A Tooth! Finally!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014. Little E's very first tooth finally popped through and made an appearance! His bottom left tooth! I'm so thrilled for him!!!

E's 1st Birthday Party!

Last night was the big celebration of E's 1st birthday, but I will be very forthcoming by mentioning my sweet baby boy is still a mere 11 months old! We needed to celebrate his big milestone birthday a little over 2 weeks early due to the pending quarantine bubble my family will be entering after Easter Sunday in preparation for Chase's Fontan (3rd heart surgery) at the beginning of May. This is a happy post though, so let's dwell on the fun times!

I made a "Happy Birthday!" banner for E just as I had done previously for LO and Chase. I reuse these every year and simply modify the graphics to fit the theme of each party. This year's elephants may turn into next year's Elmo!

I also made a photo garland using pics of baby E from birth through 11 months. I'm okay that there isn't a 12 month shot on here because, again, my baby isn't 1 yet! ;)

Side note: Sorry for the terrible photos. It seems I've lost a big chunk of my "perfectionist" personality once I found myself with 3 little youngsters at home to contend with. No worries, though! I'm mostly okay with it.

Here are some (poor) shots of the individual pics...

A few pics of the foodstuffs...

The big birthday cake! This bad boy is much larger than it appears! Again, I'd like to note that I'm no longer a perfectionist and there are several little things I would've liked to do differently, but overall I was happy with the outcome. It's a 4-layer cake alternating chocolate and vanilla bean layers, filled with white chocolate chip buttercream and frosted with vanilla buttercream. It was quite delish! I did have to purchase actual dinner plates for the cake as it was very evident that a dessert plate just wouldn't do!

A little smash cake for my little guy! I kept his simple with just vanilla bean cake with vanilla buttercream. He was a BIG fan. More on that below...

I made elephant cookies and chocolate covered Oreo cookies as little Thank You gifts for our partygoers.

The cookies were super cute! I had fun making them and look forward to doing other designs for future parties.

Oh, yes. The big boy (baby) of the hour! This is the only shot of him where you can see the outfit I made for him. It's a blue and white seersucker jon jon (short all) with an adorable birthday elephant appliqué.

This is a post-party pic of the much-loved outfit. It's a hot mess but you can see how adorable it was!

Time for spaghetti! E was a big fan!

Let's not forget big sister and big brother enjoying dinner, too!

Cake time! We had no way of preparing for the destruction that was about to ensue. Boy loves him some cake! It didn't take long at all for him to get his fingers into that frosting once his cake landed on his high chair...

Moments later... he's tearing into the cake!

The happy times were over when Daddy tried to take his cake away. He was terribly upset until Daddy decided to give it back.

So, just in case you missed it...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We had a super fun time celebrating with our closest family and dearest friends. E did great all night and didn't seem the slightest bit uncomfortable with all of the attention all night long. He was up way past his usual bedtime but didn't seem phased a bit! It was a fantastic party, but I'm looking forward to his actual birthday on April 30th when we can start his day off right with birthday pancakes, a few more gifts and lots more love and attention from his adoring family.

11 Months!

How is it possible? This baby of mine will be ONE next month. I can't hardly even believe it! His party plans are well under way. I'll reserve the details for a later post. For now, since I've got my hands full chasing after a very mobile 11-month-old, I'll just leave it to the pics. ;)

Love this sweet, sweet boy!!!

On the Move!

Oh no!! My little darling is on the move! E mastered the army crawl over the weekend and my baby-proofing has gone into high gear! It's ridiculous how much stuff LO and Chase have that is considered choking hazards for a baby (loom bands anyone!?).

Cleaning is no fun, but watching this little guy slither across the carpet sure is! Check him out!

I must admit, this move of his is rather reminiscent of another little fella in our house, circa fall 2010:

)


In fact, I showed the video above to hubs and he asked if I had taken it yesterday morning because he was in a different outfit... LOL! Of course I pointed out how little LO was and then he realized this one is Chase! It's so funny how similar these army crawls are... right down to using that big toe to get some traction on the carpet! Oh, and for reference purposes, the video of Chase was taken on the day he turned 11 months old. Not too shabby for a sweet boy with two heart surgeries under his belt!

Well I suppose I should get back to vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen floor. Seriously, this guy is fast!


