A look at a birthday celebration in our home

Yesterday you got to read about the baby girl's birth day.

Now today you can read about our celebration of her second birthday. :)

The actual celebration of birthdays in our home is fairly low-key compared to some. Until the kids have lots of friends we celebrate rather quietly (or as quietly as our household can be) with just our immediate family.

We began the day by preparing the baby girl's birthday cake. She's fond of applesauce cake and doesn't like frosting. She's declared it "icky, yucky" every time she has tried it.


The baby girl helping to bake her birthday cake - in this shot she's still wearing her birthday crown


The baby girl helping bake her birthday cake

I had two wonderful helpers!


The big girl and the baby girl helping bake the birthday cake

Then the big girl decided that she and the baby girl ought to make a cake for their dolls.


The girls "baking" a cake for their dolls


The big girl baking a cake for the dolls

After all the cake baking the big girl declared that we needed some decorations. I strung up a felt banner I had sewn a few years back for one of the big girl's celebrations.


A view of the birthday banner

After the Hubster returned home from work the baby girl got to choose her birthday dinner. She elected to have us go to "Pardee's" to eat. (that's what she calls the Hardee's restaurant)


The baby girl selected dinner at "Pardee's" (Hardee's restaurant to the rest of the world)

After dinner we returned home to "open" gifts. This year she received one big gift that was a combination gift from her Grandma W and us. The tricycle is just a bit large so today we're off in search of pedal blocks to help her reach the pedals a bit better.


The baby girl on her birthday gift - a new tricycle


The big girl helping the baby girl open birthday cards

After opening cards and playing with the trike for a while we sat down to birthday cake. It was an odd experience, though. When we lit the candles and began singing the Happy Birthday song the baby girl started screaming, "NO!" at us and eventually cried. We thought it might be the candles that frightened her, but no, for some strange reason she hates the Happy Birthday song. She calmed down quickly when the song ended and enjoyed her cake.


Birthday cake - it's an applesauce cake with no frosting - the baby girl's favorite


Notice her technique - must use a fork, but just pick up the entire slice of cake with it!


The big girl and her slice of cake


The boy enjoying a piece of cake

And, of course, throughout the evening the Hubster was there to help us preserve the memories!


The Hubster preserving memories for us

Today is the baby girl's birth day! (and a sharing of her birth story)

Alert baby girl - a day and a half after her birth

In our home birthdays are not a marking of years passed or age acquired. They are a celebration of the gift of life; they are a celebration of our joy in having this person in our lives.

With my children they are also a remembrance of birth. With each and every birthday that my children experience I remember their births and the absolute joy of carrying them in my body. I remember how blessed I've been to have them in my life and how blessed I am to learn from them.


All three of my children together - six days after birth

So in the spirit of birthdays I share with you the baby girl's birth day. As you will read she was born in our home without the assistance of a professional birth assistant. This is sometimes called freebirth or unassisted childbirth. In our home it's simply called normal.

I woke up around 3:15am on Monday, March 31, 2008 to use the bathroom. When I returned to bed and turned over I noticed a big gush of fluid and asked my husband to get me a towel. Since I had just emptied my bladder I was pretty sure that I was leaking amniotic fluid. Another trip back to the bathroom confirmed that.

I put on some clean panties, stuffed a cloth diaper in them and went back to bed thinking I’d try to get some sleep before the big event began.

Contractions began at 3:33am.

I had easy contractions varying in length and frequency throughout the early morning hours. I got up and checked MDC (mothering dot com) and left a post about my SROM (spontaneous rupturing of membranes) and went back to bed. I got up and used the bathroom a few more times and finally abandoned all hope of getting sleep at around 8am or so when our 3 year old daughter woke up.

I was really enjoying spending time with my daughter and husband and finished up some sewing I had to do for a customer’s order. I packaged and labeled two orders and got them ready for my husband to take over to the post office.

My husband and daughter went off to the grocery store and post office and I stayed home. Contractions intensified as soon as they left and began to move into a more regular pattern.

I turned to MDC for entertainment and distraction between contractions. I’d get up and walk around during the contractions and then sit down and read and write in between them.

I loved the freedom of movement and position! With my last midwife attended birth the midwives ushered me upstairs to the bedroom as soon as active labor hit and I felt trapped and restricted. During this labor I was happy and at peace.

At around 3pm I noticed that the intensity and frequency was increasing to the point where I didn’t want companionship. I told the Hubster I was going upstairs because I sensed I was reaching transition and didn’t want to deal with the distraction of our 3 year old daughter. My husband stayed downstairs with her.

