30-day Vegan

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Jenn
When you’re not looking, you’ll spoon-feed your child all of your hang-ups about food.
– Karen Maezen Miller

When I was completing my 200 hour yoga teacher training, we were gifted participation in a 3-month whole food cooking workshop. The same woman also does a 30-day vegan workshop. I was in the midst of that last Spring when I became pregnant with S. This explained my fatigue more than the elimination of meat and dairy and I immediately jumped off the wagon in case my change in diet would affect the baby (I knew it likely would not, but you’re oh so careful when another life is in your hands, or womb). The program is now running again and a dear friend has gifted me a spot. It officially started 2 weeks ago, but I’ve just caught up on my reading. I haven’t tried any of the recipes yet. And I’ve not eliminated meat or eggs from my diet. I’m already off dairy because of S’s tummy. I didn’t feel like I was ready for a “cleanse” and I’m already pretty tired, so I really didn’t feel like I could eliminate meat and eggs while breastfeeding. Also, my first CSA pickup is this week and in addition to the fruit/veggie share, I signed up for 3 lbs of meat, yogurt, milk and bread. I’m only committed to the dairy and meat for 4 weeks, but the fruits and veggies will continue through October! As I dig into the literature that comes with the 30-day vegan, I remember how great the program is even beyond the recipes. Just looking at Heather’s photos and reading her words (quotes, book suggestions, etc) puts you in a calmer frame of mind. She just makes you want to be a better person – a better eater, a better mom, better yogi, better to yourself. In short, the program literature inspires.

In his book, Integrative Wellness Rules: A Simple Guide to Healthy Living, Dr. Jim Nicolai tells the story of John Wooden (legendary basketball player and coach), and a note written by his father that he kept tucked in his wallet for years and years.

Seven statements as a credo for his son to live by:
1. Be true to yourself.
2. Make each day your masterpiece.
3. Help others.
4. Drink deeply from good books.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray (ask) for guidance, and give thanks for your blessings every day.

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Catching up on photos

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Jenn

I’ve been trying hard to snap a lot of photos of S. I don’t want her to look back and ask why there aren’t as many photos of her! Life is so nuts. Working and taking care of two kids is just nuts, and I only work 35 hours a week! My parents are here and it still feels nuts. The difference is that I don’t feel that anxious feeling of being totally overwhelmed. Other people are hanging out at my house and the dust bunnies aren’t attacking them. They aren’t ill after looking at the state of our (single!) bathroom. They haven’t gotten salmonella from our kitchen. So we’re surviving just fine and we’re (hopefully) all enjoying life. This morning I was telling my mom how 4 out of the last 6 nights S has slept from about 9:30 – 5:30am. Two nights she got up at 3 or 4 and then ended up in bed with us. A few of those nights she went right to sleep, and the majority of the nights it takes some work to get her down for good for the night. And my mom said something really true – someday soon all those things will come together. And then I’ll have my nights and my evenings to myself a little bit more. Until someone gets sick. Or a tooth. Such is life with kids. So many ups and downs. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  Here are some photos that I’m finally pulling off my camera.

5-18-13 S BathtubS in the bath at 16 weeks old

5-19-13 S sucking fingersS finding her fingers at 16 weeks old

5-26-13 SistersAnd here are the sisters playing on the activity mat.

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4 Months

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Jenn

S is four months old! It’s going too fast! She’s slept through the night the last 3 nights in a row (9:30pm or so until 5:30am or so). Of course each night I’ve woken up at 3, 4, etc, or the big one has woken up screaming that she needs to be covered up. On R’s birthday (5/22) S rolled from her front to her back several times in a row. Her personality remains pretty relaxed. She has her share of upsets (all the way home from dinner in the car last night), but overall she’s pretty mild mannered).

5-25-13 S 4 months

Weight: 12 lbs, 3 oz (25%)
Height: 24 1/2 inches

I had a hard time with the 4 month photoshoot. She just wants to get everything in her mouth, but isn’t quite coordinated enough to do so. She still brings her mouth to the object instead of the object to her mouth, so she’s slumped over a lot. Here’s one of the outtakes.

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I just looked up M’s four month stats. Turns out S is smaller than M was at this age.

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Big Sister and Little Sister

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Jenn

M likes wearing her big sister shirts. She likes reading her big sister books. She likes her sister just fine. But most of the time she just goes on with life like her sister isn’t even there. Usually the crying doesn’t phase her, but sometimes she says things like, “S is not making good choices” and “S is not using her inside voice.”  When I set the bouncy seat near her while she’s eating so S can watch her, she usually tells me she doesn’t want S to watch her.  Overall I’d say she’s currently indifferent about a baby being part of our family now. But then, usually a couple times a week, she’ll walk over to S, kiss her on the head and say, “That’s my SEESTER.” As you can see, neither of them really loved posing for this photo.

