Namaste

Tonight I taught my last yoga class at Ruby Shoes Studio. I'm so sad to be leaving that place-- it has been wonderful! I've taught yoga twice a week for the last two and a half years and loved it. Now I don't know when the next time will be that I can regularly teach again. Hopefully I can find another place as amazing as Ruby Shoes, but I doubt it. That was perfect and I'll miss it terribly.

Employed!

Eric got a job! We are so thrilled. The company seems top-notch and like a really good fit for our family. He starts May 3rd! For the first 4 months, he'll be in a different city every week for training. That means Wesley and I will be traveling around to visit family all summer. It should be an exciting adventure! After training we'll be assigned to a territory where we will spend at least the next 2 years. We are excited for this next big step. Now we are going to be REAL adults!

Follow up

After my frustrated after-lunch post, Wesley received some positive energy and good karma from you. THANK YOU!! Here his is with his FINISHED jar of apples and blueberries. Well done little trooper. He also ate some shredded mozzarella cheese, a spaghetti noodle, and tried (but spit out) some ground turkey. All steps in the right direction.

And maybe he's a one-meal-a-day kinda guy. And you are right: he's energetic and happy so he's probably not starving, even if he is slim and still comfortable in 6 month PJ's.

Thanks for the positive energy. Wesley and I needed it.

And just a reminder

to myself that he doesn't always make me crazy...

This is a video of me stacking cheerios on his tray-- you can't really see that part. What you can see is Wesley laughing so hard that he subsequently gave himself hiccups.

My favorite part is at about 20 seconds. Also 27 seconds. Good luck keeping a straight face.

10 months. A little young for anorexia?

My baby won't eat anything but breastmilk or paper. (Not that I'm trying to feed him paper, but when he gets his hands on some he has no qualms about putting it in his mouth).

I snapped these pictures today at lunch because Wesley and I were caught in a grudge match and needed something to break the tension. He loves the camera, so he couldn't help by give his signature, impish, closed mouth, melt-your-heart smile-- but notice he won't open his mouth. Oh no. I might sneak some delicious tortellini in there.
Since we first introduced solids at 6 months, he's never been a good eater. There were periods where he didn't hate it as much, but I would never say it was his thing. I tried everything. Homemade baby food, store-bought jars, bits of what we were having for dinner, pure steamed veggies, chunks of fruit, pasta, you name it. He WILL NOT eat vegetables. I always try and sometimes I can sneak a bite or two in.

However, lately, he seems to have embarked on a total hunger strike. Even foods he previously enjoyed he will not eat now. What you see smeared about his face in the picture used to be his absolute fave-- BeechNut Apples and Blueberries. Today: won't do it.

Aside from being really frustrating and annoying, I'm starting to get worried about his no-eating habit. The truth is-- he's lost weight in the past month! At his 9 month check up he was only 18 lbs 7 oz (the 19th%) and when we weighed him on our friend's scale on his 10 month bday, he was down to 18 lbs 4 oz. Geeeeeeeeez. I'm getting nervous! Keep in mind he started life in the 70th% for weight.

It's not that I'm not trying! Today I have given him oatmeal, yogurt, banana, graham crackers, club crackers, chicken, rice, tortellini, apples and blueberries, and probably a gallon of breastmilk. I count myself lucky if he eats two bites in a row of anything. We play games and sing songs while eating. We've tried distraction free eating-- nothing but us and the food. We've tried both high-chair eating and letting him crawl around and following him with a spoon.

I don't think you can understand my dilemma until you try to feed him or unless you have an anorexic baby yourself. At this point, it isn't WHAT I'm feeding him; it's eating in general. I'm starting to wonder if I should seek medical attention. Did he develop some weird intenstinal problem that makes him fear food? I haven't noticed weird poop or rashes... I'm really trying to make mealtime not associated with torture, but I don't know how to help him grow without a little force feeding at this point.

I'm open to suggestions here. If you have a chubby baby that eats like a dream with little or no effort from you, please don't gloat. I see enough chubby babies already. However, if you share my pain and your baby wants to be emo-skinny like mine, please share tips on how you got him to open his stinkin' piehole and enjoy some delicious nourishment.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This has been my favorite holiday for 6 years now. It all started my senior year of high school. March 2004 had started as Marches almost always start-- with a string of gloomy rainy days. Then, as is almost always the case, St. Patrick's Day came and with it sunshine, lollipops and rainbows! Well, at least sunshine. My choir ensemble class had just finished with a performance and had some downtime, so we all went outside for a some sort of kickball meets softball game. I am pretty sure it was that moment that my love of St. Patty's began.

When I tell people this is my favorite holiday, they are often confused. They think I must be some closet alcoholic or that I'm a die hard Irishwoman or I LIVE for corned beef. None of these are the case. In fact, the corned beef and cabbage I made for dinner tonight was not as good as I remembered it being. (Pretty sure that had something to do with the difference between point-cut and flat-cut. NOT a minor difference. Note for next year: Buy FLAT-cut).

Anyway, the point is: I love St. Patrick's Day for the following reasons:

1. Everyone everywhere decides to match. It's like we are all let in on this big secret that on March 17th, we'll all wear green. It's so much fun.

2. It is almost always beautifully sunny outside. I think I've spent more time outside the past 3 days than I have the entire past 3 months. It's lovely. And I really think it's always that way on St. Pat's for me.

3. It just so happens to coincide closely with the first day of spring. What a better time to wear green-- we encourage the grass to return to its true color and suggest the leaves return to the trees. It's time for the world to turn GREEN again!

4. I've decided green is probably my favorite color so that definitely helps things.

To sum up, I'm sure it's all weather related. St. Patty's signifies the end of the short, cold, gloomy, winter white days and welcomes longer, sunnier, greener ones.

It has nothing to do with leprechauns or pinching, both of which are creepy.

Does syrup have sugar in it? Then YES!

I have always had a wicked and insatiable sweet tooth. Nothing is too sweet for me. I love donuts. Really love. Can't go wrong with cookies, cheesecake, ice cream, chocolate... It's bad. It's a good thing I inherited 1/10th of my mom's light speed metabolism, otherwise I would have turned into The Blob long ago.

Recently I decided it had gotten out of hand-- the constant sugar cravings, longing for desserts, and eating oodles and oodles of empty calories. It was time for me to take my health to the next level and cut out the sugar.

Monday March 1 was the start date. It was a new month and the end of winter-- time for a fresh start. I put sweets behind me and I was feelin' great! I felt energized, light and healthy. By the time Friday came around though, I was definitely Jonesin'.

Saturday I was attending a baby shower for which I was to make delicious chocolate truffles. Friday night as I was making them I ended up sampling some. Well how could I not, they were all over my hands. Then the floodgates opened. Saturday I had so many sweets: sugar cookies, chocolate cupcakes and about a million donut holes. Seriously though, I probably ate at least 20 donut holes. Then, we went over to a friend's house Saturday night to play games and enjoyed lots of chocolate fondue. Oh. my. goodness.

And here's where it turns into a cautionary tale: Immediately following the final binge on chocolate fondue, I got the worst stomach ache! I haven't had a tummy ache that bad in YEARS probably. I felt like that poor little girl that threw up in church the day after Halloween because she had too much candy.

Now if I even so much as look at those dang donut holes or the leftover truffles, my stomach starts to turn. So now I'm back on the wagon, cutting out sweets. This time however it isn't a struggle-- I really don't want them! I think when I do start wanting them again, I'll have something small. For me, total denial apparently only leads to miserable bingeing. Lesson learned.