I make these pickles every few weeks because we eat them up so fast! We put them on sandwiches, chopped up in a salad or deviled eggs, or just as a snack. The dill and garlic give such a delicious flavor.
Quick Pickles
2-3 English cucumbers chopped in discs or spears
2 cups vinegar (apple cider or white works well)
2 cups of water
1.5 tablespoons of sea salt
3 tablespoons of raw sugar
1.5 tablespoons of whole pepper corns
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 a chopped onion (red or white are my favorites)
3-4 sprigs of fresh dill on the stem
Add cucumbers and dill to your large jar and add the remaining ingredients on top. Add additional water if necessary to cover cucumbers in liquid. Place in the refrigerator for a couple hours before eating. These can last in the fridge for several weeks.
These protein and fiber rich snacks are great for kids or busy moms. We enjoy the peanut butter and chocolate combo, but I also like almond butter and dried cranberries. It’s fun to discover different flavors.
Protein Balls
2 cups or nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew or sunflower butter are good options)
1/3 cup of honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 cup of old fashioned oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips or any add-ins
Melt nut butter and honey in the microwave for 1 minutes then stir in other ingredients and form into balls. These can last in the fridge for 7-10 days.
The original version of the this recipe is my mother-in-law’s. She shared it with me when I was growing up. It has been such a special experience getting to know and grow up around my in-laws. My mom also made this recipe a lot and it has been a staple in my life for so many years. This dough recipe is also versatile and can be used for sandwich bread, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, hamburger buns, and more. I enjoy fermenting this dough in the fridge for 48 hours to break down the gluten and develop a yummy sour flavor.
Yeasted Dough
1 tablespoon of active dry yeast
1 tablespoon + 1/3 cup of honey (separated)
1/4 cup + 2 cups of warm water (separated)
1/3 cup of oil (I use avocado or olive)
1 tablespoon of sea salt
6 cups of flour separated in two batches of 3 cups (I use different combos: whole wheat, unbleached, oat flour, spelt flour, and flaxseed)
First make sure your yeast is alive by mixing 1 tablespoon each of yeast and honey with 1/4 cup of warm water – set this aside for 5 minutes. While yeast is activating mix together oil, remaining honey, water, and salt. Next stir in 3 cups of flour. Once flour is hydrated, add in the yeast mixture and remaining flour. Knead by hand or in a stand mixture with a dough hook for 5 minutes or until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Allow dough to rise for one hour, covered in a warm spot. Press down risen dough and use for pizza crusts or place in refrigerator for up to 48hrs to ferment. When baking, form crusts, add toppings, and bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until bottom and edges are browned and cheese is melted.
Recently on my channel I shared this muffin recipe. It is versatile and can be used with many different flavor combos. In the video I made lemon poppyseed muffins, but I also do apple sauce and cinnamon, blueberries, chocolate chips, or carrot cake. Muffins are a great way to pack in nutrients and fiber.
Mix wet ingredients and sugar first and then stir in dry ingredients and add-ins with a wooden spoon. Spoon into a lined muffin tin and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
“International Board Certified Lactation Consultants function and contribute as members of the maternal-child health team. They provide care in a variety of settings, while making appropriate referrals to other health professionals and community support resources. Working together with mothers, families, policymakers and society, IBCLC certificants provide expert breastfeeding and lactation care, promote changes that support breastfeeding and help reduce the risks of not breastfeeding.” According to the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.
In short, an IBCLC is a board certified lactation and breastfeeding professional.
Personally, my priorities are to support and provide the help mothers and families need to successfully breastfeed, to encourage women to trust their design, and to nurture both the mother and baby as they learn the beauty of breastfeeding. I want to help you through the challenges and celebrate your triumphs. Breastfeeding is not just a way to feed your baby – it is medicine, promotes wellness, and aids in your child’s emotional and mental development. My job is to support and protect your ability to do so.
If you plan to give birth in a hospital with an OB, most likely you will not know who your labor nurse will be or which doctor will be on call to attend your birth. Unless you are induced, there is a good chance the doctor who did your prenatal care will not be the doctor to deliver your baby.
Going into labor spontaneously is many women’s goal as it is often safer, and your baby may tolerate labor better. So how do you prepare for labor and birth while not knowing who will be there with you and understand your birth preferences?
Will you labor in bed or move around the room? Will you have continuous monitoring? Wireless monitoring? In what position will you deliver your baby? Will you cut the cord right away? Will you do skin-to-skin immediately?
