Favorite Documentaries

Summer is a great time for movies. Most TV shows are in summer hiatus, so after Penny goes to bed, Josh and I often find ourselves perusing our Netflix instant queue. Most fiction movies we've seen lately are just plain stupid. (Does the word fiction apply to movies? Is there a film equivalent for the word fiction? Hmm.) Anyway, what is up with all the crappy cinema out there? Consequently, in the last few years, we have developed a serious love for documentaries. There are so many things wrong with our planet, our culture, our government, etc, and there seems to be a documentary for everything that ails us. I love watching something that makes me think about a topic in a new way and incites me to make changes in my life. Here are a few that you simply must see. They are all available to watch instantly on Netflix, or you can rent them through Amazon. There is a heavy environmental slant here, as that's what interests me most.

1. The Business of Being Born. This one is about giving birth in America. Before I watched this film, I figured I would have an epidural like everyone else, but this film was what first made me think that I might want a different experience.
2. Bag It. This documentary focuses on plastic: its impact on our health and our environment.
3. Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. This one tells the story of an incredibly unhealthy man who completely reverses all of his health problems and gets to a healthy weight in 60 days just with nutrition.
4. The Vanishing of the Bees. This film is about the impact of pesticides and monoculture farming on the health of bees.
5. Food, Inc. Incredibly eye-opening look at our food systems in the US. The filmmakers show the horrific conditions of factory farming.
6. Sicko. Michael Moore takes on healthcare. I love Michael Moore and find him hilarious. This is my favorite of his films. Although quite depressing, it is interesting to see what a ridiculously inefficient system we have, especially when compared to countries with socialized healthycare.
7. Food Matters. This film focuses on the link between nutrition and disease. It is critical of western medicine's focus on surgery and while ignoring the impact that vitamins and nutrition can have on health.
8. No Impact Man. Tells the story of a family of three in New York City who sets out to have no ecological footprint for a year.
9. An Inconvenient Truth. This is such an environmental trademark at this point–I'd be surprised to find someone who hasn't seen it, but it's about global warming and the irreversible effects of greenhouse gases on climate change.
10. The Cove. This documentary tells the horribly sad story of dolphin slaughter in Japan.
11. Flow. This one talks about the world water crisis. You'd never know about the water crisis by seeing all of the sprinklers on while walking through suburban America, but it is a serious problem worldwide.

Have you seen any of these? Did I leave out any favorites of yours?

Muslin Swaddler Quilt Tutorial

My dear sweet friend from college enlisted my help in finding a way to upcycle her son's precious Aden and Anais muslin swaddle blankets. If you aren't familiar with these swaddlers, they are just the best. Super huge, gauzy soft muslin, adorable prints. They are perfect for swaddling, creating a clean play-space just about anywhere, and using to drape over the stroller in warm weather. I don't blame her sweet son one bit for not wanting to part with his. But he just got too big, so we needed something new. She sent me a big ole box with 9 swaddle blankets, and here's what I sent back:

It's roughly twin-sized (about 60" x 80", whereas a twin comforter is 68" x 86") and double-sided. I figured one side or the other would match any room, so he should be able to use it for a long time. It's bound with satin blanket binding and quilted using the simple tying method. If you want to recreate this, here's some info on how I made it.

Materials:

• You need at least 6 swaddle blankets to make the checkerboard pattern at these dimensions (3 for each side), as you get 8 squares from each swaddle. If you want to use more, you can. You'll just need 24 squares of swaddle for each side (so 48 total if you're making a double-sided quilt)
• 1.5 yards of 4 different solid color quilting cotton (or however many colors you want to use, but you need 24 solid squares per side. You get 12 squares out of 1.5 yards of 44" wide fabric)
• Satin blanket binding (2 packs)
• Twin size blanket batting
• Embroidery thread for quilting
• Basic sewing supplies

1. Cut your muslin swaddle blankets into 11" x 11" squares (24 for single sided quilt, 48 for double-sided). This material is very stretchy, but try not to pull or twist it when you're cutting. Let it lie where it wants to lie, and then cut, preferably with a rotary cutter. It's ok if they aren't perfect.
2. Cut your cotton fabric into 11" squares (24 for single sided quilt, 48 for double-sided).
3. Lay out the pattern however you want it.
4. Sew squares together in strips. Then sew the strips together to form the blanket sides.
5. Lay out the bottom layer with right side facing the floor. Lay your batting on top. Trim edges as needed. Lay top layer on top of batting, facing up. 
6. Pin and sew blanket binding to edges. Tip: Sew each side separately, leaving extra slack at the ends when you pin. Sew each long side first, then sew the shorter sides, folding over the corners to hide the edges of the binding.
7. Quilt using embroidery thread by tying threads into corners where squares come together. I used white so that it wouldn't stand out too much. You could also machine or hand quilt.

A perfect way to keepsake those baby swaddles!

Yoga Mat Bag

Every Monday I take a two-hour yoga class. We do about an hour of yoga, then meditation, a spiritual reading, discussion, and Savasana. We end with tea and cookies, and it is the absolute perfect way to start out the week. Penny comes with me and hangs out in the child care room with a couple other kiddos and fabulous nursery ladies. She absolutely loves it, and as soon as we walk in the door, she goes "Bye, Mommy!". She can't wait to have her play time. We bring the kids in for the tea and cookies portion of the morning, and that is a huge hit as well. As soon as I walk into the nursery to get her, she's like "Tea? Tea? Cookies?" Not "Hi, Mommy." Show me the cookies.

The only problem is that I find myself juggling my toddler, my purse, Penny's bag for the nursery, and my yoga mat. I just don't have enough arms, so it was time to hit the sewing room. I used this pattern from Amy Butler. I would definitely call this an intermediate project. I completed it in two naptimes. What? Is that not how you measure time? Ok, maybe 4-5 hours then.

