Crunchy Mama Life

Everyone has a birth story...

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:58:00 +0000

I thought for sure I'd do this post so much earlier. My baby is 3.5 months old. WHERE DID THE TIME GO? Oh yea... diaper changes, nursing, no sleep, lactation appointments, projectile squirting poop, nursing, no sleep, painful PP recovery, more lactation appointments, more nursing, more sleep - wait - more NO sleep, naptime woes, eating woes, sleeping woes, IS HE POOPING ENOUGH woes

- and -

that doesn't even factor in me trying to get on my feet enough to take care of the other two people in my house. Good thing my husband is patient with me and good thing our first son doesn't mind being neglected and left to playing on the ipad and watching movies. Guh. This too shall pass. This too shall pass.

I read several other mom bloggers and I marvel at the fact that they have CONTENT. Within DAYS of having their baby. OR TWINS. Or within HOURS even. I'm sure they see some sort of monetary compensation for their blogging and therefore have more motivation. But still.

And I digress.

The birth story. As told 3.5 months late.

After going a week early with Charlie and have a nice healthy pregnancy this go around, I for some reason, almost knew deep down in my heart or maybe that was deep down in my excruciating lower back pain that surely I would go early (oh 37 weeks or 38 weeks maybe) and just have this pregnancy done.

37 ticked by.

38 ticked by.

39 ticked by.

40 ticked - oh wait.

Week 40. Monday afternoon the day before my due date. I got it into my head to experiment with pumpkin cookie muffins. I rarely bake anymore but I guess it was one last bit of nesting trying to eke its way out. I only bring that up because I remember so vividly the fact that even while having my first painful braxton hicks contractions, I was so ridiculously determined to make these cookies that I perused the internet for multiple pumpkin cookie recipes, tore them apart and constructed one of my own from the shards of ideas laying around my kitchen. And darn were they good.

So Monday afternoon was baking. Erratic contractions, sometimes painful, sometimes not. Oh and texting Nicole to find out whether Lindsey had her baby yet. What's that you say? Who are those people? I'll get to that.

Monday afternoon was me texting my husband telling him I didn't think I could do dinner. I really didn't know, but gosh I wanted an excuse not to cook and to eat out. More erratic contractions, sometimes painful, sometimes not. More texting Nicole to find out about Lindsey - should be anytime now.

Monday evening was William bringing home Pei Wei and me eating a dish that was too spicy - but hey, maybe it will bring on more contractions. More erratic contractions, sometimes painful, every now and then I had to stop and breathe through them. Nicole: Lindsey is still in labor.

Monday late evening was the 3 of us going on a walk down our road hoping to kickstart these THINGS THAT CAN'T MAKE UP THEIR MIND into real labor. More erratic contractions, but less all around. Still texting Nicole to find out about Lindsey. Should be anytime now. Oh wait, she's already said that multiple times.

9pm was me giving up and deciding to go to bed since the contractions really were so erratic and not getting stronger or closer together. Disappointment guys. I'm sure there was more texting to Nicole around this time to ask about Lindsey.

10pm found me awake in bed, unable to go to sleep because just as I was nodding off to sleep a contraction would hit that I could NOT sleep through. And here's where the time and events get a bit fuzzy. Oh wait, Lindsey finally had her baby!!! Now I just need mine.

I'm lying in bed, still pretty much in denial that this is happening because after witnessing my sister's last birth where that child toyed around with her for days and days, AND since I had been so lucky my first go around to not have any false starts, I figured I was due for a false start this time. But lying in bed trying to sleep and 20 minutes pass and you are just about to fall asleep when BAM contraction hits just turns you into a grumps. Eventually they got painful enough that William said I had to call the birth center. So I called. I knew what they were going to say.

Get in the tub. Growl.

I hate getting in the tub. How people think it's comfortable to lay in a hard tub while 9 months pregnant is beyond me. But get in the tub I did. They said the warm water would either slow the contractions or make them more regular. Growl.

So me and the sore back got in the tub and we timed contractions and William kept saying they are getting closer you should call them back. And I kept saying, no I don't think they are regular enough for them to tell me to come in, and it went back and forth like that till finally I relented because indeed they had not died down in an hours time (even though they really still weren't GET IN THE CAR yet).

I love my midwives. I love the birth center. But I remember in that moment being dumbfounded at the recommended advice: try and go back to bed and get some sleep since it didn't seem quite time to go in yet. I'm sorry, if I could have been in bed sleeping I would have. I would not have been lying in a hard tub, with a sore back and belly great and unwieldy if I had been able to sleep. I told her that kindly in between breathing through my contractions and she relented and said "well, since you can't sleep you might as well come in and let us check you so that at least we know where things stand down there."

Okay. Good. We can probably be there in about an hour.

Friends, I think it took us about an hour just to get out of the house and in that hour BAM! It was labor time. By the time William's mom got here to stay with Charlie, I couldn't walk by myself, I couldn't talk and I was shaking all over.

To those who have never been in labor before - that's called transition. That thing you do where the pain is at it's worst and you are like right on the edge of getting to push. We later found out from his mother that the moment she saw me, she kept trying to urgently get us out the door faster than we were moving. She knew. Mothers always know.

Let me just say that a 40 minute drive across I-40 in the middle of the night while transitioning is something I NEVER WANT TO REPEAT!! Ever. Ever.

I have vague memories of calling my sister and telling her to meet us at the birth center. I remember through clenched teeth telling William that while I do not generally support speeding, that if he kindly would speed I would appreciate it. And him kindly telling me that it was dark and wet and rainy out that night and he had a pregnant wife unbuckled in the backseat of his car and no he was not going to speed. Blargh! I have memories of not being able to get out of the car until I had William and the midwife to lean on. And memories of losing a sandal and asking for it to be put back on and them both saying they thought it would probably be okay if I left it there and just walked barefoot the 10 steps to get inside. Are you serious guys?! I have memories of getting in there, getting checked and having a fear of them telling me I was only 4cm dilated (like I was with Charlie when I checked in at the birth center) and then having to sit there and labor like that for another LONG time. Oh please no.

Then it's kind of like a lightening flash. 3am. BAM! I was 8cm dilated. BAM! 2 contractions after arriving I yelled out to the midwife that I couldn't NOT push. BAM! Pushing commences because it can't not. BAM! 40 or so minutes after we pulled into the parking lot, my sister rushes in through the door, grabs my leg and...

BAM!

2 minutes later we have a baby.

Yea one more red light and you'd have missed it Carrie.

Ian and Aunt Tater

40 minutes at the birth center and I was done. I couldn't believe my good luck. After laboring for 24 hours with Charlie, a majority of them spent at the birth center, I was in and done in 40 minutes here. Not that labor was 40 minutes total mind you, but it felt and was much shorter since most of it happened at home.

Ian Maxwell Cox, 6lb 8oz

So Ian Maxwell decided he'd come promptly on his due date - not a day early and not a day late. :-) And that my friends is the story of little Max. Little Ian. Ian Max. Imax. Yea people call him all sorts of things.

