Cloth diapers and making baby food

What started out as a necessity for financial reasons has turned out to be oddly satisfying and an unexpected joy!

This picture cracks me up. It is the first time we put a cloth diaper on Benjamin. The diaper was fine (since you can fold them to fit), but the cover was huge! And I just love the look on his face--like he knows!

I know a lot of people think we're nuts for using cloth diapers, but I have really come to enjoy it. It is very satisfying to put a load of diapers in the washing machine when I think about the equivalent diapers I could be dumping in the trash. Now that we've been cloth diapering for several months using a disposable seems like tossing a quarter in the trashcan every couple of hours! I also (and I know this sounds crazy) really enjoy diapering my baby in a way I didn't when we were using disposables. It's a little like driving a stick-shift vs. driving an automatic. I tend to enjoy that which I have to put more effort into.

I am also really enjoying making Benjamin's baby food. I never realized that it is possible to do this much with homemade baby food, but so far I have been able to make him cereal plus all his fruits and vegetables. Homemade offers so many more options than Gerber. For example, Benjamin's first fruit was avacado! (Have you ever seen that in a jar?) I am also able to make his rice cereal from brown rice, which offers so much more nutrition than white.

It has really been fun to watch him as he tries each new food. I am ridiculously excited every 4 days when it's time to introduce something new. Perhaps it's just because I have invested in it that I feel such a pride when he gingerly tests a new food, considers it for a moment, and promptly opens his mouth wide for more. I guess it's one of the only tangible ways I can know for sure I'm taking good care of my precious little one. P.S. Just for the record, this little man is a vacuum! He has not yet met a food he doesn't like. :)

A great big giant bathtub

Yesterday we took Benjamin swimming for the first time. It was quite a production!

The first step was to get him into his swim diaper and too-big trunks. Of course 10 minutes after we put it all ON we had to take it all OFF. He was trying to poop. (For those of you who do not have children, I apologize for the "graphic details." For those with, I know you understand!) Getting back to the diaper...do you know how expensive these crazy things are? Off the top of my head I think they are slightly under $1 per diaper. If they are wet you can wash & re-use them, but if they are dirty you are out of luck. So anyway, I got it off before he succeeded in his mission and re-dressed him in a regular diaper and the too-big trunks.

Next we gathered all the necessary supplies. Swim towels, baby float, pool toys, sunscreen, (we forgot the sunglasses), shower towels, shampoo, soap, washcloth, clean clothes, clean diaper, sippy cup, ID cards to get in, etc., etc., etc. By the time we had gathered all this, gotten into the car, and driven to the pool (at the seminary) it was 1:45pm. 15 minutes before naptime. :)

Undaunted, we covered Benjamin in sunscreen and proceeded to get in the pool. Despite the hot weather, it was a little chilly! Benjamin wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first. He looked like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or panic. Seth was snapping pictures and I was trying to get him to splash. After a few minutes we decided he wasn't crazy about the fountain (he kept throwing it concerned looks) so we decided to take it inside.

The kiddie pool inside was still pretty cool, but Benjamin seemed to warm up to it a little better. Seth sat in the water with him and he soon remembered how to splash. He spent several minutes slapping the water and playing with some toy boats that were floating, abandoned, nearby.

Finally, we decided to try him out in the big pool. He was a little bothered by the noise all the "big kids" were making. He's not normally very excited about loud noises. But we put him in his float (it has a "seat" in the bottom so he can't fall out) and took him to the deeper water where there weren't so many bodies. By this time he was really enjoying the water. He kicked his legs, turned around in circles, and watched the other swimmers with interest.

By this time Benjamin was really showing signs of being sleepy. We decided he'd had enough of his first swimming experience. We went back outside to our stuff and wrapped him up in a big sun-warmed towel. He sat, cuddling against me for about 10 minutes, almost falling asleep in the warm sun.

Reaching Out

Yesterday I went in to get Benjamin up from his nap. Normally he hears me coming and starts thumping his legs on the bed and waving his arms wildly. (Which is adorable, by the way.) He did. But then he did something that just melted my heart. He reached out for me to pick him up. Children are such a precious gift from God! What a blessing and a joy Benjamin is to us!

Music

Music is like an old friend to me. It lifts me when I am down, comforts me when I am disquieted, and allows me to "speak" freely. It expresses the outpourings of my heart like no other medium.

Lately, my favorite music has become the incredible modern hymnody written by Keith Getty (much of it in partnership with Stuart Townend). His most famous hymn is "In Christ Alone." If you are familiar with this song you have already had a taste of the depth of truth communicated by this incredible music. A lesser known song, Speak O Lord, has ministered to me greatly lately. Here's a taste:

Speak O Lord as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your Truth, plant it deep in us.
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness.
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak O Lord and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us Lord full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radience of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise,
Cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail,
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak O Lord and renew our minds.
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
Speak O Lord 'til Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

As a side note: Benjamin LOVES music too. He "sings" with the radio in the car, laughs and waves his arms at his musical toys, and listens, enraptured, when I play the piano. One day I was driving in the car, listening to a CD and was startled to realize (no joke!) Benjamin was hitting a toy on the side of his carseat TO THE BEAT! It could have been coincidence, but he hit every beat for about 2 or 3 measures. I'm serious! I'll let you judge for yourself.

