Book Review

a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5258692.Real_Food_for_Mother_and_Baby_The_Fertility_Diet_Eating_for_Two_and_Baby_s_First_Food" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"> Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby's First Food by Nina Planck

My review

While interesting in theory, I found the detail of this book overwhelming. I can't say that I agree with some of the food choices made by the author either. I am putting this one aside for now, and may pick it up again later, but I am currently feeling a bit self conscious reading about how to eat when you are pregnant. I'm not currently pregnant, but was 2 years ago, and I feel like I'm analyzing all of my food decisions from 2 years ago! My son is healthy and happy, why should a book make me feel weird about that?

View all my reviews.

San Diego 2009

We're back from a fun filled week of sand, sun, and lots of animals. We went to the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Sea World.  We also ventured out to Coronado Island for the beach and conquered the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) by taking a train to the Mexican border and buses and trains and taxis all over town. We also walked our little legs off. 

When I was a kid, my sister, brother and I would marvel at how our pets had "grown" when we were away on vacation.  I don't think Claudia changed much, but I am amazed at how much Ryan has changed in a week.  Yes, we were together that whole time, but getting him back into his environment at home and seeing these changes is amazing.  New words this week (phonetically spelled for fun): anmals, big bus, choo choo, jam-gees, cream (includes lotion, sunscreen, and diaper cream), sham boo (Shamu).

 

 I took over 170 photos of the trip, and will not bore you with all of them. Many of the pics I took are for Ryan to see all of the animals again.  I think his favorite parts of the trip (photos of all) included: wrestling with blocks in the pit at Sea World, wrestling the bolster pillow at the Omni (see blurred photo of action), getting wet at the wild animal park, eating ice cream at the zoo, and digging in the sand at the beach. 

This was our first real vacation with air travel etc, and we had a blast! Too bad I have to deal with unpacking and laundry now. :(

  

Green is Good

My blogger friend, Angi, has inspired me to write a list of the greener things that my family has adopted recently.

We downsized to ONE family car. Yes, it is an SUV, but the hybrid couldn't hold us all and our stuff. We get between 20-26 miles per gallon, and usually have more than one person in the car at a time. It takes more communication and motivation to get things scheduled, and I walk to the store when I only need a few things. BOB stroller saves my butt on this, it doubles as my shopping cart!

Most days, Jeff rides a bus to work and back. He walks 8 blocks to the park and ride, but sometimes if the weather is horrible or he has slept too late, Ryan and I drive him there. 

We subscribe to a local organic farm for home delivered produce. What we put in our bodies is mainly my responsibility and I take it very seriously.  I also made the majority of Ryan's baby food myself (it was so easy!) so I know exactly what's going in to keep him running around.  We have a small raised bed garden for the past 3 years and have had homegrown tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, and apples.  This spring, we dug up the south side yard and expanded our efforts. If all goes well we will have plums, leeks, shallots, parsnips, butternut squash, zucchini, and yellow squash to add to the usual. The lettuce already died :(

We've started eating only 100% grass fed beef-when we buy it. Cows are ruminants, and aren't meant to eat corn. I can taste a difference. It is pretty expensive, so we don't do it often. We've also discovered the joy of buffalo. It has less calories and fat than beef and is making a comeback.

Our daycare provider (Jenn) is a close friend who opened her own business this year.  While interviewing other agencies (before Jenn was set up) who would be caring for Ryan 2 days a week, I reviewed their menus. I was offended by the choices offered for foods.  When I read hot dogs and teriyaki chicken, I almost ran out the door!  Jenn is committed to provided organic foods when available and organic milk for my little guy. He LOVES going to play at her house and feels at home there. I never worry about him when he's with her.

All paint that we have used in this house has been no VOC.  We've redone 3 rooms and will possibly be changing a 4th in the next year. We also replaced a wall to wall nasty carpet with wool carpeting and a no VOC carpet pad.  It is the best feeling stuff ever on bare feet!

Ryan wears lots of hand me downs from Jenn's son, Andrew. So our clothing footprint in the infant sizes is pretty small. We sell some things at the consignment store, and always end up with a new toy or outfit when we go in. 

