Love Them!

Enjoying my last few days of maternity leave :( 

Goodbye Food

Since my last post, lots has happened. We found out Henry is allergic to milk, soy, gluten and eggs. Try making dinners without any of those ingredients. Yeah poor Ryan and Vera are suffering as well. However, Henry's screaming had been greatly reduced so if I am stuck eating chicken apples carrots and rice milk every day then so be it...stay tuned for updates...

Pinterest project number 3 has been completed. Homemade laundry soap. Haven't tried it yet but sort of excited to do the laundry!

First I shredded 2 bars of naptha soap

Then added 2 cups Arm and Hammer washing soda

Followed by 2 cups of Borax

Then I added some Gain Scent balls as seen here ( cute 2 year old not included) 

Then Voila! All finished!

Pinterest Projects

One of the nice things about maternity leave is that between episodes of screaming from this little angel, I have some time to actually try some of the things I pin but never actually do.

Yesterday I made a lovely shower cleaner. Half Dawn dish soap and half vinegar. We will see how it works!

Today was a craft with Vera. Microwaving a bar of soap.

I was skeptical. I have had "the easiest tastiest Pinterest recipe" take forever and taste awful, but I thought " hey ivory soap cost like 30 cents so I'm not out much if this doesn't work"

It was pretty cool in the microwave. Deflated a bit once I took it out but then I was so excited to let Vera play with it.

The blog I got this from said it would give them about 3.5 min of entertainment. I got about 2 out of it! The blog also gave all these neat soap ideas to do with it when you are done. Haha yeah right, who has time for that between episodes of screaming? One which has just commenced....

Loving Life!

There are times during the day where I want to pull my hair out, but this is what nap time looks like and all is right with the world.

A big Happy Birthday to the wildest, craziest, sweetest 2 year old around! It's been the best two years of my life!

Part Cow

The lactation consultant's response to when I told her how much milk I still pump even after just nursing,

 "Holy Cow". No pun intended.

Sleep really is over-rated

Our little (or should I say big) guy likes to eat and eat and eat. He wanted to nurse from 2:10 last night until 4:45. Can you say tired mommy and daddy?

I am already noticing huge differences between Mr Henry and Miss Vera. Tonight is our last night without Vera...soon a 6 wake up call will accompany our morning routine!

Back to Blogging

It has been almost a year since I last blogged but I am going to try to pick it up again since we have had some major events take place. Mainly my entire pregnancy and birth if our son Henry. 

Henry Charles Grillot. The name Henry in honor of Ryan's great great great (maybe even more greats) grandfather who was the first to come over to the US from France and Henry was my grandpa Ernst middle name as well. Charles from both his grandfathers. He's got some big shoes to fill. Good thing he got a head start being 9 lbs and 8 ounces!

Day 11: Guardian Angels

I am thankful for the guardian angels out there who were on duty last night. Two locals teens were in a terrible car accident last night. One who I baby sat for several years and one who lives down the road. Both sound like they have lots of recovery ahead, but thankful they were given the chance to fight.

Day 10: Nice weather in November

I thank God for beautiful sunny days in November so the farmers can get their crops off!

Day 9: Friday's off

I love having Friday's off.  Although I never really consider it a vacation day.  It is my day to get every thing done. It gives me time to catch up on my bog (obviously after the 5 posts today). Time to clean the bathrooms, dust, laundry, clean the kitchen, chase Vera around, keep Minnie from eating Vera's toys, keep Vera from eating Minnie's toys, schedule doctors appointments, go grocery shopping, go to the bank, and go to the library.  Sometimes, if I am lucky, I have time to shower!

Day 8: Cereal

Okay, I am not just thankful for cereal.  I thank God that my family has enough to eat and we do not have to worry about where our next meal comes from. That being said, if I had to eat cereal every meal, every day, I do not think I would be upset. When I lived in West Virginia for 3 months, that is pretty much all I ate and it was glorious.

And the mother of all cereals is pictured below.  Sure, every ingredient in it is hated by some group in America, but who out there doesn't like eating this stuff until the top of their mouth is raw?

Day 7: Good Friends

I am a very lucky girl.  I have several groups of really great friends that I have met along the way.  I thank God for blessing me with these amazing women!

I am thankful for my high school friends.  I know very few people know what happened to their friends from high school let alone remain close to them.  I have 5 amazing friends who I wouldn't trade for the world. I know they would do anything for me, and I, in return, would do anything for them.

Next, I am thankful for my Track Girls. Running Track at ONU was was on the best experiences I had, and that was in most part thanks to these girls. These girls are amazing, not only are they all very successful in life, but most do it on top of being moms, and oh yeah most are still running.  They inspire me!

