Ughhhh so we belong to a resort group that affords us REALLY cheap rental rates for cabins at the resort. We have access to all the mandatory stuff of camping such as fishing, hiking, ect. But the membership allows us the luxury of not sleeping in a tent on the ground in the dirt with bugs. This last part is vital to me. No matter how "crunchy" or "natural" I become, bug and other critters are two things I will never come to terms with. I try to leave things as nature intended as much as possible but when it comes to bugs my motto is "They stepped leg in my house so I have every right to smash them dead!"
So the last time we came camping we rented a really nice 2 bedroom cabin with a full living room, bathroom, and kitchen. It was spectacular! The best part? We were there for a WHOLE WEEK and saw only a couple insects inside (I think they were brought in by the dog to be honest). So this time we got a much smaller cabin (boo) it was still a 2 bedroom (If you call a closet that is filled with stacked full sized beds a room), it just was very tiny. So, not only was the cabin much smaller than expected, but it came filled with bugs! Flying bugs, crawling bugs... ewwww bugs! Seriously, I laid down on the main bed with little man to feed him and in the 20 minutes I was there I killed at least 20 ants that had crawled onto my body.
I do not like bugs at all! I do not want to stay in this cabin anymore!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Extended breastfeeding...
aka nursing past 1 year...
Well today Little man turns 14 months as I sit here and type this blog I have to keep adjusting my position to accommodate the little man who keeps climbing into my lap for a quick ninny (nursing snack).
Oh the horrors of it!
It gets even better than that! Not only is he still nursing at 14 months old, but he is still nursing for a majority of his nutrition. He doesn't eat solids very well (he likes boiled chicken, and pureed fruits/veggies mixed with yogurt). So I allow him free access to the breast, which he takes advantage of at least 6 times during the day and at least 3 times over night. He nurses 9-12 times per 24 hour period. While he nurses as often as a newborn at least he can finish the job in 5-6 minutes.
Extended breastfeeding is not as weird or difficult as I once thought. Nursing him is actually easier than making him eat foods. Yes, once again I have confirmed (at least to myself) that breastfeeding is another way I can get away with being a "lazy" parent without negative consequences for my kids. I mean with 4 kids, going to school full time and running a household you gotta find ways to cut corners, right? Right? Right!
Breastfeeding also has other great perks too! Like being an INSTANT mute button! LMAO at that one! There have been several times (like when we took the kids to see HOP) when Little man would be getting fussy and as soon as I whip out the boob and latch him on its instant quiet. Or the time when he decided that head-butting the coffee table would be a good idea (it wasn't), he screamed bloody murder until the boobie was offered and magically all was right in his world again.
Nothing beats the warmth of your "big boy" crawling into your lap and suddenly melting into your "baby boy" again.
So even though he often pinches, scratches, bites and the wild and crazy toddler nursing acrobatics, I can honestly say that I love nursing my toddler!
Without further ado, I am going to share some of my favorite nursing photos. You have been fair warned that some of these pics may GASP show a little skin!
Well today Little man turns 14 months as I sit here and type this blog I have to keep adjusting my position to accommodate the little man who keeps climbing into my lap for a quick ninny (nursing snack).
Oh the horrors of it!
It gets even better than that! Not only is he still nursing at 14 months old, but he is still nursing for a majority of his nutrition. He doesn't eat solids very well (he likes boiled chicken, and pureed fruits/veggies mixed with yogurt). So I allow him free access to the breast, which he takes advantage of at least 6 times during the day and at least 3 times over night. He nurses 9-12 times per 24 hour period. While he nurses as often as a newborn at least he can finish the job in 5-6 minutes.
Extended breastfeeding is not as weird or difficult as I once thought. Nursing him is actually easier than making him eat foods. Yes, once again I have confirmed (at least to myself) that breastfeeding is another way I can get away with being a "lazy" parent without negative consequences for my kids. I mean with 4 kids, going to school full time and running a household you gotta find ways to cut corners, right? Right? Right!
Breastfeeding also has other great perks too! Like being an INSTANT mute button! LMAO at that one! There have been several times (like when we took the kids to see HOP) when Little man would be getting fussy and as soon as I whip out the boob and latch him on its instant quiet. Or the time when he decided that head-butting the coffee table would be a good idea (it wasn't), he screamed bloody murder until the boobie was offered and magically all was right in his world again.
Nothing beats the warmth of your "big boy" crawling into your lap and suddenly melting into your "baby boy" again.
So even though he often pinches, scratches, bites and the wild and crazy toddler nursing acrobatics, I can honestly say that I love nursing my toddler!
Without further ado, I am going to share some of my favorite nursing photos. You have been fair warned that some of these pics may GASP show a little skin!
NIP: Nursing in Public at the local Strawberry festival!
