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Showing posts from September 5, 2019

The Friday 5

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Hi friends & happy Friday! I can’t believe it, but our baby is off to Kindergarten today! How did that happen!? It seems like just yesterday Quinn and I were watching the school bus from our living room and talking about his first day of school… and now it’s here!  In today’s episode of the Friday 5, I’m sharing a few food and fashion finds, plus some great info and tips on treating hormonal acne. It’s quite the mix! 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 1. Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough – gluten-free and made with just 3 ingredients! Oh my goddddd, I’m loving this dessert lately! I’ve made this edible chocolate chip cookie dough for years now. The original recipe calls for just 6 ingredients, but I recently discovered that it requires even fewer ingredients – just 3 – when I use vanilla almond butter from RXBAR on hand. My gosh, it’s incredible! I actually like making a big batch at the beginning of the week and storing it in the fridge, so I can just grab a spoon whe

Menopause, Part II: Psychological Well-being

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In our previous menopause post, I mused on some perspectives of menopause that are positive and affirming for women. However, I don’t want to downplay the fact that many women experience menopause as a difficult, frustrating, and even disempowering time. (Again, I am using “menopause” to include the perimenopausal period.) As I mentioned in the last post, some researchers estimate as many as 75% of women experience some type of “menopausal distress,” and we don’t talk about it enough. Today I want to examine some of the psychological and emotional facets of menopause. In the final post of this series, we’ll look at self-care techniques and non-hormonal therapies that seem to be the most beneficial.  What Research Suggests About Emotional Well-being During Menopause Obviously menopause is a major life transition—significant biological changes wrapped up in a complex web of personal and sociocultural beliefs, fears, stressors, and stories. It can be a time of great apprehension, con

Breastfeeding: The First Year

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Here we are at 10 months old! Birch is nursing four times a day: First thing in the morning (his favorite) After morning nap around 11/12 After afternoon nap around 4 (his second favorite) At bedtime (his least favorite) New Freedom To Leave Lately being able to go from 6:30am to noon-ish without nursing has given me a new urge to get out of the house in the mornings without a worry about Birch taking (or not taking) a bottle or me needing to pump. We have a new babysitter who will be coming a few mornings a week, and being able to work in a coffee shop or go to a workout class is a joy I didn’t know I was missing until I did it one day! I really haven’t left the house much these past 10 months and there’s a big world out there Nursing These Days Birch honestly doesn’t seem all that interested in nursing, and at times I’ve wondered if he might self wean earlier than a year. He doesn’t pull on my shirt or face plant onto my chest. He’s a great solid-food eater so I’ve wonde

Life Lately

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Hi, friends! It’s been a busy week over here. Mal is back to school, and Quinn starts Kindergarten on Friday. He’s had all sorts of orientation-type activities leading up to the big day, including a playdate, open house where he met his teacher and saw his classroom, and a practice bus ride home. I love that the school really helps the kids prepare, but remember the days when our parents just threw us on the bus and we went to school? Even Quinn said he wanted to “get the show on the road” as far as starting school. Haha! For the record, I’m glad Quinn’s classroom starts the alphabet with the letter “A.” In my Kindergarten classroom, we learned the letter “M” first, and it still bothers me 34 years later. I mean, WHY would you start with “M”?! I also remember that the second letter was “T” and all of the vowels were saved for the end. My 5-year-old brain did not like this! Haha! I also wanted to tell you guys that I’m hosting a giveaway to win 3 meal plan downloads over on the CN