Super Simple, Super Cheap Christmas Garland!

I decided to get a head start on the Christmas season (shhhh, don't tell the Husband lest I want to have the entire house decorated, both Christmas trees up, and presents wrapped and ready all before Thanksgiving...no thanks). Essentially I wished to add a little pizzazz (channeling my inner 80s child here) to our mantel prior to the addition of stockings and our little village homes, which will adorn the shelf portion.

I thunky-thunk and sent little singles between synapses trying to figure out what to do. Should I sew something? Nah, I no good at that. Should I make a tissue garland? No, the fireplace may prove to be a dangerous place for that. Hrrrrrmmm. Ah ha! Tiny felt hats and mittens with ribbons and dangly thinga-muh-gigs!! Doh!

Material Deets
Hot glue gun
Felt (1 green, 1 red, and 1 white)
Cardboard
2 different ribbons of choice
3 dangly things (go in your wreath section of any craft store and you'll find items you can attach and twist on to wreaths...these work perfectly)
5 feet of twine

1. Trace 2 mittens onto the cardboard (I used my daughter's tiny mitten where her tiny hand is kept to keep it warm), but if you don't have a tiny mitten that houses tiny hands, you can just draw one. Cut out said tiny mittens and use that as a guideline to trace/cut out 1 red and 1 green felt mitten. Attach the felt to the cardboard mitten with hot glue.

2. Draw a tiny hat with a pom pom on top. I used the Husband for this part...just because. Do the same as you did with the tiny mittens, 1 green and 1 red.

3. With the white felt decorate your green hat and mitten (see photos above)

4. With extra green felt decorate your red hat and mitten.

5. On the back of each mitten and hat glue a tiny loop made out of felt to the upper portion of the object. This is so you can run your twine through the backs without it being seen.

6. Run the twine through and hang on mantel in loops. On each loop add a bow (every other color of choice of ribbon). On every other loop add a dangly thing - this is so you can place your stockings within the loop openings without dangly things getting all messy with the cool stuff your parents (or Husband) will be stuffing into them!

I'm sure my directions are super unclear, so take your little eyeballs and look at the photos above!

This project cost me less than $6 (unless you don't own a glue gun, so it may cost ya another $7-8). It's fun to do with school age kiddies and 30-something year old Husbands alike...so have at it and make some tiny Christmas decor!

~ A Vegan Picnic ~

There are those moments at the end of summer where you try and get in as many warm weather activities as possible because perhaps, or likely, you and your spouse neglected to take advantage due to moving into a new home, work, the wife (me me me) starting a new job, making our home a home, and other life matters that push days into weeks, weeks into months. So! I thought, let's make a picnic and take the infant to the zoo! She may not care about the zoo and it's many occupants, but it will get her outside and into the fresh air, plus give me an excuse to come up with some awesome fun food items :>

Let's take a look at this menu!

~ sliced apples with a homemade raspberry fruit dip
~ gluten free, vegan (minus jimmies) banana spiced donuts
~ seared tempeh burg with homemade cashew "cheese"
~ gluten free, vegan Thin Mints (one of the spouse's favorite!)

Everything tasted perfectly! Due to my insanity - I ate a tempeh salad (no bread fo' meh) and tasted the desserts (boooo), but the husband inhaled the food! Don't worry, Mirabelle had her fill of Plum Organics puree ;>

Next, we traveled the paths throughout the zoo, pointing at the various creatures that reside there and feigning extreme excitement for the benefit of our little lady.

All in all, a perfect afternoon of fun, food, and affordability!

Conversation Most Moms Wish To Avoid ~ But Here It Is

My daughter 6 months today. I don't keep track of her age in weeks, so when I hear other mother's say "my so in so is 32 weeks!" well I couldn't tell ya immediately how old that is and I would probably just nod in feigned amazement. So, in celebration of Mirabelle's 6th month of existence I thought I would do a "new mommy" breakdown of choices I've made, and where I am physically and mentally after all the hubbub has settled now that I've gotten the half-year old notch on the belt!

Background

I'm vegetarian and during my pregnancy I continued to adhere to my normal diet (with an addition of prenatal vitamins). My doctors were super supportive and because I didn't gain much weight throughout (a total of 25.6 lbs) they never questioned my exercise routine, and actually encouraged it well into my 8th month. The birth of my daughter was without complication, and she emerged vaginally at a whopping 8 lbs 10 ounces, much to the midwife's surprise. For anyone who had seen me in person at 39 weeks, I have a naturally small frame and my belly didn't extend much farther - so yea, almost 9 pounds of baby created the question "how did she even fit in there??" well, at least for me and my limited knowledge of the human anatomy haha

