Pears

So when we bought our house, one of the reasons we picked it is because it had five fruit trees. An apricot tree, an apple tree, a plum tree, a cherry tree, and a pear tree. The pear tree is the smallest of the lot, and looks a lot newer than the others. We weren't expecting a big crop. But when we picked them, we ended up with about 25 lbs of pears.

Now something you may not know about pears is that you can't wait for them to get ripe on the tree. They ripen from the inside out, and if you wait, they will be all yucky inside by the time the outside is ripe. So instead, you pick them when they are green, and them put them in a dark, cool place for a few weeks and they will ripen the right way.

Well the Saturday before Labor Day we picked out pears. We put them in a box, and then deposited them in the corner of one of our storage rooms. I then promptly forgot about them.

Fast forward about 2 weeks. My brother-in-law and his wife came and visited for the weekend, and stayed in the room down near the storage room. Then about a week later, I started smelling ripe fruit down there. I couldn't imagine what it could be. I wondered if our guests had left some food down there.
So I looked and looked, and couldn't find anything. Well then on Wednesday I went down to the storage room to get something, and when I opened the door, the smell just bowled me over. I still didn't remember the pears however. I thought, "what could smell so much in here? There isn't any food in here." Then I saw the pumpkin. But it didn't smell like pumpkin. Then I saw the box, and remembered the pairs.

I was almost certain that when I opened the box I would find a ton of rotting pears. But nope. I only had about 10 that needed to be tossed. The rest were ripe to perfection.

Aren't they pretty pears? I'm not sure what kind they are, but they are yummy and look really nice too.

So then I spent pretty much all day on Thursday canning pears so they wouldn't go bad. It was a lot of work. I am thinking that for canning you really aught to have at least 2 people working together. With just one it takes way too long.

But now I have 7 bottles of pairs from our tree that we can enjoy this winter. Canning does have it's benefits.

Breastfeeding. Hmmm

When Cinderella was born, she had a hard time breastfeeding, but we made it work. Mostly because I knew we couldn't afford formula. I then successfully nursed her until she was 15 months old.

Guy had absolutely no interest in nursing. I pumped for a month and gave him bottles. By that point I was really overwhelmed with the pumping, and set it aside, and gave him bottles of formula until he wasn't interested and could drink from a cup when he was a year.

Sleeping Beauty however, has been a completely different story. She has had a hard time with nursing, and I have had moments that I have been tempted to just wean her onto a bottle, and give up the whole breast milk think. I had just about decided to do that, when I changed my mind and decided that because it is hardest for her to nurse when we are in public, and there are distractions, that those times I would give her a bottle. Also when we had a baby sitter, she would have a bottle. Other than that, I would nurse her.

Well she has suddenly decided she doesn't like bottles. She has been fine with them for the last 4 months, but lately she has decided she just wants to nurse. Now if she will do this without problems, I don't mind. But it was nice that she would take a bottle before. Now she won't.

Last night I got bit of a stomach bug. And was vomiting when it was time for her to eat. So Daddy tried to give her a bottle. She wanted none of that. He finally got her to drink an ounce, then she fell asleep.

I just find it interesting to see how different babies are, and how they behave. Oh well, I guess it is bye, bye bottle.

I spy

So "I spy" is one of Cinderella's favorite game, particularly when we are in the car. Last night we were at my parents house, and it was dark when we left to go home. Cinderella commented on how dark it was.
Then she said, "Let's play I spy. I spy something that is black. It's the car! It's black because you can't see anything."

Lonely

So for some reason, I have a really hard time making friends. That is probably the hardest thing about moving for me. We have been here 5 months, so I know it isn't' a really long time, but I would like to have a friend. I have some who live with in an hours drive, but I need someone closer.

I have been praying, and trying to see who I can serve. I have been trying to reach out to others, but I feel like no one needs me. That is a very discouraging feeling.

Last night I went to a ward enrichment meeting, (A gathering of the women in our congregation), that was held explicitly for the purpose of letting the women visit. I kept approaching people and trying to talk to them, and they would talk to me for a minute, and then move away to talk to someone else. I don't think any of them were trying to be mean. I think they were just trying to mingle. But it left me with the feeling that no one really wanted to talk to me. I started feeling really dejected, and said a little prayer, hoping I wasn't going to start crying. I then went and sat down by myself, because I just didn't know what else to do. At this point I had one woman call me over and introduce me to the person sitting by her. I then sat there and listened to side conversations. This was better than nothing, but still not really inclusive. I tried to give my input, but felt like no one really wanted to listen. Then finally during the last 5 or 10 min, someone approached me and started talking to me. That helped a whole lot, but I still ended the evening feeling kind of dejected and alone.

I really felt strongly, when we were looking for a house that this is where the Lord wants us. I just wish I knew why. So far all I do is stay at home and be a mom to my kids. Which is important, but I could do that anywhere. So why am I here?

My baby who doesn't sleep. At least not when she is supposed to.

