I Suppose I Should Write Something...

We have a lot going on so it's taken some doing to get here to write a quickie hello and let you know about some of our fun times lately. I wish I could say I see a slow down soon, but probably not for a few months. Eventually everything will fall into place and things will be easy breezy - I just know it.

So, first, we'll talk Nicholas. He's such a big little boy now. Goodness, it's hard to believe he's going to turn 18 months at the end of this month. He's wearing 2T clothes right now for the most part. His hair has really come in and it is still red, red, red...and gorgeous. Oh he is such a cute little guy!

For Halloween, Nicholas dressed up like a little zebra. When he took his hat off, he resembled an adorable (if that is possible) escaped convict. I need to clean his costume so I can dress him up in it and get some more pictures. I was a bit under the weather on Halloween so I didn't get many and whether any are good is debateable. ;)

Mark is doing well with a new guide dog that joined our family the 1st of October. Her name is Charlotte and she is a cute black lab. She's shedding all over the place and driving me a bit nuts with hair, but I'm dealing.

Nicholas loves Charlotte. Thanks to her, he is now a pro at playing fetch. He gets the ball from either Mark or I, runs to the kitchen, throws it and Charlotte grabs it brings it back to Mark or I and then the process starts again. If you get a chance to watch this, you'll love how happy Nicholas gets.

He's also been perfecting his ability to climb stairs and has also managed to figure out how to open doors and drawers in the house. The drawer opening resulted in a couple of incidents where his changing table and he got up close and personal and so Mark devised what I call the "Macgyver Kiddie Proof System." He's tied rope around three door handles and has fixed up a couple more for drawers in the kitchen. It's pretty ingenius and I figure I better take some pictures so that the rest of the world can adopt our super inexpensive baby-proofing idea. :)

My Scentsy business is doing well. I had a party last weekend that had great sales. :) I also went to Lamar the weekend of Halloween (with the fam) and sold most of my scent bar inventory. Now I'm slowly trying to whittle down my warmer inventory. This weekend will be another opportunity as I'm participating in an Open House I organized with Cookie Lee Jewelry, Mary Kay, Upper Case Living and Bubble Goddess Bath Company. It's sure to be a great time! Please stop by the office (4740 Flintridge Dr.) between 10 and 3 on Saturday if you can and see what we all have to offer...there will be treats!

As for Mark's practice, things are going well. He's been taking steps to ensure the patients become more acquainted with him and we've all been perfecting our ability to use the new software program. It is really pretty nice especially since it seems that I may be able to keep up and not get far behind like I was for a while there with the accounting.

We've had a few changes in our staff and now have a fabulous team that we think will help us make it very successful. Our front desk person is a real go-getter and loves to ensure that the accounting side of things is right. I love her.

We are having a grand opening for Metro Health Services on November 19 if you would like to attend. It will take place from noon to 6 p.m. and we're looking forward to it! Mark has a promotion to do a free exam of some sort (I don't have all the details) for new patients on this day...give the office a call (email me for the number if you need it) - this is the perfect time to get yourself in our doors and on the road to better health! :)

Way Too Long

Sorry I don't seem to get here hardly at all now, do I? I do manage to write a little something on the Nicholas blog periodically, but even that isn't as often as I'd like. And this will be a short one, I imagine, too...or not. You know me.

So we've been just swamped with the businesses. Scentsy is going pretty well for me though it could be better if I were willing to sacrifice my role as mommy. :) The other business is going pretty well, too. Mark is getting lots of new patients, but we're also having issues with medicare which is making it a challenge at times. We'll make it but it probably isn't going to be a walk in the park.

Speaking of which, we did go to the zoo this past Sunday after getting Nicholas a new pair of tennis shoes (his first!). That was a lot of fun and it was nice. We don't do a lot as a family lately...because when Mark's able to be home, I'm trying to catch up on business stuff and when he's not, well Nicholas and I are hanging. Nicholas is quite a lucky little guy getting so much time with both his parents.

I sometimes feel like I am not giving Nicholas the attention he deserves because I am so busy, busy with all the stuff for the business and such. I guess though he really does get more of my attention than many children get from their mommies so I shouldn't be so hard on myself.

Finally as I type furiously so that I can go give some time to Nick who's feeling quite unhappy lately as more teething episodes occur (we stayed up watching Groundhog Day last night...not watching TV much for a good portion of his life has really made it an excellent tool when he's feeling awful), I'll ask for all of your prayers. We have some financial "issues" on the horizon that we aren't looking forward to dealing with both with the business and our personal lives. We are going to need a little help from above for everything to work out nice and pretty.

Oh, and if you happen to live in Colorado Springs and would like to check out Scentsy, this weekend I am having an open house at the clinic's classroom. I'd love to see you and show you our new nifty scents and mini plug-in warmers. :) It will be going from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you need more info, please just give me a call or an email and I'll fill you in!

4 Years & Counting

Four years ago at this time, I was in Colorado and I was exhausted. I'd danced the day away, been in countless photos and had earned a new title and a new last name (which I was a slacker about changing, but I finally got it done!). Yep, it's our anniversary today and it is so nice to be back in Colorado to celebrate it.

We were actually here to celebrate last year as well...with our little two month old baby Nicholas. But it was a little less amusing (for me at least) than this year because last year, we spent most of our anniversary visiting the clinic we now operate instead of going to lunch at Marigolds. We at least were able to make up for it with some goodies from there tonight.

Our celebration was quite lovely for this first bit (for I was told at dinner that a second celebration is planned - brunch at the Broadmoor!) - dinner at the Craftwood Inn using a coupon we found in a magazine. We had a yummy 5 course dinner and for about what we'd have spent on two entrees without the coupon....sweet!

Mark also surprised me today with flowers and a lovely card that really is fitting for where we are in our marriage. I appreciate his thoughtfulness. I'm pretty lucky to have a thoughtful guy who tries very hard as my husband.

I am hopeful that the coming year will be one we will remember for many happy moments. If all goes well, we're hoping to host an anniversary celebration next year - my biggest hope is that my dress which I was supposed to wear to the first celebration will actually fit (which is likely since my hormones are behaving much better!). I have some other wish list items as well, but a girl has to have a few secrets...

I hope everyone has a great weekend. We have Dr. Chi in town to examine our patients' fingernails and tongues so we'll be busy! :)

Back again...

