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Remember this photo from a couple weeks ago?
I entered it into a little Spring photo contest over at Bloom and it's a finalist.
Go vote for me!
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The voting poll is the in the upper right corner of the blog.

please excuse our dust

I'm messing around with my template this weekend, so please excuse the mess if things are kinda weird looking here for awhile. Thanks!

26 weeks and my new favorite maternity jeans

Here I am at 26 weeks pregnant. The baby/belly had a bit of a growth spurt recently I think. Either that or I've just been eating a lot. I gained 6 pounds this month. I'm feeling really good these days. The baby is moving a lot and I've even started having a few Braxton Hicks now and then.

I have also officially outgrown all my normal jeans. I'm wearing maternity pants full time now. When I was pregnant with Asher I was working and having to dress up so I only bought one pair of jeans. This time around I needed more, so I've purchased a couple pairs. These are my favorites. Gap Maternity No Panel Skinny Jeans. They are even on sale!

I love them because they are stretchy and yet don't look like maternity jeans. The genius is in the adjustable waistband--just like kids pants.

You can adjust the inner elastic so that as your belly grows so do your pants. They really are great and so cute. I love the flap back pockets and the saturated color.

vegan whole wheat pancakes everyone will love

Pancakes are one of life's simple pleasures in my opinion. I love breakfast food. And of course kids love pancakes, so we tend to make them 2-3 times a month, usually for dinner on the weekend. Since going mostly vegan, we've played around with a few different recipes and have settled on this one. It is delicious and they always turn out great! Pancakes from scratch are 100 times better than from a mix and these are fast, easy, and way healthier. We usually double the recipe and then have leftovers. I love popping them in the toaster oven to eat for breakfast the next day.

Whole Wheat Vegan Pancakes

2 cups whole wheat flour
2-3 T sugar or other sweetener
1 t salt
2-3 T baking powder
3 cups plant milk (we use soy)
2 flax eggs (2 T ground flax, 6 T water, mixed separately and then added)
1/4 cup oil

Mix dry ingredients first, combine wet and slowly add dry. Let sit 10 minutes before making. The batter will seem very runny at first but thickens up as it sits.

This day the big kids ate 5 each and Asher ate 4! They love pancakes!

20 months old

nursing a toddler while pregnant

Disclaimer: This post is about my history of breastfeeding my son and what has worked for us. I am not making judgments on how long others choose to breastfeed. Every mama must do what is best for her and her baby. My heart aches for those mothers who want to breastfeed and struggle.

Breastfeeding my monkey baby when he was just a few days old and still in the hospital for jaundice.

I am one of those lucky gals who never really had any issues breastfeeding. Asher latched on right away. My milk came in two days after he was born. I overproduced for months. I never had mastitis. I never had cracked nipples. I was sore at times, especially on my left side, but I've never had the toe curling pain some women complain of having. The only real hiccup we had was when Asher had to stay in the hospital because of high bilirubin. I would go back and forth to breastfeed him and pumped milk for him at night. (Not that he would drink out of the bottle.)

Breastfeeding is something that I never questioned. I always knew I would nurse my babies exclusively. Asher has only had formula once in his life. (When my mom accidentally spilled the pumped milk I left her for Asher while I went to a movie.) He's only drank out of a bottle two or three times. This is what has worked for us. For me nursing is the easiest method of feeding my baby. It's always there. No bottles to prepare or clean. Breast milk is free. Plus, it is of course the best thing for babies--nature's miracle food. Fortunately, I get to be home full time, so the only pumping I did was to keep from getting engorged.

When Asher was born my plan was to breastfeed for at least a year and then do whatever felt right from there. Asher and I have both really enjoyed our nursing relationship, and by the time a year came around I knew we wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. This became even more important to me since we decided to give up most dairy products. I wanted Asher to have the nutrition that breast milk provides. Plus, the thought of forcing him to wean is something I can't fathom. I just really can't imagine turning him away from something that brings him not only nutrition but comfort. Not to mention the immunity boost!

When we were considering the timing of getting pregnant again, I read a lot about breastfeeding while pregnant. I wanted to make sure it was safe, especially given my history of preterm labor. All the research shows that breastfeeding while pregnant is indeed perfectly safe. The only warning given is to those with a history of preterm labor, but there is not necessarily a direct link. For me, the plan has just been to continue to breastfeed as long as I can through the pregnancy unless there is a real reason to stop. So far so good in that regard. Breastfeeding has not triggered any contractions up to now.

Another area of concern is that the mother's milk supply often decreases or even dries up. I have seen my supply decrease--both because as Asher gets older he nurses less and due to pregnancy. I started to really notice a change around the start of the second trimester. I would hardly ever see milk and Asher went down to nursing only 2 or 3 times in 24 hours. The consistency of my milk became much more watery and I could tell it was more sour tasting because the smell changed.

