Tasty Ears

One night C was fascinated with Nick's ears and kept trying to "eat" them. He was at it for several minutes; I got only a small portion of it on video.

Trash to Treasure Creation #4: plastic bag handbag

 

Some of you may recall the earlier plastic bag shoulder bag I made and posted a while ago. I still use that bag quite often. I've received several compliments about it. It's a lot sturdier than I expected it to be. Yesterday, I decided to try making another bag with some solid-colored plastic bags I've collected. It's smaller, more of a "handbag," and just big enough to carry my wallet, coin purse, cell phone, keys, and a pen.

 

While the first bag spoke more to my practical side, this bag is definitely a more fun-loving, stand-out piece that I think I will enjoy carrying around with me.

I need to collect more colored bags now so I can make these for friends :)

Critical thinking of a 3-year-old

This morning, I was out in the kitchen and heard one of my windchimes ringing in the living room as something hit them. I knew from experience that Z must have thrown something at them, and coming out into the living room I noticed right away the plastic hanger which must have been the culprit (he’d been playing with this hanger on-and-off all morning). I scolded him, but then I decided to try reasoning with him, helping him to think critically about what had happened.

Our conversation went like this:

Me: What just happened that was wrong?

 

Z: (pointing to the chimes) Those things just rang.

Me: Yes, but that’s not wrong. What happened that was wrong to make the chimes ring?

Z: I threw the hanger.

 

Me: Do you think it was a good choice to throw the hanger?

Z: No.

Me: What might be a better choice next time instead of throwing a hanger?

Z: (thinks for a moment) Throwing something soft at them. (meaning the chimes)

Me: …well, yes, that would be a little better…

Nick and both laughed at this point.

Z is always throwing things and rather than discourage all throwing (because I realize sometimes he just can’t help himself), I try to dedirect him to find something soft to throw. So, it makes sense that he would come to the conclusion he did, though it was not quite the conclusion I had been hoping for…

Eight Months (plus a day)

C turned eight months yesterday! He has really taken off this last month...

He is crawling now! He actually has been since shortly after my 7-month post. Just the "army crawl," not up on his hands and knees yet. Also just this past week he figured out how to get himself into a sitting position all my himself. He is all over the place now, and he is FAST! Watch out, World...

We've had some pretty rough nights as he continues to teethe. Plus the last week we've all had colds/sore throats and C hasn't escaped it, either. For the last few nights he's been waking up several times in the middle of the night needing to nurse to ease his sore throat. Then of course I've been having to change his diaper in the middle of the night because the increased nursing means he wets himself more often. Hopefully the sore throat will be gone soon and we can all get more restful sleep.

I bought a Toy Story Alien costume for him for Halloween that said "18 months- 2 years" on the label, so I figured it would fit him fine. Then, the day before Halloween I found a Tigger costume in one of the Halloween boxes and decided to try that on him instead (it looked warmer than the alien costume). It barely fit him (the legs and arms were a little too short). But it's a good thing we had it, because later in the evening on Halloween I decided to try the alien costume on him just for a change, and we couldn't even get the second arm in. It was long enough, but just made for a much skinnier baby, I guess.

It's been nice the last month or so, as C's finally able to be placed in the child seat in a shopping cart. Makes shopping in general much easier; though I still try to grocery shop when Nick is home to watch the boys because it's just easier and quicker that way.

We've continued to slowly give him solid foods, and he's started making the connection between Nick and food now whereas before he knew only I could feed him. When the rest of us are getting settled for dinner, he'll look squarely at Nick and say "Na!" which is his way of asking to be fed. It's pretty cute.

He really likes his daddy in general. The other day, the boys were all playing together on the living room floor when Nick got home from work. C whipped around and saw his daddy and immediately started crawling right to him.

It was already a rule in our house before C became mobile, but once in a while I still have to crack down on the boys to keep their Legos and other smaller toys out of the living room. We've even started putting the gate up sometimes to keep C out of the boys' bedroom so they can still play with their toys. For the most part things have gone pretty well, but once in a while we still catch C with a book or a toy in his mouth that shouldn't be there; or leaves, which get tracked in on shoes or on the stroller wheels. We've been vacuuming the floor at least once a week, sometimes twice. Oh, the joys of having a mobile baby...