I thought the pocket fabric just screamed yoga, but I bought it as a remnant, so I didn't have enough for the whole bag. Luckily I had millions of yards of the floral print that matched well enough. It has three large pockets on the outside, perfect for cell phone, keys...yoga straps? But my absolute favorite thing about it? Here's what it looks like hanging in its spot in the garage:

It's so fitting–Josh's toolbelt on one hook and my yoga bag on the other. A perfect snapshot of us.

Bugabug 15 weeks

Weeks pregnant: 15
Weight: +7
Waist: +6
Baby size: navel orange

Physical stuff: I am probably going to have to dig out my bin of maternity clothes this weekend. I will at least need to find the belly bands. I will be able to hold off on the official maternity clothes, but the belly bands will be essential for the next few weeks. I am pushing the limits of my shorts and often find myself undoing the button by the end of the day. Last pregnancy I was able to get by without buying any maternity shorts–the belly bands lasted me until pants weather. Thankfully, because maternity shorts have got to be the least flattering, ugliest clothing ever–ok, second maybe to maternity skirts. Since I am just a week or so behind this time, I am hoping for the same. Nausea is totally gone now, but unfortunately the headaches are starting to set in. I'm telling you, this pregnancy is exactly the same as my first. I would get intense headaches in a very isolated spot. If you follow your finger up your spine, there's a divot right at the nape of the neck with a bump on either side of it. The left bump is where I get headaches. I think I need to get to my chiropractor to see if she can help. Otherwise, pressing on it really hard with my knuckle sometimes eases the pain. But then it's all achy the next day from being abused. Oh well, it is definitely more bearable than the nausea. On a positive note, my hair and nails are in that fabulous pregnancy state of being super healthy and strong. Love that.

Emotional stuff: So, remember a couple weeks ago in this post when I said, "Of course, now that the house is done, we will probably get transferred somewhere new! I wish I was kidding." Well, it's happening. All of my emotional energy this week has been focused on the fact that we'll be moving to Chicago in a month. We just found out last weekend and got our move date yesterday. We kind of suspected it was coming, so it's not a total surprise, but it will still be challenging in many ways. But it will also be fun and exciting in many ways. I'm worried about finding a new midwife. I noticed that there is a birth center in the area that we're looking at, but I guess home birth is an option in Illinois as well, so we're pretty much back to square one. I will also have to find a new endocrinologist to monitor my thyroid during pregnancy, which is so annoying, as I finally found someone I am really happy with here. If I have a third baby, it would be really nice to be with the same care provider for the whole pregnancy. Hear that, universe? Please? But first we need to find housing, and then we will figure it out. Namaste.

Nursing/Boobs: Weaning is still coming right along, slowly but surely. Penny just nurses twice/day now: in the morning and after lunch/before nap, one side each time. We dropped the before bed nursing, and she hasn't really looked back. We only nurse in the family room now, not anywhere near her bedroom or mine, which helped a lot. On the first day that we dropped the bedtime nursing, I said goodnight to Penny downstairs before her bath. So after dinner, we played, and then at 7:30 it was bathtime. I said goodnight, gave her a hug and kiss, and she went upstairs with Daddy. They did the whole bedtime routine together: bath, lotion, pjs, books, teeth, and then lights off/laying down/sleep. He had been gone for a couple days right before that, so she was excited to have him home and doing bedtime with her, so that helped. She didn't ask for milk and just went with the new routine. Since I wasn't involved, I think that helped too. They did that routine together for 3 or 4 days just the two of them, and now I can be involved too if we want. I'm not sure now whether we should continue with the weaning process now or if we should wait until after the move. Definitely something to think about. Input welcomed.

Birth/baby prep: I started to do a little online research on my birth options, but I wanted to figure out where we'll be living before I get serious about it. One big relief about the move is that we have a very very close friend living in the Chicago area, so I am much less worried about who can watch Penny while I'm in labor if family can't make it in time. Chicago is also much more accessible than Omaha, so it will be easier for family to visit. But really I've done nothing on this front.

Gender stuff: I still think it's a boy, but Josh thinks girl. One of us will be right I guess.

Skirting the Issue

Have you all heard about the Skirting the Issue charitable sewing project over at Project Run and Play? Seamstresses everywhere have been challenged to sew skirts this summer to be donated to girls in foster care in time for back to school. I was super excited to participate in such a great project. If you follow the links above, you'll find lots of fabulous tutorials to guide you if you decide you'd like to participate as well. I opted to use this tutorial from Maureen Cracknell for a very basic drawstring skirt. No fancy materials or skills required. I used two complimentary lightweight corduroy fabrics that I picked up on clearance at the end of last winter at Hobby Lobby. I think it will be perfect for fall and back to school.

Are you inspired to sew a skirt too? This skirt is super easy to make–the hardest part was the ironing, so give it a go even if you're a beginner. The project has a goal of 100 skirts by August 10th, so they can use all the help they can get! I am still searching for a local way to donate my skirt, but if I don't find a foster care organization taking donations in Omaha, I will send mine to one of the organizations listed over at the Skirting the Issue page.

