Raising Harvey

WHOA NELLY! How is it already christmas???? I have been terrible about keeping up with my posts but I've got an excuse. Whether or not it's a good one is up to you to decide.

As you all well know my little family is less than rich. That being said I decided that this year I was going to hand make all of our gifts with items I already had around the house or that I only needed a few dollars to purchase and make. I've always loved crafting gifts for people. I find myself walking around stores with a dazed look on my face when I try to buy someone something. I just think most every thing out there is so impersonal and that just isn't my style.

I've been trying to squeeze in crafting time, which has cut down dramatically on all of my "other" time. I'm cranking this out quickly as Harvey naps. (Letting my shower go for today) I tell myself that I'll stay up late and craft while the boys sleep, but I'm awful at being up past 10. Firstly, if I'm awake past 9:30 I am automatically hungry. Secondly, I get grumpy because I'm ridiculous.

Okay- so there is my excuse for there being a MONTH between posts. Bear with me folks, I'm new to this :)

As you all may well know, our little family has been vegan for awhile now. It wasn't nearly as hard as we had imagined it being. It takes knowledge to motivate us, and after doing all of our research we found that our new life style choice was going to be one that did not include the consumption of any animal products. Recently we've decided on another new life style choice to partner with our already vegan life. We are now a gluten free family.

Are we crazy? I was just starting to get in my groove with cooking vegan meals. I had found all of my go to recipes and replacements for the things we liked to eat. VICTORY! Or so I thought. After again, educating ourselves on the effects that eating wheat can have on a human body we decided that it was time to cut that out of our lives as well. In short- we eat raw (sort of) still no meat, and we like to cook our veggies!

Immediately after switching to our gluten free diet both Jason and myself have lost a dramatic amount of weight. I mean dramatic. Since January, with all of our lifestyle choices we have lost close to 100 lbs combined. WHAT?!?! And let me tell you, it feels so good :)

I'm more and more encouraged and motivated to get my family on a healthy track. I love knowing that what I'm feeding Harvey is not processed and that I made it with my own two hands. We do not eat out, anywhere, ever. How could we? Almost everything has gluten in it, and even if it says gluten free the substitutions they use to replace the gluten are just as bad. So if it's not a vegetable, fruit or corn product we aren't eating it.

I will readily admit that this transition was a little harder because of how much I love and live for bread. Any kind of bread, sweet bread, savory bread, frozen bread, home made bread and how well bread pairs with things like pasta and casseroles.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel here. After your body can detox itself from all of the cravings you will still experience you will feel so good!

I am nervous about sending Harvey off to school or friends houses and hoping that he always can make the right decisions. I imagine that if he grows up only knowing one way of eating he will be more confident in basing his choices on that than just on what tastes good.  I will be posting recipes as I come across them on here- hopefully with pictures of Harvey helping.

Oh yeah- maybe you all know already. This kid is MOBILE! And I mean it- walking, running, pulling on everything in sight. Please think good thoughts about all the breakable things in my home.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours. I hope that you all travel safely and love all over your families.

Here are some pictures of my loves :)

Pregnancy and Parenting

My pregnancy in itself was a beautiful surprise. I was so happy and eager to spread the news when we found out about our little Harvey. I was taken back at how many negative things were hurled in our direction. So much talk about losing sleep, not showering, forget doing anything you like, giving up on this that and the other. 

And while some of these things have come to be true, the negative connotation they were presented with have not. I've said it a million times before that I don't get sad about not showering, I don't miss sleep because my time is now filled with this beautiful little boy. My son. I wish that when you told people you were pregnant it wasn't responded to with "ohhhhhh boy are you in for it".

So, with all of that in mind I want to let everyone know that my pregnancy and now my parenting has been amazing. I have really and truly loved every minute of it. Every time I get a little frustrated with him staying up late, or just being cranky I think about how lucky I am to have him at all. Please, if you are pregnant or know someone that is shower them with positive thoughts and advice. Let them know that times may get tough but that they pass and that the good is always outweighing the bad.

 

I thought that after he was born all of the negative comments and judgement would stop. This has not been the case. To everyone that can't leave well enough alone I have this to say.

 

You are not the parent to my child. You are unaware of how he functions, or how our parent child relationship works. I feel that each parent is going to parent their child in a different way. If there were a cookie cutter way of going about it well we would all be the same wouldn't we?

I would never put my child's health or safety in jeopardy. I take comfort in having him in the bed with me at night and I am NOT ashamed that I do that. Jason and I feel much better knowing we are right there with him and he doesn't ever have to wake up alone. Jason has to work all day and at night he's got a few waking hours with him and then gets to enjoy snuggling up to his son all night and being there for him in that way.

