So I mentioned this recipe on my facebook page and a few freinds asked for the recipe so I've given out this link from there, so facebook friends, I hope you don't read too much of my blog and decide i'm a blathering idiot!
OK, end of disclaimer.
A few days ago I had wanted to make an approximation of a friend's dish called taco ring. It's taco meat and cheese wrapped up in crescent roll dough or a similar store bought refrigerated dough. I have a large amount of bulk taco seasoning that I want to use, but no 'whomp' dough. A few days ago, i made a nice calzone with italian sausage that i had got on sale and i had thought at that time that i'd use a variation of that pizza crust dough for the taco ring. But the calzone crust turned out very tough and very hard to bite through.
The older kids have been 'helping' me cook a lot lately. They love to pour and stir, plus it gives them some good attention from me, so I figured we'd make something together. At first I was thinking tortillas, but decided to try this fry bread from the "More With Less Cookbook" which is one of my favorite cookbooks. I've shortened and adapted it here.
Navajo Fry Bread
Mix in bowl (I used my Kitchenaid):
4-1/2 c. flour (use up to 2c whole wheat)
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
Stir in:
1-1/2 c water
1/2 c milk
This dough is pretty wet, add in enough additional flour as you knead the dough to get it workable--I used the Kitchenaid to knead it. Divide dough into golf ball sized lumps and roll each into about a 6 inch circle. Fry in several inches of hot oil, (400 degrees if you've got a thermometer). I used a cast iron skillet to fry mine. Dough will puff and bubble, turn when golden brown. Drain on paper towels and use while still hot with filling of your choice. I used taco meat.
These are so yummy, just don't think about the oil. Frying them at the proper temp. will help them from absorbing too much oil. Don't burn yoursef!
After mixing the dough, i gave a chunk of it to one child to play with, but the other lost interest. I didn't let them roll any out, but i think soon they will be able to do it. I did not let them near the frying oil.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Update- Life With Three
It's been a while since I've had time to post and I have a few things I really want to write down, but as anyone with a newborn knows, time to blog is at a minimum. I actually get quite a bit of computer time, as I have one next to the two spots I nurse at but I can only use one hand on the computer while I nurse and it takes me so long to type anything, so most of my computer time is just reading for the most part. There's just not enough time to sit down to post or do much commenting sans baby.
But things are going well. Baby Ian is a mellow baby and keeps me busy nursing and changing diapers. I've said it before when I had my second baby that you learn how to care for a baby with the first baby and then with each additional baby I think it's more about logistics. That is definitely true with a third baby. I really have to be deliberate with my time and really proactive with the two older kids (ages 3 and 5). They are really sweet with the baby but they aren't so sweet with each other at times. I've had to get creative with them.
I've even had some time to exercise--just walking so far, but with mixed results. More on that with a future post. I've also found another blog I'm gleaning a lot from and am enjoying reading so much from various blogs. I really want to share what the Lord has taught me through His word and through some wise mommas though I'm not sure anyone reads here anymore, but writing it down helps me internalize the information better.
Gotta go now, baby is sleeping and it's time to fix lunch, load the crock pot, do some dishes and cleaning, talk to my hubby, and give some attention to the older kids before the baby wakes.
But things are going well. Baby Ian is a mellow baby and keeps me busy nursing and changing diapers. I've said it before when I had my second baby that you learn how to care for a baby with the first baby and then with each additional baby I think it's more about logistics. That is definitely true with a third baby. I really have to be deliberate with my time and really proactive with the two older kids (ages 3 and 5). They are really sweet with the baby but they aren't so sweet with each other at times. I've had to get creative with them.
I've even had some time to exercise--just walking so far, but with mixed results. More on that with a future post. I've also found another blog I'm gleaning a lot from and am enjoying reading so much from various blogs. I really want to share what the Lord has taught me through His word and through some wise mommas though I'm not sure anyone reads here anymore, but writing it down helps me internalize the information better.
