London's Run

Jessica, Sophia, Emma, and I, headed out again for London's Run at Schenpf Farms on Saturday.  My mom and Shelly also joined us this year.  It was a great morning and a great walk through the fields out here.  There is a 2 mile fun run/walk, 10k or 1/2 marathon.  With the course being on dirt roads and having plastic wheels on the strollers, we stuck with the 2 mile fun walk.  Maybe one of these years I will do the 10k.  I think the winner of the half marathon came in at 1 hour and 17 minutes.
We got there extra early this year since we missed the walk last year.  It was only about 40 degrees and poor Emma was freezing.  She was shaking and her little hands turned purple.

Trying to stay warm while finishing her breakfast. 

As soon as she was done I put mittens on her.  Sophia was eating cheerios later in the morning and I thought Emma would want one of her snacks also, but she said no.  You know she was cold when she choose her mittens over a snack!
What a difference a year makes!  Here are the girls at last years run...

And here they are this year!

This is probably the closest picture we have ever gotten with them both smiling and somewhat looking at the camera.  Too bad Emma's hat is messed up!

After the walk, we headed over to the Olive Mill.  I hadn't been there before and have wanted to try it ever since we moved out here.  The food was amazing.  It was so yummy and fresh.  Sadly, Emma couldn't have any of their food due to her allergy.  I guess it will just have to be a mommy place!  They also have a cute market but it was pretty busy to be able to look with two busy toddlers.  They also had a jazz band playing while we ate lunch.  Sophia and Emma loved dancing to the music and clapping for the performers when they were done.

Walking around after lunch.  I wonder what they are talking about?

Some how my mom and Shelly manged to avoid the camera all day.  Maybe Jessica was able to catch a picture of them!

Train Park

Today we headed out to the Train Park in Scottsdale to play with Amanda and Aidan.  The weather was perfect and it was so nice to be able to catch up with Amanda and just let the kids run and enjoy being outside!

Getting ready to ride the train!

This is the train that we rode on.  It goes all around the park.  The kids enjoyed waving to everyone both while we were on the train, and then waiving to the train as they watched it go by.  Then it was time for Bubbles!

All of the running and the sun wore them out.  These were their faces while we were eating lunch!

As always, it was great to see you Amanda and Aidan!  Can't wait until our next play date!

Our Week

We have had a somewhat uneventful week so far.  For the first time, Emma passed on her cold to me, so I am trying to get it gone in a hurry!
My Grandma has been having pretty bad headaches again for about 3 weeks, so she got another CT Scan, and we went on Tuesday to hear the results.  The good news is, is that there is no new blood, but she still has some of the original blood that they didn't remove.  So no more surgeries for right now.  The not so good news, is that her Doctor is a complete jerk.  We were literally still asking him questions as he was walking out the door.  So we are going to start over at Barrows.  We are currently working on getting her an appointment with one of their Neurologists and we will see what they have to say.
After we took Grandma home so she could rest, my Mom ventured with Emma and I to the candy store.  We were hoping to get some candy to do a candy buffet, but it was a little pricier then expected.  But it was still fun to look at ALL the candy they had.  If you wanted something special or in a particular color, this is the place to go.  Here are some pictures of the store.

Emma has been a handful this week.  I am not sure if she is trying to get back into the routine from being sick all last week, or if she is in the "terrible two's" and we are in for it!  She has a tendency to be very stubborn and VERY strong willed, but this week has been ridiculous!  Whenever I tell her no, or she gets in trouble, (think every 15 minutes!) she let's out an ear piercing scream, and then either throws what ever is in her hand or hits me!  I have tried to stay calm, and handle appropriately, but it just gets so frustrating.  Then combine this with my sinuses pounding, I didn't do such a good job yesterday.  I yelled and spanked her more then I wanted to.  I don't want to yell at all.  I really don't think it accomplishes anything.  I am ok with the spanking, but since we are having issues with her hitting, I am using it as a last resort.  Like when she is in time out ( I think I need to start physically leaving her there, but can't figure out how to get her to stay) and I am briefly explaining why she is there.  "We don't hit mommy.  That makes mommy sad".  Then she hits me.  THAT is when I give her a little smack on the hand or but.
Oh this child of mine!  I know I made her out to sound horrible right now, but she really is a good baby.  She behaves extremely well in public, and she can have a complete melt down one minute, but then be sweet and loving the next.
I think I am going to "spice" up our daily routine a little next week and go for a walk around the neighborhood in the mornings, and then do some kind of different activity in the afternoon.  Maybe playdough, water color, etc.  Maybe she is just getting bored at home.  I don't know.
Anyways....we have a exciting weekend ahead.  We are meeting our friends Amanda and Aidan at the railroad park tomorrow in Scottsdale, then Saturday is London's Run with Jessica, Sophia, my Mom, and Shelly.
I will be back with lots of fun pictures!

