How I Became a Stay at Home Mom - Part 1

 


Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I knew that I had to stay at home with my baby. I knew that time with him would be my very top priority, along with quality time with my husband. After S was born I dreaded going back to work, but I had to. We needed to pay the bills. Every single day I would brain storm ways to be able to stay at home, you could say I sort of became obsessed.

After 9 months, we finally decided to make the move. Our plan is this - I would nanny a couple days a week, give swim lessons here and there and stay at home the rest of the week. This would give me more time at home to save. Here are the ways we decided to stretch our money. 

First, we decided to get rid of all unnecessary bills. The only extra bill we had was our $8.00 a month Netflix bill (I know that sounds so cheap, but hey, it adds up). It was an easy decision. We already don't have cable. Jordan and I feel that our time is better spent when the television is off. We also do not have a home phone, cell phones only, which brings me to my next tip.

Cell phones. We keep it simple, never had the urge to get the latest and greatest "phone". No internet, no unlimited data; just a little text and talk plan. Jordan has an old school flip phone and I have a one of those fancy phones that slide open ;) For some reason we don't feel like we need the world at our finger tips at all times; we need the ability to get a hold of each other, our friends and our family.  I like the feeling of being "unplugged" it feels free. Paying for the internet at home is enough for us.

Food. This is a big one for us. With both of us working, we'd spend an ungodly amount of money on food. I worked in the Central West End, a trendy area in the heart of the city, and would go out for lunch every day. Not only would I buy lunch, but I would buy breakfast from the little cafe down the hall from my office. It was much too convenient. Jordan would do the same. We would both get home from work late and not feel like cooking and cleaning up the mess. Naturally, we would choose to eat out (most of the time). Now I have time to plan meals and grocery shop. We also hit up Soulard Market (a huge semi outdoor farmer's market with great prices) on Saturdays and get our farm share every other week. We use what we buy and Jordan brings his lunch to work.

(Soulard Market)

Cooking and baking from scratch can really save a ton of money. Not only do you save money, but you know exactly what you are putting into your body. It makes me feel great knowing what every single ingredient I am consuming is, makes me feel even better knowing that it counts - well, most of the time anyway ;)

English muffins are a hot item in our home. Instead of spending several dollars on them every week, I am now spending pennies by making them from scratch. I will post the recipe soon. We do not eat many loaves of bread, but I bake them as well.

All of our baby's food is hand made. He usually eats a mashed version of the veggies we make ourselves for dinner. Sometimes he even eats it cut up in pieces. For breakfast he eats a bit of fruit from our farm share and some rolled oats. I buy a big bag of Bob's Red Mill organic rolled oats for $4.00 and make about 1/3 of a cup a day. It lasts a long time and keeps him full and energized. We also buy steel cut oats and make them on occasion, but they take about 20 minutes to cook. Quick oats are what we stay far away from, especially the individual packets - way too much sugar and artificial flavor AND they are way overpriced. Now that I am finished with my oat tangent I will move on.

Transportation. Right before our little guy was born we decided to trade in my old gas guzzling Blazer for a *used* Ford Escape Hybrid in great condition. We live in the city so this was a super smart move for us. Those who do not do much city driving wouldn't benefit much from this, mainly because city driving is what saves you. Our Escape also has a 5 star safety rating so that helps on insurance costs. Jordan drives a Jeep and a motorcycle that is more like a street legal dirt bike. The Jeep is not doing so good so our plan is to sell it and become a one vehicle family. That will save us tons of money on gas and insurance. We live several blocks from Jordan's work so he has been riding his bicycle on the cooler days and motorcycle on the super hot days. So far, so good.

Clothing. Never ever ever buy something for the full price! It will go on sale. Everything I own was either given to me second hand or bought off the clearance rack for 50% off. Now I'm not super trendy or overly concerned about my clothing, but I do like to look cute. I do so living by this essential rule.

I will not pay over $7.00 for a clothing item for the baby. I simply can not justify it. He just grows so fast! Carter's always has amazing sales. All of his brand new clothes are bought from Carter's for under $5.00 an item. Just can't beat it!


