Fail/Win

Momfail: Not figuring out until way past bedtime last night that all Miss Boo needed to stay happily in her own bed until she fell asleep was not rocking, stories, stern talk, or Lambie.  It was having her lamp on.  Boom.  Sleep City.

Momwin: Both kids slept past 7am this morning.  Ye-ah.

Cheers,

Breanna

P.S.

May I say that if someone insists their kids never have/had sleep issues, they might be telling the truth--or they might be unable to remember, or creatively defining "sleep issues".  At least, I sure hope that's the case.

Book Review - Making It: Radical Home-Ec

So I bought this book the other week when, as Amazon fully knows you will, you go, "ah, I only need three dollars to get free shipping, hm...."

First off, do I think we'll ever get to a "post-consumer world"?  No, in the sense that I think capitalism is a law of nature.  That means, by the way, that I think it just IS the way that human economic interaction occurs--but of course, gravity is a law of nature too, and you can use gravity to hurt people.  Everyone's still responsible for any sins that use and abuse of economics leads them into.  End of digression; I bought this book not because I hate Nestle, Monsanto, and Google, but because I get tired of paying two bucks a bottle for salad dressing.

This book tells you, in delightfully snarky style, how to make just about everything.  Like how to turn an Altoids mint can into an oil lamp.  (Think about it, and I bet you can figure it out.  Turns out regular string or shoelaces work for a wick, too.)  I was pleased to find that salt and olive oil make a fine exfoliating scrub/engine grease hand scrub, that you can shave with olive oil, that I am not the only weirdo to make mead under my bathroom sink, that I can make my own vinegar from stuff I have in the house right now, and so on.

I made my own laundry detergent--turned out great, works awesome in my HE washer.

I made my own mustard.  Lovely.  Going to make harissa (Moroccan hot sauce) next.  Think I'll wait on the Japanese rice bran pickles, which sound a bit oogy.

In case of zombie attack the book also includes chapters on "Making Soap the Hard Way" and how to build your own composting toilet.  Remember, I said I'm considering those in the event of zombies.  So don't come to my house looking for the ash hopper and the milk-crate-bucket-toilet, please, just use the regular facilities and enjoy washing up with Dr. Bronner's castile soap while civilization lasts.

If you like DIY-ing, this is the book to get.  It's really practical, very frugal, and geared to people who don't have forty acres and access to old-school tools.  Its sourdough recipe, for instance, makes a whole lot more sense to me than Nourishing Traditions's sourdough.

(NT's can't be authentic. I just don't see miners taking the time to lovingly nourish a starter for seven days, never letting the delicate thing touch metal, and then having to use almost all of it for bread that takes eight or so hours to rise.  Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it seems like most 49'ers were a bit more impulsive.)

Some of the projects are only valuable if you absolutely want control over ingredients in your products.  For instance: making soap.  Their "Making Soap the Easy Way" requires a glass blender pitcher, a can of drain opener (lye), and olive oil.  Which means that instead of buying soap, you'll buy olive oil and lye.  Which is fine, if you absolutely have to know what's in your soap, but which is a bit silly otherwise--you're not really buying less, you're just buying different.  But that's more of a philosophical flaw; their soap recipe is about the easiest I've come across, too.  (Don't worry, I won't be keeping any lye in the house as long as I have little kids running around.)

So, if you're at all into what's becoming "Radical" - making your own stuff - give it a gander.  It's a fun book to have.

Cheers,

Breanna

P.S.  In Montana I could never buy lye in the grocery store--I checked one time, to run a numbers crunch to refute an internet person who insisted they saved all kinds of money on soap by making their own with lard and lye.  They don't sell it in stores in Montana because people use it to make unhealthy street drugs.  Apparently in Texas they don't care and they sell it right on the shelf with the Drano.  So... weird, but I proved my point that you actually won't save much money unless you are comparing to the fancy "natural" soap.

Naps - A Very Good Thing

Pretend I said that in a Martha Stewart voice.

So we realized, yesterday, when I was perusing a sleep book whose information I knew perfectly well but I had somehow forgotten...that the average (and recommended) sleep per-day for a three-year-old is 11 1/2 hours, plus a 1 hour nap.  We looked at the symptom list for "not getting enough sleep" and at Miss Boo and totted up her hours.  Can you guess how many she was getting, these last couple of weeks of long sunsets and hyperactive afternoons?

