My Husband's 5 Feminine Traits that I LOVE!

The first thing I must tell you before I list my hubby's girlie traits is what kind of man he is. Manly man is the best way to describe him. He does manual labor, he can fix anything and his clothing and shoe collection consists mostly of brands such as Timberland, Carhartt, and Red Wing. When he wears plaid shirts sometimes I think he looks like the guy off Brawny paper towels.

The one thing that truly makes my dear husband (DH) stand out is his confidence. He is very rarely influenced by the shallow opinions of others as many of us are. In short, he doesn't care what most people think. Because of this he can do things that some may consider to be emasculating but to my man are just logical.

1. He waxes/plucks his eyebrows. Thank. You. Jesus. As humans we are meant to have two eyebrows, not one. If you are reading this and you have a uni brow stop reading and immediately go to your closest salon and fix it! Please refer to the Brawny picture above. I do not think they would sell nearly as many paper towels if he only had one eyebrow. As thick and dark those eyebrows are surely he also waxes.

2. He drives our minivan like a Camaro. One of my closest friends' husband will not drive or ever own a minivan because "minivans are for women". He would not get caught dead in a minivan. My DH is passing all the cars on the highway, weaving in and out of traffic, and testing how fast my old van can really go. He drives it like a pro.

3. He wears my extra large, purple, zebra print sunglasses. When he's driving the minivan and it's sunny he wants a pair of sunglasses. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of breaking sunglasses or leaving them in places that are of no use. So, when his sunglasses are not in the van he will wear mine which are usually huge thick framed and very girlie. But going without sunglasses is bad for the eyes so he sports mine. He looks pretty good in purple.

4. He'll get a pedicure with me. Minus the polish. And why wouldn't he? Someone washes, scrubs, and massages your feet while you sit in a massage chair for an hour. They even clean, clip and shape your toe nails and I know there are quite a few men that desperately need that. It's not feminine. It's a necessity. If you've never had a pedicure you've got to try it.

5. He wishes we owned a Prius. Recently, I heard a comedy bit about how emasculating it was for a man to drive a Prius (even worse than a minivan). Actually, the comedian used much more colorful words but I think I summed up the meaning. But DH has to drive all over the entire metro area. Sometimes, that's hundreds of miles in a day. Usually, it requires his burly work truck but some stops don't. Think of how much energy and money we could save if we owned a Prius. He is so logical.

I have to say I lucked out with my man. Even when I told him that I was writing this post he didn't give me a hard time. He just called me ridiculous. Perhaps I am. :)

What feminine traits does your man have?

Nursing in Public: Second Kid

Recently, I saw a Luvs commercial on YouTube. Yes, I'm talking about the diaper company. I couldn't have described the differences of breastfeeding my first and second kid any better.

Did you see how awkward she was trying to nurse under the blanket? She seemed nervous and uncomfortable as I'm sure the baby was too.

I hate to say it but I feel like my first kid is an experiment. I have read dozens of books about parenting but nothing could have prepared me for having a baby except, well, having a baby. I remember when my daughter (my oldest who is now nearly three) was only a few months old. I had gone to an amusement park with my family. It was the middle of the summer in Missouri which is basically like trying to live your life under boiling water.  There I was trying to nurse my tiny baby with hundreds of people milling around me in what felt like a sauna. Honestly, I had a hard time nursing her in the comfort of my own home so trying to nurse her under a blanket, on a hard bench, in the heat, where all those people could see me was not going to happen. It is not an experience I wish to repeat. But I'll never have to because I will never be that uncomfortable nursing again.

My son is six months old now and I am a completely different mom than I was that day at the amusement park. I can nurse anywhere anytime and not give a second thought to it. I don't use nursing covers. He hates them anyway. I understand. I hate them too. Most of the time the people don't even notice that I'm nursing. I usually nurse with my shirt pulled up and my undershirt pulled down so very little skin is exposed but he doesn't have his face covered. I actually don't mind pulling a boob right out if I have to. I have long ago forgotten what it was like for my breasts to be sexual objects. But I have been told some people are uncomfortable with seeing a bare breast in public.

