I know there's been a shoutout for this before, but I didn't have my store up yet. I got some stuff going just before the holidays; two of my favorite necklaces that I made that never sold and the two silk screen designs that we make that people in Austin just cannot seem to get enough of; The Godchild and Give Peas a Chance. Can we have one more roundup of mamas with Etsy stores here? Please post your links.-- read more >>

They are 1 and 4 now! I'm going to start working full time in January, but still need to find a job and childcare. I'm still in a band and lovin it. Mini update, I know, but I'm pumping and it's too hard to type.

I haven't posted in forever, but I was just telling someone how I've been "on" here for over 4 years and I got nostalgic. I don't have a big diatribe on one single subject, but for anyone wondering what's up with moi

1. been going to co-op preschool with 9 month old R and 3 y. 10m M, and we love this new source of mama, toddler, and baby friends. The nicest group of parents with relatively the same parenting goals as me. We'll do this for at least another year, if not two. meets Tuesdays for class and Thursdays for field trip-- read more >>

http://www.thebirthsurvey.com
If you have a moment, let your voice be heard about your birth experience. These people are very thorough in their questioning, it's a great project whose aim is to improve the birthing experience for mothers.

Okay, I made it 4 weeks, technically. But today I have 3 birthday parties and I didn't want to avoid cake that many times in a row. I've been really active lately, but I was shocked to discover yesterday morning that my total weight loss for the past 4 weeks is 10 lbs. That's like 2-3 lbs a week. It really inspires me to keep the diet going just as it is. However, I know I need to put a few key things back in: bread & probably mayo for sandwiches, an occasional sugar treat, cereals, butter for my mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs.-- read more >>

I'm such a stickler! My only cheat seriously is so minor, get this: I took one tiny sip of my daughter's root beer. That's it! I'm such a confessor that I feel compelled to mention this.

Notable things from my diet so far:
I've learned that there are good tasting options out there that don't have added sugars: peanut butter and jams, mainly, but also things like soy milk and almond milk. When I leave this diet, there's no reason to buy those things with extra sugar added. -- read more >>

I thought I was getting bored with my food options (and I kind of am with the lunch & snack options, if anyone has any to recommend). But dinners have been pretty cool. I just had to pop in with this recipe I found online that fit what was left in my pantry, and my diet. We just had it for dinner and it was so amazing and yummy. Turns out coconut milk is such an amazing thing to cook with! I'm gonna have to make it more a part of my diet. Anyway, here's the Brazilian Chicken Coconut Curry, a mish-mash of two different online recipes.

Brazilian Chicken Coconut Curry

INGREDIENTS-- read more >>

Yay, I made it one week.
I don't truly feel any different yet. I've heard that dairy takes like 2 weeks to really get out of the system, so we'll see where I am midmonth. I'm still mucousy from the cold I got a month ago, I expected that to go away faster this week but it didn't.
My biggest challenge has been -- read more >>

We went swimming yesterday, so that was my exercise. DS is so great in the pool, just leaning back in his floatie, chewing on a foam horsie the whole time, like he's one of those relaxed mellow babies. he is such a little hellcat at home, especially around the food table, he just can't stand to sit and watch us eat, even if he's being fed. So far my diet hasn't changed him much, he's still cranky and not sleeping through the night or anything. He's actually not pooping much lately either, I wonder what's up with that.

I'm too distracted by the toddler right now to remember anything about the impact this is making. I just want to say that I don't miss dairy, bread, and sugar as much as I thought I would by this point. I never realized how much of my diet is already heavy in the other things, so I don't ever feel *hungry* like oh no what am I going to eat now. So that's cool. I think I also do have an increase in energy; I've been able to clean more after the kids are in bed, and I still have that feeling of inner lightness, inner clarity; as though the dairy & sugar were kind of sludging up my insides. I'm also digging plain coffee now! The thought of putting cream and sugar in makes it seem kind of syrupy and yucky. -- read more >>

Well I messed up. At the grocery store the baby was starting to get crazy bc I wasn't moving when reading all the waffle boxes, and I accidentally picked up the one that was not gluten free. ugh. so I accidentally had a couple of organic whole grain waffles this morning. I realized before I ate them (after they baked in the toaster oven) but I wasn't about to waste such a specialty buy. I did the double jogging stroller trip to the park again so I'm feeling good Weight at 150 today, that's 2 lbs. less than a few days ago!-- read more >>

