Microwave-free

I mentioned in our kitchen reveal post that we decided to go microwave-free. I realize that this decision makes me look like a total hippie. I definitely straddle the line between hippie (cloth diapering, breastfeeding, babywearing, no processed foods) and non-hippie (we vaccinate, don't co-sleep, didn't keep/eat my placenta), but I think we all kind of fall somewhere on the spectrum. Anyway, a few months back, I heard about some of the concerns regarding microwaved food. I'm not talking about radiation from the microwave oven. As long as you don't stand right in front of it while it's running, the radiation is pretty low. Pregnant women may want to be more prudent and stay farther away, especially in the first trimester, as the tiny fetus may be more vulnerable to these things. But, I digress. We didn't ditch the microwave because of radiation concerns.

First a little background. Microwaves work by passing radiation through food, which causes the water/fat molecules in the food to vibrate, creating heat. In other types of cooking, a heat source (flame, electric coil) transfers heat directly into the food (sometimes through air or a cooking vessel first). Microwave ovens were developed during World War II by the Germans, and the first commercial microwaves were made in the late 1960s. You'd think that in 40 years time we'd have lots of studies showing that microwaves are perfectly safe. You'd think that an appliance that is found in over 90% of American homes would have gone through lots of rigorous testing to ensure that it isn't harmful. Guess again. There is very little information about the safety of microwaved food, and the research that has been done is not generally favorable towards the microwave. With so many diseases and disorders on the rise (cancer, ADHD, autism, etc.), I prefer to be conservative with these things. If I see some non-biased double-blind studies about microwave safety, I might reconsider my position. For how widespread microwaves have become, it is surprising that we don't have more research on their safety.

The research that I've found indicates that nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants are significantly reduced in microwaved food versus conventionally-cooked food. It is well-documented that breastmilk and formula shouldn't be microwaved, as it causes some of their components to be altered/destroyed. If the microwave causes problems for these foods, why aren't we concerned about its effect on other foods? In my house, we spend lots of time, energy, and money buying the healthiest, freshest, most wholesome food we can get. I don't want to potentially negate our efforts by "zapping" or "nuking" some of the good stuff out of our food, especially when Penny is eating the same food as us. Also, people who eat microwaved food have higher incidence of stomach/intestinal cancer and other digestive diseases, and blood samples can identify people who have eaten microwaved food versus raw or conventionally cooked food. I'm sure there are people who will argue both sides, saying that there isn't sufficient information to suggest that microwaves are unsafe. And that's the main problem for me: we just don't know. It's sort of like where we are with vaccines: there just isn't sufficient research. Except, for me, the potential benefits of vaccines (i.e. saving my child and others from serious illness/death) outweigh the unknowns. With microwaves, the potential benefits (um, convenience, saving time) do not outweigh the unknowns. I am not here to analyze and review the microwave safety literature and research out there. You all can do your own digging if you so choose. (Here is a good start if you're looking for something with citations. You can also search for Hans Hertel's research). Nor am I trying to convince anyone else to ditch their microwaves, simply sharing my reasons.

Since we were planning a new kitchen and picking out new appliances, we were able to save about $500 by not buying a new microwave (which may have been how I was able to get the hubbie on board! You know daddies– get 'em in the wallet!). If we hadn't been renovating, we probably would have just kept the microwave in the kitchen and not used it. There was a microwave in our old kitchen (a very old and ugly one might I add), which we put down in the basement just in case. We thought we might use it occasionally and decided to just do a microwave-free trial. That was probably in July. Since we moved it down there, we have used it exactly once. That was to heat up a rice heating pad for sore muscles. I am not exaggerating at all when I say that I hardly miss having a microwave. If I miss it for any cooking, it would be for baked potatoes. Now I really have to plan in advance for those because they take a really long time in the oven. Here are some common microwaved-food alternatives that work for us:

Reheating leftovers- toaster oven, baking drawer, stovetop, or double boiler, depending on what it is. Reheating french fries, pizza, or anything else that is kind of crispy tastes so much better reheated in the toaster oven (or baking drawer if it's big) than the microwave. Something like chicken curry or pasta works well in the double boiler so that it doesn't get scalded or dried out from the direct heat of the stove. Obviously things like soup can be heated on the stove.

