So this post this week is going to be sort of a reflection post. In the past few weeks I’ve come across a YouTuber named James prigioni. You could say that I’ve been inspired by the knowledge of his food Forrest. Well, this past week he inspired me in showing that even he can make mistakes or have problems as someone that has been growing his own food for years. We are all human and constantly learning.
Over the course of this past summer I’ve learned a lot about what I can improve on with growing my garden. For one thing don’t keep on transplanting plants or fertilizing them too early cause they may die faster. That’s a mistake that I did twice and my basil suffered because of that. I’ve also learned to properly trim my cucumber plant so that I can get a good harvest. I learned that one this past week. I’ve also learned that even though it looks half dead that it can still have a comeback like my green bean plant. I’m still getting a good harvest out of my green beans. I love growing my own vegetables and I love blogging about it. One thing that James prigioni taught me is that no matter if you are an amateur gardener like me or have lots of experience like him that mistakes and disappointment happens.
This is what my green bean plant looks like now. now is really pumping out green beans!This is what my cucumber plant looked like a few weeks ago. Since then I have really trimmed back my plant.
Overall, I really do enjoy it. It’s something that I take pride in and I hope to someday to inspire people to garden themselves. If you don’t know who James is and have not seen any of his videos then please go to his channel on YouTube.
So before the pandemic, actually, long before the pandemic I used to be a certified lead Montessori guide. I had to stop teaching due to some health issues and make a career shift. However, that’s a story for another day though. Anyways my husband and I always talked about putting our son in school from a young age way before he was born and this pandemic hit. I’ve always wanted him to go to school at a young age because of the benefits of social interactions at a young age.
You might say that he is too young or that you should have someone watch him. Or that you don’t think that he should be in school because of the pandemic. Well, right now we do have someone watching him but because he hasn’t been around many kids we still decided to put him in school. For us we had to weigh out the pros and cons.
For a lot of mommas like me this isn’t a easy decision. For some it maybe because they have no childcare while they work. For others it might be the one time of day where they can have time to themselves. You might also say that you shouldn’t put him in school cause of the new variants. Well, news flash you can’t predict where a virus will be and you certainly can’t shelter kids for the rest of their lives. I know that he will thrive in school because of this pandemic he has had to live a chunk of his life a tad bit sheltered. This pandemic has taken away from him meeting many family members and interacting with friends his age. I know that him being in school will have a huge impact on his learning. He will learn many new things and I know that he will make many new friends. As a past Montessori guide I know that a huge benefit to having him in school this young is that it will make him more socially mature.
All throughout this pandemic I’ve worried what will this do to his learning and mental health of staying sheltered. I’m worried what kind of toll this pandemic will take on him in the future. I’ve listed out the pros and cons of having him start school so young. Both my husband and I know that starting him this early as a toddler in school is the best for him. We didn’t make this decision lightly but at the same time we have seen how he interacts with people and we don’t want him to have social anxiety because of this pandemic. I feel that it is important that every parent should make the best decision for their child and not be shamed for it.
I know that this post seems like it’s all over the place with my thoughts about putting my child in school. I just wanted to get my thoughts out their and say that it’s ok to put your child in school or do virtual. You have to do what is best for your child and your family. Like many others I’m so tired of this pandemic and I’m ready to go back to some sense of normalcy.
Ok so since I kinda missed last weeks update I’ve decided to combine this weeks and last weeks updates. A lot has happened since I’ve last blogged. I’ve learned that I’m good in some areas and I kinda suck in others.
Onto the good parts. Well, let’s just say that my green bean plant came back from the dead and now it’s thriving! I’m having so many green beans growing it’s crazy. It’s fuller and thicker. Also a very shocking surprise that I had today was that I had my first cucumber grow! I checked it out the other day and I must have missed it. I do have lots of little ones towards the top but they aren’t growing as well. It tasted very sweet and my husband agrees that it was a very good cucumber. My other plants are growing very well outside too. I have a small variety growing outside that has grown a lot this week. I thinned them out last week so I think that helped a lot.
Even though I had some positives happen this week I also had a major blow happen. I ended up losing my remaining basil plants. I think it had something to do with the fertilizer. It was a good run while I had them but I still have more seeds for more basil plants in the future.
Overall, this has been so much fun for me to do as a hobby. Slowly I’m learning more and more about gardening. It feels great to know that That at least I know what I’m putting into my own body food wise. I think I’ve come a long way with gardening and this is something that I’m going to continue doing.