Here's the deal with that: I am going to feed my baby when he's hungry. I am not going to wait until it won't make others uncomfortable. And I'm not going to cause him heat exhaustion trying to nurse under a smothering blanket. Nor do I want to take the time to deal with an awkward nursing cover/blanket. I mean, I have 2 kids under age three. My top priorities involve sleep, make sure my kids make it through the day, make sure I make it through the day, eat, and shower (well maybe showering is right up there on the top). Point being the easier the better. I wouldn't have said that with my first. I was only concerned with what I was supposed to do and what was proper.

I actually really enjoy nursing. Especially with my second kid. I get a few minutes to sit down when I'm usually going 100 mph. I am glad I had the opportunity to nurse both my kids and that I'm comfortable doing so, even in public.

The Wonder Weeks: It's a Miracle Book

Lets face it, the first born is just an experimental kid. It's just the way it works. With Gwyn, my first, I didn't know what I was doing. Does anyone really know what to do with their first child? She was a challenge (still is) and I was determined to do everything right. Someone recommend On Becoming Baby Wise to me while I was still pregnant and I thought that was the way it was supposed to be done. Put your kid on a schedule, let them cry themselves to sleep, and teach them to self soothe. If I followed these rules my child should sleep through the night by eight weeks.

Well, she didn't. In fact, she still doesn't sleep through the night. When she wouldn't sleep through the night I felt like a failure. When she wanted to eat more than every 3 hours I felt like a failure. When she didn't follow the routine I felt like a failure. Not only was she not sleeping through the night but sometimes she was waking up ever 45 minutes. It's almost like she was going through phases and she wouldn't sleep, or eat much and she was so grumpy!

I didn't know what to do. I thought it was my diet and the culprit was colic. I was cutting all kinds of things out that may be causing her crankiness. She wasn't grumpy all the time but there were stretches of weeks that I thought I might go crazy. No mother could possibly be experiencing what I was. I remember calling my mom in the middle of the night crying because my baby wouldn't sleep. She told me that some babies just aren't sleepers.

It turns out it wasn't my diet and I wasn't a failure and many other moms have experienced what I have. No, G is not much of a sleeper but there were times when she slept less and was more cranky. She was indeed going through a phase.

The Wonder Weeks by Hetty van de Rijt, Ph.D. and Frans Plooji, Ph.D. discuss the 10 great developmental leaps in your child's first 20 months of development. Turns out that prior to a developmental leap a baby experiences a fussy phase sometimes lasting 6 weeks. During these  fussy phases your baby may not sleep well, may be clingy and cranky and may want to be entertained all the time. In the book it's referred to as the 3 C's (crying, cranky, clingy).

I bought this book on my Kindle when my son, Archer, was a month old. (I would recommend it in paperback though. It has journal areas that I wish I could have filled out.) Immediately, I wished I'd had this book for G. It helped me prepare for those fussy phases and how to stimulate him during his mental growth. The fussy phases are still difficult but it is so reassuring that my baby is not the only one and it will end. He will be a happy little boy again one day soon. I know there is little I can do to prevent these fussy times and that is a huge weight off my shoulders. It makes those endless screaming nights much more tolerable.

One of the best things about this book is it has an app for iPhone and Android that alerts you to these fussy phases and developmental leaps. You can also sign up for Leap Alarm on the Wonder Weeks website with your e-mail address. You can even buy the book by chapters if your baby already is passed many of the leaps.

It really will save your sanity and help you get the most out of your child's development. I lost my sanity long ago thanks to G but I'm hoping this post helps save some of yours.

How Gluten Free Helps Me Lose Weight

In the past four months I have lost 35 pounds. Sounds amazing, right? I wish I could say it was diet and exercise but the truth is I lost 21 pounds of it in one day. That's what happens when you give birth to a 10lb 4oz baby and a giant placenta.

So, now your wondering what's the deal with the title. Well, I did return to my pre-pregnancy weight pretty quickly and have even lost a few more on top of that. I credit this weight lose to my gluten free diet.

Unfortunately, it's more of a correlation than a causation. To explain I need to give you some background info on how I became gluten free.

I first cut out gluten products when I had just finished college. I had some pretty serious digestive health problems* and was taking a variety of medications. I was sick pretty much all the time. At the time my husband and I had only been dating for a few month but he encouraged me to make some diet changes, specifically cutting out dairy and gluten.

