Making beans in a crock pot

I've been trying to save money the ways I can.  As a stay at home mom, one thing I can really control is how much money we spend on groceries.  Husband has a crazy fast metabolism so I have to make massive quantities of food for every meal for him.  I feel best giving him extra calories in the form of whole grains and beans because they are cheap and also healthy.

Beans are great but they aren't as cheap as they could be if you buy them in a can.  Cooking dry beans is quite easy but it takes a lot of time.  The cheapest and easiest way I have found to cook dry beans is using a slow cooker.  Cooking beans on the stove requires you to check them more often and uses vastly more energy (money!) than a slow cooker.  I've cooked many different kinds of beans and they have all turned out well.  Cooked beans can be frozen and quick defrosted in the microwave so they are extremely convenient!  I keep ziplock bags with pre-measured quantities of beans in my freezer for whatever I may want to use them for.  (Cans of beans normally have about 1 1/3 cups of beans.)

How to make beans in a crock pot:

1) Clean your beans.  Sort through for clumps of dirt and broken beans.

2) Put your beans in your slow cooker with at least two inches of water covering them.  Check back every hour or so to test for doneness.  Beans take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours depending on their type and freshness.  When done, use in recipes or freeze!

Note:  If cooking kidney beans, the FDA recommends that you boil your beans for at least 10 minutes to destroy a potential toxin.

Sleep Training Round 2: Success!

So the first day of sleep training we tried was a total failure.  We caved and Little didn't get to sleep.  A few days later we were ready to try again.  I looked up information on "the sleep lady shuffle" and decided to try that.  Basically, the first three day, you are right next to the crib comforting baby as needed and even taking them out if their crying becomes hysterical.  After those first 3 days you move further away from your baby every three days until you are out of their room.  That sounded more like something we were willing to do.

Night 1: A very mad baby.  Little was extremely mad the first night.  She cried on and off for over an hour and a half.  She was used to falling asleep nursing so she couldn't sleep and I suspect she was a bit mad that I was not offering the breast.  Both Husband and I were pretty sad to see our baby so upset.

Night 2: It gets worse.  Little cried on and off for two and a half hours.  Torture.  She would lay down in the crib and almost fall asleep and then start crying again.  I held her, I rocked her, I rubbed her back, I patted her.  Finally she succumbed to sleep.  It was an exhausting night for all of us.

Night 3: Almost there!  Little fussed for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep.  Twenty minutes later, she did it again.  No big deal.

Night 4: Success!!!!  Little slept through the night!

One note is that Little is waking up around 7:30 in the morning, nursing, and going back to sleep.  Technically, most sleep training programs say that until she is ready to wake up, she doesn't get to eat.  Its not a big deal to feed her at that time and it seems like a really big transition to go from eating every two hours to not eating for 14 hours so I'm willing to feed her in the morning.  Now that she is sleeping through the night, maybe I'll be rested enough to get up and use those hours in the morning for something useful!

I wish that we had sleep trained earlier.  Its great to be able to sleep through the night and I'm noticing that all of us are more well rested.  Even Little.  From everyone I've talked to, the first few nights will be rough but it never takes more than a few days to get your baby (of a reasonable age) sleeping through the night.  Yay!

MOPS and Autumn Crafts

I am not a crafty person. I rarely use a hot glue gun and when I paint, it's always one solid color. That said, I always wish I did crafts but I have neither the time nor the creativity to get far.

With that clear, I am proud to say that at my mom's group (MOPS) today, I finished a craft project that I am quite proud of. It's a wreath for fall made of yarn wrapped around a pool noodle. I feel good. I did something pretty. Something not involving my house or my baby.

My mom's group is a huge blessing to me. It's a chance for me to vent about being a stay at home mom. It's a time to get advice from other moms. It's a time to be me around people who understand the challenges I face. I go to MOPS but there are plenty of moms groups around. I would recommend that all moms find somewhere they can go and talk. It's cheaper than therapy ;)