Gotta go now, baby is sleeping and it's time to fix lunch, load the crock pot, do some dishes and cleaning, talk to my hubby, and give some attention to the older kids before the baby wakes.
Friday, November 13, 2009
He's Here!
Ian Josiah was born Wednesday and weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and is 21 inches long.
Turns out all I needed was a little prostaglandin gel to go into labor! After that, no drugs until I got a little local to put in one stitch for a first degree tear. More details later, but we're home and doing well except for a little jaundice that we'll have to retest tomorrow. He nurses like crazy!
Turns out all I needed was a little prostaglandin gel to go into labor! After that, no drugs until I got a little local to put in one stitch for a first degree tear. More details later, but we're home and doing well except for a little jaundice that we'll have to retest tomorrow. He nurses like crazy!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thoughts of a Lady in Waiting
Waiting on a baby, that is.
Thought I'd put a few thoughts down for later before I forget them. I'm always surprised at how fast some details and menories get lost in my brain, especially those regarding labor and birth.
I should have never, ever assumed that just because my other two babies came two weeks early, that this baby would be early too. In retrospect, I see that their early births could have been attributed to other variables, like the doctor who may have stripped my membranes on my first cervical check with Jamie and I was so terribly sick with a cold with Leah I could have coughed her out. Waiting these two weeks for this baby to officially be post-date has been tough. Wondering if every little tightening could be the start of labor. Worrying that the OB overseeing my midwives would press for an induction because of my Gestational diabetes, something they've been remarkably patient about as these things go.
I had enough pre-labor and Braxton Hicks contractions earlier in my pregnancy to make me concerned about preterm labor. Then, for weeks 38-39 I had so few contractions that I could nearly forget I was pregnant except for the large belly I was sporting. I did insane amounts of walking to try to move things along and work the baby down lower. Too chicken to try castor oil, I began drinking prune juice. I initiated sex with my husband for the sole purpose of it's supposed labor inducing effects, something that is about on par with the castor oil in comfort at this point. I half-heartedly took a few doses of blue cohosh, but was worried enough about it's safety to really utilize this herb. I ate spicy food. I threw aside my gestational diabetes diet aside a few times to indulge in pineapple, something that is supposed to help stimulate labor and is delicious and certainly safe.
Hubby was convinced that I was too uptight to go into labor so he ran me a bubble bath one night and lit a bunch of candles. I alternate between trying to get this labor going with lots of activity versus just trying to rest up and relax. Last Wednesday I was walking at the Y and started contracting weakly every 3 minutes. So I kept walking, hoping they'd get stronger. They didn't. After 3 hours I was too tired to walk and they fizzled out fairly fast. The next day, I met with a midwife who said said that if I didn't have this baby by Monday, we'd have to talk about induction. I did have her check me, something I wouldn't let them do with my 2nd baby until I was in labor. Sunday night, they started up again, still pretty weak but persistent and lasted all night. I knew they were too weak to count even if they were coming 3-4 minutes apart, but I figured they'd want to induce me on Monday, and I was so tired I might just let them.
On Monday, after being up all night with those annoying, weak contractions, they fizzled out as we headed up to the midwives' office. Figures. Then we get there and the ultrasound tech was sick and they wanted to reschedule for Tuesday. There wasn't even a midwife there to check me or follow up on the other midwife's threat of induction. So we left and wandered around town, wondering what to do. I called their OB nurse to tell her about my contractions, being post date, and of cours, all I get is her voice mail. We headed home so I could get some sleep and just as I unpacked my pillow and CPAP machine (I thought they'd be sending me to the hospital monday) the nurse calls and says I needed to get to the hospital to be checked.
Off we go to the hospital (the kids were still at a wonderful friend's). After being monitored, checked, and ultrasounded, I was given the option to have my membranes stripped. This is something that I feared had been the starting point for a horrible inductionwith my first baby and had made me paranoid to even be checked with my second baby. But once I was over due, supposedly with a fairly large baby, was sooooo terribly tired, sick of foisting the kids off for my appointments and trips to the hospital, and just ready to have it over and done with I had the midwife strip them. She said she wouldn't do it if she didn't think my cervix was ripe enough, but it was. And I was sent home. By the time we made it home, I was having stronger contractions though they were still pretty irregular.
