Life According to Jake, Christina & Lizzy.

new blog

2011-01-29T22:53:00.000-06:00

http://polkadotsandteapots.wordpress.com/

Here is a link to my new web log. I am going to give wordpress a try and see if I like it. It seems like most people that I know are switching.

A New Year's Resolution

2011-01-15T20:26:00.000-06:00

I have a rather odd new year's resolution - to use the microwave less. Let me explain why I chose this as my resolution.

It all started when I read in a baby book, and on my breast milk storage bags, "NEVER USE THE MICROWAVE TO HEAT YOUR BABY'S MILK!" At first, I just figured that it would create "hot spots" in the milk that could burn that baby. That's part of the reason, but the real reason is that the microwave changes the molecular structure of the milk. It kills most of the nutrients.

I then went to a "talk" at a local coffee shop about creating a healthy home. The lady that gave the talk mentioned that one major improvement you could make is to get rid of your microwave. She said that microwaving your food kills the majority of the nutrients. There once was an advertisement where they said you could just stick your dish sponge in the microwave in order to kill the bacteria. Well, the microwave can't differentiate between harmful bacteria and healthy nutrients. It kills everything. People who eat nothing but microwaved food can become ill because of a lack of proper nutrients.

I decided to research this more. I found this article: The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking

It is a little bit lengthy, but here are some highlights:
"Nevertheless, some excellent scientific data has been gathered regarding the detrimental effects of microwaves on the nutrients in your food:

A study published in the November 2003 issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli "zapped" in the microwave with a little water lost up to 97 percent of its beneficial antioxidants. By comparison, steamed broccoli lost 11 percent or fewer of its antioxidants. There were also reductions in phenolic compounds and glucosinolates, but mineral levels remained intact.
A 1999 Scandinavian study of the cooking of asparagus spears found that microwaving caused a reduction in vitamin C.
In a study of garlic, as little as 60 seconds of microwave heating was enough to inactivate its allinase, garlic’s principle active ingredient against cancer.
A Japanese study by Watanabe showed that just 6 minutes of microwave heating turned 30-40 percent of the B12 in milk into an inert (dead) form.
A recent Australian study showed that microwaves cause a higher degree of “protein unfolding” than conventional heating.
Microwaving can destroy the essential disease-fighting agents in breast milk that offer protection for your baby. In 1992, Quan found that microwaved breast milk lost lysozyme activity, antibodies, and fostered the growth of more potentially pathogenic bacteria."

.......
"Dr. Hertel concluded that microwave cooking changed the nutrients in the food, and that changes took place in the blood that could cause negative health effects.
Hertel’s conclusions were that microwaving food resulted in:

Increased cholesterol levels
Decreased numbers of leukocytes (white blood cells)
Decreased numbers of red blood cells
Production of radiolytic compounds
Decreased hemoglobin levels, which could indicate anemia"

I know that sometimes it's almost "necessary" to microwave stuff. At school, I don't have an oven to heat up my lunch if I decide to bring last night's leftovers. My goal isn't to cut out the microwave completely, I am just going to try to use it less. So far, our past few dinners have consisted of NO microwave use! :) I'm pretty proud. We've even been reheating things in the stove instead of the microwave. We'll see how it goes and how long we can keep this up! :)

"All I want for Christmas......is my 2 front teeth!"

2010-11-20T15:00:00.000-06:00

Lizzy now has 2 teeth! Her 2 lower, central incisors have come through! It wasn't the most pleasant experience for Lizzy or mommy, but I think we made it through just fine. She went through a period of about a week where she was fussy. We only had 1 really fussy night, in which she woke up every 2 hours. This experience did almost give mommy a heart attack. One morning, Lizzy was sitting on the floor and playing with her toys. She started crying, so I went to check on her. I noticed some blood around her mouth! Seeing blood coming from your baby's mouth is enough to give any mommy a minor heart attack. I looked in her mouth and saw a teeny, tiny, little white tooth cutting through. I had no idea that teething could make a baby bleed! Now I know. Hopefully the rest of her teeth don't give us too much trouble! :)

half a year old!

