The issue is not, however, that Galen refuses food.  In fact, Galen seems to greatly enjoy some things.  My milk is the primary highlight to his diet, of course.  But Galen also really likes chicken stock and water.  If you’re giving Galen chicken stock or water from a spoon he looks like the baby in the photograph.

But the reason you haven’t seen many updates on “feeding Galen” since my first post is that feeding him has really not gone anywhere.  When we try and feed him anything with any sort of texture, Galen cannot swallow it.  There have been a few meals here and there where we’ve gotten tiny amounts into him.  When I say tiny I’m talking around 1/16th of a teaspoon.  TINY.  But mostly Galen just gags when solid foods get to his tongue.  And that means that anything that was in his belly comes back up.  Even his mama milk.

Initially I didn’t worry too much about his disinterest in solid foods.  And at this point I’m still trying not to worry.  Cassidy was also late starting solid foods.  The difference is that when Cassidy started she was already ready to go with finger foods.  She was happy feeding herself and she could get almost anything down.

Galen doesn’t put much in his mouth.  If we give him bits of finger foods he just moves them around on his tray.  He doesn’t put them in his mouth.  He chews on his fingers (and my hair, eww).  And that’s about it.

He can’t eat even pureed food.  So for right now his nutrition is coming 100% from nursing.  I’m working hard to make sure I’m eating well for him so he’s getting good, rich milk.  And we try with solids every few days to see if what seems to be a texture aversion is lessening.  I’ve gotten a lot of suggestions for things, and I’m researching around.  I’ve also talked it over with his doctor.  For a couple of weeks at least we’re in a “wait and see” mode.  But this is very different from what I experienced with the other kids.  There’s always so much to learn, and children always have such different needs.  Parenting is definitely the most challenging job out there

So I’ll give an update on how things went over the past month. Galen’s fifth month started much like the rest of his early months, with EC’ing going pretty routinely. However, it ended much differently.

Galen began to enjoy being on the floor more, and got really proficient at rolling from his back to his tummy. It seems like I’d put him down on the floor, he’d roll onto his belly, and immediately pee.

Now that got frustrating! It seems to be whenever that pressure is on his belly, or whenever he decides he’s done with being on the floor and starts fussing, that he just lets go and pees.  It was a bit discouraging for me because I’m used to catching most of his pees throughout the day.

The most discouraging thing would be when I’d offer him the potty and he wouldn’t go – then I’d put him down and he’d pee almost immediately.

I felt conflicted because on the one hand, I don’t want to get stressed or convey any stress about pottying to him – he’s just a baby.  But on the other hand we’d been “catching” most pees and I didn’t really want to give that up.

In the end I’ve decided just to be more vigilant about offering to potty him.  We ordered a couple of new potty bowls (BabyBjörn Little Potties), one for the van and one so we have a nice potty bowl in both the office and the family room.  As you can see from the picture, my oldest child Cassidy can help Galen to sit on the Little Potty!  That’s very helpful to me and both of them seem to enjoy it.

We had our first dirty diapers since Galen’s newborn week.  One was at our CSA farm… a complete blowout diaper.  I felt so bad.  The other was right after Cassidy and Asher’s Japanese lesson.  I was strapping Galen into the car seat and heard him start – by that point I had the new Little Potty in the van so I pulled him out of the seat, pulled off his pants, and sat him right down on the potty.  I squeezed into the van so I could shut the sliding door and give him some privacy while I helped him sit on the pot   That diaper only got a little in it since I got him over the potty as soon as he started.

I’ve decided I probably need to plan time to offer him the potty when we go somewhere.  I really don’t want him to have to have dirty diapers and he has such a clear preference for pooping in the potty.  I don’t want him to lose that preference.

So this month was a little frustrating as far as elmination communication goes – but also a good reminder.  He’s getting bigger, and things are changing for him and so they’ll change with EC’ing too.

One of my goals for the next couple of months is to get him more trainers made so he can be used to wearing the trainers full time, and having them taken off to go potty.  I have 5 pairs made now, bringing our total to 8 pairs.  I’m working on 7 more pairs (two different styles to see which I like best).  I’m debating if I want to switch to trainers for going out and about or stick with diapers.  It’s something I’ll have to think over!

It is possible to “go green” for your kids on a budget – first off, by shopping used. Used clothing may not be “organic,” but it’s already here. It has been manufactured (or lovingly sewn by somebody!) and chances are, it hasn’t been worn out. By buying used clothing (and dressing your kiddos in hand-me-downs) you’re choosing green.

Does this mean your kid is going to look scruffy and unkempt? Not at all! Like I said, I like my children to look nice. I have an idea of what I want when I go into a second-hand store. I look over clothing carefully. You can usually find great clothes. I can almost always find knit golf shirts for the boys in great condition. I usually choose name brands because the quality is (usually) better. These shirts cost around a dollar each!

Another option is a children’s consignment shop. We have a Children’s Orchard in my city and I love it.  They have a “playclothes” room where tops and bottoms are usually just $1-2 per garment.  Again, I can often find knits or button-down shirts for the boys that are in great condition and name brand for a great price.  I also like the consignment shop because I can find nicer looking girl’s clothing there.  I’ve had better luck with appropriate girl’s clothing at the consignment shop than I do at the thrift store – but both places can be good.