Navigating these questions is where a birth advocate or a doula can be helpful. Their role is to help you define what your birth preferences are. Your birth advocate can help you communicate these plans to your doctor prenatally and the doctor who attends your labor.
When you are in labor and actively having contractions you should not have to explain your birth choices, defend your preferences or plans. You should focus on birthing your baby. Some women plan on their husband or partner advocating for them if the nurse or OB attending is not familiar with her birth plans. But most of the time Dad is overwhelmed trying to support and encourage you! He is going through an intense experience too. It can be helpful to have someone present whose main role is to remind your healthcare team of your preferences and goals. To be the one to speak up when you are in pain and can’t.
Choosing this person is important. Knowing that they understand and support your choices is helpful so that you can trust and relax knowing they are there to stand up for the birth experience you want. Talking with your doula or birth advocate before labor starts about how to navigate common concerns and problems that occur during birth is helpful. Together you can decide how you will handle situations like: prolonged ruptured membranes, failure to progress, back labor pain, nausea during labor…etc.
Your birth advocate can simply be your voice so you can mentally and physically put all of your energy into bringing your baby into the world.
Many moms have asked me how and when to start pumping postpartum to stock their freezer and have milk ready for when they go back to work. When new moms look on social media at the many oversupply moms posting about their hundreds of ounces frozen away, it can set high expectations for them. However, it’s important to remember that your goal is to feed your baby – not the freezer.
When you nurse mmediately after birth, there will be small amounts of colostrum that your baby will get as they latch. A few milliliters is all they need per feeding at the beginning. Their stomachs are small – around the size of a cherry. Colostrum is also very thick and nutrient-dense, making it harder to remove from the breast. Your baby can remove the most milk by directly latching. Pumping during this stage usually does not work as well as in the mature milk stage. Hand expression is the best option for milk removal during the colostrum stage if your baby will not latch.
Most moms’ mature milk comes in between 3-5 days postpartum. Once it starts to come in, your breasts feel firm and usually leak during feedings. Moms will use collection devices while feeding to catch this milk. I like this option rather than immediately starting to pump since your baby needs to drink as much milk at each feeding as possible. All babies lose weight after birth – the goal is for your baby to return to birth weight by two weeks old. So the first several days after mature milk is in are important weight-gaining days for baby. It’s important to feed on demand and offer both breasts each feeding. That means pumping shouldn’t happen before or while your baby is latching in the first few weeks.
You can start collecting milk by attaching a silicone milk catcher to the opposite breast while your baby nurses for the first few days. Then after your baby has started adjusting to the volume increase, you can start pumping some after your baby nurses. I recommend pumping one or two times a day in the morning after you’re done nursing. You can pump both breasts at the same for around 10 minutes. You’ll probably get a small amount of milk like an ounce or two, but slowly collecting milk this way will help you start a freezer supply without being glued to your pump after every feeding. Here are the CDC’s milk storage guidelines:
Try freezing smaller amounts of milk per bag. Like 2-3 ounces. This way you will waste less. If your baby does not want more that 3 ounces at a time you won’t have milk to throw out. If they want more than 2-3 ounces, you can always just pour more milk into a bottle.
One of the challenges with sleep training (or the “cry it out” method) is that we expect babies to understand that it’s time to sleep, learn how to self-soothe, and wait for food. Developmentally infants do not have the ability to understand the passage of time yet. They know what their body tells them they need, and crying is how they communicate that.
Self-soothing is a tricky subject. Even as adults we don’t self-soothe. We have calming things that we use to help us fall asleep and feel secure. We have a dark room, fan, sound machine, maybe our spouse beside us, comfort clothes, etc. What happens if one or all of those things are taken away? Can we sleep well?
Babies and children learn age appropriate comfort measures by their parents introducing them in a known and safe environment as the child is ready. The timeline is different for each child. During babyhood, it’s usually with mama and daddy. When infants “cry it out” and eventually stop crying it is not because they learn how to soothe themselves. They realize that crying is not getting their needs met, so they stop.
Here is an excerpt from a study in infant cortisol levels during CIO sleep training:
As expected on the first day of the program, mothers’ and infants’ cortisol levels were positively associated at initiation of nighttime sleep following a day of shared activities. Also, when infants expressed distress in response to the sleep transition, mother and infant cortisol responses were again positively associated.
On the third day of the program, however, results showed that infants’ physiological and behavioral responses were dissociated. They no longer expressed behavioral distress during the sleep transition, but their cortisol levels were elevated. Without the infants’ distress cue, mothers’ cortisol levels decreased. The dissociation between infants’ behavioral and physiological responses resulted in asynchrony in mothers’ and infants’ cortisol levels.
