Sunny Day Meals

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Laura

As the temperatures rise, I find myself less and less inspired to cook. I neglect the housework until the last possible moment and spend as much time outside as possible. The kids are at an age where I’m bargaining with them on a nightly basis and promising we will be outside as soon as possible the following morning, just to get them inside so I can wash their feet, faces and hands before bed!

With this in mind, I put together this list of my favorite beautiful day meals. Meals I serve because it’s too gorgeous to stay inside at the stove or it’s just too hot to even think about eating a full meal.

Summer Steak Salad: Nothing like a beautiful afternoon to make you want to fire up the grill! This is our summer go-to date night meal.

Dippin’ Chicken Tacos: Quick and easy to eat in between water balloon fights or even poolside, this recipe is one of our family favorites.

Thai Chicken and Vegetables: I made this last night! I recently discovered a wonderful rice pasta that cooks up in about 5 minutes and the kids just gobble down. I love to eat this as left overs, cold, the next day too!

Cheddar-Stuffed Burgers: This is my husband’s pride and joy. And it just takes burger night to a fun new level with the oozy cheese in every bite.

Sloppy Lentil Sandwiches: Sometimes, you need fast picnic-style food that isn’t for the carnivores. This is another one of my cold-leftovers-for-lunch favorites.

Creamy Quinoa and Vegetables: I fully intend to make a large batch of this on a weekly basis and bring it with us as pool-side lunches.

Peanut Butter Fondue: Another poolside option for me. I like this dip as a meal or a quick snack, but either way it’s loaded with protein and good fats, so it’s practically guilt-free… right?

So there you have my summer’s worth of go-to meals. What are your favorites? I’m going to be in need to poolside snacks in another month or so, what do you take with you for the kids to munch on during the lifeguard breaks?

Handwritten Simplicity

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Laura

When I was in high school, it was a big deal if you had internet at home. Most of my peers had an AOL address, but I didn’t get my first email address until I was in college and was assigned one by the student services. It took me until I sat through a lecture on Stream of Consciousness writing (which I fell in love with) before I really started to email. You see, once I started typing, words just fell from my fingers and I was able to follow the flow within my own brain. Personally, I was a fan. I’m a fast typer and my fingers were able to keep up with my thoughts fairly well. I was a college student and pressed for time, so this was my solution. As much as I liked it, most of the people I emailed were decidedly against it. My uncle used to return my emails with proper punctuation and edits.

Thankfully, I eventually made a decision to slow my life down and returned to proper sentence structure in all my communications. Around this time, my husband bought me a PDA and I attempted to forgo my previous dependence on a paper calendar. I thought that if I could only learn to use an electronic format for everything I did, my life would only increase in it’s simplicity. Not surprisingly, around this time, my precious Nokia phone finally had to be retired and I replaced it with a phone that had some touch features on it. I actually stopped making phone calls because I was so annoyed with the “high-techness” of it all!

And yet, even with two computers in my home, smart phones, eReaders and lightning fast internet connections, I still find myself loving the feeling of a pen in my hand as I write a card or mark in appointment in my calendar. I rarely use my phone’s calendar function, instead spending weeks every year searching for the perfect calendar to write all my notes in. My journal is simply lined, no frills, smooth pages and a flexible spine. And a teal notebook to keep track of post ideas, to-do lists, notes from phone calls and potential meal plans.

These are things I employ to keep my own mind from whirling along in it’s conscious flow that quickly becomes a rushing river leaving chaos behind as I attempt to remember things from a phone conversation. Granted, my auditory skills have always been lacking, but I just cannot let go of a simple pen and paper. I find it comforting. I find it refreshing.

My postman has commented on how many cards leave my mailbox on a weekly basis. I treasure the cards I receive in the mail and hold the belief that everyone deserves a pretty card with kind words in it from time to time. Handwritten words are personal and simple. I still have the letters my great-grandmother sent me as a child. My high school BFF had to move and we exchanged thick envelopes filled with handwritten pages for year. Dozens of her letters have sat in a box, neatly organized and frequently read.

This card was my screen saver for a few days while I really needed the reminder!

