Good Friday

[My research before moving to this state was not thorough. The bugs here are huge. The first one that landed in our house was spotted by the cat, then myself.  I about died thinking it was a dinosaur mosquito.]

Well, it's Good Friday.  I don't know whether to say "Happy Good Friday!" or "Sad Good Friday" or nothing at all, because, what do you say about a day like this if you're of the religious persuasion? Being a believer that Christ is real and did real things, I believe that on this day so many odd years ago, he died.  Not just died, but was tortured to death, and it was my fault.  So it should be a really mournful day, right?

But no, because I already know that in a couple days I'm going to celebrate his resurrection.  That through that three day process I was freed from my sins into a complete relationship with God.  So, then, I should be celebrating today?  That seems a little... odd.

And then throw in a 14 month old and I start thinking, "What on earth am I going to tell her in a couple years about Easter?"  "How on earth am I supposed to make this holiday more than just candy and dresses and playing games with plastic eggs?"  If I can't even figure out personally how to celebrate this weekend appropriately, how dare I even try to convince my child to know how to.

So I usually end up thinking that I am thankful have another couple of years before my child will actually remember what we did on Easter to begin teaching her about Jesus.

I suppose the word for this holiday is actually "thankful."  More than sorry or relieved, I should be thankful for the gift that God graciously gave me.  Thankful that he allowed me to understand the gospel of Christ at a young age.  Thankful that Jesus willingly suffered for something I deserved.

I don't know how, but I want to instill a heart of thankfulness in my child over this holiday weekend.  Not like Thanksgiving and all the "I'm thankful for my family" sorts of things, but a direct line of thankfulness for Christ's single act of extraordinary kindness that can not be copied or diminished.

Thank goodness I still have a couple of years.

[my husband laughed twice while proofreading this.  I took it as the go ahead to post it.]

The Fallout [What to do with a truckload of citrus]

I have been watching my stats over the weekend after getting my painting featured on Craftgawker.

Wow.

I am so overwhelmed and excited to see that over 3000 people have ventured over to my blog for that post. To any and all newcomers to The Little Mother, welcome!  I hope you like what you find here and stick around for a while!

The unfortunate fallout of having such a hugely popular post is that now I have no clue what to do with myself.  I mean, how do you top something like that?

I was talking with the hubsters about it over lunch today, and he reminded me of a quote he read in one of his film books. I don't remember the exact words of it, but here's the gist: Director John Ford commented once that he purposefully would make a couple low-budget, okay movies after finishing up a blockbuster.  Why? To keep himself humble, and to keep himself from constantly feeling like he needed to one-up his own films.  I've decided I need to adopt a similar approach here.  I'm not saying that I'm going to write a bunch of crap for a couple weeks.  [Wouldn't that be hilarious?]  No, instead I'm just going to keep plodding along, and not fret over trying to create another blockbuster.

Speaking of fallout, if you missed my picture on instagram of the fresh fruit delivery from last week, here it is:

dellie picks out her breakfast.

[I think that may go down as the worst segway ever written.]

[and if you're interested in following, I'm @lelittlemama]

We inherited a laundry basket of grapfruit, plus two more boxes of oranges and tangerines.  Like any good college student's wife, I figured this out to about 3 weeks worth of meals and enough vitamin C to keep us all healthy until 2015. [Actually, I think I had a mild panic attack wondering how much of it was going to wind up in the trash.]

My parents also came out to visit over the weekend, and were kind enough to get wrangled into making sure none of the fruit went to waste.  Three days later, we succesfully juiced, jammed, and baked all but a handful.

You might be thinking, "What on earth can you make with that much grapefruit?"

Make a surprising amount of juice.  Plus some jam. and even some homemade donuts.

I used this grapefruit donut recipe over at A Beautiful Mess. I give it a 4 out of 5.  It was definitely yummy, but hardly used up two grapefruit.  I was hoping that 3/4 cup of juice would equal out to more kills. [Gluten-free? No, sorry.]

I also made a ton of jam.  Which is probably more like jelly. Except it has been taking its time firming up.  So until then, we've been using it as syrup.

I'm new at this whole jamming and canning thing. Can you tell?

I ended up making my own jam recipes up, which basically consists of equal parts juice [tangerine or grapefruit, both work] and sugar, along with pectin, some honey, and lots of crossing of fingers. Hence the super-yummy-syrup-which-eventually-jells-into-jam-or-is-it-actually-jelly? creations in our pantry.

