Christmas 2014

We had a wonderful Christmas season!!! Frosty the Elf came and visited Lane for the first time this year! At first Lane was reluctant and said to me "mom you know he isn't real he's a stuffed doll" by the end of Christmas he was totally bought into Frosty!

Now he will tell me he wishes he would return for a visit!!

Something we've done for a few years now as a little family is drive around looking at lights! Lane loves looking at lights at night and we have a lot of fun together the 3 of us on the hunt for bigger and brighter lights! This year we went to a house in Tempe that was hosting a fundraising night for the Boys & Girls Club. It was a lot of fun, Santa was there, lights that danced to music and Lanes Tata was there to experience it with us!

Lane made and decorated cookies with his Sito to leave for Santa! He wore his new Mickey Mouse pj's that his Minnie bought him! Lane slept until 8am on Christmas morning!! 

He had a wonderful Christmas with, fun meaningful toys! We put a limit on gifts this year because we want him to have appreciation for the meaning of the holiday and not just be a "greedy kid" expecting or demanding toys!!

One of his greatest gifts was a book that his NoNo recorded his voice reading it to Lane! Lane loves his books and reads it all the time!

We were blessed this Christmas with all our family together! We are excited for next year , our little Colt will be a fun age for Christmas!! 

Disneyland 2014

We took Lane to Disneyland in October so he could experience Disneyland all decked out for Halloween!! We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel!

Lane had the best time ever!!

Summer Vacation!!

We had an amazing summer vacation to Flagstaff and then on to Durango, Colorado.

Cory and Lane Bug in Flagstaff.

Breakfast at the condo!

Fishing with Tata!

Horseback riding

Riding the train to Silverton!!

We had an amazing vacation!! It was so relaxing to have almost 2 weeks off of work!!

Here is a post I created in July!!!

My new little baby.... 

You will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. I'm so excited and scared of what this means for us!! I'm praying and so is everyone else that I'm healthy and can carry you to full term.

A few weeks ago I had a fortune cookie that read this: 

Immediately your dad and I thought we should test early. Clearly it was a sign right?!

Well I tested on July 2nd. I looked at it while I finished up in the bathroom. It was negative. I put it back in the box under the sink for trash day... Sometimes your aunties come over and they use my bathroom so I didn't want anyone to see it. 

The next few nights I had dreams of looking at a pregnancy test and it was flashing positive like a neon sign! 

Finally Dd's wedding festivities settled down. We were having everyone to dinner on Sunday the 6th, I decided before dinner to take a test. 

Immediately it was positive. I yelled for Cory. He came in and looked at it. We were both a little shocked. We decided to keep it a secret! I went to throw it in the box, when I looked at the previous test. It was positive!!! I just didn't the 3 minutes to read it!!! 

I had my first appointment on the 8th. 

On the 10th when I knew everyone (my sisters and mom) was on our Facebook chat. I sent this picture:

Everyone was so excited!! First ultra sound is the 23rd! 

A nutritional way of life!!

So last week I completed 2 days of cleansing.. No no no it's not a pooping cleanse. It's a cellular cleanse. It was great! I felt amazing afterwards! I didn't long for food, as I was ingesting something every hour on the hour. I actually sat with some family and friends at one of my favorite restaurants the Old Spaghetti Factory. I didn't have any desire to sneak a bit of bread or anything at all. I ordered a glass of ice and I drank my cleanse for that hour. 

By Wed. which was day 8 I took my weight and measurements for the week. I have lost a total of 7 pounds and 16.5 inches total. 

Isagenix has been amazing! I have been feeling so good!! This is a nutritional lifestyle not a diet. What it made me aware of was how crummy I was eating, all the toxins I was putting in my body! I used to feel / think I "HAD" to have my coffee and my teas.. Well I don't! I have done just fine cleansing my body of them and I don't have any cravings at all.

Now I'm not saying that I won't have a cup of coffee, because sure if I'm somewhere and want it I will have it! Isagenix is about a nutritional lifestyle. It allows for you to eat something if you want it, without being penalized... 

