First full week of September. Time for fall activities again! I’m so excited that Kindermusik starts this week. And we’ll be starting “school” with Rebecca. It’ll be another busy week for sure.

Last week was kind of crazy. We started the week with our ride home from WI that ended in a rocky, puke-filled boat ride (poor Rebecca) and a late, late night. The rest of the week we didn’t go many places and tried to get back on track. And we sadly had to cancel our trip to Michigan’s Adventure b/c the forecast was so bad. Of course it ended up being a very nice day and it probably would have been a great day to go. Maybe next year. Instead we did some shopping. It’s rare that we shop as a family, so it was a nice treat. Rebecca got to pick out her “back to school” outfit and play on the treehouse play area at the mall. And Abram got to spend a little time with Daddy yesterday too 🙂

 I spent most of the week catching up on food preservation and other misc. things. I canned 7 1/2 pints of salsa and 21 quarts of peaches. I froze beans and summer squash. And I made bread pudding, kefir, roasted beets, made mayo, pesto, peach coffee cake, hot fudge, almond butter and cinnamon cookies. Check out my updated recipe for the cinnamon cookies. They turned out great! And they really are the easiest cookie you’ll ever make. Rebecca practically makes them herself.

Plenty going on this week. Today is just church. Maybe we’ll see if we can make one last walk to Cone World for the season. Monday we’ll be celebrating Labor Day and my grandpa’s birthday at their farm. We’ll be seeing all of my family and a lot of my extended relatives. We are having a picnic lunch. I’m bringing chips and homemade salsa and whole wheat cinnamon cookies. Tuesday it’s back to it…Kindermusik starts! Not sure yet how we’re going to work things. Now that Rebecca is in the older class it’s on Tuesdays. The same morning as the farmer’s market. So I’ll have to figure out how to do both. I’m also hoping to start our pre-k homeschool with Rebecca. But not sure much will happen until Wed. I consider Kindermusik as part of her preschool. She learns all kinds of stuff there. Wednesday will be grocery shopping, and Justin has worship team. Nothing planned for the rest of the week yet. But we are considering going to Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park on Saturday. We’ll see what the weather is like.

In the kitchen I’m still trying to keep up with fresh produce. Although most of our garden is winding down. This week I’m hoping to use up some of our tomatoes and can spaghetti sauce (a few batches hopefully). I’d like to make one plain batch…no peppers or onions so I can eat it. I might do another batch of salsa. Depending on what the market has I might freeze some veggies. Like zucchini and peppers. And my SIL might bring us pears from their orchard tomorrow. So we’ll see what comes of that/if I need to do any canning with them. I might try another batch of coconut milk ice cream. And I’d like to make a new batch of toothpaste.

Health status…I felt really good last week! It was a nice treat. I was enjoying lots of fresh produce. I was eating salads every day (with tons of EVOO and egg yolks of course). I was active and able to keep up with everything that needed to get done. And I was able to keep up with a fussy little boy that seems to only want to sleep in my arms and wants to eat practically every hour lately! He must be going through a growth spurt. He’s an eating machine. Then last night we had beef…a sirloin steak in the crockpot. And today…brick in my gut. I feel miserable. It was our last corn fed steak. Not sure if that made any difference or not. But either way it stinks. Wonder how long it will take to recover from this.

Seeing slow and steady improvements with Rebecca’s behavior. And she’s very excited about school 🙂

Abram is growing like a weed and eating like crazy. He’s still teething pretty badly…but no signs of teeth yet. I think he’s getting pretty close to rolling over too. And possibly this week we’ll make our first attempt at a hair cut. It’s just getting a bit out of control. It covers his ears, and he has a little tail in back 😛  If he was a girl I’d already be putting in pig tails. My baby is growing up too fast!

On to the menu. Last week I was looking through some old recipes on my blog. And found some that sounded good and that we haven’t had in a while. Oddly enough my menu ended up being largely meatless. Totally unintentionally. But maybe it will help me out this week to get back on track. Those were just the recipes that sounded good. And I’ll be making another big batch of chicken stock today (using bones from a whole chicken and chicken feet). That should help me out this week too. Lots of broth for me! Here’s what’s on the menu.
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S (prep lunch, church, make broth, chop veggies)
  B – green smoothie w/ grain free granola (me), peach coffee cake, fruit (Justin)
  L – roast chicken in cp, baked potatoes, peas (oops…turned the crockpot on low instead of high…was not done in time) leftover roast beef, veggies, baked potatoes
  D – BLAT salad, bacon sandwiches, chocolate milkshakes roasted chicken, peas, cheesy garlic toast

M (strain/freeze broth, can salsa, Labor Day, family party)
  B – broth, green smoothie w/ grain free granola (me), yogurt, peach, granola parfait (Justin)
  L – on the farm – hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, chips w/ salsa, cookies, misc.
  D – grilled pizza w/ chicken, bacon, peppers, BLAT salad

T (KM, FM, put away laundry)
  B – chicken veggie soup (me), hard boiled egg, toast (Justin)
  D – eggplant melts w/ chicken and tomato sauce/pesto, corn pudding, roasted beet salad beans OR beef and veggie stir fry (might have some leftovers to use up)


W (chop veggies, Meijer, make/can spaghetti sauce, WT, prep smoothies, soak lentils, make kefir)
  B – chx broth with chx and avocado (me), bacon egg bowl, toast (Justin)
  D – spaghetti, corn pudding, roasted brussels sprouts (Justin), fried eggplant w/ pesto, egg salad (me)

Th (prep green smoothies, make/can pearsauce, cook lentils, park, prep kefir smoothies, chop veggies)
  B – kefir smoothie, sd english muffin, banana (Justin), chx broth w/ pesto, avocado and lentils (me)
  D – lentil burgers, modified carrot souffle, beans, french fries

F (clean, make/can spaghetti sauce, bake apple crisp)
  B – chx broth w/ avocado and lentils (me), kefir smoothie, toast w/ pb (Justin)
  D – zucchini waffles (Justin), zucchini cakes (me), blueberry sausage links (locally made), strawberry topping, crispy nuts, pearsauce

S (laundry, prep green smoothies, prep picnic lunch, make pesto, bake muffins, make toothpaste, prep walnuts, BRWAP, make ice cream, soak beans)
  B – zucchini waffles (Justin), blueberry sausage, avocado (me)
  D – pumpkin soup, gf pumpkin muffins

Last few days of August. Seems crazy. At least I can say we made the most of this month, including our last vacation. Today we’re heading home from a trip to WI to visit my in-laws. Then it’s time to get back to normal routines.

Last week wasn’t quite as productive as I would have liked since we were packing, traveling, etc. But I still managed to grind flour, make mayo, french dressing, butterscotch bars, peach bread and froze almost 3 dozen ears of corn and some beans. I also made a big batch of chicken stock using chicken feet. They look pretty gross, but they sure make good stock!

This week may get a little crazy since summer produce is in full swing and I couldn’t do much with it last week. So I’m not planning on going many places this week. But I have a lot to get done. Today is church and head home. Monday is Meijer. Tuesday is farmer’s market and we have a roofer coming. The only other set plan for this week is going to Michigan’s Adventure on Saturday with my brother, SIL and nephew. I might have to make a trip to Harvest Health for milk. We’ll see.

