1.

Breastfeeding. It’s taken a hit, and I’m sad about it. For a few different reasons (that we can figure, at this point), Felicity isn’t gaining the weight she should be right now. Called either Failure to Thrive or Faltering growth/weight, it means she’s not getting the calories she needs to thrive. But believe you me – it’s not like she’s showing it in her personality at all. And I think that’s a part of the problem – she’s a really happy baby who rarely fusses at all, and she hardly wants seconds much of the time (though I try).

She’s a little unsure about my abilities to take pictures…

So we are now about to try the pumped-milk-in-the-bottle method to help make sure she is drinking the amount she should be (in addition to breastfeeding) and check back with our doctor next week. I am thankful that we are fortunate enough that a ‘failure to thrive’ doesn’t by any means mean a death sentence – we have options to make this better, even if it means needing to use formula eventually (which I hope won’t happen, but I can’t rule out either).

She is a really happy baby, though. A beautiful little girl that we all love tenderly.

So sweet!

2.

At the Children’s Museum, playing dress-up and construction worker at the same time (she’s multitasking)

Word diarrhea. That’s what Cassia has in addition to a rash (more on that later). We think she is finally hitting the growth spurt that spurs on her vocabulary, cause she’s just coming up to us and using the oddest words. She pointed to a picture of a kid on a ladder, looked up at me and said, “guy? guy?” Yes, darling, that is a guy. “cake? cake? mommymommy! cake?” yes, honey, that is a picture of a cake. It’s like she’s looking for confirmation on whether she’s interpreting her world correctly. It’s pretty cute watching it unfold. She’s definitely repeating much of what we are currently saying (stuff Spencer says too), so we’ll have to be extra careful right now (hopefully).

3.

So spotty 🙁

Rash. I have no idea what Cassia gets these rashes from; I can make neither hide nor hair out of it and they seem to happen relatively often. There does not seem to be any correlation between the rash and anything else that we can come up with. I’m considering that she might need to be allergy tested, cause if it’s something triggering it all the time, then we can work at eliminating it. I just hope it doesn’t turn into something worse. Blargh. I wish it would just permanently go away on its own.

4.

Gathering. It’s now been almost two weeks since Felicity and I flew to Vancouver for my Grandad’s funeral.

I’m so thankful that we were able to go, and I’m fortunate that most of my family was able to come and be together. Coincidentally, even with 10 people, a casket is still quite heavy to carry (or maybe my cousins and myself are all wusses…this could be true. Except for the Avilas. Apparently they play sports or something.)

Apart from a few liturgical hiccups, it was a good celebration. My aunts and uncles wrote a short ‘Words of Remembrance’ about him that was spoken at the funeral that aptly gave a picture into his adventurous life, including his recurring tragic relationship with rental cars and his love of Hawaiian shirts.

5.

BNL (Barenaked Ladies). Andy and I went to their concert last Wednesday, and boy, was it darned awesome. They are sooo funny, and really talented (you really are losing out if you don’t check out these video links). There are some people who are of the opinion that they aren’t good without Steven Page, but Andy and I would beg to differ. We had an amazing evening sitting on a hill that was a little too steep (but had a good view) and sang along with the majority for the songs (like everyone else did).

6.

I have finally started the theory portion of my aromatherapy certification, and I can. not. wait for this part to be finished. While I enjoy reading about the properties, history, uses, and contraindications about essential oils and also Gr. 11 biology all over again (which I’ve mostly forgotten, it would seem), it’s a lot of memorization and apparently I’m a little out of practice in that area. And I have a few other distractions now (*ahem*kids*ahem*). In spite of my distractions, I am hopeful to complete my certification by the end of October, which would be grand in terms of getting things started here and being able to create a proper office for aromatherapy and be able to promote my business. Yay!

7.

I encourage everyone to pray and write to their Members of Parliament over the persecution of Christians in Iraq by ISIS. As quoted by +Louis Raphael Sako, Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon, President of the Assembly of the Catholic Bishops in Iraq:

“They are facing a human catastrophe and risk a real genocide.”

Read his whole SOS appeal letter here

Please bring this message to the attention of all you can and pray for our beloved brothers and sisters who are fleeing death and persecution as we sit here at our computers. Let us not be idle in our thoughts, actions, and prayers in this!

For more Quick Takes, head to Jen’s website: Conversion Diary.