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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Eating "Clean" and Running

This summer has flown by! We are now on week 10 of half marathon training, and it is going super well! Our longest run has been 8 miles, so far, and we do 10 miles, three Sundays from now! How exciting! I pray we stay fit and healthy. I'm very thankful for my body and what I can do with it. I feel strong, even if I don't look like it. Having a C-Section, let alone 2 babies in 22 months changes your body permanently. Especially when baby #2 stretched out your belly like you had twins--my abs are still split down the middle :-( I don't think they'll ever get back together. Gross. This brings me to our attempts to eat clean. I think that eating 'healthy' as our current culture defines it is not good enough. How is drinking a shake made from a manufactured powder good for you? How is eating a "bar" made with "grains and fruit" good for you if it also has a lot of other processed stuff? It's not. I know that eating clean is kind of a fad right now, but let us be honest....it's a good one. There can't be anything wrong with eating whole fruits and vegetables and non-processed foods. The thing is, I have to be realistic. We don't live on a farm. We don't have a full-fledged garden, and we are millionaires to afford to buy everything at Whole Foods or Farmers Markets. So, we are doing what works for us. And feeling great about it. I have the Fooducate app--and that's been pretty helpful. I'm trying to lose weight--not for vanity's sake or to achieve some number--but because I want to feel better. My mid section and flabby arms are ridiculous...hopefully eating cleaner will help us. We donated a few packaged food items and are slowly eating our way through the already opened ones--because there are starving people across the country and world, so it's a huge disservice to the environment to just throw food out. Here on out though.... no more boxed Velveeta Shells and Cheese (so bad but so good!), no more packaged granola bars, no more processed ice cream (cookie dough, anyone?), and no more buying bottled salad dressings. I've found recipes to replace common snacks, and will be getting familiar with non-bread-machine-yeast. I would say I hope this works out, but I know it will... It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle, and one that humans were born to thrive on. Poor G...she was just getting used to those awesome kid food like the blue box and hot dogs. I think there will be a learning curve here, though, so I'll keep you posted on how it goes. So far I've made some pretty delicious meals and our breakfasts have been full of veggies and fruit thanks to things like zucchini-carrot-banana muffins and carrot-blueberry-greek yogurt muffins (I threw in a banana too). I've been trying to get all the food groups into our meals, especially breakfast, the most important one of the day.
--and now for what you really care about, the kids. J is seven months old and killin' it at milestones. He's currently sick, though, and teething, soooo yah, real fun. G is almost 2.5 and rockin' the potty, coloring like a champ, and impressing us all with her vocabulary and comedic timing. They are super sweet together and life is good.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

J's milestones too!

It's been a big milestone week around our house! In case you missed it, G is officially potty trained, knock on wood.

But in order to keep up with the excitement, J woke up last Monday (7/1) and decided he'd like to sit for a long time unassisted!! He first sat "alone" around Father's Day, but would topple over very quickly. He now can sit and play, sit and reach, sit and whine, sit and watch, sit and eat, you get the picture ;-) He's a sitting fool. GO him!!

Then he decided to start army crawling not even a full week later! Whew!! July 7 is when my baby boy started squirming his way toward things. It's so awesome to watch. It made me almost cry the first time I saw it, I hardly even cheered for him - I was in shock I guess! He's getting faster each day, and is starting to investigate. Yesterday it was under the pack and play, today it was under the end table and nearly to the lamp cord until I caught him!

The above video is one of his first army crawls caught on camera.


My life is moving so FAST!! Before you know it, I'll be driving around two potty trained, talking, self-dressing/feeding, friend-making, word writing, book reading, no-nap-taking BIG kids....sheesh!

LOVE THEM!!!! xoxo :-)


Officially (knock on wood) potty trained!

I've been contemplating when to consider G potty trained. A few weeks ago, I thought she was there but then she had a pee accident. My husband says these things happen, but I don't know how you could call a kid potty trained if they pee or poop their pants...not even trying to make it toward the bathroom. Well, I think what happened there is she just tried to hold it too long because she was outside. There have been countless times outside that she's said she needed to go & we went in & used the potty...but not that time. Bummer. Then she continued to have poop accidents at least a few times a week.

However, I feel like I can officially call her potty trained after this morning. I was cleaning the kids' bathroom tub while they played in my room right next door. I heard J start crying, so I went to investigate. He was alone! I found G in her room on her potty...she didn't even say anything to me about going as she had to go past the bathroom door. She went pee and poop all by herself! She's kind of done that before but not in this circumstance (playing in a separate room). She has also kept her bed dry without us getting her up to pee for a week straight & hasn't had any poop accidents. It's magical. Super happy mom over here. So for pee, I'd say it took her a month to figure it out, 2 to perfect it. Overnight and poop, 3 months.
I don't think that's too bad. I know I was pt by 17 months or whatever my mom says :) but G is a different kid & I'm so proud of her!


ETA; Her last two year molars are cutting through now, and I really wonder if that has something to do with potty training.... as in a sign of 'maturity?' People I know who have had "early potty trainers" also had kids who got all their teeth "early"... thoughts on that?

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Recipe: Smoothie Muffins

I recently altered my favorite blueberry-banana muffin recipe to be a bit more healthy and use up some ingredients... The result was what I am now calling Smoothie Muffins because they use a lot of smoothie ingredients--clever, I know! They are super delicious; both moist and healthy (ish?).

Smoothie Muffins

1  c all purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c oil (or 1/2 melted butter if you are devilish)
2 eggs
dash of vanilla
6 oz greek yogurt (I used "honey" flavor but vanilla or plain would work well too)
1 banana, mashed
1 1/2 c both blueberries and raspberries, frozen (don't thaw) or fresh

Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt). In a separate bowl combine oil, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Blend dry and wet ingredients until moistened throughout. Fold in fruits. Spoon into prepared muffin tins. Bake in pre-heated oven at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes. Makes 12 regular muffins + 6 mini muffins... or 18 not-as-full regular muffins.