The friends that send me letters and cards now are no longer writing about the latest romantic crisis in our lives, instead we exchange words of encouragement for our days. I write cards to each child on their birthday, telling them each of the amazing milestones from that year and how much I love them. I in write in my journal telling our family’s story and hope that someday my own children will find comfort in the handwritten words about their childhood as much as I find comfort in reading the writings of my mother, her mother and my great grandmother.

What about you? Are you a paper and pen sort of person or have you embraced this digital age?

Dear WAPF… could you be any more judgmental?!

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Laura

In the past week, a multitude of my Facebook friends’ posts have been directed at the Weston A. Price Foundation and their recent statement that homemade formulas are better than breast milk if the mother is not following the recommended dietary requirements for herself. This morning, I finally finished reading and decided that I’ll be kicking of the next few posts I have planned with my opinion on this particular subject.

Back when pretending I was nursing mama was enough and no one cared what I ate.

I grew up being told I was breast-fed. I planned to breast feed. And then, my mother died and I got my hands on her journals. In her writings she talked about how sad she was that she just wasn’t able to produce enough milk for me. She had lupus and her body just couldn’t deal with the demand of a hungry baby. So, after a few months of praying her body could provide for me, she made her own formula. She didn’t reference where she got her recipe, but she did mention several times that she was so ashamed that her body couldn’t provide for her baby. At the time, I didn’t have any children myself, but my heart broke that any woman could feel so helpless even though she was doing her absolute best despite the circumstances.

Fast forward a few years and there I am sitting on my couch sobbing because after 20 minutes of pumping, not even 2 ounces of milk was produced. Next to me is a screaming baby who, no matter what advice I have gotten and methods I’ve tried is flat out hungry. Now really isn’t the time to go into all the details of that time in my life, but in the end, we chose to purchase box after box of formula.

I will admit that I briefly considered making my own formula. I had 2 friends who made their own and their kids seemed healthy. But no matter how proud my mother was of my childhood love of Cod Liver oil, I just couldn’t do it. My husband and I chose to purchase organic formula for our little boy. It was the best we could do given our circumstances. I hated every bottle I washed and was in a far greater hurry to switch him to sippy cups than I probably should have been.

I hated the smell of commercial formula, but there was no way I was going to be able to find goat’s milk in the needed quantities (although I did search) and I certainly wasn’t going to add in carrot juice as my friend suggested. I drank a lot of carrot juice as a child and the keratinized skin on my feet still bear the orange hue in testament.

I’m telling you this story so you understand that I really feel WAPF has dropped the ball here. One of my greatest regrets of those early months of parenting is that I wasn’t brave enough to keep asking for help and be honest with how bad my situation was. I didn’t know a single person who had stuck it out through a poor milk supply (thanks a LOT PCOS ) and because I already had several friends who had traded breast for bottle by the time their baby was 2 months old, I felt the sting of judgement whenever I expressed a desire to succeed.

Sylvi was born less than 2 years after Liam and I was determined. By then, I had joined the ranks of the Natural Parent Network contributors and drew from that support. I found a local friend who was willing to listen to me cry and help me figure out ways to make breast feeding work for us. At one point, I had either weekly phone calls or visits with a local CLC that helped keep me focused on the fact that we were conquering one feeding at a time and succeeding on a micro level. When we started Baby-Led Weaning with her, she was at a point where her weight dropped off the charts completely and added coconut milk and avocado to her day as much as I could.

Sylvi was breast fed from April 15th, 2011 to May 31st 2012. She stopped nursing the day she started walking. And I cried. I cried for multiple reasons: she was growing up. She was healthy and happy! She may have given me cause to wear my favorite pink bra again but was still willing to curl up in my arms for our snuggle time throughout the day even though she was done nursing. I cried because we made it. 13.5 months was an enormous victory for me considering the pressure I was under to stop and begin bottle feeding at 4 months due to her ~~failure to thrive~~ petite size. And I cried because I knew I would miss it.

I think that my issue with WAPF isn’t so much that they encourage making your own formula, it’s that they make mothers who may already be struggling with breast feeding feel that no matter what they do, they aren’t good enough. Their dietary ideals are all well and good, but no one is perfect. NO ONE. My bloggy bff, at the Farmer’s Daughter is my breast feeding hero, hands down. But if WAPF had their say, she should stop because from time to time, she wants a treat. Gasp!