- Posted using BlogPress on my beloved iPhone 5

10 Months!!!

My precious little baby is now 10 months old! Well, technically, since there was no 30th of February, I'm thinking I can still consider him only 9 months old. No? ((sigh)) Oh well. I tried.

Plans for a little first birthday shindig are underway, although it's gonna be a bit different this time around. For starters, his birthday falls in our mandatory "quarantine period" before Chase's heart surgery, so we won't be able to celebrate on or even near his actual birthday, but will be celebrating several weeks in advance. This makes me sad because I feel like I'm losing a few weeks of precious baby time before he is officially a one year old! But on the other hand, I appreciate the freedom it gives me to switch gears and focus on his big brother's heart surgery when that is really where my focus should be at that time.

Let's have a little recap of my sweet 10-month-old, shall we? For starters, he LOVES to eat. Didn't see that one coming, did ya? Haha! He's eating more and more table food and less homemade baby food these days, and is well on his way to mastering the sippy cup. Over the weekend, I inventoried my supply of frozen breastmilk and found I had a whopping 582 ounces. And now a spreadsheet, too (not a surprise for those who know me well). With such a large stash in the freezer, combined with the fact that he nurses on average for less than 5 minutes during the day, I've decided to eliminate all but his morning and bedtime nursing sessions and go with bottles during the day. I did some math and this should get us right around his first birthday, so I feel pretty good with this decision. I am still so very grateful to have that frozen stash considering the challenges I had with my supply for the first two kiddos. It's such a blessing to (A) give him the very best nutrition and (B) not have to spend a dime on formula! And to reach my 1 year goal is a HUGE accomplishment that I'm very proud of! So anyway, back to food. He loves to feed himself and we haven't been able to find a single food he doesn't like (yet).

I have not been in ANY hurry whatsoever to encourage this baby boy of mine to get mobile. I love the fact that's always stayed where I've put him. But alas, his natural instincts are starting to kick in and he's figured out the rolling around to move to wherever he wants to. Belly to back to belly to back... and then before you know it, he's left the room! He does get into a crawling position and rocks a bit, so I know the crawling is right around the corner as well. SADNESS! He loves loves loves to stand up holding onto our fingers and loves to bounce, too. His smile, I tell ya -- it just melts me into a puddle of moosh! The dimple on his right cheek has to be the cutest thing on the planet. He's such a smiley, laid-back baby! He only complains if he's hungry, tired, or if he happens to physically witness mommy or daddy leaving the room. He's such a joy!!!

So 10 months now, and no teeth yet. Not even a swollen gum to speak of! I'm not sure what's taking so long, but I have been told by my MIL that hubs didn't get his teeth until almost one, so I guess I'll just blame hubs. ;) Again though, I'm still just so happy to see that baby's gummy, toothless grin, knowing that as soon as that first tooth pops through, he's going to look at least 6 months older to me.

How about more pics of my handsome little 10-month-old sweetheart? And my helpful little assistant, too! :)

A Long Overdue Update

Almost a month since my last post, huh? You'd think not too much was happening around here if I'm not blogging about it, but not surprisingly, I've found the opposite to be true. Life is so busy happening that I have minimal time to write about it! I really want to do better about that. And not just for my blog readers, but for myself. I started this blog in 2008 to serve as a personal journal of sorts to help me remember all of the little details about life. You know, that stuff that sort of fades over time not to be thought of again? I don't want to forget it. But sadly I will forget all of it if I don't make the time to blog about it! Duh. So let me catch up a bit today...

21DSD

First of all, I need to address the 21DSD (21 Day Sugar Detox). To be honest with myself, my family and my readers, we have found ourselves completely unable to sustain the lifestyle of the 21DSD. In our world, at this time, it is just not feasible to eat 100% Paleo 100% of the time. It is just not possible to eliminate ALL refined sugar from our meals 24/7. I'm not sure if or why or how I could've possibly thought this would be feasible when we started, but alas, for us, it's not something we're able to do at this time. The UP SIDE, however, is that hubs has completely eliminated Coke from his daily lifestyle. This. Is. HUGE! I'm so very proud of him! Honestly the two of us very rarely indulge in a diet soda either, which is also great! And I personally learned a lot about what is healthy and what isn't; the foods that keep my body happy and those that don't; the foods that make me feel good and those that don't. So overall, it was a wonderful learning experience. But as I told hubs last night (coincidentally as I was making homemade chocolate chip cookies with M&Ms), our family just isn't ever going to be one of "those families" who can completely eliminate sweets and baked goods from our lifestyle. It's just not possible (for us) to rewire the way each of us have lived for 30+ years (we blame our parents for this, of course!). LOL! But it's all good. I know moderation. I know we can treat our kids to special baked goods and desserts on occasion and not every day. This is all good! Whew. Glad to get that out there.