Here's the recipe:

Either Tangerine or Grapefruit Jam/Jelly/Jammy/Syrup

• 32 oz fresh squeezed tangerine or grapfruit juice [pulpy if you prefer, just leave the seeds out]
• 4 cups of sugar
• 2 cups honey
• 1 bag (3 oz) liquid pectin

*this make enough jammy for 6 half-pint jars.

1. Get someone else to juice the tangerines.  If you're going to can your jammy for storage, start the sanitizing process with your jars.

2. Mix together the juice, sugar, and honey together in a 4 qt pot.  Bring to a boil, so that the sugar dissolves.

3. Follow the instructions to the liquid pectin you are using.  [The stuff I used has you bring your juice mixture to a rolling boil that can't be stirred down, dump the whole 3 oz. bag in at once, and stir constantly at a rolling boil for 1 minute. This is just an example.]

4. Let your jam simmer for 30 minutes.

5. Can 'em for use in six months when you've finally run out of scholarship money.

I used this recipe to help figure out the numbers, but from there, I just kind of made things up and read a lot of directions.  I found this tutorial on canning really helpful.

Once again, welcome newcomers! I'm so excited you've joined me!

Spaghetti Carbonara from Everyday Reading

The bad news first: the scorpions are back. We have yet to see one ourselves this 2013, but the neighbors informed us that they've spotted two in their backyard.  While I knew this respite would never last, I still am holding on to a shred of hope that all of our filling-the-holes-in-the-wall-over-Christmas escapade may actually keep them outside this summer.

Now, the good news for you gluten-intolerant readers: I found a spaghetti recipe that can be easily modified for the same price as regular spaghetti.

Gluten-Free Spaghetti?

Yes.  Well, no, actually.

source

But it's really close. The gluten-free secret is using rice noodles. And if you find yourself an Asian-foods grocery store or market, you can get a package of them for the same price as a box of spaghetti. Their contents - rice and water.  It doesn't get more gluten-free than that.

*I will add here that cooking rice noodles is not the same as cooking spaghetti noodles.  For a comprehensive how-to set of instructions that we personally used, click here.*

I ran across a recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara over at Everyday Reading a couple mornings ago..and then I made it for lunch not two hours later.  This recipe has been hubby approved [as well as half-approved by the young toddler in the house - but she's not much of a lunch eater unless it's a 'nana.]. I'm not going to post the whole recipe, because it isn't fair to Janssen, the provider of the delicious recipe, but I am going to entice you with a few words:

easy, fast, eggs, bacon, spaghetti, delicious. The comfort of a hearty breakfast and good italian in one meal.

That's what you will be eating.

So click on over to Everyday Reading for some Spaghetti Carbonara, make sure to cook your rice noodles just right, and let me [and Janssen] know how you like it!

[I realize that there are a lot of links on this post that you have to click on, but I do my very best to give credit where credit is due, and to share good finds with you when I run across them.]

The Blogger Connection

So...

I mentioned that I had a c-section a couple times in this blog.  [No, I'm not going to post my story. Yet. I am going to at some point soon, though.]  It's been a really hard struggle for me.

I got lucky - no, God was kind - and I ran across the blog, Walking With Dancers, while I was in the midst of a really down point.  Lydia [said blogger] has a c-section story that I feel like is so close to mine, and has blogged openly about her journey through dealing with her c-section and through a successful VBAC.  Much of what she has written has been things I have really been able to relate with, and have been instrumental in my beginning process of healing emotionally from my own c-section.  [Part of that is going to be writing out my story, as honest as possible. Which I keep saying is going to happen, because I'm scared enough of chickening out that I'm promising multiple times to make sure it actually happens!]

So I was super excited when she posted that she is going to do a c-section recovery project on her blog!  She is asking for ladies who have had a c-section, or who knows someone closely whose had a c-section, to help her out with a project by answering a bunch of questions.

Here's why it's so exciting for me - Lydia's blog is the only blog/website I have run across is my search for help that has approached her journey spiritually.  While this survey isn't only for c-section mamas of the Christian persuasion, it does have elements to it that I truly believe are going to be awesome.

So, if you an relate, and have some time to answer some survey questions, head over to her blog!

She Crafts Again!

National Guard weekends are fast becoming my crafting weekends.  It's the only time when I don't have a million things I should be doing [like being a responsible adult] but I'm not allowed to do fun things with my husband [because he is gone].  Last weekend was a special doozie, because his duty weekend started two days early. On top of that, he was shipped off to the middle of nowhere, meaning I didn't get the pleasure getting my feet warmed at night. *whining over*

In the name of trying to stay positive here, I did get a couple of long awaited projects finally finished.

