A Healthy Dose of Spinning

Have you ever felt yourself spinning on His pottery wheel? Not spinning out or spinning your wheels or even feeling your head spinning, but rather aware that He's working? Aware that things are changing and you, against all odds and common wisdom, are changing?

That's how I am feeling lately. Of course, for me, it includes food. Which is why I can say that on Saturday morning, Rory and I did something a little crazy......we bought MEAT. I know, I know. We have been avoiding four-letter words for so long and now look what we've done! But we have been processing the pros and cons of veganism, locavorism, and the SAD (Standard American Diet) for a while now and have been willing (even eager) to give local, "healthy" meat a chance. I know I hinted at this in my last post in reference to Kingsolver's glorious food tale "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," but while at farmer's market on Saturday, we happened upon Abby Farms (unfortunately they have no website as of yet that I can direct you to). A helpful guy and stay at home dad, sold us some free-range, local beef from happy cows. I was thrilled. (We also bought some of their apples--organic and smaller than the store-bought ones; they are DELICIOUS!) It is one of the best prices we've seen around ($4-$8/lb depending on the cut) and tonight Rory stuck his hands in some ground beef and we ate PATTY MELTS! What is going on here....

Truth be told, it was one of the best sandwiches we've had in a long time. (Rory claims the best in his life but he does tend to exaggerate...) The meat really did taste different. I have eaten meat a few times during my pregnancy and once or thrice since D was born so it wasn't just that the taste of meat was new to me. This really tasted different. GOOD different. We bought a pound of ground beef and got four patties out of it (we only ate two tonight). We also put the yummy beef on some local rye bread we also bought at farmer's and for me, the bread was so the best part! I love bread.

At any rate, we are attempting to find a balance here. Our menu for the rest of the week is meatless (and heavy on veggies--we ate a delicious green salad bigger than our burger with dinner tonight). I'll keep you posted on our thoughts as we continue to spin--in a good way, of course.

And our life is also changing audibly as well. Namely, we now live, eat and breathe with a soundtrack; Dia has started singing! I nearly fell over and very nearly had to catch my heart as it leaped out of my chest when I first heard her. I had placed her on our bed with some pillows so I could make a little pit stop in the restroom, and when I came back in, I saw her on her tummy (unaware that I was there) singing. No understandable words were formed or anything, but she kept a beautiful little tune of "aaaaahhhhh....uuuhahhaaaaahhhuhahuhah...oooooooohhohoh" It is hands down my favorite thing in the world. She is so sweet and very thoughtful (you can see her lips start forming sounds and her eyes get an intense look right before she makes her first sound).

She is also talking, talking, talking--again, no words I know yet, but we're listening intently nonetheless. For a while she was speaking primarily in raspberries and other beautiful noises made with spit, loose lips and a little tongue, but now it's a series of sounds and intentional lip movements. I die each time she shares her thoughts verbally! Her most talkative times tend to be around diaper changing, but she has also been known to start up when someone first starts to hold her (especially with her Grammy and aunties). And of course, she does every so often mumble these sounds in her sleep! I eat, sleep and drink joy all day. Endless endless joy.

So I'll end this with the joyful face and gleeful sounds of D herself:

Good Times

OK! I have sat down to blog several times these last few weeks but the fullness of life beckons and I willingly follow. Thus, I now have tons to say and yet, life is beckoning again. (This time for a last minute massage from Massage Envy--never been but excited to try.) So, I'll recap what I can as best as I can as quickly as I can and hopefully finish up the Christmas post so you can see adorable DD!

Let me start off here with a great book recommendation: "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver has quite the following, I understand, however this was my first read of hers. She normally writes fiction but this book chronicles her and her family's vow to eat locally (mostly from their own farm) for a year. It's a beautiful story with lots of practical information (even yummy recipes!) and plenty of laughs. I've enjoyed it immensely--as would, I imagine, anyone, not just hippies like me. :) I'm only about half-way through the book but it really has me thinking and evaluating my lifestyle and priorities. She's clearly unaware of how much God loves her, yet she does get the importance of family and the quality of time and food she gives them. She even cites a study of National Merit scholars wherein the only common thread among these brilliant students is nightly family dinners. Wow. I never would have guessed that. I know how important it is (and just how much I enjoy it), but I am impressed with the dedication of that many families to their children. Anyway, it also has me re-thinking the vegan thing. I am not convinced that all meat is bad for us--rather, the work of doctor and scientist of T. Colin Campbell highlighted how casein (animal protein) can trigger cancer cells. (VERY interesting read, by the way. His book is "The China Study.") The questions that remain for me are what about organic and is it all meat or just the overabundance of meat in the Standard American Diet (SAD)?

Anyway, little Bugs and I have been thinking lots these last few weeks. We are still processing (she is one of the BEST listeners). I have also been inspired to make use of the beautiful bounty of citrus on our backyard trees, so on Friday Aunt Alli came over and we made delicious gluten-free Orange and Walnut muffins. Oh wow. So good. Sweetened only with honey and agave and using rice flour, these little bites of sweet and tangy heaven are wonderful and Auntie Jessi (she's allergic to gluten) can even enjoy them.

In other news, we have now entered the "Move All Objects At Least 2 Feet From Dia's Hands" stage. No porcelain casualties to report so far, but there have been lots of close calls. I am sad to say that we are now missing Proverbs 10 from our Bible....little hands act fast is all I can say about that.

Dia is growing and growing and growing and if you happen to look closely around dusk, you can actually watch her little body lengthen and expand. It happens just that fast! :) We are now in 6-12 month clothes and two little pieces of shiny white can be seen just below her bottom left gum. Which brings me to very sad news....we had to give D Tylenol. It's not Tylenol that I dislike as much as all the additives and high fructose corn syrup! Gross. But it does do the trick on rough days/nights when the teething tablets just aren't cutting it.

And to end our short and fast recap, let me just say that Dia has reminded me of the value of two things: hair and puppies. I have often wanted to chop off my hair these last months mostly for the sake of ease, but Dia is enthralled by my meager brown locks. She sits on the bed (propped w/ pillows) and smiles and smiles and gazes as I brush my hair. She is the sole reason I have avoided the stylist's!

She also cracks up at the site of our two Golden Retriever mixes, Roxy and Depot. It's hilarious. She has reminded us both to not forget the pups and we often call one or both of them over for some loving (aka fur pulling and hugging). She sits in her exersaucer and mostly watches and laughs (out loud!) at them. It's hilarious!

I wish I had more time to post pics of all our antics, but alas, Massage Envy is calling! Here are some highlights:


This face says, "Is that ROXY?!?!?! I LOVE Roxy!"


Depot and celery (for her gums)--what a great day!


I understand if this is honestly the cutest thing you have ever seen before. Aunt Alli bought shoes for Dia for Christmas--little baby moccasins!! ADORABLE.


Her new fav past time: biting down on glasses. Her poor little gums! But doesn't she look cute with the big girl glass????


And how sweet is this? Dia fell asleep to her daddy playing the guitar. Sweet sweet LOVE.