Thursday, March 24, 2011

These Moments

{these moments} - A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. Photos - no words - capturing moments from the week. Simple, special, extraordinary moments. Moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.







Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Games And Things

Dump them out...



Pick them up...



Dump them out...


Pick them up...


Oh, this game is so much fun...

 

OK, now she is done!



She got them all, except for one!






Back To Basics~Natural Remedies

Ear Infections and Vampires Beware!
Friday~
Bunny woke at 11:00pm crying. After I nursed, sang, rocked etc., etc... She finally (we are talking like 1:42am) fell asleep. I assumed it was teething. Poor thing was having a hard time holding a latch. She slept well the rest of the night.

Saturday~
This morning I had some lovely ladies over for life group (a bible study kinda thing). Bunny skipped her morning nap (which is normally fine). Just as they were leaving, she was getting really sleepy, so I snuck away to put her to sleep. She dozed off and slept for about 30 minutes (she normally sleeps for about two hours when she skips her morning nap). She woke screaming at the top of her lungs and rubbing her ear. I nursed, sang rocked, etc., etc. She finally stopped fussing and was content for me to hold her. I put Hyland's ear drops and cotton in her ears and gave her Tylenol. She played, ate lunch and nursed again. I gave her ear drops and cotton again. Then rocked her back to sleep at 2:30 and she was up by 3:00, screaming. Same thing over again. At this point, I was starting to worry about an ear infection. She kept tugging it and not wanting me to touch it. More ear drops. I figured that (unless she got better) I would have to take her to the doctor's on Monday evening.

I have to admit, on the inside I was freaking out. I have issues with babies on antibiotics (as with any medicine). I prayed, and suddenly ask Mama to look up remedies online. She did and found out that garlic can not only help an earache, but (in some cases) can even cure an ear infection.

I didn't have any garlic, but onions are the next best thing. I chopped a tiny bit of onion and wrapped it in some tissue. As soon as Bunny had it in, she stopped fussing. A few minutes later, she was playing and being her normal, happy self. I replaced the onion packet a few times throughout the day. Later in the evening, my sister brought me some garlic from the grocery store where she works. I made a packet for her ear at bedtime and gave her Tylenol. She slept well, only waking to nurse (she didn't even cry, she just started moving around). I replaced the packet, and she fell back to sleep. I continued to pray and made extra garlic packets for the middle of the night.

Sunday~
Bunny woke this morning and was a little fussy. I repacked her ear with garlic and she cheered up in no time. She was still pretty clingy to me all day, but otherwise seemed fine. This afternoon, we went to Mama's house to visit. Bunny was happy to play for a while, but when I picked her up she felt warm. She had a temp of about 101. At this point the Monday evening doctor's visit seemed eminent. We added garlic oil to our treatment plan. Mama and I also researched Silver Shield (you should really look into it) and we decided that the Hubs would pick some up the next evening. Garlic, garlic oil and Tylenol before bed. She slept well and I replaced packet during the night.

Monday~
Bunny woke this morning completely fine! Praise the Lord! No doctor visit for us! No yucky medicine! Oddly, she was in an even better mood than usual (makes me wonder how long her ear had actually been hurting). I continued with treatments and The Hubs bought Silver Shield on his way home from work. Silver Shield, garlic, and garlic oil before bed. She slept better than she has in a while (really makes me wonder how long her ear had been hurting). Thank you God for getting us through this!

Tuesday & Wednesday~
Continued treatments, just to be sure. Bunny is even more pleasant than her usual chipper self (sleeping better too). I am amazed at the power of God, prayer, and garlic. I am so glad that I calmed down enough to check out my options for ear infection cures. Praise God!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

For Lack Of A Better Word...


LOVE!


11 1/2 month old Bunny nursing


An Enchanted Childhood~ Daycare: March 7th-18th

The past two weeks, we have spent more and more time outside.  Which means less and less time on "crafts" and inside activities.  During those weeks, we made mardi gras masks, celebrated a birthday, visited with a past daycare child (we miss you LilyB!) and did Saint Patrick's Day activities. 