I have many many more ways that we are saving money. They tend to be a little more on the crunchy side and I'm sure there are people who would never go this far, but it totally works for our family. I will be posting more about this next week. Keep in touch!

Tree of Life

 

This year was my first Mother's Day and a beautiful one it was. It was pretty laid back for the most part, but I had one thing I was determined to do.

 
 



Before I jump straight to it, I'm going to explain. While pregnant with S, I explored my options regarding my placenta. Our plan was to get it encapsulated. It sounded like the best option for me considering it helps with milk production and the baby blues along with many other benefits. Well, his birth came and went and the placenta remained in our freezer. I thought about it countless times. As the weeks passed, it no longer seemed necessary to have it encapsulated. Months past and it was still hanging out in the freezer.





As Mother's Day approached I finally had my mind set on what I planned to do with my beloved placenta, my tree of life. I couldn't imagine just throwing it away. Letting it rot away in some land fill next to garbage. I decided to plant it under a baby peach tree. This amazing organ that my body grew then housed and cradled my baby boy was now going back to the Earth. Back to the Earth to fertilize the soil and give back to us for years to come, in peach form.


 


So on Sunday we woke up bright and early to pick up the tree before Jordan headed off to work. S and I spent the day livin' easy. Took a long walk around the park, S napped, nursed and napped again. Once Jordan got off work we headed to GG and Paw's (my parent's) for a Mother's Day dinner. Before the sun set we headed home to dig, plant and water.


 


When the hole was ready we placed the placenta at the bottom then topped it with the tree. S was getting really tired at this point and was just ready to go to bed.


  


We mulched the tree and gave it a big long drink then headed in for bed.

After S was snuggled in our bed, I sat on the couch and remembered how I wanted to plant a tree for him, his birth tree. I envisioned him watching it grow as he, himself grew too. I envisioned him playing under it, climbing it, kind of like a close friend. Ended up killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

It was the best Mother's Day I ever had ;)

Time Well Spent

This is how we cook.

Actually, this is how we do everything. S in one arm while we juggle our daily tasks with the other. He loves to be held and we love to do the holding. He doesn't like the sling, or any other carrier for that mater, but he sure loves to be in our arms. It's probably that he feels included in what we are doing, instead of sitting on the sidelines. Honestly, we wouldn't do it any other way. We could have him sitting in the other room on the floor or in the kitchen sitting in his bouncer, but we all like to be in on the action. He sure isn't to young to start helping! Maybe the more his is involved in the preparation, the better the eater he will be. He might enjoy the chickens a little more because we included him in the interaction at an early age. What I do know is that I am happy we choose to do this. This won't last forever. These are times we can never get back and we are making the absolute most of them.  I'm happy he enjoys being in our arms, time well spent. 

Homemade Yogurt

 A couple of weeks ago my sister-in-law gave us a huge jug of raw cow's milk. I am not the biggest fan of drinking milk so I had to come up with something to do with it. I gave a portion of it away, Jordan used some in his coffee and the rest was turned into yogurt. 

Our process is actually quite simple, just keep in mind that *I am not an expert*. We do not own a yogurt maker so we do it the good old fashioned way.

First, make sure you have everything together:

raw milk or any milk, really (except ultra pasteurized)

sterile jars

food thermometer

large pot

plain "starter" yogurt with live cultures, 1/4 cup per quart (I used Stonyfield) - you can also save some from your homemade batch to make the next batch

There is the low-temperature method and the high-temperature method. I used the high-temperature method.

Get your jars together and make sure they are really really clean. They must be very clean because we plan on fermenting the milk and don't want any bad bacteria to get in the way.

If you are using raw milk, make sure you skim off the heavy cream so you can turn it into butter or whatever you prefer.

Next, pour the milk into your pot. Heat it to 180 degrees over medium heat.


 


Once your milk reaches 180 degrees, remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool down to 110 degrees. You can do this quickly by submerging the pot in iced water.

