Happy birthday to my dear husband, Alan (on the right), who is a leap day twin and is 7 years old today! (Okay really 28, but only 7 real birthdays in his entire life, so the real ones are really special). On top of being the best father possible to our daughter, you are my favourite person in the whole wide world, my best friend, confidante and lover. Thank you for cleaning the bathroom, listening to my rants, thinking I'm funny, learning and growing alongside me and sharing in our visions and passions, and for messaging me on that fateful day in January of 2009. There is no one who I would rather live my life with. I love you!

Sorry I've been scarce. Indy has been a sicky since thursday, runny nose and fever and croupy cough, and cousin Ava has strep, so maybe a little strep in there too. We're letting the thing run its course, so we've been doing a lot of humidifying and snot-sucking and homeo drop taking and honey-garlic-cayenne force feeding and nursing (it's so nice to still be nursing during a time like this, such an easy way to pump her full of antibodies and soothe her and keep her fed and hydrated when she has no appetite for anything else). She's been in pretty good spirits, though. Look at that shiny snot nose, poor thing, she hates having her nose wiped.

Other than dealing with our tiny invalid, we've been cooking (this creamy potato, sausage, kale soup). . .

chicken-stock-making. . .

in-the-dells-weekending. . .which involved sneaky-tissue-pulling (look at that face. . .who me?). . .

baby-clothes-and-vintage-fabric-thrifting. . .

cute-new-mocs-wearing. . .

girl-scout-cooking-eating (scary ingredient labels, but too delicious to resist). . .

silly-new-face-making (cut out pictures and make an Indy flip book. . .kidding). . .

She thinks she's so funny. . . and she really is.

It's that time! I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep eats and feats going, as each month becomes a smaller and smaller percentage of her total life thus far, but I'll keep it up for at least a little while longer. (Also, look at her cute, wispy bath hairs!)

Since Indy turned one, there have been two major happenings which have been subtly changing the way I feed her. The first is her anemia, which I wrote about here, and the second was reading Real Food for Mother and Baby, and our thought processes related to how we want to feed our whole little family, which I wrote about here. When we started Indy on solids, I had already done a decent amount of research, and our baby feeding philosophies were on the right track, but fell a little short. We knew enough to skip the rice cereal and limit grains, but we still fell into the cheerio trap (This article and this article do a good job of explaining why its a good idea to delay the introduction of grains) . For future babies, I plan to hold off on grains for longer, and limit them more. At this point, grains will play a (hopefully) minimal part in Indy's diet. I also knew a little bit about a baby's need for healthy fats, but I underestimated the need, and was misinformed about what fats are actually healthy. I thought that what she really needed was fruits and vegetables for a long time, but along with those healthy plant foods and fats like avocado and olive oil, she needs the fats and vitamins from foods like fish and egg yolks, and grassfed butter, liver, and meat. I held off on introducing meat, and I strongly suspect that that decision contributed to her anemia. 

Eats (forgive me if I repeat anything):

• coconut water
• pork
• cooked spinach
• almonds
• bacon
• blood oranges
• chicken liver
• liverwurst
• indian food
• dark chocolate (and I mean dark, 85% cacao)
• la croix (she loves the bubbles!)
• banana yoghurt
• ice cream
• lox
• cream cheese

Pickiness has reared its ugly head. We're trying to just ride it out, chill and offer a variety of foods and not coerce (it's so hard! I feel like I constantly find myself trying to force her to eat! ugh). But I'll grow, she'll grow, we'll both grow. 

Feats:

• In case you missed the video, Indy is officially a walking girl. She has progressed so much since then, and more everyday! She walks everywhere, our little Frankenstein's monster! Painfully cute!
• Her hugs are now acompanied by pats on the back.
• She likes to rearrange our diningroom chairs, as well as all the couch pillows.
• She's obsessed with flushing the toilet (thank goodness we don't pay for our water here).
• She clearly understands more and more words and commands (like "hand hat," a game uncle Joel has been playing with her for a long time, which involves him putting his hand on her head and declaring. . .well. . ."hand hat." Now, if someone speaks the name of the game, she puts her own hand on her head).
• High fives!
• Mad dance skills.
• She can remove her diaper cover. Thankfully, I think she is a long way off from figuring out the snappi, but she's still squishing her wet prefold butt around on my carpet.
• The other day I found my silicone cupcake liners in the bathub. That is a toddler feat, my friends. Next step is finding things in the toilet. 

She's rather enchanted by the faucet. First she touches it. . .

And then. . .

Open mouth kiss.

