dairy-free ice cream?

i'm going to go food shopping this weekend to buy a few choices ingredients to attempt to make some dairy-free meals for my family. and my in-law's. ;)

hopefully, it will be tasty enough to not even be noticed! :D i have, as i mentioned in my last post, 2 brand new dairy-free cookbooks.

in my searching, i decided to hunt down a cold recipe for my son's little teeth. and came across this!

Alkemie Dairy-Free Ice Cream (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free)
Go Dairy Free - Thursday, 14 January 2010

© Go Dairy Free

can't WAIT to actually give this to logan. now, to attempt to locate it. :D

happy holidays, happy new year, happy baby. :)

welcome to 2010, everyone!

i'm hoping that in the coming year i can share with you some of the ways, techniques, recipes, favorite rants, vents, stories, and every day life of the little man that is my son (Logan - 14 months), my husband (Rick), and myself, Lauren. i've backdated some of the entries here with originals from my very first blog. my birth story and some other milestone moments are shared back there and progressively, i hope to engage my readers and fans to enjoy what they're reading, yes, laugh with me, yes, but more importantly... LEARN something. that is what i sincerely hope from all this.

let's start at the current allergy situation with logan... :)

at the moment, he does have a milk "sensitivity." i would say it's an allergy. heh. symptoms... he gets VERY itchy. his head, in particular, takes most of the abuse. behind his ears. his belly takes the next hit... occasionally, he breaks out with lil hives. thus far, we've been treating it with the occasional very mild steroid creams.. but for the most part, we can nip it in the bud if he does get some kind of exposure, as we still don't want to completely eliminate it from his diet at this time... hoping to kick start him a bit to develop some immunities.

so far, it's uncomfortable for him... and it breaks my heart. the mama in me. recently, i purchased some cookbooks, however, and i'm hoping to be able to introduce some dairy-free meals to my family using "Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living" (http://www.godairyfree.org) and "The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook: Delicious Dairy-Free Cheeses and Classic "Uncheese" Dishes". so far, i've only been able to thumb through it... but... something makes me nervous about "nutritional yeast." it's my newest google search at the moment. ;)

oh, and might i mention the array of lotions and different bath products we use in this house. haha. i should buy stock in these... i swear by them if you have a baby with eczema breakouts of ANY kind. natural, soothing, and so great for very sensitive skin.

burt's bees baby bee shampoo & wash for his hair and scalp. it has totally changed the way his skin on his had reacts to his breakouts. also, it has so many natural ingredients in it that it keeps his skin healthy and fresh. he smells like a little like honey n'soap when he's done bathing. :)

also, shaklee makes a wonderful wash called "shakleebaby gentle wash." i use it on his whole body... except for his head/scalp. it dries his head out. still trying to determine what ingredient would be causing that, but... no avail just yet.

some things logan has been able to consume that contain milk are really only small amounts of food cooked with butter/margarine (i mean, SMALL) and the gerber veggie dip lil crunchies. he does very well with them and seems to only be experiencing extremely subtle effects, if any. he doesn't eat them as a meal, obviously, so the milk intake is small, but important.

some may call me meticulous and whatnot over what his allergy consists of, but at this point in time, i'm trying to absorb all i can and mold it into somewhat of a normal lifestyle for us. i have some friends with children who have a similar allergy in their family and i marvel at how they do it and i'm slowly figuring it out too. :)

he's normal! :D he's a crazy, hyper, happy toddler who loves cookies and graham crackers and mickey mouse and cars. he loves his mommy, his daddy, his family and his blue blankie!

there will be more tomorrow. i'm getting wiped. farewell! :) and goodnight.

The First Solid Food. :) 16w2d old.

aside from the 10″ of snow we got yesterday, my little man ate 1/2 tbsp of rice cereal off a spoon!!! we have a majority of it on tape, but the antics were quite funny. we mixed about an ounce of formula with a tablespoon of BeechNut Rice Cereal and ohman, at first he was a little hesitant, but by the end of the feeding, he had his hands on the spoon and would put his face forward to get more food from it! it was TOO darn cute.

we will be doing this over the next week or so before moving on to veggies. although some recommend the fruits first, i feel that logan needs to be exposed to the not-so-sweet tastes firsts. i’d prefer he get used to the yellow veggies first.. like squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. i will say… there is not much that’s funnier than a child with food all over their face and up their nose.

we also stated the “your baby can read!” series. this is an infomercial i watched CONSTANTLY during logan’s midnight feedings. i’m not sure what the website is off the top of my head, but it has 4 volumes that you show 2x a day for a varied length of time. it shows the word, reads the word twice, then shows a picture of the word and uses it in a sentence. it plays songs. it’s much more interactive, i feel, than the baby einstein dvds.

anyway… more on this later. whiny little man to attend to.

