18 Months update

How is it that my baby is 18 months!? I swear she was born just a few months ago, sigh. I hate that time goes so fast and they grow up so quickly. Oh well, savoring every moment.

Some stats, she is 34" tall and about 25lbs. All this according to my home measurements since we don't do "well visits" (who wants to go to the doctor when they are well!? doctors are for going to when sick). She is wearing 18-24 months clothes with some 2Ts in the mix, size 5 shoes although moving into a 6. Still mostly soft soles.
She is full of character and quite the clown, but she is also feisty. She is always on the move, always looking for trouble to get into haha. She will pull up a chair to give herself a boost when trouble is out of her reach, keeping mama on her toes!
Great eater, eats constantly pretty much, "real" food and still nursing tons. She also now uses utensils and does pretty good with them.
She is getting quite brave at the play ground and now goes down the biggest slide all by herself, craziness. Still loves the swings and can easily waste 10+minutes in them. Still likes to eat dirt and sand and sticks, yuk. She hates having her teeth brushed, but some days she doesn't fight it. She does like eating the toothpaste though, silly girl.
Still not much talking, she says mama, hi, something that means bye, "boba" which means boob sometimes while signing "milk" at the same time. She is starting to try and mimic our sounds more and more so maybe there is more words coming soon. Loves her big sister, most of the time, loves to pretend to want to listen to books but looses interest a few pages in. Kicking a soccer ball is the new cool thing around here these days.
And some pictures, because why not!

She loves smoothies!

multitasking, nursing and nose picking haha

Still rear facing, of course.

troublemaker!

Still bed sharing

Still baby wearing.

Pumpkin scones recipe!

Funny thing, I never used to like pumpkin until about a year or two ago. Now I'm pretty open to it, and it does make me feel like fall is here. Because living in California you'd never know it's fall, it's been in the high 80's most of the week. So we try to make it feel like fall, through the crazy heat and what not.
We've been all about the scones lately so I made up a recipe and have been tweaking it for abut a week, I've made a batch almost every day, and to be honest they have all been good!

Ingredients: (this makes 8 scones)
2 Cups flour (I use white unbleached organic, but I should try it with whole wheat, or at least half/half)
1/4 C. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (add more if you like your cinnamon, I'm sure pumpkin pie spice would work fine too)
1/4 tsp. all spice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 C. butter (1 stick)
1/2 C. pureed pumpkin
1/4 C. heavy cream
toasted pecans and dried cranberries to taste, I do about a 2 TBSP each, eye ball it.
Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix them well. Take the stick of butter straight from the fridge cut it into 1/2 inch cubes and add it to the dry ingredients. Cut into the flour mixture with a pastry knife. It will look like course crumbs when you are done.

Measure out 1/2 cup of pumping puree, I do this in a glass measuring cup and add the cream on top of it then stir together.

Add the pumpkin and cream mixture to the flour & butter mixture, stir with a spoon or fork, I like to use 2 forks and toss it together. You want to handle this dough as little as possible, it's a pretty dry dough so that's not necessarily easy. Once you've got it somewhat incorporated (it will not come together at this point, it'll still resemble course crumbs, just larger ones) add the nuts and the cranberries. Toss a few more times to mix those in.

At this point I dump the dough on the counter to finish it. Try not to knead it, I sort of fold it and squash it together until it forms a mass. Then I shape it into a circle about 1" thick.

I forgot to take a picture of it cut. But cut all the way across the circle through the middle to split it into 2, then make a cross cut to split it into 4, then cut each quarter into halves and you end up with 8 wedges. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, if your oven is an over achiever perhaps check on them after 15 minutes. Mine is rather slow so it takes the full 20, they should start to brown on top. Naturally I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, and there is non left haha. I will make them again in a day or 2 I'm sure and will add a picture. Here they are going in though:

I've been debating whether or not I should make a glaze for them. I might test drive them with a glaze next time I make some. If someone tries them with a glaze I'd love to know what kind and how you like it. Bon Appetite!

Doula on my mind.

