Spring is here!

I'm finally feeling like Spring is in the air! We've had beautiful weather this week...the kind that makes kids at school stir-crazy and the kind that makes you just want to be outside all the time! My azaleas are blooming, the birds are chirping and I'm pulling out all the short sleeved shirts I own. My weight loss efforts are sort of stalling out a little. While I've been eating right and exercising I'm just sort of not into it this week. I realize though, that no matter what, I'm being healthy. So what if I eat a WHOLE Lara bar. They have like 2 ingredients in them...it's a vegan bar...sure it's higher in calories...but I was hungry and it's good for me. I get down on myself if I don't drink enough water or eat twice as much fruit as I intended for my snack because I know it's more calories. I'm trying to shift my thinking from calorie nazi to super healthy girl who is losing weight anyways because she's focused on eating REAL food and moving her body most days. It's a hard shift....but I'm working on it.

Here are a few things that I've been eating (that I've remembered to take pictures of).

This is my all time favorite breakfast. Whole wheat english muffin, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1/2 a banana. It doesn't make sense how good this is. I have it with coffee. Obviously.

One of my favorite lunches. Romaine, english cucumber, carrot, bell pepper, salt/pepper, 1 can of chunk light tuna in water and 2 tbsp low fat dressing (on this day it was Ken's Low Fat Sundried Tomato Vinagarette). I love salads! I often make this same salad but just change the protien (tuna, chicken or beans of some variety).

I know I know. Again with the almond butter. This is a great snack though. 1/2 whole wheat pita and 1 tbsp. almond butter. Something about the chewiness of the pita makes this snack SO good and filling.

My girl, she LOVES to be outside. So we've been spending some serious time out in the yard. The front yard is attracting a fair amount of bumble bee's this year though (any idea how to make them go away). Since I'm allergic to them...we've been in the back yard alot.

Something about here here...from the eyes down looks JUST like Jason to me.

Don't you just want to kiss this luscious little cheek?

I couldn't resist taking pics of her in the bath last night...she's SO freakin cute!

I start making my lists for our trip to FL today...and I'm in for a run on the treadmill too! Have a good day!

Just a (1/2) Day in the Life

Ahhh. The life of a housewife. I love being a housewife/Stay at Home Mama. Whatever you'd like to call me. Also? Hardest and most rewarding job I've ever had. Ever. Today is just a typical Monday....just thought I'd share my Monday so far in pictures. Enjoy.

This is my morning ritual, if the baby stays asleep. If she wakes up then it's all about her. Coffee (ok...2 coffees) and my favorite food/fitness blogs.

Look at my sweet girl! She finally woke up.

Breakfast for me. I thought I'd try something new. 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup vanilla bean greek yogurt, 1/2 banana, apple pie spice. Um...Ew. NOT a good combo. I ate about 2/3 of it and gave the rest to the dog.

Next I attacked this GIANT load of baby laundry. The day I never see a baby sock again will be a good day. I can never find the matches...they're SO small!

Next, Rylie helped me do some dishes.

Snacktime! I'm not a low-carber...I was just craving meat and cheese. Reduced Fat cheese stick and 1 serving turkey lunchmeat.

Ohhh.. Look who I found playing IN the toilet. Thank God it was flushed...still....ew!

Drinking TONS of water. I adore my Brita water pitcher.

I got the baby to take a nap and I jumped on the treadmill. It takes tons of dedication for me to workout during my ONLY break in the day. But it felt GOOD to feel the burn.

Finally lunch. Yes, I'm always eating. Looks gross but it was good. 1/3 c. brown rice, veggie/chicken stirfry (I think it's a Weight Watchers recipe) and yes...more water.

SO. That's my day so far. I hear Rylie waking up and she doesn't sound too happy. I'm thrilled! I worked out, ate lunch AND wrote a blog. Happy Monday ya'll!

Edit note: I'm still trying to figure out the pictures. Sorry for how HUGE they are and off center. Work with me...I'm getting better at this.

Yes, this blog WILL include food because I say so.

We've been trying to eat healthier around here. We have many reasons. Better health, smaller thighs (for me, Jason's are already tiny) and just being healthy examples for Rylie. Eating healthy is expensive though! Don't get me started on the fact that I can't even find locally grown produce for a good 60 miles...but buying organic eggs, milk, meat...we need to take out a loan to go grocery shopping. That said, we're picking and choosing what we want to buy that's organic. Not just organic though...cage free, non processed, no pesticides. Stuff that won't give us 6 different kinds of cancers by the time we're 50. So tonight's dinner was Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp. I got the recipe from one of my favorite bloggers The Pioneer Woman. I made a few changes here and there. Here is my version. Oh, also, I put it on a bed of brown rice and veggies. I cut up zucchini, bell pepper and garlic and sauteed it in Smart Balance butter. SOOOOO good. Rylie loved it. Jason loved it. He liked the shrimp, only telling me afterwards that he doesn't really like orange sauces...um ok whatever...this was awesome.

Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb EZ Peel Shrimp
• 2 cloves (to 4 Cloves) Garlic
• ¾ cups Orange Juice
• ½ teaspoons Ground Cayenne Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 3 Tablespoons Salted Butter (or whatever kind of butter you use)

Preparation Instructions

Peel the shrimp. Set aside.