Product Review Vol. I

little logan is 15 weeks old today! one more week until 4 months. he’ll be getting his next set of boosters coming up in the next couple weeks and i thought that i would talk about some of the things we’ve received and let you know how *i* feel about them, as well as how logan has reacted to them! i’m going to do a few at a time, so as not to make the blog entries huge. first ones i’m going to talk about are the starlight papasan cradle swing by fisher-price, the rainforest bouncy chair, and the baby einstein deluxe seek and discover activity gym.

1) fisher-price starlight papasan cradle swing: this was probably the most discussed and and argued over piece of baby play equipment we got. heh. mainly because it is a TAD expensive ($140?) but SO worth every single penny!! logan has taken a nap in his swing since he was born and that thing is a LIFESAVER! he takes about a 2.5 hour nap in it in the afternoon. it’s his “long nap” area. unfortunately, the weight limit only goes up to 25lbs and logan’s currently, i’d guess, around 16.5-17lbs and the swing itself has to be turned all the way up to sway him comfortably enough so he’d fall asleep. but it has 5 different kind of noise settings and a projection of stars/moons that rotate along with a few small plush bears/stars that act like a mobile. he LOVES his swing. and we do too!

2) fisher-price rainforest bouncy chair: this was a purchase that my mother made for us. and boy, am i glad she did. originally on my registry, i picked the bouncy chair that matched my pack n’play set. but for some reason, it just didn’t seem as entertaining to a child. yes, it was “matchy” and “cute” which i liked… but… for practicality’s sake, we needed something that a) would occupy and stimulate logan’s senses and b) be useful and portable so that we could take it places with us or move it between rooms so we could put him down in it, he can still see us, and finds it amusing! i love how the bar lights up and the animals on it move! also, there are 2 settings for music and cause/effect learning as he gets a little bit older. i was advised as such about this bouncy chair from my best friend and for under $30, this is an EXCELLENT buy for any little one. the light-up bar is removable, which is great when he wants entertainment from another source. it allows for multiple uses AND it’s a LARGE CHAIR! not like those tiny “matchy” bouncers i had seen or had originally wanted. my best friend’s son still plays with certain parts of the chair, even at a year old!

3) baby einstein seek & discover activity gym/playmat: first of all, let me say that the color scheme of the baby einstein toys are excellent, as they are primary colors and are some of the first colors baby can see when he starts to separate colors from blacks and whites. this playmat also has 2 modes: music mode and cause/effect mode. we use the music mode a lot because logan likes to lay on it, under the flashing musical star, and look at all the colors it makes! it also comes with several dangly toys that rattle and crinkle, as well as a large caterpillar that you can remove and attach to your carseat for added convenience. also, the flashing star can be removed and taken along for the ride or attached to other toys. we dangle it over logan in his pack n’play also and it lulls him to sleep because the colors light up his sleep space an entertain him until he plays to snooze! my only beef with this mat is that it isn’t very thick, so we fold up a blanket on top of our throw rug and THEN place him on it so that there are several layers of cushion-y space between his head and the floor. oh! AND! the mat is SUPER portable. we just have to lift it and take it with us. i go to my mom’s with it all the time.

also, i might mention that logan is NOT a paci baby… and it’s not like we didn’t try. HA. we literally bought EVERY KIND and he just…. didn’t take well to it because he has a slight tongue tie. or so i think that THAT’S why he sucks a little differently than other babies. BUT! he does love up on a blankie (a receiving blanket of ANY size and color). not any particular one, but we’ve been putting a blanket next to his face since he was VERY little and now, when he goes to sleep, he nuzzles it and even if he’s upset, can MOST OFTEN snuggle himself to sleep with his blankie!

take care for now! and i’d love it if you’d share some of YOUR child(ren)’s favorite baby/toddler toys via the comments and how you also feel about them! ciao!

