Snowflakes

With winter now upon us in Upsate NY we have been seeing a lot of snowflakes. The other day Jyll was looking out the window in the kitchen and caught the snow falling in the morning sunshine.... to my delight she called me to say " mommy come quick there is glitter falling from the sky" I took a moment to look out the window with her, and it really did look like glitter falling from the sky. I had to admire her child imagination and wonder what it would be like to have glitter falling from the sky. She probably wanted to go and play with it and throw a couple fists full into the air. yesterday was another bright sunny morning and Jyll looked out the window again and said it was a glittery day outside. It made me smile.

Have you ever thought of how many ways you can use a snowflake cookie cutter? We bought a snowflake cookie cutter so that I could make some elaborately decorated sugar cookies for the holidays to sell. I have also been using the cutter to make "snow sandwiches" I cut two slices of bread with the cutter into snowflakes (keeping the scraps for bread crumbs) then I layer ham and cheese cut into snowflakes(just the cheese). Or to my astonishment Jyll's new favorite is a Peanut butter snowflake. No jelly just PB. I have been trying to get her to eat PB for YEARS.... this week she has had two PB snowflakes. This morning I made pancakes per request of Jyll and had a thought why not make snowflake pancakes. I greased my pan and the cutter and placed the cutter in the pan to heat. then poured a little bit of batter into the cutter and waited for it to bubble.... remove the cutter before flipping it should slide right out. Jyll loved them and ate 3 pancakes. SO here are 3 things you can do with a snowflake cutter can you think of any more?

People are like snowflakes we can be similar but never the same. I try to remember that as I go about my day. It has been very trying these days with the holidays among us and a 4 year old who really misses her Daddy and wants to spend the Holidays with him. I am trying to make sense of the whole situation between us and cant seem to find an answer. Do I go back with him to make her and him happy or do I stay true to myself and wait for things to be just right. Jyll asked me the other day if we had room in our family for daddy it broke my heart and I hope one day that she doesn't see me as the bad guy who tore the family apart. I also hope that she will see me as a strong woman who stood her ground.

2 months old

Jack turned 2 months old today. The time has flown by. He is really starting to smile now. Jyll has been in PA with her dad so Jack and I have gotten to spend a lot of alone time together. I have been busy here at home trying to get things done before winter comes. I have to make a whole new set of diapers as well Jack has been growing a lot.I don't have much to share at this time other than cloth diapering has been going well. Jack has a doctors appointment on Tuesday so we will see how much he has grown. He will also be getting shots so please pray that he handles them well.I've added some pictures of Jack

 

I love this photo he is just soo cute!

 

We had a photo shoot in the back yard with Jack and our homegrown pumpkins. I cant wait to carve pumpkins this year I plan on having some great photos from that!

Jyll has "Little Green Fingers!"

Dahlia's

My Jyll has inherited my Mom and Grandmothers Green thumbs. She has enjoyed gardening with my mother sense early Spring this year. We have spent a lot of time making a vegetable garden and taking care of the regular flower gardens that my mother has won an award for in previous years.

We had been debating all spring/summer if we wanted to buy a sandbox or not and decided not to because Jyll has more fun digging in the dirt. We spent a lot of time in the Vegetable Garden this Spring planting: Watermelon, Strawberries, Beets, Pole beans, Lima beans, Peas  Sunflowers, Basil, Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Sage, Swiss Chard, Carrots, Potatoes, Cucumbers, Pumpkins and Tomatoes....plus some flowers.Jyll was given a 2 foot square area to plant things in. She planted Beets and some random seed packets in there. Sadly her beets grew better then the ones I planted in nice neat rows!She grew Poppies from seeds about 5 years old. The above picture is of my mom's Dahlia's. These are grown from bulbs. My mom commented the ohter day sayig that these are the best they have looked in years. Jyll helped her plant them this year. Also by the Dahlia's Jyll planted Moss Rose from a packet of seeds from 1997.... the grew and have just started to blossom!

Beets

 

 

 

 

Cherry Tomatoes

Lima Beans

Can you see the baby Watermelon

Beans

 

 

 

 

 

"Giagunda" the Pumpkin!