The next girls helped me keep my sanity in undergrad.  They were five of the most amazing roommates.  We never really had an argument in our house...and with 6 girls that is truly amazing.  Especially considering we shared 1 shower! I love that no matter how much time goes between seeing these girls, it is like picking up right where we left off. 

Next are my optometry friends.  We literally spent hours together every day.  We will all still laugh if anyone brings up the "Banana Fish" story, or the salami (or whatever it was out of the vending machine.  There were times when I honestly considered investing in some Depends with these girls because of how much we laughed.  There were many, many, MANY stressful times in optometry school, but these girls made them some of the best years of my life!

Day 6: My Right To Vote

I think God that I live in a country where I have the right to vote. It is hard to imagine living in a country where I would not have this right either because it is a dictatorship or I would be denied that right as a woman.  I am thankful for the Veterans who have fought to keep this country free, and I am thankful for the women who fought to be sure We has a gender were represented.

Day 5: My Parents

Sorry, I am a little behind in my head I have been keeping track of what I have been thankful for, I just have not had time to jot it down. I am going to try to catch up while Vera is taking a nap...

On Monday I decided I was thankful for my parents.  As my mom was helping me clean puke out of the car seat I realized you never really stop being a parent.  Yeah sure, your role changes from providing every single aspect of care to your baby, to being the chauffeur for your teenager to more of an advisory role to your adult child, but once you are a mom or dad, you are always a mom or dad.

I am thankful my parents have been so supportive of me throughout my entire life. They taught me how to value hard work. They taught me how to be a parent by setting an amazing example.  I know Vera will be okay, if I can be half the parent they are!

Day 4: Good Health

Today I am thankful for my good health and the health of my family.  Why did I pick this today you ask?  Well just a warning, the rest of this post is going to be somewhat graphic so if you just ate, you might refrain from reading this until you have digested....

Today my mom, Vera and I went to Dayton.  I needed to pick up a bracelet I had repaired.  We get there, I run into the store to pick up the bracelet and we think somewhere between the time we were at the jewelry store to the time we got to the mall (about 3 minutes) Vera puked.  She is the worlds most quiet puker because it wasn't until I opened the van door to get her out to go into the mall did I find a child covered in vomit.  Gross.  I had to clean her off just to be able to take her out of the care seat enough to bring her into the mall to clean her off.  So my mom and I turned around and came back home.  I think she might be brewing and ear infection, but we will see...

Anyway, even though we all get sick from time to time, we are fortunate to have not have any chronic conditions and I am very thankful for that.

On a side note, Minnie wins dog of the day award today.  Vera found Minnie's shock collar, proceeded to turn it all the way up and then shock her multiple times.  Minnie, being the good dog that she is, just runs over to me.  I could tell she was shaking and her pupils were dilated and I thought she was having a seizure (it seemed exactly like what Daisy would do when she had seizures) so I was trying to comfort her telling her it would be over soon when I heard her collar buzz.  I ripped it off as fast as I could and then found the culprit Vera in the living room...*sigh* never a dull moment.

Day 3

Today I am thankful for my job. I decided to pick this to be thankful for today because it is Saturday and I really didn't want to come to work. I was grumpy about it my whole drive here, but then I thought about all the people out there who have been looking for a job for months or who have stopped looking and realized I was being pretty petty. So like I said, today I am thankful I have not only a job, but a job a I really enjoy. I love knowing I can make people see better, improve someone's ability to read, and literally save lives by preventing a patient from having a stroke. I love being an optometrist! The picture here is of Vera with her sunglasses from her favorite eye doctor

30 Days of Thankfulness

I have seen several people doing this in Facebook, so that is what I am going to try to do during the month of November (Healthy month October was somewhat of a bust). Everyday I want to find something to be thankful for. I am a day behind, so I will make a post that technically includes several things to count for yesterday and today...

I am most thankful to God for my family. Ryan loves me everyday even when I am not the easiest person to love. He keeps me from being too serious all the time and reminds me to laugh every now and then.

I am so grateful for the gift of my daughter Vera. I never knew how much I would love being a mom. Her smile has the ability to wash away any worries.

And who could forget Minnie?  Most of the time I want to beat her butt, but she has the amazing ability to know when to be a great dog.  Although she gets jealous of the attention Vera gets a lot, she is very protective of her around other people. I am glad Vera is going to have a canine friend to grow up with.

Man's Best Friend

So as the winds of Hurricane Sandy howl against our windows (and let's be honest, through the drafty house) our dog is protecting her master.

P.S. the two are worn out from playing some intense kitchen with Vera

Miss Minnie

We have had Minnie for over a year this month. To say we had a rough start would be putting it mildly, but I have to admit she is a really good dog and I am glad she is put of our family!

The Finished Product

So here is my little pea pod!