There's a Pickle in my life.

Pro Life Rally

2012-01-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

We had a pro life rally in our city last weekend. My husband and I had gone 3 years ago but hadn't made it since so we took the kids up in the rain. It lasts about an hour of prayer and speakers then a march down the street. It was really hard with the kids, of course, they didn't care about the speakers and Luke was pretty bored. Oh, and no bathrooms so we had to go across the street to Nordstrom so Luke could pee. But overall it was amazing. It is so awesome to hear the speakers talk about abortion.
I remember one in particular speaker (the only one I really heard) saying that abortion degrades motherhood. And that in our society motherhood isn't valued as much as it should be. I very much agree with that. Sometimes I feel that people see me as just a stay at home mom when really being able to stay at home and take care of my children is such a blessing. It is so important and I feel so blessed, sometimes people don't see that.
I really could go on and on about how I feel about abortion. When I was a baby my mother gave me up for adoption because she was a teenager and couldn't care for me the way she knew someone else could. What a selfless act. I'm so grateful to her. I know that a lot of people argue that some people couldn't take care of children, but I feel there is a great need to help these mothers who are lost and feel there is nothing else. I would much rather have my tax dollars going to women's shelters than to planned parenthood (which thankfully isn't anymore). And women who have gone through this need help and healing, and we need to help them too.

And I know people say that it should be the mother's choice, but what about the baby? A poor small baby with no choice, left up to her mother to give life and to care. It makes me so sad.

Then we were on the way back from the march a man started yelling at me and my husband. He yelled F you prolifers!! (really nice in front of small children right?) So we talked to him for a while. He was so greatly concerned with abortion, in fact it brought tears to his eyes. He talked to us about how sometimes the situation is so bad and there is no money to raise a child. I could see into his eyes that maybe he has been in this situation, I saw his heart in pain. We talked for a while saying how we need to do more to help people who find themselves in this terrible tragic situation and help them. He agreed. He apologized for yelling at us and was very nice saying goodbye. I prayed for him today but I should keep praying for him. He seemed so hurt.

We'll probably go next year. It was so empowering.

“If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people to not kill each other? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.”
-Mother Teresa

Food and Me

2012-01-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

We have been seriously paleo here for the last 7 months. Really being pretty strict. Well, just recently I've tried a few new foods out, and a few old ones and here's what I got...

Problem foods

Peanut Butter I haven't had peanut butter in a very long time. Probably over a year. I tried it again because my friend, Lisa, accidentally said it was a GAPS acceptable food. Anyway, she thought it was but it wasn't. Regardless of whether it is or not, it was fun to test it out. It was not a good one. I kinda got diarrhea from it, well not exactly, but every morning I had the urgent feeling to run to the bathroom. Maybe that's a food for later.

Beer I love beer. Especially dark winter beers. But wow, do they give me a headache. Now, I'm not drinking like college here, I'm only having one. But I always wake up with a headache.

Sushi Night I had rice and probably some gluten in the sushi rolls (some of it was fried). The next morning major moodiness. I just have irritability and I'm very impatient, two things that are not great when taking care of small kids. This also happened with chips and salsa at Chevy's, and probably food was cooked in strange oil.

Potatoes Lisa also told me that people should wait to have potatoes on GAPS and that starch seems to be a problem for people and may be the cause of my sinus headaches. So I tested it a little (still need more testing)... I didn't have potatoes for a couple of weeks then we got some from out CSA this week so we had some. Boom, sinus headache the next morning.

Apple Juice Ok, I didn't have this one, Luke did. He never eats any sugar but honey and maple syrup once and a while or some dark chocolate. We were out at a restaurant and we got him some. I can finally understand the phrase terrible twos after that. It's no wonder two year olds have mood swings and temper tantrums- SUGAR! He won't be getting that again.

New Foods

I've tried a lot of new foods recently because I've been reading about certain foods being high in vitamins. I can't say that I like them really but maybe my body will start to crave them.

Chicken Liver (cooked and raw)- trying to have once a week
Bone broth (last batch made with chicken feet- try seeing a claw surfacing in your broth GROSS!) - at every meal (I actually like this)
Salmon Eggs- yuck but really high in Vitamin D. My kids LOVE them.
Oysters- They are ok. High in Magnesium and many other things.
Raw fish at sushi- Pretty good but need to not eat rice and other things with it.

I'm really proud of myself for trying some of these foods... I'm becoming slowly more adventurous.

I am tempted to start the GAPS diet, or at least do the intro. I think that my gut could use some healing and then maybe I won't have the sinus headaches and could eat dairy again. But I'll need to read (and buy) the book. Lisa is starting GAPS soon over at Nourishing My Life and I'm really excited to see how it effects her before I try :)
I still have a long ways to go till I find the optimal diet but I'm making headway.

Wordless Wednesday- crawling out of sink

2012-01-25T14:20:00.001-08:00

I used to put Luke in the sink all the time while I did dishes. So I started putting my daughter in now too since she's old enough. But she got the 'I can crawl out of the sink' thing a little too fast.
For more check out hobomama.com

Childrens Museum

2012-01-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

My husband is busy on a project at work so he's been working more lately. Yesterday we went to the Children's museum and became members and can go anytime. It was really fun. Both kids slept on the way there and even after a short nap Luke (usually has a long nap) played for 3 hours straight! Taryn enjoyed herself, too. We had to leave though because Taryn was so tired. Can't wait to go again.

Science museum

2012-01-12T08:01:00.001-08:00

We went to the science museum twice last week. We have a membership there that was a gift and we are due to expire at the end of February, unless we renew (which we might). I have good incentive now as I just found out one of my good friends has a membership too!!
Here are the pictures.

Epiphany of the Lord

2012-01-08T23:46:00.001-08:00

While Luke was using the bathroom today, we were reading books as we usually do when he has to make a longer bathroom trip. We were reading a Christmas angels book. I was telling him how the star showed the way to baby Jesus and how the wise men brought Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then Luke says 'yeah, that's what the priest said today.'
Wow, I had no idea he was listening so well.

To lay down your life

2012-01-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

I was listening to this homily from the daily Mass on EWTN in the car while running errands today. I didn't even get to hear the whole thing until I came home and replayed it.

The priest started off talking about love. Then hate. And how anger is often the manifestation of hate. Then he said this quote from Saint JoseMaria Escriva that really hit me.

“Force yourself, if necessary, always to forgive those who offend you, from the very first moment. For the greatest injury or offence that you can suffer from them is as nothing compared with what God has pardoned you”

Wow. Then he goes on to say that when you get angry, it happens and that situation is gone and most of the pain or suffering is what you inflict on yourself. But if you just forgive right away, even out of force, you are taking a part of the suffering of Christ.

And that's when I realized that sometimes I let things fester, sometimes I let them go, but sometimes they fester. The anger festers. The anger that leads me to hate and the hate that is the opposite of love. If God is love, then hate is the Devil. So I am letting the Devil work in trying to destroy relationships and friendships. Then I have a choice. Do I want to let the Devil inch into my life because of my humanness to not be able to forgive right away? No I don't. How easy it would be to just love like God and forgive. What a sacrifice sometimes to just forgive. It would also be very humbling but very pleasing to God. Jesus says to love is to lay down your life for your brother. If I can't humbly forgive then I can't love.

I pondered this all day. I thought about all the times I've been angry at my husband or my kids. That is the Devil trying to inch into my life, trying to get me to hate and fester anger. And just like that I would be down the wrong path. I want to live in the light of Christ. I want love to be there instead of anger because love never fails.

Resolutions

2012-01-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

I thought New Years resolutions were dumb until I read this post today from Mark's Daily Apple. It says people who make resolutions are more successful at reaching goals, actually 10 times more. So, I will write them down again. And this makes a good place to go back and see.
Here we go, 2012!

Better budgeting. This was a goal last year, too. But this year I want to do it every month instead of off and on. We really want to do better at keeping track of spending and do a good job on saving (we really want to go to Hawaii before Taryn is two).

Improve my health. I did amazing last year, after I had Taryn, at sticking to a really healthy paleo diet. I'm figuring out more now what works for my body. I've noticed that I have issues with dairy. I noticed that having gluten gives me a terrible sinus headache. Too much chocolate makes me have eye and muscle twitches. I want to try and have more bone broth, eat less chocolate (some is ok) and keep avoiding foods that hurt me. I'd also like to get back to pre-pregnancy weight (and maybe lower), that is less important than being healthy, but something I'd like to do.

Read the daily Mass readings every morning along with this reflection and listen to my favorite Nun's podcast more regularly. I already do this most days but I want to keep doing it.

Teach Luke The Angelus prayer. This prayer is traditionally said at noon. So I was thinking about setting an alarm on my phone to remind us to do it everyday.

Do some more exercise. FUN exercise.

That's about it. Happy New Year! (and Merry Christmas, too, all the way till the Baptism of the Lord)

7 Months

2011-12-27T13:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Sweet Little Taryn,

7 Months old. We love you so much. You are just moving all around. You are still doing your army crawl and sometimes getting up on your hands and knees. But on our pergo floor, it's easier to just slide along.

You just had your first Christmas where you were spoiled with presents from both of your grandparents. Getting lots of new (very much appreciated) clothing too since you are wearing 12 month clothes! And they fit waaay too well. What will you wear at one year? That's a scary thought, though, it's only 5 months away :(

You are LOVING food. One morning you ate half a squash and an egg yolk. Most foods are ok for you. You've even tried some that aren't supposed to be for your age, like little satsuma oranges. There's lots of things you have tried by accident. Like this morning you crawled up to a plate of chocolate cake that was left on the floor. Oops. But I caught you just in time. You like egg yolks, squash, banana mashed with coconut oil, kale (another accident food), avocado, roast, ground beef, chewing on bacon, etc etc etc. I think you like every thing. You are just so opposite of Luke. I think you like food a little too much.

I think of you as a continuum concept baby (from the book The continuum concept) because you just crawl around and explore until you've wet your diaper or until you are hungry and need something. One of your favorite places is the pantry, pulling the potato bag down on top of yourself. You're very lucky daddy saved you. Otherwise you are just happy as can be exploring around the house.

EC is going pretty well for you lately too. Sometimes you go in your diaper, but sometimes you just won't and insist that we pee or poop you in the potty. And in the night you have to pee in the potty or you just won't settle back down, but you don't like any minute of waking up to do it.

You are still great in the car. You're just great almost all the time. You are so easy going. You just are happy all the time. And you are most happy when you are getting into your brother's train tracks, to which he says 'Mama, move Taryn!!'. But you can't resist, you just love him and playing with him so much.

We love you dear Taryn. You are growing too fast, you aren't our newborn anymore. You are turning into a girl just way too fast. You are so sweet and we love you so much.

Love, Mama and Daddy

6 months!

2011-11-28T15:40:00.001-08:00

Dear little T,

You are so sweet and already half a year old. Wow.

army crawling

You have had two big things happen in the last month. Your first tooth came, the bottom left one. Sharp as ever. And boy do you bite like crazy now. Everything and anything. And now it hurts when you bite our fingers!! But when you pull me in to bite my head you have a funny grin on your face which is a good thing because it hurts so bad lol.

biting grandpa's cards

You also have learned to crawl! You do the army crawl now and you try so hard. It seems to really strain you but you haven't figured out the regular easier way.

Now since you can crawl, all the sudden your brothers toys are with in reach. He's gonna have to get used to that.

You've tried some foods on propose and on accident. Egg yolks, chicken liver, banana and chicken broth on purpose. Yams, squash, kale on accident. Yams gave you a diaper rash though so we'll wait a while before doing it again. And I let you suck on a piece of apple when I make dinner.

trying egg yolks

You seem to enjoy all the foods. Or at least experimenting. You will actually cry when we don't give you food that you want. Luke never did that so we think you are really eager to try new things.

hand in the broth

I can tell you are sleeping less now. But still wanting to sneak in naps when Luke is having a down time so you won't miss anything. And it seems like your teeth are bothering you at night some nights. Your 6 month check up is Friday. We'll see how big you are then.

Pickle is something else to you. When you catch a glimpse of him your expression says 'I can't believe my eyes'. And, of course, you love Misu.

brother and sister

You are just so sweet, we can't believe it's been 6 months. What blessed last 6 months it's been. We love you sweet Taryn.

Love
Mama and Daddy

2 and a half

2011-11-21T10:20:00.001-08:00

My dear sweet Luke,

You are something else, something special. We love you just so much more everyday.

You are growing like crazy. And really growing out of your clothes!! We had to say goodbye to all your 2t clothes and welcome in 3t.

You say so much more now. Sometimes I don't even know where you come up with things. Like...

Luke: I want the dryer
Ben: you wanna look at the dryer?
Luke: no I want to get in the dryer

You still have cute things you say like you say your name is 'nuke' even though each day the n is sounding more and more like L. And when you give our dog, Misu, a treat you say 'good Grill, Misu, good grill'. You don't have to ever get those right though because it's just so cute.

You also are quite assertive. I say I'll get it and you say 'No! Let me get it'. Or I say 'oh look it's a dump trunk' you say 'No! That's a dump truck!' You remind me a lot of myself, sometimes I wonder if that's good or not ;)

You like playing with trains, your guitar, cars and all my stuff in the kitchen.

You watch Kipper, Wonder Pets, Rugats, Wheels on the Bus, Clifford and random Youtube videos of Sesame Street or Trains. Everything else is 'too scary'.

You love to sing. You have memorized a lot of songs, all of the ones we sing at Mass... Gloria, Holy Holy, Alleluia, and Lamb of God and you walk around singing those. You also know most kids songs, Wheels on the bus, twinkle twinkle little star, ba ba black sheep, where is thumbkin, etc.

You LOVE to read. And I am surprised by your interest in longer books now. You love to read all different books from the library, your kids bible your god parents bought you, and almost any book laying around. There's a couple books you like so much you've memorized- Thomas and the school trip, Stuck in the mud, Terrific Trains- and you read them to me.


reading with Daddy

We think you're pretty sharp too. You can count to 20. You learned the ABCs from this song that we listened to about a year ago. You recognize the symbol of pi, thanks to Daddy. And your memory is astounding. How do you remember so much from so long ago?

You are potty graduated. You basically 'trained' yourself. But we've always been ECing so it came pretty natural.

Your favorite foods are eggs, bacon, sausage, bananas, apples, pears, nuts, cheese, and chocolate just to name a few. You like most veggies. And you even sneak tastes of raw eggs and ground beef. You eat pretty well but Mamas milk is still #1. When you were sick recently I asked you 'can you take this medicine before you nurse' You said 'no no no the milk is good.' I am so very thankful you are still nursing, you have only gotten sick once in the last year and it wasn't so bad.

Cooking is also something that you have always and still enjoy doing. Recently you learned how to make Mama coffee by yourself. And cracking eggs is your new thing. You are very involved in the kitchen and I love that.

You are the big brother around here and you are such a great one too. When Taryn cries you say 'she needs her Mama' or 'she needs to nurse'. You are always concerned when she's not around and with Daddy. You always say Where's Taryn?

And even though you both are my babies, you'll always be our first born. You are the one that made us parents. You'll always have a special place in our hearts. We love you more than you know.

Love,

Mama and Daddy

Sick and Today

2011-11-15T13:47:00.001-08:00

We have been sick. We all caught a cold. Taryn seeming to get it first. She got a lot of snot and a cough. Then we all got it, not thinking it was too bad. Boy was that a mistake. My husband came down with walking pneumonia after a couple of little sleep days and lots of stress with work. He was really sick for a couple of days. He actually went into the ER in the middle of the night because he couldn't breathe because he felt so sick. They gave him and inhaler and antibiotics that helped immediately. I slept terrible that night which probably added to my sickness and about a week later I suffered from a sinus infection. Thankfully my husband was about recovered. Luke was sick too with that nasty two year old snot and cough. Both kids had it very minor, thank you breastmilk!!
I still have sinus congestion. I actually got pretty bad and ended up on antibiotics too which I am terrified of. I know they disrupted my gut a little and that's a shame. Lots of probiotics for me and bone broth.
Today my husband is healthy back at work, my kids are healthy and I am almost better just still have a little congestion. We went to the library this morning for story time and to return some overdue stuff. I forgot how hard it is to get two kids out of the house. My house is currently a disaster again. I probably should do something to help the stress level when I wanna go somewhere. Hopefully it gets easier when they get older.
Taryn is really trying to crawl, see her at the library....

Thankful

2011-11-14T18:17:00.001-08:00

This is for Let's Take the Metro's challenge for posting 100 things I'm thankful for on Thanksgiving.

