Update from the Moody Laptop

As usual I have been seriously slacking in the blogging department.  This is not helped by the fact that my laptop seems to be dying a slow and painful death.  This always happens to us, because we usually cannot afford to buy anything better than the cheapest laptop available at the time, and therefore it usually has a short life span.  This one is only three years old (and the battery itself died ages ago, it only works when plugged in).  I have a feeling it will not last much longer.  It is very temperamental and I never know when it is going to work.  Because of this, I figured that I had better write something since I don't know when the next chance I'll be able to post is.  I do have my tablet but it's not exactly great for typing long posts, so you won't catch me writing from there.  Luckily we do have another computer.  It's set up in the basement, aka the cellar, aka the dungeon, so you won't find me going down there where the house centipedes live to use it.  But we are brainstorming a way to somehow fit a mini 'office' into our living room and bring it up, so as soon as we figure out how to cram a small desk and chair into our already crowded upstairs, we'll move it.

 

It is February, and as with every other February in the history of my life I am starting to get tired of winter and feel ready for spring.  I don't mind winter, I really don't.  But it gets old around February.  Not helped by the fact that we just got buried in snow this past week.  Snow that will not likely be gone until May.  Woo hoo.  But on the upside the kids love it, and it's been great for playing in and skiing.  Yesterday I participated in the Romp to Stomp out breast cancer snowshoe walk for the second year in a row and it was amazing because of all the fresh snow.  So I guess I shouldn't complain.

 

We had the most perfect day for the Romp to Stomp and it was fantastic.  It was sunny and warm (well, warm for February).  We did the 5k walk at the Scenic Caves.  I loved it, but it seemed a lot harder than I remember from last year.  And last year I was 4 months pregnant.  I swear I'm in much better shape this year so I'm not sure why I found it so hard, but it was a good workout.  I think I should take up snowshoeing every winter, as it is a lot of fun and great exercise.  I think the kids would enjoy it, especially Tristan.  I'm thinking of trying to take him snowshoeing soon, maybe at the farm.

 

The Romp was the only exercise I got in last week (except for a bit of hooping at home here and there) because I had somehow managed to injure my shoulder.  I have no idea how it happened.  I woke up Monday morning and my shoulder hurt a lot.  I muscled through the day thinking it wasn't anything major, but around 2am Tuesday morning when I woke up to feed Lily I was in so much pain I had to go get Tylenol before going back to sleep.  When I got up that morning it had worn off and I was in much more pain, so I took some Ibuprofen.  I have been trying so hard to avoid painkillers all week but it's been so hard.  Just when I think it's getting better, it gets worse again, usually towards the end of the day.  The problem in my shoulder spread to my neck and has been affecting my arm as well.  I know it is related and aggravated by carrying Lily around on my left side.  My hip has been hurting as well.  My whole left side is a mess.  Now my shoulder seems better, but my neck has been in a lot of pain and very stiff.  If it's not one thing it's another.

 

I also got a cold last week.  It's been mild, but combined with my shoulder/neck issues it's been a rough week.  Plus Lily hasn't been sleeping well so I'm tired.  Plus Tyler has been working extra long hours trying to get work done before the rented equipment has to go back, so he has not been around.  Plus he is also sick, and his gut problems are flaring up, and he is tired and cranky, and spends all day huffing and puffing.  He still works hard and helps out, but I am annoyed.  Annoyed because just for once, I would like to get sick and/or injured on my own, and not have to 'share' the misery with someone else.  Seems like whenever I'm ill (which is rare), Tyler has it worse and then it's all boo hoo for him and no sympathy for me.  Bah!  I'm just being a complainer though.

 

Ranting aside, I do spend most of my days feeling incredibly thankful for the family I do have.  Tyler, sickness aside, has been the world's best husband this winter.  He has been around a lot and helping with the kids a lot, especially getting up in the mornings with him on really rough nights so I can sleep in (but only just a tiny bit, heaven forbid they let me stay in bed past 7:30am).  My kids are amazing and I am so grateful to have them here.  The older the get, the more things I hear happening to other people, the more thankful I am for my children.  Thankful that I got pregnant easily with them, that they arrived safely, that they are healthy, and that I have them to share every day with.

 

We have been doing a whole diet overhaul for the family this year.  Once again Tyler had had enough of his gut issues, and Finn had been suffering from awful eczema.  Determined to get to the bottom of all of this once and for all, we have been meeting with a naturopathic doctor.  She has agreed with Tyler's existing candida diagnosis, and as well has suggested a diet free of any foods he might be sensitive too (with his leaky gut, that means he is likely sensitive to almost everything under the sun).  She has put him on a strict paleo/candida hybrid type of diet for several months to get back on track.  For Finn she has agreed with my suspicions that his eczema is caused by a dairy intolerance and has recommended a dairy and gluten free diet for him.  So with Tyler and Finn's diets taken into consideration, we have been working hard as a family to eat healthier as a whole.  The paleo diet is made up mostly of meat, followed by vegetables, then fruits, then nuts.  So no dairy and no grains.  The candida diet is free of all starches, yeasts, and sugars which means that in addition to the restrictions of the paleo diet, Tyler can't have anything sugary as well (which includes most fruits). 

 

This all sounds very overwhelming, but we have embraced it and are actually finding it quite easy, and enjoyable, to eat this way.  Any other person in the world would be moping over the fact that their diet is so restricted, but Tyler has seen it as a new challenge.  He is always trying to come up with new and tasty paleo meals, and everything he has made so far has been amazing.  Giving up things like pasta has not been as hard as I thought.  If we want a pasta dish, we use zucchini sliced up like spaghetti, or spaghetti squash.  If we want something with 'rice', we use grated cauliflower.  We have done cauliflower mash instead of mashed potato.  We've had waffles and pancakes made with almond and coconut flours.  Everything has been fantastic.  We all feel healthier.  Finn's legs are slowly getting better.  Tyler feels better than ever.  And the best part is, the kids are eating better than ever.  By removing almost all carbs from their diets and most dairy as well, they are not filling up on that stuff and so they are eating all of their protein and vegetables at mealtimes.  It's brilliant. 

 

Tyler is also waiting on blood tests to see if there are any indications that he has celiac disease.  I really hope not, but there is a chance and so we need to know.

 

So it has been a rather exciting year so far, and we're only a month and a bit into it.  We're doing great and we're looking forward to so much in 2013. 

