Dueling Ducks? Potty Training a 1 and 2 year old Simulataneously!

Oh yes, potty training not just 1 kid, but 2...at the same time.  We first bought a singing potty, what the heck was I thinking?  Instead of going potty, they played with the fake handle, the toilet seat lid, the little cover that you can flip down so boys don't pee everywhere and basically anything else but sit on it and go potty!!  Then I saw the Baby Bjorn pottys but at $31.99 a piece at Target, I quickly scanned the aisle for the cheap ones.  $15.99 a piece and ladies and gentlemen.........

Recipe Review: Winners and Losers for last week!

I'm on a cooking binge this last week and it looks like it's going to continue this week also.  I love cooking from scratch and I love trying new things and I found a few winners this week!

Weekly Weight Watchers Weigh In: Yay, a good loss!

Don't get too excited, it was 1.2 lbs, but for me, that is AWESOME!  I went to the gym twice and on Friday I had planned on doing an hour and a half hike with Dylan in the Ergo.....well trying to strap a 28 pound tall toddler in that thing is tough.  I couldn't do it.  He looked content but the strap that goes around your waist area pretty much squeezed through all my fat like it was trying to slice me in 2!  I need to order the Ergo extender but still, that much weight pulling on the belt, so not comfortable.  I guess it's time to save up for a hiking pack from REI before we miss out on the rest of the summer hikes.  So anyways, we headed to the zoo and I pushed my Bob stroller around for about an hour.

I read a client's sister's gastric bypass blog this weekend and she mentioned how she had to have the surgery because she had PCOS and it made it impossible to lose weight and now she is 320 lbs.

Housewarming Gift! Framed Butterfly Collage

I'm heading to a housewarming this weekend for my friends and they have two little girls, 4 and 7 who love bold colors and anything girly.  I saw an idea for a butterfly collage on Pinterest.com (shocking, I know, I'm addicted!) so in about an hour I had made these for each of the girls to hang in their bedrooms:

Possible Challenge? Going back to the diet that helped me get pregnant with pcos??

I've been thinking about it, what if I challenged myself to just 1 week on the Candida diet.  I love to eat, I love to cook, I love all things sweet and sugary, but that makes it really hard to lose weight and I know the Candida diet is good for my body and is not restrictive as far as volumes really of food.  Not like that damn HCG diet that I think is bogus. 

I Used to Feel Cheated but Now I'm at Peace!

It really took until a couple weeks ago before I felt 100% at peace with not feeling cheated by my kids.  I don't know how to say it in the politically correct way but all I know is for the first 2 year of being a mom, I felt I got cheated and wasn't handed an easy situation with either kid and in some ways wanted to have a baby again fairly soon to do it all right this next time.  I posted this blog post a while back about all the things I'd do different last time and I still stand by that list, but now I don't feel like I need a do-over. 

Saying Goodbye to YouTube

I finally sat down long enough to get my video recorded!  On Thursday I'll be deleting all my videos but I wanted to say goodbye to all my subscribers one last time!  I love blogging, it's easier for me and hopefully some of my subscribers will follow me on here:)

Lunch Idea: Mediterranean Chicken Sandwich

I order a used copy of the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook last week and it has a lot of really great simple ideas and one of them was a Mediterranean Chicken Sandwich.  I subbed some of the items I liked and it was delicious!  Please don't be blown away by my awesome food photography please:) "Recipe" is below!

The Diet Cleanse I Used To Get Pregnant with PCOS

I've been trying to remember the name of the diet I used right before I got pregnant with Dylan so I went through handfuls of messages on Facebook and found it!  At the time I was taking Metformin but not on a regular basis.  I was burned out by all the pills and shots that even forcing myself to take Met daily was just not on my radar.  I have a friend that is completely opposite of me.  She's a skinny PCOS'er, she bolted from the doctors office when they suggested she take diabetes medication (Metformin) because she said any doctor that thought she should take pills for a disease she clearly didn't have was absurd, she is a vegetarian and eats primarily organic everything, takes Shaklee vitamins, doesn't believe in immunizing kids, etc. 

You Ever Read A Blog Post........

That you could have written yourself word for word?  I could have written this one for sure.

