When Was Your Last Check-Up?

Did you know that May is Woman’s Health Month? Me neither.  Good timing though, because I just got in to see my doctor this month for my three-year well-check up with my doctor. To be honest, I’d never even met this doctor before because I’ve only see my OB or midwife over the past 7 years. This past November my regular check-up came due and I put it off until now….because who really wants to go in for those exams? No one, right? But, now that I’m in my thirties, I feel like it’s really important to pay attention to my health and staying healthy. Keeping up on these routine exams is one way of doing that.

Lucky for me, I don’t currently have any risk factors and all my tests this time around came back normal (hooray!). Getting regular check-ups are so important though, so that you can catch any potential problems early or maybe even be encouraged to make some lifestyle changes before they become a problem at all!

The past few months, I’ve been working on getting out at walking for some exercise on a regular basis and I’ve started an exercise program to help strengthen my core muscles to help with back pain. I’m hoping that by living a healthier life now, I can stay that way longer.

I want to encourage all the ladies out there to learn something new about women’s health this month. Here is a little graphic to help you know what you need to do and how often to get it done. =)

I want to encourage all the ladies out there to learn something new about women’s health this month. Here is a little graphic from Oscar Insurance to help you know what you need to do and how often to get it done. =) Oscar offers health insurance in the New York and New Jersey areas and concentrates on providing technology to help make these check-ups and their entire healthcare an easier process. Their new type of health insurance plans offer services with the Oscar app such as the Doctor on Call tool that allows their members to speak directly with their doctor through the app without having to make an appointment or take a trip to the office.  

Book Review: I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson

Book Details

Title: I Quit Sugar

Author: Sarah Wilson

2014, Clarkson Potter

ISBN: 978-0804186018

Genre: Non-fiction, Cookbook

Book Summary

Sarah Wilson thought of herself as a relatively healthy eater. She didn't realize how much sugar was hidden in her diet, or how much it was affecting her well-being. When she learned that her sugar consumption could be the source of a lifetime of mood swings, fluctuating weight, sleep problems, and thyroid disease, she knew she had to make a change.

What started as an experiment to eliminate sugar--both the obvious and the hidden kinds--soon became a way of life, and now Sarah shows you how you can quit sugar too:

* follow a flexible and very doable 8-week plan
* overcome cravings
* make food you're excited to eat with these 108 recipes for detox meals, savory snacks, and sweet treats from Sarah Wilson and contributors including Gwyneth Paltrow, Curtis Stone, Dr. Robert Lustig (The Fat Chance Cookbook), Sarma Melngailis (Raw Food/ Real World), Joe "the Juicer" Cross, and Angela Liddon (Oh She Glows)

I Quit Sugar makes it easy to kick the habit for good, lose weight, and feel better than ever before. When you are nourished with delicious meals and treats, you won't miss the sugar for an instant. 

"When I quit sugar I found wellness and the kind of energy and sparkle I had as a kid. I don't believe in diets or in making eating miserable. This plan and the recipes are designed for lasting wellness." -- Sarah Wilson

My Review

Okay, I was going to wait until I finished the program to write my review, but I may just have to come back and update it. When I originally received this book for review, I was interested in the topic, but didn’t see myself wanting to actually attempt to “quit sugar”. Then I started reading the intro pages and really found myself drawn to the whole idea. These were concepts I already believed and I realized that here was a way to actually attempt it.

I have finally convinced my husband (half the battle honestly) to try the 8-week detox program with me and we are currently only on Week 1, but I am excited about the upcoming process.

Things I love about this book and program so far:

-The layout of the book is very beautiful and makes it fun to look at. There are lots of tips and info boxes all over.

-I like that the author starts in slowly with two weeks of cutting back before she makes you go cold turkey. During these two weeks you are slowly trying a few new recipes each week.

-I saw some others complaining about this, but it makes me REALLY HAPPY that this is a bit of a free-form diet plan. I have followed some other diets and they are so strict that I feel you cannot make a real lifestyle change. This plan isn’t as rigid, there is no exact list of what to eat or drink every meal of every day, but it gives you the tools to make the right decisions… and hopefully that will translate into making those better decisions after the 8-weeks are up.

