I’ve decided since I’m going to be working intensively on our nutrition that I’ll join the Menu Plan Monday brigade :D  Deciding this late I’m just barely going to make it on Monday

I’ve decided to try serving multiple-course suppers this week, in the hopes of actually filling my family of bottomless pits up.  Thus far this has effectively resulted in more food being served at supper, however I can’t exactly pull off serving separate courses - I just end up with all of them on the table at once.  We’re having a salad, soup, and main dish with every meal.  This brings us to two soups a day most days, as we almost always have soups with (or for) lunch.  Anyways, on with the menu plan:

Monday - B: Egg, mushroom, zuccini, and beef scramble.  Soaked oatmeal with butter, cream, and yogurt for the kids an I, leftover roasted potatoes for Scott.

L: Homemade nachos supreme, homemade tomatoe soup, sauerkraut.

S: Balsamic Carrot Salad, Coconut Chicken Soup, Liver with Mushroom and Onions, soaked rice.

To-do: Soak oats, crockpot cook chicken (for tomorrow’s soup and extra chicken to freeze for enchiladas next week)

Tuesday -  B: Veggie, beef, egg scramble.  Soaked oatmeal for kids and I, soaked rice with coconut oil for Scott.

L: White bean chicken chili soup, sauerkraut.

S: High Enzyme Salad, Chicken Rice Soup, Chicken supreme with rice (rice leftover from yesterday).

To-do: boil black beans and transfer to crockpot to cook through morning, soak rice, soak oats, start sunflower seeds sprouting, pick meat off yesterdays chicken; start stock

Wednesday - B: Veggie, beef, egg scramble.  Soaked oatmeal for kids and I, soaked rice with coconut oil for Scott.

L: Black bean soup, sauerkraut.

S: Cucumber yogurt salad, Roman egg soup, chicken gumbo w/ rice

To-do: soak nuts, soak oats, start sauerkraut

Thursday - B: Veggie, beef, egg scramble.  Soaked oatmeal for kids and I, soaked rice with coconut oil for Scott.

L: Beef stew, kraut

S: Salad, Mexican soup, Black bean enchiladas w/ guacamole and sour cream

To-do: start stew at breakfast, start fish stock, soak oats, roast nuts

Friday - B: Veggie, beef, egg scramble.  Soaked oatmeal for kids and I, soaked rice with coconut oil for Scott.

L: Coconut fish soup, kimchi

S: Caesar salad, Soup (whatever takes my fancy), Roast

To-do: meal plan/grocery list, thaw liver

Saturday - B: Scott does weekend breakfasts!

L: Pate with crackers, Soup, steamed squash, kimchi

S: Salad, Mexican soup, Tacos garnished with avocado

To-do: grocery shop

Sunday - B: Scott does weekend breakfasts!

L: Omelettes, soup, tomato slices, sauerkraut

S: High Enzyme Salad, Simple veggie soup, Roast Chicken w/ potatoes

To-do: soak rice, soak oats, grind beef heart (for breakfast’s ground beef), soak black beans, soft-boil eggs (for snacks for the week), soak marrow (for snacks for the week)

Thanks to Cheeseslave for the idea of publishing our menu plan

Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu planning ideas

I’ve spent my holiday free hours reading as much as possible in preparation for our family to spend 30 days eating meals according to the guidelines of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. We’ve been casually moving more and more towards that style of eating and food preparation but I want to give it 30 days of being strict about it.

The biggest challenge for me I think will be making sure that all of our grains (and nuts) are properly soaked - and somewhat reducing our reliance on carbohydrate and start heavy foods. Even though we don’t eat wheat or gluten-containing grains we do eat a lot of rice, corn, and potatoes. I’d like to take some focus off those things.

I’ll blog about it as I go through it and the kids and I will be strict. That means no processed food, and we’re also going no treats with the possible exception of homemade ice cream (made with a WAPF approved recipe). This will be a little tough on me because I have a weakness for a late night snack of Pasta Roni Shells and White Cheddar (I know, it’s horrible!) and ok… I’ll admit it… Ben and Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream.

I’ve read a book on children’s nutrition which was really excellent (I’m going to do a full review of it for the site so stay tuned) and I’m going to try and incorporate the special guidelines for growing children (and nursing mothers) into our diet as much as possible. Scott has agreed to be a guinea pig here at home, but I won’t make promises about what he’ll choose to do at work It would be nice to see this improve the entire family’s health, though.

I have a few more books to get through that have been recommended, but I’m armed with two good cookbooks (though some modifications may have to be made to the aforementioned Art of French Cooking I think it’s pretty WAPF friendly overall) and I’ve been working on scouting food out. Another challenge is working this type of eating into a family budget and a busy schedule.

