From one mama to another: book recommendations

My friend Suzy Popchicks (not her real name) asked me if I had any book recommendations for a potentially-pregnant lady. Wellllll, yes. Of course, I took it over-seriously and hashed out an entire list of recommendations.

BABIES & PARENTING:

1. Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Parenting - Peggy O'Mara: It has been awhile since I looked at this book, but I appreciated it for its "natural" and holistic look at parenting - from childbirth and nursing to night waking and first foods. She also talks about "alternative medicine", which not many parenting books cover. I especially appreciated that at the time.
2. The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two - Dr. Sears: As an overview to babies and parenting, I thought this book was very good. Helpful and extremely thorough.
3. The Happiest Baby on the Block - Harvey Karp: There were a few things that I didn't agree with in this book (an example: the author claims that babies should never be nursed lying down - pshaw, what a laugh!) but overall, I found it very insightful. Both my boys, but especially Diego, loved being swaddled as babies - it really calmed them down. The 5 S's - Swaddling, Side/Stomach Positions, Shushing, Swinging, Sucking - helped me gain a greater understanding of how to soothe my babies. I didn't have it from experience, but I learned quickly with a jumpstart from the information in this book.

HEALTH & WELLNESS:

1. Vaccinations: The Thoughtful Parents' Guide - Aviva-Jill Romm: Out of everything, this is the book I wish I would have read before giving birth. Vaccinations are heralded as all-important in our society. But the truth is, there are a lot of extremely complicated factors that go into the decision to vaccinate. Contrary to how vaccinations are presented, you, the parent, actually have a choice in this matter: whether to forgo, go with a delayed schedule, or pick and choose what is right for your child based on your own research. You will be pressed from the very start to begin vaccinations (I'm not kidding: it will be immediate. It starts with the Hepatitis B vaccine the day or day after the babe is born in a hospital-based birth). Romm's book was the most balanced presentation of the history of vaccinations, pros and cons, and most importantly, the choices we have as parents. In my opinion, it is best to go into the decision to vaccinate with eyes wide open.
2. Naturally Healthy Babies and Children - Aviva-Jill Romm: I reference this book regularly. It really helped qualm my fears of, "What do I do when...?" It has an A-Z listing of ailments with practical advice on how to deal with it. I cleared the only ear infection we have ever had in this household (a double, at that) with garlic oil and hot compresses. A fever needs to be assisted, not quelled; and so on and so forth. It has empowered me to take my children's health in my own hands, with a great sense of peace.

PRE-PREGNANCY, HEALTH & NUTRITION:

1. Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats - Sally Fallon: If only for the general nutritional overview at the very beginning, this book would be very good to check out. For the first time in my life, a nutritional paradigm made sense to me -- I feel like it gave direction to my already-existent "whole foods" outlook. Plus, with little ones, you are entirely responsible for their health and well-being. Kids don't have to live on chicken nuggets and mac'n'cheese (and other "food-like substances"). Introduce them to a wide variety as wee ones and they'll eat what you eat. The "kid's menu" at most slow-fast food restaurants? Total junk.
2. Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health - Toni Weschler: If you haven't already learned about all your female reproductive organs and how they work, do it now. It is fascinating. I was angered (though 'anguished' might be a more apt term) by learning "everything" at the ripe age of 31. Things would have made so much more sense if I had "only known". Sheesh.
3. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding - Gwen Gotsch: I haven't actually read this book, but have heard a lot about it. I imagine it is a very good introduction to breastfeeding for the otherwise uninitiated.
4. PUSHED: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care - Jennifer Block: This book is fascinating and particularly important for those who don't feel "quite right" about the current medicalized model of birth. I had inklings before my first babe, but didn't have any direction or true experience until I was thrust into it. I honestly don't know if it would have resonated with me pre-babies, but when I read it in the spring of 2008, it struck many-a-chord. A very important read. I was unimpressed with her comparison of birthing rights with access to abortion at the very end, but otherwise her observations throughout the whole of the book are extremely astute.

