Recently, I’ve been frustrated with the amount of food that my children were consuming in between meals.  More than that there was a lot of waste associated with this snacking.  Whole loaves of bread, entire packages of cheese, and big bags of apples disappearing in 24 hours.  While snacking is fine, uncontrollable snacking is just not an option in our budget.  Especially if they want to eat meals!  Not to mention I’d go in to make a meal I had planned for only to find that they had eaten all the cheese making it impossible to make mac n’ cheese and leaving me without a dinner plan.  Not good.

So after talking with my husband who said that we just needed to expect it and maybe I should shop for meals daily (ack!  not only does that make me shudder at the thought of going to the grocery store everyday with all of our children, it is most definitely not budget friendly!)  I came up with the idea of the snack basket.  Each morning I put out a new basket full of snacks on the dining room table.  They are welcome to eat anything in the snack basket that they desire during the day, but when the basket it’s empty – that’s it.  No more snacks.  So far I haven’t had anybody whining at 3pm because they’ve eaten all the snacks.  Somehow knowing how much they all have keeps them from binging.  Also they have been pretty good about making sure not to eat everything of one thing except the cookies.  My son has a cookie problem.   The contents of the basket are subject to change.  There is healthy in there was well as “treat” foods.  Currently in this basket there are 3 PB&J oatmeal cookies (found at the bread thrift store for an excellent price!), 3 apples, 6 individual portions of peanut butter, 3 individually packaged pieces of 9 grain bread, 3 individually packaged slices of cranberry cinnamon swirl bread, & 3 portions of colby jack cheese, and 3 little baggies of stick pretzels.  Now some might think “she’s leaving CHEESE on the table all day?” I reassure you that these were gone first thing.  Also, included in the basket is 3 IKEA kids knives and 3 IKEA kids spoons.  The reason is that you need a little knife for the PB to put on the bread.  And you also need spoons to eat the PB out of the little cups (a trick my husband taught them).  The “re-user” in me does cringe a bit at the packaging waste, but I thought it the best way to keep everything fresh (no hard bread) as well as making them realize how much one portion is.  And the cost of the baggies/cups still make it a savings over the entire fridge binging they were doing.  I also set out 3 IKEA cups on the table and they can fill those with water from the fridge door as often as they please.

And so far it has worked!  I think their snacking has actually been cut down a bit which is good because to much snacking is just not good.  They have control over what they are snacking on and when they are snacking.  I have a bit more control over the contents of the kitchen and freedom to meal plan again.  It’s something we all feel good about and they eagerly look forward to what is in the basket each morning.

In an ongoing effort to show how I homeschool with a wild and crazy toddler running around, I thought I’d post about magazines this morning.  Prince Charming’s aunt buys all of our kids a magazine subscription.  I’m told that she did that for Erich and his brothers when they were little.  It started with Magdalena many years ago, a Highlights magazine started to arrive routinely on our doorstep.  The delight in having her own mail was contagious.  Soon Carmina was old enough to notice and soon after that Highlights High Five started to arrive.  They both love their magazines and can’t wait to tear into the packaging and get going on the coloring, reading, perusing, and begging me to cook the recipes.  They even love to tear out the little subscription cards inside and “fill them out” 

About a week ago, a new magazine showed up.  This time National Geographic Kids.  And this time it had Kevin’s name on it.  We were up early one morning starting our school work and Kevin was asking for something to do. So I dug out his magazine and he sat for a good 10 minutes (which is like an hour or more in Kevin-time) looking through the pictures, “reading”, and telling me all the sounds the animals make.  Definitely a hit!

So recently we are in the girls’ room cleaning things up.  This is when I notice yellow marker on the wall! So I ask, “who colored on the wall?”  6 year old: “The 4 year old did.”   Me to 4 year old: “Why did you color on your wall?”  Putting her hands up in a shrug ” Because I didn’t have any paper!”  Me to Erich: “Daddy, did you hear this?”  Erich:  “Yeah, makes sense to me.”

**bangs head on wall**

6 year old: “Now.  I’m going to tell you about safety.  Are you listening? I learned this in girl scouts.”

4 year old: ” uh huh”

6 year old: “First you NEVER go outside without a parent.”

4 year old: “But what about when we go outside in our yard?”

6 year old: “Well…. it’s okay if you ask and they say yes.  But they have to say yes.”

“Now.  Never go near a tree that’s falling, it could smash you.”

4 year old: “You should also stay away from it if it’s on FIRE!”

6 year old: “Yeah that would be bad.”

4 year old:  “When I grow up, I’m not going to turn like a Mommy.”

6 year old: “Oh yeah?”

4 year old: “Yeah I want to just be a princess”

6 year old: “I want to be a princess too!  I’m gonna live on an island though.”