Crunchier by the Day

The word 'crunchy' gets tossed around a lot these days.  Especially in this little town we live in, people seem to gravitate towards healthier lifestyles, more natural diets, and living green.  It's nice to see the effort the whole community puts into these endeavours.  In the big city sure there are crunchy people, but there are just as many non-crunchy people so it's easy to blend in with the pack and get away with not trying so hard.  It doesn't make you feel so bad to not live healthier and greener when so many people around you aren't doing it either.  Here on the other hand, there's almost like a bit of 'pressure' to live a crunchy lifestyle.  It's not a bad thing in many ways, though I'm not a big fan of being pressured into anything.  Still, seeing the people around us make positive changes has helped us get on the bandwagon as well, and make more positive changes in our own lives.

 

When I look back to how I have lived my life over these past 31 years, I can see a definite upwards slope in the right direction.  It has been gradual though, the change has not happened overnight.  I think back to how much fast food we used to eat, and how much we used to eat at restaurants.  Then I think back to how much processed food we used to buy, and I would tell myself that we were 'eating healthy' because we were eating at home and not out at a restaurant, but the truth is all that boxed and packaged stuff was just as bad. 

 

It's hard to pinpoint such changes when they happen gradually, and only looking back can I really see how far we've come.  I know the first thing many people think of when they're faced with making  huge lifestyle and diet changes for the better, is that it is too overwhelming.  And so they do nothing at all.  I have felt that way too, I have felt that it is easier to stay on the path I'm already on than to tackle all these changes.

 

The thing is, you don't have to change everything at once.  Start small with just one thing, whether it is changing your household cleaners from chemical to natural ones, or cutting out one item of junk from your diet.  Then when that becomes second nature, make another change.  You'd be astonished to realize how much change can happen in a short period of time if you just take it one step at a time.

 

For quite awhile now I have been wary of calling ourselves 'crunchy'.  There are so many variations and levels of crunchiness out there, and it seems that the extreme people who run the pack set very high standards.  While we had done so many things to improve our life and try and leave the world a little greener, it always seemed like we still could not match those who went all out.  It can be a little discouraging to be trying as hard as *you* can and yet someone else is still doing so much more.  I have learned to use those people as a motivation to keep striving to be a better, healthier, greener family but not be setback because I'm not doing all the same things as them.  I am also happy and comfortable with all the positive changes we have made as a family, and I know there are still lots more to be made but like I said we are making them one step at a time.  Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say.

 

So I am going to do it, I'm going to officially say we are a 'crunchy' family.  And I'm proud of it.  We may not be able to tick off every single checkbox yet, but we can tick off more than most.  I'd put us on a 7 out of 10 on the crunchy scale.  Hey, that's not half bad!

 

I don't really believe in living in extremes, so we may never be there 100%, but I'm ok with that.  Extreme diets, extreme opinions, that kind of stuff isn't for me.  I just want to do what's right for my family.  And we'll continue to do more.  Like I said, when I look back at how our lives used to be, even just a few years ago, I can't believe how far we've come. 

 

We use cloth diapers, which I wish I had done from the start because I now cringe at the thought of all those disposibles lying in a landfill.  I try to hang all my laundry year round to reduce the amount I have to use the dryer.  I am very conscious of energy and water use.  We're working on buying more locally, and buying healthier food.  The amount of food that we buy organic has increased a lot over the years.  Most recently we have cut out about 95% of packaged and processed foods we were buying.  We have been doing well with avoiding junk food in general but were still buying a lot of packaged snacks like cereal bars, granola, crackers, and chips (sticking to natural and organic brands, but the bottom line is organic junk food is still junk food).  Now we are making much of this stuff our own.  The only thing I am still really buying in a box is cereal, just to have something on hand.  But I am ok with that. 

 

Next step is I want to look into the Collingwood Food Co-op that has been in the works here for a few months.  I've kept an eye on it with interest and I think it's something we will join in the not too distant future so that we can continue to buy locally.

 

And of course we have been growing a lot of our own food, and continue to do so with winter crops in our hoop house.

 

Let's not forget my ongoing mission to lead a more active lifestyle through daily fitness.  I want to be a role model for my kids so that they see how important exercise is to overall health.  I want them to grow up enjoying being active, and not being couch potatoes. 

 

Another aspect that has really brought us around to this whole crunchy lifestyle, is taking a very holistic approach when it comes to our overall health.  Over the past few years we have started using more natural health practitioners like chiropractors, osteopaths, and naturopathic doctors to help us with our goals of becoming healthier individuals.  We have learned so much about what it means to be healthy from the inside out, and now I am such a firm believer in taking care of your body and treating it with respect.  Too often we see the situation of people going to their doctors with problems and the doctors are treating the symptoms and not the causes, and therefore people's health issues are never really resolved.  This is what happened to Tyler with his digestive issues, for years doctors dismissed him and treated the symptoms, when the solution really came from within:  a better diet and taking better care of himself altogether.  And too often still I see people who suffer from multiple issues that they treat as separate problems, when really it is one big problem, for example a food allergy or intolerance.  But they refuse to believe that the problem could be the very food they are eating, and still seek medical advice and then are given medication after medication to treat the problems.  It actually makes me quite sad.

 

We love our chiropractor.  We really believe it is part of helping our bodies be healthy.  A healthy body doesn't need medicine to heal itself, it is perfectly capable as long as we take care of it and let it do it's job.

 

I'm so happy to say that since we have started living this way we have had far less sickness in our house, and when a bug does pass through it passes quickly and without much issue.  My kids get the sniffles and that's about it.  None of them have every had a vomiting or gastro bug.  I know kids that are sick all the time, and even Tristan's teachers have commented on how he is rarely sick compared to other children.  Some people may say we are lucky, I say luck has nothing to do with it.

 

When it comes to products in the home, whether they are cleaning products or health and beauty ones, I used to feel so overwhelmed at the thought of changing over to more natural brands, especially because of the cost.  But again, we started changing one thing at a time and now we pretty much exclusively use natural products in our home.  When it comes to cleaning, I am far more afraid of chemicals in cleaning products than I am of germs.  When it comes to beauty, I believe less is more.  I used to buy and wear so much makeup, and buy so many skin care products.  Now I have hardly any.  I have stopped using nail polish because I can't see how having that toxic stuff around is any good.  I use very few skincare products compared to the past, and rarely wear makeup anymore.  And I'm ok with all of this, I'm comfortable in my own skin.  Even for my children, I put very little on their skin.

 

I think I could sit and think of lots of little changes we have made that I am proud of but I'm just about out of time for now.

 

Obviously I've had a lot to say on this topic, and I say it not with the intention of trying to change other people's minds (I actually don't care for people who go on and on about their healthier choices with the obvious intent of guilting others into doing the same), but because I am proud of what we have done for ourselves.  And I look forward to more 'crunchy' choices that we will make in the future.

