mini-pledge week 3

Part of me can't believe I completed last week's challenge without a hitch! The second day was the hardest. Today I have had some Diet Coke, but it's not as fulfilling as I remember it being. Maybe I can quit it for real!

This week's challenge is about meat: "All meat consumed this week will be locally raised (within 100-miles of your hometown). Meat consumption will also be limited to 3 – 4 servings this week, and when it is eaten meat will not be presented as the “focal point” of the meal. Instead meat will be treated as a side item or simply used to help flavor a dish."

It was hard for me to find local meat within our budget, so I decided to not eat meat this week. I have some yummy meals planned, thanks to my vegetarian friend Charity, and I don't think it'll be that difficult. 

This is the only place I could find that sells local meat, but I didn't check natural food stores like Real Food, Good Earth, or Sprouts. I want to eat less meat anyway so this is going to be a perfect time to try out new meals.

Here is our meal line up:

Veggie mac and cheese
Better beans and rice 
Veggie pizza
Alfredo (homemade)
Stir fry with brown rice
Nachos or quesadillas
Meatless chili

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Danny! It's been a fun 15.5 months since we became parents.

We love you Danny! 

Danny asked for his mom's Texas fudge cake for dessert. Full of refined sugar and margarine, it is delicious. Like I said, switching to whole foods is a process. And I don't want a life without treats now and then, that's for sure! Recipe found here 

Mini pledge week 2: no diet coke

The second week of mini challenges is that you pretty much can only drink water. The other things-coffee, tea, red wine, milk-I don't drink so it's water only for a week. I just looked it up today to get ready and about died. So I drank 3 cans today. I except to have a headache for a day or so but this is good. I don't want to drink any sodas when I'm pregnant next go round and this will be good practice. I took all my cans out of the fridge so there's less temptation.

See you in a week, my beloved drink. 

Challenge found here

steps toward health

I don't know what exactly has pushed me into this, but a lot of it has to do with James. Because we did baby-led weaning I found myself looking past the calorie, fat, protein, and fiber content of foods and into the sodium and sugar content as well. I'm super picky (seriously, super picky) about what James eats. When friends offer him goldfish or crackers I cringe and let him have one or two, then take him home where he has homemade banana and oatmeal bars, organic fruit-only fruit leather, or fruit and vegetables. I even hate the "baby" snacks-puffs, cookies, etc., because I think it teaches kids that those are okay snacks-they're "baby" oreos, cheetos, cookies, chips. In nursery, the snacks are goldfish, fruit loops, ritz crackers, nilla wafers and gummy bears. Seriously? No real food?

We didn't do "snack" type food for a long time. Only in the last couple months has the need for snacks or even just on-the-go food come up, as James asks to eat and not to nurse. I've done reading around, asking around, and looking around for foods that fit my picky bill. No sugar added and a low overall sugar content, full fat, low sodium, minimal processing.

So far, these are the things that James has loved:
-homemade apple chips (apples and cinnamon)
-homemade oatmeal and banana "cookies" (thanks charity!!) (bananas and oatmeal)
-brown ricecakes (but they do have food coloring, so I'm going to be looking for a replacement for them)
-coconut oil popped organic popcorn (I do add salt, but that's one of the only things he eats with salt)
-prunes, raisins, other dried fruits
-most regular fruits-bananas, oranges, grapefruit, grapes, organic blueberries, strawberries
-cheese
-smoothies (full fat plain greek yogurt + banana + berry + almond butter + water)
-in a pinch, whole wheat pancakes or waffles (bob's red mill mix so it's processed but not white flour)

I really want to make the switch to whole foods, or at least 80-90% whole foods. However we are in Dave Ramsey mode and trying to pay off debt as quickly as possible, and I am in love with Diet Coke and my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (white flour and sugar, yum!).

Labels of a food being organic have always made me roll my eyes. I didn't grow up on organic in the least (my mom is a single, full time working mom of 5 kids! Lady's busy!) but I've been doing more reading on pesticides, GMOs, food colors, etc. There's some scary stuff out there. It would be nice to believe that the government wouldn't allow dangerous foods to be sold, but that's just not true (as I drink my aspartame-filled Diet Coke!). It's pretty much up to us to do our own independent reading about those things and make decisions.

To ease myself into this, I'm using the 100 Days of Real Food blog's week long challenges. Week one is to have 2 fruits or vegetables with each meal. I started Monday and so far, so good! It hasn't been difficult except for when I eat oatmeal for breakfast (I don't want any fruits or vegetables; oatmeal alone makes me full). If nothing else it's making me reach for produce over processed foods more, which is an excellent step as it is. I've also found some great whole foods recipes on The Cheapskate Cook's blog. Danny doesn't care at all, but I hope to get him on board as we go.

I have a loooooot to learn. It falls in line with "the more you know, the more you know you don't know" saying. All I want is to be open, learn, and be able to make health-conscious choices for us, even if we get labeled as weirdos haha!

Fastest road trip

Danny's dad's twin brother died last week. The funeral was in Gilbert, AZ and we weren't planning on going. On Friday morning Amber, Danny, Derek, my Danny, James and I decided we'd go down. We secured a rental van (thank you car dealership family hookups) and finally left Utah at 10pm. 

I should have drugged James (judge away!) but I didn't. He slept terribly-max 7 hours with wake ups every 1-2 hours. We stopped once on the way down and pulled into the hotel at 7am. Mama and Papa Brown were at the curb waiting for us (Duaine may have called us every few hours to see how close we were) and it was so nice to see them! 

Mister was grumpy the whole time but did give off a few smiles here and there. He was nice and noisy during the funeral service so we had to hang out in the hall/go to Sonic for a caffeine fix. 

