Homemade Bubbles review

I've been wanting to make my own bubble solution for a while, just because it seems like a cool skill to have, and because J loves bubbles so much, it might be handy in the future. So, I finally took some time to find a fairly easy bubble solution recipe, and made it up.

I used this recipe (http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2011/09/bouncing-bubbles-2/)

Overall, I have to admit I'm not such a huge fan of them. They were easy to make, but after sitting for 24 hours (which was a killer to J) I discovered a few things that rather put me off.


1- The liquid seems rather watery - maybe it was just me, or maybe it was the glycerin in the solution, but it didn't seem as slimy as the other stuff. On the one hand, that was kind of nice, on the other, it lead to number 2.

2- It doesn't bubble well - I think myself a fairly good bubble blower, and with the store bought bubbles, I can get quite a few bubbles (think 6-7) out of one dip into the solution. Not so with this one. I could get (on average) about 1.5 bubbles. As you can see from the pictures, we also have a more J friendly bubble wand that you can wave about and get bubbles that way.  It didn't work, and so J couldn't help with bubbles.

3- The bubbles, when they do finally form, seem heavy and don't blow very far. You'll notice that I don't have any pictures of the actual bubbles. That was mostly because i had a hard time getting them to bubble in the first place, but secondly, they fell fast to the ground, and I couldn't get a good picture.

Take Away: They work okayish... I've been hoping that as I just let them sit on the counter longer, they will magically start to work better. I think that what I need to do (now that we've used some of the solution and actually have room in the jar) is to add more soap to the mixture, and see if that helps (I think it will a LOT). However, this will be far down on my list of things to do. We were given two huge things of bubbles by neighbours moving out, and I think for now, we'll just stick with using those :) They work better. So if anyone out there tries adding more soap to the mixture before I get around to it (I'll edit this if I ever do) please let me know how it turns out. I want to be able to make this work. 

my life, now with a toddler

I know it has been WAY too long since I've updated anything about my life (what, only... 10 months?) and the last one wasn't really anything about life, it was a really cool Christmas card that I made myself using Java (I was so proud of that card!) J is no longer a little baby, Drew is in school, I've finally come to terms with my now somewhat hectic life that involves a lot of running after a very willful toddler. And as we've been struggling with J not picking up words and a general lack of communication (though J is finally better understanding and (sometimes) listening to what I say), I've been thinking a lot about this article.  I'm pretty sure that toddlers still learning words (or not learning words as it may be) is a really hard time for me.

Life right now looks a lot like this...

How the living room looks fairly frequently

 And this....

What? I wasn't doing anything, honest!

 And this...

But I wanted to eat ALL the food while you were making cookies mom!

 And this....

This was the face made while excitedly wiggling looking at pumpkins

It's a learning experience for both of us, I know. And, at times, yes. I love being able to stay home all day with my little guy, and experience the world through his eyes. Other times, I just want to run away and never have to deal with it ever again.

I'm sure this isn't a new thing. I'm sure that all parents feel this way.

But, life will go on, and I'm so thankful that someone else voiced my idea of "why am I not loving every single moment? Isn't that what's supposed to happen?"  I'm so glad I can feel....justified perhaps? in my lack of over enthusiasm. Do I still love this little guy? Yes. Do I still enjoy the overall time with him, even if the moment to moment can be a trial? Yes. And I think that's what matters most.

Making the Switch

going into pregnancy, I knew from the start that I wanted to breastfeed J.  I wanted that special bonding time, I wanted the food that was best for him and would provide all those essential anti-bodies and goodness that comes with breast milk, and I certainly didn't want to spend the tons of money it took to formula feed a child.  That was probably my biggest reason, not wanting to spend the money.

and for a while, breastfeeding worked (kind of).  It was hard for both J and me.  I was slow to produce milk, and because he was such a large baby to start out with, wasn't happy with the small amounts of colostrum, then in-between-milk that I made.  Combined with the fact that he had to spend his first few days in the NICU, and was formula fed there, J was always a bit frustrated at my attempts to nurse him (especially since mom is sooooo much slower to eat from than mom, and I want my food NOW!).  We kept persevering (with lots of tears, fighting to keep J awake, and frustration on all ends), and all seemed to be going great, and doing so much better....until he got all colic-y.

I knew that something had to be an underlying factor for this. There had to be a reason for the colic, it shouldn't just happen. so I started to do some research. We were recommended some infant gas drops, to see if it was just his body processing gas poorly, and it seemed to help some, but not much.  We eventually stumbled upon the idea of being sensitive to dairy, specifically the proteins in dairy.  This made so much sense to me. Even though he doesn't like to admit it, Drew has a dairy sensitivity, so why wouldn't J?  So we tried a dairy free week with me eating no major sources of dairy (milk, yogurt, ice cream, etc.) and some formula that was specifically for a dairy sensitivity.

It was amazing.  After a few days, J only cried for wanting to eat (NOW, not in 5 seconds!), wanting to be held and cuddled (I want to be held all the time!) being overly tired (there's way too much world to see, and I want to see it all now, not sleep!) and I'm fairly certain some if it was boredom too (I'm tired of looking at all the cool things in this house, and that rattle doesn't interest me. let's go on another walk, even though we went 10 minutes ago!) it was amazing.  My little boy was sometimes happy again, and didn't cry all day every day. It wasn't always a huge relief (and my main goal after every time he woke) for him to just fall back to sleep. I wanted to spend time cuddling and playing with him. I wanted to see his alert and ever curious little eyes.

I knew that I couldn't keep up with eating no dairy.  I absolutely love dairy, and it's one of my main snacks. Plus, at least half the dinners and other meals we eat have lots of dairy.  It would just be too much of a stress for me, something I certainly didn't need in my life while still adjusting to this new mom-hood thing. So we decided to try a week with me eating just one meal with dairy a day.  If I knew we were having a dairy dinner (say, mac and cheese, or lasagna) then I wouldn't have any the rest of the day, just at dinner.  If we weren't having dairy for dinner, I could have it somewhere else in the day.

After just two days, we knew it didn't work.  J was back to crying at every waking moment.  I was so disappointed. I still wanted to be able to nurse him, and still mainly not wanting to have to pay the exorbitant amounts of money to formula feed him. But I knew it was best for J.  Did I feel guilty and like a bad mom?  No. (actually, maybe a bit of guilt for not being stronger for him to give up the dairy, just for a few months while his insides adjusted) I knew it was best for both of us.  What I mainly felt (and still do) is a whole slew of disappointment and sadness.  As much of a fight and as frustrating as it was, I still loved nursing J, and knew I would miss it greatly.  Sure, I can still cuddle him, but it's different. And that's still hard. Especially times when HE goes to nurse, and I know I probably don't have anything there any more for him. It makes me wonder if he misses it too. As much as I had to fight to keep him awake which he didn't like, did he enjoy nursing too?

I know that in the long run, it won't make a difference. he'll still grow up to be healthy and happy. Formula has some great benefits that breast milk doesn't and that he'll be fine.

But man, it's hard to make that switch...