Three Dollars Worth of God (and an Update on Talia)

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

Wilbur Rees

After studying John 6 and considering the reasons men and women followed (and still follow) Jesus, a friend shared this poem with me. I know I am guilty of this cautious reception. I pray that these words and the following will "explode my soul" and transform my mind.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:1-2

Talia Update

Our small family has been hit with illness again. Talia has been running a low-grade fever for several days. Her little nose is constantly running and we discovered that a tooth emerged from her upper gums. Her fever finally broke and an irritating rash appeared. Cold, fever, teething, and itchy rash have put her out of commission and caused cancellations to several plans for this week. A few nights ago she was so tired that she lay down on her belly and started to fall asleep on the carpet in the living room. Poor girl. Mommy got a cold (fairly mild) and Daddy got another miserable cold. Anyone wanna' come over?

Prior to illness Talia was spending a great deal of time on all fours. She has figured out how to pull her knees under her hips and is enjoying rocking back and forth. While at the peek of illness, she was too exhausted to progress towards crawling. She seems to be regaining interest in trying to crawl. Talia also played Peek-A-Boo with us a few days ago. She had soaked her shirt so I took it off her chest. Before we could put on a new shirt, she began imitating Daddy and me by placing the shirt over her face and pulling it down. All three of us were in stitches! She seems to be imitating us with greater frequency so we have begun some baby sign-language. We'll let you know how that goes in the future. Talia has also begun pointing and using her pointer finger to touch. She is also picking up items using her thumb and index finger. Talia loves to eat peas. She excitedly grabs several and shoves them in her mouth. As you will see, half the peas end up in her mouth and the other half end up on her face, or arms, or clothes, or seat, or Mom, or floor, or... Talia is enjoying babbling. She is practicing the following letters: B, D, F, G, M, T, and V. Needless to say, she is so much fun! Enjoy these pictures (most taken prior to illness).































P.S. Happy Birthday to Grandma Poole!!!!

Hello, is anybody there?

It has been a while, I know. Here is an update on our family.

Weather

This subject is often saved for conversational lulls. Around here it has been front page news. We had several storms including strong winds, snow, hail, and rain (the snows were quickly washed away by the rains). I find storms to be an exhilarating display of frightening and fascinating power. Our tall evergreens sway as though they were bowing in deference to the majestic storm. Heavy branches hurl through the air as the stubborn autumn leaves finally relinquish their grasp. Even Talia, generally oblivious to the world outside, peered with fascination at the motion beyond the window. The storm's fury left damage in its wake. Though we fared amazingly well, this area had downed trees, damaged homes and property, and power outages lasting as long as five days. Winter continues to thrill as the forecast calls for snow this week.

Our little lamb is up to a great many things, including:

Sucking her fingers (and anything else within reach): She will often suck on her thumb, index and middle fingers, or index, middle, ring, and pinkie.

Thumping: She loves to thump her legs on the ground, bed, or changing table while on her back. Being a new mommy I wasn't sure if this was "normal" behavior. I did some online research and discovered that some babies just really enjoy this activity.

Back bends: It looks like Talia is more likely to crab walk than crawl in the near future. Talia loves to tilt her head back and arch her back. Sometimes she will push with her feet to scoot herself backwards.

Toes: Talia loves getting her diaper changed for a number of reasons. They are: undivided attention, watching (and reaching for) her singing bears, thumping on a soft surface, and playing with her toes. Weather and parents do not usually permit her to be barefoot during play so she gets a healthy dose of toe during most changes.

Sitting in the high chair: Last week we experimented with allowing Talia to sit in Grandma and Grandpa's high chair. She was propped with some blankets. She sat in the chair for probably 15 minutes unassisted. She enjoyed watching us eat.



Spoon feeding: We haven't started solids yet, but while at Grandma and Grandpa's she was very interested in the process of eating. In fact, she grabbed a spoon off the table and kept putting it in her mouth. We decided to try an experiment. Grandma pulled out a baby spoon and she "fed" Talia water. Talia really liked it. She seemed to know exactly what to do and probably would have "eaten" until she was waterlogged if we hadn't put an end to her fun. We should be starting solids soon, but I have been in no hurry because of her next activity.