Okay so last part here. Who are Nicole and Lindsey and why do they get mentioned in Ian's birth story? Well, Lindsey is William's cousin who was due about 10 days before me and she and her husband Josh were also birth center peeps! Yay! Nicole is another cousin that I was constantly plaguing for updates so that I wasn't constantly bothering the daddy on L&D duty. Once I knew Lindsey had the baby so late Monday and once it became clear that we were headed to the birth center in the wee hours of Tuesday, I figured our paths would cross. So would you believe in the middle of contractions and pushing, through gritted teeth I was asking the midwives if Josh and Lindsey were still next door. Yea that was all sorts of puzzled crazy looks I got. It took me another contraction and the explanation that they were my husband's cousins before the midwives took their bizarre look of "Is she crazy?" off their faces. Yea not crazy. Well sort of. I think they thought it was awesome actually.

So the second cousins, Ian and Ever, were born 5 hours apart at the same place, and the following morning before leaving we all had a party! Not really. But it felt like a party getting to see familiar faces who had just gone through the exact same thing we did.

Handsome studs holding little bundles of baby

Amazon Women!
I hope Lindsey forgives me for posting a picture of us not even a day postpartum.

Congrats Ian and Ever on your awesome timing!

And best picture of the day....

Proud Big Brother

38 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:10:00 +0000

How do I say this? Today is the first day where I don't feel anxious to just go ahead and have this little boy come. Um.... Today is the first day where I bodily feel content to still be pregnant.

What????

38 weeks and 2 days!

For those that missed that post a couple days ago that detailed my run in with an overly stuffed grocery bag and the nearly gut wrenching pain my lower right back has been in, just know that for the last month I have been in agonizing lower back pain.

And today for the first time, I have been limping around out of habit and not out of pain. :-D !!!!!!!

My chiropractor finally was like, "you need to go back on active care and get in here several times in a row." I was in so much pain that I readily agreed and was accordingly told to get in there 3 times last week and 3 times this week (and who knows what in the future). Finally after having 5 adjustments fairly successively in a row, my excruciating back pain is lessening.

People, I cannot tell you how amazing that feels. My wallet could tell you how amazing that feels though given how much I've spent at the chiropractor in the last week and a half. But let me just assure you that while it stings ever so much the thought of spending a chunk of money at the chiropractor day after day (and I realize I am SO blessed to be able to do that anyways), I have to admit that it has drastically improved my pain, my mood, and my outlook.

So getting back to the whole anxious baby arrival thing? I have been in so much pain for the last month that all I could think about was getting un-pregnant for the sake of letting my back recover. Not going into labor so I could hold my bundle of joy. Not the excitement of getting to meet little baby brother and cuddle him like I do his older brother. Not even because I was tired of pregnancy aches and pains. I was in So. Much. Pain. from the lower back injury (exacerbated by being pregnant), that all I could do was think of myself and how much I desperately wanted - needed - to have this baby as early as possible just to stop the pain.

And you know what. Today is the first day in a long time where I've been content to be pregnant and to continue to let this little one bake as long as he needs to. Today I'm enjoying knowing he is safe in my belly still and I don't have to worry about the host of things in life that will bombard him once he is out. Today, in spite of normal pregnancy aches and pains, I feel as though I move about the house easily and pain-free simply because I don't have the near debilitating pain in my lower back.

Today I love being pregnant, love this little one and limp out of a protective habit not because it is actually needed today.

Now goodness knows tonight I could sleep on my back wrong again, or twist a little too much and sneeze at the same time and cause that one spot to slip back out of it's so gingerly aligned correct placement today.

But that is tonight or tomorrow, and today is right now. Right now I'm so grateful God has blessed me with some refreshing enjoyment of being pregnant. Grateful that I don't have to wish for this baby's arrival simply because I'm in so much pain. Grateful that I can look forward to snuggling him and kissing him and loving on him.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -

Any day now baby bro!

But today there is no rush if you need a little more cooking time. ;-)

A Day in the Life of....

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:14:00 +0000

...38 weeks pregnant.

written yesterday evening and then forgot to hit publish

1. Seed milk time! Every 5 days or so I whip up some seed milk for little Chuckles. In addition to our normal seeds and dates, the one this morning had a splash of vanilla, some unsweetened coconut and a little bit of chia. Fun times.

2. Green smoothie time! One of the few pictures Charlie actually posed willingly for - with a smile - and for more than nano second. We love our green smoothies and love starting out our days with a healthy dose of greens, fruit and seeds.

3. Yesterday I was 38 weeks on the dot. But we frequently forget to take my weekly pictures on the real day, and actually, due to a melt down during breakfast and Daddy rushing out the door to work, we forgot it yet again today. So I snapped this quick, just to make sure we have something for this week, should I continue to forget to take it. I feel so. big. And so. ready. And this baby is so. low. I can barely bend over anymore. Any day now little dude.

4. I think I should get props for trying out a new hairstyle at 38 weeks. I haven't tried a new hairstyle in months!! What possessed me I'm not sure. I've been wanting to try it for a while, and maybe I was secretly hoping it would be easy enough to do that, when labor threatened, I could quickly do my hair and might have shot at a better "first picture with baby after birth" picture. You should see my first picture with Charlie. It's awful. But I'm glad I have it nonetheless. It's all about memories peeps, not beauty. But if I can get a labor friendly hairstyle in, I'm not complaining. ;-)

5. My sister and I are gung-ho hard lotion bars right now. In fact we are in experimental mode. The bar on the left is one that I've had for a while and love. The middle is one I just received from Made On, and the one on the right is a homemade one that Carrie made. We are trying to get the consistency just how we like it so that we can successfully make homemade bars for ourselves. SOO much cheaper. But if you you have really dry hands and don't have a hankering to try making yourself, I seriously recommend purchasing a bar to try - especially a Made On bar. My hands are in love.

6. I have discovered a love for crowder peas. My husband has always loved them, but just this summer I've hopped on the band wagon and joined in his enthusiasm. I managed to make it to Farmer's Market this morning and bought a 1/2 bushel of crowder peas to freeze for later use. I actually weighed it out and finally figured out that a 1/2 bushel of peas is roughly 12 cups or 4lbs. A far cry from a 1/2 bushel of apples which is about 20lbs. Dinner later? Yum!

7. My mom, dad, sister and niece came over today to help me do some last minute cleaning before baby. So, So, SO appreciated! DJ actually had to finish her school while she was here and then set about creating a nice train track set up for Charlie for when he gets home from Grammy's.

8. Some cleaning supplies hanging about. We (and by that I mean mostly my family) managed to get most surfaces dusted, some windows vacuumed out, carpets vacuumed, my car cleaned out, some clutter picked up and floors cleaned. My bathroom floor is so clean and slick now thanks to Cathy, and my kitchen floor is Ah-Mazing! Thanks to mom for bringing her crazy floor scrubbing machine pictured below and taking care of all that built up grime on my kitchen floor that my regular mop wouldn't get up.

