Eureka Springs getaway

Back in February when I celebrated my birthday, my thoughtful husband surprised me with a trip that he booked to Eureka Springs to go to a french cooking class with some of our friends, Aubrey and Josh. He lined up his parents to come into town to keep both kids for this past weekend. We left at 8:30 in the morning on Saturday and returned the next afternoon. 

It was a much needed getaway and even though I missed my babies like CRAZY, I really enjoyed sleeping through the night and having adult time. We absolutely loved the cooking class. It was from 10:30- 2 and we learned how to make chicken curry and butternut squash flan. Our teacher does these classes from her own kitchen and she travels to France every summer and is very well educated in French cuisine. I actually learned more than I thought I would and the meal was absolutely delicious. 

Andrew showing off his cooking skills. 

IT was St. Patty's day and evidently it's a big deal in Eureka. So.. we got to enjoy their annual parade and got to witness some very interesting people ;)

Love this man. 

We ate and drank all day and turned in early to sleep through the night. All in all it was such a fun weekend and it really did refresh my soul. Thankful for a husband who thinks outside of the box. 

5 months!

With everything going on I am behind on all my blog posts! We have had a fun weekend that I still need to post about but for now I am behind on my baby girl's 5 month post. 

Brooklyn is coming out of her shell folks! It's been a very high maintenance month mainly b/c of her allergies and her week long virus but she is still the SWEETEST most dear little baby girl that I can't get enough of. 

I'm going to keep this one short and sweet. 

- She is miss social. When she is awake she is smiling, laughing, cooing or talking to you. She basically waits for people to look at her and when they do she will undoubtedly break out in a huge grin. 

- She is not sleeping through the night anymore. The doctors told us not to let her cry it out as long as she had a rash b/c she is most definitely waking up b/c she is probably itchy. So.. the last three weeks she wakes up usually just once in 13 hours and I usually just give her a bottle and she goes right back to sleep. She is taking 2 naps a day... 2 hours in the morning and 1-2 hours in the afternoon. She goes to bed around 6:30. 

- She is still rolling everywhere. Can't put her down without her rolling immediately. 

- She is obsessed with her exersaucer. She will spend hours in there everyday. She loves playing with toys. 

- She weighed 15.9 pounds last week and is still 97th percentile for length. She is in 6-12 month clothes and is almost too long for that size. Tall girl. 

- She loves blowing bubbles and pursing her lips, loves playing with her toes and is really starting to notice when mommy and daddy are around or not around. Her whole body does a little jig when Daddy comes home from work and she lights up like you've never seen when she sees him. And when I leave the room and she's playing she usually lets out a little dramatic cry to let me know she's not too happy about it. She still transitions great to strangers, grandparents and babysitters (hope that lasts!)

We are enjoying every second with this angel girl!! We love you so much baby Brooklyn! 

My house: the Kitchen

When we moved in this house we didn't have to do much to the kitchen other than change out pendant lights spruce up paint on the cabinets and change the wall color. I am in love with my kitchen b/c when I walk in there a million times a day it really is a cheerful, happy, clean feeling place. I have really enjoyed having plain white cabinets. 

To save money I picked out regular lamp shades to just clip on to my existing pendant light. I love this idea b/c now I could easily change out the pattern when I am ready for a change. 

The curtains are from Anthropologie, the big painting is a custom painting that one of my friends did and I will post more about her in a few posts. She is an amazing artist that I can't wait to show you! 

The trash can is a old hamper that I have had for years and we turned it into a big 40 gallon trash can. 

And the baskets underneath my buffet are from Target. 

Ya'll have a happy Thursday!! 

Never Simple

Whoa... we have had some of the roughest few days we've had in a LONG time..


Bottom line we have no control. 3 out of the 4 of us caught the stomach bug. I've been sick since Thursday and still don't feel up to par. I went 4 straight nights without sleep. I managed a household sick myself, with a sick baby, active toddler and a sick husband. I have been battling with my new baby who I'm discovering more and more just how bad her allergies are and I have been STRUGGLING through all of this.


I hate not feeling in control and God is over and over teaching me that my kids are HIS and not mine.  That He is in control and not me. Why can we not get it through our heads?! It's like He is trying to YELL from the mountains... "Katie, give it up!! Give them to me! Let me take care of them and stop trying so hard!!" I have constant, sometimes debilitating anxiety b/c of everything we've gone through with Sawyer and now I am watching my precious infant battle some of the same struggles. I am praying for His peace and trying to hand them over and not worry as we start seeing specialist for Brooklyn. I told Andrew yesterday that I have such perspective that my kids are alive and fine, I'm just so weary of doctors appointments, weary of the constant guessing games that come with allergies, weary of our unfair insurance and healthcare system (which I won't even get started about), weary that we are just beginning this journey all over again with our second when I ferevently prayed she would be free from all of this. Anyway.. I am learning and constantly in prayer these last few days.. 