I didn' t realize I hadn't posted here for so long. I guess we've been keeping me otherwise occupied. :)

I have been having lots of fun with my business and Nicholas and I've been keeping pretty busy with Mark's practice as well. Hopefully at some point I'll feel like I'm not a chicken with its head cut off. ;)

This weekend was a good one. We went to a party for Mark's networking group in Manitou Springs. It was such fun and even more so since I was able to share my Scentsy products with the ladies in attendance. They were all quite pleased and placed several orders which is great since I have three left before my first 60 days is over and I'm hoping to hit one more level before that is up!

There was so much food at the party since we all brought something to share....kalua pork, salsa, potato salad, etc. We brought what I named the "Dolly Madison Zinger Trifle." If you are a trifle snob, I'll be the first to admit, it is *not* a true trifle...it's probably closer to a mess, but I prefer to call it a trifle and since it isn't likely to be published in a culinary masterpiece, I'm sure you'll go with me on it. It was composed of coconut cake (the same as for Nicholas' birthday cake which, erhem, I was going to recreate, but when the cake comes out in pieces, a trifle it becomes!), raspberry jam, shredded coconut, coconut pudding and whipped cream for good measure. It was really pretty and very tasty...especially the next day after it was able to sit around for a while. I think I might just have to mess up another cake so I can make it a day ahead of time because there weren't many leftovers to enjoy that second day! ;)

Yesterday was a very productive day for me as well. The downstairs office area is now useable space...not a dumping ground as it has been acting. It was a necessary change since the computer I am currently typing on will be taking a little trip to the geeks at Best.Buy to fix its speakers. They are just awful and we've just not taken care of it....laziness for part of the time and then, well, I didn't have another computer out and available so that was an issue, but not anymore! I think it will be nice to have a desk again and I'm hoping it will lead to the kitchen table being nice and organized rather than looking like a desk with tons of in process projects. :)

We're having pictures of Nicholas taken again today. We're doing a few makeups for lighting problems and what not with his 12 month pictures. The pictures will be taken at the Broadmoor so we're sure to have some really lovely ones when all is said and done....hopefully Nicholas will be in a better mood today, too!

Little Bitty Baby Steps...

Nicholas scares me. Well, okay, he doesn't, but his latest attempts at mobility do. We're up to about 8 steps at a time. They're teeny, they're tiny and they foreshadow the end of my concern over whether I'll ever lose those last 6 pounds of pregnancy weight. (I will...it's just a slower process when you're not excercising as much as you'd like).

This all started on Monday night (7/14) in earnest. Prior to this, Nicholas had taken a step here, a step there, and then three steps that morning on his way into the kitchen. He just improved exponentially such that by that evening, as he and I were waiting in the hall where we'd gone as a family to listen to a lecture about the wonders of coconut for diet and healing (we love coconut anything around here!), he did it...5 steps. Wow.

Since then, he tries his "feet" several times per day and I get excited each time and cheer him on while in the back of my mind I think "Don't encourage him!" But, of course, I must though the end result means he's growing up and I'm going to be chasing a toddler around.

But he's not just any toddler. He is an Amazon toddler...just ask all the people who keep asking me if he's two years old. Ugh. No! He's only a little over a year...please don't grow him up faster! He's just so dang tall that people can't believe he's just around 13.5 months. I see three year olds who are shorter than this little guy. Wow.

In other news, I had a great grand opening experience the second time around and this weekend my final one will be in Lamar. I didn't get to publicize it as well as I'd like (and I blame teething again), but I'm sure there will be at least a few visitors to my little show if for no other reason than I mentioned Nicholas would be there on the invitation!

One thing I did learn on Saturday is that our room sprays are PHENOMENAL!!! I never would have guessed they would be so effective and long lasting. I sprayed the stuff upstairs in our office building to help people find their way to the party at 10 a.m. I did not respray it...I didn't have time. And, you know what, I didn't need to. I kid you not, when I came upstairs when it was all over, it smelled just as good as when I'd first sprayed it. That was at 4 p.m. the same day. Now here's the super kicker...I came in on Sunday (ugh...I had to or our sales tax return was not going to get done on time) and I actually decided I better leave the outside door cracked because it STILL smelled just as yummy as it had the morning before and I didn't want to aggravate any of our patients' noses on Monday. That is totally awesome, don't you agree?

Our room sprays come in all the scents we offer for $8 each so if you're looking for a quick way to freshen up a room, they may be for you! Check them out at my website (www.scentsy.com/gotscent).

And with that, I suppose I shall sign off as there is a little boy here who wants to play chase - fun!

A New Addition...

We're going to be adding to our family again it seems. But...this time I don't have to endure morning, noon and night sickness. Oh, and the new member will probably never talk...at least not in human forms.

Mark received a call the other day that they have found a suitable dog for his guide and they are probably going to have her (yea! a girl dog!) trained and ready to meet him/us by the end of September or so.

I am thrilled for him as I know this is something he's wanted for quite some time, buuut, I hope it doesn't result in an increase in my responsibilites as I feel a bit tapped at the moment.

His business, Nicholas an my business are all keeping me on my toes. As for mine, I had part II of my grand opening this past weekend. It was a much better showing than my first. I'm hoping that the next one which will happen in my home town next week will be at least this successful and hopefully more so!

And now I am going to get ready and climb into bed. A teething baby doesn't seem to result in much of a great night's sleep!

A Little Bit...

of a post here. It will probably end up being a long one (as always), but I don't know how long Nicholas will allow me to participate here, so we'll shoot for a short snippet and see where we get.

So first things first - Independence Day. It was decent if not terribly exciting celebration for our family. I spent a good chunk of it at the office as I'm still working on catching up the practice accounting. I'm pleased to report that we are actually working on the month of June right now...furiously so that I can use our patient records to do our sales tax returns in the coming week.

We also had a visit from my papa who was coming home from his training for the wind farm where he now works in Albany, NY. It was nice to visit with him for a while.

We tried to get some fireworks in (even let Nicholas stay up late for them!), but other than a few illegal ones we were able to spot, we chose poorly. We thought we'd camp out near the ball park and watch the fireworks after the game. When 10:30 p.m. rolled around (we'd put Nicholas to sleep around 9ish...just for the record), and I could barely keep my eyes open, we decided we better head home. Apparently the ball field officials missed the memo that all of the families sitting in the Costco parking lot were counting on them.

Let's see, I also had my first grand opening for my business. It wasn't nearly what I had hoped for, but I have a second shot this weekend. Hopefully this weekend will go better. I believe some of my lackluster results were due to my not being able to call and remind a ton of people of the party's occurence since I needed to be mommy for Nicholas. The poor dear is cutting his molars....or they're cutting him is more appropriate phraseology.

