I have a lot of catching up to do!

I'm horrible at keeping up with this stuff, it's just that Max is keeping me so busy these days it's hard to find time to do the things that I need to do, much less the things I want to do, and then blog. So here's what's been going on, in a nutshell:

Max is now 9 months old. Holy smokes! This past month he's been working on mastering crawling, which he's virtually rocket propelled these days. He's been pulling up on furniture, my pants legs, the walls, and pretty much anything else that will stay still long enough. (Look out, Basil!) He has started trying to stand up just from the floor, where he ends up on his hands and feet. I hate it when he does it on the ceramic tile, just makes me nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

We are also getting acquainted with bumps and bruises around here. He's 1) fallen off the bed 2) bonked his face on the a) windowsill, b) end table, c) hearth. He's got a scratch on his nose which I can only assume came from his little talons.

He's got the pincer-grip thing down pat. I got him some organic O-shaped cereal, and he goes to town on it. He loves the stuff and can't shove it in his face fast enough sometimes!

Max is also working on the next set of teeth, this week they've really disturbed his sleeping (mostly during the day, thank goodness!). I can't tell where they're going to come in next.

And, he was Yoda for Halloween! Of course, we didn't take him trick-or-treating, but it was still fun to dress him up. John and I followed suit with our own Star Wars getups.

As far as talking, he is fully babbling now. No mamas yet, still all about da-da, ca (cat), ga-ga, and the new one which I love: laddle-laddle.

Hmmm, I guess that's pretty much it, so here's a run down of some of the pictures from the last month!

Day at the park:

First shot at spaghetti!

I'm coming to get you, Mama!

Fun times, these days!

8 months old!

I can't believe my sweet little one is eight months old already. He is growing so fast! Incidentally, I wasn't keeping up with him in the milk production arena and I was miserable on the cleanse, so I only made it to day 10. I really wish I could have finished but I wasn't able to get enough calories in for various reasons, so I think I'll do it once he's done nursing. I am happier eating real food.

Speaking of real food, here is the Maxter eating his dinner tonight. It was bananas, rice cake and oh horror of horrors! Peanut butter. He likes it. And check out the better pic of his teeth!

Also I wanted to post a picture of me as a baby so you could see that he looks like me too! Love it!

Do they look alike?

John as a baby.

Max at 7.5 months:

What do YOU think?

Here's a picture of Max's teeth! Not great, but he doesn't show them for the cameras, so we'll be happy with what we got:Flu season is completely insane this year. I overheard one woman talking to one of my clerks this week about how she thought it was so much worse this year. I agree, but the next thing she said completely floored me. First of all, let me mention that this woman was wearing an Obama t-shirt...which makes the things that came out of her mouth next hilarious to me. She said she thought this was something that the government was putting out there...you know, like all that syphilis. She was seriously comparing the swine flu (ahem, excuse me..H1N1 influenza) to Tuskegee! I mean, really? That one had me going for hours! The things I hear people say. Yes, Tuskegee was reprehensible and unforgivable. Definitely not laughing at that, just the comparison.

The last couple of days I have really been wanting to go off the cleanse and just eat whatever. My milk supply is suffering and I have been craving FOOD! Not really sweets, though, so that's a plus. Except I have eaten a lot of dates lately. Man, they are good! Okay, so I guess I have been. Anyway, except the dates, I've been doing well. I think my milk supply has suffered because I'm not pumping for as long at work as I used to...no time. Sometimes I can't pump as often and when I do, I'm so wound up that it's hard to get decent letdowns. It's really frustrating, since I am scrambling to keep up with Max. I have no extra milk in the freezer, and so I'm having to pump all day today to get enough for work tomorrow and the next day. Also, I'm not drinking enough water and I don't think I'm eating enough. Again, at work...there is just no time. I'm often struggling to keep up because it's so crazy lately and then when I pump I get behind, so most of my day is spent struggling just to keep my head above water. Max is so worth it, though.

This morning I scrambled 2 eggs with some spinach in olive oil, butter, salt and pepper because I was starving and it's cold outside and inside and I just couldn't drink a smoothie. Probably too many eggs to be cleanse-friendly, but it was yummy!

