We have been loving summertime and the outdoor time we have been getting. At the start of the summer I was teaching my son about where our food comes from and we bought a few seedlings and some seed packs and then we started our backyard garden. We planted mini watermelon seeds to try to grow some as my son is obsessed with watermelon. We got a few hairlooom tomatoe varieties, a tomatillo and sunburst patty pan squash. The squash have done amazing and we have already been able to harvest a few. Our tomatoes are getting big but not red yet and unfortunately the tomatillos did not do well. The mini watermelon are growing nicely and my toddler loves seeing them get bigger each day! I am excited to plan a bigger and better backyard garden next year!

Even before I had my first child I was very excited to breastfeed. My childhood best friend’s mother was a lactation consultant and I learned so much about breastfeeding and how many amazing benefits it has for both mothers and babies. I had my first and was worried about how our breastfeeding journey would start as his birth had not gone as planned he was a cesarean birth due to being breech. I had heard many things about cesarean making it harder to establish your breastfeeding relationship. I did some research and looked onto the best ways to ensure we had the best start we could despite the birth not being the one we had planned. I found Kelly Mom to offer some great information that helped me to plan and prepare for breastfeeding after a cesarean birth. I had immediate skin-to-skin with my son in the OR and once I was rolled into recovery he latched right away with a little help from my lovely doula. Doulas are amazing and I highly recommend them for anyone no matter the type of birth you are having as they site so very helpful. My first was very much a great nurser from the beginning and gained weight well. We have had a pretty smooth nursing relationship a few clogs, one hit of mastitis when he was a few weeks old and a persistent case of thrush around nine months old. Our biggest challenge came when he was 13 months old and I got pregnant with his sibling. We had planned to start trying after my husbands last deployment which would have put my son at 18 months which seemed perfect to me but we were successful during a quick trip back during the deployment for an emergency with our housing situation. Unlike with my first I did not know I was pregnant right away I was busy chasing my toddler and trying to help time pass so the deployment would be over. My son got sick and was teething and he began nursing non stop and I was not feeling well during his long nursing sessions which made me wonder, so I took a pregnancy test though I was thinking there was no way we had success during a 3 day window when my cycle had not even returned. Well I was wrong I was indeed pregnant. I had heard you could not nurse when you were pregnant but that seemed odd to me as I knew people tandem nursed. So I started doing some research on nursing during pregnancy and tandem nursing. My goal was to nurse my son until 2 or he wanted to wean so I was not looking to make him stop at 15 months old. I learned that it was completely safe to nurse during pregancy, though some women (around 70%) do notice a drop in their supply. There are times for some women it is not safe if you are in a high risk pregancy and on pelvic rest it is likely you may need to stop nursing but talk with your heath care provider and trust how you are feeling when nursing. Because my son was over one and eating we had zero issues and I nursed throughout my pregnancy and then began my tandem nursing adventures.

They now enjoy their time nursing together and sometimes even hold hands which is so sweet.

 

 

For anyone who knows me they know I am passionate about breastfeeding. I believe that every woman should be supported, have the access to the resources that she may need to help her achieve and reach her breastfeeding goals. I hate that ones passion can sometimes be taken as mom shaming I want each and every person to know that parenting is damn hard work and we all strive to give our babies and children the very best with the knowledge and tools we have. I support parents rights to knowledge and making the decisions that are best for them and their family be that exclusive breastfeeding, exclusive pumping, combination feeding, donor milk feeding or formula feeding. What I find important is that they had the knowledge and support to choose what they wanted. So please do not take my excitement and joy of how amazing I find breastfeeding and breastmilk and take that to think I am shaming you in any way for your choices because I am not I promise you. Every year from August 1st to 7th is World Breastfeeding Week.  In a world filled with inequality, crises and poverty, breastfeeding is the foundation of lifelong good health for babies and mothers. This is a great time to help share the benefits of breastfeeding, share our struggles and our successes as breastfeeding mothers.

An exciting thing happened just in time for World Breastfeeding Week IN 2018 IT’S LEGAL TO BREASTFEED IN PUBLIC IN ALL 50 STATES finally, Idaho and Utah recently passed legislation, making breastfeeding in public legal in all 50 states. This is not to say that us breastfeeding women will not still encounter those opposed to breastfeeding in public but we now all have the law backing our right to feed our babies while in public shocking it has taken so long.

I will be attending my local Big Latch On if you visit their website you can see if they have an event near you and then you can attend one also. The Global Big Latch On takes place at a registered locations around the world, where people gather together to breastfeed and offer peer support to each other. Their friends, family and community join this celebration to promote and support breastfeeding. Volunteers from within the community host each location, hosting a Global Big Latch On creates a lasting support network for the community. Having community and support when you are a breastfeeding mother is so important as it can help you to solve issues you may be having and have other who have been there help offer advice or at least commiserate with you.

 

We have been wanting to get into camping but full on tent camping with a baby, a toddler and a puppy seemed like a bad idea…so we got a pop up camper! We have taken her on her maden voyage to Bodega Bay  and it was was a blast we can not wait to go again. Unplugging and spending quality family time is just what we needed after the scare we had a month ago with my husbands health.