In the time following these diet changes there was a significant difference in my health. I stopped taking my medications and was sick less and less frequently. It was very difficult for me to dramatically change my eating habits. Most of my life I had lived off of bread, pasta, and cheese but the results were so obvious even I could not ignore them.

I was doing pretty good my diet until I got pregnant with my daughter. What can I say? The cravings got to me and I wanted gluten. I managed to keep dairy out for the most part but pasta called to me. I managed not to have many problems adding gluten back into my diet. I thought I was cured! This was not the case. Evidently, pregnancy has odd effects on the body including limiting allergic immune responses.

After the birth I knew I should pick back up on gluten free but I decided to put it off for a little longer. In fact, my first meal after she was born was french toast! I continued to put my diet changes off again and again until eventually I stopped trying to convince myself to do it. After a while, as you can imagine, I began having health problem again and I put on a few extra pounds. I would complain endlessly (my husband will vouch for this) but didn't want to make any effort to change.

 It wasn't until my aunt, to whom I am very close, went gluten free that I decided there needed to be a change. I was pregnant with my son and suffering from digestive issues a lot. This pregnancy did not mask my problems as the first one did. I was sick and tired of being well, sick and tired. I was in pain a lot, lethargic, bloated and all around grumpy from my discomfort and this was on top of being pregnant! To make matters worse my daughter, a toddler now, was also experiencing some negative effects from gluten.

I decided enough was enough and ditched the gluten (again). I threw out the bread (it was just the heels anyway), ate all the cookies (didn't want them to go to waste), and donated my pasta (OK, I probably could have done this with the cookies too...). It took some time but I feel better. Expect for the day(s) that I visit my mom and eat flour cheese enchiladas which are the best but leave me a sick mess for a week following. Sooo good, but so bad. :(

OK, so maybe you didn't need that whole story to understand what I meant about correlation/causation stuff. But this really is relative. The thing about eating gluten free is it makes me eat a lot healthier. All the really tasty, fattening delicious foods have gluten in them. Twinkies. Cookies. Fried....anything. Yes, I could buy the products that are made with gluten free flour but I don't like them as well and they tend to be expensive. Also, the really convenient food has gluten in it. Frozen burritos, sandwiches, a bowl of cereal all have gluten! I don't want to take the time to cook myself a meal. Cooking isn't my favorite pastime, so one meal a day is enough to slave over the stove for. For breakfast and lunch I end up eating a lot of eggs, peanut butter on rice cakes, raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, and hummus with corn chips. Basically, the things in my home I do not have to cook.

So, I've lost a few pounds. It's not exactly cutting out gluten products that has caused this but being gluten free has triggered other habits that help maintain a healthy weight:

I don't eat fast food as often because it's mostly gluten products.
I eat healthier foods because the majority of bad foods have gluten in them.
I eat less because I don't like food preparation or cooking and both are required for most gluten free meals.

I know, I've made all of you so excited to be gluten free! It is interesting though, that being gluten free coincides with so many other healthy habits. I don't think this is mere chance. I personally am delighted with the results of being gluten free. I only wish I had chosen to do it sooner.

*FYI: Gluten intolerance is often misdiagnosed as Crohn's, colitis, IBS, and many other digestive diseases and conditions.

The 6 AM Run

A few years back I had a friend with two toddlers. She got up at an ungodly hour everyday to work out and have some time to herself. I remember my reaction as she told me this. It was something like "WHAT!! Why in the world would anyone sacrifice sleep to work out? Why wouldn't you just take your kids to the gym (they have a childcare area)? Or why couldn't your husband watch your kids so you could go?"

Because it doesn't work like that. At the time my first child was only a few months old. I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I thought I knew. I have much younger siblings so I had previous baby experience and I have a degree in family psychology. Not to mention the dozens of parenting books I've read. Yes, I thought I knew everything. But parenting is one of those things you never will truly understand until your a parent yourself.

