The High Chair Dilemma

Remember how I said I was going to get a hanging high chair for the little mister?

Well, I did, but I had to send it back.

After googling around and reading reviews, I picked the Summer Infant Secureseat Booster.

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I knew the potential downfalls from reading the reviews, but I hoped they wouldn't be problems for us. Naturally, that wasn't the case. The arms wouldn't allow the chair to be attached to our dining table or our counter. I suspected it wouldn't fit on the table because of the size of the aprons, but I didn't anticipate the counter being a problem. There's not enough depth to the counter for the arms to fully extend underneath.

This particular chair can also be used as a booster (which is one reason I was really hoping it would work out- a twofer would mean less money spent in the long run), but there's not enough space to slide the booster under the table apron when it's attached to a chair, so TLM is too far away from the table surface. There's a removable tray, but the overall setup still doesn't work because the chair has to be so far away from the table- it just gets in the way.

After some deliberation and research, and the realization that all hook-on chairs would have the same issues, as would booster chairs, we decided to give an actual high chair a try. I know, the horror! I hate high chairs and have never wanted one. The giant plastic monstrosities are so ugly!

After looking around, we decided to give the Summer Infant Bentwood High Chair a try:

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The pros: The seat is adjustable: it reclines and moves up and down; the large tray can be moved in our out, the chair folds up to be put away, the trays can be removed and the chair used as a toddler chair, it looks much nicer than the ugly plastic high chairs, and is less expensive than the other wood option we considered.

The cons: There's a weird fixed smaller tray under the large tray that can only be removed when you convert it to a toddler chair, the legs spread out farther than I'd like (though this makes it more stable).

The other wood high chair we considered had a smaller footprint (the legs didn't spread as wide, but the design of them was such that I would probably constantly be tripping over them), and no weird fixed tray to get in the way, but the seat was not adjustable and it was more expensive.

Here's where it pays to google around for the best price and not just trust Amazon to have the lowest price. Frequently they do, but definitely not in this case.

amazon + shipping (no prime available): $296
manufacturer's site + free ground shipping: $180
Meijer (on sale) + free shipping: $119

Obviously, I ordered from Meijer's site. It was the first time I've ordered from their site, but since I was familiar with the store (they're kind of like Target, and there was one in the area when I was in high school), I wasn't too worried about ordering from them.

I'm glad I took the time to comparison shop: $177 is a huge price difference. $119 put us at slightly more expensive than the cheaper plastic monstrosities but a lot cheaper than most higher-end chairs, plastic or wood.

The chair arrived today and only took a few minutes to assemble.

With just the snack tray and the seat raised to the highest level. 

I was hoping it would fit over the tabletop, but no such luck.

The larger tray clipped on over the snack tray.

Full length shot.

Folded up- it fits nicely in the corner next to the shoe bin. 

The large tray clips to the back of the legs for storage.

Final thoughts for now: I like the way it looks, but the snack tray is a pain, like the reviews warned us. TLM's chubby legs go in easily, but it is hard to pull him back out without scraping his legs. We will probably end up just taking the trays off and scooting him up to the table. The harness will still keep him in the chair. Like others mentioned in their reviews, it's a shame the tray is in a fixed position. I think they did that because there's a plastic leg divider attached to the underside of the tray that makes it harder for little ones to slide out of the chair and fall. If the tray was moveable in some way it would solve the problem of getting the kiddos in and out without scraping their legs. Other than that, I think it will work out well.

Some smiles from TLM :)

This week he decided he didn't want to be in his bouncy chair on the floor during meal times- he wanted to be held by Mr M or I so he could see what was going on. I think the chair arrived just in time!

Ranch-less Salads or How I Finally Discovered that Vinaigrettes can be Yummy

I've always been a big fan of ranch dressing: on salads, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, dip for pizza or veggies, you name it. But it had to be Hidden Valley Ranch. Or the ranch dressing from the BYU Creamery (yum!).  However, I recognize that ranch dressing is not the healthiest condiment around and since it's not allowed on GAPS or Paleo I needed to find a substitute.

I've tried vinaigrette dressings before, but always been underwhelmed by them. The sharp, overly acidic flavors didn't complement the salad and didn't entice me to want to keep eating salads that were not topped with ranch.

That all changed last week when Mr M brought home some peach and pear elderflower vinegar from a guy he works with. He mixed it with some olive oil and drizzled it on some salad, and Yum! What a difference! We tasted the vinaigrette by itself and it even tasted good alone.

