Taste Test

Our gal ate!


Well sort of anyways. Papa Bear and I were discussing when the best time to start solids would be, and well, we both got a wild hair up our butts and the moment just felt right so we went for it. We smashed up a little bit of avocado on our smallest littles highchair tray and set a spoon next to it. We figured if she could get the avocado to her mouth with or without the spoon it would be her first solid food and that would be that.


At first she rubbed her hands around in green goo and got a feel for it's texture. Then she did some finger lickin'. And finally she picked up her spoon and did a bit of drumming before she decided to rub it around in the tasty green goo. And to her surprise it stuck.

She licked her spoon and played mostly. She did get a good taste and feel for the avocado but I'm not sure how much actually made it's way into her honey pot. {honey pot being the other name for her belly thanks to Papa} But that's okay, actually just how we expected it to go. Our gals learning.

She tasted and played. And then when she was done she put her spoon down and let us know. Which made me feel even more sure that the way we started solids was just right for her. She tasted as much as she wanted and then she knew when she was ready to be done and she quit. It was all on her terms and we liked letting her have a say so.

Say so she did. Pretty loudly too actually. Then she waited patiently while mama got a rag to wash her face up. That she did not enjoy. The first of many face washes to come. Her big brothers still don't like having their faces washed up, so I figured she'd be the same.

So we took the big leap into solid foods. Even if we don't get them in every day we will continue to go with her flow and introduce her to new tastes and textures as she's ready. And in the meantime the girl is still crazy over her milks. So crazy in fact that today she actually signed for them when Papa was holding her. {we swear we saw it. And if not it sure as heck looked like it!} At nearly a half a year the gal knows what she wants and I swell with pride.

Ants and Kitties

Have I ever mentioned how much I love nap time? I do. But I especially love nap time on weekdays before the bus arrives with my midlittle.

It's my me time. I get a nice break all to myself. It's a time that even when I know there are things to be done.. I sit. And I don't do them. And it feels good. 

Today will be a busy one. I have lots on the agenda. We are out of laundry soap and the pile is heaping. Beds need to be made. The bathroom needs a scrubbing. Dishes are sitting in the sink. And here I am sitting in this chair. The chores will wait, while this mama is on break.

Tomorrow is Friday. The last day waking up in a Papa Bear-less house. Today when our midlittle woke up he stumbled into the bathroom, looked at me, and said "I wanted to give daddy a hug and a kiss." Little does he know--Papa Bear smooches us all before he leaves. I always stir and wake, open one eye, and whisper "Goodbye, love you" The boys however probably didn't even know that he did this until I explained it this morning. So our midlittle got ready with ease, knowing that he did in fact get a kiss from dad before he left. And our biggest little got ready with ease because he knew that there were ants on a log in his lunch pail and that's his favorite. Even when I put the ants on the log for him. Because he really enjoys being the ant placer here at home.

Our smallest little is just a wee bit adorable today. You see, on the first day of the new year we took a trip to the Salvation Army to browse all of the fine junk and I found the cutest pair of red kitty overalls I have ever seen. And, they are even cuter now that they are on my gal. Who woulda' thunk that a eighty cent pair of circa 1980 red kitty bibs could be so adorable, but they are and here's the proof.



Happy Thursday!



Limbo

I've been kind of mia these past few days. Not only on the blog, but also in life. I'm here but my mind is elsewhere.


Matt's been working a lot lately and I feel like I haven't seen him for weeks. I have, but only long enough to fill his belly and see him off to bed. It's not enough, I often find myself wishing that he were home with us. And even though it's only hump-day, I'm already looking forward to the weekend, and spending time with Papa Bear.


I'm also feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the growing our smallest little has been doing. She's nearly half a year, and it just seems like there is so much that I should be doing. I'm feeling the heat from society, I suppose. A few days ago I bought a box of oatmeal. And it's just been sitting on my counter glaring at me. Every time I walk by that box, I feel pressured. Luckily, with my research, and per Ell's new awesome Doctors advice, I know that it is okay not to start solids, at all, until she is one year old. Breastmilk is all she needs. Everything else is just for practice. I have been hardwired though, to start cereal at four to six months old. And feel the heat from nearly everyone around me, including Papa Bear. And I sit here wondering if she would be okay without the practice? Some studies even show that grains can actually do harm to the body before nine months old. What if I just gave her a bit of steamed broccoli to gnaw on, would that be better? After all, she's not going to be eating purees her whole life. Don't get me wrong I'm excited to start her on solids. I just want to make sure it's the right stuff at the right time..You see, this is what my head looks like inside right now. This and her third vaccine that she'll be receiving next week. How did this half a year mark sneak up on us so quickly?

