I cooked AND baked all in the same week!

My husband called me during his last rotation at work and asked me to make a nice dinner for him when he got home; he is a pilot and is away at work for 4-6 days at a time, that means lots of eating out.  At home we typically make meals that are quick and easy - tacos, spaghetti, fish, chicken - and we cook it the quickest, easiest way possible.  And especially now that we have a baby to take care of, meals are not fancy at all.  So, for our nice dinner Matt requested my Pork Chops Dijon (one of his favorites), a dish I've been cooking for several years that I found in a 5 ingredient cookbook.  I also decided on fresh green beans (we usually do canned or frozen), and a nice salad (we usually just do the plain bagged salad) with romaine lettuce, carrot, onion, tomato, yellow bell pepper, and cucumber.

For anyone interested in the Pork Chops Dijon recipe, it's extremely easy.  Chop a medium onion and saute in a little oil or butter, then either remove the onion from the pan and set it aside or simply move it to the edges of the pan to make room for the pork chops.  Brown the pork chops.  A sauce is made using dijon mustard, Italian salad dressing, and black pepper - I never use exact measurements for the sauce, but it's 2-3 parts dijon mustard to 1 part italian dressing, and then just add about half a teaspoon of black pepper.  Once the pork chops are browned top them with the dijon sauce and sauteed onions, reduce heat and let them simmer for about 10 minutes.

Several days after the nice, home-cooked meal I prepared I felt the urge to bake some dairy-free chocolate chip cookies, and as you can see Addisyn was more than ready to help!  Really the only ingredient in chocolate chip cookies that contains milk are the chips, but a friend of mine introduced me to the Live Life, Eat Free brand that makes dairy-free chocolate chips.  I simply followed the Tollhouse recipe but used the non-dairy chips.  Baking cookies is not something I do often, and we definitely do not have any cookies sheets in the house, so I used a shallow baking pan, and 2 deeper baking pans (the type you would use to bake a rectangular cake), and 1 circular cake pan.  The shallow baking pan held 12 cookies, the deeper pans held 8 each, and in the cake pan I made one giant cookie.  Addisyn was quite content the entire time that I was preparing, mixing, baking, and cleaning up - she wasn't in the least bit unhappy or bored until just before I took the cookies out of the oven.  They turned out great!  And I'm sure there will be plenty left when Matt gets home from work!

Thank You Mario! But Our Princess is in Another Castle...

As a youngster (up until I was 8 or 9 years old) we had computer games we played at home - Reader Rabbit, Writer Rabbit, Think Quick!, and a few others, but to play REAL video games we had to rely on friends.  I can remember going to sleepovers with friends and playing Mario Bros. until my thumbs felt blistered!  Some of my favorite NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) games were: The Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros. (1, 2, and 3), Milon's Secret Castle, The Goonies II, and Town and Country Surf Designs.  I had friends who had Sega Genesis as well, but I definitely grew up with more exposure to Nintendo.  We begged mom and dad for a Nintendo system of our own, but it just seemed as though it were not meant to be.  Until...

I believe I was in the 3rd grade, which would have put Joe (my brother) in kindergarden, and Amanda (my sister) would have been a little tike of 2.  Mom had been telling us for several days that we had a surprise coming in the mail in a few days, and of course we spent the entire wait trying to guess what the surprise might be.  We would never in a million years have guessed that she had won a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) on a Pepsi bottle cap.  Who wins anything but maybe a free drink?!  The box arrived one evening and I soon as it was opened Joe and I both start to yell, "A Nintendo! A Nintendo! A Nintendo!", and then I realize EXACTLY what it is we're starting at.  "Wait Joe, it's a SUPER Nintendo!"  Again in unison, "A Super Nintendo!  A Super Nintendo!"

We ended up with quite the variety of games for that particular system, both owned and rented.  We started out with your standard Super Mario Bros., and typically rented games before we bought them.  Dad fell in love with Gradius III and after several rentals we bought it from the old BEST store in Charlottesville.  At the time Joe and I could have come up with many other games we would rather have had, but Gradius did end up being a family favorite.  Growing up Dad always conquered all with that game and we spent plenty of time watching him fly through "The Greased Lightning Round" and struggle with "Master's on Parade".  Another favorite was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past which was purchased at Toys R Us on the way home from visiting some good family friends in Maryland - we were thrilled that there was a Zelda game available for our SNES.  As the game starts out with rescuing Princess Zelda, we thought we had beaten the game in 30 minutes.  Little did we know that she would be lost to us again and we would have to fight through 3 dungeons to collect 3 pendents, retrieve the Master Sword, (temporarily) defeat a wizard, fight through 7 dungeons to collect 7 crystals, beat the wizard again, and then FINALLY face Ganon.

