My child has perfected her Stank Face. 

Exhibit A-directed at Mommy:

Elaina assures me that this is patented Chelsea and that she looks just like pissed off me in this picture.

Exhibit B-directed at Daddy:

If you’re thinking, “Wow, it looks like Lucy has a carrot, beet, apple, pepper, lemon juice mustache,” you’d be right.

Mommy made some juice:

And Lu Bug loved it and didn’t want it to end.  Unfortunately, I did not love it.  It made me nauseous again :(  I learned though!  I did not continue to drink the juice, I dumped it and got a bagel instead.

A Noah’s pumpernickel with hummus.  Next time, I’ll skip the hummus.

When I got to work I had a (SUPRISE!) soy tea latte.  My bubble were a little big today.

And now it’s off to work for the weekend!

I forgot to take a picture of lunch-oops.  I had some leftover spaghetti with some brussels sprouts from last night.

At 4, I had some coconut milk yogurt with my Mom’s granola.

The Pina Colada flavor was just okay.  My favorite is still Vanilla.

Tonight for dinner I made some Shepherd’s Pie.

It was a hit.  Shaun loved it, Lu loved it, and I loved it.  Now there are leftovers for Shaun for when I’m away.

Speaking of being away-I need to pack!!!  I’m going to Boise for my niece’s 1st birthday.  We’re having a tea party :)  It should be a lot of fun.  I love getting the 2 cousins together.  The two of them in tea dresses is going to be too much to handle.  My Mom bought Lu’s dress and I haven’t seen it yet.  Lu isn’t much of a dress girl but now that she’s walking, maybe that will change 🙂 Don’t you worry, there will be MANY pictures!

I had to go in for another blood test today.  Hopefully I’m done for awhile after this one.  Today’s was to see if I have Celiac Disease-which I highly doubt but it’s always good to be sure :)  The test takes 7 days so I won’t know until late next week at the earliest. 

The blood test meant no exercise for me and no breakfast until 9.  When I did get breakfast, I hightailed over to Jamba for $1 Oatmeal Wednesdays.  They were hopping!  They made about 10 bowls of oatmeal while I was there. 

I took mine out to my parked car and listened to the radio while I ate.

The bananas were super green and you could tell.  But overall, it was delish.

When I got into work I had a soy tea latte.  Decaf English Breakfast this time.

My foam abilities are getting MUCH better!

Alrighty, time to go earn my paycheck.

Who knew that brussels sprouts was spelled with an “s” on the end of “brussel” NOT ME!  It’s like Amber and the “a” on “gerbera”-it just makes NO SENSE!

Anywho.  I had a big camera FAIL today and you only get pictures of dinner.  It sucks too because I had Pho for lunch and I’m sure some of you have no clue what that even is. (It’s Vietnamese noodle soup). Here’s a picture from Wikipedia:

[source]

Oh well, you win some, you lose some. :)  I also had some Paper Chiffon Cake from a local Chinese bakery.  It’s basically like angel food cake but they bake it in paper.  Again, it would have been a great picture but no, I suck.  Oh and some of those amazing coconut chunks covered in dark chocolate somehow jumped into my mouth.  I need to get a handle on my sweet tooth and I need to do it NOW.

Anyhoo.  What I can show you is dinner!

Shrimp and grits!

Mine (dairy free):

Shaun’s:

And Lu’s:

I tried shrimp with Lu for the first time and she did great!  No allergy thank goodness!

I have ANOTHER blood test tomorrow so I have to fast for 12 hours.  I wanted something sweet (stupid sweet tooth) and so I had a Tofutti Cutie:

I’m full.

Today, when I went to pick Lu up from daycare I had something very special waiting for me!

Art!

According to her teacher, she wasn’t so into the painting-but I love it anyway!!!  It’s going up on the fridge-stat!

Back in October, we went to visit my aunt who is an amazing cook.  She made us shrimp and grits and Shaun could NOT get enough.  My aunt gave me the recipe and I promptly lost it.  It was a Paula Deen recipe and full of fatty goodness.  I decided to try and re-create the shrimp and grits on the fly and here’s my version. Non-dairy for me. Full of dairy for Shaun and Lu.

Ingredients:

-6 slices of bacon, chopped
-1 pound raw, shelled shrimp
-1 pound brussels sprouts, bottoms cut off, and halved
-1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
-4 servings of grits, cooked according to the package (I used quick cooking)
-2 TBSP butter (optional)
-1/2 cup shredded cheddar (optional)

Instructions:

-Cook bacon over medium-high heat until translucent.

-Add brussels sprouts and vinegar to deglaze pan. Scrape bottom of pan.

-Cover and steam.  While the brussels sprouts cook, start the grits.

