Elijah’s World

It has been a while since I have written a blog post about Elijah and there is so much going on right now with him that I know we will enjoy looking back on. I want to be sure to document all these important milestones and cute little things he says and does.

Now I know every parent thinks their child is a genius and we are no different. We are in such amazement at his mental development! He consistently knows all of his colors, can count to ten and identify most number and can identify and pick out about 2/3 to 3/4 of the letters. We are working on shapes and applying his counting skills to actually counting objects. I enjoy working with him on his letters and one way we practice is using letter stickers. Melissa and Doug make an awesome letter and number sticker collection with like ten pages worth and I have him name the letter then he gets to put it on a piece of paper. It is fun way to enjoy learning and creativity and has worked really well as part of structured week.  I also like to include art and music. We don’t do all of it every day but several times a week we enjoy free dancing together, singing songs, playing a beat to different songs and different art projects….some messy, some not. Crayons are always available to Elijah and he enjoys coloring but his passion seems to be music just like Mama and Daddy. He loves to sing, be sung to and his favorite instrument so far seems to be the drum although he loves the guitar as well. I am amazed at his ability to pick a beat out of a song.

Elijah’s language is incredible. He speaks in full sentences much of the time. Sometimes it takes a little bit for us to figure out certain words but when we do, we usually feel silly for having a hard time. He is excellent at expressing himself and is also quite the “parrot” so we have to be careful what is said in our house. I like to have Elijah repeat new worlds or phrases and usually after one or two times, it becomes part of his vocabulary.

Elijah continues to enjoy pretending. He has been doing this since about 18 months old but it continues develop to new levels. He loves to pretend to talk on the phone to everyone he knows, usually one of his grandparents. His interactions with Wrigley are so funny. He calls Wrigley “Rhea” and if Wrigley starts to get too close to him when he is eating, Elijah will say “No Rhea! Rhea outside!”. That always makes me chuckle.

Elijah continues to enjoy and excel at swim class and Gymboree and I am excited that we are able to continue both with the growth of our family. I think those two things are so important because, for the most part, the focus is on him with those activities. Elijah and I do take the twins to Gymboree and I will wear one and put the other in his car seat in the corner of the gym but for the most part, they are sleepy babies during class and I can focus on my big boy.

Elijah loves animals, babies, baths, his grandparents, going to San Antonio, facetime with Granmumsy and Pop, playing outside, his Mama, Mama’s milk (yes he will sometimes have some in his sippy cup as a treat), helping with anything he can, giving his brother’s pacifiers, holding his brothers (he asks all the time to hold them then asks me to take a “pict”), Elmo, Preschool Prep videos, dancing and music. He still enjoys his pacifier and is allowed to have it when he is in his crib. Yes, we continue have Elijah sleep in his crib. I think he will probably stay in his crib until he is about three. Otherwise I believe we would have a toddler at large when he should be sleeping.

Potty training is going great. I don’t push it but he loves to pee pee on the potty and will sometimes poop on the potty. He often wakes up with a dry diaper from naps. I ask him if he wants to use to potty and sometimes he does and sometimes he does not. He will often ask to use it and about 70 percent of the time, he will go. Sometimes he just wants to so he can get his three mini M&M’s and he will try so hard and squeeze out the tiniest drop. He gets one mini M&M for that.

Elijah continues to be such a joy…..such an incredibly sweet boy. I have never known a child with such a soft, kind and sensitive heart. One of my biggest goals is to have the patience to shepherd his heart in such a way that he does not lose sweet kindness. I have a toddler devotional that I love and we read from it almost every day. We talk about God and Jesus and I know this is an important part of not only raising him but maintaining the sweet disposition that we see in him. The other day, I saw him looking through his devotional and saying to himself “God loves me”. Oh how I love this little boy.

Here are a few picture of my sweet first born boy. He fills my heart and my life with so much light.

Elijah and his “Rhea”

Gluten Free Pancakes

I finally found a yummy gluten free pancake recipe! These turned out perfect! I’m using Costco brand gluten free flour which is Namaste’s Perfect Flour Blend. The recipe was actually on the back of the package. I adjusted the directions to make them easier.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups GF Flour

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1 1/4 Cup of Milk (you can use Almond Milk to make Dairy Free!)

