What to do with 64 jars of baby food a month

As I've mentioned before, we don't do purees and spoon feeding. On the rare occasion that I did spoon feed Craz-E, it was homemade mashed foods like squash and applesauce. I had NEVER bought a jar of baby food until this past month.

We get WIC food checks and with PrincesS now over the 6month mark, that means she gets checks for baby food. It was rather annoying when we got the checks and she said we were going to get all these jars of baby food and boxes of baby oatmeal. I tried to explain that we don't do purees but there was nothing she could do; it was either the jars of puree or nothing. So I grudgingly accepted the checks and thought I'll figure out something to do with all that baby food.

So I go with the first check and get 32 jars for fruits and vegetables. That's a LOT of jars of baby food. I had to find a box and stash it all in the lowest cabinet in the kitchen.

Then I figured, what the heck, let's give this spoon-feeding a shot. I mostly don't do it cause I'm lazy and don't want to spend half an hour shoveling food into my child's face. But I'll suck it up and do it.

She gobbled up a jar of bananas (and we know she loves bananas cause she eats pieces of banana for breakfast every morning). But I'm guessing her belly prefers it when SHE regulates the speed at which food enters. Cause she was fussy, coughing and even threw up a little that night which I'm thinking was a result of some reflux. Spoon feeding doesn't seem to work in this house. Just as well since it was setting off alarms in my head as I was doing it. I've learned when Momma Alarms are going off, it's for a reason.

So, now I have 60 jars of various fruits and vegetables sitting in a box under my counter. And I'm supposed to get 31 jars of "Meat" this month too. (I haven't decided if I'm going to get those cause the thought of pureed/liquefied beef kinda turns my stomach.)

What to do with all this liquid fruits? So I decided to try something.
First, I got a Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder.
Then I spooned the baby food into my ice cube tray and put it in the freezer over night. (One 4oz jar made 8 cubes.)
The next morning, I popped the baby food cubes out of the trays, stuck one in the mesh feeder and handed it over to PrincesS.

GENIUS!!!

Icy cold goodness that she can handle on her own! She'll chew and suck on the mesh feeder, eating about 2-3 cubes in a meal.

Perfect for teething too.

I tried to get Craz-E to try one but I think the mesh feeder thing threw him a bit.

So I started brainstorming again.

What could be better on a hot summer afternoon then a juicy ice pop? And who needs those "Contains no fruit juice" things that are just frozen sugar water when you can make pure fruit ice pops! Just spoon the baby food fruit into a Popsicle mold and freeze! No sugar, no junk, just fruit! Maybe get some yogurt and mix it up to make smoothie pops. And at 3yo, Craz-E won't know the difference. To him, it'll just be a Popsicle. SNEAKY!!

Is it ME Time yet?

There are times when you just know that you are not getting enough quality ME Time. I have a few right off the top of my head that have happened in the past month.

First, Hubs was so incredibly sweet for Christmas. He got me a Spa Day. He said "You deserve it!" And you know what?....I DO! But the even sweeter part of the gift was that rather then go and get a gift certificate for a specific amount of money or a special package from the Spa, he just handed me the "menu" from the spa and said "Go do what ever you want to do!" BLANK CHECK! I get to do ANYTHING I want. Not just ONE thing, ANYthing.

So I start looking over the menu, get out my highlighter to mark the stuff I want. Number One item on my list, a massage. After birthing 2 babies, 3 years of Stay At Home Mom-ing and carrying around babies that love to hover around the TOP of the growth charts, my back is KILLING me. The idea of just laying there while someone works all that tension out sounds HEAVENLY.

After I highlighted the crap out of the massage section, my gaze turned to the waxing section. At the bottom of the section it says "Body hair should have a minimum two-weeks growth prior to scheduling an appointment." This is were I came to the realization that I just don't have enough ME Time. I didn't even have to THINK about this. I KNEW I had more then 2 weeks growth. What I had a harder time figuring out was when the last time I took a shower without small person joining me or pounding at the door, yelling "Mumma! You take a shower? I take a shower too?!" It's virtually impossible to shave your legs in either of those situations.

