I have been visiting this blog regularly and have tried a few of her recipes and ideas. They have all been great. Her philosophy on food seems to match mine pretty well. Basically we stay away from all the food additives which means anything prepackaged except for a few things at the health food store, we stay away from meat and dairy and refined sugars also. I serve green almond smoothies for breakfast a lot, and we eat a lot of fruit and a lot of dark green leafy salads in addition to the regular vegan type meals like oatmeal for breakfast, rice dishes, Mexican rice and beans, hummus,Italian, potatoes etc. This blog is full of great practical recipes for a family which I have very much appreciated-- plus they're good!!!
We especially like the honey peanut butter popcorn, the sunflower seed sour cream, the ginger snaps, snickerdoodles and the inspiration to remind me of the many yummy Mexican type meals there are as well as pizza and cinnamon rolls and such. I go there often for inspiratiion on what to make for dinner!! I even added a button and a link on my sidebar.
www.simplehealthytasty.blogspot.com
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Protect your children against pornography
This is a great article and reminder on the fact that we must educate our children against the seemingly unending evil in the world of today. I read it last night and talked to my kids about it today and then we listened to the Safety Kids #3 by Janeen Brady about protecting our minds. The Safety Kids do an excellent job of explaining the dangers without scaring the kids or telling them more than they need to know.
So anyway, here's the blog post from Diane Hopkins on her blog
So anyway, here's the blog post from Diane Hopkins on her blog
Friday, March 5, 2010
Preparations for the Earthquake in Chile
I found this article to be very inspirational. It is about the preparations that were made a couple weeks before the earthquake hit after the mission president and his wife received a prompting that they should be ready for one. It is a great reminder to me to live in such a way that I will listen and heed the promptings of the Holy Ghost in my own life. How exciting for the mission in Chile as more people are open to listening to the gospel. Very interesting to read what it was like to experience the earthquake. Enjoy:
http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/100303chile.html#_begart
http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/100303chile.html#_begart
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Difference between a twin pregnancy and a singleton one
This is all based on my recent personal experience. I am now about 6 weeks postpartum.
1st trimester-- I was twice as sick with morning sickness than usual and my tummy started poking out much sooner than any of my previous singleton pregnancies. I was unable to continue eating the nutrient dense salads and raw foods I had gotten used to eating prior to the pregnancy. I figured out that they were just too strong for my tastebuds I needed very plain food or anything I didn't have to make. I had to pretty much quit the raw meals because I couldn't make 2 meals- one for me and one for the family, the one for the family was barely making it. I did try to juice wheatgrass more often and I did keep up on the dark green leafy salads and smoothies, but I couldn't eat my previously favored dressings and I couldn't keep up making sprouted wheat crackers or breads.
2nd trimester- was not too bad. I started feeling more normal and had a couple months of good housecleaning and school teaching. I started to be asked when I was due. I decided to pretend I wasn't as big as I was or I wouldn't have gone anywhere. I was still able to exercise and funciton on a normal level. I was much itchier though and I had a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions than with my others. Not a huge difference so far although certainly different. The worry for the babies and if they are O.K. is twice what it is for a singleton. It seems so many more things can go wrong. The twins would switch positions every time I went in- twin A breech, twin B head down, etc. Worry about a c-section if both twins are not head down at time of delivery. I had an ultrasound every visit to the doc about every 3 weeks.
3rd trimester-- this is where the variance is the greatest. I got to be very slow. It was hard to get around and I was very tired. I had to quit exercising because the wieght of my pulling on my ligaments was just too uncomfortable and I realized that I'd better save my strength for sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor. I had a terrible itchy rash on my ankles, back and arms, just a couple spots on my belly. It was awful. At least it was in the winter and I could wear long sleeves. It cleared up by about 3 weeks postpartum. It was so itchy. about 35 weeks I started to swell really bad especially in my ankles. I think some of that was from being so immobile. We were remodeling our house to make room for everybody and I really didn't want to have the twins come during that awful mess so I stayed down a lot and I really swelled. I was able to cope with the bigness-- and I was humongous-- my belly was anyway- I actually gained the same amount of weight I did with my other babies mostly because of my diet I think-- anyway I could cope with the size and the being tired and itchy, but when my feet started to swell and my hands too, I knew it was going to be time to have the babies soon. About week 30-32 I found that preparing dinner on a tall barstool was very helpful. It was just hard to stand up for any length of time. I pretty much quit doing any kind of deep cleaning. We were in survival mode especially with the remodel. I usually would reach that desparate point of immobility at 37 weeks with a singleton and I would say I was there at 28 weeks, but I had a good attitude and was really looking forward to raising the babies. Fortunately, my husband picked up a lot of the slack. Then when it became almost impossible for me walk because of the pressure on my pelvis,I knew the babies would need to be born soon. My body wouldn't be able to go on much longer and it wasn't going to get any easier. Plus the babies were good sized by 32 weeks they were about 4 lbs. each and I had them at 37 weeks and 2 days and they were 6lbs 10 oz and 6 lb 11 oz which is really good size for twins. I'm only 5'2" though and that was a lot of pressure on my frame.