E's Dedication

Next up? A huge day in the life of our little family! Baby E was dedicated at our church two weeks ago on Sunday, February 16th. It was amazing because ALL of our family was able to share in our special day. I made a lovely iMovie video of my favorite pictures of him over his first 9 months and it turned out amazing (if I may say so?)!

Here's a pic of our pastor and his wife as the children's pastor prayed over baby E.

And a pic of E that was taken after the service. Such a handsome boy!

I must also share that I was completely honored and proud to have made E's dedication outfit: a reversible long-all in off-white corduroy on one side with his monogram and a sweet blue and white elephant print also with his monogram on the inside. I put a little turtleneck onesie with it and found the cutest shoes on a whim at The Children's Place. I loved his look and was so proud to have made it all myself (with the help of Google and lots of YouTube videos, of course)!

LO's Daddy/Daughter Dance

Another big event took place last Friday, February 28th. It was the Daddy/Daughter Dance at LO's elementary school and she decided she wanted to go this year! In fact, she even had the perfect dress in mind for the big night and was nice enough to sketch it out for me.

It should be purple. With puffy sleeves. And a heart on the bodice. And floral trim along the bottom hem. And her hair should be in braids. And she'll be wearing heels. Pretty specific, huh?

Well, I found a pattern that was pretty close to what I thought she was looking for. Basically she wanted to look and feel like a princess. Okay, I can do that! I hope... So I found a pattern and prepared for what would honestly be the FIRST TIME EVER that I've worked with an actual pattern. I went with the Simplicity 2463 as shown below. I needed to use the bodice from Dress A to get the puffy sleeves, and the skirt from Dress F to have the princess-like tulle overlay.

Did I mention I picked up the pattern, fabric, notions and all of the necessary supplies on MONDAY, with the big event taking place on FRIDAY. Nothing like setting myself up for success, right?

So after hours of painstakingly cutting out pattern pieces in satin and tulle (seriously, the tulle.), lots of sewing, googling of sewing terms, YouTube video watching of sewing techniques, and at least one bout of tears (mine) later, I was done. A quick purchase of some shoes (with heels... shudder) and a little tiara for my princess, and she was ready for the big dance in her new dress! I should note that she made the decision earlier in the week to forego the heart on the bodice and flower trim on the skirt hem. She was straight SMITTEN with this dress, folks! And I was so proud of myself for sticking with it and not giving up (it would've been SO much easier to give up and go buy her a dress!). But knowing her heart was set on this dress made it easier to commit to finishing it for her. I'm so glad I did, and so was she!

One of my newest favorite pics of my LO!

Daddy made sure to set the bar high for her future dance dates... a sweet wrist corsage for her (and a beautiful rose for her mommy)! Love.

 This pic doesn't have the best focus, but I can't help but look at it and think how I will blink my eyes and she'll be riding off to her High School prom in no time. It makes me so happy and sad all at the same time!!!

Chase's Fontan

Chase is not one to be left out of the spotlight with this catch-up post. As you probably already know, Chase's Fontan -- his third heart surgery -- is scheduled this summer. We have a cardiology appointment later this month to talk through some of the specifics of the surgery. We were able to book a rental home in Charleston for the duration of our time there, and have our wonderful parents lined up to help with childcare. Plans are being made and things are falling into place. We're trusting God with every facet of this trip, the surgery, the recovery, the routine changes for LO and E, and everything that goes along with having a child who needs heart surgery. Please begin praying with us even now for a successful, uneventful surgery, minimal complications, no infections and a strong recovery for our little Rock Star. This time around will be MUCH different than his first two surgeries (at 1 week old and 4 months old), so we appreciate your prayers more than ever before!

Whew. Well I guess that's as good of a catch up post as any, right? I've got to make it a point to update more frequently! Starting with E's 10 month pics... hopefully tomorrow? :)

My 21DSD Experience: Week 3 (The FINAL Week!)

The final week is here! Yay! I'm so proud of myself for following through with my commitment to the 21DSD and it turns out this was a very educational experience for me -- and hubs, too! Let's take a look!

