small wonders: March 2014

Thursday, March 27, 2014

We had a little taste of spring there for a bit, but winter is still holding court around here. Ari has been going out for a morning ski every day (saying- "this might be my last chance!") and he is just whipping along with his new skate-skiing skills on that firm ice crust out there. Admittedly, I have not been getting the rest of us out as much as I should- the same paths we tromped all winter are feeling a little old these days, and my energy for getting baby and kids bundled and out the door has dwindled. But we are keeping busy with lots of projects and creations and book reading and playing together. Some days the kids even get dressed! (I'm realizing that almost all the pictures I've posted of my kids lately they are wearing their pjs. To my credit, they do get dressed (almost) every day, but since I tend to get the camera out more in the mornings when the light is nicer, there are a disproportionate number of pj shots. That's my story anyway. Though it is true that it is sometimes well into the day before the kiddos bother to get dressed or I bother to encourage them. We'll call it a homeschool perk.)

We did a big spring clean/baby proof/ furniture shift last week, and it is amazing what a little refreshing can do for the head-space. The kids are loving the new space, and the new toys that have been cycled from the packed-away boxes (and I am loving a brief hiatus from the teeny plastic bits that all got packed away this time,) and lots of fun creative play has emerged. And cycling out old books for ones that haven't been seen in awhile has made for lots of quiet reading moments. We also have a new nature table space and a new homeschool corner, and an area for Willa to play with all the baby-friendly toys and books. She is getting into stuff now, and she's a busy little girl- though she hasn't started a full crawl yet. The bum-scootch is serving her just fine for now it seems.

And oh, her sweetness. Her sweet, sweet, sweetness. I can hardly stand it sometimes. Last night I was rocking her to sleep, singing to her, holding her sweet little self in my arms, her soft soft hair and warm little head against my face, her body calming at the sound of my voice and I just had this urge to simultaneously stop time right then and there- forever rocking my sweet girl- and also to go downstairs and scoop my other babies out of their beds so I could rock all three of them in my arms together. Of course this is hardly practical, considering the long gangly limbs and big squirmy bodies of my boys, not to mention they would probably balk at being rocked to sleep. But still, there was this deep sense of realizing how fleeting this is, how precious it is, and how each one of them is growing up even in this very moment of holding them tight. Growing up. Growing out of my arms and into themselves. What beauty and joy and heartbreaking wonder it is.

Saturday, March 08, 2014

around here::

::lots and lots of hot tea to get through the cold snap.

:: dreaming about far off places.

:: celebrating my love (aka the world's best Papa,)

:: starting a new cultural block with stories of baby Krishna's antics.

:: loving this boy's creativity and spunky self. and his homemade bakers hat.

:: a first sourdough spelt bread success. Yum.

:: outside the sun shines and the winter marches on. Lots of skiing and shoveling and sledding.

:: baby in a sunbeam.

These days are feeling full to brimming lately. Sometimes I look around at the house- the piles of laundry and toys and books and the kitchen filled with half-finished projects and the homeschool books to read and the lists and lists I keep making, and the sweet baby who is generally rather uninterested in naps, and the two busy busy cabin-fevered boys and I think- this is craaazy! And it is. It's crazy. But I wouldn't change it for anything, you know? (but I do daydream now and then about being in a coffee shop or the window seat of a train with only my knitting and a good book for company- just for an hour or two!- ok. a weekend. I would take a weekend.)

We are getting through this end of winter hump with lots of reading of books and drawing of pictures and cooking and baking and listening to audiobooks and dancing in the kitchen. The boys came in from a town trip with their Papa so excited, they had seen the great grey owl again and this time saw it swoop down and "catch a mouse dinner"! They were thrilled. Today they had their last ski class- they have been loving their ski lessons so much, they will miss them.

We are reading a stack of new books now- flying through them quickly these days. Trumpet of the Swans with Ari, My Father's Dragon with Dori and Half Magic with the both of them. I just finished pre-reading Swallows and Amazons which will be a fun read with Ari soon, and have still have not settled on a book to read with Perry in the evenings- we used to read to each other a lot, but will have to work hard to carve out the time these days- but the idea of snuggling with my love by the fire and reading a book together sounds pretty divine, so we'd better just choose one and make it happen! I finished The Snow Child after hearing lots of good things about it, and I love love loved it. I need to take breaks between my own fiction reading though- I can get so absorbed that I almost forget I have children when the plot gets good. Best not to do that all the time! The boys have been listening to some of the older Junkyard Tales Sparkle Stories this week. They really are so terrific. Dori and I have been reading The Black Geese from the Enki kindy collection this week. Baba Yaga is a beloved villain in this house!

