11 Months in 2019

In my last post I mentioned Magnus had started going in and out of nursing strikes starting at around 7 months. Some days he would cry and fuss and not want to nurse at all. I didn't know what to do because Axel didn't do this until he was 10 months. I think a couple of things caused this, which led to a perfect storm nursing strike:

1. He started solids

2. He started crawling

3. He had 6 teeth that started pushing through

I didn't pay too much attention to his nursing strike. I just did the best I could by feeding him well and trying to get him to nurse as often as I could. However, during his 9 month checkup, he had only gained 1/2 pound from his 6 month checkup. The Doctor said I needed to try to get his weight back up, because that was a significant lull in his weight growth. His height was fine. I realized that, with the second child, you don't plan their food as perfectly as you can with the first. With Axel, I made sure he had every food group, every vitamin, every source of fat and protein he needed. The only thing I had to do all day was make sure he ate well and slept well. With Magnus, I just didn't have 100% of my time to devote to this. Plus, as soon as he could crawl he didn't stop moving, so I guess any calories I gave him he quickly burned up. I gave him whatever I cooked, which was good homemade food, but I wasn't focusing on iron rich or fatty foods, and I wasn't focusing at all on how much he was nursing.

So after feeling incredibly guilty after the Doctor's visit, I started to pay more attention to how much milk he was drinking, and what and how much he was eating. Some days were pretty stressful because all I was doing was trying to get him to nurse, take a bottle, or eat fatty foods, all with the goal of getting his weight back up. I tried everything. I fed him a pretty steady diet of avocado, egg yolks, cheese, 10% Greek yogurt, steel cut oats, salmon, and meats, in addition to other veggies and fruits on the side. He wouldn't take formula, so that was out. But I pumped bottles and fed him as he was crawling or cruising, and I kept the nursery super dark and quiet while nursing. If he wanted to nurse, I nursed him, if he wanted a bottle instead, I always had a bottle on the side table just in case he preferred that. I made sure he wasn't overfed on food so he'd want to drink his milk. I tried combinations of these things, and ultimately, I got him back to nursing 24 ounces a day (before he was drinking maybe 15 ounces a day), and eating three solid meals. When I took him to his weight check at 10 months, he had gained 2 lbs!! The Doctor and I were so happy. That was a lot of work and so stressful.

So here are his stats:

6 months: 19.4 lbs (8.8 kg)

9 months: 19.9 lbs (9.04 kg), 29.5" (75 cm) long, 18.5" (47 cm) head

10 months: 21.8 lbs (9.87 kg)

I think he is very similar to Axel in that he is just a super active, social baby. Nursing is boring, sitting still and drinking a bottle is boring. So I'm pretty sure we'll be done with nursing by the time he hits 1 year. I still have to make sure he drinks enough breastmilk each day and eats a good variety of healthy fatty foods. It's a lot more work than it was with Axel at this age. Axel ate and drank everything! Granted, he also weaned himself at 10 months because he too couldn't be bothered to sit and nurse.

Magnus is now 11 months, and is cruising all over the place. He loves to walk while pushing his little baby walker. I think he feels very proud that he can do it, since he is usually smiling and laughing the whole time. One thing about him that completely amazes us, is that he listens to us when we say "No". We didn't know that was possible! For example, he knows he is not supposed to play with Leia's water bowl, so he'll crawl up to it, then touch it, then look at us for approval. When we shake our heads and say "no, Moosie", he will smile, and also shake his head no. He learned how to shake his head "no" at 10 months. He also does this when he is done with his food, is done with his bottle, or doesn't want something. He loves playing on the piano, and adores Axel.

He is on a two nap schedule now. We gave up the third nap because it was unrealistic with school pickup anyways. So his current schedule looks like this;

7:00 Wake up

9:00 First nap

1:00 Second Nap

5:15 Bedtime

He will still sleep from 5:15 pm until 6:30 or 7:00 am the next morning.