The Delivery-- My doctor agreed to induce me and the delivery went smoothly although I had to deliver in the operating room and I pretty much had to get an epidural to avoid a c-section. If I had to do that part over I might consider getting a midwife familiar with twins so that I wouldn't have to get the epidural, but I'm thankful I didn't have to get a c-section. So I'm not complaining much, my doctor was competent, and I had to go with what she was comfortable with and knows. I didn't feel a single contraction. Usually I feel them right after the doctor breaks my water, but not this time, maybe because the other bag of water was cushioning it. The epidural worked right away even though I asked for the smallest dose possible just enough to give me some if a c-section was necessary so that they wouldn't have to knock me out, but I didn't feel a thing, not even any pressure, just pins and needles through my legs and feet the entire time. I pushed 3 times to get the first baby out and the second one was born 5 minutes later with one push and the vacuum.
Postpartum-- The afterpains were not too bad with my motherwort tea and the red raspberry leaf tea I had taken throughout the pregnancy. I did take one dose of ibuprofen, but that was it for prescription meds. The feeling in my legs returned about 6 hours after delivery and i felt pretty good. I came home the next day with both babies and I felt like a deflated balloon. I was worried about the muscle separation in my stomach, it felt like there was a herniated muscle in the center. I felt like a bulldozer had just run through my insides and torn up everything. Fortunatly I have a book I had great success using after a diastais (muscle separation with baby #5) called Lose your Mummy Tummy and it has great exercises i write about when I have my waist back. So I started those including Kegels and I don't feel quite so torn up anymore, but I have a ways to go to get my waist back and to get my abdominal muscles back together. It took about 2 1/2 weeks for my swelling to go away. I could fit into my pants a week later, but my belly looked eformed from the diastatis. I was about 5 fingerwidths a week after delivery and am now down to 2 fingerwidths. If I was more consistent at the exercises I'm sure the diastasis would be even less, but slowly but surely I will get those closed up. I feel close to norml with everything else and have started exercising again although getting the twins on a common schedule haas been a challenge and it is harder to do things like that now.
It felt so good to not be pregnant anymore. It feels so good to be able to walk around bend over and clean the house and make dinner easily. I won't feel completely normal until my diastatis closes completely because I just know my core is fragile and I don't want to risk any further damage, but it was worth it!! It was extremely difficult with homeschooling 5 other children, remodeling the house, eating healthy, and running a household, but we made it and the babies are so adorable and wonderful. I would do it all over again although one set of twins is plenty!!
1st trimester-- I was twice as sick with morning sickness than usual and my tummy started poking out much sooner than any of my previous singleton pregnancies. I was unable to continue eating the nutrient dense salads and raw foods I had gotten used to eating prior to the pregnancy. I figured out that they were just too strong for my tastebuds I needed very plain food or anything I didn't have to make. I had to pretty much quit the raw meals because I couldn't make 2 meals- one for me and one for the family, the one for the family was barely making it. I did try to juice wheatgrass more often and I did keep up on the dark green leafy salads and smoothies, but I couldn't eat my previously favored dressings and I couldn't keep up making sprouted wheat crackers or breads.
2nd trimester- was not too bad. I started feeling more normal and had a couple months of good housecleaning and school teaching. I started to be asked when I was due. I decided to pretend I wasn't as big as I was or I wouldn't have gone anywhere. I was still able to exercise and funciton on a normal level. I was much itchier though and I had a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions than with my others. Not a huge difference so far although certainly different. The worry for the babies and if they are O.K. is twice what it is for a singleton. It seems so many more things can go wrong. The twins would switch positions every time I went in- twin A breech, twin B head down, etc. Worry about a c-section if both twins are not head down at time of delivery. I had an ultrasound every visit to the doc about every 3 weeks.
