Hogan's First Christmas

Hogan got SPOILED on his first Christmas! These are just a few of our favorite items he received from family, friends, and Santa.

Fisher-Price Growing Baby Tiger Stacker-  So effing cute!  Hogan hasn't shown much interest in this yet, but I'm sure it will be no time at all until he is reaching for this toy!

MAM Cooler Teether; NUBY Icy Bite Teething Keys; Fisher-Price Precious Planet Polar Bear Teether- I do believe we have an early teether on our hands...he is drooling everywhere and chewing on EVERYTHING he can get his hot little hands on.  So these are a big hit with him, especially the ones we can put in the freezer!

Lightning McQueen CD Boombox-  Hogan LOVES music.  So, his Oma got him this CD player and a couple of baby song CD's to listen to!

Silver Piggy Bank- I wanted one of these from the moment I found out I was pregnant, so Santa brought Hogan one.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?- by Eric Carle.  I love, love, love his books, and Hogan seems to like this one too.

Fisher-Price Bright Beginnings Activity Walker- So, he's not walking yet...haha.  But when he learns to sit up, which isn't too far away, this lays down to be more like a table, so he will be able to fiddle with all the gadgets on this.

Bright Starts Get Movin' Music Player-Again...loves music, loves this!

Bright Starts Bounce Bounce Baby Activity Zone-  Hogan is a strong little squirt, and he loves to stand and bounce...so naturally, we had to get him one of these!  Well...Great Grandpa and Grandma got it for him.

Safety 1st Sounds and Lights Discovery Walker- His feet don't touch the floor, so we have to put pillows under them, haha, but he likes to sit in this and play with the gadgets.  I have it at work to keep him occupied for a little bit while I am busy.

Mortimer The Moose by Lamaze- The Favorite of the favorites!  Totally in love with this guy!  I really want the rest of the Lamaze critter crew for Hogan now after buying this...SO freaking adorable!

Blanket Sleepers by Carters- Hogan got several of these for Christmas and they are the softest snuggliest jammies EVER!  I would SO go mental and buy 5,000 pairs of these for him if money were no object! 

Well there you have it...our Christmas favorites.  Of course he got many, many more things...lots of clothes, more toys, snuggly soft blankets and even a camp chair for next summer.  I will add some pictures of him looking Snazzy in his Christmas outfit later...but I have to download them.  Happy New Year!

In Strength, Love & Faith, Thanks for Reading, Charity

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

Bonjour!  (And, that is the extent of the "non dirty" words I remember from French class!)
But, anyways...Last week, we found out that our poor little Hogan has a milk protein allergy, and more than likely a Soy allergy.  How did we find this out? He had blood in his poop!  BLOOD!  I was on the verge of a mommy panic breakdown, guys! I called our pediatrician and assumed that she would tell me to rush him to the ER, ASAP!  But....she just calmly said that he probably just has a milk protein allergy, and as long as he has no fever, his tummy isn't hard, and he is acting normal, it wasn't anything to worry about immediately, and to bring him in the next day to her office.  PHEW!

I took him in the next day, she examined him and took a look at the poopy diaper, and said that it looked to be what she thought.  She said that if I wanted to keep breastfeeding, I would have to cut out dairy (Casien & Whey) as well as Soy (to be on the safe side). If not...I could give him this formula that costs $36 a can!  I LOVE breastfeeding my son, so naturally I decided to cut dairy and soy from my diet so I could continue to breastfeed him.  I thought that it would be a piece of cake to find foods without dairy and soy in them...and generally it is. But it is insane to see where they sneak soy and dairy in!  Like tortillas!  I can't even eat 3/4 of the food in our house right now.  I need to go grocery shopping.  Also, my sweet tooth is running overtime from breastfeeding, and everything that I want has butter, or milk, or cream, or soy in it.  I found some peanut butter without soybean oil in it and tonight I ate a spoonful out of the jar just to curb my sweet tooth.  Haha. Don't get me wrong, I am so totally happy to do this for Hogan.  I just didn't think it would be like this.  I thought it would be easy peasy to give up just like that, but it's not so much.  I have been looking for recipes for Paleo foods and have had a decent amount of luck, even some cookies and stuff that I can make for when my sweet tooth tempts me. (Just to be clear. I'm not all about the Paleo "Eat only (mostly) meat and veggies!" train of thought, they just have some yummy looking recipes that, say, substitute butter with coconut milk...etc.I'm just looking at Paleo foods for inspiration, and ideas)