There was a message from the midwife that she had talked with the OB and said that due to my gestational diabetes, that we needed to see about inducing me either Wednesday when she was on call (one of my favorite midwives at the practice) or Thursday. I picked Wednesday, hoping that the stronger contractions might bring on labor before then. Then hubby went back to work and I took a short nap and picked up the kiddos. After getting them to bed, I was still having irregular contractions, but I was so tired that I went to bedand was able to sleep through them this time. In the morning (today), there was very little contracting going on, so off I went to the Y to walk, but it did little good.
So now, I'm still having infrequent contractions but I've resigned myself to the induction and figure that instead of staying up most of the night and trying to get these contractions going stronger, I'm going to bed. My midwife assures me that we can start off with a prostaglandin
gel, which will allow me to still be mobile and may be just enough to get me into labor. I'm hoping that these contractions I've been having have dilated me since yesterday when I was 3cm and 50% effaced. I plan on putting off pitocin as long as possible and want to keep my membranes intact until they go on their own, or I am in real strong labor. Because once those things are ruptured, there's no going back or stopping. If I'm lucky, I won't need the pitocin or maybe I can have it stopped once my body cooperates.
I have to be real careful of my sugar levels right now, because if I let them get high, after the baby is born and is no longer getting extra sugar in his system from me, he can develop hypoglycemia or too low blood sugar. I asked one of my midwives what I could eat in early labor, since most will let you eat jello, popsicles, juice etc. in early labor. She said I can have diet soda and sugar free jello----yeah, that should give me the nutritious energy I need to see me through labor. Not. I'm going to take my own low carb yogurt and sugarfree pudding. Possibly some broth.
My poor hubby will be working late tonight and we have to get up by 5:30 am to get to the hospital, so I pray that he will not be a zombie in the morning. Because I'm pretty certain that I don't want to hear about him being tired when I am in labor.
Now I'm going to bed and praying that when I wake up I will be in labor and won't need an induction. What ever happens tomorrow, I hope I have the baby early enough that the kids don't have to spend the night at my friend's house. She's a wonderful sitter and I trust her completely, but my kids have never yet spent the night elsewhere, and since they won't be able to visit me at the hospital (flu concerns and policies) it'd be nice to have them be with their daddy at night even if they can't be with me.
I can't believe that I'm looking forward to this induction. I've spent alot of time learning about natural childbirth and avoiding unneccessary interventions and now I'm ready to be interfered with. Just goes to show you that situations change and new plans develop. Is it perfect? No. But will it work for my family and current situation? I think so. I don't want my desire for a wonderful drug free birth similar to my second birth to jeapordize my older children's needs, nor, honestly, do I want to push out a 10#+ baby. No matter what happens, it is ultimately in God's hands and I trust Him.
Thought I'd put a few thoughts down for later before I forget them. I'm always surprised at how fast some details and menories get lost in my brain, especially those regarding labor and birth.
I should have never, ever assumed that just because my other two babies came two weeks early, that this baby would be early too. In retrospect, I see that their early births could have been attributed to other variables, like the doctor who may have stripped my membranes on my first cervical check with Jamie and I was so terribly sick with a cold with Leah I could have coughed her out. Waiting these two weeks for this baby to officially be post-date has been tough. Wondering if every little tightening could be the start of labor. Worrying that the OB overseeing my midwives would press for an induction because of my Gestational diabetes, something they've been remarkably patient about as these things go.
