Back again

I’ve been a busy. Back to working part time while being a full time mama. My little baby is now 8 months old and I’ve started giving her solids. I followed baby led weaning guidelines with my older daughter. If you are not familiar with baby led weaning, here are a few highlights:

– wait until baby can sit independently and shows an interest in solids.
– give baby soft foods that you are eating. This includes things like steamed veggies, avocado, and other foods that are not highly spiced. Kate’s first food was steamed sweet potato.
– give an ounce of water in a sippy with meals.

That’s it in a nutshell.

My other past time is cooking. My hubby and I are trying to cut down on our expenses. Eating out and convenience foods are a huge budget buster. So I’ve been trying to cook almost all our meals at home. If we eat out once a week, that would be a vast improvement.

Of course to help me do that, I had to get some new kitchen toys.
– a bread maker. This helps me make organic breads. I can buy a 5 lb bag of organic flour for about $4. A jar of yeast is $2. The bag of flour makes at least 6 loaves of bread. When I buy a loaf of organic bread, it can cost me between $4 and $5.
– a juicer. I bought an Omega 8004 which is a masticating juicer. This is definitely a luxury item but I love fresh juices. This helps use up veggies that I don’t feel like cooking but need to use up.
– an Instapot. This is an electric pressure cooker. I have been using it for making soups. But I hear that it is wonderful for cooking beans. It can cook dry beans in under an hour!

So we’ll see how much I spend on food this month. Our goal is to save enough money to start furnishing and fixing up our home without creating debt.

Here’s a random picture of the dessert I made last night. It’s a peanut butter cookie milkshake. I am vegan so now cows were harmed in the making of this dessert:)

First week of preschool

My 3 year old had a wonderful week at preschool.  Her first day was September 19 and I have to say she had absolutely no trouble adjusting.   Barely said goodbye.  

She is so well adjusted and friendly with all her new little friends and teachers.  I wonder if it was anything I did or just her personality.   She is fearless and runs after the boys.  I am watching her play on the jungle gym right now and my heart almost stops when she climbs to the top rung of a ladder.  But while she is fearless,  she is also steady.  Carefully feeling each rung.  Watching her reassures me that this school is a good fit.

I am feeling quite nostalgic.   I have a three year old.  A child old enough to attend preschool.  She is growing up so fast.  One blink and she’s in preschool.   The next blink she’ll be graduating high school.  With all the work involved with raising children,   I need to step back and enjoy every minute.

When I asked her what she did today,  she replied “I chased some boys”. Uh oh… her dad better watch out.

Here’s what she really did today. 

Perfunctury Introduction

I am a mom of two little girls, a nurse, and at the moment stay at home mom.  A job that I find immensely challenging and rewarding.  I will be going back to work in November and am very sad that I cannot remain a full time mommy and home maker.  I live in sunny Southern California and am an accidental Attachment Parenting practitioner.  Meaning all of the parenting I do actually has a name.  I breastfeed, baby wear, cloth diaper, and co-sleep.  The breastfeeding was deliberate.  Baby wearing and co-sleeping evolved out of necessity.  I also am newly plant based.  I have been a long time ovo-lacto vegetarian.  However, after reading all the health benefits of a plant based (aka vegan) diet, I am transitioning.  It’s hard with societal and familial pressure to eat unhealthy foods.  I am definitely not perfect but I am trying hard.

I’m not quite sure why I decided to start a blog.  Perhaps to chronicle my daughters growing up.  Maybe to keep track of recipes I have tried.  Maybe to share photos.  I love books, food, and I’m attempting to get more fit by exercising.  With two little ones, it is very hard to find the time but I know how important it is.  I’m lucky enough to have my parents close by who will take the kids at a moments’ notice.

I will try to post regularly.  But who knows.  I don’t even know if I’ll tell my friends and family that I am writing this blog.  Maybe it will be just for me.