my_weblog

Critters, teeth, adjusting to changes

It's true Kai is definitely getting his molars already! We were hoping it wasn't true. Now we have accepted it and hope it doesn't take months for them all to come in. I have a feeling it will. I just want them all to come in and then maybe we can sleep for a few months before the two year molars! For now sleep continues to be hard to come by!

The above picture is Kai on Sasha's bed. He loves to climb on it.
'I should put some pictures up of the house. We love the huge windows like this one, that are through out the house. Lots of light!

It's a harder transition than I thought going from urban beach town, to suburb near the woods. I grew up near the woods but I don't know, I think I may prefer urban beach town better now! I can't believe I am saying that.

I mentioned the spiders before, oh and I should mention there are spiders every where. Most of them mini tarantula looking things, not your friendly daddy long legs that I used to pick up when I was little. There are bugs, lots of bugs. It seems we have a snake and a snake hole in our yard. I haven't seen it so I am just hoping it is not a venomous one. I have never been a fan of snakes. They scare me in the wild. Plus I was hoping to transform the yard into a native plant garden but now I am not sure what to do!
There are skunks living across the street, the other morning one was in our yard.
There is also a mangy coyote roaming the streets all the time. I have to look up mange and see how dogs get that. Speaking of dogs. Sasha is crawling with fleas, normal ones and these really gross sticky fleas. They burrow their heads in her skin in groups (they look like tiny eggs or something) and have to taking out with tweezers. They give me the heebee jebees! We have to take her to get frontline.

Ok so apparently there are also mountain lions (one was seen last year at the school a mile a way) Another kind of big cat was seen also. I forget what kind. Apparently packs of coyotes and these big cats sometimes jump on roofs from the steep yards, according to our neighbors! There are also lizards which don't bother me. So many critters! I am not used to that anymore. I am sure we will get used to it. There are some cool things to witness to, like butterflies, hummingbirds and this guy who was right in our neighbors yard

We miss the ocean a lot ! We had to go back and visit last weekend!
 

Coconut cake and first words!

What do you do when you are impossibly tired because your 10 month old is not sleeping AGAIN and you are having a hard day adjusting to the change of moving?! Bake a 3 layer coconut cream cake from scratch of course!
Oh man. Since we moved or is right before we moved that Kai started waking up 4, 5 or more times a night. It just seems too early for him to be getting his molars but all the signs are there- drooling, biting and now grinding his teeth and of course not sleeping. At first I was thinking it was just the move, and maybe it is that also.

Very sleepy but instead of going to sleep at 7 when I know I could get a few solid hours of sleep when Kai was sleeping, I baked. Who can really go to sleep at 7 anyways?!(Well I used to the first 5 1/2 months of life with Kai but I wanted to start doing other stuff). So this cake I wanted to try out for Kai's birthday party we are planning. We want to make luau themed food. Plus it was a great excuse to bake a cake! Kai won't be eating this cake though. I am going to make him a much lower sugar cake.
This cake was very sweet! but yummy too ( of course gluten free)

There is nothing like a cake baked from scratch. I used Emeril's recipe from the food network (minus the pecans) but substituted a gluten free flour mix I made from fine brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and xanthum gum. Here is where I found the flour mix recipe.

So big news is Kai said a couple words! So drumroll.. what were his first words?! (besides mama and dada which babies say very early on)..the word was- OWL
I didn't realize he was saying it at first because babies babble a lot and sometimes it sounds like they are saying words. I always read him this beautiful ABC book

for N there is a picture of a nest with eggs and I always say nest. For O there is an illustration of an owl. I thought he said owl but not sure. Then I was wearing a dress with flowers and one of the middles of the flowers looked like a nest with eggs and Kai was pointing to it saying "owl" so then I started thinking he was really saying owl but confused it with the nest picture that is on the page before in the book. Then the same thing happened with another similar picture. Still I was unsure if he could be talking already until Wes' family brought over a wreath with flowers and when Kai saw it he pointed to the flower and said flower. His second word! I still wasn't sure of it so I kept testing both words and sure enough he keeps saying it!
It is not surprising that he said flower because when we walk once or twice a day I always point out the flowers and say flower. I can't believe owl was the first word though because I only say that when we read the book.

He also has stood for a couple seconds a couple times without holding on to anything! They grow so fast!

Today I also made a natural dishwasher detergent.
It's just 2 cups of borax, 2 cups of baking soda and 4 TB of citric acid. Then  1 or 2 tb of vinegar in the jet dry compartment. I haven't tried it yet.
I hope it works well. It is so cheap and natural! Next I am going to make all natural laundry detergent.

Settling in

We have lived in the house for just over a week. I think we are all getting used to it a little bit. It will take a while to really feel comfortable here.
It is so quiet! I'm not complaining but still it takes some getting used to.
There are so many lizards and even more spiders..a nightmare for Wes with his fear of spiders! I never thought of that. I guess because when I grew up near the woods it was on the east coast, here near the woods it is so hot so I think that means lots of spiders, and I don't mean your friendly daddy long legs I mean dark hairy looking creatures.

It is nice to sit out back and see the trees above and the quiet of nature
On the 4th we barbequed, that was fun. I also made brownies and haupia and ate mostly all of them myself..I justify it because for almost the last year I haven't been able to eat any chocolate. Also they were Betty Crocker GLUTEN FREE brownies!Wow! I had to substitute oil for butter and still they tasted great- very rich and not grainy at all. I also have the gluten free yellow cake mix to try, I am interested in how that is.

Here is Kai on the 4th

People keep mistaking him for a girl, I wonder if I should have his hair cut short, or leave it long and flowing like his dad.

He is just all over the place lately. His favorite thing is to pull himself and stand and sit down and  stand stand up and stand more.. crawling over things is a favorite also.Here is him standing

More soon!