Yep, he's getting more teeth. He has pushed through his first molar with the help of a lot of teething tablets. I keep raving to everyone I know about these things. The little tooth is pretty cute, but man did it make his life so unpleasant and we have three more lurking and threatening him (and us) with sleepless nights and discomfort. Keep the little guy in your prayers.

Earlier this week, my mother had her surgery for her hernia and cancer. She's currently in the hospital still recovering...with the help of a lot of drugs. I'm sad that I have not been able to go visit her, but our financial situation is not yet healthy due to the medicare billing troubles we've had since we took over. On the bright side, we finally got our first payment so this discomfort will hopefully be over soon (please!).

At any rate, she is doing well from what I've been told by her and by my dad. The doctors reaffirmed their belief that the cancer was in its earlier stages and they got it all. She also got a little help with her weight loss which I'm anxious to see. I've heard it's a pretty dramatic change.

Let's see, back to my business, I did have a very nice breakthrough this past week....two really. I took some closing gift baskets into a real estate office (on their request) and they were a big hit so I'll hopefully get some business from that. Then my banker asked me to bring stuff in so that she and her co-workers could check them out and order (they can't make it to the party on Saturday due to scheduling reasons) so that is looking like another promising avenue. So when do you want to have your party?

I am actually trying to hit a goal here, but am not likely to hit it as well as I'd like. The company rewards consultants who in their first 60 days of business can do things like make sales, get recruits, etc. My major stumbling block seems to be in the recruit area. If you know anybody who's looking for a little more income (and they can be anywhere in the U.S.) and who would enjoy having fun making said income, have them talk to me!

That, I believe, get you up-to-date with most of them important stuff around here. The only other thing I just thought to mention is that we're totally loving that we signed up for a community supported agriculture arrangement. We receive a share of the vegetables harvested from a farm near Pueblo every week. It's been pretty fun trying some new things...who would have guessed I'd like turnips so much?!

I wish you all a pleasant rest of your week. If you are in the Colorado Springs area, please be sure to stop by my grand opening on Saturday at the office's classroom.

My New Scentsational Business

Love candles? Then you will love the products I've decided to sell!

I am now a consultant for a new candle company. You can see my website by clicking on the link above. While you're there you can purchase our wonderful products, email me to get on my newsletter mailing list, get more information on hosting a party or becoming a consultant!

Our products are flameless wickless candles - perfect for families with pets and children. Since we do not use flames, our candles are safer than traditional candles. But you're wondering how it is we actually burn them, I'm sure. Well, we do that with a 25 watt light bulb which heats the wax just enough to let off the fragrance but not enough to make it hot enough to burn or evaporate and that means, soot is a thing of the past.

We have several warmers and we have over 80 scents for you to choose from. Our scent bars burn for approximately 50 to 80 hours (about the same as a 12 oz. jar candle) and can be mixed and matched to make other "flavor" combinations! As if that wasn't neat enough, you can swap out flavors with ease.

In my opinion, this is a must-have for any candle-lover with children and pets...and frankly, for any candle lover. The potency of our scents is under your control - put in one, two or three cubes to get teh strength you want.

I simply can not say enough about how wonderful these are - I like them so much I signed up as a consultant within two weeks of learning about them!

And, I must mention, if you're looking for a little extra income then you should definitely talk to me about this one because we're still on the ground floor and there is really great potential for making a great team and a great income stream for yourself.

And now, I have a little boy who is wanting some cuddle time with mom before bed time so I'll have to update you on the rest of what's going on later. I hope you're all doing great!

It Was Wild!

We had Nicholas' birthday celebration this past weekend at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo! The title above says it all - it was one WILD party! :) Nicholas and every one else in attendance thoroughly enjoyed it!

We began our adventure just inside the park where everyone was asked to sign their lives away lest any of the carnivorous animals escape and eat one or more children. Some parents signed while muttering such things as "there are days when I wish a lion would come and eat my child." They were joking...I think. Ha ha!

We then travelled up to the Moose lodge to drop off gifts and cake and ice cream. It was a little odd that they didn't just have someone run the things up I have to admit since, well, we had to turn around and come right back! In this process, we managed to lose my parents so they missed a good deal of the zoo portion of the day, but they got back in time for cake and ice cream...the important stuff you know!

Since I have mentioned the goodies twice now, I think I should give you the skinny on the cake and ice cream we served. They were sooo tasty and I say this not because I made all of them, but because they truly were just yummy, yummy, yummy. And, if you don't believe me, you can ask anyone who attended. ;) I made 3 cakes. One for Nicholas - a mini three-tiered cake with coconut cream frosting and blueberries and raspberries for decorations. And, two for everyone else. One was just like Nicholas' (only just two layers slapped together with frosting and decorated with berries and such) and one has a raspberry filling and a chocolate coating. All three cakes were wheat free (thankfully we do not have to deal with the egg allergy anymore because I tried at first to make them egg free as well...not good) and used coconut flour. I received a lot of compliments even from the zoo staff and that, of course, made me feel all good! The ice cream was also quite tasty - made out of the milk and cream from our little dairy farm we found and some fresh strawberries. We didn't have much left of any of the goodies...except Nicholas' cake, but we'll get there!

So, after dropping off the stuff, we went to enjoy a Meerkat demonstration. Very cool because they knew what was coming when their caretaker came. They were, for lack of a better word, hovering! And then, when they finally got the crickets they were sure were on the way, they were just happy little creatures eating their fill. It was a blast getting to see all of them so active!

After the Meerkats, we headed to the Giraffes where we fed them some crackers. Nicholas wasn't so thrilled with being licked by a big old giraffe tongue, but he had the experience because I made sure to help him hold the cracker so the giraffe could give him a little kiss. I figure after all the slobbery kisses he gives me, I owed him one, right? ;)

We then headed to see the Budgies (parakeets for you non-bird people out there) and on the way our fearless zoo leader, Joy discovered they had a baby Wallaby (a joey of course) out for the little kids to see. She made way for Nicholas and I to get a cute picture with the little guy. I haven't had a chance to review the camera yet (I will...just was working on some other things for his site today) but I'm sure it's adorable! What a special birthday treat! Then we went in to see the birdies. They weren't so keen on coming to say hello, but we enjoyed all the singing anyhow.

