Happy Halloween!

Today didn't happen entirely how we planned it would. Regina woke up with a pretty bad headache. Thankfully though, I woke up feeling fine. That was a pleasant surprise, since I've been strung out on headaches for about the last 10 days, due to various things - not food, though (I've been very good about eliminating my "bad" foods). Anyway, Regina and I had appointments today with the same doctor at 10:00 and 10:40am. By the time we got there, Regina was feeling worse, it seemed to me, anyway. So, she saw the doctor first. I went in for my appointment later which was just a routine annual exam. The plan was for Regina to watch Katie while I did that, but as it turned out, Regina was unable to do that. So, Katie accompanied me for my (GYN) exam! The doctor was good about not exposing me directly to Katie - thankfully. We also got our flu vaccination. Instead of the shot this year, Katie and I both got the nasal mist. Katie took it very well, although she was not a willing participant. Of course, now after the fact, Katie is quite proud of herself for doing such a good job taking the medicine in her nose!

Okay, so meanwhile, Regina is in the room next to us, having received an injection of pain medicine and anti-nausea medicine, lying down with the lights low. She said later that her pain was almost gone, but she began throwing up and they had a hard time getting that under control. By the time we left, around noon, they thought she was vomitting less frequently so she might be feeling better soon. At home, she went straight to bed. Unfortunately, I heard her throwing up on several occassions after that. Katie and I had to leave and run the errands. When we got back, Regina wasn't any better. In fact, she was getting worse because the pain was returning because the pain medicine was wearing off and she was still nauseous. Argh! Well, there wasn't much I could do for her, so I let her rest and focused on getting Katie ready for trick-or-treating. At a little after 6pm, she and I headed out the door to hit up the neighbors for candy. Since Regina wasn't able to answer our door, I put two huge vats of candy on the porch. Fortunately, they were empty when we returned 90 minutes later. We teamed up with our immediate neighbors who have kids Katie's age and walked around as a group. We all had a good time. And even though it had been raining all day long, it dried up just in time for the outdoor festivities. Here are a few pictures of the kids:

When we returned from trick-or-treating, Regina was just miserable so we took her to the ER. They gave her their "migraine protocol" and she came home feeling much, much better. She even had an appetite for some of Katie's Halloween candy. Not long after that, she went to bed. No more pain, no more vomitting!

Field Trip to Pumpkin Patch

Katie's pre-k class climbed aboard a mini-school bus at 10:00 this morning and made their way to Lee's Pumpkin Patch for their first field trip this year. Parents are allowed to attend, but we don't get to ride the bus with the kids. So, I met them there, as did several other parents and siblings. Each of us was armed with our camera, and together we became the "mom-arazzi"! Here are some of the pics I got of our little celebrities:

Day 8 of 21-Day Cleanse

Well, I've made it a whole week eliminating caffeine, alcohol, animal products (including dairy and eggs), gluten and sugar. And you know what? I feel like I can keep going. It's not quite as miserable as I imagined it would be, honestly. Although I don't necessarily feel great, yet. Which is why I want to keep going. I'm actually thinking about doing it until I do feel good, if not great, however long that takes. Oh, and I lost 3 pounds since starting the cleanse a week ago. That's not necessarily why I'm doing this, but I'll take it, of course!

Day 6 of 21-Day Cleanse

I'm continuing to stick to this 21-day cleanse (no alcohol, caffeine, gluten, animal products or sugar)and am doing okay, minus this stubborn caffeine-withdrawal headache that continues to linger. Tonight, however, I'm really fighting the urge to cheat on cheese pizza and ice cream. Regina also bought some evil cupcakes that she and Katie enjoyed with their ice cream. So far, I've not allowed myself to indulge.

Today we bought 2 new car seats for Katie. One for each of our vehicles. Katie has been in the Britax Marathon since she was about 8 months old and recently we've noticed that she's just too big for it. Regina did some research and since we like the Britax brand, we agreed to get their Frontier model.

