8 months old

     Ok I'm super late but here I am!  Adrian is 8 months old and has grown so much.  He is crawling, standing, and into everything!  He's sleeping through the night finally.  He had stopped for a while because of teething we think.  He now has three teeth and more are coming.  He is in 12month clothes and is almost out of them.  


     Baby led weaning has worked great for us.  He's eating total table food (still nursing of course) and his favorite food is full fat yogurt.  I decided to introduce dairy (well he introduced it actually).  I was planning on waiting until he was a year old, but we were out to brunch and were eating at a very small table and couldn't keep everything away from him. During the meal he managed to grab and eat: butter, cottage cheese and omelet with cheese so I said what the heck.  He loves it and has had no adverse reaction. 

     We are totally cloth diapering now.  I had a few and was having to wash constantly and still didn't have enough, so I bit the bullet and bought a bunch on Ebay.  I'm still using the cheapos from China and they are working great.  It's so nice not to have to buy diapers.  

     We have puppies!  A few weeks after getting the dogs I began to suspect Mystique was pregnant and a couple days later my suspicions were confirmed.  Apparently she came to us pregnant.  We have 6 puppies.  We've decided to keep one, some friends are taking one, so we have 4 left to find homes for.  They are adorable but they are huge!  The kids love them, though we had to make a rule of no puppy holding for Aidan after one got dropped and a panicked vet visit ensued.  

     I am now officially 1 lb below pre-pregnancy weight!  It took much longer than I would have liked, but I made it!  I would still like to lose 10-15 more to get back down to my low weight.  I'm in between sizes which is frustrating.  All my clothes are either too big or too small.  

     Not so hot on the diabetes front.  I had gone a couple months with no sensors and had gone off the pump until we could get insurance straightened out with my supplies.  My a1c was 7.4 which is not good at all.  I am struggling to regain control.  My insulin needs change frequently and it's a lot of work trying to stay on top of them.  I found it amusing my doctor just noted "watch diet".  He has no clue lol.  I NEVER eat sugar, don't eat grains, potatoes or basically any processed foods (with a few exceptions).  I have become very carbohydrate resistant which is annoying, but I'm still taking almost half the insulin I did before I went primal.  


     I got my lipid profile back and I'm very happy with the results as was my doctor. 
Triglycerides-68.2
HDL-91.3 (Awesome!)
VLDL-13.6
LDL-111.8 (Can guarantee it's fluffy LDL)
Cholesterol/HDL Ratio-2.4 (Very low cardiovascular risk)
Non-HDL Cholesterol-125.4

7 months old

     A couple days late, but Adrian is 7  months old!  He is "talking up a storm".  He says "mama" and "dada" and "nana" (banana) and "baba".  He is now in 12 month size clothes and is eating great.  I decided to give baby led weaning a try.  You can read about it here:  http://www.babyledweaning.com/.  He's eating regular table food (still delaying dairy and grains).  We're not doing much pureed food anymore.  He loves bananas and steak is still his favorite!  He is finally sleeping in his crib as well!  He's still not sleeping through the night, but is only up once or twice.

Rockin his cloth diaper.

     So I have started cloth diapering.  At least part time.  I only have 5 so far so not enough for full time, but I am slowly buying them one at a time until I have a decent stash.  I'm buying the cheapo ones from China, but they are working great and we haven't had any leaks yet!  The name brand ones are so expensive and I am just too cheap for that.  There are some cute prints out there though.  Wish I could sew.  I would make them myself.


     I have been making other things myself though.  A couple years ago I made my own laundry detergent, but hadn't done it in quite a while.  A friend suggested I give it a try again so I decided to give it another go.  It's really easy.  You just combine borax, washing soda and Zote soap together in a blender/food processor.  It works out to about 5 cents a load, so saves tons of money.  Laundry detergent has gotten so expensive!  I also found recipes for homemade dishwasher detergent, and dryer sheets as well.  It's so easy and saves a lot.

Chatting with Uncle Mark

     Adrian and I got to go to SC a couple weeks ago.  A friend was getting married and I wanted to help out with the shower and to be at the wedding.  Adrian got to spend time with Grandma Ginny and Granddad and got to meet their friends as well. While there, I got to go to a dairy farm with my dad and was able to buy some raw milk!  I don't normally drink milk but wanted to try it.  It was pretty decent, but I think I'm spoiled from heavy whipping cream.

  Adrian did well on the flights.  He got fussy on one of them but did fine with the rest.  On the way back I brought home our cat Laque (that was lots of fun).  As soon as we got home though, he ran away and we haven't seen him since.  :(

     On a brighter note, we got 2 dogs!  Mystique is a Husky mix with one blue eye and one brown eye, and Gambit is some sort of Terrier.  They are very well behaved dogs and hardly even bark.  Mystique is a bit skittish, especially with Matt, but we're hoping she'll warm up to us.  She loves Diana.

