Diets

No this post is not about some fad diet that I have jumped on. I was thinking the other day about my kid's crazy picky diets and thought I should document it because hopefully someday they will branch out and our menu will consist if a few (a lot) more choices!!

Maddox
He is our pickiest eater at the moment. Lately it has gotten extremely frustrating. He has gotten to where if even his favorite foods have a slight variation (burned a little, has bread crumbs on it, is broken etc) he will not eat it. Im sensing a touch of OCD in him. We do not cut or pour any sauce on anything without asking first because it very well may result is a huge fit and refusal to eat. Anyways, here is his list of likes and dislikes:
Likes:
*Pasta but he is very particular about the sauce. Most Alfredo he will eat. Occasionally he will eat red sauce but not often.
*Ramen Noodles are one of his favorite things
*Green Noodles aka Pesto Cavatappi from his fav restaurant Noodles & Co.
*Fruit Loops
*Brown sugar Poptarts
*Hamburger but only if its plain!! And usually he only eats the meat.
*Hotdog also plain and with no bun.
*Gogurt Sticks
*Ice Cream
*Fruit snacks

Dislikes (as in will not eat ever)
*Cheese- he HATES it and flips out if it is on anything at all!!
*Fried chicken including chicken nuggets.
*most veggies

Addison is hard but for another reason. I've posted before about her food issues so that makes feeding her more difficult. I'm certain now she is allergic to apples and am pretty sure dairy bothers her even though she doesn't seem to have a full blown allergy to it. Anytime she has something with apples in it she almost immediately breaks out in a full body rash. When she has dairy she tends to get pretty fussy a few hours later. We try to stay away from both but when her big brother has a big bowl of ice cream it's just really hard to tell her she can't have some at this age. I think there may be a few other things she doesn't tolerate because she will randomly break out but I haven't figured out any other specific things at this point. But here is what we have found that she likes and doesn't like right now.
Likes:
*pasta. All kinds with whatever sauce is on it. The child loves her noodles.
*Hotdogs she has them at least once a week and usually more. (I use turkey dogs at my house)
*chicken nuggets she will eat all 4 almost every time and especially loves being able to dip them. I have found though that BBQ sauce has something she is allergic to because she breaks out really bad when eating it.
*Blueberries
*Mini muffins
*Poptarts
*Fruit snacks but I have to find ones without apples.
*Turkey sandwich meat
*Pretzel rods are her go to snack

Dislikes:
*hamburgers
*Milk she will not drink milk straight out of a cup and never has she takes one sip then refuses to drink it
*any fruit besides blueberries and strawberries
*most veggies

Those are the main foods I can think of. Of course they will both eat some other thing and won't eat some other things. The likes in their lists def dominate our menu. I really wish I could find some other healthy foods they would both eat but I know they are both at ages where picky eating is common. But between her dairy intolerance and Maddox's refusal to eat cheese we've knocked out a lot of the common kid foods: grilled cheese, quesadillas and pizza. Olive Garden and Noodles & Co are both of their favorite places to eat but we (Collin and I) prefer to eat more than just pasta :).

I will definitely be glad when they decide to branch out a little more and eat a wider variety of foods. I would love any suggestions, ideas and recipes that your kids like and eat well if you would be willing to share!!!

The Big Move

Well, this may come as a surprise to some of you because we have kept it under the radar a little bit, but a week and a half ago we packed up our house and moved across town to a condo we are now renting. For a while Collin and I had been talking about the possibility of selling our house and down-sizing some. We finally decided to put our house on the market and give it a try in late November. We spoke with our agent and got the house ready and officially on the market December 1. We had already planned on being in Texas starting the 4th so we would have just a few days of showings with us here before leaving town. Well little did I know those few days would be absolutely crazy. We had like 7 showings in 3 days and boy was I exhausted because every day they happened during nap time. I was more than ready o get out of town an leave the house free for unlimited showings without any inconvenience to me. While we were gone we have a ton more showings and after only 9 days on the market we got 2 different offers. We accepted one and were under contract on December 10. We were thrilled and nervous that it happened so quickly! I really had to get on finding somewhere for us to live thought because we were set to close January 15. The whole process went very smoothly and yesterday we signed the papers and handed over the keys to our first house. It was a bittersweet day for us. A relief to be done with it all but sad to leave the house that we had so many memories in. We brought both of our babies home to that house. Celebrated both of their 1st birthdays there. Had friends over. Had family and friends from out of town stay with us. And many many more things we will always cherish.

I am so thankful I have found a really great condo to rent that is just perfect for us!! There is plenty of space for our family of 4 but not all the excess we had in the house. We are saving so much money by living here because of all of the fees we were able to cut out like lawn care, HOA fees, lower bills etc. and we have some great amenities like a work out room, pool and playground just a short walk from our front door.

We have gotten all settled and unpacked at our new place and are really enjoying it!! I am looking forward to all the fun memories we will make here as a family!! Sometime soon I will take some pics or do a video your of the new place :).