As I mentioned previously, when he was 9 months, he started teething. Because of this, he started waking up every 3 hours crying and had to nurse back to sleep. This was not convenient while he was already on a stressful nursing strike! And it felt like we had a newborn again. And since we are such smart parents, we also took him on two trips to the U.S. during this time. We were tired. He finally quit waking up every three hours to nurse once he hit 10 months, at which time he finally started sleeping the entire night without waking up. Yay!! BUT THEN, those six teeth decided to start cutting through all at once, isn't that so great?? This teething business has hit him (and us) hard. So for the past several days, he's had a high fever (103), won't eat, slept a couple of nights and naps in my arms in the rocking chair, and is grumpy in general. But we're starting to see the light. The fevers have stopped, and he is starting to eat a little during the day. His favorite food is by far avocado. He usually also loves his morning oatmeal, but right now, he will only eat avocado.

Axel is in a really fun age where he is equipping himself with quite the sense of humor. He keeps us laughing, and even covering my eyes and ears with his inappropriate and gross boy humor. His first loves are club soccer and skiing, and he also plays hockey and preseason club baseball practice has just started up. His best memory from this school year has been almost winning the western Toronto cross country meet. He took off like a flash but got passed in the last seconds. He was very happy to place second out of hundreds of kids. His favorite subject in school is math, and he loves art and writing stories. If he could choose, he'd play video games every day, but we are "mean" parents and have decided to only let him play video games on Saturday mornings, which works well for us. He still sleeps from 7 pm - 6:30 am. Some mornings he will wake up at 5:30 and start rummaging through the kitchen looking for food and making himself a peanut butter sandwich. Then I'll force him to go back to bed until at least 6:30. I don't know how he survives waking up so early!

I am turning 40 this year! I have two fun trips planned. I am meeting one of my favorite partners in crime in Reyjavik, Iceland, in February for some glacier hiking/hot springs bathing/whale blubber eating adventures. And Johan and I are going to Greece with some friends in July. I am excited. I feel good turning 40. I say that now, while I'm still 39. And FYI, I will be 39 until February 23rd, 11:59:59 pm, and don't you dare tell me otherwise.

Johan is an incredible Dad. He loves spending time with me and the boys, and often takes Axel to play shinny (hockey) at the local outdoor rink. Sometimes Magnus and I walk over and join them. I attempt to play, and Magnus watches, bundled up all cozy and warm in his stroller (that comment is for you, Mom. Baby is WARM AND BUNDLED, I said).

So that is life summed up for us. Happy 2019!

Love My Boys! 8 Months

Both of our boys as babies have been very good sleepers. We attribute this entirely to my friend, Carolyn Wooten, who suggested a sleep book when I told her Axel (as a baby) would not sleep unless he was being rocked and held. She told me to get the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It changed our lives. Magnus is 8 months old now, and has the exact same schedule that Axel had at his age, as the book recommends. A day for Magnus goes like this:

7:00 am; Wake Up

9:00 am: 1st nap

1:00 pm: 2nd nap

4:00 pm: 3rd nap

6:30 pm: Bedtime

Granted, he often misses his 3rd nap during the week because Axel loves to stay after school and play as long as he can. So we often walk home from school at just before 5:00. Magnus therefore goes to bed at around 5:15/5:30 on those days. But he will still sleep until 7:00 or so the next day. Amazing, right? Why don’t more people know about this book and sleep schedule? I have no idea, but I don’t think many do. So I preach it to anyone who seems interested. We totally believe that healthy sleep is just as important as a healthy diet for kids. 

Axel has also always gone to bed early. Granted, he is our early riser. He will wake up at around 6:30 am, at which time he is allowed to go down to the basement and watch tv. He is under no circumstance allowed to wake us up, or there will be severe consequences! But because he wakes up so early, his bedtime is 7:00. He fights us and fights us on this. But after fighting and insisting that he should go to bed later, 5 minutes later he is passed out cold. People often say that we should put our kids to bed later to make them sleep later. This does not work. You put Axel to bed at 12:00 midnight, he will still bounce up like the energizer bunny at 6:30. Magnus is the same. Whether he goes to bed at 5:00 or 7:00, he still wakes up at 7:00. It’s just their internal clock. It works for us as long as they are getting the sleep they need.

