We do not do only organic, and how much we buy waxes and wanes. It is more expensive so we try to do organic but more often than not lately we do the regular stuff. BUT I’m reading The Family Nutrition Book by the Sears (husband and wife, pediatrician and nurse and parents of eight kids.) I really like them, as I’ve mentioned before. This book has taught me a lot and I’m in the organics chapter now. Some notes:
Read the rest of this entry »

We were very bloggy this weekend but I’m bumping this to the top to brighten your Monday. - Heidi

Our niece pulled off one heck of a performance at her school talent show. I am so impressed, I am compelled to share. You can check it by clicking the “Read the rest of this entry” link below.

(Heidi adds - I am in awe, I cannot think of her dance without laughing and I promise it will make you smile! )

Read the rest of this entry »

We picked up an inexpensive lens at Adorama for the new (used) Canon 10d. I’m fairly shocked at the quality of image I can get in low light without a flash on the one-shot setting (P for “Pray”).

For an amateur like me, this is an incredible camera (it’s pretty good for a pro, too ). It’s going to be fun to learn more about it as we practice. The last piece of the puzzle is going to be a new compact flash card. The seven-year-old one we have is starting to corrupt data as often as it successfully writes an image.

Anyway, this is me playing around. Our living room and the real torture test — a cousin’s birthday party at the bounce house place. The only photoshop you see is auto levels.

Heidi showed me this web-ad for Motrin this morning (opens in a new window):

I love these sorts of typographical ads. This particular presentation is slick, the breathless narration is quirky and funny, and it’s utter, totally, and completely insulting. The idea is that this trendy mom is complaining about the pain associated with wearing her baby. Motrin to the rescue.

I was watching this, and halfway through I was shouting at my computer screen,

If there’s pain,

YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!

As a baby-wearing dad, I find the premise of this ad ridiculous.

Wearing your baby because it’s trendy? You’re doing it wrong.

Experiencing pain while wearing your baby? You’re doing it wrong.

Blithely taking medicine to treat the symptoms rather than figuring out the cause? You’re doing it wrong.

I respect the company’s right to sell you their medicine. That’s fine. But it’s also my right to speak truth to this ad campaign.

Medication is all well and good for pain that you have no control over, like surgery related issues. Or severe physical injury. But if you’re experiencing pain over something you’re actively doing, then you’re doing it wrong.

Pain is your body’s early warning system. It says, “Stop doing it wrong before you seriously injure yourself. Fix it, dummy!”

Baby wearing, if you’re doing it right, doesn’t hurt. It’s rather a nice way to lug a child around, nestled comfortably right above your center of gravity. I find that I can go for hours wearing my babies. But, then again, I’m doing it right.

It’s a shame that all that talent and clever presentation was wasted on such a stupid premise.

You can find a nice transcript of the mile-a-minute narration and more perspectives on this ad over here.

Ever since I read Blink, I’ve been a real fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s work. I need to pick up The Tipping Point soon, though I won’t be reading that before Gladwell’s third book, Outliers, comes out. The third book sounds as interesting as the rest of them: it’s about what makes successful people successful.

There’s an excerpt from Outliers over at The Guardian’s website. Gladwell manages to make the topics he tackles immensely interesting, and his writing style is thoroughly enjoyable to read. From the excerpt, the money quote for me is:

This idea - that excellence at a complex task requires a critical, minimum level of practice - surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is a magic number for true expertise: 10,000 hours.

10,000 hours to become an expert in any one thing. That really got me thinking. There was a point in my life when parenting was a scary experience filled with apprehension and self doubt — that was generally before I became a father. After C was born, somewhere along the line, that doubt and apprehension simply evaporated. But when? Time for some math.