On to the food. I think we are going to be bombarded with tomatoes when we get home. So this week it’s time to start canning! I’m hoping to do salsa with the fresh tomatoes. I’ll hold off until next week or the week after to do spaghetti sauce since I can freeze tomatoes to use for that and do it when I have time. I also want to can peaches this week. I haven’t decided how many to do yet. I would like to do more freezing as well – corn and beans for sure. Possibly zucchini and peppers. If time allows I might do some baking. But we’ll see. Preservation is the priority this week.

Still plugging along with diet/GAPS, trying to figure things out (some updates coming in my end of month recap later this week). I can’t say that traveling has helped 😛  In typical fashion I feel like I lost 5 lbs. while traveling. I just don’t feel that great and don’t eat nearly as much as usual. My wedding ring is starting to slip off my finger again. I haven’t had that in quite a while. Overall my OCD has been under control on this trip, but my tummy hasn’t been that great…which I fully expected with long days of travel, time change, compromise foods, kids up early, different routines, etc. I’m looking forward to getting home, knowing that our summer travel is over and fall routines are starting. Routine = relax for me 🙂

**Update now that we’re home. I lost about 3 lbs. in 3 days 🙁  And after yesterday’s boat ride puke fest I don’t think we’ll be running errands today. Just taking it easy, unpacking and doing laundry. And I was reminded again why I love cloth diapers. We had to use a few disposables since we don’t have enough cloth for 3 days…new white shirt instantly covered in poop 🙁

So, here’s our week and what we’re eating.
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S (church, travel)
  B – pureed veggie soup w/ pesto and avocado (me), coffee cake, eggs (Justin)
  L – grilled chicken, veggies
  D – sandwiches, chips, fruit veggies, smoothies (picnic on the way home)

M (prep smoothies, laundry, Meijer, make kefir, make bread pudding…take it easy/recover from our trip)
  B – sd english muffin, fruit (Justin), salad w/ avocado and crispy nuts and egg yolk/olive oil dressing (me)
  D – egg and ham muffins, zucchini cakes, apple raisin bread pudding

T (prep soup, freeze beans, FM, roofer, cut up watermelon, roast beets, chop veggies for salsa, fold laundry, strain kefir)
  B – egg muffin, zucchini cake, olives (me), bread pudding, grapes (Justin)
  D – split pea soup in cp w/ ham, gluten free bread w/ jam

W (make/can salsa, chop veggies, make fruit salad, HH, prep smoothies, can peaches)
  B – pea soup (me), peach, yogurt, granola parfait (Justin)
  D – sloppy joes (using ground beef w/ heart), corn, beans, fruit salad

Th (can peaches,  make mayo, make pesto, bake peach coffee cake, put away laundry)
  B – smoothie, sd strawberry rhubarb muffins (Justin), pea soup (me)
  D – honey glazed pork chops, baked potato, broccoli (Justin), raw zucchini salmon boat (me)

F (clean, make hot fudge, make almond butter)
  B – pea soup (me), peach coffee cake (Justin)
  D – zucchini avocado shrimp salad, corn, watermelon

S (prep dinner, prep lunch, freeze beans, freeze squash, laundry, MI Adv., shopping, co-op order)
  B – zucchini avocado shrimp salad (me), peach coffee cake (Justin)
  L – picnic at MA
  D – (prep ahead) – sirloin steak, beans, zucchini and carrots in cp

Whew. Last week was a crazy one! Thankfully it ended better than it started. But I’m still glad to be starting a new week. Hard to believe it’s time to start thinking about fall and all of our regular activities starting again. The summer sure does go by quickly.

So, last week…here’s a quick recap…church, pediatrician/vaccine, groceries, nursery cmt, pediatrician again, farmer’s market, pharmacy, dentist/fillings, children’s museum, consignment sale, visiting out of town family and art museum. Lots of outings. And mixed in there…a teething/slobbery baby. A fussy baby from a vaccine. I developed mastitis (a first for me…never had it with Rebecca) and woke in the night on Sunday with chills, fever, shaking, headache, nausea and pain.

Then Tuesday Rebecca woke up with a swollen eye. Took her to the doctor to discover she had an infection from a mosquito bite on her face. So now she’s on antibiotics. I’m happy to say the mastitis seems to have cleared on its own. And Rebecca is doing much better (although still on antibiotics until they are gone…I cringe thinking of what they are doing to her little tummy. But we couldn’t let the infection get out of control. I’m doing my best to give her plenty of probiotics.).

Abram seems to be his happy self again (was extra fussy from his shot and from the hummus I ate I think). And we were able to enjoy some fun outings at the end of the week. All’s well that ends well 🙂  In the midst of all the chaos I managed to make crispy pecans, walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts and cashews, hummus, kefir, chewy granola bars, pesto, sd english muffins and coconut milk ice cream. I also froze corn and beans. And we got some misc. cleaning/organizing done.

This week shouldn’t be quite as “eventful” I don’t think. We’ve got church, groceries, farmer’s market and co-op pick up. And we’re having our former neighbors over for dinner tomorrow night! Rebecca is so excited to see her friend Eva again. I’m not sure yet about a trip to Harvest Health. We’ll just see how our milk supply is…if we can make it to Wed. (co-op) with what we’ve got.

Much of my time this week will be focused on kitchen stuff. I need to prep food and make some kind of dessert for tomorrow. I’m thinking I might just do cookies or some other finger dessert. Our freezer supply of baked goods and easy breakfasts is finally getting low. So that means I get to bake 🙂  I think I might do some peach bread this week. Possibly something else. Maybe even a dessert with some of the fresh fruit that is in season. Sadly we’re almost out of eggs, so I can’t do much baking until we get more (Monday…Justin brings them home from work). I need to grind flour…today. I hardly have any flour in the house. But tons of wheat berries. I made french dressing this morning. And I need to make more mayo (when I get eggs). I also need to restock my soup supply for the week. I’m finally going to make my first attempt at stock using chicken feet. And I want to keep freezing corn. And keep up with our beans. I think I’ll wait until next week to can peaches. And our tomatoes are getting going now. Hopefully next week I can start on salsa and spaghetti sauce.

Still working on behavior stuff with Rebecca (and myself!). I finally made my own daily task chart for her with pictures so she can really see what is expected of her. We’ll start that today. I started our house rules. I need to finish them with Rebecca. See what she thinks we should add. And then post them where she can see them. I was reminded this week of how much she thrives on stimulation and learning new things. With a visit to both the children’s museum and the art museum it was obvious. I’m so anxious for Kindermusik and MOPS to start so she can keep learning and interact with other kids.

Overall I’m doing well. My big experiment this week was making coconut milk ice cream (yesterday…post to come). Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE ice cream. It is my absolute favorite food. I used to eat mounds of it…almost daily. Until last night I had not had a serving of ice cream (just a few bites here and there when Rebecca would have some) for myself since before Abram was born. About 4 months! That’s like an eternity for me. So it was like I was in heaven last night when I actually had a little dish all to myself. I almost felt guilty 😛  Now that I don’t eat dairy because of Abram I especially avoid ice cream. So this was an extra special treat. But like I said, it was an experiment. We’ll see how both of us handle the coconut milk. We are both somewhat sensitive to some coconut products. So we’ll see. I’m hoping and praying it works for us. To be able to have one treat that I can eat once in a while without feeling like I’m making my child sick or moving 2 steps backwards on my own healing journey would be wonderful.

