I have a treat for you today, a guest post from Chef Karen, Catholic mama to an adorable 8-month-old baby girl, good friend, and certified natural chef. We were childhood friends and got reconnected when we both moved back to our hometown. Enjoy her awesome wisdom about avoiding the flu by strengthening your immune system! - Haley Hello, Carrots-For-Michaelmas-ites! I am so excited to be … [Read more...]
3 Slow Cooker Recipes and a Cookbook Review
As you may know, I’m just now coming out of several weeks of horrible pregnancy nausea/vomiting. Food has been my arch-nemesis. I felt sick if I didn’t eat. I felt sick if I did eat. The thought of food was just unbearable. Now that my cookbooks aren’t vomit triggers and I can enjoy them again, I took an afternoon getting to know the beautiful new edition of my friend Stephanie Cornais’s From … [Read more...]
Food Choices ARE a Moral Issue
I recently read a very popular blog post, Food Choices Are Not a Moral Issue, on one of my favorite blogs, Keeper of the Home by Mandi Ehman of Life Your Way (another blog I read and enjoy). Mandi writes a lot of great stuff and I usually like her posts, but in this case, I wholeheartedly disagree with her claim. You can read the post here. Basically, Mandi bemoans the rigid judgmentalism of … [Read more...]
Why Using a Slow Cooker Makes Me a Better Mom
“Really, Haley? A better mom?” you ask. Folks, I’m serious. Here’s the deal: 4-5pm, when I’m trying to prepare dinner, also happens to be the hour of the day that my kids suddenly NEED me. Baby Lucy decides that not being held is some kind of baby torture and grabs my ankles and bawls. Any other time of the day I would gladly just scoop her up but when I’m sautéing onions in hot bacon grease or … [Read more...]
East Hill Honey: Get Delicious Raw Honey and Support a Great Kickstarter!
I wanted to share a great Kickstarter project that my lovely musician friend Colleen Nixon introduced me to: The East Hill Honey Project, a North Florida family-owned apiary providing pure, raw, unprocessed honey through sustainable methods. Because I don't process sugars well, our go to sweetener is local honey and Daniel really wants to keep bees next year so I was immediately intrigued by their … [Read more...]
I Hate Asthma
Just a quick note to ask for prayers for our sweet 3-year-old Benjamin Bear. He started having trouble with his asthma last night and after two breathing treatments, I took him to the pediatrician this morning who promptly had him transferred to the hospital. He's wheezing, coughing, and having very labored, fast, and shallow breathing. The Dr. at the hospital is getting him set up with an IV of … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Nurture Positive Body Image for Your Daughter
I’m not an expert. My daughter’s a baby and whether she’ll turn out to have a positive body image is yet to be seen. But, I’ve learned a few things about the challenge of nurturing a positive body image over the past two and a half decades from growing up as a girl in our weight-obsessed culture, watching my mother thoughtfully and intentionally raise me, and as a ballet teacher seeing … [Read more...]
GIVEAWAY! (NOW CLOSED): Penguin Clothbound Edition of Pride and Prejudice
Well, it's high time for a giveaway! Due to the flu bug hitting our house, Lucy getting pneumonia, and Benjamin having asthma attacks...it's been a pretty lousy past few days. We're still kind of under the weather and Lucy is still coughing, but I think we are at least on the mend. But wow, with two sick kids and a sick mama...mark down yesterday as a big, fat mothering fail that included tears, … [Read more...]
Lucy Pneumonia Update
Thanks to everyone whose been praying for Lucy! She seems to be fighting the parainfluenza bug and the bronchial pneumonia really well. No fever so far, praise God. And she's been sleeping upright in her bouncer to help her breathing. I wasn't sure if we were going to get any sleep last night since she was sniffly and since she's used to sleeping in bed right next to me and would have to … [Read more...]
Wanted: Your Natural Cold Remedies
Ironically, I'm a little bit awesome at going through childbirth without meds, but I'm a complete baby when it comes to dealing with the excruciating condition of having a cold. I think Raleigh's final words in this clip kind of sum it up: That little Tenenbaums reference was for my big brother who HATES Tenenbaum references. Just a little sibling banter. Cute, right? First Benjamin got … [Read more...]
