New things!

As of yesterday, The Peach is crawling. She is pretty excited about it, too!

In other news, Prince Charming went to the farmer's market this morning and was super excited that he found more lamb chops to bring home. It turns out he didn't buy lamb. He bought goat. Stay tuned for the taste test!

What's new?

Not much.

I realized that it has been a while since my last post. And, that post wasn't even about current events! I have a moment in between my mom taxi duties, so I thought I would write something. Anything.

The Peach will be 8 months old tomorrow. A month ago she didn't have teeth. Today she has 2 tiny ones on the bottom. They started to emerge about 2 weeks ago. I wish I had a picture, but every time I try to look in there she sticks her tongue out. She continues to be the happy go lucky baby that loves her mama.

B signed up for Chess Club after school once a week. He LOVES it. I even got a phone call from the coach telling me that he is such a pleasure to have in class. He is a great listener and keeps his table on task. I felt like I would explode, I was so proud. Last year, the phone calls I got were, "We need you to come pick up B, for reason XYZ." I am so glad that we moved him to a different school. He is in the right classroom and he is thriving.

This morning when I was driving E to preschool, he started singing a song about preschool and how much he likes it. I am so happy that I don't have to leave a kicking and screaming kid at school this year. Those crocodile tears get me every time. Now, he just blows me a kiss and runs out to play. My little E is growing up. Way too fast. I think he knows it, too. He is always telling me that he doesn't want to die and he wants to be with me forever. Man, I could cuddle that kid all day long.

Me? What have I been up to? You know, the regular day to day grind. I also started volunteering for the school's eScrip program, so I have that to add to the pile on my desk. What is this pile on my desk? I should go through it. I was recently asked to be a co-author on a new blog all about living and raising a family in Arizona. I was completely flattered that I was asked to contribute and I can't wait to start drafting content. Am I worried that I won't be able to keep up? I mean, you know how often I post here. I think that since I am accountable to someone else, it will get done. When I just have to answer to myself, I tend to procrastinate. Just ask the Photoshop program that is still in the box up on my shelf. You feel me? Photoshop and I need to go on a weekend staycation. Just the two of us and Scott Kelby's book. Amazing things could happen then. I might forget to feed myself, but hey, at least I would have amazing pictures to show for it. I wonder if Prince Charming would mind.

Speaking of the daily grind, it is time to get lunches ready for the wee ones and then zip off with the littlest one to pick up the not so little one. Sometime soon I will write about what I want to be when I grow up. But don't expect that anytime soon. Photoshop and I have a date. But not before I go out on a date with Prince Charming. Good thing that is tonight!

Her Baptism

So, you could say I am a bit behind on posting. G was baptized....in April. She had hair back then! The day was lovely. We had her baptized in the same chapel where the boys were baptized and Prince Charming and I were married. Her baptismal gown was the same one that the boys wore, and I wore, and my mother wore, and maybe even my grandmother wore. I will have to do a fact check on that one. Regardless, the gown is beautiful and so fragile. It was a beautiful service and G was pretty darn good considering she was ready for a nap.

She was thinking about whether or not to be cranky.

She got a blessing from Aunt JoJo.

The boys were so good during the baptism. B was fascinated with the candles and all of the different parts of the service. E was true to form and asked a lot of questions.

The Kings so graciously accepted the role of Godparents. G couldn't be luckier!

My grandmother (GG) loved seeing the baptismal gown on G.

After the service we went over to my parent's house for a party! We had a lovely lunch with family and friends. Of course, G passed out as soon as she had the opportunity.

I am realizing that this post is kind of lame. Had I wrote about it when it happened, I think I would have had a lot more information! Anyway, she got baptized, here are the pictures to prove it, and now I am off to make a list of all of the other things that I would like to write about. Someday.

7 months old!

Well, this peach is 7 months old! When did THAT happen? I was planning on commemorating her 6 month birthday with a lovely post, but that date came and went. So, I am a month behind. Who cares, at least I am getting this done! Just ask my sister if SHE has any pictures in her baby book. It's all I'm saying.

I just LOVE this baby stage! She sleeps through the night, takes good naps, and every time she sees me she just gives me the biggest, gummiest smiles. I love this girl. So do the boys. They think is hilarious when she "talks" and giggles. G is babbling up a storm. She loves using her voice, and likes to screech when she is in a good mood. When she wakes up in the morning, she just chats. No more crying. She loves being tickled and thinks it is hilarious when Maylie sniffs her face.

She continues to eat everything I give her. Her latest additions include carrots, plums, beets, and peas. I have some left over pot roast that I plan on pureeing for her. We will see how she likes that. The girl still doesn't have any teeth. Not even a bump on her gums. E was late to get teeth, so this doesn't surprise me at all.

