Other Links for the Duggars

The Duggars seriously need to check into LAM sometimes also called Ecological Breastfeeding (vs. Cultural Breastfeeding which would include pacifier use) since they don't believe in birth control anymore, but do breastfeed. Nothing wrong with pacifiers, they just cause fertility to return sooner because the baby is pacifying on the paci vs. at the breast. The Duggars used to use birth control, which is why their older children are spaced farther apart. Another good book I've read on this topic is Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing: How Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies which goes into the hows and whys. Another added benefit? No menstrual cycles for mom! I did get an IUD shortly after Claire was born, but I hated it and got it out early, and didn't get my cycles back until Claire was 14-15 months old. Awesome. Another $$$ savings besides not having to worry about buying formula or toddler formula until she was 24 months. Who wants to buy something to bleed on and then throw away. Sorry. TMI but you should expect that from me!

Duggars are Grandparents!

The Duggars are now Grandparents! Ok...and having that many kids is NOT normal. Back in the days when families had 12-20 kids, lots of them died or a least a few of them died! AND...they breastfed the kids on the farms for 2-4 years. She's having these kids 15 months apart...that is insane! She had a baby at the same time Claire was born, and is due about a month before I am due again, but has another girl in between there...boom, boom, boom! They must do it every night! I don't mean to sound too judgemental, because if a family is going to have that many kids, they are definitely in a financial spot to do it! Plus, their kids are all so polite and well-behaved. Seriously, though, she needs to chart her fertility, and they need to avoid having "relations" when she's fertile. It's almost as though they are trying to have so many kids! Here's a book she needs to read called Your Fertility Signals: Using Them to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy Naturally They don't have to use birth control...just a little abstaining a few days a month or her uterus is seriously going to fall out. She is over 40...that is just not healthy for any body to be constantly pregnant like that! I read you were supposed to wait a year after having a baby before having another one to let the body heal...or was that something for VBACs? Anyways...good for them...they figured out a way to make money having lots of kids but not being on welfare! Just get your own TLC show!

Reading with Daddy

I just realized that I haven't posted any videos since my Dad's birthday at the beginning of August. But that doesn't mean I haven't been taking more videos! Here is a cute one of her reading with Daddy.She wanted to know where the mouse was on the pages where the mouse was gone...Josh told her the kitty ate it. So then she wanted to know where the cat was on the pages the cat was gone...yeah...he told her the dog ate it!

Little Pitchers Have Big Ears

So, Josh came home from work. We were chatting about someone. Nobody any of you would know, so don't try to figure it out...but anyways, Josh said very loudly, "She's such a crack-head!" And guess who heard? Claire! Claire says just as loudly, "NO DADDY! YOU A CRACKHEAD!" So then we start cracking up. I said, "Oh my God! That's hilarious!" So then...Claire goes, "Oh my God!" "Oh my God!" "Oh my God!" no fewer than 50 times...we really have to start watching what we say! And that is a confession from a Mommy-blogger today.

Completely random things Claire has said lately!

So, Claire has been saying more incredibly cute stuff, as usual! I had someone ask how old she was at the Bellies and Babies Expo. She goes, "I TWO!" They thought she was 16 months. Seriously???...she would be the tallest 16 month old ever, because she already is like the tallest 27 month old.

So Josh showed her some of the Transformers movie. That's totally the kind of movie she needs to be seeing. Of course, when I was like 9 months pregnant...and I do mean a full 40 weeks, we decided to fit one last movie in...and it was TRANSFORMERS! But anyways.. She keeps saying "I like good robotses! I like Opimus Prime! He good! I no like bad robotses!" I swear, she sounds just like a little Gollum with that fun-plural form!

Then yesterday, when we were eating dinner, she wanted to announce she was finished with eating. She'll usually say something like "I full! I all done! I want down! Wash my hands!" Nope...yesterday she looks at Josh and says, "Daddy, you wanna eat my crumbs!?!?!?!" Yum...just what he wanted. Cold, already been chewed Claire crumbs!