So on to the new week. Simple, in season meals. Here’s what’s on the menu.
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S (prep lunch, church, bake butterscotch bars, clean, make french dressing, make broth, grind flour)
  B – leftover steak, avocado, cucumbers and pesto (me), banana bread, fruit (Justin)
  L – roasted chicken legs, carrots and zucchini in cp
  D – bacon, avocado, tomato sandwiches, zucchini fries, fruit

M (prep smoothies, strain/freeze broth, Meijer, friends over)
  B – chx broth w/ chicken and avocado (me), yogurt, fruit, granola (Justin)
  D – chicken tacos/salad w/ salsa, sour cream, cheese, avocado, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, peas, fruit

T (make mayo, fm, freeze corn)
  B – chx broth with taco meat and avocado (me), banana bread, yogurt, blueberries (Justin)
  D – salmon cakes, beans, corn on the cob

W (freeze beans, prep smoothies, co-op, make kefir, soak flour, put away laundry)
  B – chx broth w/ salmon, peas and beans (me), chewy granol bar, yogurt, fruit (Justin)
  D – pesto pasta w/ chicken, peas (Justin), salad w/ salmon, avocado, cucumber, peas (me)

Th (bake peach bread, prep smoothies, make pureed soup)
  B – kefir smoothie, peach bread (woke up LATE), toast w/ pb (Justin), chx broth w/ avocado (me)
  D – cashew avocado chicken salad, beans, corn on the cob

F (clean)
  B – soup (me), peach bread, fruit (Justin)
  D – meatloaf, potatoes, veggies

S ()
  B – soup (me), pancakes (Justin)
  D – pulled pork, veggies

Is it Sunday already? With several days away, a day at Michigan’s Adventure and Justin on vacation all week I’ve kind of lost track of the days 😛  Back to a “normal” week now. Plenty busy for sure. That seems to be the theme of August.

Last week we were gone a lot. We went to Double JJ for a few days. And we spent a day at Michigan’s Adventure. We picked out a new sink faucet (can’t wait for it to be installed!). And we got our mini van fixed. I also had to make a run to Harvest Health yesterday since we were almost out of milk. So I didn’t get a whole lot done at home. But I did manage to freeze beans, make pesto, roast beets, make mud balls and make ice cream cone cupcakes (a fun baking project with Rebecca on a rainy, lazy Saturday).

Not much down time this week. Today is church. Monday Abram gets another vaccine (no check up). If he’s up for it I want to make a quick stop at Meijer afterwards. In the evening I have nursery cmt. So early dinner. We haven’t decided yet which kid will stay home with Daddy and which one will come with me. Tuesday is farmer’s market. And there is a toddler story time at the library that we might go to. Wednesday I might go to Heffron Farms. Depends if I need stuff for next week’s meals or not. In the afternoon I have  dentist appt. to get 2 cavities filled 🙁  Thursday is open right now, but I might try to do a fun activity – zoo, children’s museum, park, play date. Friday is still TBD. Some of my cousins and their kids from out of town will be visiting. I think there is going to be a lunch get-together with them. Not sure about our participation yet. My parents and my SIL/nephew might be coming for that as well. If my SIL comes we might go to another farmer’s market. And there is also a 2nd hand sale that morning that I might go to. Still trying to figure it out. Saturday I think we are going to the Grand Rapids Art Museum. On Saturdays they have All Day with the Arts for families. I recently won a perks card from a giveaway from Natural Living Moms. It’s from GRKids.com. Each month there is a discount for a different venue. This month it’s the art museum. So we’re hoping to go. And I want to use this to try new things…do the activity on the perks card each month. It goes from July 2011 to June 2012. Lots of fun things to try! Next month it’s Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park. Never been there, but maybe we’ll have to go 🙂

Plenty to keep me busy in the kitchen this week too. Our beans are still going strong, so I need to keep freezing those. I might try to start freezing corn this week. And there is a chance I’ll try to can peaches now that the free stone variety is ready. I want to make a batch of hummus, chewy granola bars and sd english muffins. I’m making lots of crispy nuts. I might also attempt coconut milk ice cream. Not sure I’ll actually have time for all of this, but I’ll try.

Somehow August turned out to be such a busy month. We’ve already done a lot. But I still have a long list of places to go/things to do before it’s over: visit my grandparents, go to WI, have our old neighbors over, visit the zoo (have to make use of our membership!), go to the children’s museum, the art museum and the beach (haven’t gotten there yet this summer!). Possibly schedule a play date. Plus some random errands. We’ll see if we squeeze it all in or not.

As crazy as it sounds I’m wondering if Abram is teething already. He chews on his hands non-stop and drools. He bites sometimes when he’s eating. And sometimes seems fussy for no reason. Rebecca had her first teeth at 5 months. So I don’t think it’s out of the question for him to start at 3 months. Not sure I’m ready for it yet 😛

Still making progress with Rebecca and behavior. I found a great book on Sarah’s book list at Nourished and Nurtured called How to Behave So Your Preschooler Will Too! I checked it out from the library. I have only skimmed through a few things and I can already tell this book will be a huge help. And it made me realize one very important factor. Before I can expect Rebecca to change her behavior I have to change mine. This book focuses a lot on positive reinforcement, encouragement, rules, charts, expectations. I have only glanced through it, but I have already found things to start implementing…that seem to be helping. I think I might have to buy this book.

No major updates on me. Just trying to get my gut back on track after a week of travel, changed routines and compromised food. Bring on the broth this week 🙂  Here’s what’s on the menu.
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S (cook beans, dry walnuts, pecans, almonds and macadamia nuts, soak and dry cashews, make hummus, church, make kefir, make granola bars)
  B – veggie soup w/ egg and avocado (me), blueberry buckle (Justin)
  L – beef, bean and veggie soup, grilled cheese
  D – grilled burgers, peaches, hummus w/ veggies and chips

M (Dr. S., Meijer, nursery cmt)
  B – granola bars, yogurt (Justin), soup (me)
  D – coconut pecan chicken, french fries, cucumbers and crackers w/ hummus

T (Dr. S., FM, make english muffins)
  B – soup (me), blueberry buckle, fruit (Justin)
  D – egg, zucchini and sausage casserole, sd english muffins, beans

W (put away laundry, freeze corn, dentist, prep smoothies, make kefir)
  B – sd english muffin (Justin), leftover casserole, avocado (me)
  D – squash and sausage soup, crackers w/ cheese and hummus

Th (children’s museum, make pesto, soak beans)
  B – kefir smoothie, zucchini bars (Justin), soup (me)
  D – cheeseburger zucchini/pepper boats, corn on the cob, beans

F (cook beans, clean, family gathering, MOPS sale, make corn pesto)
  B – zucchini bars (Justin), soup (me)
  D – pasta w/ corn pesto and bacon, beans, broccoli, avocado

S (freeze beans, clean floors, laundry, art museum, make coconut milk ice cream)
  B – zucchini boat w/ pesto (me), banana bread, fruit (Justin)
  D – grilled steak, grilled corn on the cob, grilled zucchini

We’re back! We successfully went on our first real vacation as a family of four. We spent 3 days at Double JJ Resort. And now that we’re home safe and sound I can post my real plans for the rest of the week.