As far as mobility, she moves. Fortunately (for me) she isn't quite crawling yet. She rolls wherever she wants to go, pivots, and scoots backwards. She is capable of getting to where she wants to be. Sometimes she backs herself into a corner or up against something. She is rocking on her knees, but for now she is content to be on her belly. I need to start to be better about the boys and their Legos. Now that she is moving about on the floor, the legos can't be there. B is getting better about it, but E still likes to just drop things wherever he is.

She is definitely a Mama's girl. If someone else is holding her, she will crane her neck to be sure she can see me. We don't have any separation issues yet. She doesn't mind being with other people. But if she is tired and ready to nurse and she happens to see me, she will throw a fit until she is in my arms. I love how her biggest problems are so easily solved with nursing and napping. Wouldn't it be nice if all it took were a nice nap to wash our worries away. Babies are great that way.

I can't believe that less than a year ago, she was a newborn blob. At least she had hair back then. I wonder when that will grow in. Perhaps along with her teeth!

Some new friends

Meet the new ladies!

Molly and Coco.

These gals are the same breed as Henny (Easter Egger) and should start laying eggs (hopefully blue and green) very soon. They were hatched at the end of February, making them a year younger than the other hens. Since Cutie died, our egg supply has taken a hit. Not to mention that it is HOT outside and they just aren't laying eggs to their full potential. For now, the new ladies are trying to keep FAR away from Lola who is at the top of the pecking order and insists on pecking them. They are afraid of me, but I am sure they will figure out that I bring treats soon enough.

Welcome, girls! I hope that you live a long and productive life here with us.

Adventures in Eating

This has always been a very exciting time for me. I love to eat good food. I love to make good food. And I love to make my own baby food. For me, it is SO simple that I don't see the need to spend money on pricey baby food jars at the store. Besides, if I make it, I know what is in it.

During the weeks preceding G's 6 month birthday, I started to do research on first foods. There is a lot of advice out there as to what is the perfect first food. I read anything I could get my hands on. I now know more than I need to about an infant's digestive system. I learned, for example, that babies have limited enzyme production - which is essential for the digestion of foods, of course. The functional enzymes that they do produce at this young age work primarily on fats and proteins. This makes sense since my milk is largely made up of fat. As for the big gun carbohydrate enzymes, those don't really kick in until the molar teeth are fully developed - after 2 years old, thus making grains and cereals really hard to digest when they are tiny.

I decided that G's first foods would be animal foods. It appears as though her little tummy tum is ready to digest those and I have some great eggs to start her off.

G's first food was egg yolk. Hard boiled, mashed, and with a little breast milk mixed in. The texture grossed her out as I thought it might. But now she loves them.

Next up was bananas. Bananas contain enzymes to digest carbohydrates and they are sweet! G LOVES bananas. Can you tell?

Since the bananas, G has tried sweet potatoes (pureed with butter to aid in digestion), steamed peaches, pureed chicken, avocado, apples, and yogurt. This kid loves eating and gobbles up anything I offer. On deck are green beans and peas. I will also grab some plums from the farmer's market next weekend. I bet she will love those!

The Philosophy of Real Food

I have been posting lately about my desire to move my family towards healthier eating. There are many food philosophies out there and I have decided to use my space to share all of the good research I have found in the event that someone else wants to know more. There is no better place to start than, "What is real food?"

Real food, or traditional foods, are natural foods that are prepared fresh and from scratch in time honored ways that maximize both nutrition and flavor. Real food is nutrient dense and unprocessed. It is simple food that is prepared gently and in accordance with the seasons. Real food is the food that nourished all of humanity for thousands of years before the advent of industrial food processing and industrial agriculture.

Food Traditions

Weston A. Price, a Cleveland dentist who, when challenged by rampant tooth decay and physical degeneration of his patients, left his practice and traveled the world researching the dietary practices of people consuming processed foods and those consuming an unprocessed, native diet. What he discovered is that those populations who held fast to their native, unprocessed diets enjoyed better health than the people of the very same ethnic backgrounds who, instead, relied on processed and industrialized foods.

Price discovered that if dairy was consumed, it was consumed raw or cultured. Each society made use of the entire animal in cooking including liberal use of organ meat and bones for broth. Grain was consumed whole and only after a soaking or souring process. Many foods were naturally fermented and rich in food enzymes and beneficial bacteria. Lastly, refined sweeteners were absent from traditional diets with natural sweeteners like honey, maple sugar or unrefined cane sugar being consumed only very rarely, if at all.

Price uncovered another remarkable insight: traditional foods were more nutrient dense than modern foods. The intake of vitamins, particularly fat soluble vitamins, and minerals among populations thriving on traditional, unprocessed foods far exceeded that of their contemporaries who consumed refined foods including coffee, white flour, sugar, canned vegetables, and canned fruit.