Vitamix

We bought a Vitamix back in April, and oh my goodness, it was one of the best purchases we have ever made. I will not even pretend that it wasn't a huge, expensive purchase. This thing is expensive, for sure (although I do have some ideas for how to save on one below). But we have used it almost every single day since we bought it, and there is no buyer's remorse here at all. If you haven't heard of it, a Vitamix is a super duper uber powerful blender. It acts as a blender, food processor, juicer, coffee grinder, chopper, and mixer all in one. It can actually even cook, as the blade's friction creates enough heat in a few minutes to boil water. It comes with a really good warranty, and these things are built to work and to last. It's basically the last blender you ever buy. Here are a few reasons why I love it:

1. The green factor. Ok, yes this thing contains some plastic. We are trying to reduce our plastic footprint as much as possible, but in the large scheme of things, this machine will save unthinkable amounts of plastic and waste. First of all, I've gone through my fair share of blenders. I think I owned three before this (like, as an adult), and I'm 29 now, so that's probably like 2-3 years/blender. I didn't even use blenders very often before we bought the Vitamix, but any other blender I've used seemed to crap out after a couple years. Who repairs stuff like that anymore? If you paid $100 for a blender that died after a couple years, you'd most likely replace it rather than repair it. I don't even think most blenders are made to be repaired anymore, so they end up in a landfill. Whereas, this machine is built to last. They come with a 7 year warranty, but they last for generations, and if anything goes wrong, they can be repaired. It actually has very few working parts. I am a total believer in paying more for a higher quality product that is made to last. The other thing that reduces waste about it is that you can make many things from scratch using the Vitamix that you would otherwise buy packaged. In that sense, it saves lots of single-use packaging waste, which is one of the most devastating types of plastic waste.
2. Power/performance. This thing is unbelievably powerful. If you're a numbers person, it has 2 horsepower and draws 11.5 amps. If you're not a numbers person, then it's frickin' powerful. Just trust me. And it has variable speed adjustment, so it can do light chopping all the way to pulverizing. It makes a completely smooth smoothie in seconds, and it has this really cool tamper that you can use to help mix up the food and make sure everything hits the blade. With other blenders I've owned, my smoothies or frozen drinks were always chunky no matter what I did, which is why I rarely used them. Also, since it has variable speeds, you can use it to just chop veggies without pureeing them.
3. Cleanup. Another reason that I rarely used blenders and groaned whenever a recipe called for a food processor is the cleanup. There are enough dishes to wash after making dinner as it is. The last thing I want to be doing is pulling food processor pieces apart and cleaning them. After using the Vitamix, you fill it with water, add a drop of dish soap, run the machine for 30 seconds, and it's completely cleaned and sanitized. There's nothing to take apart, nothing to wash by hand or put in the dishwasher. That's it, and you're ready to make something else. It makes me much more ambitious with trying new recipes.
4. Made in the USA. I'm not really a super hardcore patriot. I mean, I do love my country, but I also think we have a lot of problems. Who doesn't, really? But I do love to buy US-made products when they're available. When products are made in places like the US and European countries, they are more expensive, but it is my impression that you get better quality, better business ethics/working conditions, and a lower carbon footprint. Unfortunately, it seems as though we are making less and less as we turn into a country that buys things instead of makes things, but Vitamix is a US company that still makes its products in the US. I think the motor is made in Sweden, but the other parts are made here, and the whole thing is assembled here. One of my newest goals, which I will undoubtedly write more about, is to buy only items that are second-hand or made in the US. And maybe Europe, or other countries with high standards for wages and working conditions. Again, it's not a patriotic ambition. It's more of a humanitarian and green initiative. But stay tuned on that as I work through the details.
5. Health. The Vitamix is a huge key for my family to living a healthy lifestyle. Of course you can be healthy without one. It would be ridiculous to suggest otherwise, but if I can make my own peanut butter, condiments, salad dressing, sauces, smoothies, popsicles, etc., then I have complete control over the ingredients (and maybe save some $$ in the process). I'm not going to use preservatives and chemicals. I can limit the amount of sugar I use. I can use olive or coconut oil instead of canola or soy. I can make substitutions for food sensitivities/allergies. I can eat more raw foods, including veggies/greens. Have you ever had a smoothie with spinach? You can mix handfuls of spinach in with some fruit, and as long as the smoothie is well-blended like you get with the Vitamix, you don't taste the spinach at all. The first thing Penny said this morning was "Soo-mie" (smoothie). If only she knew that it was mostly greens. It is absolutely the easiest way to get veggies in her.

Those are my favorite things about my Vitamix. If you have one, what are your favorite things about it?

It is not at all hard to come up with ways to use the Vitamix, but the machine does come with a 350-page cookbook of Vitamix recipes and a DVD with more recipes and ideas. Here are some things we have used it for:

• Smoothies/green drinks–Josh and Penny have them for breakfast every day. Sometimes Josh even takes one as his lunch.
• Grinding coffee beans
• Guacamole–I make this as an afternoon snack for me and Penny all the time.
• Soup–I made a mean Vichyssoise the other day. Penny tossed her spoon aside and picked up her bowl to drink the soup from it. She would stop every few seconds to say "yummy" and then return to drinking it. See photo. Second easiest way to get veggies in her! I used this simple recipe. Next time I might try to cut the cream down or use an alternative milk.
• PPK's Beet burgers- this recipe was miles easier when I made it post-Vitamix versus pre.
• Ice cream
• Sorbet
• Popsicles
• Margaritas

Some things on my Vitamix to-do list:

• Salad dressing (the Vitamix makes emulsions a breeze)
• Nut butter
• Almond milk
• Bread
• Flour (wheat, rice, etc.)
• Hummus
• Condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo)
• Salsa
• Pesto
• Truffles
• Hollandaise

We did baby-led weaning instead of making purees, but if you're a puree baby-food kind of family, this machine would come in handy for that purpose. It would also be incredibly useful for those on elimination diets, maybe for fertility, personal health, or food sensitivities in your breastfed baby. I am excited to share my experience as I try new Vitamix recipes, and I will definitely share my guacamole secrets in another post soon.