And I "painted."  I say that in quotes because the only brush I used was a foam brush [which doesn't really count, I don't think], and the rest was drawn or stippled.  I've been cringing internally since we moved because our bedroom is. so. boring.  I know, I know, no one ever actually peeks in there, but I wanted it to look a little less like a bachelor's pad. But I'm not much of an actual artist, so painting anything truly amazing was out of the question.

I finally found inspiration when I ran across this pin, originating from Two Girls Being Crafty:

I had a few bottles of acrylic paint left over from *ahem* junior high, a paint pen, foam brush, and a gift card to the local craft shop. And that's how the adventure began.

I started off with the intention of trying to make my copy as close to the original as I could.  I did a lot of mix-experimenting with my paint and wound up with this color for the background:

When I finished painting half the canvas, I realized I didn't want any more brown in my life [being in the desert and all], so I changed things up a bit, and went instead with a grey that matched our comforter pretty closely. [I'm already starting to sound like an artist!]

Word from the wise: if you ever do something like this, mix up a ton of your background color.  You'll go through it faster than you think, and trying to replicate colors is a pain.

Once the background paint dried, the next step was to replicate the branches using a paint pen.  If you're pretty good at drawing by hand, but can't paint a straight line to save your life [like yours truly], then use a paint pen.

Looking simultaneously at the original painting and pictures of trees really helps with this process.  Realism, people, is what I was going for.

For the dots, I went cheap.  Honestly, I didn't want to go back out to buy circular foam brushes. So I scoured the house for anything that would make a dot the sizes I was looking for.  I came up with these:

the other end of the foam brush, a travel-size bottle of baby lotion, and a cigar tin.  [I ended up only using the foam brush and the baby lotion for my dots.]

After randomly placing dots in the colors I wanted [red, orange, pink, yellow, and white], I ended up with this:

While it wasn't bad, and it was decently close to the original, I felt like something was missing.  I sent a picture to the hubby, and his response was, "it doesn't go anywhere."

What?

"I mean it doesn't take your eye anywhere.  I learned in my design class that a good picture will direct your eye somewhere. You should put birds or the moon in the space in the middle."

Well, I didn't want to put the moon or anything in that space, but I did see what he was saying. There just wasn't much to look at.  So, I moped about my failed painting [like a good artist] until I ran across this pillow:

That was what I wanted above my bed. [On a side note, this pillow is from Target, and if I had the finances, I would get it.]

 So I went back at it with the butt end of the foam brush.  I worked to make the branches into trees, and using the inspiration from the pillow, I aimed for a semi-abstract cherry blossom tree look.

While I don't know if I can say that my eye goes anywhere with this rendition, it at least looks more like something.

And our bedroom makes me smile a little each time I walk in now.

Resolution Update: Two And A Half Months In

You may remember that for my new year's resolution I told the world I was going to pray more.  Well, I think I can safely say this is the first resolution I have ever stuck to for this long.

I am praying a lot, about a lot.

It's turning out to be a good thing.

I'm not necessarily seeing a whole lot of obvious improvement in my personal life, but I am seeing that there are areas in my heart that have been successfully primed, so to speak, for change.  I'm really happy to be noticing it, because I am ready for some heart change.

I'm ready because things for me have been rough over the last few months.  Something about moving to Arizona has really hit a lot of core issues that I've been struggling through.  I hit a breaking point at the end of last year where I was done being discouraged.  I realized that all the stuff I was trying to do by myself just wasn't working.  So when I decided to start praying more consistently, it was because praying was the only thing I figured had a chance at getting me to a better place.  I was sucking at it, and so it was apparently God's turn to give it a whirl.  [If I had actually been doing this right, I think I wouldn't have waited so long before finally letting God do his magic].

Enough with the vague-ness, though.  I've been praying a lot for my heart to change, specifically in these areas:

Our finances: I hate our financial situation right now.  I hate being on a student budget; I hate being poor.  I am so scared of running out of our savings too quickly, so I start to panic and go into "don't spend money on anything except for groceries."  All that happens is that I overspend on groceries.

I finally started really crying out to God about my feelings towards money over the last couple weeks.  While not much has changed in one sense, in another sense I have gotten a pretty clear answer: to be patient.  Panicking about money is not going to change a thing. Desperately seeking out pitiful ways to either spend less or start making more is not going to change a thing.  At this point, I am trying to firmly hold fast to the truth that God cares about our finances, desires for our family to be provided for, and has the means to do it, if He so chooses.

