Hello world!

I hope you all had a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend!  We are basically just returning from ours! 

Saturday was an interesting day. It started off normal. I exercised, came home and picked up the boys for our friends birthday party. Spent lunch time at the park. We ran a quick errand and then headed home. On the way home and almost a mile from our house we got hit by a drunk driver. We were making a turn and waiting for traffic when out of nowhere someone slammed into us from behind. They didn't even hit their brakes and were going probably 30 mph. Thankfully we were in our truck and have a big ball and hitch, which is what they hit. They broke the hitch, but that was about it for our damage. Their vehicle was totalled.  Thankfully minus some whiplash we were all ok. The other driver spent the weekend in jail and we were ok to enjoy the rest of our weekend! 

Ryan's brother came in Saturday night... With the intentions to use our truck to tow his old truck. Ha! That wasn't going to happen! And we were also going to go down to Grants and use the truck to tow Ryan's car out of the garage there... But that also wasn't going to happen!  We had wanted to Ryan's brother out on the lake too, but couldn't tow our boat! 

Sunday we relaxed. Went to church, had a sushi lunch, did a crazy workout and went for a walk by the river after dinner.  We also convinced our good friend to go boating with us on Monday and tow the boat!!

So that is what we did! Got to spend a nice day out on the lake Monday cruising around! 

Tuesday after a quick chiropractor visit for my neck I went with my brother in law to Socorro for the night to visit my parents and we came back yesterday! My parents had found a turtle wandering the road the day before we got there and saved it for Colin. We ended up taking it home, but I did a ton of research on the drive and discovered it needed lots of water and we just didn't have that to offer it without building a pond in our backyard. He was pretty big so we would have needed a giant aquarium if we kept him indoors and I felt bad taking him from the wild... So we brought him to the river! I put him about a foot from the water and he quickly dived in an was happy as can be! 

Mamas day

A mothers day weekend in pictures! 

While getting ready for the weekend Colin tried his first attempt at mascara... He failed. But he kept saying he looked pretty!!

I did some dress shopping for our summer wedding. This was my favorite, BUT I didn't buy it!  Hoping to go again this week and look for some more!

We stayed at a hotel with my parents and the rooms connected so once Colin fell asleep Ryan and I snuck out and left my parents with the sleeping child! I was super paranoid the whole time that he would wake up and open the hotel room door and walk away without my parents hearing! Ha! So I only lasted one drink before we came back!!

Sunday we went to church with my family and then out to lunch. Colin enjoyed his food a little too much! 

Me with my mama! Love her! Happy mamas day!!

God daughter and handsome son!! They loved hanging out together today!! 

And finally getting a pedicure, a wonderful mothers day treat!!

2.5

Colin is 2.5 today. Say what??  Two and a half years old.  In a half a year he will be 3!  :(  My baby is growing up WAY too fast! Make it staaahp!


So for a little Colin update!

He is 27 lbs and 37 inches, wears 2T clothes, size 7 shoes and size 4 diapers.

Colin LOVES playing outside, chasing the dog around, playing with water, Curious George, anything with wheels or an engine and music, specifically guitars.

Can identify colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black and white), some shapes (circle, triangle, diamonds), and a few letters. 

You love singing the abcs except your version goes, abcdefg wxy and z. :)  

You don't stop talking. ALL DAY LONG. You wake up talking, Where'd daddy go? Daddy go to work. Daddy take the Truck or the race car or the jeep?

You tell me EXACTLY what you want to eat or wear or do for the day and whether or not it is acceptable to you.  And if you want food, you help yourself in the fridge or closet or counter. You are very self sufficient and I think you could probably survive quite awhile on your own... until you needed a diaper change or got your hands dirty!

You also are very in touch with feelings. Worry if people are sad or sick. Although we still have issues with you being mean to other kids, but that is normal.  You have a few best friends that you are NOT mean to. You LOVE the neighbor boys, Braden and Judah who are older than you and you love our friends Brooks and his little sister Chamonix. I'm convinced you are in love with Chamonix. Since she's been born you hug and kiss her and talk about her constantly.

You think your grandpas are the funniest things ever.

You have a major sweet tooth and love chocolate almond milk (choch chee milk), and cookies (tootties).

Your favorite foods are yogurt, berries, apples, pepperoni, ham, cheese, pasta, hot dogs, chips and salsa and most recently apple juice.

My favorite thing you say:

What are you Dooning Mommy?

Easter weekend

Easter weekend was a blast!  Ryan had training in Albuquerque the week before so we went down there on Thursday. We got to visit with friends Thursday while Ryan was in training and went  to a nice dinner (PF Changs! Mmm). 