Sadly, we live in a world where everyone is out to prove their way is better; to “out mom” every one else. Instead of fueling the fires, WAPF could have chosen to encourage a healthy diet in the breast feeding mothers. They could have promoted their homemade formulas as an option, not an ultimatum. We as mothers need to be compassionate and gracious toward others in the trenches. If you want to continue breastfeeding, there are resources and support. Don’t give up just because you aren’t perfect.

Recently

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Laura

As much as I adore my batch cooking, I’m trying to change things up a bit. My husband and I reworked our budget and I’m back to bi-weekly grocery trips. The cost hasn’t really changed, it just shifted. And I love using my pretty envelopes more.
I feel like all I do is sew. I completed a quilt this week and will post about it tomorrow. I’m 100% proud of myself on this one.
I also finished Sylvi’s birthday dress. And bonus: I made a matching dress for the doll she’s getting as her gift.
Matt and I are planning a fun change to the backyard this month! I’ve been planning and organizing and we’ve landed on a local company to put up a play structure in our back yard! We are keeping gifts for the kids very modest this year and I can hardly wait to hear the squeals of joy when the kids see all those fun things to climb!
The breakfast experiment is going well. I missed only once in the last three weeks. I was very sick all day long as a result. I’m realizing that I need more calories than I think I do, especially if I plan to continue working out towards specific fitness goals.
My plants for this year’s garden are growing like crazy. I think I need to keep them indoors for another 6 or so weeks, but there is a distinct possibility that they will take over my kitchen counters in that time.
I rotated toys for the kids again tonight. I hadn’t done it in a few months, but I wanted to declutter a little before Sylvi’s birthday. I’m still not convinced that the Little People toys we have were worth it, but they’re out of hiding.
Oh. And I cleaned my desk off. I’m fairly certain angels sang.

The oil that keeps the wheel running

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Laura

One of the most frequent complaints I hear from women be it stay-at-home, working full/part-time, parenting or not is the struggle to balance housework. There are dozens of planners, website subscriptions and outlines for scheduling your day. Personally, I don’t use them. I’ve printed out planners and things of that nature multiple times or tried a digital calendar, but in the end… I’m just a lined sheet of paper and spiral bound calendar sort of girl!

The “brain” of my kitchen: calendar, lists, coffee and the phone.

Before I go any further, let me say this: housekeeping comes naturally to me because I’ve been doing it since I was a little girl. Because of my family’s needs and dynamic, I was capable of doing laundry from start to finish, including ironing without any assistance. I could cook simple meals, clean the house and plan a weekly menu/grocery list. When I was nine, my mother’s health had a collapse and although the grandmas came to help out often, I still needed the skills for days when Mom simply did not feel well, but wasn’t emergent. Therefore, I iron like my Mother’s mother, menu plan like my own mother and fold laundry like my Father’s mother. I enjoy housekeeping in general with the exception of dusting. No matter what I do, I always sneeze. Always.

For my home, at this current stage with two children under the age of 4 this is what works for me. Last year, I wasn’t doing things exactly the same, and next year, I may need a change again. But right now, I need to care for my home and family first, train for my next triathlon, sew and write. In order to get the “fun” activities in my life, I am willing to give up sleep. Like I said, this is what works for me

First thing in the morning (often before the sun is even out of bed), Sylvi wakes me up, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Sometimes, I let Matt sleep a little longer, sometimes I don’t and get him moving to work. Either way, I head straight to the kitchen and turn the coffee pot on. I get food for Sylvi and unload the dishwasher and start laundry. I read somewhere that if you spend your first hour of being awake getting your tasks done and don’t check email, you’ll find your day to be much more productive. For me, this is genius since I am a morning person. So… I leave my phone on the charger and the monitor turned off and get my tasks for the day as completed as I can by 9am. That’s the goal. I was done by 847 yesterday, 1015 today.

Every single day I complete 5 tasks:

Make the beds
Unload the dishwasher
Clean the kitchen after meals
10 minute tidy of bedrooms and living room midafternoon and before bed
Daily chore

This is why I am not stressed by my home. I am a very particular housekeeper, so I keep up on the clutter (except for the hideous pile of paperwork to my right) and as long as I do that, general tasks are simple.

