the story of how a family is created

jumpa jumpa jumpa! from carissaabc on Vimeo.

Increasingly more commonly lately, baby dude has been fighting sleep.  Sometimes I can put him down for a nap or for the night with no problems at all.  Other times, he arches his back and cries and flails and screams and (if it gets really bad) he even gurgles on the back side of the sobs (kind of a “gugugugug” noise–a tragic version of popeye’s laugh).  Or other times, he just refuses to lie in my arms and pushes himself up into a sitting position and reaches for ANYTHING in reach that might possibly delay naptime.  At times like these, I have to make a decision–is he really just not sleepy?  Or is it time to call in the daddy?

J has the magic touch when it comes to putting the boy to sleep.  Granted, our friends who were parents before us could probably have told you that fact long ago–their babies often fell asleep easily in his arms.  But it doesn’t seem to matter if I’ve been trying for five minutes or fifteen to get baby dude to sleep.  Invariably, when Jay comes up and bounces him, he falls asleep (sometimes in less than a minute).  He’s tried to explain it to me, as though it’s just a matter of posture or how you hold baby dude’s legs or how deeply you bounce him,  but I know better.  Daddy’s arms feel safe and secure.  His heartbeat is soothing.  Heck, even I feel cozy when he hugs me.  And our son has felt the same way since the first time his daddy held him in his magic arms.

baby dude giggles from carissaabc on Vimeo.

this past weekend i baked the happy baby his first “cookie.”  i’d actually been searching for a recipe for homemade teething biscuits when i found this recipe for “oats and ‘naner drops“.  i loved that it was wheat and egg and sugar free (at the time i found this recipe, we hadn’t tried any wheat yet), so i decided to give it a try.  here’s the recipe i made:

banana oatmeal baby cookies

1 c quick oats
1 c ground oats (i put the oatmeal in the blender to make a coarse oat flour)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t each of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, & nutmeg
1 t baking powder
1 c (~2) overripe bananas, mashed
1 t vanilla extract
3 T oil

Mix dry, mix wet, add wet to dry. Drop by the spoonful onto parchment paper or greased baking sheet. Bake 12-15 min at 350. (note from the website says this was “adapted from a vegan cookbook”)

i think they met with approval:

baby dude enjoys a cookie from carissaabc on Vimeo.

p.s. i’m working on another movie that (gasp!) doesn’t involve the baby eating something.  it needs a few tweaks and then i’ll put it up here.  i think you’ll like it.

just in case you’re curious, here’s what we’ve been working on:

we’ve been busy!

banana! from carissaabc on Vimeo.

for the past month or so i’ve been preparing solid foods for baby dude.  One of the other adoption blog mommies that i read commented once that she SO enjoyed this stage of mothering because now (unlike during the formula vs. breastmilk days) she felt like she could offer just as good nutrition as any other mom and she could choose to make all of her own food from scratch instead of buying pre-prepared if she wanted to feed her child what she considered to be the best food for him.  I can totally relate to those sentiments.  Perhaps it’s because he’s not eating tons of food yet so it’s still cute and fun?  So far, we’ve had avocado, peas, green beans, sweet potato, banana, oatmeal, rice cereal, carrots (both orange and purple–thanks angie!)  and pears.  I often prepare a batch at a time and put it into these “food cubes” that we got as a gift (thanks, Molly!) and store them in our fridge.  i love seeing them all lined up and ready to go:

i’ve noticed lately that the first bite baby dude eats almost always receives this huge grimace of disgust.  doesn’t seem to matter if it’s his favorite food or something new or something he’s just not crazy about… everything gets a “yuck” face.  so i started trying to capture that face on video because it cracks me up.  i put together a montage this evening.  i hope you enjoy it!

Baby Dude tries some food from carissaabc on Vimeo.

if you’ve known me for awhile, you might remember some of the challenges i’ve made for myself in the past (baking bread once a month to learn how to work with yeast; the aids ride–400 miles on a bike in 5 days; the 365 days of getting rid of stuff (okay, that one petered out about halfway through); eating vegan once a week, etc.) and lately, i’ve been setting all of these ridiculous hypothetical challenges for myself in my head and then feeling guilty that i’m not doing all of them simultaneously.  so i thought i’d list some of them here and have you all vote for which challenge you think would help me to find more of a sense of balance between working/being a mom/being a grad student/being a creative person/and being a healthy person.  they are, in no particular order:

1.  not eating out for a whole month

2.  blogging (on at least one of my blogs) at least once a week through the end of the year

3.  going to bed no later than 11:00 every night

4.  exercising at least 3 times a week  (i have SO fallen off of the exercise wagon and I can really tell a difference)

5.  doing this 30-day yoga challenge

6.  being allowed to only check google reader while riding the stationary bicycle

7.  no more than one sweet treat per day (yes, this would be a challenge.  pitiful, isn’t it?)

8.  absolutely no tv (or google reader) until all of my homework is done for the week

9.  carving out time to craft at least once a week

10.  forbidding myself to take on any challenges that are doomed to cause me huge guilt if i don’t make them work–at least until I’m out of grad school or until Gabriel is sleeping through the night.

please vote for ONE in the comments section below.  thanks!

one of my favorite baby gifts was the promise of a mini-session with J’s boss’ wife… who happens to be an excellent photographer.  We had our photo shoot a few weeks ago (what an interesting experience to be on the other side of the lens!  I think the oddest thing about it was having no idea how much of us she was getting in the frame or not getting in the frame.) and she posted a sneak peek on her blog yesterday.  check them out! I especially love the one of baby dude and daddy j.  i can’t wait to see the rest!