Moo-Matz

Well, we finally allowed our almost-2-year-old to start drinking cow's milk. This wasn't really the plan. I am still breastfeeding and don't see why he needs to drink the milk of another species, anyway. Plus I've heard stories of babies weaning once they start cow's milk and that makes me sad. Probably not much of a threat for us, though (I hope). But anyway, every time we pull the milk out of the fridge he begs for some, so I've been putting a little in his sippy cup and letting him have at it. But if he's going to drink milk, he must have the most healthy milk possible. So today I hauled my butt all the way down to Henry's in Fullerton (confession: I was going there anyway) to buy fresh, grass-fed, organic, very expensive, Raw Milk. I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of eight bucks for half a gallon, which beats Whole Foods' six bucks a quart. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, fresh milk from a grass-fed cow: a commodity that would have been almost free to the poorest peasant a few hundred years ago is now the nectar of the rich... or just us suckers. Which makes it twice as painful when I catch the little munchkin shaking his sippy cup upside-down onto the carpet, sprinkling said liquid gold everywhere. Maybe when this carton is gone I should save it and pour my own pumped milk into it... far healthier and cheaper. Think I could fool him? (though I don't think I would appreciate the sprinkling trick any better).

BTW, Peer's word for nursing is "Mammatz" aka "Mommy's milk." We told him this stuff is milk from a mommy cow and started calling it Moo-Matz as a joke. It stuck and now that's what he calls it.

Ashland Vacation

We had a great time last weekend visiting Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR for the third time. This time we invited Geoff, David, and Ben to come up with us. We rented a cottage instead of staying in our usual Bed & Breakfast. This worked out perfectly for our situation with a baby and a bigger group than just our immediately family.

We were able to cook for ourselves quite a bit and Peer had the freedom to roam around the house, play in the backyard, and make a lot of mischief with Daddy and his surrogate uncles.

We really packed in the amount of shows this time. Collectively, we saw five shows: Macbeth, Henry VIII, Death and the King’s Horseman, Don Quixote, and Much Ado About Nothing.

This was Peer’s first ride on an airplane. I think I was more nervous than he. He had a wonderful time and did really well on the plane. My mom made him a special packet of activities to keep him occupied. He also took a little nap, which was a very welcome respite for me.

Once we arrived at our cottage, we were able to immediately relax into vacation mode.
The guys enjoyed hanging out...

and fiddling with their musical instruments,

Peer set to work right away hunting for rocks

and I enjoyed preparing dinner in the kitchen.

Throughout the weekend, we had a great time fooling around in shops,

playing lots of Frisbee,

playing in Lithia Park with Peer

spotting deer...




drawing pictures on the sidewalk...


and eating fresh, organic, grass-fed food from the Ashland Food Co-op
(Yes, we recruited our friends to eating the way we eat. I think they were on board, at least for the weekend)

Enjoying the festival activities such as the Green Show




And generally enjoying the beauty of our favorite vacation spot with some great friends.