Sunday: weekly fruit/veggie prep (washing, cutting, etc.)
Monday: Clean bathroom and diaper laundry
Tuesday: Vacuum and 1 load of laundry
Wednesday: Laundry and declutter and dust
Thursday: Diaper laundry and menu/grocery plan
Friday: Wash sheets and towels
Saturday: any catch up housework

Each task that I assign to the days are quick ones. I don’t do laundry all in one day because I get burnt out. I do a little bit each day and it’s quick enough that way that it takes about half an hour of total active time. The task that takes me the longest honestly is the veggie prep because I’m washing, peeling, cutting and organizing about 10-15 pounds of produce.

I go to bed with toys picked up, laundry put away and the dishwasher running. Every now and then, I skip this step and then have a grumpy start to the next day because I hate waking to a mess. When Liam was a little baby, a friend mentioned to me that I needed to learn to do my chores while he was up so that he saw that I did other things than wait on him hand and foot. Perhaps a kinder way of saying this would be to simply involve your children in the tasks. When I sweep the kitchen, both kids get out their brooms and “help”. They help me match socks and carry laundry to the bedrooms. Liam unloads the silverware from the dishwasher and both children are responsible to take their plates to the counter after meals. And if that doesn’t keep them occupied for a few minutes, I can always pull out the crayons and paper and they create for a little while.

Once I have all my tasks done… I’m free to start on the list. I make a long list of all the things I’d love to accomplish and keep at it for a week. I’ll assign things to myself in the morning and what gets done, yay! The rest goes back on the list for another time. I’m supposed to roast garlic today. We’ll see. I’m not overly enthusiastic about it. Some days, like today, I’m in the mood to do nothing extra… my house is clean, the kids are happy and I think we’ll have leftovers for supper. Every day is different!

So how about you? How do you tackle balancing life and your home?

If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Laura

You’re supposed to be reading a well thought out post about my home organization. It was going to be great and I was really excited to share how we are taming the daily beast lately. Considering today, though… I’m thinking I’ve goofed.

Sylvi is back to waking up long before my alarm goes off, so I start my day pretty early. I am feeling pretty calm and collected on a regular basis. It’s nice, you know? This morning, I had all our beds made before Matt even left for work, the kids and I were dressed and I had pancakes on the griddle. At 930, I was shocked to walk into the living room and realize I was supposed to be babysitting and the family was here. Uh huh, I tried to be cool and would have never mentioned this, but it definitely sets the tone for how under the bus I was for the rest of the day.

Morning: manageable. Then, 45 minutes after my extra charges left absolute insanity hit. Thus far, my philosophy on parenting has been to stay one step ahead of the short people. Oh and remember where I set the dirty diaper. For the most part, this goes well for me. And then, I get overconfident and try to bake a cake while the kids are eating lunch, get distracted by Lord knows what, resume the cake baking and get it in the oven only to realize that the house was silent. I went to investigate only to find my children hunkered down behind the 25 year old child-sized rockers in Sylvi’s room. The overwhelming smell of Burt’s Bees baby powder hit me in the hallway from behind the closed bedroom door. They had managed to dump out at least 50%-75% of the bottle on the floor: Liam was scooping it up to “make art” on the walls and Sylvi was scooping it up to eat it.

I called my wisest mom friend who then told me to call poison control. While on the phone with that kind lady, I herded the kids into the bathroom since they were ghost white from all the powder to prepare to bathe them. She asked for the ingredients on the bottle, so I left the room only to hear a loud crash and Sylvi try out her newest word: “oops”. In the corner of the shower/bath, we have a tension rod with baskets on it. It took two adults to install it 2 years ago. However, the two small children who climbed in the empty bathtub who decided they wanted the shark in the lowest basket managed to yank the entire thing down, which then almost took out the shower curtain.

Listen. When the lady from poison control wishes you a “less eventful” afternoon, it’s a sign you’re not a wimp and it’s ok to take a break. So I dressed both kids and informed them we were all taking a quiet time. This of course did not occur until I discovered a missing bottle of body wash in Sylvi’s room. Said bottle of body wash, has a pump on top. I have visions of the kids bouncing up and down on that pump while I wrestled with the tension rod in the bathroom. Regardless of how the soap managed to get on the floor, it got there. I just stood there and laughed. At least my floors are really clean.