I have so many things to update you guys on. I have had both good and bad things happen over the course of the week. This week has been a whirl wind of things going on.
So to start off with the bad. I think that I may not be using the fertilizer right or maybe my plants just don’t like it. Every time I fertilize my plants die a few days after. I’ve already lost a basil plant. My plants outside are doing fine but it’s my indoor plants. Not only did that happen but I accidentally killed my large tomato’s. I made the mistake of not putting them in a pot with drainage holes. All the rain last week killed them. I’m so mad at myself for doing that. Also, if your probably wondering why I didn’t post anything last Wednesday it’s because I was sick for a couple of days. No it wasn’t covid and I know this because I was tested. Now I’m okay and almost feeling 100% myself.
Ok so onto the good. Where to start is the question. Well, let’s see my cucumber plant is doing really good so far. No cucumbers but is it growing like crazy. It’s flowering like crazy now. The next awesome thing that is happening is that I’ve got more green beans growing. I’ve seen a difference with those ever since I put the netting on. The new leaves are not as eaten up as the others. I think it took literally a few days for the leaves to be eaten up without the netting on at the beginning. Literally my mouth dropped this week when I saw the green bean plants. The leaves have come back to life and they aren’t half eaten. I don’t think that I will get a lot of green beans this year so I’m probably going to use the seeds for next years harvest.
So what is new around here you ask? You can kinda say that I got bit by this thing called the gardening bug. I ended up also sowing some new vegetables and herbs into my garden this past weekend. I’ve also become inspired by watching some YouTube videos of people who grow everything in their garden and have become somewhat self sustainable. My goal is to cut down on grocery costs. I’m also trying to get my husband, the accountant, into it as well. For one thing I think once he sees that it will make a difference in the long term then he will be more involved. Plus I think it’s a good hobby for us to do both together and eventually with our son. However, I also like the fact that it gets me focused on something other than just being a working mom. I don’t have to think about work and it is relaxing for me after putting my son down for bed. Plus it counts as a workout for me too.
So what new crops am I growing? Well, since our first frost date is for the end of October I’ve sowed crops that I will be able to harvest in about 75 days or so. I mostly tried to put out crops that we eat like cauliflower, lettuce and carrots and more tomatoes. Yes we have a obsession with tomatoes. We have to have them every Tuesday night for taco Tuesday. However, I did try to plant some crops that we also don’t normally eat as well like radishes. I also put in some new herbs such as oregano as well.
Also, last but not least I’m trying out a little experiment of using sandwich bags as a mini green house to make my super sweet 100 hybrid tomato seeds grow. I’m also thinking of maybe trying this on my basil as well. I still have my jiffy plastic container box started but I ran out of starter pods. I figured hey I have soil and I have all these pots why not do a little experiment.
Overall, I learned some new things this week that are both good and bad. I may not be the best gardener but I do have room to improve. I am determined to get my grocery costs low and to eat a over all healthier diet.
So as a new gardener I came to this bump in the road and questioning what is the right way to harvest basil? So I’ve scoured the internet and also asked my father on what’s the proper way to harvest and store basil. These are the steps that I’ve learned on how to do just that.
Materials:
Paper towels
Ice water in a bowl or plastic container is fine
Scissors
Gallon size bag
Basil plants
Step 1: Go through your plant and take out all the dead leaves that have fallen on the soil.
Step 2: Start cutting the stems right after the first node of the mature basil. The mature basil will have two big leaves and two small leaves on it like the one in this picture. You want to make sure you harvest the basil before those two little leaves form seeds. Once it starts forming seeds it will die. Doing this will also help encourage new and more growth. You will see more stems growing and sprouting.
The node is right above my thumb. So you want to cut between where my thumb and where the two stems shoot off of the main stem.
Step 3: once you have harvested your basil go through them and take out any leaves that are starting to become diseased. You don’t want to eat those.
Step 4: cut off and discard the stems of your basil.
Step 5: take your leaves and run them under water to take off any soil or critters that may still be on them. Pat them as dry as you can get them with paper towels
After I harvested one of my two basil pots
Step 6: Put them in the ice cold water for 15 seconds. This will shock them and help stop them from going bad.
Step 7 pat them dry with a paper towel and fold the paper towel with the basil in it and store in a gallon sized bag.
