Blueberry Mini Bread Recipe

Yield: 6 (or 8-9 muffins)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup local honey
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup natural unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
1/3 cup milk (I used 2%)
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Mix all dry ingredients in bowl
Add honey, whisk lightly
Add all wet ingredients
Fold in blueberries

Bake 15-20 minutes until lightly brown and toothpick comes out clean

155 calories for each bread loaf

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! What are you doing today?

We are taking the long weekend to be with family and friends.

Wordless Wednesday-Breastfeeding

This is Emma nursing when she was just a few weeks old. I submitted it to This Milk Matters on the day of the Facebook nurse-in last month.  It was our virtual nurse in photo.

Used Car Seats

I read a lot about car seats, car seat safety and extended rear facing. I came across this photo and knew I had to share it. I contacted the person who created the collage and the person who was in the accident; both gave permission for this to be shared.

This accident happened at night while turning onto a street. The vehicle was hit by an SUV that didn't have headlights on going 55mph.

The driver of the vehicle suffered injuries and is recovering. The child in the car seat was unharmed. The car seat still looks perfect. This shows that you can't trust used car seats. There's no way to know their history.

Word Cloud

For the last day of the WordCount 2013 Blogathon, we were asked to create a word cloud. I've never heard of these before, but they are pretty awesome.

I submited the blog webpage and the program created the following image.

Bucket List

This week for Saturday Share, I've decided to share the first 10 things on my bucket list.

1. Travel to every continent.
I've checked Europe and Asia off my list. I feel like it would be cheating to check off North America since I live in the US and haven't been to Canada or Mexico. 

2. Travel to every state (airport layovers don't count)
Here goes: California,  Oregon,  Nevada,  Washington,  Idaho,  Arizona,  New Mexico, Missouri, Iowa,  Nebraska,  Wyoming,  Massachusetts,  Oklahoma, Kansas,  and Washington DC. I still have quite a few left.

3. Move to a big city where I know no one. I moved to LA in 2010 and would probably still be in Southern California if I hadn't met Robert.

4. Get married.
November 10, 2012 ♥

5. Have children
July 21, 2012

6. Get a PhD.
That's probably never going to happen. I have 1 Associate's, 2 Bachelor's and 1 Master's degree.  I think I'm done with school.

7. Learn to forgive
I'm working on this.

8. Get a tattoo
November,  2000

9. Read 100 books I've never read before in 1 year.
I try this every year. 72 is the closest I've gotten.

10. Become fluent in another language.
I'm still working on this. I know enough Spanish to get by and I have basic ASL skills. I want to be fluent in both. I'd also love to learn Italian. 

What's on your bucket list?

Sleep Training

Yes, that's right I said it. Today I'm talking about sleep training. I read every parenting book I could get my hands on while I was pregnant with Emma. The thought of sleep training seemed ridiculous. I just decided to parent the way that felt right. The decisions we made fall in line with attachment parenting. As an AP parent, I shouldn't agree with or practice sleep training. I didn't give myself the AP title. Others call me this because of the choices we made.

At one time Emma was sleeping pretty well. She would sleep for 3 or 4 hours be awake for a few more and go back to sleep. This worked for us. This changed when she was labeled failure to thrive and we were told to start waking her to feed her every 2 hours. Now that she doesn't need to eat every 2 hours she still wakes every 1 1/2 to 3 hours. This is no longer working for me.

I'm exhausted. I'm miserable. I'm not a good mom and I'm not a good wife. We had to do something. We moved Emma out of her small bed in our room and into her crib in her room. We have a twin bed in her room also, so she isn't sleeping there alone, at least not yet. We put her to bed when she falls asleep, if she falls asleep, then when I'm ready to go to bed I go to sleep in our room and when she wakes middle of the night I go and finish my night in hers.

It still wasn't enough because she still wasn't going to sleep until midnight or 1 o'clock in the morning. So earlier this week we decided to try sleep training. It was the last resort. I was so tired all the time, I was on the verge of tears. Emma was my main concern. She was so exhausted at the end of her night when she finally would fall asleep, she'd thrash around. She couldn't be held; didn't want to be touched; and would cry uncontrollably.  She'd finally lay on the floor in the living room and move from side to side and thrash from one position to the next. I couldn't rock her. I couldn't hold her. The thrashing, the screaming and the crying had to stop. We used to cuddle in bed until she fell asleep, but now she tries to crawl off the bed, so cuddling on the floor is safer.

I reread the sleep training books and asked friends who had experience what they have done. Everyone had different answers. Everyone had different things that worked for them. Once again we decided to follow our guts and do what felt right for us.