I became so enamored with this thing that I joined their affiliate program. I have become an affiliate for a few different companies, and I just want to be clear that the only companies I am affiliated with are companies where I have personally bought their product because it seemed like something I would like. I paid full price, loved it, and became excited to share it with others. That's the only way it has worked for me, and I don't seek out companies asking for free stuff to review for this blog. Nothing against other blogs that do that–it's cool. It's just not what I do.

Anyway, being an affiliate of Vitamix means that if any of you decide to buy one and want to support CBM in the process, as well as get free shipping, use THIS LINK, or you can go to www.vitamix.com and use promotion code 06-007289. One other thing that is really cool about buying through the Vitamix website is that they sell reconditioned machines for a significant discount (~25% off). The reconditioned machines still come with a warranty and are thoroughly tested to ensure that they are in excellent working condition. I did not know about these reconditioned machines when we bought ours. Otherwise, I totally would have bought mine that way. I looked for a used machine on Craigslist actually, but I couldn't find anything. It makes sense though–who would sell this thing? Maybe a smoothie shop that went out of business (yes, all the smoothie shops use these). Ah, but then you wouldn't get the warranty.

And if you already have a Vitamix, please share your favorite recipes!

Belly Shots

I have been woefully neglectful of belly shots in my Bugabug pregnancy updates, so here's a little catch-up. I will try to include photos with pregnancy updates from here on out. These are mostly taken in the mirror, as I've decided to spare my poor husband the misery of taking photos for me. He's a good sport about it, but I can tell he secretly despises it. So iphone/mirror shots it is. Also, I've decided to take the advice of your comments and use this blog as my pregnancy journal. I didn't have this blog when I was pregnant with Penny, so this baby is totally getting to bask in modern technology, even from the womb. I will set up an email address for him/her once he/she is born, and I'll email all the pregnancy posts to that address. It's so green and efficient. I love it.

10 Weeks:

11 Weeks– I love that Penny's pigtails make an appearance in this one.

12 Weeks (4th of July!)

13 Weeks

14 Weeks

There is absolutely no consistency to time of day or day of the week on these shots–they just happened whenever I thought to take one. And, actually, I'm not even 100% sure the week labels are correct, but they are definitely in chronological order at least. That last one was today, and I'm starting to see a little bit of a pop. For the sake of full disclosure, this is a total skinny mirror (I guess one advantage of the mirror shots!). Don't hate me because I have a fabulous skinny mirror.

Tank to Toddler Dress

I was sorting through some old clothes and found a tank top that I never wear. It was a little too girlie/juvenile for me, but I thought it would be just adorable on Penny. I did a couple of quick alterations using a dress of hers as a rough guideline, and voila! Adorable girlie skull toddler dress. Penny thinks it's a "woof-woof", and I decided not to try to explain what a girlie skull is. It looks sort of tie-dyed in some of these pictures, but it's just the sunlight–it's solid blue.

Seriously, is there anything cuter than a girlie skull? I am sort of obsessed. Remember this post from last summer? I also recently bought 2 yards of this fabric, and I am itching for the right project. I want it to be something that I will use often and for a long time. Any ideas?

Is there anything in your closet that you don't wear anymore? Think about how you might re-purpose it into something more useful or attractive. Otherwise, donate it! There's nothing like overstuffed closets and cluttered drawers to drag us down. Of course, then we have to resist the urge to go out and buy more...

Fertility differences: Peanut vs Bugabug

I've said before that we tried for 14 months to conceive Penny, and now with this baby, it took, like a day. Anything over 12 months of trying is technically considered infertility, so I went from being an infertile to a fertile myrtle. So what's the deal? Obviously I don't know for sure, but I thought it might be interesting to muse about the differences. Here's what I can think of that may have impacted my fertility.

1. Hormonal birth control. This time around, my body hadn't been exposed to hormonal birth control in over 3 years. Last time around, I had been taking the pill for 5 years before we started trying. I think some people's bodies respond differently to hormonal birth control, and I think it is way more common to have trouble "bouncing back" than I was led to believe when it was prescribed for me.
2. Circle + Bloom. This is a totally crazy story. So I looked back in my email to see that I ordered my copy of C+B on March 7, 2010. That was after ovulation in a cycle that didn't result in pregnancy. I got pregnant in the middle of April, 2010: the very first ovulation that I used C+B. We'd been trying for 14 months. Used C+B once–pregnant. After Penny, my period came back in January, a year after I gave birth. I just sort of kept an eye on things in January, February, and March of this year. I was charting to see what was going on with my body, but we were hoping to have our babies be at least 2 years apart. I started a cycle in the end of March, and we decided to go ahead and start TTCing, since we figured it would take awhile again. I dusted off my C+B tracks (figuratively–they were loaded on my iphone) and listened to them during that cycle. Pregnant. So two cycles of using C+B. Two pregnancies. Of course this could be a total coincidence–I can't rule that out, obviously. Or it could be that my body really responds to this stuff. Mind-body visualization definitely helped me during labor, and I like to believe that it helped me to conceive as well. Here is another post I wrote about C+B. 
3. Chiropractic care/acupuncture. I started seeing a chiropractor in March of this year. She provided chiropractic care and acupuncture, for general health, to support fertility and to support my thyroid. I had never seen a chiropractor before, and I had only gotten acupuncture once before, which was after Penny was born to help with my milk supply. If you aren't familiar with chiropractic care (it seems to be more popular in certain regions), it is designed to ensure that you have a healthy nervous system, which impacts every function in the body. Through everyday bodily stresses and abuses, the nerves in the neck and spine can get pinched or twisted or out of alignment, and chiropractic care ensures that the nerves are healthy and aligned so that all of the body's systems can function properly. That's my layman's understanding anyway. If you're curious to learn more, contact a chiropractor in your area. This may have made a difference for fertility, but it definitely made me feel awesome, and I plan to continue chiropractic care as a health maintenance practice throughout my lifetime. It's covered by insurance too, which is awesome.
4. Thyroid support. I started taking thyroid medication in January 2010, 2-3 months before I conceived Penny. I have been taking it since: a very, very low dose of naturethroid. My thyroid was never super low-functioning, borderline at worst, but perhaps the thyroid support was just enough to boost my fertility.

