A BABY SHOWER FOR A SWEET FRIEND

Today I  (along with one of my other friends Kayla) hosted a baby shower for one of my good friends Katie.  We go to church together and she is just about one of the sweetest people you will ever meet!  Always a smile on her face & nothing bad to say about anyone!  I was so happy to be able to celebrate with her, family and friends on the arrival of her baby girl.  She's due in three weeks and isn't telling the name until her baby is born.  I'm dying to know what name her and her husband picked out!  

I am blessed to go to a church with so many awesome ladies who always help out so much with baby showers.  Everyone brought food.  I was worried we wouldn't have enough...haha!  There was enough food to feed a small army.  It was way more food than the 10 or 12 of us ladies who were there could eat but I always say leftovers are a good thing :)  

I made Iced Coffee Punch which always is a big hit at all the baby showers and today was no exception.  When all was said and done, there was enough left for me to fill one more mason jar full.  It's in my frig for tomorrow when I go to church!  And yes, we used mason jars for our drinking glasses because like I always say..."everything tastes better in a mason jar!" 

*Recipe at the end of the post.

 This was the first time I ever hosted anything at my house.  I've always been so nervous about hosting anything because my house is so small.  It's 1056 sq. feet to be exact.  But I really wanted to go out of my comfort zone and host it at my house.  I'm glad I did.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and everyone said they loved the house.  So I guess my fears were unnecessary.  

I set up a table on the back porch for some of the ladies to use. My husband and I have big dreams on building a new deck.  We want a big deck so that we can have awesome cookouts and such on it. 

Bella (Katie's daughter) is so excited about being a big sister.  She loved helping open all the gifts. 

And of course I had to snap a quick shot of my own baby girl cause even with her doughnut & strawberry covered face/clothes, she's too cute! :)

And then I took a few shots of Katie with her family that were able to come to the shower.  I wish I would have gotten a big group shot of everyone that came but I didn't think about it until after the shower was over.

And then here's me & Katie...due just a few weeks apart.  I should have stood sideways so that my belly would have shown better.  

Katie you are so beautiful inside & out and are a wonderful Mother, Wife, & Friend.  

I can't wait to meet your sweet little girl! 

Iced Coffee Punch Recipe:

Brew 2 cups strong coffee (I used decaf).  While coffee is still hot mix in 1/4 cup of Trim Healthy Mama Sweet Blend (or use sugar.  I don't use sugar so I'm not sure how much you would need).  Put in the frig overnight.  Right before your guests arrive, mix the coffee with 1 gallon of milk and 1 container of vanilla ice-cream (I used Breyers)  Break up ice-cream slightly and then ENJOY!  

*To make this completely on plan with Trim Healthy Mama, you could use almond milk in place of regular milk, and use the low carb Breyers vanilla ice-cream. 

*I adapted this recipe from another recipe that was given to me by a lady from my church.

FIELD TRIP DAY...THE ZOO & MATCHBOX RACING

Yesterday was our field trip day.  We headed to the zoo first thing in the morning, which was awesome because the weather was amazing.  It was cool and breezy and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion the whole time.  We went with another home-school family.  Ruy brought two little squirt guns with him so him and his friend Luke spent most of the time running around shooting each other with water.  They had a blast.  

Liam brought his little stuffed giraffe with him because he wanted to show the giraffes.  It was pretty awesome how the giraffe looked right at his stuffed giraffe.  Liam was very excited about it. 

Of course Alanna was really happy about seeing all the animals but was too afraid to touch the giraffes.  She felt a little safer with the goats :) 

Later that evening the kids and I spent some time outside racing matchbox cars and monster trucks down the driveway.  It was so entertaining for them.  Alanna kept saying "tada" after she would race hers down.  

Liam wasn't feeling so well last night so he needed some extra snuggles. 

And then when Ruy realized it was National Dog Day yesterday, he wanted a picture with Duke and had to give him an extra treat.  

