Friday, August 31, 2012

Sugarless September

Today is my last day of freedom for tomorrow I shall surely die.

:(

For I have committed myself to a sugar free diet for the entire month of September.
No candy,
no soda (this has not been a problem since I don't drink much since being pregos),
no more sticking my finger in the frosting jar right after dinner,
(don't judge-I keep a jar of frosting in the fridge for that reason, sometimes we need a little something sweet after a delicious savory dinner. A finger full is all I need.)
no cookie, cake, or pies,
no ice cream (this one will be the hardest),
no cereal,
no brownies,
no chocolate,
& no fruit (because we are mainly cutting out fructose),
no anything with fructose

You might be surprised how many things have fructose in them.

It will be hard but I think this will be a good push in my quest to get my body back goal. I am gonna try and get to my prewedding weight.

SO what will I be eating. Mainly vegetables and meat. Hoping to cut back on bread too. Wish me luck!

If you have any fun sugarless recipes you would like to share I am open.

Tonight I will end my night with some yogurt then in 30 days we will break this fast on Lars birthday with a big fat piece of chocolate cake and a side of ice cream smothered in hot fudge and carmel.
It will be an epic meal time for sure. :) 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Old and Hip and Proud

We have a set of missionaries in our ward and the other day I was talking to one of them. He commented that my neighbor looked like Billy Corgan. I replied that he looks more like Moby. This missionary gave me a clueless look and then asked, "Who's Moby?" WHHHAAAAA? Come on really. I am not that old am I? First, Moby is still alive. Second, I am not that much older than this missionary. At least 8-10 years. The last few weeks I have felt very aged. Maybe is it because in less than half a year I will be 30. 30 seems like a milestone in the average human life span. Most people only live to be 60. This has made me think about the goals I had as a youthful 20 year old. All the things I wanted to do before I was 30. At the time I wanted to sky dive, write a musical, become a mom, join the peace corps, etc etc, not necessarily in the order. Now that I am nearing 30 and I have done a few of those things but not everything I guess I am feeling weird and old. Time flies. I feel like I have lived a good life and though I have some regrets I have some awesome accomplishments.

(BTW this is not an obituary. The average human lives to be 60 but the one and only Stephanie lives to be 107. Mark my words I will be on the Today Show Smuckers Birthday Wish segment.) One of the goals I mentioned was to become a Mom. I have ranted about  waiting to be a Mom in my blog before so I am not going to replay that violin. In getting old it has made me think about how awesome my life is at and being an old Mom. Let me first say this. Folks, it doesn't matter when you decide to be a Mom, different strokes for different folks. It is all a personal choice and either way I am sure you will all rock at it whenever you, your significant other, and God decide to make it happen.

My friend Shawna posted this. I loved it! Go Read it now! Shawna touched on some points that I want to reiterate.

Older Moms are more laid back. When Lars and I were in the hospital the staff kept asking us if this was our first. We replied yes and they would respond with, "Wow, couldn't tell because your so relaxed." We both have a go with the flow kind of personality. We weren't always like that and sometimes I still freak out about little stuff. But thankfully I try to only freak out about the stuff that matters most or have Lars help bring me back to reality.

Older Moms are more self secure. Boy oh boy. When I was young this was a struggle for me. Most people wouldn't know that because I am always upbeat. I used to second guess myself a lot but now I trust my gut and mother instinct and go with it even if it is odd to others. I have my ups and downs but for the most part I am confident in my ability to make decisions and to parent. Roan is happy and healthy and kicking butt so I think we are good.

Older Moms have more life experience and are aware that life is short. Before we had kids I had a career, I traveled, I went to college, I goofed off AAAAA LOT. Everything has its seasons and life moves so fast. I am glad that I got to have a variety of experiences before having kids. I feel like those experiences will help me rear my child into adulthood. Many people have asked us when we will have another. I appreciate the season I am in now and just want to enjoy being Roan's Mom. I am sure that will change and when it does I will feel it. 

I am so grateful to be a hip old Mom. Not that I am all mighty and mature or anything. I just feel that I am able to cope with the adjustment of parenting better now than my 20-25 year old self would have. Yes, it is hard at times. But I appreciate it and relish the challenging parts. I find myself endlessly looking at Lars and smiling because Roan has something funny and awesome. I love being an Old yet Hip Mom.

