PH and yeast

Yet again.. we are dealing with yeast and not in the bread or baking form. My youngest son is having huge issues. Unless I am consistently consuming a horrid amount of acidophiles his skin erups with yeast infection. Today it appeared mid morning. He awoke from his morning nap screaming. His cheeks were speckled and when I changed his Diaper his belly and front bum was covered in a yeast infection. It has been treated but I do not know if it is healthy to be constantly treating it with medication.

I am stumped.

I am on a quest now to figure out how to balance his PH. I came across this website and will try adjusting my diet accordingly to see if this helps. It will be helpful for Samuel as well since we begin to introduce solids the beginning of June. Tomorrow I am planning on testing both of our PH levels to see if mine is out causing his to be out or what the deal is!

Any mommas struggle with the same issue? HELP?

Lynn Cannon

Sammy at the Aquarium

Caleb :S

Caleb on the Pier at White Rock

Gabriel holding a snake we found at Pitt Lake

What I made today

This morning I helped a new friend out by babysitting her 2 munchkins while she went to a post op appointment. At 10am this morning my small place was BOOMING. In my care I had my son Caleb age 3, Jared age 3, Rachel 15mths and Sammy 4.5 months. What a crazy morning we had. Luckily my littlest slept most of the time. I decided I am not meant to mother 4 children under the age of 3. :)

Anyways I like to bake and decided to whip up a batch of my quick and easy cinnamon bun biscuits. These bring back fond memories of my childhood and I bake them quite often. I knew Amy would enjoy them with a cup of coffee during nap time this afternoon and planned on sending home four but she went home with only 1. They were a hit both boys were snitching them left and right and Rachel kept asking for more :)

Cinnamon Bun biscuits

(Since I didn't take a pic this is stolen from someone else)

1 3/4 Cup Flour

1Tbsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Salt

2 tbsp sugar

4-6 tbsp chilled butter or shortening

3/4 cup milk

filling

2 tbsp melted butter

brown sugar

cinnamon

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a bowl. Cut in with pastry blender or knife butter or shortening until pea sized lumps form. Make well add milk. stir until JUST combined. flour surface. Knead dough gently(maybe 10 times). Roll out until it is 1cm thick. Melt butter and spread until is completely covers the whole surface of the dough. (As close to the edge as you can get) I eye ball the butter - the more the better. spread on sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough up and cut into 2 inch thick swirls. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden brown. I sometimes make a glaze to go along using icing sugar milk and butter. YUMMMMM....

chocolate o chocolate o Chocolate

So .. I have a weakness. A chocolate weakness. After I put Sammy down for the night tonight Caleb and I decided we wanted to bake something. I did not know what so I decided to google recipes. I knew I wanted something Chocolaty but did not know what. So I started by googling chocolate baking images and then blogs.

How inspiring ... I have found some pretty amazing blogs and now am full of some ideas of what I am going to be making in the next week. I was talking to a girlfriend after Caleb was asleep and we talked about making chocolate croissants from scratch. SOO.. I GOOGLED IT (DUH). Well We will not be making them. Just for the pastry dough it is a 12.5hr process. NO THANKS. no matter how good they may taste I am not wasting 12.5 hrs to make a pastry that is so horrible for you.

anyways I have compiled a list of some baking ideas that I will be attempting in the next months ahead.

Chocolate flan cake

Dulce de Leche cheesecake bars

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Now.. I know I can not bake any of these recipes without a reason or else knowing my lack of self control when it comes to sweets there would not be left for any one else. (meaning if you see something you like let me know because you will be invited over when I make it).

I know for sure the chocolate flan cake is going to be made for G's 37th bday in July but the rest will be whenever and wherever.

I also wanna try and make Chocolate Babka which is a Jewish Chocolate swirl bread. I saw a recipe for it in Canadian living and when I was perusing blogs this evening I came across the recipe again.

Will let you know how this all turns out and if I gain back all that I have lost post baby you all will know why. :)

bolillos

Bolillos and Nephew

My wonderful husband announced to me the day before our nephew was due to arrive from LA for the long weekend that he needed to go and buy some Bolillos. I asked what they were and once I received a some what vague explaination I asked if he thought I would be able to make them.

Yesterday afternoon after my 5mth old decided not to nap and my 3 yr old was in my mind going mental aka being a boy.. I decided I needed some baking therapy and to the kitchen I went.

I googled the real definition and found this response:

a type of savory bread traditionally made in Mexico, where it originates. It is a variation of the baguette, and is often baked in anhorno de piedra.