Gambit and Mystique

     I finally found a new doctor in El Paso.  I as always was worried how he would react to my diet, but my fears were needless.  He didn't ask a single question about what I eat (nice huh).  He really didn't ask questions at all besides what prescriptions I needed.  That's fine with me.  I'll listen to what a doctor has to say, but I make my own decisions where my diabetes is concerned.  I called my supply companies today and it looks like there will be no issues getting my sensors and my pump supplies.  He ran an a1c and a lipid profile.  Will be curious to see how they come out.  I'm sure my a1c will be higher.  I've been on and off the pump and sensors for the last few weeks since I started running low on supplies and didn't have a doctor yet. Hopefully it's not too bad. The doctor did refer me to an endocrinologist which I'm not too happy about.  Maybe I'll just forget to make an appointment.

Driving!

6 months old

   
     I can't believe my baby boy is 6 months old!  The time had just flown by.  Adrian is huge!  I took him last week for his 4 month checkup (yeah just a little late) and he is 19lb4oz and 27.5 in long (28 a couple weeks ago at Fort Bliss so who knows).  The pediatrician said everything looks great and he can't find anything wrong with him except the fact that he needs size 3 diapers!  We bought size 2 in bulk and haven't used them all yet.  He did very well with his shots and literally had stopped crying by the time the nurse had put the bandaids on.  The next couple days were not so great however.  Adrian was very fussy and made mommy very tired!

Drinking from his sippy cup.

      He is doing very well with solid foods.  I'm still making his baby food and we recently started meat. The other night we went to a Mexican restaurant and Adrian practically inhaled the guacamole.  I also bought a mesh feeder recently, so he has been able to try some "real" foods.  I even let him try a piece of steak in the feeder and he went nuts!  We have done butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, avocado, eggs,  beef, beef jerky, green beans, mashed potatoes, bananas, applesauce, pears, blueberries and a strawberry in the mesh feeder.  He tried an orange yesterday and thought it was wonderful.  We started the sippy cup as well.  He is still nursing great, though those night time feedings are really getting old.  I'm hoping to transition him to the crib this month.

Eating Beef Jerky

     Here's a video of Adrian in his new swing!
   
 Adrian said his first word a couple days ago!  The day before he had said what sounded like "hi" a couple times, but I blew it off as a fluke.  The next day we went grocery shopping and Adrian said "hi" to three different people.  He looked at them, smiled and said, "hi".  I looked back and Diana and Aidan's baby books and they both said "hi" at six months as well.  I thought that was pretty neat.  It was my first word at 6 months also.

     A few weeks ago I found an awesome store in El Paso.  It is called Sprout's Farmers Market and it sells natural, organic foods and products for very reasonable prices.  I have been able to find some really cool stuff there.  It's basically like Whole Foods, except smaller and less pricey.  Their produce prices are amazing.  Meat prices on the other hand-not so great.  They are higher just about everywhere than they were in Hinesville so Matt and I decided to invest in a freezer and buy meat in bulk before we lost our commissary privileges (Matt is officially out of the Army as of Feb 22.) I was so excited buying it.  Like a kid in a candy store.

Meat!

     I finally broke past my weight loss plateau. I had been stuck for a while and finally lost 2 more lb.  Only 5lb away from pre-pregnancy weight!  Blood sugars are back to normal after a few days of highs.  I ran out of sensors while our stuff was in storage, and it took a while to get back in the normal range.

   

5 months old!

Aunt Debbie and Uncle Jerry

Got to meet Steve Cooksey while in SC.  He and Adrian were best buds.

     It has been a looooong while!  Life has been insane since December 17.  We drove to Mississippi and dropped the kids off in Starkville with Grandma and Grandpa while Matt and I flew to El Paso to go house hunting.  We found a house we absolutely loved and our offer was accepted.  We came back to Starkville, drove to SC on the 23rd and spent Christmas with my family.  Matt and I left on the 26th and drove back to Hinesville where we packed up and moved.  Matt drove me back to SC where I stayed until the 4th while Matt and the kids drove to El Paso.  I got to see some friends, had a great 32nd birthday and then flew out on the 4th with Adrian.

     We have been staying in a hotel ever since.  Closing on the house keeps being delayed.  Hopefully we will be in the new house by the 2nd.  Diana has started school and is doing great.  She has been nominated for gifted and talented and will start testing soon.  Aidan hasn't been able to do pre-k because here it's only a half day program and we only have one vehicle.  Matt started his new job on the 9th and it seems to be going well. 

