Labels are for jars.

making a change.

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:47:47 GMT

My children have been unusually ornery the past two days. Gabe isn't pleased with anything for very long, but then the world has ended if you put it away. ("Puh! Puh! -points to the mantle above the fire place-" - is Gabes way of letting me know he wants to play with his wooden puzzles. He sits there for 15 minutes, putting pieces together, clapping and woo-hoo'ing with every piece. And then when he walks away from it, I gather it up to put away and he comes running from across the room screaming. ) He's been especially obsessed with finger painting, water colors and markers. I'm definetly going to be investing in a nice easel for his birthday or Christmas. I need to set up a little craft station for him. He'll water color, finger paint or color with markers and crayons multiple times a day.
Xavier is ornery because he just cut his fifth tooth and is working on a sixth.
I think their grumpiness has been heightened by my constant fatigue as of late. Pregnancy is possible, but I highly doubt it. My cycle is textbook, and while we do have unprotected sex, it was several days prior to my ovulation date - so I highly doubt that is it. I'm fairly certain my poor diet is just catching up to me. And it's been even poorer than usual the last 2 weeks.
Which has lead me to promising myself to eat better. Which I do quite often, but it's one of those thoughts that pass thru my mind.. "I should make better choices tomorrow." and then it's forgotten the next morning. This time? Well - I've got a plan.
And this time is different. Prior, I would force myself to eat well with the intention of losing weight. I could stand to lose 20 lbs, don't get me wrong, but I don't have the desire. I'm comfortable with my body at the moment.
I am not comfortable with how dragged down and tired I feel constantly.
So. Here is my plan..
This week: Cut out all soda. None. Kaput. All done! Soda has been my vice for years. Until I got pregnant with Gabe, all I would drink was soda and milk. Sick. Then I started forcing myself to drink water with Gabe. And eventually I limited myself to one soda a day - sometimes slipping and having a 2nd or 3rd. Well, I'm finally ready to be done. So, here's to a week full of caffiene headaches - with a great outcome - no more addiction to soda!
The following two weeks: Make one of my meals a day completely raw. Which will probably be fruits. And my breakfast.
The two weeks after: Makes two of my meals a day competely raw. Which I think will be a combination of lotsa veggies thrown into a juicer for breakfast. And then snack on fruits for the rest of the day. And have whatever I make my family for dinner.
Eventually, my goal is to be 100% raw.
This morning I've had a handfull of grapes, a peach and a banana - along with two bottles of water. Quite a change, considering I grew up in a home where my mother hardly ever bought produce.
I never thought I'd be attempting to eat raw - however, Gabe has been the one who's lead me to this. After constantly worrying about him only eating fruits and veggies - I did some research and found the world of raw. Gabe already refuses meats. At first it was just beef, but now it's everything. And then he started only wanting fruits, veggies, nuts/seeds and sometimes cheese. So - we'll say this is child-lead. I'll let him eat what he wants (with the exception of cow's milk. Which he consumes about 30oz's a day currently. I want to change him to either rice or almond milk.) - but within reason, and we're getting rid of all our processed crap.
It'll take a while to make the entire change. But everything I've done to change myself for the better has taken a while. I always thought to myself, one day I'll find a way to change our diets - but for now I'm not ready.
Well, I'm ready now.

kid rambles.

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 15:29:35 GMT

Gabe discovered his new favorite book this evening. "Little Boy Blue"

We read it about 10x before bed. We did our normal bed time routine, and he was quiet for about 30 minutes so I figured he was out. Hah. No.

He wanted his darn book. So I read it to him once, pointed out all the ducks and chickens and cows and sheep. And when I would point to the chicken he`d do his sign for chicken (arms flapping, Mels mother taught him this one) and when he`d see little boy blue sleeping he`d do his sign for sleep (finger to nose and "shh-ing").

After 15 minutes of this, I finally told him I would let him read his book quietly in his bed for 10 minutes then he was going to sleep. So I kissed him, walked out, and as I was walking out he waves to me and then started snoring. LOL George taught him to fake sleep, and when he does, he snores. Its pretty funny.

I keep peeking in on him every few minutes and he`s happily reading his book. Page by page. Randomly laughing and doing his signs.

Xavier took a 90 minute nap this afternoon. It was wonderful! He`s hit this seperation anxiety phase, and as a result, he has been napping for 40-50 minutes at a time and waking up hysterical when he doesn`t see me laying next to him in bed. I wear him in a wrap to sleep, and then lay him down and we have no problems there. But if it`s nap time and I`m not in bed with him when he wakes up, or if I`m not in bed at night when he wakes up, he freaks out. And its always every 40-50 minutes. However, he doesn`t do it when I`m in bed with him at night.

I took the boys grocery shopping this morning while I let George sleep in a bit. I had Xavier in the wrap on my back and Gabe in the cart. While we were walking thru the aisles, Gabe would lean to the left so Xavier couldn`t see him over my back, and then quickly lean back over to the right and Xavier would let out this shrill of excitement which would in turn make Gabriel shriek with delight. They did this during the whole shopping trip and it was adorable.

They`ve been interacting with eachother a lot lately. Xavier chases after Gabe on his hands and knees, and Gabe will play peek a boo and tickle his brother until he can`t breathe from laughing so hard.

Aaand, 40 minutes.. right on cue. Xavier is stirring.

Going to take a bit of getting used to.

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:17:14 GMT

For years my home has been Open Diary - but things over there are getting a bit hairy. I feel like I'm in a small fish bowl, and the drama is just never ending. Live Journal seems like more of an open community. Certainly has more users than OD.

I have 2 little boys; Gabriel (18mos) and Xavier (5mos). Gabriel was born via c-section - and Xavier was born via HBAC.

I breastfeed, co-sleep, cloth diaper, baby wear, etc., etc. All the typical attachment parenting ideals.

I have been married for 2 years. My husband and I recently sold our home and bought another in Ontario. We move in just under 2 weeks.

I'm passionate about the way I parent, and think that the way I parent is the absolute best - otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. Sometimes passion comes across as being snobby or judgemental - but oh well. I'm doing best by my children, at least.

New to LJ.

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 15:43:46 GMT

Working on figuring things out. Bear with me.