Raising Peanuts

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR FEED!!

2009-10-06T11:38:00.001-04:00

Did I get your attention with that one?

Good!

Because I know I'm still having issues with my feed transferring on my other blog when I switched platforms, and I want to make sure you all stay with me! Cause I've loved getting to know so many of you guys over the last couple years!!

So, if you could take a moment, just click here and then you won't miss a thing!

My new home!

2009-09-28T09:17:00.003-04:00

I now have my new site up and running!

Naturally Knocked Up

I still have a few kinks to work out, links to change and pics to upload, but stop by and let me know what you think!!

Also - I'm having issues with my feeds so if you subscribe to my blog, please update your feed!!! And I'll no longer be posting here at Raising Peanuts, so if you don't already, subscribe to my other blog!!!

Labor Day!

2009-09-07T13:14:00.003-04:00

I saw this meme floating around last year and thought to myself "Self, remember this for next year".

And I did not remember.

Luckily Jill posted this today as well, so while late, here it is!

How long were your labors?

son: 22 hours from start to finish, but 12 hours in active labor.

daughter: 16 hours from start to finish, 4 hours in active labor

How did you know you were in labor?

son: my water broke

daughter: contractions started and stayed 5 minutes apart.

Where did you deliver?

son: Hospital, it was the only place I wanted to be

daughter: Hospital, but wanted to be at home. (no $ for a homebirth)

Drugs?

son: I had wanted to go natural, but succumbed to an epidural when the doc said I had to have pitocin.

daughter: went in knowing more of my options and rights, and had an awesome, empowering natural birth!

C-section?

Neither.

Who delivered?

son: My OB with the assistance of a vacuum, most likely due to all of the interventions.

daughter: I did!! I delivered my baby! The intern and resident caught her as the on call OB looked on.

And tell me your stories too!

Mom-nesia Monday: Breakfast

2009-09-07T11:57:00.002-04:00

Because I am so awesome, I thought I would make you all some breakfast.

Pancakes anyone?

Yes, this is what happens when you fry a pancake for 25 minutes while you take a shower and get ready.

And don't let the picture fool you. Soft and fluffy it is not. More like frisbee hard!

Moving day is getting close!

2009-09-03T13:54:00.002-04:00

This blog may be moving soon. As in, "I'm way to busy now to keep up with 2 blogs, so it's merging into the other one".

Don't worry, it's not a hostile takeover.

It's a friendly merger.

I'm working behind the scenes with a friend (alright, it's him who's doing most the work!) and soon I should have everything up and running the way I want! I'm super excited about this and can't wait to see what the end product will be!

Which is also why I haven't been posting a ton over here. It's be like buying a bunch of new things for your home right before you move. Who does that?! But I've got a whole list of things I'll be posting soon. Everything from my choices I made during my natural birth experience to feeding and nourishing our little babes. So just hang tight, we'll be in full swing soon enough!

Review : Dad's Wooden Toys

2009-09-03T13:18:00.005-04:00

Today I went out and bought a little wooden teether from a friend. Once we got home, I knew you all needed to see these!

See, lately baby girl is really trying to get a feel for things by sticking everything into her mouth, and I'm a bit hesitant to keep giving her all the plastic toys we had when Cody was an infant. (Yea, I didn't know then about all the junk they put in plastic!) So I've been trying to give her the cloth toys we have, but it seems sometimes she likes to actually chew or bite. So I figured it was high time to go get her a wooden teether!!

It was a hard choice since there are so many cute ones to choose from, but I decided to go with the turtle.
It's so cute and so easy for her to get her little hands around. Because at only almost 5 months old she's still working on the whole grasping thing!

Oh, oh! Almost got it!
There we have it!
Aren't these fabulous!?

I'll bet you're jealous aren't you? Want one too? You can! They sell them over at Dad's Wooden Toys on Etsy. And no, they didn't ask me to post this (they'll find out later!) and I paid for the teether myself. They're just a great family and Josh does some great work! He even makes wood toys for older kids as well. I know my 3 year old would love the farm animals as well as the African animals.

My favorite part about these is that it's just wood. I don't have to worry about paints and dyes or anything else.

