Sunday Surf: 09/18

Well, obviously it was a big fat fail at the blogging every day this month thing. Oh well. I'm not really worried about it as it's been a pretty crazy week here and, well, life got in the way of blogging.

• You're Stupid Mommy! Go Away! You're Yucky! Ah, yes, we've been going through a "You're a bad mommy," stage here so this article was quite helpful.
• Waking Up Full of Awesome I'm trying hard to remember I'm full of awesome, are you?
• Do inspiring blogs make you feel bad about yourself? I'm glad a friend shared this in her Sunday Surf today. I remember chatting in the #ppdchat about how some of us felt the need to step away from reading blogs for awhile. Reminder: No one is perfect. Not you. Not me. Not that blogger who does awesome crafts with their children every day of the week as has home-cooked, baked-from-scratch meals three times a day. Don't forget it.

Happy Surfing!

Menu Plan Monday 09/12

Now that we're back from vacation, I'm reading to get settled back in to our routine, including weekly menu planning. We really have been able to save a lot of money while still being able to eat organic (we mostly only buy organic for the dirty dozen and milk, although we add to our organic purchases as we are able to). Most of our food purchases are whole, fresh foods -- it's nice to see the grocery list coming together and the produce section overtaking everything else on the page. In recent months we've been eating out more than we'd like, but we really need to reign that in, too (and more than we'd like amounts to about two - four times a month). It's not as healthy for us and a real budget buster so we'd like to save any dining out for our date nights.

Without further ado, here is our plan for this week. All meals are gluten-free and dairy-free. Most are also soy-free.


(Meatless) Monday: Yam and Black Bean Burritos
Tuesday: Chicken Cacciatore (trying out my mother-in-law's recipe for the first time; I'll let you know how it goes!)
Wednesday: BBQ Pork Tenderloin with spinach salad w/ dried cranberries & almonds
Thursday: Rice and Beans
Friday: BBQ Flank Steak with quinoa salad (going to make quinoa with black beans and salsa -- super easy and yummy)
Saturday: Gluten-free pancakes (we've been using GF Bisquik because Glenn likes it the best, but I want to try out making some from scratch), eggs, and sausage
Sunday: Turkey burgers in a lettuce "bun" with spinach salad w/dried cranberries and almonds

I'm linked up at I'm an Organizing Junkie so click on over for more menu ideas.

Sunday Surf 09/11

I wasn't reading too much this week. I was busy enjoying the view while we were on vacation in Pacific City, Oregon.

I did read a few good things though and here they are:

• Are the "Terrible Two's" a cultural phenomenon? was quite interesting to me, especially given the fact that we have an almost 18mth old and four year old.
• Gentle Discipline: Expressing Anger Healthily was a great reminder for me. I've been struggling with being really frustrated with Beanie. I also sometimes struggle with allowing her to express her anger freely, but I don't want to teach her that she can't express what she's feeling.
• What Should a 4 Year Old Know? looks at what kids really need to know (and it has nothing to do with numbers, letters, or charts).

Short, but sweet. Happy reading!

Wheat. Take Three.

I can't think of a better way to reintroduce wheat than to celebrate our anniversary with a cold, award-winning beer on the beach at the local brewery.

Bubby has been having wheat for a few weeks. We made the decision to reintroduce to him and to hold off on any reintroduction for me. As far as we can tell he seems to be doing fine with it. There was some question after he'd had it for about a week, but, luckily, it seems he just have a stomach bug. I've never been so happy for a stomach bug! I wouldn't say we're 100% sure that he's fine with wheat -- maybe 98% at this point. It's hard to tell with the little guy sometimes. He is a bit cranky, but I'm pretty sure that can be attributed to his cutting three more teeth right now. They keep coming in bunches and I can't really decide if that's better or worse, perhaps better in the long run, no?

I've only had the beers and plan to remain wheat-free (and mostly gluten-free). I just feel better not eating it. After talking with a naturopath, I wonder if Bubby was reacting to my antibodies earlier. I'm not sure exactly how that works (so don't ask!), but apparently if I had a problem with wheat he could be reacting to my antibodies.

