To the Fire Station We Go!

We recently got involved in our neighborhood association. Since getting involved, we have started to get invited to special events around our community. Last week we received an email stating the local fire station was hosting an ice cream social. We were so excited!!! Every time we drive by the station, Avery demands that her window be rolled down so she can wave hello.

We met up with our friends, whose daughter Izzy is Avery's best friend. These girls just adore each other! Ave was such a lucky girl and was able to sit in one of the trucks! She was in awe the whole time!

Thank you again to our local station number 5 for hosting this event! It was a lot of fun!

Our lost little friends

The other day, Ave and I were walking in to our house from our garage when I noticed loud and continuous chirping. I started looking along our long ivy wall and noticed two baby quails. They were walking back and forth along the wall trying to find a way to their mommy. The mother quail was up high in the ivy about 6 feet. The little babies were so young, they did not know how to fly yet. Ave and I planted our booties on the ground and just watched the babies. Even Oli was curious to see what was going on. We stayed there about an hour keeping an eye on our new friends. The cute little things would come up to Oli and stay close to him. He, being such a sweet and good dog, would just sit there and watch them.

About 2 hours later I came back to check on them. They were still scouring the wall back and forth. Once Nick got home, we decided to try and help them get back to their mommy. Avery was so cute and was so concerned. The little babies even let us pet them. Nick got them to sit in his hand and they were practically falling asleep! :( They were so tired! Nick put them back into the ivy and they were able to get back to their family!

Every once in a while, I can still hear them chirping outside!

Swim Lessons

Well, we have had 5 swim lessons so far. And we have 15 more to go! Avery is getting better each time she goes. But, the poor thing has anxiety all the way to her lesson! She cries that she doesn't want to go "Wimming" and tries to give me a billion hugs and kisses before she gets into the pool. She doesn't scream the whole time in the pool anymore. More of a whimper. The funny thing is, right when she gets out, she says "That was fun!" "Again?". It cracks me up!

We have made a tradition to go to McDonalds afterwards. I am trying to get her excited to go! She runs around the McDonald Playland like she is a monkey on a sugar rush!

Avery is doing SO MUCH better going on to her back. She doesn't fight it as much!

Avery does SO good going under water and holding her breath! They are teaching her to "Scoop, scoop, scoop" (paddle).



With all of these recent drownings and near drownings we have had this summer, I am so grateful we have her in these swim lessons! I know things happen for a reason, but if I can help prevent anything happening to Ave, I will do it at all costs!

We are thinking of enrolling her in a more intense swim camp. It'll be 8 lessons back to back. Hopefully this will help ease her anxiety and show her the pool is fun again!

Rockin' Moroccan Chicken

Ok, I promise I won't turn into a food blog! But, we tried this last night and it was a hit! Even with Avery!

Rockin' Moroccan Chicken

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 Minutes
Serves: 4-5 (Eh, I say more like 3-4)

- 4 tablespoons coconut oil
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 cups broccoli, chopped
- 2 cups carrots, diced
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
- small pinch of cayenne (red) pepper
- black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup pimento-stuffed green olives, diced
- 1/4 cup raisins (I'd use more like 1/2 cup of your family likes raisins!)
- 1/4 cup chicken broth (I did use a 1/2 cup to keep the chicken from drying up!)

1. Cover the bottom of a large skillet with coconut oil. Saute the chicken until no longer pink in the middle. (About 7 minutes.)
2. Add the veggies in with the chicken and stir-fry for another 5 minutes or until the broccoli and carrots strart to become tender.
3. Add the cinnamon, ginger, cumin, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Once the chicken and veggies are covered with the spices, add the sliced olives, raisins, and the chicken broth to create a sauce. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook another 5-7 minutes stirring often. Serve immediately.

SO easy and really good too! Tonight we are trying a pasta lasagna, sans the noodles. I will let y'all know how it is. :)

Shrimp Tacos

Lately, I have literally been OBSESSED with shrimp tacos and fish tacos! (No, I am NOT pregnant!) I can't seem to get enough. Nick is on a diet, called the Paleo Diet/Caveman Diet. I was very against this diet when he started and refused to go it with him.

Well, I finally "caved" in and am more willing to try new recipes. Avery and I eat healthy enough during the day (usually), so we do not follow the diet during morning or afternoon. I usually do cook Paleo at night though.

Back to the shrimp tacos. I was browsing through this new cookbook I ordered online through Amazon.com. It's called Everyday Paleo. It actually has some yummy recipes and I thought I would share the shrimp taco recipe.

Shrimp Tacos (Paleo Style)

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Serves: 3-4

- 1 pound large shrimp, shells, tails and veins removed (I buy the already cooked shrimp from Whole Foods and just remove the tails.)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/2 cup jarred salsa verde of your choice
- 10-12 large romaine or butter lettuce leaves
- 2 cups cabbage or spinach leaves, diced
- 6 radishes, halved and sliced
- lime wedges

1. Cut the shrimp in half and set aside.
2. In a skillet, hat the coconut oil over medium heat and saute the onions, garlic and bell peppers until tender-about 4 minutes.
3. Add the shrimp and saute until the shrimp are pink. (Mine are pre cooked, so I warm them up.)
4. Add the chili powder and salsa, mix well, and cook just until simmering.
5. Serve in the lettuce leaves with sliced radishes, shredded cabbage or spinach leaves, and lime wedges.