As with all electronic devices the SNES became obsolete - we still played it, but there were no new games available and it was time to move onto bigger and better things.  Mom and Dad started to rent a PlayStation system and a few games for us during holiday breaks from school, and I cannot remember a single game that we rented during those times except for one, Resident Evil.  Joe had actually discovered the game, and I didn't want anything to do with it, convinced that I wouldn't like it based on the game case artwork, which really didn't do the game justice at all.  We spent HOURS playing that game, and I think all 3 of us have played every Resident Evil game put out since.  The year after we started renting the PlayStation during breaks, Mom and Dad bought us one for Christmas.  We thoroughly enjoyed our Resident Evil games (Director's Cut, 2, and 3 were made for the PSOne, and a few other random shooter games that weren't part of the main story line).

Then we discovered Parasite Eve - you just can't go wrong with a game that begins with a person spontaneously combusting during an opera!  We spend the entire duration of a Thanksgiving Day playing that particular title.  All 3 of us loved the "survival horror" genre of games, we loved the story lines, the surprises, but all 3 of us wanted to watch someone else play them instead of actually playing them ourselves - there's something even more creepy about  being the one playing the game than being the one watching.  The scariest game, by far: Fatal Frame.

In a blur the PlayStation 2, Sega Dreamcast (which we bought only for Resident Evil: Code Veronica X), and a Nintendo 64 (Amanda's) came into the house.  The PS2 of course being the favorite of the 3.  More Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Silent Hill games.  By this time I was preparing only a year or two from going to college, and was spending less time playing games.  My siblings and I had entered places in our lives where we just weren't as interested in sitting in a room together playing games as much as we had been.  I purchased an NES with 5 games, 2 controllers and a zapper gun on eBay for $35 the summer before college and spent some time playing it that summer, and a little in college too.  My GameBoy color came to college with me, but was lost at some point during my freshman year.  In my sophomore year I was introduced to the GameBoy Advance and was thrilled to discover The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (identical to the SNES version) as well as a series of classic NES games.  I also had friends with an N64 in their dorm room and we spent time playing Perfect Dark 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Diddy Kong Racing.  My senior year in college I brought back the PSOne which had been sitting in Mom and Dad's attic for years, and found a ton of cheap games at GameStop just before they stopped carrying them.  Toward the end of the year I upgraded to a PS2.

Since then my video game playing has been sporadic.  I spent lots of time on Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Outbreak: File 2, several tomb raider games, Shadow of the Colossus (LOVED that one), and a few others.  I've been through many games for the Nintendo DS, the 3 Castlevania games, the Phoenix Wright games, and the Trauma Center games being some of my favorites.  I also picked up a $30 GameCube after grad school (yea Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil, the remake!)  Matt bought a PS3 the year after we got married and I've played a few games on there too: Resident Evil 5, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, Tomb Raider Underworld.

I wouldn't say that video games played a big part in my life, but they sure took up a good amount of time.  Now a days with a baby I really don't have the time, energy, or motivation to play games too often - I'll think I'm in the mood to play one but then decide I'm not after starting one.  We have a Wii which I think will be a lot of fun for Addisyn once she gets older.  And I LOVE that we can download our favorite NES and SNES games in their entirety for the equivalent of $5-8 ($10 for Nintendo 64 games)!  And to think that when these games first came out they were all selling at $60!  On the system now: The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Gradius III, Donkey Kong Country, Super Castlevania IV, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and The Legend of the Mystical Ninja.

A Day in the Life

It's not always easy to find new and interesting things to talk about when Matt and I talk to each other on the phone while he's away for work, and usually we end up asking each other the same two questions: "What are you doing?"  and "What did you do/are you doing today?"  We both usually end up doing the same things every day...  But I got to thinking, why not a post about my typical day?

Addisyn usually wakes up between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning for her first feeding of the day, sometimes a little earlier.  She gets fed and goes back to sleep for a few more hours, and may actually take another nap after her next feeding, so typically our day really gets started around 9 or 10AM.  I've never been able to bring myself to nap when she naps during the day, but I am able to sleep in if she continues sleeping and napping in the morning.  I am usually up before she wakes up from her morning nap to have some breakfast, get dressed, and get ready for the day.

