The Crunchy Update

So much to share. Where to begin? Here it goes, in no particular order.


We are now eating grass-fed beef and pastured pork and chicken. Will be trying lamb soon..


Recently discovered The Green Polkadot Box. Think BJ's or Sam's but online. Their big thing is they do not carry a single item with GMO's.


Can't tell you enough about how much I love The Green Polkadot Box. Great prices, I can shop from home, while the baby sleeps, I can read ingredients, etc. Let's not forget that I don't drive and this way my poor husband doesn't have to suffer through his crunchy wife's analyzing of every single item that goes in the cart. Now that there are food sensitivities in our family and that I insist on avoiding GMO's there is a lot of reading going on when I shop.


 had gotten rid of table sugar. We were only using honey and maple syrup and we were getting used to smaller quantities. All that went out the window when I learned K is sensitive to both of those. Table sugar is ok but honey and maple syrup are not. What gives? Food sensitivities... What a journey...


Finally got us our first slow cooker two weeks ago. Totally in love! Dinner time is a hard time of day for K. Picture a mom with two kids, one hungry, one crying. It wasn't pretty. Now I get dinner going in the slow cooker after K's morning nap, when she is happy and playing independently for a while, and come 6:00 p.m. all we need to do is make plates.


Got an eight-quart slow cooker, so we have leftovers, which means lunch for the next day. Yummy and convenient.


Was making coconut milk at home for a while. Not doing that anymore because K is sensitive to it. Yes, she is sensitive to the world it seems!


There are so many recipes I want to try but that is on hold until we finish getting answers about K's food sensitivities. I have learned the hard way that it just isn't worth it to try new foods right now.


I have stopped using the microwave. We still own one; it just isn't used much. A lot of nutrients are lost when food is warmed up in the microwave and we have found that food tastes better if reheated in the toaster oven, so we are feeling like it is worth it to wait ten minutes for our food to be warm.


Karina is in cloth diapers, just as Arianna was. We started earlier this time, at two months. My plan was to start from day one, but she was tiny at birth and I was to avoid stairs for the first week or so. I decided to spare those helping me the extra laundry.


She is in Rumperooz pocket diapers and prefolds.


I am curious about essential oils and alternative remedies for colds and things like that but haven't gone up that learning curve yet.


Tips? I am all ears!

Very Overdue Update

So, way back when... I was pregnant with our second child and I was slowly getting crunchier, as we like to call it around here.

Fastforward to June 2013... Karina Elise was born on June 23, 2013. She weighed 6 lb 8 oz and was 20.5 inches tall. She was born at home. Yes, it was planned. Yes, we we were safe and accompanied by very experienced midwives. It was a beautiful experience, intense as every birth is. She took a while to join us Earthside. She was born at exactly 41 weeks. That being said, when she was ready to join us, there was no stopping her! We went for a walk at 12:30 p.m. and at 5:18 p.m. we had a baby! It all happened so fast my plans for a water birth went out the window.

Fastforward to today... Karina is almost eight months. She is a happy child. She squeals anytime she sees or hears her sister. Arianna loves her to pieces.

Karina has food sensitivities. That will be a whole other post. Food sensitivities, for me, have been a nightmare and a blessing in HUGE disguise. More on that another time.

Arianna is six years old. She is enjoying kinder garden. She is about to begin violin lessons. She is enjoying preparing salads for us, making her school lunch, among other cute and helpful things. Her favorite topic is "baby mustard." If you're reading my blog, you are likely a parent and you know what I'm talking about!

More later, maybe?!