Things I’m not sure about:

-Some of the ingredients… there are a lot of special ingredients. The author claims to use these same ingredients over and over, so we’ll see how that goes.

-I’m not sure about some of the recipes either. I’m not sure how my family is going to respond to Squash Soup or pancakes made with buckwheat flour, but I’m willing to try it.

I will say that we’ve tried the granola and I made an apple and cheese dessert last night and it’s been very yummy so far.

I think this book would be a great resource for someone to find out more information on sugar in our diets, or some sugarless recipes. If you’re someone who has to have a rigid diet plan then this book is not going to be for you, but if you like to be able to have some control over your diet, than you should check this one out.

More Info
Read Chapter One
Author Bio

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through the Blogging for Books program. All thoughts and opinions are strictly my own.

Journaling and Goals

I realize I have almost completely fallen off the blogging bandwagon. That is not necessarily because I am tired of blogging or that I have nothing to say, but my computer is seriously on the fritz. I am worried it is dying a slow and painful death. It has a regular tendency to freeze up at the most inopportune times and then I have to manually restart it to get it going again. Hopefully a new computer is in our near future – it is really a necessity for my husband’s business (let alone blogging and email and facebook!)

Regardless, sometimes I am compelled to write something down. I’ve been recording the events of our lives for so long now that I feel like I might miss something important if I don’t record anything at all! I know I’ve said it before, but this really started as a sort of journal for me and apparently after all this time, it still feels that way to me.

I decided if I write a few posts and don’t bother with pictures, I might get them up without much trouble – hopefully. =)

In my last non-book review post, I think I talked about making some goals for 2014. I’ve done a lot of thinking about that. I don’t really like the idea of resolutions too much…. It is so easy to forget about them. Especially if you do too many. There are pros and cons, I guess. If you make a lot of goals, the likelihood that you’ll accomplish a few of them is good. If you only make one or two, it seems (unless they are extremely easy) a little harder to duplicate that “I’ve really accomplished a lot!” sensation.

So I decided that for this year I’m going to focus on only one thing. I am going to attempt to feed my family less processed foods. I’m not going on any crazy lifestyle diets or fads. We’re going to eat normal food, but I just want it to be mostly homemade. This requires me to put a little more thought into what I’m going to make each week – to ACTUALLY make a meal plan and stick to it. It’s not like we eat chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and frozen pizza every night, but I would say we eat it more than we should. Usually it’s just because I don’t have a plan and then think, “oh wait… what can we have for dinner tonight?”

So far I’ve been doing well. I have a monthly calendar that I write down all the nights I’m going to be gone at work or some other event. Those nights I will try to leave a homemade freezer meal or dinner in the crock-pot for my family. Days when I’m usually off, like Monday’s, I’m trying to make a freezer meal. Just one – I’m not going crazy here with a whole day of making meals. I just make at least two – one for dinner that night and one for the freezer. I plan in days for leftovers and then, of course, there are a couple other meals planned in there. Wow… it’s been pretty great.

The only snag in this wonderful plan is my ability to keep it going. That is the hard part for me. I’m great at starting and planning this stuff…not so great on the long-term follow-through. 

Wish me luck!

Good News

Today was our doctor's visit to the endocrine specialist about Zachary's hypothyroidism diagnosis. I had mostly gotten over my initial panic of the situation, but was just a little nervous about what the doctor was going to say. 
We went in to our local doctor's office on Thursday for a blood test to see how he was responding to the medication they put him on. Friday morning, our doctor called to say that he thought we should stop the medication until we went to see the specialist on Monday because the mediation was swinging his thyroid the other way too much.
So I wasn't too sure what to expect today when we went to see the specialist - would they lower the dose? Take him off? Or...??
Well, the doctor seemed to think his condition is very mild. Possibly just normal for him. Apparently such a mild case that he doesn't even want to give him any medication at the moment. He attributes his slow vertical growth rate as just - well - how he is. 
So we have to take Zachary back in for another blood draw in three weeks to check his thyroid function.... and we'll take it from there.
I am so thankful for this good report! It seems like something we're just going to have to stay aware of and keep an eye on. Such a relief!