The house hasn't seen any new visitors lately, I am told that the construction people are still interested but they haven't been back either. I hope this house sells soon, I really want to be able to save some money like we said we would, but we can't as long as we're living here and I'm part time. November would have been when I go back full time but I'm not planning to. So I really really hope it works out soon.

So, Max is completely down with the crawling and pulling up. He still hasn't pulled up on any furniture though. And he is almost 8 months old, I can't believe it! I got him a new potty the other day because I think it will help him go, since he always goes sitting down or standing in the ExerSaucer...it's a Baby Bjorn Little Potty. He can sit unassisted on this one and his feet touch the floor, so I think it will help. So far so good, except that it slides on the tile floor really easily, so I can't leave him unattended (not that I would). I'm going to have to figure out some sort of grippy to put on the bottom of it so it stays put.

Things are happening quickly around here...

Everything but the cleanse, that is. And the house selling. And flu season. Oh well, maybe the only thing that's moving quickly is Max's development. He hasn't even gotten crawling down completely and he's starting to pull up! He'll crawl over toward me and try to pull up in my lap and I'll hold my hands out for him. He grabs my fingers and stands up with no assistance from me. He's sitting up from lying down very well, too. Naturally, with all these developments he's not really all that interested in pottying. I can sit him on the potty for 5 minutes and he won't go, but as soon as I put him down in his diaper and he starts crawling, he goes. He did manage to get a little poop in the potty this morning, but that was all, and then he went the rest in his diaper. I'm still persevering, though. I know it will pass.

Today is day 7 on the cleanse. One week down, 2 more to go, and I am so sick of vegetables today. Especially raw ones. So I made a stew today. It's perfect stew weather outside, 60ish degrees and overcast, and I know I can eat a TON of stew. So I just put about 3/4 pound of meat in it, with vegetable broth, onion, garlic cabbage, green beans, tomatoes, and carrots. I didn't put in potatoes because I don't want to have to pick them out. It was really good; I've already had 3 bowls and I know it's really good for me with it being mainly veggies. (I do miss the cornbread, though!) The past couple of days I've not had so much raw veggies, I've been roasting them so Max can have some too. Roasted asparagus is really good...I was surprised by that and ended up eating the whole bunch by myself (except I gave 2 to Max). Roasted broccoli, not so much. Maybe it's because I had made myself nearly sick eating the yummy squash apple soup I made yesterday. I've really been enjoying the smoothies so I try to put spinach in there as much as possible. I wish they weren't bothering Max though. Still thinking about how I can fix that, I don't know how the cleanse will be as effective without that SP Complete. It seems to be the main component. He seems to feel pretty good, although now I think his semi-snotty nose is probably due to the milk protein and probably the mucus in his poops.

I finished season 2 of The Office and started season 3 (on hulu.com) and it's getting really good. I'm glad I made it through the first season, but I honestly don't know how that show made it past. It was really quite painful to watch.

I got a couple of packages from amazon.com today, I bought Max a placemat that suction cups to the table (boy, how we need that!) and a little wooden hippo pull toy:
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Happy-Hippo/dp/B000GZCCQE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1254951503&sr=8-1

I'm going to try to wait until Christmas to give it to him, but I'll probably end up not making it.

I'm going to try to post some pictures soon, I need to get some ones of him showing off his teeth, but those are hard to come by!

Day 5-Morning

The last couple of days have been not as easy as the first 2 as far as cravings, but I knew that was coming. Yesterday I made a curried okra stew from Cindy's recipe but after all the curried lentils from the first couple of days, I'm kind of sick of curry. I think I'll freeze it for later and lay off curry for a while. I'm hoping today I'll be better able to resist eating bad stuff as I'm not at work. Yesterday those sour gummy bats I gave Lauren were staring at me and tempting me all day! I did prevail, however, even though I didn't drink as much water or eat as much vegetables as I had hoped.