Reflux, Laughter, & A Good Night's Sleep

so, i’m not all that great about making sure i keep up with this blog, but that’s going to change. let me just make a quick bulleted list of some of the things we’ve experienced with logan throughout his 14-week lifespan so far!

1) at approx 6 weeks, logan had to go to the ER at 3:00AM because he was short of breath, wheezing, nasally, and very congested. the pedi thought that he might have RSV, so she had us bring him to the hospital just in case. they put an IV port in his little hand (worst thing i’ve ever had to witness), a urine sac over his lil bits (hey, it was better than a catheter), a chest xray where we had to literally pin him down so he couldn’t move, holding his chin up and everything so he wouldn’t cry… ugh. thankfully, all the tests came back fine, just a little bit of chest congestion. we were sent home at 6AM and tried to get him to sleep, which was veryvery hard. he slept upright in his bouncy chair for about 10 days so that the post-nasal drip would run down instead of stifle his breathing. ugh.

2) i’m not sure when it happened, but logan can now hold his head up pretty well!! but he HATES laying on his stomach. yes, we try tummy-time on the boppy and on the playmat often, but because he’s had such awful reflux issues (i’ll touch on this in its own entry one of these days), we never want to put him on his belly right after he eats because, well, it’s obviously not going to HELP the reflux. heh.

3) he laughed for the first time on january 26th, 2009 at my mother’s house (logan’s mema). daddy was playing with him with a piece of a mobile that was at my mom’s and he literally laughed like a little old man!! it was the most adorable thing i’d ever heard… and we’re anxiously awaiting the moment when he chooses to remember how he did it. he hasn’t done it since.

4) he’s wearing 6-9 month clothing. he is 14, almost 15 weeks old!!! lol. he’s just a tiny giant. we’re not quite sure how much he weighs or how long he is, but his 4 month appointment (and next round of boosters) is coming up in the next couple weeks. speaking of boosters…

5) we chose not to get the rotovirus vaccine because there just isn’t enough known about it since the scare last year. i don’t trust it yet. for more information on rotovirus, check out webmd.com. but otherwise, we got his other vaccines done at his 2 month appointment and he sprung a very low-grade fever, was only whiney for a couple days, and was mostly back to himself the following day! but i must admit… i would have cried when the nurse gave him the injections if it hadn’t been for the fact that i had seen him poked, prodded, and harassed at the ER 2 weeks prior. heh. otherwise… bring something to cry into, mommy’s-to-be! the shots are harder for us than they are for them. it’s true.

6) he likes to sit up!! we can put him comfortably in the bumbo seat, but his lil thighs are getting too chunky for it. hahaha. he hasn’t figured out balance quite yet, but he’s getting there! he wants to be a big man all the time.

7) logan can be laid down half awake… and go to sleep all by himself!! this is a huuuuuuuge milestone. he’s usually in bed between 9 and 10… sometimes a little earlier… but never usually later than that. and he will sleep until about 7AM. except for last night.

i hope to be able to update this at least once a week… i’m still attending college for my undergrad, so it’s sometimes hard to get to it, but don’t worry! keep checkin’ up!

what other way to start... a birth story. :)

it started with the urge to pee. yep. i woke up at 5:50am on 11/8/2008 to “relieve myself” for the zillionth time that night. i was 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant. my bladder was being squished by my giant baby and i was done being pregnant! at my previous OB visit, i was 2cm dialated and 70% effaced. labor was going to happen soon, but i had also convinced myself that i wouldn’t know it unless my water broke!!

sure enough… i crawled back into bed after going to the bathroom. for some reason, i mentally coached myself to let my body relax and suddenly, i felt a pop… a snap… a noise that i swear you could hear, but moreover, that i FELT! my water had broken! it was 5:55am. i was laying in bed next to my husband and didn’t move… no water on the bed was all i could say to myself. i shook him awake, made him toss me a towel, and proceeded to… leak all over the floor and the towel. called the doctor. she asked if i was SURE my water had broken.

