The Ten-Pound Cleanse: Scrub out your insides and start fresh

December 5, 2014December 5, 2014 / farmandhearth / 3 Comments

I am not a doctor, nutritionist or dietitian. This post and these recipes have not been reviewed by any medical professionals at any point in time; never begin a cleanse without talking to your medical professional or nutritionist first. By reading this article, you take on all responsibility for your own well-being.
This cleanse is not for everyone. Proceed with caution.

Dear skeptical reader,

I hope the title of this post was intriguing enough to pique your interest!

Since Why I Do Yoga, with dramatic before and after pictures, just about blew up my blog the day I posted it (instantly shooting to the top-viewed post of all time and quadrupling traffic!), I figured I’d better follow it up with a word on nutrition, too.

I call this the ten pound cleanse because everybody who follows it seems to lose around ten pounds, if not more. The reasons are many; but to start, sludging through the average Western digestive system are several pounds of what some nutritionists call “phantom” weight, pounds of crap and mucous that are settling and processing (or not processing) for way too long. There’s always lots of junk to offload, and then for anybody with extra pounds of fat that they aren’t using any more, some of that seems to go, too.

This is a cleanse I designed about two years ago after doing various versions of cleanses and finding what worked for me, and I use regularly for myself. So many of my friends have asked me for copies of it, and used it to their own success, that I guess I just got bored emailing it out over and over and answering the same questions again and again, and decided to post it here, online, for anybody to see and use. But, it’s just my own cleanse – not created or approved by any doctor. I hope I made myself fairly clear here, and now, let’s move on to the interesting stuff.

Keep reading, and then download the cleanse at the end of the post.

What is a cleanse? “Cleanse” is a fairly relative term. For somebody eating a Standard American Diet, a pretty revolutionary cleanse would be just to cut out anything processed or packaged. For somebody eating a fairly clean diet of real food (nothing packaged, processed, but fresh, organic and whole ingredients), a cleanse like this one is just a gentle recalibration of the digestive system; some easy-to-process foods, a rest from eating solids, grains and meats, a purified regimen.

Who can do a cleanse? Again, it’s all pretty relative. Only you and your doctor, nutritionist, therapist, dietitian, holistic care practitioner, cat or whoever you get your advice from, can decide if your body is ready for a cleanse. I personally feel like pretty much everybody can use a cleanse at some point in time; I like a weekend cleanse every month, and a week long cleanse every year. I used them during my weight-loss journey to jump-start my weight loss, and then to regularly get past plateaus and see some increased progress. It perhaps goes without saying that breastfeeding moms and pregnant moms need to exercise extreme caution; losing weight during breastfeeding, for instance, or detoxing heavily, can send all kinds of toxins through your breastmilk. I will say that I do modified versions of cleanses even during pregnancy and breastfeeding – but again, it’s all relative – I am still enjoying lots of full-fat milk, yogurt and fruits whenever I want them, even having meat if that’s what I’m craving, but overall, it’s not that far removed from my everyday diet which is pretty clean – just put in a blender (not the meat, though. Ick)!

Will I be hungry? The biggest complaint I get from people is that they can’t finish all the food assigned in one day. That’s fine, obviously! One of the best things that is happening here is the stomach shrinks – I can’t prove that scientifically, but let’s just say that you eat less and less to get full, and after you start eating normal food again, you are still eating less. (It also works the other way – you can stretch your stomach out to eat more and more if you eat out at restaurants a lot, or generally take large portions! Beware!) Normally I can get through about two smoothies a day on the cleanse, even though three and a snack are allowed. Don’t push yourself to eat more if you aren’t hungry.

OMG I just looked at the recipes and there is fat in them!!!!!! Yeah, you betcha there is. A picture is worth a thousand preachy blog posts, so here’s me eating a standard low-fat, low-sugar, lean meat, high veggie and high-carb American diet designed for weight loss. Size 10 generally, or size 8 on a good day. Pre-pregnancy, too.

