Rainey at 18 months

Time has really flown with this little doll.



I mean it. It's pretty hard to stop and gather your thoughts for posts about all of the changes/milestones/new words your precious babe has had when she doesn't stop moving. Ever. If you don't stay right with her you'll find her into or on top of something she shouldn't be. She loves the tabletop, drawers, cabinets, keys, the trash can...unlike Sam at this age Rainey doesn't seem to have scruples, or any sense of self-preservation. She runs everywhere and is always so very interested in whatever I ("Mama") or Brother ("Baba") happen to be doing. If you tell her no, or stop, she gives you this impish grin and then looks you straight in the eye as she continues to do whatever it is. Busy, busy, busy chickie.

I don't have stats on her yet, her well-check isn't for another couple of weeks. But she's gotten lots heavier and taller so I'm pretty sure she'll keep her 60/40 height/weight %iles.

Aside from keeping all of us on our toes, here are some things about our spirited girl that I want to remember:

Food

Food can be a little tricky. She wasn't the worlds biggest fan of baby food. She never went for baby oatmeal and as soon as she understood that she was eating something different from the rest of us it was completely over. Trying to feed a baby with only a sprinkling of front teeth spaghetti, brisket, apples...you name it...when she won't let you mush it to oblivion gets tricky. I just kept the BLW/Baby 411 tips in my head, tried to shut out the mommy guilt/fear, and trusted that if she needed to eat more or differently she'd make it clear. She finally has had 4 of her molars break through and we can pretty much give her anything now.

She likes: beans, most fruits (all of which she currently calls "nana"), crackers ("kak-rrrrrr"), popcorn, most meats, some veggies, and she prefers her beans/meats/veggies cooked in a sauce or soup. If its just roasted, steamed or mashed she's not super crazy about it. Like her brother she's snack ("nak") time crazy and like her Daddy ("dada") she's nuts for cookies ("kook") and sweets in general. If its curried lentils and rice for dinner you can't give her enough and she'll typically eat more than Sam at dinner.

She doesn't like:
Avocado, green beans, dairy...Seriously, the girl will squinch up her mouth and turn her head at a spoon of ice cream. Yogurt, cheese & cow's Milk? Nope. Goat milk, nope. Almond or soy? Nope and nope. Coconut milk? Occasionally. Pretty much if its white or cheesy its a no go. This is a major change from Sam who would eat milk, cheese and bread all day every day. Since she hasn't tired of nursing our pediatrician and I decided not to totally wean quite yet so she still gets the healthy lipids. The girl loves water ("wower") though, she'll drink tons and tons of it.

Breakfast has proved to be a tricky meal. Since dry cereal takes forever she gets bored quickly. I've taken to making a hot cereal that has small grains with coconut milk in it for both of us and just alternating bites for each of us. It took forever for me to get her to even try it though, I guess because it looks a little creamy. Sigh.

Motoring:

Well, the girl started walking at 10 months and picked up speed quickly. She is lightning fast. She can climb onto anything and can push a chair or carry a stool over to anything she can't. And she will. She loves to dig around in the pen/post-it/office supply drawer which she has to get onto our computer chair to reach. In the kitchen she's fascinated with the cabinets and everything in them.



Pretty much she loves to open anything. Child-resistant medicine caps are NOT Rainey-resistant. She can also get into lotion, sanitizer (yipes!), or pop the cap off of anything. If you bust her being bad, or tell her to put something back she just turns around and runs. Fast. We are very fortunate to not have had any really terrible mishaps.

She LOVES to be outside ("eye"). In fact, this is often the best way to keep her out of trouble. There's only so much damage she can do in a fenced in yard. Except she prefers the front yard, naturally. She's a free-range chickie, David's parents ("Nan Nan & Bub Bub") house is heaven for her. Lots of outside to play in. (The inside scares mommy to death. But I won't go there.)



She loves to play with her shopping cart, "ball", princess castle and baby dolls ("yie yie") Rainey also commandeered one of my scarves as a lovey. I've tried to wear it a few times and she just screams bloody murder until I take it off and hand it over. She is only now starting to sit still long enough to be read to and often will start doing her own thing with the pages while I'm reading. Current favorites are "the belly button book" and "curious George and the rocket".