The next two hours were intense! I had contractions lasting 1-2 minutes long and about 2 minutes apart. I was working hard!

I finally called my husband up at around 5pm because I needed his presence to help ground me. My 16 year old son took over the care of our 3 year old daughter (what a blessing he was!).

I labored through another rough hour of contractions and after much prayer and talking with the baby I felt her descend and I moved into the bathroom. I wanted to sit and was ready to push!

I alternated between squatting above the toilet and standing upright pushing against a towel rack. The first few contractions were still pretty intense, but after about 4 or 5 of those I moved into that blissful stage where the contractions are purely productive and you begin to feel your baby moving through!

My husband asked me to move back into the bedroom at that point because our daughter’s head was crowning and he was afraid I’d reach a point where I couldn’t rise back up from the toilet (side note – he wants to build a birthing stool before our next child is born!).

We moved back into our bedroom and I squatted against two mattresses we had placed on top of each other as a makeshift sofa/bed. I continued to labor and push our daughter out for about 20 minutes.

It was the most amazing sensation to know when her head was passing through and to feel her shoulders moving out. With my first daughter’s birth the presence of the midwives and their dictation of my position and coached pushing made me numb to the process and I don’t recall knowing what was happening during the second stage.

With the baby girl’s birth I was acutely aware of every sensation and in touch with my daughter throughout the labor and her birth!

When she finally exited at 6:44pm, I looked down and saw her on the comforter below me and I turned and picked her up. I reclined to a lying position and held my beautiful baby. At this point we still didn’t know her gender as neither my husband nor I had looked!

I held her and rubbed her. She was completely covered in vernix and was quiet. I asked my husband to bring us a towel and another comforter to cover us up. I held her to my chest and talked to her as I rubbed her. We watched as she began to take her first few breaths. It was an amazing process to see the transition from her reliance on my body to independent life functions. She slowly began breathing as my body released her placenta.

After I birthed the placenta, she continued to breath stronger and stronger. While this was happening, my husband watched her umbilical cord and later told me that she fully breathed on her own only after the umbilical cord stopped pulsating.

We called up the other kids to meet their new sister!

My son said hello from the hallway as he prefers to meet his siblings when they’re a bit cleaner, but my daughter bounded in to say hello to her “newborned baby.”

We left the placenta and umbilical cord attached for about an hour after her birth and then clamped and cut it.

This birth was an amazing culmination of experiences and the end of a road long traveled for me. My first birth experience was in 1991 with a team of OBs that coerced me into a pitocin induction at just past 40 weeks that resulted in the c-section delivery of my son. My second birth was an HBAC in 2004 with a team of midwives that believed they trusted birth, but their actions proved to me that at the very least they didn’t trust mine. Finally, I was able to experience birth as G-d intended it to be - completely and utterly controlled by His divine plan without intervention from others.


Mama and baby girl about a week before birth


Immediately after her birth - cord is not yet cut


Sleeping baby girl - one day after her birth


first bath - 3 days after birth - gentle and notice no crying from the baby - they do not need to be traumatized with baths immediately after birth


Daddy and his two girls - eight days after birth


The baby girl today - two years after her birth

Gardening as PE credit?

I came across this article today in the NY Times about gardening being offered as physical education credit at a high school in New Jersey.

I think it's a great idea to teach gardening. High school might be later than ideal in my opinion, but anything is better than nothing.

Some critics say gardening isn't physical enough. I wonder if they've ever turned a large garden by hand or turned a compost pile. :) It might not give you a cardio workout but it rivals weight training when it comes to strength training!

What do you think about schools offering gardening classes?

Why to beware the oversharer

There's a great article by that title on CNN today. Why to beware the oversharer discusses people who release too much information early in a relationship. Some are doing it innocently enough not realizing that they're sharing intimate information too early in a relationship. Others, though, do it in an attempt to garner intimate or sensitive information about you. It's the later category that prompted me to alert readers to the article.

For some reason I've been attracting more than my share of these types of people over the past two years. Maybe it's the company I keep. Maybe it's a cultural phenomenon. I know I'm not an oversharer because people tend to categorize me as cold and unfeeling. ;) Seriously, though, despite my exposures here on the blog I am quite careful about what I share with people out in the 3D world.

Even so, a few unique individuals honed in on me and attempted to squeeze out personal and private information. Then when those tactics didn't work they just flat out made stuff up and spread gossip.

Just be wary, folks. Just because some unstable woman shares detailed personal information with you doesn't mean you need to reciprocate with your own precious personal details. Just sayin.

Is there anything worse than a five year old girl whining?