Tiny Fingers

2009-09-01T21:19:00.000-04:00

Mom-nesia Monday: Wow, Just Wow

2009-08-31T12:48:00.003-04:00

The past few weeks have been busy for me. (like you couldn't tell by my lack of posting, right?) And for me, with busy-ness, comes more forgetfulness!

I baked bread without turning the oven on. Not to self, this does not work well and results in an uncooked, flat and fallen lump of dough.
I bought supplies for our VBS program. And walked right out of Target without them.
I headed to the farmers market last Saturday (20 minutes away) and forgot my purse. No purse = no money! Luckily, the lady at the bank was super nice about it and I was able to get some much needed cash.

In other news.....I'm still pretty busy! Harvest season is upon us so I've been busy trying to get my freezer and pantry stocked for the winter. Last week I made up 30 quarts of my favorite sun pickles, and set them out for a few days in the clouds. :-P Yea, it's AUGUST and it's been in the 60's (for highs!) and cloudy and rainy for the last week! Not our usual August weather. Saturday I canned a few jars of pizza sauce, yesterday I shucked, cut, and froze 120 ears of corn. And today I'm freezing a whole re-usable grocery bag full of green beans as well as the same amount of broccoli. Tomorrow I'll get started on my bushel of peaches! So I'm thinking I'm gonna have some late nights ahead of me as I try to get it all finished. Because working with 2 littles can be quite tiresome during the day! Now let's just hope I don't get the cold that's currently going around!

How is your summer going? Any mamas out there getting closer to giving birth?

Not the post I thought I was going to write

2009-08-26T06:54:00.002-04:00

I had great plans for this morning. Plans of having a bit of time to myself so as I could actually sit down and write a decent post.

You know what happened?

As soon as I sat down, as soon as I hit "new post"........ I hear "Good Morning mom!"

Yup, my toddler is up and at 'em again. Seriously this child seems to function (all be it sometimes not so pleasantly) on very little sleep. I thought for sure he'd be sleeping later today as he had no nap yesterday, went to bed at 9pm and was up like 5 times (why? who knows!). But alas, my 5 minutes of free time are over.

And you know, I could sit and complain about it. But this is the life of a mom to a couple littles. If this season in life is once thing, it's constant! And it makes the day go by so much better when you can wrap your head around that fact instead of fighting it each and every day.

And because I have a little to no computer while he's awake rule, this may be the only glimpse into my life you see today.

A Button Nose

2009-08-25T21:18:00.000-04:00

Baby Bits

2009-08-18T21:17:00.000-04:00

Baby Bits: Foot Cleavage

2009-08-11T21:16:00.000-04:00

The little engine that could

2009-08-11T07:14:00.002-04:00

Two more weeks.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

You see, for some reason, everything I'm involved in has met together in August.

I was the photographer at my sisters wedding on August 1st so I'm in the midst of proofing the hundreds of photos taken.

I'm helping lead our VBS program at church, writing curriculum and getting supplies in order. It's running next week, so this week is crunch time.

The womens group I'm part of at church is running a second best sale to raise money for different church ministries. It's this Saturday. We have a huge room of donated "goods" to sort and stack and price.

In the midst of those things, I'm also trying to "put away" food for winter. So far I've got about 15 pounds of strawberries, 25 pounds of cherries, and 20 pounds of blueberries, along with some random green beans. I'm hoping the majority of my garden goods will wait at least 2 more weeks though so I can deal with them after VBS!

So the last 2 weeks have been busy, and the next 2 weeks will be even busier! But.....

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!!

My little man

2009-08-07T13:04:00.006-04:00

He turned three yesterday. Three!! These days seem to go so quickly and I'm constantly amazed at how much he's grown over the last year.

Again this year we decided to keep the day nice and relaxing. No big parties, no buying excessively. Just keeping it simple. But since the baby he's definitely had a lot less one on one time, so I wanted to make it special for him as well.

Starting the night before, I decided to carry on the tradition my mom started with my sisters and I. She used to sneak in late at night after we went to sleep and put a small gift on the end of our bed. So before I went to bed, I place a small wooden train at the end of his bed that was wrapped up in a bow.