What?!! No Pictures!!??

I know.  I know.  But I haven't taken any, and I don't think you would want to see Emma this week!  Emma has hung onto her fever all week and has been quite the grump.  She thinks that since she has had fevers, she should still be able to keep her pacifier all day long, and oh, the tantrums that have started when she doesn't get it.  I think the fevers are finally going away, so tomorrow is back to no pacifier.  It should be a FUN day.
Since she was sick all week, we didn't make it to the zoo or aquarium while Robert was home this week.  Honestly, the week went by very fast and I can't believe it is already over.
Tuesday we are heading to a new giant candy store to get things ready for Jessica's Baby Shower.  I will take some photos while we are there and get them posted!

Not Much Happening...

Not too much has been going on around here, but I figured that everyone was probably tired of looking at the photo of the potatoes!  I am still doing one new recipe a week, but also thought you guys might not want to look at just food.  So I don't think I will post each one.  We have a busy weekend coming up with me doing a family photo session, and a birthday party on Sunday.  Then Robert has the whole next week off!  We are very excited and plan on relaxing and enjoying hanging out around the house.  Robert plans on golfing one day, and another day we will take Emma to do something fun.  The rest of the days will be spent doing our normal running around here, and doing stuff around the house. 
Here are a couple of photos from a spur of the moment photo session I did with Emma, (I'm sure most of you saw on Facebook) and a cute picture that Jessica took of the girls coloring during or Tuesday dinner.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

  

This Weeks Recipe

This week, I decided to try a new side dish from The Pioneer Woman's cook book.  I made the Creamy Rosemary Potatoes.  They were VERY good, but boy did it make a lot.  I am going to have to figure out a way to cut the recipe in half (or even by 3/4's!) or save these for holidays!

Results...

So we got really good news today, but unfortunately, it doesn't change anything.  Emma is only allergic to peanuts, so she can have other nuts.  But it is very hard to find nuts that are not manufactured with peanuts.  Right now, they are a choking hazard anyway, so we won't worry about them too much.  This means that she can also have almond butter.  But again, the trick is going to be finding one that is made in a peanut free facility.  I also found out that Honey Nut Cheerios are actually made with Almonds, and there is no peanut warning on the box, so those are ok.  I have to admit, I am a little nervous giving them to her, so I am not sure if we will try them anytime soon.
A level 3 peanut allergy has a range of anywhere from 3.5 - 17.8.  Emma is only a 3.9.  So yes she is a level 3 (high risk) but she is a low level 3.  With the high possibility of these tests not being completely accurate, the doctors have to look at the entire picture when diagnosing.  Because she technically is a level 3, combined with how she reacted to eating a food that touched a peanut, she is considered to have an anaphlyaxis allergy.  So because of this we still have to avoid all foods that say "may contain peanuts" or "made in a facility with peanuts" and bakeries, as well as asking lots of questions and making staff aware at restaurants.
Instead of waiting a whole year, we will go back every 6 months to repeat testing...both blood work and skin test.  That way we can see what her levels are doing.  There is a possibility in as short as 6 months, her allergy could be gone.  We will hope for that!  As far as her chances for outgrowing the allergy, it is still only 20%.  But out of that 20% she is one that has a strong chance.  It is all good signs that her levels are low, she is only allergic to peanuts, and she doesn't have eczema, or asthma. 
So that is it in a nut shell.  We will spend the next 6 months reading every label and making sure we are prepared with our own snacks, benadyryl and epi pen.  Then, when we go back to the doctor's, we will hope that if her allergy isn't gone, then at least her numbers will be lower.

