Memorial Day Beach Fun

We packed up and headed to Ocean Isle for the long weekend. After P loving the beach last summer, we thought we should go back for her. We met up with our good friends the Franks and as usual, P was a super huge fan of the sand. She always has loved playing in it and this was no exception. The ocean on the other hand was another problem. She typically loves water, loves bath time, we played in some sprinklers the other week and have played in some friends water tables, always having a great time. I'm not sure what freaked her out, but the first day we went down and let the water wash over our feet and after that, she screamed when we we near it. For another day and a half, we couldn't get her to get in. Then, EZ dragged her around on a boogie board through the water and then she thought it was awesome and she couldn't get enough! Oh fun times. Enjoy the photos!

Tatum Update

We are now at 7 1/2 weeks. Wow it is really going by fast. Super fast. As in, I feel like I was just pregnant not that long ago. I happily report that she has pretty much dropped a night feeding. Over the last week and a half she has been going longer and longer. She typically has a last feeding sometime around 8 (last night was 9) and goes down to sleep. Typically she will sleep around 6 hours and eat and go right back down for another 3-4.

We don't have much of a nap routine during the day, lots of cat napping and perhaps she sometimes takes one good nap of 2+ hours. This is just how P was. She has started lots of coos and smiles which is fun. She has slowed down on the pooping as well (just like P), not pooping every day, which is fine by me too.

Breastfeeding is still a pain. I still don't like it. It is going much smoother than with P, but just not my thing. I am in some crazy oversupply issues going on. I have a ridiculous amount of stored milk in the deep freezer already, over 1000 oz. I am currently starting to work on getting my supply down so I don't have to pump during the day. I would like to only pump at night when I go to bed and when I wake up and that is it. I'm close to that, but still have too much milk that I have to express some during the day just to stay comfortable and not leaking everywhere. Hopefully I can get this under control over the next week.

We headed to the beach over the weekend...post and photos coming soon.

Happy 10 Years

10 years ago I married a wonderful man. Wow, 10 years has gone by so fast. Lots of travel and fun and then kids. Now I feel like our family is complete as we start the next 10 years. Thank you for loving me for who I was and who I am now. You have always supported me through everything and I will love you forever.

Celiac's Healing

I was diagnosed with Celiac's disease last February, so it has now been a little over a year. My symptoms were scattered all over the place where nothing was super serious. I had digestive issues, had IBS, was chronic anemic since I was little, have low blood pressure, a little bit of hyperthyroid, and then the miscarriage which is listed as a symptom too.

I will say I am pretty strict to to the diet. I've never purposefully ate anything with gluten, but I will say I am not super strict on the cross contamination issue. Meaning, I will go out to eat and order something that is gluten free but know that there is a chance it might touch something that has gluten and I might have a crumb added to my diet. Whether or not this causes any problems, I don't know. I have been pregnant most of the time since being diagnosed so I had some digestive issues as things progressed with the pregnancy, but that could just have been from T squishing my insides.

One of these days, I think to myself, I'm just going to eat a piece of cake or cookie, or a piece of pizza and see what happens, how I feel, but maybe not. If I do, I know it will have to be something totally worth it. (Like the Reece's PB cake at Big Ed's Chicken Pit in High Point)

The point being, that yesterday I had a general doctors appointment, they did some complete blood work to check all my vitamin levels, ect. The doctor called me today to say that everything is perfect, textbook perfect levels. For someone who has had low iron my whole life, despite taking supplements over the last few years (it was down to 9.7 post Piper) and I haven't even been taking anything since T's been born, occasionally a multivitamin. But really I think this is all due to being gluten free now. My IBS seems to have come to some sort of containment, and I feel better, and I am apparently absorbing nutrients and vitamins now at a great level and I am really happy about that.

GF Choco Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I wanted to make some cookies to have around the house. And I decided on chocolate chip oatmeal ones. So I went searching for a recipe and settled on this one:  Allergy Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I liked that they were egg free too since we were heading to some friends house whose son can't have eggs. I thought this would be a nice treat for all of us since they looked so good in the picture.

Here is the first batch that came out of the oven

Yes, they were too big and I realize that. So the next ones I made smaller. Now the directions say to let cool for 10 min on the cookie sheet, so that I did. The problem because when I was done, I couldn't get them off the parchment paper. And they turned out so very flat. I did make a couple substitutions, none of which I think should have caused this. I substituted white rice flour for brown rice flour and honey for molasses and regular butter for the dairy free butter.

Might be one of the more terrible recipes I've tried. My cookies came out super flat and what I can get off the parchment paper is no longer a cookie, just bits and pieces and the taste is just not all that good. Next time, I'm going to try these GF Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.