Before I move on to the meals, I wanted to give a little review of our trip. We had a lot of fun. Double JJ is a neat place with a ranch and water park. They have activities going on all day. You can stay very busy if you want. Or you can relax in the water all day. We didn’t particiate in too many activities because our kids are too young. But Rebecca did enjoy a pony ride, petting zoo and sand art. Plus lots of water time. Our log home was very nice (you can go much cheaper…camp site, hotel or log cabin). I’m happy that we also traveled using cloth diapers. We used disposable at night to be sure we had enough. And we did have plenty. And we even got by with our 2 cloth swim diapers. I didn’t have to buy any disposables for the trip since we had some size 2’s leftover from Rebecca. Love that. The main thing I wanted to mention since this is a food blog is the food at Double JJ. If you like to eat healthy food, particularly vegetables…bring your own! I think it would be fun to go back some day when our kids are older and we can ride horses. But if we do we will for sure be brining/cooking all of our own food. We did bring all of our breakfasts and lunches (thank goodness!). But went out for dinner. They have several restaurants at the ranch. The first night we went to their nicest restaurant. I ordered some tilapia. It comes with a veggie and another side (potato, potato or more potato :P). I thought I’ll just get 2 veggies instead of potato. So I asked about the veggie…broccoli cooked in butter. Well, I can’t have dairy and I can’t have broccoli right now. So I asked if I could get a different veggie…they only have 1 vegetable in the restaurant! They did have some sauteed mushrooms as a side…but they are also cooked in butter…and they make them all in the morning…can’t get them plain/cooked another way. So, no veggie for me. I paid full price for a piece of fish and no sides. Justin had steak…a very expensive steak. And it was ok, but not great. Overcooked. The next night we went to another restaurant…nothing fancy at all. Rebecca chose pizza. It comes with french fries. Seriously? Who needs fries with pizza? So I asked if she could get a veggie instead of fries. “We don’t have any vegetables.” What?? None?? Normally they have beans, but that night they didn’t have any. Not a single vegetable in the restaurant. Are you kidding? Thankfully I learned from the night before and brought a baggie of raw veggies for Rebecca. So at least she got some. So glad she can and will finally eat raw veggies! But where does that leave me? I got a chef salad. Take away the pound of cheese they put on top, the onion and the croutons. And I have a big bowl of lettuce with about 2 slices of cucumber and tomato and some lunch meat. Thankfully I brought extra cucumbers for myself and put them on my salad. Not ideal but I didn’t have any other choice. I have not had lunch meat in years…and I don’t care to ever eat it. But I did eat some that night. I had to eat something. A bowl of just iceburg lettuce was not going to do me much good. Needless to say the food leaves a lot to be desired. And we paid a lot for not much at the first restaurant. I know I have a lot of food restrictions. But I normally assume that if I have to go out I can at least get some kind of meat and veggie. Lesson learned. That isn’t always the case. Double JJ is a really fun place to go. But bring your own food! Unless you don’t care if you don’t eat a single vegetable for days 😛

How did I do? I am quite proud of how I handled my OCD/anxiety. This was probably the most enjoyable vacation I’ve had in a LONG time. It really helped that Double JJ is only an hour away. Cutting out the travel time/time spent in a car really helps. But aside from that I did well while we were there. I’m glad I brought nourishing/healthy food for breakfast and lunch. But I’m still suffering the consequences of the poor food for dinner now. At least I was able to feel good while we were there. And it gives me hope that we can have many more fun family vacations in the future.

Another good thing is that we didn’t have internet access. So it gave me a chance to get away from the computer, catch up on some reading, and do some planning.

Anyway, on to the plans for the week.
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S (church, pack, make pesto, prep food)
  B – soup (me), zucchini bread (Justin)
  L – misc. veggies (me), beef roast and veggies  (from freezer) (Justin)
  D – egg salad, veg, chips, fruit

M (prep smoothies, wash diapers)
  M – W – vacation

W (come home, unpack, laundry)
  L – picnic at Silver Lake State Park
  D – leftover cheeseburger, fries and pizza (Justin and Rebecca), ham, olives, cucumbers (me), peas

Th (prep nut milk smoothies, roast beets, pick out sink, fix mini van, make mud balls)
  B – veggie soup w/ peas, olives and ham (me) sd english muffin, grapes (Justin)
  L – hot dog, chips, fruit (Justin), nut milk smoothie (me)
  D – CA chicken, baked potato, beans

F (prep dinner, clean, pack lunch, freeze beans, MI’s Adv., make veggie soup)
  B – veggie soup w/ beans, beets, olives and ham (me), breakfast cookies, peaches (Justin)
  L – picnic at MI’s Adv.
  D – beef roast w/ veggies in cp

S (laundry, make pesto, soak beans, HH?, Art Museum?)
  B – soup (me), TBD (Justin)
  L – leftovers
  D – bacon, pesto, tomato egg wraps, broccoli

Last day of July. Gearing up for a busy August. This week will be plenty busy preparing for a short vacation. And keeping up with our summer produce.

Last week was a full week as usual. In addition to our usual errands we made our first stop at Cone World for the summer. We went to a picnic on Thursday evening. Rebecca had a blast there on all of the bouncy equipment. And we got a free family photo taken courtesy of our financial advisor (we’ve never had a professional photo taken!). I can’t wait to see how it turned out. Then Friday we went to a Whitecaps baseball game. Two late nights in a row for the kids, but they did well and had fun. Yesterday Rebecca got to have some one-on-one time with Mommy going shopping and playing outside. We both really enjoyed that. I finally managed to find a swimming suit. I can’t say I LOVE it. But it will do. At least it looks age appropriate and fits decently. Someday I need to learn how to make my own swimming suit 😛  In the kitchen I made a couple batches of pesto, a big batch of chicken stock, pureed veggie soup, pea soup, blueberry buckle, zucchini muffins, blueberry peach cobbler, peach ice cream, froze 4 more gallons of blueberries and a few gallons of beans. I also made kefir and finally fed my sourdough. I have neglected that for a while…we’ll see if it’s still alive.

Not as many outings on our agenda this week. Today is church. Monday is Meijer (unless I decide to postpone it until later in the week). Tuesday is farmer’s market. Wednesday I might go to Harvest Health. We’ll see if I need to or not. I think that’s about it.

My main goal this week is prepping for our trip. I need to make my packing list and menu plan. And prep any food we’ll be taking with us. We’ll probably bring all of our breakfast and lunch food with us. Then go out for dinners. Of course there is the dreaded packing…the worst part of travel in my opinion. Especially when you have little kids. You have to pack for all of the what ifs. And I need to figure out our diaper situation. I know we don’t have enough cloth diapers to last the whole trip. I’ll still be busy in the kitchen as usual. We’ve got beans-a-plenty from our garden right now. I’m trying to keep up with freezing them. And wondering if our freezer is going to hold them all. Trying to think of how to be creative with beans in meals. I have considered starting to make baby food with some of the beans and freezing it for when Abram’s ready for solids. We’ll see. We’ve got some golden zucchini and beets from our garden that I need to use this week as well. I’ll likely just roast the beets for me to eat throughout the week. The other thing I want to do this week is some baking with sourdough. I have neglected my sourdough for weeks now. I finally fed it yesterday. I want to bake with it this week and see if it’s still ok.

Not much health news. Surprisingly even with 2 nights in a row out with not the best food I still did pretty well. Hopefully that continues. I did finally start Abram’s probiotic. But I only gave it to him a few times. It’s hard to remember. And I don’t always have time to deal with it…when he’s hungry, he’s hungry 😛  I need to get into a good routine and do it at the same time each day so I remember.