Once we were done there, we headed to meet our "animal ambassador" the African Millipede. Pede-y as we'll call him was sleepy. He was pretty much just rolled up and sleeping the whole time. But that's okay...I'm not so excited about bugs and Nicholas could have cared less since it was about that time that he decided he wanted something to drink. Now. So he drank, I touched the nasty bug and then was grateful our other fearless leader, Mallory, offered me some hand sanitizer. And, it was over.

But the party was just beginning...we ventured to the carousel and Nicholas enjoyed his first ride ever on one! At first, he wasn't so sure, I think, but then he decided he loved it! He was kicking and waving and making all sorts of happy noises. It was a blast to watch him so happy. I am so glad we took some video of it!

After the carousel, it was time for cake and ice cream. We got Nicholas set up in his new little attaches to the table hippo chair thingie (which I highly recommend after this experience) and put his cake in front of him, lit the candle, sang happy birthday and I attempted to blow it out. I had to do it three times...guess the lungs were a bit tired after traipsing all over the zoo. I finally succeeded and we waited for the first birthday cake melee that was sure to occur. My son, who apparently takes after his daddy in this area, picked up a blueberry and ate it. Then he picked up a raspberry and ate that. I had to pick a piece of cake off and talk him into trying it. He had a few pieces and played with the frosting, but for the most part, he wanted the fruit. I have to admit I am pretty pleased with this! :) He did get plenty messy (especially since I forgot to put a bib on and then everybody was telling me to just let it go) and I have a rather large raspberry juice stain on his cute "Safari Guide" outfit I bought him. With any luck, Oxyclean will be its match.

We didn't really have a chance to open gifts until we got home and had a BBQ with my parents and a few friends. The little guy really cleaned up in the present category. I have a ton of thank you notes to write for him! He has been having a blast with all of them for the past few days. So, it was, I think a great first birthday celebration overall and now we're already thinking about what we'll do next year. Given how much Nicholas enjoyed his trip to the park on his actual birthday, we're thinking we might just do a little party in the park next year, but we'll see how the year goes and what tickles his fancy!

So that is about it about the party and he and I need to get ready to go walking with his "rent-a-grandma" Nina so I will let you go. I will ask you before I depart to keep my mom in your prayers, though, for healing. She's having surgery in the near future and we're hoping for a speedy recovery.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!!

Nicholas, believe it or not, is a year old today. For me, it is both bittersweet and exciting that he's reached this milestone.

(By the way, I kind of jinxed myself with that whole ha ha two posts, thing...didn't I? I'll try to get back on the "wagon" after I manage to get the accounting which is proving to be quite unpleasant and time-consuming done for the business - bah!)

On the bittersweet side, there are, of course, several things I know now that I wish I knew last year at this time. You can probably guess that breastfeeding is one of my regrets to some extent, though I can now hold my head high as one of the mommies who made it to a year and is still going...if only for a few minutes of cuddle time in the morning and evening - it's still something and something many new mothers (and seasoned ones, probably) never get the joy of experiencing. If we have another child, I estimate that I may be a bit psycho about the whole feeding situation until I'm sure I don't need to be, but I do believe I can "do it" and I will give it another good go. At least I am more at peace with all that went on in that arena than I have been. I think that as we continue along with our current relationship, more healing will come for me.

Nicholas celebrated his first important day beginning on Saturday afternoon. We ventured to the great metropolis of Boone, Colorado to visit a dairy farm. If you've heard of me refer to my hometown, Lamar, as a great metropolis, I should tell you that Boone is even smaller...much.much.smaller. It's tiny. Don't blink...you'll miss it tiny. But, they have a dairy there that specializes in raw milk from cows who only eat grass. While there, we toured the facilities and saw some cows being milked and then signed up for a cow share. So we now are the proud owner of part of a Jersey cow and will be getting a gallon of fresh milk each week. This milk is soooo good. I have never had anything like it out of a carton, that is for sure...it reminded me of a lightly sweetened milk shake. Yummo. Of course, most of the milk will go to our dear little Nick, but I can get a little butter out of the deal and maybe so yogurt, too!

After our trip to the farm, we visited with Grandma and Grandpa Allen (my parents) who joined us for dinner at Red Lobster in Pueblo. Nicholas snoozed through most of dinner on Grandpa's shoulder, but he finally woke up and entertained all around with his antics and "uh-oh's". Did I ever get to mention that "Uh-oh" was his first "non-Mama" word? He loves to say it. I didn't realize I said it so much until he started saying it and I started paying attention. I'm thankful that this is one of the words I say often...

On Sunday, we had another adventure at Hillside Gardens here in Colorado Springs. We ventured there to take pictures! I finally found a photographer who was willing to take pictures, give me the rights to them and not charge me an arm and a leg. I think we found a winner, but of course, we do need to see the pictures.

Today, we celebrated by baking some cupcakes with coconut flour in them...they are SO good! Yummo! I'm in the process of baking his birthday party cake right now. The party is next weekend so I will put the layers in the freezer once they have cooled after baking. We also had a visit from Mr. Rick who gave Nicholas a fun little barnyard learning toy to complement his new Winnie the Pooh rock-n-ride vehicle that Mom and Dad gave him. What fun! Not surprisingly, he enjoyed playing with the boxes to both and then decided he wanted to play with Daddy's computer before warming up to the toys - looks like our kid is...normal! :)

For lunch, we ventured a bit north to see Nick's godparents, Buck and Lyndsay and his pal Ridge for a picnic lunch at Foxrun Regional Park where we introduced Nicholas to several nifty things. First, he had a couple of bites of cupcake which he seemed to enjoy...but he seemed to want the strawberries more! Then, we introduced him to swinging...on Daddy and Mommy's lap! He loved that and found the teeter totter amusing. His absolute most favorite thing ever though was going down the slide. That was WAY fun...so much so that when we tried to move him away from it (even if it was temporarily so that we could send him down it again), he threw a wee bit of a fit.

All in all, I think, if he could say a few more words he would tell you he had a rockin' birthday and that he's ready for his party. The bash is going to be at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (my favorite zoo of all time...even over San Diego...really!) and we have some neat activities planned...including, of course, Nicholas' first ever attempt at eating birthday cake unassisted. That should be a kick. I haven't completely decided what kind of filling and frosting I'm going to use in his cake, but I think it is safe to say it is going to be a stunner...and yummy, yummy, yummy! All the kiddies that are invited are sure to love it. To go along with the cake, I'm also going to make some very tasty strawberry ice cream using our new milk. With any luck, the guests will never forget the experience and will have lots of fun stories to tell Nicholas when he's old enough to understand it all! I promise to take lots of pictures to share on his website, too. 