3rd trimester-- this is where the variance is the greatest. I got to be very slow. It was hard to get around and I was very tired. I had to quit exercising because the wieght of my pulling on my ligaments was just too uncomfortable and I realized that I'd better save my strength for sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor. I had a terrible itchy rash on my ankles, back and arms, just a couple spots on my belly. It was awful. At least it was in the winter and I could wear long sleeves. It cleared up by about 3 weeks postpartum. It was so itchy. about 35 weeks I started to swell really bad especially in my ankles. I think some of that was from being so immobile. We were remodeling our house to make room for everybody and I really didn't want to have the twins come during that awful mess so I stayed down a lot and I really swelled. I was able to cope with the bigness-- and I was humongous-- my belly was anyway- I actually gained the same amount of weight I did with my other babies mostly because of my diet I think-- anyway I could cope with the size and the being tired and itchy, but when my feet started to swell and my hands too, I knew it was going to be time to have the babies soon. About week 30-32 I found that preparing dinner on a tall barstool was very helpful. It was just hard to stand up for any length of time. I pretty much quit doing any kind of deep cleaning. We were in survival mode especially with the remodel. I usually would reach that desparate point of immobility at 37 weeks with a singleton and I would say I was there at 28 weeks, but I had a good attitude and was really looking forward to raising the babies. Fortunately, my husband picked up a lot of the slack. Then when it became almost impossible for me walk because of the pressure on my pelvis,I knew the babies would need to be born soon. My body wouldn't be able to go on much longer and it wasn't going to get any easier. Plus the babies were good sized by 32 weeks they were about 4 lbs. each and I had them at 37 weeks and 2 days and they were 6lbs 10 oz and 6 lb 11 oz which is really good size for twins. I'm only 5'2" though and that was a lot of pressure on my frame.
The Delivery-- My doctor agreed to induce me and the delivery went smoothly although I had to deliver in the operating room and I pretty much had to get an epidural to avoid a c-section. If I had to do that part over I might consider getting a midwife familiar with twins so that I wouldn't have to get the epidural, but I'm thankful I didn't have to get a c-section. So I'm not complaining much, my doctor was competent, and I had to go with what she was comfortable with and knows. I didn't feel a single contraction. Usually I feel them right after the doctor breaks my water, but not this time, maybe because the other bag of water was cushioning it. The epidural worked right away even though I asked for the smallest dose possible just enough to give me some if a c-section was necessary so that they wouldn't have to knock me out, but I didn't feel a thing, not even any pressure, just pins and needles through my legs and feet the entire time. I pushed 3 times to get the first baby out and the second one was born 5 minutes later with one push and the vacuum.
Postpartum-- The afterpains were not too bad with my motherwort tea and the red raspberry leaf tea I had taken throughout the pregnancy. I did take one dose of ibuprofen, but that was it for prescription meds. The feeling in my legs returned about 6 hours after delivery and i felt pretty good. I came home the next day with both babies and I felt like a deflated balloon. I was worried about the muscle separation in my stomach, it felt like there was a herniated muscle in the center. I felt like a bulldozer had just run through my insides and torn up everything. Fortunatly I have a book I had great success using after a diastais (muscle separation with baby #5) called Lose your Mummy Tummy and it has great exercises i write about when I have my waist back. So I started those including Kegels and I don't feel quite so torn up anymore, but I have a ways to go to get my waist back and to get my abdominal muscles back together. It took about 2 1/2 weeks for my swelling to go away. I could fit into my pants a week later, but my belly looked eformed from the diastatis. I was about 5 fingerwidths a week after delivery and am now down to 2 fingerwidths. If I was more consistent at the exercises I'm sure the diastasis would be even less, but slowly but surely I will get those closed up. I feel close to norml with everything else and have started exercising again although getting the twins on a common schedule haas been a challenge and it is harder to do things like that now.
It felt so good to not be pregnant anymore. It feels so good to be able to walk around bend over and clean the house and make dinner easily. I won't feel completely normal until my diastatis closes completely because I just know my core is fragile and I don't want to risk any further damage, but it was worth it!! It was extremely difficult with homeschooling 5 other children, remodeling the house, eating healthy, and running a household, but we made it and the babies are so adorable and wonderful. I would do it all over again although one set of twins is plenty!!