Always trial and error with the GF cooking. Sometimes I think I should just stick to my one cookbook I have as everything I've made from there turns out good, but I like to experiment and find other stuff out there. Next up, I'm back to making one of my all time favorites-the ultimate bread base with unlimated possibilities and I will be making a blueberry lemon bread. I have used this recipe tons of times with different flavor combinations and love it. I do use her suggestion for flour versus bobs red mill, and I've learned how moist the dough needs to be to turn out well sometimes having to add a bit more flour, but that has come with time. And I just love that this can be turned into anything I want.

Water Time

We headed over to a friends house for an event honoring her son that passed away. She had some water toys for the kids to play with and while P was hesitant at first, she quickly warmed up to getting wet. Its been awhile since we have put on a swim suit. She had fun playing around and eating some ice cream for a treat. It was a perfect day out to get wet!

Lily and P trying to drink the water and laying on the slip n slide

P and Joseph jumping around

Having a great time!

May Day Fun

 We've been keeping busy so it seems. Most days I can't figure out what day it is or what is going on, but I'm hanging in there. We've had a couple rough days in the Zack household. Tatum has been extra fussy during the day,  not wanting to nap and wanting to be held all day. Sling wont work either as she constantly wants to change position or be bouncing, and if you stop or lay her down full time screaming. Then P had a collision with a metal beam at daycare as she was running around jumping and playing. She cut her forehead open and has a big knot now. EZ took her to the doctors to see if she needed stitches but they said there was nothing they could do at this point and put some super glue type stuff on it.

We have had some fun times though playing outside since it has been so nice out. As I was taking all the pics of P, EZ reminded me about how I should take more of T. One of these days. By the way, none of the toys P is playing with in the pics are ours, just fun times with the neighbors fun toys!

Happy Birthday

A big Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. I can't thank him enough for all the love and support he has given me over the course of our years together. He is the best husband, father and friend anyone could ask for. And for reaching out of his comfort zone, applying for and getting a new job that furthers his education in his area of work which comes with a nice pay raise! For all his hard work, he deserves the best birthday present...come back to sleep in the bed! :)

Strawberry Shortcake GF Style

I had a bunch of strawberries in the fridge and wanted to try making a strawberry bread. So off to googling I go with gluten free strawberry bread and this is the recipe I picked: Sweet Strawberry Bread

And OMG, it was wonderful! This is like strawberry shortcake all wrapped into one bread. Just top it with some whip cream or ice cream and it is like heaven in a bowl. So totally good. I made another loaf the other day and it will be gone probably by tomorrow. Meaning, I can take down a whole loaf of this bread in 3 days.

This is probably not helping my mission to lose the baby weight.

1 Month Old

T turned 1 month old on Sunday. It's funny, I really don't take that many pictures of her. I feel kind of bad about it. I mean I have a ton of pics of Piper at all ages, but poor T I fear she will get the shaft. She is definitely growing as she seems to feel heavier and chunkier, whatever that means to a skinny infant. She is still in newborn diapers but will be switching to size 1 next week when we finish the box I have. And she is is newborn clothes (when I actually put something on her). Another downfall of kid number 2 I guess...I mainly keep her in pj's or those long sleeve shirts with the mittens in them and sometimes pants, sometimes no pants. I rarely actually put an outfit on her. Maybe that will change over time.

My dad came to visit last week and I took only a couple photos. But here are a few photos from the trip and of T:

And here is T at 1 month (and 2 days) and a little smile:

Running and Other Things

Suprisingly I've managed to get back to running quicker than with Piper. I'm starting to feel better running too. Not fast by any means, but I've run twice this week just over 3 miles each time. I've been lifting a little too, just arms. And I'm down a few more pounds. I have lots of goals for all sorts of things and I won't say really what my goal for the 5k in 4.5 weeks is. I know I won't be fast, but that doesn't mean I have to be slow. :) I go round and round about trying things like the P90x or Insanity or getting some other videos at home but then I stop myself and say that I don't need that and maybe could come up with my own routine without having to buy that stuff and that I can fit in around running. Like I just bought some free weights and am lifting in the house. Trying to get some things accomplished when Tatum sleeps. Oh maybe I should be sleeping! :) Speaking of sleeping...we started having EZ give T the first bottle at night so I can sleep straight for a fair amount. This has worked really well. I now get usually 6 hours of sleep before I have to get up to feed her. I know it is probably having a little affect on my milk supply but I am producing a ridiculous amount of milk, probably over producing by close to 20oz a day, so I'm ok with that coming down a bit. I did say to EZ the other day that I was already over the bf and pumping. I did give myself a goal to make it to August when I go back to work and I hope that I do make it. I have all sorts of fun things that are going on. I started up a running group in my neighborhood and am hoping for some good news on a sponsor that I applied for (keeping that secret for now) and hoping for good news in some personal work related things too. Exciting things ahead. Oh and did I mention I am going to do a triathlon in September. I am super mom. :)