Being Chelsea

Not that he reads, but it IS his birthday and I do love him oh so much!

Yes, I still call my Dad, Daddy-sometimes at least

I celebrated his birthday by going to spin this morning!  The normal teacher was back and it was a FABULOUS class.  YAY!  I had a VERY exciting half of a Larabar before and half after:

I like the Cinnamon Roll flavor.  Hooray for grocery shopping yesterday!

Once I got to work, I made a tea latte with soy milk, chocolate hazelnut tea, and agave.  I also had some of my Mom’s granola with some soy milk.

Since I didn’t cook last night (or really all weekend-guess I needed a break) I didn’t have any leftovers for lunch today.  Thinking about it now, I could have made a salmon salad sandwich but that didn’t occur to me last night so Whole Foods Salad Bar it is!

To change gears completely, a bunch of you asked about our carrier.  Let’s see if pictures can show you if we like it.

This weekend:

In Hawaii:

In Morro Bay:

In Idaho:

Near home, over Thanksgiving:

This thing ROCKS.  It’s a Kelty TC 2.0.  I think our only complaint is that Lu has such a long body that the shoulder straps for her are getting too tight.  We’re going to look for extenders.  It has a diaper bag that zips off of it (and is it’s own backpack), it holds a ton, and Shaun hiked some pretty hairy stuff in Hawaii with NO PROBLEM.  We did an 8 mile, super steep, super muddy hike while in Hawaii and that thing was great!  We were letting Lu walk the other day and she asked to go on Daddy’s back.  It’s cool.  I HIGHLY recommend it!

When I watch football, I really like it.  I grew up in a HUGE football house.  It was on CONSTANTLY.  My Dad was a high school football coach and then both my brothers played.  Football was IT-I actually get what’s going on-most of the time.  Now that I’m an adult, I don’t watch it all that often.  I do enjoy it but we never watch it at home and only catch it if my family, or Shaun’s family is visiting or the Superbowl.  Tonight’s game was RAD!  So fun!!! 

But first, let’s start with this morning. I heated up the pancakes from last weekend and topped them with Peanut+Flax butter, maple syrup, and banana.

It was a great breakfast to fuel my BIKE RIDE!!!

We got the road bikes out and road about 15 miles today-it was a start.  Shaun pulled Lu in the trailer.  She did great until about 45 minutes into it and then she had a complete meltdown.  She was wailing and screaming and there was nothing we could do.  We just had to get to the car as fast as possible.  Fellow parents were giving us “I’m sorry” looks and people who were not parents were looking at us like child abusers.  It was FAB.

When we got home, Lu and I had lunch.  Here’s her plate:

I had some hummus and peppers too (on a wet plate):

I also had half of a PB+J sandwich.  Lu ate the other half-she didn’t want her cheesy sandwich and instead opted for Mommy’s PB+J. She opted out of her green beans too.

While Lu napped, I ran errands.  I thought Target and Whole Foods would be relatively calm because of the Superbowl.  I was wrong.  People were trying to get everything done BEFORE the Superbowl so it was a madhouse out there!

We went down to my friend Laurin’s house. Laurin is from Louisiana so this was an important Superbowl for her.  Laurin and I met on a Mommy message board when we were preggers so our lil’ ones are a month apart in age.  Sophia is a month YOUNGER than Lu.  She’s about 5 inches taller and weighs 6 more pounds.  She’s 100% adorable.  Sophia kept trying to hug Lucy.  Lu wasn’t so sure:

They really did have a GREAT time together though.  They played for HOURS.

They wouldn’t stay still long enough to get a cut picture, so there you go

Laurin, being Louisianan, made some AH-MAZE-ING food.  I ate way too much but I don’t care.  It was FAB.  Lu LOVED it too.  She ate a ridiculous amount of food.  I couldn’t believe it when she kept asking for more-INSANITY.

The star of the night? Chicken and sausage jambalaya:

I’m not joking, Lu ate about 3 cups of this stuff.  There was also shrimp jambalaya:

Some, ridiculously good, cornbread (so worth the tummy ache it gave me):

Spicy Popeyes chicken:

Chips that were to die for:

Strawberries and cream (I did skip the cream):

SANGRIA!

Abita Beer from Louisiana:

Shaun’s gotten Abita in his Beer of the Month shipment before and LOVES it.

