Nakita Baby

So it’s completed! Us newbies in the gardening department drove on out to G’pa’s and got the whole thing dug up and planted! We even have more space for some more shaddy-type flowers and the kids just had a blast. SBJ and I really loved it too and talked about how amazing it would be for a yard like that and space for the kids to run around. It was such a lovely afternoon, we are eager for many more like it. We got some lettuce, potato, tomato, carrots, garlic, onion, spinach, snap peas, sunflowers and other randoms in there already! It will be exciting to see some of it flourish and to enjoy the yums that come up! When we head back this weekend we are going to put in some more flowers as well as some herbs. There was a little patch we could still take advantage of, so we are going to utilize with fresh herbs.

We were all so pooped yesterday that it was a fabulous night’s sleep! Days like that are far more to come as the warmer weather means lots n’ lots of time outdoors!

Today was park day and we were super late. I stole the morning time to treat myself to a haircut trimming and coloring. Well, last night I gave it a new coloring to get rid of the grown out roots look I had going on, and then this AM I did a little trim and some highlights. Love it! But that made us super late to park day. Not that they didn’t still get a good three hours with friends though! Then headed out to D’s gymnastics class. She really digs those classes and it’s a thrill to see her to eager to get there.

I attended this Advanced Class for Ebay Selling class tonight. It was fabulous! I feel very motivated to shift gears and with the knowledge I’ve gained this evening, I am certain I could be successful and find a little nitche here. The presenter was so thorough and really gave a ton of details on the what’s and how’s of it all. I excited to get the ball rolling on the adventure!

In the meantime, I’m wrapping up my last few hours with Famplosion. We were told last weekend that they have decided to close and we are all being let go with in the next 2 weeks. With the anticipation of that coming up, I decided to double up on the hours this week so I could get the ball rolling on other projects (Ebay selling being one of them). I’m super bummed about that coming to an end. It was a position I really enjoyed doing and it fit so well. Ah…. well… “when one door closes….” … right? Tis something one must always remember!

Photos courtesy of G’pa!

Open gym is winding down this month and if you haven’t already stopped by for the ongoing park days, it’s about time you did! Park days are Thursdays from 12pm onward at one of two given locations:

This week, April 29th we meet at Lorel Park in Skokie, IL. This park is located at Lorel and Lockwood. There is a playground, tennis courts, softball field, grassy field, bike riding /scooting sidewalks and bathrooms!

Next week, May 6th we meet at Burnham Shores in Evanston, IL. This park is located at the lakefront between Dempster and Hamilton. It includes all of the same amenitied as Lorel park, minus the baseball diamond.

And then the park location alternates back and forth from there, between these two parks…. For an easy way out, email me: mommy@nakitababy.com for the location and I’ll letcha know where we are at!

Park Day is for ALL ages. We have families with infants all the way up to the teen years! It’s great for all ages and their parents to gather and enjoy this amazing weather that’s finally graced us. Come on out and enjoy!

C’ya there!

So it’s something like day 14-15 on the vegetarian kick and it’s just a thrill really. I think during my food prep time in the last couple weeks I’ve come to the conclusion that vegan is just not in the extremely near future, but maybe (a very very strong maybe) for the future. Main conclusion I’ve come to for myself is that the little time I do have to cook and bake, I will try to learn the vegan ways of supplementing dairy, but this is clearly going to be a large learning curve over a long period of time. 1) Because I really just don’t use dairy all that often to practice substituting it, and 2) I’m feeling like my biggest push is to just prep super healthy homemade meals and that itself can take time, so if it just so happens to contain dairy, I’d use it for right now. But…. I have opted that dairy is the one of the “musts” on the organic list, and so all dairy in the house has to be organic. That’s my temporary resolution for personal sanity sake, and in the meantime I will learn.

I bought this fabulous cook book, 1,000 Vegan Recipes, and it’s been awesome. (So I really have been preparing the family dinners vegan based on this great book…. dairy’s not coming into play all that often.) I have made a couple of our “regular” meals just without the meat. Things we’re used to eating (like spaghetti or stir fry, etc.) vegetarian-style. And those have been just fine. But then there comes a time to spice up the pallet a bit and I’ve turned to the cookbook lately. Well…. to start (since it’s been 2 weeks now), I had a few recipes I found online that were really yummy. One a Southwest Style Soup…. YUM! EVERYONE loved that one. A huge hit. Then a few others that I kinda was wingin’ at the time but came out well. And then my book showed up in the mail and I’ve tried 2 new recipes from there so far. Both were a huge hit. Tonight’s meal even… GONE! Some went back for second’s and there were NO leftovers. (Funny too, b/c I thought I’d be able to pack it for lunches tomorrow : ) But thrilled that everyone loved it so much!

