We Start 'Em Young

No, she didn't actually get to drink any Coca-Cola. But she sure did enjoy carrying around Daddy's bottle. However, the same cannot be said for chocolate milkshakes.

I don't think Daddy's milkshake ever had a chance.

Recipe Finds

I've found a few new keepers recently to add to my regular rotation and thought I would pass them on. I think coming up with meals that satisfy the whole family, meet reasonable nutrition guidelines, and don't consume vast quantities of money, time or energy is one of my toughest jobs and I always need fresh ideas. Please share yours.

Very Easy and Tasty Pasta with Tomato and Feta - name says it all. I have made it without the feta and it's just as good. Beats Carino's and is super easy. Will fumigate your house with garlic, though.

Take-Out Fried Rice - cheap and easy. I usually make a big batch of rice any time I cook it and put leftovers in the freezer. Then I can combine the leftovers into one fried rice meal.

Crock-Pot Cowboy Beef & Baked Beans Stew - for the meat and potato lover at your table

Easy Cubed Steak Crock Pot Casserole - I did not use nearly as many potatoes as the recipe called for or we would have been up to our ears in potatoes. But that's an easy way to stretch the recipe.

Sesame Peanut Noodles - another cheap one. I didn't care for the cucumber called for, so I omitted it. I substituted yellow squash once and that was good, but it didn't keep very well for leftovers. Next time, I'll just use the carrots and do squash on the side.

Bon appetit!

Lists

I like lists. Here's a few neat ones I came across in my blog-hopping recently:

8 Things People Never Tell You About Having Kids

10 Things You Can Do For A Mum With A New Baby

5 Simple, Natural Ant Control Remedies

Enjoy!

Hair Update

So I know you're all dying to know how the 'poo-free routine is going. I know this because it is the most frequent question I get from my loyal blog readers...all seven of you. But you keep asking and I keep waiting to answer because I'm hoping to arrive at my final answer. But I don't think I'm going to have one, so here is what I've learned.

I am still using the baking soda/water shampoo. I started in February with one tablespoon of baking soda per cup of water. I was also doing an apple cider vinegar (acv) rinse every time I shampooed that consisted of one tablespoon of acv per cup of water. I quickly realized that this combo turned my hair to straw. Fluffy and soft, yet very much straw. Naturally curly hair does not look good when fluffy.

So I did some research and decided to try a tablespoon of honey in a cup of water for my conditioner instead of acv. Bad idea! It did help with the straw hair, but I had really gross filmy build-up on my scalp. Then I discovered that honey water left in the bottle will grow huge black balls of mold. Even nastier! So that combo went down the drain.

Keep in mind through all of this that each new attempt takes several trials to determine the change it will render. It takes even longer when you accept the reality that mothers of littles don't get a shower every day. I knew going in to this that it was a trial and error process, and a very individual process. I am dedicated to finding the right mix because I like the positive side effects I've seen (more on that later).

The next thing I tried was half a tablespoon of baking soda in a cup and a half of water. That didn't seem to do the trick because my scalp got oily very quick. Now I'm doing half a tablespoon of baking soda in a cup of water. I've also cut back on the acv rinse, keeping the ratio the same, but only using it once every 3-4 washes, and only applying it to the ends of my hair, not my scalp.

My saving grace has been the natural replacement I found for leave-in conditioner. After I towel-dry my hair, I smooth a finger-full of coconut oil onto the ends. Lots of testimonies I read encourage the organic, pure-pressed coconut oil; but you know me...ever the cheapskate. I paid about $5 for a vat of Louanna coconut oil at HEB. So far, so good. It works wonders on frizzies! And seriously, the tiniest amount is sufficient. Too much produces stringy hair, or so I've been told. It comes solid, but if you scrape a little out of the container and rub it between your fingers, it melts on contact and then you smooth it into your hair. No, it doesn't smell like Hawaiian Tropic; I can't detect any fragrance.

Another factor in the equation is the change in seasons. Now that winter is over and I'm finding cool showers more refreshing than hot showers, I think my formula needs to be a little different. It only makes sense that as my skin and hair get more oily with the heat and humidity, that I would need to take care of them differently. This had never occurred to me before. Why would the same products work year-round when my skin and hair change with the seasons? I like the natural alternatives because they are easy to adapt and if one recipe isn't working for me, it's so cheap that I can pour it out and start over.

I'm going to give a little more information in the name of thorough reporting, so I hope I don't cross a line. I was hoping that going 'poo-free would eliminate my itchy scalp problem. I have had problems with my head being itchy for as long as I can remember. I've tried special shampoos, but never experienced much change. I chalked it up to having sensitive skin. Each new ratio of baking soda/water that I try, I hope will help more; but that has not been the case. Granted, it isn't any worse. I think I am more tuned in to it now than I have been in the past because I am trying to pay attention to degrees of difference with each change in formulation. I'm having a hard time believing that my head is still itchy because the rest of my body is not. That has been the greatest surprise side effect. I think commercial shampoos were stripping the moisture from all the skin downstream of my head. I've noticed that my arms and legs are not nearly as dry as they used to be and don't require as much lotion. So why doesn't that translate to my scalp?!

