Diet Overhaul

As you may know I stopped eating meat in January. It was kinda a slow process of getting there of first getting the idea, then cutting it out over three years. Honestly, it just kinda happened that I cut it out all together. I realized, after taking note for many months, that I just didn't feel good after I ate meat. My stomach hurt, I felt bloated and the next day I just felt sluggish. So I tried to go without eating meat and it really was not that hard. Plus I felt much better, which obviously made giving it up easier. Once I got going it was pretty easy to just make a conscious decision when ordering food to not order meat. I never really liked it that much anyway and over the three year process the one thing I HAD loved (steak) had really come to disgust me. Steak was the very first meat item that was cut from my diet a long time ago when I realized I just couldn't digest it.

Let's back track a bit- I have a history of chronic stomach issues that we found out about when I was 15. I was actually hospitalized for a week when the doctors were first trying to figure it all out. I was paired with an amazing doctor back then who took a natural approach to my condition with changing your diet and adding in natural supplements. Brilliant. I was just too naive to listen back then. I threw a half haphazard attempt at it and went back to sucking down cokes, and chowing on burgers and cheetos. (Umm PS a Cheesburger is still probably my FAVORITE food ever. It's the one meat item I crave....BUT I have found some really awesome vegetarian options that taste like you are eating a real cheeseburger. It's like a tiny bit of heaven)\

So, moving on....the more I get into this the more I REALLY start examining my diet. I'm asking questions like, "Why SHOULDN'T you eat fish?" because I am still eating fish, rarely...I really don't like fish but I LOVE scallops and shrimp and when I go out to dinner I order scallops 99% of the time. Or I have thoughts of "I don't think I can ever cut dairy products out of my diet" and then I wonder hmmmm....probably not, but I could cut back on them for sure. Sitting down and eating cheese and crackers every night while watching TV really isn't that healthy of a snack. Hummus and a sliced bell pepper to dip it in is a better choice and still tasty.

For me, at least, it's about switching what I crave in my head. I've noticed when I "fall off the wagon" and start cramming cookies in my mouth or eating horribly I continue that pattern because my body isn't getting the right nutrients so I end up eating more sweets and wanting to snack all. day. long. because my body is trying to get the nutrients it normally finds in food but isn't getting. Kinda makes sense. On the opposite side...If I'm eating super healthy and my body is getting the nutrients it needs I hardly ever find myself wanting to snack during the day.

Okay- this post ISN'T OVER YET! Hang in there....

Now that  I'm taking care of MY diet what about Georgia's??? I've always been slightly neurotic about what she ate. I made baby food, when she went to milk at a year old we did goat's milk instead of cow's milk and now we do almond milk. She is a picky eater and she has always naturally not liked meat. No, I'm not banning her from eating it- I still cook meat for her dinner every night but honestly she wasn't into it long before I. Therefore I've always pushed pastas and cheeses with her. I feel like she isn't getting enough veggies and I want to expand her tastes as much as possible. She loves smoothies and my mom bought us an awesome smoothie maker that I pulled out of the box this Monday (I know....)

I've never been a big "cooker". I can't cook rice. I'm normally in a rush and don't have time to write down recipes, plus I do not have all those spices in my spice rack- nor have I ever had a  "spice rack". Well surprise, surprise I now have a full spice rack I have been slowly adding to over the past year and I now have all your basic things (I think). I'm jumping out on a limb and trying new things and googling "How To's" as I go. It's actually a lot of fun and it's actually become a great unwinding time for me to busy around in the kitchen while Georgia is hanging out. I made a rule of no TV while I'm making dinner so she pulls her toys out and plays and we talk while I cook.

Last week I made quinoa with black beans, corn and sauteed oinion. It was really, really good. Plus a great source of protein. Afterward I made homemade granola bars that had cranberries, dark chocolate, almonds and coconut- amazing. I thought I had enough to freeze but they disappeared in less than a week.

As I mentioned above- a cheeseburger is my weakness. I picked up some Boca Burger patties at the grocery store. I haven't done a lot of "research" on them but they taste sooooo good! We ate them on english muffins instead of hamburger buns with cheese and even Georgia said, "This is the BEST cheeseburger ever!!"

Last night we did sauteed broccoli and new potatoes with a fried egg on top. A friend of mine, Heather, owns Crown Kitchen and had posted the link to her version of the recipe here:
http://thehealthyfoodie.com/2013/04/22/turkey-apple-and-broccoli-breakfast-hash/

I tweaked it a bit, but great idea! I had never fried an egg before but it was super easy and so, so good!

