Leggo My "Egg"o!

Look who's smiling all the time now!

We got out of our bubble this week, and everyone is in a great mood. I am amazed at how the walls can close in on Henry too when he stays home too much. We had a couple play dates, finally found Henry a winter jacket, and had Henry's allergies retested--that brought great news for Henry and his diet!

When Henry was 9 months old he was diagnosed with allergies to dairy, egg and peanut. At two years, Henry outgrew his dairy allergy. Henry is just a few weeks shy of three years old and only 10 months have passed since his last testing so the doctor was skeptical that any changes would result. So when Henry's results for his egg allergy appeared negative this week, there was some excitement and celebration in the room. The doctor looked at me and said, "I guess mom knows best."

For those of you who have never lived with a food allergy or with someone with food allergies, you might wonder why we celebrate the opportunity to eat eggs. This opens up a new relm of food opportunities for Henry, espcially baked goods--muffins, breads, cakes, cookies. Yea, Christmas baking season!!! The small amount of eating out that we do will ease the anxiety of one less food ingredient to worry about. He was also able to receive his first dosage of the seasonal flu vacination. Like every parent out there, we want our kids to be healthy and with the hype of the seasonal flu and H1N1 this year, I can't help but be nervous that it could affect our family, especially Harrison and Henry. Now that Henry can be vacinated, I am less anxious and pleased that he can help protect his little brother by getting vacinated.

We don't let allergies inhibit the things we do. We just have to be cautious. We've found great substitutions, been creative with food preparations, and developed much a much healthier way of eating for Henry (and our family). When food allergies exist, unprocessed food is the way of life. He's so lucky his mom likes to cook! I think our favorite recipe that we've discovered is chocolate cake. Grandma Jeannie calls it "Crazy Cake," probably because everyone is crazy for it! You'd never know what's missing. The best part--you can eat all the cake batter you want because there are no eggs! Here's the recipe:

"Crazy Cake"

3 c flour

2 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 c sugar

6 Tbsp. cocoa

3/4 c vegetable oil

3 Tbsp. vinegar

2 c cold water

Mix all ingredients; make a well then add oil, vinegar and water and mix well. Bake at 350 in a 9x13" pan for 30 minutes, 20 minutes for cupcakes

Our favorite frosting... 1 stick butter, 3 c powdered sugar, a little vanilla and enough water to make a good consistency

Here's a good egg subsititue for a recipe that calls for 1 or 2 eggs. For each egg call for in a recipe, substitue: 1 1/2 Tbsp water, 1 1/2 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp baking power; mixed together

If you can't use the recipe, maybe you can pass it on to someone you know with food allergies.

Alright, here's the latest and greatest on our camera this week. We spent last weekend at my parent's home in Perham MN. The weather was beautiful on Sunday and Saturday was foggy, but the boys were able to make the best of it outside by fishing and enjoying a campfire all-day-long.

Uncle Matt gave Henry a hair cut.

Henry and Papa were putting the bird feeders up for the winter. I really love to watch them together. Even better--evesdropping on their conversation. They were talking about wires...ah, boring. When Henry gave me the update on what they did, his story for the birdfeeder when something like this..."And there is a hole in the birdfeeder because Papa tried to shoot a squirrel. He missed it."

Below: Peter, Peter Pumpkin Carver

Go Blue!

Here are some random shots with my boys. Henry actually took this picture, not bad.

The first "taste" of winter

Ahhh...the first Minnesota snowfall has made it's way to our neighborhood. When I went to bed last night it was autumn and when I woke up, it felt so much like winter. I was so relieved going to bed last night that I didn't have to go anywhere in the morning. After breakfast, Henry insisted on going outside. Can you see that we are not quite prepared for the winter chill? Hen's wearing two pairs of pants, a sweatshirt and a winter jacket that he's worn for the last two winters, which is a size 12-18 months--can you see how much larger the sweatshirt is compared to the jacket? I would say he's grown. My favorite part of the picture is his bright green monster rainboots. We really are not prepared for this first snowfall, but we'll get there.

