Fruits and Veggies mania...

I have mentioned Bountiful Baskets here once before...I LOVE it! Honestly, it ranks quite high in my "Top 5 Things I Love About Tucson". In the past month we've been exposed to lots of new fruits and veggies that I've never tried before/didn't even know existed.

* Pluots (cross between a plum and an apricot).
* Brussel Sprouts (actually quite tasty when roasted with olive oil and salt)
* White Asparagus (which needs to be peeled before you cook it!)...unfortunately it's just like green asparagus in that it makes your pee smell after you eat it though.
* Green Cauliflower (in the fridge still...to eat this week)
* Mustard Greens (great in soups, eggs, etc)

Samantha, Blanca...am I missing any?

I have been dairy free for quite some time now since Ezra's lil' body can't seem to digest the milk proteins yet. We are going to try again when he's 6 months old. At first it was hard to read labels of EVERYTHING (no trace amounts of dairy even), however now it's become the norm. I know how upset it makes Ezra feel...so it's easy to go without it. I'm thankful for goat cheese and coconut milk ice cream, that's for sure. :)

Ryan just learned on Friday that he needs to go on an elimination diet to determine what food allergy is causing his eosiniophilic esophagitis (feel free to google it)...it's basically like asthma, only in his esophagus.

The elimination diet means no:
-eggs
-dairy
-soy
-corn
-wheat
-nuts
-fish
-shell fish

Yup, pretty much everything except rice, beans, meat and produce. Luckily, he doesn't have to eliminate those foods forever...just until we get him feeling good, and then he'll add them back in one at a time until we see what it is that he's allergic too. They will also be doing skin prick testing, but not for a few weeks, and there is a false-positive with that, so this is the most accurate way to find out.

If anyone has good elimination diet recipes...please feel free to send them our way! :)

Updated photos galore...

Hello all!

Here is a random smattering of recent photos.

Ezra playing with his friends Corban and Josh.

My favorite Corban story, which I recently re-told to Ryan and we keep laughing about... Corban's mom told her they were going to Chuck E Cheese (for the first time!), after being at Chuck E Cheese they got in the car, and with disappointment in her voice Corban said, "I thought we were going to see Jesus." Oh how things sound so similar to a 2 year old. :)

Ezra and Eleanor have made up since their last photo shoot...now they are even holding hands.


Ezra now has a favorite stuffed animal, and we think it's quite adorable how he likes to hold him when he takes a nap. This photo makes it look like we propped the bear next to him, but I promise we didn't. And, to make it even cuter, the bear's shirt says "I 'heart' Ezra"!


Our lil' pilgrim taking a bath...


My cute boys sound asleep in the morning...


Our neighbors Jose and Sara stopped by tonight for a visit!

Mt. Lemmon in the summer...

...with friends...is a very nice place to be.

With less than a week's notice, we planned a trip to camp at Rose Canyon on Mt. Lemmon.

I LOVE camping.
Growing up, we camped. A lot.
Growing up, Ryan did not camp. Ever.

We have met in the middle though, and on average go camping about once every year, which makes me a happy wife, and a happy camper. :)

The campers for the weekend:
9 adults
2 toddlers
2 infants
2 pregnant mamas
and, 2 dogs

Good thing we had a large campsite.

It was a wonderful weekend...the photos are worth a thousand words, so I'll just post photos instead of blah blah blah-ing all about it. :)

















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*=photo credit to the Lauderdales Photography.

No excuses...

Yesterday Ryan said to me, "I think something is wrong with your blog".
I got a little worried, "Huh!?"
Ryan: "Yeah, it says your last post was over a week ago!"

Doh! I could give a million excuses, but there are none really.

I will say though that I've been working many odd jobs lately, which means Ryan has gotten a lot of great quality time with Ezra at home!

Guess who's here??

...Grandma Sue! My mom flew out to visit for the week...and Ezra couldn't be more excited! (Well, the photos may not reflect his sentiment, but trust me...beyond his concentrated efforts to touch the ribbon on his burp cloth, he's smiling inside. :)

someone loves their tummy...

Ezra has been quite content on his tummy lately (something that wasn't true two weeks ago)...in fact, I may even venture to say that he loves being on his tummy! (Oh, and yes Jess, naked tummy time is totally where it's at!)

"I love us!"

