america's best idea

the adults in this house (ok, the baby and the pup, too) are crazy about our national parks. so naturally we've been super excited and anxiously awaiting ken burns' 6 part documentary on the history and people and profiles of the parks. ken burn's the national parks, america's best idea, premieres tonight on pbs. or you can catch it online tomorrow.

mateo's birth story

recently we were invited to come back to the greenhouse (where we took our natural birthing classes) to share our birth story with the new class, and reunite with our teacher and the other families from our session.

i had hoped to write down mateo's birth story right after he was born while it was still so fresh, but for various reasons it didn't happen. a lot of it is a blur now, but the reunion class motivated luke and i to sit down, re-live it, and write it out.

it was hard for us. it was such an emotional time. a hard time and a beautiful time.

i want to share it here for a few reasons. one, to close the birth chapter. we posted so much about our hopes and desires for a natural birth and i don't think i ever mentioned if it happened for us or not. also, in hopes that someone out there can learn from our story. i know while i was pregnant i loved reading all the birth stories i could get my hands on. and also, for the family and friends who have asked us about it.

so here it is. if you're interested. it's really long. if you've been following our blog for awhile, you know the events leading up to mateo's birth, but if not, the story really begins here. and of course ends here.

Mateo's Birth Story

it's official

we bought our tickets. nov 4-9. officially, for a conference luke is presenting at. unofficially, to see all of you and eat mexican food.

recently

we've taken a little blogging break. we've been busy, but also been enjoying being actively away from the computer.

luke's been coding studies and planning slrf. i've stripped some wallpaper and re-discovered butter with vegetables. mateo's been given a few more vaccinations. unica's been given some antibiotics. we've again debated if buying the pet wellness plan is a better deal than just paying when we need to... she's nine now, and has a rotting tooth. :(

we went to ann arbor. ate at zingermans and ny pizza, as usual. shopped at ikea, whole foods, trader joes and i bought a dress at an indie boutique downtown where everything is under $15. every time we visit we want to live there. we've been eating really exciting things this week thanks to tjs and wf.

mateo and i joined our 7th and 8th mom & baby group this week. i didn't realized we were in that many until luke made me count. of course, now we are sick with our first cold together.

this week: luke is playing golf with friends (if i post it here this goal might be more likely to happen?), i am applying for a urban gardening class, ann is coming!, we are shooting our last booked wedding, mateo is rolling over, and i am going to update our blog with posts and pictures and videos that having been looming around my mind and my desktop.

hand-picked

last saturday, luke took the day off. and we went raspberry picking. our first time ever. we went to swallowtail farm. turns out they are only 10 minutes away from where we live and practice organic methods. plus it was small and local and real with nice owners. nothing like the giant touristy pumpkin patches (etc.) we've all been to. in a good way.

we thought it was the perfect time to try mateo in a back-carry with the moby wrap. (we are loving the moby wrap!). he liked it, too, and fell asleep immediately. (later, in perfect timing as we were headed to our car, the teacher of our sling class arrived with her family and saw us in the middle of our first back-carry-babywearing-experiment! she said we were doing good, though - whew).

the farm was beautiful and it was great to be out on a sunny saturday morning in michigan. raspberries (when they are ready) are super easy to pick. they just pop off. really clean and easy. and did we mention delicious? we had a way better time than we were expecting.

we ended up picking 3 pints - 2 for us, 1 for friends.

