Time to Wean with no sugar coating

I have had enough! For me personally the Magickal Breastfeeding life adventure is over. The personal joy has long since vanished. My toddler on the other hand is so not ready for the experience to end. I have high hopes that by his third birthday just a few months from now, that this journey can come to an end mutually and on pleasant terms. Hope of little trauma or tantrums for my toddler. Good luck I say to myself.
As of right now when I hear tit , so he can use me as his comfort pacifier and to get to sleep the thought makes my skin crawl.
My own needs were and are on the back burner ;as they should be when you become a parent . Now I feel like I can't take it anymore and want my body back.
The best part about writing this post is at this very moment I am being scolded by  my toddler to feed him. I have not given in to a feeding since 12 am this morning. As of now we are going on 15 and a half hours of no feeds and for this household it is a very very big deal. Little man is certainly not impressed.
I have high hopes to make it the entire day today, with those hopes including a nap without a feed . Mind you if mommy needs those 20 minutes of peace , I will most likely give in to his ramblings. I would love to make it to only the night feed and maybe not even that one. High hopes and lots of snacks left out for him for the day I hope is enough. You see this little guy knows what's up, if he starves himself and does not eat anything then mommy has to feed him. I will of course provide him as long as he needs even if that includes just for comfort. I just want to start this road to weaning with a serious attempt.
I am tired , I want my body back, I need to get my hormones back on track. Everyone gushes over just the amazing benefits , of those there are plenty ; but forget to mention the havoc it takes on your body or the anger emotions you feel while extended breastfeeding. All normal of course, but takes a toll. Not to mention the fear of having your nipple bitten off in one of those clamp downs.
Now dont get me wrong, I am and always will be an advocate for Breastfeeding especially in public if the need arises, without having to cover up or feel intimidated. I just ran my course and desperately want this phase of our amazing life journey to end.
I have had many wonderful amazing times with what Breastfeeding brings and I am forever greatful for the Magick my body allowed me to have with caring for my little one. There have also been those times when you stand up for yourself. The most favorite stand up moment for me is when I encountered 2 mothers no less who called me disgusting outside of the store I had just almost got some shopping done in. (Okay so it was Walmart of course ,right ! things always go down at Walmart )
(Short back story-  out of food, have to drive 30 min away from our small town to get actual food to eat, not to mention one of "those" toddler days when moms hide and cry, so leaving the store with only a few things and no where near what we needed, I made the choice to sit down , whip it out and try to console my toddler)
So after all this and these 2 moms( women , geez are we ever awful to each other like knock it off allready) calling me disgusting; I snapped. What came out of my mouth after was the best come back I have ever come up with ( well I felt so anyway).
I said " I'm disgusting, well ladies if you drink cows milk then you are drinking from a pumped cow! Now whose disgusting"

( please take this meme with the comical intention it is given for the giggles)
I would like to say that a string of cuss words wasn't exchanged but that wouldn't be real life. I continued on with a huge smile on my face and fed my toddler till he was asleep before I even cared to move. I could have gone with him screaming in that screeching octave tone that grates your very soul to the van, but I wasnt going a further step . It was at that end point and I was going to  save the last bit of mom -umph I had .
It is mine and my toddlers journey only and although we are at an impasse to where we want this journey to go, we will come out okay.
The road to get there is going to be interesting and a test of wills. I have a feeling mommy is giving in first.
( Before I could post Mommy gave in , at 4:55 but he only fed till 5:02 and has been out cold, ever since)

The Perfect Loaf of Bread

Unless I have an FPC for store bought bread or am given a loaf, it doesn't get purchased in this house it gets made fresh.
There is nothing better than the smell of fresh homemade bread baking . 5 ingredients delicious and yummy and above all fresh and real.
I find some people are put off by old skool bread making ( there is no such thing as a bread machine around here ) . A lot say they have no time to bake homemade bread, but truly you can have a fresh loaf during the same time it takes to put a meal together and cook it .
I guess because I have it down to a fine art of sorts and it is second nature to whip it up .
My toddler is a grilled cheese hound so the fresh bread is a great compliment for his sandwich and very filling.
I use instant yeast so the first rise is a 10 min maximum. I also don't bother with the punching down and extra kneading step , you don't need it .

Recipe
TAKE:
2 C flour
1 Tsp salt
2Tsp instant yeast ( sift these together)
ADD
2C warm water
1Tbsp oil
Stir all together and slowly add more flour in Cup intervals . You will need either 3 or 4 more cups depending on the dough. Once dough is not sticky but elastic let rise 10 min. ( dough will no longer stick to your hands when it is ready, use your nice clean hands to mix )
After the 10 min move to greased loaf pans. You can get 2 fair sized loaves out of this dough but I like to make one loaf and make a few cinnamon rolls with the rest .Once in loaf pans let rise till double in size approx 15-20 min. Once double cook in a pretty heated 425 degree oven for approx 30 min., or until top is browned and you hear a hollow sound when you tap the top of the loaf.
Once done take out and cool completely on a wire rack.
Of course I use this dough recipe for everything, cinnamon rolls, pigs in a blanket, pizza base, bread , buns. Make any variation as well by adding stuff to the dough  for example I make cheese buns and add shredded sharp cheddar. The possibilities are endless , not to mention light on the pocket book.