2 Eggs

2 Tbsp Melted Butter

1/2 Tsp Vanilla

1/8 Tsp Nutmeg

1/2 Tsp Cinnamon (I added this and it was yummy!)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pour on skillet heated to medium/med-high in about 1/3 cup amounts. When top starts to look dry, flip. These took a little longer than your standard pancake as the batter is pretty thick. Be sure they are completely cooked all the way through.

Lactation Granola

My cousin made me a batch of granola in a postpartum care package for me and my boys. I have been on a granola kick lately and hers was the best I have tasted so I was inspired to begin making my own.  After my first batch, it occurred to me that this was the perfect treat for adding additional lactation support ingredients! And so, I added some and it was yummy with the added benefit of lactation support. The recipe is just a base. You can play with it and add things you might like to try or leave out some things that you could do without. I will put a * next to the lactation ingredients since I am always asked about those specifically.
*3 Cups of Oats
1 Cup of nuts (I like almonds or cashews)
1/2 – 1 cup of sunflower seeds
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups dried fruit (raisin are a favorite but cherries and cranberries are really yummy!)
1/4 cup chia seeds
* 5 heaping tbsp BrewersYeast
*5 heaping tbsp ground flax seeds
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup oil – coconut or sunflower are my favorites
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp vanilla ( I tend to use more of this cause I love vanilla)
Preheat oven to 325. Combine wet ingredients and salt. Combine dry ingredients. Pour wet mixture onto dry ingredients and fold until completely coated.  Spread on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and press so that it is like one big flat granola bar. Bake for about 30-40 min. Keep an eye on it because you don’t want edges to burn. When finished allow to completely cool. Then break apart and store in a cool dry place. I put it in a ziplock bag. Great to be eaten as cereal!

Yummy Freezer Fudge

This is super easy and quite addictive. I made and ate three batches in less than a week. Dangerous stuff.

1/2 cup almond butter
1/4 cup Perfect Coconut Oil
1/4 cup maple syrup or raw honey
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Himalayan sea salt, to taste

2 table spoons cocoa

Put all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds. Remove and mix really well until consistency is smooth. Transfer to a wax paper lined Tupperware square or something similar. Cover and freeze for at least an hour. Remove from freezer and cut into squares. Store in freezer. enjoy cold!

Cover Up....WhAt?????

This photo (taken by my BFF Heather Fricke) sparked controversy on Facebook when it was reporter (twice) as containing nudity and/or pornography. I began my breast feeding journey with my first son, Elijah over two years ago. I dove head first into exclusive breast feeding. I quickly became an advocate. I pumped and donated thousands of ounces to babies in need because I believe breast milk holds the key to better and improved health for both healthy and sick babies. I nursed in public. I nursed proudly. I took TONS of nursing photos and plastered them all over Facebook….not to “put it in your face” but because I love photos, I love my son and I documented and shared just about every aspect of his life. Nursing him was one of my favorite things in the world and I was not ashamed. It's natural. It's normal. It's beautiful. The fact that it may have helped to normalize it for those around me, well, all the better! I rarely covered. ( I cover even less now). In the 11 1/2 half months that I nursed Elijah (only stopped to undergo fertility treatments at which point he received my frozen stash for an additional four months) I NEVER encountered a “hater”. No one reported a single photo I posted, no one ever told me to cover or nurse in another room. I actually started think that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't as bad out there as my fellow breastfeeding comrades would have me think. I was wrong.
In February, I gave birth two my twin sons. One of the first outings I went on solo with all three of my children under the ago of two was when the twins were about a month or so old. I was having issues with Itunes and planned a trip to the Willowbrook Apple store to get some help. I arrived with fully fed children wearing one twin and pushing Elijah and the other twin in my double stroller. Everyone was well fed when we arrived and we walked into the store as they opened and were the first customers to be helped. Apparently the staff there is not trained in Itunes because after I was there an hour, an hour which all my kids were happy, smiling and/or sleeping, the staff member still had not managed to get my itunes to update correctly. It was at this point my world began to fall apart as babies became hungry and Elijah became restless. TO make a long story story, I ended up feeding my babies as all three kids began to simultaneously melt down. Let me paint you a picture. Me and my month old twins and not yet two year old toddler, sitting at a corner table at the Apple Store (in Willowbrook) and we have been there for almost two hours. My children start screaming. The staff member is trying to help me and two other people at the same time.  I need to feed my babies so I go for it, not giving it a second thought. As I feed the first, the other two are still throwing a fit. One of the FEMALE staff members comes over to me and asks me if I would mind covering up. I tell her that yes, I mind and continue feeding my child. I also mention quickly that I am within my rights and on my way out, I tell her (snarkily) that maybe she should cover up when she eats her lunch.
That was my first ever encounter with anyone even suggesting I cover. Then two days ago, a photo of me tandem feeding my twins (no easy feat and something to be proud of!) gets reported to Facebook (TWICE!) as containing nudity and/or porn. Considering you really can’t see nipple since my children are latched on, that leads me to believe that this “person” considers me nursing my children to be “porn”. And I say this. Shame! Shame on you for being so sick. Shame on you for not being able to see that breasts are functional and not any more sexual than a hand or the back of a neck. I have heard this likened to the fact that sex is a natural act and can be beautiful and not appropriate to be shown in public. I ask you. Have we forgotten what breasts were designed for? I could go on and on about how and why these occurances are wrong but I would rather work on NORMALIZING this amazing function but sharing more. Allow the following photos to serve as a reminder. For me, these serve as a reminder of some of my favorite moments with my children. For you, maybe they will serve as a reminder of what it looks like when babies eat their meals. And it is normal. And beautiful.