These are not necessarily in order. :)

1. God, my creator

2. Jesus, my savior

3. The Holy Spirit, my companion

4. My spiritual mother, Mary.

5. My husband. I would be nothing with out him. He is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

6. Luke, my sweet first born

7. Taryn my little love

8. My Dad. He raised me and I am forever thankful.

9. My step mom Lisa. My dad couldn't have married a better person.

10. My grandparents, my Catholic role models.

11. My grandma. She is awesome because she does things the old fashioned way so I've learned so much from her.

12. My inlaws. They are the best. So great, I think of them as my actual parents too.

13. My brother in law and

14. sister in law and

15. my niece Kenzie

16. and nephew Kruz

17. Usa. My best friend.

18. Lisa my best mommy friend and my all day texting partner.

19. Friends

My cousins
20. Jill & Bryan

21. Erin

22. Laurel

23. Bradley

24. Amy

25. Elisa

26. Holly

27. Heather

28. And all their kids

29. My Uncle Chris

30. Aunt Debbie

31. Cousin Frankie

32. Cousin Carley

33. Aunt Kathy

34. Aunt Janese

35. Uncle Ted

36. Grandpa Raymond

37. Being Catholic.

38. My cat Pickle

39. My doggy Misu.

40. Having a house.

41. My husband has a job.

42. I get to stay at home with my kids.

43. Coffee

44. That we have savings.

45. Our local library. The story time is awesome.

46. Water. We had our water shut off last week because we forgot to pay te bill lol. Anyway I felt grateful that it was so easy to call and pay. Some people cant pay and just have to have it shut off :(

47. My car.

48. The bible.

49. The daily reflections website I read every day.

50. The Internet.

51. One of my really awesome Mama friends Holly, her daughter Aiden and her husband Josh. They are. Such an awesome Jesus loving family.

52. The house I grew up in.

53. The time I got to spend with my mom before she died.

54. Coming from a small town.

55. My basketball career. More like I'm thankful basketball was my life growing up.

56. Love.

57. For God letting me know that my husband was the one the first time we hung out.

58. Natural Family Planning. Such a gift to my marriage.

59. Thankful for the awesome farm we live close to that provides is with high quality meat. Grass fed beef, pastured pork and chicken and eggs!

60. That we got a once a month gig at the farm. We get paid in meat and eggs.

61. That we live close to a raw milk provider for my husband. He loves the milk.

62. Thankful we live close to a farm that does a year round CSA.

63. Finding out about living Primal.

64. Facebook. Yeah I know, pretty lame, but I can get updates about family really fast.

65. That we have heating.

66. That we have power.

67. That my dad was a math teacher

68. And my basketball coach

69. A family photo session

70. The Solemnity of Christ the King

71. My friend Usa is spending the holiday with us and my family.

72. Our neighbors. They make us feel safe here.

73. Hot showers

74. That we can afford food especially for our kids.

75. That I got to grow up with just my dad. Im not glad my mom died but I'm lucky to have had such a special childhood with my Dad.

76. That I know how to cook

77. My friend Jocelyn and her family

78. That God is ever so forgiving.

79. Parenting blogs I read

80. Paleo blogs I read

81. That I always have something to talk about with my husband.

82. Summer

83. That it rains most of the time instead of snows where I live.

84. Flowers

85. My summer garden

86. The Sun

87. The moon. My son loves the moon.

88. The Saints that show us how to live.

89. The Rosary

90. The Divine Mercy Chaplet

91. The people who have fought for our country.

92. Bacon.

93. Friends.

94. Sunday dinners at my grandmas as a kid.

95. my birth mom for choosing life

96. Father Theo

97. Family Time

98. That Luke can say four prayers perfectly. Hail Mary, Our Father, Grace and Bless himself.

98. Sunday's

99. Beautiful falling leaves

100. The Church liturgical seasons

There are so many things I'm thankful for and so many more things I've probably forgot.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Growing Up in the Kitchen

2011-11-08T00:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the November Carnival of Natural Parenting: Kids in the Kitchen
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how kids get involved in cooking and feeding. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

My daughter watching me cook!

I love to cook and try new things in the kitchen. I always have. When I was a kid, I used to watch some cooking show on TV that always led to me asking to make dinner that night. It was just me and my dad when I was growing up. My dad was all for my experimentations because he didn't like to cook.

I worried that once I had kids it would mean less time in the kitchen. In fact, people even told me that they don't have time to cook anymore, that life with kids was too busy for home cooked meals.

But I figured out how to do it. You let your kids help!

One of my son's first times stirring

Ever since Luke was a baby, he's been in the kitchen with me. Even as far back as I can remember I used to hold him while I made coffee, explaining everything as I was doing it. Then when he got a little older he sat in the Bumbo holding (and chewing) on a spatula watching what I did. Then he got a little older where he could stand and almost walk, he played with stuff in the sink.

Concentrating on cracking eggs

The next stage was the hardest for me. He was able to walk and stand sturdy on a chair. He wanted to help me stir in the hot pan. I let him, even though I worried a little about him burning himself. But I figured once he did it, he'd learn exactly what he needed to. Don't touch hot pans! He did it once in the early cooking days, and he rarely ever burns himself now, probably about as often as I do now.

Now he's always in the kitchen helping me by using knives to cut, stirring, and his latest obsession- cracking eggs. He also likes to just play around, he likes to get into my spice cupboard and taste spices. He wastes things sometimes, too, but it's worth it to me to let him experiment.

Even though he's only almost 2 1/2, I know he has an appreciation for food and what it takes to make a meal. I want him to grow up with the knowledge of how to cook and have the tools to nourish himself.

Sometimes things go slower or get way more messy than if it were just me but what a beautiful thing to see a child learning to create in the kitchen!

How do your kids help you?

Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
(This list will be live and updated by afternoon November 8 with all the carnival links.)

Baking & letting go — Cooking with kids can be a mess. Nadia at Red White & GREEN Mom is learning to relax, be patient, and have fun with the process.
Family feeding in Child of Mine — Lauren at Hobo Mama reviews Ellyn Satter's suggestions for appropriate feeding and points out where her family has problems following through.
Children with Knives! (And other Kitchen Tools) — Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy teaches her children how to safely use knives.
"Mommy, Can I Help?" — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment writes about how she lets her kiddos help out with cooking, despite her {sometimes} lack of patience!
Solids the Second Time Around — Sheryl at Little Snowflakes recounts her experiences introducing solids to her second child.
The Adventure of Toddler Tastebuds — The Accidental Natural Mama shares a few things that helped her daughter develop an adventurous palate.
A Tradition of Love — Kelly at Becoming Crunchy looks forward to sharing the kitchen traditions passed on from her mom and has already found several ways to involve baby in the kitchen.
The Very Best Classroom — Alicia C. at McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts reveals how her kitchen is more than a place to make food - it's a classroom!
Raising Little Chefs — Chef Mike guest posts on Natural Parents Network about how he went from a guy who couldn't cook to a chef who wanted to teach his boys to know how the food we love is made.
In the Kitchen with my kids — Isil at Smiling like Sunshine shares a delicious soup recipe that her kids love.
Papa, the Pancake Artist — Papa's making an incredible breakfast over at Our Mindful Life.
Kids won't eat salad? Try this one! — Tat at Mum in Search is sharing her children's favourite salad recipe.
Recipe For a Great Relationship — Cooking with kids is about feeding hearts as well as bellies, writes Hannah at Wild Parenting.
The Ritual of Mealtimes — Syenna at Gently Parenting Twins writes about the significance of mealtimes in her family’s daily rhythm.
Kid, Meet Food. Food, Kid. — Alburnet at What's Next? panicks about passing on her food "issues" to her offspring.
Growing Up in the Kitchen — Cassie at There's a Pickle in My Life shares how her son is growing up in the kitchen.
Harvesting Corn and History — From Kenna at School Garden Year: The kids in the school garden harvest their corn and learn how much history grows in their food.
My Guiding Principles for Teaching my Child about Food — Tree at Mom Grooves uses these guiding principles to give her daughter a love of good food and an understanding of nutrition as well as to empower her to make the best choices for her body.
Kitchen Control — Amanda at Let's Take the Metro writes about her struggles to relinquish control in the kitchen to her children.
Food — Emma at Your Fonder Heart lets her seven month old teach her how to feed a baby.
Kitchen Fun? — Adrienne at Mommying My Way questions how much fun she can have in a non-functional kitchen, while trying to remain positive about the blessings of cooking for her family.
Kitchen Adventures — Erica at ChildOrganics shares fun ways to connect with your kids in the kitchen.
Kids in the Kitchen: Finding the Right Tools — Melissa at Vibrant Wanderings shares some of her favorite child-sized kitchen gadgets and where to find them.
The Kitchen Classroom — Laura at Authentic Parenting knows that everything your kids want to learn is at the end of the ladle.
Kids in the Kitchen — Luschka from Diary of a First Child talks about the role of the kitchen in family communication and shares fun kitchen activities for the under two.
Our Kitchen is an Unschooling Classroom. — Terri at Child of the Nature Isle explores the many ways her kitchen has become a rich environment for learning.
Montessori-Inspired Food Preparation for Preschoolers — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares lots of resources for using Montessori food preparation activities for young children in the kitchen.
My Little Healthy Eater — Christine at African Babies Don't Cry shares her research on what is the best first food for babies, and includes a healthy and yummy breakfast recipe.
Two Boys and Papa in the Kitchen: Recipe for Disaster? — MudpieMama shares all about her fears, joys and discoveries when the boys and handsome hubby took over the kitchen.
Food choices, Food treats — Henrietta at Angel Wings and Herb Tea shares her family's relationship with food.
learning to eat — Catherine at learner mummy reflects on little M's first adventures with food.
The Night My 7-Year-Old Made Dinner — Melodie at Breastfeeding Moms Unite! shares how her 7-year-old daughter surprised everyone by turning what started as an idea to play restaurant into pulling off making supper for her family.
Cooking With a High-Needs Toddler — Sylvia at MaMammalia describes how Montessori-inspired activities and a bit of acceptance have helped her overcome hurdles in cooking while caring for a "high-needs" child.
Kids in the Kitchen – teaching healthy food choices — Brenna at Almost All The Truth shares her belief in the importance of getting kids into the kitchen using her favorite cookbook for kids to develop healthy food choices now and hopefully into the future.
Make Milk, Not War — Tamara at Tea for Three remembers the daily food fights as she struggled to feed a picky eater.
teaching baby birds about good food. — Sarah at Small Bird on Fire writes about the ways in which her family chooses to gently teach their son how to make wise food decisions.
5 Ways to Enhance Your Baby or Young Toddler's Relationship with Food — Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama shares simple ways to give your child a healthy beginning to her lifelong relationship with food.
Toddler at the Table: 10 Creative Solutions — Moorea at Mamalady shares tips for preventing meal-time power struggles.
How My Child Takes Responsibility During His Mealtime... — Jenny @ I'm a full-time mummy shares how she teaches and encourages her 32 months old son on adopting good manners and responsibilities during his mealtimes...
megan — Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings shares six tips for overcoming some of the the difficulties of cooking with multiple young sous chefs, and a recipe they all can agree on!
How BLW has made me a better parent — Zoe at Mummykins shares how baby-led weaning has changed her approach to parenting.
My Budding Chef — Jenny at Chronicles of a Nursing Mom is no cook but is happy that her daughter has shown an inclination and manages to whip up yummy goodies for their family.
Kids in the Kitchen: An Activity for Every Age — Gaby from Tmuffin describes how she keeps her kids busy in the kitchen, whether they are one week old or two years old.
The Phantastically Mutlipurposed Phyllo — Ana at Pandamoly shares how Phyllo is used to create enticing dishes at home! Anything can be made into a Struedel!
Kitchen Kids — Laura from A Pug in the Kitchen shares her children's most favorite recipe to make, experience and eat.
Independence vs. Connection in the Kitchen: won't you please get yourself your own snack already? — Lisa at Organic Baby Atlanta wishes her daughter would just go make a mess in the kitchen. But her daughter only wants to do it together.
Grandma Rose's Kitchen — Abbie at Farmer's Daughter reminisces about her childhood and dreams of filling her kitchen with people, love, noise, and messes.
Healthy Food Choices for Kids — Jorje offers one way to encourage children to make their own healthy food choices at MommaJorje.com.
Cooking food to thrive rather than survive — Phoebe at Little Tinker Tales is trying to foster a lifetime of good food habits by teaching her children about the importance of avoiding junk, cooking healthy meals, and learning about the whole food process.
Evolution of a self-led eater — Sheila at A Gift Universe shares the story of how her son grew from nursing around the clock to eating everything in sight, without her having to push.
10 Ways Tiny Helps In The Kitchen — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama explores the ways in which her toddler actively participates in kitchen-related activities.
The Complexity of Feeding a Child — Feeding children a healthy diet is no straight-forward task, but Lisa at My World Edenwild shares some general guidelines to help your child thrive.
Lactation Cookies — That Mama Gretchen shares a fun recipe that will benefit both mamas and babies!
The Best Books and Websites to Inspire Kids in the Kitchen — Need inspiration to get your kids in the kitchen? Dionna at Code Name: Mama rounds up some of the best books and websites that can serve as a source for ideas, recipes, and cooking with littles fun.
A 4-year-old's smoothie recipe — Jen at Grow With Graces and her son set out to make a smoothie without the usual ingredients. She let him improvise. See how it turned out.
Independent Food Preparation (My Toddler Can Do That?) — Megan at Montessori Moments shares simple ways for children to prepare their own healthy snacks.
Follow Your Gut — Amy at Anktangle shares her philosophy about intuitive eating, and how she's trying to foster her son's trust in his own inner wisdom when he feels hungry.
A TODDLER-STYLE LUNCH + RECIPE — Manic Mrs. Stone photographs how to have messy fun during lunchtime with a helpful toddler.

Wordless Wednesday- singing to his sister

2011-10-26T15:01:00.001-07:00

This morning I got to watch my kids play together. It's starting to happen more and more now as Taryn is becoming more responsive to Luke by smiling and laughing. He loves it. It makes me glad that they are close together in age.

Just Today

2011-10-21T13:28:00.001-07:00

I got together with the woman who gave us our dog's daughter and her daughter. Yeah that sounds weird. or I could say our dog breeder's daughter and her daughter. Well, whatever.

Anyway they came over today. Her and her husband and daughter moved a few months ago from the east coast. She had previously been an attorney until she had her daughter and her husband just finished his residency. They are like the Cosbys. Lol.

Her daughter is almost 6 months old almost exactly 1 month older than Taryn. So that was cute. Luke was surprisingly pretty interactive with her baby. It's cute he knows how to play with babies now because of his sister and it is so awesome and really sweet. He kept asking me 'what that baby say?' when she squealed. Then I told him her name was Annalee. And he repeated 'Annawee' so cute.

I had a really good time with my new friend. I hope she likes me and we cam hang out more!

The rest of our day was boring, we killed some time at the library before my husband came home. Then we watched a little Netflix and before you knew it he was home. Then I made everyday paleo salisbury steak with yam fries. Later while Ben was out walking Luke to sleep I was cleaning the kitchen with little T and we made heated coconut milk and pumpkin spice a dash of cinnamon and coconut oil. Stay tuned for that recipe, it's like a paleo hot buttered rum (minus the rum tonight lol).

Well off to bed. According to http://Www.sleepyti.me/ I need to wake up at 7:17 or 8:47. Ha, yeah right.

Zoo take two

2011-10-19T23:23:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we (as in the 4 of us) went to the zoo with our good friends and their 19 month old son. They were visiting from about 3 hours away. It was really fun to see them, we don't see them near as often as I'd like to.
We got there with only two hours before the zoo closed so it's a good thing we're members now. We also got tickets for the train, the last one of the day. But Luke's been on this having-to-poop-at-the-zoo tradition so we missed the last train. Fortunately later on, after the zoo closed we got to go ride the city light rail train with our friends downtown for some dinner. So we didn't miss out too much.
This time at the zoo, I saw the elephant pee (last time I saw the giraffe) and it was shocking the amount of water that comes out. It was like a bucket dumped out. It was very different from the giraffe who peed a steady stream for a very long time. Anyway, I wonder what animal I'll see urinate next....

Wordless Wednesday- Fun with markers

2011-10-19T16:27:00.001-07:00

Just Today

2011-10-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

I got an email from our dog's breeder last night saying that her all day appointment was today. We had confirmed for Thursday but I thought it had changed, but I was wondering if she had mistakenly said today when she meant to say tomorrow. Anyway, she said she would be there around 1030.

