Cooling Off

In an effort to escape these 100 degree days, we went down to the dam to go swimming. This was Baby K's first time swimming.

Getting Ready!

Gotta wear the life jacket. No protests yet!

Kick Kick!

Taking a Break

Ahhhhh, it's much better without that life jacket on!

Swimming with Daddy

Nice Cool Breeze

We were happy playing in the shade while Daddy swam laps.

Solid Food!

Solid Foods - the first milestone that really makes a mom feel like her baby is growing up way too fast. I had planned to delay solids as long as possible (and not just because I want to keep my baby a baby!) The two main reasons were that food allergies run in my family and we had a rocky start to breastfeeding. I know most babies transition to solids and have no issues continuing to nurse. However, I have met a couple of moms who, like me, had trouble with milk production in the beginning, and when they started solids, they had major trouble again. So I was definitely hesitant. However, baby Keziah has been so interested in food for quite a while now. She is always trying to grab food off our plates. Recently she has been chowing down on paper whenever she can get her hands on some. She seriously ate half the bulletin in church on Sunday. The signs that she was ready were all there, so I finally decided we should give it a try. After much research on the different philosophies of starting solids, I decided we would do baby-led-weaning. I really liked this method for several reasons, but mainly because breast milk is still always offered first, and because baby gets to be in control of what she eats. Supposedly this leads to children who are much better eaters. After hearing horror stories from Michael Paul and his mom about timers and throwing up at the table because Mr. Picky refused to eat, I really want to do what I can to encourage Keziah to be a good eater.

So last night, Keziah went in her high chair and was offered sweet potato, carrots, and bananas. I really thought she would dig in, seeing as how she was finally getting to do what she has been wanting for a month.

She definitely liked the sweet potato. She went for that first.

The carrots, she found were more fun to throw on the floor.

After she had eaten all the sweet potatoes and thrown the carrots on the floor, I offered her the banana because she was having trouble picking it up.

She didn't really like banana.

Overall, her reaction to solids .... 'meh'.

This morning, I offered her frozen banana in her Nuby Nibbler. Again, not so into bananas. She was more interested in chewing on the handle.

So I am somewhat relieved that she seems to not be as excited about solids as I had originally thought. At this point it is more about exploring her curiosities about foods than it is about nutrition anyway.

Happy Father's Day

Favorite Five For Father's Day:

(wasn't that nice alliteration!)

Here are my five favorite things about Michael Paul as a Daddy:

1) He loves cloth diapers just as much as me and he doesn't mind at all to change them.

2) He blesses Keziah with the Numbers 6:24-26 Blessing on a regular basis.

3) He is very supportive of attachment/natural parenting and he always tells me I am a great mom.

4) He genuinely thinks our daughter is the coolest, prettiest baby he's ever met (and he claims he's not partial!)

5) He loves to make her laugh and will go to great lengths to get a smile (see video!).

Father-Daughter Photos

In honor of Father's Day, I thought I would post some of my favorite pictures of Michael Paul with Keziah.

Just Born!

Kangaroo Care

Sunbathing

Both his Girls (fighting for his lap)

Playing in the Snow

Sooooo Tired

Soooooo Sweet

Babywearing

Picnic Fun

Howdy Partner!

For You Star Wars Fans

My New Favorite Toy!

The Latest Michael Paul Injury

So this morning, Michael Paul comes to me and says, "I think I have an ingrown hair or something in my beard, will you check it out." So I look at his cheek, move the beard hair away, and notice something sticking out of his skin. "It looks like a splinter", I say, "but how would you have gotten a splinter in your cheek?" To which he informs me that yesterday he had been cleaning the rust off his new doors (he got 'new' doors for his '89 4-Runner) with a wire brush that attaches to his dremmel tool spinning at 10,000 rpm's. "Yeah", he says, "little wires were flying out everywhere off the brush and hitting me." So I get the tweezers to pull out the little millimeter of wire sticking out of his cheek, and it keeps coming and coming. That wire was over a centimeter long, and all of it except for a millimeter was embedded in his flesh!

At this point I gave him one of my many, you-ought-to-wear-protection speeches, which I'm sure went in one ear and out the other. I have always been on him about wearing earplugs (he never does) and safety goggles (he claims his glasses offer the same protection). The only battle I have won to date is I convinced him to wear a mask respirator when refinishing a guitar or spraying Nitrocellulose lacquer. I guess breathing paint fumes is where he draws the line.

So did he learn anything? NO! In his book this is just another funny story to tell (like the time he stabbed his finger with an exacto-knife ... it went through his finger and out the other side). He thought it was hilarious. I am laughing too, now. I continue to be thankful that God in his mercy sees fit to spare my husband from being horribly maimed!

Just Rambling

It is 96 degrees today! It feels like 104. I went outside and lasted five minutes. I really need to weed the flowerbeds, mow, re-pot some plants, and trim the bushes, but I refuse until it is at least below 90. I am seriously considering getting out the kiddie pool, inflating it, and going for a swim on the deck. It will be fun to take Keziah swimming for the first time. I am horribly jealous of my parents and sister who are all at the lake today water skiing.