Bebe Choices Along the Way

Birth
I knew I wasn't going to breast feed long before I decided to have a child with my husband. I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding that decision, and I'm well aware of the research performed and released on both sides (bottle and breast) because, well, I read tons of material on this subject. My mother didn't breast feed my twin sister and I, nor did she breast feed our younger brother. We turned out strong, healthy, and from what I can tell, no issues with our mental capacity (though there are times I question how my brother can like plain Cheerios, but I guess I can't blame that on the formula...). While my mom didn't do much research regarding varying brands and types of formula, I did. I chose Baby's Only because it is the only organic formula out there without corn syrup form of sweetener and no palm oil! There are other benefits to using this brand above, say, Earth's Best, but I'll leave that for you to research ;>

So! Mirabelle started on the bottle with little complications, and actually started sleeping through the night around one month (perhaps one middle of the night feeding here and there until 2 months). She has hit all of her developmental milestones thus far. She is not under or over weight, and her growth chart is right on track. Our pediatrician was known (by a friend of mine) to push breast feeding fairly hard, but for some reason they didn't blink an eye at the choice my husband and I made. Perhaps it was because her first visit showed a strong, healthy baby? Or perhaps my conviction was apparent. Who knows.

At 6 months this little bean still enjoys her bottle, but has taken strongly to eating all sorts of organic fruit and vegetable purees! While August is National Breast Feeding month, and I've had the pleasure of reading and hearing all sorts of benefits to breastfeeding (which is great!), I will never regret the choice my husband and I made because it gave us the opportunity to share in her feeding and growing from the very first night - he and I would both get up and sit together as one of us fed her. We agreed that if we had to lose sleep that both of us would lose sleep together! And honestly, every father should experience the joy of a 3am feeding ;>

Routine 

Establishing a routine has been very important for us and the baby. It allows us the freedom to plan activities around her eating, napping, bedtime, etc. Seems simple, right? Sure, it is, if you stick to it! We know that when 7pm comes along it's time to start wrapping up whatever we are doing and get the baby fed and ready for bed, so that by 7:30 she is in the crib and comfy with her human heart "music" playing. Her feeding schedule isn't exact, but I make sure to watch for cues so that I know she's starting to get hungry, and prior to full on mental breakdown mode! Knowing your baby is important because everyone does it differently, so Rick and I decided in the end to do it our way ;>

The Physical Me

I'm hard on myself, and that's putting it lightly. I've struggled with weight on and off since high school. Up and down, up and down. I'm a little over 5'2 and my metabolism isn't the most speedy of bodily functions, so food and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship. I haven't eaten pizza in at least 10 years, I don't touch fried food, I never eat a burger, and I tend to avoid all forms of high-fat dairy. Yet I struggle to keep it all under control. My goal weight is between 105-110 lbs, and I almost reached that the summer of 2013 before I decided to have my little bambino. It's hard to put into words the frustration of exercising 4-5 days a week climbing stadium bleachers, running miles, and sprinting across soccer fields and not seeing the results I want.
That's where I need to step back and realize that I have achieved those results, I fit into my pre-pregnancy clothing, I'm toning, I eat healthy, I'm physically strong, I have ZERO stretch marks (not saying that's good or bad, I just know I could not mentally handle them, and why? oh because I'm weak when it comes to trying to obtain self-perfection), and my husband tells me every day just how beautiful I am...and just how horrible I am on myself. That's the saddest part of all this: my husband watching me drive my physical self-worth into the ground. I keep looking forward toward the end of the tunnel, that little light that when I reach it I will see what everyone else sees, that I will feel comfortable within my skin. I tell myself that it's when I'm 105 I will feel great and wonderful and beautiful, but I'm beginning to realize that my perception is skewed and that I need to change that FIRST before I focus on the physical aspects. *sigh*

The Mental Me

Oh boy! Hormones a-crazy! haha. Seriously though, babies sure do know how to take a lady's hormones and kick them into next Tuesday. I'm a little dark cloud on most days. I just float from day to day looking for a peak at the sunshine, a glimmer of light that will bring me out of my most moody of times. It happens daily, whether it's something the husband does, or my step-daughter, or especially Mirabelle, but I experience these happy moments through them that just make everything better and hopeful again. It's been a daily struggle for most of my 20s and now into my 30s, but after having a child everything seems to go a bit haywire for a while. Life, right??

In the end, I always remind myself how fortunate I am (cliche, I know). And I continually strive to accomplish something every day no matter how small! The moment I give up will be when I settle for that simplified, static idea of the "American Dream", you know, owning that boring old home in some dreary town in the middle of nowhere. When you settle for picking out curtains instead of looking for the next adventure (and don't get me wrong, I love me some curtains!). It's just when you center your evening around a television show and your weekends consist of shopping for this or that. BLEH! So, depressing right? I just know my husband and I have so much we want to teach and show our daughter, that it would be downright silly to gravitate toward that white picket fence existence. There's more to life than that fellow humans, and yea, I totally need to remind myself of this daily <3

Sunday Funday!

Sunday is one of the only full days our family has the opportunity to spend together. The step-daughter travels to her mother's home on Friday night-Sunday morning, while my husband works Saturday afternoons, which conflicts with my Monday through Friday schedule. All this being said, the 4 of us (baby Mirabelle included) try to do at least one activity together on Sunday, whether it be a walk, getting some ice cream, watching a movie, going out to breakfast, playing basketball, et cetera!

