February '09 Mamas ~ Childhood Chat :) - Page 12

[Vegan Princess]

It's nice to know I'm not the only potential veggie drop out. :-) I was veggie from age 15-21 and went back to eating meat until age 26. I think I'm just having a harder time bc of M. I suppose you all are right - I should eat it wihtout her knowing for now. But that means sneaking it while she's in the other room or only eating it at like 9pm. She always comments about what's on our plates and is VERY aware that her dad eats meat. I don't feel like I want/need to eat a ton of it though. 

Everr: If I do eat it, I only want to eat grass fed - it just sounds like it's so much healthier. And I can actually visit the farms where it comes from (I already visited one a couple weeks ago that does a CSA box of grass fed meat). I wouldn't expect others to cook that for me - so my thought is, I'd likely remain vegetarian at restaurants, etc. And that is fine. But yeah, there are a few things I've been craving that I'm sure aren't organic or grass fed - like gyros meat! And you're right - it's SO pricey. DH bought 2 steaks at that farm after our tour and he paid $50 for them. Though I think a box is $40 - but includes all sorts of cuts of meat as well as pork and chicken. I don't see myself eating a ton of pork. I have to say though - I live in a foodie mecca. Alice Water, who is credited with starting the whole "california cuisine" and farm to table style of cooking has her restaurant a mile from my house and has influenced SO much here. One of her chefs just opened a butcher shop that ONLY sells local, pastured meat. And more of the restaurants here are incorporating organic meat, etc. But it is still far and few between and you do pay the price to eat at those places. Which really is NOT in out budget very often these days. But mostly we eat at home anyway. 

Cindy

[starling&diesel]

We buy organic, humanely-raised meat also, and so we don't eat a lot.  My partner, who is a chef, is very good at making it stretch.

FYI, mamas!  I discovered this thing called Face Book.  It's a social networking doohickey that some of you might have heard of.  Anyway, my publisher is contractually obliging me to be more "socially connected" so I am now on FB.  Sigh.  It's true.  So if you PM me, I'd be happy to add you, Ever, Nilla, Kate, Sue, Erin, Mal & Courtney!  If I can even figure out how to do that, that is.  Haha.

[Everrgreen]

Starling - LOL!  Yay :D  I just searched you up but couldn't find you..  I think I pm'd you my name ages ago so you can add me! 

ETA.  I just remembered I'm unsearchable at the moment..  I'll change that for today so you can find me :P

ETA (again).  I found you!  It looks like you have a fan page set up, so I liked you :)  I think you need a regular page though to be able to see other peoples updates/pics.. Not sure..

Edited by Everrgreen - 4/25/12 at 8:16am

[starling&diesel]

And Cindy too, of course!  I think I forgot you because I'd just replied to your post.  You know that I love you!
 

[mckittre]

Meat - I was veggie from about 13 years old to 27 years old. I stopped when we did our year-long walk, mostly for hospitality reasons.  If we were going to wander into a village hungry, after 2 weeks in the wilderness, and someone was going to kindly open their house to our grubby selves and serve us a meal - we were definitely going to eat it. I still don't buy meat or usually order it at restaurants, but I eat it when it's served to me and at potlucks. And I do accept and cook gifts of hunted meat from friends that hunt. In fact, we just used up some bear in the freezer for a stew the other night. Ethically, I'd be fine with buying a small amount of organic humanely-raised meat, but I never end up seeing the need to do so. I'm happy with our heavy salmon diet. Of course K has decided he doesn't like salmon, so he's mostly veggie. I can usually get him to eat one bite of everything, but then he'll usually just eat the grain part of the meal.

Starling - Pawning off some of the "whys" on other experts sounds like a good strategy.  K will accept answers from me as well as from anyone (often not well), but I do get exhausted with the endless endless string of "why" and "what would happen if" questions.

Sue  - What's your next step? That's great that she doesn't have celiac, but then not so helpful that you can't figure out what's wrong.

