New Diet

Michael has been suffering from heartburn for years and years. He's tried all sorts of solutions but to no avail. A couple months ago he decided to do a master cleanse where he drank a lot of lemonade with cayenne pepper and maple syrup. Not my idea of fun, but it seemed to really help him. Following the cleanse (which lasted 8 days or so) he began a new diet aiming to eliminate heartburn. As a family we've joined him in many of his dietary restrictions (though we are not completely strict in this). It has been quite an adjustment, but I like knowing that we are eating healthier as a family. We are vegetarian and dairy-free (occasional glass of milk for the kids). We're also mostly gluten-free. We avoid highly-processed foods which means Michael or I make most of our meals. Our new favorite is our version of spaghetti. We use fresh tomatoes, green onions, mushrooms, cilantro, spinach, and Italian seasoning to make a sauce and we serve it over spinach rice spaghetti noodles. Yum!

Daisy is like me and loves food! With Jack it's more of a battle to get him to eat his meals. He would rather snack on tortilla chips and raisins all day, I think. If anyone out there has a good recipe they'd like to share with me, I'd love it. I'm always looking for something new to add to our now-limited menu.

Daisy the Comforter

Since Calvin has joined our family Daisy has become more mothering. She got a doll for Christmas that she pretends to change its diaper and care for. But prior to Christmas she used what was available...and that usually meant a superhero figurine of some sort :) This particular day it was SpongeBob and a little stuffed dog. And by the time I had the camera, Jack had joined in the fun.

Daisy and Calvin Love Each Other...Right?

This girl...

...loves this boy:

He loves her...

most of the time...

:(

Hungry?

Jack and Daisy love pretending to make food and eat it. Here, Jack is stirring the syrup for his pancakes. It was a little surprising what he chose to pretend were pancakes:

Diapers! Yes, while I was working on packing boxes to move to AZ, I found Jack and Daisy eating diapers as pancakes! Hilarious!

Not my first choice...but, hey, I'm not going to be the one to suppress their imaginations.

Aren't they cute?

(And, yes, I'm back in the blogging world...stay tuned for more updates soon!)

Still alive...I think.

Yes, I'm still alive. We've moved and things have been crazy. Right now we are all currently dealing with a puking bug, but as soon as that goes away I will be updating this blog. Don't forget about me!

Happy Pie Day!

I missed out on all the fun my Utah family was having on Pie Day...

...but we were able to enjoy our own little festivities!

We celebrated Pie Day with some friends, Matt and Leanne Hicks and their daughter Clara. Many of you aren't aware of the new eating restrictions (no gluten, no dairy, very little processed food, and no meat) at our house (this in hopes that Michael's heartburn will go away, which it has decreased significantly so far), but it's made things quite interesting since I seem to be trying new recipes all the time (some of them good and some...definitely not). Both pie recipes I made were new to me. I made the gluten-free crusts from a mix and used a vegan buttery spread in lieu of butter. The berry pie was a simple recipe from my mother. It turned out pretty well. The vegetable pot pie was a success! Michael and I both liked it so I think it will be added to my little list of do-over recipes. Leanne made an apple pie and her crust was delicious! She also brought gluten/dairy-free Oatmeal Cinnamon Bread which was a HUGE hit! Jack probably ate half the loaf :) We had a really fun time playing "Ticket to Ride" after dinner. It was a great way to celebrate one of my favorite holidays!

Two-Week-Old Calvin

Calvin is two weeks old! He weighs 9 lbs. 4 oz. and is an incredibly sweet baby. He hardly ever cries. He sleeps like you would expect a newborn to sleep...lots in the day and less at night :) but he'll grow out of that. If he doesn't, though, he's to blame for me becoming a permanent zombie. Calvin laughed last night...twice in a row. Surprised me, to say the least. There's not much that can make me smile when I'm losing precious sleep, but Calvin laughing out of the blue definitely does the trick.

Grandparents and Halloween

My parents drove from Utah to spend Calvin's first week with us. It was so nice to have them here. I got some nice naps in and my kiddos got some lovin' from their grandparents :)

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of my dad...but he was here and he quickly became Jack's favorite.

