WAHM, BAM, THANK YOU MA'AM!

Call me crazy... I am one of those women that went to college, got a great degree, has a great resume, landed an awesome job out of school and... secretly wanted to be a stay at home mom.

WHAT?!?

I know.. I'm one of "those" girls. Well... yes, I am, and stinking proud to be one!

However, I soon found that just sitting at home playing patty cake and changing diapers was a little less than an awesome way to spend every day. Not to mention, we just had a baby.. hello $$$$$$$. Putting all that extra pressure on just my hubby's income was a little bit stressful for all of us.

So, I started researching. After many many MANY hours of reading blogs, reviews, BBB articles and ratings and sending emails to collect information, I wound up at www.odesk.com (now www.upwork.com).

I had heard good things, so I decided what the hey.. might as well give it a shot! How bad could it possibly be, right?

I filled out an application and within a week I had a request for an interview! AWESOME!

I interviewed for the position and within a day started working. I ended up with a position as an Online Business Manager for a marketing firm. It was a bit of an adjustment for me, as I was used to the daily interactions with my boss, usually having at least that one person at work that drove me nuts, piles and piles of papers on my overly crowded desk and 8-10 hours worth of uncomfortable shoes.   Turns out, it is the PERFECT job! My boss and I immediately clicked. We get along great and have similar ways of thinking so it makes clocking in and starting emails every day super easy.

I recently also started working as manager for a clothing company. Definitely not a field I ever imagined myself being in, but again, it's GREAT!

So the jist of this blog- don't be afraid to go for what you want. You CAN make a living at home. There are actual places online that pay real money for real work.

Are there scams out there? Absolutely.

Are there people who will try to screw you? You bet.

Are there people who need help that will help you live out your dream as a work at home mom? Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES.

Don't settle. Live the life you want. You, your little one, and your happiness depend on it!

Playtex Vent-Aire (and water, and formula, and everything else)...

So as you can probably guess from the title of this, I'm less than thrilled with Playtex Vent-Aire bottles.

We bought them for our little girl who suffers with gas troubles and has started collapsing the nipples on her other bottles.. Our local stores didn't have any of the "medium flow" nipples for the bottles we already had, so we decided to try the Playtex bottles..

I have to say, they are absolutely the LOWEST quality excuse for a bottle I have ever seen.

No matter how I try, the bottom of the bottle leaks CONSTANTLY. There's a little blue rubber piece that is supposed to secure over the vent holes in the bottom of the bottle, but for whatever reason it NEVER actually seals.

Our new issue, now the nipples aren't sealing either. I'm not sure if we "over sterilized" them or what, but now, once we get the bottom of the bottle sealed, the liquid starts leaking out the nipple as soon as we turn the bottle upside down so our girl gets a facefull of formula.

New moms, be warned.. These were definitely not the bottles I expected them to be.

Poison Tits

Motherhood is a rollercoaster.. there are ups, there are down. There's good, there's bad. There's successes... but are there failures?  Really?

Well, I've got to tell you, for a while, I thought I was one. Before my baby was born, I was gung-ho about breastfeeding. I was going to breastfeed my baby, it was going to be totally perfect, we were going to save tons of money and she was going to have tons of health benefits from it.

At the hospital, we had trouble getting her to latch. Luckily, I had an amazing nursing staff and they introduced me to the nipple shield. Crisis #1 averted! With that handy dandy little piece of silicone we were able to exclusively breast feed for 3 weeks- that's when the screaming started.

It was like the flip of a switch- one night, she let loose. She screamed, and screamed... and then screamed a little more... We tried everything: rocking, pacifier, bouncer, walking, car rides, singing, you name it.

I started pumping and bottle feeding so I could track her consumption. We started giving her 2oz every 2 hours. When that didn't seem to satisfy her, we increased to 3 oz. The screaming continued and we saw a doctor who told us it was colic. Great... The notorious, inconsolable, inevitable episodes of crying for hours on end were ours to enjoy.. The good news- they say it usually resolves itself around 12-16 weeks.. only 8-12 weeks to go!

Luckily, my persistent, overly worried, new mom instincts told me to keep digging.

I decided to try supplementing- thinking maybe she just wasn't getting what she needed from my milk. We tried Similac Sensitive, Enfamil Gentlease and Gerber Good Start.. to no avail..

Finally, following the advice of my aunt (who experienced the same situation with her daughter) we decided to try a lactose free, cows milk allergy blend. The little miracle called Nutramigen.

It was amazing. We started giving her exclusive formula and it was like a miracle had happened. The crying stopped. She was a whole new baby!

