Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes!

Yesterday I took the kids on a solo expedition to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. (Much thanks to the Discover and Go program for getting us in for free! Y'all are probably my favorite library program ever.)

It was the first of our planned monthly field trips for homeschool this year. I wasn't thinking about it as exploring our backyard until the ticket people kept commenting on how we were the first local people to visit the museum that day. So now I'm including this as tourists in our own backyard!

1

Going into Cal Academy is a little overwhelming as a small person since the first thing to greet you is a (mid-size) T-Rex. My kids were somehow more fascinated in the butterfly video playing over the member services desk. Perhaps visiting the T-Rex on the UC Berkeley campus so often has taken some of the awe out of dinosaurs? 

2

Perhaps Therese's favorite exhibit was the first one we came to: Philippine Coral Reef lagoon. Getting to see rays, large fish, and a shark swimming so close blew her newly 2-year old mind.

One of the walkways has windows in the floor so you can see the fish swimming right under your feet. 

Therese would have been perfectly happy if this was the whole museum.

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But it wasn't!

Something I really like about the Cal Academy is their exhibits are shown at different levels. You get to see them from above and below. There is something magical about seeing cool things from the top of the water and then seeing all of the things you could not discern from above.

Lots of exhibits on jellyfish and bioluminesce. 

The more I tried to explain what a jellyfish was, the more like an alien this creature seemed to be. That is one WEIRD animal, y'all.

4

Other exhibit favorite was the Swamp. Those were some huge snapping turtles, and I think John finally grasps what an Alligator Gar looks like (we have them in Lake Whitney were my family reunion is held.)

The biggests hit of that exhibit was the Albino Alligator. It makes it very easy for the little ones to see, and led to a cool talk about albinism with John.

He made this face the whole time. I could just see the wheels turning.

The rainforest was fun but HOT. There were so many butterflies, but I was terrible at getting a picture of them.

5

In honor of Therese's birthday this week, we finally got our sushi lunch! The Cal Academy has a pretty sweet cafeteria. The kids loved that an aquarium ran the length of the wall and we got to eat with the fish. 

I managed to not comment on the irony of eating sushi with the fish....

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The kids got to get a little toy from the museum store. They had two versions of the albino alligator: one that squeaked, and one that did not but was $2 more. I got the more expensive, but silent, one. 

Best $2 I ever spent.

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It takes about an hour, one way, on public transit to get between our house and the Cal Academy. Someone could not quite make it home for nap...

Oh how I've missed Ergo naps!

I highly recommend babywearing for most San Francisco adventures. The Cal Academy itself is extraordinarily stroller and kid friendly, but public transit is very not.

Special shout out for the Academy's baby changing stations in all bathrooms and built in toddler stool for washing hands. It is so very appreciated.

The docents were so helpful and gifted for guiding parents with young kids. Thanks for making a giant solo adventure with littles ones that much easier.

7 Ways I've Become Surprisingly Crunchy

Linking up with Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum for another round of 7 Quick Takes!

I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area going on 8 years now. It has changed me in surprising ways - espeically when it comes to some crunchy parenting and living choices.

Yup, I drank the Kool-Aid a little bit.

Here are 7 things that I never saw myself doing that I do now.

1

Babywearing

This one isn't super weird - we had a big hiking style carrier when my sisters were little - but I did not foresee myself using babywearing in place of a stroller 95% of the time.

But the realities of needing to navigate stores with narrow aisles, and using public transportation means that throwing the baby on my back in the Ergo is often the easiest option.

I'm not ideologically opposed to strollers. We have one. It's not great - I call it the Hummer of strollers - but it is fantastic for hauling the 20+ kids books we get from the library every week.

2

Cloth Diapering

This one surprised me. Never did I think I would end up cloth diapering, and probably wouldn't have if we didn't have cool neighbors who were doing it when our oldest was a newborn.

Actual thought process: "Well the neighbors do cloth diapers and they're not crazy or a masochistic. Not having to order diapers online would be nice. They say they potty train faster....Let's do this!"

We've lucked out with a pretty awesome cloth diaper service (for which I'm sure our neighbors who share laundry with us are very grateful) and it's been a great fit for us.

3

Homebirthing

Another thing I did not see myself considering before I had kids.

