Look what I got to do this morning! For about twenty whole minutes they cuddled with me watching a video on line. Here is what they watched (a few times in a row), followed by a few other animated videos about the gospel: We are finally getting back into a good routine with school after many interruptions a couple weeks back. Deakin is pushing up two molars. I have been asked to lead a short bible study for the women at church on Saturday. Bryse is healing very nicely and has a doctor appointment back in Kansas City on Monday morning. We are headed to Springfield for a few days after that appointment and then on to Pea Ridge for Thanksgiving. Hoping to be back in Kansas the day after Thanksgiving (maybe) and then on December 1st we are having a joint birthday party for Darby's 9th and Cal's 4th! After that we will mail out Christmas presents to Texas family and then things should calm down nicely. : ) I've already finished all Birthday and Christmas shopping. Well, there is a quick update and here is a lovely quote that I found very encouraging.
"We must say to ourselves something like this: “Well, when Jesus looked down from the cross, he didn’t think, ‘I am giving myself to you because you are so attractive to me.’ No, he was in agony, and he looked down at us—denying him, abandoning him, and betraying him—and in the greatest act of love in history, he stayed. He said, ‘Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.’ He loved us, not because we were lovely to him, but to make us lovely. That is why I am going to love my spouse."” Tim Keller
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In preperation for Bryse's surgery we had a short, kid-friendly book to read on line telling us what to expect. I read it by myself first and cried when it got to the part where the child said goodbye to mommy and walked away with the strange nurse into the OR. Our favorite thing about the book was that we found out that Bryse could take her favorite stuffed animal or blankie with her. Well, puppy is hands down her favorite, hence her full name: Puppy Chow My Favorite (puppy is a girl, as I am so often reminded of). So that made both her and I feel better. But I wanted to go back there too! So I started thinking... Whenever we send daddy a box of goodies and colored pictures we include a picture that says Sealed With a Kiss and we all put some bright red lipstick on and kiss it and put it in the box last. That way it feels like we all sent him a kiss. (Btw, even Cal does this, even though every single time he says "NO!". But somehow at the last minute he just has to send daddy a kiss and puts that lipstick on!) So thinking on this problem I came up with the idea of sewing a mama kiss on Puppy to go with Bryse in the OR. She picked a fabric, I painted my lips with read tempera paint and kissed the fabric, we cut it out like a heart, and sewed it onto Puppy's back right where Bryse told me to. By the way, the injury up by her left ear is from the time that Bryse decided that Puppy had lost too much weight and needed more stuffing. I helped Bryse very little on that project! I just ripped the seam and she did the rest, stuffing her and sewing her back up all by herself.
And, on a side note, today is Robert's 32nd birthday! Happy Birthday, My Man!!! Love you and miss you. Here is a picture of one morning when we did a big morning of fruit dehydrating. We sure do love that! We did a few trays of peaches, apples, and bananas. My personal favorite is bananas. I also love my apple peeler, corer, slicer. It makes life so much easier! I got a steal at the commissary the other day. They have a table for reduced produce (God bless them!) and there was a big 'ol box of bananas! $3! So we gonna have us a pile of banana bars! Deakin lept over bags of groceries in a single bound to get to the box! Ha! He was so excited. I have an Excalibur food dehydrater with nine trays. I filled every tray up, it took over an hour of slicing! I would estimate it took about 35-45 bananas. I still have fifteen bananas left so maybe we will make several loaves of banana bread to freeze. Although I don't doubt that my kids could put fifteen bananas away within a couple of days if I just put them in the fruit bowl! We ended up with between 300-400 dehydrated banana bars! Yum! Next time you're at the store check out how expensive dehydrated banana chips are! We paid roughly $2.50 for all these banana bars! I also burnt (and I mean to a crisp) two banana bread loaves. But I still have enough bananas leftover to make two more banana bread loaves. So I will do that today. : )
I showed Brye's inspirational art project a while back. After we finished her's I started on mine. Darby is next! So here is mine. I used a quote by Martin Luther that Robert and I really like. Mainly because there was a time in our marriage when I was not sad to see Robert leave and he was not glad to come home. So to be on the other side of that is a great blessing that all the honor and glory goes to God for. We have no ability to love one another well in and of ourselves. God taught us how. There is a lot here that causes me to worship the Lord! The whole piece is suppose to show a marriage submerged in the grace of God. I spent many hours deciding what to do. So you have the tree planted "by the water" (slightly abstract there, as you can't see any land). The type of tree that grows by water is called a Linden tree and that is the root of my name. : ) The reasoning for that choice is found in the scripture on the roots in the water.