Currently:

I feel like this has been a very busy season for us. I've been having trouble finding the motivation to really blog. I feel guilty blogging during the day when the kiddos are awake and am tired in the evenings or am trying to spend some time with my hubby!

I DO have some things going on though that I'd love to blog about! If I can find the time!

• Zachary's Hypothyroidism diagnosis
• I'm planning a fun new DIY project with this interesting stuff->
• I've been reading up on Montessori preschool ideas for Malachi. Some equipment projects may be in my future.....
• My mom got me this nifty lid for my Homemade Coffee Creamer!

Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer

Ever read the ingredient list of your store bought coffee creamer?? I did one day. It contained a whole bunch of words that I could spell or pronounce. The only things I could recognise were water and sugar.... hmm....

I went on an internet search for DIY creamers. The first one I tried had you cooking milk, heavy cream and maple syrup together in a pot, adding a vanilla bean and then cooling. I wasn't really a fan.

I've made this next version a couple times now. I've made it with regular milk and with half-and-half. It's a little creamier with the half-and-half, but I think it works well either way.

Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• Half-and-half (or milk)
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla (DIY vanilla extract)

Combine sweetened condensed milk and an equal amount of half-and-half using the sweetened condensed milk can as a measuring guide. Add approximately 2 Tablespoons of vanilla. Use the amount of vanilla that tastes good to you! Stir it up really good... the sweetened condensed milk sinks to the bottom. I pour mine into a mason jar (this makes it easy to stir up once in awhile!) I also write the expiration date of my half-and-half on the jar so that I know when it's time to replace the creamer (if there's any left!).

There you go! Super easy and good and you know what's in it!! AND as an added  bonus, no more plastic containers to recycle!

Winter Days

We have been keeping busy this past week. I've been working a lot with a couple co-workers out on leave, so I've been missing my boys a lot. Today I am making up another batch of Turkey Breakfast Sausage and last night I made up another pot of Homemade Yogurt. Success again! I think I've figured this yogurt thing out. Today I pulled out a 6oz container of the yogurt to hopefully use as the starter for my next batch.... as long as no one eats it! Here's a picture of my new batch of yogurt and my yogurt-making helper this morning:

The boys and I took ourselves on a nice brisk walk today. The weather here has been dry (strange for the Northwest), but very cold. I decided we had been stuck indoors up long enough and we should brave the weather. Here is Malachi next to his new Big Wheel bike he got for Christmas from Grandma and Papa. He loves it and I do too.... because he can't go quite as fast on it as he's regular bike! He's wearing the Ribbed Knit Hat I made him back in June. =) Love this hat... fits him great and will for a long time - my husband can get it on!

And here's my little Zach - all bundled up in his stroller and happy to be out!

These two guys are so fun. Malachi still adores his brother. The other day I caught Malachi pulling Zach's bouncer thingy into the playroom saying, "What should be play with Baby Zach?" I offered to help (in an attempt to avoid some kind of moving disaster) and Zach ended up next to the train table. Malachi proceeded to play and talk to Zach until bedtime (probably a good 30-45 min) and Zach just had a great time watching and listening!

 

Homemade Yogurt

We having been going through TONS of yogurt. We have to eat 2 servings of probiotics a day on this eating plan and man is it expensive! I've seen lots of people make yogurt and though I'd try it out.

I have to admit that my first attempt was a total failure. I attempted to use a semi-precise method in the crock-pot using a thermometer and heating up and adding things at certain temps.... it did not work out so well. I'm not sure if my house is too cold or what happened, but it was not edible by the end.

My second attempt used more of a timing method. Heating up my crock-pot for a certain amount of time and then adding and letting it sit for more time. This worked so much better!! And maybe the fact that I stuck a little space heater near my crock overnight to keep it from cooling down too much.

I ended up with almost 2 quart jars full of yummy yogurt. Next I'm going to be doing some experiementing with straining, powdered milk added in and maybe some flavorings. We'll see. I have a picture, but can't get it attached at the moment. After I attempt it again, I may post a copy of the method I used.

Hooray for homemade!