Thinly slice your garlic cloves. Add the garlic to ¾ cup of orange juice. Use a nice high quality orange juice. Measure out and add all of the spices to the orange juice as well.

In a large skillet over high heat melt 2 tablespoons butter. Once butter has melted add your shrimp. Leave them 30-60 seconds and flip (or toss around, like I did) making sure they're pink but not overdone. Remove the cooked shrimp from the pan, leaving the heat on high.

Once the butter gets good and melty add the spicy orange garlic mixture to the pan and give it a good stir. Add the last tablespoon of butter to the sauce and after a few minutes of cooking and occasional stirring your sauce should be slightly thicker.

Return the shrimp to the pan and give them a nice toss to coat them in the sauce. Then if you want, put them on top of some brown rice and sauteed veggies. You'll LOVE it!

Enjoy my non-professional iphone pic. Try this. It's amazing.

Today I'm trying to pick up the pieces from the weekend. My house totally gets trashed when all 3 of us are here. We're SO busy and it seems like we have toys, laundry, clothes, shoes and dishes everywhere. Today I'm getting everything in order. Aaahhh. Order. I also did 5k on the treadmill. I think I did great with my healthy resolve all weekend. I didn't have any cheat meals or do anything crazy. Jason has been awesome at helping me with this too. He encourages me, helps me cook and watches the baby so I can workout on the weekends whenever I want. I'm sore, I'm a little tired, but I am still fired up. I want to be healthy. Not skinny. Healthy. So the 5k on the 'mill was so hard today but I did it and WOW did I feel great afterwards. It sets the tone for the day. I'm off to research a few recipes!

Healthy Resolve

So, this year I decided to get healthier. I've done it once before. At age 22 I lost nearly 60 lbs. I was a food nazi. I brought my own food with me when I went to a friends house in case their food wasn't good enough. I worked out 5 days a week. I counted every single calorie and still worried about how "good" I was. I was 117 lbs and still felt fat. It was my life. I went to college and food/working out was my life. No boyfriend, not tons of friends. Then I got a life. I pursued my passion to be a personal chef. I met and married the best man in the whole world. I got a real job. Then I had a baby. Along the way I managed to gain back....lets just say...more than half the weight I lost. 20lbs alone since I got married. Sickening. Not that I didn't know what I was doing. Not that I ate junk all day everyday. Or not workout. I did those things, but I did them w/ half as much effort and w/out really digging in. Well I'm digging in now.

In my efforts I've started working out almost everyday. Not running 5k everyday...but something. Running on our new treadmill every other day and 30-day Shred and Biggest Loser Bootcamp on the other days. I even did an ab workout on my "day off". I'm drinking ALOT of water. I'm keeping an eye on my calories and I'm choosing to eat things like salads, fresh fruit and almonds for snacks and meals instead of Lean Cusines and granola bars all day. Today I'm even planning on making some bread for our family...whole wheat sandwhich bread. Homemade. My efforts are slowly paying off. In the past few days I've already lost a pound. The good thing is that I'm not afraid anymore. Not afraid of the scale. Not afraid that I will be able to eat healthy or cook a healthy meal. I'm not afraid I'll have time to workout. I will. I can. I am. I'm making a conscience effort to put my healthiest foot forward. I'm not counting points or calories. I'm living healthy...and I am loving it.

Searching

So, Rylie has surgery in less than two weeks and every single day I find myself back at the same place. Google. Each day I come up with new words, catchphrases and medical terms to describe Rylie's condition and each day I'm dismayed at how few results I get. With a condition like infantile esotropia (strabismus) there just isn't enough out there on the internets. I do know that 1% of all healthy, full-term babies born have the condition. Wow...she's in that 1%, that's amazing. I also know that this is likely a condition that will require our careful monitoring for many years. Will she gain binocular vision? Is her eye turning back in? Will it over-correct and turn out? Does she have equal vision in both eyes? I'm so thankful that in every other aspect of her health she is perfect, but I'm coming to terms with the fact that there is no quick fix. I just wish there was online support for parents like me that want to share surgery experiences or vision therapy success. In the meantime I'll continue to visit Google each morning in the hopes that I'll come up with a new search word that will unlock the online community for infantile esotropia and I'll kiss my perfect beautiful baby and in 2 weeks I'll have to put her and my trust in the hands of her surgeon and pray like there is no tomorrow.

Seven Things

Quick facts.

1. I suck at blogging apparently. I haven't written a post in weeks. I looooove reading blogs, why can't I write them consistantly?
2. I can't watch Intervention or The Biggest Loser without crying. Just last week I cried at a Holiday Glade candle commercial. What's wrong with me?
3. If I'm listening to music these days, it's Christmas music. I looooove Christmas.
4. Rylie has eye surgery on December 1st and I'm SO scare and a little excited at the same time. I'm having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that we will be dealing with her strabismus for many years. Even if we get her vision perfect, we will have to have it checked at least every six months to make sure her eyes are starting to deviate again and that another surgery won't be required. I just want her to be able to see normally. God, I love her SO much.
5. No one can convince me that there is a better Daddy than MY Dad. He is thoughtful and caring and loves my little Buggy more than I ever imagined he could.
6. My husband gave Buggy a bath for the first time last night and it AMAZED me. He did great. Small things like sharing bathtime duties ROCK my world.
7. My bebe just woke up...so that's all I have time for.