Magnus has changed a lot over these past 8 months. He didn’t take naps longer than 1/2 hour until he was around 5 months old. We tried everything we did with Axel, and followed the sleep book, but nothing worked. Then, we started a nap routine. We’d start to get quiet, we’d put him in his sleep sack, etc. We did the same thing every nap. We also put him down awake but with his eyes drooping tired. He would cry, we’d go in and console by patting him, then leave. We did this for about a week or two before it worked! He finally started going to sleep on his own, and napping for longer than 1/2 hour. But he was about 5 months old. Every baby is different!

For the last couple of months, he goes in and out of nursing strikes. Axel did this to me when he was 10 months old. We had enough frozen milk, so we were okay with weaning him. But Magnus is only 8 months, we don’t want to wean him yet. So for the days he didn’t want to nurse, we took away bottles and gave him milk in a cup. They say if you do this, babies will at some point go back to nursing because they have a strong need to suck. It totally worked! We still give him a bottle now and then, but if he prefers the bottle, we take it away temporarily. And he will absolutely not take formul. Which is okay, we’re not huge fans of the man made stuff.

He started crawling at 7-8 months, and is pulling himself up to stand! He talks by screeching, and he and Axel have entire screeching conversations. Axel is incredible with him. He adores his little brother. I never knew how much it would fill my heart to see love between brothers. When Magnus was first born, Axel would come home from school and want to hold him. Now that he’s older, Axel likes to get him from his crib when he wakes up from naps, and take him down to the basement to play. They take baths together, and Axel always gives him a kiss good night. Last night, he reminded me that he prayed for Moosie before he was born. He did! He had been praying for a little brother, and always reminded us to pray as well. And Magnus adores Axel. He watches everything he does with so much curiosity and awe. Magnus was a very chill infant, but now that he’s moving, he’s constantly on the move! I love this. I love energetic babies and kids. Probably because Johan and I rarely stop moving ourselves.

Here are his stats from his last several checkups:

4 weeks

5 kg - 11 lb

55 cm - 21.7 in

8 weeks

5.82 kg - 12.8 lb

62 cm - 24.4”

41.5 cm - 16.3 in

16 weeks

7.37 kg = 16.2 lb

69 cm long = 27.2 in

44 cm head = 17.3 in

6 months

8.8 kg, 19.4 lbs

45.5 cm head, 17.9 in

73 cm long = 28.7 inches

Moosie is a long, heavy baby! He’s a good eater. He eats everything. Another difference from when Axel was a baby is that the Dr. said to give him everything. No need to wait until certain months to give him new food. Give him everything Evel cows milk and honey. He ate peanut butter at 6 months! He prefers to feed himself. So we usually just leave all his food on his tray and let him go for it. The only food he’ll let us feed him is his oatmeal for breakfast. 

Recently, Magnus will not nurse in public. In fact, he won’t even nurse in a well lit room! I have to take him into the nursery, close the shades, make the room dark, and then he will nurse. I have no idea how he’s going to do on our plane rides to Washington DC and California coming up. 

Axel has started his Fall sports. He’s playing hockey, and club soccer. He’ll start club baseball training in January. We didn’t really plan for him to play club sports, but he tells us that he wants more competition, and to play against tougher kids. He gets bored if it’s too easy. But at least the sports only take up 2 days of our week. He also loves math and art at school. He will often Bring his paper and colors into  the dining room, spread them out on the table, and start drawing. I love it. 

Johan’s work schedule has settled down much more than last year, and it’s so nice to see him home more often and not as stressed. 