Before my baby was born I was accustomed to 9 hours of sleep a night so I was still adjusting to the lack of sleep. There was no way I was going to wake up any earlier than I absolutely had to. My daughter also wasn't at that separation anxiety stage yet. She couldn't have cared less who took care of her as long as she was being held and fed. I had not yet had the opportunity to hear her screaming and crying "Mommy!" I hadn't experienced the heartache and guilt of leaving behind a child that truly needed me. I could just hand her off and go do whatever my heart desired (for the most part) without feeling much guilt.

So, here I am over 2 years and another kid later. I have adjusted to sleep loss. It's one of those things I've come to accept as being a norm for another 10 years or so. Yes, I could take my kids with me to the gym but even the thought getting both of them dressed, in the car, into the gym, and deal with the heartbreaking cry is enough to keep me home. And yes, I could wait until my husband got home from work so he could watch them, but my husband works long hours. We only have a thimble full of time together before we have to get the kids in bed. I just don't want to frequently decrease that already short time. Plus, there is the heartbreaking cry and guilt thing again.

I have realized that my kids will only be kids for a blink in time. With work, preschool, chores and life my time with my family is already limited. I just don't feel like such silly things as time to myself and exercise should further limit that time. But I HAVE to have time to myself. A CRAZY mom isn't going to help out my family much. So what am I willing to sacrifice? Sleep. I drag my tired butt out of bed at an ungodly hour and pull on my running shoes, put ear buds in, and turn my iPod to my favorite playlist. I think my kids will thank me for it later.

ShamWOW Nursing Pads

We all remember this guy and the annoying ShamWOW commercials but little did I know they could make some amazing nursing pads. You can buy a ShamWOW at most dollar stores. I got mine at the Dollar Tree. I had bought a few for another project that I never finished so I had a few lying around. Before my son was born in June I had made 7 sets of nursing pads from PUL, 3 layers of flannel for absorbancy, and a polyester suede for wicking away from the nipple. These worked really well but they were a bit thick (although still thinner than many of the reusable nursing pads you can buy out there). Well, 7 sets was not enough. I was running out of them all the time and there was no way I could go without a nursing pad unless I wanted to sport the wet t-shirt look. My cousin, who also just had a baby, came up with the idea to use the ShamWOW as the absorbent layer in the nursing pads. I thought it couldn't hurt to try. So I used my extra ones that I had lying around as the middle layer. I still used PUL as the outer, waterproof layer and the poly-suede as the inner, wicking layer. They are AMAZING. They are thin enough that they contour around the breast but still super absorbent. More so than even the flannel. And over all it's pretty cheap. One ShamWOW is $1 and can make 2-3 sets of nursing pads depending on the size of the pad. They are machine washable and can be used again and again.

If your currently using nursing pads, reusable or disposable, or you are pregnant and planning to nurse consider making a few of these and let me know what you think. I'm sure you'll be as impressed as I am!

GreenCheeks Changes

After a lot of thought and consideration I have decided not to focus this blog on selling my diaper products anymore. I'm sure that you can tell the differences immediately by my blog template and text changes. With the birth of my second child I barely have a second to go to the bathroom, never mind sewing 24 diapers for a customer. Making most of my diaper products, especially the diapers, is not efficient in the least. Although I enjoy sewing I cannot donate that much of my time.

Just last week a friend called me on Monday and asked if I could get a wet-bag and 10 wipes done by a baby shower on Saturday. Sure, I said.  Friday came around and she came by to pick them up. I had accomplished 5 wipes and that was difficult.

I've decided to focus the blog, instead, on all the parts of being a holistic family. This, of course, will still include cloth diapering. I plan to do a lot of posts on how to make your own cloth diapers and accessories. If I ever get around to it I want to put my pattern on here too so you can simply print it off and use it for yourself.

I also want to blog about the trials of being gluten and dairy free. My whole family is and, at times, it can be very challenging. I'm going to include some of my favorite recipes for other families out there who are facing the same challenges.

I still plan to have my GreenCheeks products and pricing available. It is a page on the right column of the blog. I am still happy to make the products but I need quite a bit of time to complete an order and I can only do small orders. Diaper cakes are out of the question. I've done that twice and I should have learned the first time never to do it again. As I said before, I enjoy doing it but it is too time consuming to attempt to make a profit from it.

For all those out there that have ordered from me in the past and read my blog: Thank You! I hope that you continue to read and learn about cloth diapering as well as many other aspects of my life.