Tip of the Week

Here is my big "tip" for moms, if you feel like you need a nap and you have the opportunity to take one, DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many times I've felt like I need a little snoozer and the boys are at school and Baby Girl is sleeping and I do something stupid like clean a bathroom. Yesterday I was extra tired and I decided to lay down (oh my goodness!!!). I had to fight feelings of guilt for like 10 minutes and then I had a delightful rest. And I found myself in quite a good mood for the rest of the day. I am going to try to remember this ignore the guilt and get some rest! A rested mama is a happy mama!

Monday Morning Random Fact

Note: As I type this Baby Girl is crying in the other room. She came into the kitchen, asked for something to eat, I started giving her options and she ran in the other room and started crying. Hmmmm. Also, she keeps saying she wants "Momma" but when I go in there to pick her up and comfort her she pushes me away like I'm someone else. I just love toddlers, don't you????

Random Fact: If I could only eat one type of food for a month it would be Greek food. I love the way the Greeks do meat! All kinds of meat, however it is that they season beef, lamb and chicken tastes awesome to me!!! I also love pita, feta and eggplant which they use a lot. Greek food is also so varied, meat, yogurt, rice, potatoes, veggies and they do it all!!! DH and I used to frequent a place in Arizona called "My Big Fat Greek Restaurant". I really miss that place..................

Speaking of Greek, I'm looking forward to seeing Nia Vardalos new movie "My Life In Ruins"!!! "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is one of my favorite all time movies.

Okay, Baby Girl finally let me hug her and bring her into the kitchen. Now as I type this she is munching on Cheetos (don't judge me, it was all she would agree to eat) and falling asleep at the table. Her sleepiness explains the tantrum. It makes me laugh so hard when kids get the sleepies like this. Here is my favorite kid falling asleep in a sink on youtube: Kid Sleeping in the Sink.

And speaking of youtube kids, if you have never seen "Charlie Bit Me" you HAVE to!!! It's hilarious!!!! If you have seen "Charlie Bit Me", check out the remix, I think it is equally as funny. I hear their are Charlie Bit Me T-shirts!

Gosh I'm RANDOM in general today! Have a happy,random Monday!!!

Thursday Thoughts on my Faith

Here's a sad fact: I don't have many thoughts on my faith this week. I have got to get back into the Word and mediate on it!!!! So my post is short today, just a renewed commitment to read my Bible daily but more important meditate on it and apply it to my life.

"I will meditate on Your precepts,And contemplate Your ways........" Psalm 119:15

Wednesday Tip of the Week

I am writing down a tip that I had to use myself today! When changing something in the routine for kids you have to 1) be consistent and 2) be confident.

Here's the deal, Baby Girl is still nursing. She only nurses at naptime and bedtime but I think it's time to move on. I've struggled weaning her not because I will miss it or want to keep her my "baby" but because I've allowed her to rely on breastfeeding to fall asleep. I know, I know rookie mistake. But for the last 2 years I have nursed the girl to sleep and now she's two and has to learn how to fall asleep on her own. I didn't do this with my boys, they had to cry-it-out starting as infants. I have no idea why I changed it up with Baby Girl. Probably because I needed her to sleep so badly in order to get a rest myself or get something done. Maybe I just couldn't stand to hear my girl cry..........I don't know but I know it's not a good idea to let Little Ones make a habit of falling asleep at the breast because it's so difficult to "undo". I may be in for a long haul here.

Due to the reasons above I've been really wishy-washy with weaning. I've tried it but after she asks 2-3 times for milk I give in. I've tried just nursing her a little bit and then putting her in bed but as soon as she whimpers I pick her back up and nurse until she falls alseep. I've actually asked her, "Can we not have Mama Milk today?" Like she is going to say yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I am the grown up here and I believe that I need to direct this. Today, I reminded myself that I have given weaning a great deal of thought, I have decided that weaning Baby Girl is the right thing to do so I need to make a plan and present it to her confidently and follow through consistantly. I told her before her nap today, "We are going to read a story, then Mama will sing you a song and then you are going to get into your bed for a rest." She said, "No!" of course! But we did just that. She whined and whimpered when I put her in her bed but I told her I would stay next to her (I know, I know then I will have to "wean" her off me being in the room while she goes to sleep but one step at at time people!). Through the whole process I said to myself over and over "Be confident! Be confident! She needs to know that she can trust her Mom! She needs to know that you are in charge!"

