Happy Holidays to YOU!

ST/OT Graduation

We had Owen's 6 month review with his ST, OT, and the qualifying agency Alta Regional this week. Since Owen was 10 months we have been getting services, as Owen showed a 1/3 delay in more than 2 areas of development. We are pleased to report that he does not show enough delay to qualify for services! We could not be more proud. It was so amazing to read in print:

"Owen has become an oral eater."

WOW!!!!!!

We are a bit sad, as we have developed relationships with his therapists. Amy was coming once per week for an hour session. 

She got to be quite popular in our house, Owen seems to think she is coming over every day.

 Owen's first encounter with brussel sprouts. He had fun peeling the layers off. I found a big stem at trader joe's and it was quite a hit. He scored at the 33 month level for Cognitive development, wahoo! He scored at 30 months for fine motor skills, and 24 months for gross motor. These were both expected, as his fine motor has always been a little ahead we think due to him having to sit so long for feeds we always gave him something to do with his hands. The gross motor is also no surprise. Crawling at 11 months and then walking at 19months gave him a later start to it all. He also is a little uncoordinated with jumping and rolling over. These both require a lot of core strength but he is still improving.

 In the mouth...

 A little bitter face but he shoved it in.

 Yup, down the hatch.

 MMMMM. He ate a whole one that day, and continues to enjoy them raw.

 He is improving on self feeding. This was on halloween. We used food coloring to make it orange and more fun. He scored at the 24 month age range for Self Help scores (at 28 months). This includes dressing, feeding, etc. This is below his age but still acceptable and not considered delayed.

As far as speech, Coleen assessed him as meeting most of his goals and/or the skills are emerging. An example is circles of communication. It's like ping pong, how many times can you go back and forth? At the time of answering the questions we thought it was two circles, for example:
Two Circles:
"What are you doing, Owen?"
"I'm just playing with my cars."
"Which one is your favorite?"
"Lighting McQueen."

We are finding that if we expand our questions he expands his answers. He is also asking a lot more questions. That was another area that the ST looked at, his ability to answer & ask Who, What, Where, When, and How questions. Pass!

He still is working on his aversions. This is his pumpkin gooey face. The fresh fruit palate now includes fresh apple, and that is all. He will drink a fruit smoothie as long as the predominant flavor is strawberry. That is a vehicle for many other fruits and vegetables to get into his belly.

The tube is still in place. We need at least 6 months of solid eating and growing. He takes his 1/2 baby aspirin by mouth daily most days without a fuss. He has a selective diet (what toddler doesn't). Here are his acceptable foods:

Protein/Fat-
Chicken nuggets ("chicken toast" we call em)
Cheese
Nuts
Falafel (hasn't in a while, but enjoyed "bean toast" for a bit)
Bacon
Fried salami or deli meats (to get them crunchy vs moist)

Starch-
tortillas
bagels
bread
chips
cereals
noodles (very selective, ravioli a few times in decent portions!)

Vegetables-
Carrots (disguised in a quesadilla)
dehydrated peas
dehydrated corn
(All listed below raw and likely right off the plant outside)
sage
basil
kale
spinach
parsley
brussel sprouts

Fruit-
apple (sliced very thin with a peeler)
apple juice
fruit snacks
dehydrated fruit/ fruit chips
everything else in a smoothie

Dairy-
yogurt
small amounts of milk

I can't believe how long this list is! It is so fun to watch him add food to the list. He still struggles in learning about his hunger cues, and doesn't always know when he is hungry. He needs constant encouragement to stay attentive with meals, and sometimes needs to be fed.

Sadly we are saying goodbye to our awesome therapists, but we have learned so much. We are forever grateful to our therapy ladies, so glad to have them in our lives.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia

Last week I decided to harvest the chia seed from the plants. I had finished the actual chia plant harvest 

about a month ago, and the "heads" of the plants have been stored in open jars to continue the drying process. We hadn't grown chia before, so the learning curve was steep...

