Gardening in the Backyard

I have greatly enjoyed the gardening this year. I love being outdoors, I love having the children outdoors, and even better is the fresh food. We started with a fairly small garden area this year, I crammed in basil, stevia, chives, cilantro, parsley, 7 zucchini plants, 4 tomatoes plants, and several cucumber plants. See Garden Area #1 picture below. (also you can see our new compost area built out of old pallets right past the garden)

Garden Area #1

But I ran out of room. So we had to expand. So we started with just a small area next to the pool. This is where I planted 9 squash plants and watermelon. You will see these below. But once again we weren't happy and wanted to plant more. After all, we have great weather for near year-round gardening. So we expanded below again. This was last Tuesday that we cleared off the rest of this, tilled and planted more. This time we planted seeds. Which honestly scared me to death. I like to have little plants to start with, it is much easier. With seeds I just throw them in the ground and pray that they come to life.

Garden area #2

And the seeds started to grow. Six days after planting green bean seeds, they were looking lovely. The fresh row was a beautiful sight.

Green beans (6 days after planting)

But not all the seeds have sprouted yet ... Its been about 12 days, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We are still waiting on a lot of corn, carrots, and cantaloupe to sprout. And the sunflower seeds I planted next to the fence I am thinking may have been stolen by the squirrels.

But we have several watermelon growing now also.

Watermelon

And while we work in the garden (which we don't nearly enough) ... the children get to spend time playing outside. Here is Jasper in front of the zucchini plants.


And Petra spent some time playing with the water hose.


And today we had more fresh veggies. I picked this right after lunch to freeze for later. If it is too mushy for food, there is always puree that I hide in some foods, baby puree, and stew that we can use it for. (yes, I obviously forgot about the zucchini on the far right)


And then this afternoon, I went outside for a few more for dinner. Today was the first day we had cucumber - and you will see I picked 3 today!

Raising a Happy, Unspoiled Child

I just finished reading a book that I checked our from our local library and was very surprised with the practical, loving and firm approach suggested on raising babies and young toddlers. The author, who worked with a government program (Parents as Teachers) in the 60s and 70s, was much more old-school in child-rearing practices than I expected. Honestly, because he worked on a specific government program I expected him to be a little more lenient on children's behavioral issues. Instead, I felt like I was getting practical advice from my parents and grandparent's generations.I found the tone completely different than what is seen today in many books and magazines that you see shelf.

What the author promises in the book is what got my attention at first ... he promises a loving and wonderful two-year old child. A child that skips the terrible twos all together. I think anyone can be firm with a one-year old if they know if will lead to years of enjoyment, rather than years of terrible behavior.

The chapters in the book are divided by age and range from birth to three years. In each chapter the author discusses what the child is learning and doing at that age, and it coincided perfectly with Petra's development thus far. If all continues in this same manner, and we do our part as loving but firm parents, she should be done testing us by 22-months and enter into a wonderful age. I think we can definitely follow the advice in this book for a few months and see what happens. Most of it, I beleive we already adhere to. But sometimes, I know I overindulge her some, and that needs to stop.

Jasper has just entered into the "testing" stage and he is very often telling us he is unhappy (usually when I want him to eat or sleep). He loves to be held when he sleeps, and he loves his bottle and not much else. I think the advice in this book will be much more handy as we try to raise him.

We will be buying ourselves a copy of this book, and also sharing with the nanny. And today, I'm heading to the library to get another book by this author titled The first three years of life.

Please Daddy

Petra hit a first milestone yesterday. It was her first time that she found something she wanted in a big box store and asked for it ... and lets just say she didn't start small. I want to preface this story by first saying Petra never really wants anything from a store. We can take her down the toy aisles at any store and pretty much leave without her ever really wanting anything. Sometimes she wants to hold on to something for a little while, but we don't buy it or don't let her keep it, its no big deal.

Yesterday we headed out to Home Depot to buy some seeds and plants for the garden. Thomas has tilled up about 300 sq ft more over the last 2 days and it needs to be planted. I have a huge garden now, that is on a slope ... should be interesting. Our squash is currently growing great on this same slope ... I digress.

Back to my story. Petra had a blast yesterday at Home Depot. She found dirt to play in at the garden center, she found rolls of screen she could twirl like a flag girl, she found lots of little odds and ends, and she pushed Jasper around in the cart. And then she spotted it. I saw her gazing at a large box on the floor in wonderment. On the front was a picture of a massive swing set and 4-5 children playing. I walked over to her and said to her "do you see the slide, do you see the swing?" Yes, she nodded. "This is a swing set I added." She stood there gazing. And about this time, Thomas came over and started looking at the swings on the shelf above it. Once she spotted these it was all over, all she wanted was this swing set, and especially a swing. And I said to her (which in hindsight wasn't the best idea), "Petra, do you like this swing set?" Yes, she replied. "Do you want a swing set?" And with the gravest nod up and down in affirmation I could see her anticipation. "well, if you want this, you are going to have to ask daddy nicely and say please," ... she turned her head up to Thomas and said "Please" while she signed "more" --- which is her best and most polite way of asking for anything.