I stayed in the room until she drifted off to sleep. She asked for "Mom" several times, meaning she wanted me to pick her up but she never once asked for "Milk". I know it wasn't pleasant for her but I think it was a great start to her being able to go to sleep without nursing. I plan to still nurse her at bedtime for a while and just wean at naptime but eventually I will stop altogether. And I promised myself that when I know the time is right to wean her completely I will be confident and do what's best for me and my kiddo! Be confident! Be confident! Dogs, bees and kids can smell fear or worse when a parent is waffling................

Traditional Tuesdays and Weight Loss

DH and I are continuing down the path of Traditional ways of eating. It continues to be a challenge with our food budget but I'm finding ways to get grass-fed beef, free-range poultry and eggs, raw milk, etc on our table. Not 100% of the time but as much as possible. We have begun to use coconut oil in place of vegetable oil almost all the time now. I have replaced sugar for the kids with things like sorghum, real maple syrup and honey (DH and I aren't eating sugar). The taste of the food we've been eating is amazing and the kids aren't complaining!

Like I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago DH and I are also trying to lose weight. So far, so good. I'm down almost 10 pounds in 2-1/2 weeks and DH has lost about the same amount. I'm feeling really good about what we are eating and I'm feeling good about being able to reach my first goal of a 15 lb weight loss. I've tried to lose weight so many times it's hard not to doubt myself but we are doing things a little different this time. For one I'm trusting God to show me the way to health and taking it one meal at a time. I've heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting the same result. DH and I have discussed our dieting history together at length and have made some changes. After 12 years of being a fat couple we have learned the best "diet" for us to lose weight together. Low carb is the way to go to meet his weight loss needs and mine. It's food we both like to eat, it works for both of us, there's no sugar and there's little to no hunger. It absolutely falls right in line with Traditional Foods so I think we are eating the healthiest food for our bodies. I miss fruit terribly right now but we plan to bring in fruit in about 2-4 weeks and I think I can hold on until then.

Like I said, we have been successful with low carb diet before but we've obviously never totally reached our goals on it. DH and I think we have figured out why we only make it for a few months before returning to old ways of eating and start gaining back the weight lost. It begins with the meal we take "off" every week. Every time we have gone low carb we eat one meal "off" of our diet each week. In the past it was usually a Saturday night pasta pig out followed by a huge bowl of ice cream and a total carbohydrate hangover the next day. Also, I used to hold on all week by obsessing about what we were going to eat for our meal "off", which means I wasn't changing my habits of gluttony. "Where your treasure is, there you heart shall be also........" But every time, slowly our one meal "off" turned into 2 meals "off". Saturday afternoon would roll around and we'd say to each other, "Why not have a deli sandwich and a cookie? We are going 'off' tonight anyway." Then it would be a whole day. We have pancakes in the morning, deli sandwiches for lunch and the pasta pigout I described above for dinner. Then we would have the leftovers the next day to deal with or PMS would come knocking on my door..........you see where this is going! It wouldn't take long before we were completely "off" the low carb wagon.

So we made some changes this time. First of all we agreed that our meal "off" has a two hour window. No matter what! Every 7 days we can have a 2-hour window where we can enjoy things that are not usually on our weight loss diet. Second, I decided for myself that when I did take a meal "off" I was to use it as an opportunity to practice eating like a healthy person. Eat reasonable portions and not to stuff myself. I decided on my meal "off" to eat the way I plan to when I've reached my goal and I'm maintaining my weight. Basically, I don't want to engage in gluttony once a week. Even if I was able to lose weight I want to make sure that my eating habits please God. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where it says "The Lord hates gluttony, unless thee art on a low carb diet and it's thy one meal 'off' for the week."

Our first meal "off" was a success in following these boundaries! We ordered pizza. I ate 2 slices and then stopped because I was full. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT THAT WAS FOR ME! I LOVE PIZZA! I usually eat 6-8 slices of it and then 2-3 peices the next day for leftovers. Then we had Haagen Daz ice cream for dessert. I LOVE HAAGEN DAZ!!!! However, I controlled myself. I ate a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of coffee and that was that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was all delicious, I enjoyed the taste of the foods, savoring every bite. I also enjoyed my family as I wasn't quickly shoveling food in my mouth concentrating only on my next bite. It was a lovely dinner and we froze the leftovers (Because there was a ton! We usually order 2 extra large pizzas for our family and there was almost an entire pizza left!). And guess what? No carb hangover the next day. I felt just fine and we resumed our low carb diet.

The other thing I hope I am prepared for this time around is PMS. I bought a 3-pack of Trader Joe's milk chocolate bars. I gave them to DH to hide somewhere in the house. I told him that once a cycle I might call him and ask for a candy bar. I told him he was only to give me ONE per cycle! Also, the goal is to NOT use the candy at all and find alternatives to dealing with PMS but I wanted to give myself an out so I don't go berserk. I had PMS last week and I didn't ask for my bar. When I would feel over-emotional and think about my candy I would ask myself, "Is this bottom? Because you only get one per cycle so make sure this is the time you really need it." Each time I would figure I should save it in case things got worse. Somehow it never seemed to get bad enough for chocolate.