Scratching: Talia has made the unpleasant discovery that eczema itches. She has scratched and rubbed until her skin began to blister. This has been a cause for concern for Daddy and Mommy. She had a bad flare up last week and we decided to become more proactive. We have implemented several lathers of Eucerin daily, new allergen-free detergent, a breathable blanket under her sheet and above her waterproof mattress pad, mittens during sleeping times, light cotton clothes, and Mommy eating a new diet.

Changing Mommy's diet: In an effort to discern the cause of Talia's eczema outbreaks I have been eliminating certain foods from my diet. I have been nut free for three weeks, egg light for three weeks minus one splurge, and dairy light for five days. I say "light" because I will not pass up a cookie due to the tiny amount of egg or butter I may consume. The good news is that Talia's skin has gotten better since I cut my dairy, the bad news is that I cut my dairy :(. You all know how much I love ice cream and cheese. I will also miss my lattes and yogurt. This is a sacrifice I am willing to make for my precious girl (at least for 7 more months). So, I am drinking Rice Dream with my cereal (I have discovered why Starbucks does not offer drinks made with rice milk). I am trying to increase my protein with more meat and vegetarian combos, such as the black beans and rice I am eating as I type. We are not yet certain that dairy, eggs, and nuts are the culprits, but until we discover the cause of her skin problems I am open to ideas for creative protein and/or calcium packed dairy, egg, and nut free recipes.

Enjoying Freedom: Daddy is sympathetic to Talia's lack of mobility and blooming curiosity. He enjoys giving her "freedom." Daddy holds Talia upright and allows her to walk wherever she desires. If she leans, stares, or reaches in a particular direction, Daddy guides her that way. We figure that "freedom" allows her to strengthen her muscles, develop balance, and safely explore her surroundings.

Enduring Confinement: With the move (more on this subject in a later post), we have made the play pen a permanent structure in Talia's room. She has had play pen time a few times now and seems to enjoy her new environment. I am hoping to establish this new activity in anticipation of her crawling months. Play pen time will give her the opportunity to safely play and independently explore.

Laughing: Talia loves to laugh. Sometimes it is a simple giggle, other times it is a hearty laugh. She laughs at sounds, faces, tickles, "horse" rides, swinging, and other people's laughter.

I wrote more about our recent activities but my writing is lost in cyberspace. I better just post this now as this has already taken 5 days to write. I will post more pictures soon. To tide you over:

Totally Talia (and Friends)

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the post you have all been waiting for. It is a post, long in coming, about the sweet, talented, and cuddly Talia Rose. Without any further ado, I give you Talia!



Talia's Hobbies

Rolling Over: Talia has been capable of rolling over since around two months. Now she is able to roll over intentionally back to tummy and occasionally tummy to back. If there is something on her side that she wants to get to, she can often turn over onto her side. Sometimes she gets overzealous and ends up on her tummy. On Thursday I had to try several times to change her. She was on the ground and I had managed to take off her old outfit. As I reached down with her new outfit she rolled onto her tummy. I returned her to her back. Again, I reached down with her new clothes and she rolled over. I returned her to her back. By now I was laughing. Third time is the charm, right? Wrong, she rolled over again. I finally decided to hold her down on the approach (which I could have done earlier, but I was enjoying our little game).

Trying to Move: Talia is becoming increasingly interested in moving. As mentioned above, she has learned to roll to her side to face or reach an object on her side. She has also discovered that she can push herself along the slick surface of the changing table to face her singing bears. Talia, on her back, pushes with her legs until her head is touching the bear, or until her head bangs on the wood table and she cries. Her she is trying to see her bears.



Occasionally we take pity on her and let her watch her bears from her tummy.



Tummy Time: Since she was about a month old, Talia has not liked tummy time (unless it was on Mommy or Daddy). She has begun to not mind tummy time for short periods of time. I will admit that I have not been very good about making her have time on her stomach. One major concern was the inevitable spit up, first on the blanket, then all over the face. I am going to make a concerted effort to allow her time to build her arm strength.



Talia's Stats

Her Baby Blues: It appears that Talia's eye color may be changing. The silver center of her eyes seems to be warming to a gold. The majority of her iris is still decidedly blue. Her rims are almost navy. A change would not be a surprise to either of her green eyed parents, but the jury is still out.

Percentiles: Talia went to the doctor on Friday (more on that later). She is in the 97th percentile on length. Her weight puts her at the 92nd percentile. The doctor was also impressed by her strength and sturdiness on her feet.