Health still seems to show signs of improvement here, and I feel like it’s only the beginning. K’s been really not as affected by the seasonal allergy stuff and sleeping well. In fact, last night was a rough night, and it just so happened that he had ice cream in the evening. I think that flared him up and made him feel horrible b/c other than that, he’s been doing great! D’s had far less fits of rage lately…. and by that I mean, her moods don’t seem to swing super high and super low all in 5 seconds flat. Doesn’t mean she’s never upset, it’s just not seemed so drastic and without rationale. S is sleeping through the night…. pretty much straight through! If he doesn’t make it all the way, he’s only waking once to nurse, but even that’s been rare in the last several nights. SBJ says he’s feeling awesome and is glad we made the switch. I have found that cravings for certain things have shifted quite a bit… in fact for everyone they’ve shifted a ton. Chocolate used to be a staple daily request… and sometimes several times a day. I don’t ever have that request any more, and the last several nights they have not even asked for that sweet-something after dinner. That’s been an incredible change.

Likewise…. today there was an interesting event. I was driving through a local pit for my daily diet coke (still my daily vice) and for some reason I really just felt like french fries. I guess a sudden baby craving. Anyway…. bought the diet coke and the fries, drove off and offered them to the kids, and yes, they took a few, but then handed them back and said they wanted the hummus instead! I too, did not love ‘em so much and ended up pitching them after a few. That was a very cool occurrence where I can see this is a really great venture to be on with them. I am thrilled that their little bodies are feeling so healthy and nourished and thrilled that this healthy foundation is starting early. Not something I ever had growing up and taken years to relearn myself. I am excited to see that it’s been so easy and natural for them and they’ve not once said, “Why don’t we just have —– for dinner.” They have been excited to try all of the new meals and the balance in nutrients has shifted their cravings and needs apparently. (Huh…. I didn’t think I was that unhealthy of a cooker/chef before! Now I’m second guessing….. OR, maybe it’s just the release of the unknowing crap that was in the food I was preparing… ie. the hormones in chicken??) Ah. Maybe b/c when meat was involved there were less veggies involved? There’d be one side item veggie to a meal where as now there is a healthy balance of several!

OH… and I just can’t pass up mentioning my shock and excitement that everyone loves tofu as well! Go figure. I did not know how that one would go over, as well as the increase in beans to the diet. But man! between the tofu and the beans, veggies, etc…. D is probably finally getting enough protein for her intensely high-energy body!

Any rate… it’s been a great journey thus far, and b/c everyone feels so awesome, I see this sticking around! Tomorrow… we are off to our new garden (at grandpa’s) and planting some organic veggies!!! ; ) This is a thrill and hope we are successful in our first-ever gardening adventure! Wish us luck!

Today was a big day scheduled. I woke up feeling the cloudy weather and wishing/longing for sun! D and I rushed off to gymnastics. She had a great time and learned a few things. It was our date-day so she chose a place for us to grab some lunch. We headed to Dengeo’s for some soup, salad and garlic bread where we chatted away about her class(es) and other stuffs. It was such a nice time. She told me about her coach having her try a back flip. I was astounded to hear that she tried it, but had to chuckle at the point where I asked her how she felt about that, and she said, ” totally freaked out.” We chatted about classes she was in and classes she’d do later, among other fun stuff. After our yummy grub we headed to the car, with my intent to go home. She was adament that our date was not over and we needed to go somewhere else. We decided to go find some seeds for our garden. That was super fun. She had a ton of fun picking our flowers whom became her little babies ; ) And I had fun picking out some yummy veggies to plant. We head out this week to get the garden started!