We drove over to the baby-stuff store and bought two of them, only to discover that it cannot be installed in our Jeep because the seat belt isn't long enough! I'm so thankful we took them up on their offer to install it for us because if we had taken it home and tried it ourselves, it would have driven us crazy trying to make it work. It would have never occurred to me that the seat belt might not be long enough to strap the seat into place, so I would have assumed we were doing it wrong. AND, if we'd taken it home and tried the installation ourselves, they wouldn't have let us return it. But, since the seats never even left their parking lot, they knew we hadn't done anything to them and were willing to take them back. So, per their recommendation, we bought the Graco Nautilus which they said is of equally good quality, at about half the price. Katie says she's more comfy in the new seat and she's especially excited about the built-in cup holder and it also has open space inside each armrest for her to stow things away for easy access during a car ride.

So now, we're wondering about what do we do with these two used car seats? Do people buy used car seats?

Happy Birthday Alex (Dad, Grandpa)!

Day 3 of 21-Day Cleanse

On Monday I began a cleanse I read about in Kathy Freston's book Quantum Wellness. She recommends doing this cleanse for anywhere from 7 to 21 days, at least once a year. It's really pretty simple. Just cut all of these things out of your diet: caffeine, alcohol, gluten, sugar(artificial sweeteners too), and all animal products (meats and dairy products).

So, you're probably wondering just what IS on the list of foods that I CAN eat. It seems like there is nothing left, after excluding all those things. Basically fresh, whole foods and water. That is, fruits, vegetables, non-gluten grains like rice, beans and nuts.

This is my third day of doing this cleanse and I'm doing okay, considering. I love coffee, so I really miss that. I tried drinking decaf, but since I can't put any sort of sweetener in it, I've chosen to just not have coffee at all while I do this. The other thing I really miss is sugar. I love the sweets, which is just one of the many reasons why I've battled my weight all my life.

Yesterday I woke up with a throbbing headache which I'm blaming on caffeine withdrawal. Imitrex gave me some relief, as did other pain medicines taken throughout the day. I went to bed feeling okay last night, although it wasn't completely gone. This morning I woke up with the same sort of headache, but less intense. Hopefully tomorrow I will wake up headache-free.

Multnomah Falls

We decided this afternoon to drive along the Columbia River Gorge to see the Multnomah Falls.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we spent the afternoon at Lee Farms in Tualatin, not far from our apartment. They had some kiddie rides, most of which Katie went on and enjoyed them all. They also had lots of animals, some of which we got to pet, like the baby chicks. Only grownups were allowed to pick them up, so I held one in my hand while Katie stroked its fuzzy little back. One of them didn't appreciate being held very much and tried to jump out of my hands until Katie touched him and he settled down almost immediately. We now call her "the chick whisperer"! I was impressed with how gentle she was with such a tiny, fragile animal.

They also had a litter of puppies. We counted 7 of them. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to touch them, so we just watched as the Momma dog nursed them. They were still pretty small. I don't think they were walking yet.

We also enjoyed some treats they had available. Donuts and kettle corn! Yum.

Katie, Regina and I picked out a couple of pumpkins, which we made into jackolanterns. Here's a picture of our creations... Regina did the first one and mine is the second one pictured here.

Happy Birthday Edy!

We love you!

Baby Gina and Her Sister Sue

A few years ago I had Regina's family's home movies transferred from 8mm film to digital cassette tapes. Then I transferred the footage from digital cassette to DVD. I made copies of the DVDs and Regina's parents gave a set to each of their kids. I think it's so wonderful they can now look back at their childhood so easily, anytime they feel like it! It's a good thing we did it when we did because the 8mm film was certainly suffering damage due to the natural aging process. Eventually, it would be impossible to transfer.

These pictures I've posted here are still-frames I extracted from the footage after it was transferred to digital. The bald-headed toddler is baby Regina and with her is Sue, her older sister. In the last picture Regina is being held by her Mom. The year is either 1961 or 1962.

