me and once i grabbed it she would run off for something else). I turned around to check on her at one point and her mouth was black. I dug a 1/2 a crayon and the paper out of her mouth. we went upstairs to play. once we were upstairs her entire face turned blotchy (within a minute of me getting the crayon out of her mouth) her chest was read and she was scratching badly. After a week i finally knew what she was reacting to. She got benedryl and i started researching.

I am STILL VERY upset at the idea that i not only have to worry about my daughter eating a food that could kill her, but now i have to worry about her touching an art supply that could hurt her. And no i do not feel i am being over dramatic using the work "kill" or "harm." I had to explain to a friend the other that more kids die each year from food allergies than any form of cancer. It's more common than the flue and without treatment IMMEDIATELY will kill my child in uncontrolled situations. I my daughter were to eat a granola bar from a random package she would be exposed to minimum 2 possibly 4 of her major allergies and she would swell from the inside out. a donut could put her in hives for a week, which eventually can eat away at her skin from scratching and infection. I can not STAND it when people tell me i am overreacting about her allergies. i have spent months trying to figure out how to live without being a neurotic overbearing parent , if people can't handle my caution and awareness they will not be allowed near my child- tangent over!

Disclaimer- i ONLY buy Crayola crayons and markers. I think they are the best and my favorite.  They do not pay me to say this, it is all my opinion.

Crayons are soy free, since between 2001 and 2005. My crayons i am betting are from high school (i don't recall buying crayon since college or adult life) so they are between the transition time of soy free crayons and could possibly contain crayons. However my problem does not get solved by simply buying new crayons. It turns out ALL glue pre-maid (great now i have to make my own glue, fml) has oil in it that contains soy. the glue used to hold the paper onto crayons contains soy and possibly other unidentified allergens. So i looked online and with my dad's help found some crayons that are twist up and have no labels, therefor no glue. i also got a little case to put her supplies in so we can take it places easily. These crayons are twice as expensive and last half as long, but for my daughter it's worth it.

Then upon more research i may or may not have had a melt down about school supplies some day and future play dates.School supplies i can freak out about in 2-3 years, but play dates are something i am trying to do as often as possible. i DESPERATELY want to have playdates with other kids at places OTHER than my house, but it's SO scary. the thought that i would have to ask another parent to vacuum, sweep and mop, tidy and clean up any areas food is allowed in and now to HIDE all crayons and other activities makes me want to cry. then since cecelia is in everything the thought she could find a crumb hidden under the couch and eat it! SO STRESSFUL and that's just thinking about a playdate.

 the other day we had a play date and the girls sat and colored! She can't do that anymore. makers ALL contain soy so those aren't an option either. She tends to stab herself or others with pencils  so until she is older those are no good. Playdough requires oil- which MIGHT contain soy! The homemade kool-aid playdough contains soy (kool-aid, and most powdered drinks contain it). ink is ok, but SO messy and stains clothes and kiddos skin. paint is no good, but i am looking up how to make my own.

Since her art supplies are now TWICE as expensive as normal crafts it is for sure on her christmas list.

Life: Hacked!

Money is tight- i am pretty sure ALMOST every single person i know can honestly say this exact sentence about their family. SO i am sure that no person would pass up on a few life tips that I have found makes my life easier and SAVES ME MONEY! now these are all my opinions and if you have more ideas or things just didn't work for you let me know!

Trisha- you will LOVE this!

(Warning: lots of tangents, sorry if it's hard to follow)

CHILDREN HACKS:

 life with a kid is fun, messy, filled with laughter and always entertaining. i personally would prefer to spend my time playing with my kid and not trying to cook, clean or miss out on anything. I would also prefer to spend or save money for fun activities and other things... but alas children cost money/time and i am always trying to save a penny where i can when kids are involved!

