“a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013″
dear connor, here you are slurping down your green “ink” (drink) and devouring brown rice spaghetti or “big noodles” as you like to call them with fresh basil. “make ink?” you ask every morning… healthiest kid ever. xoxo
dear penelope, go ahead. strike a pose. you are the most awesome girl ever. xoxo
as always, joining jodi from che and fidel for project 52.
find more weekly photos here.
i have come to find out that gluten does not sit well with my body. in fact, my body hates it. this is all something so new and recent to me and i am still in the processing of observing my body’s reactions to different foods, waiting on doctor’s appointments, bloodwork, etc to make sure my nutrient levels are where they are supposed to be.
however, whether full blown celiac disease or just a slight intolerance, for right now i know my body does not work right when i consume gluten so i have been cutting out all gluten which is a total pain in the behind, by the way but is do-able so that brings me to my vegan, gluten free buckwheat waffles….
now you know connor and i love breakfast. pancakes and waffles are always a winner with connor but i had to rethink how i was making them so that i could eat them too, of course! normally i would use whole wheat flour but that’s not an option anymore. gluten = wheat, rye & barley. so that was a no go. there are plenty of gluten free options out there, i just had to familiarize myself with them. for example, there’s almond flour, quinoa flour, buckwheat, coconut flour and you can always buy a gluten free all purpose flour. i’ve really come to find out those options are better for you anyways. so, it’s a win-win in some ways.
i decided to give buckwheat a go. despite it’s name, buckwheat is actually neither a wheat nor a grain but botanically a fruit and it actually has a few nutritional perks over wheat! it’s much higher in the amino acid, lysine, a bit higher in vitamin E and it of course, naturally gluten free!
ingredients:
- 1 cup buckwheat
- 1 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp organic ground flax
- 1-2 scoops stevia
- 1 tsp vanilla
1. preheat waffle maker 2. combine wet ingredients – milk, oil (heat to liquid form if needed) and vanilla. mix well 3. combine dry ingredients – flour, salt, baking powder, flax, stevia. mix well. 4. pour wet ingredients into dry and mix very well. 5. pour into waffle maker and cook until desired texture is reached. mine takes about 5-7 minutes or so over medium-medium high heat.
i usually use my vitamix and throw everything in there and whip it all up and then directly pour that into the waffle maker or pan. it’s quick and easy but there are other times i go the traditional route with the the bowls so that i can give connor little more work with the stirring.
inhaling apples and waffles…
enjoy!
update: since writing this post i have tried almond flour/meal and love, love, love it! try it out!
“a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013″
dear connor, beach season has begun! this is you on our first beach day of the season. we took a little impromptu trip up to myrtle beach so we could visit with a friend. p.s. you have been wearing that same beach shirt since you were 6 months old. how does it still fit you? 
xoxo
dear penelope, i love you in this green dress while you snack on sophie’s feet. you’ve started doing a little army crawl this week too. there’s no stopping you now. you end up on the other side of the room in an instant these days. i see my future getting much, much busier in the next few months with TWO mobile kids. xoxo
as always, joining jodi from che and fidel for project 52.
find more weekly photos here.
last sunday was a happy day full of sunshine, good food and one happy mommy.
in a the morning kyle proclaimed that he was going to clean the house so as penelope drifted off to sleep connor and i sunscreened up, grabbed our tennis rackets and hit the neighborhood courts to hit some balls.
as i was getting connor into his bike i couldn’t help but peak through the window and smile at my sweet husband who was turning on music and gathering up his supplies. cleaning is not his thing but he knows a clean house keeps my mind at ease.
connor was so excited to go play tennis and i was just as eager to get him out on the court. tennis was a huge part of my life growing up and it’s fun to start sharing those moments with my kids.
when did he get so old?
he had me nearly in tears from laughing as i would say “ready?” he would lean forward, racket in front of his body, feet moving fast, jogging just slightly back and forth saying “i’m ready mommy!” it took me back 20 years to playing tennis with my dad. he would always yell from the other side of the court “move your feet!”
needless to say, we had a blast. our next stop was the playground where connor cooked me soup, salad, quinoa and of course chocolate in the little play house. to top off a fun morning we stopped to say hello to the ducks and fish at one of the neighborhood ponds.
when we got home it was gift time much to my surprise. i told kyle not to get me anything. i’m not the kind of girl that says that just to say that either. i really do mean it. i would so much rather save money than it be used on presents but i decided to suck it up and happily accept my gifts that were, i have to admit were all totally awesome.
who wouldn’t immediately smile seeing a card like that? kyle knows how to pick ‘em. so for the presents, a new pair of toms, a new dress, alba body scrub and exfoliating gloves, and beautiful flowers!
the best part? when connor came in to give me my bag of goodies i said “ohhhh connor, what’s that?” and he said “ugghh.. it’s a bag!”
as the day ended kyle and connor whipped me up THE BEST gluten free, vegan i’ve ever had. it was so tasty i had to hold myself back from eating the entire thing in one sitting.
