Let the summer reading programs begin!

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Most of you are probably way ahead of me in the summer reading program game. I'm blaming our vacation at the beginning of June as the reason we are just now getting started.  If you are anything like me you might be interested to know that there are a lot of summer reading programs available which offer some great prizes. Here are a few I've found. I would love to find out if there are some I'm missing!

• The local library--this seems pretty obvious but still it's the only place we've participated in a reading program up until now.
• Barnes and Noble--You just print out the reading journal template and once you have completed it you get to go into Barnes and Noble for a free book!
• Pottery Barn--You can use the list of books from Pottery Barn to complete both this reading program and the one at Barnes and Noble. If you have a Pottery Barn store near you this would be an excellent one to participate in!
• Half Price Books--If your child reads 600 minutes in June and July and he will get a $5 gift card!

In addition to all that brain exercise if you need a cool place to go with the kids and some time away Regal Cinemas offers a great summer movie getaway. The movies are every Tuesday and Wednesday morning at 10 am and are only $1 per person! 

Just a few things to get us all started and excited about the summer. 

Real food for baby

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You would think by the time my fourth child was born I would be a pro at all this baby stuff but sometimes I feel like instead of progressing I have completely forgotten everything. When Eliza was nearing solid food age I was determined to try to hold her off and start her a bit later then my general MO which, for the boys, was always around 5 1/2 months. However, as with all of them, my resistance was worn thin when just at 6 months she was insatiable! I was nursing her every 2 hours and she still didn't seem to be getting enough. I even started taking milk thistle capules (which seemed to greatly increase my milk production) but she was still ravenous.
Before giving in and plopping a jar of tasteless cereal in front of her I followed my sister-in-law's recommendation and got my hands on the book Real Food for Mother and Baby. After tearing into this myself it is hard to resist the urge to buy a copy for every new mother. This is an excellent book!

Although she deals with nutrition from pre-conception all the way to baby's first foods I was mosty focused on the latter and it reinforced what my instincts were telling me regarding my new eater's nutritional needs. No longer did I feel somewhat guilty about adding salt and flavor to my baby's first foods or feel somehow bound to start with bland rice cereal that offers no real nutrition.

 I did go somewhat against Nina Planck's advice, and I pureed (and still do) all her food before I served it to her. Eliza has an extremely sesitive gag reflex and doesn't manage chuncks well.

 Here are some of Eliza's first purees:

 The yolk of 1 farm fresh egg
A little bit of fish oil (ideally cod liver oil)
1 mashed banana

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 Roasted butternut squash
Chicken broth (homemade from a free range chicken)
Vegetable of choice (usually whatever we had for supper)

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 Roast beef
Mashed potatoes
Beef stock

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Sweet potatoes
Avocado
Homemade Chicken stock (from an free range chicken) 


Nina gives several other recommendations but mostly her point is to give your baby the foods you are eating (with the assumption that you are eating real food as well). 
Farm fresh egg yolks contain an amazing amount of DHA and so many other wonderful brain-building nutrients. Fish oils and cod liver oils do the same. 
Nina also recommends salmon roe which I'm sure is a storehouse of omega 3's but I have yet to be able to afford such luxuries. I do have my sister and brother-in-law to thank for their efforts in providing us and the community with farm fresh eggs and free range chicken. It wasn't until I was feeding Eliza food that I really appreciated all the nutrients we have been blessed with by consuming these vitamin rich foods.


I would love to hear more purée ideas from any of you out there and I highly recommend the book to anyone whether you are feeding a baby or not.

Mothering

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I have to admit that my husband and I are both very practical and mostly countercultural. If someone tells me I must do something or observe something I often find that I want to do exactly the opposite. This is true in so many areas but one of those areas is societal holidays. Of course we dive into Christmas with the best of them and I devour as much Easter candy as possible before Easter comes and goes (I'm not sure if that counts as celebrating but to me eating candy is always cause for celebration). Most of the other holidays, however, go unnoticed. A few years ago we decided to stop doing things for Valentine's Day. That might be grounds for divorce with some couples but for us it just didn't make sense for many reasons (all of them very practical) and we both agreed that we should not feel bound to do something just because someone else decided it was the thing everyone "had" to do.
All that brings me to Mother's Day. This too has been a holiday that we have not usually done a lot for. We do celebrate my mother-in-law with a Sunday lunch that the women of the family participate in assembling. I also try to give my mom a little something (although this year I completely dropped the ball on that one). In one sense, it's another one of those, "Why do we let society determine when we tell our mother's we love them? Isn't all of this driven by card companies anyway?" Even with those thoughts running through my mind I couldn't help being a bit more reflective this year.
It most likely had to do with the fact that for the past month or so I have been struggling with the job I have been given. This frustration came on gradually but peaked one Saturday evening after an incredibly busy day and week, I found myself screaming internally, "Why do I have to mop the floors right now! All I want to do is take my shower and have a few minutes of quiet before I crash into bed but instead I'm mopping the floors!!!" That germ of discontentment grew quickly into a full fledged virus and those poisonous thoughts soon skewed my whole perspective. I began to think my husband's life was luxurious and mine was only constant pain and turmoil. Soon I had conjured up this image of him skipping off to a glorious job where he receive acclamations all day about what a wonderful job he does while I toil at home to feed and educate HIS kids, clean HIS house, buy HIS food, fix HIS meals...you get the idea.
It all seems so ridiculous as I look back now (he certianly doesn't skip off to work and rarely receives near the amount of praise for his work that he deserves).  I finally had a long talk with him and poured out all of these thoughts. He quickly pulled me back into reality (a reality of which I knew but was choosing to ignore). We are a team and together we strive to serve one another but more than that to serve God. None of us has the better end of the deal and I really believe that to be true. We really do share everything.
I'm not saying all my angst disappeared overnight but as I continued to realign my perspective to what it ought to be things have gradually gotten better. When Mother's Day rolled around I took a deep look at what I am doing. The job I have been given is sobering and so very rewarding if I would only take the time to see those rewards. They don't come in the form of money or continuous praise from my ever thankful children or husband :-) They mostly evidence themselves in little ways. In the laughs we share around the table during the evening meal. In the surprising answers they give that make me realize that they actually do listen to some of the things I teach them. In the love they have for each other, us, and God. I could go on but you get the idea. I was also reminded by my extremely faithful mother-in-law that these rewards will come later as well, when I see my kids leave the home and start families of their own.
To all you mothers out there I wish you a Happy Mother's Day (who says it HAS to be on Sunday?) Your job is huge, often the rewards are hidden but the amazing influence that we mothers hold over our children and the mood of our home is overwhelming and for those who do it well there is much reward in this life but more so in the one to come.