Elijah and I learning together

Elijah, hours old and already an expert

My tiny Elijah

In hair and make up for Meaningful Beauty infomercial, Elijah gets some lunch!

Elijah enjoying some lunch at his first zoo trip!

The Big Latch On  2012

My little Elijah. I love that face

OCNJ nursing baby! My little Elijah’s first vacation!

More photos taken by Heather. This was my very first nursing photo shoot!

Elijah had lunch in my old high school cafeteria during a tour at our 15th reunion.

Elijah asleep at the boob…..Wrigley asleep at Elijah.

I love how Elijah used to fold his hands while he ate. Both his brothers do this as well.

The last month I nursed Elijah.

Nursing Rory for the first time while I learn what is happening with Patrick in the NICU.

Patrick enjoying some of Mama’s milk in our herbal bath.

Rory and Mama in the hospital

A bluebonnet outtake!

Patrick’s first time nursing or getting any nourishment of any kind other than IV fluid.

Newborn Rory enjoying Mama’s milk.

One of my first time’s tandem feeding at about a month old. I planned to start out this way but when Patrick started life with twelve days in the NICU, this got postponed.

Karaoke Saturdays have new meaning for the Parish family.

More tandem excitement

“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
― E.B. White

Aren’t we nursing mothers lucky….we have the opportunity to do both at the same time!

Ground Beef and Rice Casserole–Dairy/Gluten/Soy Free

Ingredients

• 1 pound  ground beef
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
• ½ cup onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup beef broth 
• 1 tsp coconut aminos
• 1 cup partially cooked brown rice (I cook it until it is still pretty firm…..maybe a slight “crunch” in the middle of the grain)
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ½ cup dairy free cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large skillet, brown ground beef until all pink is gone.
3. Drain any liquid from ground beef.
4. Add garlic, onion, mushroom and green pepper to the ground beef.
5. Saute until onion is tender.
6. Add rice to the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish.
7. Pour the beef broth and coconut aminos over top.
8. Add the beef mixture, sea salt and pepper to the casserole dish.
9. Cover and bake for 45 min.
10. Uncover and sprinkle on the shredded cheese.
11. Bake another 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted and the liquid is completely absorbed.

Post Partum Check In: 4 1/2 Months

Well it has been a little over a month since I checked in on my post partum progress in getting back in shape and more endurance. They say slow and steady wins the race and if that is the case, I am not doing too bad! Pounds seem to be dropping off verrrry slowly at about 3/4 of a pound per week. My clothes are fitting WAY better. That seemed to happen overnight. The shorts I wore in my pictures last month were staples in my summer wardrobe in years past and I had just SQUEEEEZED into them for the pictures. I wore them again in this months photos and they fit perfect. I still have the appearance of  a “muffin top” in the photos but in real life they fit comfortably on my hips and I am feeling pretty good in them.

