Baby sleepy cues = the promised land

Ok, for anyone who has read this blog before, or have had a conversation with me, you know I am 100% unequivocally against the whole "cry it out" method.  I think teaching a baby that it can't find comfort in you, as a parent, will lead to disastrous and long lasting effects later down the road.  I am not a believer in forcing your child to sit there and scream and cry because they are not fitting your idea of when a good bedtime is.

That being said.

I do believe a baby will fight sleep and force themselves to stay up to be around you and play with stuff.  Because of this acknowledgement, we have just instituted a new bed time ritual.  It involves waiting for Joey to show us he's tired (he does this by whining and rocking back and forth on his hands and knees).  And then feeding him and putting him promptly in his bed.  Awake. 

At first this went against everything I felt inside.  I wanted to cry and I wanted to scoop him up and hold him forever.  Then I listened to what was going on.   He wasn't crying.  He was whining, he was annoyed, he was in his crib rocking back and forth but he was definitely not crying. 

He was asleep within 10 minutes. 

WHY THE HELL DIDN'T WE TRY THIS EARLIER!!!

For the last month and a half we have been staying up until 10:30 or 11 when it was damn clear he was tired around 9 or 9:30. 

I am happy we figured this out now.  And I am happy Joe actually shows us he is tired.  It makes a world of difference knowing he is genuinely tired and really just being a turd and fighting to stay up. 

So, air high five to us, we are getting our sanity back. 

Oh, and ever since we've started doing this, he has been doing that one thing that old people do that involves only waking up when its time to wake up, ya know, at the appropriate time in the morning (I can't risk jinxing us, so I hope you understand what that meant).

Kitchen fun

Our kitchen has been cookin.  Lots of super healthy things and fun colors and textures going on. 

Here's what we've made so far....

Roasted Brussels Sprouts
(ok, these aren't the for real picture because I forgot, but they looked just like this)

They were delicious!!!  Rick and Danny (Rick's brother) didn't try them but Grammie Cazza and I ate them right up.  They were wonderful.

Next was Cauliflower with Roasted Almonds and Turkey Bacon.

There are red pepper flakes, lemon juice and garlic also included in this.  DELICIOUS.  Kelli tried it and loved it, Rick also loved it.  Definite win.  Oh, and this culinary experiment led to the discovery that pine nuts are the most expensive thing on earth.  Needless to say, sliced almonds were just as good as the million dollar a pound pine nut. 

Lastly, Quinoa with Garbanzo Beans, Almonds and Dried Cranberries

I know, I need to work on my camera skills.
This is also delicious.  I used half chicken stock and half water to cook the quinoa.  Next time I will use just water, the quinoa picked up too much of the chicken flavor.

There you have it.  Up next will probably be stuffed zucchini's and gazpacho. 

Pure awesomeness

Our weekend rocked.  Concert, Yakima and family love.

Friday night was our first overnight away from Joe (thank you Kelli!!)!!  We did what any red blooded American's would do on their first night away from the baby, we went to Capitol Hill Block Party and danced our faces off in the street!  It was awesome and just so happened to be the scene of our first date two years ago.  Needless to say, we partied extra hard.

Saturday morning we packed up the car and headed over to Yakima for my company party.  No pictures of that yet, but you can imagine how fun a 3 hour drive with an infant, when your hungover and its 85 degrees out was.  Bleh. 

On Sunday Grammie Caz, Grandpa Joe and Unkie Danny visited.  We went to Madison park and hung for a while.

This was Joe on Friday morning.  He is now climbing things and tearing stuff apart.  Shortly after this he grabbed the beers out and started throwing them around!  Fun times ahead!

Healthy!!

I know, I'm on a bloggy roll. 

Maybe I had writers block?

Anyway....after my brush with exhaustion and feeling basically like shit and being a tad a lot bitchy 24/7  (and that stupid term post-partum depression being thrown around), I decided to turn everything around.  It started with doing something for myself at least twice a week.  I chose tanning.  Not necessarily healthy, but the Vitamin D and tan sexy body is good for my soul. 

Next I decided I need to change my diet.  I need to eat more whole foods.  No more easily microwaved empty calorie, low substance b.s..  Basically less processed, whole grain, vegetable and lean meat filled meals.  I also just recently got inspired by my friend Stephanie and her 6 day run at a raw diet (holy balls!).  If you've never tried kelp noodle macaroni and cheese, you're missing out!