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Grandma and Grandpa are here!

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Jenn

We are so excited to report that Grandma and Grandpa have arrived! They’ll be renting the house across the street from us for 6 months and getting lots of quality time with the girls. My mom is watching S on weekdays – what a saint. She retired on Friday and then started her new gig as nanny first thing Monday morning. I had just dropped M off at school when I got a call from home that S’s door was locked and she’d had a blow out poop. M likes to shut all the doors before we leave, so we assume she locked it by accident. Poor Grandma. Day one, hour one and she’s got poop on her and no access to diapers or clean baby clothes. I headed home to bring them the diaper bag with a change of clothes and my dad was able to get the door open. What a way to start the week! I’m off to Home Depot soon to get new doorknobs with no locks.

Here’s a photo of Grandpa’s trailer with all their stuff and a bunch of stuff from my mom’s classroom for M (and eventually S).
IMG_4374Here’s M with her new backpack from my mom’s friend.IMG_4378And here’s S getting used to sitting on Grandma’s lap.
5-12-13 S and Gma Sue

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Future Violinist?

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Jenn

R has great plans for M to play violin. Maybe we’ll even start lessons at 3? He gave her a decorative violin to play with and she absolutely loves it. She pretends to play it. We felt like she deserved something closer to the real thing, since she’d been using a cat toy (essentially a plastic stick with feathers on the end) as a bow. She calls it her “fiddle.”  She even has a new dress with a violin on it! Maybe she’ll be a fiddle player in a folk band instead of a classical violinist. Either way, he’d be so proud. But we’re all about letting her do whatever she feels like she wants to do when it comes to playing an instrument. I just hope she’s more musical than I am! photo(1)photo(2)

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My Little One

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Jenn

S is a great sleeper, but an early riser. I’ll take earlier riser over night riser any day of the week! Well, maybe you could sleep past 5am on Saturdays? We enjoyed some quiet time, just her and I, on Saturday morning.photoShe’s getting big so fast! We ended up going to the doctor about her cold/cough the day after she turned three months old and she was 11 pounds already. People who saw her Friday and then Monday said they think her face filled out just over the weekend. This girl is growing up fast.photo(1)

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Toddler Life

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Jenn

As the mom of a two (almost three) year old, I deal with a lot of crying and whining. I think it just comes with the territory. At this age they have a lot of opinions and need to control something in their small world. Someone at work sent me the link to this blog and I was absolutely dying laughing. Every single picture made me say – RIGHT?!!?
After a hard night of solo (with two kids) dinner, bath time, bedtime routine, I thought – why didn’t I think of this blog? I could totally have this blog too. So, I started out with this photo:

photoShe’s crying because I gave her sister the green pacifier instead of the pink pacifier. How this affects her – I do not know. But it’s just absolutely devastating and ruins her whole night. Such is toddler life I guess.

Note: When I floated my brilliant idea for a blog segment to my husband he did not think it was funny at all. He compared it to this blog. For the record, I think that blog is pretty hilarious too. He thinks they are both mean. So, I get only this one post. In my defense, maybe if he had been there for this epic meltdown he might have laughed about it too. If you don’t laugh you’ll cry – right?

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First Hike

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Jenn

We sat down to an early (4:45pm!) dinner on the eve of my return to work. I had all my ducks in a row and all my bags packed. And then R said, maybe we should hike up the mountain! And of course, we both knew it was crazy, but we went for it anyway. Come on, we had to prove to ourselves that we can still do spontaneous outdoorsy things even though we have two kids. We aren’t boring and predictable and stuck at home. So we did it. It’s a pretty short hike (1 hour or so) but has a great view at the top. It was S’s first hike and guess what? She slept through it. Big surprise! Love that little sleeping girl. M got out of the backpack and the top and did NOT want to get back in. Then bathtime and bedtime were both full of whining and crying, but it was worth it. Can’t wait for all the adventures we’ll go on as a family of four once these kids are a little older.

IMG_4290Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 2.51.41 PM

Oh, and did I mention it was a PJs all day kinda Sunday? Love Sundays.

 

Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 2.51.53 PM

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3 Months Old

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Jenn

S is three months old! We don’t have another doctor’s appointment until she’s four months old and (knock on wood) we’ve not been in for a sick appointment lately, so I don’t know her weight. She’s sleeping great! Since I’ve been back to work this week she’s gone to bed around 8 or 8:30pm (and sometimes crabbed a little bit until 9pm or so) and then slept until around 4:30am three mornings and until 5am one morning. Since we have to get up about 5:15am for work, this is just about perfect! It’s made our mornings pretty relaxing since we’ve got so much time. I just need to get myself to bed earlier. She’s really starting to give us lots of smiles. She’s really into watching M. I can’t believe how great this little baby is and how fast she’s growing up!

4-25-13 S 3 months

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