Canadula planted from seeds

baby pumpkins

more Pumpkins

Sunflower

More Beans

Homemade Apple Sauce!!!!

I have been in a canning mood lately. My mother and I made some pickles this summer and we made some blackberry jam with my sister.  So last week I decided to use some apples I had frozen earlier this spring. I decided to make applesauce with them they really weren't good for anything else. It turned out good and to my surprise Jyll loved it we went through a jar and a half already this week. I wanted to make more and apples are coming into season here in NY. I went to Frog Pond our local produce market and bought a peck of NY grown Ginger crisp Apples for $4.50. I love Frog Pond I will post about that with pictures at a later date.

So here is my recipe for Applesauce:

7 large NY Ginger crisp Apples peeled, cored, and diced
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup water
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole cloves
juice from 1/4 lemon

Place all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cover and heat to boiling. Turn heat down to low and simmer until apples break apart. Remove from heat and take out cinnamon sticks and cloves.  At this point I add a splash of vanilla and a sprinkle of additional cinnamon. Pour everything into a food processor and blend until smooth. Place in jars. To seal jars place in a large pot 1/4 filled with boiling water.boil in pot covered for 3-5 minutes. Be careful removing jars they will be hot. I use a pair of tongs.


I  hope you enjoy this as much as we do. Jyll helped me cut up the apples last night wearing a princess dress and a veil  and slippers. She had fun cutting the apples into tiny pieces.

Living A Little Green

Cloth Diaper Parade

I have been cloth Diapering Jack now for 4 weeks. He wore his first cloth diaper minutes after coming home from the hospital! I must admit I didn't really know what I was getting into with cloth diapering. I had done some research, and talked with my cousin who uses cloth for her boys. After all of my research I realized that it was pretty costly to start a stash of cloth diapers. There are sites that offer trial packages with many different kinds of cloth diapers. Jillian's drawers does this. (jilliansdrawers.com ) You try out the diapers and if you choose to keep them you pay some additional money and if you choose not to keep them they refund your money. I thought about doing this but really didn't want to spend the money.

I continued on with my research and after going to various sites and finding relatively the same prices all around I dug a little deeper. I started googling free "soaker" patterns. Soakers refer to the lining in a cloth diaper that soaks up urine or it can also refer to shorts or pants made out of wool or fleece. My cousin was making wool soakers and covers for diapers for her coming newborn. I am a crocheter so I started looking for a pattern and then went to buy some wool.This is the pattern I used for my soakers. withatangledskein.blogspot.com/2008/02/little-fire-crochet-soaker-pattern.html  I made them in a few different sizes.

Here is Little man Jack wearing his wool soaker. Can you see all the diapers hanging in the background?

I then became sucked into the cloth diapering world..... I was on the Internet everyday looking for more patterns. That is when I came across some sites for patterns on making your own diapers. I owned a sewing machine so I thought I would give it a try. I started out making more covers out of fabric. Then I ventured on with making my first "fitted" diaper. I then continued on to make my first All in one diaper. I also made a wet bag a wipe bag and nursing covers. 

Here are The first things I made. A cover, an All in one, soaker on the bottom is a fleece soaker and 2 fitted diapers. I am now obsessed with finding fabric deals I try to avoid Joann fabrics unless there is a major sale! I have a mass supply of fabric that I have to start using soon. I need to make a bigger size fitted diaper for Little Man Jack soon he is growing out of his newborn size. I have made around 30 fitted diapers, 3 all in ones, 5 wool soakers, 3 fleece soakers, and 7 covers. I also have 24 prefolds.Oh and I made cloth wipes. It didn't make sense to use disposable wipes with cloth diapers! I can go about 3 1/2 days before I have to wash diapers. 

This is a normal wash day... but now that I have even more diapers it is a little more now. I use Rockin Green Laundry detergent(rockingreensoap.com ) for my diapers and whites. I was turned onto Rockin Green by my cousin as well. I ordered a bag to try and I also won a bag off of a blog that I follow called Green Grandma ( thegreengrandma.blogspot.com ). The blog writer is the mother of a friend from Pittsburgh. You should stop by and check out her blog. I have learned a lot from this blog on ways to live a little bit greener. I love her Vinegar Friday posts. 

