Family Fun Day March 2013

Sitting in the main courtyard of the San Juan Capistrano Mission

Dan has been super busy with his work studies lately but was able to take a break this week and we decided to have a family fun day in San Juan Capistrano.  It was a beautiful, sunny and mild day for our trip.  We started at the San Juan Capistrano Mission where we explored the ruins of the old church, touched and looked at lots of flowers and plants, and ran in the grassy courtyards.  Dan was able to get some great "door" pictures for a future homemade stationary project.  We were also able to feed the koi fish in the ponds and it was hilarious to watch Lena's reaction to the fish.  She at first loved seeing them swim around but when they would surface and suck the air she would get scared.

Lena and I are standing inside the old church which was destroyed in 1812 by an earthquake.

Lena, checking out the original adobe brick and stone walls.

Lena checking out the giant koi fish.

She was freaked out by their wide, gaping mouths.

Dan doing his best to get Lena to look at the camera.  Ha!

After the Mission we had lunch at our favorite Mexican joint across the street.  They had remodeled and it was fun to watch the trains go by while we ate our delicious lunch on the patio.

Mexican lunch!  Pasole for Dan...Chicken flauta for Elizabeth...

Chicken and fries for Lena!  The girl cannot get enough chicken!

Following our lunch we walked across the train tracks to Zoomars petting zoo where Lena was in animal heaven!  We fed and petted the bunnies, guinea pigs, goats, sheep, cows, horses, and llamas until our heart's content and then took a dive in their new corn pit where you can "swim" in dried corn.  Since we scheduled our trip on a Monday we practically had the place to ourselves.

Piles of guinea pigs and bunnies to pet!

Feeding the sheep and goats...going fine until...

...we were outnumbered and they attacked our food supply!

Fun in the dried corn pit!

Feeding the lamas with Daddy.

Lena was shy at first but got really friendly with the animals after awhile.

She was equally as fascinated with the straw as she was with the bunnies.

Chasing down a victim...eh hem... a bunny.

After a thorough hand washing we walked over to the nearby park to play on the slides and swings.  Lena can't seem to get enough of the park slides lately and she is finally learning to climb up and slide down by herself which is awesome!

Lena loves going "weeeee" on the slide!

Swings are a newer attraction for Lena.

She was so funny and kept wanting to slide forward to  sit  like this in the swing.

On the way home Lena fell asleep pretty quickly after a full and exciting day.  Dan and I stopped at one of the nearby cheese stores to pick up a few favorites to add a nice finish to our family fun day.  I picked two Cypress Grove Farms cheeses (Lamb Choppers and Midnight Moon) and Dan picked out a stinky truffle cheese and and nutty aged Italian cheese called Piave.  It was such a satisfying day together as a family.  We did this same trip with my nephews  when I was pregnant with Lena and I remember thinking with anticipation how fun it would be to do this trip with our own kids one day.  God is good and we are so blessed.

Girls' Day Out

Last week Lena and I had to get out of the house so I decided we should have a "Girls Day Out" doing errands with several fun activities mixed in.  We started with a trip to Kmart to replenish our sticker supply and research hairdryers.

Lena's favorite thing at Chuck E Cheese is pulling out the tickets when we win a jackpot.

Then we headed to Chuck E Cheese to spend some our tokens.  Mommy hit a few ticket jackpots so Lena got to take home a giant slinky, stickers, and a fairy wand!  Lena tends to like the big kids part of Chuck E Cheese the best because of all the buttons you push on the machines.

Her favorite ride is the police car.  How appropriate!

Next we headed to The Pacific Fish Grill for lunch.  I have discovered that Lena loves tender grilled white fish and have been trying to encourage this healthy eating habit.  After a quick visit to the post office and the bank we headed to Toys R Us to cash in on a great coupon deal and play with the toys.  Lena's favorite was this Minnie Mouse car.  She loved getting in and out through the little car door.  She also favors the stuffed animal isle.  We always pick out several fluffy animals to hug and squeeze.

