Thanksgiving, etc.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday. Nick's first Thanksgiving was quite pleasant...even if he didn't get any turkey! :) He dined on plums, pears and apples instead. I don't think he minded much....

At any rate, we spent our holiday at our friend Jeff's parents' house. It was so nice to actually be around a family again. Not since we've moved here have we been invited anywhere for Thanksgiving so this was a special treat!

It was actually quite interesting to be at another family's house for the holiday and see the differences between their celebration and my family's. I was surprised that there were no sweet potatoes or even mashed potatoes on the menu. Instead they served carrot souffle. The other thing that caught my eye was that they put sausage in their stuffing which I really liked. I may have to see if I can find a similar recipe (or here's an idea - ask them for theirs!).

We brought along a little gluten free dessert to share with everyone and it seemed to go over well. I made a maple pecan cake with coconut flour and then turned it into a trifle with caramel flavored pudding and pecans. It was really quite tasty after it had time to sit and meld...

Other than that, things have been going pretty well. We had someone come look at our house today (which wasn't so fun since it was messy, but oh well) and we also had an adventure in the "locking ourselves out" category which we so often venture into. This was one of the easier times since we just called the realtor and they came and let us in, but it was still frustrating that we missed grabbing keys or a gate opener or something.

We also had lunch at Red Robin today. That was fun especially since my burger was free. If you like Red Robin, you should sign yourself up for their email list because they send you a coupon for a free burger on your birthday. Mine technically isn't until Saturday, but a pre-birthday burger was just fine. :) Other restaurants do similar things (Sweet Tomatoes is one) so if you have a favorite, see if you might benefit from signing up.

So, yes my birthday is quickly approaching and I am really looking forward to it. I already know what my present is. :) We're going up to Napa to tour the historical bed and breakfasts up there and we're going to stay at one of them them, too. The place where we'll be laying our head is called The Inn on Randolph, I believe. We're going to be staying in the Autumn room. I just love staying in bed and breakfast rooms.

I can't possibly wrap this up without mentioning that Nicholas turned 6 months old on Monday. Hard to believe isn't it? He's such a big boy - a real little person now. :) We had pictures taken on Wednesday which hopefully will be done in time for our Christmas cards (which may not go out until January the way things are going!). We should have some really cute shots.

This evening, Nicholas and I tried out the sippy cup again. He really liked it....couldn't stop smiling. Naturally, he ended up with more liquid on his person than in his belly, but that is okay. Speaking of liquids, tonight we did what will hopefully be his last formula treatment allergy-wise. It seems to have really helped with his gas problems. He still has attacks but they are much better than before. If this one is all cleared, we'll be heading on to the rest of the basic fifteen treatments for him and then we'll start treating individual foods. He's creating quite a list of things his body isn't fond of (though he seems to like pretty much everything!).

Well, dinner is done (Mark was a sweetie and cooked tonight) and so I'm off for some sustenance. Enjoy your weekend!

Nick Notes

I have been trying to get here when Nicholas does something noteworthy more often. I hope you've noticed. :)

At any rate, I have a couple of cute things to share today. First, I have to tell you the little guy is now a big fan of sweet potatoes, apples and pears. We tried pears out yesterday and they were quite enjoyable it seems. :)

Eating pretty much is the cute-factor catalyst for the latest nifty Nicholas moments. He's begun singing, if you will, for his supper. I must get this on video. It is too cute. He gets a bite, he finishes it and then he opens his mouth and "sings" (I can't really figure out another way to describe it) until another bite comes in. He also holds his hands "just so" (I'm reminded of the cute diaper only picture on his website where he's looking all prim and proper) and in general doesn't end up very messy at all after meals anymore. He learns quick!

In addition to this today he added a funny face to the eating routine. I first noticed this new face yestereday. He sort of puckers up his lips, squints his eyes and blows air in and out very quickly (I also must video tape this!) I could help but laugh and now he's doing it when he takes a bite sometimes. Thankfully, food doesn't seem to go splattering out of his mouth when he does this. ;)

We had our first feeding in the car, by the way, today. We were in the middle of an avoidance period for his NAET treatment and so we gave him his pears then. He did such an awesome job...there was very little mess when we were all through (I have to admit I was very scared that there would be!).

