A Few of My Favorite Things

Two reasons for this post being titled "A Few of My Favorite Things." The first being that I am going to put up a few of my favorite pictures and videos of Bennett, Josh, the cats, etc. The other reason is that I recently looked up the lyrics to that song so that I could actually sing it to Bennett instead of singing every fourth word and humming the rest. Since I did that and learned the words, Bennett has been hearing a lot of that song. So have I. I can't get it out of my head. It's been over a week now, and it is constantly in my head. I try to get it out by humming other songs from that movie, all of which I can only hum because I only know every fourth word. So, of course, this has made me want to look up more of the songs and actually learn the words. Once I do, it will be neverending and I will be a walking soundtrack for The Sound of Music. Better that than Wayne's World, I guess.



So without further ado, a few of my favorites:

Bennett with "Dude" and the hail from the storm that came through March 15, 2008.

Me with my growth. March 2008.

Bennett and his Daddy. Gettin' a bath in the sink. Oooh Dawgy! April 2008.

This is one of the first times that Bennett really and truly laughed.

Mother's Day (May 11) 2008.

Right before his first solid food meal. I just love this picture. May 2008.

His first time in a pool. He'd rather be napping. June 2008.

LOVE this one, too. This is like his second day sitting up on his own. July 2008.

He's going to be a musician if Josh has anything to do with it...



... and a redneck. August 2008.

Okay, so I lied. It's all Bennett. Can you blame me?

Hair Update

So the latest on the hair issue is this: I am done. I am ready to cut it, like yesterday. Josh says absolutely not. But he's not the one that has to go out in public with Bennett and decide whether he will look like a girl with his hair pulled up in a ponytail, look like a girl with his hair pulled back with a headband, look like rambo with the headband staying on his forehead and not really doing much to keep his hair out of his face, look like a girl with his hair pinned half up with a clip, or just look like a dirty little crumb crusher with his hair frizzed out, in his eyes, with a little touch of banana and broccoli in it from lunch.

I will win the battle. Stay tuned...

Teach a man to fish...

What I want to write about today is the fact that number 1, I love making Bennett’s baby food. I knew that I was going to make his food even before he was born. Not only because I want to make sure that he is getting the most nutritious and chemical/preservative free stuff he can, but also because it is so much cheaper! And, of course, it’s better for the environment. Sure, if I was buying it I would most certainly be recycling the little glass or plastic jars, but this way I’m not even using up those resources.

I love to go to the store and buy a bunch of sweet potatoes, bananas, pears, apples, green beans, you name it, and bring it home and start the process. Most of them get steamed. I’ve found that’s the most convenient way for me to cook his food, and it allows the food to keep nearly all of its vitamins and minerals (whereas when you boil them, most of the minerals seep out into the water). Once they’re steamed to my liking (when a fork is easily inserted), into the blender they go. I used to use the food processor. All the books and websites that I have referenced have talked about how much better the blender is for pureeing baby food than the food processor. I resisted for a long time, thinking it couldn’t be that much different. For some reason, the blender just seems like more of a hassle than the food processor. And it’s funny, because they are stored in the same type cabinet (a low, tiny cabinet – one on each side of our stove), and the blender is much narrower and lighter than the food processor, making it easier to get in and out of the cabinet. But still, for some reason I dreaded getting out the blender, but I’d get the food processor out all day long. Until I had to use the blender one day because the food processor was in the (running) dishwasher. Oh my gosh; what a difference! Talk about pureed food! The only thing I have had trouble getting pureed well enough is snap peas in the pod. Those things are tough! Josh and I tried to have them for dinner one night and they were pretty rubbery and gross. So when I tried to puree some for Bennett, they would not puree. They stayed pretty chunky, no matter how long I let them run in the blender. Also, it said they were stringed (strung? destringed?), but there were strings all in them. Not good. So, I threw them out. Maybe there is some other way you’re supposed to cook and/or puree those things to make them work, I don’t know.

Anyway, once the food is pureed I put some in a container for Bennett to eat over the next few days, and what is left I spoon into an ice cube tray, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. The next day, pop the cubes out of the tray and put them in a labeled Ziploc bag and back into the freezer. I just love this little process! I wish I could make money making baby food for other people. I would love my job. Maybe I like it so much because I really enjoy cooking, but I don’t really cook dinner that much because Josh is so picky and is such a great chef himself, that I never make anything as well as he can or completely to his liking. Bennett is not picky (not to mention he can’t have spices or seasonings yet anyway). I just have to cook the food (I can even way overcook it and it’s okay), blend it up and spoon it out. Done. He loves it. I haven’t found anything he doesn’t like yet, but I have found his favorites. He loves pears and squash. And green beans, too. But his favorite combo is pears and squash with a little plain yogurt and some tahini (sesame seed butter) mixed in. He eats that stuff up!