It is about 15 cm (six inches) long, in the shape of an oval, with a crunchy crust and a soft inside, known as migajón . It is the main ingredient for tortas and molletes. A variation of the bolillo is the telera, which is very similar, though it has a more rounded shape, is divided in three sections, and is usually softer. Other variations include bolillos made of alternate ingredients such as whole wheat, wheat germ or flax.

I thought to myself piece of cake. I pulled out my favorite white bread recipe decided to double it and got to work. Well to my already annoying day I ended up heating my water to hot and for the first time I killed my yeast. So I dumped it out and started again.

Whipped them up and in no time at all I had about 16 bolillos and 2 loaves of fresh white bread waiting for my nephew.

Will post a pic when I get a sec.

Trying new things

So we have fallen into quite the predicament with Samuel. This may gross some of you out but for me this a daily wake up experience.

Every morning without FAIL, I stumble into Sammy's and Caleb's room and get the littlest bug up and as I do I pray the poop has not leaked out from anywhere in his diaper. NOOOO... It is everywhere, every morning... and by far this is the worst good morning EVER.

Not only do I have to strip him and bathe him, I have to strip the bed, the blankets and wash/wipe down the mattress.

Sooo things must must must change. For the last month or so I have been researching. Should I put him in bigger disposables? should I try cloth? If I try cloth, which ones? How many? how much money should I spend?

Along with the diaper issue we are struggling with an ever occuring yeast issue. I take acidophilus daily and have increased my consumption of good biotics but it is creeping up everywhere. SOO are cloth diapers right for us? I have talked to both sides - people who are pro and people who are against.

Gabriel and I have decided to give it a try. He has a huge work opportunity in the near future so we are going to use some of the extra funds to buy us 15-20 cloth diapers. We have decided to go with this brand.

1. They are local - we save 3% and do not have to pay shipping.

2. They are a lot less expensive than most of the diapers out there.

3. They were the closest to the cloth diapers that most cloth diaper using mommas had suggested.

I can not wait to order them. Seriously, excited. We can save ourselves a couple grand by using cloth and the first momma who suggested these has sworn she has never had a leak.

More on this subject to come.

3 days and counting

In my last post I talked about how I prayed for Sun. Well that was Thursday and today in Monday. We had a beautiful weekend.

Yesterday my friend Marina and I took the boys to Deer lake. I love deer lake. Even with it full of many families and couples out soaking up the rays it was peaceful, soo quiet and beautiful. We wondered our way along the boardwalk, made our way up the hill to the swings and then meandered our way through the gardens...

baby screaming will continue later......

FINALLY SUN ADMIST THE RAIN

Yesterday was by far the coldest spring day I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED IN VANCOUVER. After Samuel woke up from his nap I decided I wanted out of the house and so would dash to the store(walk 2 blocks) and grab some stuff to make dinner.

WELL.. It was raining(typical) and so I threw both boys in the mountain buggy and trudged out. Well not even at the end of my street my hands were already numb. Rain mixed with snow was falling and a bitter wind was blowing. AWFUL!

Returning home with the ingredients for a giant pot of chicken soup I felt weary. When we prayed for dinner I asked for the Lord to send us some sun. He must have known that I really really did need some sun.

I woke this morning to rays shining through our door and clear blue everywhere. O how glorious.

Sammy in the swing (17wks)

I reminded Caleb that last night we had asked Jesus to send us some sun and that he answered. I needed this reminder that when we ask in His name our requests will be answered.

So often I try my own strength first then when all else fails I pray. Instead I should ask first.

3rd birthdays!!!!!!

My wonderful son Caleb turns 3 tomorrow (@9:07pm) and today we had his bday bash. I strongly dislike parties. I always mean well. I invite tons of people and plan a grand event then the day before I start praying that NO ONE shows up. I pray that only 3 people will come that I will be able to sit on my butt and eat food and not have to host. Then the day arrives and we have 20 people all crammed into our tiny place and boom I have a party happening.

First of all, our parties are always fun and we are always surrounded by people whom love us and who we love very dearly. Caleb invited his friends - Fedor, Issabella, Jared, Rachel, Maddie, Kylun and of course his brother Sammy. Caleb had such a good time and it appeared that his friends did as well.

I love this boy dearly and thank God daily for placing him in my life. I cannot imagine for one second my life without him in it and pray I will be given many more with him. He is a bucket full of energy, and a burst of sunshine during my rainy days. I love him I love him I love him. Thankyou Jesus!:)

Caleb at 6months