"You have tomatoes in your front yard..."

Back in Sacto! Lots of changes going on with us, daily! What hasn't changed is that raising our LD is still an adventure. Now that we are back home the adventures are around every corner! LD is older and he's standing and starting to work on walking. Of course this also means he is getting into everything and our poor Stew is his favorite thing to chase. We have to help keep him out of LD's reach. All dogs are fun to LD!

We are also getting more teeth! #7 and #8 are coming in as I type. He is also biting my calf as I type, OUCH!  I hope we get a break for a while after these two finish coming in.

Almost first on our agenda for coming home was the garden! No more apartment, garden rules! I did some reading up on hugels and we are working on one of those in the actual garden. So for this year we planted a very small garden in the front flower bed. 2 tomatoes, cantaloupe, bell peppers, patypan squash, and pumpkin. Super small, but it's something, and now Z will get to have a home grown pumpkin for Halloween! (And of course his grandma has a lovely garden coming in with some butternut just for him). It's only temporary, just this one year, while we get the hugel set up and the backyard rototilled and reseeded. It doesn't seem to bother anyone in our neighborhood and they aren't coming up to our house to take veggies, so I think we are solid! Although, it has elicited some comments from family about the location of my tomatoes and curb appeal.

Curb appeal, for one summer it's not going to hurt our curb appeal. Plus, maybe that's the kind of buyer we will be looking for whenever we do sell our house. A nice young free spirited couple, like ourselves, just trying to make it in life while living the dream.

On The Road Again...

It is never ending. Relocating is such a pain in and of itself, but with family (especially a LD) it's a nightmare. There's no certainty on the horizon for A's potential future job with REI, and I've been waiting for a solid yes or no from a company since March. Last word was they still hadn't decided on who to interview face to face. But life must go on, wherever the jobs are. And we'll be together, wherever that is.

Hopefully somewhere that will facilitate LD's climbing. The dude is on a roll! He climbs everything that has foot and/or hand holds. As soon as one of us finds comparable work we will have to make a small climbing wall for LD. I'm super excited, a bit concerned, and deeply saddened-as most moms probably would be. He is getting so big and I miss my little man that was born early and so small. He is now bigger than kids older than him and has 6 teeth. He no longer wants to nap the day away in my arms. He wants to climb this thing and that, play with his train set, and "crawl" around. Though...crawling is not exactly what he does. It seems he isn't a fan of crawling. A few movements and then he's trying to stand himself up to walk. I don't know if he'll ever properly crawl, but I think walking will be upon us shortly.

And frolicking in the garden! My son has taken after his mom and has developed a love of tools and plants. Today I taught him how to transplant basil, after he decided that the shovel we got A for Father's Day was actually his, not A's. He watched very carefully as A began digging the trench in our garden. Lord help us, we might be raising the next generation of hippie.

Homeward Bound!

So, we are heading home to Sac. Its been an emotional and crazy two weeks, but this is our next step. We have a house there that we can better afford than this apartment and, most importantly, family.

That's a word that gets thrown around a lot, 'family'. But truly, we have been blessed with the most amazing family. And I don't just mean the biological families we came from. I include the many friends that we count as family. Today we received a phone call from one such person. She was beside herself with grief for our situation and it was very touching to know she cares for us so much. But she is not alone. We have received calls from many of our styled family. Words of love and encouragement to get us through. Now we are hoping to go home to that family and our biological family. Surrounded by kinship and love we will work our way back up from the ground.

So in a few weeks we'll be back to our adventures in parenting our Little Dude!! Hang in there with us as we make the move home. Much love to all our family.

ps. Little Dude went to his very first REI Used Gear Sale!! Yes, he's a member.

Flying by the Seat of our Pants...and Diaper.

Some of you already know what I'm about type. We've been conspicuously silent via social media on this, you want to know where we stand and what's going on. Here's the update:

Last Wednesday A was laid off as REI began their restructuring. He was not alone. We estimate that approximately 50 managers were displaced by the restructuring, including some of our good friends. The company cut 70 million dollars from their budget this year. Let me say that again so it really sinks in. They cut 70 million dollars from the budget. Wouldn't it be great if our federal government could do that!? That's a lot of dough. After the initial shock and devastation we sat down and discussed what would come next. What did we want going forward.

Background for those that don't know us personally: a few years ago we agreed to buy our house solely on A's income so that I could be a stay at home mom when we had kids and we could still survive. Until we moved to Fresno I still worked, since being a football trainer at a high school is extremely part time. With the move I became a full blown stay at home mom. Have loved every minute of it. But, that means we are entirely dependent on A's, now non existent, income.

Going forward it is very clear what we want. No child care, a parent with our kids at all times. Job(s) that is relevant to the outdoor/fitness world and lifestyle. Whatever that looks like. It was decided. With what A learned from HR about coming openings for managers (which would allow him to move laterally within the company) we set at getting him geared up for applications and the whole mess. Resume, cover letter, phone calls to stores to learn more about them, more phone calls to the same stores, making the list of stores that are good fits, and actually applying.