I have been finding some good alternatives to emotional eating. Friday night was really bad, PMS-wise. I felt like a total lunatic. You know that point the week before your period when you move from simple irritation and weepiness to going full-blown POSTAL! I hated my life, I hated my family, I felt like the worst person on earth and I had just had it with everything in general! I definitely considered the chocolate but decided to try to get through it without using food for comfort. I made some herbal tea, took a hot shower and climbed into bed early with a couple of good magazines. Totally worked! I was feeling better 1/2 way through the first magazine.

I have a long way to go, about 95 pounds but I try to only focus on my first goal of 15 lbs. God has been supplying me with what I need every step of the way and I trust Him to continue doing that. I have put lots of prayer into this and appreciate your prayers for me. I can't do this without God's help! Thanks for all who are rooting for me!!!

Monday Morning (afternoon) Random Fact

When I see a movie that was almost a good or even great movie I spend a lot of time thinking about how it could have been better. I rewrite/recast/edit movies even years later. I saw one of those movies this morning. "He's Just Not That Into You" could have been a good movie and it had the potential to be a great movie but..............I'm sure I'll spend several mental hours reworking it and I'll get back to you on how I'm sure it could have been a hit.

Happy Monday Ladies!

PS It really makes me sad when talented actors lend themselves to a floundering script or bad directing. The movie I mentioned above had tons of talent and was well cast but................

Hodge Podge

Whew! The boys went back to school yesterday!!!! For four weeks and then they are off again for 3 weeks........sheesh! It's all good though, I will rest up and prepare for round two.

I have made myself extremely busy lately with the boys out of school for the month of May and taking on 2 new projects and not had much time to blog. Here are some updates on my life and my Random Fact for this week.

1) I started up a Toddler Group for Baby Girl! I found 5 (and maybe 7) other moms with kiddos under 3 who want to get together and do a pre-pre-school if you will. We do a very short circle time for very short attention spans, play with bubbles, sandbox and other large motor activities, read a story, have a snack, free play, do some art, etc, etc, etc. Yesterday was our first meeting and even though several things fell apart (behind the scenes) I could tell I was the only one who knew and all the kids and moms had a good time! We are meeting again tomorrow so hopefully I will have most of the "kinks" worked out in how I want the group to go and flow. All-in-all I think it is a good thing for Baby Girl and I. Social interaction for the both of us galore!!!

2) I am just beginning to sell new and gently used Gymboree clothes on ebay and Craigslist. I bought some things for Baby Girl a few weeks back from a woman who has been very successful supplementing her husband's income by doing this. She has decided after 5 years that she's done and is closing her store. She agreed to meet with me and show me the ropes. And what ropes they were! It's not as easy as it sounds to make a profit selling Gymboree online but it's not that hard either. There were definitely tricks and secrets and she let me in on them! Nothing magical or illegal, you just have to know what to buy, when and for how much. Then of course you need to know what to list it for. She also let me purchase a few items of her remaining stock at wholesale price to get my feet wet along with all the free advice I could write down in 2 hours! I am slowly going to list thing and see what happens! I just want to pay down our credit card debit.

3) DH and I started yet another weight loss diet. Last week was week one and we did it! No cheating either. We are doing our own brand of Atkins. It's worked for us in the past and it keeps us both from being hungry. That's one thing neither of us do very well, make good choices when we are really hungry. Our Atkins-ish diet keeps us full and I have lost 6 lbs so far! The biggest hurdle for me is no sugar. I'm still craving it but it's been almost 10 days of a sugar-free me! I've been extra grouchy and I run to sugar-free whip cream at night but that is actually tapering off. Both the being grouchy and running to sugar-free whip cream. Because running to any food, sugar-free or not, is my goal! I can never keep my weight down if I use food to feel better. I'm also re-reading this book called Feeding Your Appetites by Stephen Arteburn which is about what God created appetites for and how they fit into our lives. Basically, you satisfy your appetite for God first and it keeps the other ones in check. There is workbook in the back that I didn't complete the first time I read it 4 years ago (incidentally the first time I read it I lost 60 lbs.) so I'm doing the workbook and it's excellent as well!

Random Fact: I have been between 30-105 pounds overweight since I was 15. The only reason I list this fact is that I'm trying (yet again but with a great attitude) to finally get to healthy weight once and for all! Wish me, um, not luck but wish me the best!