Christmas!

We Had 3 Christmas celebrations this year! It was a lot for all of us (especially Roman), but we love being with family and had a lot of fun! Roman walked away a winner with more toys than we know what to do with! He loved opening all his gifts this year. It was awesome to see him do things more independently!

A Moment of Self Pity (just let me have it...)

I'm becoming increasingly mentally exhausted. By nothing other than the fact that my sweet little boy has these tremendously annoying food allergies. Why did he get them!? I have found myself, lately, asking God this question. Followed by, I can't do this anymore! Not that I want to feed my child nasty (and not so nasty :)) processed food, but it sure would be nice to just feed him whatever I want to! Finding food that the 3 of us enjoy is becoming so difficult!! I miss tasting. I miss the stress-less-ness of being able to give Roman any kind of food. -not that we really had that pleasure to begin with. I, in a way, resent (for lack of a better word) the fact that so many of my friends have it 'easy' in the feeding their child department. (which is a sin, I know. I'll repent later) ;)

I try to have a positive attitude, and I think I accomplish that pretty well for the most part. But one can only take so much, right? You've been in that kind of situation, haven't you? Where you're adjusting okay, coping okay, and then one day you just can't deal with it anymore! The stress alone of feeding you baby the right foods to begin with is overwhelming. But when you have to avoid: milk, egg, peanut, soy, pineapple, mango, peaches, peas, butternut/yellow/acorn squash + others, what does that leave you? To all you great cooks out there, what a blessing it is to cook with ease. Make sure to count it as one!!

If you remember, please pray that Roman will outgrow ALL of his allergies. Jeff and I pray for him everyday. I know God can make it happen, and I really hope it's in His will.

Okay, there. I had my moment. Thanks for reading my whiny post. Here's something to put a smile on your face :)

He was actually really looking at the toys on in the ad. It was hilarious!

Update

Roman and I went to his 1 year dr. appointment about a week ago, or so. It was completely pointless. We tried out a newer doctor and I can't say I was impressed by her. She's nice, sure, but not what I was looking for. Oh well. His stats are as follows:

~27 lbs

~30 inches long

~wearing size 24 mo. shirts

~ONLY fits into H&M jeans (size 12-18 months)

~stands up very well now!

~really wants to start cruising, but can't quite figure it out (he'll bring 1 knee up and put it back down, kinda like he's tapping to the beat)

~is hilarious

~starting to throw fits more often when he doesn't get what he wants

~is active, active, active!! he doesn't stay still for long!

~going through another stint of separation anxiety. which means he thinks I need to rock him to sleep all the time now, and is climbing all over me all day!

~LOVES his daddy!! they are the best of friends!

~still drinks from a bottle

~facing forward in his car seat!

I cannot believe he's 1. It just seems impossible! He is SOOOO much fun now! He also takes a lot more energy out of me. I'm exhausted by the time he goes to bed!

A common face in our household.

Birthday Update

Roman turned 1 on the 28th!! It's so crazy to think that I am the mama of a 1 year old. Seriously, where did the time go!

His party was great! We had a packed house of people whom are very dear to us! There was wacky cake, pumpkin muffins, fritos, homemade vanilla frosting, maid rite sandwiches and plenty to drink! The only potential hazardous food there were the buns for the maid rites. I tried making them myself with no luck and I was down to the wire. Oh well. I'll perfect a recipe for hamburger buns later.

Roman has his 1 year check up on Friday. After that I'll post photos of his b-day bash, and his stats, and let you know how the check up went. We're going to see a new ped., so we'll see how it goes! Fingers crossed!

It's Potty Time!

You can never start too early, right? We just got Roman's Baby Bjorn potty chair in the mail yesterday! I'm so excited to start using it! Before his nap this morning I plopped him on it to see what he'd do. He loved it! I plan on putting him on it every time I use the bathroom and when he gets up, or goes down, for naps. I'll probably be going through more diapers as a result, but if it gets us out of diapers sooner I think it'll be worth it!

24, Not to be confused with Kiefer Sutherland

Well, I turned 24 yesterday. I'm actually happy about getting out of the lower 20's. Is that weird? I guess inside, I've kind of always felt like a 30 year old. :)

Anyway. The day was great! It started out with Roman being SO excited it was his mom's birthday he couldn't sleep any longer and wanted to get up to celebrate....at 6am. So we got up. Jeff went and got part of our nutritious breakfast: donuts and eggs. Delicious. After breakfast (of which Roman had none...) we kind of just hung out. Roman went down for his morning nap about 9-11ish. After nap we went to Applebee's to have lunch with my dad and brother! Delicious! Came home, Roman went down for the afternoon nap, well kinda. If you call 45 minutes a nap. We then went to the mall and I got a new puffy vest (I've wanted one for several years!) from Gap. Love Gap. In addition to my new vest, I saved about 15 bucks because they were having 25% off of everything in the store, sale items included! It was fantastic!

Came home from the mall and ate dinner: Chili leftovers! Yum!! After dinner Jeff took me on a hott date. Michael Jackson's "This Is It" movie. It was really good! I left feeling really bummed that he is no longer living. :( But thankful for his genius-ness in the music industry! By the time Jeff and I got home, we were pooped. So we went straight to bed!

All in all, a wonderful day! Next year I'll be 25. I can't help but think of when Jessica Simpson turned 25... :)

Priorities

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but my priorities have shifted. While I plan on keeping my blog, there just might be fewer posts than before.

<------ That's why. :)

I have come up with a plan that is turning out to work WONDERFULLY for me. So excited about it! When I stick to this plan, I feel accomplished and prepared for anything! It's been a good week so far!

It goes something like this:

During the weekend, I search high and low for allergy free recipes. Anything from breakfast to dinner and all in between (snacks included). My goal is to create 'Roman friendly' foods so that during mealtimes, we can just give him some of what we're eating. Then, I pick the recipes I want to try for the week and write them in my calendar. Come Monday, I go shopping for all the needed ingredients. *This last Monday, Roman and I spent, literally, all day at different grocery stores!* Once I have my weeks menu and all the groceries I need for it the day-to-day regimen kicks in.

During Roman's morning nap, I have been printing off recipes for the day. Mainly dinner, but I'm working on lunches (and breakfast) too. I give it a once over, just to get an idea of what we're having and what I'll need to get out. After that I generally do some housework, get myself ready for the day, try a new bread recipe, read, or whatever. When Roman wakes up, I can then devote all my attention to him, which I love!

While Roman takes his afternoon nap (which the last few days has been over 2 hours long - hope I didn't just jinx myself) I prep dinner! I chop onions, potatoes, cucumber, or whatever I can do before hand, thaw the meat and/or marinate it, and get everything I'll be using out onto the counter in an organized fashion. For example, last night we had beef and veggie casserole! yum-o! While Roman slept, I browned the meat, chopped celery, onion, and threw all of it, plus a bag of frozen mixed veggies, together. I put it in a baking dish, covered it and put it in the fridge! About an hour and a half before Jeff got home I put the beef stock in, a dash of salt and pepper and a bay leaf. Re-covered it and put it in the oven! When Jeff got home we only had to wait maybe 15-20 minutes before it was ready! It was delicious! Jeff ate 1/2 the pan, not exaggerating!

I love the feeling of being productive and prepared. Not only do I feel I'm using my time wisely, I'm incredibly less stressed about what to feed my family and how clean the house is! It's wonderful! I highly recommend it!