He most definitely still has a problem with dairy. We had planned not to reintroduce that for quite awhile due to his bad reaction last time, but unfortunately we ran in to a very ignorant waitress who didn't know that butter is dairy. Eh....perhaps with the rising incidence of food allergies she should have been better informed. You would think. We will probably give the soy a try again soon just so we know. I'm not too keen on him (or any of us) having a lot of soy anyway, so we'll just see if there is something we're eating that he can try. I'm not going to go out of my way to reintroduce soy to him as we try to avoid it for the most part.

Plans.

I had plans to blog today, but I had a clingy, cranky, I-was-up-every-hour-last-night, I-refuse-to-nap-until-I-basically-pass-out-from-sheer-exhaustion toddler on my hands.

So, I threw my plans out the window and more or less went along with his.

Nine Years.

Nine years ago I said, "I do," to the love of my life, my best friend and my partner in crime.

Nine years later, turns out he's an awesome dad and a better partner than I ever could have asked for.

We've had our ups and downs, but we persevere and work hard at our marriage. The last year-and-a-half has been hard. Like HARD. I honestly think if we can persevere through what we've gone through in the last eighteen months that we can make it through anything.

I love you, Glenn. Happy Anniversary.

Awful.

As a breastfeeding mom I'm glad that I have the support of my husband and the confidence to provide information to extended family members and/or let their comments slide right on down my back.

There are so many things wrong with the Evenflo advertisement....

The baby who is supposedly nursing, but so obviously positioned to just be cuddling on couch with mom.

The comments from the peanut gallery. About mom's breast size.

The husband sitting there playing on his phone while his mother gives his wife a hard time.

The mother feeling the need to go hide in a room and pump a quick bottle (which, seriously, did you see how much she pumped?? She has an awesome supply ;)) to placate her mother-in-law.

And the dad. Drinking the breast milk. The horrible looks on everyone's face. The slow motion. The comment that it must be 2% (i.e., sub-par in some way).

I mean, have you tasted breastmilk? It's pretty sweet. It'd probably be damn good in coffee.

I HATE this advertisement. I HATE that a company who used to be WHO code compliant is now so blatantly playing up the supposed "hard parts" of breastfeeding and undermining what many have worked so hard for -- REAL support for breastfeeding moms.

Read Annie at PhD in Parenting's take on the Evenflo ad. As always, she states things intelligently and causes you to pause and think.

Menu Plan Monday 09/05

Menu planning has become a bit trickier lately as I am eating some soy and Bubby is now eating wheat (more on that later). I guess not so much tricky as we just need to make sure we have all the bases covered. Dinners are largely still eating gluten-, dairy- and soy-free, or quite easily adapted. 


It's kind of a weird week for us, but here's our plan:

Monday: Teriyaki chicken wraps with broccoli and rice tortillas (We used San J gluten-free teriyaki sauce (contains soy), but we've used Coconut Aminos in the past with good results).
Tuesday: Dinner out with family???
Wednesday: It's our 9th wedding anniversary so we'll be going out :)
Thursday: Spaghetti (we usually use Trader Joes GF pasta, but I bought some De Boles gluten-free pasta because it was on sale at Whole Foods -- and had a coupon!)
Friday: Applegate organic hot dogs (OMG, I will never eat another kind of hot dog again!) with Udi's gluten free buns & fresh veggies
Saturday: Turkey Tostadas
Sunday: Chicken and Dumplings (I made the biscuits on the side this time because both Glenn & Beanie prefer it that way)

I'm linked up at I'm an Organizing Junkie so click on over for more menu-planning ideas.