So now I am at day 9 and no headaches, no stomachaches, nausea, cramping, dumping syndrome, bloating or gas!! I also realized that I haven't had to take my naproxen 2 times a day for joint pain from my RA...

Only looking up from here!!

Cleanse days were day 3 and 4 for me. I somewhat was dreading the idea of not eating for 2 days. The truth is it was very easy to do. I was very busy both days so that helped. Day 3 of my cleanse I sat with Cory and Lane inside a Wendy's and didn't even think twice about sneaking a fry. I had no desire to put that food into my body. I had been watching videos and reading up about how healthy Isagenix is for my body. 

Day 4 of my cleanse I sat with a few of my sisters and friends at one of my favorite restaurants the Old Spaghetti Factory. I ordered a glass of ice and had my cleanse. I actually enjoy the taste of the cleanse. I did as a lot of people of FB suggested and premixed my bottles and labeled them and labeled baggies with times for my snacks as well. 

When you've lived with a chronic health condition like Crohn's or IBS, you truly appreciate every day that is a feel good day. Sitting in that restaurant I didn't even think twice about eating off of someone's plate because I didn't want to jeapordize how I had felt the previous few days. 

Mother's Day we had shish kabobs for dinner, I had my 5 ounces of steak and a lot of roasted peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and onions. For dessert mixed berries with a little honey. What I am learning is portion size. It amazes me what I used to think a portion was compared to what I eat now and feel fully satisfied. 

I didn't list off all of my diagnosis in my earlier post but I want to now:

Hypothyroidism- Hashimotos

PCOS

Crohn's 

IBS

Migraines

Rheumatoid Athritis

Arachnoid cyst (cyst in my brain) 

I have a large basket full of medications I take as well as take on an as needed basis. I haven't taken anything for my Crohn's, IBS or migraines since starting Isagenix!!

2 days before starting I had asked my sisters who are also Chron's /IBS sufferers what else I could take because I had already taken Tums, 2 acid pills, 2 zofran, Bentyl, Reglan, drank milk and a lot of water and still was so nauseated with indigestion from eating a SALAD!!!! 

The change in my GI tract so far is amazing. Isagenix is loaded with healthy live enzymes!! Today is day 6 and I feel great and 3 days in a row I wore clothes that had previously been too snug on me!!

Here I am at day 5 of my journey!!

Why I started Isagenix

The next 2 days (fri and sat) were to be my cleanse days...

Before talking about that I want to tell you about making the decision. I was invited to a private FB group almost 2 months before and I watched and read peoples stories and progress. I was beginning to get so tired of being "uncomfortable" in my clothes. I had been bitching and moaning to my sister about having to be in her wedding! ONLY because I was so fat and dreaded wearing a bridesmaids dress. My husband and I had been trying for months to have a baby with no luck!! I knew my weight effected my PCOS and in turn effected my ability to get pregnant.   I also started to miss work, so I was losing income as well!!! 

When my friend told me the price of the first 30 days I thought YIKES!!! But then I considered the money lost from missing work sick, the strain on relationships because of my issues with not wanting to be in a bridesmaids dress and I thought of my little Lane Bug!! He needs a healthy fit mama who can and will be physically active with him. 

It also comes with a 100% guarantee that I will be satisfied! I did some math and realized yes I would be shelling out a few hundred but I will be saving a few hundred in no more fast food, Starbucks, junk food and payroll deducting all my food at work!! 

Today is day 4 of my journey and I feel amazing!!! 4 days of no gas, no bloating, no nausea and for me a long time Crohn's sufferer yesterday I had 1 bowel movement  and it was normal!!! I have suffered years and years with multiple daily bouts of diarrhea!! 

My Isagenix journey

After watching the progress of a child hood friend and hearing about her health improvements. I decided to take the plunge and try her nutritional support system she was doing. It's called Isagenix. I started Isa on Wed. May 7, 2014. 

Lee me back up and tell you 3 days prior to starting Isa I had a stomach issues. I'm not sure if it was a Crohn's flair up or a bug. What I do know is I was bloated, gassy and uncomfortable. I started to feel a hair better the night before starting so I opted to eat Hot Wok (my fav Chinese place) since I knew it would be a long time before I would eat it. I went to bed sick to my stomach, bloated, gassy and had diarrhea! I literally couldn't wait to wake up and start my Isa journey! 

