Amazing Race Australia! (Aug '10)

I don't know why I never really watched it before I was married, but since then, Varian and I have really enjoyed watching the Amazing Race together. Well last year they announced for the first time that they were going to do an Australian Amazing Race - of Australian contestants going all over the world in a race for a quarter of a million dollars.

 

Varian really wanted to apply and asked his sister Leah to go with him. They went with the "We're Mormons" angle and hoped they'd be picked as the brother-sister combo team. (Which by the way, don't you love that photo of them filming at the top!)

They were very bummed not to be chosen over this bro/sis team that made it: Ryot and Liberty. R&L made it to only the second leg of the race and were the very first team to be eliminated. It's a shame too. I bet Varian and Leah would have done really well. They're both experienced travelers, intelligent and very competitive.

They filmed their video audition over two days and their sister Alana edited the hours of footage into just the short clip at the bottom of this post. I mostly looked after Jaren that day and here is a cute picture of him on the swings for the first time while we waited at Wellington park as they filmed the beach shots.

We did also have a cameo appearance as Varian pretended to street contact us as a missionary, but sadly it didn't make the cut. But if you do look closely you can see he's wearing my "Hermana Wood" badge.

It's been months now since I've watched this clip. I cringe at the fat people comment, a little at the wife joke since I am his "more than enough" wife and I remember how we'd all awkwardly laugh and gasp at the dead pan face after Varian's somewhat harsh comment. But again they filmed for hours and tried to make a short clip of things that would catch attention and make the judges want them on the show. So watch the video and enjoy. Maybe Varian will apply again one day. Hopefully when the prize $ has gone up to a million dollars and he and I go together to bond and become the first winners of The Amazing Race Auserica. :)

Supper Time

I've started and restarted this entry a few times. I was going to go into all the details of how we fed Jaren and when and why but I don't think I have the energy really to finish with all that detail. In a nutshell we tried to do it properly according to what "they" say. We waited till 6 months for rice cereal and then later added one veggie at a time and then after all the veggies started on fruits. I nursed him till we had some problems and then added formula feeds until about 6 months when I had nothing left to give him. But we kept him on formula and waited till he was a year old before giving him dairy.

   

We also held off on all the things you're supposed to till he was the right age (actually he's still never had honey because I'm paranoid since I had infant botulism as a baby). We don't let him eat junk food or desserts much to the dismay of my father in law and Varian's grandma. I'm not saying he never will, I'm just saying he's ONE for crying out loud and his nutrition is totally dependent on what we give him. I just don't want to give him things that aren't good for him. (If only I would have the same discipline with what I eat myself! :) ) But seriously, why give him ice cream when he's this happy eating smooshed up peas?!

I imagine as he gets older and becomes more aware we'll let him have sweet things on occasion. His record isn't perfect. He has very rarely tasted some contraband items, mostly when Warren and Oma have slipped him an unsanctioned treat, or a few times when we left something within reach but otherwise we've stayed strong and he's just as happy eating fruits or veggies or a slice of bread. He's not that fussy. And it's great frankly. The kid eats fruit likes it's candy, he's overall such a great eater, and hopefully is developing good strong healthy eating habits. Give the kid a mandarin or some cheese and he's in heaven! (Varian may argue here that cheese isn't all that healthy, but boy does the kid love it. He's his mother's son that way!)

   

He eats almost everything we make. He loves curries and mexican food and other more foreign foods. We took him to an African restaurant the other day and he went to town! It was an all you can eat buffet and he was free and I'm sure they regretted not charging for him with all he packed in. :) No, he's just really a great eater. It's so strange when he gets sick and looses his appetite a bit. At those times I always have such sympathy for the parents of picky eaters. What a pain!

Well so much for the nutshell. These are all a few photos of Jaren last August as he started eating veggies - most of which ended up in his mouth. :)

ps: I should add here a few props to myself (and especially to Varian) for making our own baby food. Definitely not the American-we-want-convenience way. But baby food is expensive here and we always have lots of fresh fruits and veggies. So we'd steam it up and puree it ourselves and even freeze it so that he almost always ate home-made concoctions. My mother-in-law would say that my next step in giving him healthy foods is to ban the microwave in my house, but I can't ever really see that happening. It's way too convenient and so handy for heating up baby food or leftovers. When we stayed with her after the floods it was way too much effort and dishes to heat up a small portion of baby food on the stove or in the oven. (Not to mention the few burns I got trying to lift out small bowls out of the oven and accidentally touching it later as I fed him.) Jaren just ended up eating cold food for those few weeks. Until they actually prove that they could cause cancer or completely ruin your food, I'm stickin' with my microwave! Sorry mum! :)