4 year old: “wow.”

6 year old: “yeah.   You’ll only be able to get there by a plane.  And their won’t be any mosquitoes there.”

4 year old: “I hate mosquitos.”

6 year old: “I know!”  “Mommy?  How do we rid the world of mosquitos?”

Today was Carmina’s due date. We’re all so glad to have had these last ten days getting to know her. We’re all completely in love.

When I was pregnant with Magdalena, I practically devoured every breastfeeding book or article there was out there.  Friends like Beanmom and Rachel pointed me to terrific books.  I felt solidly prepared for the journey we were about to start.

And then Magdalena was born.  It was a really long labor followed by a csection.  Erich did everything I asked, and stayed by her side the entire time they did their assessments.  When they got me back to the room, I was anxious to see her, hold her, but most importantly, I was anxious to nurse her. After asking about when she would be done, a nurse casually mentioned that she appeared to be tongue tied.

Tongue tied? It seemed like such a curve ball to be thrown.  Erich wasn’t tongue tied, and I wasn’t either.  And all the literature said that tongue ties were usually hereditary, so where did this come from?  12 hours after her birth, I asked if they would clip her tongue.  I was lucky that there was no hesitation and the pediatrician immediately clipped her tongue in the hospital.

Our walk down breastfeeding lane started as a rocky one.  By the time they clipped her tongue, I was already sore.  Then she was super sleepy on day 2, as most newborns are, and she seemed to not know what to do with her newly clipped tongue.  By the time I left the hospital I was bleeding and blistered and using a nipple shield. But I was determined! Some might say I was stubborn.  And after a couple of weeks, Magdalena and I fell into a routine and breastfeeding became that wonderful journey that so many talk about.

When Carmina was born, it was the first thing on my mind.  Was she tongue tied?  And while she was a lazy nurser, she was not tongue tied, and breastfeeding was a smooth journey.

With Kevin, I never really thought about him being tongue tied.  With all the drama surrounding his birth, then his respiratory difficulties, it was honestly the last thing on my mind.  The few times I could really look inside his mouth when he was crying in that first week, I saw what I thought was a tongue tie. When he was 7 days old, he came off of all respiratory support and I was allowed to nurse him for the first time.

Kevin was born to breastfeed! He was a champion nurser right from the start, an impressive preemie with a great suck.  He seemed to do okay with his tongue tie, but he had his moments.  I asked the NICU nurse if someone would be available to clip his tongue before we left, but I was told it was unusual to clip tongues in the NICU.  Everyone seemed confident that it would stretch and he was doing well- gaining weight.

But he did have some issues latching.  This time though, with two other breastfed children under my belt, I was able to help him latch better and change up positions.  But he still seemed to have a shallow latch at times and sometimes had issues fully extending his tongue under the nipple.  I asked our dentist if he would clip his tongue, and he agreed!  So on Tuesday we had his tongue clipped.

Before:

And after:

The procedure was simple and I assume painless because he did not cry at all. Best thing of all, about half an hour later I nursed him and found him to have a perfect latch.  Clipping his tongue was an instantaneous fix to his latch issues!

That would be the reason for the silence on this blog, at least that’s what I’m claiming.  I recently had to shut down my business to customs.  It was a hard decision, because I have major issues telling people no and I enjoy the knitting. But I realized that time was going much quicker than my fingers.  I have this long list of stuff to do for the Little Dude who will be here in 3 weeks (!) and I couldn’t work on all of it, unless I give up something, like sleeping.

So I shut down my store to customs and hope to open it again by Halloween.  I woke up one morning with the incredible urge to either knit every yarn I have in my stash, or to sell it.  So I sold a BUNCH of stuff and started knitting a bunch of stuff.  If you frequent my Flickr account, you probably see how much stuff is coming off of my needles.

I also decided that I needed to work on a homeschooling room.  It turned out really nice and Magdalena is very excited about it.  I have plans to order the rest of her books for this quarter of her curriculum on the next payday.

We are also excitedly anticipating the local Pork Festival.   Magdalena has been talking about going to parades since the festival ended last year.  It’s also the last thing on her calendar before her baby brother is scheduled to make his appearance.  She’s a very experienced and excited big sister you know.

Carmina is also seems to be understanding that their is a baby in my belly.  And I think she gets that he will want to nurse and that she will have to share. Of course, telling her that the baby will nurse, just makes her want to nurse right away.

Anyway, a busy month.  Hopefully I’ll get better about posting.  And Erich will be posting here and there and will also update when the Dude makes his arrival.

