Family photos

Annnnnd Christy has done it again. She has captured so many beautiful and special moments of my family and these are my favorite yet! It was really hard to not post every single one, so here are some of my favorites (although, they are all my favorite so...). Christy is so talented and just an overall amazing human. Love her dearly!

Post partum: Clean eating

Eating clean. I love it. I feel good, I look better, and both of those things generally elevate my mood. Since Silas has started eating actual meals I have found I pay less attention to my own eating. My meals consist of eating scraps off his plate, stealing bites here and there. Not eating well rounded meals throughout the day does not make me feel my best (especially when I am breastfeeding 24/7). The first 5 months after having Silas I was really strict with my diet due to his MSPI (milk/soy protein intolerance). I went vegan for about 3 of those months and completely eliminated all packaged foods (so much hidden dairy!). I lost the baby weight extremely fast and my skin had never looked better. When he started eating solids was when I fell off the wagon. So, here we are after baby #2 with the same issue. Felix is most definitely suffering from MSPI and I am on day 5 of no dairy/soy. By day 3 I felt like a million bucks, no joke. Since I now have two little babe's to tend to, prepping meals during naps and at night are the way to go. For instance, the other night when they went to sleep I made a curry and that's been lunch the last 2 days. Below are a few clean eating ideas that can be made in advance and are so easy to throw together. I think the best way to go about it is creating dishes with components that can be made in advance, stored in the fridge, and go together in a few different combinations.

Avocado. Roasted sweet potato. Lentils. Homemade hummus. Cucumber.

Kale with a tahini dressing. Tomatoes.

Zucchini noodles. Hazelnut pesto (vegan). Snap peas.

Avocado. Cucumber. Homemade hummus. Black bean + Lentil patties. Crackers.

So the lentils I cooked in the beginning of the week went into the lentil patties along with black beans that I had made in my crockpot and froze in batches. Some things I always have on hand are avocados and sweet potatoes. I have been making homemade hummus in batches and it's not only cheaper than buying it, it is soooo good. The vegan pesto I also made and it's really delicious. I love eating meals where there are a variety of things on my plate, such as the lentil patties with hummus and the roasted sweet potatoes and lentils in the first picture. It's so easy to put things like this together!

Felix Ames: Birth Story

Contractions! The perfect time to snap a pic ;)

This moment...wow.

Felix Ames Bushong

1/26/15 @ 2:30pm

7lbs 9oz

Home Birth: Success. And wow...it's been sort of hard to describe just how amazing of an experience it was to have our little boy at home. Very personal, loving, and natural. It sounds cheesy, but it was just so special and all about us and bringing our babe earthside. Now that I've experienced both a natural hospital birth and a home birth it's really crazy how different the two were. The hospital was very business like. I was a name on a list of people to be seen. I tell yah, after this home birth experience I would love to do it again (but I am not crazy sooooo) ;)

Now, onto my little guys story. After a night of absolutely zero sleep due to our loving little toddler, we were up for the day at around 6am. I don't know what it was, but I just knew. I knew it was going to happen on a day when Silas chose to go buck wild at night and not let us sleep a wink. And there we were. Around 6:30am I had my first "holy shit" contraction. Now, with Silas I had horrific back labor so this felt like a minor little blip on the chart compared to things with him. But I knew it was the real deal so I told Nick I didn't think he was going to go into the office that day. So, what does he do? He goes ahead and starts getting ready to go to the office. After my "WTF are you doing look?" he took me seriously. I decided to get into the shower to alleviate some of the pain and once I was in there Nick definitely knew that this was going to happen. We called my midwife Heather and put it on her radar that it was going down! Nick started setting up our birth tub and I chilled with Silas and kept track of my contractions every so often. Around 11am I put Silas down for a nap. Yes...ME. It was sort of hysterical because I was willing him with my mind to fall asleep ASAP while clutching his headboard during my contractions. He actually fell asleep pretty fast and after that I finally felt I could relinquish control to my labor and I think that's when it really started getting intense.

There are two things that I tell myself during contractions. 1) Allow yourself to feel this pain. This is normal pain. Accept it. 2) Don't fight it. I really try and allow it to spread over my body and do it's thing. Every contraction gets me just a little closer to seeing my baby. And every contraction has a purpose. I really believe in positive affirmations. It's amazing how much your mind set can affect your labor.

