Grains of Gratitude

When Kayla was first diagnosed with Celiac disease I wondered how hard it would be to follow the gluten-free diet, how hard it would be to make sure her foods were gluten-free, I wondered if we'd ever be able to eat out again (not that we eat out that often) and I was saddened at the thought of never just going out for pizza as a family...or even just ordering pizza in. Thankfully restaurants are starting to become more aware of the gluten-free diet and offering acceptable menu choices; other well-known companies are also starting to offer gluten-free products.

1. I'm grateful that we can go out and have pizza as a family! Someone told me that Uno Chicago Grill offers a gluten-free pizza crust, but there isn't a restaurant close to us. Then a few weeks ago I found out Bostons started offering the gluten-free pizza crust - and there is a Boston's right near us, so we went out for pizza last week and I was so grateful Kayla could eat pizza with us :)

2. I'm grateful that some companies are changing the ingredients in their products to make them gluten-free. Chex now has 6 gluten-free cereals! This is great because I can use these in the Chex mix recipes. And this month Betty Crocker is coming out with 4 gluten free dessert mixes.

3. I'm grateful I was able to go to the Mom's Club "Mom's Night Out Banquet" on Friday. The theme was "Black and White" so I was able to borrow a pair of dress pants from my sister (and even took the time to paint my finger and toe nails!) and go out for a nice kid-free dinner with nothing but adult conversation (of course a bit of the talk revolved around our kids!). I'm grateful I'm here with my mom so it allowed me to get out for some grown-up time...and I'm grateful the kids didn't give her any problems at bedtime!

4. I'm so very grateful for my husband and the wonderful father he is. For the most part I live day-by-day feeling pretty comfortable with where Joe is at - meaning I don't spend every minute worrying about him or what he's doing. I feel secure in the knowledge that, all things considered, he is relatively "safe" where he's based at. I don't mean that to sound like I'm not taking the potential danger of what is happening in Afghanistan seriously, because I am. But I know Joe's job - I know he's not on convoys, or flying, or patrolling in villages - and compared to those duties he is relatively safe.

Attacks on the actual bases are rare, but it can happen, and it did happen - this morning actually. Rockets hit a US base in Afghanistan and 2 US service members were killed. This isn't the base Joe is at, but he is near there, so it does hit close to home for me. It's like reality slapping me in the face that this very easily could have been his base that was attacked.

So while I'm so, so very thankful that it wasn't his base, and I could talk to Joe this morning, my heart is heavy knowing 2 families will be notified of their loved ones loss. My prayers go out to those families.

Grains of Gratitude

1. I'm grateful I was able to attend a Handwriting Without Tears workshop yesterday - now I have a little better understanding of how to use this program (that I bought last year!) with Kayla. I'm grateful it was an easy drive to Alexandria, VA and back.

2. I'm grateful my mom didn't mind being home all day with both kids while I went to the workshop. And I do mean all day, I was gone from about 730-530. But her sister came to visit so she wasn't totally alone with the kids. :)

3. I'm grateful for the 'little things' in life...such as a melting a little bit of peanut butter with a piece of chocolate (like a Hershey's Bliss dark chocolate), stirring together and drizzling over vanilla ice cream....yuuummmm! It's my new weakness and indulgence.

4. I'm grateful everything was settled with regards to Kayla's placement for the next school year. I'm grateful I had a nice meeting with the principle and the confusion was cleared up. I'm also grateful I'm able to still be able to communicate with Joe all the way in Afghanistan over important matters like this. It helps being able to talk it over with him too.

5. I'm grateful that Kayla had such fun in her Kindergarten program...singing and dancing! At her preschool program she didn't move or sing much even though she loved singing the songs at home. Practicing at school without all the parents in the audience is a lot different then doing it live! I'm glad she participated more this year instead of standing still :) I'm grateful my sister was able to be at the K program too - I know Kayla loved having her Aunt Kelly there! And Kelly was able to help with filming so Joe could see too.

She cracks me up in this video. There are a couple spots in the song where the kids hold hands, but B (the boy next to her) tries to hold her hand a couple times when they weren't supposed to and she's so funny not wanting to hold his hand at those times. She knew they were supposed to be doing other hand movements, but she was perfectly fine to hold his hand when they were supposed to. And at the end it's quiet before the kids start singing "la la la la"' but Kayla starts a little early so you hear her singing "la la la la" before everyone else.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Grains of Gratitude

1. My mom has been gone this week...ok actually she's only been gone since Wed, but after today it sure feels like she's been gone all week long (especially since Lucas decided he only needed to have a 20-min nap). So I'm grateful for all she does to help me out and I'm certainly grateful that she'll be back tomorrow night! The kids and I have both missed having her home!

