Friday, December 20, 2013

Nursing Nostalgia

My kids are growing so fast! I knew they would, and everyone tells you "You'll blink one day and they're off to college."

Whenever I heard that, I'll admit I rolled my eyes, thought to myself it'll be different for us. Try and try as I might time just keeps speeding on. Funny how that concept changes as you get older. Weeks fly by like days, and before I know it a month has passed! Scary sometimes!!

They're growing into such wonderful little people. It's beautiful to see them make choices on their own and to be proud of the results.

I do miss moments of them being small. I'm so glad we had kids in the age of picture and video taking phones! I have tons of short videos of the kids doing normal things. Going through them is so much fun!

One thing that I miss the most is nursing my children. Weird right?!

When I got pregnant with my son, I didn't put much thought into breastfeeding. I knew I was going to, because it was the best start for him. Baby to breast and it just works…right?! I didn't do much reading about hunger cues, proper latch, counting diapers to check supply, all things that are so crucial to early nursing success. I regret that the most.

The first week was a challenge, his latch wasn't great which means there was pain…lots of pain. I made a multitude of first time Mom mistakes and as a result lots of stress.

I stuck with it though, I was determined to make it work because it was still the best thing for him. And guess what?! At six weeks something magical happened. It worked!! His latch was perfect, he was getting a balance of fore milk and hind milk, no more crying because of gas, no more tears on either end.

It was beautiful! I would pump at work and nurse at night. I didn't bother with sleep training or night weaning while I was working. Those late night nursings were some of the best moments. I always nursed him back to sleep, in a rocker, signing him "You are my sunshine" and he fell back to sleep. To this day, he still asks me to sing him "The sunshine song" when I tuck him in at night.

When I got pregnant with my daughter, my son was only 9 months old. The happiest surprise ever! I continued to nurse Corbin until he was 15 months old. I remember so many times I would go in to nurse him back to sleep and the tiny baby in my belly would try kicking her brother off my lap. It made me giggle and swell up with so much love. I was rocking two children, nourishing one at the breast and one in my womb, I felt like a superhero!

When my daughter was born, I expected troubles like the first time around. But to my ultimate surprise she was a natural from the first latch. Her first nursing session lasted 30 minutes! Although she was colic for 5 months, nursing was never an issue. The late night nursing snuggles were just as special, I rocked her in the same chair as her brother, and sang her the same songs. Though her song was "Rock-a-bye-Baby."To this day she asks for 'The Baby song' to tuck her in.

She nursed for almost 27 months. It hasn't been a full year since she weaned, I guess I was seeing the date approach and felt a little nostalgic. Our family is happily complete, so no more nursing babies for me. I'm so glad I took pictures of my children nursing!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

I'm bulletproof…

…well maybe I'm not, but my coffee is!!

Last New Year, my resolution was to cut out the sugar in my coffee. I started to realize that my morning coffee contained at least 2 tablespoons of sugar. And some days I'd repeat that twice in the morning, and then again in the afternoon! That's a lot of sugar, not to mention that wasn't my only sugar intake for the day.

Before I got married I would drink my coffee black. Not because I was trying to be healthy, I just honestly enjoy the flavor of coffee. When Hubs and I got married, I noticed his coffee habits were quite different. He enjoys his sugar and cream with a dash of coffee :) Before I knew it, I was adding just as much sugar and cream to my coffee….and loving it!!

Buuut, on this journey to be eating better and setting good eating habits for the kids, we started cutting back last year. I still on occasion make a sweetened latte, but mostly I enjoy my espresso, americano, and latte just plain.

I've been seeing recipes for Bulletproof coffee all over Pinterest. This article from Stupid Easy Paleo is amazing at explaining all the benefits as well as several recipes I'm excited to try! Getting enough healthy fats in your diet is important, and this is a great way to start the day off right.

My first attempt was a different ratio than linked above. I brewed two shots of espresso and added enough water to make 8oz of coffee (technically an Americano), two teaspoons of coconut oil, and one teaspoon of ghee (organic grass-fed found here). I measured the oil and ghee in the cup that came with my immersion blender, poured the coffee right on top, then gave it a good blend.

I admit I was skeptical, I almost added some raw honey thinking I needed to mask the flavor. After one sip, I knew it was a winner and was honestly shocked at how delicious it was!! It was creamy and tasted like coconut flavored coffee. I will repeat again tomorrow, but using the "official" recipe and will report back with those results.