Eating Healthy - Again

Way back in July 2011, before I got pregnant with Zach, I wanted to lose about 10 pounds and my husband wanted to lose some weight too, so we started the 17-Day Diet together. I ended up losing 7lbs in the first 17 days (this diet has four 17-day cycles) and I so I quit. I kept that weight off until I got pregnant, which I thought was pretty good.

Well, now I have a couple pounds to lose post-baby (really... probably less than 10 this time around) and after my husband had his knee surgery earlier this fall.... he has some to lose too. I honestly don't really need to do this diet, but I want to be supportive of my husband and I know it will be easier for him if we're both doing it. Plus, I refuse to make more than one meal, so we might as well all be eating the same things.

We're currently on Day 9 and we're getting a little tired of our current food... there are not really a lot of options on this first cycle. It's mostly a detox and you eat mostly vegetables, chicken and fish, 2 servings of fruit and 2 servings of probiotics. Booooorrring!

I've been scouring the internet for some interesting alternatives to what we've been eating and today I tried a couple out. =) I thought I'd share for any other 17-Day Dieter's out there who need a little help!

Apple Pie Yogurt
6 oz of plain greek yogurt
2-3 T of plain unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 packet Truvia (I think this is optional... I used it, but I think I could have left it out)
Mix everything together and YUM!

I actually used some canned Spiced Applesauce from the pantry instead of the plain unsweetened. I'm not exactly sure what spices I used in that, but I really need to use it up and it was free!

Turkey Breakfast Sausage
2lbs lean ground turkey
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp fennel seed
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but you could also just use a large bowl, to combine all the ingredients together until well blended.
Heat a skillet over medium-high head, and coat with non-stick cooking spray (I used some coconut oil).
Form the turkey sausage into patties and fry until browned on both sides. Make sure its not pink in the center!
Cool on a paper towel. Store in refrigerator.
This made me about 14 patties.
These were excellent! So yummy!

Now I'm in the process of attempting to make my own Greek yogurt!

1st Batch Homemade Baby Food!

I can't believe its time for solid baby food already!! Okay... maybe solid is a slight stretch of the idea, but you know what I mean. I got a Magic Baby Bullet for my shower gift and I have just been itching to get it out to use it!!!

I made all my own baby food for Malachi and I'm so glad I did. This time around I already have have my cookbook (Cooking for Baby: Wholesome, Homemade, Delicious Foods for 6 to 18 Months)and now my new Baby Bullet. =)

Zachary has been lunging for my food lately. He tried to grab my to-go espresso cup the other day and was gnawing on the lid. When I attempted to get it back he had a fit! He also tried to get my pizza from me the other night at my in-laws... so I'm thinking he's definitely ready to start giving him some food.

My first concoction - brown rice cereal! So much more nutritious than that yucky stuff you buy in a box in the store (although, I DO confess that is what Malachi got for his first meal).

One recipe made up 12 of these little serving cups. He ate one, 6 went in the fridge and 5 went in the freezer. I think he is having a big of a hard time figuring out how to keep the food in his mouth, so I think we may be attempting something with a little more flavor here pretty soon.... sweet potatoes maybe?

Doctor visits

I've decided today is going to be a quiet day. I've worked 30 hours in the last 3 days and I miss my babies. Malachi informed me that he doesn't want me to go away anymore, so we're just going to hang out at home today doing practically nothing! =)

That is - after we've already been to the doctor today. My Zachary had his 4 month check-up today. FOUR MONTHS! How is this possible?? I took Malachi with me also - and that was interesting. He is so into everything. He wants to make the exam table go up and down, he wants to listen with the stethoscope, and use the thingy to look in Zach's ears... and on and on. It really makes me totally crazy. He was really pretty good... but why can't he just play with the toys I bring with him?!

My kids just got a new pediatrician and I love him! He interacts with them and he's so friendly and kind. He was super patient with Malachi today and asked him questions and let him listen for a long time in the stethoscope to Zach. 

