Mama's Helper

Karis always wants to feed Kyle for me. I let her try it awhile back and the food on the spoon never made it into Kyle's mouth. She asked again today so I gave her one more try. She actually did a good job and I let her feed him his entire lunch. 

Now if I could just teach her how to change a diaper and make my morning coffee! 

Good Food. Great People.

Derek's good friend from college recently moved to Louisiana. They hadn't seen each other in a really long time. His wife had some work to do in Dallas so he and the kids tagged along so we could meet them. They came over Friday night and we had a personal chef cook us dinner. We watched and asked questions and he even taught the older kids how to use a knife and flip food in a saucepan. 

The menu included cream of mushroom soup, a pear and walnut salad, salmon, steak, risotto, green beans and tiramisu for dessert. The food was great and it was nice to have someone cook us a meal, serve us and clean up the kitchen afterwards. I could get use to that! 

We had a great time visiting with our friends and we hope we'll have more opportunities to hang out with them in the future.    

First Time Eating Rice Cereal

The day after Kyle turned 5-months old, I gave him a taste of rice cereal.  He wasn't a fan.  He kept making a funny face and it was clear he didn't like it and seemed confused as to what I was doing to him.  He only had a few bites.  I gave him a little more the next day.  He didn't make faces, but I felt like he was eating it as a favor to me.  Actually, he kind of was.

I wanted him to start eating solids with hopes that he'd sleep through the night.  At 4-months, Karis and Makena were sleeping from 7 pm to 4 am.  Kyle is no where near achieving that.  He has only been doing one 5 hour stretch from about 8 pm to 1 am.  By the time the sun rises, he hasn't even skipped a feeding.  

Well, after his first try with rice cereal he slept a little longer.   After the second day, he slept even longer and I went to bed earlier.  I got a 3-1/2 hour stretch the first night and a 5-hour stretch of sleep the next night.  That's huge for me when I'm typically only sleeping 1 or 2 hours at a time.  Well, after those 2 days, my plans backfired.  Ever since then (the past 4 nights), he's been eating every 3 hours.  He even lost that one 5-hour stretch.

Every night I go to bed thinking, maybe tonight's the night.  Maybe tonight he'll sleep through the night.  I'm still waiting... and hoping... and very tired...

Back to Baby Food

Makena has taken a few stabs at eating baby oatmeal. She barely kept any in her mouth the first couple times, but she's been getting better at it. The last time I fed her, she giggled every time she opened her mouth -- she's definitely enjoying the experience. Now I have to get better about doing it every day.

some random stuff from Derek

Food
I am on a kick for a few certain foods lately.

• Asian pears... cannot get enough of them. I remember selling them at the Jewel grocery store back in 1987. I thought they were so foreign. They were expensive. And they had their own special protective sleeve. If I had only given them a taste back then....
• Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Mini Pretzels are hard to resist. I love the touch of salt flavor. Typically, not a fan of salt. Tried to cut it out of diet. But with these chocolate covered pretzels, yummy!
• Double chocolate Milano cookies dipped in coffee. They're great solo... but dipping them in coffee takes it to the next level.

Thoughts on Karis
I had a revelation last Friday. I've been watching Karis on my non-working weekday for quite some time so I'm surprised that I haven't realized this sooner. I find myself getting a bit frustrated with her exploratory nature. Yes, I have to appreciate the fact that kids do that. It's part of their learning process. But if she's getting into things she shouldn't, I realized that I could be sitting on the floor with her interacting with a toy, book, etc.

Granted, I do that. But I can do a lot more of it. I can remove any intentions or thoughts I have of my agenda for the day trying to squeeze this or that in. I need to focus just on Karis. So, this Friday I'm hoping for far less frustration and far more productivity with her.

Life
Our church is doing a 8-week series on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). It is subtitled "Life's Healing Choices" and compliments the book of the same name by Pastor John Baker. It basically explains how we all have hurts, habits, and hang ups and how we can learn to free ourselves of them from what is taught in the Beatitudes. I like the content so far, but what really makes the difference is doing a study WITH OTHERS.

We cannot simply listen to weekend messages and expect our lives to change. We cannot simply read books and expect our lives to change. We have to play an active part. We need to get out of isolation. We need to be strong and courageous and "expose" ourselves in the safety of other trusted individuals. If you don't have other trusted individuals in your life, then it's likely your hurts, habits, or hang ups are preventing you. Take a risk. If you truly want to change, it will require a risk on your part. I strongly encourage you to seek people with whom you can be authentic and vulnerable. When we are weak, He is strong!

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

Life is not meant to be lived in isolation and fear. Get the book, get the study guide, gather some friends, and start the healing process. I am so thankful that I've taken risks to be vulnerable and shared my weaknesses. Ah, the freedom.

Karis "eating"

At times, I'm thankful that I watch Karis solo only one day a week. She's more active each an every week. The one time I find her activity most frustrating is meal time with baby food. I'm not sure why... I know part of it is that I don't like messes (other than my own personal space and the piles of things I have which other people may consider messy). And Karis makes quite a mess while eating. Actually, I think she eats less than 50% of the food so I think I cannot technically call it "eating." I think another part of the frustration is that inability to communicate to her while "eating." She doesn't comprehend "Keep your fingers out of your mouth!" and other well-used phrases. I'm getting better though. =)

Here's a quick little video for your viewing pleasure.




Should you be wondering, yes, I did get the oatmeal out of her eye.

Guess What Karis Did Today

Today Karis ate solid food for the first time.  We were going to hold off on feeding her solids until she turned six months; however, she has not been eating well this past month.  We're not sure if she has stomach issues or if she is just not interested in eating.  We're hoping that solids will help settle her tummy and make up for some missing calories.

Karis turned five months of age yesterday and has shown signs of being ready to take on solids (e.g, head control, curiosity about what we're eating, sits well), so I gave her some rice cereal.  She ate about two teaspoons of it, minus what ended up on her face and bib.  It was fun to watch her figure out this new thing called eating.