Popcorn- I buy 2-lb bags of local Nebraska popcorn kernels at the health food store for under $2 and cook them on the stove in a big pot with some olive oil. You probably pay $2 for one bag of microwave popcorn, and this makes like 10 times as much. The popcorn tastes amazing–way more fresh than microwave popcorn, and you don't have to worry about additives. It is hard to find microwave popcorn without a bunch of crap in it. There is also less waste with stovetop popcorn, as almost every kernel pops!

Everything else pretty much just takes a little bit of pre-planning and/or some extra time, and can be cooked on the stove, grill, or in the oven. We have to plan in advance to defrost meat in the fridge overnight (which is the healthiest/safest way anyway, and we didn't really ever use the microwave for that) and bake potatoes as I mentioned before. We weren't super reliant on our microwave to begin with, so it wasn't really that hard for us. And, I think food cooked in other ways just tastes better than microwaved food.

What about you? How much do you use your microwave for cooking? What would you miss it for?

Kitchen Reveal

I am so excited to finally share the finished kitchen photos with you all! Here we go!

The breakfast bar used to be over near the stove. When it was there, the chairs blocked the doorway into the dining room, so we tore out a small wall and changed the layout.

The babygate on the right is just pressure-mounted and blocks off part of the kitchen so that Penny can play in the back area away from the stove while we are cooking.

The two large drawers next to the sink are amazing. I'm so glad we went with giant drawers instead of base cabinets here. They are perfect for holding baking dishes, mixing bowls, and things of that sort.

I love the glass cabinets. We decided to do just the two in glass so that we could display our pottery and glassware and then hide all the things that aren't as pretty in the solid cabinets.

Josh built the shelf for our coffee machines because he hates to have appliances on the counter. He used trim pieces from the cabinet company so that everything matches. You may notice that there's no microwave in our kitchen. I'm planning a separate post on this issue, but basically we've decided to go microwave-free. Although I think it's a great decision for our family, we know that anyone who might buy our house in the future may not share the same sentiment. The coffee shelf will be usable as a microwave shelf for others if they so choose.

The apron farm sink is not only beautiful but makes washing things like cookie sheets and frying pan a breeze. Everyone asks if we miss having a divided sink, but we never fill the sink with water, so this works much better for us. If we need to wash little Penny things like baby dishes or pump parts, we just use a mixing bowl set inside the sink for soaking.

It was important to me to choose a lead-free faucet. Why on earth they allow lead in faucets is beyond me, but this one is lead-free. The silvery faucet is attached to a water filter. It's so nice to have filtered water at the sink instead of messing with the Brita in the fridge.

 


This fridge and freezer are actually two separate units made to look like one huge professional unit. We got a great deal on the freezer on clearance and were able to buy the matching fridge. They are counter depth but twice as wide as a standard side-by-side unit. We have vertical racks in the cabinets above the fridge to store cookie sheets and small appliances.

The glass subway tile was a bit of a splurge at $15/sq ft, but I think it looks fantastic! I mentioned these counters before, but they are made from re-purposed glass bottles and are a much greener choice than quarried granite. The range has a baking drawer in the bottom. It's a mini oven great for a single cookie sheet or casserole dish when you don't want to heat the whole large oven.

These cabinets function as our pantry, and we keep cookbooks in the one above the desk. They hold a LOT!

Josh doesn't like the look of magnets on the fridge, but I like to be able to hang important papers in the kitchen. He built this message center as a compromise, and I love it! This is actually where the fridge was in the old kitchen.

Here are some shots of the old kitchen for comparison:

You can see where the old breakfast bar was. We slid the stove over to the right and then squeezed the fridge in the back corner.

Here you can see the wall behind the bar stools that we removed.

The old layout made this back part of the kitchen feel like a separate room even though the fridge was back here. It was sort of wasted space without any cabinets and an extra place to sit that we didn't need.

A summary of the changes we made:
new cabinets
tore out a wall
moved the fridge
shifted the stove
new appliances
new sink
new paint color
new flooring
new countertops
backsplash
message center

Green choices that we made:
bamboo flooring
recycled glass countertop
VOC-free paint

That's about it. Hope you enjoy the room and my husband's handiwork. We broke ground Labor Day weekend, and we officially finished Nov 16th. Josh wants you to know that he was out of town for about 2 weeks during that time, lest you think he was slacking off. ;) He is also anxious to hear feedback, so leave us some comment love. Any questions about our renovation? What do you like or dislike? What would you do differently?