9. If it weren't amazing enough to have family come and help you clean your house, having a friend then come and bring you dinner so you don't have to worry about feeding yourself after a long afternoon of work just tops it off tremendously. My good friend Karoline popped over to drop off some very delicious kale and white bean soup, sweet potato and apple casserole and blueberry oat muffins. I had to snap the picture very quickly because I was so hungry I immediately dug in. So good. Luckily she gave me a large pot of the soup, so I have leftovers for tomorrow. :-)

10. Poor Lully got peed on this morning, so he finally made it into the wash this evening. I am making a rather insane attempt at [at least] potty awareness if not an attempt at potty training. Yes I know I'm 38 weeks. It just sort of happened. And he seems much less reluctant this time. So it may fizzle out into nothingness again like our other attempts, or maybe this time we'll be blessed to have a mostly potty trained kid by the time baby brother shows up. Either way, at least this time has been much less mentally tedious on me (in spite of being in pain and barely able to move), and shown me that potty training might not always have to be the bane of my existence.

11. Things I wish I'd remembered to snap pics of?

A before and after of my kitchen floor - Dude! Some in action shots of the cleaning going on - peeps were busy. Dad snoozing in the living room chair during cleaning breaks - :-). Charlie picking out his cucumber at Farmer's Market - love! And Charlie Lego-ing it up at Grammy's house with Uncle David. (Charlie's not obsessed with Legos....or Uncle David....riiiight.... )

So that was my day at 38 weeks and a day. More varied and unusual than my normal days these days.

Good times. :)

Come any day baby bro!

Are you for SERIOUS?!?

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 12:52:00 +0000

I don't even really know what to write. I spent large chunks of yesterday being seriously weepy if not down right sobbing. I blame a large chunk of it on pregnancy hormones, but I know I would have cried even if I wasn't pregnant. So maybe having an easy out was good. :)

We spent our last official therapy session at CPD yesterday. We took Lisa and Shirley some pictures we colored, we chewed lots of food mommy managed to bring in, Lisa gave us special papers, and mommy started crying. For real, serious, crying. Cried in the office. Cried on the car ride home. And cried at home. Charlie sat in the back of the car bewildered and kept asking "what you worrying about Mommy?" I couldn't even blubber out that I wasn't worrying, just this strange mix of relief/excitement/apprehension/pride/grief/tiredness. He wouldn't have gotten it anyways, so it's a good thing he eventually gave up and just said "it's okay! you saw a paramedic truck!".

I did choke out some giggles. What a relief he knows just what to say.

For three years we have have trekked to CPD on a weekly or biweekly basis. I have made pureed foods so much longer than I anticipated. (Till Charlie was 2 1/2 years old.) The only peaceful meals I've had are ones where he was napping or at someone else's house (which was rare since monitoring Charlie's eating was more involved and I didn't want most people to have to mess with it). I have chewed so much food with my mouth open, chanted innumerable times "chew, chew, keep chewing!" "use your big boy teeth." "make your tongue move it to the side." "don't swallow until you've chewed it.", tried so many mouth exercises, nearly broke down multiple times over trying to do nursing, pumping, bottle feeding and bottle exercises all at the same time. Oh wait, there were definitely break downs. And we have been through 4 therapists.

Lisa has been our most recent and last therapist. I forget when we started with her, but I think it's been at least 14 months or so. She's been patient, encouraging, supportive, understanding, excited for our new addition coming up, and really encouraging through all the tired, sick pregnancy weeks where I knew I wasn't as on top of Charlie's work as I should have been. She's been great. We'll be sad not to see her on a regular basis now. We'll be sad not to see everyone at CPD actually. When you spend 3 years walking into the same office on a near weekly basis, you do become attached.

So today, we were given the golden piece of information that we are done with active therapy. I've been dying to hear that nearly the whole time we've been going, yet I'm so apprehensive about being on our own. Truthfully, we will most likely go back in a couple times after we get settled in with the new baby, for sporadic check ups to make sure things are still looking good. This isn't goodbye forever. Actually, I'd still take the baby back in to show him off, and to visit with everyone even if it was goodbye forever, because we WILL miss them. But along with my shear joy of being released from active therapy, really does come a great deal of apprehension. Charlie has made tons of big strides in the last 8 months. He really has grown up and improved and overcome lots of eating issues. But I know we aren't perfect. I know there are textures he still struggles with. I know this won't be the end of my chanting "chew, chew, more chewing". And I know every meal won't be easy breezy from here on out.

But for now. We. Are. Done. :-D

And I couldn't be more grateful. Thank you Lord for seeing us through.

And now it's off to another baby doctor appt! :-D

32-37 Weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 22:14:00 +0000

32-37 weeks, moving from L to R, starting at the top.

Being pregnant with a toddler is hard. My hats are off to all the mamas out there who are pregnant with multiple kiddos already. I know you grow and stretch gradually as God gives you things, but wow trying to imagine this pregnancy with more than one kiddo is hard.

Actually, let me retract that. Trying to imagine this 3rd trimester with more than one kiddo has been hard. The rest of the pregnancy I probably could have done with more than one kiddo. This third trimester has presented with all the typical 3rd trimester aches and pains, plus weird anxiety and insomnia, plus a lower back that has basically given up on me and refuses to work.

Let's all take note that the lower back is not the fault of this baby. Well, I mean, the babe's partially to blame in that if he weren't here, I'd have full use of my muscles and that darned grocery bag would not have presented so heavy. Yes, it was a grocery bag that did my back in. Admittedly, I usually grumble about my grocery baggers under-filling my reusable bags, thereby requiring me to still take home multiple plastic bags on each trip. Grumble grumble. Don't they get that my reusable bags are more awesome than that and can heft some serious weight? However, about 2 weeks ago (gosh probably 3 at this point), I had an over-zealous bagger who over-filled my reusable bags. Except I didn't catch this phenomenon until I was mid-lift with one of these grocery bags and felt sharp shooting pains all in my right lower back. I think it was a bag of all cans, disguised with some fluffy produce at the top.

Oh so deceiving and oh so cruel.

Let's just say I've pretty much been limping around ever since and in almost constant pain. Charlie and I have resorted to so much couch time that I really feel bad for him. Of course he's not feeling bad because it involves movies and ipad. :-P

The good news is, I'm still healthy, the baby is still doing well, and I'VE HIT 37 WEEKS AND AM ALLOWED TO GO INTO LABOR ANYTIME I WANT NOW!!!!

Okay maybe that's anytime the baby is ready now. Wish I could do anytime I wanted. :-)

Actually, I'm in pain so much of the time now that I feel like I constantly grumble. Not a realization I'm proud of. Let's see how many things I can be thankful for.

1. Baby is healthy.

2. Baby is not measuring extremely big right now (oh I beg of thee, let him stay that way and not jump up to 9 or 10lbs or something).

3. I can still move period. Even if it is slow. and limping. and painful. It's not bed rest.

4. My husband has a job that allows me to have stopped teaching at this point, which means I have less needed movement.

5. L&D bags are packed and thanks to some friends, I've gotten more of my house cleaned than I would have on my own. :-)

6. My son still gleefully volunteers kisses to my growing belly, and really does appear to be excited for baby brother's arrival. (Even if he retracts some of that joy when he sees how busy mommy becomes.)