V-Town Visit 2012

We visited our V-Town friends and had a BBQ. Here are a few snap shots.
 Roan was locked up in a play pen for a while as a way to protect him from Emily. Our friends daughter who kept trying to get to him to attack hug and kiss him and beat him up as seen here in this video below. 


 I still think they look like cousins. Elaine and Roan.
 Roan found a peaceful moment with Emily
 The boys goofing off
Taking a ride 
As you can see from many pictures above Roan has many options for future girlfriends. :)

Cousins

I got to visit some of my dear cousins during a trip up to Northern California. It was so much fun. We all have babies under a year old within a few months of each other. We had a blast talking, eating, goofing off, and cooing over each others kids. I wish I lived closer to both of these girls but am grateful for the short visits we get to have. 
 All the ladies and their babies. Teresa, Eliza, & I
The Dad's and their kids. Tristan, Brent, & Lars 
Second Cousins Roan and Jeanene
Second Cousins Lydia and Roan
Roan is giving Lydia a noogie 

How to Host an Indiana Jones Themed Baby Shower

My friend Ann is having a baby. Her baby boy will be taking her husbands full name. Rather than calling him Junior they decided to call him Indy instead. This is a reference to the movie series Indiana Jones. My other friend Karen and I went to work on her Indiana Jones Baby Shower. We researched online to see if other baby showers have ever had this theme before. Our search came up empty. We altered and utilized ideas from kids birthday parties but the rest was put together by our wild and crazy imaginations. Here is everything you need to know to throw you own Indiana Jones Baby Shower. 

Step 1: Find a friend having a baby
  Step 2: Decorations-We had this outside in a friends back yard to give it a foliage jungle look.
 We made tiki sticks out of a dowel and grassy stuff (can't remember the name) 
We used this area as a photo booth area and had mustaches and glasses and other props for people to use. 
We used an old globe and other architect looking items that we scattered around 
We made a really cool banner by hand
 Then we put toy snakes and bugs everywhere
Step 3: Food 
I made an epic cake that incorporated each of the movies. 
(Ball Indy is running from, Holy Grail, the 3 stones, and the crystal skull. Cake complete with snakes and Indy. I used cake ball to mold the stuff on top.)
If you are not as awesome as me its okay. You can buy a cake already made with the Indiana Jones figures or pictures included. 
This was our spread. We tried to have Egyptian and German food since that is where most of the movies took place. We did meatballs, hummus, veggies, salad, and MONKEY BRAINS-cottage cheese, whipped cream, and jello. We also had "dirt" (gummy worms, pudding, and cookie crumbs). 
 
 Ann approves

Step 4: Games 
We had a movie trivia game that I just made up from the Internet. (not pictured)
Then a Forbidden Eye Decoding Game that Karen created based off the Indiana Jones ride.
They had to decode baby words.

Next we had an eye ball soup game. We filled a bowl with eye balls and they had to scope out as many eyes blind folded within 10 seconds. The person with the most wins. 
 
Games would not be complete without prizes. We made holy grail cups. 

Step 5: Have fun and make memories... 
 

Bonus Step 6: Awesome Kids
If you really want your shower to rock throw in a couple of cute kids into the mix. 
Let them eat snakes
Sleep
& do all the cute things and cute kids do. 

So there you have it. You now know how to throw an Indiana Jones themed baby shower. Now when some stranger goes to search for ideas on how to be awesome this post will come up and help them along. 

Hulk Baby Photo Session

We took our monthly pictures yesterday and let me tell you. It was funny and difficult all at once, by the end we were all worn out. Taking their pictures is a lot easier when they didn't know how to move. First, I had the wrong camera lens, then the dog kept getting in the pictures, then the boys were distracted by everything around them. One was sitting perfect while the other was trying to get away, they kept switching that on us. Marly sang and dance to get their attention while I took the pictures. Here is a little behind the scene footage. 
 GASP!
In this picture Dane looks like an evil scientist and Roan looks like his minion. 

 Here Roan is trying to be an animal and stalk his prey. He seriously was breathing hard from his mouth and making this face and waving his hands around. I am not kidding when I say that these pictures are laid out here in the order I took them. 
 I AM GONNA GET YOU!!!
 Oh lookI am an innocent cute little boy again
 WHO SAID THAT!
 tehe I am so adorable, let's play.
GRRRRR I SAID PLAY!!
la la la what's that?  
 what's over there?
OKAY TIME TO BEAT UP DANE AND EAT HIS BRAINS NOW!

