Applesauce and haircuts

This is my little helper last week as I made applesauce for the third time this month. My friend, Chrisie, gave me her recipe and it's wonderful! I cheat and use my new apple/peeler/corer (Thanks, Dad W!) which allows me to peel, slice and core 15 apples in about 30 minutes.
So, to make this yummy sauce, put a half cup of water in a pot (mine is 5qts), then heap full of peeled and sliced apples. Cook on medium for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally, then simmer as long as you like (I usually cook this for 5 hours or so). Add 1/4 c. sugar (I use dark brown), and season to taste (I use 1-2t. cinnamon, and a pinch of allspice and ground cloves). I used only Fuji apples the first two times I made this and it was yummy, but so sweet that it was better on top of vanilla ice cream than by itself. The last time I made it with half Fuji and half Pink Lady apples and it was perfectly sweet and sour, the way I like it.

I was afraid to cut his hair after our last episode, so Ben's Aunt Laurie kindly volunteered to do it for us (she's a professional). He still fought tooth and nail. I didn't post the picture someone took with my camera of both Ben and myself restraining him while she tried to cut his hair, as I was afraid it might be misinterpreted. Check out Mr. Eye Lashes

This is during break time, before we went back for our final round of hair cutting. Aunt Laurie was so patient! You'll have to wait for a finished hair picture for him till next week as he was too wiggly or grumpy for pictures. Oh, and this is a before picture of my hair which I got cut the next night.

Jenna and Ally got their hair cut too!

My newest do! Thanks Kim!

Becca's Favorite Things!

Well, as you can see, the first is so yummy, I ate it all. "Chocolate Underground" organic yogurt by Stonyfield Farm. It's perfectly good for you...except for the immense amount of organic sugar in it. But, in lieu of a candy bar, WAY better for you, and oh my, the chocolate!

I heard about SuperMom Vitamins from my friend/sorority sister, Dana, and am very happy with the results. I totally have more energy than I did prior to taking them. I almost feel like... like a "SuperMom!" [to be sung in the style of Superman].

Wee little Wii man

While I was on the phone with my parents, Z found the Ovaltine jar and I found him squishing it between his fingers then cramming fistfuls into his mouth. Had to get a picture, I was laughing so hard!

Monday night Z's buddy, Dominic, came over to play. I love how they both stir their respective vegetables with such care. We got a taste of what it's like to manage two that night and we decided we could get used to it. Of course, it helps, Dominic is super easy to care for.

Our Wii little boxer
Aunt Debbi came over last Sunday night and we showed off our son's talents on Wii boxing. It's great for wearing him down and gives us a good laugh as well. For those without sound, you're not missing much, so no worries. FYI, he has knocked out several Wii men and even won one game all on his own. We are being super careful to distinguish between hitting people in real life and punching with the Wii remote. We think, if we're consistent, this won't be a problem and so far it hasn't. I'm sure we'll make graver mistakes in our parenting if we're wrong.


Web World
Just found a neato link on my friend, Kristina's site. It's a website that has free audio and cyber books on it. In other words, you can click on a book (they have lots) then either read it on-line or sit and listen to it. Who has time to sit and listen to a book? I know, I thought the same thing, but Kristina says she turns a book on and gets stuff done like knitting or exercising. Love it! To use, I clicked under "Listen" on "Librivox Catalog" (since I don't have an iPod to do Podcast), then browsed their entire catalog, clicked on a book, then clicked on one of the MP3 links under it and Voila! I was listening to a book! I thought this would be particularly nice for people who have lost their sight or maybe did some sort of mindless work. When I was driving a whole lot I used to check out books on CD at the library to pass the time and got to listen to some awesome books that way. These could be burned onto a CD or put on an MP3 player or IPod for the same traveling enjoyment.