1. MINI MUFFIN TINS!

    i mentioned this in a previous post, but they are a lifesaver with kids (and husbands who eat EVERYTHING in sight) around. i babysit whenever i can and having two little ones i ended up wasting a lot of food (they dump on the floor or shove in their pockets-gross- and refuse to eat perfectly yummy food because they are kids and that's what happens). i forget they eat much smaller portions (ok my daughter eats a ton, but not all at once, instead she eats 5 small meals and a couple small snacks not 3 adult portioned meals). I make a ton of different things and they are all itty bitty portions, perfect for kids ages 1-5 (update from previous post, thanks for the ideas, i have been baking a ton of different things and things are getting easier for meals). For meals would have 2-3 different "muffins" and no wasting food! snacks are just a quick muffin. the best part is one batch of things makes 24-55 muffins. that means i can cook once a week in my mini muffin tins and baggie for each day of that week and put the rest in baggies labeled and freeze them! this way if i get sick or lazy i have mini meals frozen for the future. Best part, is when kel comes home from work and eats EVERYTHING in sight he will grab a couple instead of the whole cake and it saves up money and time and food plus helps him not eat an entire cake! Here are 10 fun mini muffin ideas/variety of things you can make in mini muffin tins!
1. meatballs/ mini meat loaves- Turkey, chicken, beef, deer (this was the other day, actually really good) mixed with all sorts of seasonings and sauces.
2. mini pasta balls- pasta and a variety of sauces mixed in and baked mini muffin style. use an egg to bind thins together and this is perfect for hiding veggies in under the sauce.
3. veggie muffins- puree your veggies, add some flour (i use whole wheat flour and cornmeal usually) and bake. cecelia hate most veggies but will eat anything that looks like a muffin, FOR THE WIN!
4. actual muffins- bananas, pumpkin, apple, berry, whole wheat, cornbread (with a hot dog bit int eh middle and mini corn dogs- mind blown)
5. breakfast omelet (not for cecelia, but everyone else)- add your fav omelet ingredients, bake until fluffy and YUMMY! a ready to go breakfast all week that you can eat on the road with one hand
6. shredded potato muffins- i mash up potatoes, again hide some veggies, bake and YUM! also works with hash browns from the freezer an egg to bind them, cheese and veggies.
7. cobblers- enough said, great portion controlled desserts, eat two and be done
8. cupcakes- again portion controlled and yummy!
9.  mini pizzas- throw in some homemade pizza crust, cheese, pepperoni and sauce, or chicken and cheese and bbq sauce- bake and YUM
10. fruit snacks- i make homemade ones and use the muffin tins as molds, i grab one for cecelia and off we go. plus then it's fresh fruit and she can eat them guilt free

2.  play room-

    this seems like a "duh" and no brainer but you would be SO surprised how many people i know who don't have one set room that is COMPLETELY child proof (in every way) that they can have their kid go play and NOT be in the room with them AT ALL TIMES! ours is in the basement and now that she can walk and get my attention if needed verbally i can let her play while i go do laundry or take something upstairs and she is contained, entertained and unable to hurt herself. no TV or cords to play with, nothing she could fall off and hurt herself, and everything in large bins for easy clean up.  This saves time and about once a week i rearrange the bins ever so slightly and she thinks there are all new toys each week! less toys needed saves money and TIME- she can play and i can actually get something done instead of chasing her from all the death traps that are an ever present hazard!

3. well put together photo albums- 

   this seems stupid, and honestly a year ago i would have mocked me. but on hard days when cecelia is screaming or i am jealous of others people's seemingly perfect lives or just feeling beyond blessed i take a moment to open my wedding album, cecelia's scrapbook or photo book and look through. the hard times are so much easier when there are visual reminders of the best of times. If you don't have time to make one call me and i would LOVE to do it for you! At least once i day i have to look through pictures for one reason or another and they have helped me through the darkest time in my life. They are literally my light at the end of every tunnel. Yet i know SO MANY PEOPLE who don't have time, money or desire to put together a simple photo book! it's worth the couple of hours and $20! Cheap version if to put pictures in order on the computer for a slide show! Sign up for shutterfly and wait for a coupon then make one online for cheap(er). So much cheaper than a therapist when i am just an emotional (read as irrationally emotional) mess and need a pick me up. Plus less calories than the gallon of ice cream i'd otherwise eat (see below life hacks).

RE-USE your RECYCLE:

 stupid recyclables you would have normally thrown away, but instead i can clean them and reuse them easy peasy lemon squeezy (and save more than a quarter)!

1. empty toilet paper/paper towel rolls to keep your rolled up cords. 

   you wind up the cords, stick them through and grab them. laptop cords, cell phone chargers, etc- this was stolen from my mother-in-law and i LOVE the idea

2. gallon ice cream buckets- 

   i use one for cecelia's diapers that need rinsed (cloth diapering, fyi) to hide them and the smell. i use another one as my "mop" bucket. i keep one in the car for when i get sick (pregnancy 101). pretty much i could post 101 uses from rinsed out gallon ice cream buckets. Ice cream is SO WORTH buying it by the gallon! 

3. THIS ONE WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i got it off The Chew, it's the ONLY daytime TV show i like or watch. So much fun and even my hubby likes to watch it. start DVRing it RIGHT now because it's worth an hour of my time everyday..... save an old ketchup, mustard or bbq sauce bottle to put pancake batter in for easy to pour pancakes! 