That is one loved dog.  My kids are all crazy about him.  

Anyways...that was our field trip day.  It was fun and relaxing.  It's hard to believe the weekend starts tomorrow!  The weeks seriously fly by so fast right now.  I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

32 Weeks

Dress & Shoes//Target

*The dress was a little longer before I washed it.  I'm not sure why it shrunk some since I didn't dry it.  Looks like I won't be wearing it out again until after I loose the baby bump :)

August 26, 2015 
 
Weeks pregnant: 32
Weight gained: 33 pounds.  I weigh 145.
Gender:  Boy.
Maternity clothes: Wearing maternity & regular clothes.  I bought a robe last week which is so comfy.  I've been enjoying wearing it at night and plan on taking it to the hospital.

Sleep: Sleep is the same pretty much.  I wake up a few times a night for the bathroom but it continues to get harder to get in and out of the bed.

Best moment in the past month: Getting to be with one of my friends on Sunday through her labor and delivery to help her go natural.  It was amazing.  I love being at births.  She went natural and did an awesome job at it.  I was so proud of her! Now I just have to get myself prepared mentally for Jude's birth in a few weeks :)
Worst moment in the past month:  Alanna fell from the top of our playground!  I tried getting to her on time to catch her but did not make it.  She tripped and fell right off.  It was horrible watching it happen but she is so tough.  She cried for about one minute and then looked up at me and said "slide!"  And pointed to the slide, got down, climbed back up the ladder, and went down the slide.  My goodness.  She is one tough little girl.  I guess that's what happens when you have two older brothers.
Miss anything: Being able to bend over and buckle my shoes, or cut my toenails, or just to bend over and still be able to breathe while doing so! :) 

 Movement:  He moves so much and sometimes it hurts.  He's getting bigger all the time.

 Cravings:  Chick-fil-a always but you already know that I crave that when I'm not pregnant.  I have been thinking about pumpkin things a lot lately since fall is just around the corner.  I need to find some good Trim Healthy Mama recipes that have pumpkin in them!

 Queasy or sick: Still super dizzy all the time.

 Looking forward to: The baby shower I'm hosting on Saturday for one of my good friends.  She is due in just a few weeks and I can't wait to meet her sweet little girl!  Baby showers are so fun.  I love chatting with all my friends and drinking way to much iced coffee punch! 

If you missed my post "My Tips To Having A Natural Childbirth"  you can check it out here.  

Well that's all for this week.  Only a few more Baby Bump updates to go and then my sweet little boy will be here!

Our Menu Plan, Grocery Shopping Trip & A Carton Of Broken Eggs

Ruy has been gone on vacation for one week as of today and I am really really really missing him.  Nothing feels the same with him gone and I miss his sweet little face so much! 

Today was grocery shopping day once again.  I decided not to go to Aldi this week because I got frustrated at the fact that I ran out of cheese, honey & maple syrup so quickly.  It's definitely more expensive to buy those things in smaller portions than in bulk at Sam's Club.  I also decided to try something different this week.  I decided that I would use this weeks menu plan for next week as well and just eat the same meals two weeks in a row.  I grocery shopped for two weeks worth of food (except for whole milk for the kids.  I can only fit 1 gallon at a time in my frig.)  And don't plan on going back to the grocery store until the first weekend in September.  I know I need some school supplies for school next week that I forgot to get so I'll just grab a gallon of milk when I go to get the school supplies.  I spent a lot more than my normal $100-$125 weekly budget today, but I was low on some thing or out of some things, and I was shopping for two weeks.  I'm really hoping that shopping for two weeks works out because I would love, love, love not having to grocery shop every Friday or Saturday.  