yea. i was sure. the soaking wet towel and mess i’d made were sure enough signs of that. so she said she would call the hospital and let them know i was coming, but not to rush because i wasn’t having any active labor pains and to shower and take it slow. after showering, doing my makeup, and blowdrying my hair (hey, afterall, i had to look beautiful for post-birth photos!), we got in the car and… proceeded to get dunkin donuts where i felt my first labor pains. 10 minutes apart. every 4 minutes.

we got to the hospital around 8am and i was hooked up to machines and monitors within the hour. whew. loooootsa pain going on. my mother, mother in law, father, and hubby were all there. coaching me along and helping me get through the worst contractions. i labored without any drugs until 3pm. and i got the epidural. i cried and cried and cried. at that point, i was so done with feeling the pain, but i’m such a chicken when it came to needles. i still kind of am. i wasn’t even speaking english to anyone before i had the epi! i could barely breathe in enough to get through the ctx. i wouldn’t even open my eyes. so you can imagine how unrelenting i was with the anestheisiologist when he kept telling me how “excellent that camera was”. hubby had bought a new canon 40D for the occasion and the doc just wouldn’t stop talking about it!! just do your jobbbb!! LOL. i was done with that guy.. but he would haunt me later.

as soon as the epi took effect, i was back to laughing, smiling, and chatting with the family that was present. then… hubby and my MIL left to go to my nephew’s birthday party. i know, i know. but i didn’t care!! i just wanted to rest and relax and i hadn’t progressed more than 4cm and 100% effaced at that point.

5:30pm – my next check up. i was 6cm! i called hubby and he and my MIL came back to the hospital. by the time they got there (8pm) i was 8cm!! YESSSSS!!!!! it wouldn’t be long now!! i was SO EXCITED to start pushing and meet my little man.

then… 10pm came… and i was STILL 8cm. i was exhausted. frustrated. and upset that i hadn’t dialated any further. my doctor said that she’d wait a little longer and if there was no progression the next time she checked, then we would have to do a caesarean section. i wanted to deliver naturally more than ANYTHING. so i cried… a lot. turned out that between contractions, my uterus was not completely detracting enough to get a large contraction that would further my dialation and progress my labor.

11pm – no progression. at this point, we decided on the c-section. by 11:30pm, everyone was ready to get going. i was loaded onto the operating table and strapped down… hubby was given operation scrubs (he was my McDreamy!) and asked to wait in another room until i was ready. well. no one had hooked my IV up in the OR and they were PUMPING ME with epi medication to get my body to numb out for the surgery. turns out the same anesthesiologist i had for my original epi was STILL on and was in the OR with me.

hubby was allowed in. it’s now 11:45pm. he had his camera and the curtain to separate the sterile area from us was up. i started to feel extremely nauseous… and voiced that… before someone finally said, “oh, her IV isn’t hooked up…” and i looked at my hubby n’said i was going to throw up. it all happened SO FAST after this.

they gave me the pan to throw up in next to my face. the anesthesiologist and my husband were chatting in depth about his camera at this point. a man was jumping on my stomach (i swear, he was pile-driving my chest/stomach) to get logan to move down. all i could say to hubby was, “get the camera! he’s coming!” and with that, i heard a cry.

the most beautiful sound i’d ever heard. i started to cry. hubby pulled himself away from conversation. and logan alexander was born at 12:04am 11/9/2008. the first baby of sunday. they brought him to the NICU to get his shots and vitals taken.

8lbs 14oz 20.25″ long. 18 hours of labor.

they brought him to me in post-op… about 1.5 hours after the surgery. we tried breastfeeding. he took some, but slept for the most part. all i kept thinking was how beautiful he was. eventually, about 3am, hubby and i were moved to our recovery room where hubby was set up with a cot and i had to wear these awful, itchy circulation bootie things all night. needless to say, i didn’t sleep. i was so uncomfortable.

uncle eric was logan’s first visitor. he came at 4am, even though he didn’t get to see me ’til about 6am. he lied and told the hospital he was my brother.. when i had JUST told my nurse i was an only child. HA!

it was 38 hours before i actually slept. the adrenaline rush of finally having my son was all i needed to function. plus, i wasn’t such a huge fan of the water diet they had me on post-surgery. so many people came to visit that day that i can’t even begin to name the names. i was so grateful for all the gifts, flowers, and just the *company* of so many people who had helped me during my pregnancy. and now could share in my joy. 4 days later, we got to take logan home.

there is no greater love.