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." (Psalm 1:3 ESV) "He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:8 ESV) Where are your roots planted? Are the planted in the living water only Christ can give? We've learned through far too much pain that our marriage withers and bears sour fruit if we are planted in anything but. Next is why I chose a tree in the first place. Jesus uses a tree to explain how we know we are followers of the one true God. That if someone claims the name of God but bears bad fruit always, then they are a liar, a wolf in sheep's clothing. That we will know the true christians by the fruit they bear. Good fruit that brings life and love and glory to God! It is our daily prayer that we will bring glory and honor to God by our fruit. Not that we need to earn our salvation but just because we love Him so much we deeply desire to obey Him. That like Ephesians 6 says, we would sow into the Holy Spirit instead of into the flesh. "So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit." (Matthew 7:17 ESV) "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12 ESV) I added the vines because of what Jesus says about Him being the vine. Salvation only comes to those who go through Christ. Apart from Him we can do nothing of eternal value. Even in our marriage. "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5 ESV) I started with just two vines but then was reminded of this scripture in Ecclesiastes where it says that two is better than one but three is best. For us we, again, see this in our marriage. We can get a lot of work done, Robert and I, but that work is fruitless and temporary without the Lord binding it together. Everything we do must be focused on Him. "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV) I didn't do any scripture references on the background. But my thoughts there are how repeatedly in the Bible we are reminded that our God is a consuming fire! There is no darkness in Him! Hence the light chasing away the darkness. I will be sure to post Darby's project as soon as she gets to work on it and finishes it! Be blessed! I've finally settled into a routine with breakfasts that we seem to like. So I thought I would share it along with our recipes because I have had to do some tweaking of favorite recipes for dairy and soaking reasons. First, let me explain that I consider myself one of those huge fans of cold cereal. I was raised on it and I loooove it! Golden Grahms, Lucky Charms, Crispix, Rice Crispies, Frosted Flakes.... mmm mm mmmmm! Love 'em! Well, a couple years ago I started having friends share info with me about the unhealthiness of cold cereal. Notice, I didn't say they were judging me, they just educated me. And I said thank you, cataloged the new information and kept on keeping on shoveling the cold cereal down the gullet! Ha! You can get some pretty magnificent deals couponing while shopping for cereal. I was good at it! : ) But I knew my friends were right so I started cutting back on it slowly. Until we got to the point of only eating cereal once a week (or mama sneaking some after bedtime for a snack!). Then Deakin was born and I realized he was allergic to milk. I did give some alternative milks a shot in my cereal but none were good enough. And since I'm a meanie and couldn't handle watching everyone else enjoy one of my favorite things, I stopped buying cereal all together. That was almost a year ago. Since then I have tweaked and shifted and tried all sorts of recipes and ways of making breakfast. And the following is what we have fallen into and are enjoying quite well! The soaking steps I have developed on my own according to the reading I have done on soaking. I'm not 100% sure I'm doing it correctly, but it turns out well. So if anyone with more knowledge in that area knows of something I'm doing wrong, please tell me. Sunday and Wednesday: Typically we do muffins. I serve the muffins with smoothies or fruit on the side. I have adapted a muffin recipe from Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking to suit our dairy free lifestyle and a few other preferences. Here's what we came up with. Banana (or blueberry) Muffins - 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour - 1 tsp baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp baking powder - 1/2 tsp salt - 3 ripe bananas mashed (or for blueberry muffins, 1 cup blueberries & 3/4 cup applesauce - 3/4 cup of honey - 1 egg, lightly beaten - 1/3 cup of coconut oil, melted