When we woke up I remembered La Leche League was today. Started at 9. Luke woke up ten minutes till 9. We would have gone late if we wouldn't have had the lady coming to get our dog. Then there was a fireman story time scheduled today at the library at 11. But I couldn't leave until I knew if she was going to pick up the dog. I waited. I finally called, and I was right, it's tomorrow that she's coming to get the dog. So we missed everything. To pass the time until my husband came home for lunch we cut up apples to put in the food processor to make lacto-fermented apple sauce (more on that in a later blog post).

My husband came home at 1130 for lunch. Then we went to an apple orchard because I wanted to buy their raw honey and get some apples. I forgot the ergo for Taryn. Blah. So I was just going to buy honey since I couldn't exactly take the two out to the field with out the carrier AND pick apples. But the lady said they had some already picked pears. So I decided I'd get those instead. And honey. But they didn't have the jar we normally get, they either had the bear of honey, which doesn't last too long here. Or a gallon size. I bought the gallon. Yes, a gallon. We'll use it, eventually.

Stopped by my husband's work on the way back home, gave him a pear. Then we came home and I tried to nurse Luke down for a nap. He didn't want it, but he was still happy thankgoodness. So we played for about 30 minutes doing this silly game on the bed and then when he got tired again we nursed and he fell asleep. Taryn was with us in bed, she nursed in between the two attemps to nurse and then after Luke fell asleep, she did too.

After nap, we made paleo banana muffins. Then I tried to clean up a little. Then we played in the play room until my husband came home. Then I made dinner.

The day went pretty fast and we hardly did a thing. I love days like today.

Wordless Wednesday- Brother and Sister

2011-10-12T00:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we go to the store at night... mostly to get something we need but also to play around and burn energy. My kids go to bed late, so it's nice my son has a chance to run around a little bit inside where it's not raining. We found these chairs at the store tonight.

For more Wordless Wednesday photos see Hobo Mama

Accounting for Taste

2011-10-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the October Carnival of Natural Parenting: Money Matters
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared how finances affect their parenting choices. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
***
I've been working on our budget on and off for the last year. It was in my New Years resolution post, then I talked about it again as I continued to work on it. And, let me tell you, it's still a work in progress.

I used this estimator for our budget from Dave Ramsey. He creates categories and tells what percentage of your income should go to each category. We already had a basic idea of what we spend each month on certain things. So we adjusted it to fit us. Our sample budget is here. It's really simple. We just have our set category amounts, then we write in every transaction. Then we have a really really simple thing that subtracts what you spend out of what you start with. The hard part is remembering to fill it out. The good thing is that you want to make fewer transactions so you can fill it out less :)

I think I finally have all of our categories worked out. We were really struggling sometimes at being able to stick to certain categories in our budget. Our biggest problem, the grocery category and the personal category. We were always in a conundrum, how could we eat how we want and still be able to do fun things?

What we do

raw milk

We wanted to have good quality foods at home which equals a higher grocery budget. I want my kids to know where food comes from and we eat paleo. We started a CSA fruit and veggie share, and got meat, raw milk and eggs from a local farm. But have you ever bought grassfed beef? Or pastured eggs? They are more expensive than your typical grocery store meat and eggs. Then raw milk... wow, it's a lot. But I really want our family to know what real food tastes like. And I feel happy that our kids don't eat junk that could cause them other health problems. I know that eating no grains and sugar have limited mood swings and tantrums from my two year old. We think that even if we don't have money for other things the best gift we can give our kids is a lifetime of health. How could we do this without going broke? What does it mean for the other parts of our budget?

It means not going out to eat. It means having to plan fun stuff and consulting the budget instead of doing things spur of the moment. It means not having cable tv for football season (to watch those OSU Beavers!!). There are lots of things we want, but we decided we need to be healthy first.

mmm ribeyes from the farm

When we budget we always ask ourselves, is this something we could or want to live without? Does it mean we would rather skip our nice farm meat for other meat just to get cable tv? Well, the answer is no. Asking those questions makes it clear what your goals are... especially what's best for your kids.

Luke checking out our csa veggies

Asking ourselves what we wanted to spend our money on made all of our other budgeting easier. We understood what we wanted to buy and it made it easy to hold off on non-essentials. There's a lot that we are sad we can't do now but compared to good food we know it's just not as valuable. I really recommend deciding on what is important to you as you go about making or tweaking a budget, it helps prioritize.

Here are some other tips for sticking with a budget that have really helped me.

- Don't spend money until you know how much is available in your spending category. example- don't buy a pair of 30 dollar shoes and come home to find out you only had 20 dollars left in your clothing budget.

- Ask yourself what you can live without. example- we don't have cable because we'd rather use the extra amount on food.

-Save for what you really want. This seems obvious, but how often do you impulse buy and then you realize later you'd rather have saved up for something else? example- we really want a couch in our play room, but we'd rather try to save for a trip to Hawaii.

- Plan ahead. At the beginning of the month we look ahead to see what we will need to have money for. Birthday presents, trips, extra food for guests at our house. We noticed we still have money for fun kid stuff and toys when we planned ahead and skipped spending money on things that were on our 'want to buy list'.

- Little things add up. Sure it only costs 5 dollars to go to coffee. But then there's the lunch out for another 10 dollars. Then there were those couple random trips to the grocery store. Those add up!

- Go easy on yourself. We are fortunate to have saved up money, so if we go over a little on a category some months while we're getting the hang of things it's ok. We aren't punishing ourselves but just remembering what we could do next month to avoid it.

The biggest thing is asking yourself, what is most important for my family? It may not be food, it may be that you want to have the option of going out to eat more often. It may be that you want to have a small house because you'd rather spend your money on something else. You can't have it all, so what's important to you?

***
Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
(This list will be live and updated by afternoon October 11 with all the carnival links.)

Money Matter$ — Jenny at I'm a full-time mummy shares her experiences on several ways to save money as a parent.
A different kind of life... — Mrs Green from Little Green Blog shares her utopian life and how it differs from her current one!
Show Me The Money! — Arpita of Up, Down & Natural shares her experience of planning for parenting costs while also balancing the financial aspect of infertility treatments.
Material v Spiritual Wealth - Living a Very Frugal Life with Kids — Amy at Peace 4 Parents shares her family's realizations about the differences between material and spiritual wealth.
If I Had a Money Tree — Sheila at A Gift Universe lists the things she would buy for her children if money were no object.
Financial Sacrifices, Budgets, and the Single Income Family — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama looks at the importance of living within your means, the basics of crafting a budget, and the "real cost" of working outside of the home.
Overcoming My Fear of All Things Financial — Christine at African Babies Don't Cry shares how she is currently overcoming her fear of money and trying to rectify her ignorance of all things financial.
Confessions of a Cheapskate — Adrienne at Mommying My Way admits that her cheapskate tendencies that were present pre-motherhood only compounded post-baby.
Money Matters — Witch Mom hates money; here's why.
Money? What Money?! — Alicia C. at McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts describes how decisions she's made have resulted in little income, yet a green lifestyle for her and her family.
What matters. — Laura at Our Messy Messy Life wishes parenting through play was her only responsibility during the day.
Making Ends Meet — Abbie at Farmer's Daughter shares about being a working mom and natural parent.
Poor People, Wealthy Ways — Sylvia at MaMammalia discusses how existing on very little money allows her to set an example of how to live conscientiously and with love.
The Green Stuff — Amyables at Toddler In Tow shares how natural parenting has bettered her budget - and her perspective on creating and mothering.
Jemma's Money — Take a sneak peek at That Mama Gretchen's monthly budget and how Jemma fits into it.
5 Tips for How to Save Time and Money by Eating Healthier — Family meal prep can be expensive and time-consuming without a plan! Dionna at Code Name: Mama shares five easy tips for how to make your cooking life (and budget) easier.
Belonging in the Countryside — Lack of money led Phoebe at Little Tinker Tales towards natural parenting, but it also hinders her from realizing her dream.
Total Disclosure and Total Reform — Claire at The Adventures of Lactating Girl gets down to the nitty gritty of her money problems with hopes that you all can help her get her budget under control.
Save Money by Using What You Have — Gaby at Tmuffin is only good with money because she's lazy, has trouble throwing things away, and is indecisive. Here are some money-saving tips that helped her manage to quit her job and save enough money to become a WAHM.
Two Hippos & Ten Euros: A Lesson in Budgeting — MudpieMama shares all about how her boys managed a tight budget at a recent zoo outing.
ABBA said it — Laura from A Pug in the Kitchen ponders where her family has come from, where they are now and her hopes for her children's financial future.
Money vs. Time — Momma Jorje writes about cutting back on junk, bills, and then ultimately on income as well ~ to gain something of greater value: Time.
An Unexpected Cost of Parenting — Moorea at MamaLady shares how medical crises changed how she feels about planning for parenthood.
5 Ways This Stay at Home Mom Saves Money — Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama shares 5 self-imposed guidelines that help her spend as little money as possible.
Frugal Parenting — Lisa at My World Edenwild shares 8 ways she saves money and enriches her family's lives at the same time.
Conscious Cash Conscious — Zoie at TouchstoneZ shares her 5 money-conscious considerations that balance her family’s joy with their eco-friendly ideals.
Money, Sex and Having it All — Patti at Jazzy Mama explains how she's willing to give up one thing to get another. (And just for fun, she pretends to give advice on how to build capital in the bedroom.)
Money could buy me ... a clone? — With no local family to help out, Jessica Claire at Crunchy-Chewy Mama wants childcare so she can take care of her health.
Spending Intentionally — CatholicMommy loves to budget! Join her to learn what to buy, what not to buy, and, most importantly, where to buy.
New lessons from an allowance — Lauren at Hobo Mama welcomes a follow-up guest post from Sam about the latest lessons their four-year-old's learned from having an allowance.
How to Homeschool without Spending a Fortune — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares tips and links to many resources for saving money while homeschooling from preschool through high school.
It's Not a Baby Crisis. It's Not Even a Professional Crisis. — Why paid maternity leave, you may ask? Rachael at The Variegated Life has some answers.
"Making" Money — Do you like to do-it-yourself? Amy at Anktangle uses her crafty skills to save her family money and live a little greener.
Money On My Mind — Luschka at Diary of a First Child has been thinking about money and her relationship with it, specifically how it impacts on her parenting, her parenting choices, and ultimately her lifestyle.
Spending, Saving, and Finding a Balance — Melissa at The New Mommy Files discusses the various choices she and her family have made that affect their finances, and finds it all to be worth it in the end.
Accounting for Taste — Cassie at There's a Pickle in My Life shares their budget and talks about how they decided food is the most important item to budget for.
Money Matters... But Not Too Much — Mamapoekie at Authentic Parenting shares how her family approaches money without putting too much of a focus onto it.
Parenting While Owning a Home Business — In a guest post at Natural Parents Network, Lauren at Hobo Mama lays out the pros and cons of balancing parenting with working from home.
Crunchy Living is SO Expensive...Or Is It? — Kelly at Becoming Crunchy talks about her biggest objection to natural living - and her surprise at what she learned.
Mo' Money, Mo' Problems — Sarah at Parenting God's Children shares how a financial accountability partner changed her family's finances.
The Importance of Food Planning — Amanda at Let's Take the Metro discusses how food budgeting and planning has helped her, even if she doesn't always do it.
Kids & Money: Starting an Allowance for Preschoolers — Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings discusses her family's approach and experiences with starting an allowance for preschoolers.

First Farm Shift

2011-10-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

We just recently asked if our meat farmer needed help running his farm store. We noticed he had some other people help out sometimes. He said he did and that landed us a once a month Saturday shift.
You might wonder why we wanted to work there? I've met some pretty cool people who go there to get their meat. Most of them are traditional eaters including some paleo people. So it's pretty cool to talk to them. Also, we get free eggs and meat!
This last Saturday was our first shift. We work from 10-3. It was kind of too long for Luke. He loved it until he got tired around 1-2. But the farmer said we could just work 10-1 while he gives his farm tour, or we were thinking that I could take the kids home once they get tired and my husband could stay. Probably we'll just do the 10-1 thing. Even though this week was a pretty long time to be there, we got 6 chickens, 6 dozen eggs and 3lb of pork out of it. Not too shabby.

my husband and Luke looking around the farm

4 months! (really 4 1/2)

2011-10-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Little Sweet Taryn,

Oh are you something else. You just are so happy all the time. You have such a deep love for life. Your radiant happiness makes all of us happy.

You are SO grabby now. Everything has to be in your hands and then in your mouth. This includes my head, any of Luke's toys, anything you can reach from your bumbo chair - safe or not, and a piece of squash from my dinner plate!! You spit it because you cannot chew and your gag reflex is too strong for you to swallow, so phew. I am not giving you food till 6 months so you take your time! :)

Not only are you reaching and grabbing everything, you are so insistent to be put down on the ground sometimes. You practically JUMP out of my hands to go play with some of your brother's toys. You can sit up now. Though, this happened a little after 4 months. But you are so strong. I'm afraid you will crawl way too early, because you are so desperate. You've found ways of moving yourself around the play room so you can get some of those toys.

I can't believe how much you sleep. It's funny because you actually do 'sleep through the night' even though we've done nothing to try to get you to do that. I think you're just so worn out from watching Luke all day. We can't complain though, we're tired :)

You are fitting into 6 month+ clothes now. You have Papa's long arms too, because it seems that all your sleeves are too small. And you have a huge head!

There is so much drool coming out of your mouth, we are just waiting for those first teeth. Isn't 4 months too young? I think so. But I'm guessing that they'll show up in the next couple months, probably just in time for when we actually let you have some food!

I am just always so amazed about how observant your are. You have to know what's going on all the time. When new people come over you really watch them. Then they talk to you and you give them the biggest smiles. When Mama, Daddy or Luke come in the room you become 'twitterpated'.

You are just always SO happy. Not a thing upsets you. Even when you get hungry, you make a few cry outs to alert us, then you keep making a few ah noises while I lift my shirt, to let me know that you are, indeed, still hungry. You also fuss when your diaper is wet, you really don't like that.
When you wake up in the morning, we lift you up, and you rub your eyes and even though you are tired you give the biggest smile with your tongue sticking out. Oh, so, cute!

You are our sweet little girl. We love you so much and we can't wait to see what's next.

Love,
Mama and Daddy

Zoo

2011-10-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm so behind about posting. I really want to keep a better record of what we do everyday so I can look back on my kids when they were young. Gonna try a little harder :) Coming soon- Taryn's 4 month post (which has turned into 4 1/2 month post)

We went to the Zoo a week ago. I have been wanting to try a trip up to the city for a while. It usually takes around 40 minutes to 1 hour. I was a bit nervous thinking I'd have to stop for Taryn. Though, of course, she slept the whole way. Luke and I sang to his 'Luke' cd that Grandma and Grandpa bought him last winter. I'm driving my husbands car right now, we switched so he could get my brakes fixed and we haven't switched back. His car's cd player works because a toddler didn't shove coins in his, haha.
Anyway the trip up went well. We got there and renewed our membership. I brought our stroller just in case. It was a good decision because sometimes I have to put Taryn down while I help Luke potty, nurse, etc. And Taryn actually likes riding in it, so she took a few joy rides in it while we walked all around. Luke walked most of the way until the end when I got the pleasure of carrying two kids back up the hill to the car while pushing a stroller, good times.

Overall, trip was successful! I really wanted to try to go by myself, with out having the pressure of meeting someone. It was a good way to start, and I'm happy it worked out. I am so much less stressed about car rides now, because I just feel like I have more confidence and know what to do now that it's the second baby.

Here are some lovely pics of the Zoo!

I saw this giraffe pee for literally 3 minutes. I kept looking back, and he was still peeing!

on the Zoo train

i just love him so much

A week of almost sick

2011-09-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we were feeling a little down and out. Taryn got a little congestion, I had a scratchy throat, and I thought Luke was a little congested though never actually got sick.
We made some play dough and had a really fun time playing.

the sick bug

Baby Led Weaning

2011-09-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

We did baby led weaning with our son Luke. I love the idea of baby led weaning. But there's some glitches that I have noticed.

eating grass fed butter

With Baby Led Weaning you feed your kids a variety and let them choose what they want. I love that. I really think that is the best way to let kids go about eating.
You start them off by trying chunks of your food, instead of purees, letting them get a feel for new texture.

It is wrong to force foods into your child's mouth. As a baby that could lead to choking. As a toddler, its forcing them to eat when they just aren't hungry. And it's good to let them try what you are eating.

The idea is that if you are eating quality, healthy foods, they should end up choosing healthful foods in the right amount.

frozen blueberries from a local farm

Then we started eating paleo, off and on for the last year. (Off during parts of pregnancy and really back on now that I've had my baby.) There are some things I've noticed. If we don't eat any grains or sugar at home, like any, like none at all, I mean none, even including family nights eating out for lunch or dinner, then my son doesn't want them at all. The only thing we have around is dark chocolate- 72% cocoa or higher or very minimal raw honey.


Snack/Lunch- raw milk cheese, banana slices, grass fed ground beef with zucchini.

It is, in fact, very clear to me that the cravings and wants of sugar stem from grain foods, sugar foods, and processed foods. When we are strict paleo, my son doesn't care at all about sweets. A few months ago, when we were not eating paleo at all while I was pregnant, he wanted bread, he wanted that pretzel or cake at his grandparents.

When we just stopped having bread in the house, he asked for it every day. He would ask, we'd say we didn't have it because we didn't think it was good for us. Once that subsided after about a week, he stopped asking.

Now we have none of that in our house. It's not even an option. I don't worry when he eats something not typical for breakfast or nothing at all. Granted we are still breastfeeding, but his body knows if he's hungry or not. It's just like how I feel some days, hungry at some meals, not hungry at other meals. I've noticed that he really only likes two meals, and one snack.

strawberry from the garden

When we go out, which isn't very often now, we don't let him choose between all the foods. We let him choose between foods that we think are good foods. It really sets the stage for later on in life. That way, when he does eat sugar, like the few bites of cake at his grandparents, he understands what makes his tummy hurt. And we tell him, if you have the cake, it could upset your tummy. But that comes after eating very strict for a few months. I don't believe he would have noticed before.

I think baby led weaning is great, with the right foods. I just don't think it worked very well when we ate grains and sugar. My son's little body couldn't decipher between cravings and needs. The same is true for me. The less sugar and grains I eat, the less cravings I get.

My daughter will be starting solids in two months and I'm still planning on doing Baby led weaning with her. The idea behind it is great. But, I'm really going to make sure she's got the right choices in front of her.

Wordless Wednesday- Luke's many nap positions

2011-09-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

For more wordless wednesday pics see Hobo Mama!

Say Please

2011-09-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the September Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting Through Play

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how challenging discipline situations can be met with play. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

***

When Luke was a baby, while I was reading a lot of natural parenting blogs and books, I remember reading that kids learn better by action. I know I always did. I learn by watching others, and then I follow what they do. A natural social cue that almost all humans do and probably with out realizing.

Can I have the rock please?

As my son approached the age where he was understanding what we say and observing how we socialize, I decided that's how I wanted him to learn. Everyone's heard parents say to their kids 'Say hi' or 'Say thank you' or 'Say please first'.

I always wondered why I'd need to force him to do it. Especially the 'say please' before I give you something. I felt that forcing manners on someone wasn't very productive. As he got older he'd do it just because I made him, not because he thought that's how people ask for things.

My husband and I decided to make a conscious effort to always say please and thank you to each other. (which was good for us too ;) ) We worked at it, but we still don't do it all the time. We also said please and thank you when asking him for something like saying please and thank you when playing with Luke. 'Can I see that toy please?' Always trying to remember that play time could also be learning manners time.

Water Please Mama!

Fast forward about a year, while at breakfast, he says 'Water, please, Mama'. I was taken back. I had totally forgotten about how we got in our habit of please and thank you. I realized, I had never been saying, 'say please before water'. I had just been doing what we had been doing. Soon after the 'please' (more like pwweeese) came the 'thank you's'. Again, just by surprise one day.

I really think this is the best way a child can learn how to socialize. He's not learning by force, he's learning by what he sees everyone else do. We still are working towards him saying please and thank you to others, since he's going through a shy phase. And we do slip up sometimes, I've caught myself doing the 'say hi', 'say bye', 'say please' etc. But it's a constant reminder for me to remember that actions speak louder than words.

How do you teach your little ones social cues by action or playing?

***

Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be live and updated by afternoon September 13 with all the carnival links.)

On being a more playful parent — Isil at Smiling like Sunshine shares how the Playful Parenting book impacted her.
Parenting a toddler through play — Alicia at I Found My Feet lists some examples of how she uses play to parent through everyday tasks and challenges.
Splashing in Puddles — Abbie at Farmer's Daughter shares how she learned to get dirty and have fun with her little boy.
Say Please — Cassie at There's a Pickle in My Life explains how they taught their son manners by "play," showing that actions speak louder than words.
No Nanny Needed — Laura at Our Messy Messy Life wishes parenting through play was her only responsibility during the day.
I'll Run Away With Gypsies — Nikalee at Spotted Pandemonium maneuvers physical and emotional obstacles while spinning playful tales, jumping through hoops, and inspiring the kids to clean the living room.
A Promise To My Daughter — Lindsey at An Unschooling Adventure writes a poem for her daughter promising to use play instead of anger when facing difficult situations.
Parenting Through Play — Not Always Easy But Always Rewarding — Amy at Peace4Parents discusses how play hasn't always come easily to her, the power of appreciative observation, and how her family learns together through play.
Imagination Plays a Role in Our Parenting — Tree at Mom Grooves shares how parents can use play to set the foundation for communication and understanding.
A Box of Crayons — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction talks about how a simple box of crayons has become a wonderful parenting and teaching tool.
The Essential Art of Play — Ana at Pandamoly shares some of her favorite lessons available for young ones through play.
The Art of Distraction — Amanda at Let's Take the Metro shares a list of distracting alternatives to harsh punishments in tough parenting situations.
Grace and Courtesy Games at Home or School — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now has ideas for grace and courtesy games that help you encourage courteous behavior without reprimanding your child.
I am woman, hear me roar! — Mrs Green from Little Green Blog shares how one simple sound can diffuse an argument in an instant.
Getting Cooperation Through Play — Amyables at Toddler In Tow talks about respecting the worldview of a preschooler by using play to encourage connection and cooperation.
Playful Parenting = Extra Energy?? — Momma Jorje didn't think she had the energy for playful parenting. See what she was surprised to learn…
Dance Party Parenting — Laura from A Pug in the Kitchen learned how to be the parent her children need through play.
Wrestling Saved My Life — Wrestling is as vital to her son's well-being as babywearing once was, finds Hannah at Wild Parenting.
Parenting through play — By playing with her children, Tara from MUMmedia is given amazing opportunites to teach, train and equip her children for life.
Parenting Through Play Starts in Infancy — In a guest post at Natural Parents Network, Issa from LoveLiveGrow shares that though she only has a 3-month-old, playful parenting has already started.
Play Before Sleep — Adrienne at Mommying My Way writes about how playing and singing with her son before he falls asleep helps calm her frustrations that tend to arise at night.
Playful Parenting — Or 5 Lessons My Son Has Taught Me About Parenting Through Play — Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama has learned to be a better parent by following her toddler's lead in play.
Hurry up! Hurry up! I mean it! Quack, quack, quack! — Kellie at Our Mindful Life leads a trail of ducklings
On the Road: Learning to Play — Seonaid at The Practical Dilettante discovers her inner adult through a summer of playing with her children.
Preventing Tantrums Through Play — Gaby at Tmuffin explains how she keeps her household happy by not taking things too seriously.
Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting Through Play — Lily, aka Witch Mom, redirects unwanted behavior in a toddler using games and play.
Exaggerating for effect — Lauren at Hobo Mama has learned how to ham it up.
Handling Big Emotions with Role Playing — Zoie at TouchstoneZ plays at tempering her parental frustrations while helping her children handle some big emotions
How To Herd Toddlers by Talking Pictorially — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama demonstrates how talking in pictures is a playful way to engage your young child in transitioning from one activity to the next.
Getting a Toddler to Go Where You Want…Playfully — Sylvia at MaMammalia describes how a game of hide-and-seek can be used to steer a wandering toddler in the direction of her choosing.
Playful Parenting: Chores That Do Themselves — Remember chores when you were a kid? If chores were this fun for Chante at My Natural Motherhood Journey, she wouldn't have needed any reminders!
Clown School Express: Playing away Fears — MudpieMama describes how she helped her boys confront their fears about starting kindergarten by playing with trains.
Practicing Playful Parenting — Terri at Child of the Nature Isle realizes that playfulness is the best way through the day and seeks more ways to practice it.
Today, Tomorrow and Every Day — Starr at Taking Time addresses her children in a letter sharing with them how improtant it is that they spend their childhood playing.
Learning Through Immersion — Luschka at Diary of a First Child shares how she helps her daughter develop naturally without focusing on teaching, but rather by immersing her in their family's way of life and making her an active part of her environment.
Play Here Now — Jessica at Instead of Institutions learns and relearns and tries to remember the value of play.
Play: A Wonderful Parenting Tool — Mamapoekie from Authentic Parenting offers a list of examples on how to use play in real-life parenting situations.
Playful Parenting — a Book Review — Erica at ChildOrganics shares simple yet sage advice from Dr. Cohen on how play can change your child's life.
Mock Threats: Turning Real Frustration into Playful Parenting — Threatening is not an effective discipline strategy, but Dionna at Code Name: Mama explains how parents can turn their frustration into playful moments by making "mock threats."
I'm Sick of Yelling — I Want to Play — Alicia at McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts realizes she needs to change the way she's parenting and is forming a new plan.
Sing-along, Brush-along Songs — Shana at Tales of Minor Interest shares a few songs to make brushing her three-year-old's teeth more fun.
Monster Voice — Ever have those frustrating moments with your kid(s) when you just want to scream? Amy at Anktangle shares a silly strategy for getting through those difficult times.

Still Primal

2011-09-11T22:20:00.000-07:00

My husband and I started eating more Primal after Taryn was born. We've kept it up for the last 3 months. We hardly have had any 'cheats'. A couple beers here and there, a bottle of spaghetti sauce (for primal meatballs) with soy bean oil, and a little bit of cake at my cousins wedding (only I had it, so technically my husband and son didn't cheat then ;).

But we're up for another challenge. The big 30 day challenge starts on Monday on Marks Daily Apple. Another chance to embrace the primal lifestyle. We've pretty much got the diet part down, so we're going to have to see what we can improve on in the other aspects of our lives to be more primal.

A few goals I have thought of...

-Make sure the room is dark when we sleep. As well as trying to turn down/off lights at night.

- More moderate exercise. We could use a better routine. I don't want to push myself too much yet. I'm just focused on nursing right now. But I could do better at walks or some light weights.

-My husband wants to lower his blood pressure a bit.

- Less stress. I lowered my stress last week by not trying too hard to change our schedule.

I'm sure we'll think of more this month too.

I can't believe how much being primal has really improved our lifestyle. We eat better. We have more energy. We budget better because we want to have money for the best foods. My son eats well, very well. He doesn't want sugar or other nasty kids snacks. He's ripped. And (knock on wood) haven't gotten sick in a while.

So here's to another primal challenge!

Cheers!

Another Attempt at a Schedule

2011-09-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

My son is currently on a go to bed at 11 and wake up around 9-10 kinda guy. Then he takes a 2-3 hour nap. That is his usual, and its almost always predictable.

Somehow in the last month I got the idea that it would be nicer to go to bed earlier. Looking back now, I can say, what was I thinking.

Ive been trying to push for an earlier bedtime at like 10 then waking up at around 8-9 then nap at around 1. It has been a terrible last two weeks. Luke has been moody, not very easy going, and kind of unhappy. I have also been moody and, well, rigid. On top of that we were trying to be a little more organized. Like, making dinner on time when my husband comes home. Like, making sure the house is picked up. Being scheduled, you know, like 'normal' families.

We are not a normal family.

I gave up this last week. It wasn't worth my son hating to nurse on the bed, always arguing with me saying nursing on the couch because he didn't want to go to bed. He's NEVER not wanted to go to bed, he never fights going to bed, ever, until now. It wasn't worth the moodyness on all party's just for a cleaner house. It meant less time with my son, because now my time also divided with Taryn too.

This last week was amazing. Happy kids, happy Mama, very happy Daddy (came home to a happy house), but maybe not so much a cleaner house, and a little less sleep. Ben and I have decided that a little extra sleep isn't worth it. Our kids will be going to bed themselves in just a matter of a few years, why change a good thing?

Another thing is that he sleeps WAY better and WAY longer when he isn't messed with. When he goes to bed on his normal routine, he sleeps 12-14 hours almost every day. He's so agreeable, so easy going, so fun.

I am happy. I'm not listening to anyone else because this works for us. We're just not the schedule type.

Two Paleo Tales Told at a Farm

2011-09-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today I went to our local farm to get some eggs, which I do every weekend. We also buy our meat there. The meat is fantastic and it is grass fed and pastured beef, chicken, pigs and goat. I usually drop by, pick up the eggs, say hi and off I go.

We got a half a pig there a while back, and I was going to ask him today if he usually gives the fat with all the meat and I also wanted to get some liver there to eat. I have been wanting to render some lard to cook with and I noticed that we didn't get any with our half pig. But he said he often times doesn't put it in because people usually just throw it away. So he gave me some, the package that was missing. The other guy told me that their family also uses the fat to render and we talked about how he does it. All of us got to talking and I found out that they both eat paleo too! Each with a separate story.

The farmer was a corporate worker down in San Francisco. He was starting to have a few health issues that he had been noticing. So his wife and him decided one weekend to purge all of the stuff in their pantry, everything processed, all grains, all conventional dairy. The next Saturday they went to their local farmers market. They bought grass fed pastured meat, fresh farm veggies, and all raw dairy. They ate that way all weekend. On Monday when he was walking to work he was thinking about how good he felt. And it had only been the switch over the weekend. He talked with his wife and said we have to start growing and raising our own food. So here they are 8 years later, farming. He said he feels healthier than ever.

The other guy was a husband and a dad of two children, 9 and 7. They had been eating paleo for 2 years. He said when they switched they did the same thing. They purged all the food in their pantry and went paleo. He said his son was dyslexic and having trouble reading. He was also having emotional problems. They had been taking his son to see a psychologist. He said his daughter would always come in their room at 6:30-7 in the morning and instead of 'good morning' she would say 'I'm hungry'. If they didn't feed her with in a half an hour, the whole day was ruined. She would be moody all day.

They started eating paleo. All the problems, gone. He said his son immediately started reading, feeling great, and they didn't need to take him to see a psychologist anymore. His daughter no longer came in their room in the morning, she was satisfied and could read in her room till 9 with out needing to eat. He also said how great he felt. He said he'd never go back. He told me how his kids never cheat because they know how bad it makes them feel to eat sugar or grains. He told me that it was great we were starting with our kids so young, because they won't know the difference. His kids had a few weeks when they switched that they were unhappy with the new choices.

I feel so inspired by the stories I heard today. People say paleo isn't for everyone. But I think it's worth a try. It's worth the try to feel healthy and to get rid of life time health issues.

The farmer finished with a story. He said, it's funny how when one of his animals is not feeling well, or when your pets aren't feeling well you immediately think 'I wonder what they ate'. He said it's so weird how humans don't think that way, almost all problems are caused by diet. But we just try the next fad of diets or take pills. We don't even think about how every little issue could be changed by what we put in our body.

It is so true. It was a good reminder to think about what you eat. People say, 'it's fine in moderation'. Is it?

You could be living abundantly. Or you could be eating yourself to death.

Attitude is contagious

2011-08-31T20:21:00.000-07:00

'Attitude is contagious' is one of the many quotes I've heard from my dad like a million times. He was my basketball coach in high school and he always said that because one down player could make the rest of the team down. He wanted us all to have a positive attitude so we could all be positive. It is one of those quotes that will always be burned into my brain... sort of like his 'math in real life' quote, thanks Dad.

I guess I never really thought about it too much in high school while playing basketball. I mean I knew it was important to not have a negative attitude but that's pretty much the extent of my thinking.

Today, the quote came back to haunt me. Luke has been having some pretty emotional days lately. Was it his two year molars finally coming in? Was it his late transition of having a new sister? Was it the fact that he's frustrated with the shorter nursing sessions?

I got a pretty nice awakening last night when I realized that it was my husband and my attitude. But really, especially mine. I have been ultra tired lately because of all the night time wake ups, plus trying to get Luke awake at a semi-normal hour, I've been carrying around a baby and a toddler a lot- my body aches.

I noticed I've been more short with him, unwilling to gently explain why he shouldn't do something. Just saying no, not redirecting him to something else, which I have done for the last two years. And not getting down where he is to talk to him, because holding a baby and doing deep squats isn't something I want to do every 10 minutes.

But attitude is contagious. He's been short tempered, un-agreeable, upset. When I finally was talking about it with my husband last night, over text because he was holding the baby while I was nursing Luke to sleep, I realized my attitude hasn't been the greatest. Yes, parenting is hard. Yes, having two children two and younger is hard. But this is my vocation, this is what I live for. So why have a negative attitude?

