I Swear We Ordered the Solid Baby

On April 9th, SJ turned 9 months old. And almost to the day, she refused to eat baby food. I didn't think this was going to be such a big deal. I mean she was still taking 3 bottles of formula a day. So, I figured we would add a little food at each meal time and call it a day. Oh, how wrong I was!
Once SJ realized that she didn't have to eat baby food any more, it was like we unleashed a ravenous beast! She eats with pure joy bordering on madness. She eats more than you could possibly imagine. I keep thinking that she will loose some of her fervor, but she hasn't.
It seems like all I do all day is feed the beast! We haven't found much that she doesn't like, which is good. We might go broke trying to fill her hallow leg! And I am spending lots of time chopping food into tiny bites!

This was her plate the other night. It is a salad plate, but a very full salad plate!

Here she is shoveling her food into her mouth

And this was all that was left!

And here is a short clip of her stuffing her face.  This is the only way she eats... full out, shovel style!

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On My Mind

Something has been on my mind for a few days. I have debated writing about it, but my brain keeps coming back to it, so I am going for it.

This was recently posted on a "facebook friend's" wall.

 

The caption that went with the picture was

" They are already among us and they smile and go about their work by day and plot by night. Beware of men who have only beards and no mustaches... and have names like Abdul, and Ahmad, and Hussein, and Ijaz and Siraj and Youseff and Mohammad and Feroze and stuff.... Time to ship them all off to the Sands of Araby"

When I read this the first time, I just shook my head at ignorance. And then it really started to dig into my subconcious. I am not climbing on a political or moral high horse, I promise. but I do have something to get off my chest. I understand that the acts of terror have been commited by radical Muslims. I also understand that even before we had time to process the Boston Marathon Bombing, our brains were already assuming the terror was caused by someone with ties to Al Quedia. The recent history gives us all reason to think that way, that our terror is caused by these radical Muslim terror cells.

What our recent history doesn't give us reason to believe is that ALL Muslims are terrorists. That sort of ignorant thinking scares me. It makes me see flashes of yellow stars, millions of discarded shoes, black and white prison clothes hanging on mere skeletons of humans, and fading blue tatoos on forearms. What makes the statement on that photo any different than the propoganda that Hitler spread causing enough hate to kill 6 million people simply because they were Jewish? I have friends who are practicing Muslims. Some by birth and others by marriage. Some cover themsleves with traditional garments, or facial hair, others have no outward signs of their faith. They have a different belief than me. They have different religious rules that govern their lives. Beyond that they are not much different than I am. They are good people trying to navigate this world the best way they know how. They do not deserve to be the focus of hate.

In recent weeks, Jews around the world observed Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Rememberance Day. It is a day that is filled with the phrase "we will never forget". To me, this phrase is not only cautioning us to remember the Holocaust and the horrors of that time in history, but also to remember how it happened. How and entire race became the focus of so much hate. And in remembering that, we are bound to do our part in preventing it from happening again. But if we allow ourselves to be overcome with fear and hate for an entire religion because of the horrid and disgusting behavior of a small percentage of that religion, we are stepping onto a dark path. We are dividing ourselves and weakening our spirit. We are looking for evil in every face we meet. Instead of hating and fearing those who are different than us, learn from them. Be inquisitive and ask questions. Those questions lead to conversations which lead to a better understanding of others. Teach our children to value the differences in others. Look for ways to strengthen your own beliefs without destroying the beliefs of another. Refuse to use your own religious beliefs to belittle the beliefs of others. And most importantly don't blanket an entire group with hate without cause because as my mother always told me "hate is a strong word and it is hard to take back once you say it."

 

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Dark Hallow Woods

I'm going to go ahead and warn you, from this point forward (at least for a little while) I am giving up on maintaining any chronological order. There are things I want to share while the memories are fresh and there are things I want to share that are already fading from my memory.

I touched on how much things have changed in the last few months regarding my overall happiness. One of the things that has definitely helped my mood is the time change. I know there are people who hate the time change, but from that fateful day we fall back, to the blessed morning we spring forward I am counting down the days to when I see more sunshine!