Friday we met my parents at the zoo. Can I just say baby season at the zoo is so awesome! There were two baby monkeys and a baby elephant! Soo cute! I melted! I want a baby monkey and a baby elephant! Lol 

After the zoo we went down to my parents house and spent the weekend there with my parents and Ryan's grandparents. 

Favorite Paleo snacks

So now that our paleo challenge is over, I thought I'd share some of our favorite recipes.

I have been slowly adding a few things back in my diet and for the most part I have been ok. I think my body likes dairy better than it does wheat.

We are doing more of an 80/20 paleo to suit our family's needs. I love oats and since I'm still nursing I figure it is important.  I found gluten free oats to make my granola with. I've added some precious cheese back into my diet as well. :)  And occasionally some greek yogurt! But everything else has still been paleo.

I made Colin a whole wheat tortilla pizza last week and I had a slice of it. I was sick the rest of the night after I ate it... so I think I have an issue with wheat. When I got allergy tested about 6 years ago I had a sensitivity to it, but didn't think anything of it. And now that it was eliminated from my diet, it came back.

Here are some of my favorite paleo recipes!

This beef and broccoli stir fry... OMG... so good!
http://ameliaandme.com/beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry/

And to satisfy my sweet cravings :

http://ameliaandme.com/ch-ch-ch-chocolate-chia-pudding/

http://ameliaandme.com/green-smoothies/


I also made Lara Balls... basically, nuts, dates and either cherries or extra dark chocolate in my food processor.  No recipe because I just threw them in! Lol

Another favorite is cauliflower rice! Soo good!

These were our favorites that I will continue to use in our diet!

Paleo no more?

So Ryan's 8 week paleo challenge is up in a week! I on the other hand maybe oficially not paleo anymore! Don't hate!  Ha ha! I made it 7 weeks, when my initial goal was only a month!  Actually Wednesday was my bad day. I had a bowl of cereal (with almond milk) for breakfast, went on a play date and the mom I met had cookies so I had one and then for lunch I ate a bite of cheese from Colin's plate! Oh man! Living on the edge!  

But Seriously once I finish my paleo muffins I think I will go back to non paleo breakfast. That is the one meal that was KILLING me! I just really don't like eggs.. like at all!  I tried! I can do them like 2 days a week... max. Then I'm ready to throw up! Like totally gross!  I even tried putting/hiding them in my smoothies but now the thought alone freaks me out. I've been surviving on paleo pumpkin muffins and turkey bacon for breakfast most mornings until this past week when I discovered chia pudding.  But I can't eat chia pudding for breakfast everyday... Or can I?  I do miss my granola and I was making it myself so it isn't even THAT bad! :) 

 I picked up a lot of healthy snacks, habits and meals from doing paleo and those I will definitely continue!  I want to do a blog with all my favorite paleo recipes in my spare time...

But I would like to add back in healthy carbs to mine and Colin's diet! Like oats, brown rice and quinoa (I've missed them all!) And Colin used to love eating quinoa with black beans. So a little beans too! My hubby may try to stick with paleo a bit longer, which is fine! Mine will just have to be a bit modified and Colin's too because the boy doesn't enjoy steaks, burgers or fish and I'm having a hard time finding foods he will eat! 

Ryan did really well on this diet and crossfit exercising! He has lost I think 12 lbs so far! I can tell he looks thinner and more toned! I really don't feel that much different but definitely feel more toned! Would have helped if I had exercised more, I'm sure! 

Here are my official before and afters! 

My side view seems the same or worse to me so I'm not posting it! Lol  And there you have it! Can't believe I posted that for the internets! Yikes!

A Month Late

March Pictures of my sweet.  I was trying to catch his eyes because they are becoming more and more green everyday. Right now they are a pretty hazel with blue, green and yellow!  Of course every time I would tell him to show me his eyes he would make silly faces! :)

Run or Dye

When I initially heard that Run or Dye was coming to Farmington I was very excited.  Not because I'm a runner, but because it is a fun run and if I was going to sign up to run in anything, it would be a fun run! 

I managed to convince (by signing him up) my husband to run with me and we decided we would take Colin in the jogging stroller. 

Let me just say I did practically zero preparation for this. I know it's only a 5k, but for me that is a long way to run! I ran the Monday before the race and did like a mile and was happy. Lol 

We didn't really know what to expect on race day, but everything went so very smooth. Check in was super quick and everything was very organized. I was pretty excited to get my runners bib and my bag of Run or Dye goodies including : a T-shirt, Tattoo and dye pack. Wish there would have been a tattoo for Colin too because he was sad that we had a "tatta too" and he did not. 

