Gardening

Im proud of my garden this year.  Being a SAHM has proved great for my gardening success, I've been a busy little bee.  And while there are weeds, you can actually see the rows (albeit crooked much to hubby's annoyance) of vegetables!  However the weather has turned hot and super dry, so our water bill will increase.  Yesterday I harvested beets, not a whole lot and some say not enough to mess with but I pickled my meager jar and put in the fridge.   I dug my row of potatoes, we got a whole milk crate full!  Also getting a good crop of blakberries, I have three quarts in the freezer, time to make jelly soon!  And today I plan to pull and strip the last of my green peas.  Corn has baby ears and tomatoes and loaded with green tomatoes so Im hopeful for good crops there as well. 

Food

Im on a quest to use more of the food I have on hand and to rely less on WalMart.  Meaning....we need to eat a lot of ground venison...

I use it in place of ground beef except for stuff like meatloaf as it very lean and is pretty dry in that application. 

We have been having...
Chili Mac
Stroganoff
Burritos
Tacos
Spaghetti
Hubbys Hash

I need to attempt a Shepherds pie.  It too hot for chili or soup.  I feel like we are about to grow antlers!  So tonight we'll have chicken! Lol.

Im open to anymore ideas...we've been pairing with garden fresh veggies, like new potatoes!  Ohand corn...we have several bags of corn on the cob in the freezer we need to use up!  This has been helpful to my grocery budget, but I need more ideas! 

Smoothies

I've been digging smoothies lately.  Mainly because I can make and consume my breakfast while feeding everyone else.  I've recently started adding a handfull of baby spinach into my smoothies.  I have friends who make green smoothies and I must say I was very skeptical, however Im sold....you can't even taste it and I feel good adding an extra veggie serving in.  Im not very creative or daring, I just do a banana (well part of a banana, baby usually begs for part of it), a few frozen berries (usually strawberries), some yogurt (often homemade), and a hand full of bagged baby spinach.  Perfect! Today I needed some lactation assistance so I added a bit of flax seed meal and brewers yeast too.

Yuuummmm!

"And her children will rise up and call her blessed...."

August 2008/August 2011

Isaac 2 weeks/James 3 weeks

 Mothers Day 2012
Isaac 3yr 9 months, James 9 months

I am a blessed woman.  I love being a mother with every fiber of my being, it was what I was created to do.  

On Mothers Day I reflect on those days that I thought I'd never get to celebrate this honor, and today I have two fabulous sons.  I say a special prayer tonight for all those women who long to be mothers, who are mothers in their hearts and dreams....and to the mothers who mourn this day, as their blessings are with their Heavenly Father...

Mothers Day

My journey to Mothers Day has been a bit rocky...filled with infertility, losses, and precarious situations...yet I have prevailed with God blessing me with two amazing sons. 

Things I Do That Are "Weird" Part 2: Make My Own Baby Food

Things I Do That Are Weird Part 2: Make My Own Baby Food

But why not? Its easy.  Its cheap.  And I KNOW whats in there.  Never seen a recall on it.  James loves it.

Here is what I do..

Buy some fruits and veggies, or grow them (bought these by the way).

 Peel and chop them up! 

 Cook them, I boil mine until soft. You could microwave or bake, whatever.

 I use a Baby Bullet, but any blender, food processor, or such would work.  You could probably even hand mash if you felt like it.

 Add cooked veggie...

 And puree!  If its too thick add some water, I use the cooking water because it still has the veggie "goodness" in it!  We leave ours pretty thick right now.

 One medium sweet potato.  Filled up enough for 4 jars. 

 And the apples...once big brother stopped snatching them. 

 Two medium apples, enough for three jars.  (I'm using a nifty silicon tray thingie that came with my Baby Bullet, but even an ice cube tray does the job.)

 Some goes in the jar in the fridge (these cool jars came with the Baby Bullet but there are lots of options)

Some go in the freezer for later.  Fridge good for about 3 days, freezer for about 30.

You can even use canned veggies.  Super easy.  No cooking involved!

Just dump, and puree.

One can of peas made four jars of baby food! 

 See, James LOVES it.

 Licked clean!!

 

This all took 10 -15 minutes total...really no time at all.  When I first thought of doing this I thought it would be so time consuming, but really its not.  And its very fulfilling to know that I know EXACTLY what is in my baby's food.  Plus when the garden starts coming off even better, I will GROW and make his food.  And I can easily control the thickness and now we are starting to leave some chunks in there, its great!

Things I Do That Are "Weird" Part 1: Cloth Diapers

"Things I Do That Are Weird"

Part 1: Cloth Diapers

When Isaac was a baby I was totally intriged by cloth diapers.  They were so cool, so cute, and so good for the baby.  But Isaac came early and I just flat out didnt have time to figure it all out.  Well then I had three years then James was born.  Still early, but I had more time to think about it.  And a friend offered to get me started.  I was hooked right away.  Must.buy.more.poop.holders! 

I was surprised to find that it was not nearly as much work as I thought it would be. Not nearly as gross as i thought it would be.  And it was even cuter than I thought it would be. 

So here is my set up, what I have, what I do, what I like and do not like.  Now please, keep in mind I am NO expert on this, I am ever asking questions, most are probably dumb, of my online cloth diaper geniuses.  If you have real questions that I dont know, please let me know I'll refer you right along!

I have a wide mixture of stuff because when my friend got me started she gave me enough stuff to learn what I liked and disliked.  Then I could buy more..and more...and more.  Seriosuly...all the cuteness...Huggies can just move over! 

Here is all the fun stuff!

 First cloth diaper lesson.  Pocket diapers.  I have several of these.  They are diapers that have a pocket to stuff in the absorbent stuff.  They wash and dry easy because they come apart.  The ones I have are FuziBuns (left) and BumGenius (right).  I have a lot of FuziBuns because I got a killer deal from a friend.  I really like them, the lining is nice and absorbent.  The BumGenius fit good but I find I have to double stuff them.  But I use FuziBun liners in them, works great!

I

 I also use good old fashioned prefolds and flats.  Basically these are diapers like you think of with cloth.  The kind that use diaper pins.  Except diaper pins are out dated...I use a Snappi!  And you can buy super cute covers for these.  They are also really absorbent so I don't have as many leaks and work good through the night!

These are two of our favorite covers!!

 

Prefolds, flats, and covers.                                                       Snappi!  

 

This is how a Snappi works.  Then put on a cover!

  

Also have some Hybrids.  GrowVias and Hiney Lineys.  The GrowVias I can snap in their liner, use a disposable liner, or use them just as a cover.  And these diapers are CUTE.  (The airplane ones).  The Hiney Lineys I dont think I'm a fan of, maybe they'll work better when James is bigger but I have a lot of leaks with them.  Good idea, but they just dont work good for us. 

I have been asked stuff like...What do you do when they poop?  Um...dump it in the toilet, rinse if needed and put in dirty bag.  Not that complicated.  I don't touch poop anymore than I would with disposables.  Its not that big of a deal  I used to think..Oh the LAUNDRY!  I only have to wash about once a week.  And its easy..dump in washer, run a cold rinse, run a heavy hot wash/cold rinse load with diaper detergent (needs to be stuff without softeners and such...I use a free and clear I buy at Walmart), then I run an extra rinse that I sometimes add vinegar to.  Then I hang dry my covers on a $6 drying rack from Walmart and throw the rest in the dryer, high heat, 90minutes.  That's it.  Not too big of a deal.  

Tell me that rear isn't cute!!  A Mickey Mouse Huggies can not compare!

  

He loves his cloth diapers!!