I'm already in jeopardy of not reaching my two book per month goal. This Environmental Nutrition course is taking longer that I expected. While it is very interesting, it's not exactly the kind of book you can't put down. Ya know? Neither have I had time to make any more progress in the boys' scrapbooks or begin learning Spanish. Much of this is due to having Isaac's birthday party last weekend. On a positive note, the house is rather clean! It's a little ironic that you clean your house before company comes over, only to have to clean it again after they trash it and leave! Oh well.
Isaac is singing songs like it's nobody's business! He's getting really good at Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the ABC's! The ABC's he started all on his own without any prompting. It's really cute! He loved his birthday party. I made him an Elmo cake, and got him some baloons: one big Elmo, one big Cookie Monster, and a couple happy birthday baloons with Sesame Street characters. Keith & I bought him glow-in-the-dark stars and planets for his ceiling, a Thomas the Train nightlight, and some little, regular (not sippy), plastic cups for him to start practicing with.
Josiah is doing great. He's becoming quite good sleeper. He went through a bad spell there where he wouldn't nap or sleep at night, but I think that was because he never has less that 3 teeth coming in at one time. He's turned into such a pleasant baby. He still doesn't like drinking bottles but he loves eating food!
I know that was a very short update, but I'm meeting a friend for lunch & trying to get some laundry done before I go! If I remember to later I'll post some pics from Isaac's birthday.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Victory!
I wasn't getting anywhere with Isaac in Pull-Ups. They're too much like diapers. He felt totally free to just pee in them rather than going to the potty. Yesterday morning I decided to try just wearing regular cotton underpants on him, without pants, so if he had an accident it wouldn't ruin his entire outfit. He did have a couple of accidents, but he saw his puddle on the floor and knew what happened. He said, "Pee pee, uh oh!" I tried this again after his nap, and he kept himself dry all evening! He said, "pee pee" when he had to go and he'd go to the bathroom where his Elmo potty is! I still can't get him to poop on the potty though. Oh well, we'll just take it one step at a time. I hope he continues to keep himself dry in regular underoos now.
Isaac can also count to 10 and he called his blanket red all by himself the other day! I've been working on colors with him for so long! He also knows orange pretty well, because he loves oranges! Oh, and Isaac's latest crazy thing is that he loves lemons! I bought some for me & Keith to put in our water, but as soon as Isaac spots them in our glasses we have to take them out and give them to him to suck on! Guess I'll have to learn how to make some good fresh lemonade for my boy!
Josiah is just growing by leaps and bounds. Before Christmas he began crawling. On New Year's Eve his first top tooth emerged, and now the second top tooth is poking through. On Monday he pulled himself up to standing by himself! He's doing better and better with his sippy cup and feeding himself those little Gerber star-shaped puff thingies. He's also been trying really hard not to wake up at 5am and scream for two hours. Lately he's been making it to more like 6am, but I make him wait until 7am to come out of his crib. My rule is that nobody gets out of their crib before 7am. Lastly, we've really discovered that Josiah, in spite of how active he is, loves to be held and to cuddle. He will sit on our laps as long as we'll hold him. He never tries to get down!
I just finished reading The Diary of Anne Frank yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon I began my continuing education course on Environmental Nutrition. I had to re-read every paragraph twice. My brain just isn't geared toward that kind of reading anymore. I'll have to re-train it. I also received an email/forward supposedly written by Karl Rove about a friendly competition he and President Bush had going for a few years. The competition was to see how many books they could read in a year. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun, if anyone out there is interested in a little friendly competition! Even if no one is, I'd really like to see how many I can read in a year.
If I may, I love learning new vocabulary from the books that I read. For example, in Pride & Prejudice the word "felicity" is everywhere! I had to look it up in the dictionary! But now I know! My new vocabulary words from Anne Frank's diary were "clandestine" and "pedantic." Clandestine: kept secret or hidden, especially for some illicit purpose; surreptitious; furtive. (This prompts me to look up surreptitious and furtive.) Pedantic: 1) laying unnecessary stress on minor or trivial points of learning, displaying a scholarship lacking in judgement or sense of proportion, 2) narrow-minded teaching insisting on exact adherence to a set or\f arbitrary rules.
One of my readers requested I post recipes to help them stick to their resolution to eat healthier in 2009. My first selection is a hummus recipe I got by watching Rachael Ray. I chose it because 1) it's vegetarian, 2) chick peas are a good source of fiber and protein, and 3) I like hummus! What you have to be careful about in this recipe is that although it calls for olive oil, which is a type of "good fat," olive oil is still an oil! It is a fat, with approximately 120 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon. So don't overdo it!
Chick Pea, Roasted Pepper & Rosemary Spread
2 15oz. cans chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained & rinsed
1 6oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained and coarsely chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 cloves garlic
4 stems fresh rosemary (strip leaves from stems)-I just use some dried rosemary & it turns out just fine
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Dippers, such as sliced flat breads or pita, grape tomatoes and zucchini
Combine chick peas, roasted red pepper, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in food processor. turn processor on and stream in olive oil until smooth. Remove spread to a serving bowl and surround with pita/flat breads, grape tomatoes and zucchini.
I like to buy those mini whole wheat pita pockets and stuff them with some hummus and salad. Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it!
Enjoy! Stay tuned for a Cream of Butternut Squash soup recipe!
