Kat from Inspired to Action shared this Taylor Swift video recently and having never seen it before I was moved to tears. Not only is it a beautiful tribute to Taylor’s mom but the words of the song can be meaningful for any parent.

A family friend just lost her newborn twins, another has been diagnosed with cancer at only 11. I am too often reminded that these children are not guaranteed to me forever. I can only give them my very best and try to make each day their best day.

Being their mother is what I wanted most, deep inside my heart and I get one chance to do this dream job of mine right. While they may be too small to remember actual events, this stage in their lives will leave an imprint on their soul. They will forever carry with them how I made them feel.

Did I light up when I saw them?
Did I look them in the eyes and squeeze them tight?
Did I walk with patience and grant them grace?
Did I love them well?

Some days aren’t easy. There are days filled with one unexpected twist after another. Then there are the weeks when everyday feels like one of those days. The weeks we barely get through.

Those days will happen. Those weeks will too. Chaos will come our way, but the beauty is in the effort. Perhaps, the best thing we can give them are memories of a childhood filled with the pursuit of best days.

Nothing to see here… move along! This post is just my crazy attempt at winning a $4700.00 mattress from We Are That Family. It required a photo of the current mattress and what the mattress would tweet if it could.
Mine would tweet this…
“I support co-sleeping just not ALL that comes with it. #eww”
Yep, I just posted a photo of my naked mattress online. Apparently I’ll do anything for a fancy new one!

Happy Birthday to my handsome, hilarious, hard-working husband!

Note To You: The husband just emailed me to tell me that this picture makes him look like he um… partakes in illegal activities. I explained to him that the selection of photos of the two of us lately is very slim. I won’t be taking it down but I will explain the photo. It was actually taken about 2 weeks after our son was born at my birthday dinner, hence the the overlytired look of sheer exhaustion. You know I wasn’t posting the photo of the two of us taken on the same night! No, I decided to spare you my zombie look and just share his.
Note To Self: Take more photos of the two of us. Ones where we have had more than 2 hours of sleep and can actually hold our eyes open!

Here’s what’s cookin’ at our house this week…

Sunday: My husband made the most delicious vegetarian fried rice. I only wish we had leftovers for tomorrow!
Monday: His birthday! If all goes as planned I’m going to wake up early and make my him a vegan take on his favorite cookie. For dinner we’re headed to my moms.
Tuesday: My take on the California Pizza Kitchen Waldorf salad w/ Roasted Cauliflower
Wednesday: Seitan Lettuce Wraps from the Peas and Thank You Cookbook
Thursday: Summer Succotash Quesadillas
Friday: Black Bean Soup w/ Rice
Saturday: Roasted Chickpea Fajitas

What’s cookin’ at your place?

Get ready for a photo heavy post! Mostly taken with my phone, which explains the poor quality. I read on another blog recently that the best camera is the one you have with you. So true. I’m trying to stop saying I wish I had my camera and starting to just get out my phone. A phone quality photo is better than no photo at all.

Introducing mad baby. A face I see a lot. Poor little man’s belly hurts. :  (

 I was cleaning out the coat closet and and she found her winter coat from last year. Despite my attempts to explain that it’s August and still too hot she insisted on wearing it and zipping it up. All. The. Way. Up.

This is our new big bear friend. Emphasis on BIG. We live in a small townhome and Big Bear is 5 feet tall!  He was given to us recently by my best friend’s mom. Although he is in the way and takes up space equivalent to an extra person, she is smitten with him so we’re making it work. Notice she’s still wearing the coat? Yep, she wore it all day. 

My sweet boy at 1 month old, deep in thought. We went out to lunch this week for the first time since he was born. My Dad took us to our favorite local place. My usual there was an egg or tuna salad sandwich so I actually had to read the menu this time and hunt for a dairy free option. In the end I enjoyed a salad with cranberries and almonds that was delicious. 

 Bath time last night.
When I told you she always wears her sunglasses, I meant she ALWAYS wears her sunglasses.