Five and a half months inside mama.



Five and a half months outside mama.

It's gone by in the blink of an eye too. Not sure why I'm so surprised over it. It's happened twice before. The boys grew just as quickly. I think it has to do with something, that I'm sure must be called Last Baby Syndrome, or something like that.

My mind is busy with other things too. Like cooking, cleaning, getting the boys off of the video games they received for Christmas. I swear I get headaches from them playing them. All of the music and sound from the games is enough to drive someone nuts. Especially when they are both going at the same time. So, we are going to set up a system that works for us. Video games on certain days. I was thinking two days of the week would be okay, but what days? And then Papa Bear was thinking three days a week, so we'll have to work that out too. Of course the hours will be limited on said days. Because 48 or more hours of video games a week would be enough to turn you into one yourself, I'd think.

And lastly, I have been super excited for all of the mamas to be around me. I have four, yup four, ladies in my circle of family and friends who are expecting all within a month of each other and I am giddy over it. I can't wait to meet all of these new little earthlings when they arrive. Our littlest gal will have some new pals to romp around with in the future. There aren't too many around her age, and only one other little gal. So she will get some new friends, and maybe even a gal friend or two, or four. Each new life is such a blessing. And now there are four blessings on the way. Excited much? You bet I am.

Crunchify Two: Laundry Detergent

In 2008 we made the switch to cloth diapers with Owyn. I needed a new laundry detergent for washing his diapers in, but wasn't up for buying two different kinds of detergent for our family. We were already spending enough on just one jug at a time.

I decided to look into making my own detergent. And to my surprise it's actually really easy. So I set out to make my first batch and after that I never looked back.

Not only are we saving our clothing and skin from harsh chemicals but we are also saving our landfills from being piled with more plastic bottles. Annnnd we are saving money. I think we figured it to be somewhere around $250.00 a year, figuring that we were buying two jugs of detergent a month. And we have a lot of laundry with all of the family cloth so we may have even been using more than that. And since it saves us funds Matt likes to help with the making of it. He loves saving money. And I like that he helps because after grating a few bars of soap this mamas hands/wrists/arms get worn out.

When I first started making my detergent I was making a liquid. Which was the recipe I'd found online. While searching I found a ton of woman who would claim that they just did their own thing and no longer followed recipes, but they would say that they had started out with something similar to what I was planning on using and that it worked well .They'd just found their own niche. Soooooo yeah, I started with this liquid recipe, and saved my old detergent jugs and reused them over and over again.

Here is that recipe:

1/2 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/3 bar soap grated. (I use Fells Naptha or Ivory)
water

-In a large pot heat 3 pints water. Add grated soap and stir until melted. Add in washing soda and Borax and stir until fully dissolved. Remove from heat.

-In clean pail pour 1 quart hot water and add heated soap mixture. Top pail with cold water and stir well. (It never clarified the exact amount of cold water and I usually just used 2-3 cups.)

- Use 1/2 cup per load. Shake well before each use as it will harden a bit. (I always left a bit of space in the jugs for shake room to start off.)



I have simplified my recipe now. And am making a powdered detergent rather than a liquid. I decided that I would like to use even less Borax in the mixture and I kind of just went with what felt right and it works just fine. It only takes me about 30 minutes to make three months worth. And with two busy boys and a five month old, it works much better!

I'd say my recipe looks something like this

1 cup washing soda
1/4 cup Borax
1/3 bar soap grated

Mix it all together. Shake up, and you're done. It's that easy. I use about 2 tablespoons per load and it seems to get the job done. I always double, triple, etc. to make how ever much I feel I need or am in the mood to make at that time. It just works.

We are saving money, the planet, and our health. Does it get better than that?

Big Enough for Love

The first house I can remember living in was a little white two bedroom on Congress street.

There were three of us kids and two parents living in the tiny house. I have so many fond memories of that house before the ripe age of seven.

We knew most all of our neighbors, even Earl, the elderly man living in the shack across the street. I can remember just how snugly my blue paint-splashed bike fit while ridding between the garage and the house.
My Ma had a beauty shop in the basement and we'd spend hours spinning around in her beauty chair. I remember singing into pencils and dancing on my bed with my sister. My parents had a water bed. There was a little rhubarb patch in the yard and I will never forget the day my mom accidentally pulled a snake out while harvesting the rhubarb for jam. On the back porch there was a table where Dad did his studying and mom did her sewing. I remember Mom sewing my red farm animal blanket for me on that porch. I had a sandbox out in the backyard. My neighbors had a dog named Bingo. And I had a crush on a boy named Beau that lived just down the street in the apartments across from my school. He stuck baseball cards in the spokes of his bike tires and I thought he was the coolest kid on the planet.