I adjusted my attitude today to a more positive outlook and the difference was night and day. I'm very thankful I haven't gone that long with a negative attitude.

So thanks Dad, you're quotes have come in handy. Maybe someday I'll write a post about 'Math in real life' ;)

EC beginnings and EC endings

2011-08-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back to the beginning of EC with our new little one. Its fun. It's different this time since I didn't start EC with Luke until 3 months. Taryn, we got to start right away. We haven't been as diligent with her as we were with Luke, you know because my hands are always full. But I do change her every time she wets. I think that is probably one of the best things I could do for her because she absolutely hates a wet diaper. Some days, when I'm really in tune, I can catch a lot of pees. And we almost always catch poos. She hates it even more to poop in her diaper, so it's like she's waiting to poop until we hold her over the potty. I think she actually knows to wait, or to squirm enough that we'll take her.
I'm really happy with how things are going. I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough time to do EC with her because of having Luke too.

We are also ending our other side of the pottying journey. Luke is almost finished with potty learning. He almost never has accidents any more. It was just a month ago I was telling my EC buddy Lisa about how I think it's going to be a while before he could actually tell me before he pees. Well, he tells us now by saying 'I have to pee really bad!'. lol. I decided that I was going to put the potty in the living room, after having it in the bathroom all these months, so he could learn faster how to take himself. Starting out, the bathroom is quite far to go once a 2 year old realizes they have to go. It has worked out great. He will either let himself outside in the grass, or more often then not just go walk over to the potty.

He also always pees standing up. He has really good aim. I always wanted him to learn to stand so my husband has been great at showing him what to do.

One thing we have to work on is pulling down the pants. He can't pull them on or off. But he's really good at saying he has to go and that he needs help with his pants. So he'll come over and ask for help so he can go pee.

When we're out, he's good about holding it. It's almost like the very few mistakes happen more at home. So that has been really nice.

I can't believe he's almost done. I can't believe how I haven't had to bribe, trick or reward him into going potty. I am very glad that he chose to do it himself. I do encourage him and get excited with him when he made it to the potty. But he's done it himself, and I'm really proud.

I love EC. I can't even say enough good things about it.

3 months!

2011-08-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Dear little sweet Taryn bug,

You are three months old and you are just cuter than ever. Your smile just lights up the room with your little tongue sticking through your teeth. You are always so happy.

I'm surprised how much your personality reminds me of your daddy's. You are so easy going, so laid back, and so go-with-the-flow. The only thing that you've fussed over lately is your teething. You will stick anything you can into your mouth. You even try to bite our noses with your gummy bite.

We got you your first toy. We couldn't find Luke's old Sophie so bought you a new one. You love that you have discovered how good it feels to chew on her legs.

You sleep very well. 5 hours straight sometimes. We weren't expecting that. But you hardly sleep during the day because you don't want to miss anything your brother is doing. Which is ok by me because you will gladly take a nap when your brother does.

You've been smiling and laughing a lot, especially at anyone who coos at you. You've gotten a kick out of the dog. I can't wait to see what happens when you start to crawl after her.

The other day we caught you rolling from back to front. Your motivation was to bite the blanket on the bed. But isn't it too soon for you to be on the move? We want you to stop growing so fast!

At your 3 month check up you weighed 13lb and 8oz and 25 inches long. They said you are pretty long. Maybe you'll be a little bball player like your Mama.

Your first time down the slide

Until then, you'll just enjoy playing with your brother!

We love you sweet Taryn. You are just the sweetest thing.

Love,
Mama and Daddy

Fruit

2011-08-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

My husband told me this quote from Woody Allen (that he heard from Archbishop Sheen) one day... on a particularly bad day...

"Marriage has three rings. The engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering"

Archbishop Sheen adds that the last ring should be worn for Jesus. Who suffered for us.

We weren't having problems. We hardly ever argue. But some days with two small children there is a lot of stress. Stress over getting the dishes done, stress from lack of sleep. Now I think about this quote a lot. Not to say that our kids are the suffering. Not to say that my marriage is suffering. But that all great things have some suffering.

I may not get much sleep these days. But look at the fruits of our marriage.

Look at these two gifts from God.

Happy Anniversary (August 9th) to my dear husband Ben. Let us always rejoice in our suffering as we follow Christ in our Marriage.

3 years!

Wordless Wednesday- Playing Together Has Begun

2011-08-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

2 Months! (Monday)

2011-07-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Sweet Little Taryn,

You're still so small. You're so lovable. We can't believe it's been two whole months since your birth.

You are very observant. We're not sure if you don't like being held long in the Ergo or Moby because you have tummy bubbles or because you want to see. You love to watch your brother play and talk. If he's around you couldn't be happier.

This month you've started to smile on purpose. You've also decided to laugh in the last couple of days. Your laugh is the sweetest thing. You think it's funny when we say boo at you and lift you up and down. We are loving your squeal too.

You are such an easy baby minus the tummy troubles in the beginning. You've started sleeping well in the last week, helping your Mama and Daddy get some more rest. You don't mind the car too much. You don't mind to be put down for a bit when I have to help your brother.

Quite the talker you are. You say your coos when I am talking on the phone to Grandpa Jack. And your Grandma Cheryl said 'you might be another talker like your Mama.' lol. Maybe one day between you and Luke I won't be able to get a word in!

This past weekend you met your great grandmother. You just coo-ed away at her.

You are strong, you can already support your weight on your legs while we hold you. Your head control is pretty good too! And you drool all over the place, we almost think you are teething...

I forgot how sweet a baby smells, but your head has the sweetest baby smell.

You've already really taken to EC. You love that you don't have to pee and poo in your diaper. And it really upsets you when you do.

At night when we are trying to get you to go to sleep, after nursing, daddy takes you and listens to podcasts of priests homilies. You also like the sound of the dryer (which is a good thing, we wash a lot of diapers around here). Both of those put you right to sleep... and the warm hold of Daddy.

We love you dear Taryn. Can't wait for more!!

Love Mama and Daddy

Lettuce Wraps

2011-07-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

We've had a bunch of Lettuce from our CSA this first two weeks. Here's another fabulous thing we've done with our lettuce!

Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce- you wanna use the big leafs
1lb of ground meat. We've used ground pork and grass fed ground beef from our local farm.
2 carrots grated
1 zucchini grated
1 tomato chopped

1 Tablespoon of coconut oil or other fat to cook meat in
1 Tablespoon of Tamari
1 Tablespoon of sesame oil

pepper to taste
hot sauce for afterwards :)

Just cook up the ground meat in the coconut oil or other chosen fat. Add zucchini, carrot and tomato half way through. You could also choose any veggies to add the first time we did pepper instead of tomato. Then when it's almost cooked add tamari, pepper and sesame oil and finish cooking.

Then you take your lettuce leafs and use them as wraps for the meat! Then add your favorite hot sauce!

This week in the life

2011-07-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

I keep wanting to update about how life is with two now. But I think I'll just start writing down what we've done lately because I don't even know where to begin.

This week we pretty much did nothing Monday or Tuesday. Which is mostly what we do everyday. I'm trying to start to do more as I am feeling less postpartum-y

But Wednesday was my first La Leche League group meeting. At 9am. Yes, that's right, 9am. I had to wake up the boy who sleeps till 10 or so up at 8:30. And, lets face it, I usually sleep in too. But I'm really glad I went. I met a few like minded mothers there. I actually, for once, didn't feel weird at all saying that I'm nursing both my two year old and my baby. Most people there thought it was cool. Now that's the type of support I'm looking for.
As far as how it went with the both kids while out, it was actually pretty amazing. I can't believe Luke sat next to me and ate some snacks and played with his trains the whole time. He just was very content and happy AND he didn't ask to go home. Usually he asks to go home. Taryn nursed happily to sleep and slept the whole time. Boy was I lucky there.

Thursday we were supposed to go to a baby wearing meeting at 10 but I was just too tired to go, so we stayed home. That's a goal lately. I am not going to push activities, it doesn't make any sense to stress out over something I don't have to go to.

Today I met a new friend, I had met at the library, at the park. She's pretty like-minded in that we have similar parenting styles. I enjoyed hanging out with her. Her son just turned 1.
When we got to the park there was a little 3 year old girl there that was very chatty. She was very interested in Luke. But Luke was shy from here but I could tell he was interested because later when she left, he asked where she went.
Taryn slept the whole time in the Ergo. Despite how she isn't a huge baby wearer like Luke was, she's getting more used to it. I think once she has more neck control she's really gonna like looking around.

Anyway, that's it for now. Here's some pics of my sweeties.

Lots of Lettuce Salad

2011-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

We have an abundance of lettuce around here since we've started our CSA.

We have two shares so that means we've received 8, yes 8, HEADS of lettuce. The first week we had lettuce wraps a couple times and LOTS of salad. This week we got a recipe from the farmers. I modified it a little. It was wilted lettuce salad. I used yams instead of potatoes. But, before that recipe I didn't know you could wilt lettuce. So today I tried something out. This is my recipe called extra lettuce veggie salad.

2 Tablespoons of coconut oil
1/2-1 head of lettuce chopped up

1 large zucchini chopped up

1/2 head of cabbage chopped up

1 sweet onion diced

1 teaspoon (or so) of Paprika
1 teaspoon (or so) of garlic powder
salt
pepper
a few swirls of balsamic vinegar

heat pan on medium heat add coconut oil, zucchini, onion, and cabbage. Then add spices while stirring. After veggies have gotten soft add lettuce to wilt. Once it's almost wilted add balsamic vinegar. And that's it! It's so yummy!

Primal Challenge

2011-07-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have mostly been eating primal/paleo through out the last of my pregnancy until now but I really wanted to stop cheating. I wanted to really stop eating sugar because it's toxic, read here and also grains because of the way they hinder digestion and cause loads of other problems, read here. But even more than that, I feel so good eating a clean diet. So Ben and I decided that once I felt like it, we would do a '30 day primal challenge'.
For us, it means...

no cheating - no grains, no sugar, nothing but good old paleo foods.
getting better at preparing food in advanced to eliminate the need to eat out.
adapting more of the primal lifestyle, more below.

We started a month after Taryn was born, June 25. It's been about two weeks and boy do I feel great. I have WAY more energy than I did post-partum with Luke!

But more than just the eating, I wanted to adapt more primal things into my life. The ten primal blueprint laws from The Primal Blueprint are...

1. Eat lots of animals and plants.

We are really working on this 30 days because I don't want to push myself too hard with the working out thing because I don't want to hurt my milk supply.

2. Move around at a slow pace.

We are trying to go on nightly walks. Even if not too far, just getting out and taking a few loops around the neighborhood. I also am trying to walk around a lot outside with Luke when we play.
Some nights this hasn't been easy for us. It seems like by the time dinner and dishes are done we don't have time. So making time and maximizing our time needs to be improved on.

3. Lift heavy things.

Haven't really started this yet. Besides the two kids I tote around.

4. Run really fast every once and a while.

Started my first primal work out last week. I haven't tried sprinting yet.

5. Get lots of sleep.

Trying hard at this one too. It's a little more difficult with a baby. But I'm really trying to make sure I take full advantage of nap time, and I started doing this when I was pregnant so it's pretty easy.

6. Play.

You would think this one is easy since I have kids. But I have noticed that myself and a lot of other parents just watch their kids play. Instead I am making an effort to actually play. Do you sit on the mom bench at the park? Why? Maybe it's time we all get out and go climb the monkey bars.

7. Get some sunlight every day.

This one is easy in the summer. But, I also have been trying to take my vitamin D every day.

8. Avoid Trama.

Lower stress. I have my moments but I'm really trying not to let stupid things bother me.

9. Avoid posionous things.

Grains. Sugar. Also, trying to eliminate things that don't help my religious life or my kids. I have always tried to do that. An example is that I don't watch Bachelorette on the TV anymore. I don't think it's appropriate for Luke to see so I wait until nap time or when my husband is home and watch on the computer.

10. Use your mind.

I have been trying to learn new things and explore new ideas. Also am trying to brainstorm ways to decorate our playroom when I get the opportunities - creative energy.

I hope I can keep improving on things. I am enjoying challenging myself, especially eating. I feel so healthy.

Nursing Two

2011-07-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, two years ago I wouldn't have even imagined nursing Luke until two. But after reading a lot about breastfeeding and seeing that the World Health Organization recommends two years or beyond I decided that I would nurse Luke until he naturally weaned or at least two. Then I got pregnant when Luke was 15 months old. I knew my milk would probably go down during pregnancy and that there was a chance he would wean (though I always kinda thought he wouldn't, and he didn't). When Taryn was born, while sometimes it'd be nice to only have one nursling, I decided to continue nursing Luke to make the transition easier. And boy has it ever! I always envisioned jealousy, crying, and really bad days. I've only witnessed Luke hugging, kissing and cuddling with his sister. Never once has he said I don't want a sister, or that he wanted her to go back, like I've heard from other families.
It's not all roses like I made it sound, though. Luke has gone back to nursing more. Taryn wasn't back to her birth weight as fast as they expected. My midwife told me that to support both, I need to be consuming 1000 extra calories per day, instead of 500. Once I started eating more, way more, I knew it wasn't a problem anymore. But boy is it hard to eat that much extra sometimes.
Now I'm starting to not enjoy nursing Luke when he just is goofing around at the breast, sort of like when I was pregnant. Sometimes he nurses because he's bored and that is hard because I hurts to have him just barely nurse.
And some nights, there are just too many wake ups. And I'm starting not to like nursing them both at the same time, though it's awful cute when they hold hands while nursing. And it's really nice to just nurse both of them to sleep and get a nap during the day. And I love at night when I get to cuddle next to Luke and nurse him to sleep, it's really good close time together.
There's really so much that I love about it, but so much that I am starting to dislike. I'm hoping that I can keep it up as long as I can because I enjoy the 'goods' more than that bads. Plus, it's been really nice having a toddler who is not jealous and who is so healthy from having mamas milk :)

A birth story

2011-06-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

May 24

I knew I would have the baby today or tomorrow. I just felt like it. I was having mucus, more than ever almost like I would be starting to loose my mucus plug.
I
Luke and went to get smoothies and we dropped one by Ben's work. He wanted us to come inside and see his work. It was a good time, he had been preparing to take time off and had been handing off projects so he wasn't too busy. We had never toured his work before. Even though I hadn't showered and didn't really feel like meeting a bunch of people I decided that we might as well. We walked his building and a bunch of other ones. I was having contractions.

That night Ben came home, we ate dinner and walked to a near by park. I wanted to walk a little to try and have the baby. I had contractions but nothing huge, nothing like labor. Then I got crazy. I wanted to go to the store at almost 10 to get some food then when we got back I cleaned the kitchen and finished laundry. I freaked out about the house being messy and my husband and son started cleaning the floors. We did that until Luke wanted to nurse down for bed. Looking back we stayed up too late. It was about midnight when we all got settled in bed.

May 25

3am- I woke up, Luke wanted to nurse. I was having noticable contractions. I knew i would be in labor by morning. But I went to the bathroom and then went back to bed to rest.

6:30- I woke up to a contraction I think. I went to the bathroom. Bloody show. This was it. Then another contraction. I woke Ben up telling him I was in labor. At first he just went back to sleep but then I woke him up a few minutes later saying the contractions were labor ones. He got up and got things ready.

I had been timing each contraction. They were about 5 minutes apart. Some of them were getting pretty uncomfortable.
We decided to call the midwife around 8:30 so she knew she would be coming to my house instead of driving to her office. I told Ben to tell her not to hurry. She asked to talk to me and I remember her asking if I could talk through contractions, I said not really. Then she asked if I felt like pushing. I said no. She was making sure she didn't need to hurry.
In between 6:30 and the time Ben called my midwife I think i got in and out of the shower twice. The heat felt really good on my back. It just helped a lot early on. I did the shower on and off for a while. The contractions were very uncomfortable at this point.

Luke woke up at about 9:30. Ben was trying to get the birthing pool ready so we distracted him with the big pool that was all the sudden in our room so that he wouldn't nurse and make contractions come harder. They worked on setting up the pool while I labored. I wanted that pool set up so bad. I watched in between each contraction Ben and Luke going in and out of the room. They had the pool blown up but the connector that connected the hose to the faucet broke. Ben said he needed to go to the hardware store.

The midwife arrived at 10ish. Ben and Luke decided to leave to go to the hardware store and burgerville to get breakfast for themselves. I was fine with that since my midwife was there. I also had Ben call his parents to come so they could help with Luke. I asked them to bring saltines and cottonelles.
Before they left she asked if I wanted to be checked just to see where I was at in labor. I decided to. 5cm! I was happy to hear that... I was expecting that I wasn't too far along since my labor was so long with Luke.