I had enough pre-labor and Braxton Hicks contractions earlier in my pregnancy to make me concerned about preterm labor. Then, for weeks 38-39 I had so few contractions that I could nearly forget I was pregnant except for the large belly I was sporting. I did insane amounts of walking to try to move things along and work the baby down lower. Too chicken to try castor oil, I began drinking prune juice. I initiated sex with my husband for the sole purpose of it's supposed labor inducing effects, something that is about on par with the castor oil in comfort at this point. I half-heartedly took a few doses of blue cohosh, but was worried enough about it's safety to really utilize this herb. I ate spicy food. I threw aside my gestational diabetes diet aside a few times to indulge in pineapple, something that is supposed to help stimulate labor and is delicious and certainly safe.
Hubby was convinced that I was too uptight to go into labor so he ran me a bubble bath one night and lit a bunch of candles. I alternate between trying to get this labor going with lots of activity versus just trying to rest up and relax. Last Wednesday I was walking at the Y and started contracting weakly every 3 minutes. So I kept walking, hoping they'd get stronger. They didn't. After 3 hours I was too tired to walk and they fizzled out fairly fast. The next day, I met with a midwife who said said that if I didn't have this baby by Monday, we'd have to talk about induction. I did have her check me, something I wouldn't let them do with my 2nd baby until I was in labor. Sunday night, they started up again, still pretty weak but persistent and lasted all night. I knew they were too weak to count even if they were coming 3-4 minutes apart, but I figured they'd want to induce me on Monday, and I was so tired I might just let them.
On Monday, after being up all night with those annoying, weak contractions, they fizzled out as we headed up to the midwives' office. Figures. Then we get there and the ultrasound tech was sick and they wanted to reschedule for Tuesday. There wasn't even a midwife there to check me or follow up on the other midwife's threat of induction. So we left and wandered around town, wondering what to do. I called their OB nurse to tell her about my contractions, being post date, and of cours, all I get is her voice mail. We headed home so I could get some sleep and just as I unpacked my pillow and CPAP machine (I thought they'd be sending me to the hospital monday) the nurse calls and says I needed to get to the hospital to be checked.
Off we go to the hospital (the kids were still at a wonderful friend's). After being monitored, checked, and ultrasounded, I was given the option to have my membranes stripped. This is something that I feared had been the starting point for a horrible inductionwith my first baby and had made me paranoid to even be checked with my second baby. But once I was over due, supposedly with a fairly large baby, was sooooo terribly tired, sick of foisting the kids off for my appointments and trips to the hospital, and just ready to have it over and done with I had the midwife strip them. She said she wouldn't do it if she didn't think my cervix was ripe enough, but it was. And I was sent home. By the time we made it home, I was having stronger contractions though they were still pretty irregular.
There was a message from the midwife that she had talked with the OB and said that due to my gestational diabetes, that we needed to see about inducing me either Wednesday when she was on call (one of my favorite midwives at the practice) or Thursday. I picked Wednesday, hoping that the stronger contractions might bring on labor before then. Then hubby went back to work and I took a short nap and picked up the kiddos. After getting them to bed, I was still having irregular contractions, but I was so tired that I went to bedand was able to sleep through them this time. In the morning (today), there was very little contracting going on, so off I went to the Y to walk, but it did little good.
So now, I'm still having infrequent contractions but I've resigned myself to the induction and figure that instead of staying up most of the night and trying to get these contractions going stronger, I'm going to bed. My midwife assures me that we can start off with a prostaglandin
gel, which will allow me to still be mobile and may be just enough to get me into labor. I'm hoping that these contractions I've been having have dilated me since yesterday when I was 3cm and 50% effaced. I plan on putting off pitocin as long as possible and want to keep my membranes intact until they go on their own, or I am in real strong labor. Because once those things are ruptured, there's no going back or stopping. If I'm lucky, I won't need the pitocin or maybe I can have it stopped once my body cooperates.
I have to be real careful of my sugar levels right now, because if I let them get high, after the baby is born and is no longer getting extra sugar in his system from me, he can develop hypoglycemia or too low blood sugar. I asked one of my midwives what I could eat in early labor, since most will let you eat jello, popsicles, juice etc. in early labor. She said I can have diet soda and sugar free jello----yeah, that should give me the nutritious energy I need to see me through labor. Not. I'm going to take my own low carb yogurt and sugarfree pudding. Possibly some broth.