... and we ended up with the 2 of the 3 flower bouquets as well. 1 for us, 1 for our friends. seriously, how gorgeous is that table and the flowers and fresh garlic and rhubarb? we want to live on a farm. and have fresh flowers and veggies and red barns and raspberry rows.

definitely check out swallowtail farm if you are around lansing. now is the peak time for raspberries!

if you aren't in lansing, click here to find you-pick farms everywhere. the website seems a little loopy, but it worked for us. :)

saugatauk

since we are finally home for awhile it finally feels like summer is here! yes, just as it is ending... but still. i've been trying to get all of us to take advantage by eating outside more, picnics at the lake, and exploring michigan. we haven't done the best job of checking out our new state in the past two years. so last week i googled "best michigan beach" and decided to go to saugatauk for the day with mateo. luke had to work.

i'm still not sure how to pronounce "saugatauk", but it ended up being the perfect little beachy/river touristy town. without the tourists though, since we went mid-week. we walked around the town and eventually headed to the base of "mt. baldhead".

i had read in my quick 5 minute google search that you could either park at the beach, or park at the base of mt. baldhead, climb up it, and end up at the same beach. so i packed everything in a backpack, and packed mateo on the front of me, and we (slowly) climbed the 282 steps to the top.

halfway up i started doubting my mama-logic of opting for the hike vs. the parking lot, but it helped that there were positive messages carved into the stairs all way up, like "be strong" and "almost there!". and of course, the view at the top was worth it.

we hiked down the other side toward the lake on a sandy dune trail and finally made it to the beach. i'm not really used to these lake michigan beaches yet. it was so pretty. also, it was really hot out, but the water was still super cold. does it ever get warm?

so we made our little beach fort and hung out for a few hours. mateo was entertained by the red umbrella. and a little girl gave him her sunglasses. perfect. :)

it was super fun, and i was happy to have achieved my goal of finally making it to the beach once this summer. but it was funny, too, since not once did i actually get to relax like i imagined. i guess between a very pale skinned little boy, an umbrella that wanted to blow away, and an expensive camera mixed with blowing sand there was a lot to do. (we really need a tiny little camera these days - any recommendations?). either way though, i had a great time with mateo.

we hiked back to the town, checked out store windows and little gardens, and got some ice cream. the perfect end to our perfect little beach day.

oh, and ps: look what we found on the trail on the way home. is it fall already?

at four months mateo

i took mateo outside this morning with a few blankets and (wrinkled) sheets, stuffed animals, and unica for his four month mini photo shoot. he turned on the charm and we had so much fun together. i think the hardest part of photography is deciding on what to share. ideally, i'd post 1-2 photos here, but as you will see, i had a hard time widdling them away this morning. thanks for sticking with us as we share them with you.

so, here we go. at four months, mateo:

:: is generally super happy and mellow ::
:: rarely cries, unless he's hungry ::

:: has lost interest in his swing ::
:: but loves his new excer-saucer ::

:: has begun to reach and grab things with success ::
:: and has learned to play by himself ::

:: sleeps 8-10 hours a night in his bed ::
:: but is not much for daytime napping ::

:: tells me he's hungry by opening his mouth wide like a baby bird ::
:: laughs big tummy laughs, squeaks, and talks all day long ::

:: loves to stand proudly (with some help) ::
:: has to be near his mami almost always ::

what we're eating

above is the first part of this week's harvest. later we brought in a ton of parsley for tabbouleh, a green pepper, and 7 more tomatoes. we made a giant batch of salsa (or "salza" if you're from around here). :) the inferno pepper finally got picked and it was super spicy. it went into a veggie omelet.

we made salad #2 again, this time for a pot-luck. i wondered if it was in bad form to bring raw onions to a pot-luck, but by the end of the night the salad was gone, so apparently it's ok, or at least it's ok among international circles.

this week we took a walk to our community greenhouse where they gave us a bunch of green tomatoes to fry. we never really fry anything, and we've never fried green tomatoes so we gave it a try. fun. and yummy. and greasy. the greenhouse workers told us about an urban gardening class coming up that i/we're thinking of taking.

and i made a blueberry pie from the blueberries we picked up at the farmer's market. it was my 5th time making a pie, my 1st time making pie crust by myself, and my 1st time making a blueberry one. it was so great except that there was an inch of blueberry juice in the pan. not sure if that is normal? but we loved it anyways and finished it in a few days.

what are you eating these days?