Day one was great, I woke up I had my Ionix Supreme. I heated it up like a tea. It was very good. An hour later I had my shake. I mixed 1 scoop vanilla and 1 scoop chocolate. It was very very good. I took my vitamins and was feeling good. 

It was morning snack time and I just had 2 of the Isa snacks. I had the vanilla ones they were good! After my snack I laid down to take my normal morning nap with Lane since I worked that night. Try as I may I couldn't nap!! Normally I ALWAYS nap with him, for the past 2.5 years I've been able to sleep. Not today though! I laid there with a lot of energy! 

Lunch time was another shake, followed by another snack. In between all this I went to sprouts to buy food. For my afternoon snack I had some baby carrots dipped in the wholy guacamole 100 calorie packs of avocado! It was delicious!!

It was time for my afternoon nap with my baby. Again I worked that night so I desperately needed to sleep. I was able to nap for 15 minutes! Usually it would be 1-2 hour nap. 

I got up and prepared dinner and for ready for work. 

I made chicken stir fry. I had a ton of fresh vegetable and 5 oz of chicken. I made couscous for a side and for dessert I has blackberries with honey drizzled on them. 

I couldn't wait to eat dinner once I was at work. I held off until 12am, it was fine I wasn't hungry and I drank a lot of water before then.

My dinner was delicious!! Very filling but most importantly, I didn't have indigestion , gas or bloating after eating!

I also had no coffee, or tea all shift! I think it was my first shift ever not starting with a trip to Starbucks! 

I got off work that morning had a shake and went to bed. I was up on my own by 1pm feeling great! I repeated all the steps on day 2 (Thursday). 

Taking Flight

In December Lane took his first airplane flight to California! Lane did wonderful on the flight, he enjoyed watching the take off and kept telling the plane to zoom faster!! We flew into Ontario and had dinner with Nie Nie, Nono, Cory and I. We then drove on to Big Bear!! It was a very scary drive in the dark (moms afraid of heights) although daddy wasn't too keen on it either!! Lane of course slept like a baby!!

                          

We rented an awesome cabin that the Alexander's referred us to, it was quaint with a kitchen and a fireplace! The next day we ventured out to the snow. Much like Lanes passion for the beach he was instantly in love with the snow! We spent time playing in the snow and doing things around town. Big Bear is a fun little community. We went sledding on tubes!!! Lane of course loved it, as he is a daredevil!! He couldn't get enough of it! Mom, on the other hand did one run and well let's just say we will leave that image to Lane and Daddy to just remember (no need to blog that memory for you kiddo)

                            

This was an awesome weeks getaway for our little family!!! We would highly recommend the trip to Big Bear!! We are so fortunate to be bake to creating lasting memories with our son! We are so blessed! 

Like father like son!!

Lane is a sports nut!! He loves all sports just like his daddy!! We went to the baseball experience, this little boy loves to hit the ball, run the bases and throw the ball! 

Just a few more months until he is 3 and daddy will have him in a few sports!!

 And here they are on the drive home!!! Such boys, just exhausted after their fun day, they even sleep a like!!! We are so blessed!!!!

progression of Christmas Pictures!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Another family vacation

In October we took a family vacation to San Diego. We went and stayed on the Marine Corps base with uncle Zack. We went and toured many ships and planes Lane and Cory of course were in heaven. Mama on the other hand was a little claustrophobic on some parts of the ship. We went and ate at Rubys on the pier which is a famous landmark in San Diego. We went to the farmers market and just spent a lot of time walking around outside. We are definitely in love with California and would love for that to be in our long-term goals of some place to live.

We went and played on the beach Lane loves the beach, he had a great time playing in the sand despite it being cold that day. We ate a lot of seafood at a few different seafood markets there in town which were delicious. We were going to take the baby to Legoland but he's a little too short for some of the rides. When we return to San Diego in March perhaps he will be tall enough to go to Legoland then. 

