Forrest Griffiths, 8 weeks old

This last Saturday, May 9th, was Forrest's 8 week milestone...wow! For 8 weeks he's been in our lives, eating, growing, sleeping, playing, and now more than ever smiling! As an 8 week old infant he's living a pretty good life...and looking more and more like a little boy...ALREADY!
His FAVORITE thing to do is this...

And the challenge now is getting him to sleep outside the swing...he seems addicted to it. Nice for us parents as we know he can be awake, happy, or fast asleep in it. But the swing is not attached to our car for trips, nor do we want to be...

And right behind that is his baby play mat...we add anything and everything that can hang on the hooks for him to bat at, coo at, and work on the hand eye coordination.

Besides the multitude of smiles he adorns us with, sticking out his tongue at us is the newest skill just in the last week...he seems to get a kick out of anyone of us sticking it back out at him...

Alex and I are pretty good about toting him along wherever we go...hence the family portrait on Split Rock, a local excellent hike and great view.
He's not always stoked to be carried in the sling or baby carrier....but the majority of the time he seems pretty relaxed....

Burrito night, 70% local...

Tonight we made burritos...sounds pretty normal and boring...but, they were about 70% made from local, home grown, great tasting ingredients. We are meat eaters in this household and the main ingredient was ground venison from one of two deer Alex takes yearly from our property. Now, I know, I had a big issue with "eating Bambi" too when we first started. But, when you look at the alternative of beef, feedlot beef at that, then you really don't feel so bad. Free range beef would be an alternative, but it is expensive. Alex does not hunt to increase and fulfull his testosterone levels, or just to "kill something" as many do. He hunts for subsistence ...and we use a great deal, if not all of what he takes. Plus, venison is the leanest meat that you can eat. It ranks with chicken breast as far as the least amount of fat for the amount of protein/iron you are getting, (which is always good for this often anemic mama). I still can't stomach large quantaties of the stuff on it's own, (which is good, as you really shouldn't eat tons of any kind of meat, ) and I have never been a rich meat lover. I do love cooking with ground venison! We make venison spagetti, burgers, lasagne, you name it...and of course back to the burritos...




So, pinto beans were from good friends garden, and they thankfully had cooked them for us and gave us a freezer bag full when we had Forrest. Lettuce was from our garden, just about the only thing coming from it at the moment, and of course the ground venison. All other ingredients or toppers, (sour cream, cheese, olives, roasted peppers, salsa,) were bought.

Soon, just about all of the ingredients will be from us! In the summer half of the days of the week we pretty much are vegetarians due to out glutton of vegetables....it's wonderful!
And of course salmon...soon we will have fresh wild caught spring run salmon...mmmm mmm.

It makes me happy to produce a lot of what we eat. And meals like tonight happen without even trying....sure we still like our store bought chips/ice cream/out of season veggies or fruit from Mexico or other climates. But, when you eat what you grow, or take from your own land, (or friends gardens,) it does seem to taste better! Now if we could just figure out how to grow an avocado tree up here...hmmm. Got to be the one thing we'll have to keep buying...

G-Diaper Follow up and diapering in general

There is literally endless information out there on diapering. Alex and I looked over some of it before Forrest was born and decided it was not a decision we could make until our guy was with us, and we could then evaluate what kind of energy/$ we felt like expending. Before Forrest was here, the idealist in me thought "cloth diapers, of course!" But now, especially as I am back to work and Alex is the superdad at home 3 days a week, it must be conducive to something we all can deal with...

So if you are expecting, I highly reccomend waiting and not buying expensive diapering systems too soon, but do do the research now. Who knew people cared so much about this subject? (I sure didn't until I saw the mass commentary/at times hate mail out their on the web!)


So...the cost of G-Diapers....they are not really any cheaper than disposables, and depending what kind of disposables you get, often are more expensive.
www.gdiapers.com sells cases of the flushable/biodegradable inserts directly, and then you can also find them at any Whole Foods/Co-op type stores. Being as we live in Humboldt Co, these types are plentiful! Another plus on G-diapers are that you can use the cloth diaper with prefold cloth inserts if one wanted to do a combo cloth/compostable insert deal. Their starter pack, two cloth outer diapers and 10 inserts is a pretty good deal at $26 if one just wanted to try it, (Ashley maybe this would be the best bet....) This is what I bought along with 40 additional inserts to give it a shot. Consignment stores also have plenty of used outers for sale for pennies compared to the new ones, (and these are a ok to buy used, or at least better than reg. cloth diapers as gdiapers have a plastic liner that rarely lets the babies pee/poop on to the actual cloth part.)

