Wool Soakers... Old School Diapering?

Most of our parents were diapered in cotton flannel with a wool soaker. Then disposable diapers came along when we were in diapers and everyone forgot the wool soaker. That was until the cloth diaper made a modern come back today. New cloth diapers are made from PUL, microfleece, hemp, bamboo and many other types of awesome water resistant and absorbent fabrics. However, the night time leaks still happen, especially with newborns, because they are growing so fast cloth diapers rarely fit correctly for very long. After all these years one of the most skin safe and absorbent fabrics is wool. Add a wool soaker over a cloth or disposable diaper at night and you may just have the winning combination for making it through the night leak free. In our case of have skinny legged girls leaks in the legs during the newborn stage seem constant so we use wool soakers during the day as well.

Where does one get wool soakers? Well they can be found through mama co-ops or second hand for a reasonable price $10-$20 each. However, they can be difficult to get your hands on. They retail in baby stores for around $25-$30 each. If you are only using them at night 1-2 will get the job done. If you use them all the time then 3-4 will be needed. I found I could knit 3-4 with about $24 worth of wool. I found a free pattern online that was simple enough for even a beginner at http://www.ottobredesign.com. This is a European pattern so if you use it remember that when they say "roving yarn" that means "worsted weight yarn" here in the states. I have been very pleased with the out come of this pattern so far.

 My first stab at knitting soakers for my youngest, Etta

Welcome Aggie and Etta!

The month of October has been a busy one for for us. October 5th we adopted a black lab mix puppy which we named Aggie. She is full of energy like most puppies and a fast learner. Cody enrolled her in a weekly puppy kindergarten class which she is quickly learning basic commands and good behavior through methods of positive reinforcement. We found she will do anything you say for cheese.

 Aggie at 11 weeks old

Then on October 13th we welcomed our second daughter, Etta Rose. I went into early labor around 3 AM that morning. At around 10 AM we headed to the hospital. I wasn't on any drugs or pain killers and didn't know how much longer I could stand the contractions, so by 3:30 PM we finally decided to have the doctor break my water. After breaking my water Etta didn't waste anytime and we had her out at 4:08 PM. She weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz and measured 20 inches long, also has the cutest dimple on her left cheek. She has been such a calm and mellow baby. Her big sister loves to inform us when she does get fussy "Etta, crying" Lyra says. Lyra also likes to pick out diapers and hats she thinks Etta will look most fashionable in.

Etta at 1 week old wearing a hat selected by big sister Lyra

Local Raw Goat Milk

After much searching I finally found a small local farm with raw goat milk for $6 a half gallon. Abita Springs Farm is a a half acre farm of 7 goats located in the heart of Cully neighborhood in Portland. Previously to finding Abita Springs Farm I was buying pasteurized goat milk from New Seasons Market for $9.99 for a half gallon. I picked up a half gallon today that was produced just last night and met a couple of the goats themselves. Lyra is in love is now bringing me her water and asking for milk instead.

I was raised on raw goat milk and didn't really think twice about it when it came time to move our daughter off the breast and to the sippy cup. Some people ask "Why goat milk? Why not regular cow milk?" For one goat milk does not contain the same complex proteins that stimulate allergic reactions. It also takes 20 minutes to digest goat milk and can take up to 24 hours to process cow milk (Natural News).

There is also the issue of the milk being raw. Again, I didn't even think about it. However, my husband had never in his life drank a non-pasteurized milk product. His first question was "Is it safe?" Fair question with all the horror stories we hear in the media. Raw milk has many benefits that pasteurized milk does not such as enzymes and nutrients that are often destroyed in the pasteurization process. However, raw milk should be drank within a week and if you can get it from small, local and clean farm then you reduce any risk factors tremendously. Raw goat milk has a much better safety record than that of raw cow milk historically speaking. 

As far as the allergy factor goes. I was raised on organic raw goat milk and have no known food allergies. My husband was raised on traditional pasteurized cow milk and has all kinds of food allergies. Now many allergies can be genetic and it may have nothing to do with our foods growing up, but what is the harm in trying? 

Cheap and Safe Natural Treatments for Yeast Infections

Like many moms to be when I am pregnant I question everything. When it comes to yeast infections, which is unfortunately very common during pregnancy and even more so during a nice hot summer, modern medicine does not give us a lot of treatment options. If you see a regular doctor they will tell you that Monistat 7 is the safest thing on the market and not to insert it too far into the vagina. That doesn't leave me feeling all that trusting of long term affects of Monistat 7. After much research I chose 3 natural remedies to try (listed below with their results). I found these remedies to be the most supported my midwives. I might also add when fighting a yeast infection all refine sugars are cut from the diet and yogurt consumption should be increased.

• Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE)- 5-10 drops in your morning and evening tea. Also, rinsing after each bathroom visit with a (GSE) solution of 10 drops to 1 cup water.
• Results: Seems to prevent yeast infections but no real effect once you have a full blown yeast infection. On a side note GSE in your tea twice a day does help morning sickness and acid reflex, so that's a pregnancy plus!
• Cider Vinegar- 2 cups cider vinegar in a 15 minute waist deep bath twice a day. Also adding a couple teaspoons of cider vinegar to a glass of water each morning.
• Results: Bath does relieve the itching temporarily but does not eliminate the infection nor does drinking the cider vinegar.
• Garlic Cloves!- Peel papery skin off garlic clove and insert into the vagina. If infection is a particularly bad one cut in half or skin clove with a knife to expose garlic juice before inserting. Simple insert clove before bed and throw it in the toilet in the morning. If you want to continue using during the day simple change the clove every 2-4 hours. 
• Results: Amazing! Garlic is a natural yeast killer, just ask any pizza or bread maker. If your yeast infection is a bad one then the skinned garlic is going to burn and sting at first, but if you can bare it the relief you will feel within minutes will be worth it. It also will kick the beings of a yeast infection in one night. A more advanced yeast infection will need to be treated for more days. Most people do this treatment at night because the smell and taste of the garlic in their bodies can make them crazy during the day. This method kicks a yeast infection quicker than Monistat 7 and is significantly cheaper. On a side note garlic also kills Strep B bacteria, so it might not be a bad idea to use a couple nights before your Strep B culture test if you are in the later stages of your pregnancy.

Yeast infections are not just for pregnant women they strike all females at one point or another, so I hope this blog post proves helpful. Good luck to all!

A Hidden Gem of a Blueberry Field

If you live in the Portland area then you probably know that Sauvie Island is the place for u-pick berries, but how many folks travel beyond the well known Pumpkin Patch Farm? Well about 2 miles pass the Pumpkin Patch Farm is a wonderful little blueberry patch ran by Joan, a wonderful lady! She grows a later fruiting blueberry that is currently in full swing. She has a patch on each side of the road and charges $2.50 a pound. She grows completely organically and doesn't even use fertilizer and her berries are amazing. The patch next to her house is still on the young side but the patch across the street from her house has so many berries the bushes can hardly hold themselves up.

Lyra approved blueberries!

We picked 12 pounds of berries. Two pounds for eating and 10 pounds went into the freezer. Great all winter for smoothies, pancakes, teething toddlers, and anything else you can think of!

So if you are up for some great picking look for signs for "Organic Blueberries" and "U- Pick Blueberries" about 2 miles pass the Pumpkin Patch Farm. Knock on the door of the white house on the right side of the road and ask for Joan. You won't be disappointed.

Prenatal Yoga for Mama!

This is my second pregnancy and having a 19 month old at home means little time for any focus on the mind and body. However, if you can manage to get an hour and a half to yourself once a week to attend a prenatal yoga class it is worth it! Most of us suffer from backaches and leg cramps especially in the third trimester of pregnancy. Yoga is a great way to relieve some of these things as well as help clear your mind. I did yoga all through my first pregnancy and just the third trimester and if you are having a low risk pregnancy its worth trying. Saturday morning is daddy and daughter time while mommy sneaks out for a couple hours to yoga.

When I first started prenatal yoga in 2011 there were only a couple studios in Portland with regular classes of prenatal yoga, since then, they have been popping up all over. I compiled a short list of some local yoga studios in the area offering regular prenatal classes. I am sure there are other hidden gems in town as well. I have only attended Yoga Pearl but I have heard many good things about many of these others.

NW Portland

Yoga Pearl

NE Portland

Yoga Shala of Portland

SE Portland

Alma Education & Movement Space

Mandala Yoga

Motherwise Yoga

Beaverton

Heart Song Yoga

Vancouver

Vancouver Yoga Center

Another Girl!

Cody and I are expecting our second daughter mid October. The time has been flying by! In finding out our second child was a girl Cody has asked to adopt a male dog. I have promised him he can have a dog once both his daughters are potty trained. I will only potty one creature at a time! The great thing about another girl is we have most everything we need already. Some newborn clothes and a few new diaper shells and we are ready for round two! After much debate Cody and I decided on the name Etta Rose. Etta because we love it and Rose for Portland (aka the Rose City). I am slowly transitioning our extra bedroom into a bird theme nursery.