Personality:
In case you didn't get my drift, this sweetheart has a mind of her own. She has lots of cuddles and kisses and loves to be held. She is shy around strangers and in places that aren't home is generally much slower to start running around like a madwoman. She is a great imitator and will ape almost any sound Sam makes with his toys and likes to "put on makeup" with me. She has a very loud shriek that she will give you when she doesn't get her way, and an imperious pointer finger that will show you exactly what she wants. She's also started to say "diss" for 'this' I think. If you ask her a question she'll give you a "mmm-hmm" for yes and "mmm-mmm" for no.



Random things:
She'll tuck my/her scarf or any blanket type thing under her chin and then lay down on it.

She has to pick out her own spoon/fork to eat with.

She adores shoes ("boosh"). And bows "booh" and hats "haa". Whether they stay on or not is a different story. For awhile shoes were the first thing she wanted in the morning and the last thing she took off at night, but it's less so now. But if she thinks you're leaving the house she'll run and grab a pair of them because she doesn't want to be left out.

She loves to look out the windows at squirrels/dogs ("D"), and birds ("brr").

She points out flowers, ("wow")

She loves to tell people "bye" or "buh-bye". She'll say "hi" sometimes too but not as much.

She loves to play chase with her Baba. She does NOT love being caught or in any way restrained.

She has apparently decided that Caspian's crate is Yie-yie's crib.

She is still in cloth diapers and we still love it. One nice thing about them is she's already aware of when she's going potty. ("Tee-tee" or "teen-tee") fingers crossed for early potty training!

She continues to LOVE having baths ("baff") and the bathroom in general. It was her happy place as a baby and it still is. If I take a shower when she's awake it's pretty much a given she'll hop in too. With all her clothes on. And shoes.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

This one is a cautionary tale. I learned a lot in 24 hours about citric acid/lemi-shine and what happens when you combine it with borax, washing soda and salt. FYI - you get a rock. A coarse, very hard, not very useful rock. So attempt #1 really never got off the ground. Should you prefer dry dishwasher detergent mix 2 cups of borax, 2 cups of washing soda, and 1 cup of salt. Store the lemi-shine separately and then just add 1T of the mix to a heaping teaspoon of lemi-shine to the dispenser.

Or...you can be like me, give up, and just make a liquid instead. Sorry, 2 containers is just too complicated for me.

I used this recipe from Choosing Simplicity. I also use her household cleaner with tea tree oil. Moving on...

(Pictures to come...if I remember...)

The Ingredients:
16 cups water, divided
1 1/2 cups washing soda
1 cup borax
1/2 cup Dr. Brenner's Pure Liquid Castile Soap (I have lavender...and no, I haven't read all that's printed around the bottle but I'm guessing it's odd.)

Directions:
Boil 8 cups of water, then add the washing soda, borax and castile soap, stirring until everything has dissolved. Stir in remaining 8 cups and allow to cool; then pour it into the container(s) of your choice. It turns to a gel of sorts after about 24 hours.

To use it just shake it a bit, then fill your closed soap dispenser about 3/4 of the way full. (Though you may need more or less depending on hard/soft water, age of dishwasher, etc.) Don't forget to fill your rinse aid dispenser with some white vinegar. It helps with spots and no, your dishes don't smell like pickles.

My next homemade home cleaning project? These sanitizing wipes using recipe #2.

Enjoy!

Homemade Deodorant

Really. I'm going to post about my kids again. I swear!!!

In the meantime, here is the recipe I used for the homemade deodorant...courtesy of Kirsten O. at I Still Hate Pickles. Her post about it can be found here. It is soooo terribly easy. And once you have your essential oil of preference (which costs as much as the Clinical Protection Secret I've been using if you need a metric) very, extremely, inexpensive. I think I may have a fix for that too, but I'll get there.

I'll try and take and post pics eventually but my iPhone is currently earning its keep as white noise in Rainey's room.

The Ingredients:
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup baking soda
2+ T coconut oil
10-20 drops essential oil

Mix the corn starch, baking soda and essential oil together in a small container. Then add the coconut oil. Stir until blended and it holds together. At this point you can refrigerate it overnight and then just rub a small amount into your...err...armpit...like you would lotion and off you go! The fridge made it too hard for me so for now it's just sitting in my bathroom cabinet. Bear in mind that coconut oil is hard when cold and  softens (and liquefies)  as it gets warmer.

