With Food Out of the Way...

Food is no longer an enemy, nor a friend. It's nothing to me but a part of the daily routine, like teeth-brushing. I have lost 40 lbs, folks. Pretty dang amazing.

There is something I did not foresee, something happening to me right now. It is this: Without my former life-long vice, unpleasantries abound. The proverbial hole in my soul is staring right at me. Who knew I'd get to see it like this? Or ever? I have no want to drown it in booze or fill it with pizza (admittedly, pizza sounds fantastic right now, but no). There has got to be something else to do with this thing, this hole. Right?

Yes, I have wonderful children. Yes, I have really neat friends. Yes, I am capable of doing and creating a surplus of questionably useful things that are semi-interesting. But I suddenly feel I'm wasting my capabilities and that I should be doing something to turn them into talents.

This entry is all over the place but you know why, right? I'm just now putting my thoughts into these little words for the first time ever. I am a new me. Thank goodness I'm young enough to follow up the figuring with actions. Go figger.

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Here is one of many illustrations by Raquel in my sudoku book. She draws pictures in this book everyday. This one happens to be me getting my hair done by my hair-doer, Sara, and Raquel and Maxine are sitting in chairs off to the side, waiting for me to get done. I don't know why Sara has crazy-big teeth. Don't you love it?

I Love Taking Pictures

These are some of my favorite shots from the past couple of weeks.

Good Food and The Museum

Monday was such a fun day! Jose took us to lunch at Macaroni Grill (where he works) and it was so good. We sat on the patio because the weather was great.

Then we went to the Museum of Natural History across the street from USC. I hadn't been there in 20 years. Some of it looks sadly the same, especially the bird exhibit, like it hasn't been updated in at least 25 years. They have a gemstone exhibit that is amazing! I took so many pictures in there. I thought of my grandpa the whole time because he's a sort of geologist. Raquel wasn't really into the rocks but overall she enjoyed herself throughout the tour.

This cotton ball-looking thing is from the gemstone exhibit. WEIRD!

Maxine Refuses the Spoon

Thank goodness I looked this up; I feel so much better...

At this stage, your baby may not have a big interest in eating. (click for the article)

Maxine is crawling everywhere and also pulling up onto furniture, the latter being still a challenge for her. Ever since these knew abilities showed up a couple weeks ago she has only wanted bottles, no veggies, fruit or cereal. This had me worried. You always think you're doing something wrong and not only do you worry about your kid but also what your doctor is gonna think of your parenting skills. I'm relieved to know this refusal to eat is totally normal!

In the above photo, Maxine is enjoying her new favorite activity: pulverizing an organic teething biscuit. This is exciting for her but the end result is a huge, crusty mess. She never eats the whole thing. It kinda looks like a well-used salt lick when she's had her fill. Her highchair requires vacuuming, too.

Since she is not interested in being spoon-fed at the moment, I'm going to let her try some finger foods: soft-cooked noodles, egg yolk omellette with mashed veggies mixed in, fish. She has four teeth now, all the better to eat with!

At the Park

Went spent some together-time at the park today. Jose is hardly home anymore and I really wanted us to spend time together outside the house while he was home earlier today. It was windy but warm. Maxine really loves the swings. I can see how relaxed and happy she gets every time I put her in a swing. This is yet another thing that is different between Maxine and Raquel--Raquel is kind of a scaredy-cat like her mom about getting on rides or apparatuses at the park.