2. I'm grateful my sister was able to watch Lucas while I took Kayla to her dental appt. That was a big help so I didn't have to bring him to the appt.

3. I'm grateful Kayla is getting better at medical/dental appts now. She still is really apprehensive and unsure about it all, she still says 'no' when she doesn't want to sit in the chair or something, she still says she wants to go home, she still whimpers somewhat, and she still puts up a token resistance to what they are trying to do, but she now resigns herself to the fact that she's not going to get out of the appt LOL. She had to sit on my lap in the dental chair, but she did allow the lady to brush and floss her teeth, and after being a little freaked out by the small tube squirting water and the other tube suctioning it out, she cooperated with that too.

4. I'm grateful that Lucas decided he would start sleeping in every morning since my mom left. Thanks Lucas! That extra quiet time in the morning sure has been helpful! And it means I've been able to jump in the shower after getting Kayla off to school and not have to worry about Lucas hanging out in the bathroom with me getting into everything.

5. I'm grateful we were able to video chat with Joe for his birthday...I know these capabilities weren't available with past conflicts/wars so I'm appreciative for technological advances!

6. I'm grateful my sister was able to go to the Maryland Faeire Festival with us yesterday. It was nice being able to hang out with her, even though Kayla's attitude yesterday left much to be desired. But we won't talk about that because this is supposed to be a grateful post; I'm just chalking it up to she was having a very off day and we're all entitled to that every now and then. Thanks for coming along Kelly!

7. Did I mention I'm grateful my mom will be home tomorrow night?! :)

Grains of Gratitude

I'm grateful for busy weekends full of great information!

Yesterday we went to the first annual Early Childhood Day and we think it was a pretty good success for their first time putting this on. They had a lot of vendors there, things for the kids, and lots of freebies (and you know I'm all about the freebies!) The kids got coloring books, crayons, bubbles, wiki sticks, books, jump rope, footballs, and a Happy, Healthy, Ready for School DVD kit from Sesame Street and PNC Bank.

Kayla and I had fun playing with the parachute for a good 15 min...those are always fun! She also had her face painted, and if my memory is right, this is the first time she's done this. She's gotten as far as sitting in the chair to get her face painted before, but once she realized what they were about to do she changed her mind. She's never wanted anyone doing anything to her face before. This time she sat very still and let the girl paint her face. So, milestone!




Today we went to the 8th Annual International Celiac Walk/Run sponsored by the University of Maryland's Center for Celiac Research. Truth be told we didn't actually arrive in time to participate in the walk (and it was raining anyway) but we went to the vendor fair afterwards. That's what I really wanted to go for - to get some information, taste some gluten-free food (and have Kayla taste it!), and get some resources. It was well worth driving the hour+ to Baltimore just to find out about some of the companies.

We sampled some yummy cookies, cakes, brownies, donuts, and breads from Shabtai Gourmet (and they have free shipping on all orders!), For Full Flavor, Food Tek, GF Great Bakes , Tenzo ,and Meister's Gluten Free.

I bought some baguettes from Everybody Eats. When we got home I warmed some up in the toaster oven and made Kayla a ham and cheese sandwich which she enjoyed. And so did I :) The baguette was really good...warm and soft and delicious!

I picked up some GoPicnic meals for Kayla. (Use the code GLUTENFREE to get 20% off your order.) This will come in handy for tomorrow when we head to Walter Reed for Kayla's cardiology (just a routine check-up from the coil closure of her PDA) appointment - now she's got lunch all ready to go!

We also went home with cookie dough from Grandma Corbi's and a banana bread mix from Breads from Anna.

And I bought a book from Jules so I can become more educated in this new lifestyle.

So all in all a very productive weekend!

Grains of Gratitude - Weekend Edition

What a busy, but fun, weekend we had meeting up with some blogging friends!

On Sat we joined Julia and her girls (of the infamous fairy birthday party!) at the Accokeek National Colonial Farm for Children's Day.
Come see the connections between nursery rhymes and life on the farm at the Accokeek Foundation's annual Children's Day event. Costumed interpreters enlist children's help in performing daily chores of a colonial farm and learn a nursery rhyme connected to that activity. Upon completing each chore, children earn a puzzle piece, and by the end of the day will have gathered all the pieces for a jigsaw puzzle of the farm's heritage breed animals.

This was such a fun outing for the girls and it was a beautiful day to go.


Trying on the different clothing


Making the bed


Planting lettuce seeds


Kayla has no fear of getting up close and personal with sheep!


