Fevers and Folk Remedies

The littlest one has been sick for the past few days - fever, diarrhea, throwing up, snotty nose, etc. This is his first time being sick and it stinks! I am struggling with the fever the most - let it go or treat it? I know a fever has an important job and I want to let it do that job "burning up the germs", but I also can't stand to see my boy so lethargic and unhappy. Last night as the fever crept up I decided to try out some natural ways of lowering the fever, or at least making Q more comfortable. Cool washclothes on his head, a tepid bath, lots of skin to skin with momma all seemed to help. We also tried a few other things people told us about - lemons boiled and putting warm cloths soaked in the lemon juice around his legs and we also tried an onion by the bed as he sleeps. I can't say that either worked miracles but we all slept much better last night. We did try a little tylenol when the thermometer topped 103 but it was mostly spit out and we didn't try again. Today he's been pretty steady with a 100-101 temp. Poor baby. I'm looking forward to this being behind us, I want my happy and playful boy back. So... you got any other home remedies we should try?

On a side note - Many people believe that fevers help to shape the child and help their being evolve. I don't know if I believe that but I do know that he's not quite the same kid he was before this sickness, he's different and I can't quite explain it.

Molasses Spice Cookies (AKA Gingersnaps)

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies. Perfect for the holidays! I still think that holiday bundt cake from last week is gonna win for thanksgiving day. It was so addictive and not too sweet. Sorry, back to the cookies.


I have to say that I wasn't totally nuts about these cookies. They tasted like gingersnaps to me, which is fine and good but I'm not really that crazy about gingersnaps. They were just ok for me. I ended up taking them over to my grandpa and he and his attendants gobbled them up. While I don't really care that much for gingersnaps these were addictive and I did eat a fair amount. I will definitely use this recipe again when I want to make a gingery cookie and next time I think I would even add more black pepper (that's right!) and ginger to make them even a bit "spicier".

The recipe itself came together really quickly and was super easy, there weren't any special ingredients (besides molasses) so no extra trips to the grocery store! Always a plus around here.


This weeks recipe was chosen by Pamela of Cookies With Boys, she's got the recipe on her site.

...and don't forget to check out all the rest of the bakers on the TWD blogroll.

Meal Plan Monday

Been a while since I did this.

Monday - Crockpot day - Adobo Chicken
Tuesday - tofu + spinach + peanut sauce = yum
Wednesday - turkey meatloaf
Thursday - Thanksgiving!
Friday - soup. Lentil. maybe chicken...

Decisions decisions decisions....

I know I'm a bit biased but everything Q does is amazing. I've been enjoying watching his personality develop since day 1, but these past few weeks are just amazing. He's crawling everywhere now and I love watching him have control over his choices about where to go, what to play with, who to follow (the dog!), etc. I just love watching his personality emerge.

Here's a good example of the budding decision maker
-
On the back porch blowing bubbles, Q decides to explore.....


the steps

exploring the edge. He would get up and rock back and forth like he was gonna keep going but stop short, go back to his belly and look at it, and start the whole process over again

decides to just sit and play with the leaves over the edge and forget about trying to go over. This is so his dad.


Stopped caring about going over the edge, watched the dog play, played with the leaves


and then... he slipped.


but recovered quickly. with a bonk on the noggin

Embellished Prefolds

I threw caution to the wind and didn't look up any directions for how to do this, I just did it. I measured the middle section of my prefolds, cut out some cute fabric the same size and sewed it on. That's right, I didn't tuck and hem the edges, I just zigzag stitched all around. I'm not afraid of no unraveling, I like to live dangerously! and I'm lazy
I think they came out pretty great though and I want to make tons more! I can't decide if I'll embellish all the prefolds we use or just do them for decoration as burp cloths and such. I'll have to see how much a snappi will damage the print...

Holiday Bundt Cake

I know I've already mentioned this but I really feel like we we went from summer straight into the holiday season and I have had a hard time adjusting. Well consider me adjusted! because this cake made my whole house smell like thanksgiving, all the pies rolled into one yummy bundt cake that I can't stop snacking on. mmmmm...


So Tuesday's With Dorie has been a little different this month. Because of the holidays there are 4 recipes for the month but each participant can cook them on whichever Tuesday they like. It's fun to see people making things I made last week and also to see what I'll be making next week. When I saw this cake pop up on other peoples blogs last week I wasn't all that excited, but I had all the ingredients on hand today so I went for it. It's pumpkin cake at the base, with nutmeg and fresh ginger that are very fragrant and delicious, cranberries, diced apple and pecans mixed in complete all the thanksgiving flavors. It was almost a one bowl cake and was super easy to make. It also wasn't super dense or rich which is a relief from some other TWD recipes.

Thank you to Britin at The Nitty Bitty for choosing this All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake and as always, check out the rest of the Tuesday's With Dorie bloggers.

Here's a ball for baby

small and soft and round...

Made from this tutorial. The tutorial was super quick and easy. Q's favorite toys lately are balls, he chases them all around the house and gets so frustrated when they roll under the couch or the dresser. He loves the wet felted balls I had made for him when he was a little guy and I love how this sewn felt ball looks in its beautiful bright rainbow colors. I'd love to make another in some nice autumn hues.

Crafts & Traditions

Does anybody else feel like it went from the end of summer straight to the beginning of the holidays? I am not quite sure where the time goes anymore.

I've got all sorts of fun holiday crafts in the works and on top of that I'm about to move so I'm not sure how much I'll get the chance to share on here, but I wanted to mention a project that I'm about to start on - an advent calendar. I'm still in the planning stages but I think I'm going to sew something to hang on the wall with a pocket of some sort for each date. I want the pockets to be big enough to hold a piece of candy or a small present. I want to make something that our family will be able to enjoy for years to come.

Maybe something like this, or this where you put decorations on. Oooh, I like this one too. I like the idea of putting buttons on the tree and being able to hang decorations from them. I'm not sure I want to have the decorations in the pockets but that might be fun too.Please link me to any other ideas or suggestions you come across.

I really want to make the calendar something of a family heirloom. That's a lot to expect from myself - a total novice sewer. Maybe I can get my mom to help me with it. I had originally wanted to make a wooden one but I could never quite come up with how I wanted it to be. I might try to do that at some point as well. My neighbors had a nice wooden one growing up and I always admired it.

In the same vein as the advent calendar, I've been working on a birthday banner for Q. His birthday is a little over 3 months away and I have a number of ideas for cute homemade decorations and things - candle holders, gifts, birthday crown, etc. The banner is just about done but I don't have a picture of it yet. I like it a lot but I might try making a few other banners as well to see what style I like better (felt, fabric, triangle, square, etc..).

Since Q was born I've felt even more of a need than usual to create. More specifically I feel the need to create things for our family to have and use for years to come. I want to make family traditions, I want to have special, simple homemade items that we can enjoy together for the rest of our lives. That's a lot to ask of some simple craft projects but it inspires me to get better at sewing and crafting in general and it gives me lots of fun project ideas. So for now I'm trying to focus on christmas crafts. Oh, and moving, and I have been feeling the desire to do a big jigsaw puzzle. How on earth am I going to do a big jigsaw puzzle with a 9 month old underfoot?

Finds of the Fair

I've been meaning to share this cute find for the past few weeks but they've been such a hit around our house that they follow Q around everywhere.
In the Village of Yesteryear there were lots of local artisans with beautiful goods, including my friend Mary Anne Pagano and soap from her goats. There was also this very cool guy Dave (I think... I wish I could find his card and share his business name) who had all sorts of beautiful wooden toys. I was tempted to buy lots of different puzzles and trucks as gifts as they were painted so nicely and all non-toxic, but he had a big basket of unfinished wood cars and trucks for $4 a piece.

We bought two with the idea of saving them for gifts but... that didn't work so well. I wish we had bought more!

Wordless Wednesday

A week

without posting. Bad blogger! I've had family in town from California and have been neglecting my blog. But now I have tons to blog about! We had a fantastic visit filled with tractors, walks, babies, toddlers, food and more tractors. OK, so there was only one tractor, but it was a very big deal to a certain toddler.

I tried not to neglect my apple duties while the family was in town so I made 3 apple dishes while they were here - Rhiannon's Sour Cream Apple Pie (which I actually made twice and it was devoured both times), a classic apple pie, and Tuesday's With Dorie's Cranberry Apple Crisp. How fitting that this weeks TWD was an apple dish! Of course I didn't get it posted on Tuesday... bad blogger. I also didn't get a picture of it after it came out of the oven because it was quickly taken over to my Grandfather's house where it was devoured by a very enthusiastic toddler. The same one that is obsessed with tractors, diggers, and apparently apple cranberry crisp. I did get a picture of the filling to the crisp because it was just so beautiful. sugar coated cranberries are gorgeous. It looks like sweet sparkly snow



I have to admit that I barely even tasted the crisp. The one bite I had was delicious but I left it for my grandfather. Everyone said it was good and I loved the combination of apple and cranberry. It was also a total breeze to put together and I made it in a deep dish pie pan instead of individual sizes. I'm wary of crumb toppings because I feel like they are either too buttery and gross or they aren't crumby at all. This was quick and easy and didn't have either common issue. I'll definitely make this one again, once I'm not so sick of apples.

Thanks to Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef for this weeks recipe! and as always, check out the rest of the amazing TWD bloggers