Ok, so I heard this happens...

When you have two kids (read that as more than one child to occupy all of your time) you tend to not to do the little things you did when you only had one child...like document their every waking moment and post it on your own blog and think it's the cutest thing you've ever seen. Sigh. Poor child #2. I have yet to show you a picture of Bennett and he's 20 months old already. Poor Bennett.
However, our lives are great at the moment and I"m happy to report that parenting to two little boys is awesome. Completely awesome and I wonder what I ever did with my life before these two.

On to another topic. Health.

So, I've recently ( like in the last year) lost 40 lbs. Hooray for me. I gained quite a bit with the first pregnancy and never really lost it before baby 2 came along. With that, I had horrible cholesterol and trigicerides. A quick breakdown of those: Chlolesterol 2007:248 Triglicerides 2007: 321  This is pretty much as close to gravy in your veins as you can get. Sheesh. I have a family history of high cholesterol and my parents and grandparents have been on Statins to lower their levels since their mid to late 30's and I was bound-and-determined not to follow in their footsteps (love you guys!). I knew that the big C was a combo of family genetics and diet, so I decided to change my diet in order to try and get them back under control W/O being on meds for the next 50 years of my life. No way, no how; This was my hill I was willing to die on.

Sooo, I started doing some research and found out that anything that ever had a heartbeat carries Cholesterol in it. That means beef, chicken, fish, pork, veal, venison, MILK, YOGURT, ICE CREAM and eggs all have cholesterol in them.

And you may be thinking "yes, I already know that dearie" but what you may not realize is how very much of it we consume on a daily basis. I'd challenge you to just for one day, count up how much milk, dairy and meat you consume vs. how much plant-based food you consume and you'll be staggered!!! I was. I think my food pyramid looked a little like this:

No wonder my levels were so out of whack. This is a Whackado Pyramid. But, it's the pyramid for so many friggin' people I know it's no wonder we're facing an obesity epidemic in this country! I knew I had to start exercising, but I'd heard a quote that made me start doing research on food and it went like this: What you do one hour of the day keeps you alive; what you don't do the other 23 keeps your doctor alive.

So, I knew it was more about what I was eating and less about how much exercise I was getting (though, don't get me wrong, I'm a big advocate of daily exercise...I've run two half-marathons and countless 5K's) but I knew I couldn't go eat this type of pyramid and hope that an hour of exercise each day was going to keep me going into my 90's.

I found two documentaries that really changed my life and I'd highly recommend you watch them if you're wanting to live well, live strong into your 80's or 90's and stay off as many chronic medications as you can and perhaps change your family tree for the better. Here's the first one:

Food Matters. Available on live streaming on Netflix. Watch it. Seriously.

Forks Over Knives. Amazing. A little more raw that the other, but will change the way you eat.

The final film I'll advocate is called Vanishing of the Bees. I, along with you, was not aware of this phenomenon in America. Whow, wow, holy crap.

So, I decided to make a change for my family. For one year, we would eat a whole-foods, plant based diet as often and as diligently as we could with two children under the age of 2 and two parents working full-time. Here's how I started:

I made a commitment to keep to the vegetarian diet. I say vegeterian and not vegan, only because I had toddlers who consume large quantities of milk and it's just not reasonable to switch them to almond or soy milk when they don't have an allergy. However, for my purposes, I put myself on a mostly-vegan diet with only a little cheese on food. No milk, yogurt or creamer for me. I found alternatives to consume pretty easily.

I'll blog about that another day. I also had to find a way to make the food and make it in a way I was used to. We subscribed to Emeals. Great, great way to start if you're considering it.

Meal Planning Made Easy!

This meal planning site is a GREAT way to start eating vegetarian/vegan. If you're not used to cooking with Tofu, Seitan (what?!) or coconut oil, start with this site. What a great way to ease your way into cooking with plants. It is meals you'd make for your family, only with veggie substitutes. I promise they taste great and are easy to find at the grocery store.

We did this for about 6 months then I ventured out beyond food replacements to try some cooking on my own. I went back and watched Food Matters again and tried my hand at a few things the mentioned. I also invested in some good Vegetarian and Vegan cookbooks.

The final bit was to re-examine the food pyramid and make some changes for LIFE! This is the new food pyramid our family lives by. 

Results:

I'm happy to say that we made it to the 1 year date eating veggie-style and now we're all doing well. I had my levels checked at the doctor this summer and here they are:

Cholesterol: 198

Triglicerides: 107!!! Down over 200 points. Holy cow.

I will make meat occasionally for my husband who still loves his rare steak and pulled pork bbq, but for the most part we're a veggie family and I'm doing about 90% Vegan for me. I'm happy about this and feel better than I've felt in years. 

Wishing you good health in 2013! Happy New Year. What change will you make this year? 