In closing of this post I want to say that it feels great to know that I have saved a landfill from approx. 324 disposable diapers in 27 days!

Good Morning Mommy!!!!

I woke up this morning feeling a little more awake than usual..I actually was able to sleep for a bit last night.

I Had Little Jack beside me and Jyll had just came in from her room. I said good morning to her and asked if she slept well...the answer was  yes and it was a great improvement from the night before. She was up all night and so was Jack. Thankfully my mom took the day off so that I could get some much needed rest.

Back to this morning...I decided to change Jack's diaper on my bed (no big deal right) and as I am wiping his little butt he projectile poops all over me. I was sitting cross legged in front of him so my bed was spared but my PJ's were not. Jyll was standing next to me wide eyed.The moment was priceless. Jack then continued to pee. I placed my hand over top to stop any water hose capabilities! Thankfully I had a container of wipes next to my bed. Trying not to freak out due to being covered in pee and poop I calmly asked Jyll to hand me the wipes and open then she asked why... with a little hysteria in my voice"because your brother just pooped all over me and my hands." Jyll "why did he do that" Me "I don't know but I bet he feels better!" I cleaned up Jack then tried to clean up what I could before I changed my clothes...I really didn't want poo in my hair. After putting on new clothes I look at handsome Jack and see traces of a smile and comfort on his face. Jack has been battling a lot of gas lately so this massive poo really did make him feel better.

So here I sit at the computer with Jack and my cup of coffee hoping that he will fall asleep soon so that I can go grab a quick shower and wash away any remaining traces of Baby Jack Poo.What a great way to start  the day. Good Morning to me and to all of you!

2 Weeks Old Today

Jack and mommy matching outfits!!!

My Jack is 2 weeks old today!!!! We went to the Doctors this morning for a regular check up. I was changing his diaper before he was weighed and he almost pooped right on me...good thing I had cloth wipe in hand!!!It reminded me the time Jyll did poop all over her Daddy at a doctors visit!!!! Oh the stories I will tell  her in the future!
Jack weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces last week at our first visit. To my surprise Jack weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces at this visit. He gained 14 ounces in one week. I thought  he was starting to get a fuller look to him.

proudly sucking his thumb

These 2 photos are a few days old....Jack has been peeling for a few days now so I am going to wait to take pictures of him until this process has stopped!

I can't believe my little jack is 2 weeks old... 2 weeks ago I was admitted to the hospital around this time of day. I was 7 centimeters dilated and told I couldn't have an epidural. I'm glad I have a high tolerance for pain!!! Jack was also facing the wrong way so all I was really feeling was back labor. As soon as he turned look out world here he came...The nurse almost had to deliver him!!!! I love my little Jack with all my heart he is so cute and cuddly. He gets more cute by the day I just want to hold him and kiss him all day!!!

Oatmeal Cranberry Nut Cookies

Jyll and I made Oatmeal Cranberry Nut Cookies this morning. I cheated a little and made the batter and then had her help me scoop the cookies. I used an oatmeal raisin cookie recipe and substituted cranberries for the raisins. I also added about a cup of chopped walnuts to the batter. 

It was actually a very good experience today baking with Jyll. I only had one problem... when I was mixing the dough she saw what I was doing and wanted to help.She almost had a melt down. She pulled up her chair and grabbed the spatula. She wanted to lick it and I told her it had shortening on it. She goes "whats shortening?" I said "its fat". Jyll hates fat she asks me all the time at dinner if her meat has fat on it!So I then asked her if she wanted to lick the spatula she said no and let me finish mixing the dough.

I Love cookie dough. More then I actually like baked cookies. I remember eating this dough as a child. One time I even made a whole batch of the dough just to eat. 

Jyll loved the cookie dough too I had to keep telling her to stop eating it. Couldn't blame her though it was really good I think I ate about 2 cookies worth!!!

