Another Giveaway

I'm entering another giveaway, this time from the Chronicles of a Babywise Mom website.  The giveaway is for the So Easy Toddler Food Cookbook, which is supposed to be helpful for parents of picky eaters.  And do I ever have one of those.  Meals are soo frustrating, unless I only give her the same foods over and over.  And that would be fine if it didn't involve hot dogs and frozen chicken nuggets.  Occasionally I can get her to eat some pears or peaches, but she won't eat any veggies.  At all.  It's driving me insane.  She either clamps her mouth shut and refuses to take the food, or she takes it and spits it out.  Needless to say, our dogs love helping me clean up the kitchen.  I know she's healthy because she's growing and happy, but I miss my little girl who used to eat all her fruits and veggies!

I should've been a pediatrician

I've been doing a lot of research on milk protein allergies and lactose intolerance, trying to figure out which one Emma has.  I'm leaning towards an allergy (apparently there are both rapid and delayed onset allergies, which explains a lot), but she's too young to test, and it doesn't seem that testing for a milk protein allergy is very accurate anyway.  Today I came across this article (gotta love Google) about a possible connection between cow's milk allergies and reflux.  Why am I reading more medical articles than Emma's doctors?  The good thing about an allergy is that most milk allergies are outgrown by kids, while lactose intolerance isn't.  It's difficult trying to keep Emma on a completely dairy-free diet.  Milk of some form or another is in everything!  Pair that with an already picky eater, and it makes for difficult grocery shopping.  Especially since I don't exactly have 3 hours to leisurely stroll through the grocery store, reading every single ingredient.  Who knew kids were so much trouble??  Just kidding...I love my baby (who's not at all a baby anymore), food issues and all.

Pre-Toddlerwise

Love this post from Chronicles of a Babywise Mom!  It's about the pre-toddler age, 12-18 months.  It's very reassuring.

Posts I like

DIY Hairbow Storage
I've been wanting something to organize all of Emma's bows for a while now, but really didn't want to buy anything.  This is awesome (WHY do I never think of simple things like this?). 

Magnetic Meal Planner
This is also a cool idea.  I usually type mine out in Excel, but I always end up changing a few meals / days, so I have to write on it.  People (excluding me) are so creative!

In other updates...Emma is having a little trouble sleeping lately.  She still sleeps all night, but she has been waking up super early (think 5:30am), which makes for a fussy morning and an early nap...leading to an early bedtime.  In the past, the earlier she went to bed, the longer she slept.  That's not working this time.  If I try to keep her up a little later, it takes her a long time to fall asleep...and the later she goes to sleep, the earlier she wakes up.  Looks like I'll be breaking back out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child once again.  She is in her first week of walking, so I'm sure that has something (or everything) to do with it. 

Sorry

Sorry for the lack of updates.  We've been busy around here, although I couldn't tell you with what.  Emma is keeping up one our toes, since she's finally walking.  Not all the time, but she can definitely do it when she wants to.  It's too fun to see her walk back and forth between us.  We started Kindermusik a few weeks ago, and are really enjoying it.  We also have vacation to look forward to in less than 3 weeks.  I can't wait to go to the beach!  In other news, my Braves are completely blowing it.  I always knew Chipper was the most important part of that team, but no one believed me.  And now there's proof.  Also, football has started.  I'm not a huge football person, but I like to watch college football on tv, and we love WKU (and you know I'm a true fan if I love a team that's lost 22 straight games), so we'll be taking Emma to the first home game of the season this Saturday.  The weather has been great here, so we've been able to get out every morning and walk the dogs, swing, swim and visit the ducks.  I love this time of year!