Hyperemesis Gravidarum Awareness month

                           

http://www.aydenraefoundation.org/

http://www.helpher.org/family/

Colonoscopy Preparation

Disclaimer: This is a play by play of my experience using Movi Prep bowel prep. For others who might need tips with their colonoscopy prep. Don't read it if your grossed out easily...     

                                        

I started my clears this morning with lemonade I wasn't too hungry so I was feeling ok. My blood sugar dropped and I felt symptomatic so I made another tall glass of lemonade. This time I mixed in a dose of Miralax because I wanted to soften up any stool that I did have.

Around 12 I made Mrs. grass chicken noodle soup minus the noodles. It was good and filling and I had more water with that. Around 130 I was getting ravenously hungry so I had 2 containers of jello. I opted to nap with my son so that I wouldn't think about being hungry. We woke around 3 and I made another lemonade. We ran to the grocery store with my mom so I could buy more clears.

I found Italian Ice, Popsicles,  golden mushroom soup (not the creamed kind), French onion soup, powerade, and Werthers originals. I got a few other hard candies!!

At 5pm I poured my first glass of 8oz. I had prepared it this morning and had it in the refrigerator so it would be cold. I drank it with a straw and had another class of cold powerade ready to sip right after. It wasn't horrible. It was cold, salty and lemony. It reminded me of a bad alcohol drink. I was able to get it almost drank when I needed to add ice to cool it down again. It is MUCH better cold!!! 

15 minutes later I had to drink my next 8oz. This time I felt full so I just opted to drink it fast in the glass with the straw and then finish with Powearde. I sucked a Worthers original after to get the after taste out of my mouth.

Still no bowel movement but boy is my bladder full!!!

530 I pretty much dreaded glass 3, I felt so bloated!!! I took my glass with I and a straw and stared at a picture of my son and slammed it again. I needed a focal point, some motivation. 

535 I was in the bathroom to empty my bladder and I had my first bought of diarrhea. 

Ugh round number four it's not the best but mind over matter it's the last one... This time I had to take it to the bathroom with me because of the urgency to go! 

                                   

6pm everything has been downed, Bleh, I probably won't ever drink blue powerad again!! My stool is mostly water and still a little discolored.

I made the golden mushroom soup and couldn't eat it, it was so gross!! I didn't even bother with the other clear liquid diet items I had bought. 

 We were headed to bed so I had a few more trips to the bathroom. By 7pm everything was clear with just a slight blue tint lol. Alarm set for 415am.... 

I took a Benederyl to help me sleep because I knew I would wake up with hunger pains...

I am glad I had read on another blog to buy flushable wipes and use desitin, by bed time my bum was sore!! 

Colonoscopy day:

415am alarm goes off, I go pour my drink, I spent about 15 minutes staring at it.. NO one wants to drink that first thing in the morning. I have a bm it's mostly clear. I make the executive decision to drink just 8 oz. of the drink. I drink it and I wait..... 445 I decide to lay down, just as I get comfortable with my pillows and snuggling my son, the urgency of the bathroom arises!! I go have a watery stool again, this time it is yellow like stomach bile, which makes sense as I haven't eaten since the night before. I have a 2 more bowel movements and am able to go back to sleep for a few hours.

After my colonoscopy my Doctor showed me images of my colon he told me I did an excellent job cleaning out my colon. :) I suppose that's a compliment?? Lol

All in all it wasn't bad and yes I will opt to do Moviprep again in 5 years!

Lane turns 2!

My sweet adventurous smart boy turned 2 this year!!

                          

Of course we had 2 celebrations. The day of his actual birthday Minnie, Nie Nie and I took him to the children's museum to play! Then his Sito and NoNo met us for lunch. He went home and took a nap and then we had our family party at the house we had his favorite meal which is spaghetti and we had cupcakes for dessert that he picked out!! He got so many presents from his Nie Nie and No No, DD and G, Sito and Tata, and Minnie and Becca that Corey and I decided to put the presents we bought for him away until Christmas!! 

                        

Then on Saturday we went to Jump Street, He is really into jumping on the trampoline right now… Our entire your family was there and then Lexi and Robbie came  with their mom and dad and Sofia and Joquin came with their mom and dad. After we jumped we went to my parents house and pizza and salad his other favorite meal!! We had a gorgeous Toy Story Birthday cake. Lane has really been into Toy Story ever since we went to Disneyland!! 

