Blissed Out Baby

A Grim Rant on the First Trimester of My Second Pregnancy

2012-02-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

11 weeks- baby is lime-sized

I'm so thankful it's over. I'm so thankful that I kept my cool...for the most part. Or maybe I just won't tell you about the time where I wanted to strangle the well-meaning employee at Chipotle for forgetting to put my side order of guacamole, (the only food I could eat that night) into my take-out order and only discovered it after my husband arrived home with our meal. Speaking of food, did you know that in some rare, desperate cases some local restaurants will deliver food to your home even though they don't regularly deliver their food? Thank you MJ's Cafe. You saved my life a few times. (And they even brought me extra pickles God bless their souls) There were many times where I felt like a failure as a mother, spending my days with my son in front of the TV watching endless amounts of movies instead of our normal social or creative activities and feeding him more convenience foods rather than our usual healthy choices. He sometimes ate Ramen Noodles with me. I may as well have measured out one cup of salt and poured it into some boiling water with some noodles because that's exactly what those "foods" consist of. I was a poster mom of what NOT to do with your child when you stay home.

belli kisses

I was so constantly nauseous, (it's not morning sickness, it's 24 hour sickness) that I couldn't eat much and what I could eat wasn't sustaining me. Cooking, the thought of cooking, and any cooking smells in the house make my gag reflex swing into full action. I lived on Honey Nut Cheerios, grapes, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So really just loads of processed sugar and maybe some nuts and berries like a savage in the wilderness. I couldn't eat any of my normal, healthy foods that make me feel good. It was an ugly cycle of bad food, leading to extremely low energy, many couch days, lost social outlets, and sleepless nights due to hunger. There were weeks at a time where I didn't leave my house and when people did not show any understanding as to why we missed a holiday event, I was left dumbfounded at their lack of empathy.

Vegetarian minestrone for a quiet Thanksgiving at home

I wasn't surprised when extreme bouts of depression and anxiety started seeping through the cracks of my mind causing me to feel like I wasn't going to be able to handle keeping it together for my one child, and the thought of another on the way seemed like an insurmountable feat. The, "What did I do?" (completely untrue to my heart's desires) types of thoughts were there. There was lots of late night grocery store runs for my husband because being inside a grocery store with all of it's food smells made me want to hurl. He was doing double duties at home while I lay on the couch in nauseous but hungry pains popping Zofran like they were Skittles. My sweet little son at only 2 and a half years old caught on quick to the drastic change in me. "Mommy, come to the store. Please? It's not scary mommy. Come on!" GUILT. "I'm sorry baby, Mommy doesn't feel good right now. I need to rest," I would say. The few times I would leave the couch after my husband was home for the night, Aiden would automatically go get me a pillow, my blanket and my trusty pack of Saltines so they would be nearby. It was the sweetest thing, but again made me feel extremely guilty that he felt the need to help me. I should be helping him, he's the child. Once during a difficult car ride out of town my husband told me that when I got out of the car to use the restroom, Aiden looked at him sadly shaking his head saying, "Mommy is sad, Mommy is not good." That one really killed me. I always tried to hide it as best as I could, but as I always knew and even experienced myself as a child-kids know. They are like miniature, mind-x-ray machines and they always know when you are putting up a front. Hopefully he's young enough to forget the three months I was practically an absent mother. There were however a few...shall I emphasize, FEW times that family and friends were available to help which was really nice. One time a good friend offered to take Aiden on a field trip to a wildlife museum for the whole day with her, ah-em THREE other children under three years old. SHE.IS.A.SUPERMOM. and I will forever be grateful for her kindness that day. I am also very grateful to my husband who never, ever gave me a hard time for being difficult, (like I could help it, see how easily you operate when you can't eat and feel like you're about to hurl 24/7), for having the patience of a saint, and for all the extra things he did to make me as comfortable as possible. I will forever be grateful to you my love.
Like any rough patch in life, it's those closest to you who carry you through. Thank you, I am overjoyed that part is over. I'm going to go eat my three course dinner now because I am so happy I can :)

He learned to make lasagna

It's A GIRL!!!!!!!!

2012-01-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

I Couldn't Resist I Guess...

2011-12-20T18:50:00.000-08:00

Earlier today I posted this to Facebook: If you haven't received a Christmas card from the Bishop's this year it's not because we don't love you. It's because we didn't send any this year. So just look at one of our millions of Facebook pics, attach a "Merry Christmas" to it and we'll call it good ok? :)

I was serious too. With the rough past couple of months of pregnancy symptoms paired with trying to keep up with an active two and a half year old, I had a certain list of priorities for the Christmas season and sending out 50 cards was NOT part of the top 10 priorities. Things like teaching my son the story of Jesus's birth and Christmas songs, buying and making homemade gifts, baking, having Aiden create holiday crafts, and showing up at holiday parties with my hair actually washed were. Period.
But then I remembered a $20 Shutterfly promo card sitting in my desk I got a while back while shopping at Destination Maternity. And Aiden decided to nap today. So we purchased only 20 of these just for our families. Maybe we're not so bah-humbug after all. But I'm still not setting foot in a mall until after the holidays are over. :)

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Last Minute Christmas Wreaths

2011-12-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

Need a last minute way to impress the family with some yummy treats on Christmas? A project for the kids to do while you wrap presents? Or, a way to schmooze your way into some extra vacation time from your boss? Or how about a ring? Trying to get that slower than molasses boy to put a rock on your finger? Then try these, they are super duper yummy and you can create a whole batch in no time at all. My sister and I used to make these with my Grandma when we were kids. You know they're gonna be good when they come from a Grandma! :)

You'll need:

1 bag of large marshmallows
1 stick of butter
Green food coloring
3 cups of cornflakes
Red Hot cinnamon candies- found at Dollar Store
Wax paper
Cooking spray

Melt the butter and marshmallows together on the stovetop, medium heat until a thick gooey syrup forms. Add in 15 drops of green food coloring. When it looks like this,

then remove from heat and mix in the 3 cups of cornflakes until they are completely covered in this Grinch-colored oooozy goodness.

Now lay out some wax paper which has been sprayed with cooking oil spray, butter up your fingers and drop spoonfuls of the mixture on the wax paper to cool for a bit. After they have cooled, (about 4 minutes) then form into wreath shapes with your buttered baking hands. Let your munchkin try too. He'll eat most of it.

After the gooey mess slightly resembles wreath shapes, place your red hot candies on by pressing them gently into the wreaths. I've heard some people use corn syrup to get these little suckers to stick, but I never have.

Yum! Now try not to eat them all before you get to your family's house for Christmas!

Montessori At Home: Marble Transferring Activity

2011-12-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

In the past few months I have been taking ideas from various Montessori homeschooling books and websites and implementing them in our daily home activities. One of this week's activities is this simple marble transferring activity which helps develop hand eye coordination, concentration, fine motor control, and the ability to be persistent when presented with a difficult task.

I thought Aiden would have a much harder time with this at first but he caught on right away. The only frustrating part for him in the beginning was scooping the marbles up with the spoon. He used his hands a few times and then I showed him how to tilt the spoon to pick up the marbles and he got it. He was pretty proud of himself when he had finally got all the marbles into the bottle.

And for the record: I am totally anti-plastic water bottles, especially paying $1.49 for this fancy FIJI water but I didn't have any containers at home suitable for this project because we use Camelbak's in our house but I found this at Walgreen's and it was the perfect size. And by the way, that FIJI water didn't taste any different than my tap water and it didn't give me any super powers...well yet. :)

Weaned at 30 months

2011-11-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

When I began nursing my newborn son, I had no idea we would be going strong until he was 2 and a half years old. It's just not common in our society. But now after being a parent myself, I have found that most of the unconventional parenting practices as opposed to the mainstream ones have worked best for us and have made my boy one happy little guy. Like child-led weaning for example. I had come to the understanding that although it's not a choice for many, it certainly worked for us. I wanted Aiden to decide when he was done nursing the natural way and not take something away from him that he needed because mainstream society was uncomfortable with it. I've found that many mothers would have nursed their babies longer but were pressured by friends, family or even their doctors that one year old was the appropriate age to wean. Appropriate age for who? The baby? Certainly not the baby, a lot of babies still very much need and want their mommy's milk at one year old. And others don't. But the ones who do put up a big fight when Mommy decides it's time to wean. And they should because why is something that is nutritionally beneficial and natural for them to desire being suddenly taken away from them? The answer is because sadly our society has over-sexualized women's breasts and forgotten why God gave them to us in the first place. ~Psalms 22:9~ I wasn't about to base my views on breastfeeding on the views of our misguided world. Sheesh. The WHO recommends breastfeeding, "Up to two years of age and beyond."

In the few months leading up to Aiden weaning, he would only ask for my milk once every other day or so. Sometimes only every 3 days. "I want Mommy's milk" he'd say, Or, " I want Mommy's boobies!" from around two years of age until then, nursings were something that I only gave him when he asked for them, I didn't just offer all the time as part of a routine for nap or bedtime. I was getting tired of it too sometimes wondering when he was going to be done. Other times, I would look down at him suckling away, looking so much like a little boy instead of a baby and throughly cherish the short time we had left for this special mommy-son bonding. There were times when I wondered if we would still be nursing when he was three years old, my anticipated limit on nursing my child.

At the end of September when I found out I was pregnant, I had visions of us nursing through my pregnancy with my big round belli cuddling in bed like the true granola parents I take some of my ideas from. That vision was abruptly turned around as soon as my morning, (all day) sickness hit in full force. I was feeling so awful and that meant I didn't want anyone touching me, especially when it came to nursing my 2 and a half year old. A week went by with no nursings during that first week of sick time and Aiden didn't ask for it. On one good day I felt guilty so I nursed him to sleep for naptime mainly because I missed our closeness. Then another week went by and he never mentioned it. Then one night, he asked for, "Mommy's milk" before bedtime and since I happened to be feeling ok that night I happily nursed him. I looked down at his beautiful little face and remembered all the different stages in his young life through which we had nursed. I was so happy that I could comfort and nourish him in this way for as long as we did. I whispered to my husband to please go get our camera to document our last nursing session. I hope that through this photo, more women will become more comfortable with the normalcy of breastfeeding their young children. If not in doing it themselves, but at the very least becoming more comfortable with the idea that breastfeeding does not have to stop at 6 or 12 months of age. That is does not need to be covered up with a Hooter Hider and can be done discreetly anytime and anywhere. That it is quite possibly the best way we can nourish our babies and toddlers conveniently with love.

Halloween

2011-11-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

The official announcement:

Our church trunk or treat event:

And some trick or treating with friends:

Eco Chic Baby

2011-10-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

The other day I was searching around for an eco-minded baby shop in my area and stumbled across THIS little gem: Eco Chic Baby. I am always on the prowl for quality baby and kid products that are unique, eco-friendly and affordable. Why not just hit up the local Babies 'R Us you ask? I hate to break it to you if you haven't discovered this for yourself already: Babies 'R Us is more about quantity over quality. They'll carry that snazzy looking umbrella stroller that will fall apart on you 6 months later while trudging through Disneyland with a 25 lb. toddler that you now have to carry because they are tired of walking. Oh my goodness. Bet you haven't heard of too many City Mini strollers falling apart now have you? Oh and how about getting a Boba carrier for those places where strollers aren't an option like a hike by the ocean? These carriers will take baby from birth all the way through 45 lbs. or so unlike the few options at most chain baby stores which only hold babies up to 6 months. It's all about withstanding the test of time people, and that's exactly why I've found throughout my momma journey that it's really all about the off the beaten path companies like Eco Chic Baby that get me excited!

The Eco Chic Baby store is located at 318 Main Street in downtown Vacaville and also has an awesome online store for those of us who are married to our couch lately... They also have a great variety of my favorite cloth diapers such as Bum Genius, Gro Via, Blueberry and Rockin Green laundry soap- (Bet you've never tried an all natural laundry soap that comes in scents like Smashing Watermelons have you? Well get on it! It's AMAZING stuff!)

They also carry green toys, shoes, clothes, Reese Li diaper bags and bento- style lunch boxes oh my! And get this: the store actually hosts classes such as various childbirth and pregnancy courses, newborn care and breastfeeding, prenatal and post-partum yoga, cloth diapering 101, baby wearing, baby signs, tummy time, baby-food making, and a few free groups like breastfeeding support, story time, clothing exchanges, mommy and me play date. They also show documentaries such as Vaccine Nation and The Business of Being Born and then afterwards there is a certified Midwife available for Q & A time! There's also a Maternity and Baby fashion show- (sign Aiden up!)... it just keeps on getting better! I absolutely LOVE it! If there was an organic cafe inside one could almost LIVE at this store. I will definitely be venturing out to Vacaville more often now that I know this awesome store exists! Nothing but the best for my baby!

Natural Parenting Children's Books

2011-10-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

I had no idea there was even such a thing until I read an article on the Mothering website about children's books geared towards the granola-eating-baby-wearing-extended breastfeeding alternative parenting practices. I paged through some of the books online and decided they were a nifty idea! I would love my son to see how natural breastfeeding is and learn about all the different animals and how they nurse. So I purchased a copy of Mama's Milk and he loves it!
See?

The book tells a story of babies and animals nursing highlighting all the different places they can be found nursing like in a tree, underwater, in a burrow, in the grass, at the park, and so on. I particularly like the image of the woman nursing in the park without a nursing cover embracing the idea that nursing is a normal and natural thing which need not be covered up if mama so desires. Hopefully with more mama's nursing in public and through books like these, our culturally-backwards idea that babies should stop nursing at 6 months will be re-examined in the near future.

Another one of our favorites is called, Little Helpers which is all about what even the smallest little child can do in their part of being a good steward of the earth. Genesis 1:28, 9:1

"When I use a cloth grocery bag instead of paper, there are more trees for the bears to climb." It's short, sweet and has simple ideas for teaching kids to take care of the earth. The book itself is also made of 98% recycled materials and uses only eco-friendly inks!

Our last crunchy-lifestyle book, (for now!) is called, A Ride on Mother's Back: A Day of Baby Carrying Around the World. This timeless and beautifully illustrated book explores the different ways in which people from a variety of cultures carry their young ones and describes what the children see and learn as they are carried. Babies in this book are depicted as a sweet part of daily life and chores, not separate from it. There is a map of the world which shows the approximate locations of all the characters in the book and a bonus section in the back of the book providing additional details about the people and their different ways of life.

It has been nice to add a few books to our collection that embrace the parenting styles I have adopted and sharing their values with my son who may one day be a father himself.

Art

2011-08-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

"I dream my painting and then paint my dream" - Vincent Van Gogh

painting with cars- 13 months-ish

learning to use crayons at 15 months-ish

Custom Ornaments by Aiden

decorating or eating decorations with cousin Mason?

Aiden's frame painting

cousin Emma's 1st painted picture frame

decorating a grocery bag for Mommy

marble painting

"Ta-Da!"

marble painting part 2

The art-gallery laundry room

Potty-Learning Update Part 2

2011-08-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

Our 1st potty in public success story this week!

Here it is the fourth month now of our potty-learning journey and we are finally getting the hang of it. They say the earlier you start the longer it takes but I'd prefer that over having to still change nasty diapers at this point. This past week has been a completely accident-free week with no diapers used except for at nap and bedtime. It was also the first time we had a potty in public success at a local park where I took his potty chair along with us. For so long I had him about 90% trained at home but would still diaper him to go out in public using the excuse that I didn't have a cool car travel potty yet so I didn't want to bother. Then recently a friend said, "Well why don't you just take his potty from home and bring it with you in the car?" Sometimes it really takes talking over things with my friends for a simple idea to click! Why didn't I think of that? Maybe if I had he would have been fully trained a few months ago! :) The next morning I decided to try out the new idea of bringing the potty to the park. (I'm not ready to deal with nasty public restrooms and my pure baby's behind touching them yet!) I stocked the car with an extra change of clothes, underwear, wipes, a wet bag and Clorox Wipes to clean out the potty should it get used. I was prepared for the worst. (I was traumatized from about 2 weeks ago when we had an ugly park poop accident that involved smearing down his legs, poop falling out all the way walking back to the house, and a total of 45 minutes spent cleaning up my kid, the tub, the carpet, his clothes, myself...you name it, I was scrubbing it!)
So there we are playing at the park and all of a sudden he runs up to me saying, "I hafta go on the potty!" I was shocked that he remembered to tell me even while at a different environment other than at home because it's so easy to get distracted... I sprinted to the car, grabbed the potty and set him on it while some other moms looked at us smiling, thankful that those days were over for them :) After he was done I just watered a thirsty tree with the potty contents, clorox wiped it out and we were good to go!
We continue to bring the potty with us where ever we go except for friends houses, (we trust your toilets!) :)
We are on a roll now and I couldn't be happier with the process. It really has been a lot easier than I expected. Of course there have been some very messy accidents and my poor carpet has been peed on SO MUCH, (I'm hoping to put in wood floors in the near future so it's ok) but it's all part of the process and it just keeps getting easier and easier the more we keep at it.
Two children's books that have really inspired Aiden to use the potty are You Can Go to the Potty and Everyone Poops. Both are fun reads, You Can Go on the Potty is a very through introduction to using the potty and even has a great parent's guide in the front to familiarize new parents with potty training concepts. Everyone Poops is just a hilarious addition to our home library and sure to make you laugh!

sometime in June 2011

If I Watched TV...

