the good life

We've moved!

2011-09-26T21:52:00.001-07:00

The blog, that is. Blogger was driving me crazy. I could not tolerate it any longer, so I will try my luck elsewhere. Please go to: www.keverton.com/blog

Returned from the land of...

2011-09-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

... I didn't actually go anywhere, I just checked out a bit from blogging -- writing and reading -- to reevaluate and prioritize. In the end, I decided that for now, I'm not going to worry about focussing this blog on anything. It will be a smorgasbord* of family memories, personal photography, business photography, my thoughts, and my environmental pursuits. But I do hope to be a little more consistent.

I mentioned previously that I have always loved film. When I was little and there weren't any commercial photo labs (the communists didn't want people to have business or memories, I guess). My grandpa was a higher-up professor at a university so my dad had access to photo developing resources. He took photos, developed, and printed them himself. I really thought it was so cool. He talked about it a little, but it wasn't until high school that I actually learned to develop film and print images myself. When I was a freshman in college, for my 18th birthday, my dad wanted to buy me an SLR camera. This was 2003 so everyone was making the jump into digital, but I was stubborn. I had an infatuation with film. My dad tried to reason with me, but I insisted.

The camera wasn't the top of the line, but I loved the photos I took while living in Hawaii that year. But a few years later, I realized that film as becoming expensive. Every few months another lab shut down and options for film developing decreased. It became a very expensive hobby. My sweet husband surprised me with a digital SLR our first Christmas as a married couple. I was excited, but felt like I was breaking up with a great boyfriend for a cuter, but less cool one.

Anyway, I decided that cameras aren't boyfriends and I don't have to choose just one. Lately I've been enjoying both. To me, there is something magical about film images. I love the grain, I love the more creamy tones. I love the surprise that it is to have to wait a few days to see the pictures that I forgot I took.

There is only one place within 20 miles that develops and scans film -- Walgreens. I decided to give them a try last week. Oh boy -- not good! I think I will drive the 21 miles and pay $3 bucks to get a better quality scan. The scans were very small files (which is why these look SO grainy) and greenish.

These are from two really great beach trips -- one to Cannon beach with just or family and one to Seaside with our friends, the Blaisdells. Also, there are a few from the library where the kids and I went at least weekly this summer, and the naked one was taken at home :)

*Did you know that Smorgasbord is s a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table, originating in Sweden.

A really beautiful Oregon day

2011-07-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning we got up and packed for an outdoor adventure (while Zach mowed our slightly-overgrown yard). There was quite a bit of traffic just outside of Hillsboro on Sunset west and once we arrived in Cannon beach, there was a huge line to the toll booth at Ecola State Park. We finally parked and got our bags on. Zach carried our picnic lunch, Lucas carried... a backpack with a truck and granola bar in it (it was mostly symbolic) and I carried Anya.

The first part of the 1.5 mile stretch was quite muddy. We saw many groups turn back. We are so glad that we didn't. The trail snakes through an old-growth forest with periodic views of the Pacific.

Lucas kept seeing the beach and saying that he wants to go to the water. Zach told him that we are going "up over the hill and to the water". We were hiking to Indian beach (in the photo above you can see it on the far right just above the horizon). From that point on Lucas kept pointing his finger and exclaiming "UP AND TO THE WATER!" every five minutes.

There are a few points of this hike where hand-holding of a youngster is crucial. Can you hear me freaking out as you look at the photo below? I kept yelling "hold his hand! Do you have him?!" There is only about ten centimeters (half a foot for you Americans) between the narrow path and a grass covered cliff.

A little over an hour later we made it to Indian Beach. It was buzzing with surfers. We sat and ate our lunch. Anya fell asleep as we were getting there and woke up right when we were leaving again, so she kind of missed lunch. Lucas really wanted to stay on the beach and play, but I knew that if we stopped for too long, we'd have a hard time making it back. The kid was a little bummed and discouraged, he didn't understand why he had walked all this way to get to a beach just to turn around and go back.

So after a few minutes he just stood in the middle of the path with a pout on his face, arms crossed, refusing to take another step. I was not envious of Zach who had to carry a 30 pound kid in addition to his backpack.

We made a lot of fast progress, but it wasn't long before Lucas wanted to walk by himself again. Overall, he finished strong and the way back seemed shorter than the way there.

Back at Ecola state park, we got into our car and drove down to Cannon Beach right outside of Mo's. There we met my mom and little sister who drove up with my sister's BFF and her family. Anya loved the warm sand. She wanted to hold it and crawl through it and eat it.

Lucas enjoyed digging, building a castle, and carrying water from the ocean to our hole. My sister Maria and her friend, Leah, were Lucas' favorite playmates, while my mom entertained our chubby little baby.

I love these photos of my mama and Anya, especially because they are not even a little bit staged. Because my parents live so far away now (New Hampshire) I could just tell how special this time to spend with my kids was for my mom. It was so fun seeing everyone so happy to be together.

Zach was pretty tired after the drive and the hike, so he took a little nap on the beach.

I wish we could have stayed longer, the weather was perfect -- not a lot of wind and warm (70s). But it was getting late, so our little family had dinner in Cannon Beach and drove home. It was just such a beautiful, beautiful day.

We can all do this one: Stop Junk Mail!

2011-07-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

It's one thing to produce waste when you are doing something productive or particularly enjoyable. It's a whole new thing when you are contributing to waste while being annoyed! It is infuriating that Zach and I receive up to 20 credit card and insurance offers a week in our mailbox. These are in addition to coupons, city news flyers, catalogs and ads.

Paper junk mail is incredibly wasteful (of trees, water, energy, plastic, and my time!) and completely unnecessary in this day and age (though I hate junk email only a little less).

Consider that:

On average, American households receive approximately 69 pounds of unwanted mail each year.

The number of trees used to produce this mail is hard to account for, but according to Recycled Papers: The Essential Guide it takes an average of 24 trees to produce one ton of the paper most used in junk mailers and catalogs. That's approximately 96 million trees per year in the US alone.

The EPA states over 50% of junk mail is not recycled, meaning 48 million trees are thrown away. That's the equivalent of chopping down a tree in every other yard across the nation.

With each ton of paper using between 2,500-6,000 gallons of water, the junk mail industry uses 10-24 BILLION gallons of water each year.

With the typical direct mail response rate at about 2%, that means 9.8-23.5 billion gallons of water, 23 and a half trees, and enough energy to power 245,000 homes is wasted each year. (sustainable baby steps)

44% of junk mail is discarded without being opened

It is estimated that 250,000 homes could be heated for a single day's junk mail (OCAPP)

Junk mail produces more carbon dioxide emissions than 9 million cars (41 pounds.org)

WIthout proper disposal junk mail can lead to identity theft.

To me, this was more than annoying, it was appaling so I set out to get rid of our junk mail. I am already enjoying the results. Here's how you can do it too:

Visit Opt Out Prescreen to remove yourself from credit card and insurance companies' mailing lists. You need to add yourself and your spouse, or whoever lives in your household, separately. Otherwise you will stop receiveing junk mail from Chase, but they will not. You need Social Security Numbers for these (this site is actually listed on all those credit card offers as the only way to get out)
Cancel catalogues and use online ones (I know, I love the photos and the feel of paper too, but it is really worth it?) I have only ever bought one thing and William Sonoma (a pizza stone a few years back) yet they send me every little catalogue, including their "Wine Lists". Call Cusotmer Service and ask to be removed from their paper mailing list. Being nice (yet firm) will increase chance of their cooperation.
To calcen catalogues and phone books you can also use CatalogChoice.org. It's free and can remove your name from some mailing lists or give you information of how to easily do it yourself.
Use gethuman.com to find out how to speak to a human customer service representative. I have spent SO MUCH TIME listening to the automated "press 1 for.." recordings that I almost wripped my hair out. If the company you are trying to cancel with is not available through gethuman.com, then call whatever number you can find on the junk mail. Have the junk mail in front of you when you call as they may ask you questions about it.
Through your provider's website, sign up to receive and pay electronic bills whenever possible. You can do this for electric and gas, internet, phone, credit cards, and others.
If you belong to organizations or groups who send out paper newsletters email or call them and ask if an electronic version is available. If it is not, see if you can help establish this option. Most people would prefer to recieve an email about such thing anyway.

Make one or two phone calls at a time, while waiting for your pasta water to boil or while holding a baby, don't try to do it all at once -- it can be quite overwhelming.

If you'd rather, you can pay $41 to 41 pounds.org to do this work for you. They stop all your junk mail and donate 30% of their profits to a non-profit agency.

Don't get discouraged, you will be making a big difference. Today, after being on hold for 20 minutes and enduring a sales pitch, Frank with Frontier told me there was no way I could be removed from the mailing list because "they are automatic, I can only remove you if you a customer." Can you believe that? Fortunately, I went on their website and found a "media representative" and called their direct line. She picked up right away and gladly put me on the "do not contact" list. Take that Frank!

I know that some of these environmental things I talk about may have an "oh man! but I LIKE my hummer!" type of responses -- they seem like a great sacrifice. But this is a good environmental deed we can all do and feel good about.

Anya's Nine Months Post

2011-07-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy enjoying our beautiful summer that I have failed to post Anya's 9 month post. Since these are mostly for me to record her milestones, I'll lay them out here:

You still do not sleep well at night. We had a few nights of inconsolable screaming that may have been stomach-related. Other than that, you wake up 2-4 times a night.
You are feeding yourself finger food! It's so fun to watch you.
You still do not have any teeth, so you love to gum hard bread crusts.
You scoot and comfortable get in and out of crawling position, but don't quite crawl yet.
You stand up when we give you two fingers to hold on to.
You do a crazy toung roll, especially when you cry. My friend Matt says you sound like a dinosaur.
You are pretty good at taking stuff away from your brother, straight out of his hands.
You tried swinging in swings and you love it.
Unfortunately, you have had a runny nose on and off for a couple of months.
Your skin is much less sensitive in the diaper area than Lucas' was, thank goodness.
You LOVE strawberries and watermelon.
Your eyes still look grey-blue, like your dad's, but there is a brownish area around the pupil. I wonder if your eyes will turn brown.
You have really small feet.
You can clap and wave. You also do a funny backwards wave, as if you're saying "come over here" in slow motion, with all your fingers.
At your nine month appointment you weighed 18lbs. 14 oz (46%ile, but lenght was in 86%ile)

They can make you so mad that you just have to laugh

2011-06-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Update: I called Origins and told them exactly what happened. To my surprise, they were happy to replace it as long as I had the receipt!

On Tuesday I volunteered to pick up some desserts and drive them to my mom-in-law's work for an event they were having. I was in a rush to get out of the house. Anya had been cranky all morning and was sitting on the floor crying. I was looking around for her pacifier and a pair of clean pants for her because the ones she was wearing (though I put them only minutes ago) were now covered in banana.

After a couple of minutes I came downstairs to find this:

My chemist/make up artist. He took my mascara, opened it and plunged it into the make up bottle. Then he did that to his face and hands and smeared more all over the table.

Now I was late. With a crazy looking kid, dirty table, grey-tinted bottle of make-up and flesh colored mascara. On the bright side, he had shared some make up with Anya so she was now calmly entertained.

The real kicker is this: It takes me about two years to go through a bottle of make up. I had a gift card to Macy's that I have been saving up for almost a year just for this (I don't buy anything else at Macy's. The make up is from Origins). The previous night we were at the mall to get my laptop fixed, I had been out of makeup for about a week, so I bought a brand new bottle. It wasn't even out of the box yet! The mascara too was a very recent purchase and I was thrilled to have gotten it with a coupon and on sale for a couple of bucks.

Both things ruined. I don't know how and where and why he got my makeup bag... That morning I was already on the edge... but as I was washing this kid off, I just had to do that you-are-now-crazy out loud laugh. Oh kids....

Our "crazy" Changes

2011-06-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

Like many here in the Portland Metro area I was very disappointed when the plastic bag bill (on the most recent ballot here in OR) didn't pass. To me it seems like such an obvious way to reduce needless waste promoted by our consumer driven culture of convenience. I am consistently frustrated by how much it seems we pat ourselves on the back for providing recycling services, and requiring bottle deposits to promote "greener" ideas - yet - we fail to actually reduce waste by eliminating excessive use of materials for the sake of having an easy way to carry our two or three items to the car while talking on our cell phone.

Plastic bags are not the only problem... or even a large part of the problem that is our disposable society. I have been thinking a lot about the mountains of garbage our community generates each month. Food packaging, and all sorts of plastics and other petroleum based products. How that stuff just sits there in the soil... how those molecules that make up a bottle or diaper or whatnot are stuck and won't become usable again in my lifetime... or my kids'...how we only have a finite amount of molecules to use on this planet -- for the rest of the planet's existence... How this is an obvious fact, yet we act like there's no limit.

Zach and I have had several conversations on why these facts don't seem to translate into real change in the way businesses operate; reducing (and in best cases eliminating) waste generated by creating, selling, and using a product. The conversations always come back to the fact that businesses only do what the consumers demand.

So we've decided, as consumers, that we are going to make some changes around our little patch of land.

I was pleasantly surprised when Zach brought up something about us doing better. He said he liked the idea of reducing waste and thought changing the way we consume things could lead to a healthier overall lifestyle. I gotta tell you I was quite smitten when he was talking like that.

Having a plan and making some progress reduces my anxiety. Drawing inspiration from Zero Waste Family, we would like to take some steps to reduce waste and clutter in our life. This will be done in many steps that will take many years, but I hope to always be making some progress.

We anticipate that if we stick to it, we would see the following benefits (in addition to the obvious environmental ones):
1. Less clutter and trinkets in our house -- less mess, less time cleaning, less stress and anxiety for me.
2. Better eating habits. Avoiding packaging means avoiding a lot of processed food. Buying in bulk encourages cooking from scratch. It will also encourage us to eat more seasonal food and try new foods.
3. Saving money. It might cost a little more at first, but I know that avoiding packaged foods, goods with a lot of packaging, and generally avoiding stuff that we don't absolutely need will save us money.
4. Less stress. With less stuff, there is less stress. With less options, there is less stress.
5. Reducing amount of plastic that comes into contact with our food.
6. Simpler life.

