TGIF

So G woke up at 5:00 am this morning.  She requested (ahem, demanded) to go downstairs and I knew she was up for the day.  Normally I would try to get her back to sleep for a bit, but I figured I might be able to get some work done if I could get her to fall back asleep on the couch.  Silly mommy.

She asked for milk, which I happily gave her, but apparently, the amount I put in the cup wasn't satisfactory for Princess G.  Cut to throwing of her cup, throwing of herself on the ground and lots of yelling and time out.

If you follow me on Facebook, you've already seen these pictures:

But mom, I want more milk in my cup!!!!!!! That's not enough!

#WorstMomEver

After we got Reedster on the bus, I made myself some shakeology and sat down to do my daily reading.  G was playing with cotton balls pretending to take off her nail polish.  (Hey, whatever makes her happy.)  I walked away to grab a little more coffee and when I walked back into the living room, G had knocked my chocolate shakeology onto the floor.

I don't know how she did it folks.  But somehow she got the shakeology in a straight line from the ottoman to the wall.  And there was still some left in the cup.

That's oxy-clean on the stain.... and G putting chapstick on.  More on that in a bit.

Thankfully, I have great ILs who happen to have a steam cleaner.  G and I went to work and got  most of the stain out.  It took a while, but it's much better.

All morning, I had been waiting for a phone call.  I kept my phone handy while I was cleaning the carpet so I wouldn't miss the call.  When I did take the call, G rediscovered the chapstick.... and decided to see what happened when she put it on the window...

Don't get me wrong, that's a fantastic smiley face for a 2 year old!

I should have known a few days ago when I caught G putting lotion (aka butt paste) on her face that this girl cannot be left unsupervised for even a second.

Why so serious?

To make it up to me, G came up to me while I was getting my make up on and said, (I can't make this stuff up), "I love you mommy.  You're the best mommy ever!"

TGIF.  If I didn't have an eye appointment this afternoon, I'd be having a glass of wine with my lunch.

21 Day Fix - Day 7 - late posting

This week is Family Week at our church - think VBS but in the evening so the entire family can join in on the fun and learning!  I know that doing the 21 day fix while not being in complete control over what I'm eating is going to be difficult but I'm still trying to make it all work out the best I can!  To give myself a little wiggle room, I'm trying to add in a few extra workouts this week in case I'm over in one color container (or two, haha).

Day 7 was Monday for me.

7:00 Breakfast
Paleo cereal with almond milk, coffee and water

I decided along with my fellow group members that paleo cereal could substitute a yellow container a few times a week for me.  My paleo cereal is homemade.  I use a blue container to measure it out, but count it as a yellow container since the nutrients are very similar to other yellow container foods, like yams.

Paleo cereal - Michelle style
Any mixture of nuts you like - this batch is raw almonds, raw cashews
Any seeds you like - this batch has roasted sunflower seeds
shredded unsweetened coconut
dried cranberries

Place ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it resembles cereal/granola consistency.

Pour your favorite milk over it and eat it!  You can also add sliced banana for some added yummy-ness.

11:00 Lower Fix workout

LOVE this workout.  I feel sore almost instantly and walking up the stairs is a chore.  I really like to feel sore after a workout so I know that I pushed it hard enough.   The Lower Fix will provide soreness.  I promise.

1:00 Lunch
1 full container of lettuce
1 container with peppers, celery, more lettuce and zucchini hummus
chicken
dressing - olive oil and vinegar
apple with almond butter

OK - so after the smaller breakfast, a workout, and then a late lunch, I was STARVING when it came time for lunch.  I would have eaten earlier but the kids woke up late and subsequently had a later breakfast and weren't hungry when I was.  I didn't feel like prepping two separate lunches so I just waited until they were hungry.

A rendition of one of my favorite salads that I make, this one has banana peppers, celery, romaine and chicken.  My favorite salad right now is romaine, salami, tomatoes, celery, provolone and banana peppers with vinaigrette.  I improvised with what I had in the fridge.

4:00 snack
almonds - definitely more than what a blue container is.  oops

6:00 Dinner at church

Tonight's theme was BBQ!  There were a ton of different meats to choose from and lots of mac and cheese.  There was also an activity at each table including grapes and whipped cream with a cherry on top.  (Even when we feel like the cherry - alone, Jesus is WITH US!  Always.)