Ultrasound of little Etta yawning

This week we move into the third trimester and the hottest part of the year "oh yeah!" I am also chasing around our 18 month old daughter, Lyra, who has learned that if you don't like a poopy diaper just rip off the diaper and run for it! She has also decided she no longer wants to drink out of sippy cups. We had to purchase some small plastic cups so she could drink like a big kid and not slam mom's glass cups on the hardwood. I must say she is getting pretty good at drinking out of a regular cup and dumping a little on the floor and then asking for "more!" Everyday is an adventure and we look forward to more.

Strawberry Fields Forever!

It is that time of year. Strawberries are in full swing followed by raspberries and then blueberries. Picking berries directly from the field is child's dream come true. However, don't expect your child to contribute to the picking bucket as most of them go directly into the mouth. This is the reason I stress the importance of picking in organic fields if at all possible. Strawberries in particular are one of the most heavily sprayed crops. There are as many as 60 know pesticides used on strawberries. Some people will have a bad reaction to strawberries and believe themselves allergic to strawberries when they may be in fact reacting to not the strawberry but what the berry has been sprayed with. These dangers can be avoided by buying organic berries. In the regular grocery store buying organic can be expensive but if you are willing to head to a u-pick field you can save some dollars and have some fun in the process.

If you live in the Portland area Sauvie Island is the place for berries. I recommend Bella Organic Farm with a great price of $1.38 a pound for u-pick organic strawberries.

Lyra getting her fill of dirt and strawberries

With about 15 pounds of strawberries we had company over for strawberry short cake, froze some berries and also canned some strawberry preserves. If you have a dehydrator dried berries and fruit leather are also great options as well.

Strawberry preserve all ready for winter pancakes!

Cloth Diaper Solution for Night Time

If your baby is a heavy wetter at night time it can be difficult to find a cloth diaper that won't leak. Many mom's have turned to pocket diapers where you can stuff them with as many cloth inserts as you can fit. This is what we had resorted to. Our daughter's diapers were getting so big at night it was a wonder she could roll over! After some research I decided to try Kickernappies Super-Do Diaper Inserts, which I purchased from Simple Wonders. These inserts are made with 6 layers of hemp terry and 2 layers of ultra-thirsty microfiber. Hemp is one of the most absorbent diaper materials currently on the market, beating out microfiber and bamboo.  After one month of using the Super-Do we have had only one night of leaks and that was most likely a daddy diaper snap on error.

 On the left is the Kickernappies Super-Do and the right is what we were using: a Softbum super insert and two charcoal inserts all made from microfiber.  

I have been very pleased with the performance of the Super-Do. My only complaint would be the price. They are $12.95 an insert retail which is expensive in the cloth insert world. However, since they are only being used at night you don't need very many. I currently have four Super-Do's and could probably get by with three. If you are running out of room in your night time pocket diaper look into trying out a hemp insert. There are many other hemp inserts on the market today, such as, Happy Heinys Hemp Stuffins and Rumparooz hemp 6hr soaker.

Can't Compete with China

This weekend I decided to make Lyra a rain coat. For about $45 you can buy a nice toddler rain coat, made in China of course. I thought with spring on the way out making one was probably my best bet. I hit the local Fabric Depot for some Memorial Day sales. Here is the break down of what I spent.

Pattern $4.47 after 50% off

Fabric $26.38 after 40% off

Thread $2.12 after 20% off

Buttons $2.85 after 20% off

Total $35.82

Had there not been a sale this would have cost me a total of $59.03 to make! I might also add there was about 10 hours of labor to make this coat as well. Making your own clothes just isn't what it use to be. The only advantage is picking the exact style, colors and fabrics you want. Other than that you just can't compete with China.

Finished product!

Lyra modeling

First Timeout!

Today Lyra is 16 months old and had her first timeout. This morning she walked over to the DVD shelf in the living room and started throwing DVDs across the room. Cody made several attempts to tell her to "stop" and "no" with no affect. So, he scooped her up and dropped her into her pack n play for one minute. She screamed until Cody took her out. Then she ran right back to the shelf and started throwing DVDs. Cody again told her to "stop" and "no" to no avail. Back to the pack n play she went. After her minute was up she ran back to the book shelf, but this time she stopped and looked at Cody. "No, Lyra" Cody warned. She smiled and grabbed a DVD and threw it on the floor. Cody scooped her up for a third time and she smiled and waved to me as Cody carried her to timeout. I distracted her with a ball after her timeout and that seemed to end the DVD throwing. Our little 16 month old is already testing the boundaries and she isn't even in her terrible twos!

Natural Sugar Ant Repellent!