[AKislandgirl]

sick sleeping baby in arms...

Starling: :) sent you a friend request! I love the ask the expert tip!

I was veggie for 10 years. Then DH's cooking just started to smell really good and I started eating meat again. I felt much better for it!

As for what's next? I don't know. We are keeping her gluten free because it was so clear in those 3 weeks before her test how awful it was for her. It was like everything that was bothering her was 10 x worse. It was a cumulative effect too- by week 3 she was a total wreck. Now 2 weeks later things have improved. Still this "background" of skin issues, constipation, leg pain...just not as pronounced. removing garlic didn't make a lick of difference.

kids are both sick with the crud. Maeve got herself so worked up in her misery last night that she puked all over me.

[Mal85]

Starling, welcome to Facebook! Lol, I'll be pm-ing you!

I don't know how any of you lived without meat. That's one thing I just never could do. I love meat too much. Now, pork... I could go without pork. Oddly, I used to love pork, but during my pregnancy with Greta I was completely turned off by it and still am for the most part. Well, except for bacon. I still love bacon. Beef I could take or leave, aside from a nice ribeye steak. That I love. But chicken... I could never give up chicken.

Sue: It's good to have an answer, I'm sure. I'd still be puzzled as to why, but obviously you know what makes her feel better. I think I'd be the same as you. She's better without gluten, so out it goes!

Things here are going well. Haven't had much to respond with, but I'm still here reading most days. Owyn had a playdate at the park yesterday with my old daycare girl. Those two are just too fun together. Every time they see each other it's as if they've gone years apart. They greet with a huge hug and kiss and giggles galore! Her mom mentioned that they may be moving a couple hours away in the next couple of years. With them going to different schools, it's hard telling if they would remain this close anyway, but it's still sad to think they won't be sharing their childhood with each other. 

3 weeks from tomorrow is the last day of school and I cannot wait! I have hit that wall at the end of the year. So far, the only day I have really dreaded work was my first day back after maternity leave. But I'm there now. I'm so mentally done and so are the kids. It really has been a great year with them overall and I will miss them next year. It's crazy to think now I have to start all over with a new group come August! I was asked how I felt about taking on mixed ages and going full time, but I declined. I said I would be fine with having some 4 year old kids in my class, but that I'd much rather keep it to 3 days a week for now. 

[AKislandgirl]

yeah for summer break Mal! I hope these 3 weeks zoom by!

I've asked this before and gone over it in my head a million times but here I am again. Carseats.

What are your bigs and littles in?

Fiona is at the height limit for her Britax Boulevard rear facing. We either need to forward face her or get her a new seat. If we do a new seat Maeve will get the bouleveard. Any suggestions. I'm torn about forword facing her. DH says he's fine with it but it makes my heart race a little thinking about it. I thought I had this figured out and was going to do a Radian but learned it is not compatible with subaru's.

[Vegan Princess]

Makenna is in a Britax Marathon. She could still rear face in it, but we have her facing forward. I feel guilty about it bc I know rear facing is safer. But I figure it's probably not horrible being that she is over 3. She would definitely have to forward when the new baby comes anyway bc DH would not be able to fit in the car w/2 rear facing car seats.

[Mal85]

Owyn is forward facing in a Britax Marathon right now. She gets motion sickness really easily when she's rear-facing. She started that at about 2.5 years of age. So, we turned her earlier than I would have liked, but cleaning up her pukey mess was soooo not fun! We just moved Greta out of her Chicco Keyfit and rear-facing in a First Years True Fit. It's Owyn's old one. So, we're currently without a back up seat for DH to use. The plan is to purchase either another True Fit or a Graco MyRide for Greta and use the one she's in now as the back up. I just can't decide between the True Fit and the MyRide. As far as safety goes, they are both pretty even in my mind and the price on them is comparable, so it's really just personal preference right now... Owyn will stay in the Marathon probably until she's ready for a high-back booster. She's pretty petite, so I can't see her outgrowing it before then.