Overall goals are:
1. Reduce or Refuse 2. Reuse 3. Recycle (only as a last resort)

In the first phase of our goal we have set out to do the following:

Do not bring any plastic bags home. Be prepared with reusable bags at the store. No need to bag produce. Use reusable bags for bulk items (we have been doing most of this, except for the bulk).
Bring glass containers to the butcher counter to avoid plastic and/or paper wraps.
Call, email, do whatever it takes to reduce junk mail (started last week -- it can take a lot of time)
Do not purchase anything in a plastic bottle. Drinks in glass bottles are ok (glass is just about the most recyclable material there is. Plastic and paper are actually down-cycled)
Do not buy anything in cartons, glass only for milk and cream (have already been doing that)
Stop using disposable wipes (this will be harder now, but I think I can do it)
Compost all compost-able food bits.
Buy bulk whenever possible. Right now this includes: flour, sugar, salt, oatmeal, detergent, pasta, rice, quinoa, raisins, snacks, and honey.
Do not use trash can liners
Buy toilet paper that is wrapped in paper instead of plastic bags
No paper products such as tissues, paper napkins, paper towels, single-use dishes or utensils (already do this).
No zip-lock type baggies (already doing this)
Reusable feminine products

In the next couple of weeks we're looking into:

Getting sour cream/cottage cheese in glass
Making our own yogurt
Finding cheese that is not wrapped in plastic

Some of these changes seem downright unnatural: Zach is strangely unnerved by the idea of bringing meat home from the grocer in glass jars (may have something to do with a twilight zone episode he saw as a child with human brains being stored in glass containers). In the end though, we feel we can only benefit from this experiment.

We've felt very inspired by the stories of those who are living this way now, and can only hope to inspire a few others to try it too. You don't need to go cold turkey and adopt a completely "zero waste" lifestyle overnight... but try taking one or two things you do that might contribute to unnecessary waste and think of some ways to eliminate that waste. You may find it is easier and more convenient than you think.

Oh the things I do to get him to eat

2011-06-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

I want my kids to have a healthy relationship with food when they are adults. But right now... right now they just don't know what's good for them. It's important to me that Lucas tries the food that we're eating. Sometimes trying it is good enough, but on days he's been merely snacking, it's not. So I bribe. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Tonight we had baked drumsticks, quinoa salad, and watermelon. Lucas ate a bunch of watermelon, but none of the chicken or quinoa. If we have treats planned then I can bribe him with those. But there was no dessert tonight. So tonight I... yes you can judge me... bribed him with TV. I said he can watch an episode of Magic School Bus if he eats some of his quinoa salad. And it worked, once he got going -- he at ALL of it.

Easy and Quick Quinoa Salad:
Rinse a cup of quinoa in cold water (I mixed regular and red quinoa) and drain well. In a saucepan combine quinoa,1 and 3/4 C cold water, and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil. Then turn heat to low and cover. Cook for 12 minutes.
Rinse and drain a can of black beans, sprinkle with red wine vinegar (1.5 T or so), dice a cucumber and two or three tomatoes. If in a hurry, I rinse the hot cooked quinoa in cold water to cool it down for the salad (drain all the water really really well). Combine diced vegetables, beans, quinoa, sprinkle with olive oil, squeeze half of a lime (if you have it), add a teaspoon of ground cumin and salt to taste.

The Way She Moves

2011-06-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

When I cook, do dishes, or other work in the kitchen, I set Anya down in the middle of the family room rug to play. Our kitchen and family room are one room so I am close by supervising. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that she was at the edge of the rug attempting to pull off a stay rug thread. I was sure I had set her down in the middle and wondered if Lucas somehow moved her. For the next few hours I watched her carefully.

I then discovered that the girl moves! She reaches for something far in front of her and when she sits back up right, she scoots her bottom ever so slightly. After a half of an hour she can move two feet, all in these tiny increments. Now she can easily turn and is trying to crawl!

I know what my dad is thinking while looking at these photos "why didn't you move the wipes! They are ruining the pictures! Look how cute she is and now it's ruined". But... she was playing so happily, I didn't want to take her "toy" away.

Here she is transitioning from sitting to "crawling"... in this case motivated to reach Lucas' red shoe.

She ends up on her tummy -- we call this "beached whale" position.

Or with right food stuck under. She really doesn't like either of these positions. Cute leg rolls though, right?

Phases of Parenthood

2011-06-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

They are just phases, right? It took some work but Lucas started sleeping through the night (from 8pm-7am ish) since he was about 7 months old, and then consistently since he was 11 months old. In fact, by the time he was 13 or 14 months old (and I had stopped nursing him), we read a book, said a prayers, sang a song, kissed him goodnight, walked out of the door and didn't hear from him until the morning. That was a great phase.

And a few weeks ago Lucas entered a new phase. When we kiss him goodnight, he refuses to close his eyes and starts yelling when we attempt to walk out of the room. He sits up and whines, yells, cries. Lately we've set next to him until his lids get too heavy to keep open and he finally falls asleep. If we walk out before he's good and asleep, he sits up and cries again. The really fun part is that he does this in the middle of the night too, wakes up, sits up and yells. We walk in to check on him and then can't leave because he, again, refuses to close his eyes and freaks out if we head toward the door.

I considered the idea that it was night terrors, but dismissed it because as soon as we walk into his room when he's yelling like that, he stops and is fine. Usually, when kids have these night terrors they continue freaking out when you're there, and take a while to snap out of it.

Anya is 8 months old. For a few months now she has been good at going to bed. I sing her a song, lay her down and she usually falls asleep shortly thereafter (if she didn't fall asleep while nursing). If she fusses at all, it's only for a moment, less than a minute or two. But she won't sleep until dawn. She wakes up every few hours and cries, sometimes every hour and a half, sometimes more.

I don't know what to do. My kids share a room. Between both of their sleeping issues, I am up a lot at night and the most difficult thing is that I can't go back to sleep for a half hour or more each time. I'm sweet and comforting and understanding the first one or two times Lucas wakes up but by the third... I am cranky, tired, impatient... "why won't you go back to sleep!"

This is just a phase, right? A short one?

This is what I found after Zach went to comfort crying Lucas in the middle of his nap today. Yup, he fights naps too and if he wakes up when he's no ready he's a cranky cranky kid, but won't go back to sleep unless someone's next to him.

Lucas! Those were a gift!

2011-06-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

I attempted to make some carrot-apple-pineapple muffins for someone... but they never made it to their destination.

Child Labor

2011-05-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Lucas has always wanted to "help" me with whatever I'm doing. When we first let him feed himself with utensils or drink out of a cup, he made big messes, as expected. The first few times I wiped after him, but soon he wanted to do it himself. His wiping skills were as good as his walking skills at the time... he was still only a crawler.

All this helping made it so I could only get half of my chores done because everything took so long, but I didn't want to discourage him.

Well, he is almost two and a half and it's starting to pay off! He has been an excellent wiper for months now, he helps to load and unload the dishwasher, and, most importantly, he gets unnaturally excited about doing my least favorite chore of all -- scrubbing the tub! Woohoo! Maybe by the time he is six he will clean his own bathroom!

Two Thirds of a Year

2011-05-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Anya turned 8 months yesterday. Time if flying by. Some things for me to remember about this past month:
- You are biting and drooling rivers. All signs have been pointing to bottom canines for the last two months. I see some gum swelling and redness, but alas, still no teeth.
- Maybe it's due to the prolonged "teething", but this has been a hard month for me. You have been so cranky. Crying and whining... people used to not believe me, but finally the people that see you often are beginning to agree.
- You decided that you don't like men. Your smile turns into a huge, dramatic frown when you look at one and you start crying. Yet you can't not keep looking!
- You and Lucas spent the first night away from us this month, so that we could celebrate Zach's birthday by getting a full night of sleep. HUGE thank you to our neighbors/friends (The Wildes) for having you.
- You still wake up about four times each night, sometimes less, but usually more. Last night, for example, we were up 8 times with you. I don't know what's going on.
- We have moved you into your crib in Lucas' room. Well, it's "the kids' room", more accurately. We thought you might like having a roommate and will maybe start sleeping better. nope. didn't have that effect.
- You still don't roll over.
- I don't exactly know how, but you can move. When I sit you down on the floor, within a few minutes I notice that you have moved a foot or two from your original location. I think that you try to reach for things and then kind of scoot your bottom in tiny increments.
- You are pretty vocal and lately stick your tongue way out when you smile.
- Several people have commented on the funny contrast between your tiny, narrow, skinny feet and your chunky rollie legs.
-You love going out to the store, park, driving in the car... anywhere, really. You are much less fussy when you are out with new things to look at.
- So far, you like all the food you've tried: oatmeal, wheat, rice cereal, bananas, mangos, apples, pears, plums, watermelon, broccoli, squash, carrots, sweet potato, green beans (not your favorite), and peas.
- I have started to give you some water to drink out of a cup.
- You love your pacifier, you can put it in your mouth, just not in the middle of the night.
- You love it when your brother pays attention to you.
- You love baths
- You hate having a dirty diaper.

Anya is the sweetest, cutest, little girl when she's happy. Heck, she's pretty adorable when she's sad too. If only I could figure out how to get her to sleep better at night. And poop in the potty... and feed herself... just kidding.

Roommates

2011-05-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

We bit the bullet and did it tonight, we moved the kids into the same room. The plan was to move Anya in with Lucas 4 months ago, when she was 4 months old. But she has been waking up almost every hour her whole life, so the though of dealing with an infant AND a grumpy, woken-up toddler throughout the night did not appeal to us. For the last two nights Anya woke up only twice, so we decided that that was good enough. Plus, Anya has been sleeping in the office in a pack and play which was getting warped and saggy (she's almost 20 pounds). I figured that that wasn't good for her back, plus I wanted the office back.

The decision tonight came a little too close to bed time. Between changing the crib sheets, moving the crib up, changing Lucas' bed bedding (peed during nap), moving the changing table out to make room for the rocker, and moving the rocker, Lucas climbing in the crib, getting his leg stuck and twisted, Anya screaming... it was kind of crazy. We sang the song, kissed the kids goodnight and walked out. Anya was still screaming and Lucas was sitting in his bed with a very worried/annoyed look on his face. But as we waited outside their door, the room grew silent within seconds. Both kids drifting into sleep. My mom says that babies can feel the physical presence of someone in their room, so they feel more comfortable and comforted.

Now that the office is free I can actually get to my pictures. This is the gem I found from the beginning of March. Anya caught in the act of puking.

Perspective

2011-05-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

The other day I was driving through downtown Portland with both kids in the back seat. We had just return a mike stand all the way across town, which was an adventure with two little ones. As we passed people strolling down sidewalks, I had a flash back to the years when Zach and I first got married. We spent almost all of our days downtown, since we were students at PSU. After classes we found little holes in the wall to eat at, walked places, hung out at book stores, window shopped boutiques, and sipped hot chocolate not-at-Starbuck's. It was a fun two years of late nights and care free schedules.

Last Thursday, Zach and I had a night out on the town together to celebrate his birthday. We had dinner at Veritable Quandry downtown, which was a gift from my sister (thank you thank you!). The food was so incredibly delicious. We were too full to have dessert right then, so we checked into the hotel, The Nines (thank you Intel discount). Then, upon recommendation for a friend, headed to Cacao for chocolate dessert. Sadly, when we got there it was closed. We then walked to four or five non-starbuck's coffee shops for some hot chocolate, but they were all closed or no longer in business. We walked around some more, took the street car to 23rd to get some sweets at Papa Hayden's. By the time we got there, it too was closed. So we wondered back, taking the last street car downtown. Through all that wondering, I almost forgot we had kids. It felt so much like those PSU years.

But as we waited for that street car and thought about the fact that thigns are different, that we have kids -- I felt like the freedom was kind of pointless now. Having kids really adds meaning and purpose to your life that you might not even think you need. I definitely felt like my life was plenty meaningful before kids... but it's so different now. I'm sure all you parents out there can relate.

We enjoyed our full night of sleep (first time in over 8 months), had a fantastic breakfast at Mother's, and headed home to pick up our kids. It's a lot easier to come home from "vacation" when you have two cute ones waiting for you.

I am so happy we had this little get-away. We had a great time. I enjoyed it tremendously and hope to do it yearly from now on. But it also helped me put things into perspective, something every parent needs... Gosh, I really love my kids!

Six months post

2011-04-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

I wrote this post almost three weeks ago... so it's a little outdated. But she's so cute that I had to share.

Anya is 6 months old! I can't imagine our family without her. At the same time, I can't believe that I have KIDS! So crazy.

For me to remember:
- You started eating baby cereal and bananas this last week. You enjoy both! Really, much more excited about the banana than the rice cereal (which I mix with water), but hey, I don't blame you.
- You still wake up at least 3-4 times per night. I feed you half of those times and lately your dad has been going in to help you get back to sleep the other half of the times.
- You can sit up pretty well, but still fall over when you get too excited about playing with your feet.
- You pinch. Oh you can pinch. You especially like to grab the skin on my neck and pinch it while pulling on it. Ouch.
- You still don't really care to roll over. You roll to your side, but then fall back to your original position.
- You absolutely love your brother. When you're upset and he starts paying attention to you, you get really happy and forget whatever it was that was bothering you.
- You nap twice. Once about two hours after you wake up (for an hour or so) and then again around 1pm (same time as Lucas -- it's nice for mama).
- You are getting really good at grabbing things within your reach. You can grab your pacifier and put it into your mouth.
- No sign of teeth yet, but you drool a lot.
- When you are in your bouncer, you REALLY bounce yourself.
- You are 17lbs 3oz.
- You are so sweet, but also showing some personality. If you drop a toy or someone set you down when you'd rather be held, you let out the most heart-wrenching, dramatic cry. This is already making me nervous about the drama to come.

Good morning, Poison control

2011-04-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

Lucas has always loved to "brush his teeth." I hear it's not uncommon for babies to enjoy sucking on a toothbrush (I cannot relate). When Lucas turned about 18 months, we decided to start putting a tiny, barely visible, amount of toothpaste on his toothbrush. Because our city water doesn't have Flouride in it, Lucas' pediatrician prescribed him daily fouride drops. We always forgot to give it to him, so instead, we decided to brush his teeth with adult toothpaste. Plus, I heard of kids who love to eat the kids' stuff because it tastes like candy and then never wanting to brush their teeth when they graduate to the minty stuff.

The last few months we have been catching Lucas sucking on tubes of toothpaste. No matter where we put it, he seems to get to it. We were at our neighbor's house and all the little girls kicked Lucas out of their "tea party". I couldn't find him for a minute. Finally I found him in the master bedroom eating our neighbors' toothpaste!