Sugar Cookie Sunday

Little man was jumping up and down singing "cookies cookies " for about 10 min on the couch and he wouldn't take "we are out of cookies " as an answer.
Of course since I bake 90% of our sugary treats , I decided to hit the kitchen and make him some cookies.
We decided upon sugar cookies with some yummy sprinkles . So okay little man added "candies" to his vocal chorus of cookies , so I know that meant sprinkles .
I used the Sugar Cookie Recipe from my old skool Five Roses Cookbook. I only used a couple alterations like always. I subbed out shortening for the butter and I used canned evaporated milk instead of milk. Plus I never follow the directions either but have listed what they recommend.

Here is there recipe with all credits to Five Roses

1 1/2 C Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 C Butter
1/2 C Sugar
1 Egg yolk
3 Tbsp Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Stir flour, baking powder and salt together. Cream butter and add sugar gradually beating between additions. Add egg yolk and mix well. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk , add vanilla. Chill dough throughly. Roll and cut with cookie cutters if desired .
Bake on increased cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 min.

The chorus chant turned into an almost tantrum so I omitted the chill step and just rolled the dough into balls and pressed the sprinkles into them. Right into the oven .
A little drama trying to get them in the oven considering patience is not in my little guys personality  .
I switched the oven light on as I always do so we could watch them cook. It was a long 20 min. 10 min. of cook time them of course 10 min about for them to cool.
All worth it when the smile crossed his face as he started shoveling them into his mouth.
A satisfied happy toddler wit some homemade Sugar Cookies goodness..

Cathedral Glass Dessert: The WannaBe SuperHeroMom's Modified Edition

Anything made with Mini Marshmallows in the ingredients is a have to have dessert in this house.
To that yummy delicious Butterscotch stuff,to Ambrosia, to OoeyGooey Smores; and everything in between it isn't dessert without Marshmallows.. The best is when you have Peeps candy to chop up and substitute for the Marshmallows , but sadly have none at this moment. Okay so Peeps don't last long enough round here either.
I had completely forgotten about Cathedral Glass , until I saw a picture of it on Social Media. The memory of how amazing this dessert was came flooding back with the taste memory exploding on my taste bud  that I had to make it .
It is seriously no secret around here that sugar is a way of life in this household so this recipe is sweet and I mean SWEET, but oh my goodness so yummy.

Recipe
1 C. Soft butter( I used Mirage Margarine)
1C. Packed and I mean packed Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 C. Flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Cocoa powder
2Tbsp Sugar
1/2 bag of semi sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 C. Butter( I used Mirage Margarine)
2 C. White Sugar
2 Eggs Beaten
1/2 bag of Colored Marshmallows ( I would have used a whole bag , only we had already eaten half the bag as treats)
1 C unsweetened Coconut

Heat oven to 350'
Mix 1 cup butter, the brown sugar, 2 eggs mix well, add in cocao and 2 tbsp of sugar..then add in flour and salt. Press into a greased pan , at least a 9 in one. I used my round . Bake for about 25-30 min. Bring out and let it cool while you prepare the rest.
Melt the 1/2 cup of butter and the chocolate chips over med. heat in a large sauce pan. Once melted add white sugar and 2 beaten eggs . Beat until smooth then slowly bring to just a boil to cook the eggs. Stir very often so that it doesn't burn.  Immediately once the bubbles start remove from heat and add the marshmallows and coconut . Stir till incorporated, then move to top of cake base and spread evenly. Place in fridge.
The only crappy part is the wait time, you have to let it set at least 3 hours in the fridge before you can cut it into squares.

So as you can tell from the dripping chocolate in this first photo , I couldn't wait the full 3 hours .

So delicious and so sweet. Would be more fun sharing with others instead of just me and my little one ,but hey more for us .
Enjoy!!!

Those Birds who are Angry Home Edition

So I will admit that until this summer I had never even looked at the Angry Birds game. I had heard of it of course but never had a desire to check it out.
That changed of course this summer when my little one was introduced to the game, and thanks to YouTube we have entered a new world here in the WannabeSuperHeroMom household.
Of course I have downloaded all the free apps on to my tablet and will let little man play ( OK and mommy ) the games during the day.
I find that this is quite comical and the joy and laughter my toddler displays is enough for me . I am well aware we are getting on the angry bird train way late out of the gate but I am not one to follow , I make my own time. Lol.
I had some felt and batting, in the house and you can bet I made some piggies and birds for my little one so he could play and we can build our own play places to fling the birds and smash those piggies.