Max has been getting some dry skin on his legs, I thought it was carpet irritation from his attempts at crawling, but it's not only on his knees...it's also on his face. So I'm thinking it's due to the whey protein in the SP Complete that I'm using in my smoothies. If it keeps getting worse I may have to do something about that. I'm kinda bummed because I had a couple of samples that I tried before I bought all the supplements and it didn't bother him, so I thought he was over it. I guess it takes a while for it to start bothering him. As long as it's just kinda dry and not an actual rash I'll keep trucking with the cleanse. Also, he's been having more poop lately...and of course I haven't been able to catch most. Last night he filled 2 diapers in rapid succession, but he didn't want to go on the potty right before that as usual. This morning he woke up at 4:30 and after unsuccessfully trying to get him back to sleep I just got up with him and took him to potty. He peed but no poop. After bringing him into the living room for a while to play, wham-o. Another one. I think this also may be due to the milk protein because it has more of a watery component than normal. Sorry if that's TMI, but I get to give TMI on my blog if I want to. :) Before, he had been going just once a day usually, and that was much easier to manage.

See said crawling here:


He's still doing well with his eating, although he hasn't been wanting to eat as much since his teeth have started bothering him again. He did have some mashed potatoes this weekend with his PawPaw and some applesauce at his MamMaw's...he loved both, of course! He would grab the loaded spoon and help guide it into his mouth.

Last night was sweet potatoes, one of his favorite foods, but he was more interested in blowing raspberries (one of his favorite activities):

Day 2

Yesterday wasn't too bad, I started to get a little headache but it was nothing like the first and it went away fairly quickly. I munched at work all day on green beans, cucumbers, and bell pepper with the marinara dipping sauce I had made on Wednesday. I never had time to prepare anything for lunch so I ended up eating 2 boiled eggs and a little orange. After work I had to go to the dentist and then Mom and I were going to Palestine so I didn't really get to eat until we got to her house. I had packed 2 grocery bags of produce and food since I know that Palestine probably doesn't have much in the way of organic stuff. I popped a spaghetti squash in the oven as soon as we got here, and then my nephew brought over meatloaf, mashed potatoes and a banana pudding my sister had made...ugh! It smelled so good! I whipped up a smoothie while waiting on my spaghetti squash and when I finally got to eat that, it was so good, with the tomato sauce on it.

Max got to eat some mashed potatoes with his PawPaw and he loved them! It was the first time he'd really been given something on a spoon, aside from when his daddy gave him a couple of bites of potato salad and baked beans. He was helping PawPaw put the spoon in his mouth...it was so cute!

Today is the 2nd annual Dogwood Marching Classic or something like that...my niece and nephew are in the Palestine High School band and they march at 8, but they're helping out all day, so I'm going with my sister and brother-in-law to watch. Of course Max is coming, too! I need to get in the kitchen and make some food to take that is cleanse-friendly. I'll probably bake some eggplant, pack some salad and the other half of my spaghetti squash. This time I think I'll just put roasted garlic, salt and pepper on it. And I'll have to take my snacking veggies and some fruit...looks like another full grocery bag today!

Well, it's about time for Max's morning nap so I'm headed to go do that.

Day 1 on the cleanse...

So far, so good. I started the cleanse this morning with a yummy smoothie made from banana, strawberries, blueberries and spinach, with a little cinnamon because Cindy says it's good. She was right! I took my Gastro-Fiber, and Gymnema because I'm sure I'll have some sugar cravings, so I'm trying to stave them off before they happen. Our realtor was having a luncheon for other realtors here at the house so we had to leave around 10:30 and be gone until around 1:00 and by 11:30 I was starving. So Mom, Dad and I went to the Cotton Patch and I ate a grilled chicken breast and steamed vegetables.

After we got back home, Missy was cleaning up after the open house (she got a lot of good feedback, incidentally), and wouldn't you know, she left us some leftovers of homemade enchiladas and 2 different kinds of cake? I was good, though, I took a piece of the more delicious looking one and put it in the freezer for the 22nd. :) I hope I remember it! Cravings haven't been bad today, I've just been so dang hungry! So I made some marinara dipping sauce and again, much yumminess was had by me. I dipped raw green beans, bell pepper, and cucumber in it. I don't love cucumber, but the sauce made it better.

I had to go to work at 5, so I took my veggies, some water, a couple of oranges, and a bowl of curried red lentils with me, that I made last night (Yum!). I only got to eat the lentils, though, and didn't even get to pump any milk for Max, we were pretty busy, and I was talking to my partner, with whom I rarely get to chat. Good thing I got off at 8. I actually had been getting a headache since about 4:30 and I still have it. I'm not sure if it's because of the cleanse, or if it was because I had to work today. :) My berry smoothie helped a little, but I still have it, so I'm going to close for now. I hope tomorrow at work goes well with my new diet!