Sleepy nursing!
What? I like my ninny!
Sleepy nursing (this happens a lot)!
Nursing a toddler boy often means him bringing his beloved matchbox cars to the meal!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
My poor neglected....
blog!
I have been so SWAMPED with student teaching that I have all but forgotten about this... :(
Things have been awesome! I will be back later this weekend for a rampage of posts updating on the miracles of extended breast feeding, cloth diapering a toddler (yes, he turned 1 and is now a toddler), and life in general with a walking, talking, clingy, mouthy, stubborn little BOY in a house full of girls!
I have been so SWAMPED with student teaching that I have all but forgotten about this... :(
Things have been awesome! I will be back later this weekend for a rampage of posts updating on the miracles of extended breast feeding, cloth diapering a toddler (yes, he turned 1 and is now a toddler), and life in general with a walking, talking, clingy, mouthy, stubborn little BOY in a house full of girls!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Cloth diapers!
So I officially have been bitten by the cloth diaper addiction bug! I have almost 80 diapers and still want more! Most of mine are pretty plain, functional but lacking in fashion. I have the chance to win a FREE fashionable cloth diaper from Cow Patties Cloth diapers! This would be a perfect chance for me to give her Famous Pocket Fitted diaper a try!
If you want to try and win enter on her blog here
If you want to try and win enter on her blog here
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Going Au Naturel the list...
Ok so I have made lots of changes over the last few years, but there are still a lot of things I can do to be better to the earth, my family and myself. I have heard that if you put your goals out there you are more likely to stick with them. So here goes...
First let me list the changes:
1. We are now recycling paper products and alluminum soda cans. This may not seem like a huge change but with 4 kids, 3 in school we produce HUGE amounts of paper waste DAILY... Teachers send home no less than 5 sheets of paper per kid. That and soda is still my daily vice so instead of tossing the cans I send them home with my little sister and she crushes them and takes them to the recycling place and gets paid a little over 50 cents per pound.
2. We are now cloth diapering the 2 that still wear diapers. I have wanted to make this switch for a while now but because of start up costs it was not possible before this year. Little man is in them full time, and Cam wears cloth pull ups at night.
3. After 6 months of cloth diapering while still using disposable wipes, I finally said this is really dumb. I already wash poo and pee off the diapers every other day, why am I still picking disposable wipes out of the diaper to throw away when I could invest in cloth and toss EVERYTHING into the pail! I made the plunge and bought 3 dozen adorable wipes in assorted prints! BEST decision ever!
4. I made the switch to cloth feminie hygine products. I bought 3 sets of GEM cloth pads and they are wonderful. I miss my tampons, but I am not too sure of the reusable tampon alternatives so I will stick with the pads for now. Again this may not seem like a big deal when it's just one person a month on the rag (hee hee literally), but I know that T.T. is not too far off from her monthly gift and then the other 2 girls will be right behind her. The plan is to invest is several more sets of cloth pads so that when the girls get thier gift they will start with cloth from the get go.
Ok, so now for the LIST (in no particular order):
1. Recycle plastics, cardboard, glass and the other metal items besides soda cans. For this to happen I will need to sign up for some sort of recycling pick up service. I am not even sure if that is avaliable in my community but I will look into it. If not it will take a little more effort on my part, but I guess I can make the sorting and bagging into a chore for the girls so, it may not be so bad afterall... :)
2. Ditch the disposable kitchen products. Right now I admit we use a lot of paper plates, plastic forks, paper towels, and napkins. It is shameful how much we throw away in the kitchen. In my defense I am the only person (adult) in this house who bothers to clean the kitchen (namely do the dishes) and between school, work and the kids, the disposable options have saved my sanity a few times. This one item is actually one of the highest on my list. I have been researching unpaper towels, but I think I can just buy bar towels at Walmart for a lot less money and they will get the job done. I am trying to figure out how many we typically use per week so that I can buy enough to go 3 days. For napkins I already planned on just buying plain white washcloths.
3. Ditching convience foods. Like #2, these items have kept my kids fed on days when there were literally not enough hours in the day. Not only do they produce insane amount of waste, they are chock full of chemicals... I hate letting them eat junk... but allowing them to starve would have been criminal... My plan is to take this step one farther and to switch to organic where it is most beneficial and thereby justifying the extra cost. I also will be working on eliminating food dyes. I also want to batch cook healthy foods and freeze them for easy re-heating. Cooking from scratch with whole grains as much as possible. For this to happen successfully I need to replace my TINY chest freezer with a much larger upright freezer. I have even thought about what to freeze the foods in. I plan to use reuable plastic containers... I know some think plastic is the devil, but in my opinion it has got to be better than throwing away a ton of foil containers all the time.