Sunday Surf: 09/04

I've finally gotten in to reading blogs again after quite a long hiatus. Just getting back in to it, but I've read a few really good things over the last week (or so). Here are a few of them:

• Since we've been having some issues with four year old defiance (I keep reminding myself that her persistence and intensity will serve her well later in life), I really liked 10 Secrets Every Parent Needs to Know about Saying No at Aha! Parenting.
• This video where the Car Seat Lady explains the new AAP car seat recommendations is a must see.
• Just for fun -- 12 Great Parenting Products for Traumatizing Your Baby.
• Oh yes, Twitter. I suck at it. And this guest post over at 5 Minutes for Mom let me know there's good reason for it & I'm not the only one! I am in love with the Crappy Pictures by Amber Dusick, probably because my artistic ability is about at the level of stick figures.
• Education has been on my mind a lot lately, probably because next year Beanie will be in kindergarten and I'm having some second thoughts about not doing preschool this year, but Teacher Tom reminds us that Hey, It's not a Race!
• Not a blog post, but this thread at CarSeat.Org is great for learning how to do the harness pinch test on your child's carseat.
• This post by Amber at Beyond Postpartum really hit home for me as I've been working hard at breaking the cycle of anxiety and worry.

Head on over to Authentic Parenting for more Sunday Surfing.

Progress in the Garden.

I've been pretty motivated lately to dig out the garden. Once my body stopped aching I got to work. I wish I'd taken a before picture, but just think completely overgrown, full of weeds, jungle garden. This is what it looks like now:

There are four blueberry plants in the far corner. We planted them last year and may add a couple more to that corner of the garden. I have dreams of a thriving vegetable garden. I'm cautiously optimistic as I have a self-proclaimed brown thumb. I have been known to kill off pretty much everything I attempt to grow, including a Christmas cactus. A friend suggested a few gardening books so I'm going to check those out, do some planning and hope for the best come next year!

Any green thumbs out there? Have any good tips for a newbie?

Giving up the Dishwasher

When we were looking at homes to buy I was pretty adamant that our new places must have a dishwasher. I mean, what would we do? Wash the dishes by hand? Now, about two-and-a-half years after moving in, I'm thinking about saying to hell with the dishwasher.

I've been toying with the idea for a few months now. There are a few reasons. First, our dishwasher is a piece of junk so we pretty much have to scrub and scrape all the dishes before they go in the washer so it wouldn't really be that much work to put a little more effort (and soap) in to it and just do the whole job at the sink. Second, I'm curious how our electric bill would be impacted by eliminating use of our dishwasher. Third, water conservation. There are a few things holding me back too. First, the fact that I am just really starting to get in to a routine, back to normal, etc. Second, my kitchen can go from sparkly and shiny to this disastrous mess faster than you would ever imagine possible. Or, maybe it wouldn't surprise you if your household is anything like mine.

Is anyone here dishwasher-less? Did you have one before? Do you miss it?

The Return to Life.

As I said before the theme for September's NaBloPoMo is 'Return.' I found this somewhat fitting for my return to blogging, but, more so, in my recent return to life.

I feel like post-partum depression robbed me of so many things over the last 17 1/2 months. I read a blog post quite awhile back (I think it was on Postpartum Progress, but last time I searched I couldn't find the exact post) about how having PPD made you feel like you were in a bubble floating over everything that was happening in your life. I can definitely relate to that feeling. I doubly kick myself because I don't have too many pictures of Bubby over the last 17 1/2 months. I guess I wonder if, without pictures, I will remember what all occurred while I was in that bubble. I am always thankful that my step-mom has her camera out and ready nearly every time they are over because at least those pictures serve to help me remember. Logically I know that, in the end, it doesn't really matter. Bubby won't grow up and wonder why there aren't a lot of pictures of his first year of life. He will grow up and thrive because of the love and attention he received during this period of time. Still, I have that guilt that the pictures aren't there, that I felt like a spectator in the highest, farthest away seat in the stadium and it was my own life.

At least now I feel like I am an active participant in life. Perhaps not fully to the extent I'd like to be, but we're getting there. I remember dancing with the kids a few weeks ago. Just happily dancing. Not watching them dance. I was there, in the thick of life, and loving it.

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If you're a regular reader, you've probably noticed I've changed a few things up. New title. New layout. What do you think? If you're visiting from NaBloPoMo, say hi!