He likes to grab peoples' hair; I just got mine cut really short to help prevent him pulling my hair so much. Z keeps getting his head too close to the baby and then starts screaming when C grabs a chunk of his hair and won't let go. I'd have more sympathy if I weren't already always having to remind Z to keep his head away from the baby (he still tries to head-butt him a lot).

Still no more teeth. He's tried to bite me a few times while nursing, though. Ouch.

That's all. I think...

Seven Months (plus three days)

With each baby, these months seem to go by exponentially faster! C is seven months old already! A few times people have asked us how old C is now and Nick has said "six months" and I've had to remind him that no, it's seven months now. Crazy...

He has figured out how to roll in both directions now and rolls all over the floor. Sometimes I'll sit him down somewhere, leave the room for a few minutes, and when I come back he's halfway across the room!

At his six-month well-baby, I asked the doc. for copies of G's and Z's baby growth charts to compare them to C's chart. While C's weight gain pattern is more similar to G's than Z's (Z was waaay off the charts for a few months before he became mobile), he is significantly longer than either of them. Which I knew already, but it's fun to see it confirmed on an official record.

He still is such a happy baby, we all just adore him and the boys especially love to make him smile and laugh (though Z is still trying to convince me that C "likes it" when he sits on the baby or otherwise afflicts the poor kid because he gets this little nervous half-smile on his face whenever Z starts in on him).

We've been introducing solids pretty slowly-- a. because if he already has one food sensitivity he's more likely to have more so I want to isolate any problem foods and b. because I'm really just lazy and it is soooo much easier to fit nursing into our busy schedule than everything that goes along with feeding solids. So he gets solids maybe once a day right now-- usually at dinner. The last couple days we've fed him carrots, which he has loved. They are going to stain his diapers, though ;)

A few weeks ago, we were looking in his mouth and discovered his first two teeth had broken through. We could hardly believe what we saw, though, because his first two teeth are his top canines! Which are usually some of the last teeth to grow in. One of them has since recessed, but the other is still poking out. No other teeth yet, though.

Oh, one other thing he started doing shortly after he turned six months: clapping his hands! He seems to do it especially when he wants a little attention, and it works! It sure is cute. I tried to catch it on film, but he stopped as soon as he saw my camera-- of course.

My Testimony of God's Love for Women

My heart is burning and bursting right now. It is 3 AM on a Sunday morning and just last evening (Saturday) I attended the worldwide General Relief Society meeting broadcast for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was an evening full of Sisterhood, peace, love, and spiritual enlightenment as church and Relief Society leaders spoke and shared the messages which the Holy Spirit had impressed upon them to share. I am grateful for their messages, for their testimonies, and for their boldness.

Now it is my turn to be bold, to share my own testimony that Jesus Christ lives; that He is my Savior, and that He loves me.

I cannot count the number of times in my life I have heard church leaders try to impress upon us exactly how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love women. I’ve heard them say it many times, but never with so much force and conviction have I truly seen and felt that love for myself.

A couple weeks ago, I was having a really rough time. As the mother of three small boys ages five and under, I felt—as I often do—utterly overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for and nurturing my family with the love, patience, energy, and understanding which I felt I should be doing but at which I feared I was failing miserably. After a long day, I was expressing some of my frustration to my husband, who had my six-month-old baby on his lap, facing me. At one point I looked at my baby and he looked back and smiled a winning smile which melted my heart as it usually does. But it was the words my husband spoke next which really arrested that particular moment in my memory.

He said, “Look, dear. Look at your baby. That is the look of true love right there.”

And right then I felt the beginning of a swelling in my soul, which has been growing ever since, and the ever-growing realization that it is true. That my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ really do love me.

Do I deserve that love? Probably not. But they love me nonetheless, because I need that love.

And this morning I want to pronounce to my Sisters everywhere, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love women. Sure, they love all their Children. But they love Women especially, with a special love, with an extra measure of love that is ours and ours alone.

