7 Quick Takes Friday

1. I'm stealing this, as so many things, from Aimee at The Mother Load. Actually, most of the blog ideas are stolen from other, better bloggers. In fact, I sometimes restrain myself from stealing another idea because I don't want to be a, uh, stalker type...

2. Facebook is amazing! It's also a time-sucking vortex. I mostly respond to others, but still have so many online friends that it's impossible for me to keep up with them. So it takes even more effort to find the ones I want to chat with. And the applications?! Let's just not go there...

3. OH! I WON A CONTEST! This is super big news since I rarely win stuff. Amy over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess hosted a giveaway and I won! It comes with all this cool Earth's Best baby food- like 24 jars of baby food, 8 jars of baby juice, a bib and one of my favorite books: Guess How Much I Love You with Big and Little Nutbrown Hare! Yeah! Thank you Amy for hosting and thank you EB for the cool giveaway! Okay, so a random number picked my comment to win- still, it feels pretty cool.

4. Speaking of baby food-- Kaden REALLY doesn't like avocados. I tried a few more times after the video below, but his faces kept getting worse, his protestations a bit more frantic. The thing that sealed the deal for me was the look of utter bewilderment he gave me after his second taste one day. Okay, Kade, we'll move on to bananas. (But I'll try the good green stuff in a month or two!) Who needs fruit, though, when you've got such yummy toes?

5. Being a green mama - yeah. I'm fairly certain I'm a mama by default, but the green part? Not anywhere near what I'd like. We are feeding him organic foods,and will try an organic formula soon. The food so far is homemade, though I figure the EB stuff will also come in handy for traveling and what not. But the diapers? He looks so adorable in the cloth ones. And I feel so fantastic when I put one on- soft for his bum, good for the earth... so I feel pretty fantastic until I feel wet, because I can't get the hang of checking them more often. Yup, I've got a 80% leak rate due to my inattention! We're not giving up, but I'm feeling pretty discouraged that none of my ideas are panning out... and the reason they're not working is my lack of willpower/work on it.

6. It's raining today. Right now, actually. And 60 degrees. So no outside play today.

7. I love my husband. He - and you- don't hear it often enough. He just ran out to the store in the said rain to pick up some needed stuff. And he rearranged his work schedule so we could get house stuff done. And he just walked in- with a bonus frappacino as a goal reward for when I meet my deadline this weekend. Plus, you should see him with Kaden!

Guess this wasn't quick afterall. Oh well, have a good weekend anyway! Look for some Super posts on Sunday ;)

This blog brought to you by the letter F

See, you thought I forgot about that cool "things I like that start with the letter F" thing that Aimee sent along. Nope- just been thinking about it randomly. But now that I have another deadline looming, it seemed like the right time to take ten and post 'em all up.

1. Florida. Not just because I was born here, and continue to live here, but because I love the sense and scope of this place. Driving through central Florida, I take a curve and whoa- there's a lake, looking like it'd take less than 2 inches of rain to swallow the road. When I've driven across Alligator Alley, with the Everglades stretching into the horizon on either side... When I have a meeting that gets out early, and can make my remaining calls from a fairly empty nearby beach... when we visit a friend and see a flash of fur that we're sure is the elusive panther... it's all magic.

2. Family. Close & Extended. We're blessed to be related to a bunch of caring and interesting folks, and having them as part of our lives makes it better. Even if I don't know some of them all that well. Even if we are scattered across half the nation.

3. Friends. I have childhood / college friends who still keep in touch. It's great to have these folks (mostly women) with whom I can pick up a conversation that's been dropped for a month or more. Who remember some things and forgive others. Friends with whom, after we've 'caught up', we still have a lot of talking to do. It's honestly a great thing- so thanks to all of you!

4. Foreign Countries. I like knowing where they are on a map, trying their foods, learning about their people and histories. And I love getting MAIL from all these neat places (thanks, Postcrossing!).

5. French toast. I don't think it's a health food, and I don't really like eating them alone, but add one slice of french toast to any breakfast and it's just perfect. Especially if it comes with...

6. Fresh fruit (or food in general). There's nothing better than picking an orange and eating it in the same backyard. Or trying a friend's newly ripe papaya. Or an uncle's avocados. Or any homegrown goodies from the...

7. Farmer's Market. There's actually a few in this area, but I love the ones that have actual, local farm stuff. There's at least 2-3 booths at each, and finding purple bell peppers or organic herbs is a really neat way to start the day. I could go twice a week, but have trouble remembering to get there!

8. Football. I have very fond memories of watching football games-- some I saw with my dad on TV, others my folks and I watched my brother play. I also loved our midnight football games in college- even after I lost my contacts in the snow that one night. And in the past few years, watching some family friends take the high school field has been a lot of fun. Can't wait to take Kaden!

9. Florence - I have yet to meet someone with this name whom I haven't liked. My Nana was the first :) and Sister Florence is the latest! All around great Fun...

10. Farina. Thanks to Suze for reminding me- this stuff is awesome! It's like a really sweet, really pureed hot cereal, and I had it all the time when I was a kid.