Weekly Weigh In: Small Goals for the Week!

I gained .8lbs!! Holy moly!  The problem is I ate my way through Saturday, Sunday, and Monday for the 4th of July weekend.  And I had a weak moment on Thursday night where I ate a bowl of homemade ice cream, not a serving, a bowl.  My relationship with food is horrendous, I know.

So instead of getting back on track after my 8am weigh in on Saturday I went to Fred Meyer's where there is a Starbucks and had a grande iced Caramel Macchiato and I bought a small package of glazed cake donut holes.  I ate about 10, so bad!  Then about an hour later I was so sick to my stomach.  

I'm going to look at small steps this week since I know if you do the actions the results will come....supposedly:)
1)  Drink 8 glasses of water.  I'm filling up a pitcher of water with the 8 cups and I need to finish it daily.
2)  Work out 4 times this week.
3)  Journal food points in morning to plan out my day and try my hardest to stick to 29 points a day.

I'm really hoping to lose at least 2 pounds because I've been on this roller coaster of small losses and big gains for about 2 months now.  My goal is still to lose 30 pounds by the time I turn 30.

Just Lovely, A Blast from the Past from my Ex Boyfriend

Do you all ever run into ex-boyfriends?  Well I never do, none of them live where I live any more.  However, just days after my 21st birthday I decided it was a good idea to date my BFF Michelle's cousin Brian who had moved up to live with her parents and work here.  Well that relationship lasted all of 2 seconds, okay more like 3 weeks but the boy was obsessed, I cheated on him (the only time I'd ever done that in my life, I'm not proud of it), he cried and blah blah blah.  It was a long time ago and it was when I used to go the bars and clubs 2-3 nights a week and drank a lot and made dumb choices and we had a wild time together but when it ended it was a mess.  Well Brian moved away a few months later but not before trying to talk to me at Michelle's Christmas party where he proceeded to pour his heart out to me, ask me to get back together and THEN BLOCK THE DOOR so I could not leave.  I was frightened by the whole episode and that was the last I ever saw of him.  Seven months later I met my husband and we've been together ever since.

.....until yesterday when Michelle invited us to her lake cabin.  We'd been there for a good hour when we all sat down around the campfire and I sort of stared at this guy as inconspicuously as possible because he kind of looked like Brian but had a hat pulled down low so it was hard to see his face and Brian lives in Oklahoma and is married with 2 kids and surely Michelle would have mentioned he was coming. 

Sure enough it was him.  9 years later we meet again....AWKWARD!   I pretty much ignored him and avoided him for the next 4 hours until we left.  Not the most mature thing but I wasn't quite sure how to handle that one.  Has this happened to any of you, running into old boyfriends while your spouse is around?  I don't want to make a big deal out of it with Michelle but I still am shocked she didn't tell me he was coming!  And she had asked if we wanted to stay overnight, seriously?! 

We had a great weekend though and I hope you all avoided running into your exes!

Working From Home: Pros and Cons so far

I'm finishing up week 2 of working from home and so far I LOVE it!  I have to say it feels completely awkward to send my kids off to my mom's and have a quite house until about 3:30 each day when I run to go pick them up.  Here's a list of my pros and cons so far:

Pros:
I don't have to get dressed in business attire unless I meet with clients (2-3 times a week).  I used to feel like I never had enough business clothes and now since I only need to dress up a few times a week and usually it's to meet different clients each time, I literally can wear the same 2 outfits over and over and as soon as I get home my jeans and T-shirts come back on!

I don't feel rushed in the morning to make breakfast and pack my lunch and snacks!  I'm definitely eating healthier and somethings our just easier made at home and eaten right away and don't get soggy sitting in my lunch sack in the fridge at work until lunch time.  I'm also not passing by Starbucks twice a day:)

If this works out, I'll save thousands of dollars a year which can either be put in savings or could pay for a couple vacations.

I don't have to pass by the annoying secretaries that don't smile or say hello or pass by people in the halls that are silent as I hurry back to my office and shut the door.

My house is flooded with sunlight!  My office on the other hand has poor lighting and NO window, it's depressing!

