Slow start.

For some reason Luke slept in until 10 this morning. I have no idea why, just tired I guess. Usually he wakes up between 8:30 and 9 and sometimes he'll sleep till 9:30. Thursday morning is always my moms group that I try to go to which starts at 10:30. I had to go today because I was meeting another mom to talk about swimming plans for tomorrow. So I rushed around, got Luke ready, got dressed and of course made coffee and took it to go. We got there a little late but in perfect time. Luke loved it and played as usual while I talked to the other moms there.
Then it was time to go. We went out to the car and Luke did not want to sit in his car seat. This has been happening more frequently since he's really been teething bad in the last couple of weeks. So we sat there in the car for a while. I nursed him a little. He stood and looked at the window waving at people. I kept putting him in the car seat but he kept standing up in it and insisting that I take him out. Usually I can wait him out, but not today.
So we went back in the store.

We walked around. I was starving since I hadn't had anything in the morning because we were so rushed. I got a sandwich. We went to the eating area where I saw a friend from church and her two kids. We talked with them for a while but Luke was getting ready to leave and getting a little fussy. So back to the car we went. He stood for a while but eventually sat down and we went home. We got home, he was tired. We played for a while but then I decided to walk him around in the ergo carrier outside. We got out there not more than 50ft from our house and it started raining. We went home. I walked a little around the house. We laid down and nursed and he passed out. He's still passed out now :)


When Luke doesn't want to get in his car seat I wait it out. I don't want to force him in and make him cry. In fact, the car has always been bad for us. He doesn't like it. He's better now but he doesn't like it. I pull over when he looks like he might be getting upset. I don't let him cry in the back there all alone (unless it's impossible to pull over). I know I parent different than what is supposed to be normal. I feel weird. Weird because I do everything different. There's not even a crib set up in our house. He eats himself, choosing what he wants, never forced. He wears training pants because we EC and I take him to the bathroom when he has to go. He's never cried himself to sleep. I carry him everywhere, especially when he was little, and still do and feel sad when I put him in the stroller because he's so far away. I stay close to him in case he needs me. I'm still nursing (11 months) and have NO plans on stopping any time soon. I feel weird. I feel like I'm alone. I mean, I know I'm not. I have my neighbor, who is so much more supportive to me than she probably knows. I have a great online community of similar like minded moms. But I still feel alone sometimes. Mostly because I don't really feel a connection with most Moms. I always feel 'different'.

11 Months!

Ok, this post is quite late, he was 11 months last Friday. But better late than never.

Even in the last month, oh how you've grown.
Things you're doing today....
Walking!
Trying really hard to go from kneeling to standing. You can do it some of the time.

Talking. You say Dog. You love dogs, and I'm not sure why because we have a cat. I think you think Pickle is a dog. You can say book which is more like 'buh' and you say ball 'ba'.

You love to play the blanket game with daddy before bed where you guys go under the covers then pull the covers off your head over and over.

You learned how to kiss, and even though it's an open mouth, tongue out kiss, it's still the sweetest thing in the world.

You still have six teeth but the next ones coming in are making you miserable.

You love going outside. Even if it's just playing in our little front yard and picking up the rocks, you love it. Daddy even takes you on short walks in the rain.

When you eat, you still turn the plate upside down every time. It makes a huge mess but you're eating more and more... and it makes me a little sad because you're becoming less of a baby and more of a kid.

You still love oranges and bread. You like green beans now. You ate chicken with out spitting it out for the first time on my birthday at the Thai restaurant. You still love chewing on onions, lemons, limes and grapefruits. You love butter, well at least you insist on holding the butter stick and playing with it.

You still LOVE the vacuum. I think even more than doing the dishes.

You love going up to Grandma and Usa and asking them to hold you while you point at everything because you know that they'll take you where ever you point.

You love books now. You ask me to read you books all the time. And some of the books you just want me to hurry though so you can point out the dog at the end of the book. Or sometimes you'll interrupt one book so that I can read another book.

I love you so much and I can't believe you're 11 months old... soon to be one. My baby is growing up.

A day at the Mainard's

Yesterday I went over to Jocelyn's house for a play/coffee date. She has two adorable boys, John Paul, 3, and Zachary who is almost 2 in June. They love Luke. It was so cute because when we first got there they crowded around him saying "Hi baby Luke, Hi baby Luke"! Luke was a little shy at first but after a while he was right in there playing and loving it. John Paul and Zachary are just wonderful with Luke and I had a great time watching them all play.

Getting adjusted to the new stuff.


Chewing on a hammer while Zachary makes something in his pot.


So cute. Both of them.



This was the best. Poor Jocelyn had to pick up all the pans.