While they were gone I went from shower to bed, shower to bed and toilet. I can't remember what time it started at, but I had bad diahrrea all morning (my body clearing out to have the baby). I didn't remember having diahrrea that bad with Luke. My midwife prepared everything for the baby to come out in the dinning room so I was by myself for about half hour. I was ok with that until the last 10 minutes or so that they were gone, I really wanted Ben there.

Ben and Luke got back with the shower connector and they started filling up the birthing pool. I laid in bed until the pool got filled up. The contractions were really strong at this point. I was really looking forward to being in the pool. Luke watched a movie (Kipper) on the computer when I got into the pool. For the next three hours I sat in the pool. The contractions were all intense while in the pool. Ben applied counter pressure for all of them, except if he left the room the nurse that came with the midwife did it.
At some point I was checked again which always hurts like crazy but I wanted to know. I was 6-7. Almost there.

After that it was painful. I kept reminding myself to breathe through each one. Then just really rest in between. I got to the point where my body was producing that hormone where you get REALLY sleepy in between. I would just about fall asleep then the contraction would start again.

Then I got to the point where I thought I couldn't do it. It hurt so bad, I breathed in and out and whimpered 'no, no, no'. To the 'no, no, no' my midwife would say, you want this it's going to help your baby come. I wanted to tell her to stop staying that but I didn't have the energy lol. (it's funny thinking back on it, I love my midwife, but at the time I just hated that she thought the pain was 'good') They kept checking the baby's heart rate every now and then during the contractions but during these ones I batted the nurse's hand away because I just didn't want anyone touching me. I thought just that little extra feeling on my stomach would just put me over.

Contractions got really strong. The only reason I hung in there was because, well, I didn't have a choice, but also that I read somewhere when you can't take it anymore, you are almost there. I was struggling through them now... just trying to breath and doing my best to relax.

At this point my midwife suggested that I get out of the pool. I was thinking 'WHAT?!?'. She said I was right there and if I went into a squatting position I could probably have the baby pretty soon. So after stalling for a few more contractions I got out. Ben sat in a chair and I sat on his lap. Then when the contraction came I would stand in a squatting position leaning on one of the nurses with Ben holding me and providing counter pressure from behind. My gosh, it hurt so bad to squat like that but I could tell it was working. I tried to stick it out for a few more. I think I made it though about 10 when I told my midwife I needed to rest. She actually reached up to see where the baby was. It was incredible painful. She said there was a little small section of my cervix right in the way.
So I got on my hands and knees, then rested with my arms, head and chest on the bed with my knees on the ground. I did that for a few more contractions and my midwife wanted me to squat again. I said no. I must have said it pretty sternly because she keeps laughing about how I told her no. I stayed there. She told me that if she could just push the cervix out of the way during a contraction that I would feel the need to push. I said ok. But once the contraction came I didn't want her near me. She did it anyway. It worked! The baby was right there. I think she asked me if I wanted to squat again, to which I said no again. So I pushed there. I could feel the baby in my lower pelvis. It felt like a huge poop putting a lot of pressure there, but like 1000 times more. It felt like a bowling ball was there. I pushed again, then head came out and I could feel it. Then it went back up again. It hurt so bad to push, but it hurt so bad in between contractions I knew I had to really focus on the next one to push. The next one came, her head came out. My midwife said push again. I gutted up, pushed again and birthed my baby. At 4:32pm Taryn was born. 9lbs, 4oz. 21inches long. The relief was so great I can't even describe how it all goes away in an instant.

The baby came out, my midwife caught her and gave her right to me. It was beautiful. I felt the rush of emotions that I didn't feel when I had an epidural. Had I not been as tired I think I would have cried. It was so emotional. I held her until it was time to cut the cord. It took about five minutes for the cord to stop pulsing. Then Ben cut it. The midwife wiped the baby off and I laid in bed and held her. I waited and nursed her when she started rooting. She latched on and we nursed until she got tired and fell asleep. My husband was out of the room at this time telling his parents and Luke that the baby was born. Once the baby fell asleep Ben came back in and they weighed her and did all that stuff they do while I showered. Then I got out of my shower and got back into my bed. Once I was in bed Ben came back in, took the baby and Luke came in. I held Luke and we showed him his new little sister. He took it all in.

My midwife or a nurse brought me some almond butter, and apple, a lara bar, and something else. I polished it all off. Then my inlaws brought me a double cheese burger. I ate that very easily and was still hungry. Birthing takes a lot of energy. I can't remember what else we had.

My in laws came in and held the baby and talked to me. Have I mentioned that it was so nice to be in my own space? Well, it was.

My midwife and the nurses cleaned up everything, washed all the sheets, threw everything away, and put away the pool during my shower. My room looked cleaner than it did the night before.

Then everyone left. We were alone, just Ben, Luke, Taryn and I. We just hung out the rest of the evening and went to bed.

I loved birthing at home. It was painful, but it was worth it. I kept asking myself if I'd do it again at home. I would.

Car Seat and Baby Rash

2011-06-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

We got convertible car seat for our new baby. The Britax advocate. It says 5lb-65. We didn't really like to leave Luke in the car seat once we heard that it could be bad for them to sit in it for long periods of time. So we would always take him out then sling him at stores. Oh, and the fact he hated the car seat.

This time I wondered if they only made infant seats just purely for the fact that they are easily removable? And that you could carry them from the car to the house in the seat? I can see the advantage of that, especially with two kids, especially if the baby is sleeping. But, since we rarely left Luke in that seat, we decided we wouldn't do it with our new baby.

We bought the big car seat that can be used in the early days, and then converted into a front facing seat, that stays in the car. The one disadvantage is that the seat is so bulky, I can't reach around to hand her anything while I'm driving (at a stop light of course). So I questioned the decision. So much so that my husband and I went to target last night and bought an infant seat, thinking it would magically be better. We put it into the car, same thing, we couldn't reach around it too, it's just too far back there. I couldn't tell it was any different as far as me being able to reach. After all that, my husband taking the old seat out and putting it into the trunk, opening the new one and putting that into the car, we took it out and took it back inside and got our money back. Should have just gone with my original idea. Plus, those nice (expensive) convertible seats are lot better quality than the infant ones.

-----

I noticed Taryn barely had any baby acne. Luke had quite a bit more.

I figured it out. My midwife gave us those papers after the baby was born on care for mother and baby. I noticed that those papers mentioned a lot more natural remedies than the ones we were given with Luke. One that really stuck out was that we shouldn't use any commercial wipes for our newborn. We should only be using water with cloth. We were planning on doing that anyway (maybe adding some almond oil) but only because we got cloth wipes to go along with our cloth diapers that we're going to have to wash anyway. I read on, it said don't use commercial soap or lotion or oil. So we've really only used a wet cloth when we need to wipe something off of her. We haven't even given her a bath *GASP*. And I never even planned to after we stopped using any harsh soaps or shampoo on Luke too. In fact we really only use soap on Luke's hands. I sometimes put some natural soap on him, but very rarely.
I wondered today, was it the soaps, lotions and oils causing babies to get a lot of baby acne? I looked it up and even baby center said that it could cause more rashes.
Then I thought about what they gave us for Luke in the hospital. They used Johnson and Johnson on him when he was a day old. Then they gave us the bottle. Then someone else bought us that soap too. So we used it. We had no idea. Luke's wasn't that bad either... we didn't bath him that regularly as a baby either.
Isn't that wrong? Everyone recommends not using soap, lotion or oil. Then why does the hospital use it? Why does everyone give it? Ugg, advertising...

Wordless Wednesday- Watch my garden grow

2011-06-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Between my husband (before baby), his dad (during the time I was in labor and they were here watching Luke), and my dad (doing most of it while he was here helping me postpartum) my garden was planted

Raspberries and Blueberries. We took the two middle ones out because the dog ruined them and we're trying to revive them in the garden.

Berries from my old house. There's going to be a lot of blueberries from these.

Waste not and a little postpartum help

2011-06-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

I've had my parents up at my house for the last week and a half when Ben went back to work to help with things. It so happened that I ended up taking care of the kids and they did everything else. They made dinner every night, even making the meals primal. They did laundry. They folded diapers. They put stuff away. They mopped floors. My dad did about 70% of my garden so now every thing is planted.

I'm getting a little off track. While my parents were here there were two things I really liked. They always made enough dinner for leftovers for lunch the next day. I hate making lunch so this was genius to me. So now, when planning meals, I am planning to buy and make enough for lunch the next day. That's one less thing to do the next day.

But there's always the leftovers, you know, that one person serving left over. Ben and I always have that one bit left over, just enough for one of us, but not enough for another meal for all of us. My step mom was saying that when she was a kid her mom would save the one serving leftovers in foil then in a freezer bag. Then when they had enough one servings for everyone they would heat them all in the oven and have a left over day. That is so smart to me. So, I started doing that over the week (with the help of my parents and husband) and we have several single serving meals. Even if we don't have left over days, we could always heat it up for lunch instead. If we can get in the habit of this we will waste so much less food.

What do you do to not waste food? Left over days? Freezer meals?

By the way, I'm working on typing my birth story so that will be coming soon. I've really had my hands full with both kids :)

Wordless Wednesday- My kids love milk :)

2011-06-15T02:23:00.000-07:00

nap time

milk coma Taryn

milk coma Luke

Baby Taryn is here

2011-06-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

Taryn was born on May 25th at 4:32pm, at home, and she weighed 9lb 4oz and was 21 inches long.


right after birth

She was born on my dad's birthday. It was pretty special since my dad and I are so close... and I almost had Luke on my dad's birthday (his is May 23rd). He was just so excited.


This is my favorite picture. The first time he asked to hold her.

Taryn looks almost identical to Luke when he was a baby. Sometimes my husband and I accidentally call her Luke especially in the middle of the night when we're tired.

I loved my birth. I'll have to write it down soon before I forget. I'm really happy I choose to deliver at home. It was a nice transition. And, I feel way better after this labor/delivery then I did with Luke. I just feel like I'm recovering quicker.

I suppose I could have blogged sooner but my husband has taken two weeks off work (tomorrow is his last day) and I just didn't want to spend much time on the actual computer. I've just been using my iphone and I really think this is the second time I've been on it. Oh, and we've had our hands full with two little ones I just haven't had much time. I just wanted to write a quick one saying that she's here and we're one big happy (sleep deprived) family of four (and six if you count the cat and dog).

2 years old!

2011-05-23T02:12:00.000-07:00

My Dear Sweet Luke,

I love you so much. I can hardly say how much I love you, me and Daddy both. We can't believe it's been two whole years since you've graced our presence. You are the best thing that's happened to our marriage, you are the most special thing to us and we love spending our time caring for you.

You have gotten so big, and it makes me tear saying that you are so much more a little boy then a baby now. You have learned so much and started talking so much more. We love to hear you talk and know what you have to say. In fact, since you've been saying more complete sentences and thoughts I've wrote down a few that have made me and Daddy laugh.

Me: You're birthday is coming soon

You: Yes!

Me: We got you a present

You: No!

Me: ok...

You: It's scary

We did give you part of your present today, Tinker Toys, at your birthday party with Grandma, Papa, Aunt Casey, Cousin Kenzie and Cousin Kruz. You happened to really like them and it wasn't so scary. It wasn't as scary as when we sung happy birthday to you. I think you were scared of all the attention. But it's ok, maybe next year.

Cousin Kenzie helping you open your present

with daddy checking out new presents

We make a lot of trips up to see Grandma and Papa or Usa, or sometimes just to go shopping or to do something fun. You love to cross the huge bridges downtown and see the boats down on the river. Once when we went to Usa's house I told you to look out the window at the boats. You said...

"Careful Boat. Careful. Here comes dolphin."

You make me laugh. When we eat you put something into your mouth, think for a moment then say 'It tastes... like...'. When you climb down from dinner off of the bar stools you say "help, self". Instead of asking, help Mama or help Daddy. I'm surprised at how much food you love now too. You eat almost anything we make and you'll try almost anything. There's a song on a youtube sesame street video where the count sings 'eight, eight, eight is great'. You sing 'steak, steak, steak is great.' And you still love bananas. Though, as summer gets closer, I think you'll make your swing to berries again.

Thai food for lunch

Everything is 'huge one' to you. If there is a big bite, you say huge one. Sometimes when you go poop in the toilet you come out and say 'huge poop'. Or when you pee, you say 'huge pee'. Or when asking for a slice of butter, when we are cooking, you almost always ask 'huge one'... saying that you want a huge slice of butter. You also say 'small one' too.

One thing that is an obsession for you right now is playing guitar. You were playing one of your Daddy's electric guitars but it was way too heavy to carry around so Daddy bought you an acoustic guitar. You guys went to the store and picked it out. There was a range of sizes but you chose the largest one. Every time you talk about your guitar you tell us that 'you bought it at the store, and you chose it'. Not a day goes by with out you playing guitar. Especially when Daddy gets home.

Daddy and you play lots of games when he gets home from work. Mostly guitar but also 'chase daddy', hide and seek, roll off bed, 'under blanket', run in circles with ballons. (Notice all of the running games that pregnant Mama can't do right now. Can't wait to run around with you again.)

Your best friend is Misu. Even though every once and a while you bang her head with one of your toys (she's a very patient dog), you still love her. In fact, when our neighbors took Misu for a walk you cried for almost 10 minutes wondering where she went. You thought she was gone. It was very sad. You also tell her that you love her while you give her a big hug. 'I wuv you, Misu'. It melts our hearts.

We also can't handle how you can work technology. You can open Netflix on our iPhones and watch your Kipper show. You know how to find almost every App that we've downloaded for you. And just recently you know that our phones store tons of pictures and videos we've taken of you. You love to watch all the videos of yourself and see pictures of things we've recently done to remember them. Some day between you and Daddy, you guys will probably do some crazy computer stuff.

We've enjoyed the last two years so much. I know every year we'll say the same thing. We love watching you grow, but we can't believe it's happening so fast. I'll miss these days so much when you're older but the next stages will bring more exciting stuff.

We love you so much,

Mama and Daddy

7 Quick Takes Friday...5

2011-05-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

-1-

Wednesday night was a late one for us. Luke didn't sleep till 12:30 or so. I was groggy so I'm not sure exactly what time everything took place but all I know is that I woke up right before two, twenty minutes after my husband went to bed, and saw police lights flashing through our bedroom window. The lights were coming from the back side of our house. I woke my husband up. We both looked out, at first we thought it was just someone getting pulled over. But then after a few minutes they did that quick siren beep every couple of minutes. That usually happens when they are chasing someone, on foot, to scare them into running. My husband turned on his iPhone police scanner app (yeah I don't know why he has it) and we listened to try to figure out what they were doing. It was actually pretty creepy at first because we did find out that they were trying to chase someone on foot that was less than half a mile to our house. Then we were trying to figure out clues as to what they were doing. This lasted until about 3:30 am then they finally caught the guy, laying down in someone's backyard, which we think was his girlfriend's yard. And we think that the girlfriend called the police. And then we think he was drunk driving because they talked about him hitting cars. But other than that we still don't know all the details. I was tired in the morning.... but it was kinda fun listening in on all the action with my husband.

-2-

I'm 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant now. I'm actually ok with waiting now until after the weekend so that we can celebrate Luke's 2nd birthday, Monday the 23rd. We're supposed to have a party for him Sunday if nothing happens before.

-3-

I've been enjoying listening to Mark Sisson and Dr Mercola talk about health in this 7 part series. I haven't finished it yet, but so far it's really interesting. I didn't know this before but Mark's Daily Apple is the #3 Health website on the Internet. Crazy right??

-4-

We got a kids pool for our backyard this week. It was one of the things I wanted to get before the baby came so that we'd have a few things to do in the backyard during the nice summer weather. We had a couple of 70 degree weather days here this week so we gave it a try. Luke really didn't go all the way in, mostly just his feet. And the dog enjoyed drinking the water.

Have I mentioned I love our new house?

-5-

We went to Spanish Mass last Sunday. We woke up really unusually early so we thought we'd go to 8:30 but Luke had a melt down before we went so we decided just to stay at home until 10:30 Mass because then we could calm down before going. But then Luke fell back asleep. So we were left with Spanish Mass. But I really enjoy it. There are TONS of kids Luke's age so we don't feel so out of place when Luke talks loud or make a bunch of noise. I think the 10:30 Mass we usually go to is a little more quiet. And the music is awesome... Luke really likes the guitar player and his 'back pack' (shoulder strap).

