Little Girls in Dresses, Boys Racing on Bikes

My world is changing as I glance at my youngest daughter in her checkered pink daisy dress and my youngest son wobble walks around.  I no longer really have a baby in the house for the first time in a long time.  It has been years since I have had my whole self.  I am not a feeding station for one baby and a growing station for another.  My thoughts are clearer, but my heart is screaming.  Babies grow faster than anyone realizes.  I never realized that not having another one close to the last would put me in a place many other moms are in after one or two babies.

One forgets that cuddles are a part of life when one has a baby around.  Now my youngest nurses once a day and pushes me away the rest of the time.  This is natural of course.  He has just learned the thrilling skill of walking.  He also knows how to say "No" very clearly.  Baby Isaiah has a voice of his own and he has places to go and things to do.

People still ask me if we will have any more kids.  I always imagined six, though I never wanted to admit that out loud.  In the process of having babies it is easy to miss how amazing each child is.  I was pregnant for years, so I was distracted too.  Each child has his or her own personality.  When I take the time to observe, there are so many special qualities to them.  Joel is my great helper.  He loves babies a lot.  He always helps with Isaiah and begs me to have another one soon.  Ellie loves to chat and read.  She has a secret world that she shows me in glimpses.  Dominic loves to be noticed.  As a middle child he wants to keep up with the older two kids, but sometimes just cannot.  He loves trucks and cars.  He also is interested in lighthouses.  What a combination, right?  Charis is so quiet.  She is the one child that could be missed if one is not careful.  She teaches herself skills and silently keeps up with everyone.  She and Bria are partners in crime right now.  Bria is my main observer.  She tells me what everyone is doing and she clings to my lap more than the rest of them.  Isaiah, as I mentioned, loves to explore.  He is loved by all the siblings and he cannot imagine a world without so many people around.  When the crowd is outside, he goes in search of them.  He has a great ability to speak up and be heard.  What can I say, children paint a lot of color into my life.

"Do you think having kids makes you feel like a real grown up?"  I ask my husband one night.
"Having kids forces you to be less selfish.  They make you think about more than just yourself," he mentions.
"Before I had about three kids I still felt like my high school self," I add, "Now that we have six I don't feel like a child anymore.  They have made me grow up.  Sometimes I am kicking and screaming."
"Even knowing that having kids replaces selfishness, there is still room to grow," Tim adds.
"That is really true," I say, "I would not be the woman I am without all my children.  They have changed me in ways I don't always think about."
"Being a parent is so natural, yet so many of us are afraid of becoming parents.  We don't want to give up what we have for something unknown," Tim states.
"I never thought having six kids would not feel like that many kids.  When did this happen to me," I say.

Both Tim and I look at each other and smile.

"I feel the same way," Tim says.

Family Swim Time

Dominic:  When are we going to the pool?

Me: Probably Friday.

Dominic:  We are going to the pool after nap?

Me: It is Tuesday, not Friday.

Dominic: Is that tomorrow after nap?

Me:  No, in a few days.

Dominic: Okay.

Bria and Charis run down the stairs in their swimsuits, Dominic is already wearing his.

Charis: We are going swimming?

Me: Not today.

Charis:  But I am wearing one swimsuit and Bria is wearing two.

Me:  We are going to the pool on Friday so that Daddy can help us.

Bria:  I am going to the pool!

Ellianna: Not today Bria!

Bria: But I'm going to the pool.

Joel and Ellianna at the same time: On Friday!

Yes, the Ruybalid family has not been swimming all together ever!  The last time I was in a pool we had four kids and Bria on the way.  In fact, I did not know where my swimsuit was.  I thought I might have thrown it out in the trash.  However, after digging in the garage for a week, I found it.  I guess I am not off the hook for the family swim trip.  Cape George pool, here we come.  Six very excited kids cannot wait to spend some time in the water!  I will post more about this adventure later.  

Life As a Script

So I have this idea that I want to try writing in a different way for a bit.  I used to take acting classes as a teen and we were given all these short scenes to work on.  Some were from plays and other scenes were written for the class.  As a culture most of us watch scenes on TV all the time and I realized my life could be like this, right?  I mean how many shows with families have you watched throughout the years?  So here goes.  Feedback on if you like this style is also encouraged.  I am playing with the idea of writing several entries like this.

 Getting into the Library:

Me: Everyone find a buddy and walk across the parking lot.  Remember to look for cars.  (I am carrying baby and a giant bag filled with about 25 pounds worth of books). 

Ellie: Bria doesn't want to hold my hand.

Me: Take Charis' then.

Dominic:  Nobody will hold my hand.

Me:  I will.

Ellie:  Charis won't hold my hand.

Joel:  Charis will hold my hand.

Me: We are going to miss story time if you don't figure this out.

Finally we get to the library and open the door.  I stand at the return book station for several minutes while my kids watch for books they want to renew.

