Trixie: Seven Months

Oh my goodness, I just loves this chubby baby so much. This month Trixie has become more giggly and smiley. She is starting to eat more solid foods, but her favorite thing is still nursing, which she does a million times a day (give or take), and is lately wanting to do twice per night. (I'm a tired mama.)

Physically, she is getting a little closer to sitting up on her own, but she is still pretty floppy. She has gotten from her back to her belly a few times in the last few weeks also. But mostly she's cool to just lie on her back and hang out. She's a content little-ish baby.

Trixie loves her big brothers. If they are around she is usually really happy because she just loves watching them so much. They, of course, also adore her, especially Ike. Felix thinks she's nice too, but Ike is simply crazy about her.

This month I took Trixie with me to the Family History Library for the first time, and she did okay. She's also been coming to church with us now that she is done with her RSV shots and has her flu shot. Everyone tells me that they are in love with her chubby cheeks. I love those cheeks too, and I love those people for noticing that she has the best cheeks in the world. No hyperbole there. Best cheeks in the world. Also best lips, which I have probably mentioned before.

Trixie: Six Months

Some spectacular things happened in the last month. Right after Trixie discovered her nasal cannula and was constantly finding ways to suck on it and the oxygen tubing, we went to the cardiologist and learned she doesn't need it anymore. It was a very happy day. At our previous appointment the technicians told us she would probably need to sedate Trixie for her next echocardiogram. As it turned out, she didn't need to be sedated and was nice and calm. After the echo the doctor said she didn't need oxygen anymore. Even better, he is anticipating that she will be able to go for years with minimal medical intervention. We have been very grateful this whole month for all the good news. And, no more cardiology visits until August!

Also, this month, Trixie didn't get sick! Actually, nobody got sick the whole month of February. It was delightful!

I have been putting Trixie in her exersaucer a little bit this month. She thinks it's fine. She doesn't sit up much on her own, and she isn't very good at using her hands. I'm hoping the exersaucer will help her a bit with those things.

Trixie is still a happy little baby. She sleeps a lot, which is great for me. In January she stopped sleeping through the night as well as she had been, but we seem to be back on track now. I can also now put her in her bed awake, and she drifts off to sleep on her own.

She is really chubby! (Check out the arm rolls in this picture and the ones above.) I haven't really given her much in the way of solid foods. I'm trying to do more of a baby-led weaning system this time. Which is really to say, I don't want to bother with baby foods and spoon-feeding. She isn't especially interested in foods. Even when she's sitting at the table with the family eating dinner, she doesn't seem to care that the rest of us are all chowing down. On a couple of occasions we've given her something big to suck and gnaw on, and she's seemed to like that well enough. But to be honest, she would have been just as happy if we'd handed her a toy to suck on. It hasn't clicked yet that everyone else is eating food. She's totally content to nurse.

Trixie is not an especially vocal baby. She makes noises and babbles periodically, but mostly she's just quiet until she's ready to sleep. She loves her hands, both to stare at and to suck on. If she can reach her feet, she'll try to pull on her socks and has succeeded in pulling them off a few times. If Eric is around, she will do whatever she can to stare at him because she just really thinks he's swell.

She figured out how to roll off her belly this month, and she seems moderately close to rolling off her back. When she's on her back she lifts up her head and her feet and does crunches.

Everyone in our family just adores her. It has been so nice this month to marvel at her unobstructed cheeks, to hold her near the gas stove and electric fireplace, and to pick her up and lug her around the whole house without worrying about tripping on her oxygen tubing. With both boys I've felt like six months was just this magical time where the boys became really interesting, and I'm already feeling the same way about Trixie.

Trixie: Five Months

My little Trixie is five months old and weighs in at about 16.5 pounds. The only big changes this month were her discovery of her thumbs and her oxygen tubing. She loves to play with and suck both.

Trixie caught another cold this month, which was a little nerve-wracking for me, but she weathered it just fine with no additional visits to the doctor.

She loves everyone in our family and gives big smiles to all of us. On the rare occasion when she encounters other people, they are usually met with blank stares.

I tried to do a little photo shoot of her after a bath a few weeks ago, but I had a hard time getting a good shot. Nonetheless, this is pretty much how she looks without a nasal cannula. I'm looking forward to the day when we can get rid of the tubing, but I'm also grateful for modern medicine.