Seriously? I think it's the most.awful.sound.in.the.universe.

Right now I'm being treated to a round of "I want to wear tights and YOU have to put them on me." Why? Why on earth must tights be part of today's ensemble? And why does my decision not to leap up immediately and dress said five year old in tights result in a whinefest?

If you know the answers, please enlighten me!

The dangers of infant formula

A new study, Presence of Soil-Dwelling Clostridia in Commercial Powdered Infant Formulas, has been published in the March 2010 Journal of Pediatrics.

For more information about the dangers of powdered infant formulas you can read the FDA's findings here.

Some good looking Passover recipes from King Arthur Flour

I subscribe to their newsletter and these recipes came in today's edition:

Flourless Chocolate Nut Cake

Passover Popovers

Almond Cloud Cookies

They all look SO yummy!

Milkies Milk Saver

There is a post about Milkies Milk-Saverover at peaceful parenting today.

As a mama with a very over-active letdown I wish I knew about this product sooner! Instead of soaking through nursing pad after nursing pad I could have been saving that milk for donation.

I'd like to hear a few reviews from moms who've tried the product. If you have, pop on over and give your opinion at peaceful parenting!

Spring fever

It's officially spring here but we don't get true spring weather until later in the year. Late April or early May is when we can count on true spring weather. We're sure feeling Spring Fever in our household, though!

It's time to do spring cleaning, de-clutter, play outside (even if it's only 42 degrees), and in general begin yard work and gardening.

It's still far too cold to really plant outdoors, but we started part of our garden indoors.

We have raked the little bit of grass we have left and removed dead grass and leftover tree leaves. I've cut off the dead parts of perennials and will soon trim back bushes.

Soon I'll go out and turn the compost piles and add some compost to the raised garden beds. It's a good time for the Hubster to repair any of the raised beds that need a bit of maintenance.

What are your spring projects? What's spring like in your neck of the woods?

Come join the Moo said the mama Facebook fan page

I don't know if you noticed or not, but I added a fan page for Moo said the mama on Facebook.

I come across a lot (and I mean a LOT) of interesting articles and research abstracts in my daily reading and I've begun sharing them through the FB fan page.

It's easier for me to share that sort of thing with FB than it is to come here to the blog and create hyperlinks, etc.

If you have interest in reading about gardening, attachment parenting, breastfeeding, intactivism, lactivism, etc. then become a fan.

There's a box just over to the right and down a bit. :)

A Wordless Wednesday (well...mostly wordless)

The boy got this shot of a squirrel going to extreme measures to enjoy the pine cone peanut butter birdseed feeder that the big girl made.

Finally - the baby sling recall that was warranted - the Infantino slings

From the article,

"The recall involves 1 million Infantino "SlingRider" and "Wendy Bellissimo" slings in the United States and 15,000 in Canada."

Also from the article,

"Consumer Reports raised concerns about slings back in 2008, and had called on CPSC to issue a recall of the Infantino SlingRider. Safety advocates criticized the curved position that the baby can fall into while inside the sling.

Baby experts and breast-feeding advocates insist that not all slings are dangerous. They say carriers that keep a newborn baby solidly against the mother's body, in an upright position, are safe.

The Infantino slings being recalled were sold from 2003 through 2010 at several retailers, including Target, Babies R Us and Burlington Coat Factory. Consumers can call Infantino at 866-860-1361 to receive a free replacement product."

To see the full text of the article, click here.

Cooking and canning up turkey stock

We'll be getting this year's shipment of chickens in earlier - around May - and I need to free up freezer space for them. So, as time permits I'm clearing out my stash of bones and cooking up stock. This week's project was turkey stock.

I only had three turkey carcasses saved, but they took up plenty of freezer space!

What I call turkey carcasses are the bones that remain after we roasted turkeys. Our chicken bones and turkey bones are usually already roasted. Once in a while I'll have some frozen but unroasted chicken bones from when the Hubster trims the chickens down into parts instead of freezing them as whole fryers. Those I then need to roast before cooking the stock, but roasted bones can go straight into the stock pot with vegetables and water.

Since I only had the three carcasses I only needed our larger stockpot and didn't need to run two pots.

I combined two large onions, two carrots, a bunch of celery, and the turkey bones in the large stockpot. I filled it with water and set it to simmer.


All ingredients combined and heating up

Because of timing this batch simmered longer than usual because the simmering was split over two days. Typically four hours is enough, though.

Like the beef stock I brought the ingredients up to a full boil and then reduced the heat to let the mixture simmer.

After the very generous simmering time, I strained the mixture using a colander.