 Here are the dried heads I call em.  They are so poky, even when fresh. When blooming they have beautiful but small indigo flowers coming off of them. They remind me of artichoke plants but much smaller and pokier. OUCH.

 I started this process by shaking the jars. It worked a little.

 Then I would dump the jar upside-down to empty the seeds out.

 After blowing some of the husks off of the top of the seed collection, this is what they look like. A little lighter in color than those purchased in stores.

My whole yield was 1 TBSP. Although I am proud of it, that 1 TBSP came at a cost of: 2 seed packets, 20 feet of garden space, quite a few chia splinters, about 30 minutes of harvest time, and about 20 minutes seed-harvesting time. 

Granted, I didn't really know what I was doing. Afterwards I learned some cultures swat the plant with a fly-swatter. This method did not sound appealing to me, and I'm not too sure how effective it was at actually capturing the seeds. For seed spreading I get it... But really?

Why grow or eat chia?

Dr. Oz said to. Kidding. This one gets me every time. He really did say that you should. I would love for people to take me that seriously! But I'm not writing this as a shout out to Mehmet. Chia really is good for you. The seeds have ample quantities of Omega-3 fatty acids that are good for us for many reasons, anti-inflammatory mainly. The neato thing about these (versus the very popular flaxseed) is that they don't need to be ground. They also have a hefty amount of fiber which is pretty good for bowel health. (Fiber can work both ways on our digestive system so caution here if your bowels are sensitive.)

What's in chia?

Here is an approximation of what's in 1 TBSP:

70 calories

5 gm fat 

5 gm fiber

3 gm protein

How to eat chia?

They have some flavor dry, but I don't recommend eating them this way. I make a pudding or eat them mixed into oatmeal or sprinkled on yogurt.

Here is the recipe for the "pudding":

(if you don't like tapioca I'm not sure you would enjoy this)

Adapted from Whole Foods Chia Pudding--Serves 6

2/3 cup chia seeds

2 cups milk or milk substitute

1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp maple syrup or both

Combine

Mix

Mix again later (takes at least 30 minutes to thicken)

When thickened, serve and enjoy

Cost

After growing and harvesting these little super seeds I can see why they are $8 a pound in the store. For the record, I do eat chia seeds on a fairly regular basis, but not daily. 

Yum Factor

I just made a single serving of the pudding above with the bountiful harvest. Although I feel like a glutton the night before Thanksgiving, I am going to enjoy the entire chia harvest anyway. 

Trip to So Cal

Mama had another getaway... I can't believe it! I went down to the Los Angeles area to visit my old friend Shannon. I haven't seen her since right after she had her first kiddo. We have kept in good touch, chatting on the phone every week or two. We were pregnant together and we would compare weight gain, growth, etc. It was such a blast to catch up.

 Meet Brooklyn, 4 days older than Owen.

Here Is Brooklyn, 2 and Anaya, 5,

I also had plans to see another friend get married. It was a busy weekend. On the way there we saw a pretty impressive show on the opposite side of the freeway. We were grateful that our side stayed open, and it seemed to be pretty well contained. 

 Mama's are ready to go to the Hilton in Universal City.

 Lacey and I did our RD internship together. We bonded and spent a lot of time together that year. I've missed her so, and we have kept in touch via snail mail, calls, and facebook. I was honored to be a part of her wedding. It was a beautiful traditional (I'm pretty sure..) Jewish wedding. I know it was a Jewish wedding, but as far as traditional, ??? I have never been to anything like it before, it was quite awesome!

 Pretty!

 Under the Chuppah

 Lacey and Alon had such a fun time up there, even with the tears.

 Gorgeous!

 The night was so fun, I think a traditional American wedding could stand to improve a bit... Once the couple was announced for the reception, we all went straight to the dance floor and danced together. Talk about high energy! The live band was fantastic, and played an eclectic mix of traditional songs and 70's funk. We danced a few songs around the couple, then went to our seats for the salad. Then, off to photo booth or dancing for a few more songs. Then dinner. I loved the pace of this, it was unique and unexpected for us. Thanks to Shannon and Marvin for picking me up/taking me to the airport, letting me stay at your home, and for being my date (Shannon!). I had a blast!