We went trick-or-treating with some friends in their neighborhood.

Quite a few people called our little giraffe a "cute little cow," but it was dark...I guess we'll forgive them : )

These two had so much fun together. They loved holding hands and Jack kept telling Rapunzel, "You cute!"

Daisy enjoyed most of the night in the wagon eating her popcorn.

But when she was out of the wagon, there was no walking...she was sprinting from house to house.

I just had to include this picture of Lauren. What a cutie.

They definitely enjoyed their candy.

And little Calvin stayed bundled up in my arms most of the night, but he sure made a cute little tiger.

Calvin's Big Debut

Calvin has arrived! And here's a bit about his big debut:

On Sunday, the 23rd, I woke up to contractions consistently 2-5 minutes apart, but they weren't painful. They remained consistent as I got myself ready for church. When I woke up Michael I told him about the contractions and said that I might be in labor. He said that we weren't going to church then because he didn't want my water to break at church (I can agree with that...how embarrassing and what a mess!). So we stayed home from church thinking that I was probably in labor. The contractions turned out to be nothing. But we couldn't help trying a few things to induce labor. I went on a couple walks, bounced on a birthing/exercise ball, ate spicy food, drank cumin and raspberry leaf tea, and Michael tried some acupressure points on my hands, ankles, and shoulders. Michael also wanted me to gallop, but that's where I drew the line :) None of these tactics brought immediate results (other than more painless contractions), and so we move on to Monday.

Monday, I took the kids to the park where I joked with my friends that I may be in labor right then. But my wish didn't come true. I simply kept having boring Braxton Hicks contractions. Monday night I couldn't fall asleep. My restless leg syndrome was driving me crazy. I finally fell asleep around 2:30 or so.

At 6:00 I was awakened by a painful contraction. After 15 minutes of painful contractions coming every 2-5 minutes I woke Michael up and told him we should get to the hospital. Daisy had come quickly and I didn't want to chance having a baby at home or on the way. We got the kids up and ready. Called our friend, Nicole, to watch our kids, but she didn't answer. So with kids in tow we got to the hospital around 7:15. As soon as we got to the hospital my contractions became painless. I was disappointed, but the hospital staff still thought that I was in labor (regular contractions and dilated to a 3) so they wanted to keep me. I figured we might as well get it done and over with since I was tired of being pregnant. We eventually got up with Nicole and Michael dropped the kids off. Meanwhile I walked the hospital hallways. With lots of walking I had consistent contractions, but I was still pain-free and I didn't feel like I was ever going to make any progress. So, I got an IV and they administered pitocin. That worked really well an as soon as I started getting cranky from the contractions Michael suggested that I get the epidural :) . The on-call anesthesiologist was really good and the only pain I felt was from the local numbing needle. The epidural began working right away, but it seemed like it was only an hour later and I was having to breathe through contractions again because of the pain. I got my nurse to check me thinking that if I was close I would just grin and bear it, but if I was not progressed much I would ask them to fix the epidural. As she was checking she said, "Oh. Oh! We need to get your doctor here! You're all ready to go!" That news made me extremely happy. It took a while to set me all up to push, but even still we were stuck waiting for my doctor who had to see one more appointment before coming in to the hospital. I was tempted to just go ahead without him, but didn't :) . As an aside, my hospital bed was broken. You know how they can raise the bed up or lower it down to the height they want? Well, my bed preferred to be all the way up or all the way down. If they tried to leave it in between, it would slowly lower itself back to the bottom. So, when my nurse set me up to push, I was all the way at the top. As we waited for my doctor to arrive, my nurse told me about a woman who had an epidural that made it hard for her to push. She tried and tried, but was making no progress. She also had a respiratory infection. She had a coughing fit and the coughing actually helped her push. So they told her to keep coughing and she coughed her baby out! Made me laugh. My nurse told me, "Well we were going to try a practice push, but I can already see the baby's head." Then she suggested I just give a little cough and see what happens. Immediately she said "No more coughing!" She was worried she would have to deliver the baby before the doctor got there. She had already delivered one of his babies earlier that day and didn't want him to get upset. I started laughing and she said, "No! No laughing either!" I guess laughing ha the same effect as coughing. But when someone tells you not to laugh sometimes it just makes it that much harder to stop. It took me a minute before I could control my laughter. Especially since everyone else in the room was laughing. Eventually my doctor arrived and asked me to push. After the second push the doctor suctioned the baby's nose and mouth. Then he said, "Don't give me a push, but give me a half-push." My nurse chimed in with "Yeah, just laugh for him." So I laughed and laughed my baby right out! :) When he came out we realized that we had a miracle baby. His umbilical cord had been tied in a knot. The doctor said that they usually see those babies in the OR. Michael cut the cord and they laid Calvin on my chest. Calvin Tiberius Hummel was born at 5:56 pm on October 25, 2011. He weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 inches long.

