Plant Fun

We had some plant fun in the napa cabbage and chamomile today. Fredrik LOVES plants. We have a nasturtium potted on the deck and he loves to pull on the leaves and flowers. It is a great way to calm him if he needs it. It is so hot outside. Well, I don't think it even got up to 90 degrees today, but the humidity made it unbearable. I camped out inside with the little guy. I had him out in the middle of the day (shaded of course) lat week when it was pretty mild and he got slightly dehydrated-(dry diapers for a few hours). A hot car ride (where the AC couldn't really keep up) didn't help either. So, I'm extra cautious about him being in the heat. Of course, we only have AC in our bedroom so he needs to be in there. It was 80 in the rest of the house today. Hopefully this hot weather breaks for soon, and with it a lot of rain falls onto the veggies outside. Oh, he can't sit yet, he's sitting in his Bumbo seat.

Day to Day

Schedule? I've thrown in the towel. For three days I tried to get Fredrik on more of a schedule. We've been having a big problem with overtired babies in our house and being preemptive with naps seemed to be a good solution. The morning is easy, he eats, plays, then sleeps for about an hour, sometimes longer. After that, chaos. I was trying to get him to settle down for a nap FORVER in the afternoons, and soon, it would be night. So, we're back to going with the flow. Looking on the bright side, Freddy has occasionally self-soothed himself to sleep. Flannel receiving blankets are the key. He hugs and snuggles them all day. Plus, they are right there when a burp cloth is needed. The picture above is from the other day when he was lying in his crib. When he's tired he covers his face with a blanket. Apparently, when he falls asleep he no longer needs the blanket on his face since he had somehow wound it around his head like a turban.

We were surprised that Fredrik would lie comfortably and calmly in a hammock with my dad. He just isn't the passive calm baby, so I was happy to see him relaxed like this for a good 20 minutes.

Peter with the buggy on Father's Day. How celebrity of him.

Pineapple.

We now have pretty much every piece of baby gear; recently the UPS man delivered an exersaucer to our door. At first Freddy screamed and had to be removed. Now he loves it and plays for an impressive amount of time. We opted for the Baby Einstein model. We enjoy the buttons that call out "Woof, Dog, Perro, etc."

Does anyone have any tips on solid food? We're starting to wonder when and what to start with.

Real Estate Update

We have sold the farm! That was quick! They've signed the papers, we've signed the papers, now we just have to wait for...October. The new owners also run a vegetable CSA so they are a perfect match for an October transfer of farmland. We will both have plenty of time to finish our growing seasons. We will now start to pack up our goods and sell what's not going to travel to St. Paul or a storage unit. This will not be a small project, but with the sale of the farm not looming over us we are feeling full of energy and excitement.

So far it has been a fabulous year for growing. We've gotten perfect rainfalls. I just did a walk-around and noticed the green beans have popped up and are already putting out true leaves. The melons and squash are all poking out of the soil and the peas are growing very very tall with no sign of flowering yet. I think we will have loads of peas in about a week and a half. This season has been quite enjoyable with the perfect weather, a smaller CSA, no pigs, and no wholesale accounts to deliver.

On a more baby-related note, Fredrik certainly likes to be held. All of the talk of bedtimes, sleeping routines, and methods in which to get your baby to sleep suddenly has become valuable. For a couple weeks Freddy was sleeping in his crib, he'd wake up one or two times, then go back to sleep. In his crib. No longer the case. He cries and as soon as we pick him up he's asleep on our shoulder. Instantly. Hmmmmmmm. Of course he's been ending up in our bed when we give up and just want to get some sleep. The same thing seems to be happening during waking hours. I enjoy having him in a baby carrier but I know it's also important for him to have some playtime by himself. Gma Roz has ordered an exersaucer for him. We can hardly wait for it to get here. He played with one at Madeline's house and LOVED it, many smiles and a lot concentration. Plus, we can get some work done while he plays.

He's been hip to being on his tummy and has even rolled over a few times.

New Abode

After vigorous internet searching and an intense afternoon of touring apartments we have successfully secured our future abode. Peter and I looked through 5 or so places around William Mitchell and one in particular was just perfect. I was hoping to find a place that was "just perfect" because I've been a little nervous about the switch from farm to city. When we walked up to tour a place about 3 blocks from WM there was a 7 or 8 year old girl sitting on the sidewalk with acrylic paints lined up as she painted rocks. I knew then that we were in a good neighborhood for kids, not to mention moms. The woman showing our place was a doula and the current occupant was a massage therapist (out of the rental), which means there's an extra bedroom in this place that will be perfect for my future book making studio. My idea is to start a craft/art business, slowly of course, since I'll have Buska around to keep me busy. Anyway, back to our place, it's the downstairs of a an big old St. Paul home. We'll have 2 bedrooms, plus the studio bedroom, our own laundry, living room, dining room, back yard, kitchen, bathroom, and front porch. It's quite the pad. The biggest change will be the mobs of people everywhere. I've become a bit of a hermit here and it will be very strange to look out the window and see people milling about. We'll be living on Laurel and our block has an abundance of young families and we're just a 1/2 block from a playground.

As for our place, we have been showing it nonstop. We have more than one person interested in taking over the CSA so we'll see how that pans out-hopefully soon.

Talking Bears

This is Freddy's favorite Talking Bear:

Here are the two guys in their yellow pocket tees:

We are well past the 3 month mark. It's bittersweet. Well, mostly sweet. It's a lot of fun to play with Fredrik now, he smiles a lot and almost has figured out the art of laughter, he can hold on to a rattle, and is very close to being able to bring things to his mouth. But, I do already miss the recent past days when he just wanted to snuggle on my chest all day and he was just such a tiny little guy. It's a lot less stressful now that he doesn't seem quite as fragile.
People seem to be asking me the following questions quite often:
Q. Does he sleep?
A. Sure. He sleeps about 4-5 hours after he goes to bed, then I nurse him, he goes right back to sleep for about 3 more hours and we're all refreshed and ready to go for the day. The catch is, whenever I tell someone this story, he wakes up every 1-2 hours the following night.

Q. Is he a good baby?
A. I think so. I mean, I am his mother, of course I think he's good. He may be more "spirited" and "intense" than other babies.

Q. This is not really a question, but everyone says either, "He's so light!" or "He's so big!" depending on the size of the last baby they held.
A. Yep. He's bigger yet still so small.