Okay, for my number 2. Had you forgotten that there was a second part to this? Number 2, as much as I love going to the store to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for Bennett’s food, I love to go to Daddy’s garden or Mama and Daddy’s side yard or Grandmother and Granddaddy’s backyard even more! Daddy has a garden at the house on Strickland Street where he grows squash, okra, tomatoes, and this year he has a little bit of watermelon. The only thing Bennett can eat yet is squash, so that’s what I get for him. There is so much of it that there is too much for all of us to be able to eat before it goes bad, so I use up all the extra making his baby food. I love free food! Mama and Daddy have (or had) blueberry bushes growing along their driveway at their house. They had a bunch this year and gave me a big bag to freeze. The website I use says 8 months for introducing blueberries to infants, but the book says wait at least a year, if not longer. So I haven’t started the blueberries yet. I did make a good blueberry pie yesterday, though. Not for Bennett. :) And today, Bennett and I went with Mama and Daddy to Alabama to see Grandmother and Granddaddy. They have a couple of pear trees in their backyard, and Daddy and I picked a couple buckets full. We could have gotten more if we could have reached them. We didn’t have a tall enough ladder. I’m not sure I would have wanted more, because you’re only supposed to freeze the baby food for 2 months or so. I’m sure it’d be fine if it was in there a bit longer, but I don’t know how quickly we can go through those pears – he has to eat all his other fruit too. We can’t just go on a pear binge!

Anyway, it just gives me so much satisfaction to be able to go out into the warm summer air of the country and pick pears off a tree my dad planted years ago. The Earth provides us with food. I think people seriously forget that all it takes is planting a seed and you can grow what you need to eat! And that seed is a one time investment (well, with some things) and you have food for life if you take care of it. Yeah, there are some things that we’re not able to grow because of our climate, but for the most part, you can grow what you need. And while I so enjoyed being on my grandparents’ land today picking that fruit, I want to be able to say that I went out into my backyard and picked what I needed for Bennett that day. I got Daddy’s squash. Mama and Daddy’s blueberries. Grandmother and Granddaddy’s pears. If I love that we can grow our own food, why am I not growing my own food? Well, I am growing tomatoes and I am loving it, and we have fig trees in the backyard (which reminds me, I need to look up figs for baby food – can he eat those?), and we had a pretty good pepper garden last year, but I didn’t have time to do it this year, with Bennett being so young and needy. But next year, I fully intend to have a garden. A full fledged garden with tomatoes, squash, okra, carrots, cabbage, corn, green beans, peppers, herbs, whatever I can. Maybe I’m a little overly optimistic, but I would love to have a big ol’ southern garden.

"Humpty Dumpty had a great fall"

So Bennett has pretty much gotten the crawling thing down now. He had mastered the scoot, and now has finally gotten the hand-knee coordination down. So needless to say, he is all over the place. It's amazing to me how fast he can get across the room. I'll think that I'm safe to run into the other room for a second to do something, but I'll come back and he's already found an electrical cord, outlet, or gum wrapper that wound up in the floor.

Well, this morning he was crawling around checking everything out, and he came to his exersaucer. He put one hand up on it and was grunting and groaning, trying to get the other one up there too. He finally did it, and was sitting on his knees reaching up, trying to play with the little toys on the activity tray. I could see what was about to happen, so I ran to get the camera. When I got back, he had already done it.

But I did get to capture the inevitable...

To cut, or not to cut. That is the question.

So anyone who has met, seen a picture of, or even heard about Bennett knows about his hair. It's long. There's tons of it. It's wavy and wild. It's crazy. He came out with a head full and never lost a bit of it. So since he was born, his hair has been the talk of the town. Well, we heard from several people, "You can't cut it until he's a year old, you know. It's bad luck." We're not very supersticious, but for some reason, that stuck in our minds. So we decided that we would indeed wait until he was 1 to give him a haircut. Mainly just to make it kind of a special event, you know? He turns 1 and gets his first haircut. It just seems kinda cool.