Isaac can also count to 10 and he called his blanket red all by himself the other day! I've been working on colors with him for so long! He also knows orange pretty well, because he loves oranges! Oh, and Isaac's latest crazy thing is that he loves lemons! I bought some for me & Keith to put in our water, but as soon as Isaac spots them in our glasses we have to take them out and give them to him to suck on! Guess I'll have to learn how to make some good fresh lemonade for my boy!
Josiah is just growing by leaps and bounds. Before Christmas he began crawling. On New Year's Eve his first top tooth emerged, and now the second top tooth is poking through. On Monday he pulled himself up to standing by himself! He's doing better and better with his sippy cup and feeding himself those little Gerber star-shaped puff thingies. He's also been trying really hard not to wake up at 5am and scream for two hours. Lately he's been making it to more like 6am, but I make him wait until 7am to come out of his crib. My rule is that nobody gets out of their crib before 7am. Lastly, we've really discovered that Josiah, in spite of how active he is, loves to be held and to cuddle. He will sit on our laps as long as we'll hold him. He never tries to get down!
I just finished reading The Diary of Anne Frank yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon I began my continuing education course on Environmental Nutrition. I had to re-read every paragraph twice. My brain just isn't geared toward that kind of reading anymore. I'll have to re-train it. I also received an email/forward supposedly written by Karl Rove about a friendly competition he and President Bush had going for a few years. The competition was to see how many books they could read in a year. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun, if anyone out there is interested in a little friendly competition! Even if no one is, I'd really like to see how many I can read in a year.
If I may, I love learning new vocabulary from the books that I read. For example, in Pride & Prejudice the word "felicity" is everywhere! I had to look it up in the dictionary! But now I know! My new vocabulary words from Anne Frank's diary were "clandestine" and "pedantic." Clandestine: kept secret or hidden, especially for some illicit purpose; surreptitious; furtive. (This prompts me to look up surreptitious and furtive.) Pedantic: 1) laying unnecessary stress on minor or trivial points of learning, displaying a scholarship lacking in judgement or sense of proportion, 2) narrow-minded teaching insisting on exact adherence to a set or\f arbitrary rules.
One of my readers requested I post recipes to help them stick to their resolution to eat healthier in 2009. My first selection is a hummus recipe I got by watching Rachael Ray. I chose it because 1) it's vegetarian, 2) chick peas are a good source of fiber and protein, and 3) I like hummus! What you have to be careful about in this recipe is that although it calls for olive oil, which is a type of "good fat," olive oil is still an oil! It is a fat, with approximately 120 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon. So don't overdo it!
Chick Pea, Roasted Pepper & Rosemary Spread
2 15oz. cans chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained & rinsed
1 6oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained and coarsely chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 cloves garlic
4 stems fresh rosemary (strip leaves from stems)-I just use some dried rosemary & it turns out just fine
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Dippers, such as sliced flat breads or pita, grape tomatoes and zucchini
Combine chick peas, roasted red pepper, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in food processor. turn processor on and stream in olive oil until smooth. Remove spread to a serving bowl and surround with pita/flat breads, grape tomatoes and zucchini.
I like to buy those mini whole wheat pita pockets and stuff them with some hummus and salad. Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it!
Enjoy! Stay tuned for a Cream of Butternut Squash soup recipe!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
2009 New Year's Resolutions
I would like to begin by saying the only New Year's resolution I ever kept was back when I was about 18 or 19 years old. I resolved to stop at every stop sign that year, and I did. That's the ONLY resolution I ever kept.
Now, let's get this show on the road!
Now, let's get this show on the road!
- Complete Isaac and Josiah's 1st year scrapbooks.
- Read at least two books per month, ideally one non-fiction and one fiction. Non-fiction topics I'm interested in include vaccines, owning rental property, homeschooling, and generally reading about uplifting/inspiring people. I've begun with The Diary of Anne Frank. I must also begin a continuing education course entitled Environmental Nutrition. My fiction selection for the month will most likely be For One More Day by Mitch Albom.
- Learn Spanish.
- Lose weight, of course. Had to throw that one in there.
- Develop and implement a house cleaning schedule. It's the only way I'll learn to get it done on a consistent basis.
- Go through Cleansing Streams at church. I should also join the dance team at church too before I get pregnant again. If I don't do it now, who knows when I will.
That's all I can think of for myself right now.
Maggie's resolution is to stop chasing after other dogs, cats, and bunnies, with special emphasis on not chasing the next door neighbors' cats off of their own back porch. This should be pretty simple for her as she's now kept on a chain at all times when I let her outside.
Isaac's main New Year's resolution is to stop pooping his pants and become fully potty-trained. He also plans to master subjects such as shapes, colors, numbers, letters, drawing, coloring, and singing songs. I can't even begin to imagine what a bigger boy he's going to be at this time next year, when we're welcoming 2010!
Josiah has many resolutions. First and foremost, he resolves to stop doing his scream-for-an-hour-or-two thing at 5am every morning. He also plans to learn walking, drinking from sippy cups, self-feeding finger foods, and words like mommy, daddy, and Maggie. In sum, he will graduate from a baby to a toddler this year. He, too, will be such a bigger boy one year from now!
I don't know about Keith. You'll have to ask him to do a blog and see if he has any resolutions.
Here's to 2009! May it be blessed with peace, health, prosperity, and an ever-growing relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ! My prayer for us all is that He would manifest Himself to us this year as never before, and continue to draw our hearts nearer to His.
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