The second area is in Babies: This may seem like a precursor to the "little pink plus sign" post.  It's not.  Rather, this is a potential precursor to me maybe, possibly, finally, sharing publicly my struggle with having had a c-section.  Long story short, it's been really, really hard.  I am scared of having to have another c-section.  I am frustrated because, after doing hours and hours of research and talking with my doctor about it, I have found that there is nothing I can do to increase my chances of having a successful VBAC if/when I get pregnant again.

This is an area of my life I have no choice to but trust that God is going to do more than just allow things to happen - I have to believe that he desires to intimately orchestrate my future in child-bearing. I have to believe that He desires to give me good things, and I have to trust that whatever outcome may happen is what God knows is a good thing for me.

Whew, that was hard to write out.

The hubs and I have also decided to pray, together, regularly, for God to let us know when would be a good time to start having more kiddos. There is never a perfect time for a child, but our circumstances right now are less than ideal for expanding our family.  But we also have little desire to wait for another 5 years.  So instead of researching and panicking and talking and talking and arguing and talking some more, we have decided to just give this decision up to God. At this point, the answer, again, is to be patient.

So that's where things stand in this whole praying about everything.  God wants me to be patient.  And you know what?  I'm actually quite peaceful with his answer.  It takes the pressure off of me to decide and hope I'm doing the right thing, and puts me in a place of trust in his perfect love for me and desires to give me good things.

If you've made all the way through this post, thanks for sticking with me.  I appreciate you taking the time to read through some more personal things about me.  I hope that in some way, this encourages you in any struggles you're facing - you're not alone, even if you aren't struggling with the same things I'm struggling with.

How's your new year's resolution going so far?

Cloth Diapers at 13 Months

I've officially decided, after finishing this month out, that I really like 13 months old. All the development and pure joy that bursts out of this kid is infectious!  At the same time, she still is just an easy kiddo to take care of.  She takes two long naps during the day, and listens to me when I ask her to put toys away. I realize that the time is coming very, very soon when my baby is going to be a true toddler with the tantrums and disobedience and unstoppable energy.  As much as I'm sure I will still find joy in my child, there is something about this age that I treasure, and I will be sad to see it go.

Adelle - 13 Months 

# of Children: 1

Gender: female

Size: 19 lbs, 28 in

Average # of Diapers a day: 9

Laundry Schedule: Every three days.

 Routine: 2 pre-folds used during awake times, all-in-ones during naps, all-in-ones with extra insert at night

Diaper Size: One size diapers - middle settings, Thirsties covers - size 2, second smallest setting, Disposables - size  3

Leaking?: Only twice this month - whichever parent it was at the time forgot which insert to put in the overnight diaper.  Oops :)

How's the Poo?: Same old, same old.  Stinky, messy, but always contained.

Did you Use Disposables?: Only once, because we ran out of cloth diapers while out in public and had to use the secret disposable stash in the diaper bag.

Any Changes: Our child! She's getting heavier - one morning I weighed her in at 20 lbs.  I can tell that she's chunking out some because the fittings on all her diapers are getting tighter. She also started walking last week. Her favorite activity now is to walk from one point to the next, tag it, and move on :)

Any Issues: Nope.

Favorite Brand: I realized this month how well Grovia covers fit this kid.  All of our other covers have really wide bottoms [you can tell in the above picture how the pink one is really wide at the bottom], and so they look parachute-like when she wears them from all the extra fabric.  The Grovia covers are skinnier, making for a trimmer fit [which is pretty nice considering we use them with the bulky prefolds].

Interested in Grovia covers? If you decide to buy any on Amazon, consider buying through this link
- a percentage of your purchase will come back to support this blog. Thanks!

Still Like Cloth?: Yep :)

You know what might be the most ridiculous thing in the whole world?  A cloth diapered rear in skinny jeans.  The picture about just doesn't do justice to how disproportionate Dellie looks while wearing them.  I love love love this outfit [she's so hipster] but I don't know that the designers had cloth diapers in mind when they went forward with 12 month size skinnies.

Do you have a favorite age with children?  What do you like best about the age your kiddo is right now?

The Clean Routine For Cloth Diapers [And a Free Printable!]

One of the biggest complaints I hear about cloth diapers is that they quit working well after a while.  They start stinking, they cause diaper rash, and they leak.  Any of those problems can be too much to handle, and over time a mama just wants to quit.  Too often, I see mamas do just that.

Would you believe me if I told you I've dealt with every one of those problems? Would you still believe me if I told you I have an answer that might fix them?

