We’re Still Here

Wow, it’s been a long time! I’ve missed this space so much in the last few months, but can I just tell you how good it has been to round out my life and take the time I needed to do things like clean my house, teach my children, and only cook and eat what was absolutely essential? The time away has left me so inspired and full of ideas that I don’t even know what to do with myself. I have so much to catch you up on, but let’s start with the obvious.

Meet Wilder. We call her Wiley. Or Smiley Wiley. Or Cry-ly Wiley.

She is an honest to goodness dream baby yet she’s still been turning my life upside down for the last six months. Are we birth story people? I’m not sure if we’re there yet in our relationship, but I really do love talking about it so if you want to know all the gory details, just ask (spoiler: it went great).

Just after turning two months, a tiny little eczema rash on her face turned into a full blown weeping, bleeding sore that left everyone we saw asking what was wrong with her. Our oldest boy had a similar rash when he was a baby, we never knew what caused it, and it took him over a year to grow out of it. Being slightly more educated now I was convinced it was food related (that is, what I was eating, since she is exclusively breastfed).

After some experimenting I discovered that if I wanted the rash to go away, or at least stay somewhat under control I would have to cut out dairy, wheat, eggs, and chocolate. That is on top of already eating a vegetarian diet and cutting out black beans because they were making her scream bloody murder. It’s been a rough couple of months, but I’m happy to say I think she’s grown out of it.  I’m hoping to devote a post soon to that entire experience because I think I learned some really useful things about nutrition and the power of food.

This homeschool year went great. We took at least six weeks off after the baby was born, and just finished up for the year. But guess what? We never stop learning. We’re growing tadpoles and going on hikes and reading all the books. Have you read Watership Down? Ohmygosh. We need to talk.

Without the creative outlet of blogging, I was burning out pretty fast after Wiley was born. She and I were able to sneak away for a little weekend getaway in Minneapolis where I basically ate chocolate chip cookies and looked at art the entire time. It was fantastic and I hope to do something like this at least a few times a year once I’m able to be away from her for longer periods of time. Of course it is so important that you know about the chocolate chip cookies at Patisserie 46, the ice cream at Sebastian Joe’s, and the knock out room service and BOOK BUTLER at The Commons Hotel.

Lola has been getting so tall and old I just can’t believe it. She is an amazing big sister and can be genuinely helpful with the baby. Having four kids is it’s own kind of difficult, but some parts are definitely easier now that the “big kids” are older!

Casper turned five recently and continues to slay in the fashion department as well as be the silliest kid ever. I made him a cookie cake (that I couldn’t eat because of the whole dairy/wheat thing, *sob*) because he doesn’t seem to really like cake, and he still just ate the frosting and left the cookies behind. Yet he’ll eat four bananas before breakfast and devour an entire apple, core and all, any chance he gets.

Strummer has been out of control adorable lately. He and Wiley have developed a really special relationship as the youngest in the family and I look forward to them being able to play together more.

As I look at blogging going forward, I’d love to know what you want to see. My passion is for food, but I spend most of my time homeschooling and parenting. So the question is, do you want to see posts diving into my experience with homeschooling? Or just keep it strictly recipes here? Please let me know and be brutally honest because as much as this space is for me, it’s also for you!