Lacey was stunning of course. The wedding was wonderful, truly fun and beautiful. I can't wait to hear about Thailand and see you again soon!!

75 degree November

I just spent a decent chunk of naptime in the garden. The tally was a little premature, as I harvested another big haul today.

One surprise was 3 decent English cucumbers, which stopped bearing about 2 months ago. Score!

I purposefully tried my best to clear the zinnia patches of flowers and buds in preparation for the coming cold front. I made quite a dent but there are still at least a hundred left.

Blessed with our abundance!

Garden Tally 2012

 This post always takes a while to put together, adding up my totals, possibly weighing some items, and of course doing math. Never a strong point of mine- the ole numbers game- but I enjoy them regardless. Adding up all the fruits of our labor is quite a treat.  The platter featured above is a September tray for a birthday party. Homegrown except for the center dip, artichoke and red pepper dip.

We purchased most of our seeds this year from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed company:
http://rareseeds.com/. We made our first trip to Green Acres and had a wonderful time despite none of their plants being organic... We purchased some tomatoes and eggplants from Green Acres and called it organic from then on!

This year I attempted to become extremely organized. I measured out each of the 7 rows into 12 foot sections, and marked them off with paint. Then I planned out what was going to go into each block. I used some crop rotation techniques from How To Grow More Vegetables, by John Jeavons. The idea is that certain crops deplete the soil of certain nutrients, so by planting the same plants in the same spots, year after year after year, the soil would be low in certain nutrients. It is usually applied in larger scale farms, but let's face it, this is a big garden! This guide I crafted rode frequently in my basket to the garden, and was used by garden helpers on planting days. I stuck to it, and also wrote down the days I planted, when the seeds germinated, and then ready for harvest. It was getting pretty trashed, eggs cracking on it and such so I stopped bringing it with me. Not sure where this ratty thing is now, but I'm sure its around here somewhere. 

This plan worked out very well. All but 2 blocks were planted and crops growing in the sections. I also labelled each section with a reusable marker. I did have a garden gnome who would assist in moving these markers to make life a little more interesting.

Here is the list of crops and the loot results:

Eggs: 4-5 daily since 3/26, ~800 eggs, ~70 dozen

Purple Carrots: ~9#

Broccoli: 4 smallish heads plus 10 shoots

Snap Peas: 4 pounds of sweet snap peas

Leeks: 12

Radish: 20 bunches 

Red Onion: 25

White Onion: 15 small

Garlic: 25 small

Romaine: 15 heads

Mustard Greens: 20 bunches

Cilantro: 8 bunches

Fava Beans: 10 beans  :(

Dill: 20 bunches

Parsley: 62 bunches, and still going strong!

Red and Golden Beets: 20 single beets

Russet Potatoes: 8#

Fingerling: 4#

Red La Soda Potatoes: 6 #

Sour Tree Cherries: 3#

Plums: 12#

Chard: 3 bunches

Zinnia: 300 single flowers pink and green

Sunflowers: 45

Dino Kale: 30 bunches

Dwarf Kale: 25 bunches

Tomatillos: 250/30 green baskets

Green Zucchini: 22

Lungo Bianco Zucchini: 65

White wonder cucumber: 32

Lemon Cucumber: 60

English Cucumber: 30

Lemon Summer Squash: 45

Soy beans: 3 cups

Blueberries: 4.5 cups

Large Yellow Heirloom tomatoes: 25

Cherry tomatoes: 32 green baskets

Bull's Heart tomatoes: 25 medium

Okra: 125 pods

Black eyed peas: 4.5 ounces dried beans once shucked by O and I (seemed like it should be more!)

