Simple Kids: Making time for our family and Popcorn Recipe

Last week I had one too many distracted days - instead of going through our normal morning routine of preparing a couple of cups of warm milk, pouring one of coffee for myself and lots of wake-up time on the couch, I found my mind being preoccupied with tasks to be finished, floors to be mopped and laundry to be done, while absent-mindedly refilling two sippy cups. It was a sort of disconnected week, I fear. 

At the end of the week, I felt we were in serious need of an afternoon with lots of laughter, snuggles, and kisses. An afternoon of Pre-Mother's Day quality time for our family. 

We had beautiful weather on Sunday, so we decided to collect all the blankets we could find, laid them on the grass watching JC built a fire for roasting S'mores. 

You see, even though I'm at home with them, striving to include them in daily homemaking activities, while also emphasising on the role of imagination in learning, encouraging their intellectual, practical and artistic development especially during their early childhood years, I do occasionally cease to hum songs and get caught in a rut. Hands-on activities decline and I clearly notice the change in rhythm in their creative play.

So this past Sunday, we made the day all about family. After church that morning, I chopped up some of our favorite fruits and popped some corn (recipe below), while the kids helped collect branches for the fire. 

Watching them run around in anticipation was heart warming. They played tag together, covered and uncovered their blankets, and snug some chocolate while I wasn't watching. Our batteries were recharging more and more with each Marshmallow.

As the sun set slowly and the air turned cool rapidly, we moved our family day indoors. After a quick bath, we settled in our favorite comfy spot, grabbed the popcorn and I turned on a good wholesome cartoon for them. That night I chose Theo for us, a cartoon off of PureFlix,. We don't have TV service at our home and we exclusively rely on streaming. PureFlix offers a wide variety of faith and family friendly movies that I don't hesitate for my children to watch. And on a side note, they currently offer a free month trial if any of you are interested. 

After they were in bed, JC and I snuggled up together and continued our quality time with another movie, while finishing off the last of the popcorn. All in all, it was a wonderful day with the kids and if I may encourage you, Mother's Day is just around the corner, if you are not the gift giving type or if you are, but would like to add that extra little something, go and spend some time with your loved ones. It doesn't have to be all elaborate with a fire and S'mores, but maybe curling up in your favorite spot, with your favorite snack, and a family friendly movie might just do the trick.

Popcorn Recipe:

3 TBSP Oil 

1/3 c popcorn kernels

3 TBSP butter

salt to taste

1. Add the oil to a medium pot that has a lid. Place 3 kernels of corn in the oil, close the lid and let sit on medium-high heat until you hear the three kernels pop.

2. Remove the pot from the heat, add the 1/3 cup of kernels, close the lid - and now this is important - count to 30. Out loud. 

3. After you counted (you did, right?) return the pot to the heat, lift the lid ajar and proceed by shaking the pot softly all through the popping. Once the pops cease, take the pot off the heat and empty the popcorn into a bowl.

4. Add the butter to the hot pot, once it is melted, pour it over the popcorn and gently mix to coat.

Enjoy and live loved!

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This post was not sponsored but partnered with Pure Flix, all opinions are my own. 

Simple Kids: An honest feeding story

I can't believe it has taken me over four years to write this post. Every time I would sit down to type it, I would hesitate as self-doubt entered my mind as I'm not the first mother out there, feeding a newborn baby or two.

We have all heard the "Breast is the best" mantra, seen the shaking of heads behind the backs of bottle feeding mothers, and then watched the scolding looks of others when a new mom would nurse in public. Without a doubt, my thoughts continued, do we really need another post on this? Then I realized, no matter which road we as moms take, there will always be an opinion about it. And even though I sought all the advice possible, reading as much about this topic as I could before my daughter arrived, I found that each experience is unique and we may always benefit from having one more to read about.  And I'm not posting this to persuade you that what you are doing is anything but fine, rather, I'm sharing this because I hope that you will find some encouragement here. So here I am, typing away.