LOL This kid is becoming more and more of rascally boy everyday. Maybe we should call him Hulk Baby!

7 Months

 
 Little Roan is getting SOOOOO BIG!

Weight: 19 lbs+
Height 28.5 inches

I am loving this stage in his life. He is so funny and interactive. I love interacting with him and I love watching him interact with other adults and kids. If you make faces at him and jump he will smile and laugh with you. He loves it when I dance with him because I get some air. His thrilled giggle and gasp is so so priceless.
I think he ate a bear this month as he is growling an grunting a lot. Not at one thing just in place. He will play with his toys and growl and make other funny noises. We call him grizzly boy. When he saw a doctor recently she said he was the first child to ever growl at her. It was too funny.
He is also a bouncing machine too. When he sits up he bounces on his legs and bum. One night he was playing with his friend Dane. They were both sitting up and facing each other and Roan was bouncing and it was making Dane laugh so hard. When Roan stopped bouncing Dane stopped laughing. They stared at each other for a minute and then Roan started bouncing again and Dane started up laughing again. It was the silliest thing to watch. 
He also throws himself forward from his seated position onto his hands and most of the times his face. The first few times he did this he fussed but now he takes it like a man and uses it as a means to move himself around. When he is not bouncing he is scooting forward. When he is on his tummy he is scooting back as well as rolling over. He has even been trying to get on all fours. When he does this he really makes his presence known as he will scream and grunt like a muscle man lifting up a car. He is building muscles for crawling and doing push ups and downward facing dog. I am sure he will be ready to crawl soon. 
One thing I noticed about Roan is that he reaches his milestones and then repeats them when HE wants to do them. For a while he stopped rolling and being a first time Mom I became concerned as I did not see him roll for about 5 days. The next day he would not stop rolling. Roan does things when he deems it necessary. If this is done out of being stuborn then I blame his Father, but if he does this out of being practical or logical then I still blame his Father. :)
When Roan plays on the floor he does try and get into things. Let the baby proofing commence. 

In his crib his wiggles and rolls all over the place. One morning we found him with one of his legs poking out of the crib. He is sleeping better through the night and every now and again wakes up for a midnight snack. His sleep schedule alternated between going to bed around 9 and waking up at 6 or go to bed around 8 and wake up at 5. Depends on his mood I suppose. When he does wake up early he is kind enough to play in his crib before we get him. We like to wake up at 6:30 but it is always earlier. When he plays in his crib he talks, plays with his blanket, the bars, admires the ceiling fan, and wiggles around. One night he woke up at 4 am, he didn't cry, just talked to himself for over an hour and then fell back asleep until 8 am.
Of all the toys the cup is the most coveted. 

His favorite food is peas. I have given him as much variety as I can. We started him on fruit too. He has had peaches, bananas, and pears. We hoped that the fruit would give him additional vitamin C to help him kick an ongoing running nose he had. (Seriously, one day he sneezed and had so much snot down his face from the force behind that sneeze, EEEWWW). Turns out the running nose might not have been a cold because.....HIS TWO TOP TEETH ARE COMING IN! 
This is the sneeze the produced the most snot ever. I was so grossed out by the snot that I forgot to take a picture of it. Probably better that I didn't. He is a fighter too. Anytime we try to wipe his face he grabs our hands and pushes them away and shakes his head. 

I think my four favorite things he has started to do:
1) He has been shaking his head. I am sure he doesn't know what it means, he just does it and it is darling. 
2) He also rests his chin on mine or Lars shoulders and he moves his jaw around. As shown here in this video below. 

3)When he is sitting down and wants to be picked up he waves his hands in the air for you to pick him up. If you don't pick him up after a while he will cry and whine. 

4) He will pant like a dog when he gets excited. I swear this kid is an animal and we are just developing him into a human over time.
When I see this picture I see my older brothers.

This kid is a nut and loves to bounce around and watch people bounce around and I love him so much. 
The boys at their first Angle Baseball game together
Roan getting his second hair cut. 
Any tips on weening a baby? I think with these additional teeth coming in we may need to start on that.