On the upside, I decided to be productive inside today. When Keziah went down for her nap, I decided to clean out my math stuff. All that stuff that school teachers keep in their classrooms - well, I've had to keep it in my house since I don't really have a classroom. We've decided that I am going to stay home full time with Keziah for a while (YAY!) so I was even more motivated to get rid of some text books and things. Of course I am sure I will be teaching math again at some point in my future so I can't get rid of everything - even if only to home school Keziah with it all someday.

We are really trying to clean out around here. Since a move is very likely in our near future, our motto around here lately has been "the less we have, the less we have to move". Michael Paul has been selling a ton on eBay and even making some sacrifices of music stuff that I am sure he would like to keep. None of my stuff is worth any money, but it does take up space. My big sacrifice today: I threw away my math notebooks from high school. :o( Yes I have carried around my huge spiral notebooks from my high school math classes for ten years now (six different homes). I actually did refer to them a few times in college. But honestly, I haven't looked at them since. They just have huge sentimental value for me. I mean, these are the pages where I wrote my first proofs, solved my first integrals, and fell in love with the beauty of mathematics. But alas, it is time to say goodbye. I am taking comfort in the fact that all that is written therein is still safely locked away in my brain - even if mommy-brain makes it hard for me to find it!

Red Glow

Can you guess what the red glow is before the end of the video?

Yes, that's Keziah playing with (sucking on) a penlight.

Baby Birds

A little song bird built a nest in a hanging pot on our back porch this spring. It killed the plant, but we've been enjoying watching the little bird as we sit on the swing. There were five eggs that we have been checking on every morning. This morning the first little baby bird hatched! Isn't it the cutest thing? We want to give the new little mom some space to care for her new babies so we probably won't be going out to the porch swing as much. And we will definitely be keeping the cat inside for a while!

Another Modern Convenience Goes Bye Bye

Ignorance is Bliss! Knowledge can be quite annoying when you can't help but act on it. I'm a health nut. I have OCD tendencies. When I learn something new, I am compelled to act on it. If I don't, I will literally lose sleep until I do. So where does this lead ... this always leads to making my life more difficult and inconvenient. But hey, at least I sleep peacefully, right?

So this obsession started my senior year in college. There was this nutritionist in my church and one day we were talking nutrition and she mentioned the idea of only eating food, real food. I was confused. She elaborated by saying one should only eat food that comes from the perimeter of the grocery store. You go down the first aisle and get your produce, across the back wall and get your meats, and down the last aisle to get your dairy. Everything else is bad for you. I questioned her. What do you mean everything else is bad? Well, she said, you should never eat anything with an ingredient that you don't know what it is. If it comes in a box, chances are it is full of preservatives, artificial flavors, and other random things that aren't really food. My next trip to the grocery store lasted three hours. I was astonished. Everything I picked up had ingredients that I couldn't pronounce.

I started slowly. But one by one, I started eliminating things from my grocery list. Pop tarts and toaster strudels were the first to go. I switched from Velveta to cheddar cheese. I bought real butter. The first thing I noticed is that all the foods I thought were healthy (i.e. 'low fat' or 'diet') were the worst. They were full of fake foods to make up for the real food that was taken out to reduce the calories. I thought, I am going to gain weight doing this because real food has more calories. But I didn't. In fact, I lost the 15 pounds that I had gained my freshman year in a matter of months. And I wasn't even trying. It just happened. I was hooked. Real food was the way to go.

Over the years I have learned more and more about healthy eating. Each time I learn something, I am compelled to act on it. Here are some of the things I have done:

-Cut out deli meat (it's processed). If I want a turkey sandwich, I have to cook a real turkey.

-Switch to whole grain (flourless) bread. Wheat four is not much better than white flour.

-Buy organic produce, especially on the things we eat the most and the 'dirty dozen'.

-Cut out nitrites, preservatives, artificial flavorings and high fructose corn syrup.

-Use honey over sugar when possible.

-Switch from cooking in non-stick pans to cast iron.

-Reduce hormone exposure by buying organic eggs, almond milk, and replacing beef with deer meat (thanks to my awesome BIL who hunts).

I'll stop there.

In addition to changing the way we eat/ prepare food, I have switched to phosphate-free cleaning products, eliminated as much plastic as possible from our home, switched to fluoride-free toothpaste, and a host of other things.

OK, I'm stopping. The point is, when I hear about something being bad for you, I feel compelled to research it. Sometimes it turns out to be a bogus claim with no real scientific data to support it. But if I do find it to be legitimate ... well, I just can't sleep until I act on my new knowledge.

And thanks to a fellow blogger who posted this article, my latest research has been on microwaves. It's driving me crazy. Now every time I use my microwave, I think about all the nutrients being zapped out of my food, (among other things). So I have decided to see if I can go the month of June without my microwave. I'm not throwing it out or anything (it's great for disinfecting sponges) and I will probably still use it to reheat coffee since there is nothing nutritious in coffee anyway. But no more cooking food or reheating leftovers in my microwave.

Ahhhh, more work for me! That's what always happens when I learn something new.

I'll let you know how it goes.