Me: Lets walk into story time (Half my kids walk toward the children's library as I direct them to go into the other shortcut door straight into the room we want to be in.  We get there and take our seats.)

 Lunch Time:

We pull into the driveway and see that Daddy came home for lunch

Me: Let's get out of the car quickly so we can see Daddy.

Dominic: Joel's not letting me out of the car.

Me: Joel, why are you giving Dominic such a hard time?

Dominic: Stupid!

Me: Just get into the house, please.  I still need to make the lunch.

I frantically get Isaiah, Bria, and Charis out of the car as the other ones get out on their own.  It is time to make sandwiches.

Snack Time Yesterday:

Dominic is trying to share my chair

Dominic: Mommy I am going to tickle you and then tickle myself.

Me:  You cannot tickle yourself because you know when you are going to try and tickle.

Dominic: Then I will just tickle you...hehe.

Ellianna:  May I please have more.

Me:  I just made you homemade crackers to go with almond butter and you already ate half an apple.  There is no more.

Joel:  But mom I am always so hungry.  Sometimes in the night I am hungry too. 

Me:  You eat more food in one day than Daddy does.

Joel: But I have a bigger stomach than him.

Me:  Don't you think Daddy has the bigger stomach.

Joel: I use more energy.

So here goes.  I am just warming up.  This could get better because kids are very entertaining and I have six of them :)  Hope you liked this brief experiment.  Any ideas of what you want to know about how things go during a basic day in my life?  Let me know and I may write it out for you.  :)

Diet, Exercise, and a Budget

For those of you who read my last blog post on postpartum weight loss, you remember that I have finished my year with Lindsey Brin's workouts and moved on to...I did not mention exactly what I moved on to.  To take care of my aching feet I looked into yoga.  I found Jillian Michael's "Yoga Meltdown" level one on youtube, so that is where I started.

This workout is great because it is still challenging even though I have been working on really hard workouts for a year.  There is a small amount of movement to add in some cardio, but not a lot.  I added in the Natalie Portman ballet workout, also on youtube as well.  This covered two days a week, Monday and Wednesday.  Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I either took one of these days off or found a ballet type workout on youtube.  I like Ellen Barrett workouts and I used to do some of the Crunch Fitness pilates, so the "Pilates and Yoga Burn" took over one day of the Tuesday or Thursday workouts.  Then I just did basic ballet bar work from when I used to take class a couple of times a week.  One weekend day I pushed myself to run 3.8 miles and beat my time of 38:50.  I accomplished this.  I cut one minute off this time the first try in two years and another thirty seconds last weekend.  These Lindsey Brin workouts have paid off.  The run I do includes four major steep hills and pretty much none of it is exactly flat.  If you live in Port Townsend, I am talking about running all the loops in Cape George Colony.

The results of these two weeks have been great as far as some rest, some added lean muscles, and some cardio.  I have felt great with lots of energy, but not too tired.  With Lean Out (Lindsey Brin) I needed a quick afternoon sleep by choice or not.  I would sometimes just fall asleep nursing.  I think my body needed a break.

In the weight loss game, I have lost not a pound.  I am testing the theory that I might be at a good weight for me while breastfeeding because I have changed a few things to my diet and see little to no change.  I am not gaining weight so that is great.  I don't depend on super tough workouts to say at one weight.  That is encouraging.

Now diet.  How do I even know what to start with.  In the past I tried calorie count, but after several months of this, one basically knows that the extra helping of something will put you over your calorie budget.  There are several fad diets out there and all kinds of books I could spend money one to try and find the one that might make me shed ten more pounds but our budget does not allow for that.  One could search for stuff on the internet...guilty of this.  There is way too much information out there.  Eat fruit, don't eat fruit.  Cut out honey, eat honey.  This is good and this is bad.  Don't you just want to eat?  I know I do.  All the pictures of yummy food don't help either.

My conclusions, there are traditions from years and years of eating that are important.  Eat lots of veggies.  Eat seasonally.  Having a farm share helps us focus on eating food that is in season in our climate.  Make sure the food you get is grown where the soil is not stripped of it's nutrients.  Think about the meat you eat.  Buy meat from good sources even if it costs more.  We have eight people to feed not and we only get a pound of beef for one meal, half a whole roasted chicken (so I can make the rest into soup, or two pounds of fish.  Yes, this is not that much meat, but for quality meat it is all we can afford and I would rather have some than none in a meal.  Each meal is mostly veggies, some rice, good quality pasta, homemade pizza dough, or once in awhile potatoes.  I cook with coconut oil or butter most of the time.  We soak all our grain in yogurt whey.  I personally cut bread out of my lunches recently, partly because I am too lazy to cook bread everyday and because I don't know if I need a bread, pasta, or rice with every meal (some would say you don't need this everyday, but I don't know about that theory either).  Breakfast is usually steel cut oats because it is cheaper than anything else.  One dozen eggs is one meal.  We have my freshly milled pancakes on one weekend day and eggs the other.  As for snacks, we no longer have crackers unless I make them.  I really like making Paleo crackers with almond flour.  These are more filling and taste amazing!  We have raisins, apple, or some other kind of fruit and nut combination for snacks.  Sometime homemade yogurt and honey is great too.  Now that I make all that I can for scratch, I don't feel the need to mindlessly eat all the time.  I am happy with a few homemade crackers because one batch is only enough for one day.  There usually aren't leftovers to munch on later.

