Jordan and I finally got motivated enough to try making our own kombucha, and we learned a few things along the way that I think all you mamas should know before you try it yourself.

1) That layer that forms on the top is just another scoby, not mold!  When I first saw it I freaked out a little bit and went "Aw man, I'm gonna have to throw the whole thing out!"  Luckily a friend of mine who has been making her own kombucha for years now happened to be over when I went to pull my first batch of "booch" out of the closet to check it.  She said, "Oh, no, that's just another scoby!"  Thank you E, for being there just when I needed you. :)

2) Drinking kombucha is not a good idea while you are pregnant or nursing.  This same friend of mine brought this up, just to make sure I knew.  She said according to Dr. Hale of Medications and Mother's Milk, it is a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, a 5 being the worst!  I was so surprised to hear this, since it is supposed to be so good for you.  Apparently it works as a detox, which is a problem because you don't want to pass the nasty stuff your body is purging on to your baby.  I feel like I want to do a little research on this one, especially since I know so many women who drink kombucha while nursing, myself included!  I'm assuming it would be less of a problem since I'm nursing a toddler and I give some to her in a cup too, and she's only nursing here and there throughout the day, so how many toxins could I be passing her anyway?  And if she's drinking it too, then I'm thinking it's detoxing her body too.

3) Start slow.  Apparently it is a good idea to start with about a third of a cup a day to get your body used to the booch and then gradually increase it.  I had no idea about this one, until I made the unfortunate mistake of giving my 2 year old a whole cup of it.  She LOVES it, and guzzled the whole thing before asking for more.  Well it was obviously a shock to her system, because a few minutes later she thew it all up all over the livingroom floor.  Lovely.  I learned my lesson.

Do me a favor and post either another tip, if you make your own too, or a question about kombucha in the comments below.  I love when we can all learn from each others experiences!

So I set a goal for myself that I honestly thought was completely unrealistic.  So unrealistic in fact, that Jordan and I agreed that I would get to choose our destination for a BIG trip if and when I reached my goal weight (same deal for him reaching his goal).  We figured it would take us so long to reach our goals that we made this deal without even considering the fact that trips cost money that we don't have.  I picked Chile as my dream destination and said I wanted to spend a few weeks in Santiago with friends and then travel south through the lake district and down to the Patagonia, finishing the trip off with camping and hiking at Torres Del Paine for a few days.

Well, needless to say, this trip won't be happening anytime soon (although Jordan did offer to take me to Mobile, Alabama instead - HA!), but I am still thrilled beyond belief that I am actually about a pound and a half UNDER my goal weight!!!!  I find it a little hard to believe.  I had to go out and buy a pair of pants in a size 6 the other day, after a congregant mentioned that my pants were falling down!  A little embarrassing to say the least, but she honestly meant it as a complement - and I took it as such - on how skinny I have gotten.

Now, I'm guessing you're wondering how in the world I lost that much weight.  As much as I would love to tell you that I suddenly got super motivated to exercise and that I work out all the time now, that would be a huge lie.  I do get in about a 15 to 30 minute walk maybe twice a week, but other than that I haven't been devoting any time to cardio workouts.  And no, I haven't been counting calories either.  I eat as much as I want throughout the day, including over eating at meals sometimes.  I eat plenty of carbs too, but just not the empty carbs that I used to stuff my face with all the time.

Here's what I've done to lose the weight:

1. Cut out things that were giving me hives on a daily basis (wheat, dairy, and corn - including anything with maltodextrin on the label)
2. Cut way down on my sugar intake and only eat something sweet if I REALLY can't resisit (plus I started reading every label and I won't eat anything that works out to more than 5 grams of sugar in one sitting, period - so if I have to eat half of a cookie, I eat half of a cookie)
3. Limit my fruit intake to basically a half a piece of fruit a day (I am SUPER sensitive to even the sugar in fruit, so this works for me)

Here are things that have made this become easy... well, easy after the first month or two anyway, once I was over the feeling of withdrawal!

