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I’ve been trying to take the time to notice the beauty around me lately, in hopes that it would bring …
Images that make me go ahhh…
09 Friday Mar 2012
Posted in Quickies
I can’t relax til I have my juice.
07 Wednesday Mar 2012
Tags
Apple, Beet, Carrot, Carrot juice, Juicer, juicing, juicing for kids
Since the day my loving husband gave me my juicer, fresh juice has been the best part of my morning. I knew I would enjoy making fresh juice for Miles and me, but I never thought I would wake up excited to taste all the gorgeous flavors my juicer creates. It’s honestly addictive. The sweet apples, tangy-yet refreshing grapefruit, the saltiness of celery. Mixing the sweetness from freshly juiced carrots to the earthiness of beets, is such an amazing taste adventure. At the moment, my juicer is my favorite belonging.
My mornings are soooo hectic with trying to get the kids diapered (to the potty), dressed and fed. It’s run run run… When I can finally sit down and take my first sips of juice, things slow down considerably. I relax into the smells, tastes and textures with each swallow.
I’ve been chronicling my daily juices on my facebook page. I’m partially sharing the joy that I get from starting my day with fresh juice, but also trying to help myself remember what combinations I’ve tried. It’s my personal on line recipe book.
Miles has even started adding some variety to his normal first thing in the morning carrot juice. After seeing all the colorful new juices I was enjoying, he started asking for apple, carrot juice. Then he wanted pear, apple, orange carrot juice. He even begged for some beets in his juice because of the amazing bright pink color.
Finally, I’d like to thank my juicer for helping me to drop those last 5 pounds. By having a big glass of fresh juice every morning and then eating normally has somehow kept the weight loss moving along effortlessly. I think mostly just knowing that I’ve started my day so well, makes me want to make better eating choices for the rest of the day. Whatever, it’s awesome!
So Excited!
05 Monday Mar 2012
Posted in Food, Places I love
I’m so excited that our Alstede Farms CSA membership cards came in the mail today. Starting the first week of May, we’ll be getting a half share of organic, just picked produce ever week! Plus, Miles will have free access to unlimited pony rides, corn mazes, the moon bounce, harvest moon hayrides and all the other fun kid activities that go on at the farm. This is going to be an amazing spring, summer and fall for our family. The best part is that we are supporting a local organic farm. Something we are very proud to be able to do. Thanks Alstede Farms!
Something a little different
02 Friday Mar 2012
Posted in Food
Tags
Brown rice, Dinner, flying fish eaters, Food, ginger lime tilapia, ginger powder, Lentil, tilapia recipe
For dinner tonight I decided to think outside the box a bit in hopes that Miles would enjoy something a little different. He’s been getting excited about foods that different dinosaurs eat. Meat eaters, veg eaters and the flying fish eaters. He’s never been too fond of fish, so I thought I’d play the dinosaur card and mentally set him up for a fun, fishy dinner. I made it pretty and colorful to appeal to the little artist within. Cooking this dish got my creative juices flowing and gave us an enjoyable Friday night dinner that was one of the least stressful eating experiences this family has seen. I’m so glad I thought of it!
Here it is: Ginger-lime tilapia with black lentils in brown rice
I cooked the tilapia in butter, a touch of olive oil and a mixture of equal parts lime juice, honey and ginger powder. It was sweet, sour and a little tangy. He loved it! For the lentils and rice: I first cooked 1/2 cup of lentils in a cup and a half of water, salt, garlic powder and tumeric. When the lentils were almost tender I added a cup of brown rice, 2 cups of water and a little more salt. I cooked the rice as I normally would and they both came out perfectly tender. The shredded carrot and celery was his favorite part. It was pretty and gave him some extra veggies for the day.
I guess he liked it. “You know mama, i almost like this more than pizza.” Almost.
Tiny Reflection
02 Friday Mar 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Today I’ve started to wake up to the fact that all I need to do to teach myself patience, is to closely observe my little boy. His utter lack of patience is a result of watching my reactions to his behavior every day. He is so very much like me, mainly because he spends nearly every moment with me. He has witnessed my short temper, heard my yells of frustration and learned that if you want to get your point across, you need to be loud. I don’t think that I’m a bad mother. I just think that after taking the natural birth class to learn how to get through the pain of labor, I should have taken a class on zen parenting.
Seeing Miles repeatedly lose his cool to the point of tears while playing with his friend today, has pushed me to help him deal with the stress of not always winning an argument. I told him to breathe and try not getting so upset. To try talking about why you’re upset instead of yelling and crying. It seemed to calm him down at least for the moment. Every time I stopped to calm him down, it reinforced the coping technique for me too. It’s sad knowing that he has learned this reaction from me, but good to know that if I change my behavior it may improve his ability to deal with stressful situations.
It’s amazing how much our children learn from us, just by watching and listening. It can be scary knowing that we are their first and most important role models. That in itself can be incredibly stressful. So for today, I’m trying to remember to breathe deeply and to talk about what’s bothering me instead of yelling. This won’t be easy for me, but I’ve gt to try.