I’ll be doing full overviews of resources that help us as we go along, and how we’re feeling and keeping up with everything. I’m planning to start on the 12th since we’ll be back into the homeschool routine and that gives me another week to finish my books and plan some meals!

So Scott got me a new one for Christmas!  Since it arrived in its box and I could see what it was, and I had some sewing projects planned so Scott told me I could go ahead and have at it :p I love it!!!

This is the first project I did with it, I’m really pleased with how it came out!  KwikSew 3105.  By age I should have made size medium for Cassidy but measuring her I decided to do size small - I’m glad I did, it fits her perfectly.  The pics of her in it came out blurry so I’ll post again when I get some not-blurry ones :p  This was my first time doing buttons so they came out a little close together but overall I’m pleased - and I love the pattern style, it’s so classic <3

Front:

Back:

I say “carry your home” because it really is the mother who sets the tone for the home.  You’ve probably heard the saying “if mama isn”t happy, nobody is happy.”  And it’s true.  If you’re feeling stressed out the children will reflect that too (your husband probably will too, if he’s around)  The atmosphere in a home is largely set by the mother.  A good rhythm will help you create a warm home.

Bringing Rhythm

You work rhythm into your routine.  With small children it can be pretty easy.  As you do your work sing or hum.  Learn songs related to the work you’re doing - baking songs, washing songs, etc.  Most cultures have songs that have traditionally gone along with household tasks and you can find folk artists who have recorded them.

Pick a song or a nursery rhyme or verse that signals it’s time to change activities.  When it’s time to clean up toys and get ready for lunch, a simple song about cleaning up toys can help a young child make what might otherwise be a hard transition.  Songs about working together and doing chores can help make the housework go more quickly and cheerfully - and cheerfulness is something you want to instill in your children!

You may already have a bedtime routine that involves story and singing - that’s a great example of giving a living, breathing rhythm to a routine.  You don’t just set the child in bed and turn out the light.  The child knows there’s a transition period where he is having a bath, reading a story, and listening to you sing a song before the light is turned out.

In my home singing while cooking is pretty much a given.  It helps me as I move back and forth across the kitchen.  It also helps save my sanity because I can work and sing and not have to answer the five-hundred-million questions I get asked every time I set foot in the kitchen!

Atmosphere and Nurturing

Some families open every meal with a verse of thanksgiving or blessing and this is a nice hint of rhythm to start the family meal.  Other mealtime ideas include lighting a candle, setting out pretty cloth napkins, or arranging fresh flowers or produce as a seasonal centerpiece.  I’ve read of one mother that set the breakfast table before she went to bed every night so she could wake to have the table ready for her each morning - it was something she did to give herself a little nurturing.

There may be small things you do to build the rhythm and atmosphere of your home - have everyone make beds in the mornings so the rooms have a more peaceful feel to them.  I’m not doing great at this one right now as we’re still trying to move back into the regular routine since Galen’s birth - but usually I do try and make sure that my bed is made because I know Scott enjoys it.  I also get his things set on his bedside table because it’s a small way I can show him that I care about him - and that I’m thinking of him during the day while he’s at work.

Bringing a routine and schedule to your family is vital to helping your family function and getting the things you want to get done actually done.  But bringing life into your home is something completely different - and relatively simple.  Sing (even if you think you can’t - your kids don’t care), mark transitions with a song or verse, light candles, dance while you sweep the floor - anything you can think of.  It goes a long way towards bringing routine and rhythm to your children - and it brings warmth to your home life and joy to yourself.

These are just some brief ideas on creating rhythm and a nuturing atmosphere in your home (for your family and for yourself!) I may go into more detail, or if you have questions just ask in the comments.  And yes, there are days when I get frazzled just like you - and my home doesn’t seem quite so peaceful as I like to write about.  But singing really helps those days too :p

Our announcement was done by Belly Bean Designs and I highly recommend them! Beautiful announcement and very easy to work with. I was pleased with their customer service as well :D  They also do invitiations, holiday cards, etc!

I felt ready when Galen was 2 days old ;)  I held him over a small bowl, made a “psss” sound and was happily surprised when he peed!  Things have gone very well since then.

We kept Galen in diapers completely at first.  His first week I kept him in disposables (Tushies brand) while he was clearing the meconium from his digestive tract.  If I felt like he needed to go I just unstrapped the diaper and held him over his “potty bowl.”  If he wet in the diaper I made the “pss” sound and held him over the bowl, and put a dry diaper on right away.