The race started right on time and we were in the first wave of runners to begin. Then the hard part... running. Surprisingly because of the fun nature and carefree attitude of the race, running didn't really seem that bad! There were about 4 dye zones scattered throughout the race that distracted you from the fact that you were indeed running.

I was tracking our run with my phone and was pretty excited when I first checked it to see we had already ran 2 miles! Winning!

We finished in 31 minutes and averaged 9'44 a mile all while pushing a kid in a stroller (Well my husband did the pushing, but ya know, whatevs!) . I was so proud and excited to have finished our first race! We were the first people pushing a stroller through the finish line!

If you ever have a chance to do a fun run, I highly recommend it! Even if you walk the whole time or run part of the time, who cares! The important part is that you are getting out there and doing it! I think my husband and I may be hooked and will most definitely run another 5K, in fact he is already talking about a 10K!  (Not so sure about a 10k,...)

When we came home I got an email from my editor at the newspaper saying their photog at the event got some pictures of us running... They are kinda comical, but my hubby looks pretty determined and its cute to see Colin peeking out over the stroller!  We also got approached by a reporter as soon as we crossed the finish line, but once she figured out that I also wrote for the paper she quickly moved on! ha ha! 

Starting line!

Just after we finished!!

I look terrible and pregnant, but I swear it is just my hoodie under my shirt! It was 34 degrees when we started running!  We were pretty close to crossing the finish line here! 

Look at how cute they look... I cropped me out, see arm to the right.. not looking cute!

Oh yeah and there is this gem! Ha ha! I can't stop laughing when I see this picture! I was super paranoid about getting dye in/on my glasses and not be able to see where I was running! So I would run though the dye zones blocking my glasses! Where other people would run through in open arms asking for dye! Ha ha! 

Blog loving

So in my spare time I've been cheating on my blog... By posting on another blog!  I am now doing foodie Fridays every other week or so on Amelia and me's blog. I am anything but crafty and their blog is filled with lots of talented ladies who are oh so crafty, so go check out their blog! But I do know food! This paleo diet has had me making lots of different and interesting meals so it only makes sense I blog about it while I go! And if you follow my Instagram (jaclynwags) I also post food porn all the time! 

Here is my foodie post from today!

http://ameliaandme.com/beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry

1 month paleo pictures

Ok I am pretty much mortified to post this... But for some damn reason I am anyway... 

Took my 1 month of paleo pictures. My side view was pretty disappointing but my front view.. Woah! 

You can definitely tell I've toned up. I gain weight in my tummy and alway have. The rest of me stays the same!  

Technically I've lost 6 pounds since my initial weigh in. However, the week before we started paleo I had eaten everything naughty in my house and had gained 4 pounds! So I feel like I'm not really to far from where I was before, but I suppose the pictures prove otherwise!

I think it helps that the lighting makes me more tan too... So I guess without further adeu...

Mr. Independent

I'm pretty sure Colin could survive quite awhile on his own. This kid has become mr. I can help myself to everything.  

Saturday was my exercise morning so Ryan was watching him. He went to take a shower and Colin decided he wanted some fruit. Ryan comes out of the shower and Colin is sitting on his stool (that he used to get an apple and a banana and a fork) and had stabbed the apple a few times, peeled the banana and was trying to figure out how to eat it with his fork. 

Today while I took a shower he helped himself to some honey in the pantry, let the dog out of the laundry, used his stool to get the play dough and some markers and a coloring book... All in about 10 minutes! He used to be content watching cartoons while I showered... Now not so much! 

Oh yeah and this weekend he figured out that if he could open the door from the laundry room to the garage he could go outside and play through the doggy door...  So we have our first child locks on a door! Aye! 

Happy 1 month paleo!

Well, we are officially one month into eating paleo. And I celebrated by having ice cream! (Don't judge meh) It was my first big cheat in a month. My brother in law told me to have a cheat meal every weekend, but we haven't! We have been really good!  I can count on one hand the cheats I've had and they are so minimal. My brother in law told me to live a little so I did! Ha ha! 

Honestly I don't feel much different. I haven't lost very much weight either, which is a bummer considering I haven't eaten sugar or bread in a month! My husband on the other hand has lost 10 pounds! He is pretty stoked!

My initial goal was only to do this for a month, however Ryan's challenge is 8 weeks and since I have to cook for him I may try to do it longer. Although the thought of eating cheese again and granola is tempting. We shall see!  

I did before pictures thinking it would be some drastic change, but really I feel the same and feel like I look the same. I may take some today or Tuesday and see if I notice a difference. That maybe my deciding factor to being paleo further. 

