Energy Bites

One of my favorite things my mom made when I was a kid was no bake cookies. They were so delicious and she made them fairly bite sized. mmmm.... so good. The other day when I was on Pinterest (when am I NOT on pinterest?) I saw these little no bake energy bites. Now most things on Pinterest I pin and don't do it. I know, I know.. I should  because everything is always such awesome ideas but really I just don't. :) Anyway... I came across these and knew I had to try them. When Dave saw the picture and said they looked "earthy" and that he would try them I went to the store and bought the stuff right then and there. It only took about 20 minutes to make them and they are so flippin good! And really not bad for you.. since I eat one of these instead of some other sinful item.

http://gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

I took all of this stuff.....

And got these 20 minutes later..

At HyVee I couldn't find ground flaxseed but found the ground mix of flaxseed along with other seeds and nuts. It is actually really good and good for you too!! I also used reduced fat peanut butter because I think it really tastes the same. You will probably find these often in my fridge. And best part is Jaxson really loves them too. He calls them cookie balls... haha.

One downfall is that it does have quite a bit of honey so the little guy can't have any yet since honey is on the no-no list for babies. So for now I will just have an extra one for him until he can try one for himself! You really should make these... really.. go.. right now!

Healing

His arm has finally healed. As in all the open wounds have closed and the last scabs have gone. We are now going to do what we can to limit the scarring on his arm. Starting last night we began a regimen of Mederma scar cream at night and Vitamin E oil in the morning. I might do the oil more often since you don't need alot and it isn't that spendy. Mederma says if it is a new scar use daily for at least 8 weeks and if old scar use daily for 3-6 months. I know we will use it at least the 8 weeks and possibly longer. I wanted to have a before picture so I can see the progress as we are using the Mederma and oil. Hopefully at the end of the 8 weeks we can see a noticeable difference. Crossing my fingers!

Three Hour Flu

 Jaxson woke up late this morning and stumbled to the table for some oatmeal. He ate about half then just cuddled with me on the couch. I wasn't going to complain and sometimes in the mornings he liked to relax rather than jump off the walls. Not often, but sometimes. About an hour or so later he got sick. We ran to the bathroom where he really got sick. Luckily Dave stopped by home to pick something up right before the ordeal so he could keep Asher away and occupied. We both cleaned up a bit and I talked to the doctor who had bad news. Nothing we could really do but wait and let it pass. I knew that but it never hurts to ask right?!

He carried his little bucket as we got his "get better station" ready in my room. Dave put a small tv in our room with a satellite box from the basement TV before I had my surgery since I knew I was going to be laid up awhile. It came in handy today! He had his leappad, he Oxy (green stuffed thing that he can't live without) and of course a bucket. I laid him on a towel to try to limit how many things I needed to wash. He played and napped for a minute and watched all of his favorite shows. I set up the baby monitor in there so he could mutter his every need and I would come running. ;) 

At lunch time I brought him chicken noodle soup, half of a banana, crackers, and half apple juice and half 7up (that my friend MaryAnn told me to do... thanks MA). He ate it all. And then asked for more. The next time I gave him some pedialite and the other half the banana. Gone again. Then I gave him more of the 7up Apple mix and a whole sleeve of saltine crackers. Gone.. gone... gone. And it wasn't coming back up. His "flu" lasted about three hours. 

Just to be safe he hung out in our room for the day while I cloroxed the whole house. As in every surface, including each individual lego. The last thing I want is a one year old throwing up. At least Jaxson could understand the concept of the bucket if you know what i mean..

This was Jaxson's "get better station" as the day wore on. It grew by several books, an Ipod, and tons of cars.

 He was so very sick.... can't you tell?!? I think the best part of his day was yelling in the baby monitor what he wanted. Mommy... I need more crackers! or Mommy, I need my green monster truck!