1. Make sure I have carbs with whatever I'm eating so that I don't feel deprived by not eating wheat (examples: rice, quinoa, lentil chips, flaxseed crackers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice noodles, bread baked with almond flour or coconut flour - or sometimes a packaged gluten free bread mix with potato starch, etc.)
2. Unlimited snacking, lots and lots of snacking (examples: cashews, pistachios, almonds, sunflower seeds, veggie chips, nori, rice cereal with almond milk, carrots, hummus or guacamole with lentil chips, peanut butter, more peanut butter, and more peanut butter - I love peanut butter and love to eat it by itself!)
3. Meal planning - this could be a whole other post, so I'll just say for now that meal planning has made it easy to have well rounded/healthy, filling, delicious meals on the table - not to mention how awesome this has been for our budget since we are eating out a lot less now.
4. Knowing which restaurants serve things I can eat that I am also excited about - my favorites are sushi, Vietnamese food, and Mexican fajitas, without the tortillas of course.

When I first decided I was going to make some big big changes in my diet I was completely overwhelmed.  I had no idea how worth it it would be in the end!  I still totally enjoy my food - maybe even more than I used to because I appreciate it so much more now and am completely conscious of what I am putting into my body.  Plus, I feel like I have much more energy now, I feel sooo much better about my mommy body, and I am ridiculously proud of myself for making changes that were difficult but influenced my day to day living (and probably my long term health, too) in positive ways on so many levels.

It just took determination, planning, and of course learning what things would help me stick to that plan.  If you are at all interested in making some similar changes, I hope you will be able to glean from my experience and find what will work for you too.  I bet it'll be totally worth it!

Take it from someone who's been through being a new mom and learned from experience - not to mention heard from many other moms who gave a manual pump a chance, that they would never go back!  From one mama to another: go get yourself a hand pump and stick it in your purse, or your hospital bag if you haven't had your baby yet, right now so you'll always have all your bases covered - at least as far as pumping is concerned!

1. It is just so much smaller and more simple (read: less intimidating to the new - and sleepy - mom in you)

2. Much less expensive than those fancy shmancy electric pumps

3. The learning curve is easier with a hand pump

4. Many women get more milk, faster, with a hand pump than with an electric pump

5. There aren't a bazillion tubes and pieces to worry about and set up before you're ready to pump

6. You don't need to be near an outlet, or use batteries either, so you can literally pump anywhere (Trust me, I've done it - I've pumped in a neonatal resuscitation class because I couldn't miss anything but still needed to pump.  I even pumped in the bathroom in one of my client's rooms while she was in labor - it was great that I could pop in there, pump real quick, and get back to providing labor support in a flash!) 

7. You can pack it in your bag for the hospital so that just in case for whatever reason your baby doesn't get to be with you right away you can already start pumping and stimulating your milk production instead of waiting to see how long your baby will be away and if you're going to need a hospital grade pump.  Also in case it takes your busy nurse a while to get an order for a pump from the hospital, and then even longer for that pump to end up delivered to your room

8. If you are super engorged and so your baby is having a hard time latching, it is much easier to just grab your hand pump and express/pump a little milk to soften your breast just enough for your baby to be able to latch, instead of having to get your whole electric pump out and set up and ready to pump, with a hungry and crying baby right there waiting for his lunch

9. The first few times you are away from your baby for a few hours, toss your hand pump in your purse and take it along with you just in case you unexpectedly get painfully "full" or end up out longer than you expected.  Having that pump right there with you allows you to be so much more flexible without having to lug around a whole other bag with a heavy electric pump and all its parts and pieces (not to mention find somewhere discreet and comfortable to plug it in and pump wherever you happen to be)

10. You have direct control over how fast or how slow to pump.  The rhythm you find yourself pumping at may even be more similar to your baby's sucking pattern, so you could get more and better let-downs of milk than you might with an electric pump where you have to just keep playing with the settings