2011-08-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

If I watched TV I would have missed out on playing the "Garbage man letter block game" with Aiden this morning.
I would have not finished the amazing novel, The Help this month and gained the new perspective and wisdom this book brought to me.
I would not have taken the time to write this blog.
I would not have the pleasure of knowing it was I who taught my son to sing the "A B C's" perfectly because it may have been Elmo who taught him.
I probably would never take the time to teach myself new songs on the piano. I'd probably just stick with the old ones because they are safe and easy.
I would spend less time outdoors at night with my family and watching my son ride his bike.
I would most likely be less social because it would be much easier to turn on the TV than to persuade my friend to run out to the store with me at 8pm for some much needed girl time.
I wouldn't have discovered all the inspirational, amazing and talented blogs that I keep up with which give me new ideas for fun art projects and outings to do with my son while we are at home together.
I would be less motivated to attend my mother's group events and church events.
I would read less to my son at night and he probably wouldn't be able to pronounce, "Constitution" as well as he can. :)
I would probably consume more salt and vinegar kettle chips, (yumo!) than I should.
Speaking of food, I would probably be heavily influenced by all the junk food ads on TV like Jack N the Box and take up eating fast food again like I didn't know any better.
Consequently, I would eat less healthier than I do.
I would cook less and get takeout more.
I would then need to loose 25lbs instead of the 15lbs I need to drop.
I might get caught up in all the petty, meaningless drama of a show and it would swallow me whole.
I'd probably not listen to music as much or get lost in it as I do sometimes.
I may end up like a robot, programmed each night to watch this show, then that one, without ever creating anything in my own life.
I would be more numb and less alive.
I'd start actually taking the Pull-Up's commercials seriously and end up with a three year old who is still in diapers! Oh wait! They're Pull-Ups! RIGHT. (My excellent potty-training karma is probably ruined for saying that out loud now but I couldn't resist!) :)
I would be teaching my son that there's nothing better to do than to watch TV.
I would spend less time talking with my husband.
If you think I'm bad at calling you on the phone now, sheesh! Imagine if I watched TV regularly! HA!
I wouldn't have time for all that Netflix has to offer :)

Puffy Paint Craft

2011-08-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

Toddlers love things with cool textures. It's a proven fact. Give them a shoebox filled with flour and they'll allow you to cook dinner for 47 minutes... maybe longer. It works with un-cooked rice, pinto beans and a couple of cups for pouring. You may be cleaning rice out of your carpet for the next 2.5 years, but hey the kids had fun so don't sweat it. :)
The other night when I wanted some un-interrupted time to create culinary bliss, I set up this easy puffy paint station alongside me in the kitchen. He LOVED it! We even ended up painting each other's faces a little...

Puffy Paint
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
food coloring

Mix everything together in a large bowl, (except food coloring). Then divide mixture into 4 small bowls and then add the food coloring. Ta Da!

It's Potty Time!

2011-07-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

"It's potty time, gotta let it go! It's potty time, you can do it I know!"
Oh Whoops! Just have Elmo's potty time song running through my head like a gazillion times a day. Aiden has watched the DVD a number of times while I shower in the morning and those songs are catchy!

Back in April when my baby boy turned two, I decided it was time to start introducing the potty to him and finally in the month of May we began full on potty learning. Why potty learning and not potty training you ask? Of all the methods I've read about the most important thing to remember is that the child is learning something completely new to them. Learning is a process which we all know and without a doubt will have many stumbling blocks along the way. Two things that really helped me were realizing that the success of this learning process was highly dependent on MY attitude about the whole ordeal. Don't get too crazy with rewarding and don't show any frustration when accidents happen. Be positive about everything and non-reactive when stumbling blocks occur.
The second idea that I adopted was the naked from the waist down method. No cloth training pants, (I wouldn't even consider Pull-Ups which are SUCH a scam), no diaper, no pants nada! Why? Toddlers are used to being diapered or clothed. They are used to peeing and pooping in SOMETHING. Take that something away completely and they become more aware of whats happening down there. The safety net is gone. LOVE this method and saw it work wonders for us.
Week one was pretty impressive. I started in the morning asking him if today he wanted to start using the potty. After receiving an enthusiastic, "Yes!" we began our journey. I placed our small froggy potty in the kitchen near his play area so that it would be close by and he could go on his own. I found that worked the best for him. He is a very independent little man who does not want to be nagged every 10 minutes, "Do you have to go to the potty?" by his mother. That morning he made it to the potty three out of the five times and the other two times had pee accidents. All three of the times he went to to potty and was successful was completely on his own! I made a huge deal of course, praised him and gave him lots of hugs! I'm not too sold on the idea of giving rewards for peeing or pooping on the potty because it's not realistic in the long run. Nobody gives me a Butterfinger when I go to the bathroom. :)
That first week was a great success! We had more successful potty trips than accidents and he even began going poop on the potty too! The first time he did it I was totally unaware too. I think I was prepping dinner and suddenly he's getting off the potty, (I didn't even see him get on) and saying, "Mommy, poo poo!" I go over to him thinking he's probably pooped all over the floor but there it is smack dab in the middle of the potty! He stands over it and says, "Poo Poo! It's like muffin! Look like muffin mommy!" I busted up laughing and agreed that it did indeed look like a muffin. And ever since that day, I haven't had the craving for those super yummy Trader Joe's bran muffins again.
May was a very good start to our potty learning journey. The diaper laundry was sparse and I was a happy momma. I love those cloth diapers but after 2 years of them I am ready for a break! (Gotta keep up the enthusiasm for a future child!) The pee accidents were starting to improve too because I'd catch him starting to pee on the carpet and I'd quickly re-direct him to the potty. He's stop peeing and hold it until we got to the potty. That was a huge milestone too in my mind.
June came and we had lots more challenges to deal with that month that slowed down the process. Relatives came to visit, our first camping trip with Aiden, hives and the stomach flu all happened that month and and all played a part of the regression stage. He was mostly diapered that month but would occasionally ask to go the potty after taking his diaper off himself. We kept it up here and there through all the challenges.
July has been a busy month as well with more traveling, social events and pretty soon our annual Tahoe vacation will be here.
Little by little he is improving on his at- home potty learning, (We haven't even attempted doing it while outside our home or bought a travel potty yet.) We are planning to bring the potty with us on our vacation and since we will be hanging out at our cabin mostly on the beach we will have plenty of opportunity to keep it up! :)

Tahoe 2011

Bikini Wrap

2011-04-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

26 year old me, summer 2006

You hungry for lunch? I am. This morning was my first time all alone in my house since before my little man was born. Crazy huh? I texted my sis for ideas on what to do with myself all morning, (as if I don't have a list full of things to do already!) She said I should make a yummy breakfast, watch a movie and relax while I can. Good idea! So I made some french toast, watched a little of Did You Hear About the Morgans? on Netflix.
That lasted about 37 minutes before I realized I had so much to do! In goes laundry load #1, out go the clean dishes in the dishwasher, weeds get pulled, a wall art project gets started, and photos get selected for printing at Walgreen's. Phew! Time for lunch. Except for it's almost bikini season, (gasp!) and I don't want the mama-gut to make an appearance so here's what my go-to, feel skinny and healthy meal will be today:

Laguna Beach Bikini Wrap :)

tortillas
Earth Butter
sliced carrots, avocado, cucumber, and spinach
mozzarella cheese
fresh squeezed lemon juice
lemon pepper
sea salt
toothpick (for holding it together)

Throw it all together, wrap like a burrito and stick it with the toothpick, and enjoy while reading a silly chick lit book on your back porch in the sun!

The Great Cloth Diaper Change in Lafayette, CA!

2011-04-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

hosted by the Nurture Center in Lafayette, CA

This morning, Aiden and I participated in an international event, the Great Cloth Diaper Change. The first goal of this event was to change perceptions about cloth diapers and raise awareness about the benefits of cloth diapers among the mainstream parenting community. The second goal was to become a part of the Guinness World Records for the most cloth diapers changed simultaneously.
At exactly 9:30am PST this morning, parents in over 400 different locations around the globe from Lafayette, CA to Hong Kong and Malaysia gathered together to change their children into clean cloth diapers in attempt to set the world record. Organizers were trying to get over 10,000 babies and parents to participate worldwide. The results are currently being calculated!
I was excited to be a part of this event not only for the goals I mentioned, but also to meet some other green parents in my local community. As a member of the estimated 5% subculture of cloth diapering parents here in the United States, it is not too often you come across parents who use cloth, let alone even know how far cloth diapers have come in the past few years. (I hadn't learned about them until right before my son was born.) It was fun to talk with other parents who use cloth, their methods of laundering the diapers and also learning of diaper services such as Tiny Tots Diaper Service who will take care of the laundry for you!
After talking with one cloth diapering mama, I was surprised to learn that more mama's in San Francisco used cloth diapers in her social circles than in her current residence in Danville. Hmmmm, being that the San Franciscans are some of the biggest trend-setters of the world, hopefully the message catches on. Being green, (in the case of cloth diapers) is better for baby's skin, the environment and your wallet.

On our way to set a world record!

9:30am PST changing cloth diapers with thousands of parents across the globe!

Happy Earth Day!

2011-04-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Since I've become this crunchy, borderline hippie mom who makes her own breast-milk string cheese and sings Kum-Ba-Ya all day to her kid, (I'm totally joking about the string cheese! That's just gross!) I guess I'd better acknowledge the ultimate day where we celebrate all things Earthly right?
Well, for starters I was very excited to find out that today if you bring any brand face-wash bottle to the Origins counter to recycle, you will get a FREE, full-sized Origins best-selling face-wash in return! That's a $20, luxury paraben-free facial spa in a bottle ladies! Go to their website for more details!
Starbucks is giving away a free tea or coffee when you bring in your reusable cup today and tomorrow Lowe's is giving away 1 million trees. Ok, now that I got my consumerist tendencies out of my system, I'll let you in on some fun, more sustainable ways you and the kids can celebrate Earth Day! :)

plant a tree
make a pine cone and peanut butter bird feeder
go on a litter pickup walk today around your neighborhood
make some trail mix
go on a hike
decorate a canvas bag to use for grocery shopping or library books
let your child play in the mud
participate in a local event Earth Day 2011
learn to compost
start using cloth napkins instead of paper towels, reusable sandwich bags, reusable shopping bags and water bottles if you haven't already!

The Songs He's Singing

2011-04-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

January 2011, driving through Angel's Camp

About a month ago, hubby and I were laying in our bed listening to the sounds of Aiden on the baby monitor singing himself to sleep, "Happy Birthday to you baby Aiden, Happy Birthday to yooooouuuu!" We had just taught him the song earlier that night in anticipation of his quickly approaching second birthday. As I lie there I was thinking about how amazing it is that my baby can sing songs now. It's something that just developed in the last few months, I haven't kept track too much of all his developmental milestones in the past year. It's the baby book's fault, I'll blame it because it only has a page to fill out every month for the first year, not the second, third, fourth and so on. So maybe I'll try and do a better job of documenting memories on here because I'm sure one day while Aiden is walking along his college campus checking out the girls he's going to wonder, "At what age did I first learn to sing? And what were my favorite songs? " Yeah, I'm sure he'll wonder that. :)
Well my sweet boy, your current favorite song happens to be "Daddy-O" by Frances England. You request it every time we get into the car and you sing along excitedly. "D-D-Y...Oh how I love you....Oh how I love you...Daddy O!" You are simply precious. You also love Elizabeth Mitchell's "Kitchen" song where you do a perfect rendition of the, "Shoo ra loos!" Another favorite of yours is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" complete with all the hand motions and you love when we sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star " before bedtime. I must also add that you LOVE singing the Bob the Builder theme song with your hardhat on and an enthusiastic "Yes we can!" at the end. Even though before I had a child I swore up and down that I would never use the TV as a babysitter from time to time and my views on childhood commercialism are completely anti-television and electronic games, I'm only human and a momma needs her peaceful showering/getting ready time in the mornings :)
I'm always feeling like there are so many things I want to teach him that it makes my head spin. I never feel like I am teaching him enough because he absorbs everything so quickly and is able to learn so much all at once. He amazes me. Lately, we have been going through a wonderful book I received as a gift from a good friend for when I was beginning to teach pre-school. It's called Round and Round the Garden and other Action Songs. It's an action song book with all the classics like, "The Wheels on the Bus", "Five Little Ducks", "I'm a Little Teapot" and many more that I hadn't even heard of until now. The book has beautiful illustrations and diagrams showing the exact hand motions that go along with each song. It's brilliant and we use it all the time! Through using actions songs for learning, you can teach so many things such as letters, numbers, new words, animal sounds, body parts, fine movements and so much more!

When you go over to our piano and request a song for Mommy to play it's always, "Jesus Loves You." I play and we sing it together. You almost have that one down pat too. When we are just hanging out at home, we listen to Pandora's Music Together station and some of you're favorites to dance to are, "Bo Diddley Beat", "If You're Happy and You Know It" and another Brazilian song, (Don't know the name) of one of the Putumayo World Music for kids albums that we love. We heart the Putumayo collection. It exposes us to many different languages, melodies, rhythms and beats from various cultures around the world. It also gives us a break from the typical kid songs and after a while you sound like you can speak 5 other languages, (even though you can't) just by singing along with the songs :)
Some of your other all-time favorite music to grove to is the Fiddle and Drum albums from mommy's Music Together collection from my pre-school teaching days. "Clap Your Hands", "Biddy Biddy" and you sure can shake that little booty of yours to "Everybody Loves Saturday Night!"
I hope I can always inspire music in our home throughout your life Aiden. I also hope that during stressful times when we may be on the brink of a meltdown, we remember to turn up the music with song and dance instead. :)

Oh Just Breathe Honey!

2011-04-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

For any man who's wondered about childbirth and how painful it really is, this video is a must see. I love how in the beginning he says, "When it comes to pain, research shows that men can withstand a whole lot more than women. " Yeah right, now that's total hogwash! We all know that when men get the mildest flu they act like they are on their deathbeds! Pluck a stray hair from their unruly unibrow and they scream like a schoolgirl.

By the end of this labor simulation experiment the good doctor has a big change of heart! He didn't even make it four hours drug-free and he was ready to end the experiment. Try 18 hours of completely un-medicated labor WITH the water broke way before the contractions even began, as in my own labor. (Intact amniotic sacs act as a cushion, protecting you from the full intensity of the pain.) Not to mention the pushing, tearing, healing and breastfeeding! This was a fascinating experiment for fathers to see just how intense labor pains can be but in my opinion provided just a glimpse for this man into the pains of actual childbirth.

Woo Hoo! You're TWO!!!

2011-04-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I gave birth to an angel child. (Ok it was actually 24 months ago but it feels like just a few months ago!) He was so tiny yet could nurse like a champ. When he looked into my eyes I knew that he was going to depend on me for everything and I fell into the most powerful love I have ever experienced in this life. He loved to be swaddled tight and held for hours. When he would fuss I would dance around the house in my pj's at 3pm singing, "I Had A Dream" from the Mama Mia sound track which was my favorite album that season. I would get so overwhelmed with emotion when I would reach the line in the song where it says, "I believe in angels, something good in everything I see..." For the first time in my life, I realized the immeasurable power of God and just how good He is. I realized that He gives us a glimpse of heaven through these angel-babies that He blesses us with. I also had never experienced such a high of elation and excitement for life, one that kept me up until the wee hours of the morning just watching my beautiful little angel sleep so peacefully. I now knew the feeling of my needs coming second to this baby and the fierce desire to do whatever it takes to be the very best mother I could be for him. Anything ~for him. Anything that seemed hard at first, I would conquer! Anything that seemed scary, I would give it a shot. Anything that challenged what I already knew, I would consider it. Anything for you my sweet baby boy.

April 3, 2009

Today you are two years old Aiden. You are such a funny little entertainer, stealing the spotlight and loving being in the center of attention. In exercising my bragging mommy-rights, I must tell everyone that you eat ALL your vegetables, can count to 10 with no help, and almost have your ABC's down pat! :)
Your most favorite toy is your red cozy coupe. You ride it around the house, your little baby legs going so fast. Sometimes you put your toy cell phone and your cup of water in the back and tell me that you are going to, "Taaa-get" (Target) When you come back from your trip around the kitchen, you take out your tools and get under the car and "fix it!" So cute!
You have SUCH a friendly and sociable little personality! Whenever we are out in public you will walk up to anyone and say, "Hi, no doing?" (As in, what are you doing?) They chuckle and tell you hi and that they are shopping. You love saying, "Bye, Bye!" too. A LOT. You will have a short conversation with someone and then cut them off saying bye bye like 13 times to let them know that you are moving on to something new.
The other day, I was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen. You kept trying to climb up on the counter, (which you know is a no no) and I took you down, set you by your toys and said, "Not now, Mommy's busy." About 5 minutes later I was done in the kitchen and I came over to see what you were doing and give you a kiss. "Can I have a kiss Aiden?" I said to you. You looked over at me and said, "Aiden busy!" I about died laughing. Two is a magical age!
Recently all three of us were browsing REI. There was a copy of Runner's World on the magazine stand with a muscular, shirtless man on the cover. You ran up to the magazine pointing at the man saying, "Boobies! Boobies!" Myself and the two store cashiers busted up laughing. One of the cashiers who appeared to be an older, wiser mama herself said, "Is he a breastfed toddler?" I replied, "Yes..." "Oh that is so good for him..." she said. Aiden you are a hoot!
You had so much fun at the SF Zoo for your birthday! You loved seeing the big Grizzly bears, the giraffe and the lion. "Rrrrrrraaaaawwwww" you said when you saw the lion.
Your most favorite parts of the zoo trip were playing at the park with your Daddy, (go figure) and riding the train with Daddy while Mommy shot some video of the event. Daddy said that when you both were waiting in line and the train pulled up for your turn, you knew it and began to cheer! "Yeaaaahhhh!!!!!! Train! Train!" you said, jumping around clapping your hands! I'll always remember the most adorable, proud smile you had on your little face when you finally got to go sit in the train while you waited for it to go. Priceless perfection.
Daddy and I love you so much buddy and look forward to many more years of watching your face light up with smiles and laughter.
Love,
Mommy

April 9, 2011 Vasona Park in Los Gatos

The Great Cloth Diaper Change

2011-03-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

As a parent who used to buy disposable diapers for the first 2 months of my son's life, I know how quickly babies can go through them and how costly they are. Not only are they expensive, but they are also extremely rough on our environment piling up in landfills all over the globe. When I first decided to explore the option of using cloth I became excited about all the benefits, (which I wrote about here) but most of all of how much money we would be saving throughout the years our children would be in diapers!
I was also happy to discover that cloth diapers have come a long way in the last 10 years! More people should know about these super-cute, money-saving and environmentally friendly diapers! Luckily a dedicated group of cloth diapering mamas read my mind and created this Guinness World Record event where these amazing diapers will be put on display in honor of Earth Day 2011! This year my son and I, (along with thousands of other parents and babies across the world) will be celebrating Earth Day 2011 with The Great Cloth Diaper Change. The goal of this event is to set the world record for the most cloth diapers changed simultaneously. What a creative way to celebrate being green and also get the word out about how easy and beneficial cloth diapers are to use! You can visit their website through the link above or their Facebook page for information on locations or offer to host a location of your own. Don't shy away either if you don't cloth diaper yet but plan to in the future. I am bringing a friend with me who is doing just that and borrowing one of our diapers so that she can participate with her toddler. Or, maybe you're pregnant and thinking of cloth diapering your baby. Come to an event near you and check out all the great diaper options! The more babies participating the better, so every cloth diapered booty counts! I'm excited to be a part of this epic event and hopefully meet some other cloth diapering mamas in my own community, other than my blogging and long-distance Facebook friends! (So far in my small circle of friends in town I am the only one but I'm sure that soon will change...)
Join us at our local event for the East Bay area on Saturday April 23 at 9am PST. We are being hosted by the lovely Nurture Center in Lafayette, CA. Due to a high number of people interested in this event, it will be taking place at Our Savior Lutheran Church at 1035 Carol Lane, Lafayette CA 94549.
My son and his baby doll are excited too! He is going with us and will be sporting a cute robot Rumparooz Doll Diaper at the event! Aiden hasn't decided which of his 40 diapers he will be wearing yet but it will be a theme-related one for sure! :)
There are 394 locations world wide and counting! Which location will you be attending? Leave your comment below! We are excited to put cloth diapers on the record books! Watch the short video below for more details and please let me know if you are interested in joining us at our local event here in the East Bay the more the merrier!