-6-

This is a new game at our house. I don't like it when my husband isn't here... just in case he actually hurts himself. And, of course, the morning after my husband and him were doing this game, while my husband was at work, Luke decided to head plant into the floor.

-7-

Luke and I had a really great week together. They'll be lots of changes when the baby comes, hopefully not too big, but I'm enjoying Mama and Luke time while I've got it :)

I love doing things like this because I can actually come up with things to talk about. Then I also get to write down and remember my week. See you next Friday!

Check out more at Conversion Diary!

Wordless Wednesday- Enjoying time together before baby comes

2011-05-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Smoothie before our trip to the science Museum

in the sandbox

there is this air thing that makes balls float up and Luke made his hair stand up

I thought for sure I'd go into labor while taking a trip to this museum, without my husband, about 40 minutes away from our house. No luck.

Loving baby sister

So fascinated by my outward belly button

For more Wordless Wednesday picture fun check out Hobo Mama!

40 Weeks!

2011-05-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

LOL, it makes me laugh to write 40 weeks at the top. Just like when I was at the store today and the girl in the check out asked when my baby was due. I said 'oh, today actually'. It was even better with Luke, people would ask and I would say, oh I was due a week ago... and so on until day 10.

Anyway, hopefully this will be my last pregnancy pic. Enjoy!

And, tonight I had my last pregnancy pedicure with Usa.

I asked Luke what color I should get before going and he said Blue. So blue it was. It's hard to see but it's actually glittery blue.

Welp, it could be any day now....

7 Quick Takes Friday...4

2011-05-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

-1-

I've been hooked on Greek God's plain yogurt again. I occasionally buy the honey flavor. But just last week I've decided that I wanted to try plain again. Oh, it's so much better than the honey. I mash half a banana in the yogurt as a sweetener. It's so good.

-2-

Even though I'm REALLY tired, I've decided I don't care if the baby comes late. I think I've just accepted that I gestate longer than 40 weeks. Maybe I won't quite go 10 days over this time...
Let's talk dates. If I go 10 days over this time, she will be born on the 26th. And I like odd numbers, so maybe we could do 9 days over for the 25th, which is my Dad's birthday, or the 27th.
Then again, my in-laws have this weird thing where almost everyone in the family has a birthday on the same number day... not the same month but on the same number. Like my husband and his sister were both born on the 11th. My nephew and Father in Law on the 14th. My son and MIL born on the 23rd. And so on and so on. So, if I had the baby on the 18th, only 2 days over due date, she would have the same number day as my husband's grandpa, her great grandpa. Then there's always the discussion on when would be the best time for my husband to talk off work. At this point, he will run into Memorial Day, so he gets a little extra bonus day off at home with us.
LOL, she'll probably come tomorrow. I had to laugh a little, we just got our car seat today. Even though I'm having a home birth, we thought it might be a good idea to have one. I guess we have it in our mind that there is still plenty of time... maybe that's why I haven't started labor yet....

-3-

My son picked this flower for me at the park...

aww

Then picked this next one to give to the dog.

Then she ate it.

-4-

We had a fire on our little BBQ the other day. I think it was a grease fire. It was awesome to come out side with smoke puffing out of the BBQ and opening the lid to find this huge fire.

-5-

We all had appointments this week at my midwife's office. There's two midwives, both are Naturopathic Doctors. So they also do appointments for adults as well as paediatrics. I LOVED having Luke go there instead of a regular doctor. They are so much better informed about natural ways to healing and preventing things than regular doctors. Like, instead of being told to have Luke take tylonol at night for his two year molars, they just mixed up some homoeopathic medicine for him. It has been working well too. It feels good to find a doctor that you can trust and rely on. I haven't felt that way before.

-6-

Luke got finger paints yesterday. This is his first happy face that he drew. I couldn't believe it. He hasn't really drawn anything specific yet... so this was a first. He really loves painting and drawing. We usually do it most days.

-7-

My dad sent me this funny email... Enjoy

The Broken Mower

When our lawn mower broke and wouldn't run, my wife kept hinting to me that

I should get it fixed. But, somehow I always had something else to take care

of first, the truck, the car, playing golf - always something more important

to me.

Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point. When I arrived home

one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily

snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for a

short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a minute, and when

I came out again I handed her a toothbrush. I said, "When you finish cutting

the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway."

The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.

Moral to this story: Marriage is a partnership in which one person is always

right, and the other is the husband.

I love doing things like this because I can actually come up with things to talk about. Then I also get to write down and remember my week. See you next Friday!

Check out more at Conversion Diary!

39 Weeks! and more

2011-05-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

One week! I think I'm going to be late. I really don't see myself going into labor in the next 6 days.
I feel ok, I feel almost exactly the same as when I was this far along with Luke. I am having some contractions but mostly when I'm exerting myself- carrying Luke a long ways, cleaning, standing a lot, etc. Really at this point in time, I don't care too much about when I'm going to go into labor...

***

Misu's birthday is today. Isn't she cute?

******

Mother's Day

I think I talked about this last year... But my mom died when I was a small kid. So, Mother's Day hasn't always been the most special or exciting holiday for me. In fact, I kinda didn't like it because it was always weird. Not that I was sad about loosing my Mom but more like it was always brought up by accident at school when we made crafts for our moms or by someone trying to be nice. It was just awkward. But now, since I'm a mother myself, it takes on a whole new meaning. Now it can be something I'm excited about.
So here's me and my son on Mother's Day. I almost forgot to take pictures so we're almost ready for bed in these pictures. Maybe next year we'll actually do it after church when we're in nice clothes.

****

My grandparents came to visit this weekend. I wasn't sure about them coming so close to my due date but then thinking about it I realized how I'm probably going to be late anyway, so it really won't make much of a difference.
It was really fun having them up. I wish they could stay longer, and come visit more often. Luke loved them. He didn't get shy when they got here, he almost immediately took to them. I told him they were "Grammy and Grandpa" which is what I call them. But Luke decided on Gammy and Papa. The Gammy because he can't say 'r' very well... and I'm not sure about Papa. Maybe because he calls his other Grandpa Papa.
My grandma gave me a glider chair that she got from a garage sale and then reupholstered. It's so nice and wide and great. It'll come in handy while nursing my new baby.

Well, that's it for now. I'll update more this week if something happens or if we do something cool....

7 Quick Takes Friday...3

2011-05-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

-1-

I had pizza tonight. I don't know why, I had been craving it for a while. We eat mostly primal but for some reason I just wanted bread. My stomach hurt today and yesterday and I always feel like some kind of bread when it hurts. Maybe to soak up acid. Though, it always makes me feel worse. Anyway, the pizza was sooo good. But, oh boy will I probably pay for it. Luke is obsessed with it so I'm glad we never have it.

-2-

I saw my midwife today. She visits me at my house most of the time, unless she's busy Friday, then I have to go up to her office which is about 40 minutes away. She was half hour early for the appointment today. She pulled up to the house right as my husband got home from work. He usually takes a work break for about a half hour before the appointment just to help me pick up everything and helps with Luke. He texted me 'Midwife is here. I am not kidding.' At the exact moment I heard the text and read it, I saw out the window that her car was here. PANIC. I just had my night gown on which is pretty revealing since it's a nursing night gown, and Luke had no pants on. We were in the middle of cooking bacon. I ran back to the bedroom to change and to get Luke ready and my husband had let her into the house and turned off the stove. I guess it's not that big of deal since she'll see me give birth. But I was totally not expecting her that early. And I'm not sure who got the time wrong, I thought I had it written down right, but I also had the time wrong on another one a few weeks ago. Oh well.

-3-

We got to talk to our priest friend yesterday. We chatted with him for half hour. I can't remember the last time we have talked to him on the phone/in person. He was really excited to hear that we are about to have another baby. He suggested to ask our priest for the Catholic Book of Blessings and to pray the blessing for a new baby and to consecrate her to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
He also asked us how our marriage was doing. I was just telling Ben that day that I couldn't imagine being married and not having kids right away. Having a child has been such a blessing to our marriage. Even though we've had some tiring nights and long days, I just don't even know what we'd do together with no kids. I suppose we would have found something...

-4-

The dog and cat both slept in the bed one afternoon for nap time this week. I couldn't believe it.

Pickle staring down Misu

Misu sleeping


Both together. It's hard to see since I had to take the picture while Luke was sleeping on my arm.

Technically they weren't both on the same bed, since we cosleep and have two beds pushed together. But that was a lot closer than its every been.

-5-

We got poop keychains as part of a gift from our friends, Luke's godparents. We exchanged our Christmas presents just a few days ago (yeah I know really late).

This is sort of an inside joke with some of my close friends... and I'm not really sure how it started... well, ok maybe I do. But anyway, my husband proudly put his on his key chain. I asked him, what are you going to do when someone asks what those are at work. Wouldn't that be embarrassing? I think so. Anyway, I have to figure out which one I'm going to use.

You can purchase your own here.

-6-

Monday I had contractions. When I was pregnant with Luke, I had Indian food the day before I went into labor. Not that I think it worked, since I was 10 days late with him, I figured i'd be worth the shot of trying again. So Tuesday evening we went to Indian food for dinner. I'm still pregnant.

Didn't hurt though, the food was good.

-7-

I'm thinking about calling my parents and in-laws at weird hours the next week just to let them think that I'm in labor... then when they answer I'll say HI! And act surprised when they ask if I'm doing ok or what I'm doing calling so late/early.

Ok, maybe I won't do it to my inlaws since they are out of town. But, maybe I should try with my dad. I'm sure he'd enjoy the scare :) ok, ok, Dad, I won't do it....

I love doing things like this because I can actually come up with things to talk about. Then I also get to write down and remember my week. See you next Friday!

Check out more at Conversion Diary!

A fun stay at home day

2011-05-05T23:50:00.000-07:00

In case you missed (but really how could you), I'm pregnant... and sometimes dont' really feel like going anywhere. So yesterday we didn't. But it was a really great day.

First we got up and I had lots of energy. I don't know why. I had been having some contractions the day before but yesterday, not so much. Luke and I had a great breakfast of primal waffles and sausage. About that time, Ben came home for lunch (yeah we get up late so sometimes they overlap). He normally comes home for lunch since he only works a mile and a half away. But the last few days he's been busy with meetings at lunch, then Luke and I had been gone at lunch one day. So it was fun to continue our family lunch time as usual.

flipping the sausage

pouring the batter on. his favorite part.

there's almost not a meal that passes where Luke doesn't eat butter

Once Ben went back to work we hung our laundry outside. It was the second official time we've been able to do that. Finally some nice days.

Then it was nap time. After nap I decided to ask Luke if he wanted a picnic. He talks about picnics sometimes because his dog show that he watches has a scene when they do a picnic. He was really excited about the picnic, he got right out of bed after the nap. We made a few things and took them outside in the front yard (instead of the backyard so the dog wouldn't bother us). We stayed out there for almost an hour eating and looking around. We saw a bluebird land on our mail box, a few different bugs, and airplanes fly by in the sky.

picnic time

can you see the bluebird?

Once we were done I asked Luke if he wanted to go to the park. It was about 4 at this point and my husband doesn't get home until 6. He was excited but once we got inside he decided he wanted to play with his blocks and toys in our 'playroom' living room. We really need a couch or something comfortable to sit in that room so I wasn't too excited at first. But, it turned out to be really fun. We played pandora toddler tunes and played with toys. I actually had a really fun time just playing. I even built this cool block thing but then Luke promptly knocked it over, pic below.

my towers

destroyed!

After Ben got home we had dinner outside to take advantage of the warm weather. Since we grilled dinner, clean up was easy! Then we took a walk with the dog to the park and stayed there until it was dusk.

Luke playing 'chase Daddy' on the way to the park.

skinned knee :( one of the first. thankfully he didn't really care about it.

still chasing Daddy and Misu

Doggy likes park too

my husband almost always climbs to the top of this thing when we go to the park. he was kinda disappointed I didn't take the picture when he was at the top. but just so you know, he can climb to the top :) lol

Sometimes I can't believe how fun it is just to relax at home and actually play. Playing more often is something I think I need to do more of. I mean I play all the time, but sometimes I don't play like a child... with blocks and toys and my imagination.

I wanted to type this day down before I forgot what a great day we had.

Wordless Wednesday- 38 weeks, 2 days

2011-05-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

I guess I have a few stretch marks, I couldn't even see them until I looked at the picture lol.... I can't see that far under my belly. I should line all the pics up from the last couple weeks to see if anything has changed.
For more Wordless Wednesday pics check out Hobo Mama!

April in Review

2011-05-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

I know this will bring relief to some (like my husband and my dad) and sadness to others (me) but it is officially not my birthday month any more. Thankfully, the fact that I'm almost 38 weeks pregnant is still enough to get some attention LOL, just kidding. I had a wonderful month. It seemed that I got to celebrate my birthday for my whole birthday weekend and then after with dinner and pedicure for double birthday dinner with Usa. Hosted Easter for my in-laws with a yuuuummy dinner. Had such fun time with them, I'm so lucky to have such good in laws. I also got a baby shower yesterday thrown by Lisa. And I found out that my Grandparents are coming to visit soon (unless I go into labor first).

A thought... I have a really good family and friends.

A sound... wash wash wash, even during birthday month the laundry machine (or me) never get a break.

A taste... Benihana's steak and shrimp, twice in one month. MMMMM. Lucky for me the sent me a birthday coupon.

An image...

Happy Easter!

A scent... cedar plank salmon my wonderful mother in law made me for my birthday.

A word... HAPPY. Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Cassie. Happy Birthday to me.

A touch... rib and hip kicks from the inside. Night time kicks from a little boy on the outside. But even though it's not exactly comfortable, boy will I miss the co-sleeping days when my kids are older.

A gift for me...Too many to count!

A post you may have missed... My neighbors walked my dog for me this month. They are too nice.

Thanks Holistic Mama for hosting this. Sometimes this is the only way I can remember what happened

Happy Easter!

7 Quick Takes Friday... 2

2011-04-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

-1-

Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday we enjoyed a beautiful Easter Triduum. I thought that it might be a little much with a 23month old and being so pregnant but it was really joyous. I especially loved the Easter Vigil mass at our new parish (we moved in December). We missed it last year because we didn't think Luke would last through the whole Mass last year. But this year we knew he could make it. It is by far the best Mass of the year. And now we are still celebrating Easter and the Risen Lord.

-2-

My in-laws came over for Easter. We had a fantastic Ham dinner that I made along with deviled eggs and fruit salad. My Mother in law made fantastic potatoes au gratin and two cakes... one a flourless chocolate cake which was out of this world, and the other was a daffodil cake her mom used to make. My sister in law brought a salad with a great avocado dressing that I'm just going to have to make soon because I'm really craving it. She also brought her two kids so the kids played the whole day and we all, obviously, enjoyed the food. I really enjoyed the company of my in-laws. It seemed that everyone had such a good time. And I'm excited because we said we'd like Easter to be at our house. I love Easter and it's a good holiday to host!

-3-

I finally checked in on facebook. I had a lot of birthday messages. But in this last week I have decided to weed out some of my friends list. I think I've almost got it to where I like it.

I feel refreshed. And I don't really even care about it too much any more, this year was different than last year. Very hard to explain.

I did miss several things though. 3 friends had babies, my cousin got engaged (though I probably would have heard that through the grapevine), and a few other things.

-4-

This week has been tiring. My son has had a bit of an ear infection. His sleeping has been way off. My poor husband hasn't gotten too much sleep and is really busy at work. And I am in those last few tiring weeks of pregnancy. I'm so looking forward to relaxing a little with my husband and son this weekend.

-5-

Usa, my best friend, finally had a day off from work and came to visit us Wednesday for dinner. She's been having to work a lot lately so we haven't really gotten to see too much of each other. Oh, and the fact that I'm really too pregnant (tired and lazy) to drive to her house which is about 40 minutes away. She's always so nice to come down here because she knows its easier for me. I just can't believe we haven't been hanging out very much lately. She used to live with us, I really miss her around all the time and I miss not living as close. I don't recommend going a long time with out seeing close friends. Oh, and my son is crazy about her.

-6-

Luke got his first water colors for Easter. His grandma knows he likes to draw. Anyway, he can't get enough of the water colors already. He's been painting almost non-stop from the time I got them out... well non-stop in between playing guitar with his daddy. He even ran out of the paint. So last night I bought him some more water colors with more colors so he's having fun with that today. I can't believe how much he loves to color and paint. And he is really getting good control now.