I'm also not ashamed that Harvey is still breast feeding at his age. He will be able to breastfeed as long as he is wanting for it. He eats solid foods, he plays all day and he nurses occasionally. It is recommended to breastfeed your children until they are two because of all the benefits for their brain and immune system. Unfortunately in our culture it has become so taboo to do so. 

Society can kiss my rear, Harvey's well being is more important then everyone else's opinion. I love him and want the best for him. (This is in no way directed towards those mothers that were unable to breastfeed)

I understand that parents can be uncomfortable with it, and I would never stick my nose up at someone for not doing it. But in my case I am okay with it, and Jason is behind me 100% with all of it. So please don't send your negative thoughts at me for doing what I feel is best for my family. 

Harvey will find his way to his own bed in his own time, and he will wean himself off of the breastmilk when he is ready. Give your children the benefit of the doubt, they will guide you just as you guide them. 

There are so many ways to raise your children, listen to your heart and your child and your family will find it's way into the perfect groove.

Thank you for your ears, or eyes rather.

Courtesy of Kristen Horton

Courtesy of Kristen Horton

Courtesy of Kristen Horton

Courtesy of Kristen Horton

Whoa Folks!

Hey!
Long time no read right? Can I just admit that I've been supremely lazy? Is that okay? I've been battling the fleas that are destroying my home! Four animals in 500 sq ft of space makes for an insane me. I can't stand the scratching, licking and biting! So I've been flea combing, bathing, sprinkling things in corners, flea treating and scrubbing my home in any and all spare time.

Besides my family's nightly cleaning schedule we've started to find some time for ourselves ( Jason and I) to read in the evening after the little one has decided that it is indeed time to rest.

*Mind you- my child used to fall asleep at 8:30 and now had decided that he would LOOOOOVE to stay up until around midnight and then wake up at least every hour to check and make sure I've still not gone anywhere.

My book of choice as of the last few days has been one called "Folks this ain't right". It has me thinking, which I love. This book discusses current day food trends and how unprepared we really are. We praise ourselves for all of our scientific advances when it comes to shelf life but do we really think about what we are putting in our body?

If you're like me, you've been thankful for all those things that didn't rot right away because you were too lazy to cook, or just didn't want to cook so you grabbed that delicious bag of potato chips only to come to the sad conclusion 15 minutes later that you devoured the entire bag.....

I want to be healthy people. I want to have good habits to pass on to my children and to share with my some day husband. A healthy family is a happy family. I want to have good, nutritional food in our home that gives energy not takes it.

The author talks about our lack of pantry these days. I get it- I have next to nothing stored in my house. I thought I did- until Hurricane Sandy came and blew all the power out of our neighbor hood and I couldn't go to the grocery store. Was this some kind of cosmic wake up call? Here I am reading about the dangers of not having your very own grocery store in your basement and BAM no power, no grocery store and I've got one can of tomato sauce I bought back in 2001 that has expired. Imagine my surprise.

We (Jason and I) have been talking a lot lately about finding a place that we can start getting some roots of our very own. And how we would very much like to have enough space to not only have a garden that can feed us year round but to also have some space to store said vegetables.

Our current living space doesn't leave much to the imagination. It's tiny guys. I mean SUPER small. There are no closets to "hide" things in and all of the living space is occupied by the seven living things running around it all day. The basement is a shared space, so no real room to start a stock pile. We planted a garden this summer, a little late and weren't able to really save much of it. AND I don't know how to can anything.

I'm unprepared and I wasn't even aware. Now, I don't want to go crazy and have 18 years worth of stock piled food in place. But it would be nice to just run to the basement and grab a jar of beans instead of getting in the car, driving to Heinen's, fighting the crowds and grumpy people, checking out, using a wasteful bag, coming home, opening said can of green beans, making waste with the can and pouring in lord knows what has kept them good since they were canned in the earlier part of the decade.

SO-  for the sake of this guy  I've got some new priorities.

I want to learn how to can and start doing it. Just because I'm a slacker and didn't plant winter things doesn't mean I can't still frequent the farmer's markets and buy them out!

Let's say my five year plan is to have our own place, have our own plentiful garden and have a mini mart in my basement.

Easy enough, right?

And just for good measure here are some pictures of my little man, my sister and myself!

