Toots

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When my sweet little boy was born over a year ago, I avoided all things gaseous. Broccoli, milk, beans, etc. When he was about 4 weeks old I tried a little, I mean very little broccoli. I love broccoli. It does not love me. I get debilitating gas cramps from the stuff. That has not stopped me from eating it. Well when I ate that very little bit of broccoli Rhys was awake and screaming for 2 hours straight. The poor little guy had such terrible gas. I felt so bad. Naturally I cut out all broccoli.

Till.....Last night. There is a new Chinese restaurant in town and we wanted to try it. They have a lovely steamed chicken and mixed vegetables dish, with sauce on the side. Oh yummy. Well it was chocked full of broccoli. A few carrots and something that resembled cabbage butts? Maybe? I dunno. Anyway. I wasn't about to just eat mostly chicken, so I scarfed down the whole thing. Broccoli and all. But, and this is the most important part, I made up a tea that has fennel in it. I had heard that fennel helps with gas. Well I drank that with supper and I had no gas! A little bit of bloating, but no gas! And neither did Rhys! Oh I can eat broccoli again!

Needless to say, I think I will be drinking fennel tea with every meal that could be toot-full.

Just thought you might like to know.

Emetophobia

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Blogging is therapeutic for me. I have always loved to write and express myself through writing. I need to confess.

I have an insane fear of throwing up. Puking, vomiting, loosing one's cookies, yes folks all of those phrases evoke irrational levels of fear, anxiety in me. I have been this way since I was very young. I'm not sure what has precipitated this fear, or even what to do to rid myself of it, but it's there.

The funny thing is, if there is a funny thing, is that the Lord saw fit to join me with a man who has a weak stomach. I am blessed to have a strong constitution, have since I was young. In our 7 years of marriage I have taken him to the ER 3 times for vomiting. I can tell you he wasn't the only one sweating and stressed out. When I was pregnant with Nadia we were touring the maternity ward of the hospital and I heard a woman vomiting. I nearly passed out. Now I think she was vomiting, I don't know for sure, but is sure sounded like it. And having been through labor twice and had the urge to purge myself, I'm pretty sure she was.

Then, if being married to Andrew wasn't enough, the Lord further saw to rid me of my fear by giving me a daughter that throws up a lot too. She gets a cold, she throws up.

Granted I've come a long way. It used to be that when Andrew was laying on the couch sick I would have to plug my ears during each 'session'. Now I just only need to look away. I still get quite panicky when someone gets sick, especially Rhys. But I am getting better with that point. I guess just having to deal with it is helping. But oh how I wish I didn't have to deal with it.

Now Andrew is a God-send when it comes to this. Because he's been so sick in his life (like we are talking for days at a time) he is so non-chalant about it, it doesn't faze him! He just does what he needs to do and that's that. I'm so thankful for him. The only thing is, when I get sick, he kinda freaks out. Just because I don't get stomach sick all that much.

Please tell me I'm not the only one out there who doesn't like the backwards motion our stomachs make sometimes? And tell me what can I do to overcome this?

Question and Advice...

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I have a question for all you nursing mama's (either are or have been), we have gotten numerous offers for babysitting the kids while we go out and have a date. Which is great, but Rhys nurses before he goes to bed. He does not nurse to sleep, but rather, nurses a little bit and then gets a bink and is laid down awake for bed. Should I try to wean that feeding, or just let them give him a drink of water and put him down like that? We weaned Nadia of the before bed feed for that reason, but Rhys has gone down one other time without a problem for someone else. There was a bottle (which shocked the crap out of me) and my own milk in it. I could do that, but I wonder what I should do. What would you do? This might be, at best twice a month. Hmmmmm......

I look forward to your thoughts.

Sew Many Projects!

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Just a few projects I've been working on...

This is the quilt I made for Rhys for his birthday.  I made it out of his old recieving blankets.  That is a picture of the embroidered airplane that was on one of the blankets.  He loves it.

This is the robe that I made for myself.  I had like three robes, but they were all either too heavy, or too long, or didn't stay together (which kinda defeats the purpose of a robe, doesn't it?).  I'm really proud of the facing.  Usually the facing looks really crappy on my stuff.  But this turned out so much better.  I won't be embarrassed if someone sees my facing. 

