Our baby the vampire

Audrey likes beets same as her mom.

this means war

our family of three has been eaten by chiggers. joshua's answer is to scratch until the skin bleeds; the baby and i try to ignore the itching and act like it does not bother us. our neighbors are trying to spread a bug killer over the yard in an effort to kill them all. if it works we will be able to enjoy our summer, if not then the war will be on. details to follow.

green is the new black

my neighbor came over to help me make yogurt last week. it was an idea i had because i was having trouble finding the baby yogurt at my local grocery store. she told me what ingredients to purchase and we set a date. i do not want you thinking i am a granola type: a vegetarian driving a hybrid who always recycles. maybe that is the woman i would like to be, however, life gets in the way for me. i try to recycle and i have a relatively fuel-efficient car. but i sometimes forget to bring my grocery bags when shopping and the baby and i drive around a lot. this makes me feel like i am ruining my child's future by poisoning the earth. so i stopped buying so much processed baby food and started shopping the farmer's market for local produce. last week it was turnips, the week before beets. and it really has not been that hard to turn the produce into baby food. all i needed was a blender or food processor and some encouragement. that came in the form of my neighbor, diana. she stopped by while i was writing this post. "people in tents make this stuff," she said. not the pureed produce but the yogurt. i am sure they use a mortar and pestle to process their veggies. however it is done, it is easy. so back to the yogurt. i picked up a small container of plain yogurt with live, active cultures and some milk. since this batch was for baby i got whole milk. i also cleaned a few of my canning jars to store the end product. diana came over and told me the plan. there was no recipe, just a little of this and some of that. for this batch we used almost an entire half gallon of milk and a 6 ounce container of yogurt. we first brought the milk to 200 degrees slowly and whisking the entire time. this keeps the milk from scalding. after we got the milk to 200 degrees we had to let it cool back to around 100 degrees before adding the yogurt. "so we do not kill the cultures," diana explained. i whisked the milk for the first half of the cool-down time and then let it alone. it took a little longer for me because i have culinary quality pots and they retain heat. after the milk was cool we added a small amount to the yogurt, "like when you make gravy," diana told me, "so lumps do not form." then we mixed it together and poured it into the canning jars. you have to keep the yogurt warm for an hour or two while it sets up so we put it in my oven. i have a warming feature that keeps it toasty. while the yogurt sat we gabbed about children, life, and everything else. i learned a lot about diana that day. and that was the best part of yogurt making, friends. i shared my batch with another girlfriend who made me preserves. she mentioned that the yogurt had a great taste to it. the store bought plain yogurts have a little bite to them but not mine. it is mellow and mixes well with anything. audrey loves it. i do not think i will make my next batch alone, yogurt is more fun with friends. and you need someone to entertain your child while you whisk.

under new management

joshua says i should post links to my blog on the lawrencian. i am uncertain if i will do that. it is not that i dislike readers but i think of stuff in the paper as being newsworthy and this is just my thoughts. my thoughts and cute pictures of my daughter. who goes to a news site for that? also, i am making a few changes to the ol' blog so if you like, or don't like, something please let me know.

playing with words

someone posted this on my message board and it has been running through my mind every since.

Blocks, baby

She is building a fort with her mind

adventures on the changing table

audrey learned to turn herself over on the changing table. she grabs the side with the opposite hand and pulls real hard. then she worms around until her knees are under her and she tries to move that way. she will not do this on the floor, just on the changing table. the first time she did it with joshua she bumped her head on the dresser and screamed for a bit. as soon as you get her on the changing table she has to do this. consequently, i am trying to dress a squirming baby or one who is backwards. i can try to turn her over to finish putting on a diaper or outfit but it usually results in her squirming more. if you have seen the movie sixteen candles then you will get the picture when i say dressing her is like samantha putting on her sister's shoe at the wedding. there should be an olympic event for this. she has also been real fussy the last two days and i asked joshua last night if we could trade her in on a quieter model. she is almost 7 months and really going strong.

