11 month Forrest...

Forrest at 11 months is quite a character. He's a babbler, still nothing too discernable other than mama and dada and maybe a hello here or there. He has a little personality on him that is awesome! He's walking everywhere now, and has a little foot stomp he often does when he's happy, wants to dance, or he just feelis the baby vibe. He's now putting EVERYTHING into his mouth, cheerios, tortilla, bannana, avocado, you name it. And along with that comes dirt, acorns, more dirt, grass, pine needles, rocks...welcome to toddlerhood 101 parents!

Breastfeeding is coming to an end for us. By 12 months he'll be fully weaned, or rather I'll have fully run out of milk. I'm happy that I *almost* made it to my goal of 1 year. Pumping at the office and in the hospital just got too hard, or rather I just got lazy about it. So these last few weeks are full of formula for Forrest, and luckily he's got a big appetitie for food as well as formula, so he doesn't seem to mind the missing mom milk.

His favorite place is clearily outside. We still walk him, with the carrier or the BOB stroller, but as long as it's not nap time, he wants to be walking on his own two feet, tromping around, exploring all the ranch has to offer. Rain or no rain. He actually loves the wet stuff and we have a tough time keeping him out of the puddles he seems to gravitate to. He'll spot one 30 yards a way and make a beeline for it and stomp around. Lots of wet feet around here! Luckily a good deal on some rain pants at REI have kept his legs semi dry.

Unfortunately his mobility comes at a price, which is usually taken with his head. This kid bonks his head several times a day. I want to put a helmet on him to protect that big brain, but haven't yet gone that far. I have a feeling this is just the beginning. Yesterday he even got his first bloody nose....:-(

But overall Forrest is quite the healthy, (as his first cold with ear infection is a thing of the past,) and happy baby. He's doing wonderful with daycare 2 days a week, loves his new little friends, and is always exhausted after those days. I really truly can't believe he will be one in 3 short weeks.

I have almost been a mom for 1 year! Holy Moly!

Spring has sprung

Which means the garden work has begun. We made a pact to have a smaller garden this year, due to our busy work schedules and the overwhelming time a garden takes to put in and maintain. But, in all honestly, our "small" garden is probably someone elses dream garden.
This next month is the calm before the storm. Thanks to a lovely, costco greenhouse purchased this year, (that had my husband swearing up a blue streak about thanks to instructions being far less than clear, and the measuring system being off in China evidently,) we can now start all of our babies!

So, thanks to a 4 day weekend for moi, (yes, this crazy working woman does get a break now and than, thank the heavens!) and spring fever in both of our blood, the babies went in. So far broccoli, cauliflower, onions, leeks, basil, spinach, poc choi, sunflowers, marigolds, allysum, lettuce, and cabbage have been started. The green house is so fun! It's warm and cozy, and it's nice to finally be able to start our own veggies. Forrest had a fun time too, tasting the different varieties of dirt I'm sure and managing the door step that had him almost biffing it every step of the way.

Our garden is this peaceful green oasis currently, with only the cover crop, our two rows of strawberries, and our artichokes in. First up will be our asparagus, hopefully popping out of the dirt in a few short weeks!

We are happy for spring in this household, and very timely, our first daffodil has made her entrance....:-)

A day of raking and rock eating....

Alex and I chose to be selfish, and decided to put in a lawn today. A lawn that does NOT produce money, fruit, or vegetables, but indeedily WILL produce good times of bare feet on green grass in the heat of the summer when there is not a green item around except for the green of the fir and oak trees. A great thing indeed for our little soon to be one year old.
As we raked, rock picked, and seeded a fairly large chunk of dirt in front of our house, Forrest chose to do a little sampling.
Hmmm, this acorn looks mighty tasty....oh that looks even better with mud on it!
or
That dirt clod is the best! Hey that large rock is the best to suck on!
and
Mmmmmm, dirt, mmmmm dirt.......

No joke. Everything is in his mouth. And you would think that, uhh, dirt just doesn't taste good? That he would get a taste, spit it out, and be done with it, learn from his "mistake?"