Last week, after I put Anya down for a nap, I caught the kid red handed again. This time he ate a lot. The tube was almost empty. I called poison control. Poison control people had me read the label of the toothpaste and concluded that it was pretty harmless, even if he ate half of the tube. "You may see some vomiting, but don't be alarmed."

Thank You!

2011-04-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

I know I have been MIA lately. I'm not even sure what happened, but between starting a new semester at work, kids, and home projects, I have had no time to blog. I have at least six blog posts in the works, so I hope to get those posted very soon, one after another.

While I'm working on that, I wanted to thank everyone for their encouraging comments here on the blog, on Facebook, and via email a couple of months ago when I was really down in the dumps. When I look back, I feel a bit embarrassed. I was cranky and whiny... but thanks to you I feel much better. I decided that the purpose of this blog for me will be to stay up to date with photo journaling about the happenings with our kids so I can easily move that information into hard copies of family books. In addition, it's a great medium for me to share thigns that I feel very pationately about such as: healthful meals, responsible stewardship of resources, and education. ... and some random stuff I think about :)

Epic

2011-03-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Back in the summer of 2004 when Zach and I really started spending time in the same circles, I noticed his "leather" jacket. It was ridiculously ugly, too big for him, plastic-y, worn out, and all in all pretty of trashy. Honestly, the kind of person I thought Zach was would not wear something like that. I was wondering kinds of things I didn't know about him.

Over the last seven years I have gotten to know him pretty well, yet I still don't get why in the world he would ever wear that jacket. He stopped wearing it after we got married, but every time we moved he passionately insisted that he must keep it.

A couple of weeks ago Zach finally agreed to let go of this "epic" (his word) jacket. It was kind of sad for both of us. Yet I'm not exactly sure why.

Love for Japan

2011-03-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking A LOT about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

As well as about those that happened in the last few years...

If you are inclined to do so, please pray for Japan

Donate, if you are able

Be prepared

How I chose a CSA Farm

2011-03-12T20:29:00.000-08:00

Edit: I linked up the spreadsheet for local (97124) CSAs below. It is a little messed up in GoogleDocs. If you want a nicer version I can email it to you.
I signed up for "Sauvie Island Organic" farm. I did this for several reasons:
- Pretty good price
- Not a huge variety, but that means more of each veggie and more staples
- People who joined another local CSA on the list had some concerns with it (and that was one I was leaning toward)
- My neighbor and I split a family share, which saves a few bucks more
- My neighbor and I will take turns picking it up
- The site where this farm drops off produce in our area is the same site where a lot of other food (milk, meat, dairy) is dropped off, so I can conveniently order other food on a weekly basis

What it came down to is that you don't know what things are super important to you about a CSA until you try it. I'll keep you all updated on how I like it throughout the year and next year I will reassess my priorities.
_________________________________________________________________________________

My friend and neighbor, who is also a recently retired cook and chef, has been supporting CSAs for several years. Often when she can't use up the vegetables she gets (or is going out of town) -- I benefited. This year she asked if I would like to split a share with her. I started doing a lot of research with some encouragement from a friend who is also planning on signing up this year. He's what you need to know to get you started.

What is a CSA?
In CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, people buy "shares" of a local farmer's harvest. Then, for a certain amount of time, the harvest is distributed to the "share holders" weekly. In essence, it is like a subscription. Most farmers offer a variety of vegetables, some offer fruit, berries, herbs, honey, eggs, dairy, and meat.

What's in it for the farmer?

They are usually paid upfront for the whole season, so they are able to fund the farm's expenses better.
They get to know the local people that they feed.
Red tape and paper work is reduced for them (in comparison to supplying big food distributing companies)
They earn a living.

What's in it for me?

Get fresh, local produce on a weekly basis (with it's full nutritional value still in tact!)
You get a variety of food that you may not otherwise choose from the grocery store. This diversity is great for your health and you learn how to cook new, and potentially favorite, dishes.
Enjoy a truly seasonal diet that's best for the environment and your body.
Visit the farm and see where, when, and how your food is grown. Also, develop a relationship with the farmer that grows your food.

How to choose your CSA

Review what kind of produce the farmers in your area offer (you can do so at Local Harvest.org). Are you interested in receiving fruit? berries? honey? or are you mostly looking for vegetables? some also offer eggs, dairy and meat for an additional fee.
Check where you farmer drops off the food basket. It's important that the location is convenient for you so you can fit the pickup into your normal errand run (usually if you forget to or are unable to pick up your food, it is donated on that same day). Maybe the farmer can deliver to your home? (sometimes for an extra fee). A few farmers in the area deliver to my husband's work, for example.
Consider if it's important to you that the farmer uses organic practices, or avoids any particular chemicals. Sometimes farms do not get certified organic simply because it is too expensive to do so, and not because they do not qualify.
Compare the cost. This is sometimes difficult as the amount of weekly produce differs from farm to farm and the length of the "subscription" greatly varies from about 4 to 9 months.
Check if the farm offers half shares. Maybe a smaller amount of produce is right for your family.
When you have narrowed your choices to two or three, visit the farms or give them a call. They will be happy to answer any remaining questions.

I'm excited to join a CSA this year! I hope you will consider doing the same. I'll share my experiences with you throughout the season.

Check out this short video for what to expect:

My friend, Courtney help me narrow down some farms that delivered near my house. I then (with the help of my pro-spreadsheet-designer husband) put together an spreadsheet that compared duration, price, and assortment of each local CSA (sadly, my beautiful spreadsheet looks pretty sad in GoogleDocs because it doesn't allow vertical text, click on the produce box to read the word). I also added some useful info (websites and notes). Especially after visiting the websites and getting a feel for the farmers' personalities and values, I had a VERY difficult time choosing. Do I want the largest variety possible? Or would I rather get more of the staples that I buy? Do I care about their farming philosophies?

Zero Waste Lifestyle

2011-03-11T08:29:00.001-08:00

I am passionate about reducing waste. I feel that the amount of waste our society produces disturbing and unsustainable (not only are we quickly using up Earth's resources that are limited, we are also running out of places to put our massive amounts of trash, which results in environmental pollution). We have been trying to reduce waste in our home as much as possible, but we still have a lot of room for improvement (we fill up about one under-the-sink garbage can in a week).

This short video was very inspirational to me. It shows how doable zero-waste lifestyle is. Making changes is hard for me, but once I get into a solid habit -- it becomes easy and feels good. Next on my list for this spring is getting a red-worm composting bin. Please enjoy the video! or get some great tips here.

Plenty of Problems with Plastic... Still

2011-03-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

Remember a few years ago when we learned that BPA in plastic leaches out estrogen-mimicking compounds that have unknown (but presumed to be bad) effects on human health? I do. I was a little freaked out because I had been using a liter Nalgene bottle for years (here I was thinking that I was super green --really I could have been giving myself and prosperity cancer).

Seemingly overnight, everyone was boasting "BPA free!" products that were, of course, better (right?) At that point I was trying to reduce plastic whenever possible, whether it was BPA free or not. Well, last week, NPR reported on a study that tested a variety of every day plastic food packaging products and found out that almost all of them, even the BPA free ones, had easily detectable estrogen-like chemicals that were leaching into the food. This leaching was significantly increased if the plastic was microwaved, put into dishwasher, or frozen. Awesome.

At least I felt good about switching to glass-bottled milk a few months ago. It is fresh, local, not homogenized, minimally pasteurized, and organic (I don't know if it's a coincidence, but since I started buying it Lucas began drinking 10 times more milk).

I still try to avoid plastic as much as possible. But it's hard (maybe impossible?) to avoid it altogether -- yogurt/sour cream/cottage cheese tubs, frozen vegetables, cheese, and baby carrots are currently in plastic bags or tubs.

It's still unknown if these chemicals are really harmful to us or not. I just wish we found out BEFORE packaging everything in plastic.

These are some things I use at home to avoid plastic:

Glass jars from IKEA ($3-$4) in various sizes to store dried beans, pasta, granola, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and so on.

Large Hill Jar with Lid for sugar (I'm not a huge fan of this particular brand because the lid doesn't have a rubber ring around the edge, so the lid loosely sits on top and slides when I move the jar)

Snapware glasslock storage containers instead of regular tupperware. I love these! They wash easily, don't stain and can be used in the freezer. The lids are plastic so I don't put them in microwave or dishwasher.

Lunch Bots are perfect for sandwiches that Zach takes to work! They are stainless steel with a tight (not water tight) lid. Can fit two sandwiches on top of each other. Some come with dividers and are perfect for snacks like nuts or grapes.

Klean Kanteen -- I love these! They are stainless steel (remember that cheaper aluminum water bottles are lined with thin plastic) and come with the cap you see pictured or a sports cap (they are convenient but slightly leaky if you lay the bottle down). We also have one for me and Zach and a smaller one for Lucas! I will get Anya one soon too with a sippy cup top.

Lunch Skins are cloth reusable snack bags. These have velcro. I have a few that are much thinner cloth (different brand from New Seasons) that just fold over like lunch sacks. There are a lot of patterns on the internet to make these yourself (which I hope to do some day)

I use a variety of glass jars (canning ones or I reuse glass jars from pasta sauce and such) for freezing home made broth and sauces as well as random storage needs. We also frequently drink out of them (Lucas loves to drink out of the smaller jars)

I know I am a little paranoid... but c'mon... shouldn't we know what we package our food in?

This morning

2011-03-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

Anya and I were playing downstairs when I decided to go check on the still-sleeping Lucas. As I walked up the stairs I heard some jabbering and when I peaked though the door crack of his bedroom I saw this:

Happily "reading" Jamberry. My first reaction is always to snap a photo. By the time I got the video camera, he had stopped jabbering and was flipping the book silently. We have hardly any videos of the kids so far. bummer.

Squirrels instead of Television

2011-03-06T23:44:00.000-08:00

When we began potty training Lucas, at 21 months, we, for the first time, allowed him to watch movies or kids' TV shows. This got us into a baaaad habit of daily TV watching. Lucas was begging for "Cars" or "Monsters" or "Train" (Thomas) first thing after getting up in the morning! This last week I wanted to make some drastic changes. As soon as Lucas started to whine about watching TV, I would excitedly offer a different activity that we could do together. "Let's build a really really tall tower will blocks!" or "Let's make some pancakes together!"

Sometimes I had to get more creative than others. On Friday as soon as Lucas asked for TV, I said "Woah! Look at that huge squirrel just outside!" (We have a lot of squirrels both in our front yard and in the back). To make things more exciting, I set Lucas up on the window sill, so he didn't have to look through the window screen. We stood there, looking at birds eating seeds and worms out of our grass, and squirrels chase each other for over a half hour. Lucas even climbed down by himself and then brought in a little chair for easier independent access to the "viewing spot." As I washed dishes Lucas described all kinds of things he was seeing. "Mama! One two, one two!" -- yep, there were two squirrels.

The distraction technique really worked. No TV on my watch all week! (He had some special movie time with his dad and grandma a few times.) I must say, the house was less clean this week and it was harder to get some "me" things done, but we had some really fun, sweet mama/son moments.

Photo shoot Sabotaged!

2011-03-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

It was time for Anya's monthly photo shoot. She is 5 months old already! Chunky, smiley, and sweet!

She wasn't exactly in the mood for posing.

But Lucas joined in and it cheered her up.

Anya does not mind tummy time, but does not roll over yet. Probably because I haven't been giving her enough opportunities to learn.

She is very entertained by her brother. She laughs at the funny things he does.

Lucas wanted to do everything I wanted Anya to do in this photoshoot. After a few minutes of telling Lucas to get out of my shot, I wondered what kind of a monster mom would do that. So I embraced his interference and let Anya enjoy some photo shoot company.

Anya is not a great sitter yet.

But she does great with some support! Lucas loves showing her all the "big kid" stuff he can do -- like sitting.

When Anya started getting cranky, Lucas busted out his best dance moves for her.

Oh boy, did she love that.

(He fell on her twice, but everyone was ok)

Anya loves attention -- when we talk to her or look at her, she coos back and liberally treats us with smiles and giggles. A little baby laughing will make anyone's day better, it is priceless. She has gotten good at grabbing toys and her pacifier although can't quite move control where she moves them yet. She can sit very well with some support but eventually topples over helplessly; it's funny looking because she doesn't put her arms out to catch herself or anything. As an Andrukhiv girl, she can be a little dram queen already: her cute smile will turn into a whimper almost fluidly and she can bring a very dramatic (eyes closed, open mouth) cry out of nowhere. She loves being around Lucas. And he is always so concerned about her. If he doesn't know where she is he asks "Anya? Anya?". At dinner time, he is always reminding me to give Anya some food too. Tonight, when I once again told him that she didn't know how to eat this food yet, he said (in Ukrainian) "Lucas is big, tato is big, mama is big, Anya... Anya is small" -- Bingo!

Anya still wakes up two-four times at night wanting to nurse. I usually give in and nurse because I'm too tired to get her back to sleep in any other way. By the time I get Zach awake enough to follow two step directions (get up and help get Anya back to sleep) -- it's not worth it.

Cold, White Stuff

2011-02-28T22:50:00.000-08:00

Folks here in Portland were expecting a "snow-pocalypse" last week. "As many as eight inches are expected..." Of course only here would they close schools due to an expected snow storm. When we got up on Thursday morning there was indeed some snow on the ground. By the time we had breakfast and I got both kids ready to go outside -- the sun was shining beautifully and melting snow quickly.

The kids and I were disappointed that Zach couldn't stay home and play with us. He did build a little snow man in the back yard with Lucas before leaving for work (wish I had a photo of that) and taught Lucas the art of snow ball fighting :) which backfired a little later on.

Lucas walked three houses down to his friend's Sonya's house and invited himself to play in her back yard. He thought it was fun to throw some snow at her (though puny five flakes actual hit her body), but she did not appreciate it. When she got upset I told her to throw snow at him! She passionately grabbed as much snow as she could, walked up to him and showed it all in his face. It was pretty funny.

Within a day, the snow-pocalypse was pretty much history. It has now been raining ever since. I sure am glad that I bought Lucas that snow gear! So he could wear it once during the last week of February :) I am so looking forward to summer -- cheap delicious berries everywhere, trips to the beach, playing in the fountain, hikes, ice cream, fewer layering, farmers' market, no socks! ah... I love you Portland summers!

