Friday, March 30, 2012

My life, hippified.

Hippifying your life will make you so happy. I'm not a total hippie (yet..ha). I mean, I own a pair of Birkenstocks, but I don't ever wear them because Forever 21 makes a cuter gladiator sandal. See? I'm a cheap-clothes-wearing, meat-eating, I-don't-care-if-you-drive-an-SUV type of hippie wannabe. Basically there are just certain aspects of my life that benefits being hippie-like and it's proven to make my life easier.

#1. Foods. Buy organic.. not everything. That shit's cray and expensive. Buy organic when you're buying any veggies on the Dirty Dozen list. LOOK IT UP. It's gross. Stop eating processed foods! Well, I cut out as much as I can. I have just started this a couple months ago. But seriously, if it is found in the middle of the grocery store in a package, and not on the outskirts of the store, it's not as good for you! They throw in a shit ton of chemicals to make it last longer in a box. You know what's crazy? I feel so much better when I haven't been eating processed foods. Especially canned! I have completely cut out canned foods from our grocery list. I'm still using the few that are in our cupboards, because it's like a couple cans of gravy and some tomato sauce. Whatevs, I'll use it. But seriously, why buy beans in a can, when you can buy them for way cheaper, way healthier, in the bulk section, and I can cook them on my own, and know exactly how then were cooked. Beans in a can=ingredients: 3948759847584754 things. Beans from the whole foods bulk in=ingredients: beans. BOOM. I also used to buy canned tomatos. For any recipe that called for stewed tomatos, diced tomatos, tomato sauce, blahblahblah, I bought canned. BPA! AHH THE BPA. Seriously, the research on BPA is seeping into my mind and I can't believe all of the canned goods I used to buy. Now I buy ACTUAL TOMATOS---who would have thought? So much cheaper and insanely better for you.

Moving on. More hippie shit. NATURAL MEDICINE. Say wha?

Eat ginger when you’re nauseous
Eat raw garlic when you have a cold.
Gargle salt water when your throat is sore.
Guzzle some water with a drop of peppermint oil when your head hurts.
Eat oats to increase your milk supply.
Eat yogurt for yeasty beasties.
Use the Neti-pot when your sinuses are full of ick.

Medicine is expensive, and I hate buying it. and quite frankly I just got way too used to it. I think that's why I used to get sick all the time--I took medicine for any and everything that eventually my body needed it and I was sick all the time. Oh, that doesn't make sense? Well, whatever, it probably isn't true. Even if it's a total anti-placebo affect, I'm never sick, and when I get the slightest symptom, I do my super natural holistic stuff, and NIP IT IN THE BUD, BABY. Aside from like two times that I've taken tylenol when my hippie methods haven't worked, I have not taken medicine since before I was pregnant with Cohen [who is 16 months. do the math]. I can live without it, for sure.

I suppose seeing a midwife instead of an OB to have an unmedicated labor and delivery if filed under natural medicine. I don't even want to go into the details of comparing medicated hospital births to unmedicated ones, especially because there are ALWAYS circumstances that are out of our control. I would never judge/bash someone for having a medicated birth. HOWEVA. It does make me sad that nobody really does any research on it anymore. It's just assumed that they'll go to the hospital, get an epi, and pop the kid out. If only it were so simple. I mean, at least look at the risks and rates and stuff, ya know? But whatever. That's a whole other thing. I just had a wonderful experience delivering Cohen, as well as a recovery time and I wish that some people looked more into it before saying "Ow, that would hurt, so no." Go watch The Business of Being Born [Netflix, yo] and it will maybe shed some light on how L&Ds in America are going down the pooper.

A WORD FROM MY FAVORITE BLOGGER, MODG:
i read once in a hippie book that when you’re in doubt about your body (like in times of birth), be a monkey. Think with your primal instincts. Your body can do shit that your brain has no idea about. For example, you know how you can’t poop if a hot guy is standing in the bathroom with you? Oh you never tried that? Me neither (…) Doors in public bathrooms have locks and stalls for privacy because our muscles need to feel comfortable and safe to open up. Also no one wants to see your pee hole. The same way your baby shooter does to have a baby. It won’t open up and dilate easily  if you are under a billion bright lights, with people reaching up there and machines clanging away. But go in a quiet, dim, private area and feel safe and comfortable and BAM all systems are a go. Just like your pooper. Like a monkey pooper.
/END

Other natural things. Cleaning products. The chemicals in cleaning products are a no-no, so I make everything. Super easy. I actually didn't head down this road for hippie-training, I did it to save money. I'm all about saving dough these days. For a multi-purpose disinfectant, I soak some orange peels in vinegar for a week-10 days, then add equal parts of water. Voila. For carpet cleaner, equal parts water and vinegar, scrub on stain, sprinkle baking soda on top to absorb odor, and vacuum up. For the most amazing tile/shower/tub cleaner ever in the world, microwave some vinegar--about 1 cup, add 1 cup orginal Dawn dish soap. Mix in a little bit of water. BAM. It's seriously amazing. I just keep it in the shower, and spray down the tile when I notice the grout start to get a little pink. It's magic. Magic, I tell you.