I am still following my hobby of baking custom cakes. My main customers are my neighbors. I love the challenge of trying something new, making it as good as possible, and trying to figure out how to make everything from scratch. This week, I have two cake orders. One is an orange chocolate cake, where I will make my own homemade candied oranges and chocolate shards. And the second is an American Nija Warrior cake for a little boy at Axel’s school. Making cakes totally feeds my creative outlet, but also my Engineer outlet. How can I make this cake perfectly straight, with sharp edges, and how can I make these decorations stay put without falling? You get the idea. I love it, it’s so fun. But it has made me realize that custom cakes are also really expensive!! Making a cake with quality ingredients and materials is not cheap! 

In any case, we are looking forward to the Fall. Of visiting California for Thanksgiving, and all of the fun things that come with the changing seasons. 

Frozen Chocolate Pie (Vegan, Paleo)

Several people asked for the recipe for this vegan paleo chocolate pie the other day that I figured I'd post it here. It's delicious. You can't tell that it's basically made of nuts and fruit because it is so decadent. In fact, it's so good you may still feel guilty eating it. I got the recipe from a cookbook I borrowed from my neighbor called Made with Love. A mother/daughter duo from Ontario. Apparently, their baked goods are their claim to fame, and I want to try all of them. Other than the time to soak the nuts and freeze the pie, this recipe took me about 10 minutes to make.

I did not let the almonds soak for as long as they recommend fo the crust (8 hours). I was too impatient, so I only soaked them for a half hour, along with the cashews and dates. Also, I didn't not have agave, so I used pure maple syrup. Everything still came out fabulous.

Frozen Chocolate Pie

Raw Nut Pie Crust:
2 cups raw almonds
2 cups pitted dates
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp sea salt

Filling:
1 frozen Raw Nut Pie Crust
3 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked in filtered water for about 30 minutes, then drained
1 cup raw cocao powder
3/4 cup agave (or maple) syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Topping:
2/3 cup raw cocao powder
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
6 tablespoons agave (or maple) syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Prepare in a 9-inch springform pan
2. Soak the almonds in filtered water for 1/2 hour. Even better, soak in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours. Drain. Rinse well then drain again.
3. Soak the dates for 30 minutes in warm filtered water to soften.
4. Transfer soaked almonds and dates to a food processory fitted with the metal blade. Add the vanilla and salt. Pulse until just combined.
5. Press the crust into the 9-inch springform pan and freeze until ready to use.
6. To make the filling, combine the soaked cashews, cacao powder, agave syrup, vanilla extract, and 3/4 cup filtered water in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add the coconut oil and blend again.
7. Pour the chocolate filling into the frozen pie crust. Freeze until the filling is firm.
8. To make the chocolate topping, mix together the cacao powder, coconut oil, agave syrup, and vanilla extract.
9. Pour the chocolate topping over the frozen chocolate pie filling. Return the pie to the freezer until frozen.

Queque

When Axel was a toddler, he spoke a lot of Spanish words since he was home with me and we only speak Spanish together. One of his favorite things was cake, which he learned to say in Spanish: "Queque", which is actually Spanglish. Whenever my Mom would visit, he'd beg her to make him a queque, which is the first thing she'd do, and add frosting and sprinkles, of course.

Queque!

Diversion in subject: Baby Moose is now 8 weeks old. At his checkup, he weighed in at a good and solid 12.8 lbs, was 24.4 inches long (95th percentile), and his head measured off the charts at 24.6 inches (99th percentile). That didn't make sense to me. So the circumference of his head is greater than his length? In any case, Axel's head also always measured off the charts. So it's now our claim to fame that we birth babies with ginorma-domes. We are all so in love with his cuteness, and Axel is still one of his biggest fans.

