Around the house

Ethan currently enjoys exploring our house. He finds everyday items very interesting.


Door stops make a fun "booiiinnnggg" sound. No worries, we've tried to pull those little white rubber tips off. He's also supervised.



Laundry is FUN! He likes to practice standing against the dryer door. It also makes a very nice drum.




Making faces in the mirror is a hit. Of course he also likes to hit and lick the mirror :)




Playing in the kitchen with food storage containers.



His comb and a diaper cream container are drums as well. This keeps him occupied while I care for his eczema.



Laundry baskets are fun too!

toys, toys, toys

We noticed that Ethan was becoming bored with his baby toys. Rattles were only entertaining him for so long. He's graduated from the exersaucer and jumparoo. Of course anything around our house becomes a toy and he still loves books, but we had fun toy shopping.

Here are some that have been Ethan's favorites over the past month or so...

Penguin These photos make me laugh!



Drums. Well, really, he makes just about anything a drum these days. He also enjoys when we put it together so that it rolls.


Busy Ball Popper is am occasional toy b/c it's loud. It was a gift. It scared him at first but now he's interested in how it works. He likes when the air blows in his face.




Activity Table
What we liked about this table is that you can use it w/o the legs if you choose. We started out this way. He loves music so this has been a hit!


We added the legs to work on pulling up and standing. A mixing bowl makes a nice seat (and drum).



This simple Little Tikes piano is his favorite. I picked it up at a consignment sale for $2. Perfect! They have a few at his daycare and he loves them! His face lit up when he saw we had one at home.




With his piano and mixing bowl drum. He loves music & to make noise!

Melissa and Doug have some cute toys like this one. Another consignment sale find!


Stacking cups and nesting boxes are fun too!



Next post will be his favorite things around the house that make great toys. I've love watching him explore at this stage. It's amazing to watch his mind work!

Saving her baby

Have you read this blog post?

WOW. What an inspiration. A mother who was so strong. She made decisions based on her intuition, ignored the criticism of others, and fought to help her daughter.

YUM!

{His expression isn't showing it but he really enjoys his veggies}

The Baked Apple Slices were delicious!! I used the microwave to cook them and they turned out great.

Oh and I made the mayo recipe again but used extra virgin olive oil instead of mild olive oil. I did not like it as much. I'll try it with mild olive oil again.

Rice & recipes

First, I wanted to get back to my post about my sandwich...
The bread I was eating was the Food For Life Seven Sprouted Grain bread. It is only 1 of 2 from their line that is soy free. Some of their other breads have soy oil in them. I wanted to clarify that just in case. It's always important to read labels. The other bread from Food For Life that is dairy and soy free is The Original Bran For Life Bread. I switched to this one because it's also rice free. It's tasty too.

Eczema... We're still struggling with this. I was wheat and gluten free for months but Ethan still had eczema on his face. Knowing that and the fact that he hasn't had any new reactions since I added wheat/gluten back into my diet makes me feel comfortable that he can tolerate it. I started questioning RICE though. Ugh. Rice is in all allergen-free foods! I've consumed A LOT of rice since this all began. I wonder if he has become sensitized to it. So, I've cut rice out for the past two weeks and will give it some more time before I decide. I'm hoping it will help his face clear up. It's tough... all those Enjoy Life Foods treats are free of the top 8 allergens but all have rice in them :( I miss the cookies.

Have I posted about this ice cream yet? It has soy lecithin in it but Ethan didn't have any new reactions after I ate it. Makes me wonder if he can tolerate soy lecithin now. In the beginning I had been concerned about guar gum too but again, Ethan didn't have any new reactions. Read about Turtle Mountain's Allergen Program here.

I stopped eating cereal and rice milk. I think the rice milk was making my stomach hurt. I still haven't tried hemp milk. I wonder if it would work in the cinnamon cake recipe that calls for rice milk.

I previously posted about this recipe for buckwheat pancakes. I've been eating those with real maple syrup and fruit for breakfast. Sometimes I think they taste like gingerbread pancakes!

I've been missing out on fall treats like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I did find some yummy & safe (by safe I mean free of offending ingredients) pumpkin butter at a local market. I've even put it on the buckwheat pancakes!

I'm going to try baked apple slices this week. Instead of a microwave, I've read a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

Ok, now I'm hungry ... time to go eat!

Happy Fall!

Fun with a pumpkin hat

Tantrums

Little

Baby

Temper

TANTRUMS!


He's been having mini ones where he kicks the floor in protest for a couple months but this is a new trick... back bends...

I know it seems evil to take his picture while he's having a mini meltdown but I couldn't resist. I was trying to get something done on the computer. Ethan wanted his momma. Matt was trying to keep E occupied until I could take him. Above is what transpired.

Ethan is starting to go through moments of preferring either just me or just Matt. He'll let you know who he wants.

Here he was enjoying some time with Daddy

then suddenly decided he wanted to see what I was doing and ...

Nothing was going to stop him :)

3-0

{Not the fanciest birthday cake in the world but Matt seemed to enjoy it. Recipe below.}

My sweet husband turned thirty recently. I surprised him with a dinner get together with a few friends. I wish I had a picture of him, his friends, and his son sitting at the dining room table. It was like E was just another one of the guys ... only much smaller. I was really pleased with how the night went. Matt was surprised and everyone had a great time.


{Matt and Ethan on a weekend morning. Normally Ethan doesn't pay attention to the television but SportsCenter must have been very interesting on this particular morning. I love how he's using Matt as a footrest!}


{The three of us ready to go for a walk on Matt's birthday. I am one lucky gal!}

Recipe:
It's a creamy no-bake cheesecake. I really should have made the crust myself but I'm having a tough time making goodies that I can't eat so I'm shortcutting it when I can.

Beat 8oz cream cheese with 1/2Cup sugar.
Stir in 8oz Cool Whip.
Place in graham cracker crust.
Refrigerate.

I had cherry topping for Matt to add since he loves it.

First haircut

{Showing off his shaggy style}



{Lovin' on Sophie while we waited for our turn. These pics make me so happy that we decided to cut his hair already. It was crazy!}


{He loved the smock}


{He liked when she first sprayed his head but here he looks like he's thinking "WHAT are you doing?"}




{Such a happy boy! The lady cutting his hair said that her job gets tougher with kids between 18-24 months.}


{My handsome boy's 'After' photo. Sorry for the flash face.}