Turning Two

Our little Oak is TWO!

We started talking about her birthday maybe a month leading up to it…and by the week prior it was ALL she wanted to talk about! Read birthday stories, talk about her cake (what color cake do you want? pupl.). I got new cake pans and gel food dye, pulled out the birthday bunting and we pulled off a great low key party day.

 

Grandparents joined us for a morning at the beach (her favorite thing ever), followed by backyard burgers and lots of purple cake. Presents had never entered the converstaion but she was pretty into them as well. She even has her own harmonica now!

Our sweet girl is so much fun. Super excited to be a big sister (soon!), loves books, music, the beach, kitties and her May May (stuffed bunny). She is super easy going and loves to be outdoors. She loves to tease Daddy about how she does not love him, even through she and him are the best of friends, going on walks and beach adventures nearly every day. Her vocabulary is expanding daily, even though things are still conveyed in single word sentences. Yesterday she very clearly told me: beach. low. wawa. beach. “hey mom, it’s low tide. Time to go to the beach!” (and yes, it was low tide…it is amazing what kids pick up!) “How Bout that?”

We are soaking up our last few weeks as a family of three, and so thankful for our sweet and adorable two year old girl!

Potty Training and Nearly TWO

In April we grabbed a training potty at a consignement store just to have on hand when the time was right. Then on Memorial Day weekend I finally got around to reading the book that had been recommended by a TON of people: Oh Crap! Potty Training.

I quickly realized that the time we were waiting on was NOW, so we devised a plan to start the following Thursday. Key decision: that was our last time slot of 7-10 days with no commitments before a busy summer set in. A summer that also includes a new baby so having only one set of diapers in rotation sounded amazing.

Thursday morning rolled around and we factuatlly stated to our little 23 month old Oak that diapers were done and we were going to use the potty. Hello a few crazy days! I was at work so Matt got the brunt of the first two days: lots of picking her up naked  little self and running her to the potty whenever she started to go. Day three, she was going when we promted her, and on day 4 she took herself into the bathroom and presented us with a poop all on her own!

From there things were pretty easy during the day. We started going back outside (the goal of staying inside was to emphasize the use of the actual potty, not just going when you had to) and every day got a little bit smoother and less revolving around the bathroom. On day 8 we took a road trip to Nana and Gaga’s for the night, which meant potty stops to go in the back of the car, but we had a sucessful no accident trip!

Naps and nighttime were included from day one in the approach we choose, and they are going ok. It means waking up to take her to pee at night, and we have had some misses, but still overall success. (Update: one month later. We thought long and hard about this decision but ultimatly decided to go back to cloth diapers at night. With Oakleigh still in a crib, she was 100% reliant on us to get her up to use the potty at night, which was getting beyond exhausting. We now put her to bed in regular jammies, take her to pee before we go to sleep, and put her in a cloth diaper and wool pants. Every few nights now she wakes up dry, and is already showing improvement with holding it till morning. When she is in a real bed, we will tackle this one again.)

The real payoff is now, two weeks later, when we can go to the lake for the day, have her wear a bathing suit (cutest little butt ever) and not worry about diapers! We have 5 or so more weeks of diaper free time in our house before #2 arrives…but preppring all those cloth diapers has been fun knowing that we only have to deal with them one at a time! The bigger sizes are packed away alongside bigger clothes, and we have a very grown up little girl that is so excited to be a big sister.

How will she be two in two weeks!?

Beach Baby

After the holidays we left the wet and windy PNW and took Oakleigh on her first flight…to sunny, sandy Hawaii!

It was two weeks split between the Big Island (visiting my brother) and Maui. Oakleigh did really well on the flights, slept poorly (as did we) but LOVED the beach, pool and sunshine. It was a much needed break and fun chance for her to get some quality time with her grandparents! We explored the property where my brother and his wife live on the Big Island…picking macadamia nuts, sleeping in the old caretakers cabin, and swimming in a wild jungle watering hole. We also celebrated their marriage with many of their friends and family.

Maui was the vacation part: really nice condo right on the water, beaches and surfing, pool time, and lots and lots of whale watching. You literally could not look at the water without seeing a spout, breech or flipper slap! It was incredible!