I have a terrible headache, can’t stop thinking about chocolate and am counting the moments until back up arrives. But, I now know beyond a shadow of doubt, silence is certainly not golden and tension rods loosen their hold over time. The point of this quite laughable story from my day is really to myself. Had this kind of a day happened 2 or 3 years ago, I’d have called my husband sobbing and begging him to come home because I didn’t trust myself to remain calm. Today, I called him to ask if he’d mind stopping at the Y to pay our membership fee. Considering the day’s mayhem, it’s probably better if I don’t attempt to take my little hooligans out in public. Yes, today has been hard. Yes, today is not over. But today, I realized that I needed to stop and take a break. My husband won’t be coming home to a tidy house or children in matching clothes, but that cake that kept me from being attentive to my children’s mischievousness was amazing.

Work in Progress Wednesday: My debut post!

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Laura

Liam's quilt... photo taken artistically so you can't see that it appears a 3 year old made it... because he kinda did.

When I turned 30, I asked my husband to take me to Amish country and let me buy the material to make a quilt for our bed. I mean, seriously. How hard could it really be? If you can sew a straight line, you can totally quilt, right? Wrong. You have to cut in a straight line AND pin AND sew AND press AND THEN… you have to cut things like a 12.5 inch square or manhandle massive lengths of fabric and the worst part… make your own bias tape.

Sylvi's finished quilt

Quilting detail on the back... not too shabby!

So yeah. Did some cutting for that quilt and started piecing. I made a mistake, cried over it and then put the material in a drawer afraid I’d really screw it up. Along came Pinterest and I thought to myself that if I suddenly had all these patterns and tutorials, hunted down by other people with a seemingly endless amount of time on their hands, I could perhaps suck it up and try again. In December, I made Liam this super, simple (what I now call a “cheater”) quilt. It wasn’t hard. I didn’t make any mistakes really, other than to let the kids sit on my lap and “help” while I tried to sew. Also, I learned how to make bias tape and consequently wondered why on Earth I’d never so before.

Valentine's Day applique project

Roughly two weeks ago, I realized my husband’s work hours were about to get nasty and I’d be alone at home with kids who were recovering from the flu for most of January. I panicked and started hunting up projects. I went on a fabric binge and shopped for material to make dresses for Sylvi. And then, it dawned on me she needed a quilt as well. I headed out to a fabric store, with the Moda Bake Shop pattern in mind and started fabric hunting. I came home with two charm packs in the Paris Flea Market pattern, soft flannel backing, white sashing and a polka dot pattern for the binding. Last night, I sat back and looked at the finished product and felt an incredible amount of pride.

Pillow tops to be quilted for our bedroom... colors will then go with whatever we decide to use for the top quilt.

Of course, now that I have 2 major stitching projects under my belt, I feel like it’s time to try some other shapes. :) I spent another weekend in Amish country and came home loaded with dress fabrics, this pillow project and fabric to begin a quilt for my friend’s baby due later in the Spring. My Pinterest board is filled with ideas and plans for the future… I’m thinking it might be a good idea to try some mug rugs so I can get some more piecing experience.

Up Next: Cutting pieces for this baby quilt.

I get to join in on blog link ups now! I actually have a Work In Progress! I have plans and goals and lots of fabric… also, I’m stalking the mail carriers because a paper pattern should be delivered before supper today and any day now a shipment of fabric should also arrive!! Although… as a note, I’m realizing that as I scroll through all these blogs and I read the instructions, I just want to spend my time sewing so be forewarned… my home is a mess, our meals are… easy and I will probably not respond to playdate requests right now. I’m addicted to creativity!

Are you feeling crafty lately? Share what you’re working on in the comments!

All the colors of the rainbow

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Laura

As I mentioned in my New Year’s post, I’m planning to be a little better focused on our preschooling efforts. I don’t want to expect too much from Liam as he is only 3 and a half, but, I figure I should set some quality groundwork if we are going to be successful when the time comes to do our official homeschooling. Lest you think I’m over-thinking this, I’d like to remind you that this is the very same reason why most families send their children to a preschool before launching them into the great unknown of formal schooling. So we do the same… just at the kitchen table… or the floor… or the backyard.