(You can substitue serving in lettuce leaves with serving in whole wheat tortillas too!)

This recipes is SOOO yummy! And it is FAST to make too!

SwimKids

So our child is pretty fearless when it comes to just about anything!

While we were in Florida, we had an eye opener with swimming pools. Avery would not wear any type of floatation device or use any type of floatation device for that matter. She also would run to the pool and just want to jump in. Scary!

So when we got back I signed her right up for swimming lessons. We decided to try out SwimKids which is located at Dive Utah. The owner taught all of the Holt cousins, so we knew we could trust her and the instructors.

Avery started yesterday. She'll be going every Tuesday and Friday for ten weeks. (I did not realize how darn expensive swim lessons were! Yikes!)

When we got to the pool, Ave was SUPER excited to get in. Once it was her turn with her instructor, she got right in. Once she realized mommy wasn't getting in with her and SHE was not in control, she lost it. It was 20 minutes of pure torture for her. She screamed and cried. She even clawed her instructors face so bad it was bleeding by the end of the seesion. I felt so bad, but stayed on the sidelines cheering her on.

The goal for the first few lessons are to teach her to hold her breath under water and to teach her to float on her back. I am crossing my fingers we can reach these goals without blood!!

I only took a quick video of the torture.

She is into this Popeye look when saying "Cheese"!

YIKES!!

The video is pretty painful. They say the first couple of lessons are of the kids complaining and screaming. I, luckily, had one mom come up to me and tell me her child did the same thing. I was SO grateful for her saying that!!!!

This is only 2 seconds. My phones memory was full!

They are teaching her to hold her breath.

He makes a vibrating noise with his lips to let her know they are going under.

By the end of the class she was doing it! Way to go Avery!!

Battle #1 Accomplished! (Knock on Wood!)

So, I think we have finally conquered one of our battles with Avery. I don't want to jinx it, but we have been having REALLY good luck with Battle Numero Uno: The Bed.

After my rant of a post, I started googling "My child won't sleep Alone", "2 year old can't fall asleep with parent laying down", "HELP toddler does not sleep!!!", etc, etc...

I came across a parent blog with my same scenario's. I started reading and one page that had three ways of putting your toddler down:

1. Tuck them in and leave the room. Let them cry it out.
    ...We tried this for 4 days. Avery threw tantrums of the century. Knocking over furniture, throwing herself into the door, hitting herself, etc. The tantrums would last almost two hours and we would end up just sleeping with her. THIS WAS A BIG FAIL!

2. Lay with them until they fall asleep, then sneak out.
    .....DO NOT DO THIS! This was what led us up to this! Avery COULD NOT fall asleep without us and when we would finally sneak out, she would wake up multiple times for us to start the process all over again. I felt like we had a newborn again! THIS AGAIN WAS A BIG FAIL!

3. Tuck them in and let them know you will be back to check on them.
    .....So the theory behind this was to give your child a hug and kiss and tuck them in. Ensure them that you will come back every few minutes to check on them. Start at 2 minutes and work your way up until they fall asleep. We were up for anything at this point, so we tried.

The first night was a bit tough.

(We figured she was TERRIBLY AFRAID of the dark. We put dimmers in her room and kept her lights on at the lowest point PLUS a dimmed lamp on a table.)

She freaked out for a while. We started checking back at 2 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 10 minutes..... I believe it took us 6 tries to get her to finally fall asleep. She woke up three times in the middle of the night. I would try our method again, but by 3 AM I was exhausted and finally ended up in her bed again.

That next day I set out to buy her a princess bed. (Or make it feel that way atleast.) I found an inexpensive Disney Princess bedding set at Smith's Marketplace and put it all together. She was SUPER excited. (Especially about the princesses on her pillow!)

That night went much better. I refused to sleep in her bed again. I had to put my foot down. It took us about a week, but she is finally sleeping through the night on her OWN! AND, AND, AND it only takes us two check in's to tuck her in! She is asleep within 10 minutes!! YAY!!

I think, for Avery atleast, she was scared of the dark, being alone and scared we were leaving her. Once we were able to convince her we were in the next room and we would come back to check on her, she was more comfortable by herself!

In fact, this past Monday, Avery woke me up at midnight. She came in my room and told me her bed was wet. (Her sippy somehow leaked all over.) Once we got her bed fresh and dry, she said goodnight mommy and went back to sleep.

I'm so proud of our munchkin. This was a REALLY tough battle, but we got through it! Hallelujah!

Blog comments and such...

To my fellow blogging friends and family:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE reading your blogs! But there is only two problems:

1- I can only access most of the blogs on my cell phone. My computer comes up with an error when I am checking 90% of blogs and therefore I can't read them. :(

2- While reading blogs on my cell phone, I cannot leave comments. Again, it comes up with an error and relocates the pages. :(

What gives?