Zachary is almost 15lbs 11oz and 25 inches. I looked up Malachi's stats for the same age and he was 14lbs 15oz and 25.5 inches. Pretty similar - Zach's head is in the 88th percentile and Malachi's was only in the 39th! haha! Zach is hitting all his milestones and the doctor was impressed with how happy and smiley he is - of course I know he's super smiley and easy-going. =)

I was going to take some 4 month pictures today - but Zach is a little unhappy now that he's had his shots - some I'm thinking some Tylenol and cuddling are in store for the rest of the day. Poor guy. So here's one I snapped with my phone a couple days ago!

Bulk Chicken and Freezer Meals

Yesterday my mom and I bought 40lbs of chicken from a company called Zaycon Foods. I had seen it advertised on some couponing websites and I had a friend who had tried it out the last time they were around. 
What is Zaycon Foods? They sell a variety of fresh products, but the chicken is 100 % natural chicken with no added hormones, additives or artificial ingredients. It also comes directly from the farm (like.. you receive it the day after they killed it). But the best part? It only costs $1.69/lb. Amazing right? That's cheaper than frozen chicken breasts around here.
The only iffy part is that you have to buy it in 40lb amounts. So my mom and I decided that for the first time, we'd just split one box. 

The night before we picked it up, we went to the store and purchased everything we thought we'd need. Many people we read about just clean it up and package it into bags of chicken breasts. We decided if we were already doing the work and had it out, why not just make it up immediately into freezer meals?

Next we got to work cleaning the chicken up and cutting it into desired amounts. Some we cooked first and some we left raw depending on the recipe. I had printed off some slow cooker freezer meals, we decided to freeze some in marinades and make a couple tried-and-true freezer meals.

Not at lot of cleaning was involved, but there was some fat to trim and a few pieces had some skin left on them. The little tidbits that we shaved off, we put in a pot to make into chicken broth - no waste here!

We ended up with about 20 freezer meals and 8 bags of grilled chicken strips. Not bad for one day's work. We split those up between us and we'll be eating good for the next few months.

Next time I'll be getting a babysitter for the day though. I think we could have accomplished this all in about four hours if I hadn't had my kids with me and vying for our attention the whole day. Ah well... a lesson learned for next time.

Salads-in-a-Jar

Have you heard of these?? In an attempt to eat healthier and save some money, I've decided to try out something that I've seen on Pinterest. My mom actually paved the way. She has been making some of these Salads-in-a-Jar for awhile now and taking them to work with her.

My motivation is that on the weekends, I tend to get very limited breaks at work and have to run off to the lactation room for most of it. On Sunday’s especially, I have almost no time to eat lunch between working in the church nursery until 12:30 and getting to work at 1:00. I thought these Salads-in-a-Jar would be a perfect solution!

These two jars pictured are my first attempt. For those of you who may not have heard of Salads-in-a-Jar before, the idea behind it is pretty simple. Basically you are layering your ingredients so that your salad doesn't get mushy and gross between the times you pack it to when you eat. I’ve read varying accounts of 3-5 days that these will keep nicely in the refrigerator. I’m only going to be doing two days a time.

You just need to remember a few basic principles like:
• always place your dressing on the bottom
• put a hearty veggie next (carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, etc) as a barrier
• lastly add your more delicate ingredients like lettuce
• I have heard that anything that you want to stay crunchy, like croutons, need to be brought separately

If you follow these guidelines, you can supposedly add just about anything to your jars!

My Salad-in-a-Jar includes:
• Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
• Organic grape tomatoes
• Baby carrots
• Shredded cabbage
• Tyson grilled chicken strips (If I was thinking ahead I would have just baked my own... but I didn't)
• Cucumber quarters
• Feta cheese crumbles
• Red leaf lettuce

All packed into a wide-mouth canning jar and ready to go! Yum!

New Cloth Diapers

If you've been reading my blog long, you'll already know that I've cloth diapered Malachi since he was very little. I had some definite successes and failures along the way though. My mom has sewed almost all of our diapers (click here to see some pictures!) and when Malachi was really little we had some leakage issues. Those seem to be all resolved and we've used them ever since.


The smallest size cloth diapers I currently have though, would not fit Zachary right now. They are probably better for a baby about 3 months or so, I'd guess. I am definitely interested in getting started with my cloth diapering earlier this time around, so my mom made us some new tiny diapers!