For dessert?  King cake:

No one had found “the baby” when we left  

It was such a fun evening.  I can’t believe the weekend is already over

1. Stop putting myself down.  Treat me like I would want others to treat Lucy. I started seeing a therapist this week to help with this (among other things)-this is my #1 priority though.

2. Eat something green every day. Check!

3. Eat 2 servings of fruit every day. Check!

4. Completely cut out dairy. I ate dairy today   Damn Superbowl party!  It was pretty much worth it.

5. Get back on my bike. Check! We went out today!!!  It was great!

6. Do something only for me 1 hour each week. I’d say with all the doctor’s appointments this week I can say I did-I’d like it to be for another reason though :-/ I did go out to dinner with a friend-that counts-girl’s night out!

7. Do something with Shaun that doesn’t include me sitting on the computer and him on the XBox or us watching TV for 1 hour each week. Check! Date night also scheduled for next week!

8. Dress nicely, including putting on make-up, at least 3 times a week. Check!

9. Clean out Lucy’s drawers. I had plans to but we got too busy this weekend.

10. Clean out and organize the filing cabinet. Not yet.

11. Complete Lucy’s birth book. Not yet.

12. Become a faster walker. If you can speed train for running, you can sure as hell do it for walking. This IS happening.

13. Send out thank you notes in a more timely fashion and to everyone that deserves one. I didn’t do any this week.

14. Feed myself healthy food and exercise, trust myself. Check! I did well this week.

15. Save my personal money for a new wardrobe. Another $150 went in on the 1st which I have not touched. 

16. Be on top of my budget and update Quicken every 2 weeks. Check!

17. Severely limit my computer and phone time when I’m with Lucy.  On weekdays, I should never use them when she’s awake and on weekends, I should use them sparingly when she’s awake. Check!

18. Get the bird out 4 times a week. Only once. Sigh. Poor birdie.  I will be better this week.

19. To appease my husband, never let the gas tank get below 1/2 a tank. Check!

20. Improve on my photography. How do I measure this?

And, the original 10 in 2010:

1. Take time out every day to simply enjoy my daughter. Check!

2. Try not to look too far forward or lament the past.  Check!

3. Drink more water-at least 70 ounces per day. Check! Plus!

4. Use my juicer A LOT. I only used it once this week

5. Go to the gym more often than not. I only went once this week, but I did do something active 4 our of 7 days.

6. Floss EVERY day. Check!

8. Run to the top of Waterdog Lake Road, while pushing Lucy, without stopping and back. Check!

9. Post at least 365 times in 2010.  I can post 3 times a day or skip a day but I want my average to be 1 post per day. Seriously working on it.

10. Fold my laundry by Sunday night. The laundry isn’t done this week.  I’m doing it now but it’ll have to be folded this week-I know-setting myself up for failure!

There were things that could have gone better this week BUT I felt pretty awful this week-it’s been one of my worst weeks in recent memory   Here’s to a better week!!!

Today was my day to sleep in and I slept in until almost 10!!!!  I always feel like I waste the day when I sleep that late.  It took me some time to wake up to, so by the time I was ready for the day, it was like 1:30-boo.

I started the day with some cereal: 3/4 cup Trader Joe’s Os, 1/3 cup Nature’s Path Granola, Scoop of vanilla protein powder, and rice milk.

It was actually pretty gross.  I wouldn’t recommend mixing protein powder in cereal.

At 1:30 I had some hummus and carrots.

Followed by some unpictured pork and rice noodles.

After Lu got up from her nap, we went on a hike. It was beautiful but cold!

After our hike I had some TJ’s Nothing but Banana’s Flattened.  It’s just dried bananas.

I didn’t feel like cooking and we were still in our hiking clothes so we decided to go to Red Robin   Lu loves their balloons.  She sees them and yells “BA-BOON!”  It was one of her first words back in November .

Shaun’s had a beef burger with bacon, a fried egg, cheese, and ranch-which he loved.

Lu’s had a chicken quesadilla and melon slices-which she loved.

I had a jerk chicken sandwich with pineapple-no cheese. I only ate about half of the bun, tomato, and lettuce.  I ate all of the chicken pineapple and fries.  It was just okay.

There’s some chocolate that’s calling my name.  Can you hear it?

Chelsea………Chelsea……..CHELSEA!!!!!!

I didn’t get a picture of my lunch today.  It was just leftovers from last night. 

I got home a little early today and had a small nanner with peanut flax butter and some pumpkin butter.