I would say that those are probably the most likely factors that made a difference, but here are a few other differences I can think of.

1. Toxicity. In the last couple of years, I have been making a huge effort to reduce the chemical load in our house. I've been vigilant about buying the right foods and avoiding conventional household products, cleaners, cosmetics, etc. This started right around the time I found out that I was pregnant with Penny, so it is possible that my body was more willing to conceive a baby when it wasn't being inundated with all kinds of junk in my environment.
2. Food. I read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food in the summer of 2009, about 9 months before I conceived Penny. That book sparked my journey towards a whole foods based diet, but diet is hard to change and doesn't happen overnight. I am still working towards this and struggle every day to make good choices. In the months after reading that book, I made a very concerted effort to eat "clean", avoiding processed foods and hormone-ridden animal foods as much as possible. However, with all of the vague labeling, it really takes some time to figure out exactly what is okay to eat, so who knows how good I was at that time. About 3-4 months before conceiving Penny, I went gluten-free, and I think at that time I started to lax about eating clean. I could only focus on so much at a time, so I'm sure I was eating some gluten-free junk food. This time around, I was eating gluten (whole grains only), but I was extremely strict about only eating grass-fed, local meat and whole foods. My diet was very clean, and I was mostly following the anti-inflammatory pyramid except very minimal soy.
3. Expectations/stress. I think I had a much healthier (and realistic?) attitude towards TTCing this second time around. I just knew so much more about being patient this time and was prepared for it to take awhile, so my expectations were lower, and I put less pressure on my body. The first time, I expected everything to go perfectly as soon as I was ready to start trying, and by the time my body was able to shed all of the BC hormones and junk, I was so stressed emotionally, that I think that got in my way and stretched out the process. 

That's all I can think of. Have any of you had drastic changes in your fertility? Can you guess the reasons?

Food Update

Oh my gosh, I am embarrassingly overdue on this post. I know some of you have been asking about how my “vegan-ish-ism” is going, and the answer is a big fat fail. But I’m trying not to look at it as a fail because I’m often too hard on myself and I’m trying to learn how to cut myself some slack in order to make for a more peaceful existence. So let’s go back to… April-ish. I guess that’s when I last blogged about food. So I spent about a month being vegan-ish, eating mostly plants with maybe an animal food once or twice/week. During that month, I conceived–yay! Coincidence? Maybe. So how did I feel? I wish I could say that I felt awesome. I wanted to feel awesome. But in actuality, I was hungry, tired, headach-y, and sort of cranky. I was eating a lot but never really felt full, and it was really hard to find variety, especially because I didn’t really want to eat soy. I think trying to make this change while breastfeeding might have been too much for my body to handle. I’m also anemic, which has been an issue for me even when I was eating tons of meat. We are still trying to get to the bottom of that, as it does not appear to be related to low iron. But that’s sort of a tangent.

OK, then in early May I found out that I was pregnant, and I decided that learning a new way of eating while being pregnant… and breastfeeding maybe wasn’t the best choice for me. Plus nausea knocked me on my ass. I do for sure think it is possible to have a healthy pregnancy while being vegan, but I also think that bodies take time to adjust to these things. And for me, this was not the time. Not this specific time, and maybe not even this season of life. I would love to try again, but it might have to wait until I am done with babies and menstruating. And I think it will be more gradual. I also think the fact that I have never struggled with weight is another piece to the puzzle of why this didn’t work perfectly for me­–I have a feeling that people with slow metabolism might have bodies that would respond more positively to this type of diet.

The fact is, I still believe that veganism is a great choice, and I still stand by all of the principles that I blogged about in April. I also have great admiration for people who are disciplined enough to choose this way of life as a sacrifice for the good of the whole. So where does that leave me? I am not about to just throw everything out the window and eat a bunch of crap, but I need some balance. I have been trying to eat local, sustainable, “clean” animal foods for the last couple of years, but this experience has renewed my commitment and taken it to the next level. There’s no more compromise on meat. When I eat meat, it is ONLY from humane, sustainable, local sources. No hormones, no antibiotics, no feedlots. We get our meat from the farmer’s market or other reputable sources. It is organic and grass-fed and prepared by us at home. Same thing with eggs­­­–they come from a certified organic local family farm in Iowa or the farmer's market. As far as dairy goes, I am still limiting it, but I do eat some cheese and ice cream. I get these from Whole Foods, choosing brands that are local and organic when available, and always choosing hormone free.

When dining out (which we really don’t do so often), I eat vegetarian. If there is a great vegan option, I will take it, but I usually end up with vegetarian, not vegan in restaurants. We also usually choose restaurants that take a vested interest in the environment and sustainable agriculture. If I am confident that the meat meets my standards, I may eat meat in a restaurant. But I ask lots of questions and do research beforehand. I do feel some guilt about eating animal foods from restaurants and realize that I am likely getting hormones and other junk from dairy/eggs in these cases, but at least I am not eating the animal flesh itself, and in the big picture, it is a very small proportion of what I’m eating as a whole. It’s really only when traveling that this is even an issue, as whenever we are in town, we have total control over which restaurants to visit, and we choose well.