We’re a cosleeping family. From the very first night Magdalena was born, I could never imagine having her farther than a few feet from me. She eventually moved on to her own room with her own big bed by her own choice when she was around 2. For several weeks she had slept in her own room for naps, and at night we’d ask where she wanted to sleep, with Mommy and Daddy? Or in your own bed? She almost always chose to sleep with us until one day she decided she wanted to sleep in her own room. And there she has slept for the past 2 years with the exception of a few slumber parties on the floor in our room.

Carmina has slept with us up until now too. My plan has always been that Magdalena and Carmina would share sleeping space, since their room has a double bed. For months I’ve been asking Magdalena if she wanted to sleep with Carmina. Her answer has always been an adament “no!” One night Carmina ended up sleeping in Magdalena’s room, and Magdalena slept in the spare bedroom. I’m not sure why we had such a crazy bed arrangement that night, but the next day Magdalena was asked if it was okay if Carmina slept in her bed again. And Magdalena was thrilled! Carmina seemed to be sleeping as good or if not better in her bed with Magdalena, and hasn’t called out for me at all.Magdalena practically begged for Carmina to sleep with her the next night and Carmina automatically runs into their bedroom now and not mine. The arrangement seems to be working and I’ll admit after a few nights of restless sleep, I’m easing into sleeping in a bed only with my husband, if only for just a few months. Not that I really sleep at all anyway, but that’s a whole other post.

My no brain state has reached new heights. I stand by that whole theory of Momnesia being true. I’m a lot dumber than I was say four or so years ago. I had a conversation with Erich (so he says) that I have absolutely no recollection of. I went to get my laptop to take it downstairs and do a little cleaning (clean the screen etc.) and forgot in the span of about 30 seconds of when the idea popped into my head and when I got to the area of the laptop. It’s amazing and embarassing at the same time.

Magdalena, who is four, has lately been really hard to handle. TONS of tantrums and crying and fighting and just really random behavior so unlike her. After about a week of this, I finally figured it out. She *needs* a nap, but has not been napping. I’ve been making her stay in her bed and read books at naptime in hopes that it will help, but I’ve had to focus on Carmina so much because she gets up and walks around, that I’ve really overlooked getting Magdalena to take a nice nap. I have been able to lay both down and leave and everyone goes to sleep. Today I decided that I needed to probably lay down with them. I can’t lay down with them together though because that just does not seem to work. So we go up to take naps, I tell Magdalena I will be in there in a few minutes. I lay down with Carmina, she falls asleep. I slip out and get Magdalena situated and lay down. She was out in literally 2 minutes of just being able to lay still. That little light bulb went off in my head. She’s just been *tired*. She knows she doesn’t want to go to sleep, but she really does need lots of sleep. She’s like her Mommy, we need our beauty rest. Unfortunately, Carmina woke up and I went and laid back down with her where I fell asleep for like 45 minutes. Oops. I lost my nap quiet time!

We have got to get naptime figured out and without me laying down everyday because come October it’s not going to be so easy me thinks. Hopefully Little Dude will be easy going and lay down with me if I need to lay with either girl.

I’m still doing Motivated Moms. The house continues to impress me and come into shape. I’m finding that when I have all my chores finished early that I find the time to declutter little areas. The act of actually cleaning the house is a lot less overwhelming in general. It’s really nice. Last night I did a little extra and decluttered little areas that just seem to accumulate constantly. It looks so nice in there. Things are starting to be dusted off from head to toe; frames, corners, nooks and crannies are all getting clean. Very nice to start to the year if I do say so myself. Of course there is always more, but the more seems manageable and like a light at the end of the tunnel. I also like that motivated moms gets around to the stuff that gets overlooked. Like today one of my chores is to deal with one kitchen drawer. Just one, not the whole kitchen, just one single drawer. Totally doable and will not suck the life out of my day, you know? If you want to get your own calendar, there is a link over there in the sidebar where you can do just that. Really and truly I can’t sing the praises enough!

This week also happened to be teeth cleaning week. Erich went yesterday. The dog has his teeth cleaned on Thursday. And Magdalena and I have our appointments together this afternoon. Last time she let them polish two teeth and that was it. She did let them count and they said her teeth were beautiful (of course!) and that the fact that they were spaced far apart was something they like to see in children because they are all easier to clean well. This time I’ve been talking to her all wee about how we need to let them count her teeth and polish them with the loud buzzy thing that tickles. (like my technical terms? haha) I told her that they would make her teeth all pretty and white for her birthday party on Sunday. And that is a note that rings in Magdalena’s head,we must be our prettiest for the party you know.

Speaking of party, Magdalena will be FOUR on Monday. FOUR. It doesn’t seem possible. She was just that 5# little breathing ball of human we brought home from the hospital during a snow storm. She has been planning her birthday party for months. And has really focused on it since Christmas is over now. She wants another Sesame Street party. For those keeping track at home this will be her fourth birthday party and her third Sesame street themed one! I tried to talk her into something else, a princess party? How about a backyardigans party? Nope. Sesame Street. And who can argue with that. You only turn four once, right?