I line dry clothes when the weather is cooperative. Hopefully, it will be more cooperative soon! Our washer and dryer are not exactly new, so if we were to win more than $500 in the lottery, they would be replaced with a more efficient pair. (hear that lottery people, I don't NEED the mega millions, just a little off the top!)

So there's my Green sheet for the day. See if you can make a difference in your little part of the world too.

Happy Earth Day!

Spring is Finally here!

A lot of things are happening around here. Here are some recent photos. We had two messy birch trees removed from our backyard just in time for the sunshine to start pouring in!

Ryan's curls are killing me! They are so sweet right from the bath, but are getting a bit matted in the back between brushings. I can't bring myself to cut his hair yet though.  Neither Jeff nor I had this much body in our hair as babies. I'm blaming my mother. :)

With the weather looking better, I am bombarded with constant

 requests for "Side?" (Ryanese for "May we go outside now, Mother dear?")  So we have been out in the yard quite a bit. Today I was presented with my first bouquet. My lovely son do

es not real

ize that you need stems to keep the flowers, but he's mighty good weed whacker!

His favorite outdoor toy is a flat river rock. It is his constant companion, and serves as: a cell phone (see photo), a ball to throw, and something to put into nooks and crannies.  He also enjoys digging in the dirt, which is great, since we have a garden, but we may have to leave a portion of it plant free to provide a chance for daily digging.

 Otherwise, we may come up with bare dirt and no veggies at the end of the summer. 

Team Zamboni- March of Dimes Walk

I formed Team Zamboni to walk in the March of Dimes Walk for Babies on April 25 in Everett, Washington. Most of my blog readers know his story of an early arrival. For newcomers, here it is. Please consider supporting Team Zamboni. Follow this link and click on the donate button. March of Dimes

I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia on November 9, 2007. My baby boy (nicknamed Zamboni) was not due until January 28, 2008. I was placed on bed rest at home until December 3. On that day, my tests showed that my blood pressure was getting higher and my kidneys were not keeping up, so I was admitted to the hospital for closer observation and more restrictions on getting out of bed. I am a very active, hyper person, so staying in bed was not easy for me. The only treatment for pre-eclampsia is to deliver the baby, so it is a waiting game where the doctors take daily tests to determine the point where it is too dangerous to the mother to continue the pregnancy. The risks to the mother include seizures and strokes.

On December 18, 2007, I hit the critical point, and the doctors decided to induce labor. I was given the usual labor starting medication, plus magnesium sulfate to prevent a seizure. Ryan Jeffrey was born at 10:23 AM on December 19. He weighed just 4 pounds, 15 ounces. I was only allowed to hold him for a moment before he was whisked away to the NICU. Luckily, I was in a good hospital, with Children's Hospital staff in the NICU. Ryan suffered from the effects of the medication that I had to take, and had to have an intubation tube for the first 2 days. He spent a total of 2 weeks in the NICU. During this time, he was on so many machines, I didn't know how to hold him. He had to be fed by a tube through his nose, which he quickly learned to remove himself. I remember his first feeding was 1 ml of my breast milk shot up his nose! We didn't master the art of nursing until after he came home from the hospital. He had a terrific case of jaundice, and laid under those lights for several days.

Through it all, the nurses were supportive of us and gave us a two week parenting course so that we had none of the new parents at home type anxiety. Someday soon, I want to take Ryan back to the NICU and let the nurses see how he turned out. I'm sure the mothers of all premature babies would love to do this too. To show our appreciation, my family will be participating in the March of Dimes walk. Ryan will be in the stroller, he can't go 3.5 miles at once.

If I used Twitter...

I'm a non-texting cell phone user. It would take me sooo much longer to type out what I need to say than to just freaking use the phone, so there is no point to it. Also, last time I checked, twit was a derogatory term for an insignificant or bothersome person. 

However, if I did use Twitter, here are some thoughts I would have posted today.

1) Toddlers are so amazing! Ryan is doing/saying/figuring out new stuff every day now!

2) There should be an award for bathing with a toddler AND managing to shave my legs.  Even with him trying to help "wash" the shave cream from my legs.

3) Ryan eats dirt when we play outside. According to the latest studies, he should have a great resistance to allergies.

I would love to post new photos, but I can't find the stupid cord to do it. Maybe next time I post...