4. Homemade bath soaps. I know it seems silly but we use an insane amount of soap in this house. The girls bathe themselves and can't seem to grasp the concept that "a little goes a long way" or that "less really is more". I want to experiment with making homemade milk/coconut/olive oil soap scented with lavendar oil, colored with vegetable/flower dyes. I found a recipe and it seems doable... I just need the time... I'm thinking this summer will be perfect time...
5. Kitchen waste part 2. This time I'm specifically talking about ziploc baggies, and cling wrap. I research reuable options and want to make the switch. My only hang up with this one is they are SUPER expensive to buy. I could sew my own if I had the time... ACK, stuck between being frugal and crunchy... I will get there, eventually.
..............................................................
I will be back later to fix the spelling grammar on this... little man is demanding my full attention RIGHT NOW!!!!
First let me list the changes:
1. We are now recycling paper products and alluminum soda cans. This may not seem like a huge change but with 4 kids, 3 in school we produce HUGE amounts of paper waste DAILY... Teachers send home no less than 5 sheets of paper per kid. That and soda is still my daily vice so instead of tossing the cans I send them home with my little sister and she crushes them and takes them to the recycling place and gets paid a little over 50 cents per pound.
2. We are now cloth diapering the 2 that still wear diapers. I have wanted to make this switch for a while now but because of start up costs it was not possible before this year. Little man is in them full time, and Cam wears cloth pull ups at night.
3. After 6 months of cloth diapering while still using disposable wipes, I finally said this is really dumb. I already wash poo and pee off the diapers every other day, why am I still picking disposable wipes out of the diaper to throw away when I could invest in cloth and toss EVERYTHING into the pail! I made the plunge and bought 3 dozen adorable wipes in assorted prints! BEST decision ever!
4. I made the switch to cloth feminie hygine products. I bought 3 sets of GEM cloth pads and they are wonderful. I miss my tampons, but I am not too sure of the reusable tampon alternatives so I will stick with the pads for now. Again this may not seem like a big deal when it's just one person a month on the rag (hee hee literally), but I know that T.T. is not too far off from her monthly gift and then the other 2 girls will be right behind her. The plan is to invest is several more sets of cloth pads so that when the girls get thier gift they will start with cloth from the get go.
Ok, so now for the LIST (in no particular order):
1. Recycle plastics, cardboard, glass and the other metal items besides soda cans. For this to happen I will need to sign up for some sort of recycling pick up service. I am not even sure if that is avaliable in my community but I will look into it. If not it will take a little more effort on my part, but I guess I can make the sorting and bagging into a chore for the girls so, it may not be so bad afterall... :)
2. Ditch the disposable kitchen products. Right now I admit we use a lot of paper plates, plastic forks, paper towels, and napkins. It is shameful how much we throw away in the kitchen. In my defense I am the only person (adult) in this house who bothers to clean the kitchen (namely do the dishes) and between school, work and the kids, the disposable options have saved my sanity a few times. This one item is actually one of the highest on my list. I have been researching unpaper towels, but I think I can just buy bar towels at Walmart for a lot less money and they will get the job done. I am trying to figure out how many we typically use per week so that I can buy enough to go 3 days. For napkins I already planned on just buying plain white washcloths.
3. Ditching convience foods. Like #2, these items have kept my kids fed on days when there were literally not enough hours in the day. Not only do they produce insane amount of waste, they are chock full of chemicals... I hate letting them eat junk... but allowing them to starve would have been criminal... My plan is to take this step one farther and to switch to organic where it is most beneficial and thereby justifying the extra cost. I also will be working on eliminating food dyes. I also want to batch cook healthy foods and freeze them for easy re-heating. Cooking from scratch with whole grains as much as possible. For this to happen successfully I need to replace my TINY chest freezer with a much larger upright freezer. I have even thought about what to freeze the foods in. I plan to use reuable plastic containers... I know some think plastic is the devil, but in my opinion it has got to be better than throwing away a ton of foil containers all the time.
4. Homemade bath soaps. I know it seems silly but we use an insane amount of soap in this house. The girls bathe themselves and can't seem to grasp the concept that "a little goes a long way" or that "less really is more". I want to experiment with making homemade milk/coconut/olive oil soap scented with lavendar oil, colored with vegetable/flower dyes. I found a recipe and it seems doable... I just need the time... I'm thinking this summer will be perfect time...
5. Kitchen waste part 2. This time I'm specifically talking about ziploc baggies, and cling wrap. I research reuable options and want to make the switch. My only hang up with this one is they are SUPER expensive to buy. I could sew my own if I had the time... ACK, stuck between being frugal and crunchy... I will get there, eventually.
..............................................................
I will be back later to fix the spelling grammar on this... little man is demanding my full attention RIGHT NOW!!!!