Before my oldest was born, I already decided I was going to nurse. To me, the decision was a natural one, brought on by tradition and watching my own mother nurse my younger siblings. In the first days of breastfeeding, the physical and emotional transformation was mind-blowing. My breasts were so engorged and burning hot - nothing could have prepared me for this. My nipples were sore, my throat ever so thirsty. E wouldn't latch on right, and only suckled lightly. She was less than a day old, and already the afternoon nurse suggested supplementing. Here I was, a first-time mother, who somehow imagined that nursing was so ingrained in a mother-child bond that we would magically find our way to it the minute my daughter was born. I was in tears.

I sought advice from experienced friends. I called the lactation consultant, a very straight forward Eastern European lady, who walked up briskly to my bedside, reaching for my burning breast with her ice-cold hands, Just to find out, she still wouldn't latch on right. Finally, though, with the help of a plastic shield, I was able to feed my daughter as best as I could.

During the next few weeks at home, we continued our shield nursing regiment. There were days when I still tried to wrap my head around the fact that my ever so small boobs could produce enough liquid gold to feed and nourish a tiny human being. And every time the milk would flow while nursing her and later my son, a wave of calm washed over me. Those were the days I thought of nursing as my secret weapon, my own personal drug.

I cherished the moments when both my babies would reach up and play with my hair while nursing, feeling my face as if ingraining my features with their hands. My son was also very particular about where he wanted my free hand to be placed. These are the moments I love and will always be carefully stored in my imaginary Mommy files.

And then there were days when I felt that breastfeeding was more of a burden. My impending return back to work hung over my head like a dark cloud. I had to begin pumping and build my freezer supply. Those were the days I cried, strapped to this humanless machine, feeling more like a cow being milked than a mother to a human baby. I cried when I barely filled a bottle. I feared I was failing my daughter before giving us a chance. I cried because leaving her with a sitter required planning, more pumping and returning home to her with aching breasts leaking milk. But I continued to take my prenatal vitamins (like these), drank my liquids and faithfully pumped as much as my body would produce for the next months.

Eventually, I introduced formula to her. In a combination of weaning and drying up, we stopped nursing altogether at ten months. And you know what? As much as a blessing it was to nurse her, it turned out just fine once we transitioned to formula. If I could give my first-time-mom-self any advice, I would tell her to relax and know that it is going to be okay. Whichever way works out, my child and yours will receive the nourishment they need to grow and flourish.

With my son, I was very blessed to nourish him full time until six months, and then continue until we weaned just last month at 17 months. His experience seemed like an all around easier one, but maybe, just maybe I had already learned the little tidbit of information that if for whatever reason I couldn't nurse, I knew I had a good formula, like the Honest company's Organic Premium Infant Formula to fall back on, providing premium organic nutrition while also being gentle on the tummy. If you want to learn more or read some touching stories, go to the Honest Facebook page.

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This post was encouraged but not sponsored by the Honest Company. 

Simple Moments

Little Man's first time at the beach.

Good Morning.

I have more shots of my kids running away than I can count!

This was probably the only time in my life I wished we had dogs - these two were beauties!

We took some time to smell the flowers...

... and rest our heads' on Papa's shoulder.

We gave each of our kids a special necklace to remember their beach trip by.

(Putting a necklace on a 17 months old is harder than it looks ha!)

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Birthing E

Because last month my first born turned four years old, I feel I should finally share her birth story. I have written and rewritten her day so many times, never fully satisfied that it captures all my feelings and emotions adequately. As it is with every birth story, there is a bit of a rawness to it. And a touch of oversharing perhaps. I tried and failed miserably at keeping this short, so with a smile, I'll say 'consider yourself warned'.

My husband's cousin and I were pregnant a week apart and throughout our pregnancies the whole family was joking we'd have our babies in the same place at the same time. The morning she was induced, I waddled across the hospital parking lot slower than usual. It was a Friday morning, just past 9 o'clock - and I stopped by on my way to work for a visit with her. Despite all the excitement going on about a soon to be here baby cousin, I felt an ache deep down in my belly that was distinct and noticeable,

In the course of the morning at work, the low ache decidedly made its way up my spine, centering on my back. Now there was a distinguished hot tingling beginning from my back and wrapping itself around my belly. I decided it might be good to head home early, after all, it was a Friday afternoon and I still had an hour long drive ahead of me. Just long enough to time the ache with the digital clock on my car radio {An hour long drive, so first-time mom-ish.  Ha!}.

