Growing Out the Pixie

It is time to grow out the Pixie. I do enjoy the short hair but I just can't keep up with getting it trimmed.

It has been 8 weeks since my last cut and I might as well just go through with all the awkward mullety goodness that happens when you grow out a short cut.

Decisions. Decisions.

Do I let Pete cut it in the interim or do I fork out the cash for a professional

cut?

Either way I will look like this...

I Love it... I Love it ...I Love it!

It's time for the hoedown throwdown.

Book Review- "What's Eating Your Child"

Book Review

What's Eating Your Child by Kelly Dorfman, MS, LND

About the Book

In this important book readers will find scientifically supported nutritional solutions that address, mitigate and sometime even erase both the symptoms and the causes of stubborn health problems including:

• picky eating
• reflux
• attention problems
• ear infections
• temper tantrums
• behavioral difficulties
• lack of energy
• insomnia
• learning disabilities
• chronic tummy aches
• anxiety
• constipation
• night terrors
• eczema
• depression
• speech delays

About the Author

Kelly Dorfman is a nutritionist who specializes in difficult cases. She has written dozens of articles, has been featured in several books and quoted in publications such as The Washington Post. Kelly lectures and speaks across the country. She lives outside Washington, D.C.

My Take

I am all about nutrition. Any book that makes us stop and think about the food we are feeding our families is a good thing. The book is broken down into vignettes, a format that made the topic even more interesting. It was heartbreaking to read about how some of the kids had been on medication for reflux/constipation from infancy. While those stories made me cringe I definitely did a little cheer for all the kids who benefited from dietary changes.

Diet is very important to me and I put a lot of time and energy into making sure my family eats a nutritionally dense diet. I firmly believe that many modern ailments/illnesses are diet related. I am not suggesting that nutrition is a magic bullet, but altering what you or your child eats is a low risk way to see if diet is the issue. I believe Dorfman is sending an important message to parents; Nutrition matters!

If you want to learn more about being a nutrition detective you should definitely check out What's eating Your Child. Kelly Dorfman also has a blog and website.

I did receive a complementary copy of the book which I will be passing on to another mom.

Halfway Point- Chugging Along

So I am at the halfway point on my 31 day crusade towards minimalism.

I am not going to lie. Getting rid of things has been very difficult. However, it isn't difficult because I don't want to part with things as much as it is just difficult and exhausting going through everything and making decisions. I kinda wish someone would just come and take everything. TAKE IT ALL AWAY! I really wouldn't miss anything one bit. I am considering having am "I'm Going Minimalist Sale" and everyone is invited.

The PROCESS has been trying but I see such tremendous progress. I don't want to lose steam. I know it will take more than 31 days to get to my goal. What I am trying to accomplish in 31 days is to make a BIG DENT. It is so easy to make a small dent and then think, "this looks & feels so much better" and then take a permanent nap on the couch. I've been there before and I am resolved that things will be different this time.

I have become acutely aware of how stuff finds its way into our home. Freebies, swag bag goodies, papers, tiny toys all creep into our house. I am an army of one putting the smack down on the clutter as it tries to break down my door.

I am honestly a little disgusted with myself when I look at all the superfluousness around my house. What a waste of money and time to acquire and care for these things. I keep looking at my six pairs of shoes and thinking, "Do I really need six pairs of shoes for one pair of feet?" I can maybe justify having a pair of boots, flip flops, dress shoes and sneakers. But 3 pairs of flip flops? 3 pairs of sneakers? It all just seems like excess to me at this point. Some of those shoes are going to be on the chopping block.

I am enthralled with the concept of living with only what is necessary. What a freeing concept. If we had to move it would only take a weekend to pack up our possessions and not months. We are still far from living minimally but getting there slowly. There is very little that I won't part with in the end. Everything I cherish is in my head and in my heart.

A Little Q & A Anyone?

Have a question you'd like me to answer?