The wonderfulness of breastfeeding:
I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to look directly into the eyes of a nursing baby, to feel their body wrap around you, to witness the bonding that only occurs while nursing... you will have to experience it for yourself...
However, I can try to explain what happens when I nurse little man...
His eyes twinkle with anticipation. His face displays big grin. I listen to his half-giggle, half-desperate grunt and I chuckle because he was getting so excited and I hadn't done anything yet. I reached up releasing the clasp, exposing the breast. His eyes shoot wide with glee and he squeals with delight! As I draw him close, he begins to frantically root around. Just as he makes the latch, his gaze meets mine and his eyes seem to dreamily say, "Thanks mom that's just what I wanted". For a few minutes he gazes at me intently, learning my face I suppose, sometimes bending the corners of his mouth up ever so slightly revealing a partial smile. Another minute goes by and I feel the tingling sensation. I whisper quietly "here it comes". As the milk comes rushing in his eyes once again shoot open, this time they are saying "WOAH!" After a few gulps his eyes soften once again. He has found the rhythm: suck, pause, gulp, repeat. For the next 10 minutes I snuggle him close to me, my big boy of 8.5 months never has time to snuggle unless he is nursing. I breathe in his scent; his almost buttery aroma is intoxicating. I watch him, he looks at me with a dreamy look in his eyes, his free hand reaches up to touch my face, then twirl the piece of hair dangling above him. He closes his eyes as he drags his chubby fingers across the skin on my side. Occasionally he says, "mmm". His eyes still closed he grasps my shirt and his body relaxes, his weight melting onto my lap. His breathing slows as his suckles diminish. After a few more minutes, he unlatches his mouth remains parted as a dribble of milk runs down his cheek. Sleep my sweet baby your mommy is here and is thankful she can provide you not only nutrients but also comfort, safety, and love.
However, I can try to explain what happens when I nurse little man...
His eyes twinkle with anticipation. His face displays big grin. I listen to his half-giggle, half-desperate grunt and I chuckle because he was getting so excited and I hadn't done anything yet. I reached up releasing the clasp, exposing the breast. His eyes shoot wide with glee and he squeals with delight! As I draw him close, he begins to frantically root around. Just as he makes the latch, his gaze meets mine and his eyes seem to dreamily say, "Thanks mom that's just what I wanted". For a few minutes he gazes at me intently, learning my face I suppose, sometimes bending the corners of his mouth up ever so slightly revealing a partial smile. Another minute goes by and I feel the tingling sensation. I whisper quietly "here it comes". As the milk comes rushing in his eyes once again shoot open, this time they are saying "WOAH!" After a few gulps his eyes soften once again. He has found the rhythm: suck, pause, gulp, repeat. For the next 10 minutes I snuggle him close to me, my big boy of 8.5 months never has time to snuggle unless he is nursing. I breathe in his scent; his almost buttery aroma is intoxicating. I watch him, he looks at me with a dreamy look in his eyes, his free hand reaches up to touch my face, then twirl the piece of hair dangling above him. He closes his eyes as he drags his chubby fingers across the skin on my side. Occasionally he says, "mmm". His eyes still closed he grasps my shirt and his body relaxes, his weight melting onto my lap. His breathing slows as his suckles diminish. After a few more minutes, he unlatches his mouth remains parted as a dribble of milk runs down his cheek. Sleep my sweet baby your mommy is here and is thankful she can provide you not only nutrients but also comfort, safety, and love.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
He is finally taking milk off the tap!
.... and it only took 8.5 moths to reach this milestone!
Today little man drank 5 whole ounces of fresh pumped breast milk from a soft spout sippy cup!
Normally I wouldn't feel so pressured to ensure that my nursing infant start drinking from a cup this young but he refuses all bottles and I will be starting a 40+ hour a week student teaching gig in 5 short weeks.
I lubs my bubs!
On another note he is 8.5 months old and the only solid foods he consumes are the bites he snatches off my plate at dinner and the teething cookies he gets a couple times a week. When he is offered jarred puree's he slaps the spoon right out of your hand. I have had a little more luck with pureed avocado mixed with banana. I guess I could feed him that everyday, but it causes god awful diapers that I do not want to face daily.
Today little man drank 5 whole ounces of fresh pumped breast milk from a soft spout sippy cup!
Normally I wouldn't feel so pressured to ensure that my nursing infant start drinking from a cup this young but he refuses all bottles and I will be starting a 40+ hour a week student teaching gig in 5 short weeks.
I lubs my bubs!
On another note he is 8.5 months old and the only solid foods he consumes are the bites he snatches off my plate at dinner and the teething cookies he gets a couple times a week. When he is offered jarred puree's he slaps the spoon right out of your hand. I have had a little more luck with pureed avocado mixed with banana. I guess I could feed him that everyday, but it causes god awful diapers that I do not want to face daily.
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