This is why I have waited so long to give an update. Because I still don't have a solid answer. I still feel good about the cost savings and the simplicity of baking soda and acv. And I really like that I'm in control of what goes on my scalp and how it is helping with the rest of my skin. My hair also feels really healthy. I like the softness when combined with the manageability of the coconut oil. And it seems to behave very well, too. My conclusion thus far is that the natural solutions work as good or better than the commercial solutions. So I'll keep tinkering and trying to find the right mix.

If you're committed to making the switch, you might want to check out a few of these links for more troubleshooting info:

Babyslime (what a blog name, huh?!) - incredible details and helps!

Keeper of the Home - notice she uses a different ratio of ingredients

Sorta Crunchy - she uses a paste of ingredients instead of liquid

You can also get great ideas by reading the comments on these blogs. Be warned, though, that you could easily get sucked into the loathsome Bermuda Triangle of Time.

Let me know what you are trying. What's working? What's not? I know you're trying it, don't be embarrassed. Speak up and maybe we can figure it out together.

C's gonna need a wipe

Tonight I did one of the dumbest things I think I have ever done as a parent. We had a very spontaneous, relaxed day out on the town today and ended with a quick trip to Home Depot. We had promised A a special dessert, so we grabbed candy bars at the check-out. She was thrilled when we handed it to her in the car. Of course, C is cognizant now of things like this and wanted her rightful share. So, I obliged. I handed a big chunk of sticky, stringy, warm Twix bar to my toddler in her car seat.

J kept an eye on her in the rearview mirror to make sure she could handle it and it didn't seem to be a problem. When A had finished her portion, she dutifully cleaned her hands and mouth with a wipe. Shortly thereafter as we approached our street, A announced, "O-o-oh, yeah, C's gonna need a wipe!" Her tone was so incredulous that J and I just busted out laughing.

Sure enough, when we got home and I surveyed the damage, I realized that a trip to the kitchen sink was in order. And at least one baby doll will need a run through the washing machine. Since tomorrow is church, I don't really have time to wash the car seat cover, so I did the best I could with wipes. I realized it was a dumb move on my part as I was picking caramel out of the canvas buckle strap.

One day, hopefully soon, I will come to terms with the fact that I have two very different little girls. One would almost prefer to dispose of the chocolate bar if it presents too high of a messy risk. The other will go looking for tactile experiences and submerse herself fully in any mess so as to absorb all possible sensory information. I know this somewhere in my head, but sometimes it just doesn't translate to my actions. And when that happens, C's gonna need a wipe!

Well, I Never!

I'm so ashamed. My sweet neighbor had to bring the following monstrosity to my attention.

I'm referring to the weed, not the child about to be eaten by the weed. For some perspective, J's boat is 4 feet wide and the shadow at the top of the pic is from our eaves!! Have you ever seen a weed that big?! My neighbor really was so sweet about it. Poor friend had to look out her kitchen window at that for how long? Patience of Job, I tell ya.

The bad news is that was the mother weed. It was not alone.

That's the other side of the house. And this was the back:

You feel better now about your lawn, don't you? The good news is that these pics were taken almost a month ago, the day before six students showed up to help rescue us from our land of woe for The Big Event. They worked about three and a half hours and pulled most of the weeds, raked all the leaves in the front yard, and painted a bench in the back yard. Hooray for free labor!

It looks much better now, I promise. You'll just have to take my word for it because it took me this long to get the pics up that I already had; I'm not waiting to post them for another month while I procrastinate on taking "after" pics.

Never enough pink

I was happy to help out a friend who needed child care early this morning. It's a good thing that J had to leave for his weekly men's prayer coffee about the same time our little friend was arriving because the pink level in this house just exploded. Shortly after I turned off the morning tv show, I heard K ask A, "Let's go get dressed. What kind of clothes do you have?" They then disappeared into A's room and all I could hear was,

"What about polka-dots? I like the polka-dots."

"I think I'm going to do the flower shorts."

"Ooh, yeah, I like those."

"Let's find some shoes, too."

"I have two pairs of crocs...pink and purple, my favorites."

"How about sandals? I like the sandals."

"Oh, those are pretty!"

Too funny!

I called them to breakfast and after they finished, they asked if they could go outside. I told them I thought the neighbors would appreciate it if we waited until at least 8 am to take this show outside. "Okay, we'll go brush each other's hair." Good luck with that, K, cause it usually causes fits of holy terror when I try to brush A's hair. I give 'em six more months before they're asking to paint each other's toenails. Pink, pink, pink, pink, pink!