So Grown Up

Jaxson has decided that he will take showers now. He always announces that he is going to take a shower like daddy. No more baths unless he is able to do it with Asher so they can play together. I snapped this picture on a whim and it is now one of my favorites. He just looks so grown up..

Brushed

Along with all the new food Asher has been trying, he now gets to brush his teeth! He has four top teeth and two with a couple more popping through on the bottom now. I think with Jaxson we waited too long and it took awhile to get him to let me do a good job. I figured we better get started a little earlier with Asher on a nightly routine. And Asher loves to put anything in his mouth so he LOVED brushing his teeth!

Fingers and Spoons

 For dessert tonight Jaxson asked for some strawberries with whip cream on top. Asher seemed pretty intrigued so I gave him a little dollop of whip cream and a spoon to see what would happen. He had fun to say the least! And was a mess... But a cute mess.

And since Asher learning the art of silverware, Jaxson went back to his roots and ate up his whip cream with his finger. But he promptly wanted a wipe to clean off his hands after a few scoops with his finger.  

And Asher needed alot more than a wipe. So he got a bath instead. 

Toddling Around

We nearly have a toddler on our hands. Asher took his first steps around a month ago and has been taking a few steps regularly. Today was a turning point in his upright traveling. He learned how to stand up from sitting without using furniture. Then he was walking around everywhere tonight! He would regularly take a tumble.. or go into this odd crawling on his feet and hands. But by his birthday party I think we will definitely have a walker on our hands!

Unwrapped

 Yesterday was the day that Asher got to take off his bandage he has been wearing for two weeks while his burn healed. For those long two weeks we did sponge baths a few times but mostly wiped him down when needed. So the first thing we did when he was free from his wrap was let him soak in the tub with water and SOAP!! Asher's favorite thing is to be in the bath. When he hears the water turn on he crawls as fast as he can into the bathroom and immediately wants in the water. He has been so upset the last couple weeks when it was never his turn. I let him soak and splash and play for a really long time. He was having so much fun... and let's face it.. he needed it!

The burn is mostly healed over. There are a few spots that still have small scabs and flaky skin. It is very pink but doesn't bother him at all. He went on as if nothing was wrong, just as he has for the last two weeks while wearing his wrap. I am so proud of how brave he has been. It is amazing to see him through this ordeal being a happy little camper. I am also glad that it happened when he is so young. He won't remember this at all and the scar will hopefully lessen as time goes on. We will use Mederma scar cream once the skin heals 100%. And just so he knew he didn't have to go another two weeks I let him take another long bath today! He was in there until his fingers were pruney and the water was cold. Then I just added some warm water and let him go awhile longer. He was smiling and giggling the whole time.

One Year Ago

One year ago today I posted this. I love to go back to a year ago and see what we were doing. It is always fun to see pictures and read stories that I forgot about. And exactly one year ago today I had "the perfect day." And reading the post I remember that day... and I remember it being about as good as it gets!

Sleepyhead

 One thing I will never do is pass an opportunity to photograph my boys sleeping. They are so peaceful and I could stare at them for hours. With these photos I can now stare at his sleeping face forever.

Ineffective..

One thing in our house that really doesn't work is our baby gate to the kitchen. One slat broke off a long time ago... before Asher was a thought. It still worked because Jaxson knew when the gate closed he couldn't get through, so never really tried. Then for a long time it just was never really closed since he was older and there was no reason to keep him out.  And then when Asher was born and crawling it got closed again. Jaxson now learned that he could just slip through the larger area but Asher was still stuck in the living room. It worked pretty well so Jaxson could get in the kitchen to his drink or play with toys that Asher wasn't allowed to share (marble toys or the little legos). 

But Asher is a smart little boy and watched Jaxson plenty of times just slip through... and now as you can tell it is just plane ineffective.

I think he is sticking out his tongue at me!! Little rascal...

I am not sure how his big ol' bum with that diaper gets through...

but it does somehow..

I am not sure why we still keep it closed since he has been doing this for months! It must just make us feel like we are keeping him out of the kitchen, away from the heat vent mostly... But it at least slows him down so we have a chance to catch him!!