Some of you might be "weirded" out by the fact that we're going to eat the same meals two weeks in a row but honestly our breakfasts and lunches are pretty much almost always the same every week and we have certain dinners that we really like.  So we end up eating a lot of the same meals over and over again pretty often.  It works for our family and doesn't bother us at all.  My husband is not a picky eater and is "on plan" with Trim Healthy Mama as well.  I actually try to feed our whole family "on plan" as much as possible because I found it so much easier to just make one meal for everyone rather than having to make lots of separate meals.  Plus it's easier to stay on plan when everyone is eating the same things.

Today's trip started out at Kroger.  We were there just over an hour.  A trip to the family bathroom & me leaving my wallet in the van and realizing it at check-out added a little extra time to our trip to Kroger.  But the kids were really good while we were there which was really great.  Liam had to walk the whole time because I needed too many things today for us to use the cart with the car in the front.  We had a little chat before we went into Kroger about obeying and staying with me and he really did fantastic the whole time we were in there.

 *I brought my big cooler today since I knew I'd be getting a lot.

We left Kroger and went to Sam's Club.  The kids were pretty much ready to be done with the whole grocery shopping thing by that point and honestly I was too.  It's pretty exhausting being 31 weeks pregnant and pushing around a cart with 2 kids and a bunch of groceries.  Liam squeezed Alanna one too many times making her really angry. So she threw her snack cup at me and got pretzels all over the place.  But besides that little indecent we got out of Sam's Club with everyone still in one piece :) 

I've decided on grocery shopping days we will just eat out.  By the time I'm finished shopping I am so worn out that it's just so overwhelming to go home and try to get the kids lunch and then have to bring in all the groceries.  So I've stopped feeling guilty about it and just decided that grocery shopping day is our day to eat out each week.  

We headed to Chick-fil-a after Sam's Club and since the kids were so good (besides our few incidents) I treated them to ice-cream cones.  Alanna kept insisting that I share her soggy delicious cone with her and no matter how much I said "no thank you" she kept shoving it in my face.  So I finally started saying "yum yum thank you" every time and she got so excited and would then take it out of my face and eat some herself...only to shove it back in my face 5 seconds later :)  

 After lunch we headed home.  I then had to unload all the groceries.  I had what seemed like a never-ending amount because well our driveway is on a hill and walking back and forth from my van to the house up that little hill basically makes me just want to lie down right there and fall asleep instead of carry the groceries in.  But I pushed through it and made the 100 million trips from the van to the house carrying in all the groceries.  Since I'm pregnant I have to take so many trips so I don't hurt myself.  I really wish my husband was home when I grocery shopped but it's a rare thing.  I did have a big helper today though.  Liam decided he wanted to help and carried in all the little things that he could and he would wait for me and hold the door open for me.  It was really sweet.  I unfortunately dropped the ground turkey as I was handing it to Liam to carry in and it cracked and blood got all over both of our feet.  And then when I walked inside to go wash up my feet....

I saw Alanna standing in a pile of broken eggs!!!

Yes she got into the eggs and broke all but 3 of them.  She wiped the eggs on her dress and said "messy...no-no!"  I wanted to be angry but honestly it was too humorous to get angry about.  It was such a classic way to end a long morning at the grocery store and she is so sweet and beautiful it's kind of hard to get mad at her.  I cleaned her and myself up and then the eggs and moved on.

*only 3 eggs left!

 I took the kids to the park later that evening and it was a beautiful night for it.  I think we were all completely worn out after that though because Liam kept telling me he was sleepy.  

Well enough about our crazy busy grocery shopping days.

Here is our menu plan for this week & next week.

*The only day that will look at little different is next Saturday.  I'm hosting a baby shower and so our breakfast will be different from tomorrow's breakfast.

Saturday: 
B- Oat Waffles (E) Everyone
L- Snack-y-lunch... String cheese, turkey pepperoni, smoothies or fruit (E) Everyone
D- Homemade Pizza & Salad (E) Everyone
*I like to make one cheese & then one with onions & peppers for me and my husband.

