sleep? what's that?

things have been a little rough around the ennema household for the past few days. judah has been waking up on the hour at night, and hardly napping at all during the day. the poor kid is obviously not feeling well at all (he has a NASTY cold and i think he's teething, too...), and just does not know what to do with himself. so he has been fussy a lot of the time when he is awake, too. to make things worse, he is totally going through separation anxiety, and wants ONLY MOMMY almost ALL OF THE TIME! so a tired cranky baby makes for an exhausted cranky mommy, which inevitebly also leads to a whiny mommy when daddy comes home. this, in turn, creates a very frustrated and cranky daddy, who is really just trying to do his best. but then when he takes the cranky baby (after exhausted mommy took care of cranky baby all day long), the cranky baby gets very mad, because all he wants is cranky mommy...

we really need some sleep around here...

pic of the week: 31 weeks

gorgeous brown eyes, a button nose, ...and a whole lot of drool!

coffee and other grown-up things

i'm sorry, faithful readers, that i haven't posted in a while. i wasn't feeling too well all last week, so i was cranky and kept mommy on her toes. i'm feeling a lot better now, though, and things are going great! i am now 7 months old, and i am SO grown up...

i NEVER (well, hardly ever) fall anymore when i'm sitting up all by myself (aren't i amazing?!)...

i am starting to get more and more interested in this crawling thing, but i'm not quite there yet...

i now weigh just over 16 lbs! and i'm so tall that mommy and daddy had to buy me a cool new car seat. i LOVE it and don't cry in it very much at all, like i did in my baby car seat. it was just getting way too squishy in there!

anyway, i have to go because mommy and i are going to coffee break at grandma and grandpa's church. i get to see grandma and lots of other kids; it is so much fun! mommy is so proud of me because i am always so well behaved in the nursery while she has coffee with the other ladies (that's a long time to be drinking coffee, if you ask me...).

pics of the week: 30 weeks

hmmm...what's this, mommy? ...a cookie? (organic, of course!) ...what's that? ...you WANT me to put it in my mouth? that's interesting...
















hey! that doesn't taste too bad at all!
thanks,mom!

pics of the week: 29 weeks

showing off his pearly whites! you can only see two in this picture, but he has FOUR now! the top two came in last week (...which hasn't been much fun...)
the second picture is his last picture in his "baby" car seat, since we bought him a new one this weekend. he was getting a little bit too tall for the infant car seat. i can't believe how big he is now!

one more sleep...

until i see U2! mom and dad breimer are babysitting tomorrow night so that rob and i can go to the U2 concert at the air canada centre. we are going with tricia and luca and julie and ed.

now, whether or not i actually get some shut-eye tonight is yet to be determined. judah has not been sleeping well at all lately. [oh, do i ever miss the days when he slept 9 straight hours...but i would be happy with 4 or 5 at this point!] when i put him to bed, usually half-asleepish, he goes down fine, but then a while later, he starts crying, and the only thing that will settle him is cuddling with me. not daddy. it took me until now, and i've been trying since about 8:00, to get him to actually stay asleep. i have no idea how my parents are going to do it tomorrow night...

sauble beach

mommy and i have been SO very busy lately, so she has not had a chance to post pictures of our trip to sauble beach with my auntie tricia and cousins elizabeth and justin. since it doesn't look like she's going to do it anytime soon, i guess i'll have to do it. that's the price you pay for being a genius baby...

pic of the week: 28 weeks

mmm...banana!!

pics of the week: 27 weeks

beautiful creation and a beautiful baby boy

to help some of you understand...

in light of my recent decision to go vegetarian, i have found several links and articles to help those of you who don't understand try to see where i'm coming from.

The Christian Vegetarian Association - CVA
The Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA) is an international, non-denominational ministry of believers dedicated to respectfully promoting healthy, Christ-centered and God-honoring living among Christians. Click here for more information about the CVA.
I appreciate this website because it is not forceful or condemning, and it does not make unbiblical claims that eating meat is condemened or that Jesus was a vegetarian. It simply gives some good scriptural reasons why a Christian may choose a vegetarian diet. I have linked some specific articles that are on the CVA website, but please check out some of the many others they have listed on the website.
Honoring God's Creation -- How is vegetarianism good stewardship?
this article covers some basic reasons why to become vegetarian and some scriptural references. it also includes some information about vegetarian nutrition, which i invite those of you concerned about my health to read.
Honoring God's Creation -- Replies
responses to some commonly argued biblical reasons to eat meat and other animal products.
Vegetarianism's Benefits
the benefits of vegetarianism from a Christian perspective.
CVA Essays Page
CVA Links

GoVeg.com and PETA
these two websites are interconnected to provide a vast array of inormation about the vegetarian diet and humane treatment of animals. although as a Christian i do not agree with all of PETA's standpoints, i think that they do have some pretty good arguments and resources for becoming a vegetarian, particularly their not-for-the-faint-hearted "meet your meat" video. [to watch the video, click "click here to watch the video" then choose your settings. i am warning you, it is NOT pretty. i had to walk out of the room because i was so disgusted and saddened.] Both sites have a good FAQ section that answers questions about animal treatment, the reality of a plant-based diet, and vitamins and minerals.

Toronto Vegetarian Association
a Canadian perspective on vegetarianism
What Every Canadian Should Know
for those of you who think that farming in Canada is so different from the U.S., please read this article. the farming techniques sound eerily familiar to the ones described on PETA's "meat your meat" video.

reasons to become a vegetarian:
[the short lists]
21 Reasons for being Vegetarian
Top 10 Reasons to Become A Vegetarian
[the long list]
101 Reasons Why I'm A Vegetarian

This is great news!
As indicated in the long list above, dietitians are leaning more and more toward a pimarily plant-based diet as the ideal. They have even put out a Vegetarian Food Guide that conforms to the Food Pyramid/Rainbow. See also the Vegan Food Pyramid.

what about milk and eggs?
as most of you know, we discovered after a stressful bout of crying and cramps [which lasted nearly three months] that judah is allergic to milk products, and as i have recently discovered, he seems to be sensitive to eggs as well. i am avoiding these products because i am breastfeeding. i believe that this may be a blessing in disguise, because i think that i will continue to avoid dairy and egg products when i am no longer breastfeeding, adhering to a vegan diet. in fact, the omission of these products from my diet is what spurred me to think about the animal products i consume.
what's wrong with eating eggs and dairy products?
[eggs]
laying hens
different methods of raising laying hens and how they are all cruel to the animals.
[milk]
milksucks
this website is very informative in its description of the facts about milk. it debunks what many people perceive as truth about milk and gives reasons why not drinking milk is better for you, the environment, and the animals. associated with GoVeg.com.
cow's milk
some basic information about milk consumption
not milk!
an extensive, though somewhat random, site which has many good reasons not to consume milk products

other sites
i have not had a chance to check out these sites fully, but i have seen some good information that has come from them:
VegSource.com
EarthSave

i chose to become a vegetarian because as i examined my animal-consuming practices, i found that i did it out of habit and tradition. since i had already began the process of cutting out dairy, something that was already helping judah and i feel better, i wondered what would happen if i eliminated all animal products from my diet. it was a fairly quick decision, which surprised a lot of people, including rob (sorry, sweetheart!). as i started to research vegetarianism and veganism online and at the library, i started to discover many of the things that the websites and articles above have discussed. i am happy with my decision, and i honestly don't believe that i will ever eat animals products again.

i hope this helps you understand just a little bit more! thanks for taking the time to read this. please let me know your thoughts.