2 year old love

Life is crazy sometimes and so are two year olds!  We had a crazy weekend with family visiting and my kid acted like a wild child. 

These are times where I love nursing.   When life is crazy and so is your kid, it is nice to be able to let him melt into mama for a few quiet and calm moments during the day. It makes me wonder if we weren't nursing if we would still get these moments? 

Would I still get these early morning and late afternoon snuggles? Or would they be gone? I am thankful for these moments. They remind me of our closeness and our bond and they remind me of the little boy who isn't so little anymore.  

What are you giving up for lent?

Me, nothing! Just kidding... Kind of! I mean we are already doing the paleo challenge during the Lenten season, so... I'm not really sure how much more I can give up without withering away! 

So I came up with another idea. Instead of giving something up, I am going to give to others.  

I came up with the idea while at the grocery store on Tuesday. I was driving away and watched this little old lady struggling with her groceries and thought to myself someone should help her! (As I was driving away of course) She inspired me and I decided that I would do random acts of kindness for lent.  

Now I'm not sure I can do 40... But I am more about quality not quantity! I will try to do 40, but for me it will be more of doing small things, even if it is just a simple smile and hello to a stranger. 

Today was my first day of this and I started strong. We were meeting a friend for a playdate so I bought her a Starbucks drink, and I bought the lady behind me in line's order at the drive up before we met up. I also struck up a conversation with the sweet lady out cleaning the park we met at, which normally I wouldn't have. (I have weird stranger issues) 

I told my friend about my plan and she wants to help me. We talked about taking the kids to a senior center and/or having them make pictures to bring, stopping by the hospital with baked goods or flowers for the nurses, and stopping by a fire station with baked goods (with the side intention of possibly giving our boys a look at an engine!) 

I have a few new neighbors I've yet to meet so I plan on welcoming them to the neighborhood and I saw on Pinterest leaving quarters in the toy dispensers and thought that was a fun one!   

What other fun/thoughtful things can I or should I look into, any ideas??

A new exciting opportunity

Some exciting news that I've been holding out from you... 

As of this week I am officially an accredited la leche league leader!! I have been working on this for over a year now and I am so excited, although my town doesn't have a group so I have a very long road ahead of me in getting this started up!  

As you may remember I had an interesting start to my breastfeeding journey with Colin's tongue tie.  I almost quit about 2 weeks in. I didn't have the family support I needed because I am the first one in a few generations to breastfeed. But I had the support of my friends and leaned heavily on the other mothers I knew. It wasn't a doctor or a nurse but a fellow mother and friend (thank for everything dawn) who discovered my sons tongue tie.  We got it clipped when he was 5 weeks old and haven't looked back!   That is when I discovered the importance of mother to mother support. 

When we were moving I knew I wanted to join a breastfeeding support group in our new much bigger town. I looked up La Leche League (LLL) and was shocked that they didn't have one there.... So I looked into how to start one up. A big jump, I will admit. I ordered their book and fell in love with it and everything they stand for. It was me. It was how I parent. Everything I thought I had been doing wrong... In their eyes was, right! It was refreshing and empowering! 

I knew I wanted to help other mothers like those that have helped me and that is why I am doing this. If I can help one mother continue like other mothers helped and encouraged me then it is all worthwhile. 

 

Paleo day 10

So We've been at the paleo diet for 10 days!! 

I honestly don't feel a damn bit of difference, but Ryan swears he feels more energized. (Although my problem could be the fact that I am also getting more sleep than usual and feeling more refreshed from both) I am not really losing weight, but also haven't been working out as much as I'd like with Ryan's crazy work schedule and my psycho schedule! But that is getting better. 

Colin was the first one of us to cave... 

Yesterday after his nap he went into the pantry, took out a bag of chips and sat on the couch munching them.  He has/had a chip obsession like his dad! I bought sweet potato unsalted chips in case Ryan needed something occasionally, but had these laying around from when we had company over the other night. 

The hardest part is probably being a mom. Colin doesn't have eggs every morning (nor do I) so it is hard not to lick his spoon of yogurt or oatmeal or just have a little spoonful myself!  

And I crave sweets! Last week wasn't so hard i would just eat a grape or something sweet like fruit or nuts, but this week I want like an entire bin of ice cream! Ha ha!  

We did cheat one day... Kind of.  We had sushi. With rice, gasp! And soy sauce, gasp!  And we had company over and I made brownies.... Gluten free and made with coconut oil instead of butter... But still brownies filled with sugar. We were living on the edge that day! (They were also soo so good!)