And now, lets see if we can do a massive recap given that I haven’t posted anything for two months. I’m glad you all are an understanding lot! From the Nicholas side of things, we are crusing. We finally learned how to wave bye-bye and we can make the sign for “more” pretty well also. He loves bath time and is not at all pleased when someone (usually me) takes a shower because he thinks he should be getting to splash around in the bath. He’s become quite vocal at meals as far as voicing his approval (he just turns his head when he disapproves) for things that he likes. Mmmmmm! I should really try to get that on video.

Let’s see, what else….he has a lot more hair now….so super cute since it is still a nice red color. He seems to see very well also. He is sleeping through the night…sort of. He and I sleep on the floor (well on a bed of sorts made of blankets and a sleeping bag for him and a massage table for me) in his room now. It’s an odd arrangement, but we needed to try something else to get some sleep. So far, we’ve managed to end middle of the night feedings (unless he misses a feeding during the day) as well. He wakes up and usually snuggles up to me and falls right back to sleep. It isn’t optimal from some standpoints, but it is lovely getting to spend this special time with my boy. When the time seems right to me, I will work on transitioning him to sleeping in his crib through the night with me there and then I’ll move out slowly and return to my own bed…with any luck it won’t be too difficult.

Business-wise, we’re making headway. Mark did a business-to-business expo on Thursday which we believe will bring in a good number of new patients. We were showing them with before and after pictures taken on the spot what sort of a change Mark could make with just a couple of small adjustments. I’ve been working on the accounting and have taken over a miniscule amount of the office manager’s duties since she left this past month. In her place, we decided to hire another doctor to take x-rays and do diagnostic tests. Once he and Mark bring in a good number of new patients, we will be able to give him a raise…hopefully soon since he’s worth it but the budget won’t allow it.

On the home front, we have a new baby in our house thanks to an impulse splurge a couple of weeks ago. No, no…nothing that moves per se….rather we have a new baby grand piano. Thus a dream of mine is fulfilled…and one will be as Nicholas will get to have piano lessons when he gets to be a little older. We probably should have waited to buy it, but from a stress relief standpoint for me, it was worth every penny. Watching Nicholas “bang out” a song or two every day is quite amusing and just being able to play on a real piano after 10 years of trying to play on a keyboard that was missing the lowest octave has proven quite therapeutic for me. I consider it my belated Mother’s Day/You Put Up With The Chiropractic School, SBA Loan and Business Annoyance present….in my opinion, it was well-earned!!

Speaking of babies, now that Nicholas is one, I’m starting to get more and more people asking about whether we’re going to have more children. The truthful answer is I don’t know. My plate is pretty full with Nicholas, the business and what not and I’m not sure that another baby would be prudent. On the emotional side of things, I would love to have at least one more so that I could enjoy the learning curve that comes with the second child. We will weigh the decision carefully and maybe we’ll let you know if another pair of feet are in our future. Ultimately, we just want to do what is best for any and all children we have or may bring into the world.

And with that, I am going to sign off. I hope to be back here again soon….until then, if you haven’t visited Nicholas’ site recently, you may have missed out on several picture additions including those from when he was christened. Go enjoy!

Ha! Ha! Two posts in One Month

Hope you were sitting down when you checked our blog again. :) I must finally be equalizing as far as things I need to do. Maybe I'll get my license plates and drivers license changed before April is over (since I obviously missed doing it by the end of March).

I have actually had a few rather calm days when I felt as though I really should have been running around more. Today I ran around plenty, but I still had time to just hang with my little Nickles (like the coin - one of my favorite nicknames for him at the moment) and even let him take a little nap in the car.

We accomplished a couple of things that have been on my list for a while. We finally got our DVD Recorder off to Panasonic for service. I hope it is fixable...I suppose since it is under warranty it isn't really an issue, but whatever. We also finally made it to Michaels to have Mark's diploma, board test certificates and license framed. How cool, huh? I am quite pleased with the selection I made. He is going to have a very chic and yet understated looking brag wall. I was fortunate in that Michaels is having a 50% off sale right now so I save some big bucks on the framing. It was still expensive though...partially because I opted for a double matte look rather than the single matte look I chose when framing my own certificates...

We had some excitement at the end of the day, too. I helped our office manager break into her car. She'd left her keys in it. Ugh. We all know how annoying that is. We were able to, with the help of a wire hanger I brought back from home, pop her back window open. We had the darndest time trying to get the actual lock to slide over though...it's too bad we don't have video! Mark actually came back just at the right moment and I used his cane to trip it. Hopefully it will help with the whole bonding experience at the office. :)

And then we have a little story about the Nicholas. We have had some really easy getting to bed times these past few nights, but Saturday night was the most amazing. I believe the ease was due to Nicholas being adjusted by a doctor teaching a seminar Mark went to this weekend about correcting the spine. It is some crazy stuff, but it seems to be something I'll benefit greatly from...and Nicholas seems to have already enjoyed some spoils.

So on Saturday this guy adjusted Nicholas. I was about ready to crawl across the table and throttle the guy after the first adjustment. I have never seen anyone do that to a baby (I'm not going to elaborate - you don't want to know). It definitely was not one of those "barely any pressure things). But, that night, I kid you not...I took him out of his car seat sleeping. He didn't even stir (well, he did but for like two seconds and then was back to sleep with no input from me as far as patting shhhing and the like). I took him to our bedroom, lay him on the bed, took off his clothes and dressed him in his jammies and his snuggly sleep sack and he was sleeping through the whole thing. Just to push my luck, I breastfed him and then put him in his crib to go to sleep. He slept...no whining. no startling. nothing!

This is highly irregular, in fact, it's never happened before. EVER. Tonight, I just put him down before coming here to write and I laid him down and again...not a bit of stirring. Oh, and I didnt mention that on Sunday the kid had 6 (!!) bowel movements (and we're talking significant size - even had to change his clothes once) from the time he got up to the time we fed him dinner. Whoa....especially since some of them were not even close to a solid feeding. It was too weird, but ever since his potty has been "fresh" looking rather than, well, not. Very odd and very cool.