I'm taking a doula training workshop this weekend. That's all that's on my mind lately! I'm so excited to get into the birth scene and to help empower women to achieve the birh they want and deserve.  Also extremely nervous about leaving Cora for 4 days. I'll be home in the evenings, but I've never been away from her for more than 4 hours. I hope she doesn't hate me, but I'm pretty sure she will. I'll update after the workshop.

My deodorant recipe

I haven't used commercial deodorant in over 2 years. The carcinogenic list of ingredients is just not something I'm willing to put on my body. I've used several different recipes over the past 2 years and have used some natural store bought deodorants. Those didn't' work for me. The only store bought one that worked sort of was the Crystal deodorant. Not so well during the summer though, winters it did well enough that I used it primarily. It was especially great when I was pregnant and couldn't handle smells, since it is unscented.
So here is my recipe, this makes enough to fill 3 empty deodorant containers:
0.5 oz beeswax (I plan to experiment with adding more to make the mixture even more stable in warmer temperatures now that it's hot, but so far I know this amount works for this recipe.)
1/2 Cup coconut oil
2 Tablespoons bentonite clay
6 Tablespoons each baking soda and arrowroot powder.
10-15 drops of Tea Tree oil (depending on how you like/dislike the smell, but it's a great for its anti fungal and antimacrobial properties)
20-30 drops of whatever essential oils you want to scent it. I've been doing about 10 drops of lemon, 10 drops of Sweet Orange, and 10 drops of Lavender. I'm thinking of dropping lavender form this particular blend though and just doing more citrus.

First melt the beeswax either in a double boiler or over low heat.

When the beeswax is melted turn the heat off and add the coconut oil, stir until melted. Since coconut oils has very low melting point there is no neat to heat it, the heat of the beeswax and the pan should od the job quickly. Then I start stirring in the powders, bentonite clay goes in first. Then I add the baking soda and the arrowroot powder, 1 tablespoon at a time alternating them so it's easier to keep track of how much has gone in. When stirring the powders in you want to remove the pan from the heated burner if you have an electrical that stays warm for a while, like mine. I use chop sticks to stir the mixture. It ends up being about the thickness of kefir, maybe a tiny bit thicker. Once the powders are stirred in add the essential oils and stir them in.

Then I let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, I want it to cool just a bit before I pour it into the deodorant containers. I fill the containers and put them in the fridge to set up and usually end up leaving them there over night, till the next morning when I need them. This whole process takes me maybe 10 minutes, it's pretty easy and simple and very customizable. If someone tries this I'd love to hear if it works for you.

Grandma's buttermilk sourdough pancakes

I wish a had a picture of the pancakes my grandma used to make. She lived in a village with barely any electricity, and no running water or sewer system. The water was taken from a well in the yard, and the bathroom was an outhouse behind the barn. It was "rough"living, at least my mom recalls it being rough growing up there. I can certainly see how it probably was. But for kids it was glorious! We visited for a few weeks every summer in childhood until grandma passed away, around the time I was 10. Grandma did have a tiny fridge, and a gas stove but rarely used those. She mostly used her giant brick oven. In this brick oven she cooked the best pancakes I have ever tasted! She used to make them big too, probably 9"-10" we'd put one on the soup bowl and put a generous pad of butter in the center then run it all around till it melted and created a puddle of melted butter in the center. Then we'd tear off chunk of this delicious pancake dip them in the butter and enjoy. I so wish I had a picture of that.

For years my mom and her sisters tried to replicate the recipe, no one had it or thought to get it form Grandma before she passed. No one ever got even close! They all wrote it off on the lack of the big brick oven. Alas I think the problem was they didn't use sourdough starter. I started using sourdough starter 2 years ago and just randomly my mom mentioned that grandma used to have some bubbly mixture she kept going that she kept on a shelf in the brick oven, and she added this bubbly mixture to the pancakes. I figured it had to have been sourdough, test drove a recipe and what do you know, it tastes like grandma's pancakes!

The recipe I've come up with is rather basic, no eggs or oil/butter involved which works out great for those days when I'm low on ingredients. This batch is quite large but these freeze well and reheat well in the toaster. Anyways here it goes!

2 cups sourdough starter straight out of the fridge
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1.5 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp. salt
3Tbsp. sugar (more if you like your pancakes sweet, I prefer mind pretty neutral)
Mix sourdough, buttermilk, sugar, salt and baking soda together. Stir in the flour and let the batter rest for at least 20 mins.