2010-11-10T19:02:00.001-06:00

Elizabeth is now 6 months old! I thought I would talk a little bit about her growth and development. Right now, she weighs 18lbs 8oz and is 26.5 inches long. That puts her in the 90th percentile for her weight and the 75th percentile for her height. She's getting so big!

During this past month, she has gotten really good at sitting up without support. She will still occasionally wobble and fall over, but that doesn't happen too often. We always make sure there is a soft pillow behind her though.

She has also started scooting around while laying on her back. She scoots along her head while pushing with her legs. I hope this doesn't cause her to lose any hair! I'm thinking crawling won't be too far away!

About a week ago, Lizzy cut her first tooth. One of her lower central incisors broke through her gums. The second one quickly followed. At first you could only feel them, but now you can see them! She keeps rubbing her fingers against them and chewing on things.

Lizzy is a very happy baby. She is always smiling, giggling, laughing, and talking. She LOVES attention. She always tries to get people to talk to her whenever we are out. She also loves to grab everything; people's faces, Sophie's fur, toys, food off of your plate (if you aren't looking), etc. She has also started "dancing" to music. She rocks back and forth and bounces. Peek-a-boo has also become one of her favorite games.

It definitely doesn't feel like 6 months have passed, but they have! I'm sure these next 6 will fly by as well! Before we know it, she'll already be a year old. Crazy! I'm excited to experience so many more things with her. :)

First Halloween

2010-11-06T11:03:00.001-05:00

It has definitely been way too long since I last signed into my Blogger account. I thought it was about time for an update.

Lizzy just experienced her first Halloween last week. She dressed up as Princess Leia. I thought it was fitting because she is in love with Star Wars. I think the brightness of the lightsabers, blasters, and explosions is what makes her so interested in it. We couldn't spend too much money on her costume. Rent is expensive. Student loans are expensive. Jake's car needed some repairs. Jake doesn't have a job. Teachers don't make much money. So, needless to say, we didn't have money budgeted for a Halloween costume for Lizzy. I thought I would try to make it myself. Here are some pictures of how it turned out. I was pretty happy with the result. :)

Lizzy is posing with a Yoda puppet.

Here we have Princess Leia and 'Chewbacca' aka Sophie.

The fleece that I sewed her outfit from cost me a little less than $3. The yarn for her hair buns cost a little more than $1. I cut up an old cereal box to be used to help stabilize her buns. I then hot glued everything onto a piece of elastic. You can't beat a homemade costume that was under $5. :)

We're moving!

2010-07-27T14:21:00.000-05:00

I don't have much motivation to pack things right now, so I thought I would take some time to blog about our new, little, adventure we are about to embark on. After living in our 1 bedroom apartment for a year, we are going to be moving about 5 miles away to a 2 bedroom apartment. I thought I would take some time and reminisce about the things that have happened during our year here.

1) This is the first place Jake and I ever lived together. We moved here right after we got married. After having most of our relationship be a long distance one, it was nice to be able to be together. :)
2) On October 22nd, we found out we were pregnant! (Hence the need to move)
3) One day, we were chased by random dogs running around the inside of our building. Jake had to hold them back while Sophie (our dog) and I ran to our place. We made it safely into our apartment, but the dogs kept scratching, sniffing, and growling at our door.

Ceiling caving in

The hole that was left

4) In January, our ceiling caved in. It took them about 4-5 days to fix it. I was 5.5 months pregnant and Jake was in Atlanta for a conference. We had to have a big fan called "The Tornado" in our living room to dry out the area before they fixed it. I ended up staying at my parents' house because our place was way too cold.
5) Around 2am on May 7th, I woke up with contractions that were about 7 minutes apart. Elizabeth was born at 9:58pm later that day. :)

We're excited to be moving to a bigger place and making new memories there with our daughter. :) Hopefully we won't have this ceiling cave in! ;)

The Power of the Swaddle

2010-07-09T14:19:00.000-05:00

What is a swaddle you might ask? Well, it's a lifesaver for many parents, especially us! Swaddling is the art of snugly wrapping your baby in a blanket for warmth and security. It can keep him/her from being disturbed by his/her own startle reflex, and it may even help him/her stay warm and toasty for the first few days of life until his/her internal thermostat kicks in. Most importantly it can help to calm your baby because it reminds the baby of life back in the womb.