Eight.  And no nap.  That's right--she's been four hours short, at least, every night, for two weeks.  No wonder the kid was hyper, whiny, stubborn, and heartbroken over things like the marker being the wrong color.  I get that way when I'm four hours short of sleep, too.

So yesterday we enforced a nap.  Or actually, Mama just grabbed kids at a strategic siesta time and held them still long enough for their bodies to say "YES! GO TO SLEEP!"  They each slept an hour and a half.

Then we went outside for swimming.  And parent collapsing.

Littleman, whose sleep has not been disrupted (he sleeps like a tank) has been trying to figure out why everybody else has been draped in various positions over horizontal objects for so long.

It's very confusing.

And boring.  He has been talking and talking to the ceiling fan but it never talks back.  And people for some reason object when he wakes up in the middle of the night to practice crawling.

Because he's crawling.  Oh yes.  Actual crawling, none of this rolling or commando-style scooting.  We're talking hands-and-knees crawling.  At four-almost-five months.  Oh, Heaven preserve us, he's going to be the kid that walks at eight months, I just know it.

And now, this morning, two out of three are awake.  So here's to a day of "keeping the morning bright and busy", a solid nap, a physically active afternoon, and a bedtime routine faithfully followed.  Because we all need to get us some Z's around here--or the poor Husband's head will pop, and then Mama will melt into a puddle of goo.

Cheers,

Breanna

P.S.  It really isn't that bad, it's just the tiredness amplifies everything and makes you not quite rational.  Try it some time.  I have a baby I can lend you, if you're curious about the phenomenon.

P.P.S.  We thought it was really cute when Miss Boo gave Buddy the nickname "Buddy".  However she's been calling Littleman "Goog" lately, and sometimes "Goog-butts" for no reason I can fathom.  I don't think we'll be adopting that one in daily parlance.

Instead of Posting Pictures

I'm going to post pictures soon--pictures of the Zulu uprising kids and the 5 gallons of strawberry mead that we racked this morning; pictures of heat waves rising off the back patio and the dog wallowing in the puddle left when the kids ran through the sprinkler, if I can.

But it was A Heck of A Day.  And I use Heck advisedly.

I don't know why days like this occur.  I think I'll probably get to heaven and discover that on all these days when I was squeezed and I managed not to yell, that was when my soul was taking a polish.  Or something.  In the meantime, it kinda stinks.  I mean, I can't complain--I can't complain anyway, because God is in charge and whatever He has come along, well, it's the exercise of submitting to His will--but I mean, not even anything very bad happened.

It was the Death of a Thousand Cuts, instead.  Kids discovering their drum and drumsticks again.  And a new motorcycle toy I bought Buddy on a whim as we passed a garage sale last night that I didn't realize was battery-powered and very clicky.  That of course became the favored toy of the hour.  And a baby who figured out he can yell back at his sister, and who spent the day yelling happily at the ceiling fan.  And a husband trying desperately to get some things done on the computer.  And a mama who wanted to finish a short story, but who decided halfway through that was a stupid ambition.  And diapers that need washing, and pork chops that *someone* forgot to thaw, and hot muggy weather, and an upsurge in the spider population because the bug spray is wearing off and..and...and...

You almost think it would be easier to accept BIG things as being from the hand of God.  Like an illness.  Ka-wham.  Obviously that is from Him.  But somehow I've got it in my head that if I could just work my day correctly, that everything would always be peaceful and calm, and I would never end up rocking two kids to bed two hours past their bedtime, lulling them into unconsciousness with clever use of The Three Musketeers (the 90s version with Keifer Sutherland as Aramis--remember that, Aunt Kenny?  I fast forwarded the scene with the creepy prison guard).

When, in reality, every bit of this day was from Him.  And when I finally stopped trying to force it into the way I wanted it to be and rode the waves of His will, it got better.  Not easier, but better.

So, here's to tomorrow--and to writing things down in a blog post so that I can remind myself later.