Traveling with a baby meant we took things at a much slower pace, scheduling in naps and early bedtimes. The quantity of stuff in tow was ridiculous! We planned ahead, and prioritized lodging where we had a washer and dryer and used cloth diapers the entire trip.

While in Hawaii, Oakleigh was clearly ready to start eating…eyeing and reaching for our food the whole time! But we decided to wait to introduce solids when we got home.

Our favorite moments of the trip were the simple ones at the beach and pool. She loved feeling the sand with her feet. Swimming was a fun experience, and watching us pop out of the water in front of her was met with belly laughs and big gummy smiles.

And the break from work, and the house remodel was much needed.

White Island Christmas

Two days before Christmas, the forecast for snow became clear enough for us to call off all plans where we would leave the island, and made our own plans for a small celebration for our little family of three.

It could not have been more perfect, and exactly what we needed.

We cleaned up the construction debris and decorated the dining room. I wrapped one gift for Oakleigh. Matt and I were not even exchanging gifts this year. Our stockings were hung on the newly installed picture rail in the dining room, empty but festive. Our Christmas tree was a beautiful reminder that someday our house will be back to normal. And we took the opportunity to slow down.

The Feast of Seven Fishes Christmas Eve tradition was replaced with delicious cioppino (with 7 seafoods but a one pot version!), and we watched snow fall.

By Christmas morning, we had a few inches of snow and we spent a slow morning snuggling Oakleigh in bed, watching the snow fall through the window.

Then we made buckwheat pancakes. Went on a walk through the snowy woods. Watched Oakleigh “open” her stuffed bunny (or rather, eat the wrapping paper on it). Listened to our favorite album: Louis & Ella Christmas.

It was the perfect first Christmas with Oak.

DIY Slate Blackboard Countertops – Living with Slate

In March 2016 (way way back!) I introduced our plan to make our own kitchen countertops from salvaged slate blackboards. Well, after nearly a year and a half of other projects, we have been living with these counters for nearly 3 months. The verdict: we could not be happier with them.

The natural grain (we used the natural side up instead of the polished writing surface) is stunning, and is the first thing everyone comments on. We were hesitant about scratches and chips, and so far have had zero issues. And this is in a kitchen that we are using AND continuing to do major renovation projects (ie: tools on the counter etc). We are thrilled.

The slate wipes off like a dream, and we have not had any issues with water, oil, wine or any other substance leaving a funny residue. We still have plans to finish them with mineral oil, but between other projects, cooking dinner, and wrangling a 4 month old we just have not gotten around to it. And they seem to be fine.

We are currently working on cabinet paint and hanging trim. And oh boy does that pull the kitchen together!!! These countertops are the star though, and truly embody the efforts of this DIY remodel.

Progress updates can be found here, here, and here for more details on this DIY project!

Amber Teething Necklaces – Baltic Essentials Review

Oakleigh is now back to waking every 4 hours to eat (totally fine by this breastfeeding mama) and sleeping soundly between. During the day naps are getting a bit longer again too. Everyone is feeling MUCH better with the extra sleep…hopefully this is the end of her 4 month sleep regression!

Another change has been drool. Oakleigh was never a big drooler in her first months, but that is changing. She constantly wants to have her fingers in her mouth (or your arm, or a toy) and SOAKS it in a matter of minutes. Like dripping down your arm soaked.

So I figured it was time to give amber teething necklaces a try. I had always planned to use one for teething, and they are supposed to help with drool too. And fussiness. And they are adorable. What was there to lose? I struggled with growing pains as a kid and they are supposed to help with that too. I would love to have something that gives Oakleigh some relief! These necklaces are not to chew on, they are worn in close contact to the skin and releases microscopic amounts of oil, as it warms with the body’s natural temperature. Baltic Amber contains succinic acid (anti-fever, anti-inflammatory), the compound that gives Baltic Amber teething necklaces the therapeutic quality.