Soaking step: The day before mix together the flour, coconut oil, honey, and 1 Tbs of water and 1 Tbs of lemon juice. Cover and let sit for 12-24 hours before finishing recipe. Preheat oven at 375 degree F. Put 12 muffin tins in a muffin pan. (12 is enough for just me and the kids with a little leftover for snack, but if we have visiters or Daddy is home then I double the batch) In a large bowl add baking soda, baking powder, salt, bananas (or blueberries and applesauce) and egg, mix together well. Fill muffin tins nearly full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and then cool on racks. Monday and Thurday: We usually do eggs on these days. I actually do eggs a lot more often but on these days I feed them to the kids too. Whenever the kids have muffins or pancakes I typically make myself a couple eggs instead. And I serve the eggs with a side of fruit. Here, since I don't have to share a recipe for eggs, I will share my favorite smoothie recipe. Our blendtec came with a recipe book and Robert discovered this recipe. While he was home he would make it at least once a day and sometimes twice! I didn't drink it much then but since he has left I've started having it often too. It's soooo filling and loaded with healthy fats! Again it's tweaked for our dairy free lifestyle. Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie 1/2 cup coconut milk 1 1/2 Tbs peanut butter 1 Tbs honey 1/2 Tbs cocoa powder 1 banana 1 cup of ice cubes (our ice maker makes big fat rectangles so I just count out 8-9 rectangles and that is perfect) Put all ingredients in the blender and blend! On the blendtec it's one round on the "sauces" mode. Tuesday and Friday
Here we do oatmeal! Here is my soaking, DF recipe. Oatmeal: 2 cups oats 2 cups water 2 Tbs lemon juice Put in container, mix, cover for 12-24 hours. Pour into a pot add about 1 cup of water and a dash of salt. Heat over medium heat for about 10 minutes stirring often. I set out chopped apples and dried cranberries on the table as an optional topping. And give the kids a choice between a sprinkle of brown sugar or dolop of honey. Saturday Pancakes or Waffles! If we have time. Some Saturdays we hussle out the door to go to the Farmer's Market in Manhattan and can't make the time to do this treat. Most often I do pancakes because they are easier. The waffle recipe I use takes a long time to cook and so I have two waffle irons going at the same time. Still it takes a good 45 minutes to complete a whole double batch. It is a recipe I found in Go Dairy Free book. I have tweaked it to soak the oats. The following pancake recipe is just barely enough for just my kids. If I want some or we have guests I double it. Again, this is a recipe that I have tweaked a LOT since I found it years ago on line. It's barely recognizable anymore. Soaked DF Pancakes: 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 2 Tbs honey 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1 cup coconut milk mixed with 2 Tbs lemon juice 3 Tbs coconut oil, melted The day before mix the flour, honey, milk, lemon juice, and oil together. Cover and let sit for 12-24 hours. Mix in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and egg with soaked mixture until well blended. Cook in a skillet greased with coconut oil on medium heat, cool on racks. We use maple syrup or honey to spread on top. Oatmeal Blender Waffles: 4 cups rolled oats 4 cups water, plus extra as needed 2 small, ripe bananas 2 Tbs coconut oil 2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp salt The day before mix the rolled oats and water and 2 Tbs of lemon juice in a container. Cover and let sit for 12-24 hours. Pour soaked oats into blender. Add bananas, oil, vanilla, salt, and a little water as needed. Blend until blended well. Pour into waffle iron. I have to leave this batter in my big belgian waffle maker twice as long as usual. This recipe is enough for just my kids, but I increase it by 50% if we have guests. This is to highlight the changes we have seen in the boys with their dairy allergies. I had a friend recommend a homeopathic that she had seen help. http://www.amazon.com/bioAllers-Allergies-Allergy-Relief-Liquid/dp/B00008US2P/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335364313&sr=8-1 That's a link to the product on amazon. We bought one bottle in January during our move. I still have quite a bit left. When ever I or Cal got exposed to dairy on mistake we would give the boys a few drops in the morning and evening. These