During the day Addisyn nurses every 2-3 hours, and feedings take 20 to 25 minutes each.  Of course I am pretty limited in what I am able to do while I am breastfeeding, but I usually pass the time reading, watching TV, or checking my email/Facebook.  Between feedings there are of course diapers to change, and speaking of diapers I wash and then line-dry them every other day.  I also try to get dishes and laundry done between feedings, take a shower, and this is when we would run errands too.  When she's awake between feedings Addisyn and I also do tummy-time (a baby's workout to strengthen their neck, back, and arms), read, play with her play gym, and just spend quality time together in general.

In the evenings if it's not too, too awfully hot we try to take a walk around the neighborhood so that Bailey can get out of the house and get some exercise too.  Addisyn gets a bath every other night, and I usually have her in bed right around 9:00, give or take an hour.  Once she's sleeping for the evening I have another opportunity to do laundry or dishes if need be, otherwise I will spend some time reading or playing around on my computer before it's time for me to head to bed too.  Lather, rinse, repeat....

No Milk, No Soy, No Problem

Most people I know are already aware of the fact that our baby daughter, Addisyn, has a cow's milk intolerance, a common problem for lots of babies.  Basically there are 25 proteins in cow's milk that babies can develop an intolerance to, and roughly 50% of babies that have a cow's milk protein intolerance also have a soy intolerance.  Babies are exposed to cow's milk and soy through baby formula (most commercially available formulas are derived from either milk or soy), or through their mother's diet if they're breastfed.  Symptoms of milk protein intolerance may include intestinal irritation, excessive gas, reflux, fussiness, trouble sleeping and general discomfort.  We were fortunate that Addisyn's only symptom was some intestinal irritation (evident from mucosy stools that contained microscopic blood), but she didn't have any of the other symptoms that most babies exhibit.  The solution?  For me to eliminate milk and soy from my diet of course.

When I first realized that I might have to cut out dairy I had hoped that it would just be dairy products: milk, yogurt, ice cream, butter, etc.  I was wrong... I needed to cut out ALL foods containing milk, and soy too.  At first it was quite overwhelming, and I was quite depressed when I began looking through our kitchen and reading ingredient labels.  It is amazing the sorts of foods that contain milk products that you would never guess: lunch meats, ramen noodles, even spaghetti sauce already comes with cheese in it!  And it's not just as easy as looking for milk, butter or cream on the labels - oh no! - there are lots of names that you would never know means milk!  Casein, Ghee, Hydrolysates, Lactalbumin, Whey, Lactoglobulin, just to name a few.  Soy isn't quite as tough, but there are certainly still secret code words for soy too: miso, shoyu sauce, tamari, tofu.

Fortunately I am able to eat soy oils and soy lecithin - these are fats and not the troublesome proteins.  Were these not allowed I would have had to eliminate A LOT of other foods!  I have also found substitutes for many of the foods that I could no longer eat.  Sorbet is a great alternative to ice cream. I am able to have almond and rice milks (which also come in chocolate!).  I have found dairy-free, soy-free buttery spread, which is actually really good.  Most dark chocolate doesn't contain milk - yea for (dark) chocolate covered coffee beans, in moderation of course because of the caffeine.  A friend also introduced me to the "Enjoy Life, Eat Freely" brand which makes trail mix, cookies, candy bars, and other foods/snacks that are dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, and vegan.  They actually are made without the 8 most common allergens.

Now that I have been on a milk-free, soy-free diet for a little while and have a pretty good grasp of what I can and cannot eat it's not so bad.  When Addisyn is around 7 months (4 months from now) I will be able to slowly start reintroducing milk and soy back into my diet.  Most babies grow out of milk/soy protein intolerances by the age of 9-10 months.

Bailey: A Portrait of Woman's Best Friend

For my 23rd birthday Matt presented me with a birthday card and a "coupon" for "one free chocolate lab puppy of my choice (pricing restrictions do apply)," hand written on an index card.  It was February and I would not be living in a place where I could have a dog until July.  Of course I began searching for puppies before I had moved and I came across an add in the local newspaper advertising black and chocolate lab puppies for sale.  I called the owner of the puppies and went out to see them that evening.  It was a litter of 10 puppies: 7 black, 3 chocolate, and they were only 3 weeks old.  I selected the larger (and brighter-eyed) of the 2 chocolate females and left a deposit so that she would be held for me.

Over the next couple of weeks I prepared for a new puppy by buying food, bowls, treats, toys, etc.  I visited with our puppy, that I had decided to name Bailey, twice before we were able to take her home.  We picked Bailey up early one Friday afternoon.  She was just 6 weeks old and slept in my lap the entire car ride home.  She was leery of her new home environment and wouldn't move for a long time when we placed her on the floor at our apartment, she just sat there looking scared and unsure.  Our first night with Bailey was a long one!  She whined and whimpered the entire night, and finally went to sleep just before 5AM.  Matt had graciously taken her out to the living room shortly after 1AM so that I could get some sleep as I had to be up to do thesis field work at 5:15AM.  As he had sacrificed his sleep so that I could get a little shut-eye, I returned the favor by taking Bailey along with me for my field work so that Matt could get some sleep too.

We had a lot of issues with Bailey after we first got her: ear mites, ringworm, round worms, whip worms, and hook worms.  The ear mite problem was quickly remedies by the vets office, but the ringworm and intestinal worms took some time to clear up.  For the first several weeks that we had Bailey we had to bathe her every other day with a special medicated, anti-fungal shampoo to treat the ringworm, we also applies an antiseptic spray 3 times a day.  We had Bailey de-wormed many times, and it took 5-6 months to completely eradicate the intestinal worms.  I had asked all of the right questions of the previous owner, and had gotten all of the right answers, unfortunately after all of her problems I got the feeling that they weren't the accurate answers.  Aside from the health problems Bailey had also received her first shots too early, and the woman couldn't tell us what vet they had used, and instead of providing me with paperwork from Bailey's prior vet visits she only gave us the labels from the bottles of vaccine that Bailey had been given.

Fast forward 4 years... Bailey has matured and is no longer the uncontrollable bundle of energy that most labs seem to be for a longer period of time than most dog breeds.  Well, she can still be a bundle of energy, but for the most part it's during more appropriate times (like when she's outside playing), though she still get a little wild and a little too excitable when people come to visit.  She is also quite vocal when Matt gets home or when someone comes to the door.  Bailey has been wonderful with Addisyn, though I miss all the one-on-one time I used to have with her - I'm sure she misses it too.  Bailey was always with me when I was painting Addisyn's nursery, or when I was reading to Addisyn throughout the end of my pregnancy.

I am looking forward to cooler weather in the next couple of months so that Bailey, Addisyn and I are able to take more walks together.  I am especially looking forward to November when we will make another trip to my hometown of Waynesboro, VA.  I anticipate doing some hiking with Addisyn and Bailey in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I could not have asked for a better dog!  Bailey was there when I got engaged, we took her swimming at the river the day before our wedding, and she has always been a constant source of companionship for me which I especially appreciate when Matt is away from home.  I look forward to many more wonderful years with her and look forward to Addisyn growing up with her too!

Choices I've Made as a Mother: Cloth Diapering

I have always been a person who tries to make environmentally conscious decisions, and unfortunately sometimes it is just too darn expensive, at least for us, to do things such as eat organic or have some of the green household technologies available today, but cloth diapering is something I can do!  And not only is cloth diapering good for the environment, it's better for Addisyn and for our wallet (we will probably save $2000-3000 during the diaper years) than disposable diapers are!

You will hear conflicting reports about whether or not cloth diapering is actually better for the environment than disposable diapering.  Disposable diapers take more than 500 years to decompose!  Some sources (especially disposable diaper manufacturers) will indicate that cloth diapers are less environmentally friendly because they use more water during laundering.  Proctor and Gamble (makers of Pampers) claims that "cloth diapers use 4 times more water and produce more sewage" than disposables.  A more objective source (Lehrburger, Mullen, James, Diapers: Environmental Impacts and Lifecycle Analysis, January 1991) indicates that disposables actually use 37% more water than cloth diapers that are laundered at home or through a laundry service.  Disposables only seem to produce less sewage because the waste is being put into landfills, which is technically illegal - by law, even people who use disposable diapers are supposed to remove and flush solid waste before throwing the diaper away.

Disposables also contain things like dioxin, chlorine, and perfumes, which can cause rash and irritation to many babies' skin.  Furthermore some of the synthetic fibers that have been banned from use in tampons due to their association with toxic shock syndrome are used in disposable diapers!