Ryan laughs at me all of the time when I shout my coined phrase, "I love us!". Its true though, I couldn't think of a better person to be matched with for life...or a life I'd rather have than the one I'm living! And...I think Ezra fits in oh so nicely with us. He gets all of our jokes, and has plenty of his own to share that make us laugh. He dances just like us. And, talks non-stop, just like us...well, just like me I guess. :)

After a great dinner yesterday...


And a walk around the neighborhood...


Naked tummy time... (and many times of rolling over from belly to back)...


Ezra took a bath and Ryan read him a story (my childhood favorite, Euphonia and the Flood), while I listened in.

Ezra went to sleep...and Ryan and I played what is soon to be my new favorite game, San Juan.

Happy Summer to you!

Sound to sleep...

One of the most commonly asked questions I get is, "How is Ezra sleeping at night?". Truthfully, I think he is doing great! I feel rested, and he is happy. However, people usually want to know how many hours he is sleeping, (the more the better in their minds). And how many times he eats at night, (the fewer the better). I often need to remind myself to hold things in perspective: a.) he is a baby, b.) this phase of waking up during the night is going to be over before I know it, c.) waking up through the night serves many purposes (connecting with mama, SIDS prevention, growing healthy and strong, etc..) and d.) I'm not stressed about it, so why should I let others stress me out? I started reading a book that was given to me by a friend about helping your baby sleep through the night. She loved it and it was a great read for her...so I'm not at all meaning to knock the book or the suggestion, it just wasn't for me. The more I read it, the more stressed out I was getting. I realize that the whole point of the book is to help give your baby healthy sleeping habits. Which, sounds great. I want Ezra to have healthy habits. But, when it comes down to it, right now he is a baby and I want to give him comfort, not discipline. If I had the option of being held and swaddled and soothed to sleep right next to the person I love every night, you bet I would take it...so that is also what I am choosing to give to Ezra. I found a lot of affirmation in my choice to do this when reading this blog post yesterday.
He is a great sleeper! And, he can sleep almost anywhere...the swing, our arms, your arms, a pack 'n play, our bed, my wrap carrier, Ryan's ergo carrier...and most importantly, he is a happy lil' guy!

Rockin' baby!

For the past 4 years, Ryanhood has played on the 4th of July at the Hilton El Conquistador Resort in Tucson. The resort hosts one of the many firework displays around town, so a lot of families flock there for a weekend family getaway.

I had planned on babysitting Dominic for an hour or so in the evening before heading up there, but then at the last minute found out they didn't need me to babysit. This all of a sudden freed me up to go to the resort early with Ryan and spend the day hanging out. I was a bit reluctant at first. I thought, I'll stay home so Ezra can get a good nap in, I can pick up the house a bit, pack our bags, etc. But then it hit me, as cliche as it sounds, "Seize the moment!". We can always be at home and get good naps in, and the messy house will still be here when we get back and can be cleaned then. Experience is when real living happens...and in my opinion, it definitely outweighs routine.

Now, the funny part, is that I packed a blanket for Ezra and I to lay on in the grass and a book to read as well as some knitting for me. Because of course, we were going to play on the blanket together with lots of smiles and coo-ing, and then he was going to fall asleep while I sat and relaxed, reading and knitting. It was going to be this idyllic 4th of July at the park. Well, that's not exactly how it worked out. For starters, even though there is lots of grass and shade at the resort, it also has a "spring break" atmosphere...not exactly the relaxing with my baby kind of place. Then came the fact that Ezra really just wanted to be snuggled close in my carrier. Whose to blame him? I love cuddling! Needless to say, there was no reading or knitting that took place. But there was lots of cuddling and sleeping in the baby carrier while walking around and listening to Ryan soundcheck.

That night was Ezra's first Ryanhood concert! I don't know that he recognized Ryan, but he was totally lovin' all of the lights. Here's our little man rockin' the ear protection...


Ezra and Kaia both protecting their ears while listening to the concert. It was a priceless moment when Kaia recognized Ryan on stage singing...she waved and waved, but sadly Ryan didn't see her. It was too cute!


Here he is up on his feet dancing away...


My favorite part of the night was taking him up close to the stage...and seeing Ryan sing to him.
Ezra loved watching the fireworks...until about 1/2 way through when he crashed for the night in my arms. Funny how a baby can sleep through a grand finale on the 4th of July.

It's laundry time...

