Gone

Yes, you've probably wondered where my blog has gone. Its been over a month since I've blogged. Sorry everyone, I didn't mean to neglect it so much.

The fact is that I've been feeling like major crap since last time I blogged. I think pretty much everyone who reads this already knows that I'm pregnant. Well, morning sickness reared its ugly head 3 or 4 weeks ago and is really knocking me down. I feel nauseated and exhausted ALL. THE. TIME. I don't remember it being quite this bad with the previous two, but maybe its just that I'm in the throws of it right now so it just seems worse. Or maybe its because I now have to take care of two small children this time while feeling so sick.

I've also had a few complications this time around. I have something called a subchorionic bleed, which is like a clot in between the uterine wall and the gestational sac. It has caused some bleeding and cramping, and I'm on instructions to rest, avoid excercise, and try not to pick up the kids (when possible). The no-excercise thing kinda stinks because I miss my yoga class and bet that it would help me feel a lot better. The good news is that the baby is doing well, and as much as I hate the morning sickness it as at least a little reassuring. I've had 3 ultrasounds already to check the bleed, and its fun to see the little jelly bean in there! If I get a chance I'll scan the pics in and post them.

As for my nutrition plan, that is definitely on hold at the moment. I'm basically in survival mode for eating right now, and I just have to go with what sounds good (even if its junk food). Unfortunately I have a habit of developing aversions to things I ate in early pregnancy, which this time around means roasted veggies, greens, and whole grains. Basically everything healthy, ha!

Anyway, all this to say that I'm going to try giving this blog a little more TLC than its been getting. That also means that from this point on I'm going to stop using Buffy titles as my blog titles (for those of you that noticed), because one of the biggest barriers to me writing recently has been that I don't have the brain energy to sit down and think of a clever title for my blog, so I end up not writing at all.

Thanks for reading--hopefully I'll write again soon!

Goodbye Iowa

i.e. big corn i.e. processed foods

Well this past couple weeks I've been putting my plan into action. I signed up for a CSA with Moore Farm & Friends and picked up my first box on Wednesday. I also signed up with My Dad & Me Farms to pick up raw milk every other week. I can't tell you how amazing it felt to hand my money straight to the farmer and have them reach in their fridge and hand me a glass jar of milk, while the cows from which the milk came were grazing in the background.

So far I've managed to cook whole foods and nutritious meals every night. This is so new to me but I've really enjoyed it! I've included some pictures of my undertakings from the past week. The only meal I didn't take a picture of was broccoli soup, but I can tell you that it just looks like green slime. Anyway, here we go:

Meal 1: Beets over Beet Greens over Couscous

Meal 2: Broccoli Soup (no pic)

Meal 3: Orzo with Black Beans, Red Peppers, and Avocados in a dressing of Olive Oil, Cumin, Lime Juice, and Garlic.

Meal 4: Vegetable Curry (potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and onions) over Couscous

Meal 5: Fresh Salad with Butter Lettuce, Blackjack Tomatoes, Avocado, and Tilapia in a homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette

And here is picture of my first CSA box! It contained lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, and strawberries.

Happy healthy eating everyone!!

The Harvest

I just got back from an amazing trip to California to visit my sister Amy. It was beyond beautiful out there--sunny, hilly, green. Completely breathtaking. Amy lives in a little A-frame wooden house surrounded by rolling hills and flowers and trees and blue sky. I felt like I was at some spa retreat that you'd pay thousands of dollars to go to. Only better because the host was so awesome.

Anyway the theme of the week was healthy eating. Amy participates in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and receives a box of locally grown organic vegetables every week. She then plans her meals around what she gets in the box. Add some whole grains and garlic and a cup of fresh-squeezed O.J. or raw milk to drink and booyah--heavenly meal. Every single thing I ate there was so delicious and felt so good to my body. Oh and the wine. Must include some good wine, hopefully from the organic vineyard you visited earlier that day.

Now that I am back I am full of enthusiasm and motivation. I want to eat this way. I want my family to eat this way. I want to feel good about my food and be able to pronounce and recognize every ingredient that goes into it. I want food to do more than just fill me up, I want it to nourish me.

So I'm letting my enthusiasm carry me as far as I can. I'm joining my own local CSA and attempting to follow the same simple meal-plan as we did in CA. In the meantime I made it a priority to use my first day home to visit the Dekalb farmer's market to pick up new vegetables, grains, and spices. Last night I prepared roasted root veggies and roasted garlic with homemade "mac-n-cheese" (really just pasta with butter and cheese). Tonight I'm making beets and beet greens over couscous.