Birthday Party for a 4-Year-Old

Katie went to a birthday party this afternoon for one of her friends. It was held at KidzBounce in Preston, WA. I love parties there because it really gets all the "crazies" out!

On the way to the party, Katie was so proud of herself because she pointed out that I was about to go in the wrong direction to get to the "bouncy room", as we like to call it. I was sitting at a light, positioned to go straight, when she said, "Momma, you're supposed to be going that way," as she pointed with her thumb to the left. I immediately realized she was right! She knew that we needed to go left to get to the bouncy room and that if we wanted to go to her "old" school, we would go straight. And, she knew I was in the wrong lane to go left at that light. That was the first time she'd ever given me any clue that she knows how to get to places when we're out driving. I guess she DOES pay attention, even though it sure doesn't seem like it most of the time!

Looking Back - May 3, 1966

Two-year-old Suzie already in love with cats!

Hudson, Where Are You?

Katie and I went out to get some lunch at Red Robin (which we both enjoyed) and then to the bookstore for some new books. We ended up at Target before coming home. Anyway, when we left we closed both bedroom doors as the cats have been running and jumping on the furniture and knocking over things.

When we came back after about three hours, we didn't see either cat. As I was putting some kitchen things away, Mater came flying out from behind the microwave on the counter (which by the way made me jump). But where was Hudson?

Katie searched under the couch and chair, I looked in the bedrooms -- although we were sure they were both out when we left. After giving up -- worried he ran out the door when we were unloading -- I decided we earned a ghost (the Halloween version of peeps). As I walked into the kitchen, I noticed the drawer to the ovwn was open. We got a flash light but nothing was in the drawer. I decided to pull the draw all the way out and there was Hudson -- under the oven. He came out and I put the drawer back. I noticed that there is about a three inch by three inch "hole" in the corner base board (the oven/stove is near the corner and where the cabinet meets the corner and the oven meets the corner is open). I am still not sure how he fit!

Fun times!

Katie & Regina's Saturday

As you saw from Suzie's post, Katie and I are in Portland spending the weekend together without Suzie. I have to say it is a little weird to be watching Katie all by myself for so long! A day, a night - no big deal... but Friday, Saturday and Sunday plus Monday morning...!

We are having a great time... but Katie keeps talking about getting things for Mama! Our weekend has been full of playing computer games and the matching game, some TV shows, eating dinner (Friday night) at MacDonald's, reading books, running around, and going to a movie (Beverly Hills Chihuahua). By the way, she loved the movie and so did I. She is already asking for it on DVD.

Hopefully, tomorrow, the weather will be better and we can play outside. We found a great shopping area on the way to the movies so now this area (Lake Oswego) is starting to feel like home. I am not sure where the parks are but we will drive around and see if we can find one. We just found a great one by the old apartment so I hope we can find a good one here..

Katie needs help as her dinosaur got hurt and she needs to take care of the bleeding (pretend of course) which means I need to get her a wipe and an ice pack! And, some gummy bears, too!

The Wind is Howling

I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store when all of the sudden everything went black. In that instant, there was no noise, nobody moved. My first thought was that I wouldn't be able to buy my groceries and I really needed them for dinner tonight! Then, I realized that if the power failed here at the grocery store, then it could possibly be out at the house too and that would be no fun for me when I got home! And then I wondered, are they going to ask me to put everything back, if they can't check me out? Isn't it amazing all the things that can cross your mind in a split second? Within a couple of seconds, maybe even less, a few of the lights came back on. The cashier said they have a generator and he could, indeed check us out. Another second later, all the lights came back on. Whew.

I stopped off at the grocery store on my way home from seeing a movie at our favorite theater in Bellevue. I saw Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere and Diane Lane. I was in the mood for that sort of movie and I enjoyed it.

