Countdown to thanksgiving: day 4-voting

Today I am thankful to be able to vote. I wish I'd spent more time researching the issues and people more thoroughly. Amendment 1 was the only issue which I'd researched. I know we don't live in an ideal world where scared young women are always loved (and funded) through their choices and options, but that doesn't make abortion right. I believe this would be a step in the right direction.

Countdown to Thanksgiving: Day 3-Dollar Tree

Today I'm thankful for the Dollar Tree. I got some paper plates, cups, napkins, and a few other things for Adara's birthday part on Saturday. It was definitely the cheapest option! It's so fun getting things together for my toddler's party, especially when I can get a good deal!

Countdown to Thanksgiving: Day 2-Friends and Family

Today we celebrated Alex's birthday with family and friends! I'm super bummed that I forgot to snap some photos while we were at Alex's parents house because there were so many loved ones all in one place! I am very thankful for all of them, and they will probably be included in future posts.

Later our friends came over for food and fellowship. The guys played video games and the ladies watched the kiddos. Adara loves playing with her friend Emma, and they had a blast together. I'm very thankful for these friendships!

Countdown to Thanksgiving: Day 1-my husband

I'm starting a Countdown to Thanksgiving by saying one thing I'm thankful for every day leading up to Thanksgiving. I'm also going to take at least one photo, so I can have something to blog about consistently.

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. I'm so very thankful for him! He loves us very much and Adara clearly loves when they play together. We got to spend his birthday at home together, with nothing planned. It has been a very nice and relaxing day!

Trying New Treats

Today we attempted TWO treats in ONE day! Since we have food allergies in the house (eggs and soy), AND we eat a paleo/primal based diet, treats require some creativity.

Treat #1:

Paelo AND vegan pancakes! Sounds perfect, right? I decided I would start with the waffle iron, because obviously waffles FTW. Since most waffle recipes require more oil, I did add extra coconut oil. Other than that, I just doubled this recipe from The Veggie Nook.

All the ingredients minus the coconut milk

My 21 month old LOVES to sit on the counter and help. She's a great little mommy's helper: pouring, stirring, mashing bananas with a fork, sampling the food. Even though it's a bummer she's allergic to eggs, I  have no qualms about her sampling the mix.

"Helping Mommy"

Major Bummer: the mix stuck to the waffle iron! I DID coat it in butter ahead of time, but I've used spray in the past and I've heard that can mess with the non-stick quality of the waffle iron. I scraped off as much as I could and Adara and I ate our precious ingredients.

Bummer

So I did what any rational, pregnant woman who had been craving waffles for weeks would do: I threw away our waffle iron! I'm pretty sure it was not worth saving (having been scraped and with the non-stick not working), and I didn't want to deal with the heartache of another ruined waffle.

I then used the rest of the batter to make pancakes. They look very pretty in my pan:

Better with Blueberries

But this is what they look like when they are finished:

Not so pretty

I was disappointed that they didn't look like the pretty picture in the blog. I think people who make paleo pancakes for a blog must photoshop like crazy, because I've never made a pretty paleo pancake. I'm not sure it's even possible. 

However, it WAS very yummy! Adara and I ate as many as we could, and then saved a couple for Daddy. I thought the PERFECT topping would be whipped cream (we still eat dairy).

Adara didn't like it

As soon as I snapped this photo Adara said, "Take it off." So she didn't approve of the whipped cream, but I thought it was delicious.

Treat #2:

Home made fro-yo. Ours is better, of course, because it's full-fat instead of non-fat. Just a banana, Greek yogurt, and whole milk as the base. We did one batch with strawberries and froze it in ice cubes for "Popsicles." The next batch was with cocoa and we put in our ice cream maker. I ended up putting some of it in the freezer since I made too much for just  Adara and me.

Note: It's always a great idea to eat frozen treats outside. It's also a great idea to carry said treat outside for your toddler. Otherwise you might end up with this:

"I dropped it on the floor"

And all over the cabinet

My sweet daughter did try very hard to clean it up, and then was so happy when I gave her another bowl to replace the fallen one. We then enjoyed the rest of our fro-yo on our back deck where it doesn't matter if some falls on the floor.