7. At max I have another 5 weeks of this. Even if not an ounce of my being wants to think about that scenario, 5 weeks still technically better than having 10 weeks of this left. I should remind myself of that.

8. I have fresh Farmer's Market crowder peas cooking right now, and I am TOTALLY looking forward to eating them.

9. My mother has, in deference to my birthday request, agreed to bring me a large bag full of ready to steam (meaning washed and de-stemmed) Farmer's Market kale, once a week, for 6 weeks postpartum, just so that I can have my beloved steamed kale, brown rice and tangy tahini dressing while recovering with a newborn, without all the extra work of taking care of the kale myself. LOVE THAT MOM! :)

10. I get to hold sweet little baby boy in my arms sooner rather than later, and that my friends, despite the pain, makes my heart glad.

There. Now that I'm on a roll, there are lots of things I should be more thankful for. But so as not to bore you, I'll cease listing. That list was more for my personal benefit to remind myself that no matter how much pain I'm in, there are still things in life worth being thankful for.

Feel free to come any day now baby boy! We love you already and are eagerly awaiting your arrival. :-)

Love,
Mama

Aaaaaand it happened

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:46:00 +0000

Disaster struck today. Not in the form of house burning, broken legs, credit card fraud, or early labor.

No friends, it was in the form of this....

Can't tell what's going on? Look closer...

Notice how the finger is actually inside the elephant?

Yeaaaaa..... We came out to the car from his therapy today and found that Lully had magically developed a nice rip in his back. I say magically because that was the first I saw of it. I would assume that just sitting in the car didn't make his back magically burst open, but since Charlie seemed just a dreadfully shocked and upset as I was (just kidding...about me, not him), I assume he was at least unaware of when he aided and abetted this rip happening. Or, you know, it happened magically.

Oh. My. Word. The car ride home was painful with lots of weeping and wailing over Lully's sad state. Of course half way home when I asked to look at him again, (to examine him for repairs), the rip had of course become bigger due to someone picking at it, and by the time we made it home, Charlie was pulling what can only be considered the pitiful last remains of Lully's stuffing, out of the now even larger hole. And yet while aiding and abetting Lully's growing wound, Charlie still was just as distressed and upset that Lully had a hole in him. In fact, in the brief intervals between moaning and crying on the way home, I heard Charlie in a quiet voice, comforting his beloved saying, "Iss okay Lully. Isss okay."

Be still, my melting heart.

So Lully is in for repairs tomorrow morning. Why not this afternoon you ask, since this is after all the beloved lovey? Because this is the perfect opportunity to finish gutting the darn thing, remove the rock hard broken music box that no longer works and has even given a black eye when Daddy accidentally threw Lully at an unprepared Charlie, and restuff him with fiberfill. And I don't have fiberfill. But my mother does. So tomorrow morning, I will go and restuff this grubby little elephant and we will see how much more life he actually has in him.

Oh yea, the fiberfill? He once had a belly full of fiberfill and the working music box. Overtime it seemed to unexplainably disappear as well, till it seemed that only the hard music box was left. Well, now I know why all we could feel was the music box.

We'll continue along in the magic vein and say that either the fiberfill managed to magically disappear out of Lully's belly, or somehow all that fluff managed to magically compact into the nothingness you see above. (Courtesy of Charlie very distressedly pulling all the stuffing out today in the car.)

So there is today's disaster. I knew it would happen eventually.

Also I feel like you should know that my son came up to me this morning with something in hand and said to me "you get this at Bah-fee-ahn?" And it took me a good couple minutes of staring and thinking and asking again before I figured out that he was saying "Bed Bath & Beyond".

Who knew the kid even remembered the store name? So there you go. "Bah-fee-ahn" is the new code name for BB&B. Pass it on kids.

Nut Bombs!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:17:00 +0000

So many things I mean to post about. So few posted.

These little yum balls are me and Charlie's latest go to health bomb/treat/bribe to get him to eat his lunch.

Actually, it really started because I needed a bit more iron in my preggo diet, and I was tired of grabbing handfuls of plain pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, so I remembered a post I had read long ago about something like this, and then promptly set to work experimenting.

These little nut bombs are packed with good nutrition! Healthy fats, protein, fiber, and whatever vitamins and minerals your particular nuts and seeds are high in. Which makes these especially awesome for little kids to eat, but you can eat them too. :)

The nice thing about these things is that they are SUPER SIMPLE. And totally flexible with ingredients. I am making them to cater to my higher iron needs, so I am using mostly sunflower, pumpkin and some almonds, but you could easily do mostly almonds, walnuts and cashews, stick with just one or two nuts/seeds, or toss in a small handful of every nut you have in the house.

So here is the recipe...and really by recipe, I just mean a set of guidelines. Seriously. Do whatever you want to do.

Nut Bombs!

2c. raw nuts or seeds (almond, walnut, cashew, pecan, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, etc)

-my current go to is about 3/4 each sunflower and pumpkin, and 1/2c almond

1-2c dried fruit (dates, raisins, cherries, cranberries, blueberries, etc)

-I generally stick with mostly raisins (cause they are cheap), and some dates (because I like the

flavor)

Any extra add ins (optional): I will toss in 1-2Tbsp of hemp, flaxmeal, chia, raw cacao, or unsweetened coconut - or all of them! I've also started adding 1-2tsp of ground cinnamon, and up to 1 tsp of ground ginger for a nice spicy kick.

Place all nuts/seeds in processor and pulse/process till nuts are turned into a fine meal. Start adding dried fruit little bits at a time (1 PITTED date at a time, 1/4c raisins at a time, you get the idea). The amount of dried fruit I use varies each time. Continue processing till mixture comes together*. Once mixture comes together, and is sticky enough to squish together (but still crumbly and not nut buttery), scoop mixture out 1 Tbsp at a time and roll into balls. Keep in the fridge for 7-10 days.

*So this whole "mixture comes together"thing is the only even slightly difficult part of this. The more you process nuts, the more the oils release. If you are trying to use closer to 1c instead of 2c of nuts, be sure to process the nuts a little more, to release more oils, to make getting to the "sticky" part, a little easier with less fruit. If it doesn't matter how much dried fruit you use and aren't watching sugar intake, then the increased fruit provides the necessary stickiness to hold these things together. Whatever you do, don't process the nuts enough that they start to turn nut buttery. But that really does take a long time.

And that's it folks. Really I think I might have over explained them with that last paragraph, but I remember being slightly baffled the first time I went from really crumbly dough, to much more oily, sticky dough. So you got the explanation early.

If you are feeling fancy, roll these little suckers in some shredded unsweetened coconut. And whatever you do, try not to eat them all at once.

Actually you could. They are pretty darn healthy.