After an hour of playing we toys that we didn't have to pay for.. he he..we headed to Yogurtland for some mint frozen yogurt and a romp around their outdoor fountain.  Then we hit Threeway Thrift Store and scored some great Easter books, a beautiful hand crocheted shawl for me, and a new pair of size five Pediped Mary Janes for Lena.  Our total purchase was under $10.00!

On the way home we dropped by Amy's Farm to pet the cows and horses and pick up some organic greens for our fruit and veggie shakes that we make with our Vitamix.  This time we tried beet green thinnings which turned our shakes a pretty red color.  We also picked up a tub of fresh goat cheese with french herbs from a local goat farm.  Delicious!  Next time I will have to remember to bring our camera so I can take a few more pictures of our next Girls' Day Out.  I love spending time with my precious girl.  I never had so much fun running errands!

Messy Girl

So it seems that at least once a day I find myself in a situation much like this:

"Oh my!  What happened here!?"

In case you can't tell, that is $2 worth of wipes on the chair/floor.

And usually not too far away I find a "Little Miss Someone" like this:

With not shame, nor remorse, nor fear, but immense joy on her face.  I am sure Lena isn't totally alone in this but the girl LOVES making messes and she is quite skilled at it too.  It kind of amazes me how stealthily and quickly she gets into things.  She is so incredibly chatty that when it is too quiet in her play area I know she is up to (or rather into) something.  Yeah, I spend a lot of time cleaning...and re-cleaning.  Good thing I generally like to clean.

Valentine's Day 2013: A Nice Ending to a LONG Week!

 Happy Valentine's Day from the Shacks!  It has been a rough week in the Shack household but things are looking up now and we were able to celebrate together tonight.  On Saturday night Lena started getting a splotchy rash which quickly worsened and landed us in the ER (again) very late Sunday night / Monday morning.  It seems she was having an allergic reaction to one of the medicines she was on for pneumonia, likely amoxacillian.  She looked awful and the poor girl was itching like mad thrusting her legs wildly and tugging madly at her hair and ears.  It was so heart wrenching to watch.  This is a shot of her in the ER with me:

When the doctor came into our room he asked if I had tried to give her any Benadryl.  I just looked at him and said, "We have some but the bottle says not to give it to children under two years old."  He chuckled and implied that was merely a suggestion when I replied somewhat sarcastically, "Sorry...I'm a first time mom...I follow the rules."  It was kind of a funny exchange.  They gave her an oral steroid and some Benadryl and Lena's rash was gone a few hours later.  To my surprise 18 hours later the rash was back and worse than ever.  Apparently, the steroid had worn off and we just had to keep her comfortable with Benadryl and tepid baths until the medicine that cause the rash worked its way out of her system. 

We broke out some new toys for our long rash baths!

By Valentine's Day the rash had left her face and was just splotchy on her body so we put on a cute outfit after wearing pjs for almost two weeks straight and posed for some VDay pics.

When Daddy finally came home from work we had some artisan cheese, a Shack family tradition, and then headed out to a local family owned restaurant for a VDay special I had seen advertised.  It turns out that Lena LOVES white fish!  I will be making that for dinner often in the near future!

VDAY 2013 Cheese - Aged Gouda (Ned), Humbolt Fog (CA), Dubliner (IRE), Manchango (SP)

Fish and chips for Lena and I / Steak and Lobster Tail for Dan

Years ago we vowed never to eat out on VDay ever again after a bad experience with crowds at The Spaghetti Factory.  But today's experience was so pleasant, delicious,  not crowded (no wait), and affordable (our total bill was under $20) that I think we just might come back next year!  When we got home we had some dark chocolate cover strawberries I had made earlier in the day and settled in for the evening.  It was fun to spend Valentine's Day evening as a family.  I am so thankful for the blessing of Dan and Lena.

Making Progress

It has been a year since I have started to work to take off the weight I gained while I was pregnant.  I've been making some progress and am finally at my pre-pregnancy weight!   Now I am going to begin training for the Orange County Half Marathon in May and work on toning with strength training as my next fitness goal.

