One Year Facts

We had P2's one year check-up yesterday! She did great for the doctor. She was bashful, but warmed up to him. She only cried for 30 seconds when she had her shots, and then she was okay again.

Weight: 20 lbs 14 oz (67th percentile)

Height: 29.5 inches (61st percentile)

P2 is walking (when she wants to). She'll only do up to 8 steps herself, but hey, it's walking! I transitioned her to cow's milk already, and it was much easier with her than it was with her brother. Maybe it's easier to go from formula to milk than breast-milk to milk.

She has 2 molars coming in on top, and 2 more teeth on bottom coming through. That is a grand total of 6 on top, and 4 on bottom. She still loves to brush her tooth, and likes to run away with her toothbrush.

Hair color is light brown at this point, and she has adorable curls in the back. She also likes to try and comb her hair.

P2 likes to push things around: this bike, chairs, stools, anything that will move.

She got a little table and chairs for her birthday. She and her brother think they are pretty cool.

P2 is usually getting into some kind of mischief. She's fast too. I was trying to blog on Sunday, and I turned around and saw this:

P2 likes to climb up things, but she doesn't know how to get back down, so then she will just cry until someone helps her. I guess that's better than her falling down.

She loves the water. We like to go swimming at Grandma's, and also in our little pool. We also went to a splash pad, and she kept trying to drag me into the water with her (and P1 was the only one dressed to get wet).

P2 is a pretty good eater. But once she is full, she just throws all her food on the floor. And daddy has already taught her that in order to get a treat, she has to eat her dinner. I didn't think she was getting it, but now if she points to a treat and you don't give it to her, she will look and eat something off of her plate and then point to the treat again. Her favorite food is fruit, berries in particular.

Eating breakfast at their little table:

P2 isn't talking a whole lot, but she is pretty good at communicating what she wants.She can say "bye-bye", "this", and "baby". Mostly she just points to what she wants and says "this." Oh, and she really likes to give kisses.

Birthday Celebration

Opening presents! P2 got a lot of cute clothes for her birthday. She also got The Little Engine that Could from her uncle, a little table and chairs from grandparents, and a Tiger pillow pet from grandparents. P1 thought it was his birthday.

Grandma and grandpa were nice and sent a present for P1 to open too. I think he opened it before P2 finished opening her first present. His other grandparents gave him a card to open, and it was "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" card that plays the theme song. He loves it! And mom and dad hide it a lot so we don't go crazy. Especially when it sounds like a broken record because the kids keep opening and shutting it.

 The kids helped me bake the cupcakes for her birthday. They enjoyed licking the beaters!

Birthday cupcakes! These were a mistake for me to make. I "accidentally" ate too much frosting while decorating them. Also, having oreos in the house was not the best idea. But to my credit, I didn't eat a single oreo (well, not a whole one anyway!).

P2 liked the oreo, but not the cupcake.

  

We had family over on Saturday to help us eat the rest of the cupcakes since I can't eat them, and the kids don't really like them.

Happy First Birthday P2!

My sweet little girl,

Has it really been a year? I can't believe it. You were such a tiny helpless little thing the other day, and now you're busy terrorizing your older brother. I love your little personality. I see so much of me in you. You have a strong will and fierce determination. You are adventurous and love a new thrill, yet are extremely bashful. Only mom, dad, and grandma are allowed to hold you. I do love the extra snuggles I get when we are around other people. You are such a tease, and love to run away with stuff so that we will chase you. You definitely make life exciting!

We love having you in our family! Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mom

And now, a year in review!

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2 Months of SCD

I have made it two months on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). The first 2 weeks were the hardest. I adjusted to it very quickly, and honestly, it feels like I've been eating this way for much longer than 2 months (but in a good way). I would say I'm 97% good about sticking to the diet. I'm grateful I don't have food allergies, because I can be a little lenient. I can still eat the sacrament bread, and this week I had a tiny bite of Aggie Ice Cream.