This beauty showed up at my door yesterday and I’ve been anxiously awaiting it’s arrival. I checked and double checked on it’s location all week as it headed my way from Sacramento.

Let me just tell you the 9 tray with the 26 hour timer is huge! When they say it is the size of a microwave they mean it is the size of a microwave. As soon as I opened it I loaded it up with apples. They finished this morning and we love them. We’re thinking about trying pineapple next. More info and photos to come! 

 There’s a crazy storm brewing outside due to the approaching hurricane. We are pretty stocked up on food and we picked up diapers, wipes and nursing pads this morning. The essentials. Hopefully Irene doesn’t stay too long and calms herself down as she heads farther north.

Happy weekend friends! And for all you east coasters, stay safe and dry!

I’ve been talking a lot recently about the new eating habits at our house. Not only have I gone vegan but the whole family is eating healthier. Dinner in particular at our house was a bit of a disaster. To be honest with you it was something I dreaded everyday. Often a cause for tension in an otherwise happy home.

We’d buy the same staple ingredients each week at the grocery store. Lots of produce, avoid the junk, mostly shopping the perimeter of the store. We were buying healthy but not buying many ingredients. When it came time for dinner I was left trying to make something out of nothing. By the time I finally did get it together we were all overly hungry and cranky. Peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti, grilled cheese, pancakes, waffles, quesadillas, chili. Rinse, lather, repeat, again and again. Vegetarian done the wrong way, until I started menu planning a few weeks ago.

There are multiple ways to menu plan but recently I’ve been using Plan to Eat and I’m loving it. I started out with the free 30 day trial because I hesitated to pay for something I thought I could do myself. After 30 days of using the program I was sad for it to end and began to seriously think about purchasing. After a week of being without, we decided it was essential!

It’s easy to use, which is key for me. I don’t want to spend extra time trying to learn to use something to save me time. It allows me to create a recipe book with my own recipes as well as import more from internet sites. The best part for our family is the grocery list. Once I set our meals in the calendar, the ingredients are automatically added to the list. This means I get exactly what I need to make delicious meals and nothing I don’t, which ends up saving us money. It has saved my sanity, helped get a variety of healthy dinners on the table and in turn made my husband very happy.

Are you looking for an easier way to menu plan? Take a tour of the site and see what you think!

err Tuesday…. wait it’s 12:05 at night, so Wednesday. Oh geez…better late than never right? A post that I began on Monday is finally being posted 2 days later. Welcome to my new life with 2 littles! Anyway here’s what we’re eating this week.

Monday: Black Bean Burgers, Mushroom Rice, Peas
Tuesday: Quinoa Stuffed Peppers & Roasted Cauliflower
Wednesday: Noodle Salad With Peanut Mmm Sauce
Thursday: Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
Friday: Roasted Chickpea Tacos

If you’ve never had roasted cauliflower please click the link above! You won’t be sorry. I was not a big fan of cauliflower before but I think I’d only ever had it raw. After tonight I can say that I officially love it roasted. Super simple. Really delicious!

We are eating soo much better around here. The thing that has amazed me the most is we’re eating better but actually spending less at the grocery store. I’ll be back tomorrow to tell you why and share exactly how I’m doing my Menu Plan. For now I need to get some sleep!

Although long over due, The MamaZine finally has a facebook page! I wasn’t sure if I’d like having one more thing to keep up with but I now think I might enjoy it more than twitter. I like that it not only helps to keep readers updated but allows me to connect with them as well. You  can click on the links in this post, the facebook icon at the top of the sidebar or the facebook “like box” about halfway down the page. Hope to see you over there!

And because every post deserves a photo…

We’ve been making a big deal about the fact that at 2 years old she finally has some hair growth coming in by frequently talking about how much we see. I told her to talk to her brother in the bathroom, while I got a shower. She began to rub her head and turn from side to side saying “Yook, yook at all mah piddie hay-a!” As you can tell he’s already thrilled with the first of many girly things she will expose him to. :  )