are pictures of just the physical problems dairy gave them. The first picture is of Deakin after I had some hidden dairy in some bread. And the second is of Cal after having some exposure to hidden dairy as well. Deakin's is worse, he would twitch and scream in pain from the hives. Cal never complained about his rash, it was just there and on his back as well. Along with unseen problems, like lack of sleep, and a few days later Cal got croup and vomiting as well. Deakin has never had the croup, thankfully. But he had thrush in his mouth and on his bum. Those pictures are before we started using the homeopathic. NOW, the worst reaction Cal has is some strange bowel movements. Deakin will spit up a few times and get a small rash on his bottom. So I could take a picture of Cal's stomach after he had a glass of raw milk the other day, but it would look just normal. Here is a picture of Deakin a few days after we started the homeopathic: Clear as a bell! I've been stunned! And telling anyone that might be interested! I truly think that we are on the road to recovering completely from the allergies! Praise God! We are still very careful to keep the boys aware from dairy (with the exception of testing Cal a few times) but are praying for the day when they can have some cheese and yogurt! : )
Don't worry, I don't mean a "lose wieght" kind of diet. It's just an over haul on our nutrition for a while. So here it is. We are currently on day four of a grain free, sugar free, processed free, dairy free diet. It's called the G.A.P.S. diet. It stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome. The basic premise is that the processed food that we eat damages our guts and makes it where we can't absorb the nutrient we need to. Which can result in many issues. Most of which I won't get into here because I fear most people already think we are nuts! ; ) http://gapsdiet.com/Home_Page.html
http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2010/02/the-gaps-diet-what-it-is-and-why-you-might-consider-doing-it.html http://nourishedkitchen.com/what-is-the-gaps-diet/ http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/overwhelmed-by-the-gaps-diet-help-has-arrived/ If you are truly interested, then look into it. For our family it is kind of an experiment. We are attempting to see if this major life style change will in fact help with curtain things. Mainly, ADHD symptoms, bed wetting, joint pain, energy level, focus issues, and dairy allergies. All of the above have been found to be helped by this diet. And while we don't know if it will actually work, we figure, heck, it's just life style changes and won't hurt anything, so why not try it? We have been reading and researching this diet since I was pregnant with Deakin. So about, 7-8 months. There are several blogs devoted to it and how it has helped their family. So I read those and asked for the book for Christmas. I approached Robert prepared to say that I would wait until he deployed and me and the kids just do it. But Robert liked the sound of it too, so he said lets all do it together! : ) Which has been a great blessing to have help from my partner! So once we got settled in Kansas we ordered a Blendtec (so that we can juice) and a food dehydrator. All the while we waited for them to be delivered I worked on menu plans. I purchased one month's worth of plans, printed them out and tweaked them for our dairy free needs. We fixed our kitchen to be able to accomodate a mama in it cooking for 2-4 hours a day. Searched all around this area for the types of food we would need. And prepared the kids and ourselves emotionally for this. March 7th we woke up and began, after the day before spending well over $100 just on produce for one week! I had three weeks worth of menu plans ready and jumped right in. We had grain free, sugar free cinnamon roll muffins for breakfast that morning. Which sounds yummy, but wasn't really. BUT I will say that each day they have gotten yummier as our pallets quickly get used to the lack of sugar and grains. We will go through roughly 6 dozen eggs a week on this diet. So we have lots of eggs. Last night we had a super good sirloin and roasted veggie dinner! We've had a couple of flops in the meal plan. Meals that I won't cook again. Typically the diet is suppose to have an introduction stage at the beginning that helps speed up the detox. But since I'm breastfeeding I can't do it. So we decided to hop right into the main diet. When Robert returns from