I Miss Naptime

Ok, following up on my last post, now that I have actually stopped to think about it, I am really really missing the two hours in the middle of the day that I used to have while the boys napped.  I hadn't really thought that I missed it that much before, maybe it's because I'm just too busy to stop and think about it.  But now that I'm bombarded with all the stuff I want to blog about, and I sit here at night with my brain full of mush unable to put together anything that makes sense, I am mourning the loss of  the afternoon nap in this house.  I will never get that back.  Tristan is done with napping, and Finn is napping less and less.  Until both of them are in full time kindergarten, I will never have an afternoon to myself, and even by that point I will still have Lily and knowing my luck she will be done napping.  And then by the time all three kids are in school full time it will officially be time for me to get a job so I won't be able to relax midday and do what I want, like writing.  Boo hiss!

 

Even when it was just Tristan not napping and having 'quiet time' I could maybe find a bit of time to sit and do something quiet, like writing.  Usually during that time Tristan would be interested in just sitting on the couch with me, and we'd watch a movie while I would write.  We both liked the downtime.  But there is no such thing as downtime with Finn.  When he is up he is just a whirlwind of energy, he never stops getting into trouble and therefore I never get a break.

 

So when am I supposed to write all my wonderful thoughts?  I want to blog about hooping, and our new attempts to be healthy, and exercising, and the holidays, and probably a million other things that I think about on a daily basis.  I'm beginning to realize that evenings are not an option.  I just cannot function long enough to write anything worthwhile, nor do I want to.  I just want to shut down and veg out before bed.

 

Oh naptime, how I miss you.  I never thought I would, but I do.  That is all my brain can spit out for now.  Bed.

Four

I don't feel much like writing these days, hence why there have been no posts in August.  But I couldn't let the entire month slip by with nothing, so here I am for a quick one.

 

Guess who turned four this week?  FOUR!!  My Big Guy!  Once again I am in disbelief that he is another year older.  Didn't he just turn three?

 

His actual birthday was on Wednesday, but we decided to have his party last weekend.  This is the first year where he has been excited to have a party.  He still wasn't that much into planning it or deciding who to invite, but he was certainly excited there was going to be a party.  He had only one request:  a rainbow birthday cake.

 

I planned a very simple pizza party over lunchtime and invited close family and our good friends.  It still ended up being quite a few people, but it was a lot of fun.  We had about 10 kids and everyone was well behaved and got along.  It was quite nice.

 

I didn't end up making a cake or cupcakes this year as I have just been two busy with two toddlers and a newborn.  In fact just getting ready for the party with three kids underfoot was a huge task.  So instead we just went to Dairy Queen and got an ice cream cake (making sure to ask them to put a rainbow on it!) and some ice cream pizzas.  And Tristan was certainly happy with that!

 

It was a lovely party and Tristan got lots of nice gifts, and thankfully not too many toys.  In fact the ones he did get were all very cool and stuff he liked.  He got a really neat dinosaur excavation kit that he has been very into this week.  It's nice to see him getting into more mature activities.

 

On his birthday on Wednesday Tyler stayed for breakfast and we had a nice family morning.  Then we gave him the gift from us which was a Vtech Innotab, a tablet for kids that you can buy games for and download learning apps.  I also got him his own pair of craft scissors since he loves to cut, and a bunch of craft stuff.  He was thrilled with his own 'computer' and has been very into it ever since.  I can't believe how fast he's got it all figured out!

 

We had a nice day on his birthday.  We went to the Early Years Centre in the morning and in the afternoon went shopping for some back to school stuff for him.  Then friends of ours from out of town came for a quick visit and we went out for dinner.  After dinner Tyler took Tristan fishing for a bit on the pier.  I think he had a great birthday.

 

Four years old!  So hard to believe!  Next week he starts school.  My little boy is not so little any more!

Life with 3

It's busy.  When you add another child to a family, it's not twice the amount of work, it's more like triple or quadruple the amount.  The work load increases significantly with every new addition.  Often there is really no spare time, it's always go go go.

With that said, the transition to having 3 kids has been far easier and way less overwhelming than I anticipated.  When both my older children were born I remember feeling very overwhelmed and unable to tackle simple tasks without my head wanting to explode.  The thought of leaving the house with them was very scary.  I couldn't manage to keep up with the housework or the cooking while my boys were tiny babies.  I think Finn was probably about 9 months old before I felt I could keep the house clean and cook meals for the family on my own!

I anticipated much the same this time around and was not looking forward to the feeling of being hopelessly helpless around the house while the mess accumulated, but it hasn't been like that at all.  We really haven't stopped for much of anything since Lily has been born, rather we have just carried on as usual.  We go to all our usual outings, and I've been able to keep up with my housework and laundry without much backlog.  Between Tyler and I we've been able to keep up with home cooked meals just like before she was born.  Good thing too, because we really hadn't prepared by making freezer meals ahead of time!

It helps a lot that Tyler's job right now is quite flexible so he can be around when I need him.  Some mornings he helps before he leaves to work, and he comes home for lunch most days.  He is also home early enough to help make dinner which is a big help.  We make a good team when it comes to getting stuff done around the house.

The boys are a handful but still relatively easy compared to most other kids their ages I think!  They are loud and hyper most of the time, but fairly independent which makes it easy to take care of all three kids because they are not constantly needing me to do things for them.  Tristan can be a really big help when he wants to, and actually has been since Lily has been born.  He can get snacks and drinks for him and Finn, and he can help Finn put his shoes on to go outside.  He can dress himself now with minimal help and take himself to the bathroom.  All that stuff makes a huge difference.

Lily has been a relatively easy-going and adaptable baby.  She is starting to become a bit of a fussy-pants and I think she might be following in Finn's footsteps as a fussy baby, but since there is no time to slow down she just has to tag along for the ride.  For the most part though I can just put her in the baby carrier which calms her right down and we can go anywhere like that.  As the third child I suspect she has no choice but to just go with the flow!

So we are keeping up just fine around here.  Our days are pretty much the same as they were before, only now it just takes a little extra time to get anything done or get out the door, but it's all good.

Lily

Lily has arrived!

Obviously I have so much to share in this post.  I have been thinking about it all week and putting it off all week because I know there's a lot to write but I think it goes without saying I've been a little bit busy as a new mom of 3.  Still, I don't want to let it get too far away from me before I share the big news that we are now a family of 5.

Lily Elizabeth is one week old already.  How did that happen?  I am already wishing she would stop growing up.  She's already chubbier than she was just a few days ago and I can see time going by so fast.  When I stop to really think about it, I still can't believe that she is actually here.

But she is!