More than a full time job, parenting is 24/7. So from the time C was born to the time Mo was born is 538 days. That’s 12,912 hours. Let’s be generous and subtract the time I spent sleeping during that first year and a half (538 days x 5 hours), and we’re left with 10,222 hours clocked as a parent by the time Mo was born. Adding in the time we’ve been parenting each of the other kids, we’ve clocked 165,209 hours parenting to date, give or take some sleep time (HA!). No wonder it doesn’t seem all that hard anymore! Confusing, frustrating, and a brand new adventure every day, but an adventure we seem to be getting the hang of.

Famous last words, I know.

We have been unbelievably blessed with help throughout our pregnancies and postpartum stages. We’ve had loving friends and family bring meals over when I was too sick in the first trimester to cook, when I was on bedrest, and postpartum when I was struggling with PPD or just exhaustion and throughout Bennett’s entire NICU stay. Our church calls it compassionate service and there is usually someone in each congregation called to oversee that program and coordinate the help but much of our help came from very, very thoughtful people that helped us out because they are that wonderful and kind and always serving others. (And I hope and strive to be that thoughtful!) When I went flat with Bennett at 10 weeks gestation friends started to bring over meals and they continued throughout the three months of bedrest, c-section and homecoming, and his entire four month stay in the hospital right until he came home and then they still kept bringing meals. They were incredible. Help came from family, friends, complete strangers at church when we were in new wards - we’ve been very, very blessed! And we’ve also gleaned some brilliant ideas from these meals over the years so here are some ideas if you have the chance to bless others! These are not my ideas, I claim no credit - these were things we were fortunate to receive.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is all from Child of Mine: Feeding with Love & Good Sense and really, REALLY, it’s worth reading. I’m reading it for the third time because it has so much good info and I need the reminder since we’re in food battle mode. I’ve written about this before. (Disclaimer, this is for healthy kids without feeding/growth issues - it touches on special situations but obviously this does NOT apply to children with any special needs in relation to feedings.)

Notes for self:

The parent is responsible for the what, when, & where of feeding.
The child is responsible for the how much & whether of feeding.

It is our job to provide healthy food choices, variety, and a consistent routine of meals and snacks. It is NOT our job to try to force, coerce, bribe, threaten, or cajole them into eating. What kind of message does it send to our kids if we say you MUST eat this before you can have this? We’re attaching values to food and making some bad and some good - we don’t want them to think they are being forced to eat veggies (yucky!) in order to get dessert (yummy!) We want them to make healthy food choices because they realize variety helps their bodies grow strong. We want them to learn to listen to their bodies, eat when they are hungry and eat until they are satisfied but not stuffed. I want so much for them to have a healthy and happy relationship with food.

Okay, more specifics:
Read the rest of this entry »

Freeing your child from anxiety - I saw this on the shelf at the library and so far I LOVE IT and will probably pick it up. Helps you distinguish between what’s normal childhood fears and what is true anxiety. It helps parents do very basic cognitive behavioral therapy with kids in anxious situations and we really, really need that. In a very serious way… I have anxiety disorder and I’ve had it as long as I can remember - my entire life, I had no idea that some of my thoughts and behaviors as a little kid were not normal. Well, or as a teenager or young adult. And I am seeing some of those same signs in my older two and I want to jump on that and help all we can NOW. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been a lifesaver for me, I hope we can teach the kids some of those coping skills while they are itty bitty.

Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense - this because we’re having feeding challenges with Moira. I don’t know how much of it is sensory related, how much is anxiety and how much is “normal” for her age so I’m reading this one again. A good friend suggested it and it’s a great read - I wish we had read this back with Christopher as an infant, it’s changed the way we handle meals around here but I need a refresher course.

The Family Nutrition Book by the Sears - I’ve loved everything I have ever read from the Sears family. If you only read ONE book about birth, their book (appropriately titled The Birth Book) is the one I would suggest. You can also borrow my copy. I’ve not started their nutrition book yet but it looks good, I just grabbed it at the library today.

And I’m also reading The Audacity of Hope and I wasn’t sure what to expect but it’s been fascinating! I gave up on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle because it just wasn’t capturing my attention enough, and I turned back in the Adams letters one, I fell asleep reading it. I’ll wait until I’m not so exhausted to check those out again! But the Audacity one actually kept me up one night and if I’m willing to trade sleep for reading then you know it’s a good one.

