This blog is simply my way of sharing these experiences and helping you discover the benefits of eating healthful food and supplementing to keep your body strong and enabling it to heal itself without the use of harmful drugs and medications.

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I have to apologize to those of you who keep returning to my blog to find yet another post about teething. One day this will all be a distant memory (thank goodness) but for right now it is all consuming. After two weeks of relentless teething, day and night I might add, we still only have one pearly white! I occasionally think I'm seeing a glimpse of tooth number 2 ready to break through but it seems that mother nature continues to tease me.

In my continued efforts to avoid all things medicinal, I have discovered another great way to soothe Niela's sore gums.  My mother-in-law had given us this cool little baby gadget when I had Declan. It has proven to be a pot-of-gold in our 'collective' teething distress.

I just put an ice cube in the mesh and Niela sits happy and quiet.... let me say it again,  QUIET, for at least half an hour. I will say that cuddles still seem to be her most welcome comfort, and the Tei Fu Oil has been great at night if her mouth is sore.

All of this has had me thinking even more about how we deal with pain in our culture. Actually, we really don't deal with pain do we?  Whether our pain is physical, spiritual or emotional it often seems easier to numb it with medication, food, entertainment... the list goes on. We have been trained to avoid, ignore or mask those painful circumstances that could potentially cause us to grow and change.

I asked my midwife a few days after delivering Declan at home how women in other cultures manage to squat in a field to deliver their babies and then get right back up and carry on working. Even though I had managed a natural birth, I still felt like I'd been hit by a train. She just said that they have a much higher pain tolerance than us.

I had gone to bed with a headache the other day. I knew it was because I had not had enough water to drink and had spent a lot of time out in the heat and so decided that I would rehydrate and then sleep it off. A friend of mine, distressed at the thought of me being uncomfortable and in pain said, 'why didn't you just take a pain-killer'. I thought for a moment then responded, 'how would I know when my headache has gone?'

Like anyone, I would much rather be happy, comfortable and satisfied but I have noticed that the times in my life that have been characterized that way, I tend to become bored, lazy and complacent. It seems that discomfort and possibly pain, stirs us to move and push through to a new place. I'm not saying it's easy and I'm not saying we should do it alone. I can say that in those tough times, the best comfort has been to be surrounded by people who love me who can walk through it with me.

I'm so happy about the level of trust that is building between Niela and me in this fleeting season. She cries, I respond, she's content. I was holding her and rocking her the other day while she cried. I wanted to cry too and just kept saying, 'I know it hurts, Mummy's here, it's going to be OK'. I felt like she and I were both in training for times in the future when she won't be so tiny but she still might need her Mummy to rock her, cry with her, empathize with her pain but reassure her that it's all going to be OK.

BUY the teether

Declan and I recited one of our favorite bedtime poems this morning. He's 2 1/2 years old and I have to say that it's moments like this that make it all worth it!

Skidamarink

Skidamarink, a dink a dink
Skidamarink a doo
I love you!

Skidamarink, a dink a dink
Skidamarink a doo
I love you!

I love you in the morning
And in the afternoon
I love you in the evening
And underneath the moon

Skidamarink, a dink a dink
Skidamarink a doo
I love you!

COMMENTS

Sourdough Waffles

1 1/2 cups sourdough starter

1/2 cup buttermilk (I just use milk to make it less sour)

1/2 cup oil

1 egg slightly beaten

1 tsp salt (optional)

1 tsp baking soda

3 tblsp sugar (I use honey)

1 cup flour (I use multi grain flour)

Mix everything together with a wire whisk and cook in waffle iron, or make pancakes on griddle.

Sourdough Biscuits

2 cups organic unbleached white flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 cup sourdough starter

1/3 cup milk

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Cut in the coconut oil until it looks like course meal.

Add sourdough starter to milk.

Stir into dry ingredients and stir with fork until moist. Don't over stir

Turn dough out on lightly floured board and gently pat into a 10 inch circle

Cut and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.

Sourdough Banana Bread
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter
1 cup raw sugar
1 large egg
1 cup mashed bananas
1 cup sourdough starter
2 cups organic unbleached white flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together the coconut oil and sugar. Add egg and mix until blended.
Stir in bananas and sourdough starter. Add vanilla.
Stir in flour with salt, baking powder and soda.
Add flour mixture and walnuts to first mixture, stirring until just blended.
Pour into greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until wooden pick comes out clean.

Sourdough Coffee Cake
2 cups sourdough starter
2 eggs
2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raw sugar
2/3 cup coconut oil (liquid)
1/2 tsp salt
1 - 2 cups any dried, frozen or fresh fruit
Cinnamon topping or brown sugar glaze (see below)

Stir together all ingredients and pour in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.
Sprinkle cinnamon topping over the batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
While cake is baking, prepare brown sugar glaze.
Pour glaze over coffeecake as soon as it is removed from oven
Allow to cool

Cinnamon topping *
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tblsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Cream together.

Brown sugar glaze *
3 tblsp butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk

Gently boil all ingredients together for 5 minutes

* Toppings are optional. They make it really sweet.

I have to say that this cake was nothing short of FABULOUS!  I'm not much of a baker but I reluctantly decided to make this cake last night as a belated Father's Day cake. It was well worth it and I can't believe how light it was. I guess I was expecting it to be more dense but it was so tasty and had a great texture. The 'sour' part of it was very subtle but added an interesting flavor that I really liked.

Have all ingredients at room temperature and heat oven to 350 degrees F

6 tblsp butter
1 cup raw sugar (I used about 2/3 cup)
2 eggs (beaten)
1 cup sourdough starter
3/4 cup milk
3 oz melted semisweet baking chocolate (I used 70% dark chocolate and it worked fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream the butter and sugar
Add the eggs
Stir in sourdough starter, milk, chocolate and vanilla extract
Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together
Fold the flour mixture into the batter and stir until smooth
Pour into 2 greased 1/ 1/2 x8-inch round cake pans
Bake 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean

I spread strawberry jam between the layers and then spread a thin layer of  melted dark chocolate on the top.

Ohhhhhhh, yummy!

Source: Joy of Cooking