This time of year is especially tempting to my sweet tooth.  I made the mistake of going to a candy & cookie making party with my mom, aunts and grandma...Never has my will power been tested so greatly!  We made fudge, and caramels, and cookies, and turtles before I finally had to just leave. Haha.  I will admit I had one bite of fudge, and I licked my finger after I was done dipping turtles....and felt like a total asshole for it!    So now I have cookies and fudge and caramels sitting on top of my fridge waiting to be set out tomorrow night at our Christmas party and they have been mocking me all day...but I have not given in!  I WON'T give in!  I will beat my addiction to sweets! 

On the up side...this has forced me to take a better look at what I use to fuel my body.  Instead of grabbing a pop tart for breakfast, I eat a banana, or an apple with peanut butter, or make an egg.  I found a coconut milk creamer for my coffee (Thank You!), and am finding that chocolate coconut milk is WAY nummier than chocolate cow's milk...and better for me too.

And Now for Something Completely Different: (Thank you Monty Python!)

As stated earlier, our Christmas party is tomorrow (Saturday) night!!!  I have wanted to have one since we got married but we haven't had the space (in our last home) or the time (since we moved) until this year!  I am so stinking excited!  We have about 20 people coming- that I know of.  I am making some yummy food (most of which, I can't eat, haha) and hot cocoa,(for which I made peppermint Vodka for) egg nog, champagne punch, and regular punch (for the kiddos :D) As well as a stocked bar for people to choose a beverage from. I really hope everyone has a good time and can take home some fun stories.  Last time we hosted a party the last of the crowd filtered out at about 2:30AM after a rousing tournament of Mario Kart.  I am hoping that things don't last quite that long this time, just because Hogan will be sleeping, but if they do, as long as nobody gets too rambunctious it should be fine.

Well I have rambled on quite long enough!  Have a beautiful weekend everyone!



 
In Strength, Love & Faith, Thanks for Reading, Charity

NEW BUSINESS!

Hey kids!  I hope that this finds you all doing well!
I have recently been offered a new, exciting business adventure, and I am stoked to share it with you!  My mom and her husband recently purchased our local florist business, and they asked me to run it!  I am pretty darn excited about this.  So far,it is pretty fun, AND I get to bring Hogan to work with me, which is awesome.
Before this came upon us, I had been planning to go back to work at the hospital (boo) for one day a week just to get out of the house, and earn a little extra money for fun stuff.  However, since I will be running this business mostly, I will be working 3 days a week (Wednesday through Friday) at the florist, and my mom will work the other two (Saturday and Tuesday). The main reason I didn't want to go to work more than what I was going to is because I didn't want to miss out on anything that my little baby does.  I used to work at a daycare with infants...and it absolutely BROKE my heart that I got to be the one who saw their son's first steps, or heard their daughter's first word.  Even things as simple as feeding them their first bowl of rice cereal made me so sad that I was the one to do this and that their parents were missing out on so much.  (Although it was pretty damn amazing to do these things personally) BUT, since I get to take him with me, I won't miss a thing!  I am sure that there will be days when I will call the babysitter and see if she can take him, but for now, this is just perfect.  We have been working our asses off moving, doing inventory, cleaning, and organizing, as well as taking phone orders.  I am hoping we can open our doors on Tuesday...but we will see. 

One of my creations, inspired by Pinterest!

In Strength, Love & Faith, Thanks for Reading, Charity