Living As If

Now, before you think I've gone all Cher (the one from the movie Clueless for those of you who don't know there's a second Cher out there), let me tell you that I was listening to NPR last night on my way to bell choir. One of their commentors spoke about a Kurt Vonnegut quote discussing living "as if..."

Since it was Earth Day yesterday the NPR commentator discussed living as if everything they did to help the environment would matter. After all, I am only one person and what I do to help the environment will not make much of an impact in and of itself. However, if we all live as if everyone else is reducing, reusing and recycling then together we will, in fact, make a huge impact.

However, as a mother, my thoughts then strayed to other ways in which I live as if.

For example, I now try to live as if Jacob is going to, at some point, repeat every word I say. There are numerous anecdotes of children repeating their parents' words in the most inappropriate ways are at the worst times. Check out the Dennis the Menace cartoons of whenever they have guests for dinner if you don't believe me. Of course I also don't want him to be the class pariah - you know, the kid who swears. I'm now using Jumpin Jehosephat quite often, like last night when I came home to find Weasley accidentally shut up in the spare bedroom.

Now I try to live as if Jacob is watching my every move and will eventually do what I do, like volunteering, driving safely, and weeding. OK, so one day (sooner than teaching him to drive!) I do plan, selfishly, to have him help with weeding. But there are life's lessons in that simple task, too. I'm sure there are. I'm also sure I'll figure out what they are by the time he can help with that task!

I want him to know: friends matter; cleaning up your own messes matters; being active and eating healthfully matter; that being truthful matters; so many other things. The best thing to do is not only to tell him these things matter but to show him they do by the way I live.

Some would say that I should have been living that way anyway as if God were listening and watching. And I would say that you're probably right. But I guess I didn't really, I mean really, think about living as if until Jacob came into our lives. Perspective changes everything.

That's how I live as if. How do you live as if?

Picture Post!

This past weekend we took a lot of photos - here are just a few.

Jacob climbing Mt. Daddy

Pulling out the rest of Daddy's hair

My favorite of the day of my two boys

A Happy Mess

Sitting in the tall grass (moments before the first mow of the season!)

He started off with a hat

Loving the backyard

I also want to take a quick moment and congratulate our friends Kate & Luke on the birth of their daughter Eve! We are so happy for your and can't wait to meet her. Her present should be completed shortly!!!

Happy Easter!

We spent an enjoyable but hectic Easter mostly just re-arranging furniture to give Jacob a play area on our main floor, complete with baby gates and other baby-proofing measures.

We were also able to have some good and relaxing time with Steve's parents at their house. They made a super-delicious leg of lamb with mint jelly. I've never had either before, but I will again! YUM!

Jacob got to play a little piano - literally, a little plastic 5-key piano that Marsha and Al found. The keys light up and at first it scared Jacob but he quickly found out how exciting it can be when you climb all over it making lots of "music". They also got to see many of his new skills, including crawling, pulling himself up to standing, eating a lot of food, etc.

The rest of the long weekend was spend visitng Steve's office (on Friday) and my office on Monday. Jacob definitely has stranger anxiety but is OK as long as he's held by Mommy or Daddy. Shy, but Ok. I can't wait for our little flirt to return.

Photos will have to come later.

Standing Tall - By Himself!

Today we got to drive in to DC to visit Steve at work. We didn't get any photos of Jacob while we were there - too busy trying to keep him from crying. Apparently he's got stranger anxiety pretty badly right now. It's so sad to see Mr. Flirt turn into Mr. Shy even when we're there encouraging him to be his usual self. When we returned home, Jacob decided to work on standing...all by himself! Ever since then he's practically doing it non-stop. He pulls himself up into a standing position using the sofa (as seen in the video below) and the safety gate we put up around the wood stove.


The first couple times he pulled himself up he was so proud of himself that he started laughing. That's when I ran to get the video camera and he did it again with all that same excitement (and speed). Now he just pulls himself up but doesn't get giddy. Additionally, he's now sitting up when he's in his crib when he's not sleeping. Earlier today he faked being tired...a few minutes later I found him sitting up, chattering away to himself and very excited when I returned to his room. Time to lower the crib (if he's sittingin it he'll be standing in it in no time), and to install all those baby gates and other safety equipment. Yay!!!

Standing Tall

For awhile Jacob has enjoyed standing on our laps and lately has tried to stand on his own. He will pull himself up into a standing position if you give him your hands.

Yesterday evening we actually got him to then grab onto the fence that we put up around the wood stove. He stood there looking around for a good couple minutes!

Grandma & Grandpa Luce Return!

Grandma & Grandpa Luce couldn't stay away from Jacob forever so they returned from New Zealand, tried to get back on East Coast time and quickly came over to our place.


They played pat-a-cake with Jacob, told us all about their trip, shared some New Zealand chocolate, enjoyed a meal on our deck and thoroughly enjoyed watching all the new tricks Jacob has come up with since they last saw him 6 weeks ago.

While they were over Steve made some sweet potato fries for Jacob (a recipe from Wholesome Baby Food's website can be found here). Jacob wasn't sure about them at first (they even made him spew everything up) but on Monday they were a bit softer and he looooved them.
They totally wore out Jacob who slept very soundly Sunday night and was crawling around like a determined boy last night. He even crawled across the living room straight at Hedwig. She didn't move until he was 2 inches from her face and then she bolted!

Last night, for some unknown reason, Jacob would not stay asleep. He just wanted to either be held or cry. Steve and I each got about 2 hours sleep and Jacob seemed totally unphazed this morning. Hopefully we can all get some good sleep tonight so we can all feel better tomorrow.

9 months, Ear Infections, Carrots & Apples

As of last Friday (March 27th) Jacob is 9 months old! Despite ear infections (turns out he has another one), chicken pox, and tummy time we've all survived so far.

Also in the last week or so Jacob has decided that he won't eat anything semi-solid unless it has either carrots or apples mixed in. So while he will act like he's not hungry or interested in whatever you're offering, as soon as carrots are mixed into the lentil & veg or turkey, sweet potato & barley baby food he'll suddenly gobble it down. Same with apples in his oatmeal. No matter what he won't touch peas. However, when he's in the mood he will eat organic o-shaped cereal like a true champ - he's got them figured out!

To keep costs down Steve made a batch of mushed carrots that we've been using but so far Jacob won't touch the mushed apples I made. That could possibly be due to the fact that I burned them a tad. We'll try those again this weekend.

At his 9 month appointment yesterday we learned that, in addition to another ear infection (again, no symptoms) Jacob is 30.25 inches (100% percentile) and 22.6 lbs (75 percentile). Very healthy in so many ways.

He's also sitting up very well, getting himself into that position from all fours, and trying to crawl - more like someone in basic training crawling in the mud under barbed wire, but moving fast none the less. He's also still trying to do the down-face dog yoga position but now I think he's trying to use that to start walking.

So, mostly healthy, very big and now a picky eater. YAY!