Learning as we go

5 months ago we added our third child to our family.  You would think that by the third time around, I would be a pro at this whole parenting thing.  But in many ways this feels like my first time around the block.  I guess you could say that it’s because this is my third child that I’m doing things differently. I’ve learned from the first two experiences and I know what practices I liked and which ones I wanted to change.  So I’m starting a once a month series on parenting to share with you all the things I’ve learned (and am still learning) about navigating this crazy time in our lives.

*Disclaimer: This post is not meant to advocate breast over bottle. While I do believe breast is best for baby and mom, I also know that everyone’s circumstance is different. I fed two babies on formula for 9+ months and they have grown to be smart, beautiful children. This is more a comentary on how I finally learned how to achieve one of my parenting goals.

When I was pregnant with Zach, our oldest, I did everything by the book...literally.  I read baby books and articles online. It was pretty much all I had to go on.  So when he was born, I let the nurses keep him in the nursery so I could rest, I fed him on a strict schedule of every three hours.  I nursed him for 15 minutes on one side and 15 on the other. I put him in his crib in his nursery so that my husband and I could get the rest we needed and to encourage him to sleep through the night as soon as possible.  By the time Zach was three months old, my supply was all but gone, we were finished breast feeding and he was on formula.  

Apparently I didn’t learn much from that experience. When my daughter, Alice, was born I did the same thing.  I nursed her every three hours, she was sleeping through the night by 6 weeks and by three months we were done breast feeding. I was really bummed.  I felt like I had failed her.

When I found out I was pregnant with Charlotte, I was determined to breastfeed for a whole year.  I went to the books again but this time I made a point of reading everything that was the complete opposite of what I had done before.  I read about attachment parenting, co-sleeping and feeding on demand.  It all seemed to make so much sense! Why had I not heard of these things before?

From the moment Charlotte was born it’s been a completely different journey.  Even though I had a c-section (my third) we were able to have skin to skin contact right away. I held her for about 30 minutes as they finished my surgery. Never during my hospital stay did a nurse urge me to send her to the nursery so that I could get some rest or to give her a pacifier to help her stop crying. The nurses smiled when they found me nursing her almost every time they came into the room. One nurse even gave me a wink when she found me sleeping with my newborn baby in my hospital bed with me (“I’m a big supporter of co-sleeping” she told me).

Since we came home I’ve continued to nurse Charlotte on demand. She sleeps in bed with me for most of the night. At five months she still wakes me to eat 2-3 times a night but I sleep wonderfully.  I wear her around the house and anytime we are out. You would think all of this would be exhausting but it actually makes life so much easier. I have this wonderfully happy baby and she’s happy because her needs are being met to the fullest. And because she is happy, I am happy!

Sometimes I think back to my experiences with the first two and wish I knew then what I know now.  But the journey of being a parent is one of constant learning and evolving.  No doubt there will come a time down the road when I’ll have no clue what I’m doing.  But I’ll figure out a way and push on. Because that’s what we do as parents. We do our very best for our kids and rest assured that, no matter what choices we make, they are loved and that is the greatest gift we can give them.

Chewy Chocolate Cookie

In the past, I've harped on the benefits of clean eating.  And while I love eating whole-foods, I also have a major sweet tooth.  I feel like a good compromise is to make my sweet treats at home! They may have refined sugar in them, but they are also lacking in a lot of chemicals you find in store-bought treats. Plus, my kids LOVE to help whenever I bake (that is, lick the spatula…)!

One of my favorite sweets are these delicious chewy chocolate cookies.  They are super simple to whip up and they are positively delicious! Plus, it’s a pretty good bet that I always have the ingredients on hand in my baking cupboard.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

1 cup plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp cocoa powder

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

10 tbsp (1 stick plus 2 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar

1 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

sugar for dusting

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).  Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat to combine.  Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredients mixing until combined.  Place the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a flattened disk. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Shape the chilled dough into 1 inch balls.  Roll each ball in sugar and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

My kids go NUTS for these cookies. They are especially good served warm with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Do you let your kids help in the kitchen? What's your favorite thing to make together?