I shared a plate with G for ease of going through the food line.  I ate the pulled bbq pork (which was seriously amazing.  I really need to figure out who made that one) and a few bites of the mac and cheese.  G was a HUGE fan of the mac and cheese so I fed her that.  I also had a cup of grapes with the whipped cream and cherry on top.  YUM.

8:30 snack

I got home from church and got G to bed (she fell asleep on the way home after not taking a nap today).

Don't worry - took this pic in the garage.  How cute is she hugging her bear?

I still had to make baked ziti for dinner at church for Tuesday and was a little hungry still, so I opted for an easy snack to eat while I was cooking.  I figured I was probably not on track for the day so I decided on chips with green salsa.  Not a horrible choice, but I definitely ate more than one yellow container full.  More like 2 containers.

When I went to my notebook and actually went through the day, it actually doesn't look as bad as I would have thought.  I just need to make sure that I don't continue to not have enough reds - only 2 per day is definitely  not enough!

For those of you doing the fix with me:

How is everyone doing?  What is the hardest thing for you so far?  What is your favorite workout?

For those of you NOT doing the fix with me:

Are you interested in doing the 21 Day Fix?  

21 Day Fix - Day 4 - with some slip ups

I admit it, I over-indulged on yellows today.  It happens.  It's okay though!  Because I didn't seem to get enough greens and purples yesterday, I'm going to eat one more container of green and purple and try not to do any yellows today to try and balance things out.

Yesterday afternoon I met up with my college girlfriends for an afternoon at the lake - something we've been doing for 14 years now.  Things are a lot different NOW compared to 14 years ago.  14 years ago we were wine tasting, playing flip cup and sleeping in tents next to the water.  This year there were 4 kids between the 3 of us girls there, less drinking, more baby snuggles and more talk about schedules, jobs and houses.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I love that in the last 14-15 years we've gotten to experience life changes with each other, even if we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like.  <3

G snuggling with Auntie C.  

Their moms used to jump off that dock!

I mean, really.  How cute are these two?

I had decided to bring hummus with veggies and a light dessert to our gathering.  My friend K has Celiac disease, so finding a paleo strawberry shortcake recipe seemed like a perfect fit!

I made THIS recipe, but brought ice cream instead of whipping up cream.  It was really good!  Reedster didn't care for it, but he's not a fan of coconut flour recipes usually so that didn't surprise me.

I also decided to bring some 21 day fix approved cookies.  I made oatmeal banana chocolate chip cookies, which were edible, but definitely not my favorite.  G approved, but Reedster was not a fan.

I wanted to bring a light hummus so I went to my standby zucchini hummus recipe that is light and would more than likely fit into a green container since it uses zucchini instead of garbanzo beans!

I use this recipe and normally tweak it a little bit adding a little more cumin and lots of ground black pepper.

I just realized that I didn't manage to get a picture of the newest kid on the block!  If someone posts a picture from yesterday of the new baby girl that was present, I'll add it here.  I was too busy snuggling to take a picture apparently!

So this is a snapshot of my day food-wise.  Definitely could have made some healthier choices (or just eaten less chips and cheese puffs - oops forgot to write those down), but I feel pretty good today and was only up .2 lbs (probably in all reality due to not drinking enough water).

Moral of the story?  It's ok to fall down!  Just get back up.  If you fall down again... get up again.  We are all on our own journey, we all make our own choices, and we do what works best for us, and that's OK - as long as we aren't hurting someone else in the process obvi, lol.

21 day fix challenge - coming soon to a blog near you

Ok, I'll admit it.  Now that I'm working from home instead of at the office, my eating habits have gotten worse.  I knew that it was going to be an issue but I thought I'd be able to get over it after a week or two of indulging a little more. Confession: ICE CREAM IS SO DARN DELICIOUS!  The weather has been perfect "go and get ice cream" weather and I just.cannot.stop. I even reactivated my MFP account in the hopes that I would start food tracking again, but after 1/2 a day, I stopped, haha.  There was nothing to keep me accountable there so it was very easy to just not enter in the foods.