After getting sick, Trixie's night-time sleep has not been so hot, but I love her anyway. The one night in the last few weeks when she slept through the night, Eric woke me up in the middle of the night and then quickly fell back asleep. I, on the other hand, could not fall back asleep. When I asked Eric what had caused him to wake me up, he had no memory of it.

Our Favorite Vegetarian or Low-Meat Meals

I know that some of you are here because of the title of the post, so feel free to skip all this jibber jabber at the top, and go right down to the list below. But for those of you who want a little background into why we eat so many legumes, read on.

A few years ago Eric heard a snippet of a Diane Rehm show with guests talking about the areas of the world where people live the longest. In the few minutes he heard, the guests discussed that in all of the "blue zones," as they're called, the people eat a lot of legumes. (I went back and listened to the whole show later, and it really is interesting. I am not 100% sure, but I think this is the same show.) This diagram from Wikipedia is also a good summary of what the different blue zones have in common.

Not too much later we were shopping at WinCo and came upon a section of bulk foods. We bought some 25-pound bags of beans and rice. Then some friends moved and gave us some of their food storage, and we had even more beans and rice. As we gradually used up these products, we continued to buy more from WinCo.

Eric served an LDS mission in Brazil, where he ate rice and beans every day. He has said ever since then that it didn't get old, and he wouldn't mind continuing to eat rice and beans every day. Since he became a teacher, we've tried to make a lot of rice and beans at one time, package them into containers and freeze them so he has easy meals he can grab each day for work. Because I dread the idea of him eating the exact same meal every day, I've tried to have a few varieties of rice and beans or lentils and beans at the ready.

So when I say, "These are some of our favorite vegetarian or low-meat meals," I'm not saying these are things we've tried once or twice. These are actually meals that are tried-and-true for us. We eat them regularly.

Black Beans

• Citrus Black Beans from Annie's Eats - Serve this with rice, or eat it as a taco filling. I especially love it with avocados and tomatoes.
• Janssen's similar version, adapted for a slow cooker. I don't love this one quite as much (sorry, friend), but the method is sometimes more appealing.
• Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos from The Novice Chef - Okay, this is one that is more of "pretty good" than amazing. These freeze well.
• Crockpot Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup from Everyday Reading - Okay, confession: I haven't made this one in a few years. I was attacked by a stomach bug the last time I made it (pure coincidence), and it has turned me off to this soup. But one day I might be willing to give it a try again. You should not let my stomach bug turn you off!

Red Beans (or Kidney Beans)

• Red Beans and Rice from Our Best Bites- So simple and tasty.
• Kidney Bean Curry - It calls for Indian curry paste, but I've made it with Thai since it's harder to find Indian curry paste in my neck of the woods.

Pinto Beans

• Crockpot "Refried" Beans from Pennies and Pancakes - We use this as an alternative to canned refried beans. It's cheaper and definitely healthier.
• Southwest Sweet and Spicy Salad from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - This is my go-to when I'm asked to bring dinner to somebody. I use way more green onions than the recipe calls for. I also add chopped bell pepper and cilantro. It's great served cold, too.

White Beans (navy, great northern, cannellini, etc.)

• Tuscan Sausage and White Bean Soup from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - You can easily decrease the meat and increase the beans for this one.
• Creamy White Chili from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - I will never get over how much I love this chili/soup. We have it every Halloween (and at other times too!).
• Jalapeno Popper Chili from Everyday Reading - You can rarely go wrong if cream cheese is involved.

Lentils - (I've used green lentils for all these recipes. Occasionally I splurge and buy red lentils, though.)

• Red Lentil Curry - You need Indian curry paste for this, but I've subbed Thai curry paste many times, and that's good too, although rather inauthentic.
• Coconut Curried Lentils from Foodess - 
• Dhal Nirvana from Budget Bytes - Just another version of Indian curried lentils. Those Indians know how to make lentils not taste like dirt.
• Carrot Soup
• Tarka Dhal - Mine is from a book,but this is basically the same.

Chickpeas

• Chickpea Salad with Roasted Carrots and Feta from Everyday Reading - I was skeptical of this one, but it's probably my favorite of all these.
• Chickpea and Tomato Basil Salad from Green Lite Bites - This one is exclusively a summer meal for us, when we have cherry or grape tomatoes coming out our ears. Bonus if the basil I've grown hasn't died yet. Otherwise, it's worth it to splurge and buy some fresh basil.
• Poached Eggs and Chickpeas from Everyday Reading - I have a cast-iron skillet, so I can do this in one pan, which makes it all the more appealing to me.
• Chana Masala from Sweet Peas &Pumpkins - This is a great basis for any red curry you want to try, actually.
• Chana Saag (chickpeas and spinach) from Budget Bytes - I love just about any Saag recipe. 