One of the reasons I love the added hours of sunshine is that it affords our family the opportunity to spend time outside together. There is time for a walk before dinner, or a game of catch after dinner. Sunday, we took advantage of the daylight and all took a walk together. At the end of our street there is an entrance to a state park, Dark Hallow Woods. All winter long Doodle has been asking me if we can take the dogs for a walk in the woods. I have told her that I haven't been in the woods and we needed to wait for daddy to go with us. Last fall, Doodle and My Favoritest took many walks in the woods, but I was still healing from surgery and didn't feel comfortable wearing SJ in a carrier or walking the dogs, so I wasn't able to join them on their wooded adventures. And I will be honest, last summer and fall, those 20 minutes or so when they would romp off into the woods were pretty lonely. So, when My Favoritest suggested taking Doodle on a walk, I jumped at the chance to join them. I loaded SJ into the ergo and off we went.

It was delightful. Doodle was as happy as a clam!

 

The dogs sniffed every smell there was to be found in the woods.

 

SJ attempted to twist her way out of the ergo in an attempt to watch her sister and the pup pups at all times.

 

It was a perfect cool evening and there was no place I would rather have been than with my family.

 

On our way back to the house, Doodle asked if she could walk Zoe, and for the first time ever we let her be in total control (as much as a 25lb 4 year old can be) of the dog. She was so proud of herself! I have loved getting to watch her become more and more responsible with the dogs.

 

 

 

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Back From the Pitty Party!

It's hard to believe, but we have been in the Pitty for almost 6 months. This post has been written and rewritten in my head about 4 times. I intended it to be a sort of "how we doin" kind of post. The idea for this sort of check in came when I went to feed the dogs and saw this sitting at the landing of the stairs leading to the basement.

 

 

Seeing these 2 VA license plates discarded at the top of the stairs was like seeing a door slamming shut on our previous home. I couldn't get the image out of my head, so I had to take a picture. At the time, I handled the whole door closing on the past thing okay. After all, it was just 2 pieces of metal! And it had taken my Favoritest 3 trips to the registration place to register my car in PA. I was already to write a post about how we are settling into the Pitty. How we are slowly but surely making friends. And how the winter hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought. Over all....

So..... This was started 3 months ago. Oooops! I guess things have been a little crazy around here. And I'll be honest, I wasn't in the spirit of blogging the last few month. I also wasn't ready to be really honest with myself and those of you who might be reading this.

The truth is, when I started this post back in January, I was in a pretty dark place. Between the weather, the only sort of happy baby, my Favoritest's hours, the clinging baby weight, and frustration at our living situation, I was in the middle of a giant pitty party!

My first reaction when I get overwhelmed by life, work, kids, etc. is to figure out the one thing I can take control of immediately and work on fixing that. This is a strategy that has worked time and again for me, regardless of how big or small the problem. So, that is what I decided to do. Looking at that list, the only thing I could control was the clinging baby weight. I know I am good when determined, but I knew I couldn't control the weather or my Favoritest's schedule! Weight loss in itself seemed overwhelming. But encouraged by a new friend, I crossed the threshold of my old stoming grounds.... Weight Watchers.

And so for the last few months, I have taken some time to make myself a little happier. I have started exercising again. I give the neighbors quite a show while I play Just Dance 4 on the Wii! Sometimes I even sneak in a jog... outside... by myself! I have taken time for myself. It is working, and I don't just mean the weight loss. I am down 23 pounds. But I am up in every other way. By taking control of that one thing, everything else seems to have fallen into place. So... back to the original point of this post,

How we doin? I think we are doin pretty damn good! SJ is almost a happy baby! My Favoritest's schedule seems to have evened out a little bit, and he has learned to say no and to leave early when I need to do something. I am becoming very involved in our Temple and the preschool. I am building friendships. We are looking at moving to an area of town closer to the Temple. And, although it has nothing to do with me, the weather has improved as well. We are enjoying the outdoors, and exploring the parks. So while Pitty ain't perfect, and it is far from home, it's getting better every day. And in my mind, I can see images of our family in the future, happy in the Pitty!

 

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