Living

2011-03-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Aiden and his cousin on a hike

The other day, a good friend called me up for a chat. She too is a SAHM of a beautiful little 10 month old girl. We got on the subject of making this SAHM-life more memorable with our children and I found myself solidifying some of my own thoughts in my mind as I helped her know the importance of a schedule in my own life and how it has helped me.

Sometimes as a SAHM, it is easy to fall into the black hole of never ending housework, cooking and errands that all are a part of everyday life. It is really easy to fall into a routine of making these not so fun tasks a bigger priority than they really need to be and forgetting that your child is not your sidekick but really the star of the show. I mean, who has earned you the title of the stay at home mommy anyway? So you want the dishes done in the morning before you head out to the park. Or just throw in one load of laundry before I make breakfast. What about my hair? Hmmmmm it would sure look nicer in here if I just made that bed or cleaned up those toys before we head out. Before you know it it's 11:30am, you are still in your pj's and you feel like you haven't even played with your child yet let alone even left the house. I used to have a lot of times like these especially in my son's early months, (0-5 mo.) If you have anal, type A tendencies like myself you know exactly what I am talking about. Or if you tend to fall under the more free-spirited type B personality traits, well then you just think I am a major nut-job. Too many times I have fallen into this trap that makes staying at home a lot less fun and productive than it can be. At times, it can even make you feel like you are so over being a SAHM and you are ready to go back to work! It can also make you wonder, how in the world has that other stay at home mommy of 5 kids made this her whole life for the past 15 years and seemed to LIKE it? If you feel this way more often than not, in my opinion it means you are missing the point of being a stay at home mommy.

creating a masterpiece!

A while back I had come to a point where I had started to feel this way despite the fact that all throughout my life, (pre-marriage) I had imagined how happy I would be when I was married and staying at home with my babies. My sweet husband even saw it. "Don't worry about having a perfect house" he'd say. "Focus more on our son, it's why you are at home after all." As with any job, this one had it's challenging times. The beauty of this job though is that YOU are the boss. YOU are in control of how your days are spent. I've learned that spending them obsessively cleaning my house, doing load after load of laundry and cooking a big meal every single night was NOT the way to go. When I focused too much on the boring stuff, I felt like my days just slipped away from me without many special memories of playing with my son. I realized that I needed to do more living and less of the robotic, everyday chores that make SAHM's return to work too quickly before they've even given this life a fair chance.

I learned that for us, in our household we needed a schedule. I learned that being the list maker that I am I needed to write it down so that I would actually stick to it. I realized that once my baby was in my mind old enough, (6 months) to get something out of playgroups, library story time, music class, baby gymnastics, ect. that we needed those too. I realized that a mommy support group would be nice too so I joined MOPS and another local mother's club in my city. Suddenly life at home got much more fun and I wasn't focusing as much on the house chores but the memories made inside that house, making connections within a mommy community, and doing activities that were purely child-centered. Once you focus on making memories with your child and truly living, your time at home together will start to become more quality time over quantity.

throwing rocks in the creek

Here is a glimpse of what "schedule" means to us. Our schedule often changes though for extreme weather or tantrums :), illness, the luxury of changing our minds, or simply "not feeling it today" :) So maybe instead of a schedule, we should call it our weekly goals. I will record it here for a few reasons, 1) To remind myself that sticking with the child-centered activities truly makes my son and I happier, 2) To remember myself what it IS that we do here all week :) and 3) As a tool to educate all my single friends on, "What exactly do you do all day Laura?" when they inquire about my life as a SAHM. :)
How do you spend your time as a SAHM? What are some activities that you enjoy doing with your children?
Leave your comment below with your email. The most creative idea will win a $5 Starbucks giftcard!

Mondays- am- baking project

park/outside

lunch/nap (house chores, dinner prep)

pm- snack/park/free play/read books

Tuesday- am- art/music/baby gymnastics

lunch/nap

pm- park playdate, free play, books or mommy gym-time

Wednesday- am- playdate/run errands

park

lunch/nap

pm- art/free play/books

Thursday- am- MOPS or Library Storytime

lunch/nap

pm- snack/park/playdate/books

Friday- am- playgroup

lunch/nap

pm- free play/park/books and or art

*Free play = mama's doing housework! :)

Aiden and his cousin decorating birthday cupcakes

Cozy Dumpling Soup

2011-03-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

Our neighborhood park across the street from our house

There's a lot you give up when moving from the city to the country, although most would argue that Brentwood California is NOT the country even though it is completely surrounded by farmland, lush green hills, and a mountain! (Ok and like 50 chains stores, restaurants, golf courses, gated residential communities galore...) There's no more Sephora, only it's frumpier, much older cousin Ulta. There's no more super swanky Nordstrom or unique boutiques, only the bright flourescent lights and obnoxious pre-teeny bopper music coming from Old Navy who carries the exact same style of cardigans that it's been selling since the store first opened in 1994. Don't worry, I still love you Old Lady oooops I mean Old Navy, sometimes I find really cute things there for a great price! :) The point is, that if you're looking for the creme de la creme of well anything besides actual trees, nature and such you will most likely find it in the city. Especially those 5 star restaurants, YUM. Or even the 4 star ones, I'll settle for one of those too. Like PF Chang's... Ohhhhh so yummy! The other night I was craving some PF Chang's but from where I am right now that would require a 40 minute drive through bay area rush hour traffic, an outfit that was NOT my VS Pink mama sweats, a flatiron to my hair and a second income. So I decided that I would stay in our beautiful house wearing my comfy sweats while cooing at my adorable blonde child and create this magical dumpling soup while stopping occasionally to admire the stunning view of Mt. Diablo from my kitchen window while the scent of fresh cut grass wafted into my house. Suburbia at it's best!

Cozy Dumpling Soup
adapted to enhance the yumminess from the December 2010 issue of The Food Network Magazine

4-6 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup of thick sliced ham or pork diced or sliced (I didn't have ham so I slow-cooked some pork in beef broth, lots of ginger and soy sauce)
2 tablespoons dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Fresh, grated ginger to taste
Sliced ginger if you REALLY love it like myself
4 3-inch strips orange zest
Kosher salt, (or sea salt because I'm not Jewish) and freshly ground pepper
2 scallions sliced, white and green parts separated
2 medium carrots thinly sliced
2-3 collard greens leaves thinly sliced
24 frozen Trader Joe's chicken or vegetable dumplings or pot stickers

1. Combine the broth, ham, sherry, soy sauce, ginger, orange zest, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste in a large pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the scallion whites and carrots. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered until carrots are crisp-tender about 4 minutes.
2. Add the collard greens, dumplings and scallion greens. Cover and cook until dumplings are soft and heated through, 4-5 minutes. Divide the dumplings and soup among bowls and feast away!

My husband always requests rice with any asian dish but he's not the one trying to work off his mama-gut I always say! But, if you have self-control, (which I do not when it comes to food) and a husband who thinks he's half-Asian, by all means make the rice. But use brown because we all know that, "The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead!" -Michael Pollan author of Food Rules and a designated repository for the nation's food conscience.

Nighttime Cloth Diapering for Toddlers

2011-03-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

Somewhere around my son's 16 month birthday, our cloth diapers began leaking at night. At this point I was only using a regular insert paired with a newborn insert in my pocket diapers and I knew this method wasn't going to last forever.
My first solution was to take a hemp pre-fold such as the Econobum prefold that I once received as my free promotional diaper from Kelly's Closet (click on the icon on my right sidebar!) and fold it in thirds paired with a one-size microterry insert then stuff it into one of my pocket diapers such as my Bum Genius 4.0 or my Happy Heiny One Size Diaper. This worked beautifully and kept my son dry all 12 hours of his nighttime slumber. The only problem was that I only owned one pre fold diaper, (because this isn't 1952 people, we use pocket diapers now) so I either needed to buy a few more just for nighttime use or shop for something similar that would do the job.
I found some Knickernappies Super Do Pre Washed Inserts and they looked like just what I needed to solve the problem. They had 6 layers of hemp terry combined with 2 layers of microfiber. They were all once piece and appeared less bulky than the pre fold I had been using. I ordered 3 to start with. The large size fit perfect into all of my one-size pocket diapers, Bum Genius, Smartipants, Happy Heiny, Fuzzi Bunz and Kissaluvs. They were a lot less bulky than double stuffing the diapers and one insert lasted 11+ hours through the night for my toddler. SCORE!!!

Knickernappies Super Do inserts will fit any of these diapers!

I am still using them today as my 23 month old son nears his two year old birthday. He is dry and happy all through the night as long as you sing him, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" first and his three favorite friends are smooshed around his head :)

Things I'll Miss When He Grows Up...

2011-02-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

cutest diapers in the world!

handpainted by Aiden himself

baby mohawk!

the art wall

TP mountains

tiny hands decorating

Whoops!

toothbrushes that look at you :)

smiley faces and fun hiding places!

Stir-Crazy Red Velvet Cupcakes

2011-02-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

It is naptime. Aaaaahhhhh the most blissful time of the day. The time where I get to enjoy all my favorite indulgences like curling up with a good novel, some Hagen Daaz, all while wrapped in my $100 faux fur and velvet Potterybarn blanket, (my favorite wedding gift by far from my posh Texan aunt) which only comes out when baby isn't around to slime it with his cute grubby little fingers.
Today I am blog-stalking, you know as in checking out the competition. Making sure I'm still as interesting as all the other 15 gazillion mommy bloggers out there. :) Then, I come across THE recipe! Red velvet cupcakes for her little daughters 5th birthday...Mmmmmm sounds sooooo good, especially since I not only worked out hard this morning at the gym, but also am trying to incorporate some vegetarian meals into my diet which means I had a vegetarian wrap for lunch. (See my brain is wired to think that meat must be a part of EVERY meal- working on changing this!) Anywhoo, I don't know if it was the lack of smoked turkey in my lunch today or the fact that I'm going on 5 days of being cooped up in the house with a sick toddler who desperately wants to go to the park every single minute of the day...every. single. minute...
But those red velvet cupcakes looked soooooo delish and I suddenly had this uncontrollable urge to make them! Before you could say, "stir crazy!" I found myself in the kitchen pouring a little bit of this and some of that, flour flying and buttermilk splashing into pure, uninterrupted confectionary creating bliss!
So what if I didn't get around to cooking dinner today? What laundry? And WHO needs me to call them back for the 3rd time!? Forget it! This was waaaay more fun! :)

Stir-Crazy Red Velvet Cupcakes
(With cinnamon cream cheese frosting)-i die!

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon of Wilton pink gel food coloring
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Ingredients for the frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream (not light)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2-3 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tablespoon Wilton pink gel food coloring

Directions for the cupcakes:

Set the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 F.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, cream the butter and the sugar.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each.

In the small bowl, stir the cocoa, and food color to make a smooth paste. Add this mixture to the egg mixture and mix until the color is consistent throughout the batter.

Add the buttermilk, vanilla, salt, and cake flour. Mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Add the baking soda and vinegar and stir gently. The mixture will bubble and froth a bit.

Pour immediately into the prepared cupcakes pans with paper baking cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 13-18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the center springs back when gently depressed. Remove from oven and cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Directions for the frosting:

Cream the butter, cream cheese, sour cream, cinnamon and vanilla together until fluffy. Gradually mix in the powdered sugar, starting with 2 cups. Continue adding more sugar 1/4 cup at a time until you have the desired flavor and texture. Add food coloring, start with half a tablespoon and then add more till you have your desired shade of red.

Frost those little cakes and hope that you have time to eat one before your baby wakes up! :)

Enjoy!!!

LOVE

2011-02-14T21:09:00.000-08:00

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Happy Valentine's Day to the man who has truly made ALL my dreams come true. Thank you for teaching me everyday how to love. I feel truly blessed to be your wife and the mother of our beautiful son. Oh and thank you also for the flowers and the best Vday card a girl could ever dream of: the March issue of Real Simple magazine! Genius! :)

Love you babe!

How Having a Kid Can Turn You From a City Girl Into a Granola Bar in Less than 3 Years!

2011-02-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

1. August of 2008 I discovered I was pregnant!

2. The very next day I craved pepperoni pizza but now that I was pregnant, the option of Mountain Mikes suddenly was not good enough for MY baby! OH NO! MY baby needed an organic pizza with fresh basil. To Whole Foods we went and a large pepperoni we bought! YUM

3. Week 7 of pregnancy the nausea set in so I started taking ginger capsules. Whew!
4. Started researching the dangers of epidurals so Birthing From Within became my new pregnancy bible and What To Expect was tossed aside, mainly used for reference only.

5. I drank more Traditional Medicine's Pregnancy tea than frat boys drink beer. Ok maybe not that much but...

6. I started drawing weird birthing art as taught in my hippie birthing books, chanting mantras, and feeling very drawn to the Redwoods for long afternoon hikes as I felt my baby boy needed me to take him there...

7. To empower myself with the idea that I wouldn't need drugs to birth, I starting watching intense homebirth videos with the birthing tub and all. I read many accounts of women who had birthed at home with midwives or some even unassisted and slowly began to realize how birthing is a natural process with minimal interventions needed. (Except in the case of medical emergencies of course) I felt the pure joy of these women as they brought these angels into the world in their own way and realized the potential that a homebirth had to be a much more intimate and spiritual experience than one in a hospital. I cried happy tears.

8. I brought my own little angel into the world at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek in April of 2009. I pretended I was in the woods the entire time and not in a hospital where some disconnected pushy doctor was trying to rush me along in my labor because she wanted to go out that Friday night! I imagined I had a mother-earth doula with long silver hair by my side the whole time gently whispering in my ear that I was strong and God had already given me the strength to do this on my own. I had a drug free labor and delivery and was transformed into a much stronger woman because of it.

9. After reading more and more books about vaccinations, my husband and I decided we would be delaying all vaccinations until our son was at least 6 months old. Today he is almost caught up and has had no complications at all.
10. A month into battling extremely sore breasts from nursing, I was about to quit. Until I got the advice to keep it up because, "My baby needed this from me." He's almost two years old and we're still at it.
11. Many evenings of my newborn baby crying endlessly had me worried it was colic or something scary. Looked more into attachment parenting, bought a sling, Bijorn and wore him more. The crying stopped.

12. I heard my sister in law was doing cloth diapers. Why in the world would anyone do that to themselves I wondered...until I started researching it for myself. Soon I was a cloth diaper addict, we own 40 of them and I've even taken them on vacations the whole bit! I'll never look back.
13. At 5 months old it was time to start solids. Started reading about all the benefits of making your own babyfood and there I was, knee deep in cloth diaper laundry and now half of my freezer was stocked with endless amounts of little plastic cubes of my homemade babyfood.
14. Well with an almost fully organic, all natural diet then why are we still putting chemicals on our skin I thought? Move over Bath and Body works lotions and potions, hello Alba, Burts Bees, Tom's natural toothpaste, Method cleaning products, Chlorine-Free Seventh Generation maxi pads, ect.... one thing leads to another. Right now we have just began to make friends with veggie burgers and tofu. I make weekly batches of flaxseed granola and have began substituting more whole grains for whites like brown rice flour instead of white flour. Or Quinoa instead of rice and pounding green smoothies like never before :)
And so I wonder, what would have happened if hubby would have just made me eat the Mountain Mikes pizza on that summer's evening early in my pregnancy? :)
Where are you in your journey into hippie-inspired motherhood?

A Pregnant Tale

2011-01-05T23:10:00.000-08:00

When I was pregnant, I was a gyspy wife. I lived in three different cities throughout the duration of my pregnancy. This was due to my husband's job and our quest to find the perfect house during that time. This meant no job for me and lots of spare time simply marinating in all my unrealistic visions of what motherhood would be like. This also meant we were low on the green stuff so I made sure I was resourceful in buying some of my maternity clothes. This lead me to Craigslist, which then lead us to this Vietnamese lady's house one rainy Tuesday night in November. She had used maternity clothes to sell and I was hopefully going to score a great deal. Turned out she didn't have the greatest fashion sense so I ended up only purchasing 3 blah items from her that I ended up only wearing at home and only in front of the cat.
The whole time I was rummaging through her boxes of clothing, we chatted about her baby. "So, is he sleeping now?" I asked seeing no signs of a baby anywhere. "Oh YES! THANK GOD!" she exclaimed. Sheesh, I thought a little TOO excited her precious angel is asleep I thought not realizing how tired she must be. "You have boy or girl?" she asked. "Boy, " I replied. "OH I PRAY for you, I PRAY for you!" she said dramatically making the sign of the cross like a hard-core Catholic. And then she went on in her broken English "When I first have baby, we come home from hospital and baby don't sleep ALL NIGHT!!! Oh I was SO TIRED and sick!" Well yeah, I thought babies do that right? " I say to my husband, let's take him BACK to hospital! We take him back" she said with a desperate gleam in her eyes that made me realize she was serious at the time. Oh my gosh, I rolled my eyes at my husband who was trying hard not to laugh. It was hilarious to me but even more so I was so shocked that someone would spill their new mommy wacked-out hormonal thoughts with a complete stranger. (She's the perfect candidate to be a mommy blogger for sure!) She went on, "We take him back, but then I think: there's only ONE PROBLEM..." pausing with the most serious expression I have ever seen from someone contemplating such lunacy, "I HAVE BABY SHOWER! EVERYONE KNOW I HAVE BABY!!!" By this time my husband and I were doing everything we could to keep from rolling on her hardwood floor from laughter! WOW she was really serious! She wasn't messing around!
For the rest of the night we acted out the story, (accent and all) with each other and told our friends. "ONLY ONE PROBLEM...I have baby shower! Everyone know I have baby!" We went on and on and laughed until our cheeks hurt.
It wasn't until one week into Aiden's life at 3am after not sleeping AT ALL since he had been born that I truly understood the meaning of the new mommy wacked-out hormonal thoughts and how they can happen to anyone as I seriously thought about asking my mother in law to move in with us for the first month or so. :) Sure, my thought wasn't as irrational as truly contemplating taking my baby back to the hospital...but it was pretty close! :)
What were some of YOUR most hormonal moments during those first few crazy weeks? I want ALL the dirt! :)

Aiden at around 4 days old

Christmas Bishop-Style!