Camping with a baby, a toddler and a puppy in a pop up camper was much easier than I thought it was going to be. Our toddler is obsessed with the moon birds and bugs currently so he loved all things that pop up camping had to offer. lots of views of the nights sky, tons of bugs to find and lots of birds to watch. As we bed share the kids were fine with us sleeping in a bed that was not the one at home as they had us there with them.

Things that I found helpful for our adventure.

Lots of clothes for the kids for all kinds of weather Northern California can be really hot in the summer but it can also have some very cool days and cold nights especially near the coast. No one wants a baby or toddler that is wet or cold and doesn’t have more clean and dry clothes to put on. Also several pairs of shoes for if one got wet there was another pair or two.

A few familiar toys and a few new things. The new things I got for our toddler were just some things from the Dollar Tree that were perfect for helping an afternoon camping become even more exciting.

Lots of snacks and cups for my toddler to ensure that proper hydration is kept. We also brought 5 gallons of fresh drinking. Meal planning and pre prepping some of the food at home ahead of time was helpful. We also learned that we need a couple dozen eggs to bring for breakfast as camp scrammbled eggs were a huge hit the cheese helped I am sure.

Sunscreen and bug spray that keeps mosquitoes and ticks away.

The Summer pop and play baby play yard for the baby to have a safe place to play and some shade for sunny days. The thing I like most about this piece of baby gesr is that it folds up like a camping chair so it doesn’t  take up much room.

For the puppy her collar, her leash, extra leash, food and water bowls, a few toys (we learned not the soft ones they get wat too dirty), dog bed and a dog run cable and ground steak for while we are outside and not on a walk so no one has to hold the leash.

My toddler learned that he likes s’mores and he wants to do more camping soon!

 

 

Some days I need to get things done and the only way to do so is to wear both my toddler and my baby. When I had just one kid is was super easy to wear him and we rarely took a stroller anywhere as baby-wearing just worked so much better for our family. Now that I have two children that are both young wearing them both is often a lifesaver.

I mostly wear soft structured carriers (SSC) and I prefer the brand Tula.  I have also gotten into wearing ring slings some with my second and I am loving them. A carrier that fits you correctly will allow you and baby to be comfortable. Not all brands will work well for everyone like a good pair of jeans you have to try them to find the one that is right for you.

SSC

Ring sling

Wearing just my youngest is how we get though most days it allows me to keep my toddler going and able to enjoy adventures to the children’s museum, the zoo and the park. Babywearing allows me to have my hands free and to be able to give my toddler lots of attention and keep my baby close. I can even breastfeed my baby while chasing my toddler babywearing for the win!

 

My life is a beautiful mess and this last year has been filled with a lot of hard moments we were evacuated from fires as our city was on fire and I was 39 weeks pregnant, our newborn was hospitalized for a few days for an unexplained high fever then last week I got a phone call no one ever wants to get while deployed my husband was medivaced off the ship he was serving on. He had a heart attack it has been a very long week and we have a long road ahead and still are waiting for answers. He is home which we are beyond thankful for. Never take for granted tomorrow because you never know what it will bring I could have gotten a much scarier call I could have lost my husband and become a widow I am so very thankful that was not the outcome. Perspective really is changed by these type of events. Love the ones you love and live your life the fullest tomorrow is no guarantee my friends 💕

 

My husband and I love Cinco de Mayo all the fun colors and the amazing food and yummy margaritas. We chose it as the day we would get married so now every year we get to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and our anniversary.

This year we took a family trip up to more Northern California, Humbolt County. So much beautiful outdoors to see huge redwood trees and beautiful coastline up that way. We stayed for a little less than a week and the kids did great with the hotel stay and the adventures. We saw forest, shoreline, a cheese factory, some great breweries, a Coast Guard station and a fun marine lab and some tide pools.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there!

 

Becoming a mother is the hardest and most rewarding job ever. I never could have imagined the complexity of being a mother. The hormonal changes the emotions trying to figure out what is normal or within normal. Being responsible for another tiny helpless tiny human.

Many women suffer from postpartum anxiety and/or depression but many do not realize until they have made it past it.  Postpartum  International Support is a great resource for those who are concerned that they may be having feelings that are a bit more than just normal postpartum blues.

 

 

 

When I became a stay at home mother my life changed so much I am so blessed and thankful for the opportunity.

In preparation for celebrating spring time we tried dying our chicken eggs with natural food coloring that we made. The results were not anywhere as good as store bought dye kits but we had fun trying it out. We smashed frozen blueberries up, frozen spinach, canned beets, and added some turmeric to water to make our dyes. Mostly we just made a mess but it was fun!

As the season is warming up the days are getting longer our chickens are laying more eggs. This is our first spring with them last summer we got them as hatchlings and watched them grow up in the spare bathroom before they moved to our backyard. I have found having so many eggs on hand that having some hard-boiled ones on hand is a must. Making them on the stove top I always seem to find a way to make a mess and end up with a bunch of broken eggs. The Instant Pot has eliminated this issue for me they come out perfectly, quickly and best of all mess free. The stainless steel egg steamer rack makes it even better as it holds the eggs in place perfectly to avoid any breaking. Now that we keep hard-boiled eggs on hand they make a great quick breakfast, a fast egg salad sandwich lunch or a yummy batch of deviled eggs.