He speaks!

For those of you dying for an update on the brilliance of our boy, Silas, let me quickly list for you his words, in order of appearance:

Uh-oh
Eli (Eeeeeee-eye)
Bumpa (Bum-baa)
Daddy (Dadeeeeee)
Bye-bye
Uh-huh

And, his ever present Uhh? which communicates so much for words he has yet to master.  I love this kid!

Here's a video of a few of his words, just as proof, but he's not much of a performer, so it's all you get. 

Broadening our Horizons

So, we've been Raw so long now, I can't even count the days.  We have fallen into a simple routine, and have a few recipes that we really love, and use regularly.  We are still feeling incredibly good, so we are carrying on.  However, like with everything in life, some days it feels hard to be so committed.  It's not necessarily the "Raw" food, but just food in general.  For the past two months I have prepared, from scratch, the vast majority of everything we have eaten.  But for a few splurges at the health food store, everything has to be made by hand, and often has to be planned a few days in advance. The lingering few boxes of macaroni in the cupboard have, some evenings, been very tempting (although, with no ketchup in the house I'm not sure if even that would be worth it).

But then, with a little effort we sit down to something like this, and it is just fine!

There is so much good about what you see there: tacos with sprouted quinoa tabbouleh and pineapple-broccoli salad. Delish!  And for a drink we had some fresh (and when I say fresh, I mean I opened the coconut myself) coconut water.  I would love to pontificate on the wonders of coconut water, but you should just look it up yourself.  It's incredible!

Those of you with scrutinizing eyes may notice the white creamy stuff on the tacos, and wonder what's becoming of the Wiebes.  Well, it is almost exactly what it looks like - it is freshly home-made yogurt! Oh, my domesticity just went up a few notches, didn't it?

I won't bore you with the details of the failed attempts at yogurt making, or tell you exactly what temperature I had to heat my farm-fresh raw milk to to make the yogurt.  No, I will just let you be impressed by my homemaking skills. Really, I'm well on my way to be dropped in the middle of this ad:

 They forgot to put "Make homemade yogurt and lettuce tacos with fake meat" in there. Strange.

Anyway, the yogurt is delicious, and almost worth "cheating" a little.  We are trying to discover exactly where we want to be on the whole Raw Food spectrum.  I have yet to miss real meat, but I do crave breads every now and then.  I feel really good about the raw milk, even though true raw foodists are vegan, but I have yet to have cheese, even though that's raw too.  And the yogurt is an easy way to whip up a snack for the boys.  We're just figuring it out as we go, deciding what works for our family, in order for us to be as healthy as we can be.  It's an adventure, that's for sure. 

And for those of you who have asked for more on our raw food, stay tuned for the "day in the life..." post.  It's coming!

Eli's Chunk Hat

Every time my needles or hooks come out Eli asks when I will knit him a hat.  Poor boy, I make him try on all the hats I make, mostly for girls, and he never gets to keep any of them.  So, tonight I made him a hat of his own.  My favourite part is just the tiny bit of a point at the top.  Eli is getting to be too big for a full on gnome hat, but I sneaked in just a hint of cuteness into this otherwise very "boy" hat! The reason that Eli looks like he's just gotten in a school yard fight is because it's really late, but I really wanted to try the hat on him, so when he whimpered in bed a few minutes ago, instead of quickly getting him back to sleep I made him wake up and model it for me.  Even in his exhaustion he said, "I love it Mommy, especially that it's brown." I love him!

This pattern is ridiculously simple, but I find it nice to follow one, even so.  It could be made even simpler by just switching to a smaller hook and dcing the last few rows even.  But, I added a modified version of Rheatheylia's crocheted ribbing to tighten up the bottom.With a beautiful chunky yarn, this can be completed in just an hour or so. 

Eli's Chunk Hat

SIZE

Child

MATERIALS

Lang Yarns Maxi Tosca (55% Wool, 45% Acrylic; 100 yards per 50g ball) in colour 3989

Crochet Hook US J/6 mm

Tapestry needle

GAUGE

12 sts = 4"; 7 rounds = 4" in dc rounds. 

Use any size hook to obtain the gauge.

