Various Parenting Issues

It's been a while since my last post, and that's because 3 kids keep me jumpin'!
First of all, we are having sleep issues. M has entered the terrible twos and is now throwing fits at bedtime, just because. She is also up frequently in the night now, and I'm suspecting nightmares because she will scream violently, but when I go in there she is often not actually awake. I have been told that nightmares are a sign that she has reached a certain level of awareness now, and that it is a sign of maturity. That's great, but couldn't we have a different sign, please? These things are awful. R had them, too.

M doesn't speak well and we are encountering massive frustration (on her part even more than on mine) because she now wants to communicate and doesn't have the vocabulary. She adds new words every day and makes cute little verb-less sentences, but she doesn't use any ending consonants and is difficult to understand. I've pulled out my baby signs book and am hoping to give her some relief by teaching her a few basic signs. I think she's a good candidate for signs because she was never a chatty baby. She never cooed, and never giggled (she could, there was just nothing she felt like giggling about), and never did that baby "babble".  R, on the other hand, started cooing at 5 1/2 weeks old, and has not quit using her voice since. At almost four years old, she speaks like an adult.

E and I are having our own troubles with sleep and feedings. I suspect that the sleep troubles stem from the feeding troubles. E has slept six hours exactly once in his five months of life, occasionally four hours, but he's still waking up about every two hours. I think this is because he has a poor latch when he's nursing. E has been a terrible challenge to breastfeed. For one thing, he is so long and heavy. When I'm trying to feed him in the cradle hold, over half of his torso and all of his legs hang off my lap, and it is difficult for me to keep his head in the right place. For another thing, he is short tempered. If he gets very hungry, he gets so mad that he cannot latch on well. When the milk doesn't come out easily, he gets even angrier. I have a good milk supply and a strong let-down reflex, so he generally gets the fore-milk easily, despite his poor latch. Then when he isn't sucking correctly, he doesn't get a lot out, so he lets go and cries. Then he tries to re-latch and does it incorrectly, doesn't get much, lets go and cries. Then he starts to panic that he's going to starve to death. When he gets this way, I generally have to let him get the foremilk, stop and burp him (he always throws up after this kind of feeding), wait until his is calm (about 30 minutes), then try again. This has worked for us pretty well. I can usually get him to latch well if he is calm, and then he can go about three-four hours between feedings. But at night he hasn't been going that long.

His poor latch may be due to the fact that, in my ignorance, I gave him a pacifier as a newborn. Honestly, until this baby, I never believed that nipple confusion was real, because both of my girls never had any problems with it. They rarely took a pacifier, and both could go from bottle to breast easily. In fact, I gave R formula for the first week of her life because I was taking antibiotics that upset her stomach, so I pumped and dumped (I would have done things differently if faced with the same situation now). And yet when I started nursing, she took right to it without the slightest trouble. Not so with E. Because I don't want any formula going in E's body, I express milk for visitation with their dad, and I've discovered that E is terrible with the bottle. He chokes and spits up and a lot of the milk dribbles out the side of his mouth. He wants the pacifier all the time and is quite dependent on it to sleep. He just needs to suck all the time, more than either of the girls did. I think we would have done better if I had never given him the pacifier, though. Although, I must say that part of the reason he got the pacifier in the first place is the assumption by ever modern US adult that all babies need a paci, and someone was always giving him one without asking me. Then when E took it, I started giving it to him all the time, too. I wonder why people in the US think nothing of giving formula or pacifiers, which are both breast imitations, but get squeamish about the real thing. * Since when is an man-made imitation EVER as good as what God made? But I digress....I guess nipple confusion is not a blanket problem for all: some babies adjust easily, and some do not. Oh, well. I can't go back and change it now. He'll be starting solids soon and then he should start sleeping longer. Of course, solids will start a whole other set of issues!

*This reminds me, I saw a commercial for an infant formula, filled with fanfare that this latest formula contained probiotics, the good bacteria, "like those found in breastmilk". All that I can think of is the millions of babies before the creation of this formula who missed out on these beneficial bacteria, but whose mothers were still told at the time that formula was "just as good" as breastmilk, or that they "contained all the nutrients" of breastmilk. The very addition of these probiotics is itself an admition that every formula previously was inferior to breastmilk and did NOT contain all the nutrients of breastmilk. Hhhhmmm, I have a lot to say on this subject. Look for a post on this soon!

Changes

Just want to draw your attention to the new set of links on the sidebar: great places to buy your heirloom seeds or seedlings! Many of them I have purchased seeds from myself, other just have a great selection, or great prices, or were recommended by other gardening blogs that I read.

Also, I've added to links to several website that I consult frequently:
kellymom.com-- A WONDERFUL resource for new moms, particularly about breastfeeding.
AskDrSears.com-- The famous pediatrician, his famous pediatrician sons, and his famous RN wife. Great resource. I've read lots of his books. The Baby Sleep Book was particularly helpful!
Breastfeeding Basics-- A new site I recently found with great info on breastfeeding. There are a few typos here and there in the articles, but the info is rock solid.
Dr. Jay Gordon-- Another pediatrician website I go to with great articles.