I haven’t been feeling well and the plan was to take a short nap before Lu and Daddy got home.  Shaun had to work late though, so that plan was nixed and I went and got Lu.  We played and had a fun time while waiting for Daddy to get home with SUSHI!!!

When we sat down to eat, Shaun and I said, “Yay! Sushi!” and Lu said, “SUSHI!!!!” It was very cute.

Here’s my plate:

Clockwise, starting at 9 o’clock-Spicy Tuna (I ended up eating 2 more of these), Salmon and Avocado (+1 more), San Francisco Roll=Tuna, Salmon, Yellow Tail, Avocado with crunch on top and a special sauce (+1 more), and Caterpillar Roll.

Lucy ate all 6 pieces of her yam, avocado, and cucumber roll, plus some eggs with veggies and cheese that I made her. Hungry girl!

I think The Wire is calling my name. Night!

My friend, Richard, showed me how to steam milk the other day and I did it!  And I did it well!

Check it out!

YIPPEE!!!  That’s steamed vanilla Silk soy milk with Stash Chocolate Hazelnut Decaf Tea:

Elaina bought this for me.  Here’s where she got it-it’s a 6 pack so she had to share.  For that, I’m grateful!

I had to fast for 12 hours including no exercise before my blood test this morning.  As soon as I got done I had an Apple Pie Larabar.  They had to take 5 vials of blood and for some reason the phlebotomist chose a really small vein, so the blood draw kinda sucked.

Today starts my “Diet Diary”. WOO HOO

Does anyone have any exciting weekend plans? I’m taking stuff to the Salvation Army-which is exciting for me-I love getting rid of stuff!

The beautification factor for today’s food peaked at the rose colored juice this morning.  Everything else has kind of been UGGGG-LAAAAAY.

For lunch I had leftover Bul Kogi, green beans, and a piece of pork from Lucy’s dinner last night (Lucy and Daddy had a date at the local Vietnamese restaurant last night).

Around 4, I got hungry and wasn’t really digging my options so I decided to make a shake.  The shake consisted of: 1 small banana, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 cup rice milk, some ice, 2 TBSP uncooked oats, and 1 TBSP chia seeds.

It was tasty.

For dinner I made some Indian food from Trader Joes.  Here’s what I used:

+ chicken breast simmered in the crock pot for 4 hours (2 hours on high, 2 on low).

Plus.

Plus.

Plus.

Plus.

And some rice. To make this:

Plus this:

I gave some to Lucy and at first she gobbled it up.

And then she started making the “This is yummy but it hurts” face.  It did have quite a bite at the end.  So I made her some rice, veggies, and beans-poor mite.  At the end of the meal she started shelling her peas. Check this out.

To create this:

Silly girl!