Our oldest was born in a hospital with a CNM. It was not a great experience, and postpartum care was terrible. When I turned up pregnant with #2 I was less than keen to repeat that situation.

So we looked into homebirth!

We surprised ourselves and ended up going with a LM/CPM. She was awesome! Prenatal appointments were largely at our apartment (no need to worry about childcare!), the birth went really well, and postpartum care was fantastic.

It's not the best choice for everyone, but it works great for me.

**You made it through the birth section. Yea you! Now it's going to get a little grosser. You can skip to number 6 if desired.**

4

Placenta Encapsulation

After our oldest, John, was born I had a really bad round of postpartum depression. After surviving that, I was willing to do just about ANYTHING to prevent it.

I still have to do a little mind distraction in order to swallow the weirdness of ingesting a human organ, but I can do it.

I didn't have any issues with PPD the second time around. Whether it was due to using the placenta medicine, knowing better how to handle recovery + newborn, or just a better support system is unclear. I would probably do it again. Just in case.

5

Mama Cloth

File under "Things That Sounded Super Weird and Gross": reusable menstrual supplies!

But it's surprisingly clean and easy.

I even used them postpartum (with this kit from Lunapads). So much more comfortable, and it takes up significantly less space than my old stockpile of disposable supplies. 

**See that wasn't so bad, was it?**

6

All the Weird Veggies

We started getting a farm box when we were newly married. I would probably never have cooked with celery root, butternut squash, kale, chard, or a number of other veggies had they not just appeared in my kitchen demanding to be used or rot.

I have learned how to make things tasty to our family's palate without a lot of waste, and I've become a much more adventurous and confident cook because of it.

7

Cleaning Clean

Never did I see myself having so many uses for vinegar!
Once I had little crawlers underfoot, it became a lot more important to use cleaners that I did not have to worry about baby fingers touching (for the sake of my poor stress levels.)

As life as gotten busier, I've discovered some pretty great commerical green cleaners. I swear by this Mrs. Meyers Scouring Powder. Comet did not work nearly as well on soap scum and greasy tea kettles. And it smells so good!


Anyone else have the experience of our location changing your choices? Do you do any of the stuff on my list?

Why I Throw Parties When my Husband is Traveling + WIWS

My husband Matt left this morning for a work trip. It'll be about four days and nights without Matt. Typically, the advice to get through many solo parenting shifts in a row seems to be along of the lines of: "hunker down, eat frozen stuff, you will survive!".

I'm ... throwing parties.

Well they're not pinterest-worthy, amazing parties. I invite people to my house, make something yummy, and the kids and I get to spend some quality time not driving each other crazy.

Today we're having a football party to watch the first Cowboys/Eagles game of the season (Matt's from Philly, I'm from Dallas. It's a thing.) I'm making Crockpot Buffalo Wings and a Spicy Italian Crescent Ring.

On Tuesday we'll have a movie night. It very well might be Steel Magnolias. Watch it to understand the Southern women in your life.
Friends are getting pizza, and I'm making a big salad plus mint juleps and iced tea (what else would one make?)

I have really tried to do the "spend slow hours at home together" thing, but I always end up feeling like I could climb the walls. I need other adults around, at least once every 24 hours, who are going to say something besides: "They're so cute! How old?", and "Would you like a bag?"

I've learned I'm also like this post-partum too: I didn't even make it two weeks before I showed up at the parish wine and cheese social with the baby in a moby wrap. I know a lot of other women do really well with the babymoon concept, holing up in bed with the baby all day, but I tried it and I just wither. It's just not what puts me in a good mental place.

So if you are a little like me, and prefer having at least one  conversation a day that doesn't involve insisting the other person quit trying to speak to you in monkey - let's get together! I don't care if it has to be via email, but I think us extroverted introverts need to stick together sometimes.

And here's What I Wore Sunday!

But it's really What I Wore Saturday.
Because we went to the vigil mass.
Because of the husband leaving town thing.
And the I-can-handle-one-kid-with-me-in-the-choir-but-not-two thing.

Dress: JCPenney
Belt: JCPenney
Sandals: Target

And this is Who I Wore Sunday!

Baby: Therese - 12 months
Carrier: ErgoBaby Original in Grey