I'm already half way to my monthly goal and we have 3 weeks left this month still!  Because I know if I don't reach my goal, my husband and family will probably think it's nuts to work from home, but if I meet my goal and am more motivated to work when I'm home, then who can argue that!

I can throw a load of laundry in here and there, make sure everything is thawed for dinner, etc. (which is also a con).

Cons:
The urge to sleep in:)  And my definition of sleep in is to 7:30 but ideally I'd like to be up at 5am, off to the gym, and back home by 6:15 to get showered and dressed.

Having my clients randomly stop by the office (seriously hasn't happened in the past 6 years of having an office, all of a sudden happens twice in 2 weeks!!).  I just tell them I'm out at an appointment and had them meet me at the coffee shop which I loved the atmosphere of Starbucks versus our boring conference rooms at work!

I don't have a color laser printer so I still had to run into the office (just once though) to print stuff.  I actually have a laser color printer but the cartridges are empty and cost $320 to replace so it makes sense to just use the offices and pay their fee.

I feel guilty if I'm done with work but have a couple hours before an appointment with a client because if my kids were home, I could play with them, make them a snack, etc. but if I ran to my mom's to say hello, they have an all out fit if I leave.  So that's just not going to work.  Being at home and not working for any amount of time during the day feels bad.  But like I said before I can not do this job with kids in the house.  I make calls all day long and use my laptop (which they like to pound the keys and sit on my lap) so it's impossible.

And just like it can be a pro, seeing chores that need to be done while I'm working is a bit distracting and sometimes I stop and just do them if they are in eyesight (ie, a pile of laundry needs folded).

Do any of you work primarily from home with the kids or without the kids?  Have you made it work long term?

Fourth of July Weekend and Other Happenings!

How as everyone's 4th of July?  Anything fun to report?  It stays daylight here nearly 24 hours so they do fireworks at midnight and you it's like watching them in almost perfect daylight so we skipped that, didn't go camping but we had a great weekend!  Here's a run down of my past week:

Wednesday- went to the endocrinologist, seems my nodules are growing, scheduling another ultrasound today.  I've been off synthroid for a week since my husband's Tricare (military insurance) doesn't want to pay for the name brand prescription, I said screw it and just paid the $53 for a 3 month supply.  I don't feel like synthroid helps me at all.  Are you on it?  Does it help you?

Saturday- Celebrated my anniversary with a lunch date and saw Bad Teacher.  I had asked to not exchange gifts, just to spend time together but DH had already picked up my gift and we had bought him a new wedding band last week because he lost his almost 2 years ago so it all worked out.  I'm surprised we are getting along so well after hitting rock bottom.  The one thing I really try to do is not hold a grudge because that is something I do all the time.  Trying to have a fresh start would be pointless if I can't let some of those things go.  Here's my pictures of us taking my present for a spin!

Yes, no denying he's my kid.  I have a slight obsession with ice cream:)

Sunday- It was our turn for family dinner so we had breakfast for dinner and even had some mimosas! Yumm.  I didn't take pictures of our food but I tried 2 new recipes.  I made the Pioneer Woman's Berry Butter and French toast (it's to die for, insanely good and easy!) and  A Southern Fairytale's Cheesy Ham and Hashbrown Casserole.  Total comfort food in my opinion.  Certainly not helping my diet AT ALL and I need to cut down to trying non-diet recipes once a month versus twice a weekend!  I also have been working on AJ's room.  Since the boys like to keep each other up at night, we split them into 2 rooms quite a few months ago and I felt bad that he had white walls and nothing in that room except for a bed.  I'm obsessed, if I haven't said it before, with Pinterest.com and grabbed several ideas for his room.  I'm not big on matchy-  matchy rooms (ie like buying Disney Cars and every item they sell to match)  but kids love that stuff and it's their room so I went to the dark side and did a theme, cars/trucks, but I'm trying to break it up when it comes to accessories, wish me luck! I have several projects for his room not complete so I'll update you as things get finished.  Here's a few pictures of the start of his room redo!

I painted these canvases and added the little cars.  Total cost was $8 since I had the paint, just needed canvases!