Then comes 5am.

He was terrified when he saw it.

Hollering and yelling and carrying on. Once I got to him he cries "Train on my bed....No train on my bed!!!". I had to cuddle with him for a few minutes before he'd calm down to go back to sleep. Maybe we'll try again next year!

I had also visited the dollar store and picked up a race car tablecloth and had that on the table as well as a couple of balloons on his chair for when he came upstairs for breakfast. He loved it!! And we had homemade pancakes, his cut with train cookie cutters. I think he ate twice as many as he normally does!

For lunch we met just a couple friends at the park and had a great time playing. I had also brought along a cake to share, although for some reason it dried out a bit over night. (Sorry gals! It's normally better!)

We had burgers for dinner, then opened some gifts from me and daddy. I had planned on only giving him just a couple of things I'd found at garage sales over the summer, but we had a kids toy store near us go out of business so I picked up some Thomas trains for $5.00 a piece and some Melissa and Doug wooden toys 40% off. (some are being saved for Christmas!) Here's the cutting fruit:
and the symbols to the wooden band set:
but his favorite was the wooden car garage I picked up from a friend for $5.00!!

To end the night we had some homemade cake and ice cream. (wait...I meant to make the ice cream, but forgot to pick up some extra cream at the farm, so I had to buy some)
I had found a tutorial online for making the race car cake and just had to try it! It was super easy and he loved it!! I also used my favorite gluten free chocolate cake recipe and made my own cream cheese frosting (1/2 block cream cheese, 1 stick butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and organic powdered sugar to taste and texture) Although I froze half of it for another day since it was quite a bit of cake for just 3 of us. I thought about doing just one circle, but it just didn't have enough pizazz to it!

We had a fabulous day and hopefully created some fun memories for him!

And today I've enjoyed a small break from parenting as he's to busy playing with all of his fun new toys to get into any trouble!!

Trying to Stand

2009-08-04T21:05:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

It'll slow down tomorrow, right?

2009-07-30T08:08:00.002-04:00

I don't know about you, but my summer is flying by! June went by in a blur and I thought for sure I'd have time to just kick back and relax in July. Well, it's July 30th today. That means I have just 2 full days left of July to relax.

But on the schedule today I've got to wash, pit, and freeze 20 pounds of cherries and wash and freeze 20 pounds of blueberries.

Tomorrow I have to ready all my photo gear and attend a rehearsal and dinner for my sisters wedding Saturday.

So July is a no go for relaxing!

And August doesn't look much better since the next 2 weeks I'll be getting ready for our churches VBS program, then it's VBS for a week, and by then I'm pretty sure my garden will be in harvest mode so I'll be busy canning up tomatoes.

*whew*

Speaking of my garden though I'm finally done picking potato beetle larva off my tomato plants only to have to start searching for tomato worms! The bugs sure seem to be a never ending problem out there this year!

On another note, have I told you lately that I have the best baby ever? Seriously, she's so easy going and never fusses. The last 2 weeks she's even been sleeping from about 8:30-9:00pm until about 7:00am. Ridiculous right? And she even puts herself to sleep now that she's found her thumb.

And I know, I know. Just wait till she's 3, or 4, or whatever. It's not like you can break a newborns habits, so we'll deal with it when we deal with it. I remember my mom having to break one of my sisters of thumb sucking, so I know how hard it can be.

And again why must people tell you that it's just gonna be so much harder as she gets older? I know it will be, but can I just enjoy this phase. Please? Cause this is my favorite baby phase. Well at least until she starts sitting, cause then they are just to cute and then that's my favorite phase. But then there's the phase where they begin to talk and then that's my favorite phase!

So that was a completely random and not organized post huh? Welcome to my brain this summer!

What have you all been up to?