Living Room & Dining Room Reveal

Ok, ok, I know I promised a kitchen reveal, and I swear, we are super duper close. Like, touch-up paint and cleaning is about all we have left. If you've ever done a renovation yourself, you might be familiar with the 90/10 rule, where it takes as much time to finish the last 10% as the first 90%, maybe even more time. At least, that is how it is in our house. Josh works amazingly fast. He pretty much had the whole kitchen done in a month... well, 90% of it. And then it's all those little trim pieces and switch plates that just drag on. The kitchen has been functional for weeks, but not quite in reveal-ready condition. You know, I want the dramatic pictures that showcase the whole thing in its final state. I did find a good way of motivating him, though. He asked me last week if he could go hunting next weekend in Missouri. I told him sure if he finishes the kitchen. He then went on to spend the whole weekend working on it like crazy! I'm not sure why he thinks he needs my permission to go, but I sure took advantage. Anyway, stay tuned. It really is coming soon.

In the meantime, I am excited to reveal our living room and dining room. I can't tell you how much peace I feel by having these rooms finished. Especially the living room. It's such a tranquil, adult space, and I just love it. Our family room is where Penny gets to run wild and scatter her toys until her heart's content, but the living room stays orderly and beautiful. Our house is over 100 years old, and we really tried to honor its age with our renovations. I think this room is perfect for book discussions and drinking wine. Enjoy!

The Living Room

Here's a good overview of the room. A summary of what we did: uncovered and refinished the pine hardwoods, new ceiling light fixture, painted walls, window treatments, decor. Things I love that we kept: the gorgeous leaded windows, built-in bookshelf and original woodwork.

I really love art, and I try to collect pieces that I think are beautiful, inspirational, soothing, and/or are meaningful. I would hands-down rather have a couple of really beautiful pieces than a house full of things that I think are just okay. As you will see, I love oil paintings, paintings with color, and paintings of nature/flowers/landscapes.

This sofa and floral chair were the only pieces of furniture that we had to buy for this house. I really wanted a chair with a bold print, and we found this one on clearance as a discontinued model at a nearby furniture store. I love that the pieces in all different rather than matchy-matchy. It was exactly what I had in mind. Such luck!

The lilac painting is one that my mom bought and was hanging in our house growing up. My stepmom recently very generously sent it to me when she found out I loved it. The document next to it was signed by everyone at our wedding. It is a Quaker wedding tradition. We aren't Quakers, but we were married in Philadelphia and loved/adopted this beautiful idea.

My parents bought me this copy of Romeo & Juliet when I was in high school that shows the whole play in one page. I know it reveals what a dork I am, but I just love it. (BTW, we counted 6 copies of R&J in this room!) I studied Shakespeare at the Globe in London in college, and WS has a special place in my heart, especially this play, as it was my first.

The gorgeous woodwork in this house was one of the things we fell in love with. We didn't change a thing on that front. I also loved that the stairwell wraps around to the kitchen to look like it has a back stairwell. You can't tell from here, but if you go up those first 4 stairs, you can walk back down 4 stairs around the corner and end up in the kitchen. The coffee table is an antique trunk that we bought on Craigslist in DC.

Gotta love a good old fashioned photo wall. I plan to swap some of the photos out periodically to a) keep it fresh and b) prevent photos from taking over the house. It is so easy to let that happen! Josh's grandma made the bottom 3 quilts in that rack. The 3rd from the bottom was a wedding gift from her, and then when Penny was born, she made the mini version for her. Adorable.

This picture shows how the living room and dining room connect.

Josh's dad MADE this desk. He modeled it after an antique. Clearly, handiwork runs in the family. The chair was Josh's great grandma's. The side table was a hand-me-down from my mom. She collects lots of cool things and is incredibly generous. Lucky me!

Love this oil painting by a friend of my mom's, Jane Bellows.

We picked up this painting of the capitol at Eastern Market when we lived near DC. If you've never seen the cherry blossoms in bloom, go. Seriously, go. I painted the St. Louis arch.

The Dining Room
In here, we painted the walls, uncovered and refinished the pine hardwoods (under 3 layers of flooring!), put in a new chandelier, and put up new window treatments/decor.

Connects to the living room. I know I've talked about the hardwoods before, but I am so thrilled with the way they turned out. We had them sanded and sealed. We opted not to go with a stain, and instead left them their natural color. I'm so happy with that choice. There is a charm to old hardwoods that you don't get with new wood. I love all their little "scars".

