Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish all of you wonderful people a Merry Christmas before I take a blogging break until the new year. I hope you have a joyous season remembering the Reason and make some great memories with your loved ones!

Homemade Eggnog (refined sugar-free!)

Like everyone else in my family, I love eggnog and look forward to savoring it each holiday season. We've always just bought it at the store (even though it's loaded with sugar), but last year my mom figured out this recipe, which uses raw sugar instead of refined, and ensures the eggs are pasteurized. She made it for us last year when we were visiting and I decided it's better than store-bought! (I shouldn't have been surprised, since most things are better homemade.) I haven't tried making it yet, but I will shortly...

Homemade Eggnog

7 large eggs
½ c. plus 2 Tb. raw sugar crystals
¼ tsp. salt
6 c. whole milk
1 Tb. vanilla extract
½ tsp. nutmeg

Whisk eggs, then add sugar and salt while whisking. Continue to whisk while pouring milk in slowly. Turn burner under pan on medium low and stir continuously until reaches 160 degrees F. Pour straight into a strainer over a large bowl to remove any egg bits. Add vanilla extract and nutmeg. Stir. Pour into a container with lid and refrigerate until well chilled.

The Emotion Code

I am reading this book right now and my moderate skepticism and non-understanding is turning into enlightenment and excitement. Welcome to a whole new world of health and healing!

My mother found out about this method a few months ago from the NAET specialist she is being treated by (who has almost completely cured her chronic headaches!). It struck a cord with her and after reading the book and learning how to detect and release trapped emotions, she began treating herself and family members. It sounded a little weird to me at first, but I was open to the idea, since I had read the NAET book and was acquainted with the ideas and truths behind non-Western ("alternative") healing*. And I was further intrigued when I learned how it had helped my parents and young siblings in surprising ways. As Mom told me more about it, I realized it was definitely worth trying on my oldest daughter, in particular, and on myself. So I was quite excited when I got a hold of a copy of the book over Thanksgiving.

I love how Dr. Nelson explains the real science behind trapped emotions and all the havoc they can cause on the body, and why his methods work to heal people. On first glance, I'm afraid this sort of thing looks bizarre to a lot of people and psychic-like. But it's really not like that at all. It's real, powerful stuff that everyone needs!

I keep thinking of people I know who had something terribly traumatic happen to them when they were young and are still suffering the affects of it. Or adults who have experienced failed marriages or long-term job loss and are inwardly hurting from their perceived failures. Or individuals who are suffering from chronic pains or allergies that continue to baffle doctors and for which no treatment has alleviated their symptoms. Or teenagers who are just having a difficult time with life. Or children with irrational fears or behavior problems. Honestly, since everyone experiences trials and difficulties, there probably isn't anyone who hasn't developed one trapped emotion or another. And it's intriguing how many of these emotional blockages are causing chronic and serious health problems.

The coolest thing about the Emotion Code for me is that I was able to actually experience it firsthand over the Thanksgiving break, thanks to a treatment by my mom one day, and then more intensively another day by the nurse who is treating her. At the conclusion of both sessions, I felt lighter--even thinner--and happier and more content. (My husband even commented on how happy I seemed afterward.) But the biggest difference I noticed was the improved nature of my relationship with my oldest daughter and her improved response to me, other adults, and different situations. And though things aren't perfect or completely free from difficulty, that improvement has been permanent. My belief is that, due to the difficult nature of my pregnancy and labor with her, and the very dark and difficult few weeks following her birth, some of those negative emotions I felt during that time were trapped inside my body and hampering my relationship with her. It is so good to be free of them after all these years! (Don't get me wrong, though: I'm sure there are many others I need to work on.)

Even without knowing at the time if I completely believed in the Emotion Code or the idea of releasing emotions, I discovered that it does work and it is powerful. I look forward to continuing to learn how to find and release trapped emotions in myself and my family to improve all of our health and well being!

I encourage you to feed your curiosity and learn more at the following websites:

The Emotion Code Introductory video
Dr. Nelson's official website
The Emotion Code website
Pure and Simple Healing (another blogger's review and explanations)

*NAET and the Emotion Code are not affiliated with each other but have some similar elements.

Sleep Training Infants

Before our third baby was born earlier this year I read another couple of books on sleep training and, for lack of a better term, "baby scheduling." Our first child did pretty well with sleeping, but our second threw us for a loop. In the very long process of figuring out what was wrong and how to fix it, I read an excellent book back then that helped immensely. Third time around, I didn't want to leave anything to chance if I could help it!

