Jan 18, 2011

New Year, New You!

Well, new *us*. We've got some pretty big things in the works for this year, which equals Less Time to Blog. Not that I was all that great last year at updating our blog :)

This month we've started a new diet. Pretty much we've cut out grains, dairy, and sugar. Mike has already lost 6 lbs and feels terrific! We've known he's lactose-intolerant for awhile now and it seems he is also gluten-intolerant. Lily is enjoying it and James thinks it's terrific, while I... well, I'll be honest, I'm less than thrilled with it. I'm addicted to carbs, in a not-just-joking sort of way. I went 3 days on the diet and had horrible withdrawal symptoms. So I'm currently eating Paleo plus the grains we already have in our pantry. BUT I'm not buying anymore grains to replace what I'm using, so that's a step, right? I've started keeping track of the recipes we love on my other blog.
Triple chicken nugget sammie

Lily has shown me over the last month how much she loves to learn. She sings around the house (Real songs! With REAL words!) and sits down to read James a book at every opportunity. I've decided to follow her lead and start "home schooling" her right away. Yea, yea, roll your eyes and call me crazy (I've been called worse) while I research Montessori teaching methods and start simplifying our lives so we can learn more. I've found a ton of websites and books that have helped me figure out a plan, and I'm happy to share them with anyone who's interested. I'm going to be purging our home of useless toys, cable TV, and any other time wasters (this blog may get the short end of the stick).
Learning about leaves

This is a potato, and that is a potato

I hinted that James is eating solids. He is the opposite of Lily. Lily was never interested in food, and as I look back I can see I should have just nursed her and not worried about pushing solids. But James, oh James, he is a different story. We fed him one jar of baby food, he gobbled it up and asked for more. He's eating mashes of whatever I'm making for dinner. I'm still feeding him single foods to rule out allergies, and I can tell he's just going to keep eating and growing.
Mashed potatoes

Full of wonder
We have also decided to buy a house. We haven't found the house yet, but we have narrowed our search down to an area (the Westlake Ward boundaries), a lot size (big enough for a garden, chickens, and two labradoodles), and maximum price-per-square-foot ($75). I'm hoping we can find a foreclosure with a good layout so we can do whatever cosmetics (paint, flooring, cabinets, counters) we want. We probably won't decide on anything until our taxes are done, but that doesn't keep me from looking at listings every single day!
Lounging in the yard

Trees are our friends ;)