A Clear Preference

After the first week we switched to cloth diapers.  Not long after Galen cleared all the meconium and started having normal breastfed baby bowel movements he developed a total preference for pooping over his potty bowl.

I continue to be amazed by this.  He’s only had a few dirty diapers ever… The first couple of weeks he’d poop in the night, and I didn’t catch those.  He quickly stopped, however - I was expecting this because I remembered my others got to where they didn’t poop at night.  After he stopped going at night we pretty much stopped having dirty diapers.

He would wet diapers, but would wait for the potty bowl to poop.  He still does now, at 7 weeks.  Now he’s having 1-2 bowel movements a day, skipping a day occasionally.  He goes in the potty bowls or over the sink.  Scott finds it much easier to hold him over the bathroom sink; I prefer a little potty bowl.  We keep a bottle of spray cleaner by the sink now :p

Galen would have a lot small smears on his diapers in the early weeks.  We called them “wet farts” which is a pretty accurate description.  Once I was up and about and our out-of-town visitors were gone I started keeping Galen dressed in long sleeves and leg warmers or split pants at home.  I’d just keep a prefold diaper under his bottom since he had the little smears whenever he passed gas.  Scott preferred (and still does) for me to put pocket diaper on him.  If he’s fussing and Scott thinks he needs to go he just takes the diaper off and holds Galen over the sink.

Six Week Changes

At six weeks exactly there was a big change for Galen - he stopped having the wet farts.  He still passes gas, of course, but his muscles have matured to where there’s no longer anything coming out with the gas.  I still keep him over a prefold but I’m pleased they stay nice and clean.

Galen also started to stay dry through the night most nights.  I try to cue him to pee when we go to bed (between 10 and 11pm) - if he goes then he’s usually dry in the morning when we wake around 6:30am.  In fact some mornings I’ve had a hard time getting him to go even then!!  He isn’t dry all nights, but he is most nights now.  That’s pretty exciting!

During the day we do still have wet diapers and prefolds but I feel pretty confident about “catching” his pees.  A lot of it is based on timing - if it’s been awhile since he’s gone, if he’s just woken or finished a long nursing.  But if he gets fussy we can often offer him the potty and he’ll go.

I feel comfortable about napping with him diaperless now.  I put him on a diaper with a towel and waterproof mat underneath.  I also just drape a prefold over his private area so he doesn’t spray me should he go!  But he stays dry during our nap time.  When he naps in the baby hammock next to me I still diaper him, and I do overnight as well.  I still diaper him when we go out, though I’ve been able to get him to pee over the potty at our children’s library!

Keeping Cozy

To keep warm around the house Galen wears a hat and socks all the time.  He wears a lightweight baby t-shirt under a long-sleeved shirt and then either baby leg warmers or split pants I made for him, as I mentioned above.  He almost always either sitting/nursing right up against me or he’s in mine or Scott’s baby carrier so our body heat keeps him cozy too.  I’ll put a blanket around him as well, if I think he needs it.  We live in northern Michigan, so keeping an EC’d baby warm while allowing easy potty access has been one of my focuses.

All in all EC’ing is going very well and I continue to be amazed just how aware he is.  Some days we get through most of the day with just one diaper.  Other days there will be a bunch of wet ones.  Rarely are there dirty diapers though.  It’s clear to me that Galen wants to stay clean and dry, and has the capacity to let us know when he needs to go - and to let us know when we missed a cue and he needs a dry diaper… right away

Charlie, my midwife with Cassidy, Asher, and Brennan was absolutely adamant that mothers should spend their first week postpartum in bed with their baby.  They should get up to use the bathroom and have a shower/sitz bath.  Other people  should make the meals, clean the house, do the laundry, etc.  That can’t always happen though - I’ll address what to do when you must be the one to take care of the household.

I’ve tried to take this week with each of my babies.  I think it’s important for new mothers, though many mothers disagree or say they couldn’t possibly find a way to have a lying in period.  Others say they’d go crazy.  I have always been eager to be sitting back in the den with the family at the end of my lying in, but I’ve really enjoyed the time to be pampered and especially to spend getting to know my baby.

Enjoying Lying In

If you’re hoping to take a lying in period but aren’t sure how you can I have some tips for you.  Firstly, if you’re worried that you’ll go crazy by being in bed that long, consider how good for you the period is.  It lets you rest postpartum.  You’ll be able to catnap when baby rests.  You won’t be overdoing it because you won’t be up to be tempted to do housework.  You can devote your time to working on your nursing relationship and learning your baby’s signals.  Overall it’s just a good time.

