Daddy Fixed Rachel's Walker So She Could Use It.

Sunshine

Rachel does not like the sun in her eyes and it is not good for her eyes. I found cute pink sunglasses at Target to solve the problem. She is not a big fan of them yet, but maybe she will learn to appreciate them more. I did trick her into smiling by singing one of her favorite songs so it looks like she likes them.



After repeatedly taking them off She found on a better use for them.

Cloth Diapers

We are an almost exclusively cloth diapering family. Sometimes when I leave her in the church nursery I will put a disposable diaper on her since she hates being wet and I don't know if the workers will change her often enough. They are busy and used to disposables which hold an insane amount of liquid. Also if I have a lot of errands to run and I don't know if there is a nice clean place to change her besides my car she will wear a disposable. Cloth diapering takes only a little more work, is better for the environment, and cheaper than disposables. The biggest negative I have found is that with some outfits her little rear end looks enormous, but the cute tush factor is not enough for me to stop using cloth. We primarily use prefolds and a cover which are the most economical option.



Every 3 days I do a load of diapers which involves a pre-rinse, a wash cycle, hang drying if it is not raining, followed by a short spin in the dryer to soften up the diapers. They get a little stiff in the sun. I thought hang drying diapers would be a pain, but it really isn't. It gets us out of the house and saves us money on our power bill.

Fruits of our Labor

Ever since becoming gluten free my awareness of what I eat has increased immensely. I want Rachel to have a healthy balanced diet with limited processed food, so it only made sense that I would make her baby food. Plus those cute little baby food jars are a little pricey and we are a single income family. I was pleasantly surprised how easy and affordable making baby food is. Yesterday Rachel and I made pears.

Step 1: Wash, peel, and chop the pears


Step 2: Steam for 4-5 minutes


Step 3: Place the pears in the food mill and puree. With a tiny food mill this step is a little time consuming.

Step 4: Divide into icecube trays and freeze for later consumption. I freeze all her baby food without adding any extra liquid. I add the liquid when I defrost it because sometimes the consistency of the purees changes after freezing.


Step 5 Enjoy!

Bananas

Bananas, originally uploaded by Brian Bjork.

It has been an eventful week at the Bjork's which means another video!

Daddy is Really Funny!

Rachel Laughs, originally uploaded by Brian Bjork.

Daily Life with Rachel

Rachel is almost 6 months old. It is hard to believe she is almost halfway through her first year. She will be starting solid foods this weekend, but in the meantime we have let her gum an apple. The green ones are a little sour, but the reddish yellow ones are yummy!



Rachel enjoys looking in the mirror and grabbing at things she sees in the mirror. We get a kick out of watching her try to grab her toys' reflections or her own reflection. She can't figure out why she can't grab them.



Besides grabbing at the mirror, Rachel loves to reach for and grab just about anything she can get her hands on. This lands in some pretty interesting places including the laundry basket. Laundry baskets make a pretty fun toy.



Daddy is also a lot of fun and makes a very good playmate. It is fun to be tossed in the air by Daddy and ride around on his shoulders.



While Daddy is at work, if the weather is nice we head outside to pull weeds. The backyard provides a nice change of scenery. Because of her grabby hands and desire to put everything in her mouth Rachel and the weed pile are not allowed near each other. Unlike apples weeds are not good to eat.