allrecipes.com

I use this website a lot to find recipes, this site has gotten way cooler by creating an iPhone application called "Dinner Spinner". Need an idea for dinner? Just open the app and shake and it comes up with recipes for you. Cool huh?

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

My little model

I had some fun today taking some pictures of Hezekiah, I was trying out some new techniques. I really liked the way they came out, Hezekiah's face is hilarious in some of these pictures, he is a hand full but so much fun! Hope you like them!

Pray for Angie & Nolan

Through many others blogs, twitter, and facebook, I have been keeping up and praying for the Lamberth Family. Mark Lamberth was in a dirt biking accident on December 12th. A close friend and former neighbor to this family started a blog: www.prayforthelamberths.wordpress.com to get the message across so that the wife, Angie, would not have to make and receive as many phones call during this time. The blog was hit over 79,00 times with well over 1000 comments posted from friends and people that did not even know the family across the nation.

Mark had to have a portion of his skill removed to relieve pressure, and even through some improvement was made in his condition, the Dr's said he only had 1in 500 chance of making it. Today at around 5:30pm , Mark went home to be with the Lord. I don't know this family at all, and have never met them. I ask that you as well would pray for his wife Angie, and their 6-year old son Nolan. Pray that God would be with them during this most difficult time. That he would wrap his arms around this family, and hold them tight so that they do not turn their pain into anger at God.

We do not always know why God does the things He does, and we don't always see the purpose behind the pain that he puts us through. He works in ways that are beyond our sight, and beyond our comprehension. Both Mark and Angie were Christians, so we praise the Lord that Mark is present with the Lord right now and able to enjoy the presence of our Creator.

I really feel so much love towards this family even though I do not even know them, I cannot fathom the pain Angie must be going through right now. I sat here crying when I read the blog that he has passed because I could only imagine what she must be feeling right now.

Flash Fun

3 years ago for Christmas I got my SB-600 Speedflash, it has been an amazing flash... however it did not come with a diffusion cap with really frustrates me at times because I am constantly having to adjust my flash for portraits. So I have been playing with a couple of different things to try and get a different look out of my pictures. Here are some test shots, what I did with my flash was actually take an index card and rubber band it to my flash to hopefully diffuse some of the light. Our house was actually pretty dark as far as lighting in this picture, so the flash did most of the work. Also, because I took this picture originally in RAW and transferred it, the color didn't seem to carry over... wierd! Don't you love Hezekiah's face in the first picture?

Deliciously Deceptive

I bought this cookbook recently called "Deliciously Deceptive: Simple secrets to get you kids eating good food" by Jessica Seinfeld. She is the wife of Jerry Seinfeld, and she was concerned that her 3 children were not getting enough vegetables in their diet. She created this cookbook on how to sneak healthy food into your kids diet without them even knowing. It is amazing, and I have been able to get Hezekiah to eat all sorts of great food. Basically, it comes down to pureed vegetables that you freeze and keep some fresh when you know you are going to use them. This cookbook is easy to read, easy to follow, and the best part is everything tastes great that I have tried so far. Yesterday I was able to put butternut squash in his mac n cheese and he didn't even flinch. This morning, all 3 of us had Sweet Potato and Cinnamon pancakes... these taste even better than buttermilk pancakes!

Funny Videos

This video is of Hezekiah giving me High-Five's:


This is a video of Hezekiah thinking it's funny to pick his nose, we do not in any way encourage this habit but for video purposes it was funny:

Merry Christmas, A Photo shoot, and Happy New Year

It seems as though I have totally forgotten to blog these last couple of weeks, keeping up with a toddler can be extremely exhausting.

We had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas, we spent Christmas Eve with Andrew's parents in Cherry Valley as they had some of their family over for a nice dinner... and yes- Rock Band 2 sessions. We had a blast, even Hezekiah was getting into the music and dancing while holding drumsticks in this hands.

Christmas Day, we are late morning people around here, we got up around 8:30am and spent Christmas Day with my parents and my sister and her family at her house. We had a lovely Eggs Benedict Breakfast and started in on the gifts. Hezekiah made out like a bandit this year getting awesome books, toys, and clothes! Here are a couple of pictures, my favorite being my son and my nephew one playing the guitar and the other the drums... a band maybe in the future??




