Go baby

She likes her walks. Now I know why. She chews on the straps.

a mind of her own

there has been so much going on that i have not had time to blog about it. audrey and i are very busy women. we go until bedtime, then we sleep. speaking of sleep, audrey changed her sleep schedule suddenly this week. yesterday and today she slept until 5:30 for her feeding and then went back to bed until 8 or 8:30. this threw off the rest of the day so we ended up not having the last nap and taking shorter naps the rest of the day. i like the sleeping in part but i am not sure i want to lose the sleep time during the day. that is when i get stuff done. i may have to live with it. she has also been working on her pincher grasp and has gotten puffed cereal in her mouth on several occasions. it may not seem like much but this is the first step to feeding herself. food is still a challenge. i have been working on feeding her organic foods that i process myself. it is not that hard but it does take a little more time. i made her yogurt and she had steel cut oats yesterday. i need to go so i can feed precious her breakfast.

Busy baby

I am typing mom, quit taking my picture.

typical saturday

we had a blast at the farmer's market. there were dogs and people to stare at, coffee for mom, and red carrots and turnips for baby. she is having trouble napping right now. the second nap of the day is supposed to be for around an hour and the last one 30 minutes. yesterday she got that confused and it looks to be the same today. i need to go so that i can finish getting ready so we can go grocery shopping. baby needs yogurt and bananas, mom needs cottage cheese, and dad needs diet mt. dew.

technical issues

I am having issues with the link to my phone. Hope to have them resolved soon as I love that feature. I will try to send the cute picture again soon.

audrey's life

here is my latest fun. it isnt very good because i had no idea i was supposed to be funny today. maybe i will be funny later.

Genetics

She sleeps like her momma.

life lessons

the life of a baby is ever changing and there are so many things to learn. for instance, this week we have learned:

1. water is for bathing in, not breathing
2. daddy reads the best bedtime stories
3. concrete is not a good place to learn to crawl
4. mommy's toes do not come off
5. tears almost always garner a hug
6. daddy does not think about seasons when dressing baby

this last one has an accompanying picture.

it is june and 80-90 degrees each day. it may be hard to tell from the picture but the bottoms are fleece. she is going to die if i leave her in this outfit. but, he did get her up for me and dress her. and yesterday i was able to sleep in until 10. it was amazing.

Sleeping beauty

My angel sleeps with her face in the bumper.

summer time in lawrence

it was a great weekend. we went to the farmers market, played on the swings, celebrated fathers day, and went to dinner. then the baby slept at larissa's and joshua and i caught a movie. i am relaxed. i did have to work a bit this weekend because my employee has sporadic attendance. that was not fun. we are off to my breast feeding support group and then back to the office. our lives are so full. i will try to get more up later.

Happy fathers day

Baby read her card to dad.

Kansas baby

Playing in south park. It is hard to tell but that is a grin. She
loved the swing. We are pulling out grass now, in the shade.

my angels

audrey and her dad

babies and trash

the life of a baby is ever changing, ever evolving. lil miss is sitting fairly well, trying to stand when you hold her up, and sort of attempting to crawl. that last one is sporadic. she is getting better about riding in the car on our way to the grocery store or the gym. and she still has a fondness for shopping. just the other day we spent hours looking for new toys and finally located a bag of wooden blocks and plastic connecting toys. she was pretty happy with the blocks. the plastic toys went to the tub with us and she sort of bats them around. her favorite toy in the tub is a disposable, red, plastic cup. of all the floating ducks, squirting frogs, and plastic connectors, she likes the cup best. why is it that the non-toys interest my baby more than the stuff i paid good money for? she loves foil wrappers, my stainless thermos, junk mail, and spoons. she also likes to chew on the reusable grocery bags i take with us to the store. her favorite is the purple one. she also likes the one made from used juice containers. it is colorful. i do not think i will be spending much more on toys but rather gathering up the odds and ends from around the house for her amusement. she has been a real delight today. which is good because there were a few days of terror. i will try to get up the cute picture i took this morning.