Having a hard time

2011-02-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'm having a hard time blogging lately. In the last few months I almost "shut down" the blog entirely because I felt it was so pointless. Sure I write "for myself", but I can't deny that I (just as anyone who publishes anything) want somebody somewhere to be informed or entertained by the posts. Sometimes I write something personal, but don't publish it because I'm nervous that it's too personal. Sometimes I write something controversial, but I'm a little worried that I will offend people. I used to think that I'm really confident but I'm starting to doubt that a little :)

If you visit my blog once in a while but never leave a comment -- you should! It would be so nice to know who is reading and what they are thinking.

Post edit: I don't think I'm planning on making a book out of my blog because there is too much random information posted on here. Maybe I can select random entries and then copy and paste into a book?

Some sort of an expert or something!?

2011-02-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

Zach works with a guy who's wife is expecting their first baby. She is planning to use cloth diapers so we met to talk about my experience. As our meeting went on the conversation took some turns away from bowl movements: breast feeding, staying at home with the baby, getting the baby to sleep, how husbands can help, social life after baby and the like. At one point I realized that I was babbling and giving an overflow of unsolicited advice. I had an opinion and a story about everything. "Are you considering breast feeding? (0.005 sec pause) You should definitely see the lactation specialist..." Mind you, this was the first time I had ever met the girl and here I was acting like some sort of an expert.

I officially joined the "mother club" 2.2 years ago, yet I feel like I have always been a mother. As if the "mother" in me was simply dormant during those first 23 years. It's interesting because I used to say "I am NOT going to be one of those women who talk about their kids and birthing aaaaalll the time," but, *sigh* I am now totally one of those women.

Everyone around here

2011-02-14T17:10:00.000-08:00

Everyone around here loves Zach, or Tato (dad). Anya loves him because he picks her up and rocks her when she can't fall asleep, he changes her diapers, he dresses her for church and outings, he tickles her, he plays with her, he holds her when she sleeps, he holds her when she's awake, he smiles at her, and he carries her car seat. Lucas loves him because he builds toll towers with him, he lets him take a car to bed, he brushes his teeth, he reads him books with funny voices, he helps him learn how to go on the potty, he makes him pancakes, he plays guitar with him, and he dumps lots of water on his head when Lucas is taking a bath. I love him because he cleans up the kitchen while I'm at work, he folds the laundry, he changes poopy diapers, he plays with our kids, he laughs with me, he eats everything I cook, he never criticizes me when I'm a slacker, he watches the movies I want to watch, he runs out to the store when I have a craving, he works 50-60 hour weeks so we can live comfortably, he supports me, he respects me, he believes in me (except my abilities to sing), he tells me that he loves me. Most importantly, he makes me happy. It truly is a Happy Valentine's Day around here!

Thank you to my good friend Courtney for snapping the photo!

2011-02-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

I've had a certain dilemma for years. Let me explain.

I'm not helping myself here with the not showered/wearing husbands old shirt look

I know I look better with some make-up on. In fact, if done well, I think most (all?) people do. I don't do anything fancy. I can put it on in a moving car in less time than it takes to drive to church. I can easily find these 100 seconds during my mornings to accomplish this task so I can look more "presentable" or "polished" for the day.

The problem is that if I do this consistently, then people will expect me to always look that way. And when they see me without any make up on then they'll be like "yikes!" Sure, it may not be that obvious of a reaction, but a tiny thought of how "blah" I look will probably cross their mind.

On the other hand, if I usually do not wear make up, then the times people see me with it on they will think "wow, she cleans up nicely!" It is awesome to surprise people like that but I end up being the "slob who looks good once in a while".

Some foundation, brown pencil on top (outer half of lid), mascara, and blush.

Such is my dilemma. I usually go with the latter because I like setting low expectations. Plus, the former scenario just sets me up to disappoint (can anybody [should anybody] be disciplined enough to always look put-together?)

So what do you think..?

4 Months Already!

2011-01-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

My baby girl is four months old today! These last four months went by fast for me. When Lucas was born, by this time I felt like I have had a baby my whole life. Now, I can't believe how fast the time flew.

She is so smiley and incredibly sweet. She loves to suck on her hand and her thumb, if she can sneak it in her mouth when I'm not looking. She is very talkative already and loves it when people talk to her. Although during the day she will often fall asleep on her own, when it's time to go to sleep for the night, she does not let us lay her down. The last several days we tried laying her down for FIVE consecutive hours! As soon as she is in her own bed, she starts to become restless and cries, no matter how asleep she was in our arms just a minute before. She loves to kick her little legs and is starting to grab things. Today I walked into the pantry with her and a few minutes after we were out I noticed that she was holding the handle of a cloth shopping sack. She loves her baths. She doesn't mind tummy time. I love her little snore when she is sleeping. I absolutely love her chubby cheeks. I absolutely love her.

Yesterday was pretty ordinary. At one moment, Anya was in my arms and Lucas grabbed me by the hand and led me to his train table to show me something. At that moment, I was totally overwhelmed by this feeling: I love LOVE being their mama. I am very lucky, blessed, whatever you want to call it. I'm not taking a single day with them for granted.

Yes, I like him.

2011-01-25T19:43:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not referring to my two favorite men in the world (both live in my house!) I'm referring to the President of the United States.

Sure, I don't agree with all of this ideas, I don't agree with some of his priorities, and I don't agree with many of the things he has done -- but I generally like the man. Historically in this country, the president is elected to be the representative of the American people to the rest of the world, commander in chief of the armed forces, and head of the branch of government that executes laws. In the last 100 years the power of the president has grown enormously. Now people expect him to create laws and fix all of the problems that have accumulated due to the decisions and actions of thousands of people over decades. That is an unrealistic expectation. I could go on.

But what I wanted to share is that I just... have a really good feeling about this man, Barack Obama. I feel like, despite his imperfections, he genuinely wants to help our people, to do what's best for most and to keep in mind the minorities. I am proud to have him represent us to the world. He is well spoken, inspiring, compassionate, confident, and hard-working.

I know that half of the people who live here didn't vote for him. But right now, Barack Obama is the democratically elected president of this country. There's nothing that can be done about that for the next two years. I wish people would stop the destructive hatred and bickering and support this man in his very difficult job.

I like the things he said tonight. I like him (though would have probably voted for Hillary :)

Polar Bear

2011-01-18T23:19:00.000-08:00

A walk around the block

2011-01-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

And a trip to grandma's house. Do you notice anything different about these?

December Happenings: Lucas is 2!

2010-12-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

I know everyone loved the "Chinglish" blog post, but it's time to move on. Between traveling, birthdays, holidays, home projects, and a new[ish] baby December was a very busy month for me. On the 18th my firstborn, Lucas Zachary, turned 2!

I attempted to get the annual "holding the sign of how old you are next to the Christmas tree" photo. Lucas insisted on holding a random handkerchief and did not get the point of the paper.

Other winning photo choices were ones where he "happily" showed me the sign:

read the sign:

and danced with the sign:

Overall, he's a very fun and cute almost 30 pound little boy:

And a loving older brother... most of the time:

My sister came over for a short bit on his birthday

Lucas loved the "tsukorok" (candy) that she brought, and of course the awesome spinning gear puzzle/game

He wouldn't let go of the candy and ended up looking like the joker

At grandma and grandpa's Lucas enjoyed pizza and some red velvet cupcakes. Which were awesome to him mostly because they had fire and frosting on them. (He did not eat the actual cake portion)

Overall, a very happy birthday for this little one. Anya enjoyed the celebrations as well.

Chinglish

2010-12-02T20:23:00.000-08:00

I came across a NY Times article (via another blog) about Chinglish and the confusion (and entertainment) that an English speaker might encounter abroad.

[India]

[South Africa]

[Spain] -- looks kinda possible to me.

[Japan]

[Japan] "concerned not only about your safety, but also your dignity"

[India]

When in Boston

2010-11-27T14:13:00.000-08:00

I don't really know what one should do when they're in Boston because we were there with a toddler and a senior. The senior wasn't able to walk much and the toddler fell into a puddle about 15 minutes after we got out of the car.

We had fun walking around a five block radius and being touristy.

Lucas rode on the carousel for the first time. Everyone there seemed to speak a different language -- tourist central.

I had to try the Boston Chowda though being a Mo's fan, I was skeptical. It was a little less creamy than Mo's but I really enjoyed it.

A hawk caught a pigeon and landed down to eat it right in the middle of a very busy shopping area. People started gathering around to watch it and it wasn't even afraid -- a city bird, I guess. He ate everything, only feathers were left about an hour later.

It was really cold. Lucas insisted on wearing his rain boots (with two pairs of wool socks). It was quite a fashion statement.

Lucas and Maria made some "Souvenir Pennies" -- Lame if you ask me.

Lucas liked hanging out by the harbor but I was nervous that he was going to fall in the water.

Grandma, My sister Maria, and Lucas (before we got super cold)

My mom says that when Zach comes out here with us, she will watch the kids so we can spend all day exploring the city. I'm looking forward to that day sometime in the near future. For now, I think I can claim that I have been to Boston!

So Big

2010-11-26T17:09:00.000-08:00

Lucas is getting big. He can say ~~20-30~~ 50-60 words clearly and uses actions/codes for many others. And wow... I think terrible twos hit us early with this one. Being over 30 pounds I can't even hold him when he throws a tantrum. But boy oh boy is he entertaining! When he's not frustrated with something we have so much fun building with blocks, playing trains, chasing each other, tossing balls of all sizes, cooking, and reading together.

He is also so thoughtful. My grandmother, who is visiting us from Ukraine has some hip and leg pain which makes it hard for her to zip one of her boots. Every time we go out she asks my mom, sister, or me to help her with it. Last time, she had just put her boots on when Lucas ran over to my mom, took her hand and took her to my grandmother. En route he pointed to the his foot and said "help Stasya" (grandma's name is Stasya). She was so touched that she has already told the story about a dozen times (mostly to us, who were all present :)

Big, fun, thoughtful, and so handsome -- like his dad.

Music Appreciation

2010-11-14T00:25:00.000-08:00

Several times I have walked downstairs to find this:

Chubs!

2010-11-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

photo courtesy of iPhone

This no-neck little piece of joy weighed in at 11lbs at six weeks!

One Month and Two Days

2010-10-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

Anna is already a month old.

I love it that her little legs are getting chubbier.

I love how much she smiles.

I love her chipmunk cheeks.

I love that she likes to snuggle.

I love it that she only poops twice a day.

I love having her as a part of our family.

My Tiny Model

2010-10-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

When I found out I was pregnant, I got really excited about having my own little newborn model. I planned on photoshoots with her several times during those first ten days when she's really "newborn". I had all kind of ideas that I wanted to experiment with.

Wow. Was I unrealistic. I was so tired those first ten days that instead of arranging her into funky newborn poses all I wanted to do was hold my sleeping little bundle of joy (or sleep myself).

I did manage to take these few shots when Anya was exactly one week old. (Thanks to my friend Courtney for her company and assistance during this shoot).

The adorable headband was made by Carolyn. Check out her etsy shop.

How I Became a Mommy Again

2010-09-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

Zach has had a crazy last few months at work. It was all in preparation for a deadline at the end of Friday. On Friday he got home and said that some of the higher ups have extended this deadline to Monday and he would have to work on the weekend (boo!) On Saturday morning Zach and Lucas joined our neighbor, Cam and his daughter, for a quick trip to the zoo. The kids enjoyed running around and climbing on random rocks and structures more than the actual animals (the animals are usually sleeping or hiding or being boring, so I guess I can't blame them). Zach headed to work around lunch time, when we got back.

Around 5:30 I felt a long, uncomfortable contraction (or maybe it was more of a cramp?). I decided to send Zach a text about it with some hopes it would lure him home for dinner. About fifteen minutes later -- another contraction. Zach came home for dinner, but around 8pm had to leave again for the office. My contractions continued, but were not getting regular. Sometimes they were 15 minutes apart, sometimes 8, then 2, then 20. Their duration was not regular either. Most were around 50 or 60 seconds, but some as sort at 15 and others as long as 90 seconds. They were also concentrated in my lower abdomen, not evenly spread across the uterus.

I searched some hospital and clinic websites for "false labor". Sure enough, I had all the signs (irregularity, lower abdomen pain, do not increase in frequency...). They even mentioned that changing positions (such standing up, bending over...) would bring on more contractions. And it did. By 9:30 I got tired and worn out by these contractions, as they were getting quite intense, and decided to lay down and rest. Annoyingly, contractions continued, still at irregular intervals, and I couldn't sleep. I was thinking that if this false labor continues for days then I don't know how I'll be able to handle it.

I called the doctor on call. Twice. The first time I felt silly because my symptoms were so clearly false labor so I hung up before being connected. The second time I left a message. The doctor called back within minutes. She said that it does sound like false labor but that she senses concern from me so I should come in just in case (she mentioned that she could at least give me something that would help me get rest when I go home). I thought it was interesting that it was the same doctor who was on duty when I delivered Lucas.

Zach dropped what he was doing at work (his boss said he understood) and came home around 11:30. We got Lucas up and took him to Zach's parents' house (conveniently, they live on the way to the hospital). In the car, I was trying to stay relaxed, but these contractions were so intense that I couldn't talk through them. I told Zach that when my contractions reached this intensity before Lucas' birth, I was already laying flat in the hospital bed and we had kicked everyone out of the room. Yet they were still quite irregular in duration and frequency.

We got to triage at midnight. Contractions continued. So intense! I was starting to feel like a wuss because I wasn't sure how much more intensity I could handle -- especially if they were false labor. The triage nurse asked me a bunch of questions and told me that I looked like I was doing great (she was sweet). Finally she checked my cervix and said "oh girl! You are at 8cm, you are not going home without a baby tonight!" I was relieved. I walked down the hall to the delivery room, stopping three times to get through contractions. I hugged Zach and swayed my hips side to side on recommendation of a nurse and it was very helpful.

I had two or three more very intense contractions in the room and then was asked to lay down in bed because the urge to push was coming on pretty strong. I was fully dilated but my bag of waters still hasn't broken. The doctor asked if she could break it so I could start pushing.

So the pushing began. My sister arrived just in the time to hold my leg. I already felt so tired... I pushed and pushed and pushed. Both doctor and sister kept telling me that they could see the baby's head and that I was oh so close... push after push. I couldn't help but remember my OB's words from one of my appointments about how the second baby usually slides right out. She was definitely not sliding right out. She was stuck!