So last night, with recipes and grocery list in hand (thank you google and the internet), we went to the grocery store.  I think I made Rick re-fall in love with me 34 times during this trip.  He has asked me for a long time to get more "vegebles" but he hasn't really offered up any way to cook these "vegebles" so we buy them and they sit in the fridge and get bad.  So me spending most my time last night in the produce and organic section, blew his freaking mind.  I think he even clapped.

Anyway, not the point, but I made the man very happy.  And I was really excited to come home and make some healthy stuff.  But it was almost 10 by the time the ordeal was over.  So I settled on making a bean and corn salad to take to lunch today.

How colorful and awesome does that look!!  Not a single bad ingredient in the whole thing.  And its DELICIOUS. 

Tonight I plan on making quinoa.  I'll let you know how it goes!!

Speaking of P words, this is about poop

All you mommas out there, we need advice....

Ever since starting Joe on the goat's milk we have seen a serious change in Joe's poop.  On full formula and some solids (3 times a day), he was pooping the consistency of peanut butter.  Now, he poops real deal logs.  Like little boy poops.  This didn't worry me at first, but now it seems like he cries or struggles to get the turds out.

I think he needs more fluids other than milk.  I've started adding water to his milk and we are going to try more juice.  But, I am kind of freaking out because I don't want to hurt the little guy, but I also don't want him to squeak anymore. 

Are hard poops bad?  Do they mean he is dehydrated or constipated? 

I will leave you with this....and thank you for any advice.....

Puke is my friend?

A pretty gross thing happened last night.  I really should say that a normal, non kid having person, would say a gross thing happened last night. 

Joe and I were at swim lessons and one of the little kids puked in the pool.  No big deal I thought.  A little bit of chunk, not a lot, mostly just milky looking.  Ok, it sounds gross now that I described it.  But, at the time, I didn't care.  But apparently its a pretty big deal because we were all asked to get out of the pool and our lesson was over, just like that.  A little bit of puke ruined the party for everyone. 

What kind of struck me as I reflected later was I didn't get out of the pool that fast.  I wasn't really in earshot of our instructor when the incident went down so I didn't hear her say it or see the puke.  So I stayed in the pool...put Joe on the side and looked around like "what the hell is going on, why are we getting out."  She then came over and asked me and the mom standing next to me to please get out.  I then realized what had went down.  And while I could then see the puke, I just kept thinking, scoop it out and lets go. 

THAT IS WEIRD.  No normal person is ok with swimming in puke.  And me of all people.  Me who hates super weird squishy things and gross stuff was perfectly fine with the idea of swimming in some kids puke. 

Maybe its because I don't think kids are evil and gross.  Or maybe its because Joe has puked on me no less than 6 kabillion times, or maybe its just another reason parents are complete psychos.  Poop, pee, puke, basically anything starting with a P is perfectly fine. 

So weird.

The weight situation...

Ok.  Those of  you that know me, have seen pictures of me, or read this blog, know that I've been struggling to lose the baby weight.  I can't say that I tried everything under the sun, but I did try exercising.  Rick would probably tell you I tried about as hard as I would try to learn Russian.  But, I really truly believe I tried.  I did yoga, and failed.  And I bought a treadmill and actually ran on it almost every other day for about a month or two; while doing yoga.  I didn't lose weight and didn't look better or fit better into my pants.

Now, I knew this wouldn't work....why?  Because my body doesn't respond well to working out.  I'm not kidding.  My body starts to work out and its like it goes into calorie absorbsion overtime.  I get fatter.  Fatter looking and fatter weighing. 

I finally wised up about a month and a half ago and did what I knew I would have to do the entire time....eat better and less.  Sighhhh.  I suggested to Rick that I also needed to stop drinking for a month, but he told me he would not allow it as I am way more fun when I drink....hmmmm...rude?!

Anyway, I did and am doing a more high protein, low carb, no work out, still drinking vodka and mimosas, more veggies, less creams, sugars, dressings, etc diet.  And in smaller portions.  I've lost 10 pounds.  I now sit semi roundly, but not so roundly at 135 pounds.  This is far from the 114 that I was when I met Rick, but not so far from the 125 I was when I got pregnant. 