11. This one' s a bonus- Happy Feast day for St. Francis de Sales!

Avocados

Happy Days...

There's a lot to be happy about these days. First off, I am just so. very. proud. of our nation for a PEACEFUL and historic transition of power today. May we continue to treat each other with respect as we work for a nation that continually improves upon itself...

And, three days ago, our ray of Florida sunshine turned six months. Hooray, baby Kaden! Who's more and more morphing out of the baby stage. Hooray for mommy, who loves her baby but is really looking forward to toddler Kaden and beyond!

I especially love his 'macho' look with the shirt buttons undone! Jimdad, are you sure there's no Italian in your background? Or do the Welsh have the same tendency?

Lettering Me...

Well, Aimee over at The Mother Load did one of those cool bloggy things she does- and I signed up to follow along. I've got to list 10 things I like that start with the letter she assigned me. This was a while ago, and I did peek yesterday so I could think of things BEFORE I sat down to write. Brilliant idea, especially since these posts are coming in the cold dead of night*, eh?

And I got the letter "S", which made me think- cool, easy! But then I couldn't think of anything, which is really why the post got postponed (ha). But after a few hours of percolating behind the "how-should-we-change-the-furniture-around"* and "why-don't-I-clean-this-pantry-more-often".... I had it! Everything from Scrabble (much, much fun) to friends whose names begin with it, like Steve and Suze and Sonja and the Sanduskys!).

Then today, I went over there to check the rules again- because I like to be precise about these things, you know? I mean, it may be the internet, but it's still public and published and really, if we're going to do something, we may as well strive for perfection, right?* Then, to my horror, I realized I had the letter F. Yes, Aimee failed me. I flunked! I had the fake letter in my face all these flipping hours! Which means, that despite the title, I'm not doing this meme* today. Maybe tomorrow, after I've thought of 10 F things.

All those * - possible subjects for future blog posts.

BONUS BLOG OF THE DAY - here's a big shout out to Val over at Nothing, Really. She was kind enough to visit and comment; which is huge, as many of my readers tend to, um, read and not comment at all!. You'll have to take my word on the 'many readers' part, as most of them are related to me and just checking in to make sure I haven't left Kaden at the park. Anyway, back to VAL, who was super sweet and sounds smart and has a pretty nifty blog where you can find instructions on how to glue your eyelid open and learn about cool WII games for kids and smallish, well deserved pleas about scouting. Plus, and this really is the bonus part, she's a fellow Floridian, which makes her just way cool.

Hey - I like FLORIDA. I think my list is officially started now!

What Child is This?

... who laid to rest, so early now is waking,
who pokes his momma in her eyes, while all the time still laughing.
This, this is Kaden James
whom grandmas play and daddies sing
Haste, haste to wake and play
with the babe, the son of Kristi....
---

The above tune has been running through my head all day since this is the SECOND day in a row the boys have waken me up. BoySSSSS because JimDad places K.James the younger next to me, which ensures lots of the aforementioned poking and laughing. It's hard to be upset, though, when the baby giggles erupt. There are worse ways of waking up- like, say, if one's older brothers were to use your own super soaker on you on Christmas morning.





In any case, I never thought we lived the musical theater life, but Jim and I seem to sing to the babe. A lot. Regular songs, silly songs, made up songs, made up lyrics to existing songs... so much so that one day I remarked that we may need to, ahem, tone down the festivities. I can just see our boy ruin his first sleepover by either spontaneously vocalizing his host mom's every move OR crying because they didn't hum his brushing-my-teeth song. Jimdad laughed - and said the boy would be strong enough to deal with it.





In case you think I might be exaggerating... sing or hum a few bars of "davy... davy crocket, king of the wild frontier." Got it? Okay, here's our native floridian version:

---

Born in a suburb off the Caloosahatchee,
Prettiest place you ever did see.
Raised strong and kind like a boy should be
Wrestled him a gator by the time he was three.
Kaden, Kaden James: King of the Everglades!

Mikey Likes it!

And so does Kaden !

Note Jim's strong, gentle grip - needed to prevent little hands knocking the spoon away!

ps- ignore the bib above- we don't wear that in public.

Below, the tongue thrust reflex in action...

On a more serious note, please pray for Jim's dad, Dave, who's going in for surgery first thing Tuesday morning. A planned "minor" thing, but still... prayers for health & recovery would be great. While you're at it, also offer one for those battling cancer, including 2 family friends in Florida and 2 friends of our cousins in Ohio. Thank you!

Does Kaden like to eat cereal?

I'll let you decide...

Is he waving off the camera? or the cereal?

Notice the hand, grabbing the spoon below.

There were 2 spoons in the package, one for the baby to hold while the parent feeds him with the other. Not such a good idea, as our smart little man was trying to fit BOTH into his mouth...

Each taste got a similar look to this....

But he kept grabbing for the spoon and taking more bites!

After this, he finished off a bottle, and for the past 60 minutes

has been napping in his Nana's arms.

I don't know about him, but if he sleeps this good after every 'meal',

I'm LOVING the cereal!