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Roses around the yard!

Our new home has rose plants everywhere! Most were a mystery to us when we moved in since none of them were in bloom. I know nothing about growing roses. Honestly, I was going to take them out come springtime. But once I started seeing their colors, I can't do that now! Here are some of the beauties that have bloomed so far. There are still two mystery colors to be discovered.





This last one is quite unique! It smells beautiful!! The color is a beautiful lavender ombre, really difficult to photograph though. Now I need to find the names of these beauties and how to care for them.

Looong overdue update…wow what a whirlwind!!

I really intended to keep this blog updated! So much happened since June, it's time to catch the world up! Be warned, it's a long read!!

Lets back up a little bit. In 2008 we bought our first home. A townhouse in fair condition, to say it gently, for a great price. The area was great, schools rated high, and neighborhood was super friendly. The house needed quite a bit of work, previous owners were smokers, and smoked heavily inside. First impression was new carpet and paint and we should be good to go….um, not quite. We had four months to get the work done before we moved in, and 5 until our son was born. After a multitude of misfortune, when we moved in we had no interior doors, my kitchen was an empty box, we only had new carpet in the bedrooms and living room, and bare concrete in the common areas. The day we brought our son home from the hospital, the texture on the walls was still wet.

We made a goal of doing one large project a year, in the hopes of being able to put the house together soon. We were both working full time, our son in daycare, and money just wasn't abundant, so the years passed. Husband patched up my empty kitchen with 2x4s and plywood kitchen, I had a full sized range, and my cabinets were rubbermaid tubs. It was good enough, but not something I was happy about. In November 2009, we finally put tile on our bare concrete. It was starting to look better! But in January 2010 I lost my job, February we were surprised to find out we were expecting again. Having our income cut in half, and a baby on the way made any projects not possible.

We were fortunate to work through the budget and keep me home with the kids. We did one more project in 2012, putting in a closet in the master bedroom. Until then we had 2x4s to make shelved and hanging clothes possible.

For 5 years we just made do with what we had. We had warm beds, good food, and I was home with my children, and for that I am thankful….however, I have a million pictures like this:

An adorable picture of my newborn son…with bare concrete in the background, no base moldings, and exposed light switches. Most of the family pictures have some sort of make-shift home in the background. Like this one of my two beautiful children…


That would be my 2x4 kitchen and my rubbermaid "cabinets" to hold our dishes. Most people thought I was exaggerating the condition of our home, but alas, it's all true. I had such anxiety over inviting people to our house. Our friends understood, but I still felt a bit of shame cooking them dinner in a kitchen most wouldn't.

It put a lot of stress on us. Well, my husband and I, the kids grew up this way, it was "normal" to them. But there was nothing normal about this. We never wanted to be home, there was no relaxing at home, looking all around us reminded us of everything that still needed (but couldn't) be done.

Fast forward to 2013 and we were in for a surprise. The housing market started to turn! We had a long talk with a good friend of ours in the real estate business, we talked to the bank, and we discussed in great detail with each other on our options. We decided to take out all the credit available to us, and get this place fixed up to sell. It wasn't an easy decision, there was no guarantee the housing market would stay good throughout the remodel process, then we would be stuck with an enormous amount of debt!

June 2013…the start of summer, beach parties, picnics, county fairs, and backyard BBQs with friends…for normal people that is! The summer was filled with drywall dust, paint, sawdust, more visits to Lowes and Home Depot than I care for.

When the remodel was complete, the house looked amazing!! It looked like we had planned for all along. The dream we had for the house was finally a reality, and now it was time to sell. We were fortunate to list and sold in under two weeks!!

On to looking for our new home!! We looked at listing relentlessly online, we found a few gems and just as quick they were gone. We could tell it was going to be an interesting search. We planned a day of open houses, one stop putting us in Rancho Santa Margarita. It was in a great neighborhood, the yard was smaller than we were originally looking for, but there was something about it. We walked in, and instantly fell in love! The house was perfect!

It's wasn't as smooth of an escrow as we were hoping for. We were very fortunate to be moved into our new house before we closed escrow, not many owners would rent to the potential owners. We rented big truck, and moved the entire house ourselves…not recommended by the way!! Man, it's amazing how much a family can accumulate!