My poor hubby will be working late tonight and we have to get up by 5:30 am to get to the hospital, so I pray that he will not be a zombie in the morning. Because I'm pretty certain that I don't want to hear about him being tired when I am in labor.
Now I'm going to bed and praying that when I wake up I will be in labor and won't need an induction. What ever happens tomorrow, I hope I have the baby early enough that the kids don't have to spend the night at my friend's house. She's a wonderful sitter and I trust her completely, but my kids have never yet spent the night elsewhere, and since they won't be able to visit me at the hospital (flu concerns and policies) it'd be nice to have them be with their daddy at night even if they can't be with me.
I can't believe that I'm looking forward to this induction. I've spent alot of time learning about natural childbirth and avoiding unneccessary interventions and now I'm ready to be interfered with. Just goes to show you that situations change and new plans develop. Is it perfect? No. But will it work for my family and current situation? I think so. I don't want my desire for a wonderful drug free birth similar to my second birth to jeapordize my older children's needs, nor, honestly, do I want to push out a 10#+ baby. No matter what happens, it is ultimately in God's hands and I trust Him.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Preschooler Craft Organization Idea
A new month, a new post, but no new baby yet. Sigh...
We have some big mats that we use for painting and I keep losing them in my craft closet. See here for a picture of the closet I store our craft stuff in. And don't think for a minute that it currently looks this neat! I'd take a current picture, but it's too messy, and I'm too hugely pregnant and lazy to bother.
These mats are perfect for painting with Do-a-dot paints. To see exactly what we use and perhaps get some for yourself, go to your local Advanced Auto Parts store and look at the mats that are on the checkout counter. Seriously! My hubby works for the company that prints these things and he brought home some extras. They have current sales stuff on them and they are tossed out quite regularly at the stores. They're plastic on top, and a non-skid foam stuff on the bottom.
Anyway, as useful as they are, they don't store well in my closet. Until today when I had a duh moment and came up with a solution. I grabbed a clothes hanger that is used for pants- the kind with clamps on them- and hung the mats up on the closet rod. No more searching the floor for where they've slowly curled up and been buried under preschooler detritus.
Now, I hope to finish cooking dinner and see if these intermittent contractions I've been having will resolve into the real deal.
We have some big mats that we use for painting and I keep losing them in my craft closet. See here for a picture of the closet I store our craft stuff in. And don't think for a minute that it currently looks this neat! I'd take a current picture, but it's too messy, and I'm too hugely pregnant and lazy to bother.
These mats are perfect for painting with Do-a-dot paints. To see exactly what we use and perhaps get some for yourself, go to your local Advanced Auto Parts store and look at the mats that are on the checkout counter. Seriously! My hubby works for the company that prints these things and he brought home some extras. They have current sales stuff on them and they are tossed out quite regularly at the stores. They're plastic on top, and a non-skid foam stuff on the bottom.
Anyway, as useful as they are, they don't store well in my closet. Until today when I had a duh moment and came up with a solution. I grabbed a clothes hanger that is used for pants- the kind with clamps on them- and hung the mats up on the closet rod. No more searching the floor for where they've slowly curled up and been buried under preschooler detritus.
Now, I hope to finish cooking dinner and see if these intermittent contractions I've been having will resolve into the real deal.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Double Minded
Allow me a little leeway in paraphrasing from the bible and suffice it to say that I am double-minded woman, unstable in all my ways.
Right now I have two competing forces inside of me: The not-always-logical but thinking part of me and what seems to be the primal physical body part of me. Though not completely accurate, I will refer to these parts as the mind and the body.
Yesterday I reached 35 weeks of pregnancy and next week starts the insanity of twice weekly visits to the midwifery/OB practice for a weekly ultrasound, followed later in the week by a non-stress test and midwife appointment. This is due mostly to my having gestational diabetes, but is also influenced by my loss of my mucous plug 2 weeks ago and periodic bouts of contractions.