Oh...and have I mentioned I have bronchitis...yup...great, huh? So Josh got it first and gave it to me...and I took Claire to the doctor too, but she was "fine" even though she was coughing, it's just a cough. Her lungs sound great, etc. That's seriously like the third time I've taken her to the doctor for a cough and she's been fine. Argh. Buy-buy copay!!! Oh, also...did I tell you I took her to the doctor in May for "wart" on her foot...yeah turns out she was in a size 5 shoe...and was supposed to be an 8. It was a callous. And my, those 5s were getting very hard to put on! It's October and she's already in a 9. This girl needs to slow down!!! I don't think I posted about that at the time because I was mortified and embarrassed, but now ... like anything else... over time... it just becomes hilarious. So anyways, the story about coughing, is Josh and I joke to each other to STOP COUGHING. Well now Claire is saying it to us. "DADDY STOP COUGHING."


One last story...the other thing we joke about is it always being the other person's fault about...whatever. So now Claire will say "It's your fault! It's always all your fault!" That's actually the first thing she said to me this morning, and then starting laughing hysterically. She knows how to make me smile!


And today at Gymboree, she learned the words "parachute, pizza cutter, and GYMBO the clown!"

Graham Cracker Recipe

Since I've had a couple emails and other requests for this, here is the
HOME-MADE GRAHAM CRACKER RECIPE!!!
and I do want to give credit to the awesome cookbook I got this out of: WHOLE FOODS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY which has tons of other awesome recipes. It is a LLL publication. LLL of course stresses healthy eating from as natural of a state as possible for the whole family. You should totally buy it. It has recipes for stuff that you typically BUY all the time...also for things like "condensed soup mixes" and saltine crackers, salad dressings, pancake "mixes", "sloppy joe mixes"...stuff I used to buy before I started reading labels and avoiding MSG and HFCS as much as possible. It even has some recipes for home-made juice, which I might try when I finally go and pick apples this fall! So here goes.

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 c. oil
1/3 c. Honey
2 T. molasses
1 t. vanilla
2 1/2 to 3 cups whole wheat flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 to 1/2 c. milk
oil or butter for greasing

READ ALL THE DIRECTIONS FIRST!
1. Mix oil, honey, molasses and vanilla in large bowl.
2. Combine 2 1/2 c. flour with baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in medium bowl.
3. Add dry mix to wet mix, alternating with milk. Mix well. When dough gets too stiff for spoon stirring, knead with hands.
4. If dough becomes too sticky, add up to 1/2 c. more flour. Form dough into ball.
5. Preheat oven to 300 F.
6. Grease cookie sheets.
7. Divide dough in half.
8. Roll out flat, directly onto sheet. (It should be enough to put on 2 sheets.)
9. Use knife to cut into squares about 2.5 inches apart, but do not actually separate.
10. Prick surface with fork or shampoo brush (???!!!) for even baking.
11. Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until outer edges are slightly browned.
12. Remove from oven with potholders (duh!)
13. Allow to cool entirely on sheets.
14. After cooled, separate the crackers and remove from sheet with turner.
15. Store in an airtight container to keep them fresh.

PS...I like to sprinkle extra cinnamon/sugar on top of mine after poking the holes! Warning...you will never want store-bought ones again! :) If you make them, let me know how yours turned out! :) YUMMY! ENJOY!

A Typical Busy Day!

