All Hallows’ Eve

We decided to do something different this year…trick-or-treating. Most of the kids have never been. And Mama and Daddy decided to join in the fun and dress up, too.

Greg even talked me into going to Wal-Mart dressed in my costume.

My Fun Weekend

Every year, I look forward to our martial arts training camp. This year, camp was focused on kendo/kenjutsu. We learned sword kata, practicing with bokkens, and sparred with shinai in kendo sparring gear.

Since I am 31 weeks pregnant, Greg told me sternly, “No sparring.” Boo! But here I am with the other two ladies at the camp.

It was Greg’s first camp. When we got a break, I asked him, "So what do you think?"
He replied, "Y'all run on full-throttle around here."

I Love My Coworkers

Even though this is our 7th baby, my coworkers still wanted to help me welcome him with a potluck and baby gifts. I appreciate their well-wishes, and I appreciate being part of such a group.

Erica wrote “Baby Sue” on top of the cupcakes. I had posted on Facebook that since we had no idea what to name him, and since he kicks all the time, I was going to call him “Sue.” (Y’all have heard Johnny Cash’s famous song “A Boy Named Sue”, right?)
(I dropped the plate trying to get the lid off and messed up her artwork.)

The critical care dept. will be experiencing a Baby Boom around Thanksgiving and Christmas this year!

No Bake Protein Bars

I started with the recipe posted here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/595761-homemade-no-bake-protein-bars?hl=Homemade+no+bake+protein+bars

Then I tweaked them a bit. My additions—dark chocolate chips, coconut, and honey—added about 40 cals per bar, but with the workouts I do, I am more interested in getting more protein in my diet than I am staying “low cal”. As far as protein bars go, they are pretty good. Better than the ones I bought from the store...and I can pronounce everything that's in them.

2 cups of oatmeal
4 scoops of whey protein
2 tbsp shredded coconut
2 tbsp dark chocolate chips
4 tbsp crunchy almond butter
1/2 cup of any milk (I used what I had--skim)
2 tbsp honey
1. Mix first 4 (dry) ingredients first.
2. Put milk, almond butter, and honey in microwave safe plate and let it melt a little for 30-60 secs. Mix well.
3. Add to dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Spray pam or grease a small rectangular container and put batter in (I lightly grease with coconut oil). Even out with hands.
5. Put in refrigerator (and maybe freezer) for 2 hours.
6. Take out and cut in 8 slices (possible serving size)

Nutrition information will depend on what kind of protein powder, milk, etc., you use. Mine came out to:
Calories: 240
Carbs: 27g
Fat: 8g
Protein: 18g
Sugars: 9g
Sodium: 80g

24 Weeks

Mojo’s First 5K

Mojo has decided she wants to be a runner along with her daddy. There is a cool 5K coming up in November—The Color Run—and today was her first day of training for it.

GO, MOJO!

Ultrasound Day

Since the kids couldn’t come with us to the appointment (you know, chicken pox and all), Sunshine babysat for us. We had the day to ourselves. After the ultrasound, which showed us a perfect healthy baby, we celebrated with lunch at Taziki’s Mediterranean Café… gyros, hummus and baked pita wedges, and dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with basmati rice).

Since the children were unable to come with us, we brought home treats and pizza. They played outside while we sat the table, and then we brought them inside to announce it’s a…
…

…

…

…

MONKEY! hehe

They were all *so sure* they were having a sister, and this is the first time the siblings have been wrong! As you can see, Mojo was especially hoping for another sister. Even Caveman—with the last baby, he informed us “if it’s a sister, we’ll have to give her to someone else”—well, Caveman loves his little Gigi so much that he was hoping for another sister, too.
I’m betting that in a few months, they’ll be so excited about having a new baby in the house, they won’t mind that he’s a boy.

Chicken Pox

It started about 2 weeks ago. Mojo and Gem both ran fevers, followed by red bumps on their bellies and back, which turned into blisters (with more appearing on their faces, arms, and legs), which then scabbed over. The chicken pox had come to our house.