*Make Black Beans & Apple Pie Muffins today

Sunday: *Nursery
B- Apple Pie Muffins (E) Everyone
*I have this recipe printed out but can't find the link.  I'll keep looking for it.
L- Alfredo & peas (S) Everyone
*I make my Alfredo without meat to save money.  I also don't use the grated Parmesan cheese since it's so expensive but use the kind in the green container.  I also add a little bit more liquid to this recipe, garlic, and some parsley.  My whole family loves this.  We eat it pretty often.  It's Ruy's favorite meal.
D- Homemade Chicken Nuggets & corn on the cob.  (S) Everyone
*I probably won't eat the corn since it's not on plan.
 

Monday:
B- Me//Apple Pie Muffins (E)  Kids//Whole Wheat Banana Muffins (From Freezer)
L- Me//Turkey, cheese, turkey bacon, tomato & lettuce panini. & Fruit. (E)  Kids//Ham & cheese panini.  Fruit.
D-Taco Soup (E)
*My family really loves this soup.  The zucchini in it tastes so good! I plan on adding some black beans to this to make it a little more filling since I didn't buy any blue corn chips this week. 

Tuesday:
B- Scrambled eggs with cheese, fruit (S) Everyone
L- Broccoli Soup (S) Everyone
*My whole family loves this soup! 
D- Whole Chicken (from freezer) in crock pot. Served over brown rice and sweet potato on the side.  (E) Everyone

Wednesday:
B- Me//Trim Healthy Mama Pancakes (from the book) served with homemade greek yogurt & mixed berries. (E) Kids//Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes (from the freezer) with maple syrup
L- Me//Chef Salad (ham & hard-boiled eggs) with ranch & shake (S) Kids//PB & J, carrots & ranch.
D- Hamburgers for my husband & kids, Turkey Burger for me, sweet potato fries, green beans (E)

Thursday: 
B- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Overnight Oats (E) Everyone
*Use sugar free chocolate chips or 85% chocolate chip chunks to be "on plan".  I use the 60% cocoa baking chips.
L- Homemade Mac & Cheese, carrots & ranch (S) Everyone
* This is my own recipe.  I plan on sharing it this coming week once I have time to type it up.
D- Chicken & bean burritos (Crossover) Everyone
*Use low-carb wraps. Use greek yogurt in place of sour cream for topping and mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar if you want to stay in a E.  I will have sour cream & cheddar for a Crossover since I'm pregnant.

Friday:
B- Ham & Cheese Omelets (S) Everyone
L- Snack-y-Lunch, Fruit, turkey pepperoni, string cheese (E) Everyone
D- Chili (E) Everyone

Snacks:
Air-popped popcorn, smoothies, shakes, yogurt w/fruit, cucumbers with ranch, granola bars (for the kids), cottage berry whip, peanuts, cheese, fruit,

Desserts:
Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Lemon Cake, Peanut Butter Cup Chia Seed Pudding
*These are all new recipes for me so I'm hoping at least one of them turns out :)

Here is what I bought.  Top picture is Sam's, the bottom picture is Kroger.  Missing from the pictures are toilet paper, ground turkey, and a big can of tomato sauce.  I'm not going to list out each item and price this week because I bought a lot and I'm tired and just don't have the energy to type it all out honestly :)  But I spent $197 at Sam's & $109 at Kroger.  That includes grocery items and household items like toilet paper, ziplock bags, facewash, etc. that I had to buy today.  Without the household items, I would have been right on track with my $125 weekly grocery budget, because since I was shopping for 2 weeks I had $250 to spend.  So I feel like I did pretty well.  Oh I will be buying more eggs on Monday though :)  

 

I apologize for the crappy cell phone pictures.  I was so busy today I just didn't feel like bringing the "big girl" camera along! 

Anyways... I hope you found something helpful in my menu.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!  

And remember you can always "like" my blog on Facebook to keep up with posts! 

