The Weekend Send-Off

September 23rd, 2011 - filed under: Furthermore » Feedback

Mr. Waits is once again playing baby model over at Herbivore! He pulls a pretty good “serious/aloof” face, huh?


Oi! And by that I mean, Oyyyyyyy vey. It’s been a brutal week ’round these parts, with Waits catching a summer cold (so sad, stuffy-nosed breastfeeding!) and me fighting hard not to succumb, myself. Damian and I have both been on the edge of getting sick all week, which means things sort of fall apart around here. Ha! I’m glad it’s the weekend and we can all just lay around and rest . . . well, as much as our little ball of energy will let us!

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So, have you gotten a copy of The Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide??? You have? Yay, thank you! I hope you like it. And, I have to ask you for one small favor. Do you think you could take a few moments to leave an Amazon review?

Reviews are actually really, really helpful. So THANK YOU in advance, and thanks so much to those of you who have already left such awesome ones. You guys make me cry!

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And now, the glorious gratitude!


Le Love List:

1. Rolling With it    Okay, so like most successful bloggers, I’m a bit of a control freak. Well, maybe a lot of a control freak. This has its benefits, but it also has its downsides. Absolute control is certainly less conducive to mothering than it is to business.

I’ve spent the better part of Waits’ life resisting – straight-up fighting – the loss of control that comes with parenthood. Silly me! But oh well, you live and learn, and it took me about 17 months to figure out that this was a *really* counterproductive activity.

I was once on a mothering message board, reading a thread about “your one best piece of parenting advice” or something, and one of the women said, “The only thing you can really control is your own reaction.”

Damn.

Ain’t that the truth? I’ve been tumbling that around inside my noggin ever since, and these days I’m really practicing letting go of control. Going with the flow. You know . . . relaxing.

Case in point: Um, I’m supposed to be in the woods learning about herbs and wildcrafting and listening to amazing folk music and dancing around campfires and singing Waits to sleep under the stars right now. That’s right, it’s Rootstalk weekend, and I was supposed to be blogging the whole event. Instead my baby got sick, and then my whole family got sick, and it just became very clear that outdoor festivals weren’t in the cards.

OH WELL. Yesterday, instead of driving into the woods, we rode our bike to the park. We played under the trees and you know what? Despite the snot and the sore throats, we had a lot of fun. On the ride home, I spontaneously stopped by the vegan/gluten-free/agave-sweetened bakery – the only bakery where we can buy treats for Waits – for an afternoon cookie. I was rollin’ with it, ya know, and that was also a lot of fun. Which brings me to . . .

2. The vegan/gluten-free/agave-sweetened bakery    Hello!? So awesome, right? I love that I can take my baby to get a treat in a way that I’m comfortable with – and I really love that after 18 months of life without sweets/treats, Waits is pretty much totally disinterested in them. Ha! Yesterday I caught myself basically trying to coerce him into eating more cookie, I guess because I was trying to have some sort of “moment” with him. But then I stopped and was like, “Wait, he doesn’t want the cookie . . . this is a good thing!” (MORE FOR ME!)

I’m sure in time Waits will grow to love his baked goods, just like we all do. But for now, it’s pretty awesome that he’d rather have his “nanna” or his “ope-a” (apple).


3. Oh, Portland!    This is a gumball machine filled with goji berries and bee pollen. OH PORTLAND. (I love you!)


Also! Homemade cashew butter (organic roasted and salted, mmmm), discovering amazing new parks, soy curls, taking the night off and reading trashy internet gossip sites for hours, True Blood season 4 (so good!!!), talking to old friends on the phone, walking Harley again now that his hips are better, thinking about toddler Hallowe’en costumes (any ideas? I want him to be an animal and I want it to be DIY), the mac n cheese I’m having for dinner tonight, mmmm . . .

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Alright guys, now it’s your turn – tell me what you’re loving this week!


My darlings, this happy little post will stay at the top of the page all weekend, so stop by any time to leave your Love List, ask a question, or offer some feedback! Or if you’re new, please introduce yourself and say ‘Oi!’! This is your community, so get involved!

Have a amazing first-weekend-of-autumn!

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/ Sayward Rebhal

    Hi Carly, congratulations on wanting to transition! My best tips are:

    Take it at your own pace, it’s about sustainable changes, not instantaneous ones.

    Work on being vegan first, then once you’re settled there, figure out the way to optimal health. Which means – if vegan pizza and cupcakes and faux meats are what you need to stay on the wagon, then by all means have at ‘em.

    Read lots of vegan blogs! They’re great for meal ideas and emotional support and also, just for tons of inspiration!

    Resources:
    The book “30-Day Vegan Challenge” by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is great, covers EVERYTHING

    The book “Becoming Vegan” by Davis and Melina, for in-depth nutrition info.

    The PPK forums are a great online support network.

    To stay commited:

    The podcast Vegetarian Food For Thought by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (it’s on iTunes) ia *amazing*

    The documentaries “Forks Over Knives” and “Food Matters”, both available on Netflix instant.

    The documentary “Earthlings” is a great primer on animal rights, but my recommendation comes with a huge warning label, k? It’s very disturbing stuff.

    Hope that helps! Luck!

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/ Sayward Rebhal

    So true about conditioning! Grrr