Once we moved in, a change came over the family instantly. We were happy, relaxed, calm, and stress-free! My husband and I started liking each other again LOL! It seems melodramatic, but that's how we felt. Stress plays with your emotions in funny ways, and for us it took a toll on our marriage. Now that that stress is behind us, we can just focus on the family. It's just what we needed!!

We have a house we can call home-sweet-home!!

That was long, I apologize but fills in the blank space in the blog. I'm looking forward to updating it more often.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Food, I hate you....Just kidding...kind of...



I have a love/hate relationship with food and recipes. The more I read about food, the more I'm freaked by what I feed my family. My newest freakout: Thinking about reducing our processed foods even further by trying to buy things with less than 5 ingredients. That is if I can't make it myself....

I'm slowly going insane...and I realize its self inflicted. I know they'll survive if I don't go healthy crazy, but if I have the ability to make healthier choices for them I should. I grew up on the convenience foods. Frozen veggies, cooked in the microwave....in their plastic bag....Hamburger helper, don't even get me started.

Even when Hubs and I first got married, my cooking wasn't healthy. I wasn't accustomed to researching the nutrition facts, or really ever reading a label. Avid label readers are on diets, if you don't have to worry about it, don't. Oh brother!

When we got back to California, we heard an interesting diet. Shop only on the outside isles of the grocery store. The reason being that's where the produce, meats, and dairy is located, but hardly any of the processed or "convenience" ingredients. In hindsight, that was probably the start of the "paleo" type diet trend.

I think that's where I really started thinking about food and health. But, it didn't last. Life happened, we had jobs, school, then kids, a house...life happened quick! There wasn't time for real food, we ate out a lot, lots of frozen meals, and the ever famous hamburger helper.

It started with taking a picture of my son eating fast food for lunch, and not wanting to post that picture because I was embarrassed by what he was eating. It had no fruit, or veggies, it wasn't homemade, and it most certainly did not nourish him like it should. Did he survive? Of course, but that was my sign, we should be eating better.

The changes happened slowly, cutting out one bad choice at a time. Fresh vegetables became more of a staple, and not a treat or really a trouble to prepare. Methods of cooking included healthy oils, I discovered coconut oil, and most recently ghee for roasting the veggies. Table salt is gone in favor of low processed sea salt and pink salt. And learning to enjoy the flavor of vegetables, with the simple joys of fresh garlic and salt, passed on to the kids. A proud moment for me!

There are so many things I'm proud we have changed, but there are still a few I'd love to get rid of. It's hard to be completely free of the processed foods, but I am one of those label readers.

Am I neurotic? My husband would say YES, but I'm making what I feel are the best choices for my family.

Challenge for you readers:
Next time you pick up your sour cream, any of your favorite brands, look at the ingredients.
Report back here with what you find, and tell me if you were surprised.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Kalua Pig and a proud mama...a food story.

I've made this recipe three times so far. Kalua pig is so delicious, but it's hard to just up and roast a whole pig. This crock pot version is absolute perfection on a plate. It seems a little crazy to have it cook for 16 hours, but seriously it's worth the wait!!

Our roast ended up being about 6.5lbs, but still 16 hours was plenty of time. Here's a picture of a third of the roast and the bone, so tender that it fell out of the roast without any effort! In fact, I had to take the roast out in sections because it fell apart so easily.


 It didn't take anything to shred the meat. In fact, I had to be careful not to over shred the meat. Here is the whole roast, it all it's delicious glory!


I had all intentions of going to the store to buy some Kings Hawaiian rolls to serve as buns for our sliders. I even went into the store, and walked out remembering I had forgotten to get them. I was talking to my son about forgetting them, and we'll have to get them later. My four year old responds, "We could just make the rolls. That would be better than buying them." 

Super proud of my kids all the time, but for that moment I was proud of myself for teaching my kids that making things yourself is something to be proud of. I make a lot from scratch because I find the challenge fun, and it's a great way for me to make healthier food for my family. To have my four year old proclaim with pride that we can make it ourselves, and offer help with excitement, is truly a proud mommy moment. 

