Blueberries!!!

Today we went Blueberry picking with our friends. It was really fun, and my first time picking blueberries. I got a pound and a half for $3.75 - quite a deal. It was nice to be out in the fields with the babies, bonding with the ladies. I'm so thankful to have found these mommy friends that we can spend time with. We have been exposed to so many fun things!








Poor Adelaide - I really had her wraped up to keep her out of the sun - we don't mess around =)

Productive day

This morning I woke up wanting to go to the zoo. Lucky for us, all of our friends were already busy, so we didn't go to the zoo. Instead we stayed home and I got so much done. We also had a lot of fun. The first thing I did was clean my fish tank. Anyone with a fish tank knows how unfun a job that is. I haven't cleaned it in over a year and a half!!! Poor little fish. Since Adelaide has been born I have just been good at making excuses of other things to do. So it took me two of her naps to get it cleaned compleatly. We then went to the fish store and I got a few new plants and some new fish. I have been wanting to keep guppies because that is what my grandma always had. I try to keep them, but never have much luck. I got two new females and two males, and then 3 little "pork chop" fish. They all seem to get on great with my other fish, and Adelaide has fun looking at them (and the bubbles). I'm going to do my best to keep it clean. Here is the best photo of it I could get...I've never been able to get a good fish tank shot!?



After that was all finished Adelaide crawled around the floor while I did yoga. It was so sweet, whenever I was doing downward dog she would scoot her face up right in mine and give me a kiss, or just smile at me. She is so sweet, and she thought it was pretty funny to see me doing yoga =)

After that we filled up the kiddie pool in the front yard. Actually I didn't fill it up, I put about a half inch of water in it...but that was enough to cool her off. She just keep dipping her toy in the water and then sucking the water off. I think she is going to be a good swimmer when she gets bigger though. Once she was on her tummy she was kicking her legs a lot!!

Clap those baby hands!

Yesterday when I said she learns a new trick every day, I wasn't kidding! Today Adelaide learned how to clap her hands!! She has been clapping her feet for a long time now, but today she finally figured out how to do it with her hands too. I'm so proud of her!

She learns new tricks every day =)

Adelaide has learned to make a beautiful new sound. She is really proud of herself! Right after I filmed this she spit a mouth full of sweet potatoes all over the place. Let the food fights begin!

Solids and what they do to Nursing

I wanted to write this because things change so fast, and I wanted to remember that this happened, just because it's something that I'm struggling with right now. Ever since we have been on 2 solid meals a day for Adelaide, it seems that she is loosing interest in nursing during the day. She still nurses great at night before bed, once in the middle of the night, and a few times in the morning. I just was afraid that I would loose my milk because she would only nurse once or twice during the day. I think part of the reason is because she is eating so well, she isn't hungry for milk. The other thing is that she is SO INTERESTED in the world around her, and is so easily distracted. She acts like she doesn't really have time to nurse...there are other more fun things to do. I guess it's a good sign that she is secure, and doesn't usually seem to need the attention or engagement with me that nursing gives her. I asked some of the mom's with older kids at our sign language class, and they all assured me that I won't loose my milk as long as she is nursing a few times a day. I also called Le Leche League to get more info. The woman I talked to wanted to know what I was feeding her, and said that all of the foods are really good ones for her. She said I could come to one of their meetings to talk to other moms as well. She assured me that things change all of the time, with mile-stones such as crawling, and also with teething etc. I know Adelaide has so much going on in her short little life so far, so I am going to just relax and know that she will do what she needs to do, and what is right for her. I just want her to get enough milk so that she has the immunity that she needs as well as all of the nutrients. I know that there is no food I can feed her that will give her as much good stuff as she gets from my milk.

What do you other mom's out there think? I hope to nurse her until she is around 2 years old...but I guess if she weans herself then that will mean she is ready?

Concert in the Park by our house

The park by our house will be having a concert in the park every Friday in July starting today. It's really fun, and we can walk to the park, so I'm hoping next week we can get some of our friends to come meet us. We think it will be fun to get there early next time and have a big blankie to hang out on. We can bring food, beer, games, anything we want to make it fun. The park is freaking giant... like 5 blocks across, so it's a good walk!



Adelaide swinging for the second time ever. She was getting a little sleepy by this time.



And on our way home. Sometimes Adelaide rides in the stroller like a big kid, and we leave the infant seat part at home. You can tell how proud she feels to be riding this way where she can see the other kids in their strollers. The park was FULL of kids...so she had a lot of action to check out =)

Scooter

Adelaide is almost crawling!!! She can scoot anywhere she needs to go. Now that she has been able to play on the wood floor, she can really get around. Here is a video of her. You can tell she will be crawling in no time!