A Little News With Lots More Tomorrow

We got a quick phone call from the allergist today with Emma's blood work.  Her blood test showed that she was ONLY allergic to peanuts.  No other nuts or environmental agents.  Her level of allergy is classified as a 3, and I was told that was high, so they needed us to come back in for a follow up to go over what that means, and talk about things.  So we have that appointment tomorrow morning. 
With my work at the hospital and with cancer diagnoses, I am use to stages of 1-4 with 4 being the highest.  Since I was told that a level 3 was considered high, I just assumed it only went up to level 4.  While Emma has been sleeping, I have done a little bit of research and it looks like the levels for allergies goes up to 6.  With level 3 being high, and levels 5&6 being extremely high.  But within those levels, there are different ranges, and I don't know what range Emma falls into.  I will find that out tomorrow.  It also sounds like there are a lot of factors that make these test not 100% accurate, so they are used more as a guide.
I am kind of thinking we will be told to have strict avoidance of nuts over this next year.  Then we go back for our yearly appointment, we will find out what direction all of her levels are going.  Hopefully down!  I will be back tomorrow with what we find out!

Happy New Year!

We have had a low key week, which has been very nice.  Since the weather got so cold on us, Robert was pretty busy with work, so for the most part, it was just us girls. 
I did get my LLC status for Kari Green Photography this past week, so that was pretty exciting.  I have created a Facebook fan page and made the official announcement that I am open, so I guess there is no turning back now!  My plan is still to go somewhat slow, only doing a handful of sessions each month.  So I don't really plan on doing a lot of advertising right away.  With how quickly time goes, Emma will be in school before I know it, and I still want to be able to enjoy being home with her.  Once she is in school, then it will be a different story!
For Christmas, my mom got me The Pioneer Woman's cook book.  I love it.  I think I have looked through it at least once a day since I have gotten it.  She has photos of every recipe, plus step by step photos to follow along with.  All of the food looks AMAZING.  And she is very upfront with saying that her food isn't diet friendly.  She lives on a ranch, and her husband and kids work on the ranch everyday.  They will not settle for a salad for dinner!  My plan is to to cook one thing each week from it until I have made my way through the book.  The first thing I made was the chili.  We had it New Year's Eve.

It was good, and I will definitely make it again.  I grew up with a very tomato based chili, and this chili isn't.  So that was a little different for me, but still very good.  She had some optional ingredients, and I basically added them all.  I think next time I will just add the kidney beans and leave out the pinto beans!  The cook book is going to wind up costing me a little bit of money.  Every time I look at it, I find another kitchen gadget/pot I just HAVE to have!  I will make a small blog post each week with what I cooked!

Our New Year's Eve was like our week.  Very quite and relaxed.  I had big plans of watching movies with popcorn and wine after Emma went to bed, but I have to admit, I feel asleep in the chair not long after we tucked her in.  Robert did wake me up in time to see the ball drop.
I am not one that is big on New Year's resolutions.  But there are some things that I want to accomplish this year.  One of them of course being is getting my business going.  A couple of the others include things around the house.  When we first bought the house, or plan wasn't to stay in it for much more then 3-5 years.  So I really didn't see the need to do any major changes.  Like everyone else, our house has lost so much value, I am not sure when we will be able to sale it.  So since it looks like we are going to be staying here a little longer, it is time to do some work! My first project is our bedroom.  Nothing big, just some changes.  I am hoping to get that done plus redo our picture wall in the family room by Emma's birthday.  The next project might be adding some back splash to the kitchen.  The idea just hit me, so I haven't even priced it or anything.  I am thinking it would be a good project for me to do this summer when Robert is working his really late hours.
We expect this year to be one of changes.  I will own my own business for the first time, doing something completely different then I ever thought I would; Robert will have some big changes within his job and the direction he is going; decisions about having another baby will be made; and Emma will be in her two's - potty training, more testing and independence, and possibly becoming a big sister.  This next year should be exciting!  Hope you will continue to read about it!
Here are just a couple more photos from the last couple of days.