Along with the healthy cooking we are also making smoothies. I unpacked the smoothie machine on Monday and every morning along with Georgia's breakfast I blend up a strawberry and banana smoothie. I have some kid vitamins in a powder form from Whole Foods and I will throw that in there. She loves it. Tonight for dinner I made Carrot, Cucumber, Pineapple, Apple & Orange Juice. She drank it right up as did I.

So hopefully I can keep it up- I know things get busy but I'm trying to teach myself that it really does not that that much time out of my day to cook a healthy meal, or blend up a smoothie for Georgia and at the end of the day if it means she's a little late for bedtime I think that's going to be okay! ;)

A Day at the Circus....

Today we went to the Shriner's Circus. May have been the MOST random circus I have ever attended and at the same time one of the best. Strange yet awesome? It was held at the Ft. Bend County Fair Grounds if that tells you anything. I'll elaborate later...

While we were there Georgia did something that was not a wise decision. Which was weird. I was pretty much in shock when she did what she did. (no, I'm not telling you..not important, not a big deal, but there is a funny part coming up) So I'm not a big "disciplinarian". She had really NEVER done anything that I have ever thought she needed to be held to the stake for. Kids are kids, they make mistakes. They are learning....obviously. I've "grounded" before but that meant no iPad or TV for the evening, things like that. I mean she is 5 and I think she "gets" the point without me having to drag out the punishment for longer than a few hours at this point. 

Anyway....what she did this afternoon was really just a bone head move on her part but she knows better and I was in shock. My mom had just bought her a light up magic wand that she was ecstatic over and my nephews light up swords. Instead of grabbing her by her arm and carrying her kicking and screaming out to the car I took a deep breath and calmly said "Give me your magic wand". She knew. I have never taken something away and really stuck to my guns on it. She handed it over and the tears started flowing. I let her know her choices were to stay and enjoy the rest of the show (which was a real gift from Mommy) or to leave right then and there (which is what Mommy thought was more appropriate). P.S. the show was almost over. We stayed.

We made if home after a long talk about the decision she made and the MANY consequences (sometimes it's just like a spiderweb and keeps going....), a magic wand locked in the trunk along with a plethora of other toys confiscated from the back seat and a lot of discussion of the parts of the circus that we really loved and enjoyed. 

As she was getting in bed she asks "Mom, if I'm not in trouble anymore tomorrow can I have my magic wand back?" hmmmmm tough one, as I've said before, never have I ever taken anything away from her permanently. "No Georgia, I told you, the magic wand is gone for good" *crying* <-----Georgia, not me. 

(For the record the cries are filled with things like "I'll NEVER get another light up toy AGAIN!!!!" "JUST TAKE ALL MY TOYS AWAY!! IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" "I'll be the saddest girl in the world without a light up toy!!!!" It's taking all my restraint to not say "ummm for real?"- also, disclaimer if you do not know Georgia personally she is totally NOT a spoiled brat... dramatic- yes, absolutely!)

I walk downstairs to the background music of 5 year old sobbing and start cleaning things up. A few minutes later the sobs subside slightly and I hear Georgia walk down....

She timidly approaches me...

"Mommy?"

oh how angelic she is...

"could you at least save the magic wand for my child?" 

What? Bhahahahaha- I'm dying hysterically laughing and my 5 year old is looking at me with dead serious eyes. This is a completely serious question to her. Quite possibly the difference between if she (and maybe I too) sleep tonight. If she cannot have this magic wand, can I save it for the one day in the future for the child she plans on having? Uhhhhhh.....News flash Georgia.....I don't like the idea of having a 5 year old turning 6 year old. THAT make me feel old so if you could stop throwing around references that one day you will make me a grandmother that would be greeeaaaaatttttttt.

I some how turn my immediate laughter into a soft, maternal looking, loving smile that does not resemble the internal hystericalness that is going on inside and say "Of course honey! I will save that wand for you child!" She smiles, I smile, she runs back up stairs to bed, I collapse into a convulsion of giggles and call my mom to crack up on the phone.

Dress Rehearsal

There is nothing I love more than a dance recital. Maybe it's the dancer in me.....actually, of course it's the dancer in me!!! I LOVED dance recitals when I was a kid and now, dare I say, I love them even more that I get to watch my very own daughter in them. The thing is... I love watching ALL the girls dance. I am one of those people (ummm not sure if this type exists or not) that loves to sit and watch each and every dance. My body moves involuntarily as I watch the dancers perform.

