Enoch: 4-6 months

I got a head start on this post, since Enoch didn't officially turn 6 months until April 24th, but I wanted to make sure and get some pics and info loaded on here while I had a chance. This is going to be mainly a photo-love blog post.

Wowsers, this boy is growing! At six months, he's got six teeth that have poked through, front two bottom and front top four. His hair is turning more blonde. He army crawls everywhere, and was doing that at about five months old. His big brothers' toys are the best. He's content, once fed and changed, to be put down on the floor, and then he can get around anywhere he pleases from there. I try to keep the floor free of debris, but sometimes it feels like a losing battle with two other little boys...

I introduced runny egg yolk from a gently fried egg at just after four months, which he loved, and he's still going strong with that. Every morning at breakfast, that's what he has. More recently, I've mixed some mashed avocado with the egg yolk, and also mashed banana. He's not a real big fan of the thicker texture, but tolerated it with funny "yuck" expressions. His first "word" (at 5 1/2 months) if you could call it that, was mama. Sometimes he is talking to me, and sometimes, he's just babbling mamama. He likes to blow bubbles and jabber. He is still nursing. And if you're wondering, NO he's not sleeping through the night. But he's such a great baby all-around, I don't care. ;-) We love him to pieces! Hope you enjoy the photos.

4th month:

1-30-12

2-13-12

2-16-12

2-17-12

2-24-12--4 months old!!

5th month:

2-25-12

3-1-12

3-4-12

3-8-12

3-13-12 -- Bad picture but I love the expression.

3-16-12

Way to cover up the picture, mom...

3-17-12

Gramma Linda and Grampa Allan came for a visit. We had a severe thunderstorm that weekend, and one of the trees near the house was struck by lightning!

3-20-12

3-23-12

3-24-12 -- 5 months old!

6th month:

4-12-12 -- He loves his baths. Soon he'll be too tall for the tub! He's got chunky legs!

4-17-12

4-18-12

4-24-12 -- 6 months old!

We were visiting a parishoners' house this evening, and they had a swing set!

While at their house, I did a bit of a "photo shoot"... well, as good of one as this non-photographer could do!

How to Make a Healthy Homemade Mr. Misty

I grew up in a small rural community in central Iowa. In the summertime when I was young, we would love stopping at the local gas station, a Casey's general store. My brothers and I would beg our mother to get us a Mr. Misty.

For those of you unfamiliar with a Mr. Misty, it's basically a slushy. A styrofoam cup filled with tiny pellets of ice and drowned with an artificially flavored syrup. To a kid in the sweltering hot Iowa summer, it was pretty awesome.

My grown-up self looks back, with some nostalgia, yet knowing that I'll never have such a concoction again. I'm a lot more particular about what goes in my mouth, and my children's mouths, now.

So, I made a healthier version.

Megan's Mr. Misty

You will need:

• A magic bullet or blender
• Ice
• Kefir soda or Kombucha (or some other type of liquid like juice, but these liquids are full of beneficial bacteria, which is why I make and drink these. If you don't know what they are, and therefore probably don't have them, you can replace with your choice of beverage, such as juice)
• Frozen fruit (we've tried blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and banana)

My method:

• I fill up my magic bullet cup about half full with crushed ice from the newly-fixed ice maker in my freezer (thanks, husband!). That probably equals about 1 cup of ice??
• Add liquid to fill it about 3/4 full.
• Add a couple tablespoons worth of frozen fruit.
• Blend.
• Add more liquid if the mixture gets frozen and stops blending. It should be somewhat stiff, but drinkable and stirable with a straw.

That's it! It's really a non-recipe. I make it a little different each time. And my boys think it's great.

And it brings back great memories. ;-)

This post is a part of Simple Lives Thursday.

3 months already in Jeff City!

Hard to believe, but we have been here for 3 months now. And it was about the same temperature then as it is now, 60s! Although we've gone thru only a few snowy days, and quite a few hot days (and it's not even summer yet!).

I wanted to give you a little picture tour of where we are living. I love it here! It's a perfect place for us; I love sliding into an old farmstead where everything is in place, like the garden spot, the chicken house and brooder, raspberry and gooseberry bushes, some grapevines, flowers, a cellar, a clothesline, some fruit trees... even some asparagus, though some of it got plowed up because we weren't sure where it was. Oh! And there is wild onions and garlic all over the place!

Here's the view when you drive in the driveway.

When you continue down the driveway, you'll see the chicken house on the left, the garden spot, the chicken brooder/storage shed, the garage (which doesn't really house any vehicles), another storage building, and the corner of the house on the far right. If you turn to your right at this spot, you'll see the house, pictured next.

This is a closer view of the chicken brooder house on the left, the pathway through the owner's land, and the vehicle parking spot.

The guys were going to do some tilling the morning I was picture-taking. You'll maybe notice that the entire garden is fenced in, which is neat. Also, we're trying a method called deep bedding with hay to keep down weeds and keep in moisture. The idea is to not have to till all the time.

If you turn around from the previous picture, you'll see the house, pictured below, and back up the driveway. The house has an enclosed entryway, which goes into the kitchen, then the dining room, with a small bedroom for the boys off of that. Then the living room, which has a big bedroom off of it, which has our bed and the crib in it. It's not huge, but it works for us right now.

Here's the view from in front of the house.

This is my laundry room, which is in an outdoor room. It's not far from the house, about 12 steps. You'll notice on the right a table with little seedlings growing. There's a fire place in the middle that you keep going in the winter so the wash machine and pipes don't freeze.

And last but not least, the dog that adopted us, Buddy. He's a good dog, pretty gentle with the kids. I think he's chased away lots of the rabbits, which is excellent for the garden. Before he came, the peas were getting eaten, but not anymore. He usually doesn't notice the chickens when they're out free-ranging, though occasionally he will chase one, so we just need to keep an eye on him. We had been feeding him scraps and eggs, and then we decided to buy him some dog food, and then it was like, whoa! That dog suddenly had so much energy.