When I went out to pick a necklace I was torn between a solid Baltic amber one and one that also had semiprecious stones. I loved the look of the mixed stones but did not want to lose the effectiveness. I contacted Baltic Essentials with my questions and they offered to let me test them out and share my story!

We choose one unpolished Baltic amber (cognac color), and the other alternating pink rose quartz, green and purple fluorite, and amber. Both are very pretty, but I am partial to the uniqueness of the mix. The necklaces from Baltic Essentials are both high quality, beautiful and arrived super quickly (important when you have a teething baby to soothe!). They were also very helpful in recommending the right necklace for my little love.

how pretty is this?!

I started out with the mixed stone necklace. Oakleigh wears it around her neck, against her skin (it has to have skin contact to stay warm and release the pain reducing acid), and around her ankle when she is sleeping. First off, it looks adorable! She does not even notice having it on. Actually, she likes to have it put on and off because our fingers tickle her chin and neck and she loves it!

After three days, I am not noticing much difference in drooliness, but she does seem calmer. The first day she wore the necklace nighttime sleep was SO much better (this also coincided with her kicking the 4 month sleep regression so who knows, it could have been the necklace, the sleep or just total coincidence! I’ll take it!) Regardless, she does not mind wearing it at all and it looks adorable.

This weekend I am going to swap this necklace out for the all amber one and see if it makes a difference. All amber is supposed to be more effective so I am excited to experiment!

 

DIY Slate Blackboard Countertops – Install

When we embarked on the DIY blackboard slate countertop project we had a general idea of how to do it, but in the end had to make a bunch of decisions, trial and error, research and pure guts.

Step 1: Cleaning the slate

These blackboards were from the 1940s, and had been glued to the wall with who-knows-what adhesive back in the day. Then at some point they had white boards glued on top of them! In other words, a TON of stuff to remove. You can read more about that process here

Step 2: Building the understructure

Just like a tile countertop, we needed to build up a structure for the slate to attach to. This was pretty straightforward (especially after doing the brick fireplace the same way). A sandwich of ¾” plywood, backerboard attached with thinset and screws, and then taping any seams. This flat, level surface then gave us the template for the slate. We took the opportunity to make the new surfaces a half inch further offset from the cabinets below giving the counters a bit more surface area and a more attractive overhang.

The best part of making our our counters is we could experiment as we went, and truly get it exactly how we wanted. If we had ordered them, we may not have been able to look ahead as far to see how we wanted it.

Step 3: Cutting and Installation

We used a borrowed diamond stone cutting saw (like a mini circular saw with a water attachment) to cut the slate. Matt would measure out the pieces we needed, set them up on sawhorses in the driveway and cut away. He scored guide lines with a metal scraper since drawing them on would wash off with the hose water from the saw. He also learned that using a guide was critical. We used a combination of a standard clamp guide from Harbor Freight, and some old trim clamped on with c-clamps to ensure a straight cut. This step required LOTS of patience and attention to detail. There were certain pieces we had picked out for particular areas due to the grain in the stone, so we only had one shot.

Installing the slate was just like large format tile. We used large format thinset and a wide notched trowel. There were some great resources online demonstrating the importance of how you  lay down the thinset and how it impacts the strength of your floor/counters etc.

We set the slate with as minimal of grout lines as possible, starting with the edge pieces. This would ensure that the top pieces would overlap perfectly to create the counter edge. Clamping them in place was critical to ensure they would not slide as the thinset set up.

Look of pure relief when the island piece was finally  installed. This one had a super unique grain patter  and was a complex series of angles to get it cut just right.

 

Once the sides were installed and cured, we could move on to the top pieces.

Step 4: Finishing

After experimenting with some trial pieces, we decided to slightly sand a bevel into the leading edge of the counters. This smoothed out the look of the stone and also should reduce chipping in the future. To achieve this, we used a belt sander to take off a fine bit of slate. It made all the difference in taking this project to a pro level. Some we sanded once they were set, some we did before.

Step 5: Sealing

After reading up on options, we decided to just finish our counters with mineral oil. And well, honestly have not done that yet. We still plan to, but they are performing so well just as they are.