Now, add your starter yogurt and stir well.

Transfer yogurt to your clean jars.


  


Now, cover your jars with a towel to ensure that your milk remains between 80 and 100 degrees and let it sit for 10 to 24 hours. I made mine on a warm day that our air conditioner was off so I could just cover it and leave it on the counter to ferment. A couple other options are to turn on your oven and leave the jars in there or place your jars on a heating pad and cover with a towel.

Refrigerate before eating.

We use our yogurt to make salad dressing, to bake with and to eat with fruit and granola.

I hope you enjoy!

Boobs, Boobs, Magical Boobs

Before I gave birth to my son I knew I was going to breastfeed.  During my pregnancy I read just about every piece of literature about birth and breastfeeding out there. All signs were pointing to yes. Yes, breastfeeding is what I want. Not only for the health benefits or the practicality, but the emotional aspect as well. Here is a list of just a few reasons I chose to nurse my son.

1. It's free! The more you nurse/pump, the more you have 
2. Makes for a calm mama by releasing Oxytocin in the brain
3. Easy pregnancy weight loss
4. Natural contraceptive/no period (yes, there are exceptions)
5. No bottle washing
6. No preparing to walk out the door - Baby, check, diapers, check, boobs, check!
7. Nursing soothes baby instantly
8. Every teaspoon of breast milk has 3,000,000 germ killing cells in it. Hello! click for source
9. Easy for baby to digest
10. Live antibodies line little one's gut to prevent illness
11. As baby gets older, milk adjusts to fit the changing needs
12. More sleep for the whole family
13. Instant availability (at the perfect temperature)
14. Life long connection between mama and baby
15. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS
16. Gives baby and mama the feeling of security 
17. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast cancer
18. Breast milk is an intestinal soother
19. It's green! No wasted packaging
20. Breast milk has never been recalled
21. Breast milk cures pink eye
22. Human breast milk is made for human babies

Milk vs. formula - check it out under the microscope!

diy decoupage map mirror

Not too long ago while stumbling around on the internet I found this amazing set of drawers. I fell in love. I started thinking how I could create something like this for my own home. My original plan was to transform a thrifted side table I found at Goodwill, but never really got around to it. With Jordan and I working completely different schedules, trying to find time to decoupage is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I had to think small and quick.

*A mirror. Perfect!

S even helped :)

Looking around my house I found all of the supplies needed.

• a map
• a mirror (I found mine for $5 at an estate sale!)
• mod podge
• a foam brush
• scissors

Directions:

simply cut your favorite parts of your map into strips or squares long enough to wrap around to the back of your mirror

brush mod podge onto the back of your map, one piece at a time

apply a piece of the map to the surface of your mirror use your fingernail to press the map into the decorative creases so it lays neat 

and flat against every curve and crevice

wrap the extra length of the map to the back of your mirror and make sure it is secured flat repeat until finished once the mirror frame is covered

apply a thin coat of mod podge to the entire frame and allow to dry

I sill have to find the perfect place to hang it.

Viola! You have a beautiful mirror hand decorated by you.

Leave a comment and let me know how your mirror turns out. I would love to hear your feedback.

coop under construction

The time has come! The chickens have flown the "coop". Their indoor coop that is. We are all so ready for them to move into their permanent outdoor home. The only problem is that it doesn't exist.





Jordan and I have these great master plans to build the entire thing out of materials we already own or can get for free. 100% of the wood is coming from shipping pallets found near my sister in law's church. We scored some huge posts from a few really long heavy duty pallets. We are using an old door that came off our back porch. The nesting boxes came from my grandpa who raises and races pigeons. One of the coolest parts of the coop are the screens we will be using. When we moved into our 74 year old house we discovered tons of old window frames and screens in the basement. I have made so many plans top put these to good use, but this is the most practical use so far. We will be using the wood framed screens for the top half of the coop. I can't wait to share pictures!






S and I sat outside in the alley and offered our support. We cheered him on as he was making progress. So far he has the overall frame and the door frame built.





Hopefully we will get this thing done this weekend!