Maternity session fun

I had my maternity session yesterday with Cindy Morrison Photography. My good friend is the photographer Cindy. She completely knows how to get picky toddlers to interact and take good pictures after lots of experience with them herself!! Cindy focuses on amazing newborn pictures and maternity pictures.

She's posted a few sneak peeks for me on FB that you can see if you visit her page here. I'm loving them so far and can't wait to see everything!!! Less than nine weeks until Carter's estimated due date now.

Gluten Free Saga continues...

So back in December when Nolan's IGG results came back showing a high reaction/intolerance to gluten and wheat (pumpkin and parsley too) we started on the road to gluten free with him. It wasn't too difficult at first but as with anything and a two year old eventually there were tantrums and tears over not being able to have what his friends have. Our pediatrician had high hopes that once his gut continued to mature we'd be able to reintroduce these down the line. They suggested eliminating them for at least 90 days. Because 90 days flies by in the blink of an eye and our petite little man didn't suddenly become a bruiser, we continued gluten free for a full 6 months. Last week we decided to reintroduce gluten and see if we noticed a difference.

Nolan's issues aren't easily noticeable to the outside world. He doesn't swell or develop a rash. What exactly happens to him on the inside is a bit of a mystery too because he can't yet verbalize it to us. What we do know is this. After a few weeks off of gluten my picky, non eating little boy started eating full meals, drinking quantifiable amounts of food, sleeping through the night for the first time in his life, and having more regular stools. Last week with a day or two of the reintroduction of gluten, that all changed.

His first sandwich at a picnic in the park.

My usually happy go lucky little boy became a whiny miserable little terror. I know that's not my baby and he must not be feeling okay. We had gone months without him skipping a meal and in the last week he has skipped more than he has eaten. It started out well, he ate a whole sandwich at our picnic in the park but each day became progressively worse. Tim would get home from work just in time for the meltdowns and dinner time issues to begin.

Nolan is of course only two and any two year old can have a bad week so I didn't want to rush to judgement. After over a week of the issues getting worse and our baby not eating though, it's pretty clear we need to go back to gluten free and be determined to keep even small amounts from him. If large amounts have this sort of effect, even small amounts are doing some harm. So we'll be back to avoiding the bakery counters at every grocery store, shooing away anyone trying to feed him random things, and leaving playdates early when he just can't cope with the fact that he can't have exactly what someone else is eating. At least I'll have my happy little toddler back!!

Slacking

It's been a while since I've posted but man has life been busy. We packed up our old house, moved into our new one, and managed to get our old house rented. Between packing, unpacking, decorating, getting the old house ready for tenancy, and regular life the weeks have flown by. I'm almost 30 weeks in my pregnancy now!! That means my appointments have officially gone to every other week. It's the small things that make you realize you're getting close.

That's the giant belly I had to maneuver around during the move. We are starting to settle into a routine and Nolan is in love with the new place. Living next to our best friends is also everything we hoped it would be! A second set of hands when you need some help, buddies to have a beer with on the patio Friday nights, and playmates for the kiddos.

More updates and pictures coming soon. For now we are off to JoAnn's Fabric. Home decor time so I can start to think about the nursery!

Growing... growing

Here are a few belly shots from this pregnancy so far!!  Unfortunately, I don't have any purposefully taken flat stomach before pics anywhere though. I did find a few where I happened to be in the shot that will do.

One week before. See, I really didn't have a pooch. =)

 

 

9w6d

 

 

14w4d

 

16w1d

20 weeks!

21w5d

23w5d

Rent me!!

New and exciting things coming for us! In the meantime though, our house is up for rent. You can view the full listing here.

It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a pool and 2 car garage located north of Mandarin off San Jose Blvd. in Jacksonville FL (32217). It has a newly remodeled kitchen with stainless steel appliances, front loading washer and dryer, large backyard with pool, and oversized separate storage shed. We're also pet friendly.

Our friend's house is also for rent! Check out their awesome place if you're interested in St. Johns County. It's off of CR210 so you know it has A rated schools. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house that's 1812 sq ft. You can check out the official listing here. 

 

Progress on the Potty!!

So for the past few months we've sat Nolan on the potty, talked a bunch about it but never has he actually gone. He has told me after the fact in his diaper when he is pooped. Tuesday PM he asked to sit on his potty (pretty usual) after he saw me go. I put him on and told him to try to make pee come out and suddenly to both of our surprise he did!!

You could tell he was pretty astonished but after the clapping and hooraying (he tells himself hooray) was over he knew finally how to make himself go. He got a big treat to forever cement in his head how excited I was. That night as I tried to make dinner, Nolan asked to go potty about every ten minutes and successfully would force a little out. All in the name of a treat! We've since moved down to one little treat, spice drop candy or sixlet, but his fascination has continued. In the past few days, we've made great progress!!

Moments after using the potty for the first time!!

Disney Days

Late last year you'll remember I blogged about winning tickets to Disney. We won four one day passes and since Nolan is under 3 and still free it meant Tim and I could go for two days free. With the pregnancy we hadn't gotten around to using the passes yet and were dreading doing so in the middle of summer but also needed to use them before Nolan turns 3. The perfect opportunity came along.

Our good friends, who we see far to infrequently, came to Orlando from Wichita for a conference. Arriving early gave them a few fun days to play. We prepped Nolan for a few days ahead of time telling him he was going to see the Mouse.

Tuesday we all went to Magic Kingdom and Wednesday to Animal Kingdom. It was a lot of fun but so darn busy. As Floridians we can pick and choose when to go but unfortunately our friend's trip coincided with the Spring Break season. People everywhere!!! Still we had a lot of fun!

Nolan on Main St. watching Pluto

Using "Boom Booms" on the space invaders...I won!

Safari time with the cheesemeister Nolan

Waiting to fly with the dinos

...not to mention on the drive home we made our big IKEA trip to get everything for Nolan's big boy room. Pics and blog on that to come soon!