Lately turned "Currently"

Let's be honest: I'm a follower, and not just of many many amazing blogs, but in general I follow the pack. I rarely ever find myself in the leading role and if I do, it's usually over small children, which I'm good at. :)

Anyway, I have been doing these "lately" posts and now my bloggie bestie Randalin is switching things up with a real-life link up and calling it "Currently". I'm apt to change, so I'l lgo with it.

(wordpress is still a mystery to me, so I will work on adding the button for linking up, but don't count on it!)

Currently...

Cooking...Lasagna is on the bill for tonight. Two nights ago we had sweet and zesty peanut chicken in the crockpot with veggies...so so yummy!

Wearing...Work clothes (black pants or skirts with business/causal tops and a black cardigan) and I'm too broke to go shopping for anything I actually want to wear right now. That's okay, saving for a beach vacation is well worth it!

Wanting...Someone else to do all the packing I have to get done in the next 29 24 days.

Listening...I'm mildly obsessed with Florence and the Machine's song Seven Devils. Nothing about the song is romantic or happy, but I love the sound and even the lyrics are a bit erie.

Watching...hockey. The Stanley Cup playoff is on and we watched the entire game last night. I actually like watching hockey.

Link up!

<img src="http://i50.tinypic.com/ub05.jpg" alt="Harvesting Kale" style="border:none;" />

 

 

A Healthier Me

Time for a health update!

• My anxiety has been under the radar now for most of the last 3.5 months since I started Cymbalta. I can tell a HUGE difference in how I feel. I didn't realize how depressed I was until I started to feel genuinely happy again. I don't cry as much and the fears I have (and acknowledge) are realistic. I've had a few moments of panic due to some big life changes going on right now. But I feel those have been okay moments to have a little freak out over. ;)


• Running has been going well. It started out terrible. I thought I would run in the early AM before I got ready for work and I had to be serious with myself--I hate getting up earlier than I have to. So I did it one time and my initial thoughts were a) I hated that run and b) well at least my run is done for the day! I can see how many people enjoy this time of day for a run, it's just not for me. Since that run I have been out 3 other times. Twice for runs and once for a very long hike. We did a 5 mile hike on Monday and it was rough! Quite steep in many areas and another testament to my being totally out of shape. I actually told B that I hoped this hike would help condition me for my next run. And it did! I ran last night 2 miles in 17:15!! I was shocked by how great I felt! I had the early burn that I pushed through and only walked twice for less than 30 sec each, then sprinted the last block and a half home. I wish every run felt that great!


• Goals: To run a 5K by the end of the summer AND meet my goal weight at the same time.


• My weight is getting better! I have gained 5 pounds in the last 5 weeks, which is what I was aiming for. I have to eat over 2000 calories a day to ensure that I gain a pound a week. I will continue to do this until I have reached my goal weight which both my nutritionist and doctor have agreed on.


• The lactose intolerance is under control. If I know I'm eating something with cream or milk in it, I take 1-2 lactaid pills and I don't feel a thing! I was not able to do this 6 months ago as my system was too sensitive. The GERD and IBS are still hit and miss thing.s..sometimes I can have a red sauce with my pasta, and sometimes I can't. I still take a med for that which certainly helps.


• Overall, I feel like I can eat more of the things I like and have a really good understanding of the things I just can't have, period. Coffee, onions, and acidic foods are no good, no matter the medication. I miss red onions! I used to cook with them all the time!

How is your health? Any summer goals?

Dear Logan

You are THE coolest kid I know. Seriously, you rock my world. You make getting up every day worth the lack of sleep I had the night before. You are that awesome and I never thought for a second you'd be anything less. I love you so much.

So you're nearly two and a half years old. In the last six months, your vocab has exploded. I mean, you talk all the time and listening to you have conversations with us, the dogs and even yourself is the most entertaining thing you do right now. You try so hard to thread more than three words together to complete that very complicated sentence in your head. You're determined. You're strong and dead-set on whatever it is you want or need at that very moment. You push your limits and all our buttons all at the same time, all while running around in every which direction and changing your mind again and again. You're that fun. And sometimes challenging. But let me tell you....you have taught your daddy and me so much. Being your mom is the best and hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I know, without a doubt, that God knew that you were perfect for me. For your daddy and me. God knew that you would love us, challenge us and make us laugh, smile and cry. Every ounce of life that comes out of you makes me a stronger mother, a better mother and hopefully a better wife to your daddy too.

Lately, you have loved house hunting with us. We tell you we're going to look at houses and you talk about "houses" all night long. Even while I'm rocking you to sleep you'll lift your head up and say it with a questioning tone in your voice. I sweetly tell you that no, we're not going to look for houses and that it's bed time. It is that kind of joy which makes loving you that much easier. I laugh when you say what seems like such a silly thing and yet it is the most important thought in your mind.

Speaking of rocking, we rock almost every night. You grab your blankie or Elmo and nuzzle your head under my chin. I'm telling you, son, if there is anything I will miss about this time in your life, THIS is it. I will miss this when you're tired of it, or too big, which ever comes first, which I will always remember and cherish with you.