[Everrgreen]

R is still rearfacing in a Radian XT.  He'll likely stay that way until he's 4 or close to it, probably when the snow comes - I didn't like the snowy boots all over the back seat of the car this past winter :/   My mom has a Britax Frontier for him in her car and it's forward facing but he only rides with her in town.  That seat can also be used as a high back booster up to 120lb so we'll get good use out of it.  I love both these seats and recommend them :)  

[starling&diesel]

Sue ... What's this about Radians and Subarus? We leave for Costa Rica on Monday and we're taking our two Radian Sunshines with us, but my aunt and uncle are picking us up in their Subaru. Am I in trouble?

E is FF, much to my dismay. she RF until we installed H's seat, so nearly three years. But we couldn't fit two Radians in RF.
H is RF in a Radian, which he's been in since he came home from hospital.

[AKislandgirl]

Originally Posted by starling&diesel 

Sue ... What's this about Radians and Subarus? We leave for Costa Rica on Monday and we're taking our two Radian Sunshines with us, but my aunt and uncle are picking us up in their Subaru. Am I in trouble?
E is FF, much to my dismay. she RF until we installed H's seat, so nearly three years. But we couldn't fit two Radians in RF.
H is RF in a Radian, which he's been in since the trillions from hospital.

I was told on the family safety forum that once your child is too heavy to install with latch the seat can't be used in  subaru.    As long as they have latch you should be ok. After 35-40 pounds (can't remember off hand) the seats should be installed with a belt in a subaru. subaru belt and radian don't mix.

HAVE AN AWESOME TIME!!! How long do you get to stay?

[Vegan Princess]

Have a great trip Starling!!! I could so use a vacation right now!! But today, I mostly think I just need a vacation from my own kid. 

[Mal85]

Have fun Starling!! Also, I don't think I'd seen many pics of you before you got of facebook. You're gorgeous!!

So, last night--on a whim--I tried something new at bedtime. I had Owyn choose one book and stuffed animal (well, she chose a plush doll that says a bedtime prayer instead of an animal). I told her that daddy was going to lay in bed with her and read her the book she chose. Then he would give her a kiss and a hug, tell her he loves her, turn off the light and come back into the living room with me and Greta. At first she said no, but then she came out of her room with a book and said "Daddy read this one to me?" Then, she got into her toy box and found her plush doll to sleep with. She was waiting by her bedroom door with these things when DH got out of the shower. And it totally worked! She got a little nervous when it came time for him to leave the room, so I went and gave her a kiss and hug, let her give Greta a kiss goodnight, showed her how to squeeze her doll to make it say her prayer and she was fine! I heard her squeeze the doll a few times after we left the room, then never heard another peep out of her! We're going to try it again tonight. I'm really hoping this sticks. It would be great to be able to just put her in her bed and know she'll go to sleep on her own. It's only taken us 3 years to get here, lol!
 

[AKislandgirl]

Awesome Mal! I hope it sticks! We have had some bedtime awesomeness of our own around here. Several times now in the last couple weeks Fiona has let DH put her to bed. They listen to a winnie the pooh audio book and both fall asleep! But this is huge- she has never let anyone but me near her at bedtime. I love it! We'll see how it goes when DH leaves town next week. I'm going to try putting it on for her after I tuck her in. hmmm....

[starling&diesel]

Thanks, Mal!  I'll admit that it's pretty lovely seeing you all over there!

Ever ... Tell us more about your Bus Boy!

Congrats on the bedtime success!

AFM:  I'm so looking forward to our holiday!  We leave on Tuesday to spend the night out at a hotel at the airport, then catch an early flight to Houston, then onto Costa Rica from there.  Can't wait!  We're there for two weeks.  Thank goodness that E's seat will still be okay for her.  She's 30 lbs.  We're getting an SUV while we're there, but my Uncle is picking us up in his Suburu and we're not getting the rental until a few days later.  What a drag it is to travel with carseats.  I wish I didn't mind renting them, but I've heard such terrible things about rental car seats. 