WigJournal

Swim classes started again! He's much more comfortable in the water this year (Z not Ben).Found this on one of my college roommate's blog. Not sure how exactly they're defining "genius"! Interestingly, three of my four college roomies have blogs: Lana, Stephanie and Chrisie! Do visit, they're all fascinating women!
Here's some snippets of our night the other night. I just missed some really funny dancing but still got a little bit on this first video which you can't hear very well at all. In the second one he was initially waiting for me to take his picture, but soon gave up and started his usual grabbing of whatever he can find on the table. If you listen you can hear "slurping" of the white spoon he pretends to lick!


As promised, here's the latest installment of "Becca's Favorite Things":
Got dry skin? I do! Eucerin Plus: Intensive Repair Body Creme healed the eczema on my scalp (although it came back when I stopped using it, but it does that when I use prescription cremes too!). Next, we have the best spray since insect repellent. Suave Professionals: Volumizing (Compare to Matrix) costs under $3 and works every bit as good as professional styling spray. I tried their curl scruncher in the green bottle and didn't like it much, but this, this is outstanding! Fly-aways and frizzies are a thing of the past, I'd recommend this for any hair type, especially inconsistently wavey hair like mine.

"Learn how to drive, people!"
In today's friendly driving reminder we address turning onto a multi-lane road. When turning onto a multi-lane road (see diagram below), whether in a left or right hand turn, you should turn into the lane nearest you even if you want into the far lane. Once in the nearest lane apply turning signal and cautiously move into the desired lane. This allows traffic to continue safely from two directions.
Money for Nothin'
Let's talk money! My favorite way to make free money right now is on emigrantdirect.com.
When I first started my American Dream savings account with them the rate was at 5% APY, now it's down to 4.55% I believe, but that shouldn't stop you. You have to have a regular bank account somewhere to sign up then they send two small amounts of money (like say 42 cents) into your account to verify that your account really exists. You enter on their site how much you received and you're done! If you have bank statements online it's super easy, or you can call your bank for the amounts. Once you've done that one time you're good to go and can set up as many online savings accounts as you want.

What I like (besides making over $15 a month for doing nothing) is that I'm getting CD interest rates with the luxury of being able to take it out anytime. Yes, I've tried and it's as simple as click, click and it's back in your checking account at your local bank. Since I started my first account in October 2007 I've gotten inspired and started several other savings accounts: Christmas, Vacation, Z's College Fund and I'm thinking about starting more for things like car insurance that's due once a year, dentist appointments, and home school supplies so we're ready to go in three years. Anyways, do ask if you have questions!

Web World
Surprise! Since I've always been so overwhelmed by all there is to see on the web, I was glad to find that someone sorted through it all and came up with a list of the best websites on The Webby Awards. Click over to their site and you'll find a really long list of categories, their winners from 2007 and the runner-ups. You can even enter your own website to be a nominee for the 2008 Webby Awards.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my new topics of interest! I plan to feature them again in the future whenever I'm inspired. I welcome contributions, corrections and suggestions. Please e-mail those to me: becca wigton at tusco . net (take the spaces out and switch the at-sign). Other people I respect are publishing their e-mail that way for security purposes, so I'm following their lead.

Before signing off, I must share (since I shared last week), that all of the sudden, we have fully weaned Z from nursing! When I say we, I mean we! My husband is off work Sundays and Mondays and Saturday night we decided since he was off the next two days we should make a go of this. He dealt with Z all night both nights by himself, while I slept in the other room. I think Ben would agree the first night was the only difficult night we've had. Since then, Z has gotten better and better about putting himself back to sleep when he wakes up twice a night out of habit. In fact....are you ready for this? Last night was the fourth night since cutting him off and he slept the entire night through! Yay Z! 9pm to 6:30am! Not bad at all! I cried a lot Sunday because I realized my little boy was growing up, but now that this is working out for all of us I'm really happy! And they said, "Oh, he'll be sleeping through the night by six months!" Heh, heh, heh. Try almost 19 months! Better late than never, I guess! Yes, Aunt Debbi, this means future sleepovers!

It's January?

This picture was taken this morning while watching Curious George. He loves the part at the end where George plays peek-a-boo during the credits.

