1 down, 7 to go...

Yummy...zucchini bread. Two loaves from one zucchini. Tomorrow we will experiment with a low-fat version that uses different ratios of the same ingredients and substitutes the oil with applesauce. We will see if Jared can tell the difference between the two and which one he prefers. :)

Mommy's helper

the new cook in town...

Ever since I met Jared, he has dreamed of a grill. So now that we are settled in the parsonage and the grills went on end-of-the-season clearance (even though the season is only half over), he finally got his grill. It is not a big fancy one, but adequate for our small family and gets him started. We are really happy that we went charcoal too...everything is has been tasty so far. He is quite proficient using it too...in the two weeks he has had it, we have already had pork chops, hamburgers twice, steak, and chicken, all of which were very yummy. We also have a new place to eat outside (thanks mom and dad) and two new trees (although not tall enough to shade us yet, they will be in a couple of years (thanks other mom and dad). :)

Eventually, these two trees will shade most of the yard from the afternoon sun...

for now, they might get your ankle. :)

thirteen ten

Our latest weight check-in was last Friday and Timothy came in at 13 pounds, 10 ounces. I feel like sometimes our lives revolve around his weight checks, but when you have a child sitting in the zero percentile for months, this is what happens. Our next one is Friday and I am kinda hoping we hit 14 pounds. Timothy turns 8 months on Monday and I would like to be able to skip the thirteens altogether in his baby book growth chart. :)

Besides growing, and sleeping a lot, he is working hard at sitting up and standing. He can go a few minutes all by himself, especially if he is playing with something. With standing, the therapist showed us how to sit with our legs out and wedge his feet between our legs so he is forced to keep them down on the ground and put pressure on them (this is what happens when you have an over sensitive child). We then would have to bounce him up and down and prep him to stand and then he would get the idea and allow his feet to stand the pressure of his weight to be on him. Now, as long as both feet are on the ground, he stands for several minutes at a time and is so proud in his new ability. :) We really only need to hold guide him for balance reasons. Now we really need to work on laying on our belly and building our upper body strength so we can crawl...not easy when you have a button in your belly and you don't like to lay on it...

Strike One for the Gardeners...somewhat

Well, we have had our first hard lesson...mosaic virus. Apparently, this virus attacks all sorts of veggies and flowers and we just ripped up all of our tomatoes, beans, peppers, and sunflowers. We started to notice the leaves on our tomato plants were curling and looked liked ferns. And the fact that we have had green cherry tomatoes, full size, on the vine for 2 weeks. Then the peppers started to curl...and then the bush beans.

After some online investigation we found out that there is no treatment other than pulling everything up and boiling all of the tools that we have used and then using strong soap on them. I am waiting for an email from our local extension office to see if there is anything we have to do to the soil. The easiest way to introduce the virus to your garden is buying tomato plants, and then it is easily spread by bugs or by infected garden tools or your own hands. Ewwww...

The silver lining is that it has not affected the zucchini by a long shot...we have already harvested 2 and have about 8 in the works with roughly 3 dozen blooms on our 4 plants. And now that the tomatoes are gone, they have more room to spread...

In other, much more exciting news, Timothy weighs 13 pounds and 3.5 ounces! Yes, that means he put on a half pound over the past 4 days. :) We have the green flag to increase his dosage and shorten the length of time he needs to be on the feeding pump to 20 hours a day. This is also good news because the whole practicing-with-solid-foods-thing is not working out when he is getting fed constantly and doesn't seem to have an appetite. Next weight check is Friday...