Linkage

Today I read a powerful post by another blogger, and felt that its power should be shared. Click here.

I love having farm fresh produce delivered to my door!

This weeks delivery includes the following vegetables and fruit! I cant wait until it arrives!!!
Avocado, red potatoes, medley of summer squash, beans or cucumbers or corn, radishes or turnips, chives or basil, Seabreeze salad with edible flowers, leeks, Valencia oranges, tat soi or purslane and bouquet of flowers.
Grapes, grapefruit, peaches, Fuji apples and fresh picked and frozen mulberries.

Parenting lessons

I love being a Mom, and cant wait for my girlfriends (I have 3 close friends and 2 other girlfriends pregnant all at the same time!!!) to have their babies so we all can feel the joy and love that having a child brings. I also cant wait for them to become parents so they can experience for themselves the decisions, struggles and challenges that being a parent inherently comes with.

What I struggle with lately is that parenting requires a level of communication that I don't currently possess. And trying to work through all of the variables is exhausting. Making sure you are setting good examples, guiding their decisions, averting danger while still allowing exploration, showing love and tolerance...etc., etc., etc. Again, I love being a Mom and every ounce of energy expelled is worth it. But, when my closest girlfriends are all in the (first) pregnancy faze--I can scarcely relate my struggles and challenges to them. Nor would I want to spoil any of their joy and expectations.

More accurately though--I don't think they can relate (sorry gals if you are reading this) to how difficult it is to a Mom yet. I will share this example with you to make my point. Before I had a child I was naive enough to tell my MIL that my kid wouldn't be allowed to have toys. Uh huh, yeah right. When I said this she just smiled at me with a knowing look and kept her mouth closed. All the while knowing that I was nuts.

If I could take my MIL's lead and not say anything when similar exchanges occur between me a pregnant friends I would be much better off. It is a struggle for me to listen to my friends say and do things that I suspect (from experience) will turn out different once the child is born. Moreover, it is excruciating for me to listen to people who don't have kids yet give me advise about how to parent my son.

So, my goal and lesson this week is to learn how to be more tolerant and accepting of other peoples feelings and opinions on the matter of parenting. I don't want to be known as the the 'know-it-all' preachy friend--so this is critical. I also need to learn how to keep my thoughts and opinions to myself so that others can learn from their own experiences. But most important is for me to learn how to say what I feel and know is best for my family with more conviction.

Several times over this weekend I should have spoken out about things I wasn't comfortable with as it relates to raising my son, and I didn't. I should have stood my ground on my beliefs and just said that I wasnt comfortable with something. But, for some reason I didn't and regretted not speaking out when I had the chance. I am still sorting this one out, and will let you know what the result is soon.

Phew, I feel better having shared my feelings. It was weighing heavy on me. Now, I can more easily move to the action phase. Comments always welcome.

Update on the Milk front

Elliott is a rock star. I know, I know, enough gushing and running on and on about my wonderful kid. But, alas I am his Momma and I cant help but ogle over him (and truth be told--most of my readers are here for him).

A couple of weeks ago, I selfishly decided that I was done pumping milk at work. So, after much agony and mental debate--we switched him over to plain organic soy milk. He loves it. After the first week on soy, we also stopped offering him a bottle, which he didn't seem to miss at all (except when the little girl at daycare is drinking hers--then he tries to steal it from her).

I am still nursing him at least 3 times on days I work, and more on days I stay home with him. I think it is currently the best of both worlds and he doesn't seem fazed one bit.

I cant imagine a time when I wont be nursing him...but I can now at least forecast it.

Our Bounty

This is our CSA bounty. I have made use of most of the items delivered this past week--some of which I had to google to find out what they were. Like tat soi, who has ever heard of it? Anyway, once I deciphered what veggie was what--I began chopping and preparing a huge veggie stir fry --which was delicious!!!

I am excited to see what comes next week. We are every other week, but scheduled for this week is: Medley of summer squashes, beans or cucumbers or broccoli, carrots or radishes, scallions, baby celery, sweet lettuce, salad with edible flowers, basil or arugula or French sorrel, tomatoes and bouquet of flowers. The Fruits are: mangos (I am allergic, but the family should enjoy), frozen mulberries (too delicate to send fresh-just picked), avocado, bananas, peaches, and strawberries.

With the exception of the strawberries everything sounds wonderful. Ahh, you ask what my aversion to strawberries is? I bought a basket at the farmers market a year or more ago. Usually, I just wash them and eat them. No need to hull them when they are bursting with red juicy goodness. Well, let me tell ya...it is a good thing I waited. I decided to hull and slice them for consumption later. I sliced open one berry and out came a whole family of worms. I will never eat another strawberry again unless its sliced open first. And that also ended my organic shopping at the farmers market. This time around--I am soaking and washing everything very thoroughly to eliminate any sort of pest from ruining my mental palate.

Crawl Master Flash

Another milestone today! Yipee!

Milestone

Today, my sweet boy slept in until 6:30am (Woot!). When his Dad and I went in to greet him and say good morning, he was sitting up in his crib (a new development in itself)--all smiles.

When he saw us, he grabbed a hold of the side of the crib, pulled himself to his knees and then stood up with the support of the crib side. He has never practiced pulling up. But, he did it like he had been doing it every morning for months.

Hubby and I just beamed at him all the while showering him with praise. Adorable.

Pictures!

uhh hi, could I be any cuter?

I have two teeth in this picture (as you can fuzzily see), but today a new top tooth erupted!

Hubby says it is mean to dress up the dog, but he looks like he is smiling to me...

Finally!!!!

A cloth diaper service in SD!