2 words: Cloth Diapers. No other words needed.

ANOTHER WORD FROM MY FAVORITE BLOGGER:
SWEET and BRIGHT: Do not, no matter what ever never use artificial sweetners and try your best to avoid artificial dyes. That goes for Splenda, Equal and any other alien chemical that tastes sweet. And I don’t just mean don’t sprinkle it. Diet Coke and the like is bad too. If you need it just use regular sugar. It comes from the earth. Don’t eat it by the spoonful like an idiot.  Splenda chemically has more in common with a pesticide than sugar. And trust, if someone told me this when I was depending on coffee to live my life, I would have slapped their face with my ass. So you can do that to me if you want. There is evidence that food dyes lead to behavioral disorders, especially in kids. You can research this one if you’re interested. I know you’ll be all pissy about this one. /END

Okay that's enough for now, even though, you better believe I have more hippie shit to add. MUWAHAHA.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Meal Planning/Cooking. Am I growing up?

Trying to decide if becoming a mom has just this to me, although I kind of think I'd enjoy it even if I was babyless. I get way too many kicks out of my 2 week meal plans and trying new recipe. I've become an old woman.

Pinterest has helped this addiction; seeing new recipes and pinning them to go back and see later is awesome. Pinterest led me to punchfork which I love; it's basically pinterest but just for food. I can search recipes by genre or by ingredient, and then "like" them and it saves under your likes, so I can go back and look at them later. Then of course there's my usualy favorite sites like skinnytaste.com and allrecipes.com. I actually get excited to sit down and make my meal plan. I usually do it for 10-11 meals, as we go to the grocery store every two weeks, and I don't cook every single night. It works out well. I can order the meals in the event there's any produce that may go bad earlier than that, I'll make it within days of grocery shopping.

My favorite part of it all is experimenting with new ingredients and recipes! The first few menus I did, I made all new recipes.. 10 brand new things to try! If it was a hit I definitely use it again later on. What I've been lately (and hating that it took me so long to start doing it) is doubling two or three of the meals on my menu and freezing them. Right now I have about 7 dinners in the freezer, and my goal is to have 30 by the time baby is here. I know 10 of them will probably be made on an afternoon that I dedicated specifically to freezer stocking. Darren and I are also going to spend a Saturday afternoon (while C naps) making a bunch of waffles and french toast, and freezing them so we can just pull them out for our weekend breakfasts.

One of my favorite habits I've developed is tossing 5 chicken breasts in the crock pot with some water, putting it on high, and shredding it up about 5 hours later. Then I seperate them into 4 or 5 different small single-serving containers. I stick 2 in the fridge and the rest in the freezer and have chicken for lunch for the next 5 days. I'll throw some on a a salad, or wrap it in a tortilla with some cheese and salsa. Some minute rice and teriyaki sauce make for a quick and delish lunch as well. I just hate that it took me so long to do this. It will come in handy with the new baby when I'm breastfeeding and wanting to eat the entire house.

Anyway, go to punchfork.com now.. RUN. You'll love it (or you'll think I'm crazy for making meal planning/cooking a hobby).

A couple of posts to come

I have three blog posts all started and saved, and I never finished any of them. I'm at work so I'm going to just finish all of them. First, an update post!

We're on the last few days of March and it's definitely been a better month than the other shit months we've had in 2012. I've been working a lot and getting bigger and bigger. Here I am at 31 weeks in all my glory:


It's insane how fast it's all going by. I have 2 months until this baby will be here! The crazy part is I"m literally excited to go through labor and delivery again; especially knowing it could possibly be my last time doing it. 2 might it for us. I can't wait to experience it again, and it will be so much different/better at a birthing center with just my midwife and some loved ones around. My midwife is really awesome, and I'm so glad I'm going this route!

