Hailey's 5th birthday party

Last night we celebrated Hailey's birthday. We did it early because Darrin and Jenna are going out of town and we have another party we got invited to down in VA on Saturday. It felt a little "off" to me because it was so many days before her actual birthday, so I was having a hard time getting into the birthday spirit that day BUT seeing her excitement changed that pretty quick :)

At 9am she was setting the table, at 10am, she was hanging decorations and asking me to blow up balloons. By 11am the house was decorated and guests weren't coming till 5pm. The enthusiasm of kids, wow...haha, it's so great.

She was so cute because for a while now she has been coloring all the pages in her Disney princess coloring book that are scenes from Sleeping Beauty. And she had been telling me that they were to hang for her birthday party. And that was exactly what she did. She brought me the coloring book, asked me to carefully tear out all the pages she colored and she proceeded to hang them all over the house! We had scenes from the movie on her colored pages everywhere. I love her attention to detail.

I had also bought her a bouquet of red roses (obviously because of Briar Rose and she holds a rose when she is asleep) and then each girl got to take a rose home with them.

After Owen went down for his nap we started working on her cake.

this doorway was just begging to be a castle gate, so I obliged.

I love how we are looking at each other in this one :) Also, Owen is a giant.

we look like a family of dunces. Why do they love party hats so much??

I had printed images of Aurora and Philip and Hailey helped me glue them to party hats. Girls wore the princess and boys wore the prince.

We gave her a new bike (she learned how to ride without training wheels last week!!) and a set of sheets and comforter that was Sleeping Beauty themed. The bike also had disney princesses on it including Aurora. I had found all of it at a yard sale that I randomly decided to stop at, just to see if I saw anything I wanted. Seriously, the Lord loves to love us in the smallest details!!! And she was just over the moon about it all.

My favorite things she said:

While decorating the house:"I am the leader today."

Randomly: "Casey, I am a grown up now."

(which is too funny, and SMART because we tell them things like, you are getting to be so grown up....you are so grown up now, etc!!! And we refer to ourselves as GROWN UPS! It killed me.)

While getting ready for bed: "Mommy, everyone likes me."

I stopped what I was doing and got down in front of her, looked her straight in the eye and said, "Yes they do! Because God made you so special and sweet!" And I felt compelled to add, "And if ever someone doesn't, they are the silly one."  And she gave me the biggest smile and hug.

I am so proud of her because she is blossoming so much and did so well with the few guests that we had over. She is talking more willingly to people she has been extremely shy and nervous around in the past. She really is growing up :)

Owen turns 1

My baby is one today and I am super emotional about it. This past year, we have been through so much together. Words can not express my joy and gratitude for his life. I have learned on a deeper level the truth that love only intensifies when there is sacrifice. My love for Owen is so strong. I love all my children equally, don't get me wrong, but with Owen, there has been tears, pain and suffering. And the sense of accomplishment, pride, joy and love I feel on this his first birthday can not be described.

When Owen was three months old, he began breaking out in these full body rashes. Eczema literally covered his whole body. My doctor told me to try the elimination diet which I did. It was funny because on Dr. Sear's website, he recommended eliminating everything at once (all the common food allergens) and then slowly reintroducing them one by one to see what it the culprit. I thought, "that's crazy, I'll just do one at a time."

Well, it turned out to be everything. Owen is allergic to everything. And that is not an exaggeration. Since I was nursing, I was having to avoid all these foods for him. I couldn't have dairy and did you know that 'no dairy' includes no cheese, butter, milk, creamer, sour cream, cream cheese, ANY cheese!!! the no dairy itself was depressing. But then there was no: eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, gluten, coconut, coconut oil, oatmeal, brown rice, tomatoes, oranges, lemons, limes, nitrates, sulfites, citric acid, chicken.

And that's not all of it. He would itch against the rubber of his bib, he would itch his hands on his car seat buckles. I would have to wrap a burp cloth around his car seat buckles so he wouldn't scratch on them. He was a constant itchy mess. And I WOULD see improvement, lots of improvement when I avoided all these foods. But if I ever slipped, just the tiniest bit by mistake, he would be in so much agony. 

4 months old

6 months old

The trial and error of it all was so frustrating. So I would eliminate a food, and then 2 weeks later, have a little bit again, to see if it was a trigger. Almost every time it was, and he would be in pain. He and I cried together when I fed him a piece of chicken and he broke out in hives. He and I cried together countless times when his body was SO red and itchy and I would be carefully rubbing cream on his body. While he screamed from the pain. He and I cried together when I had some peanut butter (reintroducing it in my diet, just one time, to test and see if it was an allergy), and he was writhing in pain, and I had to give him a small dose of benedryl. 

7 months 

8 months

9 months 

And there was nothing anyone could do for us. Nothing. I researching endless hours online. I tired different things. I talked to lots of people. My doctor wasn't helpful. In March, they referred us to an allergy specialist in Hershey, PA, and our appointment was made for October 16th. They put us on the waiting list if there was an opening sooner, but there never was. Regardless, they can't do an allergy test on an infant. They do it at a year old. (So we go to the appointment next week, and I know it will be good. I am dying to find out if he has outgrown any yet! But I'm not getting my hopes up too much.....)

