"Flat Living"s Favorite Things

OK my whirlwind shopping and Christmas preparation is almost over already. Never underestimate the power of a good list.

Handmade being high in priority and fair trade... I feel like I get better every year with reaching these goals. Hand made is becoming popular, more accessible and more people are offering alternatives to mass production... plus I just accumulate favorites as I seek it more and more.


Here are some of my favorite things ... just for fun!

• "Simple" shoes for Gus (I have some of their tennis shoes and love them) and I was looking for some really comfy shoes for my dad... and I stumbled upon a special "black friday" special for every Friday of the month. It was not black Friday... it was yesterday... and it offered over 50% off these shoes for Gus. They also offered free shipping so for exactly $11.76 I got the cutest little shoes for his cutest little piggies.
  
• I also got the most amazing toy for him. A wooden personalized cell phone from Etsy from a shop called Kinderhaus toys. It has "Hello Gus" written inside.
  
• Guitar Pick for James from Etsy. Engraved with the words "FATAL DESIRE" (his metal band said with serious attitude). And as James says... it is not just the band it is a saying... like "That is so Fatal Desire" meaning? Not sure? This will make James happy... that I am sure of.
  
• Toms shoes for Vyk. They have a holiday campaign called ONE for ONE For every pair you buy they give a pair to a child in Ethiopia. And, happily Vyk has wanted a pair and never gotten them. Simple black slip on shoes are exactly my hubbies style.
  
• The Voice new testament for my dad... gotta plug the pastor's/ editor bestest friend's merch. My dad loves the bible and it is fun to talk over the project with him after he reads it and has opinions to share. I am also getting him some handcrafted SAS shoes to help him not fall.
  
• For Astrid who wanted a lockable journal and a kids craft book. I was happy to find the perfect version of both with this and this at Olympia Books. Olympia books is quite possibly the coolest. They were right in the forefront of handmade and really too cool for me... but not for Astrid.
• And my absolute favorite gift to receive. I have gotten this gift 2 years straight from hubbie. My favorite artist in the form of a yearly calendar... Nikki McClure. Plus I got a bunch of her books for "Gus"/ me to read to Gus.
  

The ER Visit RANT -part 2

So... after that enormous rant... it was not really over.

See... about a week after the visit Astrid & Gus both started having sniffles and then a cough. No big deal. Then the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving as I was getting everything perfect and the kids were sleeping... Astrid woke up and said she could not breathe. She started throwing up and it was really scary! I tried to keep her calm... she was breathing... just really afraid and I think her throat kind of felt like it was closing up. I got her to go into the bathroom to breathe steam and she threw up some more. Her fever started to climb. And she soon had a high fever over 102. I gave her water and soon she had calmed down and slowly went back to sleep.
She calmed down but I felt uneasy. I had had RSV symptoms drilled down my throat from Gus' stay in the NICU. Plus his lungs were not fully developed when he was born which put him at higher risk. I had heard horror stories of RSV causing young babies to not breathe and weeks and months in Texas Childrens because of it. When we had taken the infant CPR class the instructor had told us that RSV causes a mucus plug to form and that plug in older kids can be coughed up or thrown up but in tiny babies they can not and this is what causes them to stop breathing.

I had this feeling... deep inside. My kids were sick, but it was no ordinary cold or flu.
Sure enough on Thanksgiving day... Astrid's temp climbed to over 103 and Gus just still had a cough and started sounding a little "rattley". I did what is very uncharacteristic of me... I took my kids to the doc. I mean I do take my kids to the doc... but not unless they are really sick and not with a virus. I have a motto... "The less I take them to the doc the less they are sick" and it is true.

When we walked into the docs office I told her about the ER and I told her about my kids symptoms and I told her I thought that it might be RSV. She went ahead and swabbed Gus' nostrels. Astrid's lungs were good, Gus had a rattle. He had RSV.
I said "I knew it" almost in a happy way.... which I guess was weird. But I just was happy that I trusted my instincts and acted on them. I knew my kids were very sick.

Gus was sent home with a breathing treatment (Albuteral) and Astrid was sent home with some ways to make her more comfortable as she got well. She told me what to look for as far as Gus... when not breathing from the virus (normal) becomes not getting enough oxygen and requires emergency care.

He has been fine... it has been just over a week and he hardly needs the breathing treatments. Neither of them ever developed any infections... no bronchitis or pneumonia. We are very lucky and very blessed. I have it now... but it is not a big deal with adults... usually not as bad as the flu. I would call it cold like.

But it could have been much worse. RSV can make children stop breathing or easily hospitalize them... esp very young kids under a year. And all of this from visiting the ER. I know that is where we caught it. The symptoms fit the incubation period perfectly. And even after the diagnoses... the doc said she would still take her kids to Texas Childrens over other hospitals. I ask again... REALLY? This is the best we can do? Am I wrong in thinking it could be/ should be better? What are we really talking about here...

1. That people (all people) should be able to get adequate health care... esp for their kids.
   
2. That an ER should be more about the care of people then checking them in and running them through.
   
3. That kids who are showing signs of communicable disease should not be placed next to kids who are healthy or for that matter sick.
   
4. That people who are attending to the sick as they wait should be courteous, caring, and compassionate... instead of jaded, cold, and bureaucratic.
   
5. That there should never be a back log on a week night that looks like a war zone.
6. That only people with actual emergencies would have to go to emergency rooms... not people who have no other option to care for their kids.
   

Too much to ask? I do not think so! This is the state of our "health care" (even does not do a good job of bringing health or caring for us) system and it will only get worse until it is fixed.
It will effect more and more of us. More and more of the small percentage of people who are isolated from it like me. Until we get tired of it and decided we want something more.

Green Baby

OK I can not title this post "green baby" without mentioning my new favorite baby store in Houston... Bebe Verde (Green Baby) on W Alabama.
If you have not been, find an excuse to go and support a great local store.
So, now that I have plugged them with my blog title.

I wanted to talk about feeding Gus.
Gus was introduced to Greens last week and loved it and here are pics to prove it.
If you can not see the color... his little food mustache is green.

It is funny. Because before I had him I looked everywhere for a good raw baby book.
I thought... "really, why has no one made a great raw baby book?" Well, now I know.
It is such a no brainer... there is no need for a book! I mean feeding a baby raw foods is easier then anything I ever did to feed Astrid. I made my own baby food with her... and it wasn't hard... but raw makes that look like a complicated mess.

I guess the blender is the secret. Having such a high powered blender (Vitamix) does help.
But I believe 100% you could do it with any blender.

My tips have to include this... the Munchkin. It is a miracle of modern parenting. You put the raw chunks of food into a mesh pouch that shuts and baby can hold and gum til his teething hearts content. It works amazingly for avocado, banana, and apples, nectarines, peaches, pears, etc. Or for putting in frozen blended baby food which satisfies Gus' teething woos much more then any frozen plastic teether ever could.

So blending and spooning is all that feeding your baby raw involves.
I mean here are the instructions... check out how easy my mornings are...
Raw pear w/ skins and all into the Vitamix
Add a handful of spinach and a bit of water if it needs a bit of help getting going.
Blend (Gus does not like this part so I need to sooth him while the blender runs)
Spoon up into babies happy and contented mouth.
If you want to add infant cereal just spoon into whatever fruit or veg you have blended up.

Here is what I have introduced (all raw- except rice), in order of what he tried first.
Gus turned 8 mo yesterday.
Oh and Gus was very interested in food early on... so avocado play time served us well for a few months.

1. Avocado (first food)
2. Banana
3. Pear
4. Apple
5. Spinach
6. Nectarine
7. Peach
8. Brown Rice Baby Cereal (Happybellies or Earth's Best)
9. Brown Rice
10. Carrots
11. Next I will add peas (raw of course, why not!)

If I want to get fancy or if I have some extra... I spoon that into baby freezer trays vs ice cube trays (beware harmful BPA). And can pop those into the Munchkin feeder or a bowl to warm.
Freezing raw food only breaks down a small amount of the nutrients/ enzymes. So, it is much better then cooking it.

Why raw for baby?

• It is easy. Why cook?
• Easy digestion - enzymes intact it is closer to the ease of digesting breastmilk.
• Healthier intestines - which means less allergies later, less fussiness, better health.
• More nutrition - raw and organic... best there is nutritionally. Nutrient dense foods.
• Best food ever - it is food it is purest state for the purest baby in his rawest state :)

I need to ask my friend about Spirilina. I know that was her babies first food.
Next post superfoods for baby.