I had my midwife check my diastis recti at a gathering at her house a few weeks ago and I still stuck at a one so not much progress there but the abdominal work I am doing is definitely starting to show as far as strength and muscle. I am going to ask her to check  me again in a few weeks and see if I need to maybe add another exercise to help that split muscle close back up.

I started training for a 5K! I am in week five of training. I have not chosen which one I will run but I am excited because as I work up to 3.2 miles in 30 minutes I feel like that is a good and doable workout with three littles two and under. I can leave Chip four times a week for 30 minutes and get a decent workout. When Elijah was a baby, we walked for an hour at least five times  week and although I tried doing this with the three of them, it doesn’t wasn’t practical. I enjoy taking them on occasional walks but I cannot rely on that for my workout this time around. Right now I am up to 11 minutes of running and by the end of next week I will be up to 15!

As of this morning I am at 134 lbs which is two away from my prepregnancy weight and four away from goal! I hope to be at my prepreg weight by mid July and if I get that two extra pounds off, that is just gravy.

I had intended to add sets of squats and crunches but really, 3 sets of 150 throughout the day seems to be what is doable with my schedule so I am sticking with that for now and with my 5K training that I do 3-4 times a week.

 

Artichoke Mustard Chicken

This is the chicken recipe to end all chicken recipes! So yummy and it will be a new staple in our home. It is also super easy which make me love it even more!

3 lbs. chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
1 cup artichoke hearts, halved (canned is fine)
1 medium onion, cut into pieces same size as the artichokes
1 pound white button mushrooms (halved or quartered) More if you really like mushrooms
3 tablespoons brown mustard
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup red or white wine (you could also sub in chicken stock)
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
kosher salt and pepper (to taste)

Preheat oven to 350

Put mushrooms, onions and artichokes on bottom of a 9x13 baking dish

Push chicken on top of veggies

Mix remain ingredients together and pour over chicken

Bake for an hour or until the internal temperature of chicken is 165 degrees.

My Two Nurslings and A Family Photo Shoot

I am super passionate about breastfeeding and all the physical and emotional benefits attached to it. I am thrilled to have been blessed with an amazing nursing relationship with my first “nursling” and excited that so far, I have an amazing nursing relationship with my twins. This is such a short season of life and so I love to capture some of these moments digitally. Originally I had scheduled a photo shoot with one of my favorite photographers (who also did a nursing shoot for me and Elijah). but due to some family needs, we moved our shoot to the end of the month. I am actually doing another nursing shoot for a fellow twin mama who is also a photographer, a Believer and crunchy. (talk about a lot in common!). Since I had my heart set on getting some photos done today, my sweet BFF Heather agreed to come take some shots with my camera and I am SO EXCITED about how they turned out.  We even got some pretty awesome family shots! I am excited to be getting all these pictures done right now especially because I was asked to help organize an Expo and location for the Big Latch On, sponsored by my dear friend and a favorite blogging Mama Kayla of Baby’s Breastie! So in celebration of the wonders of nursing, the Big Latch On and all the exciting events coming up…….

The first batch is sweet nursing moments with my Baby A, Rory. He is my champion nursling, a natural. It is always so relaxing nursing this little one, I could fall asleep.

I have dreamed of having the chance to tandem nurse since I had Elijah. I don’t do it as often as I thought I would because often, it takes two hands to nurse Patrick but the babies were very willing today! I started off with just Patrick then added Rory…..

 

We finished up the shoot with some shots of my Baby B, Patrick. Patrick is a very gentle nursling. He began life with twelve days in the NICU and was not permitted breast or bottle for the first four days of life. Read more about Patrick here. As soon as he was home, I worked diligently as weaning him from the bottle and within one week, he was EBF! (Exclusively breast fed). I am so proud of my little boy and how strong he is. He and I have a very special nursing relationship that we both have worked very hard to maintain.

Finally here are some of the family shots we got today! I am so excited with how great they turned out considering we were working with three under two!