A Time to Cleanse

So, I've decided that tomorrow I'm starting the cleanse. I went to LFWC this morning and picked up my supplements and then to Whole Foods to get my first batch of groceries. Most everything was organic, and I can say for certain that my vegetable drawer is the fullest it's ever been! I hope that the extra money I spent for this is a motivator for me to eat it all before it goes bad. I have a nasty habit of buying vegetables and forgetting I have them until they've gone bad in the refrigerator. Of course, since they're my main source of food for the next 3 weeks I'm sure they won't this time! I'm going to try to blog about how I'm feeling during the cleanse and how it's going and if anyone has any questions I'll definitely try to answer them.

I'm excited about this because I'm getting to try some new foods and some new recipes. I'm looking forward to breaking out of my usual set of spices to try some new ones. One of the main ones I've come across so far is curry. I ate some curry a long time ago at my friend's house in Tomball, but didn't like it so much. But I realize that tastes change, and I'm sure this stuff will taste good since I'm probably going to feel like I'm starving for the next few days! I'm also looking forward to hopefully resetting my body, so to speak, getting some extra energy and learning new healthy eating habits. I just wish John was doing this with me. It's going to be hard, but I'll make it. Like Cindy said in her blog post, I have a little one to hold me accountable to get healthy! So...(a la Willie Nelson)

To all the food I've loved before,
I have to show you to the door.
'Til twenty-one days hence,
I will be on the cleanse,
And I can't eat you anymore.

But wait! There's more...

I can't believe I forgot to mention that yesterday, I had put Max down diaperless on the floor while I put some laundry in and that when I came back into the living room, he was sitting on his bottom! For a minute I actually thought I had imagined laying him down and that I really sat him down. But then, a few minutes later, he did it again! Naturally, I was out of the room again, but he did it! Of course, he hasn't today, but I know he at least can. Also, he really wants to pull up. He'll scoot over to me and start pulling on my knees or on the side of the ottoman, he just doesn't have the strength or coordination to do it yet. Wow, what a week in development!

Lots of new things happening this week with Max! Saturday, we both had an appointment with Dr. Jim Bob and the office happened to be having some classes and a garage sale, and that meant we got to see Dr. Cindy and Harper, too! I was so excited to be able to see them again, she's been so busy with births we haven't had a chance to get together since May. Harper and Max were excited to see each other, and there was much grabbing and growling that went on between them. Harper would grab Max's shirt and babble to him and Max would growl back. These boys and their growling! Max had his first little temper tantrum that I've seen: Harper was sitting in the floor playing with a little plastic basket and so I set Max in the floor so they could play together, since now Max is old enough to notice other babies and be interested in playing. Max tried to take the basket, so Vicki, the LFWC receptionist, gave him a couple of plastic bowling pins to play with. Harper took his bowling pin, so Max took the basket. Then Harper took the basket back from Max, and he screamed and started crying! I thought he had somehow been pinched or hurt, because that's what it sounded like to me, but Cindy was laughing and saying "welcome to the temper tantrum stage". Oh no! I thought my sweet boy would always be gentle and loving, but it turns out he can get mad just like anyone else. I was not expecting that at all!

Yesterday I took Max to the State Fair with Lauren and her new boyfriend, David, and Max had been napping on the way to her house. He had just woken up when David got in the back seat next to him, and so Max was just staring at him in that groggy just-woke-up way for about 10 minutes as we drove to Dallas. All of a sudden I heard him start crying pathetically...his first bout with stranger anxiety! I guess he couldn't see me and so he was just freaking out a little. We stopped, I nursed him (it was worse I'm sure, because he was hungry too), and Lauren got in the back seat with him and he was fine after that. Again, not expected...in fact the other day I was just telling someone that Max had never met a stranger. I guess he has now! Poor baby!