I cook them on cast iron over low heat, but proceed as you normal would with any other pancake. Enjoy!

Second time around, cloth diapering addition.

I didn't cloth diaper Penni full time till about 3 months old so I was super excited to put Cora in fluff from day 1. She's now 1 year old and never been in a disposable, kind of proud of that.  Second time around was a bit easier because I knew which diapers I preferred so I didn't have to waste time and money buying stuff to experiment with. The only, very minor, issue we've had is figuring out a new washing routine. With Penni there was a top loading washer, now we have a front loader. But that worked itself out very quickly. Some of the reasons we use cloth
  -It's environmentally conscious/ responsible.
  -Saves lots and lots of money. With Penni I spent about $600 on a stash, and when she was potty learned I sold it for about $200-$250.  So overall I diapered her for 2 years for just under $400. Can't do that with disposables, never mind natural or lesser chemical loaded disposables.
  -It's cute! seriously, adorable!
  -My baby deserves to have organic bamboo or cotton on her bum haha.
  -I don't like chemicals, I realize that you can't always avoid them, but I do my best with the resources we have, and using cloth has been an obvious way to lessen chemical exposure. Here is a link explaining the chemicals used in a disposable.

Lastly to prove my point, that fluff is cute, here are some pics!

This is 1 or 2 days old, aw how I miss having a teeny baby 

A couple weeks old, so cute, so little!

Our diaper stash, well it's a little different now but quite similar.

Cora is doing her part! her shirt says "changing the world one diaper at a time"

Those are wool pants (soft, not at all scratchy) wool is naturally water repellant so it makes a nice breathable cover.

Fitted diapers are my favorites, and that particular diaper is one of my all time favorites. 

If you've considered cloth diapering but are scared or intimidated by all the information out there, then please give them a try! It's a lot more simple than it seems, I promise. 

Penni and Cora, if you girls ever read this, I hope you'll cloth diaper your kids! I'll help.

Mother's Day 2014

Mother's Day has come and gone and it was a low key weekend, but I did feel special I suppose. Every time David is clueless as to what to do or get for me for some special celebration he suggests a trip to Santa Cruz. He knows I love that place and will always be excited to go, and it's always special!
We expected it to be windy and cold so we left the sand toys in the car not expecting to be able to play on the beach much. Well it ended up being lovely, but the car was far enough where we didn't want to go back to it for the toys. Penni didn't seem to care and frolicked in the ocean, got completely soaked and had a blast!

 

Cora played in the sand, ate some sand, kept offering Penni her sun glasses haha.

Eventually I took her to the water's edge and put her feet in the water, when we did that with Penni around the same age she started crying and wanted nothing to do with the cold ocean water. Well Cora didn't mind at all! She actually kept trying to wiggle out of my grip and crawl straight into the ocean, my little risk taker.

Went out to eat at one of our favorite places downtown, Rosie McCann's, that place just always serves up yummy food. It's technically a pub and I don't think they have any high chairs, so Cora hung out on the bench. Little opportunist took advantage of having full range of motion kept swiping handfuls of food from our plates even though we kept giving her food.

It was a lovely day, and to finish it up right we had to get some ice cream at Penny Ice creamery, Penni thought that was great! She approves of the ice cream as well.

On Sunday we all had a family gathering at my parents' house. Cora's favorite activity of the day was climbing the stairs. Repeatedly.

And some cake love for all the wonderful mamas, I hope every mom felt special and had a good day :)