A Few Links for You

Are you crafty?  Lately been decluttering toys and a bit disgruntled by how many Chic-fil-A prizes were crunched up and shoved between the bed and the nightstand?  (No on that last one?  Perhaps you just want toys in the house that actually look okay left strewn under and around the coffee table when impromptu people show up in your house?)

Try these for a Noah's Ark or a barnyard or a zoo: http://rhythmofthehome.com/summer-2011/magical-toys-linda-dawkins-natural-suburbia/

Note however that this is far, far from endorsing Waldorf education.  The Waldorf/Steiner theory is kooky, to put it kindly.  (They make pretty toys and nice art supplies.  They also recommend keeping your work area tidy not because it makes it easier to work, is less stressful, or because it shows respect for those around you--but because trash on the floor attracts bad fairies.)

One of the things Waldorf does right for the wrong reasons is emphasize rhythm in the home--i.e., every day has a framework.  If you're looking to formalize yours a bit, try Steady Days or the accompanying blog, Steady Mom.

Need a bit of encouragement that this Mommy gig is really worth doing well?  Try Sally Clarkson.  Especially this article, First Time Obedience, Really?  Note--not that this should be a problem for those of you who know my kids aren't brats, but still--that I'm not advocating letting kids ignore us--neither is Clarkson.  But this article gave me a bit of grace to keep from feeling defeated that I have to tell Buddy twenty-seven times that scotch tape is not rope and that we don't have any more gummy bears because we ATE THEM ALL.  This article reminded me that it's not him and it's not me: it's the fact that he's two, and his little brain hasn't fully set up yet.  When his neurons are firing in sync with each other, he'll hear me as well as his older sister does.  In the meantime, it's a relief not to wonder if I should spank for something that doesn't seem like a real infraction (because he didn't "listen" the first time I told him there were no gummy bears in the drawer).

So as soon as my self-imposed Amazon no-buying month is done, I'll probably get one of Clarkson's books and let you know what I think.

One of the problems with motherhood is that it's really vital to get it right.  Not only do you have eternal souls under your care, but from a purely day-to-day practical standpoint, happy obedient kids are just a lot more fun to hang around with than cranky, mean kids.  And some moms, I think, get so frustrated and tired and have so few resources (meaning help or knowledge), that they start laying about themselves with a wooden spoon or they start zoning out in one way or another.  It all depends on whether your approach to perfectionism is to get super-controlling or to give up.

Books (and there are lots of them) and blogs (and there are lots of them) that reiterate what moms are doing wrong and why that's bad are not healthy reading for a mom in either extreme.  What is better is to recognize that, like you, your kids are sinners.  Therefore they can't be left to themselves--they will stay savages if you do that.  But, like you, your kids are created in the image of God.  Because of that they will occasionally exhibit flashes of the divine--creativity, kindness, and other graces that God has allowed His fallen creation to sometimes retain.

Can I encourage you, if you're feeling overwhelmed and defeated by your kids' behavior, to consider whether something other than your terrible-ness at disciplining them might be at fault?  Maybe it's the fact that they get really, really cranky and unreasonable if their blood sugar drops (that would be Miss Boo) or that they get hyper if they miss a nap (Miss Boo again) or that they need to go potty but haven't figured out how to verbalize it (Buddy).  Think how you would behave in such a situation--it's mean to punish someone for a physical condition they are unable to change.

Correct the situation.  Feed upon the Word of God.  And pitch those books that have always felt wrong to you, anyway.  (For instance, the sleep book that recommended putting two baby gates on top of each other to keep your kid in their room if they refused to fall asleep on command.  Or the book that recommended training a baby to stay on their blanket on the floor by spanking their soft little hand if they tried to roll off.  Oh yes, these are real books.)

Now Buddy is awake, so I need to act on my conviction that they get more naughty when  Mama's on the computer (ergo, I need to cut the computer time) by turning off my laptop and going to be Mama.

Cheers,

Breanna

Official T-Tapp Review

Clothing store clerk: Well, boys, you tell me.  Do you want to be a stud, or a superstud?

Bill:  Oooh!  Superstud, Sam, go for superstud!