The look on his face not only while I was making them but once the set was done, I had such an ectastic , over the moon happy little guy. He sees them as the birds and piggies and no matter what they look like or the fact they are handmade, they are enough. I did become the Superhero Mom in his eyes for this one and what a beautiful moment it was. It was fun to say the least trying to get him to not grab or cry while waiting for them to be finished. I wanted to make them when he was sleeping and surprise him for Christmas but didnt work out that way, but worked out the way it was suppossed to in the long run.
He does have a few "real" toys, we were lucky enough to get a talking Red Bird from Eb games ( ok so I got it free from them last year and had no idea what it was really, but it was free and my lo played with it but until this past couple months we actually realized we had something cool , so how SuperHero Cool was mom when I found it in the bottom of the Stuffies toy box and showed him )
He was gifted a couple blind bags ( which had the Black Bomb guys in it ) from a friend for Christmas along with a tin bird bomb that held a puzzle .
On one of our very few trips out in Dollarama he found the Star Wars Set of the birds and it was only 3 bucks. So def check your Dollaramas for some stuff first if you are looking because you could be lucky and snag a find like we did. ( okay so I think someone hide it , but hey what find and finders keepers in the shopping game lol)

I have gotten a little addicted myself esp when he cant move a level so mommy helps , well when he lets me.
I enjoy watching his joy and he even talks to them while he plays with his toys. I am def an advocate for using imagination.

I have a feeling this is def one of those toy crazes he will be sticking with for awhile, looks like I will be getting some more crafting supplies and will make the entire set . I may even stick to the actual colors .
He sure does laugh hysterically when he watches the bad piggies. It is pure and simple joy and isnt that what matters no matter how you get there.

I do Believe in Fairies, I Do , I Do, Lets build a Fairy House

It is so much fun channeling your inner child especially if you have an Elf like mischievous toddler to bring it out in you everyday.
Today well Jan 3rd was build a child like Fae house.

We had no paint so we used pencil crayons as paint and colored our Popsicle sticks and began construction.

The entire process took a long time esp with little hands wanting to play instead of build .
I tried with craft glue first , but that didnt get us anywhere, so I took advantage of nap time to pull out the hot glue gun to put the house together. Of course once he woke up and saw the half built house, he "needed" it to play with with his animals and figurines first.

I had a Fairy kit from from Liz Gardner Walsh and I utilized some of what came in her Fairy house kit, ( moss, glass pieces, sea shells , the FAE dust ,feathers) , okay so I used what I could get away from my little one before he decided the contents of the box were to cool not to play with . You really must take a look at her website and facebook page. I have no compensation nor any affiliation with her in those regards for plugging her stuff, but what she has is so amazing and imagination provoking it deserves a look. If you have a little one interested in all things Fae or if you yourself are interested, she has everything you need to get started.

 www.fairyhousehandbook.com
www.lizgardnerwalsh.com
Liz Gardner Walsh on Facebook.

I love this Fae Dust from her kit.

It was so much fun making the house and looking through my craft corner to find things to adorn it with. The moss got a little messy , toddler help thatching the roof. It was such a fun and magickal project that I made a mini one to add to my Magick tree as the days MagIck.

 Some dried flowers, buttons, girlie stickers one of my handmade mini gem and life trees were added .

 So I am loving the blue floor, same decorated box it was the top so we used that to make the floor. Of course it so blue and sparkly we had to.

I 

We made some cut out windows from some really cute paper we ripped off a decorated box.

Put it up late last night and this is the best shot I could get of it hanging in our front window.
I braided some yarn together and added purple ribbon as the ties to hold it up .


Here is the mini one  I made for our Magick tree

FULL YEAR END UPDATE The Magick Tree

I believe in Magick ! So I sat down looking in wonder at my toddler dressed up "Christmas" tree, and realized that sharing Magick every day is the most wonderful thing I could do; not only for myself but for my little one and then in turn everyone around me.
Out of this I decided that after taking all the decorations off that each day of the year we will make or get someting Magickal about the day and put it on the tree. The actual spirit of Christmas is just a feeling of Magick and why not do something to create that Magick everyday on your own.
The greenery year round is a blessing and at the end of the year, we will be left with such a Magickal gift of memories.I haven't decided where we go from there at the end of the year, but that isn't for me to decide today or even think on yet.
I do know that something Magickal will come out of this and honestly that is more than enough.
I love the tree, my toddler loves the tree so why not keep it up year round to create something special just for us. How much fun is it going to be to collect something special just for our tree when we are out somewhere or are doing something.
I love the idea of gratitude and already do a list daily, but going to use the gratitude jar concept and add 1 thing from each day that I am grateful for to the tree as well.
Of course with the abundance of Christmas decorations that represent the past, I definitely see some craft potential, maybe a wreath or 2. A few may just have to be passed of to the big brother.
The concept of Magick is there in everyday and what better way then to celebrate it.
You change and your life changes and the smallest thing can excite and rebuild your life. What better way then to focus on the good things in life everyday no matter how big or small. Even if the tree is the focal point, what a great reminder to find the blessings in everyday.