But of course these are mostly nuts and seeds, so if you are watching your fats and oils, don't eat them all. If you aren't watching your fat intake, eat away. :-)

And of course, enjoy. :-)

30 & 31 Weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:14:00 +0000

Ha-HA! Finally *almost* caught up again. (Still have to post today's 32 week picture.) These were taken in the last 2 weeks. I have to admit, that somewhere in the last 2 weeks I have suddenly gone from "I'm starting to feel big and pregnant and big" to "Ughh, I feel so BIG and uncomfortable!"

And yet.... I know that this is still not that big. I know that BIG comes at 36 weeks, and 38 weeks and [hopefully not] 41 weeks.

BUT, that does not mean that I'm not feeling it already. Just in the last week, after I got a huge de-cluttering thing crossed off my pre-baby list, I had my first thought of "if I could just get a couple more things cleaned up in this house, I'd be ready to have this baby out". Doesn't bode well for another 8 weeks or so.

Oh well. :-) Little baby will be out soon enough and I'll be wishing I could keep him safe inside me for just a little bit longer. I'm grateful for another couple months of just our 3 person family. :)

30 Weeks!

31 Weeks!
(a little bed head anyone?)

Hello pretty tanks! So nice for the heat. I throw them on with my shorts or my denim skirt and life is cool. The pink one (and a black one) came from my wonderful mother-in-law for my birthday.

Oh yea, I hit my birthday a week ago Saturday. What did I do for my birthday? Totally spent 2 solid days of child-free, birthday bash, husband home, organizing and decluttering.

It. Was. Amazing.

So I think that means I really am an adult - being willing, and excited even, to spend two days with my husband de-cluttering and cleaning out. Actually I mentioned that to a man at church, and he was like "that doesn't sound like a fun birthday" to which I replied, "well, maybe that officially makes me a mom then, not an adult".

Hah! Guess I'm a for real mom. Organizing for my birthday and LOVING IT!

Or maybe it's just the crazy nesting taking over.... or both.

Mama, loves you nameless little boy.

27-29 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 23:46:00 +0000

Here we are in July. Finally starting to get moderately uncomfortable in the heat. I expected to be much more uncomfortable in the heat before now, but it really hasn't been so bad thankfully.

27 Weeks!

This shirt is really awesome, and it was actually a good will find! Yay! Super comfy, flattering and cool in the heat.

28 Weeks!

This is definitely not my favorite picture of me, but I love the new dress I picked up - for $15! It's actually still not maternity, just brilliantly designed with some extra in the front. Tee hee hee. But I'm pretty sure it won't be fitting at 36 weeks. I'm crossing my fingers that this one, and my blue stripe one, will not be so stretched out, that I can't wear them post partum again. And the cut of the top looks incredibly nursing friendly. Oh yea, we are praying hard for the good nursing this time around.

29 Weeks!

By 29 weeks, I was really starting to feel the "I'm really getting big and pregnant and uncomfortable". And finally I broke down and bought a couple maternity tank tops. I had been scraping by on T-shirts on loan, and my husbands undershirts. Hah, yea. I was walking around in the "wife beaters". But when my belly started to poke out the bottom, I knew it was time to stop stretching out my husbands clothes and buy some of my own. So the colorful tanks you see in future pictures are some Target tanks I picked up, much to my husband's relief. ;-)

This kiddo really started picking up in his kicking at this point - which, as I always say, I never tire of. Even the kicking in the middle of the night. It's just such an INCREDIBLE feeling, even the painful ones, that it's really just fascinating instead of bothersome. But that's just me. :)

Love you baby boy.

24-26 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Let's see....these were back in June.

24 Weeks!

25 Weeks!
(Ooops! So far the only week I've forgotten to take a picture.)

26 weeks!

Totally didn't realize that I was going to end up with back to back pictures in the same shirt. To be fair, week 25 was a couple days before we headed to the beach for the weekend and I just plain forgot until we got back on Monday - the day before the next week picture....so there was no point in taking it.

In honor of 10 years...

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 02:15:00 +0000

...and the fact that I actually spent $5 on a really cool collage app for my computer...

....AND the fact that I am the worst slug in the world when it comes to ever doing anything with my pictures other than uploading them to my computer....

...I actually did a super awesome picture thing recently. And I think there may be more of it in my future. Actually, I know there will be because I've already made two others, and am currently working on a fourth project, and GOSH DARN I will get my $5 worth out of that app.

Oh, and when I say I'm a terrible slug dealing with pictures, I mean it. Like I almost have a fear of doing anything other than pulling up a file on my computer and looking at them again. I've never scrap booked; made a couple failed attempts at keeping just a photo album of prints; lost many a hard copies I've been given; rarely printed off digital pics I've taken; have no baby book for my son; no wedding album of me and the hubs; no pictures on my walls except what I've been given (and my husband has hung), and pretty much an immortal fear of all picture projects. See, told you.

So anyway I thought I'd share with you what is, I think, the first thing I have ever done with pictures. Okay I take that back. When I was post partum with a screaming Charlie who wouldn't nurse, and wouldn't sleep and cried all the time, and forced me to stay constantly attached to a pump, I appeased my husband by making one photo book of Charlie, which was also mostly a desperate attempt to do anything that didn't have to do with holding my baby.

I'm pretty crazy proud of myself that I finally undertook a picture project, and even more proud of myself that when I finally got through with it, I immediately started on another one.

This is a good sign folks. Maybe at least one of my children will actually get some sort of baby book.

Or maybe I'll at least get some pictures on my walls.

So this project?

BLAMMO!!

10 years of knowing our good buddies, the Hodges. :-D

It's been a good decade guys. Here's to 10 more decades.

There was no blood, sweat or tears in the making of this photo. Okay, a bit of sweat, but I was making this during the 100 degree days, and in spite of the thermostat claiming it was 77, I claim otherwise.

23 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:56:00 +0000

Looky looky peeps! Two posts in one day. But that's because posting weekly belly pics is much easier (wait, why was I five weeks behind then until this morning?) than posting pics about food or other bits of life.

23 weeks

Again - love seeing the repeat clothes in the pictures and seeing the size difference. This was taken a week ago. As I'm sitting here, baby brother is pretty intently kicking my left side. But seriously, I don't mind at all. Not even at 2am. (Not yet anyways.) Even in the last stages of my pregnancy with Charlie, with all the violent forceful kicking, that was still one of my favorite parts. And one of those things that I missed for probably a good year postpartum, knowing that any rumblings I felt in my tummy were no longer sweet baby kicks, but some process of digestion. Yea, digestion is good and necessary and all, but baby kicks are much cooler.

So now that I have actually done two blog posts in one day, it's time to get to that bathroom sink cleaning that I was talking about being perpetually behind in, in my last post.

Yay for clean sinks! Yay for baby kicks!

Love you baby boy.

18-22 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:46:00 +0000

About the only thing I have kept up with this pregnancy is weekly pictures. And sometimes even then they run several days late. Maybe the guilt of only have 5 or so weekly pictures from Charlie's pregnancy drives to make sure these pictures get taken. But whether it's scrubbing the sink or blogging, the rest seems to run perpetually behind. So here are 5 weeks worth of photos. I have last weeks' photos still on my phone and need to take this week's today.

