Do Over....Please!

Yesterday morning was....interesting. Before Gunnar, Julius and I even made it halfway down the stairs, crying, pouting and general disobedience were already taking place. A few minutes later, Layla came down to join the rest of the family and added to the already chaotic environment. By the time Nate was kissing us all goodbye and wishing me a better turnout of the day, I had made my decision that we needed a "do over."

All four of us watched daddy drive away and then we marched back upstairs to bed. I let Layla and Julius take a magazine to their beds, and Gunnar came to bed with me. For the next 25 minutes I rested my eyes and Gunnar quietly laid next to me. I could hear Layla and Julius enjoying their magazines in their room. After almost a half and hour, the baby was ready to get up. The four of us headed back downstairs and enjoyed a more peaceful morning routine. Sometimes you just need to ask, "Can I start over?" Thank goodness, yesterday we could!

Links for Delaying Solids

At the request of a friend, I wanted to offer some links to articles regarding the delaying of solid foods in an infants diet. Here ya go!

Why Delay Solid Food?

It's Baby Food Time

Heed Natural Timing before Infant Introduction to Solid Foods


I really enjoyed rereading over this information again. I hope you enjoy it too!

First Day of School

We had our first day of school today, along with all the other local kids. We watched the buses whiz by our house as we sat at the dining room table to do our work. We kept things pretty light and easy today, like we always tend to do. We will save the hard core studies for when they are older. Julius worked on some letters sounds and tracing over letters. He also did a bit with shapes. Layla stuck with some basic addition. She was having a hard time concentrating with Julius at the table. She is not used to having another student around! She kept wanting to help him with what he was doing, but she needed to focus on her own work. The baby was getting a bit frustrated that he was not at the table, so I set him up with some crayons and a coloring book. After just a bit of work it was back to all play. In the afternoon we read the first two chapters of Gulliver's Travels. Layla was not excited at first, but after just a few pages she was very in tune to the story. She even wanted to discuss the book at dinner. She was curious why those little people tied Gulliver up and took him as their prisoner. All in all a great start to the school year!

My Three Snuggle Bugs

Officially Weaned

This little man hasn't nursed for the past week, so I'd have to say that a chapter is finished in his precious life. No longer a baby, but on to becoming a big boy. 17 1/2 months of nursing. Wow! I have never done that before, lol! Layla only nursed for 10 1/2 months and poor Julius only did about 7 1/2. I feel horrible, but my views on health and nutrition were so different a few years back.

I think the reason I was able to successfully nurse so long is because I handled his food introduction much different than with my other two kids. With Layla and Julius I began introducing cereal around 4 to 5 months and quickly proceeded to fruits and vegetables. Layla got exclusively homemade baby food and Julius got only store-bought baby food. I noticed that as soon as I did this, nursing became less and less of a priority to both them and me. They struggled to nurse efficiently throughout the day and then wanted to chow at the milk bar all night long. It was not fun times.

But with Gunnar, I had read some interesting theories on food introduction that differed quite a bit from what conventional doctors and baby sources teach. Four months, five months and six months passed and I exclusively nursed. Around six months of age, about once or twice a week I would give him a little bit of mashed up avocado. And then, still only once or twice a week, I would let him have some mashed banana. These special treats only happened between nursings, so that they would not fill him up and make him too full to nurse. This happened over a period of 3 or 4 months.

During this time I made sure he had lots of "tastes" of goodies from our meals, but never very much, because I didn't want to take away from the priority of nursing. This way his taste buds became very accustomed to tastes and flavors of what we ate, without diminishing his feedings.

Gunnar at 10 months old

At 10 months old I began to feed him several times a week, and by12 months old he was eating most meals with us, right from our table. This kid never saw a lick of baby food. And I can say from experience that getting to feed your little one right from your table is much easier then hassling with baby food, whether you are making your own, or stocking up at the store. Plus, he has been my least picky eater because he knew no different than what we eat everyday. This kid will eat everything from fish to Brussels sprouts, beans to pork, you name it, this kids is likely to eat it (on most days).

At 12 months old, Gunnar was still nursing early in the mornings, before both his naps each day, when he went to bed and a few times in the night. As the months past and he grew older, he dropped his morning nap, which dropped a feeding. Soon he was no longer needing to nurse in the morning either. By 16 months old, he was rarely nursing in the day and only nursing about twice a night. These last few weeks he dropped to one nursing at night. Last week I decided that I was ready for a full nights sleep, and I quit nursing him entirely. The first night or two he seemed a bit put out, but since then he has been good. I am happy that I was able to give him such superior nutrition for the past year and a half and I wish I could have done better for my first two kids. I will definitely be proceeding very slowly with food with my next baby since I feel it made all the difference with successful nursing and created an excellent eater. Hope this is helpful to any of you mamas out there!

Keeping Out the Heat

Yesterday we kept the curtains drawn and the fans on exhaust to try and keep the house as cool as possible. Layla and Julius got set up with a little Milo and Otis during Gunnar's nap, a special treat in our house.

Has God Had His Worship Today?

Have you worshiped the Lord today? I know many days I forget. I tend to get in my Bible reading and some prayer, but often forget to partake in worship until I am at church. Worship is not just for church time, but can happen anytime. Today while wiping up crumbs from the table, "You Are Good" came to mind and I began to sing. I haven't sang this song in quite some time. We used to attend a church that played these songs during their worship service, and I forgot how powerful they were. I quickly did a YouTube search and before long the kids and I were enjoying a very spirited little worship service of our own. Maybe these songs will help you enjoy an impromptu worship time of your own. If they are not to your liking, find some of your favorite songs on the web, your Ipod or put in a CD. Let's try to remember to give the Lord the worship He deserves!

(On a side note, music is not the only way to offer worship to the Lord. Pastor Robert Dickie has a wonderful book called What the Bible Teaches About Worship, that talks in depth of the variety of forms of worship that the Bible outlines. It's a great read.)