Crafty Goodness

Sometimes life moves so fast and chaotically the things that bring us real joy get sidelined. Here is a little crafty joy I'd like to share with you. This crafty fabric corsage/brooch took me a few hours this afternoon to complete, from picking out the fabric to tying off the last stitch. If you'd like to make one, or just gawk at the original, check out Molly CHicken's Raggy Flower Tutorial.

Special thanks to all of the women who have voiced their opinion on my very unscientifc survey. If you haven't done so yet, I would really appreciate it if you added your opinion. You can do it here in the comments or in the comments of the Your Opinion Please post on Hamilton Birth Revolution.

What Do/Did You Worry About?

When you were pregnant, if you are pregnant now or might be pregnant in the future, what was your biggest concern regarding birth? What worried you most as you anticipated labour and delivery?

I would be ever so grateful if you would tell me your opinion by leaving a comment over at Hamilton Birth Revolution.

The information I gather will inform my business plan, help to guide me as a doula and become important information in presentations to birth professionals, media, medical and consumer organizations.

Where One Goes, The Other Will Follow

I knew that it would only be a matter of time before Kieran finally mastered the art of not crapping in his pants.

I knew that if I layed low and let Kieran come to terms with new skills in his own time it would pay off with near instant success.

And now, we have that near instant success!

So, Monday, not long after I posted about our potty training progress, Kieran walked into the kitchen, where I was writing, carrying his little pot (is it too crude to call it a piss pot?). He was on his way to the bathroom to empty and rinse it, something he's been doing for a few weeks now, and thought to stop off in the kitchen to tell me of his success.

"Mom! I peed AND pooped in my potty! I really did it, Mom!"

Talk about getting my attention!

Lo and behold, there was the evidence. Fantastically large evidence, too, I might add.

We danced and hooted, sang and high-fived. We called grandparents and Daddy to report on our success. Daddy went and ordered a special something online to reward the little man, just as we promised we would all those months ago when this journey started.

Well, today, his special present arrived. And, about 2 hours after it arrived, Kieran had his second poop on the potty. And, yes, that means he pooped on Monday and again on Thursday. He held on to it until it came out, erm, easily.

The pride swelling in our breasts (because, really, between Sean and I that's four breasts, though mine are, without a doubt, much more interesting) is second only to the laughter erupting from our bellies as we watch Kieran playing with his brand new official Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver!




"Who sees a screwdriver and says, 'that could be more sonic'?" Captain Jack

Potty Training Update!

The last time we talked about Kieran's potty training adventures, he'd had a poop on his floor. Since then, there has been no poop in the potty action. None.

In a fantastically zen move, I haven't said a thing about it. If Kieran doesn't want to poop on the potty, then so bit it.

He is a champion pee-er though! Oh boy, is he ever!

He's been getting better and better at dry naps and dry night sleeps. We've even started taking him on shorter trips without a diaper. At thanksgiving dinner at my mum's, Kieran went diaperless in the car to and from his grandma's, and had a pee on her toilet sometime after supper.

It was that success that led me to want to take the next step: longer outings without a diaper. The first test: an afternoon at Value Village.

I took Kieran and his friend Claire to Value Village on Friday afternoon, despite or perhaps because of some rough early winter action, and mosied around looking at kitchenalia, knitting patterns, pregnancy related books (I scored another copy of The Birth Partner!) winter wear for Kieran and finally a toy for each of the kids.

I left Kieran in his Superman undies and asked him regularly if he needed to pee. He kept saying no. He started grabbing himself after a while, but nothing could convince him to use the toilet.

"No! I don't want to go to da toilet! I go at my home! I pee at my home on my potty!"

I kept asking if he would go to the potty and I thought I was keeping a good eye on him, but apparently not.

At the checkout, he was so agitated and clutching at his twig and berries so darned much, I resolved that we would visit the toilet even if he wasn't cooperative. I mean, I'm the mom, right? Sometimes kids just have to do what they're told, if it's in their best interest. So, I bent down to explain to Kieran what the plan of action would be so he wasn't taken by surprise and I reached out to tug the ankles of his jogging pants down.

They were wet.

And cold.

All the clawing at himself was because he was wet and uncomfortable. He obviously didn't want to admit his accident when we were so far away from home and the easy cleaning up of the mess.