Snowman

 Jaxson has kind of been sheltered in that we don't get out to play in the snow all that much. So today when he was playing with the snowman app on the Ipod I wondered what this world was coming to. I knew we had to get him out there and make a real snowman. When he heard the idea he was all over it. We got all bundled up and out we went. We packed and rolled and stacked. We dressed him with mittens and a scarf, hawkeye of course! There might have been a few snowballs in between as well. 

Jaxson loves his snowman. He regularly checks out the window to see if he is still there and woudn't go to bed without checking on last time. I have a feeling that the first thing he is going to do in the morning is check on his snowman..... that he named "snowman" I guess the name fit!

He knew just what to do.. he learned on his snowman app on the ipod :/

Surgery

I have a week behind me from the surgery. I am so happy to getting back to normal. I have had gall bladder attacks for many years. Ever since I was 18 even though many of the times I just thought I had the stomach flu. As they continued and got more frequent it became clear it wasn't really just the stomach flu. Doctor after doctor said that they think it was my gall bladder, but could never prove it with a test. See... I never had any stones so they just sent me on my way. I would go to the doctor about once a year. After my visit and nothing would happen I would swear I would never go again. About  a year later I would have so many attacks that my stubbornish would wear off and I would go again.

This last time I saw a different doctor. I am so lucky I did. She ordered a different test and with that I was on my way to where I am now, gall bladderless. :) A quick health lesson. Your liver makes bile, bile breaks down fats so you can digest them. Your gall bladder stores bile and when you eat fats your body responds by emptying your gall bladder to digest your food. (All those doctor appointments and I now know how an organ works that I no longer have... awesome!) A working gall bladder would empty at least 60% each time it would squeeze and eventually become empty. My gall bladder empties less than 20%. Basically it was slowly shutting off. Working less and less and becoming painful more and more.

I was so scared to do the surgery. I wanted it badly but once I had an appointment set I was so scared. I would look at my boys face and think to myself that I was being selfish to do it. What if something went wrong and I left them just because I had a stomachache every few months. (Granted... a very very bad stomachache for hours on end) I knew it was a routine surgery and I had a very reputable and great surgeon. But when you are dealing with surgery and anesthesia, it can go wrong. I was a ball of nerves that day as I sat in the waiting room waiting for my name to be called.

I got all prepped and talked to the doctors. Note to anyone becoming an anesthesiologist. Never tell a nervous patient that when under they don't breath on their own. He tried to make me feel ok about this and why it was dangerous if they didn't do the breathing for you. But really.. tell us that after we wake up because not breathing is what we are scared of! As I was walking into the operating room with all the giant lights and machines I got so scared. I wanted to run away. It crossed my mind but I couldn't be seen in what I was wearing.. haha. As I laid down on the table I remember the last thing I told the nurse. I told her I have two boys, 10 months and 3. I was so sleepy as I was telling her this. It was such an odd feeling. I don't know why I thought her knowing about Asher and Jaxson would make them be more careful. Hopefully they are careful with people that don't have kids too.

When I woke up it hurt. Bad. I didn't want to do anything but go back to sleep, but I was really happy I woke up. It was so weird to feel like no time went by but alot had happened. It was actually alot more painful than I thought it would be. Everyone said laproscopic surgery was so easy so I just thought I would be sore but be fine. I was more than sore! I couldn't move. And maybe it isn't really that bad but I don't have a "real" (non laproscopic) surgery to compare it to. And now I never want to!

Dave did such a great job of taking care of me and the boys. He checked on me regularly. He always had my medicine to me at the scheduled times. I always had a big thing of water by the bed and he brought soup with crackers on a tray to eat. He helped me when nursing Asher which was painful but I wasn't giving it up. He helped me walk around and even entertained conversations with me when I doubt I was making any sense. (I am very loopy on pain medications) He brought me buckets when those pain medications started making me very sick. He never complained as I laid in bed but would encourage and help me walk around, just like the doctor said. He talked to the nurse a couple times as questions came up even though that is his least favorite thing to do. I am so happy that he was able to be here with me because I am not sure what would have happened if he hadn't been.