Somewhere on my way home, I had turned a specific kind of restless and upon pulling in the driveway I decided it was time to clean the house - laundry, bathrooms, floors and all. Nesting kicked in worse than it had ever before. I completed my list of chores and because my back was still hurting, I drew myself a hot bath in hopes of it soothing the pain as it had always done before. 

Feeling finished with the bath about as promptly as I had sat down in the tub, I dried myself off and laid down on our bed, stopwatch in one hand, paper and pen in the other. A few minutes into timing I grew restless. And as our home slowly lost all its light to the night falling in, the pain kept me from laying still for too long.

JC had been keeping up with his cousin, and so far no news of a baby had reached us as of yet. We decided to head to the hospital to join her and the family for the waiting. And we took our own bags, just.in.case. 

And since I'm boring myself, I will spare you the long details of hours in the waiting room for Baby Cousin, during which I waited for a break in my own contractions long enough to run {litterally} to the bathroom to throw up. My Aunt-in-law graciously joined me, holding back my hair and drying my tears while I sobbed wishing my own mother would live closer to support me during this time. I knew I wasn't too far from giving birth now, but I still tried to convince myself that labor was not underway yet. I was only concerned about this being Sam's day and not about the fact that the low back ache I felt this morning had continuously manifested itself to real, now uncomfortable, contractions.

I was outnumbered all to one and we finally signed in, during which our Baby Cousin was born.

The moments in the monitoring room are a blur, my water broke {just about midnight then} immediately followed by an intense contraction {I cried} and a - in my eyes - not very encouraging  PA {2 cm and a "you've got hours to go, Honey"} and skip right on into the delivery room, which happened to be next door to where Sam was in recovery. Our own private joke of we'll be having our babies in adjoining rooms was actually happening. 

There are more details to laboring {it really hurts} and a nurse's "let me check you" {please hurry} and an "I have to push" {don't push yet, let me get the doctor} followed by lights coming down, an encouraging husband {what a blessing} and an aunt turned birthing coach {like mother like daughter}. 

It was intense but it felt so focused and good. And then a final roar coupled with the most intense toe curling push, she was here. A mere hour and a half after the modest gush of when my water had broken on the cot in the monitoring room. Everyone said ten pushes and she was out. I didn't count. We had done it. I had done it. A baby girl created so beautifully and perfect in God's own image, she was here nestled on my chest while the doctor stitched up some tears. 

The next morning we moved to the mother and child floor. Sam and her family were already up there. We spent the remainder of our stay visiting each other and being visited by family and friends. The doctors and nurses already knew if we weren't in our room, we'd be in the other. It was quite funny actually. What was even funnier, was finding out hospital door securities do work, as we were pushing e back to our room in her sterile clear hospital bassinet.

And then it was time to return home. The first few weeks at home with her were incredibly wonderful and painful at the same time. I was obsessed with her tiny feet and oftentimes found myself just staring at her sleeping little self {which I still do to this day}. But it was also painful because I hadn't considered my own recovery with the tears that had needed stitching and the swelling. Don't get me wrong the focus naturally and rightfully is all about the tiny human being and all the joy they bring. But as much preparation, as I had done prior to her birth, I had naively never fully thought about my own recovery. That said, recovering from j was much more pleasant.

I will leave with that and I hope we'll one day be able to add a couple more members to our crew. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I'm very glad you did.

You may also be interested in: Birthing J

Simple Life: St. Nicholas Day

Since I find myself in the season with young children, I thought it might be nice this year to start on a simplified version of some of the traditions from my childhood. Growing up, I have always cherished the time before Christmas (eve) with a warm heart. And now, well into my adulthood, this time from the beginning of the first of Advent until New Years', has me think of those bygone years with fond memories, as well as a hint of nostalgia. 