Mr M's co-worker also told him about a store (Oil & Vinegar) nearby that sells a wide variety of vinegars and olive oils. After realizing that vinaigrettes can actually taste good and would help us in our quest to eat healthier, we decided we had to stop by and see what they had to offer.

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They have a wall with large glass flasks full of vinegars and oils. The guy who helped us was super helpful and let us taste different combinations to see which ones we liked. The problem was that we liked them all :) We had a hard time narrowing down our choices.

LMS was partial to the strawberry balsam vinegar and the chocolate vinegar. The chocolate vinegar was interesting: very reminiscent of a chocolate tootsie pop. This wasn't a bad thing, just a bit… different.

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We ended up picking the blood orange olive oil and strawberry balsam vinegar and cranberry balsam vinegar. If they weren't on the pricey side, we'd have brought home some of each- they were that good! When we finish these, we'll go back and choose some different flavors.

We've actually been eating salads every night, something we've struggled with in the past, and we're all enjoying them, even LMS, who was also a firm believer in the tastiness of ranch dressing.

Even though the oils and vinegars are more expensive than the standard options available in the grocery store, we feel they are well worth it. The higher quality and wider variety of choices makes such a difference in taste and nicely complement the flavor of the veggies in out salads.

What are your thoughts on vinaigrettes?

Sunday Funny

Not too long ago, I posted this pic of LMS when she was a baby:

and then recently I caught these photos of TLM:

While it looks like they both are enjoying their pacifiers and want to make sure it doesn't fall out, that's not quite the case. LMS loved her pacifier, but TLM doesn't. He still really wants to suck his thumb, and I've caught him sucking his thumb and pacifier at the same time. 

So those pics above? He's really getting ready to slide his thumb in under the edge and into his mouth. Eventually the pacifier gets edged out all together, the little stinker :)

Mr M's New Favorite Toy

What is it? It's not a black mini-frig, it's a smoker.

Mr M has been as giddy as a school boy with a new toy :)

He started out by making a couple batches of jerky.

The first he left in a little long so it was a bit dry and a little crunchy, but it tasted good.

He used a really good cut of meat for the second batch of jerky. Oops. We didn't realize what a good cut it was, but it made really good jerky :)

the color is off because of crappy lighting. it wasn't really this pink.

After trying the jerky, he decided to get adventurous and smoke some bacon. We can buy pork bellies from local forested pigs from our online grocery service, so we ordered a pound of pork belly and got started. It takes a few days, but the results are totally worth it.

Mr M brined the pork bellies for 48 hours, then drained and rinsed the meat. Next, he patted the meat dry and sprinkled it with a peppercorn seasoning. He let it sit for 24 hours, then put it in the smoker at 180* for about 5 hours, using a 50/50 mixture of apple and hickory chips.

Once the meat was smoked, it was finally time to slice it, fry it up, and eat it!

 brined, peppered, and smoked pork belly 

slicing the meat (we don't own a meat slicer, so Mr M had to do it by hand)

frying the bacon

ready to eat with eggs fried in the yummy bacon grease

The bacon goes from frying to burnt in no time flat, so you have to watch it closely as it gets close to being finished.

This bacon was SO GOOD! Seriously, Mr M and I have never tasted bacon with so much flavor. Store bought stuff just doesn't compare. 

I don't think we'll be able to go back to store bought bacon. When I placed our online grocery service order this week, I ordered 5 pounds of pork belly. We'll smoke it all up at once, then slice it, portion it out, and freeze it for later. My mouth is watering just thinking about it as I type :)

Have you ever smoked your own meat?

Close Encounters of the Gluten Kind

A blurry picture, like all the good ones of TLM smiling. Such good smiles, though :)

The clear pictures all look similar to this one:

These pics have nothing to do with the post, but they're cute and I had to share them.

Thursday night I got glutened for first time in two years (almost exactly). The last time was our first trip to WDW, and I got glutened two days in a row, which was definitely not fun.

So much time has passed since my last reaction that I'd started hoping I wasn't as sensitive as I was in the past. This doesn't seem to be the case though, since I'm still not completely sure how I got glutened. My best guess is contamination at dinner time, but I'm not certain. If that's what it was, it would have been a minuscule crumb or two that would have caused all these problems. Of course, it's not the first time crumbs have caused me problems.

It's disappointing, but also a good wake-up call. I haven't been quite as diligent as I should be at avoiding "shared facility" items, and I haven't been double-checking the counters before using them. Mr M has not quite gone gluten free (he's finishing up a few items we already had), and though we both try to be careful, there's room for improvement.

My first tip-off was the insomnia that had me lying in bed at 1 am, wide awake. Not long after the insomnia hit, the burning stomach pain showed up. I hate this part- dealing with constant pain is exhausting. I had some nausea, but it wasn't too bad. I had some intestinal issues, but not as bad as last time, probably because I didn't get glutened two days in a row.

I don't remember the symptoms hanging around quite as long as they did this time. I still had some residual nausea and stomach pain Saturday morning, though it went away as the day progressed.

I am a bit concerned about the effect on TLM. LMS definitely had tummy issues because of gluten I ate (I didn't go gluten free till she was 3 years old) and I had hoped to avoid that with TLM since this time around I am gluten free. We didn't notice any tummy troubles in him, so hopefully one small gluten exposure didn't do too much damage.

I'd forgotten about the stomach issues giving me the munchies. In an effort to calm the burning stomach pain, my body wants sweets and/or carbs. The timing sucks though, since we're transitioning to GAPS/Paleo and don't have much in the way of sweets or gf crackers/cookies/etc sitting around any more. It adds to the stress of not feeling good and being very tired from pain and lack of sleep because the insomnia kept me up so late. Early? I finally fell asleep about half an hour before Mr M's alarm went off.

Sunday night I found this article that talks about a new blood test that claims to be almost 100% accurate and requires only 4 days of gluten ingestion rather than the 4-6 weeks the current tests require. That would be significantly less physically overwhelming, but I still don't think it's worth it. I don't think even 4 days is doable for me. I'd still have to eat significant amounts of gluten during those four days, and I'd be pretty much useless for anything. I'd be curled up on a couch, feeling like I was dying, but not actually dying.

I don't know when this test will become available, but it's not something I'm willing to do anytime soon, since I won't do it while breastfeeding TLM. In the meantime, hopefully I can go even longer than two years before my next gluten experience.

Sunday Funny

After catching The Little Mister doing this:

We did this:

Don't you just love his expression? 

"Awww, man, I just wanted to suck my thumb."

He's learning consequences for his actions at a young age.

thumb sucking =  socks on the hands

Though if he really wants to suck his thumb, he'll do it even with the sock covering it.

Baby Legs for Boys

I made a bunch of baby legs for the Little Miss when she was younger, but unfortunately they're all pink, purple, flowers, or sparkles. Not the best choices for a little boy. 

In my search for more "masculine", or at least not-too-girly, knee high socks, I only found a few options. I found gray, brown, black and white stripes, gray with navy polka dots, and black at Target for $2-3 a pair. I couldn't find knee high socks for guys, so had to make due with the least-girly women's knee highs. Target has a lot of cute knee highs, but not very many that are suitable for little boys.

I used the same method I found here, that I used when I made LMS' baby legs. They come together pretty quickly, especially now that I have a Serger. When I made LMS', I had to zig-zag the seams, which took longer.

They're a bit long, but he'll grow into them in no time.

Since it's winter, they help keep his chubby legs warm in between the many diaper changes and the potty visits. Saves me a few dozen snapping-unsnapping of outfits :)

Easy Adjustable Baby Bow Tie

The Little Mister has a cute Sunday shirt that I found at Crazy8, and this is actually the second one I've bought him. The first was part of his blessing outfit, but he's outgrown it already. When I went looking for a replacement, I found a larger size on the clearance rack. Score!

 The only problem with these shirts was that the plaid bow tie was sewn on. Since I'm not buying multiple white shirts for a kiddo who will outgrow them in just a couple months, I removed the bow tie so it would match all the sweaters and pants we might pair it with.

But what to do with the little bow tie? It's too cute to just throw away, and it does match one of his sweaters.

I decided to make it into an adjustable bow tie, similar to this adjustable neck tie that we got from one of his cousins.

I carefully removed the bow tie from the shirt. It was just tacked down with two rows of stitches and came off easily.

Here it is with the bow tie removed.

The back of the bow tie. It was sewed together, so even when removed it held its shape.

I gathered my materials: the bow tie, some wide velcro, and some twill tape.

I used the blue neck tie to get an idea of how long to cut the twill tape (elastic would work also), and cut a thin piece of velcro.

I sewed the velcro pieces to the ends of the twill tape with my sewing machine, then hand-sewed the bow tie to the twill tape at the midpoint.

And now our little cutie can wear a bow tie:

the shirt's a little big for him, so it makes his chubby neck disappear even more than it already does :)

Or a {clip-on} tie:

Or a sweater vest and tie:

The twill tape is thin enough and narrow enough that it easily hides under his collar. The velcro makes it easy to adjust and easy to remove.

