progress is the shade of yellow - flax to be exact

weekend at home

we enjoyed a nice weekend at home - a first in a long time. we spent time at the bookstore, park, toy store, watched a movie and caught up on stuff around the house. just what we needed. i wanted to share a few of the books that i've been skimming through the last few days. first, recommended to me by erin, is: "child of mine, feeding with love & good sense" by ellyn satter.


i skimmed through the first section of the book, but am reading word for word the "feeding your toddler" chapter and am devouring it. it is wonderful and has great sensitive and practical advice regarding food and mealtimes. thanks erin! please check it out if you want to know how to better approach mealtimes and avoid power struggles. secondly, i picked up "the happiest toddler on the block" by harvey karp.

i have only just begun to look through this book, but know i will like it, as i read his "happiest baby on the block" book and found all his advice practical and very helpful. i felt like i came to my wits end yesterday as i came off a hard week of riley being sick, clingy and not getting any real break. it's amazing how parenting riley is so different now. she has several tantrums a day and i'm just not used to it. i miss her sweet, content and happy self! i know we are just in a phase and she is learning and growing so much right now - i'm just looking forward to some sound advice and tips to help me through it! i know she senses my stress regarding my brother's situation, which doesn't help and adds to the "don't ever put me down, not even for one second" attitude i'm getting from her. we will somehow survive!

this weekend we were able to start on our bathroom remodel as well. tyler spent most of the weekend stripping the wallpaper in the bathroom so we can prep and paint it before the big remodel next weekend. here are a few shots:

before:

riley watching daddy work away:

riley helping out by guarding all 3 toothbrushes with her life (word of advice: do not take a toothbrush away from riley- you will be sorry!):

have a happy week and more on the bathroom remodel as it comes along!

in a cottage by the sea

this past weekend was my annual girls trip weekend. claire, angela, erin and i met in college and went on our first girls trip to LA during spring break our senior year in 02. we have been meeting up once a year ever since. this year we ventured down to cannon beach in oregon-an amazing beach and quaint little town. the weather was perfect - warm, sunny and clear blue skies. we spent the weekend taking walks on the beach, wandering around town and eating good food. our tiny little cottage made it hard to accommodate a 2 1/2 year olds, 14 month olds & 7 1/2 month olds nap, feed & wake schedule. we made do, but definitely decided to leave the kids at home next year with the dads! the weekend is meant to bring some R&R and although we had our moments, we were pretty busy the whole time just managing the children.

and then there was sunday night...angela was trying to put ellie to bed when it started...ellie threw up and didn't stop all night. then riley started about 10:30 and didn't stop until 3am. then claire started about midnight and has still not recovered. it was a long night of no sleep, lots and lots of clean up and wondering how were we ever going to get home? we managed to pack up , clean and leave the cottage before the sun came up on monday morning. angela made it home...and then got sick. i almost made it home, but ended up having to pull over so i could get sick on the side of the road. erin and wesley have still yet to get sick...hang in there you two! needless to say, it was a terrible and bizarre ending to our weekend. we can laugh about it now, but we will all agree that was one of our worst nights ever! check out angela and erin's version of the story :) and now a few photos:

riley's first ever ice-cream eating experience!

riley, elizabeth, angela, claire, ellie, erin & wesley

the latest news

this is how riley started off her day today - as soon as she woke up she thought it was most appropriate to grab her purse and begin strolling her baby around the house. it was a sight to see.

i added a link to our photo shoot on the side, so be sure to take a look, if you dare (150 photos!). we had a photographer take pictures of us mid-november...to document riley as a brand new 1 year old and also to secure a great picture for christmas. well, the christmas card was never created, so possibly i'll send out a happy spring card? highly doubtful, so here are the dentons wishing you a merry christmas and happy 2009!

it seems as though i have a full time job (besides literally chasing my 14 month old around) - my brother andrew's personal secretary, maintainer of blog posts & fundraiser extraordinaire. the details that surround andrew and his treatment, fundraising and just plain ole' "getting the word" out are completely all-consuming. i do all these details with a happy heart - i am just amazed how busy i can stay with them! which causes my own little blog to receive no love. oh, and a little baby named riley has been neglected too lately. maybe that's why she has been clinging to my pant legs and pulling other kids hair lately? could be a subtle cue to me?

i will end with a few pictures from the jingle bell run we did mid december. it turned out to be a complete disaster - it happened to be insanely cold that day (the big snow started that evening). we were running with a group from the gym that i attend and i thought it'd be fun to run as a family since riley and i did the walk last year. turns out i was wrong! since riley is walking, she does not like to spend much time in her stroller. that, mixed with the freezing temperatures made her extremely grumpy. we spent the first 2 miles stopping every 5 minutes or so to check on her, make sure all appendages were still intact and try to distract her whimpers with crackers. by mile 2 she was in full freak out mode...thank goodness the course went literally past our house! tyler raced home, the faster he ran the louder she screamed, and took her inside. i had to finish the last 2 miles by myself. wouldn't have normally been a big deal, but for some reason one of my knees started hurting and was throbbing with pain. so i gimped the last 2 miles and crossed the finish line with nobody to cheer me on :( all my co-runners from the gym had long passed me. i drove home with an extremely anti-climatic feeling. $50 for both of us to run for that??!! i guess we donated for arthritis, but still...not sure if we'll be motivated to do that one again!

here is the link to the blog i created to record and share my brother andrew's story. please check it out and check regularaly, as we will keep you up to speed on what is going on.

if you are on facebook, please join our group: friends of andrew moritz.

thank you for the support and keeping praying for a miracle.

2009: Year of the Comeback

we rung in 2009 with a heavy heart. one week ago today we learned that my older brother andrew has cancer. some intense and un-manageable pain sent him to the ER last week where they discovered several masses in his abdomen. he was referred to an oncologist, only to receive confirmation that, yes, the masses are cancerous. there are masses in his liver and in different spots in his abdomen. andrew lives in st. louis, mo and was in seattle visiting for christmas. he has extended his stay for the time being. he had a biopsy last week and they were unable to determine the type of cancer - where the cancer originated. this is important because then they can match a specific type of chemo to the specific type of cancer.

the picture above was taken just 24 hours before his pain began - and just 24 hours before the rest of our lives changed. amazing how your whole world can change in a flash.

we have deemed the year 2009 to be the year of the "comeback". a word that we thought appropriate for a year that will be filled with healing. not only healing for andrew's body, but also healing for other family members and situations as well.

an immense amount of details will be filling our lives in the days and weeks and months that follow. details that we need to trust will work out and just fall into place. i will be starting a blog to record and share andrew's journey and comeback. i will post that later. i will also be organizing a fundraiser or two, more on that later as well.

also, my blogging has been sub-par of late - - - i have not shared about our family photo shoot in november, thanksgiving, the jingle bell run, my 1-year anniversary of blogging, christmas in spokane and seattle and just general new photos of riley and her daily happenings. wow, that's a lot i've missed!

for now, we pray for a miracle.