So there you have it. Feel free to suggest your own faves. I'm always looking for new ways to eat legumes.

Ike and Felix Speak (But Mostly Felix)

It's been a while since I posted about the funny things my kids have said. It's too bad, because they say funny things a lot.

Me: Felix, on Sunday you will be a Sunbeam and go to Primary with the big kids! Are you glad you are a Sunbeam now?
Felix: Yeah, and I'm a child of God!

Referring to a picture of Stormtroopers.
Felix: Look! It's the white Dark Vaders!

Felix: Mom, are you going the speed lemon?
Me: Yes, I am.
Ike: You have to go the speed limit or else you will go to jail.
Me: Well, I'd get a ticket. You have to do something pretty bad to go to jail.
Ike: Yeah, like destroying the whole world. Mom, if somebody ruined everything in the world, Heavenly Father would have to make a new one.

On a few occasions, when Felix is upset that I'm not letting him what he wants:
Felix: Mom, you are naughty, and Santa isn't going to bring you any toys!

Me: You're a sweet little boy.
Felix: You're a sweet big mom.
Pause.

Felix: No, no, I not a little boy. I'm a big boy. I'm a sweet big boy.

Everything Felix likes is "special."

We had some rice that got some bugs in it, so I'd have to pick the bugs out before I cooked it.
Me: Felix, we need to go make rice.
Felix: Yes! Let's make bug rice! But you can take out the bugs.

Felix cut his finger somehow.
Me: How did you cut your finger?
Felix: Ike was fighting and then he gave me blood. And I don't like the blood.

In general, we still hear a lot of messed up pronunciations and incorrect conjugations from both boys, especially "hitted," "putted" (not what you do in golf), and "hurted."

Felix let go of a balloon in our stairwell, out of my reach.
Felix: Uh oh. The balloon is up there. You can't get it because you don't have wings.

Felix: Can we listen to Primary music?
Me: Sure, what song do you want to hear?
Felix: Songs about Rainbows because I love that song, and it's a special song, and it's my favorite song.
We then listened to Kermit sing "Why Are There So Many Songs About Rainbows" on Spotify.

We lost power for a few hours in early December. It was a good chance to teach the boys about all the things in our house powered by electricity. Felix absolutely sobbed when he learned the Christmas lights on the tree couldn't be on until the power came back. It was incredibly sweet.

Another instance of Felix being sweet - in late December I took Trixie for her 4-month checkup and shots, and Ike for his five-year. Both kids cried when they got shots, and Felix almost cried while watching them.

Trixie: Four Months

At four months old, Trixie is a smiley, content baby. She likes to suck on her hands but hasn't yet started grabbing at things. She still has a lot of hair, but she's getting a bald patch (and a flat spot) in the back from lying down so much. She's also got a bit of receding hairline along the front. (Both the boys were basically bald by four months old, so I'm happy Trixie is keeping some of her hair.) She weighs over 15 pounds and has the cutest chubby cheeks, thighs, and arms, to show for it. This baby loves to eat. She also loves to stand and sit up with assistance.

Trixie's eyes are still blue, and they are such a light blue sometimes I'm sure they'll stay that color. The boys both had blue eyes for several months. Ike's eventually turned hazel, and Felix's eventually turned green. Eric and I both have brown eyes, so it will be interesting to see what happens with Trixie's eyes.

Trixie has the most lovely, perfect lips. See below.

We hung out with neighbors across the street earlier this week, and my friend snapped this picture of Trixie with her pouty lip. This is a new thing and happens frequently, even when she's not sad. Sometimes she sucks on her bottom lip when she is trying to fall asleep.

Trixie does not enjoy tummy time. Consequently, she has the aforementioned bald spot and flat spot. She also still does not roll over, and I don't really care.

Trixie still sleeps well at night, but it takes her a while to fall asleep. We do a jack-in-the-box routine where we are sure she's really down for the night this time, only to hear her crying a few minutes or an hour later. This happens nightly from about 8:30 to 11:30. We are about done with it.

Ike continues to adore Trixie, and she is finally taking notice of him. She is also interested in Felix, which I think makes him like her a bit more. Sometime in the last month I was pretending to be a monster with Felix. I told him I was going to eat his baby sister and he said, "You can't eat Baby! She's part of our family!"

We all love this baby girl and our so glad she is part of our family.