Treats

So, Sarah occasionally will use the potty and then of course get a treat afterwards. One time we cheered and clapped and asked if she was going to get a treat for going in the potty. She of course gave a resounding "Yeah!".
Then Katie added... "I get a treat TOO, I watched!"

New Home

Here is a link to a self-made virtual tour our new home in Mahomet, IL. It is a little town outside of Champaign where the U of Illinois is. It is our first purchase so that is pretty exciting. We took some pictures while going through for a final inspection, we'll move in next week: http://tinyurl.com/pwj4fh

Safe

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto. :)

Just wanted to let everyone know we made it safely to Illinois last night. It was a couple stressful days of packing and loading out, but our AWESOME friends helped out with babysitting and food and I can't begin to explain just how grateful I am for that. I am truly going to miss everyone in Kansas. The kids traveled great and we got in at 10 last night. We're all very tired, but glad to be here with Mom and Dad.

Failed

Well, the experiment was a complete failure. That night Ryan refused the bottle so that answered that question. And I found out the offending food: my oh so yummy golden oreos. Yes, that one last treat that I thought I could eat turned against me. But ever since I took those out of my diet he's been awesome. I love my happy baby.

On a sad note, Steve just took Sarah to the ER to have her leg checked out. She looks like she's had a bad reaction to her shots she had over a week ago. Hopefully it's nothing. I'll let ya know.

Experiment

We are conducting an experiment around here. For the next day or so Ryan will be on formula to see if it clears up his allergies/colic. I don't like doing this, but I don't like seeing him in pain, either. His face has been really bad the last few days with bumps and the rash has spread all over his body and he's not been a happy camper. I almost hope it fails so nursing is the only option. Then again it would sure be nice to eat regular food again. He was pretty upset about the bottle at first tonight. We'll see how he does in the middle of the night.

Ryan

It's probably about time we got an updated photo of my handsome little guy where he's actually smiling. This was taken today. I may be a little biased, but I think he's just so cute!

House and Orders

So, we've been back from Illinois for over a week now and I haven't said anything about how the trip went. So I'll give a very fast recap. I had spoken with Elizabeth Tandy and Dad talked with a teacher down in Champaign and it was decided that the school system in Mahomet was significanly better than in Champaign. As this will be the first year Ellie goes to school, this was a huge deal for me. That's how we decided to only look in Mahomet.

We drove to Mom and Dad's on Monday and were down in Mahomet Monday morning bright and early to start looking at houses. I had been doing some serious research online and had found about 10 houses to look at that I thought we would like. We started at 9:30 and went until I believe about 6:30 that evening. We found one house we LOVED. It was perfectly arranged, had 5 bedrooms, the colors were great, the kitchen was awesome, the price just right. BUT... it was right on the highway and oh so loud. I thought I could deal with that until we went back the next day and stood in the back yard for a few minutes and yelled at each other to have a conversation. Yeah, not going to work. What a huge bummer! We looked at a couple other houses, but nothing that we thought was worth the money. We looked into rentals, but there was just nothing there in Mahomet. Thursday was our last day to look, so I found another list of about 5 homes and off we went again. This time we found a home that we thought would work for us. Certainly not our dream home, but this needs to be something we can enjoy for 2 years and then move on. And this house will do it. It's 4-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath. There is tons of living space and the bedrooms are sufficiently sized. We'll probably stick all the girls in one room and Ryan in another. We'll need the 4th bedroom for storage, as there isn't a whole lot there. We put in an offer and then a counter-offer and finally the deal was set. We close on May 18th and will hopefully move in that week. (Carrie and Lance are arriving the 22nd, so we're getting kicked out anyway... hehe) I will get pictures posted as soon as we can get some of our own. It's just nice to have a place to live!

Then we've been fighting the good fight to get these orders in order to actually move to Illinois. Steve has gotten the run-around for the past month. He would be told they would fast-track his paperwork then call back a couple days later and they not only hadn't done anything, but couldn't remember who he was. Yeah... frustrating. But-he finally got his RFO (request for orders) today. He just went in to work to get the actual orders and then to arrange for transportation to come and get our household goods. We had hoped to be out by Monday, but it looks like it will probably be the 30th. Things are finally moving along! Whew!

There's more going on, but I'll have to talk about that on another post. My children are tired of me sitting in front of the computer. :-D

Manna

Numbers 11: 6- But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.

I am starting to feel this way. Steve made a comment last night that rang so true... I am beginning to understand why the Israelites complained about eating manna for 40 years.