Day 15 - Monday, February 3rd

Weight: + .8 lbs.

Physical: Ugh. Mondays, am I right? The day started out slowly but I eventually got moving and was able to knock out a fair share of housework today. I just KNOW I would be so much more successful and feel even better if I could add workouts to my clean eating!

Mental: Bummed about another gain, but I'm looking at the big picture, not that dumb number on the scale. I like that I'm learning how I have to be true to myself. Accountable to myself. No one will necessarily know if I sneak that Snickers bar in the car while running errands, but that's cheating and I want no part of it. I have to answer to myself here, and I'm learning I actually CAN be strong-willed and not allow myself to get away with such shenanigans. Who knew I could be so tough? :)

Day 16 - Tuesday, February 4th

Weight: - .3 lbs.

Physical:  So today's the dreaded day that I straight fell off the wagon head-first. Somehow I found myself eating a Pop-Tart for breakfast and 2 slices of frozen pizza for dinner. It was a bad, bad day.

Mental:  I'm not sure what caused my major flop today. Maybe the 2+ weeks of a restricted diet finally caught up to me and I wanted to eat "normal" for a day? I dunno. Regardless, it was just a slip and not me falling back into the old ways. I vow to make it to 21 days! And I'm proud of myself for learning that just because I slip up doesn't mean I have to completely give up and settle for an unhealthy lifestyle. One bad choice is just that -- one bad choice. It doesn't have to impact the rest of the choices I make. It's okay to start fresh and stay committed.

Day 17 - Wednesday, February 5th

Weight: + .1 lbs.

Physical: Tired today, which isn't super surprising considering my food choices yesterday. Perhaps the guilt overcame me because... hold onto your hats, folks! I FINALLY hit the gym!!! It's literally in a room right next to the living room where I spend most of my day -- haha! And I haven't been able to make it back upstairs since! I decided the quit the excuses and find something -- anything! -- that could be used as my exercise regimen. And I did! I found this beginner body weight workout from NerdFitness (an EXCELLENT website, I must say!) and it seriously rocked my world! I could barely get myself through the circuit once, let alone THREE TIMES, but I really pushed myself and made it happen. It's a super simple workout that anyone can do:

20 body weight squats

10 push ups

20 walking lunges

10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug)

15 second plank

30 Jumping Jacks

Repeat entire set 3x with a brief rest/water break in between each set.

Mental: So proud of myself for the exercising! Not so impressed with myself for eating almost an entire jar of dill pickles over the course of the day, but I guess it could've been something worse, right?

Day 18 - Thursday, February 6th

Weight: + 1.1 lbs.

Physical: So so so so so so so so so very sore from yesterday's beginner workout!!! It's crazy how much my legs hurt! It's obvious I put muscles to work that haven't seen the tiniest bit of exercise in YEARS. Wow. It hurts so good! I didn't want to let the excuse of physical pain prevent me from continuing with my exercise journey, so I found an interval training routine from NerdFitness to keep me moving. I definitely didn't give it 100% but at this early stage of the game, I'm counting every attempt at movement as a WIN.

Mental: A gain of 1.1 lbs.!? Not cool and slightly depressing following my first workout in literally years. But ultimately I told myself it was a gain of MUSCLE WEIGHT (lol.) and that helped me press on. Haha!

Day 19 - Friday, February 7th

Weight: + 2 lbs.

Physical: Well, I'm still feeling quite SORE from my Wednesday body weight workout, but I forced myself to push through and even hit the workout again today as scheduled! What a surprise! It was TOUGH, though. I couldn't bring myself to get through the 3rd set of 20 lunges and subbed it out with step ups onto my weight bench instead.

Mental: Another huge gain!? What the heck? Ugh. I wasn't happy to see that, but I know deep down that eating right and exercising are THE ONLY keys to getting and staying fit, so I'm refusing to let myself get discouraged and am doing my best to pump myself up! I truly am proud of myself for sticking to an exercise routine, even though it's only been 3 days! LOL!

Day 20 - Saturday, February 8th

Weight: - .6 lbs.

Physical: I stuck with the program and did the interval training today, including some additional upper arm work. It was a great workout and I'm so glad I did it! Of course, I'm also looking forward to tomorrow (Sunday) because it's my day off from workouts.