My favorite option for cute playclothes for a litle girl, however, is one I just recently came upon.  It’s an idea for making a little girl’s dress with a cute top and a woman’s skirt – or even a large bit of scrap fabric.  I was able to use a knit turtleneck top I found at the thrift store for an early spring playdress for Cassidy.  I took an old pink women’s skirt, cut a wide strip of it, and sewed it to the bottom of the knit top.  I used gathers to give a cute look and match size.  It took almost no time at all, and Cassidy has a really nice looking little play dress (it took so little time that I won’t be devastated when it gets all muddy :p)  I really liked this idea – I’m going to use several of my skirts that are worn out around the hemline to make Cassidy some summer playdresses.

Fabric scraps and old adult clothing can be used to make a lot of children’s clothing.  Old adult shirts and sweaters can easily make baby and toddler pants – or diapers.  Those ugly knee-high socks you’ll never wear can make cute legwarmers for baby.  I made Asher and Brennan pajamas and was able to use the small amount of fabric left over to make Galen a matching set.  A set of worn-out flannel sheets has gone to make absorbent trainers for Galen.

An idea from my mother, which is not really clothing, but I like anyways, is to take old shirts your child outgrows but still likes to make a “quilt” for your child to keep.

Not only does shopping thrift stores and consignment shops (and yard sales) help your budget – it also helps to reuse clothing, and re-using is a very good way to go green.  And remaking something old into something new is not only a good idea, it’s fun and creative too.  You might just make something your child will treasure!

Get more ideas at Thrifty Green Thursday!

Now that we’re done I can say that we’ll stick with the traditional foods style of eating.  Not 100% because that’s just hard in “modern” life.  But I learned some valuable lessons to help make healthy eating more do-able.  The biggest thing was to make sure that I have good meals in the freezer ready to go when I need them.

We ended our challenge and went ahead and ordered a pizza right after.  The end result of that was strange.  First, the pizza did not taste nearly as good as I remembered pizza tasting.  It just tasted sweet which really wasn’t pleasant.  I wanted a cheesy, saucy taste and it was just sweet.  We decided that next time we want pizza we’re just going to make it ourselves with homemade crust.  By getting pizza we’re already getting something with gluten anyways, and it may as well be healthier than ordering from a pizza place.

The pizza also gave me an upset stomach and tore my digestive track up from start to finish, so I certainly wasn’t endeared to it at all…  It got at least one of the kids too (evidenced by the fact that our kids sometimes forget to flush after going potty).  However, nobody wanted to confess forgetting to flush

Speaking of gluten – we’re a gluten-free home because Scott is gluten-intolerant – we did try properly prepared sourdough bread on the trial.  And happily it tastes not only delicious, but Scott is able to eat it with no ill effects.  I think that’s one of the biggest bonuses of eating well, and of eating so much soup, broth, and ferment food.  Those things have helped our digestion enough that Scott can tolerate sourdough (this is real sourdough though, fermented starter and allowed a slow rise – he still can’t eat the “fake” sourdough that’s sold in most stores).  We’ve been getting a loaf every couple of weeks or so and enjoying slices buttered.  I’m happy because this summer we may actually be able to have some picnic lunches with sandwiches.  My one lament about being a “GF” house is that the ease of sandwiches isn’t available.

The kids all did well and ate voraciously (as per usual) during the challenge.  Cassidy does seem to have gained some weight, which makes me very happy.  Her face looks a bit fuller and she’s getting some padding.  I think she could stand to gain a bit more so I’m still focusing on a good fat-rich diet for her.

So where are we going from here?  I’m going to keep working on a nutrient-dense traditional diet.  I’d like to keep up with about 90% or so of our eating being traditional foods.  I’ve gotten into the habit of soaking things and I think I’ll be able to keep that up.  Using dried beans instead of canned is quickly becoming a habit

We’re also going to try and focus on more local foods straight from the farmer.  We’re planning to sign up for a CSA for our summer and fall vegetables, supplemented with our own first gardening effort.  I’m looking forward to both of those things.  We try and buy our red meat locally too, from a local beef herd and also from a bison herd.  Once we get a freezer (if we can manage it in this house…which isn’t likely) we’ll probably buy beef by the half cow which will be really nice!

I’m also taking advantage of our local buying co-op to get good food in bulk (like our dried beans, rice, and oatmeal) because bulk buying allows for a good discount and gives us the whole foods to prepare.

I’m really pleased with how un-complicated our grocery lists are now.  Vegetables, grains, and meat and dairy and we’re pretty much set.  Canned tomato products and coconut milk are about the only thing we buy in a “processed” state.  It’s nice.

And of course the food has been delicious!  I feel like we’ve really enjoyed good foods, and I’ve learned to streamline some so I can enjoy them even more   I’ll continue to work on tweaking our diet and decided some further health goals for our family – the 30-day trial system is working well for us!

Cassidy checking out what’s under the tree (the grandparents overloaded “under the tree” a bit this year :p)

Here’s Asher tinkering with his new tools.  He’s proud to have gotten “real tools” this year!  We gave him the tools with a tool bag along with a little “treasure chest” an old phone, and an old clock to work on and store his projects.

Here are the two of them looking adorable in Cassidy’s tent – quite the popular Christmas gift:

And here’s Brennan, isn’t he so cute!  Scott’s mom made the hat and scarf – this pic was Christmas Eve at her house:

I am such a lucky woman to have Scott:

And here’s a shot of me and Galen on Christmas Eve.  I made his little jammies for him for Christmas

With the holidays over I’m excited about the new year – I have quite a few goals for 2009 (I shared some of them the other day) and I’m really looking forward to enjoying the family and our home this year.  I’m also looking forward to working on my blog and my site more