11. Whenever you travel by air and need to take your pump along, you can have your little hand pump right in your purse and airport security won't even have to check it out because it doesn't have a motor to make them suspicious

12. You won't feel like you're being "milked like a cow" because you'll be the one in control and doing the actual expressing/pumping

13. If you end up actually NEEDING an electric pump because you and your baby are unable to nurse and you are going to spend any time pumping exclusively, you'll want to be using a hospital grade pump anyway, so you'll be glad you didn't spend the money on a regular electric pump that's just going to sit in your closet (at least that's where my electric pump now lives - and yes I did need a hospital grade pump for the first week or so of my daughter's life)

If you're like me, you'll try your hand pump once and never look back!  If anyone had told me to just get a hand pump in the first place I would have skipped the electric pump altogether and maybe spent the money on something more essential (or more cute and fun!) instead.

Click here to see the hand pump I have.

Here's the one I might get in the future.  Not the best reviews in the world, but I've seen it in action and want it!

I'm just gonna say it.  When it comes to working out I'm just plain lazy.  There's always some excuse... I ate recently and I'm still too full, I'm afraid my knee might end up hurting and I just can't deal with that today with all the things I need to get done, my toe still hurts from the other day when my daughter dropped a can on it, I'm gonna get all sweaty and I don't know if I'll have time to shower until after Daliya goes to bed tonight... I could go on and on, but who really wants to hear all my excuses?

Well I came up with a solution just now... out of necessity really - or at least that's what I'm going to call it! (I came down and tried to put the TV on to watch during my workout, but the language menu is over the entire picture and I can't seem to figure out how to get it off!)  I can't just be in my head for an entire 45 minutes without anything to watch or listen to now can I? ;)

Yesterday it would have just been another excuse to skip the workout.  Today it forced me to come up with something else to do while I'm on my elyptical.  I'm blogging!

Yup!  That's what I said, and here's how I decided to do it: I just opened up a blank email on my phone, put my own email address in the send to box and "workout" in the subject line.  Then I just started typing my post as an email that I will copy and paste later on... sometime after I get that much needed shower in!

So if you're thinking about how you might apply this in your own life to get motivated and get on that workout machine you have sitting there collecting dust, I'll get you started:

• Respond to that email you've been putting off cuz you think it'll take longer than 3 minutes to write and send

• Blog if you blog

• Jot down (in an email on your phone of course) some of the new, cute, or silly things your little one did in the last few days (or weeks) since you last worked out or worked on your scrapbook - wouldn't it be a hoot if these could end up overlapping?  Well it could happen if you make it happen!  And you'll probably even look back and thank me for the idea years from now.  You're welcome in advance! ;)

Ok, so just typing thus far has taken me over 20 minutes - the absolute minimum I ever work out (if you don't count the zero minutes when I make excuses - ha!)

You might be thinking, "well that's a great idea and all, but why would I waste my time typing something up on my phone that I could OBVIOUSLY get out ten times as fast if I were typing on an actual computer?" 

Here's the thing, if I had gone and sat down at my computer to type a post or a list or whatever on there because it would have been easier and faster, I never would have ended up working out this morning.  Trust me, I can guarantee that.

The extra work, the slower pace, and the distraction were totally worth it.

If you're tempted to take my advice and try it, just do it!  I dare you mama!!!

It can be really hard for kids when they go from being the center of attention to the big brother or big sister.  It is even harder when mommy needs to sit quietly with the baby for what feels like (and often is!) hours and hours throughout the day to nurse. 

This is often the hardest part of the day for a big brother or big sister, and moms are always searching for ways to help their toddler or older kids feel engaged and loved during these times.  Not to mention ways to combat resentment and desperate attention-getting tactics.

Here's something you can do:  put together a nursing basket for your toddler or older children to take out whenever you are nursing the baby.  Just gather a few special toys - maybe even a babydoll for them to "nurse" too - and put them together in a basket that only gets to be out and played with during nursing time. 

