Pretty in Pink?

You know the drill, if its a boy everything blue and if its a girl everything pink, of course. Despite my best efforts to keep the girls clothing somewhat gender neutral in color, that annoying pink keeps flooding in the door. You know the pink I am talking about, similar to that of pepto bismol. As soon as they are born they get a pink hat and blanket, and heaven forbid someone ask if your little bald baby is a boy! People are always so quick to apologize when they realize they just called my three month old a "he." I always laugh and say "That's okay she doesn't know she's a girl yet either." And that's true! That little bundle of joy doesn't have a clue and they don't care either. As long as she has a dry diaper and steady supply of milk she could care less. My oldest daughter just turned two and this is when it starts to get interesting.

Toddlers are just learning to make decisions and are constantly pushing the boundaries. From the get go society is pushing girls into a pink world of ponies and princesses. In fact most parents are the driving force behind it. Just tonight I watched my husband grab a new purple sippy cup with hearts on it at the grocery store. I stopped him and asked him if Lyra had pick out purple one. "No, but its the only girl one they have." I held the purple cup up along side a green one with robots and bicycles on it. Lyra instantly grabbed the green one. "But I like the purple one!" my husband said to persuade her. "Its not your cup" I stopped him. We have our entire lives to be slapped around by the norms of society no need to start on our toddler right now.

For the most part I let my daughter choose what she wants to wear each day. I often have to take a shirt away explaining that she can't wear the same shirt everyday because sometimes you have to wash your lunch out of your shirt. I love seeing what she will come up with next. Children have amazing minds. So amazing they can see that a cardboard box has 10 times more wonder than any plastic toy. When it comes to gender norms folks just need to relax. Your little girl will not be damaged by wearing a blue rocket ship shirt or your boy playing with a pink princess doll. In my opinion every girl and boy should have a doll and a truck not one or the other. Enjoy watching them explore this crazy world we live in.  

One of Lyra's favorite outfits

Lyra's 2nd Birthday Party

Lyra's second birthday was last weekend, but due to a couple of our dearest friend's wedding the birthday party was pushed back to this weekend. I am proud to say we learned a few things since her first birthday.

First, our house is too small to hold parties that include friends and family. So, we held the part at Milagros Boutique in their Family Room. This turned out be the perfect size for our party. It will hold up to 40 people comfortably and cost $60 for a three hour block. For $30 more dollars they will do all the clean up for you or you can save the money and do it yourself. The room has a little play castle with a few books and toys perfect for little kids to play in. There are also fold out tables along one wall perfect for food and drinks and chairs and fold out tables for eating at.

Lyra enjoying a carrot

Second, cakes are much less work than cup cakes! Last year I made cupcakes and it was very labor intensive. This year I made two cakes. The first cake was a gluten and dairy free chocolate cake with a vegan coconut frosting.  I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix with coconut milk in place of cow's milk and earth balance in place of butter. This cake can also be made vegan by using egg replacer instead of eggs (this I forgot to do). The second cake was a chocolate beet cake with a cream cheese frosting. Before you get all weird about beets in a cake I will tell you that my husband hates beets, but loves chocolate beet cake. Beets are naturally sweet and when mixed in a chocolate cake they lose their earthy flavor and add the perfect amount of moisture. They also make a beautiful pink colored frosting! Lyra loves chocolate beet muffins, so I knew she would love the cake. 

Testing the frosting while everyone is singing

Thirdly, with a new baby at home order decorations online. Lyra loves Winnie the Pooh so we had a theme. If I only had a dollar for every time I had to watch that movie! I purchased everything I needed from Oriental Trading and Amazon. Lyra loved the Pooh party hats and made sure that everyone had one on. Including her baby sister.

Baby Etta and her Great Aunt Sherrye

It was a very fun event with friends and family. Lyra took a three hour nap to recover from all the fun. She received some wonderful gifts and now has enough dolls to distract her from "helping" with her baby sister, at least for a little while. Its hard to believe its been two whole years already. It seems just yesterday I was holding a 6 1/2 lbs little baby.

Toddler Whining!

The age of whining! They have learned enough words to ask for what they want, but still find they need to cry or whine to get it. My eldest daughter turns 2 in a week and has recently taken to crying and whining for everything, especially when I am nursing her three month old sister. The two year old is crying three times as much as the infant! Solution? Ignore it. It can make for a very long day, but the only way to break the habit is not to reward the behavior.

For example, she is allowed one book before nap time. She started whining and crying for another one and I refused and after about three days of whining she gave up and accepted the fact that she would only get one book. The thing about toddlers is they will keep trying elsewhere. If she wants crackers she whines for them. I tell her she has to say "please" and ask for them. This usually results in screaming. If I give her the crackers the whining stops, which I have done out of desperation while I try to change and nurse the infant. However, this means she will do it again and again. I must put my foot down and not let her have what she wants or it will never stop.

She has been particularly whiny this week with me and not her father. Seeing this makes me feel less guilty about not giving in, knowing that she is playing me, as toddlers will do. Three days seems to be the magic number with a toddler. I know there are parents out there dealing with the same thing and all I can say is hang in there and stick to your guns!

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!