Last night we made our way to Minnesota Harvest Apple Orchard with our neighbors. Henry was anything but happy as our first stop was the pumpkin bin area. He told me that this picture means he was mad. He wanted to ride the pony. . .

He eventually got his pony ride.

On Saturday night, we had Brooke and MLT over for dinner to celebrate their recent engagement. Here is Henry serving salad to Brooke.

I have decided that Henry is a Polman through and through. . .

Earlier in the day, Brooke stayed with the boys while Scott and I went to the Gopher football game. When Henry saw Brooke's wedding ring, he commented, "That looks expensive. How much did that thing cost?" Brooke told him that she didn't know. He informed her that while he took his nap, Brooke needed to call Matt and ask how much her ring cost.

This morning, I was putting some new bedding on Scott and my bed. He walked in and said, "Mom, how much did this cost?"

Today he keeps looking out the window at the snow. He continues to ask, "Now how much do we have?"

I swear. . .Polman in surround sound is just too much.

Our little Harrison may not be as funny as Henry lately, but he's equally cute. He continues to be a good baby. He is eating 4 oz every 3 hours and sleeps most of the afternoon away. He keeps us company in the morning and early evening. He likes to go to bed around 9-9:45 and wake for the day around 5-6am. He'll get up between 1:30-3:30am for a feeding and fall back to sleep for a few hours. There has only been one night where he decided to visit in the wee hours of the morning for a 2 hour period. He loves to snuggle and be warm. Harrison is alert, happy and on occassion will give us a big smile...which I know for sure is not gas. Others have witnessed it and agree that he is a content, happy baby. We are so blessed.

"Mom, do I have a smustash?"

"Hen, you don't have a smustash, you have a beard."

We made Daddy a birthday cake this morning. Henry enjoyed licking the utensils and bowl once we got the cake in the oven. He keeps asking to frost the cake. Happy birthday Scott! We love you!

A Good Day

"Look Mom. This costume has boobies!"

Harrison, 3 weeks

Spiderman in training.

Harrison posing for his 2 week picture.

At 12:30 today I realized that I had only had a cup of coffee and I still wasn't dressed. We moved from the basement where we spent our morning hanging out, playing, and watching tv to the upstairs area to have lunch. All too quickly, Henry had toys scattered in the toy room and living room. As I tried to put away the one load of laundry I managed to get done this morning, I was able to realized that my house was as big of a train wreck as what I saw in the mirror. I got lunch on the table for Henry, checked to make sure Harrison was still sleeping in the swing and worked like a tornado in Kansas to get things in order.

After I got the house picked up (minus the basement, why bother?), I stood in my closet trying to figure out what to wear. I was disappointed that my favorite sweat pants were in the dirty clothes basket. Afterall, I did wear them, well, a lot let's just say. They needed to be washed. I picked out a tshirt and jeans and frowned at the frompiness that reflected back at me. "What have I become?" was all I could think as I stood looking at myself. "I need to shop for some cool mom clothes that can get urped on. Oh well, I've got better things to do than stare at myself. I have a baby that is going to wake up any second and I am hungry."

After eating a sandwich and picking up some more, I managed to get Henry down for a nap. Is Harrison still sleeping? Am I going to get a few minutes to myself? No. I walk to the living room and see a pair of eyes staring at me and a mouth poking around like a baby bird looking for food. Oh well. I sat down to feed him and he fell asleep. I always enjoy this time of day in the house. It's quiet and I am able to just hold him and not think about anything else. Lots of times, I doze off and get a quick power nap.

I eventually put Harrison down and was able to get to the computer. I've been finding it difficult to get to the computer to do anything else but check email with one handed. I am sorry for my blog entries being so far and few apart, but it's difficult to type with one hand. At the present moment, Harrison continues to sleep and Henry is begging for me to help him find the hanger that his Spiderman costume came on. He's still in his pj top and underwear. I swear I have clothes set out for him. However, since the Spiderman costume purchase, he's only worn the costume with the exception of bedtime....I've got to draw the line but love to see him excited and wearing the costume.

Maybe I have not got much done and don't look my best, but I don't care...it's been a good day.