A Weekend of Projects

Another little one on the way has lit a bit of a fire under Wes. Knowing a busy season is coming makes you want to get all your "ducks-in-a-row" so to speak. So we made a list of things that we wanted to get done around the house before November, which means we won't have a shortage of projects around our house until sister arrives.

We inherited a new refrigerator from my parents when they moved back to Texas. They got a new one with the new house, so we got the old one. Wahoo!! However, this meant getting said fridge to our house, an hour away. It wasn't actually that hard, with the wonderful help of Wes' dad and my dad. (BIG thanks, by the way).

 
No, we don't have two fridges sitting in our kitchen. This is what they look like after we moved the new one into place. We had to keep the other plugged in while the new one cooled off, then moved all the food over.

When installing the new one, my dad just HAD to give Wes a hard time (what are father-in-laws for). He pushed the fridge in until it was sticking out about a foot and said "That's it, it won't go back any more." The plan backfired, however, because Wes had measured the thing about 10 times previously and knew it would fit.

Wes - 1
My Dad - 0
(better luck next time)

Then the old one went off to live in the garage until we can find a home for it. I am very happy with my new fridge, especially having ice and water in the door.

So here's the next project of the day. I wanted cabinets put into my laundry room. All I had was a shelf, and things kept getting stacked and stacked. It was getting a little crowded, especially with my homemade detergent (I'll have 4-5 jugs at a time, and they need to go somewhere!). So my wonderful husband agreed to install cabinets for me (with MANY more thanks to my father-in-law and my dad).

Moving the dryer out of the way for more room.

Hammering the shelf out of the way.

 

The poor dads having to hold up the cabinet while the young and agile one took his time getting his tools ready.

Reed supervising the installation.

 

One cabinet up!!

Unfortunately, the ledge/shelf that was taken off was INCREDIBLY un-level (thank you, whoever installed it in the first place).

Comically un-level

This meant lots of shims and a future project of taking off the ledge and repositioning it. Wes was not very happy about that, but he will gladly do it for his sweet, pregnant wife.

The cabinets didn't fill the entire gap and we needed a filler piece in-between them. So the boys got to play with a saw!

Safety FIRST!

They were a little un-easy about me taking so many pictures because I told them if they didn't do something right, it would end up on the blog. Blackmail has a way of making a project turn out really well!

Another cabinet goes up!

The (almost) finished product! I LOVE them!! All we need are the finishing touches, like caulking, pulls, and some top trim. Wes doesn't think we need any trim on the top. What do you think?

Next up is sister's room. Wes has a break from class between summer and fall semester coming up which is the perfect time to paint and put up some crown molding (I'm sure that will be a FUN project/blog post).


Enjoy!

The Turners

 

Grilled Salmon and Meat and Veggie Foil Packets

This new gastronomic venture has yielded some very yummy new (to us) recipes that I thought I'd share.

Cedar Plank grilled Salmon

Delicious!! I'm not exactly sure where I got this recipe from. Actually I think it was Wes that found it. Very simple, though. 
1. Soak planks at least an hour before grilling (so as not to catch them on fire when grilling, smart)
2. Place salmon (wild-caught Alaskan salmon, not that farm raised stuff) scale-side down on cedar plank
3. Rub salmon with a little olive oil, salt, and (since we didn't get lemon at the store, DOH) a little lemon pepper seasoning
4. GRILL!! Med-high heat for 20-30 minutes or until done.

We added baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli. Super good! Reed couldn't get enough salmon. I think he ate about half of mine (which was very disheartening because it was so good that I wanted to eat it all myself). Bad Mommy.

Grilled Veggie and Meat Packets

with homemade whole wheat tortillas

This is directly from Lisa's 100 Days of Real Food site, and  it was awesome! Here is the link:
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/05/21/recipe-grilled-meat-veggie-foil-packets-camping/

Sorry there's no picture of the inside. We were so hungry that we dove right in and didn't look back. So just imagine a delicious foil packet full of grilled mushrooms, bell peppers, jalapeno, potato, zucchini, onion, and chicken. It was seriously delicious, especially with our homemade tortillas (which were surprisingly easy to make).