Caught this one of my sister so excited she got an iPod Touch























And this one of my niece, Sydney, so excited to try on her new dress!























Also, soon after Christmas, I had the privilege of doing a photo shoot for my Pastor and his family since they were all in town then. Here are a couple of my favorites from that shoot:































































































































Okay, now onto New Years! We spent New Years Eve at Knott's Berry Farm for Praise 2009, we left Hezekiah with the Gladura's and went and picked him up after we got back to take him home. Had one of the worst moments of my life that night, simply because of my husband... let me explain. Everyone wants to ride Ghostrider, but I absolutely do not like rollercoasters but I went to Knott's anyway for the bands! Andrew keeps telling me, of this is like a beginner rollercoaster you'll be fine - see how slow it is going. The whole night everyone kept saying I thought he was lying to you just to get you on the rollercoaster. Nope, scared the living poop out of me... I literally screamed bloody murder the whole ride only stopping to take a breath, When the rollercoaster stopped, Andrew says "I swear, I don't remember this ride being this fast!" I am shaking, and tears are rolling down my face... and I just remember thinking I cannot believe he made me get on that ride. All my friends are going, are you okay? I made it out alive, but I will NEVER ride a rollercoaster again! After I calmed, down we saw Kutless perform in the Calico Square. (I didn't get any pictures because I didn't not want to lug around my 10lb camera just to get some pro shots... nah I was going to enjoy my night.) We also saw Thor Ramsey, comedian, perform he was really funny. Got some really good laughs out of Andrew & I when he started talking about husband's and wives. There were supposed to be fireworks that night but because of the fog, you couldn't see anything. We said, Happy New Year, gave my husband a kiss and happily went on our way to see Brandon Heath perform, he was the highlight of my night. Here is a short video of him performing:

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a very wonderful Christmas holiday. Eventhough, my Dad and his wife were in Oregon and not able to make it down for the holiday we all sent each ther gifts via UPS. We spent Christmas Eve at Andrew's parents with some of his family ate a lovely dinner and played Rock Band 2 the rest of the night. It was a pretty long day since I worked a half day on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day arrived at my sister's house at around 9am and began starting breakfast, which is now all our favorite, Eggs Benedict. Me and my sister did most of the work but Andrew did help with making the hash browns. Hezekiah enjoyed his hash browns and fruit for breakfast. Then it was present time, we all got some wonderful gifts this year. My sister got the iPod Touch and her husand got a GPS. Andrew got a nice heart rate monitor and I got a waffle maker and... drum roll please.... an iPhone. I have been needing a new phone desperately so this was a very nice gift. It has been quite an adjustment to get used to it but very nice.

This morning I decided to pull out my new wafflemaker and make some waffles for all 3 of us. Then at 11am, I am doing a photo shoot with my Pastor's family since they are all in town for the holiday it looks like perfect timing. Should be pretty fun, gonna try some new poses and shots so we will see how these turn out. Those posts will be coming later!

Our little Christmas

This year, we decided to not get a regular size tree because we are afraid that our curious toddler will either pull it down or pull everything off of the tree. We decided to do a small table top tree and put all our presents on a separate table. Christmas doesn't quite seem the same but next year when he is not so defiant we should be able to get a regular size tree. I lit up my pine smelling candle instead to try and get the smell.... ahhh just another joy of having a toddler!

For those organic people

Somewhat like me, I do the best I can (within my means) to be more organic. I am not a modern hippie or anything that uses cloth diapers or anything (although I know it better for the environment, I refuse to wash diapers in the same thing I wash my clothes in)... Anyway, I am all about non toxic toys and so I found a really cool website for those that are looking for more "Organic toys" at: Greensproutsbaby.com

This is currently the toys I am looking at purchasing for Hezekiah, mainly because most toys don't reach back far enough to get to this molars that are trying to come through... the design of this toy looks pretty good for what I am looking for specifically.