Brothers

So since I have a newborn, it's an obvious time for me to start a side business of baking cakes. I mean, I have so much spare time, it makes total sense (sarcasm). I don't know why this passion started. I'm not actually starting a business. A neighbor asked me the other day if this was my plan, it's not. I simply call it my new hobby. It really just kind of happened and I've just followed it along. I think my first sense that I loved making cakes (like, real cakes, not the normal everyday pound cake) was when I made Axel's 2nd birthday cake. Until then, I had only made a yellow pound cake from a Swedish recipe called sockerkaka (sugar cake). The cake that I baked for Axel's birthday was a buttermilk cake with swiss meringue buttercream frosting. I made it into a train cake, with the second layer being a cave the train was coming out of. I'm so sad I have no photos! But it was much more involved than I was used to, it took me the entire day, and made me feel like I had accomplished something afterwards because it took quite a bit of skill and ability to follow directions and use my creativity. My love for baking is also due to the fact that I have some girlfriends in San Diego who are incredible bakers whom I've been watching and listening to for years as they make incredible creations. We joke about opening a bakery someday. At least I think it's a joke.

So since we moved to Toronto, I got this idea to start baking cakes for my neighbors whenever anyone has a birthday. It's an excuse for me to get my cake baking fix, practice, and also love on my neighbors. Although, sometimes I have to force them to take it because, for some reason, they don't want to  eat a bunch of butter and sugar on their birthday. Weirdos! In the beginning, my decorating skills were extremely lacking. I am no expert now, but at that time I didn't have a good handle on frosting textures or decorating techniques. So I started reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, and asking my girlfriends for tips and tricks. As I slowly pushed my cakes on people, I actually started getting orders from neighbors and friends, and even got to make my first official fancy cake for a neighbors' in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary! Since then I've been getting more creative and my cakes are looking less and less like they were made by a preschooler. Plus, I think my cakes are delicious. I've never been a fan of the store bought cakes, I'm a bit of a snob in this area. But after baking my own cakes for so long, I wouldn't be caught dead buying onefrom a store because I think homemade cakes taste so much better.

Minecraft cake for Axel's birthday. April 2017.

Caramel, caramelized pear, and toffee cake with whipped cream frosting. August 2017.

50th Wedding Anniversary Cake. Buttermilk cake with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting. January 2018.

Valentines Day! Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Cloud Frosting.

Easter Cupcakes for the kids. April 2018.

Easter Celebration Cake. Lemon Blueberry with Cream Cheese Frosting. April 2018.

Neighbor Requested Birthday Cake. Lemon Raspberry Almond with Cream Cheese Frosting and White Chocolate Ganache. April 2018.

Neighbor Requested Pokemon Cake. Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Cloud Frosting and Fondant Outer. April 2018.

I don't have photos of all of my prior cakes, but as you can see, they didn't start out so pretty. But that doesn't mean they're perfect now either. When I decided to make the lemon raspberry almond cake for my neighbors' mother in laws' birthday, I did a trial version that completely misfired. I was so glad I had done a trial version and learned from my mistakes! Apparently, you can't pour ganache on top of frosting while the ganache and the frosting are still warm. This is why I have historically been a terrible baker. I am quite impatient, and I don't like following instructions. However, when I decide that I want my cakes to look perfect, I suck it up and follow those instructions.

Poor, sad, cake with floppy Ganache :(

Making cakes has reminded me a bit of who I am and has brought out realizations of my shortcomings. It has highlighted the fact that I mentioned before, that I am quite impatient. I don't like instructions or word problems, as I typically skip the entire paragraph and head straight to the end and say to myself "I've got this!", overconfidently. It reminded me of years ago when I was studying for my Engineering licensing exam, that I took the 8 hour exam three times and failed because I was taking the hardest exam each time. I never read the list completely of which 8 hour exams I could choose from because I was too impatient to read the list all the way to the end and choose "general", the easiest one. Finally, a co-worker mentioned this to me, I slapped myself on the forehead, and, needless to say, the fourth time was a charm! I see this in Axel as well. I notice that he's not very good at math word problems even though he is great at math. Impatience is genetic, apparently!

