Did you see that?

Eli is or little daredevil. We hear comments from him all the time like; "WOW! See that?" or "uh-oh!" This is usually followed after his attempt to jump off of something unstable, or wreck... without getting injured too badly. And then he will repeat himself just for fun. He thinks these things are totally cool. He's just nuts sometimes! Even watching him run makes me nervous because his whole body looks like he's out of control and could fall at any given moment.

Last night we had a scary moment of when I could say, "yes, I saw that!" and I'm glad I did!

  Our couch in the living room backs up to some windows that are dressed with rolling shades. Eli saw a fly bouncing around the windows and wanted to kill it with the fly swatter. So he climbed on to the back of our couches so that he'd be the height of the windows. No big deal. Right? In the back of my mind, I was rooting for him to kill the fly too!

Luckily I was nursing Calvin in the same room, so I watched the whole thing happen, and I still don't know how it happened, but next thing I knew Eli had fallen off the back of the couch and was hanging with the cord of the blinds around his neck. I screamed and bounded across the room to lift him out of the scary predicament. It was seconds and my response was immediate. He wasn't hurt more than a rope burn around his neck, it was pretty sore and puffy last night, but faded to nothing more than a little red line around his neck that looks like a scratch.

It was just too close and too much for me. The thought of what might have been, or what might have happened if I hadn't been there just haunts me. It shook me up pretty good. Definitely not something I wanted to see. The flash of him hanging by his neck on that cord just replays in my mind.

It's him that I worry about slipping in the tub and falling under the water because he's goofing around (yes, we've saved him from would-be tub disasters before), or getting into some kind of predicament that will leave him hurt in some way.

It's for reasons like these- incidents that can happen all to commonly, and all too quickly that Brian and I have been fighting for 9 months about safety issues we've had with recent changes in the church parking lot, and the speed at which the increased users take when using the entrance that borders our house. It's a long story, and one I will record at a later time, but Brian appropriately compared our undertaking as trying to boil the ocean! It has seemed that way, nearly impossible at times! Over the past nine months, we've become experts in pedestrian fatality statistics, parking lot fatalities, and spot-the-tot statistics. We've had a lot of frustrating moments. Mostly that our battle takes place with people who are members of the church and should understand our concerns, yet we have to rely on them to get things done, and those "things" just don't get done.

Last week, however, we learned that a new manager of the project had been placed and within days we had speed limit signs placed and 4 speed bumps put in! It was a great success in our efforts. It was nice to see some changes finally happening.

Safety over my children is paramount in my prayers. At one moment I was feeling so overwhelmed with the responsibility of keeping them safe, and not having the support and resources to do that (regarding the traffic issues by our house), that I paused to say a little prayer about it on the way downstairs. As if in an immediate answer, I heard Jackson playing with his cars and trucks on the floor and singing "I am a Child of God." I felt the reassurance that these children were God's children too, and that they were just as important to Him as they are to me. I felt relief in knowing He would do all in his part to watch over and protect them...and He knows I am doing all I can to do the same.

Lazy days of summer...

This summer is almost over! I can't believe it. I think the last time when summer days were truly "lazy" I was young and living off the good graces of my mom. Back then, I had a chance to feel boredom. Thanks mom, for all you did for us each summer, because now I know what amount of work goes into each day! 

We just completed two weeks of swim lessons. They all did excellent! Eli was a wild man in the water. Jackson is learning to be a great swimmer. Zoey was cautious but did very well! 

 We got our first huge blackberries a few weeks ago! They are big and beautiful, but not too sweet. i'm hoping they will make great additions to cobblers or jam, toppings for oatmeal and ice cream and shakes. I'm excited to have these in our yard just as much as I love having our veggie garden!  

Here is our garden..or Brian's garden. I haven't had time to help him with it much this year, but am enjoying the fruits of his labors! It's beautiful and produces a lot of tasty veggies we love!

I've been lucky enough to have help come in the afternoons to be with the kids so I can nap, or get to the grocery store without all kids in tow. It's also been helpful for Dr. appointments and other errands to have her around and give the kids the attention they deserve, when I am unable to be around. She is AWESOME! the other day, she took snap shots of the kids playing on our back patio. I loved the funny faces they pulled. 

 Zoey is so good natured to play with her brothers and all the boy toys we have around. She makes a good companion for Jackson, although she likes to steal some moments to be by herself and play with her "girl things." She'll quietly go to her room and lay out all her accessories, dolls and ponies and just play very quietly by herself. I think she enjoys that time...

 Jackson has quite the budding personality. He has really silly moments and tries to be funny and get a laugh. He likes to be the boss/first/best in everything. He is going through a phase of testing limits, and trying to get by with the least amount of effort. If he has to make his bed, he'd rather sleep on top of the sheets. If he has to brush his hair, he'd rather cut it off. If he is asked to wash his hands after going to the bathroom, he'll use his elbow instead! The list goes on and on! He is super helpful at times, and at others, my biggest thorn. And sometimes when he thinks he is really helpful, he is just to opposite! He makes a great companion for running though. He rides his bike along while I jog and we make a good team. He loves to hold Calvin!

 Look at that sad face! Eli is in the "best of times and worst of times" phase. He can be the sweetest boy one moment and a monster the next. But whatever he does, he does it LOUD! There is nothing quiet about him. He walks loudly, talks loudly (I don't think he has the whisper decibel), and eats loudly. He gives the best hugs and kisses and is so sensitive to other's feelings. But the terrible two's are creeping in and I've seen a good share of some fantastic tantrums. He has learned good pouting techniques from is older siblings! Although he communicates really well, he is the best at combining words, my favorite is "EWK" a combination of Ewe and yuck. Usually said when changing a diaper :) At least he knows context!