So off to Pinterest I went to find a sweet roll recipe. I wanted to work within my pantry, so a hawaiian roll copycat recipe was out, since most require pineapple juice and coconut milk. I stumbled across this recipe for Soft and Sweet Yeast Dinner Rolls. I had all the ingredients, but I wanted to make a little change. The oil that it calls for in the recipe I used coconut oil. 


Having a KitchenAid is such a lifesaver, and was always a dream of mine growing up. We got lucky last year, and bought the floor model at Lowe's and saved quite a bit of money. But anyway, yeast doughs are super easy with a dough hook! Check out the swirling bowl of doughy deliciousness!!


The recipe called for oil in the dough, and to oil the pan. I used coconut oil for both and it smelled amazing!!


The recipe was a little time consuming, but worth...every...step.


I also tried a new recipe for Apple Cole Slaw. I really only used the dressing part of this recipe, because  it was simple and I had the ingredients on hand. 

Looking purdy!


I added some celery seeds and cracked pepper, but it was still too much mayo flavor for my taste. 

Dinner done! I was so excited to try my pulled pork that I forgot to take a picture before I started eating, so excuse the bite. 


This meal I was excited to share with our friends the Rimke's and Joe(Thanks for letting us borrow him Amie!!). We fed a group of 9 easily, but I must say I could have eaten my weight in the rolls. Next time I'll be making a double batch! The coconut oil was just the Hawaiian touch we needed for our Kalua pig. 

Thursday, May 23, 2013

This week's shenanigans...

This week my awesome sister in law showed me this amazing blog tutorial. A-Frame Pup Tents!!! I had to make this one!! I love power tools:) Tuesday we went out after dinner and looked around Home Depot to get an idea on price.



We had a few changes we wanted to make. In her preschool room these would get a lot of use, so being able to remove the sheet was a must! We decided to replace the bottom wood supports with PCV piping and plastic caps, so the sheet could be unthreaded and thrown in the washer. In a room full of 4 year olds, it's going to be a welcome change!

With every project there were some hiccups. I can't listen, the blog says a 3/4" drill bit would be ok for the project. You would just have to wiggle the bit to widen the whole since 3/4" PCV refers to the inside diameter. Well my sister in law suggested we get a bit that would be the diameter of the outside hole. Which ended up being 1 1/8" however I figured I should just follow the directions and try the 3/4" bit......WRONG!! After going back to Home Depot to get the right bit, I did it again thinking I should get a 1" since I don't want the whole too loose otherwise the frame might not be as sturdy.

Hind sight is always 20/20. Learn from my mistake, and get the 1 1/8" drill bit!! I broke out the power sander to get rid of the splinter hazard. Yay another power tool!! The sheet was just a twin size flat from Walmart. I hemmed it to fit, but neglected to take photos. You'll live ;-)

Check out our finished product!! Claire calls it her "princess castle" so with the little I trimmed off of the flat sheet I tied a bow on it. It's big enough for me to sit inside and have a picnic with the kids. AND it folds flat for storage.

Corbin checking out the finished product!

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Power tools!!

Sneak preview of what I'm working on this week.....Any guesses???


It's not delivery...

Oh pizza, where do I even begin?!? We love pizza in this house! It's a rare treat because it's so expensive at a restaurant or to get it delivered. Until I discovered this amazing recipe, Fail-Proof Pizza Dough.

I made three batches of this dough for a pizza party we had for my son's 4th birthday. All three batches came out beautifully! In fact, I put half a batch in the fridge over night and used it the next day and it was still perfect. The recipe is super easy, and just like the title, fail-proof. 

Yesterday's creation was a chicken and spinach Alfredo pizza. Make the dough according to directions and let it rise.

While the dough is rising, I prepped the toppings. I just grilled up two chicken breast, no seasoning, and chopped them into small cubes. I also took my fresh spinach and chopped about a 1.5 cups worth. I also made my own Alfredo sauce (recipe here). I used a store bought shredded italian style cheese on the bottom layer and on top of the toppings.



The trick about upside-down cookie sheets instead of a pizza stone really does great!

In a preheated 500 degree oven, our pizza took about 10 minutes. I made two pizzas out of one batch of dough, because our oven isn't big enough for a full batch of dough in pizza form.

Fresh out of the oven here's grub!!


I had just pulled out some carrots from the garden the day before and wanted to do something with them. I ended up just roasting them with some olive oil, and salt and pepper. 