PATTERN NOTES
dc = double crochet

sc = single crochet

fpdc = front post double crochet

bpdc = back post double crochet

DIRECTIONS

Round 1: Using an adjustable ring, draw up 2 ch; 8 dc into loop; join with a slip st in first dc - 8 sts

Round 2: Ch 2, 2 dc in same st as joining, 2 dc in each dc in round; slip st in first dc - 16 sts
Round 3: Ch 2, dc in same st as joining, 2 dc in next dc, [dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc] around; join - 24 sts
Round 4: Ch 2, dc in same st as joining, dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc [dc in next 2 dc, 2 dc in next dc] around; join - 32 sts
Round 5: Ch 2, dc in same st as joining, dc in next 2 dc, 2 dc in next dc  [dc in next 3 dc, 2 dc in next dc] around; join - 40 sts

Round 6: Ch 2, dc in same st as joining, dc in next 3 dc, 2 dc in next dc  [dc in next 4 dc, 2 dc in next dc] around; join - 48 sts

Round 7: Ch 2, dc in same st as joining, dc in next 4 dc, 2 dc in next dc  [dc in next 5 dc, 2 dc in next dc] around; join - 56 sts

Round 8-11 - Ch 2, dc in same st as joining, dc around; join - 56 sts

Switch to Size 5.0 mm

Round 12- Ch 1, sc in same st as joining, sc around; join - 56 sts

Round 13 - Ch 2, dc in same st as joing, dc around; join - 56 sts

Round 14-15 - Ch 2, fpdc in first dc, bpdc in next dc, repeat around; join. Fasten off  - 56 sts

Weave in all ends.

Check my project out on Ravelry, or the pattern page here. 

A Cleanse of Sorts

I am going on a cleanse.  Not a physical cleanse, but something even more important: a Facebook cleanse.  That's right, I am shutting it down for the next few weeks.  I've got so much going on right now and I feel like Facebook is just one thing that I DON'T need, that at best mildly entertains, but at worst works me up into a frenzy at times.  There is too much drama and too many hours that I will never get back.  So, if you look for me there, you won't find me.  Feel free to pick up the phone and call me: email me if that doesn't work for you. I will still be around, just not on Facebook.

What will I do with the time I save?

I plan on reading the ever growing stack of books sitting in my room gathering dust.  I have my first birth as a doula at the end of the month, and I want to make sure that I am prepared.  I also have two new LLL books I haven't really read yet that I want to get through.  Then there are the three new parenting books I just bought that I haven't touched yet.  Yes, I will read, I will read a lot.

Then there is all the crocheting and knitting I want to do that I can't do while I'm navigating the interwebs. I've got loads of patterns I want to work on and lots of yarn to do it with. Stay tuned for a few new patterns I've been working on!

There are the quilts I made last year that I haven't quilted yet.  I don't want to miss another picnic season without my picnic quilt now, do I?

I am working on a new website for my doula business and want to launch that sooner than later. It will be a great place, and a much better forum, for me to post links to articles and studies that I find interesting and informative. Look for it soon! 


And, most importantly, I want to spend more meaningful time with my boys.  They are getting so good at playing together that I have used my new-found independence as an excuse to sit in front of my computer, but I'd rather spend that time watching them interact, making memories of this time before it passes, as it quickly will.  I want to go to the zoo, go to the park, play on the floor.  I love them and I don't want to waste my time with them updating my status.

I'll go back, I'm sure, but hopefully a little time away will cleanse my apparent, and embarrassing, dependence on the beast.  Wish me luck!

I Want to Give Birth

No, I'm not pregnant, but I'd like to be soon, and so I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I've come to at least one conclusion: I'm excited to give birth.  That's right: excited!

Eli and Silas's births did not go as I planned.  For a long time that made me really sad.  When I get into conversations where war stories I mean, birth stories, are shared, I all too often typically get one of two responses: the "well, you have two healthy babies, that's really what matters, right?" and the "well, if you had only done this or that you could have had the perfect birth."  I even once got a "Well, I guess God was just teaching you a lesson for trying to plan what was out of your control."  Huh? Not helpful.  For some reason it is fine to share your horrific, graphic and terrible birth stories, but being disappointed by them is taboo. Well, guess what?  I believe it is okay to be upset by your birth experience!  That's right, it's fine to feel disappointment, pain, guilt and sadness over what happened during a birth.  It's even okay to place blame on others, if that's where you feel it belongs.  Of course a healthy baby is what really matters, but there is nothing wrong with expecting your body to do what it was meant to do, even if we understand that sometimes things are out of our control. There is nothing wrong with being affected by what happened or how you were treated in birth.  