We also incorporate vegetarian and vegan meals at home several times/week, so it’s not like we are eating meat every day. We probably have meat 3-4 times/week, whereas a few months ago, it was in almost every single dinner we prepared. So there are some definite victories here. And now I would say that I am feeling pretty great. I don’t need to eat meat every day to feel full and have energy, so I think I am finding the right balance. By eating this way, I am still honoring many of the causes that I was concerned about in April–I’m not supporting the horrible factory farming system with its cruelties and health risks. By eating animals that are fed grass, I’m not taking grain from the world’s hungry, etc. And as far as my thyroid goes, it’s really hard to tell during pregnancy, so trying to work on that will have to wait until early next year. Overall, I feel good about these choices for where I am in life right now, but I do still feel some guilt over backing out of this big journey I wanted to set out on.

           

Bugabug Week 13

I was going to try to make these weekly updates, but I just didn't have a whole lot to say last week, so I'll just post pregnancy updates when I can make them at least somewhat interesting.

Weeks Pregnant: 13
Weight +5
Baby Size: peach

Physical stuff: Nausea made a raging comeback last weekend, but I'm feeling much better now. However, I am feeling ridiculously weak. I can't even walk up the stairs without getting winded. Weird. I am also just starting to show in the morning. In the evening, I definitely look pregnant, but I think it's mostly baby bloat b/c it's back down by morning. Although, if you didn't know I was pregnant, I think I just kind of look fat. It's that awkward in-between phase.

Emotional stuff: I am so much more relaxed about this pregnancy than I was last time. When I first found out I was pregnant with Penny, I was initially so stressed that something would go wrong, but the very next day, I made the decision to enjoy being pregnant and just let myself get excited. I decided that I didn't want to waste a third or a half of my pregnancy being worried and reserved. I wanted to just be excited and enjoy this part of my life. I made that decision, but I don't think I really carried it out as well as I could have. We still waited awhile to tell people and had lots of ultrasounds early on, but I tried my best. This time around, I am doing a much better job of enjoying being pregnant without worrying about what could go wrong. We told our families right away and many friends too. We weren't actually offered an ultrasound at my first prenatal appointment, but I would have declined it anyway. When the midwife couldn't pick up the heartbeat on the doppler at that appointment, I didn't worry at all. When that happened with Penny, we freaked out and the doctor ordered an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay. This time, I expected it and figured we'd hear it next time. I just have a lot more peace and confidence. I have also really learned to listen to my body and trust my gut, and I think I would know if something was wrong. It's not that I'm in denial that tragedies happen–it's just that knowing myself, I don't think anything would make it easier if a tragedy did happen, and I really don't think it would matter if I had been excited and vocal versus reserved and worried. It would be devastating no matter what, and I would want to talk about it no matter what, so I might as well carry on and enjoy things.

Nursing/Boobs: We moved up the estimated weaning time to the first week of August, as my mom will be visiting then and I think it will be wise to try to time it when I have some extra hands. We're making some gentle progress on the weaning front. Penny is still nursing 3 times/day, but I've cut it down to one side/nursing session. She had always always nursed both sides every time since the month she was born, so we essentially cut her nursing in half this week. I started it in a morning session and told her beforehand "Just one side this time." She looked at me and said "One side", as in "I got it, Mom". Of course she protested after the one side was over, but Josh distracted her with a smoothie, and she was fine. It didn't really phase her much after that. Also, for her evening nursing, we started having Josh lay with her in her room after she nurses downstairs. She's been going to sleep for him at night without a problem the last few nights. I'm really proud of how she is adjusting to the changes we're making, and I have lots of hope that the rest of the process will go smoothly. It seems like after a day or two, it just becomes her new normal. I am sort of using the principals in The No-Cry Sleep Solution, except for with the goal of weaning instead of sleeping. The whole idea is to look at where you are (i.e. nursing 3 times/day both sides) and look at where you want to get to (i.e. weaning). Then break up the distance between the two into the smallest steps possible. In this way, each step is only a tiny difference from what was happening before, so it's a gentle change, but by taking tiny steps, you eventually get to your goal. It's working for us so far.

Birth prep: I had my first appointment at the birth center a few days ago, and all was well. We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time, which was super exciting. The midwife is fantastic. The facility is gorgeous, and I am super excited about our choice. The biggest thing I'm worried about is figuring out who will be available to be with Penny when I go into labor. When you don't have any family in town, it's a little tricky.

Baby prep: We've finally organized and sorted all of the last "clutter hot spots" in the house. It feels so good to have gotten rid of everything we didn't need and to have organized everything we have. We have lots of storage bins in the basement that are all labeled and sorted, which will make it much easier to figure out (and locate) what we need for the new baby. I have all of Penny's old clothes organized in bins by size, which will be great if we have another girl.

Gender stuff: I am still holding strong that it's a boy, and I am going purely on mama gut instinct. I think all of the– you're carrying high, you're carrying low, you're glowing, you're puking, you're haggard, the heartbeat is fast/slow, you crave salty/sweet/sour, you feel the same/different from last time blah blah blah, so you must be having a BOY/GIRL–is a bunch of bullshit. I love to hear people's guesses, but I don't like it when they have some stupid reason. The only reason I really find acceptable is something like "I don't know–it's just my gut" or "that's the energy I'm getting." I know, I am such a hippie. When I was teaching during my last pregnancy, I polled all of my students, and it was about 50/50 (maybe 1-2 more votes for girl), but none of the kids said anything stupid like "you're carrying high." Just one more reason why kids are awesome. Josh, on the other hand, now thinks it's a girl. He started off thinking girl, then switched to boy, and is now back to girl. I think he's trying to cover all of his bases.

