Day 23 - Bringing flour back & Updates

There was a few things I learnt from my first 40 Day experience that I took into doing this one - one of them was how seriously I need to take eating enough, but also eating easy to digest foods.

Eating enough may seem easy, but it isn't. Eating enough in this time as meant planning, support from our people, Ian bringing me food constantly while taking care of a toddler, and then figuring out how to eat or drink while holding a baby or resting. I think we've done a pretty great job of this this time around!

Last time Ian was working full time while bringing me food, but also, we didn't realize how many snacks and beverages I would need in the time. So, I ended up snacking on (by my standards) less than ideal things or not snacking (even less ideal).

Last time my digestion took SO LONG to come right post-partum and caused me quite a bit of discomfort. Digestion is slower PP. We need warm and easy to digest foods in this time (and quite a lot of it) - oh and so many beverages. Not just water. Electrolytes, and warm nourishing drinks (milky cacao, tea, broth). Learning from that previous experience I told Ian - no bread or flour for me until my digestion is right again. And until it is right - only easy to digest warm foods.

Technically I have been having crackers with my lunch (btw those crackers are just wheat, salt & palm oil - not as good as my homemade sourdough crackers, but decent ingredients. I avoid seed oils / high PUFA oils). So I haven't been flour free entirely, but compared to my usual diet I have been very flour free. I usually eat quite a bit of carbs (a lot of it containing flour). I have been having more protein and fat in this time, and not as much carb.

Anyways I have shared a bit about my digestion here - it was a bit slow initially, but it has been great compared to last time and pretty regular of late without the use of any magnesium so I decided after 22 days I can bring back flour!

Dinner was sourdough bagels from our freezer stash (I baked them before M was born) with grassfed butter (Western A Price would be happy) and egg (runny yolks). We haven't had as much egg as we planned to have, so having bread again makes it easier for me to have egg. oh and with a cup of broth of course on the side.

I use this sourdough bagel recipe - it is beginner friendly and amazing.

And the reason we had such a basic dinner tonight is because Ian spent time on other food things - like making broth / stock for soup.

lamb stock

Usually he makes broth with pork / chicken feet, but this stock he made with lamb bones to turn into a soup for us.

Typically, in the first 40 days one would consume a lot more soup than I have - the reason we've had broth and stews rather than soups is because I am a fussy eater. Ian had made many soups over the years and I am pretty fussy with them (textures and bits in food). Soup is quite a bit of work to make from scratch (well more time consuming I guess, but still work) so of course he wasn't going to make a bunch a soups I may not like. But at the market they had some good quality and priced lamb bones. Since moving to Canada we haven't had much lamb (it's expensive here. In SA we ate lamb once a week). So long story short-ish - he got some lamb bones and made a broth / stock that he will turn into soup tomorrow.

and then also what made a come back ....

Ian and Elba made them

They are shortbread cookies! In my last first 40 days friends brought us homemade biltong and shortbread cookies. I loved those snacks and decided when I have capacity I will make both those things (which I did eventually).

I started making shortbread cookies as my breastfeeding snacks when I was struggling with losing too much weight around 9 months PP. They are awesome for that purpose. Yes, lots of flour, but basically butter and sugar and flour. We use organic non fortified ingredients.

If you can digest flour well - I highly recommend them as a breastfeeding snack.

Here is the recipe I use for my breastfeeding shortbread cookies - I double it.

More updates

I have some good news to share

Firstly, doing less movement and no more squats worked! No more bleeding! I mean we could assume it would work, but it is also sometimes a bit hard to restrict movement. So, this is my share as a reminder if you're healing (from anything) - move only in ways that support that healing so you can move more later. I will continue to restrict movement for a while and limit how often I do the stairs and limit the squats I do with M in the carrier to pick up things.

Secondly being more mindful of Little M's stimulus has also worked! He is a happier more relaxed little man. BUT also, what might be helping is he seems to be done with his cold! Both kiddos seem to be cough and snot free for the most part! I am so happy about this.

Random but we've spoken to so many families that have said they all got colds after their subsequent kids were born... So it seems to be quite a common thing.

