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!

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.

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.