Before Falling Back ...

we went to eastern NC for the weekend. Took advantage of the last day of relatively lengthy sunlight to help mom and dad thin some hardwoods on the hill out front. It was a BEAUTIFUL Saturday. We also did some general visiting with family who we havent seen in awhile. Was great to see Great Aunt Jennifer again, Uncle Trav, Aunt Ana... and great to see grandparents as usual. Family gatherings at Tgiving and Christmas will be nice. So some pics...

Little bit of this

Little bit of that
Alder in a new hat from Grammy

And then today Les decided to give Alder a shot with some solid foods. He has been showing signs of being ready (wanting to eat more often, waking at night for the last few days, watching intently as we eat), but we still anticipated that he would not be very successful at getting the food down and that we would try again in a few weeks. Well, he actually did pretty well and ate ~TBSP of ripe avacado mashed and thinned with water. She called me at work and reported how funny the faces were as he managed to "chew" and swallow it.

Wow that nose really does look like mom when flared like that!

And then again after I got home tonight, we fed him a bit more. He really did fantastic. Ate every spoonful with only minor spit-outs. Made some ugly faces (apparently due to the new texture) but really seemed to like it. We will likely not be feeding him any substantial amounts of solid food for a few more weeks, but thought it might be a good idea to get him used to the idea now. We are not ready for Mom to give up breastfeeding yet!

It was so exciting and at the same time it was shockingly sad ... Every little thing like this is pretty intense. I think I will have to take the day off when he starts school... Today I got to spend some time writing in our labor/birth journal and it brought back a flood of memories. Already it is amazing how many things Alder doesnt do anymore and never will. The mind-warping "they grow up so fast" starts at about day two or three.

Oh, and Alder made it into the Annual Club Foot calendar to raise money for the Ponsetti International Foundation. Alder is part of February. Here is a link you can use to preview the calendar:

http://www.lulu.com/content/1173165

Amazing that after a frightening February one year (2006) of not knowing what is to come of, at that time, unknown circumstances, the outcome one year later gets us in a calendar. We are happy to contribute to this cause by being IN the calendar and by buying one.

Hope you all are well. Namaste.