When I look back at all of my time there I don't see the small house. In fact I don't remember the house as being small at all. My mom however remembers differently and I bet my dad would too if I asked him. When I think of where we are at now, our small house, the one we bought when I was eighteen, the house with our three children, and us two parents, I think of all of the love and life that goes on in between these walls. And I wonder what my children will remember most from their years here. What memories will they take from this home of theirs? Because it is also the first one that they will remember. This is the house we brought our two smallest littles home from the hospital to. The one that our biggest little moved into at a little ten months old.

People ask how we do it all the time. Most act like it's unbelievable. That our house is too small. Truth is, it's hard to live in such a small house with three small children.There's a lot more organization needed in a small home. And it helps us to decipher our needs from our wants with ease. Less is more. The less bedrooms we have the more family time we spend together. We don't have space for five TVs, three computers, and a different video game system in every bedroom and I believe that we are closer because of it. We all sleep close by one another, crowd around a smaller table to eat our meals, and we all cuddle up on the living room rug to play games, read books, and have family movie nights together. I am thankful for all of the togetherness that we share here because when I look at the big picture, I know we wont be here forever. And I know that we may never be this close again. These days are ones to remember. These days in our first tiny home.


As the picture from my grandmother that hangs on the wall in my kitchen reads:
Dear House
You are really very small
Just big enough for love
that's all.



It's Through

Our girls got a tooth!

It's not all the way in yet but I can feel the sharp little edges poking through her gums. I was able to feel that it had come through on Tuesday, and today it still looks about the same. But with her attitude I can tell that it's still working hard to make it's way above the surface.

The boys both got their first tooth in their fifth month too. Looks like Ell is following in their footsteps. It amazes me that we are already teething. It just doesn't seem possible that all this time has passed since she's come into the world. She's nearly half a year old. Yikes. Slow down baby, and be my baby forever, please?



It looks like she's saying "No mama, I want this many teeth."



High On Quilts

Yesterday my two smallest littles and I took a trip to the antique shop with my Ma.


I was raised in a family of antiquers. (is that a word?) My maternal and paternal Grandparents both sold, owned, and loved antiques. And the ones who are still here with us today are still loving antiques. I will forever remember my Grandma's basement as it was when I was a child, it was like sunken ship full of treasure. I can still remember the smell of it. 


I can also remember the days when I would go antiquing with my Grandmother. She would always be spiffying up her booth while I'd wander and browse all of the fine junk for sale. Each and every item has a story, and I wanted to know them all. I'd let my imagination run free. And, grandma usually would let me pick out a treasure before we'd leave. As a kid I was really into old Life magazines, I have quite a few from the 50's and 60's in storage somewhere.


Even though Grandma's passed, and the Life magazines are tucked in boxes I still love antiquing. The magic is still there. Each item still has a story, and my imagination still runs just a wildly as it always did. I stop at every wooden highchair to oooooh and ahhhh over it and try to think of someway that I could justify purchasing it. (even if I already have two that are really special) My biggest weakness however is vintage quilts. I love each and every one I see, weather it's tattered and torn or stitched perfectly at every seam. Each one has a story. A life of it's own. Each one was handmade. Each piece of fabric was gathered from somewhere for that quilt. Each quilt helped to warm a body. Was it a baby? A child? A mother and father? Grandmother or Grandfather? Who was it that loved and wrapped themselves in the warmth of these quilts? Where did they live. What's their story? Can they see their quilts keeping my littles and I warm on these chilly winter nights?

 

Ellie likes quilts too.

 It truly is endless. They are beautiful. I love them. And yesterday, I bought five. Yup, five. I couldn't resist. Okay, I guess I did resist two, but only because I already had five and I had to leave some for the next quilt lover, right? I've been high on quilts since yesterday afternoon. I fold and unfold them, lay them out just to stare at them, think about their pasts, and wonder what stories we will create in their futures. What sickness' will they cuddle my littles through, will they go with us on family picnics, which one will last long enough for my littles to have in their own homes one day, will my grandlittles snuggle warm and cozily down in them wondering about their past? Only time will tell, I suppose. For now though, I am am just happy that they are mine and that I get to add a little love to their stories.


I feel like the richest woman in the world. Yup, I'm really that high, on quilts.