smalltownhealthyliving

A little peek into my life as a midwest mom, wife, and chiropractor…

May 19

Continuing Ed Weekend

by lmt418

This will be somewhat brief because we just got home a little bit ago from a weekend in Des Moines for some continuing education hours.  We stayed at Prairie Meadows, which has an adjacent casino and horse track.  Talk about best seminar ever!

 

My mom came down to help out with Jenna, since we would be in class all day each day.  I think they had a good time.

 

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We did manage to get to a couple of the horse races and we even brought Jenna along since it was so nice out.  She had a blast!

 

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Tyler got to have his first slumber party, with cousin Beau.  My brother and his wife picked up Tyler on Saturday morning and took Tyler and Beau to the Des Moines zoo then back to their house for the rest of the weekend.  It sounds like they had a pretty good time.  I bet Ben and Katy will sleep good tonight though, after handling those two all weekend!!

 

Tyler was pretty high maintenance too.  On Wednesday we picked him up from daycare and he looked horrible.  A rash all over his face and arms, along with swelling of his eyelids and face.  This is him on Thursday, which was no better.

 

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He looks absolutely horrible, but he wasn’t fussy at all, just his normal self.  He was just itching all over.  So obviously we have an allergic reaction here.  I did take him to the medical doctor on Thursday, just to make sure it wasn’t something serious, and he said it was either allergic reaction or viral.  Since he had absolutely no fever and he was running around playing and eating everything in site, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a virus.  We’ve narrowed it down to a reaction from some sort of food, sunscreen or something at the park, since that’s when they noticed him start to have the reaction. 

 

He’s much better by now, but it took a lot of antihistamines to get that way.  Needless to say, we will be scheduling an appointment with an allergist soon.  He has eczema and most likely some environmental allergies this time of year anyways.  Thank you so much to Ben and Katy for dealing with his eye drops and medicine!

 

Since we are not traveling at all next weekend, I should have a better post next time, with hopefully a new recipe.  I definitely owe you one!!

 

Have a great week… stay safe from all those nasty storms!

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May 12

Happy Momma’s Day

by lmt418

I’m a bit exhausted right now, as we drove home from Kansas today.  We left after work on Wednesday to visit Hubby’s family for a couple days, and we made the very long drive home today.  Overall it went well, with two kids in tow.  I just wish we didn’t have to haul around as much stuff, it sure makes traveling a little more complicated with more kids. 

 

I hate to admit it, but I didn’t take any pictures.  Lugging my big camera and case around wasn’t on the priority list for the car.  I counted on Aunt Jaime to fulfill my picture-taking role.  She did great.  Smile     

 

No food pictures, so I’ll fill you in.  We had our usual sausage and corn pizza from Glory Days, plus a couple other treats- smoked ribs made by Grandpa Lance, Scotcharoos  from Aunt Jaime,  pineapple cake from Grandma Cindi, multiple delicious breakfasts and some Henry T’s, a favorite restaurant of ours in Lawrence.

 

Here are some of the pics from the weekend:

 

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Little Jenna is 3 months old today!  Can’t believe how fast time is flying by.

 

Of course I have to throw a shout-out to all the mothers in my life and those reading this blog. Hope you had a special day today and were reminded of just how important you are.  I know I felt very blessed today. 

 

And to my mother, thank you so much for all you have done and continue to do for me.  It brings me so much joy to see you love my children just as much as you love me.  I don’t know what we’d do without you.  And I am sorry for the unfortunate hair choices in the next picture, but I sure love you Mom!

 

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Family Jenna Tyler

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May 5

A Few Of My Favorite Things- Baby Version

by lmt418

I decided to do something a little different with this post, and not at all because I forgot to take any pictures this weekend.  I know there are several readers out there that are expecting their first baby, so I thought I’d post a short list of our favorite products for baby.

 

huggies

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Our favorite kind of diapers to use are Huggies.  Little Snugglers to be exact.  We’ve tried other brands, but these just seem to work the best for us.  That doesn’t mean we still don’t have blow-outs.  We get our diapers on Amazon because we have a Prime membership and get a subscription every month so they end up being pretty cheap.  Cheaper than buying them at Walmart every couple months.

 

cosleep

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We have a full-size crib that Tyler slept in until last week, when we turned it into a toddler bed.  So for Jenna, rather than having her go into the crib right away, we got an Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper Bassinet.  I love it because it’s on wheels, so at night I wheel it in next to me in bed, then during the day it goes out in the living room so the baby-sitter can keep an eye on her.  One of the sides flips down so that it’s like she’s laying next to you at night, but not really so there’s no chance of you rolling on top of her. 

 

medela

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This won’t apply to everyone, but if you’re wanting to utilize a pump, the Medela Pump in Style Advanced is pretty much the best.  It is also pretty pricey, so I am very fortunate to get mine from a relative who didn’t end up using hers.  Insurance will sometimes cover these, so be sure to check.  We use the Medela bottle for everything too.