Sitting up watching his big brother.

     Adrian has grown so much!  He is wearing 6-9 month clothing and is as long as his carseat.  He is sitting up and rolling easily.  We recently started solids.  I was planning to wait until 6 months, but he was clearly ready.  He nurses all the time and wakes throughout the night to nurse.  He acts very interested in food and will grab for my food when we are eating. 

Avocado!

Adrian's first reaction.

     I decided to skip cereal as I think it is completely unnecessary and the only nutrition it has is added iron.  I read the label from a box of rice cereal and didn't like the ingredients.  It has soy which I don't like, and other additives and preservatives.  The iron is not well absorbed and tends to just back the baby up.    I got a Magic Bullet for Christmas from Matt and am loving it.  I'm making all of Adrian's baby food. We started with pureed carrots.  He did pretty well with them and I moved on to avocado.  He didn't like it at first but by the end of the feeding he had grabbed the spoon and shoved it into his mouth!  I tried some applesauce, but Adrian just gagged and threw up.  I'm not sure if I made it too thick or what.  Today we did sweet potatoes.  He gagged a little with the first spoonful, but did great after that. 

Ok this isn't so bad.  Gimme!

     El Paso is much bigger than Hinesville, so I've been able to find a lot more variety as far as food goes.  We went to a Fudruckers that offered, ostrich, elk, wild boar and buffalo burgers!  I had the buffalo and it was pretty tasty.  The commissary has bison which was good (I think they are in the same family of animals).  I also found a Walmart Market that has full fat Greek Gods yogurt and it is amazing!  I've been eating it with coconut oil and almonds and it is so good. 

     After a few weeks of daily blood sugar spikes that I attributed to dawn phenomenon, I have discovered that the Splenda I put in my coffee is to blame.  The first ingredient in most sweeteners such as Sweet n Low, Equal and Splenda contain Dextrose to bulk it. Crazy huh?  One would think that the small amount would have no effect, but as much coffee as I drink combined with my sensitivity to carbs caused my blood sugar to spike.  I have since switched to Truvia, which is Stevia (a natural sweetener) and Erythritol a sugar alcohol which occurs in some fruits and fermented foods.  Since the switch, I have had completely normal blood sugars!

     The last few weeks have definitely been hectic, and will probably continue to be so for a while, but  hopefully things will settle down soon.  To tide you over, here are some more pics!

    

15 weeks old

     Wow, it has been crazy lately.  Sorry I'm late with this post.  Matt has accepted a job offer in El Paso, TX so we are gearing up for a move and along with Christmas and everything else, things have been hectic lately.  Adrian is doing great!  He's trying to sit up and has done it for a few seconds.  I was able to get him a Jumperoo on Freecycle and he absolutely loves it!  He bounces and "dances" all day long.  I think it is really helping with strength and coordination as well.

     So last week my good friend Steve Cooksey and I decided to try an "experiment".  We decided to eat "high carb" for a day or two.  I wanted to kick start weight loss, and shock my metabolism (read about this here: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/carb-refeeding-and-weight-loss/) and he wanted to test the effects on his blood sugar.  Check out his results here: http://www.diabetes-warrior.net/2011/12/07/date-with-the-devil-my-high-carb-experiment-day-1/  So the plan was to continue no bread, grains, flour etc and no sugar or "junk" and to keep fat around 50g.  I added back in milk, rice,  fruit and starchy vegetables.


      At first it was ok.  I started off with a banana for breakfast.  Blood sugars stayed decent and my post meal bg was 109.  For lunch I had greek yogurt, a handful of almonds, some tuna and an orange. I did well with that and for dinner I made Rotisserie chicken, rice and vegetables, and sweet potato fries.  I tolerated this well.  The next morning I decided to try a combo of yogurt and a banana.  Big mistake.  I spiked to the 280's and could not bring it down.  I remained in the 200's all day and it took a couple days to get back to normal numbers.  I called off the experiment at this point.  I was missing my fat big time!  Matt and I went to the Chinese buffet and I loaded up on meat and veggies.

     I think the change in diet affected Adrian.  He had some digestive upsets and was very fussy.  Won't be doing that again any time soon!

Thursday night was Diana's school talent show.  She sang "Tomorrow" from "Annie".  She had a great time and not a lick of stage fright.  She also had a wonderful time getting ready and putting on "makeup".  Daddy gave her a special surprise.  A new necklace and earrings.  We did take a video but it did not come out well due to lighting.  You can listen here:

     Friday was Christmas tree day.  We drove to Midway to Brewer's Christmas tree farm.  We went there last year and had a good experience so decided to go back.  The children had a great time picking out a tree, as well as feeding the goats and bunnies.