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. 

Wine Country with the Babes

It's been such nice weather the last week that we decided that we had to do something about it. We dropped the responsibilities and took a mid-morning trip to Sonoma. The glitch in our plan was it was the coldest day it's been in a long while and the wind was miserable. So our romanticized day trip had a couple of hiccups.

Had it been a really nice day, I think it would have been perfect and there would have probably been more photos to show. But I guess not every outing needs a million photos. We'll try this trip again but for now I'll share with you our experience. This was our first BIG outing with having 2 under 2. 

We opted for places that had grass and places to play nearby. Our first stop was the Sunflower Caffe in Sonoma Plaza. It was a darling lil' place. Inside is cramped and there are few seats but they had a great back patio with ample seating despite the line being out the door. It reminded me of one of my favorite places in Newport Beach and one favorite garden patio cafe's in Honeydew (South Africa).  As far as I could tell there were no high chairs but they didn't seem to be anti-kid. Food wise, It's been a while since I've had a brunch that I've been really excited about but I was not disappointed with my choice. I'd definitely recommend the General Vallejo it had Griddled Johnny Cakes and Poached Eggs in a cast iron skillet. YUMMMMM Basically, I'm ready to eat it again.

After we went to the Park across the street, Margot was stoked, she really doesn't get out enough. I didn't freak out about the unsafe play structure as I normally do. Overall, it was great and had it been nicer we would have played with the ducks.

Our next stop was Cline Cellars, we've been here before and really enjoy it and they definitely bode that they are kid friendly. They have lawns, ponds, birds, and tables. They have wine and you can bring your own food and snacks. We really enjoy this place. You have wine and the kids can run around. It's a win-win. Selah is 7 weeks, I brought Margot there around the same time. I wrapped them in a Solly Wrap and tasted away. It's a no judgement zone. 

I feel like it was a successful trip. Had it been warmer, we would have had loads more fun but we needed to get out of the house and I'm glad we did.

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. 

and then there was (almost) 2 under 2

In March, I was chatting with some of my female neighbors. One with a fresh babe, the other with a babe on the way, and me, surviving the most high-maintenance baby of my life and that was enough. So fast forward 1.5 months later, it's Margot's first birthday party. I'm over-heating and feeling so incredibly nauseous. Then the thought crept in my mind. NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT. I was going to have another baby.  So what did I do? I trekked on for another week or so, then I couldn't trek on anymore. My nausea and exhaustion were winning. I dug out the 1 of 2 pregnancy tests from the previous time I took a test. I do what you're supposed to do and I wait. With Margot my test turned within seconds but this time, I was going to have to wait, and wait, and wait.  What do I see? A very confusing, faint line that might mean I was pregnant. I went to Target, bought more tests and took them all. I was indeed pregnant.

The next steps were kind of a blur but I gathered my three tests and walked to the living room and threw said tests at my husband, mumbling something along the lines of "you did this to me." No judgement from you other mommas. But I WAS NOT having another baby. Except for I really was. 

At the time, I had just lost my health insurance the month before and was having issues attaining it again. It wasn't until 14 weeks that I found a clinic to do an ultrasound. Thank God for funded affordable clinics! I wanted to make sure that everything was OK more or less. That's when I saw the little babe for the 1st time. By this time, the babe wasn't a blob or a bean. I could see head, toes, fingers, and SO much movement. The woman asked me if I could feel it and I spouted of some scientific well you don't feel the baby until x number of weeks, so no. I realized later that I really was feeling those movements. Sometimes it takes an ultrasound of your belly to get perspective that life was happening and things were going to change and adapt again. 
So there you have it, welcoming baby in December.  A phrase I never thought I'd say.