Also, there is a great organization that is doing a lot of work in getting toxic toys out of the stores, and also trying to push manufacturers to stop making toxic toys. You can go to this website, register, and do a search or toys to see if any of the toys you currently have are toxic: Healthytoys.org

The Plague

This is a picture of the child we have now nicknamed "The Plague"

Seems like everyone this child comes into contact with get the stomach flu... he's like a carrier eventhough is totally healthy now! I totally don't get it... but oh well. We have done lysol on everything in this house, so I know it can't be from contact so I assume it is airborne. Beware, if you have seen or been around this child you may be susceptible to the stomach flu-lol! Such a cute kid  though:)

PricePinx

Andrew's boss gave me this cool little link, basically, you register for the site (which is free, my favorite), you tell them what products you want to buy online, they monitor the prices of those items and will notify you once the price drops... as it happens! Pretty cool huh?

Just go to: www.pricepinx.com

Dr's appt

I took Hezekiah to a Dr's appt today because he still was having issues with diarrhea, so the Dr put him on a Soy formula 1/2 strength for now to get nutrients. He said that he lost about 5% in weight and that is really bad. He wouldn't think anything of the diarrhea normally because he's at the teething age and that is pretty normal for his age, but since he has lost the weight it was a concern. He said that we can give imodium ad liquid to him if it continues... and asked me a huge round of questions about blood in the stool and being out of the country anytime lately. Of course, both answers were no. So, stick to the BRAT diet he says for a few days and to bring him back in towards the end of the week to be weighed to make sure he is gaining weight. I have to say, I love this Pediatrician, and I could not ask for a better Dr for Hezekiah! He is amazing, and he always covers every base which I appreciate so much. In addition, he is just too darn funny...Love the guy, if you need a great Pediatrician-  I highly recommend Dr Lawrence Sharpe!

Also, we have decided to pull Hezekiah out of daycare. Andrew's mom agreed to come out to our place everyday to watch Hezekiah for us... of course we are paying her because it would cost way too much in gas and everything to ask her to do this without the money. It could not be better... and seriously- No One, no matter how well you know them will ever take better care of your children than family! It was costing us $600/ month to have him in daycare, so we will now be saving a nice chuck off the $600/ month to be able to save for a house. She told us that if we ever needed back up we could still use her which was nice. My main concern was her being mad at us because we pulled him out, which was sad because I didn't want her to feel bad but Family is better! 

Start of a better week?

If you have been reading my blogs, you know our whole house got a little sick with Rotavirus (aka: the stomach flu) so we are all on the slow road to recovery. It seems as though Hezekiah, as expected) seems to be taking a lot longer to recover. We hear some many back and forth about what to feed a child when they have diarrhea, some say stick to their normal diet without the milk, and then other say stick to the "BRAT" diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast). What to do, what to do. We are going to stick to a more bland diet since the normal diet thing doesn't seem to be helping at all. We decided after  6 days of this going on and a few trips to Urgent Care and the ER it is time for an appt on Monday with his Pediatrician to settle in our minds what we should be doing with him since his diarrhea has not subsided.  More blogging tomorrow, I have much more to say!

More

So my last post, Hezekiah was pretty sick. 1am yesterday, I woke up
violently puking myself until about 7am. Drinking gatorade,water, and
chicken broth. Hezekiah is still having a low grade fever and has slept
almost the whole day except for drinking some Pedialtye and some rice
cereal a couple of times today.. Andrew is now starting to feel some
symptoms as well so I am sure tonight he will be puking as well. Ay yay!!!
No more.

Rotovirus

I get home from work yesterday and Hezekiah is in a perfect mood. He is being all loving and dancing to Polar Express and having a good time. Around 5pm he starts to yawn so we attempt to give him a late nap. Well no more than about 30 minutes later we hear him crying but we decide to wait it out and see if he goes back to sleep. We wait about 20 minutes and he still doesnt stop crying so I go into his room and check on him and I come in and he has thrown up everywhere. He has rolled in it and it has managed to get every inch of his crib. And of course, we both feel like the worst parents in the world for not going in sooner, but we didn't think anything was wrong by his cry. So, I strip him down while Andrew gets a bath running for him. I should have known better, Monday I bring Hezekiah to the sitter's house and she tells me she was up all night with her own son and he was throwing up all night... why did I leave him there knowing that? I should have known better but I had assumed it may have just been food poisening. Well, we were wrong.