12 Months Update

My baby is 1! How did that happen!? I can't believe how insanely quickly this year has flown by. Somehow I'm a mother for a 5 year old and a 1 year old. Wow.
Stats, she is 21 pounds and 31 inches long. Wearing size 18 months for the most part. Refusing to walk but crawls and mowgli crawls and lightning speeds! She has 6 teeth, 2 bottom front, 2 top front, 1 eye tooth and 1 random molar. They don't seem to come in any kind of order haha.
We are still exclusively bed sharing with no plans to change that.  When she does start sleeping through the night, whenever it may be, we will probably try to have the girls share a bed. Penni is so far excited at the prospect of sleeping with her sister, we'll see if she still excited by the time Cora is ready. Still breastfeeding, tons. Although she did finally start eating solids a few weeks ago, we are now giving her grains too and she seems to love it! Still doing baby led weaning, I do help her with yogurt and apple sauce but other than those 2 she pretty much feeds herself all the time, making giant messes of course. Still cloth diapering, still baby wearing, still rear facing in her car seat. She's also still never had a bottle, and at this point if need be I'd just pump and put that into a sippy cup. Have I mentioned that I can't believe she is already 1!? Sigh.
She is quite the character, plays peekaboo all the time, makes silly faces to get a reaction, unplugs any and all cords/night lights she can get her hands on.  Unloads any and all cabinets/drawers she can before getting caught.  Waves franticly when someone is leaving, squeals when someone comes over, and gives open mouth kisses at her discretion. She started signing "milk" this week so that's been exciting, sometimes she'll sign "all done"as well.
A few pics from the day of her actual birthday, her party is this weekend.

Oversupply, a blessing or a struggle? and some "Ruin Your Day with tits"

I produce too much breast milk for one baby, I think my body wishes for twins haha. I produced abundantly with Penni, but it's worse this time around. I'm not trying to complain, I truly am grateful and blessed that I'm able to nourish my baby with my body, as much as she needs it. But oversupply doesn't come without it's own challenges. I tried pumping for a while, I really wanted to donate to moms in need, and I did for a bit but eventually stopped because it was a lot of work. Pumping for 20-30 minutes would yield 2-3oz and my breast would still feel somewhat full. It was rather frustrating, especially since I exclusively pumped for Penni in the beginning without issue. I used a different, supposedly more powerful, pump this time around and maybe that's part of the issue. I don't know. Some of the down sides to oversupply, I leak. Even though Cora is now 10 months old I still leak, especially on the days she doesn't nurse as frequently as is common for her. This is particularly bad when I'm nursing, the other side lets down. Pretty much every time. When in public I usually try to put pressure on the overactive breast, so not only am I the mom nursing my kid in public often, I'm also holding my other boob at the same time. Must be quite a sight. At night she nurses mostly on one side, so I wake up with my shirt pretty wet and sometimes the blanket too. Thankfully clogged ducts aren't a problem this time around, in 9 months only had it once and it was mild. I do wish that my body would catch on to what Cora actually needs and adjust the supply, but I'm not willing to do anything to help the process out of fear of loosing the supply. So I'll deal, and Cora will enjoy the abundance of milk.
And just because this is awesome and funny, Ruin your day with tits...

9 Months Old update

Little miss Coraline turned 9 months old on the 8th. Where has the time gone, it is crazy how quickly it's flying by! Let's see what is she up to. She started doing a more normal version of a typical crawl on her 9 months birthday, up until now she's been scooting on her butt to get where she wanted to go. She was relatively efficient at the butt scoot, but I guess decided to try the crawling business anyways. It's rather comical because she still won't put both of her knees on the ground, so it's a 1 knee 1 foot hobble/crawl type of thing. You can check out the video on instangram:
Instagram video Cora crawling

Feeding hasn't changed much, she is much more interested these days, and will grab and dive for whatever is within reach (or not) but for the most part still just plays with it. Although the gagging isn't as bad anymore, and she doesn't always shrug when she does swallow something. This kid is so silly. She still breastfeeds. All the time. Night time included. Thank goodness for bed sharing or I'd never sleep!

She now also has 2 teeth! Finally! The downside is she now bites me occasionally. We'll work through it though. I stopped breastfeeding Penni when she started biting, but it was after a year and I wasn't as determined. I'm determined to keep going this time, so we'll get through this phase. Here are her adorable little toofers

In other goings on, I'm pretty proud to say that in 9 months she's never had a bottle, we still don't use the stroller, and she co-sleeps in our bed. Well that's kind of a given since we never bothered with a crib this go around. We do have a toddler bed or the plan was to have her and Penni bed share when she gets older, but considering she is no where near sleeping through the night she'll be snuggling with me for a while still. Perfectly fine with that here.