I am not being super strict with this diet... Like minimizing my fruit and eating veggies with every meal! I love fruit way more than sugar and bread (not cheese)... So I will not deprive myself of that. And if the worst thing I do is eat too many fruits then I still feel like I am in pretty good shape! 

My favorite snack! Kale smoothie! Mmm... 

My goal was 30 days on this diet so I have 20 to go! ;) 

Paleo day 4

Well I am still alive and becoming more of a cave woman everyday... Just kidding... Kind of... 

So like I expected breakfast has really been my biggest challenge. I had eggs like 3 days in a row and then... Ugh I am just over them. Yuck! So I made some paleo breakfast cookies that are pretty spectacular, but not very filling. And today I made some really good paleo muffins. Turkey bacon is also my new best friend... So me and my buddy Turkey bacon are teaming up against morning hunger.  

My other breakfast idea is smoothies. I heart me a yummy green smoothie, but lack protein and know it won't fill me up for long. Someone told me to put a raw egg in my smoothie... And well I am just not quite sure I can handle that, I mean if raw egg in cookie dough isn't good for you then, how is this?  I also read about a Dr. Oz smoothie that had a fried egg and swears it can't be tasted... I maybe giving that a try!

Lunches is easy because I already are salads everyday just have to use vinegar and oil for dressing. NBD. 

And dinner is just lots of meat and veggies. 

I've also learned that shopping paleo is not cheap. I practically doubled my grocery budget this week! 

Veggie chicken stir fry 

Pumpkin paleo muffins 

Paleo toddler meals!! Lol

Pork chops, broccoli and sweet potato fries 

Bison burgers and hotdogs

My yummy sweet potato paleo cookies!!

Day 1 of Paleo down

Well... it is 7:20 and I am full and happy and finished with day 1 of paleo!  HA ha... I'm sure most people don't count the first day as a success... but it is for me!

I was STARVING all day!  I texted my brother in law at like 3:30 and was like, Patrick... I'm HUNGRY!  He said I need to eat!  Ha ha! Thanks!  But seriously... he said because I'm not filling up on empty carbs I need to eat more often. So I did.

I ate eggs for breakfast (I hate eggs) and some of these delicious paleo cookies I made (sweet potatoes, almond butter, eggs, almonds and pumpkin seeds).  By 11:30 I was starved. I had a nice lunch, spinach salad with leftover bison and veggies and a half a sweet potato. I was so stuffed, but then 3:30 hit and I was hungry again! So colin and I each had an apple and I had some almond butter with mine. I went for a run afterwards and then started dinner. Which since it's been super warm I grilled and made pork chops and roasted broccoli. Now I'm stuffed again and hopefully won't be eating anymore today!! Ha Ha

My brother in law.. who is my paleo expert says as long as you are eating paleo you can eat all you want... not sure how accurate that is... especially if I'm not a crazy crossfitter. But I think I did ok for day one.

T-2 days until paleo

I've been a nervous wreck over this paleo diet. I think it is mostly because I've never been on a diet before. And I would just cut back on bad things. None of this not eating any of this or that! 

When I get nervous I eat and I bake! Bad combo! Ha ha!  So it turns out I will indeed need this diet come Monday! I've also been trying to eat up all the foods we aren't allowed to eat before Monday... Which also maybe a bad idea, but I don't like throwing good food away!  

I made Ryan lasagna and used up almost all my cheeses! The boys have been eating goldfish crackers... I've been snacking on cheese. I had a secret stash of dark chocolate raspberry jelly candies in the fridge from Christmas. They were my after dinner sweet deterrent. Had to finish those today! Lol

I've been worrying so much about this Diet I've had nightmares!  Bad dreams about grocery shopping and cooking! I feel like it is a lot of pressure to make everything paleo for Ryan. 

But I am pretty much going overboard on preparation and already have my grocery list done for Monday.  And I think we will survive! I have thought of some creative ways to make some of our staple meals paleo and I am now more excited than anything else! 

Bring it on! 

Baby shower

 The baby shower I hosted this last weekend was a huge success!  It was an untraditional shower that included the guys. I had fun making the flyer... Beer, burgers and babes...er babies!  And had fun decorating for the theme... Ie, flowers in beer bottles and a diaper bike as opposed to a diaper cake!  

I wish I had brought my camera to take nice pictures but alas all I have are some cell phone pictures! 

My friend Kelly made the cupcakes and they were Delish!

Colin eating the sprinkles one at a time... Totally gets that from me! 

They had a nice jam session at the shower and my child who loves music was totally intrigued!

 And the horses... Yeah he loves horses! 

It was a blast but a bit stressful trying to get everything done with Colin around. Hubby had to work so it was just the two of us. Wish Ryan could have joined us in the celebration!