Natural Mama at Home

Yarn Along ~cowl, romance, and a mystery object!

2010-11-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

A picture of my current read and my current creative endeavor ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

My current read is The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant : I'm just starting this book, I've been so busy on my other blog this months that I havent had much time to read. But so far its beautifully written and completely gripping. Its set in the turbulent late 15th century in Florence, Italy - and tells the tale of a young girl who falls in love with a painter even though she is set to be married off by her upper class parents. I love reading books set in other times and places.

And I have just finished making this wool cowl, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Its the first one I've made and I didn't use a pattern (crocheting is so much more relaxing and enjoyable for me if I'm not counting). Anyway I just crocheted a loop and kept dcing until it looked good. Its warm and cozy, and I like the grey stripes.

Also since I know some clever mama's may visit this post from Small Things, I've included a picture of an treasure I bought yesterday:

Does anyone know what it is? My guess was a sock darner, but I cant find a similar one anywhere online. It looks old. I found it in the sewing section of a local thrift store. Its very well used whatever it is, and looks lovey on my mantel.

A Georgia Peach!

2010-11-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

I am such a sucker for a dog rescue! This little sweetie-pie came to us as a rescue yesterday. She had been kept outside in a pen for the last 4 months, and was very cold, smelly, and scared- but also wonderfully sweet. Her name is Georgia:

She joins our three daughters and our two fur kids who came to us through the SPCA (my old Siamese cat and our giant bouncy Bouvier). I`m so lucky my husband is patient with my love of animals.

Yarn Along

2010-11-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

A post of my current read and my current creative endeavor ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

I am returning to crocheting after a year off- I need some more creative outlets and I love the rhythm of crotchet. I'm making a pair of wrist warmers. Its actually my test pair, then I will be making them for the girls for Christmas. I'm also almost finished reading My Left Foot. I found it while unpacking and have been loving this sweet and inspiring story of an Irish Lad with cerebral palsy.

Hammock Swing In the Old Beechnut Tree

2010-11-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

I am completely in love with the warm colors of fall this year. We have had the most gorgeous weather and our new house has a beautiful old beechnut tree that is in all its fall glory. Then yesterday I remembered our hammock swing that was still in its box, and with some trial and error (and one minor fall off the lawn chair) I hung it up.

Its so pretty and red, and magically transformed out new yard into a place to laze and gaze up at the fall sky. My youngest immediately snugged in for a rest and we spent an hour singing and swinging in the fall sunshine. {Happiness}

** I am no tree expert and this tree may not be a beechnut ( a neighbor told me it was and after some reaserch it looks like it might be?)

Back for This Moment

2010-10-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted on this blog in almost a year, and I've honestly never put much time into it. But now that life is somewhat back on track (we finally sold our house after 2 years, and are getting settled in the new place) I'm feeling I want to start spending some time here.....

But now I don't know where to start, so i will jump right in with a {This Moment Post} A Friday Ritual inspired by Soule Mama- a single picture that captures a moment in our lives this week.

This week my little one discovered PB right from the jar.

my sad neglected blog

2009-11-02T22:11:00.000-08:00

I never write in this blog anymore, its very sad and neglected. My other blog (Natural Mama Reviews) has really taken off lately and it takes up all of my extra time. I cant complain though, I've been having so much fun trying out new products and writing reviews.

In place of a int resting post about our latest project or great recipe, here is a picture of my little pumpkin this last week.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcakes

2009-08-07T18:47:00.001-07:00

I've been seeing Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcakes all over the blogosphere-so when the time came for me to make my baby girl her birthday treat i knew what i had to try. We had a park birthday- so these were perfect!

I just saw a picture online and tweaked it a little, so this is by no means my own creation. I did however make a few changes.