My Tips To Having A Natural Birth

Since having two natural vbacs in the past four years, I've had a lot of women ask me "How did you do it?  How did you get through the pain?  What advice do you have?"  I've spent hours talking with each of these women individually but I thought that I would write a post with some of my tips to having a successful natural un-medicated birth.  

Now before I get started on my tips I want to say that my first birth was a c-section.  I know a lot of women think that women who are all about natural childbirth have never had a c-section or never had an epidural and so therefore they have no idea what the other side looks like and can't really give advice.  

So I just wanted to let you know that I have been there.  I've been pushed into a c-section when it wasn't necessary.  I felt trapped, helpless, and like nothing I said or felt mattered.  I had an epidural.  I had my stomach cut open and was robbed of the joy of feeling my baby come out of me.  I was so sick from all the medication that other than a few seconds after he was born, I couldn't hold my baby for almost six hours.  Our bonding was messed up, he wouldn't nurse well because we were both medicated so much.  I was in so much pain I felt like I was dying, I couldn't move, I couldn't shower, I had difficulty holding my baby, the nurses kept him in the nursery a lot telling me I needed the sleep, they gave him formula because they said he wasn't getting enough milk from me.  I felt lost, alone, frustrated, angry, scared.  Having a c-section was the worst experience of my life.  It took me years to recover from the mental damage it did to me.  So please, understand that I have been there on that side and on the natural, un-medicated side and it's a much more beautiful place.  

I've had many women tell me they loved their c-section experience and I've had many women tell me that they just couldn't get through a vaginal birth without the epidural.   If a c-section is what you want then go for it.  I'm not here to judge you.  Every woman has to make the decision that they believe is best for them and their baby but my suggestion would be to do it once...see what it's like before you say you can't.   

So here are my tips on Having A Natural Birth:

1.  Use a midwife instead of a doctor.  

I can not stress how important I believe this is.  Please do not think that I think all doctors are terrible people and that you should never see a doctor or even if you do choose a doctor for your birth that you are a bad person.  There are a lot of amazing doctors out there and I appreciate all they do for us.  But both of the doctors I saw with my first two births were very pushy on c-sections.  My doctor with Ruy scheduled my c-section weeks before he was even born saying that he was going to be huge!!! (9 pounds...which by the way is not too big to deliver vaginally)  and that he was going to be breached.  Neither of these things were true...he was not breached and he only weighed 7 lbs 14 oz at birth.  So he told me I had to have a c-section.  I was 18 years old and thought that doctors had the final say and that I had to do what he said.  I didn't know I had the right to say "NO".  If I could go back into time I would change all of it.  I was at 7cm when they gave me the epidural for my c-section.  I probably would have been able to deliver him naturally very soon if I had only realized I had options.  Later I found out that my doctor with Ruy had put on my medical records that the reason for my c-section was due to "failure to progress" which was a complete lie.  It was years before I found out and was too late for me to do anything about it.  It makes me so sad that doctors can do this to women.  

When I was pregnant with Liam, my doctor told me that she was all for me having a vbac but did not  think it was a good idea for me not to get an epidural.  She basically tried to scare me into getting an epidural by telling me that if my uterus should tear and I hadn't had an epidural, then they would have to put me to sleep for an emergency c-section and that my husband wouldn't be allowed in the room so we both would miss the baby's birth.  I told her that I really wasn't worried about tearing since she had already told me there was only .5% chance of it tearing and that I was going for an un-medicated birth.  I should have known right there when she said that to "GET OUT".  But once again I wasn't really sure where else to turn.  I didn't even really know about midwives at that point.  So I stayed with her through my whole pregnancy with Liam but felt the whole time like we had no connection and like she was highly upset with my decision.  But I did it!!! I had a successful un-medicated vbac with Liam.  I plan on writing up both Ruy & Liam's birth stories eventually.  

