Birth Days

A lot has been going since K’s second birthday…our lives have been filled with starting a toddler group co op which I’ve been running since September, the exciting holidays spent with family and friends, welcoming K’s first baby cousin into the world, and now nesting for our second little one this July!

If I can sum up the last six months or so in a few words, I’d say…”Birth Days.”

Toddler Group – Since last year at this time, a few mom friends of mine and I started talking about preschools. While it’s more than a fortune to send a little one to school or daycare out here in Santa Monica, our hope was to give our littles a preschool experience but with parent involvement and without the high cost. I did some research about how I could start a preschool once K turned two and just knew with the little time we had, it would be nearly impossible to find a space, get licensed, enroll and then open. But then I came across the idea of starting a cooperative (co-op) and learned that parents could get involved and share their time, resources and any costs into running the school.  I fell in love with the idea and after sharing this vision with others, a group of 8 moms who have littles around K’s age decided to join in and we birthed the toddler group co op the week after K turned two. It’s been the biggest blessing for our family. We’ve been able to watch K grow in so many ways along with her close group of friends, I’ve learned so much from the other moms and have been able to rely on their support, and I’ve had the opportunity to do what I love most (or second best to being a mom & wife)…teach and work with little ones!

Holidays – From Thanksgiving and Christmas to Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day, our holidays were full of fun and laughter, yet were a little bittersweet knowing that it would be our last holidays with K as our only child. We enjoyed some of our family traditions and birthed some new ones too!

Making Thanksgiving Turkey Hats

Making Almond Flour Christmas Cookies

 Gingerbread House Decorating

Enjoying a New Year’s Shabu Shabu Lunch With Family

Making & Breaking a Valentine’s Day Piñata With Friends

Making & Drinking Shamrock Shakes (tomorrow for St. Patty’s)

Baby Cousin’s Birthday – About a month ago, K’s first baby cousin was born into the world. “Donald Duck is born,” she told us (K referred to him as Donald for the past 6 months…and yes, that was around the time of her first Disney trip where she met the real Donald Duck). K anticipated Baby coming out for months and FINALLY he arrived. She was in awe of her cousin and could not help but giggle with joy every time she touched his head or his teeny tiny hands. And ever since then, she has told us that she has a special Baby Daisy Duck in her belly that will come out one day.

Anticipating One More Birth – Last September we found out we were expecting our second baby and Scott and I were beyond thrilled! Well, October and November rolled around and unlike my first pregnancy with K, I experienced what most moms go through…morning sickness. Ugh! I guess I had it really good the first time around because this morning sickness thing was no joke. From the moment I woke til the second I fell asleep at night, all I felt was nausea and everything I ate made me sick. Moving made me dizzy and the heat didn’t do me any good either. Thankfully it only lasted a few months and gratefully that was the worst of it. K definitely kept me positive and helped me get through it as she sang songs to Baby everyday, rubbed my rapidly growing belly and talked to Baby.

Last month we found out baby’s gender and K had the chance to watch Baby move during the ultrasound as she sang the “ABC’s” with her lips up to my belly. Excited to find out if she were going to have a sister or brother, she waited patiently, watching the screen. “You’re having a boy!” the doctor told us. K smiled and told us, “I’m having a brother!” The joy on her face emulated the room and all Scott and I could do was take it all in.

We couldn’t wait to share with our family so I decided I would whip something up in the kitchen to share the news. I tried a new recipe (Chocolate Pots De Creme by LA Fuji Mama) and they were a hit! I hid blueberries under the fresh whipped cream and then had the family top theirs with either a raspberry or blueberry with their guess. And to their surprise (apparently K tricked them and said she was having a sister a few hours before), they found blueberries in their dessert confirming she would be having a brother!

I’m excited to be back blogging again…well, at least for the next few months until Baby Boy arrives. Hope to share some of our favorite co op art projects and activities, what’s been going on in our kitchen, all the new seedlings we’ve planted in the garden and some of our new go-to places here in Santa Monica!

Seedlings & Eggshells

We go through two to three dozen eggs a week making breakfast scrambles, omelets, pancakes, and occasional baked goods like muffins, cakes and cookies. Once in a while, I’m able to crack the egg just right so that only the top has an opening. Inspired by those “grow your garden kits” that I’ve seen, I’ve always wanted to start my own eggshell seed starter project! Now that it’s spring and I’ve collected about a dozen nicely cracked shells, I thought K and I could spend some gardening time in the craft room!

About a month ago, Mama Christine invited a few families over for a gardening day at her place. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day filled with food, water play and some messy gardening fun! Baby K enjoyed her first gardening experience learning how to place rocks in the bottom of the pots to allow the water to drain…

 

filling a pot with soil, covering the roots with soil once the seedling was in and watering it…

    

She also helped replant some lavender and couldn’t get enough of the flowers’ and leaves’ sweet scent.

From the way she now checks on her bean plant and waters it every day, I can say that she has a teeny tiny green thumb! This experience (and watching an avocado seed root and become a little 1′ tree in our window sill over the past few months) was a perfect way to “front load” this eggshell project!

Seedling & Eggshell Project in a Nutshell Eggshell

Materials: cracked open & washed eggshells, organic soil, spoon, water, eye dropper, germinated organic seeds (organic seeds placed in a wet paper towel then put into a plastic bag, left for a few weeks until roots begin to grow), windowsill

After letting K explore all of the project materials (and watching K experience how much power her little hand has when squeezing and then cracking an eggshell), she began by filling the shells with organic soil (3/4 full) and then picking out the seedlings that have rooted…

 

K placed a seed in the middle of each eggshell and then covered it with more soil…

  

She squeezed a few eye droppers full of water into each eggshell and then placed them into the carton…

  

I placed them by the windowsill in our kitchen and K watered (a few drops daily to keep the soil moist), watched and waited (VERY patiently) every day…

7 days later…

And tonight!

(Pink Lady Apple, Meyer Lemon, Kumquat)

K has been LOVING this project and even had the chance to share a few of her seedlings with her friends so that they could enjoy caring for a seedling and watching it grow! Over the next few weeks, we will be germinating an array of seeds to help a friend add to her beautiful vegetable, fruit and herb garden. Our seeds include organic Mesclun lettuce, Radicchio, Bush Bean, Bitter Melon and a variety of Japanese vegetables including Shishito Red Peppers, Mizuna, Shiso and Japanese Cucumber. We are very excited to get started and watch this garden grow!!!

What will you be planting in your eggshells?