Physically, I have felt pretty well, I'm still not 100% better though, and I'm still trying to get off some medication. So I will probably be sticking with this diet for a while. A year or 2 doesn't seem so crazy to me now. Nuts are allowed on the diet, and I've baked a lot with nut flour. But I've learned that I still need moderation, especially with nuts. I made some yummy strawberry shortcake cupcakes for my birthday. I've also made some good muffins, donuts, cookies, granola, pizza, and beef jerky.

I've had to switch my mindset with food though. Food has usually been an inconvenience for me. I felt like spending too much time in the kitchen was a waste of time. I think we ate reasonably well, but I definitely preferred to not cook everything from scratch.

I've come to better understand how important it is to eat real, healthy food. The one common thing in all the books I've been reading is that disease begins in the gut. If our digestive systems aren't eliminating food in a timely fashion (12-18 hours), then that food basically rots in our gut, creating toxins that can cause damage and disease elsewhere.The Western Diet is not gut friendly. Fruits and veggies are really the best at keeping food moving through your body.

Also, probiotics and fermented food are really important. We have a whole ecosystem of bacteria in our gut called our gut flora. But many things can throw our gut flora out of whack, a big one being medication. Especially antibiotics. If you ever have to take antibiotics, make sure to take probiotics to help replenish the good bacteria in your body. Also, mothers pass on their gut flora to their babies. When a child is born, they have a sterile gut. The gut flora is establish through breast milk within the first 30 days. Formula cannot do that, which is one reason it is so important to breast feed, if able.

The thing I found really interesting, is that if a grandmother had mild digestive problems (too much gas, nothing serious), then she will pass on a slightly imbalanced gut flora to her daughter, The daughter's gut flora becomes more imbalanced due to the Western Diet, fast food, and medication (maybe the birth control pill). She then passes this out of balance gut flora to her daughter, which may be manifested through food allergies, ADHD, autism, and a whole spectrum of disorders we see affecting our children today. So what we eat not only affects us, but future generations.

I've also been amazed at how sugar is in almost everything. You don't realize it until you can't have anything that has added sugar, which seems to eliminate 90% of what is available at the grocery store. We are really addicted to sugar here.

Addiction is another thing I have been observing. I don't think it is possible to be addicted to healthy food. I've enjoyed eating most of the food I make now, but I rarely get the craving to have more of something. The only exceptions have been some cookies I made that have a lot of honey in them (so not the healthiest thing). But that tiny bit of Aggie Ice Cream that I had the other day, was like a hook on the end of a fishing line. I almost gave in and ate more. The desire to eat more was intensely strong. So I think we should take good notice of what foods we are addicted to, because we probably shouldn't be eating those foods.

Anyway, this is just a hodgepodge of thoughts I have had while on this diet. I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen, but I think it is worth it to keep my family healthy. The food we eat becomes a part of us in a very real way, and I want to be the gatekeeper for my family instead of trusting the food industry to do it for me.

Baby Steps and Biting

P2 is almost walking! She took her first two steps a couple weeks ago, but she always stops walking as soon as she realizes what she is doing. She can walk really well if she can hold onto one of your fingers, but as soon as you let go, she will start crawling.

P2 also started biting. There was a 24 hour period where she bit her brother 4 times. Once was on the cheek and that left a nice bruise. She bites when she gets mad or frustrated. Fortunately, her brother has now realized that she will bite, so he is a little more careful around her.

2 Little Monkeys

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed...

P1 likes to sing that song while he and P2 jump on his bed. Fortunately no one has hit their head yet!

The Merry-Go-Round

I took the kids to a newer park that is in our stake, and both times we have been the only family at the playground. The kids love the merry-go-round. P1 calls it his boat. P2 loves to crawl around in circles trying to run away from me. I get a lot of exercise from running around the merry-go-round to make sure she doesn't crawl right off the edge.