Somebody doesn't like to wait for her dinner to be made

I think Adelaide must have been really hungry at this point, or maybe she was done eating and wanted to get down from her chair? Either way, I wanted to capture her sounds on a video just so I could show it to her later and see what she thinks =)She is always making new noises, and I never take the time to film the sounds of when she is frustrated...so I finally did here.

Back to the Zoo

We wanted to go to the zoo again today because it was so nice out! I have been bypassing the "great Northwest" part of the zoo the last few times, so this time that is where we went. They had a little family farm which was cute, although I was hoping there might be horses and cows and things like that. I wanted to pet them, but that wasn't really how it was set up. Myles and Adelaide still had fun on the tractor, and we also went to say hi to the Elephants. My favorite pictures from the day however are from the Sea lions. Somehow we got really lucky and there was nobody down there with Myles and Adelaide for my pictures! That is my favorite place in the zoo, down under the water. It's always nice and cool, and the sea lions are so beautiful. I really love them.

4th of July ~ I love it!

4th of July was always one of my favorite holidays growing up. It's because we would get together with ALL of the family, and there would be tons of kids playing and tons of grown up's having fun too. My family lived in Tahoe, so we would always be there, and it was an easy walk to the beach for the fireworks. I have really been trying to figure out something to do with Adelaide so that we have a tradition on this holiday, to keep the fun alive. I wasn't really sure what to do this year, because she is always asleep before dark, so I didn't think she would be up to see fireworks anyway. I was wrong though!

We started the day at the river again. I wanted to show Myles that awesome spot that the girls took me to, so we drove up there. Frances and Ezra met us and we all had fun swimming. I really wanted to get in the falls this time, but didn't want to go without Myles, and one of us needed to be with the baby, so I didn't do it. Maybe next time!!





Here is Adelaide taking a nap. This time we brought her carseat down - it was a great place for her to rest!


This is at the bottom of the falls. You can see it was more crowded down there, but still not bad. What a great place to swim =)


Once we got back to town we went to see some friends. Some of our friends (Billy and Courtney) moved into a new condo in the South Water Front of town. It was a beautiful place, and had PERFECT views of the fireworks! There were two shows going on at once - one up the river, and one down. Adelaide loved the fireworks and really watched them closley for quite a while. I think it would be fun to be right under them, but this was perfect as well. The weather was perfect, and she was awake to see it all(and they didn't even start until 10 pm). It was her first party =) By the time we got home she was pooped out. She didn't even wake up for her diaper change!

Here we are watching the fireworks ~

Good Morning fuzzy head =)

First time at the River ~

Let me start out by saying that I LOVE THE RIVER! Usually it's really cold water up here and you can't really get in and swim. Amazingly enough we did today, and it was awesome. Some of my mama friends showed me a great place over in Washington where there are waterfalls that you can swim in, and great little pools, and an easy short hike from the car. This is really important when you have to carry a baby and all of your stuff with you! Once again I had my trusty Costco umbrella which we have really gotten a lot of use out of. I know it's quite colorful, but it makes us easy to find in a crowd. I think Adelaide liked the river too. She loves water, and even though it was too cold to get her all of the way in, I did dip her toes and she liked it. She was giggling and trying to splash with her hands. It was a bit hard without a place to set the babies, but it was a great day. I love summer!


Here are two of my beautiful mommy friends and their precious babes ~


And a super hot little Punkie!

Cauliflower for breakfast

Today for breakfast Adlelaide had Cauliflower for the first time....and liked it! I am trying to introduce one new thing every 3-4 days. Right now it feels like there isn't much that she can eat. I am now trying to do more and more veggies, as I took some time to introduce some other grains, as well as egg yolk, yogurt and avocado, so now I need to get more greens into the mix! So today for breakfast she had califlower, and also some yogurt with mashed up avocado mixed in. She didn't really like avocado at first, so I am trying to sneak it in here and there because I know it's really good for her and she needs the good fats for her brain =) The same thing goes with the egg yolk. She wouldn't eat it plain mixed with my milk, so I have found other ways to get her to eat it. Last night I made her amaranth mixed with the yolk and some zuchinni. She ate a lot of that so I was glad. She really loves her pears and prunes, so I still give them to her with almost every meal, but just treat it a bit like dessert after she has eaten the other stuff. I'm so proud of her for doing so well.