Dress rehearsal for Georgia was tonight. The recital is still a month away. I have to say I feel like this dance company really has everything together compared to others we have been with. Costumes are adorable, music is age appropiate, pictures went smoothly, they had plenty of staff letting everyone know where to go, etc. Plus they BROKE up the recital so we they are having 4 recitals that will each be about 1.5 hours instead on one giant recital. What a novel idea. AND you can leave once your child is done performing. When Georgia was 3 the old company REQUIRED us to stay for the ENTIRE production. Really? Why would I sit with a 3 year old for a 3.5 hour recital when my daughter's dance was #2? (we snuck out....)

Moving on...a couple nights ago I decided we needed to get it together on Georgia's dances and start practicing at home. She's old enough to know the moves and not have to look at the side of the stage. I knew the titles of the songs but not the versions so we sat down and I played 5 million previews on my phone of songs until she said "That's it!!!" then we downloaded and repeated. She is in three dances this year- tap, ballet, and jazz. Once we had all three songs downloaded we pushed the chairs out of the way in the "ballroom" and she "taught" me the dances. We are going to keep up our nightly routine until showtime....

Tonight she was on stage- she danced, she smiled, she performed, she soaked it up....she was SO excited! I loved seeing it. I have to say I love every single moment of being a Mom. Yes, even the other night when she was super exhausted from the weekend and randomly wet the bed and I was up at 1am changing sheets in the middle of the night. She NEVER does this...seriously I potty trained the child at 2.5 years old. I was super freaking irritated because she is almost 6 and why did she do this when I was sooooooo tired???? I guess I didn't LOVE that, but you know, I wouldn't really want to trade it for anything. I'm glad that I have her in my life for every moment- the super fun ones I always knew I would enjoy like dance recitals and dress rehearsals, but also the ones I probably didn't realize I would come to appreciate like changing sheets in the middle of the night for 6 years now...

But for now, while I'm washing sheets, here are some sneak peaks of the precious prima ballerina in costume!

Did you know?

"Mom, did you know that every day is someone's birthday?"

"Yeah- isn't that cool?"

"Isn't that crazy? I like just discovered that in my head and it's SO weird."

Recap

Y'all....it's April.

March blew by. Feels like it was a LONG month but so many things were going on we were super busy almost every moment. I had several birthday celebrations- my sweet friends threw a party in Houston for me. The following weekend we went up to Austin to visit the Bungo's & celebrate. Always fun to have all the kids together! We left the kids with the babysitters (husbands- theirs, not mine) and Tamara, Emily & I hit up downtown Austin. Dinners, cakes, etc. I rounded it out by celebrating with the family over Easter. (well...it's almost over) My mom helped Georgia surprise me with a cake the night before although unfortunately I was sick and couldn't take one bite of it! :( They also had special birthday donuts for me in the morning but again I could hardly eat anything! Kinda bummed out that on my ACTUAL birthday I was sick. I pushed through and went to dinner that night but had to get up from the table towards the end... oh well- it was a fun day and luckily I had been celebrating for a while so no real loss there!

For Easter we went down to the beach house Friday night. We had a bonfire on the beach, woke up the next morning and played on the beach then went fishing. Drove to Pearland later that afternoon to dye eggs. Back home where the Easter Bunny put together Georgia's basket and goodies and finally went to sleep! Sunday we ran to church then back out to Pearland for a big egg hunt and Easter lunch followed by the crazy kids swimming! I ran out for a bit and visited with Stephanie, Wyatt & sweet Palmer (whom I had never met...I know, bad friend!) Always great to catch up with her and her parents!

Oh and Georgia did get her Saige doll. She dragged me to the store (on my birthday, while I was sick) and we made the purchase! She could not be happier!

Now the traveling begins.. this weekend New Orleans for Tamara's 30th!!! I haven't been since Emily's 23rd birthday the weekend before Katrina hit. I have about 10 suitcases sitting in my bedroom right now that need to be unpacked from all of our little get aways and then repack for this weekend. Maybe tonight I will tackle that task!

Favorite thing.

Georgia received an activity book in her Easter basket yesterday morning. While I was cooking breakfast she sat down at the table and began to color and draw.

She came up to me in the kitchen and held up a page and asked me what it said. I read it out to her;
"He came down to earth and He lived as a man. Draw a picture of your favorite thing on earth. Say a prayer and thank Jesus for his gift."

She walked back to the table and sat for a minute then called out;
"But mom, my favorite thing on earth is myself!"

hahahahaha and this is what she drew: