14 Months

Malachi

I can not believe that you are 14 months already!!  You are growing up and everyday doing something new.  It seems that I can not close my eyes because when I open them you have accomplished something else.

You now say:
yeah
no
how are you
mama, dada, Niah
thank you
all right
milk
more
uh oh
up
that/this
blue
ball

and just the other day when I took Niah to the bathroom you looked at Daddy and said, "Where mama go?"

When you are want something or frustrate or sometimes just for fun you scream loudly.  Your mommy does not like it.  At home I ignore you and you stop in public I cover your mouth.  

You are still a big eater!  Your favorites are strawberries, chicken, yogurt, and bread or crackers.  Your favorite dessert is ice cream.  You do not like bananas, raspberries, or corn.  You either like a food or hate food no in between with you.  When you are done you want to throw all your food on the floor and we have been working very hard trying to get you to stop.  You have started to feed yourself with a spoon and you love to feed yourself!

You are a climber and love to climb up on to chairs and stand on them.  You love to climb the stairs and anything that you can manage to get on to.  You stand all of the time but refuse to walk by yourself.  You have amazing fine motor skills and manage to put small objects through small holes.  You like to take things apart and put them back together.  You have a mechanical mind like your dad and when you look at your train you pick it up and will try and figure out how it works and even place your finger right on the wheel to stop it from going then let it start going again.

You love your sister!  Niah will now play with you for long amounts of time and you absolutely love it!  You two will play little games and just laugh and laugh.  It melts my heart.

 

You are one determined boy and you are set to go after what want.  There is no stopping or redirecting you, if you want something, you want it right away.  I am constantly trying to teach you patience and you are not a patient one but I know you will learn the difficult task it I am as determined as you  in life :-)  I know that you will do great things because if you set your mind to something, you will and do get it accomplished at all cost.

We love you Malachi!!

Less Perservatives

Our home is slowly trying to take out preservatives and eat foods in their natural form.  The motivation is not for any reason but to be healthy.  I want my children to be healthy and I want to be healthy for my children.  My husband got on board after he had a month of sickness.  It will not be an easy thing because our family loves sugar.

Where did we start?  By eating all of the sugar in the home and not replacing it (we are not wasteful people).  I have been trying to find healthy alternatives like greek yogurt ice cream bars or homemade all natural fruit ice cream bars, is something I give out for dessert.  When we do have real sweets, I want to make them using raw sugar and using unbleached flour and using recipes that call for ingredients in their raw form.    I also plan to make things we enjoy to be able to use more ingredients in their raw form.

The biggest switch we made is our milk.  I debated this and researched it for awhile and went back and forth and we decided to buy milk in the raw form.  We go through over 3 gallons of milk a week. WE ARE BIG MILK DRINKERS!  I found a farmer about 30 mins away that sells raw milk.  The cost is not much more than what I was paying for organic milk from the grocery store.  The initial investment was $4 per gallon in glass jars (I buy 3 gallons a week so $12), then it is $5 per gallon.  I was paying almost $4 per half gallon of organic milk.  They only milk their cows 2 a day and do not feed them any grain.  The cows are Jersey Cows and they spend their time outside not in a barn never getting to leave.  Their cows get no steroids, hormones, or any other additive.  The milk we are drinking is the actually nutrients.  Store bought pasteurized milk is boiled and all of the nutrients are killed then they added the nutrients back in that are developed in the lab.    The most helpful website about raw milk, I found was here.  We actually enjoy raw milk better than store bought.  It is such a creamier clean taste.  Not all raw milk is the same so if you try it and don't like try a different farmer.  The flavor will depend on the type of cow and what they are feeding the cow.  Another farmer that was more convenient, we did not like the milk.

Our family may not be able to ever go completely to whole foods or gluten free but we are going to take small steps that will hopefully have big results.

What are somethings in your home that you are doing to eat less preservatives and more whole foods?  I would love suggestions?