Straining #1 - the Hubster pouring the stock through a colander

Then we placed cheesecloth into our colander and secured it with clips and did a second straining.


Colander with several layers of cheesecloth clipped to it


The Hubster pouring the strained stock through the cheesecloth clipped to the colander


The Hubster lifting out the cheesecloth and squeezing the last bits of stock out

After that we cooled down the stock and refrigerated it.

Our stock looked like this after refrigeration:


Cooled stock with grease layer still on

All the grease rises to the top and is easily skimmed off.

Here you see the cooled stock sans grease:


Cooled stock sans grease

Then I heated the stock up to boiling. While the stock was heating I got out my equipment - canning funnel, magnetic lid lifter, jar lifting tongs, rings, and a damp cloth to wipe the edge of the jars.


All my equipment laid out - funnel, magnetic lid lifter, jar lifting tongs, rings, damp clean cloth to wipe the rims of the jars

I also began heating up my lids. I just filled a small saucepan with water and turned the heat on low. Remember that you only need to warm the lids, not boil them.


Lids warming in a saucepan full of water

Then I filled my pressure canner with about an inch and a half of water and placed the jars filled with warm water into the canner. I turned the heat up to high and began to warm up the jars. Warm jars are important to prevent cracking and breaking during the processing.


Jars filled with water and warming in the pressure canner

When the jars were warmed and the stock was hot I then began filling the jars. I used a canning funnel to help prevent spills.


Using a funnel, stock is poured into the warmed jar

After filling a jar, I used the magnetic lid lifter to get a warmed lid out of the saucepan. I placed it on the jar and then tightened it down with a ring.


Jar is filled and has a lid and ring on it - ready to go into the canner

I filled the jars one by one to prevent them from cooling down unnecessarily. When a jar is filled it went back into the canner and I took out the next empty jar. For this batch I ended up filling nine pints and two twelve ounce jelly jars with stock. My primary pressure canner is the All-American 921 Pressure Canner and I can fit 19 narrow mouth pints in it.


All the jars in the pressure canner - here you see the jars on the top rack

Once all my jars were in the canner I put the lid on and tightened down the screws. I turned the heat up to high and I waited until I saw a steady stream of steam coming out of the vent. Then I waited seven minutes - this time period is commonly called venting your pressure canner. After that seven minute venting period I put on my weight at the 10 pound mark and waited for the canner to reach 10 pounds of pressure. At my altitude clear stock processes at 10 pounds of pressure for twenty minutes.

We needed to adjust our heat down lower a few times during the processing to keep the pressure at 10 pounds. Once twenty minutes passed we turned the heat off on the burner and waited for the pressure to return to zero. I waited an extra five minutes after my gauge read zero just to be sure the pressure was completely down.

Then I unscrewed the lid and removed it. I waited another five minutes with the jars in the canner before using my jar lifting tongs to remove the jars.

We let them cool on a piece of cardboard on our hoosier countertop.

Here you see the batch cooling:


Nine pints and two twelve ounce jars of turkey stock

After they completely cooled I checked to make sure the lids sealed properly and then removed the rings. I washed the jars down with warm soapy water and marked the lids with the month, year, and contents. These jars will read 03/2010 Turkey Stock.

Free Favorite Bible Verses eChart

Rose Publishing is offering a free Favorite Bible Verses eChart. Go and check it out!


And before my LDS friends start commenting, yes I am aware that Rose Publishing also prints many many anti-LDS publications. Let's perhaps agree that the New Testament and Old Testaments are scriptures we share in common. :)

Historic Photos & Prints of Breastfeeding

If you haven't heard about it yet there is a new Fan Page on Facebook - Historic Photos & Prints of Breastfeeding.

They have great images from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries as well as religious images of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus Christ.

Free History DVD available

I saw this on Pam's blog, Ramblings of a Happy Homemaker and just had to pass it on.


The History Channel is offering a free dvd, America the story of US, to every school in the United States. The school must be an accredited public, private or home school and both K-12 and colleges are eligible. To request a copy of the DVD, fill out this form.

Dinner Menus - March 22nd thru March 28th

Monday, March 22nd - Meatless meal
Veggie Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots


Tuesday, March 23rd - Pork
Pork chops, rice, gravy, broccoli


Wednesday, March 24th - Soup
Chicken and rice soup, bread


Thursday, March 25th - Poultry
Arroz con Pollo


Friday, March 26th - Pizza night
Pizza


Saturday, March 27th- Pantry Ready to Eat
Chicken soft tacos, carrot and celery sticks, salsa


Sunday, March 28th - Pork or Beef
Steak, oven fried potatoes, corn

It PASSED - 219 yea 212 nay

I am honored to have served with Congressman Stupak's staff in the UP as an intern back in the '90s!

