Tristan Turned Five

Really. He turned 5.  When and how did that happen.  Yesterday I brought home this precious little 8 pound 5 oz little boy and today we celebrated his 5th birthday.

Tristan has brought immeasurable joy into our lives.  He is the happiest, friendliest little person I know.  When he was 3.5 years old he was talking to EVERYONE.  Literally.  He didn't know a stranger so I started to talk with him about "stranger danger", he asked me who strangers were and I told him a stranger was anyone whose name we didn't know.  So, he just started asking people their names and then explaining to me that now they weren't strangers.  He makes me laugh daily.  God has given us this darling little boy to raise and we love him so so much. 

We celebrated his birthday on November 10th (his real birthday) by having cupcakes at school, then dinner with grandma and papa at Red Robin (a yearly tradition). Then on Sunday we celebrated his birthday with a party at the Sandy Pool. John made the cake. All of it. I think I'm going to hire him out. It took him 9.5 hours. I love that man and the sweet little boy we celebrate every day!

A quick note on Piper. We spent the day yesterday at Doernbecher's Children Hospital they did a full blood work up, including the IgA panel and it was negative. We are still on lock down, keeping her away from germs and people. But I'm starting to feel like we are headed in a good direction. At least that is what we're praying for.

Pinecone Fabulousness

All right, well Piper is on her 6th infection in 12 weeks, we are totally homebound, so prepare for a ton of fun at-home activities to appear on the blog. 
This week The kiddo's great grandma (GG) had back surgery so we decided to make Pinecone crafts to hang on the front door!

here is all you need:
Pinecones (any size, but I'd keep them all the same size)
Paint
Paper plates
Scissors
Fun, solid colored ribbon

1.  Put a tablespoon (or so) of paint on each plate (I did a white, blue, green, red & yellow paint plates)
2.  let the kiddos roll a pinecone back and forth on one plate at a time
3.  Let them dry overnight on a piece of wax paper
4.  Hot glue different length ribbons on each of the pinecones
5.  Hot glue all of the ribbons together & punch a hole in the top
6.  Hang on your front door! 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Heaven & An Update on Life

Well it looks like we'll be staying home for at least 6 months.  By staying home I mean, staying in the house...for 6 months...in the house.  For those of you who are new to the blog you can read back at the beginning when our daughter was born in August.  She's been sick with infection after infection.  In fact, sweet little Piper is 3 months old (on Wednesday) and has her 5th infection.  Her fabulous pediatrician thinks that she may have something called IgA Deficiency.  It is the lack of the chief anti-body that fights infection.  Not having that immuno-globin would explain why she can't get healthy.  Kiddos who have this deficiency typically outgrow it by the time they are 5 or so, but until then they are sheltered from germs as much as possible and they also tend to have to do lots of rounds of anti-biotics, which I'm not against, but I don't want to do.  I'd like to do as much homeopathy with her and get immune system to stand up and fight like a man.  So we'll see.  We're praying a lot, seeking God in all things and clinging to His promises.  I was reminded at church the other day that this is how God created Piper.  This is what He planned.  He knows what is going on, in fact he knew it long before we knew Piper.  I have to trust Him.  So I will.

In the meantime, we stay home and try to keep sweet little one healthy.  And we do lots of baking, sewing, crafts, working on nap schedules, blogging and facebooking....

Today we made our own homemade versions of croissants.  My mom made these a while ago and they are so good.  Since I am trying to shed baby pounds, we bake and give our yummys to our wonderful neighbors!

To make these all you need is chocolate chips and Pillsbury croissants.

Unroll all the croissants, open the bag of chocolate chips and cover the croissants with the chips, roll them up and bake them on 375* for 11-13 minutes, let cool down for 10 minutes or so on the baking sheet then eat warm.  So good! 

Enjoy!

 

Castor Oil

Ok, so I know that no one has good things to say about castor oil.  It's really not all that pleasant.  But I learned something really super cool lately!  If your little one is constipated or just hasn't pooped in a day or two rub a teaspoon or so (the quantity isn't that important) on their tummy and rub it in clockwise circles around the outside edge of their tummy and it will seep into their skin and help them to have a bowel movement!  It's not the spastic diarrhea either, just a normal poo. 

Not a pleasant topic, but I thought I'd share since it's something I wish I'd learned a heck of a long time ago!!!

Playdough & Hot Cocoa

Lily came to visit today.  We love Lily days.  She and Tris have so much fun and we do crafts!  Today we made homemade playdough (thank you mommy!) and homemade hot cocoa!

I have a ton of memories growing up of my mom, but the main thing I remember now that I am a parent is all the time she spent entertaining me.  Growing up it was just expected of her to play with me and entertain me all of my waking hours.  As a mommy myself I realize that must have been exhausting for my mom.  I have some pretty big shoes to fill.  As a Nani she is the same, tireless, entertaining (for all ages) and creative.  I was going through my recipes today and came across the homemade playdough recipe she gave me a long time ago.  Lily, Tris and I made it and they had a blast.  Thanks momma for always taking time to make memories, I hope that I am 1/2 the mom to my kids that you are to me.  I love you.

Making the recipe is simple. 
1 cup of flour
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons of oil (any kind)
1/2 a cup of salt
2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
food coloring

Mix all of the ingredients in a sauce pan, cook over medium heat until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan (on medium heat this was about 5 minutes for me), put on the counter and knead.  Refrigerate for storage in a zip lock bag. Keeps forever.

 I didn't think to take a photo before the kiddos combined their playdough!  So here is the giant ball!

It's such a cool recipe because you know what is in it, it takes just a few minutes to make and can be used forever!

Then while enjoying The Princess and the Frog we had homemade hot cocoa.  Here is the recipe I found on www.allrecipes.com .

Ingredients:

3 cups milk

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate, grated

1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 egg

Directions
1.Put milk into a microwave-safe container and cook on High in microwave for 2 minutes. Mix in chocolate, sugar, and cinnamon. In a small bowl, whisk an egg until smooth, then mix it into the chocolate mixture.
2.Return to microwave and cook on High for 3 to 4 minutes or until foamy (be careful not to let it boil.) Whisk until smooth and pour into 3 mugs. Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon if desired.

Oh How I Love My Children

Yesterday on Netflix on Demand we watched XGames and Tris LOVED it, so this morning I'm sitting in Piper' room nursing her and Tristan comes in decked out in his "dirt bike" race gear.  I almost peed my pants I laughed so hard!

                                                      Seriously, could he be any cooler?!?!

Piper was full of smiles and "giggles" during Tris' swim lessons today. I fall more in love with her every day!