Kinda sick of seeing that picture of me so let’s fast-forward to modern times. Here’s me eating full-fat raw milk, fatty pastured bacon, free-range scrambled farm eggs, grass-fed and farm-raised meats, lots of lush organic vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds, and a low amount of carbohydrates from grains. Please note that I shoehorned myself into a tight pair of size 1 [stretchy] jeans. Post-pregnancy. I could have cried! Maybe I did – you’ll never know …

I feel like there’s a difference! I attribute all this change in large part to hot yoga – again, you can read Why I Do Yoga to find out how it impacted my life and the way I look at myself – and then eventually, the way I look.

So … get back to the cleanse, lady… What I’m saying is I definitely had to start supplementing that hot yoga with a powerful change in diet, even though (surprisingly) that didn’t actually fully happen until a year and 25 pounds of weight loss in to my story (I started the change earlier, but slowly). Now, I find that with my current, more nutritious diet I can even maintain my weight fairly steadily, where before it was madly fluctuating and skyrocketing every time I ate a cheeseburger.

So the cleanse helped you to … ? It helped me to jumpstart more intense weight loss when I plateaued, and it made me feel clearer, better and even inspired. Any time I got off track, a day or seven of cleansing would bring my intestines back into order, and I wouldn’t lose ground.

You want to try it, too??? Onward to the Cleanse!!!!!!!!!!!

Detailz detailz. The cleanse can be done up to seven days (or longer, I guess, although I have never truly gone past about seven days). There is a Day 0 that involves eating no food at all (hungry does happen on this day, trust me). This day is really not for everyone (and it is definitely never for breastfeeding or pregnant moms, among other people!). I have a miraculous body that can store fat during the worst of morning sickness when I’m vomiting up all my food and barely eat a thing, and this body is made for survival in the harshest of times! I can go for a day (or up to five days, as I did during a spiritual fast once) with no food or hardly any food, and not be negatively affected. Hungry, yes, but not faint, nauseated, or suffering from headaches. This has not been the experience of all my friends. If you are heavily loaded with toxins, you will probably be feeling sick during Day 0 and beyond as your body goes through a more intense detoxifying process. If you are already at your ideal weight, a Day 0 may be too difficult as you might not have enough fat stores to fall back on! Personally, I feel like starting the cleanse with this Day 0 doubles the impact, and is a powerful attention-getter for me (yes, I still go to yoga on that day!).

I definitely don’t want to gain the weight back. You only need to do three days if this is your first time doing a cleanse, or if your diet is pretty heavily processed and you are graduating yourself into it. One of my friends lost ten pounds in the first three days, and then went back to eating processed foods and gained it all back by the weekend. You have to start cleaning up your entire diet – boxed, processed, packaged junk, and much of the white pasta and breads that are normal for us to eat, as well as sugary and sweet things need to find their way out the door while you’re in the learning and changing process. That’s all detail work that we aren’t getting in to here – there are books, doctors and websites to help with that – so let’s just focus on the cleanse.

What if I can’t buy all that stuff …? Swapping things out is more or less fine, as far as I am concerned. If you have certain allergies, you may have to swap some things for others. I chose every ingredient for a reason – based on it’s liver-cleansing, mucus-cleansing, probiotic or protein properties or a hundred other factors; some things may not be available to you where you live, and you’ll have to modify. Do so mindfully, and read up on your replacement first if you aren’t sure.

A note on ingredients: Using processed, packaged or pre-made food is probably going to ruin your cleanse effect. Honestly, if you use coconut or almond milk, you should either make your own (the cheapest version), or buy it fresh and raw. This isn’t always feasible, but it’s something we can work towards!