Mental: Finally! A tiny weight loss! That made me feel so much better. Nothing huge, but at least going in the right direction. My food choices have stayed on par with the 21DSD and I'm very happy that I've been so successful. And I must give MAJOR PROPS to hubs today. He popped open a soda that had been our fridge for weeks, which totally shocked me, only to see him stand at the sink and pour it down the drain!!! I was so terribly proud of him! We still have a little stash of Coke 12-packs in the garage that we'll be donating to our Sunday School class at church next week. :)

Day 21 - Sunday, February 9th

Weight: - 2.7 lbs.

Physical: Feeling great! It's the LAST DAY of my 21DSD and I've learned so much! I've lost a total of 7.4 lbs. over 21 days, which I consider to be a HUGE accomplishment. I was hoping for a bit more weight loss but since I didn't begin with the exercise effort in on Day 1, I'm not terribly surprised. I feel like I have more energy, though, and it seems I'm able to accomplish much more throughout the day than I had before. I'm very encouraged and hopeful that the weight will start to melt off with the combination of clean eating and daily exercise.

Mental: Whew! That was HARD. I honestly didn't think I had it in me to make it through 21 days of this! Seriously, people, think about it: no cookies, no soda, no cereal, no bread, no chips, no crackers, no sweetened drinks, no fruit (except green apples, bananas and grapefruit)... the list goes on and on and I SURVIVED!!! I'm so proud of myself and hubs for doing so great!

I'm seriously thinking about doing another 21DSD along with my exercise new regimen to see what kind of progress I can make! To be honest I think I'm enjoying this massive life distraction because it's keeping me from focusing too much on Chase's heart surgery in May. There's just too much going on there to get into it now, so let's just say that if I had to distract myself with something, getting healthier seems like a good way to go!

Thanks to those of you who followed along on my 21DSD journey!

My 21DSD Experience: Week 2

Okay, folks, week 2 of my 21DSD is complete and I've managed to stay (mostly) on track! I'm looking forward to making it to the end of the detox... I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to enjoy strawberries, grapes and Gala apples again! Haha!

Day 8 - Monday, January 27th

Weight: - .5 lbs.

Physical: I didn't have a hard time getting up this morning and was able to accomplish a lot around the house in my first couple of hours of the day. I haven't had a nap since I started the 21DSD except for Sunday afternoon when EVERYONE in my house was asleep. It was nice to recharge a bit before the busy week!

Mental: I'm still in a good place, which totally surprises me. I can see myself getting through the entire 21 days continuing to do what I've been doing. This is great! I've been changing up the kids' meals a bit as well with the hope to move them away from all processed food. I stopped sending a little "dessert" in their lunch every day and we're not eating desserts at home, so maybe their palate is changing at least a tiny bit (with the exception of LO's school who keeps using Skittles and Oreos for math lessons and the church who doses out chocolate pudding cupS (i.e. TWO!) or FOUR cookies for a morning snack!). Oh well. Ya win some, ya lose some, right? ;)

Day 9 - Tuesday, January 28th

Weight: 0 lbs.

Physical: I'm not sure whether it was me, hubs, or the kids who was shocked the most to see me up this morning BEFORE the rest of the house! Lots of prep last night meant breakfast was a quick fix and lunches were already packed. I was up to greet the day BEFORE 7am, which is completely unheard of. My energy level was great and stayed with me throughout most of the day. I woke very refreshed from a great night of sleep. I've always slept well but last night seemed extra good!

Mental: I'd be lying if I said I don't get excited to jump on the scale every morning for a quick peek at (one form of) my progress, but honestly I wasn't too concerned to see no change today. I'm just feeling too good to care, I guess! I'm hopeful I'll continue to see some weight loss, but it isn't my #1 priority of the 21DSD. I'm happy that I've basically eliminated sugary snacks/treats for the kids at home and in their school lunches. I'm happy that I've lost 6.5 lbs. I'm happy that I'm feeling better and sleeping better. And I'm super psyched to get my new 21DSD Cookbook tomorrow! I will add that by the end of the night, I did find myself eating a banana even though I know I wasn't feeling the slightest bit hungry. I can definitely see how food is a mental game and not just physical. I tried to talk myself out of the banana, but ultimately my craving/desire won out. Gotta work on this!

Day 10 - Wednesday, January 29th

Weight: - 1 lb.

Physical: Overall I've felt well but still want to get my lazy, oversized butt into our gym! Geez!

