Park

Levi was feeling super nervous about climbing this structure so Elyse and I showed him that it ain't no thang. 

Little Evster

I love this cute little man of mine. He is EXHAUSTING to the extreme and always has us on our toes, but he is so delish.

Side note: All of my children inherited this awful callick (or is it cow lick?) from a certain man who shall remain nameless. Though you would never know it was him as he is bald.

 

Exhibit B. 

Hash

I love Smitten Kitchen because her recipes rarely disappoint. This one was no exception. It is a spring hash. She uses Pancetta but of course I used bacon. I also subbed sweet potatoes another time and it was great.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/05/spring-asparagus-pancetta-hash/

 

Selfies

 

 

(Yes, I know my mirror is dirty.)

The pictures are back!

I hadn't plugged in my camera for months so for the next bit you will be on photo overload.


18 weeks. One of my rare trips to the gym. 

Working out

If any of you knew me while I was pregnant 2 years ago you will know that I was grade A obsessed with the gym. I was deadlifting, squatting, box jumping and burpeeing with the best of them till the bitter end.

Sadly, I never got back into working out like before once I had Evan. Partly because I had hurt my tailbone pretty badly during the birth but also because I just felt like it was too much. I can't even tell you the money that has been wasted the past 2 years. Ugh, it's depressing. NYC ain't got no $20/month deals going on.

Anyway, top that off with feeling sick for the first few months and that equals a very out of shape mamacita. I have tried and made promised but it usually averages out to once or twice a week with a week or two off in between. Pathetic I know.

I have consoled myself with the fact that I'm still playing softball once a week and swimming every so often. I always throw in a leg workout here and there too so that my but quits slapping on my thighs when I run.

How do you stay motivated during a pregnancy and with multiple kids at home?

Instinctive mothering

I was talking with my good friend Eden, who had been talking with her 90 year old aunt, about how women are losing their instinct to mother. I am 100% on board with this. My theory is that there are so many books and so called experts out there telling us that we have to do x, y and z this or that way and if we don't look what could happen to our kids, you must read so many books before you have your baby and you must take parenting classes, breastfeeding classes etc etc.

Whatever happened to just winging it. To seeing how it goes? To just living life without over analyzing every minute detail.

Our bodies know how to conceive a baby, grow a baby and provide food for a baby. Why would we think that all of a sudden we are going to fail that baby because we aren't wrapping it right or putting it on the right sleep schedule or taking it to every scheduled Dr's appointment....eek!!

If I could give any advice to a new mother it would be to listen to her heart! Do what works for your family. Don't drive yourself crazy worrying about everything that you don't know about, just be. When people are stressed about what gadgets they need for the new baby I say "all you need are diapers and some blankets to wrap the baby in. If you have nothing else for a week or so you WILL survive....I promise!" I watched an extremely depressing documentary about young girls who were abducted in Uganda and made soldiers. They were married off to their commanders and had babies in the bush. They fought pregnant and with babies on their backs. Obviously this is a VERY extreme example but my guess is that they didn't attend a single breastfeeding or birthing class or read a single book on sleep training. They went with their instincts, birthed their babies and raised them until they could go free and live a normal life.

I'm not advocating not educating yourself about all things parenting/birthing because I'm such an advocate of learning all you can, but rather I'm just pleading with you to go easy on yourself. Don't over analyze parenthood. Love your kid, teach them kindness, love, respect, nourish them and ENJOY these years! Peace.

Feel free to leave a comment about how much I've offended you :) Err wait....on second thought please don't :)

Loud and PROUD!

I was talking with a friend about how she was going to her ivy league college reunion with some very successful women. She was feeling anxious because one woman in particular always gave her (and a couple of others) a really hard time about being a stay at home mom despite my friends previously very successful career. This woman was a working mother with a very demanding job who talked about how she only gets a couple hours a day with her kids. My friend was feeling inadequate even though she loves being a stay at home mom and I told her something that Kdawg said and that was to be "loud and proud of your motherhood....embrace it!" She loved those words and it really helped her (pat on my back....I'm so fracking inspirational) to remember all of the good she is doing.

I fully believe that when you have strong convictions that people won't mock, question or rudely challenge your decisions/beliefs as often as when they can tell you aren't confident in them. I have never had someone say anything negative about my being a Mormon even when I could tell they thought it was weird. But I have never been timid about it. I am LOUD and PROUD about my religion! Same goes for all my beliefs in my lifestyle that many have deemed weird or not what they would choose. (to put it nicely)

How have you been loud and proud about your beliefs? Have you ever been shamed for what you do/believe?

Household products

oops! Apparently I was supposed to have written this post a while back but forgot :)

I wanted to share some of my cleaning secrets. You all remember my love of soap nuts.  

But I wanted to talk about all the other products I use to clean my home. Drum roll please............



+   . (that's a period. As in end of story, no need to use nuffin' or is it 'nuffin else. No chemicals, no bleach, just vinegar and elbow grease.) Of course I do use plenty of this  when I do the dishes and wash m'self in the shower.

Peace out peeps.

 PS please don't think I'm a hypocryte because I know I prevsiously wrote about my hatred towards housework. This is no way implies that I am enjoying it but rather what I use for the dreaded jobs.