Emery's 1st birthday

Emery celebrated his 1st birthday two weekends in a row. Here are some highlights...Emery's love of Toby seems to grow daily. They love the same toys and chase each other all the time.
He was pretty content to just play with the wrapping paper on his gifts.
His birthday cake! Thanks Mandy.
Too bad it's over exposed, but this is his first taste of birthday cake. I think 4 or 5 flashes went off at the same time.
Such a ham.

It's a boy!

Yep, Emery will be a big brother to a little brother in April. I can't believe it's real. No doubt about it, another boy! I'm really happy they are the same gender. I think they'll be built in playmates their whole childhood. Blake wants to add that they're built in enemies too. He'd know, he and his brother are 11 months apart. Sheesh.

I'll post a belly pic next week when I reach 20 weeks. Half way now!

BTW-all measurements and scans came back normal on little Peanut. No overly large head or too much fluid. So far, so good.

Also, Emery had his 12 month visit to the doc, all is well there too. He is 31" long (85%) and 23 lbs, 11.5 oz (69%) and has a 49cm head (97%). All is well there. No more formula after tonight, he's a whole milk boy.

I love my boys!!!!!!!!!!

One Year Ago...

I was about to give birth. Sheesh. Has it been one year? I can't believe it in some respects and in others, it seems like an eternity ago. We went in to be induced on the evening of November 5th. We were told to be there by 7 and as we were waiting in the lobby, two, count 'em two, women were rushed through who were in labor. Grr. There goes our nice room I thought. If I'd had any, ANY idea what I was about to go through I don't think I would have been envying those women at all. Being induced isn't very fun. You don't get a lot of sleep the night before (it's like trying to sleep in an airport next to the check-in desk) and then they give you a bunch of unpleasant drugs in the AM and you are left to "progress" the rest of the day. However, this is what I wanted. I labored all day and into the night. It was 10:20 at night before I threw in the towel and asked if a C-Section was a choice. I had progressed to 9.5CM but stalled out there. Who knows why, some people say it's because I'm an "older mom" and that can happen. Others say it's because Emery's head was too big (it's freakishly large, even now.) Whatever the reason, he didn't come the normal way. He was born via Emergency C-Section at 10:41 pm on Friday November 6th, 2009. I'll always remember that I heard his little cry before I ever got to see him. When I did get to see him, I was amazed that that HUGE thing was living inside of me!!! He weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. and had a huge head of black hair. Looked nothing like he looks now. Blake was overcome as was I and it will be my fondest memory for the rest of my life. We had become parents! I leave you with some pictures over the last year. Enjoy. It's been the ride of my life and we're about to do it all over again. Love every second!

The Parents Connect 3D Pregnancy Widget

Baby Names

Names

Pregnancy

Walking or Cruising

Here he is!

new pictures. 11 months

Emery and I competed in the 12th annual Jared Coones Pumpkin Run 5K. Here's how he spent the majority of the race...He liked the yogurt and bananas the racers got after the race. He also loved seeing all the new faces. One new thing: Stranger Anxiety. Glad to know he has a little fear of something.
Wednesday we helped unload pumpkins at church. Caden who is 2 hopped right into the wagon with Emery.

Emery's favorite activity...

9 month pictures

9 months

Emery and I went to Pennys today and had his 9 month pictures taken. I'll post them when I get access to them.

Get ready! Bathtub and beach scenes!!!!

Things you can't prepare for

In 1994 I went to Spain with my high school Spanish class. It was an eye-opening experience for me and I'll never forget it. In addition to being the first time I'd been away from home and in Europe, it was also the first time I got lost. Way lost. I was with my pack of friends and we were planning on getting on the subway to head somewhere. Well, the subway pulls in, passengers get off, and we start filing toward the doors. A friend and I were at the back of the pack and, unbeknown to us, the doors were starting to close. She realized the danger and jumped forward just in time for the doors to close leaving me on the platform. I will never forget the shocked and scared faces of my classmates as the subway pulled away leaving me behind. I eventually caught up with them, but it left a mark on me and never again have I gone somewhere where I didn't know the lay of the land like the back of my hand. I research; it's what I do.

I had an experience today I had no way to prepare for. I like to go places, and see things and generally get out of the house as much as possible. Here's the catch: I like to be prepared for what's to come. I love to research-anything, everything! I even have a tendency to get on my co-worker's nerves because they'll say something that might be fun to do and two days later I show up with a print out/price list/photos of a "recon" and best routes to the activity and back.

They call me the researcher.

I like that. I like that my fun and adventure is enjoyed by all and I get a weird sense of accomplishment from doing all the research.

However, today I had something sneak up on me and I hated it.

I was called for jury duty and, as much as I loathed the idea, I showed up and sat through jury selection. The case involved a guy who was accused of kidnapping, assault and gun possession. Well, the questioning went pretty well/normal (did you know any of the people involved; have you ever known a family member to be assaulted) until the attorney said "will you as a juror be able to be impartial once you've heard the testimony of the witness to whom the assult and kidnapping occurred? We each had to

answer one, by one. It was at that point that I was caught off guard.

A few years back I was indirectly involved with the by product of a man on trial for a similar crime, only this one involved murder too. That case was a very emotional one for most of the community, much less those involved, even remotely.