Aren't they cute?? =) So far we only have a couple, but they are working well. I just have to remember to change them more often! It's hard to remember how often these tiny babies poop!! Just another reason to use cloth though... I've gone through several packages already of disposable diapers!

Want to read more about why we cloth diaper or how? 

Last year I blogged a series of posts on our experience:

What I've Learned

The Why

The Why(cont): Chemicals

Dirty Diaper Laundry

Looking Back I Wish I Had

The "Joys" of Breastfeeding

Okay... I don't normally do these kinds of posts on things like breastfeeding, but this has been my life the last week and I just feel like sharing! If you don't like reading about boobs, nipples or breastfeeding... just stop reading now. =)


This is my breastfeeding rant - everyone always posts these lovely "breastfeeding is wonderful!" posts AND obviously I am breastfeeding my child, so I am all for it, BUT seriously... no one ever talks about the horrible first week. I don't care how lovely and wonderful or flowers and roses it is the rest of the time..... the first week is painful.


Here is my Top Ten reasons why breastfeeding in the first week sucks (literally):

1. Stressing about whether your milk is ever going to come in or if your baby is going to starve to death first.
2. Wondering WHY you ever worried about your milk coming in because now it's TOO MUCH!
3. Waking up in the middle of the night because your boobs hurt from being so full and it's not time to wake the baby up for a feeding yet. 
4. As a result of #3 getting up in the middle of the night to hook yourself up to a pump for 20 minutes so that you can go back to sleep until the next feeding.
5. Cracked, bleeding, scabbed-over nipples that you cannot get enough lanolin cream on to make a lick of difference.
6. Having the unfortunate sense of oneness with a milk cow.
7. The let-down reflex is actually painful... why is that?
8. Trying to figure out (or remember, in my case) HOW you get this newborn baby to open their mouth wide enough to latch on properly.
9. Having your husband watch in horror as your poor nipples are being stretched out in the breast pump (I try to limit this unfortunate experience as much as possible)
10. Dreading the next feeding because of all of the above when you know you should be cherishing those moments with your newborn baby.

Of course... it's all worth it and at the end of that first week, everything seems to be settling down. It's not so painful and we're getting a routine. I was so sure of myself this time around since I nursed my first one for a year and felt I was pretty experienced. What I seemed to have forgotten is that at the end of that year we were BOTH experienced and starting over with a novice newborn was a little harder than I remembered. Although, he is a champ and has caught on right away.


I definitely recommend picking up some reading material before your baby is born if you're planning to breastfeed. I know it helped a lot with my first one. Breastfeeding is hard, especially at the beginning. I really liked So That's What They're For! by Janet Tamaro. 
Also, if your hospital has lactation consultants staffed in their birth center, you should have them come by and see you before you leave. I even did this the second time around just to make sure that Zachary was latching correctly and I wasn't forgetting something before we went home. 


Okay... well that is my one and only breastfeeding post - moving on!

36 Weeks-More Baby Prep

I had my 36 week appointment today! Attempting to reschedule my C-Section a few days closer to my due date to allow me to work through the weekend and signed my paperwork for a VBAC just in case. I am really feeling like I'm going to make it to my C-Section date without going into labor first, but I figured I better be prepared regardless.

The last couple days I've been making so more freezer meals for after baby comes. I'm feeling a little more prepared than I was.... 
Sunday I made up two Honey Pork Chops. Those were super easy - just throw a bunch of ingredients in a bag, add the pork chops and freeze. Easy! I got the recipe from this book that I bought awhile ago:

Yesterday I made three Layered Enchilada Casseroles. I bought enough to make two and then when I actually went to make it - I got three! Bonus! I think it was because I was using some leftover pie pans from Malachi's Cowboy Birthday Party, instead of 8x8 dishes, but I am happy with the result.

Today, I made up a bunch of Breakfast Burritos - also taken from Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer. I had some uneven ingrediants left over at the end and I ate one - pretty good!

I also downloaded this nifty Freezer Contents List from momsbudget.com. It's a free download and hopefully it will help me remember what I've made and have lurking out in the freezer!