a little bit of static

fevering

update:

Liam is definitely his father's son.

Just the mention of taking him to the doctor seems to have been enough motivation for him to get well. He woke up this morning chipper and bouncy as normal. And no fever. He even ate a whole bowl of oatmeal and has been asking for extra snacks all morning. It seems that his immune system has worked it all out. This Mama sighs with relief.

We almost made it through the winter, and Liam's first 2 years of life, without him suffering through any significant sickness. Until this weekend, that is.

The poor little guy took a 4 1/2 hour nap Friday afternoon.

That's when I knew something was coming.

By Saturday morning he was running a fever that has ebbed and flowed depending on the Tylenol in his system, and the pattern continued through today. He took a 2 hour nap in the morning, and then again in the afternoon, and he was ready for an early bedtime. We put him to bed with a fever of 102.5 and yet another dose of Tylenol. If he is still sick tomorrow, I'll be taking him to the doctor (it will be his first visit that isn't a regular wellness check-up...). He doesn't have any other symptoms besides the fever, but he sure seems miserable.

Here's to wishes of good health.

at the fire station

Today, Liam and I joined Rochelle and Sage for a morning tour of the local fire station with the Mothering Matters crew.

What do you get when you crowd a group of toddlers, their camera-wielding mothers, assorted strollers, and firefighters who want to talk about the details of their work? A little bit of chaos, a few temper tantrums, and lots of happy little boys.

Liam thought all of the trucks were great, all of the kids a bit intimidating, and the noisy gear a little scary. He anxiously clung to another mom's leg at one point, thinking it was me. But all in all, he had a good morning.

Trying to get good pictures was tricky. You could definitely say these boys were a bit distracted.

So many trucks. Where to begin?
Modeling the serious observer look.

Learning about the jaws of life. Sage thought it was a vacuum...

More serious observing while trying out the passenger seat in the big ladder truck.

He especially liked all the tires...

Future firefighter? I'm not sure if the pacifier is standard gear...

Thanks, Rochelle and Sage, for taking us along for the tour.

Weekending - part 2

I just droppped, shattered, splashed, and spilled a brand new, unopened, bottle of good red wine vinegar.

Grrr...

At least I have my Shark mop to clean it up.

Weekending

We awoke to rain pattering on our roof this morning and a still-sleeping Liam. After taking a long shower, I checked on him downstairs only to discover him sleeping on his stomach in the middle of the rug on his bedroom floor. He's still sleeping that way one hour later.

It has already been a nice weekend.

Friday evening my mom came out to visit and watch Grey's Anatomy, good episode, by the way, and she surprised me with a Shark Steam Mop of my very own. This is unbelievably exciting. You have to understand that our tile floors in the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room have been a constant battle that usually ends with me on my hands and kness with a scrub brush, a pail of soapy water, and a back ache every month or so. Between the dog, a messy little boy, a messy big boy, and all the cooking I do, that floor gets gross quick. And I'm not exactly in the get-on-your-hands-and-knees-to-scrub-the-floor-condition these days.

Enter the Shark. I don't usually like gadgety contraptions, but this one is worth every penny. You plug it in and it is ready to go within 30 seconds, and it uses only water to clean the floors. It literally steams them clean. It even cleaned all of those dips and grooves in our natural-look tile floors. And it does the wood floors, too. We, meaning my mom and Gabriel, took turns mopping the entire house yesterday morning.

I'll feel so much better having another little one crawling on the floor in the not-too-distant future without having to worry about the grimy floor.

Hurray!

Last night, Gabriel and I left a sleeping Liam with our neighbor Trish so we could go to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Walton Arts Center. I won tickets from NPR (just call me Miss 25th caller...), and it was so nice to have a date night. The music was amazing. Thanks again, Trish, for being such a great neighbor.

Apparently, listening to the radio really pays off. Look what was in my mailbox a few weeks ago:
That's right, $5 cash. All I had to do was fill out the simple survey about my radio listening habits. Actually, I could have just pocketed the cash and forgotten about the survey. But I didn't, don't worry.