Somewhere in the past few months I have managed to move past the feelings that I have been harboring about my birth experiences.  I have been able to forgive myself for not doing what I meant to do, and accept the beauty of the births I had.  I have realized that no matter how a baby comes, the entrance into this world is truly beautiful.  With Eli I was able to take advantage of the miracle of modern medicine - without it we wouldn't be here today!  With Silas I was able to accomplish what many women do not - giving birth vaginally after having a cesarean birth. Although it didn't go as I dreamed it would, I did it, and that is a real accomplishment!  And with those accomplishments and experiences under my belt I am feeling prepared to do it all over again.  And I have a game plan!

I am going to deliver my next baby in my home, in water, with my husband and both boys by my side. 

I will be very clear with my midwives about what I want and what I need.  I want a natural homebirth in water. I need them to trust that I can do it, even if I say I can't. I need them to tell me I am strong when I feel weak.  I need them to grab me and tell me that labour may be hard, and may be painful, but that I can do it!

I will take a natural childbirth class... or two... or maybe even three.  Despite my ridiculous amount of research on the matter, I think the more prepared I am, the better. Besides, let's be honest, any excuse to sit around and talk about birth is an excuse enough for me!

I will hire a doula, as well as my midwives.  I will tell her the same thing I tell the midwives, just in case they have a moment of weakness.  I know I am strong, and that I can do it, but I think I will need to be reminded of it, and so the more people prepared to do that, the better!

I will have a birth plan that states not how I want my birth to go, but how I expect to be treated.  Sure, I'd love to dictate that I only labour for 6 hours and push for 20 minutes, but really, what is more important is that I am allowed to labour at home, in peace, with my family around me; that I am not encouraged to push until I feel the urge, and that I am instead encouraged to move and find a position that works best for me and my baby, that I will support my own baby as he or she emerges into this world.  Oh, I am excited to write my birth plan, yes I am!

It has been suggested by family members, doctors and friends alike that perhaps I should just give up and accept that I cannot give birth the way I want; that I am crazy not to be scared of doing it all over again; that I would do well to lower my expectations of birth, so I won't be disappointed again.  I will not expect less just because there is a chance of disappointment.  I am excited, I am looking forward to it!  I am strong: I am amazing, actually, and I know I can do it!

We've done it again

Remember the house we were renovating?  Well, without any major mental breakdowns we have finished the project.  It's almost nice enough to make me want to move back in!  In just three weeks we (and when I say "we" I really mean Jared, really):

1. Tore out all the old crappy flooring, the bathroom mirrors, light fixtures and faucets, the kitchen faucets and more.
2. Completely painted the entire house from floorboards to ceilings. 
3. Installed beautiful laminate flooring throughout the entire home (with the generous help of my brother Matt!)
4. Put in new mirrors, lights, faucets, etc.
5. Installed new hardware in the bathroom and kitchen.
6. Painted all the kitchen cupboards.
7. Gave the front of the house a facelift with new numbers, a new mailbox and light.  In the summer we will paint the window frames and stucco and hopefully do something about the maroon soffiting and door. 

It really is gorgeous.  Sadly we didn't get it finished with enough time to get it rented for this month, so hopefully we'll be able to do so for April.  If you know of anyone looking, send them my way!

First Words - Uh oh!

That's right folks, I do believe I'm prepared to say that Silas has uttered his first words.  If I could figure out how, I would upload a video, because I caught it on camera.  But alas, 'firewire' means nothing to me, and so the footage shall remain on my video camera.

Silas will be 18 months in two weeks, and while his various intonations of  'uhhh' manage to communicate much more than you would suspect, he has flatly refused to say any real words.  Until today...  today I dropped something and said, uh oh" and Silas clearly repeated, "Uh oh!"  There it was, as clear as if he'd been saying it for weeks, "Uh oh!"  He also chases me around shouting "mamamamama" and squeals in excitement when he sees Jared with "daaaaadaaaaa" but he refuses to do it on cue, like the trained little entertainer I want him to be, so I'm not counting those.

Despite his lack of vocabulary, let me promise you that Silas is quite honestly the most darling baby I know.  He is sweet as can be, always coming up just to hug me tight around the neck.  Although I don't get them, he makes jokes all the time, laughing at himself right out loud.  He is a total daredevil, leaping off couches, jumping into swim pools, swinging from the chandelier (honestly!)  I love him to bits and pieces, and am totally looking forward to seeing what he has to say.

Here's a picture of the little Duketer after he carried my camera over to me, placed it on my lap with a well meaning "uhhh" and marched over to the obvious picture taking spot. He stood quite still while I snapped the shot, and then insisted I take several more before I was allowed to put the camera away.  I love this kid so much!