The ones on the left is right after the ice bath and the ones on the right are about to be put into ziplock bags.
Step 8: repeat steps 6 and 7 if necessary.
Step 9 date and freeze your bags for future use.
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So your a new mom or maybe this is your second or third child and you keep on seeing ads for a subscription service called lovevery everywhere. You see it on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. You may have heard about it from a friend, family member or neighbor. As mom to mom or parent to parent I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t think that this was and is a great product. You probably have heard of the Montessori Philosophy by now and that lovevery is started by Montessori parents and lead guides. Well, I am a certified Montessori infant and toddler guide and a parent to a 1 year old and this subscription service is awesome!
I know you probably are thinking that this thing is really expensive or that Montessori lessons are really expensive. While yes this will set you back $40 a month, however, it is well worth it. For one thing it is not as expensive as buying Montessori materials on your own. Which is way more expensive then buying this subscription service. For another thing is that these materials that loverevery uses are really durable. They have literally survived a dog accidentally chewing on them. The Montessori guide in me also loves that it has a book that teaches parents how to use the materials with their child and what activities they can do to help shape their child’s mind and body.
My son loved going after the wobble ball!
Another reason that I love this subscription service is that it breaks up your child’s monthly milestone ages. This is partly so that parents don’t get overwhelmed with each of the products and that they can learn where their child is at developmentally. This really benefits first time parents. They will send you a new box with the next level of materials every 2 months for your child’s first year of life. You may think that the first box isn’t worth it but it really is. My son loved looking at the back and white cards and the back and white ring and ball set. The black and white cards in the first box helps the child with their focus the first few weeks of life as their eyes are adjusting to their environment. It may not seem like a big deal to first time parents but it is a lot of work to learn to focus to a small infant.
My son is focusing on a black and white spiral image.
The one thing that I really love is that it feels like I can bring a part of my classroom materials home. I have used many of these items in my own classroom. So if you can’t afford to have your child in a Montessori class then this is the next best thing. Seriously as a Montessori guide this is a awesome product. Their are specific lessons that give your child the sensory experience of feeling different textures and doing different tasks that use their hand/ eye and hand to hand coordination. One lesson that I love that they have and that I’ve always loved having in my own classroom is the object permanence box. It not only teaches them cause and effect but that an object will continue to exist even when it can no longer be seen. Another lesson that my son really loved when we got our first suscription box was the crinkle paper book. He absolutely loved looking at all the colored fabrics and feeling and hearing the crinkle paper.
The last reason that I love this subscription service is that many parents including myself don’t always really like loud plastic toys. My son is more so engaged with the lessons that lovevery provides than with the electronic toys that he received at his first birthday party. In fact he has a bunny that sings songs when you press its hands or feet that he absolutely hates. Montessori and the lovevery lessons provide opportunities where the child can play and learn independently.
I really do think that this is a great company! This is my honest review of this company. I and many other of my fellow Montessori teacher friends love this product. Montessori should be available to everyone. In fact the children that Maria Montessori first taught were children that came from the poorest parts of Italy. Also, if you still find that this subscription service is expensive for you then you can always put this on your baby registry.
As a disclaimer I may also receive compensation at no extra cost to you.
One thing about me is that I love to make crafts myself. For one thing it is cheaper and for another I love creating things. In this post I’m going to show you how to make a flower vase under $20.00. This is a fun project to do if you are a college student on a budget, a mom on a budget or someone whom loves to brighten up their space!
The next thing that I did was I grabbed and bought my items. I found these two tea light jars and this tin vase. As a tip you can use the tea light jars for Halloween because they are kind of see though. The next item that I bought was the foam insert for the tin vase. This will help you with having the flowers stay in place. The next items that I bought were the fake flowers of course. I bought a variety of different ones in different shapes and sizes.
After I bought my items I then went home and went to work putting everything together. As you can see I cut the stems down to fit the flowers into the tea light jars. I will warn you that it does take a little bit of muscle and power to cut them. I always put the tallest flower in the middle and the shortest in the front. I also twisted the flowers around each other so that it covered gaps and so that the flowers we more spread out.
Overall, I really loved how it came out! This is a project that will not only brighten up your space but also on the plus side you don’t have to worry about killing plants.
Disclaimer: Their are affiliate links that I may or may not receive commission on at no cost to you.
