For some reason, I thought I would be exempt from the whole “toddlers don’t eat” thing. Maybe it’s because the first time we gave Ryan solid food (oatmeal) he grabbed the bowl and tried to stick his face in it. Anyway, after a while (around 11 months) he started trying to grab the spoon when I tried to feed him, and we moved to finger foods then.

Now, he is the pickiest of picky eaters. Is it a bland color? He won’t touch it! This rules out mozzarella, rice, etc. Is it a funny shape? I.e., not a bean, pea, piece of macaroni pasta, etc.? Then it’s gross! You get the picture. The latest fun thing Ryan does is put food in his mouth, then make a disgusted face, pull it out of his mouth, and hand it back to me. Oh yes. Welcome to toddlerhood!

Ok, he’s been walking for a few weeks now, but apparently my videography skills are just as lacking as my photography skills (I was trying to get a really good video and did not succeed). Anyway, this is the best I can do. Still pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

I had to go get cat food at the vet yesterday and was in a hurry because I had to pick up Ryan from daycare. So I grab a giant bag of cat food, haul it to the front desk, and am waiting for one of the sloth-like vet workers to check me out when this guy starts talking to me. Now, I have a general mistrust of strange dudes who try to strike up conversations with me, especially when they are extra friendly and when I’m by myself.

So he keeps trying to talk to me. I’m being distantly polite but not trying to keep the conversation going. He says “I’m here to pick up my cat.” I said “Oh, ok” or something similarly noncommittal. Just then, someone decides to finally check me out so I stop talking to him.

Well, someone else starts to check him out too. They bring over this gift bag (weird, right?) and he says “Here’s my cat.” I was confused and thought he was joking.

Then he pulled an URN out of the bag and walked out. It was his cat’s ASHES. Wow, I felt like a jerk. Probably not enough to keep me from ignoring strangers who ring my doorbell when I’m home alone, but still.

On Friday my best friend’s daughter died. She was seven weeks old. An autopsy revealed no obvious cause of death, so it seems that dear Abigail died of SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

I’m not going to go into a ton of details, but I do want to mention this. My friend has worked for Jason’s Deli for a long time, and most recently has served as the regional catering manager for the area surrounding Orlando, FL. Jason’s has been an amazing employer during this time. They are paying to fly Abigail back to our hometown, where she will be interred. They sent an e-mail to all employees asking for donations to help pay for the services, and whatever isn’t covered the owner himself has offered to pay for. They are also transferring my friend back home (incidentally, where Jason’s was founded), because she and her family do not want to be in Florida anymore.

So, I’d like to ask anyone who lives near a Jason’s to start going there regularly, if you don’t already. They really do have the best salad bar you’ll ever find, and loads of other good, healthy food. God bless good employers.

I’d been thinking about taking Ryan to get his hair cut for a while. Then, last Sunday, we woke up to this.

Cute, yes. But the mohawk had to go. So I found the one kid haircut place in town that was open on Sundays and took him.

One of the girls who worked there blew bubbles at him, which he liked. When we were done, they gave me a lock of his hair and a “first haircut certificate.” He also got a small toy. Now I have a little man. This isn’t the best picture, but I’m not the best photographer.

Warning: this is going to be a long post about boobs. And not the cool kind. You’ve been warned.

Today was the first day since Oct. 25, 2008 that I have not used my breast pump. That was the day Ryan decided that nursing was NOT cool and would scream every time I tried to get him to eat. He was five months old. I tried, for a month, to get him to nurse again to no avail. I brought him to the doctor to check for an ear infection. I thought maybe he was teething (he didn’t get his first tooth till he was 9 months old). I talked to my lactation consultant. I tried everything.

And finally, a month after his first refusal, I decided to stop trying to get my poor, screaming baby to nurse and to continue to pump exclusively. I was already pumping 3x/day at work as it was, so this decision required the addition of another two pumps at 7 and 9 pm, and one around 3 am (whenever he was waking up to eat). Mason would bottle-feed him in the middle of the night while I pumped. I was lucky, and always managed to pump more than he ate. At my peak I got around 40 oz a day. I stored the extra in my deep freezer.