The baby was posterior (face up) and a little twisted at a strange angle. The doctor kept saying that we just need to get "around this corner to turn her". After about an hour of trying to turn this corner, the doctor suggested an episiotomy. I didn't want one, but she said that I will definitely have to rip some to get this stuck girl out and it will take longer. At this point of exhaustion all I could say was "so this is going to make her come faster?!" "Definitely," she said. Anyone who has been in my situation would understand that this offer is difficult to resist.

Snip snip and my daughter was born about (very intense) fifteen minutes later, at 1:47 am. I cannot describe that overwhelming feeling of joy an relief I felt when I heard her little healthy cry. She was out! I had a daughter! I had two kids! I didn't have to push anymore! Oh how wonderful this moment was. She was placed on my chest right away and Zach cut the cord (he didn't get to the first time. Later he said that it was "more bloody than he expected" and "kinda gross"). I was able to bond with her for an hour before she was taken away to be cleaned and measured.

I was mended and my abdomen was violently pushed on (and it hurt!) but I was so thrilled to not have to deal with a sore arm from an IV port. The doctor and nurses allowed me to be IV - less and accommodated almost every other request I had. I don't want to make the experience sound like it was all peaches and cream -- I was on the edge of my tolerance for a long time, especially during the pushing, you know those times when you don't remember a life without a pain and it seems like you're always going to be feeling it? -- but ultimately it was a good experience. There were no monitors, no vacuums, no oxygen masks, no beeping equipment, and stressed looking nurses.

Anna (you may hear us calling her Anya also, it's a cuter version of "Anna" in Ukrainian) has some bruising on her little cony head from being stuck and scraped against my pelvic bone, but is recovering very well. It took about 16 hours to notice, but my upper body is ten time more sore than it has ever been, I can barely use my arms. I was holding on to some handles during the pushing and must have really gotten into it. I have a few burst blood vessels on my face and a serious case of "tired" -- but other than that doing great!

A big thank you to my friend and photographer Courtney Blaisdell for coming out in the middle of the night to take photos of Anna right after birth.

Oh, and how to pronounce her middle name (I thought it was obvious :) ... Lyubov, Lyu -- as in jiffy LUbe, with a soft L, and bov as it cOVE, but with a B. The accent is on the bov. It is my mom's full name and means "love" in Ukrainian.

Welcome Baby!

2010-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Anna* Lyubov Everton

Born September 26th, 2010

1:47 am

6lbs 15oz, 19.5 inches

*Pronounced "Ah-na"

I will share more details about my experience once we get home!

What I Eat: Quinoa Haystacks

2010-09-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Zach and I used to eat this meal at least once a week. It is made from items that I have on hand, very cheap, and actually rather nutritious.

I know, it looks like a pile or random ingredients -- it kind of is. This recipe is super adaptable and flexible. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and includes ingredients that we always have on hand. It is very filling!

Quinoa Haystacks:

Serves 4

1 Cup Quinoa
1 Cup water
1 Cup chicken or vegetable broth (optional)
1 Can of black beans
1 Cup of shredded cheddar cheese
Salsa
1 medium tomato, chopped (optional)
Shredded green leaf/ romaine lettuce (optional)
1/2 Green pepper, chopped (optional)
Salt to taste

Rinse quinoa in cool water. Add quinoa to a medium sized sauce man, cover with one cup water and one cup of broth (if not using broth, use two cups water) and add desired amount of salt. Stir and bring to boil on high heat. Once quinoa and liquids are boiling, turn the burner to simmer and cover the sauce pan. Simmer for 10 minutes or so (to check see if the water is absorbed, or taste the quinoa and determined if the consistency is to your liking. If it is as soft/crunchy as you like it, then drain remaining liquid. Usually it is done when all liquid is absorbed. I like it soft but not mushy.)

Drain and rinse the can of beans (even better if you cook dry beans!), warm in the microwave or on stove top with a little broth. Put in a bowl and set aside. Chop whatever vegetables you have on hand or would like to use.

When quinoa is cooked to desired consistency, fluff it up with a fork and let sit for a couple of minutes. To arrange the haystack layer quinoa, beans, cheese, salsa, and vegetables as desired. Enjoy!

This meal includes healthy carbohydrates, a lot of protein, a bit of pretty good fat, and veggies. It is super comes out to about $1.50 per serving, depending on what ingredients you choose to include. Often, we eat it without the broth or extra veggies, just quinoa, beans, cheese and salsa because we always have those around. Today, however, I enjoyed tomatoes from our garden!

How to look good after giving birth

2010-09-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

Anybody know how? I see these gorgeous photos of women holding their newborn, what seems to be minutes after delivery. How? Last time, I even put a little make up on right before I went into the hospital. By the end though, everything was smeared and I was even more swollen than when I started (and I started pretty plump).

A generous friend emailed me a picture of herself after giving birth and that's the only other one I've ever seen that wasn't entirely glorious :) It made me feel much better.

At the beginning of "real" labor

After this little hamster came out and I got mended. Not so pretty.

36 weeks large

2010-09-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to my friend Courtney for a very impromptu and informal photo shoot, and to my sister for bring me this [non-maternity] skirt from her Brazil trip.

I feel like it still has not hit me that I am going to have a baby. A daughter! Yeah, I'm constantly aware that I'm pregnant and tired and uncomfortable, but it somehow doesn't connect to the baby-coming-in-the-next-month reality. Every once in a while I think "oh my gosh! I am going to have two KIDS! What?!"

Please don't misunderstand, this pregnancy was very much planned and I feel very happy about it, it is just incredibly surreal.

I still need to

make our master bedroom baby friendly (move some furniture around, bring in the rocking chair, bassinet, and changing table)
pack a hospital bag
register with the hospital
write a birth plan
figure out when my mom will take Lucas with her to New Hampshire and for how long
figure out what to name my daughter

The Bearded Weirdo

2010-09-06T22:32:00.000-07:00

At the end of June, my husband decided that he was going to grow a beard until he runs the 2010 Hood to Coast Relay at the end of August. Why? I don't know. I really don't. It is pretty common knowledge that he is unable to grow an actual beard because his facial hair is so spotty. But really, he's never given it much of a chance. I think that this declaration was just a good excuse for him to go all out. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled about the project. I do not like facial hair. His goatees usually make him look really mean.

I was shocked when I found myself kind of liking the mustache-free beard! There was one night when I woke up really mad because I had a dream that Zach shaved it off prematurely! "How could he!?!" I thought. "At least stick to your commitment!" But it was a dream, only a dream.

He survived the 2010 Hood to Coast! And the beard filled in surprisingly nicely. He had to utilize the comb over technique a bit to fill in the patches that came in thin, but it wasn't bad.

This is it in its full glory. Not mean looking at all! Even a little jolly like grandpa or Santa. And after (not quite the same pose, I know, but this is the best I have).
I realized that I need to be more open minded, because sometimes I am shocked at the things I end up liking.

Sugar: It's good for you! kind of.

2010-08-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

As a part of my "What I eat" series, I wanted to share my opinions on food that's "bad for you" vs. food that's "good for you" vs. "food you have to eat". In order to tackle that topic, I must first describe my [relatively educated, but certainly not expert] opinions on three major food components: carbohydrates (sugars), proteins, and fats.

In the last two decades carbohydrates have received a lot of bad rep. To make a blanket statement that sugar is bad for you is absurd. Dangerous fad diets that promote low carbohydrate intake, such as Atkins, have contributed to huge misunderstandings about sugar.

What are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are a group of molecules made out of sugars (monosacharides). Carbohydrates can be made of one of these sugars, or two (simple carbohydrates), or they can be long chains of these same sugar molecules (complex carbohydrates). For example: glucose and fructose are both simple sugars (monosacharides), sucrose and lactose (the sugar in milk) are made of two (disacharides), while starch is a long long chain of many glucose molecules connected to each other.

What are carbohydrates for?
Most cells, from simple bacteria to all those that make up the human body, are fueled almost entirely by sugar. I mean that all of that work that your cells (and therefore the organs that they make up) do is fueled by sugar, the way your car is fueled by gasoline. Specifically, it is the glucose molecules that are absorbed into your blood stream and distributed to every cell for fuel. This is a continual process. Having a steady supply of glucose in our blood is extremely crucial. Our brains are especially sensitive to any glucose lows (I can usually tell when Zach's sugars (he's type one diabetic) are really low because he takes ten seconds to think of each word in his sentence and still ends up making no sense).

Are all carbohydrates created equal?
Glucose is what we have evolved to use as fuel. Most other carbohydrates (other than fiber) get broken down or converted into glucose. Fructose is processed a little differently, as it is metabolized entirely by the liver. One study showed that rats who drank fructose sweetened drinks had a liver that looked like livers of alcoholics (this would only be an issue if one at A LOT of fructose). Sucrose, or table sugar, is made of two sugars that are attached together: fructose and glucose. Our body breaks it in half and processes each separately.

Straight glucose spikes our blood sugar much faster than other molecules, because it does not have to be processed or broken down and can be used by cells almost immediately. This is why it has a high glycemic index (measure of the effect carbs have on our blood sugar level). Complex carbohydrates (those long chains of glucose) have a more mild effect on blood sugar because it takes some time for our body to brake those chains down into glucose molecules. Fructose also has a lower glycemic index because it must be processed through the liver first, which takes time.

Is sugar bad for you?
I hope it is obvious that sugar is absolutely necessary for us to survive, so you cannot say it's "bad for you". It is crucial to have a stable glucose level in our blood to fuel our body. It is very important, however, to not consume significantly more energy than your body uses. Eating too much sugar makes your pancreas create too much insulin to which your body can become insensitive (as in type two diabetes). Carbohydrates should be the largest part of your food intake, but still kept within moderation (this will depend on your size and activity level).

Sugar is fuel and we need it to survive. But to be healthy, we need much more than fuel. We need nutrients, vitamins, and minerals in very small amounts (in comparison to the amounts of carbs). It is ideal to consume carbohydrates that will not only give you energy, but will provide these nutrients. Choosing whole wheat instead of white is wise not because white is "bad" but because whole wheat has all that white has plus more good stuff!

I also want to point out that some processed carbohydrates, though not "bad" themselves, come in forms that are loaded with random chemicals and nasty additives (think Twinkie), and those are definitely not good for us.

Bottom line:
You need to eat carbs. They are essential. You will real mess up your precious body over time if you do not eat enough of them for. When choosing your carbohydrates, choose those that come with additional vitamins, minerals, and fiber. And obviously do not choose the ones that have unidentifiable ingredients added to them.

Foods made of carbs and other good stuff:

Whole wheat varieties of white stuff (pasta, bread), whole grains, brown rice, beans, potatoes, fruit and berries. Don't feel guilty serving white pasta if it is paired with veggies or other nutrient-rich food (most of my pasta meals have half white half whole wheat pasta).

What I Eat: Italian Sausage Spaghetti

2010-08-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

This is nothing fancy, but so delicious. We had most of Zach's Hood to Coast team over for dinner/pasta party and everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner, which I whipped up in about half hour.

I am not a huge fan of traditional ground beef meat sauce and usually serve spaghetti vegetarian, but once in a while a little meat is nice. Not included in the recipe is bread (with butter and/or a few flakes of shredded Parmesean) and a salad. Instead of a salad, I often serve steamed broccoli florets.

I purchase the bulk sausage at New Seasons Market for $3.99 (when it's not on sale). You can use sausage that comes in casings and take it out of the casings for this meal. (The taste and quality of pre-cooked sausage are not great, check out the ingredients.)

This meal makes 4 generous servings or 6 normal ones, and costs about $2.00 (or 1.50) if you buy high quality ingredients that are not on sale.

We ate our food too fast, so I didn't get a photo. This photo credit goes to simply recipes.

Happy Birthday!

2010-08-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

To Ukraine! (and yesterday, that is). I remember August 24th of 1991, it was a time of incredibly excitement, hope, limitless possibilities. Everyone was so fed up with USSR and the Russians.

The future hasn't really panned out for Ukraine so far. I hope it one day will.

My favorite thing about Ukrainian independence day these days is this song that Zach performed for a small Portland gathering of Ukrainians a couple of years ago. The Ukrainians got so excited that an American bothered to learn some of their language :)

Though Lucas really preferred this version:

Pretty good, though he is seriously lacking some Ukrainian/hip hop back up dancers present in the original music video. (Can you believe that the singer lady is almost 60?!)

Fatherhood

2010-08-25T00:20:00.000-07:00

I love these photos not only because they are really the only ones that show Lucas' cone head a couple of days after birth, but because they represent to me what fatherhood should be all about.

Strength and comfort and love wrapped around us. Literally or figuratively. Biological father or our other One.

So Cute!

2010-08-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

I found this really cute passport photo of me as a 10 (or 11) year old. I excitedly showed it to Zach and after a long pause he says to me, without looking up, "you look like an inmate with a mullet". There was almost a look of embarrassment on his face. He asked if I was sure that the mug shot was of me because it looked like a male inmate child.

He's crazy right!? I was adorable! :)

(yes, the photo is THAT pale)

Need Help with Living Room!

2010-08-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

view from the bottom of stairs. The entrance to the house is to the right (where the wood floor is). Entry door is on the same side of the house as those windows.

We have lived in our house for about nine months, yet it still looks as if we have barely moved in. The spaces upstairs are becoming a little more functional and lived-in looking, but the living room is still entirely bare.

My trouble stems from the fact that I am way too intimidated to experiment, mostly due to a very small budget that I don't want to blow. I haven't committed to printing or buying large photos/images because I don't know which ones to pick, where they would go, what size I would need, what color frames. All that depends on much more basic design issues.

Zach bought these leather couches and loves them. They still have their tags on because I am not so sure about them. I have can envision my living room much easier without the challenge of this leather duo. However, these are pretty sleek and leather is good for households with children, right? I am mostly trying to incorporate them because Zach likes them so much.

Does anybody have any ideas on incorporating red, leather couches into a functional living room? I think they would look much better if there was no carpet (I do NOT like the carpet, but it is very new, so I don't know if we should rip it out... but maybe we should? just put in some vinyl and call it good?)

Should we get rid of carpet and put in light fake wood? (I think having carpet in a dining room is ridiculous).
Should I paint the base boards and windows white? And change the shades to white? drapes maybe?
What color would look good on the wall with these couches?
Or should we get rid of the couches and start in neutral?
Any other visions or ideas?

The living room has the stairs behind it and connects to the dining room.

