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?

kith and kin

In the famous words of Clarke W. Griswald, "The most enduring traditions of the season are best enjoyed in the warm embrace of Kith and Kin".  That was certainly true for us this Christmas.  Some highlights include:

 

Sewing until the breaka breaka dawn to get all my gifts made.  Thank you to Melissa who came to my rescue and loaned me her machine after mine crapped out on me with 4 pencil rolls to go.  Whew! **Note to self: start earlier next year. (I wrote that note last year too- why is it so hard to learn that lesson?)

Sledding.

When my knee kissed the tree during a wipe out...and no one believed how bad it hurt.  I nursed it away with cupcakes and cocoa by the fire in the lodge (my brother above).

Lots and lots of cooking and eating.

And lots and lots of movie watching and snuggling.  It was a simple, relaxed and wonderful couple of days with family.  We had snow, "man colds" (inside joke), sugar cookies, gifts galore, and the warm embraces of Kith and Kin.  We hope your Holiday held the same.