I hadn't really thought that the baby would come early since I went all the way to 40 weeks with my last pregnancy, but then towards the end of last week I was starting to wonder if maybe we were going to meet the little one soon.  Life was going on as usual and I was keeping busy with the boys.  Can't say I felt any obvious signs that labour was imminent, but I was getting a niggle that maybe within a week we'd meet our new addition.  On Thursday I managed to get to the gym one last time.

My boys were both born on Fridays.  I had always thought that it would be cool if this baby were born on a Friday too, and then I would have 3 Friday babies (and 3 first birthday parties that would fall on Saturdays!).  Well, on Friday morning I woke like it was any other day.  Didn't think anything was amiss.  I would never have believed it if someone had said that was the day our baby girl would be born.  Good thing I had spent that whole week getting all the things we would need for our planned homebirth.  I think the only thing missing was a pack of newborn diapers.

The labour with Lily was, for the better part of the day, exactly the same as it had been with Finn.  I started feeling contractions around the same time in the morning, and I remember having the same feeling all day trying to figure out if they were going anywhere.  They were consistent for the entire day, mild and short, and coming anywhere between 5-10 minutes but not stopping.  This is where I got confused with both of my labours, because the time of the contractions never becomes consistent for me until the very end.  But then again that's why you can't judge a labour by a textbook, they are all different and it doesn't always go the way 'they' say it should. 

We did some usual stuff.  Took the boys to gymnastics in the morning, then had lunch, then they went down for a nap and I relaxed and tried to get a sense of what was going on.  Still nothing really seemed obvious.  After the boys were up from their nap I was noticing the contractions more and wanted to stay home, but I had planned to drive to Wasaga Beach to drop some maternity and baby stuff off at a consignment store so I decided to still go ahead with that.  Yes, I was selling pretty much all my maternity clothes before the baby had even been born.  I didn't ever want to wear them again.

The contractions were getting a bit more annoying especially when I was driving.  Since I was still confused as to whether or not to call the midwife, I actually stopped by the clinic on the way home as I was driving by it anyway, just to ask what they thought.  The last time I was waiting for a distinct pattern that didn't happen until the very end of labour, and almost called too late.  I was paranoid about doing the same thing, but at the same time didn't want to call if I wasn't actually in established labour.  Lynne-Marie said there was no harm in paging the midwife on call, Ilse, just to have a chat, so I decided that when I got home that is what I would do.

It was about 4:45 when we got home and I wandered around feeling a bit confused.  In hindsight this was silly as I was very obviously in labour, but just like last time because I wasn't actually in pain I felt like it wasn't really happening.  Silly really, it should have been obvious at that point that things weren't going to slow or stop.  The contractions were still coming and getting stronger, though not particularly long.  It was enough to make me feel a bit scatterbrained though.  The boys were in the yard and I finally paged Ilse and spoke to her at about 5:15.  I told her I wasn't sure what was going on, and she asked if I wanted her to come by.  I needed to figure out what to do with the boys so I said I would call her back after dinner.  I called Tyler and urged him to come home.  I couldn't focus enough to start dinner, and he told me to sit down and he'd pick something up.  When I'd have a contraction I'd want to sit, but as soon as it was over I was restless and needed to get up and do stuff.  I was pretty sure at that point that we'd be sending the kids over to Tyler's parents for the night, so I packed some stuff for them. 

It felt like it took Tyler forever to get home.  I really wanted him home, but I had to send him on a few errands to pick up the last few things we needed.  Then I realized we'd need a pack n play for Finn to stay in at John and Laurie's, so I quickly asked my friends if one of them had one for us to borrow and then sent Tyler over to Corrina's to get it.  By the time he picked up all the stuff and then dinner and got home, it was 6:30 and I really wanted the kids out of the house so I could focus.  Tyler rushed them through dinner, but I didn't feel like eating.  Just sat on the couch breathing through each contraction, which were getting more intense but I was still managing.  I paged Ilse again and spoke to her at about 6:45, and she said she'd be there in about 10 minutes.

Around the same time Tyler hurried the kids out the door and over to their grandparent's house around the corner.  I felt guilty sending them away so quickly without any explaination.  Even though we were planning a homebirth, we didn't really figure out what we were going to do with the kids.  I guess I figured if I had the baby during the day they'd be at their grandparent's but then come home, and if I had it during the night they would just sleep through it.  With the timing of it they had to go stay overnight, but I hadn't prepared them for it at all.  Tristan had only ever spent one night away from me and he was with Tyler anyway, and Finn had never been away from me.  It made me nervous, but I knew they'd all have to deal with it (kids and grandparents!).  But much to our surprise they had no problems staying there.

Ilse arrived at 7 and Tyler shortly after.  When she checked me she announced I was pretty much fully dilated and said the baby would be there in 20-30 minutes.  No time to set up the pool we had borrowed for a water birth.  No time to administer the antibiotics I was supposed to get because I was group B strep positive.  No time for the secondary midwife to get there.  The midwife and Tyler quickly set up the living room for the birth, and I got down on the floor to avoid lying on the couch to have the baby.  One contraction and my water broke, another and the baby was born.

To say we were excited to find out that we had a baby girl was an understatement.  Probably the best moment ever, especially because this time around we had been patient and waited the whole pregnancy to find out.  It was so very exciting.  The rest of the birth went so smoothly, and I was up on the couch cuddling her long before the second midwife even walked through the door.

Ahhh the beauty of a homebirth.  Tyler and I just sat on the couch for a good hour and a half with our new baby while the midwives cleaned up and did the paperwork.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  No nurses, no bright lights, no being asked when we were ready to go home.  We were already home, it was brilliant.  I was able to breastfeed easily right away, and Lily was so quiet and content right from the get go.  She didn't even cry when she was born.  Pretty much the perfect birth and the perfect baby.

She weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and was 20 inches long.  She was, according to the midwife's files, 2.5 weeks early (but according to me, 2 weeks early).  But Lynne-Marie said that we may have been farther along than I thought since Lily was a good size and had the appearance of a fully-term baby.  I guess when I had those ultrasounds and they pushed my due date a week earlier, they may have been right!

Ilse and Lynne-Marie were amazing midwives and once again I am so happy I used midwives instead of doctors.  The care throughout my entire pregnancy and birth was just amazing, and it continues to be with them coming to see us at home.

So that was the labour and birth, something I hadn't planned on getting much into but then if you know me then you know once I get started talking about labour and birth I can't stop.  What can I say, it doesn't get any better than that!

And what about this past week?  Pretty much heaven.  Lily has been an absolute dream and I think all of us, including the kids, are just so thrilled to have her.