Such a handsome little boy!

Growing Like a Weed

crappy lighting, but I love the smiles

I forgot to mention this in TLM's 3 month post

Know how we always talk about how fast kids, especially babies, grow?

The Little Mister is no exception. I woke up Christmas Eve morning and I swear he was bigger than he'd been when we went to bed the night before.

Anyone else have that experience?

Sunday Funny

I mentioned on Thursday that TLM has discovered his tongue. Here's some funny pictures we've managed to take recently.

The first three were all taken within a few minutes of each other, the fourth was on a different day.

just the tip of his tongue showing = cute

looking slightly cross-eyed = he'll probably hate us for this one when he gets older :)

why are you guys laughing at me?  (love the eyebrows!)

me looking down at him in the Boba carrier, catching just the tip of his tongue out

New Goals for 2014

My word for this year is

Balance replaces discipline, which was the word for the last couple years, and which I didn't really achieve, though I did try. The two words are related, so I feel like it's a continuation of one to the other.

I haven't updated my goals and their progress since the end of June. I achieved some of them, but the rest got lost by the wayside when I got pregnant. The new year is a good time to re-evaluate and update my goals. Writing them down does help me to remember them and not just let them slide.

This year I'm focusing on four areas: running, food, finances, and time management.

Running
I talked about my postpartum exercise plans and the races I want to run here. Since then I've had to change things up a bit. Mr M now has a training thing that overlaps the spring half marathon I'd planned on running. Logistics are such that I'm not doing it without him around to help with the kiddos. I found a couple other half marathons in the area, but they're earlier in the year and I don't want to run a half without properly training for it.

In changing up my race schedule, I've also added some more races. If I'd been able to do the New Year's Day 5k, I'd have a race scheduled every month this year! Having monthly races scheduled will keep me motivated in my training and help me work towards my fall half marathon. I'd really like to be properly trained and prepared for it and I think the monthly races should help me stay on track. The races listed below without links are the ones I haven't done before, except the half marathon. Since we'll travel to get to that one, I don't mind linking to its site.

January-      New Year's Day 5k
February-    4 mile (give or take a bit) Mud Run
March-        a 5k
April-          an 8k
May-           a 5k
June-           a 5k
July-            a 10k
August-       4 miler
September-  Great Smokey Mountains Half Marathon
October-      Halloween 5k
November-  Turkey Trot 5k
December-   a 5k

And looking ahead to 2015:
January-      New Year's Day 5k
February-    4 mile Mud Run
March-        a 5k, 10 miler, or a local half marathon
April-          an 8k or a local half marathon
May-           a 5k
June-           a 5k
maybe a Ragnar Relay race in June or September and a semi-local half marathon in November

Food
Now that The Little Mister is here and the holidays are over, it's time to get the food situation back in order. I haven't been feeling too bad with how I've been eating, but it's only a matter of time before it does start causing problems. So it's time to clean up the bad habits I picked up since the morning sickness started almost a year ago. The two major issues: sugar and grains. The Little Miss and I need to make more progress healing our intestines, so we're going back on GAPS. Since I'm nursing and have to be careful about detoxing and going too low carb, we'll skip GAPS Intro and go straight to full GAPS.

I indulged a bit too much over the holidays and my weight has crept back up, so I'm hoping that eliminating grains and sugar will jump-start my weight loss. I really want to get my weight down where it should be. It will be a challenge to balance nursing, running, and GAPS, but the end result of better health will be worth it.

Mr M works with a bunch of guys who are paleo.  Since he wants to lose some weight and make things a bit easier on us (like not eating things we can't have in front of us), he's going to give it a try. Full Gaps is similar to paleo, so we'll be mixing the two up, seeing what works for us.

One key to making this work is planning out our meals. I've done this in the past with great success, but it got dropped when I stopped cooking last year. I've started planning menus again and am remembering how nice it is not to be staring in the frig at 5 pm, wondering what to make for dinner.

Finances
We've been piddling around for several years now, saying "we'll get out of debt this year", but not managing it. This is the year it actually happens. We've had a loose budget for years, but now we're tightening it up and tracking everything more closely so we can eliminate unnecessary spending. Our food budget (or lack of one) is a big offender.

We've been shopping at Whole Foods, Kroger, Sam's, Target, Amazon, our CSA, and a local online grocery service. It all adds up really quick.