About 5 years ago a woman who worked with my sister offered to give me Indian food cooking lessons and I happily took her up on the offer.  She took me to an Indian market and then bought packaged food like I ate tonight and heated it up.  That was my lesson.  Needless to say, I felt pretty duped.  That’s how she made her food though.  I would really love to learn how to make great Indian food.  My friend, Megan, her Dad makes the best curried green beans.  He gave me the recipe and it’s on my list of things to do but it is quite involved so I haven’t gotten my courage up yet.

~~~~~

I’ve been debating all day with myself whether I should post about what I did  today and I decided to spill it. 

I saw 2 doctors today.  I saw a traditional GI doctor and a Naturopathic doctor. I am SO incredibly thankful that Stacy brought up a Naturopathic doctor in the comments on Monday.  If I had only gone to the GI doctor today I would be one defeated person right now. 

The GI doctor basically told me that I have IBS but that I could possibly have Celiac Disease.  He thinks it’s more likely that I have IBS but he is taking blood to be 100% it’s not Celiacs.  His remedy?  Eat more fiber and take a laxative.  Stop taking the laxative when I get diarrhea.  Thanks helpcat!  When I said that I was already eating fiber and that I was really frustrated he told me “Try not to stress.” Again, thanks helpcat.  That appointment lasted about 15 minutes.

The Naturopathic doctor, on the other hand, met with me for an hour and 15 minutes. I must say that I am hopeful that something is going to change. I did feel extremely exhausted just talking about all my issues. When you’re living them you don’t think they are that bad. But, talking through them and seeing the doctor’s reactions made me realize that my quality of life is really suffering right now. She thinks that she can help and she’s excited to work with me since I’m already on top of the exercise and eating department-she actually believed me! So many people/doctors don’t-they think I must be exaggerating and that I just don’t know how to eat healthfully or exercise. They just see a fat person and assume that I eat bon-bons all day.  She even wanted to look at my blog to get a better understanding of me!

Anyway, I have to go get labs done tomorrow and then fill out a very detailed food log which deals with input AND output and also deals with state of mind throughout the day. I go back to her in 2 weeks and at that time she’ll have an action plan all set up for me and we’ll go from there. She said that it’s going to take time and that I have to have patience. That’s a hard one but at least I’m actively changing something.  The same old thing just isn’t working so trying something new is a great thing. 

She did give me some castor oil to rub on my arms at night to help with the pain I’ve been having there.

Overall, it was a very good visit-it felt nice to be listened to and to be taken seriously for once.  I’m really happy and optimistic. We’ll see what happens.

Dinner last night was good.  The food was beautiful and would have photographed well but I’m glad that I put the camera away. 

I’m working from home today so I’ve had a more leisurely morning than normal. 

I made some juice-it’s been almost a week!    Here’s what went into it:

And look how it turned out!

Rose colored!

To go with my juice, I made some Ezekiel toast with this stuff.

They weren’t lying when they said crunchy!

I topped the toast with some of my pumpkin butter.

The peanut butter was good but the real star was the pumpkin butter. I love this stuff.  I wish I could make vats of it and send it off to all of you.  Unfortunately pumpkin and home canning don’t mix and it has to be refrigerated at all times

If you look at the above picture you can see that the juice had started to separate.  I got interrupted with work stuff (dang that work! ) and didn’t get to drink it for about 15 minutes.  I see now why the recommend drinking your juice within 20 minutes of making it.  It was good but I think it would have been better if I had had it immediately.

With that, I bade farewell.

For some odd reason, I decided to only take pictures with my Droid today.  I just didn’t feel like getting the big camera out and I wanted to see what the camera could and couldn’t do.

First thing I photographed? Lunch.

Vegan Pizza with the rest of my Roasted Tomato Soup.

I’m so sad that soup is gone

For some reason that ^ picture would not email and I had to load it to Facebook.  That was annoying.  Overall though I will say that I’m happy with my phone and that it takes pretty good pictures.  Don’t worry, the big camera will be back out tomorrow!

This afternoon I made another tea latte.  This time with chocolate hazelnut tea and vanilla soy milk.

It could have been foamier-I’m learning!!!

Lastly, I made myself some banana with PB and granola.  I’ve had too much PB AND banana today.  Oh well, such is life

I miss my coconut yogurt And after looking at that picture, I miss my big camera

Tonight, I’m going out to Tapas with a friend-girl’s night out!  I probably will not be taking my camera or taking pictures because I really just want to spend the night talking with my friend who I haven’t seen in nearly a year

Talk to you tomorrow!

I was listing to NPR this morning when the “Perspectives” series came on.  It’s a series where local people share their perspective on any topic. Today a daycare teacher of 20 years shared her perspective on making kids say “I’m sorry.”  Her stance was that we shouldn’t make them say sorry if they’re not actually sorry.  Instead we should explain how their actions made the other person upset and have them say that they won’t do it again.  “I’m sorry” should really be used when the child is actually sorry.  Her example was if one child legitimately gets hurt by accident and you can tell that the offending child is actually sorry that that is a good time to tell someone “I’m sorry.”  Her point was that it makes it clear that you can’t just make things better by saying “I’m sorry.” That you need to consciously think about  your actions. It was a great perspective and it made me think.  I love NPR.  It looks like the audio won’t be available until tomorrow but I’ll link to it when it’s up.

I’m not feeling 100% and decided last night to get an extra hour of sleep, instead of working out.  Unfortunately, Lu had other plans and decided that 5:30 would be a FANTASTIC time to wake up this morning.  I think she was hungry.  No extra hour for me!  I did stop at Jamba for $1 Oatmeal Wednesdays and look at what they gave me:

Wha?  In contrast, here’s what I got last time I ordered the banana oatmeal:

Quite a bit different, eh?  I came into work and had to doctor it up a bit.  I added a spoonful of PB and some agave.

That’s a soy tea latte up there too   I got a tutorial (after I made that one) and so now my steamed “milk” will look much better.

I have a headband on today and Lu was fascinated with it so I put one on her.

How cute is that?  It didn’t stay that way for long though.  She went a little Star Trek on us.

Ah LaVar Burton, whatever happened to you?