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

22 weeks

Pregnancy update in 10 things:

1. I find it particularly interesting to compare photos that are taken in the same item of clothing. So far two of these pictures are the same shirt as previous posts. I never think I've grown that much, but the clothes do fit differently. Last week is a copy of the first blue striped dress picture, and there is a little difference. Maybe I can get that one posted today too, from my phone??

2. Have I mentioned that I'm 24 weeks today and can't even believe it?!? I have 3 more appointments before I hit 36 weeks and start going weekly till my due date. Craziness.

3. We finally tracked down our doula! Yay! We thought she'd fallen off the planet after discovering our email address for her was out of date, and the birth center didn't have updated contact info. Thankfully, we finally got in touch with her. She's available for us - yay! And she's due herself early August - yay!

4. Back pain, trouble sleeping and braxton hicks are all present and accounted for. Yay! (Sort of.....)

5. I've been trying to get Charlie to feel when the baby moves. It's really hard to coordinate two little boys doing the right thing and the same time.

6. I have in fact used the phrase "the boys" twice now, and not in reference to William and Charlie. That is also craziness.

7. If you missed the facebook post, we are in fact having a second little boy. Maybe I'll get to post an ultrasound picture soon. Hah, who am I kidding. We are very excited about having a second little guy. Charlie and I make sure to talk about 'baby brudder' every day. I think he's excited, but it's hard to tell with a 2 year old.

8. I have gained more weight up to this point that I had anticipated, but not anything that is out of the realm of recommended. After 2 hard years of working on squelching cravings for all the food that I knew I didn't want to eat and wasn't good for my body, pregnancy hormones have definitely done some undoing there. I have eaten things I wish I hadn't. I think I can still call my self control good, it's just not the unmoving rock it was 6 months ago. Of course I can't blame it all on pregnancy hormones (cause I hate when people do that), and I have purposefully eaten some more calorie heavy foods in order to consume more iron in my diet. Okay, 8. is much too long and food should really be discussed in a separate post.

9. I will end up stopping teaching piano lessons earlier than I had originally planned, due to tiredness. I'd like to be able to spend some outside park and pool time with my kiddo this summer before the baby, without nodding off to sleep on my students. (JK, haven't done that yet....yet.)

10. We have not settled on a name yet, so it's no use asking. :) We have several possibilities we are batting around, one we really like but has very recently been used, and no, we do not discuss names until we have settled on the name for sure. :) Patience...

And that's about it folks.

Mama loves you baby.

17 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:31:00 +0000

So I realized I haven't talked about food cravings or aversions yet. I ought to given my how I've lived the last 2 years of my life dietary wise.

So my first pregnancy I gagged probably about 5 times and that was the extent of my pregnancy woes (other than the typical being tired). This pregnancy I've had a lot more subtle food aversions. I say subtle in that I probably could suffer through and eat most things I'm averse to without throwing up, but it would be a great trial and very unpleasant experience with much gagging. I even had one day where a green smoothie - green smoothie of all things - ended up being disgusting by the time I was done drinking it. I gave up on smoothies for several days since then and have just been eating veggies separately and blending up spinach juice for an iron punch!

As for cravings, I've noticed my desire for carbs/grains go up, which is funny because I'm actually not all that into grains usually. I mean, by the time you take out yummy (unhealthy) white breads and pastas (which I wasn't really eating for the last 2 years anyways), all the cooked grains and healthy breads left, I don't really enjoy all that much. Give me beans and greens, baby. And really, I generally (pre-pregnancy) don't mind too much avoiding the pasta, white bread, chips, and other refined grains. But I've noticed crazy insane cravings for all the grains/carbs that I'd pretty much given up for the last 2 years - and don't even get me started on chips and dip. Eeesh, have I got to get back to eating veggies and bean dip again, and not chips and bean dip. But oh man, those chips taste amazing like I've never tasted them before. But seriously, I recognize the unhealthy chip thing I have going on and need to nip it in the bud.

I think later on I'll do a post more about eating and weight gain, but that's for another day.

*-/

17 Weeks!

I had my second prenatal appointment today and was so glad to hear little Nubbin's heart beat again. I'm grateful for the 6 weeks spacing due to the 45 minute drive, but I miss hearing the little heart beat more often. But everything looked good today! :-)

Love you baby.

16 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:16:00 +0000

16 weeks saw the return of more energy and God's abundant grace. (Not that God's grace was lacking before, but it was very clear this past week.) We've been doing a lot of "home improvement" things in the house now that William is home in the evenings, we have a paycheck again, and it's long overdue stuff that desperately needs to be done before the baby comes. And amazingly enough, I keep plugging away at it day after day and I haven't crashed yet. Even with some heavier lifting that truthfully my midwife would probably scowl at, I've managed to avoid a bad, exhausted, lay on the couch kind of day. Which is really cool given my week 15 saw 2 of those days. Today was the exception I mentioned in my last post about waking up great, and wanting to go to bed by 10am.

I've given up trying to decide if I actually look bigger each week. Some days I feel huge and some days not. Some days I look big and some days not. (Big being relative at this point people.) And some weeks I swear I look smaller than weeks before, but who really knows....

I keep waiting and hoping to feel the baby move soon, but no such luck. Of course maybe that's cause I actually forget to pay attention at night when it's likely to happen, and at this stage, I think you still have to pay close attention to feel any movements. So far any movement is just me gurgling around in there. :-P

Mama loves you baby. :-)

15 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:11:00 +0000

So week 15 was a continuum of the good days and bad days. I had several good days (probably too good where I pushed too much) and then collapsed on the couch for nearly two days and could do nothing. <sigh> You never know what to expect when you wake up in the morning. Like today when I woke up (week 16) I felt fine and almost bounded out of bed, and then by 10am I was ready to go to bed for the day.

That shirt is a non-maternity shirt, which still fits just fine, but I could see a bit of stretch in the belly when I took the shirt off that evening. Since I actually bought new clothes when I lost all the weight, I am paranoid about stretching anything out, so all non-maternity clothes cared about have been officially retired. Which is a shame cause I'm sadly lacking in some warm weather maternity items still. I wish I knew how long I could wear an item without permanently stretching it any. Most of my non-maternity clothes easily still fit, but have been retired because they are a bit stretched at the end of the day. Thank goodness for some freecycle maternity clothes, even if there were no summer shorts. :-)

14 Weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:04:00 +0000

So I seem to be good at posting pictures about two weeks late.

I can't remember much about week 14 at this point now since I'm two weeks late posting. But I do remember having several good days in a row, and then being completely thrown off by another bad day or two appearing. The ringing in the ears was gone, but the bad days did have fatigue and a little bit of nausea in the morning. Oh well. Growing a person. What can I say.

Oh oh! I did manage to get 2 bodyrock workouts in this week which was awesome and made me feel great. (See me in my workout clothes.) Hey....maybe that's why the tiredness returned... :-/

13 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:28:00 +0000

It's nice during pregnancy to have moments where you feel like you are rockin' the cute vibes. I know those moments get fewer and farther between the bigger you get, so I'm enjoying them while they last. And I do feel cute in this picture. The pigtails really throw it over the edge. Promise I'm not doing that on purpose. My hair is just at a really weird length where the only way it looks good is pulled back and away and out of site. And pigtails are easier than a ponytail. So there.