Close up of the love seat. Dining room behind.

It's kind of embarrassing when people walk into our house. I'd like it to look a little more lived in, and maybe even like there's a woman that lives there, instead of a bachelor.

What I Eat: Minestrone

2010-08-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, there was always soup around. My mom and grandmother (both fed me) made it almost daily. No recipes were ever followed, they cooked up delicious soups from whatever ingredients they had on hand. Soup was usually served as the first course of lunch (lunch is the large meal in Ukraine).

I am certainly not as talented (or experienced) as my mom at making food without recipes, but at the same time I can never strictly stick to them either.

This minestrone soup is one of those meals I feel so happy eating and serving because it is packed full of vegetables and always satisfies me. It is really easy to make and offers a lot of flexibility. Don't be intimidated by the number of ingredients. Toss in more or less of whatever vegetables you have around. Some additional veggie options that are not listed are shredded cabbage and peas. It is a delicious meal for lunch or dinner (usually both for us!) You can also freeze this soup* for a quick, on hand meal.

This recipe costs just over $1 per serving. The cost can be further reduced by baking your own bread, making your own chicken stock, and cooking dried beans (instead of canned). Of course I tried to get most of the ingredients on sale.
To view a detailed breakdown of the cost click here

I will add weekly examples of I try to serve my family in order to tear down the notion that you have to be rich to eat healthy foods.

Note: make sure you do not overcook the vegetables before adding in your choice of noodles (bow-ties, shells, macaroni), then also make sure you turn off the heat when the noodles are still a little under done.
Note 2: In the instructions, I didn't mention that you can add as much water as you would like, depending on how thick or thin you like your soup.

* If you would like to freeze the soup: I recommend not adding the pasta. After step 2, let soup cool down to room temperature. Then put it in freezer safe containers (individual portions, if desired), label, and freeze up to six months. When ready to serve, heat in the microwave or stove top and add freshly cooked pasta.

31 Weeks

2010-08-10T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well... I'm actually 32 weeks, but close enough.

Compared to me at about 31 weeks pregnant with Lucas (on the right). Do I look way more tired? Because I most definitely feel way more tired (and I kinda miss my hair). I certainly don't think I'll be any less tired when the little girl is born, so I need to hold off on the complaining. This time around I am so out of breath, almost constantly.

Hats and Sweaters Flashback: Ethan

2010-08-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, just about three weeks before I had Lucas, I decided to do a photography project. The goal was to practice using multiple external flashes and take some cute shots of some cute kids. It was called "Hats and Sweaters" because the kids would all be wearing winter attire. Life got crazy after Lucas was born and I never got to posting most of the photos.

I came across these shots of little Ethan today and had to share because they made me happy. At the time he was a year old and still learning to walk. Check out how he's changed on his momma's awesome blog.

In defense of eating well

2010-08-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

In the last month or two I have been surprised by some assumptions people have about me. A couple of days ago something reminded me of it again and I decided to clarify.

Through conversations and in passing I realized that people (acquaintances and even some friends) assume that my family and I eat all organic food. The somewhat annoying part is that those same folks imply that we must be filthy rich in order to do so.

I was taken back and surprised because really, I hardly even mention organic food to people. True, I am a bit of a food snob, but being a food snob does not translate into eating organic food or being rich. Far from it.

Let me explain.

Biochem really did me in.
In college, I had the opportunity to learn (in very painful detail) how the molecules that make up our food become the same molecules that make up our body. How we evolved with certain foods, but not others. How modern food industries can use that same knowledge to create synthetic molecules for particular purpose and what possible effects that may have on our bodies and the environment.

Organic is a fad.
Back in the seventies when organic farms where first appearing, they were tiny operations that only served their immediate community. They focussed on being environmentally sustainable; basically grown the way food naturally grows. Eventually the movement caught some momentum and larger businesses began to appear. The government wrote a set of rules that a grower had to follow in order to be legally called organic (what chemicals they could use and how they were to maintain their land and/or animals). These rules differ somewhat depending on what is grown. In the last ten years, the organic fad expanded to the middle class and huge corporations emerged. They may have originally come about with the ideologies of organic farming, but have long lost them in favor of the letter of the law, simply following the minimum government requirements. It is certain that these operations are better for the environment and their food is better for our bodies than conventional farms of comparable size. But the mere sizes of these food giants really misses the point of what organic set out to be a few decades ago.

What I really want:
What I really strive for is to know my food. Using the knowledge I acquired in college, I strive to understand the molecular components that make up my food. I can then have a basic idea of how they will effect my body. This means that I tend to buy food with few very simple ingredients. If possible, I find out how the food made its way from the field where it was grown to the store, how it was processed. This helps me, for example, to choose rolled oats over quick oats because I know that the extra processing of quick oats strips them of valuable nutrients.

Understanding what my food goes through before making it to our table has helped me to make a few priorities:

I buy meat that comes from smaller farms (they are local and I know how the animals were treated, what chemicals, if any, they were treated with, and how they were fed. Sometimes this meat is organic, sometimes it's not.) I believe that humans are meant to eat a lot less meat than we do eat (that's a whole different post), which makes this expense affordable.
I buy local dairy. Most of the time the milk is local and organic, but when when the budget is super tight I forgo the organic part. Again, because it comes from a smaller, local farm, I know how the animals are treated. Also, it's really important to me that the milk is simply pasteurized and not ultra-pasteurized. Ultra-pasteurization destroys a lot of healthful components of milk.
I buy local eggs (usually not organic) for the same reasons I mentioned above.
When local fruits and berries are available, I pick them myself. Because they don't have to be shipped a ridiculous distance, they are not sprayed with chemicals. They are usually not certified organic, but are pretty close to the spirit of the law. Plus, they are delicious.

It would be nice if everything was from small, local farms, AND organic, but it's definitely not necessary. I put emphasis on eating local whenever possible because without the need for long distance shipping, the farmers can forgo including many chemicals and processing that would keep their product from spoiling en route.

By substantially cutting out snacks, prepared and processed food out of our diet, I can make room in our budget for the above "luxuries". I don't mean to claim that everything my family eats is entirely healthy, or that we never consume processed food, but it is very minimal.

I believe that there is nothing more important to invest in than my family's health and I feel that it's possible on a budget. If folks are interested, I will post a few meals that we eat with their corresponding cost per serving to demonstrate my point.

If you haven't already, I strongly recommend that you check out Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma." It is really interesting, straight forward, and not preachy. I promise that everyone out there can learn something from it.

My baby

2010-08-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Lucas at 10 weeks old.

I've determined that Lucas is definitely no longer a baby. He is becoming a little boy. When did that happen? There was a period of time when it seemed like I have had a little squirmy baby for years; time seemed to pass slowly. Then we hit some sort of a threshold and time flew. The baby changed into a little boy.

As I was folding an itty bitty pink and white baby sleeper the other day, I finally felt ready and so excited to hold another baby.

Local goods: Waffle Window

2010-07-31T15:45:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been really busy around our place. Zach is settling into his new, more stressful job, which requires a lot of time. I work two nights a week this quarter. And there have been a lot of happenings with the band lately (fun but time consuming). Due to the fact that there haven't been any free evenings in the last couple of weeks, Zach planned a brunch date at the Waffle Window.

The photos on their web site sold me instantly. I am not a waffle connoisseur but enjoy a delicious one as much as the next guy. It is on Hawthorne (east side of Portland), but we were able to get there in about 25 minutes (relatively light traffic). I assumed that "Waffle Window" was just a cute alliteration that the owners were going for, but quickly discovered it was quite literal. It is a window on the side of a building of another restaurant, Bread and Ink. There was some table seating on the sidewalk, but the morning was unexpectadly chilly and I was not looking forward to eating outside. Thankfully, Waffle Window customers could also sit inside Bread and Ink, in designated seating (designated by being super tiny).

The waffles came out within minutes. I ordered the "Three Bs: Bacon, Bree, and Basil (peach marmalade on the side)", Zach got the "Ham and cheese", and we shared a "Triple (seasonal) Berry" with whipped cream as well as a plain waffle. I ordered a hot chocolate because, as I mentioned, it was cold.

These were certainly the best waffles I have ever had. Just the perfect amount of crunchy and chewy. The savory picks were still made with sweet waffles, but the meat, cheese, and waffle worked wonderfully together. I'm pretty sure Zach inhaled his Ham and Cheese because it was gone in the three seconds it took me to snap a quick photo of the berry dish. The hot cocoa was perfect. Steamed milk with chocolate, only lightly sweetened. Plain and chocolate covered waffles are $2, the ones with toppings are $4. Drinks range between $1-$2.

(Bearded weirdo update: thicker and crazier than ever!)

On our way out, we purchased two plain and two chocolate covered waffles to go (to share with Lucas and grandma who was watching him). I would definitely recommend this literal hole in the wall to all locals and visitors.

Now there's a smile!

2010-07-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

While waiting for the guys to load Fancy Sauce's gear after the Intel event at PGE Park (more on that later), I mentioned, yet again, to my friend Courtney how most of the photos I have of Lucas have this kind of expression:

So to help me out, she started to make faces and wave her arms at Lucas to get him to smile... and this is what we got (click to enlarge):

Oh my. I was really expecting something more like this:

What a goofball!

Not Safe

2010-07-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

I just found a long-lost memory card with this photo from the first week of February.

Awkward.

2010-07-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

That's how I look when I try to "jog" right now. Especially while pushing a double stroller that has one kid and a monkey strapped in. (photo from over two weeks ago)

And speaking of awkward... My husband's beard, which he is set on maintaining until the end of August.

It's probably because my hormones are all out of whack, but even with that hair on his face I think he's ridiculously attractive! Look at that jaw line! (I really hope this doesn't encourage future facial hair)

Meet Brody

2010-06-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

Two and a half weeks old. He came into the world six weeks early, but is incredibly healthy and strong. Not to mention very handsome!

Meet Nicholas and Oliver

2010-06-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

I didn't schedule nearly enough time for this shoot and totally missed out on cuteness. Below is probably my favorite shot of the few I got. They are so incredibly adorable (and almost four months now!)

To me Nicholas looks SO much like mom and and Oliver -- SO much like dad. Isn't that perfect? Visit back in a couple of months and I will have some more recent, sitting up photos of these boys.

Be Awesome

2010-06-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

Maybe this "summer" weather in Oregon has been making me a little cranky. Even a little sad. However...

Best advice. ever.

A huge mess

2010-06-16T22:58:00.000-07:00

I think that a messy computer is worse than a messy house. At least I know how to deal with actual clutter. As I was digging through some of my digital mess, I found these two beauties. I snapped them randomly during a play group at my house in November. I totally forgot about these and now wonder what else is hiding in this hard drive.

I couldn't even edit these because my computer is completely full and can't handle running Photoshop.

I think I'm going to delete all images/video/music off the computer (move it to an external hard drive first) and start from scratch.

I recommend:

2010-06-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

A great movie for a cheap at-home date. Very sincere and touching. Fun and interesting.

Listen to your mom

2010-06-13T23:12:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, my mom made soup for lunch almost every day. She has a skill of making a wonderful, delicious soup from random ingredients that she has on hand. I used to complain and fuss and not want to eat the soups she made. Now I crave them! If making soup is a gene then I don't think I inherited it, but if it's a skill then I haven't practiced enough to develop it.

Recently, I bought one of those cooked rotisserie chickens at Costco for the the first time. I was impressed by the fact that there was enough meat on it to go into two full dinners (one with company). Plus, when I cleaned the bones and collected all the remaining pieces there was plenty for chicken noodle soup. I really wanted some soup and couldn't run over to my mom's house, so I decided to give it a shot.

Lucas and I made a fast and easy, not-entirely-from-scratch-but-WAY-better-than-canned chicken noodle soup. It went a little like this:

saute some chopped onion (about half) in a bit of butter (1 T or so) in a large pot
add a box of good, low sodium chicken broth (I like Pacific Village)
add some water (or vegetable broth)
add chopped carrots (and celery, but I didn't have any)
add some basil, marjoram, oregano (about 1tsp each), and salt to taste
add cooked chicken, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer.
add some egg noodles (about 1.5 Cups), return to a gentle boil.
Cook until noodles are of desired consistency (about 8 minutes)
slice some bread and enjoy!

That $4.99 chicken was a good investment, 2 full dinners and 2.5 lunches for our family and dinner guests. If you ever purchase one of those and think there's no more meat on it -- carefully check again and you'll find enough for this soup.
The soup was tasty! Though not as good as my mom makes...

The Great Escape

2010-06-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day we escaped the Portland rain to Rogue River (in Southern Oregon) where we camped with our friends and neighbors (Wildes and Barkers).

Lucas absolutely loved every minute of being outdoors, getting dirty, and playing with friends.

He got mad when I wouldn't let him wonder off into the wilderness alone.

It took us about a week to get his feet back to their original color, after we got home.

Because Zach has never seen Crater Lake (one of the cleanest and deepest lakes in the world), we decided to take an hour and a half road trip to Crater Lake National park. Most of the park was still under six feet of snow.

To say that Lucas enjoyed the snow would be an understatement, especially when he could throw it at Cameron :)

Near the lake itself, the sun was so bright that in the snow it was almost impossible for me to keep my eyes open. Serious retina burn. Thank you Zach for rescuing me with your [prescription] sunglasses.

Lucas was not happy about packing up, even though it sprinkled lightly on Monday morning.

He protested the taking down of our tent. Good effort.

Between good great weather, good company, delicious meals, fun walks, and cute kids -- I had a really great time. One thing I can't say I enjoyed was the fact that Lucas refused to sleep in the car any longer than 15 minutes, no matter how tired [and cranky] he was.

Smitten

2010-05-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Since the boys and are going camping in southern Oregon this memorial day weekend, I picked up one of these at REI (thank you family for all those REI gift cards you gave Zach for his birthday!):

While there, I test drove some BOB jogging strollers and was SMITTEN! I didn't think I'd be jumping on this BOB bandwaggon, but man... it was incredibly easy to maneuver, it was light, Lucas loved sitting in it, what's not to love!

If I was (hypothetically speaking) thinking of acquiring one, I still run into a dilema: A single jogger, or a double? The single is way easier to run with, of course. But soon we wil have two kids and if I buy a single I'd have to find a sitter for the other, non-jogging, child. At that point I may as well leave both kids home. But if I have a double then I HAVE to bring both kids, and don't I have to wait until the baby is something like 6 months before I can job with her? Don't even say it, getting both will never be an option.

