7 months and growing!

Ila, you are now 7 months old, Yipee! You are 26.5 inches long, and weigh something like 18 pounds. You are one sturdy girl.

Lately you've been rolling. You just really started rolling from your back to your front this last week. You like being on your back still but you enjoy rolling all the way across the floor to get the toys you so love. A few days ago you even got up on your knees and acted like you were going to crawl, but didn't. You are starting to scoot though as you slowly figure out how to move your arms and legs in sync to move around.
Speaking of toys, you really like toys, but books are your favorite. Grown up books, or baby books. Cloth pages or paper, you like em' all. You REALLY enjoy going ot the library with your mommy and daddy. We take you in the baby carrier and you face out and R-E-A-C-H for all the books we are looking at. You want to take the pages and crinkle them up and put them in your mouth.
You have excellent control of your hands now and you are one little pincher. This is not your mommy's favorite thing, but she knows that you don't mean to pinch her!
You are still eating just 2 meals of "solid" food a day. Yesterday, on your real 7 month birthday, you had sweet potatos for the first time, and what a treat that was! It's your favorite food so far, by the way you ate it up!
So there you have it little Ila. You are a growing, sitting, rolling, eating, happy little girl. You bring your parents a whole lot of joy and we sure love you!

Here's to eating healthy and serving others!

I like to cook and I like to eat. Since I like to eat, I should be making healthy things, so I can be fit and healthy! I find joy in making things with my hands, and watching others enjoying my hard work! I was starting to get into the groove of Trent and I's decided diet before we left Baton Rouge. Not a diet in the idea that we are "going on a diet to lose weight, blah, blah, blah" but a diet in the "this is how we are going to eat from now on" sort of way. We were eager to find our desired diet before Ila started eating with us, because we want to raise children with healthy eating habits!

Our way of eating is all about more produce and less processed foods. We shop the outside aisle at the grocery market. That's where you find all the yummy produce, meat & fish, dairy and breads. We venture into the inside aisle for things like rice, canned veggies (for when those fresh once are gone, or if you're in a pinch for time) and whole wheat pastas. Have I mentioned yet how great it is to be back in the vicinity of Wincos? It's great. They have granola, quinoa, oats, flours, sugars and everything else we buy frequently in the bulk section. It's awesome.

Now, back to my groove. I was really starting to get our new way of eating down when we moved. We were really enjoying the yummy things I was making too! Now that we are back and staying with Trent's parents for the time being, I'm making things things for their diet. I'd say the main difference between our diet and theirs is the meat. They don't really eat meat anymore, or fat. We were starting to eat a significantly less meat in our diets, which I think prepared me to eat very little while here. At first, I internally rebelled this idea of cooking with no meat, but I really wanted to serve my in-laws. So the rebellion was shot down, but it took me making one heck of a good meal without meat to kill my rebellious spirit.

The meal was spinach and rice enchiladas, that I made completely from scratch, minus the corn tortillas. I made the stuffing & the sauce and it was delicious. The meal was meat free, and fat free (that's right people, FAT FREE!) until we sprinkled some cheese and some sour cream on it (and it was fat free sour cream, and we only used a little cheese!) Anyway, since then, I've really felt joyful making these meat/fat free meals for my in-laws. I like seeing how happy they are to come home from work to a meal that they feel good about eating.

Trent and I usually have some meat with our lunch, and I find that is a great balance. I've had a great time looking for vegetarian recipes that I can alter to be fat free as well. We have checked out about 12 recipe books from the library in the last 3 weeks!

All this to say, it's nice being molded by the Lord. Sometimes I feel really set in my ways, and it's nice to not be stubborn here and there! I really enjoy serving others, so this had been a rewarding time for all of us, I think. Soon, Trent's youngest sister and her husband will be here and they eat the same way that my parent in-laws do, so I will be serving even more people by cooking this way!

It has been a nice time of growth for me, as I was struggling most with the amount of meat to incorporate in Trent and my meals back in Baton Rouge! It's hard to switch your brain from planning a meal around meat, to planning a meal around veggies, and having meat as a side dish, or occasionally no meat at all! I'm glad that I have finally found the balance Trent and I were looking for, and glad I can make yummy veggie based dishes for all to enjoy.

Yesterday's yummy and non-fat treat:

Soft pretzels, plain and Parmesan (not non-fat, but still not terrible for you!).

Tonights dinner:

homemade Naan (Indian flat bread of deliciousness), stuffed with spicy potato mix (potatoes, onion, bell pepper, celery, carrots, spinach, garlic, cumin and tomatoes). If that doesn't make your mouth water and your tummy cry out "feed me THAT!" then seek immediate help!!! ;)

Naan

I've also got to give a shout out to Quinoa (pronounces qeen wah). It's practically a perfect food.

Anything rice can do, quinoa can do better (well...i mean...practically) ;) Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa to learn more and http://allrecipes.com/ to find some tasty recipes.

If you are interested in learning more about our diet, check out the "Eat Clean Diet" by Tosca Reno. Here's to happy and healthy eating for all and serving others! :)

The Biz

Things are really starting to fall together for us, and it's exciting. It's been a long drawn out process of figuring out the next step in our lives, but we are finally arriving!

What is that next step? Well, after prayerful consideration, and some long talks and planning, Trent and his father are starting business together! Actually, they are starting one business together, but it is publicly knows as two businesses. We've got Magic Valley Arbor Barbers and Daniels Quality Home Repair. I think both names tell you what the business is, but I'll sum up for you as well. The MVAB's are a tree service, and landscape service. They do all sorts of tree & shrub trimming, pruning, & removals, and can landscape your yard for you as well. They'll fix your sprinkler system, and fix the fence that the tree ruined! DQHR, is just that. Quality home repair, remodels, renovations and general fix-it stuff. You can even special order handmade wood crafts, stools, beds, candle holders etc., for a small price.

We are pretty excited about the business and are happy that jobs are coming in! We could use prayers, happy thoughts, and help spreading the word about our business (if you live in the Magic Valley area) if you want to lend a hand!

Our housing is still up in the air, which at times is a little frustrating. We are ready to get settled, as it's been quite awhile since Trent and I had a home where we really felt we could settle into. In fact, we have not lived in once place for more then a year, and the longest we lived in one place was Korea, which didn't quite feel like a place to get really settled into for me! We are looking to buy a place but that could be a bit further out in our future.

As for Ila & myself we stay pretty busy playing, cooking and doing laundry. I bet you can guess which of those Ila participates in! I just started a spinning class as well, which was actually kinda fun, other then the aftermath the bicycle seat had on my bum (I guess most people wear padded shorts in spinning class, and I can see why!).

Ila has has a big week. She now sleeps 8 hours through the night, eats oatmeal in the morning and rice and veggies in the evening along with nursing every 4 hours. Also this week, she is learning how to sleep un-swaddled, which we never realized would actually be hard to train her to do! She loved being swaddleed, so we always swaddled her to go to sleep, but now that she is bigger, and summer in here, she is WAY to hot at night to be swaddled! And of course, it's got to stop sometime!

We are enjoying the warmer weather and looking forward to all the fun things summer brings!

PHR & Swimming

Yesterday Ila helped her Marma (Trent's mom) make Parker House Rolls (PKR). She really likes helping her out, as you can see in the pictures!

Today we went to Banburys, where we Beckers like to do our swimming! Ila went swimming for the first time ever and had a blast! She didn't fuss one little bit or act scared in any way. That was a relief! I think we took her at the perfect age to start swimming, if you don't want to go through pool fear! Hopefully she'll just keep on loving swimming as much as her parents do!