Here is what is going on with Brooklyn if you are interested. (From the beginning..)
I didn't make hardly any breastmilk with either of my kids. So with Brooklyn when she started losing weight consistently after about 2 weeks I had to start supplementing b/c I only made an ounce even after meds and everything I tried. I started with enfamil dairy breastmilk and at about 3-4 weeks old she starting having pretty severe phlegm in her chest and was getting choked alot on the phlegm.  I took her to the doctor and they said it was probably just a cold but it lingered for weeks but it never made her fussy and she never even acted sick. 
So after 2 months of it and three different doctor's opinions I decided to take her off dairy and put her on soy. Her phlegm went away in literally 2 days. I even tested it and put her back on it after I noticed it was gone and sure enough the respiratory stuff came right back. 

So I put her on soy at 3 months and she has been broken out in a severe exzema rash since then. I have had her on steroid creams and it still shows up. Every doctor we have seen said it was one of the worst rashes they'd seen. Every doctor can't believe she isn't a fussy baby. 


After a few doctors appointments with a new doctor he told us about some specialized formulas to try. The problem with these formulas is that they are disgusting! We bought both and started to try them out. 
Soo.. we tried a formula called allementum but she kept throwing it up. I tried it for about a week and then switched to a formula called nitrogenum but it's so gross she wouldn't drink it. I got advice to wheen(sp?) her on it. About three weeks ago I started doing that and about 10 days ago she absolutely refused to take anything with the nitrogenum in it. She would scream until I just gave in and gave her all soy. She's picky! So I started just giving her all soy b/c I wanted to get her to eat and since a week ago her skin has even gotten worse. She broke ou in even a larger rash and she has boils on her butt, ankles and back of her knees. It's so sad. She has been SO miserable the last three days. 

After three nights of no sleep and feeling like I was literally poisoning my daughter i called Sawyer's allergist and begged to get in asap. It usually takes weeks but they thankfully had a cancellation and saw us yesterday. She was shocked at the condition of her skin. She said we needed to get this figured out b/c she had never seen antyhing worse on a baby so young :(. So we went straight over and got blood work to see about allergies and then she referred me to a dermatologist and she wants me to find a GI and nutritionist specialist. 

Here we go!! I'm praying for answers in the next two weeks to make my baby comfortable and get her the nutrition she needs. 

I am thankful that she is a live and well and a happy baby. I have so many blessings to be thankful for and I am thankful that this is all we have to deal with and nothing worse at this point.


God has her in His hands and is taking care of both of my kiddos. I am trying to rest in that on an hourly basis.


 If you have been down the road of allergies then you know how frustrating they can be.. if you have gone through some of the same issues with your babies I would love to hear any advice..  

If you made it this far, wow and good job! This was long! 


Sorry I have been MIA for the last couple weeks. Trying to get back to normal life again after some yucky sicknesses. 

Austin Recap

Brooklyn and I just returned from a fun filled trip to Austin, TX to see my sister, sister in law and of course my precious 7 nieces and nephews that live there. It's so fun when I visit now b/c my sister in law and my sister have become best friends since Sarah and Greg moved to Texas a few years ago. So now when I visit I get to spend quality time with both sisters. Love it! 

We got there and got back successfully. Even though Brooklyn did awesome, I forgot how hard it is to travel with an infant; figuring out when she'll nap, how to get her bottles warm, how to manage three bags, a stroller, a baby and get from the car to the airport, figuring out how to pull things out from the bottom of my bag when I have an infant who can't sit up by herself is in my arms, racing through the airport with a stroller trying to catch my next flight with only 20 minutes to spare. It was just exhausting. I felt like I ran a marathon by the time I got to Texas.  

 Thankfully she did this 2 out of the 4 flights.. 

We had awesome time eating, shopping and playing in Austin. Brooklyn was in her car seat for every nap and for 4 straight days and we barely heard a peep from her. She was her normal happy self and I was so glad that the five days went so smoothly with a four month old. 

We had some good quality time with these cutie cousins! 

 Playing dress up with Ava. She did a good job with my hair didn't she?! 

 Ava, Halle and Will. So proud of these three kiddos. They are amazing. 

 All the Henry Girls :)

 Jennie and Sarah. 

 Sweetest four year old ever! I highly enjoyed playing pretend kitchen, pretend dress up, pretend restaurant, pretend playground, pretend everything... I love little girls! 

 Mutual love between these two.

And one more picture just b/c it's cute:)

I had such a good time and was so excited to get back to my boys. Sawyer had fun with daddy and I missed him like CRAZY!!! 

Hope ya'll had a good weekend and start to the week. Sorry I haven't been posting! 

Happy Thursday!

We have a winner folks! Sorry it's a day late.. 

Mindy is the lucky winner today! I'll shoot you an email with the information. Thanks to everyone who entered!

I am soaking up my day with my two little babes. I'm about to travel with only Brooklyn to see my sister in law and sister in Austin and I will be missing my Sawyer man. Andrew and his mom are taking care of him while I am gone and I'll be away from him for 5 whole days... I just might die.

 

Happy Thursday!!