My lovely mother who taught me so many things. Much of who I am today is because of what she taught me through word and action. 

My beautiful mother-in-law who is a constant encouragement and example to me.

My ever supportive husband and the little people who I am trying by God's grace to invest in and impact.

 

A glance back

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April at a glance...

Ben found a slide and made a swing for the treehouse and now the boys finally seem to enjoy playing outside (instead of inside with legos all-day-long!)

In spite of the fact that this is a two story tree house with a trap door it took having a slide and cheap swing to get them out there!! 

Another event this month was that Eliza started sitting up and is now trying very hard to figure out the whole crawling thing. She's definitely more motivated than the boys were (that's not really saying much)

She is known as the Clover Queen at church. Last week her cousins made her a clover crown, bracelet and a bunch of clovers to be her wand. 

The end of April is full of birthdays. First Ben's dad celebrated his, then the weekend after that my mom and dad came up to visit and celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. On the 30th there was a party for me and my sister-in-law. So many reasons to celebrate!

Eliza loved having Grandpa here!

Part of my parents gift to me....I think this should last about a week or so :-)

Ben also surprised me with this amazing cup cake. It was chocolate espresso with espresso cream filling. Who could ask for more? I took one bite and decided it was ALL MINE!

I also enjoyed a cup of tea in my new ceramic travel mug (thanks for my mother-in-law). 

A Progression of Teeth

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A day in the life of Warren-my 7 year old son whose life is very much taken up with his teeth falling out. For quite some time his two front teeth have been loose. We started calling him Tow-Mater because one was sticking out in front of the other. In an amazingly strong moment he pulled out both in a matter of an hour. I was very impressed.

This was the Tow-Mater phase:

After he pulled the first one (as you can see he has a favorite pose):

 After both he yanked both of them out:

And the Winners Are...

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Drum roll please.....

The 3 runners up and winners of the Castille soap are:

Jojo
Christy S.
Angie

The winner of the baby balm is:

Sarah Johnson!!

Would the winners please e-mail me privately with their addresses so that I can mail your prizes? You can e-mail me at oilandspice@gmail.com

Thank you all so much for participating. I plan to do many more of these with new products and other wonderful things I just can't help but share.

Happy to Give!

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April is one of the best months in the whole year! Partially because the flowers start to bloom, birds start to sing, and the weather is mostly absolutely perfect. The other reason is because my birthday is in April (along with many of my family members birthdays but of course my own is most interesting to me even if I'm not getting any younger).
In order to celebrate this year I felt like giving instead of getting (well, I might be getting too but that's beside the point). The focus right now is giving to my readers and all those out there who love all natural products.

Before Eliza was born I created a baby balm to help with diaper rash, dry skin, and pretty much just about everything a baby and I have to deal with after labor and delivery. I'm not trying to "toot my own horn" but I have to say I absolutely LOVE this stuff!! I have used it on Eliza and myself (for dry skin patches, etc.) since day one. It seems to take care of any diaper rash almost immediately. It also cures dry skin. Every member of my family is inflicted with dry skin and the babies are no exception. Eliza is particularly susceptible to get it under her arm pits, neck, behind her knees and in the creases of her "oh so chubby" legs. So every night after her bath I cover her whole body with it and give her a little massage which makes her and her skin so very happy. The other amazing thing that I love about this baby balm is that it washes right out of cloth diapers. As you might have guessed from that comment I use cloth diapers and some creams and ointments I have used in the past DO NOT wash out! My Happy Baby Balm does, so I love it even more (not the mention that it is completely all natural).

All that buildup brings me to the point--I want to give one of these away! I want you to know just why I love this balm so very much!

Here is the gist:

This giveaway will start now, April 12 and run until next Wednesday, April 18th at midnight. The winner will be announced Thursday, April 19th.

So how do you win?

1.  Comment on this blog. You can say whatever you want to. You can talk about your lovely baby, post pics of your babe, ooh and awe over their tiny toes and fingers or just exclaim how much you love to get free stuff!!

2.  Tweet about it and link to the blog and then comment to let me know you tweeted.

3. Follow this blog. I would LOVE to have more insight from my readers and to get that I would love to add more readers to my blog. So if you follow this blog you get another chance in the running for the  giveaway.

Do all 3 and you get 3 entries!! Bonus!!

So what are you waiting for??!!

Oh, and just so I can spread the love a bit I will be sending a brand new bar of Pure Unscented Castille Soap to the 3 runners up. This soap is not yet for sale on my site yet so it will come wrapped but not labeled. I would love to know what the runners up think once they have used the soap and any suggestions for scents, etc. I plan to add a Castile line to my soap products and would love some scent ideas and feedback.