August Heat

So it's about halfway through August and it's been one heat wave after another. But my garden melons are lovin' it, and I'm anxiously awaiting their ripening.
Kid news: We've decided to homeschool Tristen this year. He's been asking to be homeschooled since last year let out, so we did a trial run for a couple weeks and he LOVED IT. Mainly because it was finally up to his math/science/reading levels. So, I'm jumping in with both feet and have read about 11 different "homeschooling how to" books to get a good feel from a number of different sources. Not to mention the web research. I don't mind the "work" at all. It has, in fact, rekindled some personal interest in all subjects. I use to LOVE doing math problems in HS, and learning different aspects in the science field . . . can't wait!
Rowan is saying some funny things as of late--course i can't think of any of them as I type, that would be too easy. But we seem to have a good laugh almost daily. She's doing really well with her reading and can now read about 20-25 words. Can't wait til that "click" happens in her brain and she starts learning words at a fast rate. Will be interesting to observe.
"Shelf" has gotten a bit less active--running out of room I suppose. I've been trying to drink green juice with cucumber daily, to help with stretching and hopefully "unstretching" after the birth. I'm not due until mid September, but am hoping s/he will arrive early as Daddy is big, and Rowan weighed 10.1. Fine for the hospital, but at home I'm aiming for a bit smaller, so the sooner after 38 weeks, the better. I still haven't gained much weight wise--about 3 pounds total--but I measured my bust, hips, theighs, etc. and have lost a few inches, around 6 or so. Interesting. And if there's anyone else who reads this blog that had a raw or mostly raw pregnancy, I'd love to hear about your weight gain etc. and how baby turned out.
Any hoo, here's to a quick and fairly painless labor and a happy, healthy babe! (holding up a cup of cuke-celery-apple-ginger juice)
~~~Sharilyn

Meanderings

A million thoughts. Getting ready for baby. EC. Cloth diapers. How come I'm not gaining much weight (although no question about girth!!!!LOL.)? Sleeping w/o Rowan coming in to sleep in the wee morning hours and ''squishing" the newest. Laundry to do. Tristen back from his dad's for 3 weeks, 10 lbs heavier, not a damn thing i can do about it. Green smoothie, anyone?? Will Rowan be O.K. or overly jealous? Will I be able to deal w/ the sleep deprivation and a 3 year old on top of a newborn? Water birth? Stop worrying, already!!!!!
At least I'm not worried in the least about the whole giving birth part, oddly enough. I've been able to picture laboring in the upstairs hall and my bedroom right from the get-go. Then the idea of setting up a birthing pool in the kitchen, or possibly giving birth in the play room (there's a futon in there to lay on) downstairs occured to me. But absolutely no hesitation of homebirth, or fear for myself or soon to be #3. Not worried about pain, bleeding, nothing. I know everything is going to go great.
So what am I eating for babe today??
Since Tris just got back from his dad's and needs (IMO) to detox a little, he's green smoothieing and I've decided to join him. We'll also juice, and have fresh fruit and veggies to snack on this evening and tomorrow.
Breaky was:
green smoothie w/ fresh picked collards and peas from the garden, b-nas, apple, MSM, and barly juice powder. Made enough for lunch, too.
Also have fresh picked cuke and g.beans tossed with a hint of olive oil and sea salt to chew on. (I LOVE YOU GARDEN.) We'll be making some agave-raspberry-lemonade as well, maybe into popsicles if Tris wants. I picked up some more frozen fruit for smoothies today, as well as canelope and mangos. The raspberries should be coming soon, and I NEED to call my blueberry lady to see if they're ready for picking (I'm not familiar w/ blueberry timeframes). OH, almost forgot about mulberries. Those should be ready too.
Sorry if i'm rambling and hard to understand. My time's up, anyhoo.
~~~Sharilyn

Ranting

Before Dad's: about 54 pounds and healthy.


After returning from dad's for 5 weeks: 72 and 1/2 pounds!

Well Tristen is home from his 5 week stay with his dad—over which time his dad fed him junk, junk, junk. He is now 18 pounds heavier than when he left. Holy Mother of God. I am so sad and so sick to think that a parent wouldn’t think that that’s unhealthy—nevermind the whole meat and dairy and cooked everything. Jesus f-ing Christ, that’s a 33% weight increase in 5 short weeks!!! That’s like a 150# adult gaining 50 pounds, or a 200# adult growing to 266#s!!! Tristen went from 54.4#s(fully clothed) to 72.4#s (in underwear). His chin doubled and he has a gut and love handles. Not healthy for an 8 year old boy!

The “best” part is there’s nothing I can do. The courts don’t have a say in what you feed your child—yet I’ve read horror stories about how CPS will jump in and take away your kids because you feed them a healthy, full of vitamins, raw organic fruits and vegetables diet. But feed them McDonalds and Burger King and keep them obese like most of America and you’ll be just fine. That’s fucked up!

I’m done. I’m sick to my stomach and so upset. Time to make juices and smoothies.

Rater,

Sharilyn

Happy Mom’s Day

Goji babies!

Hope all you mom’s did exactly what you wanted today. We were outside most of the day morale hunting and enjoying the sun.

Garden news: I dug the Jerusalem artichokes up ---I planted 3 tubers last fall. Three. Tres. Toi. I dug up . . . around 30. I hope I got them all. I’ll be replanting a few out in a separate area. Talk about invasive!! Perhaps I’ll move my mint over with it. The mint shoots along in the top three inches of soil, while the Jerusalem artichoke tubers grow about six inches down, so they sort of compliment each other.

