Life According to Jake, Christina & Lizzy.

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.

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! :)

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! :)

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. :)

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. :)

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! ;)

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 :)