   YUP MIND BLOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! best part is you can make your own from scratch allergy free pancake mix, put it in the bottle and leave it in the pantry then add milk/water, shake and pour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! try it, i swear pancakes will always be worth it after this!They actually make and advertise this exact thing for pancakes for $4 per container, vs having this yourself and it being 50cents each time you make a mix! plus you can make PERFECT pancakes every time without the stupid mess of pancake batter everywhere, minimum clean up is always better

4. wine bottles-

    spray paint and decorate your house! plus then you get to drink wine! and the corks have about 101 crafts you can do with wine bottles and corks! Where most recyclables look junky as decor (honestly i do NOT think it's classy to make a ghost out of a milk carton, kinda just gross and it's trash so put it in the trash) i feel like wine bottles done right can be classy. there are wine decor items made out of wine bottles that get expensive, so just DIY but do it right!

5. jelly jars= drinking glasses! buy the cute jelly in jelly jars and the glasses are prefect for kiddo drinking cups!

6. coffee creamer bottles-

   put your snacks in them (goldfish, cheerios, teddy grahams, trail mix, chex mix). they have the small creamers that are worth buying to reuse. not just for kid snacks, it fits in your purse or car cup holder. i keep one in the car for me, because there's not always food where i am going! (stick some of your mini muffin creations in there!)

7. assorted clear plastic bottles (vegetable or canola oil bottles, etc) for craft items- 

   Popsicle sticks, beads, string, ribbons, crayons, markers, etc! clear so you can see what they are and if they bust or get destroyed WHO CARES! and easy to pour the thing out without dumping them everywhere. 

8. cereal boxes- 

   magazine holders. cut the correctly and they wont be strong enough for a magazines but make things easy to sort bills and file papers or newspapers!

9. melted down glass candles and their lids- 

   ash trays. now i don't smoke or allow people to smoke around me, but i do use matches and this is where i put them. i use a large empty candle jar to hold my box of matches and a small one for used matches that are blown out.

long story short make things in mini muffin tins, organize your photos and toys, and recycle- but not until after you have used the old crap for something else! 

 oh the things you think of when you can't afford a stupid magazine holder for $10 or are sick of messed up weird shaped pancakes (seriously, BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE)!

hopefully i blew your mind at least once today! and shout out to my sister- happy birthday!

Hang in the balance

finding balance in life is hard to do, not to mention time consuming. i blogged about my awesome new schedule and part of the reason i like having life so scheduled is to keep it balanced. I have NO balance. after 13 years of dance classes and recitals and HUNDREDS of dollars spent by my parents i tripped over thin air and broke my leg (sadly that is a true story not just a metaphor).

My whole life has been spent trying to discover balance.

The balance i am struggling with is currently (ok one of many balance issues in life) nutrition. I am using the word nutrition and not diet because of the negative conotation behind the word diet. i am working on eating healthy and balancing the food groups, as well as getting my family to eat healthy and balanced. i have NO desire to cut sugar and chocolate and cheese sauce and pasta out of my life completely. i just would like to not eat them EVERY day and maybe just consume one serving not 4 at a time. Now for me i am doing okay at this, not great, not horrible just ok. i am working on improving and that's enough of a goal for now.

Kel is doing well, better than me but still room to improve. Since i cook the meals i have started cooking with less to no oils. i use as little processed food as possible and we are all SOY FREE around here (due to Cecelia's allergies). We have had 1 meal not made at home within the past 2 weeks (huge for use, we used to grab fast food as much as we could). Our food budget went form $100 a week to $30 a week. It's amazing and i actually am feeling good about my cooking abilities as well as the lifestyle change that has occured for our family.

i still have one very hard critic i can't seem to impress....

and the worst part is that there are no short cuts because of her allergies.

Cecelia doesn't like most veggies. in fact i can count on one hand how many veggies she will voluntarily eat. And this little girl eats ALL DAY LONG! she is such a bottomless pit. She also is picky about what foods she eats and when. For example she will only eat apples when we are out and about, if i give them to her at home she throws the AT ME! She cna't have ANYTHING with soy, soy lecthin, soybean oil, soybean extract or vegetable oil. that means nothing premade or packaged except fruit snacks. She also can't have egg white OR egg yolks (more people are allergic to one or the other, not both), peanuts, peas, veggies processed in a facility that processes peas, chickpeas or tree nuts.  overall cooking soy free/cecelia allergy free is easy. Zthe hard part is when we go out somewhere. i have to have natural yummy snacks she will eat that aren't messy and can handle being room tempurature, and ht eback ups for when she refuses to eat those. It's exhausting.