I am in the process (have been for over a year now, it just kinda sits around till I get a moment to work on it) of making a quilt for Andrew and I's bed.  I have a tendency to steal covers so we need a unique size and I have tons of pieces of fabric not really big enough to make a piece of clothing with, so I'm making a huge quilt.  I've not made one for us and I'm really taking the time to do it.  These are the first two blocks I've got done.  They look really good in the picture, although I can already see imperfections.  But that's what gives it character, right?  I am planning on putting a unbleached muslin spacer (because I've got lots of that) between each block, left, right, up and down and then a square in the corner of each.  I don't think I'll put much of a border on this, the spacers will act like that.  Then a binding.  yay.  I love making bindings.  Yuk.  What do you think?

That's what I've been sewing these days.  And I'm not planning on any other sewing projects, I really want to get this quilt done.  Since we are going away for Christmas, and I mean AWAY, I don't think I'll sew anything for Christmas gifts.

Then after that quilt is done, I'm going to make this.

I've got so many scraps and stuff like that, I need to wean out my stash!  That quilt will be for our guest bed.

Natural Home Care

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I'm all about word of mouth, well, word of blogging anyway. I thought I'd pass along a great website that has tons of natural homemade cleaning solutions. I'm making the disinfectant solution and pouring it over torn up towel wipes so that I can wipe down the bathroom in a snap. Keeping it all in a ice cream bucket under the sink. I am adding just a drop of tea tree oil for added bug fighting.

I'm a bit anal, but that's ok, if it keeps my family healthy!

Non-Toxic Home Care

The disinfecting solution does wipe up a bathroom really nice.  Make sure you wring out the cloth really well and it should dry without spots.  It did well on my chrome, a bit of spotting, but nothing like the toothpaste crap and soap crap that gets on there.  It shined it up nicely.  Also the disinfecting solution recipe makes enough to cover one bath sized towel cut up.  

Snow

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Just for the record, it is snowing in Central PA right now. Has been for two days. It's insane. It's not even Halloween yet. That's crazy people.


That is all.

I'm a Runner...

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I'm a runner. Did y'all know that? I run alot. I run to the grocery store. I run when the kids are beating each other up. I run downstairs to change over the laundry. I run out the church. I run to the bank. I run out the garden to get a carrot or two. I run out the garage to get something from the freezer. Yessirree, I do an awful lot of running.

But today, I just want to run. I want to run away. Both kids are sick and there is a snow storm on the way. The house is devoid of food (not true, but it sounds better) and I have an appt this afternoon over the river and through the woods (and incidentally over a mountain ridge!). Sometimes I want to just run away. Oh I'd come back. Eventually.

But I won't. I'm much to responsible for that.

Anyone want to form a running group?

Banana Pancakes

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Now because my knickname is Miss Frugality and because I can't bear to part with anything of value just because it's a bit less than desirable I am currently cooking up an enormous batch of Banana Pancakes. I usually freeze my banana's when they are past fresh eating but still great for baking. And usually it's just one or two banana's. Not enough to really do anything of significance with. And I usually end up with something like 10 banana's before I remember I have all of them in there. So that is why today I am probably going to end up with somewhere around 4 dozen pancakes. That's ok, I made them healthy.

Here's the Recipe. Banana Pancakes

Now I changed a bit, but have always found these changes go over well. First, all of the flour is soft wheat, or you could use whole wheat pastry flour. Second, I replaced all of the oil with applesauce, and third I added more powdered milk (because I fear my children don't get enough protein but they love pancakes.)

So far they are cooking up nicely. I plan on freezing them and pulling out just what I need. So many mornings I struggle with what to feed Rhys. With this I know he's getting fruit, protein, calcium and good carbs. And I'm saving money!

There are days I really feel like I'm finally getting the hang of this. This is one of those days.

Enjoy!

Mum

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I'm sorry folks, I think about this blog often, unfortunately, my blog is not a mind reader. If it was, there would be a whole lot more posts on here. I just haven't the heart or mind to blog lately. I suppose I just haven't got a lot to say. Or anything significant, or profound to say. I often feel I am whining. Who wants to hear that?

So I will post again, soon, I promise. About Rhys walking, Andrew fixing the baptismal, my new workout routine, my brother in laws upcoming wedding (read more air travel), Nadia and me, the whole ppd journey, and so much more. But for right now I just don't have it in me to write about it.

Till then.