Farmland

Has anyone seen this trailer for the upcoming documentary, Farmland yet? I discovered it last fall and I immediately showed it to my Dad. I don't think he's ever been more interested in an online video. In a day when it seems like so much of the mainstream media has negative views (or perhaps just aren't knowledgeable) about farmers and what they think they do, it's incredibly refreshing to see a film that seems to portray how hard these men and women work everyday, and how most of them are doing it because they are passionate about their jobs. My dad has had some great success as a hog, corn and soybean farmer, but the amount of work he's put into the job every single day of the year for 50 plus years is something that I am still in awe of.

This film doesn't debut until spring, but I cannot wait to see it. I may just have to wait a bit longer though; if it ends up being as amazing as the trailer looks, seeing it with my Dad would be pretty special.

100 Mile Month: The Start

The Goal: 
Run 100 miles in a month

The Reason: 
I need something different and new to keep me motivated to run.

I've decided to try and run 100 miles during March, something I have never attempted to do before. Sebastian and I ran a half marathon in the middle January where we competed for time. My choice to run the same race, his choice to compete with one another. It ended up being a great way to push myself.

Fast forward to after the race up until the end of February and I had no motivation to get out there and be active. See the mileage for the month of February? Not even 8 miles. Yes, I needed a goal. 100 miles in 31 days. Daunting? Yes. Achievable. Possibly. (Yes...that answer should be yes.) Each week I am forcing myself to post a screenshot of my weekly mileage, along with a photo of something notable I've seen during one of my runs. If anything, it will get me out there and keep me active. One, two, three...go.

Custom 40th Anniversary Invitations

My parents recently celebrated their 40th anniversary. Wow! Their love and their relationship have always inspired me and have set some great guidelines for how to work hard and love unconditionally in a marriage.

My sister-in-law approached me a few months ago to see if we should throw a party for them since forty years is certainly something to celebrate. We both agreed that while a surprise party would have been fun, we had no idea who to invite since we knew my parents had no desire to have a large party. In the end we talked with them and decided to have a small, intimate gathering with just family and a few of the people who were part of their wedding party.

Right away in the planning process, my sister-in-law asked me about creating the invitations. I jumped at the chance to do so. I had a fun time looking at and incorporating my parents wedding colors and wedding photos, and I was more than pleased when both my Mom and Dad said they liked them very much.

The party was spectacular. It was fun to see my parents actually take a step into the spotlight and as a result everyone had the chance to hear some great stories about their engagement, wedding, honeymoon and being newlyweds in the Midwest countryside. By the end of the night, each guest had spoken about a memory they had of my mom and dad. It was pretty special. Congrats Mom and Dad! Thanks for showing us how to love!

A Girl, A Boy, and Their Dad

Not many things in life have been sweeter than watching Sebastian grow from friend to boyfriend to husband to dad. When Aliyah was born, it was amazing—and yes, surprising even—to see how Sebastian naturally fell into the role of being a caring father. To him, it was an important life challenge to accept and take seriously, but not without losing the sense of fun that he brings to everything he does.

When Aliyah was about two months old, he let me sleep in one weekend. He took it upon himself to dress her (most likely the first time he had fully dressed a baby), so he rummaged through her clothes and put her in a pair of orange shorts, a onsie with a tiger on it that said, “Wild Thing” and grabbed a safari hat off of a teddy bear nearby. When I woke up, they were both waiting for me, and I couldn’t help but shake my head and smile.




What I love most about how Sebastian goes about parenting is his honesty. He will be the first to tell you that in the first couple of months after both of our kids were born, he was at a loss at what to do with them after about twenty minutes, because as he says, "What else can you do with a newborn?". He’ll let you know that he thinks spit up is gross, or that his three year old daughter can be a difficult to handle at times. He’ll also let you know how incredibly in love he is with both of his kids, and that despite his awareness that he is bias, he still thinks they are hands down the coolest daughter and son around.  And our kids feel this. They both light up when Daddy comes home or when he talks directly to them. They both can be heard laughing because of some funny antic that only Sebastian can pull off.  And they both listen when Daddy disciplines them with love (well, maybe not Isaac just yet.)  As they grow I see that the bonds from father to daughter and father to son are only growing stronger.

A close second to what I love about Sebastian’s parenting is that he believes in me as a mother and he tells me this often. Not a day goes by where I don’t feel his support through either words or actions. In addition to being a manager and mentor in the professional world, as well as taking on hobbies with fervor (writing, golf and exercising to name a few), the amount of energy he puts into taking care of our children and being present in their life is incredible.

I know I’m not the only person out there who feels this way about their significant other, and I love to read or hear about others who appreciate their partners.  I’m not trying to brag or to show-off. (In fact, when I started this post, I thought it was going to be about Sebastian and Isaac’s relationship. Instead this turned out to be an act of gratitude for all Sebastian does as a husband and father.) Our family is lucky to have him. This one’s for you, Bastian. xoxo

Making Homemade Baby Food

Is there such a thing as delayed, post-partum nesting? Probably not, but I’m going to say I have that anyway. I’m not a huge fan of being pregnant. With both kiddos, I had lingering morning sickness that hung on for a while, and I grow really large babies it seems, so both times I felt extremely uncomfortable for most of the second half of the nine months because I get so huge so quickly. As much as I am very, very grateful that I have had the blessing of carrying two beautiful healthy babies (to the point where I feel bad about admitting that I don’t like pregnancy), I just don’t feel that glow that so many mothers talk of. Suffice it to say, the period before both Aliyah and Isaac arrived involved a lot of worrying and exhaustion, rather than craftiness and nesting.