The worst part is, she is only like this for me. If i offer her an apple slice she will take it and throw is, if ANYONE ELSE ON EARTH offers her an apple slice she will eat it and smile at them. Kel thinks i am a liar about her food aversions. I'm not making this up. if he feeds her she waits until he looks away to dump it on the floor.

So i am resorting to hiding veggies in food to try to get my family to eat balances. Today i made squash muffins (sound gross i know). They taste SO good. I used half the recommended sugar and replaced it with spices and flavor. and they are made with whole wheat flour instead of white flour.
I also made pumpkin cornbread muffins... also delicious. Thanks to my sister's mini muffin tins i made them small and less messy for the little one. this way she can eat multiple throughout the day and munch on them without wasting half of the muffin. I will be buying my own set THIS WEEKEND!

My final issue with Cecelia's balanced nutrition is variety. She loves noodles and mac and cheese and one box of mac and cheese feeds her for 5 days. This means for 5 days that is all she gets for lunch. Her ususally daily diet looks like this...

Breakfast: blueberries + banana, applesauce and muffin
lunch: mac and cheese+ chicken or hot dog + sweet potatoe
dinner: eating off my plate (uncool babay girl, uncool) no matter what is on her plate
Snacks: string cheese, yogurt balls, homemade bread, fruit snacks, cheese cubes and apple slices

That is it, honestly i wish i was exagerating when i say she is confined to that list. i feel like a horrible mother by not branching out, but i don't know how to. We throw in whatever fruits are in season as much as we can. Veggies HAVE to be fresh because processed ones are non allergy safe.

 I need some ideas. I am desperate for easy, not too messy homemade recipes that are cheap, yummy and healthy. She refuses to let me feed her at all so it need to be finger foods. the hardest part, ALL Cecelia ALLERGY FREE.

HELP! 

 ANY RECIPE, IDEA, CONCEPT, SUGGESTION OR FUNNY JOKE WILL BE APPRECIATED. I AM ONE DESPERATE MOMMA TO BREAK UP THE MONOTONY OF HER DIET AND HELP HER LEARN TO LIKE FOOD MORE THAN BLUEBERRIES AND CHEESE.

lifehacks...

So i have been going a bit stir crazy the past few days. i wanted to walk but it was really hot, Cecelia is teething and got shots so having her in the heat is unbearable, and i have blisters in between 3 of my toes so walking hurts and i want to heal my feet before starting walking again so i have no more excuses!

My solution has been to decorate, organize and "lifehack" my life. I am pretty proud of the results. First was to get pictures hung up on the wall and set. I am HORRIBLE at this and things always end up crooked and awkward. So instead of taking credit i will give it all to my sister. she hung them all up and arranged them. but it looks nice and after 1.5 years living in the house it's nice to finally have pictures actually hung up on my wall.

Below are the pictures of my decorating. my goal is to be festive and inexpensive without looking cheap. And i am using fake flowers-i am highly allergic to a lot of real flowers, especially autumn ones (mums are the worst allergy i have). i found a way to make them smell amazing and make my house smell amazing.... ready for it.... it's a genus idea.... i take all my fall candles and leave the lids off or cracked and when i store the decorations for the rest of the year store them with the candles. so when i open the box everything smells like the candle! I have one box (clear storage boxes) with all my apple scented candles and some of my fall decorations and another box with all my pumpkin smelling candles and the rest of the decorations. careful mixing scents.... after 9 months in an airtight container mixed scents can be a horrible idea. But overall it's worked out very well for me a couple of years now, all my flowers smell fresh and yummy with my favorite scents, the candles are ready to light and i don't need to buy new flowers every week!

the photo wall in our living room. (yes we are watching Big Bang theory). i did the flower arrangements in two vases we got from a wedding shower that have an S and a K on them! excitied to have some fall decor to go with all the pictures!

this is the shelf kel put up on that wall too. I call it my "mantle" because we don't actually have a fireplace or traditional mantle. Check out all the fall decor on it. Plus it's the perfect place for our GIANT wedding album.

these are wine bottle that my Sister in Law helped me spray paint! The original idea (off Pinterest, you'll see all my little crafts were ideas i got from there) was to make them look like candy corn. i liked the idea of shading them but i wanted something that works past Halloween and until Christmas. i think the glittery darker colors make it more seasonal and less Halloween-ish.

Mr Gnome (i know, super original name) wanted to look pretty too. sparkly garland and the flowers a friend made for out wedding top it off! Plus i LOVE my coffee mug display case kel made!

more flowers from out wedding. i love putting them out! i just put a command hook on the inside of the cabinet and then hung the flowers on the outside so the hook doesn't show!