We worked on learning the colors of the rainbow and read stories about Noah and his ark.









Our rainbow plates (from two days).


Saturday, March 19, 2011

A Ringa Dinga Ding Time!


SPRING HAS SPRUNG!


Spring Equinox



I see the moon,

And the moon sees me.

God bless the moon,

And God bless Spring!



{This Moment} ~ A Day Late

{this moment} - A Friday weekend ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.






Thursday, March 17, 2011

Why Buy The Cow?


The other day, our whole family got ice cream from Coke N Float.

Not wanting to leave the babies out, we gave them some "ice cream" too.


BREAST MILK ICE CREAM!


Taking a bite...








Processing...














 
It is a hit!


THEY LOVED IT!





All I did was take six oz of frozen breast milk, put it through Mama's ice shaver, added a few drops of vanilla, and stirred until creamy!


Breast milk ice cream


So what is the difference between this (above pic)...

And this (below pic)?


Cow's milk ice cream

Most people would not eat breast milk ice cream.

Why is this?

Breast milk is free (if you produce it yourself), full of antibodies, and...
MADE FOR HUMANS.

Cow's milk is expensive, contains no antibodies, and...
MADE FOR COWS.

Don't get me wrong, I don't really like the idea of consuming breast milk (especially other people's).

But (even though I do it) I don't really like the idea of consuming milk that comes from a cow's udders either.
   

Which would you eat, and why?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Toetally Awesome

Piggy Paint strikes again (this time in orange) ~

While clipping Bunny's toenails, I decided to paint them as well.

This is getting harder to do now that she can get away from me.


But, I finally finished them.



They looked so cute...


So I decided to paint mine too! 



 Though my toes are not as cute as hers...


They still rock!


What rocks even more is that we now have matching toes...



And skinny jeans...



And camo shirts...



Oh yeah, we are too cool!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Enchanted Childhood: Farm Life

A Cluck Cluck Here~

When I was eight years old, my family and I moved to a small farm. My older brother, Matt, became quite the young farmer. He drug us along with him in his many endeavors. We raised goats, horses, pigs, rabbits, guineas, ducks, and chickens.

Chickens were his main obsession for some time. By the time I was ten, we had quite a little egg selling business. He built coops and read books. He poured his heart and energy into his flock. Once, we even mixed duck eggs into a broody hen's own eggs. The results were six chicks and six duckling that thought they were siblings (amazing to watch).

In recent years, my grandpa (Poppaw John) has kept a few chickens for eggs. He has been very generous with his farm fresh, free range, large brown eggs, and has filled our skillet many times. After many years of disliking eggs (I think due to butchering so many chickens in our farm days), I have learned to once again love the golden yolks, scrambled and salted, on my plate.

Last fall Poppaw John decided to take a break from chickens. They were getting older and he would have to start over with chicks and replace them if he wanted to keep up the egg production. He just wasn't into starting the whole process over. So I had two choices. One, I could just buy good quality eggs from the store ($$$). Two, I could start again what my brother had begun so many years ago...


And so it begins again

As I write, the sweet sound of peeping chicks floods out from my laundry/mud room. Ten of them. They are redish brown and cute as can be. Bunny really likes peeking into the brooder. She is not so excited about touching the chicks themselves. But she will catch on eventually. The glow from the heat lamp lights up the space like a Christmas tree. The smell of pine chips brings back memories of days long past. Of the farm. Of working hard and it paying off in the end.


Wondering what was in this thing


"Chi-en!"
(She does not say the "ck")

Up on her tipy-toes to get a better look

The Hubs is excited to learn and I am excited to pass down my knowledge to him. It seems like everyday one of us teaches the other something. Hopefully, between the two of us, Bunny will learn quite a bit about life, before she even has to live it for herself.


The Hubs helping Bunny get one last look before bath time