Operation Kefir Jelly was a success! The kids loved it (it was just raspberry jelly with some excess kefir grains mixed in). Personally I wasn't overly keen on the texture of the kefir with the jelly - a bit like large chewy grains of rice - but, all in all, not an unpleasant way to get a dose of probiotics.

Mixed results as far as the orange flavoured kefir water went. The OH and I thought it tasted quite nice, slightly yeasty but pleasant and not too sweet. Actually, I think the boys thought it tasted okay too (Beanie couldn't get enough of it!) but, as they've never had soft drinks before, they weren't too sure about the fizziness. They kept coming back for more though and Shmoo was halfway through his second 1/3 of a cup before he decided that he didn't like it. I think that was because he didn't really like the sensation of burping bubbles up his nose rather than disliking the taste and I suspect he'll enjoy more another day, just in smaller amounts perhaps. Loo Bear kept returning for small sips of his; and Beanie downed all of his pretty much straight away and I had to tell him no more until tomorrow!

The bubbles in the kefir water were only very, very mild, nothing like commercial soft drinks, and The OH didn't even really notice too much of a fizziness. I think by doing a longer second ferment in an airtight bottle you can get more bubbles but I'm happy to forgo the bubbles (I put it straight into the fridge after bottling it) rather than risking an increase in alcohol content, plus it was fizzy enough for the kids as it was. And I'll definitely be keeping the first ferment under 24 hours for future batches that we intend to consume.

Our worm farm received a donation of about a cup of excess kefir grains today. To be honest, I was a little shocked when I opened up the pantry this morning and saw my kefir jar. Overnight I'd gone from having a fraction over 1 cup of grains in the jar back up to 3 cups (it was exceptionally warm overnight). I'm seriously starting to suspect that my kefir grains have secret plans for world domination...

Oh, Thank Goodness For That...

The OH took Loo Bear to the doctor this afternoon. The GP seems to think it's just upper respiratory stuff, a bad attack of hayfever rather than asthma.

The Kefir Grains That Took Over The World

The swing top bottles in the picture above are batch #2 (orange flavoured). The Fido jar is batch #3. Batch #1 was... interesting. I think it turned out okay, it tasted okay, just... I wasn't sure about the alcohol content as, well, life happens and the first ferment went for a bit longer than I'd anticipated. So the kids won't be getting a taste until I'm certain it's okay.

Batch #2 I ended up doing half white sugar and half jaggery with a slice of unpeeled lemon added to the first ferment. I made sure the first ferment went no longer than 24 hours. I bottled it with some fresh orange juice and it's currently chilling in the fridge. Will do a taste test tomorrow.

Batch #3 is currently brewing, same ingredients as batch #2. The real surprise though has been the kefir grains themselves. I'd read that they can multiply quite quickly but wow... they really do breed like rabbits ;) I think I have close to 3 cups of them already (think about it - I started out with two tablespoons eight days ago...). I know I can find good homes for some of them but considering you really only need a couple of tablespoons to get started, it means a lot of left over grains.

Apparently you can eat the grains and, from what I've read, they're quite a potent source of probiotics, so regardless of whether or not we give the kids the kefir water, we can include the grains in their diet. I am in the middle of making a batch of jelly with a few of the extra kefir grains mixed in. :) I almost feel a bit odd eating them... I've grown quite fond of them, like little pets.

'Mama' - Art by Beanie

Somewhat abstract, I think. I am told that my eyes are on the bottom right; the rest of my face is the line on the centre left; my two legs extend up and out to the right; and the circle is my big tummy with baby brother inside. :)

The shoe phone is sooo outdated. Keep up with the times and get yourself a banana phone...

Officially Kefir-ing

  

 The OH went up to the shop to check the mail this afternoon (rural living = no home mail delivery!) and I was thrilled when he came back with two parcels for me. The small package contained my handy little stainless steel funnel with removable strainer, I do prefer stainless steel over plastic and this one is a perfect size. The absolutely huge box contained a couple of extremely well wrapped Fido jars and some swing top bottles. Actually, the three boys had crowded around for the parcel opening, jostling each other and me, and as I opened up the big box I told them there wasn't anything that they'd find particularly exciting inside, just some glass jars and bottles. Well, I unfolded the cardboard flaps and there were simultaneous squeals of delight from all three kids as they saw the mountain of bubble wrap. :)

After giving the funnel and one of the jars a good wash, I set about transferring over my booming colony of water kefir grains - I estimate that there's probably just under a cup of grains now... not bad for less than a week!. I used the same basic sugar water mix that I mentioned previously as the grains seem to be faring quite well in it (some of the grains manage to grow somewhere between 2.5-3 cm before breaking) but I tripled the quantity so that I ended up using 6 cups of water. I'm thinking that I might try occasionally adding a little blackstrap molasses to give the grains some variety...  maybe alternate between that and the maple syrup.

