7 Quick Takes Early Edition

We are headed to Iowa tomorrow, so I decided to do this a day early.

1~ Evelyn is 8 months old today! I can hardly believe it.

2~ She has finally started liking solid food. She will eat a few small soft chunks at dinner each night. It's not much, but I'm not concerned as she is still nursing away.

3~ She is officially a "stander". For the last week she has been pulling herself up on things, letting go, and staying standing for a few seconds. But last night when Scott had her out on the back deck he turned around to look at her and she was standing in the middle of the deck with nothing around to pull herself up on! She's getting so grown up.

4~ She became a "climber" this morning as well. I managed to snap a picture of this first successful attempt at climbing up more than one step.


5~ I love gardening. Unfortunately it's not really an option where we live right now. But I got part of my dream...my first organic herb garden! Yay! I only have oregano, basil, and rosemary so far, but I love going out there at dinner time and cutting off some fresh herbs to add to my cooking.


6~ Scott and I decided we want to be up in Iowa this weekend (for the nice 3 day weekend) and next weekend so that we can meet my brother's girlfriend. So, rather than drive Evelyn back and forth twice, she and I will stay in Iowa for the whole week! If you want to hang out, just let me know when you're available! We will be at Lake Panorama on Sunday and Monday, but are free the rest of the week.

7~ I've been doing a lot of research on the food that we eat and trying to be a healthier family. Here is a list of things that I am no longer purchasing (if it's linked that means I found a good article to explain my reasoning): canola oil, margarine, processed sugars (white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, brown sugar), artificial sugars (splenda, aspartame, etc), prepackaged dinners (the microwavable kind a la Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, etc.), soy anything, pop, cereal, most brands of store bought bread, processed meats (hot dogs, lunch meat, etc), pasteurized homogenized dairy products (especially milk), and basically almost all processed food products especially those with chemical additives.

And for Evelyn: infant formula, soy formula, rice cereal, jarred baby food.

Let me tell you, this is an adventure!