Mental: This is definitely a mental game and anyone that says otherwise is crazy!!! I made the choice this morning that I was NOT going to "cheat" with any of my little cheats today (i.e. more than one banana or apple in a day or a tiny square of 85% chocolate). I had to keep making that choice throughout the entire day, over and over again. As a reward for my good behavior (again, rewarding behavior is a mental thing... I still need to work on this!), I made doughnuts from the 21DSD Cookbook. Win!!! They were amazing and the perfect non sweet treat to make me feel like a cheater!!!

Day 11 - Thursday, January 30th

Weight: - .8 lbs.

Physical: It's been pretty lazy around the house with 2 snow days, 3 kids and both hubs and I all home since Tuesday afternoon. I hadn't so much as ventured out of the house until dinner tonight at a local Mexican restaurant. And just FYI... I did great! I made some paleo tortilla chips to bring along, which were awesome with salsa and helped me not feel like I was missing out on anything, and ordered some amazing steak and chicken fajitas (minus the tortillas, rice and sour cream). I did allow some cheese and beans tonight, which are essentially cheats, but it was still way better than my old usual!

Mental: I guess this is kind of the half-way point of the 21DSD, right? I'm proud of myself for making it this far, but honestly I haven't put a lot of thought into what I'm doing. It's becoming like second nature to me to make the food choices I'm making. I don't feel restricted by this lifestyle and certainly haven't been counting down the days 'til the end, which I think is a great thing!

Day 12 - Friday, January 31st

Weight: - 0 lbs.

Physical: I know it's getting old, but I'm still waiting for that burst of energy to get me onto the treadmill in our gym. I'm so lame!!!

Mental: Still feel great overall and overall very encouraged with my progress!

Day 13 - Saturday, February 1st

Weight: + .8 lbs.

Physical: A little gain today but that can totally be explained my the mini concrete mixer (chocolate peanut butter cup w/ M&Ms) I had Friday night from Culver's. It was a very calculated cheat rather than a spur of the moment kind, which is definitely considered progress in my book! I was having a rough day and hubs was feeling it too and we decided together to "reward" ourselves and It. Was. Awesome. I was surprised how much I tasted all of the flavors of my treat and, most notably, the fake chocolate flavor!! I was so surprised! It was so good and the only problem was that my body DIDN'T fight me on it. I was hoping for an upset stomach or something but my body embraced that frozen custard like it was its job! Guess I'll still need to be careful after the 21DSD!

Mental: See above. ;)

Day 14 - Sunday, February 2nd

Weight: - .3 lbs.

Physical: I might've ate a bit too much tonight with the exciting Super Bowl menu I created, but it was all 21DSD approved! The Pulled Pork Barbecue Waffle Sliders had to be my fave! And those waffles are savory and will be the perfect match for a bacon and egg sandwich tomorrow morning!

Mental: I've lost 7.8 lbs. in 14 days so how can I feel anything other than excited and proud of my accomplishments? And I've REALLY stuck with the 21DSD do much better than I ever dreamed! I consider the 0.1% of "cheats" completely negligible!

One more week to go!!!

9 Months!!!

My precious little baby is 9 months old! I just can't believe how quickly these months have passed. And to think we're less than 3 months away from the big O-N-E? I could just cry! But I won't. At least not right now. Instead I'll share a few pics of my little cutie.

My 21DSD Experience: Week 1

I embraced a Paleo diet several months ago, and found great success with how I was feeling along with several pounds of weight loss. It was awesome! But then the holidays hit and I fell off the wagon. Big time. And I felt it. The sluggish lack of energy, the bloating, the weight gain and just an overall sense of yucky blah. Not cool.

Then we had a long weekend mid-January. It involved a family road trip to Cincinnati, LOTS of fast food, ice cream sundaes, candy and junk food. While it all was, of course, incredibly delicious at the time, the immediate remorse and guilt I felt was overwhelming. Not to mention the increased weight gain, fatigue and overall dependency on cocaine sugar in any form I could get my hands on.

So with some thought and thorough research, I decided to do something I'd been considering for months but have been too afraid to do: embark upon the 21 Day Sugar Detox.

I started on Monday, January 20th. And sort of accidentally on Level 3 (the most strict of the 3 levels). This post is an ongoing log I've kept of my experience with the sugar detox for my own reference and also as (hopefully) a source of inspiration for others considering ending their sugar cravings, eliminating processed foods and returning their bodies to functioning the way they were intended. I had originally planned to publish my entire 21DSD as a single post, but I'm afraid it would just be too lengthy, so I've decided to break it down by week.