-After 8-10 minutes, add shrimp to brussels sprouts, cover and cook until shrimp is pink, stirring a few times.

-If using the dairy, add the butter and cheese to the grits.

-Enjoy!

Mine:

Shaun’s:

And Lu’s:

Lu didn’t eat much of it.  Shaun really liked it and gave it a 3 out of 5 stars but said it was too rich to have too often.  I loved mine and give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

No, I’m not pregnant.  I can 100% guarantee that.  BUT, today I feel just like I did in my first trimester with Lucy.  I am so incredibly nauseous.  Guess what caused it?  The ginger I put in my juice this morning.  Isn’t ginger supposed to do the exact opposite?  Maybe it’s pavlovian because I ate so much ginger when I was preggers?  I don’t know.  All I know is that it sucks and it makes me extremely grumpy.

Moving on.  I got up this morning for boot camp.  I had half a peanut butter cookie Larabar before and half after.  Class was good, though today she was a bit scatterbrained and kept saying “8 more” and then 6 into it would say “8 more”.  That drives me nuts.  I don’t think she was doing it on purpose-I hope anyway.  We did a TON of shoulder work.  I injured my shoulder in high school swimming and re-injured it while training for the Ironman so I need to be careful.  I actually left class 5 minutes early because my shoulder was protesting so much.  It feels fine now, and I’ll be sure to stretch it.

I made the evil juice before leaving the house.  I was running late so I didn’t get a pretty picture.

You get the idea, right?  It was 1 medium beet, 1 small apple, 1/2 lemon, and evil ginger.  Even though it made me nauseous I still drank it because juice is expensive.  Looking back on it, I shouldn’t have drank it. Lesson learned 🙂

On my way into work I saw a pretty rainbow!

We’re supposed to get a few inches of rain again.  It was raining this morning but sunny-which is nice.

I stopped before I got to work to get a bagel to help with the nausea. I just got a pumpernickel bagel heated up.

Meh. It did it’s job.

Once I got to work I made the same tea latte that I’ve been making for a week now.

Exciting stuff, eh?

I need to snap out of this grump.  It’s not doing anyone any favors-especially me!

…than a baby just out of the bath.

But first-eats!

For lunch, as planned, I went to the Whole Foods salad bar.  It has gotten better! YES!  For awhile there it was a little lackluster but they’ve upped their game.

Kale salad (with onion and dried cranberries) and quinoa salad with peppers, cucumber, and mint.

And the other side:

A bed of spinach with roasted root veggies, peas, beets, pepitas, and hummus.

I also had a small cup of veggie black bean soup:

It was AWESOME.  I added a little hot sauce and it was very good.

For “dessert” I had dried coconut HUNKS covered in dark chocolate.  I didn’t get a picture but don’t worry, you’ll see it soon enough-I’m obsessed.

My lunch held me over until I left work at 5.  On the way out the door, I had a few slices of dried persimmon that I also picked up at Whole Foods today.

I had to pick up Lu today AND prepare dinner with no help from Daddy.  He had to work late tonight :(  I sat her down with some snacks:

She ended up eating the WHOLE banana (the rest is off camera) and none of the oranges or the crayon 😉

Pretty soon I had a helper in the kitchen.

(that’s the one door that doesn’t have a lock on it-Shaun broke it).

I entertained her with beads.

I tested out 2 new products today.  I made meat marinara and tried new marinara sauce.

This stuff is definitely a winner!  It’s a little more expensive ($4.30 for a box) but well worth it.  I think I found my new marinara.  There’s no soybean oil which many of the cheaper sauces do have.  The ingredient list is: Crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, onions, olive oil, salt, garlic, sugar, parsley, oregano, and pepper.

I sautéed some onions, garlic, grass fed ground beef then I added the sauce.  To that I added some shitake mushrooms and about 1/4 cup of white wine. YOM.

I also tried new pasta:

I really do not like Whole Wheat pasta but don’t want to use bleached flour pasta.  This was really good.  It had great flavor and tasted just like regular spaghetti BUT it was $7 a box.  For $7 a box it had better be mind blowing.  Good? Yes. Mind blowing? Not so much.

My yummy bowl:

I went back for seconds of the sauce.  I wish I had bought some spinach at the store but alas I did not.

I added some butter and cheese to Lu’s to make it not as lean.  She’s at an age where fat is good for her.  Her little brain needs fat to develop, so I try to add it in where ever I can.

There were no complaints!

Look at that face!

She definitely needed a bath after this dinner! So into the bath she went.

She multi-tasked!

She thought brushing her teeth in the tub was the coolest thing ever 🙂

My overworked husband is now home, so I’ll see you tomorrow!

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!!!