Heading home for a quick stop and to pick up others, we were headed to volunteer some time collecting money for Misercordia, a local place for children and adults with developmental disabilities. I could only muster a few to go along with me. D and S headed out with me to trapse around Evanston collecting. I have to whole-heartedly admit I was hoping we’d get rained on as I was so completely tired and not up for it myself. But it was a committment we made, and I am a stickler about those promises being kept. D, S and myself were sent to the Starbucks to rally some cash and after awhile we were chilly and not collecting a ton so we headed around the corner to see if we could find another place to collect. As we are walking D shouts, “Oh, I think I see a dollar back there.” She runs back down the sidewalk and picks it up. Her eyes pop out of her head and she says, “It’s a LOT of cash.” She brings it back and we count $400 in cash!!!!! I was totally flabber-gasted. I mean, how could $400 in wadded cash drop from someone traveling down the sidewalk? Holy Cow.

So we are trying to figure out who just walked past us. We walk back to the corner to see if anyone looks familiar. No one seems to be looking for something lost…. I going through all sorts of things that we could do and nothing seems like a solution. I call SBJ and tell him the story and he says that despite trying to be moral about it, how on earth would we find the owner. He deems it D’s. So I tell her and she says, “well then why don’t we put it in here,” pointing to her donation can. I suggest while that is super generous, she could donate some to animals because she is an animal lover. So we agree some goes in the can and then we’d trek over to the animal shelter to make a donation. I still am trying to grasp that fact that this came all of her own whim. I am so incredibly proud of my worker-bees!

Tonight I’m off with K for our special date. We are going to check out Taming of the Shrew, a homeschool production through Thin Ice Theater. I’m excited to have some one-on-one time with him. He’s been eager to go all day. After the show we’ll probably track down a treat somewhere local….

Life’s been so busy here, and yet in ‘peace only’.

That’s always a blessing isn’t it? I reflect on where I last left off and we had just celebrated K’s 8th birthday. It’s sureal how much he has grown both physically and mentally over the last 6-ish months. There have been tremendous changes and I’m thrilled to say that much of the emotional rollercoaster that we were riding along with him has seemed to be slowing down, if not to a halt. There have been far (far) fewer emotional bursts that it’s felt quite pleasant and joyful hanging out with this amazing little man. He’s a joy and a wonder. I’m so proud and honored to be able to share life with him on a daily basis.

We are our first check up with our new midwife towards the end of March (and yet another visit just yesterday). The first visit went quite well, aside from her not being able to track a heartbeat! Little buggar was running for sure and gave her a run for her money. After about 5 or more minutes of playing hide and seek she asked if she should keep looking. I was feeling pretty great and did not feel it was totally necessary to actually hear a heartbeat. And wouldn’t you know it, just a week and half later, over Easter weekend I felt the baby for the first time! Very exciting. This one is very active and much earlier than I felt the others during pregnancy. Just yesterday we had our recent visit and this time we found a heartbeat. That was super fun, reassuring and just plain joyful. We have our 20 week ultrasound is just under two weeks away and I’m really excited. On the one hand I can’t believe it’s already been 20 weeks and complete flip, I can’t believe I have 20 weeks more : )

Aside from the typical classes and such keeping us busy, K had his Princess Bride Show. Three full performances and he did such a fabulous job. He really thrived during that class. Not only in the acting department, but the social as well. He met some new people and developed some new friendships and I am so proud of all that he accomplished. He worked really hard and felt really comfortable in all that he did. It took me so long to post pix and videos to Facebook, I will have to take the time to get them up here as well. The show was fabulous and everyone did phenominal.

So let’s see, since Princess Bride ended, K’s started up natural science classes at Emily Oaks and really seems to enjoy it quite a bit. He’s got that going and a game club till the start of summer. D’s still finishing up the girl scouts session as well as two gymnastics classes, and next week starts a shorter stint clay class. All of this will be over by the end of May. And Mr. S is finishing up his lovely music class with Ms. Leah. He just loves his music class and we are really enjoying these last few weeks of class. Other than that, we have a park day on Thursdays and other random classes that we have thrown in here and there. I am feeling pretty ready for summer to come along and for us to have everything yet nothing to do. I’m feeling that hoarding feeling of family time now. I remember feeling this during the end of S’s pregnancy. The overwhelming feeling that things are about to change drastically for all and just wanting to cherrish this time right before. Not over-booking ourselves (as I feel we kinda are right now) and just cherrishing the simple times of being together. It’s all positive just a strong longing and desire to cherrish this before it changes. It is going to be a lovely summer of beaches and pools, and working our new garden at Grandpa’s house! I am looking forward to it!