At delivery I had gained 74 pounds.  After the swelling went down I lost 16 pounds ending up with 58 pounds of baby weight.  So here is a visual diary of the loss of those 58 pounds...

March 2012 - Down 8 pounds

July 2012 - Down 16 pounds

September 2012 - Down 30 pounds

February 2013 - Down 58 pounds

 And here is a side view comparison...

March 2012

February 2013

And this is how I feel about all this...

I can't wait to show you an updated pic after my half marathon three months from now in May!

Lena: 15 Months Old

Happy Superbowl Sunday Everyone!

 And happy 15 months to Lena Joyce!  Our little girl is a growing toddler and she does something new and amusing nearly everyday!  For instance, the other day I spotted her squatting in this tiny basket. So funny, so cute!

She is growing up and out!  She is in size three or four diapers, weighs about 18.5 pounds and is 28 inches tall.  She wears 12-18 month clothes, size 4/5 shoes and I'd say she wears size 12-18 month socks but the girl won't keep 'em on her feet!  She often struggles and moans in the carseat as she works hard to rid herself of her shoes and socks.  We recently had a cold spell and I noticed she is leaving her socks on occasionally. 

She is definitely a girl on the move!  She loves to ride her tricycle that we got her for Christmas and will often ask us to put her bike helmet on even if she doesn't want to ride her trike.  I find this incredibly funny because the second I put barrettes or a hat on her head she freaks out and rips them out but she will walk around with this heavy bike helmet and a bucket on her head for a long time!

She is a picky eater on a off.  Some days she won't eat much while others she does a pretty good job.  Her favorites are spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, and anything else with tomato sauce.  She also likes breakfast carbs like waffles, pancakes, and cold cereal.  I've started putting protein powder and fruit and veggie purees in these foods just to get more nutrition in her diet.  She LOVES juice and graham crackers, frozen yogurt, sliced cheese, and her newest favorite are yogurt melts.  I would say the girl is addicted to yogurt melts.  It is truly amusing to see how many she can eat in one sitting because she doesn't eat large quantities of anything else. 

She loves her play time and is attracted to things that have funny textures, things that sparkle, things that talk or sing, and things she can wear.  I bought some of those Marti Gras bead necklaces from the thrift store the other day and she really has a ball putting them on and off and wearing them around the house all day.

Lena enjoying our special roses from Grandma.

She is a very gentle child: she doesn't force things, she is very kind to our cats and dog and enjoys feeding them treats and giving them pets, she doesn't really throw things very often, and I don't know if this will change but she isn't very destructive.  She is reflective and observant and spends lots of time gazing at the pages of her books, collects things into piles, explores various boxes, baskets, and chests around the house.  I also recently noticed that she will look at the clothes I put on her in the morning.  She will check out the pattern on her shirt and finger her socks and accessories carefully looking at their shape, texture, and color. 

Putting on that sweet Lena charm!

One of Lena's new favorite pastimes, magnets!

Lena is becoming increasingly verbal and I am quite certain we will have a lively conversationalist on our hands before too long.  We have been watching our Baby Signing Times DVDs and she can sign a few words like more and all done but she can say many more words like: juice, bye bye, hi, da da, kitty kitty,Oh Wow!, thank you, what's that?, cracker, no....and the list keeps growing everyday!

In the ER- Nothing makes tedious breathing treatments better than being held by Daddy and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

 Right before her 15 month milestone Lena was diagnosed with pneumonia.  It came on so fast from the first cough till the time we were diagnosed in the ER was less than 48 hours.  It was the worst respiratory illness she has had to date and her seventh since she was born.  Her illnesses seem to be triggered by cold weather so I guess it is good we live in a fairly warm and dry part of California.  It seems likely that she has inherited asthmatic tendencies from her genetic father. 

Lena with her Daddy.

Life with Lena is full of laughter, wonder, challenges, Mickey Mouse, and lots of love.  As Lena recovers from her pneumonia we are extra mindful of how precious her life is and how thankful we are to be her parents.

Bye Bye! (Mommy and Lena at Pikes Place in Seattle.)