--Freaks and Geeks

No, not that they're paying me to review it or anything.  Here, by the way, is the Amazon link to the DVD I ordered:

15 Minute T-Tapp "Basic Plus" Workout.  One of the "cons" about T-Tapp is the fact that there are so many different permutations of the workout on different DVDs and collections that it can get kind of confusing.  Anyhoo, this is the one I've been using.  If you scroll down you'll also see the book, "Fit and Fabulous in 15 Minutes", which I actually got first--I downloaded it on my Kindle and the science made sense.  However, I don't think anybody could learn the exercises just from the book unless they're very, very patient and don't have kids.  I'm still glad I bought the book because it does help you check your form, but I don't think you *need* the book per se.

Firstly, it's been just a hair over two weeks now that I've been using the 15-minute workout.  It really is only about 15 minutes, after you learn the exercises.  (The "Instructional" section of the DVD, which they say you're supposed to do for a week but which I only did for about three days, is about 30 minutes long, and is the exercises kind of in slow-mo, with instructions.)  Here's how it worked out for me.

I did the "Instructional" section on the DVD for about four days, which is the minimum you're supposed to do the exercises in a row.  According to the book (and the pamphlet that came with the DVD) this is because your nerves have to get sort of switched-on.  This is real, by the way, and one of the reasons people have to have physical therapy after being in bed for a long time.

The first three days I did the workout it didn't feel overly good.  The first day I did it, my feet were killing me--T-Tapp has you stand in a certain way with your knees pushing out toward your little toes, and when you try to do that for 15 minutes it makes the bottoms of your feet ache.  Just to encourage you: the feet aching thing goes away by about day three or four.  Day four is when the book says the workout is supposed to get easier, and to tell you the truth I thought "sure, and monkeys will fly out of my ears".  It really did, sort of miraculously, get a lot easier on day four.

You are supposed to do a "boot camp" of anywhere from four to fourteen days of doing the exercises every day.  Here's how my results have been:

1. I have a ton of energy.  I mean a ton--like after the workout I'm more awake than I am after drinking a cup of strong coffee, but not trembly and jittery.  I think I would work out for this effect alone.

2. I'm moving all the lymph around my system.  If you don't know what lymph is, here is a link.  Suffice to say you don't want extra lymph hanging around outside your blood vessels in your legs, feet, armpits and such.  I didn't realize how much I had just sitting in my extremities until I noticed I had to pee, every time, without fail, after Tapping.  Then the lightbulb clicked on that lymphatic drainage goes into the bloodstream to be run through the kidneys and cleaned out--which would make you have to pee.  There you go.

3. My foot--the one I broke when Buddy was two weeks old--has been sort of getting rehabbed.  Like, it doesn't hurt every morning when I first step on it anymore.  And both of my feet have been rebuilding their musculature, to the point that I think I've dropped about half a shoe-size because bones and tendons that stretched out while I was pregnant have been sucked back into place by stronger muscles.  It's a very weird side effect, but there you go.  My arches are higher, too.

4. I'm seeing dramatic inch loss and muscle building.  You would think this would be higher on the list, but honestly it almost seems incidental.  In the first week I lost a jeans size--from 16 to 14.  Now I can zip a pair of size 12 shorts, but they're still a little too tight to be comfy.  It's only been 15 days.  I've also seen my arms really tone up, like you'd expect with weight lifting (but it's faster than when I was weight lifting) and my legs firm.  I also did the exercises on the T-tapp website called "Diva Derriere" for 10 days (although I don't think they're necessary, I just wanted to spot-tone) and in about 7 days I saw a noticeable difference in both the way pants fit me and *jiggle*.  :D  My loose skin on my stomach, from being pregnant, and abdominal muscle tone have also improved.  I have a lot more flexibility.  Did I mention it's only been 15 days?

I don't know whether I've lost any weight, because my scale doesn't work.  I rather suspect I haven't, but I don't care--one of the T-Tapp mottoes is that inches count and pounds don't.  Or, put another way, if you could lose 100 pounds but that would only make you lose five inches, or you could lose 5 pounds and sixty inches, which would you chose?

(*Important note about testimonials where Tappers talk about inch loss:  They don't always mean off the abdomen unless they say so.  For instance one woman lost like 18 inches or something off her stomach, but 79 inches overall--counting upper arms and bust and so on.)