Whole-Wheat Banana Pancakes

When my family first started our clean eating diet, it was a big adjustment.  We tried our best to take baby steps, but there were a lot of foods that were staples in our diets that were highly processed. A big part of our success was finding alternatives to these staples that we enjoyed just as much. I found that the best way to make sure that what we were eating was unprocessed was to make foods from scratch in my own kitchen.

Now, my kids LOVED Eggo waffles and pancakes.  They ate them every morning for breakfast.  Did you know that, in addition to preservatives,  Eggo waffles have Yellow food dye in them? I can’t understand why a waffle would need food coloring. So I went to 100 Days of Real Food for help. I found a bunch of breakfast alternatives but our favorite quickly became whole-wheat banana pancakes.  

These pancakes are made with all natural ingredients like whole-wheat flour, and fresh bananas.  And unlike other made-from-scratch pancake recipes, they contain much less butter and don’t call for any refined white sugar (instead, honey is used).  

When topping these pancakes, be sure to use real maple syrup. And don’t trust what the label tells you! if you check the list of ingredients, it should list only one ingredient: 100% pure maple syrup.  Otherwise you are likely to be covering your pancakes in high fructose corn syrup!

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

2 cups whole-wheat flour (I use King Arthur brand, which can be found in the baking aisle)

2 tsp baking powder

1 ½  tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp butter, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 ¾ cups milk

1 tbsp honey

2 ripe bananas (the browner the better!), mashed

maple syrup

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, combine the butter, eggs, milk and honey.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (a few lumps are ok). Stir in the mashed bananas.  Butter a griddle or saute pan.  Add the batter using a ladle.  Once the pancakes start to bubble around the edges, flip and cook on the other side.  Serve with 100% pure maple syrup.  

These pancakes are also delicious with peanut butter! I make a big batch on Saturday and keep the leftovers in the fridge for the rest of the week.  We just pop one in the toaster and it’s ready!

Valentine's Day Craft

I'l admit, I've never been much of a decorator.  Our house doesn't have a ton of accents.  We don't have shelves filled with pictures and nik naks. The only time I've ever changed what sits on our mantle was for Christmas and I always put the same thing up, year after year.

And then I joined Pintrest.  Ah, Pintrest...the giant vortex that sucks you into a land of ideas for parties you will never throw, fashion you will never own, home improvement ideas that will never be implemented and pictures of kitchens that you will never occupy (and of course the occasional picture of Ryan Gosling).

I'll admit, I try to only pin things that I think I'll try.  But even I have crafts, recipes and outfit ideas pinned that I'll never use. However, Pintrest has led me to "up" the way I decorate.  And for the first time ever, I have decorated my mantle for Valentine's Day!

I saw a pin the other day for these lovely rose balls.  You can see the tutorial on how to make them here. Now I'm all about decor that is cheap, and let's face it, what's cheaper than crepe paper? So I set out to make some crepe paper flower balls.

I started out by cutting strips of tissue paper.  Then I folded each strip in half lengthwise, and twisted it into a rosette. Amy at The Idea Room even has a video showing how to twist the rosettes up!

Then I used hot glue to affix each rosette to a styrofoam ball.  And let me tell you, I used a LOT of glue!

The end result was an adorable rose ball.  I made three and placed them on wrought iron candle holders that usually occupy our mantle.

While I was at Hobby Lobby picking up supplies to make the rose balls, I also got some cardboard letters. I got an L, V, and E as well as a heart shaped box.  I painted all the letters red and used the lid of the box for the O to spell out "LOVE" in the center of the mantle.

I added some Valentine's Day garland to the glass hurricane I already had on the mantle and, behold! A beautiful Valentine's Day Mantle! And it was all done on the cheap which makes my husband happy!