If you don’t have all the expensive ingredients, like maca powder, chia seeds or hempseed, you can still do a version of the cleanse using only the basic (large) ingredients in every recipe. Those are added as protein, enzyme and other boosters, and are highly beneficial and strongly recommended – but don’t let a cash shortage keep you from working on your better body, now. You can accumulate items as you go – one bag of maca powder can last for several years, and a ziplock of chia seeds from the store can last for months! Buying them all at once would definitely be cost-prohibitive for me, but I wouldn’t let it stop me from starting the cleanse.

Best of luck to you in achieving all your goals! Please leave me a comment and tell me how you are doing!

Preview and Download the Seven Day “Ten Pound” Cleanse (yes, it’s free, duh)

Happy cleansing!

Mrs H
Clean it up on Facebook
We post smoothies on Instagram

P.S. From time to time somebody points out a typo in a recipe or instructions –
I think I’ve caught most of them, but if you find any let me know and I’ll update the PDF!

Why I Do Yoga: Before and After Pics (Dramatic!! Graphic!!)

December 3, 2014January 18, 2015 / farmandhearth / 21 Comments

This pose got really popular, really fast. People are ready for CHANGE in their life, and seeing it in another person resonates big time! To read the follow-up post where I talk about how to begin your practice Today This Very Day, and to see some more pictures of my progress through the life-changing experience of yoga, check out Start a Home Practice Today (with progress pictures!).

Dear Gentle Reader,

What you are about to read is the Truth about myself that would be so much easier not to share. So much easier, in fact, that I have never shared it with anyone before today. You are going to see pictures of the Old Me that I would rather stayed in the vaults of hidden darkness (better yet!! Burned in an incinerator!!). I’m willing to share them because I want you to see what happened. I want to show what hot yoga did for me.

I’ve always been chubby. No, let’s just say fat. I was always fat. I was the fat kid. There, I said it; we’re being honest, right? Nothing seemed to help. As a 12 or 14 year old, I would get up before anybody else and go outside and run in desperate circles in the yard on the side of the house where there weren’t any windows, hoping to work up a sweat before anybody knew. I put off getting my driver’s permit for years because I didn’t want to put my weight down on a piece of paper, and face the horror my family would surely feel. Dad bought a cool, fancy new scale and everyone was playing on it, weighing themselves, and I was hiding in my bedroom pretending to be busy so I wouldn’t have to get involved in the game.

Yep, I pretty much hated my body for most of my life.

By the time I reached college (I finally got my license at the age of 19), I was a pro at wearing baggy t-shirts and too-big sweatshirts to cover up the embarrasment I felt about my body. I was good at making fat jokes about myself and laughing hysterically with everybody else about them. Leading up to my wedding, I went full-tilt in the fitness arena, running every other day for up to 15 miles in a stretch, and pumping iron with professional body-builders in the college gym for a dedicated two to three hours every day, getting up at 4AM just to squeeze it in before class. The trainers put me on a strict diet, and I was excited that results were just around the corner. But despite these efforts, results were not just around the corner. My body got stronger, but the fat was happy to stay packed on top.

A few months after the wedding, a friend casually invited me to a hot yoga class with her, Bikram style. 90 minutes of vigorous asana in a room heated to 105F or more, with humidity at at least 50% or more. I had no expectations, no knowledge of what was to come, and I definitely did not envision this hot yoga becoming a part of my everyday life for the next six years, that I would go to teacher training myself one day.

I dripped, sogged and collapsed my way through class. Stand on one foot? You’re kidding, I can barely wobble on two. Stop drinking water? Lady, have you noticed how hot it is in here? Stop wiping the sweat, it’s cooling you down. Stop wiping the – listen, it’s pouring off of me in rivers, and ain’t nothing cooling in this entire room! And finally she said, to the class, “Come back tomorrow.”

Like a good girl, I came back. At the end of class, she said again, “Come back tomorrow.” So I did. I came back. And I came back again, and I came back every day for a hundred days, because by now, I couldn’t stay away.

I started alternating the classes with Baptiste-style power yoga, a faster-moving practice that sometimes is accompanied by upbeat pop music, with different poses but just as much sweating, just as much torture, and just as many tears when I finally hit the mat for a final rest. Something about this practice was changing my life.