I have found that it's all about how you wash your dipes.

Cloth diapers need to be washed properly.  They need a good detergent that washes them well, and rinses out completely.  Diapers need a lot of water, so that the washing machine will get a chance to rinse everything out of them. Diapers need to be dried appropriately, so they won't fall apart too soon.

Here's my basic washing routine:

1] a full cycle on cold, large load, no detergent.  This gets most of the stains out and helps rinse out some of the urine residue.

2] a full cycle on hot, large load, with detergent. This is when all the diapers get a good clean.

3] a full cycle on warm, large load, no detergent.  This is to rinse out any leftover detergent in order to prevent build-up.

You might have noticed that I do full cycles instead of just rinse cycles for 1] and 3].  It's because I want to be thorough.  I don't see much harm if you just do a rinse cycle, however, if you do start to have any issues with stink or build-up, I would recommend permanently switching to full wash cycles to prevent those issues from coming back.

I made a cute little printable to hang up in your laundry room.  It can be used as a reminder for your husband when you ask him to do the diaper laundry ;)

Here's the pdf file for you to download and print out for free!

Download Washing Printout Here

So what do I do if I've got diaper problems?

A common culprit to diaper problems is a build-up of detergent.  This can be caused by using too much detergent, or by not getting all the detergent rinsed out.  I dealt with this problem over the summer when I was washing in an HE machine.  The water efficiency was not getting all the detergent out of the diapers, and within a couple weeks they were leaking and stinking and causing rashes left and right.

If you're having diaper problems, I recommend doing what I did: super rinse the crap out of your diapers.  I sent all the diapers through 4 super-hot, full washing machine cycles without detergent. There is a part two to this solution - you're probably going to have to adapt your washing routine.  Because the HE machine wasn't rinsing out detergent as well, I ended up doing two rinse cycles at the end whenever I washed diapers from there on out.  It was a bit time consuming, but I never had issues again for the rest of the summer.  Trying out the super rinse is one of the simplest solutions and a good place to start.

I completely acknowledge that repeatedly rinsing your diapers might not fix the problem.  There are moms all over the blogsphere that have dealt with some crazy stink stories, and they know their stuff!  Also, a lot of diaper detergent brands have customer service lines and are very willing to do what they can to help out.

Are there things I can do to prevent problems from happening [again]?

One, make sure you're cleaning routine is really cleaning your diapers. Make sure you're washing with as much water as your machine will allow, and make sure you're rinsing all the detergent out of the diapers.

Two, get a good cloth diaper detergent.  I know there are moms [and dads] that use Tide or "natural" detergents and have zero problems. If you're one of them, I'm jealous of your good fortune.  However, that is more the exception than the norm.  A couple of good cloth diaper detergents are Bum Genius and Rockin' Green. While they are more expensive than your box of tide [well, maybe not.  Anyone else notice how expensive Tide keeps getting?], I pinky promise your diapers will thank you.

Ok, that got boring.  Sorry.  Back to the fun!  Wash your diapers without fear, and print out a cute picture to hang in your laundry room!  If you have a nasty outdoor laundry room like me, you know it needs as much help as it can get.

Yet Another

Super lame post.

I just spent over an hour making a super pretty print-out about washing cloth diapers and my program "unexpectedly quit." In other words, it gave me the finger and I lost all of my work.

Hopefully you all get to see it tomorrow.

On another note, I got interviewed with Mommypage (!!!). It is scheduled to show in late April.  I'll let you know when it get's closer.  I suppose I can let you know when the interview actually hits the world wide web, too :)

Lastly, a ridiculous instagram picture of Kiddo in typical morning fashion.

morning medusa

(you can follow me @lelittlemama for more embarrassing pictures of my child)

Here's to hoping I have more to show for my work tomorrow.

Mainstream

You'll never believe what I discovered on an end cap at the local Target last night...

Charlie Banana brand cloth diapers.

I am a little bit in shock that cloth diapers have become mainstream enough in two years' time that Target actually believes they will make money selling them in stores.  I guess my mentality is still stuck in 2011 [soooo long ago] when the phrase "cloth diaper" was met with looks of "is that woman crazy?"

Regardless, I tip my hat to Target for jumping on the bandwagon so quickly.  I truly hope that this is a sign that cloth diapers become more of a norm in the parenting world.

In other news, it looks like the wee one is going to be walking very soon.  She took her first steps this afternoon, but is unwilling to repeat the performance as often as her mother would like.

Hope you have a great weekend!