24 Comments

Easy hack for getting kids of any age outside--sidewalk chalk!

Regarding postpartum foods: Have you read the Postnatal Depletion Cure by Oscar Serrallach? It has tons of great, easy ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and beverages. I consult it weekly, or more often.

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Ooooh! Thanks for the book rec. Gonna look it up now! 😍😍

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This was so lovely and reminded me of the quote that goes something like, “It is not joy that makes us grateful, but gratitude that makes us joyful.” ❤️

Also, my only parenting “hack” which also applies to getting outdoors is: snacks. Lots of them 😂

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Ooooh. Love the quote! And the hack haha I see you have three boys (I am soon to have three boys too). Snacks all the time 😂👏🏼

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Hooray for the 3 boy life!!! Congrats! ❤️

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Thanks!! 💛

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Bec, for someone who isn't able to think much (I sound mean saying that! 🙈), you did such a a beautiful job writing this! I really enjoyed reading your words again! And those Australian references make my heart so happy 💛 you sound like you're doing a great job getting your boys outside! We usually just spend time in our backyard or go for a walk or bike ride.

Also, if you can get your hands on two or three zucchinis this zucchini bread with added chocolate chips was delicious post partum. I even ate it in hospital on my second night when baby cluster fed All. Night. Long. Highly recommend. So easy to make ahead a double batch and then freeze for when you need it.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/zucchini-bread/#tasty-recipes-67675

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Hahahah I have to say that I have since had an iron infusion and a run of antibiotics for a chest infection, so I feel like my brain has come back to the party and I was able to write this 😅

Thanks so much for the encouragement and the slice recommendation! I’ve been making a savoury zucchini slice with bacon and lots of eggs and cheese, but this sweet one looks delightful 👌🏼

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1. You call them bush walks, I call them woodsy walks here 😆💕

2. I really like what Greg had to say

3. Loved this paragraph: “The golden evening light suffused the space with a nostalgic hue. It felt like we had escaped the daily grind for a moment, like a pause in a piece of music. It was not the great outdoors, that’s for sure, but it was not bad for 4.30pm on a Wednesday.”

4. Make a homemade granola with your fav oat+nut+sweetener+dried fruit, no bake energy balls with oats, peanut butter, flax, honey, chicken chips, ready made frozen bags of fruit to pour into a blender for a quick smoothie!

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Chicken chips!? LOLOL CHOCOLATE chips!! Baha

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Hahahahah chicken and chips are good though 😂

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Awwww thank you for all of this lovely!!! And the recipes 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

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Gorgeous writing as always!!

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Nawww thanks Joy! Really appreciate the encouragement 💛💛💛

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Oh, and for an easy snack: sausage cheese muffins!

3 cups all-purpose mix (Bisquick in the States-not sure what you have there!)

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 lb breakfast sausage

6 oz shredded cheddar cheese

3/4 cup water

Cook and crumble sausage in a skillet, then let cool.

Add Bisquick, sausage, and cheese to a bowl and combine.

Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the water and soup, mixing them together before stirring everything else together.

Add almost to the top of muffin tins (you can use mini or full-size). Bake at 375 F for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown. You can freeze them and reheat them later too. They are savory and satisfying!

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Thanks!!! Savoury muffins are where it is at 🤤

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I relate to this so much. I want things to have a purpose and so it is often hard for me to do something that just seems like fun or that I won’t be good at, but fun can be a purpose too. Thank you for sharing these thoughts. I went through a stretch early in my 30s when I lost a bunch of weight and took up running and was “healthier” than I had ever felt. But then I got very ill and ended up diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, and then I had hip problems that resulted in surgery and ended my running days. The weight came back on. It was a very difficult, humbling few years, but God was very near to me, and it helped me face the severe depression I experienced a few years ago because I had seen His faithfulness up close.

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Wow, what a story. Thank you so much for sharing!! It’s so funny how beauty, that I’m tempted to disregard, is actually the thing that makes everything bearable. God is beautiful 🤯

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Love this final line: "I still could not think, nothing in my life had changed, but beauty has made me grateful". I remember thinking something similar about being outside just yesterday. As I rode my bike the gifts overflowed: the flowers, the deer, the green field...all because I said yes to leaving the house and heaving a bike down a hill to the greenway and back up again.

For your first question: I was super proud of my mom skills with my first child and then I had my second. It quickly became clear that it was my daughter's natural parent-pleasing personality instead of all the techniques I had been so proud of! Nothing worked the same with the second, the third, or the fourth! I remember also being proud of my organic, local, homemade everything way of life until a conversation with a friend one day made me realize she was afraid to bring me a meal because she might do it wrong...that's when things shifted for me.

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Oh wow. Aimee. Thanks for the kind words and sharing these moments. I heard someone say, and I completely forget who, that pride is the sin that hides itself and it is so true. It’s like we need to hurt to see it, which sucks. 💛

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Such a beautiful reflection! So relatable. The aches and pains of third trimester! The constant thinking! Mary Oliver! Thank you for the shout out!!

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Thanks Krista! Loving your writing lately, it’s just beautiful 💛💛

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That last line of your piece is beautiful!

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Thanks for the kind words! 💛💛

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