Root Cellar 2009

From top to bottom:

Squeeze's homemade wine, tomatoes under paper

grape jam, tomato sauce, salsa, fermented veg

(salsa, cukes, sauerkraut, pickled beets)

apples, apple sauce

apples

Another view

Top shelf:

tomato soup, tomato sauce, misc.,

another wine rack

A view from the back:

carrots, cabbages

potatoes

Wenk's Yellow Hots (hanging)

And a bonus shot:

Our basement wood burner,

which is hooked to the forced-air heating system

Notice the straw-filled nest in the window

(Squeeze loves his kitties)

* * *

The basement has a chute to toss the wood down

vs. hauling it in and down the stairs

The square piece of wood is packing wood (oak!) --

a business Squeeze goes to discards it almost every week

MAY 2016 EDIT:

This post gets a lot of hits. (Hooray for root cellars!) (They are the greatest.) Click on the years below to see more recent pictures of our root cellar.  It has gained in stature quite a bit in the last seven years.  Though I see I haven't posted pictures since 2013.  Goodness.  That was the year that I really caught my stride.

2011

2012

2013

My food preservation notes. (Though now I would put almost everything in the freezer section over to the dehydrator.) (I love-love-love my dehydrator.)

What I've been up to

• Reading to myself.
• Reading aloud to Diego -- the Little House books (we are Farmer Boy right now, which is the 3rd book) and I am enjoying it as much as he is! Squeeze even listens and relates it back to his remembrances of the television show. Trubies usually nurses or runs around and plays while we read.
• Attempting to keep myself in the groove of forced organization and scheduled tasks. It is getting harder, though I am committed to sticking with it.
• Enjoying snuggling at nap and bed times.
• Organizing two Friends of the Library fundraisers two weekends in a row. My organizational skills - which come naturally in part, but which I was also able to cultivate during my 6 years at Wells Fargo - come in very handy for mobilizing volunteers and all the ensuing details of fundraising. I'm proud of myself.
• We've raised $2,000 in less than a year -- not too shabby.

And now, to my books.

Robot pumpkins unite!

The boys were thrilled to carve pumpkins this year

Squeeze's pumpkin was yet another

--- ROBOT ---

(getting his bum tweaked)

Mrrrrrrrrreeeeee!

Beep

Boop

Bop

ggg ggg ggg

I think mine looks rather quaint and happy-go-lucky

Which, in turn, makes me smile

Truen has been talking in his sleep --

• "Food ready, Mama?"
• "More raisins . . . more raisins . . ."

From the middle of nowhere, straight from my burning heart

The pain of a new idea is one of the greatest pains in human nature...after all, your favorite notions may be wrong, your firmest beliefs ill-founded.

~Walter Bagehot

This quote struck me square in the forehead this past summer. How true. I have noticed it in my own life, observed it in others, and can sense the undercurrent of it running throughout society.

But honestly, we all base our opinions on what we know from how have lived: the people we know, how we grew up, what we have experienced, and the environment we are surrounded by - be it social, physical, or intellectual. Is it any wonder that, collectively, we have strayed so far from "ideal"? Nay, that there has never been an Ideal.

We are all so different - even in our sameness, i.e. "culture". No one will ever agree. I don't believe it is possible to be on the same page. We must all agree to disagree and simply respect human life for what it is: valuable. Everyone else is as special as I am. As you are.

So why is this so hard to reconcile? The world is too big.

Deo for my BO

I actually had time last night to do a non-food and non-kid related activity:

I made my own deodorant.

I've been using this particular deo for the last year; it was a gift from my SIL. When it ran out, I wanted more. The recipe is very simple. (While making it, I felt amazed and actually thought to myself, "Lookie at what I have time to do!")

Homemade Deodorant

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
5 TBSP coconut oil
essential oil to scent to your liking (I used lavender)

• Mix the baking soda and arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
• Add the coconut oil and mash until well blended
• Add the essential oil and continue to mash
• Store in a covered glass container

And there you go -- deo for your BO.