On Indy's party day Kate snapped some pictures of our apartment in its unusually uber-clean state. It was slightly rearranged (as in, kitchen chairs in the livingroom) for party purposes, and not entirely comprehensive (some walls and rooms - like the sun porch and bathroom - are missing), but it at least gives you a peak into most of the rooms. The rundown on our apartment: we live in our city's little downtown, above the shops. Our building was built in 1918, and our apartment was such a find and a blessing. It's sunny and classic, has crown modling, radiator heaters, and hardwood in most of the rooms. Our style is ecclectic, and we've furnished and decorated it mostly with thrift/antique store, curbside, and Craigslist finds, and some handmade. It's how we find peices we like, and what our budget allows. Without further ado:

The kitchen is above, seen from the hallway, with the sun porch and the rear apartment entrance through that door, and our bedroom off to the right in the kitchen. Excuse the party guest coats on the bed. . .

Bedspread: Anthropologie. Crib: Ikea. Crib quilt: heirloom.

The pictures are all family members of mine. Clockwise from the top left: my dad and aunt in a flashy convertible, my mother's late brother Gene, my mother's late father Harold, my father's late brother John, cows from the old Schellpfeffer dairy on my dad's side (not really family members, I guess, haha), and my mother Melanie.

Mirror: family heirloom. Dresser: vintage. Mobile: handmade by me with birds from Pottery Barn.

P.s. ignore the socks sticking out of the drawer above, how embarassing!

View back into the kitchen. . .

Next we turn left down that short hallway, bathroom is on the right, and the door into the guest bedroom/ craft room is in the left. . .

Vintage doily bunting: made by me. Lampshade: Ikea. Quilt: who knows, haha. Bedframe: inherited from my parents, and we spray-painted it blue.

I originally made these tissue paper shadow boxes to sell on etsy, but then I fell in love with them and had to keep them. . .

Also, meet Roy. . . Cage: vintage.

Read about my desk here.

Next we continue into the diningroom (hallway is to the left, livingroom to the right). Table: Viva Terra via Craigslist (it's made from recycled railroad ties, and it was the steal of the century!). Chairs are vintage and were all around $10 bucks or less. . .

Botanical prints and birdcage: vintage.

Indy's table chair: Inglesina.

And right behind us. . . Rug: Craigslist (you can read more about it here). Wicker coffee table, couches and chairs: all vintage.

Lamp: Target.

Monarch pillow: World Market.

Lamp: Tuesday Morning. Painting: Goodwill (Alan hated this when he saw it, but I insisted and its become one of our favorite finds.)

Record player: Crosley. Beverage cart: vintage.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Indy's party last month was so fun, and we're so blessed to have such a talented photographer in our family (Alan's sister-in-law, Kate) to document it for us! Watch out, this post is pic heavy (I couldn't help myself, the pictures are so beautiful!)

I carried over the elements from her invitations, hanging a little flock of paper birds over the dessert table, and making a little banner of vintage paper pennants.

We picked up a variety of mismatched teacups and plates at Goodwill, and set them out alongside mason jars with grey and white striped paper straws. A glass jar held a variety of tea bags, and two vintage hot pots held hot water and ice cold sweet tea.

We made cucumber finger sandwiches, and my family pitched in to bring fruit and dip, chocolate chip banana bread, and earl grey cupcakes with honey-lemon buttercream frosting (so good!)

Tiny hand!

On the way out, guests grabbed tiny nests with jordan almond "eggs". . .

It felt good to have a house full of family and friends to celebrate with us.

Alan hijacks Indy's horse. . .

We sang happy birthday and then she enjoyed a piece of banana bread. . .

She received wonderful gifts, including lots of books, which was awesome!

After everyone leaves, Indy sports her cute bear hat from her friend Colin. . .

Phew! What fun!

Alan and I have been processing a lot of food related philosophies recently. It's always been an on and off conversation during the course of our marriage, but when I accidentally stumbled across the Weston A. Price Foundation's website a few months back, the conversation got a pretty good nudge. Then my blogger friend Courtney over at For the Beauty recommended Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck (my new go-to recommendation for any women who are planning on, or already are, pregnant, or who are nursing or have a baby - you must read this book), so I went ahead and grabbed a copy of that, along with Nina Planck's other book simply titled Real Food (my new go-to recommendation for everyone) and read both of them in less than a week. We watched Food Inc. for the first time (a little late, I know, and maybe a bit cliche, but its full of important information nonetheless), and all of those things together have finally started to solidify the conversation in a way that is literally changing our lives. I think a lot of people watch Food Inc. and their reaction is to eat fewer animal products, or none at all. But reading Real Food helps to really bring the thought process full circle. The point is not to avoid animal products and fats, but rather to eat them as they should be. Animal products have really been demonized in the past several decades, but the problem is with the industrialized versions of those things, not the products themselves. Animal products and fats are an integral part of a healthy diet, and you make a greater impact when you support traditionally, healthily farmed animals than when you eat none at all. Our food philosphy is pretty simple now: we want to eat real food, food that is as close as possible to its traditional forms. This means whole raw milk from grass fed cows, lots of grass fed butter, properly fed meat along with its fat, whole eggs from pastured chickens, whole grains, plenty of seasonal vegetables, and traditional oils like olive and coconut oil. The health benefits of these foods are practically innumerable. The things to avoid are industrial animal products, new refined vegetables oils (like corn, sunflower, and soybean), refined flours and sugars, and of course anything artificial. We're not going to be anal about this, but we're going to attempt to make it be the majority of our diet. 

