World Water Day

i was reading on some other blogs, and one came up saying that this thursday (march 22) is world water day. never heard of it. but, apparently, it's been around a while. it was started back in the 90's as a vehicle to raise awareness for the over *1 billion* people who live with unsafe water supplies. that's over 20% of the world's population. and a vast majority of those who die from the lack of safe drinking water are under the age of 5.

so, this gives me pause as i turn on the tap in my home to get my children a drink of water. municipally treated, sanitary water from the mountains in my backyard, which i then extra-added-bonus filter before giving to them. wow.

photo credit: flickr/Michael_N

All Hail the Tooth!

well, it's been a while since i've posted, mainly because this is week 3 of the continuing Sick Children Saga. it started 2 weeks ago with daniel running a high fever, followed by nicholas in "the fever, part two" (and not to be outdone by his brother, a hefty cold to go with it) and seems to be petering out this week with jonathan sporting the same fever, and a wicked cough to boot.

however, we realized one other reason for jonathan's miserable and pitiful demeanor, and that is that he has finally cut his first tooth! which, as anyone who remembers (or has children who do), this is a very painful process. hence the constant crying and need to be held. he seems to be much better today, almost back to his smiley self. now, if he would just choose to have his fever spike at some time other than the middle of the night, maybe we could all get some sleep....

hopefully, pictures to follow soon...

Laundry Monster

a few weeks back, i counted the amount of laundry i do in a week. this includes everything--clothes, towels, sheets, diapers, the works. the total was 12 loads...and i mean Full Loads. no wimpy "extra small cycle" here. we're talking Heavy Duty Extra Large Cycle.

now, granted, we do wash our own cloth diapers, but those only account for 2 of the loads per week. not that much. the rest is just normal, household laundry. i ask you, do we just have an insane amount of clothing? are we some kind of crazy laundry hedonists? how in the world do we make all this stuff? and how, pray tell, do i keep up with it??

so, i want to know about laundry. your system, your philosophy, your advice. thank goodness summer is coming...i can just throw the boys out back and hose them off. (just kidding.) (mostly.)

Photo credit: Flickr/Rigmarole

Book Mooch

so i came across this website in my internet travels, and it looks pretty cool. it's called Book Mooch, and from the looks of it, it is a site where people list their books for trade and post wish lists for books they are looking for. when you add your books to the list, you get certain points which you can then redeem for another book that someone else has listed. i haven't tried it yet, but it looks like a neat alternative to buying books or checking them out from the library. since, as you learned in my previous post, i am not always good at avoiding library fines. guess i oughta check this site out.

anyone ever used it? have any other nifty sites to share?

Jumpstart My Car

so, it's 16 degrees outside and i have just managed to get all 3 kids dressed, in coats, and out the door. not to mention the 2 diaper bags, my CBS lesson (actually finished!) and lunch for all of us, since we have to go straight from CBS to preschool with a little lunch in between. as soon as they are all in the car, i try to turn on the engine and realize It. Won't. Start. not even the little rrrr-rrrr-rrrrr sound when it is trying to turn over. just a pathetic little *click*. after calling everyone i think could be around and coming up empty, i manage to con a neighbor into coming over and giving me a jump, and 30 minutes later we are finally on our way. did i mention that it is 16 degrees?

not only that, but the baby is sick, i am sick, and i just don't have much in the way of humor to face this situation. which leads me to what i now want to put on my birthday list: the portable jump start device.

if i wasn't so tired and cranky, i might be able to formulate some philisophical reason why this would not be a good idea, something about relying more on God to provide what i need (like a neighbor with a car) or being too caught up with needing to feel self-sufficient rather than going more with the flow. however, i am tired and cranky, so i just *want one.*
the end.

When Was Your Last Tetanus Shot?

so, we made it though day 2 of the basement caper (relatively) unscathed, and if it weren't for the pesky nailgun shooting a hole in the waterpipe at 8pm, a fairly uneventful day. my right hand was feeling a little left out last week apparently, (when i got a black fingernail on the left ring finger in the first 30 minutes of working), so it decided to add to the drama by impaling itself on a nail. minor flesh wound, as far as i can tell. this home-improvement stuff isn't for sissies.

now all we need is for a benign inspector-type to sign off on the work, and we are on to chapter 3: Drywall Waits for No (Wo)Man.

Grocery Exile

in my previous post, i detailed the ways in which money does not grow on trees on the estoll property. as a result of this, i have been looking at cutting discretionary spending, the biggest category of which is the grocery budget. at times like this, i have done this little game i call 'grocery exile'. basically, i plan meals as much as possible around the staples we already have in the house, instead of what i usually do--which is, what sounds good to eat? (not that the things i make this way don't sound good to eat, just that it isn't the first consideration.)

so, we have 3 lbs of brown rice and no noodles? then, stir fry extravaganza. have a bunch of orphaned veggies left over from previous meal plans? veggie soup. feel like grilling pork chops, but the only meat in the freezer is cooked turkey? ok, turkey rice casserole it is. also, it helps to get things used up and cleaned out...for example, it seems like the tail end of the cereal boxes seem to linger on forever, once a new (and thus, more exciting) flavor has made its appearance. during grocery exile, new things don't make appearances, so the old stuff has to be used up (or, face a cereal-less breakfast existence....sad, sad day.)

this has also led me to thinking a lot about the freedom i normally have to buy whatever food i want, whenever want it. within reason, of course, since i don't get to have sushi once a week, but you get the picture. i am easily able to cook a balanced and filling meal for my family, as often as i want to (and sometimes, more often than i want to.) having a month or 2 of grocery exile can be good for the gratitude meter, if i allow myself to think in those terms, rather than, "poor me, i can't buy any new meat this month." even during exile, we still have plenty to fill our plates.

the usda puts out a report each month on the cost of food and how much it takes to feed different family sizes. the most recent one for december 2006 is posted here. according to their calculations, in order to feed a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids under 5) on the 'thrifty plan', it takes about $505 per month, which averages out to be a little under $120 a week. which on paper seems like a lot, but even when i'm on grocery exile, it is a struggle to come in under $100.

so, where do you fall? anyone have any good, frugal tips for those times in the wilderness?

Photo credit: Flickr/Camo's pics

15 Words or Less

well, hello again, my woefully neglected blog. it has been a more-insane-than-usual few weeks, and so, it has been awhile. thanks to christy (not me!), for giving me a little kick in the boo-tay. thanks for noticing, christy. ;)

so, last we heard from the intrepid little band of estolls, we were transitioning back into the world of gluten. so far, so good. there was a while there that i was getting paranoid about the diapers again, but chris suggested that we keep a food-and-poop-log, and since then things have seemed pretty normal. so, probably he just had a little stomach ick for a couple of days when i was feeling worried. this makes a good 3 weeks that we've been back with gluten, and it seems to be fine. which is a relief, for sure. hopefully the f.a.p. log will continue to work its magic.

thomas the tank engine made his debut this week as a home-wrecker, when he decided to fly through the air and straight into the picture window in the living room. this, of course, had nothing to do with the children who at the time were running circles around the couch ottoman. this left a large star-shaped crack in the bottom of the pane, which has since then snaked all the way up and across the window to the opposite corner, and is now covered in duct tape because i am convinced with every gust of wind that the whole thing is going to come shooting into the living room and impale the nearest man, woman, or child. never mind that the temperatures last week had highs in the single digits. so, our neighbors love the new ghetto look, but we are still looking for options to replace or repair the window.

this weekend also marked the beginning of The Basement Room Caper--my dad and i are donning our toolbelts once again to finish the 3rd bedroom downstairs. (the picture to the right is from our previous escapade in the basement of our last house, but you get the idea.) this will allow us to move the 2 older boys into that room and free up the 2nd bedroom upstairs for jonathan, which in turn will allow us to have more than a 12 inch walkway around the furniture in the master bedroom. oh, and to move the diaper station out of the living room. however, the weekend began with the disadvantage of being decidedly NOT underbudget nor ahead of schedule. which led to some less-than-loving days with the hubby. but, we have put that all behind us now, and we are plunging valiantly onward. you can even ask chris.

on another front, i have been putting in more hours at the DAPP office where i work, in an attempt to stem the flow of money-hemmorrage that has been happening of late. (see thomas, and caper, above.) which is why i have not been keeping up here too well. anyway, wish me luck.

the good news is that on friday the groundhog saw his shadow, so spring should be just around the corner.

Gluten Love

well, daniel is adjusting just fine to his new gluteny-status. he announces to everyone at mealtime that "doctor said i can eat glu-ten!" we are all glad to have the gluten box come up from the basement (full of food that i couldn't bear to just throw away when we started this 4 months ago.) our pantry has about doubled. and so far, no ill effects....