So you are purely doing it to decrease your carbon footprint and do your part. Cloth diapers would be cheaper I believe for the average family, but if you add in the cost of a diapering service, I really don't know what is more cost effective. For us in particular, seeing as we have a lot of land and plenty of room for an additonal composter/hole in the ground, it is perfect for us. No water waste either other than the normal weekly washing of the cloth outer with the rest of his clothes.


And, ECing, or elimination communication. Jonna I was amazed when you did your post on this. I did research it...how though does it actually work? Bodi gives her signals or cues and you go and hold her over the toilet? Is she in a regular diaper the rest of the time? And in the outdoors what do you do? I can tell when Forrest is grunting he might, (or might not, and more often not,) be getting ready to sent poop my way, and I have no idea about the pee cues at the moment. But ECing, would be the most economical way to go if you have this down. Way to go Jonna!!!

We'll see how they work...as we are only in our first weekend of trying them at the moment. No blow outs so far! But as our little boy grows it might be a different story...then again what diaper doesn't blow out from time to time... ;-)

G-Diaper, G-cool???

So, a big parenting decision...to add to landfills or not to add to landfills, that is the question. Except keep in mind Alex and I both are not fond of laundry, especially the thought of two loads of cloth diapers every other day, (in order to get them squeaky clean). There is no diaper service out in our wonderful corner of the word, and I'm not really up for shuttling dirty diapers to Eureka 3 times a week...sooo.....
Enter G-diapers. Cloth diaper with a flushable/biodegradable insert. Though, us country folk on a septic system will NOT be flushing anything bigger than a couple of squares of TP down our toilet, (and even that has issues at times...)
But, biodegradable..hmmm
We're giving it a try. At least on weekends and on days off, and when the parental figures are awake enough and have the energy enough to deal with a little tiny bit of extra work...disposables for the rest of the "No energy just trying to survive" time.
So, we'll start our G-diaper compost bin, and sometime later this year, Forrest's pees and turds will help to grow a beautiful fir tree, (we decided it was a little too close to home to use it as garden compost...)

Back to work...Forrest and dad time

It was super hard leaving this morning, but all in all my two boys did wonderfully awesome....and I made it through the day as well. I do have to say I am so glad to only be working three days a week for awhile. And looking on the bright side this is probably awesome bonding time for Forrest and his dad ;-)
I feel so incredibly lucky to have an amazing husband and baby. I have a friend who is going through an unbelievably hard time right now and she has re-instilled in me to seize the day and appreciate all the big and little miracles that come with every minute on this crazy world...because all too soon they could be gone...

The most adorable thing....nearly 6 weeks old

Aunt Nat

Forrest's visit with Aunt Nat was AWESOME! We had a few days of summer in spring here in Northern Cal, (I actually think the whole west coast had the same experience). We had lots of river time, and sweetened the deal with watermelon and beer, (More for Nat than myself...though the lightweight I am, half a beer goes a long way!)
It was a great deal for all involved, as I am going back to work next week, (yes, can you believe it, already?), and Nat lives in Massachusetts where it was hailing while we were sitting along the great Trinity River in 90+ degree weather.
Forrest was all eyes on his first extended trip down...and then his normal afternoon fussiness took over. But, all in all I'd rather have a fussy baby in paradise than just about anywhere else! Before we know it he'll be swinging off the trees...

Forrest survived the airport madness

And his mom did too...on two hours of sleep mind you. he was 90% angel baby, 10%, well, a 5 week old that was probably extremely overstimulated. And through it all he got to meet dozens of lovely family and friends and tons of humanity...
And he chose the hour before the adventure began to smile at his daddy...



And he chose to continue it for the rest of the weekend.
Life is sweet...

Not to sure about those Easter rabbits...

Forrest's first Easter, and our first holiday as parents...
Though for a 4 week old tiny person...it was just another morning, perhaps with a few more bright colored objects that mom was stuffing in his face, (we have to have Easter eggs after all!)
He seemed interested at first...
And then, he decided he absolutely wanted nothing to do with all of it. Those bunnies were just a little too big for him. Maybe next year!


And...because his mom is extra vigilant and a good glug of breast milk seems to always do the trick he was more in the mood later on...

Though...as you notice, with clothes on. Maybe that had something to do with it?

He just wasn't into the naked Easter egg hunt quite yet...
and, is that maybe a smile?

The Grandparents!

Forrest, showing off his length!

Grandparents, enjoying the swing...

Grandpa Ron

Granny Teri