Finding a top in the hay stack


Ring Around the Rosey


Checking out the Potomac River


Then on Sunday the fun continued. We met another family at the National Zoo.

These girls became fast friends!






It was another beautiful day and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to get together!

Grains of Gratitude

1. I'm grateful Kayla did so well with the upper endoscopy and whole medical environment. She really has come a long way in her comfort level of all things medical-related. It used to be such a fight to get her to cooperate with anything. I'm so glad she didn't resist and cry when she was led away by the nurses because that would have caused me to cry and be even more stressed!

2. I'm grateful that I'm living here and had my mom for support during this time...to be at the hospital with me, but also to pretty much take care of Lucas so I could focus on Kayla. It was such a blessing to not worry about keeping him occupied, fed, and entertained!

3. I'm grateful we were able to talk to Joe at the hospital after Kayla was done with the procedure. It helped to hear his voice and I know Kayla enjoyed it too.

4. I'm grateful for everyone's prayers, comments, and emails to me about this new diagnosis we're dealing with. Thank you for the advice and links too - they really have been helpful!

5. I'm grateful for all the things Kayla can still eat like fruits and dairy - she loves her yogurt and cheeses! I'm grateful she can eat corn tortillas when we make quesadillas, and corn tortilla chips, and that she already eats/likes rice cakes and popcorn and peanuts/almonds...so she can still enjoy those snacks. She ate Vans Gluten-Free Blueberry Waffles yesterday and seemed to like it. Several months ago I started buying the EnviroKidz cereal and granola bars because they were a healthier option and she likes those, thankfully they just happen to be gluten-free as well. Now we just need to find a little more variety in the cereal department though!

Grains of Gratitude

1. I'm grateful Joe's training is done and he's here for the weekend. It's nice to see him for a short visit before he deploys. I'm grateful he was able to catch a ride from someone in the class back to MD - saved me a trip from driving to NJ to get him, so that was nice.

2. I'm grateful we were able to go to dinner by ourselves on Friday night. We went to Mimi's Cafe and had a very nice dinner (tasty food, sweet tea!, and yummy desserts) sans kids!

3. I'm grateful he's here to give Kayla someone to roughhouse with!


Because I sure don't let her bounce on my back!


4. At the beginning of Dec Kayla had some routine blood work done to screen for thyroid issues and celiac disease. After we moved here her dr from NM called to tell me the screening came back high for both of the tests. We finally got an appt w/her new ped here and had the thyroid redone (I wanted to have the celiac redone but the dr felt like it was an abnormal result and it wouldn't show up normal again so we didn't). I'm grateful that on Fri I found out the results from the thyroid are now back in the normal range! We'll still see an endo because she had the high range last month, but I'm glad that for now it is back in the normal range. She has a referral in to see the GI dr about the celiac screening so I don't have any answers on that yet.

5. I'm grateful for impromptu celebrations. Last night we had a chocolate cream pie for dessert. I quickly drizzled chocolate sauce on it to say "goodbye Joe" and then threw a candle on it to sing Happy Birthday to Lucas (since Joe will miss his birthday).



Kayla helped Lucas blow out the candle:


Hmmm...what is this stuff? It feels weird on my fingers:


Can someone wipe this off please?


Joe had to put Lucas's fingers in his mouth to convince him it was good to eat:


Well ok then!


Let me have at it!


Celebrate!

Grains of Gratitude

It's been awhile since I've been able to sit down and do a Grains of Gratitude post; and I do have plenty to be grateful for.

1. I'm grateful we had a safe and uneventful trip traveling from NM to MD; and that we were able to stop and see family along the way. Despite just one rough patch on the road when Lucas just wouldn't stop crying overall it went really well...and the weather was decent with just some strong winds.

2. I'm grateful we all seem to be over whatever stomach virus was going around here (and glad my mom didn't catch it!) Lucas just has a lingering runny nose now, and might possibly be teething, but other than that we're feeling better.

3. I'm grateful Kayla had a great first week of school and seems to have wonderful teachers. She seems to have adjusted really well to the whole transition and comes home from school happy. We still need to have her IEP meeting with the new teachers and therapists and I'm hoping that will go smoothly.

4. I'm grateful I was able to join a MOMS club; there seem to be a lot of kids the same ages as Kayla and Lucas, so that's nice. I'm glad my mom decided to go to the HOOT and HOWL dinner with me on Wed (since she has a Husband Out Of Town I told her to come join us). It was a nice dinner and all the kids were well behaved.