Monday at the park. Yesterday was 70 degrees, setting record highs.

I'd like for you all to think my son is so brilliant that he's mimicking the flapping of wings here, but I think I just caught a picture of him scratching his armpit. He does like to say "duckie" though, even though these are mostly Canadian Geese.

A new favorite for dealing with old bananas. See below...

My sister-in-law, Debbi, was over a couple weeks ago and suggested we make some chocolate chip banana cookies with the rotting bananas on my counter. So, we looked a recipe up online and tried it out. We happened to find a winner. Today I made them a second time and they were even better than the first. We put four bananas in both times which made about a cup and a half of mashed bananas. I like recipes that have a lot of baking powder in them, it makes for a fun texture. Also, this recipe makes big puffy cookies which my husband's family is really into.

In other news, I'm becoming skilled at putting a diaper on a vertical moving target. Naptimes and nighttimes are improving. We haven't duplicated the six hour contiguous sleep since I blogged about it, but Mr. Z (aka "Digger", "Bugars", "Captain Destructo" or "Buddy"), has been resigning himself (usually) to the new system where either Daddy or Mommy takes him upstairs and rocks and reads him to sleep. We have successfully weaned from all daytime nursing including right before bed, which is progress as I'm ready to be done. Upon the advice of my fellow nursing friend, Jennifer, we've decided to go with a twin bed instead of a toddler bed as that allows us to lay down with him as needed. We think putting him in his own bed will help him sleep longer because often we're the reason he's not sleeping for six hours straight, also, it should be less tempting to nurse if the "ladies" aren't right there next to him in our family bed. His bed will still be in our room, so it'll just be one big bed filled room. For safety reasons our mattress has been directly on the floor for quite a while. It's quite a picture. I heard the Jolie-Pitt family had a 10 foot bed specially made for them as they do family bed with all four of theirs. I wonder if theirs is on the floor too. It will be when Shiloh falls out, I betcha!

Ben has had probably the busiest winter in ten years at his business at the airport. His avionics shop is bursting at the seams. He hired his first full time employee last year to ease the load. His Christmas bonus this year came in the form of a 12 string Ovation guitar that he found on e-bay. It arrives today and we're excited!

Welp, I need to get ready for Mommy Group (that's what the cookies are for). Oh, I neglected to mention last time that if you click on the slideshow on the upper right it gets bigger so you can actually see the pictures. Visit Wiglife again next week for two new "Becca's Favorite Things," and the premier of "Learn to Drive, People!" and "Money for Nuthin'", you'll love 'em!

What a year already!

Well, guess who tinkled in the potty? Yup! Our little dude! Here he is living it up with a peppermint stick stuffed mouth and a Reader's Digest which he went back in to get, I'm guessing to really drive home the "I'm a big boy" point. He does see us read it when we go! I'm not exaggerating, he went in and started flipping through it after I threw an improptu party for the six drops of tinkle he made. I'll keep you posted on how this potty training business goes.

Last night was the second night this year our big boy has slept for SIX hours straight! It's a miracle! If anyone knows us well, you'll know Z is a great napper, but not so great sleeping at night. We're so excited and are in the market for a toddler bed already to encourage the progress. If only we had gone to bed when he did, we too would have had six consecutive hours. We plan to be smarter tonight. Well, speaking of sleep, I'm on my way up to wake him now, so we can have another good night tonight. Before I go, here's the latest on our growing miracle: he's 33 inches tall and 29 pounds as of yesterday. Oh, and he's cut at least 6 molars now, they're still coming in, but they've at least poked through finally.

I told you guys I'd update you on Dad and Amy and their honeymoon health. Unfortunately, Amy caught our bug two days after Christmas and was out of commission for a day. Dad somehow avoided it completely! They still had a blast in Cancun and didn't want to come back, imagine that! Be sure to check out my new slideshow in the sidebar. I learned that from my Aunt Laura in Mississippi who just started her own family blog. Happy New Year everyone!