Oh, and my painful lump in the left breast dissipated without causing more issues. That being said the right one is rather lumpy today (no pain thankfully). I assume this will be my life for a while, but something great is almost no leaking this time compared to months of leaking last PP. And with no leaking I still have a very strong supply (and quite a painful milk in flow). Strong supply is seen by many wet diapers and my growing baby.

I am not napping as often as I should. I think I am operating on a bit too little sleep. I often spend the time I would have napped writing these blogs. I am going to try be a bit more intentional with even a short nap, because I don't get much overnight sleep. Sleep is important for me to be grounded and less sensitive to stimulus (in a sensitive time) which is good for having a toddler who needs a calm loving mom, but also important for healing.

No normal clothes yet - not that I am in any rush to wear normal clothes. But I thought I would share that I still just wear PJs all day every day (I change into clean ones in the morning and at night). I do now wear a loose, sleeping nursing bra in the day for practicality. But yeah no normal clothes. I don't know what I will wear when the first 40 days are over because I don't think I am going to fit into my clothes just yet. I will cross that bridge later.

Time in the room - with my first 40 days I was in the room 95% of the time. This time I am not. I am downstairs for breakfast and usually a video call with friends or family thereafter / during breakfast. Then upstairs for several hours and then back down for dinner prep, dinner and after dinner (family time).

I am taking a bath everyday, but finding time to wash my hair isn't as easy because our night routine is still so long that I often just avoid washing my hair to save time. We will figuring something out with the night routine but it is 2 of us bathing and showering and then Elba baths with me or showers with Ian. We take turns holding M. Ian packs away all the laundry and one of us restocks the cart with cloth wipes and cloth diapers. Before all that Ian cleans the kitchen and the play space (I help a bit where I can). In between is a bit of play, toddler connection and family chats. It takes long and we've been going to sleep very late and waking up very late - we have a goal to shift this.

Family time

We've always spent a lot of time together (even before our family included kids). Ian and I have always enjoyed hours of conversation from our very first date and we continue to. It is sweet - often Elba will ask us to stop chatting so they can play.

Elba (almost 3) is currently in a boardgame phase. She LOVES Bug bingo. I found it at a consignment store, and it is so great that we're planning on getting her one of the other ones in the same series for her birthday. I voted for endangered species bingo, but I think we will go with Ian's suggestion (Elba's birthday is in the first 40 days so I will share what we get her).

And of course we read to her a lot. Today she asked us to read the series in the photo to her. Ian read them to her despite his Afrikaans not being very good and then he asked me to read them instead.

Ours are in Afrikaans, but the books are available in many languages - it is the Trace Moroney Feelings books. Each book has a specific feeling that is covered in that book. Elba's current favourite is "Gelukkig" (happy).

Another two books that she brought out in the last week is two interactive books that I think are pretty great.

Mix it up - the one in the photo above that is interactive and focused on primary colours and mixing them. And we also have Press Here - that includes a bunch of instructions to press, count, turn the book left and right, shake, etc.

We focus on passive toys that require active play (and not active toys that result in passively sitting watching the toy do something), so this fits in nicely with that as a book, but also requires active participation and is nice for us to do with her.

On that note - I am not sure how life will look when I am full time with two kids, but we are a screen free family (except video calls on a tablet) and sadly I have not been able to find much from parents about how their days look with more than 1 kid without screens. Most parenting channels allowed for screen time during naps with baby - so this is something I will just have to figure out.

From Summer last year

Now that being said - I hope we go outside a lot. We timed this baby with winter (like Elba) so that come Spring and Summer we are more in a position to spend a lot of time outside. I will figure out how to do it with two kids because last Spring and Summer we went on Nature Walks and I carried Elba on my back in the Ombuhimo carrier when she didn't want to walk. Maybe this year she will be old enough to walk the whole way... we will see.

And on that note - the cold is coming back. Which means our windows will be closed all the time again (I have loved the fresh air), the furnace will be blowing a lot more and Elba and Ian's park play time will become less.

And that is Day 23. Thank you for being here. If it interests you I will share our exact routine and how we are doing the things with two kids (for now and then when it is just me).

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