A Skirt for Mama

I made this skirt for myself. I had hopes of making a dress, similar to the last dress I made Penelope, and I envisioned it to come out kinda of like this dress, but with a wide elastic at top, that are all the rage right now. I bit off more than I could chew and ended up just doing a basic elastic casing waste. And like my very first dress I made for Penelope, this too, is going to be filed under "learning experiences." It wasn't exactly a disaster, and I even wore it out in public, once. I wore it with a white tank top and thick yellow belt. It would have been so cute, but it just didn't fit right or the fabric didn't lay right, I don't know. Either way, I am not wearing it again. Its already been cut up, to become Recycle, Reuse, Refashion 3, so don't even try and talk me out of it.

Baby/Tot/Mama Yoga: Twistee!

This pose is a great back stretch for our little babies. Its similar to the adult yoga pose Supine Spinal Twist. Supine means to lay on your back, by the way. :)
To do this pose, for baby, tot or mama, lay on your back. Bring your knees together and drop them both to one side. Slowly turn your head the in opposite direction of your knees, while keep both shoulders on the floor.

For babies, you move their legs for them. To move their head, try and use a toy, or in my case, during this picture, a sweet little friend to get babies attention and get them to look in the right direction. And as you are doing the pose, you say Twistee!!! Doing this on tiny babies, is great to help them learn how to do eye-tracking and builds up neck strength.
For tots and older kids, just show them how to do the pose by you doing it yourself. Then say, "You do it!" or "Now, its your turn!" Remind your tot or child to breath in through their nose and out through their nose while they are doing the pose.

Just FYI, most of the baby yoga poses I post, I learned at my Itsy Bitsy Yoga training. The founder and creator, Helen Garabedian, has a great book and dvds that you can purchase to help your home practice. Or you can go to her website and try and find a class near you!

Petunia Pickle Bottom TourGuide Baby Carrier Review

Petunia Pickle Bottom sent me their TourGuide Baby Carrier a few weeks ago, to try out and see how I liked it and then relay my findings to you, my wonderful readers. Let me tell you, I was so excited to get my first product to review!  I felt like a real Blogger!

I was a bit worried at first that I wouldn't like it at all, because I am so used to my wraps and slings and because I had heard that these types of carrier can be hard on a babies hips, because of how the weight is distributed.  However, I was pleasantly surprised, Penelope did not seem like she was uncomfortable at all.  I am not sure if it is because she is an older baby, with bigger more established pelvic bones, or because she wears a cloth diaper and it gave her extra padding on her bum.  She liked it just as much as any of my other carriers.  She is not a very cuddly baby, even in a carrier.  She wants to be held, but she wants a full view of her surroundings.  This carrier gave her that.

Even though, I felt it was safe and comfortable for her, it was not as comfortable for me as my wraps and slings are.  Penelope is about 21 pounds.  The directions say that it can hold a baby up to 22 pounds, so it may be that she is just on the heavy side, as far as comfort goes, for me, anyway.  In this type of carrier, all the weight of the baby is distributed on the shoulders and upper back of the person wearing it.  I do not have much upper body strength, so she got heavy pretty quickly.  While we are talking about how chubby my baby is, her fat thighs were too big to fasten the button on the side.  It didn't matter though, I think its meant for extra support for newborns anyway.  But it was pretty funny, seeing her big ole thighs in it and not being able to fasten it!  When I talked to Petunia Pickle Bottom about it, they let me know that  the side buttons are only for babies that are between 8 and 11 pounds.

But, Peter, LOVED it.  He thought it was awesome.  He has pretty much taken it over as his carrier.  He loved that is was a strap and click system; he could throw it on, pick her up and get her into place, click it and be off.  I think he liked that is was a bit more plain and simple looking.  Not manly, but simple.  He liked that he could do it himself too.  With the wraps or slings, he needs my help.  He figured out how to get her in there, while sitting down (his logic: in case he drops her, he is closer to the ground) and then he stands up and goes on about his business washing dishes or taking Sky for a walk.   He says it is super comfortable for him, maybe because he has more muscles in his shoulders? 

