Yogurt Is Good For You

I feel good about our choice to feed Eliana yogurt every day, and it is one of her favorite things to eat.  She has had yogurt as the main part of one meal (almost) every day since she was six months old-she loves whole milk, plain yogurt. Most people know there are many healthful benefits that come from eating yogurt daily.  The good bacteria that yogurt is famous for, those "live and active cultures", helps with a host of different things.  You might hear about microflora, probiotics, and healthy immune systems.  Beyond the strains of good bacteria you'll find that yogurt is also a good source of protein (for energy and muscle growth), calcium (for bones and teeth), vitamins B-2 and B-12 (cellular stuff, brain and nervous system benefits), potassium (for muscle performance, fluid balance, heart and kidney function), and magnesium (important for bones and muscles).

Additional research is under way on the, so far, lesser studied effects of yogurt, those that don't get as much press.

The yogurt facial, for example. Does it leave the complexion smooth, evening out wrinkles and fine lines? Does it aid skin's natural elasticity, tightening and firming around the eyes and mouth?

What about the benefits for hair; does it increase volume and shine?  Does it maximize growth potential, or possibly delay the growth of gray hair?

This is an ongoing study and all helpful results will be publicly disclosed as soon as they are attained and adequately substantiated. While there are many proven gains from eating yogurt, its additional values are yet to be definitively understood. This research shows, however, that science is at work to reach that understanding.

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

I feel like we are going backwards with Eliana and her sleeping patterns...at the beginning of this year I could put her down at night and leave the room and she would go on to sleep.  It was so nice (and early!  7:15 or so) and I had plenty of time to get my other kids ready for bed and read to them, before beginning my nightly clean-up and anything else I had in mind to accomplish. Somewhere along the line (it's always fuzzy, that somewhere place, isn't it?) she became very clingy at night and I stupidly lovingly obliged her sweet hugs and stayed in the room with her until she fell asleep in her bed.  This was fine and I still could get the others to bed, but over time the whole bedtime thing just got later and later; it took longer and longer. Now she can make herself stay awake forever, and she wants me to hold her ("Hold you!  Hold you?"she says over and over, and it's pitiful), and she'll scream and she's sad and she's mad, and I think,"What should I do?" Many might say,"Just leave the room."  Well, we've just moved.  We're in a new house, and things are not in their proper place yet.  We've had late evenings.  My parents just left.  There are some things that are very unsettling in her little life, and I don't want to do something that will cause her great fear or anxiety (athough I did put her through swimming/floating lessons...).  I want her to eventually like lying down in her bed and getting cozy with her blanket or bear or doll. Sometimes she will lie right down and look at her books in her bed, and talk to me a little.  She might want me to hold her for a minute, give me a big squeeze, a little kiss, and then she'll snuggle in.  I never know on any given night which way it will go. Tonight it was the crying, clinging route.  I held her for a while and told her how sleepy I she was, and all the sweet things I always say at bedtime.  She didn't buy any of it.  Her money was on dragging this out as long as she could.  She fussed; I got exasperated.  Things weren't going well... So, I sang.  I'm no Julie Andrews but my kids like it when I sing.  I started singing Jesus Loves Me and she got very quiet and put her forehead on mine.  When I finished the song she said,"Jesus?"  I asked if she wanted me to sing it again and she said,"'gain."  So I did...and as I softly sang those simple words I listened to them myself.  "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to him belong; they are weak, but he is strong.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so." Those words, so simple but so powerful, calmed my own spirit down.  My tension eased a little.  I held Eliana as I sang her those words, and listened with my heart to their beautiful message.  I needed that reminder myself.   I am little, he is great; I belong to him.  I am weak, he is strong; I can rest in him.  And yes, he loves me.

I'm Doing Laundry

Whose clothes these are I think I know,
The pants and socks cast to and fro'.
They will not see me stooping here,
To pick the dirty piles up so.

A looker-on might think it queer
With machines so very near
That I myself would get and take
The clothes dropped by my kids so dear.

The washer spins and gives a shake
As if to say it's going to break.
I hope it won't for I would weep-
The laundry then would overtake.

The bed is cozy, I could sleep
But I have laundry that's knee deep
And piles to go before I sleep,
And piles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost I am not...but I was inspired.

Digging Deep

There are plans around here to improve our backyard.  Mike and the kids are going to plant some new grass, some pretty wildflowers, and maybe other flowers as well as vegetables.  Right now, however, it's pretty much dirt, with a few blades of grass here and there.  Our three moles children have been digging in this dirt for days now, and loving every minute of it. Eliana discovered early on that although her shoes have holes in them, those holes are not made for dirt...

More than once I had to rescue her toes from her self-inflicted dirt-attacks. Christian, true to form, enjoyed jumping on the shovel.  He liked to see how much dirt he could get on it at one time. He also liked to dig a little here, and then move over and make a hole there.

He's a little guy, but he's strong. He had a lot of fun with that shovel and took great pride in his digging.

Michaela had a plan for her hole. She would dig, and then fill and pat.

Three, so different, yet so much the same...

I Miss My Washing Machine!

Help!  Help!  I'm drowning in a sea of dirty laundry!

No, seriously...a sea. It is Sunday evening.  The last load of laundry I remember doing was Tuesday of last week.  Then we got very intent on getting things in the new house so we could start sleeping here.  Each night after the kids were in bed it seemed too late to start a load and we were doing other things anyway (like running to Steak 'n' Shake for milkshakes-c'mon people, there are important things to get done!).  Then when we did get into the new house, I discovered the washing machine that comes with this house didn't work properly.  Like, it filled up with water, sat for a long time, and drained.  Then it filled with water again, sat for a while, and drained.  So, the clothes got really, soaking wet...but not so clean. We debated about what to do...try to get it fixed, switch it out for our own machines (which are in the garage), what to do, what to do... Meanwhile, the laundry has been PILING UP.  I have six garbage bags of dirty clothes and towels.  I have the new towels that we purchased on Friday (which I must wash before using-sorry, but I gotta' do it), the sheets on the beds are getting gnarly, there are multiple blankets which have gotten dirty during this move.  Plus, there is a laundry basket at the old house with dirty clothes that didn't get washed before we left, and another garbage bag full. Oh my word.  Did I really just tell everyone how much dirty laundry we have?  I did.  I want you to share in my pain. 

I actually enjoy doing laundry-I love when it's clean, and smells so good, and it's warm from the dryer.  I'll be in hog heaven when I'm through with all this.  Just trying to look at the bright side of things. Another problem this washing machine situation is causing is that because I cannot wash anything (and I have talked about a laundromat-I know that is an option) we are running out of some clean things.  Certain things are not a problem-underwear, kids clothes, even our own stuff, we're good on.  But clean towels, I have none.  Not even dish towels, which is what I used to dry Eliana off after her bath tonight.  It was the last clean one in the basket.  I had to get creative with the older kids, too.  But they were bathed and dried all the same. Mike is on a mission to have the problem fixed by tomorrow.  And then I will be doing laundry until next Wednesday. At which point I'll be swimming in a sea of clean laundry, which no doubt will be piled up on all the beds in the house. 

Ahh, then it will feel like home...