The last bit of amusement that my dear little son created was at lunch today. Since we were out and about trying to avoid the house while the realtor showed it off (we had 2 people visit - buy it one of you, please!), we dined at Sweet Tomatoes. Nicholas, since we'd just fed him a little bit before, was absolutely wonderful and happy through most of the meal, but for some reason he got very upset and we couldn't calm him down at the table (we thought it was gas at first and then we thought maybe he wanted my soup, but decided that wasn't it). So, I took him to the restroom to change his diaper thinking that might be the issue. Strangely, he calmed down when we got to the bathroom before I even changed him and he remained calm until....we came back to the table. Almost without missing a beat he was crying and carrying on. And, then I saw it...the cause of the crying - my glass of water.

You see, when we were in Buena Park (where Knott's is), I had a tiny smidgen of apple juice left in my glass and I let Nicholas make an attempt at drinking some. He's been hooked on drinking from glasses ever since. I usually have just water and he's perfectly okay with that...but he's not okay with me not sharing. As soon as I realized he wanted a drink, I helped him get a few sips and he was perfectly content. What a cutie!

Hopefully I'll get another quick update out again soon. Until then, have a great week and a great Turkey Day if I don't make it back before then!

Nicely Outfitted

Nicholas' wardrobe has increased in size again. This is probably good since he's getting close to moving into a new size also. He's starting to approach the 6/9 mark. He's hit in in many cases height-wise, but the waist is still too loose on most things (in fact, I still have some 3/6 pants that are too big for the little guy!).

At any rate, last weekend, I took advantage of a sale at Gymboree (one of my favorite stores) and got him a couple of nice holiday outfits and quite a few other things. Then, because they didn't have all that I wanted to get for him, I ordered the remaining pieces online. They're pretty reasonable shipping-wise so I don't mind getting clothes from them in that manner (as long as I've had a chance to check them out in-store first).

As luck would have it, Nicholas actually will have one more bodysuit than planned when all is said and done because they made a mistake with the order. I called them to see how to make an exchange in such circumstances and they told me just to keep the extra. I love companies when they do stuff like that. :) So, all in all, I'm thrilled with the way things went.

The shopping spree on Sunday, by the way, was with my friend Lisa. I haven't hung out with her for quite some time so it was awesome to get to see her. She was quite a helpful shopping buddy, too. :) I drug her to my other favorite store as well...the one I rarely buy stuff from because I feel a little odd spending the kind of money they're seeking (until they've had some serious sale markdowns!) on clothes that Nicholas will go to the bathroom in, spill food on (especially now with the solids!) and spit up on. Maybe once Mark is doing really really well, it won't bug me, but I think I'll probably still go for the sale stuff and use the extra for college savings, cool toys, etc...

At any rate, the store I went on and on about is called Janie and Jack. It's actually a subsidiary of Gymboree. Did I ever mention that I interviewed with them before? That was quite some time ago. I wasn't so into them then...funny how things change when the product a company sells actually is one you need in some way. Ha! I am full of tangents tonight. Anyhoo, I found a couple of really nice pairs of shorts for Nicholas there for under $15 total. I was quite thrilled. :)

Allergy-wise, we've been just going to town here. Mark is through the first 4 of the first 15 and I am on my redo of the 2nd after having cleared my allergy to Pixie. :) We're a little less than pleased to discover that on many of these I was weak..given that we already had them treated and I'd passed, but we've also discovered that the lady who was treating me also cheated by not doing all of the first 15 treatments. She only did the ones that showed up positive but by doing so she may have lessened the effectiveness of the treatments as a whole. Oh well..we're fixing it now.

As for Nicholas, we've started with him as well. He is finished with the Egg Mix treatment and has moved onto calcium mix which is tricky given that his formula is something he's not supposed to be eating while being treated. We're probably going to have to do extra treatments since we can't really avoid it completely. Hopefully this one will help the formula be a little less grumpy to his tummy.

By the way, if you're curious about the technique we're using to eliminate our allergies, have a look at www.naet.com. It's pretty nifty stuff!

Tidbits

I figured I would stop by and give the latest scoop on Nicholas' eating habits. He's been devouring rice cereal like there's no tomorrow. He loves the stuff...and frequently is quite displeased when the bowl has nothing left to offer him. We may be eaten out of house and home before the little tyke is a teenager.