Monday night we put Emma in her bed and I sat on the bed next to hers. We decided that we would let her cry no more than how she would in the car on trips when she was fighting sleep. That wasn't too much crying at least not my opinion. Monday night was awful. She stared at me with tears in her eyes crying and she went straight from a little fuss to a high pitch squeal. We realized this was not going to work. If she could see me, she would want me but as soon as I picked her up, she would push away. She was so tired Robert took her outside to look at flowers and he was able to put her to sleep.

Tuesday and Wednesday we did things a little differently. After her nighttime routine and her last bottle we rocked her until she was drowsy just like we had done on Monday, and we put her in her bed. As soon as she was in her bed she started to fuss. We gave her a kiss and walked out of the room. We stood in the doorway where she couldn't see us but we could see her and she sat and she fussed and whined for 3 minutes then we went in to rub her back and gave her a kiss. We spent a minute with her and went back to our spot. The next time we went in, we had waited 5 minutes, then 7, then 10. On Tuesday, after 35 minutes she was asleep. On Wednesday night it only took 25. At no point did she have tears streaming down her face or use a high pitch squeal. Instead it was the fuss we sometimes heard in the middle of the night when she was comforting herself back to sleep if she had woken up. To us, this is okay.

Someone asked me if we will continue with this and after the first night I would have said no. Now that it's worked, I think we will. All three of us are getting better sleep and longer sleep. Emma is sleeping for 10 to 12 hours.

Is sleep training for everyone? No. But nothing works for every parent; nothing works for every child. Every parent and every child have to find what works for them and then when things stop working, you have to find something that works.

Well I sleep train future children? That depends on the child.

Do I still consider myself an attachment parenting? I guess so. But again, I didn't give myself that label. I've never planned to parent by labels. I parent from my heart and make decision that work best for us at that time.

Thrifty Home Improvement Part 2

Two weeks ago, I started a Thrifty Thursday series focusing on home improvement.  Part one focused on knowing your limits.

This week, I'm talking about the importance of planning ahead, prioritizing projects and paying cash.

Last summer, we had a list of projects we wanted to do before Emma arrived. We had saved money and had a set budget. That's step one to any project: set a budget and have cash. There's a time to use credit for home improvement,  in the middle of winter when the roof is leaking and you're expecting a storm. Yes, get the roof patched however possible. On the other hand, painting the house so it looks pretty is a cash project.

We made a list of all the projects we wanted to do and divided it into what we could do on our own and what we needed help with. We collected bids and calculated costs. We had also ranked projects in order of importance.  We were able to put in new windows, replace facia boards, replace gutters, repair stucco on front of the house, and color coat the front of the house. Painting the sides, back and patio cover would have to wait. Raised garden beds and planter boxes would also wait.

Next week I'll explain how we saved money on all these projects. (I know I promised part 2 would be about windows and paint,  but a discussion with a friend made me realize we need to talk about priorities and payment first.)

This summer we will be painting the rest of the house and patio cover, setting up raised planter beds for next year's garden, and putting in planter beds in the front yard. Each of these projects will be a post in the thrifty home improvement series.

Wordless Wednesday

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was perfect.

Our experience sleep training

Those of you who know me know that Emma's not the greatest sleeper. She sleeps a couple of hours at a time periodically throughout the day, if I'm lucky. Otherwise she doesn't sleep during the day and she falls asleep sometime between 11:30 and 1 o'clock in the morning. I feel like I've been sleep deprived since before she was born.

Last night I had had enough. Robert and I decided that we would try sleep training and cry it out. 5 minutes into it, I was in tears, Emma was in tears Robert was frustrated but we kept going. An hour into it, Emma's screaming; I'm in complete tears and Robert walks in. At first I was annoyed because there he is rescuing her again, but then I realized this wasn't going to work.

Robert picked her up, rocked her, took her outside so she could look at flowers, and she fell asleep. And she slept and she slept and she slept, until 130. She took a bottle and went back to sleep. She was up at 5 but she's went down at 8:30 so I'm okay with that . At 6 o'clock this morning we went for a walk. Now we are eating breakfast and enjoyng our morning and I'm hoping that she takes a morning nap.

Will we continue with cry it out and sleep training? I'm not really sure . What I am sure of is when you're at your wits end and you're exhausted, that's not the time to try something new, at least not for us.

Haiku

Today is the haiku challenge for the blogathon participants. I think I wrote a haiku as part of a poetry unit in elementary school but that's about all my haiku skills consist of, so I gave it my best shot.

I wrote this for Emma in the hopes that she would actually go to sleep.

Nighttime

Nighttime is here now
Close your eyes sweet child; sleep, sleep
Morning brings new fun

Genevieve Jerome Photography

About four weeks before our wedding, I got the phone call every bride dreads. My photographer canceled. She had gone into early, very early, labor and given birth to her daughter. Her daughter was in the NICU and was expected to remain there for months. Of course, I completely understood that she needed to cancel, but I was panicking. How on Earth will I find another photographer on such late notice?