So, in summary, this new love for baking and creating cakes has been such a welcomed outlet for me to dive into something I'm passionate about and a hobby I love. I love using my left and right brain, I love the challenge, and I love giving them to people to make them happy. So if anyone needs a cake, and you're willing to bet on my novice abilities, you know who to call!

6 Weeks and 6 Years

It's been six weeks since Magnus was born, and I'm going through my head for all of the things I'm grateful for, because I am very thankful. I am so thankful for my mom for flying out and staying with us for two weeks to help. She's amazing. She cleaned our house from top to bottom, cooked dinner every night, made us her amazing salsa fresca with avocado and chips as an appetizer almost every night, made desserts, washed all of our dirty basement sofa covers and pillow covers, sewed up all of the holes in our quilts, etc, etc. Not to mention she took Magnus each night. She'd wake me up to nurse, and when I was done, I'd give him to her and go back to bed. We were so well rested! If she hadn't had four kids of her own, she would have made an amazing night nurse.

We went to the doctor last week for his 4 week checkup. He weighed 11 pounds and was 22.5 inches long. Pretty much all of his stats are around the 85th percentile. Except for his head, which is around the 95th. Quite similar to brother Axel!

Nowadays, I am so thankful that Johan is on paternity leave. He's been home with me now for four weeks and gets five weeks paid from his work. He is also amazing because he's made it his mission to live up to my mom's amazingness, and he enjoys it. He also takes a night shift with Magnus in that he gives him a bottle and puts him to bed to let me sleep. Then he wakes up at around 6:30 with Axel and makes breakfast, packs his school lunch, makes coffee, and lets me sleep in until around 7:45. Then after sending Axel off to school, he starts cleaning. He runs the Roomba, washes the floors, cleans the kitchen, bathrooms, and does a load of laundry pretty much every day. He's pretty much super human and defies most male stereotypes. If my Mom came to live with us, between the two of them, I'd never have to do anything for myself ever again.

Magnus is doing great. He is the sweetest thing ever. He is very chill and easy. Pretty much from day one we put him on a day/night schedule. During the day, we wake him up after 2 hours of sleep to nurse and to help him establish a daytime routine. He has started becoming more awake during the days, but just long enough to change a diaper, nurse, and look around for a bit. Then he’s out again. I remember at this age, Axel started waking up, but it was harder to put him to sleep. We’d have to move, walk, or bounce him to get to sleep, and he slept best when he was held. Magnus is pretty similar during the day. But at night, he usually falls asleep pretty quickly after nursing, then will sleep in his bassinet for up to 3 hours at a time. During the night (after 8:00 pm or so), we put him to bed and don't dare wake him up. He only nurses if he wakes up.

It's worked out pretty well. So well, in fact, that Johan and I have felt so well rested that we decided to start getting out and exploring the city during the days with Magnus to take full advantage of our maternity/paternity leaves. We've started becoming Toronto foodies. At lunch, we venture off to a different part of the city to try out a new restaurant and type of food. I've been even more inspired to do this because we started watching a Netflix documentary called Ugly Delicious. It stars a Toronto chef named Dave Chang. He's the head chef of Momofuku, a very popular innovative Asian restaurant that is in several of the world's largest cities.

So far, we've been to Momofuku's Noodle Bar, Mean Bao, Campo, The Drake Commisary, Dong Gia (Viet/Thai food), and Honest Weight. All of the food, so far, has been amazing. But we also live in Toronto, where there are immigrants from all over the world. So ethnic foods here are plentiful and have a lot of good competition to be amazing.

Back to maternity leave. There is quite a luxury in being able to choose to stay in your pajamas until 3:00 p.m. without fear of judgement. It is so nice to wake up and not have to put on work clothes and do my hair and makeup. However, at some point I force myself to take a shower and get myself together or else I just feel like an oaf that smells like sour milk. The best parts of these days are sitting with Magnus, watching him look around with curiosity, or fall asleep. Newborns falling asleep must be the funniest, most precious sight ever. They go from rolling their eyes backwards, to laughing, to pouting out their lips, and maybe sucking on a pretend nipple. It will never get old.

