Book Worm

I have been thinking in order for me to blog anymore, I should set a reminder alarm on my phone... but honestly it's not that I don't ever think of blogging anymore, its just that READING has taken place of my blog time. All you mommies out there know that there are only certain times in the day that we can break away and do "our own thing" which usually in our house happens around nap time, this is when I would blog, but lately I have taken a big interest in reading.

One of my girlfriends recently had the idea to get together a book club, and boy is it fun. there are about 10 or 11 of us, we get together once a month in which we sit around chit chat about the book but somehow wind up talking about or kids over many glasses of wine. this is good times I am telling you. Our first book we read was the help, and this months pick was the Island, I enjoyed both of them although I am not quite finished with the island just yet.

any who, I do miss blogging a bit, so I will try to make more of an effort to get on here and scribble some thoughts down, until then my coffee is getting cold and my book is calling my name.

9 months

well little J you are 9 month old today! we just got back from your wellness check up at you are  20 lbs
(75%) and 29 in ( 97%) long! very healthy baby.

you are getting so big and learning so many new things.  This past weekend you had a daddy daughter day and daddy took you out for a 3 hour run and you loved it, although you slept a lot of the time in your stroller, you guys stopped and watched other little kids play a football game and then made a visit over to great grandma Nora's house. ever since you have been crawling around the house saying da da da da da da da.


you have your top two and bottom two teeth in and more are on there way as you are always looking for something to put in your mouth.

your starting to take to your sippy cup now that mommy bought one with the straw, and you are holding your own bottles... still drinking 5 bottles a day anywhere from 4-6 Oz each time.

Finger foods were new this month to you, for the most part you pick it up and play, I cant understand why you stick toys in your mouth but when it comes to actual food you want to squish it or crumble it.

your into all the cute little girl outfits now that you are wearing 12 mo.  every time I am in Target I find myself picking up something for you, its just so hard to resist.

pictured above is your new favorite face, ( with some added Brussels sprouts on your chin) you are so silly, you have been making this face a lot lately accompanied by fast breathing in and out through your nose. you crack me up, and when I make this face back at you that is exactly what you do... you just giggle giggle giggle.


this past month Gigi took you out and got you some really neat toys, like your musical table that you love to crawl up to and then stand and play, you even push it, thats right... you are kinda sorta walking! you also have another toy called the Zaney Zoo and you love to walk with that, so it wont be long and I bet you will be off the ground.

you found the stairs this month, you love to climb them so we have to keep our eye on you at all times. I am not quite sure yet if I should teach you how to come down or keep telling you not to go up them...


I started taking you to Lap sit this month at the library and you love it, we read, dance and sing, and you also get time to play with the other kids.  you love books, every week after lap sit we check out a new CD for the car and a book for each night of the week to read before bed time.

you LOVE little kids and other babies, you  have been having more and more play dates with your little friends, and its so cute to watch you interact with them, although at times you still go off and do your own thing.

this was your fist trip to the pumpkin patch, it was a very cold day out so we didn't get to take to many pictures but it was so fun and a new fall tradition :)

it's been a blast watching you learn all of these new things, you are such a fun little girl!

Love, Mom

A vegetarian's path to Paleo

Where to begin... I have wanted to sit down for quite some time to just scribble down my thoughts on this stuff... but what would I focus on, what I am doing, how I am doing it, why I am doing it ? did I need to address all of those things before just blabbing on about how I feel... well maybe so here goes...