In other words, mother and baby were both measurably stressed in those first few days of training. The baby stopped calling for the mother within a few days. The mother, not hearing cries, stopped being stressed by the separation. But the baby’s stress continued. It’s just that no one could hear it. [1]
Babies don’t self soothe when they are left alone, they merely adapt to being alone. Parents must do the soothing. When we soothe a baby to sleep, like nursing to sleep or rocking, they feel comfortable, and their needs are met. Those needs being: feeling safe, cared for, fed, comforted by familiarity and absence of fear. Babies can’t do any of those things by themselves. At the end of the day – baby’s needs are met by snuggles and mama’s milk. (Sometimes that’s the same thing.)
The more I have learned about parenting, the more I realize no one has it figured out. Kids can always throw you for a loop. And that’s good because it keeps us needy and running to the Heavenly Father. Through my classes as a lactation counselor, I learned babies are designed to eat throughout the night. Prolactin levels are highest at night, milk is more calorie dense, and we produce more milk at night. Important nutrients and calories are fed in those night sessions. Middle of the night feedings are arguably more important than daytime feedings.
I truly believe our biology and instincts are to sleep close to other humans. The safety and comfort we feel is written into us as a need. That looks different for everyone. For my babies that meant sharing my bed and allowing them to touch me while they slept. I got to be their safe haven and constant comfort. Meeting each need. Answering every cry. Present for each touch and sound. So much like our Heavenly Father is for us. When we cry out for Him needing reassurance of our safety in His hand, He answers faithfully – comforting us with reminders of His sovereignty and love. What a privilege we have as parents to echo this. Giving of ourselves in those nighttime hours, loving unconditionally. It’s a beautiful, exhausting calling. But we aren’t supposed to be strong enough or patient enough to obey that. We are to go to Him constantly to be filled with the grace to love as He does.
I found myself meditating on this when I would snuggle with my baby every couple hours in the evenings. Worshiping God for bringing me to Himself when I was starving and scared. Not only bringing me from an unknown dark room but nurturing me and feeding me with the bounty of Christ. Comforting and nurturing your baby is such an amazing picture of that. Our God can give joy and peace in this sacred calling and fellowship with our Father in new ways. Mama’s and daddy’s cuddles and love are exactly what your baby needs and that’s exactly what you can give.
[1] Middlemiss, Wendy, Douglas A. Granger, Wendy A. Goldberg, and Laura Nathans. “Asynchrony of mother–infant hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity following extinction of infant crying responses induced during the transition to sleep.” Early human development 88, no. 4 (2012): 227-232.
You may have heard of a doula who supports moms during birth, but what about a postpartum doula? Many women struggle in the first few days and weeks after becoming a mother. It can be comforting to a mother to have someone whose primary job is to care for her, and to make it possible for her to rest often and feed her baby frequently – someone who can reassure her that a mother’s main job is nurturing the baby and recovering. Postpartum doulas can also help care for the home and prepare meals, which is a blessing because it can be challenging for new moms to balance all the new emotions and responsibilities of motherhood.
When a woman has a baby, she transforms into a slightly different version of herself. Whether it’s first becoming a mother or becoming a mother to a new unique child. She grows, morphs a little, and expands her experience. Much like a butterfly, she spreads her new delicate wings and attempts to fly for the first time. It’s a scary thing to do. It’s a vulnerable time for mothers and there is a scared beauty to this fragile stage.
After a baby is born, people flock to cover the baby with love and affection. They bring gifts and goodies, prayers, and praise for this new life. Many times the mother is left in the shadow of the excitement. There are weight checks and appointments and measurements and times to make sure the baby is thriving. But what about mama? A six-week check-up?
A mother is often expected to recover from birth, nurture her baby, feed her baby, care for her other children, maintain her house, and function normally as soon as she has her baby.
I felt so torn after my first baby was born. I just wanted to sit and hold and feed him. I was starving and wanted to eat nutritious food to help my body recover and make milk for him. But the dishes were piling up, clothes drenched in old milk needed to be washed, and diapers had to be thrown away. There was always something to keep me from resting. Tension built up. I couldn’t let myself relax too much or I wouldn’t get up and get things done. I found myself starting to measure my success by how much I got done while caring for the baby. I cooked dinner! I folded a load of laundry! But why didn’t I feel accomplished when I fed my baby or took a nap?
