Friday, December 17, 2010

Happy Holidays!

 Photo courtesy of HikingArtist.com

I was planning on getting a post in before Christmas holidays but between being sick and leaving earlier than we expected for our trip home it didn't quite happen...

I want to wish all of you a wonderful Christmas, New Year's and a fantastic 2011!

See you again in the New Year :)

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

My Kitchen Goal for December


My kitchen goal for November was to try soaking grains before cooking them.  I was out of town for most of the month, so I didn’t get around to much cooking, but I am happy to say that I did succeed.  Last month I made homemade tortillas (twice) and homemade banana bread muffins.  The grains for both of these recipes were soaked in water with some kefir water added instead of whey (I still haven’t been able to get my buttermilk culture starter to work).  I never got around to making the soaked oatmeal recipe but will definitely do that soon!  A lot of stores near me have also started carrying a brand of organic and sprouted bread which is fantastic.  We have now tried their bread and bagels and really enjoyed them.  Eventually I’ll make our bread but until then they are a much better substitute!

Since November was so hectic I plan to get a little more relaxation in this month before we head out of town again.  My kitchen goal for December is to replace the treats I normally send with Cody to give to his coworkers with healthier versions, hopefully they won’t be disappointed!  Instead of my normal chocolate chip cookies, which wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for all the refined sugar, I think I’ll try sending sugar cookies, gingerbread men and chocolate-coconut truffles (all from Nourished Kitchen’s Happy & Healthy Holidays e-course).

This post is part of Kelly the Kitchen Kop's monthly kitchen goals.

Monday, December 6, 2010

My Babywearing Confession


When I was pregnant I decided that I wanted to babywear, it felt natural to me to keep my baby close and convenient as well.  The more I researched the benefits, the more important it became to me.  But things didn’t end up working quite as I had hoped.  Kaiden never really enjoyed being worn and to this day is usually only happy for 5-10 minutes in a carrier. 

It’s funny because for the first couple of months of Kaiden’s life he was hardly put down because he just wasn’t happy if he wasn’t in someone’s arms.  I didn’t mind, I love snuggling with him and I was lucky that Cody was home for the first 6 weeks to help me out.  But you would think that he would love being worn, nope, apparently it’s just not the same as being held on my shoulder.  He even went through a stage where he loved being carried like a sack of potatoes!

Now that he’s a little bit older, his favorite place is still in our arms but he now also enjoys his stroller.  I can’t lie, it makes me a little sad that he’ll go for long walks in his stroller, even sleep in it, but he can’t make it more than 10 minutes being worn.

I’ve tried different carriers and different positions, but have had no luck yet!  I am going to keep on trying because I am convinced that one day that he’ll grow into it and loving being worn.  At the end of the day I remind myself that being baby led means listening to your little one.  Maybe he will always prefer his stroller to any carrier and if that is the case, I am okay with it.