We sure love him!

36 days to go!

Well, there's the prego picture of me. I haven't taken many of those this time around. I have 36 days till my due date. And yes, it's time to count down. Just this last week, I've entered the stage where my body is completely protesting this baby. My days of comfort are long forgotten. I'm just glad that Michael is in chiropractic school. He's learned an adjustment that works pretty well on a large pregnant woman which makes me happy. Mostly I'm looking forward to the adjustments I'll be receiving after giving birth. Then my body will actually be able to heal and we can really correct the problems I've got in my spine and sacrum. Heartburn has become my constant companion again. I have a bottle of Tums in my purse that now accompanies me everywhere. I'm lucky to not have to deal with much swelling, though I think the rings should come off my fingers pretty soon. My contractions are as constant as with every other pregnancy, but this time I don't know how I'm going to know I'm in labor until it's REALLY painful since the contractions are already hurting. We've also got to figure out how I'm going to contact Michael if I go into labor when he's in class. Since we said goodbye to our cell phones, we might have to get some walkie talkies...j/k. We still haven't really settled on a name yet for this little boy. Michael keeps changing his mind. Baby likes to move around a lot at night. He sticks out body parts and sometimes my belly looks so lopsided! I'm really looking forward to having a new little baby to cuddle and kiss. I just hope that it's a quick recovery and I can figure out how to go on outings with three little ones...it's gonna be an adventure, for sure. Tomorrow I have another doctor appointment and I have an ultrasound scheduled for the 5th of October. The ultrasound is because at my last doc appointment (Sept. 6th), my doc was concerned that I was measuring smaller than he thought I should. However, I'm not worried about it. I feel like I'm the same as with any other pregnancy. I am tempted to think that the doctor is just looking for another way to make some more money. But, whatever, I am not that impressed with my doctor. He just tends to cause me worry...which just makes things worse. So, I'll just plug along anticipating meeting my little fella face to face. We've still got a ways to go, but I finally feel like it's getting close!

A Bit of Daisy Talk

Daisy has been saying a lot of new words lately...

she's catching on so fast.

She still doesn't say her own name.

My favorite word of hers is "juice".

Daisy's Skirt and Jack's Head

Daisy got a new dress up skirt.

She loves to dance in it.

Twinkle, Twinkle is a favorite in our house.

And who doesn't enjoy a good spin?

Jack and an evil swing at the park met one day....

it wasn't a pleasant meeting :(

Playing in a Tent

We've been playing in tents...the homemade kind.

They're nice to relax in.

They make us happy.

But they tend to fall often.

This is How You Eat a Muffin

Now I finally know how to eat a muffin: You lick it to death!

Jack insisted on eating his muffin this way.

Needless to say, it took quite a while to finish his breakfast :)

The iPad

Aren't they cute?

(Don't mind Daisy's post-nap hair...)

Jack and Daisy both love playing with the iPad.

It can keep them entertained for hours.

They love "reading" interactive books on the iPad.

The Monster at the End of This Book

Peter Rabbit

etc.