I couldn't wait for the boys to get home on Saturday to meet her.  When they finally did it was so amazing.  Tristan seemed a bit nervous at first, but only for a minute.  He just lingered back and stared at her.  I was worried Finn would be put off but I was pleasantly suprised when he walked right up to us with the world's biggest grin on his face.  Then as soon as Tristan saw Finn get close he came up too, and next thing I knew they were crawling all over me trying to get close to the baby.  They have been that way ever since, always wanting to hug and hold and kiss her.  Tristan has told me so many times how happy he is that Lily is here.  He looks for her first thing in the morning, and asks to hold her all the time.  Finn always asks where she is too, and he loves holding her as well.

Of course there has been some acting out from both of them throughout the week, not towards Lily in any way but more to get attention.  Tristan especially seems to be a bit of a handful, but to be honest we were expecting some behaviour changes so we are handling it fine, as frustrating as it is.  We know that it's only natural that the boys might act this way with the addition of a new baby to the family.  So we've been trying to make as much time for them as we can and make sure they are still getting to do some of their activities, so they don't feel their lives are on hold because of the baby.  We've taken to them to the early years centre and on walks.  Tyler has taken them to the farm with him.  Today Tyler took Finn out for lunch, just the two of them, and then in the afternoon took Tristan to his first ever movie at the theatre.  I have to make sure I spend time with each of them too.  The nice thing is that Tyler has been able to help out with Lily a lot, so I can still do some of the things for the boys that I did before, like read them stories and put them down for naps and bedtime.  I don't want them to feel like I only spend time with the baby.

As for Lily, she has been an absolute angel.  Hardly a peep out of her.  She eats and she sleeps.  When she is awake, she just looks around.  If she cries it's easy to figure out what she wants.  Her cues are very easy to read.  She is breastfeeding fabulously and is growing and is healthy.  Even nights have been fine with her.  She sleeps in my bed and I feed her when she's hungry, but essentially she sleeps all night long.  No long periods of wakefulness or fussing.  I feel like I'm getting more than enough sleep and haven't been tired at all.  Every day this week everyone in the house has slept in past 7:30 which is just amazing.

It's so exciting to have some pink in the house.  My friend Hillary gave me a huge bag of girl's clothes from her daughter and I'm pretty sure Lily has a full wardrobe for at least a year.  Of course that hasn't stopped me from wanting more!  What is it about little girls that you just want to go out and buy all the cutest stuff for them?  I can't wait to get her some clips and headbands for her gorgeous hair.

She is the most beautiful baby ever, so perfect.  She's got lots of hair, but not too much, and it's a really cool colour.  For the most part it is dark, but has blonde streaks in it too.  I already know she is always going to be a gorgeous girl.

And me, I feel like a million bucks.  I don't know how Lily got here because I don't feel like I gave birth to her.  The birth was so effortless and so easy that it caused no trauma to my body whatsoever, which is a huge difference from my last birth where I endured tearing and repairs that left me uncomfortable for weeks afterwards.  I have been out walking, and have basically been able to keep up with everything around the house.  I haven't slowed down one bit.  In fact I have found myself wondering if I could go to the gym soon, but my reasonable side keeps telling me to give myself a few weeks, if for nothing else just to relax.

I am curious to know though what the scales say, because I'm pretty sure I could fit into all my larger pre-pregnancy clothes (ok, maybe not the super skinny jeans yet, but soon enough!).  Good thing I don't need all those mat clothes I just sold!  I'm already back into normal pants.  I guess staying active during pregnancy really does pay off!

Tyler has been the most amazing husband ever.  This is the first baby where he has taken a proper amount of time off work, and he has been so helpful with everything.  We've made a really good team.  But amazingly I've felt ok most of the time handling 3 kids that he's been able to putter around and go to the farm a bit, and do other little errands.  Don't get me wrong, things are SO much easier with him around, but Lily is SO easy that I have feel able to take care of the boys' needs as well.  That is such a good feeling.

So my house is not a disaster, my laundry is not piling up, my kids are clothed and fed, we're all well rested, I've managed to shower just about every day, and Lily is only a week old.  What kind of weird universe is this?

I don't kid myself that it will always be this easy.  Newborns are pretty sleepy, and even Finn my fussy baby didn't get fussy until closer to a month old so know this could all change on me overnight.  But for now, I am enjoying it, before the inevitable chaos hits.

With my first baby I had no clue and was just very go with the flow, and then when things got tough around 4 months I looked to books to help me figure it all out.  Then I got really into certain styles and routines, which worked so well for us then.  So of course with my second baby I thought I had it all figured out to do it right from the start, I would get him right into a routine and he would sleep better than Tristan did.  But Finn had other plans and all I really did was stress myself out trying to do things against how he really was.  I was so worried about his routine and not creating bad habits.  This time is so much better, and I'm just enjoying it for now and going with the flow, with the knowledge that when the time comes I will have the tools to get us onto a good routine and get her sleeping well.  Chances are if she is anything like her brothers sleep will not be great for the first year, but I know from experience that we get there in the end.

You know, I still can't believe we have a girl.  I can't believe we have two boys and a girl.  When I was pregnant with Finn and was going to find out what he was, I remember thinking that it would be amazing if we had a second boy so that Tristan could have a brother, and then later on have a little girl.  Of course at that time I couldn't have made it happen like that.  So to know that we did try for another baby and got our girl makes me feel so lucky.  To me it's the perfect family, two big brothers to take care of their little sister.  Yes, of course I would have absolutely loved another boy, babies are a blessing no matter what.  But the fact that we did have a girl is just very exciting.

So I had a million and one things that I have wanted to write about from this past week since Lily has been born, and although it feels like I have written about a million and one things I'm fairly certain there is a million and one more things I have missed.  At any given point during the day I want to record something that I have thought, or felt, or something that has happened.  I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of things, but hopefully at some point will remember to write them down somewhere.

This was my last pregnancy, we are fairly certain of that now.  I had such a fabulous experience with this pregnancy and birth, but in so many ways I am ready to move on.  Plus, while you always forget how horrible contractions are after the baby is born, the truth is they are horrible and I would be happy to never feel one again.  I will always love being pregnant, and I will always sort of wish I could do it 'one more time'.  This pregnancy was the most amazing one even though they all were great.  And it ended with an amazing birth and an amazing baby.  What more can someone ask for.

I consider all my births positive experiences.  I also consider myself very unique in that I have experienced 3 very different types of births.  Tristan's was a planned c-section because he was breech, and it went as amazing as a c-section could go with no complications.  My recovery was great and I felt great.  With Finn I had an unmedicated hospital VBAC, and although the recovery was rough the labour itself was smooth and I was so happy I was able to accomplish my goal of having a VBAC.  And finally with Lily, to end it all off with the most positive birth experience of all, my wonderful home birth.  I'm very proud to say I trusted birth and my body and had an HBAC, and I'm so happy that my husband although skeptical of the homebirth at first, trusted my instincts as well.