And heres to no more painful gall bladder attacks!! Woohoo!!

Pout

 As a mom, and as someone who takes alot of photos, I am regularly wanting to get the smiley happy faces. When your in the thick of it you don't like to hear their wimpers. You rush to quiet them. But then they grow up and you long to remember all the faces they made. The happy ones and the sad. 

When I was snapping away for Asher's 11 month photos I told him he couldn't eat something off the floor. I am telling Asher alot that he can't eat something off the floor. This day I was met with this reaction. It was like I broke his heart.

But sometimes you want to remember the tears with the smiles. Because we want to remember it all.

Curious

 I have figured out that Asher isn't naughty. He isn't a high spirited little kid that is just going non stop and trying to be naughty. You know the kids I am talking about.. you have seen them at restaurants. He is just curious. He wants to open it up and see what is inside. He wants to put it in his mouth and see what it tastes like. He always wants to look, touch, taste, see, smell, everything. I think he is going to be the kid that always wants to see how things work.. and try to make them work differently or fix things. When he is learning something he will sit for a long time and concentrate. He loves to open the drawers under the TV. I am constantly redirecting his attention. I have lately jsut given up because he just empties the drawer then open and closes... open and closes. I think he is just fascinated with how it works.

The other thing that I don't let him play with is the heater vents. He learned how to open the one in the kitchen. He loves to do it now. He loves to see what is inside. And he has put his hand down there and tried to see what he could get. We stopped that right away because it could be sharp.. and really who knows that IS down there. But I love that he is curious. It shows that he is eager to learn and explore. And there really isn't anything better than a little boy who is curious about the world.

He is also a little boy that loves to make silly faces

Asher Joseph: 11 months

Asher has almost to the end of his first year. Wow. I can't believe we are thinking about a birthday party. This month he has started to be a little bit of a mommy's boy. I have to admit I don't completely hate it... :)... but I don't like to see him get so upset with me leaving the room. I know this age they are learning the difference between people they know and strangers and it is just a stage. Different for Jaxson that Asher has never really had to regularly be away from me for a long day or several days a week really. And when I am gone it is mostly Dave with him so he rarely has to go out of his comfort zone.

On the opposite token, I took him and Jaxson to play at the play center at Jordan Creek not too long ago and boy could I tell the difference between Jaxson and Asher at the same age. Jaxson wouldn't go far and was contently watching all the kids around him. Asher did not like to watch but wanted to be in the action. He was crawling all over and trying to climb the stairs and go up the slides. He wasn't scared of a thing! Maybe the difference was he wasn't running off alone, but with his big brother who was right by his side the whole time.

Asher is a big fan right now of playing ball. He will toss it back and forth for what seems like forever! And he loves it so much that he will play catch with pretty much anything. If he can lift it, he will throw it. We have found several soft balls from Jaxson's stash of various sizes and types to try to limit the damage that will be done with all the throwing.


He is still taking steps regularly. He isn't quite just walking around but will stand up and take a few steps without us coaxing him. He will just do it while he is playing now. He is so quick when crawling that if he is really trying to get somewhere fast he quickly falls and takes off on his knees. But if time isn't of the essence he will practice his balancing and always seems quite proud of himself.

He is also eating alot more table food. I will let him try anything that can be cut into small pieces. He always gets veggies that we are having. And since broccoli is Jaxson's fave we have that often. It seems to be Asher's favorite as well. Tonight we had a medley with snow peas, carrots, and broccoli. He ate up all his broccoli before anything else. Last night we made homemade pizza. Jaxson thought we should roll out some dough and make a mini pizza for Asher. And Asher sure did love his little pizza!! And Jaxson had to put broccoli on his pizza of course!