                       

We watched Toy Story and played and open presents, he had a wonderful birthday!!!

      

Disneyland 2013

We took Lane to Disneyland for his 2nd birthday!!  He had the best time ever!!!! It was Cory's first time going as well, we had such a great time!! We had the best family vacation, it was a fun week!! 

All of my family went with us except for Bethany because she was working on her PhD in Indonesia. We were really said she wasn't able to make it, but with her and Zack relocating to San Diego we figured there will be plenty of opportunities to take another trip there soon

 

My mom and dad drove up a few days before they went to San Diego and spent some time vacationing along the way. Minnie, Dee Dee, and G Flew up on Wednesday and met in Anaheim and left on Saturday. Nono was lucky and he got to drive with Lane, Cory and I! Nono and Lane had run of the back seat and that meant they could watch Toy Story and Mickey Mouse and eat all the yummy snacks I had packed, and take all the naps the wanted!! 

Once we were all in California together and settled into our rooms we were off! Some of us went to Downtown Disney to do our shopping and to have an early dinner and the others went to ride the adult rides at California Adventure.

The next few days we were up and at them bright and early hitting the parks right when the gates opened Lane loved the rides and meeting the characters! We did character dining one night which was  well worth it, he had a lot of fun!! 

We spent some time visiting with my best friend Melissa and Kevin and her boys at her house. We ate at some great restaurants! Lane had a WONDERFUL birthday celebration, in fact we all had a great summer vacation!!! 

We've already planned our next summers vacation all of us together this time Bethany WILL be with us !!!!

First Salon Haircut

After cutting Lanes hair myself all 21 Months of his life I decided it was time to take him to a real salon. This actually was technically his 10th haircut ever maybe that's why he did so good at the salon because he's so used to getting his haircut at home by me. He did great with his first real haircut, The place was a lot of fun he got to sit in that fun car and he had Mickey Mouse Playhouse playing in front of him. I let him keep his bink in his mouth I know it looks kind of silly but I thought that way he was soothing himself in case he did get scared. His final picture we took does look silly because his hair was going forward so she can make sure that it was even. When it is styled he still has his curls that look adorable.

                        

Family Staycation!

Our family is on a mini ”staycation”. Cory took time off this week so we could have family fun! Since our trip to Disneyland is a few weeks away, we decided we needed a little staycation, in the mean time.

Today Cory got to help in swim lessons! Then we went out to lunch and to the Az. Science Center. We had so much fun today! The museum is all hands on so even Lane had fun. We actually bought a family membership a weeks ago so we will be visitng more often!

Lane, daddy and I had a great day and can't wait for the next few days!

19 months!!

This kiddo is growing by leaps and bounds!!

His vocabulary took off at 18 months! Our meager list of 50+ words we can't even keep up with now because he says pretty much everything he wants now. Last night I turned off the TV and he whined and said ”I want to see it” Cory and I laughed because he had been asleep.

He, has a knack for food words of course, it's that chef in him, our favs are making him say sausage, peanut butter, and french fries.

He is definitely starting to look more like a little boy and not so babyish. I also am having to cut his hair more often!! It is starting to grow like a weed, I used to do it every few months now it's every few weeks!!!!!

18 months!!

This big boy is 18 months old already! He is 31 inches tall and 25 pounds! He says 50 single words and a dozen double and triple words. Some of my favorites; ” Let me see” ”Who is it” ”Bye, see ya”.

He definitely keeps us on our toes. I had started working with him on identifying when he goes potty in his diaper. He is hilarious now and seems very startled grabbing at his diaper saying ”oh no, poop diaper” and runs to find a diaper.

We also started teaching him how to count so now when we are hanging out he points out 1 and 2 of everything to me!

Now that it is starting to warm up we are going to start swimming lessons again. He stills loves the water very much!

We are planning our trip to California for the summer, we are going to take him to Disneyland for his 2nd birthday!! Of course the entire Elias family is coming with, it will be a great birthday/summer vacation!