January harvest

the first wave of broccoli coming in

Levi's first duck hunt

Some pictures from a morning hunt last weekend.  Levi and I struck out for the farm on a chilly morning and headed down to the beaver swamp in hopes of finding a few ducks.  Levi managed stayed dry (Daddy not so much after having to swim the neck-deep swamp to retrieve a bird) and we had a grand time.  Duck is one of our family favorites.....Molly the magician made three hearty meals from the two birds, with plans for more ducks in the near future.              

Sofkee Creek, low from lack of rain

Duck man!

Dreaming...

We're pouring over seed catalogs here & beginning to sketch out our grand plans for the upcoming garden season.  2 beds of carrots, 3 of potatoes, 2 for onions, and what about sweet potatoes?....  The evenings are being spent in the library, glass of wine in hand, reading about nutrient/growing requirements.

This weekend I put in exactly 240 onion plants = 2 rows down a raised bed with enough room left for lettuce in the middle.

Oh, Napoli

These babies are just getting bigger & better!  Levi can't help but pull one everytime he visits the garden.

This variety is Napoli - known for becoming sweeter as they're held in-ground during the colder months.  We're  down to our last 20 carrots or so in the garden.  The carrots were so successful in our deep beds this winter, we've decided to dedicate some serious square footage to them come spring.

Our favorite way to eat them?  Cut into diagonal chunks, tossed with olive oil/salt/fresh rosemary, and roasted in cast iron in a 400+ degree oven until soft & slightly caramelized.

New Year's Day 2012

We all awoke feeling more achy and sick than the night before.  Departed Jennings and made our way home in the early hours of the day.  Indi has her first full blown cold. 

We embraced home 'as is' and most of us cocooned in the warmth of fuzzy blankets and snoozed the rest of the day away.  The requisite black-eyed peas & greens were consumed. 

What did you do today?

*
*
*
*

Goodbye 2011

It's my last chance to squeeze in a 2011 blog post.  I'm the lone soul here at Joe's parents staying up to see in the new year.  I'm hearing the occasional pop of fireworks in the distance & thinking some of the year just closing.  Really a year of great change for us:  a new child, a new home, a new job, major surgery, and a child off to school. 

What will the year ahead hold?

flying high

a visit with Jerry

Every 2 or 3 weeks we visit Jerry Kolman, an orthotist, who maintains Indigo's helmet.  He checks for head growth & makes adjustments to the helmet.  The goal is to give her an average proportioned head.  The helmet is creating resistance in the front and back and is open on the sides. 

Especially important is the ratio of head circumference to head width.  For the 'average' female child (6-12 months old) this ratio is 78.  Indigo began at 67 and is now at 73.75.  We hope she will get to 80 -there will be some regression once the helmet is off, and hopefully will then settle somewhere around 78.

Thanks Jerry for all your help!

measuring circumference

width

doing some diagonal measurements

checking that her head is symmetric (measuring from each ear to middle of nose)

today we are doing a 3-D scan as well, the laser only sees white - hence the white cap

cutouts for ears made - not so bad huh?

attaching a 'center' for the laser to orient to

the resulting scan


Indigo is wearing a helmet to correct sagittal suture craniosynostosis which was discovered at her 1-month pediatrician checkup.  We traveled to Shands Hospital in August (when she was 3.5 months old) and the suture was surgically opened by Dr. Pincus.  {I wanted to have those keywords included to help others who may be searching for more information.}