I’m trying to eat really well this week so I’m feeling good for vacation. And keeping up with my soup for breakfast and smoothie for lunch. Here’s what’s on the menu.
—————–
S (prep dinner, church, make sd breakfast cookies, make mayo)
  B – pureed veggie soup w/ pesto and avocado (me), sd strawberry rhubarb muffins, fruit (Justin)
  L – sirloin steak and veggies in cp
  D – grilled brats (locally made), peas, fresh fruit, chocolate milkshakes

M (make veggie soup, Meijer)
  B – pureed veggie soup w/ pesto and avocado (me), sd breakfast cookie, yogurt (Justin)
  D – sloppy joes, beans, chips, applesauce

T (freeze beans, FM, soak lentils)
  B – pureed veggie soup w/ pesto and avocado (me), sd breakfast cookie, fruit (Justin)
  D – salmon cakes, zucchini fries, broccoli (J/R), beans (me), fruit

W (cook lentils, prep smoothies, Hop Scotch)
  B – pureed veggie soup w/ pesto and avocado (me), yogurt, fruit, granola parfait (Justin)
  D – TBD w/ lentils (oops…we don’t have any lentils) sweet and sour pork over rice (Justin), corn on the cob, leftover salmon cakes (me), cucumbers w/ pesto

Th (make sd peach muffins, feed sd, make kefir, put away laundry, make zucchini muffins)
  B – kefir smoothie, sd peach muffins (Justin), pureed veggie soup w/ avocado, salmon cake (me)
  D – sausage zucchini muffins, beans, corn on the cob

F (clean, library)
  B – leftover sausage zucchini muffins, pureed veggie soup (me), sd peach muffins, fruit (Justin)
  D – roast chx legs, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, beans, applesauce

S (clean, prep smoothie, freeze beans, bake zucchini bread, shopping?, laundry, pack)
  B – leftover sausage zucchini muffins, pureed veggie soup (me), blueberry banana smoothie, banana zucchini bread (Justin)
  D – poached or fried eggs, zucchini bread, beans

We made it through the heat wave! Not that it isn’t still hot. But…we have A/C!!!!! We got a window unit for the main floor on Thursday. What a blessing. The house has been so much more comfortable ever since. We’re not sitting here sweating the entire day. Too bad we didn’t have it when we had a house full of guests last Sunday 😛  Oh well. From now on no more sweltering family gatherings here 🙂

Last week was very busy. But we did a lot of fun stuff. Abram’s baptism was very special and we loved having everyone here to share it with us. The party went well…and I think we’ve dealt with all of the leftovers now 🙂  We also enjoyed meeting our niece Esther and going to her baby shower. I finally did a little shopping for myself yesterday while Justin watched Abram. Still no luck finding a swimming suit, but at least I did get some clothes that I desperately needed. We also took a trip to the children’s museum and the library. Rebecca LOVES both. She was sad when we had to leave the museum. Maybe we’ll have to get a membership so we an go more often. And now we have 17 books from the library that have been keeping us very busy 🙂  Non stop reading the last 2 days. I think Rebecca could live in a library. She has been an avid reader since she was little. The other thing we started working on with her last week was math. And she seems to love it! Not surprising with 2 engineers for parents. She seems to be picking it up very quickly. We did addition and subtraction using her markers. We started out easy…1+1 = 2, etc. About the 3rd try I laid out 2 markers and 3 markers. She counts each group. Then I said 2 + 3 =…and without hesitation she said 5! She didn’t even count them. She especially loves subtraction. She likes to “take away” and put them behind my back.

In the kitchen I made pummus, cold beet soup, crispy cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds and macadamia nuts, cashew butter, almond pecan butter, cherry pie, hot fudge and froze close to 10 lbs. of blueberries, 2 gallons of beans and 5 cups of tart cherries.

This week will be busy again. Today is church. We are going to do something different and walk across the street and go to the church right by us. Always fun to have a change of pace once in a while. Monday there is a MOPS playdate at a local splash pad. I haven’t decided if we’re going or not. Not sure how well I can watch Rebecca at a splashpad filled with kids while trying to keep Abram and myself dry. We’ll see. Tuesday is farmer’s market (and Meijer if we end up going to the playdate on Monday). Tuesday is also our 8 year anniversary! We don’t have any plans made yet for celebrating. We’re still trying to decide on a joint gift. Wednesday is Harvest Health, and Justin has worship team. Thursday we’re going to a picnic at our local park held by our financial advisor. Friday we’re going to a Whitecaps baseball game with Justin’s work. I hope I can manage 2 days in a row of questionable food. No plans for Saturday yet. Maybe another hunt for swimming suits? 😛  And I might try to squeeze in a trip to Target this week. We’ll see.

Kitchen work will depend on what produce we get and how hot it is. I’m really hoping to roast a chicken so I can make a big batch of chicken stock again. I have a nice chicken, and I got some chicken feet last week at the co-op. I’ll for sure be freezing more blueberries and hopefully baking with them. Maybe do some baking with peaches too. I’m thinking about making peach ice cream. I can’t believe I haven’t made ice cream yet this summer! Our beans are in full force so I’ll be freezing those all week. I also want to make sure I have plenty of healthy food on hand for meals and snacking. I’m trying to get more veggies in my diet. I’d like to saute some veggies to have for snacks. And make more cold, pureed soups for breakfasts. I’m starting to really enjoy those. And I love breakfasts and lunches that I can just grab out of the fridge. I want to make more pesto and hummus as well. And I think I’m going to keep up with my daily smoothies for lunch. I usually have both hands full with the kids at lunch time. So it’s great to just grab my lunch and take sips here and there when I have time. I have found that they work best prepped ahead and well chilled. So I make them when I have time earlier in the day or the day before and then lunch time isn’t crazy. And I think I’ll stick with cold soups and smoothies when we travel. They will be very easy to prep ahead, store and eat on our trip. No preparation or heating at meal times. Perfect.

Not much for health updates. Overall it was a pretty good week. I’m wondering if the last couple rough weeks were from dairy or if it was a round of die off. Always hard to tell. But at least I seem to have gotten through it. I did learn yesterday that I am right about needing to avoid peppers and onions…for myself for sure but even more for Abram. I ate them on Friday. He had such a tummy ache yesterday. Had to give him tummy drops several times. And a whole day with no poopy diapers…not normal for an EBF baby. Hopefully things work through today. Lots of fussiness yesterday. Sorry, Abram. Mommy’s mistake. Now we’re both paying for it…me doubly…bad tummy and a fussy baby 😛  Hopefully we both recover very soon. I’ll for sure be avoiding the meatloaf today.

That’s what’s on the agenda. Here’s what’s on the menu.
——————–
S (prep lunch, church, make pesto)
  B – ham and bean soup w/ avocado (me), granola w/ milk and sliced banana (Justin)
  L – cp meatloaf (w/ pureed sauteed peppers and onions), baked potato, peas (Jusitn), leftover sausage, peas, avocado (me)
  D – salmon cakes or pesto salmon, zucchini fries, beans, peach milkshakes

M (boil/peel eggs, MOPS? else Meijer)
  B – leftover salmon, pesto, zucchini fries (me), pumpkin pancakes (Justin)
  D – grilled burgers, beans, homemade french fries

T (FM, Anniversary, make stock, freeze blueberries, make blueberry buckle)
  B – hard boiled egg, toast (Justin), leftover salmon, pesto, cucumbers (me)
  D – roast chicken w/ carrots and beans, roasted rosemary potatoes

W (HH, WT, bake zucchini muffins, strain/freeze chx broth, make pureed veggie soup, make nut milk smoothies, strain kefir,  put away laundry, freeze blueberries, prep kefir smoothie)
  B – chx broth, cucumbers w/ pesto (me), blueberry buckle, banana (Justin)
  D – fresh pea soup, grilled cheese and grain free muffins

Th (make bluebery peach cobbler, freeze beans, prep nut milk smoothies, EJ Picnic and family photo)
  B – kefir smoothie, blueberry buckle (Justin), chicken broth, zucchini muffins w/ cashew butter (me)
  D – at picnic

F (clean, make ice cream, Whitecaps)
  B – pureed veggie soup, zucchini muffins w/ nut butter (me), hard boiled egg, toast, grapes (Justin)
  D – at game (bring cucumber slices and homemade popcorn w/ coconut oil and butter)

S (laundry, make pesto, feed sd, Target)
  B – veggie soup w/ avocado and chicken (me), granola w/ milk and banana, peach (Justin)
  D – pesto chicken omelet, beans, fruit

I know I keep saying this, but seriously, how is it the middle of July already?? This summer is just flying by. We are very excited today to celebrate Abram’s baptism. What a special day!! And we are blessed to share it with all of our family.