Today Claire and I started out by going to a free class at GYMBOREE! It was a lot of fun, but the classes are pretty pricey...I think! It's a very nice play area with slides and all sorts of fun stuff that is age appropriate. I've always wanted to attend a Gymboree class since I saw the Jon and Kate episode where their kids did a class. We signed up for the free class at the Bellies and Babies Expo. Anyways, they have classes for playing, music, and art. The one we did was a playing class, but it also included some signing. They started with a welcome song and introducing a theme, which was making a pizza. So all the activities the kids did were for "making a pretend pizza." They got to put bean bags in a wooden plank thing, push the balls or "tomatoes" down a slide, throw the "tomatoes" in a big barrel which was supposed to be a pot. Claire was all over the place for the first 10 minutes, because the whole play area was new to her, but after awhile, she understood KIND OF that you were to follow along. She enjoyed rocking on the wooden boat and horse they had. They got to jump off a little ledge into "pizza dough" which was play scarves to "mix" the dough. Then they got to roll "pepperoni" rings, which were like little hula hoops. Anyways, it was pretty fun for me too! Her favorite part was the bubbles! I haven't blown bubbles in awhile because we've had such a rainy fall! She was trying to pop the bubbles like crazy, including poking at the ones that landed in another kids' hair! MY favorite part was the parachute, although Claire liked this as well. We got to shake it and make waves. We got to pull it up and down...but my ultimate favorite part including from when I was growing up was the part where you pull it up really high, then go under and sit on the edge like it's giant mushroom tent. I was looking at the front of the store when we left and they sell the parachutes for only $44. I so want to get one.
Then we went to Josh's work and met him for lunch. Claire took a nap on the way home. I love this time of year because I can pull into the garage, roll down the car windows and then do something in the kitchen until she wakes up without her being too hot or cold. I shut the garage door and leave the door to the kitchen open.
Then we had a diaper incident. Some days she stays dry all day and I keep putting the same diaper back on. Some days, she refuses to sit on the potty at all. Some days, we are gone all day and she uses her diaper vs. me dealing with sitting her on icky public toilets. Well, I forgot to change her all morning. Normally by 2 pm, I would have changed her 2 or 3 times. Well it made for a very heavy diaper and wet pants, a wet shirt (it was a long one), and a very unhappy little girl. Ugh. Totally my fault. Bad mommy award for that. That is my confession for the day. But if you would like to come potty train her, feel free. I think she could do it, I am just too lazy and don't like to deal with extra laundry. If I potty train her, then I have to wash panties. Trashing diapers seem like such a good deal. I actually am so lazy, that I will trash some cheapo garage sale clothes/bibs if they get nasty and I don't feel like scrubbing them. That is my other confession. :)
So then I had to go to Wal-Mart and get an oil change. This is always a bad idea. Walking around Wal-Mart will result in a MINIMUM, and do mean absolute MINIMUM of $100. I did find some awesome storage tubs for her too-small clothes. I don't want to get too organized with the other completely unorganized clothes that are stuffed in her closet...I will find out in about 8 weeks or less what sex this baby is. Then I can pull gender neutral stuff if it's a boy and repack all the girl stuff and label the sizes on the boxes. Right now...it's totally unorganized. It's random shoved in paper grocery bag and random odd sized boxes in a closet that is also filled with about 6 boxes of teaching stuff of mine, which I should probably move to a different closet. I should actually throw it all away...seriously...If I need a worksheet or paper on something, I am so just going to Google a new one versus sifting through boxes of file folders. I was pleased with the storage tubs I got...they are clear ones with lids that fold in half, so they don't get separated! I like clear tubs so I can see what's in them of course! Of course, I'll still need to label sizes, but I think I'll just stick a big piece of paper with marker with the size on it, and probably GIRL in case I start storing boy clothes.
Some days, I want 4 kids. Some days I wonder about what I already have. Hehe. I always wanted 4 growing up, 2 girls/2 boys since that was nice and even. Also, I liked the saying every brother needs a brother, and every sister needs a sister, and every brother needs a sister, and every sister needs a brother. The easiest and most number-efficient way to do that, is exactly that! Although, I did always want an older sister, as that's the only thing I didn't get to have! Ha! After Claire was born, I didn't want another kid for 6-12 months. As in for about a year, I said I was never having another one. I'm sure after this one comes I'll be saying NEVER AGAIN for about a year as well! But we'll see...maybe 3...4 is a lot!
So back to Wal-Mart...Claire does really good at shopping with me know and likes to help me find things. I tell her "Look for the bananas and tell me when you see them!" Then she'll be all excited when she spots the item we are looking for. I also give her stuff to turn around and put into the cart. I saw another mom doing this, and this of course is super fun for her! Of course, she wants to help with super big items, which isn't always so good. I'm addicted to Gatorade ... and Claire is too :) But hey! ELECTROLYTES! GOOD FOR YOU! So she picked up this big bottle of it when I wasn't looking and threw it to the back of the cart. Nice. Way to squish the grapes.
Well then we got home brought all the stuff in which is mostly still sitting on the counter right now. Haha...stupid putting away stuff!
I didn't do the dishes because I decided the weather was perfect for bulb planted. See, last week I got $25 worth of bulbs that were on 50% off. That's really 50 bucks worth! Since they had been taking up room on my counter for almost a week, I decided I better plant them before it rains again! Well, buying 10 bags of bulbs seemed like a good idea at the time. PLANTING THEM ALL. ARGH. What was I thinking! I had to plant so many freaking bulbs! BUT I got it all done before it got dark tonight! It will look so freaking awesome in the spring!!!
I pray that the spring is cool and the blooms last a long time! I planted pink, white, yellow, and orange tulips. I planted purple and pink hyacinths, as well as purple and pink crocuses. I planted a mix of Irises...or is it Irii...I think that's it but the Iris and Crocus bulbs had like 50 in each bag, so I was sticking probably way too many in each hole. I was getting lazy. Claire was having fun helping too. She liked throwing the bulbs in the holes. She kept trying to eat them and called the "COOKIES." Seriously...the look like onions. When I have I ever fed her little round ball cookies? And she won't try half the food I give her, but I bet she ate at least a bulbs worth of plant skins tonight.
Claire also had a blast dragging out half her toys onto the patio since I left the back door open for her. Josh was working late, so it worked out well. She is really good and driving her car around fast. She looks like Fred Flintstone moving her little feet in that little car! She was also helping me rake the mulch...aka making a huge mess by getting it up on the patio, etc. But it kept her entertained so I so did not care.
We have a bulb digger and it sucks. Actually it's on loan from my parents. They can have it back. It's a great idea, but the dirt was way to wet from the rain and would stick in the bulb digger and not work. I opted to use a big shovel. Anyways, Claire had a big bowl of cereal for a bedtime snack and went to sleep practically instantly after playing outside so much...that and she ran around the patio table at least 50 times plus...I don't know why she thinks running in circles is so fun, but she can keep it up! Now my next project is to cut down all the dead stuff for the fall and then I am DONE outside for the year.
I really hope my bulbs bloom well...I'm thinking at the end of April, they'll be the perfect background for some pictures of Claire and baby-boo #2!!! I heard the heartbeat at my 12 week check earlier this week too! It was amazing, as always. I'm just as excited as I was with Claire! Well, I'm going to sign off for tonight!