Many parents feel like cloth diapering is too much extra work, but I really don't see where it takes too much extra time and effort, especially when compared to the benefits.  I have also switched to cloth wipes, saving us even more money, and saving me the trouble of having to pull disposable wipes out of cloth diapers to throw them away.  Everything gets washed together!  It took a few days to come up with a system that worked for me once we switched from disposables (we used them for about 2 months) to cloth.  I wash diapers every 2 days, and everything (diapers and wipes) just gets dumped right into the washing machine.  Because Addisyn is exclusively breastfed I don't even have to worry about rinsing out poopy diapers before I wash them - this will change once we introduce solids.  I have also started drying our diapers on a clothes line, saving us more money on electricity and using the the sun's UV rays to naturally bleach (liquid bleach and other chemical stain removers should not be used on cloth diapers) out stains and kill off germs.  When they come off the line the soaker pads (absorbent part of the diaper) are stiff, so I do throw them in the dryer for 10 minutes which softens them right up!  The cloth diapers we have chosen are one-size diapers that should fit Addisyn until she is potty trained with snaps that allow for rise adjustments to be made as she grows.  And they're just so darn cute!

Choices I've Made as a Mother: Breastfeeding

It was very important to me that I do everything within my power to exclusively breastfeed Addisyn for at least the first year.  I spent a lot of my pregnancy listening to various podcasts about pregnancy and being a new mother, and gained a wealth of knowledge about breastfeeding from the plethora of lactation consultants I heard on said podcasts.  First off, breastfeeding is great for recovering from childbirth itself as it causes the uterus to contract which helps to close off the blood vessels where the placenta was attached to the uterus, it also allows the uterus to shrink back to normal size more quickly.  Breastfeeding also helps with mother-baby bonding.  Breastfed babies are generally healthier than formula fed babies - they experience fewer diarrheal illnesses and fewer colds.  One of my podcasts mentioned a statistic (and I'm sorry, I'm not sure of the source and because I'm trying to type this during Addisyn's nap I don't feel I have time to track it down) about the number of breastfed versus formula-fed babies that are hospitalized.  For babies over the age of 4 months that were hospitalized due to an illness for every 1 breastfed baby there are 10 formula-fed babies.  For babies under the age of 4 months for every 1 breastfed baby there are 15 formula fed babies.  That's crazy!!!

Aside from the health aspect, there are numerous convenience reasons for breastfeeding.  1) You save a ton of money!  2) You don't have to pack as much in the diaper bag when you go out.  3) Breastfed baby poop really doesn't have a very strong odor, and it really doesn't stink.  4)  Breastfed babies typically don't have many issues with reflux.  5)  Breastfed babies have fewer problems with diaper rash.  6)  Breastfed baby poop is completely water soluble, and therefore easier to clean up.  These are only a handful of the convenience benefits.

Some people will tell you that formula fed babies sleep better, and it's really not that they sleep any better, they just tend to sleep longer sooner because they don't need to eat as often as breastfed babies do.  Breastfed babies need to eat more frequently because breastmilk is much easier (and therefore much quicker) to digest than formula.  A molecule of formula is actually 10 times the size of a molecule of breastmilk!

Breastfeeding does, of course, come with its challenges.  Breastfeeding is a natural thing, but not something that moms and babies automatically know how to do, so there is a learning curve.  Probably for most women breastfeeding is painful for the first couple of weeks while they adjust to it and learn proper latch and positioning of the baby.  Many women who don't have it set in their minds that they will breastfeed exclusively, or decide that the will "try"to breastfeed give up because of the discomfort or the inconvenience of having to feed frequently.  Our biggest challenge so far has been Addisyn's milk protein intolerance.  Lots of people think that a breastfeeding mama who eats spicy foods will cause her baby some kind of stomach upset, but this is really not the case.  Dairy products however frequently cause problems for babies...  If the mother eats too much dairy any baby is apt to have some sort of digestive discomfort or irritation because the proteins found in cow's milk are difficult to digest, especially for young babies whose digestive systems aren't fully developed.  For some babies (like Addisyn) even small amounts of milk will irritate the digestive system, as a result I have had to eliminate dairy and soy (50% of babies with a milk intolerance also have a soy intolerance) from my diet, but it is SO worth it!  Since giving up dairy I've had a few people with questions about my milk quality with no dairy in my diet.  My response (which I heard in one of my podcasts): "you don't have to drink milk to make milk!"  Think about it, cows (and any other animals) who are making milk for their offspring, or even for us to drink aren't drinking milk themselves.  I just have to be sure to get my daily calcium from other sources, and as with all breastfeeding mothers drink plenty of water and eat a varied, balanced diet.