Quick Update

I don't know if you all are aware, but Fall is here my friends!!! It's finally cold enough for me to rightfully wear my hoodies and for my little bird to wear his footie pajamas! Score! I've been waiting for this time of year to roll around since Harvey was born. And he will be old enough to rip open presents! Does it get any better than a baby smile?

Harvey has become very very mobile in the last few weeks. He is getting really brave when it comes to walking. He stands very well on his own and is slowly but surely seeking out ways to walk. I'm not coming to terms with this yet. He's only 8 months old. He's too small to be walking, it looks silly!

We are nearing our first Halloween and I am hand making all of our costumes this year. We will be a family of owls. Owls! It's quick and easy. Cape of feathers, owl hat, and sweat pants. Quick and Easy is our way of life now. If I can't accomplish it in one hour it just isn't worth doing yet.

We took Harvey to a pumpkin patch, he's very much into slapping things, pumpkins included. So he got to sit in a pile of pumpkins and slap away! Can we say ON TOP OF THE WORLD!?!??!

I will have to upload pictures of said events later on. I'm currently speed writing this as my dough rises for our Stromboli! Yummm right? All thanks to our friends AJ and Sam for giving us the idea :) Veggie filled dough???? What in the world could go wrong?

And in closing- I'm finally back down to my pre-pregnancy weight and then even less than that! It took me every part of these last 8 months, but it feels amazing to put some of these clothes on and have them fall off.

Victory.

Life is for Learning

I feel like I've been missing a giant pot of information for the better part of my life. Having Harvey has meant a change in every part of my life. It's meant that I have really begun to realize what times are precious and what aren't.
Let me start with saying that I've never in my life been as thankful for a 10 minute shower as I am now. How many of you fellow moms have gone for at least two days without showering? I used to shower every day. I used to shave, every day. I used to just stand under the water and let every precious minute squeak by. Oh my oh my have things changed.
Now, maybe I'm a big softy and I should let him scream it out- but I can't handle it. I've tried putting him in the pack and play. He cries that "I'm being murdered" cry. I tried putting him in his walker. He stood beside of the bathroom and cried the same cry. I tried putting him in his high chair next to the shower with snacks and toys. Nothing works.
So, I resort to either taking him into the shower with me or waiting until there is another adult handy. Showering with a baby boy that refuses to be set down is interesting to say the least. I've become the master of the one handed scrub. I suppose the double shower is handy because we BOTH get clean and I get to forgo the side bend over our super tall bathtub later in the day.
It surely keeps my heart all in one piece. He thinks mommy's soapy head is hilarious and he enjoys slapping the water coming out of the shower head.  He just likes to be held. He loves his mom- some day he won't want to show it as much. So I  will be eating up every slobbery kiss, every cuddle, every hug and every single tear he sheds that is from wanting me close.

Shower? No thanks, I'll smell like I've rolled around in trash and ran a marathon before I let a moment of happiness for him slip by.

Picture Day!

J and Little Bird

 So last weekend we got to steal Darek away for a little while. Most of the time when we get to have Darek, we like to take a lot of pictures! And if it isn't pictures it is crafts. For all of you lucky readers though, we decided on a few hours of soccer and an "old time" photo shoot in our modest garden out back.

I'm currently trying to use Photoshop. For anyone out there who has gone into this program as blind as I am- you'll understand why none of these images have been enhanced. I have no idea what I'm doing in there. I just click on random things until the picture is nearly unrecognizable.















Every person on earth that has learned how to master this is incredibly impressive in my book!

Someday in the near future, more pictures will be taken. More pictures that perhaps will be edited. But in the meantime, you can enjoy my novice attempts :)

Please note Harvey's look of terror in the picture above. He did NOT like mommy jumping. It may have been the worst 30 seconds of his life as I attempted to take a picture of the four of us all together.

Note to self- wishing you had grace and the leg power to jump more than an inch of the ground does not actually give you either of those things.



Just another thought that has come in more clearly as of late. I know that I've talked before about the benefits of our family now being substantially less fortunate when it comes to money, and how many wonderful things have come from that. I just want to share a few more things. I've been walking to most every store that I need to go to.  Do you know why? To save on gas, especially now that it is almost 4 dollars a gallon. But, since I have started doing this, I weigh less than I did when I got pregnant with Harvey.

On a related note, I make dinner, lunch and breakfast every day. I do NOT go out anywhere any more to get an entire meal. ( We did splurge a little last night and go to a local cupcakery that has a date night special on Friday and Saturday. Six dollars for two coffees and two cupcakes!!) Making dinner every night leaves us both with left overs for lunch the next day.