Tonight, I had the opportunity to partake in the ever elusive Bubble Bath. The kids were both asleep, Hubs was home relatively early, the kitchen was somewhat clean and dinner was on Warm in the CrockPot. I went in to start the bath and went looking for some relaxing bubble bath to make the most of this rare occasion.

I looked in the closet....and looked in the cabinet.....and went back to the closet.
This really couldn't be the only thing I had for bubble bath solution. Seriously?
In my hand, I held the green bottle of Sesame Street Watermelon scented bubbles that Craz-E uses when we let him turn the bathroom into a swimming pool.

I remember when before I was Mummy, I had bath salts, bath beads, sweet scented oils and soaps that were designed just for relaxing baths in dim lights; pumice scrubs for home pedicures that would leave your feet soft and tingly. You would leave the bathroom and feel like a new woman!

Now, I get 20-30 minutes every 6 months and leave the bathroom smelling like a sticky picnic fruit.

After that realization, I'm even more excited about my Spa Day then I was before. I'm just hoping it's not going to take another 6 months before I can actually do it!

First Semester Grades

I have successfully completed my first semester back to school after almost 10 years away from the classroom. The semester was full of challenges and hard work but it's done.

My "fluff" class was so easy, the professor actually asked me at one point "why are you here?" The only reason I took the class was to qualify for financial aid. I needed to be taking 6 credit hours to receive any financial aid. So I started looking through the classes I had left to finish my degree and found that they all were being held at the same time on the same day. And since I have yet to find a way to be in 2 places at the same time (something that would be increadably helpful in my everyday life, what with Laundry, Nursing, Cleaning, Cooking, Nursing, Cleaning all demanding my attention simultaniously) I found it necessary to enroll in a class that was easy and wouldn't screw up my GPA. I found "Exploring The Internet" and said BINGO!

The class was a Continuing Education course. The professor literally walked us through every lab and homework assignment during class. The sylabus had WAY more material listed then we actually got to. Had we gotten much further through the material, I probably would have found it a bit more challenging. But we seriously never got any more difficult then creating a very basic TicTacToe board. We had to keep a running compaliation of our work. I'd link to my site but we were required to list our real information on several pages, including our actual resume with address. So, in the interest of staying semi-anonomous, I'll just say it was all very very simple.

If you didn't get an A in the class, there was something seriously wrong. Granted, there were several students in the class who seemed COMPLETELY lost even with the hand-holding.

I walked away with a 99.9% (because I missed one class due to a sick kid or something) translating to an A.

Then there was my real course. Business Communications. I was prepared for something about how to write reports, memos, etc. What it really intailed was giving speeches and working in a team to develop a research presentation. Can I just say I HATE public speaking. Add on top of that, I was the second oldest student in the class. Most of our speeches were "pick your topic" type. Of course, since my life revolves around my family and primarily my babies, my speeches were rather odd to the rest of the class. Carseat Safety and Cloth Diapers vs Disposables. At least I knew what I was trying to talk about even if I was stumbling on every other word.

Unfortunately, the grading for this class was completely subjective. There is no "Right" or "Wrong" when it's a speech. The professor judged your speaking abilities and graded you on various aspects. It was nearly impossible to get a grade above a B.

The Team Presentation was frustrating. We were broken into teams and given the assignment on the first night of class. We were suppose to be working on the assignment thru the entire semester. My team never met as an entire team, the Team Leader picked the topic and assigned our parts 5 DAYS before it was due! Luckily, we managed to pull it off and got an 88% on our final presentation.

I managed to pull a B+ from that class.

So all in all, the semester was a success. Now I'm on winter break and I'm really looking forward to next semester.

I'm actually kind of sad that I only have 2 more semesters to complete. I'm starting to think I might start working on something else when I'm finished with my Business degree. Maybe becoming a Doula?

BabyWearing

I love wearing my baby. It's so snuggly! And with the right carrier, it makes it so much easier to hold her for extended amounts of time. I generally carry PrincesS on my hip all day cause it's easiest. But it throws my hip and back out of alignment. Not to mention how exhausting it is after about 10 minutes. Even in the cradle hold, a 14 pound baby gets REALLY heavy REALLY fast. This holiday season, we were at a bunch of family parties so I was holding her A LOT. I found the Sling Hold with the Moby Wrap last week and OMG it made standing around chatting at the parties so much easier!