I really like the program for a few reasons, results aside.  It takes only 15 minutes, you don't have to jump or get on the floor, and it "levels with you" - as you get better at it, you do the exercises with better form.  It's about perfect form and not weights or repetitions.  So your workout doesn't get longer or more strenuous, it just stays at the level you need it to be in order to keep yourself toned.  I *hate* exercising on the floor, so this is a great Godsend for me.

Glowing testimonial done.  I hear that some people in the fam are thinking of trying this--so I'll just encourage you all to stick it for the first four days.  It really does get easier.  And if you're brave, I might encourage you to "Go for superstud" - try the 14-day bootcamp.  You really do feel so good after the workouts that it won't seem like a chore.

Let me know how you all do!

For a visual, here's my progress:

This is me on 6/4.  The tank tops I wear in these are all the same size, by the way.  In this picture the tank wasn't very loose, just skimmed me.  And this was, I think, on like day 5 of my T-tapping or something like that.

This is me last week, I forget the exact day--I think it was after like 9 or 10 days of Tapping.

This is me today and kind of hard to see because of the light from the window, but the tank top is now pretty baggy.  I'm trying to hold it back so you can see my waist here and not doing a very good job.

You can see the difference more in my face and shoulders, I think, than my abs.  My deltoid muscles at the tops of my arms are getting nicely defined--like Buddy's, as I said to the Husband the other night.  (Buddy has little arms that look like he sneaks off to do some benchpresses in the night.)

Cheers,

Breanna

P.S.  I will keep posting pictures.

Decluttering Collateral Benefits

Because if you can have collateral damage, you should be able to have collateral benefits.

For instance:

Today I moved the Pack n' Play to the master bedroom, because Littleman is so good at rolling that leaving him in the center of the king-size bed while I take a shower is no longer viable.  With the Pack n' Play gone, there was room to scoot over the big lambie skin and the kid furniture.  Voila!

A reading nook.  With a lower shelf for their current books, no less.

And a basket for the National Geographic for Kids magazines that their great-grandma sends them.

And a big enough space for Littleman to feel like he's playing too.  It's hard being the smallest, least mobile, and most apt to eat fuzz when you really want to be with your brother and sister.

They really, really like their new area.  I really, really like not tripping over the lambie skin in the middle of the floor.

It was good for playing blocks, as well as reading.

We decluttered the toys today, which was how all this started.  In the process we put all the wooden blocks together.  Voila, they were a set again, and suddenly a fun toy.

So we played wooden blocks all afternoon, and did not even notice the big box of old Happy Meal prizes, beat-up dollar store lizards, random stuffed animals that I don't even remember getting, and so forth that Mama put in the garage.  After it sneakily stays in the garage and is not missed, one of these weekends the Husband and I will take it to the pathetically grateful thrift store down the road from Walmart and donate them.  (I mean pathetically grateful.)

Littleman is sort-of crawling.  Scootching, really, but gets up on his elbows and knees in tandem quite a bit, actually.  Seems like my other kids took longer, but they weren't quite as frantic to keep up as he is.

"CHEESE!"

Littleman, trying desperately to see around his sister.

See what I mean about the almost-crawling?

Please, guys?  Please?  Can I play too?  Please?  I know I can't grasp anything with my hand yet, but I could at least gnaw on it a bit if you put it near my mouth.

I didn't think to take a before shot of the toy area in the boys' room but this is the after.  Trust me, it's much better.

Another odd toy win: sponges.  One day I let Miss Boo wipe down her own spot at the table and she became addicted; so I bought the largest, cheapest sponge at the grocery store the other day and cut it into three sections.  Luckily it came in a two pack, pink and blue, so Miss Boo has pink and Bud has blue.  They wipe their spots on the table enthusiastically after each meal.  We're working on actually doing a *good* job, though.

The Pack n' Play in its new home, including the books that I've been reading Littleman.  You sort of forget how young they like to listen to books, but when he began being fascinated with the older kids' books I got out some of the baby ones.

Third kid and that Baby Animals book that I bought for a quarter at the thrift store is still going strong!  My cloth diapers, however, are actually starting to show quite a bit of wear.  I'm thinking I need to order another dozen.  Not bad, really, for $70--two and a half kid's worth.