Well, without further ado, I better add some pics.  I so wish I had a better camera and was a better photographer, but as long as I'm remembering to take them that's all that matters.

Just arrived

Daddy's girl

Gorgeous

Proud biggest brother

Proud big brother

Mommy snuggles

Mommy of 3!

Peek a boo!

Sleeping beauty

Big Changes a-Brewin'

It is about 1 month until baby is due to arrive.  And we haven't done much of anything to prepare.

Until today that is.

The plan was that on the weekend we would pick up the bed my dad was giving us for the boys' new room, and then we would spend all of next weekend basically rearranging the entire upstairs and putting them in their new room.  Together.  Gulp.

But then Tyler decided we should bust our butts to get everything rearranged before the weekend so we can spend it working in the vegetable garden (he doesn't get to spend time in there during the week since he's so busy with the hops, and there is only so much I can do on my own, and we still have a ton of seeds to sow and other stuff to be done).  Ok, I was up for the challenge!

So tonight we initiated phase one of operation Get House Baby Ready.  Probably not the best plan to try and do this kind of stuff in the small window between dinner and bedtime, especially when one child did not nap today, but we felt motivated to try anyway. 

Every piece of furniture in 3 out of our 4 bedrooms needed to be moved around, and my husband had to pretty much do it all with an 8 month pregnant wife and two nosey kids underfoot.  Two beds had to be moved to different rooms, 1 bed had to be repositioned in one room, and another bed had to be assembled.  Two dressers needed to be swapped.  Just general chaos altogether. 

Keeping the kids out of the way was pretty much impossible.  I was able to keep Finn downstairs for most of it, but Tristan always insists on being Daddy's helper and just wouldn't come down.  Of course when Finn did want to go upstairs and we wouldn't let him because it was too crowded and dangerous, he had mega tantrums.  Tristan was overtired from not napping so was hyper active but also prone to meltdowns easily.

What a mess!

But we got all the furniture moved, which is the hardest part.  Next I have to swap all the clothes so that everyone's stuff is in the right rooms.  And I have to clean everything because of course there was so much dust hiding behind all the furniture that was moved.

The only room that wasn't changed was Finn's room, which will remain the nursery once the baby is born.  I had thought we would try to squeeze his crib into the boys' room while they adjust to sleeping in the same room, but a small crazy part of me is thinking of just attempting the transition to a big boy bed at the same time.  I don't know how well that would go over. 

It is exciting though to have them moving to the same room soon.  I think once they get over the initial transition of room sharing they will really enjoy it.  The plan is to give the 'new' bed to Tristan and have Finn take Tristan's old big boy bed, but the new bed still isn't ready yet and so Tristan went to bed in his original bed and I'm not sure if he will want to give it up.  I guess we'll see what happens!  Tristan was really excited to sleep in the new room tonight though, so I think that is a good start.

Moving everything was such a pain but it's exciting at the same time.  Even though I've got some work ahead of me with moving and organizing the clothes, I'm looking forward to it.  I love rearranging furniture, it feels like everything is 'new'.

So I guess this is really it then, getting everything ready for baby.  Can't believe it's almost that time!

Just Call Me Mrs Greenthumb!

There is a very good reason why I took a horticulture related program in college.  I love it.  I love plants, I love gardening, I love being outside working on even the hottest of days.  I even love hard labour (seriously I love shovelling, digging, and hauling wheelbarrows full of dirt).  The only I thing I don't love, or even like for that matter, is bugs.  But it's something I'm willing to deal with to do what I enjoy.

I have been out of the garden for many years now since getting pregnant with Tristan and had almost forgotten how much I love it.  A few weeks ago my dad asked us to clean up his backyard which Tyler had landscaped last year.  It didn't take me long before I was back into it and happily spent hours there weeding, cultivating, pruning and mulching.

The fact that I am currently 7.5 months pregnant has not stopped me from getting my hands dirty.  Ever since our family has embarked on this hops farming adventure I have been longing to jump in and help out.  But being a full-time mom has meant I couldn't do that.  I was actually jealous of Tyler and his parents being able to get out there and do some hard labour, but whenever I would go with the boys I would have to spend pretty much every second watching their every move.

Over the winter I was able to stay involved by helping plan our vegetable garden.  I was responsible for researching and picking out what plants we were going to grow, and for setting up a gardening, sowing, seeding, and transplanting plan.  I had no idea what I was doing, but figured I'd be learning in the process. 

In March we started sowing our seeds and I finally got to put my hands in the dirt a little bit.  We would sow them on nice afternoons in the backyard into cell packs, and then transfer them into the basement where Tyler had set up an area for them to grow and germinate.  It wasn't long before all our little seedlings were emerging, and we were on our way.

The past few months have been an experiment in starting seeds indoors for us.  While we had a very high success rate for germination, we were always struggling to figure out what each of our individual types of plants needed.  And as they got bigger we struggled to find room for them since we were constantly sowing new seeds.  At first we were certain we'd have such a warm, early spring that they could go outside earlier than usual, but it turned cold on us and we had to keep them inside.  We even had some that got stunted from the cold when we tried to harden them off.  We kept juggling all our plants, moving them around as they got bigger and trying to get some of the hardier ones outside into the hoop house at the farm or even in the backyard.

Finally we were able to start transplanting some into the garden, and eventually we were able to start direct seeding as well.  Now we are in business, and our garden is filling up nicely.

Filling up!

For awhile I was still more of a passive player in this gardening game, but in the last few weeks I have stepped up and gotten involved.  The weather has officially turned hot which has made it more comfortable for me to be out there with the boys.  They are now familiar enough with the property that they are willing to hang out near me while I work, and I just have to keep an eye on them but not worry about them wandering off.  Usually a few toy trucks are enough to keep them happy!

My little gardening helper with his tractor and wearing his favourite John Deere shirt

I have been spending most mornings recently working in the vegetable garden, especially since Tyler has been so busy helping his parents plant the hops.  It's go time at the farm and there are always a million things that need to be done.  Last weekend we went as a family and planted some of our tomatoes in the hoop house.  This past week I have been going with Finn and planting some more seedlings, as well as working on keeping the weeds in check.

We sowed so many tomatoes and peppers that we're having trouble finding homes for them all!  Those two types of vegetables where the ones we knew we'd want a lot of, and we chose several different varieties of each.  I think we have 7 or 8 different kinds of tomatoes, and 5 different kinds of peppers.  We've put some of each into the garden, but have also decided to plant some in the hoop house too to see how they do.  We're hoping to have enough vegetables that we could even sell some.  I'm sure we will!

