More Pictures

ND vs. Purdue

Here is a video of Daniel, Erin, and Kristin enjoying the weekend. I promise more pictures of the wonderful weekend soon. Having Billy and Claire there with us made it extra special. We have a really busy week ahead of us. On Wednesday I'm heading to the World Dairy Expo, and Daniel and the nanny are going to come meet me for lunch. I think he will really enjoy the cows.

Have a great week!

Baby Food Bonanza

I found that there was an overwhelming amount of support out there for breastfeeding. There is lots of information online, there are support groups galore, and there are lactation consultants. There were classes before having the baby and in general I just found that there was a lot of breastfeeding information. So when Daniel's doctor said that he was ready for solid food, I thought there would be a similar amount of information. I don't think that there is, and the information that is out there is even more conflicted than the typical baby advice. I really didn't think that was possible.

The doctor's instructions were on the order of, "Give him some rice cereal and then some fruits or veggies once a day and he will probably move to twice a day pretty soon." They also gave me a sheet that has about two paragraphs of information. Don't they realize that they are talking to an engineer? I need amounts and specifics. There are lots of choices, too: organic, regular, homemade. How am I supposed to know what's best? The general consensus seems to be, feed your baby enough, but not so much that it interferes with breastfeeding. Ok great. Does that mean one jar or two?

So we are just winging it here. Daniel seems happy, so we must be doing something right. The one challenge with this approach is how to tell a babysitter or the nanny what to do when I'm gone. I really can't decide these things so far in advance. Oh well, Daniel will survive.

As far as the organic/regular/homemade thing goes. I'm kind of using a mixed approach. I'm making things like sweet potatoes and carrots which require fairly little effort, and I'm buying the rest that is available organically. Since he is still under six months, his choices are limited. In an effort to keep expanding his diet, I'm introducing some regular baby food. The don't make organic stage 1 squash. Thankfully my grocery store now carries a store brand organic baby food. The Earth's Best was a bit pricey.

Daniel really loves eating. He sometimes makes the Mr. Yuck face when we give him new foods. He was not fond of pears or bananas at first, but seems to like them ok now. I just can't give him two big bites of either one in a row. His favorite food is peas. He absolutely loves them. I had to stock up at the store this week. The only green things out there for stage 1 (under 6 months) are avocadoes and peas.

I wonder if every new thing for the next 18 years is going to be like this?

Life at the Lee House

I'm trying to think where to start for today's post. So much is going on. I guess I'll start with the bad news...

- We all have a cold right now. It stinks. Daniel is already on his third nap today. He is just not himself when he feels bad. I guess none of us are really. I had hoped to run a bunch of errands today, but we decided to stay home and lay low instead.

... and the good/bad news ...

- The roofers started on our new roof today. It's good because we need one. Bad because we have to pay for it. The bonus is that I'm getting them to install a new front door and screen door. The gold spray paint and slamming door must go.

- We had a suprise visit from Aunt Katie! She was stranded in Chicago because of Hurricane Ike. We were glad she came up for the day, but living in a place hit by a hurricane is no fun.

... and the good news ...

- I had a chance to make Daniel some carrot baby food since we were stuck at home. Nothing like pureeing bunches of steamed carrots. I'm still figuring out this homemade baby food thing. I keep buying too much of the raw ingredients. I purchased the organic carrots at Costco where the smallest bag is 10 pounds! I made Daniel about 30 servings of carrots, and I still have about 8.5 pounds of carrots left. If anyone has any good carrot recipes, let me know. I think I'll post more about the baby food later.

- ND is looking like a much better team this year. It's so nice to go in to work after a win instead of a loss. GO IRISH!

Alright, I know there is more good news, but it's escaping me right now. I had a plan when I started this post. I've quickly forgotten it. Here are a few pictures of Daniel.

Is this a sign of things to come?

Friday Update

So I'm going to post one more video from Portland of Daniel and Maggie on the beach. He was just being too cute. Do you guys prefer the YouTube videos or the Blogger videos better? I'm not sure which one has better quality.

Also, last night we went to a Great Big Sea concert with Peggy and Dan and our friends Charlie and Nancy. Our seats were awesome box seats, and we all had a blast. The pictures are not super great, but I think you'll be able to tell we had a great time.

