No More Baby

I forgot to let everyone know, C is graduating from baby to mobile infant. Of course, he has been pretty mobile for a long time, but we didn't have to worry about the stairs yet. C had never shown much interest in them. Well last weekend he surprised Dave and I both when he straight up crawled to the stairs and climbed right up. He didn't even stop to check his progress. He just went right on up. Needless to say, we went out that night and bought a new baby gate. We got the kind that has a door on it so we don't have to step over it every time we want to go upstairs. It's super annoying though. I guess I never realized how much I go up and down the stairs. Oh well. Here he is climbing up...

Also, this morning was C's 6 month make-up check-up (he's 8 months old). We missed his initial 6 month appointment because I had lost my mind apparently. So today was the make-up. It also became his 9 month check up because he was doing all the things a 9 month old should be doing and he is so close anyway. He weighs 17 pounds 14 ounces which puts him in the 50% for his weight. He was in the 20% for his head size and height though. They also heard a slight heart murmur but acted like it was nothing, so I'm not going to fret too much about it. Shots weren't too bad. He cried as he was getting them, but the second I picked him up he stopped. That's always hard though, seeing your baby in pain like that. Here is a very happy C.

This Friday we have an appointment with C at Children's Mercy to get his "thingy" looked at to finally have it circumcised. It almost makes me a little nervous that this is finally happening. I'm so used to it the way it is, sometimes I just think about not doing it at all. But I know we will prob. do it. Anyway, this little guy little guy is doing just great and we couldn't be more blessed.

The Permission of a 3 Year Old

Has anyone out there who is around kids a lot realized how much we ask their permission for something? I had read about this a long time ago but never really thought about till I noticed myself doing it today. "We're going to leave in 5 min., okay?" "We're going to have grilled cheese for dinner tonight, okay?" Okay? Not okay. I remember reading how this phrase was not okay. We should not be asking our kids if anything is okay that we have planned. We are their parents. Giving a kid the kind of power where they can say, "Not okay" isn't good. Well, according to this article it wasn't. So just 10 min. ago I said to E, "We're going to have mac and cheese for lunch and then it's nap time, okay?" Why am I asking her if this is okay. If she would have said, "No Mommy, this is not okay" I still wouldn't have changed anything. All it set me up for was a possible fight with her. Thankfully she said, "okay". But I realized just how easy "okay" slips into the end of my sentences to her.

Anyway, that's just my little rant for now. Thought it was funny.

Organic Grocery Shopping

I went grocery shopping today (by myself I might add, which is always nice) at HyVee. Before I left, Dave and I made a list of everything we needed, which we always do, but usually always add more too it. Today I was determined to stick to my list! I am currently reading the book Skinny Bitch. If you have never heard anything about this book, it's pretty life changing. This whole book is about of course, how to eat healthy, why you should eat healthy, and what food does to your body. There is a whole couple chapters on how meat is raised, killed, and processed. It grossed me out! It was horrible to read! I actually had to skip a couple of pages in one of the chapters that was interviewing people that work at some of those places because of the things they were telling that goes on in there. The digusting and horrible things that they do to the animals and then that happen to the meat that we eat. Sick! So, needless to say, I have not ate any meat in the last 2 weeks. We have been drinking almond milk as well.

So anyway, on with the grocery store story. I went to the grocery store with the full intention of buying as healthy as possible. And healthy I did! I ended up talking with this lady that worked there and she told me about all these great local products that are purely organic. AND she showed me chicken breasts that were locally grown without any hormones or mistreating the animals. Oh how I have missed chicken. It looked a little different then other chicken breasts of course. Not as big and not that pale pink. It was smaller and was a bright pink. I bought a few and Dave grilled it. It was delish. Couldn't even tell the difference except for the size. AND it was SOOOOO much better for us.

That was just the beginning of my awesome shopping. I was introduced to Morning Star Veggie Dogs (meat-less corn dogs) for Emery (which she had for dinner tonight and ate the whole thing). Just about everything I bought was organic and/or local and/or healthy! Now, I will say, with as little as I got, I spent a lot more than we usually do. I have always read that buying healthy/organic is more expensive, but that sucked.  But it's all worth it when I know me and my family are putting the best thing possible into our bodies.

I must be a little crazy....

I am making this my title for 2 reasons. First, I went to the doctor today because I seriously thought I could possibly be going crazy. My mind has just been in a million different places at once. I wanted to get back on some sort of medication for my ADD. And so, I went and I got some new meds and I'm waiting to start them tomorrow. Second reason for being a little crazy, I have stopped eating meat. LET ME EXPLAIN!

I don't want to sound all crazy hippi on anyone, but I have been reading this book 'Skinny Bitch' and there are a few chapters on how the whole meat processing goes. How the animals are treated and what the packaging factories are like. I can barley look at a chicken breast anymore. Now, if you know me, you know that I come from a carnivore family. My Uncle Phil makes the worlds best ribs and my Grandpa smokes the worlds best everything! But I just can't get over the ickyness of it all! On top of that, the way the animals are treated before and during the whole killing and skinning process is crazy! I have found vegan chicken that I buy and eat and it's just fine. I also ran into a crazy vegan lady at the super market and she gave me all this information and all these names of people and farmers who can help me with my vegetarian/vegan journey.

I have also made the household choice to stop bringing milk into the house. We are now an almond milk family. It has taken E a little while to get use to the almond milk, well actually, she still isn't really use to it. She is drinking a lot more water than anything, but hey! Her poop is finally getting to be more regular!  As soon as C can get off the boob juice we will start him on almond milk. So he really won't know the difference.

So all in all, our grocery shopping as taken quite a turn. We are buying a lot more fruits and veggies, and our freezer has been meatless for a few weeks now.

Going Green

So I'm really not much of a green person, but I do my little bit to save the earth. We use wash cloths in the kitchen instead of paper towels. We are trying to get into our budget to purchase a rain barrel to use for watering the plants this summer. While on this quest, I started thinking about how else I could be a little "greenier" without spending a fortune. Solor power to power the house?! Expensive. Growing a full on garden, time consuming and I have no where to do so. How about the easiest thing of all to do....recycle! Nope! Costs MONEY! And then I couldn't believe it. How we are slowly killing our planet and everyone is like, "Go Green" "Recycle" but pay us to do it. Think, if recycling was free, most everyone would prob do it! Why do they have to charge for such a silly thing. Anyway, there is my rant for the day.