Axel is still in love with his little brother. He kisses him every chance he gets, and wants him in the bed with him at night when we read books and falls asleep. He will do everything to help with the baby by bringing a blanket, his pacifier, etc. He has even started sleeping in Magnus' room. Although, after they're both asleep, I then sneak Magnus into our room because it's easier to nurse him in the middle of the night if he's in the bassinet next to me. That way, I can lay in bed half asleep with my body under the covers while one hand keeps the pacifier from falling out of his mouth and my outer toe rocks the cradle. We've all been playing musical beds lately, I don't even know who sleeps where anymore. Some nights Axel is in Magnus' room, Magnus is in our room, I'm in our room, or sometimes Axel is asleep at the foot of our bed and has kicked Johan out, so Johan sleeps in Axel's room. And I don't even know where Leia sleeps anymore. She's been completely forgotten.

Since Magnus has been so portable, he’s already become a regular at the hockey rink at Axel’s games, has been to a plethora of restaurants around town (as previously mentioned), he loves picking Axel up from school, and has even been seen back at church. Granted, he’s pretty much slept through everything, so he won't recall anything if you ask him. The most uncomfortable part of getting out with a newborn (for me) has to be nursing. I have to constantly think about my clothes and if they’re conducive to nursing in public, or plan when and where I’ll nurse, especially because it's pretty much still winter in Toronto, so both Magnus and I are wearing winter clothing. Usually, we time Magnus’ nursing with getting out of the house. In general, I feel like my body is getting slowly back to normal. I started back at the gym last week, which felt great. It is still hard to find clothes that fit this weird body shape during this in between time, but I’m learning to give myself some slack and not be too critical. It would be easier, though, if I didn’t have the appetite of a herd of teenage boys. I can eat like it’s nobody’s business. Hopefully baby Moose and I continue this symbiotic relationship in that he keeps nursing enough for me to burn enough calories to allow me to eat my way through a week's worth of Costco groceries and not think twice. 

Axel is in the throws of the age of 6. He has somehow learned snarky sarcasm that I wouldn't have even dared as a teenager. Where are they learning it from? It can't be from us parents, can it?! It must be from school, right? He is also an absolute master negotiator. We recently started a complaining chart with him. If he doesn't complain about what he eats, about going to bed, or going to school, he gets a happy face for that day. After seven days of happy faces, he'll get a reward. Probably a Pokemon card. The other day, he told us he had almost reached seven days. I asked him how he had counted that, since he had complained the day prior. He said "Well, you never said the days had to be in a row". Crap, kid, you're right. I quickly tried to add "days in sequence" as a requirement for receiving his reward, but he told me that wasn't part of the conditions from the beginning, and it's my fault for not making that clear and unfair if I add it in now. If you tell him he has to turn the tv off in 5 minutes, he will always negotiate 5 extra minutes. Or if you say he can't have any more dessert, he'll convince you that he skipped a snack in the afternoon to be able to save up for that extra serving of dessert. If you tell him a straight out "no" (which we do quite often), you must be prepared for all hell to break loose, which is his tactic to break you down and make you cave. He has the skills to wear down even the most stubborn (such as myself), until you have no willpower left. We have to remind each other to stay strong, don't loose your cool, don't give in to his master manipulation, and for everything that is sacred and holy, don't be beguiled by the 6 year old, for crying out loud! In the end, we typically result to negotiating. Negotiating = peace and life skills. We tell ourselves that we are allowing him to hone his skills to one day be a world leader, yet somehow without letting him lead our household. Hopefully our little world leader will learn to do so while being humble, loving, and following Jesus....we hope. All we know is that this kid is amazing, determined, and extremely talented, and needs us to lead him into the great things God has planned for him. So we follow the mantra of our former pastor Aaron Henderson, who used to say "my job as a parent is to minimize the time my kids will spend in therapy as adults". Which basically means no parent is perfect and can do a perfect job. We're all doing our best!