Send your questions to me at anyelday@aol.com with Blog Question in the title and I will do my best to respond on the blog. I really do enjoy trying to help people and sharing my experiences as a mom. Take my advice or tell me to go fly a kit...your choice!

I will change your name in my response.

Danielle!

Night Weaning Jude

I'm tired.

Not tired like had a busy weekend.

Tired like I've been getting up 3-5 times a night for almost 2 years.

Jude and I have a beautiful nursing relationship that has been mutually beneficial in so many ways. I don't regret one second that I have spent with my lil guy. Most times I don't even mind waking up so much at night. It is the days following a particularly busy nursing night that bother me. I am not my best when I am tired and Eliza tends to be the one to suffer. She is an energetic little girl and trying at times. When I am tired I am much shorter with her than necessary and I know that isn't fair.

Last Monday I made the decision to night wean Jude. I know he is old enough to understand. I also know I am home with him all day and we spend lots of time snuggling and cuddling. If I were working outside the home I am not sure I'd be able to cut back on the nighttime sessions without feeling guilty.

I am taking an approach that I feel is the most gentle. I opted against having Pete deal with the night wakings because I didn't want Jude to feel like I was no longer available for him at night. Instead I am helping him to fall back to sleep without nursing. Our rule is no "milkies" between the hours of 11-6. I told Jude that "milkies" need sleep too and so they are going to bed. It hasn't been as bad as I envisioned but he is still waking up at around 2 each night asking for "milkies" or more specifically "milkies now!". I have been getting him back to sleep by rubbing his forehead.

I know there are many who think it is crazy that he is still nursing (especially at night) at almost 2 years old, but nursing is an important part of my relationship with Jude and serves many purposes in addition to providing nourishment. I will not stop before we are both ready.

Night weaning is bittersweet for me because it does signify the beginning of the end. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were just home from the hospital endlessly working to get a good latch. On. Off. On . Off. I clearly remember one very low point. I was sitting on the couch with Jude tears dripping onto my nursing pillow as we continued to struggle day after day and hour after exhausted hour. I knew Pete was also growing frustrated. He was on his way out with Eliza and he stopped and looked at me and asked, "Is it worth it?". I answered, "It will be when we finally get it right." And I was right. Every single tear was worth it and now that the end is nearing I'll probably shed a few more.

Building Bigger Triceps One Shower at a Time

I have decided to skip the shampoo and see how I do going "no poo." I first heard about "No Poo" over a year ago from Leslie at Recycle Your Day. It's been something I've wanted to try since, but didn't run out of shampoo until now. That was one BIG bottle of Pantene.

Why skip shampoo?

It's full of all kinds of chemical crap that I really don't want to put on my body. I was using Classic Pantene which has a Skin Deep rating of 5. I generally don't using anything above a 2. To complete my toxic chemical wash I was also using the Pantene Conditioner. I'm going to avoid these yummy chemicals because nerve damage and cancer aren't really my style.

Why the bigger triceps? I am scrubbing my scalp for about a minute each time I shower and boy have I felt it in my arms. At this rate I will have Michelle Obama arms in no time.

My last shampoo was Wednesday of last week. Since then I did one baking soda "wash" with an apple cider vinegar rinse. Results? Squeaky clean and I smelled like Easter. I LOVE Easter. I really haven't noticed a huge difference. My hair has been a little more oily than usual but certainly not oily to the point of being gross. Once those monkeys I order arrive to pick out the fleas I'll be golden.

SERIOUSLY= it isn't nasty or gross. If I didn't tell you that I wasn't using shampoo you wouldn't have a clue.

If you are interested in going "No Poo" check out Going No Poo

(aka Getting your 19th Century On*)

I'll be back to blogging about my decluttering soon.

31 Days Towards Minimalism- Day 4 or 5 or 6?

It seems I've lost a few days somewhere; My guess is that they are hiding under the junk in my front closet.

In an attempt to avoid dealing with the toys I decided to clean out said front closet. I pulled out everything and was immediately overwhelmed. I am not sure who has been saving all kinds of crap and storing it in this closet (me). Probably someone who had the best intentions to do amazing crafts using toilet paper rolls (me). I mean , who doesn't need 10 supersized Folgers coffee containers? (me)

I sorted through about 1/2 and was done.

I really shouldn't attempt things like this at 9:00 at night. I was tired. I wanted to crawl under the enormous pile of size 4T sweatshirts and hide all the while wondering how one little girl ended up with so many sweatshirts. Were they giving them away at The Children's Place?

So, I checked Facebook. I took a shower. I looked up recipes on how to cook the beets in this week's CSA box. I hoped that somebody else would come and clean up the mess.

Finally, I did the unthinkable. I shoved the rest of the junk right back into the closet. I was just too tired.

That closet hasn't seen the last of me. I have 31 days and I intend to use them. Toilet paper rolls beware...

I needed some fuel so that I could get a handle on toys. I found an article by Joshua Becker entitled Why Fewer Toys Will Benefit Your Kids.

After reading this I was definitely amped about shedding some stuff. However, I am going to take a a different approach to purging the rest of the toys. I am going to choose 1 item each day for the next 25 days to toss, sell or donate. I have also drastically limited the number of toys in the room. I am feeling much better now that I have a plan in place.

31 Days Towards Minimalism- Day 3

Day 3...umm there is no day 3 blog post. The kids toys really have me in a rut. I keep making excuse after excuse to keep the toys. Many of them are quality educational toys. We use a lot of them. Do we REALLY need them all? NO I just am a big baby and don't want to decide who gets to stay and who gets to go.

Last night, instead of going through toys and making tough decisions I went through the all of Eliza and Jude's clothing.

I set aside anything I thought might fit them in the fall and tossed anything that was not worth keeping, They both had lots of warm clothes which don't do us very good in this southern heat. I think Jude had 15 pairs of pants. A lot of them were hand me downs but that number is ridiculous. I culled about half- which were size 12-18 months- and set them aside. I don't know if I should donate them or sell them.

I was going to go through the closet toys tonight but I am backing out. AGAIN. I am going to go through the front closet instead.

31 Days to Minimalism- Day 2

My goal for this week is the toy room. We have a LOT of toys and books. Unfortunately, for some reason it is excruciating for me to make any decisions on paring down these items. I guess part of my feels like my kids need of all of these things to be happy even though I know that isn't true. The opposite is probably true. They have so much stuff they don't have the room to play. I am trying to teach them that happiness doesn't come from stuff, but they have tons of stuff. I know I am sending them the wrong message.

I also love books and we have a huge library for the kids. We do read many of the books but I am planning to at least cut it in half. OUCH! Then we will abide by the one new book in/ one old book out rule.

Yesterday was day two and I did a quick cull of their books. I also grabbed some of the toys I have been holding onto for no reason and took them out of the room. I haven't even looked in their closet yet. I have set aside an entire week to go through their stuff and at the end of the week I will photograph each item I have decided to keep.

F*CK @FF Stuff or 31 Days Towards Minimalism

When we decided to make the move from Jersey-Charlotte-Charleston we had to part with many of our things. I even blogged that we were getting down to the bare bones and focusing on what was important. FAMILY. It didn't happen quite the way I'd imagined.

We had the best of intentions but life seemed to get in the way of our organization. Somehow our new place was quickly overrun by STUFF and honestly it started to make it feel a little too much like home. I mean our home in Jersey that was packed with clutter. WE even managed to move a box that was entitled JUNK DRAWER.

We have been in our new place for four months and I am now dedicating an entire month to simplifying our living space. I am tired of the mess. I am tired of cleaning the mess just to clean the house. I am tired of not having time to spend with my family on the weekends because we have to organize and clean our stuff.

So I am here to say, "F*CK @FF STUFF".

We are moving towards minimalism. Today was officially Day 1 and Pete and I worked our butts off all morning donating things to our Good friend Will. Goodwill is a little sick of seeing Pete's face; that is a very good thing.