There were no candles, no chants, no yoga speak, and no string of beads being flung in my face. But something weird was definitely happening. I started to embrace the figure I saw in the mirror, even before it started to change. I started to enjoy the poses, however imperfect they were, exploring how far my body could go each time, getting excited when I reached a breakthrough (there was always one, in every class). I started seeing muscles and shapes emerging from my body, lines and a figure that I never knew existed under there. I was confident, pleased, and I didn’t mind walking around in my body any more. I can never go back to who I was before.

Did the weight fall off overnight? No. I had to do the work. I had to put in the hours, the tears and the sore muscles, I had to lie quivering on my mat because I couldn’t stand up any more, and I had to learn to face my own self in the mirror, day after day, even when I didn’t want to. After that, after all of that, my body reacted to the first loving treatment I had given it by giving me back what I so desperately desired.

This is me, a few weeks before my life was changed by that fateful hot yoga class. This is the girl who couldn’t even stand to be in her own body on any given day. And this is me after all that crazy gym working out and self-starvation – the pictures from before would have been even worse, but I am pretty sure none of those exist because I was quite good at hiding from the camera.

Yep, that was me. Take a good hard look.

Now I’m going to show you what I looked like after hot yoga. I have to share this picture because I can’t show you what happened inside of me – in my mind, in my heart. I can’t show you how I started to enjoy being me, even before the physical change appeared. And I have to share it because sometimes, the visible, outside appearance is what speaks the loudest when we’re in a desperate place, not a lot of talk about self-acceptance.

People, change can happen. It is possible.

Photo by Urban Utopia Photography

It’s your time now.

Your world can change. Are you ready?

Mrs H

Epilogue

Thank you to the dedicated teachers who showed up to those hot studios every day to bring a life-changing practice to somebody who needed it desperately. Thank you to the studio owners who answered emails and phone calls late into the night, and made their studio happen day after day, so people like me could show up and have their world explode with possibility before their very eyes. Thank you to everyone who made it possible for me to go on and get my teacher training, so that I, too, can now bring this empowering, revitalizing, life-giving practice to others who, like me, are desperate for something to change. Thank you to you, for reading this, and starting to change your world and your body for a better purpose.

Professional photography by Urban Utopia Photography, a Seattle-based photographer who travels the country periodically to shoot different states. Usage of these pictures is thanks to her generosity and kindness, as she donated the digital rights for the purposes of this post.

Best Gifts for New and Expecting Mamas: Stocking Stuffers and Beyond

December 1, 2014June 30, 2017 / farmandhearth / 6 Comments

Note: Since this is a post with recommendations for pregnancy care,
there will be the occasional usage of anatomical terms referring to areas involved in pregnancy.

Dear Wondering What to Buy When She’s Expecting,

We’re joyfully expecting our second child, and while having two children by birth does not by any means make me an expert on childbirth, I am also privileged to be a doula and prenatal yoga teacher with a thick network of birth professionals and mamas that I communicate with constantly. Sometimes, the same issues come up over and over again in conversation, and the same favorite products win the prize every time … There are a few things that every mom deserves to have when she’s pregnant or newly delivered, and they aren’t the usual gadgets you might be thinking of (note that the hallowed boppy, treasured as those funnily-shaped pillows are, didn’t even make this list – we’re talking crucial crucial things here, the stuff that never makes the registry list!).

I know we're all expected to bend over backwards for pregnant mamas ... Photo by Matt Palalay

I know we’re all expected to bend over backwards for pregnant mamas but really … Photo by Matt Palalay

These are some hardcore “thank-you-thank-you-forever-how-did-you-know” gifts that will really make the transition into I Just Had a Baby-hood so much easier, gracefuler (??) and more pleasant. I’ve sorted them by price, so if you’re stuffing a stocking for the little one or mama, putting together a basket of sweet treasures, or going all out and blowing the big Gs on somebody special, you can find something that fits your budget!