So, babywearing is da bomb baby! But it really needs to be said that the right carrier makes all the difference.

The carrier needs to hold your baby in a safe position. We all know about the recall of the bag slings last year. They put baby in a bad position and ended up making it so they couldn't breath. Yes, that's VERY bad. Check out this PDF I found that explains proper positioning for babies until they have good head control (about 4months).

But just because a carrier isn't going to kill your baby doesn't mean it's not a bad way to carry them. The Baby Bjorn carrier, for example, puts baby in the optimum head-up, tummy-to-tummy position. But it doesn't hold baby in a seated position. Baby is dangling by a strap of fabric across the crotch. For baby boys, this means that their entire weights is being suspended by thier testicals. Talk about OWCH! Proper positioning of baby's legs should be in the frog-position - legs spread across your belly with knees above the level of tush. Baby should be SITTING on a fabric "shelf".

Every adult and every baby is different. This means a carrier that works perfectly for one momma might not fit right for the next. And just because another baby will sleep for hours in one style doesn't mean that your baby will. Finding the right carrier for you and your baby is a matter of trial and error. If you try one and it doesn't work, don't give up on BabyWearing all together. Try a different style/type. You can usually find a shop that sells the various different carriers that will let you try it on before you buy it.

"I'm Weird" - Breastfeeding

Tonight, I've got so many thoughts bouncing around in my head and I'm feeling very much like I need to dust off my soapbox on several topics. It's hard to focus on ONE topic, but I'm going to do my best to do so.

The first installment of my "I'm Weird" series, I'm going to focus on Breastfeeding.

Of course we all know that Breast is Best. It's what mankind has been doing since the beginning of time. If it wasn't "best", we would have died off a LONG time ago. I understand that some women and some babies have difficulties getting started and maintaining a successful nursing relationship. What I have a problem with is the mom who doesn't even TRY. The woman who doesn't want to breastfeed because it will restrict their social life. The woman who doesn't breastfeed because their partner thinks her breasts are "his toys". As a mother, the health of your child comes first. PERIOD!

Craz-E and I had a hard time getting started. We were separated for a good 6 hours after he was born while he was in the NICU due to the trauma of his birth. Then the annoying midwives at the hospital were anything BUT helpful when he was brought back to me. So it was about 12 hours before we even had a first attempt at breastfeeding. But we stuck it out. I had terrific support from the community midwives and eventually we figured it out. I could have very easily given up several times in that first week. But I refused to give up, give in or throw in the towel. I knew once we got the hang of it, breastfeeding was going to be the best option for my child. He was jaundice, I called him my Little Yellow Monkey. Even before I started doing all my "crunchy" research, something in my new Mommy Brain told me that everything would be fine once he got the hang of the natural way to eat.

Yes, breastfeeding made it so that I couldn't leave my baby with a babysitter for more then a few hours at a time. But honestly, I didn't really WANT to leave my first child with anyone for the first year of his life. Hub and I had a few dates without him, but for the most part we accepted that our new roll was that of Mom and Dad. There would be plenty of time in our lives to be Husband and Wife, this first year of Craz-E's life was important and we could never go back and do it again.

The reason I felt the need for my soapbox tonight on this subject is the concept of Feeding On Demand verses Parent Directed Feeding.

I had an experience this weekend that knotted my stomach and had me worrying for hours afterwards. I discovered a new first-time mom (and dad) who had their 3 month old baby on a feeding schedule. She nurses every 4-6 hours - 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm and then not again until midnight and then the schedule repeats. The baby is TINY - under 5th percentile!

All I could think was they were starving this poor tiny baby. When she would cry or fuss, they'd stick a paci in her mouth. I only saw her for a couple hours (between scheduled feedings) and she was sleeping through most of the time but towards the end of her visit, she did start to fuss. The reports I got from those who've spent more time with them is that the baby cries and fusses all the time. Well of course she does! She's HUNGRY!