We also can't afford to buy much outside of the fruit and vegetable department, which means we aren't eating a lot of processed anything anymore! Less money = more FRUITful life.

We are so much happier now that we don't eat garbage, we can not afford to be lazy and have a pizza night. It is glorious. I no longer have to wake up the morning after a "lazy" day and continue to feel terrible because I ate my weight in processed and grease covered food.

Here's to poverty. It's treating us well!

More of what I've learned...

Peas explosion

It seems to me that the farther into this journey I get the more knowledge I am unknowingly acquiring. Such is the case with most journeys right?

What I've learned about my six month old in the past two weeks alone is enough to blow my mind. He's starting to crawl, crawl. How did we go from a little tiny blob of love to a moving and shaking infant? In only 6 months? He's learning to walk and I can't even convince myself to go on a run...

He is so vocal, there is a lot of babbling happening these days. When he discovers a new sound he can make, he uses it all day! Today, he realized he too could sound like donald duck and has been quacking every other breathe!

He's realized how fun his bath can be, and is quickly outgrowing his little tub and now reaching for the sides of the big tub his little one is resting in. I was just bathing him and realized that some day in the not so far future he's going to be an adult himself. Can  I confess that just the thought brought me to tears? I love him so much and the thought of him being an adult tears my little heart out. I'm sure this will ease with time, but I'm not eager to let any minute slip away!

I've also realized that I have NO modesty when it comes to feeding my precious little chunk in public. I was a little weary about breastfeeding in public, but it has since become second nature. Whats it to ya if I pop out my milk maker?

He's gotta eat right?

Speaking of....I better run! He's ready to munch!

New Discoveries

Enjoying a late lunch

As we start venturing out a little more with our little bundle of joy I've noticed something that has bothered me quite a bit. Nine times out of ten there isn't a changing station in mens restrooms.
What the heck society??? Fortunately for Jason I'm almost always with him. But what about the unfortunate fellow that has wandered out to give his wonderful partner a rest and is now faced with a baby that needs a serious diaper change and has no where to go?!?!
Yes, he could go out to the car and do it in there, but why should he have to do that when women can just waltz on into the bathroom, quickly change their baby and be on with their shopping?
The only place that had a satisfactory bathroom situation was IKEA. (Of course they did, they suck you in with everything) IKEA had an entire family ROOM. So both mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, granny and pappy could come in!
All I'm saying is to toss another fold down station into the men's room. They need it just as badly as the women do.

Another new discovery? Feeding Harvey real food. WHAT?!?! How is he already 6 months old? I thought that by the time he got to this point I would feel like he was old enough to not survive on breast milk alone. I WAS WRONG! He is very preferential to his breast milk, and only occasionally will tolerate eating something that isn't that.  We've had a successful run with bananas, apples and frozen strawberries that he can suck on. Outside of that he mostly just likes to rub it all over his face. 

Who am I to keep him from utter happiness? He obviously loves to wear it! We'll see what the next 6 months brings on the food front. 

The perfect toast

I'm sitting here at 6:47 this morning feeling incredibly accomplished. I peed alone this morning- that in itself is a serious treat! I did all of the dishes in the sink that have been screaming at me for well over a week. I made a pot of coffee and poured all of its dark deliciousness into my favorite mug.

Side note on my mug- I recently purchased this mug on our trip across America. If you've read my previous blog you will note that I visited a little diner in Fort Collins by the name of Silver Grill. Again I will remind you of how much you are missing out on by not eating their cinnamon rolls- spend the 1,000 dollars it takes to get out there just to eat one. You will not be disappointed. You may never come back home. You may decide that that is the only cinnamon roll you'll ever eat again. And you know what? Not one person would blame you. You're family may throw you a giant party because of it!

Okay- back to the mug. Have you ever been to one of these "older" diners and had a mug that just keeps and keeps your coffee warm? It's this perfect thickness, it's a solid mug. Much unlike the free, yard sale, or clearance mugs that currently inhabit my cabinets. It's a dream come true mug. It's a mug that makes me think I'm living a real life novel. I am sitting at my kitchen table, though I should be showering,  and I'm drinking this amazing coffee out of a mug that will keep it warm until next tuesday!

Before I got to drinking my delicious coffee this morning I had to eat. I'm not one of those people that can just nurse a beverage in the morning and "feel full". I need food. I need food as soon as I wake up. I try and tell myself that it is because I'm still nursing and requiring the extra 500 calories a day. Who am I kidding? As long as I can remember I have always been all about food. My day is planned around when my next meal is. I have long been in love with food. So I make toast this morning.