I messaged a friend from high school on Facebook (how did we all survive before Facebook?) and I asked her if she knew anyone that might be interested. She had worked as a photographer for a college paper so I figured she was a good place to start. She asked around and then introduced me to Genevieve Jerome. Genevieve was available and was happy to shoot our wedding.

I met Genevieve face-to-face about two hours before our wedding started, but I felt like I already knew her since we had been in touch over the past weeks. She did an amazing job. Not only was she shooting our wedding, she was also shooting our daughter's dedication (we had it at the end of the wedding ceremony) and our reception. We also had a few family photos that we needed taken (three-generation photos were a must!).

She planned serious photos as well as fun and goofy photos that showed our personalities. She was simply amazing. I was so impressed to begin receiving digital image previews within a few days of our wedding and then I received the disc with all the photos on it. We looked through all the photos and were so impressed that she covered so many little details that we weren't expecting.

It is one thing to look at the pictures on the computer, it's an entirely different experience to hold the printed images in your hands and be in complete awe and shock at how well they turned out. I could not be any happier with our photos and I am so excited that we will continue to work with Genevieve in the future.

Here are a few of the photos from our wedding:
All images copyright Genevieve Jerome Photography and unauthorized use strictly prohibited

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

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© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

 

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

Note: This is an unsolicited review of a business I love and appreciate. I was not asked to write this review nor was I compensated for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Family Friday

Today is a tough Friday for our family. We are saying our final goodbye to my Aunt. She battled cancer for many years and was so strong through it all. Unfortunately, she lost her battle earlier this month. Today's post will be short, because I still have no words for how sad I am. I cannot be with my family today as we say goodbye. Emma does not do well with crowds and I have no one available to watch her for me, so I am staying home.

My aunt was an amazing mother and I hope that someday Emma will look at me the way my cousins look at their mom.

Tomorrow when Emma crawls in the Relay for Life, she will be crawling in memory of her Grammy and now her Auntie.

The last time I saw my Aunt was at my wedding. She was happy and beautiful, just the way I will always remember her.

Thrifty Thursday - Natural Living Blog Carnival

Welcome to the June 2013 Natural Living Blog Carnival: A Natural Challenge.

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Natural Living Blog Carnival hosted by Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project through the Green Moms Network. This month, our members took 1-2 weeks to explore a natural practice that they had yet to try. Today, they're going to tell you about their experience! Hopefully, you'll find some inspiration to try something new on one or more of the posts.

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This week I am participating in my first Natural Living Blog Carnival. Please come back next Thursday for Thrifty Home Improvement Part 2.

I've been reading the Natural Living Blog Carnival posts for about a year now and I finally decided to participate. I decided that since we already gave up our dryer (except for sheets since I can't figure out where I'd hang those), I would give up heat completely for laundry. For 2 weeks we washed all our clothes, including diapers, in cold water instead of a warm wash/cold rinse for clothes, and hot wash/cold rinse for diapers and we hung everything to dry (something we've been doing for about a year now). 

I was a little, well a lot concerned, that the diapers wouldn't be clean since everyone stresses to use hot water to get them clean. We had no staining or stink problems. I'm happy to say that our clothes all appear to be just as clean as when we use warm or hot water. I haven't received our  PG&E bill year, but I'm sure there will be a difference since we say a huge difference in our bill when we stopped using the dryer. 

The one thing I had to be diligent about was making sure to wash one load of laundry every day. I only have room for one load to dry on the rack at a time. Sometimes if we need things, I've cheated and used the dryer, but for these 2 weeks I was committed to staying on top of our laundry and didn't cheat. (This is huge for me.)

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Visit Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project to learn more about participating in next month’s Natural Living Blog Carnival!

Please take some time to enjoy the posts our other carnival participants have contributed:









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Wordless Wednesday

"To be in your child's memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today." ~ Unknown

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

When I feel guilty about the choice we made to cut our household income in half so I could stay home with Emma, I remind myself that her childhood only lasts a few short years and the time we have together is priceless. Yes, at times I feel guilty because I can't help but think, "we could have so much more" or "I'd love a bigger car" then I remind myself we don't need more things, we need more time together. The guilt doesn't get any better when people in our lives make comments, but then those people don't get much of our time.

© Genevieve Jerome Photography

 

Father's Day

Last year on father's day,  we had our maternity photos taken. We got some great pictures. I thought it woukd ve appropriate to share pictures of Robert and Emma to show the difference a year makes.

Thrifty Home Improvement - Part 1

Thrifty Thursday is usually devoted to saving money on groceries.  This week & next week I'm writing about saving money on home improvement.