So she’s been planning this party. She had me write out a list of all the people she wanted to invite to her party, her long list of friends and family including all the new babies. It was really painfully cute to listen to her list off the people. At first she wanted FOUR cakes but I have talked her down to two. Really two cakes is overkill and a lot of decorating work for myself, but it’s her thing and I want to make her birthday special. Her pinata will be here today, it’s a cookie monster pinata. And I’m going to see if my mom will stay and watch Carmina while Magdalena and I go grocery shopping to get all the supplies. Fun stuff, I love birthday parties!

Santa Came!
Originally uploaded by Mommy2StaufferBabies

It was so much fun with the Santa thing this year. Christmas Eve was filled with much anticipation and activity to get ready for Santa! We made snickerdoodles with Grandma Sue and put out reindeer food in front of our house so the reindeer would see our house from the air. We taped Santa’s Magic Key to the door of the house so that he could get in to leave our presents since we had to cap off our chimney this fall. Then we set out milk, cookies, and carrots on our special Santa cookie plate. We got into our brand new Christmas Eve Pajammies and off to bed they went.

In the morning we woke up to this! Both girls were absolutely thrilled, and Magdalena was thoroughly impressed to find Santa’s Magic Key hanging on the tree. (Since he used it to get in then left it on the tree so we could find it.) All together a very fun filled evening!

I believe I have a clogged duct. How? I can’t wrap my mind around how it’s even possible to have a clogged duct when Carmina has been nursing non stop (on both sides!) for the last 24 hours or so. Seriously, she was up practically all night. I’m tired, worn out, and my breast hurts.

The girls are growing. I’m getting smart at this Mom gig and scheduled their well baby checks together this month. Carmina had her 6 month check up and Magdalena had her 3 year checkup. THREE!

I can’t believe it. This can’t be the squawking baby that had so much trouble nursing a little over three years ago. If I had known that she would still be nursing three years later, I wouldn’t believe it. So she did a lot of growing this year. She weighs 30 pounds even and is 36.5″ tall. She grew 5.5″ in one year. Really she grew that much in the last four or five months. Amazing. She’s so verbal and funny. She’s smart and is Mommy’s little helper. She has so much compassion and loves dancing and singing and being silly. For as many challenging days that go by where I think that I really suck at this Mom gig, I must be doing something right because she is absolutely wonderful.

Carmina is a petite 14 pounds and 27″ long. She’s your typical six month old. She’s trying with all her might to crawl and she can roll from back to tummy but chooses not to a lot of times in favor of screaming until her sister brings her what she wants. She’s trying to cut her two front bottom teeth. She’s babbling a lot now and Erich swears she says “dadadadada” heh. She’s a lot of fun. Oh, and surprising to us, her eyes are still blue! They have bits of brown and green in the middle and they look *so* much like my Daddy’s.

I know I’m not doing well with the updating. Honestly, days pass by like hours around here. I’m not even getting stuff done that I *need* to be doing, like some knitting projects for both the girls and some stuff I wanted knitted for Manda since she was so kind to give me her PIS in trade. (I’m GOING to send that package out this week. I promise Manda! okay!? i promise!)

But this isn’t going to be the greatest update. Carmina is going through her three month growth spurt. This girl is BIG. But she isn’t chubby, she’s LONG. My goodness. She almost comes up to Magdalena’s shoulders when we stand them next to each other! Magdalena is my petite, lean toddler and Carmina is my tall, lean baby but they are both incredibly gorgeous. So gorgeous it makes me want to cry. And it makes Erich want to start digging the moat around the house because, dude, these girls are going to have boys lined up!

SO yeah, Carmina is growth spurting which means that she refused to unlatch for more than 5 seconds last night and she was fidgety and restless and she didn’t want me to hold her but she didn’t want to nurse at some points and she didn’t want me to burp her but she wanted to sleep but she couldn’t get into that place where sleep was nice and deep and lovely which means, that I did not sleep well. **yawn** And the toddler woke up FULL of energy! yay! I’m gonna take a LONG nap with Carmina and I’m going to convince Magdalena to lay down with some books and hope that she falls asleep after a few minutes and takes a long nap too.

Whenever you stop and think “gee the baby hasn’t pooped in a while”, make sure that your laundry is caught up. Because if you think about the poop, the poop will come. And it won’t all end up in the diaper. And you’ll have to stop all of the laundry to push the swing cover to the front of the line so it doesn’t stain. And you’ll have to stop eating lunch to clean it up.

One would think I would have learned this lesson by now, huh?