Sunday morning at The Coffee Pot

For 24 years, I've been doing it wrong. A few months ago- with the help of our great friends AJ and Sam, we found The Coffee Pot. It is another local place that makes me feel like I'm living the dream. The place is tiny. I mean tiny. It's run by a mother and daughter and a cook. Period. That's it. No more, no less. The dining area consists of a little bar butted up against the coffee station, four tables, and three booths. The walls are a Thomas Kincaid green and everything looks lived in. You feel at home when you walk in. We go there mostly for the home fries because they sprinkle magic into them. MAGIC. I don't know what it is they do that make them crispy and soft at the same time. I don't know what kind of onion they use that gives it this amazing flavor.  But they do it, and they do it all with finesse. We occasionally order toast, and thanks to Jason I now know the secret.

How many of you just toss that toast in on a medium setting, eagerly await that terrible pop that sends you through the roof, spread on your solid of choice and go on with your day? All of you? I thought so. I too used to be a one pop kind of girl. And then I ate toast at The Coffee Pot. You'll smack yourself for not knowing this. Crank that toaster to a lower setting- let's say a two or light depending on your toaster. Push that lever down and let her rip, but when it pops- TURN THE TOAST AND DO IT AGAIN!

That's it?!?!?! That is the BIG secret that all of these diners have been doing to make their toast better than mine??! You better believe it.

Now- go forth and make toast. I've got a trip to IKEA calling my name.

What America Taught Us

The Rockies and My Family

I'm alive!! Believe it or not! And two teeth later I'm finding the few precious moments in the day to write a post. We recently got back from our trip across america- Yes thats right. Trip across America. We drove our little selves from Cleveland to Denver. Six days total of driving.

I think we all learned a little something about ourselves this trip. 

Harvey learned that he reaches his breaking point at 12 hours in a vehicle. He also learned that no matter what mommy and daddy are trying to do- he always wins. We thought that going to visit the wildlife park would be an excellent idea. A one mile walkway with nothing on it- you just get to enjoy the animals from above. I don't think Harvey enjoyed much of it at all. We made it about 100 ft in when he started whimpering. Around the half mile mark we had gone from soft screams to a full on breakdown. You'd have thought Jason and myself were escaping from one of the animals. Our legs moved so quickly that I'm almost positive they were a blur beneath our feet. We bobbed and weaved through the crowds with such fluidity- I felt like a super hero. Here we are, zooming past these animals at light speed- and do you know what? Jason still has the where with all to snap some pictures! JOB WELL DONE!

Jason learned about the glories of IKEA. I'm not sure how great or terrible this is. It's opened up our wallets to another one of those "but it's so fairly priced" splurges. We spent a total of four glorious hours roaming the gargantuan building. As my aunt says "I"m almost positive their parking garage is bigger than the airports". Harvey was in baby heaven, I wore him in the moby and he slept blissfully for almost the entirety. We filled our cart to the max almost as soon as we walked in- of course we did? Have you been to an IKEA? Have you had your eyeballs just overloaded and you automatically think you need everything you see???? WE SURE DID! Thank goodness we always re-evaluate our cart before we head to the checkout. What was I going to do with a decorative salad bowl? How many dinner parties do I really have? Do I really need 5 tea light lanterns? In the first three hours you need everything, the fourth hour you try and convince yourself whether or not these are things you NEED or things you just WANT SO BADLY YOU COULD DIE?

It was tough- but we even left under budget. We're going to the one in Pittsburgh sometime this week to get more things.

Silver Grill Cafe in Fort Collins, CO

And lastly- myself. What did I learn while on vacation? I learned that I love to feel at home wherever I am. I'm not one of those people that like to go to all of the swanky restaurants while vacationing. I like to find the diner that has been rocking out since the 1930's and sit down with the locals. Stick me where no one else thinks to go. That is where I'm happiest. I want to talk to people. I met so many people, heard so many stories. I also got to hear stories from Jason. We spent nearly 90 hours on the road the past week- and the majority of that time we got to talk to one another. When was the last time you sat down with your spouse and just enjoyed one another? Not the television, not the radio, just one another. It was glorious. I got to fall in love with him all over again. Lucky lucky me.  

I'm normally not one to boast- but I will be boastful about my boys. I have such beautiful men in my life! How did I ever get this lucky? 

So all in all- I learned I love to feel like I've always been someplace. Harvey learned that his parents love him more than anything they ever thought they'd do. Jason learned that IKEA really is what it's all about.








PS: One thing we all learned- Silver Grill has the most amazing cinnamon rolls on earth.

You will never find another one like it.