Of course we couldn't walk out of the store with that swing set, and I don't know what I was thinking prodding her like that. She was sobbing and starting to wail for a swing, I took it down off the shelve and showed her that it wasn't in working condition at the moment. She proceeded to climb in it and wait for us to push her. And when Thomas picked up the ropes on the swing with her in it, and began to swing her back and forth, I about jumped out of my pants in fear. Fear that she was going to fall flat on her face on the hard concrete. But she squealed and giggled with glea. And then it was over, and we walked away with no swing, with no swing set, and a very upset, sobbing little girl.

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And I know you must be wondering, her fever broke on Friday last week. The very same day her bottom molar came through. I know most people say children do not get a high fever from teething, but it seems too coincidental to be unrelated.

Around the house

First, let me start by saying that it is very frightening to have a sick child - and I'm only dealing with a high fever. I can not imagine anything worse.

Petra has been laid out since Sunday afternoon with a fever that keeps topping over 104 degrees. She is absolutely miserable and it is scary. Her fever gets very high when she is sleeping and medicine seems to work some, but not completely. If she doesn't have meds every 4 hours on the dot, her fever rapidly gets out of control and it seems to take forever to reduce it. Even with meds she has a fever easily over 102 a lot of the time. I took her yesterday to the doctor, he said it was probably the flu and sent us home. There seemed to be nothing else wrong with her besides a cold. Her breathing keeps scaring me, and I'm worried about her asthma. I plan on taking her back to the doctor in the morning if things don't improve between now and then.

Jasper is doing great and is just days away from crawling. He is moving around so well on the floor, up on his hands and knees, rolling, and turning around in any direction he wants. At this age Petra would just look at us as if to say, I'm a princess I don't roll on the floor. But Jasper is all boy and is on the move. Here are some photos from Sunday morning. I took out the camera so you could see how well Jasper's face has cleared up.



But most importantly, I wanted to post tonight so I could share this photo of Jasper dancing, or should I say "swaying" to the Praise Baby video. I'm not sure I've ever seen a 7 month old dance ... is this normal? He started doing this a few weeks ago, and I figured I better get it on camera. And yes, that is Petra on the sofa behind him moaning. She was pretty miserable this afternoon.

In the midst of this crazy week ... with a very sick child, with us up all hours of the night, with us pulling the children out of day care and hiring a part-time nanny...we got a phone call to take another baby boy. Thomas said there was a reason he got the phone call this time and not me, and quickly said "No, thank you, maybe next time." He didn't even ask for details. I'm just praying the little found a home. There are never enough foster care homes in town.

And on a completely different note, I picked my first squash of the season this morning. Now that the children are home instead of in daycare, I'm hoping they will start eating healthier, home-made snacks. Tonight, if I can gather the energy (b/c I've been up at all hours of the night with Petra), I hope to make some carrot muffins. Of course, Jasper won't be eating them. Let me mention, Jasper does not want to eat. I just put the food in his mouth, and he lets it sit there. Doesn't swallow, and then spits it out!

In bed earlier these days

And still up later each morning. We are both just tired this week.

We went to a local KidsFest this weekend at the fair grounds ... there were activities for the children, booths of information for the parents, pony rides, etc. Petra held a 1 minute long point on the horses; I guess she must have been amazed by them. I got some great photos of Petra that I wanted to share.



Both of the children are fantastic. They went to the doctor for shots and checkups today. (they were both cranky tonight, which is to be expected after a day of shots and day care) Jasper got some cream for his face!!! YEAH! We are suppose to use as needed, which is exactly what I wanted. Ideally we need to solve the problem and prevent it from happening. But at least we have something now to help when he does break out. Today, Petra weighed 22.5 lbs and was 31 inches tall. Jasper weighed 18.5 lbs and was 27 inches tall. This puts Jasper right around the 50% for both height and weight. And Petra at the 50% for height and 25% for weight. She has really thinned out the last few months. We measured her a week or so ago and noticed she had grown 2-3 inches since Christmas!

You like Jasper's new necktie shirt? I decided he needed to dress up for church this week and added this little thing to his onesie real fast. =)

We have also hired a part-time nanny. She will start coming to our home each morning starting next Wednesday. We have known her and her parents for the last 3 years, so we feel comfortable with her. And we are super excited to have both the children at home and out of a day care setting.

I was a little busy this week getting all the cleaners out of my house I am not going to use anymore. I gave them all away. And I am just plum happy about it. I have so much more room under my kitchen sink that I added an extra trash can for recycling items.

Thomas also found out yesterday he got an A on his practicum, and a A in one of his classes. The other class he is taking right now he hasn't finished. Outstanding! especially considering how busy he was taking care of everything while I worked so much during session.

And my garden is growing. I have about 30 squash currently growing on my 9 squash plants! I also planted some 9 zucchini plants - so we will have a ton of squash this summer.

Major changes coming our way

I know, I know--its been too long. I've been busy at work and at home. Plus Jenn, Gregg, and Raymond came to visit this past weekend and we had fun! I love seeing them and feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends. I'll try to post a couple photos this weekend.