Last week I was busy prepping for today. I think I got it all done 😛  At least I hope so. Rebecca had her first dentist appointment…and did great! It helps that we are good friends with the hygienist 🙂  Abram had his 2 month check up and passed with flying colors. He’s in the 75th% for weight (14 lbs. 7 oz.) and 50th% for height (22 3/4 in.). He’s growing well 🙂  He’s also sleeping well. Friday night he slept from 9:30 pm to 4 am!! I couldn’t believe it…it actually scared me 😛  Rebecca never slept that long until she was about a year old. It’s nice to feel a little more rested 🙂  In the kitchen aside from all of the party food I made fermented veggies, sauerkraut, a couple batches of kefir, pesto and froze another gallon of cherries.

This week is going to be fairly busy. And HOT!! It’s supposed to be 90’s all week. And we don’t have AC. So that means…no oven. Which is challenging. I think Justin will have to put the little pool back up so we can sit out there all week. Today is Abram’s baptism, and we’re having all of our family over after church. That will pretty much fill up today. Tomorrow is Meijer and we finally get to meet our new niece, Esther. My BIL and SIL are in MI and are having a baby shower Monday evening (it sure will be nice not to have to cook and to be able to relax the day after hosting a party :). Tuesday is farmer’s market. Wednesday we need to pick up our tart cherries from the orchard. And it’s co-op pick up. We don’t have any other set plans this week. But we have a lot of potentials. We might go to the beach. We might go on a farm tour on Saturday (the farm we get our beef from). I might go shopping…if time allows…to get a swimming suit…if I’ll need it this week. Our anniversary is next week, and we had talked about possibly doing something to celebrate that this weekend. Or maybe we’ll just feel like taking it easy and staying home. Who knows. Lots of maybes. With it being so hot there is a chance I’ll try to take the kids to some air conditioned places too…children’s museum, library, etc. We’ll just have to see how the week goes. Our meal plans are a little uncertain right now too because of the weather and not knowing for sure what we’re doing. And depending on our leftover status from today. I’m sure I’ll be doing some updating throughout the week.

A few health updates from last week. I think I’ve lost the battle with dairy 🙁  I tried smoothies again…and again had stomach problems (still do this morning :(. So I think that is on the way out for me. Maybe next month it will be a firm goal. For now I’ll do my best to avoid it for the most part. And then after I’ve been dairy free for a little while I can try to reintroduce it very slowly before I do GAPS intro. I’m also thinking about starting taking my vitamins again. I think Abram is stealing all of my vitamins 😛  I’m back to having random bruises all over. And my skin is looking worse. So I think I’m lacking somewhere. I just hope they don’t bother my tummy. I also stopped taking the Betaine HCI. Hard to know if in only a few weeks I got my stomach acid levels up to where they need to be or not, but I was having quite a bit of stomach pain. It could have been related to the dairy. But it wasn’t something I’m used to feeling/not my normal stomach upset. So I stopped the pills. And haven’t had the pain since. This is all still a big learning experience. I seem to learn something new every day. On the bright side, cutting out dairy and gassy veggies, etc. has seemed to really help Abram. I don’t notice any reflux anymore. And he only rarely has a tummy ache…usually seems to happen when I eat dairy. That’s good motivation for me to not give in to cravings. It doesn’t just impact me. I’ve also been doing pretty well with bedtime snack. Eating things like olives, pesto, meat, crispy nuts. More nutrient dense, non-sweet foods. I did do some smoothie experimenting last week and came up with some really good ones. Now that I can’t have the kefir I’m going to have to do more experimenting to see if I can make a decent smoothie without it. Smoothies sure are nice for lunch when I’m trying to play with Rebecca and feed Abram or he’s sleeping in my arms. So easy to just have something to drink. Plus I add lots of nourishing stuff and it’s all blended. Easier to digest.

I still haven’t started the baby probiotic. Hopefully this week!

I’ve been wanting to do some kind of reward chart with Rebecca. And there are various approaches to take with it. But I think we finally figured out what we’re doing. We currently have one chart that is a daily task list. These are things she is expected to do. She doesn’t necessarily get a “reward” for doing them. But she does get to mark off each item as she completes them…which she seems to enjoy and is good motivation for her. It has things like brush your teeth, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, take a nap, pick up toys, etc. She likes to see that everything is marked off at the end of the day. We’ve only done it 3 days so far, but she’s really getting into it. And already adding things to the list herself 🙂  The other thing we’re going to do we haven’t actually started yet. We want to teach her about money/about earning/saving. So at some point we’ll have a separate “chore” sheet…things that aren’t part of her daily routine, etc. Things she can do do to earn money. Maybe we’ll give her one chore each day or something. Justin and I haven’t figured out the details yet. Then she’ll have a bank and can put her money in. We’ll teach her about saving, spending and giving. I’ll update more on that when we figure out the details. But the idea is that she’ll be earning her money…not just getting an allowance for no reason.

On to the food. Like I said we’ll be getting tart cherries this week. I’d like to do some baking with them. Maybe a pie? At least a pie plate can fit in the toaster oven 🙂  I’m afraid food preservation is going to be in full swing this week. Blueberries and peaches are in season. I want to freeze lots of blueberries (my favorite fruit! And Rebecca loves them too…straight from the freezer). Not sure I’ll be canning any peaches again this year. I just don’t think I have time. But we’ll enjoy them fresh. And maybe I’ll have time to freeze some. The beans are starting in our garden. Justin picked a few yesterday. So that means freezing beans for weeks to come. I hope we have enough room in the freezer. I think I still have 3 or 4 gallons in there from last year! Our lettuce is about done. Some of it is getting bitter. At least one of the varieties. So not too many salads any more. I also bought lots of nuts last week. I need soak/dry them and make some almond butter and cashew butter. And our hot fudge is just about gone. So I want to make a new batch. I might experiment with that recipe too. We’ll see. I’m sure that will keep me plenty busy in the kitchen. On top of the food work I need to start think about vacation planning. We have a couple trips planned for August and that will be here before I know it. So I want to start planning meals, etc. I’ll have to bring a lot of food for myself so I don’t starve on our trips 😛

I think that’s enough for now. Hopefully all goes smoothly today with the baptism and party. And hopefully our house doesn’t get too hot 😛  At least I don’t have to cook anything today. Here’s what’s on the menu…for now.
———————
S (church, baptism/party)
  B – broth, avocado, egg (me), leftover quiche, strawberry bread (Justin)
  L – ham and chicken on buns w/ cheese, tomatoes, homemade mayo, mustard, homemade honey mustard; jello salad (MIL bringing this), layer salad (my mom bringing this), fruit salad, cucumber, peppers, carrots and cauliflower w/ ranch dip, chips w/ salsa, sunchips,  m+m’s (Rebecca’s pick), blueberry jubilee, cherry jubilee (using fresh fruit), pb chip brownies
  D – leftovers from lunch/salad/snacks or leftover quiche – whatever we feel like 🙂