Fifteen Months

C's well-check was all good news on Monday morning. She's holding steady in the 25th percentile for height and weight. She weighs 20 lbs, 13 oz and measured 30" tall. Her doctor said she looked great. We were in the after-hours clinic several months ago for an ear infection and the doctor on call noticed an innocent hurt murmur. Apparently an elevated fever will increase the vibration and make it easier to detect. Our regular pediatrician has been checking every time we go in and he said that it was still very normal and nothing to be concerned about, no restrictions, limitations, or concerns. He said that some cardiologists would claim we all have a heart murmur, but most are just not detectable. I'm not worried and you shouldn't be either (Grandma & Nana).

48 hours has made a huge difference in the walking. She's really been concentrating on that and defaulting less and less to crawling. J has a good video of her on his iPhone, but he has yet to email it to me so you don't get to see it either.

Other notes of interest for fifteen months:

• She really likes baby dolls now, especially pushing them around in a stroller.
• More words, including baby, dog, ball, mommy, daddy, row-row (for swinging), walk, more, juice, shoes, duck, book, and several animal noises
• She calls J "mommy" and asks for him all day. No really, it's not me she's looking for. When he comes home in the evening, she takes off for the door singing, "mamamamamama". He's man enough to be comfortable with that.
• Big fan of french fries, chips, and pizza. Notice the subtle change from frozen peas.
• Still walking all over the 18-month pants, so it's a good thing summer's coming and we can move into shorts.
• Loves to play with, or even near big sister
• Loves to play outside, but still won't brave a slide without being pulled down by her toes

As always, I can't believe how fast life is going; that my baby is already fifteen months old. Technically, she's not a baby anymore. Maybe the slower pace of summer will allow more time for soaking up the sweetness of a toddler.

50/50

It's been a busy weekend, but the main thing you'll want to know is that C is coming around to the idea of walking. She spent a lot of time with daddy this weekend while I was getting ready to host a baby shower for a sweet friend. I think he pushes her a little more than I do and maybe she feels braver around him. Who knows! But she's walking now about as much as she is crawling. Her walk has a very Clint Eastwood kind of swagger to it and she's added that to her crawling as well...it's really funny. Surely this week sometime she will give up the crawling and see that walking is really the superior mode of transport. She has a 15-month well-check in the morning; will let you know the details as I have time.

Maybe tomorrow

So I wanted to find an activity to occupy my girls while I got some stuff done on the computer. During nap, I found a recipe for no-bake playdough and thought we'd give that a whirl. I spent an HOUR making playdough!! That is the opposite of what I was going for. I needed the girls to be occupied for an hour, not me! Not to mention that my hands are now quite sore from kneading 2 cups of flour into 1/2 cup of water. And of course, by the time I got the food coloring worked into the last ball of playdough, C was consuming mass quantities of the first ball and A announced that she was done with it all. Needless to say, the budget did not get updated this afternoon. Maybe tomorrow.

Got the giggles

Lookout! Somebody learned how to edit video clips. I've been working on this little montage for a while now. The clips start when she was about 4-5 months old and the last one was taken just a few days ago. For her baby dedication, we chose Psalm 28:7, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." Wonder why?

Daddy got schooled!

Bedtime exchange between J and A:

J: I love you all the way to the moon and back.

A: Well, I love you all the way to Thailand and back.

J: The moon is further than Thailand.

A: No it's not, Dad. I can go outside and see the moon, but I can't see Thailand. The moon's just right there.

J: You're a very smart little girl.

A: You're not a very smart daddy if you think Thailand's closer than the moon. I'm just kidding. You're a smart daddy,...but you're just wrong.

Weekend Update

We had a very full weekend, not the least bit related to Easter festivities. We did make it to church yesterday morning and I really enjoyed the worship time, praising God for the resurrection of Christ and thanking Jesus for His sacrifice on my behalf. I was thinking over the weekend, though, that I wonder why we don't have more Easter traditions? We spend weeks getting ready for Christmas and have so many opportunities to explore and embrace the joy and substance of Christ's birth, but Easter seems to come and go at our house without much notice. I hope I can make time before next year to dedicate more thought to the significance of the resurrection and how we can mark it.

So our weekend was pretty ordinary, but very productive. The girls and I did grocery shopping on Thursday, making it to two stores to maximize bargains. We also had A's follow-up thumb appointment to squeeze in there. The doctor said that her thumbs look great and he was pleased with their mobility. He cleared us from his care with the final instruction to rub some mederma scar cream on the incision site every day once the scabs are gone. A is still a little timid about using her thumbs, but I think it's because the little band-aids limit movement. Hopefully, when the scabs are gone and we stop putting on new band-aids, then she will work them a little more and get good strength in them.