The hoop house

First row of tomatoes planted and mulched inside

So many tomatoes!

Both boys love coming to the farm and hanging out with me while I work.  I have gone a few afternoons this past week with both of them, but I have gone most mornings with just Finn.  He is my little gardening buddy and is so great about hanging out with me.  I think he is a little farmer in the making!  He will often play in the dirt with his toy digger or tractor, or he will just wander around the garden area.  But he never gets upset or whiny, or asks to leave.  Tristan will hang out too, and sometimes he will help me pull weeds or lay mulch.  He really loves hanging out with Tyler though and will jump at the chance to 'work' with Daddy.

At the moment in our garden we've got a variety of leafy vegetables like lettuces, swiss chard and cabbage, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, onions, and artichokes.  Our strawberry plants are still in pots and are thriving, but we really need to get them into the ground asap.  We won't get a harvest from them this year as the advice is to pinch off the flowers in the first year to encourage stronger plants, but we are willing to be patient to get a good crop next year.  I have sowed some greenhouse variety cucumbers which are just sprouting, and will direct sow some more next week along with some other things like squash, corn, melon, pumpkins, and subsequent crops of carrots.  There is so much going on in our garden right now!  And we still have no idea what we are doing or what is going to work out, but boy are we having fun.  We have to learn somehow and it is all trial and error.

Red cabbage

Peppers

Lettuces

Strawberries, carrots and onions in pots

Tomatoes and beans growing up the poles

I am remembering what it is like to be out in the sunshine with my hands in the dirt, and I am loving it so much.  It means I have been spending less time at the gym, but I don't care because it's so good to be out there in the fresh air.  I also love that the boys are enjoying being out there and are learning about gardening and farming along with us.  I hope it won't be too long until they're actively involved in the process and hopefully gaining a strong work ethic from it.  I can see them spending summers working there and I hope they enjoy doing it as much as Tyler and I do.

I look forward to the future and getting to do more of this.  With a new baby soon to be here, my involvement will still be limited, but I hope that I can still get out there and keep tabs on my garden.  When I look into my future I see myself being more and more involved with the farm and all that is going on.  I love being at home with my children and do not wish that time away, but I look forward to when they are older and start school, and I will be able to play a more active roll on the farm growing my vegetables, and helping with the hops as well.

It truly is a dream come true!

Mommy and her little sidekick!

Two Years on the Bay

This week marks 2 years since we moved out here and started our new lives.  It has been an amazing two years.  Well, the first year sucked, but I consider it amazing because we had to get through it to be where we are now.  And we couldn't be happier.  We've made great friends and are enjoying every minute of our lives here.  It's hard to believe I used to want to go back, now I know we would never go back!  We love living on the bay.

Of course, I've gushed about all this before so don't need to go on now.  But I did want to be sure I took a moment to remember that it's been two years.

Our big party last weekend was a success, and everything went wonderfully.  I think all our guests had a great time.  The weather was fantastic, the food worked out well, and we had lots of people show up.  The boys had an absolute blast, I think all the kids did.  I have tons of pictures, and if I feel up to it I will post some but I find that resizing and uploading them is such a big task that even if I start it I get frustrated and give up.  So maybe I will post them, maybe I won't. 

That's all for now, my blogging isn't very interesting these days!

Happy Two Years to us!

Little Dude's Birthday and Party Plans

Happy 2nd Birthday to my very special, very sweet, very funny Little Dude Finn!  I can't believe it's been two years since he was born.  What an amazing day it was.  I reflect on the birth of my children a lot, as expressed in previous posts.  I won't go into massive detail here, since I know I already did that last year for his 1st birthday!

I'm not really finding the words to describe how I feel on this particular birthday.  It's been a bit of a blur of normal life really.  We woke him up with a song and had a nice day together.  After dropping T off at school we went to Walmart and had a birthday muffin and smoothie at Tim's, then did a little shopping for his upcoming party.  He is such an amazing little man when we're out, so patient while sitting in the cart and hardly asking for anything.  It's really a pleasure to go anywhere with him.

After that we went home to hang out for a bit before picking T up from school, then had a yummy lunch before the boys went down for their naps.  This afternoon we just stayed home and the boys played while I got some housework done.  We were on our own for dinner since Tyler had to go down to the city, but we had a nice meal together and then after bath time I let the boys have some chocolate pudding as a treat for F's birthday.

So not a terribly exciting day I'm afraid, but we're saving all the excitement for his big party coming up this weekend!  I'm very excited!  We expect a lot of people to come out to the farm to celebrate with us, and while part of me feels like I should be overwhelmed this week while planning such a large event, I'm not at all.  Everything seems to be coming together nicely, and I am really looking forward to seeing a lot of our friends and family that we don't get to see too often.

We're doing a bbq style cookout at the farm, with lots of food and fun stuff.  I'm taking care of the dessert and am going to be making about 100 cupcakes, as well as a dirt cake.  Wow!  Now, I do feel a little guilty because I just went and bought cake mixes instead of making them from scratch.  I know I know, I have made such an effort in the past to make healthier varieties of cakes and cupcakes for the kids' birthdays.  I wanted to this time as well, but I just couldn't see how I could make so many from scratch on my budget, since the healthier ingredients required always end up being SO expensive.  So I'm cheaping out a bit, but they will still taste yummy that's for sure!  I might try making some rice crispy squares as well.

Another thing I try to do for birthday parties is avoid giving out treat bags that are filled with candy or crappy plastic toys.  This year for party favours I have sowed a bunch of extra tomato seedlings, and will give one to each child to take home and plant in their garden.  I'm also going to do little snack bags that are made out to look like butterflies and they will be filled with dried fruit instead of really sugary stuff.

I really hope the weather cooperates for this weekend, and I'm really excited to have everyone over to the farm to see it and to celebrate with us!

My littlest (but soon to not be the littlest anymore) guy is already 2.  Wow, just wow.  He is such an amazing little boy.  In fact, sometimes I can't believe he is the same baby that cried all the time and didn't sleep, because how he is now couldn't be further from that fussy baby.  He is so happy, and so social.  Everyone who meets him loves him to bits.  And we do too!

Happy Birthday Finn!!

Ok Mother Nature, You Got Me

One of my pet peeves is Canadians who are surprised about the weather.  If you have lived here for any amount of time, you know that no two years are alike and you should expect the unexpected.  Well, I eat my words.  I am genuinely surprised with the weather this spring, but pleasantly so.  Or should I say, the weather this winter.  We've had a mild winter that's for sure, but it has certainly turned into a very early and very warm spring indeed.  Here we are with still days left of 'winter', and we're getting temperatures that would be considered great for May.  It's amazing, and I'm surprised.  So I won't hold it against anyone this year if they say to me, "Can you believe the weather we're having?"

