Introducing Avery Ray

On January 30th, 3 days past my due date my husband and I went to the mall to walk around and try to let gravity do it's part. At 8:00 pm, just as I was about to give up, I began having pains in my lower abdomen and lower back. We went home after I began feeling too uncomfortable to keep walking. We tucked the girls in and went to bed, but I couldn't fall asleep because I couldn't stop timing contractions. At 11:30 the pain was getting stronger, and the pressure was stronger than I remembered ever feeling with my daughters so we went to the hospital. I hadn't thought about not being able to move around once I went to the hospital because of the heart monitor. Labor was slow partial back labor. My water broke at 7:30, and about three hours later I still was making no progress, other than very intense contractions every 3 minutes. I was running out of energy faster and faster so at 10:30 am after being told they'd probably be inducing labor in three more hours I recieved an epidural. I got a little sleep, and before they gave me the pitocin they checked around 12:00 pm and I was ready to push. I barely had the energy, but it hardly took any time at all. At 12:31 pm Jan 31st 2010 Avery Ray was born. He was 7 lbs 13 oz and 19 3/4 inches...My smallest baby yet. He is perfectly healthy, and worth all of the pain before, during, and after birth. He is loved by his mommy and daddy and his big sisters as well. He is nursing well, which after the complications I had with trying to nurse a baby with severe colic for 15 months, it is a relief to know he is getting enough. He's also a great co-sleeper. =) My oldest slept better near our bed, not in it.

With the third child, Ive come to realize some things:
1. I could do it over and over again
2. crying has never made me angry, but used to make me very nervous with oldest, less with Andi, and now not at all.
3. my family is complete
4. there isnt an age i dont like so far.
5. i do believe in love at first sight...its happened to me three times

Vegan Peanut butter cookies

My daughters spent just under a week away from home visiting my family in Illinois. I wanted to bake something yummy with them when they got home, but honestly baking vegan food has been frustrating for me in the past. I've tried MANY times to make vegan peanut butter cookies using egg replacement and they always turned out very dry and crumbly, so I was determined to find a recipe that didn't use replacements. I found a recipe that had good reviews, and added bonus: I had all the ingredients I needed. I did make a few changes, but the cookies were delicious!! My husband who is the hardest to please in my house when it comes to food kept sneaking in to them when the girls went to bed. Since it's really not often I have success with vegan cookies, and honestly there are times I consider just giving up and using eggs so my kids can enjoy baking with me like I did my mom, I had to share this recipe!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup peanut butter (I used Jiff natural creamy peanut butter which is a bit on the oily side, but I think that worked very well!)
1 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup oil (the recipe called for extra virgin olive oil, but I wasn't brave enough to try that so I used canola oil)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

(The original recipe used 3/4 tsp fine grain sea salt. I didn't use any salt at all. It also says crunchy peanut butter, but I like creamy better so that's what I used, but you could do either!)

Stir peanut butter, syrup, oil and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Combine flour and baking soda then add to the peanut butter mixture and stir until it is barely mixed. Let sit 5 minutes, then finish stirring. It's kind of gooey which worried me at first, but everything turned out fine! Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

For us this made 32 cookies, but there were I think two or three that were very small that the girls made. It should make anywhere from 24-36 cookies. Try it and enjoy! I now know it is possible to have yummy cookies without eggs, milk or butter, (or ener-G, soy milk and vegan margarine.)

So much to do, so little time!

In just two weeks my baby will be six years old. I'm hoping and hoping nobody is sick on her birthday. Unfortunately, both my girls have birthdays at a time when everybody is getting sick. This is our first year not having a party, and to be honest I'm just going to keep it that way. Ashlyn is thrilled about her birthday. She gets to pick any restaurant, and so far she's chosen the new pizza place in town which is supposed to be pretty good. Yay for Ashlyn...we have coupons for that place! As always I'm excited, but this time of year always goes by too fast and this year it's going to go by even faster. Halloween, thanksgiving, Ashlyn's birthday two days after thanksgiving, Christmas, new years, and Avery's due date is January 27th. Am I done? No! Right around the corner in March is Andi's birthday.