M (Meijer, baby shower, soak nuts, soak beans, dry cashews)
  B – broth, avocado, quiche (me), hot cross buns, fruit (Justin)
  D – at shower (I’ll hope for the best…that there is something I can eat)

T (cook beans, prep soup, fm, dry almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, freeze blueberries, make dip, put away laundry)
  B – avocado, beans, olives, cucumber w/ pesto (me), hot cross bun, fruit (Justin)
  D – cp ham and bean soup, corn muffins

W (prep potatoes, cherry pick up, co-op pick up, make almond butter and cashew butter, freeze blueberries and cherries, make cherry pie)
  B – leftover soup (me), yogurt, granola, fresh fruit (Justin)
  D – salad (if lettuce ok, else misc./eggs) (me), “favorite casserole”, applesauce (Justin) cashew avocado chicken salad on buns/in tomatoes, roasted cauliflower, beans (first ones from the garden!)

Th (prep smoothie, prep dinner, make hot fudge, Children’s museum)
  B – kefir smoothie, oatmeal muffins (Justin), leftover soup (me)
  D – cold beet soup, hot ham and cheese, broccoli

F (clean, library, freeze beans beach?)
  B – leftover soup (me), oatmeal muffins, fresh fruit (Justin)
  D – picnic? else nachos w/ sauteed peppers and onions, fresh tomato, cheese, avocado, sour cream, salsa

S (laundry, GF farm tour?, shopping, anniversary celebration?, soak beans)
  B – beet soup w/ beef and avocado (me), pumpkin pancakes (Justin)
  D – scrambled eggs, homemade sausage, beans, toast

Is it seriously the 4th week of May already? This month has been kind of a blur 😛  But here we are. Abram is almost 2 weeks old already! I’m trying to enjoy every moment of this tiny baby phase because I know it will be gone soon.

Not too much activity here last week. Mostly just trying to keep everyone dressed and fed and not too sleep deprived. We’re all adjusting to life with a needy 4th family member. The biggest struggle is Rebecca’s adjustment. I don’t blame her. She had 100% of my attention for 3 years and now has to share me. The hardest part is that she has a cold. So I have to tell her don’t touch/kiss/hug/hold/etc. Abram. Talk about feeling left out! Poor girl. So she acts out. And while I don’t blame her I also can’t let her get away with being naughty. Hopefully her cold will be gone soon and she can be much more involved/interact with Abram.

The other struggle has been with Abram…trying to figure out tummy/gas issues. Some days he does ok, other days you can tell he’s in pain. My first thought was that it’s something I’m eating. I cut out some common offenders – nuts, dairy and chocolate (gave me a taste of eating less than full GAPS). And he seemed to do better for a few days. But then it came back. So then I added back a small amount of dairy on Friday. And a few nuts yesterday. Didn’t seem to make much difference (I’ll be very happy to not have to cut those out!!). So, now we try to figure out if it’s something else – I had eaten cauliflower for several days in a row when he was the worst…and that was right up until I cut stuff out. So that could have been it. And I’m trying to watch out for gassy veggies in my diet now. Or it could just be an infant’s immature digestive system and we have to wait it out. Rebecca had similar issues. We used a lot of tummy drops 😛  The only thing that I cut out long term with Rebecca (at least for first 9 months) was peanuts/peanut butter. I have yet to add that back in with Abram. We’ll see how it goes. Abram has his 2 week check up tomorrow, so we’ll see what the doctor says.

My health status…overall I’m doing very well. My tummy is pretty good most days. I’ve lost over 30 lbs., and most of the swelling is gone (still a little in my legs). I’m starting to feel normal again 🙂  I’m very anxious to be more active. I’ve already had to carry Rebecca a couple times. And I’ve been doing some crunches most days. Yesterday I biked for the first time. Sure felt good. I’m hoping to get back into regular exercise. Just not sure how to fit it into my day yet without a routine for Abram. I guess I’ll just have to take it one day at a time and squeeze it in when I can. Hopefully Rebecca, Abram and I can start taking walks every day when the weather is nice. I’m going to start driving again this week…and attempt to go to the grocery store with both kids 🙂  Should be interesting. I’ll be sure to have a short list 😛  On the down side the post pregnancy stuff is starting…a little acne again, nails splitting. My vision seems a little off. I’ve heard pregnancy can really change your vision. At least my glasses help with that. Just waiting for my hair to start falling out 😛  Still battling the OCD and trying to stay mentally tough even with a very unstructured life. Very anxious to get out and about more. Eating LOTS of eggs these days. Since I usually have about 60 seconds to get lunch for myself…with a baby in my arms…I’ve been boiling/peeling eggs ahead of time so I can grab them for breakfast or lunch. If I have homemade mayo on hand I can make egg salad. If not I eat them plain. I’ve also discovered that it’s good to chop up one hard boiled egg and mix it with one raw egg yolk and a little salt. Mmm. Mix in a diced avocado…very tasty lunch that I’ve eaten a lot this week. I’m finding I can mix egg yolk into just about anything 🙂  Use it as a sauce, in place of dressing, etc. So healthy and so easy.

This week will be mostly the same…taking it easy and figuring out daily routines. I had really hoped to go to church today, but I’ll have to stay home since Rebecca is sick. Monday is Abram’s 2 week check up. Justin will go with us to that. Tuesday I’m hoping to go to the grocery store. Wednesday Justin has a dentist appt. and it’s co-op pick up night. Nothing Thursday or Friday. Saturday is still TBD. One of Justin’s cousins is getting married near Detroit. We haven’t decided yet if we’re going or not. It just depends how I’m doing/how Abram’s doing. If we do go we’ll just go for the reception since there’s no way we could make it to Detroit on time for an 11:30 wedding. So we’d just go to the reception for a bit (1:00) and head home. This will be a good opportunity to meet a lot of Justin’s relatives that I’ve never met. But we also have to be smart. Abram won’t even be 3 weeks old yet. A 3 1/2+ hour trip (one way) is a lot for him. Plus stops for diaper change, nursing, etc. So we’ll see how we’re doing later this week.