Instructions:
-Make at least a dozen cupcakes from your fave recipe. I made pumpkin spice with cream cheese icing ala Martha Stewart
add some red food coloring to about 2TBS of the icing for the head (mix and set aside), and mix the remaining icing with green food coloring for the body.
-Ice your cupcakes and arrange on a tray similar to the picture above
- Cut a slice of watermelon and using a straw make a "caterpillar hole"
-also make a caterpillar hole in a strawberry. Glue down both pieces of fruit with icing
-Add eyes and mouth with anything on hand- i used jellybeans
-make feet and antenna out of watermelon peal and glue them down with icing as well
mmmmmmmm, so good

Breastfeeding week

2009-08-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

World Breastfeeding week is coming to a close tomorrow.
I hope the week was able to bring more public awareness, acceptance, and support to the wonderful act of breastfeeding. It is such a natural and nurturing way to feed your baby, yet there seems to be so many issues around it. My baby girl is almost 14 months and is still loving nursing. She gets so much comfort, nurturing, and nutrients from breastfeeding.
Strangely as i have nursed her past the one year mark i have noticed a huge shift in the support i get from my community and family. Everyone used to say how great it was that i had choose to breastfeed. Now the most common comment i get is " your STILL breastfeeding?"...like i should have gotten her on the bottle long ago. There seems to be some strange belief that nursing past a year is somehow perverse or is done because the mother is needy. What the hell???
Health Canada recommends breastfeeding until the "age of two and beyond" so why is everyone so freaked out by this.
Oh well, we will continue to breastfeed until me and my baby decide the time has come to end this sweet time together.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

2009-06-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

I cant believe my sweet baby is already a year old.

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic of my little monkey helping mom celebrate earth day by recycling.

Please do you part today (and everyday) for our lovely planet.

owl stuffies

2009-04-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

Amongst the chaos of selling our place I've started teaching myself how to make stuffies.

Its so hard to find cute and unique stuffies that are not made in China (i really worry about made in china toys- they just don't seem safe to me. I also hate to support a country with such an awful human rights record.). So I've decided to just make my own.

Since i am a beginner sewer, the design is fairly simple. I just drew an owl shape and cut it out on folded fabric, then assembled a face from wool felt, and sewed it on the font fabric piece. I added button eyes. I then sewed the two pieces together- face to face, leaving the bottom open, stuffed the owl, then sewed the bottom (with the feet). Its pretty fast and easy, but i think the results are pretty good.

So far all i have made is this little trio of owls. The first owl was quickly scooped up by my 11 year old and named Mr. hibou (pronounced eeboo) which is french for owl. She loves him and has already brought him to school to show off to her friends.

What stuffies should i make next?

home-made teething biscuits

2009-02-23T21:43:00.000-08:00

I've been so frustrated with finding healthy whole foods teething biscuits for my baby girl. I've scoured health food stores, and grocery stores with little luck. She loves teething biscuits, so I've decided to try and make my own.

I came across this web page, and found several teething biscuit recipes that seem really easy to make. I read over them, and came up with my own recipe (based on what i had on hand). They turned out great, and baby LOVES them.

Here's my recipe:

preheat oven to 300

In a large bowl mix:

1c barley baby cereal (oat or rice would work too)

1c whole wheat flour

1c ground up oatmeal (i used the blender)

dash of nutmeg

1 egg

1/2 ripe banana mashed

1 TBS brown sugar (i would have preferred to use molasses or maple syrup, but i was out of both.)

3 TBS of oil

I made a dough (adding more flour as needed) that could be rolled out easily without being too sticky, rolled to dough out on a floured surface, and cut finger shaped cookies. I then baked for 30 min until lightly browned and hard.

Cool of a wire rack, then store in an airtight container- this made approx 3 doz cookies.

**supervise while feeding, as they could possibly cause choking

Crocheted Hearts for Valentines Day

2009-02-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

I've been on a crocheting kick lately,so when i came across this tutorial on how to crotchet Hearts for Valentines Day, i had to give it a try. I think it came out pretty good- considering I'm a beginner. I usually have such a hard time following patterns, but Bella Dia's tutorial was super easy. Now I'm off to make 2 more so all the girls can have one. So sweet!

win a bumbleride indie stroller

2009-01-30T16:56:00.000-08:00

I just came across this amazing contest to win a bumbleride Indie. I've been lusting after the Indie for months now, its such a great stroller. Stop by and enter- good luck :)

Healthy toys

2009-01-22T19:17:00.000-08:00

The Recent toy recalls of toxic toys (mostly made in China) has really raised my awareness of what my children's toys are made of. With my oldest two daughters, i barely gave a thought to what was in the paint used on there toys, or what their baby dolls heads were made of. I assumed that Canadian toy standards were high and that toys were tested for any toxic chemicals such as lead and Chlorine, but i was wrong. It seems the laws are actually very relaxed and the testing is hit or miss.