So here it is my blank slate, photos and updates along the way.

So we decorated a 2015 topper, I made a Magick wand for the 1st to remind me of Magick and the 2nd was a boy and a girl doll my little one and I danced and jumped around for about an hour last night, that was the best Magickal thing of the day.  At the end of each month I will post the monthly photo. This so so much fun allready.

January was a Magickal month, I slacked a few days but summarized what I could. I wrote everything down.Such a fun great way to keep your journal. My toddler gets involved and it teaches him to keep Magick alive.

Thought I would add a photo of the progress up to today Aug 6 2015 .
So much Magick can not wait to re-read the year .

Made it to the end of the year . I will say that come end of October I did not have much room left on the tree and so I kept everything for the tree in a folder .

Much easier in the folder . I kept up with the tree right till the last day of the year when I took it all down to start anew for 2016 .

Here is the final tree at the end of the year .

It was very amazing going through the hundreds of things I had designated to the tree. So many things to be grateful for. It helped change a little sadness in my soul for the last year esp the end of the year losing my Nana.I did not realize how sad I was , and going through a year of Magick helped me immensely . I didn't just put the sugar coating on the tree , there were a few days I raged a bit in a writing on the tree , but that is real life right.

I loved taking everything off and putting it in the picture frame as a sort of shadow box. I saved a lot of stuff to glue on the outside to make it 3 D framed . Of course the first thing I got glued on was to be my last as my glue gun , popped and went kaput. So once it is completely finished will share that picture .

 The finished framed product , just not 3D pieces yet .

Blurred on purpose until finished :)

 Here is the box of awesome stuff waiting to be glued on . Once complete I can hang .

So excited to start all over again . I found something I love to do very much and brings me joy for every day . It is a much higher step up then that gratitude jar I have seen floating around the internet

So here it is again my almost empty tree, there is no way I can take my toddler ornaments off yet , saving myself a meltdown .
Can not wait to see what 2016 brings.
Happy New Year.

 .

Why this Superhero Mom lets her toddler have Electronic Time

Whether you agree or not with http://youtu.be/2Poaq62Wrvkallowing your child time on your electronics device  is definitely a personal choice.  I am one of those moms that do allow some YouTube time.  I allow 2 hours a day, and see nothing wrong with it in the grand scheme of things .
I definitely will give YouTube it's kudos esp for the toddler clips that I have found.
My toddler is a very very spirited little guy and he doesn't sit still , and it was impossible to get him to ever sit with me to read a book or learn any of the basics, animal names, colors, shapes, numbers and letters etc.
I searched toddler things and found so many really cute videos that seemed to grabbed my little guys attention . Not only would he sit still but an amazing thing happened. Out of the blue he started pointing at  different shapes, colors , letters and numbers that were incorporated in his toys and he was right on everything he named. I was so blown away by how amazingly he absorbed everything.
He now sings the ABC song with me and is constantly naming everything.
A pretty cool craft came out of the fun and I loaded my fridge with some handmade magnets that he could play with educationally and continue to retain the information.

Some lined paper, a black marker, some pencil crayons and some self stick magnets make a great educational toy.
I love that every time he gets something correct we scream and yell all excited , keeping learning fun and positive.
I have no rights to this Youtube Video nor do I have any affiliation but i am sharing the link as this was one of the favorites

http://youtu.be/2Poaq62Wrvk

The Best kind of Gift

Being just the WannaBe SuperHero Mom and my little Minion side kick on the home front as my oldest has branched out on his own from us; I decided to start to make his Memory Book. I knew this day would come where he wouldn't be living with me anymore but it doesn't make it anymore easier.
I have saved everything from when he was younger with every intention of making this gift when the dreaded day came. I know I raised him as perfectly as I could, and he is an awesome hard working young man at 19 years old.
This is such an amazing gift and I am so glad to be able to give him such a gift.
So this is the beginning stages

 I have tackled some before now and those pages sit atop of the bag full of memories.

working at separating everything

Wow look at all this stuff!!


So fun to remember everything that we had done together, what amazing adventures we had and can't wait to do so much with my youngest.
I remember every moment I wonder though will he?.
It is in the works and even though I wanted this Christmas Delivery, it is special enough to take my time and make it the most amazing gift he has ever been given, just as having him as my son has been the most amazing gift of my life.

Updates as we go along on the progress.!
He knows it is coming lol !!