Sometimes you feel like glowing, sometimes you don’t!

Under $10 – little things can make a big difference, dontcha know!

Witch Hazel Oil Towelettes $3.99

After birth, everything downstairs needs to heal and stay clean and fresh. For the first few weeks, a mister bottle with witch hazel and purified water (see below), spritzed on the areas in question after every restroom use, will do the trick of keeping the area so fresh and so clean clean. For on-the-go convenience, after maybe the first week (because really, who is going anywhere that first week, anyway?), the towelettes are very handy.

Unscented Witch Hazel $7.25

(See above) Witch hazel is an astringent, a toner (it tightens and shrinks pores!), and great for wound care (or stretched and sore tissue care!). It may or may not sting with stitches (I didn’t experience any stinging), and is recommended by birth professionals for after-birth lower-area care.

Candlelight Yoga $7.62 Favorite-Favorite

This yoga DVD isn’t prenatal or post-natal, it’s just a soothing and restorative class that can easily be done by mama, whether it be in the first trimester to combat morning sickness, or in the month after baby is born when she’s moving back into physical fitness. There’s a 15-minute class that is more energizing and active and might need to wait until a while after birth, and the main class is 45-minutes long (she can do that during the baby’s nap!), that is relaxing and rejuvenating. Sarah Ivanhoe, the featured talent and instructor, is a renowned yoga master now (this is one of her early works!). Her style is calming and easeful, with no “yoga weirdness”.

Multi-Use Spray Bottle $9.19

(See above) I really like this mister bottle for the witch-hazel and water, because instead of a finger pump it has a trigger pump, so I can hook it on the toilet paper dispenser in my bathroom. It makes it pretty hard to forget to use it during those first, fragile restroom visits! I continued to use the witch hazel and mister for several weeks, in tandem with the bottom balm (keep reading!).

Earth Mama Angel Baby Bottom Balm $8.71 Ultra-Favorite

I wouldn’t dare go past the 37th week without having this stashed in my top drawer, and even that’s pushing it (that pun was totally unplanned!). After having a baby vaginally, some things can sort of, well, be a little itchy for a while. It’s really nice, and really refreshing, and a real hair-pulling teeth-gnashing life-saver, to have something that can immediately, I say immediately soothe and appease the inflamed or angry areas of your body that so recently went through the greatest transformation of their life! I swear by this balm, and I buy it for every pregnant woman I know – it’s a gift that is always gratefully received. Yes, it is also safe for baby’s bottom, even with cloth diapers. Note that mama cannot use it until a few days or a week after birth, so if you have it on order, you have time to go drop it off after the baby is born!

Earth Mama Angel Baby Natural Nipple Butter $8.99 Ultra-Favorite

Let’s get real for a minute here. All that new-baby suckling, or pump-machine-pumping, can leave our poor breasts a little chafed. This butter is another one of those gotta-have-it life savers that she’ll silently thank you for at three A.M., when she’s burning, sore and chapped, and this butter is the only thing that heals and soothes! Paired with some chilly ice packs and the coolness of fresh air (yes, leave those knockers out in the air for maximum healing effect!), the experience of nursing a newborn can be so much more pleasant and enjoyable.

Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience $9.99 Ultra-Favorite

So much better than the What to Expect-type books that leave many moms fearful and heading to the pharmacy with every sneeze! Rather than victimizing and terrifying the new mom, this book empowers, uplifts, makes her chuckle and inspires. It addresses – in non-judgmental or snotty terms – c-section, vaginal birth, epidurals, drugs, hospital protocol and home birth. No matter what kind of birth mama may be planning – or not planning, since sometimes nature takes things on a new course! – this book will gently and reassuringly provide factual information. So many chunks of the book made me laugh out loud, and I had to read passages to my husband and sisters or anybody who happened to be nearby – you have questions, this book has answers! A fun, enjoyable read that leaves mama feeling refreshed, informed and happy.