I know, you can totally tell I made these myself. Most of them looked like a deformed Pacman, but they were tasty. A little 100% whole wheat flour, oil, and water, and you're ready to make tortillas! Here's the link: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/05/26/recipe-whole-wheat-tortillas/

We will definitely be making these recipes again (if I can convince my sweet husband to fire up his grill, which he hates - the grill, not grilling - but that's an entirely different post).


Enjoy!

The Turners

Unprocessed Baby Steps

Well, here we go with our unprocessed food change. I'd like to say 'there's no turning back!' but I am absolutely not perfect (and so thankful I have a God who knows that and made a way for me).

So here's to a really good try!!

Not only do I have earthly motivation to help my family be 'healthier', but I have biblical motivation as well:

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" 1 Cor 6:19-20

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor 10:31

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." 1 Cor 3:16-17

Wow, if that's not motivation to take care of your earthly body in a physical and spiritual sense, I don't know what is! If I want to be effective for God, I need to take care of myself. If He says 'Go', but I'm not in shape, how can I 'go?' If he says 'Tell' but I haven't exercised myself in His word, how can I 'tell?'  Something to ponder...

So I really like Lisa's page www.100daysofrealfood.com. Not only has she taken her family to an unprocessed diet, but she has great resources to help YOU do it, too! If you're new to the unprocessed way of life (like me), you're probably wondering what exactly that means. Lisa made some family rules they would follow to help them stay on track.

These are great rules, and ones we will strive to live by, but I wasn't ready to jump all the way into the deep end....yet. I also didn't want to go into the fridge and pantry and just chunk everything to start fresh. After all, we have a budget we stick to.

So hubby and I sat down to talk about some rules we were going to start with.
1. Use up all the 'processed' items we have and slowly replace with whole foods. (peanut butter happened to be first)
2. Slowly make the switch to full-fat dairy (I love my skim milk).
3. Dinners will be (to the best of our ability) unprocessed. Now, we still have some things we are using up (as in rule #1), but we're going to really try.
4. We will strive for less than 1 eat out day a week. Lisa has some guidelines that are a little more helpful and one says no eating out/no fast food AND no deep fried foods, but lets be honest, Chick-fil-A is really great every now-and-then, and I am just not ready to give that up! Plus sometimes it's nice to go to dinner with friends/family. Therefore we needed to amend this one.

I have definitely found this challenging already. No more granola bars or crackers to munch on (except Triscuts. Yes, they are still processed, but with only 3 ingredients that I can pronounce and know what they are!!). My snacks are now mostly fruits and vegetables, which are good, but I find I am eating a lot more often. Sister apparently needs lots of energy. I'm not really a 'seeds and nuts' kind of person, but I'm going to try some, though.

Another challenge is the cost of all this. Yes, we are spending more money, which stresses this planner out. However, I am still saving the family a lot of money by using cloth diapers and making our laundry detergent. (Yes, still using. Yes, still works.) This has made me feel good about spending a little more money for our grass-fed beef/organic chicken.

My final baby step is I have started reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It's already an interesting read, and I'm only a few chapters in. We have people in our lives we respect and would trust their opinion 100%, but it's always good to do your own research/reading when you're thinking about doing something new (especially when it involves the well-being of your family). So don't take my word for it (PLEASE don't, I am in NO WAY an expert. I'm just documenting what we're up to here in Turnerville).

I think I hear a little boy that has woken up...see ya!


Enjoy!

The Turners

Changing for the Better

Things will be changing around the Turner house soon, in more than one very obvious way.