Nancy gives instructions on making a chin.

Daniel's Second Business Trip

On Sunday evening Daniel and I headed to Portland, Oregon, for a business trip. I had to visit a community manure digester. Who ever thought that those words would come out of my mouth? The nice thing about this project is that there is a need out there for this sort of project, and it is fairly interesting from the sustainability perspective. From the raw manure you end up with solids for compost or soil additives, renewable energy, greenhouse gas emission reduction credits, potential renewable energy credits, and liquid fertilizer. That is pretty good considering that we are starting with a waste product.

We stayed with Aunt Maggie and had an extra day to play around Portland. She has a great condo and was a wonderful hostess. The trip was quick and kind of exhausting but worth it nonetheless.

Daniel and Aunt Maggie loved our tapas and wine!

Playing on the beach.

Goofy beach faces.

Cannon Beach

The Goonies Rock.

Daniel and I playing on the beach.

More Fun with Baby

Saturday Morning

Well, actually I'm going to start with Friday. Our day yesterday reminded me of what life was like before having a baby. I went to the gym and left Daniel in KidsCare. We came home for a nap. Then I dropped him off at the Lee's for a few hours and got my nails done and went to Babies'R'Us. Well, no BRU trips before baby, but it's still shopping. After I picked him up we headed to the Union for happy hour and then to church for a Young Adult BBQ. He was great all day long and was totally pooped when we got home. Well, that didn't last too long. He was up at 11 pm and again at 4 am. Totally miserable at 11 and wanting to play at 4. I managed to get him back down sometime around 5:30 and he slept until 8:30. I think I remember hearing a woodpecker or some varmit in the early morning hours. We'll have to look into that. Of course this happens when Matt is out of town. Anyway, I suspect that the next bunch of teeth is on its way. Either that or he is still figuring out how to digest solid foods. I think prunes are getting added to the diet today.

Aunt Kelly has requested more videos, so here is one of Daniel playing this morning. It is a bit longer than others. I kept holding out for a smile, but I never got one. Enjoy!

We Miss You Healy

Yesterday, the Lee's had to put their older dog, Healy, to sleep. She was a wonderful friend and companion for the whole family. We will miss her dearly.

Labor Day Weekend

Here are a few more recent photos. We took Daniel to the pool over the weekend. He loved it! It is amazing how much easier it is to interact with him now that he is so much stronger. I think all this added play is making him more sleepy. He fell asleep in the gym again on Tuesday morning. Then he took about seven 30-minute naps that day. I guess it takes a lot of energy to learn new things continuously.

Recently he has been studying his toys and hands. I catch him holding and looking at objects all the time. I feel like he spends hours doing this each day. It is so amazing to just watch him learn. It is fairly normal baby stuff, but for some reason, I'm particularly interested in this aspect of Daniel's development.

We have started to see bits of our personalities in Daniel. Well, at least that's what I'm going to think for now. He is persistent like me. He will work for many minutes and make many unsuccessful attempts to reach a toy without getting frusterated. Like Matt, he sometimes thinks things over a bit before accepting them.

This weekend Matt is off to ND, so Daniel and I are going to have some alone time. Then on Sunday Daniel and me are going on a business trip to Oregon. Aunt Maggie is going to help out with the kiddo while I have to visit the manure digester. Who knew that I would spend hours a day discussing and thinking about cow manure? On the plus side, it is fun to be involved in an innovative project that also satisfies many renewable and reuse needs and the farmers are enjoyable to work with.

Decorating Update

So I never really thought that the decor of our family room would change into Rainforest by Fisher Price. On the floor right now we have the rainforest gym, bouncer, and the jumperoo. We also have an interloping Baby Einstein exersaucer. I retired the pack'n'play to make room for the entire rainforest collection. We might actually have every piece of rainforest gear. Oh no, they have a high chair that we do not have. It is hard to believe that Daniel already has retired toys. Then again there are the toys that he has used almost every day for four months, well maybe only one, the bouncer. It is the most well-utilized toy we have. Sorry I don't have any cute pictures to go along with the commentary. I'll be sure to take some :)