Some in our circle of other “less mainstream” friends pondered inviting themselves over to get their own children exposed. Some wondered why we didn’t get our children vaccinated against chicken pox.

Well, I did vaccinate my oldest daughter as a baby. I was 20 at the time, there was no “internet”, and if a doctor told me I needed to do something for my baby’s health, I did it. By the time my second child, Mojo came along, I was a bit older. I was a RN by then. I had the internet, with forums where other mothers hung out and shared their experiences. And Google. It was after Mojo had already received a round of vaccinations that I read the vaccination literature that the doctors hand out to parents, something inside me felt uncomfortable, and I began wondering exactly what I was injecting into my children.  So I began reading about it all. I may do a post later on all the reasons why I decided to skip the chicken pox vaccine, but for right now, I want to share our natural remedies for the chicken pox.

We are drinking elderflower tea for the feverish stage. Lemon balm tea for its anti-viral properties. Chamomile tea soothes, and the children like the pleasant taste. Calendula and plantain go into our oatmeal bath. And I make a homemade salve that is healing and soothing to irritated skin.

If you happen to be interested in making your own homemade salve, it’s not hard. Here’s a basic run-down on how to do it.
I use olive oil infused with comfrey, plantain, and calendula in my salve. You can order these herbs dried online, and if you look up Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube, they give tutorials on how to make various herbal tinctures and infusions. It’s not hard. I have had better luck with “cold infusion”—letting the herb sit in the oil for six weeks—rather than trying to warm the herbs in the oil.
Once you have the oils ready that you want to use, simply melt 1oz beeswax (also available online), mix in one cup of oil (it will solidify then melt again), add lavender eo if you wish, and pour into your jars. Not only is it good for chicken pox, but it’s also good for minor cuts and scrapes and as a diaper ointment.

Now the girls have mostly healed, and the boys and the baby have started breaking out. Which is fine with me; I wanted them all to catch it and be done with it! For those who have expressed concern for us, we are doing fine otherwise. I had to tell Caveman yesterday, “Even though you have chicken pox, if you are well enough to run and jump on the furniture, you are well enough to do your school work. Sorry, buddy.”

Happy Birthday, Dear Juju!

Because we have chicken pox in our house, we couldn’t really go anywhere or invite anyone over. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit anyway—they’ve both had the pox. And Juju had a happy birthday.

 

Big sister made his cake.

Happy birthday, sweet “kitty”!

Adventures in Vehicle-dom

Our van was 12 years old. We had said that we were going to drive it until it fell apart, and it was getting to the point to where we were putting in the shop every few months. When we found out we were expecting baby #7, we had officially outgrown it. We decided that we would not fix it again—instead, we began looking at vans that would seat at least 9 people.

The end came unexpectedly. While driving down the freeway, during afternoon rush hour, in 102 degree weather, while I was by myself with the five younger children, it quit. No warning lights, no weird sounds beforehand…it just died. I pulled over to the shoulder and unloaded the children, instantly grateful that we had water bottles, a cell phone, and that I was wearing a tank top and shorts instead of the long jeans that I had put on that morning.  Even so, there was a big fence stretching the length of the freeway that separated us from a hospital with an air-conditioned lobby. We had to climb over it. The older two kids went first, I handed the younger ones over to them, and I climbed over last. I’ll bet we were a sight!

So out with the old and in with the new. We now have a newer model, low mileage 15-passenger van. Not only do we have room for all of us to fit comfortably, we also have room to bring a few of our friends along with us! It was almost 8pm by the time we got home with our new van, and the children jumped up and down excitedly in the driveway as we pulled up. We piled them all in and cruised through Sonic like the cool family we are, jamming to Blue Oyster Cult and Weird Al. We cruised around town and down the back dirt roads, singing Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams” with gusto. We pulled into McDonald’s and got ice cream at 10pm. And then we cruised on home.

~ good times ~

We couldn’t resist hopping on the stick-figure family bandwagon.

Oh, and these, too:

I never imagined I’d be driving such a big ol’ van.