Why? Because we are the caregivers. We are the mothers. We are the wives. We are the daughters. We are the sisters. And in all these roles, it is women that the children of the Lord turn to when they need to be succored, to be nurtured, to be loved. And were it not for that extra measure of love bestowed upon us by our Creator, we would not have enough love to give to others who need it.

 

Oftentimes people in the world who wish to challenge the Church and question the role of women within the organization like to point out the fact that our church does not allow women to hold the Priesthood nor perform Priesthood ordinances. Instead, the Priesthood is reserved only for the faithful men in the Church. The world looks upon this fact and believes that women are somehow being cheated, that we are being oppressed. This is false.

In fact, I have come to believe that we as women have been given our own parallel “priesthood” within the Church and—by extension—in the world. It is different from, but no less equal to, that Priesthood Power granted to the Lord’s faithful male follwers. It is that same love of which I wrote before. Just as Christ laid his hands upon His Apostles’ heads in ancient times to confer upon them the Preisthood and Power of God on Earth—which was restored to Joseph Smith in the Latter-Days and passed down by the laying on of hands to this day—so has Christ placed His hands upon the hearts of the women of the Church and conferred upon us the Love of Christ. In other words, Charity is our priesthood. And we ought to be fulfilling our duties in this area with the same resolve and dilligence which we expect from the Brethren in fulfilling their Priesthood duties.

Within a home, a man may be the head, but the woman is the heart. Men are the heads of the Church under the authority and direction of the Savior. But without women—without the Sisters—His Love could not be poured out so abundantly as it is. It is through the women of the Church that Charity prevails. It is the Love of Christ which inspires and empowers us to serve and bless the rest of the world with that Love. It is our calling. It is our sacred trust.

I humbly and fervently pray, in the name of my Savior and Brother Jesus Christ, that I may fulfill that Calling throughout the rest of my life with the same resolve which I feel right now.

Amen.

Know Your Food: Comparing Natural Sources of Saturated Fats

Yep. Another post on saturated fats. And more particularly, comparing natural sources of saturated fat. I wrote last time about my thoughts on using bacon grease as I did away with butter in my house due to my baby's dairy sensitivity. I was curious to look at other alternatives as well, however.

I want to be clear, that I do not entirely oppose the use of vegetable oil spreads (but read your labels carefully!), though I was a little...unkind...to the BENECOL brand (simply because that was the comparison I came across and was surprised by my discovery as previously discussed).

I am on the hunt for good, all-natural spreads and oils with less saturated fat and more of the "good fats." It's a challenge for me, because olive oil-- which is supposed to be the healthiest oil-- does not agree with my system very well (I suspect at least a minor intolerance). But I will discuss liquid oils further in a future post.

Back to the solid stuff.

Any moderately experienced baker will tell you that liquid fats just don't perform the same as solid (saturated) fats when baking. That's why trans fats became so popular in the first place, as everyone thought it was going to be a healthier alternative to saturated fats. Of course we now know they were wrong. But if you're not going to use trans fats when you bake, you have to use a saturated fat.

If you want a natural fat to use when you bake, butter and bacon grease are not the only options. You could also use another type of grease from another meat (though none, so I hear, are as good-tasting as bacon), or another option-- particularly attractive to vegetarians and those seeking to limit their intake of animal proteins-- is coconut oil. I have not yet personally tried baking with either bacon grease or coconut oil, but I intend to soon (I'll let you all know how it goes).

Now some notable comparisons of butter vs. bacon grease vs. coconut oil:^

*Butter contains the highest amount of saturated fats by a wide margin; bacon grease contains the least.
*Butter also contains the highest amounts of both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats; coconut oil contains the least of both of these.
Going strictly by percentages, coconut oil contains the highest percentage of saturated fat and the lowest percentages of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Bacon grease contains the lowest percentage of saturated fat and the highest of both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
*Coconut oil and butter both contain a significant amount of lauric acid, believed to raise HDL cholesterol; bacon grease contains only a negigible amount of this beneficial saturated fat.
*Remember the arachidic acid discussed in my previous post? The one that causes irritation to the eyes, skin, and respiratory system? It's in butter, but not in bacon grease or coconut oil.

So which is the healthiest option for baking? You be your own judge.

^Source: skipthepie.org