They played like this for a long time.


Luke's signature. He always nurses then passes out like this, anywhere, everywhere.

I love going to their house. I feel so welcome there and it's nice to hang out with another Catholic mom! She's probably my favorite Catholic mom, but don't tell anyone. Jocelyn, we really need to do this more often.
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Had to add this last picture. This was when we got home. Looks dangerous, doesn't it?

There's been lots of posts this week, but hey, I'm a busy mom. I don't want to forget anything.

Garden and Flowers

Here's some pictures of the flowers and berries/tomatoes I have planted so far this year. Enjoy!

Flowers on the Front Porch.

Flower Basket.

Flowers in the ground in front.

The Dogwood tree that just bloomed in the backyard.

Basil in the Kitchen

(from front to back) Tomatoes, Strawberries, Raspberries,
Blueberries, Blueberries, Raspberries.
(The berries were partly inspired by my neighbor)


The awesome strawberry bucket I made out of a bucket we already had.
We'll see how it goes.

I have plans to plant herbs from seeds in some containers too. I will start on those this week. Also, I am going to do more veggies at some point, at least hopefully. But for now, this isn't too bad!

At Usa's in NoPo

Usa moved out, as you might have noticed in the previous post. She moved up to North Portland and has wanted me to come visit even though she knows Luke isn't the best car traveler. I wanted to go too. It would be my longest venture away from home by myself with Luke. I knew I couldn't put going up there off for too long because at some point we'll be moving even further away. And I didn't want to. I wanted to see if I could make it up there.
So yesterday I did it. I was really nervous but just decided that I didn't care, if he got uncomfortable, I'll just pull over and have coffee and play. We started our journey to North Portland after coffee and breakfast. And, believe it or not, he was completely fine almost the entire time. Towards the end, I think he had to pee so he was a little squirmy but I passed him back a few toys. And sure enough we made it, no stops!! I was proud of myself yesterday.
Here's what we did while we were up there.

We walked to a coffee shop called 'The Grind House' (Usa's favorite).
Luke fell asleep in the Ergo on the way.

Usa getting her caffiene fix.

After walking to coffee, to one of our friends house and back we got in the car and went down the road a little ways to eat Thai food.

Luke chewing on some lip gloss from my back pack before food came out.


Once the food came out, he ate a little but then played on the floor.


This is the mess he made on my pants from dropping food. Never wear white.


The way back from the restaurant.


Back at Usa's, going through all her stuff. He's chewing the remote control here.

It was a really fun day and quite the adventure for Luke. We'll probably make many more trips up there to visit Usa.

Luke passed out in the car on the way home. He had so much fun he even
slept another hoour after we got home.

No TV

Since we've been trying to sell our house, our roommate decided to move out. She found a place and it was in the right area, the right price, ect. That left us with an extra room and no big screen tv. Ben and I had always decided that when we had young kids we wanted to try and watch little tv, and really even for our own benefit. Our roommate wanted cable while she was with us so we've always had it. We all enjoyed all the different channels. Me especially loving Food Network. So now that she's gone, we got rid of it. We've always wanted to, we've always talked about it. Now it's gone. And you know what? I hardly miss it.
I've always liked the comfort in knowing that I could watch sports center at night if I wanted to. But I don't watch Sports Center too much anymore. I miss Food Network, but I've seen a lot of what they normally have on. I also really liked TLC. I was hooked on the show called 'Say Yes to the Dress', a show about women picking out their wedding dresses at a New York City shop. And of course there's always a movie on some random channel that you've seen before but it just plays as background music around your house.
We still have the local channels and we save 50 dollars a month! What do we do now? Well, the shows we watch regularly are all on the local stations. Biggest Loser and The Office. I also like the Today Show in the morning and the Rachel Ray show that comes on at 11. Both of which I try not to watch unless Luke is sleeping, though some days I do. And that's it! The rest of everything I can see online after Ben gets home and Luke goes to sleep. I'm really surprised how much I really don't miss it. It's been almost 2 1/2 weeks with out cable and I think I really like it.

Outdoor Challenge

I am playing the great Outdoor Challenge. The challenge is to try and take your kids outdoors every day and I am trying to take Luke outside for a little bit everyday. Here are the pictures I've come up with so far.

On my birthday riding the MAX to go down town to Saturday Market.


The walk from the Max to the Market.


At the Market.



The next day after church just strollin' down the sidewalk.

Later in the day at my in-laws for a birthday BBQ. Luke doesn't like grass on his feet!

27

Yep, I'm 27 today. Happy Birthday to me. I wrote down some life time goals a few years ago. Lets see where I'm at.
Ok, I can't find the note book... I just ransacked my house looking for it. I will have to update this when I find that little notebook. Ok I'm actually going a little crazy trying to find it. Maybe I threw it away since we've been packing up getting ready to sell our house.
Let me see what I remember.

Get Married, Check

When we got engaged!

outside our Church the day we got married (obviously)

Have a Baby, Check

Luke and I right after he was born.

Those are the ones I can remember that I've accomplished. I can remember a few more.
Run a Marathon- I started training for one before I got married, but I hurt my foot. Not to mention that the training schedule would have run into my honeymoon... who wants to run 15 miles in Hawaii? Maybe I'll start training again when I stop breastfeeding... when ever that will be.
Visit the Vatican- Someday I'm going to get there. I also just want to go to Italy to eat. I heard the food is good :)
Read the Bible- Ok, I've read a lot of it. In fact, I've probably read the majority of it through out my life. But I'd really like to read it all in like a high intensity bible study.
Those are the ones I can remember that I actually wrote down. Now, I'd like to add a few more.
I want to have a cake business. I'm not that good so far, but I think with some practice, I could be really good...

These are my works of art so far.

Maybe I'll write a book too, or a cook book. I love to cook.

Anyway, time for breakfast... my caffeine buzz is catching up to me!

Happy Birthday!

A book I love

I have been reading 'Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing' by Sheila Kippley. It was recommended on Cave Mother's blog. Sheila is a Catholic Author who founded Natural Family Planning International with her Husband John. With the excessive amount of information I've read about NFP, I've never heard of this book until I heard about it on her blog. So I was excited to find another resource. It seems as though there is lots of NFP information (the easy part) but not as much about after childbirth.
Anyways, I haven't gotten to much NFP yet but I absolutely LOVE the parenting view in this book. Particularly chapter 5, 'Schedules, Sitters, and Social Life'. It talks about how nature designed Mother and Baby to be together as one and how scheduled feedings and baby sitters disrupt this natural togetherness. She talks about how in Africa, most mothers are with their babies up until 15 months old vs our culture where there is a huge need for parents to 'get away' from their babies. 'It is obvious that nature intended mother and baby to be one. In fact, a nursing mother who gives her total love and care for her baby will experience a relationship that she may never have with other persons.' (pg 38) Then the book goes on to say 'It apears that some of our cultural theories care lack common sense and feelings. Mothers sometimes are told that they should let their baby cry, that it is good to frustrate the baby. The baby seems to be looked upon as a 'thing' with out feelings, almost lacking any human rights to be heard, understood and loved.' I love quotes from books like this where I actually feel like they way I feel about my baby is normal. I have a really strong urge to not be separated from my baby. (with the exception of a little bit when Ben watches him and I go for a jog, or to eat icecream in the living room) But getting a baby sitter, even if it was family, feels really strange to me still. I know that is so counter cultural and probably who ever reads this is going to think 'get over it, you have to leave sometime'. While I do appreciate Luke's long naps where I can play on the computer or watch tv, I feel that it's my natural instinct to want to be with him. And there will be a sometime when we will separate, it won't be now. He really needs his mom, and I really need him.
'Could it be that the abrupt severing of the physical relationship between mother and baby that is so common today is responsible in some way for the impared relationship between many of our young people and their parents?' (p 50)

Why I love EC.

I love EC because...

• How do people change cloth poop diapers of an older baby on solid foods? I've done about 2 and that was enough. I don't think Luke has pooped in his diaper for at least 2 months now. Every time he poops in his potty, I think 'man, I love EC'.
• Diapers are expensive.
• Training pants on a 10 month old are so cute.
  
• I bring tons of diapers every where. I use 0-1 and then wonder why I carried so many with me. (not really a reason to love, just something funny, I would love it more if I stopped carrying around so many diapers)
  
• We're getting better at communicating. I think he's almost telling me now that he has to go. Once I saw him crawl back towards our room randomly. He peed on the floor on the way there but I honestly think he was going back there to go the potty.
• I have to constantly remind myself that starting a sentence with 'When I took Luke to the potty...' or 'Hold on, I think Luke has to potty..' doesn't really make sense to most people considering he's only 10 months old.
  

There's still lots of misses but I can't believe I'm actually doing EC. What an incredible way to communicate with a baby... and to think that I laughed at the idea of EC 8 months ago...

Easter Egg Pictures

As per my wonderful neighbor's suggestion we used an actual camera to take pictures. I actually copied her ideas from where she took her son to take the exact same pictures. So, Lisa_C, this is for you :)














We dyed our eggs with natural dyes and they turned out pretty good I must say. And-Lisa, I figured out I was uploading the cellphone pictures wrong so they just look bad in the blog. So, next time the phone pictures will be better.