If you’re worried about being bored get some books and magazines together.  Bring your laptop in to chat with other ladies with new babies.  Or stock up on DVD’s to watch.  Have a phone by your beside so you can make calls and chat.  And of course… plan to sleep!!

Having Food to Eat

Take some time while you’re pregnant to freeze a week’s worth of main dishes.  Keep your fridge stocked with deli meats, cheeses, yogurt, etc. in your last few weeks of pregnancy.  Have your cabinets stocked with canned meats, nut butters, nuts, dried fruits, etc.  Keep bread and bagels on hand - you may want to freeze some too (if you’re like my family and don’t keep bread due to celiac disease  keep rice in the cupboard and buy a rice cooker!)

Keeping things stocked up like this mean that even if you must do the cooking after your baby is born it will require minimal effort.  Eat yogurt, bagels or scramble eggs for breakfasts, and eat sandwiches for lunches.  Put your frozen meal in the oven in the late afternoon to have a hot casserole for supper in the evening.  Plan now so you can relax then.

Don’t Clean!

I highly recommend letting the cleaning go if there’s no one to do it for you.  That’s right.  Just forget about it.  Let the house get dirty.  Buy paper plates, plastic cups and utensils, and use those while you’re in your first week postpartum.  Just toss them.  Save your sanity!  Don’t worry about dishes!

Try to do minimal laundry.  I know babies use a lot of clothing up, but chances are you’re going to get a lot of baby clothing as gifts.  Or let people know while you’re pregnant that you’d love hand-me-down baby clothes.  Or go shop for baby gowns, onesies, and t-shirts at yard sales and the thrift store - stock up so you don’t need to do much laundry.  You can pass the clothing on to another baby after your baby has outgrown it.  Again… plan and prep now!

Taking Care of Your Older Children

If you have older children you will have to look after think of activities now.  Coloring books, story tapes, videos (if your children watch them), new small toys, etc. are good for young children.  A new book, audio books, videos/games (again if your child is allowed), a board game to do with you, legos, etc. may be good for older children.  Stock up a special box for after the baby is born to help keep them occupied.  Go to the library and check out lots of books just before your due date.  My kids had a box full of a couple new coloring books each, a tape player and several story tapes, homemade playdough we made together, finger puppets, and a new toy Slinky for each child.  I also cut them out some Berenstein Bear paper dolls and had a few other goodies in there.

If you have a toddler you may want to completely baby-proof the room you’ll be in with you and baby so you can nap with your toddler in the room and know he or she is safe.  If your older child is a young toddler you may consider setting up a playpen in the room to have him or her while you nap with the baby.

Let Others Help

These tips will help you relax if you will still have to take care of your household during your first week or so postpartum.  If you have someone else who will do it for you - let them!!!  I had a real treat after Galen’s birth because Scott took care of everything for us for my first week.  And he took care of meals for two weeks, even after I was back downstairs with the family.  It was really nice and I loved that time to bond with Galen.

One last tip is if you have visitors coming to see the baby ask them to do something while they’re at your home - a load of laundry, sweeping or running the vacuum, etc.  Or ask them to bring a meal with them.   And if someone offers to help don’t say no!

Enjoy your “lying in” period - let yourself be mothered.  If you don’t have anyone else to help, plan during pregnancy to make that period as easy for yourself as you can.  You will be very grateful for your planning as you relax with your baby and enjoy those first precious days!

I chose to visualize the experience I most wanted to have in a lot of detail.  I tried to do all of my imagining from a first-person perspective - so that I was actually in my body, rather than just observing from the outside as if I were watching myself on screen.  I did this because during birth you are of course actually going to be in your body, having the baby yourself - not watching!

I also visualized several other scenarios I thought could possibly happen, just to feel more comfortable if they actually arose (for instance, we planned a water birth but I pictured birthing in our bedroom as well).  I also did some work with my own fears and as part of overcoming that fear I visualized and analyzed the “what if” situation (you can read more about my work through my fears, including c-section, in this post)

So I did imagine quite a few different ways of giving birth to my baby.  But the one I wanted most of all I spent the most time picturing (I tried to make time every day, usually during my afternoon rest time) and pictured in the most detail.  It’s important to let go of feeling foolish, or too optimistic - just let yourself imagine your very “best case” birth, your “ideal” birth so to speak.  You can explore other situations, as I did, but spend time picturing how you really want it to go.

This is a really powerful way to help your mind get ready for the birth.  It can become almost like a rehearsal for the birth, leaving you with the feeling that you’ve been through this before.