The season of sugar ants has arrived. They march across your counter tops in a line looking for anything you have left behind. They are harmless but annoying! With children in the house the last thing any mother wants to put out is poison. Last night the trail of ants coming out of my wall outlet and across my kitchen sink hit an all time high. Something had to be done. I went online and found recommendations to layout out powdered cinnamon and cloves in the path of the ants. My ant path was coming out of my wall and moving horizontally across the wall above my counters, so laying dry powder was going to be difficult. I had to get creative.

I took powdered cinnamon and clove powder and mixed it with enough water to make a paste. Then, using a paint brush I brushed the paste around the outlet they were coming in and out of with in seconds the ants were flipping out in full panic. My husband flushed the remaining ants down the sink. With in three hours there was not an ant to be found with the exception of a few in the sink that survived the flush. This morning our kitchen was ant free! Who knew that cinnamon and clove could be so effective! My kitchen also smells great with cinnamon and clove smeared on my wall. This is a cheap, non-toxic, and effective solution to kept ants from your home!

Scottish Ale for Spring

For the first beer brewed in our new home we chose a Scottish ale. Scottish ales have always been a personal favorite of mine. They are a smooth malty ale with a settle hop flavor. This particular recipe called for honey malt, caramel malt, pale chocolate malt, black patent and finished with Willamette hops (What's not to love!). In brewing there are three main stages: making the wort, fermentation, and bottling. We had our little hiccups along the way, but the next beer will be that much better because of it.

Making the Wort
This is were is all begins. Your equipment is sterilized and ready to go and you are throwing all your ingredients in a large boiling pot of water and following your recipe very carefully to make your wort (wort will become beer after the fermentation process). At at the end you cool your pot very quickly in an ice bath and then pitch your yeast.

This is where we went wrong. We forgot to activate the yeast! This caused about a two hour delay as we waited for the yeast to activate. Always activate your yeast before you start to brew your wort.

Fermentation
The fermentation process is the easy part. After you pitch your yeast into your wort you seal it up in a 5 gallon bucket and put in the closet for a few weeks.

No problems here!

Bottling
After 3-4 weeks or so you take your beer out of the closet and add a sugar mix (we used honey) and siphon  the beer into sterilized bottles.

We were able to fill 22- 22oz bottles before we had siphon issues. It didn't help that Lyra was screaming with all her might at us from her pack n play in the corner as we bottled as fast as we could. Can't have the baby chewing on sterile bottles! We decided that 22 bottles was enough and we capped them all and away they go in the closet to carbonate in the bottles for another couple of weeks.

Cody capping the beer

 

 Ready to go into the closet for another couple weeks

  We tried some of the beer before bottling and to our relief it tasted exactly like it should!

  

What Does Sleep Training Mean?

If you are a parent you have heard the phrase "sleep training." Some parents will ask "What sleep program are you using?" I always stayed away from anything with the word "sleep training" because it made me feel like I was treating my child like a computer to be programmed. That said I try never to judge parents who use these programs because every lifestyle and child is different. In fact I am writing this because our child has decided that co-sleeping = playtime. Problem? Yes!

When Lyra was born we were in a one bedroom apartment so naturally her crib was in our room and she slept in the bed with us where I could easily nurse her throughout the night when needed. At one month she was sleeping through the night without milk in the bed with us. This was fine by us as long as she was sleeping. At around 10 months she got a nasty stomach flu and stopped eating solid foods so her breast milk intake increased to all hours of the night in order to stay hydrated. After recovering from the flu and picking up solid foods again she continued to want to nurse about three times a night. I tried to slowly wean night time milk intake down but this resulted in much screaming. Then about a week before her first birthday she decided that at 1 AM mommy and daddy should get up and play! We thought maybe it was one time thing, since, some nights are better than others. On the fifth night we realized we had a problem. By then she decided she wanted to play at 9 PM, 1 AM, and 3 AM. This had to stop if we were going to survive.

One night I knew I had to do something. So, I bought an album of natural white noise and set Lyra in her crib. I sat in the rocking chair next to the crib and let her cry for 30 minutes and then she passed out. When she woke up at 5 AM I brought her into the bed and she slept for another hour. We started doing this every night and we just finished our fourth night. When she wakes up we check her diaper give her some water then sit with her until she went back the sleep. By the second night it was only taking 10 minutes to go back to sleep. 5 minutes on the third and last night. So far everyone is getting more sleep at night. We hope the trend will continue.

Cody getting sleep when he can with Lyra 

Gluten Free Birthday!