Updates
24 Friday Feb 2012
*Well, I’ve settled on a new blog theme that I was overwhelmingly drawn to. Going back and forth from theme to theme over the past few days has definitely shown me that less is more esthetically. Now that I’ve landed solidly on my theme of choice, I suddenly realized that it is the same one used by one of my favorite new blogs le zoe musings. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess it’s true. Things are sorted out a bit differently at le zoe musings, so I guess that’s why I didn’t see it right away. Anyway, I think it’s lovely and simple.
*A brief addition to my last post regarding the homemade cocktail. As I discovered today, leaving out the gin gives you a fantastic and very healthy soda for you or the kids.
*I am thrilled to be able to say that Miles is 100% potty trained! After 2 years, (yes he started showing interest in the potty at 1 1/2 years old) it finally clicked for him. It felt like it would NEVER happen. We’re so proud of him. So proud that we threw him a potty party a couple of weeks ago. Complete with cupcakes, music and handmade decorations. It’s a tradition that my sister Linda started with each of her sons. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate this new phase in they’re development.
So that’s all for now. Time to get dinner on the table and get ready for the weekend with my parents!
Sometimes mama needs a cocktail.
24 Friday Feb 2012
Tags
beverage, Carbonated water, Gin, Gin and tonic, Healthy Cocktail, Honey, lime, natural sweetener
Now that Juniper is sleeping through the night, (not nursing again til morning) I am able to indulge at the end of particularly difficult days. One of my all time favorite drinks is a gin and tonic. Simple and refreshing. The weather has been so unseasonably warm lately that I was in the mood for one last night. The one thing that I do not enjoy about the drink is that store-bought tonic waters all have high fructose corn syrup as the sweetener. So last night I set forth to create a close facsimile with what I had in the kitchen. I have to say, it was so delicious that I had a hard time not going for a second. I did however stop at just one, nobody likes a hung over mama.
Recipe for awesomeness in a glass: 
1 shot of Gin
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp honey
seltzer water
ice
Combine gin, lime juice and honey in glass. Fill the glass with seltzer. Stir til honey is dissolved. Enjoy!
In the end it tasted more like a hard limeade than a gin and tonic, but hey, I do love me some limeade
Posted by theresabonner | Filed under Food
Nursing Strike!
20 Monday Feb 2012
Posted in Quickies
Image via Wikipedia
Miles never went through a nursing strike, so this has come completely by surprise from Juniper. The only issue I’ve had with Juni was that in the beginning, he nursed constantly giving me little time for anything else. So now at nearly 9 months old he has begun refusing to nurse. It’s frustrating and upsetting to have my sweet baby push me away. I’ve been reassured that he is NOT weaning himself and that it is a completely normal phase in development for a breastfed baby. It’s just so odd for him to reject his source of hydration and comfort out of seemingly nowhere. Not just to push away from me, but to look at my breast with confusion as if it were a 3 headed alien. I’m trying to remain calm and steady and continue to offer my milk to him. I’ve been expressing and giving him that so that he doesn’t become dehydrated.
A friend of mine that had great success nursing her son, has given me advice and this link to more information about nursing strikes.
Today has been a bit better. He partially nursed twice so far, once on waking and once before his nap. I feel like it will be a couple of days before we are back on track, but I’m happy to have a good support system in place to help me through the rough spots.
New Year, new theme?
18 Saturday Feb 2012
Posted in Quickies
I’m getting tired of the look of my blog. It’s had the same ‘Koi’ theme for quite a while. So if you come a searchin’ for my words and find yourself looking at an unfamiliar page, don’t worry, it’s still me. I’m just looking for a new package in which to wrap myself.
Gaterjuice
17 Friday Feb 2012
Posted in Food
Miles woke up this morning with his very first stomach bug. It’s been going around his school and I guess it was his turn. The first thing I did (after cleaning sick off the kitchen floor, then living room floor) was call my mom. She’s always my go to person for sick kid advice. I knew basically what foods to avoid and which to give, but I just wanted to double check plus get any mom secrets she might have.
I was having trouble getting him to keep anything down. Toast, deluded juice, water and cough medicine had all ended up on the floor at my feet. Cough medicine, because on top of the stomach bug, he still has a pretty bad cold. So, mom reminded me to have him take slow, small sips of liquid so that his stomach wouldn’t be so tempted to reject it. She also reminded me of the B.R.A.T. (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) diet to ease upset stomach. Of course I had to get him to keep down a liquid before I even thought about solid foods. The last thing she mentioned was a homemade Gatorade recipe she had given me years ago just in case. Just in case I had a child that was sick and I didn’t want to give them tons of sugar, fake colors and flavors.
Gatorade uses sucrose, glucose and fructose, undisclosed “natural flavors” and colors in their basic recipe. That just doesn’t fly with me. I really can’t understanding putting crap into my son’s body when he already feels like crap. So, I’m super glad that I had the recipe at hand. Here it is below. I just want to mention that after a nap, two cups of the homemade Gatorade (which he calls gaterjuice) and a handful of crackers, Miles is feeling almost human again. Thanks mom!
Homemade Gatorade
1/3 cup Sugar
1/2 salt
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 pulp-free orange juice
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
7 cups cold water
*Makes 2 quarts
In pitcher combine sugar, salt and boiling water. Stir to dissolve. Add orange juice, lemon juice and cold water. Stir before serving. This tastes just like, if not better than store bought Gatorade at a fraction of the price.