The checkout clerk said they didn't think they had a change table, so I wheeled the cart, our purchases, Claire and Kieran, over to the bathroom door, outside of which was a chair. I made Kieran stand on the chair while I stripped off his pants and undies and cleaned his legs and bottom with a diaper wipe. It was a darned good thing that I'd just purchased two pairs of pants for the little man!

So, on went a pair of fleece lined jeans (Old Navy, $5.99, no signs of wear, size 3T) and into a grocery sack went the pee soaked pants.

On our next long outing, a trip into Toronto to visit a few shops and hang out with some friends who were preparing to move premanently to Indiana, Kieran was put in a diaper.

Now, I'm not a big fan of the Pull-Up type training pants for kids in terms of potty training. In general, if the kids aren't virtually finished their training, Pull-Ups tend to stand in for diapers. I've seen more than a few kids treat Pull-Ups exactly like a diaper, using it to pee in instead of using it like an extra-absorbant pair of underpants. They can cause a potty trainer with potential to reverse all their good progress.

On top of that, they are less absorbant and there are fewer in the package than diapers. That means they are hella expensive!

No, I am a firm believer in bare bottoms in the beginning and then undies/commando under pants to reinforce the training. For overnights and trips out a diaper goes on.

But, a curious thing happened in Toronto. Even though he had a diaper one, he asked to take it off and pee in the toilet. That night, at a restaurant back in Hamilton, he asked again.

What point was the diaper if he didn't use it? If it was just insurance against accidents on long trips, why bother with it? It is certainly a pain to try to re-apply while standing up in a public bathroom. It was time for some Pull-Ups for backup.

So, last night was the first night in a Pull-Up. Kieran was dry, again, a fact confirmed by the handy little pictures that disappear when wet. They were still there in the morning.

Kieran was able to get out of bed, trundle over to the potty and pull the Pull-Up and his pj bottoms off to have a morning pee. Just like a big boy.

It kinda makes me a little misty-eyed. My boy is growing up so fast: he's not so little anymore.

Singing In The Shower

Kieran is having a shower right now. I can here him playing in the spray with a HotWheels car as I catch up on a bit of quick blog reading (the shower is fifteen feet away from me).

K: Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Kieran, to you!
K: Mom! This HotWheels truck turned into a birthday present for your birthday tonight!
K: Mom, I love you!
K: OK, I done now!
K: The HotWheels truck turned back into a truck now.

After The Fair

Sean, Kieran and I went to the Norfolk County Fair on Monday. Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving. Our trip to the fair is an annual thing to help celebrate Kieran's Auntie Julie's birthday.

We met up with Sean's sister, the birthday girl, her boyfriend Marshal and my father in law Bill. The day was packed with farm animals, local produce, rides and sugary things. You can find a few pictures of Kieran enjoying himself on Flickr.

And here is a rare image of Kieran and me having a cuddle. And, yes, I do have food on my face and stuck in my teeth. That's how much fun we had: I forgot to care about what I looked like. Oh, and yes, I did get a sunburn at the fair.

Frugal Groceries

A year after my (Canadian) maternity leave, which lasted for a year, I was laid off from my cushy corporate job. That meant I was entitled to a year of Employment Insurance, under Canadian Law, in the amount of 55% of my salary.

It was during that year that I examined my life, my work history and decided that if there was any time to follow my heart and pursue what I really wanted to do with my life, it was then. I'm a diehard birth junkie, so what I wanted to do with my life was to help women welcome their babies into the world by providing whatever emotional or informational assitance I could. I wanted to be a catalyst for women finding their strength in the labour room (or at home, as the case may be). I wanted to be a doula.

And now I am. I've undergone training and continue to educate myself and now I'm trying to market myself. All that education and marketing costs money and I'm not really bringing a lot of it into the house at the moment. Luckily I do still write my restaurant reviews and I nanny a bright little girl part time and this allows my family to have a few of the luxuries we might not otherwise be able to afford.

Since I finished my year of Employment Insurance (four months ago) I've had to do a lot of belt tightening. Despite growing up quite poor and living hand-to-mouth for most of my adulthood, I am one of the least frugal people I know. One of the worst areas of spending, for me, has been food.