My friend C approached me a few weeks ago after we had a discussion about Beachbody and their programs and asked if I'd like to become a coach and help her lead a 21 day fix challenge at Bounce Aerobics (which is my happy place btw).  Let me tell you, I NEVER ever would have considered it in the past because our plate is usually overflowing with our to-do list.  BUT, given that things are starting to settle down a teeny tiny bit, I thought I would give it a try, if not for anything else but to make myself accountable for my food decisions and working out.  Plus I LOVE the BB workouts (especially PiYo which I teach at Bounce).

I've been a little better about getting to classes, but I'm still a horrible "workout at home" person.  SO...... drum roll.......... I'm going to do the 21 day fix program and (gasp) work out at home when I cannot get to Bounce for classes.  I'm going to (gasp again) work out every day for at least 30 minutes while making sure that my food portions are spot on and balanced.

What does that mean?  No ice cream for 3 weeks.  No glass of Pinot Grigio while relaxing on the couch for 3 whole weeks.  But, I'm actually looking forward to it.  21 days is long enough to start to form new patterns of behavior and enforce them so I'm excited about the fact that I can hopefully get out of this "too much food" rut and get back to healthy eating and exercise.  I'm also hoping that these 6 lbs that are sticking around will be GONE and not come back.

If you think you may want to join me for this challenge, you can purchase through me here.  You can purchase the 21 day fix with or without shakeology, which is awesome.  AND even though Bounce is leading the challenge, you don't have to go to their classes to be a part of the challenge with us because the 21 day fix program comes with workout DVDs!

Monday Musings and Quick Paleo Pancakes

Well, hello.  

Some of you may know that I have a new job.  Last week was my first week as a SAHM / PT WAHM mom.  I have to say that it was a great week.  It was a little bit of a transition, but really, it was awesome.  I realized quickly how much I have missed and how stressed I had been for the last year.  With a full time job for me, EMX working major OT hours lately, one kid in karate (two nights a week), and a rambunctious 2 year old, and other commitments to church and family/friends and our own fitness commitments, I was beginning to run myself ragged trying to make sure that everyone was well fed (I'll get to that in a minute), dressed, bags packed, lunches/breakfasts/snacks ready, activities/HW complete, etc.

One thing that I just don't want to compromise on is healthy eating.  Yes, we do order pizza (or like last night, ahem, garbage plates) from time to time, but most of the time afterwards, I start to feel groggy, overfull and just kind of gross!

So what does eating healthy look like for us?  For the most part, EMX and I eat a paleo/primal diet.  EMX eats that way as a default since I do 99.9% of the cooking for our family and he has no choice to but eat what I make.  He still does get Bruegger's bagels though once a week and orders Chinese food at work on Fridays.  The kids do eat PB&J and bunny crackers and the like, but I do try and get the healthiest ingredients I can and would rather make something than buy a packaged version whenever possible.  (Even though now Reedster won't eat my PB&J, haha.  He has been choosing fruits, vegetables and nuts for lunch instead - which I'm obviously fine with.)

There have been a few articles and studies released lately that state that there is no thing such as "gluten sensitivity."  So while there may be no scientific proof that people can be sensitive to gluten, I will tell you what I have found in my very scientific research from the last year and a half - from when I did my first 21 Day Sugar Detox in February 2013.

- The first time I completed a sugar detox, I didn't do it to lose weight.  I was trying to find a way to fight the MAJOR cravings for cookies and cake that I started to have while pregnant with Giselle, and continued through the postpartum time while breastfeeding and then continued until she was almost 1, haha.  I initially thought that I would be a raging BRAT while doing the detox but what I found was actually the opposite.  By the end of the 21 days, I was downright euphoric.  I was honestly happy, energetic, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  I had so much energy and was in such a good mood that it was VERY evident that the way I had been eating beforehand may not have been the best nutrition.  While I was eating a lot of fruit and veggies and meats before the detox, the whole grains and sugars in general were just not working for me.  I DID end up losing 5 lbs during those 21 days, which I didn't complain about.  I also did find that my sugar cravings were better controlled.  If I did have a major craving, the best treat to me was anything combined with almond butter. Dark chocolate is a great indulgence, but even a banana or apple with almond butter is DIVINE to me, lol.

- After the detox, I indulged in what I had been craving (or really THINKING I was craving) during the detox - a bagel.  I cut out a portion of the middle of the bagel because I was a little nervous that I may not feel all that great after eating it.  I ate it and probably an hour later, I was groggy and ended up having a sugar crash a few hours later.