My brain is telling me I have a lot to do before this baby is born and I better get busy and suck up any discomfort and fatigue. The body is telling me I just need to go lay down, rest, and the important stuff will all get done somehow eventually. The body is also making me get very inwardly focused whenever I have any contractions. There is a very small part of my brain that is telling me to listen to my body so that I won't have this baby too early. The rest of my brain is in complete denial, telling me I need to get up and get busy, that I am a mother of two other children and that I just can't have the luxury of 'going within myself' when ever I am tired or contracting, and that this baby won't come for another 3-4 weeks.
I guess until I reach 37 weeks I do need to take it as easy as I can so this baby doesn't come too soon, so the body is winning for now. But it is also the body that sent me off to the church nursery in search of some food this morning, right before communion. If I had had any cash, I would have actually left to go to the nearby McDonald's for a sausage McMuffin, hold everything but the sausage and muffin.
Am I totally nuts? Or does anyone else feel this way during the last 3-4 weeks (hopefully) of pregnancy? The body tells me I need to humble myself and ask for some help here too, but the mind is certain that what needs to get done, can get done by myself or my hubby. With my first baby, I was busy working the farm until a week before birth and the second seemed to go pretty fast too especially as I was confident that going into labor 2 weeks early wasn't going to happen again (It did). Having lost my mucous plug at 33 weeks and having plenty of contractions, I'm pretty certain I'll go early this time--though another small bit of my brain says that since I'm planning on it, it won't happen.
Argghhhh!!!!!!
Right now I have two competing forces inside of me: The not-always-logical but thinking part of me and what seems to be the primal physical body part of me. Though not completely accurate, I will refer to these parts as the mind and the body.
Yesterday I reached 35 weeks of pregnancy and next week starts the insanity of twice weekly visits to the midwifery/OB practice for a weekly ultrasound, followed later in the week by a non-stress test and midwife appointment. This is due mostly to my having gestational diabetes, but is also influenced by my loss of my mucous plug 2 weeks ago and periodic bouts of contractions.
My brain is telling me I have a lot to do before this baby is born and I better get busy and suck up any discomfort and fatigue. The body is telling me I just need to go lay down, rest, and the important stuff will all get done somehow eventually. The body is also making me get very inwardly focused whenever I have any contractions. There is a very small part of my brain that is telling me to listen to my body so that I won't have this baby too early. The rest of my brain is in complete denial, telling me I need to get up and get busy, that I am a mother of two other children and that I just can't have the luxury of 'going within myself' when ever I am tired or contracting, and that this baby won't come for another 3-4 weeks.
I guess until I reach 37 weeks I do need to take it as easy as I can so this baby doesn't come too soon, so the body is winning for now. But it is also the body that sent me off to the church nursery in search of some food this morning, right before communion. If I had had any cash, I would have actually left to go to the nearby McDonald's for a sausage McMuffin, hold everything but the sausage and muffin.
Am I totally nuts? Or does anyone else feel this way during the last 3-4 weeks (hopefully) of pregnancy? The body tells me I need to humble myself and ask for some help here too, but the mind is certain that what needs to get done, can get done by myself or my hubby. With my first baby, I was busy working the farm until a week before birth and the second seemed to go pretty fast too especially as I was confident that going into labor 2 weeks early wasn't going to happen again (It did). Having lost my mucous plug at 33 weeks and having plenty of contractions, I'm pretty certain I'll go early this time--though another small bit of my brain says that since I'm planning on it, it won't happen.
Argghhhh!!!!!!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Cart Before the Horse Homeschooling for Life
I liked what Lady of Virture at Large Family Mothering had to write about the focus for education in real life: http://ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/2009/09/cart-before-horse.html
She talks about being 'educated' but being ignorant of the skills needed to live a life, and how teaching these skills to her children incorporates many of the academic subjects we do need to teach them.
She talks about being 'educated' but being ignorant of the skills needed to live a life, and how teaching these skills to her children incorporates many of the academic subjects we do need to teach them.
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