Uddercovers

Free! Attention nursing mamas or will be one day...! Uddercovers is giving away free $32 nursing covers. You just pay shipping. Code is cranberry2. I just got one! Put it in your cart and then apply the code at checkout! I'm PUMPED! :) TEE-HEE!

Tinkerbell Baby!

For Halloween, Claire will be Tinkerbell! We have this awesome skirt my friend Ally made for her birthday that will be part of the costume. I found the rest of the costume for super-cheap in the clearance shelves at Wal-Mart at the end of August. It was a Tinkerbell chest that came with 2 Tinkerbell dress-up dresses, 2 bracelets, clip-on earrings, WINGS of course, and shoes with a soft bottom for inside only. So this skirt goes perfectly and puffs up the skirt. I know, Tinkerbell does not have a puffy skirt, but Claire and I do not care. :) It looks super-cute, is all the right colors, and looks a little bit like a ballerina!
I will save the rest of the outfit for a future post!

Tea Parties and Play food

Claire got a tea set for her birthday, which she is madly in love with. She enjoys pouring tea for anyone who will pretend to drink it. She likes to put food in her play microwave that is part of her kitchen and heat up food for us. :) Yay for leftover play food! Ha! I asked her if I could have more tea today, and she said "Of course, Mommy!" I started cracking up.