Cohen is doing really well. Being a peach and sleeping 8:30-8ish perfectly, and has OFFICIALLY moved to one nap a day. Let me tell you about the one nap a day: at first you fear it. You're scared because you normally get a nice break from 10:30-12ish and then another one at 3:30ish. Cohen is normally an hour-90 minute napper in the morning, and then maybe 45 minutes in the late afternoon. I didn't always get to enjoy the second nap becaue I'd be at work, but that hour in the morning was CRUCIAL to my day going well. I'd usually prep dinner for the evening, do yoga, and clean, or enjoy some lying around time. So when Cohen started waking up after half an hour from his morning nap I was like.. WTF IS GOING ON. Then he'd completely skip his evening nap. NO NAP WHATSOEVA. I was full on panicing. Then about 2 weeks ago, I forced myself to keep him up later, no matter how sleepy he was. Instead of going down at 10:30 I started keeping him til 11:30 for a few days, and then eventually until 12:30 or 1. So it's definitely rough; he's up at 8 and I have to keep him happy and entertained for 4.5-5 hours without a break for myself. I'm still not used to it, BUT it pays off when he goes down at 1, and sleeps for 2 hours, sometimes even 3. YES. THREE HOURS. It isn't exactly glorious for me now because I leave for work one hour after he goes down.. so I have one hour to myself, and then I go to work. BUT I'm only working for another 5-6 weeks.. so soon I will enjoy that 2-3 hour nap EVERY DAY, and I will also have a new baby soon after that, so that long nap will be a God send.

Cohen has also become a signing master. Okay that's a total overstatement. He signs "more", "please", "all done", and he claps for "yay" and rolls his hands when we sing Patty Cake and say "roll it, pat it!" It's pretty cute. We're working on signing "milk" and "food" but he's taking his sweet time with those ones. It only took him like EIGHT EFFING MONTHS to learn "more" and "please".. Lol. Whatever. Any communication between us will help when there's a newborn on my boob all day long and I have to try to cater to Cohen, too. Oh fun times.

I've been doing a lot of work for Britt's wedding. It's coming up and I couldn't be more excited! I've done some help with the invitations, and tried out a few center peice ideas for her. Burlap wrapped around a mason jar with a bundle of dried lavender in it. So gorgeous and understated. I'm making an adorable sign for the flower girl to hold (Kev's neice) that we saw on Pinterest. It'll say "Uncle Kev, Here comes your girl" and she'll look adorable holding it! It's turning out cute. I've also done some emailing for her; getting quotes on flowers, cakes, etc. I'm trying to help as much as I can since I'll be out of work in May and then it'll be crunch time since the wedding is July 14.

I've been reading about photography. Just a little hobby to start. It'd be nice to have good pics of my kiddos throughout the year. I'm starting just by reading the fatty manual that came with my mom's Nikon d40 (that's what I'll be using, seeing as I "borrowed" it months ago and she hasn't noticed). Once I actually learn how to use it, I'll move on to reading some photog blogs to get a better idea of what I'm doing. It's just a little hobby to have on the side. Since, you know, I have so much free time.. :-/

Okay that's about it. Stay tuned for I'll finally be finishing my post about meal planning and hippie life. Holla!


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Birth plan typed out from Cohen's L&D. Need to revise for this time around.

This birth plan is intended to express the preferences and desires we have for the birth of our baby.  It is not intended as a script.  We fully realize that situations may arise such that our plan cannot and should not be followed. However, we hope that barring any excruciating circumstances, you will be able to guide us toward the birth experience we desire.
If procedures or medications are proposed, we ask that you discuss them with us and suggest alternative therapies and comfort measures so that we can make well-informed decisions.
Labor and Birth
We respectfully request that there be as little intervention as possible unless an emergency arises.  This includes: routine IV (will remain hydrated with water and ice chips), use of medications for pain or labor augmentation, frequent vaginal exams (no more than one an hour). We request external fetal monitoring only as required by the condition of the baby; we prefer use of the fetoscope. We would like to have the freedom of motion and a free choice of laboring positions, particularly in the second stage.
We would like to avoid a routine episiotomy; Massage and hot compress requested before one is suggested. If deemed necessary, we would like to try for a pressure episiotomy when the baby's head is crowning.
Post birth
We would like to breastfeed our baby as soon as he is born. We kindly request that the cord not be clamped or cut before it has stopped pulsating. We plan that the baby be breastfed exclusively, so we kindly request that no bottles, pacifiers, etc be given to him.
We prefer a spontaneous delivery of placenta or encouraged with breast stimulation and nursing the baby.
Contingency Plans
C-Section: We want to discuss any problems and the associated risks unless there is a medical emergency.  If we require a C-section, we want the father to be present unless there is an emergency.  We would like to use an epidural anesthesia rather than general unless there is an emergency. We prefer that the anesthesia take effect before the catheter is inserted before the surgery begins.  We would like to hold the baby after delivery if he doesn't need immediate medical attention.
Ill Baby: If complications arise with the baby, we would like to remain as involved in his care as possible.  If possible, we still want to hold and nurse the baby as soon after delivery as is reasonable.