Of course, this is hard to do when you feel like you can't take it anymore, but that is why I cannot stress enough how important it is to have people on your support team. We had two doulas; one for Silas when he woke up and then one for myself. Between those two ladies, my two midwives, and Nick, I could not have asked for better support. Yes, I said out loud a few times that I couldn't do it, but I was reassured that I was doing it and it was what I wanted.

Around 11:30 my midwives and Doulas showed up and set up their supplies, monitored the baby and myself for a bit, and then I was told I could get in the tub. I was in active labor now so the water was absolutely glorious. Let me mention that it was a blue sky, gorgeous day at 63 degrees. So we had the window open above the birth pool and between the breeze flowing over my face and the water I could not have asked for a better way to manage my pain. And this is where it ends kids, it went fast. At 2:27 my water broke and holy sh*t if that baby didn't just fly out. Seriously, I immediately needed to push. I pushed for exactly 3 minutes and at 2:30 I lifted our sweet little angel out of the water and held him for the first time. It was the craziest, best experience of my life. When Silas was born I was so exhausted at the end and this time I felt so alive and energetic. It was truly amazing and special.

Baby Boosh // 40 weeks

Ahhhhhhh. Let's make this happen. I am SO ready to not be pregnant anymore. Well, I go back and forth. I wouldn't mind not having this bulging belly out in front, but I am so nervous for two babies and for Silas that sometimes I want to cry. I just keep looking at Silas's little face and praying he won't hate me. We are so close to D-Day (the 23rd) so I am starting to try and get things moving as much as I can with some acupuncture. If I do go past Friday I might try a few other things, but ultimately it is up to this little dude as to when we wants to make his debut and that is fine with me. Silas was 12 days late and honestly, he could not have been more perfect so I know that when Felix is ready he'll make it happen.

How far along: 40 weeks ( 39w4d)

Total weight gain: 35lbs

Maternity clothes: Yes & Yes. I am burning these leggings after this.

Stretch marks: Yup.

Sleep: Hardly. Insomnia has a tight hold on me right now along with contractions.

Best moment this week: Seeing my midwives (love them!) and talking about the birth. I can't wait to experience this.

Movement: Always.

Food cravings: nope

Anything making you queasy or sick: No

Gender: Boy

Belly button in or out: out

Wedding rings on or off: on

Mood of the week: happy, nervous, excited

Looking forward to: Going into labor! And meeting our little boy :)

Baby Boosh // 25 weeks

How far along: 25 weeks

Total weight gain: 14+ lbs

Maternity clothes: some tops and my maternity leggings.

Stretch marks: yes, but who cares.

Sleep: Silas has woken up at 4am (along with his regularly scheduled 1,000 wake ups before that) 3 days this week and it's killing me. 

Best moment this week: getting in some good yoga time while Silas naps and I can really tell Felix had a growth spurt by where he's kicking me.

Movement: it's been constant.

Food cravings: nope

Anything making you queasy or sick: No

Gender: Boy

Belly button in or out: out

Wedding rings on or off: on

Mood of the week: happy

Looking forward to: a couple of yoga classes this weekend and taking our babe to the pumpkin patch!

Baby boosh // 24 weeks

That's banana on my sports bra...     #momlife

 I am blown away that I'm 6 months pregnant. Feeling the urge to really get things organized, cleaned, rearranged, etc. and finding I don't have the time or energy to do it. I had a consultation with the home birth midwives and I am so excited. Definitely nervous, but I think that's just because in our society it's the "norm" to go to the hospital to have your baby and we obviously won't be doing that. I 100% trust the women who will be attending Felix's birth and I'm so excited to be surrounded by them. I didn't view giving birth as a scary thing with Silas and I definitely don't this time either. With all the cattiness, lack of support, and pain that women cause each other in this world, I was so proud of the women who surrounded me with Silas and really just loved me and got me through it. So, so special and amazing. I can't wait to experience it again.

How far along: 24 weeks + 1 day

Total weight gain: 14 lbs

Maternity clothes: A couple of tops but still sticking to my regular pants.

Stretch marks: nothing new

Sleep: melatonin and magnesium nightly

Best moment this week: my consultation with our home birth midwives.

Movement: always, but no kicks in the ribs like Silas was so keen on.

Food cravings: coffee, but I don't think that's the pregnancy talking...

Anything making you queasy or sick: No

Gender: Boy

Belly button in or out: out

Wedding rings on or off: on

Mood of the week: happy

Looking forward to: my prenatal appointment at the midwives and talking about our home birth setup.