I just did an update on Calvin, so I won't do it here, but these kiddos keep me busy! I love them!

Calvin is 2 months!

 First off, I know this is not a picture of Calvin, but I saw it on my camera and had to post it! Don't you ever feel this way?


Although Calvin still has some bad moments, he's been doing TONS better! We've had a lot of successes this month! YAY! We started off with some dry burps and a few good nights when Calvin only woke up 2 times. Who would have thought those things could be so exciting! At first I was counting them, but now I've lost track because there are too many good nights in a row that it just seems like the normal thing anymore.  I couldn't be more happy about that! At 7 weeks, he slept for 7 hours straight through! If only I could get him to repeat that!

He is smiling, and mom is smiling! I've tried to capture a few of those smiles, but they are so fleeting, and our camera is too slow to catch the cuteness! I love it when my babies start to smile, it's like a reward for all the hard work!

 He is showing a bit of personality and preferences. He prefers showers over baths, so much so that we have removed the bath out of our nighttime routine and now shower him in the morning. He's just different than any other baby I've had! He isn't much of a snuggler. He loves being outside, that's when we see him the most calm. He doesn't like the traditional cradle hold, but prefers to be held  upright or on his tummy with head nestled by my elbow. He rarely takes a binky-- although sometimes I wish he would! He likes routine and dislikes his carseat. I try not to run errands with him since he cries the whole time he is in the car.  And I'm pretty sure he can tell the moment I leave the house, because no matter what, he'll wake up from his nap and fuss until I return :) He also has meals times planned perfectly to the moment I sit down to eat too. It's like our biological clocks are tuned together or something, but as soon as I sit down to eat, he will also wake to nurse! Usually it means I am eating cold food, or food with one hand while I try to nurse, or I just let him cry until I am done eating.

I can't believe it's been two months. It seems like he's always been a part of our family. I wonder what month 3 will bring?! We love him and are grateful for him!

4th of July

We had a great holiday as usual. It was pretty low-key this year. Although one of Brian's favorite holidays, I wasn't up for much with having a new baby. We tried to make it a memorable holiday for him and the kids, and I think they would say it was a spectacular day!

I went for a 3 mile run (it's great to be back in the saddle!), Brian did some yard work, we took the kids to the pool while Judy watched Calvin, we had a small BBQ, and Brian took the kids to a firework show in PG while I stayed home with the baby. It was great. Just enough to celebrate! 

 We had 4th of July waffles topped with blueberries, raspberries, bananas and whip cream. A holiday tradition we all love!

 The kids swam their hearts out at the pool. Eli was a crazy man! He just wanted to jump into the pool from the side, saying "again, again!"Jackson and Zoey are getting to be good swimmers!

The kids thought the firework show was awesome! I wish I could have been there to see their reactions. The next day they asked "Is the fourth of July over?" Sadly, yes. Until next year!

Food Evolution

About a year ago, I mentioned to Brian "I wish I had a good vegetarian cookbook." We were eating one of our favorite (but few) meatless dinners we call "Spring Pasta". It's delicious and I wished back then that I had more great recipes like it, because honestly I have to beg my kids to eat their meat (unless it's fish) at dinnertime. They devour all kinds of carbs, fruits and vegetables, though, and it's hard to keep my fridge stalked fully with them.

So I guess you could say this has been a long time coming... this food evolution we are going through. Our mindset and tastes have changed a bit over the course of a year.

Since that wonderful dinner a year ago, we have come across educational movies such as "Food, inc" and "Back to Eden"(which also has a great website backtoedenfilm.com). I totally recommend watching these, probably better worth your time than other movies out there! My next "to-watch" item is "Fork over knives." These messages really resonate well with Brian and I.

They have not only been educational, but inspirational. We've read books and visited websites that have educated us to be more aware of what we are eating. I wanted to make the change to eat healthier and make better choices at the supermarket (not that we were very unhealthy, but there was room for change), but I was just too lazy. I was comfortable with what I bought and how I cooked.

It wasn't until dealing with Calvin's very sensitive tummy limiting my diet, that I come across this:

 This wonderful little chart has helped me a ton to manage what I could eat so that the breast milk I created was not too acidic for Calvin's tummy to digest. But I noticed how the majority of what I "could" eat, not all (I really only have to be careful of the very last column), were fruits and veggies....so I decided to take the plunge! I've been introduced to knew food ingredients such as spelt, and quinoa. I've ordered a few interesting "whole foods"cookbooks, and cookbooks on how to bake with grains other than white flour. I totally recommend these (although there are tons more I'd like to read and try):

This book has a recipe for whole-wheat chocolate chip cookies and other great stuff I have yet to try! 

and

Heidi also has a fab website called 101cookbooks.com. I love it!

It's been educational, eye-opening, and exciting. Our family has actually really liked the switch! Instead of planning meals around a meat dish each night, I will serve meat maybe half of our meals out of the week. We LOAD up with all the good stuff of fruits and veggies, and whole grains. It's been fun thinking of ways to serve as many fruits and vegetables in a meal as I possibly can. I've secretly been excited to see the refined snack products slowly disappear from our "snack" shelf and get replaced by better food.

Of course, there are some favorite dishes that I can't give up which include meat, or the use of white flour...but for the majority I think we are making a great change in the right direction!

So for what it's worth, the change I had to make for Calvin has been good after all, since it has pushed me to do what I've wanted to do for a long time, and have just been too lazy to do it! I have opened my eyes to be more aware of what I am feeding my family. I  think we are happier for it!

(I have seen a menu plan for 30 days of vegetarian meals, and I'm "thinking" of giving it a try... I'll let you know if I do, and how well it goes over with the family! I can do 30 days, right?!)