2011-01-03T15:32:00.000-08:00

Learning new skills

Cabin trip to the snow with Grandparents

family time

People always ask, "What did you get Aiden for Christmas?" And my new response is: "Have you seen my recent Christmas photos on facebook yet?" :)

Sledding with his cousin Emma

beautiful sights

uninterrupted time with mommy

...and Daddy-O

Aiden's Mimi

Classic!

We enjoyed almost two weeks of special time spent with family and close friends eating, laughing, sledding, roadtrippin, catching up, reading, and playing. Unplugged from our Wi-fii, iphones, Apple TV, ect. we spent quality time with each other. We made it a point to make less shopping lists and more memories of fun times for our Christmas. When we look back on how we spent our Christmas, we will remember the look of excitement as Aiden sledded down his first hill all by himself, or how he mimicked his daddy singing to "White Christmas" while holding a flashlight for a microphone. Or maybe we'll remember how whenever he saw Christmas lights he said in his cute little voice, "Ooooh LIGHTS!" We will remember how he said, "MMMMMMM!!!!!" with such intensity as he got to bite into one of my gingerbread cupcakes, painting his first wooden ornaments, and leisurely drives to see Christmas lights.
We will remember being reunited with friends who live far away, making a human pyramid by the lake, singing "Itsy- Bitsy Spider" like lunatics to get the babies to smile for the perfect picture and drinking yummy soy eggnog with fresh nutmeg sprinkled on top.

mommy loves you

Opening presents with Emma

Whooooosh! Down the BIG hill with Daddy!

Tough guy with a snowy wet face

lots of cousins!

And yes, Aiden got plenty of presents for Christmas as well to answer the true meaning behind your question of "What did he get for Christmas?" Most of them came from both sets of Grandparents and a few small ones from us. :) His favorites so far are his ball/beanbag/ring toss activity set, his foam books, and his tractor. :)
But I think it goes without saying that the greatest gifts of all were the gifts of time with each other that was well spent :)

Herbed Chicken Pot Pie

2010-12-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

Baby, it's cold outside! Warm up your life with this scrumptious chicken pot pie! Oh and it's not your great grandma's bland old church potluck version, oh no! This is much more flavorful and savory. Mmmmm, chicken pot pie the way it should be with richly seasoned rotisserie chicken and you can even use fresh herbs if you have them available. If not, used the dried ones. I don't measure the herbs so just add them to taste.

2, 9 inch ready made pie crusts, thawed
1 rotisserie chicken
1 package of frozen mixed vegetables- peas, carrots, corn, and green beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules or poultry seasoning
1/4 of a yellow onion chopped
fresh ground black pepper
sea salt
Italian herb grinder seasoning, or fresh rosemary, oregano, basil, and parsley
Lawry's seasoned salt
garlic salt

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Open can of cream of mushroom soup and pour into a saucepan. Add frozen veggies, water and chicken bouillon to taste.
3. Sautee cooked rotisserie chicken with chopped onion in some olive oil. Add all seasonings to taste.
4. Add herbed chicken to the cream of mushroom mixture.
5. Pour chicken and soup mixture into one pie crust and cover with the other crust. Seal the edges and cut a small steam hole in the top crust. Bake in the preheated oven 30-35 minutes or until crust is brown.

It's so amazingly good, warm and comforting that you'd better make two and freeze one for a rainy day!

Fun Photo Shoot

2010-12-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

"Hand over the cookies mom, and I'll sport the hat for about 12.5 seconds...

"Mmmmmm Egg nog cookies are the best mama!"

"Ok are we done here yet!?"

"Because I'm getting sleepy and I want another cookie!"- Aiden

xmas 2010

2010-12-12T21:30:00.001-08:00

Delightful Damask Magenta Christmas Card

Turn your unique photos into Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

A Classic Christmas Greeting

2010-12-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

Now that hubby is home for the weekend, I can start thinking about our 2010 Christmas card! I have always used Shutterfly because their designs are just simple, classy and beautiful which goes right along with my personal style of Christmas decor and well, Christmas in general. Classic, not plastic is my motto when it comes to anything Christmas related. :) I don't want to give anything away, but I'm loving this lovely design and oh...OHHHHHH and this elegant little number! Oh so many to choose from! How ever will I decide? The ONE annual family card that captures the essence of your whole existence! It's a HUGE decision! :)
I've used Shutterfly in the past for photo books, holiday cards ect. One of the reasons I love using Shutterfly is because it is very easy to use, (no program to download) and the quality of how the pictures turn out is great! They also have the best prices around and GREAT promotions!
If you are still looking for gift ideas, you can't go wrong with a personalized calendar because you'd practically have to be without a soul to not want to look at THIS FACE every day for the upcoming year! :)

And while we're on the subject of our family stationary needs, let's not forget that in only 4 SHORT MONTHS my little baby boy will be turning TWO years old! EXCUSE me, didn't we JUST have his first year birthday! How in the world is this flying by so fast!? Well, now that I've practically almost choked on my toast with this new realization, it's time to think about birthday party themes, activities and the invitation of course! Cute CUTE options from Shutterfly! I'm off to get lost for a while in design heaven :) Ta Ta!

Baked Oatmeal

2010-12-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

Did you know baked oatmeal is a new thing?! I had no idea!!!
I knew you could bake it into cookies...but THIS!? THIS is amazing!!!
Baked oatmeal is very different from the stovetop kind. The consistency is close to cake but the edges turn out all crispy like a cookie! It's fabulous! If you don't eat regular oatmeal because you detest the goopy consistency, THIS baked version will change your life! Oatmeal just got much more fabulous and a LOT more classy! Here's the recipe adapted from allrecipies.com...serves four people or two REALLY hungry people :)

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (the quick cooking variety will break down and get soggy)

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk (any fat content will do)

1/4 cup melted butter

1 large egg

splash of vanilla extract

handful of dried cranberries (optional)

Granny Smith apples, fresh raspberries, slivered almonds and pistachios for topping (Use your imagination)

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the oats, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, egg and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to incorporate. Fold in the dried cranberries.

Pour mixture into a lightly greased 9-inch pie pan. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly firm to the touch and no wiggle remains.

Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes then spoon into serving bowls. Top with milk, fresh fruit and nuts and serve.

Bon appetite!

Surviving Disneyland With Two Toddlers

2010-11-30T23:29:00.000-08:00

Waaaay back in September, Daddy Warbox AKA my Dad took our whole family to Disneyland and Laguna Beach for a mini-vacay. It would be our first whole, "my side of the family" vacation with the babies, (Aiden and his cousin Emma). We loaded up the 4-Runner with countless Disney CD's for cheesy road singing, tons of snacks, a toddler "entertainment road box" and Mickey Mouse of course! We knew that taking a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth would take a bit more work with a couple of toddlers so before we went I researched some helpful tips from other mom blogs ect. to help our trip run more smoothly. Here is a little list I complied, some tips from others and some straight from our own experiences. Some even from Aiden himself who LOVED riding the teacups with his Daddy and decided that the best napping spot was in the Disney Animation building in the California Adventure park.

Bring YOUR parents. Do NOT attempt this alone. You'll never get a break or a chance to enjoy the adult rides with your hubby, sis and bro-in-law. You'll also never get to RUN AT FULL speed like an annoying teenager laughing until you almost pee yourself through the park near closing time trying to make it to the Tower of Terror in sopping wet, slippery flip-flops TRYING to keep up with your little sister who by the way is 4 years younger and runs marathons for a hobby. WHEW! (Thanks seester!)
There are at least two baby centers that I know of. One is on Main Street USA and the other is in CA Adventure across from the fancy-schmancy Napa Valley Restaurant. Baby Centers are your secret weapon, well along with your boobs if you happen to be a breastfeeding mama which I am. Baby Centers have rocking chairs, private nursing rooms, hot water, diapers, changing tables and did I mention it has air conditioning? And no this is NOT a daycare where you can drop off pipsqueek while you go off and sneak one more ride on CA Screaming.
There are changing tables in both women's and MEN's restrooms. Now mama won't get stuck with all the diaper changes!
Label your toddler. Stick a bracelet on him with your name and phone number JUST in case he wanders off. You never know. This even happens to Supermoms, I've seen it.
Go to the Disney Store prior to the trip and get some "souvenirs" on clearance. Keep them on hand as you enter the shops. You can even go as far as pretending to take them off the shelves and give them to your little consumer. Just make sure the store employees know what your up to or you may end up in Disney Jail.
Best rides for toddlers- Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Bug's Life, Teacups, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, (a little spooky but our little tough guy liked it), Dumbo, Monorail, Railroad, Jungle Cruise,
Save your cashola for your date night with hubby, (because you were smart and brought your parents AKA babysitters along) and bring your own lunch and snacks. Make them seem more appealing by wrapping them in Mickey Mouse clear plastic bags from the Dollar Store. See a theme here? Trickery will get you everywhere with these 2.5 ft little munchkins.
Toon Town, Tom Sawyer's Island, Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, Bug's Land Water Play area and Playhouse Disney Live are all good places to let the kids run free when they are tired of being in their strollers or on rides.
Adults with kids don't have to stand in line!
If you have the new Iphone, you can download the Disneyland wait times app. It will save your life. Check it out!
Bring water in a reusable water bottle so you can refill throughout the day. This seems like a no-brainer to me but your would not believe how many parents I saw buying $5 sodas...SODAS loaded with sugar, sugar and MORE SUGAR and letting their already Disney-cracked-out kids GUZZLE it down! CRAZY!!!!
Save the wrinkles for your 70's and sunscreen up! Even if it's cloudy thanks to those powerful UV rays!
What are some of YOUR tips for surviving theme parks with young little rascals? Leave your comments below!

Eat Local, Your Vote Counts!

2010-11-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

One of the great benefits of living in the East Bay area are little treasures like these yummy fruit stands. This particular one lives only 3 miles from our home. I can practically roll outta bed and go pick up some breakfast! Smith Family Farm is by far my most favorite! They have an awesome produce stand as you can see, a pumpkin patch and petting zoo in the fall, and all kinds of Christmas trees for the holiday season! I love, LOVE the fact that most of our produce is grown close to home making it green and much more nutritious than the latest spread at the grocery store which has been sitting in a warehouse for a few months. According to One Million Acts of Green : A lot of the food we eat in North America has travelled a great distance to get to us. On average, various food items travel more than 2,400 kilometres. That’s a lot of energy, transport and storage. Plus, all that food is shipped in controlled environments, which depletes nutrition. Buying local produce means your food is fresher. It also helps local farmers and reduces air pollution.

Someone else really loves it too!

Gobble, Gobble

2010-11-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

Just dropping by to say hi from Aiden and I! Today I am in the midst of creating baked bliss in the kitchen. My current facebook status reads: "Anyone who agrees to make 4 triple-layered pumpkin cheesecakes, (carved out of fresh pumpkins with hand-crushed gingersnap crusts) with a whining, teething toddler on their hands has GOT to be completely delusional!"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It's True

2010-11-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the good news!? Forever 21 has a new maternity line! Mama's to be everywhere can now look a bit more stylish thanks to this trendy new affordable line of maternity clothing! I used to search high and low when I was preggers for cute maternity clothes with style to them but the choices were so lame I ended up looking like a schoolteacher most of them time. Not that there's anything wrong with looking like a schoolteacher, (especially since I used to be one!) but when your not at work, do you really want to look like you are? I don't!

Here I am at 27 weeks so excited to meet my baby!!! (Wearing a non-maternity Forever 21 shirt which actually stretched with my growing belli)
Happy shopping all you yummy mummies!!!

The Art of Using Fresh Pumpkin To Bake

2010-10-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

MMMMMMM it's pumpkin season again and I am in LOVE with pumpkins. So far I've made pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin soup and now this yummy pumpkin cheesecake! It's a fairly easy recipe for such an elegant looking pie! For the complete recipe go here and check it out! I always use brown sugar even when it calls for white sugar in all pumpkin recipes because it tastes much better that way. When I'm feeling a bit wild I'll add some maple syrup to the mix too! And maybe some Trader Joe's Tahitian Vanilla extract-yum! (Betty doesn't know everything!)

For a series of pictures to inspire your baking, continue reading :)

First, take a trip to the pumpkin patch and pick out some pumpkins. Some say there are special "baking pumpkins" you can look for but Aiden says that they are all the same to him! (He picks the best ones!)

Next, set your baby in his highchair with a snack and a special movie on TV so you can uninterruptedly begin carving up this ginormous vegetable. Make sure to warm up your muscles with a few jumping jacks beforehand, this carving business is a lot of work! Whew! I always feel a little guilty just throwing away the rinds of the pumpkin. If I had a hog out back, I'd throw it to him. If my husband didn't shut down my composting station in the backyard, it would have gone there. (We need an actual composting bin from Lowe's, the flies and smell were too nasty for this prissy little city neighborhood) If we could recycle them, I so would. But since we have none of the above, (for now) I just toss them in the trash. Sigh. Oh well.

Now, after you've carved up and baked the pumpkin at 350 for about an hour and a half, scrape out the mushy pumpkin straight into the blender to make your puree. I add a bit of salt to the puree to help preserve it when I freeze large amounts and for the jar that remains in the 'fridge too.

Yummy homemade pumpkin puree! Now you can truly ditch the canned stuff that's most likely been sitting on the grocery shelf for A YEAR! GROSS! YOU really gonna EAT THAT!!!????? This will taste so much better, just you wait and see! And no, not just because you used up an hour and a half of your life preparing this pumpkin mush, but because it really does taste more like, well pumpkin and not whatever they add to the canned stuff to make it last years on the shelf. YEARS...(Just breathe that in for a second)

Oh and don't forget to take your kid down from the highchair when you've put up that big carving knife. He wants to play with his cars.

On Not Having Cable, (or any) Television

2010-10-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

"We don't have t.v. " I say when someone asks if I've seen the most recent episode of The Bachelor or any other show. "What?" They reply, "How do you LIVE!!??" "Very well thank you..." I reply.
Now don't get me wrong, we do own an actual TV. It's one I bought when silver was the "in" color back in 2003 after landing my first real job after college graduation. And although I would LOVE to own a big, fancy LED Sony 62 inch, our TV works just fine when we decide to pop in a movie after Aiden has gone to bed. We have a Blockbuster membership, (Been meaning to do Netflix but the cashier at Blockbuster is just too cute to give up! Haha!) We probably watch maybe one movie a week and then when the only TV shows I care about are in season, ("Parenthood", "Kate Plus 8" and "19 Kids and Counting") we watch that online at Hulu from the wi- fi that our most generous neighbors unknowingly supply us with :) Every now and then when I want a real brain cell killing fix I'll tune into "The Hills" (strictly for fashion updates) or "Teen Mom" (When I am having a bad day and am questioning my stellar parenting abilities) :)
Most evenings after hubby arrives home from his long day at work we eat dinner as a family, go on walks, go to downtown farmer's markets, meet new neighbors at our park across the street, listen to Aiden's music and sing with him, have friends over to BBQ, get house projects done, and just...well...talk and play with our baby. Now that I've got my piano moved back into our house I predict lots of piano playing as my alone time in the evenings or even some super- cheesy family sing-a-longs! It's peaceful and mind clearing not to have the sound of the 5 O'clock news droning on and on in the background informing us of all the things that are wrong with the world. We read about it online and that's enough. NPR radio shows provide much to ponder as well. When we used to have cable, I feel like we would spend our evenings consumed by it, starring at it like zombies and not being in the moment of our life. (I almost never turned it on during the day though unless I was sick on the couch) I feel like we missed out on sharing more of our thoughts, coming up with new ideas, being outside in nature, having the mental space to be creative and exercise our talents for ourselves and with Aiden. Life is short and you don't truly realize this until you have watched a child of your own grow into their first year. I am afraid of missing out on the poignant memories of our baby laughing and rolling around on the floor with his Daddy because I may have spent too much time in front of the TV throughout his early years. When we first rid ourselves of the brain-cell killing device, (oops I mean cable) it was a little quiet and felt a bit lonely in the house but after a week or so we had adapted and came up with new, more interactive ways of living that truly make each one of us more alive and happy. I think having cable can be great and I'm sure we will have it again someday, but by doing without it for a while, (So far over a year) I hope that when it enters our life again we can learn how not to get so addicted to it like a lot of people out there. I hope we will create our own stories instead of watching the scripted ones of the actors.
What are some family activities you enjoy? I am always looking for new and creative ideas for spending quality time together.

Green Your Halloween!

2010-10-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

This year, instead of shelling out mucho cash for a costume your child will only wear ONE night, try greening your Halloween by participating in a costume swap. Go here to find a local costume swap in your area and if there's not one than think about starting one maybe through your mommy's groups, playgroups, or churches. I'm going to plan one as soon as I get home!
According to Green Halloween, if just half the children who celebrated Halloween swapped costumes instead of buying new ones each year, annual landfill waste would be reduced by 6,250 tons which is equivalent to the weight of 2,500 midsized cars!
Be green, save some green!

Baby's Nanna Oat Breakfast Bars

2010-10-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

On mornings when we need to be out of the house by 8:30am for playgroups, doctor's appointments, or other activities we eat these yummy homemade cereal bars alongside a hard boiled egg or some Greek yogurt for some extra protein. Just like banana bread but a lot healthier!

1/2 cup Sucanat (or other unrefined evaporated cane juice) 

1 Tbsp finely ground flax seeds 

1/4 cup plain or vanilla soy or almond milk 

1/4 cup sunflower or other light-tasting oil, preferably organic

 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

 2 medium, very ripe bananas

 1/3 cup dried cranberries (optional)

 1-1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not instant)

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

 1/4 cup whole oat flour

 1/2 tsp baking powder

 1/8 tsp (.5 ml) fine sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8” square pan with parchment paper, or spray with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, combine the Sucanat, flax seeds, soymilk, oil and vanilla. Cut the bananas into chunks and add to the bowl. Using a potato masher or large fork, mash the bananas into the mixture, leaving a few little chunks (about the size of peas) here and there. Stir in the raisins, if using. Set aside while you measure the dry ingredients, or at least two minutes. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour the wet mixture over the dry and stir well to combine. It may seem too wet for a bar dough; this is as it should be.