Friday morning we went to an Easter party for playgroup. A brave mom from our church invited everyone over to her backyard for messy fun, including egg dying and painting. We had a good time, except for the busted lip that A got when she walked behind a swinging friend. She complained that her teeth hurt for the rest of the day, but was fine the next day. She also scraped her foot on the sidewalk while riding tricycles with a little friend. Could have been avoided if she had been wearing shoes. Which was part of Thursday's shopping marathon that I forgot to mention...

Her feet are being difficult. Her size 8 crocs from last year are wearing blisters on the top of her feet, but the new size 9 sandals I got to go with her Easter dress fell right off. I certainly don't want to spend money on shoes that won't last the summer, so I was conflicted on buying more size 8's. I had looked at several stores for a good summer solution, but to no avail. So we also worked in a trip to Payless on Thursday and found a pair of 8.5 sandals that have velcro over the toe and over the ankle, so we can grow this summer. What a hassle!

Back to Friday. Playgroup, lunch, nap, then J came home around 3pm and told me to take off. I only hesitated long enough to find my purse, then I disappeared until it was time to pick them up for home group. I made it to a natural foods store that I've been wanting to explore and picked up some pure cocoa butter that I've been wanting to try instead of my usual lotion. Also got to hunt the local Goodwill stores for a cassette player. Yes, I'm looking to buy a cassette player. I'd like to get some books on tape from the library for A to listen to and we no longer own a cassette player. I thought I'd be able to pick one up pretty easily, but I guess cassette players are even too old for Goodwill. But I had fun window shopping with only my own thoughts to keep me company. Then I picked up the family and we headed to home group. That was a good time of catching up and praying for each other. Our leader showed the crucifixion scene from The Passion of Jesus Christ. We still hadn't seen that movie. I'm so sensitive to gore, that I know I can't watch it. But I feel like I ought to, that I need to understand the brutality of Christ's sacrifice for me. I did manage to listen to it, but my eyes were closed for big chunks of the scene. I saw enough to have a few images burned into the gallery of my mind for a good while.

Pause for intermission. This has turned into a marathon post, so feel free to take a break, go get your caffeine of choice, and return as time allows. Back to the show...

Saturday morning, J got up at the crack of dawn. That sentence is no small feat and those that know him would venture to guess it had something to do with electronics. They would be right. He was in line by 7am at our local Best Buy for the new Apple iPad. They didn't open until 9am. We live in a college town. It was Easter weekend. I called at 7:30 am to learn that he made some new friends with the other 6 (count 'em, s-i-x) geeks who had anticipated the mad rush. One of the other men's wives even brought coffee from Starbucks for the weary, thirsty sidewalk campers. What a boy won't do for a new toy!! I'm supposed to mention some sort of disclaimer that Phodder really neee-eeeded the iPad for new app development. True, they do already have customers asking for iPad apps. And he redeemed himself by knocking out honey-do's for the rest of the day.

Our main project on Saturday was cleaning out the garage. It's only been, you know, almost two years since we moved into this house. I think it was high time to unpack the last boxes and make room for at least one vehicle. We're quite proud of our progress:

J made me take a picture of the labeled baskets and said I had to put it on the blog so everyone could see how neurotic I am. Honestly, though, I did it because I know we--ahem, he--is more likely to put things back where they go if their homes are unmistakably identified. Anyhoo...

We finished up with that in time to give the girls baths, because they were filthy from playing outside all day. After supper I did something I never thought I would do. I ironed my preschooler's clothes. Her Easter dress was quite scrunched from the washing, so I dutifully ironed two layers of pouffy skirt and three little ribbon bows. I remembered why I don't do that when I buckled her into her car seat the next morning and had to wad it all up between her legs to buckle her. Fortunately, I had the wherewithal to take the pictures before we left. Isn't she lovely?

C even managed to be photogenic. Ignore the dirty sock on the floor.

Sunday afternoon was very relaxed. J worked in another fix-it, this time on the tire swing in the back yard. I trimmed up a vine in the back yard that was hit hard by all the cold weather. Then we sat and stared at each other and hoped against hope that the humidity this weekend is not indicative of the summer forecast. Cause it's too early to be so sticky already.

Today has been another full day. I cycled toys for the girls, put away C's winter clothes and got out spring clothes, did half a dozen loads of laundry, and made a run to the bread store. Oh, and I typed up this crazy long post which only my mother and mother-in-law have actually persevered to finish. Now I must stop typing and actually publish the post before another day comes and I have more to report. Sleep well on this bedtime story. Unless you really did ingest caffeine earlier. Then you're sort of out of luck. Read the post again; that should do it.