I think not. Evidently dirt and rocks taste like gourmet filet mignon in baby land, or perhaps like the most delectable homemade apple pie a la mode. And I believe he was even swallowing the stuff when I couldn't catch him fast enough. Are us adults missing something? Is this dirt really the anwser? Why buy food after all when you have dirt?

But in all honestly, I know a little dirt can't hurt a kid, and can even be good. Research shows those kids who play in dirt have a lower incidence of asthma, seasonal allergies, and allergic reactions in general.
But....I do NOT think that statistic includes actually ingesting fistfulls of the stuff.
Hmmm must be hard on his little somewhat still immature guts. I just hope he stays away from acual rocks...ughhh.
So those with kids, when did they STOP putting dirt, rocks, EVERYTHING into their mouth? And did they actually seem to like the stuff?

In the meantime, Forrest has me wondering what dirt really tastes like.....hmmmm.....eggs, bacon and a side of dirt for breakfast....

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

And it's also the big 11 month mark for Forrest!
Not much time to write, but just wanted to mark the occasion, and a run-down of our little Forrest G. will follow soon.
This little love monkey is the best Valentine ever...

The New River....

is a beautiful place...
...even more beautiful on this fair weather, February, "we need an escape," type of Saturday.
So we packed up the baby, the lunch, and ourselves and onward we hiked.
We did not see ONE soul on this journey...perfect solitude. AND, Alex let me drive, so I didn't puke my car-sick prone guts out on the windy drive...I tell you, a perfect Saturday already.
Forrest was a babbling baby on our back, toddling around when we gave him the chance, loving every second, and trying all the different varieties of rocks and sand, with a few sticks thrown in for dessert. All went straight for his mouth.

Forrest and his stinky face...

My fishy husband was lusting over the amazing river, beautiful trail, and the surprise of spotting several spawning steelhead as we hiked.
And for me...I was just enjoying being OUT. Out of work, out of the home, out in the sunshine, in the fresh air, and walking with my baby on my back with my husband at my side.
True therapy.
"Hi dad, want some sand in your eyes?!"


High Five!

Our ranch hand....

Alex and I often joke about having more kids just to help out with the massive amount of work on this place....
JOKE....
or not....
I think Forrest makes a pretty good pint sized child laborer...
:-)

It's a Girl!

So I usually don't post about work. Well, okay, so I do, but not many specifics. There is always a lot of drama, life, death, and so on and so forth. But for the most part I try to keep work at work and move on to my home life in this blog.
Until today.
Or, more correctly, until just 2 hours ago.
This particular patient I cannot help but write about as her story is amazing in so many ways, many of which are NOT so special.
Tonight I had stopped at a hospital in our community to see a surgical patient we were covering. This was on my way home after my day of surgery at the larger hospital. All was fine and dandy and I decided to say hi to my PA friend who works in the ER. We were chatting, and there was a bunch of screaming, moaning, tears, and drama coming from a few feet away in the ER admitting/triage room. My PA friend made a joke about if I would like to deliver a baby as it sounded like this woman was in labor from the sounds of things, but actually she was probably having another issue and dealing with drug withdraws or something of the sort. For it even sounded way above and beyond what a laboring woman might sound like.
So our conversation continued when suddenly, more racket, and the secretary comes running, yelling to us to grab bulb suction as there is a newborn baby laying on the floor.
Yes, on the ER floor.
This particular woman just had a baby on the ER floor and had not even known she had been pregnant, not an inkling....
WHAT?
I thought this only happened in random medical textbooks or on T.V.?
Evidently not.
We scooped the newborn up, eventually got suction, and she started to give a weak cry. I bundled her and eventually OB came with the warmer.
Welcome to the world baby girl...I sure hope for your sake it gets a heck of a lot better than being face planted on the ER floor at your birth...
This is just so amazingly crazy for so many reasons. First off, what reality must this mother be living in for this to happen...or what must she be taking? Having just been pregnant, I know first hand how it seemingly, especially at the end, seems to take over your entire body. Your belly dances literally all day and night.
Crazy.
And apparently she had been pregnant before?
Hmmmm.
Regardless, that is my "Wow, are you kidding me..." moment of the month. Heck, of the year!
And I truly hope, as I said before, that the little newborn baby girl gets off on a better foot than she started on.