A little bit crunchy

I like to think of myself as a somewhat natural-minded/crunchy person.  I will credit my mom here for instituting a healthy lifestyle in my home growing up.

I buy organic produce and dairy products whenever I can.  I try to stay away from lots of processed foods and artificial ingredients, and I attempt (mostly unsuccessfully) to grow some of my own produce.  I breastfeed and baby wear and cloth diaper.  I see a chiropractor and a midwife and had a natural, drug-free birth. I have recently started recycling, and it makes me unnaturally happy every time I drop an item in the recycling bin instead of the trash.  I am hesitant to take medications and avoid it if I can.  I was homeschooled and am hoping to do the same for our kids.

All these things are fine lifestyle choices and it is important to be healthy and treat your body with respect.  But sometimes I am tempted to be prideful that I do these things, and that is not OK.  None of these preferences make me a better person than someone who loves fast food and epidurals.  These are not matters of right and wrong and I have no right to judge someone for having different preferences than me.  In fact, when you really look at it, what I do is only the tip of the iceberg in the natural world.  I still buy cereal and chips and granola bars and soda; my husband asks that I get these things, and lets be honest, I enjoy them sometimes too.  The only jar of coconut oil that I have ever purchased sits unopened because I don't know what to do with it.  I use disposable diapers at night and when we go out, and I buy pre-made baby food packets in addition to the food I make for him myself.  I had a hospital birth.  I have two medicine drawers in my kitchen full of Motrin, Benadryl, and cough drops, and a cabinet full of cleaning products.  I do not own any essential oils.

This has come to my attention recently because I've been hearing far more crunchy people than me talk about choices that they make for their home.  Kefir?  Gluten-free?  Compost? Insert a myriad of crunchy things I do not do here.  And that is just fine.  My worth is in Christ, and not in earthly matters that will fade away.  And I am thankful for that.

8 Months Old

I recently got an email from Baby Center that said "your 8 month old infant will soon be a toddler."  Waaah I am not ready for that!!  Currently he is not toddling or even crawling, so I will revel in his sweet chunky baby thighs a little longer and not think about how he will be one year old in just 4 short months.  He is very wiggly though as you can see from this succession of pictures!

Speaking of crawling, he is really trying.  He spends a ton of time getting up on his hands and knees and then wiggling/flopping/flailing around to try to get somewhere.  He hasn't quite gotten the hang of simply moving his knees yet.  I am not complaining because once he is mobile, he is harder to keep track of.  But he is getting very close.  Also he can now hang on to something if we stand him up next to it. 

Our little chunky monkey loves to eat!  He has breakfast, lunch, and dinner now, and eats 4-6 ounces at each meal.  He loves sweet potatoes, bananas, pears, and avocado, and he does not like carrots.  He nurses 4-5 times a day too, (including once in the middle of the night). He is so distracted while nursing though.  If there is something interesting to look at he pops on and off and doesn't eat much, and if we are not at home, forget about it.  Too much to see to bother with nursing unless he is really thirsty or sleepy.  But he still wants to nurse, and lets me know by pulling down my shirt and lunging at me with an open mouth.  It's pretty hilarious; fortunately he has never done it in public!  He weighs 17.5 pounds and is wearing mostly 9 month clothes.  

Other moms have told me that right when your child starts to sleep well, they start teething and sleeping gets rough again.  That is exactly what has happened for us.  Xander has one little tooth on the bottom and man is it sharp!  And I think he is cutting another one because he is not sleeping well right now.  He's been waking up twice to nurse and crying in his sleep a lot.  Poor little guy, I feel bad for him.  I give him Hyland's teething tablets and they seem to help.  He doesn't have much trouble during the day, it just seems to pop up at night.  However, he is napping pretty well with two chunky naps a day (a total of 3 hours usually), and he goes down for the night pretty easily most of the time, as long as I am the one putting him to bed.  He does not like James to put him to bed, and doesn't take a bottle very well.  

I am starting to see glimpses of his personality; he's a pretty chill baby.  I think he is going to be an introvert like me, because he will roll around and "play" in his crib for a long time after he wakes up from his nap, sometimes 30-45 minutes!  He enjoys his alone time.  I haven't noticed any stranger anxiety yet, and he does really well in the nursery at church.  But he has just recently started getting scared of loud noises like the vacuum cleaner, or the bathtub turning on.  He seems to be very happy and expressive at home, but when we are out and about, he gets quiet and observes everything.  So much so that he will not fall asleep even if he has been awake for 4 or 5 hours.  He just gets very glazy-eyed and calm at first, and then if we push him too far past his sleepy point, he is clearly miserable and cries.  This makes going out for day trips difficult because he doesn't easily fall asleep in the stroller or carseat, or even the carrier.    

We took him to the park to swing for the first time this month!  I also took him into DC to see the cherry blossoms with a friend and her kids.  It was definitely an adventure.  We love our little man!