After 3 weeks of wiping my diet clean of all dairy and soy, I tried breast milk one more time. The screaming started again..

I felt like a total failure. My breast milk was actually HURTING my baby. She was screaming in agony and discomfort from the belly pains caused by my breast milk..

It was time to quit trying and stop putting my little one through the struggle...

Things had again taken a turn from the way I planned them, but accepting the defeat has led to a much happier household overall. My baby has not had tummy pains and (although our wallets are aching) our sanity has been somewhat restored.

Sometimes, you're dealt a batch of poison tits. It doesn't mean you're a bad mom (though the crazy hormonal changes you'll experience from "drying up" will likely make you feel like one!). Things happen, good bad and ugly. It's called parenting.  Slap some leak guards in your bra, buy yourself some ice cream and a giant glass of wine, and get pumped to quit pumping!

Dairy Free Almond Joy Chocolate Cake

As a new mommy, there are guilty pleasures that many of us give in to. For me, it was chocolate. Any kind of chocolate. Dark Chocolate, chocolate with almonds, brownies, cereal with chocolate in it, chocolate milk, you name it.. if it had chocolate in it, I was all ears!

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, for my waistline) when I went dairy free to try to make my breast milk compatible with my baby, chocolate had to be cut.

After doing some digging, I learned that cocoa powder (just plain, unsweetened, all natural cocoa powder) is 100% dairy free! AWESOME! The downside, that stuff alone is completely DISGUSTING!

So I had to get in touch with my inner chef and find a way to make that sugarless cocoa into a delicious, craving curbing form of chocolate... and I'm proud to say I've done just that!

This chocolate cake is delicious! My hubby HATES chocolate cake, and even he ate a piece (and by a piece I mean 1/4 of the cake!) Another perk: you'll only need to use one bowl! I can't think of any reason that I'd want to have more dishes than that to clean!

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 Cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup non-dairy milk ( I used rice/quinoa blend- if you're going for a coconut or almond flavor, us that!)
1/2 cup canola oil (or, if you like the coconut flavor- use coconut oil)
2 tsp vanilla extract (again, you can switch this out and use almond or coconut, etc.)
1 cup water, boiling


1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your cake pan (I used a 13x9 rectangle pan)

2. Mix all dry ingredients.

3. Add in all wet ingredients EXCEPT water. Stir (or beat with electric mixer) until well blended.

4. Add boiling water and stir in until thoroughly incorporated. You batter will be really runny, don't fret.

5. Pour into prepped cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. ( I did 30 minutes and it was still semi-fudgey but not to the point of being raw)

6. Let cool completely and top with your choice of toppings! I made some homemade chocolate coconut frosting and sprinkled some powdered sugar on top but it would be great with plain chocolate, or with chocolate coconut and chopped almonds, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Here's how I made my chocolate almond coconut frosting:
1/4 cup coconut oil, slightly softened
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Sift together the sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl.
In a large bowl, use an electric to blend together coconut oil, almond milk and almond extract.
Slowly add the sifted powder mixture into the oil mixture while beating until thoroughly combined.


7. Pour some wine, kick your feet up, and EAT CAKE!

Enjoy!!

:)

Homemade Wheat Bread, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free

There's not much that beats the smell of homemade bread.

I love the comments my house guests make when they arrive and our whole house smells of freshly baked bread. And our guests love having delicious homemade bread for with dinner or as their morning toast!

I've had a couple failed attempts with wheat bread in my bread machine, but FINALLY, thanks to me going dairy free, I have found a recipe that works.

The bread is pretty crumbly, so it's ideal for toast or bread and "butter" to go with dinner, but not so much as a hearty sandwich bread. The crust is nice and flaky, not too tough and the wheat flavor is delicate enough that it doesn't punch you in the mouth with each bite.



Here's the ingredients I used:

1 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
1 egg (this can be omitted if you want)

2 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup bread flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup non-dairy milk (I used quinoa/rice blend)
1 1/2 tsp yeast


If you're using a bread machine (which I totally recommend), add ingredients in the order listed above. I'm no bread pro, but all the books I have stress keeping the liquid and the yeast separated when you add them to the mixer. Anyway, all you have to do is pour in all the ingredients and push start! I have the option on my machine to specify dark or light bread so I did opt for a light finish, but I don't know if it actually makes any difference!

I found that with this bread it stayed together a little better during slicing while it was still warm. The heat held it together a little better so it didn't crumble quite so bad.

Hubby and I demolished this bread! It was perfect with our eggs at breakfast with some homemade green tomato jam!

So get mixing and enjoy!

(PS- invite some friends over, your house will smell like heaven while this is baking! )

Cheers! :)