Everyone has dreams of eating better and being healthier, but a lot of times it ends up like a 'diet' and is abandoned after a few weeks (especially after a few slip-ups). Full disclosure, we are definitely guilty of this. We try to eat 'healthy', but it doesn't always stick. We found a local 'farm' that is really close to us and went a few times, but haven't been back since. My husband is usually the driving force behind the health-kick, but seeing as I am the grocery shopper and cooker, I don't always have him poking and prodding me. However, there are a few things we have changed in the past year that HAVE stuck.

1. Organic milk: Some question the value of organic foods, but you just can't wash milk like you can fruits and veggies. (Plus the idea of hormones and antibiotics in my milk is gross.) It has gone so well that we will be doing only organic dairy now, too. It's a little harder for me to find, so I feel some research coming on!

2. Organic chicken and eggs: Again, the unnecessary hormones and antibiotics. We buy free range whenever we can find it, but cage free is a close second (yes, there is a difference). Sounds weird, but I like the animals I eat to be happy before they hit the chopping block. 


Speaking of organic, did you know there are different levels of a product being considered 'Organic'? Good to know.

3. Grass-fed beef: Again, and again, and again, hormones and antibiotics. All cows start on grass, but most cows are put on a grain diet the last part of their 'life' to fatten them up quicker along with hormones and antibiotics. But, really, cows were created to eat grass. At least, that's what I believe. Now grass-fed beef is much harder to find, but I have seen it creep into my local Kroger (VERY slowly). We have been purchasing our grass-fed beef from Sprouts. (We FINALLY got our own just this week. THANK YOU!! I don't have to drive 25 minutes to get to my nearest Sprouts now.) They have ground beef on sale once a month so we stock up on that then. I was also VERY excited to see "all natural" (be careful of this label) free-range turkey there.

***If you LOVE your Diet Coke, I suggest skipping this one***
4. Artificial sweeteners: Okay, so since I'm pregnant I am not supposed to do artificial sweeteners anyway, BUT, I won't even after sister is born. A friend of mine at MOPS completely opened my eyes to the absolute grossness of artificial sweeteners. Most are FDA approved and not viewed as dangerous, but I find it really disgusting how they are made. My father-in-law has steered clear of them since I brought it all up.


Even after these changes, we were still not eating what I would consider 'really good' foods. So I've been reading a lot about healthy eating lately and hearing a lot about it from Wes (he has a co-worker that's really big into Paleo, so he sees it in action first-hand. If you haven't heard of it, check it out). After researching the Paleo diet, I decided it wasn't for us. (Mainly the no dairy. I LOVE my milk and cheese.) Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables is good, but I needed more. So I somehow ran into this site and was very interested.

We were having a conversation about health and diets with my father-in-law last week which brought up the serious desire to do something different. There are lots of different 'healthy diets' out there, but they are more of a short-term fix, not a life change. We were specifically discussing Mediterranean, Paleo, low-fat, and Vegan. While these diets may have their benefits, my newly found knowledge had me convinced that people would be a lot healthier if they just went back to the basics and cut out all processed foods. I mean, have you REALLY looked at the ingredient list of a boxed product at the grocery store?

Ok, maybe you have. But have you looked up what any of those "confrabrolate glycolinate" ingredients are or how they're made?

After letting Wes do some reading up on my new passion, he agreed to support me in this unprocessed approach to food.

I will totally admit I was terrified and excited at the same time. This would require a LOT of planning and discipline to do. EEK!! I'm sure I'll thank Lisa later for the idea...


So in an effort to keep my family accountable, I will be documenting our journey to better eating.

Up next, unprocessed baby steps.

Enjoy!

The Turners

Reed's Birth Story

I have been planning on writing about Reed's birth story for some time, since I didn't start this blog for several months after he was born. Guess there's no time like the present (since he is napping).

I was really thinking he was going to come early. Mostly because my mom wasn't planning on coming until after my due date. I thought, surely he will decide to ruin her plans of being here when he's born. It turns out I was right.