Skin: Talia has been diagnosed with eczema. Now that we have a diagnosis for her incessant itching, we can be proactive. No more baby body wash for Talia (it is drying). Talia gets the more pricey Aveeno moisturizing body wash with no fragrance. The doctor told me to lather her up. Eucerin is her lotion of choice. For really irritated areas we are to use a topical steroid. During an outbreak her doctor encouraged us to give her Benadryl. Her skin is already looking better.

Clothes: I finally caved. Jon had been encouraging me to do so for a while. We finally broke out her nine month clothes and put away much of her six month clothes. Now she is wearing clothes marked for children more than twice her age. Most of her 12 month outfits are intended for summer. Part of me hopes that she curtails her rapid growth. Here she is in one of her nine month dresses:



Solids: Talia has been given her doctor's permission to begin eating solids. She can try grains from now until 6 months. Her doctor wants her to wait on fruits and vegetables because they could inflame her eczema. We are not in a big hurry to give her solids. We might give it a try after the busy holidays.

Talia's Events

Shots: No more short-lived shriek, Talia was crying for several minutes after her shots. The good news: Her memory is developing. The bad news: There are some things worth forgetting. She was very fussy for the rest of the day. She would not nap for more than 20 minutes and had bouts of crying that were inconsolable. Talia developed a low grade fever so we gave her Tylenol. She settled down enough to go to sleep around 6:15 and did not want to be roused until 7:00 the next morning. On Saturday she seemed fine. We headed to Vacaville to visit friends (more to follow). After a few minutes of being her usually pleasant self, she began to fuss. Her head was warm and moist and the thermometer confirmed that she had developed another fever. Poor girl. She didn't have much fun with her friends after that.

Modeling: Nothing new here. As is the case with most first-time parents, our daughter is frequently memorialized in our memory card (it is not accurate to say "on film" these days). She has three beautiful holiday dresses. One is pictured above. Here is one from Auntie Angie:



Grandma T. made Talia this dress and bonnet:



Visiting Friends: We had the privilege of visiting with some of our college friend; Elizabeth, Ryan and Kristi, and Peter and Sarah. There were three babies (and one on the way). Talia lay around, Anna crawled around, and Tate walked around. Here is Anna, Sarah, and Talia:



Since Talia was feeling ill, she didn't get too much playing time. Here are her friends covering for her:



So, consider yourselves caught up!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I sat down to begin another post on Friday. Before beginning, as is custom, I checked our Other Folks blogs. Nikki wrote a post entitled "Who Moved My Advent?" This post brought Psalm 46:10 to mind. I have been so busy with many activities, including getting ready for Christmas, that I have forgotten to reflect on the reason we celebrate. Last year's appreciation was so much more poignant. We were newly expecting, but frightened about losing the our tiny baby (three weeks of bleeding does not bode well for a first trimester baby). To a very small degree I imagined feeling like Mary; excited, hopeful, and scared. Nothing brings you humbly before the Lord like fear and pain. To God be the glory, this year Talia will be at our side as we celebrate Christmas. With all that I am striving to do this Christmas, I am praying to remember Nehemiah's words "the joy of the Lord is your [my] strength." And our lives are so full of amazing blessings, my joy should be in abundance.

I will attempt to bring you up to date with our recent activities. My next post will be about Talia (complete with more pictures). So here is what we have been doing:

Christmas Preparations

After buying our tree, Jon and I brought in our Christmas boxes. Jon put the lights on the tree (hence the light poll) and I began to decorate. To be honest, much of our decor is shoddy, either hand-me-down or Dollar Tree specials. Each year I get rid of more decorations in an attempt to decorate sparsely and nicely rather than copiously and cheaply. This year our decorations are limited to a wreath, a garland with poinsettias, Christmas linens in the kitchen and bathroom, a green tablecloth, seasonal candles and candle holders, Christmas CDs, and a two stockings (one more on the way, when we brave the holiday shopping).

I am finally home and able to make plates of Christmas goodies for the neighbors. Only one problem, our oven decided to opt out. Jon estimates that repairing the oven will be costly, based upon the price of the parts we would need to order. We have decided to wait until next year to buy a new oven and range. Sarah heard my plight and was kind enough to invite Talia and I over to bake at her house. We were amazed at how long it took to bake and care for two babies. Here is Sarah holding Talia and Anna.



Anna is fascinated by cameras, lucky for me:



We made chocolate cookies and press cookies. It was a deliciously fun day.