When I got pregnant with Alanna I knew I had to have something different.  So I went to a midwife center.   Oh my...how I wish I had used a midwife with Ruy & Liam.  My midwife is SO incredibly amazing.  She is 100% supportive of my decisions to have a natural birth and is so caring and kind it's so wonderful.  We talk sometime for 40 minutes during my appointments and not just about the appointment related stuff.  We chat like we are friends...because well we are friends.  She hugs me when I come in and during my last appointment I actually had a melt down and cried to her for like 10 minutes!  Never could I have done that with the doctors I saw before.  She helped me work through a lot of my fears after being so traumatized by my previous births and gave me lots of advice and tips to help have a better natural birth.  And I'm so happy to say that Alanna's birth was pretty much perfect.  Obviously natural birth hurts and not everything went 100% as I had hoped but I left the hospital leaving behind a lot of pain and hurt that had haunted me for years.  You can read Alanna's birth story here.   Oh and my midwife only has a 3% c-section rate.  My previous doctor had about a 40% c-section rate!  

I'm using the same midwife center during this pregnancy with Jude and it's been wonderful.  So again I can not stress enough the importance of using a midwife.  I really think it makes all the difference.  

2.  Your husband needs to be your biggest support during labor & delivery. 

This is so important.  Nathan is so supportive of my decision to go natural.  He thinks it is awesome and is always amazed at how much pain I am able to endure through it all.  He and I discuss how I want the birth to go before it happens because when I'm in labor, I'm not always up for talking with the nurses and telling them what I want or need.  So it's very important that he know exactly what my goals are.  He holds my hand through each contraction, tells me when it's almost over, tells me I can do it.  There were times when I felt like I just couldn't get through and he helped me push through and be strong.  Once I even told him to get me the epidural and he so gently reminded me how bad I wanted to go natural and that I was strong and that I could do this.  Through his gentle encouragement I was able to get hold of my emotions and get on top of the pain and push through.  Without his support I'm not sure I could have made it.  I truly believe that your husband being 100% there (not watching tv or text messaging people) helping you, supporting you, makes all the difference.  

3.  Be comfortable...feel beautiful. 

I hate hospital gowns.  They are ugly, big, and frumpy.  If you feel ugly then you are less likely to feel good about anything that day.  When I was in labor with Alanna I wore my own gown, wore make-up, and had my sister braid my hair.  Wow!  What a difference that made for me.  Since I have vbacs I have to be hooked up to the monitor at all times and to be perfectly honest with you...having all those wires on me really really really stresses me out.  I hate it.  I hate not having as much freedom to move around.  I hate not being able to get into the water if I want to.  I hate the restrictions.  But having my own gown and having my hair and make up done really helped to calm me down.  I felt a million times better after all that happened and I was able to really focus on getting through the contractions.  I will say that the gown I wore with Alanna was not the best choice of a gown since I have to be hooked up to the monitor.  I had to have it pulled way up so that it didn't interfere with the cords and that bothered me.  This time,  I'm planning on buying a gown that is made to work with monitor cords.  

4.  Get your mind in the right place.  

So much of getting through labor is mind control.  You have to relax and be calm.  You have to tell yourself that you can get through it.  You can't go in to labor being wishy-washy saying to yourself "well if the pain gets really bad then I'll get the epidural but I'll see how long I can last."  If you go into it like that, chances of you having a natural birth are pretty low.  Research about natural birth, read books, read blogs, talk to your midwife or doctor, talk to other women who have done it.  Do not go into it completely unprepared.  Bring things to the hospital that help calm you...pictures of your kids, pictures your kids have given you, music, flowers, inspiration quotes, etc.  Set it in your mind that you can do this because you are strong! 

5.  Use different positions.  

Please don't labor in bed!!!  Laboring in bed has to be the post painful thing ever!!!  Every time I have to be checked to see how dilated I am I start crying.  Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.  It's so painful and if I had to labor in bed the whole time there is no way I could deal with the pain for 10+ hours like my laboring times are.  Use a chair, walk the halls, sit on a ball, take shower, get in the tub, lean on the bed, squat...there are so many options other than laying on your back in a bed!  Also, you can use other positions to deliver.  Make sure you talk with your doctor or midwife about what positions are best and if your doctor will even allow you to use a different position other than laying down to deliver.  My doctor with Liam said that the only position she allowed was to deliver laying down.  I had no choice!  So just make sure you look into what other options you have.