This week is about knowing your limits. It's one thing to paint your own home. It's another to rewire your home or mess with your plumbing. If you're not trained in electrical or plumbing, use caution with DIY projects and consider hiring help.

We recently replaced our guest bathroom toilet, installed a diaper sprayer and replaced our shower head. We hired a plumber to install the toilet and asked him about the other two projects. Since he was already here and they didn't take much time, he just did it for us at no additional cost. Awesome!

There's often a minimum time charged for maintenance jobs so even if your project takes less time you're charged the full amount, so be sure to use your time. Plan for all your plumbing and electrical projects to be done at once. This way you only pay for one service call.

Next week I'll be talking about saving money on windows and exterior paint.

Creating Traditions - Sunday Naps with Daddy

One of my favorite parts about Sunday is watching Robert and Emma nap on the couch together. Emma took her first Sunday afternoon nap on her daddy in the hospital when she was 1 day old. She's done it every Sunday since. I don't think Robert realizes that they have this tradition. I guess when he reads this post he will.

I think it's important that they create their own traditions that I'm not a part of because each parent has a unique role in raising a child. I'm her primary caregiver. She spends most of her time with me and at times I joke that she's my best friend because I see so much of her in comparison to anyone else. I know that when she looks back on her childhood experiences, she will see me there, but I want to make sure that she sees her daddy too. He works hard so I can stay home and be with her and he misses out on the day to day things that I take for granted. Sunday nap time is one of their traditions and I love watching them.

It's adorable to watch her curl up on his lap or rest her head on his chest and settle in for a nap. I take a picture of it almost every Sunday. It's fun to watch how much she has grown through these photos. Sometimes I'm tempted to curl up next to them and nap too, but I refrain because this is their time and I'm happy to just be the onlooker.

Thrifty Baseball Game Outing

This week's Thrifty Thursday post is all about saving money at professional sports events.Robert and I are huge San Francisco Giants fans. We are lucky to live less than an hour from the stadium, so we can go to a game or two each season. Between tickets, parking and concessions costs, each game can easily run $250 or more. This simply isn't in our budget, so I've picked up some tips that have help save us at least $100 per game. 

1. Buy tickets when they're first on sale. Most sport teams use market rate pricing, so big games cost more and the closer it is to game day the tickets get more expensive.  We bought our tickets the day they went on sale and paid just under $100 total for 2 tickets. 4 weeks before the game they would have cost $118 each. 
2. Parking lots closer to the stadium are $40. If you're willing to walk a few extra blocks you can find parking for $30. If public transportation is an option you can cut your parking cost completely.
3. You can bring soft sided coolers into the stadium. Food has to be wrapped in clear plastic, and apples and oranges must be quartered. Unopened plastic bottles and juice pouches/boxes are allowed. I froze two Capri Suns to use as ice in our cooler. I packed 6 bottles of water, sandwiches,  chips, oranges, strawberries, and snacks. I bought a few candy treats and some peanuts from the bulk bins at Winco so we weren't tempted to buy anything at the stadium. We each had a beer to enjoy as our treat with dinner and called it good. 

 Our Cost - $186
Tickets - $100
Parking - $30
Gas - $20
Toll - $6
Beer - $20 (YIKES!)
Dinner & snacks - $10

Non-Thrifty Cost - $388
Tickets - $236
Parking - $40
Gas - $20
Toll - $6
Beer - $20 (YIKES!)
Dinner & snacks - $36

Water - $30 ($5 for a bottle of water is RIDICULOUS)

Total Savings - $202

Little things add up. Read up on stadium policies and see what you can and can't bring with you so you can save money and still see your favorite teams.

Lou Seal!

The happiest place on Earth!

Go Giants!

Sandwiches, and some snacks. I added more fruit and water before we left.

Relay for Life Fundraiser

Those of you who know me in real life know that my grandma passed away in 2009 from pancreatic cancer. Ever since he diagnosis, I have been more of an advocate for cancer research than I was before. This year Emma is crawling in the Relay for Life in memory of her Grammy. Our family also lost my beautiful Aunt Peggy this week, so Emma will have two angels guiding her around the track that day.

I have opened an Initials Inc party to help raise the rest of the money to meet our goal. 20% of the sales will be donated to Relay for Life. Here's the link to the party, select Emma's Relay for Life Fundraiser from the events list.

Please share it with your friends and place your individual orders through the party. For every $35 you spend, you can get the Lunch Lady for only $12.50. This is more than just a lunch bag, it also makes a great cosmetic bag, snack bag for the kids and medicine bag. The possibilities are endless.

You can also donate directly on Emma's fundraising page

UPDATE

My friend Sarah has agreed to donate 20% of Mary Kay sakes too. All you have to do is shop online at www.marykay.com/sarahbethdeaton and mention Emma Dunn in the comments.