The idea behind Feeding On Demand is to respond to your babies basic needs when they need it. By putting a new baby on a feeding schedule, you're telling that baby "It doesn't matter what you think you need. I'm the adult and I know better." But that's kind of ridiculous. Would you expect that your husband would know when you are hungry better then you would? Of course not. It's your stomach and your body. You eat when your body says it's getting low on resources. So by putting a baby on a schedule, you're teaching that child that what they feel doesn't matter.

And really, how can you think that a baby, who's whole purpose in life at this point is to GROW, would get all they need to eat in 4-5 "meals" a day? As adults, we tend to eat at least 4-5 times a day - breakfast, morning snack/coffee break, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and sometimes dessert. And we're not trying to grow! We also drink throughtout the day. But a baby on a schedule is expected to only eat/drink 5 times? What about during growth spurts when they need extra calories? On a schedule, you don't know to provide the extra feedings for them to get those extra calories.

If you want a "professional opinion" with more eloquently stated facts and information, Peaceful Parenting has a very nice article.

Cloth Diapers Vs. Disposables - Persuasive Speech

Okay, so this was my "script" for my persuasive speech tonight. As you read, try to picture me standing at the front of a classroom of college kids in their early twenties.

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First of all, I’m no hippy eco-friendly, go-green, environmentalist; I’m just a frugal mom who loves to stay home with my kids. I have 2 kids in diapers, Craz-E is 3 and PrincesS is 4 ½ months.

Now, basic common sense tells us that re-using cloth diapers is better than disposables in an environmental aspect. Buy It – Use It – Toss It verse Buy It – Use It – Wash It – Use It Again. But some people need more than just common sense; they want FACTS.

So let me throw some facts at you.

Disposable diapers generate 60 times more solid waste and use 20 times more raw materials, like crude oil and wood pulp than cloth diapers.3 Over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks, and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for one baby every year.

It is estimated that roughly 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills annually. Although some disposables are said to be biodegradable; in order for these diapers to decompose, they must be exposed to air (oxygen) and sun. Since this is highly unlikely, it can take several hundred years for the decomposition of disposables to take place, with some of the plastic material never decomposing.

The untreated waste placed in landfills by dirty disposable diapers is also a possible danger to contaminating ground water.

Cloth is Environmentally Responsible

We’ve been using cloth on PrincesS for about 2 months now. And I just managed to get Craz-E back into cloth part time this week.

I have a diaper-changing-station setup so all disposables go in a separate trash bin from the rest of the household trash. Prior to the switch, I was sending my husband out to the dumpster with a full kitchen trash bag of diapers 2 to 3 times a week. Now with just Craz-E in disposables part time, we are down to approximately 1 kitchen bag a week.

The instructions for disposables diapers actually say to dump solid waste into the toilet and flush it away, but most parents aren't aware of that. It’s not written on the packaging anymore. This means that human fecal matter is going into our landfills where it can leach into groundwater and possibly spread disease. And technically, it’s is illegal to put human waste into the landfills. With cloth diapers, you flush the solid waste and it goes into the sewage system where it’s treated with all other household waste.

Washing diapers every 4-5 days, I increased my laundry by approximately one load per week. One argument against cloth tries to say that cleaning cloth diapers uses more energy and contributes to the load on sanitary sewer systems and potential water pollution. This view really makes no sense if you think about it. The amount of water used per week to wash cloth diapers at home is about the same amount consumed by an adult flushing the toilet four or five times daily for a week.

 Cloth is Economical

Most parents go through 6 to 8 thousand diapers per child, from birth to about age three. If we take an average of what those diapers cost, that equates to between 2000 and 3000 dollars per baby.

Before PrincesS was born, I was spending $20 every 2 weeks just for Craz-E. That works out to over $500 a year. That would end up being over $1000 a year for both kids that we literally just throw away!

I did use cloth diapers with Craz-E for over a year and a half. We went with disposables when we moved because we took a week to drive cross country and quite frankly, we needed the ultra convenience of being able to just throw the used diapers away. Unfortunately, after the move, we just stuck with it for about 9 months.