I used a blend of lavender (6 drops) and Jasmine (7 drops)essential oils. I have tea tree oil around here somewhere but the smell is just too...distinct...for me. I wanted something that smelled like deodorant I bought at Target might, something that didn't scream, "Hey I made my own deodorant!" Really, this is a product you don't want screaming in any way shape or form. If you don't have essential oils, and happen to have virgin coconut oil, you probably don't need the essential oils for fragrance. The virgin oil smells like coconuts and you can just pretend it's suntan lotion and you're on a beach somewhere. ;)

We went to the park today, it was muggy, hot (82-83?) and I had both kids in the sun. A not so subtle sniff as I got in the car revealed...nothing. Still nice and flowery.

Salted Brown Butter and Nutella Rice Krispy Pinwheels

The joy of cooking can be a curse sometimes. I have lots of ideas flying around and bits of different recipes sound good so every now and then I'll cobble some together and experiment, which is how I got these.

Salted Brown Butter and Nutella rice krispy pinwheels



If you're not a big fan of rice krispy treats they probably won't make your socks roll up and down. But if you are...and you like Nutella...it's good stuff.

Start by melting 4-8 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Continue to let it simmer over low to med heat until the milk solids settle to the bottom and the butter gets brown and smells nutty. (standard krispies call for 4 T, my salted brown butter recipe called for the full 8, next time I'll probably use 6 or 7 as I can see how with 4 T the flavor isn't as strong but with 8 T it was a little too gooey on the outside.)

Add a bag of large marshmallows and stir into the butter until they melt and the consistency is smooth.

Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla (preferably Mexican if you've got it)

Stir in 6 cups of rice krispies until everything looks evenly covered.

Dump out onto a large, rimmed, lined baking sheet. (I happen to love non-stick aluminum foil.) If you want to line the sheet with plastic wrap then you'll need to spray it with cooking spray before putting the krispies in. If you use non-stick aluminum foil you're good to go, no spray needed.

Press the krispies into the pan with a spatula (or hands) sprayed with cooking spray or better yet...a square of non-stick aluminum foil!

Let them cool a little bit and then spread a layer of Nutella on the surface. (I didn't measure the amount of Nutella I used) don't put too much or you'll get Nutella squeezing out when you slice them.

Take the plastic wrap/foil on one of the long sides of the pan and slowly lift the krispies up and start rolling them using the wrap/foil to guide it.

Once you've got your roll get a sharp knife and slice it into ~1" rounds.

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days. (after that's it's not spoilage you have to worry about so much as the krispies getting stale. I can vouch for them still tasting good at the 4 day mark, they were just a little stiff.)

The thing I love about this is there are so many variations. Don't love brown butter? Ok. Just melt the 4T and go. Not a Nutella person (I hear they exist, kind of like the loch ness monster) then use chocolate peanut butter, or chocolate butterscotch, or caramel...you get the idea. :)

Cousin Kathy's Liquid Laundry Detergent

Here it is...as promised. :) These are the pictures I took when I made my first, and so far only, batch. In July. There is still more than half of the 5 gallon bucket left and I still have most of the box of both the washing soda and borax! It was less than a new 128 oz. jug of Tide/Gain/Dreft, etc for the materials.

The Ingredients:

First, grate the bar of soap. 

(Which in Houston I could only find at Wal-Mart. Target, Kroger and HEB didn't have it.)

Second, screech at your son that it's soap not cheese and to put the clump back down.

Third, add to a saucepan with 4 cups of hot tap water. 

Stir continually over medium heat until the soap dissolves and is melted.

Next, fill a (clean) 5 gallon bucket halfway with hot tap water. 

Then, add the melted soap, 1.5 cups of washing soda and 1.5 cups of borax.

Stir well until everything is dissolved.

Fill the bucket to the top with more tap water, stir, cover, and let it sit overnight to thicken.

Last, stir the soap again. then take an empty detergent bottle (the one I have is 128 oz), fill it halfway with the soap and then fill it the rest of the way with water. 

Make sure to shake it before each use! (And then chuckle at all the money you're saving.)

For a top loading machine use 5/8 of a cup, in a front loading machine, 1/4 of a cup. 

[I measured the 5/8 into the cap of the bottle I was using the first time and then I knew where to fill it without checking after that.]

In the end it makes 10 gallons. That's it, you're done!

If you prefer dry, powdered detergent you might also be able to just mix 2 cups of grated soap, 1 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda. Use 1 or 2 Tablespoons per load. 

(One of her friends suggested that as it takes up much less space. I've never tried it mostly because I prefer liquid. Also, Houston is humid and I'm afraid it  might get cakey or gummy, and our machine doesn't always dissolve everything like it should. But, in the interest of full disclosure...)

Here is the "recipe" all together.

Ingredients:
1 Fels Naptha Soap Bar
4 cups hot tap water
1.5 cups super washing soda
1.5 cups borax
1 store-bought laundry detergent bottle, cleaned and emptied
1 5 gallon paint bucket, cleaned and emptied

• Grate the bar of soap 
• Add to a saucepan with the 4 cups of hot tap water. 
• Stir continually over medium heat until the soap dissolves and has melted.
• Fill the 5 gallon bucket halfway with hot tap water, then add the melted soap, washing soda and borax.
• Stir well until everything is dissolved.
• Fill the bucket to the top with more tap water, stir, cover, and let it sit overnight to thicken.
• Stir the soap again. then take an empty detergent bottle, fill it halfway with the soap and then fill it the rest of the way with water. 
• Shake before each use.

Seen and Heard

Seen:



A fleet of emergency vehicles responding to an accident or major natural disaster.

Heard:
A siren wailing made by Sam. Constantly.

Seen:



Heard: A lot of laughter as these two play with each other. But I'm not gonna lie, we've also heard lots of crying from Sam when she messes up his "hospitals" "roads" "skyscrapers", etc. And then there's also been crying from Rainey when brother forgets just how big he is or he takes a toy away. And she shrieks, loudly, if anything displeases her. Though she's getting a little better about it.

Seen:



Chickie Rainey (who will get her own post later.)

Heard:
Sam using "Chickie Rainey needs some milk" or something similar whenever he doesn't want to do something. (That doesn't mean he thinks I nurse Rainey just to get out of stuff...does it?)

Seen:



My handsome man with a cast on his arm after breaking 2 bones in 3 places in what I'm sure was a blaze of glory in the first 45 seconds of a basketball game.

Heard:
Grunts of pain from the aforementioned man when he overdoes it or Sam knocks his arm. You might also hear a wee bit of grumbling from me about having to be a Jane of all trades while he's sidelined. Part of me likes that he needs me, part of me is kinda over it. The latter part shows up chiefly on days when I have to mow the lawn.

Seen:



Hunter and Rosh, our two Chinese "sons" that stayed with us for nearly 3 weeks.

Heard:
Some pretty funny conversations, a lot of repeating, a lot of iTranslate, sam asking them to play hospital, laughter playing games...etc, etc, etc. (they're probably gonna get their own post too.)

Seen:






One sick chickie.

Heard:
A LOT of sniffles, coughing, crying (from Rainey), and sneezing. With the exception of David (who only has a broken arm), we all have been sick. Sam had a cold at the beginning of July and is still coughing. I got a cold, then conjunctivitis and then another cold which turned into the fever/sinus infection that wouldn't die when my autoimmune foolishness flared in the middle of it. 3 antibiotics (and a month) later I still have pressure but do feel better. Rainey got the same cold I did and similarly couldn't shake it. Ears were/are infected, snot is everywhere, her voice is hoarse, she's sleeping even worse than usual, and then to add insult to injury, she either had a stomach virus or heat exhaustion this week and threw up. A lot. For 2 days. Poor baby!

Seen:



Food. For about 5 minutes and then it vanished. Two teenage boys in your house I have decided requires a small herd of cattle and 300 acre farm to feed. Fortunately we have amazing friends who helped us with meals. It blessed more than just my tummy! :)

Heard:
Hunter "Ohmygod!"
Rosh: "Oooh."
David: "Uh...guys...?" (He was Communications director while Hunter & Rosh were here.)
Rainey: "Mam Mam" "Da Da" "Bruh Bruh" and we think she's using them for the appropriate people too!!!
Sam: "Why?" "Well, first of all..." "Why?" "Will this help me get me extra super big rocket?!?"
Me: "Sam, not so loud please." "Rainey...no ma'am" "Daaave?"

I'm not a baby anymore!

My poor Sam, he's been dealing with pink eye and hasn't had a single nap this week. I was fixing lunch and he was looking at his high chair (which is now Rainey's, like so many of his things) and fingering one of the straps the boy starts BAWLING. I went over and he just clung to me crying and when he could finally speak I asked him what was wrong and he said, " I'm not a baby anymore!" :(
Sweet boy (who crashed about an hour ago and is snoring contentedly).