photo dilemma

After begging and pleading, I had finally talked Brad into the "need" of having Lillie professionally photographed as a child.  I already regret not having professional photographs taken of her when she was an infant.  Isn't that sad.  I actually feel kind of sick to my stomach over it.

Anyway, I had planned for my favorite photographer- Martha Manning to take one-year-old photographs a few weeks ago.   We had even picked out a few special outfits to wear!

Needless to say I was oh so disappointed to wake up the morning before the photographs with a sick baby.  And of all things, Lillie had "hand, mouth & foot."  Not an hour after waking up, Lillie fell hard, really hard.  She hit her head on the corner of a door frame- and then a golf ball sized knot appeared within seconds.  It was a crazy unnatural.

That sealed the deal.  If the photographs weren't off because of "hand, mouth & foot," they were definitely off due to the growing unicorn horn on Lillie's forehead.

Thankfully that morning has come and gone.  But, so did our date with the photographer.  So, I'm back to feeling sick to my stomach about not having any good photographs AND I had a cute outfit for Lillie and no where to wear it.  What is a girl to do?

Mimi graciously offered to help me conduct a DIY photo shoot with Lillie.  Needless to say, no professional quality photos, but we got a couple of cute ones and had fun at the Rose Garden!

Lillie with her Mimi.  My heart melts.

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Pare down the pears.

Have I mentioned that Lillie is allergic to Pears?  Seems super strange, right?  Here is the short long story.

Lillie always had the most smooth, white little belly.  When she was 4 or 5 months old she started getting this rash all over her little stomach, and sometimes on her back.  It would come and go pretty regularly.  Get worse, get better, get worse.  I asked the doctor about it multiple times.  The explanation was always dry skin / eczema.  We used lots of unscented lotions, no dryer sheets, "free" detergents.  You name it- I tried it.

In January, Lillie started at a day care.  And the sweet led teacher in the infant class (who has been taking care of infants her whole career and who is a mom to two) said multiple times (very sweetly), I think this is a food allergy.  So, I'd go back to the doctor with, "Is this a food allergy".  He would say, I don't think so.  And so things went on for ANOTHER 6 MONTHS.

Finally this summer, we weaned Lillie off baby food fruits and were able to find enough non-pureed fruits that Lillie could chew.  The rash went away.  I thought she grew out of it.  Next thing I know we are in Arkansas and the rash is back with vengeance.  So, I start racking my mommy brain.  We are driving a lot, so I'm thinking a lot.

Then it hit me, Brad had gone to the store to pick up some yogurt before we headed out on our trip.  We had been feeding Lillie YoBaby 3 in 1 Yogurt- pear and green beans once or twice a day.   Pears were one of the first jar foods we took on and Lillie adored them.  As we started solid foods in feeding therapy, we had to avoid solid food pears because they are "slider foods" which Lillie will swallow whole- explaining the absence in the rash this summer!

So, we cut the pear & green bean yogurt out half way through the trip and by the time we pulled into NC we were rash free!  I guess that will teach me to listen to the books, "only introduce one food at a time every 3 to 4 days and watch for any reaction" still rings in my head.  Who has the time or energy to do that?  I was just trying to get her to eat for goodness sake!

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Eat'en Update

The only way to put it is, I feel complete relieved.  Lillie LOVES eating "big girl" food, and she even does it pretty well with chewing these days.  We have decided to skip over sippy cups... Lillie drinks straight from an open cup.  Funny enough, she actually does her best drinking out of an actual glass.  And we haven't broken one yet!

We have a pretty short "Do Not Eat" list for others, but Brad and I are comfortable trying almost anything these days!

Lillie's "Do Not Eat"
Pineapple
Grapes
Raisins
Pears- allergy
Peas
Apples
Cheerios
Blueberries
Oranges
Blocks/cubes of cheese
Cut green beans
Corn
Dried fruit
Popsicles
Chips
Granola
Black beans
Carrots
Celery 

All that is to say, we are at a GREAT place with eat'en.  At meal time you can finally find a happy baby, a happy mama and a much simplified process!  I'm beyond thankful for our feeding therapist and the progress we have made.  Lillie is a champ!

We still are going to feeding therapy, but only once a month.  Whew.  Relieved.

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the BIG {dth} move

I haven't yet mentioned it, because I've been in a bit of denial.  But the truth is that I no longer work on a college campus- ugh.

At the end of June, these trucks showed-up, packed-up and moved-out our entire office less than a mile to our new home.

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 And this is where I ended up!  Upgrade- I LOVE the window.  

 

Here is the ad manager's office (Yup- with an actual door.)

Marketing Team office

Account Executives desks

MORE account executives desks!

Digital sales office

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hollywood

Lillie is loving the sunglasses these days.  G-Aunt Carmen sent her a few pair of shades for her first birthday and she has just recently embraced this cute gift!  THANKS so much Carmen!

It is so Hollywood, right?  Sunglasses indoors- all the time.  Well it is a good thing she is rocking the sunglasses these days, because it seems to cover up her ever-present puffy red eyes!  She has been crying for about a week straight.  Something about those pesky one-year old teeth.. I think.

Bring on the drama, little one.

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Help! and a naked Bear

Don't laugh- but we are trying to win some free lighting for our kitchen.  If you have been in our kitchen you know we need it, in a major way.

Go to this link and vote for us by clicking on the photograph of our kitchen :) BEFORE Tuesday.

THANKS for your support.

http://www.creeledrevolution.com/criesforhelp

Like I always say, the best kind of renovations are free ones!

And just for REAL laughs, this is the most recent embarrassing photographs that Lillie's teacher sent Brad and me.  Looks like she is hunting for her clothes! 

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Chuck-town, SC

Sweet, sweet Sue is getting married at the end of September- and I am so excited to be a part of the altar squad for "Team Sue-Bob!"

Recently we celebrate Susan's last single days in Charleston, SC.  I enjoyed uninterrupted conversations, soaking-up some sun, home-cooked awesome breakfast and a fun night on the town.  I love these girls so dearly. 

I had the bright (or not so bright) idea of taking a photo in the mirrored wall of our condo.  Check it out- see me hold the camera?  Hilarious, right?  Tara obviously thought it was really funny.

And then there was this photo that IS actually funny.  Susan was checking things off that list like a champ!

Fun times.  Fun times.

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