Woman To Woman CBE is giving away a copy of Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy! It looks like a phenomenal resource to have, not just as a nursing mother, but also as a LLL Leader in training, and future Lactation Consultant. I hope I win!
Saturday was my 25th birthday. We didn’t do a whole lot, but it was a great day nonetheless! Brad got up (at 6:20!) with Gwen and let me sleep until she needed to nurse - which was around 8. Ah, bliss! We got our favourite Saturday morning breakfast - a breakfast sandwich from the Locke Street Bakery. Mmmmm. Read the rest of this entry »
So, in the same vein as when I decided to make my own deodorant, I’ve decided to do a little something crazy. Just like with the deo, I revisted Christine at welcome to my brain and re-read her posts on going no-poo - basically, not using shampoo anymore.
I know, I know. It sounds crazy. But every source I’ve read says it works!
I read this, this, and my favourite site on the subject, babyslime.
Apparently, ‘real’ shampoo strips EVERYTHING out of your hair, so your scalp over-produces oils to compensate … so when you go no-poo, your hair kinda … rebels (?) … and might get a bit greasy. To counteract this, you can use a baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar rinse - basically your shampoo and conditioner. Most people who go no-poo do their baking soda/vinegar routine a couple of times a week and just rinse their hair with water the other days. I don’t know how this will work out for my hair, but some of the comments I’ve read from people with lifeless, fine, thin hair say their hair is healthy and shiny and has more volume!
I’ll let you know how it works 
There’s a few things that I’m excited about for this new plunge: shampoos contain GROSS chemicals (basically laundry/dish detergent with pretty smelling stuff …), shampoos - especially if you’re trying to buy organic - are expensive, and shampoos come in bottles that, although we recycle them, are still more manufacturing, shipping, and waste. If I can cut shampoo out of my budget, I’ll be saving a little money and a lot of environment!
Wish me luck!
(p.s. Today is my 25th birthday! What a weird thing to be excited about on my birthday …)
I don’t know why I’m always so surprised that I can cook and/or bake. I can read, which seems to be about the only thing required to follow a recipe (I have tried to tell Brad this, but I don’t think he’s buying it!).
These cookies are called Applesauce Oatie Cookies. People, this is the first time in my life I have made cookies from scratch all by myself. And, shockingly, it wasn’t terribly hard! In fact, it was quite similar to opening a package and making them from there, except that I had to round up the dried ingredients myself. Although they taste YUMMY(!), I’m not sure I’ll make them again. They’re REALLY soft - I hear that’s probably because of the applesauce in the recipe - and once you put them in a container, it’s kinda hard to get them apart again.
This was dinner earlier this week - Pureed Baby Food Soup with a delcious salad with homemade Apple Vinaigrette dressing and cornbread muffins. The soup was made on the advice of my friend, Sarah, who suggested I use the pureed baby foods I’ve been saving for Gwen in a soup. Although I’m pretty sure she more meant throw in a cube or two with your next batch of soup, I took it to a whole new level and used pretty much all of the cubes and threw them in the crockpot with some basil, vegetable stock, garlic, onion, and other spices. It was surprisingly yummy The cornbread muffins came from Crystle’s cook book, so I don’t have the recipe for those.
Tada!
Well, I’ve decided that Gwen likes finger foods and is not terribly interested in purees! It was a struggle to get her to eat baby cereal and I could not get her to eat a vegetable to save my life and it was frustrating me and that’s NOT what solids should be like! I shouldn’t get frustrated and uptight and stressed out trying to get my kid to eat when she’s OBVIOUSLY interested in food (as evidenced by grabbing whatever I’m eating and shoving it in her mouth).
So, I’ve given up purees and I’m giving her finger foods and/or bites from my food and she LOVES it!!! In the past couple of days, she’s had toast, egg yolk, pita, a piece of muffin that she pulled off and ate before I could stop her (LOL - she’s FAST!), and BROCOLLI! My kid ate a vegetable! And enjoyed it!
I’m still spoon-feeding her some things (yogurt, pear sauce, prunes, avacado) but that’s about it. If it’s not supposed to be mushy and eaten with a spoon, she’s not getting it pureed! I’m so much less stressed out now.
Everyone together - “Kim, trust your baby!”
Why doesn’t our culture encourage us to trust our babies? Why?
**Attention faithful readers ** I posted the following on the Diaper Swappers forum this morning and thought I’d copy it into here. If you know anyone who’s looking to buy some wool covers, send ‘em on this way!! Read the rest of this entry »