So when my son was born I thought I knew it all when he was a baby. I had ten years of experience of teaching infants and toddlers. I thought I was so ready and prepared. Little did I know that his first two months were also the hardest.
When you become pregnant as a new mom you get all sorts of different advise from everyone and you read tons of books and blogs and you might watch a ton of YouTube videos. I thought that I had it all planned out because of my background in education. Well, none of it prepared me for the first few months. Yes even if you are a teacher yourself nothing will prepare you for your own child.
Nothing prepared me for the first month when he had tummy and gas pains. Almost every child gets this the first month they are born. It’s like buying a brand new house that has just been built. You hear all sorts of new noises and are praying that you don’t have a blocked pipe or a over flowing one. You want everything to run smoothly.
The first few days he had jaundice and it took his little system a while to start moving. That was a contributing factor but when he started to wake up and cry randomly at night we realized that something was not right.
I went through every possible scenario. At first I thought it was my breast milk. Then I thought it was the supplemental milk, which we changed anyways, and then I thought it was the bottles. I was also even pumping(bicycling) his legs to different songs and rhythms after a while to keep it fun and interesting.
I knew it wasn’t my milk because he was fine during the day when I gave it to him. However, at night he would wake up and scream a few hours after drinking the supplemental milk. So then I changed him from similac to enfamil gentle ease. He seemed better but still was getting bad gas pains. If you are going to supplement or skip breast feeding altogether then get the premise bottles and not the powder. You have to be careful with the powder and adding in water because even though you can put in the right amounts you can still make more or less formula in the bottle. Down below is what I used for the pre-made formula.
So finally I thought it was the bottle. I noticed one night that he was literally putting air into the bottle. So I did my research and the first switch that I made was from advent bottles to the anti colic Philips bottles. I thought that it would be the end of that. Nope! I was wrong again! Those didn’t work either. So I then did more research and found dr browns bottles.
Finding those bottles was like the heavens opened up again! He cried a lot less and was so much calmer! I’m saying this because sometimes it can be so simple such as a bottle switch. I thought that buying philips was the way to go because it was a wide nipple and a better fit. Boy was I wrong!
I sure am glad that I switched. He became a happy little camper and to this day at 13 months old he now opens his mouth up wide for that bottle. Figuring these little guys out is like a jigsaw puzzle and once you find that one piece that fits then it all comes together.
Overall, if your baby has colic it might be that they need to switch formulas or to a different bottle or even both. Just remember momma you got this and this too shall pass!
So this post is going to be for those new mommas who just had a elective c section or a emergency c section. I just wanted to get this off my chest and say that baby is going to come the way that it wants to come. Ok rant over. So now you are probably thinking what items do I need or need to get for my c section recovery ?
First, I just want to say that I was an emergency c section baby and my son was sort of an emergency c section. What I mean by sort of is that I literally told the doctor at the beginning of my pregnancy however he wants to come is fine by me. So with that being said I kinda packed for both a vaginal and C section birth and afterbirth. The items that helped me out the most both during and after are below.
1. The first item that I bought is depends underwear. Those are literally the best things that mankind ever gave to women. The amount of blood you will pass after is unreal. It doesn’t matter if you had a c section or not. I bled for weeks and I kid you not that those hospital pads or pharmacy pads will not help you one bit. In fact here is a little secret. I still use them at night because I hate waking up finding out that I bled through. Not only are they comfortable but now they have different colors and designs.
2. The second item that used were hot/cold packs to help with the pain near the incision site and the cramps that happen afterwards. You will have some cramping happen afterwards. These will help with some of the pain you will have from the doctor stitching you up. This is especially helpful to have after the nurses check out your stomach.
3. The third thing to have handy in both a vaginal and c section are compression socks. If you end up having a c section you will be in bed until the day after surgery and until after all the medications have worn off. Not only do they keep you somewhat warm but they are good to have if you have had any serious health clotting issues in the past. I had these on the whole time in the hospital.
This picture is from my own c section.
4. Most of all have a helpful and handy support system. You won’t be able to move the first day or two so having someone to help with diaper changes is helpful. I have to brag on my husband as a new father he was a rock star while I on the other hand was not in any shape or form to get up and move.
Overall, that baby is going to come the way that it wants. It may not be the way that you envisioned or liked but having these things with me helped me a lot. Honestly, I would 100% do a c section again.