Here's What's Cookin': March 21st-28th

I'm trying to get back into the habit of a weekly menu. I'd forgotten how much work it is! I think the key to being frugal with food is simply to eat your leftovers and not be wasteful. If you plan out what you are going to cook and then stick to it, you will probably end up saving money, even if you spend more on the ingredients, because you won't throw out wasted food. I used a menu last week and it worked out pretty well. Here is the menu for this week:

Monday
Breakfast: 
banana pancakes, stewed plum with walnuts, grapefruit
Lunch:
Out to eat (will be out for haircut)
Snack:
hummus with carrots, olives
Dinner:
Pita pockets with roasted red peppers and avocado, salad

Tuesday
Breakfast:
yogurt, clementines, blueberries, and almonds
Lunch:
 Out to eat (more appointments!)
Snack:
avocado salad with feta, olives, and lemon
Dinner:
chicken salad over greens

Wednesday 
Breakfast:
steel-cut oatmeal with raisins, grapefruit, grapes
Lunch:
Chinese rice with peas, eggplant, and mushrooms; roasted carrots
Snack:
roasted eggplant and red pepper spread; pita crisps
Dinner:
Homemade pizza, salad

Thursday
Breakfast:
scrambled eggs, English muffin, grits, strawberries
Lunch:
Bell peppers stuffed with Chinese rice, salad
Snack:
hummus and pita crisps
Dinner:
leftovers

Friday
Breakfast:
yogurt with granola, frozen berries, grapefruit
Lunch:
veggie fajitas of zucchini, squash, mushrooms, and onions; guacamole
Snack:
cottage cheese and grapes
Dinner:
black beans, veggies, seasoned rice

Saturday
Breakfast
oatmeal with walnuts and dates   
bacon
banana
Lunch
creamy chicken and vegetable soup, salad, French Bread
Snack:
yogurt
apples
Dinner:
leftovers

Sunday
Breakfast:
fried eggs, biscuits and jelly, grapefruit
Lunch:
If you can find it, you can eat it!
Snack:
olives and cheese
Dinner:
cottage cheese and fruit 

As you can see, I try to do the largest meal at lunchtime. It is healthier to eat a large lunch and light supper: you burn more calories that way! It is much better to not consume your largest meal before you go to sleep!

Favorite....Easter Baskets!

 How cute are these Easter baskets? I ordered these from PotterBarnKids.com and had them personalized. I actually purchased the green/yellow basket on the far left for my oldest daughter her first Easter. I tried to go back and buy another one in 2009 for my second daughter, but Pottery Barn Kids didn't offer these soft baskets! Needless to say, I was thrilled when I looked this year and they had brought them back. I went ahead and ordered the blue one for my little baby boy. He'll only be 4 months at Easter this year, but I didn't want to take a chance that Pottery Barn Kids wouldn't offer them next year.

These soft basket are my favorites for a couple of reasons. First, they are sooooo cute! Second, I feel that they are much better for toddlers than the traditional woven basket. For one thing, they are easier to hold and carry. For another, they can take way more damage. If you step on a woven basket or bang it around, that's it! It's ruined. If you chew on a woven basket, it is forever imprinted with bite marks, not to mention the danger of splinters! R actually trudged her basket through the mud, and while I don't know if these baskets are technically machine washable, I washed the green one and it came out with minimal wear, still holds its shape, and still looks fine.

Another reason I love these particular baskets, is that while they are more appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers, they will grow up with the kids and not be "baby-ish" the way that the chick- or bunny-shaped ones will be. Especially for a little boy. A ten-year-old boy will probably still want to hunt Easter eggs (for candy and money!), but he'd probably rather not have a basket shaped like a bunny. Unless it's a bunny with sharp, pointy teeth. But I'm not letting him watch Monty Python until he's 13, and besides, it would scare the small children.

I'm very excited about Easter this year. It was never a big holiday in my family (we were more into the true meaning than the pagan rituals), but I always did love a good egg hunt, and I think this will be the year for M to really get the concept. Should be lots of fun!

UPDATE: I just looked at the Pottery Barn Kids website, and it says the pink basket is no longer available! I just ordered mine last Tuesday. Whew! I'm glad I got it when I did!

"Healthier" Cookies

Here's a find that I love: The Target brand 'Archer Farms" break and bake cookie dough (in the frozen section of the "pantry" items) has no hydrogenated oils, and no high fructose corn syrup! Makes me feel a tad better about splurging!

Learning the Hard Way

This afternoon, I walked into the kitchen to find my 3 1/2 year old and my 2 year old on the kitchen floor with bowls of granola, which the eldest had taken upon herself to pour. Needless to say, there was granola all over the floor. I proceeded to show them where the small hand-broom and dust pan were, then I showed them how to sweep properly so that the granola actually goes into the bin instead of just spreading it around and creating a bigger mess, how to dump the contents of said dust pan into the trash, and how to return the hand-broom and dust pan to its proper place. Here are my my thoughts on this event:
Amount of time it took to teach one pre-schooler and one toddler how to clean up after themselves: 45 minutes.
Amount of time (approx.) it would have taken for me to just clean it up myself: 3 minutes
Amount of time (approx.) I would spend in my lifetime cleaning up after them if I never taught them how to do it themselves: 10 years
Lifetime value of the lesson learned: priceless

Revive Your Greens

Here's a trick if your greens are wilting: cut an inch or two off the bottom stem and then submerge the stems in water. They'll perk right back up and stay crisp and crunchy for much longer (they're darn pretty, too).