Christmas

Christmas 2010 was a great time!  We started off this year by visiting with close friends on December 23rd.  Wish we could all get together more often; we shared old stories and had many laughs.  Christmas Eve was at Grandma and Grandpa Beal's with Brandon and Linda.  Kendall got spoiled with lots of presents, and she doesn't even know it. She did try to eat the wrapping paper as expected!  I think we all ate too much food; this year was non-traditional with lasagna, chocolate cake and pies.  We decided to go to Ritsy's Fantasy of Lights, and it turned out to be so pretty with all the snow.  On Christmas we traveled to Uncle David's house and spent the day with Darrel's family.  We played "dirty Santa" and ended the day with a Wii dance off.  Next year, we'll start the dancing a lot sooner; it was entertaining watching Darrel and David compete! Christmas night was at Linda's house with lots of food again.

Darrel and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl this year, and we got to spend Christmas with those we love most.  I have a wonderful family, and I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!

Big girl

Kendall is 7 months old and has finally started army crawling.  She has been rolling around the floor for a few months now.  She loves for us to hold her hands and walk around the house.  Time to baby proof!  Kendall has gotten one tooth and it won't be long for the others.  Her new game is throwing everything off the changing table, but it's fun.  Her favorite toy right now is the Leapfrog Learn and Groove musical table.  It's the one toy that holds her attention, and she gets to stand to play with it!

I can't wait for Christmas.  I am so thankful to have my family healthy this year!  It will be fun to watch Kendall open presents since she loves paper, mostly eating it!

Dairy-free?

Being a mom is the most wonderful job in the world.  It does come with a few sacrifices though (besides sleep!).  Kendall is unable to tolerate dairy, therefore mommy doesn't get to eat it.  Nursing has been great, who knows how we could afford formula.  The greatest aspect is the bond between Kendall and I.  It doesn't hurt that I get to eat all that I want, probably more than I ate during pregnancy.  Getting back to the tough part, no dairy.  I have adapted to almond milk, I love the vanilla almond milk.  It makes cereal tastes that much better. My big sacrifice is no cheesecake or ice cream, my two favorites.  I have found some ice creams made from coconut milk and soy milk, not too bad.  I recently found recipes to make "cheesecake" from tofutti.  I found that if you add enough sugar, it is edible.  I have experimented with tofu, and I make my own hummus. Peanut butter is my staple food.  Living in a world with no dairy is challenging, constantly checking labels and asking the waiter if a dish has dairy in it.  It kind of takes the fun out of eating.  I feel for those who have a true milk allergy.

All I know is that being dairy-free makes a happy baby, so it is worth it.  But watch out because when I can, I will be on a cheesecake hunt.