2013 recap

For 2013 I wanted to start appreciating living in New Mexico. To be honest I was kinda a party pooper when we first got here. Considering we moved here when I was 8 months pregnant, in the middle of summer, living in a swamp cooler townhome, away from family and friends.

This place has more to offer than I could imagine. from brown dessert environments to green mountainous ones. I am so glad that we tried to do something each month as a family. We made a limit that we wouldn't travel more then 3 hours away, we'll because that how long it takes to get to ABQ. We had a blast going to all of these places and creating wonderful memories that the kids will never remember but we did grow closer together as a family.

WARNING: it's a long one.

A recap of 2013

January: White Sands and Ruidoso

February: ABQ zoo and temple

March: ABQ aquarium and botanical gardens

April: City of Rocks

 

 

 

May: El Paso Zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

June: Yosemite National Park

 

July: Potty training and moving

 

 

 

August: Camping at the Gila Cliff Dwellings

 

September: Stayed around the house and hit up the parks probably everyday.

 

 

 

October: Southern NM State Fair,

               Cloudcroft, NM

               Ward Halloween Party

November: Parks, Parks, Parks and snow.

December: A visit to my parents

 

 

 





Traveling with kids

I recently made a long journey across the state of Texas with my two kiddos by myself that took I swear like 16 hours. Here are 10 things I learned from that trip that some of you might benefit from.

1. Expect the worse, so if things are better you think your kids are doing fantastic and if they are going crazy you have already mentally prepared for it.

 

2. Every stop will take f..o...r...e...v...e...r!!!! Especially if they are potty trained/training, I swear Walker took 30 minutes to poop (or at least that's how long it felt)

 

3. Stopping on the side of the road is a time saver if your kids just need to pee or even if you need to.

 

4. If you want to be nice plan to make a million stops or be like me and schedule stops every so many hours and make them wait (they'll live, I promise).

 

5. A portable dvd player is a must, and I must warn you, you might end up hearing the same darn movie over and over, until you eventually tell them that it's broken and they have to pick a new one.

 

6. If they are being quite, do not and I repeat do not turn around and make eye contact or that nice relaxing quite time will be over.

 

7. A cleaning caddy is a nice way to put toys snugged nicely between two car seats and will keep you from constantly turning around to give them something..

 

8. Make sure you have their favorite blanket or animal.

 

9. You don't sleep well in the car so don't expect your kids to either. 

 

10. Bring an extra towel incase one of them decides to throw up. and you have to use their favorite blanket to clean it up. Also if you have kids that like to return everything they have eaten plus more, make sure you have extra clothes easily accessible.

 

 

 

November

November was filled with

1. cold weather, so we had to stay indoors

2. sick of being indoors and so we were busted out and went to the park

3.Thanksgiving

4. Getting into things

5.Making messes

 

I am so happy now that Julian can make normal messes. I love that he can get into the pantry now and make a mess. I love that he goes off and gets into the cupboards and climbs in them. Yes its annoying to clean up but so much better than all the screaming he use to do.

 

 

 

This was our Thanksgiving! Nice sandwiches! Best idea ever!  

 

Gluten, dairy, soy and egg free brownies and ohh were they good. Nice and fudgy the way I like them. So good people.

October

This month we went to the Southern New Mexico State Fair. To be honest it was nothing compared to the California State Fair. Kinda of disappointed in it but that's ok we still made the best of things.

 

 

at the state fair

 

Julian being a cute happy boy!

 

 Our family outing for the month was to Cloudcroft. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Las Cruces, but so worth it! We happened to go on a day that the parks were closed due to budget cuts so we had to hike our way in, there was no way we were turning around and going home after we just got there. We took a lunch because the forecast said it would be 60 and sunny, maybe more like 50 and windy. Oh well! Because of the budget stuff we took the long way to the trail that we were wanting to do, so the hike ended up being 3-4 hours. The boys did fantastic. I am so glad Walkers name fits him because this kid can walk for ever and ever. Julian just loved being snuggled and carried, and pointing all the trees.

 

Walker drug so many sticks along the way.

 

Love this picture of them. We went at the perfect time of year. 

 

poser

Allergy Test Results

HIGH: peanuts and cows milk
MODERATE: soybean and egg whites
LOW: wheat and sesame seeds

WOW WOW WOW is all I can say. I new about cows milk but was starting to wonder about soy and eggs. But all I can say is WOW. Soy is practically in everything, even in some spices.

Hopefully he'll outgrow most if not all of these/

Tired

I thought Walker was a fussy baby for the first few months of his life. I would redo him in a heart beat. Julian has been so unhappy for the past few months. This poor kid has so many things going on with him...just to name a few...

• getting in more front teeth
• getting in his molars
• walker attacking him constantly
• rashes galore (right now he has one all over his body)
• reflux has come back
• trying to walk
• diarrhea
• every month he is congested
• and all of the other joys of being a one year old

I love this kid, he is very sweet and loves to be cuddled but when he has his days/weeks it can be very exhausting. I am hoping the allergy test that we just had done will give us some answers. They tested for food and environmental since they were already going to be drawing blood.