I'm not quite sure whether or not beginning our own traditions really will mend my always recurring wistful reflections of younger years, but never the less I'm thinking of these special rituals as a tribute to my childhood. St. Nicholas being one of many for this last month of the year. 

Nicholas was born in the 3rd century to wealthy parents in the Greek area of Patara, now southern coast of Turkey. His parents passed when he was still young. As a devout Christian, he used his inheritance to give to the poor, needy and sick. Dedicating his life to God, he was made Bishop of Myra when he was still a young man, but later also suffered for his faith even being imprisoned under a Roman Emperor. He died on December 6th, AD 343. 

One of the stories we hear of the good deeds St. Nicholas has done, is about a father of three daughters. Having no dowry to be able to marry, the daughters were destined to be sold into slavery. On three different occasions, a bag of gold mysteriously made it into their home, thrown in through a window and landing on socks that were hanging beside the fire to dry. The gold was enough to provide for a dowry, saving the three daughters from a life of slavery. 

This year, while retelling the story of St. Nicholas and the three young women, e and I washed our boots on the back steps. We placed them at the door in the evening and when she woke up this morning, she had a chocolate Santa and some chocolate coins in hers, as well as a small gift {a puzzle} beside it. {And for the curious among you, j's gift is are homemade stacking blocks from a tree in our back yard| This was a simple beginning to this tradition and as she gets older we will add more and more details to this tradition with a special meal, cleaning the whole house and the like. I don't know how close or how far apart we will be living as a family when everyone has grown up, but I hope my children will always be able to remember their favorite Christmas traditions with fond memories and maybe even build upon them with their own families in the future. 

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Simple Kids: Currently Reading

This has been a hectic week for us, for no particular reason really. It just happened that way. One thing, however, to help us slow down and regroup - besides spending time outside - is reading books. We often times begin our mornings snuggled up in the kids' room, reading a book or two {or three} to help us {read: Mommy} wake up properly. 

My passion for reading books was born during my own childhood and has grown with me over the last decades. I remember our freshly bathed, still damp hair and the bare feet poking out of our pajamas, as we laid in bed waiting for everyone to gather; the way my father drew in his air while reading. I can still see him sitting on the bed with us, reading us a page from a 365 Good Night Stories book, his words gliding calmly over his lips. These recollections, deeply cherished and warmly remembered, resurface almost every night as I sit down in this house while reading to my children. Some days, e is sitting on my lap, softly nestling her head on my chest, and other days j takes over her spot, usually to nurse. But either way, we are making memories every time we sit and read together.

And while our own library of books is pretty significant - we have enough books to keep a good selection in the kids' room and another one in the living room - I also make it a point of borrowing seasonal books from our local library. With fall in full swing and Thanksgiving less than a week away, I am sharing with you today what has been on our nightstand these last couple of weeks.

The Hatseller and the monkey by Baba Wague Diakite

Where's Mommy? by Beverly Donofrio

Autumn Orange by Christianne C. Jones

The Thanksgiving visitor by Truman Capote

My Little Girl by Tim McGraw

Simple Food: Fall Harvest Snacks

This time of year calls for candy. And lots of it. The internet is full of mouth watering recipe ideas that I would love to bake and eat them all. Combine that with all the fall desserts and we are in for some delicious fun! But, I also have kids. My kids and too much sugar is not a great combination. {Is it ever?}

Therefore, to keep our snacks a bit on the healthy side until the big night, I searched Pinterest for some healthy fall snack ideas.  

In any case, below are a few snack ideas we recently have had in our house. e was very fond of the Candy Corn-ish snack, while j preferred the grapes and tangerines. I homemade the whipped cream on top of the pineapples and tangerines off of this recipe. I also like to have it in my afternoon cuppa, it hits the spot quite well I say. The eyes and mouth were drawn on the glass with a Sharpie {gasp}, but no worries it washes right off. All of the snacks are definitely keepers for us. 

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