Recently, D’s feeling changes a ton too. She seems to have picked up K’s emotional rollercoaster where he left off : ) Her 6th b-day is coming around the corner and she’s going through some woes of her own. Lot’s of lost teeth and an energy that can not be harnessed in any way, shape or form. She’s discovering lots of things socially she’s not too sure where she fits in to the mix and that’s a challenge as well. I feel she wants to be doing more than she is currently capable of and that’s causing frustrations for her as well. It’s been interesing to say the least. She is an amazing being. Recently we attended this annual Reptile Fest downtown and as cool as it was, I was more than happy just looking from afar. Ms. D walked straight up to several critters and held them without qualms. It was remarkable. (Yes, the pic above his her taking a snake in her own bare hands…. Yipes!) She had a blast. We all did for that matter, but all in our own ways : )

We just celebrated Grandpa’s and Grandma’s birthdays. We took each out for a special birthday meal and that was fun to see them each. With G’pa we also saw the new movie, How to Train Your Dragon and that was just incredibly good. G’pa treated us to a 3-D show and that was very fun. S even sat through the entire show! Remarkable. I also had the privelege of seeing a “grown-up” movie in the theater just last weekend as I took the au pairs to the local theater for our monthly meeting. We saw Date Night and I have to say it was incredibly, roll-on-the-floor-in-laughter funny! It was so hilarious. A must see in my book.

Probably the biggest change this month has been our families conversion to vegetarian/veganism. It’s something I’ve been on the verge of doing for myself and recently saw the movie Food Inc…. and…. yipes. That just pushed be over the edge. After having SBJ watch it as well, he was onboard with the idea and we took the plunge. Vegetarian was easy, and our family has been eating quite healthy since. Even better than before, and I thought we were all farely healthy before. But it’s been better recently. I’m working on the vegan portion as dairy is imbeded in just about everything, and the kids have some staple stuff that they just really love. I want this to feel like something they have gained and not something that has been taken away. Likewise, I don’t anticpate them being “hard core” about it either. If we are out at Subway and they want a turkey sandwich… so be it. This is not a personal, moral decision they can make just yet in their lives, but my hope is that I’m laying a strong foundation of really healthy eating choices in their lives. When I prepare at their food at home it is mostly vegan and at the very least vegetarian, and that makes me feel really good.

Anyway, what I have noticed is subtle changes. It’s still really early and this feels new to me in the way of meal preparation, but everyone has been really happy an satisfied with meals that have come to the table. That’s thrilling. But some of the very subtle changes that seem to be surfacing are the kids cravings and K’s allergies. He does not seem to be as affected lately, and them trees are still bloomin’ so I know we are not out of the woods yet. But he seems to be feeling and appearing less affected. Not totally better, but less affected. D’s habit of asking for chocolate 10 times a day has subsided as well. In fact, today, I noticed that she had not asked but once. We were in the grocery check-out and she did ask (as it was in front of her face), but when I suggested fruity Mentos instead she was totally ok with that. That would not have necessarily happened before, and I had always in the back of my mind, questioned whether she was getting the protein that she really needed for her high-energy body. I had done some reading that the craving of chocolate or sweets could potentially be linked to the lack of protein in a diet. And because she is so high-energy, I wondered if that could possibly be a playing factor. Now… eating so many more veggies in the day, on top of all of the tofu and beans that they have been very willing to try (and even enjoy eating!!) , she is getting so much more for herself and is maybe, finally heading to a more balanced self!?

Oh, time will tell on these premature discoveries. What I do realize is that everyone in general is feeling pretty great. And I am so thrilled they are onboard with “my” agenda. It’s an exciting adventure and I look forward to the point down the road where I can say we are completely vegan and thoroughly happy with the change.

Hmmm… so I feel I’ve gotten myself up-to-date, but also really need to committ to making entries more often. Shorter more frequent updates seems better to me than these long overdue ones (of which tend to be water-downed versions of things going on). I have found that Facebook is far too much of an diversion from my blog and that’s not necessarily a good thing. I don’t know that I can step away from Scrabble, but I am going to attempt to spend more time here than there!