So, long story short, I'm getting there.  And eating better and less has really proven to work for me.  I usually eat almonds to snack on during the day, or pickles (I freaking love pickles), have soup for lunch and then have a chicken breast for dinner.  I don't really ever feel hungry anymore and I actually feel great.  AND I am not working out. 

Rick's mom said it takes 9 months to put it on and 9 months to take it off.  So hopefully by Joe's 9 month birthday I can give her a huge hug and tell her she was right!  10 more pounds to go and I will not cry in a bathing suit  :)

Things on our mind lately

We've been so busy and haven't had time for much of anything, but we have had some stuff on our minds.  Here are our main concerns/happenings as of late at the Callahan/Armon household...

1.  Will this baby ever sprout a tooth.  We've been teething for 3 and a half months.  We literally can SEE the teeth under his gums.  We can feel them and he chomps, sucks, bites, drools and rubs his ear constantly.  Still nothing.  Our furthest progressing tooth is his bottom left.  I see the tiny poke poking through but nothing fully.  I swear he is going to wake up one day with a full set. 

2.  Goat's milk is freaking expensive.  We went to the farm, which, by the way, is a real deal farm.  Mud, smells, bugs, messiness....I didn't want to get out of the car.  Almost didn't in fact.  But Rick said "this is an adventure," and I proceeded with caution.  Once we got down this long driveway of sketchy camper trailers and a barking dog and a cat chasing a field mouse (see! real deal farm), we get to the milk cooler, complete with a jar for your mullah, honor system baby.  Turns out fresh goat's milk is 8 dollars a half gallon.  Meaning, 16 dollars a gallon.  Which, is outrageously expensive.  Joe drinks wayyyyyy too much to keep up on that.  So, we're stumped....still on the search for a viable and healthy option that won't bankrupt us...

3.  Walking is looming dangerously close over our heads.  No explaination needed here, this is going to suck.

4.  WHAT THE MOTHER LOVING CHRIST is up with this sleep strike Joe is on.  I've googled everything and tried a million different techniques, tactics, choke holds....etc, just to figure this out and get this kid to sleep.  No baby goes to bed at 11 every night after not taking a nap all day.  That's insanity, that's MY baby.  He will literally take an hour morning nap at daycare and then up alllllllll day and night until 10:30 or 11 o'clock.  You can see he is tired but he refuses to go to sleep.  Rick has called for putting him in his bed and closing the door and seeing what happens.  That makes me cringe. 

5.  We officially put the deposit down on Joe's new daycare.  Now we have to come up with a good way to break up with our current daycare lady.  And obviously do it closer to the departure date so she doesn't put my kid in a cage and feed him bread and water.  I was never good at breaking up with people, so I'll make Rick handle this one. 

So, of course there are tons more things on our plates, but this is the main chunk of it.  We've been SO busy these weekends and will be through the end of August.  I love it but it is exhausting.  I'll try and do a better job of documenting all of the fun stuff. 

Like this....Joe v. Kiwi....(Rick took the video...sideways....palm to forhead)

Had ourselves a hippie dippie weekend

We channeled our inner hippie this weekend. 

Which basically means we did hippie-esque experiments on baby Joe.  All very successful. 

We started with this

As some of you may or may not already know, we are saying screw you to our doctor and basically all medical advice regarding formula and milk and when to introduce it and how to introduce it and all that jazz.  The medical community says to keep your child on formula or, preferrably breast milk, until the magical day he turns 1 year old.  Apparently on that magical day Joe will be ready for regular milk. 

We say, he's ready now.  We say this because we can tell he has an allergy to dairy (thus the still very present squeak) and because we know there are other healthy options out there that are just as good, if not better than stupid formula.

So, we went on the hunt for goats milk.  Not the usual first option for parents taking their child off formula, I know.  But its amazing stuff.  My mom thinks I'm crazy, but I'm not, I'm just a freak about my kid and believe me, I've done my research.   

In my search I was lucky enough to hit the jackpot of all jackpots.  I found a goat's milk farm in Everett that is ran by the most amazing lady ever.  I had emailed her asking a kabillion questions and here is her response....