6.  Be flexible.

It is a good thing to have a "birth plan" but remember that births don't always go as you had planned and sometimes we have to be flexible in order to keep the baby safe.  In some cases, this does end up meaning you have an emergency c-section.  And that's ok.  I have several friends who almost lost their baby but through an emergency c-section their baby was saved.  True & real emergency c-sections are sometimes necessary and a good thing.

*Just a note:  I am not judging anyone who has had or chooses to have a c-section or vaginal birth with an epidural.  Every birth is different.  Every mother is different.  And we must all make what choice we feel best for our situation.  This post was simply meant to help encourage women who want to have a natural birth. 

Well those are my top tips for having a successful Natural Birth.  If there are any other questions you have, please email me or leave a comment below and I will get back to you.  Also, if you have any other advice, please let me know!  I'm always up for more help to have a better birth :) 

Homemade Choclate Syrup & Homemade Granola

A few months ago I stopped buying my kids store bought chocolate syrup.  Actually it was about a year ago I stopped buying the Hershey's syrup because we cut high fructose corn syrup out of the kids diet completely and then a few months ago I stopped buying Nesquick's chocolate syrup because I wasn't happy with all the ingredients in that either.  So I then went on a hunt for a homemade sugar free syrup that the kids would like.  I was so happy to come across this recipe.  It's very delicious and super easy to make! WIN WIN situation :)  You only need about 1/2-1 tablespoon for a mason jar full of milk.  Yes, I just measured by mason jar because well...that's what we drink out of LOL.  My kids love it and honestly I love it too.  I'll share a secret with you...I sometimes drink it as a "dessert" when the kids are in quiet time.  No, it's not "on plan" with Trim Healthy Mama because of the honey but once you're at goal weight or if you're pregnant or nursing, having this every once in a while shouldn't affect your weight.  It's very healthy and I have no guilt giving this to my kids. 

Pure deliciousness!!!

This is how much syrup I get when I make it.

Another thing I had stopped buying was granola.  A lot of the granola you buy at the store has so much sugar in it and since starting THM our family is pretty much sugar free with the exception of a few things like chocolate chips :)  Anyway I hadn't bought granola in over a year and the kids and I have really been wanting some.  So I was on the hunt for a healthy granola recipe.  I came across this recipe while reading her blog (which I love her blog so much).  This recipe is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  I'm so glad I finally got around to making it because the kids and I are just in love with it.  My hubby likes it a lot as well.  Now the only downside is that it's not on plan with THM.  The maple syrup makes it off plan.  Up until a week ago I had thought maple syrup was ok in small amounts but apparently I was wrong.  However, maple syrup is like honey to me.  If you're at goal weight, pregnant, or nursing I am totally fine with having honey or maple syrup in small amounts.  If you find yourself gaining weight again, it might be something to try cutting out again though.  I am going to try to find an on plan recipe as well though. If you don't follow Trim Healthy Mama then don't worry about all of that :)  This recipe is very healthy and a wonderful alternative to the store bought kind that's filled with sugar.  I baked mine on one big cookie sheet and got 3 mason jars full. 

Well I hope you will try out these recipes.  They are so good and great for if you follow a whole foods diet.  

Happy Baking!!! 