This previous Sunday my husband and I planned something pretty darn special. Friends of ours who live in Philadelphia own a studio, True Hand Society, and they were hosting a photographer who exclusively photographs his subject utilizing the tintype technique. Rick, Asa, and I were all super excited to enjoy this rare moment together and dress as traditional as possible, so to give off the air that we were born a century earlier. Unfortunately, Asa had a last minute summer-job obligation and had to forgo the trip. It was a real bummer, but in the end the experience was just as amazing, and I feel like the photographer truly captured our three person family, minus one, perfectly.

Because Asa was going to be excluded from the photo, I decided to make her a special breakfast of gluten free banana chocolate chip pancakes (she claims to enjoy the texture of gluten free cakes, pancakes, cookies, etc more than their wheat counterpart...who knew). She and my husband gobbled them into oblivion while I settled for an egg white omelette *yawn*

Later in the day, following our trip to Philadelphia, my husband and I knew that the baby was on her way to being irritable, especially because it was about 2 hours prior to bedtime...and anyone with children knows how that goes. So, we decided to go to one of our favorite little restaurants in our town, Bashful Banana. This place is perfect to take vegetarians and babies alike! All of their food items are made with fresh, mostly local ingredients. They don't smother their dishes in oil or unneeded creams/butter. Rick tends to opt for an appetizer or entree, while I stick to their now famous Banana Whip. A Banana Whip is a frozen banana that has been homogenized and turned into a custard like substance. It's only banana. Nothing else. Though I add their homemade whipped cream to my order. Oddly enough, I have the exact machine, but because this restaurant is not open all year, we like to get out and walk the boardwalk while also having the option for healthy, baby-friendly treat. And oh does Mirabelle love Banana Whips...

While Asa was working this past Sunday, and we couldn't spend it together, I still felt like it was a great end to the weekend :>

The Benefits of Sisters

Growing up with a twin sister is normal. Having a sibling the same age was never anything out of the ordinary, and good or bad, it was something I didn't delve on unless the lack of age gap was brought to my attention. Questions like, "Wasn't it great having a built in best friend?" Well, yes, I guess so. But I don't know the difference so I can't compare. "Didn't you hate having to share everything and always being compared to the other?" No, the sharing was fine, and the comparisons, while they bothered my mother, allowed Kira and I to fine tune our competitive natures and always strive to be on par or better than the other. Was this the best mentality to have? Who knows, once again I have nothing else to compare it to. We have a younger brother (by 6 years), so there wasn't much of a sibling attachment, nor was the age gap large enough to elicit any "motherly instincts" toward him. Poor Shane.

Enter my current nuclear family. I have a step-daughter who is 16 and a biological daughter who is 4 months. Asa (step-daughter) and Mirabelle have an age gap larger than the one shared with Asa and myself. This is where it gets interesting. Due to my age, and being very open toward Asa, we have a relationship akin to sisters rather than mother/daughter. She comes to me for advice, but also engages me in conversations that perhaps she would prefer not to approach her biological parents with. At times, our relationship is difficult, because I do need to step in as "the mother" because Asa lives with her father and I full-time, and she's still a kid, and kids need to have structure (blah blah blah), but it's a tough juxtaposition between friend-mom and step-mom. Even though I feel like I really muddle through my relationship with her at times, her perspective is completely different. My husband sees a young lady who loves and strives to do well in the eyes of their step-mom, while I see a step-mom continually struggling to keep the relationship balanced.

Jump to the relationship between Asa and Mirabelle. It is one that shows its benefits more and more each day! I have little patience for the antics of children, especially sibling arguing and any form of disrespectful behavior. Because of their vast age difference, Asa has taken on the role of "protective, supportive, and proud big sister." Mirabelle doesn't know it yet, but Asa is her biggest fan. Asa is an emotional little lady (something I can really learn a thing or two about), but the way she speaks about Mirabelle, she's admitted to not quite speaking the same way toward anyone else. Including her father! A few things Asa has exclaimed in the past few days: "I just can't take her face! Why is it so cute??" "She is a Gerber baby!" "I show all of my friends her picture!" "I'm going to teach her how to play the organ, bass, and how to sing" "I want to give her kisses everyday" "Mirabelle, I love you"

All of these things make me extremely happy. With siblings that are close in age, you have love, but it cannot be expressed the same way. Asa has had time to grow and understand what it is to truly care for and love another person unconditionally. She is able to verbalize her feelings and to understand what she is saying, and how much it means to those around her when she speaks the way she does. Mirabelle will grow to look up to her big sister in a way that most siblings who are close in age cannot fathom. While their relationship may wane a bit while Asa is in college, I am certain that Mirabelle has many years with her big sister to look forward to.

Finally, the look on Mirabelle's face when Asa enters her line of vision is one of complete wonder and the need to be close to this loving, redheaded girl.