Choices I've Made as a Mother: A Natural (Drug-free) Labor and Delivery

I had decided very early in the pregnancy, and probably actually knew before the pregnancy but just hadn't thought much about it, that I wanted to have a natural, completely unmedicated delivery.  My main motivations for this initially were that I really do not like strong pain medications and the unwanted side-effects they can have.  In my lifetime I have taken 2 prescription pain pills (and I do mean only a total of 2 pills), and I really didn't like the woozy feeling they gave me.  My mom had also given birth to my brother, my sister and me without any pain medication, and if she could do it so could I.  As my pregnancy progressed and I learned more of the benefits of a drug-free birth and some of the drawbacks of having pain medications or an epidural my desire to have a natural birth was very much reinforced.

Babies born to medicated mothers tend to be a bit groggy, which decreases the odds of having a good start to breastfeeding immediately after delivery.  Medications also interfere with the natural chemicals released by the brain, such as oxytocin, which is an important chemical for mother-child bonding.  There is also a small chance of spinal cord injury with an epidural.

Perhaps my favorite reasons for going all natural though were because I was free to be out of bed and doing whatever made me feel most comfortable during labor.  Women given an epidural are also given a urinary catheter and must remain in bed attached to monitors.  During my labor I only had to be in bed for 15 minutes out of every hour so that the baby could be monitored, I was able to spend time laboring on the toilet (yes, I know, not something the average person would think they would want to do, but it really was a good  place to labor), on a birthing ball, and in the shower.  When second stage labor came (the "pushing stage") I didn't have anyone telling me when to push and counting, I was able to do spontaneous pushing whenever I felt like it, and for as long as I felt like it.  I don't have any point of comparison myself, but I really felt like I had a very easy recovery too - I was eating a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast less than 2 hours after Addisyn's birth, and never really experienced anything but some moderate soreness after the birth, even with a second degree tear and stitches.

                                                                          

I will say though that I was very fortunate to have had a very fast, very smooth labor and delivery, especially for a first baby.   Here is a quick, non-descriptive summary of my birth story...  I had Braxton-Hicks contractions frequently the day before Addisyn was born; I had had them throughout the second half of my pregnancy, but there were much, much more frequent that day.  At 2:30AM my water broke, and then the real contractions started and were immediately 2-3 minutes apart.  We got ready and left for the hospital about 30 minutes later.  I had been dilated to 4cm for the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy, and was 4.5cm when we arrived at the hospital.  My labor lasted only 5.5 hours - my water had broken at 2:30AM, Addisyn was born at 7:59AM.  I only pushed for about 20 minutes.  For those who don't know, the average length of labor for a first baby is 15 hours, the average time spent pushing is 2-3 hours.

A New Bloggining...

I have had a couple of blogs in the past, both of which fell by the wayside or were only sporatically maintained at best.  Upon attempting to sign back into my blogs I discovered that Google had automatically set me up with a new blog dashboard since I switched from a Yahoo email account to a Gmail email account (yes, it HAS been that long since I checked anything blog related).  So, with a new email and therefore new blog account I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to start fresh, this is my new bloggining!

Of course the first step in creating a new blog is coming up with a name, and I am admittedly terrible at choosing blog names, screen names, and the like.  My very first blog, "Misplaced Virginian" was titled shortly after I moved to Texas, during a time when I was really feeling that I was in a place where I didn't belong.  My second blog, "The Viel Family Blog" was created during our pregnancy with Addisyn to keep family and friends up to speed on doctor's appointments and general pregnancy happenings, hence the self-explanatory, rather boring title.  Third time's a charm, right?  Again, I came up with something on the spot, but the more I think about it the better the fit of the title.  "Chaco" for Chaco sandals (usually just referred to as Chacos - which I happened to have on my feet at the time), a very popular, very comfortable, very well-made outdoor sandal.  "Mama", because (for those of you who didn't know) I became a mother just under 3 months ago.  I really feel that the new blog name captures who I am - an outdoor enthusiast with a little baby girl, two things that will never change (well, except that my little baby girl will eventually grow up... but I will still be a mama).