Answer: Hedgehogs. Germans brought over the legend of Candlemas Day which is like our modern day Groundhog Day. Hedgehogs were hard to come by in Pennsylvania so groundhogs replaced them. Punxstawney Phil didn’t see his shadow this morning so he’s saying an early spring is on the way. Since 1886, he’s seen his shadow 100 times and hasn’t seen it 16 times. Whether Phil is right or not, spring will be here before we know it!

Side Note: I need some advice from you mommies. Claire has started sucking on her hands, NON STOP! With the dry winter air, her poor hands are breaking out in a rash. She will only take a pacifier for naps and bedtime. I’ve been applying lotion every morning and night. Anyone have any more advice?

Posted under Other, Weather

Into cloth diapers that is. After much debate with my husband and a lot of research, we have decided to take on cloth diapering. My sister-in-law has been cloth diapering for a few years now and she’s the one who got me interested in the idea. So while I was pregnant, I did some research on the whole cloth diapering world. I discovered that these aren’t your mom’s diapers, these are much more convenient and high tech. While one can still do the prefolds of old, most cloth diapers involve a simple waterproof layer and soaker layer. Stuff, diaper, remove, wash, repeat. My sister-in-law provided me with a few she didn’t use and I purchased a few myself. I can say that after a month of learning, we are now solely cloth diapering.

There are a lot of pros and cons to cloth diapering and I thought I’d share what I’ve discovered along the way, in case you or anyone you know is interested in the cloth way of diapering.

Pros:

• Cost. While the upfront cost is usually over $200, in the long run we’ll be saving lots of money. Especially if we have another little one. These diapers can be used for years over and over again. So instead of throwing away money every diaper change, we’re saving! And the cloth diapers can be worn all the way up to potty training!
• Environment. There’s a lot of debate about this. While a lot of washing is done to take care of cloth diapers, disposable diapers are filling up landfills and take a long time to decompose.
• Ease: I started with disposable diapers and found them so easy. I was a little afraid to go to cloth because I thought they would be harder to do. I was wrong! It’s not hard at all. Since Claire is breastfed, all I have to do is take off the diaper and throw it in our diaper pail. Every other day I do a load of diapers in the wash and ta-da! Ready to go!
• Designs: There are a LOT of cute patterns. In the summer, I think Claire will be running around in just her diaper and a t-shirt because I’ll want to show off her cute diapers
• Chemicals: There are much fewer chemicals in cloth diapers. After multiple washes, you’re just left with plain old cotton and hemp. Claire had a very bad reaction to Pampers Swaddlers and even though we found another brand that didn’t give her problems, I felt more comfortable switching to cloth. We have yet to have a nasty diaper rash (We did have a little one once but that was my fault. I kept her in her diaper for a little too long, I guess.)

Cons:

• Cost: Yeah, the upfront cost is a lot but like I said you make up for it later.
• Leaking: I had a lot of leaking at first. Turns out I needed to put another soaker pad in her diaper. Now I rarely get any blowouts and if I do, it’s usually around her legs because she’s got little legs. I get many more blow outs in disposables and those are usually up the back
• Laundry: I have to do 2 washes and 1 rinse to get the diapers extra clean. And no one likes extra laundry…
• Extras: You have to buy special detergent which is somewhat pricey and a diaper sprayer (for when we start solids). Just little things which add to the upfront sticker shock.
• Big Butt: Cloth diapers have much more padding than disposables so Claire has a bit more padding back there.

Honesty,cloth diapering isn’t for everyone. It takes commitment to do laundry and deal with poop a little more closely.  But I’m glad we have switched. We’ll see if we’re still sticking with it for the next year!

Our entire collection!

My spiderbaby.

Posted under Me, Other

Answer: NORAD. North American Aerospace Defense Command has been tracking Santa since 1955. You can track Santa beginning tomorrow at noradsanta.org. This year Google is set to release it’s own Santa tracker. Personally I’d stick with NORAD since it’s been in existence for so long.

P.S. Hope some folks chuckled over my Star Wars answer…

Posted under Other, Weather

I need some help. With baby on the way, my husband and I would like to make our own baby food. Therefore, we need a food processor. I would also like to use it for other food related chopping besides baby food. So we want something white and reliable. Anyone have any good experiences with a certain processor or brand?

Thanks a bunch!

Posted under Other

My husband and some friends of ours decided to raise our own chickens this past year. Honestly, I had very little to do with it. But from what I hear it took a lot of hard work and money. By the end of May, my husband and our friends undertook the task of butchering the chickens. Luckily being pregnant and working that weekend, I was able to skip this process. By the end of the weekend, my husband and I had acquired 12 chickens. On Monday, I decided to cut my first whole chicken.

My mother-in-law has shown me twice how to cut a whole chicken. But I had never done it solo. So I grabbed my sharpest knife and my victim. After watching a few how-to youtube clips and cracking bones, I think I did a decent job. The chicken tasted very good and my husband said it reminded him of home. Only 11 more chickens to go.

Posted under Other

Recently, my sister-in-law made two freezer meals for me and my husband. We just ate the last one last night. One recipe was called “Mom’s Hamburger Helper” and the other “Chicken Pot Pie”. Both were delicious and very convenient when I got home late from work and was too tired to cook. I loved how they were in freezer bags and didn’t take up too much room in my freezer. My sister-in-law recently gave birth to a little girl and she said freezer meals were the best invention during the first few months. So since I am pregnant, I’ve decided that freezer meals may be a good investment in my future. I have two cookbooks for freezer meals called “Don’t Panic-Dinner’s in the Freezer”. On my days off, I plan to double a recipe and freeze half of it. I have a few recipes picked out but I was wondering if any of you have any true, delicious freezer meal recipes. If so email me at dpelster@kwwl.com or just post them on the blog for everyone to see. I would love to see more recipes and especially ones that you have tried! Can’t wait to see them!

Posted under Me, Other