looking back, looking forward

2007 You were lovely, a platform for many fond memories.  Looking back, my favorite moment was watching my girls put their feet into the pacific ocean for the first time ever.

The image is of pure joy as they felt the salty water around their ankles and the sand wiggling under their feet. Forever it will be seared into my mind... almost as blissful as the moment I first laid eyes on each of them at the moment of birth.  Our time spent at the beach was truly a highlight for me.

Looking forward to 2008 brings several emotions. First -there is disbelief. I cannot believe that we are standing on the brink of another year!?!  I am sure that time is speeding up. Second- there is bittersweetness. Where have all the babies gone?  Three young ladies live here now.  My children are growing so fast.   And thirdly- there is anticipation.  I like fresh starts and new beginnings.  Perhaps that is why I tend to be a morning person.  I like aiming higher.

My New Year's Resolutions could best be divided into three categories (yes, I have really spent that much time thinking about it :)

* TAKING BETTER CARE OF MYSELF (This one is always hard to write, I prefer taking care of others)

+ In terms of nutrition, be a "do as I do" kind of mom.  No more sneaking unhealthy food when the kids aren't looking or after they go to bed. They are starting to figure it out.

+ Find fun ways of sneaking in exercise.  Just because I don't make it to the gym doesn't mean that I can't find some other way of fitting it in (ie. dancing with the kids, or playing tag, building a snowman, etc.)  It doesn't have to be so grueling, so scheduled...just heart rate raising!

+ Floss at least once daily.  I don't know why I have such a hard time making this a regular habit!

*TAKING BETTER CARE OF MY STUFF  (I am blessed with a lot of nice things...I need to take better care of what I have.)

+ One word, laundry. Treating stains, delicate cycles, hanging dry, DOING IT.

+ Be diligent about cleaning, tuning, and regularly scheduling maintenance on all appliances and automobiles.

 

+ If something breaks- Can it be repaired? Can we find another use for it? Stop using the "throw it away and buy a new one" philosophy.

*TAKING BETTER CARE OF OUR EARTH (reduce, reuse, recycle really does describe it best)

+ Cut waaaaaay back or totally eliminate plastic. Already I use fabric shopping bags, and mesh bags for my produce...but I am addicted to zip-loc sandwich bags. A solution?  I ordered this to help me. Yep, I am really going to start washing and re-using them.  Go ahead, laugh now.

+ Use cloth napkins over paper towels. I am in the process of making more. Besides, they are prettier. And, funny enough, our manners seem to improve when we use them.

+ opt out of several catalogs that come my way.  I shop online anyways.

It shouldn't be that hard right?  Pretty simple, now keep me to it! Thank you to all of those who have left little snippets of your thoughts here along with mine.  I love your comments and it means so much to me that you peek your head in here every now and then to say hello. 

Happy New Year to all of you, here's to a great 2008!

wearing babies

I love having Laurel close to me.  Do you know how yummy she smells?  How soft her cheeks are? It is so intoxicating. Even better, I know how much she likes being near me.  I think it comforts us both to be close.  From the time she was very small we have enjoyed babywearing.  The benefits to us both are endless.  I have free hands (free in the sense that I can grab onto my other 2 daughters in busy parking lots), NO STROLLERS, no germ laden shopping carts, cozy naps in the middle of noisy family weddings, discrete nursing, no lugging that 50 lb. infant car seat into the Dr's. office, and finally- my pony tail makes a great toy! I am constantly telling my mamas-to-be that a sling or baby carrier in one form or another, is my #1 must have baby item.  I don't know how I would live without mine.

I made a new pouch last night following this pattern. It took less than 1 hour to stitch it together! In the past I have sewn and used ring slings which worked well when Laurel was a bit smaller.  I was worried about this pouch feeling as secure and tight without the adjust-ability of the rings.  With careful measuring (distance from your shoulder to hip determines the size of the pouch), this was equally secure.  Currently, we use a beco backpack.  I like having her on my back at this age.  She can see out, and I feel like I have a lot more freedom of movement.  However, with the "bulky coat" season upon us, the waist buckle has been weird.  Because she is on my back, I have to wear her over my coat and depending on what thickness of coat I am wearing that day, we are always re-adjusting.  With this snazzy little pouch I could still wear her on my front (she will NEVER be too big, I won't let it happen- I totally think that I could carry her down the isle at graduation- don't you?) allowing my coat to go over the top of both of us.  Also, it is easier for Laurel to get in and out of this pouch without having to loosen the rings on a regular sling.  We do that a lot (in and out).

Making your own baby carrier is totally safe, and a lot less expensive.  If you can sew a straight line, you can do it!  Plus, there is the benefit of choosing your own fabric.  Believe me, I have one in every color now- and you should too!  If you decide to make one let me know how it turns out!

out with the old...

Well it's that time of year again- the end of the year.  Everything feels sloppy.  I have been a bit twitchy lately just thinking about all that could be improved upon around here. The days of my Christmas Tree are definitely numbered!

Do you make resolutions?  I tend to be fairly idealistic- and so yes, I do.  Do I keep them?  Well that is another situation entirely.  Being idealistic is different from being realistic.  Usually, like everyone else, I over commit and lose steam somewhere along the way.  By July I cannot even remember what I set out to change way back in January. 

Last year, my New Year's Resolution was to become more organized.  This is an area that I really struggle with.  Filing and sorting do not come naturally to me.  Piling and stacking do.  So, last year I made a concerted effort to become more organized.  I tackled some pretty big projects and kept a day planner.  I did pretty well- if I do say so myself.

With some general success last year, I have been thinking about what my aspirations should be for this year.  I plan to share several of them with you in the coming days.  Perhaps some accountability might be nice.  Please refer me back to this post come July.

One of the things that has become VERY sloppy around here is our diet.  I was telling my dad over the weekend that I felt like a hypocrite.  I have what I would consider to be a decent amount of knowledge in the subject of nutrition and yet I really struggle to put it into practice.  We had this conversation while I was frosting cupcakes.  See what I mean?  I talk a big game about local, organic, unprocessed, whole foods...but when it comes down to it- I eat Top Ramen for lunch too.

This is what I did the day after Christmas.

I threw out all of the cookies, candy, corn syrup laden, hydrogenated fats filled, yucky-yuck food in our house.  It felt so good to get it out of the house. 

* I would like to keep foods like this out of the house in the coming year.

* I would like to make every effort to avoid sugar and refined flours. 

* I would like to experiment in baking more with alternative sweeteners (by this I mean natural sweeteners like brown rice syrup and honey- not Splenda!)

* I want my children to eat more green things.  This alone is quite a challenge!

* I would like to eat less meat.  Hormone/antibiotic free meat is so expensive!

So after throwing out all that food, naturally we needed more:

I made a menu/grocery list using my favorite resource Everyday Food. I would say that 95% of what I cook comes from this magazine.  I love it!

Ta-da!  In with the new.  Healthy food for a week.  Back on track.  Only 52.5 more weeks to go.  I can do it.

Tonight's dinner: Chef Salad. A great way to use up that left-over Christmas Ham. (I looked for the recipe online, it wasn't there.  It came from the September 2007 issue, page 94.)

Hey, where did that garlic bread come from?