Our culture tells women they are supposed to bounce back. But what does that even mean? Mama, you aren’t supposed to bounce back. You aren’t supposed to be the same. You are growing and developing into a wonderful new version of yourself. You shouldn’t want to go back. This new version is what your baby needs, what you are meant to be. More aware, more instinctual, more observant, more complex, more compassionate. More motherly.
So you ask, what is a postpartum doula?
A postpartum doula is a nurturer to the mother. She comes to help so the mother can rest and hold her baby. The doula brings nutritious meals that mama doesn’t have to cook. The doula can spoon-feed Mama if her hands are busy feeding Baby.
The doula is the gentle hand who helps mama to the bathroom and change her pad. The doula prepares a bath. She prepares the teas, the snacks, the bed, the meals, the diffuser, the home. She can do the laundry and dishes. She cares for the home and protects the sacred time. She preserves the precious moments with Mama and Daddy and Baby. She slows it all down. She brings calm and quiet and peace. She comforts and she nurtures. She mothers the mother.
When couples go through the huge lifestyle shift that a new baby brings, it’s easy to hold a lot of resentment against each other.
We can create expectations for each other that we never verbalize – sometimes because we feel like we shouldn’t have to ask and sometimes because we don’t even realize we have them.
I expected my husband to notice when I was tired and wanted him to take a turn changing a diaper or picking up the baby when he cried. I also expected that he would encourage, comfort, and serve me through the doubt, pain, and emotions of postpartum. I imagined him holding me when I cried, feeding me dinner while I nursed and my hands weren’t free, listening closely to my feelings, and doing housework so I could rest.
Honestly, I expected him to predict my needs and meet them before I even asked. I expected him to notice how hard I was working and pushing myself and how exhausted I was trying to be the very best mom I could be. I expected him to praise me and tell me “You’re doing so much! Let me take a turn so you can take a break.” All before I even asked.
He later shared with me that at the same time he was completely overwhelmed and surprised by how chaotic the first weeks were. He had expected he would know exactly how to be a dad and loving husband, but when the baby came, he felt clueless. He wanted to do the right thing and know how to help the baby and me thrive, but he could not see where he fit in. The baby wanted to latch constantly. He didn’t know anything about breastfeeding and felt overwhelmed by how complicated it could be.
“How can we know he is getting enough? What’s his weight loss? Jaundice? What does that mean? We are supposed to count poops? I have no idea how many he has had. I didn’t know I was supposed to count! How do I remember to check his diaper? Anna will remind me. How do I protect him from sickness and starvation? I can’t feed him. I can’t make him stop crying. I don’t even know how to make Anna stop crying. I don’t understand why she is so tense.”
He expected that the baby would tell us what he needed, and we would know how to fix any situation that came up. He expected to know how to calm the baby and comfort me. He expected me to ask him when I couldn’t do something that needed to be done. He did not expect sleepless nights, screaming, crying, or tension.
Sharing expectations is necessary. If you don’t, then you will stay frustrated forever. Sometimes we realize what we expect is unrealistic or unfair to the other person. Sometimes the other person finally understands what we feel and can help. Sometimes we realize that we don’t want to or can’t meet the other person’s expectations and they need to change their priorities.
Tell your husband if you’re feeling hurt and unsupported. Share that you need him to care for your baby too. Share what you think being a dad means and what your expectations are for him. Tell him how it makes you feel – what makes you feel alone, scared, mad, and unloved. Share what kind of comfort and support you want when you’re upset. Hugs? Him to hold the baby? Foot massage? Food?
When you ask him to help, be as specific as possible. Don’t wait for him to see that you need something. Tell him as soon as you can.
And allow him to share his expectations. Does he expect you to always know what to do for the baby? Does he expect you to calm her when she cries? Is he surprised by how crazy life is and doesn’t know what to do? Did he try to help at the beginning and felt like he failed so he gave up?
Both of you ask yourselves if you are continuing to keep the vows to each other that you made at your wedding. This trial tests relationships and is an opportunity to be truly selfless for each other and your child.
If that sounds impossible, remember that itis.
We don’t have the ability to put others above ourselves with patience, kindness, and faithfulness. We can’t love like Jesus. That’s a supernatural thing. We must humble ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to grant us this ability.
During this hectic time, don’t neglect time with the Lord. Don’t let chaos pull you away from the Word. Let the trials push you deeper into it. Even if it’s tiny snippets and short prayers throughout the day. Turn your heart to eternal things and meditate on His Word.
God put you and your husband together on purpose and will use each of you to sanctify each other and teach you about Christ. He loves you and will use these trials to make you love Him more.
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