I've wasted money by buying foods I never use and eventually have to throw out. I've also wasted money by buying only some of the ingredients for a meal and then having the food I bought this week languish for weeks or months until all the ingredients have been bought. One of the worst ways I've wasted money is by not having all the ingredients to make a particular meal and not discovering it until the last minute and turning to fast food to fill the gap.

All in all, I've been frittering away money due to bad food buying habits.

I can't do that anymore. We just don't have the money to purchase even the cheapest of subs at a neighbourhood sub shop, most weeks. Spend $30 on Chinese take out? That's half of the week's grocery budget! Frankly, while I try to build my business on a shoestring budget, I have to be as frugal in my spending as I possibly can.

Besides, we don't have credit cards, so if the car breaks down, as it did twice last month, we have to somehow come up with nearly $1000 in cash to get it fixed. That means being even more frugal (and going without a car for a week or two while we amass the money required for repairs).

I've come up with a two-fold system for buying groceries. It allows us to not only use our food money more wisely, but also gives me the best possible chance to cook homemade, nutritious food every night without having to resort to fast food.

Here's how it works:

1. You take a pack of index cards and write out, on one side, the name of every meal you and your family regularly make.
2. On the other side of the card, write out a complete grocery list including every single ingredient required to make the meal.
3. Each week, the day before groceries, sit down with your family and pick the meals you'd life to make for the next week. (Change this to two weeks or month, depending on your preferred grocery cycle.)
4. On your family calendar or time-management tool, assign a meal to each day, committing yourself to make that meal on that day.
   
5. Turn your week's worth of meal index cards over and assemble a grocery list of every item you will need to buy for the week's meals while cross-referencing your ingredients lists with what's already in your cupboards, fridge and freezer.
   
6. Add any other items you will need for the week such as toiletries, desserts, snacks, breakfast and lunch foods.
   
7. Go to the grocery store and buy only what is on your list.
8. Make each meal on the day you scheduled.
   

Since I've started this system, I've cut my grocery bill down to half on our most frugal weeks and by a third on our less frugal weeks. And, I'm wasting far less food. I have more room in the cupboards, fridge and freezer because they aren't stocked with things that I thought I wanted or needed but didn't wind up using.

In order to be extra frugal, I coordinate the meals the family chooses so that I can most effectively use the food I'm buying. For example, if I need to be fantastically thrifty, I will make Crockpot Chicken, Ground Beef Stew, Shepherd's Pie, Porcupine Balls, Spaghetti Bolognese and homemade pizza.

Three of those meals require potatoes, carrots, onions and celery and I often have those as part of my regular stock of veggies in the fridge/pantry. I may not have to buy any of them, but if I do, the cost of the item will be shared over three different meals.

The store we shop at has three sizeable chicken leg quarters in a bag fo $3 or less. That's enough for one dinner for Sean, Kieran and I plus Sean's lunch the next day. I suppose I could stretch that further if I wanted, but we love us some chicken!

Four of those meals include ground beef. I know many people are vegetarian or steer clear of ground beef, but it's a staple in our home. The store at which we shop offers bulk packages of lean ground beef which I section up at home, put in smaller freezer bags, label with my sharpie so I know which batch is for which meal and chuck it into the freezer until the afternoon I need it. Buying in bulk allows us to save a little on our meat cost.

When we aren't so frugal, though still being budget conscious, we splurge on meals like Taco Dip, which requires the purchase of (comparatively) expensive avocadoes. Linzen Suppe requires the purchase of slightly expensive specialty sausages. Mac & Cheese is a huge favourite but it needs a goodly amount of cheese to make. These things bump up the grocery bill a little.

I love being at home. I want to be at home. In order to do that, I have to learn how to live on very little money. Buying groceries better is part of that. The bonus is that we are eating better as a result of my being forced to make our food instead of paying someone else to make it for us.

What are some of your frugal recipes that help you keep your grocery budget down?

Technorati: food, budget, frugal, recipe, bloggingbaby

Ad Astra Per Aspera

One of the major perks of having a husband who works in the music industry is I get to hear lots of new cool music.

Want to hear some, too?

Check out this musical postcard for the Kansas band Ad Astra Per Aspera.

You're cooler already!