HealthyToys.org is a great resource for parents to educate themselves about what chemicals we are bringing into our homes and allowing our children to play with and ingest.
This web page has many categories of common toys and lists which of the following chemicals they are made with: Lead, Bromine, Cadmium, Chlorine/PVC, Arsenic and Mercury. It also has a great search option.
I was shocked with many of the results, and now keep this page on my favorites list to refer to it before all toy purchases. I've also purged many of the toxic toys we already had.

baby loves books- baby Einstein Book Review

2009-01-21T12:29:00.000-08:00

My 7th month old baby girl has recently discovered the wide world of books, and she adores them. She likes to feel them, chew them, look at them, and even sometimes listen to me read them. She especially loves "big girl books", and thinks its great fun to tear them apart, or suck the pages until they are soft and then pull chunks of paper out of them. Thankfully she got a bunch of great baby books for Christmas, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Panda Bear, Panda Bear by Eric Carle. Her favorite by far however is her Baby Einstein, touch and feel book Baby McDonald on the Farm. It has textures she loves on every page, and sweet little alliterations which I'm sure are designed to encourage genius. She really digs this book, and loves to spend her time petting and looking at it.

mmmm comfort food, vegetarian tater tot casserole

2009-01-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

I've been off the elimination diet for a couple weeks now, thanks to my daughters lessening sensitivities to all things dairy. I decided to celebrate my new found food freedom by making a wonderfully creamy tater tot casserole. I heard someone refer to a tater tot casserole last month, and i was totally intrigued. I googled and searched for a recipe that was vegetarian that i thought my family would love, but i didnt find any. So i modified an old hash brown casserole recipe i have, and added a few things, and i must say the outcome was delicious!!

Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen tater-tots (roughly chop 1/4 of the bag, and save the remaining for the topping)
I can mushroom soup
1.5 cups sour cream
3 cups grated cheese
3 carrots (sliced and steamed until just soft)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/8 cup milk
Approx 6 cups of veggies that your family loves- I used:
-frozen peas
-mushrooms
-broccoli
-zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 F
-First i cooked up the peeled and sliced carrots until tender and set aside.
- Then sauteed the broc, zucchini and mushrooms in a bit of oil until just about tender (again any veggies you like would work).
-I then transferred the veggies to a big bowl and mixed in the soup,milk, sour cream, frozen peas,carrots, garlic, and about 3/4 of the cheese. I also added the chopped taters.
-Finally i transferred it all to a large buttered casserole dish.
- I took the remaining taters and covered the casserole with them and then topped the whole thing with the remaning cheese.
-I put a lid on the dish and cooked it in the oven at 350 for about 50 minutes- removed the lid and cooked for another 20 minutes (or until hot and bubbly and light brown).

Book Review- City of Thieves by David Benioff

2009-01-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

I absolutely loved and adored this book. It was one of those books that you don't want to end. As i neared the end of the novel I actually slowed my pace to a couple pages a day to make it last a little longer. Now that i'm done, I miss the characters like i would an old friend.
From the first page I was transported back to Leningrad during World War II. The narrator of this story is a Jewish teenager (Lev) who lives in Leningrad during the war when the city is completely surrounded by the Germans. Lev's account was so vivid that i actually felt hungry and cold as if i were in Russia with him.
Lev is trying to survive in the city that is literally being starved by the advancing Germans who have cut off all food supply to the city. When a dead German paratrooper falls from the sky near Lev's building him and his friends see it as an opportunity for food, and they loot the body. This leads Lev to meet Kolya, a Russian Soldier, and the two embark on a sad yet wonderful adventure.
This is a great epic story of friendship, bravery, history, and even romance.
This is one of my all time favorite books, and i would recommend it to anyone!

