Thursday, May 19, 2011

Me, a Mother

Wondering what she’s dreaming.
Her little lips
moving slowly
in her sleep…
her tiny fingers,
curling and uncurling. Her sweet
miniature movements
awe me.
My baby Audrey
only 3 months old and already
seems a mystery.
Who will she be?
It’s amazing
how someone so small can
hold your whole heart in her hands.
The power she holds
over me
stronger than any other
Her brother
started this revolution
she only strengthens
Me, a mother.


Monday, May 9, 2011

Spring!













- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Meal Plans - May 8-14th

MMMmmmmmmmm

Food. I love it. Especially when I know what the heck I'm making everyday. 

So, after 3 months of no menu planning in the craziness that is life with a newborn, here is my first week of menu plans.

Also, trying to get back to focusing on REAL food... trying to cut out most of the processed junk we eat and cut back on juices, etc....  Personally, I am replacing mine and Noah's sugar consumption w/xylitol or honey only. Check out this awesome real food site ... I found it today and it's totally renewed my commitment to real food ONLY!
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Breakfasts: eggs cooked in butter, fruit, 5-grain oatmeal cooked with nuts, dried fruit or almond butter and raw honey, whole grain apple pancakes

Snacks: veggies, boiled eggs, smoothies, apples and peanut butter (natural of course)

Lunches: leftover, soup, salads, pb&j, sometimes annie's bunnies with nitrite free hot dogs
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Monday: Pasta w/sauce and veggies, ceasar salad on the side
Tuesday:  Tacos w/avocados/spinach/tomatoes
Wednesday: Chili w/corn bread
Thursday: Chicken strips w/sweet potato fries and veggies
Friday: Homemade pizza 
Saturday: Burgers (grass fed- yum!) w/bacon and cheese and salad...!
Sunday: Grilled cheese/leftovers

Saturday, May 7, 2011

The Saturday Evening Blog Post

Attn: Bloggers.


It's time to head over to Elisabeth Esther's Saturday Evening Blog Post. This is where YOU share your favorite blog post from the past month and post it for others to see!

(And I officially screwed it up the first time I participated...I chose For my mom, Kristine, in honor of Mother's Day... and realized right away that it's from May, not April......heh... oh well!)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

For my mom, Kristine

my mom with Noah on Easter 09


I must have been 2 years old, maybe 3. The salty evening air whipped my hair around my face,; my heart pounded with fear. My mother held me against her tightly, pointing to the sky, “Sarah, it’s your favorite color, pink!” Each new crack and “wheeewwww” in the air lit up the sky with color- I buried my head into her soft, sunscreen scented skin and breathed in comfort.

Around 8 or 9, my mom let me ride with her to business meetings. Sometimes they would be 7 hour trips, just me and her. I would watch her twirl her wedding rings around with her thumb, long slender fingers tapping the steering wheel impatiently. I wanted to be just like her. Once at a hotel, we watched movies, swam and put on self-tanner all day long. At home, I would look at all her high heels and wish my feet fit into them.... we’d sit in church and her shoe would dangle off her foot when she crossed her legs…and she would look beautiful.

Her youth has always felt palpable to me. At the age of 22, she delivered me. I was her third child (out of five). I remember being aware of her age for the first time when she was 29 and since then, she has not seemed to age.

My mother is incredible. She is full of energy, happiness and light. She is one of the most resilient people I know. I watched her sob over her firstborn son’s body the morning he passed away and in that moment I realized that she was not only my mother but I was her daughter and that was her son, her baby. She loves us. She worked so hard for us, changing diapers (for 17 years), working night after night as a party plan manager/consultant, making huge pots of stew on Sundays….  Her life story would wrap around my entire blog twice. What would have crippled others has made my mother who she is today.

She is a successful entrepreneur and always has taught me that I can achieve my dreams. She taught me to be independent and courageous.  She taught me not to be ashamed of who I am and to speak the truth without fear. She is a fiercely loyal person and a supremely protective mother. She used to say that being a mother was like being a lioness- she would tell me that a lioness would attack without hesitation anything that could threaten her children. I didn’t understand what she meant until I had Noah. The instinctual prowess of a mother is unexplainable. She stood by me as I breastfed Noah for the first time and defended my decision to birth Audrey at home...she respects me as an adult and parent and I appreciate that more than she will ever know.

She taught me to love Jesus and accept Him as my Saviour. She sees the positive side of everything and her favorite color is yellow. She is most beautiful without makeup and her laugh wraps everything in gold.

Many times in my life, people have said, “you are JUST like your mother!” And now I realize how wonderful of a thing that is.
I love you Mom. Thank you for being my friend, my mom and a beacon of light in our family.
Happy Mother’s Day. 

Weekend Reads

I know it's not quite the weekend but since I'll most likely not get back into the blog for another couple days, I thought I would type this up now. There's been a lot of great stuff floating around the past couple of days so here we go!

The Development of Resilience - The Essential Parenting Blog (a new fave.. Thanks Hippie Housewife)

Noah and I have been having some pretty incredible "battles" of sorts so I've been searching for ways to refresh my memory on discipline...etc....."time outs" just don't do it...and other forms of traditional punishment are not an option.. learning to discipline instead of punish and hoping to find effective ways to connect and talk with Noah during those difficult times.


 I also have to say I don't think correlation necessarily indicts causation but could be a contributing factor along with lack of breastfeeding..highly surgical births...etc...

I've been reading up on vaccines since we're still deciding what to do about Audrey's vaccination schedule...Noah follows Dr. Sears Alternative Vaccine Schedule ending at 15 months after a horrible reaction to the DTAP vaccine... since then we haven't given him any shots and won't until daycare or school (whichever comes first..) and we will be testing for titers first. which reminds me..anyone have chicken pox?!


Incredible blog by Tara Livesay ... journaling birth,babies, women and ministry in Haiti. Recommended to me by a good friend and Pastor Tyler Thompson... so far, fascinating!!

I'll end with a quote from the Livesay blog that sums up how I want to live my life.

Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it. -E. Lutzer

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Vermont Midwifery Bill Passes House

Today the House passed S.15, which would require insurance companies to cover midwife services including home births. Nearly a hundred moms, dads, and kids descended on the State House to voice their support for the bill. - VPIRG

 
I'm estatic for the state of Vermont and all the moms and babies here.... Thank goodness for TRUE choice in maternity care!!