Food…still just trying to do simple meals that I can prep any time of day. No news of any meal being brought to us. We had one meal from church last week (aside from a couple things from my family)…and that’s it. I had expected more, but maybe that’s all we’ll get. Glad I’m feeling good enough to cook! I’d also like to try a few different veggies this week. Rebecca is getting pickier and pickier about veggies. And there are quite a few I have to avoid. So we eat the same things all the time. Maybe I’ll try to find some beets or something this week…some different veggies to roast. No time for extras yet really. Maybe I’ll be able to bake one day with Rebecca. We’ll see. Other than that I’d like to make insect repellent and ant spray (ants in the kitchen!!). Should take about 60 seconds to make them 🙂

Still playing breakfast by ear. Just depends what time Abram wakes/needs to eat whether I have time to prep things/can eat with Justin. So I just list options and decide the night before. Here’s what’s on the menu.
—————————–
Breakfast options: baked goods from freezer, fruit, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, avocado, leftovers

S (prep lunch, cook beans, church?)
  B – egg muffin, sausage, raisins (me), pumpkin pancakes (from freezer) (Justin)
  L – 7 layer dinner in cp (w/ potatoes, carrots, peppers, zucchini, beans and peas)
  D – chips w/ salsa, avocado dip and sour cream, cheese crips, strawberry milkshakes, pineapple

M (prep dinner, Dr. S.)
  B – hard boiled egg, fruit (me), breakfast cookies, fruit (Justin)
  D – crockpot pea soup w/ ham, sd bread

T (Meijer)
  B – hard boiled egg, fruit (me), yogurt, granola, fruit (Justin)
  D – sausage links, roasted asparagus, avocado, applesauce souffle

W (Justin dentist, co-op, make nut butter bread, put away laundry)
  B – sausage, egg yolk, applesauce souffle (me), strawberry bread, pineapple (Justin) 
  D – enchilada bake, corn, applesauce,  (from freezer) (Justin), leftover pea soup (me)

Th (roast beets, make mayo)
  B – hard boiled egg, sugar snap peas (me) strawberry bread, fruit (Justin)
  D – salmon cakes, roasted beets, grilled zucchini, applesauce souffle

F (boil/peel eggs, clean, laundry)
  B – hard boiled egg, applesauce souffle (me), granola/puffed rice w/ milk (Justin)
  D – roasted chicken legs, potatoes and veggies

S (wedding reception)
  B – salmon cakes, avocado (me), TBD (Justin)
  L – at wedding
  D – leftover enchilada bake (Justin), eggs or salmon cakes (me)

Good morning. Never mind the rain and lack of sleep. At least I’m enjoying some breafast while my favorite little guy enjoys his 🙂  Hard to believe how much has changed since I posted last Sunday! This could be a really long post (lots of stuff to ramble about) or really short (ummm…I have an upredictable newborn:).

Let’s see. Last week was a bit crazy of course. Abram was born on Monday morning. I came home Thursday morning. We’re still adjusting and settling…taking things one step at a time. Sleep is not something I’m too familiar with at the moment 😛  But at least I’ve been able to get naps in when both kids sleep. We had quite a few family members visit last week. And we were even able to take a family walk/go to a garage sale. It sure felt good to get outside. I’m actually quite amazed at how good I feel. I have to remind myself that I just had surgery/not to overdo/not to lift Rebecca 😛  Since coming home I’ve only had a few Tylenol for pain…and even those were just to be sure I didn’t let things get painful. Not too bad.

This week…the same as the weeks to come…take things as they come. All of our regular activities are done. And we have no schedule at the moment. So not much planning can be done (tough on an OCD/type A person!). Only a couple things on the agenda. Today Justin and Rebecca will go to church. I’m looking forward to having a little quiet time with Abram and to hopefully get a few things done! Wednesday Justin goes back to work. Scary 😛 Wednesday evening is our Kindermusik family night. I’m actually very excited to go to that…and get out of the house! I’ll have to send Justin to Harvest Health some day this week for milk.

Meals this week are all a little tentative. We have a few meals from my family. And I know that so far someone will be bringing a meal on Tuesday. No word on meals beyond that…I know more will come, just not sure when. And of course most meals are things I can’t eat…so I have alternatives for myself. And meals I make are things I can prep any time of day…when I have a few free minutes. I generally can’t cook at dinner time since Abram is usually eating. Breakfasts are not planned. For me it’s usually what I can grab with one hand. And for Justin it’s whatever takes no prep. So I’ll just list some options. Maybe I’ll have to make a big batch of smoothie for myself. It’s always nice to have something to just grab out of the fridge that is very nutritious.

Some to-dos on my list this week…order birth announcements, actually finalize our beef/pork order, schedule Abram’s baptism, maybe do some online Father’s Day shopping and clean up a few things as I’m able (I feel like a tornado went through our house with gifts, baby stuff, etc.).

On the health front…as much as I am able I’m trying to focus on proper nutrition for recovery and breastfeeding. Abram seems to have 2 long hollow legs sometimes 😛  So I know I need to eat enough. I feel like I went from full rosy cheeks last Sunday to a pale thinned out face this Sunday (of course surgery, blood loss, etc. don’t help either, but still). I need to be sure I don’t do what I did last time and be undernourished and lose too much weight (was under 100 lbs. while nursing Rebecca!). Thankfully my swelling has finally started to go down. My legs look normal to about half way between my ankle and knee. The rest of the way plus my feet are still bad. But making goood progress each day. My goal is to drink, drink, drink! Drinking water will help the swelling go down faster. Plus it helps with nursing too…that sure dehydrates you! I’m also thankful that my tummy is a little more tolerant again. It sure is nice not to have a big baby crowding everything and crazy hormones pumping. I’m still focusing on eating full GAPS. My struggle is with having quick, easy things to eat when I don’t have time for food prep. Anyone have any good suggestions for prep ahead snacks, lunches, etc.? I’m trying not to go overboard with nuts, but they are the easiest thing so far. I still eat raw egg yolks with as much as I can but often don’t have 2 free hands to crack an egg with 😛  Maybe I’ll have to prep small bowls w/ egg yolks so I can just add things to them as needed. And maybe I’ll make some hard boiled eggs to have on hand. I have tried my sauerkraut again the last couple days. Can’t say I noticed any major reactions to it this time. So that’s good. And I’ve eaten a few raw veggies.

No exercise yet. I’ll give my body a couple weeks of recovery first. And then try to figure out how to squeeze in a little exercise each day. Really looking forward to that since it’s my main source of stress/anxiety relief.

I think I’ll save my other thoughts/challenges on life with 2 kids for a separate post…when I have more time. I will say that I’m doing my best to battle the OCD and use this as a new start…trying not to fall back into old routines/habits and just take each day/moment as it comes. So far it’s going well for the most part.

And finally, it looks like we may be getting new neighbors soon! We’ll be so so so sad to have our neighbors move. Rebecca LOVES playing with Eva. But we wish them the best of luck.

And just because…a few pics 🙂

Ok, on the menu.
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Breakfast options:
avocado w/ egg yolk and cheese
eggs – scrambled, fried, hard boiled
misc. baked goods from freezer
toast
fruit
smoothies
yogurt/kefir
egg casserole

S (church, put away laundry)
  B – yogurt w/ nuts and raisins (me), yogurt, granola, fruit (Justin)
  L – black bean soup, corn muffins
  D – ham pizza (from freezer) (Justin), leftover egg salmon casserole (me)

M (library)
  B – yogurt/egg yolk, nuts, raisins (me), homemade cherry bars, pineapple (Justin)
  L – leftover egg salmon casserole (me), leftover black bean soup, corn muffins (Justin)
  D – round bone roast in cp w/ veggies

T (boil eggs, clean bathrooms)
  B – oatmeal muffins, fruit (Justin), egg casserole (me)
  L – leftover pizza (Justin), egg salad, avocado, cheese (me)
  D – someone bringing meal

W (Justin back to work, boil eggs, KM family night)
  B – hard boiled egg, pear (me), sourdough toast, fruit (Justin)
  D – early/light – leftover beef and veggies

Th (laundry)
  B – hard boiled egg, pear (me), granola bar, fruit (Justin)
  D – grilled hamburgers, grilled asparagus, carrot sticks, avocado, fruit

F ()
  B – hard boiled egg, fruit (me), muffins, fruit (Justin)
  D – sausage egg veggie muffins

S ()
  B – hard boiled egg, fruit (me), sourdough toast, fruit (Justin) 
  D – leftover hamburgers, peas