She's A Walking Girl!

Renly is finally walking!

I have been sharing the various stages of her learning to walk on Facebook but now that she is a true walker I thought I'd share it here!

(To see Taitum's first steps, go here.)

This morning it was like she woke up and decided today was the day!

I'd noticed that she was getting much braver over the past few days, walking back and forth between pieces of furniture.

Today she is walking in circles all over the house, giggling as she goes!

Her sisters are also delighting in their sister's new found skill by playing the little game you see in the video.

I'm so proud of my little girl!

(The baby stage is officially over...)

Joining The Class

I'm terribly behind on my homeschool posts but plan to get around to completing them soon so you all can see what we've been up to the past couple months.

I'm sure you're just aching with anticipation.

So in the meantime I thought I'd share this recent adventure...

Guess who's joined the class?

Yes, Miss Renly was quite pleased to be able to paint with her sisters this week.

Of course, baby's first painting is never complete with out a little taste...

Soap Nuts and Dryer Balls

It's Earth Day.

I like the earth.

But to be honest, I'm not the best at being earth friendly.

I am trying really, really hard to change that though.

Want another confession?

I have an easier time doing the things that don't just benefit the earth but also save me money.

Am I a terrible person?
Oh well.

I 'm trying and if a little ulterior motivation is what it takes, than so be it!

Quite the intro to my save the earth/save some money post, huh?!

This one is all about laundry.

And has a whole background story to boot!

It all began when I began using cloth diapers (a story for another day).

The thing with cloth diapers is that you can't wash them with just any ol' detergent.

Thus began my search for the detergent that worked best for us.

To make a long story short, I came across EcoNuts on Baby Half Off and loved how well they worked for washing cloth diapers.
Fast forward to this winter as I was preparing for the arrival of a new baby.
I am generally a little majorly paranoid about chemicals being on my baby's skin.
I figured usng EcoNuts was the best option for washing the new baby's clothes.
But why stop there?
I began washing all our laundry with the EcoNuts.
Clean clothes, no headache inducing scents, no paranoia!

Here's how they work:




And in terms of cost effectiveness, check out this chart!
Yes, yes - they're eco-friendly, too!
You can simply throw those used EcoNuts into your compost...if you do that kinda thing...

In the meantime, I'd been looking into a cost effective way to control all the static.
I have to buy the hypoallergenic, scent-free ones since the smelly ones give me awful headaches.
Of course, they are the most expensive ones!

My search lead me to dyer balls.
But dryer balls are usually about $10 apiece and to work effectively you need 6 or so.
Granted, they last forever but I just couldn't bring myself to fork out $60 for the things!

Enter my good friend Andrea.
She was there with loads of info when I entered the world of cloth diapering and shares many of my domestic interests.
Anyhow, without me even mentioning that I'd been looking into dryer balls she had gone and made me a few!
That's right - she made them!
Here are some pics she took of the process:

Materials: an old wool sweater, wool yarn, pantyhose

Cut sweater into scrap pieces.

Twist into ball.

Wrap the ball tightly with yarn.

Tie tightly and separately into leg of pantyhose.

Wash on hot.

Dry completely.

And voila!

Goodbye dryer sheets, hello dryer balls!

You can read more about the process here and here!

They work wonderfully and are about as earth friendly as you can get!

Give them a try!

They are well worth the effort!

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Uh-oh!

Look what I found this little stinker doing today...

Following in the footsteps of one of her older sisters perhaps?

I've been replacing it with her soother and she doesn't seem to mind too much.

I have to admit - I do find it pretty adorable...

5 Minute Friday: Vivid

Vivid

Go...

As the momentum builds, the world turns black

Voices and movement swirl around

But there is no consciousness of what is happening outside of my body

All faculties are irreversibly drawn to the deep, dark pain

Concentration wholeheartedly directed to the task at hand

In between times I verbally remind myself, "I can do this!"

And then breathe, just breathe

Soon it all escalates to a roar

The world is dead to me

The hurt, all that matters

And out of this raging, searing pain

She comes

Plopped onto my chest

The most vivid, coherent image I've seen in hours

Bringing with her relief and peace and pure brilliant joy

Stop.

Baby Signs!

For the past couple of months, we have been teaching Taitum some baby signs. Actually, it has been mostly Piper teaching her the signs. We have a DVD - Baby Einstein My First Signs - that Piper watched. She then started showing Tait and I what the signs were for different things. Its been so neat to see the older sibling teach the younger something new!  Taitum has caught right on and uses the signs she knows on a regular basis. Of course, if she can get away with whining for something instead of signing 'please', she will so we try and encourage her to use it.

When Piper was this age, I opted not to teach signs because I was concerned it would interfere with her learning to talk. I was proven wrong when she ended up being a late talker anyways! Taitum, on the other hand, is already saying many words regardless of the fact that she signs as well.

Overall, I am enjoying seeing my baby use signs and learn to communicate with us through them. We have only used ones so far that are very functional such as 'more', 'please' and 'milk'. She is in the process of learning 'baby' and 'thank you'. I really love the fact that I can teach her to use her manners even though she can't speak yet!

Here is a little sample of Taitum using her signs. Big sister Piper is helping to keep her on task! :)

Teething Trials

My little Taiter Tot has been teething lately. This equates to wakeful nights, a whiney voice, occasional all-out wailing, leg clinging and a need to be held at the worst possible moments (ie. In the middle of chopping vegetables for supper so they can be thrown in the pan before the onions burn...). Fun times, huh?

Overall, I just feel bad for my little babe. I can sort of imagine what its like after a painful trip to the dentist yesterday that involved some metal contraption prying  and keeping my jaw open and freezing not taking the first time so I felt what it actually feels like to have someone drill into your tooth...Anyways, what I can't imagine is feeling pain in your mouth on a regular basis. So she certainly does have my pity. I also hate giving Tylenol too often but sometimes it just needs to happen (like at 3am after being woken up 5 times...).

Piper had a hard time teething too but I came across Hyland's Teething Tablets. They worked quite well and were so easy to adminster - just pop a few of the tablets in her mouth, they would dissolve instantly and moments later she had relief. But wouldn't you know they were recalled this year. Although I personally think the recall is likely a pile of fluff (I think it was likely parents giving way more of them to their child then what was recommended), I tend to err on the side of caution with things that apply to my children. So there I was, avoiding Orajel altogether and rationing Tylenol. There had to be another option!

A couple of nights ago, after a hard day of crying, teething baby and whiney toddler with a cold, my hubby sent me out on my own to take a break, warning me not to come back until after bedtime (Isn't he great?!). Of course, I ended up at Walmart looking to buy some Pediatric Advil so we could at least switch between that and Tylenol. Thats when I spotted it, my new favorite homeopathic teething relief solution, Camilia! I had heard of it before from my cousin who highly recommended it but we weren't in the severe stages of teething so I'd simply forgotten about it. I brought it home and showed Matt what it claimed to reduce right on the front of the box: Painful Gums, Restlessness, Irritability! Talk about an apt description of our daughter for the past week! Upon administering the first dose to Tait, I noticed a big difference. She calmed down, stopped following me around crying, with two fingers in her mouth. Instead, she was back to her old, happy self, playing with her sister, meowing like a cat ("OW!") and pushing a baby stroller around. Talk about a sigh of relief! So if you have a baby who is teething or will be, go stock up - it will be worth your while!

In conclusion, I thought I should also mention that tonight I noticed 2 back molars that just pushed through in my baby girl's mouth! We did a cheer for them (and for us surviving it all) and I couldn't help but giggle at my little Taitum Jubilee with her chubby little fists raised high in victory! Thats my girl!

*Please note that Camilia also contains belladonna, the same ingredient for which Hyland's Teething Tablets were recalled. Supposedly, the tablets have inconsistent quantities of this ingredient therefore the recall. I say this just to caution anyone who decides to use this product to NOT go beyond the recommended dosages on the box. Just because its homeopathic doesn't mean it can't be harmful if used incorrectly!