more adventures in kansas

we are having a good time back in lawrence. it has taken a few days to get adjusted and we still have not unpacked. i should say me and not we, lil miss cannot take care of her own clothing yet. speaking of clothing, her dad has been getting up with her in the morning and dressing her before bringing her to me. this should be normal except he has the oddest way of dressing her. the first morning it was a pair of overalls, no shirt. the next it was a forth of july one piece. and this morning it was a small top and pant set that looked like pajamas and was decidedly too small. i redressed her today. i try not to say anything because he is helping and who can complain about that. it is just funny. it may have something to do with the fact that her clean laundry is sitting in a basket instead of hanging in the closet. i would work on the laundry but audrey has been very needy the last few days. today i can at lease set her down for small periods before she screams. i know it is a phase but i am tired today and i want her to play by herself with the cool blocks i found for her. at least she still naps, i should not complain.

Card night

Old people can stay up late if there are cards involved.

saturday in the park

this trip has been great. my sister helps out a great deal with the baby, the cousins love to keep her entertained when we are on the road, and little miss is sleeping well now that she is used to her travel bed. we have spent so much time away from home she is starting to think that is her bed. i take it with me where ever we go and now i can put her down for a nap when she is tired rather than waiting until we get home. we all went to the pool today and every one had a good time except audrey. she screamed when we got in the pool so i moved to the toddler area and sat her at the edge. she screamed there as well. she finally learned to tolerate the water but not before i got beaned in the head with a water gun. a group of rowdy boys threw the toy in the air so high that when it hit me i was stunned for a moment. i had no idea what happened and it was all i could do not to drop the baby. my sister got in the pool and disiplined the boys because there was not a parent to be seen. after i recovered they started playing right in front of me and splashed water in the baby's face. i lost it then and told them to go to another area of the pool and stay out of my sight. i have a nice little knot on my forehead now from my relaxing day at the pool. war wounds from a saturday outing with the family.

Water baby

She likes watching more than swimming

Family

Audrey is learning music from Uncle Sam

Cousins

Kissin' cousins

Austin baby

Audrey is enjoying being spoiled by relatives. Aunt Cheryl fed her
this morning.

baby and grandpa montgomery

world travelers

we are home, briefly. and she sleeps. for some reason when we fly with joshua she screams the entire way home from the airport. i have yet to figure out why. it may have something to do with the fact that several times she was almost asleep and joshua would yell at the radio. he has an opinion about everything. i kept trying to get him to turn down the radio so she could sleep but then he could not hear over her fussing so he would turn it up. it was self fulfilling. i need to unpack and repack for our trip to austin in the morning. and i mean texas this time. i had no idea there was another one until i found out my mother-in-law was from austin, minnesota. we may go there for the burial service for joshua's grandma. it is undecided. what we have planned is a trip to the lake cabin. baby gets to learn to swim in a cold minnesota lake. rhonda promises it will be warm. last time i was there i froze, in june. we just have to find some cheap and easy way to get to fargo by plane without 10 stops. no one goes to fargo so it is a little difficult. i found a cool product called google reader which pulls from all the blogs i read when there is a new post. that way i only have to visit one site for everything. check it out. more tips to come. i am having more fun with this blogging thing recently.

Just like dad

She is starting her mt dew fixation early

Silly baby

I chew foil.

audrey's 6 month birthday

happy 6 months

so i have been publishing a lot of pictures without a lot of text. this is because i have finally learned how to mobile blog. i can take a picture with my phone and email it instantly to my blog. i can write but i found that sending pictures is easier. i hope this is of enjoyment to all. we are still in milwaukee enjoying the in-laws. i have been able to sleep in two mornings in a row. little miss gets up with grandma and i am able to have an extra 30 minutes to relax. today is audrey's 6 month birthday. we are thinking about having a little celebration. maybe we will get her a cupcake to gum.

Lake Michigan

Baby likes the beach.