She likes to plate play food and then serve it to me. I have to wait for the ok though. I started to "eat" something too soon, and she screamed, "NO! It not hot Mommy! I heat it up! It take 3 minute!" She held up three fingers as she put it in the play microwave and pressed the play buttons.

She also likes to sit her baby in the highchair and give it food to eat. She crams the food in their mouth telling it to "EAT BABY!"

She also says "Go ahead" to me sometimes on the stairs when she doesn't want me to hold her hand.

Another fluke...I think she may be starting to "read." We have a plain green bib that says "POOH" on it. I haven't put it on her for months and don't ever remember telling her that it says Pooh. There are no Pooh pictures or other characters. It just says Pooh. Well, I put it on her for breakfast since we were at the bottom of the bib pile(...I need to do laundry!) She looks down, points at the letters, and says "POOH!" It sort of creeped me out. But we have several Pooh books...but I think she actually recognized the word from her Potty seat, which says "POOH," and I do remember pointing out the letters to her and saying Pooh. So is that reading or just matching a word? (Or is that all reading is?) I also have her pick out her name tag at the library when we go for story time.

Home-Made Graham Crackers!

I've enjoyed making homemade Graham Crackers for awhile. I bascially decided to make it one day when we were out of Graham Crackers and I didn't feel like running up to Trader Joe's which is about 20 minutes away. I don't like feeding Claire stuff with HFCS because it is seriously in everything and pretty unnatural.
They are super easy and super tasty. You can also top them with whatever you want, too!

Keeping Toys under Control

Claire is just over 2 and has more toys than most small countries. I'm not even joking. I don't even know where they all came from. They seemingly breed and reproduce in droves overnight. LOL. So to keep things fresh and fun, I rotate the toys. My mom suggested this idea to me. I should've shared this tip sooner because it's a great one. I just pulled out a box right before I sat down here that has been in the closet for months. I forgot that it had toys in it. I thought it was clothes. So now Claire is pulling out each toy, bringing it over to me, and saying, "Mommy, This my toy?" I say YES! Then she gets all excited, jumps up and down and says THANK YOU! Haha. Little does she know that these were things from a mere six months ago that she'd forgotten about. So here are some other things I've started doing...I put away seasonal books and toys like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc...away when I put the decorations. Besides, it's kind of funny to read about Easter in the middle of October. I also put away about a box of books at a time...otherwise they all just end up all over the floor. Then we have 2 giant rubbermaid bins that I use as toy boxes. I usually keep one in the closet at a time, trying to keep a good mix of toys out. We have about 15 nice wooden puzzles, all different, but a few similar, so I put away one of the similar ones at a time, otherwise it makes it hard when it's time to pick up and she gets the pieces confused between the puzzles. I got MOST of them at a resale store or garage sales and the rest were gifts. :) Also, some toys are particularly more messy than others because they came with lots of small pieces vs. something like a doll that is just 1 piece. But guess what? I just looked over at Claire, laughing hysterically, and she is sitting in the box with the flaps shut. So my advice? Sell all the toys and let them play with boxes. Seriously! She doesn't want to play with toys...she wants the real purse Holly gave her along with the chapstick she jacked off the counter because her arms have an abnormally long range for her age. But other than that...I am not super anal (believe it or not) about keeping things picked up...seriously...it's pointless...10 minutes of Claire playing, it looks like nothing was picked up at all anyways, so I don't even bother to pick up toys on a daily basis. Horrible, I know. :) I pick up SOMETIMES for company and then at least once a week weather it needs it or not. This gives me a chance to sort of sort things out and throw away any random things that we have collected...it's amazing the amount of stickers a small child attracts. I also keep trashing all the craft projects we bring home from the library. She can play with them until they are destroyed, then after she goes to sleep...trash time! Maybe I do pick up a little more often than that...you just can't tell! But shh...don't tell...I never make beds, because again, that's a waste of time, too. :) Unless company is coming that we might give a tour of the house to...I don't make the beds, but even then...I've stopped caring. It's enough to try to stay on top of the laundry and dishes and still have time to play with Claire and read to her. Any tips? Please leave them for me!