Passover Seder

When I was about 13 my dad took me and some people from church to a Passover Seder led by a local Rabbi. I loved what I learned from the Jewish perspective.

When I was a student at BYU, my older sister took me to a Passover Seder led by one of the religion professors of the school. I loved what I learned from the Latter-day Saint perspective.

Last night I got to expose my little family to the joys of the Seder and we all enjoyed it. L got snuggled by the Jewish ladies who wanted some baby love. The guy got to eat and throw the "plagues" around and then eat some more. Jared and I learned, listened, and learned more. Oh, yes. And the food was good.

I love listening to the songs in Hebrew. I love the symbolism of Passover. I love filling the gaps of explanation where I see them. And I especially loved read Exodus 12 with my little son in preparation of the evening.

As I read Exodus 12 with the guy, I felt so good that we were doing this.

14 And this ^aday shall be unto you for a ^bmemorial; and ye shall keep it a ^cfeast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a ^dfeast by an ordinance ^efor ever.

I laughed out loud as I read verse 15.

15 Seven days shall ye eat ^aunleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be ^bcut off from Israel.

Well, I may not be cut off but I might deserve to be because all morning the guy and I made (leavened) breads for our friends and then went on a walk to deliver them. HAHA!

It was a good day and we had a great experience as a family. Oh, except a few people acted like we weren't there because we're Gentiles. : / I hesitate to mention it at all, but it certainly was part of our evening. That was the only downer. One lady at our table had the gall to ask another woman, "who are all these other people?" as if we were not even there sitting next to her. She literally ignored our presence most of the evening, and talked about us and "Mormons" like we were not present. She did the same to another new lady at the table until she found out she was Jewish and then talked to her abundantly. But not us. That was disappointing but we still had a great evening. Jared said it was a wonderful way to spend an evening as a family. Agreed. Thanks for supporting me in my fascination with religions, honey!

This basket contained all the symbols of the 10 plagues. Our guy was in charge of the basket for the whole table. I was glad there were no other little kids at our table. He got to enjoy the plagues (HA!) but they didn't make a big deal of finding the afikomen or else that would have been all for his enjoyment too.

the frogs. He got the throw them, the blood (or red pom poms), and  hail (white foam  balls).

the locusts and boils (bubble wrap... so clever)

the hail

the darkness

the afikomen

the dessert

L's 27 week summary

I am no good at blogging. This draft was originally titled "L's 18 week summary." Whoops. Now she's 6 months old!

This little lady has absolutely emerged these last 2 months! She is a giggling, talking, smiling, interactive woman! The guy and I regularly sing her the line... "whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a lady!" And she is.

• She had a check up this morning and she weighs 14 lbs exactly. 90th percentile for height, 50th for her head, and 25th for weight.
• She still fits into a lot of her 3-6 month clothes and I just pulled out the 6 month stuff. She is not huge, but growing.
• She sleeps so much better as long as she gets enough to eat. She usually sleeps without incident from 7:30 pm - 6:30 am. And usually takes three naps a day. Hallelujah! Prayers are answered.
• She still talks, more likes moans, when she's very tired. Both her laugh and talk have a deep, guttural sound. No high-pitched girly screams here.
• She doesn't like being tickled. She might grunt but than usually cries. She does love peak-a-boo, but only with the right people. I am not one of them. :( 
• She wants to be mobile and moving, but doesn't seem to have the patience to struggle through tummy time to learn to roll yet. She rolled three times in one day and has not done it again. 
• She started solid foods last week. She still has food sensitivities and it shows in her stools and gas pain. Because I know she has gut flora issues, we are following the recommendations from the GAPS diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) when we introduced solid foods. First homemade chicken stock with homemade raw yogurt. She liked it. Then a bit of home pressed carrot juice. She struggled with the taste of that. Now she's trying pureed carrots, and she has only enjoyed them mixed with breast milk. Not so much mixed with coconut oil. 
• She is obsessed with her binki and when she wants it she will cry for over an hour to get it. I want so bad to toss it, but she just CRIES with no end in sight. Any suggestions??!

And please excuse all the blurry pictures. My phone camera is pretty much my all-the-time camera. I never claim to be a photographer. I've just glad to have the technology to catch these moments. :)

Old picture, but seriously. Anyone else loving this cheetah outfit?