Over the next two days I went to Stroller Strides, had company, and made fudge and English toffee (no baking required). After Bible study on Friday, Jon and I attempted to pass out the six plates of goodies to our neighbors. We were able to pass out two. We tried again on Saturday, with similar success. Much to our disappointment, we concluded that two of our neighbors were on vacation and their goodies would be poor quality when they returned. What a shame, we had to eat them ourselves. And we did. They were consumed by Sunday night.

Another Christmas preparation was gifts. Without going into much detail, we worked on creating quite a few gifts. It was a fun project for Jon and I, but it took much longer than expected and we ran into a few snags.

Nevada City

We went to the Nevada City Victorian Christmas with Jon's parents. It is an event that occurs several Wednesday nights in December. The draw is the historic city lit for Christmas, booths with crafts and foods, carolers dressed in turn of the century attire, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and folks dressed up like Eskimos. It is a popular event, two of our neighbors, friends from church, and one of my past student's mom were all in attendance. Here we are in the restaurant:



Here is Talia and Grandma:



Here we are in front of a famous church:



I say famous because it (and much of Nevada City) is the setting of one of our favorite Christmas movies, The Christmas Card.

Illness

Talia is proof that breastfed babies do get sick. She and I got another cold. This time Daddy was spared. Fortunately this cold seemed to be short-lived and of minor severity.

Teaching

I just couldn't stay away from kindergarten. On Wednesday I was a guest teacher at Truckee Elementary. My friend, with whom I taught last year, invited me to teach a Hanukkah lesson at her new school. I really enjoyed being in Judy's classroom. It was fun to have kids fighting over holding my hands again :). While I had a great time and am happy that I was able to hone my rusty teaching skills, I realized how grateful I am to not have to plan and prep lessons every day. This particular classroom posed an additional challenge: It is a bilingual class. Most of the daily instruction is given in Spanish. I asked Judy if I could give my lesson in English since my Spanish is so sloppy that I would be a poor example to the kids. I tried to increase comprehension with visuals, props, participation, and gestures. Antes de ensenar, tuvia la oportunidad a charlar con los ninos en espanol. After the lesson we danced the Hava Nagila. Just a note, it was 17 degrees in Truckee that morning.

EBay

Another new adventure for us has been selling on EBay. We found several items around the house and granny flat to sell. It was a learning process but we seem to have made a nice profit. It has been a fun venture that we look forward to continuing (it is also a great way to get rid of all the stuff cluttering the granny flat).

Laughter: Our Medicine of Choice

Talia has accomplished a dreaded, yet inevitable first, illness. She, along with Daddy and Mommy, has a cold. Last week was filled with outings and fun; This week we are spending our days in our camphor scented sick house. But, as our title suggests, we are still enjoying ourselves. Talia is the most pleasant congested baby I have ever seen. She is still smiling, cooing, playing, and laughing, with occasional bouts of frustration demonstrated by pawing at her face and spirited sneezes. Our events of the week have been limited to: Finishing our stove shopping, going to the drug store to buy a steam vaporizer for Talia and cough drops for Daddy, visiting the post office, and a couple walks. Here are a few pictures of our sick, yet fun-filled days. Thanks to Daddy, we also have the video of Talia's laughter.

I know we have posted several pictures of Talia in her stroller, but if you look closely you may notice a difference. We adjusted the seat so Talia is more upright. Her head control is fantastic and she can sit-up with a little help, so we decided to give her an improved view. She stayed awake longer than usual, fascinated by the outside world.



Since Talia is working on strengthening her torso muscles and improving her balance, I have been putting her in her Bumbo seat (given to her by Uncle Mike, Aunt Evelyn, and her cousins). This chair gives her a whole new perspective of her surroundings.



They say that children laugh an average of 300 times a day, while adults only rack up a pathetic 5 instances of laughter. Not only are children joyful, but they bring joy to others. The adult average must include some rather melancholy adults, because parents, teachers, and others that spend time with children will attest that their day is often punctuated with bouts of laughter. Jon and I find frequent occasions to laugh as we watch Talia. As a kindergarten teacher I found myself laughing often, and trying desperately to suppress my laughter when one of my students made a serious but hilarious comment. The Bible says that laughter is good medicine so we are taking every opportunity to do so. Here are a few clips from Talia's second day of true laughter. I hope it brightens your day and strengthens your bones :).