We spent approximately $150 when we started cloth with Craz-E. So the initial cost of the diapers we purchased almost 2.5 years ago was recouped in 3 months and we diapered Craz-E for free for over half of his life. In fact, PrincesS is using his diapers now so we are actually diapering her for free too.

Cloth is Healthful

Disposable diapers contain many chemicals considered harmful to humans.

Dioxin, a toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process, is listed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) as a carcinogen. It is banned in most countries, but not in the United States.

Tributyl-tin - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

Sodium Polyacrylate - a type of super absorbent polymer, which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. This is the chemical that allows disposable diapers to absorb so much liquid.

The emissions from ONE disposable diaper were high enough to produce asthma-like symptoms in rats.
I’ve brought a disposable diaper and a cloth diaper for you to compare. The first thing you’ll notice is that the disposable is much thinner then the cloth. You’ll also notice how much softer the cloth diaper is.

The biggest claim of disposable diapers these days is how dry they keep your baby. That gel-like stuff pulls the moisture away and turns it into a jelly. I’m sure you’ve seen a kid walking around with the diaper sagging down to their knees. That sag is all that jelly stuff expanding as it gets wet. That chemical-laden jelly is against the most intimate part of your baby's body, and since most parents wait until the diaper is full to change it, it's there for HOURS. Pampers came out with a new product and says “It is 2x Drier and 20% Thinner, so your baby can play on.” They actually are promoting that you can let your baby sit in their diaper LONGER because they will not feel that they are wet.

Cloth diapers are made of cotton, hemp or bamboo. All of these materials are very absorbent but don’t swell and sag when wet. Some styles include a layer of material that will keep some of the moisture away from the skin but they still feel dampness.

While keeping them drier seems like a good idea, it can actually make your life HARDER in the long run. If you think about how YOU feel when you’re wearing wet clothes, what’s the first thing you want to do? You want to get out of those wet clothes. If you dump a cup of water on your pants, you get wet and you learn not to dump water on your pants. Same concept for kids and potty training. They pee in their diaper, they feel wet, they are uncomfortable, they learn that if they don’t pee in their diaper they don’t feel uncomfortable. If you put a chemical in the diaper that makes it so they don’t feel wet and they don’t feel uncomfortable, how are they supposed to come to the conclusion that peeing in the diaper is uncomfortable. In fact, it’s more of a reward for them. They don’t have to stop playing when they have to pee! So by using disposable diapers, you’re actually prolonging the time that you have to diaper your kids. Children who use cloth tend to potty train approximately 6 months sooner than those who use disposables.

Cloth is Comfortable
Do you wear paper or plastic clothing? You would never even consider wearing paper underwear. It’s just not comfortable. So why would you think putting paper and plastic on a baby would be comfortable? Just because a baby can’t tell you they are uncomfortable, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to have the same comforts as adults. As you can feel from the cloth diaper being passed around, cloth is soft and cushy.

Cloth is Easy
Hard to believe, but THIS is the cloth diaper system our grandparents used;

a flat piece of cloth and a couple big safety pins. No wonder someone came up with the disposable diaper! Today’s cloth diapers are so different. The style being passed around is known as a Pocket diaper. It goes on pretty much like a disposable. There are also styles that look just like a disposable with Velcro tabs. Once they are put together, even Dad and Grandma can put them on!

Cloth is CUTE!
Once you start using cloth, it is so easy to become addicted! I can actually blow a couple hours looking at different diaper styles and cover patterns, searching for a killer deal from someone who is selling off their diapers now that their kids are potty trained. Luckily, I tend to have good self-control and stop myself from actually BUYING the things I find. There are so many different styles, fabrics, designs, and embellishments. My mother has called me a “diaper snob” but honestly, in the summer, seeing a baby in a cute patterned cover is so much nicer than seeing a baby in a paper, saggy mess.

Moby Comment of the Day

As PrincesS is happily observing the surroundings and starting to look sleepy.

"Don't you have a stroller?"

(She was sleeping soundly 10mins later and slept thru the entire laundry wash-dry-fold cycle.)

Mainstream thinking at its best. *sigh*