Furthermore, these populations enjoyed good health free from many diseases that plagued their modernized, industrial contemporaries even though they consumed diets that could be considered high in fat. They lived largely without obesity, cancers, heart disease, cognitive dysfunction and other diseases while thriving on a diet that varied from 40% fat by calorie to upwards of 80% fat by calorie. Much of the fat they consumed was saturated - derived from naturally raised animals - such as butter. A high fat diet nourished these poplulations with good reason. Dietary fat enables us to better absorb nutrients found in foods.

Real food - The ingredients

Wholesome ingredients are essential to the flavor and quality of food. The nutritional value of meat, eggs, milk, vegetables, and fruit actually changes depending on many factors including how far the food has traveled from the field to the plate, how it was grown, and with animal foods - what the animals were fed and how they were raised.

So, what do I choose? Here are some guidelines that I am following.

Grains

• Grains should be whole or close to whole
• Choose oat groats, or steel cut oats, wheat berries, whole buckwheat, brown rice, and quinoa, etc.
• Grains contain anti-nutrients like phytates, so in order to maximize the bioavailability of their vitamins and minerals I must soak, sour, or sprout all the grains and flours I use.
• There is a whole world beyond wheat and rice, so I plan on taking advantage of grains like buckwheat, amaranth, millet, rye and other fun stuff!

Legumes

• Legumes should be bought dried and in bulk as this will save me money.
• They should be organically grown.
• Legumes also contain anti-nutrients called phytates so they must be soaked, sprouted, or fermented prior to cooking.
• The protein and iron from legumes is more bioavailable when cooked with meat.

Vegetables and Fruit

• Veggies and fruit should be organically or sustainably, and locally grown.
• We should eat plenty of these in their raw form as the enzymes are nourishing and the nutrients are usually higher.

Eggs

• The eggs we will eat will be from pastured hens that have free access to roam and eat things like grasses, weeds, worms, and bugs. Not only are they happier hens, their eggs are higher in nutrients than their industrially raised sisters. I am so glad I have some of these gals in our backyard!

Dairy Products

• We are going raw. I am choosing raw milk and raw cheeses where I can find them. I am unable to find raw butter, but Kerrygold butter is a great second choice (their cows are grass fed!). Raw dairy offers many benefits over pasteurized diary including intact enzymes, beneficial bacteria and vitamins not found naturally in pasteurized milk.
• I am getting our milk from a locally run family dairy whose cows are grass fed, well cared for and are milked under proper and clean conditions.
• I found this site about Real Milk and found it to be very informative and educational!

Meat and Fish

• We are choosing meat that has been raised locally and sustainably. Our beef is grass fed and grass finished. Our poultry is pastured. I have yet to find pastured pork, locally, but I am looking.
• We aren't knocking the fat, anymore! The fat from properly raised animals contains more essential fatty acids than their industrial counterparts.
• I am saving all of the bones from our meals to make rich bone broth.
• We are choosing only wild caught fish such as salmon. It is a bit more expensive, but I have found wild salmon at Trader Joe's for a very reasonable price.

Fat

• I am choosing cold-pressed oils like extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil.
• I am avoiding modern day vegetable oils like soybean oil, canola oil, and corn oil. These are often processed at such high temperatures that they turn rancid before they even get to our kitchen. They are also too high in omega-6 fatty acids.
• I am not worrying about saturated fat and cholesterol. These are essential nutrients and should be in our diet as long as they are from good sources. Saturated fat also helps our bodies in metabolizing fat soluble vitamins like Vitamin D.
• We are eating butter from grass fed cows. This butter contains CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) and has been known to fight cancer.

Phew! That seems like a lot. But, it really isn't. We hit the farmer's market downtown weekly to get whatever produce we need. I intend on signing up with a CSA (community supported agriculture) once the school year starts. It might actually be more economical for us.

While a lot of this seems like major changes to our home, it hasn't had too much of an impact. I want to go through our cabinets and fridge and pull out all of the stuff that isn't natural. I will post a picture. I am really excited about this change. Prince Charming is thrilled that I am not "cooking light" anymore. E will most definitely miss his Cheerios, but I have found some delicious breakfast options to replace those. I am up to the challenge in the kitchen and will be sure to share my successes - and failures. I attempted a sour dough starter the other week and that turned funky. Oh well. I will just start over. I can't wait to make yogurt. Since I love the stuff, it will be so fun to make. I promise that this blog isn't going to turn into a foodie blog on nourishing diets. I will just continue to share what we are up to these days.

Next up, G is eating food! Real food that doesn't come out of me! And she is loving it.