I'm changing things up so that our bulk dry goods, including TP and diapers, come from Amazon. Their "Subscribe and Save" option allows you to auto-ship certain items every month, every other other month, etc. If you have 5 or more items in each month's order, you get a 20% discount on the overall cost. In addition, Amazon occasionally offers coupons for some of the items, and the coupon can be stacked with the discount.  We have a Prime account, so shipping is free, and the items end up being about the same as we would spend in a brick and mortar store. Some months it's a little more, some months it's a little less, so it all averages out. The added advantage of not being tempted to buy things not on my shopping list as I wander through the store means we save even more more.

About a year ago we started buying from a local CSA, but we were still purchasing items from Whole Foods and Kroger. We recently found a local online grocery service that sources items from Whole Foods and small local stores and producers. So now we purchase pastured eggs, grass-fed meats, and some fruit and veg from the CSA, and the rest of our fruit, veg, grass-fed dairy, grass-fed meats, and any other food items we need from the online grocery service.

The CSA delivers to our house once a week and we pick up our order from the grocery service at a location that's only 10 minutes from our house (about 20 minutes closer than Whole Foods). They deliver to that location twice a week, and deliver to other locations in the area on other days, so we have options if we need something but don't want to make the trek to Whole Foods. The interesting thing is that some of the items that come from Whole Foods are cheaper this way than in the store. The service itself is free (they make their money from the grocery stores and producers), and again, I'm not buying things not on my list, plus I'm spending less on gas, so we're saving money.

Organizing our shopping around Amazon, the CSA, and the grocery service requires actual menus and planning, which helps our budget and helps me be more organized. My goal is to avoid stores as much as possible, so planning ahead and being organized is a must.

We've enjoyed them, but we'll be selling the truck and trailer and buying Mr M a more economical vehicle. The truck gets atrocious mileage when used for commuting (which Mr M does), and we've decided we want to upgrade the trailer to a small RV. It'll take us a couple years to save up for the RV, but since we need to sell the truck, we need to sell the trailer too. All this will allow us to save money on gas and vehicle payments. The trailer is paid for but the truck isn't. When we buy a car for Mr M, we'll be paying for it outright. The money we save can then be put into savings for our future RV.

Time Management
Over the past couple years, my time has skewed a bit heavily towards projects around the house. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and the vast majority of what I wanted to get done is now done. This is a good thing since newborns are a lot more high maintenance than 7 year olds, and take up a lot more time :) Our adoption file is on hold till fall, but once TLM is 1 year old, we can reactivate our file. Depending on the timing, we could potentially end up with two little ones very close in age, which will further decrease my project time. So it was good that I was able to get as much done as I have the last year or so.

With the big projects finished, I now need to improve the balance between my activities. Schoolwork with LMS, caring for TLM, housework (which I dislike, so it gets pushed to the back burner), meal prep, church responsibilities, time with Mr M, projects (I still need to work on some things), running….

So, lots to work on, but I've started making baby steps on each of them, so the goals are totally do-able.

3 Months Old

He's still a very solemn baby, but his smiles are becoming more frequent and he keeps trying to laugh. He hasn't quite managed it, but it's funny to hear him try. I still have a hard time catching the smiles on camera. He sees the camera come out and decides he's done smiling. I put it away, and he's all smiles again.

my current favorite pic of the little guy

The Little Mister still really wants his thumb, even if it's covered in fabric (a sock, a blanket, a sleeve). He'll pull out the pacifier and put in his thumb, though I've also caught him on several occasions with both thumb and pacifier in his mouth. I think he knows what he's doing- he'll smile at me as he puts his thumb in his mouth :) That spark of mischievousness has me a little concerned for when he gets older. I've heard the stories about the things Mr M and his brother did when they were younger :)

He seems to want his thumb the most when he's tired or hungry, so I'm working on following his cues, though it's not always convenient. He invariably gets the most insistent when I'm making dinner.

TLM has discovered his tongue and is always sticking it out now. Sometimes it's cute, but sometimes not so much. I've got another post planned with some pictures to illustrate the point.

TLM has very expressive eyebrows. He raises them, furrows them, etc. The furrowed brow that he frequently has makes him look like he's trying to figure out what's going on. My brother's oldest son could raise one eyebrow as an infant, but we haven't seen TLM do that yet.

Outside on a pretty nice day while I raked leaves. He was less than impressed and wanted to go back inside immediately.

"What's going on here?" Confusion Christmas morning.

He rarely sneezes just once: it's almost always 4-5 times in a row.

Remember how I mentioned his hair? Love it!