We are lucky enough to have a private farm club called Moograss Farms that has pick up every week at a private residence literally 2 minutes from our house (to find similar opportunities near you, check out Eat Wild). Through them we have access to raw, pastured dairy, eggs, beef, pork and poultry products, as well as local honey and produce, just to name a few. Yesterday we picked up our first order: a half gallon of raw milk, yoghurt, eggs, honey, ground beef, bacon, and a whole chicken. 

It is illegal to sell raw milk in stores in many states, so this is the first time in my entire life that I have tried raw milk. Honestly, I don't know what exactly I was expecting. . . but the milk is downright luxurious. It tastes smoother and cleaner than any milk I have ever had before. I love shaking the line of cream into the milk and pouring it out of these mason jars. This is how milk should be experienced. It truly is a sort of super food.

I'm really rather seduced by the eggs. They're a variety of sizes and colours, as they should be. 

The little green one is definitely my favourite.

Alan and I have been gradually phasing out paper products and chemical products in our home. I had sort of been suggesting it for a while, but Alan is actually the opinionated one when it comes to cleaning products, and I think he was a little skeptical and hesitant to try make the switch at first. Fortunately, you don't have to sacrifice effectiveness when you switch to natural products. We stocked up on washable cleaning cloths (Alan's move, which made him feel ready for the switch, and has no doubt already saved us loads of money over paper towels) and started out using diluted white vinegar (its low cost and antibacterial qualities make it the backbone to most homemade cleaning products) which works very well. For Christmas Alan got me The Naturally Clean Home which is chock full of tons of recipes for use in every room of the house from the laundry room, to the bathroom, to the garage, and I am in love! 

So why go the homemade natural route?

• Its cheaper (the inital investment can be intimidating, but the ingredients last forever. Just start out with a few essential oils and use them in everything)
• Its healthier
• They work really well
• Its fun and rewarding

Now on to the recipes (all recipes are from the second edition of The Naturally Clean Home).

Lemon Blast Cleaner

• 1 teaspoon liquid castile soap (I love Dr. Bronners. It can seem expensive but it is concentrated and a little goes a long way. I have peppermint and baby mild [which is unscented], but there are several scents, so pick your poison. Just keep in mind how the smell might mesh with the other essential oils in the recipe)
• 1/8 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cups water
• 6 drops citrus seed extract
• 4 drops lemon, lime, orange, or eucalyptus essential oil (I chose orange for this one)
• 1 teaspoon borax (20 mule team is the most popular brand)

     Combine in a spray bottle (we got this one, which is awesome because it has measurements marked on the side, a built in citrus juicer, and a tiny filter on the end of the uptake straw which filters out lemon chunks to avoid clogs. Awesome!) and shake before each use. This one smells divine and cuts through sticky stuff like its no one's business!

Citrus Dishwashing Blend

• liquid castile soap (diluted to your desired strength - I did 1 part soap to 2-3 parts water because I tend to be heavy-handed with products, but you can make it stronger and use a drop at a time)
• 20 drops lime essential oil
• 10 drops sweet orange essential oil
• 5 drops citrus seed extract

     Mix castile soap and water in a 22 oz. squirt bottle (I halved the recipe and used a 12 oz. empty maple syrup bottle because its what we had on hand), add essential oils and shake before each use. Use a couple of tablespoons in a sink of water, or a drop or two on the sponge. This one smells like Squirt soda, yum!

As with most natural cleaning products, this is not super high sudsing. Unlike most commercial cleaning products and toiletries, Dr. Bronners has no added foaming agents. It took me a long time to let go of the "suds=clean" mentality in the kitchen, shower, and laundryroom, but after a while, when everything is still reliably clean, you get used to it.

Lavendar Lift Automatic Dishwasher Powder

• 2 cups washing soda
• 2 cups borax
• 20 drops lavendar essential oil (I substituted tea tree oil because you can get it cheap at Trader Joe's so I had it on hand)

     Mix ingredients well, and use 2 tablespoons per load of dishes. We also splash some white vinegar into the dishwasher before starting it up, it lowers the pH of the water and helps the powder work better. You can also add it to the rinse aid compartment in your dishes for a cheap alternative to jet dry, and your dishes will just sparkle!

Got any natural home cleaning recipes/tips that you love?

** P.s. Thank you so much for all the responses to the last post. My nerves were definitely calmed by all the prayers and advice offered. Indy is obviously all around healthy and the lead thing is just a little hiccup we'll have to figure out, but I know it will all work out!