I just wanted you all to know that I love reading your blogs! I check them often and I am sorry I cannot comment on them at the moment. I am tryng to talk my hubby into getting this checked out!!!

Never ending battles

Battle Number 1:


On Easter, we spontaneously decided to transition Avery from her crib to the daybed version of her crib. (We have the 3 in on. 1-Crib, 2-Daybed, 3-Headboard and Footboard to a full size bed.) I don't exactly know why we did this. Avery hadn't tried climbing ou of her crib, she slept through the night.....

The first three nights in the daybed were complete hell! She would jump on her bed, jump off of her bed and eventually would fall off of the bed in the middle of the night. So, we decided to move her into a full size bed. I figured if she had to transition again, it might kill us. (Or I'd be bald from pulling my hair out.)

She did MUCH better in the full size bed. She was a little scared, but we put on bed rails on each side of the bed and surrounded her in fluffy pillows. She slept great for about a week. A WEEK!

She now cannot go to bed unless one of us is laying next to her. Plus she wakes up 2-3 times a night to have one of us come lay with her again. We were pretty sick for about two weeks, so I figured it had something to do with that. Nope!

On Monday night, Nick spent about an hour and fifteen minutes trying to lay next to her and get her to sleep. Something clicked in both of us and we decided to let her cry it out. We have never seen (or heard) such a tantrum from a child. She overturned tables in her room, threw blankets and dolls everywhere and was wailing at the top of her lungs. We couldn't help but laugh at this behaviour! After an hour of this, we went in and layed next to her. She was out in fiteen minutes.

Last night we tried it a little differently. We did our bedtime routine: bath, brush teeth, jammies and read a bedtime story. We kissed her good night and shut her door. TANTRUM of THE CENTURY numero dos. Holy cow this kid is persistent. She did the tantrum ALL over again! An hour later, I was laying next to her in her bed...AGAIN!

She got me up three times in the middle of the night. I was so tired I ended up sleeping in her bed!!

ANYONE have any advice or ideas on what I should do???

(I'm not trying to scare any of my friends who haven't transitioned yet! Avery is super stubborn like her DAD!)

Battle Number 2:

The binky! Should I say more?

Avery has been attached to this thing since she was an hour old! I swear! She had head trauma from her delivery and the nurses said that the binky was a Godsend and it would help soothe her.

Well I listened to their advice until last week.

I had grown so tired of the binky that I would get annoyed anytime Avery had it in her mouth. I didn't want to get rid of it until I knew she was ready. This thing was with us 24 hours a day! I always had to have a back up or I would get a melt down from Avery.

We were sick last week and I knew we wouldn't be leaving the house anytime soon, so I cut the nipple on the binky. Avery kept saying 'YUCK" everytime she'd put it in her mouth. For the entire week, I would cut a bit more every day. It is now a nup, if that! She never had a meltdown over it! Shocking!

We left the house for the first time over the weekend and had to travel in the car. This was the true test. Luckily, she passed out on the way to Logan. We were in the clear. We slept in a hotel and she only needed it in her hand. Sweet! I can live with that! Then on the way home, she had a meltdown! She wanted that damn binky. She cried and cried from Logan until Ogden. We stopped for a bday party and she did great there. And then she cried in the car from Ogden to Bountiful. OYE!!!!

I'm trying to decide if I should just yank it from her entirely. Or if I should let her hold it in her hands. (Atleast until battle number 1 is solved!)

Battle Number 3:

Temper Tantrums!

Man, I never knew the true meaning of the terrible two's until this week! This kid knows how to push each button! On both her mommy and daddy. Time outs are not working! I'm going to leave it at that.

Battle Number 4:

Avery's finger is constantly in her nose. EEEEEWWWW!!!  Before we had Midge, I always told Nick I did not want a buger kid. I hated the thought of snot, bugers and nose picking. I think I jinxed myself!! Avery is obsessed with having her finger stuck in her nostril. I know she doesn't fully comprehend what she is doing, but it is yucky!!



Can you tell we are struggling a bit this week? Good thing we love this kid more than we could ever express! She has been a lot of fun during the day. We have the funniest conversations and she talks to her baby like I talk to her. Night time is the hardest. Cross your fingers that we find some solutions soon! Have I mentioned I can't wait for Avery to start Pre School in August!!! :)

Momma's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year!

I LOVE being a Mom and I love all of my Mom's!

We met up with my mom and Nick's mom for breakfast at The Wild Grape downtown. It's one of my favorite local restaurants. :)

We usually head to the zoo afterwards, but the weather wasn't cooperating. So, we relaxed at home and it was just what we all needed after going a million miles a minute!

I hope all of my mom's (Teri, Dee Dee, Vickie and Sheri) had a wonderful Mother's Day too! I certainly appreciate everything these women do for me and my family and am so grateful to have each one in my life! I love you all!!

I'm one lucky Momma to this little cheeser!

Grandpa Bob was in town for Ashley's wedding. We sure do love and miss this gent!

Thank you to my family who made this day and everyday so special!

I love you guys!!