Doodles from a Toddler

2009-07-28T21:03:00.000-04:00

(Can you see the truck? A square with 4 wheels and a window?)
Wordless Wednesday

Titled either "The Sweetest Thing I've Ever Seen" or "Uh Oh a Habit to Break"

2009-07-21T21:01:00.001-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

Review: Honest Kids

2009-07-20T13:20:00.002-04:00

We recently had the privilege to try out Honest Kids beverages through my hook up at MomFuse. And even though this summer has been cooler than most, it was a great time to try these out, what with all the playdates and running around I seem to be doing right now. And while these are not a "healthy" drink by any means, they are well above and beyond the normal kids drinks that are full of high fructose corn syrup, flavorings, and plenty of colorings as well.

They carry a berry lemonade, grape, and tropical tango flavor and actually sent us each one to try. They were all quite tasty (yup - I snuck a sip before handing it off!) but not sickenly sweet. Supposedly they have about half the amount of sugar in them as conventional drinks do. I didn't check though since I don't have the other stuff in my house, so I'm taking their word for it. Another plus is that it's made out of all organic ingredients so I don't have to worry about chemical laden stuff. But the biggest plus of all in my book is the fact that it has no high fructose corn syrup in it!

And in the packs they are super easy to carry around and unlike the packs they had when I was younger, these are really easy to stab with the straw!! If I saw these in the store, I'd definitly pick some up to have on hand!

Just a lot of random

2009-07-16T14:25:00.003-04:00

So I figured since I've been pretty sparse around here I thought I'd at least fill you all in on a bunch of random things we've got going on.

I'm in the midst of trying to come out from under the weeds in my garden. It's so horrible I just can't keep up. Between that and the potato beetle larva I'm dealing with, well...let's just say it's been time consuming! (I've been placing carpet strips in my rows though to help me out down the road)
I'm also one of the directors for VBS this year at our church and right now I'm busy planning lessons and activities. It's in like 4 weeks, so we're down to the time crunch!!
I'm also nursing a lot. Yea, baby's like to eat! And I get on the computer quite often in the AM but the thing is - it's hard to write a post one handed!!
I've also been busy freezing strawberries, cherries, and soon - blueberries and peaches.
And I'm doing laundry. A lot. And not from the baby - from the toddler.
Plus we've been trying to do some fun summer stuff like go to the park and hang out with friends!

So what have you been up to??

Review : Don't Bit Me Patch

2009-07-08T23:30:00.001-04:00

We live on a mosquito farm.

Seriously.

Everyone has them at their house in the summer right? Right.

Except we also have a good size river that floods during the spring/summer rains and then proceeds to fill all of the low lying areas just a few hundred feet from our front door. I mean, we used to live 2 miles (big move huh?) from where we are now and it was nothing compared to this. At night we get swarms of the outside the sliders and basically can't go outside after about 6pm. It borders on ridiculous.

And that is the reason why I jumped at the chance when Momfuse asked if I wanted to try out some Don't Bite Me Patches. This patch is a new, natural, way to repel those stupid biting insects. It contains only vitamin B1 and aloe. The vitamin B1 travels through your system and the excess is the sent out your pores, thereby masking the carbon dioxide you body emits. The aloe is an anti inflammatory that helps minimize any inflammation that occurs if you do get a bite.

Sounds great right? At least a way to not use lots of chemicals. But does it work?

I put one on my leg about 2 hours before I tested it out. (it takes 2 hours to be effective) After dinner I went outside, right up to the edge of the woods. What transpired was really weird. I was being swarmed, yet none landed on me. After a few minutes I received only one bite, which is a miracle seeing how many where out there.

Since then I have used the patches a few more times, and each time received one bite or less. So these things really do work! My only beef is that it takes a couple hours to be effective so it doesn't really work for impromptu outings. But for camping or for when you know you'll be outside for great lengths of time, these are awesome! They're waterproof and they even last for about 36 hours!

Best of all, you can put them on kids without having to worry about Deet!

So if you'd rather not feed the mosquitoes this summer, try out the Don't Bite Me Patch. I'm pretty sure they can be found nationwide at RiteAid and I've also seem them at our local Health Food Store.

Potty Training

2009-07-07T23:30:00.002-04:00

I've been meaning to write this post now for months. Literally.

See, we did all our potty training almost one year ago when Cody turned 2. Actually just a couple days before. But I guess this does seem to be a good time since he is now 100% diaper free as of a few weeks ago and in time for his third birthday!