4th of July 2012

We have a 4th of July tradition over here in the Cotton Bottom family. Actually, it started before we were even a family. The first year that Josh and I were dating, we spent the 4th at his parents' house, and I wanted to make a flag cake. We took a picture, and then decided to repeat it the next year. Then, well you know how traditions are formed. Now I have this tiny little red and white starred photo album that contains one picture from every 4th of July of us posing with the flag-themed dessert of the moment. Our anniversary is just a few days before the 4th, so the year we got married we had a leftover piece of wedding cake adorned with berries, and the year we were on a first anniversary trip, we made a flag in our breakfast yogurt and posed at our Cooperstown B&B. You can see my tiny Penny baby bump two years ago, and last year of course Penny joined the photo from the outside. I love to flip through this little album and see the years pass on each page.

This year Josh requested an ice cream cake, and he didn't have to mention that twice. I worked at Ben & Jerry's in college and picked up some valuable ice cream cake skills there. This cake is my favorite by far. Yum, yum, yum. Here is the recipe:

1. The key to a great ice cream cake is to use brownies instead of cake. You want moist, dense, chewy brownies, nothing cake-like or it will be too dry. 
2. Bake your brownies however you want. I added chocolate chips to mine and used the "No Pudge" mix because I was lazy. 
3. Once they are cool, place your brownies on the bottom layer of your pan.
4. Scoop some ice cream (softened a little) onto your layer of brownies, and then use a spoon, your scooper, a spatula, or whatever you can find to even out the ice cream. If you use something metal, you might try warming it with water to help melt the ice cream a little.
5. Put your pan in the freezer to refreeze the ice cream solid. 
6. Repeat the brownie and ice cream layers again.
7. Then if you want to frost the cake or decorate it, go ahead, but make sure you refreeze the top ice cream layer solid. At B&J's, we used whipped cream to frost the cakes. 
8. For my flag cake, I didn't use any frosting–just pressed the berries into the ice cream.
9. When you're ready to serve it, set the cake out on the counter for about 10 minutes and then it will be easy to cut. Run your knife under warm water between each slice to make clean slices. Look at these layers (but please excuse my horrendous photography)!

Josh and I indulged in some cake this afternoon, and Penny was super excited to eat the berries from our bowls. Oh if she only knew what she was missing...

Ok, funny story about the first photo. I set up the tripod and set the camera timer to take 3 pictures in a row, hoping that one of them would turn out. I figured this might take about 20 tries to get one where Penny was looking at the camera. Here's the sequence of 3 photos we got on the first attempt:

I know our heads are cut off, but I just decided to live with that since we got two perfect shots of everyone right off the bat. Then for the third one, Penny's like "hmm, maybe I'll just grab a little berry."

Happy 4th of July!!

Penelope 18 months

July 3rd is Penny's half birthday, and life is just so good. It just seems to get better and better being the mom of a toddler. I just wanted to share some fun things about Penny at 1 1/2. First some stats:

Height: 33" (88th percentile)
Weight: 22lb 11oz (60th percentile on the breastfeeding charts; 27th on the regular charts)
Hair color: blonde/light brown
Eye color: changes from green to blue to grey to brown
Nursing: 3 times/day
Bedtime: 8-8:30pm
Wakeup: 6:30-7:30am
Nap: 1-3:30pm (ish)
Preferred transportation method: walking
Favorite foods: pickles, bacon, pretzels, smoothies
Favorite toys: puzzles, coloring, shape sorters
Favorite activity: anything involving music or climbing
Favorite animal: cat
Favorite song: The Wheels on the Bus
Favorite color: green

Language has been completely blossoming lately. I couldn't even guess how many words Penny has, but she uses mostly 1-3 word utterances. Penny is constantly chattering away whenever we're home, repeating everything she hears, and learning new words every day. I love the insight it gives us into what she's thinking. I'm going to share a few cute things she does/says. I know every parent thinks their kid is the cutest and funniest, and other people don't ever find them quite as entertaining, but I want to record these things so we don't forget them.

She's learned to say "Bless you" when someone sneezes, and it's so cute to hear her little voice say "Bessue, Mommy"

Most of the time when I ask her what she wants to eat, she says "bacon".

We were talking at the dinner table last night and mentioned something about Friday, and Penny chimes in with "Julie comes Friday". That's our babysitter... and she does come on Fridays. But how does Penny know this? Weird.

She loves shoes and will bring my shoes to me or Josh's shoes to him when it's time to go somewhere and try to put them on for us.

She is starting to loathe the stroller, and we don't even really bother to bring it many places. We usually let her walk or we'll put her in the Kokopax. We also have a backpack tether, which although I know many people think it's weird or cruel, it actually gives her the most freedom to explore without worrying about her running off. If she's walking without it, she has to hold our hand, and that's not fun for her either.

Penny loves ice, and when she asks for ice, she'll say "ice baby". We were going for "ice, ice baby", but this is mostly what she says.

She loves to lift up her shirt and tell people that there's a baby in there. Same with mommy's tummy.

She's very concerned with who things belong to. She'll go around the house pointing to things saying "mommy's", "daddy's", or "Penny's".

If Penny has two of something, she'll hold them out and say "three waters" or "three books". She sort of gets that there's more than one but doesn't quite have the numbers down. She does use one appropriately and sometimes tell us that she has "one giraffe".

If you ask her what color something is, she always answers with "green".

She loves to have a napkin at mealtime and puts it in her lap.

Penny likes to give the peace sign, but she does it by holding up both index fingers and saying "peace".

Penny will flirt by squinting her eyes and smiling big. She will also pretend cry and pretend laugh on cue.

She loves to high five, fist bump, and do ET finger (touch index fingers).