How has Pinterest inspired you lately? Have you been inspired to decorate for holidays that you typically wouldn't decorate for?

Healthy weight loss?

On Tuesday, the NBC show The Biggest Loser crowned it's 15th weight-loss champion.  But the internet and social media immediately lit up with comments about the winner's drastic weight loss.

Rachel Frederickson, a former swimmer, came to the Bigger Loser Ranch weighing 260 pounds.  Right from the start she showed herself as a fierce competitor on the show. I'll admit, I had her pegged as the winner from the first episode. Week after week, she shed the pounds and worked hard to stay on the show. By the time she was named as a finalist, and sent home to continue her weight loss on her own until the finale, she looked like the athlete she used to be.

(Rachel talks with host Alison Sweeney after winning a triathalon)

On Tuesday, Rachel weighed in at 105 pounds.  Over the course of 7 months, she lost a total of 155 pounds or 59.62% of her total body weight.  At 5 foot 5 inches, that put her BMI at 17.5 (anything under 18.5 is considered underweight by the National Institute of Health).  She looked extremely thin and even the trainers and other contestants couldn't hide the look of shock and concern from their faces.

The Biggest Loser has often been brought under attack over the way their contestants loose weight. Many argue that such significant weight loss over such a short period of time is bad for the body.  In my experience, this kind of weight loss usually leads to temporary results.  There are so many fad diets out there that claim to help you achieve your weight loss goals in a matter of weeks.  But the best weight loss is slow and steady. 

It can't be denied that the $250,000 cash prize had a part in Rachel's weight loss. My hope is that she can now get back up to a healthy weight and stay fit and strong.

Are you looking to loose weight? The best way is to eat healthy, whole foods, exercise regularly and build lean muscle buy lifting weights.  Check out my weight loss story here.

What are your thoughts on Rachel's drastic transformation?

Valentine's Day snacks and treats

Over the past year and a half my family has cleaned up our diets and striven to eat healthy, whole foods.  I'll admit, we're not perfect.  I love to bake which means there is often cookies or cake in our house, and I cave now and then on the occasional processed treat for my kids (Cheetos, anyone?).  But whenever possible, we try to stick to unprocessed foods and a big part of that is teaching our kids to make healthy food choices.

Valentine's Day is coming up which means that our kids will be attending school parties filled with cupcakes with bright red and pink frosting, cookies with sprinkles, and chips.  And then there are the Valentines themselves with candy bars and Smarties attached.

But there's a way to eat well during this time! Check out my most recent post on Greeley Moms on how to provide healthy options for your child's school party as well as non-candy Valentine ideas:

http://www.greeleytribune.com/news/feature3/9998155-113/valentine-candy-heart-kids

What healthy treats are you planning to provide for Valentine's Day?

Autumn Chili

Aside from having to chop onions at 9am, I can't think of a downside to using my Crock Pot.  I love being able to get dinner ready early in the day, before things get crazy.  I love the smells that fill my house all day as the meal simmers away.  And I love the way the flavors infuse into one another after hours of cooking.

And what's one of the most common Crock Pot recipes? You guessed it...CHILI! I have several good recipes for Chili, but one of my favorites (and by far, my husbands top pick) is Autumn Chili.  This chili combines all my favorite flavors of fall like butternut squash and apples with some traditional chili ingredients (onions and black beans) and some nontraditional (carrots and coconut milk).  And by using ground turkey instead of beef, this recipe get's onto my "healthy meal" list.

Autumn Chili (adapted from Crock-pot.com)

1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalk celery, chopped
2 cups apples, diced
2 cups butternut squash, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey, cooked and drained
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
10 ounces chicken broth
1 can coconut milk
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

Combine all ingredients in Crock-Pot.  Cook on low for 8 hours. If desired, open lid for the last 45 minutes to thicken.

I love to serve this with just a dollop of sour cream and a side of corn bread for a delicious fall meal!!!