We have also learned that, in addition to helping your baby sleep longer, the swaddle can teach you that your baby is secretly a little Houdini. We started off swaddling Elizabeth in blankets...but she quickly learned how to get out of them. She learned that if she kicks out the bottom, the whole swaddle falls apart rather easily.

We decided to bring out the "heavy artillery". We were given a Halo Sleep Sack. It swaddles the baby with VELCRO! Whoohoo! It's pretty much like a baby straight jacket. When I first wrapped Elizabeth in it, I turned to her and said, "Hah! Let's see you get out of that!"

She slept pretty well, but after about 4 hours, she decided to bust out of her Sleep Sack like the Incredible Hulk. Nothing can contain our little escape artist, Elizabeth! I can't imagine the fun-filled things she has in store for us as she grows up! hehe :)

She's here!!

2010-07-02T20:13:00.000-05:00

After much excitement and anticipation, our daughter, Elizabeth Grace arrived May 7, 2010 at 9:58pm. She weighed 7lbs 12oz and was 20.5 inches long. She sure is precious. :)

She is almost 2 months old right now and I'm finally getting around to blogging about it and sending out birth announcements. hehe. Babies make life busy! Babies also make mommies sleepy! I haven't slept longer than 4 straight hours in over 2 months! It's so worth it though. :)

I had a pretty good birthing experience. I highly recommend NOT getting an epidural. I had read that babies born to mothers that had epidurals are less alert and some have a hard time figuring out how to nurse. I didn't want that to happen to my daughter. We made it through labor and delivery just fine. I discovered that your body has its own natural 'painkillers' that it releases. It's really pretty amazing. Afterward, even though I was exhausted from my 20 hour labor, I felt really good. It was like a sense of a major accomplishment mixed with all of the endorphins from labor. hehe. I felt like I could do anything! I would definitely do it again. :)

God's Provision

2010-05-03T20:37:00.001-05:00

Matthew 6:25-34 Do Not Worry

²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jake and I have been attending a bible study that takes place on Tuesday nights. For one night, we all decided to pick a bible passage/verse that has been speaking to us lately. Matthew 6:25-34 is what I had picked. The reason why I picked it is because I am a worrier. I worry about everything. I know that worrying doesn't help at all, but I still do it.

One thing that I had been worrying about lately was provision for the baby. Babies need lots of stuff and most of it isn't cheap. We needed a crib, a pack & play, a car seat, a stroller, a swing, a 2nd car seat base for my car, a high chair, etc. Those things alone could be added up to be well over $500. Being a teacher, I don't make much money. I don't get paid for my maternity leave. Jake also still hasn't been able to find a meteorology job and he has student loans we are paying off. I was worried about where we would get the money to buy all of these things. Well, thankfully, most of them were given to us during baby showers. Jake's parents bought us the pack & play. His aunt gave us the crib they used with their daughter. My parents bought us the car seat/stroller and my bible study ladies chipped in and got us the swing. We only needed the 2nd car seat base and the high chair.

I figured that I shouldn't worry about not having those 2 last items. We wouldn't be really needing them until she was a little older. Maybe our financial situation would change by then. I decided to not worry about it. Things would be taken care of. Here is the best part...

Friday was my last day at school. I decided to start my maternity leave a week before my due date so I could get some extra rest. It was just getting really hard to function at school. My friends in the math department wanted to buy Pizza Hut pizza for lunch and have a little "going away" party for me. Jake stopped by school and joined in on the party as well. They told me to meet in another teacher's classroom when the lunch bell rang. When I walked in, not only was there pizza, but presents! I definitely wasn't expecting ANY presents. I opened them. The first was the high chair! The second was the car seat base! I then opened the card and these gifts weren't just from the math department, but they were also from my friends in other departments. The card had around 20 signatures on it. I was so touched by the generosity of the people that I work with. It was really great. Not only did I feel so much love from my co-workers, but I also felt so loved by God. He was really taking care of me, Jake, and the baby. He provided us with everything that we needed. :)

Waiting for baby...