Sunflower veggie burger

2008-12-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

this recipe was invented by me tonight, and I'm super pleased with it. Its so quick and easy to make and tastes yummy.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw sunflower seeds (pureed roughly in blender)
1 piece of toast (pureed into crumbs in blender)
3 white mushrooms, chopped fine
1/4 of an onion, diced very small
1 egg
salt/pepper to taste
1 tbs ketchup

Add the ingredients in the order listed to a lg bowl and blend well. The consistency should be sticky and firm (if its not add more bread or seeds)
Form patties and fry in oil (med heat), until crispy and browned. Serve on a bun with fave fixings.

Makes 4 patties :)

all measurements are approximate

The elimination diet continues

2008-12-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I've been following a modified version on the Sears elimination diet for several months to manage my baby girls reflux. Her main sensitivities appear to be dairy, soy, and corn. This diet has been especially difficult for me, because I'm vegetarian. I'm pretty much living on peanut butter, nutritional yeast, and Asian inspired foods. I attempted to reintroduce dairy a couple days ago, with bad, bad results. Babies spitting up increased from about 10 times a day, to about 20 again. She was also miserable and needy all day. I've read several places that babies often outgrow dairy and soy sensitivities by six months,but no luck.
The plus side of this diet, is I'm finally loosing all the pounds i packed on during pregnancy. I've been averaging about 2 pounds a week for the last couple months. I'm so happy to be fitting back into some of my old clothes again, but i still have about 20 lbs to go until I'm back at my Pre-Pregnancy size.
Another plus of this diet is that I've been forced to try new and unique recipes. All my fave recipes usually have tofu or dairy, so its so strange trying to cook without them. Tonight i made the best Veggie Burgers and pasta salad. I'll post the recipes soon....

Music for December

2008-12-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

Sheryl Crow - I'll Be Home For Christmas

I just got this Album, and its great. We'll be listening to it tonight as we decorate the tree.

Tag Blankie

2008-12-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

I finally made an applique tag blankie for my littlest money, and i think it turned out pretty good. Especially considering I'm a novice seamstress, and i hate to measure or follow patterns when i do sew. I actually just free hand drew the applique and cut out the fabric by tracing a book over it, but baby loves it.
I found a good tutorial here, in case anyone wants to give it a try.
I made a few changes, like the above mentioned not measuring, and i used cotton velvet- instead of polyester, which is a petroleum product, and i imagine not good for babies to suck on.

Baby Signing

2008-12-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

Last week we began teaching my littlest monkey baby signing.It something I meant to do with my older daughters too, but somehow never found the time. I'm excited and hopeful that we can make it a part of our lives this time around.
A friend gave me this book, and it seems pretty easy and strait forward. So far the main sign we have been using is "milk", but we have also been showing her: all done, diaper, book, more, and kitty (because she loves to stare at and grab our cats). We plan on introducing sleep and bath next.
I also found this great resource that allows parents to easily look up words and watch short clips. There are also a ton of YouTube videos on baby signing.
I am looking forward to less frustration and greater communication through signing. I'm also super excited to be able to have my young baby "talk" to me at such an early age.

Robeez

2008-12-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

The Robeez boots i ordered arrived today! I am so thrilled with them, and so is baby. There a little big, but so cozy and cute. I have been a huge Robeez fan since buying some shoes for my little monkey a few months ago. They are just awesome- and unlike any of her other shoes they stay on her feet. The only problem is she always wants to chew on them.

Book club

2008-12-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

I joined my first book club yesterday, I'm beyond thrilled. Our first book selection is After Dark- by Haruki Murakami. I'm off to the library to search for a copy today.

beginning

2008-12-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

Hello
A little about me:
I live in Canada with my wonderful husband and our 3 lovely girls. We share our home with 3 great pets, a big stinky dog and 2 naughty cats.
Some of my interests are photography, reading, vegetarian cooking, hiking, crafting, music, organic gardening, travel, and animals. I feel passionate about the environment, animal rights, breastfeeding, baby wearing, and my family. I'm currently a SAHM, with 2 girls in school and my new addition home with me. I spend most of my days cooking, crafting, and teaching my sweet 5 1/2 month old all about this big wide world.
Well that's me in a nutshell, more to follow.....