Last night, though, he discovered something much better (though my taste buds disagree) than rice cereal - sweet potatoes. He liked them so much that he devoured an entire jar. (!) The only problem with that is that he'd had formula beforehand and the latent bubbles it caused led to several sweet potato spit ups. Yuck.

This would be why we usually try not to do formula and baby food in the same feeding, but he was famished last night and we broke the rules...and then paid the price! Part of the reason he was so hungry is that Mommy and Daddy's curiosity finally got the best of them last night.

We've been practicing the allergy elimination technique Mark learned at last weekend's seminar on each other (yes, I have been treating Mark...and somewhat successfully, I might add - isn't that neat?). Since sometime toward the end of last week, Nicholas has had a rash on his chin and cheeks that at first I thought was due to the dry air down south but it hasn't gone away so I started contemplating that he's allergic to something. Joy.

Since we were supposed to be moving on from rice cereal to some other solid food, I decided I wanted to first test the rice cereal as I suspected he might be allergic to it. Believe it or not, he is...just slightly, but it explains the rash. We need to do one treatment to clear it...not too bad. We continued on to see what we could feed him last night without causing any additional problems. Tests on peas, carrots and bananas yielded unpleasant results, but he only needs a treatment or two on each of those as well.

Then, of course, we decided it was high time we test our belief that the formula stuff is just not a substance his body is into. Preliminary tests show that he's so allergic to the stuff that he's going to need sixteen (16!!) treatments to clear the allergy. This technique is a little crazy and puts you in connection with the patient's subconcious (really, I've done it on Mark...and he's done it on me!) and so you can actually ask what it is in something that is causing the problem. Surprise, surprise, soy and dairy both came back positive. At any rate, we're going to start treating Nicholas today for the basic 15 (you treat these first on everyone). I am hoping we can make some leaps and bounds toward helping the little guy finally feel better! Oh, and by the way, we also tested breastmilk I'd expressed from two different days and whether he was allergic to either of us (yeah, weird, I know). Thankfully, all of these were fine by him. I can't imagine how disturbing it would have been if any of these would have been a problem!

With respect to the two of us, we're also having some success with our treatments. I've been treating Mark for his previoulsy unknown egg mix allergy (the mix contains egg whites, yolks, chicken, tetracycline and feathers) and although I'm not as good as the lady who was helping me we've decreased the number of times he needs to be treated and the distance he needs to be from the substances being treated. Go me. Mark's been working on my allergy to animals (including our cat Pixie which has been fun) and has also made some progress. The animal allergy is a big one for me that I didn't actually notice until we cleared out a lot of the others. I was a little surprised when I finally figured out what the cause was. We're making progress, but it's going to take a while...much to Pixie's chagrin since I don't pet her as often now that she makes my nose itch and run.

In other news, Mark is now a licensed doctor! His license was waiting for us when we got home from L.A. Now we just need that loan to go through and we'll be set! That's coming along...probably another month or so before we are finished with that process.

As for the house sale, it's just not going as we'd hoped. Despite dropping our price by $50,000 (yes, $50K!!!), we haven't had any offers and really not much interest for that matter. It's probably just the time of year, but it's annoying none the less. We're probably going to rent the place out at a loss until we can find a buyer...but it's still up in the air. We have another open house this weekend and hopefully that will bring some good news.

We'll keep you updated.

And How Could I Forget That?!

I started to write this post on Sunday but didn't have a chance to finish it I assume because Nick was having "a day." I can't actually remember why to tell you the truth.

The reason for my post was that I had totally spaced telling you that Nicholas ventured into solids...and loved them. Here I was thinking he wasn't ready and he practically grabbed the spoonful of rice cereal out of my hand and shoved it into his. Huh. Well, okay then! He's been eating it for a while now and seems to be doing great...if anything, our only problem is that I can't seem to get the spoon to his mouth fast enough. :)

As far as our little adventure to L.A., I did end up returning to Knott's but not that same night. I discovered that you can get a "shopper's pass" and go in for 45 minutes to get everything done. You just have to buy a full-priced ticket and then when you make it out in time, they refund your money. Perhaps the most amusing part of the deal is that they stamp "shopper" on your hand when you go in. So, yep, it's official...I have been branded as a shopper. Ha ha!