A Good Morning

So, I had a great morning on Saturday. It started off by waking up to the smell of freshly baked bread. I got a bread machine the night before and set it all up to make me some yummy french bread in the morning. It was heavenly. Then Jack and Daisy came and crawled into bed with us for a few minutes. They were both in really good moods which simply added to mine.

Daisy got some new pjs that just simply make me happy.

Such a sweetheart.

The pjs are so bright and colorful.

They make me happy.

Family Vacation to San Diego

We are such spontaneous people! On the 21st, we decided to take the kids to San Diego for a little family vacation getaway. We left early the next morning (the drive is only 2 hours...I can't handle much more than that in a car right now) and came back Tuesday evening. Short, but sweet!

Jack was thrilled that we were going to the San Diego Zoo! He even sported his tiger shirt for the special occasion.

There aren't any pictures of all four of us together, but this one's pretty close. The elephant exhibit was huge and it was cool seeing the elephants eating their lunch. It was a really hot day and there was a lot of walking up and down trails to see the animals. This was one of the days that I was, once again, grateful for our double stroller purchase.

Jack didn't want to get close to this rattlesnake...I don't blame him. Have you seen Harry Potter? I know what can happen :)

And, yet, he had no fears about getting up close and personal with this lion.

Jack had to be hoisted up quite a few times to see all the animals through the crowds. The problem was that most of the animals we saw seemed to be napping. If there was an animal awake, the crowds formed and it was hard to get a good glimpse...but we worked it out.

This orangutan was a fun watch. He climbed on some of his ropes, walked around for us, and showed us how he got some of his treats out of a special, tricky, container.

Yep, proof that I was there too! And not just behind the camera all the time either. And, here are some of the other animals that we saw in the zoo:

And this is what Daisy was trying to do most of the time at the zoo. Get out and run around. She's a free spirit, I tell ya.

And the results of the zoo...kids zonked within a couple minutes of getting in the car. We were all exhausted. We checked into our hotel and relaxed for a few minutes before going to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. The kids were so funny at the hotel. They had so much energy and from jumping on the bed and bouncing off the walls, I'm surprised (and thankful!) that nothing was broken or ruined by the time we left the next morning.

Day two was spent at Sea World. It was my first time to Sea World, and I'll tell you this much: I loved it! Even more than Disneyland. Yeah, that much. The majority of our time was spent going to four of the five shows that they put on. I didn't take our camera into three of those shows because I didn't want to ruin my camera and we sat in the soak (not sprinkle, or splash) zone whenever possible. We saw the dolphin show (my favorite), the sea lion show (quite funny), the Sesame Street 4D show (pictures to follow), and the Shamu show (can't leave that one out when you go to Sea World).

Before the shows started, Jack and I went over to the sea lion exhibit and watched others feed them little fish. This sea lion got right up close to us...the person next to us was throwing fish.

We bought Jack a bubble gun. He was obsessed with it.

LOVED shooting others with his bubbles!

He was a little apprehensive about approaching this turtle.

But with a little convincing they became friends.

We had watched Mr. Poppers Penguins the night before, so the penguin exhibit was a must see. It looked more impressive in real life.

This little girl is a free spirit. Before the Sesame Street show, she went wild.

She found a bird to chase!

And Jack just loved running away, too.

Jack loved the 3-D movie. Once he had the glasses on, he was reaching out to touch the different characters in the movie...it was so funny.

Daisy played with her glasses.

But her nose wasn't big enough to keep them on her face.

We got soaked really well during the dolphin and Shamu shows. It was really fun. Daisy sat in my lap and didn't like getting soaked, but I covered her face with my hand each time we got splashed. Jack is still talking about getting splashed with the water. I loved watching the acrobatics during the dolphin show. Made me think of a circus. I wished that the sea lions had done more tricks with a ball, but it was more of a funny entertainment than a showing off tricks kind of show. The Shamu show was the last one we went to and the kids were exhausted, so Daisy cried every time we got splashed. She also fell face first onto the bleacher in front of us giving herself a bruise on her right cheek to match the one on her left cheek that Jack had given her a few days before. It was a REALLY fun day and we all had a blast. Definitely a fun vacation for all of us and I'm so glad that we decided to go!