Snapshots from the Harvest

• Vats of applesauce
• Scads of potatoes (115 lbs) - the fingerling, La Ratte!
• Tomatoes up the wazoo - sauce, salsa, soup
• Green tomatoes under paper in the root cellar
• Shelling the dried beans from the dried-up pods
• Sore wrists and fingers, work-worn
• Shorter days and a frenzied pace to get everything done before cold weather
• 9:00 pm evening meals
• 5 quarts of salsa fermenting on the counter
• Tru-babes potty-training all the while (it is going so well)
• Sweet Diego helping, and being of actual assistance, on the potato dig - so sincere and happy in his efforts (with the added joy of finding worms)
• A slowly-filling root cellar, the scales balanced with a steadily-emptying garden
• The feeling of true anticipation for winter -- snowed in with nothing to do
• Looking at the root cellar and feeling a sense of accomplishment and pride
• Happy, the end (not really)
• 1 more month to go!

Queen Victorious

After a pleasant work day with a friend - with an evening break for berry-picking - 60 lbs of tomatoes and a variety of peppers and garlic and onions became 16 quarts of salsssssssa and 3 quarts spicy tomato juice. It pretty much rules.

Needless to say, I am very pleased with myself.
Now . . . shower, and bed.

But it was so fun

Did I really just spend over an hour perusing Facebook while my children were sleeping when I should have been hanging laundry, making breakfast, and prepping for salsa-making?

Oh yes, I did. And that, my friends, is why I only go on Facebook once a month. It becomes my own personal black hole.

Harumph!

I don't know how he does it

Some how, some way, this little turkey wakes up an hour and a half into his nap, pretty much on the dot. On the dot. How?? But the better question . . . why???

There are no 2-3 hour naps for this kid (which is what Diego always did, and I see how wonderful that is now). It's an hour and a half -- one-point-five. He sometimes goes back to sleep if I snuggle with him, but not always.

And it has been that way from the start.

I wish that blessed nap was longer --

Good thing he's so cute.

♥ Trubies ♥

Megajam

The stats:

• 20 lbs of Concord grapes, now grape jam (done with Pomona's Universal Pectin with 1/4 of the amount of sweetener, so you can actually taste the grape-y-ness of the grapes - totally tubular)
• 10 more pounds of grapes, waiting to join their jammy-brethren
• 60 lbs of tomatoes, now 15 quarts of tomato sauce
• 30 lbs more tomatoes sitting in the kitchen, waiting to become tomato soup to go with our grilled cheese sandwiches this winter
• After that, salsssssssa
• 4 trays of apple leather in the dehydrator, drying
• 1 gallon of apple wine fermenting
• 10 lbs crab apples picked
• 100-ish? lbs of apples picked
• 6 guomi bushes discovered, loaded with berries (1 pint picked before twilight, mosquitoes and a crabbing 2 year old put a stop to the festivities)
• 1/2 pint raspberries picked
• 1/2 pint dessert gooseberries picked
• (All the fruit was picked from our neighbor's place: the Polish beekeeping bare-footed 82 year old beauty queen, Walentyne . . .)

Yessssssssssssssss. It is so satisfying.

Jamming

My cousins' cousin plays the upright bass in this stringband, Pert' Near Sandstone. I've been listening to them the last week and this here is my favorite song. It's terrific, and hearkens back to a period of time in my and Squeeze's relationship that felt very much like this. (We just couldn't get enough of each other, though.) ♥

Oh, and I spent 12 hours in the kitchen yesterday processing and canning 8 quarts of Barbara Kingsolver's tomato sauce (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) and 5-ish pints of grape jam (picked at our neighbor's place, the beekeeper). It started out as 30 lbs of German Pink tomatoes and 10 lbs of Concord grapes at 2:00 PM. I went to bed at 2:30-ish AM, but it was well worth my efforts. Delish.