Fresh from the dirt in the garden. Don't worry, they were washed and peeled before we ate :)

Prepped and ready for the oven! No picture of the final product, sorry!

I ended up only using one chicken breast for the two pizzas. The two pizzas (I'd call them medium sized) fed 6 people comfortably. Really easy, really cheap, and it's something I'm proud to make for the family knowing exactly what ingredients went into making it. 

Monday, May 20, 2013

One-dish wonder s'ghetti!

Lazy dinners before kids were anything that delivered, most likely pizza. We ate out a ridiculous number of times each week. It really wasn't until our first born was at the eating solids stage that I really started watching what I was cooking.

It's take a while to get a groove into making dinners, and not falling into the "don't wanna cook" mode. There's a list of things I grab at the grocery store that make up quick recipes to avoid me being lazy and grabbing the Del. Even better when it doesn't make a mess!!

This is my one pot wonder s'ghetti! I grab my dutch oven (get your minds out of the gutter!) but I'm sure this will work with any large sauce pan.

1lb ground beef or sausage
1/4 cup water
1 25oz can of spaghetti sauce (I love Fresh and Easy's sauce, no artificial junk)
Spaghetti noodles (I've used angel hair, and regular with great success)
Fresh spinach leaves

Preheat the pan a bit and start browning the ground meat with 1/4 water. This trick helps crumble the beef and distributes better in the sauce. If you prefer chunkier meat sauce, omit the water. When all the meat has browned dump in the whole jar of spaghetti sauce. Fill the empty jar half way with water (I close the lid and give it a good shake to clean all the sauce off the sides of the jar) dump in the water and stir. It's going to seem really watery, but this is perfect.

Take your noodles, however many you need to feed the family, and break them in half (so they fit in the pot). Make sure they are completely covered by the sauce. Cover the pot and simmer about 15 minutes. Check to make sure the noodles are done and give it all a good stir.

We used spinach spaghetti noodles, so excuse the green mess in there :)

To make the dish even easier, the spinach just gets thrown in the bottom of the bowl, topped with the hot spaghetti, it wilts to perfection! Add a slice of bread fresh from the oven and it's a done meal ;)



Gimme Bread!!

Growing up we had a bread machine, we made a few loafs, but no one seemed to enjoy eating it. I remember starting a few loafs and being impressed that you could just dump everything in a push a button. We never made bread the "old fashioned" way though. It has always been a daunting task for me, that I've just gone to the store and bought bread.

One of my new years resolutions was to cut out the ugly "high fructose corn syrup" in our diet. Easier said than done obviously! We are not sugar free, or refined sugar free, but the simpler the ingredients the better. It's getting easier to find bread made without HFCS, but it's also getting expensive!

In Orange County, the loaf of bread that we buy is $1.99, on sale! And that's not even all natural, it's just HFCS free. It was getting ridiculous that I hadn't attempted to make bread. I really do have the time, I just needed to find a recipe I could live with. No powdered milk, just one more processed ingredient I don't want in out diet. No bread machine, can't get the texture right and always has a "machined" taste.

Pinterest to the rescue!! I came across this blog (awesome link here), and it's a winner!! I've made 5 loaves so far, and short of user error (busy mom tip: set a timer for the rising...super easy to forget!), it's been perfect!

Here's my recent loaf:

Hey look a bandwagon!!

I have had lots of people suggest I start a blog. My response has always been "I'll never have the time for that." At the time I really couldn't see that I would have anything meaningful to share. But after all the blogs that I've seen....maybe I could have something worthwhile to post after all! So look at me jumping on the blogging bandwagon!!

So into time! My name is Jessica, I have a husband and two children. I married Hubs when I was 18, we got lots of criticism but almost a decade later we're going strong. We've been through some really interesting adventures. He's the one that coined our moto "Life-Bentures" and truly they have been amazing!

I love cooking and sewing! Pinterest really did change my life! I cook healthier now, we don't use that many processed items and I'm an avid label reader. Though I won't turn down an Oreo!

I'm in such a happy place right now. I'm a Mom. My whole life I have wanted to be the stay at home Mom. I'm beyond lucky my husband supports me in my decision to stay home and just be a mom. It's been interesting, but the rewards are more than I could ever make outside of the home.

I'm not sure where this blog will lead, but it should be an interesting 'benture for sure!!