Anyway, my Medela Pump in Style Advanced (it’s ok to giggle at the name) took the place of my nursing sessions for 7 months. I always had it with me. Once I had to pump in my car. True story. I dropped the middle-of-the-night session around 6 months and some of the others as he started eating solid food, and at the end was pumping four times a day. I dreamed of the day he turned 1 and could drink cow’s milk, relieving me of my duty. There was no love lost between me and my pump.

So, the day finally came. Ryan turned one and I purchased a gallon of whole milk. Sweet relief! No longer did I HAVE to pump, but I continued, dropping pump sessions every few days to let my supply go down slowly.

Which leads me to today. Today I did not pump. Today was the first time in 21 months that my body was 100% my own. I can take my allergy medicine! I can drink without having to time it far enough away from a pump session!

And the crazy part is, while I’m definitely happy about it, I’m kind of sad, too. Breastfeeding was my last link to pregnancy which, minus the 15 weeks of morning sickness, was a pretty good time. So I’m kind of sad, but also appreciative of my newfound freedom.

I’d do it again, but I hope I don’t have to. Despite a couple of trips to the ER, Ryan is generally not a sickly child, even though he is in daycare, and I’m telling myself it’s because of all the antibodies in breastmilk, if only to justify the last 7 months. While I don’t believe ALL the hype about breastmilk (and all the anti-hype about formula — I read once that giving a baby only one bottle of formula predisposes him/her to diabetes. Whatever.) I do think it’s good stuff, and, if nothing else, cheaper than formula.

So anyway, I’m done! Yay! Here’s to the next pump-free year of my life.

Today is Ryan’s first birthday. On June 2, 2008 at 5:19 pm we were blessed with the cutest bundle of joy ever. Here’s my first post after his birth. Remember when I posted this a few days later? And then this?

Well, here we are now.

We threw him a birthday party Saturday. It was so fun! We had about 35 people. I have a bazillion pictures but I currently only have the energy to post a few, so here we go.

Singing “Happy Birthday.”

Trying to convince Ryan that cake is good.

Success! Ryan realizes the goodness of cake.

All in all, it was a blast. We had a kiddie pool for the kids and beer, horseshoes, and washers for the adults. All the family and a bunch of friends came in to celebrate our baby turning one, and (I like to think) Mason and I surviving the first year of parenthood. Was it as hard as everyone says? Eh, I think it was harder. But how many really great things come about with no difficulty?

Now we are moving into toddlerhood as Ryan gets ready to take his first steps, and parents with more experience than me keep telling me how it just gets more difficult (“look out for the terrible twos!”; “good luck getting him to eat anything!” etc.).  And while all that is probably true, after the last year I would prefer to not worry about what’s to come, and just celebrate each day’s successes, like watching Ryan figure out how to make a rattle out of a Pirouette can and a block, or seeing him joyfully splash in the bathtub.  So that’s my goal. I’m not sure if I can do it, but I’m gonna give it my darnedest. I hear babies grow up fast, and I don’t want to miss a thing.

Ryan recently learned that if he splashes really hard in the bathtub, he can get everything within a 10-foot radius soaking wet. He really enjoys this. This is him mid-splash.

And if you want to see him in action, here’s a short video I took.

I told Mason that I’m really glad we’ve always made sure to give our moms gifts on Mother’s Day, because I realize now that they’ve done a lot more to deserve gifts then than on birthdays or any other holiday. My first Mother’s Day was great. We had brunch at Chez Zee (creme brulee French toast, holla), and “Ryan” got me the new Neko Case CD. Good times.

He just does not get the flash yet. One day.

I love this picture. Both of my boys, looking so happy.

I hope all my fellow moms out there had an amazing day.