Here is my diet. And this is pretty much what I eat every single day.
Breakfast: bagel and water or milk
lunch: turkey sandwich and wheat thins (sometimes a banana, but I'm not sure if it's really allowed yet)
dinner: salad with cheese on top (my family gets real meals) most croutons have onion or garlic

here's my latest list of what's not allowed. And it grows almost daily...
oranges, to include orange juice. This also means any kind of citrus fruits
strawberries (which includes jellies and yogurts)
chocolate and caramel
onion
garlic
nuts, to include cashews, almonds, walnuts and peanut butter
corn, to include popcorn and any cereals or chips made with corn
pretzels, apparently- he has a terrible reaction today or else the graham crackers
tomatoes in all their varieties
parmesan cheese
beans, broccoli, cucumbers
eggs

yeah- not a whole lot left to eat. Pretty much everything I cook has either onion or garlic in it. I am starting to lost my patience for this diet. I want to nurse Ryan- it's a wonderful thing to do and very beneficial, but there are days when I wonder if it's worth it. I sometimes feel like I'm not healthy because there is no variety in my diet!

I just hope this isn't a sign for how he'll be when he gets older. And I really hope he grows out of this soon!! Yes, I am feeling sorry for myself :)

Here comes the Bride

The last Junie B. Jones book I read to the girls had to do with a wedding. At the end of the book it mentioned that the dad was singing the bride's song. So I just had to teach this to Ellie and Katie...

Here comes the bride,
All dressed in white.
Where is the groom?
He's in the dressing room.
Why is he there?
He lost his underwear.

They have been singing that song nonstop the last couple days and just crack up at the end of it every single time. Even Sarah cracks up- though I don't thinks he knows why :) Steve questioned why I would teach them such a silly song, but really-it's humor they can understand. And I like to hear them doing something together and laughing together. It makes me a happy mom.

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Day!

I just had to show off my handiwork again. I sewed the dresses and Ryan's tie :-) I'm all about coordination, after all!

Oh My!

Every night, for the past week or so, Ellie has said the same thing in her prayers. It has me a tad bit concerned...

"Please bless Mommy to have twin boys and then take a break."

Bugs

The girls had a great time dressing up today and flying around the house. Ryan was supposed to be a caterpillar in a cocoon, but Steve thought he looked like he was flying in the sky, so he added his own interpretation (as you can see). Just a bunch of silliness, really.

Antics

I keep wanting to take more pictures, but it just doesn't seem to happen. I have a few fun ideas that I hope to get done soon. But in the meantime... Here are a few pictures of what my silly kids have been doing lately.

Geoff and Emily just mailed this dress back to me (I think it's a 9 month outfit) and the girls got hold of it. Sarah loves to dress up and was more than willing to go along with Ellie's scheme.

Speaking of schemes, poor Camo was rooked into this one. They tried to get Daisy as well, but she got away.

Ellie wanted me to take her picture. Not only is she acting like a little mother, but the crazy hair kind of looks like I feel most days, too :) She is very good about getting Ryan out of bed and bringing him downstairs for me when I ask her to. (Steve calls those nightgowns "man dresses")

Ryan has been very social and giving me HUGE smiles lately. For some reason the pictures I take don't do it complete justice, but he's just so cute! And check out those chins!

And I thought this was really sweet. The girls were watching a movie and Steve put Ryan down next to Katie. She is extremely gentle with him and he is always smiling at her.

Diet +

To start off, I will say that Ryan is a very sweet little baby. Very even-tempered and now that he's smiling and talking more it's so fun to be around him. BUT... that's when I'm careful about my diet. I was looking at those pictures that I had posted last time and noticed how splotchy Ryan's face was in a couple of them. That is because not only does he have food sensitivities, but it makes his face/chest break out in that horrible rash. When I eat bad, he has horrible colic and we are all miserable. When I avoid those foods, it's heavenly with him. But get this list of foods I can't eat (these are the ones I know for sure): chocolate, strawberries, tomatoes, garlic, onion and any kind of nuts. That seriously complicates matters, as almost every dish I cook has onion and garlic in them! I've been eating a lot of salads lately. And golden oreos (my non-chocolate fix)... which is why I'm probably not losing any of the baby weight? Yeah, I need to not buy those any more.

We went down to the Oklahoma Temple last week, which was really fun. Winter Quarters was closed for cleaning, so we drove the extra distance (just over 4 hours). We stayed the night Thursday then went to the temple Friday and switched with 2 other couples for babysitting. At one point we had 10 kids that we were watching. Pretty crazy! It's always nice to be able to be in the temple, though. It's nice that we're able to get there once a month, even with the long distances we have to drive.

I had a change in callings at church again. I was released as the Primary pianist (again- extra bummed about it) and called as a Gospel Doctrine teacher (2 teachers rotate weeks). I enjoy teaching, so I was excited about this calling. Funny thing is, though- I might only end up teaching 2 lessons total before we move, as we have General Conference and then Stake Conference in April. I am really anxious about our move and excited for our next stage in life.

Smile

Today I finally caught it- the smile. Ryan has been smiling at Steve for almost 2 weeks now (he's smiling at Steve in this picture). Today was the first time he actually smiled at me other than little half-smiles. But I won't hold it against him :-)

Here are a couple pictures from Ryan's blessing day, too.



And yesterday Ryan got his first haircut. Yes, you might think that 5 weeks old is a little early to be going for that military cut, but I think the pictures will prove why I agreed to this drastic measure.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B: