Protein Bars

With this pregnancy, I have been trying to be much more mindful of getting lots of protein in. During pregnancy a woman should have at least 60 grams of protein. I like to spead it out through out the day if I can. I read label after label of all the "protein" bars. I must have looked ridiculous as I stood in Wal-Mart reading labels in the pharmacy section where they keep the protein bars. Of course there are all kinds of bars available with tons of protein. I actually took one to show DH which was like a snickers bar that had something like 30 grams of protein. In the end I just couldn't bring myself to buy them because of the huge list of ingredients, most of them I couldn't even identify. What is soy protein isolate anyway?!? Then I tried buying some Kashi bars but they weren't really any different, maybe a smidge better. Then DH suggested I try the protein bar aisle at our grocery store. There I saw Larabars for the first time. I remembered bookmarking a page on my computer that mentioned them so I thought I would check them out. They don't boast the huge protein content that the others do, at a relatively low 6 or 7 grams of protein but when I looked at the ingredients list I decided to be brave enough to give them a try. The first one I tried was the Peanut Butter Cookie bar. The ingredients were: Dates, peanuts and salt. WOW! Three things. But would I like dates???  I actually did. Now DH and B#4 absolutely did not like them. But that's okay, the other kiddos did. Not that I plan on feeding them to the whole tribe at $1.32/bar. I have a hard time spending that on me so I decided it couldn't be that hard to make from scratch.

Enter Google. Need a recipe, go to Google. Turns out lots of people are making them from scratch. If you are interested in trying your hand at it you can find the recipe I used HERE. B#2 and I just love them and they were really easy to make and while dates in and of themselves don't have much to recommend them in the nutrition department, aside from calcium and magnesium, they do a good job of substituting sugar and giving these bars something to hold them together. I would say the protein in these "protein bars" comes from the nuts that you add in. When I made them I used almonds because that was what I had on hand. I also added chocolate chips because you can never go wrong with chocolate chips!

I would love to hear if you have ever tried Larabars and if so what you thought of them.

Day 4? and an Announcement

Well last night didn't go as well as the night before but still pretty good overall. B#10 woke up around 4:30 but didn't seem to want to go back to sleep until around 5:00. So while I am still thankful that he only woke up 1 time instead of 5 I do need to figure out what to do when he seems to think he has slept enough and wants to stay awake for a while. Any suggestions that do not involve letting him cry it out?

And now for our announcement:

 This is a picture of B#11 taken about 8 weeks ago. We haven't really shared it too much while waiting until I was farther along in my pregnancy. Now some of my blog readers have told me that they can always guess when we are going to have a new baby because of my lack of posting. Well I guess I didn't disappoint this time since I just didn't feel up to blogging for quite a while. Now that I am in my second trimester I am feeling much better. We are excited to be blessed with another little one and look forward to July when he or she is due. Dad says he doesn't want us to find out ahead of time what it is and that is going to be so difficult for us girls as we love to sew and shop for new baby before he or she arrives. 

Quick Update

Sorry, no pics for this post...Just wanted to tell you about our night last night. B#10 went to bed at 8:30 and slept....FOR 12 HOURS STRAIGHT! I was the one who was awake last night:). I kept thinking that he would be waking up any time now and then I would go in there and check to make sure he was still breathing. I actually woke him up for breakfast this morning! Whoever it is that is praying...keep doing it.

Night #3

Well night #3 of weaning B#10 went very well. He only woke up 1 time around 3am and quickly went back to sleep, still being rocked at this point. His naps are even going better. He is still asleep now and it has been almost 2 hours. Typically he would nap for about 40 minutes to an hour then wake up crying only to have to be rubbed or patted back to sleep. Keep praying for us that it continues to go well and that last night wasn't a one time thing. Of course the goal is for him to start sleeping through the night without any rocking involved. He is such a smart boy that I am sure he will get this figured out, in time. He is already starting to talk a bit and follows directions just as well as his older siblings. He loves to say "Hi" when he sees us.

Aren't children such a blessing? Where would we be without them?

Weaning B#10

I haven't nursed B#10 during the day for quite a while but I have been unable to wean him from nursing at night. Some nights he would wake up as many as 5 times to nurse and honestly I don't think he was getting any milk. It has just become a well ingrained habit for him. Dad and I agreed that it was time to do something so a couple of nights ago we started weaning him. I am not one that can stand letting my babies cry it out, at least at night. We did do that for his nap times to get him to stop needing to nurse to sleep during the day but there is just something different about doing it at night, for me anyway. So I decided that a good compromise would be that everytime he wakes up either I or dad would go in and rock him back to sleep. Now that isn't as easy as it sounds since he was so accustomed to nursing back to sleep. He cries and pushes on me until he finally settles down. It doesn't usually take long, a couple of minutes or so of crying. But I feel like I can handle this crying because I am right there with him, holding him and rocking him. Maybe we are just starting a new bad habit but I felt like this was at least something that I could work towards and hopefully it will break his need to nurse.

We have done this for two nights now and it really hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. Last night he slept for 5 1/2 hours straight, which is a record for him. He hasn't nursed at all since Friday night so I am counting it as progress. I'll let you know how it goes.

Just a Note to Say

I am still alive...just haven't felt like blogging. Will try to do a new post soon with some pics of the kiddos.

Why?

Children looking at picture books at school, Santa Clara, Utah, 1940. Photo credit: Library of Congress

12:02am, 12:12am...I can't sleep. I can't seem to stop thinking about the latest school shooting, children the same age as one of mine learning their alphabet. Older children the same ages as two of mine trying to conquer a long math problem. And like many other people my mind wants to know "Why?'. A young man sits near me in the Chiropractor's office and asks his dad "Why did the shooting happen?". But his dad has no answer
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But the answer is there. If we will hear it. Sin. That is the answer. "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth", I can hear my 3 year old quoting. Man was lovingly created in the image of God. Man chooses to ignore God and teach our children that they came from an Amoeba or from apes, just a glorified animal. Man chooses to teach our children that there is no hope after death. Man chooses Sin and evil. How can life be valued if we teach them that they are nothing more than animals and that when we die it is the end? How can we be surprised when our young people choose to sin and commit such evil?

But even in the midst of Sin and sadness, we can know we have Hope. Jesus Christ is our Hope. We can know without a doubt that this isn't all there is, that this is not our home, that we are just passing through. But we have to choose it....it isn't automatic....Jesus doesn't force Himself on anyone.

Moms and Dads, are we teaching our children about God and His great love and Hope? Are we teaching them to Love the Lord God with all their hearts and souls and minds? What is more important to teach them than that? Nothing! If they know they were created in the image of God and that they are loved by Him and by us then they will value life.

How are you doing in teaching your children? I know I have been slack about it. I have let the cares of the day take over and haven't adequately been directing my children to their Saviour. Let what happened to those children remind us that time is precious and that we have a job to do.