It was a Monday morning and I was 38 weeks and 3 days when the itching started. A horrible, non-stop itching of my hands and feet. Weird, right? I was only comfortable with ice packs on them. Thank goodness I had my weekly appointment that afternoon. I'll admit I had done some research on the symptoms and wasn't encouraged by what I read. The drive to the office was tough because I couldn't keep the ice on while driving, but I made it.

At the appointment the nurse looked at the ice pack and said, what hurts? I explained the extreme itching and she looked at me funny and started asking lots of questions and looking at my hands and feet for any sign of a rash. With a puzzled look she told me the doctor would be in soon. My doctor had the same perplexed expression when I told her what was going on. She looked at my hands and feet for any explanation and also felt around my upper abdomen (checking my liver, I found out later). She asked lots of questions to make sure I hadn't eaten anything weird or had been effected by something that was giving me a reaction. Then she said there was a chance it was something called Cholestasis, but she didn't think that was it. They would get some labs from me and send me on my way. In the mean time she said I could take Benadryl for the itching and let her know immediately if I noticed that baby wasn't moving as much. Hmmm...

Thus the waiting began.

So we became experts on Cholestasis in the 2 days it took her to get the results. You can read all about it from the American Pregnancy Association. Here's a basic rundown: your liver produces bile for your stomach. Your gallbladder stores it and distributes it. Cholestasis is when a pregnancy hormone makes your gallbladder slow down or stop the flow of bile. This makes it back up in your liver where it can spill into your bloodstream. The salts in the bile build up in your blood, mostly in your hands and feet, causing the itch. Not a big deal to the mother, but it can negatively affect baby's liver which can cause preterm birth or even still birth. A scary bit of information, which made me super paranoid about Reed's movements (even though the doctor told me to be aware of his movements already). Every couple of hours I would lay down just to make sure I was still feeling him move.

Tick-tock...

That Wednesday I called the office in the afternoon because I hadn't heard anything. They didn't have any information for me, so I hung up, disappointed. An hour later, my doctor called with the results.

It was Cholestasis.

BUMMER!

The 'cure' for Cholestasis is delivery. Funnily enough, it just goes away post-partum because the pregnancy hormones level out. This meant we were having a baby early. So my doctor was going to consult with a high-risk doctor (because they usually treat/observe Cholestasis Mommies) and call us back. She called back within 30 minutes to tell us that since I was so close to 39 weeks that they recommended induction.

"Can you be at the hospital tomorrow?"
"Uhh, yes?"

Small freak-out.

So we got all the details and set to packing. I called my mom to tell her she would be 2 weeks late for Reed's arrival (of course) and informed the rest of the immediate family of the plans. The reality of not being able to see her grandbaby for 2 whole weeks set in, and my mom changed her travel to come the very next morning (Thursday). So a frenzied evening and horrible night's sleep later, it's Thursday.

We weren't set to go in until that evening, so after my mom arrived we busied ourselves with a breakfast date and some shopping. A failed nap and long afternoon later, Wes FINALLY got home from work, we got ready and were off. We showed up right on time and I got plugged up to the machines and IV. They started me on a pill and the doctor would come back in the morning to start the pitocin. I wasn't excited about it because of everything I'd heard and read about induction, but there we were. I had to stay in bed for 2 hours following the medicine to make sure it would start working. Tell a pregnant lady she can't get up for 2 hours and she will have to pee the ENTIRE time. A tortuous 2 hours later, I finally got to use the bathroom. I was actually starting to feel some contractions by then, but they were small. The nurse said it could possibly put me into labor if my body was ready, but it wasn't likely. So around 9:30 I ate something and the nurse gave me an Ambien to sleep and we were left alone until morning.

Around 11:30-12 I was woken up by strong contractions and a nauseous feeling. After laying there for a little bit I couldn't handle it anymore, called for my nurse and lost my dinner. After getting me situated she said I was 4 cm and I could have my epidural, too. Apparently the medicine that wasn't supposed to start my labor actually did. At least I didn't have to have pitocin!