How I did it:

Once I decided to start potty training I made the decision that what we started would not be stopped. I was not going to revert back to diapers. So I went out and bought a little potty at Target and about a dozen 'big boy' underpants. It was just a simple little potty, no bells and whistles.

It soon went right back to Target.

See, umm...boys pee out. Not down. And there was no way in tarnation that he could sit down on that thing and actually go into it! So I did some searching online and it seemed moms of boys liked the Baby Bjiorn potty as it had a higher guard in front. Plus it's a very basic potty and of good quality for only a few dollars more, so I highly recommend it as well!

One morning after breakfast I took off his last diaper and we put underpants on both him AND his teddy. We walked downstairs to the potty, where I had already put a bit of water in it, and placed teddy on it. So teddy got to be the first one to go potty and get a potty snack. (I had some organic m&m type candies) We then talked about what he was supposed to do.

Then I got him some juice. Yup, juice. He rarely ever gets juice so for him this was HUGE. And he drank and drank and drank it all day. Why? Well, when they have to pee more often it gives them more of a chance to learn when they feel the urge to go.

At first he had shorts on and let me tell you, this did. not. work! After the 3rd time of him just peeing and barely getting wet, I put on his cotton pj pants that fit quite snugly. And this was the ticket for him! The first couple times he got wet, he lost it. He did not like getting all wet.

By the end of the first day he was starting to hold it much longer and by the second night he actually started telling us he had to go potty! (I had taught him the sign for potty previously) Every time he went, he did get a potty snack and of course we made a big to do about everything as well. And I did a ton of laundry!!

Sure he had accidents, but for the most part he was trained #1 within a few days time. But then after a couple weeks, the newness wore off and he started having accidents multiple times a day. So I decided to take all of his hot wheels away when he wet himself and he could get them back by going in the potty chair.

Worked like a charm! In no time flat he was staying dray all day again.

Then we got some sort of stomach bug and let me tell you, this really did not help for training #2! Because of the cramping he felt and the pain while going, I'm pretty sure this scared him away from going on the potty. And then I got pregnant. And was so tired I just couldn't train anymore than what he already was. So he ended up scheduling himself to go during naptimes where he still used a diaper. I guess all I can say is that I'm glad he at least wasn't going in his pants during the day as he only wore underpants then.

A few months go buy and I make it my goal to get him to go #2 on the potty by the time baby comes. And I knew it was my fault he wasn't fully trained as I was being a bit inconsistent with the training. So we try the treats again. And we try the taking the toys again. Nope, still going at naptime.

So then I started putting him down naked. Yes, you heard me right. Naked. Cause I knew he wouldn't go unless he felt the security of the diaper. And while we had a few wet sheets here and there, it worked like a charm! Until he held it for days and then hurt himself again while going in the potty.

So while we finally had naptimes down, he then started going in the morning.

Ugh! I talked to a few of my friends and got a few different ideas. But when talking about rewards with one friend I finally got the idea to use hot wheels as a reward. So I went out and spent 10 bucks buying some new cars for him.

The next morning I had them all lined up on the counter and we discussed what they were for. And you know what? Two hours later he told me he had to go!

Bingo!

I had finally figured out how to break his habit and within a week he was fully trained except for bed time.

And last month I figured it was as good a time as any to start night training when he started peeing in his diaper right after we put him to bed. Actually it was the "just a minute mommy. I have to pee in my deeper first" when I went to take it off one morning! I knew then he was ready!

I just told him if he woke up dry he got a treat. Of course it didn't work for the first couple of nights and I was up changing wet sheets. But of course I was already up with the baby so it wasn't that big of a deal! After 2 weeks he stayed dry. And has been dry since.

Now, we aren't without accidents. I mean he's not quite 3 yet. But all of those are due to the fact that he get's lazy or to busy to go.

