Lily my little love, is sick...

Both kids have amazing immune systems, so much thanks to my Aunt Cindy. They just don't get sick. Lukas has only had one ear infection at about 2 1/2 right after Lily was born, and has a minor 5 day cold once a year. Lily has not yet been sick...not even a sniffle, until now. Ethan, our dear little nephew caught a version of foot and mouth disease (which is really a virus) where sores line his esophagus. Today, my little angel started having the same symptoms, screaming, fever, and refusing to eat, she is thankfully, still taking her bottle. We are giving her colostrum, nucleotides, large doses of probiotics, a bit of coral complex (calcium magnesium), and infant Motrin to help with the pain and fever. My sister has a prescription for an antiseptic mouthwash...we may have to go see Dr. Bob tomorrow.

Wonderful Aunt, Wonderful Hubby

I work at my Aunt Cindy's practice on Saturdays, she is a PT, DC, DACBN, and CCN. My Aunt is one of my favorite people in the world, I love her, she is brilliant, I learn so much from her. My dear grandma brings me lunch almost every Saturday, I love being able to see her once a week. Last Saturday, my Aunt took me to a little organic spa and I had a fabulous facial, it was so, so, nice. Brett watches the kids every Saturday since I am usually up in LA for most of the day. He is such a wonderful, supportive, husband. Brett has been picking up fresh organic strawberries from this little place down the street that grows strawberries and a few other fruits and veggies. On Saturday he made chicken pesto pasta, and even added pine nuts, then made homemade strawberry ice cream for dessert! My facial was rejuvenating, dinner was great, and the ice cream turned out perfect!

Daisy

Lily's Bamboletta came today! She is the doll on the right in this picture and just beautiful! She was made for Lily by sweet Christina Platt of Bamboletta dolls. We named her Daisy, she is completly handmade and such a special birthday gift, I can't wait for Lily to see her!

Lily Michaela, almost 1

Lily's Eco Friendly Birthday Party

We are planning an earth friendly birthday party for our little princess. Our plans so far:

No balloons, we are using a handmade cotton bunting my Mom made to hang in between the trees. It is so cute, we can hang it in her room as a decoration after the party.

Healthy menu of fruit, waldorf salads and cute little sandwiches, with water and lemonade. (but..we are serving the famed sprinkles cupcakes, that, I could not resist)

Fabric table cloths

Instead of giving the kids "goody bags" the children are going to plant seeds in a small flower pot to take home with them and watch grow.

In lieu of gifts for Lily, we have asked our guests to donate to world vision and collectivly donate a goat, which will bring an impoverished family fresh milk, cheese, yogurt, and extra money at a local market.

Brett and I avoided Toys R Us, and the like and purchased her a few beautiful handmade items that she will love and pass down to her children.

We are using babmu plates, instead of printed paper plates, and preserve forks that are made from recycled yogurt lids and such.

I am making a few huge batches of playdough for the kids to play with.

Amish Blocks and Fagus Trucks

Lukas spent at least an hour this morning making "Cinderella's Castle" with his Fagus Forklift, Unimog, and blocks. These blocks are made of Oak, Walnut and Cherry wood, by an Amish man in Tennessee, just down the road from where my Mom lives.

No more plastic

I have been ridding my kitchen of plastic for a few years now, plastic baggies, cutting boards, cups, and tupperware. Lily drinks her homemade formula out of glass bottles, and we use Swiss made Sigg cups for sippy cups. I have grown to love parchment paper, and unbleached muffin liners. We store all our food, leftovers, cheese, fruit and veggies in glass. I love it, there is something so clean and simple about glass. We just bought new cotton reusable bags from whole foods, they are great. I am starting to loathe those plastic produce bags, but I have found a solution, organic cotton mesh produce bags made by ecobags, I can't wait to try them. Ryan and Claudia would be proud.

Play Time

Cloth Diapers

I love, love my cloth diapers. I love the growing greens one size diapers, they have a snap in doubler so they do not take forever to dry, and I love the super soft organic cotton even after tons of washings. Under the Niles are wonderfully thick and absorbant so they take forever to dry, at least 2 dryer cycles, or one dryer cycle and a few hours in the sun.

Memory

Lukas is playing with his absolutely beautiful memory game we ordered from The Wooden Wagon. This is one of my favorite games to play with Lukas when Lily is napping. We use half of the pairs for each game to make it a bit less challenging, and Lukas loves it.

Etsy

I love Etsy! (www.etsy.com) Etsy is a site where artists can sell their handmade creations. We odrered Lily a few things for her birthday that are being made for her by Berrie at Moonchild Handwork Studio. A peasant top and capri pant outfit, a doll quilt, and 5 "moondrops" which are adorable little pouchy dolls. Berrie is so talented. I can not wait to see everything, I will post pictures!

Brett is 30

Happy Birthday! Lukas, Lily and I got Daddy a nice new shirt and jeans from Nordstroms. We decided a few years ago that we were going to spend his 30th in Las Vegas. We left friday, after we dropped off the kids, and came home on Sunday afternoon. We had a great time, it was really wonderful to spend some time together. We took naps, relaxed by the pool, lounged in our suite, which was amazing. We had some fabulous meals, drank a few glasses of wine. Brett watched the UCLA game on Saturday and I did a little shopping. My Dad and Deborah did a fantastic job with Lily, and Lukas has lots of fun with Grammy and Grandpa Zinn.

Nilly is Walking

She took her first few steps about 3 weeks ago, but has not had too much interest in really moving from place to place by walking instead of crawling. During the last few days she has become more daring! She is toddling around so much more. Lukas is also excited about her new skill, which is so cute.

Lukas is a Polliwog

Lukas is doing so well at Nova, he was a little unsure at first, but he has really warmed to his coach and the new pool. He has moved from a "starfish" (face in the water) to a "polliwog" (independent launch off step with streamline reach, face in water). His coach, Carin, works really well with him. Lukas is starting to really like her, he talks to her tons, he is such a chatterbox when he becomes comfortable.