Oh and just because she is so cute and this is what she was doing while I was taking these pictures :)

Teaching Alanna Quiet Time

Before I moved Alanna into her twin bed a few weeks ago, she was taking 2-3 hour naps no problem.  Then when I moved her, her naps started to get shorter.  She was only taking a 45 minute to 1 hour nap usually.  I was so frustrated by this because it leaves me with less time to get my "daily to-do list" done.  I hate letting my babies cry for longer than 1.5 seconds but I also felt she should be sleeping more.  I tried letting her cry it out for 15-30 minutes with me going in every 5 minutes and sweetly telling her to go back to sleep.  But even after two weeks of that, she still never went back to sleep once she woke up.  I was frustrated and when I get frustrated I always remember what my oldest sister (and one of my greatest friends) told me one time.  

"If you are frustrated with your child then you need to change something.  Either your expectations are too high and you need to lower them, or they are to low and you need to raise them."  

So I started thinking about that one day and wondering..."Am I being unrealistic that she should sleep 2-3 hours?  Does she need that much sleep?  Could she really not be tired even though she is not even 2 years old yet?  Am I crazy to want to have time to get things done from 2-4PM every day?  Do I need to lower my expectations of her?  

After pondering on all these things I decided to talk to my sister about it and see what she though.  My sister has 8 kids so I value her opinion a lot.  She's had a few more years and kids on me to try out different approaches on things.  After talking with her about the situation and thinking about how Alanna sleeps 11-13 hours straight through the night, maybe 45 minutes to an hour really was all the sleep she needed.  However, my sister told me I was not crazy to want her in her room from 2-4PM whether she was sleeping or not, so she suggested that I try letting her have a quiet time before her nap on her bed with a cup of milk and some things to read or play with.  Then when her quiet time was over, lay her down for a nap.  This would still allow me to have 2 hours of time during the afternoon to get my things done.  

So yesterday I decided to try it out for the first time and see how she would do.  I was going to try quiet time for an hour but it seemed like a really long time to start with for such a little one so I decided on 30 minutes.  She got a cup of chocolate milk and I gave her some books and puzzles and explained to her what was going on.  She was perfectly happy for 25 minutes until Liam came running out of his room from his quiet time because he needed to tell me that he wanted a pencil sharpened.  He had been getting into Ruy's desk when he wasn't supposed to so I had to get him all settled back into quiet time.  Once she heard me talking to Liam she started crying.  I figured it had been so close to 30 minutes and she had done so well I'd go ahead and put her down for a nap.  I praised her for how well she had done and then cleaned up her bed and rocked her.  She fell asleep to me rocking and singing to her and then napped for 1 hour & 40 minutes!  It was a great first day of quiet time & napping. 

Today I did the same routine with her...cup of milk, books and some toys.  However, she was much less thrilled about the idea today.  She up until today has not been able to climb out of her twin bed on her own but I was sitting at my computer paying bills when I heard the tap tap tap of cute little feet behind me.  I turned around to see her standing there holding her blankie and smiling at me so sweetly.  It's hard to get upset with that sweet face looking up at you like that :)  But I took her back to her room and told her she had to stay on her bed for a little while longer.  And that's how the rest of her quiet time went...her climbing out of her bed every few minutes and me sitting her back down on it. After 30 minutes I cleaned up her stuff and put her to bed.  She slept for 1.5 hours today.  So even though she had a hard time with quiet time today, she still slept very well.  I'm not sure if the milk and just having time alone in her room is relaxing to her and helps her sleep but whatever it is...I hope it continues :)  Her getting out of bed over and over today was not the most fun thing but within a week or two of consistently putting her back on her bed,  I believe she will learn and obey.  

I think her learning to have a quiet time before Jude gets here is really important as well.  She is SO active and all over the place and hates sitting still for the most part, so I think it will be good for her to learn to be calm and stay in one place.  I've also been working with her on sitting at the table and playing with puzzles, reading books, playing play-doh, or coloring while I cook or do school with the boys.  I want her plenty used to these changes before Jude gets here so that life is just a little less crazy....Yes life with an 8 year old,4 year old , almost 2 year old & a newborn will probably be a little bit crazy at times!  But I'm so super excited about it and can't wait to add another little one to our family.  

Anyways...that's all I have for tonight.