At any rate, I bought a little outfit for Nick, some snoopy lovees and a couple of tops for me. One of the tops I bought because I was dressed entirely too warmly. Can't say that I was all that sad to buy another top, though. ;) Oh, and I also got some copies of the professional photos with Snoopy and Peppermint Patty. I was a happy camper!

Mark also really was pleased with his seminar. It looks like this could be a very profitable part of his business. He now has all the training and implements to start treating me which is good because it seems that I need another treatment on a few of the items. Eggs and wheat still seem to be problematic, for example...a point which was reinforced multiple times during meals while we were out and about.

Once we were done with his seminar, we headed to Barstow to visit my Uncle Max. We stayed with him until yesterday (Wednesday) when we returned home. It was a nice visit though we didn't do a whole lot. We did make a trip to Ontario where we visited the mall and Babies R Us but that is about it other than various trips out for meals!

It is nice to be home again (even if Pixie is neurotically meowing at all hours). Hopefully we'll be calling another place home soon. We're scheduled (again) to have our moving container come at the end of this month, but who knows if it will happen or not. We're basically working on a either the house needs to sell or the business loan needs to go through basis as our trigger to move. I hope it happens before Christmas...

A Berry Good Day

Nicholas and I had a great day today. While Daddy was at a seminar learning how to do the allergy technique that has helped me enjoy several foods I previously couldn't without rather unpleasant results, Nicholas and I had a nice visit with Snoopy and Peppermint Patty at Knott's Berry Farm. I will eventually post the cute picture we took with the two of them on his website.

It's safe to say that now poor little Nicholas is wiped out. So, we'll see if we're able to go back this evening with Daddy which was the plan. I surely hope we are since there was a cute outfit for Nick I couldn't decide upon, as well as a cute one for our neighbor Cassie (a cute little bundle that came a couple of months after Nicholas) and I suppose I should be honest and say there was a shirt I was eyeing for myself as well. ;) And, there were also the professional shots they took of Nick with Snoopy and Patty...which I'm not sure I want, but I'd at least like to have the option of checking them out!

We didn't actually ride any rides. At one point, we were going to go on the Carousel, but Nick needed his diaper changed and we never really made it back there. Perhaps if he'll allow us to go back tonight, we'll do so and we'll catch a couple of others, too. We did go to a cute little show where Charlie Brown was the captain of a pirate ship. Nicholas really liked the songs...and during the play, Snoopy came over and said hi to Nick. This is what ultimately prompted me to get his picture taken. It's his first visit and Snoopy came to see him...had to commemorate that!

Oh, and I started a little tradition for the little guy, too. I've always thought those little penny things you can make at various theme parks were pretty neat, but I've never gotten one...I decided though, that Nick might find them nifty when he gets older so I started him off with one there. In honor of his namesake, we went with the Christmas-themed one. :)

Other than that, we've been busy bees at home working on a business plan for Mark and such. We finally got the first draft done and we've done a lot of other things for the loan he's trying to get to buy the practice he's found in Colorado. Hopefully it will all come together soon. :)

Home-sale wise, we're still waiting. There was supposed to be an open house today. Our first since we dropped our price (gulp) $50K. We decided we'd just drop the price and take a small gain rather than have to keep making payments on a place we weren't living in any more. So, hopefully something will happen soon.

And then, of course, Halloween gave us some amusement! Nicholas, for those who are wondering, was a peacock for Halloween (pictures will be on his site when I have time to get them there). Feedback was AWESOME re the costume! So many people were just taken aback...as a first time Mommy that is just what I wanted - a huge wow factor. So, I'm happy. :) He was the cutest little peacock ever, too...except when he got really tired and started screaming. That wasn't so cute, but oh well. We showed him off at the college for their trick or treat street. :)

And, with that, we'll wrap this up. I need to take a walk (I put Nick down to sleep in his stroller so I wouldn't have to wake him) to go get Mark so we can discuss whether we want to go do more Knotty things. Ha ha. I'd really like to go if little man will cooperate. :) I hope you all are doing well!

And, don't forget to set your clocks back....