Intrepid Murmurings

Many Colors
Holy mackerel, I finally got to work on some art yesterday! It has been about 11 months since I last worked on anything, as this blog post indicates. It was for a show in Portland last spring, before Emma was born.
So Lonnie took Emma and tried to get her to nap yesterday afternoon, while I worked, but instead she wailed for me for a couple hours, on and off. When is this kid going to chill out about this!? She does fine when I actually leave the house so next time I am going to say goodbye and walk out the front door, and come around the back and into my studio. We are going to try to do it every Sunday, and I am NOT going to let myself do chores or internet surfing instead. In the hour and a half that I spent in my studio, I was able to clean up about 10 months worth of clutter that had piled on my workstation and started a new piece:

It is made up off all my scrapings from other encaustics over the past few years. Kind of like the old crayon shaving/wax paper/iron trick, only I used encaustic scrapings and a propane torch instead. It was fun to see all the colors melt and blend. Its not done yet, not sure what I will do next with it.

Food Log
I have asked Lonnie to add another page to the blog as sort of a food log of sorts....so I can record what Emma eats. Not as an obsessive how much is she eating thing, heh, I promise, but more to remind myself of what she likes and dislikes, since I tend to forget and fall into ruts. Also, maybe it will be helpful for others who are thinking about doing Baby Led Weaning. We shall see. I may get bored of it, and will probably not remember to do it every day. I want to note that since Emma is now accepting food on a spoon, we are not doing BLW exclusively; she gets something by spoon at most of her meals. Some of her favorites are spoonable foods, so it seems silly not to give them to her!
Hopefully this will have its own page soon, but for today:
Breakfast Rice apricot congee "O" cereal: first time, and they were a hit! I got the "Trader Joe's O's" because they are wheat free, unlike the other well known brand. Peaches & Plum puree (not so popular) Freeze dried bananas bombed again. I think they will be my snack from now on!
Dinner Polenta (chunks and some by spoon) Applesauce Frozen pear/mango puree (in the mesh feeder, at first, to soothe her sore gums) Avocado wedge O cereal
She ate a ton for dinner....and it took forever! Lately she seems totally uninterested in eating any fruit herself, which is frustrating. When we first started BLW she devoured pear and a couple times banana, and would enjoy some dried fruit now and then. Is she just getting lazy? Uninterested in anything that is not applesauce? I think I will try some baked apple, soon, to see how that goes over, since it would be very similar. I also bought a honeydew melon and am hoping she enjoys that...if its not too slippery!

New Photos...
...in the Eight Month Folder.