Scrape the mixture into the pan and smooth the top. Bake in preheated oven 40-45 minutes, rotating pan about halfway through, until the top is dry and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Makes 12 bars. May be frozen.
Gives baby lots of energy too so that they can go and do things like this:

Make Your Own Play Dough

2010-09-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

The other morning, Aiden and I made some play dough. He was so excited to help me measure, mix and watch the food coloring spread around in the pan...

After we cooked it for about 8 minutes, it looked all crusty like this...

So I rolled up my sleeves and began to knead it until it turned into this...

It turned out perfect! Not too dry, not too sticky! And it made a ton so we bagged some up and gave it to a friend.

Now it was Aiden's turn to play with his play dough for the first time and boy was Mommy excited.

Turns out I was the only one who was excited...

Oh well! We'll try it again tomorrow :)

Play Dough Recipe
I used to make a batch of this play-dough once a month in the classroom. Changing the colors for the season. Although 20 little hands stayed busy shaping and molding, the play dough never dried out!
You'll need:
Flour 3cups
Salt 1 1/2 cups
Water 3 cups
Vegetable Oil 2TB.
Cream of tartar 1TB.
Food coloring few drops or unsweetened "Kool-Aid" 1pkg.
Mix ALL of the ingredients in a large saucepan.
Cook over medium low heat, until the dough comes away
from the edges of the pan and it becomes difficult to move the spoon. Remove from heat. Cool until it can be handled.
Place on counter or wax paper knead 3-4 times.
Store in an air tight container.

17 months

2010-09-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

You are my precious Baby Bear, my little "Bubba," my Baby Aiden. Today, (9/3/10) marks your 17 month birthday my little love. You are such a big boy now and we are so amazed at how much you've grown and learned just in the past few months.
You climb on EVERYTHING. When it's 9:45am and mommy hasn't taken you to the park yet, you climb on your truck to try and reach the lock on the back door. You are a crafty little one. When you first wake up in the morning with your squishy little eyes and messy hair you look at me and say, "Nanna" which means you would like a banana and could I make it snappy? :) You eat almost anything I put in front of you. You are definitely not a picky eater, and hopefully this is one of your traits which is not just a passing stage. You are able to communicate so much more now with your baby signs, "water", "eat" and "more" are your favorites. You also remind me when it's time for a snack by saying, "nack", "apple" and "highchair." You also usually tell me when you've pooped by saying, "poo-poo" and start walking down the hallway towards your room so we can change you. Then you open your dresser cabinet and pick out a diaper. It's usually the yellow one with the little monsters all over it. :)
You love playing with your truck and riding it fast all around the family room, turning the corners with ease, and making your car noises. You also love playing with your shapes blender and you almost have all the shapes in their correct slots mastered. Some of your other favorite pastimes include: coloring with crayons, playing with your water table outside, climbing on the play-structures at the parks, using the slide all by yourself, putting together your animal puzzle, listening to a story book for about 59 seconds, (hey it's a start!), rolling around on the floor with your Daddy, and "helping" me stuff your cloth diapers. :) When I point to your head, nose, ears, eyes, mouth, belly, legs, feet and hands you expertly show me exactly where they are. When we put on music to sing and dance, you love playing the hand drum and dancing your adorable dance!
Another thing we just adore about you is your outgoing, "look at me" personality. When I take out the camera, you light up with a smile for me. 8 camera flashes later you are still smiling. 15 flashes later you've had enough and you are sure to show me! :) When we go to the store you love saying, "Hi!" to people in the same sing-songy voice that mommy uses. (Sorry, you'll eventually learn to say it in a more boyish way I'm sure but for now it's pretty flirty and cute!) All someone has to do is acknowledge you and you just give them the most beautiful grin that is sure to make someone's day! Once in the grocery check out line I told you to make your "tough guy" face for the checker and you did. She laughed and called over two others just to see it! The grocery lines got held up for a minute but you sure had everyone smiling with your tough guy face that day. :)
Everyday around 4:30pm you start saying, "Dada" and climbing on our couch so you can look out the window to see if your Daddy has come home yet. When you don't see him yet, you look for dogs and exclaim, "doggie!" followed by a high-pitched, "woof woof!" When your Daddy finally does come home, you know it as soon as you hear his car alarm lock and you look at me and say, "Dada" while running towards the door to greet him. The best part of your Daddy's day is, undoubtedly, when he first sees you standing at the door with your huge grin and you reach out with your chubby little arms to give him a big hug. I'm sure these moments, the look on your face, the smell of your baby-hair, and the cute sounds of your baby babbles will be etched in his heart forever. I know they will be in mine.
When you start getting sleepy you say, "night-night" which means you want to be nursed and go to sleep. You love our time together nursing and singing lullabys. Sometimes you stroke my arm or just look up at me with your big hazel eyes and show me that your world is at peace now that you are getting your milk. If I sigh, you give your little "content sigh" right back. I take one last sniff of your sweet baby smell, kiss your yummy lips and tell you how much I love you before laying you down in your crib. About 30 minutes later you are sleeping peacefully and lately, without fail one of your little legs is stuck in between the crib slats and you are holding your toy banana with the most content look on your face. and I have to take it out and put it back in bed with you :)
Baby Aiden, thank you for being the sweetest most precious little person we could ever hope for. You make your Daddy's and my world so complete, full of smiles and hugs that we will cherish forever. We love you so much and are so excited to take you on many adventures in our life together.

Love,

Mommy

Norah and A Surprising Turn of Events...

2010-08-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

Originally titled, "The Beauty of the Kindness of Strangers" this story was posted on our family blog in June of 2008. I thought I would tell this lovely little story again as I am getting very excited to see Norah again in concert tomorrow night.

It was the summer of '07 while we were living in Wyoming and my husband and I were lucky enough to attend Norah Jones concert at one of the most beautiful amphitheatres, (Red Rocks in Colorado) in the world! Not only is this place breathtaking-(carved out of red rocks, overlooking Denver) we were seeing Norah who makes my love for music come alive! It was going to be a fabulous night, I could just feel it!

When we arrived 2 hours early, we joined the tailgating crowd in eating, drinking, and listening to Norah. We chatted with the other Norah-lovers happily waiting for the concert to begin. One couple in particular who were a little younger than my parents, took a special interest in talking with Tim and I. The husband was an orthopaedic surgeon for the US army. He looked EXACTLY like Robert Dinero from the movie Meet the Parents and even had the same witty, humorous personality. It was really entertaining me. The wife also looked and acted so sweet like the mother on Meet the Parents. What a pair! They had a daughter who had just married and a son in college. They were Christians who seemed very active in their church. (The husband was giving a power-point presentaion on Medical Ethics from the Bible in the morning at their church.) They were not afraid to open up about their secret to a happy and lasting marriage as the conversation turned that way. (Tim and I often ask couples that have been married a long time AND have a healthy relationship their secret to making it last and being fufilled from their relationship) We truly value advice from these types of people who have gone before us. The husband and wife both had strong, passionate, and deep answers for our question. He said that his way of meeting his wife's needs was not just asking how her day was, but asking more specific questions like, " What was the most exciting part of your day" or " What was the most difficult part of your day?" These questions, he said, provided a deeper look into the mind of his wife and made her feel better understood which is an important need for us women as we all know. Another thing on the husband's end was what he called, " Servant-Leadership" where the husband is the strong leader, but in leading he is always serving the wife. (Sounds like my Tim-boy am I a lucky girl!) This couple had a deep connection, it was apparant within the first hour of meeting them. Time for the concert to begin, we all started hiking up the trail to the top of the theatre. " Meet us back at our cars after the concert for some more drinks", they said. " We'll party until traffic clears out!"
Norah was an angel! Her captivating, soothing voice transported me to a state of contentment, relaxation, and giddiness that most people can only achieve with a dose of Valium! I just love her classy, timeless melodies and sweet, humble demeanor.
As we hiked back down the huge slabs of red rocks to our car, we gazed out over Denver's city lights with the full moon overhead. Kissing passionately for that moment we felt like we were the two most lucky and in love people there ever were.
As we approached our car, we saw our new friends already partying it up next to us at theirs. They offered us their drinks and asked us what we planned to do the following day. They told us we should come explore CO Springs where they live. We thought that was a great idea, we had been wanting to visit there! As Tim and I were discussing our hotel plans for the night, the couple went off for a minute alone to discuss something themselves. When they returned, the husband said, "Now we understand if you decline, but we would like to invite you to stay at our place tonight." Their friends piped in, " Ooohhh you guys are lucky! They're place is HUGE!" Tim and I were pleasantly surprised with their generous offer. We looked at each other taking in the fact that neither of us had any doubts about the situation, and both agreed to go. We were fully aware of the fact that in most parts of the country, this would never happen or be safe. We knew that this could be a potentially harmful situation to go into with such trustful hearts, but we both strongly and instinctually knew that this wouldn't be the case with this particular couple.
We followed the couple home about an hour and a half south from Morrison to Co Springs. They had a beautiful home as their friends had said. It was on a hill overlooking all of Co Springs. When we walked in, I got the feeling of being right at home feeling like I was at one of my best friend's parents house for the night. Safe, cared for and lucky. We had our own huge room with attached bathroom and living area with a terrace overlooking the city. It was truly a blessing! They showed us a few pictures of their kids and said they would see us in the morning after making sure we had everything we needed for the night. We were both awestruck. I couldn't believe we were staying in this beautiful home for the night of people we had just met hours earlier.
The next morning they offered us breakfast and supplied us with a map for our day of exploration. We exchanged business cards and thanked them profusely. We chatted for a moment about how nice it was of them to trust us in their home that night. They said that we had presented ourselves well to them and they felt comfortable and happy to make our stay easier. The wife then said, "I just believe that people should just be nice to each other and pay it forward, like the movie." How simple yet profound! And, what a way to experience the beauty of God's love from His people, watching over us wherever we travel to.
Now I truly know the meaning of why they call it "God's country" out here, exclusively.

Whip 'Em Out!

2010-08-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

He Said, She Said...

2010-08-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

I am part of a mother's group here in the bay area and usually receive daily emails about events in town, updates about playgroups, people selling used baby gear, an occasional rant...ect. Well today I received a juicy little rant that I thought would be PERFECT to share anonymously on my blog just to start a discussion about the age old question geared towards all the stay at home moms and working dads/husbands. This clearly frustrated mommy writes:

"I was wondering what your husbands do around the house. Do they ever wash a dish? Do a chore? Laundry? Anything?
Call me crazy, but I think my husband should be able to do something. He thinks it is ALL my responsibility.
Trying to get some input..."

What do you think mamas? What about you husbands? Any husbands got something to say about this?
Leave your comments below. THIS will be GOOD! :)

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

2010-08-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

I'm honored to be a part of the Breastfeeding Blog
Carnival hosted by The Leaky Boob. It's World Breastfeeding Week and the
carnival theme is "Perspectives: Breastfeeding from Every Angle." Visit
The Leaky Boob for more perspectives on breastfeeding.

After 20 hours of an excruciatingly painful drug-free labor and delivery of my beautiful little son, it was time to nurse him. I remember feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and all I really wanted to do at that moment was to eat my sandwich while the doctor sewed me up. I put him to my breast and he instinctually began to suckle just as I had imagined. It was amazing to see such a small being know exactly what to do. It was the most comforting thing I had ever experienced, especially after labor. This is my reward I thought, this perfect little baby is being nourished and nurtured by my body. We were made for each other. It seemed easy enough at first. Sure there were some positioning techniques that I had to learn and luckily my attentive husband listened carefully to our lactation consultant while I just starred deliriously into my little angels eyes...

We decided to take the nurse on demand approach because it seemed like the most natural thing to do. After all, I know that I get hungry at different times of the day and it would sure be hard if I could only eat at certain times on a strict schedule. So it made sense to feed my baby whenever he needed it. Breast milk digests fast too so it is needed more frequently.
Breastfeeding in the hospital came very naturally for me and whenever I had a question all I had to do was beep the nurse and she would be right at my side reassuring me. "This is easy," I remember thinking as I ate my strawberry frozen yogurt while nursing Aiden at the same time. "I don't know what all the fuss is about."
Then, we went home and everything changed. On day two of Aiden being home, we had a home visit from the nurse and it was determined that he had lost one pound and he wasn't urinating enough because at this point the colostrum wasn't enough and my milk still hadn't come in. She advised us to use formula supplements until my milk arrived. This was very scary for us at the time and I felt like I had already failed as a mother!!!! How had I not known that he wasn't getting enough to eat?! I was mortified and loss some confidence in my abilities that day. That night my milk came in and then I was engorged beyond my imagination. I never even knew my boobs could get that big. I looked like one of those trashy women with a double D boob job! My sister and I laughed and took pictures of them. They were hard as rocks and hurt like crazy. I couldn't even sleep on them, it was insane. My milk had arrived and Aiden was about to get all the milk he could ever desire.

For the next day or so, I felt like we were on our way becoming successful at nursing. There was minimal soreness which I remedied with Lansinoh nipple cream and Aiden gained his one pound back. Everyone was happy. Then my nipples cracked and started bleeding. So I decided to pump and it only made it worse. (Too hard of a suction on those pumping machines) Tears flowed as I discovered the milk I was working so hard to pump for my hungry baby was tinted pink with blood. My nipples were raw, red, cracked and bleeding but for some reason I did NOT want to give up. I REALLY wanted to nurse my baby. I knew he needed this from me and it was one of the best things I could give him right now. Almost every nursing session was extremely painful and there were so many times I said that this would be the last time and that I was DONE! A couple weeks later I was on the phone with a lactation consultant who wanted to charge me $100 to come out to my house and help me. I could not afford to pay that so I begged her to give me some advice over the phone. She told me that the pain would eventually go away in time. I asked her how long because it had already been a month of painful nursing sessions and it was making it very hard for me to enjoy nursing my son. I was doing it out of obligation, not because I was enjoying it. She said that a month was a long time for the soreness to continue and that maybe he was latched incorrectly. She said that I should watch some videos on You Tube about correct latching. And then she said, "Whatever you do just don't give up. Your baby NEEDS this from YOU." I thought about that statement for a long time that day. I thought about it when I wanted to scream in pain while he was nursing.
A month later, we were in the car on our way up to our annual Lake Tahoe vacation and I had an epiphany: nursing Aiden no longer hurt! I told my husband, "Hey! I just realized that it doesn't hurt anymore when we're nursing!!! I can't BELIEVE it took TWO MONTHS to get to this point!!!" He too was very happy about the news and said, "Maybe breastfeeding is designed that way, to be a challenge at first so that you grow a deep respect and appreciation for it later on." I decided my husband is a genius. I had never thought of it that way but it is so true. From what I went through to get to this point of actually enjoying nursing my son, it will be a long time before we stop, or until Aiden decides for himself that he is done. Our bond had been strengthened immensely and it can't be denied that the struggle to get to this point played a big part in that. He was most definitely worth learning this process for and I am so glad I exercised my stubborn-ness and stuck with it!

This week Aiden turned 16 months old and he is still an avid nurser, two times a day. We've nursed in the car, on an airplane, on a boat, on a mountain, in the middle of the mall, in church, at restaurants, under a tree, in a pool, in bed, on a hike and at a concert. I am happy to nurse him anytime and anywhere that he wishes. I love our special time snuggling, bonding and loving each other.

Here are the only breastfeeding links you'll ever need :)
http://www.bestforbabes.org/
http://www.llli.org/
http://www.breastfeeding.com/
http://www.waba.org.my/
http://worldbreastfeedingweek.org/index.htm

And one amazing article that re-affirms why, (if your body is able) you should breastfeed!
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/05/breastfeeding.costs/index.html?hpt=P1

And one more amazing mother's tale of why we hope to create a better "normalization" of breastfeeding in public!
http://mothering.com/all-things-mothering/breastfeeding/world-breastfeeding-week

3 Things

2010-08-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

1- I am now an affiliate of Kelly's Closet, the web's premier cloth diaper store! This means that on every sale I refer to Kelly's Closet I will earn 5% of it! You can just go to the right sidebar of my blog and click on the Kelly's Closet icon to make your order! Thank you for helping a mama out! :)
2- My favorite magazine now has what may become my favorite blog- All Things Mothering, check it out!!!
3- See my beautiful little niece Emma in the picture below? See what kind of diaper she has on? She's sporting the new 4.0 Bum Genius! Her 'sposie-using mama just couldn't resist ordering one for her to use, "When I want her to look cute in her diaper..." Maybe I'll have another cloth-convert to add to my running list of 7 mamas...maybe. She's already said she wants to order a few more :)

One day...

2010-08-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

He was this big...

Then THIS happened...

I thought I would have a baby for longer. But I was wrong. He was so small and delicate. Now he's a big tough guy who wears shoes and wants to walk in his own direction. Those newborn smells, squeaks, the swaddling, and the cooing is over. And I'll never get it back. :(

I Vacationed With Cloth Diapers and I Liked It!

2010-08-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

While planning our annual Lake Tahoe vacation, I had a hard time at first deciding if I was going to use cloth or disposable diapers for the duration of our stay. Many cloth- diapering mamas opt for disposables because dealing with cloth on vacation can seem like a daunting task. The cabin where we were staying was not equipped with laundry facilities so if I decided to bring my cloth along there would have to be a trip to the laundry mat involved which at first I thought would be crazy! Going to the laundry mat on MY one and only VACATION!!??? You’ve got to be out of your mind, I told myself. But then I thought about how much better our cloth diapers work for our son, how they never leak, zero diaper rash, all the money we would save not buying disposables for two weeks, (which equals more vacation money for shopping and food!) the environmental impact of course-(Keep Tahoe Blue!) and well, how could we possibly let him be seen in a disposable diaper for all of our cherished vacation pictures!? The cloth is just too cute to leave at home on vacation. That would be like leaving all my cutest outfits at home and only bringing my dingy old housewife sweats on vacation. After I realized that, it was a no-brainer! I decided that our cloth diapers would indeed be vacationing with us, featured in the family pictures on our adorable child’s little bum.

Here is what I packed from our cloth diaper stash:

· 30 pre-stuffed cloth diapers

· My Planet Wise Hanging Travel wet-bag- (for dirty diaper storage in between washings, zips shut to contain odors)

· 1 Bum Essentials travel wet-bag (smaller wet-bag for short outings, used in diaper bag)

· 1 roll of Kushies Biodegradable Flushable liners- (these little poop-catchers keep the mess out of the diaper and flush away in one easy step)

· My Charlie’s Soap laundry powder

All of the supplies fit neatly into our large duffle bag and everything stayed organized and in its place.