Holstein beans: 1# dried beans once shucked by O and I

Green Pole Beans: 20#

Dragon Tongue Bush Beans: 16#

Lemon Basil: 5 bunches

Basil: 40 bunches

Canteloupe: 2 small

Watermelon: 2 small

Spaghetti Squash: 8

Pumpkins: 2 (2 still growing)

Gourds: 2

Acorn Squash-3

Eggplant: 65

Roma Tomatoes: 8 green baskets 

Amaranth: Many large heads that proved challenging to harvest. Still have a grocery sack in the garage waiting to be harvested.

Hot peppers: didn't tally

Marigolds and Cosmos galore

That's a lot of food...

Where did it all go?

1. We ate it fresh! Owen could be found eating the small green beans off the bush or stuffing his mouth with basil. I made a few dishes like lasagna, eggplant parm, and lots of zucchini soup when we had a surplus and froze them.

2. I Canned it~ Tomatillo salsa, green beans, okra, plum preserves

3. I Froze it~Green beans, hot peppers, kale, pesto

4. ISold it~ I did an unofficial CSA to see how it could work... It was pretty fun for me, yet challenging to coordinate garden loot, Owen, and delivering the goods. I made some "Farm Money" I called it, to go towards either next years seeds or reimbursing ourselves for this years. It was really fun and I appreciated my customers! 

5. We Traded it~ Traded eggs for citrus fruits, veggies for canned applesauce, veggies for flowers

6. We gave it away~ You can't charge your mom or mother in law you know! Every year I check into donating to the local soup kitchen and I get a bag together and then someone comes to the house. I don't like letting anyone leave empty handed who makes the trip to see us. 

7. We fed it to the chickens~ half eaten by critters, freezer or fridge burned, it all goes straight to the chickens. My compost bins are slightly neglected since our chickens get all of the veggie and fruit waste now. 

Every year we learn so much and want to change it. I don't think my crop rotation efforts will be needed next year. This was too big of a garden for Owen and I to manage once Chris got us set up with the drip system and tackled the weeds. The harvesting is my favorite but it takes a lot of time. I started going to the garden once Owen was asleep at night (clad in my headlamp) or during his nap with the monitor blaring across the property. I feel like we can grow the same amount of food (or more) in a smaller space. The garden is CONSTANT entertainment. That is the beauty of it. We don't go to the park on a regular basis because we spend so much time outside as it is. I'd be rich if I had a dollar for every time Owen has fallen in dirt, picked up sheep or llama poo, said "Mama carry you (me)",  said "More basil mama," and us changing >3 times per day due to mud/dirt/sweat/dinge. We wouldn't change it though. It is easy to spend 2 hours outside daily, and to get things done in the high season it is a minimum of 45 minutes per day. 

This zuch plant was gifted from our friend Jason, a fellow gardener. Today I noticed 5 more about 4 inches each. Hope to harvest before the rain comes again.

The Bull's Heart tomato.

These zinnias seemed so slow to get going, but I picked 25 more today! They are still thriving and there are so many more blooms. I guess I will try planting them earlier next year.

So there you have it, the garden tally blog. I have mentioned that we are still getting loot. My basket was full today but I didn't include it in the tally. Eggs, green beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, zinnias, kale, and parsley. The only produce I have been buying is mushrooms, when you don't grow it you seem to crave it! Guess I will start looking into fungi.

UCSF Holiday Toy Drive

Our loot collected last year

It's that time of year again. The last 2 years we have gathered toys and delivered them to UCSF for the children who are hospitalized over the holidays. UCSF is very near and dear to our hearts (literally!!) as we spent 2 months there the first year of Owen's life. The Child Life program is fantastic, but like all wonderful programs, they need help. The first year we mailed a large box to SF, and last year we had to take our truck down to the city to deliver the goods! It was so much fun to bring family and friends together, and then deliver the toys.

Since we have ~1.5  months (no planned date yet to deliver), if you see any items on the wish list while you are out and about, go for it! I have been keeping my eye on items from the last year for when they go on sale.

Here is their wish list and rules:

Child Life Department 

Toy Donation Guidelines

These guidelines help to ensure donations are appropriate and safe for hospitalized children. Please follow these guidelines when selecting items for donation.