Nine Months
Dear Emma,
You are nine months old today! That means you have been here with us on the outside as long as you were in....wow! Nine months seems like such a long time, and eighteen seems so much longer, yet I remember when I found out you were in there like it was yesterday! I see little newborns now and can't believe you were once like them. Nowadays you are always alert, awake, and on the move!
You are doing so many new things now, each day is an adventure to see what you will do next. You are interested in everything and like exploring all over the place. When you want to get somewhere, you can barrel across the floor really fast! You particularly like the dog's bone, her water dish, and the dishwasher when its open. It is pointless to pick you up and move you away because you'll be right back there in two seconds flat! You are also pulling up on everything, cruising along the furniture and pushing anything you can around so you can walk behind it.
Another thing you love is playing with your toys, and you know where to find them...the toy box! You stand there eying each thing, grasping at it, reaching to see if you can get it. Sometimes you can, and you pull it out and sit down to play. You also love doing this with the laundry basket -- pulling out socks, shirts, underwear, even pants, though they take a lot of effort! You end up with a big pile of clothes next to you and then you can start pushing the basket around, yahoo!
You are talking a lot now, too. Not words yet, but lots of sounds and babbles that you repeat, repeat, repeat. You like to hear yourself and will just talk as you play, or while you stand, or sit with us at dinner. Right now you are saying lots of da da da's but not to many ma ma ma's anymore. Where'd they go?
In the past few months you got two brand new teeth, and have really started to enjoy eating solid foods! Most of the time, you seem to be a good little eater! Your favorites are brown rice and apricot congee, avocado, and applesauce mixed with anything. Last week you discovered hummus (hold the tahini) and you thought that was great as well (though you didn't like how it felt at first so you tried to eat it right off your tray). This week your Daddy made beef stew and you loved that, as well! Delicious meat! Yummy carrots! Oh, potato, I love you! You are still not a huge fan of plain vegetables, but carrots and zucchini will do just fine. You like picking up little things with your fingers, now, too, like white beans, green peas, freeze dried apricots and cereal.
You are also starting to have a sense of humor and enjoy playing games with us. You think its hilarious when I shake my hair in your face, and you love to splash and play in the tub with me. You have learned how to play "catch" with us, and like throwing or rolling balls back and forth. You love when we respond to you! You are starting to realize how to put things in a container, like blocks, or your little stuffed birdies in their house. You love knocking over block towers, and watching us build them up again for you!
The past month has not been fun in one regard; you and I have had colds for a month! I think we keep getting new ones, just as we recover from the old. This week you have had a nasty cough, that wakes up up and makes you cry at night. Today, you had a fever, and were content to just sit on my lap and nurse or sleep or watch tv. But later on, you felt better and had a good dinner and lots of fun in the bath, so hopefully you are on the mend. It would sure be nice to not be sick for awhile!
Another struggle we have is sleeping, since you still don't like to sleep much! You won't nap unless you are in my arms, still, or if you are in the bed you wake as soon as I have snuck away, it seems. You are getting really good about bedtime, though, and Daddy can get you to sleep in the crib pretty easily. Why won't you let me do that?!? At night, you still wake in the night to nurse, sometimes just a few times, sometimes often. Although last night, you slept for 5 hours straight! That was a record! I am hoping its not just because you are sick, but maybe...
Well, Emma Rae, I love you lots and can't wait to see what the next few months bring. You will be one year old in no time, and that will be amazing! I think you will be learning to walk soon, and that will bring a whole new batch of adventures. I am looking forward to doing lots of fun things with you this spring, and summer, too. There is so much I can't wait to show you, and so much you will be excited to show us, I am sure.
Love, Mama

Quick Update
Yesterday, Emma had her 9 month well baby visit (she was not actually well, however, still sick with the cold & cough). Here are the highlights:

• Weight was 17lbs 4 oz, staying steady at just under the 25th percentile. Yay!
• She was 28 inches tall, which was just under 75th. Head circumference was also just under 75th.
• Doc seemed to think all the feeding stuff sounded like it was going well, and recommended egg yolks (not sure about that, may continue to hold off like the allergist said) and more meats.
• Her iron levels tested fine, however. Which I thought they'd be, since she eats lots of avocado, which has iron, and also gets a little formula each day.
• He of course asked about sleeping... As he has said before, he thinks some kids just don't need as much sleep as others. He was fine with/supportive of cosleeping, but wondered if we were getting enough sleep. Ha.
• He seemed to think this cold was minor and didn't hear anything in her lungs, despite her having a nasty cough these past few days. Thats good. Too bad it is waking her up, though! I hope it goes away soon!
• Developmentally she is doing fine, and is on track with her crawling, pulling up and cruising, and chattering. And separation anxiety. Oh, if only she would get over that!
• She also got two vaxes, bah, no fun. She recovers fast from the initial poke with a little nursing, luckily. She was pretty clingy and probably sore later in the afternoon, and last night woke up with a little screaming, which was not fun, but solved by Tylenol and walking around in the carrier. Today she seems fine, hooray!

Woe Is Me
Ha ha, it appears I am listed on the first page for the Google search "obsessing about sleep". Funny how that works.
Nothing new to report on that front, really. Emma has been doing the same as usual, decent (for her) naps but frequent wakeups in the night. The past few nights have sucked sucked sucked for me, because I am sick (first a fever, now a head cold with a miserable cough) and unable to get comfortable to fall or stay asleep. While in the past I have been one to appreciate the "better living through chemistry" theory, at least with regards to cold medicines, now that I am breastfeeding most of them are not really an option. Especially for those with milk supply issues to begin with!
So while I am able to manage the super disrupted sleep most of the time, when I am sick it feels unbearable. I was royally unimpressed when Lonnie did not let me sleep in this morning (something that has only happened three times since those first two weeks when we were taking turns), after he had stayed up until the wee hours blowing up the house and watching television. What is with these new night owl tendencies -- he used to be ready to hit the hay at 9pm! He did, however, earn back his keep when he finally did arise; I went back to bed and he took Emma, got her down for a nap, did the dishes, some laundry, vacuumed the kitchen and then made crepes, eggs and bacon when I got up! Woo hoo!