This year I am super excited about thanksgiving. I'm tired of thanksgiving being all about turkey. I've accepted it (and still enjoyed thanksgiving) every year because hubby lives for meat, and he's great when it comes to supporting my views, so I can bend for him as well. This year we decided this would be my year to have a vegan thanksgiving. We're on a tight budget though, and it's just the four of us so I'm not making anything complicated or expensive. I decided our thanksgiving dinner will be vegan shephards pie, corn on the cob, brown rice, vegan biscuits and broccoli (or trees as Andi calls them.) And of course salad. Then, thanksgiving night when the trees all put up I'm making vegan hot cocoa. The best part? All of the things I need to make hot cocoa I always have in the house! I have corn on the cob (lots in the freezer), lots of broccoli in the freezer, lots of brown rice in the cabinet, and lots of potatoes for shephards pie. I just need to get a couple of things to put in the shephards pie and things to make a veggie platter. That sure beats spending a ton of money on turkey. Hubby isn't upset either because this year he doesn't have to cook anything. :) Also, this fits perfectly with the new diet change.

I've recently decided to finally take the step to cut out (to the best of my ability) harmful preservatives and additives. I'm not going to say we're preservative free, but I think we're doing well. I have a few preservatives that due to risk of cancer and/or behavior problems I'm putting most of my focus on. I'm not saying we'll never cheat, but I think we'll be able to remind eachother this is for our health and it'll just become our norm. =)

One day at a time

We have been making a lot of changes, and for once I can say I am okay with that! The original plan was to start Ashlyn with first grade this year in August, but instead we put it off and started her in Kindergarten September 8th. The school work she is doing is first grade level, but she gets to do all of the fun things a kindergartener should get to do! This gives us a fresh start and has allowed me to start homeschool the way I had always intended it to be, before I got caught up in what the public school kids are doing. We still do school WORK, but don't make that the largest percent of our school day. In the mornings she does her spelling, math, writing or grammer, and in the early after noon she reads. Some days we just skip the morning work and play make believe. The rest of our day is filled with books books and more books, games, songs, playing outside, art, dancing and more! During breakfast and lunch we talk about a specific subject whether it be religion, someone in history, "the birds and the bees" or naming our favorite mammal! They've been talking a lot about religion lately, and Ashlyn has decided she is a buddist. Andi is I'm pretty sure creating her own religion (no surprise). None of them appealed to her. She says when she dies she is going to come back in another life as baby Andi. Andi is not requesting a book about Darwin. She has been obsessed with George Washington for months, and now Darwin. It honestly surprises me how much she has gotten into learning about significant figures in history.

Ashlyn is reading much faster now, is a pro on riding her bike without training wheels, has nearly mastered telling time, and is now tying her own shoes as of three days ago. She has lost two teeth and has another loose one, which I wasn't prepared for this early! She already has one permanant tooth, and two others coming in.

The pregnancy is going well. I am due in 12 weeks. Can't believe how time flies. We are having a baby boy. A couple of weeks before entering my 3rd trimester I cut out eggs and dairy from my diet and am now officially back on a vegan diet. It's a little stressful at times trying to make sure we're not only GETTING enough iron, but obsorbing enough, as well as obsorbing enough calcium. The calcium is no different on a vegan diet than a 'normal" diet, however your body doesn't obsorb as much iron from veggies as it does from meat. On the flip side, our vegan diet is filled with vitamin C which helps iron obsorbtion. The hardest thing is simply not knowing. I read that non-pregnant vegans should consume 14 mg of iron a day to be safe. However, a pregnant woman on a normal diet should consume 18 mg a day, so I guess a pregnant vegan should consume 22 mg or iron a day. The important thing is the girls are healthy and the baby is healthy. The baby is kicking non-stop. The girls kiss my belly all the time and talk to their baby brother. It's so sweet! Right now my focus is just spending as much quality time with just them as possible before the baby comes, and looking forward to more great years with them and their baby brother once he too becomes a wonderful addition to our family.