I seem to be hitting a wall with the sugar. Cookies are looking mighty good to me. Unfortunately I just fine-read the label on the cranberry juice I've been drinking and it turns out to have sugar. I could have sworn it said 100% juice I did however go grocery shopping today and got some gluten and dairy free products, unsweetened or lowest sugar available: frozen gf waffles, the Perky's O's cereal and another brown rice cereal, some almond and soy milks, soy yogurt, gf bread machine mix, rice cakes, gf rice pasta.-- read more >>

Ok you notice caffeine is off. Yesterday was really hard and I realized it was because of the caffeine. I really need Go Juice (as my friend calls it) if I'm going to not eat the other three things and still take care of my kids well. It seemed like it was easy to avoid the others but silly to not drink my one little cup of coffee, especially since it's my only source of caffeine and it's not something I abuse or overuse.-- read more >>

I can't believe it's already hard. And it's all because of the coffee. I have a wicked head ache. I can't believe missing one stupid cup of coffee can give you withdrawal symptoms!

For breakfast I had honeydew and cantelope, with raspberry tea. Then I had a whole bunch of snacks:
peanuts, veggie booty, 2 hard boiled eggs, a May's gluten-free fruit n nut bar, pistachios, and an apple.

I also want to keep track of my weight this month. I'm starting off at 152.-- read more >>

I've had a nice day of baking choc chip cookies and eating as many as I can, and treating myself to a whole mexican coke (made with real sugar instead of hfcs). The coffee with cream and sugar was extra good this morning. Tomorrow will be interesting!

I'm going to try to eat sugar, gluten, dairy, and caffeine free for the month of June. Starting this Sunday. I'm going to try to blog about the whole experience, how it effects me, my nursling 6 month old, and the family, and anything else. -- read more >>

Can I take out pumped milk from the freezer and thaw
it on the counter? I've only ever thawed in the fridge
for 24 hours. But tonight I have band rehearsal in 2
hours and I accidently put last night's pumped bottle in
the freezer instead of the fridge. I just now realized
this and pulled a bottle out onto the counter. Will it
even thaw in 3 hours? I just tried pumping but only 2
oz. came out and he drinks at least 4 at bedtime.

Thanks!

here's my little guy and his cute voice

yup my littlest one is now eating solids, and he loves it!

"I'm gonna let him check it out."
"It'll fall on the floor"
"I"ll catch it!"
"Oops"

I wish dh would say,"I'm taking the kids for a few hours. You go get a pedicure, then go to a cafe and get a beer or tea and do some writing for a while. I've already taken milk out of the freezer for the baby last night so I can feed him while you're gone. Go." That is all. Is it too much to ask if I just tell him that's what I want? Or should I hope for a surprise something like that? What do you want and do you think you're gonna get it?

Ok, is this a boy thing or simply a high-energy child thing: whenever R nurses to sleep at night, he seems like an amped up little octopus; his feet are bicycling like crazy pushing at my legs, my stomach, his upper arm is wildly clutching, pulling my shirt, slapping my chest, he's breathing all heavy like he's running a marathon, smacking. Sometimes he latches off then latches on like he's a piggie rooting in the mud. It's so boisterous and frantic. Anyone have a baby that nursed like this? -- read more >>

Well I went to Raiden's 4 month checkup yesterday, and it turns out through a major snafu that he never got added to the health insurance. So I couldn't even get his vaccinations. And since dh just got a new job and we won't have the new insurance until May, it looks like we'll be delaying those vacc's anyway. The ped said that'll make him susceptible to getting sick if we miss a dose because the immunity titre will go down in his system. But he's not exposed to much anyways so I think we're fine.-- read more >>

do I have to have antibiotics? advil took care of my fever and the body aches/pain. my boob feels sore to the touch still, but i'm just continuing to nurse like normal.
oh and HI. i've seen ppl disappear off the site once they have their second child, and now I know why. time becomes so much more compartmentalized with way less free online time.-- read more >>

The kid is 6 weeks old! I want to share the story of his beautiful homebirth. I feel like I grew so close to my midwife, and look forward to keeping in touch with her over the years. Here's our xmas pic and the story :

At midnight as Friday passed into Saturday, November 17th, I went into labor with Raiden Dio. Here's how that day started:-- read more >>

My dd drew this. She just turned 3 a couple months ago.

Amazing, huh? It's like a cool comic book illustrator style. She keeps drawing these faces, now she started drawing eyebrows above them too. It all started when we were decorating the sugar cookie stars we baked for Christmas (Ayun Halliday's dirty sugar cookies recipe, in fact). We have these food coloring markers and she made faces on all the stars. But when she started doing them on paper, we were all amazed.

and I love it better than the perfect c*stco kit numbers i've been seeing at playdates' homes. these have character! made with can frosting. version 1 collapsed but it was 2 stories. this one has been in the fridge for a while, hope it's still good to eat!