Set 1 Pics by Brian Andrea_Wheel_February2 (3)

It’s wheely nice to practice yoga during pregnancy! Photo by Brian Pittman

$10 – 25 – for all you big spenders out there

Earth Mama Angel Baby Organic Milkmaid Tea $10.47

or Traditional Medicinals Organic Mother’s Milk $19.60

Especially useful for the mama who wants to produce more milk, these relaxing and milk-encouraging teas are a delight. Note that in the links I’ve provided, the Traditional Medicinals has twice as many tea bags. I consider both to be equally good, and leave it up to your preference!

Morton Epsom Salt, Plain $11.99

After baby is born (as far as concerns vaginal births – I am not sure with c-sections), a sitz bath is a strong recommendation or even requirement for the new mama. Fill the tub with warm water about up to the hips (when sitting!), and dissolve a few cups of Epsom salts into the water. When mama is more stable (blood levels returning to normal!), she can take a deeper Epsom salt bath and this will help detox out any chemicals left from birth, if drugs were used, retained water, reduce her stress, and it will certainly help with muscle soreness. If the bath is any deeper than just the hips within the first month or two, or if mama is having any trouble whatsoever after birth, I would recommend a friend or partner sitting in the bathroom to keep her company. You can find Epsom salts in most grocery or drug stores, and I would suggest unscented (plain) for the beginning.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Booby Tubes $12.30

Those same milk-maid jugs can get hot and sore as new milk ducts are forced full of milk for the first time, and the situation can be a little painful at moments! Cool ice packs help soothe, but sometimes their poky plastic edges are just torture. These booby tubes (ain’t that name the cutest?), are soft, cloth-covered and shaped like little Cs, so they can rest oh-so-comfortably right there.

American Health Original Papaya Enzyme $12.58 Favorite-Favorite

When you’re pregnant, organs get a little smooshed and pushed out of the way like the arbitrary blobs of cells that they are – but wait, hey, that stomach? I was using that! I was planning on using those digestive tube thingies, too – urggh – now I can’t breathe, or digest my food, and it seems like I’m hiccuping, burping and, well, belching … Spare mama the pain of all that internal pressure with these relief-bearing, yummy chewables. Hey, I eat them for a snack, when nobody is looking, if you really want to know the truth.

Bella B Body Buzz Post-Pregnancy Cream $12.99

This delightful, nasty-ingredient-free lotion has a gentle fresh scent and is so soothing to the belly, butt and everywhere else that feels a little squooshy during and after pregnancy. I use it during pregnancy as well as after, because sometimes you just need to hear the word “firming” in your life at that time!

Right now mama is mostly folding diapers, not cooking … but funny, people still want to eat!

$25 – 50 – A gift basket of edible goodies

Make mama a big basket for post-partum! Sometimes, preparing food can just be too much of an effort. A few ideas of things you can include are: pre-sliced cheeses (Trader Joe’s has a great cheese tray for only $5), and a variety of healthful crackers. Canned tuna (our favorite is the Tuna Guys, hands down, nets up!), fresh fruit and vegetables or even organic bagged salads, canned healthy soups, sparkling drink snacks such as Izze that don’t have corn syrup or sugar, and bottled kombucha (home-made, if you make it yourself!). Fermented foods such as jars of raw, refrigerated kimchi or kraut, kefir or yogurt will help her recovering gut bacteria (especially if she had a hospital birth and experienced any use of antibiotics or medication, or exposure to hospital equipment!), as well as help her milk to boost baby’s system. Some rich, organic chocolate will never be remiss, I am sure. Gift cards to grocery stores near to her such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s that have healthy deli options will probably be joyfully received.

Seedling Products $11 – 25 or more, if you buy them all

Young Living has an entire line of non-toxic care products for sweet little babies called Seedlings (with THE cutest logo of ALL TIME), and you can buy one or all for the new mama. My babies love an evening massage with essential oil-infused baby oil, and the wipes are my favorite – finally a non-toxic wipe with a yummy aroma!!