 So after decorating i started working on some simple things to make my house and life easier and cleaner. First i worked the budget and i have exactly $20 in the budget i could allow for home improvement items we normally would do without. First thing i got was a kooshy floor mat for the kitchen. i hate washing dishes because my feet and back hurt and i always slip on the water that inevitably spills. This was on sale plus a coupon and matched all my wine decor nicely.

not sure how to turn the picture around, but you can see the idea!

 Next is a stupid simple solution i saw on Pinterest and thought it's nice but unnecessary. then for $2 (with coupon on sale) i thought i'd give it a try. That and my friend did this and blogged about it and if she could do it then why the heck shouldn't i? It's a good idea, looks cuter than the big nasty bottle and makes me use less because it comes out slower!

my dish soap in an oil dispenser! much better than the jumbo sam's club size bottle falling in my sink 800 times a day!

this is a candle (apple scented) i got for $7 on sale and the holder was $5... then i had a $10 off $10 coupon so total i spent $4 (taxes-ugh). I HATE buying super expensive candles because i think it's a worthless expense yet i LOVE candles and how amazing they make my house smell so when i see them on sale i JUMP on it! I'm also super picky about scents (see floral allergies mentioned above) but i love getting them as gifts.... bad combo!

 

 

( For any friends wanting gift ideas i like pumpkin, apple, cinnamon and fruity smells, no florals! )

we got this off etsy and LOVE it! I'm so proud of our little family especially when it is becoming increasingly more popular to have a family without a mom AND a dad in the same family groups (not my favorite fad ever). i want people to know we are proud of our family and the traditional matter in which it was formed and this tells people how i feel when they walk in the door.

 Next i organized my kitchen. EVERYONE i know has a "jenga" cabinet! you know- the one with all the Tupperware that falls out every time you open it and no lids ever match the dish and cussing ensues when you are pressed for time to find the right size container with the correct lid.... you all know what i am talking about and are possibly shamefully blushing at the embarrassment that is your cabinet. i HAD one and then i got sick of it. Unlike most people i have SO MUCH cabinet space i have a hard time filling it. which means instead of being neat and tidy i throw things in the cabinets and can't ever find it again. Honestly my kitchen i like the "room of requirement" except not helpful or handy just messy (props to my friends that got the reference). My biggest issue is every time i steal/ take  am given food from my parents i end up keeping the dish (oops.... except their "jenga" cabinet is the worst and i know they have plenty of little dishes). 

I made a decision that-like pens without pen caps (stupid and wasteful, non clicky pens NEED a pen cap or are to be thrown out immediately!) -any dish without a lid is to be thrown out and a lid without a dish would also be thrown out. i played a matching game for 35 minutes until all dishes and lids were matched up and paired with similar dishes and lids. Magically only 2 dishes (both deformed by the dishwasher anyway and WAY old) and 4 lids were tossed. now things fit nicely and i even manage to consolidate 4 different cabinets into 1 (so not i have 4 empty cabinets, but i found ways to fill them productively, you'll see).

the result, all lids and dishes are to be put away TOGETHER or suffer their fate in the trash can. i LOVE having extra space. Plus now that my cabinet is full i need no more and have nowhere to put it all so i might start giving things back to my parents. i even fit all the baby dishes in here!

these two shelves ended up empty so i made one a "glass dishes" shelf and organized it and the other is where i put all of our baking/bread making supplies that WERE on my counter. it also keeps the spices easy access for cooking and cleared our pantry for other items. I am also very proud of my clear counters and fresh produce!

   Finally i did a SIMPLE activity that has already been a huge help and success for all of our allergies and sinus. i love fall, everything about it EXCEPT harvest season. my allergies go NUTS from August to november/the first frost. Every pollen on earth is exposed during harvest seasons and i get TONS of headaches and sinus infections and nasal issues. i saw this and thought i'd try it. It's baking soda discs that i added three common essential oils. Lavendar (helps relax your body and relive sinus pressure/headaches), eucalyptus (also helps relax and it clears out your nasal passages) and rosemarry (clears headaches and sinus plus helps dull down the intense smell of the other two scents). you make the discs, add the oils then throw one in your shower. the steam and hot water releases the scents and you breath pretty ALL day. i put on in Cecelia's tub and showered her last night and she was no longer snoring ans breathed clear all night. even her snotty nose this morning was running but not stuffed. Kel did one this morning and it worked great even helped him get up and relax.

So i've been TRYING to keep busy. If you have any ideas for things i should try out let me know. I really am enjoying my time off, and i like crafting and organizing (not cleaning but i have to do that either way), but i can't wait for someone to hire me. think of all the creative energy i can give back to a job!

Is there any "lifehack" you tried that worked or didn't work? Tell me about it!