Homemade food gift ideas. And putting these in cute packaging always makes it that much more fun. I like to buy those inexpensive clear party bags (maybe $1.50 for 20?) and they come in various sizes. Or use canning jars, decorate leftover plastic containers (like sour cream tub) and cover with cute papers. Many of these ideas can be turned into a theme basket with a few inexpensive additions like a bag of tortilla chips with the homemade salsa. Get creative. :

- fudge, and can do flavored with peppermint and crushed candy canes on top, swirled with peanut butter, stir in chopped nuts and marshmallows for rocky road, etc.

- truffles (Jenny’s recipe or the new one w/cream cheese instead of cream. I’ll find it…)

- various other candies like tiger butter, peanut brittle, peanut butter bars, peppermint bark, mints, etc. All packaged into cute candy box and using the mini cupcake liners for easy and nice dividing of goodies. Those are also all easy recipes to make with kids.

- chocolate covered pretzels w/sprinkles (good to make with kids) fun with big stick pretzels.

- sugar cookie kit: sugar cookie dough or mix, frosting, sprinkles, cookie cutters. Can do as jar mix (in canning jar) and tie cookie cutter around lid. Or already made sugar cookies, of course! You can make sugar cookie dough and roll it into logs and freeze it to use for yourself or gift to others.

- movie kit: popcorn, drink, candies (homemade or store bought), and either new movie or gift card for movie rental. Put in big plastic bowl, especially fun with old holiday movie or family movies on DVD.

- homemade salsa (with chips, homemade tortillas, package of mexican hot chocolate, if you want to turn into theme bowl.)

- homemade fudge sauce, can be added to ice cream gift basket with ice cream scoop, toppings, ice cream dishes, whip cream, etc.

- homemade granola with dried fruit, nuts, etc.

- sparking cider and a goodie for New Year’s. When I was on bedrest with Bennett some friends brought us a New Year’s stash of goodies - cider, chips & dips, candies, etc. It was so much fun!

- muffin tin, muffin mix (homemade or store bought) and other baking goodies. Could do basic muffin mix in jar and then extras to add in little bags - dried cranberries, nuts, fresh fruit, chocolate chips, etc. Or muffin mix and jar of jam.

- cookie dough balls: make one huge batch or several various ones. Scoop dough, freeze & put in separate bags with gift tag and baking instructions. We did peanut butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and a chocolate chip dough one year.

- candied nuts, like sugar spiced pecans or almonds. Or other mixes like chex puppy chow or homemade trail mix.

- any warm baked goodie from the oven! Cinnamon rolls, cookies, muffins, sweet bread, homemade bread and jam. OR a coupon for said goodie to be delivered at a time they request.

I’m sure I’ll think of more! I’ll try to add recipe links later… what am I forgetting, other ideas?

- S’mores kit. It’s not homemade, but graham crackers, chocolate bars & bag of marshmallows.

- cocoa set, with hot chocolate mix (homemade or store bought) and marshmallows, candy canes to use as stir sticks, could put in cute mug or include cookies for dipping in.

- coupon for dinner to be delivered on a night of their choosing, with 24 hours notice at least.

- hot soup in mason jars w/bread, soup toppings, etc. Like baked potato soup with cheese, green onions and crumbled bacon or taco soup with tortilla chips, cheese and cornbread. Could do soup mix or do already made soup (but warn them you’re bringing dinner, of course.) I do this a lot for friends with a new baby and it’s fun to bring when the baby is a few weeks old, the husband is back at work, family has probably gone back home and the exhaustion is peaking. They probably get meals the first week after the new baby but at 3 or 4 weeks postpartum a delivered dinner is such a nice treat. I should just do a post on postpartum meals, huh?

This is for you, Rachel! But I realized I needed a good way to get these ideas all in one spot before they were abandoned in my bookmarks folder forever. I have a whole other folder of food projects/gifts I want to try so I’ll save that for another post.