We get Hezekiah cleaned up and he continues to throw up for several hours. We try and give him water and every ounce of it gets thrown up about 5 minutes after. So we decide at 6pm to take him to Urgent Care while he is still throwing up in the car. We get to Urgent Care and we start to see him throwing up yellow fluid (bile) ane we are just waiting to see a Dr any minute now. She looks at him, takes his vitals and says that it is Rotovirus, that she has been seeing a lot of this recently. She gave him a Phenergan suppository which was supposed to stop him vomitting and gave us one more dose in case it doesn't work.  They told us Pedialtye is the best for him right now and to only give him this for the next 24 hours. We stop by Target and load up with Pedialyte. After 2 hours, we are attempting every 20 minutes to give him something to hydrate him... and still nothing seems to work. We wait until 10pm to see if this medication kicks in and still nothing. By 10:30 we take him to Riverside Community Hospital Emergency Room because he is extremely lethargic having major diarrhea and still throwing up everything we give him and we majorly scared he would get dehydrated. They checked him out and said he does not need an IV, they were going to give him a shot of medication that will work better for his vomiting. They were going to give him the shot and wanted us to wait around and give him fluids to make sure something stayed down before we left. We only gave him like 2 tablespoons, and by this time Hezekiah is probably starving since he has not eaten since 3pm... and seriously wanted so much more than we were giving him. We waited 20 minutes and everything seemed to stay down, so we headed home at 12:30pm from the ER. As soon as we got in the car, Hezekiah passed out from being so tired. We got home put him in his crib and he slept until 4am, which I gave him only 1 ounce of drink to make sure it stayed down  once again. They told us to slowing start adding more fluids and to not over do it with 8 ounces until you know it will stay down. So, needless to say Andrew and I were both crying last night having to hold our baby who was throwing up, mad because we allowed him to stay at Daycare with that sick child, and exhausted from lack of sleep. So far so good, he has kept all fluids down, is still having diarrhea but seems to be much more energetic so we will see how today goes!

A concert and an ouwie!

Yesterday, we attended a concert from the Packinghouse in Redlands, this church is the church Andrew's parents both attend. His mom decided to get involved with the choir and somehow his Dad got pulled into Directing the choir because he has some music background. He looked a little nervous, and for him being nervous is almost not even in his vocabulary. The both did awesome, way to step out of your comfort zone :)


Also, Hezekiah got his first big ouwie today, he fell on a toy and got a nice fat lip. We have been letting him suck on some un-opened Pedialyte pops to hopefully get the swelling down. Here is a quick picture of his lip, it actually looks a little worse at a different angle but that is all I could get.

What to say about today!

I have a really good husband, he comes home from work with some lovely tulips! I absolutely love them. I think he knows I have had a really exhausting week at work...What a sweetie pie :)


Took some funny pictures of Hezekiah, because he seriously just cracks me up sometimes. And too, I can't believe how much he can eat, crazy! I am amazed at how flexible kids are too, he just decides he want to reach for his feet and BAM! there they are in his face. So silly :) The other day, I went to drop him off at the babysitter's house and as I am getting ready to leave he says "Nooo mom-mmy, mmmmaaammmy." Broke my heart, to have to leave him there for those couple of hours, but when I came back to get him he ran to me with a smile on face screaming... mommy! So stinkin cute, I love this kid sooo much.

Portable background

This item would on my must have's for photography simply because I don't actually have a photo studio and it would come in handy dandy. It is by Botero and it is a collapsable Muslin background screen for photos, it is $129.95- So awesome!

The Poser

Since I pretty much run around the house with a camera in my hands I think that Hezekiah is getting the idea of the camera. Hezekiah being the ham that he is, this is the face that he makes when he sees me with the camera now:


And this is the picture, I just happened to get of him with his Lighting McQueen car that just looks like he is posing for the camera. Gotta love this little boy!