Today, we worked on colors. I love color. My favorite way to teach color and get some activity is to use this DK book and have the kids find things from the pages to match the colors. We also have this puzzle from Crocodile Creek, so depending on the attention span, we can make categories and have a pile of cars or food from the play kitchen under each puzzle. Sylvi needs a lot of help with that puzzle to make the matches, although she does enjoy doing a “big” puzzle, I usually set her up with this one from Melissa and Doug.

Sylvi doesn’t know her colors, but Liam does and so this is a great way for me to do something with them together. We read our color books and do matching puzzles or games. We color hunt through the house and recently, I added a version of ISpy to keep them moving. Plus, having them work together, they get some practice at cooperating and treating each other kindly while doing so.

While Sylvi naps in the afternoon, Liam and I work on “school”. Typically speaking, our focused time is less than half an hour. We do a variety of things choosing activities from my Pinterest board or we read and do a craft. Sometimes, we’ll even read, do a craft AND watch a show that corresponds with the topic. Liam likes to play with play dough this year, so I made a large batch of plain play dough and he’ll mold or color on it with markers.

I’m fortunate enough that I have my library card number memorized so when Liam mentions a topic he’s interested in, I can sit down, look up books and add them to my reserve cart at the library branch my aunt works at in a matter of minutes. Working on topics and skills this way, Liam and I get to be relaxed… he doesn’t have to leave his house (he usually asks if we can “just stay home” instead of going out and about) and I get to watch his face light up with realization with new concepts. Please don’t read this post and think we have it all down pat, though. Today started out perfectly and we all had a great time reading and collecting the items, but while Sylvi napped, Liam broke all the crayons I gave him and then threw a fit when I asked him to pick up the magnet letters.

So you know… life with preschoolers, right? Learning color is a difficult concept since there are so many shades of each color, but it is still very fun to teach. Of course, Sylvi is more interested in the colors pink, purple and red. Liam loves red and blue. Neither child thinks orange (my favorite color) is all that special. To each his own, right?

What is your favorite thing to teach your preschoolers?

The recovery in the change

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Laura

Welcome to the January 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting:
Recovering from the Holidays

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about how their families get back to normal after the holidays are over.

This post went live last week in error, so I apologize to my regular readers for seeing it again, but I do encourage you to scroll to the bottom of this post and check out the rest of the posts from our NPN participants!

Hmmm… how do we recover from the holidays around this kitchen? Well, in past years it took at least a week. Eating rich foods, staying up absurdly late far too many nights in a row, plus the stress of crazed travel? We were always sick and grumpy the next week. This year, though, I didn’t want to repeat the drama, so I made changes.

I didn’t send out hordes of Christmas cards and photos. I sent out 52. The rest, I just handed to people. We didn’t have massive baking days, I did what I could as I could. I started shopping in July and while I was still wrapping on December 20th, it was peaceful. All that to say, as we prepped to leave the house each day for our events, I kept mulling to myself how all the time I had spent getting myself organized was paying off. Christmas morning as we slipped out pajama’d children into the car, I actually thought “easy peasy, lemon squeeze-y” as I drank my homemade mocha and settled in for the long drive.

This year there really isn’t a recovery. And for that, I am grateful. My 3 year old has returned to his sweet self now that the anticipation is over. Their gifts were very carefully thought out and I am so grateful for the generosity afforded by not only our current financial status, but in the hearts of our family. The blizzard that forced us to be home bound in the days following Christmas was quite possibly one of the greatest blessings. Instead of feeling compelled to rush out to the store and find storage bins so I could kick the home into top organization, I simply unpacked and wrote thank yous.

Instead of rushing to prepare meals, I was grateful for my panicked Christmas Eve Walmart run for fruit and lettuce. To recover from our holiday meals, we ate fruit and chicken and whole grains. We put together puzzles for days and I watched the kids create train track masterpieces and paint elaborate stories. We watched movies and played games. I folded diapers and washed the sticky kitchen floor under Sylvi’s chair.