Jyll scooped this tray of cookies by herself. At one point I didn't even have to tell her where to put it on the tray.

She even helped me put all of the cookies in the cookie jar. She wanted to eat one right away but I told her she had to eat lunch first. I was surprised she didn't try to fight me on this. After she ate her lunch I gave her a cookie and she told me "this cookie is very good mommy" 

I am so happy that we had a good experience today. Now I will have to think of something else we can make together.

Picture Bomb!

Adventures in Lady Bug Land

 

 

 

My Lady Melon

My Jyll mixing up dip for veggies

The younger kids pre water balloon fight

Making foot prints with M.

Jyll, Grandma, and M.

These next photos are from her actual Birthday on Tuesday. It was a small celebration with just us.

Her Pink chia pet cupcake

Me and my Jyll being SILLY

Sprinkle Nose

Adventures in Lady Bug Land

Today we celebrated Jyll's 4th birthday. It was a small party with family. We had a theme of Lady Bugs and Hello Kitty.I made a Lady bug cake, a lady bug watermelon fruit bowl and lady bug cupcakes. We had lady bug party favors also.

Now I must stop here to try and explain Jyll's obsession with Lady Bugs. She has had an imaginary lady bug friend for about 6 months now. It started out that she was going to Lady Bug rock with "lady bug". Then she started bringing "lady bug" to eat dinner with us. She even needed her own plate, napkin, etc... Next when I was pregnant with Jack she told me she had lady bugs in her belly and they would come out when I  had Jack. She couldn't wait that long for them to come out though. For Easter my sister gave Jyll a pair of lady bug rain boots. She wears them to garden or just to run around in the yard. We even had lady bug Easter eggs. She has acquired over the past few months about 4 stuffed lady Bugs, a lady bug pillow pet, we have painted lady bug rocks. She even knows how to draw lady bugs now and even has started to give them some dimension instead of just a flat bug.

I even Made Jyll 2 lady bug dresses for her Birthday and the party. I have to upload some pictures of the day and my creations. Jyll was very happy with everything and that was all I could ask for.

On a funny note while Grandma was setting up the tent for the party. Jyll decided to dig up a patch of grass right in the middle of the tent and look for worms. She then came running into the house screaming like a banshee because "a daddy long leg spider was crawling on me" I wanted to laugh but asked instead if it bit her she said no it was just crawling on her. She likes to look at them but not touch them. I find it funny that my Jyll will pick up worms, snails,newts and toads but wont touch a spider. More on adventures in the gardens at a later date.

Pictures from today to follow in next post!

Introduction

My name is Erika. I am a mother of 2 adorable children. My oldest Jyll just turned 4 on Tuesday. Jack my youngest was born on Tuesday August 10th. This makes my children a week shy of being exactly 4 years apart. During my pregnancy my biggest fear was having them on the same day.

I decided to start a blog about my life with Jack and Jyll recently. I wasn't sure of where to go with this blog. I have decided to do things a little bit differently with Jack then I did with Jyll. For starters I decided to cloth diaper Jack. This is becoming quite the experience. I made all of my diapers except for my pre-folds that I have just started to use and love. I'm trying to become more "green" with our lives but not to the extent of being "crunchy". I will blog about what I found for definitions on these terms at a later date. You will probably find a lot of posts about a green thing I did for the day/week. A lot of posts about the trials and tribulations of cloth diapering and breastfeeding and so on. 

As for My Jyll.... with her I could write a whole new blog just about her. She is very intelligent, artsy, opinionated, I don't think I could come up with enough words to describe her. She is also very strong willed and we have had our own trials and tribulations with discipline. She thinks that she is the boss and has trouble taking orders from me. There will be many posts about Jyll and all of  her accomplishments and also her various issues with authority and life. 

There may also be random posts about me and my crafts. I am also a pastry chef. So be prepared  for some posts about desserts. Mostly kid friendly desserts or things you can make with children. I have just started making things with Jyll. Because of my food background I don't have the tolerance for a young child and baking. I watch my mother and aunt do things with their grandchildren and it looks so effortless. Watching them has made me decide to try again with Jyll.