Baths. Child, I have no idea why you have decided, nearly two months ago now, that baths are evil and may as well be the worst thing in the world. We're lucky if we get you washed down twice a week and now that it is summer time and you're outside all day long, more baths would be better. We know that this must be one of many phases you will go through in life and we accept that you'll just have to be the smelly kid for now. :)

Logan, I want you to know that this time in your life has been so fun. Watching you learn and grow into a person, shedding your baby and even your toddlerhood, has been such a joy and we know it will only get better. We love you and we're always here for you.

Mama.

Monthly Meal Planning (Part 1)

This will take a few posts to really get it all down, but for starters I wanted to share what  my experience has been like planning a month worth of meals. I started out by looking for recipes our family would like. We LOVE carbs and for us, that is not a weight issues. We balance it out with proteins and produce, especially beef, pork, and chicken along side peppers, asparagus, avocados, zucchini and carrots. I LOVE me some pinterest so I found a few awesome sites with recipes for easy to make meals that are freezeable with little prep. Let's face it: I really don't like cooking after I have been at work all day. I want to play outside with Logan and not worry about heating up the house any more than it already is.

After I had my meals picked out, I made a grocery list. I found coupons online for our local grocery store and gathered the ones I needed. I planned for a $300 budget to also include things we'd need for the long term like laundry detergent and toilet paper. I shopped at our local store and spent exactly $100, saving nearly 20% with coupons. The planning of the meals, the list, coupons and this trip to the store took two full days. I worked on what I could at work and spent an hour shopping. I was exhausted! And only had half of the things I needed. Two nights later I went to Walmart for the bigger items. I aimed for spending$200 and ended up spending $160! I was very happy for the savings, but still, super tired from all the shopping. Then, imagine trying to find a place for all this food in our tiny kitchen!? It was interesting to say the least, but we made it all work out.

On the following Saturday morning, I set out to make as many meals as I could. I started the pork shoulder in the crock pot for BBQ pulled pork, cut up all the chicken and bagged it with lots of veggies to freeze later for stir fry meals. I made meat balls to go with rice and veggies and a taco casserole. The next post will have more details of each meal, but in all I ended up with 12 meals. That is still HALF of what I planned on making. I still have lots of food to prep for more meals, and yet we are very happy with the amount of food that is ready to eat. We have lots of left overs which are great for lunches and the next evening. So far, I would say this has been really successful! I will have photos up in the next post.

If you have done freezer food, what are your favorite recipes? Is this the best way for you to save money and feed your family healthy meals??

Lately...

I am...

Thinking.... that I might actually learn to like running.

Wishing...I was in NJ on the beach! Three more weeks baby!

Organizing...the coat and linen closets.

Noticing...the headache I have might not be dehydration-induced after all.

Sipping...water. And I had peppermint tea earlier.

Planning...house hunting and our trip to NJ.

Smiling...at the sweet lil baby I just saw with TONS of thick, black hair.

Urging...everyone to keep checking out my Midwife 101 blog if you want to keep up to date on my journey through nursing school and beyond. I'd love for you to follow me!!

Wondering...if we will ever find a house to buy.

Hoping...Logan has a great day with his friend baby E and his mama.

Finishing...two books related to, of course, the birth partner and midwives.

Loving...my amazing husband for giving me a nice long foot rub last night. I have a perma-cramp that will.not.go.away!

Wanting...this week to go quickly so I can have another great weekend with my family.

Listening...to pandora's Radiohead station. Loving it!

***

This weekend was good! Friday night B and I watched Don't Be Afraid of the Dark with Katie Holms. It was redic, people. I mean, I have been on a serious horror/thriller kick lately. We have watched nearly 10 movies that have all been kind of scary. This one tops them all. Nothing about the movie is realistic and the acting is terrible but OMG I was scared out of my pants!

Saturday we had fun with some friends who came into town for a homemade breakfast and nice chats. Short, but sweet. Then we played with baby E. All three boys were asleep at the same time which was great. I worked on my midwife blog and networking. That evening, we had a family party to go to. I met a great new friend with a son just a few months older than Logan. The two boys ran around together and it was so nice to have another mama to relate to. Too bad we live in different cities.

Sunday Logan and I headed to church. I wanted to go to the non-denom church as I really love worship time. Our regular church plays old hymns, which are nice, but I really wanted to get off my seat and feel the Spirit. So I dropped Logan off in his classroom and went and sang my heart out. Not 15 minutes later my pager was going off. Logan was in full on melt down mode. Poor guy was just so sad and didn't want anything to do with this new classroom, teachers and friends. We tried to sit in the services but he was not having that so we left. It was only 15 minutes until our regular church had a service so we headed over there. Yes, friends, we went to two churches yesterday morning! He had a melt down again, but this time I just let him work it out, and he did.

Sunday evening we had the BBQ pulled pork I made last weekend. It was so good! B and I played with Logan and then we watched some of The Hangover. Great movie. The only other thing is that I have been sooo tired this weekend! I really can't drink coffee so while we were in church, I was nearly falling asleep. lol

Mother's Day Weekend!