This weekend was Lyra's first birthday. Lyra is the first and only grandchild on both sides of the family so this birthday was a bigger deal than most. The night before her birthday I made three dozen gluten free cupcakes. Our family has a large number of gluten sensitive folks, my husband included. I have been working on my gluten free baking for three years now and have finally found a flour blend that doesn't taste like beans. 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes, by Carol Fenster, is one of the best books I have found for gluten free baked desserts. The flour blend in this book is 35% Sorghum flour, 35% potato starch/cornstarch, 30% tapioca flour. The great thing about these recipes is that they can easily be made vegan by replacing butter with Earth Balance (a non-dairy butter spread) and eggs with a gluten free egg replacer. I made two dozen chai-spiced cupcakes and a dozen black forest chocolate cupcakes. For all the cupcakes I used a cream cheese frosting. They seemed to be a hit.

Photo taken by Auntie Baylie

Lyra enjoyed a gluten free, dairy-free black forest chocolate cupcake with no frosting as her first cupcake. It gave her a burst of sugar so she was ready to open all her presents and drag wrapping paper all over the house. What could be more fun! By her second birthday I maybe able to work my baking courage up to attempt a whole gluten free cake.

Cloth Diapers...Not That Hard, Really!

For all those who told me I would give up and move to disposable diapers, guess what? My daughter will be a year on Saturday and she is still rocking cloth diapers. Oh, and here is another shocker for you, my husband is still on board too! Why, you might ask? Well, money for one thing and it is in some ways easier than disposables. I thought I would take a moment to walk folks through my arsenal of cloth diapers and my process.

There are many different types of cloth diapers on the market. What you choose to use really depends on your child and your lifestyle. For instant I am a stay at home mom and have a child with skinny legs and is a heavy wetter at night. These are very important things to know when deciding on what cloth diapers to purchase. We chose three types of one size diapers for our arsenal. One size means they are not fitted and adjust to your child's size as they grow so you only have to buy them once. Here are the three types of diapers and purpose. 

1.) For our daughter's everyday wear we chose an "all in two" diaper (means cloth inserts can be removed from shell and replaced). Since, our daughter has skinny legs we wanted a diaper that had adjustable legs so we chose the fleece lined "Soft Bums: Echo." We purchased 6 shells, 18 standard inserts, and 24 infant inserts for the first two months of infancy. Three of the shells are Velcro and three are snaps. Velcro may seem like the easier route until your child learns how to pull off his or her's diaper in a public setting, then you will be wanting those more complicated snaps!

All in two diaper, Soft Bums: Echo

2.) For night time wear we chose a "pocket" diaper (means you stuff the inserts into the diaper instead of laying them in the diaper like an "all in two"). Pocket diapers allow you to stuff in more inserts if your baby happens to be a heavy wetter. For this we purchased four the fleece lined, adjustable leg "Soft Bums: Omni"  pocket diapers, which came with one insert each. We also could use the inserts from her everyday diapers if needed.

Pocket diaper, Soft Bums: Omni

3.) For out and about we chose the thinner "Flip" diaper. We purchased four shells and six cloth inserts. This is a fairly inexpensive diaper shell with no lining so the can be rinsed and dry quickly when traveling or on the go. The inserts can be cloth or disposable. That's right! You can purchase composting inserts that can be disposed of on the go and will actually break down in the dump. These take up half the room of her everyday diapers in the diaper bag.

Travel diaper, Flip with disposable insert 

Finally, the odds and ends:

• Cloth wipes are a must really. If you are already washing cloth diapers it would be silly not to use cloth wipes. We purchased three dozen wipes.

• Cloth wet bags for the diaper bag. Just throw them into the diaper pail with the diapers after use. We have two of these which I made from waterproof PUL fabric from the local fabric store.

• A sprayer that hooks into your toilet to spray that poop right into the toilet is not a must but very nice to have.

• A diaper pail! We have plastic pail with a locking lid designed for bio hazard material. Never an issue with smell. Wipe clean after each time you empty it.

• Bac-out by Biokleen is a must. It keeps bacterial growth in check. After you spray poop off a diaper add a couple sprays of bac-out and into the pail. Use it to wipe out you diaper pail and add to the wash if it is a particularly stinky load of diapers. Also, it works great on stains such as food, blood, and vomit.

Got everything! Now to washing. Some people have a very strict washing routine when it comes to cloth diapers. I wash when it looks like I am getting low on either shells or inserts. Wash once on cold with 1/3 the amount of detergent (free and clear, of course) you would use on a normal load and again on hot with no detergent. Then into the dryer or air dry and that's it.

Easier? Well, I never have to make extra trips to the store for diapers or wipes and fewer trips out to the garbage can. The washer is closer and inside, I might add.