This year, I didn’t really need much of a recovery because it was honestly the best Christmas I’ve had in the past 8 years since Matt and I started dating. This year, I wasn’t up all night with sick or nursing babies. I wasn’t dealing with horrible morning sickness. We hadn’t lost family to cancer or babies or miscarriage. Although we were busy and spent a lot of time in the car, we were peaceful. I don’t think life has changed so much as my heart has. Perhaps, just perhaps, my recovery started after last Christmas when I decided it was time to take care of myself. In the last year we’ve become a healthier family: physically, emotionally and mentally. We’ve grown and learned and loved one another more deeply.

Life may not always be so peaceful and easy, but I’m going to enjoy every second while it remains. I learned many lessons in 2012, but perhaps the most important thing I learned was that in order to truly recover, you must be willing to change. In my case, that change was long awaited and much appreciated!

***

Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting this March!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be live and updated by afternoon January 14 with all the carnival links.)

Pinterest Inspiration for Easier Winter Holidays Shannon, writing at Natural Parents Network, shares inspiration for having more relaxed winter holidays from their Handmade Holidays Pinterest board.
Seven Recipes for Beans – Post Holiday Cleaning — Destany at They Are All of Me shares her favorite bean recipes that she hopes will help her body recover from overindulging her sweet tooth during the holidays.
The Recovery in the Change — Laura at Pug in the Kitchen made changes in her life and attitude throughout 2012 and was pleasantly surprised at how those changes impacted her holiday recovery!
Could this question change your life for ever? — To get your new year off on the right footing, Mrs Green of Little Green Blog is challenging us all to love ourselves with commitment and discipline. She asks you to focus on a simple question which might just bring you back in balance…
Holiday Recovery — Meegs at A New Day talks about how the holidays can be overwhelming for a toddler, and how she’s helping her 3 year old recover.
5 Ways to Detox After the Holidays — Brittany at The Pistachio Project gives a few ways to help you detox and get back on track after the holiday season has passed.
3 Simple Ways to Establishing Rhythm After the Holidays or Any Time — Sheila at A Living Family shares 3 simple ways to reestablish a rhythm of connection and calm in your family after holidays, visitors, travel or any time.
Gemstones For Holiday Hangoverss — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama delves into the power of gemstones as an often overlooked means of dealing with the holiday letdown.
Getting back to Healthy — Bess at A Warrior Mom talks about the struggle of getting young ones back to eating healthy after several days to weeks of getting more candy and sweets than normal for the holidays and gives some suggestions on how to get them back to eating healthy in the new year.
Post Christmas Juice Feast — Sam at Love Parenting explains why she has created a new tradition of juice feasting, and how she includes her toddler when detoxing.
The Java Monkey On My Back — Christy at Eco Journey in the Burbs realizes it is time to kick her cup of Joe habit as a first step toward detoxing.
Minimalist Holidays — Jorje of Momma Jorje doesn’t find much need for recovery after her minimalist version of the holidays.
Do something for you — Lauren at Hobo Mama urges you to find a silly and indulgent reward of me-time — and she has hers.
do we recover? — Kenna at Million Tiny Things wonders what recovery really means in the context of the tragedies of this past holiday season.
37 Easy Ways to Save Money — Shannon at GrowingSlower is sharing these money-saving tips to help get your budget back on track after the holidays.
A Two Year Old’s Resolutions — That Mama Gretchen is putting the holidays behind her with a spin on traditional resolutions — New Year’s goals for her two-year-old! Sound crazy? Read on for an explanation!
How to Find Balance after the Holidays — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now tells her favorite ways to start a new year with hope and calmness.
Fresh Awakening — For Luschka at Diary of a First Child, the new year has coincided with a return to restful nights. With sleep, she’s found new directions in life, but while she can’t make too many changes to her life right now, she’s inspired and excited about the future.
Learning to slow down after a busy Festive Season — Stoneageparent describes the joys and lows of this year’s festive season, as well as her New Year’s resolutions.
Detoxing’ Your Toddler After the Holidays — Does your family suffer side effects from the holidays? Join Christine from African Babies Don’t Cry to learn how she detoxed herself and her toddler off the treats and festivities of the season.
Scheduling is OK! — Jaye Anne at Wide Awake, Half Asleep explores the possibilities of the — SCHEDULE!!
Holiday-Free but not Stress-Free — Mercedes at Project Procrastinot takes it easy after moving with her husband and new babies to Scotland.
A Vacation from the World — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children retreats with her family at the end of every year in order to recuperate and enjoy one another.
On the Road to Recovery — Dionna at Code Name: Mama isn’t just recovering from the holidays, she’s recovering from a lifestyle.
We Never Left the Grind — Erika Gebhardt compares a typical day pre-holidays and post-holidays.
Remembering and Recovering from the Holidays (One day at a time) — Emily at S.A.H.M i AM is recovering from holidays slowly–taking one day at a time–while trying to remember all the sweet moments that passed too quickly.
5 a Day — To get back on track Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy needed a simple system to help her family learn new values.
Holiday Detox & Healing: Bieler Broth — Megan at The Boho Mama shares her secret for a gentle, whole-foods-based post-holiday detox: Bieler Broth!
I’m Mama Not Supermom — After a year filled with changes Angela at EarthMamas World has to remind herself that she does not have to be supermom while recovering from the holiday chaos.