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
I finally figured out how to read and get on the computer while nursing 2 babies, so here's a plug for The Count of Monte Cristo-- AWESOME!!! It is an incredibly long book, but so worth it I really didn't want it to end and my version was abridged and I sort of wish it wasn't. This book reads so quickly from the first page to the end and has a great underlying message. i'm not going to get into the plot because you just have to read it and if you have read it, you can comment on how much you liked it. It is really just pure entertainment and fun. My husband and children were glad to have me back once I finally finished it in about 3 days!!!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
How to make Manna Bread
For those of you not familiar with Manna bread, you can buy it at your local health food store in the freezer section. It is about $3 per loaf and it is not a big loaf, but it is yummy. The only ingredients are sprouted grains and whatever fruit, nut or veggie type flavor you choose. Our favorite is by far carrot raisin. Anyway, it is a gooey sticky kind of bread and rather sweet. All my kids like it except for the one picky eater who now suddenly likes lentils-- anyway, my husband doesn't really like it either, but I love it!! It is so healthy I hate to refuse any to my kids and after my last purchase I determined that I needed to figure out how to make the stuff consistently--not being pregnant helps!! And you need the right tools.
So here it is for plain manna bread since I keep forgetting to buy raisins I haven't attempted the carrot raisin loaf yet:
Soak red wheat and white wheat berries overnight to sprout
Drain them in the morning and let them start to grow
They are ready to use as soon as you see the little sprouts grow
Remember to rinse them preferably twice a day-- I use a colander and leave them in it a lot of times
Don't wait too long to use them, try to use them before they get real big 1 1/2-2 days of growing after soaking overnight is ideal
Here is the secret: Run the sprouts through a champion type juicer with the blank plate, my brand is something green I bought at Good Earth, this makes a dough. Then with wet hands shape the dough into small loaves about the size and shape of the kind you can buy, put them on a cookie sheet and let them bake at 250 F for 2-3 hours. I have been doing it at 3 hours but the crust is rather dry and tastes like Grape-nuts so 2 hours may be long enough. That's it!! Healthy and Cheap!!
So here it is for plain manna bread since I keep forgetting to buy raisins I haven't attempted the carrot raisin loaf yet:
Soak red wheat and white wheat berries overnight to sprout
Drain them in the morning and let them start to grow
They are ready to use as soon as you see the little sprouts grow
Remember to rinse them preferably twice a day-- I use a colander and leave them in it a lot of times
Don't wait too long to use them, try to use them before they get real big 1 1/2-2 days of growing after soaking overnight is ideal
Here is the secret: Run the sprouts through a champion type juicer with the blank plate, my brand is something green I bought at Good Earth, this makes a dough. Then with wet hands shape the dough into small loaves about the size and shape of the kind you can buy, put them on a cookie sheet and let them bake at 250 F for 2-3 hours. I have been doing it at 3 hours but the crust is rather dry and tastes like Grape-nuts so 2 hours may be long enough. That's it!! Healthy and Cheap!!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
They're Here!!
My twins were born on Thurs. I asked about going to a different hospital since I could no longer even walk and I had started to swell and was 2 days past 37 weeks which is usually considered full term for twins plus the timing would be great with Martin Luther King day being a holiday. I was medically induced and unfortunately opted for the epidural, which I hate, to make sure they would not give me a c-section. I'm disappointed that my doctor didn't have more confidence in my easy labors and deliveries, but I am very relieved to have my twin boys here safe and sound. My labor took about 3 hours, and really couldn't have gone any better except for the epidural. So I am counting my blessings.
Anyway, twin A was 6 lbs. 10 oz. and twin B was 6 lbs. 11 oz. and they look nothing alike, nor do they really look like any of my other kids. It's pretty funny. I'm so looking forward to raising them and having such a nice big family. I just love newborns. It's nice for the older kids too because everybody gets a turn to hold one of them. So far they are sleeping a lot. I have to take advantage of it. It's going to take some time for my body to recover from this amazing pregnancy. Thanks for all your kind words in my complaining post!!
Anyway, twin A was 6 lbs. 10 oz. and twin B was 6 lbs. 11 oz. and they look nothing alike, nor do they really look like any of my other kids. It's pretty funny. I'm so looking forward to raising them and having such a nice big family. I just love newborns. It's nice for the older kids too because everybody gets a turn to hold one of them. So far they are sleeping a lot. I have to take advantage of it. It's going to take some time for my body to recover from this amazing pregnancy. Thanks for all your kind words in my complaining post!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)