Mavry in the Mirror

It's no secret that kids love mirrors.  Montessori recommends a movement mirror for the infant to watch her movement.  (I get a lot of Montessori guidance from other blogs.  Here is one I check often and what she has to say about the movement mirror.)

We put Mavry's next to her floor bed where she takes naps during the day.  (At night she's still in the co-sleeper.)  She is a big fan of her mirror (and herself!) and will often watch herself in it before she falls asleep.  If she wakes up happy then she'll spend a good amount of time with it as well.  I caught a video of her enjoying her mirror a week and a half ago.  She's very cute, but you will probably get the idea after just watching the beginning.  The middle and end show more of the same, which may be fun for grandparents but perhaps not the rest of you. 

Pickling

Pickl-its are best stored covered to give the lactic acid bacteria a good place to grow.  We think they look like wise men. 

Since we started eating more traditional foods, we have experimented with lacto-fermenting since it is one of the best ways to get good bacteria back into your gut.  Colin started out this experiment doing it the way the GAPS book recommends.  He made sauerkraut and fermented cauliflower and had limited success. The ferments would grow mold around the top outside edges and he would scrape it off.  We didn't realize that our food probably had unseen mold growing in it (even if we'd scraped out all that we could see). 

After reading a few posts about lacto-fermenting at Cooking Traditional Foods, I spent some of my Christmas money (since we don't have much expendable income, I save up my gift money to use when I find something I want!) on a set of Pickl-its.  We are really happy with these - it's so much easier to make ferments in a Pickl-it because we don't have to worry about mold and the results are tastier, crispier, and full of good stuff. 

I used the 3 liter jars to make beet kvass and sauerkraut and the 1.5 liter jars to make dill carrots and dill green beans (my favorites so far).  When we ate up half of the green beans and carrots, I combined them into an air tight jar and made pickled garlic in the freed up Pickl-it.  I recently made a batch of pickles which I am anxious to try when they are done.  We also use one of the 1.5 liter jars to make our water kefir, which we used to make in a mason jar, but the lactic acid bacteria is increased in an airtight environment.  We have started having water kefir at dinner with a spoonful or two of beet kvass in it.  It looks like a purple sci-fi space drink. 

 

We are big fans of our Pickl-it jars because we can make lacto-fermented raw veggies easily and cheaply.  We have some with every dinner which means one of our veggie sides is always ready in the fridge.  Yay!

100 days old

Mavry turned 100 days old yesterday!  In traditional Korean culture, the 100th day is celebrated because the first 100 days are the hardest for the baby to survive.  I would have forgotten to mark this day except I have a friend whose (third) baby was born just three days before Mavry, so she reminded me.  :)

Mavry decided to make her 100th day count by doing a few new things: sleeping successfully without a swaddle and rolling over from back to front!

Up until early this week, we had been putting her to sleep half-zipped in this swaddle.  We started out a month or so ago unzipping it just an inch or so when she started to discover her hands.  While it was in the dirty laundry, we started going back to regular blanket swaddling, but leaving her arms free. 

Yesterday she rolled off the bed for the second time, so I decided she needed to sleep with her legs free.  (I got these pictures while I was reading in the room.  I saw she had edged close to the side of her floor bed and wanted to see what happened next since Colin had already found her on the floor once.  She rolled off the bed in her sleep but then woke up shortly afterwards.)

 She did great without a swaddle for her nap and at night!

After taking two marathon naps (because of teething or a growth spurt?), she was ready for some play time.  I put her down on her back centered on the mat under the bells and went back to the bedroom for something.  When I came back, there she was on her tummy looking all happy!  I guess she knew it was a day to remember. 

Video to the Family

Colin filmed Mavry, asking her what she wanted to say to the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  She can be quite the talkative one!

Creamed Kale and Eggs

I saw this recipe on a friend's facebook page recently and made this creamed kale and eggs for breakfast recently.  It was delicious.  It would have been even more delicious if I had not overcooked the eggs - I thought they needed more time since they were still shiny, but I guess they cook different in the oven.  Anyhow, I recommend this one!

Black and White

We went to a friend's surprise 50th birthday party two weekends ago.  The guests were asked to wear black and white, so Mavry joined in the fun with a black flower ironed on to her onesie.  She wore it with some black pants and her black and white "mary jane" socks. 

Cuteness

Catching up on uploading and posting pictures over here:

Behind the scenes of her three month picture shoot. 

 

Mavry and I went up for the day to a men's weekend that Colin was staffing a few weeks ago.  She got her whole outfit wet and had a series of poops in her diaper, so Colin took her off to the sink in his room for a bath.  I think she liked the coziness of this sink and the running water - a little different than her normal bath. 

 

We took Mavry for her first beach experience one Saturday in April.  It was kinda cold and windy, but I think she liked it.  

Rattle and Hum

Mavry can hold things in her hand for a little while now.  This rattle is one of my first (and only) crochet projects that I finished before she was born.  It has two large jingle bells inside.  I modeled it after this one I saw on etsy and got some help from a friend at church who taught me how to make it.  

Of course, the first thing she does with it once I put it in her hand it take it to her mouth for inspection.  (And she's not humming yet, but she does coo and gurgle in the cutest way!)

Mavry at 3 Months

Mavry turned 3 months old over the weekend!  She loves when people make eye contact with her for a conversation.  We read a few books together yesterday and she was very interested in the pictures, touching the pages of the board books.  She is turning over from front to back less now - maybe because she is interested in the things in front of her.  I put a wooden rolling toy in front of her yesterday and she was busy for a while looking and touching it while she was on her tummy.  I keep thinking she's going to roll over from back to front, but she stops halfway to enjoy the view from her side.  She is drooling a lot and has been changing up her sleep patterns (at least I wanted to think they were patterns) in the last few days, so I wonder if she is starting to teethe?  But I guess it's still a little early for that.

I'm so thankful for our beautiful, healthy and joyful little girl!

See Mavry at:
2 months
5 weeks