When we arrived at the cabin, I set up a changing station on our bed with wipes, a waterproof changing pad, and I placed all the diapers into one dresser drawer for easy access.

A few days later it was time for a visit to the laundry mat. Pick a time to go when everyone is in “veg-out” mode so you don’t feel like you are missing out on any of the action. Luckily, this happens frequently on vacation. :) I washed my diapers, (along with both wet-bags) on their normal cold cycle, then hot cycle for disinfecting. The whole process just took an hour. And really, I was happy to do it for my son because I know that these are the softest and best diapers on the market. If you had to wear diapers all day which do you think would feel better, paper or super-soft snugglie fleece? During the washes I walked over to a nearby grass roots grocery store to buy some new and exotic teas I had never heard of, making great use out of my laundry mat trip. (Find a laundry mat that’s in a cool shopping center so you’ll have something to do other than sitting there in the mat waiting for the cycle to be complete)

After the diapers were clean again, I bypassed the drying stage and took them back to the cabin where I hung them out to dry in the sun on a spiffy drying rack that someone had brought for beach towels. There you have it! My simple cloth diaper vacation routine! I challenge you to try it, as it turned out to be a breeze!

On this post, I will be doing my first ever blog giveaway. First you must sign up to follow my blog either through Google or Facebook, (the icons live on the right sidebar of my blog). Then, leave a comment on this post telling me if you would consider trying cloth diapering on vacation or if you think I am just plain crazy, just let me know! :) Leave your email and I will draw a random winner who will receive a One Size Econobum cloth diaper! (Brand new of course) Good Luck!!!

I leave you with a pic of two cloth diapered cousins Mason on the left and Aiden on the right :)

20 Things I Wish I Had Known To Register for

2010-06-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

Creating a baby registry for first time parents can be very overwhelming! Babies R Us is GIGANTIC and there are soooo many useful and some not very useful things to choose from. How do you know what you'll REALLY need? Well, you never really do until you establish your "baby lifestyle" which to me means: Stay at home or working momma, mall or outdoor-sy mama, breast or bottle, cloth or disposable, home-made or Gerber baby food, ect. Some of these findings do not become known until after baby is born and you figure out what works best for you and baby. For instance, my MIL was convinced that all babies need a pacifier and so I ended up with hundreds of them, ok not hundreds but you know...Well Aiden only wanted one sometimes, for a few days here and there and then...never again! Now what do I do with all those brightly colored binks? :)
Here is a list of things I wish I had put on our registry instead of all those adorable newborn clothes, some of which never got worn :)

baby gates (2)
cool mist humidifier- those things are expensive!
cloth diapers
18 month clothing-the month where he mysteriously ran out of wardrobe!
sleep sacks in small, medium and large
wipe warmer
potty
non-slip bath mat
hiker baby carrier
baby cubes-babyfood storage containers
Putamayo children's CD collection
highchair that converts to a travel highchair and one of neutral color
reusable wetbag
cloth swim diaper
umbrella stroller
wooden, not plastic toys :)
The Ergo Baby carrier instead of Bijorn
The Chariot
Music Together class, baby gym membership, ect.
more 12 month onsies (Carter's 12 mo. onsies lasted from 6-15 months old!!!)

Veggie Makeover and A NEW Culinary Playground Coming Soon!!!

2010-06-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

Do you want to know WHY your kids wont eat their vegetables!? It's because you probably don't give them any flava flavor yo! I'll tell you my secret: how 'bout next time when you are steaming your tot some carrots you add in some olive oil, chicken stock, and a little bit of garlic salt just to give them a kick. I did this and boy did Aiden gobble them up! (Oh and serve them FIRST) He even asked for MORE! MORE VEGETABLES!!!????? Do I have a dream kid or WHAT? :) The secret really IS in the Swanson's broth. Use it instead of water when steaming the veggies, or mix with water. Better yet, get the organic version at Trader Joe Bag's and wa-la!
Are the carrots making an appearance at Asian night? Then in place of the chicken broth and garlic salt try steaming them with a little honey mixed into the water with some ginger. Oh yeah so good!
Peas go well with a touch of lemon juice and fresh mint, broccoli goes well dipped in ranch, yams are awesome with cinnamon, butter and a touch of brown sugar, you get the idea. And spinach, well spinach happens to make a wonderful fruit smoothie, check out this blog for the recipe! Aiden and I are going to try and drink 3 of these a week. One hippie friend says that this smoothie tastes especially good in a mason jar :) With all the fresh, (and I mean Farmer's market fresh) produce going into my kid's body I should probably start auctioning off his Grade A poop on Ebay and call it, "Baby Beanstalk Fertilizer" or something like that :)
One more tip before I go- part of my cooking schedule involves chopping up fresh dipping vegetables on Mondays like broccoli, carrots, peppers, ect. and storing them in tupperware in the 'fridge. If they are already prepared with your favorite dipping sauce then chances are you will be more likely to reach for those instead of a box of Cheez-its :)
Oh and speaking of farmer's markets, check out what's coming to Jack London Square in Oakland very soon...The World Famous Jack London Market!!!!! Oh my goodness I am sooooo excited about this!!!! It will be an amazing place to spend a day tasting and shopping for the bay area's best local and sustainable produce, meats, seafood, baked goods, wines, cheeses, ect. This is so awesome because I was just researching on which farms in the bay area sell grass-fed meat so I could visit a farm and buy some meat. Now I can also go here! There will be culinary events, a bookstore, and organic restaurant all within a beautiful six-story structure with breathtaking water views from every floor!!! Watch the short video, you will be amazed! And jealous of me when I'm shopping there! :) It'll make your local Whole Foods seem LAME in comparison! :)

Over the Past 7 days I have...

2010-05-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

Welcomed a dear friend's beautiful new baby girl into the world
Snuggled and kissed the chubby cheeks my little Aiden for an hour in bed one morning
Discovered a new trail near our house with a babbling brook and an awesome view of Mt.Diablo

Listened to some live Jazz at the farmer's market and danced in the street with my baby in his sling
Created my own version of minestrone soup with fresh basil from my garden on a cold, windy day
Met a potential new friend at the park
Laughed at Aiden's little bent- leg dancing moves

Felt a horrible ache in my heart as I considered having to wean Aiden this week due to his sleep-biting habit
Watched his curious, puzzled eyes follow a bug on the carpet for 3 very entertaining minutes
Painted a canvas bag with Aiden complete with his handprints and footprints

Discovered a "petting farm" 2 minutes down the road from out house and took my baby to meet the animals. The baby chicks were his favorite.
Listened to his little "chipmunk laugh" in the car all the way home from the store wishing I could bottle it up and listen to it forever
Sang many songs and watched him try to master the hand motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
Ate piles and piles of fresh, vibrant strawberries with my baby and let him smear the juice in his hair
Felt my heart skip a beat when he said two new words this week, "Nite nite" and "Nanna"
Bought Aiden his first Baby Bible for under $5!!!
Rejoiced, as we conquered the battle of the breast-biting and stumbled into a deeper connection and the perfect solution so that we may continue to nurse in bliss
Made my baby his favorite oat and banana cereal bars and watched him clap his hands in excitement before receiving one
Considered shaving my head
Introduced him to his new froggie potty. They're not friends just yet :)
Gave Aiden his first waverunner ride

Taught him how to strum a guitar and watched his joy as he did it
Peeked through the crib into his bed to hear his little content sigh
Felt the grass between my toes
Giggled as Aiden discovered that his playmate has a bellybutton too
Swung on the park swings with my baby on my lap soaking up every giggle
Splashed in the tub as he drove his boat all around
Spent waaaaay too much money on local fruit and awesome natural foods
Found the perfect dress at the perfect price
Watched him drum the drum to his dancing songs
Washed blue paint from between his toes
Started writing my birth story-finally!
Scored a new stroller in a better color

Loved the misty eyes my husband got while watching a father/son shaving scene in a movie
Chased around the house while clutching the laptop from my husband as he was saying, "You better not post THAT!" :)
Realized again how very blessed our little family is

How To Create a Fondant Work of Art

2010-05-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

First gather these supplies...

non-stick rolling pin, non-stick baking sheet thingie with measuring circles, mixing bowl, measuring cup, 1 stick of butter, 1 bag mini marshmallows, vanilla extract, 1 bag of confectioners sugar

Go here to learn the top secret fondant recipe- all recipes

After you've made your fondant and it's been refrigerated overnight...

Now if you are a crazy person like myself you'll feel that spending 45 minutes making the fondant wasn't enough so you'll crank out 30 cupcakes just to even things out...

Rub your hands with butter and roll it out on a flat surface
Now, get your special Duff Color Gel out and knead just a small bit into the fondant. You cannot use regular food coloring, it will not stick as well or give your fondant a rich enough pigment. Get the Duff gel. :)

Now that your fondant is colored, you can begin the fun shape making! It's just like working with play-dough except it tastes yummy so watch out, you'll be eating some along the way!

And here's a look at the finished product! A "mod-monkey" 3-tired fondant cake! And some cupcakes because I just couldn't help myself!

Oh and here's one more close-up of the cake...OOPS! WRONG PIC! This is what I USED to do before becoming a mommy spending countless HOURS in my kitchen like an Amish wife...partying it up! :)

Ok here's another cake pic...

It really wasn't all that bad making the cake. I mean, between preparing and baking the actual cakes, making the fondant, trying to keep my 1 year old from jumping off the couch with buttery fingers, dying the fondant, cutting the shapes, and assembling the cake while talking on the phone...I'd say it took all of the patience I had stored up for the entire year of 2010. I'll probably NEVER do it again next year! :)

Behind the Blog

2010-05-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

This newest section of the blog will just be some funny mommy to mommy notes that I have received on anything related to the blog postings that we discuss, posted here just for your entertainment. :) (I will ask your permission and change your name before posting.)

I thought this one was hilarious!

Laura,

So, I'm not going to lie, I think cloth diapers are ‘flippin gross, do not waste one second of your time trying to change my mind, but to each her own.

Laura meet Jill, Jill meet Laura. Jill wants to start using cloth diapers. Laura is an expert on these gross little textile poo receptacles. Jill is looking for a good type to try. Laura, please fill her in. Jill, Laura is a natural mother guru. Jill go follow her blog. Laura, Jill is a total green thumb and growing her own garden, she can give you tips on yours.

To make myself feel better about my kids eating pesticide laced veggies and guzzling soy formula by the ounce from latex bottles, keep in mind that while you guys are busy being super star holistic moms, I am relentlessly pursuing my quest to be the biggest skinny bitch in the world. I just squeezed my ass into a size 26…and hopefully made you girls laugh.

Also – this month’s book is ‘The Heart of the Matter’ by Emily Giffin. Go Get It.

xoxo

Roxy

Chomp, CHOMP!!!

2010-05-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday during our nap time feeding, Aiden was almost asleep when his little jaw clamped down on my nipple-harder than ever before. OOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! I controlled my urge to SCREAM LIKE CRAZY and took some deep breaths to calm myself down. This has happened a number of times and is just an accepted part of breastfeeding a toddler with 8 teeth. Usually I just use my finger to pry open his little shark bite and de-tach him but this time his teeth dragged on my nip on his way off. Then I saw blood spots on my arm as I moved him to my other breast. Where did this come from I thought? I looked all over Aiden frantically to see where he was bleeding from. Then I looked down and saw the big, red spot of blood on my bra and screamed silently in my mind. OMG there was a LOT of blood. YIKES! But now he was almost asleep, nursing happily on my other breast so I let him finish and put him down to sleep before I went to inspect my hurt breast.
When I checked it out, there were bite marks on my areola and my nip was still bleeding slightly. This was different from the bleeding from sore, cracked nipples during the first few weeks of breastfeeding. That was just from my breasts getting used to being used to feed on with a tiny, toothless marathon sucking champ. That was painful of course, but this, THIS was EXCRUCIATING! Immediately I thought, "OK I'M DONE!!!!! NO MORE!!!!!!!" Even though it clearly wasn't intentional because it happened while he was sleeping, I thought how am I going to make sure this doesn't happen again?
FAst forward 6 hours to bedtime and there I am, happily nursing him to sleep on my wounded booby praying his mouth doesn't decide to chomp me again. And he didn't. And I decided to press on and not give up so soon. Besides, I endured 2 MONTHS, yes 2 months of severe nipple pain in the beginning of our breastfeeding journey just to get this far. Oh and plugged ducts, a false diagnosis of thrush for which we paid $50 in meds for, and did I mention the BLEEDING, cracked sore nipples? After those initial two months I felt like I had climbed to the tippy top of one of the biggest mommy-mountains of baby's first year. Why give up now? I have grown to have a deep respect for breastfeeding because I now know the potential PAIN involved to get to the sweet, enjoyable part.
But then, this morning he chomped on me again as he was drifting off to sleep. And there was blood, this time MORE.
And now I am back to square one, contemplating whether or not I will continue our nursing. I am very sad at the thought of ending this sooner than I thought. I was planning on at least 2 years. I am not ready to give this up and I KNOW he's not either, in fact we've got some rough nights ahead of us at the Bishop house if we do stop right now... But I would like to keep my nipples in tact, I kinda need them for the next baby. But I'm sooooooo not ready...What to do? Anyone have any advice out there? Preferably those who have breastfed their child for at least a year, and like myself have an understanding of the high value and importance I feel with this time of nursing?

The Hippie Kick

2010-05-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

Ok so it is no secret that I'm on some hippie kick. It all started waaaay back in 2004, when my hippie roommate recycled EVERYTHING! And I mean everything, as in even the toothpaste box. Well, it turned out to be a big influence on me and I went from once throwing away the tiny cardboard or paper items like the toothpaste box to realizing that every bit helps and the guilt set in. I began recycling everything too. Like even the tampon wrappers to the smallest contact lens packaging. Watch out, I was a recycling Queen! If I visited someone's house I would say, "Oh I'll just go put this in your recycling bin..." and if they said they didn't have one or didn't recycle, I ended all contact with them right then and there. Just kidding. I then gave them a very guilt-inducing, "Ooohhhhhh...." but what I was really saying was: "Grab a HINT, you are murdering the EARTH!!!" :) Hippie conversion #1-check!

The next step into my hippie existence was the year of 2006-07 when I was living in Wyoming. WOW what a bunch of Earth-loving, hippies! These were the true hippies too, the no make-up and beanies, eating spinach salad with flax-seed for lunch, brew your own beer, gut an antelope in your front yard, cross-country SKI TO WORK through the downtown main street, Wal-Mart loathing, making pie crust from scratch, camping and hiking every weekend instead of spending money at the mall and Costco (well there was no mall/Costco in this town), disc- golf fanatical, Nalgene-toting, harmonica playing...well I'm sure by now you get the idea. :) I LOVED the lifestyle! What a refreshing change after well, California-need I say more? So I taught pre-K while living there and one of my co-workers had two recycling bins set up in the classroom that the kids had decorated. One for paper and one for plastic. At the end of each week when it was time to take the recycling out, it became very clear who's Kirkland plastic water bottles were filling up the bin....ahhh-ehhhhmmmm....My co-worker however had a handy Nalgene bottle from which she drank water everyday and it seemed much easier to get one of those then spend money every two weeks at Costco like a goofball buying all these polluting, energy-consuming plastic water bottles. Hippie conversion #2 completed. :) I had the cutest, pink Camelbak you've ever seen and have never looked back :)

2008 came along and now it was time to get pregnant. Then I began reading all the alternative birthing literature like, Birthing From Within and watching the movie The Business of Being Born and after that decided right then and there I would be birthing drug-free as it is the safest route for your baby. Once I had decided that I was going au natural, I thought that I should be incorporating this ideal into my diet, (eating as organically as possible). I began drinking my hippie prego tea which I proudly displayed on the kitchen counter as if to say, "There IS a pregnant princess in the house!" Then I thought about all the other chemicals we ingest on a daily basis through our skin and I promptly switched my skin care regimen as I read all the natural pregnancy books which stated that the chemicals in some products can be harmful to the fetus. I love the Belli Skin Care line which had something to suit all my needs. I also began listening to my hypno-birthing CD so that I could maintain a calm and confident mindset throughout the pregnancy and birthing process. (And boy did that work!) See, the hippies are on to something. They eat better, take care of the Earth better and are calmer happier people all around. Hippie conversion #3-check, check!

Now that my little angel had arrived, I wanted to continue to do what I thought was best for him. Cloth diapering, baby-wearing, making my own baby-food, the canvas grocery bag is a given ect. Having Aiden around has definitely inspired a new set of hippie conversions which I swear started with the whole cloth-diapering kick. It's like once you do this, than why not do that? Like switching my household cleaners to biodegradable, earth-friendly options like Method and Seventh Generation- (Which I might add I've even switched to Seventh Generation maxi pads so that I don't have to wonder about all the harmful chemicals my whoo-ha is ingesting when that time of the month rolls around)

Last week I started a compost pile. My husband is all for it except the concern of the smell and bugs but there are neither so far. I'll let you know how that goes. My goal now is to only have one bag of trash a week for the garbage man to pick up. With recycling, composting, and cloth diapers I'd say this is a reasonable goal. (The recycling trash bin is always overflowing!) Last conversion, (for now) are paper towels. Oh how I HATE buying them! What an expensive waste of money! They can't be recycled and they are chemically treated, bleached, and could cost well up to $400 a year! My new plan is to buy these paperless paper towels. Scroll down and read the Top 10 Reasons to Use Reusable Paper Towels article-good one! They are machine washable and dishwasher safe. They have high absorbency and hold up much better when used for scrubbing than regular paper towels. Check 'em out! Hopefully I will never be buying paper towels again!

That's all for now on the hippie kick! I'll leave you with a picture of an adorable, 4 month old hippie baby and this earthy quote: We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~ Native American Proverb

"I Want to Cloth Diaper But..."