There is a jumbled but brief overview of our diet.  We are not perfect all the time.  I buy bread so my kids can have more bread than I feel like making.  I intend to phase this out, just like the crackers.  The family food budget is tight, so I think the more I make, the less we should be spending eventually.  The next step is to get a garden in our new yard that will actually grow us a decent amount of food.  This is a project for next year or later, but I still have a goal to do this one day. 

I just started Lindsey Brin's "Weight Loss" again to see if I can get rid of five pounds again like I did the first time I did this program.  I am doing the weight loss 10K training, so it is slightly different.  So far after four days not change in weight.  We'll see.  Last time I only lost the weight in the first three weeks. 

Homemade Yogurt is Worth the Wait

I remember the first time I talked to a friend about making yogurt.  She brought over some that she had made a few days ago and it was so amazing!  Honestly, I did not like yogurt until I tried hers.  It was sweet instead of sour, with an smooth texture.  This was a few years ago, since I am sure I was either pregnant with Dominic or Charis. 

Soon after this day I went out and bought some yogurt starter and set out to try my own batch.  I had a propane oven that would only go as cold as 170 degrees.  I spent a whole day heating up the oven, waiting for it to be 115 degrees and then putting my culture into the oven in a glass jar.  It felt like forever before there was something the kind of looked like yogurt.  Let me just say, my first batch was not so great.  I tried three more times, but gave up.

Then a month ago a friend and I were talking about making yogurt in a crock-pot.  This is appealing for so many reasons.  One can make more yogurt at once and one doesn't have to devote the oven to a whole day of yogurt making.  I also got a special yogurt thermometer, because I know the first times I failed at making yogurt, temperature was a big part of that. ( http://www.amazon.com/Yogourmet-105-LS-9619-Yogurt-Thermometer/dp/B000N23Q1A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1400882785&sr=8-2&keywords=yogurt+thermometer)

The first time I made my own batch of yogurt I used White Mountain Bulgarian yogurt as my start.  This stuff costs almost seven dollars at our local food coop.  It worked well as a start, but I wanted a texture just slightly less lumpy for my yogurt.  Plus, I wanted a slightly sweeter flavor. 

I went back to the yogurt start I bought a few years ago, I mean I bought a new packet of course.  Yogourmet yogurt start worked really well. 

So how do I use a crock-pot to make yogurt anyway?  I found this great website http://www.culturesforhealth.com/how-to-make-yogurt-in-crock-pot

Then I tried to modify it to work with raw milk.  I only heated the milk to 115 degrees.  This takes one hour in the crock-pot on warm.  Then I added the starter or 1/2 cup of plain live cultured yogurt.  Stir it in well.  Then cover the crock-pot and put at towel over the whole thing.  In about three hours use the yogurt thermometer to check the temperature of the milk.  If it is too cold then put it on warm for about 30 minutes.  Watch it closely.  Turn it off when it is back to 115 degrees.  Then wait. If it is late I night I will just check it when I wake up and warm it up if need be in the morning.

Climates change how long this will take.  It could take somewhere between 6-24 hours to look like yogurt.  There will be some liquid (Whey), but you can save this to ferment oatmeal, bake in bread, or look up other uses.  You don't have to do much.  You can leave the house, but keep checking it when you think about it.  Then when yogurt is done stain it with a cheese cloth.  Then put it in glass jars and cool it.  I have read,  one should put it in the fridge for about 8 hours.  There are cultures that can make you sick if you eat yogurt warm in fermenting process.  Cooling the yogurt in the fridge stops the fermentation process.  Yes, this whole process can take two days.  It is not a quick food to make, but worth it. 

Walnut Tea Cakes

I have been searching for a filling treat that has more nutrients in it than the standard Russian Tea Cakes I used to make with my best friend Carrie in third grade.  This was a Christmas time treat and it was a messy one to make.  We would cover ourselves in powdered sugar, but it was a lot of fun and walnuts taste great in cookies. 

1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of raw honey (we got mint honey from the Yakima Valley, it tastes so great!)
1/2 cup of crushed walnuts
1 cup of almond flour
1/4 cup of coconut flour
1 egg
1/4 cup of crushed walnuts for dusting

roll into 2 tbsp balls and then roll in crushed walnuts.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for around 12 minutes. 

I hope you enjoy these as much as our family does.  :)

My Workout Journey Postpartum