It doesn't come very naturally to me to be creative in the kitchen or come up with meals, or to cook even (Jamie has done the majority), so this is daunting. But I am so so ready for a nutrition overhaul. I'm hoping my eagerness for healthier living will help the transition into forming a habit of this. I'm counting on my sisters and mother to hold me accountable. You too Jamie!

Oh! And in other news my little vampire-child (who accompanied me to CA) started walking at Aunt Amy's house. Everybody cover your knees!

Who Are You?

Sometimes I think my (small) obsession with vampires is rubbing off on my children. I'm starting to suspect that Juliet is really a vampire. Here are my reasons:

1. She doesn't sleep at night. Maybe this is because that is the natural time for her to be out and about. Here this whole time I've been trying to get her to sleep all night like a normal girl when maybe she isn't "normal".

2. She doesn't grow. I thought it was just me not being able to get past thinking of her as an 8-month-old, but not so. I just took her to her one year visit yesterday and she pretty much hasn't grown. She's just under the 5th percentile for height and the 10th for weight. You'd never know with all those rolls that she's actually a total shrimp! She hides her petiteness well.

3. (and this is the most convincing) The girl likes to bite. She will try to bite me repeatedly on the arm, leg, wherever she can reach, and cries or screams when I say no. But this is nothing, NOTHING, compared to how enthusiastically she tries to bite other babies' heads. She will claw and kick her way to them in her frenzy to reach their little heads, and fight and shriek when I hold her back. Really its quite disturbing (and hilarious).

Where does this come from? Did I read too much Twilight and watch too much Buffy while she was in utero? Is it because she shares her name with the actress who plays Drusilla? Is it because she was welcomed into the world under the soothing tones of Spike's Ballad (sung by my awesome sister)? Or are my suspicions true and she's been changed? Maybe she's a half-vampire like Renesmee (only with an infinately better name).

Hmm, this post kind of paints me in a crazy light doesn't it?

This Year's Girl

My baby girl is one year old today. I can't believe it! She seems so much younger to me. I don't know if its because she is short for her age, or that she still nurses so much and wakes up throughout the night, or if its just that she's my baby, but I just cannot get my head around the fact that she is already a year old.

Exactly one year ago I was having my incredible, intense, crazy waterbirth. Its strange how labor can hurt so very much, and yet I still feel nostalgic for the experience. I guess its sort of like running a marathon or climbing a mountain or something, where it feels like hell while you are doing it but afterwords you feel the most amazing sense of accomplishment (plust you get a baby out of it!). I still sometimes watch the birth video and think to myself, "I can't believe I did that!". I've witnessed many a birth and done it twice myself, but it still amazes me that we can actually grow a person inside our bodies, and even more amazingly can push them out. How is that even possible??

Anyway I digress. Juliet is no longer my little newborn, she's my babbling, standing, smiling, bouncing, peek-a-boo playing, clapping, waving, banana eating, cuddling, loving one-year-old little girl. And that, my friends, is just five-by-five.

Here she is just seconds after being born

And here she is celebrating her first birthday!

Living Conditions

We're moving again! See, we're not very clean people. We tidy a little here and there, but every once in a while the mess builds up so much that its actually easier just to move houses than attempt to clean.

Ok so thats not true, but it is true we are moving! We renewed our lease in December, but I've been feeling quite cramped in our two bedroom apartment. Not that its a small place, but having the girls share a room at this age is HARD. Juliet already wakes up several times a night, so when Lydia wakes her up even more it is pretty infuriating. So yesterday I was sitting there in frustration when I realized, hmm, maybe we can do something about this. I talked to one of the managers and found out that there was a 3 bedroom apartment available here for only $35 more a month than we're paying! Woo hoo! Today we went and filled out the transfer paperwork and toured our new place. I love it! Apart from another bedroom, it also has a nice big laundry room and, best of all, a back door to our own little patch of grass. Yay! Otherwise the apartment is pretty much the same (except its a mirror image, which made me a bit dizzy).

We'll be moving the last Saturday of March. Or more precisely Jamie will be moving, as I will be in California. I did not plan it that way, but that is when we must move. Poor guy--I've been unable to help in our last 3 moves. If anyone is interested in helping (or volunteering their husbands to help) my sweet husband move us a couple hundred yards away, I'd be eternally grateful! Or if you just want to donate a box or two.

And for those who need to keep track of our new address (hard to do since this is our 4th address in 3 years) we will now be 3052A instead of 3046D. Everything else is the same.

I'm so excited!

Teacher's Pet

Not a giant Praying Mantis, but a small Cockatiel. Meet Ron.

Lydia and Juliet just LOVE him. I find him amusing. He's very friendly and we can get him out and hold him and pet him. When he wants to be let out he hops to the bottom of his cage and paces back and forth really fast. And he likes to groom our hair when he's up on our shoulders.

Come meet him!