When Aliyah first started solids, I tried making her food a few times. I can’t even remember why, but I gave up after I had initially tried and shortly after I bought baby food. In my mind I just assumed that making her baby food was more trouble than it was worth.

I’m not sure what it is with Isaac—perhaps it’s because he’s the second baby and a lot of my first-time mom anxiety has diminished. (Example: pacifier falls on the floor? Pick it up and pop it back in second kid’s mouth. With first kid…I would never dare. ) This time around I feel more comfortable in my skin as a mom, and as a result I’ve been able to have some fun doing things I put on the back burner for Aliyah. (Not to worry, she has had plenty of advantages over her little brother. It all evens out in the end. J)

Making my own baby food has been one of the adventures I’ve embarked on as a second-time mom. I wasn’t sure if it would end up like last time where I would give up shortly after, but I knew I wanted to try again. I researched like crazy, and everything I read made it seem quite simple. Then one weekend on a trip to Costco, I passed by an immersion blender on sale and decided that the homemade baby food stars had aligned and I needed to take this as a sign.

My tools for making my homemade baby food include:

• Reasonably priced blender. It doesn't need to be a heavy-duty, expensive one. You’ll be boiling or steaming most of the foods before-hand so they will easy to blend. (Here’s the one we have: CuisineartHB-155PC Smartstick) I like the immersion blender because it's really quick to rinse off after you puree a food, rather than having to clean out an entire machine. 
•  Ice Cube Trays: For separating and freezing 1 ounce portions of food to store. I bought some extremely inexpensive BPA-free ones from Target (99 cents each).  These thinner plastic ones make popping out the cubes a little tricky, so I would buy ones with slightly thicker plastic. I only have two, but when I make big batches of food I could use a few more trays in order to freeze everything all at once.
• Peeler: To peel off the skin on the veggies and fruits (though you can leave the skin on fruits if you want. They puree well into the final food, only leaving little specks of skin.)
• Spatula: Optional. For me, it makes it easier to spoon into the ice cube trays.

Making your homemade baby food is super easy. Here’s how:

1.  Peel veggies. You can also peel the fruit if you want. I did in the beginning, I don’t anymore for fruits.
2. Cut into small cubes. The smaller the cubes, the faster they will cook to the desired softness in order to puree.
3. Boil or steam for about 5-10 minutes or until soft (depending on the food. Pears cook quickly, sweet potatoes take longer.) Keep the water so you can add it to create your desired thickness when you blend. Also, steaming is known for retaining the most nutrients.
4. Put into blender or bowl for immersion blender and blend. Add water as you see fit.  Usually the less thick the better if they are young. (But you also don’t want it to be too watery so they can’t get the hang of eating.)
5. Use your spatula and separate into the ice cube trays. Cover with aluminum foil and stick into the freezer.
6. After cubes are frozen pop them out and separate into plastic bags. Label with food and date.
7. Thaw at room temperature or microwave and give to baby.  

Isaac has officially been eating pureed foods for about two months now. We started out with store-bought baby oatmeal in Georgia at Christmas time so Oma could get a chance to feed him his first solid food.  He took it well, but he seemed to think the spoon was a bottle or nipple and mostly just wanted to suck on it. The first couple of times at home that I tried feeding him baby oatmeal, he ate a bit, but didn’t seem too interested.

There are a few foods that require no blending at all. One day I had a ripe banana on the counter and decided to put it into a plastic bag and mash it up with my hands. I added a bit of breastmilk, mixed the two together in a bowl and gave it to Isaac. He loved it and ate it all up. I haven’t tried yet, but avocados are also supposed to be easy to just mash and give to baby.

I usually set aside a couple of hours every other weekend and make numerous batches of different types of food. So far we have made and been successful with sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, pears, apples, peaches and blueberry and peach mixed together. He’s been a great eater and my hope is that this will create a more diverse palate as he grows into a toddler and preschooler--or at least somewhat less picky than his pre-school, sister is. She is a fairly healthy eater, but her food likes are pretty limited. She’s a picky, (semi) healthy eater.  

There’s something I really enjoy about making Isaac’s food. I haven’t figured out why yet. It is slightly more reasonable, and we waste less because of the ability to size out the one ounce portions. To be perfectly honest, I don’t really think that making homemade baby food is all that healthier than buying store bought foods. According to my research, baby food is some of the purest food on the supermarket shelves, since it’s so simple. I do know that making his food gives me a sense of accomplishment. Perhaps it’s my inner farm-girl budding through. Being in a large metropolitan setting, I sometimes feel as though I am searching for a bit of the country. Maybe making Isaac’s food allows me to stay a little closer to my farming roots.