4 years ago I became a vegetarian, this was brought on by becoming conscious of the way I ate as I was starting to become very passionate about the importance of physical fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. within those 4 years I read a lot of books, did a lot of research, watched a lot of video's... after a while, the physical fitness part of my interest began to die off, I noticed that I was able to maintain my figure pretty well with just my way of eating and began to slack off on the working out part.. you know the whole 70/30 notion... that whole 30 part took a back seat for a while... 

fast forward to now, my interest in living healthy has only advanced as now I am not only taking care of myself but my family. I have continued reading and learning and i must admit my views have changed. after having J I really wanted to get back into shape, get into shape. I was ready I wanted to get serious. I was going to give Crossfit a try. most of my close friends and family who know me well ,know that I am a very driven person when I have a strong interest in something, and the all around health for my family and myself is very high on that list of importance to me, which is why I have continued to read, and research. 

fast forward to now Now... I have been a member at a local crossfit gym for a few month and have seen amazing results, however the results are not the only thing driving me, it has been the most fun I have ever had while working out, never did I ever think I would be front squatting, back squatting, overhead squatting, I mean who the heck knew what a clean an jerk was or a sumo dead-lift high-pull... not this chick. and here I am drenched in sweat, collapsing at the end of a work out and continuing to go back each day. it's an addiction, but a good one.  it is here that my views on nutrition changed. 

with my enthusiasm for crossfit I started looking into the way these athletes ate, this is where I was introduced to the Paleolithic way of eating. not long after I joined the gym the owner had put together a 60 day challenge which I blogged about before, it has been 41 days and we have 2 weeks and 5 days left. the challenge has been going great, however It was ridiculously hard for me to get adequate amounts of protein at each meal with out eating meat  with the added limitation of beans... and what I had always looked at as sources of protein like almonds and nuts... those were now considered the health "fats" I was screwed... and wanted so badly for this to work because the amount of research I had done all supported it. Dr. Loren Cordain, Ph.D and Robb Wolf became my go  to peeps for nutrition.  I picked up a copy of The Paleo Solution, the original human diet and was sold. 

It seems as though this way of eating has been getting a lot of attention lately which is great, I realize I have yet  to really describe what the paleo way of eating is so in a nut shell its meat,fish, nuts, seeds, fruit and veggies. no dairy, no grains ( gluten) no sugar. Although I considered my vegetarian way of eating very healthy,  I soon realized how much I had become depended on things like pastas, breads, and cheeses , and thus added some bulge around the mid section and brought out a very big sweet tooth.

with the change in diet, I truly believe in the results I have seen, not only physical, I went and had my blood work taken. glucose : 82,triglycerides 52, LDL cholesterol 62, HDL cholesterol 52 with a total cholesterol of 124.  as I mentioned we have 2 weeks and 5 days left in the challenge and the winner of the $350 is announced but for me this has become a lifestyle, it would just be super duper awesome to walk away with the $350 bucks in my back pocket. ( and if I win, I may just post my before and after pics... ) 

I have listed some  bitts of info for some who may wonder what you eat if you arent eating dairy and grains, and just a few of my favorite things:

I have been getting our meat from a Local Butcher shop DC Meats ,  as they have antibiotic free, hormone free, and grass fed meats. 

non dairy milks : almond milk, coconut milk and when I want something sweet  DARK CHOCOLATE almond milk... it is heaven.

fats: olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, and avocados

there are tons of gluten free options at your local groery, but I try to keep a limit on the amt of foods I buy that come with a list of ingrediants, but each week I come home with a bunch of Larabars they are great.

almond or coconut flour instead of traditional flour or whole wheat flour. 

locally there are two great resturants that allow us to stick to this way of eating while enjoying a night out.

and if your a researcher like me I would highly recommend the paleo solution book already referenced in this blog as well as the primal blueprint and the cook book.

a few good web sites

www.robbwolf.com

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

http://everydaypaleo.com/

now you know my deepest darkest secret, I am a nerd for nutrition. and Robb wolf has become my new Dave Ramsey. 

Two years

When I met you, I had no idea how much my life was about to be changed.. but then, how could i have known? A love like ours happens once in a lifetime.  You were a miracle to me, the one who was everything, I had ever dreamed of, the one I thought existed only in my imagination.  And when you came into my life, I realized that what I had always thought was happiness couldn't compare to the joy loving you brought me.  You are a part of everything I think and do and feel, and with you by my side, I believe that anything is possible.  Thank you for the miracle of you... you are, and always will be, the love of my life.
-Linda Lee Elrod




Happy Anniversary Nick, I love you.