On being a mom

2010-05-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

On mother's day I thought a lot about my mom and my husband's mom. I thought about both of my grandmas. I thought about how being a mom makes me appreciate them all so much more. They are not perfect but so much closer to perfect then I used to give them credit for.

Days upcoming to mother's day were busy. I felt like I was only doing a so-so job at everything. I talked with a couple of my friends about how looking at blogs has stopped being inspiring and started being kinda depressing. These blogs show moms that have neat, decorated homes, beautiful gourmet dinners, daily crafts and activities with their kids... I couldn't claim any of those. I felt so blah and I only have one kid!

Then on mother's day I received a perfectly timed email from my sister in-law. It put things into perspective. It reminded me what motherhood is truly all about. Sure, the fancy food and the crafts are great, but the unpictured moments of my kid running toward me with a grin or holding my hand during prayer are the real treasures. Being a mom is so special. As I read that email, I realized that my sister-in-law had more faith in me than I, at the moment, had in myself. The worlds I read uplifted me immediately.

She also included an excerpt from a blog of a successful blogger Tiffany Gee Lewis. I find it refreshing and hope you enjoy it as well:

What you don’t see, when we all march into church on Sunday morning, is the chaos of the morning that happened just 10 minutes earlier. What you don’t see, when you look at my four little boys in their suits, is that the 7-year-old is wearing Dad’s socks because we couldn’t find his. And they go all the way up to his knees. What you don’t see, when I pull out the lovely quiet book I made a few years back, is that below it, in my church bag, are five baggies of smashed raisins because I haven’t cleaned out the bag for months. When you enter my house, with its shining entryway, you don’t see the three loads of laundry dumped on my bed. Or the dirty pots I stashed in the oven. And you will never see the interior of my minivan, not until I find the time to vacuum it out. When you admire the hand-sewn pajamas I made for all the kids, we don’t talk about the three nights I got no sleep to make those. If you look on my blog, you will see pictures of homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. You won’t see my confession to popping in a frozen pizza THREE times last week for dinner. Or the night we ate Cheerios for dinner, dry, because we were out of milk. There is a zoom on my camera for a reason. There is a delete button for a reason. I don’t think we’re all playing a part. We naturally want to put our best selves forward, so that is what other people see. They don’t see what’s going on behind the scenes.

I like to think that good parenting is like a duck on the water. What you see is the gentle, almost effortless gliding, not the furious paddling that happens underneath. I keep a mental list of about ten people I want to stalk by camera, from morning to night, to see how they do it all. Are they up at 4 a.m.? Can they survive on three hours of sleep? Do they have a housekeeper? Because I drop balls just as fast as I can grab them.

My intentions are of pure gold, but they come out as tinkling brass, at best. I started a blog last fall. I dragged my feet into it for many reasons. One of the main reasons I hesitated was I didn’t want to be another contributor to the cyberspace guiltosphere out there. Especially where mothers are concerned, do we need one more reason to feel guilty? Because from the looks of things, other families are happier, their houses are cleaner, their marriages are better, their clothes are more stylish and their craftiness is even more crafty. Their lives are perfectly lovely, while my kids are running around screaming in their diapers. My worst fears were confirmed last week when I got an e-mail from a friend who asked, “How do you do it all? Your column, your blog, all the things you do with your children? You’re amazing!” I looked around at my house, at the six bins of winter clothes waiting to be transported to the garage, at the sewing projects stacked against the wall, at the state of the toothpaste crusted to the sink … I let things go, a lot of things.

A spanking-clean house is not a high priority for me. I’m a big believer in mud and its importance in a child’s life. The time I take to write is time away from scrubbing that bathroom sink. I would rather read with my kids than shop at the mall, so I am certainly not up-to-date on the latest styles. I’ve been listening to the same music for 20 years because I can’t seem to keep up with the latest music scene. And I require a lot of sleep. We all have priorities. For some, it is keeping a spotless house, and they are good at it. For others, it is writing, or exercising, or serving others. And yes, there are some who seem to do it all, the Benjamin Franklins of the world. I tell myself I don’t have to be them. And also, Benjamin Franklin was not much of a family man. Even he let things go.

What we don’t see, when we look at each other on Sunday, or on blogs, or in our shiny kitchens, is that we all have different talents and unique situations. I tell my kids all the time: Life is not a race. The only person you are competing against is yourself. What we forget to see, when admiring others, is our own personal finish line.

kidS!

2010-05-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

This kid is going to be a big brother!
On May 13th we found out that we are going to have a little baby girl due in early October. I was, of course, thrilled that everything looked good. Baby seems to be growing as expected and her current place of residence appears to be comfortable. But it has taken me a little while to get used to the idea of having a girl. I didn't think I had any expectations... but it turns out I was counting on a boy. Maybe it's because most of my friends who have two kids have two of the same sex... or maybe it was easier for me to imagine having a son because I already have one... I don't know.

What it comes down to is that I felt it would be much easier to have two boys. Same clothes, same toys, similar activities. Plus, having two boys less than two years apart would guarantee that they will be best friends, right? They will choose to do all the same activities throughout their childhood, so I only have to chauffeur kids half as much, right? They'd want the same toys and share them without conflicts... they would forever share a room...

In Ukraine there's a saying "A man plans but God paints" (translation doesn't do it justice) to mean that you can plan your life all you want but only God really knows what's going to happen. I'm constantly trying to accept this truth. I'm not the most flexible person and was feeling a bit lost about raising a daughter.

As days since the ultrasound pass, I'm beginning to get more and more excited about this new adventure. There are some fun things about girls. I realized that having a daugther means I may have the opportunity to be the mother of the bride and see my own child pregnant and raising her kids. Little girl clothes are incredibly adorable. AND I will probably have less football and baseball games to attend (both sports really bore me)!

I'm definitely still freaked out :) but that may be due to the fact that in four and a half months I will have kidS.

HE IS RISEN!

2010-04-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

In addition to being the most important holiday of Christianity, it is also my favorite. As a kid in Ukraine the coming of Easter meant that the long, cold winter and forty days of lent were finally passing. During lent it was customary to abstain from loud (and happy) music, meat, and treats. So when Easter Sunday came every got dressed in their absolute best spring outfits, filled their Easter baskets with sausages, ham, cheese, horse radish, butter, eggs, pysanky, (Ukrainian Easter eggs) and traditional Ukrainian Easter sweet bread and headed out to church.
photos by Oleksandr Havrylyuk
So many people came to church on Easter that I never remember actually fitting inside the church building. The church service was broadcast over speakers to the huge crows gathered around the church. At the end, the priest blessed the easter baskets of food with holy water and we would head home to feast.

After the brunch my sister and I would always run out and get some ice cream from one of the numerous ice cream carts in the street and enjoy it while walking home in the glorious sunshine. The whole town was bursting with life and holiday spirit. I miss that feeling.

No matter what you believe and how you celebrate, I hope you have a great day full of joy and excitement for the future days of spring.

Happy Easter!

A Year Plus of Cloth Diapering

2010-03-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

I began looking at cloth diapering when I was pregnant with my first. I found many benefits to using cloth diapers for my son (I will not go into details about that here, but you can find an enormous amount of information by googling "benefits of cloth diapering"). Two points really convinced me:
-- Cloth diapering is better for the environment. 250,000 trees per year are cut down to make disposable diapers, plus many tons of harmful chemicals. Yes, cloth diapers do require energy and resources to make, and they do use energy and water for washing, but not nearly as much as disposables. The main point for me is that 10,000 tons of disposable diapers are tossed into landfills each day. While there, the fecal matter leaks out into the ground water and has the potential of contaminating fragile ecosystems. In addition, these diapers take about 500 years to decompose.

-- Cloth diapers are harmless to the baby. Now, that said I do not imply that disposables are "harmful". However, the ridiculous chemicals used in disposable diapers are toxic to human health on their own. Although this fact does not prove that when combined and stuffed into a diaper these molecules are toxic, I find it safer to avoid them as much as possible.

I wanted to address some common concerns my friends have with cloth and share my experience:
Cloth diapers are very difficult to use
There is a huge variety of cloth diapers out there. If your priority is ease of use I would recommend an All in One diaper. It looks and works just like a disposable. These are very simple, fast, and cute!

Cloth diapers are expensive
It is true that if you would like a nice set of new, easy to use cloth diapers the start up will be expensive (about $300). However, ideally you will not have to buy many (if any) diapers after that and these can be used for all of your children. So... $300 dollars for diapering three kids does not sound too bad. There are also cheaper cloth diapers out there, if you are willing to compromise some of the convenience.

Cloth diapers are gross
I admit that I was a little nervous about this factor. What I learned is that infant poo from breast fed babies does not even need to be washed off in the toilet. That means that you take the diaper off, throw it in a diaper pale, then dump the pale into your washing machine. Other than the washing step, this is not any different than disposables. Once the baby begins to eat solid food, the poo needs to be dumped in the toilet. At this point the poo is much more solid and less frequent. Most of the time it slides right off the diaper fabric and into the toilet. If it does not, I use the diaper sprayer (a little shower wand that pressure washes the poo off). It works like a charm! Again, you do not need to touch the poo.

Cloth diapers are inconvenient
A few of my friends who use cloth diapers say that cloth diapering is not any less convenient than using disposables. Cloth diapering generally requires only one more step than disposables: dump the contents of diaper pale in the washer and start it! Because I do not like doing laundry, this one small step makes cloth diapering slightly less convenient for me. That said, it is so much easier than I anticipated!

I like cloth diapering. It makes me feel good. I take the fact that we are supposed to be (but are not doing a great job) stewards of this Earth very seriously. This is a conviction that really gets me through those days when I don't feel like doing laundry.

Once in a while I have very stressful days or weeks when I choose to use disposables in order to have one less thing to think about. I feel guilty about it at first, but then realize that using cloth 95% of the time is pretty darn good.

I know that cloth diapering is not for everyone. Please don't feel like I am preaching. We all want what's best for our babies but, of course, cannot do "it all". This is a choice I made that has been easier than I expected, thus my reason for sharing it with you. I am sure that your kid's clothes are less stained than mine :)

Oh boy...

2010-03-10T21:49:00.000-08:00

Today was my last day of student teaching and I feel like I have paid $25,000 to realize that I don't want to be a school teacher.

The Stroller Dilemma

2010-03-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

My student teaching has left little time for blogging (which deserves a blog of it's own). So this will be short.

A very generous friend gifted us a Peg Perego stroller that was still in good shape after her four children used it. Lucas absolutely loves walks so we have used that stroller almost daily since he was born. A few months ago the mechanism that folds the stroller busted. It's still possible but very tricky to fold.

Zach and I agree that we would like to have at least one more kid that is relatively close in age to Lucas, so when thinking about purchasing another stroller, I am keeping in mind a future baby number two. A jogging stroller would be nice for uneven terrain and for the times go running with the kid(s). I don't want to have a nice stroller AND a nice jogging stroller, so a compact jogging stroller would probably make sense.

Many people love the BOB stroller. I am sure I would love it too.

However, it's quite an investment. I don't want to spend $300 on a single jogging BOB and then $570 on a double. Plus, who wants two big strollers in their garage. In addition, I've tried to jog with a side by side double and absolutely cannot do it. How do people manage to stay on the sidewalk? (maybe my small size has something to do with it?)

My brother and sister in law, as well as a close friend have this Phil and Ted's "jogging" stroller.

It can be a compact single or a double. In fact, it can even recline a baby and seat a toddler (not for jogging). I love how versatile it is. Some reviewers have complaints about this stroller especially when comparing it to the "BOB". But can one really expect such versatility and have the stroller be perfect?

Considering how big of an investment this could possibly be, I want to plan ahead and save up. Spring and summer are great times for such sales and used gear events. Does anyone have any thoughts on strollers? I want a maneuverable, compact, reliable stroller that I can possibly later sell. I don't mind purchasing an extra $25 dollar umbrella stroller, but I do not want to own three large, expensive ones.

Once I was a Baby

2010-02-17T20:03:00.000-08:00

Today is one of those days when I feel like I'm no good at house keeping or home making or cooking or teaching. But seeing this picture of myself and my mom takes me back to a simpler time and reminds me how blessed I am. I don't even look like myself, but my mom has hardly changed.

My confession with coupons

2010-01-31T23:45:00.000-08:00

I really thought there were some really crazy women out there: clipping coupons that are a wooping $75 off when you buy three boxes of crackers. What a waste of time. Plus, I've glanced through those coupon booklets and they never have any coupons for anything I buy (I am kind of a food snob).

At the end of December, I wrote out some financial resolutions (with my husband) for our little family. We wanted to save up for some small house projects and pay off Zach's student loans (paying the minimum balance would keep us paying for the next 7 years or something). Since our food budget is the only real flexible part of the family budget, I decided to try cutting it by at least 30% and put that money toward the student loans. Oh, and I wanted to increase our emergency food storage (I know, I dream big).

I grabbed some ads from my parents' Sunday newspaper and read a couple of different blogs on couponing. I learned that the trick is to pair up coupons with really good store sales AND store coupons (means you buy something on sale using two different coupons). During my first couponing experiment, I bought $40 worth of stuff for $14 AND got an instant $3.50 rebate to spend on whatever I wanted on my next trip to Safeway.

What I learned is this:
- there are some crazy couponing people who buy a lot of food with poor nutrition value just because it's cheap, but I certainly don't have to.
- if I save a few bucks on food and household items that do have coupons available, then I can continue to not compromise on others (like milk, eggs, and meat)
- using coupons really helps to build up an emergency food supply
- I can get a lot of free stuff that my family uses for free (and put the money I would have otherwise spent on it into savings or toward the student loan bill)
- this coupon stuff can take too much time, but it doesn't have to

The worst part of this is... I find it kind of thrilling! Saving money on groceries is making me feel really good about myself because I am actually making some progress on my financial goals. I am starting to get that crazy look in my eye when I find a good deal. Oh brother, I am becoming really weird...

Here's an example: If you get the Sunday Oregonian or stop by your local Albertson's (where I used to never shop before) and pick up a flier, you can join me in scoring this deal (before Tuesday night):

4 x tubs (2lbs, 10oz) of Quaker oats (on sale)
1 x box of Quaker granola bars (on sale)
2 x jars or Ragu pasta sauce (on sale)
2 x jars of Skippy natural peanut butter (on sale)
+ use (2) $1 off Quaker oats printable coupon (From quaker.com)
+ use Skippy and Ragu coupons from the before mentioned ads
+ use 4 doubler coupons in the same before mentioned ads
= ~~$3 total~~! (I found out at the store that I messed up slightly, so it would be more like $4)

That's pretty cool, right? Or am I just trying to justify my weirdness?