So Sleeping Beauty, loves to sleep. During the day. At night time, she would rather be awake. I know this is common for babies, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

The other day she went 7 hours in the morning between feedings. But at night she goes 3-4. And she isn't necessarily asleep between those feedings. Some might say, don't let her go that long during the day. Well the idea is good. It just doesn't necessarily apply. If I try to feed her as often during the day as she eats at night, she will often just nurse for maybe 5 min, then look at me and smile. Hence, she isn't really that hungry.

At night I feed her and put her back in bed. She sometimes will sleep three or four hours. But often she sleeps about an hour, and then she is awake, and crying. So I find myself stumbling out of bed to give her back her pacifier. This will sometimes coax her back to sleep. Sometimes. More often than not it seems she spits it out 5 min later, and I have to go put it back in. Hence I don't get much sleep.

Last night my husband suggested that we just let her cry it out, and see if she would put herself back to sleep. So we tried. She screamed for at least 2 hours, until it was time to eat again, and then she only calmed down when I fed her. And of course by that time it was time for me to get up for the day. So I am thinking that at least at this point in the game, crying it out isn't going to work for her.

So do any of you have any suggestions? I am so exhausted. But for me to sleep, she needs to sleep.

Snack, and lunch ideas anyone?

So lately Cinderella doesn't eat lunch. Not really. I make her a sandwich or some other kind of food and she barely touches it. I think the snack she gets at preschool is maybe filling her up quite a bit. But I'm not really impressed with how healthy (or maybe I should say not healthy) those snacks tend to be. She won't eat veggies raw, and she pretty much just licks the topping off any sandwich I make, regardless of what kind of bread or grain I use. Bagels, bread, tortillas, pitas, English muffins, etc. She will maybe eat the fruit I give her. And usually she drinks her milk.

So I have been thinking lately, I don't want put so much effort into making food for her that is just going to stay on the table. But I don't want her to be hungry if she is, and I would like for her to get some nutrition in what she eats, not just empty calories, or lots of sodium, fat and sugar. You know what I mean? So I was thinking maybe snack sized portions, but I need some more ideas. I was wondering if anyone has any snack or light meal ideas, that kids tend to eat well, that are nutritious? Preferably something that doesn't take a ton of work, because it just isn't worth it, if she isn't going to eat it. And Guy is following her example a lot of the time, so I guess it applies to him too.

Quiet Time

My kids are getting board with quiet time, and don't want to do it. Guy will tear apart his room, bang on his door, etc. Cinderella comes out constantly, wanting to know if it is time to be done.

So I know I've asked a question similar to this before, but I'm going to ask it again. Maybe there are some new ideas out there.

Do you do quiet time at your house? What kinds of things do you have your kids do during quiet time? Do you have any ideas of what I can do to make quiet time be a fun and exciting time, but still a break for me? Any ideas of things they can do on there own, in their rooms that is quiet, and nondestructive?

I would appreciate any suggestions any of you may have.

A name

Guy loves his name. Any time you ask him how he is his reply is always "I Guy!"

Big Boy

It is so fun to watch Guy grow up. Now that we have a baby in our family, he really wants you to know that he is a big boy. If I slip and call him "baby" he firmly replies, "I not a baby!"

Well the other day Daddy and I were talking about how it doesn't seem like people grow that much, and then you look at pictures, and are amazed at how much they have changed in that amount of time. I said, "even the kids. It is amazing to see how much they have grown since just last year." Daddy then replied, "I know, Guy is so tiny."

At this point Guy interrupted with a firm "I not tiny!"

A kids perspective

I think it is interesting the way kids describe things. The other night, when Cinderella came in to tell me she needed to throw up, she told me her throat felt like it was doing "number salts." (Her word for summer salts). Then yesterday morning when I asked her how she felt, she told me her neck hurt. I asked her if it hurt like she needed to throw up. She said, "Like dust."

Garnishes, and flowers, and things

The other day Daddy was making dinner. I told the kids it was time to eat, so we headed to the kitchen. When we got there, Daddy was no where to be found. I asked Cinderella if she knew where Daddy was. She replied. "He is probably outside, picking garnishes, and flowers, and things."

The stomach bug

Last night, I had just fed Sleeping Beauty, gotten her back to bed, and drifted off to sleep myself, when I was woken up by Cinderella. I was only half awake, and asked what she needed. She told me she thought she was going to throw up. Well my mind told me I was still feeding the baby for some reason. So I called for Daddy, and he jumped out of bed and took her to the bathroom. By this time I was fully awake, and went to help her. Unfortunately for her, she had gotten sick. Daddy was kind enough to camp out on her floor, so that I could sleep except when the baby needed me.

This morning we were debating as to weather or not she is sick, or just has a case of food poisoning. We had been to my parents house on Monday for the holiday, and my grandmother who lives there had had some symptoms of a stomach bug. I didn't think anything of it. But when Cinderella got sick, I remembered that and wondered it she had gotten it from there. I mentioned this to my husband, and Cinderella asked me what a stomach bug is. I was trying to think of a way to describe it, when she said, "there was a fly that landed on me downstairs."