Thar She Blows
Holy crap, my husband (who has recently taken up building electronics, playing with car-startable batteries, circuitboards, heating wire and soldering in his spare time) just blew up the house. I heard a telltale crack and a pop, which can only be one thing. Electronics blowing up. And there, in our old guest bedroom turned workshop, is a huge cloud of smoke. Oy Vey.
Mind you, this was only minutes after I walk in and my heat gun (for encaustics) is sitting on the wood floor, RUNNING, while he works on something else. Oh, is that on? he says casually. His music was up to high for him to hear it.
Why me? Could he not take up knitting, or something? Its hip, isn't it?
He is fine, FYI. And back at it.
I am looking for a fan.

New Trick



Look at me! I can walk! Hooray for laundry baskets!

Notes from the Field

• It had been days since Emma bonked her head falling - she is getting really steady on her feet!
  
• But then yesterday she did it twice, though it was on Lonnie's watch not mine. Heh.
  
• She has mastered getting down from a standing position. It takes a few tries, but she makes it most of the time without any help at all.
  
• She is becoming a ham for the camera; no fake smiles yet, though, just 2-toothed grins.
  
• Oh yeah, she now has two teeth! They didn't seem to cause too much pain...
  
• Favorite toys right now: the humidifier box, her high chair (from the floor, not sitting in it), my small pocket measuring tape, and plastic food containers (thanks to Mona for that brilliant idea!).
  
• She is also becoming a little drummer - she likes to pound on anything solid (that includes me, it seems)
  
• Now that she's more mobile, she will sometimes play by herself for up to 20 min at a time! She will circle around the room, pulling up here, crawling here, playing with this and that. It's fun, and nice to be able to do something myself.
  
• I forget if I've posted about this already, but Lonnie has started being able to reliably get her asleep in the crib at night, whahoo! Our bedtime routine has now become dinner, bath (and nursing), jammies, and stories and/or bottle with Daddy. Its working really well. She wakes somewhere between 1-4 hours later, at which point I nurse her back down quickly in the bed.
  
• Naps? Eh, still all over the place, some in the car, some in a carrier on me, some (like right now!) in the bed. Rarely in the crib, at least without a fight, since she doesn't sleep soundly enough for the transfer.
  

New pics added, starting here...

@ 11:46 AM PST [ Comments [1] ]

Crock Pot Lamb Stew
I made lamb stew yesterday and it was great! And lots of leftovers! I kind of combined a couple recipes I had found online. It was just right for my whimpish tongue (about 2 star, if we were talking Thai), so add more if you like it spicier, less (of the turmeric & red pepper flakes) if you want it less so. Here it is, roughly:
Crock Pot Lamb Stew
1 1/2 lbs lamb stew meat 2 large sweet potato/yams 1-2 onions, sliced 4 cloves garlic 1 t cinnamon 2 t turmeric 2 t ginger 1 t crushed red pepper flakes 14 oz (or so) beef broth Optional: dash of orange juice (or orange zest) 1 cup dried apricots, cut roughly 1 cup peas Optional: 1 T cornstarch, whisked into some hot water salt/pepper to taste
1. Lightly salt & pepper the meat and brown in a pan. Transfer to crock pot. 2. Saute onions & garlic for 2 min, then add spices and cook for another few min or so. Add dash of broth & scrape pan, add all to crock pot. 3. Peel and roughly cut sweet potatoes into large chunks (2" or so?), add to crock pot ** 4. Pour in rest of broth and OJ/zest (if using). 5. Cook on low for 8-10 hours (I noticed the meat was much more tender after 9 or so than just a few hours earlier) 6. 1-2 hours before serving, add apricots, peas, and cornstarch (if using)
Note: The sweet potatoes were really soft and starting to break down after cooking for so long. We liked it, but if you prefer more solid potatoes, you could add them halfway through. I ended up not adding the cornstarch because the sweet potatoes had thickened the broth enough as it was.