It's the little things

Who needs New Year's to make some goals? Not me, apparently.

A LOT has happened over the past year, and I finally feel like I'm "coming together" with my family, my house, and myself. I'm sure all of that will be turned upside down in a few months when baby#2 comes along. For now, I'm making some goals to help me be a better person. Basically a list of things I never regret doing.

Personal/Spiritual/Physical/Mental Health:

Bible/devotion time daily. This time has recently been moved to the evening before bed. At that time I feel no pressure to get anything else done, and can enjoy reading/praying before sleep. It's also a great time to "cast all my cares upon Him."

Get ready every day. This means get dressed, fix my hair (even if it's just a ponytail), and put on some makeup. I feel a lot better about myself if I look somewhat put together.

Exercise daily. Not exactly sure how to do this one yet. I can do some exercising with Adara, but I'd like to carve out some time for just me to workout without distractions. I have a yoga dvd that's good but I'm not super-loving it. I have an elliptical and a great neighborhood for going on walks. So I'm still working the kinks out here. Definitely worth it, though, because I always feel better when I exercise.

Shower every night before bed. Better sleep and personal cleanliness.

House Health:

Clean both bathrooms at least once a week.

Sweep all floors (we have no carpet) at least 2 times per week, and swiffer nightly.

Pick up house (toys, books, kitchen, etc) at the end of every day.

Family Health:

Get some work done for money throughout the week (this opportunity pretty much fell into my lap, but now it's one more thing to check off my list and feel good about).

Make and finish a craft/fun food item with Adara at least a couple times a week. Great way to try to new things with her!

Make enough healthy, tasty Paleo/Primal food with no eggs/soy,

AND stay within the weekly budget. I did this for the first time in a long time last week, and I felt VERY accomplished.



So what are some of y'all's favorite exercises? Any other Paleo people out there with recipe suggestions?

God's "Family Planning"

First post for Baby #2:

Alex and I had originally planned to have two kids fairly close in age. Two and done. Whenever the second one happened, great! I started getting "baby fever" when Adara was 13 or 14 months old, and each month  I would take a pregnancy test. Negative every time. After a few months, I decided to let go of this desire to have kids really close in age and not worry about it anymore. If it happened soon, great! If not, then not a problem.

One morning I woke up with a weird feeling. I just felt different. I was trying to wait to take another pregnancy test. I had bought the expensive ones, and I didn't want to waste another test on a feeling.

Half-way through the day I decided to take it anyway. I took the test and left it on the bathroom counter and left to switch out laundry while I waited. I told myself it was silly-that it was too early. Even if I was pregnant, there probably aren't enough hormones to show up on the test.

I came back in to find this:

It says "Pregnant"

I texted Alex, and he was elated! I was very excited too, but a little cautious because it was SO early to take the test. We decided to only tell a few people, and wait until I was a little further along to spread the news.

During this time, I also started a PRN job in Registration at MRMC. I hadn't told hardly anyone that I was expecting. I decided to wait until I was more established in my position, and had at least heard the baby's heartbeat.

First appointment is mostly paperwork, overview, and try to find the heartbeat. The nurse couldn't find it, but said that it was early enough that I shouldn't worry. I tried not to.

Second appointment the nurse AND my doctor couldn't find the heartbeat. At this point I thought I was right about 12 weeks, so SOMEONE should be able to find a heartbeat. My doctor didn't seems concerned, but decided to see if she could get me an ultrasound to make sure everything is ok, and to verify my due date.

I got in right away, and Adara got to sit with my while the tech did the ultrasound. I got to see my beautiful tiny baby!  They said everything is fine, found the heartbeat, and confirmed my due date as January 8th, 2015. The doctor said my uterus is just tilted right now, so that's why they couldn't find the heartbeat.

The next time I returned to work, I excited told my boss and some of my co-workers. Smooth sailing delivering that news. Then of course I came home and posted it all over facebook. It's so exciting to get to share our news with "the world."

Since I had a pretty detailed account for Adara, I am going to try to keep up this blog for our next baby too. Feel free to join us in praying for our new addition!