While the legislation is by no means perfect (none ever is), this is a great step forward toward protecting the health of our people.

Preparedness 101 - the get home bag (GHB)

So you might wonder what a "get home bag" is. It's just what it sounds like - a bag to get you home again. They're quite similar to the BOBs (bug out bags). A GHB is usually a day pack filled with basic supplies and equipment that you'd need in case an emergency strikes while you're away from your home. It's a basic emergency preparedness item.

Unlike the BOBs, though, you want to keep your GHB with you. Many people keep them in their cars. That works great if your car is always with you. In our household, though, the car is with me part of the week and with the Hubster the other part of the week. If we kept the Hubster's GHB in the car then he wouldn't have access on the days he carpools to work.

So think about how you live and work and decide on a system that works best for you.

For us the answer is to have a kit that stays with the car and also have a pack that stays with the Hubster when he's at work or away without our car.

So what should someone put in their GHB?

Like your BOBs, the GHB contents are going to vary depending upon your climate, your local weather emergencies, and other local conditions.

Some commonly included items are:

- emergency food. might include energy bars, electrolyte packets, peanut butter crackers, etc. the food should be ready to eat and not require any additional energy or hydration to use. Also include a spork - they don't take up much space and are handy in case you need to eat other foods.

- water bottle or water bladder. we pack both water bottles and CamelBak style water bladders in our kits. depending upon your local water situation you might consider adding in a water filter (Katadynand Berkey make some good portable models) or water purification tablets.

- protection from the weather. here you'll want a poncho or other rain gear, warm winter clothing (in season), extra socks, sensible walking/hiking shoes, perhaps an emergency blanket and/or tarp if you'll need to shelter overnight.

- tools. commonly included tools are small knife, Leatherman multi-purpose tool, flashlight, signal mirror, whistle, small alcohol stove or hobo stove.

- fire starters. waterproof matches, butane lighter, cotton balls coated in petroleum jelly, steel wool and a 9v battery (pack separately), hand sanitizer (high alcohol content makes it a great dual purpose item for emergency packs)

- comfort and personal hygiene items. sunscreen, chapstick, soap, hand sanitizer, bug repellent, camping towel, and baby wipes.

- first aid supplies. bandages, steri-strips, antibiotic ointment, alcohol wipes, moleskin (to prevent blisters), ibuprofen, anti-diarrheal medicine.

The most important things to consider when putting together your GHB are the weather conditions you'll likely be exposed to and the distance you'll likely need to travel. You also want to consider the route you'll have to use and the conditions you'll face on that route.

For me I also need to consider transporting children back home and their needs. The kit kept in the car includes a folding stroller and infant carrier to help transport our toddler and assist our five year old. For short periods of time both the Hubster and I can carry the toddler in a sling or mei tai style carrier. For longer distances the stroller becomes more important. If we need to return home on foot from the nearest big city we're looking at 45 miles and that means an overnight stay because our kids can't hike that in a day (and neither can I toting a 35 pound toddler on my back!). Our car kit also contains tarps and rope so we can assemble temporary shelters as well as lots of winter camping gear.

We tend to pack more food in the winter months (cold weather means more calories burned) and more water in the summer months. Our winter kit contains more heat generating materials like a hobo stove and candles than does our summer kit.

Here are some pictures showing you what the Hubster typically keeps in his GHB:


Day pack - this is just a simple pack to hold all your equipment


Clothing - the bags contain a Gore-Tex jacket and Gore-Tex rain pants. there is also a rain poncho, winter gloves, and an emergency blanket.


Light, fire, & emergency items - signal mirror, compass, whistle, flashlight, butane lighter, Buck 110 knife, 9V batteries, and steel wool.


Food - spork, granola bars, Emergen-C packets, tuna fish, protein bars, crackers & peanut butter.


First Aid & Safety Part I - Glide anti-chaffing stick, 30 SPF sunblock, chapstick, insect repellent, 50 SPF sunblock in stick form, N95 masks, and crazy glue.


First Aid & Safety Part II - insect sting swabs, wipes, bandages, antibiotic ointment, sunscreen, insect repellent, molefoam padding, and case.


Water - stainless steel water bottle (that's duct tape wrapped around it), 2 liter water bladder, and water purification tablets.


Personal care & hygiene - anti-bacterial wipes, baby wipes, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, tissues, towel, and soap.

Do you have GHBs packed for your family members? If so, do you pack items other than the ones we mentioned?