after the kids went to bed we enjoyed some wine and some sweet treats.
this day was a good one. this weekend was a good one, in fact. we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary and mother’s day. each of those days were days i wouldn’t have if it weren’t for my husband so he deserves a big, public thank you for giving me a wonderful life and 2 beautiful children.
life is good.
it’s a catch up week for me today on project 52. we’ve been busy and i just did not get a second to put them all together these past 2 weeks. hope all you moms out there had a great mothers day. i’ll share all my goodies with you soon! xoxo
18/52
“a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013″
dear connor, this is you at our local children’s museum. “look mommy, a huwa-hoop! i gonna huwa-hoop!”
dear penelope, i’m going to soak in these sweet moments of you sleeping since it doesn’t happen too often these days. i love you.
19/52
“a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013″
dear connor, watching the boats, the water and the crabs while being in daddy’s arms is your kind of heaven. you told your sister you loved her this week for the first time. i have never heard you tell anyone you loved them, not even me or dad so to her you say it to your sister completely unprompted melts my heart.
dear penelope, you are crazy and silly and ridiciously happy all day long. you love getting a grasp on our faces and squeezing as hard as you possibly can while laughing. you also like to bite my nipple while nursing now and laugh but, we won’t get into that today…… no one can get you laughing as hard as your brother can. you two are about to have some fun time when you can get up and run around with him!
as always, joining jodi from che and fidel for project 52.
find more weekly photos here.
i feel like i haven’t caught up with you guys on a personal level lately. i’ve wanted to. i’ve needed to. i just haven’t had the mental energy to. i’ve been sleep walking the past few weeks…
penelope, my sweet, sweet wonderful penelope is the world’s worst sleeper. world’s worst! ok, maybe i’m being dramatic but she definitely right on up there with ‘em. i knew i had it coming to me. seriously, how could i have not? connor was the most awesome sleeper ever! he still is majority of the time but there was no way i was going to be so lucky again. i love her and she is awesome in literally every other aspect but just not with the sleeping. maybe this is a phase, maybe it’s not. either way it is what it is right now and i’m just chugging (sleepily) along trying to enjoy it all and not become over frustrated/cranky/annoyed at the situation because i know there’s only so much i can do. some babies are sleepers and some aren’t. it’s really quite simple but that doesn’t mean it’s not exhausting on mom…
so here’s her deal: she’s always needed me to be close when she’s falling asleep and more times than not needed to be nursed to sleep which i don’t have a problem with. what’s really exhausting is this:
we nurse. she falls asleep. i put her down. she stays asleep… for 10 minutes. wakes up. i comfort her. she falls back to sleep… for 10 minutes. i nurse her. she falls asleep… for 10 minutes. i cave. tell kyle goodnight. go to bed with her. now that i’m settled in next to her she stays asleep for at least 3 hours until she’s ready to nurse again.
ugh. and repeat that for nap time as well. and take in to account that she’s up 2-3 times during the night.
personally, i’m totally cool with nursing her to sleep, laying with her until she falls asleep and co-sleeping. i want to be close to her and i want to be doing all those things for her and i’m grateful that i am home to have all those bonding moments. i just want her to stay asleep for a period of time, at least in the evening. i just crave a little alone/husband/free time in the evening. i know, i know, this is motherhood and this is what we signed up for. it’s not always easy and all that jazz but i wouldn’t be human if i didn’t admit that it’s driving me a little insane some days. (and by the way, as i’m writing this she’s bouncing up and down, smiling and laughing at me in her exersaucer and i’m feeling a little bad whining about her sleep habits. oh baby, you have me wrapped around your finger.)
kyle tries to help but it’s really no help. the effort and compassion for my situation is appreciated but as much as penelope loves playing with her daddy, he is not yet an acceptable person to comfort her, in her eyes anyway. the lid completely blows if anyone besides me goes in there to help her.
i’ve tried switching up sleeping arrangements, bedtimes, routines, sound machines, etc you know name it and i’ve tried it and i got nothing! so most days she gets her naps in during walks or eventually konks out on the couch or while i’m wearing her and i’m good with that for now. it’ll be totally different 3 months from now, one way or the other so i can’t stress about it. that will only drive me crazy.
in the meantime, i’ll just cross my fingers for a few evenings a week where i can sit down, have a glass of wine and relax.
on another note, i mentioned here that connor and i had sort of lost touch with each other for a little while. we were a mess. not finding a rhythm and having tantrums like you wouldn’t believe. we’ve done a complete 180 and everything has been so incredibly awesome and fun with him lately. woohoo! 
i’ll write more on that soon. ok, soon-ish. meaning whenever i can find the time! add it to the long list of half written posts! ha!
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23/52 + 24/52
must haves {beach edition}
review // conscious box
successful breastfeeding: how we transitioned off the nipple shield
22/52
warm strawberry cacao quinoa treat {vegan + gluten free}
21/52
buckwheat waffles {vegan + gluten free}
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