It was really hot out there, they said it would be about 94 or so but it was easily 100. I'm glad I took the stroller, because I don't think either Max or I would have been comfortable in the Moby or Dr. Cindy's mei tai she let me borrow. The food was good, as usual, I had roasted corn, a jalapeno cheese corny dog, Green Goblins, aguas frescas, and a deep fried peanut butter cup macaroon that was to die for! I did not touch the deep fried butter though...I can't believe they actually had that this year. Yuck!

Max is also just so close to crawling, not going backwards so much and scooting forward a little bit. I guess he's wanting to practice as much as possible because the last couple of nights he's been a hard sell on sleep, wanting instead to roll and play and practice crawling, and finding new positions to nurse. Night before last I didn't get him down until 10, and tonight not until 9:15. His new game is to get on his hands and knees and launch himself at my breasts with his mouth wide open. It's all I can do not to laugh! If he's not doing that he's grabbing my nipple and trying to use that to pull himself to them. He also will lie on his stomach and nurse that way. On the other hand, once he's asleep he's sleeping much more soundly, and I don't have to be as careful getting out of bed. That's a relief, and he's also able to fall back asleep by himself more often if he wakes up a little. He'll wake up a little and cough or sneeze, often roll onto his stomach and go back to sleep instead of fussing to nurse more.

Speaking of coughing, he had a bit of a snotty nose and cough last week, and ever since then he's doing this fake cough that he thinks is hilarious!

In other news, John went for his sleep study last night. I'd been telling him for the longest time that he's got sleep apnea. For the last several years, some nights I'd wake up and he'd be snoring and stop breathing for a few seconds. So after he's been so fatigued lately he was ready to get some help, and especially after a couple of weeks ago with a hypertension scare. He came home this morning and said the lady told him he slept fine! Ugh. He had used some Afrin last night before he left and so now he's thinking it's probably just a result of allergies/sinus problems. I hope it's that easy, but dang! That test wasn't cheap! The doctor will look at the reports and let him know something soon. We'll see. I just want him to get better rest and be able to breathe well; I don't care what is causing it, as long as we can fix it.

Last but not least, I am going to start a 21-day purification program through Jim Bob's office. Dr. Cindy has been blogging about it here, and she's got me motivated to do it and get healthy for me and Max, too! I'll try to blog about it as I go along. But for now, I'm going to relax before bed. Good night!

Scooting Around

Just a quick post while I'm eating lunch...trying to multi-task. Max has been scooting for the past week or so...it's just that he is going backwards! I'd always heard of some babies crawling backwards at first, but I'd never seen it in action. He just doesn't quite have the hang of moving his arms forward and pulling with them, instead he pushes himself backward. John and I've been showing him how, and he really watches and you can tell he's thinking about it. Already he's trying to pull forward, just hasn't gotten it yet. I know that when he does, he'll be off to the races, and I'll be chasing him!

The weather is considerably cooler today, after last night's storm, and it has me thinking about the State Fair, which is coming up. I can't wait to go with Lauren, and I've been practicing my Moby back-carry for the occasion!

Time to go move Max back to the middle of the room!

Did he really just do that?

Today has been a high-maintenance day for Max. I saw the evidence of the bottom tooth #2 coming in, and so he's been kind of cranky, not taking great naps, not wanting to be pottied, etc. So I was lying in bed nursing him, trying to get him to get a nap just a little bit ago, when he popped off and was playing and babbling to himself. Presently he turned toward me with his right hand in a pretty good semblance of the BSL sign for "potty" (I've been using it with him sometimes for a few months now). He hadn't been in a while and so I thought, why not? I reinforced it with him and took him in there. Waiting, waiting...and nothing. He did do it once more while on the potty, quite well, in fact, but alas, it was not to be. I'd run out of diapers so he was nakey-butt at the time, so I went and plopped him down in the middle of my Longhorns quilt my mother made me a few years ago, and went to put some laundry away, or some other household chore. I imagined what a mess it would be should he decide to potty while on that blanket so I came back to check on him after just a minute. He was sitting there, smiling up at me, and as I came around the back of him....Lo and behold, when I looked under his onesie, there it was. A lovely pile of poop...right in the middle of Bevo. (It pretty much matched UT colors, though, so there's that.)

Incidentally, as I am fascinated with the poop now that we've been giving him regular food, I was interested to see tiny little fleshy pieces of mandarin orange from last night's dinner. Way to go, Max!

