A Study on Soy Consumption

I've read articles previously dealing with the detrimental effects of soy formula or soy milk in baby boys, and found them very interesting (these previous articles are linked in this new one if you're interested). But now there is a new article quoting a recent Harvard study that reveals some serious issues with soy consumption by males. You can read it here:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70504

Needless to say, as soon as we read the original articles, Mr. Blue-Eyes was DONE with drinking soy milk (which was his alternative to cow's milk since he's allergic). Thankfully, he was drinking less anyway...and I was offering it much less too because it's quite expensive compared to water!

Ooh La La!

Thanks to Stephen's boss, we were treated to a really fun dining experience at Texas de Brazil. If you haven't been there, let me give you a little preview:

It's a one-price deal and you can eat as much as you want. Kids under 6 are FREE - which we loved. There's a gourmet-type salad bar area with lots of stuff I had never tried before as well as a sidebar with rice and potato dishes and a soup (lobster bisque!). Then, the fun begins! Turn your coaster-like signal card from red to green to bring on the meat!

The restaurant is teeming with Brazilian gauchos, each serving a different meat from a 2-foot long sword-like skewer. I must say that I don't think I've ever eaten meat with so much red in it, but...it was GOOD! We tried many different meats including bacon-wrapped filet mignon (the best!!), flank steak, pork loin, bacon-wrapped chicken breast, parmesan chicken breast, lamb chops, BBQ pork ribs, sausage...hmmm, maybe others? I can't remember.

The garlic-mashed potatoes and sweet fried bananas were really good too!! And dessert looked fabulous, but we took a pass since there was nothing Mr. Blue-Eyes could have with his milk allergy.

For being in a rather pricey, swanky restaurant, the boys behaved beautifully - we were SO thankful. They really enjoyed the meats, too, and were eager to try whatever the gauchos were bringing by the table. And they had great fun flipping from "red light" to "green light" to request more meat!

Funny Boy

I've got 2 funnies to share:

Recently, I was sitting on the couch next to Boo-Boo, and he was holding his souvenir baseball bat "gun". He turned to me and said with utmost seriousness (and a backwoods Southern drawl), "Cover yo' eahs, Momma; I'n gonna shoot!"

Last night we went to Home Depot to check out some paint and carpet for the new house. We were there for a little while, and the boys were getting antsy, especially Boo-Boo. He kept wanting up and down and up and down. Finally, he looked up at me and said, as he waved his arm around, "I'm done with this place!" I couldn't even answer him; I was laughing too hard.

Cukes!

We planted 8 tomato plants, a cantaloupe, a rosemary and a cucumber plant this year. Since we expected to be moving before the growing season ends, we put everything into pots which we can just take with us.

It has been fun watching the plants grow from just a few inches tall to about six feet tall (the cukes and melons, anyway). We've been seeing yellow flowers on the melon vine and the cuke vine, and just in the last few days, we've seen some flowering on the tomatoes too.

But last night Mr. Blue-Eyes came running inside to tell me that we have baby cukes! We ran back out to check 'em out, and, sure enough, there were a few inch-or-two-long cucumbers on there. Now, there are A LOT of flowers on that vine. I expect that means that there will be A LOT of cucumbers too! I suppose we'll be eating a lot of salads and pasta salad in the next few months. Yum!

Great Falls

Yesterday we met some friends at Great Falls Park and enjoyed the views as well as a picnic lunch. The kids all loved throwing rocks from the overlook...although I'm not sure if any of them actually made it into the river. I was just glad none of the kids made it over the ledge onto the rocks below. We also watched some kayakers making their way down the river, which the boys found pretty exciting.

Packing

Every time I mention to someone that we're moving again, the response seems to be, "Oh, you ought to be really good at this by now." Seriously. I should be. In the 8 years that we've been married, we've moved 7 times. This will be the eighth. I ought to be a professional by now. You'd think. Somehow it's not quite like that.

I hate moving. I hate packing. I put it off until I know that I really have to start working on it. Like now. We're closing on the house next Thursday - yes, a week and two days. And just yesterday I started packing. We're technically not moving in for about three more weeks, but I really feel like I ought to have more done by now. Oh well, a little at a time, I guess.

Being pregnant doesn't help matters any. I haven't moved while pregnant before. So this is a new experience in that regard. Basically, I'm packing boxes, and then the boxes just stay wherever they were when packed! So our house will be crazy stacks of boxes all over the place by the time we actually move.

But I've decided that it doesn't matter. We will be so glad to get into a house again, we'll put up with it - no problem!!

A Girl??

Yeah. A Girl. I think I'm still in shock. A good kind of shock. But shock.

I was convinced we were having a boy. The possibility that we would have a girl didn't even seem to be a real possibility. We have two boys. Of course, we would have another boy. Boys run in the family.

Now, I wasn't opposed to the idea of having a girl - not at all. But it just didn't seem too likely.

And here we are - back from the ultrasound. And we're having a girl. A GIRL!

Mr. Blue-Eyes and Boo-Boo are very excited about having a sister. They've both been saying that they wanted a sister, and it turns out they're getting one! How fun!!

And Grandma is over the moon, I believe. After 4 sons and 3 grandsons, she is READY for a girl!!

The baby appears to be healthy, and we are thankful for that blessing, too. How good is our God, the giver of life! We pray that He will continue to bless this child with good health and grant eternal Life in Jesus Christ to her.

Baby Kicks

I've kept a Baby Diary for each pregnancy - yes, I'll admit the first one was much more detailed and up-to-date, but I'm trying! So after reading through the previous Baby Diaries, I was a little surprised when I felt the first kick of this new little one a few days ago. With Mr. Blue-Eyes, I didn't feel movement until around 21 or 22 weeks. With Boo-Boo it was earlier - around 19 weeks - but still not this early. At just 17 weeks, I've been feeling definite kicks and rolling movements in my tummy! It's so exciting to finally feel the life that has been growing in me for a while now. Stephen was even able to feel a kick or two already.

We're looking forward to having an ultrasound sometime in the next few weeks, and catching a glimpse of this baby. Hopefully, we will be able to find out the sex of Baby too. Mr. Blue-Eyes is pretty gung-ho on the idea of a sister. Boo-Boo could care less. And while we would surely enjoy the novelty of a girl in our house, we do love BOYS around here!!! :-)

I keep telling Boo-Boo that when babies are very little, they cry "Waa-Waa!" He thinks it's funny. I'm sure he won't find it funny when Baby finally makes an appearance and disturbs his playing or his sleep. :-) Mr. Blue-Eyes got a good laugh this morning when I reminded him of his comment to me a few days after we brought Boo-Boo home from the hospital. He said, "Mommy, put him away!" Boo-Boo didn't think that was too funny! We'll see what he thinks when we bring a new little one home from the hospital.