Normally, I buy old fashioned rolled oats at WinCo from the bulk bins, but this is a WAY better deal. The granola bars are not greatly nutritious, but Zach loves them to tie him over at work. And although Zach normally eats Adams brand peanut butter (I don't like peanut butter) because it's healthier, he still really likes Skippy (and it is good for food storage because of the added preservatives :)

If you are interested in giving this a try check out http://thecouponproject.com/ (click on getting started).
And the best thing is that you don't have to spend a ton of time looking at ads and coupons because there are those REALLY crazy coupon people who do it all for you and write up about on their (professional) blogs multiple times a day.
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://moneysavingmom.com/
http://thecouponproject.com/

Have any of you tried this kind of stuff?

Twice the fun: Preview

2010-01-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

Meet Brogan and Pyper, three weeks old! They are even more precious in real life. Honestly, I've been feeling down lately about all the disasters and sickness in the world -- but looking at these sleeping little angels makes me feel happy.

New Year, New Goals

2010-01-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

I get really stressed about all that I want to accomplish and the expectations I put on myself. I want to be a good wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend and be good at things I enjoy doing. Yet I often feel so frazzled, like I'm constantly busy but don't get anything done and am not on track to get any better.

When I take the time to sit down, think about what's important to me, write down some goals, then I feel totally liberated and motivated. I feel like it is all possible and that I am, by golly, going to manage those things that are important to me!

I once read an article about setting life long goals. You know, goals like "learn how to fly an airplane, learn how to play the tuba, go skydiving, visit the great wall of China..." The author had a few points that stuck with me:
1. Have a manageable list of goals and write them down.
2. For each goal, make sub-goals (research flight schools in area, look into financial aid...)
3. Make deadlines for each sub-goal, and keep yourself accountable.
4. Go over and refine your goals on a regular (weekly) basis.
5. Don't give up if you are off track, refine and try again.

So this year, in order to set realistic, manageable goals, I reflected on 2009 using questions that SimpleMom posted. Then, I answered (in writing) questions pertaining to planning for 2010. Using both of these responses and the points from the goal setting article to write down goals for 2010.

To keep me accountable, here are some of my goals for 2010. This is about half of them, others are either too boring or too personal :)
These are the goal categories I came up with:
Personal growth goals:
-Have a personal spiritual moment (reading scriptures, praying, or pondering) each day. Need to set a specific time to do that
-Finish my MAT program and get my teaching license (by April)
-Read the scientific journal, Science, weekly to stay up with current scientific research. Need to set a specific time to do that
-Read one book (for fun) every two months (I'm so slow these days)
-Write in my journal at least twice a week

Home and Family
-Plan meals at least a week ahead, and follow through!
-Create a good system to do all daily and weekly chores.

Physical health:
-Stick to a short daily exercise routine. Need to outline this with sub-goals.
-Plan varied meals ahead of time and follow through
-Cut down the sweets! Need sub-goals to make this happen.

Finances:
-Pay off all of Zach's student loans by the end of the year
-Make one extra mortgage payment this year
-Keep track of all expenses for a whole year (save all receipts and write down spending in categories at the end of each month)

Relationships:
-Have a weekly date night with Zach.
-Plan fun outings with Lucas two times a week.
-Have friends over for dinner once a month.

I hope writing these goals publicly will keep me somewhat accountable. My overall goal is to organize my life, my time and money, so that I am less stressed an more able to enjoy all I've been blessed with.

Happy New Year!

Best Gifts Ever

2009-12-28T22:46:00.000-08:00

A close high school friend of mine asked me to photograph him and his brothers a couple of weeks before Christmas. The boys wanted to present some nice photographs to their mom as a Christmas gift. The photoshoot was very informal. It was quick and in the fog, literally. The boys organized the prints into various frames themselves.

After Christmas, my friend contacted me and said that when his mom opened the gift she was so happy that she teared up. She said it was the best gift of the season, even beating out the Kindle her husband bought for her.

I was a VERY frequent visitor in their home during high school, so I was glad that "mom" enjoyed the gift.
My favorite gifts this year were the hats my sister knitted for me and Lucas. They are SO beautiful and comfortable. I love the yarn she chose and the colors.

And the gorgeous quilt my mother-in-law gave me and my husband (technically it was a late wedding gift). The details are so intricate and I absolutely love the fabrics she chose. I can only imagine the hours of work she put into it. (I will take and post a photo tomorrow)

The best gifts are things that people can't buy for themselves no matter how much money they have. You can't buy a thoughtful gift of photos that your sons think of and prepare especially for you. Or a handmade hat that your sister makes with love for you and your son. Or the quilt made with love as a wedding gift that I will be telling my own grandkids about. These are the best gifts.

Oh White People

2009-12-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

I was not excited to see Avatar. Why? Probably because I'm not much into sci fi and violence and I generally don't enjoy movies over two hours long. I wanted to be open minded and earn some cool points with my husband so I went (and was the only female member of the family to do so).

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the movie. The three hours flew by and I was glued. It was generally entertaining, interesting, and technologically impressive.

However, on our drive home from the movie, my husband, brother-in-law and I started poking holes in the plot, discovering a few loose ends, and commenting on how the natives of Pandora undeliably and obviously resembled Native Americans.

Talking about Native Americans is a very sore topic for me. During the discussions I usually get unreasonable, passionate, and even angry. As a kid, growing up in Ukraine, I had only a few images of what these "Indians" are like: sharp hunters, respecters of nature, chanting, running, feather wearing, dancing around the fire, riding horses, independent, couragous, loyal. Yet when I first moved to the US as a 12 year old I lived in Rapid City and my image of "Indians" was totally blown. All I saw was drunken, homeless, and hopeless people sitting on the ground, leaning against the walls of the local "Super Duper Market". This reality shock has had a lasting effect on me. I know that I too am white and I am embarrassed and sorry about some of the things white people have done, but I also come from a people that have been oppressed; our language and customs almost wiped out. It's not a fair comparison by any means... but still, I feel so horrible about all that was done to Native Americans.

What rubbed me the wrong way about Avatar was that although Sully, the main character who is human (and white), does respect and love the "natives", he ultimately becomes their most courageous and powerful leader. Awesome. Once again, the white guy is the saviour of the colored people. AND he gets the hottest, coolest girl.

Last minute gift ideas

2009-12-21T23:07:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a last minute gift idea for a woman in your life, let me suggest a year subscription to Real Simple magazine. My sister got it for me last year and I cannot tell you enough how much I have enjoyed it. It is full of helpful suggestions, interesting products, yummy recipes, absolutely beautiful photographs of everything, articles I truly enjoy, and inspiring quotations. I look forward to receiving it each month. What low cost gift have you enjoyed in the last few years?

I suggest buying the current copy of the magazine at the news stand and including a nicely printed or written card in it telling the recipient that they can expect a new copy each month and why you think they'd enjoy it.

And these chocolates, Ferrero Rondnoir. My dad gave me a box for my son's birthday and they are SO delicious! Much more tasty, in my opinion, than the classic Ferrero Rocher. Can be found at most grocery stores.

I hope you have been good this year!

2009-12-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

A Ukrainian holiday stamp showing St. Nicholas and children.

As a child, one of the most anticipated days of the year was St. Nicholas' Day, December sixth (19th in the old calendar). In Ukraine, tradition has it that a long time ago there was a rich young man who had a very generous heart. Once a year he gathered all kinds of wonderful toys and treats and load them into a huge sack. Then, in the middle of the night (tonight!), he visited the poor children of the neighboring villages and secretly put goodies under their pillows. The children then woke up to wonderful surprises (if they were good, of course, if not, they received twigs).

Now, I don't know the logistics of breaking and entering, but as a child I was sure that he was real. How else, if not magic (or a saint), could anyone lift my pillow in the middle of the night, slip presents under it, yet not wake me up? Oh, it was so wonderful.

I know that there are many other traditions surrounding St. Nicholas (some where children leave out a shoe by the door to be filled with presents... I much prefer the pillow area, as it can accommodate a larger gift than a shoe -- I have small feet). And he was, of course, the model for the modern Santa Claus (from Dutch Sinterklaas).

I wonder what he'll bring Lucas tonight!

From fam

Happy St. Nicholas Day to all! If you haven't lately, try giving an anonymous gift to someone, it feels so good.

We will live by Communism!

2009-12-02T09:28:00.001-08:00

I just started organizing and restoring some of my parents' old photos. This one is a classic. My grandpa is in the foreground with a cynical smile and my dad, probably no more than two years old, riding on his shoulders. Every year each town had a huge parade on my birthday, November 7th (as a kid I thought it was for me), to commemorate the Russian revolution and celebrate the wonderful life papa Lenin and communism brought.

From fam

I hope you enjoy these. Maybe I'll post more as I work on them.

Good bye fall!

2009-11-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

I'm glad I was able to catch some good weather to shoot this cute family.

Sorry about the long line of photos. I didn't have a chance to make a collage, but decided that it was time to post a shoot anyway.

Dear Santa

2009-11-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

I've been very good this year. May I please request this advent calendar? Express shipping would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
k.

(from Pottery Barn)

Simple and Beautiful

2009-11-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

Aren't these beautiful? Lisa Leonard Designs

Simple Mom Giveaway

Giveaway!

2009-11-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

From Life In a Photograph

Well, it's more of a "give-and-take-away". I am working on a new project and need a few newborns for models.

What I need:
Newborn model (4 - 12 days old)
A couple of hours of your (and baby's) time

What you get:
A free newborn session
Two (2) edited images on a CD to use as you wish (baby announcement, wall art...)

So if you live in the Portland area, are pregnant (and due between the end of November and March), and are interested, please leave a comment or email me.

I can't believe how fast they grow!

From Life In a Photograph

On Holiday Greetings!

2009-11-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

I have only started sending out Holiday greetings via snail main since I have had a child. However, I have been reading holiday cards and letters for years.

My husband's parents have been active members of their community for over thirty years and in the process have made a lot of friends and acquaintances. Each year they receive dozens of holiday greetings in the mail. Though I have never met most of these senders, I absolutely love to curl up on their couch next to the Christmas tree with a mug of hot cocoa and read every single card/letter they receive. I feel like I have come to know some of these people. From my [vast] experience as a holiday card reader, these are a few things I've learned:

1. You must give to receive
A few years ago I felt sad that our mantle displayed whole 2 Christmas cards (thank you Marissa and Ashleigh)! Do people not like us? Do we have no friends? Not necessarily. In order to receive greetings you must first send them to people. Not only will this tell your friends that you want to stay in touch or revive a contact, but it will also ensure that they have your current address.

2. Include a current photograph
Many of my friends from high school and college have moved away and started families. I absolutely love to see photos of them and their kids. It is also fun to receive updated photos from people I don't hear from at any other time but Christmas (like families in Rapid City who helped us when we first moved to the US). Many people choose to only include photos of their children. However, I personally, really love to see the whole family (so that I actually get to "see" my friends not just their pride and joy of an offspring).

3. Include a personal touch
Including a printed letter that summarizes the yearly news of the family will update your friends. This is especially fun if I don't get a chance to talk to these people throughout the year and if they don't keep a blog (or I don't have access to it). I would recommend keeping these letters to no more than a half page for an average size family. Proofreading is also a good idea.

If you want your mailer to solicit a lot of smiles include a hand written, personlized note. Even something short like "Evertons, Since you've moved away, we miss seeing you at Panera Bread. Hope all is well." Makes the reader feel like you have actually been thought of. Personalized notes require quite a bit more time, however, so don't beat yourself up if it is not a realistic thing for you this year.

4. The best time for you
I won't lie, I have come to love reading those cards and letter right around Christmas time. So if it is possible for your family, send them in the second or third week of December. However, if Christmas has come and gone (or your don't celebrate Christmas), you can send them out at any other time of the year. Isn't nice to unexpectedly receive something other than a bill or junk mail in your mailbox?

5. Sit back and enjoy!
Remember -- it may take a couple of years to catch on.

What are your feelings about sending or receiving holiday cards? What do you love most? least? Do you enjoy physical cards? Or do you feel like the internet is a better (and cheaper) means to the same end?

Thinking of Holiday Cards?

2009-11-11T21:41:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves receiving holiday cards with an updated photo, so send one out to your family and friends this year.

From Blogger Pictures

Inspired Parenting

2009-10-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

I was pleasantly surprised that for my baby shower I did not receive any toys that make electronic sounds. When I mentioned this to my husband he told me that it was because I have been very vocal about not liking noisy toys (he wasn't surprised). It is true, my goal is to fill my kid's life with toys that inspire exploration, imagination, and help develop independence. (I have to admit, another reason I don't like those toys is because I find many of them annoying:)

I'm sure that as my son grows and becomes more exposed to other kids' toys I will have to become a little more flexible. However, I was very inspired by this interview with Lisa Mahar, the owner of children's toy store, Kid O. I love her clean, simple style and her philosophy.

To see more images and read the interview with her, click here

From Life In a Photograph

A great store here in Northwest that offers a large selection of simple toys is "Let's Play!" in downtown Hillsboro.

Introducing!

2009-10-13T10:56:00.001-07:00

I would like to finally introduce my website! It has been a long time coming.

From Life In a Photograph

I would like to thank my husband for encouraging me and providing the music, my awesome tech friend, Jeff Ashby for actually setting the site up, and the patient Taryn Rhodes for the logo.

I hope you like it!

But I Don't Wanna...

2009-10-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have a problem. I am a digital pack rat. I have another problem. I have some anger management issues when my computer is running slow. These two problems are a recipe for quite a scene -- me shouting at the computer, waving my arms at it, calling it names -- which really puts a damper on my evenings.

So I undertook a project to sift through and organize my thousands of digital photos. The goal is to delete all the crappy pictures I will never use as well as the duplicates, then put the survivers in nice, easily accessible folders (if anyone has tips on a good way to do this, please share)

But... but... it's so hard to throw away pictures of my kid! I don't wanna. Even if the picture is poorly lit and blurry, throwing it away feels the same as repearcing my ears with a safety pin.

Beauty

2009-10-06T21:11:00.001-07:00

What do you think?