Here is a list of what she can eat, or has tried so far:
Carrots, Organic Brown Rice (porrage), Watermellon, sweet potatoes, zuchinni, pears, banannas, peas, amaranth grain (porrage), avocado, yogurt, millet (porrage), egg yolk, cauliflower.

So what is next? I want to try asparagus, but I'm afraid we missed it at the farmers markets. Maybe we will do beets because I have some already prepared...or maybe some leafy greens like spinach? Who knows...but I'll keep ya posted =)

Zoo with more friends!

Today we met Lara and Damian (and then Molly a little later) at the zoo. It was such a fun day, and I was so glad to finally meet Damian and see Lara. I used to work with her a few years ago, and now that she is a mom too I'm hoping to see her a lot more =) It's really nice to have a friend with a baby a few months older, so I can get good advise on what's to come. She is a great mother and does a lot of things the same way's that we do, so I trust her!

We spent the whole day looking at the animals, and I learned a lot more about the Elephants. I think I can now tell the 3 cows apart, so next it's onto the bulls. I guess we have the biggest male elephant in the US..or maybe the world, at our zoo? And of course we have the baby "Sam" who will be 1 year old in a few months. It's going to be fun to watch him grow.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but here is Lara with the little ones. Adelaide loved Damian! They were really cute together.

Summer Bonnet

Best lil pooper in town

Today is our first day actually using our diapers that we will be washing. For some reason I've been so nervous about if I can do it... figure out how to wash them correctly etc. Now that Adelaide is eating real food, her poop is much more solid. Today after her breakfast she seemed to be straining, so I took off her diaper and held her over the toilet like we used to do. I still try this every now and then when I have nothing better to do, but usually nothing happens. Today however, she pooped right in the toilet!!! If she keeps this up we will be in great luck for washing the diapers. So far she is only pooping once a day, so I am going to keep an extra eye on her to be sure that I get her to the toilet when she needs to go =) I'm so proud of her!

Farmer's Market day

I love Sunday's. Today I got up and went to yoga at 9. It's amazing how much it helps me to get through the week. After yoga, we go to the farmer's market. This is so much fun now that Adelaide gets to try solids. I like to feed her locally grown veggies!! I am also trying to feed her only organic stuff, so the Sunday market is the best place to find this.

Baby Zucchini for the baby.

These guys always watch me cook.

Beauty of summertime!

Diaper Doody

I ended up buying 3 dozen of these unbleached pre-fold diapers. No more diaper service for us. These are actually a LOT softer and more absorbent than the diaper service diapers were...and we know what they've been used for, and whose poop and other bodily fluids have been on them =) Here they are after the initial 5 washings to get them all ready. I think I might have bought too many...but they are good for so many other things too, so it's okay. Now if we ever have another baby, we won't have to spend a dime on diapers if we don't want to. Imagine how much money that saves when you realize what people pay for disposables. Not to mention these diapers will break down very easily in a landfill!

But I really love this tree!

Yesterday we heard some cracking in the tree, the sound of a branch breaking. It didn't break all of the way, but was laying on the power lines coming into our house. I guess this may have been a blessing, as I was able to call the power company and have them come cut it down. I hope they don't charge us for that..I guess we will see on our next bill.

Last summer we lost a giant branch from the tree. This branch today wasn't as big, but was still made a big mess, and makes a big difference in the shade and view in our yard. It's nice because now the garden will get sun all day long! It just makes me sad because all of the tree people tell us that we need to cut it down, that it's not a strong tree etc...but it really is a huge reason that our yard is so amazing. I love big trees and have never been responsible for one before, so I want to be sure we do whatever is best for the tree. I've had many days hanging from my hammock chair from this tree. It's an important part of our house. Have you even known anyone so attached to a tree?

Here is the pile it made when it was cut down. The cats were playing in there pretending they were in the jungle =) It didn't take long for us to clean it up.

And here is how it looked once we were done. I like to keep the little sticks because they make it really easy to start a fire in our woodstove. I'm already getting ready for the winter ;)

Cherries

I picked these off of our tree today! We have the best cherry tree over our house. It's HUGE, and so frustrating, because I can only reach a few of the bottom branches. This means that there are millions of cherries for the birds and bugs and squirrels. One day I'll be able to come up with an idea of how to get them down. Until then I will settle for my small fair share of the bounty =)
Here is the tree - you can see how big it is! I can stand on the roof and reach a few branches.

Adelaide got to taste some cherries too. She got really mad when I took them away from her, but I could only let her taste, as I don't want her to get the peel or seed in her throat.