I admit it. I forgot about this blog. I don’t have any great excuses. I officially stopped working in June so one would think that I magically had a bunch of time to be productive and document our ambitious sustainability endeavors. The truth is that I have no idea what I’ve been doing with my time… other that trying to raise a toddler and growing another human.

Koen turned two recently and mamamia does that kid keep me on my toes. He’s extremely active and mostly fun, but he loves testing his boundaries. My sanity is hanging by a thread some days and I’m pretty sure I’d go nuts if it wasn’t for time outs. We’re still using the Love and Logic methods (sort of) and try to calmly sing “uh-oh” when he acts outs, followed by a few minutes in his crib. It is an extremely unnatural reaction for me in most situations, but somehow seems to work really well. It gives us both some cool down time and singing a song when I’m irritated helps me not raise my voice, yet he still seems to get the point.

For Koen’s b-day, we had another low-key, all family party. He loved all of the attention and is still talking about all of the relatives that he doesn’t get to see often. We’re still holding off on introducing K to refined sugar so we skipped the cake and JT created another watermelon masterpiece. Koen LOVED it!



The pregnancy is going really well. I’m on week 32 and am getting a little freaked out that we’re going to have another kiddo in about 2 months! Time has been flying by. Our midwife appts. have been informative and helpful. Midwife C encouraged me to splurge and address my back pain (low baby + 30 lb. toddler = sore mama). So yesterday, I took her advice and got a prenatal massage AND an adjustment with my chiro. I feel like a new woman! I finished Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth last night. I started reading it with Koen, but only got thru the birth stories since he came a little early. For all of you preggos out there, I highly recommend it!

The garden has been doing really well considering how little time I’ve been spending in it. The initial soil improvements and relocation to our sunny, front yard must have been the key. We’re still harvesting spring crops (chard, kale and beets) thanks to an unseasonably cool summer. Our tomatoes, however, are not enjoying the mild, wet weather. They’re looking pretty rough. I mentioned in a previous post that I wasn’t sure what I’d do with our beets, but now that I’ve started roasting them, I’m a big fan.