A Pictureless Post

Can it be that we would compose a post without a picture of Talia? Yes, we must disappoint.

I have a question and I would love to have a response from any of my blogging buddies. I will share the answer shortly. Here it goes:

What do the jungles of Africa and the remote deserts of Mexico have that we don't in our lovely town? Yes, we do have poisonous snakes and insects. Any other guesses?!

The content of this post and an update on our lives depends on one of you coming through with an answer (a bogus answer would suffice).

In the mean time, I will fill you in on some recent events in our family.

In an effort to unify our family, Jon and I decided to become more like Talia. No, we don't spit up more. No, we don't cry when we go potty. No, we aren't trying to become pleasantly plump. No, we aren't trying to become cuter (Jon has already reached the human limit). Yes, we decided to cut our hair. Talia now has the longest hair in the family. Okay, if you believe that I'll make you a deal on a really nice bridge. Let me try again. Talia now has longer hair than Daddy, but still has shorter hair than Mommy. Why cut our hair?

For Jon:

I like it better (hair just covers up his handsome face, in my opinion).

He doesn't have to do anything with it (not even brush it, at this length).

For Me:

Postpartum shed. It reduces the mass of hair that is already falling out of my head.

It has been a year. I had to suffer the embarrassment of revealing to the hairdresser that it had been that long.

Talia. Now I know why so many moms cut their hair shorter. For me it is three large doses of spit up (daily) and the multiple showers that accompany them, in addition to the adorable hands that love to hold Mommy's hair and not let go.

Okay, okay: I'll admit it. I don't want to have to do anything with my hair either! I look forward to less brushing and detangling.


So, now Jon's hair is less than an inch and my hair has lost more than a foot of length.

Enough on hair.

How about health?

We will talk about our ailments (I hear a collective groan, but you don't have to read this). Jon, Talia, and I received vaccines yesterday. We went to Talia's new doctor for her 2 month appointment. We were sad that Talia could not continue with Dr. Dobbins, but Kaiser will save us a few thousand dollars a year (big money now that I am not working). Talia got three shots and an oral vaccine. I think Mommy and Daddy endured more pain watching the ordeal than Talia initially experienced. She had the benefit of not dreading this appointment (ignorance is bliss). Talia was drowsy and has been running a low grade fever (for which we have given her Tylenol, per doctors orders). She is still sweet as can be, talking, smiling, and licking her lips (grape medicine is very much too her liking, once she gets past the initial shock). The doctor offered the flu mist vaccine to Jon and me. She felt it was another way to protect Talia (and it was free, painless, and took only a couple minutes). We accepted. Jon has had no ill effects. I have had a bad headache and a mild throat ache. Like mother, like daughter, I, too, am drugged. That is my excuse for the strange nature of this post.

I would like to update you on another exciting happening in our lives, but I will wait until we have a brave soul answer my question. I hope it is you!

And the brave soul is . . . Nikki!! Yay!

The answer: High speed internet. Apparently, there are wi fi hot spots in some African jungles, remote Mexican deserts (I saw a picture of a sign verifying this information in PC World magazine), and along the Amazon. Yet, we are among the less than 10% of Americans (this stat is more than 3 years old) that do not have access to high speed internet. But, as of a couple weeks ago, we have left the company of citizens in the bayous that still do not have telephone access and communities in the Appalicians whose technological advances make 19th century technology look like futuristic inventions from a science fiction novel. We now have access to high speed internet!!! Naturally, the day Jon discovered this, he signed us up. The technician came out yesterday and we are enjoying the amazing speed with which we can access websites and download/upload pictures and movies.

This brings about another exciting change for us. Jon can now work from home (4 of 5 days a week)! We are both thrilled (Talia should be, too, though she doesn't know it yet). Jon ordered a wireless router and card so that he can work anywhere he wants on the property. He will probably set up his office in the sun room. This may also encourage us to continue working on our granny flat project. Our septic system and water storage tank were finished two days after Talia was born. We have been happily preoccupied since then and have not hired a contractor to actually install the bathroom, etc. Jon could have his own nice office until we decide we want to rent the cottage (if we ever do). Jon is planning to start working from home on Friday. I am also looking forward to blogging with fast internet. I am currently on dial up because this dinosaur needs special rigging to connect to DSL. Jon is planning to hook up this computer in the near future.

So, that is our exciting news!