This past weekend, we had a Ladies' Night/ Laundry Soap making party! I was inspired by SouleMama's blogpost about making her own laundry soap and thought, "I want to try!". It's really quite simple...and quite satisfying.

Laundry Soap Ingredients
2 Cups of grated soap (1 bar of Dr. Bronner's soap works great!...choose your own fragrance)
1 Cup of Borax (found in the laundry soap aisle)
1 Cup of Washing Soda (found in the laundry soap aisle)
1 Cup of Baking Soda

Directions
Use a cheese grater to finely grate the bar of soap
Mix together all ingredients in a bowl or bag...and voila!...you have laundry soap!
2 Tablespoons per load is all you need. GREAT for washing diapers...as well as the rest of your laundry stash!

Ezra goes to the gym...

Having a 14lb baby around the house, is definitely great for the arms...turns out he is also a great sit-up partner. :)

Ezra goes dancing....

Here's a smiley glimpse of our dancing boy...

Happy 3 Months!

Ezra is 3 months old today! To celebrate, we met up at the zoo with some other mamas and babies (well, okay...the other mamas planned the zoo trip without knowing it was Ezra's birthday...but I told him it was really for him.) I'm not sure that he loved it...but I think he'll like it more and more as he gets older...and as the weather cools off a bit.

"Mom, he's looking at me!..."

So, I know I already posted photos from Ezra's last get together with his cousin Eleanor, but Jessica just sent me this photo and I couldn't resist posting it...it makes me laugh every time I look at it!

Teething, already?

Well, so it goes that Ezra appears to be an early teether. He loves to gnaw on anything that comes near his mouth.


Well, I suppose these photos don't really show how much he is starting to teeth...but I like the photos, so there you have it. :)

Why cover up?

So, I've gotten pretty into breastfeeding humor lately. How could I not when it is how I spend at least 4 hours out of every day. This is the latest and greatest that a friend shared with me...

Oh rats!

So, here in southern Arizona, pack rats rule the land. To have a pack rat could be likened to someone in Boston having a mouse, or someone in Michigan having a mole. The only thing, is that I'd rather have a mole or a mouse than a pack rat. Rodents totally gross me out, even when they are outside! Oh, I guess I should clarify, the pack rat is not inside our house, rather it's between our roof and our house (if we had an attic, it would be the attic). We first heard this creature creeping around two Saturdays ago. It was creeping so loudly that we actually thought someone was breaking into our house and called the police. Oops. Then, last Wednesday, I actually saw it's tail and had a minor freak out. Ryan was in Boston, so I called some friends of ours to come over and help me set up a trap. After two days, we still didn't catch the rat. I decided to move the trap into the backyard to an area where I've heard this little critter before. Sadly, I ended up killing our "pet" lizard, Howie! It's a live trap, but when I went to let him out, he freaked out and tried going through one of the small cage holes and got stuck. I carefully helped him get out by wiggling each leg one at a time, but somehow the trauma was too much and he hasn't moved now in three days. Very sad.
So when Ryan returned, he bravely got up on a ladder and propped the trap up right next to where the rat was getting in. (I could never have gotten that close to this little critter's stomping grounds.) The first night we heard the trap and peaked outside, only to find that the rat was standing next to the trap peering down at us...eww! Then last night (night 2) the rat was caught in the cage! Much rejoicing happened today with that news!

**For all of you animal rights activists, now would be the time to stop reading.**

Our friend told us that the best thing to do is to drown them otherwise they are just going to go right back into your house or someone else's. Ryan went to Home Depot and got a 5-gallon bucket with which to drown the creature. He filled up the bucket and stuck the trap inside. Only, the trap somehow opened the thing got out!! grrr...we couldn't be more frustrated with this thing! Perhaps we'll laugh at it next week, but not today. Today we stopped with the humane trapping business and instead got sticky traps to stick outside it's little "home".
Here he is as I found him this morning...

Hopefully tomorrow morning he'll be in the same place stuck to the trap.

Friends!

Last week Ezra and I spent the afternoon hanging out with Owen and Stephanie. Stephanie and I were in the same birthing class, and Owen is just 3 weeks older than Ezra! This was our second time getting together...and both times have been really fun. It's one of those friendships where the more we talk the more we realize how much we have in common...and the more we want to hang out in the future.
Ezra was totally fascinated by Owen, but Owen was feeling a little shy.

Owen's feet were practically twice the size of Ezra...he's going to be one tall, handsome boy!