So end of June, beginning of July, Owen was 9 months old and I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't eat anymore fruit, vegetables, and steak. I had lost of ton of weight, and quick frankly did not feel healthy at all. The diet was affecting so much of my life. We had to make a change. 

By the grace of God, I found a wonderful naturopath doctor through a friend's recommendation. When I called to make the appointment, the first thing she said after hearing my situation was, "I can tell this has been very hard. And I can help your son. I am confident I can heal him." 

I cried. She understood. I felt relief and so much hope.

She helped me begin the weaning process and gave me a recipe for rice milk formula. I began making rice milk from scratch and adding a bunch of vitamins and other ingredients to fortify it. Owen began thriving on the rice milk formula and I could eat again like a normal person! Although my body had essentially gone through such a detox of all those foods, that reintroducing them all at once, totally messed me up!!! My body did not like it!! haha. 

 

Seeing Owen and his soft skin today I am amazed. He is doing so so well. He is completely happy, content, adventurous, and just full of pure joy. His diet continues to be a lot of work, but seeing his good health makes it all worth it! I am in the kitchen a insane number of hours each week. I feel like I live in my kitchen. I miss the outdoors. I make him huge batches of rice milk twice a week, and all his other food I do from scratch as well. Everything has to be so pure. We have turned into such an organic family! 

But I just can't get over him. Or get enough of him. What a year it's been. Owen, I am so thankfully for your life!! I am blessed beyond measure to be your mama. I love you! Happy Birthday!

Casey Turns 2

Today was so full and wonderful. This morning we made this plain simple white cake. But it was soon to become Thomas the Train, Casey's current obsession. Just call me the fairy godmother of cakes, you will see... :)

Before Casey woke up from his nap, I wanted to get the house ready for his party. He woke up just as I hung the first string of birthday buntings. I had made them the night before and I was pretty excited about them. When I got him out of his crib I told him it was time to get ready for the party and I brought him out and showed him the decorations.

He was so excited. He just kept pointing and saying things like, choo choo! cake! Thomas! party! He climbed right up in his chair and sat there and watched me do stuff. 

Then it was time to begin putting the cake together! I really look forward to doing fun and special birthday cakes for my kids each year. Luke gets into it too and helps with the decorating. 

He nailed the face. I mean it's so exact! It's perfect! I just wanted to keep looking at it!

Casey, of course, thought it was great.

He was so happy about his new backpack, just like his big sister and her backpack. Right away he started filling it with all his other gifts. In fact, got so heavy it made him fall over!

The best gift of all, Thomas the train from Grandma.

And to help keep jealousy at a minimum, Grandma thoughtfully got for Hailey a little something special. A princess bag made it easier to watch her brother get so many new gifts.

Casey, you have been such a joy to watch grow. You have the sweetest disposition. You are gentle, thoughtful and kind. I love the way you wrap your arms around me so tight for a hug and play with my hair in my ponytail. You never touch your sister's things, even out of mischief. You bring them to her, and are always watching your big sister's response to things. You play so nicely and how you love to dance and jump! I can't wait to see what this next year holds! Happy birthday!

Rushford Reunion

Time to document the most wonderful family vacation ever! It took place June 19th-23rd at our aunt and uncle's summer house on a lake in western New York. We grew up going to the lake house as it used to belong to our grandparents. When they put it up for sale a few years ago, we were all thrilled when my aunt and uncle were the ones who purchased it! They have been saying for some time now that we should all still feel welcome to come down whenever we wish. And if one of us is ever in town during the summer, we will usually go down for the day. But this was the first time we asked them if we could all come down at the same time, stay for several nights and let our kids experience being at the lake house with their cousins, the same way we had! They were so happy to hear our idea and were so gracious and generous in letting us all come and stay. It took quite a bit of planning to coordinate all our schedules, husbands take time off work, and each planning our road trips and flights from all over the country (Arizona, Indiana, Canada, Ohio and Maryland).

Did we have a blast? I'll let the pictures do the telling...

this quickly became every child's favorite chair to snuggle up on.

last day being 2! I get so nostalgic around my children's birthdays!

Luke's artistic masterpiece, for his Barney obsessed little girl

it was so much fun to get to celebrate her 3rd birthday with everyone!

I love seeing the joy on her face

My grandparent's come down for the day for Hailey's birthday. 

a fishing pole! She was super excited to fish with her daddy

Cecilia and Casey, just 4 months apart in age, such sweet little friends, spent their days throwing rocks.

trying to catch minnows like her big cousins.

Jerry and Anthony, also three yrs old and best friends.

Monica or Mary? Too far away to tell....

such a sweetie, fell asleep on the pontoon boat.

she was so timid to get one the boat, but once there, she had the time of her life and is still talking about it.

Captain Aunt Maureen and her little sailor

They are all wondering why in the world we are making them do this.

Although terrified at first, Casey warmed up to it.

the beauty of this lake gets me in the depths of my soul. I'm serious. That good looking guy and little man there do too :)

I want to go back.

I laugh every time I see this picture! They had such a good time together.

getting ready to fish for the first time with her new pole!

Yep, it's been framed, on the shelf. Just priceless.

There were a ton more amazing pictures that my sisters took and we've all been gradually sharing online with each other. I think I need to put this vacation in it's own photo album. It was such an incredible time, we hope to make it an annual event!

Feeling so blessed....