10 month updates

So little J is now 10 months old. 2 more months & he'll be a year old already. He's almost not a "baby" anymore! He now weighs 24 lbs (10-25% percentile), his length is 30" (75-90% percentile), & his head circumference is 18.5" (75-90% percentile). I believe this is his lowest weight percentile to date.

He is still extremely active, crawling & cruising, but his appetite has also increased quite a bit. His feeding schedule remains pretty much the same: still breakfast, lunch, & dinner meals followed by bottle of formula as well as a bottle of diluted juice between breakfast & lunch. He is eating more finger foods, but there are still plenty of meals that I spoon feed to him. I try to always make lunch finger foods though, he likes the independence & I want to encourage that.

He is extremely verbal these days. He always has been, but is definitely more-so now than ever before. The gals in the nursery at church were cracking up telling me they can't believe all the noises he makes! They also asked me to not let him learn how to walk (as soon as he starts walking he has to go to a different nursery) because they don't want to see him go. They have known him since he was 6 days old & they really love him. They always tell me how good he is & that he never cries. He never cries about me leaving him there, he seems to love them too.

That's all the updates I can think of for now.......until next month...........

Anti-fungus diet update

So to recap I started this diet on November 16, 2009. Within a month all but one of my skin issues had gone away completely & the one remaining was much, much better than it has ever been. (It did later on clear up completely, just took a little longer than the others)

On February 20, 2010 I got sick with the stomach flu. For some reason when I am nauseated the only foods I can eat are carbs. I had this problem with my entire pregnancy--I wasn't lucky enough for the nausea to go away after the first trimester, it stuck with me for the ENTIRE pregnancy.

So as of February 20th I went off my diet. I could've gone back on in a couple of days & I should have, but I was having fun. I wasn't eating horribly, just things that aren't on the diet. One of my skin issues returned in about a week. I also had this fullness in my left ear--it was fluid in my ear & it was painful & I couldn't hear at all in this ear. I've had this problem off & on for most of my life, have had chronic ear problems since I was 1 week old. 2 weeks after falling off the wagon a second skin issue returned & I then rushed back to phase 1 of my diet.

Now, not only have my skin issues already reversed, but the fluid in my ear is gone also. I hadn't even thought that that may be diet related.

I will never be able to stick to this diet 100%, but I will definitely keep my cheating to a minimum & certainly not for a week or more at a time.

If anyone is interested in this diet, please go to http://www.knowthecause.com & feel free to ask me any questions you might have, it's an amazing diet & I want nothing more than to help others feel as great as I do.

EDIT: 2/9/10:
just in case anyone is doubting this post just a couple days after posting this I gave in to temptation & had a pineapple pastry from Whole Foods (hubby loves pastry & always has them in the house) & the next day my ear was full again. I again went back on this diet & the following day my ear was back to normal & has stayed that way.

"Your Baby Can Read" update #3

Ok, so we're still doing this program--he should be finishing it up around the time he has his first birthday.

Recently he was starting to get really bored with the DVD & not wanting to pay much attention. So even though it's a couple weeks ahead of schedule I moved him to the next DVD in the series & now he's paying attention again. The schedule they give is just an example, they encourage you to follow your child's clues & move on when the child has learned that DVD well. And with THIS DVD in the series it states you can show it once a day (instead of twice a day as with the previous DVDs) but it emphasizes showing all the prior DVDs frequently. So his first viewing now is the current one & then the second viewing is one of the previous ones, I rotate them around.

People keep asking me if I believe this really works. Honestly I don't know yet, we aren't finished yet. But I have to ask "how could it not?" I mean it may not work as fast as they promise, but at some point it has to work, right? And it's not like it's gonna backfire & make him dumber.

I think the main thing that kinda bugs me is that people are often only interested because they think it's an easy way to teach their kids to read. As if they are looking for a hands-off approach where they don't have to do anything. They can plug a DVD in & sit back & do nothing. Of course people are so stinking lazy that they are always looking for the easy way out & yeah, that kinda irritates me. Especially when it comes to your child. Is your child's intelligence & future worth so little that you can't stop being lazy & just get involved? But I digress. My opinion is this: in the grand scheme of things this program is really like just the first few steps on a staircase. AFTER they finish with the 7 month program (which is not the easy way out, it takes a lot of parent involvement with the DVDs, flashcards, as well as books) it REALLY is then up to the parent as to whether or not their child is going to be an early reader. (If you just do this 7 month program & stop there I doubt they will be as successful as if you follow through) The parenting guide that comes with this recommends exposing your child to HUNDREDS of books at this point--he strongly recommends checking books out at a library to be able to do this. So yeah, this program can give them a head start & the basics, but to take that further is still up to the parent.

Alright, that's my latest update, will post another later on.......