There is no organically certified raw goat dairy that I know of.  I am really a freak about what my goats eat.  No soy, no GMO stuff, my grass hay comes from organically maganged farms (not certified), they eat our organically managed pastures, they get kefir with herbs when they come into the milk room as well as alfalfa pellets.  We sprout their grain so there are live enzymes in their food and it makes less acid in their tummies, they get minerals and kelp in the barn.  I have had hundreds of infants on my milk and I hear rave reviews from mothers.  I have had babies with "failure to thrive" that start gaining weight and thrive on this milk.  It tastes incredible and does wonders for your immune system.  Goat milk burns alkaline in your body, so naturopaths are crazy about it.  It doesn't have proteins that cause allergies in it.  It doesn't make that phlem in your throat that cows milk makes.  Babies can absorb goat milk in 20 minutes, cow milk takes up to 8 hours.  The mainstream cow milk is really quite compromised.  A new zealand scientist has discovered that there has been a mutation in the casien proteins of holstein cows (what most big dairies have) and he has linked it to causing childhood autism and diabetes. It was dubbed A1A1 casien protein. New Zealand &  Australia  have changed all their breeding and they don't have any A1A1 bulls anymore.  Also, most dairies have Johnnes disease which causes Crohnes disease in people.  They pasteurize, but it doesn't kill all of it.  There ends up being some live Johnnes in the milk.   Almost all organic cow milk is ultra pasteurized.  You can ship it unrefrigerated because bacteria won't eat it.  You can't make cheese with it because the proteins are so damaged it won't form a curd and the bacteria don't eat it.  You take a great product and heat it so high that it is like eating cardboard.  Very sad.  I love talking goat milk.  It is such a wonderful thing!

http://stjohncreamery.com/

How freaking awesome is that response!!  Right!?  Sold.

So in an effort to ease him into the process we started with the powdered crap.  Literally, I shit you not, within an hour he was squeak free.  My child, who has been squeaking since the day he was born, no longer make a peep when he breathed.  The difference was night and day. 

Victory. 

Only downside, goat's milk stinks like shit.  Not poop, but more like curdled milk stink.  Bleh. 

So, we're feeling good.  We patted ourselves on the back and took a trip up to Capitol Hill to further our hippie adventures and basically reward our awesomeness. 

Mmmmmm quinoa!!!  He loved it!

Then Joe jammed out to a lovely serenade by Blake and Rick

San Juan Island 4th of July Extravaganza

Our family (and about six trillion others) travelled to good ol San Juan island for the 4th of July.  It was great.  Besides all the crowds and my subsequent bitchy mood, everything was perfect.  The weather was amazing, our people refilled our love tanks and Joe was a pretty pleasant guy.

Here's what we did....

We decided to take the 6:30 am boat out of Anacortes...this meant we had to leave the house by 4:30 am.  Didn't phase Joe one bit...definitely was rough for us though.

 We checked out the 4th of July parade. 

I think I forgot what exactly a parade entailed because I was not prepared for the amount of noise, people and things that this parade had going on.  Which basically means I am the worst mom ever because this parade was pure torture for me.

 We spent some lovely time in Grammie Cazza's sugar shack of love.  Joe experienced a couple firsts; first lemon (success until he decided to rub his eyes), first face plant off a higher surface (success for the mom because I didn't freak out) and first joint water drinking session with the pheebs (double success because he didn't drown and he was cute).

 Joe also got to see the love of his life, baby Malia.  He greeted her with pokes to the eyes and slaps to the arms.  The love affair is already in full swing.

It was also really great to see Chan and Jacoba.  We feel really lucky to have such close friends that know exactly what we're talking about and can bitch and complain right along with us.

Grandma Caroline's house had tons of fun things for the Joe.  He got to suck on 2 ribs and tried to share with pheebs, nice boy.  He also loved getting into everything at her house including wires AND his new favorite door stopper thingy majiggy. 

Because the weather was so amazing we got to hang out in the grass before our ferry.  Joe loved it.

As we departed a bagpiper was piping away.  It was lovely.

All in all, one of the best weekends we've had in Friday Harbor. 

I do, however, need to work on my attitude in large crowds and places with loud noises.  Joe seems to be a fan of people and noise.  Big sigh.

Lots of love to our islanders.  We love and miss you already!