Benjamin's Eczema

This is a "before" picture of Benjamin's eczema. But I'll start from the beginning:

This started out with what I thought was infant acne, around 6 weeks. His poor little face was so red and bumpy! But with lots of lotion it began to clear up. We thought the worst was over. By Christmastime it was back, starting with a spot on his cheek, but spreading now to his belly, legs, and arms. By the time we returned from our Christmas visit to California his cheeks were seriously inflamed and beginning to become raw and weepy. A visit to the pediatrician confirmed that this was indeed sebhorea/atopic dermatitis/eczema. Furthermore it was infected. We then entered a seemingly never-ending cycle of topical medications and antibiotics, slight improvement, worsening symptoms, infection. For four months Benjamin's cheeks were continually red and bumpy (at best) or raw, scabby, and infected. And the itching was so severe! He wasn't sleeping, he wasn't happy, it was awful! We were so discouraged.

Finally, just a couple of weeks ago our dermatologist prescribed a steroid cream (Locoid Lipocream, if you're interested) and moisturizer (brand new, called Mimyx) combination that is working wonders! Within two days his cheeks were completely healed. For the first time in 4 months I was able to stroke and kiss his baby-soft cheeks! He is so much happier and we are so encouraged to finally see some progress. (This is his face after two days of the new medications!)

Just before we started the new medications (above) the pediatrician decided to go ahead and get Benjamin allergy tested. He had strong suspicions that the eczema was related to food allergies. The test was not nearly as difficult as we had feared (just a blood draw) and Benjamin didn't even cry when the needle went in. He got mad that the nurse was holding his arm still, though. (Doesn't like to be confined, this one!) The results came back with several high level allergies: milk, wheat, and eggs. Peanuts are also a culprit, although, at the "moderate" level. And as a side issue he is also mildly allergic to dogs.

Because Benjamin is still nursing, I have had to take these foods out of my own diet. I am striving to maintain a milk-, egg-, wheat-, and peanut-free diet, hoping that with little exposure to these foods Benjamin may grow out of some or all of these allergies. The statistics are actually rather encouraging. He is least likely to grow out of the peanut allergy, but current numbers suggest he may have as much as a 40-50% chance.

All in all, with the new medications and diet changes we are encouraged to find that we finally have the eczema under control. A recent, small-scale flare-up disappeared within about a week and a half. But even then it never progressed beyond the rash stage and didn't seem to produce the severe itching.

We are praising God for answering our prayers. So many family members and friends have been praying for us as well. Thank you.

The first 6 weeks

The first 6 weeks of Benjamin's life were pure ecstasy and pure agony. All at the same time.

The Ecstasy- We snapped pictures all day long those first few weeks. He was just so cute! He amazed us with his peaceful little sleeping face, his wee little toes, and his attentive expressions which told us plainly just how he felt. He was smiling with his whole face long before he was smiling with his mouth. He loved rides in the car, stroller, and Snuggli carrier, which promptly put him to sleep every time. In fact, practically anything would have lulled that boy to sleep...in the daytime.

The Agony- Evenings were a different story. Beginning the night Papo and Mamacita (Seth's parents) left when Benjamin was about 2 weeks old, he decided evenings were for screaming. His record was 7 hours straight (minus 20 minutes for feedings). We never did figure out the problem. And it left as suddenly as it came. Grandma and Grandpa (Kiersten's parents) came about 4 weeks later and that was the end of that! I guess we could say Benjamin loves his grandparents.

But by 9 weeks he was sleeping through the night, and life's been pretty good since then. :)

Welcome!

Welcome! Thanks for coming! Come in and have a cup of coffee, so to speak. You are invited to stop by as often as you want. It is our hope that this mode of communication will serve to connect, update, inform, and assist in more regular and more meaningful contact with you, our friends and family. I hope, in some ways, it will be just like you really were able to stop by to chat.

Any worthwhile mission has a purpose statement. Here is ours:

1. To initiate regular and meaningful contact within our ever-increasing spheres of relationship.
2. To chronicle the events of life (especially those sweet moments with our baby--eventually babies) that otherwise slip away, unnoticed and unremembered.
3. To communicate those things that are too little for a call or email, but too big to remain unacknowledged.
4. To spend less time emailing the same information over and over for the purpose of spending more time going deeper.
5. To record the work of God on the canvas of our life so that we may look back, see this work, and glorify Him for it.

Thanks, dear friends, for your contribution to our life and your interest in its unfolding.

Love,
Seth, Kiersten, and Benjamin