However, just in the past few days I have begun to suspect that I might be producing colostrum already. Asher has been wanting to nurse much more frequently and actually seems to be getting something. The milk is nearly clear though. He's also acting more excited to nurse, which again makes me think he's getting more of something.

Another concern that comes up when nursing during pregnancy is soreness. Most women's breasts become much more tender during pregnancy. Mine have definitely been more sore. And having a toddler who is sometimes lazy about how he latches on and has a mouth full of teeth doesn't help either. The soreness has never been to the point of making me want to wean, but there have been times where I've cut a nursing session short. I don't let him hang out on the breast for as long as he wants. Fortunately, he usually doesn't want to nurse very long anyway since there are so many other things for him to do.

I honestly cannot imagine mothering Asher right now without breastfeeding. I love the chance it gives us to snuggle. I love the closeness. I love how he MUST play with my hair when he's nursing. I love that for those few minutes he's still my baby. I love that it rights all wrongs, cheers him up, and heals all hurts. I love that he's still getting this wonderful nutritious substance every day.

I have no plans on weaning Asher anytime soon. I will let him gradually wean himself. I have a feeling he's going to be really excited once the new baby is born and there is creamy delicious milk again. I am looking forward to seeing my two babies bond at the breast. I hope that it will help ease the transition for Asher and decrease any jealousy that may arise.

I am so grateful that I can give this gift to my children. I'm grateful that we are designed so perfectly to allow us to nourish our babies in this manner. I'm grateful that my body has cooperated and been healthy and able to nurse this long. I'm grateful that I am still enjoying it! I remember I used to think that if a child could ask to nurse, they were too old. Well I certainly don't think that anymore! I truly believe we were designed to nurse our babies into toddlerhood. They receive so much benefit, as do we as mothers.

For more resources:
Kellymom.com
Adventures in Tandem Nursing by Hilary Flower
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

the quest for the perfect name

Naming a child can be really hard. It's a big responsibility parents have to bestow a name on a baby. The name they will carry throughout their life. I've always loved thinking about baby names, and I love discussing the subject with other moms-to-be. I mean what girl doesn't have a running list of her favorites going from the time she is 5?

I remember for years my favorite boy name was Jackson and my favorite girl name was Stella. But then Jackson and Jack become super popular and trendy. Plus I married a man with the last name Anderson. Two "son"s in one name is too many. I still really like the name Stella, but I now know too many Ella's and Ellie's and the like, so Stella is no longer on my list. One of my requirements is that the name not be trendy. I refuse to use a name that is in on the Top 100.

I chose the name Asher after reading My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok when Jared and I were engaged. Right then and there we decided our first son would be Asher. Super easy. I love that it's biblical but not super common. It has gained in popularity in the last few years, but since it's in the Bible, I don't think it can ever be deemed trendy.

Now we are trying to decide on a name for our baby girl. We have a much harder time with girls names. We don't agree on them as easily. I have spent A LOT of time online looking at names. Although there are lots of names I like, I've been having a hard time feeling like one is the one. I would love to use a Biblical name again and we have two that we really like, but I just can't seem to commit.

I loved that when I was pregnant with Asher, we called him Asher from the day we knew he was a boy. I loved having that extra connection and having him feel like a real little person even before he was born. I would love to name this baby before she comes so I can have that same connection. I'm just not sure I will be able to name her until she is born and I see her.

How did you choose your child(ren)'s names? Do you have a running list of your favorite names for your future children? Did you pick your child's name before they were born? Did you and your spouse have a hard time agreeing on a name? Have any of you had a spiritual experience in naming your child(ren)?

Two really fun baby name websites are Baby Name Wizard and Name Berry.

a year ago

I was sick of seeing Shaun White's picture at the top of the page, so I dug this up from last year. My cute baby on St. Patty's day 2009. He has grown up so much! But he's still making silly faces.

shaun white hair disaster

Last night I dreamed that I went to a salon in the middle of the night to get a hair cut. When I walked in the only person there was Shaun White. You know--olympic gold medalist snow boarder Shaun White. We admired each other's red hair which in the dream was styled very similarly. I told him I need a haircut. He took me into the salon and we walked through a very fancy main floor and then went downstairs where it was kind of shabby. He started my haircut and decided that I need some color and highlights. I was like, um, no I don't. But he proceeded anyway. He turned huge sections of my hair light blond. I was horrified. And then the dream was over.

Pregnancy makes for some very strange dreams, no?

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pure joy and silliness

During our windy walk home the other day...
Asher being goofy.