We started a new cultural block this week- so good to visit our beloved India for awhile and pull out some of our traditional Indian music and the Indian cookbooks from our travels and learn some dances and songs. The boys are loving the Krishna trickster tales (Dori soaks it all up during Ari's recall even if he isn't actually listening to the first telling, and loves them, being quite the little trickster himself!) and they have been playing Krishna and stealing butter from the kitchen. My big box of grade 3 Enki materials also arrived and I have been sneaking peeks at it whenever I get the chance- it really is incredible- such thorough, deeply envisioned, beautiful material. Grade 3 is the first year with full cultural immersion units and they look so amazing- I am really excited for our year next year to be so deeply immersed in the cultures we study together. I am still trying to sort out how to combine things with the boys so they are able to share the experience, yet both be met academically and developmentally. It is a lot to think about for this sleep deprived mama!

and I joke about dreaming about a weekend away, but this morning Perry took Willa for a couple hours while I caught up on some sleep (thanks love!) and when I came downstairs I just had to scoop her up and dance her around the kitchen singing a made up songs about the cutest baby in the world and covering her sweet self with kisses- I missed her so! So no. I wont be taking the train anywhere on my own anytime soon! But a mama can dream, right?

Monday, March 03, 2014

feeding our families:: food for baby

I have been thinking a lot about how to feed this wee babe of mine lately. I felt uncertain about how to feed my other babies- opting to forgo the rice cereal, but not totally sure what to replace it with. My first babies ate a variety of fruits and veggies and bits of what we were eating, but I never felt really confident I was on the right path with the best foods to give my wee ones. One of my kiddos loved everything we gave him and my other really would have been happiest on a strict diet of bread and cookies! Later on, we discovered various food sensitivities and issues with food and gut health and I though back a lot to the early foods they had been eating, wondering if a more conscious, nourishing diet might have helped to avoid some of these issues. They hadn't been eating junk certainly, but I just had a feeling that we could have done better during those early months and years of feeding those little bellies.

So during this pregnancy I was just a wee bit preoccupied with thinking about nourishment and food. I didn't read a single book about pregnancy or birth this time around, but I did real lots about food! After our family's journey with the GAPS diet, and the healing we had with it, and with our focus still being on real, local, nourishing foods, I knew that was where we would start with this baby once she started joining us at the table.

But after lots of reading I came to the conclusion that there is no one right way to feed a baby! Babies first food's around the world vary hugely (soups, seaweeds, fruit, fish, eggs, legumes, butter, grain porriges, all kinds of different veggies and meaty bits and bobs!) and reflect local traditions, climates and tastes. All sorts of different foods are good for babies! And yet I also knew from our time on GAPS that having a healthy gut is so integral to good health, and that some foods are especially good at promoting digestive health. Plus, it seems obvious that since these little people are growing so darned fast, they need lots of good nutrients to grow on! So I decided to focus on food that was easily digestible and as nutrient dense as possible.

Thankfully wee Willa is happy to eat it all! Her very first food was homemade chicken broth and she approved! Since then she has tried all sorts of things, but usually broth is a componant- since it is so good for the tummy and such an all-round healthy food. And it is such an easy transition food from breast milk for little taste buds- no new textures to adjust to right away! Now many (but not all) of her meals start with bone broth -which the rest of the family is often eating as well- but with various veggies and/or meats mixed in and mashed up a bit with some healthy fats (coconut oil, butter ghee...) and a little probiotic food like whey from our homemade goat yogurt or some fermented veggies. So far some of her favorites are carrots, squash, leeks rutabagas, onions, meats- including liver (I wish the rest of us could learn to love it like she does!) fish, plain goat yogurt, avocado, banana, fresh carrot-celery juice, cooked apple (and gnawing on a raw one,) banana. She also adores our lacto-fermented pickles of all sorts- which is awesome as they are such a healthy probiotic food- and a great teething toy to boot! Lots of sources suggest egg yolk as a good first food, but they don't agree with Willa's tummy yet so we'll wait and try again later on those.

I am finding now as I am offering her a greater variety of things that usually she can be eating from the foods we are eating and there is getting to be less prep work to feed her. I make a lot of soup for our family, so I can just scoop out some veggies or meat and some broth and then add in other ingredients for the rest of the family. If I am making something just for her I try to make extra and freeze small portions, but already I am needing to do this less and less. She will be eating most of what we are eating fairly soon I think, though we will hold off on any grains for awhile. She seems pretty happy and healthy, so, hopefully we are on the right track.

My favorite resource has been Super Nutrition for Babies which has lots of great information and some excellent recipes- lots of great grain-free ones that our whole family has enjoyed. There is a chapter on baby feeding in the GAPS book which I have kept an eye on too. I also read French Kids Eat Everything when I was pregnanct and really enjoyed it (and it has finally helped me get my big boys to stop snacking insistently and my picky eater to start eating more real food which is something to celebrate!) It isn't specifially about feeding babies, but I was insprired by the variety and approach to feeding little ones that she talked about. Along the same lines is this beautiful website by a french mama- she posts her baby's weekly menu too, which is fun to read and glean ideas from! I also read Real Food for Mother and Baby while I was pregnant and it laid things out in a way that helped me feel calm and sure that feeding and nourishing mamas and little people is totally doable.

I am loving being part of the Feeding our Families discussion with other mama bloggers. Please check out the other posts, and join in on the comments too!