His sister's back there, hiding behind the school cupboard.

They left me.  Just because I can't walk.

Sad, to be the youngest.

Cheers,

Breanna

Activating the Family Prayer Chain

...not really for anyone in the family, though.

We are all fine, answering your first question.

For a cyber-friend, to answer your second.  I've been really blessed by a blog called Like Mother, Like Daughter.  You can see the link to the left there in the sidebar.  A little girl named Bridget is having surgery on June 20, so would my family that reads this please take a moment to pray for her and her family?  It doesn't take long, and I know when my family prays, they pray.

Thanks all.

Cheers,

Breanna

Happy Father's Day

This Father's Day weekend we are mostly thankful.

...thankful that baby elephants have to wear boots on their feet AND their hands, because elephants have four feet, you know.

Some baby elephants who aren't as fast as their sister have to be content with tennis shoes on their hands.

They thought of this by themselves.

Thankful for a baby who's strong enough to roll and get himself into awkward corners, but cheerful enough to smile happily when you free him.

For an exercise program that is really working.  And a blog post that told me that I've been doing the wrong thing to minimize my slack jaw skin in photos--I've been lifting my chin, which apparently creates "jowls" because the flash hits the paler skin under your chin.  You're supposed to hold your head at an angle and slightly tuck your chin.  You know, flirtatiously.

I'm not really trying to twist my arm around to pose, just trying to pull the shirt tight enough you can see my abs.  For the sake of authenticity, wanted you to see my continuing-with-t-tapp photos, since I still don't know my measurements.

Thankful for the Husband, my sweet hardworking man who still chooses to find the energy at the end of the day to be a great dad to our three kids.  I'm so blessed to have him.

Cheers,

Breanna

About Time for Pictures

It's all very well to start the day with noble ideals about Law and Gospel (which, by the by, sounds like it could be a local law firm--we have one that's called Holliday, Lemons, & Cox, which itself sounds like some sort of drink).

Anyway.

Babies on quilts--always a good combo until they puke.

Luckily he was happy, and not feeling sick... just then...he puked on me later, which he hadn't done for a while so I didn't have any burp rag, so we both changed everything we were wearing.  But that was okay.  Concentrate on the Law and Gospel thing and remember that Michelle Duggar is, at least in a TV sense, uniformly cheerful with her 19 progeny.  Reflect that if she can maintain that for TV, at least you can maintain it for 3 kids who aren't on TV.

So we do some schoolwork...kinda...

And we practice reading...sort of...in our underpants and the very necessary bike-helmet...

And we make a lot of silly faces while strewing the aforementioned reading books all over the living room...

And we insist Mama play us some songs on the piano (Mama is trying to teach the progeny where Middle C is, and is beginning to think she ought to see if they still print "Teaching Little Fingers to Play").

Then the farmer from our CSA brought us peaches!  You can't tell how huge they are in this picture, but they taste heavenly.

This is Buddy's "cheese" face.  Instead of saying "cheese", he says "HEEEEE".

On top of the cutting boards and placemats.  Probably the perfect place to garage a few cars, wouldn't you say?

Proud of the composition behind her.  We can call it "Derelict No. 5" and set it up as a modern art piece, and charge people to see it.

Top of the bookshelf next to the replica dueling pistol.  Probably the perfect place for a velcro apple, crayons, and Silly Putty, wouldn't you say?

He's blurry because he's *fast*.

Between the Derelict composition above and several "UH-OH" moments from Buddy, who tends to get into trouble when wearing nothing but underpants, it was a day that...called for a lot more Gospel than Law, put it that way.  But we still had fun, and today is a new day.

By the way, I continue to love T-Tapp.  I haven't measured myself, and now I'm kicking myself I didn't do it to have a starting point, but I've lost a little more than a size in 1 week.  Someone I know has lost 8.5 inches off her abs after doing *just* an exercise called "Diva Derriere" and one called "Lovely Legs", which is not even the full workout.

So, huzzah, and here's hoping that, since the workout is doing what it promised so far, that it really will get rid of my nascent dowager's hump (genetic heritage, that).  It does seem to be making it smaller.

Cheers,

Breanna