So I got my epidural around 1 and was a surprising 6 cm. This is happening fast. Wes texted my mom and said that she should probably make her way to the hospital. After a little while I noticed a little relief, but not complete relief. The epidural had only got the right half of my abdomen, so I was still in a considerable amount of discomfort. The NA came back to adjust, but after a while I was still in a lot of pain. My body was progressing so fast that I was outrunning the drugs. One more NA visit and I was finally good. During that time Reed's heart rate kept dropping, which brought a whole slew of nurses in, leaving me wearing an oxygen mask, flipping from side to side (which is quite hard with an epidural), and even getting random shots to slow down my labor. Whatever they did worked because Reed stabilized. 

My mom showed up around 3 and I was 9 cm. The nurse started calling for the doctor then. They couldn't get a hold of her and finally went to the on call doctor. She showed up at 4:00 and 10 minutes later Reed was born. I didn't get to hold him right away because he had a bowel movement in utero, so the NICU nurses came in to check him. He was totally perfect so we got to enjoy him immediately after.

6 lb 4 oz and 20 in long

It was all so surreal. I was kind of in shock that I actually went through labor and had a baby and that he was in the room. Not to mention the "I am totally in charge of this baby now" feeling. Just a little overwhelming.

Our new family!

Total love, and total fear.

Mommy love

Needless to say, my doctor was shocked when she got to the hospital the next morning to find that I had already delivered. An extremely fast delivery for 'first baby' standards. She told me to stay close to home/the hospital on my next pregnancy. Check!

Reed and his Nana who got to be there.

 Reed's very first visitor was his Nana, who got to be there for his birth. Changing her flight plans was probably a good decision.

Reed's very next visitors were his Godparents Chris and Jess Diem who left their house at 5 in the morning to meet him. (Y'all are crazy!) We had a nice quiet morning visiting with them and also freaking out over a newborn. Sweet Chris got me my first Dr. Pepper in 9 months (YUM) and a moment of hilarity ensued when Wes and Chris tried to put a shirt on Reed. It ended up being backwards or upside down or something. Just what this tired Mamma needed: a good laugh and caffeine.


Enjoy!

The Turners

Overnight Cloth Diapering

We are completely immersed in cloth diapering now, having done it for almost 6 months, and still loving it. But we are not 24/7 cloth diapering. Reed is in cloth diapers all the time except church nursery and nighttime. Only one disposable a day isn't bad, but 365 per year is quite a few when you think about it. Money wise it isn't that big of a deal, maybe $50-60 a year, but when you think about all those diapers going into a landfill, it got me thinking I could eliminate all that waste (literally, hah).

I will admit that I was a little scared to try cloth diapers overnight because Reed wakes up wet once a week already. I just knew I would have problems. But I know a lot of people do it so I jumped into research. The best information I got was looking at forums and seeing what other Mom's do. Just search 'best overnight cloth diaper' and look for the communities or forums.

If you are interested, here are some non-forum sites:
http://www.thinking-about-cloth-diapers.com/overnight-diapers.html
http://www.zephyrhillblog.com/2012/04/overnight-solutions-for-cloth-diapering/
http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/best-cloth-diapers-for-nighttime/

The last one is great because it talks about sleep positions and the best diaper for them.

There are so many people that have so many solutions, but the basics were:
1. wool
2. hemp

This lead to even more research. If you're just starting out, it is really easy to get lost in all the cloth diaper jargon. So check out this post with a cheat sheet of terms with links to actual products.

I wanted a solution that was going to work with what we already had. I didn't want to buy completely new diapers/accessories just for nighttime diapering. Plus I looked into the cost of wool covers and about had a heart attack. Yikes! So I decided to go with hemp. I ordered 4 hemp inserts at 2 for $10, so I spent $20 total on my nighttime solution. Much better than I was expecting.