We did the white line for the road with vinyl strips we had made by an etsy seller.  We are still looking for a bed frame, bedding is from Target.



I'm going to trash that dresser in a few days.  My dad and I pulled it out of a dumpster 9 years ago and well it looks like it was pulled out of dumpster:)  Why is wood furniture so expensive?? 

Monday, 4th of July- All my boys took a 4 hour nap while I worked on more crafting and then we headed over to my parents house and ate BBQ pork sandwiches (recipe was Pioneer Woman's Dr. Pepper Pork) I had made.  We skipped dinner because I think I was in a food coma and just couldn't eat anything more after lunch!  One super easy project I'm working on is a book sling for AJ's room and my darn sewing machine was acting up so I had to take a break from it but the tutorial is here from Penny Carnival and here's a picture of what her's looked like:

Hope you all have an awesome week!!  Any fun projects I should include in AJ's room?  Let me know in the comments section!

Weekly Weigh In: Little losses

I'm still trying to lose the 1.8 lbs I gained a few weeks back, the last 2 weeks I've posted a .2 lb and .4 lb loss.  Sad:(  I'm obsessed with food with food.  I love food, I love making food, I love spending time looking for new recipes even if they call for a cup of white sugar and a 1/2 lb of real butter, I think all day long what my next meal will be, I've had at least 1 cake in my house at all times for the last 3 weeks, blah blah blah.

This week, I'm going to work out at 2pm every day for an hour at the gym.  3 days this week we are going for a family walk.  If it's not raining this weekend, we will go hiking once.  That's my goal.

I want to lose 30 lbs still before I turn 30.  Lofty goal, but I really want to do it.  My kids are terrible eaters, that's the understatement of the year.  Dylan hates any veggies or produce except tomato sauce.  But I'm confident one day he'll just decide he likes all that healthy stuff if I just keep putting it in front of him.  Before I start cooking dinner, I cut up a plate of fresh fruit so the kids and I can munch as I cook and I'd like it to be a daily habit that we nibble on cut up fruit and veggies before dinner.  I've read to eat soup or salad 30 minutes before dinner but those are 2 food items the kids just don't eat well on their own and I cannot spend 30 minutes spoon feeding them so this is my compromise.  Dylan generally licks the fruit then makes a face and tosses it on the floor or in his lap.  AJ however will eat a whole pound of strawberries and he ate raspberries too last week one day, hated them the next.  Neither one liked mango so I ate the whole mango myself:)  I want to add that both of my kids gobbled up the fruit and veggie baby foods but around 14 months, they wanted no part of those foods.

You Know You Desperately Need to Get to the Gym When....

You're standing in your underwear and bra and your 2 year old points to your stomach, puts on a sad face and says,"OOOHHH, nnnnoooo."

Yes son, oh no is right.  And I can't even blame more than 10% of that mess on your little brother.  Yes I need to be at the gym, and one day I'll get a tummy tuck, one day.

I miss being pregnant lately but it's usually after I see a cute, fit, young 20 something girl and all she has is a baby bump with no other bumps or lumps.  But the truth is, I never looked like that pregnant and I physically I was so out of shape.  It was amazing to me just hours after Dylan was born that I looked down and was astonished at how the skin, all loose and wobbly, just laid across my hips and stomach like a flat tire.  It's shrunk back somewhat but not completely.  Now I understand the concept of mom jeans.  You won't catch me in a pair of them, but I get it.  Because the pooch starts at the belly button and it's like freshly made pizza dough ready to be rolled out from there to my girl parts.  And it's hard to look decent in jeans these days because of all the poochy-ness.

But then this showed up on Pinterest.com and it made me feel good and tolerable of my belly:

"A mark for every breath you took, every blink, every sleepy yawn. One for every time you sucked your thumb, waved hello, closed your eyes and slept in the most perfect darkness. One for every time you had the hiccups. One for every dream you dreamed within me. It isn't very pretty anymore. Some may even think it ugly. That's OK. It was your home. It's where I first grew to love you, where I lay my hand as I dreamed about who you were and who you would be. It held you until my arms could, and for that, I will always find something beautiful in it."

So very true.  I hope my body can be stretched and expanded just one more time.  But more about that another day.