I have tempted Mother Nature and have washed all our winter stuff and put it away.  Risky, I know, but I couldn't stand having it crowding the mud room any longer.  I doubt we will be pulling out the snowsuits, and I've made sure the hats and mitts are still readily available if needed.  I'm sure we'll be using them again before spring is here for good.

It is absolutely lovely having this warm weather though and I feel as though we are very spoiled.  If/when the temperatures drop again, we'll all be complaining.  I love not having to put boots or coats on the kids.  Today they were even in shorts and t-shirts, and I was in a tank top and capris.  It's amazing, I must say.  Though I was looking forward to having less laundry to do since they're not wearing so many layers, so far that has not been the case.  It seems my children like to bath in dirt, and I have to immediately strip them down when they come in after playing in the yard or else my house would be covered in sand.  So they're actually going through just as many layers if not more at the moment. 

With all this great weather this past week we haven't even bothered going to the Y.  Partly because it's been March Break so a lot of programs have been on hold, and also because with T out of school I haven't wanted to put both boys in childminding.  But really it's been more fun to hang out in the backyard, and I find I can get a lot of my exercise done there while the boys play.  I can hoop to my heart's content out there while they're in the sandbox and not have to worry about anything.  Today I even brought my weights outside and did some exercising that way. 

I love this little prelude to spring/summer that we're getting and I hope it's here to stay.

It's almost planting season!

A few weeks ago the seeds we had ordered for our vegetable garden arrived and for the past few weeks we've been busy thinking about and planning how we are going to sow and plant them.  We have about 70 varieties of vegetables and some fruits that we will be sowing from seed.  Tyler went out and bought a large binder with plastic sleeves and calendar sheets so that we can organize them all and keep track of the sowing/transplanting/harvesting schedule.  It's taken a lot of thought to organize it all but we're in pretty good shape.

I've been spending lots of time familiarizing myself with all the different seeds and their needs.  I've categorized them and come up with a sowing plan so we know what seeds need to be started and transplanted when.  We'll be starting our first bunch this week.  March will actually be very busy with the majority of seeds needing to be started indoors, but there are plenty that will be started in April, May, and even throughout the summer as well.  We will pretty much constantly be sowing, transplanting or harvesting our fruits and vegetables from March through to September.

This week construction of the hoop houses began and they will be ready to go soon, however we will be starting the seeds in the basement since they will need warmer temperatures than the hoop houses can provide.  Once they are seedlings most of them can be moved into the hoop houses until they are ready to go into the ground in May.  Tyler has build a light table to go in the basement for starting the seeds. 

I am so excited for this adventure.  When I read through my books I do feel a little overwhelmed as it just all seems so complicated on paper, especially since we are ambitious and starting quite big.  But I think we'll just going to jump in and see what works, and I think between the two of us we will have enough knowledge and experience to be successful.

Some of the varieties of plants we will be growing include: onions, beets, celery, broccoli and rapini, artichokes (Tristan's favourite vegetable!), corn, cabbage, beans, peas, many types of lettuces and leafy greens, several varieties of carrot, tomatoes, and cucumber, and of course an extensive selection of herbs.  We're also going to grow melons and strawberries, as well as squash and pumpkins.  Tyler really wants to try and grow a giant pumpkin!  I've also got some sunflower seeds to plant as well just because I thought it would be nice to have some on the property, and maybe we will be able to get some more seeds out of them as well.  We're going to try growing peanuts as well.  I'm sure there are a few more vegetables I missed, we ordered a lot!  All this in addition to the hops.

Ultimately it is my goal to be able to grow almost all of our vegetables and as much fruit as we can as well (we already have apple trees on the property, as well as other berry and currant bushes).  I would like to learn how to successfully preserve our harvest through canning, drying and freezing so that we can eat our own produce year round.  We should be able to grow some stuff year round in the hoop houses as well.  It's a little scary to take all this on knowing that we will be having a new baby in the family right in the middle of the season, but hopefully together we can pull it off.

I know I'm going to be hugely pregnant soon, but it is still my hope to play as active a roll in the creation and maintenance of our vegetable gardens as I can.  Me and my belly will be out there planting and weeding as long as I can still manage it.  I'm also hoping that getting the boys involved from a young age will teach them the value of the land and what it means to grow our own food.  Maybe if I'm really lucky they will start to eat more vegetables too!

Baking With Children

I don't like to do it.  It always seems like a fun activity, but in the end I find it's almost more frustrating than it's worth.  Still, every now and then I attempt it because I know my kids will have fun and we all enjoy the goodies that come out of it.

I used to enjoy baking before I had kids.  Not so much since becoming a mom.  But I do love baked goods!  And I do like to try and make them myself instead of buying store bought stuff.  I figure that even if I make goodies that are full of sugar, they're at least not full of chemicals and preservatives like the stuff you buy at the grocery store.

When Tristan was younger, a little older than two, I could set him up with two bowls, a few cups and spoons, and some flour and he would scoop the flour from one bowl to the next for hours while I baked.  It was messy, but he loved it.  Finn is not quite that age yet and so it doesn't occupy him quite the same way, and Tristan is older now and so he wants to be more involved.

My problem is I'm too much of a control and a clean freak to let him do that much.  I can set him up with stuff to mix and try not to cringe too much when I see it spilling all over the place.  That part is easy.  But the constant sticking his hands in the bowl, trying to eat it when I told him not to because of the raw eggs, and requests for the goodies to be done so he can eat them really starts to get to me.  He's 3.5 now and so patience is a little hard to come by (for both of us!).

Nope, I'm not really cut out to bake with small children.

Nevertheless, we attempted to make some muffins today and it was fun for the boys.  Finn scooped some flour for about 5mins before getting bored and wandering off, and Tristan helped mix the filling for the muffins as well as all the dry ingredients.  And of course, he was VERY proud of himself when they were done and when Daddy got home proudly exclaimed that he had helped make them.  So that in itself does make it worth it.

So what did we make today?  I decided to try this recipe I found on Pinterest for Strawberries and Cream Muffins.  They were a fair bit of work (or maybe they just seemed that way with two little people trying to 'help'), but they were very very yummy.  Of course I opted to use whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and because Tristan wanted 'sprinkle cupcakes' instead of muffins we sprinkled some red sugar sprinkles on top of them before popping them in the oven.

I'm feeling rather ambitious this week so I'm thinking after we've polished off all the strawberries and cream muffins we'll bake some banana ones.  At least those ones are a little easier to make.