New Year, New Perspective

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Laura

I rang in the New Year quietly. Sylvi was battling what we thought was the flu, and so she went to bed early and I stayed home while Matt and Liam went to a friend’s home to play games and hang out. We’ve become less and less social in the years since having a colicky baby that made outings awkward, so I was glad for him to have the chance to get out of the house. Although neither of us ever really crave much as far as social events, it’s still nice to break out of the routine.

Last year, I spent New Year’s Eve nursing a baby who would not sleep and somehow decided that I would be spending the next 365 days being more intentional in my life. I got up the next morning and hacked and slashed my way through my involvements. 2012 was a year that challenged me, but in ways that helped me grow as a person, mother, wife and friend. I got back to regular journaling, ditched the family blog and kept up with the baby books. When I look back on 2012, I feel that although it wasn’t my most productive year, it was one of my best. I love that I saw (and have memories of) so much beauty and love, no matter the circumstance.

So then as I pondered another year of my life beginning, I considered that this would be the year to focus on Grace. All to often I don’t even try a new recipe or skill, talk to someone new, attempt a longer distance in running or gosh, even get dressed because I’m afraid of failing on some level. I crave perfection from myself and the thought of not living up to expectations, even though they may not be realistic holds me back. Last year, I started taking care of myself through exercise and sit here typing knowing I can run for 40 minutes when this time last year, I could barely get through a 5 minute free run in my fitness class. I tackled an indoor triathlon in October and when I hopped off the treadmill, I struggled to not scream in victory.

What would we all do if we weren’t afraid of letting ourselves down? Who would we reach out to in friendship if we weren’t afraid they’d judge us? If we could learn to be gracious with ourselves, could we allow for flaws in a project with the realization we stepped out and tried? If we could learn to be more gracious with others and give them the understanding and mercy they may not necessarily deserve but need, perhaps the time spent mulling over hurts would simply fade away. This year as I wrote out my goal for myself, I have kept in mind that above all I want to develop an attitude of grace toward myself and others.

Complete a quilt for Sylvi’s bed
Finish decorating our master bedroom and work on a quilt for the bed.
Plant a vegetable garden, putting by as much as possible.
Continue writing for Mom’s Clean Air Force
Continue writing for The Green Phone Booth
Contine writing for Natural Parents Network
Complete the Clearfork Warrior Dash (June)
Complete the Bucyrus Y Triathlon (May)
Complete the Healthy Homes Tri (July)
Complete the Lifetime Indoor Tri (either April or October)
Continue regular interval training so as to improve my running time.
Swim 500 meters in less than 10 minutes
Continue with regular dates with Matt!
Begin preschool materials with Liam
Teach Sylvi her colors
Finish out the MOPS year as the Publicity ST Member and pray about continuing in 2013-2014
Lord willing, add another baby to our family (pregnancy is always on my mind!)

I’m still learning a lot about the blog world even though I’ve been online since 2007, and I’ve discovered that this blog cannot be pigeon holed. Well, I suppose the title is, but I am looking forward to talking more about my family, my projects, homeschooling, fitness and faith as this year progresses. I had intended to start this blog entry with an apology for not posting this 5 days ago, but then… where would be with my intent for more grace? So instead, I leave you with excitement for my year, plans swirling in my head, but acceptance for life as it may be in my heart.