13 Weeks!

Week 13 has been treating me much nicer than previous weeks. I'm feeling good and trying to savor these early pregnancy moments before things get uncomfortable. I'm also enjoying the fact that while I don't love running around right now and chasing my son, I can still totally do it. One day he'll take off, and I'm just not sure how fast Mama will be able to follow.

Also with the dizziness almost entirely gone, I feel better about getting back into my exercising. Between sickness and pregnancy, my entire workout routine got thrown to the wind. But I'm slowly getting back into the groove.

I'm also feeling the urgency to get stuff done in the house. With Hubby finally finishing up his PhD and getting a job, we have a list of things we'd like to do/overhaul/get rid of/organize in the house before baby comes, and I ALREADY feel the days ticking by way too fast. Someone slow them down and let me get my house in order!!

Love you, baby. (Whom Daddy is already convinced is a little girl, but Mama is not so sure about.)

12 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:22:00 +0000

So I realize the first post I did was lies, all lies. I was not 10 weeks. I was 11. You'd think I'd have that straight, but it's amazing what you do (or don't do...or remember) the second time around. So this was supposed to have been posted last Tuesday (as in a week and a half ago). I'm late. But better late than never is my motto, since I didn't even have a camera during half of my first pregnancy due to an unfortunately windy day at the beach. Sand, wind, you do the math.

Week 12

Week 12 is not my favorite picture, but that's okay because week 11 was awesome and I'm rockin' some cute pig tails in week 13, which will be posted shortly as well.

Weeks 10-12 have been really bizarre, including extreme fatigue, dizziness, weird tummy aches, light headedness and bizarre hearing issues. But thankfully week 13 has perked up and is doing much better. Snacking on plenty of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, spinach and lentils to make sure my iron levels stay okay. They were a smidge low when I was feeling so badly. But with the increased iron rich foods, I seem to be feeling much better.

First LTEV recipe review!

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 01:40:00 +0000

A while ago, amidst my pregnancy tiredness and sickness, I received this in the mail.

Oh yea baby, yours truly received a copy of the amazing Dreena Burton's latest cook book Let Them Eat Vegan to review. I already own a copy of her Eat, Drink and Be Vegan and Vive le Vegan! and love them both. So I was very excited to check out this new one. And it was mine all mine to cook up tasty vegan treats from and review. That was a good day. However that good day has been surrounded by lots of bad, sick, tired pregnancy days. And so the little book has sat on the shelf while PB&Js, green smoothies and oatmeal were dished out. Lame-O.

Finally tonight I had the chance to make my first (of many) recipes. And...drum roll please...I chose the French Lentil Soup with Smoked Paprika.

Why did I choose that on a warmish night? A. It looked super simple. B. I had all the ingredients on hand. C. It uses two of my favorite things, smoked paprika and lentils (french no less!). D. I'm notorious for fixing soups on warm nights anyways. Yes is makes things doubly warm, but I'll be danged if soups aren't one of the the EASIEST things to throw together when you don't have time. Chop, toss, and simmer. And this soup was no different. So. Easy.

So the soup got made. The picture was forgotten until hubby came home later and was eating his bowl. Thus the terrible picture of the soup. But it was the best I could get, and it is perked up dramatically by my two men smiling. :-)

The soup itself is SUPER yummy, although I knew it would be as soon as I read 'smoked paprika' in the title. I'm not a smoked paprika addict or anything. The smokiness from the paprika, the earthiness from the thyme and lentils really give this soup an inviting flavor. Paired with a crusty whole wheat bread or some croutons and you'd really be dining in fine style. Lentil soups are so hearty and filling and this one is no different. Not to mention chock full of protein, fiber, folate, iron and a whole HOST of other vitamins and nutrients. Note the iron and the folate mention, since I'm preggo and my midwife has been emphasizing them to me.

The soup looks very thick in the photo, and that's because I used a little less water than what was called for (hey we like our soups thick), and I tossed in a cubed potato so that it would be seasoned nicely and Charlie could practice chewing a new texture for therapy. Worked out great. Oh, I also didn't have any straight french lentils on hand, so I threw in a lentil blend mixture that I had. While I love the firmer texture of the French Lentils, the mix of varieties worked just fine too since it contained French and Beluga, which are a bit firmer, and then varieties like red and ivory which almost melt into nothingness. It was all good.

So back to the cook book, which I'll hopefully talk a little bit more about later... you want to know some of the recipes catching my eye? ;-)

Proper Healthy Granola Bars

Cocoa Cookie Dough Balls

Smoky Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad

Creamy Curried Almond Dressing

Smoky Spiked Tahini Sauce

Chipotle Avocado Cream

Truffled Cashew Cheese

Mac-oh-geez!

That's just a sampling of the goodness I want to try. And I won't even go into the list of desserts that I want to make. We'll see how much this baby cooperates and how much energy I get back in my second trimester. Fingers crossed folks - almost there.

In the mean time. It was a awesome soup. Dreena strikes again with her delicious eats. :-D

Tabouli

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:57:00 +0000

Yay! Finally another recipe posted!

This is one of our favorites. Well, it didn't used to be my favorite. Growing up my mother made this, and I would cringe anytime I was forced into a bite. Amazing how our tastes change, isn't it?

I really couldn't even tell you what prompted me to make this when we were first married, or when I discovered that my hatred of it turned to love. But to love it did turn, and for a large chunk of our pre-child life, I would make this every Saturday for lunch. Oh. Good.

Tabouli or Tabbouleh is an Arabic salad, which apparently has some variation to it, depending on whose hands it ends up in. Lebanese go heavier on the parsley than the bulgar, and this version is generally more parsley heavy than most versions I see of it in stores or restaurants, so I'm gonna go with this is a Lebanese version of tabouli.

Once you get the parsley washed and picked, this salad is also painfully easy to make. Actually depending on your parsley pick method, it can still be painfully easy including the parsley. Pre-children I meticulously picked each leaf from the stems. Post-children I am not so careful. :-)

Lebanese Tabouli Salad

2 bunches Italian flat leaf parsley

2 large tomatoes (or 3 medium ones)

2-3 green onions (I almost never do more than 2)

pinch of salt

3/4c bulgar wheat

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4-1/2c lemon juice

water if needed

Night before (or at least 3 hours before) soak your bulgar in the lemon juice, olive oil and water mixture. Really I don't even measure the liquids anymore, I just make sure it sufficiently covers the bulgar plus a little more. The bulgar will soak up the liquid and then no cooking is needed. When soaking, store in fridge.

Wash parsley and pick leaves from stems. Depending on how much stem you like or can tolerate in your salad, you would either carefully pick the leaves from the stems, or do a general ripping of the leaves from the whole bunch, getting both stem and leafy bits. Up to you.