In the years between baby #2 and baby #3 I'd learned about the Babywise method and read up on it on a friend's exceedingly popular blog. I have a cousin who used this method with her first son, and seeing how well it worked, I wanted that! So before my baby came I read On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep. I didn't agree with all of it, but I felt it had some good information, and overall, it definitely seemed worth trying. I liked how it took the middle road between being slave to a rigid schedule, and having no predictability by letting baby determine everything all the time. I felt that that middle road fit my personality and my family's needs.

The second book I read was the Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby. I was quite impressed with this book and particularly by the woman who wrote it. It's no wonder she's called the "Baby Whisperer"--she's amazing! I read several parts of the book numerous times, trying to ingrain them in my head, since I had to take the book back to the library. My problem was that the book is built around the premise that you know your baby and therefore know which personality type he/she is, and thus how to approach sleep training. Since my baby wasn't born yet, I could only guess and try to imagine different scenarios and how to handle them. All I was asking was that our experience with #2 just not be repeated!

In case you haven't noticed, I'm one of those people who likes to have things planned out beforehand as much as possible. So I was doing my best to be prepared in this case too, but of course I knew that babies have their own agendas and their little personalities aren't always very moldable (at least in my family). I wanted to know as much more as I could about how to foster good sleep in infants, but realized that sometimes new babies are just difficult.

After the first couple weeks with my newborn, I began trying different techniques with these two methods that I thought might work. Some things worked better than others, but I kept being frustrated by my baby's inability to be molded into any schedule whatsoever for more than a few days at a time. I was trying to be as flexible with him as I could and sensitive to his needs while still trying to help him maintain a schedule that his body could get used to. But it was hard to be consistent because I have other children who need me. So it was frustrating, as many of you understand.

Finally, after deciding that my baby wasn't made to be "Babywise," and even doubting that he could ever learn to nap on a semi-regular schedule (fortunately, he slept well at night almost from the start), we gradually fell into a routine that works for both of us most of the time. Now that he is almost 7 months old he has learned how to put himself to sleep and doesn't hate his bed like child #2 did. What blessings! When baby sleeps, Mama gets some downtime, which means that when baby wakes, Mama is glad to see him again, and he her. Both of us are renewed and able to cope with the other stuff in our day.

So...what I re-learned from this experience is that I can learn a lot from books and other people's experiences--gaining a knowledgeable foundation on which to build--but my children and I have to find our own groove. I still feel that this approach is different from ignorantly winging it, since that often leads to bad habits (like sleep crutches). We were able to find our own groove because I knew what the signs of sleepiness are, how much sleep my baby needs for his age, and whether his cry is hungry or tired (which is a big one to figure out with each child), among other things.

Sleep is such an important factor to one's health, no matter how small the person! And, especially after reading Kurcinka's book, we make our children's sleep a priority. (If bad behavior is frequently an issue with a child, I would check the amount of sleep they are getting before anything else.) I know I certainly can't function properly or maintain my health if I'm not regularly getting the hours of sleep I need!

Secrets for the Perfect Pie Crust

Making pie crust is not my favorite activity and is actually something I historically have tried to avoid. As a result, I haven't had the kind of practice that would help me make beautiful, flaky, delicious crust. But this Thanksgiving, I wanted the crust on my pumpkin pie to be as good as possible, so I looked up tips online to see what I could learn. I knew from my aunt's pie crust recipe that making it with butter rather than Crisco greatly improves the taste, but without a lot of experience, I wasn't sure I could make that work and look pretty, since such pastry falls easily when baked. I found this website with step-by-step instructions, photos, and explanations as to why these steps are important. It made perfect sense and I learned a lot! I wished I'd known this stuff a long time ago.

So in your holiday baking, if you don't already know these secrets, be sure to check them out!

Pumpkin Pie

As I mentioned here, this year's Thanksgiving dinner didn't include any refined sugar for our family.  It was wonderful! I was in charge of the pumpkin pies and found a great recipe online to help me in my first efforts at creating them with honey. (I didn't want to go into it completely blind this time when I was feeding others.) The only modifying I did was to add spices according to my aunt's tried-and-true recipe. My pie plates are a smaller size, so this recipe made two pies for me.

PUMPKIN PIE

2 c. fresh pumpkin puree (or 15 oz. can pumpkin puree)
4 large eggs
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In large bowl, beat the eggs until just mixed, then add all remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.

Pour carefully into unbaked pastry and then carefully lift into the oven. (I like to place pies on cookie sheets, just in case of spillage.)

Bake for 45 minutes, or until center is just set. (Custard will set up further during cooling.)