Love happens

$150 + for the mama you just love SO much and who deserves the BEST

Young Living Essential Oils Starter Kit + Lifetime Membership Discounts $160.00 Ultra-Favorite

It’s hard to resist something that literally changed my own life during my pregnancy, and changed the trajectory of my life ever since! The gift of a starter kit comes with a lifetime of wholesale discounts and access to free oil gifts from the company, as well as a membership number she can share with other moms to get referral bonuses from Young Living. I’ve become so passionate about sharing these oils that they are now my favorite hobby, full-time income and educational platform! All the new mamas that get a starter kit through my referral link are gifted with welcome packets, educational information and access to secret educational groups.

$400 and up – the big dollars for all that extra money burning a hole in your pocket

Kuvings Whole Slow Juicer $429.99 Ultra-Favorite

What’s the most important thing for a succesful, balanced pregnancy and the whole, natural recovery of mom after the birth? What is going to play a huge role in her risk of post-partum depression? What will be the number one factor in losing the baby weight and nursing with super-powered milk? Nutrition, of course. And juicing is an easy, one-handed way to accomplish that during pregnancy or during the hectic time after birth. You can drop whole pieces of fruit in this juicer, and it slow-masticates them – the way to get the most nutrition out of each piece of produce! Leaves, stems, kale and herbs can all go in. Add some ginger if her tummy is upset … throw in some cilantro and celery for detoxing after the epidural, and boost the oranges and lamb’s quarters to fend off illness, gain some Vitamin K for wound healing, and bolster the immune system.

Vitamix 5200 Series Blender $459.95 Ultra-Favorite

And what would this list be without a Vitamix on it? Honestly, you can make an entire dinner with one hand using the Vitamix – trust me, I’ve done it. I compiled a list of 70 awesome things you can do with your Vitamix because I am so in love with mine. I love making smoothies in it, grinding coffee, blending soup for dinner, and churning up cold, healthy ice cream (especially when I’m saying bye-bye to baby fat!). Any mama would be lucky to receive this as a gift. I recommend the 5200 Series Blender (see link above) because I find it the easiest to use; I’ve used most of the models of Vitamix (even the old, 1980s ones!), and this one is a snap. The only thing the modern blender cups are missing are the old spigots the blenders used to have – do you think they’ll ever bring those back?

Cute Ideas for the Baby Book (and other recording-type books)

I’ve kept journals and diaries for just about my entire life, since I learned how to write. I have a box of them in the shed at Mom’s house – they’re a chuckle to go through! At first, I tried to keep my diaries secret and wrote them in a code I developed for just that purpose, but they were eventually discovered and decoded by my merciless siblings. I switched to a new tactic, where I wrote detailed accounts of everyday life and left the journals out for anyone to read, and everybody enjoyed seeing themselves in the stories I captured. These fun and unique books are some of the ways I like to continue that journal-keeping tradition – even though my time is significantly more limited now!

These three adorable books are by a Seattle artist, Nikki McClure.

The First 1000 Days: A Baby Journal $12.08

The Next 1000 Days: A Journal of Ages Two to Six $12.93

Embrace: A Pregnancy Journal $13.43

Even more fun reading and writing …

The Belly Book: A Nine-Month Journal for You and Your Growing Belly (Potter Style) $10.13

And for all you Moleskine addicts, yes, there’s even one for you!

Moleskine Passion Journal – Baby, Large, Hard Cover (5 x 8.25) (Passion Book Series) $16.55

Whatever you choose for the mamas and mamas-to-be in your life, your gestures of kindness and love will be deeply appreciated by the whole family – even if you don’t get a thank you card for a long time, or ever! I hope this list has proved useful to you – and if you have additional ideas, let me know in the comments section!

Blessings,

Mrs H
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