2010-04-21T18:35:00.016-05:00

It's been quite some time since Jake and I posted on our blog. I thought that we needed to do a little updating. :) Lately we have been busy! I am almost 38 weeks pregnant. Our little girl can arrive any day now! We're getting excited!! Our past month or so has consisted of baby showers, organizing all of the baby's stuff into our tiny 1 bedroom apartment, doctor's appointments, interviews with pediatricians, putting together stuff for the baby, washing her clothes, packing the hospital bag, etc. Whew! So much to do! I thought I would share a few pictures of our preparations for the baby.

Her swing.

A little teddy bear on her swing

Little socks. (Mommy has a similar pair. hehe)

Our hospital packing list

My almost fully packed hospital bag

Some of her blankets

Our New Adventure

2009-11-28T00:03:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I have updated this blog. I have a good reason though! I have been busy...well, my body has been busy. On October 22nd, Jake and I found out that we are going to have our first baby! We're pretty excited! I feel like I have been pretty lucky so far since I haven't had any morning sickness, but I have been EXTREMELY exhausted. I have also had some bad migraines. Things should get better soon...but then the uncomfortableness will start. hehe.

We did get to "see" our little one for the first time a few weeks ago. I didn't really know what to expect when I went for the ultrasound. It was so cool to look up at the screen and see the little baby there. There really isn't any way to describe what it's like to see your child for the first time and hear its heartbeat. It just makes you melt. It's like, "Whoa...there is a baby in me!" hehehe. We'll have to wait about 6 more weeks until our next ultrasound to find out if it'll be a boy or a girl.

It's kind of late now and the baby and I need our rest. I'll have to be sure to try to remember to update a little more frequently. :)

Apple Picking!

2009-09-28T17:51:00.005-05:00

Jake and I went apple picking this past Saturday with our friends, Sarah and Weston. We went to County Line Orchard in Hobart, IN. They have lots of fun fall things there. In addition to picking apples, people can also pick pumpkins, wander around in a corn maze, drink cider, eat apple or pumpkin donuts, or even eat some homemade caramel apples. Fun times! Here are some pictures:

Our day started off with yummy cinnamon rolls!

I think we are going to have to go back at the end of October because my favorite apples, Fuji apples, will be ripe then. We are also going through our pickings pretty quickly! :)

Our Nephew, Ryan

2009-09-16T18:07:00.000-05:00

Jake's sister, Stephanie, and her husband, Joe, just had a baby this past April. His name is Ryan Joseph. He sure is growing up pretty quickly! You can view our entire album of Ryan here: Our Nephew, Ryan Joseph
Here are just a few photos from the album.

little hands

thinking hard

At Golden Corral

Flyin' Ryan

little sandals for summertime fun

Jake's Cousin Adam - Drum Major

2009-09-14T20:39:00.000-05:00

Jake's cousin, Adam, is Bishop Dwenger's drum major this year. Jake traveled to Fort Wayne this past weekend to capture Adam's "performance" at the football game. The whole album can be viewed here: Drum Major - Adam

Here are a few highlights:

The Marching Saints

Adam

Our nephew, Ryan, was at the game too.

The halftime performance

Way to go, Adam!

Sophie

2009-09-11T18:59:00.000-05:00

We thought that we would write about our dog, Sophie today. She is such an interesting dog with so many quirks and random habits. We both have a lot of fun with her. She can be a little bit of a troublemaker now and then, but she's a pretty good dog.