[Vegan Princess]

Mal: That is SO awesome! I'm jealous! I feel like that day is SO far from happening here!!

Our big change here is that a friend left me her twin aerobed when she moved. We had it blown up for my niece to sleep on last week. We ended up putting it in our room, next to our bed, on Monday. Makenna won't fall asleep on it, but DH moves her to it after she is out and she has mostly stayed on it all night. Though last night, DH fell asleep with her (as he always does) and I didn't wake him until I came to bed. He moved her and then he got up until like 1:30. Sometime between me going to bed and him coming back, she crawled into his spot. I had a crappy day yesterday dealing with Makenna and he knew I was feeling a bit miserable so he just left her and slept on the air mattress bc he wanted me to still have the extra space in bed. That was nice of him! It has beeen SO nice having extra room in the bed and being able to snuggle DH!! Who knows if she'll be out of our room when the new baby comes, but now that I've had a few nights of space in the bed, I don't really want to go back. She has still been crawling over in the mornings and snuggling me before we get up - so that is nice. :-) I guess a lot of you have been doing this transfer for a long time. 

Cindy

[Nillarilla]

We have been having some bedtime awfulness around here. Dee has been crying herself to sleep. She gets herself so wound up and starts screaming about silly little things. I think she's frightened since we moved her into the bottom bunk. I have to find a way to alleviate the fear because I am not willing to lie with her until she falls asleep she takes forever. I did take her in my bed and let her fall asleep next to me listening to audio books for a bit while I worked on homework or browsed the internet. She's getting over tired to boot and keeping her brother awake who is exhausted after a full day of school and care. I'm going to see if I can find a nightlight or reading light to place near her bed and a music dock for ds's ipod (if they still make them it's really old) and perhaps spray her sheets with some lavender. I need to get her a squeeze bottle for her water as she has dumped her cup in her frenzies the last couple nights.

I started my work term for school it's Mon-Fr 8-4 and this was my first week I am sooooo exhausted.  I've never done the M-F thing it's always been shift work so 4 12hr shifts in a row and then 5 or so off. Plus this is mentally draining because I am doing research work and it's a lot of reading, spreadsheets and project plans in a tiny brown cubicle. I've got to find a way to make it more bearable.

The  exercising and weight loss is going well. I finished week 4 of C25K. I have lost 2 inches off the waist, 1/2in off the hips and 1/4in off my arms. Not sure about the boobs but those seem to have take a hit too. I didn't measure them pre. I've only lost 3lbs but I'm sure that I've built up some muscle and I'm running for 5min straight in the intervals when I started at 1min so I am happy with the progress. I feel better and I have more energy. Plus the running gives me 30 min by myself which I wasn't taking before and dh is supportive.

Sue do you have any further plans for investigation with Fiona?

Starling have a fabulous trip! So jealous.

Mal Yay for summer break. I hope you have a fabulous recharge.

[Everrgreen]

We're starting a bedtime routine here too.  I've been trying to put R into bed around 8-8:30 and making him go to sleep on his own.  He's doing ok actually although it takes him a looooong time to fall asleep.  But I'll be sticking with it now that I'm done school.  I think I'm going to make it 8:00 lights out so that he's at least asleep by 9.  I think he'll start going to sleep quicker as he gets used to it too.  He still goes to sleep in our bed though and then I join him later.  But I'm tempted at the idea of putting him in his own bed...  Mostly because things are going well with my bus guy and I'd like the option of having him over after R is asleep.  It's really hard to date as a parent!

Nilla - good for you with the exercising!  I am officially done school and ready to get active!  I'm going to get a month of unlimited hot yoga and go every single day.  Plus I want to start biking daily too.  R is still in daycare full time so I have lots of free time :D  (I do need to find a job asap, but until then..)

Starling - wow!!  Have an awesome trip!