PAPER CRAFTS
Flower Garland made from catalogs.

How to decoupage a notebook and seriously cute, I want to try that soon for the kids’ journals - we use composition books.

Make your own bows from magazines. I want to try this with the kids.

Craft Hanging Ball made from old cards.

Dollar Bill Rose - made me laugh but fun to try.

Cereal Box Mobile - I think those would be fun in the kids’ rooms.

Paper Fortune Cookies

SEWING & CROCHET PROJECTS
Quick baby hat from old t-shirt.

Child’s Tea Towel Apron

Baby Burp Cloth and I’ve made these - very cute.

Another baby burp cloth that’s also adorable but more complex.

Crocheted Newborn Roundie Hat - once I learn how to read crochet instructions!

Kids’ Puppet Show Curtain (I think we need to make this one soon, maybe with Grandma’s help??)

MISC.
Cookie Sheet Calendar

Small Gift Ideas & Sayings

Peanut Butter Jar Containers and I love these and am saving jars for this. I’m also considering saving enough jars up to make an indoor bowling set for the kids. One of the therapists suggested we slip some of Mo’s speech cards into them and whichever ones she bowls over we pick out and work on… could be fun!

Marble Magnets

Photo Magnets, and these can also be done with kids’ drawings?

(Disclaimer - I have NOT browsed these other sites extensively beyond the one page I am linking and I am assuming they are all safe/family friendly but just a heads up in case you run across something odd. However, many of them have really wonderful things to explore so let me know if you find other great ideas. )

These are Becky’s, too, by request :

Pizza Dough
7/8 cup warm water
2 T olive oil
2 t sugar
3/4 t salt
2 1/2 cups flour
2 t active yeast
rosemary
Mix, rise 1 hour, roll out, rise 15 mins, top, bake at 400 degrees for 15 mins.

Pizza Sauce
1 6oz can tomato paste
3 T parmesan cheese
2 T honey (or sugar?)
1 t italian seasonings
6 oz warm water
1 t garlic
3/4 t onion powder
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 t chili powder
Mix, let sit 30 mins.

You can make double batches of dough and freeze it, then defrost and stretch out and rest. The sauce you can make in bulk and freeze, too. We keep it and grated cheese in the freezer for quick pizza nights. You can also use whole wheat flour for the dough, of course.

Birthday party stuff to follow but before I forget - tomato soup, original recipe from one sister and modifications from the other sister.

LA MADELEINE’S TOMATO BASIL SOUP (original recipe)
4 cups canned whole tomatoes–crushed
12 Fresh basil leaves
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 c. butter
1/4 tsp. pepper

Combine tomatoes, juice and/or stock in saucepan. Simmer 30 minutes. Puree, along with the basil leaves, in small batches, in blender or food processor. Return to saucepan and add cream and butter, while stirring, over low heat.

Modifications - Rebecca said she sautes some garlic and onions in 1/4 cup of butter then adds milk instead of cream and uses dill sometimes instead of basil. So I’m going to try:

1/4 cup butter
1 to 2 t minced garlic
1/4 c diced onions

Cook until onions become translucent, then add to blender with:
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

Blend, add back to saucepan, stir and simmer with:
1 c milk (to taste)
dill, salt & pepper to taste

Serve with french bread.

It was delicious but I only ate a bit because of the dairy. Becky had experimented with the dill instead of basil and I really liked the dill. I’m wondering if I could try it with powdered milk (reconstituted) because Joseph doesn’t seem offend by powdered milk. In which case you could make an absolutely delicious tomato soup with pantry goods (except the butter) if you used dehydrated onions and garlic powder. You could also use evaporated milk instead of the cream or milk, depends on how much fat you want in your life though milk is so much cheaper (and healthier) than cream. Still delicious, just not as decadent. Seriously, so good - I would serve this with a big salad and crusty bread for guests. (If you come visit, warn me and I’ll make some for you. )

Here is Emily’s version.