As for me, the guy adjusted me, too. Except for the fact that he and I both kind of abdicated responsibility on the last Saturday night adjustment as far as what side I should be adjusted on which lead to my being in a pretty bad state by Sunday morning (and pretty doubtful that the money I was spending sending Mark to the seminar was remotely worth it!). We walked into that classroom very unhappy campers. By the end of the day, though, I was feeling more positive about it...especially since the doctor had the decency to tell me that he had adjusted me on the wrong side and that's why I was feeling so utterly awful. Shortly after he adjusted me again I felt much better. He adjusted me once more that day and then Mark adjusted me again. The doctor estimates that by November of next year, I should be pretty much back to "normal" with my spine. I am hopeful that he won't let me down as many others have in the past. I would love to feel good again and not notice my body...

Well, I will spare you a further novella... I hope everyone is well and will chat at you again soon (it's a little more believeable now when I say this, isn't it?)

10 Months...

Our dear little sprout is 10 months old today and to celebrate, he got up on all fours and crawled! How exciting, huh?

I figured we'd start with that instead of the usual "blah, blah, blah sorry I've not posted" mumbo jumbo you've come to expect with my almost monthly posts. It is my intention (as it always is) to get back into the habit of providing regular updates. Maybe that will happen soon...maybe not. Only the business gods know for sure.

I have been swamped with getting things going with the business. Fun times since I am doing it primarily after normal operating hours and on weekends with Nicholas in tow. Frequently Mark will watch him which is helpful. This week was especially productive since Mark's parents were here to visit for Nicholas' baptism this past weekend and kept watch over him.

The baptism, speaking of which, was so nice. Nicholas was looking quite dapper in his little white tuxedo (there will eventually be pictures to see on his website which I also fully intend to get back up to date - hee hee!). It was a lovely ceremony on Easter Vigil (Saturday night before Easter) at the same church where we were married and where we seem to fit in nicely again despite their split from the Episcopal Church. It's pretty nice to be back in a very conservative church again, I have to admit.

The Easter Vigil ceremony is quite a sight and so it was the perfect time for the baptism. Nicholas once again stole the show (there were two other candidates who hadn't a chance) by getting fussy right as his turn "on stage" came. He started being quite figety, whiny, etc. So, the priest suggested Mark hand him over. As he read the service, Nicholas intently looked at him and thought about how he would steal his glasses. When he wasn't able to find a way, he went for the program. We have video of most of the service (we'd have it all but I had my brother stop recording in the middle to ensure we wouldn't have a problem with battery power when the actual baptism time came!), I can't wait to see it.

Because the ceremony was in the evening, we decided to have the party to celebrate it at lunch that day. We took all the VIPs to Phantom Canyon Brewery for some tasty vittles. For favors, I'd bought some candies to put in some cutie pie bunny easter baskets I found at Williams Sonoma. I had a big basket with Nicholas' name monogrammed on it for him. These were a big hit even if they were quite obnoxious and kept falling over when we tried to set the table up!

Nicholas has 7 official and one honorary (because he couldn't come to the ceremony) godparents. Our friends Kristie and Mark (Kristie sang at our wedding if you were there), Jennifer and Brent, Lyndsay and Buck and Noheilani (who s a rather recent acquaintance but who ADORES her little "Makana" and was a perfect addition to the line up were able to make the ceremony. Keola, unfortunately didn't make it, but is quite thrilled to be "the Godfather." We have quite a line up godparents-wise for Nicholas and we know they will be great role models.

On Easter Sunday we attended church with Kristie, Mark and their daughter Hannah, then we all joined Mark's parents for brunch at MacKensie's Chop House downtown. It was pretty tasty with all sorts of delectables including shrimp, crab legs, prime rib, ham and lots of other goodies.

Business-wise we are doing pretty well. Mark held down the fort without the retiring doctor for an entire week. About a 1/3 of the normal volume of patients showed up, but we were pleased with that as we know people get very attached to their doctors! Since that week, he's been the only doctor in the office on Wednesday and seems to be doing pretty well at getting a few people in to see him. :) He's slowly building a new patient base and should see an explosion here soon since he's joined a business networking group, the chamber and has been courting several area businesses.

We finally also have a somewhat liveable upstairs. We just need mt parents to come get their couch. :)

Other than that, we have been keeping up with our cutie pie Nick. We've begun introducing him to finger foods and he's loving them. So far we've made a hit with oat cereal (not cheerios, but similar), raisins (today), peas and pear chunks. He's a good little eater and seems to chew well before swallowing!

Other tricks he's got up his sleeves now including clapping and sometimes making the sign for Milk. Sometimes, I think he is waving though! He's grown enought that he's starting to transition into 9/12 month clothing and he has a lot of it. I went a bit nuts at a Macy's sale on MLK, Jr. day and he's pretty much not hurting for clothes for a while!

Other than that, I am toying with the idea of getting into children's photography. I say toying because I'm not quite ready to commit to taking photos of anyone but Nicholas. Part of what's bring the idea to the forefront is my dear MIL who thinks I'd be awesome at it and part of it comes from the fact that I am not having much luck finding a photographer here who does what I want for the price I want. I'm finding it almost amazing that if I want something close to what the photographer I used in the Bay Area offers, I have to pay more than double her cost! I guess it must be a supply and demand thing since the supply of photographers out there is much higher than that here. Who knows, though. One thing is handy - if I decided to do it, I have a pretty nice logo and website graphics designed that could probably be modified ever so slightly to make it work. Of course, the trademark wouldn't be of much use...

And then, I toy every so often with the idea of wedding or event planning here. I've come across so many photographers that are lamenting the lack of good wedding planners they can refer to brides who book with them. I even met one couple who was planning to introduce discounts for brides who had one. I probably would like it out here better, I'm guessing, buuut, I'm not even going to THINK about doing anything of that sort (or if I did, of advertising or whathave you) until Mark's business is up and running fabulously...if for no other reason than I promised the SBA when we applied for our loan. :)

I guess that will do for today. Perhaps I will make it back here before another month has passed. Until then, have a great time!

It's Over. (I Hope)

I have good news and bad news. We'll start with the bad news first - little Nicholas is sick. We picked up something somewhere and despite our best efforts he is now sporting a nice little fever and has tossed his cookies twice. My poor baby! I can now add being vommited on to my list of things I never imagined I could handle with grace. :)

I think the sickies are the result of WAY too much stress for our family. What with moving, trying to getting Mark working and other "stuff" has put a few chinks in our armor. Thankfully, we finally got to check one stressor off our list today - we FINALLY got to close on the business. It is ours! Lord help us....we probably are going to need it!