If you want, you can include some books and toys that you can join in with while you nurse, but make sure that anything you include that requires you to engage is something you are happy doing (and able to do one-handed!) while you nurse your baby at the same time.

Until I was well into my 20's and already out of college, I had no idea that anyone opted out of getting vaccines.  I guess I thought literally every single person in the US gets vaccinated for anything and everything they have the option of getting a shot for.  Kinda sad looking back that the topic was never even mentioned growing up. 

I remember getting my first shot in the series that's supposed to protect against (some strains of) HPV and therefore lower your risk of cervical cancer, but before I got the next shot, I started hearing all the talk about the dangers of this particular shot and all the women who have had terrible terrible side effects.  I decided not to get the other shots in the series.  For me, the risks outweighed the benefits.

Now, I'm not here to convince anyone one way or the other about whether they should say yes or no to vaccines.  This is really a serious topic and I think there is a lot more to the question, so giving a yes or no answer is just not that simple.  New parents ask me my opinion all the time, and I honestly tell them that I can't give them my opinion - if the topic is pulling on them then they need to start doing their own research and making informed decisions that work for their own family. 

They might decide to do everything that's offered to them, they might pick and choose what they are comfortable with, they might decide to do an alternative schedule with their children, or they might decide to bypass vaccinations altogether.  It is none of my business what their personal choices are.  They have a right to make the decision for themselves and their families.

Here's the thing though... I do believe in educating people.  That's what I'm all about - educating new parents and supporting them in their decision making processes.  So when I came across this link this morning, I thought that I should share it.

The article has 8 great questions that you should ask before and after a vaccination.  Even if you have made up your mind and know what works for your family, you'll probably still get something out of this list of questions - I know I did!

Here's the link:
http://www.nvic.org/Ask-Eight-Questions.aspx 

Warning: If you had low supply issues please just skip this post so you don't end up hating me!  My experience was just on the opposite side of the spectrum.

So by the time I had my baby and started breastfeeding, I had probably assisted somewhere around 100 women in breastfeeding their babies.  Most of these were initiating breastfeeding on the first day of the baby's life and then a follow up, or 2, or 7 all within about the first week.  I felt like I was pretty prepared (although, maybe I'll write about my initial challenges in another post soon) but there was one thing that I just didn't see coming:  he Niagara Falls of the voluptuous mother.  Now, first let me tell you that if you're pregnant and you think your boobs are out of control humungous on your particular body right now, you ain't seen nothin' yet!!!

Hopefully, for your sake, you won't get too engorged after you have your baby because that's just no fun - it hurts to touch, not to mention the kind of yucky feeling that you get if you happen to get that low grade fever along with the soreness.

Anyway, when I was engorged all I'd have to do was accidentally touch my breast and then both sides would just start flowing... and when I say flowing, I mean FLOWING.  If I wasn't careful I'd have milk EVERYWHERE.  I remember getting undresed to take a shower one day and just on my way to the shower from the bedroom I literally left a trail of puddles of milk.  It got a little ridiculous!  I soon realized that I just shouldn't take my bra off because the pressure of the bra and nursing pad was what was keeping me from feeling like a constant leaky faucet. 

After a while I figured out that I had an overactive milk ejection reflex coupled with a hindmilk/foremilk imbalance too, and that was part of the problem - and also why Daliya's poops were so green and foamy (check out what I like to call Dr. Gordon's Poop Page - this is really an incredible resource for new parents).  Once I started nursing her on one side for multiple feedings before switching to the other breast, the engorgement got worse for a day or 2 and then got soooo much better! Plus Daliya's poops normalized and she was happier too.

From that point until Daliya was probably practically 6 months old I just kept wearing my nursing pads and figuring there was nothing I could do about the leaking from one breast whenever Daliya nursed on the other one.  I figured, hey, this was better than leaking all the time and like a floodgate was constantly open like had been happening before.