By doing this project ourselves we save a TON of money, got the material we wanted (dark, solid, natural stone), saved materials from the landfill and truly achieved a unique one of a kind feature for our home. We still have a pile of leftover slate so we may do this again for an outdoor kitchen…

Questions? We would be happy to answer them!

Four Month Sleep Regression and the Hype Curve of the Zipadee Zip

Our smiley little love turned 4 months old! She shared her first real laugh that evening to celebrate…and then was engulfed with the four month sleep regression. She went from waking 2x per night to eat, to waking every.single.hour. Oy!

We were happily nursing to sleep and feeding on demand, but I know that she was not hungry at each of these wake ups. In fact, she had pulled plenty of 5-6 hour stretches, and a few 8 hour ones. So it was time to really focus in on getting some good sleep patterns in place.

I tore through a sleep book to brush up on ideas and schedules for some gentle sleep training, and on night 3 of this bad sleep trend we gave it a shot. Nursing to sleep? No more. It was time to try putting her down “drowsy but awake”. I also decided to retire the swaddle since she was fighting her arms when we put her in it. With the endless sleep-helping-jammies rotation we decided to try the Zipadee Zip.

Our sweet little starfish took 12 minutes to fall asleep on night 1. She was happy and content looking at her newly freed arms and hands, and only slightly fussed. Success! I was high on the idea that I might finally get back some normal sleep.

Well…not so much. That first night was still pretty sporadic and LOTS of waking up. Lots of getting up to pop in the pacifier. And then she would conk out for another hour. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Cue the Hype curve. This is totally accurate.

Last night was night 2 with the new routine. And I am thrilled to report that it is going better! 9 minutes, zero crying, and she slept for some 2-3 hour stretches and only ate once. Much happier baby (and parents!) in the morning! Phew. On the slope of enlightenment? Let’s hope so.

I know we still have a long way to go, but a solid bedtime routine, new freedom from jammies, and putting herself to bed have been really helpful as we move into this new phase of life with our little love. And extra bonus: last night was the first time Matt and I ate dinner together, alone, upstairs while she had already gone to bed. HUGE WIN!

Coconut Milk Vanilla Ice Cream (Dairy Free!)

I am on week two of trying no diary. Of course it is fall and that means apple crisp…which is not complete without a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The pints of alternative ice creams at the grocery store were a) too expensive, and b) just not really what I was going for, so I made my own based on my traditional dairy ice cream base, swapping milk and cream for coconut milk!

Verdict: it tasted like frozen coconut cream pie. Heaven! On it’s own it was very coconutty, but when paired with apple crisp resonated pretty true, rich vanilla. I have made a chocolate version that is excellent too.

Coconut Vanilla “Ice Cream”

• 4 cups full fat coconut milk (we use Thai brand Aroy-D cartons from our local Asian market)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp arrowroot powder
• pinch of salt
• vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks

METHOD

In saucepan, heat HALF the coconut milk with sugar, arrowroot powder, and salt until heated through, stirring or whisking constantly (not boiling). Temper egg yolks with some of the hot mixture, and add to pot. Continue cooking until the consistency is of thin pudding. Add in vanilla extract and remaining 2 cups of coconut milk.

At this point I choose to pour the ice cream mix through a mesh strainer to remove any lumps, but this is optional .

Cool ice cream base in the fridge until cold, overnight is ideal. Churn in ice cream maker for ~20 minutes or until done. Freeze in containers for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Date Cake with Broiled Coconut Caramel Topping

Monday night dinner needed dessert. In our fridge we had two huge boxes of really good dates. So I googled date cake. I love sticky date pudding but wanted something simpler. I found a recipe, tweaked it a bit, and came up with this. It far exceeded expectations and will be part of our usual rotation from now on.

Cake

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups dates, pitted and chopped
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white or coconut sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping

• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan. In a saucepan, combine water and dates. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter and 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour, salt and date mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove cake from oven, and set oven to Broil.
4. Make Topping: In a saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons coconut oil. Stir in brown sugar, cream and chopped nuts. Spread mixture over warm cake and place under broiler until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Watch carefully – it burns easily under the broiler.