It was that case from a few years ago that popped up in my head as the attorney began asking us if we could be impartial. I started thinking about the victim of that horrible case years ago and I could tell this was going to be hard for me. My ears were burning as the attorney asked me and I had to request to come to the bench (gulp.) With both attorneys flanking me and staring at the judge I had to recount how I was effected by the trial and how it made me unlikely to be impartial. I cried. It sucked. I left the courtroom shaking my head and thinking humanity sucks and why do people do such horrible things to each other.

See what I mean? Caught me off guard. I wasn't prepared for that and had no idea those emotions were swimming around inside of me. See, I was prepared to go home on a technicality: I'm a breastfeeding mom! I thought I would be an inconvenient juror, not an emotional one.

Oh well, guess it goes to show that no matter how much you can plan for things, there will always be those things that catch us off guard and that even with the passage of time, some wounds heal slower than others.

Trip to Minnesota

Little Man has proven, once again, what an awesome baby he is. He recently returned from another road trip with his parents; this time to Minnesota to see the family. I hope you enjoy these.

At the reception...

Before the wedding. Emery and I spent most of the wedding in the lobby where he played with another baby.

These two look so much alike.

Getting ready for the wedding. Thanks cousin Wesley for the monkey suit. It was a little big, but nobody noticed.

I'm ready for action!!

We've had a fun summer traveling to Kentucky and Minnesota. Here are a few pictures of our trip to Kentucky. Notice Blake and Emery's same facial expression. Sheesh! As if these two weren't clones already.


























A very nice, albeit, weird old guy let Emery sit on his Harley at the gas station in Mt. Vernon. I think the old codger liked seeing a baby on his Hog more than Emery or I did. Funny. Emery is such a good sport.

I hope to add pictures from Blake's cousin's wedding very soon. It was fun seeing everyone, plus Emery looked so cute in his tux.

Stupid Dave Ramsey

I hate and love this guy.

Do you know who this is? I didn't until about 2 years ago. He's Dave Ramsey. He hates debt. We were gifted two tickets to his "Total Money Makeover" right before our wedding by a friend of Blakes and we went with him. It changed everything. Since then we've gone through his Financial Peace University which has re-ignited our fire.

If you've never heard his radio show or read his books; he hates debt of all kinds and advocates through hard, hard work getting yourself out of debt for good. No credit cards, no car payments, no student loans, etc. I say we love him because it has changed the way we look at life, our marriage, raising kids, working, etc. I say we hate him because I know this stuff works, but it sucks while you're doing it. Today is one of those days I want to chuck it all and go back into debt.

Dave says "if you'll live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one else". I'm sure as heck hoping we can LIVE like no one else at some point because right now it feels like we're going to be trapped under this debt boulder forever. Ugh. I'm so ready for the hole in the fence in the backyard to be fixed and my shower to have tile around it and the house to be painted. However, those things have to wait b/c we're paying off the last credit card next month, then my car in two months, then we'll only have my student loans and the house to pay off.

I'm trying to keep everything in perspective, I mean, we've paid off $26,000 in debt over the last 2 years, so it's coming along, but it's been hard. I'm ready to be done. Sorry about the whining. I guess that's what the blog is for though...

{Embrace} the camera Thursdays

A friend of mine started {Embrace} the camera Thursdays. Basically post something that is happening every Thursday. Let other bloggers know you're doing it and we stalkers (come on, you know you stalk these blogs like I do) can catch up with you on a weekly basis. Here is my entry for the week: Emery fast asleep in the busiest place at church. Poor little fella' finally zonked out after fighting it for a long time.

Cluck Cluck Sew

I have a new blog I'm stalking. I like this one because she posts simple sewing projects you can do in one day. That's my kind of sewing.

http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2010/06/drawstring-jersey-skirt.html

Here's another one I like. I think they must be friends.

http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2009/06/tutorial-table-cloth-skirt.html

If anyone stumbles across a 5 dollar round tablecloth that has a very cool look to it, let me know. I'm all for making these skirts!

Photo Session

Monkey had his photos taken at JCPenny a few weeks ago. Here are the highlights. PS-He's the most easy going child. These were taken minutes after he had his 6 month shots at the doctor's office. What a good boy...

New updated pictures

Ok, here you go. I LOVE this little fella!My new Jumperoo. LOVES to jump, jump, jump all day long.
You have no idea how hard it was to get a picture of these teeth. He kept sliming me with his tongue and covering his teeth up. Notice where my ring finger is. He didn't even cry...
Starting to get a little grouchy about being on his tummy.

My adorable little man. Oh my goodness-so cute! Love this little face!!!!I love to chew on my socks. Yes, that is red hair you're seeing. I can't believe it!!!
This is how I sleep in my crib. I took this picture with the flash in a totally dark room. He twists himself into a pretzel. Must be nice to have a jelly spine.
Aren't these two confused? Isn't the nap situation suppose to be reversed?