- NOW, pretty much as soon as I eat something with gluten in it, I start to crave MORE sweets or breads.  It's INSANE.  Last night we ate garbage plates and even though I was disgustingly full after eating it, I HAD to eat something sweet.  I nibbled on mini marshmallows and then had some chocolate even though I was not hungry.  As a result, I felt pretty gross later on.

So, for me, and for our family, that's why we do eat mostly paleo/primal type foods.  It's funny because EMX can tell usually pretty quickly if I've been falling off the wagon with my eating habits by my mood and demeanor.  I will never ever claim to be paleo perfect.  If I want regular pizza with pepperoni and banana peppers, I'm going to eat it.  But I do try to eat paleo/primal foods 80% of the time.

This morning I was ready to get back on track after a day of eating not so healthy foods.   I saw this pin yesterday for the "best pancakes" - one banana mixed with two eggs and a dash of cinnamon.  This morning I decided to give it a whirl, even though honestly, most paleo/primal pancakes that I've tried haven't really come close to the real deal pancakes (especially the delicious ones we had a church yesterday morning).

The batter seemed a little thin to me so I added a few teaspoons of coconut flour in to thicken it up a little bit.  I think the reason why they tasted so good today vs in the past was a small (pun intended) difference.  Today I made the pancakes on the smaller size.  They were a little bigger than a half/dollar.  This made them cook more evenly.  I cooked them in a little bit of regular butter and topped with real maple syrup (the ONLY syrup in my opinion), and even had a few topped with just almond butter.  

G and I gobbled them up!  So quick, easy and delicious.  Even better, they are a healthy alternative to regular pancakes.

G loves pancakes!

The real test will be to have Reedster taste them when he gets home from school.  That boy is the pancake master taster.  :)

Mommy & Me...

NAILED IT!

Perfection

I've actually been struggling with this for quite some time and haven't been able to put into words as eloquently as this writer did.  I actually have a few unpublished posts on this very topic.  To clear the air, here's the scoop:

1.  Sometimes my kids are SO cute and affectionate that my heart feels like it's bursting from love.  I can't help but share their cuteness by taking pictures and posting on social media.

I mean, really?  Look at how he puts his arm around her!

Other times, I've definitely left my kids in the car in our garage while I went inside to take a deep breath to calm myself so I could get my not quite 2 year old buckled in her car seat b/c she was playing limp girl and literally sliding herself out of the car seat onto the floor of my car.  I was definitely 20 minutes late for work that morning and thankfully I have a very forgiving boss (who happens to be a Godmother of the child, which doesn't hurt).

This picture was taken one week prior to the meltdown described above.

2. Sometimes I feel like I'm Queen of the world and no one can stop me.  Other times, I feel like a #cranzy person (which btw is the newest coolest word to use - crazy and cranky combined if you didn't already figure that out) because I cannot figure out how to get everything done in the day and still sleep, which I really, really love to do.  Then I wonder how the heck every other mom is handling things like cooking a healthy meal and getting it on the table by 5:15 when they work until 4:30?  And how do they fit reading to their kids in every night when they have karate two times a week and need baths, and need to eat dinner, and need to do homework?

3. Sometimes our house is super clean and tidy (read: when we are expecting people to come over).  Other times, (read: most of the time) at least one bathroom has toothpaste spit all over the mirror, there are hair ties/barrettes/matchbox cars/legos/baby dolls/stuffed animals/fake food/real food/hair all over the floor, in most rooms of the house.  The book shelf has baskets tipped over on the floor (see #2 - sometimes I just send the kids in to get the books ready so I can try and read to them and that happens).  There is probably a pile of clean laundry on my side of the bed, which is not made.

Bottom line?  I'm not perfect.  No human is.  Sure, we share mostly the happy/best looking pictures of our life.  I think most of us realize that the majority of people aren't very excited to share the not so perfect aspects of their life.  I think that's different than actually SEEING someone share they not so perfect aspects of their life.

But you know what?  You try your best.  Every day.  It's OK to fail at something, especially if you are trying something completely new to you.  While we strive for perfection, we all need to really know that it's not possible, and that's OK.