So I stripped him down and cleaned him up, put him on a puddle pad and went to go dunk his clothes and when I came back, he had peed, too!

So maybe he was using the signs after all! Time will tell...

Little Foodie

Max has been eating solid food for about a week and a half now, and so far, he's had avocado, banana, pear, peach, carrot, sweet potato, squash, broccoli and bread. Last night he had potato salad and baked beans as well! He likes baked beans like his daddy...I can do without them. Mostly he noms on them a bit and makes a big mess, but tonight I took him to Chick-fil-A to eat dinner with Lauren and he ate a bit of my bun, two slices of mandarin orange and two pieces of strawberry, with very little mess! I was quite impressed.


This morning I was thinking that I would have to start brushing his teeth once he gets some, and right after that he laughed and I saw that he had a clear line on his bottom gums...he's getting his bottom left front tooth! My heart leapt and fluttered and I had to call my mom and tell her! No wonder he had such an easy time with dinner. The other day I had felt a point of a tooth in his upper left jaw and was thinking what a random tooth to get in first, but today it wasn't there, and the front one was. How I'll miss those gummy grins, but I'll be glad when he's not bothered by them. He's already seeming to feel better, and hasn't bitten me in a while. To be honest, I was apprehensive about voluntarily sticking my breast in that mouth, because I stuck my finger in there and Wow is that thing sharp! Luckily he was sweet to his mommy ;)



Tooth pictures to follow soon, I'm sure!

Starting Solid Food!

Last Thursday I decided it was time for Max's first food, the lovely avocado. I had wanted to give him this particular food because it's so healthy with good fats and because I like them too! I figured I could eat what he didn't :) So I sliced up the avocado and he promptly went to work on it!


I was going to do the whole 4-day wait rule that everyone advocates so I gave him many chances to enjoy the avocado over the next few days...he wasn't terribly impressed and I think he got tired of me giving it to him. Bananas were to be next, but as of yesterday they weren't ripe enough, so I bought him a very ripe pear. As you can see, it was a hit!

(I love this one!)

Not sure he actually was able to ingest much of it, but it's all about the exploration!

I was doing some more looking around on the baby-led weaning (that advocates just giving food to the child at 6 months because they can feed themselves; no purees) and decided that I'm being too insane about the 4-day wait and introducing foods one at a time. We're just going to give him what we're eating. I think it will make us eat healthier too! After all, that's how they used to do it!

I made roast, carrots, potatoes and steamed broccoli last night for dinner and gave max a carrot and some broccoli. He liked it! I'll post pictures of the carrot-broccoli debacle later ;)

Happy 6 months Max!

My little boy is 6 months old today! Time flies when you're having fun!

Oh, how I love this guy!

I am so not ready for this...

Max is 5 months old.

His life has been the most wonderful journey my husband and I have been on so far, but it's flown by so quickly! He is about to be the age at which solid foods are normally started, and I am kind of freaking out. Why, you ask?

Well, for starters, breastfeeding is easy. I don't have to think about it at all. I know that he is getting the best nutrition possible for him. The thought of introducing foods from the thousands of choices out there terrifies me. I realize that at this age it's more about just getting him acquainted with the physical aspect of having to chew things and tasting new flavors, but it sets the foundation for his entire adult life as far as diet goes. No pressure there.

Basically, I researched everything I could about being pregnant and having a baby, so by the time I actually did it, I was calm, cool, and collected. I consider myself to be a great baby-momma, but have I given much thought to being a mom of an older infant/toddler/child/adolescent? No way. I feel like I did when I got out of pharmacy school: that at any moment, someone was going to blow my cover and everyone would know that I am a complete fraud and have no idea what I'm doing here! I really feel like I've gotten the hang of this baby thing, and then everything changes on me. Now I'm responsible for his attitudes about food from now on, and considering my own attitudes about food leave much to be desired, I'm feeling apprehensive about the whole thing. That's putting it mildly. Today I felt sad about it, then excited for a few minutes, then sick for the rest of the day. I have a burning desire to be perfect for him, to make his life perfect, and I know I will never be perfect. So there's that.