This painting was a graduation gift from Josh when I finished my masters. It is by Lane Palmisano, an artist in Virginia. So tranquil.

Again, love the built-ins and woodwork in this house! And check out that cool wrought iron vent cover. They just don't make 'em like that anymore. Got that little copper fish on our honeymoon in BVI.

We bought this painting in Ireland on our "babymoon". This is where I want to live when we retire. In a cottage on a pink farm in Ireland overlooking the water. Perfect. Eoin is pronounced like Owen, in case you were wondering. Gaelic.

I love this "Mr. Ed" door. Such charm. If you just open the top half, it also works great as a built-in and aesthetically pleasing baby gate. Through that door is our family room, which looks like it's straight out of a hunting lodge. I'll spare you the wood-paneled horror. That will be phase 3. The other door leads to a full bath (our guest bathroom). The mirror is another fabulous piece from my mom.

I absolutely love this dining room set. It is yet another piece that my mom picked out. When my parents split up, somehow I ended up with it. I can't believe my good fortune that neither of them wanted it because I think it is just the coolest. I would ideally like a longer table, but I don't know that I'll ever be able to part with it. Might have to get Josh to build an extension some day.

Here are the before pictures:

Note the pergo flooring...on top of oak...on top of cement leveling compound... on top of our now-exposed pine.

Didn't dare change this woodwork!

Note the old tile entryway and light fixture.

Carpet, over, oak, over pine.

This picture really shows off the leaded windows that we love.

What do you think? Would you have done anything differently? Hoping to get the kitchen reveal done later this week. Thanks for stopping by!

SLP Corner: Babbling

Since we already learned about first words, I thought we'd back up a little and talk about babbling. Unlike gobbledygook and jibberish, babbling is not random; it actually follows a predictable pattern and can give you insight into your baby's progression with speech development. Babies generally go through certain stages and patterns of babbling regardless of culture and native language. Here's an outline:

Phonation Stage (birth-4 weeks). Vocalizations are generally vegetative/reflexive. Examples include crying, burps, coughing, sighs, feeding sounds.

Cooing Stage (1-4 months). This is when vowels start to emerge, particularly back vowels (i.e. /u/ as in "who"), which is where this stage gets its name. You may hear approximations of back consonants (/k/ as in car, /g/ as in goat) preceding the vowels, although they aren't generally true consonants at this stage. Usually cooing occurs during quiet, pleasurable moments and face-to-face interactions with caregivers.

Expansion Stage (4-6 months). As babies gain more control over their oral structures, they start to play with sounds. You'll hear raspberries (bilabial trills), shrills, shrieks, growls, yells, squeals, etc. More vowels typically emerge during this period, and some consonants may be produced. Occasional consonant-vowel syllables are labeled as marginal babbling.

Canonical/Reduplicated Babbling (6-8 months). Canonical babbling consists of strings of consonant-vowel syllables repeated several times (i.e mamamamama, babababa, papapapa, dadadadada, etc.). First consonants are typically nasals and/or plosives made towards the front of the mouth (/m/, /n/, /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/). These syllables are not meaningful.

Variegated/Nonreduplicated Babbling (8-12 months). Consists of strings of consonant-vowel syllables in varying patterns (i.e. mabadedapata). The consonants and vowels change within the same vocalization. These productions start to sounds more like speech, but these utterances are still non-meaningful.

Jargon (9-12 months). Overlaps with variegated babbling and first words. Jargon consists of utterances with varied consonants & vowels that mimic the intonation and stress patterns of adult speech. These vocalizations may sound like adult questions, statements, or commands but without the actual words.

The first few stages of babbling are universal to humans. However, starting around 6-8 months, babbling patterns can be indicators of later speech/language development. Children with hearing impairment begin to fall behind in oral productions at this time. Also, the language(s) the child is exposed to at this time can impact which consonants he/she typically produces in babbling and first words.

Which stage is your baby in?

Penny (10 months, 1 week) is jargoning like crazy and doing lots of variegated and canonical babbling. Her first true consonant was /m/ around 4 months of age, but /d/ has been a favorite for awhile now. She also says /l/, /h/, /n/, /p/, /b/, "y" (like you), and maybe a couple others. She has lately started saying "hi" and "bye-bye", but it's not yet clear whether she is using them as true words. Time will tell!

If you have a speech-language question or topic you're wondering about, please leave me a comment or email and I'll try to cover it next.