 

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We didn’t use a bottle warmer with Tyler, just a glass of hot water.  I changed my mind this time, and this thing is well worth it.  This heats the bottle up in just a minute or two, which is great because Jenna is pretty demanding when she’s hungry. 

 

glider

source

This thing was a lifesaver.  Again, we didn’t have this with Tyler.  We had another swing that a friend gave us, but when we got it out to use for Jenna, it didn’t work.  Then we borrowed another one from a friend and that stopped working too.  Apparently our house is where swings go to die.  I broke down and bought this one because it looked cool and you could plug it in or use batteries.  Money well spent, because every time she’s in it she at least calms down or falls asleep. 

 

So those are a few of our favorite baby things.  We like our stroller and car seat, but I kind of wish I would have gotten a jogging stroller to begin with, one that you can put the car seat into.  Hope that helps.

 

Remember, I’ll be back next Sunday with a post, no Thursday this week.  Happy birthday to my mother-in-law Cindi today! 

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May 2

Roly Poly

by lmt418

Our kids are on the move.  Tyler is still getting used to his new bed set-up, but hasn’t fallen out anymore.  Today I let him pick out a new blanket for his bed and of course he chose the one with balls on it.  I also picked up a swimming noodle and put it under his fitted sheet as an added guard so that he hopefully will feel more comfortable.

 

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The pillows on the bottom are to protect him from falling on the hardwood floor.

 

Jenna isn’t quite rolling over yet, but she is scooting herself all over.  We put her on her play mat with her head right in the middle but a minute later this is where she ended up.

 

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Her little smile is so cute.  I just love the gummy smiles at this age.

 

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Oh look, a food picture!

 

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That’s as far as I got.  Fajita night here, using an adapted form of this marinade.  Didn’t get around to taking any other pictures of the meal.  No other pictures from the week either, except for this one.

 

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I am loving this stuff lately.  It’s got to be the spicy kind.  I’ve been back on a salt kick, so salty tortilla chips work great. 

 

So my friends, I have decided to once again let you down.  Way back when I first started blogging, I was doing it almost every night.  Then it backed off to every other night and it has slowly tapered.  I’m afraid we’ve hit another breaking point.  I’ve decided to only blog once a week, on Sundays.  I’ve strayed from my original concept, giving you healthy meal options and ideas, and have turned it into a slideshow of my kids.  I’m sure our family doesn’t mind that, but I feel bad letting other readers down.  This is shaping up to be a very busy year, and I feel like I’m already behind.  I have lists after lists of things I need to do, but they just keep coming.  I don’t want to quit the blog completely, but I decided once a week posts will cut back my stress levels just a little bit.  I’ll try to bring you recipes and healthy food options, and I’ll also include plenty of Tyler and Jenna pictures. 

 

Maybe someday I will pick things up again, but until then, you’ll be seeing me on Sundays.  Or should I say, seeing these guys…

 

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Have a great weekend!

Jenna Tyler

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Apr 28

Oh Sweet Spring

by lmt418

Now this is the weather we’ve been waiting for.

 

What a wonderful weekend of garage sailing, grilling, and several walks with the strollers.  Hubby was pretty pumped to get out his charcoal grill.

 

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He made some yummy burgers and grilled up some chicken both days.

 

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We went with the cheaper bone-in meat, chicken thighs.  I think it was about $5 for 4 lbs of thighs?  Pretty great deal.  Leave on the skin so you can retain the juices, then when you eat it, peel it off for a healthier option. 

 

Of course we got in all our smoothies and salads, so we did eat some fruits and veggies.  We’re trying to eat as much of the green stuff as we can- think we went through two big packages of spinach and a bag of kale this week. 

 

We had another special treat this weekend, Grandma Pat came to see us again.  She’s been babysitting Cousin Beau, so she popped up for a quick visit. 

 

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Tyler had a great time this weekend, with all the garage-sailing and Grandma time.  He was pretty funny, he found my new shoes and decided to try them out for me.

 

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Yes, I have gigantic feet.  My poor kids are going to have massive feet as well I bet.  Can’t wait to try out my new shoes.  This week I’m getting back to the gym- about time, I know.

 

We had a pretty big milestone for Tyler today- we switched his bed into a toddler bed.  When we put him down for his nap, sure enough, he comes strolling right out.  We gently led him back into the bedroom and put him down again.  I went and checked on him in a couple minutes and he was sitting in his chair quietly reading a book.  Later Hubby checked on him and he was laying on the rug in front of his bed with his feet up on the bed.  Finally he put himself back into bed and fell asleep.  So the nap went well, but we’ll see how he does all night long.  I’m so worried he’s going to fall out.  He has a little bit of a guard rail, but I can see him finding the little part that doesn’t.  I put pillows down just in case. 

 

I’m so nervous about him waking up in the middle of the night and walking around and getting into stuff or getting hurt.  I think it’s going to be a long night.  Smile

 

Hope you had a great weekend and got to enjoy the weather!!

Tyler

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