This Mother's Day was wonderful! Last year, Logan walked for the first time which made my day! This year, he ran everywhere we went. We spent the morning cooking up some nice brunchy foods and played outside until my parents showed up. We had a great time just talking and enjoying the yummy food!

After lunch, the guys went out to play frisbee golf and we headed to the park. This photo just about kills me! What a handsome face! And with my mama...ahh so happy!

I don't think slides are nearly as fun now as they were when I was a kid! Super bumpy but Logan loved it.

His new favorite thing to do at the park is the teetor-totter (or see-saw...what do you call it?!). We love it!

Another handsome face! He has really gotten into wearing hats and will FINALLY wear this scally cap that his grandparents gave him for Christmas.

Overall, I had a wonderful day! That evening we saw B's mom, brother and his wife. We had a great dinner and chat. So wish we could see them more often! Then B and I had some wine before bedtime and I went to bed a very happy, appreciated and loved mama.

mish-mash

• For the most part, the dreaded tonsillitis is gone, but B is still trying to kick a sinus infection-thing. Go away sickies!


• Friday night B went to see The Avengers with some friends while I stayed home with Logan. He loved it and had a great time with his friends.


• On Saturday we hung out and watched a sweet little baby boy. He comes over every Saturday and it's great practice for having two kids someday. We watched We Bought a Zoo and I thought it was really cute. We cleaned up the back yard, B mowed the lawn and Logan protested his nap.


• Since Logan didn't nap he had an unnatural amount of energy in the afternoon so we went to a birthday party at the local farm and had fun running all over, getting kisses from Olive the baby calf and six baby goats (3 set of twins!) all born two months ago. It was awesome.


• Saturday night B and I had a very rare evening to ourselves. We went to a benefit for the hospital, ate really bad food, listened to really bad keynote speakers and got a little tipsy on really strong margs. They were the best thing about the entire event! Logan spent the night with his g-rents and we trieds, like, really tried to go out on the town to a bar we haven't been to yet and we just couldn't. 10:00pm rolled around and we were the old, lame 27 year old parents that we are and crashed at home. Lol.


• This morning we lazily woke up without a toddler climbing into bed with us, picked up some bagels, picked up Logan and took the dogs to the dog park. Logan enjoyed unrolling the poop bags, Tulo was a little aggressive and Butte tried to play momma bear when a heard of dogs started running all around us. Silly dogs!


• Tonight I managed to get some laundry done and a menu planned for (wait for it...) and entire MONTH! Yes!! I still need to go shopping and once I get everything put together (with photos of course!) I will share my experience. I really hope it's something we will implement every month.


• Tomorrow morning I plan on waking up a little early and taking a jog down the street. Yes, you heard me right. I'm picking up running again and while I'm really not that excited about it, I am looking forward to being in better shape. My goal is to run a 5K by the end of my summer and you better believe I will be writing about how much I hate it right here.


• And that's it. Have a great week!

an introduction

Today, I am linking up with Kelly over at Kelly's Korner. Maybe I will get to meet some fellow Colorado blogging friends? Leave me a comment if you're from this rad state.

Hi. I'm Sarah.

27 years old.

Mother to one (Logan).

Wife to B.

My favorite color is yellow.

I've lived in Colorado my whole life, born and raised. Now that is not something you come by everyday.

Nice to meet you! Happy Friday!

rock, mama

For the last week or so, Logan has asked for us to rock right before going to bed. You know, in his glider of course. It melts my heart. He grabs a blankie or lovie (Elmo tonight) and climbs on my lap facing me, rests his head on my chest and strokes my arm with his hand. Tonight he was especially wired and needed some extra time to settle down for bed. So while I rocked him he told me a very long story about I don't know what. It was all gibberish. But the gibberish was wonderful. His little mouth moving and trying to make perfect sounds, only for this clear thoughts to pass his teeth without a clear understanding (from me). But, for him, it was crystal clear. He was telling me all about his day with his Lolly and playing at school. He told me all about the dogs chasing him outside while he tried to throw water on them and how he asked to wear a coat and then changed his mind, and then changed his mind again. And then again when he came inside and needed help getting the last bit of the zipper unzipped. He told me about how he was in time-out tonight for throwing his cereal on the floor, his hot dogs on the floor, and spitting his juice into the swing. And that he was sorry and sad that he made us sad. But that he reallllly just had to do those things. I rubbed his back and told him I totally get it. Sometimes you just have to do it. Amiright??

When Logan was an infant and I thought about how rocking him to sleep would cause bad sleep habits for him I thought I was doing what was best for us. And I was. He is a great sleeper 98% of the time. I'm not sure if not rocking him to sleep is why he's such a good sleeper, but now that he's asking to be rocked, even if just for 5 minutes, I wish I had spent more time doing that while he was an infant and not worried about what kind of habit, if any, it was forming. Most of his babiness is gone. He's a full blown toddler now and those moments when I get to rock him allow us to sink back into a bliss that existed in his infancy. It's a little different, especially now that he's the one telling me stories, yet perfect. Perfect that I am not so sleep deprived or, dare I say, selfish to say no and make him go to sleep without a rock. Tonight, I have a raging case of tonsillitis and no amount of pain, sickness, or lack of sleep could have kept me from our rock time together.