HELP!!!!

Katie refuses to take naps. I can tell she is getting sleep deprived, but I don't want to "force" her to take a nap. What do I do?
I put her down for a nap the same time every day and do the same routine every day. I don't know what else to do. Is she outgrowing her nap or is she just being a stubborn toddler asserting her independence?

Any suggestions?

Something to be Grateful For

'Tis the season to be grateful.

Grace is my little ray of sunshine. I can be having the worst day of my life, and all I have to do to brighten up is go in and see my little Grace. Her smiles and cooing melt my heart. I simply cannot get enough of her.

Smiles. My mom often says that the smiles make it all worth it. Amen.

My little Katie bug. Oh the fun and the adventure she brings into my life. Whether it's trying to ride her rocking horse on top of her bed or holding her hand on a walk to the park, there is never a dull moment with her. She adds so much fullness to my life. And my life will never be the same now that she wraps her little chubby arms around my neck and tells me "I love you so much."

My handsome husband. The best decision I ever made was to marry him. Everyday I think how very, very blessed I am to have him in my corner.

Rethinking Food

We are under going a food revolution in our family. Justin and I want to get back into shape and stay in shape so that we can do fun things when we're older like serve missions and visit grandchildren. I visited the cdc.gov website for ideas on how to lose weight and keep it off, and I found this super cool menu planner. It is awesome. You enter in your weight and height and your activity level (and it takes into account if you're pregnant or breastfeeding) and it figures out how many ounces, cups, etc of each food category you should be consuming each day. Then it has this cool menu planner where you can plan meals for the week and it charts if you've reached your quota of each food category or if you've gone over. It is so cool. Have I said that already? And the best part is......It's Free to use. Love it.
here's the link:
http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/planner/launchPage.aspx

What are some low fat meals that you make for dinner? What are some ways you cut calories?

Okay, other food issues. Like most toddlers, Katie is a picky eater. I am tired of feeding her something different from what Justin and I are eating for dinner. Right now I am trying to just put a little of whatever we're eating on her plate and she has to take at least one bite. I don't know if this will help get her to expand her tastes. What do any of you do to encourage your children to not be picky eaters...or what did your parents do? Any suggestions?

October

Wow oh wow, did October fly by! What a great month. I love October. It is such a pretty month.

3 Horrible things that happened this month:
1. We all had pink eye
2. Justin and I had food poisoning
3. I gave up pizza and ice cream
5 Great things that happened this month:
1. Grace's blessing
2. We got to visit Justin's grandma in St. George
3. Halloween Fun
4. Conference
5. Playing in the leaves

Going Dairy Free

I have fussy babies. They don't sleep for more than twenty minutes unless being held and they puke lots and lots....and cry for long periods of time until they get so tired they finally crash and sleep for twenty minutes and then the cycle starts over. Fun right?

Well, when Katie was a baby I asked her pediatrician if this whole distress could be from a food intolerance since Justin had food issues when he was a baby. He said no, she just had reflux, elevate her mattress yatta yatta yatta. So I went home feeling like he only thought I was a first timer mom and didn't know how to take care of a baby. Well, Katie stayed fussy and high maintenance even with treating the reflux.

Now, I have Grace who is trying her hardest to be a happy baby. She was having "issues" as I call it, and so I decided to go off of dairy. It took two or three weeks and things got better. Rarely did she get gas pains and she stopped spitting up as much. And I didn't have to hold her for her to sleep. yay....so to make sure it was dairy, this weekend I ate a few things with cheese, milk, etc. and lo and behold I have an inconsolable baby again. So I guess for the next 9 1/2 months, I will be dairy free.

So the journey begins. I've embarked on the journey of reading all food labels and making a lot of things from scratch. I've discovered that Almond milk isn't that bad...not that I would just drink it, but it's okay baked in things. Also, I found out there are some things that don't have milk in them that I thought did. Like oreos and some frostings. And some things that I would never guess would have milk in them do...like taco seasoning and my favorite syrup. Go figure.

Anyone have some great dairy free recipes?