Sophie's absolute favorite toy is the circle bone. She will put the bone around her paw like a bracelet and chew it. She also has to bring it to us every morning, or every time we come home. It's like she saying, "Look at this! This is my favorite toy! Isn't it cool!?" Sometimes she gets a little greedy and likes to 'wear' 2 circle bones. hehehe

Sophie is almost always laying on her back. Sometimes it looks pretty silly when she does this. There have also been times when it looks like she is sitting like a person on the couch. She has 'modesty' issues. hehehe... :)

A friend of ours bought/made us these bowls for Sophie as a wedding gift. Sophie has learned to pick up an empty bowl and bring it to us whenever she wants more. She usually only does this with water and not with food. It's cute how she's a good communicator. :)

The song lyrics, "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it." describe Sophie perfectly. When she sees people that she hasn't seen in a long time, she has "problems" when she gets excited. Now we don't really like it when she "loses control." We started putting her in her cage for a "time out" when this would happen. It has gotten to the point where she punishes herself (no, not like Dobby the House-Elf in Harry Potter.) She'll go in her cage and sit there for awhile. She'll whine also, even though she could easily just walk right on out. Then when she decides she has had enough punishment, she'll leave the cage and continue on with her normal routine.

Speaking of routines, Sophie has a routine that she does almost every night. We call it, "Sophie's Crazy Time." Maybe she feels like she needs to release some pent-up energy before bedtime? We don't know. We do know that she runs around the apartment like crazy (hence the name). She'll run around the couch, jump on the bed, run back into the living room, run around in there, go back to the bed, etc. She's been doing this since she was a puppy. Who knows what is going on in her little mind :) We'll have to capture a picture of it someday.

Sophie loves her "caves". She always tries to go under couches, beds, and tables. She tends to hide a stash of bones, toys, socks, etc. in her various caves. You never know what you're going to find in one. If you can't find Sophie, chances are that she is hiding in one of her hiding spaces. :)

Greedy Birds

2009-09-09T20:47:00.000-05:00

We thought it would be cute to hang a bird feeder on our balcony. We really enjoyed seeing all of the random birds that it attracted. Our bird feeder was a pretty popular place...until...we ran out of seed! Once we ran out of seed, birds started gathering on the rail of our balcony and squawking like mad! It was like they were leading a protest! We decided to go and purchase some more seed for them. Since then, they have been nice and quiet for us. :) I am glad we alleviated that situation before things got out of hand ;)
Here are just a few of our frequent visitors:

We think this is a female cardinal

This might be a male cardinal. He is missing the spikes on this head though. Maybe he likes the "slicked back" look. hehe

I think he looks kind of sinister...

We think this is a nuthatch. These guys are messy. They just search for the sunflower seeds and toss everything on the ground. I am pretty sure the person the lives below us is going to get sick of our seeds on their balcony.

We think that this might be a downy woodpecker.

After reading this post, I have come to the conclusion that Jake and I:

1) Are elderly bird watchers disguised as 25 year-olds.

2) Are definitely nerds with too much time on our hands :)

Honeymoon Tid-Bits

2009-09-08T18:25:00.011-05:00

We just got married on August 1st and thought we would share some honeymoon photos. We went to Gatlinburg, TN. We spent a lot of time hiking in the Smoky Mountains. They were absolutely breathtaking! We also visited a few shops in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The weather was pretty great and cooperative for the most part. It did rain one day, so on that day, we decided to visit Ripley's Aquarium. It was a lot of fun to be in a tunnel and watch sharks, rays, and fish swim above you. We ended our time in Tennessee with a visit to DollyWood. It was fun, but fairly expensive. That might have been a "one-time" visit. If you would like to see the whole album, follow this link: Smoky Mountains or this one Dollywood If not, here are some of our highlights:

View from Cades Cove

One of the many rugged trails we hiked

A deer we spotted in Cades Cove

The trail to Laurel Falls

Laurel Falls

We saw a bear! He came pretty close!

A jellyfish at Ripley's Aquarium

Sunrise from our balcony

We wanted to watch the sunset from the highest point in the Smoky Mountains, but unfortunately we were surrounded by (and stuck in) a cloud.

Andrew, Alex, & Evan

2009-09-07T12:57:00.000-05:00

Jake and I were asked by his aunt to take some pictures of her boys. It was a lot of fun, but it was definitely pretty challenging to get all 3 boys to stand still and smile for a picture. Thank goodness for fast shutter speeds! This photo shoot was definitely a workout trying to keep up with the 3 boys. They are just bundles of energy! We enjoyed it though. :) We thought that we would share some of our favorite photos.