2010-05-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Awesome blog post about cloth diapering hang-ups :)

Hello, My Name is Laura and I Am a Clothoholic

2010-05-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Laura. I am a clothoholic. I am in LOVE with cloth diapers. So much that I make sure to match the diaper color to Aiden's outfit for that day. But never match the dominant color, you match the lesser dominant color with the diaper if you really want to be hip, you know to offset it. Like painting an accent wall in your house. Well, I accent his outfit with the appropriate color because that is exactly how big of an addict I am. And my baby will have the cutest bum around that's for sure!
I also faithfully suscribe to the Cloth Diaper Whisperer blog which is a wonderful tutorial for entering the world of cloth. They have fantastic giveaways every Friday where you can enter to win free diapers and stuff. They also have a contest every month where you send in a creative photo of your baby in their cloth, or "fluff" as it's called for more chances to win free diapers. Then they make these adorable videos of all the contestants with these tear-jerking mother-love baby songs in that backround and... omg then I just loose it when I see all the cute babies saving the Earth one cute, fluffy bottom at a time. (I know, this is getting really freaky but bear with me it's late and well I'm a woman.)
About once a week I visit my favorite cloth diaper store, Kelly's Closet just to see if there's any new cloth diaper or accessory that I don't already have or maybe a new diaper is out that I don't even know about. This week the "need" is a swim diaper. (Aiden's swim class starts in June!) Oh and a travel wetbag so I can finally start using cloth when we're out and about during the day. (I usually cheat when away from home doing errands and use disposables) But no more, no I'm going all the way now baby! I'm taking the plunge into true-hippie-mama-hood. Never again will I purchase another bag of toxic, chemical-laden plastic nasties disposable diapers which by the way are seriously polluting our Earth. I will be using cloth even when we go on a quick trip to Target and his diaper unexpectedly needs a 'changin! I'll just pull out my handy-dandy wet bag and dispose of the soiled diaper there and put a fresh, new cloth diaper on him. Wa-la! (A wet-bag is a waterproof, anti-bacterial, odor-proof bag which fully seals shut for storing soiled cloth diapers in until you get home) They are also great for storing wet swimsuits in and other nasty, soiled baby-messed clothing. :)
Traveling with cloth is not all that bad. As long as your host has a washer and dryer, (and you ask in advance if they are ok with you washing your diapers in their machine making sure to explain that the poopy ones get throughly washed out before going into the washing machine.) Unless it's your cloth diaper-phobic friend from college who freaks out at the thought of something once poopy going into her washer. Even though her baby poops on her clothes all the time because disposables LEAK! In this case just bring a few Kushies Flushable Liners along to use in your diapers when you anticipate a poop from your little one. These are great to use when on the go and you just flush them away in the toilet just like toilet paper. It's very do-able and very nice to know how much money you are saving by using re-usable cloth diapers, even when traveling. And now since I've saved so much money using cloth, maybe I'll join you at the mall my friend and buy myself a new dress :)

My Birth Plan

2010-05-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

If you thrive on having a plan like I do then consider creating a birthing plan a few months before the big event. This will let your doctor and nurses know what your preferences are so that you avoid screaming at them during labor. :)
I went to Earth Mama Angel Baby, clicked on the "free birth plan" tab at the top and simply filled in the blanks. It was that easy :)
Here is mine. I just retrieved it from my email archives from when I had sent it to my husband. The email read : Please print 10 copies for my birthing staff. (At the time we didn't have a printer at home) Please read carefully. Thanks. The Woman Who's Having Your Child :)

To my Health Care Providers: Thank you for taking the time to work with us and our birth plan. These are our preferences; however we are open and flexible to any medical intervention that may become nessesary in the case of a medical emergency.

My Name:
      Laura Bishop My Due Date: April 12, 2009
My Address: Brentwood, CA My Doctor: Dr. Walker, Dr. Kasper, Dr. Senior
My Partner: Tim Bishop
      As long as the baby and I are heathy, I would like to go at least 10 to 14 days over my due date before inducing labor.
      I would like to discuss laboring at home as long as possible.
      I trust that my practitioner will seek out my opinion concerning all of the issues directly affecting my birth before deviating from my plan.
      If I go past my due date and the baby and I are fine, I prefer to go into labor naturally rather than be induced.
      During a vaginal exam, I prefer at no time to have my membranes broken unless there is an emergency situation.
      I prefer to have minimal internal exams.
      If I am less than five centimeters dilated, I would like the option of going home.
      If induction becomes necessary, I would like to try natural induction techniques first(with the guidance of my practitioner).
These are the natural induction techniques I would like to try:
      Breast stimulation
      Walking
      Herbs
      Castor oil
      Sexual intercourse
If Medical induction becomes necessary, I prefer to try:
      Rupturing membranes
If my water breaks before I go into labor, I would like to:
      wait 6 hours before being induced.
      Upon arrival at the hospital, I prefer to have my partner with me at all times.
      Please, no residents or students attending my birth.
I request the following people to be present during my labor and/or 2nd stage labor:
      My Partner: Tim Bishop
      My Relatives: Norma Larsen, Neva Bishop
      My Friends: possibly my doula
      My Siblings: Melissa Smith
      I prefer to give birth in a birthing room.
      I prefer to give birth in room with a shower and/or bath.
If birth equipment is available, I would like to use:
      A birthing bed.
      A birthing ball.
      A birthing tub/pool/shower.
      A birthing stool.
Miscellaneous environmental requests:
      I would like to have dimmed lights.
      I would like for people entering the room to speak softly.
      I would like to play music.
      I would like to wear my own clothes during labor and delivery.
      I would like to be reminded to remove my clothing during the actual delivery.
      I would like to wear headsets during my labor and delivery.
      I would like to have my birth photographed.
      I would like to have my birth filmed/videotaped.
      I would like to wear my glasses or contact lenses unless removal becomes medically necessary.
      I would like to have no restrictions on food or fluids during my labor.
      I prefer to have no IV.
      Please do not offer me pain medications. Instead, offer me the encouragement I need to get through this labor drug-free. Bring in a cheer squad if you have to. (ok that last part I just now added) :)
I am prepared to try to handle pain with these natural and alternative methods:
      Breathing techniques.
      Distraction techniques.
      Hypnotherapy.
      Massage.
      Deep (or guided) relaxation.
      Water/bath/shower.
Other considerations :
      Ultimately, I want to be able to walk around and move as I wish while in labor.
      Ultimately, I would like to feel unrestricted in accessing any sounds of chanting, grunting, or moaning during labor.
      Please keep my door always closed during labor.
      If pushing for more than several hours, I am open to medical intervention in 2nd stage labor.
I would like to be encouraged to try the following different positions for labor:
      Squatting.
      Classic semi-recline.
      Hands and knees.
      Standing upright.
      Side Lying.
      Whatever feels right at the time
      I will ask for an enema if I feel that I need one.
      I prefer not to have an episiotomy.
To help prevent tearing, please apply:
Other labor considerations:
      No stirrups please unless I'm having a medical emergency.
      If intervention is needed for an assisted vaginal birth, I prefer vaccume suction
      I would like to view the birth using a mirror.
      I would like my partner to catch my baby, (if he is ready and willing at the time)
      I would like for our baby to hear our voices first.
      I prefer to have the lights dimmed for delivery or, if it is daylight, to access only natural light.
After Baby is Born:
      As long as my baby is healthy, I would like my baby placed immediately on my abdomen following the birth.
      Please put my baby skin-to-skin on my abdomen with a warm blanket over it.
      Please delay all essential routine procedures on my baby until after the bonding and breastfeeding period (i.e., bathing).
      If a C-Section is not an emergency, please give us time alone to think about it before asking for our written consent.
      My partner(s) is(are) to be present at all times during the c-section.
      Ideally, I would like to remain conscious during the procedure.
      I would like the baby to be shown to me immediately after it's born.
      I would like to have contact with the baby as soon as it is possible in the delivery room.
      We would like to photograph or film the operation as the baby comes out.
      If possible, please discuss anesthesia options with me (including morphine options).
      I prefer a low transverse incision on my abdomen and uterus.
Recovery:
      If my baby is healthy, I would like to hold my baby and nurse it immediately in recovery.
      I would like to sign any waivers necessary to permit me to be with my baby in recovery.
      As long as my baby is healthy, I would like my partner to be the babys constant source of attention until I am free to bond with it (i.e., holding, skin-to-skin contact, etc.).
      Please discuss with me what I can expect to feel immediately following the procedure.
      Please discuss my post-operative pain medication options with me before or immediately following the procedure.
      Please allow my partner to cut the umbilical cord.
Placenta:
      I would prefer for the placenta to be born spontaneously without the use of pitocin, and/or manual extraction.
      If the baby has any problems, I would like my partner to be present with the baby at all times, if possible.
      I would like to have routine newborn procedures delayed until bonding and breastfeeding have occurred.
      I would like all newborn routine procedures to be performed in my presence.
Administration of Eyedrops:
      I would like my baby to be administered eyedrops immediately after birth.
Vitamin K:
      I would like my baby to receive a routine injection of vitamin K immediately after birth.
Immunizations:
      I prefer any immunizations be postponed to a later time.
Bathing Baby:
      Please bathe my baby after we have had time to bond with it.
Circumcision:
      I would like him circumcised.
Other circumcision options:
      Please use a local anesthetic.
PKU:
      Routine PKU Testing right away.
Feedings:
      My baby is to be exclusively breastfed.
      I would like to see a lactation consultant as soon as possible for further recommendations and guidance.
Do not offer my baby the following without my consent:
      Formula.
      Pacifiers.
      Any artificial nipples.
      Sugar water.
If my baby's health is in jeopardy, I would like:
      To be transported with my baby if possible.
      My partner to go with the baby.
      To breastfeed or express my milk for my baby.
      To have no time restrictions with my baby.
      To have as much bodily contact with my baby as possible.
      To be offered a room at the hospital for the duration of my baby's stay (within reason).
I would like my in-hospital routine to be:
      Delayed rooming in until I have had time to rest.
Other hospital preferences:
      I prefer a private room.
      I prefer to have my partner stay with me for the duration of my hospital stay.
      I want privacy during my stay and for my guests to limit the time they are visiting me.

10 Things Mommy's REALLY Want for Mother's Day

2010-05-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

1) A massage from YOU hubby. And no not a 5 minute, one-handed massage ending with you falling asleep.
2) A cute sterling silver necklace with MOM on it, maybe with baby's birthstone, maybe not.
3) Two blissful, uninterrupted hours to read my book while sunbathing in our backyard. An icy, fruity drink with the little paper umbrella earns major bonus points.
4) A day without poop. Dirty diaper? YOUR turn hubby!
5) A through cleaning of my plantation shutters, (which I have been meaning to clean since the day we moved in over a year ago) by someone who is NOT ME!
6) The classic, heart-melting homemade card by Aiden himself :) (More bonus points for a special message written by him too)
7) A hike by the ocean with my favorite lunch, again NOT packed by me :)
8) Time to go see the new Babies movie with the girls :)
9) Let me sleep in an extra hour while you take kid duty
10) A big, slobbery kiss from my beautiful baby

What are some things YOU want for Mother's DAy?

The Birthday Sign

2010-05-04T23:06:00.000-07:00

1) Go to Michael's, get cardstock or scrapbook paper in your colors of choice

2) Buy a scrapbooking circle cutter- the nice old lady with the reading glasses will show you :)

3) Have your incredibly HOT husband show you how to use Power Point on your laptop to choose which custom letter stylings you want

4) Print letters, kiss husband

5) Cut Circles- a two person job. Make sure to cut the letter circles slightly smaller

6) Glue letter circles on to scrapbook paper circles

7) Hole punch and string with ribbon!

8) Waaaaa Laaaaaa! You are a crafty mama!

Cloth Diaper Instructional Videos

2010-05-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a GREAT resource for learning about the different cloth diaper options!

Cloth Diaper Fix for the Heavy Wetting Toddler

2010-04-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

Around Aiden's 10 month birthday or so my lovely cloth diapers began to leak! Which ones you ask? All of them! My Bum Genius, Fuzzi Bunz and my Smartipants. At first I was shocked because these diapers have never leaked on me, not even with the WORST of blowouts! Then I realized that for a while now Aiden had been drinking water throughout the day in addition to breastmilk and solids. I realized that as he got older he would obviously have to pee more. So then I started doubling up each diaper with the regular micro-terry insert and combining it with the newborn diaper-doubler insert. This worked great and solved the problem. The doubled up diapers are of course a LOT bulkier than just a diaper with just one insert and I wondered how this might be too uncomfortable for Aiden in the hot summer months.
After browsing on Kelly's Closet one day during nap-time, I discovered Babykicks Hemparoo inserts and decided to give them a shot. They have SIX layers of hemp/cotton jersey that are only 1/8 of an inch thick! They are designed to be thin and highly absorbent as well. I ordered 5 just to start and after trying them loved them! They fit all my different types of cloth diapers perfectly and they sure are highly absorbent, more than even 2 layers of the traditional inserts! Here's a fun fact: Hemp holds 10 times it's weight in fluid. Which in Aiden's case I'm sure he tested that to the limit because those hemp inserts are HEAVY with pee after their soiled :) (I make sure to rinse them out too before throwing them into the diaper pail to avoid any lingering odors after they have been washed.) And one last side note-these hemp inserts arrive looking very long, maybe even too long to fit in the diapers without folding. But they shrink significantly after washing and drying so make sure to order the appropriate size.
Happy cloth diapering!

Why I Continue to Breastfeed My Toddler

2010-04-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here's my present -day battle with science versus nature:
My child is a booby man that's for sure! He just turned one year old on April 3 and even though we started solids waaaaay back at 6 months, even though I make him the best baby meals he could ever want, there is something about that magic booby milk that keeps him coming back for more. Something that makes him laugh with joy and clap his chubby little hands when he sees that it is time to nurse. My multitasking boobs are not only his main source of comfort these days but of course play a very important part in providing his ultimate nutritional needs and strengthening his immune system. So it baffles me when doctors say that it is time to wean them at one year old! Sure it would be nice to have my body back to myself and be less tied to my baby than I am but this is my job now. More importantly, this is also something that right now is very important to my baby's comfort, bonding with me, nourishment and overall contentment in his young life. The nourishment part being the biggest factor, why would I take away the best health insurance I could be giving my baby right now just because some Dr. says it's time? And why did the AAP decide to only encourage ONE year of breastfeeding? For who's benefit is this idea? So after considering all of these factors and taking a look into some alternative mothering styles, I have become a fan of child-led weaning and have decided that I will let him choose when he is ready to move on from me in that way. Doesn't mean I'm going to end up one of THOSE mothers with a 4 or 5 year old hanging off her tit, in my opinion that's a little off...but at only one year old my toddler is still a baby who is in great need of his mama's milk. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends only ONE year of breastfeeding but the World Health Organization recommends at least TWO years. I think I'll go with the WHO's recommendation.
Here are some good reasons to ignore the doctor's recommendations on this subject and just go with you mama's natural instinct: ( I adopted a few of these ideas from an good article I read last month, simplified it Laura-style and brought it to the blog.)

Convenience- Weaning a baby before he's ready can be quite difficult. Carrying around messy snacks and dealing with tantrums. No thank you. Naptime struggles? Not a problem with a nursing toddler. If things get difficult I know an all -natural induced nap is just around the corner. :)
Tantrum-Tamer- Breasts are powerful tools. Nursing your toddler to calm them down during a tantrum almost always works. Easy as pie. They don't always understand your words at this age, but they certainly understand mama's comfort.
Nutrition- Toddlers can be very picky about what they eat. One day they LOVE your vegetable soup, the next day it gets tossed on the floor. One thing you can count on is that they will always nurse and continue to receive the many nutritional benefits of nature's perfect food.
Fighting Dehydration During Illness- When your toddler is sick he may not want anything to do with solid food. But most likely he will always nurse. This will avoid any scary dehydration issues and trips to the ER for an IV. Even scarier to a toddler.
Weight Loss for Mom- Yea! Something good for US! For every day a lactating woman nurses, she uses an extra 500 calories. This helps in loosing the pregnancy weight after the first year of nursing.
It's Good for the Planet- Breastfeeding is the most ecological thing you can do concerning your child. No cups, bottles to wash, milk jugs to add to the recycling bin, and as a bonus babies are not exposed to the antibiotics and hormones injected into dairy cows.
The Bonding- The bond that I have with my son is irreplaceable and I LOVE that. No one else can fulfill his needs like I can and it makes me happy to know that he gets his ultimate comfort from me and not some artificial formula with unnatural chemicals and a plastic bottle which anyone could give him. He gets my warmth and my love through my milk. I love the content sighs as he's falling asleep on my breast and how he looks so at peace. We are very connected right now, never apart not even for one night. Sometimes this is hard and a night away would be fun, but right now there's no where I'd rather be with than my baby. And I know he needs this connection from me right now. One day he won't need me anymore in this way and I'll be left with the memories of these precious times.
It makes for a happy toddler. End of story :) Ever heard the phrase, "Happy wife, Happy life?" Well it applies to toddlers too :)

What are your thoughts on extended breastfeeding?

Singing Every Day and Every Night...

2010-03-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

I just read that the month of March is Sing with Your child Month! Aiden and I enjoy singing and dancing together at least once a day. As soon as he hears the music, he moves his little body excitedly and claps his hands. Even at the young age of 11 months, he knows that when we put on the music it is a fun time to be creative, silly, sing and dance around together.
When I worked at this amazing pre-school in Wyoming a few years ago, I was introduced to the Music Together program. Every week a Music Together teacher came to our school and taught music and movement to all of the classes. The songs were catchy, easy to learn and beautifully melodic. Each child and teacher is given a Music Together CD and songbook and are encouraged to bring the music home and enjoy with their parents. I soon found myself listening to the Music Together CD in my car with my husband on long road trips. He soon caught the Music Together bug and quickly started humming along-but don't tell him I said anything about THAT! :)
Classes were only 30-45 minutes long-perfect for the short attention span of a 5 year old and everyone was encouraged to only be as involved as they were comfortable with. Dancing with scarves, learning and repeating tonal patterns, finger-plays, singing in a round, acting out feelings, and having an instrumental jam session were just a few of the fun activities that took place in our classes. These classes introduce children to the joy of making music rather than passively receiving it from the television or a CD. While participating class, it was easy to completely relax and forget all our troubles of life and become a carefree child again.
Music Together is an internationally recognized program for children ages 0-5 and the adults who love and care for them. The first public class took place in 1987 pioneering the concept of research-based, developmentally appropriate early childhood music curriculum that strongly encourages adult involvement. Parents and children can create so many good memories and bonding in a music class and bring the songs home for the rest of the family to enjoy. Visit the Music Together website to learn more about finding a class near you. I am hoping to sign up for a class as a birthday present when Aiden turns one. I'll be sure to report back on how he likes it :)
Here is a recent video that was just posted on the Music Together facebook page. A Music Together teacher was taking a bike tour through Africa and stopped to teach some children a song and activity to the tune of "Biddy Biddy" from the Drum song collection.
What are some of your favorite songs that you and your family sing together?