She also does "George of the Jungle" by pounding on her chest and saying "Ahhhhhhh!"

She loves animals and enjoys showing off her knowledge of their names and sounds. If an animal doesn't have a sound, we've made things up for her. Did you know that an octopus goes "wiggle wiggle"? It's true. And when we told her we were having fish for dinner the other night, she said "bubble bubble". When she sees a monkey, she says "hello, monkey!" But my favorite is that a donkey says "hoo-ha".

When Penny sees an animal (real or fake), she says "Pet it.", and when she sees something she wants, she says "Hold it."

Penny is starting to sing songs. Her most frequent one is "baby go waa waa waa, waa waa waa..." from Wheels on the Bus. She'll also do the finger motions to the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and she'll sing this other song about animals from our music class.

When she does a puzzle, after she puts a piece in correctly, she throws her hands up and says "Yay!"

Penny loves to point out when someone has a booger.

If Penny falls or stumbles or bumps into something, she calls out "OK!", as in "I'm ok!"

When she gets dressed in the morning, she looks down at her outfit and goes "cuh-yoot!" (cute).

She likes to practice saying challenging words, especially three and four syllable ones. Her cousin's name is Catiyana (kaht-ee-ah-nuh), which she couldn't say at first, so she called her crocodile. But she kept practicing and trying, and now she says it perfectly. She'll say "Catiyana"at random times during the day.

That's all I can think of right now. Happy half birthday, sweet girl!

Family Room Reveal

Our family room has been a work in progress since the day we closed on the house, just over a year ago. It was the biggest eyesore in the house but also our favorite room to hang out in. Most of the issues were just aesthetic, so we took care of the functional issues quickly and then focused on other areas of the house until we had time to tackle this one. It was an addition added to the back of the house in the second half of the 20th century. Think 1980s wood-paneled hunting lodge...plus dark purple trim...really, all it needed to complete the look were a few taxidermied bears and some deer heads. Now it is much better, our perfect cozy little hangout with great play space for little ones.

Here are the "before" pictures:

Aside from the hideousness, this space presented a serious layout problem. I'm not sure how it was used in the past, but if you notice the staging, it is completely impractical for real life use. The gigantic stairwell takes up half of the room, and then the sofa faces the fireplace while the TV is far over to the side. There's nowhere practical to sit and watch TV and hardly any floor space for play. The first thing we did was tear out the stairwell and left the loft unused (because there was no access) for several months. This at least allowed us to fit our sofa in the room so that we could comfortably watch TV and at least use the space. We also tore out the old carpet right away (cat allergies) and then had new carpet put in. Once we finished the kitchen and other projects, Josh built a ladder to the loft. We considered other options, like a spiral staircase, a stairwell addition on the outside of the house, and a sliding ladder, but we decided this was the quickest, least expensive, and simplest solution. After that, it was just a matter of new drywall, paint, and design elements. I used this photo from design seeds as my palette inspiration.

Now for the "after" pictures.

The first picture is taken from the doorway to the dining room. All three of the other walls are exterior walls, so this room literally just juts off the back of the house. Then we'll move clockwise around the room. The giant windows look out on our backyard. The white ladder on the left leads up to my sewing room.

We painted all of the window seats and bookshelves white to give a bead-board type look. We would have loved to replace the dark green countertop, but it would have cascaded into replacing all of the bookshelves, and we didn't have the energy, so we live with it.

The decor in here is definitely minimalist at the moment–I just kept it simple with a couple photographs and such. I sort of like the simplicity, but we'll see. It's kind of nice to have the space to display some things if I decide to add more decor on the bookshelves or mantle.

I made these sweet little pleated curtains using a modified version of this tutorial, but I did not use the peek-a-boo pleats with contrasting fabrics. I was actually inspired by the curtains in Susan Delfino's kitchen on Desperate Housewives if anyone happens to remember what they looked like! Then I found that tutorial after I knew what I wanted. I also lucked out finding this fabric that tied in many shades from my color palette.

We put new drywall over all of the old paneling and horrible rock fireplace (it's all still back there somewhere!). We joke that in 30 years someone will tear down this drywall and find the old paneling and say "Why would someone cover this up?!" Oh, how styles change. Josh built a new plain mantle and covered the fireplace with simple (and inexpensive!) white subway tile. We might put a gas insert in next winter, as now it's just a wood-burning fireplace that we never use.

Here you'll see shots from our recent family photo session. These were our favorites that we had blown up to 20x30 canvas prints that we got through a groupon. I love how huge, colorful, and gorgeous they are.

I lovingly spent an entire naptime making adorable little cards to label Penny's different types of toys for this toy bin... and then it took her about 5 minutes to pull them out of the slots and destroy them. Lesson learned. I will have to use a laminator if I attempt a re-do. Although, at least the toys are still organized. I usually pull out one drawer at a time for her (i.e. puzzles or blocks or animals), and then we clean up each night before bath/bed.

I also made these pillows to add a little more color. The blue one is my favorite. My mom bought that huge button for me when she went to Mood in NYC last summer. I had no idea what to do with it until this inspiration struck.

We used the wall behind the couch as an accent wall, painting it chocolate brown for a little more interest and contrast.

I also knitted that green afghan years ago, and it fits perfectly with the color scheme here.
And, this is where you can see where my sewing room is– hovering above half of the family room. If you compare to the before pictures, you can see that we closed off the railing with drywall to make the sewing room more of its own space. The other half of the room has vaulted ceilings.

I hope you enjoyed this reveal post. It is probably my last one on this house for awhile. A new room for Penny might be on the horizon, but nothing is really in the works yet. Of course, now that the house is done, we will probably get transferred somewhere new! I wish I was kidding.