On a completely different note, we continue to try and figure out what is causing Jasper's eczema. I've added some photos so you can see what a normal breakout looks like. This happens daily if we don't control his environment. We know a few things that we haven't known before. 1.) The eczema comes and goes, and is often worse after being at day care 2) He reacts to heat and has to stay cool to stay happy. 3) He also seems to respond badly to detergents, including free and clear detergents. So based on these three things, I've determined he has contact eczema. Or at least, most of it seems to be contact based. So we are keeping the house cold - which Thomas loves - otherwise Jasper wakes up screaming more often. I also switched to washing his sheets, etc in baking soda and it has made a huge difference. The only problem is, that whatever I do doesn't really matter, he goes to day care and comes back looking worse and it takes days to clear up major reactions.


This is his reaction to his sheets being washed in Tide Free and Clear. Approximately 2 hours after he went to bed he woke up crying; he cried for an hour.



He came home one day from day care with this spotted reaction plus scratches. This is after his bath, he is lathered in Vaseline.


This is what he looks like a day or two after a bad reaction. You can tell its improved, but still very obvious. His skin remains so dry and has a difficult time ever recovering because he keeps having reactions.


So, based on these things, we've decided the best thing to do for him is to keep him at home. There is no other way to even begin to control his environment. Since he seems to be reacting to detergent, I've done some research on eczema and detergent. It is quite extensive. Detergents are in so many things we use - dishwasher detergent, handwash, shampoos, household cleaners, etc. And to make matters worse, detergents attach to dust and dirt particles - which is why it cleans so good - so because we use so many detergent cleaners in our homes, it probably is attached to a lot of dust particles around the house. Which means he is probably breathing it in. Also, I read where one lady said her son seemed to be allergic to every type of food (breaking out with eczema), and in fact it was the residue left on the dishes ... after she stopped using detergent to wash dishes he didn't have any problems with the food. As a result of all this, I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to switch everything over to soap based products. Even a lot of organic products use an detergent base - so it is very tricky. And the residue from detergents cling to fabric - which means that things need to be washed multiple times! uggh. So this is how I'm going to spend the next week or two.

So our plan is to take both Petra and Jasper out of day care and hire a babysitter from 8-12 every weekday. And then Thomas will take over for lunch and nap time, and hopefully, I will be home no later than 5pm, maybe earlier. So please pray that we will find the right person, and soon.

And I know you are all wondering about the last court date. Everything is set for his adoption, however sometimes these things just take time and paperwork. It will probably be July. We've already testified to the judge, so did the department and guardian ad litem so everything is in motion. We don't expect any hiccups.

Court day approaching

Our court date with Jasper is fast approaching. On Tuesday morning, the 21st, we go into court for the Manifest of Best Interest. This is the trial where the judge will decide if in it is his best interest to be adopted. If so, then we can move forward with the adoption within the next month (depending on timing - there is usually only 1 adoption day a month so it will be either May or June). The birth mother signed over her rights about 2 months ago, and the birth father defaulted due to never showing up at court - so everything should be set.

We are still having a time with his face and eczema. We notified day care that we thought he may be allergic to dyes and perfumes. I'm not sure how much they are doing, its hard to get anyone to communicate effectively with us. I honestly feel like they see us as second rate parents, and that they have more experience with children so "they think they know better." It's very aggravating. Anyhow ... Thomas has been replacing his sheets himself on Monday mornings and we are taking several blankets and burp cloths in for him. It has made a difference. There is definitely improvement. Many days over the last two weeks he came home looking great, with very little redness. So this has helped. However, he still has problems. This weekend he looks horrible and I have no idea why. His left cheek is red, puffy, dry, scaly, with little blister looking bumps - over about a 3" sq. area. He also has some bad areas on his neck again.

He's been eating rice cereal for 2 weeks now. And I can officially say he hates it. He is quite a dramatic child. He screams when I try to feed it to him. You should see him try to avoid a spoonful of the stuff - this morning he bent over backwards trying to avoid it. So, I end up putting it in his bottle. I didn't really want to do this but it seems to be the only way to get him to eat it.

The good news is that since he starting eating cereal, he sleeps longer. I can sometimes get 6-7 hours now at once between feedings. I often have to get up still to put a pacifier in his mouth, but sometimes I don't even have to do that. I am finally getting more than 3 hours of sleep at once and it is great. It was 4 months of not much sleep and I am glad things are improving. He still wakes up quite a bit at night. I think everytime he uses the bathroon it wakes him up, and he hates to get woken. He usually pitches an absolute fit if we ever wake him up.

Or course, as I am typing this he is screaming. His face and cheeks are itching him really bad tonight. He won't stop scratching them, even when I hold him or rock him. I finally walked him around outside, he loves being outdoors. It took about 30-40 minutes to get him back asleep and I had to hold him for that to happen. I think it was too warm in his room .. about 72 degrees. When his head gets hot everything gets worse. I don't know what we are going to do when summer comes. I guess we need to move to a cooler climate.

He has improved dramatically at sitting up. He can sit up for several minutes at a time, and he ismoving around pretty well on the floor, turning in circles, scooting backwards, etc. He usually wants me to hold him. But he also likes the Johnny Jumper in the doorway and the exersaucer.