Good News! So, why do I feel like crying?

well, we all went back to the specialist doctor today to get the results of the labs. daniel was negative for the genetic marker for celiac, and had no gluten antibodies (which could have been because he hasn't eaten gluten since september, but it was still a good thing) and so was i. chris had one of the two genetic markers, but since his antibodies were also negative, she wasn't concerned with that. so, apparently there is only a 1% chance that daniel could still have celiac in the absence of those markers. good news! she told us to go ahead and put him back on a regular diet, and to watch him for signs that he is having trouble, but chances are very good that whatever the problem was last summer, it is not celiac disease.

so, why am i not dancing in the streets? of course i was relieved that daniel will not have to live with such a restrictive diet his whole life, and that none of the rest of us will either. as long as he continues to do fine, the problem seems to have solved itself. but, i also didn't feel as happy as i expected to. i don't know if i had just been preparing myself for the news to be different for so long, or what, but i feel confused and let down, and worried that there may be something else entirely going on that we don't know what it is. not that he is sick right now, just that he could be if we go back to how things were--but this time, without the celiac diagnosis to pin it on. i know, tomorrow has enough worries of its own, without me worrying them all up front.

but also feeling like all this time, energy and effort that i have been putting in these last 4 months, not to mention the expense and extra planning, was all just a big waste. did i just colossally overreact? is it possible that the sickness went away when we took out gluten just because of a coincidence? that makes me feel kind of stupid or crazy, like "those moms" who are convinced that every little thing that happens to their kid is some big emergency.

this is apparently the hardest good news that i've ever had to hear.

tonight for dinner we are having homemade whole wheat bread, and cake. with lots of gluten.

Gluten-free resources

on sunday all of us went out to eat with chris' parents (colorado natives now), and we went to our favorite restaurant in louisville, The Huckleberry. think breakfast restaraunt meets high tea, if you can. it is always an interesting experience these days, since living glutenless, because usually most everything in a restaurant is either made with gluten or has touched something that is. however, there are always pleasant surprises, and this time our waitress had a relative with celiac, so i didn't have to go through any descriptive demands for how daniel's meal needed to be prepared. not that i am very good at that yet, but i am practicing. then, there's always the possibility that the tests will come back negative next week.

anywhoo, in the meantime, i am still in the process of gathering info (of course i am), and recently came across a post in a blog called [gluten free] goddess (see link on the left) where she writes out in a very comprehensive way all the different ways she substitutes for gluten when she cooks--seemed like a lot of good info, so i thought i'd share it here.

Crawling!

'nuf said.

Blood Test Number One

....and hopefully the last. today we (and by "we" i mean the whole family...) went to see a specialist about daniel's possible celiac disease, to ask questions and to begin the process of formal diagnosis. for the last 3.5 months that we have been feeding him a gluten-free diet, we have suspected that celiac could be the answer, but haven't pursued the testing necessary to make sure. as to why we waited so long, well, for that you will have to ask the insurance companies.

anyway, in many ways it was a relief to finally be on the road to knowing for sure what is going on and the details of what his treatment will be. we began this after getting some half-information from our family doctor and filling in the gaps with my own research (and realizing that in many ways we have done this backwards--and may pay for that later....our family doc recommended taking gluten out of his diet *before* we did any testing, and we now know that if someone has been on a gluten-free diet, the tests can come back falsely negative, so we may have to re-introduce gluten for a while to get an accurate result.)

however, for the record, spending the morning with all 3 boys in the doctors office, followed by a trip to the lab for a blood draw is a very exhausting propostition. if chris hadn't been there, i don't think we would have made it. they all did very well, considering, but having to be quiet and still for 3 hours is a lot to ask of 3 active boys. and daniel, bless his heart, was very brave for the blood draw, but taking 3 vials of blood from a 2.5 year old is just pretty traumatic no matter what you do.

so, we'll see. if the tests come back negative (daniel, chris and i all had them) for the genetic marker, then we are pretty sure that it isn't celiac. if it comes back positive, then we go back for more testing. we are praying for clarity.

Happy New Year

well, we here in the estoll household did Not stay up until midnight to ring in the new year...a fact that is terribly sad, but true. new year's eve in my young and carefree days used to be marked by a big party, sometimes even with masks. (ask betty, if you want to know.) this year, however, i am old and i spent the evening watching tlc with my parents (complete with commercials for retirement accounts and i've-fallen-and-i-can't-get-up buttons) and going to bed at 10:15. such is reality when the babe is guaranteed to wake you at least 3 times before dawn. maybe next year.

however, i did think i would try for some new years resolutions, since one can make those regardless of how much sleep one has had...and may even be more fun with less. i don't normally do formal resolutions, but as was mentioned above, i am old now, and so must face up to the music so to speak.

so, here are a few resolutions, in no particular order:

1. lose weight--the classic resolution. this one is actually a possibility for me, though, since i have already lost 45 lbs since jonathan was born. before you get too congratulatory, i gained 55lbs while pregnant, so you do the math. ideally, i would like to get back to where i was before i was constantly pregnant and nursing, which would be an additional 10.

2. strive to say "yes" to the boys more. i think that particularly with all the chaos of the last 6months, much of my time has been spent in some level of crisis mode, and my reflex for the boys has become more often "just a minute", or "we'll do that later" than "let's play." and really, how hard is it to just take 10 minutes to play before going on to the next thing. so now that we are not so wild-eyed and white-knuckled, i want to put them first whenever possible, and let the Next Thing wait for a little while.

3. settle in. because of the wildness of our days, as we moved in to our new home many things in our house were thrown in the closest corner or have been languishing in random boxes instead of thoughtfully organized into a new, logical place. so i'd like to work on regaining a sense of order in our house. should only take about 365 days or so (if i'm lucky).

so, what are your resolutions?

happy new year!

It's the Big One

well, we had quite an exciting week here, with over 2 feet of snow falling on wednesday. everything in the city shut down and chris had 2 unexpected days off right before the christmas weekend (yay!) we all sat inside and watched the snow fall--an incredible amount, by our standards, and a big colorado welcome for grame and grandpa, who are moving here from california.

because we were all safe and dry, we were able to just enjoy the awesome display--fire up the teapot and wipe the condensation from the windows. the next day, we ventured out to see the snow and took the pictures of the boys in front of the drifts that are taller than they are. the snow blanketed everything with a coating of silence, and the cars on the busy street next to us were slow and quiet, so the boys could even play out on the street in front of our house. it's amazing how much difference a big storm can make.

being confined for two days made me grateful for many things...the ablility we normally have to come and go when we please, having my family safe and sound, having enough food to weather the storm, hot drinks. a husband with a goofy sense of humor. slippers. and children who remind me that icicles are for *eating*.

Where *Are* All Those Guys??

i have not posted for a while, and i will tell you that it is because i have made a stunning realization in the past few days--that is, that apparently those "santa's elves" i've been hearing about are really ME. that's right, it has taken me until i'm 30, but the sheer magnitude of holiday preparations has finally caught up to me.

it's not even that we are doing a crazy-extravagant holiday or anything. if you read my previous post about christmas, you know that i am somewhat disturbed by all the excesses that we are encouraged to engage in when giving at holiday time. in fact, i have been striving to do many of our gifts in a homemade way. which might be part of the madness, actually, given my genetic predisposition to procrastination.

also, this is the first year that we are having christmas in our new house, and the first year that the boys are old enough to really be excited. and in nicholas' case, it may be the first time that he really remembers christmas, now that he's 4. which means i really want things to be special.

so, here's to all the other santa's elves out there...i gotta hand it to you. i had no idea.

photo credit: Flickr/NoOtherOne

Gluten Free Corn Dog

well, i just have to share this with you because i felt pretty cool. the other day for dinner i made these gluten-free corndogs for the boys for dinner. because, as all you savvy gluten-detectives know, corn dogs are normally NOT gluten free.....either the batter will have wheat flour in it, or the oil that they are fried in will be used to fry other gluteny things like chicken fingers or something.

it's not that the kids have had corn dogs all that often, it's just that its one of those fun kid-things that they would get to have when we were out somewhere, and it's those little things that kill me sometimes. if we end up staying with this diet for the long haul, there are going to be many many things that daniel will have to forgo, things that most kids don't think twice about...and that is hard to take (more for me than for him at this point--he's only 2 after all.) i know, i know, it's only food, but the truth is that food plays a big part in our lives, in our social interactions, and it is a big way that people nurture each other, for better or for worse. and the thought of daniel being left out of those things makes me sad sometimes.

and then, i saw on another blog where a woman made vegan corndogs for her little boy (check out the vegan lunchbox link to the left if you are interested), and i thought if she can do it, so can i! so, i got a gluten-free cornbread mix, and a special pan (really for twinkies, but it was close enough), and then just trimmed the little doggies a little bit to fit--voila! the boys had fun, and so did the mama. score one for outsmarting the gluten, at least this time!

Chewy as a Rat

one day last week we were sitting at the table eating tacos for dinner (mmmmm, tacos.) we have switched to using corn tortillas now that we are watching gluten for daniel, and i found some really tasty ones that use sprouted corn, so they are extra-added-bonus healthfood. partway in to the meal, nicholas offers his latest descriptive phrase, telling me that "mama, this is as chewy as a rat." i'm pretty sure he meant it as a compliment. i really hope that he is not using an actual rat as a basis for comparison.

and just in case you were wondering, if a child of 4 swallows a penny, it is only a problem if the penny lodges in the windpipe before reaching the stomach. ask me how i know this.

'Tis the Season

i don't know if any of you have noticed this, but the season of buying things is well underway. any time i step into a store or turn on the tv--music, ads, lights, camera, action! if chris *really* loved me he would buy me a heartstone diamond necklace, and if i really loved *him*, i would get him the newest cool cellphone that can make phone calls AND breakfast with the touch of a button. the other day i came in to the room while an ad for a minivan was on, and i found myself dancing to the music--besides the obvious scariness of a minivan commercial being targeted at my demographic (now that i am Really Old), it struck me how easy it is to be sucked in to the idea that if i just had this One More Thing, i would really be "much happier."

i have been thinking about this for a while. on one of the message boards that i like to read, some of the people there have been talking about this thing they call The Compact, explained through this quote, taken from a blog on the subject:

"Compact
1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact; 2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er); 3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)"

essentially, these people forming a Compact have all made a commitment that for one year they will buy nothing new, except food and health items. instead of going to target or the mall when something is needed, they have commited to finding it secondhand, or going without if the item turns out to be unneccessary; in this way, they are seeking to reduce the amount of resources that are consumed by their lifestyle and to examine the role that consumerism plays in the culture around them. buying nothing new doesn't seem that revolutionary, until i think about it for a while, and maybe you can too--how many things as i look around my room were bought new, when they didn't have to be? how easy is it to walk into target with a list of things i "need", and walk out with 1 or 2 or 5 more things that i didn't know i "needed" until i was walking around the store? while i am not ready to be as committed as some of these people are, the idea of being that mindful of my role in using global resources is intriguing. if you haven't seen it already, there is a very thought-provoking quiz that you can take to see where you rank in your use of natural resources--the results may shock you, as they did me.

rehearsals are underway for the christmas choir, and one of the songs that we sing always strikes me as i think about this subject. the name of the song is This is My Everything, and the words read:
"All that I love, all that I prize,
all that I cherish more than my life,
all is surrendered. I will be poor, for Your glory.
Resting in all You are, trusting Your loving heart,
'Cause this is my everything, this is my offering.
All that I have I bring. This is my offering."

the line that sticks out to me the most is "i will be poor for your glory". i am not poor. i never have been--even when money is tight, i would never consider myself to be poor--and i wonder what it would mean to truly be poor for the glory of God. how radical would that be, to truly give up on material things in order to serve God more fully--like the compact, but with an eye trained toward an eternal goal. and additionally, to trust that God would be faithful to provide for what i need, that i could rest in who He is and His love for me, rather than my own ability to *aquire*. especially at christmastime, when we celebrate the birth of our Savior, a man who lived "poorly" by the world's standard, it seems that i could do more to pattern my life after his example. and i'm guessing it doesn't involve the newest ipod, no matter how cool the commercial is.

Photo credit: Flickr user "eston"

Stomach Flu: the Gift that Keeps On Giving

well, happy thanksgiving to everyone....we went to visit my folks in colorado springs this weekend for the holiday, and nicholas brought an extra special gift with him: the 24 hour flu. poor kid spewed all over the dining room--and me, and my dad. fortunately, this was wednesday, not the Big Day, but he was pretty sick through most of thanksgiving anyway.

act II--chris succumbs. friday night, chris falls ill, and we decide to separate the troops. (i.e. jonathan and i abandon the downstairs for safer ground during the evening's festivities.)

act III--mom and dad share the love. cut to the estoll family making a hasty exit and running for the hills. we make it home with no vomit in the car, and even manage to have an uneventful day on sunday, recuperating and working on christmas decorations. we begin to feel cocky.

act IV--jonathan will not be left out. so, this morning, young one #3 awakens with a smile and a fountain of sickness. i can see no way for daniel and i to escape...it is only a matter of time.