Bliss is right!

I've died and gone straight to ice cream heaven. Try this coconut milk ice cream from Luna and Larry's and you too can be in coconut bliss. :)

Meal Plan Nov. 16-22

I used to post about our meal plan for the week and then that just sort of fell to the wayside. But I'd like to start again because we've been eating alot of new recipes and I'd like to be able to refer back to things we've eaten.

You'll soon notice that my menu plans are starting on Tuesdays which I know is a weird day to start a menu plan for a new week but Tuesdays in my house are like Mondays in everyone else's. My husband works Tuesday to Saturday so our weekends are Sundays and Mondays.

My meal plans are date specific but I'm very flexible in it and will swap days if I feel like it. I also leave one day a week blank for take-out meals or what we refer to as "fend for yourself" dinners.

So here's this week's meal plan:

Tuesday: Roasted Chicken with quinoa and some sort of sauteed greens.
Wednesday: Buddha Bowl (I love her recipes, they're great for families on a budget!) We stay away from soy in this house so I add cashews instead and make a few other little changes, stay tuned for my version of this yummy recipe!
Thursday: Eggs and Black Bean Salsa.
Friday: Chicken quesidillas.
Saturday: Mushroom Barley Soup
Sunday: leftovers

What's for dinner in your home?

Caring for your amber necklace

Parents are ditching chemical relief for their teething babies and are instead taking a more natural approach. Teething  baltic amber necklaces are super popular right now with good reason. Amber has succininc acid which relieves inflammation and provides pain relief when the warmth of your baby's skin releases the oil.

Parker's been wearing his for about two years now and Sophie's been wearing hers for about 6 months and they both benefit from wearing their baltic amber teething necklaces. I love them, they're super cute and they really do provide relief to my children which then provides relief for me. :)

But did you know that you need to take special care of your amber necklace? Amber should not be worn in chlorinated swimming pools, when bathing or when wearing sunscreen or lotion. The chemicals and soap will create a film on the beads over time, keeping the oils from being released.

Don't fret if you've been forgetting to remove the necklace when in the bath or out at the beach... you can wash your amber! Take a clean toothbrush and using only water, lightly scrub each amber bead until clean.

You can also recharge your amber necklace by placing it in a sunny spot for a few hours. I did this last summer after Parker was struggling with his two year molars coming through. I cleaned them with water and put them on the deck for the afternoon in full sun. Doing this made the necklace like new again and Parker was able to cope again with teething.

2 and a half, baby!

Parker is 2 and a half... I can't believe how much he's changed since he his birthday even! His personality is really emerging and I get glimpses of who he will become as he gets older. Fascinating to say the least. :)

Since we started a GF diet for him just after his 2nd birthday, his behaviour has really evened out. He's no longer the constantly raging baby. Looking back on his first two years, my heart just breaks for him and all the pain he was in. No wonder he wasn't a happy child. But now even though he has his rough days (don't most of us though?), his happy days are much more regular.

We're thinking that in addition to a gluten intolerance, he has sensory issues as well. Well, I know he has sensory issues. The more I read about sensory processing disorder the more I'm convinced this is what's going on. And you know what? I fully blame the 10 ultrasounds and his 2 month vaccinations for it. There's research out there now that shows that excessive ultrasounds can cause neurological damage, same with vaccines. I feel guilty but more than that, I feel anger that my caregivers during my pregnancy pushed fear on me and used that to bully me into tests and procedures I wouldn't have otherwise agreed to....

But that's all for another post I think.

This post is about my little man turing 2.5 and celebrating all that he has accomplished since his second birthday. :)

At 2.5 years, Parker:
~ is a very affectionate and loving child. Cuddles are always guaranteed when Parky is in the room.

~ still nurses on occasion but I think he'll be done before he's three. And in all honesty, I'm ready for him to be done.

~ uses the toilet when we're at home with very little accidents. Still working on ditching the diaper for naps and public but no rush.

~ His vocabulary keeps exploding but his pronounciation needs some work. Also, he tends to stick with 2 word sentences, sometimes 3 word sentences. We're on the waitlist for speech which he'll hopefully recieve before he's 3.

~ He and I attend a speech focused playgroup on Wednesdays for an hour. He looooves it, especially the circle time.
~ adores his sisters. He often gets annoyed with Sophie bothering him but he's protective of her and enjoys giving hugs as long as it's on his terms. Ally is his best friend for sure... he could spend all day following him if she let him. :)
~ Loves to go on nature walks, leaf picking is his new favourite activity.
~ loves loves loves music. He loves action songs, seeing people play musical instruments and putting on a show for us.

~ He sleeps in his bed in his room for about half the night. Sometime around 2 I find him laying in his makeshift bed (a bunch of blankets and a pillow) on the floor beside me.

~ He naps for about 1.5 hours a day but if I nap with him, he'll nap for 3 hours sometimes more.

~ loves brocolli, nutritional yeast, beans and yogurt.
~ loves to make pretend tea for everyone and insists that we pretend that it's too hot. He loves all imagination type play.
~ loves to be read to. He's really liking Robert Munsch's "I love you forever" and Strega Nona.

~ loves to be around me or his dad. He's a great helper who insists on doing everything by himself. "no me do" is his new favourite phrase.

Neck Point Park

The little ones and I went for a walk through Neck Point Park today. I love going there, there's beaches to explore, forested trails and sunny trails to walk through and it's a short drive from my house. I brought the buggy today instead of wearing Sophie so we were a bit limited in where we went. But we managed to spend about 2 hours at the beaches and walking through the trails.

Parker loved collecting fallen leaves and he quickly filled up the basket of the buggy. We also saw lots of mushrooms, most of which (okay all) I had no clue as to what they were. Learning more about mushrooms and being able to identify what's edible and what's poisonous is something I'm really interested in. But like most things, I never seem to get around to actually doing it!

Here's some pictures of our day. If you can identify some of the mushrooms for me, please do!

 Parker and his giant leaf!

"more gross" as Parker calls it.

Sophie enjoying the beach.

Walking on the trail.

Throwing rocks.

Sophie and Parker sharing a seat on a log.

Weird, eh? I think it's called a false morrel or a brain mushroom.

Apparently these are not rolling stones. :)

Waxed Autumn Leaves

I've always loved Autumn and the colourful leaves have always been my favourite part. I've read about and seen photos of waxed leaves before and have always wanted to make some of my own.

Well, today I finally did! I already had the beeswax on hand that I bought from Freidrich's and I definitely had a yardful of fallen leaves so Ally and I browsed online on how to do it and we went for it!

It was fun, super easy to do and they smell so yummy!

We gathered our leaves

 We melted our beeswax.

 After pouring the melted beeswax into a plastic lined bowl, we dipped a leaf to coat both sides.

Let the excess wax drip off and let dry on wax paper.

 Once they were dry, I hung them from floss.

 And hung them on the windows!



No More Tears!

You know what the worst thing about cutting onions is? The burning eyes and tears. I finally found a way to cut onions without having to leave the room every few seconds: peel them all, cut in half and soak in cold water!

It works, give it a try. Your eyes will thank you! :)