Somehow no one thought to let me in on this little secret:
You can stop the leaking!  And it is so easy too!!  Whenever you have a let down on one side, if the other side is even partially full, chances are you will have a let down on that side too - which is great if you are nursing 2 babies at once and one is a weaker nurser than the other - but if you only have one baby to nurse, you wonder what to do about that other breast!  Pressure is the answer.  Now, let me be really clear here... I don't mean really strong pressure on your breast or nipple, cuz that is just not pleasant at all when you have milk in there, plus could potentially encourage plugged ducts; I just mean enough pressure to stop the flow in its tracks.

I still do this to this day.  I just put my forearm against my breast when I feel the let down coming and rest the palm of my hand on my upper chest for a minute or two until the let down is over.

And the really really cool thing that I learned recently about this is that when you have that let down, but then the milk has no room to come out, it actually gets pulled back up through the ducts and back into the deeper part of your breast, so you won't have to feel super full on that side until the next time you switch to that side to nurse.

If you have a similar story or other tips for moms with an abundant supply, feel free to post in the comments below.  I  love to hear from all you mommies out there!

Disclaimer: I AM NOT A DOCTOR and I do not pretend to be one.  I AM NOT GIVING YOU MEDICAL ADVICE.  I simply think that this is all good to know so that you can feel more informed and at ease when your kid falls and hits her head.  Because she will.  Or he will.  And not just once or twice.  Trust me.

Until this week I knew nothing about concussions.  In fact, I knew less than nothing - I had misconceptions that I'd learned along the way somehow.

I thought you shouldn't let a person fall asleep if you suspect they have a concussion, and that you should look at their eyes to see if their pupils look like they're the same size.  Wrong, and wrong.

Here's what I learned from the doctors and nurses this week:

- It is fine if they fall asleep (on the way to the hospital, for example), you just don't want to let them sleep and sleep and sleep before you've figured out if they have actual swelling in their brain that could cause long term damage or death.

- Not every concussion is a real problem - there are minor concussions and there are major concussions.

- When they look in their eyes they are looking more for normal reaction to light than to the size of the pupil itself.  If one of the pupils is not responding appropriately, one side of the brain is likely being affected.

- If a child is under 6 months old, they are more likely to get a concussion from bumping their head and careful observation is extremely important to figure out the severity (they may keep them in the hospital for observation).

- If a child is acting "intoxicated" and really not themselves, this is a sign of a concussion.  The same goes for if they are acting intoxicated and then lethargic, or are mixed up and not responding well verbally - this indicates a big problem and you need to seek IMMEDIATE medical attention.

- They'll tell you if your child passes out or vomits, this is also a sign of a more severe concussion.  However, sometimes the vomiting doesn't happen right away.  If it doesn't happen right away and your child is acting otherwise completely normal, it is after vomiting 3 times that you should be heading back to the ER.

- If it has been over 24 hours and your child has been acting completely normal but then starts vomiting, it is a good idea to still go in and have your child evaluated, but it could be something called post concussion syndrome - something that can happen after even a mild concussion, where vomiting and headaches can continue sporadically for weeks or even months after the initial injury!

- If you suspect a concussion, chances are your doctor is going to tell you to go to the ER because your child may need some kind of brain scan to check things out.  All of the doctors we talked to this week recommend avoiding doing this scan on children unless a severe concussion is suspected - severe enough that it might require brain surgery to remove a clot or somehow otherwise relieve the swelling... I didn't get all the details on this one.

- If they do decide to do brain imaging, be forewarned that they will probably have to put your toddler to sleep to keep her still.  And also know that the scan does expose your child to radiation - that's why doctors are so hesitant to recommend it unless they are very concerned and think your child is going to need surgery.

- When in doubt, go to the ER.


Daliya apparently has this post concussion syndrome - that's why she vomited 9 times in less than an hour but is acting fine again.  They sent her home and aren't too worried.  Nonetheless, this mama is still a little on edge keeping a very watchful eye on my precious lil' girl.