Afgahnistan we will revisit the possibility of doing it more fully. And we are staying loose and relaxed. We've said that we will only do it for three weeks for sure and then reevaluate. Robert doesn't want me frazzled and stressed from all the extra work. There are times where both Robert and I are like, "No. We stop after three weeks." and then other times where we feel really good about it! We have all experienced some detox symptoms. Our bodies feeling run down. Both Cal and Bryse spent a few hours with upset stomaches and vomiting. Robert and I both experienced extreme fatigue the first day. I woke up hot all over and trembling the second day. But we are learning that usually those things mean we need to eat some fruit. My favorite things about this diet is that I have learned to be more bold in the kitchen! I feel more confident! I've done so many new things! Last night I cooked a sirloin in a skillet (bc we can't afford to buy a grill right now) and roasted veggies that I've never cooked before and they turned out really good! I made mayonnaise for the first time! I made almond butter and peanut butter from scratch. We literally have NO premade, prepackaged foods in our house right now! I feel freed from worry about what is in our food now! I really don't mind the extra time I spend in the kitchen because Robert bought me a dock with speakers for my phone and I've listened to TONS of sermons while cutting, baking, cooking, peeling, and preparing our foods. It's great alone time. And I always know what we are going to have, so I don't have to think much. This morning Robert sat at the table with the kids and cut up apples, pears, pineapples, and bananas to put in our new food dehydrator! We'll see how that turns out. But the kids had a blast helping. They help me a lot in the kitchen too. I feel closer to my family. Tomorrow will be a challange because the church we are visiting is 25 minutes away and while we would usually go out to eat (one of our favorite things) I will pack us a lunch and snacks. Being out of the house is really hard. Especially walking through a grocery store and seeing oreos. And like I said, we may decide it's not worth it after three weeks and try again after Robert gets back from deployment. Lord knows he will need some major gut healing because we just found out, to our surprise, that he will be on antibiotics every single day of his nine month deployment! Wow. Anyway, that is our newest change! So far it's going well. It's hard to be weaned off something as addictive and sugar and grains (carbs), but we are surviving! When first looking for houses I rejected this one immeadiatly on the grounds that the kitchen was too small. Robert fought for it though! And when he came to Kansas to see all the houses it turned out that just one fall back (small kitchen) was better than all the other houses. So we went with this one with promises from my task oriented husband that he would have it workable in no time at all! ; ) So, here I am with before and after pictures to show off my sweet hubby's work! I mean, I helped some and basically was in charge of what I wanted, but he did 98% of the work. Technically, all this took him about 6 weeks of off and on work. I have the pictures posted as one "before" followed by a similar picture of the "after". Along with a couple of extra "after" pictures at the bottom. List of changes: Wall paper removed, painted, cabinet installed, shelves mounted to wall in corner, pot rack bought and mounted, wood paneling scrubbed of the green paint, small ceiling fan removed and new lighting put in it's place. We still have a little bit more to do, but that is mainly dining room stuff. We will have new floors some time. We will have a hutch in the dining room for storage of my dishes to free up more cabinet space for food (since there isn't a pantry). Robert is wanting to install metal shelves with lips all along above the crabinets for storing produce. We just started a special new diet (that is another blog) and have produce running out our ears (or more realistically sitting in the floor of the dining room). But we can't agree because I don't want shelves above the cabinets, I want two large wooden crates mounted to the dining room wall with netting over the bottom half of them. So once we there are still a few more changes to be made. Robert is currently building an 8-10 seating dining room table. But the first goal was to get the kitchen workable! And we did and are very proud!