I’ve visualized before each of births because I believe it helps.  But I do really think that our minds are a powerful thing.  And I think Galen’s birth is one of the proofs of that.  When I visualized Galen’s birth, I always pictured the birth tub, myself, and Scott.  I pictured Galen coming into the world and being brought from the water in my hands and in Scott’s hands.

Now, in the back of my mind I always thought “the midwives are there somewhere, in the background” and also I generally thought the children would be there somewhere in the background too.  But I found myself unable to picture them actually right there, by the tub - I wanted Galen’s first moments to be for me and Scott, so I didn’t picture anyone else right there.

If you’ve read Galen’s birth story, you know that we ended up with an unassisted birth - in fact, my labor picked up almost as soon as our midwives left (because I was only 3cm).  As I reflect back over this I keep thinking about all the visualizing I did and how I always pictured just Scott and I there, and the midwives were just “somewhere” and never actually in the scene in my mind.  Almost everything was as I’d pictured it over and over again - the tub in the corner, the low light, the position I birthed in.  The only difference was that I always imagined Scott in the tub, and he didn’t have time to get in with me before Galen was born.  He was supporting me and holding my hands from the outside of the tub.

So I do think that what you picture in your mind - condition your mind to expect, so to speak - can have a powerful influence on your birth.  It’s why I think it’s very important to work through and let go of fears, so you can allow yourself to visualize the experience you’d like without fears creeping in.  But that visualization will help you explore possibilities and prepare for your birth in the closest way to actually being able to “practice” birth that you can.  Enjoy!

The kids were much more enthused about posing with Lilly than they were with Galen!

You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to get feet pictures! I think they came out cute, though feet didn’t make the final announcement cut!

After we got done with the “big kids” Lilly decided to try and get more photo shoot opportunities with Galen.

Finally got smiles all around! I love this picture though it didn’t make the cut either, due to too much of the bedroom showing

We took hundreds of pictures trying to get one good holiday pic! Here’s a picture when we were all getting fed up and needed a laugh!

The final picture for our Christmas letter…

Happy holiday season from Natural Birth and Baby Care … and family

I’ve done a lot of thinking about Galen’s amazing birth in those weeks.  It went really, really smoothly and was a wonderful experience for me.  Scott says it was a good experience for him too.

There were two major things that contributed to such a great birth - the first is my careful attention to my nutrition during pregnancy.  I have always felt strongly that good prenatal nutrition is vital, and I’ve written about it extensively in the blog and in articles on the site.   I “practice what I preach” and was really careful to eat well for my baby.  This resulted in him being healthy and vigorous, and in my body being in excellent condition to go through labor and birth.

The second thing I did was work through the Pink Kit with Scott.  All of the Pink Kit was helpful to us.  I used many of the labor positions that we learned.   And the breathing skills were vital for both Scott and I to know.  Scott was able to help me get my breathing under control several times.  I went from 3 centimeters to 10 centimeters and pushing Galen out in about 2 hours - 2 very intense hours.  Having Scott help me breathe turned out to be really important.

The biggest part of the Pink Kit to help us, however, was doing the Internal Work for the last 8 weeks of my pregnancy.  We were pretty faithful about it and worked through the exercise almost every night.  I felt it to be really helpful during pregnancy as I learned to relax all the muscles in my birthing area.

And after Galen was born I knew the Internal Work had been helpful - Galen was born in just two pushes and I had no episiotomy, no tearing, not even any “skid marks.”  I was able to begin kegels right after birthing him and my tissues have recovered much more quickly than they have with any of my other births.

I was able to really enjoy Galen’s birth.  Our Pink Kit work helped me to be really comfortable with myself.  I was able to reach and feel the curve of Galen’s head just before my water broke, and I was able to feel him move down through my birth canal.  I felt a slight sting as he crowned and his head was born and then I was able to feel the joy of his body sliding out and bringing him up into my arms.  I was able to be relaxed and aware, and Scott and I were able to communicate well through the entire labor and birth.  Scott was able to really be a part of things, and really really helped me (especially because it moved so fast and he was able to help me stay calm and working with my labor rather than against it).

Galen’s birth was really an awesome experience for me.  It was everything I’d hoped for and more.  I spent time doing birth visualizations as is suggested in the Pink Kit and many books on birthing.  I feel like that helped prepare my mind for the birth as well and it went very, very much like I’d imagined.  I think there’s a lot of power in preparing your body and your mind for birth.  Galen’s birth was so wonderful because we took the time to prepare - and because excellent resources and knowledge were available to us (and are available to you, too!)

Read Galen’s birth story, more about prenatal nutrition, and explore the Pink Kit!