The desire to have a home birth was originally kindled in highschool, when I took a brief one day course on the basics of midwifery.  I had already been curious about home births, as I grew up homeschooled in a homeschooling community where quite a few friend’s mom’s had home births with a midwife.  They had gotten to be there when their mom gave birth and told me about it.  I found it quite intriguing. I loved the thought of an all natural birth in the comfort of your own home along with the benefits that go along with that.  Fast forward to when I got pregnant with my first.  I was only 19, and although I desired to have a home birth with a midwife, my insurance wouldn’t cover it.  I also felt pressured by quite a few people to have the baby at the hospital.  “What if something goes wrong?” they would say.  “It’s your first, so you don’t know how it will go!” I foolishly let the fears of others take hold in me and caved to having my first child at the hospital.  I wish I hadn’t.  

SMOOTHIES ARE AWESOME!  Not only do they taste delicious BUT they are a wonderful way to get your daily quota of fruits and vegetables.  Of course, you knew that already otherwise why have a smoothie when you can have ice cream!  Am I right?  That being said, if the smoothie has a ton of sugar, it can counteract some of those benefits from the fruits and veggies crew.  Why is sugar so bad?  There are SOOOOO many reasons and I’m sure we all have heard that sugar is bad for your teeth, sugar is linked to cancer, and sugar is empty calories.  Here’s a good article on 10 reasons why sugar is bad, if you want more information (it’s honestly really depressing HOW BAD SUGAR IS, so if you’re reading this while munching on some sugary sweets, I advise waiting to read the article): https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-disturbing-reasons-why-sugar-is-bad#section9

Do you like almond milk?  Believe it or not, almond milk is easy to make AND super delicious.  Here are a few reasons to make your own:

1. It saves money.  Almond milk sold in the store tends to be EXPENSIVE, or at least on the pricey side in comparison to cow’s milk.
2. It’s dairy free!  My oldest son is allergic to dairy (specifically casein protein so he can’t even have lactose free dairy products) which was what originally got me started in making my own almond milk.
3. Almond milk is a healthy alternative to animal milks, if you are wanting to reduce your consumption of animal products.  For more information on this, please see the following link: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/heres-why-non-dairy-milk-is-a-health-choice-not-health-hype/

There are many things that make my 16 month old scream in terror. Although they seem benign, they trigger him to no end.  Here’s a list of a few of those things (written from his perspective to the best of my ability).