4 Months

Dear Lilah,
Today you are 1/3 of a year old! We have had many fun times together this month. At the beginning of this month, you were finishing up our trip in Florida. You spent your first night in New Orleans where Daddy carried you around in the sling all day. You were intrigued by the many interesting sights (and smells) of that city! You took a carriage ride around the French Quarter and got sprinkled with powdered sugar while napping at Café Du Monde.
You are right at the 14-pound mark now! This month you have discovered the glory of your own toes! You love to pull your legs up and grab onto your toes. It makes changing your diaper quite difficult. You started rolling over just one day shy of your 4-month birthday! You can now successfully roll from your back to your tummy! Once on your tummy you look around for a few minutes and then start fussing until I roll you back over. You have become increasingly vocal this month; you seem to discover a new sound that you are capable of making, and you repeat that sound over and over again until you come up with something new. Your laugh is starting to sound more like a grown-up laugh this month; you are especially giggly when Daddy blows raspberries on your neck! You are grabbing at everything including hair, noses, glasses, etc… You kept pushing Daddy’s menu off of the table the other night at dinner. You have fun laughing and watching the toddlers play at our weekly breastfeeding support group and cloth diaper playgroup.
You are still nursing around every 2 hours during the day; you still mostly sleep through the night, but you sometimes wake-up once at night for a quick nibble. You now get to hang out with Daddy every Thursday from 7:00-9:00pm because I am finally getting back into the yoga studio! I was nervous the first time, but you and Daddy have a great time going shopping and walking around local stores. I have to make sure to fill you up before I leave because we recently discovered that you absolutely refuse bottles!! You have no idea how to eat from a bottle at all; it is pretty funny!
This month you also had fun at the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings, you silently take all of the sights in from the safety of your sling. You also went to your first Astro’s game! Daddy scored dugout tickets from work; you slept through the majority of the game, but you will have plenty of opportunity to enjoy the games in the future. You also took your first trip to Aggieland where you got to sit in Mommy and Daddy’s old booth at Fitzwilly’s. Perhaps you will spend Friday nights with your friends in that same booth one day! ☺
It has been a fast and fun month BG (now pronounced as beege); I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Love,
Mom

525,600 Minutes...

August 18, 2008: One year ago today, I woke up after Chris had already gone to work, peed on a stick, and three minutes later was greeted by this:

August 18, 2009: Today, I woke up after Chris went to work, rolled over and was greeted by this:

Amazing how much your life can change in just one short year!!

Think Globally, Eat Locally!

Sorry again for the lack of posts lately! I sat down to write 100 times and never got to actually post anything!
So to catch up first; we had a fabulous time in Florida! We rounded out the trip with a quick overnight trip in New Orleans.
While on vacation, I finally got around to reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. . It documents a family's mission to live on locally produced foods only for a year! I highly recommend it to anyone involved in agriculture (HINT: If you eat, you are involved in agriculture!!) I also recommend reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I can't wait to see Food, Inc., a new documentary with a similar message. Over the last two years, Chris and I have really made strong efforts to become better stewards of our environment. We have made a conscious effort to eliminate any material that we feel is not a safe option for ourselves or our environments. Everything from soap, shampoo, household cleaners, laundry detergents, medications, diapers, wipes, sunscreen, etc... to food options, food packaging, recycling, etc... It was been an exciting journey and this past weekend we were ready to take it to the next step. I finally decided that I was done paying a premium for commercially produced organic meat in the grocery store because 1) it is wildly expensive and 2) I still have major issues with the questionable farming practices and insane transport of said meat. I found a family in Brenham that raises their own grass-fed cows, pastured pigs, and free range chickens! Saturday, we drove out to beautiful Brenham, TX where we were graciously greeted by Jason Kramer of Yonder Way Farm. We spent an hour or so chitchatting with Jason about sustainable farming practices before loading up our coolers with over 40 pounds of meat and heading home.
There is something special about sitting down for a meal at home and knowing exactly where this meat came from. I know for a fact that the chicken we eat tonight lived a happy and healthy life at Yonder Way. If I ever needed to know anything about our meat, I can pick up the phone and call the Kramers (at their home!) and ask any question! Can you say the same about the food you buy at the grocery store?
We have now completed a major step in our plans to eat as locally as possible! Our local organic produce co-op provides us with a mystery box of fresh veggies and fruit every Wednesday! Now that we get our meat, produce, and eggs from local sources, we need very little from the grocery store (rice, olive oil, flour, pasta, etc...) It makes you feel good inside to know that you are doing what is best for your family and that you are supporting other local families!!
To finish up this post, I leave you with a picture of the Bean at Fitzwilly's in College Station next to our initials (written in 2006, I believe, in the booth we sat at EVERY Friday night while at A&M)