Here is my baggage: 1) I am an emotional eater. If I have an emotion, I eat. Pretty much any emotion. 2) I have an enormous sweet tooth. 3) I don't currently cook very often. 4) I haven't quite gotten the hang of stocking a kitchen properly and often find myself staring blankly into the pantry and/or refrigerator racking my brain for something to eat before giving up and hitting Chick-fil-A.

My goals for Max are: 1) I will make all his baby food. 2) It will be fresh, organic, and as close to its naturally occurring state as possible. 3) He will appreciate a vast array of healthful foods and not eat junk food. 4) I want him to have treats occasionally, because I don't want to be a food Nazi, but I don't want to go overboard. It's so easy to fall into the trap of giving food as a reward, leading to unhealthy attitudes about food later.

Basically, I want him to eat the same foods as us and not processed, sugar- and preservative-laden jarred foods...which is bad because I will have to overhaul our diets, and good because I will have to overhaul our diets. (Not that we eat jarred foods, mind you) But we could definitely eat healthier. John claims he loves vegetables, and I guess I believe him, but he never comes clamoring to me asking for them. I always saw him as a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy. Me? I eat veggies because I know I need to, but honestly, I could live off cake and candy.

I know I've got a little more time before Max will be ready for solids, but it's coming on so lightning fast I needed to fret about it now, so I can be calm about it when it's time. There's just so much to think about! I'm so tired from all of it already. And so not ready for him to grow up.

My Little Splisher

He loves his bath!

Max's first trip to the Aquarium

This week my 15-year old nephew Austin and 14-year old niece Anna are staying with me. I invited them up to visit because I am a glutton for punishment. Just kidding. These kids are great! I always used to go stay with my aunt for a week or so when I was a teenager every summer and enjoyed it a lot. So I thought they'd like to come up and visit, hang out in the pool, etc.

Yesterday we went to the Dallas World Aquarium. I love that place! I've only been once, but the weekend I was there was wonderful, since that was when John asked me to marry him. :)

Anyway, I decided at the last minute not to bring my camera because I figured I wouldn't have much to take pictures of. I wish I had, though, because Max was way more into it than I would have thought. I did manage to get a picture of him on my cell phone (sorry for the poor quality):

He just kept looking at the fish, and one big one swam down close to him and he was trying to grab it! It was almost too cute for words.

I love this kid. Can you tell?

Elimination Communication

I had a question posted in the comments section of an earlier blog, so I thought I'd answer it here. It was about elimination communication (EC for short).

I was reading Cindy's blog one day about how she got into doing EC with Harper, and like her, I pooh-poohed the idea, until I read more about it. Here's the basic idea:

Animals are born with the innate desire NOT to sit in their own waste. Just look around nature and you'll see. Human babies are the only ones taught to do so. Before the advent of disposable diapers a lot of babies were potty trained prior to 2 years of age. My own grandfather's mother claimed that he was potty trained at 3 months (they just hung him out the window).

Human babies are conditioned to sit in their own waste in diapers, and then we marvel at how hard it is to train them NOT to go in their diapers after they have done it for a year or two! If you start early (prior to 6 months is ideal but you can even start later) you can learn their cues as to when they need to go and just take them to the potty. You just have to watch them, and it can take a while to learn, but they will let you know when they need to go, believe it or not! We've been doing this with Max since he was about 3-4 weeks old, and it's actually pretty fun! You don't have to do it all the time, even. Cloth diapering helps, because you can know when they've gone sooner, and they can feel when they're wet. This way they don't get used to sitting in it.

Some people do EC with the intent of going completely diaper-free, and some just use it as a tool to make true potty-training easier when the time comes. Nay-sayers say it's not training the kid, but the parent, but don't we have to learn our babies' cues for hunger, tiredness, etc.? This is no different. It just takes attachment parenting to a whole new level, and I'm for that! I like it because I'm getting to know Max even better, it cuts down on diaper changes, reduces blowouts (that alone was enough for me) and the chance for diaper rash. It's also fun to hear people's reactions...most are amazed when they hear about it, and even more so if they get to see him in action!

I'm sure I'm leaving lots of stuff out, but this is the basic idea. For more info, visit http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/, or check out the book by the same name by Christine Gross-Loh. Good stuff.