Yummies for Aiden's Tummy

2010-03-11T23:49:00.000-08:00

From the moment I learned of my pregnancy with Aiden, I became super careful of what I put into my body. I drank so much water and when I did occasionally have a soda it was a Hansen's and not a Pepsi. I added more fresh fruits and vegetables to my diet and cut out red meat completely. (Well actually my body did that on it's own as I was disgusted by red meat my entire pregnancy.) I believe it may have been a natural defense mechanism of my pregnant body, loosing the cravings for foods that were not so good for myself and my baby and replacing them with cravings for foods such as fruits, veggies, whole grains and white meats. Every time I ate something that was not going to be beneficial for my growing fetus such as a cookie or a king-sized Butterfinger bar, I imagined my tiny baby ingesting all that sugar and the guilt set in. This kept my sugar-binges under control. I always ate whenever hunger set in because I knew if I didn't, nausea would come and that wouldn't be a pretty sight. For the last trimester of my pregnancy I even woke up at 4am with this crazy, insatiable hunger that wouldn't allow me to sleep until I ate. I remember feeling like my stomach was eating itself away until I fed it. My little guy was sure hungry at all hours of the day and night just as he would be after he was born.
After I gave birth and began breast-feeding, I continued to have an even greater awareness of what was going into my body as I held my little angel baby looking at me with his little, trusting eyes. I continued the healthy eating with the mindset that I was the sole source of all his nutrients, AKA the "liquid gold." I began feeding Aiden whenever he wanted it from me, free of any schedule. Somewhere in all the preparing for motherhood books I remember reading about how some people think it is so important to put baby on a feeding schedule from day one. Something about this felt off even before I dabbled in my knowledge of the attachment parenting principals. I mean seriously, do we deny ourselves the luxury of eating whenever we feel the need? Then why is it necessary to apply this scheduling to a newborn baby who doesn't even know night from day? Who's needs are we fulfilling when we schedule a baby? Ours or theirs? And who's needs should come first? These questions led me to learning more about attachment parenting or parenting on instinct. It felt right to honor my baby's need to be fed at any time just as fulfilling my need to eat at all hours during pregnancy.
As Aiden grew and began eating solids, I began to get more creative and making all of his food myself. I just figured if I'm already feeding him the best milk possible, why mess up the plan with processed baby food? I feel that just the act of breast-feeding sets your mind to continuing the pattern of eating whole, fresh foods as much as possible. It becomes part of your sub-conscience. You are what you eat right? So my baby food making frenzy began. I made friends with my magic bullet, a butternut squash from my local farmer's market and these little baby cubes containers, (for freezer storage) and was happy to put in a little extra effort to give me the peace of mind that I was providing him with the most nutritious food I could.
Aiden is now 11 months old and thriving. His favorite foods are yams, bananas, apples, guacamole, my home made chicken noodle soup and as of tonight my, "Go Green Orzo" which I created tonight in a pinch as we had almost run out of Aiden-friendly foods. Before eating this dish, Aiden refused his peas. He threw them at me. He smashed them into his hair. He even faked coughed as if he was choking on them. I had to think of a way for him to enjoy them so I came up with this recipe on a desperate attempt for him to re-think his boo on peas. He LOVED it! Yea! Here's the recipe, happy eating!

Aiden's Go Green Orzo

1 box of orzo
1 small tub of pesto sauce, (or make your own)
1/4 stick of butter
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 bag of (thawed) frozen peas

Cook orzo according to directions on the box. Drain and add butter, cheese, pesto sauce and peas. Mix and enjoy!

This post is part of the 2010 API Principles of Parenting blog carnival, a series of monthly parenting blog carnivals, hosted by API Speaks. Learn more about attachment parenting by visiting the API website.

Two Foodies, A Baby, and A Major Roadtrip :)

2010-03-05T23:30:00.000-08:00

Last month was spent up in Oregon having some quality time with our family. We are so lucky that my husband's job allows him to telecommute when need be. It was a two day trip from the bay area to the suburbs of Portland where our family lives. The car was loaded with baby gear and plenty of snacks to keep us energized for the long trips. Aiden did amazingly well on the road on the way there and back. We were so very lucky for that. 14 hours in 2 days on the road is enough to make anyone a little crazy let alone a 10 month old baby :)

On the way home we decided to take a detour to the coast and through the redwoods on HWY 101 which I had never been. We stayed the night in a beautiful Hampton Inn in Crescent City, CA with an ocean view and it was extremely affordable! Crescent City was a quaint little coastal town with only a few restaurants and a Safeway thank goodness! I'm always hopeful of at least one good supermarket when traveling to new places in case we find ourselves needing some baby Tylenol or Pedialyte at 2am. In the morning we used our UrbanSpoon app on our iphone to find the best restaurant for breakfast in this new town. Our goal was to eat organically the whole way down the 101 that day, just for kicks not because we are the kind of people who ONLY eat organically but we thought it would be fun to seek out the healthiest options of road food on this trip. Good 'ole Urban Spoon led us to the Good Harvest Cafe which was a great pick! The avocado, bacon, and cheddar omelet was to die for and the french toast was just crispy enough to withstand the heaping amounts of maple syrup I drizzled on. Mmmmmm I am starting to salivate just remembering it. Considering some late night french toast maybe...
We continued on our journey driving along the coast with the windows down, the new Norah Jones album turned up, breathing in the salty sea air mixed with the scent big, green redwoods. The ocean water sparkled that day and Aiden slept most of the morning drive.

Our next stop was Arcata, home of CSU Humboldt and more hippies than I'd ever seen in my whole life! Wow there were so many hippies! And not even the kind of preppy REI hippies you see in most parts, I'm talking the red-eyed, dreads, incense-saturated, just rolled out of bed hippies! And the OLD hippies like my parents age. The ones who probably followed the Grateful Dead and then never went on to do anything else with their lives except move to Arcata, sit on the sidewalk outside a store and sell friendship bracelets. Since we were in hippie-ville we made sure to dress our little hipster baby accordingly...

About 12 miles down the road from Arcata is the gorgeous, Victorian-inspired town of Eureka. We decided to eat there for lunch because I found this awesome new North Coast CO-OP with an amazing selection of organic foods, wines, a full service deli, fresh baked breads, the BEST prices of teas I've ever seen and a HUGE organic health and beauty section. I wanted to shop all day! We got the yummiest free-range turkey and avocado sandwich on a fresh baked whole wheat roll and I was in heaven. We even found Aiden some Earth's Best gourmet baby food that he scarfed down. It was a variety that I hadn't seen anywhere else-chicken risotto with mango...
If there's one thing those hippies have got right it is the way that they eat. All along our drive that day on the 101 were some awesome looking Natural food stores and Co-ops. The demand for good food must be high around there because I have never seen such a high concentration of quality grocery stores and organic restaurants than down the 101.

On to view some of God's most fantastic natural wonders...da da DUM.....The Redwoods!

A "Breast-Stop" and then on to Ukiah for dinner. I found this restaurant in one of those free tourist magazines I took at one of the redwood parks we stopped at earlier. What caught my eye was, "...the first organic brewery in the nation..." Sweet! An organic brewery. There's always great food at breweries so we went for it. The Ukiah Brewing Co. lived up to the hype. I had an organic greens pear salad with walnuts and endives and a scrumptious viniagrette. For my entree I had the chicken strips which were crisped to perfection and cajun french fries. YUM. Organic ketchup and mustard sat on every table and when we asked if they could heat up Aiden's food in the microwave, (which we avoid at home) the waitress politely replied, " Oh we don't HAVE a microwave. Microwaves are bad for your food." Right on girlfriend, RIGHT ON! LOVE it! So she brought us a cup of boiling water instead to heat his food. Live music filled the air and a beautiful 1930's-looking bar gave us something fun to look at. If you ever find yourself in Ukiah, check it out.
It IS possible to eat well on a roadtrip. If you have an iphone use the Urban Spoon app, if not than do your research before you get in the car but when there's a will to avoid nasty Mickey D's, there's probably a natural foods store right up the street. Well unless you live in middle America then you're screwed. When we drove from Wyoming through Nebraska there was nothing but greasy spoons called Perkins. NASTY old people food. If driving in the midwest where they haven't yet discovered healthy eating then pack your own lunch. The End :)

living with laura's baby

2010-02-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

hey this is michael king i am a cousion in law of laura and her baby is probly one of the coolest i will ever meet yesterday he had his first accadent in his little walker in to the trash can then i got a talk from her about how unhealthy are diet is she had her first piece of junk food in her life aiden also loves it i watched him chased the dog but cant get around the chairs because he is too small he also reads all of are dirt bike magazines he has ripped about three of them he also trys to pull my hair every time i hold him and i have taught him how to play the drums. he is the coolest little cousion i have and i am really glad to have them around these few weeks

You Know You are In Love...

2010-01-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

With your baby when you spend 24/7 with him, you've just spent the last hour and a half holding him while he sleeps, you put him down in the crib for the night, and 5 minutes later you are smelling his little jacket left on the couch because you desperately miss him. You contemplate going back to his room, picking him up and holding him for a little longer before putting him down again for the night. But then you realize that this would make you slightly insane since all you do all day is eat, sleep and breathe this little angel and have zero time for a thought of your own to enter your mind. You realize that you are only human and need a break every once in a while...So you stay put. But you miss your baby.

Hands OFF!!!

2010-01-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

The other day I walked to Walgreen's as we often do for some supplies. While waiting in line at the checkout counter, some random lady turned around and playfully pinched Aiden's cheek and said, "Oh you are so cute baby, cootchie chootchie coo..." I immediately pulled the stroller back towards me and shooed her germy had away from my child's cheek! Most people know it is just not polite to touch a stranger's baby. You just don't go there. For many reasons that I shouldn't even have to explain. I told her, " Please don't touch my baby" in the nicest tone I could muster up through all my fury. :) I was shocked that someone would think it's a good idea to touch someone else's baby with all the concern of germs out there, SWINE FLU scare, not knowing where her crusty old hands have been and just out of respect for a stranger's personal space-no matter how old they are.
She looked at me shocked after shooing her hand away and proceeded to...DO IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She brushed her hand to his cheek AGAIN!!!!! After I JUST ASKED HER NOT TOO!!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS THE NERVE!!!!!!!! ARE you kidding me? Now I was furious! My mommy-instinct paired with crazy hormones went off! An instant rush of adrenaline RUSHED furiously through my body and for the first time in my life I felt like I wanted to take someone DOWN! I felt that I had enough adrenaline in me that I could karate-chop her face with my hands 5 times before throwing her across the store. And she had NO IDEA the boundry she had crossed. She obviously had no idea how retarded she was. So I took a deep breath and replied in a much louder, more firm voice, " DO NOT TOUCH MY BABY!!!!" And then she said, "Why not? "
OMG!!!????? I said, "I do NOT owe YOU an explanation!" and walked away. She was just too dumb to even waste my breath on.
When it was my turn to check out the cashier gave me an understanding smile, handed me some hand sanitizer and said, " Some people just don't know." She's right, some people just don't know. But now hopefully one person will think twice about it later on.

National De-Lurking Day

2010-01-21T10:07:00.000-08:00

Ok my faithful blog readers, today is the day to stop lurking behind the doors of cyberspace privacy and come OUT and show yourselves! Today is the day because it's National De-Lurking Day! Do you know what that means? If you read my blog but never leave a comment or haven't signed up as a follower than today is the day to do it! Tell me what you ate for breakfast this morning or the craziest thing you've ever done. Or you can tell me what about my blog keeps you coming back for more. Is it my product reviews or my personal stories where I reveal more than you ever thought you'd know about me? Is it the adorable pictures of my baby boy? Or perhaps we went to grade school together and you've always thought I was a crazy, freak of nature so you are curious about how the mind of a crazy person works. Whatever your reason, tell me. I'm curious. :) Don't be shy, you know you want to! :)

Simple Toys Promote Creativity

2010-01-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

Now That Christmas is over, our house is full of toys! Many of them light up, sing to you, say the alphabet, and even bounce across the living room :) Some you can stack like the Little People Farm set, and some you can roll and others you can push as a way to learn how to walk. Aiden definitely has a lot of different types of toys to keep his interest for the time being.
One thing I have noticed is that my little explorer loves to turn all his toys upside down and figure out how they work. He turns his toy fire truck upside down and spins the wheels and fiddles with the axels. Another Vtech Toy, ( It has a steering wheel, stick shift control and makes all sorts of car and driving noises) is one he loves to push across the room, (upside down) making his own car noises. The toy is clearly meant for babies to practice steering the wheel, shifting the stick shift and pushing the buttons that sing and light up. But all my Aiden wants to do is turn the whole thing upside down to it's plain, solid red, sticker-free surface and push it around the room. At first I thought maybe he doesn't get how you are supposed to play with the toy but then it dawned on me that there is no right way to play with any toy and also that he had created his own way to play with it. And make his own noise to go along with it. Hmmmmm maybe the simpler the toy the better because then he has room to be creative and use his imagination to make the toy come alive. One of his toys had to get it's batteries removed it was so loud and obnoxious! The tones were so piercing they made my ears ring as I stood in the kitchen. Aiden and the toy were over in the family room so I could only imagine how loud the sounds were to his little ears. Besides, if you remove the batteries, get down on the floor to play with baby and the toys, the sounds of his sweet laughter will be all you need for entertainment.
So after close observation and careful experimentation of Aiden's play rituals, I have come to the conclusion that the simpler the toy, the longer it holds his 9 month old interest. Blocks, balls, crinkling paper, socks, bottles of colored water, little people, blanket peek-a-boo and even a jump rope have kept little man occupied much longer that the latest VTech toy. Now I'm not knocking the electronics, just saying that it may be a good idea not to have a house full of them. Maybe 2-3 electronic toys at the most would be sufficient, leaving room for toys that actually teach children to create and not be robots. This is the mantra in the Bishop home :)
I am a big fan of wooden, natural toys but am not a fan of their prices. These are high-quality toys that are classic and allow for the utmost creativity. I have yet though to find a company that sells them for a price that we can afford. Here is an example of a natural toy company. Here's another one I like called Eden Home - check their wooden toy section. Diapers.com also has a wooden toys section and these are the most affordable I've found yet!
Another great, educational toy company is Lakeshore Learning which were used in some of the higher-quality private schools I've worked in.
Here is a thought-provoking article on the subject at hand :) Enjoy!
Old-fashioned retro toys, such as red rubber balls, simple building blocks, clay and crayons, that don't cost so much and are usually hidden in the back shelves are usually much healthier for children than the electronic educational toys that have fancier boxes and cost $89.99, says Temple University developmental psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek.
As Roberta Golinkoff, head of the Infant Language Project at the University of Delaware says, Electronic educational toys boast brain development and that they are going to give your child a head start. But developmental psychologists know that it doesn't really work this way. The toy manufacturers are playing on parents fears that our children will be left behind in this global marketplace.
Golinkoff adds that kids are not like empty vessels to be filled. If they play with toys that allow them to be explorers, they are more likely to learn important lessons about how to master their world.
Suggested advice for parents is to “Look for a toy that is 10 percent toy and 90 percent child — ‘A lot of these toys direct the play activity of our children by talking to them, singing to them, asking them to press buttons and levers,’ Hirsh-Pasek says. ‘But our children like to figure out what is going on by themselves. I look for a toy that doesn't command the child, but lets the child command it.
“Golinkoff adds, ‘The irony is that the real educational toys are not the flashy gadgets and gismos with big promises, but the staples that have built creative thinkers for decades.’”
Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek are the authors of “Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn– And Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less.”
For more advice and guidelines for selecting gifts for children, read the full article. Less really is more. :)

I also support Campaign For a Commercial Free Childhood, check them out!

* Picture- Aiden at 6 and 1/2 months enjoying his wooden blocks :)

Organization Is the Key To Success :)

2010-01-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

My old choir conductor in college always used to say this. He was an amazing artist, conductor and vocalist. He could make my voice come alive like I never knew it could with his vocal exercises. And he was meticulous about everything. How we sat, how our music was arranged in our folders, the order of the rehearsal, our posture, with his, "Leave your troubles at the door" attitude...and the list goes on. I'm getting off track, my point is, the guys had his stuff together. Someone who was very successful in his field of study and someone who you could always count on to show up and make magical music happen :)
So long ago I decided to follow his lead :)
Well actually I've always been a natural organizer and I too believe it makes for a more efficient, productive and motivating lifestyle. Clear the clutter, organize and prioritize! :)
So this weekend my parents came to babysit the little one so hubby and I could get some much needed house projects accomplished. We found some very cute dressers that we are using as night stands for all our junk. Up until now we've been sharing ONE dresser. ONE. And many of my clothes are hanging in those clear, plastic organizers in our closet. Not fun when your trying to find your favorite shirt.
Here are pictures of a few drawers I organized and de-cluttered this weekend. MAJOR difference! Like a breath of fresh air!
Feel free to DROOL over my new, Victoria Secret-like lingerie drawer. Oh and my PJ drawer! I have a major addiction/obsession with CUTE PJ's. You know, in case the President decides to stop by for an evening dessert one night. :) They key to maximizing your space is to ROLL those shirts, pants, PJ's ect. Drawer organizers work wonders too.
It sure feels good to now have more of my clothes and bathroom supplies under organization's control. After almost 10 months of living in our new house, it was about time!

The Greener the Better :)

2010-01-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Seventh Generation products! They are safe to use around children, you can't eat them but

they're safe! :) They smell delicious and are earth-friendly! I'm glad I watched this video because I wasn't aware that they also make a bleach which is chlorine-free and safer for our homes than the traditional

Clorox brand.

Another good brand of biodegradable and VERY yummy smelling cleaning products are the Method

line which can be found at Target. Method comes in lovely, designer-worthy scents such as cucumber, french lavender, sea minerals, sweet water, grapefruit and unscented. They clean wonderfully and after

you are done your house smells fantastic! (Scents are HUGE for me) I must have yummy scents all

throughghout my home which are fresh, light and clean smelling. No heavy, old-lady berry scents for me. :)

One of my favorite Method products are their Stainless Steel wipes. Just like the Clorox ones but

specially made for your stainless steel appliances. Gives them a lovely shine and light, clean scent.

Happy Green Cleaning everyone!

p.s. Yes, I know my text alignment is all messed up in this post. Sorry, I think it has to do with posting a video. If anyone knows how to fix this please let me know! Thanks!