Tristen has finally gotten his garden dug and planted. He’s growing: 16 carrots, 9 spinach, 9 radish, 1 fennel, 9 bush beans, 1 popcorn, 2 cucumbers, 1 tomato, and 4 basil plants. This is all planted in a 9 square foot bed.

The strawberries aren’t doing too well—I wondered when I saw the rootstock if I should return them. Perhaps I’ll try seeds yet this year. 5 of the 9 blueberry/raspberry bushes haven’t leafed yet. X yer finga’s for us.

Beyond food stuff: I’ve been working on a shade garden under the two big maples. I’ve split 4 large hosta into at least 50 plants, maybe more. I’ve added some transplanted wood ferns collected from the forest, and have recently found columbine as well, so that will be added soon. I have 8 seed trays holding between 30 and 40 seedlings each coming along, and I can’t wait until I can have cut flowers for the table (and for salads) every week.

Morals abound. The family’s collected over 10 pounds this season, and as none of us really eat them, they’ve made great gifts for neighbors and friends. Tristen found an extremely large moral this week—as big as a dollar bill. Kudos kiddo. What we haven’t given away, we’ve dehydrated to pass along later.

Other activities: Soccer season in here, and this is Tris's first year at it. He does well, particularly as goalie, and is picked often for that position. It’s so entertaining to watch all the kids running after that little black and white ball!

Rowan and I often go foraging in the woods. I'm trying to identify as many potential wild edibles and herbals as possible, as well as locate any thing else of interest--Like the fort on the top of the hill (really just a deep ditch surrounded by shrubs) which Tris has claimed as his own.

Hope you're keeping as busy.

~Sharilyn

Raw Creations Now Available

Finally!!! I've opened accounts, formated, linked, figured out configurations, etc. to make Tristen's book Raw Creations From a Seven-year-old available to anyone interested. Yeah to me!! I didn't think there would be that much new stuff involved. I'm still not sure if I'll be notified of purchases or not, so be sure to shoot us an e-mail that you've bought it to rawbabyrowan@yahoo.com and we'll make sure to send it to you ASAP. Just click on the Buy Now button under the book pic over on the right. And please allow up to two weeks for delivery. Yeah again!!!

On the home front: I'm actually about to research some garden info, run to the garden center for supplies, and get to digging some spots for all the berry bushes. It's been drizzly the last couple days but hopefully the weather will cooperate today and tomorrow. (I heard on the radio that it might hit 20* again. Eek.)

No major food creations as of late. The kids and I have been chowing on lots of strawberries and grapes as they were ON SALE. I attempted to do a liver-gale bladder cleanse and follow with a fast, but unfortunately the cleanse produced some severe detoxing--major migrain, so I continued eating to slow the toxins. (It helped a lot.) Got a ton of gall stones out though. Yeah! Some were almost black--yuck--which means that they've been in there quite a while. Glad they're gone. Won't miss 'em either. So, I'm giving my bod time to detox a bit more, then off to fast again--without the liver cleanse this time. Yes, spring is here.

~Sharilyn

Tristen’s Birthday!!!

Well, my baby boy turned 8 yesterday. Hard to believe it’s been that long since I was huffing and puffing him out for 4 ½ hours. 28 ½ hours of labor total, plus the 4 days of serious recovery time! Certainly worth it if you ask me, though if we do decide to have another baby, I hope a raw diet will lead to a much shorter labor and delivery!

Tristen had his slumber party, though only one other boy could spend the night. Chatter chatter until 11 P.M. The boys made pizza for dinner, as requested by Tris. It was fun watching them mold their own dough. Turtle cheesecake for a b-day cake. Not raw, but that’s O.K. Unfortunately come Monday morning, Tristen wasn’t feeling so great and stayed home in bed. He got lots of fresh veggie and fruit juices, and started doing much better. I’m repeatedly amazed at how healing juices are. Time and again they’ve done the trick when an illness was coming on. Having Tristen get sick after eating dairy, meat, and bread, and then get better eating raw certainly helped reinforce the notion that dairy, meat, and bread aren’t good for you!! For him as well as for me. Now that’s a great gift!

I’m hoping to be able to upload some photos of the party this week as last week’s wouldn’t configure. We shall see. I think I either have a bug in my software or this new memory stick is not such a great item.

So here’s a little bit of wonderful that I want to share about Tristen:

He’s kind to others.
He’s so empathetic—such an amazing trait in such a young person.
He is extremely helpful, and always lends a hand if I ask without so much as an “in a minute.”
He’s honest, and tells me things that he did that maybe he shouldn’t have, even though he knows he’ll probably get in trouble.
He’s so creative!!!!!
He’s loving, often being the first to say, “I love you.”
He’s the most intelligent boy of 8 I know—it will take him far in life.
He loves to climb, and misses the little red maple he used to shimmy up and sit in for hours at our old apartment.
He’s the most caring of big brothers. Ro-Ro talks about him every day and can’t wait for him to play with her.
He’s the reason that I know what unconditional love is. (That’s the big one for me.)
He’s the beautiful blond in my life (lord knows where the hair color came from) that I would do anything for.
He believes in himself, and encourages others to reach their goals too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISTEN, AND MANY MANY MANY MORE HAPPYS TO COME!!!

~Sharilyn