So without further ado, here we go!

NOTE: Although it's not necessarily recommended or encouraged, I have decided to weigh myself at the same time each morning throughout the 21DSD and track my weight changes. Obviously there are a ton of reasons for weight fluctuations and not necessarily just fat loss, so I'm not in any way going to judge my success on those numbers. Mostly I'm just curious.

Day 1 - Monday, January 20th

Weight: Initial starting weight logged. I may have cried a little lot.

Physical: Normal energy level (i.e. not a lot), feeling waaaaay uncomfortable overall from the poor eating and its effect on my body.

Mental: Tired of the excuses and the dependency on sugar. Tired of the fatigue. FINALLY ready to make a change!!!

Day 2 - Tuesday, January 21st

Weight: - 4 lbs.

Physical: Normal energy level, still feeling bloated and can feel those extra pounds of yuck I'm carrying around with me -- especially around my belly.

Mental: I was pleased to see the loss of 4 pounds after one day of clean eating on the 21DSD! I know this isn't typical weight loss but I also know my body was in BAD SHAPE with my horrible eating the weekend leading up to it. So it was a pleasant surprise and a definite encouragement to keep at it! And WHOA!!! Hubs is jumping on board with me! I'm so excited to have someone to suffer through this with! Yay!!!

Day 3 - Wednesday, January 22nd

Weight: - .3 lbs.

Physical: CARB FLU!!!? OMG I don't know if that's really a thing, but I woke up this morning feeling HORRIBLE!!! I was sweating and achy all over. The mere thought of removing myself from my bed was overwhelming! I checked my blood sugar (which I haven't done since my days of gestational diabetes while pregnant with E) and it was 71, which is pretty low for me. I went ahead and ate an egg/sausage cup and a green apple, but it took a while before I felt capable of functioning. A hot shower was a big help! Once I got going for the day, my energy level seemed to keep up and I felt good! I think it was all about the low blood sugar that caused the issues this morning and not necessarily anything relating to the 21DSD.

Mental: Today ended up pretty good overall. I was majorly bummed about the episode this morning, but once I attributed it to my blood sugar, it made sense. I powered through it without any thought of giving up. If anything, I feel more encouraged than ever to keep at this! I've had almost no cravings for sweets and even the little ones I've had, it was super easy to talk myself out of them. I've been super proud of hubs for now going TWO DAYS without a single COKE (or any other soda/caffeine)!!! I'm shocked and so proud and hope he keeps it up!

Day 4 - Thursday, January 23rd

Weight: + .1 lbs.

Physical: Woke up refreshed and feeling good this morning! I checked my blood sugar to see what my "norm" should look like and it was 83. Nice!

Mental: I won't lie -- I was a bit depressed to see that teeny tiny GAIN today, but the fact that I'm feeling good physically and know I'm doing the right thing for my body made it easy to deal with. Also, I realized today that there's a "Non Sweet Treats" section of recipes in the 21DSD book! Granted, they're nothing like what I was used to, but I did make a green apple crumble that was quite delish! I also tried the Chocolate Almond Butter Cups, which (sorry, Diane Sanfilippo) were HORRIBLE. My kids clearly weren't fans either... LOL!!!

Day 5 - Friday, January 24th

Weight: - .8 lbs.

Physical: Still not jumping out of bed in the mornings to welcome a new day, but honestly that's no surprise. I feel good once I'm up and functioning for the day. My hunger levels are SO under control and SO manageable -- what a shock! And it feels good to want to make good food choices and not feel in any way that I'm forced to. I'm excited about new recipes to try and haven't felt restricted with food hardly at all! I will note that I had some hardcore cravings after dinner tonight but was able to control them. Still no cheats! Oh, I also made zucchini noodles using my new spiral vegetable slicer. I simply sautéed them with a bit of oil and fresh basil and they turned out amazing! I made a bolognese sauce and seriously it was exactly like eating spaghetti!! What a WIN!

Mental: Happy to see another loss on the scale this morning! Honestly I'm still in an excellent frame of mind and am happy with what I'm doing. Last night we dined out for the first time and did GREAT -- even with several temptations all around. I'm so proud of the progress, but I'm also a bit skeptical on how we'll keep this up longterm after the 21 days. I mean, we definitely won't have to be as restrictive when we finish the 21DSD, but I'm afraid one bite of cake will send me spiraling back into my old ways and I just don't know how I'll handle it. But I guess I can worry about that later... ;)

Day 6 - Saturday, January 25th

Weight: + .3 lbs.