2009-2010

After five months of trying to concieve I got a positive pregnancy test on May 28th. I've been spending the last couple of weeks trying to prepare for when the baby comes and so far I feel I'm really making progress. The baby is due Feb. 1st and once we get the crib and changing table the baby's room will be ready.
In addition to baby preparation we've also started Ashlyn's school year. She's taking reading, spelling, english, math, social studies, science, PE, and alternates between spanish, art, music and safety. She does exceptionally well with spelling and English and appears very interested in historical figures. Friday we're taking a trip to the Minnesota Zoo, which will be the first field trip of the year, as well as the biggest. I am still in the process of planning the rest of our field trips for the year. I'm hoping for a factory tour, and firehouse tour, but not sure if we'll be allowed to do either of those.
As for this week, we'll be making molasses cookies tomorrow, studying up on birds, amphibians, and reptiles and some random animals we'll be seeing at the zoo, as well as studying asian culture. Now I just have to get next week planned, and the rest of our field trips for the year!

Beating the heat

Last fall we sold our air conditioner because we thought we would be moving in the spring and wouldn't need it. However, due to many state budgets cuts Andy was not accepted in any of the graduate programs he applied to so we will be here a little over a year. Yesterday the temperature reached high 80's, but thankfully it was a very windy day.
We went outside after breakfast at 8 am. The girls rode their scooters that Grandma Becky and Erie got them for christmas, and honestly I was amazed at how much they've improved. Andi rode her bike for a while and is getting a bit better; she still has to have me help her steer, and forgets to look up instead of at her feet, but she's gotten brave enough to ride without me holding on to the bike. After an hour or so Andy went outside with us and we played ladderball before I had to head to the laundry mat.
Ashlyn and I went to the laundry mat together, and while we waited for the clothes to wash we went to target and festival to get a couple of things for lunch, and even though I'm trying to stop using "replacement foods" I found vegan parmasian cheese for pasta and had to get it for Andi, my vegan child who eats hamburger, and myself. Andi was pretty excited.
When we got home I hung a basket of clothes with Ashlyn's help and sorted out some clothes that would dry quickly inside then made lunch. I made veggie subs:

Loaf of "Everything French Bread" with cut up cucumbers, lettuce, and broccoli and carros slices from a mixture that's in with the bagged lettuce. I topped it with a sweet vidalia onion dressing. I was going to put green peppers in it too, but frankly, I was too lazy to cut anything else. With the sandwich we had red potatoes cooked in olive oil and seasoned. yummy yummy lunch. Surprisingly, Andy gobbled up his sandwich and asked for another. This surprised me since it was just veggies on bread! Anyway, after lunch I hung more clothes, took a cold cold shower, then went downstairs with the girls and took a nap. After nap time it was already time to make supper. After cooking a bunch of food and washing dishes in hot water we walked to the gas station and got the girls push up popcycles. Ashlyn took her scooter which was a major wake up call for me as to how big she is getting! I can't believe it sometimes. We got home, cleaned the girls up and went downstairs to watch american idol. The girls slept on the floor in our room since it was cooler and I wanted to leave all the windows and the backdoor open upstairs, which I can't do when they're upstairs alone. It was like a fun little slumber party since Andy stayed upstairs for a while leaving us girls to hang out alone. :)
The best part is this:
Today the high is only 66, and it is cloudy and rainy. No major heat to beat today! :) Maybe we'll have an air conditioner before we have another really hot day.

I've come to realize...

I've come to realize:

...Life runs much more smoothly when I am home
...I am open minded, but also set in my ways
...Even though my husband doesn' share my views on animal rights, he is amazingly supportive
...I did everything I could to nurse our hamters back to health and need to stop living in guilt
...There is no perfect way to parent a child as long as all your actions are guided by love
...When saving a plant, animal, river etc. become a widespread goal it is typically only because peoples lives are somehow affected by it
...I will never understand the point of making it a priority to protect an endangered species, only to hunt it again once it's no longer endangered
...I need to let go of the past and live for now
...I can never successfully stop being vegan...it's no my diet, it's who I am and will always be. Trying to stop means pretending to be someone I'm not
...It doesn't matter what other people think about me, and caring so much about it will only cause me to continue makin poor discisions
...Today is all that matters