My dad has had a vegetable garden every year as far back as I can remember. When Mason and I were house-hunting, one of my requirements was that the house have a yard big enough for me to put a garden in. One of the reasons I liked the house we eventually bought was that the previous owners had already created a raised bed for a tree rose garden. Unfortunately, they were not so adept at growing treen roses and by the time we moved in, all five had a fungus, so I didn’t feel too guilty about pulling them up and replacing them with my beloved veggies.

This year I got a later start than usual due to the unusually cold weather in March. Then I lost a few plants after a late April freeze, but after replacing them everything is going just peachy. Except for a current battle with fire ants, but I will prevail.

Here’s the whole thing. It’s a 16×16 bed. I put a row of stones in the middle to minimize the amount of walking I have to do in the garden itself.

In the front we have herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, mint, and chives), four types of tomato (Celebrity, Green Zebra, large red cherry, and Cherokee Purple), and jalapenos.

In the back we have cucumber, zucchini, canteloupe, and three kinds of sweet pepper.

This is my first veggie of the season, a baby jalapeno. I have three plants and will have more jalapenos than I know what to do with, so let me know if you need some.

Here’s my Celebrity tomato plant. Celebrities are what you think of when you think of grocery-store tomatoes — big and red. I planted a cherry tomato plant b/c I love them and b/c they grow quickly. I should be able to harvest some in a month or so. I also planted two heirloom varieties, a green and a purple, because I love how they taste. And they’re kinda cool-looking.

My zucchini. I’ve never grown zucchini before, but I’ve done cucumbers and they are pretty similar in terms of how they grow, so I’m not too worried.

Some people have asked me how to start a vegetable garden. Here’s the rundown.

1. Pick a spot in your yard that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight per day. This is very important. Most veggies you want to grow need full sunlight (defined as at least 6 hours per day). They won’t die without this amount, but you won’t get much of a yield, and it won’t be worth the effort.

2. Add compost (unless you have perfect soil). If you live in central Texas, you do not. Ideally, you’d add in 6 inches of compost for a new garden, but that can get kinda pricey, so add in what you can and just add more each year. I recommend finding a local nursery that you can get bulk compost from. It’s much cheaper than buying it in bags. Try to level the compost throughout your garden using a dirt rake. Use this calculator to figure out how much compost you need.

3. Rent a roto-tiller and till up everything. You want it all mixed together. Level with a dirt rake.

4. The hard part is over! Now you get to plant your plants. This should be pretty easy. A few things: If you plant tomatoes, bury about 80% of the stems. Tomatoes can grow roots out of their stems, so burying the young plants helps them grow stronger by instantly helping them grow a great root system. Also, I would go ahead and buy tomato cages and put them up around your tomatoes. If you wait till they are big enough to need caging, it’ll be hard to get the cages in the ground. Also, you can put cages or other support systems up around cucumbers, zucchini, and the like. The plants will grow up the trellises and the veggies won’t lay on the ground and become bug food.

5. Once you have everything planted, it’s a good idea to use a liquid root starter to water in your plants. Miracle Gro makes one, but I use Maxicrop liquid seaweed. You just mix with water and go. This helps prevent transplant shock (when plants die after you move them to the garden) by giving them a boost of nutrients.

6. If you want, at this point you can lay down a drip hose. This is a porous hose that runs right next to your plants and delivers water directly to the plants. You can plug your garden hose into it to water your plants. Much more efficient than a normal sprinkler.

7. Mulch. Seriously. You can use compost again, but it’s pricey, like I said. I get bags of cedar mulch. Spread it out evenly. You want 2-3 inches of mulch. This keeps weeds out.  If you don’t mulch, you will pay with a ton of weeds.

8. After all this, it’s just maintenance. Check your plants for bugs and other bad stuff daily. Water about once a week, more if it’s really hot. Stick your finger in the soil and check the moisture to tell if you need to water — it should be damp about an inch down. Fertilize with a high-nitrogen fertilizer every 1-2 weeks. I use Miracle Gro tomato fertilizer.

9. Enjoy your home-grown veggies. You have not tasted a tomato until you’ve tasted a home-grown tomato.