Physical: No real changes, improvements or anything. Kind of bummed but glad I'm not in a major slump.

Mental: Another little gain this morning. No big. This isn't about weight loss. Although I was super discouraged this evening after spending almost 2 hours in the kitchen making homemade broccoli-cauliflower soup and Paleo "fried" chicken for dinner. Both turned out AWFUL. It was such a punch in the face! I left the table feeling disappointed and gross. The food was terrible. I was just mad and this dumb 21DSD and made the CHOICE to cheat. Two little Reese's valentine hearts later I still felt disappointed and it was all I could do not to get in the car and drive to Culver's for an ice cream treat. Have I mentioned how much this SUCKS!??

Day 7 - Sunday, January 26th

Weight: - 1.3 lbs.

Physical: I still feel more "puffy" and bloated in the belly than I did after my 4-day junk food binge weekend leading up to my 21DSD. UGH! I know I need to start working in an exercise routine if I want to see more success, but it's so hard to find the time and not be so lazy that I actually do it! Overall it was a great day today. I feel like my energy level should be adequate enough to see me through beginning workouts of some sort, but I have no idea where to start!

Mental: Mentally I did really great today! The added weight loss is always a plus... I'm down almost 6 lbs. in 7 days! That's a win! And I have renewed my commitment to the 21DSD after the horrible night last night. I ordered the 21DSD Cookbook from Amazon so I'll be excited to try some new recipes later this week! I just wish there was someone to take care all of those dirty dishes! I've honestly been unloading, loading, running, unloading, and loading the dishwasher EVERY DAY since I started. It's insane!

Summary - Week 1

Overall I'm pleased with the fact that I've stuck with the 21DSD this far! That feels like such an accomplishment in and of itself! And the fact that hubs is on this journey with me is absolutely priceless! I can already see where this different way of looking at food is already impacting the choices I make for the whole family -- picky kids included! I can't wait to see how we do with week 2 and how great it'll feel to COMPLETE this journey! Woot!

Eight Months!

I can hardly believe it, but this little one is a whopping 8 months old! He is such a sweet, laid-back little guy and we are so very blessed to have him in our family!

Just a little recap of things for my own forgetful self:

• He's up to about 18 lbs. 5 oz. and LOVES to eat! He's definitely the "chunkiest" little of our three, and I just can't get enough of those cheeks, thighs and fingers!
• This little guy is a nursing CHAMP. My goal is to hit the 12 month mark and we are well on our way! He nurses 3 to 4 times per day, and most of the time it's pretty quick since A) he gets distracted so easily and B) he's a hungry, growing boy and doesn't waste any time!
• We made it through a bit of rice cereal, the basic veggies and fruits, and now we're expanding with some new combinations. I'm making all of his food in the BEABA Babycook Pro, which is so simple and fast! It's so easy to make fresh, nutritious meals with it, and I've even used it to make a delicious sweet potato puree for the rest of us, which the kids loved! He's also enjoying Stonyfield yogurt -- just like his big sister and brother when they were his age. And I've recently introduced puffs, which is completely hysterical to watch because he's still developing his pincer grasp and most of them seem to end up on the floor.
• We've been TOTALLY laid-back in the motor skills development department. He sits up independently and easily rolls from tummy to back, but we rarely seem him roll from back to tummy. He's not had any interest in crawling, which is SO TOTALLY FINE by me! If I could keep him a tiny baby forever, I would! He LOVES to stand up, holding onto our fingers, and JUMP! JUMP! JUMP! He gets the biggest grin when he's bouncing!
• He's getting a bit heavy for the infant carrier so we're experimenting with Chase's old Britax Marathon rear-facing in the Sienna. I can't recall exactly when we moved the other two out of their carriers but seems it was around the time my right arm started getting too buff from carrying them everywhere. ;)

Of course there are lots of other things going on around here, including a B-I-G decision that I've been praying about for some time now, but I'll have to find the time to share more about things later. For now, I just want to revel in the amazing awesomness of my sweet baby boy!!!

P.S. How is it possible I'm already in FIRST BIRTHDAY PLANNING MODE? I've got a Pinterest board and everything, so you know it's official now! I just can't believe this little one is so close to the big 0-1!