I have decided to do a post all about the different ways to wear your baby. I get questions all the time about what type of sling I'm wearing and how does it compare to others, and where can you get it, and how do you spell it. Well, I'm hoping to cram as many answers as possible into this post so that I can just direct folks to here! I'm hoping to use as many pictures that belong to me or my business as possble, but we'll see. Cuz I don't have every type of sling available. So here we go: Starting at the beginning. Birth. In the early weeks I prefer a pouch sling: This is the simplest baby carrier. It's just a sling, fitted to the measurement between your shoulder and hip bone. The baby can lay in it like it's being cradled in your arms. He can also lay in it facing you in a froggy type position (as Bryse is above). Or he can face out. As Cal is above. Different babies prefer differnet ways. I typically let my baby face out unless they are sleepy, then they face me. When my childrfen get older and can sit up I like to use this carrier for the hip carry when I'm in a hurry. Like a quick run into the post office or whatever. Baby can't walk yet but I want (or more likely, need) both of my hands free. As a result of my only wearing my babies hip style with this carrier when I'm in a hurry, I don't have any pictures. But here is a link to instructions and pictures: http://www.slinglings.com/baby_slings.php?main_page=wearing_instructions&position=1 You can also do a back carry with this sling. Personally I've done it a few times when, say, baby is already on hip carry and I need to pick something heavy up. I just push baby back around to my back and do what I gotta do. In my experience, this carrier is not ideal for long term back carrying. You can purchase these types of slings on-line and in some baby stores. Mainly natural baby stores that sell cloth diapers and such should carry them. I've bought one of mine on ebay and another from Seven Slings. Etsy.com has several made by stay at home moms. It's very important to note that the correct type of carrier for this babywearing is like the one above. NOT like this: These more "modern" type of carriers are easier to find and buy but are not safe. The more "bells and whistles" on the carrier to try and modernize it, the worse. This carrier was created by some mainstream company to make a profit off of babywearing coming back into style and has been associated with death. The baby is looser inside of it making it more likely to cause suffocation and not to mention, your just not as close to your baby. The sling should be snug, as in, the baby is going no where! The padding and buckles are not necessary. Next, the Ring Sling! I really want a "cooler" ring sling. But the key word there is want. I don't need it. I bought my ring sling on craigslist, used and it does the job. The ring sling positions are basically the same as the pouch sling, but the ring sling is one size fits most and is adjustable! Plus most have a handy train hanging down from the portion of fabric you don't use that you can use to cover baby when nursing, in cold weather, or if you just want strangers to keep their hands to themselves. ; ) http://www.taylormadeslings.com/instructions.html That link has more instructions and positions to use with this carrier. I like it about as much as I like the pouch sling. I think the ring sling may be a bit more comfortable from a mommy's point of view because there is more fabric to move about in order to get most comfy. You can purchase these much the same as the pouch slings. Next, the Wrap style! I have so many friends that are HUGE fans of this type of carrier! Mainly called Moby wraps (because Moby is a popular brand name) this carrier is about five yards of stretchy fabric. It seems impossibly difficult but really isn't. I promise! A couple times of trying some positions out at home and you'll be ready for public. I bought mine on craigslist when I was pregnant with Jasper. So I have only tried it a handful of times with Deakin. And I still haven't tried the back carry with it. Looking forward to how that will be. I find that it is great for cold weather and walks in our neighborhood. Also you can just keep the carrier on you after you take baby out and then when you need it again, just slip them back in, since it's stretchy. I've not tried nursing in it, so I don't know how that is. http://site.peppermint.com/girasolcarry.htm Next, and my favorite, the Mei Tai! These are the type of carriers I make and sell. When I was pregnant with Bryse I really researched what type of carrier would be best for me and this is what I decided. But they run about $80, so I decided to make one. That resulted in friends and friends of friends asking for me to make one for them as well. And the rest is history. Real quick, my favorite things about mei tais: really easy to nurse distreetly, adjustable to size of baby/toddler, back carry is super comfy and easy, stylish fabrics, one size fits most, comfortably wear in every position possible. A down sides for some, really long straps can be overwelming. I just wrap them up and throw them in the floor of the van. I use the mei tai almost exclusively starting around 2 months old and until they are 2 or so years old. Depending on the child. Here are all the ways that the mei tai can be worn. And since this is my most used carrier, I have lots of pictures. http://kozycarrier.homestead.com/instructions.html That link is for the best instructions on all the ways to wear the mei tai. For info on how top purchase one of my mei tais, click on the Milestone Mei Tai page above. Or google Mei Tai baby carrier and find many other places to buy them. Okay, so last, soft pack carriers. This will include the Ergo. http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/ Which is supposedly super amazing! They cost a small fortune, so I have never had one and probably won't ever have one. But of those that use them, they are fiercly loyal and swear by them! So I have never doubted their superiority as a baby carrier. Two other popular brands of soft pack carriers are the Snugli or Baby Bjorn. These are completely different from the Ergo. The Ergo is designed for comfort of the wearer and for stability for the baby. I have talked to numerous moms and dads that had really bad back pain with the Snugli and Bjorn but none with a mei tai or Ergo. I used a Snugli with Darby and loved it....until I started using more traditional slings and the mei tai. Now when I strap on the Snugli I cringe in pain! Robert even kept using the Snugli for a few months after we had Bryse.... until he tried the mei tai and then he never looked back. Also, Snugli and Bjorn are not designed to best hold baby. They are hard on their hips because they are dangling by their crotch. And for a newborn, having their legs out isn't natural. So those are the downsides of those carriers. With a comparison photo below. SO! That's all I got for now! That is the general overview. There are other more rare ways to wear babies but these, in my opinion, are the most used.