Where I've been these past two weeks

My brother and SIL were here all last week, with Meeeeeeeellllviiiiiiin; with another brother and cousin here last weekend. Their visits overlapped on Saturday. It was pleasant visiting and good quality-time with my kinfolk.

Other than all that, I've been up to my eyeballs in grapes, tomatoes and apples - converting into jam and sauces - and we have started the process of bare-buns potty training with Little Truen. He is taking it very well, extremely responsive and totally pumped about his new Star Chart.

We've been crazy-busy. Now look at some pictures.

Melvin, obsessing at the Prairie Preserve

Andrew and Brenda about to disembark

The boys were not cooperating
(but snuggles o'plenty after the picture)

Looking off into the wild blue . . . corn

Heartening

Two interesting links:

First off, check out this story about a preemie born unexpectedly at 24 weeks due to an infection of the womb. She had an irregular heartbeat, wasn't breathing, and was placed on her mother's chest to die -- but she didn't -- her mom's skin-on-skin snuggle brought her back. No joke!

Secondly, check out this Etsy shop, Star of the East. Dreamy.

Understatement of the year: the most amazing sky ever

These pictures were taken well over a month ago; but, in spite of their age, are well-worth posting. The sky was the most spectacular shades of blue and purple and red. The texture of the clouds made it seem as if you could eat them, and all the earth was tinted red. (Baby Truen, playing in a puddle in the driveway, was an orangey-pink, both hair and skin.)

Every part of the upper atmosphere - north, south, east, west, and every combination of direction - was different, and wonderous. It was an incredible sight; all we could do was stare upwards and try to take it all in.

House jargon

Diego says,

"Skeeter Bikes", instead of Speeder Bikes
"Damana", instead of banana
"Audweady", instead of already
"Imn't", instead of I'm not


Truen says,

"Nuggle", for snuggle
"Buh-doh", for butter
"Bruh-doh", for brother
"Wey-si", for raisin
"Manana", for banana

And I'm okay with that

Aside from being a little flummoxed about my un-announcement, I truly am okay with not being pregnant. A few people have asked me if I'm okay . . .

And, yes - I'm fine. A bit perplexed with a dash of embarrassment, but I'm good. Though I was starting to get excited about the idea of a new baby and the thrill that goes along with it, I really did want more space between Two and Three.

As for the future, we shall see . . .

This happens all the time, right...?

So, in light of my last post, albeit rather dramatic . . . ahem . . . I'd like to un-announce my pregnancy.

Yes, that is correct. The friggin' doofus that I am, I'd like to un-announce my pregnancy. Take back. Renege. Recant. Withdraw. Retract. Un-announce.

Un-un-un-un.

Unbelievable. So yes, while most everyone thinks I'm happily humming through my twelfth week of pregnancy, I am here to say, officially, that I am, in fact, NOT pregnant.

I thought I was.

Yes, I thought I was, but I am not.

How is this possible? What it does explain is my lack of extreme exhaustion and need to eat like an overworked team of oxen. What it doesn't explain is the strange tightening of my waistband, the ever-present need to pee, sore nipples, and why I hadn't had my period since the end of May. Shoot, I just figured every pregnancy was different.

Things this past week were starting to feel a little goofy, like, shouldn't my belly be a little bigger than this? . . . and why am I not tired at all? . . . and most alarming, . . . blood. So we decided it was time to take a pregnancy test. [Ahem, a first for this time 'round . . . coughcough . . . mmmmph]

Negative.

So, ladies, please: un-congratulate me. I am NOT pregnant. What I AM, however, is a complete and total nincompoop. This whole deal was announced to my entire family while I was home (too-good-to-be-true, everyone-in-the-same-place-at-the-same-time) and then, doorknob that I am, to the entire internet via my blog. Yes, I thought I was, but I am not.

Most definitely not.

Un-un-un-un.

Don't do the math, it doesn't add up

9 years married +

13 years together +

11 weeks NOT pregnant =

TOTAL DWEEB

Happy Anniversary!