Oh. Hello Again.

Yup. We're still here. Alive and well too! Well, I think we're well. That's debatable with the 6 Month Old. 6 Months! Can you believe it?! Me neither. She was just born yesterday, right?? It seems that way.

Anyhow. As is the norm for us, we've been back and forth between Washington and here multiple times. I don't know if there will ever be a time where I won't feel like a bit of a vagabond. I'm not complaining though! I mean, really, who wants to stay in the same place all the time? Obviously we don't. :) So, while they wee babe is still wee, we're traveling as much as we're allowed.

I have this theory that my baby is allergic to oats. Awesome, right?? I started feeding her mixed rice/oatmeal with fruit when she was about 5 months while I was at my parents house and she LOVED it. Just tanked it down. I was so happy she caught on to the whole cereal thing so quickly. She really is practically perfect in every way. And I'm not biased! So she was doing great with the cereal at my mom and dad's, but then we came back down to Oregon and she hated it. Refused to eat it. So, I just did Oatmeal. I figured she would be ok with that. And she liked it for about 2 days, and then refused to eat that too. I was at a loss. So, I just gave up, thinking that I would try it again in a few weeks. So, true to my word, I tried oatmeal again, but this time, I didn't try to spoon feed, but I tried it in a bottle. Worked like a breeze. She was, once again, tanking the cereal, which caused much joy amongst Dallin and I. (We were going through a canister of formula in about a week! A week people! Talk about breakin the bank!) We noticed that Claire was starting to get really fussy a little after we started her on Oatmeal. She is normally the most chill, laid back baby ever and she rarely ever cries. Her pain tolerance is really high too. She's just a stinkin good kid! We've been so lucky. So, to have her be fussy was just foreign to us. We (read: I) was getting really frustrated because I couldn't figure out what was wrong and I knew that something was wrong. She just doesn't cry for no reason. Then, we headed to Ellensburg and I noticed she was developing eczema on her little tummy. She had never gotten eczema before when we've come to Washington, just a little drier skin than normal due to the change in humidity, but I just wrote it off as lack of humidity. Anyway, things were just going from bad to worse and she wasn't having regular bowel movements, even though I was giving her prunes and pears in her cereal! I was so mystified and was just praying that I would be inspired as to what could be the matter with my baby. Well, Saturday night, it hit me. I was looking at her eczema and I thought, "I wonder what mom puts on her eczema when she breaks out." See, my mom has started noticing the past year or so, that whenever she eats oats or wheat, she breaks out in eczema and gets bad headaches and stomach aches. She thinks she might have Celiac Disease, but she hasn't been tested for it. It's an auto immune disease as well, which, auto immune diseases run in my family. So it all started piecing together for me. Claire started breaking out with eczema when I had her regularly eating oatmeal, she was always crying and fussing like something hurt and rubbing her eyes like maybe her head hurt and her poor little tummy always seemed to be in turmoil. So, I stopped with the oatmeal and she has been my happy, pleasant baby once more. Hallelujah! She has her 6 Month check up tomorrow and I am going to share my concerns with my doctor to see what he thinks about her maybe having a food allergy. I really hope she doesn't, just for her sake, but if she does, at least I will know for sure that's what all the fuss has been about (pun definitely intended).

So, that's been the main focus of our lives the past week or so. Just trying to figure out how to make my little girl happy once more! I have videos I need to post and pictures I need to take and post, and I promise they will be on here soon! Oh, and let me show you the awesome before and after pictures of Claire's Laundry Hamper and my cake plate that I made.





Yay for cute things that can be made for really cheap. :) That cake plate cost me next to nothing. I think I paid 50 cents for the candle holder and 75 cents for the plate (Both at Goodwill). Then I bought some super glue and I already had the spray paint! Voila! Cheap, cute and easy peasy. It adds a little something to my small Easter display:)