Bryse really wanted to go to preschool this fall. She asked and begged and so we went looking around at what was available here. I didn't want her somewhere 5 days a week, 2 or 3 would be more than enough and really she just wanted to hang out with other kids, so I didn't feel the need for her to be "taught" a lot. So I looked at Mother's Day out programs for her at churches along with preschool programs. What I found was that if your child is over 3 for Mother's Day out programs, they expect you to leave your child for atleast 4 days a week. I could've dropped Cal off for 2 or 3 days a week because he's only two, but.... he's....only....two. ??? Just, personally, I don't feel the need or want to leave my two year old for a few days a week somewhere when I'm a stay at home mom anyway. And of course that carries over to Bryse's situation too. We don't have the money to pay for her to go somewhere for several days a week, plus I don't have the need. I also checked real preschools. I found one private preschool that had a part time program five days a week from 8-1, but they didn't do lunch there. They had a "snack time" at 11 (our usual lunch time at home) and then I would need to feed her when I picked her up. Which of course, 1pm is naptime for the rest of the kids. So that means that i would be driving 25 minutes to that school to pick her up and feeding her lunch while trying to get Deakin and Cal asleep. Not fun, and again, not necessary. I checked out the Headstart program here because we did that with Darby in Missouri and enjoyed it. They had a part time program that was four days a week 9-1 there which I felt was fine and Darby really loved. They don't have that here. Here it is five days a week 8-3 or nothing. Soooo, we did nothing. And I promised Bryse that I would "homeschool" her. That seemed to make her happy. So then I started trying to figure out an easy way to give Bryse structured learning while nursing a newborn and the other duties that come with my other children. Here's what I came up with.... I bought folders for four days of the week. Labeled them with Monday-Thursday and drew squares on them for star stickers when the day is completed. Then I went through all of my education workbooks and ripped out age appropriate worksheets for her. I ripped out around 40. Then I wrote about 40 journal entry titles. Mainly art journal entries. Once a week she does a "self portrait" and a free journal entry, where she can color whatever she feels like. Another day of the week she has a journal entry that is about feelings. Like, "What do you feel like today" or "Draw a happy face" or "What makes your sad?" And the last day of the week it is more of a direct entry. Like, "Draw some shapes" or "Draw your family" or "Draw your pets", that type of thing. So I put all the worksheets in one of the black folders above and all the pre-made journal entries in the other one. So, once a week, all I have to do is take one sheet from each and put them in each day's folder. On Monday, when she is ready, she goes to her Monday folder, gets out her work and does it. She brings it to me to see when she is done or to get help. When she is all done, she puts her journal entry in a three ring binder and then puts a star sticker in the appropriate box on the folder for finishing! : ) She loves it, and it's super easy for mama! Here is a picture of her finished journal entries notebook:
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LindseyI'm the mama and wife. Updating you on our life! Archives
January 2022
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