Asthma?

*Sigh* Apparently Loo had some difficulties breathing at his performing arts class this afternoon.
Eczema, allergies, hayfever... will asthma be added to the list?

ETA - When they got home I asked Loo to describe what it felt like and he said that it felt like his chest was blocked... hmm.

Here Comes Santa Claus...

Our swimming lessons finished up for the year last week and so this was the first free Saturday that we've had in a while. Our local Harvey Norman store does free Santa photos every Saturday in the lead up to Christmas and for the last few years they've had an wonderful, friendly, authentic-looking Santa so we always go there for the kids' photos.

We decided to stop by and get a photo done before we did our grocery shopping this morning. We were in the car, still about 10 minutes away, when Shmoo let out an exclamation of delight - he'd spotted a helicopter flying over. We got to the intersection outside the shopping complex and I could tell it was really busy for some reason. Santa photos are popular but it was never usually this packed... cars going in and out and people everywhere! We turned into the carpark and noticed a local radio station set up and signs announcing Santa's arrival by helicopter. Uh oh. We hadn't been expecting that. We'd missed Santa's big arrival by about 5 minutes but there were heaps of families sticking around for the sausage sizzle, face painting, balloons and Santa photos.

Surprisingly we managed to snag a park pretty quickly so we walked up to at least check out how busy it was. Shmoo walked up the steps behind the big speakers, looking a bit stunned, his hands over his ears. The line for Santa photos went right down to the back of the store. We stood in line for a couple of minutes, discussing whether we should just come back next week, however I'd already promised Shmoo the day before that he could look at vacuums and get some new catalogues and he'd been more excited about that than the prospect of seeing Santa (after all, there's no way that even Santa can magically squeeze a Dyson into a Christmas stocking!). The OH and Beanie waited in line while I took Shmoo and Loo to the vacuums.

By the time we'd thoroughly checked out the vacuum display, The OH and Beanie had moved a fair way up the line so we decided to stick it out. I got my mobile out and the boys took turns at playing games on it. Thank goodness for smartphones (the HTC One XL is all kinds of awesome by the way. Have had it for a couple of months now... a huge upgrade from my old <$100 Telstra smartphone. Love the android os).

And then it was our turn for a photo with Santa. I'd convinced myself that this year The OH and I wouldn't need to be in the photo, that the kids were old enough to not get freaked out my the big guy in red. Unfortunately Beanie had other ideas and while he was happy to say a shy hello and high five Santa, there was no way he was going to have a bar of sitting next to Santa for a photo, even with his big brothers there. Another family photo!

So that was our long, busy morning but the kids were happy that they got to see both Santa and vacuum cleaners. And we overheard that Santa likes a snack of milk and Tim Tams... just in case you were wondering what kind of nibblies to leave out for him this year ;)

Kefir Progress

My rapidly growing water kefir grains (slight golden colour because of the jaggery that I used in the sugar water)

Today I strained off my water kefir grains and popped them into a fresh batch of sugar water. Given that I'm not doing the full ferment process yet, I'd left the grains longer than I would have otherwise (it ended up being just over 48 hours and I think if I'd been making it to drink it probably would have been ready in about 24 hours).

When I opened up the jar (I'd only loosely capped it), the water kefir was bubbling away beautifully and much lighter in colour than when I'd started. It had gone from a dark brown to a gorgeous pale golden colour. Since it had been fermenting for so long it did have a slight alcoholic aroma to it (although I doubt that the percentage would have been particularly high). After I strained out the WKGs I took a tiny, cautious sip of the liquid (not that we're consuming this batch, I was just curious). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it actually tasted okay, kind of like a dry sparkling white wine but without the strong taste of alcohol that wine has (I've never really been keen on the taste of alcoholic drinks).

I tumbled my lovely plump-looking grains into a new jar of sugar water and then debated what to do with the water kefir. It seemed a shame to just tip it down the sink when it's supposed to have such great health benefits. I've read that you can feed the grains to your animals and I figured the alcohol content would be very low so I watered it down and put it outside for our feral cats (they keep the snakes, rats and rabbits off our property and the scrawny little things could probably do with a probiotic boost!).

I also found another site with some fantastic info on how to make and store water kefir.

Kefir grains in fresh sugar water

Water Kefir

Four or five years ago I started hearing about the amazing health benefits milk kefir. It sounded good but, having a child anaphylactic to dairy at the time, I wasn't about to start experimenting with milk. A couple of years ago I noticed that people were talking about water kefir, a non-dairy alternative that still provided the great probiotic benefits. I toyed with the idea of having a go at making water kefir but never seemed to get around to it.

Until now. A number of things, including an annoying bout of pregnancy-induced thrush, finally motivated me to order some water kefir grains (I got them from Tumbletree). And I'm really excited to see what those little grains do, especially after stumbling across some great info at Delicious Obsessions and Divine Health... even more so after I realised that the cute and really cheap Fido jars and swing top bottles I'd managed to score online last week are the same ones that Jessica from Delicious Obsessions uses to make her water kefir in.

So I'm just going to do a couple of batches to let the WKG grow until my lovely new jars/bottles arrive next week and then I'll start doing it properly with the whole second ferment and everything. I can't stop going to the pantry to gaze in awe at the WKG bubbling away and doing their thing in the jar of sugar water. They're actually doing it and looking all perky and happy, and it was only just over 24 hours (when I took the above pic). Very cool. And the boys are fascinated with how the grains eat the sugar and produce all those bubbles (which they have hereby called kefir farts *sigh*).

For the basic sugar water recipe I ended up kind of combining the instructions that came with my WKG and the recipe I found on Delicious Obsessions. I used 2 scant tablespoons of jaggery dissolved in a bit of hot water, topped it it up with cold water (total of 2 cups); mixed in 1 teaspoon of pure maple syrup, a tiny pinch of bicarb soda; and then tipped in the 2 tablespoons of WKG. I've never been a fan of dried fruit so I'm bit reluctant to add any at this stage, will see how it goes; and, as aforementioned child also used to be anaphylactic to egg, I still find myself being a bit cautious and reluctant to add the eggshell (I figure I can always add a bit to later batches if the grains seem to need something extra).

Can't wait to see how it all turns out and to start experimenting with different flavours during the secondary ferment!

Yay!

Amnio results all clear :D No translocation!

Baby head down (ROA); placenta high up and anterior.

Profile of Baby Bear's head. Measuring 28 weeks.

Ditto's Keep Safe Adventure

This afternoon we all sat down and watched Ditto's Keep Safe Adventure Show, a DVD (starring Ditto the lion cub and Fairysafe) that aims to teach kids personal safety skills. It's also Australian - so nice to have the Aussie accents!

I was a little put off at first by the over-the-top, slightly condescending way in which Fairysafe spoke to the audience but I'm aware that lots of kids' TV/DVD shows use this tone and most people probably wouldn't be aware or bothered by it. Certainly it didn't have any trouble holding the attention of my 3 boys!

The DVD covers a number of topics and uses catchy tunes to help teach kids about 'yes feelings' and 'no feelings' and how those feelings might physically make them feel; good and bad secrets; private parts; saying 'no'; and telling someone that they can trust, amongst other subjects. Personally I generally don't use the term 'secret' when talking to my kids, preferring the term 'surprise' (ie. "I got Daddy a Bazinga hoodie for Christmas but don't tell him, it's a surprise" ;) ). There's nothing too specific either when discussing private parts, leaving any specific terminology up to the parents (private parts are defined as mouth, chest, between the legs and bottom).

I wasn't overly keen on the blanket statements regarding the people that children can trust (teacher, policeman etc) but given that pretty much everything comes with 'as long as you feel safe' I didn't feel it was such a big deal. And as with anything on this subject matter, the DVD shouldn't be treated as a stand-alone, teaches your kids everything they need to know thing. Parental involvement is so important! I was quite happy with it as a tool to facilitate discussion with the kids.

After we watched the DVD we went through the activity book and I gave the boys their mini Dittos (which they instantly fell in love with). We did skip a few pages in the activity book but the boys enjoyed what we did do and then they went back through it of their own accord later and did some of the colouring in and other activities (or scribbled as in Beanie's case). It was quite evident that they had actually absorbed a fair amount of useful information from the DVD that they were able to apply and discuss as we went through the book. Loo then requested to watch the DVD again so we had a repeat screening. :)

I'd say that Shmoo got the most out of both the DVD and activity book. Loo probably got more out of the DVD but still did enjoy the book. I'd recommend it for kids aged about 4 or 5 through to about 10. We also have the CD of songs used in the DVD but we haven't listened to it yet, probably will in the car tomorrow!

There's a bit more info about Ditto here; and the DVD, activity book and other resources are available to purchase from here.

First Cinema Visit

 

*blush* Yes, that's my ^bump^ protruding into the pic... well I am 27 weeks pregnant! 

The last time The OH and I went to the movies was over 7 years ago, when Shmoo was still a tiny, portable, easy-going newborn. Then he grew into a toddler and we had another baby, and then another baby. Movie-going with 3 very young children... not exactly the most appealing of activities.

But the kids are older now and for some time we've been thinking that we should take them to the cinema so they can see their first big-screen movie. Preferably before the arrival of the next baby! So, this evening, we took the boys to see Madagascar 3. We have 1 and 2 on DVD which they all love so we were pretty confident that they'd like 3 as well. We deliberately chose a mid-week screening too, in the hope that it would be a quiet session and I also packed 3 sets of earmuffs and the CuddleLoop, just in case. I was tempted to take along the weighted blanket too but we only have a small one and I figured they probably would have ended up fighting over it.

It went really well. We bought a large bucket of popcorn for them to share and the woman who served us had the brilliant idea of giving us 3 smaller, empty cups so that we could give the kids their own little serves. We were also able to go into the cinema straight away, about 20 minutes before the movie was scheduled to start, which was great. We were first in so I was able to carefully select the row of seats and get the kids settled and comfortable. Turns out that mid-week is a great time to go as there was only one other small group of people in the cinema with us.

Madagascar 3 was a great movie to see on the big screen, even The OH and I enjoyed it. The only thing in it that I was really concerned about was the scene with the mounted animal heads on the animal control inspector's wall, I was worried it might me a bit alarming for the kids but it seemed to go over their heads (forgive the pun!). Shmoo and Loo sat amazingly still and just got really into the movie. Shmoo did wear his earmuffs for 3/4 of the movie though. Glad I brought them! Beanie did really well too, considering he's not yet 3 years old. He couldn't get over the fact that they'd turned off the lights and kept gazing up at the ceiling in awe and commenting on it.

Overall, a big success. We even let the boys have a go on one of those car-racing games after the movie. The boys will be talking about the whole experience non-stop now (and nagging us to go again... maybe we should make them pay for their own tickets?!?). Interesting to note also that my pregnancy hormones have well and truly kicked in... honestly, what mama gets all teary and emotional over her kids' first big-screen movie? :"> 8-|

In The Bag

*Phew* I've just finished wrapping the kids' Christmas pressies that we've slowly been collecting in online sales over the last year, apart from a couple of things that are still on the way. Feels good to be getting things organised (plus I'm just excited about a lot of the pressies - I think I'm gonna have fun playing with them too ;) ). Next I just have to wrap the boys' birth and birthday presents and that should take care of the main gift-giving until next Christmas! Ahhh I love online shopping. Why battle the crowds at shopping centres when there are so many wonderful online stores (and Fishpond)?

Christmas:

Individual presents - they're each getting a Viewmaster set and a drawing kit (Lyra Groove coloured and graphite pencils, Stockmar block crayons, sharpener and eraser).

Family/shared/'school supply' presents - paint storage pots; 2 x wooden puzzles; solar powered rainbow maker; magnetic drawing boards; small wooden tabletop puppet theatre; set of jungle animal hand puppets; Giotto face paint pencils (we got sick of them using hard-to-remove felt pens to draw all over their faces, especially when a random squiggle on a forehead ends up looking remarkably like a swastika...). I have restrained myself and not included spare glue sticks and erasers in with their Christmas gifts. I'm sure my kids wouldn't mind in the slightest if I did include them but somehow they just don't seem quite exciting enough to me :)

Stocking fillers/Santa's contribution (he only gets credit for the small stuff ;) ) - they each get a little wooden magnifying glass; wooden animal clicker toy, wooden kaleidoscope/prism viewer thing; novelty pencil; handful of little chocolates.

Birthdays:

Baby Bear's Birth -  4 x wooden puzzles with storage rack and a DVD (yet to decide which one!) for the big boys to share; lovely, snuggly, super-soft teddy bear for Baby Bear.

Beanie - wooden pirate puzzle; wooden magetic ice-cream stand; noisy animal book.

Loo - set of dinosaur hand puppets; dinosaur novel (The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth); set of nesting measuring cups.

Shmoo - wooden science toy kit; DIY vacuum science kit; rolling pin/biscuit cutter set.


Hmm, I may have gone a bit overboard with all the puzzles but they've all been really into working co-operatively to complete puzzles lately. It's so lovely to see them playing nicely and helping each other. Plus puzzles offer a much needed quiet and independent play option when there's a newborn to take care of...

Hobart man charged with rape of two-year old

I cannot even begin to put into to words how this story makes me feel. It hits far too close to home. If he is guilty then I can only hope he gets what he deserves.

Please consider supporting organisations like Bravehearts and ASCA - they really do some wonderful work.

The Acornians

Here are the little people that we made from the acorns we collected yesterday. We glued their hats on and stuck them on to spiralled up pipe cleaners. The boys had lots of fun drawing on faces and using nail polish to paint their hats (2 coats - one plain base colour and then a glittery top coat). They have decided that the two cute fellows in front are to be sent off to live with a friend of theirs.

The Acornians make sweet little finger puppets or pencil toppers, depending on how tightly you coil the pipe cleaners. Or they just sit there, bobbling their funny acorn heads about when little fingers poke them. :)

Paed Appointment - Loo Bear

- At least today's paed was one that we've previously seen (even if only once and for Shmoo rather than Loo).

- Dx seems to be ADHD :-/ Not surprising, just the doc sounded a bit all over the place and vague.

- Paed's putting a referral into the system to have Loo seen by a psychologist, under the diagnosis of ADHD, to help give him some coping strategies and tools for self-regulating etc. However he said that it could take a while and so most people end up doing it privately.

- He also put in a referral for genetic counselling in relation to Loo's chromosomal translocation. Meh. Done all that when I was diagnosed. But we'll do it again, never know what new information or insights they might be able to provide.

- At least we got to have some fun collecting acorns and their little hats from under the big oak trees on the hospital grounds. Gonna make some acorn people finger puppets. :)

More Cooking @ ECIS

  

Oobleck

After drowning lots of toys in the bathroom sink, seeing what floats and what doesn't (no, Loo Bear, please don't soak all your pencils in the water...), the boys spent the afternoon getting their hands into some Non-Newtonian fluid AKA Oobleck AKA cornstarch in water suspension AKA messy fun in the name of science.*

  

The more force you apply, the more resistance you meet. Go gentle and slow, stop applying pressure, and the solid turns back into an oozing liquid goo. Hmm, there's a lesson in there somewhere.


*Those with sensory avoidance issues may need lots of encouragement; and a drop of some pleasant essential oil mixed in wouldn't go astray as the mixture is a bit smelly as Shmoo Bear so dramatically pointed out.

Aaaargh!

~X(

Called my OB's office again regarding the amnio results. The receptionist said that she spoke to pathology and they said that the results that were sent through are it, that's all they have... Except the OB told me that they were only the preliminary results and we're still waiting on the full report. So the receptionist is going to call pathology again and see if she can find out what's going on.

I'm assuming that we got the all clear for the FISH test, which is a good start, but that only tests a few specific chromosomes (13, 18, 21, X and Y, I think) none of which are involved with my particular translocation.

Hopefully they didn't just do the FISH test alone. That would be all kinds of frustrating and pointless.

This is so not doing anything to increase my faith in the hospital system.

How Sweet It Is...

Poor little Beanie had a very restless night last night and was so sensitive today. We sat down for a big cuddle late this afternoon and within minutes he dropped off to sleep next to me. Eventually I had to get up and make dinner and I asked Loo to be quiet and gentle around the snoozing Bean. I peeked into the lounge room 10 minutes later to see how Beanie was going and he was still fast asleep - and Loo had taken off his jumper and carefully tucked it around his little brother to keep him warm.

My dear, sweet little Loo Bear. Bouncing off the walls, all fiery, stubborn rage one minute and considerate, loving big brother the next. Wonderful, darling boy :)

At the Park

A lovely day out at the park with friends... playing, climbing trees, exploring, making daisy chains, watching trains...

 

 

And then home for a special treat, breakfast-for-dinner (French omelettes, bacon, and pancakes with maple syrup). :)

Fire Truck

It's not uncommon for us to see a fire truck outside the local shopping centre around lunch time (I'm assuming they stop by to grab some lunch, rather than there being regular fire emergencies there ;) ). Nevertheless, the sight of a fire truck never fails to thrill the boys. Beanie waved enthusiastically from our trolley and shouted out "Hello, hello!" and the bigger boys climbed up onto the wall for a closer look.

Shmoo and Loo were excited when I suggested that I take a photo of them in front of the truck. I think it says a lot about their personalities - Shmoo leaned coolly and casually against the railing in the background with a hint of self-consciousness while Loo struck an over-the-top pose, hamming it up for the camera :)

You vs. Me

The OH and Beanie reading a book...

Beanie: What's that?
The OH: 'u'.
Beanie: Me?
The OH: The letter 'u'.
Beanie: The letter 'me'?!