We are near the end of this process and will soon be waiting to hear for which stores he made the interview pools. Hopefully all that he applies to. Besides these openings we are also considering other options, but secretly hoping and praying that we are moving to the east coast or the south in a few weeks because he's been chosen by an REI there. I have put my resume out to other companies in the outdoor industry who are looking for someone with my stellar qualifications. We are waiting to hear back. This is a lot of hurry up and wait and the waiting is killer.

We cannot afford to stay here in the Freazy. So we will be breaking our lease, no matter what, at the end of the month. We will box up our things and wait to hear what is going to happen. By the end of April we should know where we are going. Either to the eastern seaboard or back to Sacramento. It is with all of our hopes and prayers though, that no matter what A continues on with REI doing what he loves. This is man who so believes in this company that after being displaced he stood up and told his, now former, core staff that everything that is going on is so that REI can keep gearing people up for another 100 years. That he is okay being temporarily displaced while the company restructures. I'm so very proud of him and I pray that his attitude will be what really strikes at the hearts of these potential stores.

When we know more, we will let you all know. But until then please keep us, and all the displaced managers, in your thoughts and/or prayers.

We have Toothage!! Much like Carthage...

Our LD bust out his first tooth last night, just days before he turns 7mo! He's getting so big, it makes me a little sad. This tooth explains the last two nights of awful sleep we've all gotten. Nothing like kicking the dog off the bed so you can sleep at the foot instead. Good thing we have such a great dog.

LD went on his first camping trip over the weekend too. It was pretty good, but got too cold for a little dude. He and I bailed while our dog and the hubs camped out. To keep LD warm enough he needed to be in my bag with me. But to have him safely in my bag I had to have it un zipped and my upper body out of the bag. No bueno. Even a down sweater couldn't keep me warm. So, we'll go again in a few months when the weather is warmer!

It seems natural to me that we incorporate our son into our lifestyle instead of changing our lifestyle. There are a lot of folks out there that frown upon the more natural parenting style and the more natural life. I don't usually seem to run into them, but I hear horror stories from other natural mamas. Pediatricians who don't approve of not vaccinating, the use of amber necklaces, making ones own baby food, breast feeding without vitamin D supplement...the list goes on. It makes me a little sad for these women. I'm not special, I'm sure my pediatrician disapproves of some things we do. He can't stand Dr. Sears, though he is a former student of his. But the only thing our pediatrician has ever said concerning our more natural approach is to remove LD's amber necklace at night when we're all asleep. I shudder to think what some other pediatrician might say about our choices. But you know, does it really matter? LD loves his homemade peas and his boob, he's well fed and loved. And that is a recurrent theme I find in the natural parenting community, well loved babies...with awesome cloth diaper prints. Most parents I've met make their choices for the same reasons, the love of their children. So let us all parent our kids in our own way. Your child might be a wiz at computers by 5, but my goal is for LD to be a wiz at nature by 5.

In flu Enza

There is an old song, children's nursery rhyme, about the flu. I don't recall the exact words but its about shutting the windows and doors to keep the bird Enza from flying in the house. Well, we've all got it. Even LD. Of course I, like every mom, want to make my child feel better. But not at the expense of his long term health. So before we packed him up for the pediatrician's office I ran out and got baby vitamin C. Attempting to slowly and safely reach vitamin C saturation in an infant...not so easy. I don't want to scare him by giving him explosive diarrhea.

Knowing that RDV means nothing for practical purposes and/or therapeutic dosing, I had to go with common sense. So a dose and a half 3 times a day. Didn't reach saturation that day. But, I didn't want to up the dose either. A little can go a long way if you're on the cusp of saturation. The next day we went to the quack. And I say that lovingly, I adore our pediatricians. It's the flu. Awesome. But good news was/is he's handling it really well. So I've continued the vitamin C 3x daily. No diarrhea, but then it occurred to me he isn't likely going to get diarrhea when he is using everything he's consuming to fight the flu. He hasn't pooped in days. Well he pooped today and it was runny. Four days of slowly reaching saturation and we did it.

After seeing the pediatrician today I can say that it looks like LD will be on the mend soon. He is no longer getting worse, so we should see improvement in a day or so and then continuing improvement from then on. I think I will continue the vitamin C therapy though, just to ensure he doesn't get any other illness that might come home with dad.

Slack Lining...

Oh my. Yes, we took LD slack lining today. Packed up some lunches in the Poco, grabbed the line, crash pad and canine and headed to the park. A mostly slack lined and I mostly hung out with LD. But I got myself up too! First time since I was about 4.5 months pregnant, totally rusty but still fun. We even got LD on the line for the first time. It was lots of fun trying to get him to stand on the line. I think he needs a few more years before he goes pro.