Here's what I did:

Fuzzibunz diaper (the newest version, they are so much bigger and easier to stuff several inserts into) with two microfiber inserts and 1 hemp insert. (Fuzzibunz comes with 1 regular insert and 1 long insert. I used them both.)

I used the longer insert to fold over the shorter one (for my little front wetter) and put the hemp insert on the bottom. Hemp absorbs slower, so it is suggested that it go on bottom so it has more time to absorb.

That's one fat diaper!

It was seriously comical to see how huge this diaper was.
I went into this process knowing it was going to take a few trys to get it right, and honestly expected Reed to be wet when I went to get him in the morning. However, he was completely DRY! The diaper weighed about 5 pounds, but Reed was happy, and I was THRILLED! It had actually worked! Now that was just once, and if you paid attention in elementary school, you know that to get accurate data you need to repeat the experiment more than once. Here's to many more dry nights!

A few notes on hemp: You have to wash them at least 3 times before use (air drying them only) and they reach their peak performance after 8 total washes. A lot of prep work, but hemp just likes to be annoying special like that.

If you are looking into overnight cloth diapering, here are some suggestions:

1. Start small: I only ordered 4 new inserts to start with, but I can always use them during the day if they wouldn't work for overnight. Don't buy a bunch of new diapers right off the bat.
2. Patience: You need to find out what works for your LO (little one). Several factors will effect your outcome including boy/girl, sleeping position, and even if they can handle having a bulky diaper on their tush or not. Don't throw in the towel after a couple failures.
3. Do some research: There are so many ideas and ways to cloth diaper. Get familiar with the jargon and what has worked for others.
4. Get Hubby on board: After all, you may or may not be changing sheets/jammies at 3 in the morning. It's best everyone knows what you're getting into. Speaking of changing sheets, have you checked these out? GENIUS! We LOVE our zippered sheets. They are a little more expensive than traditional sheets, but boy are they a lot easier to change at 3 in the morning. Thanks Jen Modesette for the idea when I was pregnant with Reed.

Enjoy!

The Turners

Cloth Diaper Jargon

I had a friend contact me about cloth diapers and decided to write a post with all the basic terms. I wish I had found something like this when I was just starting my cloth diaper research. There are so many terms and options that you really don't know where to start. SO, below is a list of terms you'll run into and what they mean with added links to the actual products so you can see them. I am a visual learner, so I need the pictures to understand it all. The links I used are from the Nurtured Family store located in Houston, TX. I SO wish I had a store like this near me. They are great resources for 'alternative' baby items. I say alternative because what they specialize in is not the norm in our society today. Is there more to life than bottle feeding? YES! Is there a better way to diaper than buying box after box of disposable diapers? YES! It's only weird if you don't know anything about it. Trust me, I thought it was weird at first, too.

So learn something new today! Check out cloth diapering!

Here is your cheat sheet:


AIO - All in one; a fitted diaper with inserts sewn into the diaper
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/all-in-one-AIO-cloth-diapers.aspx

cover - what you put over a flat or fitted diaper; waterproof; fitted diapers are made with a waterproof outer layer; you don't need to add a cover if you have fitted diaper; ex Thirsties
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/diaper-covers.aspx


doubler - an additional insert, to 'double' the absorption
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/diaper-inserts-and-liners.aspx

fitted diaper - looks like a disposable diaper; no need to fold or add your own fasteners; they either have Velcro (hook and loop) or snaps to fasten; ex Fuzzibunz, Bumgenius, etc.


flat - what we think of as 'burp cloths'; you have to fold them and fasten them with your own fasteners and add a waterproof cover
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/prefolds-and-prefold-cloth-diapers.aspx

hook and loop - another word for Velcro

hybrid - a diapering system that you can use disposable inserts or reusable inserts; ex gDiapers, Flip diapers
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/hybrid-cloth-diapers.aspx

insert  - strip of fabric you 'insert' into a pocket diaper for absorption
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/diaper-inserts-and-liners.aspx

nappy - English (British English, not American English) term for a diaper; flat or prefolds are sometimes called nappys

one size - diapers that can be adjusted for your growing baby; usually start around 10 lb and go to about 35 lb depending on the brand
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/one-size-cloth-diapers.aspx

pocket - type of fitted diaper with a 'pocket' to put inserts/doublers in
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/pocket-diapers.aspx


prefold - the 'old school' diapers your grandmother is familiar with; fastened with safety pins back in the day, but now fastened with much safer plastic fasteners; a cover is usually added for waterproof-ness
http://www.nurturedfamily.com/prefolds-and-prefold-cloth-diapers.aspx

PUL - Polyurethane laminate; the material most covers are made of to be waterproof, yet breathable

Snappi - brand of prefold/flat diaper fastener

wet bag -  a waterproof bag to keep clean cloth diapers until you are ready to put them on baby or wet/soiled diapers until you are ready to wash them


The following are materials used in cloth diapering:
fleece
hemp
wool
bamboo
microfiber
minky

Wool is going to be the most expensive material, but very absorbent. Wool is most commonly used for covers and most people use wool at nighttime. Hemp is also used mostly for nighttime.

Fleece and microfiber are used in most cloth diapers; fleece being the diaper lining and microfiber being the inserts.

Have I missed something? Please let me know. I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but this should help you out a little bit.


Enjoy!

The Turners

Reed's 1st Birthday

Wow, a whole year from this:

to this:

What a sweet boy.

Planning 1st Birthdays has become almost like planning a wedding (in my opinion). They have gotten so big and so out-of-hand (seriously, I have seen a first birthday invitation that was WAY better than my wedding invitation) that we wanted a very casual celebration. First to pick the "theme":

It's hard to choose for a 1-year-old because how do you know what they really like? I had half a mind to make it yogurt themed since he goes crazy for some baby yogurt. But in the last month before he turned 1 we finally had some front-runners.

If you remember this post, Reed went nuts over Wes' cousin's Husky while we were in North Carolina. That started the dog obsession. Also, right before the same trip, we found a cartoon show Reed LOVES; Bubble Guppies. So these were the choices I had. After some research, I discovered no Bubble Guppies themed party supplies. Now I could have gotten really crafty and crazy with our printer to make some stuff, but I played the pregnancy card. So onto the dog theme I went. Surprisingly, there were very little puppy themed supplies (that were not geared toward and actual dog's birthday; seriously? Okay, I have never had a dog so I don't understand the need to celebrate your dog's birthday. I'm sorry to all the die-hard doggie lovers out there that have actually done this). I finally found supplies that I liked and ordered them online. They have deals where you can get everything you need for 8 people, 16 people, or more. I'm talking plates, cups, napkins, table cloths, balloons, streamers, etc. It was pretty extensive, but that meant I didn't have to do more, so I was good with it. And in true Mommy-on-the-day-of-her-child's-birthday-party, I got no pictures of the actual decorations. Fail. It was really cute. We had balloons and lots of puppies and green and blue. I'm sure you can imagine it.

As I said before, we decided to have a simple family celebration for Reed's birthday. We could have invited lots of little kids to come over, but first birthdays can be a little boring if you're not family. (Let's be honest) So we had all of Reed's family come over (minus 2 uncles and a cousin, WE MISSED YOU GUYS!) plus his godparents and close friends.

Reed got to play with Daddy in bed after he woke up.

Opening presents! He was much more excited with the paper than the actual present.

Happy Birthday to you!! Reed got his own tiny cake to eat/smash.

Although none of it actually went into his mouth, he did a good job destroying it.

We got delicious cookie cake! What a cute puppy!

The cake-smash aftermath made me think we needed an easy way to clean Reed up. So we got a baby pool and put him in it immediately post-cake. It worked really well, but I'm sure it would have been better if he had been more messy, but he had fun. And he got to splash with his godbrother, Nate!  He was really sweet and didn't splash Nate at all. They have a very special relationship because Nate is our godson and Nate's parents are Reed's godparents. They'll be together A LOT throughout their lives. And if we get our ways, Sister and Nate will be married one day. Who cares about free will?! Arranged Marriage!!

Reed had such a wonderful birthday and loved everyone that came. He is such a people-person that I'm sure he would have had a great time without any cake or presents.

Crazy hair man! We love our little boy and thank God every day for him.



Enjoy!

The Turners

12 Months

Big cheesy grin with Aunt Jenn

Height: 31.25 inches

Weight: 21.5 lb

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Food: Officially on cow's milk now. It took a few days for him to get used to it, but he does pretty good with it now. He still only likes drinking out of a sippy cup with a straw. Won't have to teach him that in the future, though. He is really interested in what the 'big people' are eating. If his food isn't the same, he notices and wants what we are eating. Good thing we try to eat the same healthy stuff so he (and we) aren't getting junk.

Sleep: Another 'cry-it-out' experience and we have an all-night sleeper again. Praise the Lord! He's such a good boy. I lay him down in his crib for nap or bedtime and he goes to sleep without a fuss all by himself. I do miss rocking him, but he's a big boy on-the-go now. Good thing I'll have another sweet one in a few months that I'll get to rock all the time. 

Temperament: We are so blessed to have such a wonderful little boy. He is so happy and LOVES people. Being anywhere with lots of people is his idea of fun. He is starting to be a bit of a Mommy's boy and wants me to hold him more than usual. That means he gets upset when I can't hold him right that second and will throw a fit. Other than that he is awesome!

Reed loves:
-Motoring around the house with his toy. Seriously the best toy we have ever bought. (and probably the only toy we have ever bought him)
-Eating big people food. Like I said above, he notices when his food is different.
-Being held by Mommy
-Playing on pillows. I'm not sure what the fascination is, but he cannot get enough of it.

New adventures:
=6 big teeth! 4 top teeth and still 2 bottom teeth. What a cute toothy grin he has!
=First taste of sugar! I was sure he would go crazy with his birthday cake, but I think he took 2 licks of icing and that was it. He just wanted to destroy it.

=Night away from Mommy and Daddy! Wow! It had been a whole year since I had been away from my baby. For our 6 year anniversary we went to the Gaylord for the evening while my mom stayed with Reed. I was nervous that he wouldn't sleep well because it was also his first night to not be nursed before bed, too, however, our little boy slept all night and was such a happy guy when we got back to him next morning. I didn't have a freak-out or even worry about him much. I was very proud of how well I did. As Wes said, 'baby steps.' Too bad we won't have this opportunity again once sister comes. I do love nursing, but it's hard to get away conveniently.
=The end of an era: Reed is officially weaned! I probably would have kept going if it hadn't been for a few small factors:
1. I was not about to tandem nurse two children. Thank you, pregnancy.
2. Those teeth are not comfortable.
3. Reed was showing signs that he was done, too. (fussing, VERY short feedings, distraction)

So I had been sort-of freaking out about weaning for a few months. How do I wean my baby who refuses all other forms of hydration? (no bottle, no sippy cup, UGH!) Well we finally discovered that he would drink from a straw and had been giving him water for about a month and a half. He started doing really well with it which was SO encouraging. I had also been slowly decreasing his nursings until for the past 2 weeks he was only getting a bedtime feeding. On his birthday (and since we were going to be away the next night and I couldn't nurse him) I decided that was it. That night was his last feeding and we are still going strong! I probably would have been a little more upset about it if I hadn't had all those issues above. Plus I get to start all over again in 4 months. I loved nursing my little guy and am so shocked I did it for a whole year. We'll see if sister gets nursed that long....

It has been one year since we were blessed with God's great promise. My heart actually aches that God would love us so much to give us this little boy. And I'm sure he'll be a great big brother.




Enjoy!

The Turners