So now I'm off to enjoy the last of our weekend, coffee in hand. We made doughnuts yesterday to satisfy the very unfortunate problem of what to do with leftover pastry cream. Another is calling my name :-)

The eco-nomical baby guide

When Liam was just a few months old, I stumbled upon The Green Baby Guide. I was new to the blogging world and was just beginning to discover the wonders of finding like-minded mamas all over the world. In my little circle here in Northwest Arkansas, I have many wonderful friends with young children of their own, but I struggled with feelings of isolation. NWA has its own little pockets of crunchy people, but no one I knew (yet) had similar philosophies of child-raising. People who cloth-diapered their babes. People who favored wearing the little ones in wraps and slings instead of carting them around in strollers, lugging them around in car seats, or plopping them in various battery-operated gizmos. People who were concerned about plastics, processed foods, and other toxins. People who cared about all these things but still seemed normal. I found all of these things in Joy and Rebecca's posts.

And so it was with a great deal of anticipation that I dug through their first book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down to Earth Ways to Save Money and the Planet.

The main message of the book is simple: buy less, buy used, and buy items with the health of your child and the planet in mind.

Their advice covers the entire spectrum of new parents, from those who are not (yet) concerned about environmental impact to the tofu-eating, prius-driving, straw-bale-home-living greenies. Their recommendations are practical, proving that you don't have to be rich to afford raising baby green.

They give the financial run-down of their own preparing for baby purchases, comparing their own spending with both the national average and the ever-popular Baby Bargains. Together, they saved an average of 85% of what the average American spends on baby gear, and 75% of what the average baby bargain shopper would spend.

Their common-sense approach does away with big-box store baby registry must-haves, and instead focuses on baby's real necessities (page 24):

• a place for baby to sleep
• a way to feed baby
• a way to diaper baby
• a way to keep baby warm
• a way to care for baby's health and safety

They go into detail about what this practically looks like, and they acknowledge that this won't look the same for everybody.

My thoughts towards baby necessities were very similar leading up to Liam's birth. We chose to simplify things as much as possible, and I don't regret any of those decisions. In fact, he still has more than he needs, despite our best intentions to make-do with less.

I wish that I would have had this book before he was born almost exclusively for the fantastic chapters on cloth diapering. I knew that I wanted to cloth diaper, but I had no idea what this would look like on a practical level. My online research revealed a bewildering assortment of options, everything from pre-folds to A.I.O.'s (all-in-one diapers).

This book goes through all of the options available today, stressing that cloth-diapering today is not only just as easy as disposables, it's also even enjoyable. They list the pros and cons of the different diapering options as well as the cost factors, including the facts about energy usage and laundering supplies and what to do about smelly diaper issues. They also give the run-down on the "green" disposable diaper options. They even include diagrams of how to actually use pre-fold diapers in a cover without pins or snappis. I had to figure out a lot of this on my own. These chapter's alone make the book a must-read.

That, and the words of wisdom by yours truly on page 72...

All of that said, I think the book is great. It's a great resource to have on hand and to pass along to inquisitive friends. Crystal, this book is coming your way :-)

The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down to Earth Ways to Save Money and the Planet is available on Amazon.

rough day

Liam woke up on the wrong side of his big boy bed today.

I felt like I never woke up all the way.

I drank lots of tea.

Liam whined his way through the day.

And he didn't nap.

I drank more tea.

Liam climbed into the open clothes dryer and peed in it.

More tea for me.

But as bad as mine and Liam's day turned out to be, one of our Plymouth Rock chickens (the black and white speckled ones) had a much worse day. It was her last.

I discovered her in our pond this evening not long before Gabriel got home from work. She was floating on the surface, like a duck would, but her eyes were open and cloudy. She must have fallen though the melting ice and slowly froze to death. So, so sad.

Liam noticed her, too. He kept saying chicken fall in pond, sad, chicken died... over and over again.

We watched out the window as Gabriel fished her out and buried her next to the hawthorn tree. Amazingly, the ground was thawed to the point where he could dig a deep enough hole.

We thanked her for our eggs, I shed a few tears, and Liam said bye bye chicken.