I'm so glad we could see them. They haven't seen James in person since Thanksgiving and he wasn't even crawling yet!

We enjoyed the things the south (does AZ count as the south??) has to offer: warmth, Bluebell ice cream, Quiktrip, and friendly people. We visited with Grandma Brown for a bit as well-James and I had never met her before. She is 96 or 97 and is sharp as a tack. She remembers minutiae about people she has never met! The sweet lady has outlived her husband and two children now. What a trooper. 

On the way home we attempted to stop at the Grand Canyon but it would have added at least 2 hours to our trip and James was done! Too bad it wasn't over Memorial Day weekend or it would have been perfect. 

I love my in laws. I know how much of a blessing that is too. James had fun with them and we'll probably see them again at the end of the summer. 

Girls' night

My dear Danny typically goes to play basketball with some friends one night a week. It's after James goes to bed so it's often a time for me to read or watch a show or clip coupons (fun!). Last month we went to dinner with his brother and his brother's roommate. Afterward they went to play tennis, leaving me to be in charge of putting James down for bed. I was a little annoyed since I had been home with James all day (I don't have a car!) and I would love a night off. 

After James went to bed, he fussed a couple times but settled down within a minute or so. The third time I decided to go check on him. He was covered in throw up! It was the saddest and I felt horrible that I hadn't come in earlier, though he hasn't been really crying. I cleaned him up, washed his sheets, etc. 

Then and there I decided I NEED A GIRLS' NIGHT. So I texted some friends and we set it up. This past Saturday night was finally it. 

We all worked at Kids on the Move together for a couple years-maybe even 3. Two have been there longer than that. Working there was amazing-I loved learning about child development more and connecting with families, and I loved the girls I worked with. Everybody was so so fun and kind and the friendships formed were unlike any I have had for a long time-probably since junior high! 

We went to dinner at Sawadee in SLC and oh my, it was amazing. I love Thai food but this was unbelievable! We have to go back. We chatted and laughed and enjoyed our delicious meals. Afterward we headed to Lunaberry for dessert. Both the girls who brought their babies left by 10 or so, but the others and I stayed out talking until 1130. It was a great night and really helped me recharge. Having Danny be in charge of James for a night is good for him too. 

Hopefully we can do a girls' night once a month or so! These girls are my fave. 

Night weaning

Up until James turned 1, he was nursing about 5, sometimes 6 times in 24 hours. The first of the day was around 5am. I didn't mind that schedule at all. Once he started walking he became equal parts very independent and very clingy. He started waking at 130am and 4am to nurse. I was getting tired! It was like back in the newborn stages of 3 hour sleep increments. I had been talking about night weaning with Danny for a few months but was trying to let mister get back to a better schedule. One night, after a couple months of this, he woke at 1230am and 4, and I decided DONE-ZO with this. I had gone to bed around 1130 so I was pretty exhausted. As recommended by the WHO, I'd like to nurse him until at least 2 but this was wearing on me.

The day after that I did some reading online. I knew it would be difficult to night wean but I knew it was needed for me to continue enjoying our nursing relationship.

I read Dr. Jay Gordon's article as well as Jessica from The Leaky Boob's application of it. Since we don't bed share or co-sleep we adjusted it to our life.

To start I chose the 7 hours I wanted to sleep uninterrupted: 11-6. James doesn't need to nurse to fall asleep for bed so really he would be going from 7/8-6 without eating. The first three nights Dr. Gordon says to nurse baby back to sleep when he wakes before 11 (This wasn't applicable to us really as we just hold or rock James a little if he wakes before we go to bed. Maybe 1 time a week he needs to nurse again before 11 to calm down. ). Then, when he wakes after 11, nurse him, but don't let him fall asleep nursing. To make sure I didn't doze off while feeding him I went to the recliner in the living room to feed him. It was hard even then to not just close my eyes and space out! James was quite displeased when I didn't let him fall asleep nursing. The first night wasn't too bad. He woke around 130, nursed, protested a little when I didn't let him nurse to sleep but slept till 4 or 5 in his crib, nursed again (not to sleep!) and slept till the morning. The second night and third were similar.

The next set of three nights I didn't nurse him at all between 11 and 6. HE WAS MAD. One of those nights he screamed at me from 4-6am or so. I think it was the second of these nights as it seemed to be the extinction burst. He ended up in our bed I think all three nights but at least 2. Danny and I both sleep poorly with him in there but he was so sad and needed that comfort to sleep. These by far were the worst nights. He would sign milk over and over and over and I said "no milkies till the morning" and he cried and cried. It made me sad but I knew he could do it and we'd both be happier.

The last set of nights I tried not to pick him up from his crib at all. Ideally we want him to go down and sleep till the morning so that was the aim. The first night I picked him up and rocked him around 4, and he did come to our bed. He slept till 630 or so. The second night was triumphant-he slept from 8-615. It was glorious. Last night he woke around 4 and I went into his room and sat next to him on the floor. Within a couple minutes he calmed down and went back to sleep until 6 or so. What's lovely about the 6 am waking is that I do nurse him back to sleep then and he usually sleeps until 8/830.

I've felt sooo much more rested. I get my scripture study done first thing which is what I prefer. Sometimes he doesn't even ask to nurse right when he gets up at 8 which I think is interesting too.

Now that it's more or less over, I'm really glad I did this. I don't want to resent nursing at any point and I definitely need better sleep. There's also the whole eventually we want another baby and my cycle isn't cooperating with that yet thing. I hope this helps so that when we decide it's time (it isn't so don't ask!), it isn't impossible.