I honestly don’t get a chance to shoot very often, let alone edit very often. Two under three is no joke. Especially when you hardly have any help. Shoot, we’ve never even gone out since Selah was born 9 months ago. When I was VERY pregnant with Selah, I helped shoot a wedding. Actually almost all shoots I’ve done in the last few years I’ve been pregnant. Go figure. Even though this wedding was a a year ago, I want to share them because I just love the bride’s joy in them.
Raised Real: #realisperfect
Before Margot at food, I vowed that I was going to make the majority of her food and she would primarily eat organic. "I'm a stay-at-home-mom," I thought, "I have no excuses." Oh how I was wrong. I made her baby food a couple of times. Then she ate a lot of pouches and whatever food we made for ourselves. I don't hate how I did it. But I really did want to make Margot's food. She was a decent eater and ate a variety of foods. After her first birthday, I became pregnant and she got strange with food and textures. For almost a year she primarily are, yogurt and trader joe's O's, bars and cheese sticks and whatever fruit was around, but then she stopped eating fruit for a while because one of them gives her a rash for weeks and to this day, I still have no idea what fruit it is. This weeks guess is Apple, because she has a rash again after not having one for months. Being pregnant did a number on my an my ability to keep it all together but it also did a number on Margot. Did she complain about the food she was eating? No. Has she become an annoying creature of habit? Yes. Is it my fault? Partially. The other part is toddlerhood. All I know is Margot needed a reset.
I recently discovered 2 new things. 1.) Raised Real and 2.) The Béaba Babycook®. Had I known about these the last year, I feel like I could have conquered motherhood and feeding a toddler. It's seriously so easy. Every two weeks, a new box arrives with healthy meals each meal contains roughly 5 ingredients that are organically sourced, plant-based, big 8 allergen-free and flash frozen to lock in nutrients.
And the Beaba Babycook. Friends, these things are AMAZING. I've been using mine for everything. It steams, it purees, etc. It's the best and so easy. If I had this when Margot was starting out, I would have made all her baby food, no questions asked. I definitely feel confident with feeding Selah when the time comes.
As mentioned earlier Margot needed/needs a food reset. I was burnt out on thinking. And I really didn't know where to start again. Raised Real has been a life-safer and is helping me think more creatively with the foods I want to implement more in her diet. And honestly, the meals don't suck. It's yummy, real food. Has the process to healthier eating been seamless. Not even close. She actually won't eat most of it. face palm. But it's new and different for her. Do I hate wasting food? Absolutely.
To combat food waste I've been doing 4 things. I steam her meals and give it to her at face value. if that doesn't work, I puree it and give it to her in that form, if that doesn't work, I opt to give it to her in a pouch, homegirl will eat almost anything in a pouch or I freeze the puree for a later date. I also have been making it a point to show her what her food is before she eats and gain confidence in what she's eating. With the Babycook, it makes it easy to let Margot help me prepare her food. She can just put all the ingredients in the Babycook and turn a button. It's fun for Margot and it's not a huge mess at all.
Like I said, it's been a process.
For anyone with a baby who is about to start eating solids or even for expanding a toddler's palette, I highly recommend Raised Real. I wish I would have found out about this sooner.
I'm excited to be able to offer my friends (that's you) a discount code for $25 off your first box. You can use code SAMANTHA1203 at check out or you can click here.
#realisperfect
Tell me, what do you feed your kids and family? I need all the ideas.
Introducing Selah Jo Wild
On Wednesday, December 20, 2017, our family welcomed a new baby girl into our lives. For that we are eternally grateful. She is Here. She might not be home with us or in our arms but she's alive and currently thriving. She's proven to be a strong little fighter and this mama will hug her for all of her days for being so strong. Even on the days where strong is difficult.
Here she is at 5 days old. She nearly has all of her wires, electrodes, and iv's removed. Someday soon we hope she won't have to hear beeping machines as her normal white noise.
(a more detailed story coming soon, this mama is currently still really exhausted and finding words to say)
Bumpdate: 38 Weeks
I've been horrible at documenting this pregnancy. Same with my last. I wish I was better at time-management. Maybe that'll be a New Year's goal this year. I have a long list of crap that hasn't been done and I feel like I disappoint lots of people with the stuff that I don't do. But, for this moment, what can I do. Moving on.
This pregnancy has been really weird. I see a higher risk dr because of my preeclamsia with Margot. Sometimes it's stressful because everything always comes back fine but every small thing that comes up, requires more testing or more stress. I would say a majority of my appointments end with, oh by the way, I don't like one result so please go take this blood test before you leave. I stress about the results, don't receive a call, but luckily everything is online eventually, and all is fine. On Monday, I had one of those appointments. My doctor, who I should add, I am grateful that she cares enough to pay attention to the little things, told me EVERYTHING was looking perfect and she didn't need to see me until the NEXT Friday. Which would be almost 2 weeks away and 3 days before my due date. I'm sitting here thinking, "wow, okay. whew." Then she begins to check my big belly and gives me a look. I hate looks.
My belly had a rash on it. Mind you, I had a wool sweater on, I just had a HOT shower, and had recently put lotion on, and have been getting a million stretch marks a night. So naturally, I'm not worried. But she was. She checks baby's heart rate, all was good. She then tells me, she's afraid my liver might have an infection and I need to get blood work immediately to determine if she was going to induce on Thursday. Even if everything came back clear she now wanted to see me at the end of the week again to check again. Drama, drama, drama. I get my results at 3 am. All looked great except one thing, then I googled that, and thought my kidney's were failing. Turns out, I'm pretty sure I misread that at 3 am. So Here we are, Wednesday, and as far as I know, I AM NOT having a baby tomorrow. But sometimes with my dr, you just never know. Also if you know anything about our life, you would think, naturally, there'd be a baby came into this world with rather dramatically. But here, we are 38 weeks and I've never been pregnant for this long. I've surpassed my personal goals of thanksgiving, and almost, knock on wood, December 1. Let's see how long I can last.
My Little Valentine
Here we are and this girl is almost 10 months old. She's exactly how I imagined her to be after the first 24 hours with her. She's stubborn and strong. She's joyful and doesn't want to miss out on a single thing which is both frustrating and endearing. She slept for the first time last month in her crib. It was easy putting her down for naps and bedtime. But now, that she can stand and scoot and move around. She doesn't want to miss anything. So now it's like we are back to the beginning of no sleeping but this time Margot moves and can injure herself. Cheers to never sleeping again.
Our weekly photos are getting harder and harder to take. Staged photos are a nightmare. Friends, I felt like the worst mom after this one. The majority of the photos are blurry because this little one can't sit still. Margot ate process sugar and dyes for the first time EVER. I couldn't keep these conversation hearts out of her reach quick enough. I would find a handful in her mouth and she would scream every time I took them out of her little mouth. This girl is crazy. Ah, but I love her.
What Margot is wearing: Leggings- l'oved baby organics, Turban- Vannusco, Knitted Top- Maruma Kids