So for Dads, or new moms with smaller babies that don't want to mess with wraps and slings, I highly recommend this carrier!

Oh, and I forgot mention....its a green product!  It's made out of post consumer recycled materials. How great is that?

{Full disclosure:  In return for doing the review on my blog, I get to keep the carrier.}

Great-Great Oma's Blueberry Pie

 When Peter's mother was visiting a few weeks ago, we made a blueberry pie with the blueberries Penelope and I picked.  The recipe is from Maria Muller, Penelope's  Great-Great Oma ( that's Grandma in German.)  I hope you all  feel very privileged to have this recipe given to you!  I did not grow up cooking with my mother, nor do I have any recipes from either of my grandmothers, so I absolutely treasure this recipe.  It doesn't hurt that it is super delicious as well.

To start, make the pie crust by combining the following: 1 stick unsalted butter, 2 cups self rising flour, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 whole egg.  Mix all the ingredients by hand in a bowl.  When all the ingredients are mixed and form a smooth ball, take out and roll over a piece of freezer paper until is nice and smooth.

 

Press dough into a buttered pie pan and make sure its pressed in evenly.  I only had a glass pie pan, and it you can't use glass for some reason with this recipe, so we did it this non-stick square pan I had.  Put some bread crumbs on top, just a thing layer that covers all  the dough.  The bread crumbs soak up the moisture from the fruit, so the crust is not soggy.  Savea some of the dough to make the pie crust top.

Pause to take a picture of Penelope and her Omi in her pretty new dress that Omi bought her!  Thanks Omi!

For the filling we used about a pound of blueberries.  I would have used more next time, because I love me some blueberries, but you have to be careful not to use too much or the pie crust will be soggy.  Then just sprinkle sugar on top of the blueberries.  Your call how much, we didn't put too much sugar, since these blueberries were picked at the peak of ripeness and were crazy sweet already.   You can also use green apples. If you use green apples, cut up 4 apples, very thin and cover the whole pie crust, about 1 inch in height, sprinkle with sugar, and cinnamon.

We used the remainder of the pie crust and rolled up strips for the top.  If we had used a normal pie pan, we would have had enough to do a grid pattern.  We did a P for Penelope instead!  Bake in the oven at 350, for about 50 minutes.  Then eat some pie right out of the pan like we did. What you shouldn't do is store the pie in the oven, so your counters are clear when people come over to see your house for sale, and then forget its in there and preheat the oven to cook something and ruin the rest of the pie.   Selling my house is SO fun!

Hope you enjoy!  Please send me an email or leave a comment if you make this recipe!

Readers Questions: Homeopathic remedies for sick babies and how to switch to cloth diapers.

Yay! I got my first couple of reader questions!  Here are the questions and answers.  Please  note, that I am not a Doctor, so this can not be used as medical advice, I am simply sharing my personal experience. 

Please keep the questions coming!  You can email me at Info (at) MamaAndBabyLove.com

Reader Question:
I read that Penelope got sick. What did she have? How did you treat her?

Mama and Baby Love Answer:  She caught some virus.  It manifested first as a fever for about two days , then it went to her chest and she had a little cough.  She would cough mostly at night.  It was a croup-type cough at first, then just a regular cough, that was more dry sounding. All and all, it lasted about a week.  I gave her Tylenol when she had the fever (which was 101.5), and then I got Hyland's cold and cough homeopathic tablets.  I also bought Eldertussin Elderberry syrup that is homeopathic and also had things like echinacea and horehound for immune and respiratory health. Elderberry is helpful for clearing congestion, whether its  in your chest or sinuses.The syrup says its for 1 year old's and up, that are at least 25 pounds.  Penelope is about 22 pounds and 8 months, so I just cut the dosage in half.  My pediatrician. said I could give her Robotussin, but to cut the dosage in half.  I figured if I can give her some freaking Robotussin, I can give her this elderberry stuff.  He also said I could give her Sambucol which also has elderberry in it. Then I took elderberry pills, and upped my vitamin c and d, and of course kept up with our daily Reuteri (I take one pill a day and give her half of half teaspoon everyday in one of her bottles).  I also drank several glasses of Breath Easy tea. Whatever I eat, drink or take as supplements gets to her through my breast milk.   I took several steam showers with her, the first few days when the cough was the worst. Oh, and we bought a vaporizer for the bedroom at night.  Our local co-op has been out of Kombucha, but normally I drink that every day for immune health as well.

Reader Question:
I am considering making the switch to cloth diapers. the problem is that we are in an apartment complex and I do not have access to my own washer and dryer and I don't think it is right to do that in the community ones. My main issue is that I have read a couple places that the harsh bleaches and chemicals diaper services use are just as bad or worse than disposable diapers.  Also, the carbon footprint of the company driving around and such to drop off and pick up the diapers. What do you know about diaper services and despite the downfalls is it better than using disposables?

Mama and Baby Love Answer: 
I agree, I would not go with a diaper service, for the reasons you stated.  You may even be hard pressed to find one.  We do not have one here in Tallahassee.

You might re-think using the community ones.  I wash sheets and other clothes after I wash her diapers, and its a non-issue.  It's not like I have a washing machine just dedicated to diapers.  There is not a cross-contamination issue at all.  If you are super concerned about it, a simple rinse cycle on hot with nothing in it, after you have washed your diapers, would be more than enough.

The company that makes the diapers we use, has a hybrid diaper out.  You can stuff it with an organic cotton insert or a disposable insert.  I haven't used it, but have friends that have, and its a great diaper.  So you could buy the shells, and use the disposable insert until you move and then when you move you could buy the cotton insert.  The disposable inserts are bio-degradable and don't have chlorine in them, so its not like its a Pamper insert in there touching his skin.

MBL also consulted Jen Starks, owner of Ecological Babies, a cloth diapering business, for more information.  This is what she said:

"Great response!  I'd add that if she uses the laundromat that she wipes the inside of the machine with white distilled vinegar  BEFORE she washes the diapers. That way, the diapers won't be affected by any bleach that was previously used in there, fabric softeners, or harmful detergent built in. 

Also, it is a more serious commitment to cloth diapers (certainly not impossible) when not actually having the facility at home.  To make it easier on them, I'd suggest getting enough for a 3 day supply.  That way, they don't feel like they are living at the laundromat. 

Finally, another easy diaper (that I'm going to be selling shortly) is the Thirsties covers with an insert that lays inside it.  It's minimal bulk and super easy to use.  You just lay the insert inside of the cover and put on the baby.  With this approach, they might even be able to extend (and afford) the number of days in between washes."

P.S.  Jen is a local Tallahassee business, but she ships all over the country.  If you contact her, she is more than happy to help answer any and all cloth diapering questions.

If anyone has any other advice they would like to add to these reader's questions, please leave some advice in the comment section!

Video Test

 

This is my test post for video...I have a great Infant Massage video tutorial coming soon, but needed figure out how to upload video first! This is Penelope doing some her of favorite things:pulling up on something and gnawing on a cell phone. 

Friday Link Love: 7.16.10

I just love this blog. Its a very similar tone and feeling to mine and I just adore everything she writes. This post hits home to me, because I have been feeling the same lately. The 24/7 hours of being a mother is so overwhelming sometimes. I love it, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I think, if I wash one more damn bottle or cloth diaper I am going to scream!! Can't someone just take over for one minute?!

I can't remember if have shared this or not, but even if I have its worth a second post. It is FREAKING HILARIOUS. Its a blog making fun of all the stupid Pottery Barn catalog pictures.