Morning Coffee..or Tea

 
 We do things a little differently on Saturday mornings. I usually drink a chai tea (always my favorite Mystic Chai) and Dave makes a hot cup of coffee. Everyone knows how things went last week at this time exactly. All we can do now is learn from it and move on. What we learned is to keep our coffee and tea in travel mugs with lids tightly secured.....

Update

Today I was expecting the worst since it seems if I expected the worst I couldn't be disappointed. I am still having some nausea with the pain pills but am going to try to take less now to see if the pain isn't so bad anymore. It is harder to get sick than it is to deal with pain I think. We will see how that goes. :)

Asher seemed surprisingly good today. He didn't fuss with his arm at all. He was crawling and laughing just as he always does. We kept him on the pain meds today to make sure he wasn't uncomfortable. Tonight after his second dose of pain meds we redid his arm dressing. We filled the tub up just a little and unwrapped his little arm. He had no problems putting his arm in the water and didn't make a peep as we undressed it or rinsed with with soap and water. It didn't look good. Dave did a good job of keeping us calm and reminding us both that it WILL look worse than yesterday and we just had to prepare ourselves. It would have been harder if he seemed to be in pain but Asher didn't seem to notice anything at all.

Afterward we popped him out of the bath and patted it dry just as they instructed us. Dave held him and gave him a red popsicle as I put on the new wrap. First the cream, then the pads, then the gauze, then the brown wrap to keep it all in there. His arm is significantly fatter than yesterday since Dave and I aren't nearly as good as Ed in the ER but he didn't make a peep the whole time. Well.. that was until we were done and took the popsicle away. :)

We are off to the doctors tomorrow so they can check it out and make sure everything looks like it is supposed to and on its way to healing up.

Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law:  If anything can go wrong, it will

 Our day today was Murphy's Law!

I had my surgery yesterday morning. I got home around 2:30pm and was in quite a bit of pain. Everyone said that laparscopic surgery was super easy, but unfortunately for me I have nothing to compare it to. I thought I would be a little sore but be fine. I think I over estimated how I would feel. The worst part was last night I got very sick with all the pain medications so I stopped taking them. This morning I am not taking the max dose and am staggering them with Ibuprofen. All was going really well. I was getting around pretty well and didn't get sick with my first dose of prescription pain medicine. 

Then I heard Asher scream from the living room. I knew Dave was in there so I didn't jump until I heard Dave yell as well. I think I had a rush of adrenaline because I jumped up and ran in there like a spring chicken. I saw Dave frantically undressing Asher who was screaming. He had grabbed a cup of very hot coffee and spilled it all over himself. Once he had his clothes off one look at his arm and we knew we had to head to the ER. This skin was red and the skin was already peeling back. 

Of course it had to be a blizzard outside. It was snowing so hard on the way there we could barely see the car in front of us. So a 7 minute drive to the hospital took over 15 minutes. With a screaming baby that you know is hurting it seemed like an eternity. 

Once we got to the ER they immediately wrapped his arm in plastic wrap. They told me that the sooner you can cut the oxygen from the burn the faster it will stop hurting. The oxygen is what makes it feel like it is burning. Then they gave him some fast acting pain medicine. The same stuff that made me woozy when I was in labor. I could see it take effect as his eyes started to squint and he was very interested in everything around him. They had two ladies, one blowing bubbles above his bed and another showing him toys and playing with him as the nurse and doctors cleaned his burn and began to put the dressing on. I watched intently, but with my mind fuzzy on pain meds I made sure Dave was watching as well. 

He also got sent home with prescription pain medicine and is also staggering it with Ibuprofen to keep the pain at bay. We will redo his dressing tomorrow and put on his special Silver cream for the burn. It is a second degree burn, and although they can't promise anything, don't think it will scar. We are just so lucky that he didn't get it on his face. Asher has an uncanny ability to get into anything and everything, no matter how careful you are.