• Because of infection control issues, toys should be new. 
• Please do not wrap gifts. 
• No stuffed animals. 
• No weapons or violent games of any kind, please.
• Please make sure that glue, paint, markers or crayons are non-toxic.
• No latex balloons.

Greatest Needs____________ ____           ____________ ____________

* Teen items * Light spinners * Video games, E or E10

* Fisher Price doctor kits * Interactive noise and light up toys * Batteries (especially C)

* Art supplies, art kits * CDs (children/teen music) and CD players

* Fisher Price Little People * Books/CDs in Spanish, Russian, Arabic Chinese

Toys/Gifts

These are some ideas and suggestions for different age groups and activities.  

For infants:  nesting cups, plastic rattle, crib mirrors, clothes, white noise machines, texture balls, infant clothes, play mats, plastic crib mobiles.  

For toddlers and school age:  small cars and trucks, pop up toys, interactive toys, playdough, Brio and plastic train cars, musical instrument kits, musical toys/instruments, all-plastic multicultural dolls, plastic animals and dinosaurs, bubbles, board games, stickers

For teens: gift cards (I-tunes, Best Buy, Amazon, Xbox Live, Play Station, etc), art/bead kits, journals, headphones, backpacks and purses, make up kits, baseball hats, board games, sports balls, DVDs, perfume/cologne, video games 

For parents and families: scrapbooking items (HP photo paper and HP Printer ink #110, Pioneer 8x8 scrapbooks), novels, magazine subscriptions, toiletries, word games/activity books, phone cards, food/entertainment gift cards, individually wrapped snacks

For Creative Arts Program:  tabletop easels, modeling clay, paint set, drawing pads, bed easels, art store gift cards, small portable music stands, beginner level instructional books, portable digital recording devices, guitar picks

Thank you for your interest in supporting the children, teens, and families at 

UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

 If you have any further questions please contact Audrey Muntz at (415) 353-1203.

You can contact me: chelsea.britton@yahoo.com or via facebook to meet up/collect toys. Or leave a comment on this post.

B-O-D-E-G-A

 On our way to our annual family reunion trip to Bodega, we stopped back in Petaluma. The Wild Goat Bistro is our new favorite, and they even served up lunch on Blue Willow plates. Grammy used to always serve meals on them as well.

 Owen ate some breadsticks and a few slices of bread, which is pretty cool that he can enjoy something when we go out as a family (not very often!)

 If he only knew how often he has been weighed...

 We stayed at the same house as 2 years ago, which I think has the best views.

 There was a lot of snuggling and couch time.

 And basket time

 We celebrated Kim's 50Th Birthday with a shutterfly book Brian made her and homemade cream puffs.

 It was good to see college Bryce.

 Savannah has a way with the kids.

 Hat's off to a great trip!

 Pat a cake with Auntie Wyntie.

 The coke people

 More couch snuggles- Elise and Uncle Brian (Owen says Byron)

 Owen couldn't get enough of his cousins, loved playing and snuggling dawn til dusk!

 Elise and Owen played Kitty cats, meowing throughout the house. They are ~2 years apart.

 My boys sure love the ocean.

 Beautiful succulents on one of our many walks.

 Marsh and I  on a jaunt.

 He loves the beach, could play for hours!

 Family pics

 Mixing up the cream puff batter

 They were so good, and a decent size too.

 COUSINS!

Uncle Chris with one of the kitty cats. By the end of the 3 days Owen was calling Chris "Uncle Chris" since he heard it so much.

This tradition started before my parents had us kids. They would go camping with the Leins side of the family every year. Then Doug and Syl had kids, and my parents too, then The Bowens had the boys. We continued to camp once a year at various locations: Yosemite, Big Sur, Bodega, Dillons Beach, Hope Valley, and Mendocino. As Gramps aged, we started to rent a house instead. It's not as much work, and in theory we all get more rest. It is easier with little kids too, for the most part. Every other year family from NY and TN come as well. We missed them dearly and hope to see them soon.