-7-

I always try to pray when I first wake up. Sometimes this leads me off into trailed thoughts. Well anyway this morning I remembered I have been trying to contact this Priest friend of ours who we met while he was serving as a deacon at our Parish. After our parish he went back to Rome to study then got ordained as a priest. He went to Rome again for a year before coming back to work here again. He went to a parish in another part of our state so we haven't seen or talked to him recently.

Anyway, I looked his name up and found out where he was. I contacted the parish and he wrote me an email today. I just am so excited that we can talk to him again... he even asked us if we could catch up on the phone next week! Yay! My husband and I just had the best time getting to know him when he was a deacon, we even named Luke's middle name after him. The news of getting back in contact with him was the highlight of my day! (at least so far)

I love doing things like this because I can actually come up with things to talk about. Then I also get to write down and remember my week. See you next Friday!

Check out more at Conversion Diary!

Wordless Wednesday- Pretty pink pregnancy pedicure with my best friend, followed by a nice purple toe to match.

2011-04-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

For more Wordless Wednesday pictures visit Hobo Mama!

37 Weeks and 1 day

2011-04-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am. 37 weeks. Maybe I'll go into labor soon! (yeah, right) I don't have much else to say except that I'm big haha. I can't believe it's almost time.

Happy Easter!

Pregnancy Kindness

2011-04-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

I always like praying the Joyful mysteries of the Rosary. If you aren't Catholic and never have prayed a rosary, one of the reflections of the Joyful mysteries is when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth who conceived in her old age. There is a lot of other biblical theology behind this but I remember someone talking about how Mary went to take care of her pregnant cousin. They said that we should look to the example that Mary went to help her out and should do the same with other pregnant women we see. Because they are with child, carrying a new life, using their own body to nourish and provide for the new being inside.

I always wished that I could help a pregnant woman out in some little way. And now, being pregnant with my second child, I want to do better to help, even if it's just something small, a pregnant woman. Because it's hard. This pregnancy was more challenging than the first because now I am not only caring for myself, but my wonderful son.

My neighbors showed me a wonderful giving example of how you can help. The woman who lives next door saw me a few weeks ago walking my dog and having my son with me running all over the place. She knew that it looked hard to do both and that I must be tired pulling both of them around. So last night, she came by with her daughter and asked if they could walk our dog (who is a puppy with a lot of energy) because they were taking their three dogs for a walk too. She said that it must be hard to take our dog for a walk while being so pregnant. Yes, yes it is. After the time she saw me I told my husband that I wasn't doing that again. It was just too tiring. But, we feel bad because we want to take her for a walk every day, we just don't have the time. It was so heart-warming that our neighbors, who barely know us, would take them time to do that. Maybe I can remember to do little acts of kindness next time a friend or someone I know is pregnant.

Round Steak Stir Fry Recipe

2011-04-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

I don't normally do this, recipe posts that is. But we have a whole beef in our freezer, well we've had beef since about December. It's a small one so equivalent to half a beef. Anyway, we've gone through a lot of cuts that we know what to do with... especially the steak, ribs, etc. But I have all this round steak. I knew it wasn't exactly steak, but I wasn't sure what to do. My parents suggested using it for stir fry and my friend Holly suggested slow cooking it, shredding it and adding 'primal ketchup'. Well we tried the stir fry tonight, and then the slow cooking is for tomorrow.

1lb of round steak, Grilled then sliced
1 package of frozen organic broccoli
1/2 package of frozen organic green beans
2 teaspoons of orange zest, or about half a zested orange (I didn't measure)
2 small oranges peeled and sliced
half a purple onion sliced
2 teaspoons or so of fresh grated ginger
1 heaping teaspoon of crushed garlic
some pepper to taste
olive oil

I just poured the olive oil in the pan and when it got hot I added the onion and garlic. Once the started to get tender I poured in the frozen veggies. Then the oranges, zest, ginger, pepper and grilled steak slices. Then basically you just stir until it's all defrosted and hot. It was really good. I'm sure I'll make this again.

Oh, and I added Sriracha to mine of course :)

36 Weeks!

2011-04-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Full Term today! Now I can definitely deliver at home, my midwife said I would have to go to the hospital if I went into labor before today (lol, like that was going to happen) Look how big little Taryn is!

First Time 7 quick takes

2011-04-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

-1-

My spring time allergies have been pretty terrible lately. I have been taking local raw honey in hopes that it helps a little. I've heard that a teaspoon of local honey helps, if you start early enough. But sometimes a spoonful of honey is a little, well, sweet. So my new concoction, yogurt, frozen blueberries, sometimes almond and a big spoonful of honey. Mmm is that good, who cares if it helps my allergies!

-2-

Tomorrow, April 16th, is officially one month until my due date, May 16th. Can you believe it? One month left. Time to start nesting. I have a nice little list of things to do before the baby comes. Every once and a while I freak out a little with the amount of things we need to accomplish. Yesterday I had a small breakdown when my husband came home from work. He helped me (he did a lot of it) clean up the house, mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, and finish cleaning the kitchen. Later on in the day when I apologized for freaking out right when he got home from work, he told me that he remembered last time, with Luke, we did the same thing at about the same time. So maybe it's normal?

I also got all the baby clothes washed and ready in the 'kids room' closet. Which really isn't a kids room, since we co-sleep... and all the rest of the stuff (toys) is out in our living room. We just basically use the closet for clothes and we have a diaper table in there. But the closet looks pretty good. I put our folding shelf in there and found enough of these blue boxes to store the clothes in. Now I want to make some cloth baskets for their socks... maybe someday. Oh, and I need some more hangers- I'll put that on the to-do list.

-3-

Next week is Holy Week! I can't believe Palm Sunday is in two days. And I can't believe Lent is almost over. I gave up facebook. I am still liking not being on there. I can't pinpoint why exactly. But one of the reasons is that I feel like I have stayed in closer contact with my good and close friends. My close friends are the ones that text me every day, call me, and email me. I just feel better being personal with a few and not having so many 'acquaintances'. Though, I did miss pictures of a few old friends that had babies. I would like to see those.

As far as what I have done in the time I normally check facebook. Well, I probably could do more. But I have tried really hard to read the daily readings everyday. I have felt that it has strengthened me in my prayer life. Sometimes I lack the right things to say but after reading the daily readings I have something to reflect upon. That has really helped me. Especially in these last few tiring weeks of pregnancy. I have also learned about the Angelus prayer and prayed it a few times. As a mother I feel especially close to Mary and how she gave her life to God. Those words, 'let it be done to me according to your word'. Oh, how I love reflecting upon that. She is such a good example of what it means to love the Lord.

-4-

My old Neighbor's and their two kids came over to visit us in our new house this morning. It was so fun, I miss living in our old neighborhood. But I like our new house better. And I like that my husband is closer to his job. The drive was miserable. But I miss my two stay at home mom friends and how we used to walk up to the park with them any chance we got. I know I'll miss going to Lisa's backyard in the summer while our kids played in the kiddie pool and we sat and absorbed the vitamin D, and got to eat their fresh berries. Now we're an hour away :*(

-5-

My son watches this cartoon called Kipper. The cartoons talk in a British accent. I think he's starting to pick up on it a little. Some of the things he says sound like it. He also says 'yes' now instead of 'yeah' or 'yep' which he used to do. Sometimes it just sounds so proper. I don't know why, I guess it could be from Kipper too.

-6-

Sometimes I want to be natural but I just can't find the right thing. I've been weaning off shampoo for a while. Mostly because I ran out of my 2-in-1 kids shampoo that I know is toxic but smells oh so good. I've used Dr Bronners sometimes and then baking soda followed by apple cider vinegar. I'm not really a fan of either one, but they work ok. But now that I'm starting to get allergies, I've been trying to shower more and wash my hair on a regular basis so I'm not laying in pollen when I sleep. I haven't used real shampoo in probably almost a month now until last night. And oh man does my hair feel silky and nice. So now I'm in search of what shampoo I will buy next. I want something inexpensive and natural.... those two things hardly exist. The thing is that I can stand using baking soda and vinegar, but I don't love it. Any suggestions?

-7-

We've spent a lot of time outside the last couple of weeks. Luke and I have been outside for walks or in the yard everyday in the last two weeks. He's been digging in the dirt in our yard and he can't get enough. He always asks to go dig with his shovel everyday. Today was the first day we didn't really go outside to do anything. I feel pretty good that since I've been pretty lazy about getting out of the house, that we're able to play outside. I think he really enjoys it. We've also really been lucky to catch a little sun in between rain storms. I saw that the weather looks sunny next week. Thankgoodness. I'm getting tired of the rain here.

We are also getting ready to plant a garden in the next couple weeks, I say 'next couple of weeks' that hoping that my loving husband will do it this weekend. I know that Luke will enjoy to help us plant. And we still need to plant the raspberries and blueberries I bought. I will post pictures of these later.

This was my first "7 quick takes Friday". I love doing things like this because I can actually come up with things to talk about. Then I also get to write down and remember my week. See you next Friday!

Check out more at Conversion Diary!

Wordless Wednesday- Things around the house

2011-04-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

For more Wordless Wednesday Photos Check out Hobo Mama!

35 Weeks

2011-04-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Welp, 5 more weeks to go. I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be really hard. I'm just so tired, not wanting to do anything but relax. But, when you have a toddler, that's the last thing you really get to do. And there's always cleaning, dishes, getting baby stuff together... it never ends. I am excited to deliver though, I just know my body will feel so much better.

Birthday Weekend

2011-04-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

I had a fantastic birthday weekend. My birthday was on Sunday. I am now 28! whoo hoo. lol.

Thursday night before my birthday we went to Benihana's. This Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you. My grandma 'took' us there, she had sent me some birthday money. Luke loved it. He loved watching the cook make everything right there in front of you and how the Chef flips food around. He ate more than I have ever seen him eat. He probably had 10 shrimp.

Friday I went to my in-laws for an early birthday party. My Mother in law made fantastic cedar plank salmon. It was so good I forgot I was abstaining from meat during a Lenten Friday. Luke had tons of fun playing there since his cousins Kenzie and Kruz were there. He just has such a blast with them. We haven't seen them for a while and he was just dying to play with Kenzie.

All the cousins playing tag/hide and seek

Luke and Daddy running in my inlaws backyard.

Saturday morning I had scheduled a pre-natal massage at a place that specializes in pregnancy and women. It was wonderful. I would have one everyday if I could. We also ate at a really good breakfast place before. We actually had to wake Luke up to leave our house in time to have breakfast before the massage. But it was worth it, my avocado, bacon, cheese, salsa and sour cream omlette was SO yummy. The rest of the afternoon and evening we just relaxed. Luke's friend had a birthday party so we went to that. Then we took care of some stuff around the house.

Yummy Breakfast

Sunday, on my actual birthday we went to Mass. Then we didn't do a whole lot. That's what I had wanted. I hate being gone from home Sunday before Ben goes back to work on Monday... the house is just always a dump if we do that.
I used my home depot gift card from Grammy and Grandpa to buy some raspberries and blueberries for my yard and also some flowers and seeds. We're still in the middle of planting so I'll post pictures later. We also got most of the things on the list of things needed before delivery day for the home birth. So now, I actually feel like if I went into labor, I would have everything needed. That is a wonderful feeling. Then we came home and my husband and Luke dug some holes so I could plant my berries but we needed a few more things before we put them into the ground. Then I made taco fixings to top baked russets and yams. It was delicious. We even got to go to bed early because Luke didn't take a nap and went to bed at a more normal time.

It was a great weekend. I don't know how I feel about 28 yet... I feel like I really can't be that old yet. Oh well, at least I don't have too many gray hairs.

Change of Plans... all day

2011-04-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I had every thing ready for today.

My plan for this morning was to... get up at 8am. Make it to my chiropractic appointment at 1030, which was an hour away. And then drop the dog off before for her grooming appointment before our hour drive.

I had it all planned. My husband even made us some bacon the night before for morning. I got the bags packed, the snacks packed, everything. In the morning, I even had to wake Luke up early. He usually sleeps in until 9. Luke was even a good sport about me waking him up earlier than usual. Then it happened... after I was all ready, even on time....

My husband forgot to take my car keys out of his pocket and leave them for me. Because he was so generous in cleaning my car last night, he must have forgotten.

And he couldn't just run them home. He was in meetings all morning. So I had to cancel the chiropractic appointment. Fortunately he was able to bring the keys in time for me to be able to take the dog in. She really needed it.

But then, I got an email from the chiropractor and she had an appointment open up in the afternoon, after nap time even. My husband was able to get the dog after she was done. Luke and I got to drive up there, I had my appointment. Luke was great at my appointment, really not minding playing with toys while I was being worked on.
Then we got to go to a baby store where I got some more prefold diapers, nursing pads, and some baby leggings that were locally made (yes, they even have some pink on them). We got home just when my husband got home from work. Then we had a fantastic dinner of roasted chicken and asparagus.

It actually turned out to be a really great day. But I'm really tired, time for bed!

34 Weeks!

2011-04-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

6 more weeks to go. Though, I'm expecting 7-8 more weeks since Luke was 10 days late. Man, I'm huge. Here's a pic of the day I went into labor with Luke. I feel like I'm the same size haha.

March In Review

2011-04-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

Another month... gone. We had a few beautiful days reminding me that spring is on its way. It also was the start of the beautiful and reflective season of Lent. I had a really hard time getting into it this year, but as the days go by, I feel more and more refreshed. Spiritually that is, my pregnant body on the other hand is in a little different shape. I have been spending less time doing useless things on the web like checking my facebook account (which I gave up for Lent). Instead I have been having more personal conversations with people I'm close with. Sharing emails, text messages and phone calls. I like this better. I like my private life.

A thought... Lent has had a lot of great reflections for me. Especially reading this blog of which a friend sent me.

A sound... Bzzzz, the sound of text messages from my friend Lisa. lol

A taste... Some more cool primal dinners. Salisbury Steak and Sun Dried Tomato Chicken from the blog Everyday Paleo. And the wonderful discovery of whipping cream and maple syrup in my coffee.

An image...

He just loves wearing my glasses in the morning.

A scent... of fresh pollen through my bedroom window... aaahhhchoo... and spring time allergies.

A word... BIG. My belly is big with a 34 week baby inside.

A touch... of ashes on my forehead, starting the beginning of Lent.

A gift for me... some quiet alone time of showers at night to relax and resting time in my bed watching old re-runs of The Cosby Show on Netflix.

A post you may have missed... I basically only did Wordless Wednesdays this month lol. I guess I'm getting tired. Though, I made this post about pregnancy and Lent updates. And I really loved this post by Kate at Momopoly.

Thanks Holistic Mama for hosting this. Sometimes this is the only way I can remember what happened this month.

There's a Pickle in my life.

Pro Life Rally

We'll probably go next year. It was so empowering.

“If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people to not kill each other? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.” -Mother Teresa

Food and Me

Wordless Wednesday- crawling out of sink

Childrens Museum

Science museum

Epiphany of the Lord

To lay down your life

Resolutions

7 Months

6 months!

2 and a half

Sick and Today

Thankful

Growing Up in the Kitchen

Wordless Wednesday- singing to his sister

Just Today

Zoo take two

Wordless Wednesday- Fun with markers

Just Today

Wordless Wednesday- Brother and Sister

Accounting for Taste

First Farm Shift

4 months! (really 4 1/2)

Zoo

A week of almost sick

Baby Led Weaning

Wordless Wednesday- Luke's many nap positions

Say Please

Still Primal

Another Attempt at a Schedule

Two Paleo Tales Told at a Farm

Attitude is contagious

EC beginnings and EC endings

3 months!

Fruit

Wordless Wednesday- Playing Together Has Begun

2 Months! (Monday)

Lettuce Wraps

This week in the life

Lots of Lettuce Salad

Primal Challenge

Nursing Two

A birth story

Car Seat and Baby Rash

Wordless Wednesday- Watch my garden grow

Waste not and a little postpartum help

Wordless Wednesday- My kids love milk :)

Baby Taryn is here

2 years old!

7 Quick Takes Friday...5

Wordless Wednesday- Enjoying time together before baby comes

40 Weeks!

7 Quick Takes Friday...4

39 Weeks! and more

7 Quick Takes Friday...3

A fun stay at home day

Wordless Wednesday- 38 weeks, 2 days

April in Review

7 Quick Takes Friday... 2

Wordless Wednesday- Pretty pink pregnancy pedicure with my best friend, followed by a nice purple toe to match.

37 Weeks and 1 day

Pregnancy Kindness

Round Steak Stir Fry Recipe

36 Weeks!

First Time 7 quick takes

Wordless Wednesday- Things around the house

35 Weeks

Birthday Weekend

Change of Plans... all day

34 Weeks!

March In Review

“If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people to not kill each other? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.”
-Mother Teresa