Yes, Dr. Rocco now has a place to hang his hat. How exciting, huh? Things finally worked out and tomorrow morning he'll begin his quest for chiropractic excellence and bringing wellness to every person he can get his hands on. ;) Please keep us in your prayers.

In other news, we are not yet moved in. We still have a POD sitting in our driveway and we're kind of stuck until we are able to get some help moving the big things out of it. This is tricky since a lot of things we might find useful are hiding behind the big things. But then again, we haven't even had a chance to put a lot of the small PODS contents away so maybe it's better that we can't move more boxes into the garage, eh?

Obviously, being sick has slowed us down somewhat with respect to the "moving in" process, but we have also been playing hooky a bit since we were able. We ventured up to Frisco, Colorado, this past weekend to visit with Mark's cousins Dan and Jimmy. It was so nice to meet them and for Mark to see them again as it had been quite sometime since the three of them were together. They and Julianna, Dan's sweet girlfriend, all enjoyed time with Nicholas and Nicholas just really took to all three of them (Dan will tell you he's the favorite of the three if you ask, though). I have some adorable pictures that I'll be putting up on his site as soon as I can get around to it.

And, that is another piece of good news that came out of the combination of being sick and being in Frisco - I've managed to add a ton of new pictures to Nicholas's website. We are caught up through Christmas with the little guy now except for the professional pictures we took at Christmas time, but we'll get those up very soon as well, I hope. That reminds me that I need to find a good kiddie photographer out here in Colorado as we are approaching Nick's 9 month birthday!

Let's see, other than that, I can't really think of anything important that I haven't mentioned so I suppose I'll be scooting out of here to go heat up some yummy soup that Nick's Auntie Noheilani (she calls him Makana...and I'm starting to pick up the habit!) made to help us all heal up fast. We have to send a big Mahalo (thank you!) to her and Mark's Dad for all their help in getting this business purchase through. :)

Has It Really Been That Long?

It doesn't seem like it's been nearly a month since I last came around the old blog, but I guess it has! Things have been CRAZY here so I guess I'm not totally surprised. What a whirlwind we're living in. With any luck it is coming to an end...

So, since we last touched base, we have pretty much gotten everything in line as far as the business. Unless by some bizarre occurence, we will be closing on the practice on February 1. Mark already has his name on the door...how neat is that? And, he's receiving his 1st paycheck on Friday of this week. A whole $10. Woo! We decided to pay him a small amount to take advantage of a special the bank was running on their payroll service. By making this one payment, we'll be saving $40. Not too shabby. :)

In other news, we are now officially back in Colorado after a horrid week of moving last week. It was awful, but we made it through it....with 1 1/2 PODS. We could't get everything into one. If you ask Mark, it is because we have too much stuff and need to get rid of some. If you ask me, it is because we have a baby and because I wasn't really given anytime to sort through what we had and get rid of things. I wasn't even able to take what I did have to donate to goodwill...I had to get a friend to volunteer for it!

With respect to our house, the good news is that we actually found some renters for it. They're probably going to be moving in toward the end of February. I was able to meet with the husband of the family and he seemed quite nice...he's actually a vice principal at a school in the area. I hope they like our home...if so, they plan to do a lease option and with any luck eventually buy it. That would be lovely.

As far as the news that everybody really wants (hee hee!), Nicholas is doing just fine. He's 8 months old now and just as much of a doll as ever though he has learned how to throw a fit. He's just not at all fond of wearing hats. He has a total of 7 teeth popping through at this point. Thankfully he's gotten used to all of them again and so he isn't gnawing on me. I don't like that much and it seems to happen every time he gets a new tooth.

Let's see, he's also sitting up on his own which makes him quite a bit of fun...especially at bath time. I'm still taking baths with him for safety's sake, but he's close to getting to be in the tub by himself...I'm just looking for a bit more stability. He's really come to love bath time....he loves to splash and kick and just smiles and smiles all the while he's doing it! He is also scooting around now. He looks sort of like an army guy scuttling along on his tummy especially when he has his one "dead" leg. Too funny! Finally, he seems to have discovered his feet...I always thought that happened a little sooner, but whatever.

Eating wise, he's still getting formula, breastmilk and he's been trying new little goodies in jars. I'd always planned to make all his food, but so far it's been a bust. Every time I try the consistency is too chunky and I end up pulling out a jar of something. I'll give it a try again soon I'm sure since he's getting into the land of "normal" food. We started trying meat out on him a few days ago and he seems to be quite happy with it, but then, he's pretty easy to talk into trying things as long as apples or pears are mixed in and it happened to be Chicken Apple. I just bought him a bunch of other goodies to try this evening.

Allergy-wise, we're still combating combinations with formula and what not right now. We seem to have cleared prunes and squash with formula, but we tried feeding him those in California and he was just a bit too stressed out with all the moving. His tummy was mighty upset and sending back everything including apples and pears. Thankfully he's feeling better now that we're at my brother's house, but I worry about how he'll do when we move into our new house at the end of the week...if we actually do.

It will be available, but we have the family timeshare this weekend in Frisco so we're probably going to enjoy some time away. I need it! I have been overworked and up to now quite underpaid for my services. Dr. Rocco totally owes me! ;)

Sleep-wise, Nicholas seems to do okay. We still have one night waking which I have grown weary of. We kept it up for a while there so that I could keep my milk supply up, but we need to get rid of it. Unfortunately, with Nicholas being so agitated with all the changes and what not, it just isn't the best time. So, we'll have to wait until we get settled into our new dwelling and then we'll have to endure a few very long nights, no doubt, as we refrain from giving him the breast or bottle when he awakes. We're going to need some serious patience for that activity I'm guessing.

I suppose that is it for now. The only other thing going on per se is that I've been contemplating maybe starting a new little business venture here in Colorado. I'm not sure what it would be. I'm not sure I really want to do wedding or event planning, but it's always a consideration. I really don't have time to focus on that right now anyway given my responsibilities to Nicholas and to Mark's business. I think the entrepreneur in me longs to give something a go, though, so I'm thinking on it. At least this time, hopefully, I will be able to do it in a way that I won't look back on it and realize that it was a "very expensive bout of therapy" like I do when I think about the wedding business.

Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and post a little more frequently now that things should be dying down a little!

Happy New Year!!!

In our little corner of the world, New Year's Day isn't quite yet over so Happy New Year to you! Sorry I didn't make it here to wish you all a Merry Christmas, but I'm sure you know I was thinking about you all that day, too!