I'm here in Seattle for the weekend without Regina and Katie so I can do some cleaning and bring another load of stuff to the apartment in Portland. I haven't taken any of my clothes to the apartment yet and there are some additional things Katie needs too. I just didn't have room in my car last weekend for everything. I don't mind this time to myself, in fact, I completely enjoy it. But it is very quiet except for the howling of the wind. Even the cats are in Portland now, so I have no one to take care of for these couple of days. This is only the second time I've spent the night away from Katie since her birth.

Looking Back - May 3, 1964

Awww, there I am, 2 days old, with my very young parents.

Surely they must have been freaking out a little bit

about what they'd gotten themselves into!

Katie's Last Day at Bright Horizons

For the last two and a half years, Katie has been going to Bright Horizons in Issaquah. It was truly a wonderful experience and their influence on Katie has helped her to become the self-confident, healthy, happy child she is today. Katie loved going to school there and I felt comfortable taking her there everyday.

For her last day, she wanted to take cupcakes in to share with her friends, for a sweet goodbye. Now, I knew that I needed to make sure the cupcakes were peanut-free, but in Katie's class there is a child who is allergic to wheat. So, I needed to make wheat-free, peanut-free cupcakes. Well, that's not a problem for the frosting, but it is a challenge for the cake. I ended up finding a recipe online which turned out really yummy and passed the "kid test". So, if you ever need to make a gluten-free cupcake, try this recipe for yellow cake.

Okay, so I was so proud of myself for accomplishing the task of making a batch of yummy cupcakes that all the kids could eat, even the kid with the wheat allergy. But, my bubble was burst when Katie told me after I picked her up tonight that the child with the wheat allergy is also allergic to eggs! Well, of course the cupcakes had egg in them. Unfortunately, it was not communicated to me that he also had an egg allergy, so he had to eat a popscicle while everyone else ate the cupcakes. I felt terrible when I heard that. Katie said she told her friend she was so, so sorry, but her Mom didn't know he couldn't eat eggs. Well, I suppose he is used to that happening. I was just hoping we could avoid a situation where he gets left out because of his allergies.

Here are some pictures I took of Katie and her friends today, on her last day of school at Bright Horizons in Issaquah.

Camping With Our Friends

It was a perfect weekend for camping. We went to the Wenatchee Confluence State Park with our best buddies, Mel and Court, and their 7-month-old babies, Jack and Avery. They brought their little dog, named Katie, who was a constant source of entertainment for our Katie who insisted on being with her as much as possible. Our Katie also had fun digging in the dirt and making volcanoes. She's definitely a tomboy!

Of course, we completely enjoyed visiting with Mel and Court, but I also loved having full access to the two babies. What a joy they are!

Camping Time - The Real Kind!

I head up to Seattle tomorrow (Thursday) so that we can take off Friday to go camping with some friends for the weekend. I grew up camping (tent - no trailers) as a kid sometimes on our own as a family and other times with family friends. They were some of the best times we ever had - as far as I am concerned.

While we stayed at campgrounds -- yes with electricity and showers -- we never brought a TV and cooked on an open fire and camping stove. Suzie and I have camped on and off over the years, too. I have always insisted that we tent camp with no TV.

We have grown from a 2 person tent to a 4 person tent to now a 7 person tent. When they say 4 person they mean just enough room for four people to sleep. No extra room and I need some room to move around and keep my clothes in the tent! Katie likes the new tent because you can put up a wall to divide it. She has only been backyard camping with me in the 4 person tent so this will be a new adventure for her. She is excited, but I don't think she realizes what it will actually be like camping outside the entire time. I am sure that she will love it and want to go again.

As I get older, I realize that I am not the best at sleeping on the ground. We are bringing an air mattress for the first time! Katie will bring her Aero travel bed, too!

We will upload pictures when we get back!

Driving Toward Mt. Ranier - Sept 23

Relax and enjoy!

Here's a 3-minute video
of the beautiful Pacific Northwest...