So if I were to give any advice (yea, I know you didn't ask, but I'm gonna give it anyways!) I'd tell you to:

Buy more underpants than you really need. Like 2 dozen so you don't have to do laundry as much!
Use a favorite doll or stuffed animal to show them what to do
buy treats or prizes for each time they go (I only gave them out when he went, not just when he tried)
Make sure you have a week at home with out interruption
Give them lots to drink the first few days!
Unless it's before naptime or bedtime, don't tell them when to go. Wait until they feel the urge themselves. Yes, it makes more laundry, but at least they'll be trained, and not you who's trained.
Don't use pullups. All it really is is a diaper and will give them the same feeling as wearing one.
Be consistent! I know that the reason it was drawn out for a few months for us was because of me. I was being inconsistent and that translated into untraining.
and most of all, expect your kids to get the hang of it. It seems no matter what you say or do, if you somehow don't expect your kids to 'get it' or if you think it's gonna take forever, somehow they feel that and only live up to your true expectations.

Well, that's what has worked for us thus far. And I know my way of doing things definitely isn't for everyone, but I thought I'd share just in case there's a mama out there who's only told that boys take forever to potty train. It is possible!

Any other mama's out there wanna leave us some of your own tips? What worked for you?

Lost hours

2009-07-07T13:10:00.002-04:00

You know... when I thought how my life would look with a second baby I figured I'd be losing a lot of 'me time'. It's just what happens when children come along. You just have less time to do things. Well, baby number two came along and really not much changed. Sure I had a bit less time to myself, but after we woke in the mornings I had ample time to get things done and blog before Cody woke up.

Hmmm.

I seem to have forgotten that my son does not sleep well in the summer. June 1 hits and he somehow needs about 3-4 hours less sleep per night.

So instead of me getting my blogging time done in the morning before he wakes at 8:00am, I barely get the baby fed before he's up at 6:30. Some days he's even up before Todd leaves for work! Even skipping naps doesn't seem to work as he just gets crabbier and crabbier. What I miss most of all though is my ability to sleep in on Saturday morning. Sure, the baby wakes to eat, but she's at such a young age she'll nurse herself right to sleep again.

Anybody elses kids do this?

A few ways to get things for free

2009-07-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

So, I know I posted about these few things yesterday when I put up my resources page, but I got a couple questions about some so I thought I'd go in depth about a few so you knew they weren't scams. Cause, I'd never direct you all to a scam let alone something I hadn't done myself! And I know many of you already joined these, as I always seem to be the last one to post about them!

First up is Paperback swap. I joined up about a year ago now and have received quite a few "new to me" books. The easiest way to explain paperback swap is to call it an online book swap. You post any book that you currently own that you no longer read. (if you post 10 books right away they automatically give you 2 book credits!) Now at some point, you'll most likely have someone request your book. When you send it out to them (you pay the shipping) and they receive it, you get a book credit. You can then use that book credit and search the site to request someone else's book. They then pay the shipping to send it to you and you get a free, used, book! I've sent out many of my own books and have received some great books in return. I've never had any issues with people not sending out a book, although it is up to the people who post them to follow through. It's a great way to save some money! And if you have friends sign up with your refferal link you earn even more book credits! (so if you haven't signed up yet, you can click on the button above to use my refferal link. I'm currently saving up my book credits to be able to get some 'schooling' books to use for preschool this year)

DVD Swap - Same premise as the Paperback Swap but with DVD's. I joined this one much later on, but have since gotten 2 DVDs that my toddler enjoys quite a bit.

SwagBucks - A search engine that rewards you for using it with "points". These points can then be turned into online gift certificates to all sorts of online stores or to buy prizes. I've earned $15.00 in Amazon.com cards in about 6 weeks! This works just like google and you can even pull the swagbucks search up into the top right hand "search area" say the Mozilla or IE window. You then do nothing different at all when yuo search. Every few times you search for something online it pops up that you have earned a swagbucks and it gets added into your account. So far I've used my swag bucks to purchase an amazon gift card so that I could buy some California Baby Sunblock! A fabulous way for me to buy things that are normally out of my price range! And of course, you can also earn extra points here and there by refferals as well. (*clears throat* the above button!) So once you sign up, your friends and family sign up, you'll all be earning 'bucks' for something you'd be doing anyways.

Mitetees winner

2009-07-01T18:54:00.000-04:00

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2009-07-01 22:50:29 UTC

Tami - an e-mail is on it's way!!