There has been a flurry of activity around here since I last wrote. For one, the practice purchase is becoming more and more of a reality...despite a quick blip there where it looked like everything was going to h-e-double hockey sticks in a hand basket. We've received approval from the SBA for the loan, have an agreed upon price (this was where we had a problem for a bit there) and have received the good doctor's terms as far as the loan he'll give us for the remaining balance of the purchase price. Wow! We're hoping that Mark will be working by the beginning of February and making things happen!

By the way, I am typing this in Colorado...we're not here for good yet. We're just visiting for the holidays and to get things set up as far as the business and our housing situation. Speaking of the last one - we think we've found the perfect location to live. It is less than a mile from Mark's office and is right by a Safeway and a Target. It has 5 bedrooms, 2 baths and is very nice based upon our viewing today. The owners seem like very nice people and are looking to sell it sometime soon so we're hoping to maybe set up some sort of lease to buy situation. We figure if we later decided we wanted another home, we could conceivably rent this one and buy some other home for us. We're going to call and start the application and negotiation process tomorrow.

As for the holidays, today was not terribly exciting (nor was last night as we were in bed by around 10ish, I think - I'm not sure as I have a cold and am not quite 'with it') other than the house scoping and meeting up with a friend for dinner at Giuseppe's (yummo!). Nicholas, too, is under the weather with his very first cold...the poor dear. We're pretty sure he picked something up during our visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house. He's really been quite a trooper, but I've had to deal with way too many loose stools and resulting diaper leaks and explosions for my liking. I think he's starting to feel better, as I am, but we'll just have to see what happens tomorrow!

Other than the cold, he's doing great. He's just about had his 5th tooth break through (uppper right next to front if that makes sense). I'm expecting it to be official in just a day or so more. He is up to about 17 pounds and 29 inches now...almost time for a new car seat! We scoped those out the other day at Babies R Us. We're leaning toward the Britax Boulevard...

As for Christmas, it was really nice getting to spend it with my parents. It was a good one for Nick's first as well. Santa was quite good to him and brought him a Christmas tree of his very own for when I finally realize my dream of having a Christmas tree in every room of the house at Christmas time. He gets to decorate his however he'd like with no OCD allowed from Mommy. hee hee. He received some ornaments to get him started as well. He also recieved a neat little doggie towel, some books, a blankie, clothes, ornaments for his tree and so much more. He, of course, wasn't completely aware of what was going on, but he thought the red shiny paper was pretty neat.

On Christmas Eve we took him to the church I attended while growing up for the service. It was so much fun getting to show him off to all the people there. They loved him and he definitely stole the show...especially when he was fake coughing and chatting during the sermon. It was too cute. He loved all the singing and the attention he was showered with...the little ham!

As far as future plans, we're currently thinking we'll return to the Bay Area on Jan. 7 and get things wrapped up as far as packing and what not. Then we'll head out around the 15th or so. We're contemplating maybe having my brother drive the car out and just flying here again...we're not sure. But at least things are looking up and good and we'll be getting to get our lives in order again soon.

Well, that is it for now. I suppose I've forgotten something, but hopefully not!

Graduation Weekend

We're heading into a very busy weekend here in the Rocco household. For that matter, it's likely to be a very busy couple of weeks what with finishing up packing, moving and the like.

Saturday is the big day that Mark walks across the stage and gets to be called "Doctor Rocco," though, technically he is already. They just only have two ceremonies per year and so he has had to wait a few months to do the ceremony thing. We have all sorts of visitors planned for that big day - Mark's Uncle Timmy just arrived tonight and of course his parents and brother will be along as well. It should be a pretty fun weekend.

Speaking of fun weekends, my birthday weekend was also quite nice. We thoroughly enjoyed our little B&B tour in Napa. I totally overindulged....way too much sugar and way too much wheat. I was not feeling so hot the next day at all, but it was worth the experience. Our inn that we stayed in was very nice as well...even if there was a mix up as far as which room we were supposed to be in. As luck would have it, I liked the Winter room which we ended up in better than the Autumn room anyhow! :) Here are a few pictures of the room:





Isn't it nice? It was quite a joy to stay in. I was really glad I'd taken a picture of the bed when we first went up...when we returned after a quick bite to eat the bed had already been turned down.

As for the little tour, it was so neat. It was almost like a little progressive dinner party except there were only appetizers and desserts. It's actually like a kind of party I've always sort of wanted to set up...maybe once we're back to Colorado Springs I'll see if a bunch of our friends would be interested in a fun little tour of our houses at Christmas or something. Anyhoo, probably my favorite house on the tour was the Cedar Gables, but then, that is because the innkeeper there was dressed up as Santa Claus and took a nice little picture with Nicholas. It's the cutest picture ever...and sooner or later, it will be in the 7th Month group of photos on his website. Of course, I have to get the 6th month photos up there first!

We had so many goodies and yummy appetizers. I really appreciated that one of the inns even gave us the recipes for what they served. This was the Old World Inn which is run by chefs. They had some wonderful croissants there that made me happy as a clam. Wine-wise, I had a sip or two here and there of wines Mark tried. Since we decided against using the limo/shuttle transportation provided to tour-goers so that we could ensure Nick's safety in his car seat and because I'm still nursing him, I went easy on the vino. We had a lot of really yummy ones. Mark's favorite typically hails from the area of France where I spent some time back in college, too. Isn't that spiffy?

Nicholas really enjoyed the tour himself. He had all sorts of people fawning over him. We even had the good fortune to have some people take some pictures of us. Following the no Nicholas pictures without a pass rule, here's one that was taken of us while some nice ladies cooed over him. :)


Other than that, Nicholas has been doing great, too. We finished up his formula treatments and we have really noticed a great change in how he's been doing (yea!). He actually is able to pass a lot of his own gas which is refreshing (well, you know what I mean). We still have to help him out sometimes, but not super often. We've tried to introduce some other foods as well, but we're not having much luck allergy-wise. It seems that Nicholas' body doesn't seem to like most foods as of yet. One of the strange parts is that we have tested him on every food we've tried at the grocery store and he'll test okay, but then after we feed him the stuff his body "changes" it's mind.

We get some pretty decent indicators when he's eaten something his body doesn't like - the most prevelant one is that the food doesn't stay down very well. This is quite frustrating for everyone. For me, it is on a few levels...not only do I want the little guy to be properly fed, but I also just really am not a fan of trying to get the stains of out his clothing.

And, that, I guess, is the update for tonight since Mark and his Uncle Timmy who joined us this evening are chatting and I'm going to be social!

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.