Finely chop parsley and dump into bowl. Dice tomato and dump into bowl. Chop onions and dump into bowl. Add soaked bulgar mixture and stir. Season with a little salt. Bam! Easy peasy.

Truthfully this is best served with chips. Best tasting that is. If you are being good and healthy and smart (sometimes I am....and sometimes I'm just not) you eat it by the spoonful and it's still absolutely delicious. If you are throwing caution to the wind, it is amazing on chips. :-)

Aside from being seriously high in Vit. A, C and K, when you are talking about a cups worth of parsley (which you are if you are eating tabouli), it actually has a nice chunk of folate and iron. Bonus!

Seriously yum folks. I kind of wish I had it on my menu for tomorrow now.

Blast!

Gratituesday: Little Nubbin

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:36:00 +0000

At least that's what Daddy calls it. I thought given my propensity towards the legume family we'd call this one 'Bean'. But Daddy stubbornly sticks with 'Nubbin' and so maybe the next one will be 'Bean'.

We both agree I don't actually even show that much yet, so I must be subconsciously doing that pregnant stick out my belly thing.

We're all super happy! And super grateful for the little heartbeat we heard today. :-)

1950s style

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:24:00 +0000

All growing up I never once attended a themed costume party....in costume that is. We never went out and paid money for a store bought costume that was just right. We never had the right stuff at home to fit whatever the theme was. And I was usually too school for cool...er..cool for school to be caught dead in something that sort of made a lame attempt at fitting the theme, but didn't quite hit the mark.

As a result, I was the equally lame kid who showed up in jeans and a t-shirt who stood around too cool for costumes that weren't quite right, and yet desperate to fit in just once for a themed party.

NOT SO THIS TIME!!!

We got an invitation to William's cousin's birthday party - 1950s themed - and William's all like "let's do this baby, we're doing it!!"

There were usual groans and moans on my part as I tried not to dredge up the bad costume party memories from my childhood, but I told him I'd do my best.

Thankfully I didn't have to rely fully on my best or I still would have been in trouble. I had two friends ready to help out who let me look through their stuff and loaned me almost the entirety of my wardrobe. By the end, I felt ready to rock the 1950s and any party that came with it.

And so, because this might in fact be the only time in my life that I actually attend a themed costume party, IN COSTUME, and look really fabulous doing so, I will now shamelessly post far too many pictures of us in our get up. I admit to feeling awesomely beautiful that night. :-) Thanks girls. :-)

Someone asked if I was Jackie O.

Someone said a brunette Marilyn.

Someone said Black Dahlia. (I had to look that one up.)

I just felt awesome and incognito.

Pretty Lady and Nerdy Scientist.

Nerdy Scientist and his 1950s radio. (from my Grandmother's shed)

Slide Rule anyone?

He's not overly excited.....

Makes you kind of nervous doesn't he?

Okay, perhaps Mad Scientist is better.

How did the nerd ever get the babe?

Can't forget the scarf and gloves.

Red lipstick and shades.

And the coat and bag. :)

So there you go. Our totally awesome 1950s birthday party get up. Happy Birthday to Nicole and thanks for having a costume party so that I could for once in my life, go in costume and rock it out! This crunchy mama enjoyed her night of glam! :-)

Horrifying experience

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:29:00 +0000

Yesterday I experienced something horrifying. Not nearly so horrifying as it could have been, but bad enough for me. Enough to truly piss me off as a mother.

When Charlie and I play outside in the front yard, he loves to run and be chased. The way our yard is set up, we have two trees that he loves to run around. One of them is about 10 feet from the road. So in the process of making the run around the tree, there is about 5 seconds where he always looks like he's headed straight for the road before making the turn. I am so blessed that he's never run into the road yet. He always turns. Or he always stops short a couple feet from the edge of the yard, because Mama has drilled it into his head to do so. Really, he is so good about this, I admit to letting my guard down a bit in this area. (Not that I am not paying attention, but I generally don't have to be middle man between him and the road at all times.)

Yesterday I was standing at our porch steps while Charlie was making his usual dash towards and around the tree near the road. I had looked down for a moment at my shoe and looked up to catch this picture.

My son "heading for the road" in his usual manner while running around the tree and a woman in some big SUV type car, driving the entire length of our yard, WITH HER HEAD DOWN STARING AT HER PHONE. I watched horrified, as there was that moment where, had Charlie deviated from his normal routine and continued to head into the road, this woman would have in fact run over him. I was absolutely terrified for that moment in time before seeing Charlie make his usual left hand turn and seeing the woman leave the perimeter of our yard.

Then my horror turned to absolute RAGE. How DARE this woman be so engrossed in her phone that she was driving while not looking where she was going? How DARE a text be so important that it requires a reply while driving? How DARE she look down to find a contact to call in her phone, while taking her eyes off the road on a neighborhood street where there are children?

How DARE I judge because I know I have done the same thing.

I don't text, but I have been guilty of glancing downward to quickly find a contact to call. I try not to do it often, but I know I've done it. Have I had any narrow misses like this woman had yesterday? I dare say with the large number of people talking and texting while driving, it's not a matter of "if" you had a narrow miss, it's a matter of "how many" narrow misses you may have had. And. Never. Even. Known. It.

I don't judge this woman, because I am guilty of the same thing she is. I have no doubt her remorse would have been severe had anything happened. HOWEVER, I don't excuse this woman's actions. And I genuinely hope that my moment of sheer terror as a mother, spurs me on to be safer about my phone habits while driving.

Be smart. Be safe while driving. You never know when there is an invisible little kid somewhere and a terrified mother standing just a bit too far out of reach.

Taken Christmas Day.

I love you little man. I'm eternally grateful every day you are alive and in my life.

Do you have a mustard pusher in your house?

noreply@blogger.com (Baughface) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:07:00 +0000

Found this post in my drafts folder, sadly tucked away and somehow unpublished. Since mustard pushing was so important in our lives for so many weeks, I decided I'd go ahead and share it, even if this was back in October. :-P

Charlie has long been obsessed with all the mustard bottles in our house. It doesn't so much have to do with eating the mustard on every food item on his plate (in fact that phase is almost completely gone). It has to do with him obsessing over having to have all 4 bottles out on the table when we eat, and him having to be the one to pull all 4 bottles out of the fridge, by himself, at the same time. Which almost never works and then never fails to result in frustration and tears. It has to do with his desire to pull the mustard bottles out at random times and tote them around the house on his little push cart.

He is my little Mustard Pusher. Whatever that is, he's that.

The hummus got lucky and got to go along for the ride this time too.

Mustard pushing can be very intense. He (ahem) WE take it very seriously.

Lean into it son - mustard pushing can be hard work sometimes.

So hard sometimes you just have to pull it instead.

There he goes around the corner.

We love mustard pushing!

But sometimes mustard pushers get distracted...

...by staring at their own awesome reflection.

Organizational strategy is also key. See, we DO take mustard pushing seriously in this house.

I'm bracing myself for the day when I find a moldy mustard bottle under the living room chair that's long been forgotten from one of the mustard pushing escapades.