Well, it's getting a little ridiculous. His hair is so long that it's almost not cute anymore. Each month I think, "oh my gosh, his hair is so long!" But then I look back at pictures from a couple months before and think, "wow, his hair was so short!" I can't imagine looking back at a picture from now and thinking that his hair was short. It is not short. I feel like people are starting to look at me like, "Why don't you give that baby a haircut?" And I'm starting to have trouble feeding him because it is always in his face and food gets all in it. He needs a headband. Or a hat. Or a ponytail. Do I do that to him, or should I just cut it?

But I can't even imagine doing it! He's not even 8 months old; he's not old enough for a haircut! I think it will make me so sad to cut his hair off. He will look too much like a little boy. Especially since he is so much bigger than your average 8 month old (I don't know his current weight and height, but at his 6 month check up he was 22 pounds and 28 inches long). And if we do decide to cut it, do I go to a salon and get it cut or do I let Mama attempt it since she always cut our hair growing up? Either way, that's going to be a hard task. Bennett is a mover, big time. He rarely sits still. We may have to do it while he sleeps. How rude, though, to steal his hair while he innocently snoozes. Poor guy.

Any input on the subject is welcome. I don't know what to do. Help!

St. George Island, Florida 2008

We just got back from the beach last Sunday. Josh, Bennett and I went with Josh's parents, Steve and Lynn, and their dog, Beau, Josh's sister Lauren and her husband, Matthew, their two kids MacKeane and Rachael, and their dog, Truett. (Was that sentence a grammatical nightmare? Oh well.) Anyway, we had a great time. It was interesting, for sure. Six adults, three young children and two dogs - we were thankful that we were in a house and not a condo. We probably would have been asked nicely to leave if we had been in a hotel or condo. With Bennett and his happy but loud (and sometimes not so happy and very loud) squealing, Mac's constant yet delightful 2 year old voice, and Beau's scratching at the floor because of the thunder... Yeah, neighbors would not have been good.

We took Bennett out to the beach the first day and he did well. He was quite indifferent, actually. We just sat him in the sand and the tide came in and over his little legs and he just sat and watched it. The next day, not the same story. Let me start by saying that Bennett does not like to hear another child cry or become upset. This sets Bennett off big time. Well, Mac was not loving the beach like he did the year before, unfortunately. So he got upset once we made it down to the beach (with half of the house, I might add). Well, it didn't take but about 5 seconds for Bennett to chime in, and that was it. He was done. So, we marched ourselves right on back to the house and got in the pool (thank goodness for the house with a pool). Bennett loved the pool.





At home before we left for the beach, Bennett was getting very close to crawling. He could get up on all fours, but couldn't quite figure out what to do from there. So he would just plop back down on his belly and kick his legs and wave his arms like crazy. It looked like he was trying to swim. So when we put him in the pool in Florida, that's immediately what he did, and he was an instant swimmer (with a little support under his tummy, needless to say). Not a fan of the occasional face full of water, though, and he still kinda freaks out in the bath when I pour water over his head to rinse his hair. But that could also still be from the trauma Mama caused him when she dunked him in Aunt Nancy's pool with no warning several weeks ago. :)

Steve and Lynn invited Mama and Daddy to come down for a couple days since Lauren and Matthew and their crew had to go home early for Matthew to work. It pretty much rained the whole time they were there, so we just stayed inside and played Boggle all day. *Little side note - I LOVE Boggle* The rain stopped for a little while one afternoon so we hurried and went down to the beach and Bennett whined for a little while, but finally calmed down and played in the sand for a while.







I can't wait for next year. It will, no doubt, be interesting once again, but I think it will be more fun since Mac will be 3 and Bennett and Rachael will both be over 1. Mass chaos, but fun. :)

Want to read my diary?

So, I have kept a journal for about 2 years now. I write in it a couple times a week - sometimes more, sometimes less. My sister-in-law started a blog so that she could keep everyone posted about what is going on in hers and her family's lives. I have just now taken the time to look at hers and read up on it, and what do ya know, I want one!

So now instead of keeping my boring ol' Microsoft Word journal that only I read, I'll keep it here and you can partake. I guess I'll have to edit my topics a bit. You probably don't care to read about the little things that people do to irritate me, or what I bought at the grocery store today and what time I went to bed last night, or my ever-changing body (thank you, pregnancy and breastfeeding). I told you it was boring!

But the point of this one will be to do exactly what Lauren does and keep you updated on what (important) is going on with our family. And do be forwarned - there will be much Bennett talk. Bennett is our world now. So, read if you want, don't if you don't.