5. I'm grateful for the genuine goodness and generosity of people.
a) A few months ago I participated in a Pay It Forward from LauraJ and she sent a beautiful, soft, baby blanket for Lucas that she made (she's so talented!).
b) I won a set of wine charms from a contest Alisha held. The wine charms were from Danette and she was so sweet to include a bracelet with Kayla's name on it...what a nice surprise.
c) I participated in another Pay It Forward from Tracey and I received my gift this week. She sent a beautiful pair of purple (my favorite color!) earrings and some yummy chocolate from Australia!
d) Last, but certainly not least, Nancy sent me an adorable pair of Fire Truck Soft Leather Shoes all because in a contest she was having I mentioned I would chose these shoes since my sister is a firefighter (I didn't win, but she was generous enough to send me a pair for Lucas anyway!) Thank you everyone!

So now on to the Pay It Forward exchange. How it generally works is the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me (it's usually supposed to be handmade, but I'm not creative like that, so mine probably won't be!) You then need to post the Pay It Forward challenge on your own blog and make (or buy) a gift also for your first 3 commenters. The gift can be in any price range and you have 365 days to send it. So you won't know what you're getting, or when you're getting it - just that sometime in the next year you'll get a gift from me! And since I participated in 2 of these exchanges the first 6 commenters will get a gift from me (but remember you have to Pay It Forward too!) If you don't want to participate let me know so I won't count your comment :)

Edited to add: The winner of the Children's Place gift card is Tracey!

Grains of Gratitude

1. Back in June I mentioned Joe found out he was selected for promotion ... on Mon, after an almost 6-month wait, he was finally promoted and able to put on that new stripe! Definitely grateful for that, but also grateful that both kids did so well sitting (mostly) quietly for the hour-long ceremony.

A not-so-great picture of us ...


So we staged a better one later of us "tacking on" (or punching his arm)






2. I'm grateful for the falling gas prices!

3. I'm grateful for the nice time we had at the base Christmas tree lightning. And that Lucas didn't freak out when I stuck him on Santa's lap. Kayla didn't seem to thrilled to sit on his lap either, which was strange because she was excited to see him, and shook his hand, when he walked by.


4. I'm grateful we survived yesterday's full day - cookie exchange party, Home Depot kid's clinic, birthday party, and a holiday bazaar (where I had a Discovery Toys table). Whew! It helps to be able to split up!

Now time to get back to cleaning and organizing and all of that fun stuff!

Grains of Gratitude

I haven't done a Grains of Gratitude post in a few weeks, so this list will encompass the past few weeks.

1. Remember when Joe almost didn't make it back in time for the Buddy Walk and ended up purchasing his own ticket to fly home? We didn't know if he would be reimbursed for that ticket since he couldn't get in touch with anyone from the finance office, so he just had to file his travel voucher and pray we would. His payment for the travel voucher came in and he was reimbursed for the plane ticket! Prayers were answered - that was a big blessing to have that reimbursed.

2. Kayla went to her first classmate birthday party this year and had a blast. Her and Dillon are so cute together. At the end of the school day as we're walking to the parking lot he always calls out "bye Kayla!" and she'll say "Dillon! A hug!" and they go running up to each other with arms wide open to give each other a hug. She knows his mom too as she was a preschool teacher assistant in the classroom next to Kayla's room last year. This year she's in one of the K classrooms. This was the first time we left her at a birthday party too. Joe, Lucas and I went to town and stopped at a new business - The Chocoholic Shoppe - and shared a cheesecake and milkshake - yum!

3. Kayla had an ENT appt last week and she was just so, so, so well behaved and cooperative! I am so grateful for an easy appointment. She is a lot better than she used to be when going to dr appts, but I never know how she's going to act. I've always had to hold her in my lap when they do the tympanogram and sometimes hold her head still. This time, since I had Lucas in the sling, she sat in the chair by herself and didn't protest once when the tech put the probe things in her ears. Then we went to the booth and she put the headphones on willingly (guess it helps they wear headphones in school during computer lab!), and she even sat in the ENT chair by herself and let Dr. F take wax out of her ear! She did all this alone, without me having to hold her, or bribe or plead with her. Not once did she resist! Definitely a good dr visit!

4. A few years ago we had one of these Family Plaques made when the vendor was on base for a Christmas bazaar. We left a blank space anticipating we would eventually have another child. We went to El Paso yesterday to get another child added to the house. The vendor was at a mall so we brought the house with us, picked out a little boy, she added Lucas's name; now our house is complete :) I'm grateful we were able to get this done before we move.

5. After we left the mall we went to the El Paso Zoo and had a nice time walking around. We have an annual pass with our local zoo and the El Paso Zoo is part of the reciprocal zoo & aquarium list so we were able to get in half-price.

Have a great week!